The Information

CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Inside Meta, New Global Power Hubs Force Leaders to Rewire How they Work

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Jan 5, 2023 6:00am PST · 2 comments

In December 2021, Meta Platforms’ most senior executives gathered at CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s property on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, for a dayslong retreat to discuss planning and strategy. One of the subjects that came up was how to better schedule meetings to take account of the fact that many senior executives were spread around... In December 2021, Meta Platforms’ most senior executives gathered at CEO Mark...

Real answer from OpenAI's ChatGPT. Credit: Shane Burke

Microsoft and OpenAI Working on ChatGPT-Powered Bing in Challenge to Google

By Aaron Holmes · Jan 3, 2023 4:39pm PST · 7 comments

Microsoft could soon get a return on its $1 billion investment in OpenAI, creator of the ChatGPT chatbot, which gives humanlike text answers to questions. Microsoft is preparing to launch a version of its Bing search engine that uses the artificial intelligence behind ChatGPT to answer some search queries rather than just showing a list of... Microsoft could soon get a return on its $1 billion investment in OpenAI, creator of the ChatGPT...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photoillustration by Getty Images/Shutterstock and Shane Burke

Inside the Tech Powering Apple’s Envelope-Pushing, Risky Mixed Reality Headset

By Wayne Ma · Jan 3, 2023 6:00am PST · 12 comments

Apple’s mixed-reality headset has become the iPhone maker’s most hotly anticipated new product of 2023. It may also be the riskiest. The headset, which Apple has yet to formally announce, will be jam-packed with features Apple will have to get just right if the product is going to have the kind of revolutionary impact the original... Apple’s mixed-reality headset has become the iPhone maker’s most hotly anticipated...

The New York Stock Exchange. Photo by Bloomberg

Pinduoduo and Other U.S.-Listed Chinese Tech Stocks Cancel Plans to List in Hong Kong

By Juro Osawa · Dec 28, 2022 12:03pm PST

The New York Stock Exchange. Photo by Bloomberg

Pinduoduo and Other U.S.-Listed Chinese Tech Stocks Cancel Plans to List in Hong Kong

By Juro Osawa · Dec 28, 2022 12:03pm PST

Major New York-listed Chinese tech stocks are dropping plans to also list their shares in Hong Kong, signaling the companies no longer feel the need to hedge against future regulatory conflicts between the U.S. and China. Nasdaq-listed e-commerce firm Pinduoduo, which has a market capitalization of $100 billion, has put discussions about a... Major New York-listed Chinese tech stocks are dropping plans to also list their shares in Hong...

Art by Shane Burke/Getty Images.

Amazon Has Discussed a Stand-Alone Sports App as Andy Jassy Doubles Down on Prime Video

By Theo Wayt and Martin Peers · Dec 28, 2022 6:00am PST · 3 comments

Amazon has discussed doing a stand-alone app for watching sports content, people briefed on the conversations told The Information. The move comes as CEO Andy Jassy doubles down on the company’s streaming ambitions. While one of those people said the company hasn’t made a decision about whether to proceed on the effort, the... Amazon has discussed doing a stand-alone app for watching sports content, people briefed on the...

An Instacart shopper fulfills a grocery order at a Harris Teeter in Washington, D.C., in 2020. Photo by Getty.

Instacart Cuts Internal Valuation by Another 20% to $10 Billion

By Erin Woo · Dec 27, 2022 4:44pm PST · 2 comments

Instacart, the grocery delivery startup that bankers expect will list its shares publicly next year, has cut its internal valuation to around $10 billion, according to two people familiar with the situation. The new valuation is 20% lower than the one it had in October and nearly 75% lower than the price investors paid for shares early last... Instacart, the grocery delivery startup that bankers expect will list its shares publicly next...

Boring Co. CEO Steve Davis, right, with Elon Musk. Photo by Getty Images

Musk May Have Found a Hardcore Leader for Twitter

By Becky Peterson and Erin Woo · Dec 23, 2022 8:32am PST · 9 comments

Like many new dads, The Boring Company CEO Steve Davis spent the first few weeks of fatherhood sleeping near his partner and newborn. Unlike other new fathers, Davis and his family were sleeping in an office—a makeshift bedroom at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters, where Davis has spent the past two months acting as a proxy for... Like many new dads, The Boring Company CEO Steve Davis spent the first few weeks of fatherhood...

