The Information

Why Google and Facebook Keep Shutting Down Abortion Pill, Sex Product Ads

By Sarah Krouse · Apr 19, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Women’s healthcare startup Hey Jane spent more than a year running ads on Google promoting its services providing abortion pills by mail. Then, in late March, Google shut off the three-year-old startup’s ad campaigns with no warning. In the subsequent ten days, Hey Jane lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue, while... Women’s healthcare startup Hey Jane spent more than a year running ads on Google promoting...

Photo of Amazon's Brian Huseman by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

Amazon Policy Chief Wields Sharp Elbows in D.C.—and the Office

By Paris Martineau and Josh Sisco · Apr 18, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

In 2019, Rep. David Cicilline, chair of the House antitrust subcommittee, sent Amazon a letter questioning whether one of the company’s lawyers was truthful in his testimony before the committee a week earlier. The letter rattled some members of Amazon’s public policy team, who worried that the incident had inflamed regulators... In 2019, Rep. David Cicilline, chair of the House antitrust subcommittee, sent Amazon a letter...

Art: Jesus Escudero

Apple’s Privacy Rules Leave Its Engineers in the Dark

By Wayne Ma · Apr 15, 2022 6:00am PDT · 6 comments

Privacy is one of the selling points of Apple products. But for employees who develop these products, it can be a pain. Apple doesn’t collect a lot of customer data from its services, including Apple Maps, the Siri voice assistant and its paid video-streaming service, according to more than a dozen former employees. And the customer data... Privacy is one of the selling points of Apple products. But for employees who develop these...

Twitter's San Francisco headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg.

Twitter Board Expected To Fight Musk Offer

By Amir Efrati and Josh Sisco · Apr 14, 2022 10:46am PDT · 3 comments

Twitter's San Francisco headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg.

Twitter Board Expected To Fight Musk Offer

By Amir Efrati and Josh Sisco · Apr 14, 2022 10:46am PDT · 3 comments

Twitter’s board of directors views Elon Musk’s takeover offer as unwelcome, said a person familiar with the situation, suggesting it will fight the bid. One person close to the situation said that the board wanted to support CEO Parag Agrawal, who only assumed the role in November. Meanwhile, Musk hasn’t provided details of his... Twitter’s board of directors views Elon Musk’s takeover offer as unwelcome, said a...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Meta Reshuffles Leadership of Ads Team As Company Scrambles to Contain Apple Fallout

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Apr 13, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

One of Meta Platforms’ big hopes for responding to Apple’s ad tracking changes is to persuade more merchants to set up stores within the Facebook and Instagram apps. To help advance that effort, Meta late last month replaced the leader of its advertising and business products division, installing a former News Feed head with personal... One of Meta Platforms’ big hopes for responding to Apple’s ad tracking changes is to...

Photo by AP.

Amazon Targets High Schoolers in a Warehouse Recruiting Blitz

By Mark Di Stefano · Apr 12, 2022 10:49am PDT

Amazon is launching a big recruiting push aimed at teens who are about to graduate high school, in the e-commerce giant’s latest effort to keep its sprawling network of warehouses staffed up in a tight labor market. In a hiring drive set to kick off next month, Amazon will attend events at schools across the U.S. and Canada, a person... Amazon is launching a big recruiting push aimed at teens who are about to graduate high school,...

A store sign promoting Meta's Ray Bans smart glasses in New York. Photo by AP

Meta Platforms is Struggling to Develop Its Own Device Chips

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Stephen Nellis · Apr 8, 2022 9:15am PDT · 1 comment

In late 2021, a team of Meta Platforms employees building a key chip for the second version of Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses was notified that the company had decided to go with an alternative chip from Qualcomm, according to two people familiar with the matter. The custom chip would power a variety of functions, such as taking high-quality... In late 2021, a team of Meta Platforms employees building a key chip for the second version of...

