Q&A

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Aart de Geus, chairman and co-CEO of Synopsys. Photo by Bloomberg.
Q&A

Synopsys CEO Sees Downsides in Tech’s ‘Deglobalization’

By Stephen Nellis · Mar 22, 2022 10:00am PDT
Synopsys is one of two key American companies that dominate the global market in software for designing advanced chips. The Mountain View, Calif.–based company is a choke point that U.S. regulators turn to when they seek to cut off a country’s or company’s ability to create its own chips, as American officials did with Huawei... Synopsys is one of two key American companies that dominate the global market in software for...
Cisco Chief People Officer Francine Katsoudas
Q&A

Cisco Tries to Keep Workers by Asking: Bigger Bonus or Higher Salary?

By Mark Matousek · Mar 2, 2022 6:09am PST · 2 comments
Last year, a rise in the rate of workers leaving Cisco Systems caught the attention of the top human resources executive at the networking gear giant. To address this concern, the company is asking workers how frequently they want to be paid and their preferences regarding bonuses. Those moves are designed to retain more of the... Last year, a rise in the rate of workers leaving Cisco Systems caught the attention of...
Anthony Eisen is the Co-founder and Co-CEO of Afterpay
Q&A

What’s Next for Afterpay After Acquisition by Dorsey’s Block

By Malique Morris · Feb 18, 2022 10:35am PST
Afterpay co-CEO Anthony Eisen is experiencing the buy now, pay later industry at an inflection point as competition mounts and the pandemic tailwind for e-commerce fades. And stand-alone services have two options to battle that: Differentiate themselves or look for a deal to scale up. The Australia-based online lender is now part of... Afterpay co-CEO Anthony Eisen is experiencing the buy now, pay later industry at an inflection...
Photo by Tina Barney
Top Vanity Fair Editor Radhika Jones Eyes Big Opportunities in E-Commerce, Video
By Jessica Toonkel · Feb 14, 2022 10:37am PST
Photo by Tina Barney
Q&A

Top Vanity Fair Editor Radhika Jones Eyes Big Opportunities in E-Commerce, Video

By Jessica Toonkel · Feb 14, 2022 10:37am PST
Vanity Fair has never seen so much competition. From stalwarts like Variety that have been covering the entertainment industry for years, to newer startups like Puck News and Ankler Media, a joint venture founded by Richard Rushfield and Janice Min, there are perhaps more news organizations covering power and conflict in Hollywood and beyond... Vanity Fair has never seen so much competition. From stalwarts like Variety that have been...
Sarah Tavel. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch. Art by Mike Sullivan
Q&A

Full Interview With Benchmark’s Sarah Tavel

By Berber Jin · Jan 19, 2022 6:00am PST
In an interview, Benchmark general partner Sarah Tavel elaborated on her views about the evolving crypto market for venture capitalists—and where the premier early-stage investor fits in a landscape crowded by multibillion-dollar funds and specialist VC firms. She also talks about the prospects for decentralized autonomous organizations,... In an interview, Benchmark general partner Sarah Tavel elaborated on her views about the evolving...
Joshua Kushner. Photo by Thrive Capital
Q&A

After Blockbuster Year, Thrive’s Kushner Says He Still Has ‘a Lot to Prove’

By Kate Clark · Jan 14, 2022 4:30am PST · 4 comments
Thrive Capital, once a scrappy young fund, has evolved into a formidable competitor to established venture capital firms, thanks to lucrative stakes in Instagram, Stripe and Slack. Yet the New York firm founded by Joshua Kushner 12 years ago still carries remnants of its newcomer status. That may explain why Thrive’s band of 30-somethings... Thrive Capital, once a scrappy young fund, has evolved into a formidable competitor to...
Rod Sims, Australia's chief antitrust official. Photo by AP.
Q&A

Don’t Break Up Big Tech, Says Antitrust Enforcer Who Fought Facebook

By Mark Di Stefano · Jan 7, 2022 3:41pm PST · 5 comments
Australia has been punching way above its weight when it comes to tech regulation. Its showdown over news on Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms’ Facebook last year grabbed the world’s attention, forcing the two internet companies to back down from threats and agree to deals with traditional media outlets that are... Australia has been punching way above its weight when it comes to tech regulation. Its showdown...
Tim Armstrong. Photo by Bloomberg
Former AOL CEO Tim Armstrong Says the ‘Earthverse’ Matters More Now Than the Metaverse
By Jessica Toonkel · Dec 14, 2021 9:02am PST
Tim Armstrong. Photo by Bloomberg
Q&A