From left: Amarjit Gill, Johny Srouji, Lip-Bu Tan and Gerard Williams. Photos by Getty; SambaNova; Nuvia. Art by Mike Sullivan

At Apple, a War for Chip Talent Intensifies

By Wayne Ma · Dec 23, 2022 6:00am PST · 7 comments

From left: Amarjit Gill, Johny Srouji, Lip-Bu Tan and Gerard Williams. Photos by Getty; SambaNova; Nuvia. Art by Mike Sullivan

At Apple, a War for Chip Talent Intensifies

By Wayne Ma · Dec 23, 2022 6:00am PST · 7 comments

For more than a decade, Apple’s silicon engineering group has helped give Apple a competitive edge in smartphones and laptops. The custom chips it designs make its products snappier to use or help them eke out an hour or more of extra battery life. Last year, though, Apple’s chip department hit a serious setback. Apple planned a... For more than a decade, Apple’s silicon engineering group has helped give Apple a...

Elon Musk.

Musk Lays Off Some in Twitter Policy Team in New Round of Cuts

By Erin Woo · Dec 22, 2022 7:42am PST

Elon Musk continued to whittle down Twitter’s shrunken workforce on Wednesday night, laying off members of its public policy team, said two people familiar with the matter. Slashing that team could hamper Twitter’s ability to deal with regulators and politicians, even as the Federal Trade Commission investigates its handling of user... Elon Musk continued to whittle down Twitter’s shrunken workforce on Wednesday night, laying...

A "zombie" Amazon Fresh store in Lodi, N.J. last week. Photo by Theo Wayt.

‘Zombie’ Amazon Grocery Stores Pile Up as Openings Grind to a Halt

By Theo Wayt · Dec 21, 2022 6:00am PST

For the most part, these Amazon Fresh stores look like they’re ready to open: The lights are on; there are signs for meat, seafood, bread and 15-cent bananas. But the shelves are empty, the doors are locked and no employees are around. Amazon’s pivot from rapid expansion to cost-cutting has left “zombie” grocery stores... For the most part, these Amazon Fresh stores look like they’re ready to open: The lights...

A hardware engineer works on argo lidar components. Photo by Argo AI.

Lidar Startups Scramble to Raise Cash, Find Buyers

By Maria Heeter · Dec 20, 2022 12:03pm PST

It’s going to be a busy holiday season for some investment bankers. Anyone with expertise in mobility tech firms, such as electric vehicles or lidar tech for autonomous vehicles, is flooded with work right now. With funding drying up, cash-burning startups are scrambling to find buyers, either by hiring banks to run official processes or... It’s going to be a busy holiday season for some investment bankers. Anyone with expertise...

From left: Ariel Cohen, CEO and founder of TripActions; Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart; Rene Haas, CEO of ARM. Photos by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Instacart, Databricks, Arm Could Lead the IPO Market Out of Its Freeze

By Cory Weinberg · Dec 20, 2022 7:30am PST · 1 comment

From left: Ariel Cohen, CEO and founder of TripActions; Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart; Rene Haas, CEO of ARM. Photos by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Instacart, Databricks, Arm Could Lead the IPO Market Out of Its Freeze

By Cory Weinberg · Dec 20, 2022 7:30am PST · 1 comment

The IPO market remains frozen for now. But once it starts to thaw, the companies that will likely jump into the public markets first are those that can show a path to profitability, have reconciled themselves to lower valuations and—perhaps just as important—are simply sick of waiting. Grocery-delivery firm Instacart, data-focused... The IPO market remains frozen for now. But once it starts to thaw, the companies that will likely...

A ByteDance employee at the entrance to a ByteDance office in Beijing. Photo by Getty Images.

TikTok Owner Now Aiming to Expand Into U.S. Enterprise Software Market

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Dec 20, 2022 6:00am PST · 4 comments

If some American politicians and regulators had their way, TikTok would be banned in the U.S. Executives at TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, though, appear so unconcerned by the threat that they’re trying to expand into a new business in the U.S.—selling software for businesses. ByteDance is stepping up its hiring in the U.S.... If some American politicians and regulators had their way, TikTok would be banned in the U.S....

