The Information

Photos by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

ByteDance’s VR Unit Stumbles in Early Effort to Challenge Meta

By Juro Osawa · Sep 22, 2022 6:00am PDT

Zhang Yiming, founder of TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, has long had an ambition to follow in the footsteps of Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg and grab a piece of the nascent market for augmented and virtual reality. In 2020, the year Meta launched its Quest 2 VR headset, ByteDance engineers worked on a confidential internal project to... Zhang Yiming, founder of TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, has long had an ambition to follow in...

Netflix’s New Ad Chief Has an Appetite for Danger

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 19, 2022 6:00am PDT

Before Netflix hired Jeremi Gorman as its new advertising chief to bring growth back to its struggling business, Gorman had compiled a colorful résumé of professional and personal accomplishments. While she’s best known for turning her previous employer, Snap, into an internet ad powerhouse, Gorman also played an important... Before Netflix hired Jeremi Gorman as its new advertising chief to bring growth back to its...

Lucidworks CEO Will Hayes. Photo by Bloomberg

CEO of AI Startup Lucidworks to Step Down Following Layoffs

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 16, 2022 5:18pm PDT · 1 comment

The CEO of Lucidworks, a San Francisco startup that provides search engine technology, is stepping down from that role following recent layoffs that cut 24 workers, or roughly 10% of its staff, a company spokesperson confirmed. The 15-year-old company, backed by Shasta Ventures and Francisco Partners, said CEO Will Hayes will relinquish his... The CEO of Lucidworks, a San Francisco startup that provides search engine technology, is...

ByteDance's Zhang Yiming, Ant's Jack Ma, and Didi Global's Cheng Wei. Photos by Bloomberg.

Why Ant Group and Didi Investors Have to Wait Another Six Months for IPO Clarity

By Shai Oster · Sep 16, 2022 11:38am PDT

ByteDance's Zhang Yiming, Ant's Jack Ma, and Didi Global's Cheng Wei. Photos by Bloomberg.

Why Ant Group and Didi Investors Have to Wait Another Six Months for IPO Clarity

By Shai Oster · Sep 16, 2022 11:38am PDT

Despite recent signs that Beijing is easing its crackdown on domestic tech companies, the government won’t grant approval of hotly anticipated initial public offerings by domestic giants such as Ant Group, Didi Global and ByteDance for at least another six months, according to investors and senior Chinese technology executives. The... Despite recent signs that Beijing is easing its crackdown on domestic tech companies, the...

Adam Mosseri. Photo by Bloomberg.

Instagram Trails TikTok and YouTube On Creator Satisfaction, Mosseri Tells Staff

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Kaya Yurieff · Sep 15, 2022 1:59pm PDT · 1 comment

For the past couple of years, as Instagram has sought to better compete with TikTok, becoming more appealing to creators has been a top priority. But in a memo to staff a couple of weeks ago, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri made it clear the app still badly trails both TikTok and YouTube in satisfying creators. In the memo, which The Information has... For the past couple of years, as Instagram has sought to better compete with TikTok, becoming...

From top left, clockwise: Index Ventures' Danny Rimer, Sequoia Capital's Andrew Reed, Kleiner Perkins' Mamoon Hamid, and Greylock Partners' John Lilly. Photos by Bloomberg, Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins

The Biggest VC Winners From Figma’s $20 Billion Sale

By Kate Clark · Sep 15, 2022 1:29pm PDT · 1 comment

Adobe’s planned $20 billion purchase of design tool developer Figma is the third-biggest acquisition of a subscription software firm in history, and the largest deal for a private tech company at the time of the announcement. It’s also a lucrative deal for a slew of well-known venture capital firms, including Index Ventures, Greylock... Adobe’s planned $20 billion purchase of design tool developer Figma is the third-biggest...

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan. Photo by Bloomberg

Zoom Readies Email and Calendar Products to Defend Itself Against Microsoft, Google

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 14, 2022 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Millions of people join online meetings using Zoom Video Communications’ app by clicking on appointment links from their digital calendars or email services run by Microsoft and Google. That represents a big vulnerability for Zoom as Microsoft and Google make it easier for customers to host virtual meetings through the two companies’... Millions of people join online meetings using Zoom Video Communications’ app by clicking on...