Former AOL CEO Tim Armstrong Says the ‘Earthverse’ Matters More Now Than the Metaverse

By Jessica Toonkel · Dec 14, 2021 9:02am PST
Digital advertising veteran Tim Armstrong thinks Facebook’s rebranding to Meta Platforms was “number one in the best marketing jiujitsu moves of the last 200 years.” But while he thinks there is a big opportunity in the metaverse long term, he is more upbeat about the near-term opportunity of what he calls the... Digital advertising veteran Tim Armstrong thinks Facebook’s rebranding to Meta Platforms...
Getir CEO Nazim Salur. Photo: Getir
Q&A

Instant-Delivery Startup Wars Heat Up as Turkey’s Getir Expands in U.S.

By Berber Jin · Nov 29, 2021 12:47pm PST · 1 comment
Nazim Salur, the founder and CEO of six-year-old Getir, has an ambitious goal: He expects to offer the startup’s 10-minute grocery-delivery services to major cities on the West Coast within one year. Getir also expects to eventually serve the suburbs of cities like Los Angeles, areas normally avoided by ultrafast providers given their... Nazim Salur, the founder and CEO of six-year-old Getir, has an ambitious goal: He expects to...
Fred Ehrsam, left, and Matt Huang. Photo by Ethan Pines
Q&A

‘Crypto Is Culture’: After One-Upping Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm Founders Open Up

By Kate Clark · Nov 16, 2021 12:09pm PST
As a co-founder of Coinbase, Fred Ehrsam tried to raise money for the cryptocurrency-exchange startup from Sequoia Capital, Silicon Valley’s premier venture capital firm. The firm turned him down twice, he told The Information in an interview, but Coinbase went on to be worth $100 billion as a public company. After Ehrsam left Coinbase in... As a co-founder of Coinbase, Fred Ehrsam tried to raise money for the cryptocurrency-exchange...
Mike Volpi. Photo by Bloomberg.
Q&A

Index’s Volpi Sees New Wave of Conflicts in Enterprise Software

By Kevin McLaughlin · Nov 8, 2021 6:00am PST · 7 comments
Brace yourselves for more conflict among the software arms merchants in the enterprise. That’s one of the predictions of Mike Volpi, a longtime venture capitalist and tech executive who has become an active investor in the category. In an interview with The Information, Volpi said he anticipated more collisions between companies in... Brace yourselves for more conflict among the software arms merchants in the enterprise. ...
Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse. Photo: Ripple Labs
Ripple CEO: It’s ‘a Joke’ That Some Execs Believe SEC Isn’t Harming Crypto
By Hannah Miller · Oct 19, 2021 6:01am PDT · 1 comment
Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse. Photo: Ripple Labs
Q&A

Ripple CEO: It’s ‘a Joke’ That Some Execs Believe SEC Isn’t Harming Crypto

By Hannah Miller · Oct 19, 2021 6:01am PDT · 1 comment
Ripple Labs, the $10 billion valuation startup behind the digital currency XRP, has ridden a wave of interest in crypto: Transactions on its payment network gained 33% in the third quarter, bolstering its bank balance to more than $500 million. Blank-check companies have approached the firm about taking it public through a merger, said CEO Brad... Ripple Labs, the $10 billion valuation startup behind the digital currency XRP, has ridden a wave...
ConsenSys CEO Joseph Lubin. Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan
Q&A

ConsenSys CEO Lubin: SEC Isn’t Hurting Crypto Innovation

By Hannah Miller · Oct 4, 2021 6:01am PDT · 1 comment
The crypto industry’s leaders and U.S. regulators have few kind words to say about each other these days. Coinbase CEO Brian Amstrong has slammed the Securities and Exchange Commission for “some really sketchy behavior.” SEC Chair Gary Gensler has likened the industry to the Wild West—or a casino. But Joseph Lubin, 57,... The crypto industry’s leaders and U.S. regulators have few kind words to say about each...
Oracle Chief Marketing Officer Ariel Kelman, previously the global marketing chief at Amazon Web Services. Photo: Oracle
Q&A