Photos by Bloomberg.

Inside Meta’s Struggles to Gain an Edge on Apple in AR Race

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Dec 19, 2022 6:00am PST

Before Meta Platforms released its Ray-Ban camera-equipped glasses last September, the team spent months trying to get them to work with Apple’s iPhone. Meta wanted photos taken on the glasses to automatically download to users’ phones without requiring them to open Meta’s app. But because of how Apple’s software... Before Meta Platforms released its Ray-Ban camera-equipped glasses last September, the team spent...

Elon Musk. Photo by Getty

Twitter Lays Off Engineers in Infrastructure Org, Days After Leaders Were Fired

By Erin Woo · Dec 17, 2022 7:24am PST · 23 comments

Twitter laid off engineers in its infrastructure organization on Friday evening, reducing the staff in the part of the company that keeps the social media sevice running, according to a person familiar with the situation. The layoffs, which came days after some leaders in the organization were fired, are the latest in a series of employee... Twitter laid off engineers in its infrastructure organization on Friday evening, reducing the...

Chris Britt, CEO of Chime. Photo by Getty Images.

Chime Made Two Offers to Buy DailyPay, Topping Out at $2 Billion, but Was Spurned

By Kate Clark · Dec 15, 2022 11:20am PST

Chris Britt, CEO of Chime. Photo by Getty Images.

Chime Made Two Offers to Buy DailyPay, Topping Out at $2 Billion, but Was Spurned

By Kate Clark · Dec 15, 2022 11:20am PST

Chime spent much of this year trying to buy paycheck-advance startup DailyPay, but both of its offers–including a $2 billion bid–were rejected, according to people with direct knowledge of the deal talks. The talks died during the second half of the year, the people said, with one of them characterizing it as a slow wind-down in... Chime spent much of this year trying to buy paycheck-advance startup DailyPay, but both of its...

Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond, Wash. Photo by Getty.

Microsoft Squeezed by Growing Resistance to Software Bundles

By Aaron Holmes · Dec 15, 2022 6:00am PST · 6 comments

It’s been a popular sales tactic at Microsoft for several years now: Approach a corporate customer paying for Microsoft’s popular 365 workplace apps and suggest they sign up for an all-in-one software bundle that also includes cybersecurity and compliance tools, along with a suite of other business apps. It costs 58% more per user a... It’s been a popular sales tactic at Microsoft for several years now: Approach a corporate...

Amazon headquarters in Seattle. Photo by Getty.

Amazon Delays New Hire Start Dates in Latest Effort to Tame Headcount

By Theo Wayt · Dec 12, 2022 1:51pm PST · 1 comment

Amazon is pushing back start dates for some new graduate hires by around six months, a company spokesman confirmed. The delays are another way Amazon is trying to rein in its corporate headcount, in addition to rescinding offers and layoffs that started last month. They also impact a range of roles at the most junior level, while job cuts... Amazon is pushing back start dates for some new graduate hires by around six months, a company...

Art by Mike Sullivan

From Zoox to AR and VR, Tech Firms Are Still Splurging on Pet Projects

By Theo Wayt, Amir Efrati and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Dec 12, 2022 6:00am PST

You might think, with headlines blaring news of mass layoffs by Meta Platforms, Amazon and other tech companies in the past few weeks, that big tech has heard the message from investors and has started to cut back. Not so fast. A quick review of what companies like Amazon and Meta Platforms are up to shows that they’re still increasing... You might think, with headlines blaring news of mass layoffs by Meta Platforms, Amazon and other...

Art by Mike Sullivan/Shutterstock

Inside SpaceX’s Lucrative New Government Satellite Program

By Becky Peterson · Dec 9, 2022 6:00am PST

Art by Mike Sullivan/Shutterstock

Inside SpaceX’s Lucrative New Government Satellite Program

By Becky Peterson · Dec 9, 2022 6:00am PST

Every two hours or so, a satellite that SpaceX built for the Department of Defense circles Earth. The exact purpose of the satellite isn’t clear: The project is confidential. But its significance for SpaceX, the rocket company founded and led by Elon Musk, is coming into focus. That satellite is part of Starshield, a business SpaceX... Every two hours or so, a satellite that SpaceX built for the Department of Defense circles Earth....