Art by Mike Sullivan

The Solo Venture Capitalist Who Doubles Down Like Andreessen

By Berber Jin · Apr 7, 2022 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Art by Mike Sullivan

The Solo Venture Capitalist Who Doubles Down Like Andreessen

By Berber Jin · Apr 7, 2022 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Somebody forgot to send Oren Zeev the memo about how Silicon Valley venture capitalists are supposed to act. The investor has fewer than 3,000 followers on Twitter, where he rarely opines on the kinds of trending topics that light up venture land. He conducts meetings with startup founders at a two-story coffee shop in Palo Alto, Calif., Cafe... Somebody forgot to send Oren Zeev the memo about how Silicon Valley venture capitalists are...

Fast CEO Domm Holland. Art by Mike Sullivan

Live Fast, Die Young: Behind the Fall of a One-Click Wonder

By Kate Clark and Malique Morris · Apr 6, 2022 6:08am PDT · 9 comments

On Aug. 3 last year, after doing a round of victory donuts on a street near Sparkman Wharf in Tampa, Fla., Domm Holland stepped out of the passenger seat of a NASCAR racing pickup truck. The black Chevy Silverado was branded with the name of the startup he was leading: Fast, a developer of software that online stores could use to help shoppers... On Aug. 3 last year, after doing a round of victory donuts on a street near Sparkman Wharf in...

Fast CEO Domm Holland (center) at his office. Credit: Fast

Fast, the Troubled Fintech Startup, Is Shutting Down

By Jessica E. Lessin and Malique Morris · Apr 5, 2022 10:27am PDT · 10 comments

Update, April 6: The Information tracked Fast's rise and fall. Read our in-depth look at its over-the-top spending and rapid-fire hiring that masked the startup's chronic struggles. One-click checkout startup Fast is shutting down entirely and will discontinue its products and brand, according to several people familiar... Update, April 6: The Information tracked Fast's rise and fall. Read our in-depth...

Art by Josh Brill

China’s ‘Little Nvidia’ Has a Big Secret: Its Homegrown AI Chip Isn’t

By Juro Osawa and Stephen Nellis · Apr 5, 2022 8:09am PDT · 3 comments

Chinese microchip startup Moore Threads has a short history many Silicon Valley counterparts would envy. Within 100 days of its founding in October 2020, the Beijing-based company was worth more than $1 billion on paper after raising hundreds of millions of dollars from marquee investors including Sequoia Capital China and TikTok’s owner,... Chinese microchip startup Moore Threads has a short history many Silicon Valley counterparts...

Illustration by Jesus Escudero

The Tech Tussle Over Gartner’s ‘Magic Quadrant’

By Kevin McLaughlin · Apr 5, 2022 6:00am PDT · 6 comments

Illustration by Jesus Escudero

The Tech Tussle Over Gartner’s ‘Magic Quadrant’

By Kevin McLaughlin · Apr 5, 2022 6:00am PDT · 6 comments

Jay Chaudhry wasn’t happy when the interlopers arrived in his space—one of the most coveted corners in all of tech. The corner in question was part of a chart called a Magic Quadrant, published by Gartner. The tech research firm used it to show how the products made by Chaudhry’s company—a cybersecurity firm,... Jay Chaudhry wasn’t happy when the interlopers arrived in his space—one of the most...

Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings. Photo by Bloomberg.

Netflix Tells Employees to Be More Careful About Spending, Hiring

By Jessica Toonkel · Apr 1, 2022 12:04pm PDT

Netflix is tightening its belt. In two separate meetings over the past few weeks, Netflix executives cautioned employees to be more mindful about spending and hiring, according to three people familiar with the discussions. The comments, made at an employee town hall on Monday as well as during a management offsite held last month in Anaheim,... Netflix is tightening its belt. In two separate meetings over the past few weeks, Netflix...

Fast CEO Domm Holland at a company event. Photo: Fast

Stripe-Backed ‘Fast’ Seeks Buyer After Struggling to Raise Capital

By Malique Morris and Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 31, 2022 8:56pm PDT · 8 comments

Fast, a startup that develops one-click checkout software for online merchants, is trying to find a buyer after failing to raise a new round of funding, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. Fast has raised about $120 million from investors including payments firm Stripe and Index ventures, but its main product, which helps... Fast, a startup that develops one-click checkout software for online merchants, is trying to find...

