The Information

Special Offer: Subscribe today for a free ticket ($499 value) to The Future of Startups. Redeem Now

Pricing

Startups Markets

The People With Power at Robinhood

By Kate Clark · Jan. 22, 2021 6:01 AM PST · 3 comments

Last year, as Robinhood’s trading activity boomed and legal problems mounted, the $11.7 billion startup shook up the ranks of its senior staff. The turnover means many top employees will be relative newcomers at the time of its anticipated public listing this year. The Menlo Park, Calif., company saw the departures of its head of... Last year, as Robinhood’s trading activity boomed and legal problems mounted, the $11.7...

Art by Jesse Howe

Google

The People With Power at Alphabet’s Other Bets

By Amir Efrati and Nick Bastone · Dec. 29, 2020 6:01 AM PST · 9 comments

The sudden retirement last year of Alphabet’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, raised the prospect that newly promoted Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai would curtail business efforts external to the Google cash cow. He’s shown no sign of taking that direction so far, and budgets for many of the “Other Bets,”... The sudden retirement last year of Alphabet’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey...

Real Estate Markets

The People With Power at Opendoor

By Cory Weinberg · Dec. 4, 2020 6:00 AM PST

Six-year-old Opendoor ushered in a new era in residential real estate when it launched a website that allowed people to sell their homes online. While Opendoor still accounts for only a tiny portion of U.S. home sales, its business has grown rapidly and spawned numerous imitators, all betting that consumers will be willing to pay a premium to... Six-year-old Opendoor ushered in a new era in residential real estate when it launched a website...

The People With Power at Stripe as It Gets Closer to an IPO

By Kate Clark · Oct. 16, 2020 6:01 AM PDT

Startups E-commerce

The People With Power at Stripe as It Gets Closer to an IPO

By Kate Clark · Oct. 16, 2020 6:01 AM PDT

Stripe CEO Patrick Collison has said the e-commerce payments company he and his brother co-founded 10 years ago needs to finish “core pillars of the product” before it goes public. In the meantime, the Collisons have been hiring senior Amazon and General Motors executives with the critical experience to do just that. The... Stripe CEO Patrick Collison has said the e-commerce payments company he and his brother...

Asia

The People With Power at TikTok Owner Bytedance

By Yunan Zhang and Juro Osawa · Sept. 14, 2020 1:15 PM PDT

ByteDance, owner of the powerhouse social media app TikTok that is caught up in the U.S.-China trade and cybersecurity war, has been busy restructuring itself as it looks to duplicate TikTok’s success internationally with some of its newer apps, according to new data viewed by The Information.Assuming ByteDance, whose leadership is based... ByteDance, owner of the powerhouse social media app TikTok that is caught up in the U.S.-China...

Travel Real Estate

The People With Power at Airbnb After Shakeup

By Cory Weinberg · July 20, 2020 7:01 AM PDT · 1 comment

In 2017, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky restructured the fast-growing travel company to more closely resemble Amazon, a company whose handling of diverse business lines he had long admired. Reflecting Airbnb’s expansion into new areas, he created four separate product divisions and brought in a top Amazon executive to lead home rentals, the... In 2017, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky restructured the fast-growing travel company to more closely...

Facebook

The People With the Power at Facebook After Chris Cox’s Return

By Alex Heath · July 8, 2020 7:01 AM PDT

In Facebook’s upper ranks, what’s old is new again.That’s because Chris Cox, one of Facebook’s most senior executives, recently returned as chief product officer, reporting to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, after a yearlong hiatus. As before, his domain includes the social network’s four main apps, as we show in our updated... In Facebook’s upper ranks, what’s old is new again.That’s because Chris Cox,...

Google Reorg Gives Top Exec Portfolio to Jump-Start Shopping

By Nick Bastone · June 18, 2020 12:28 PM PDT · 2 comments

Google E-commerce

Google Reorg Gives Top Exec Portfolio to Jump-Start Shopping

By Nick Bastone · June 18, 2020 12:28 PM PDT · 2 comments

Until a few weeks ago, when Google staffers wanted to test new shopping features for Google’s search home page, the need to get approval from Google’s search team sometimes held things up, former employees say. But a management shake-up earlier this month, giving a key executive responsibility for search and e-commerce, could smooth... Until a few weeks ago, when Google staffers wanted to test new shopping features for...

Google COVID-19

Managing Google During the Coronavirus Crisis

By Nick Bastone and Amir Efrati · April 10, 2020 7:01 AM PDT

Google, which began humbly in a garage in Palo Alto, California, has unexpectedly gone back to its domestic roots. Like other tech companies, Google last month sent nearly all of its employees—around 114,000 of them in total—to work from home with the aim of curbing the spread of the coronavirus. It is one of many ways the... Google, which began humbly in a garage in Palo Alto, California, has unexpectedly gone back to...

The People With Power at Snap

By Tom Dotan and Alex Heath · June 17, 2019 7:01 AM PDT

Snap is on the mend. After a year of turmoil, when most of the top management team departed and the stock plunged to as low as $5, things have stabilized. The revolving door of executive departures has halted, at least for the moment. A new senior team, with more women than in the past, is in place, drawn from companies as varied as Amazon,... Snap is on the mend. After a year of turmoil, when most of the top management team departed and...

Policy Facebook

The People With Power on Facebook’s Policy and Communications Team

By Ashley Gold · March 27, 2019 6:30 AM PDT · 4 comments

Facebook is facing growing public outcry over how it runs its business, intense political and regulatory scrutiny of its handling of user information, and lawsuits and investigations into data breaches and privacy scandals. It all adds up to the worst crisis for the company since its founding. And there’s no end in sight.Confronted with... Facebook is facing growing public outcry over how it runs its business, intense political and...