The Information

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Photo by Bloomberg.

At Twitter, Who Makes Decision to Sell?

By Martin Peers and Steve Nellis · Sep 23, 2016 2:22pm PDT

So who at Twitter decides whether to sell? Right now, that may be a crucial question for potential bidders reported to be looking, such as Salesforce.com.If it’s up to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, there may be no deal. Mr. Dorsey was, at least until recently, opposed to selling the company, says a person with knowledge of the situation. Mr.... So who at Twitter decides whether to sell? Right now, that may be a crucial question for...

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes. Photo by Bloomberg.

High Prices Remain Obstacle for New Web TV Services

By Tom Dotan · Aug 4, 2016 10:00am PDT · 11 comments

Hulu’s plans for launching the latest online version of pay TV moved closer to reality with Time Warner’s agreement on Wednesday to license its channels to the service. But Time Warner also showed why the new online services, which include one expected from YouTube, will find it tough to win over consumers. Despite declining numbers... Hulu’s plans for launching the latest online version of pay TV moved closer to reality with...

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Flawed Logic Behind Oracle’s NetSuite Deal

By Steve Nellis · Jul 28, 2016 11:19am PDT

Oracle Corp.’s $9.3 billion bid for cloud financial software provider NetSuite should help boost Oracle’s lagging cloud business. But Oracle is paying a high price, particularly as NetSuite is too small to really move the needle for Oracle. Another big issue: NetSuite plays in a software category—financial management... Oracle Corp.’s $9.3 billion bid for cloud financial software provider NetSuite should help...

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Photo by Bloomberg.

For Salesforce, it’s Eat or Be Eaten

By Steve Nellis · Jun 29, 2016 10:26am PDT · 1 comment

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Photo by Bloomberg.

For Salesforce, it’s Eat or Be Eaten

By Steve Nellis · Jun 29, 2016 10:26am PDT · 1 comment

Marc Benioff has built Salesforce into a major force in cloud software in recent years, in large part through acquisitions. But in losing LinkedIn to Microsoft, the limits of Mr. Benioff’s ability to compete with bigger firms for deals showed. And that raises the prospect that Salesforce could end up itself being bought, perhaps by... Marc Benioff has built Salesforce into a major force in cloud software in recent years, in large...

Apple's Senior Vice President of software engineering, Craig Federighi. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple’s Machines Can Learn Too

By Amir Efrati · Jun 13, 2016 6:04pm PDT · 2 comments

Amid the new features unveiled at Apple’s annual developer conference were some that demonstrated the company is making progress on artificial intelligence. It was an important rebuttal for critics of the company’s ability to compete in advanced software with the likes of Google, Facebook or Microsoft.One little-noticed but important... Amid the new features unveiled at Apple’s annual developer conference were some that...

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield. Photo by Bloomberg.

Slack, LinkedIn and the Trouble with Social Networks

By Steve Nellis · Jun 13, 2016 4:24pm PDT · 4 comments

There’s one lesson from the Microsoft-LinkedIn deal that companies like Slack should keep in mind: It’s really hard to make big money off a social network unless it has both scale and engagement.Facebook and LinkedIn started within a year of each other. But now, more than a dozen years later, Facebook counts nearly one out of every... There’s one lesson from the Microsoft-LinkedIn deal that companies like Slack should keep...

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner. Photo by Bloomberg.

LinkedIn is Microsoft’s Sales Software Play

By Steve Nellis · Jun 13, 2016 9:02am PDT · 1 comment

LinkedIn is one of the most-used pieces of sales software on earth, disguised as a social network. But it’s had a tough time turning its sales business into a money-maker, instead relying on recruiting and marketing tools to bring in the bulk of its revenue. Paired with Microsoft’s more fully fledged sales software and massive... LinkedIn is one of the most-used pieces of sales software on earth, disguised as a social...

Larry Ellison. Photo by Bloomberg.

In the Cloud, Oracle Shops the Discount Aisle

By Steve Nellis · May 2, 2016 12:02pm PDT

Larry Ellison. Photo by Bloomberg.

In the Cloud, Oracle Shops the Discount Aisle

By Steve Nellis · May 2, 2016 12:02pm PDT

With two deals in two weeks, Oracle seems to have kicked off the cloud software deal-making spree that The Information and others have predicted for a year. It’s easy to see why: Oracle is getting much-needed cloud revenue at historically low prices in industries where it already has a foothold it can leverage. A quick sift through... With two deals in two weeks, Oracle seems to have kicked off the cloud software deal-making spree...

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Slack Needs a Product Fix

By Steve Nellis · Apr 13, 2016 7:02am PDT · 6 comments

Slack’s recent $200 million fundraising, at a 36% higher valuation than a year ago, is a reminder that investors remain big believers in the fast-growing chat app. Slack not only aims to win the niche of chat. It also wants to be the main way that people communicate with each other and with the various software systems that make up a... Slack’s recent $200 million fundraising, at a 36% higher valuation than a year ago, is a...

Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley. Photo by Bloomberg.

How Foursquare’s Investors Fared in Down Round

By Alfred Lee · Jan 19, 2016 10:18am PST · 1 comment

Foursquare announced new financing last week that reportedly cut the valuation of the company by roughly half. But a close reading of the company’s charter shows investors in certain rounds, such as series C, come out of the down round much worse off than those in series D.If Foursquare ends up getting sold at the latest valuation, Series... Foursquare announced new financing last week that reportedly cut the valuation of the company by...

