The Information

Workers at a Foxconn assembly line in Shenzhen, China. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple Turned Blind Eye to Supplier Breaches of Chinese Labor Laws

By Wayne Ma · Dec 9, 2020 6:00am PST · 2 comments

In 2014, Apple executives became alarmed when China enacted a new labor law meant to protect workers’ rights. The law required that no more than 10% of a factory’s workforce be temporary workers. Typically these employees have fewer benefits and legal protections than permanent ones, but Apple’s suppliers increasingly relied on... In 2014, Apple executives became alarmed when China enacted a new labor law meant to protect...

Groceries being distributed from a local shop working with Didi Chuxing. Photo provided by Didi Chuxing.

Shaved Heads, 84-Hour Work Week as China Tech Gets Into Groceries

By Yunan Zhang · Dec 8, 2020 6:01am PST · 5 comments

When Didi Chuxing, China’s biggest ride-hailing app, launched its online grocery business six months ago, some operations employees shaved their heads to show their commitment. In Chengdu, a city of 16 million in the southwestern province of Sichuan, these employees worked until midnight, slept in cots in their office and toiled... When Didi Chuxing, China’s biggest ride-hailing app, launched its online grocery business...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Record Number of U.S. Firms Invested in Europe Tech This Year

By Mark Di Stefano · Dec 7, 2020 10:20am PST · 3 comments

Alex Lim, a partner at Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture firm IVP, flew to Europe six times in the 12 months before the coronavirus outbreak to visit founders and startups in the region. The pandemic abruptly halted those visits. But Lim’s interest in Europe didn’t flag. In the course of six months, he led his firm’s two... Alex Lim, a partner at Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture firm IVP, flew to Europe six times...

Mike Sullivan

Airbnb’s Biggest IPO Winners

By Cory Weinberg · Dec 7, 2020 6:00am PST · 15 comments

Mike Sullivan

Airbnb’s Biggest IPO Winners

By Cory Weinberg · Dec 7, 2020 6:00am PST · 15 comments

Sequoia Capital’s early bet on Airbnb will likely propel it to one of the greatest hauls in the history of venture capital, turning a $260 million investment made over the past 11 years into a stake that is now worth about $4.8 billion. But what hasn’t been previously reported is that the firm’s relationship with its portfolio... Sequoia Capital’s early bet on Airbnb will likely propel it to one of the greatest hauls in...

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar. Photo by Bloomberg.

WarnerMedia Considering CNN Streaming Service

By Jessica Toonkel · Dec 4, 2020 11:15am PST · 2 comments

AT&T’s WarnerMedia, long a giant in cable TV, was a late arrival to streaming video. Under its new CEO, Jason Kilar, Warner is trying to make up for lost time. Warner executives are discussing launching two new streaming services. One would be a subscription offering based on content from CNN and could launch next year. Another would... AT&T’s WarnerMedia, long a giant in cable TV, was a late arrival to streaming video....

Cue Health Monitoring System for testing for COVID-19 virus. Image by Cue Health

Covid Test Startup Cue Health in Talks for $2 Billion-Plus Valuation

By Kate Clark · Dec 4, 2020 10:00am PST

Cue Health, a startup that makes handheld coronavirus tests, is in discussion with investors about a new round of capital that could boost the company’s valuation to more than $2 billion, or at least four times the valuation in a fundraising just six months ago, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The San Diego... Cue Health, a startup that makes handheld coronavirus tests, is in discussion with investors...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks remotely during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2020. Photo: Bloomberg

Facebook Splits Up Unit At Center of Contested Election Decisions

By Alex Heath · Dec 3, 2020 1:28pm PST

Facebook is breaking up its unit focused on the social network’s role in elections globally, dispersing the team of roughly 300 through a sweeping reorganization beginning this week, according to internal memos seen by The Information. Employees from Civic Integrity, who have been at the center of Facebook’s contested decisions on... Facebook is breaking up its unit focused on the social network’s role in elections...

