The Information

Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Stripe, Mozilla, Others Form Tech ‘Challenger Group’ to Sway European Policy

By Mark Di Stefano · Nov 12, 2020 6:00am PST

A few years back, two Brussels-based lobbyists from midsize tech companies were out for drinks, and in the course of the conversation they realized they had a common problem. Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook were sucking all of the oxygen out of European debates about regulating the internet, leaving out the voices of smaller... A few years back, two Brussels-based lobbyists from midsize tech companies were out for drinks,...

A pedestrian walks past an Apple retail store in Shenzhen. In recent months, Apple has resumed sending some U.S. employees to China to meet with its manufacturing partners. Photo: Associated Press

Apple’s U.S. Staff Return to China, Encouraged by Cash Bonuses

By Nick Bastone and Wayne Ma · Nov 11, 2020 6:00am PST

A longstanding corporate road warrior is returning to China: the Apple employee. In recent months, Apple has resumed flying U.S. employees to China to work with the manufacturers that make most of its iPhones, Macs and iPads, according to seven current and former Apple employees and people working for its partners. These voluntary visits, which... A longstanding corporate road warrior is returning to China: the Apple employee. In recent...

Image by Shutterstock. Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Inside Amazon’s Trucking Ambitions

By Paris Martineau · Nov 10, 2020 6:01am PST · 2 comments

In recent years, Amazon has attracted wide attention with its effort to become a force in last-mile delivery, from its now ubiquitous delivery vans bearing the company’s smiley-face arrow logo to its experiments with drones. But the e-commerce giant is also quietly becoming a force in a less visible area: the trucking of goods between... In recent years, Amazon has attracted wide attention with its effort to become a force in...

Alexandr Wang, Scale AI Co-Founder and CEO. Photo by Bloomberg

AI Startup Scale Offered Funding at $3 Billion Valuation

By Kate Clark and Zoë Bernard · Nov 7, 2020 6:01am PST

Alexandr Wang, Scale AI Co-Founder and CEO. Photo by Bloomberg

AI Startup Scale Offered Funding at $3 Billion Valuation

By Kate Clark and Zoë Bernard · Nov 7, 2020 6:01am PST

Scale AI, a startup that helps companies such as Lyft, Toyota and DoorDash train artificial intelligence systems to recognize objects and analyze written documents, could soar past a $3 billion valuation with a new financing, according to two people familiar with the matter. The San Francisco–based company has received an offer of... Scale AI, a startup that helps companies such as Lyft, Toyota and DoorDash train artificial...

In typically tourist-filled Prague, Czech Republic, a man crosses a nearly empty Old Town Square. Photo: AP

Slump in City Travel Raises Risk Airbnb Hosts Will Look Elsewhere

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 5, 2020 6:01am PST

Airbnb’s business in big cities shrank in late summer compared with a year earlier, previously unreported figures show, as the coronavirus pandemic kept the brakes on urban travel. The steep decline has raised concern inside Airbnb that some hosts might abandon the platform permanently, which would reduce the number of listings and make it... Airbnb’s business in big cities shrank in late summer compared with a year earlier,...

Drew Houston (left), CEO of Dropbox, and Josh Silverman, CEO of Etsy. Photos by Bloomberg

The Next Congress Will Likely Take on Big Tech. Smaller Internet Companies Want a Voice

By Christopher Stern and Nick Bastone · Nov 4, 2020 6:01am PST · 2 comments

A group of more than a dozen medium-size tech companies, including Dropbox, Reddit and Etsy, are in talks to form their own lobbying coalition in Washington, D.C., to ensure that they don’t get swept up in new laws and regulations aimed at restricting the power of big technology companies. Regardless of who wins the presidential election,... A group of more than a dozen medium-size tech companies, including Dropbox, Reddit and Etsy, are...

Lyft's San Francisco driver hub. Photo by Bloomberg.

Two Senior Lyft Execs Depart on Eve of California Ballot Showdown

By Amir Efrati and Nick Bastone · Nov 3, 2020 12:29pm PST

Two senior executives at Lyft, in charge of strategic initiatives and design, are leaving the ride-hailing firm, The Information has learned. News of their departures, which follow the exits of three other senior executives in the past few months, came on the eve of the vote on Proposition 22, arguably the most important moment in the... Two senior executives at Lyft, in charge of strategic initiatives and design, are leaving the...