Google's director of Android engineering, David Burke. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Case Against a Google Phone

By Amir Efrati · Nov 11, 2015 7:01am PST · 5 comments

Whether to build a phone from scratch and sell it directly to consumers is a matter of debate inside of Google, as we reported on Tuesday. Given the risks of such a move and the low chance of success, it seems a bad idea for Google to pull the trigger.Among the issues: Google could alienate its handset maker partners, like Samsung or Huawei, by... Whether to build a phone from scratch and sell it directly to consumers is a matter of debate...

Square and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Photo by Bloomberg.

Jack Dorsey is Squarely in Control

By Martin Peers · Oct 14, 2015 3:20pm PDT

Square and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Photo by Bloomberg.

Jack Dorsey is Squarely in Control

By Martin Peers · Oct 14, 2015 3:20pm PDT

With his second startup, Square, Jack Dorsey appears to have learned an important lesson from his Twitter experience: It's vital to retain effective voting control.Mr. Dorsey has 24.4% of Square’s voting shares, the company disclosed in its initial public offering securities filing on Wednesday. That doesn’t sound like a lot,... With his second startup, Square, Jack Dorsey appears to have learned an important lesson from his...

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, left, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, middle, at Dreamforce on Wednesday. Photo by Bloomberg.

Risks in Salesforce’s Reliance on Outside Tech

By Steve Nellis · Sep 17, 2015 3:00pm PDT

Salesforce.com has long relied on technology from others, including its competitors, to power its subscription sales software and app-building platforms. But given its stated ambition to overtake SAP as the third biggest software firm in the world, its reliance on others represents major risks.This issue came to the surface again at... Salesforce.com has long relied on technology from others, including its competitors, to power its...

Google CEO Larry Page. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Alphabet Means

By Jessica E. Lessin and Amir Efrati · Aug 10, 2015 3:05pm PDT · 3 comments

Google’s morphing into Alphabet was many years coming. It’s no secret that Google’s founders haven’t considered themselves a search company for a while—Larry Page said so in so many words two years ago at TED. But why now? The answer, according to people involved, is simple: Google’s growing ambitions were complicating an already complicated... Google’s morphing into Alphabet was many years coming. It’s no secret that Google’s founders...

Workday co-founders David Duffield and Aneel Bhusri. Photo by Bloomberg.

Microsoft Should Buy Workday

By Steve Nellis · Jul 7, 2015 9:01am PDT · 5 comments

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has done a lot to shake up Microsoft, cutting executives and staff and shedding business units deemed non-essential. But if he wants to transform Microsoft into a company that can withstand increasing attacks from Google and others in its traditional stronghold among corporate IT departments, there’s one thing... Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has done a lot to shake up Microsoft, cutting executives and staff...

Lachlan, Rupert and James Murdoch. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Everyone Is Missing About Fox’s Management Change

By Martin Peers · Jun 17, 2015 10:06am PDT · 2 comments

Lachlan, Rupert and James Murdoch. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Everyone Is Missing About Fox’s Management Change

By Martin Peers · Jun 17, 2015 10:06am PDT · 2 comments

James Murdoch’s promotion to CEO of 21st Century Fox has been greeted as the answer to the years-long question of who would succeed his father, Rupert Murdoch, in control of the family empire. In reality, it may kick-off a decades-long sibling rivalry between James and his brother Lachlan. After all, while much of the media coverage focused on... James Murdoch’s promotion to CEO of 21st Century Fox has been greeted as the answer to the...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Apple Could (But Won’t) Do To Save News

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jun 8, 2015 1:05pm PDT · 2 comments

I spend a lot of time thinking about the future of news and its business models. And lately my thinking has boiled down to this: Television has a killer business model, with networks like ESPN and Bravo getting fees from distributors and advertising revenues. How does traditional print and digital news replicate the approach? Well, the first... I spend a lot of time thinking about the future of news and its business models. And lately my...

Google CEO Larry Page. Photo by Bloomberg.

On Search Ads, Google Sounding More Like Facebook

By Amir Efrati · May 8, 2015 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Google’s announcement of new search-advertising tools earlier this week must have put a smile on the faces of executives at Facebook. Google’s moves bolstered Facebook’s campaign to lessen the value advertisers place on search ads. At the same time though, Google took steps to limit the fallout by highlighting the usefulness of “display” and... Google’s announcement of new search-advertising tools earlier this week must have put a smile on...

Google CEO Larry Page. Photo by Bloomberg.

The EU’s Case Against Google Makes No Sense

By Amir Efrati · Apr 16, 2015 11:41am PDT · 10 comments

The European Commission’s antitrust case against Google is rubbish.I say that even though I was among the first to document the way Google has increasingly pushed Google Search traffic to the company’s own “vertical” search services like comparison shopping and local-business results at the expense of non-Google websites,... The European Commission’s antitrust case against Google is rubbish.I say that even though I...

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston. Photo by Bloomberg.

Dropbox’s Softbank Deal Highlights Enterprise Push

By Steve Nellis · Apr 7, 2015 11:59am PDT · 1 comment

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston. Photo by Bloomberg.

Dropbox’s Softbank Deal Highlights Enterprise Push

By Steve Nellis · Apr 7, 2015 11:59am PDT · 1 comment

Dropbox’s announcement late Monday that it will use SoftBank to sell Dropbox to businesses in Japan highlights a new reality for the company: uncertainty about growth in the consumer market means enterprise customers are likely to be of increasing importance. But the company is playing from behind in terms of features prized by corporate... Dropbox’s announcement late Monday that it will use SoftBank to sell Dropbox to businesses in...