Jill Hazelbaker. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Uber’s Image Maker Emerges as Key Power Player

By Jessica E. Lessin and Amir Efrati · Dec 3, 2020 6:00am PST · 6 comments

Jill Hazelbaker. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Uber’s Image Maker Emerges as Key Power Player

By Jessica E. Lessin and Amir Efrati · Dec 3, 2020 6:00am PST · 6 comments

Minutes after Dara Khosrowshahi learned from a news report that he would be the next CEO of Uber, his phone rang. It was Uber’s head of communications, Jill Hazelbaker, who said “Welcome on board. Let’s get to work,” he recalls. Her next piece of advice was also very direct: “Get yourself a board of directors that... Minutes after Dara Khosrowshahi learned from a news report that he would be the next CEO of Uber,...

Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in the U.K. sit behind partition screens in a break room in October. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Drops Pandemic Test to Track Warehouse Workers Through Wi-Fi

By Mark Di Stefano · Nov 30, 2020 6:01am PST

Amazon has promised to spend billions of dollars this year on safety precautions to protect the workers in its warehouse facilities from the coronavirus pandemic. But it has quietly abandoned a test of one such safety measure that involved tracking the location of warehouse workers through their personal cell phones, The Information has learned.... Amazon has promised to spend billions of dollars this year on safety precautions to protect the...

Nick Clegg, Facebook’s VP of Global Affairs and Communications. Photo: AP.

Facebook Researchers Found Its ‘Political Whitelist’ Influenced Misinformation Spread

By Alex Heath · Nov 24, 2020 10:30am PST

During a September 2019 speech in Washington, D.C., Facebook’s global policy and communications chief Nick Clegg gave an ardent defense of the company’s policy to not fact-check politicians, saying that it wasn’t the social network’s role to “intervene when politicians speak.” Behind the scenes that summer,... During a September 2019 speech in Washington, D.C., Facebook’s global policy and...

Brex co-CEO Henrique Dubugras, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston and Splunk CEO Doug Merritt. Photos: Bloomberg

Tech CEOs Are Saying Goodbye to San Francisco

By Cory Weinberg, Kate Clark and Zoë Bernard · Nov 23, 2020 6:02am PST · 2 comments

Splunk, Dropbox and Brex followed similar formulas as they grew from small startups to established companies. To attract employees and customers, each set up elaborate San Francisco offices and plastered billboards for its services around the city. Dropbox three years ago leased a giant new office building on the city’s eastern edge.... Splunk, Dropbox and Brex followed similar formulas as they grew from small startups to...

A lidar sensor made by Hesai on an experimental self driving car in San Francisco last year. Photo by AP

Chinese Self-Driving Startups Plus and Hesai Considering Going Public

By Yunan Zhang · Nov 20, 2020 12:30pm PST

A lidar sensor made by Hesai on an experimental self driving car in San Francisco last year. Photo by AP

Chinese Self-Driving Startups Plus and Hesai Considering Going Public

By Yunan Zhang · Nov 20, 2020 12:30pm PST

High-profile Chinese autonomous driving tech startups are getting ready to go public, tempted by special purpose acquisition companies and heady valuations on Wall Street and in China’s own booming domestic stock markets. Autonomous trucking startups Plus and TuSimple, as well as lidar sensor maker Hesai Technology, are considering... High-profile Chinese autonomous driving tech startups are getting ready to go public, tempted by...

A help wanted sign hangs on the door of a Target store in Uniontown, Pa. Photo: AP

Job Site Hired, Once Valued at $500 Million, Discusses Winding Down

By Zoë Bernard · Nov 19, 2020 2:26pm PST · 2 comments

Hired, a recruitment service for tech jobs, has started a process to sell assets, pay off creditors and wind down the company, according to people familiar with the plans and a document seen by The Information. The company’s chief financial officer, Edward Schaffer, told some shareholders last week that the board has been unsuccessfully... Hired, a recruitment service for tech jobs, has started a process to sell assets, pay off...

