The Information

Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

Billionaire ByteDance Founder Zhang Yiming Now Living Far From Home

By Juro Osawa · Sep 29, 2022 6:00am PDT

As the future of the world’s most valuable startup—TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance—remains uncertain, its founder Zhang Yiming, one of the richest people in the world, is staying out of the limelight. Zhang, 39, has been spending much of this year overseas, using Singapore as a primary base, according to people with... As the future of the world’s most valuable startup—TikTok’s Chinese owner,...

Locket founder Matt Moss and his girlfriend Ava Thompson, who he says inspired the app. Photo from Locket.

Chasing TikTok: Investor Fever for Rival Photo Apps Ebbs

By Erin Woo · Sep 28, 2022 10:20am PDT · 2 comments

Last year, investors competed fiercely to fund the next TikTok. This year, though, they haven’t been willing to pay as much for shares in young apps that might turn into the next social media stars. Take Locket Labs, the seven-person startup behind an app that allows users to share photos directly to their friends’ home screens.... Last year, investors competed fiercely to fund the next TikTok. This year, though, they...

Adena Hefets, co-founder and chief operating officer of Divvy Homes Inc. Photo: Bloomberg

Andreessen-Backed Divvy Homes Lays Off 12% of Staff as Rates Rise

By Cory Weinberg and Kate Clark · Sep 27, 2022 6:16pm PDT · 2 comments

Divvy Homes, a property tech startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global Management, laid off about 12% of its staff Tuesday. The cuts reflect how younger real estate firms are responding to rising mortgage rates that have battered the home-buying market. The layoffs affected roughly 40 employees at the five-year-old firm. Divvy Homes... Divvy Homes, a property tech startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global Management,...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Amazon’s Cross-Selling Team Scores Big With Top AWS Customers

By Kevin McLaughlin and Paris Martineau · Sep 26, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Amazon’s Cross-Selling Team Scores Big With Top AWS Customers

By Kevin McLaughlin and Paris Martineau · Sep 26, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Amazon Web Services has a pitch for major customers of its cloud server rentals: Want more Amazon with that? When Peloton last month announced it would start selling its exercise bike and other products on Amazon, the first time it had used an outside retailer, the news appeared significant as a sign of Peloton’s effort to reach a broader... Amazon Web Services has a pitch for major customers of its cloud server rentals: Want more Amazon...

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo. Photo by Bloomberg.

Instacart Cuts Staff, Curbs Hiring in Run-up to IPO

By Mark Matousek and Erin Woo · Sep 24, 2022 3:54pm PDT · 1 comment

Instacart has been letting go of staff, slowing hiring and curbing other expenses as it heads toward a public listing, when the grocery-delivery company will try to convince public investors that it can maintain its growth—and make a profit—as the economy slows. The San Francisco startup over the last two months has fired some of its... Instacart has been letting go of staff, slowing hiring and curbing other expenses as it heads...

Patrick Collison. Photo by Getty Images.

Stripe’s Early Stock Awards Could Spur IPO Plans

By Kate Clark, Mark Matousek and Maria Heeter · Sep 22, 2022 2:00pm PDT · 4 comments

Stripe founders John and Patrick Collison have indicated the payments software pioneer, valued in its last fundraising at $95 billion, is in no rush to go public. And few tech firms want to test the whipsawed public stock markets. But a new listing could solve one looming problem for the 13-year-old startup: Stock awards to some of its earliest... Stripe founders John and Patrick Collison have indicated the payments software pioneer, valued in...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...