The Information

A Waymo prototype robotaxi in San Francisco. Credit: Waymo

Alphabet’s Robotaxi Unit Waymo Says it Laid Off 8%

By Jon Victor · Mar 1, 2023 8:37am PST

Alphabet’s robotaxi developer Waymo laid off 137 employees on Wednesday, its second round of cuts this year as the parent company reins in spending across its subsidiaries. The layoffs mean around 8% of Waymo employees, or 209 employees, have been cut this year, Waymo’s co-CEOs told staff in an internal email viewed by The... Alphabet’s robotaxi developer Waymo laid off 137 employees on Wednesday, its second round...

Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok. Photo by Bloomberg

TikTok’s U.S. Survival Plan Faces Potential Hurdle: Apple’s App Store Rules

By Juro Osawa · Mar 1, 2023 7:32am PST · 3 comments

TikTok faces a new potential hurdle to overcoming national security concerns in the U.S.: Apple and Google. TikTok, the popular video app owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance, has begun talks with Apple and Google to ensure its proposed data security plan doesn’t get derailed by their app store rules, according to a person with direct... TikTok faces a new potential hurdle to overcoming national security concerns in the U.S.: Apple...

Photo by Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan

Facing Weak Demand for Its Pricey Solar Roof, Tesla Plans Changes

By Becky Peterson · Feb 28, 2023 6:00am PST

In 2016, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled one of the innovative products for which he’s become famous: roof tiles that incorporate solar panels. The resulting solar roof, as Musk called it, would be beautiful, environmentally beneficial—and cheaper than a conventional roof with separate solar panels, he said. That summer, Musk published... In 2016, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled one of the innovative products for which he’s become...

Twitter CEO Elon Musk. Art: Shane Burke/Photo: Bloomberg

Fighting ‘Woke AI,’ Musk Recruits Team to Develop OpenAI Rival

By Jon Victor and Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 27, 2023 4:32pm PST · 4 comments

Twitter CEO Elon Musk. Art: Shane Burke/Photo: Bloomberg

Fighting ‘Woke AI,’ Musk Recruits Team to Develop OpenAI Rival

By Jon Victor and Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 27, 2023 4:32pm PST · 4 comments

Elon Musk has approached artificial intelligence researchers in recent weeks about forming a new research lab to develop an alternative to ChatGPT, the high-profile chatbot made by the startup OpenAI, according to two people with direct knowledge of the effort and a third person briefed on the conversations. In recent months Musk has repeatedly... Elon Musk has approached artificial intelligence researchers in recent weeks about forming a new...

Elon Musk in San Francisco on Jan. 24, 2023. Photo: Bloomberg.

Twitter Lays Off at Least 50 in Relentless Cost Cuts

By Erin Woo · Feb 25, 2023 10:39pm PST

Elon Musk’s Twitter laid off dozens of employees Saturday in what is at least the eighth round of job cuts since Musk took over the social network in late October. The cuts aim to offset a plunge in revenue following Musk’s takeover and further whittle down a staff that had shrunk by at least 70% to roughly 2,000. ... Elon Musk’s Twitter laid off dozens of employees Saturday in what is at least the...

Stripe CEO and co-founder Patrick Collison. Photo by Getty.

Stripe’s Search for Billions Nears an End, But It Hasn’t Been Easy

By Maria Heeter, Cory Weinberg and Kate Clark · Feb 24, 2023 1:04pm PST · 4 comments

A place on Stripe’s roster of investors was once one of the most exclusive and highly coveted seats in tech. To raise the billions of dollars it now needs, Stripe has had to open the door very wide—and even then not everyone has rushed in. Stripe is close to lining up investment commitments for the $4 billion fundraising in a deal... A place on Stripe’s roster of investors was once one of the most exclusive and highly...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple Hires Ad Executive for Apple TV+, a Sign of Apple’s Video Ad Ambitions

By Sahil Patel · Feb 24, 2023 11:28am PST

Apple has hired Lauren Fry, a TV and digital video advertising executive, to help build a video advertising business for its Apple TV+ streaming service, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The move signals Apple's ambitions to give the streaming service more revenue to pay for a wider array of programming. Apple TV+... Apple has hired Lauren Fry, a TV and digital video advertising executive, to help build a video...

Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff at the company's 2022 Code Conference. Photo by Getty Images.

Vox Media’s Bankoff is Battered but Standing. What’s Next?

By Sahil Patel and Paris Martineau · Feb 23, 2023 7:02am PST · 1 comment

Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff at the company's 2022 Code Conference. Photo by Getty Images.

Vox Media’s Bankoff is Battered but Standing. What’s Next?

By Sahil Patel and Paris Martineau · Feb 23, 2023 7:02am PST · 1 comment

Last summer, Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff met with representatives from Facebook parent Meta Platforms to catch up on business. The meeting was timely. A few months before, Vox, owner of New York magazine and websites including Eater and The Verge, had bought Group Nine Media, a smaller collection of websites such as The Dodo, which makes cute... Last summer, Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff met with representatives from Facebook parent Meta...

Fred Ehrsam and Matt Huang. Photos by Paradigm and Shutterstock.

Exits Mount at Crypto Venture Firm Paradigm

By Aidan Ryan · Feb 22, 2023 2:35pm PST · 3 comments

Paradigm, the crypto-focused venture firm founded by Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and former Sequoia partner Matt Huang, is shrinking quickly. At least eight employees, including two investment partners and four engineers, have left the firm since the start of October, according to The Information’s tally based on the company’s... Paradigm, the crypto-focused venture firm founded by Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and former...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

The Private Tech Company That Let Employee Stock Grants Evaporate

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 22, 2023 7:00am PST · 14 comments

Household tech names Airbnb and Stripe have gone to great lengths to prevent arcane tax rules from creating disaster for the employees who helped build those firms. Airbnb went public just before employees’ valuable stock grants expired, while Stripe is raising as much as $4 billion privately to avoid that fate. Foursquare—the... Household tech names Airbnb and Stripe have gone to great lengths to prevent arcane tax rules...

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison in 2018. Photo by Bloomberg

AI Startups Find an Unlikely Friend: Oracle

By Aaron Holmes · Feb 22, 2023 6:00am PST · 1 comment

Top cloud providers are jostling to sign deals with artificial intelligence startups that need computing resources as they chase OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT. An improbable early leader in the race to rent servers to these startups is Oracle, a longtime laggard in the cloud field that had developed reputational problems with some longtime customers... Top cloud providers are jostling to sign deals with artificial intelligence startups that need...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Art by Clark Miller

Before Rebirth, Microsoft’s Bing Faced Near-Death Experiences

By Aaron Holmes · Feb 21, 2023 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Art by Clark Miller

Before Rebirth, Microsoft’s Bing Faced Near-Death Experiences

By Aaron Holmes · Feb 21, 2023 6:00am PST · 2 comments

“Where is our hit?” Steve Ballmer repeatedly directed the question at his lieutenants in the year before he stepped down as CEO of Microsoft in 2014, according to two people who heard him ask it. His biggest frustrations were Microsoft’s flops in the consumer market, including Bing, a search engine the company had introduced to... “Where is our hit?” Steve Ballmer repeatedly directed the question at his lieutenants...

ServiceTitan's co-founders Ara Mahdessian (left) and Vahe Kuzoyan. Photo by ServiceTitan.

ServiceTitan Burned $170 Million in Cash in 2022

By Maria Heeter · Feb 16, 2023 1:59pm PST · 5 comments

ServiceTitan, a startup that sells software to help plumbers and electricians run their businesses, burned through more than $170 million in cash last year, according to an email sent to employees. The red ink amounted to more than a third of ServiceTitan’s $460 million in revenue for the 12 months ending in January, the email... ServiceTitan, a startup that sells software to help plumbers and electricians run their...

Stripe founders Patrick Collison, left, and John Collison. Photo by Bloomberg.