The Loon team's Autolauncher. Photo by Loon

Alphabet’s Internet Balloon Subsidiary ‘Loon’ Hit Financing Turbulence

By Nick Bastone · Nov 18, 2020 6:02am PST · 3 comments

Doubts are growing about one of the first and most high-profile efforts by Google owner Alphabet to show that it can be more than an advertising cash machine. Loon, a decadelong project to provide internet to rural areas and islands around the world using high-altitude helium balloons, earned the company years of fawning coverage in the press... Doubts are growing about one of the first and most high-profile efforts by Google owner Alphabet...

Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Photo by Bloomberg

Jack Ma’s Investment Firm Raises $3 Billion as Foreign Capital Chases China

By Juro Osawa and Yunan Zhang · Nov 17, 2020 7:20pm PST

As China’s economy recovers from Covid-19, the country’s top-tier private equity and VC firms are raising billions of dollars for their new tech-focused funds from investors around the world. Yunfeng Capital, a Chinese private equity firm co-founded by Alibaba founder Jack Ma that also is a major shareholder of financial services... As China’s economy recovers from Covid-19, the country’s top-tier private equity and...

A Domio promotional photo from 2019. Photo via Business Wire

Rental Startup Domio Faces Likely Shut Down After Failing to Raise Funds

By Paris Martineau · Nov 17, 2020 12:26pm PST · 4 comments

A Domio promotional photo from 2019. Photo via Business Wire

Rental Startup Domio Faces Likely Shut Down After Failing to Raise Funds

By Paris Martineau · Nov 17, 2020 12:26pm PST · 4 comments

Domio, a short-term rental startup founded in 2016, has laid off most of its staff, is looking to sell its assets and could shut down, according to two investors in the company and documents viewed by The Information. After failing in an effort to raise at least $10 million in capital, the company laid off the majority of its employees earlier... Domio, a short-term rental startup founded in 2016, has laid off most of its staff, is looking to...

Marco Argenti of Goldman Sachs. Photo provided by Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs Goes on AWS Hiring Binge to Boost AI, Cloud Efforts

By Kevin McLaughlin · Nov 17, 2020 6:00am PST · 1 comment

A little over a year ago, Marco Argenti, a top engineering executive at Amazon Web Services, left the cloud computing arm of the internet retail giant to join Goldman Sachs as co–chief information officer. He brought with him some of the quirky practices he learned at Amazon—and, over time, more than a half-dozen Amazon colleagues... A little over a year ago, Marco Argenti, a top engineering executive at Amazon Web Services, left...

Photo of Mark Zuckerberg by Bloomberg. Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Facebook Rejected Employee Push to Throttle Misleading Political Posts

By Alex Heath · Nov 16, 2020 4:37pm PST · 3 comments

On Nov. 3, Facebook added an advisory under a post from President Donald Trump that included the unfounded claim that his opponents were trying to “steal the election.” Followers of Trump shared the post 26,000 times as he made his Facebook account a key part of his arsenal in raising doubts about the outcome of U.S. elections. ... On Nov. 3, Facebook added an advisory under a post from President Donald Trump that included the...

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. Photo: Bloomberg

Airbnb to Show Profit Improvement in Q3

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 16, 2020 12:18pm PST

A key measure of Airbnb’s profit rose by about two-thirds in the third quarter compared with the same period a year earlier, in a sign the travel rental site has controlled costs amid the pandemic-induced squeeze. The company’s operating profit before depreciation, amortization and stock compensation expenses rose to about $500... A key measure of Airbnb’s profit rose by about two-thirds in the third quarter compared...

Image by Popshop Live

Benchmark Wins Deal for Live-Shopping App Popshop at $100 Million Valuation

By Kate Clark and Alex Heath · Nov 12, 2020 10:38am PST · 1 comment

Image by Popshop Live

Benchmark Wins Deal for Live-Shopping App Popshop at $100 Million Valuation

By Kate Clark and Alex Heath · Nov 12, 2020 10:38am PST · 1 comment

Silicon Valley’s top venture capital funds have faced off again for an equity stake in a nascent social media app. This time it’s Popshop Live, a livestreaming app that enables individuals and businesses to sell products such as comic books and DIY crafts directly to customers. The Los Angeles–based startup has raised Series A... Silicon Valley’s top venture capital funds have faced off again for an equity stake in a...