Fast CEO Domm Holland. Photo courtesy of Fast

Fast, a Startup Backed by Stripe, Discusses Billion-Dollar Valuation

By Kate Clark · Nov 2, 2020 7:07pm PST · 2 comments

Fast CEO Domm Holland. Photo courtesy of Fast

Fast, a Startup Backed by Stripe, Discusses Billion-Dollar Valuation

By Kate Clark · Nov 2, 2020 7:07pm PST · 2 comments

Fast, a two-year-old startup whose technology enables quick checkouts online, is in discussions with investors about a new round of financing between $50 million and $200 million. The deal could value the startup at as much as $1 billion, according to two people familiar with the talks. The discussions, which are in the early stages and could... Fast, a two-year-old startup whose technology enables quick checkouts online, is in discussions...

Karan Mehandru. Photo credit: Outreach

Trinity Ventures Loses Top Dealmaker After Pausing Fundraising During Pandemic

By Kate Clark · Nov 2, 2020 9:23am PST

Trinity Ventures, an early-stage VC firm founded in 1986 that took pre–initial public offering stakes in Starbucks and Zulily, is losing a top general partner. The departure is the latest blow to a firm that has already had to halt fundraising efforts on its next fund due to the coronavirus outbreak. Karan Mehandru, 42, who first joined... Trinity Ventures, an early-stage VC firm founded in 1986 that took pre–initial public...

Farfetch CEO Jose Neves. Photo by Bloomberg

Alibaba in Talks to Invest in Online Fashion Retailer Farfetch

By Juro Osawa · Nov 2, 2020 7:38am PST

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is in advanced discussions to invest nearly $300 million in London-based online luxury fashion retailer Farfetch, people familiar with the matter said, as China emerges as the most important battleground for luxury brands. Alibaba, whose shopping apps have 874 million monthly active users in China, and Farfetch,... Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is in advanced discussions to invest nearly $300 million in...

Art by Shutterstock/Mike Sullivan

Amazon Plans for Rural Deliveries Amid Postal Service Problems

By Paris Martineau · Nov 2, 2020 6:02am PST · 1 comment

Amazon has explored expanding its already giant distribution network to rural areas, one of the few parts of the U.S. where it doesn’t now handle its own deliveries, under a new initiative called Wagon Wheel. The move would take business away from the U.S. Postal Service, which now handles most of Amazon’s deliveries to remote... Amazon has explored expanding its already giant distribution network to rural areas, one of the...

Ballot-counting equipment at the Philadelphia Convention Center in September. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple Rejects App for Verifying Pennsylvania Ballots

By Nick Wingfield · Oct 30, 2020 3:32pm PDT · 2 comments

Ballot-counting equipment at the Philadelphia Convention Center in September. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple Rejects App for Verifying Pennsylvania Ballots

By Nick Wingfield · Oct 30, 2020 3:32pm PDT · 2 comments

Efforts to reject some ballots in battleground states like Pennsylvania could determine the outcome of next week’s election. But a mobile app designed to help ensure that Pennsylvania ballots are getting counted has already been rejected—by Apple. After almost two weeks of holding up the release of the app, called Drive Turnout,... Efforts to reject some ballots in battleground states like Pennsylvania could determine the...

Illustration by Jesus Escudero.

The 100X Club: Software Startup Valuations Skyrocket Despite Small Revenue

By Kate Clark and Amir Efrati · Oct 30, 2020 6:01am PDT

When San Francisco–based Retool raised new funding this month, investors valued the maker of software development tools at just below $1 billion, or 100 times its annualized revenue of roughly $10 million. This price, essentially a bet that the three-year-old firm’s growth has just begun, is becoming the new standard for financing... When San Francisco–based Retool raised new funding this month, investors valued the maker...