Stripe Burned Through More Than $500 Million in Cash Last Year

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 15, 2023 5:16am PST · 2 comments

Stripe burned through more than $500 million of cash last year as its revenue growth rate fell sharply, people familiar with the matter said. The previously undisclosed figures paint a clearer picture about how quickly the payments giant lost steam after a pandemic-fueled growth frenzy. Stripe’s net revenue growth slowed to about 18% in... Stripe burned through more than $500 million of cash last year as its revenue growth rate fell...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Microsoft Lays Off 150 Cloud Sales Specialists

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 14, 2023 3:20pm PST

Microsoft last week laid off around 150 employees from a team tasked with convincing medium-size companies to adopt cloud services such as Azure server rentals and Microsoft 365 productivity apps, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The cuts to that team, known as digital cloud acquisition, indicate that the plan hasn’t gone... Microsoft last week laid off around 150 employees from a team tasked with convincing medium-size...

An Instacart shopper holds his badge. Photo by Shutterstock.

Instacart Plans Small-Business Service, Taking Aim at Amazon and Walmart

By Theo Wayt · Feb 14, 2023 2:01pm PST

An Instacart shopper holds his badge. Photo by Shutterstock.

Instacart Plans Small-Business Service, Taking Aim at Amazon and Walmart

By Theo Wayt · Feb 14, 2023 2:01pm PST

Instacart is gearing up to launch a version of its site tailored to small businesses, a person familiar with the matter said, representing a challenge to Amazon and Walmart as the delivery giant looks to boost revenue ahead of potentially going public. The small-business offering, which the company is developing under the name Instacart... Instacart is gearing up to launch a version of its site tailored to small businesses, a person...

Salesforce Tower in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg

Twitter Cuts Salesforce Bill 75% as More Buyers Scrutinize Software Spending

By Kevin McLaughlin and Erin Woo · Feb 14, 2023 6:00am PST · 7 comments

Twitter last month cut its contract for Salesforce’s customer-management software by 75%, to $5 million a year from $20 million, after reducing its workforce by roughly the same percentage, according to a person with direct knowledge. The move highlights the pain for enterprise software providers as some of their key customers—other... Twitter last month cut its contract for Salesforce’s customer-management software by 75%,...

Photo by AP.

Microsoft’s LinkedIn Lays Off Staff Amid Hiring Slowdown

By Aaron Holmes · Feb 13, 2023 12:30pm PST

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn laid off staff in its recruiting department on Monday, the company confirmed to The Information, the latest sign of how Microsoft’s layoffs are rippling through the tech giant. Microsoft said earlier this year it would cut 10,000 people across the company this quarter as part of a broad effort to cut costs amid... Microsoft-owned LinkedIn laid off staff in its recruiting department on Monday, the company...

Capsule, once valued at $1.2 billion, is in talks to raise money at a $500 million valuation. Photo by Capsule.

Thrive-Backed Startup Capsule Could See Its Valuation Cut in Half

By Kate Clark, Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Feb 13, 2023 12:15pm PST · 1 comment

Capsule, an online prescription delivery startup that rode a wave of pandemic-driven growth to a $1.2 billion valuation, is in talks to raise money at a dramatically lower value of about $500 million, according to people familiar with the matter. The New York-based startup, which is burning cash, has been in discussions for a new $100 million... Capsule, an online prescription delivery startup that rode a wave of pandemic-driven growth to a...

Photo by Getty Images

Playing Catch-Up With AWS, Google Makes Progress With Data Center Chips

By Wayne Ma and Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 13, 2023 7:00am PST · 3 comments

Photo by Getty Images

Playing Catch-Up With AWS, Google Makes Progress With Data Center Chips

By Wayne Ma and Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 13, 2023 7:00am PST · 3 comments

Google has reached a key milestone in designing server processors aimed at reducing the cost of operating its data centers and keeping up with cloud business rival Amazon, according to one person with direct knowledge of the project and one person who was briefed about it. The progress means Google could start using the new chips by 2025, one of... Google has reached a key milestone in designing server processors aimed at reducing the cost of...