Ex-AWS Exec Kelman, Now at Oracle, Calls AWS Prices ‘Hostile’ to Customers

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 29, 2021 12:34pm PDT · 2 comments
Ariel Kelman spent nine years as global marketing chief of Amazon Web Services, but it only took him 18 months at AWS’ smaller rival, Oracle, to publicly criticize his former employer. In an interview with The Information, Kelman blasts some much-criticized AWS practices such as the heavy fees it charges customers to move data out of one... Ariel Kelman spent nine years as global marketing chief of Amazon Web Services, but it only took...
Splunk CEO Doug Merritt. Photo by Bloomberg. Illustration by Mike Sullivan
Q&A

Splunk CEO Merritt Says Cloud Will Soon Be 50% of Its Business, Double From Start of Pandemic

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 27, 2021 6:01am PDT
Splunk CEO Doug Merritt tries not to show it but he’s clearly a little frustrated with Wall Street. The 18-year-old enterprise software company’s stock has dropped 30% since last fall, wiping out all its gains earlier in 2020, even as Splunk’s cloud-based software sales soared thanks to the impact of remote work on corporate... Splunk CEO Doug Merritt tries not to show it but he’s clearly a little frustrated with Wall...
Affirm CEO Max Levchin. Photo courtesy of Affirm
Affirm is More Buyer or Partner Than Seller, Levchin Says
By Malique Morris · Sep 13, 2021 10:52am PDT
Affirm CEO Max Levchin. Photo courtesy of Affirm
Q&A

Affirm is More Buyer or Partner Than Seller, Levchin Says

By Malique Morris · Sep 13, 2021 10:52am PDT
Affirm, a leading player in the fast-growing “buy now, pay later” online lending market, sees itself more as a buyer than a seller, according to CEO Max Levchin. But despite a gold-rush mentality over the past few weeks, as PayPal and Square both struck big acquisitions, Levchin told The Information in an interview he’s not... Affirm, a leading player in the fast-growing “buy now, pay later” online lending...
Anthony Levandowski. Photos by Bloomberg, Pronto.ai (truck). Art by Mike Sullivan.
Q&A

In First Post-Pardon Interview, Anthony Levandowski Explains Startup’s Pivot to Mining

By Amir Efrati · Sep 9, 2021 12:07pm PDT · 1 comment
If Donald Trump had won reelection last fall, Anthony Levandowski, one of the most prominent developers of self-driving cars and trucks, would currently be in prison as Inmate No. 25728-111. Instead, on the last day of his presidency Trump pardoned Levandowski, thanks to several people Levandowski knew who were close to Trump adviser Peter... If Donald Trump had won reelection last fall, Anthony Levandowski, one of the most prominent...
Zhao Changpeng, CEO of Binance. Photo by Bloomberg
Q&A

Binance Founder Says U.S. Crypto Exchange Targets IPO In Three Years

By Hannah Miller · Sep 1, 2021 2:56pm PDT · 2 comments
Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has run into a stream of regulatory and legal problems. But founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao is confident that the exchange can overcome these recent setbacks—and that its affiliate in the U.S. will move toward a public listing there. Binance.US is set to close on a large private... Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has run into a stream of regulatory...
Facebook executive David Marcus. Photo: Facebook
Q&A

Facebook’s David Marcus: Ready to Launch Crypto Wallet This Year

By Hannah Miller · Aug 25, 2021 3:09pm PDT · 1 comment
Facebook staff “feel pretty committed” to the launch this year of a digital wallet that would allow its 2.9 billion users to store cryptocurrencies, said David Marcus, the social network’s top crypto executive, in an extended interview with The Information. That release could potentially happen before the introduction of diem,... Facebook staff “feel pretty committed” to the launch this year of a digital wallet...
David Sykes, head of Klarna North America. Photo: Klarna
Klarna’s U.S. Chief: Expect a 12-Month ‘Land Grab’ in Buy Now, Pay Later Services
By Malique Morris and Mark Di Stefano · Aug 24, 2021 6:00am PDT · 1 comment
David Sykes, head of Klarna North America. Photo: Klarna
Q&A

Klarna’s U.S. Chief: Expect a 12-Month ‘Land Grab’ in Buy Now, Pay Later Services

By Malique Morris and Mark Di Stefano · Aug 24, 2021 6:00am PDT · 1 comment
Stockholm-based Klarna, the oldest and biggest of the payment firms dedicated to buy now, pay later services, isn’t a household name in the U.S. But that may soon change. Klarna has been going directly after deals with large U.S. retailers such as Macy’s, Sephora and Nike. Targeting big retailers—rather than focusing on deals... Stockholm-based Klarna, the oldest and biggest of the payment firms dedicated to buy now, pay...