Peter Chernin. Photo by Bloomberg.

Chernin Looks to Acquire TV Studios in Expansion Plan

By Jessica Toonkel · Mar 31, 2022 9:22am PDT · 1 comment

Media mogul Peter Chernin wants to expand aggressively in film and TV production. Chernin, a former top executive at Rupert Murdoch’s empire who has built his own media fiefdom over the past decade, is scouting for acquisitions that could scale his company to a point where it could go public in the next three years, according to people... Media mogul Peter Chernin wants to expand aggressively in film and TV production. Chernin, a...

Signage at Qualcomm headquarters in San Diego. Photo: Bloomberg.

Why Qualcomm Failed to Land Meta as Its Flagship AI Chip Customer

By Stephen Nellis · Mar 31, 2022 6:00am PDT

Signage at Qualcomm headquarters in San Diego. Photo: Bloomberg.

Why Qualcomm Failed to Land Meta as Its Flagship AI Chip Customer

By Stephen Nellis · Mar 31, 2022 6:00am PDT

Qualcomm is the world’s biggest supplier of mobile phone processors, having perfected the art of packing computing capability into power-efficient chips. In 2019, the San Diego company declared its ambitions to use its energy efficiency expertise to break into the fast-growing market for the artificial intelligence chips used in data... Qualcomm is the world’s biggest supplier of mobile phone processors, having perfected the...

Fast HQ in San Francisco. Photo by Fast.

Stripe-Backed Fast Puts Job Cuts on the Table as It Tries to Raise Money

By Malique Morris and Kate Clark · Mar 30, 2022 10:30am PDT · 1 comment

Domm Holland, CEO of one-click checkout startup Fast, is telling potential new investors that the company plans to cut hundreds of jobs, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told The Information. The cuts would mark a dramatic setback for the three-year-old Fast, which has raised a total of $124 million from payments giant Stripe and... Domm Holland, CEO of one-click checkout startup Fast, is telling potential new investors that the...

Lachy Groom. Photo by Getty Images.

Solo Venture Capitalists Go Big

By Kate Clark · Mar 30, 2022 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Solo venture capitalists, a growing breed of individual tech investors who compete with traditional Silicon Valley venture capital firms, are raising bigger funds, writing larger checks and beefing up staff even as worsening macroeconomic conditions push down startup valuations and force cost cutting. Lachy Groom, a former Stripe product leader... Solo venture capitalists, a growing breed of individual tech investors who compete with...

GoPuff advertisements in NYC. Photo by Business Wire

Gopuff Plans Hundreds of Layoffs to Cut $40 Million in Costs

By Berber Jin · Mar 29, 2022 5:34pm PDT · 1 comment

Gopuff, the instant-delivery company valued at $15 billion last fall, is preparing to lay off hundreds of employees, or around 3% of its global workforce, said a person with knowledge of the matter. The cuts are part of an effort to reduce annual head count costs by at least $40 million, said another person who was briefed about the move. The... Gopuff, the instant-delivery company valued at $15 billion last fall, is preparing to lay off...

Photo by Fast.

Why Stripe’s ‘Fast’ Horse Is Losing the One-Click Checkout Race

By Malique Morris · Mar 29, 2022 6:00am PDT · 7 comments

Photo by Fast.

Why Stripe’s ‘Fast’ Horse Is Losing the One-Click Checkout Race

By Malique Morris · Mar 29, 2022 6:00am PDT · 7 comments

Several startups have been racing to sell software known as one-click checkout to retailers such as The Honest Company and Forever 21 to speed up how their customers pay for products online. But Fast, the only startup in the field backed by payments provider Stripe, has been slow to grow its business and is far behind rivals. The San... Several startups have been racing to sell software known as one-click checkout to retailers such...