People waiting to enter JPMorgan Chase's headquarters in New York in September. Photo by Bloomberg

JPMorgan, Goldman Order Software ‘Code Freezes’ Around Election

By Kevin McLaughlin · Oct 29, 2020 12:42pm PDT · 2 comments

Top banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, are battening down their technology hatches for next week’s presidential election. Around next Tuesday, the final day of voting, JPMorgan and Goldman will both halt software updates to the retail and investment banking systems their customers use to manage accounts, The Information has... Top banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, are battening down their technology...

Airbnb policy and communications chief Chris Lehane. Photo by Getty. Photo illustration by Mike Sullivan

Airbnb’s Spin Master

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 28, 2020 8:18am PDT · 1 comment

Chris Lehane was piping mad. Laurence Tosi, Airbnb’s chief financial officer, had accused the Airbnb policy and communications chief of spending millions of dollars before Tosi had signed off on the plans, approval Lehane didn’t think he needed. Their dispute flared up near the parking lot behind Airbnb’s headquarters one... Chris Lehane was piping mad. Laurence Tosi, Airbnb’s chief financial officer, had accused...

Photos by Bloomberg; photo illustration by Mike Sullivan

Inside Apple’s Eroding Partnership With Foxconn

By Wayne Ma · Oct 27, 2020 11:05am PDT · 2 comments

Photos by Bloomberg; photo illustration by Mike Sullivan

Inside Apple’s Eroding Partnership With Foxconn

By Wayne Ma · Oct 27, 2020 11:05am PDT · 2 comments

When Apple’s 2018 iPad Pro was undergoing production trials at the company’s largest outside manufacturer, Foxconn Technology, the Taiwanese firm gave Apple a list of how many workers it needed to develop the new product. That was standard procedure for Foxconn, whose factories across China have been responsible for assembling the... When Apple’s 2018 iPad Pro was undergoing production trials at the company’s largest...

Photo by Bloomberg

AWS Warms Up to ‘Multicloud’ With Changes to Management Tools

By Kevin McLaughlin · Oct 26, 2020 12:21pm PDT · 1 comment

Amazon Web Services is taking another step towards acknowledging it’s not the only game in town. The cloud giant has never been happy with the idea that its customers might use other cloud providers for some of their computing needs. At one point, it even forbade its business partners from using the term “multicloud” in... Amazon Web Services is taking another step towards acknowledging it’s not the only...

Zillow CEO Richard Barton. Photo courtesy of Zillow. Photo illustration by Mike Sullivan

Tech Firms Leapt Into Remote Work. Now Comes the Hard Part

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 23, 2020 11:56am PDT · 2 comments

Over the summer, Zillow Group joined a swarm of companies telling employees they would never have to return to their offices on a regular basis. This marked a reversal for the online home-buying firm, which had leased some of Seattle’s most expensive real estate and added amenities like air hockey and pingpong. But after a few weeks... Over the summer, Zillow Group joined a swarm of companies telling employees they would never have...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, left, and Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield. Photos by Bloomberg

Microsoft Bashes Slack Complaint in European Antitrust Filing

By Mark Di Stefano and Nick Wingfield · Oct 23, 2020 6:01am PDT

Microsoft has privately told European competition authorities that Slack’s antitrust complaint against the tech giant was motivated essentially by sour grapes. In a recent confidential filing, Microsoft told the European Commission, which oversees competition regulation, that Slack brought its complaint against Microsoft because the... Microsoft has privately told European competition authorities that Slack’s antitrust...

Apple CEO Tim Cook, left, and with then-Chief Design Officer Jony Ive in 2018. Photo: Bloomberg

Airbnb Taps Jony Ive for Design Help

By Zoë Bernard and Cory Weinberg · Oct 21, 2020 4:05pm PDT

Apple CEO Tim Cook, left, and with then-Chief Design Officer Jony Ive in 2018. Photo: Bloomberg

Airbnb Taps Jony Ive for Design Help

By Zoë Bernard and Cory Weinberg · Oct 21, 2020 4:05pm PDT

Airbnb has hired famed former Apple designer Jony Ive as a creative consultant ahead of its initial public offering, CEO Brian Chesky said Wednesday. The hire is the most significant in a series of moves that has shaken up Airbnb’s creative team, a key department in a company known for its emphasis on branding. The company told employees... Airbnb has hired famed former Apple designer Jony Ive as a creative consultant ahead of its...