Apple's Phil Schiller. Photo by Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan

For Apple’s App Boss, a New Battle Nears

By Wayne Ma · Sep 13, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Apple's Phil Schiller. Photo by Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan

For Apple’s App Boss, a New Battle Nears

By Wayne Ma · Sep 13, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

When Phil Schiller gave up his responsibilities overseeing Apple’s worldwide marketing two years ago, it seemed like one of the company’s most powerful executives was hanging up his spurs to become an emeritus figure at the company, as suggested by his scholarly-sounding new job title: Apple Fellow. But Schiller is still very much in... When Phil Schiller gave up his responsibilities overseeing Apple’s worldwide marketing two...

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai in New Delhi, India in 2015. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google Plots Pixel Phone Assembly in India Amid China Lockdowns

By Wayne Ma · Sep 12, 2022 6:00am PDT

Google wants to move some of its most important consumer electronics production outside China amid the country’s Covid-19 lockdowns, which have disrupted the manufacturing and supply chains of many foreign brands, and as geopolitical tensions with the U.S. rise. To that end, Google has solicited bids from manufacturers in India to make... Google wants to move some of its most important consumer electronics production outside China...

Nick Thompson at Web Summit 2021 in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo from Getty Images

Emerson Collective Backing New Project to Encourage Civil Online Conversation

By Jessica E. Lessin and Nick Wingfield · Sep 9, 2022 3:59pm PDT · 12 comments

Laurene Powell Jobs’s Emerson Collective is backing a new effort to encourage more civil conversation online, according to people familiar with the project. The project—which is in its early days—is being led by Nick Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic, and Raffi Krikorian, Emerson’s chief technology officer. The duo recently... Laurene Powell Jobs’s Emerson Collective is backing a new effort to encourage more civil...

Instant-Delivery Startups Are Running Out of Options

By Erin Woo and Maria Heeter · Sep 9, 2022 7:11am PDT · 5 comments

Instant-delivery startup Gorillas is on the hunt for a deal. It has been exploring everything from a merger with Berlin-based rival Flink to raising money from existing investors, according to four people familiar with the situation. Investors are still proposing various options and no term sheets have been signed, one of the people said. ... Instant-delivery startup Gorillas is on the hunt for a deal. It has been exploring everything...

Neil Shen, founding and managing partner of Sequoia Capital China. Photo by Getty

Sequoia Capital’s China Arm Employed Daughter of Politburo Member

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Sep 9, 2022 5:00am PDT · 1 comment

Neil Shen, founding and managing partner of Sequoia Capital China. Photo by Getty

Sequoia Capital’s China Arm Employed Daughter of Politburo Member

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Sep 9, 2022 5:00am PDT · 1 comment

No U.S. venture capital firm has produced more investment gains from China or navigated Beijing’s difficult political landscape better than Sequoia Capital. But as tensions rise between the two countries and the U.S. increasingly restricts cross-border investments, Sequoia Capital’s close ties to the Chinese government may become a... No U.S. venture capital firm has produced more investment gains from China or navigated...

Jeremy Levine of Bessemer Venture Partners. Photo by Getty

‘I Can’t Pay a Stupid Price Anymore’: Bessemer’s Levine on New $4 Billion Fund, ‘Stalemate’ With Founders, Crypto Bets

By Kate Clark · Sep 8, 2022 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

Venture capitalists aren’t striking many deals with tech founders these days. Initial public offerings are nonexistent and public tech stocks are down by half or more from a year ago. Yet some major venture firms, including the 48-year-old Bessemer Venture Partners, are raising more money than ever in the hopes of backing the next $100... Venture capitalists aren’t striking many deals with tech founders these days. Initial...

Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg

Google Restricts Employee Travel to ‘Business Critical’ Trips

By Mark Matousek and Amir Efrati · Sep 7, 2022 12:12pm PDT · 1 comment

Google is clamping down on employee travel, telling some senior managers late last week to limit travel to “business critical” trips, according to an email to managers that was viewed by The Information. The move is a sign of how tech’s once free-spending ways are being discarded as even the most profitable and cash-rich... Google is clamping down on employee travel, telling some senior managers late last week to limit...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Instagram Scaling Back Shopping Features Amid Commerce Retreat

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Sep 6, 2022 1:45pm PDT

Instagram is planning to drastically scale back its shopping features, the company told Instagram staffers on Tuesday, as it shifts the focus of its e-commerce efforts to those that directly drive advertising. The retreat shows how Meta Platforms is moving away from some long-term projects as it focuses on building its short-form video business.... Instagram is planning to drastically scale back its shopping features, the company told Instagram...

From left, C3.ai CEO Thomas Siebel, DataRobot interim CEO Debanjan Saha, and Palantir CEO Alex Karp. Photos by Bloomberg, DataRobot

CEOs Want AI, but Deals Are Getting Stuck

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 6, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

From left, C3.ai CEO Thomas Siebel, DataRobot interim CEO Debanjan Saha, and Palantir CEO Alex Karp. Photos by Bloomberg, DataRobot

CEOs Want AI, but Deals Are Getting Stuck

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 6, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

In the early days of cloud computing, Amazon Web Services and other providers of cloud-based servers and storage struggled to grow because IT departments of large companies took a long time to approve such purchases. Now, those bureaucratic barriers are being exacerbated by macroeconomic pressures on corporate spending, hammering a host of... In the early days of cloud computing, Amazon Web Services and other providers of cloud-based...

A Jokr ad in New York last year. Photo by AP

Jokr in Talks to Raise Up to $50 Million at $1.3 Billion Valuation

By Erin Woo · Sep 3, 2022 10:02am PDT · 6 comments

Instant-delivery startup Jokr is in talks with investors to raise between $35 million and $50 million in Series C funding at a pre-money valuation of $1.3 billion, according to two people familiar with the company’s fundraising efforts. That represents a slight increase from its valuation of $1.2 billion set last December. The fundraising... Instant-delivery startup Jokr is in talks with investors to raise between $35 million and $50...

Hamish McKenzie, co-founder of Substack. Photo by Substack.

Substack Reins in Cash and Perks for Writers as Creator Economy Retrenches

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 30, 2022 2:13pm PDT

Substack shook up traditional media last year, offering six-figure cash advances and benefits including healthcare to recruit writers for a newsletter platform that publishes high-profile authors like Bari Weiss and Glenn Greenwald. But this year, the San Francisco startup has told some writers it is scaling back such perks, joining a group of... Substack shook up traditional media last year, offering six-figure cash advances and benefits...

Alexis Ohanian and Katelin Holloway, partners at Seven Seven Six. Photo by Bloomberg and Holloway. Illustration by Mike Sullivan.

Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six Targets $177.6 Million for Crypto Token Fund

By Kate Clark · Aug 29, 2022 5:13pm PDT

Seven Seven Six, the venture capital firm led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, plans to raise $177.6 million for a new fund focused on investments in cryptocurrency tokens, according to fundraising materials viewed by The Information. The new fund, named Kryptós, will be the two-year-old firm’s first focused exclusively on... Seven Seven Six, the venture capital firm led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, plans to raise...

George Kurtz, CEO of Crowdstrike. Photo by Bloomberg

CrowdStrike CEO Plays Catch-Up in Israel as He Hunts For Security Deals

By Kevin McLaughlin and Aaron Holmes · Aug 29, 2022 2:10pm PDT

George Kurtz, CEO of Crowdstrike. Photo by Bloomberg

CrowdStrike CEO Plays Catch-Up in Israel as He Hunts For Security Deals

By Kevin McLaughlin and Aaron Holmes · Aug 29, 2022 2:10pm PDT

In April, George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, the second-most valuable cybersecurity firm, traveled to Israel to meet with a number of startups it could invest in or acquire. Kurtz and his team spent most of their time holed up in a hotel in an ancient port city that abuts Tel Aviv—a veritable Mecca of cybersecurity engineers and... In April, George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, the second-most valuable cybersecurity firm, traveled...