Facebook reports Q2 revenue of $29.08B, up 56% YoY, MAUs of 2.9B, up 7% YoY, headcount of 63,404, up 21% YoY; stock down ~3% on warning of revenue slowdown
“We had a strong quarter as we continue to help businesses grow and people stay connected,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO.
Activision Blizzard staffers stage a walkout, demanding fairer treatment for underrepresented staff and an end to arbitration clauses in staff contracts
“This is the beginning of an enduring movement in favor of better labor conditions for all employees.” — Patrick Klepek
Mark Zuckerberg says video now accounts for almost half the time spent on Facebook, and that Reels is the “largest contributor to engagement growth”
He wants Facebook to become a ‘metaverse company.’ — Facebook users are spending a lot more time watching video …
Robinhood raises $2.1B in its IPO after selling 55M shares at the low end of its $38 to $42 range, giving it a valuation of $31.8B
Robinhood Markets Inc, the owner of the trading app which emerged as the go-to destination for retail investors speculating on this year's “meme' stock trading frenzy …
Google says anyone coming to work at its campuses must be vaccinated, starting in the US, and will delay the return to offices from September until mid-October
will others step up? @salesforce, @lyft, @Facebook, @apple, @Cisco, @Uber, @WellsFargo, @Visa? Does your workplace require vaccination?https://www.nytimes.com/ ... @amy_siskind : More of this! “Google...
Google updates Play Store policies to ban apps offering “compensated sexual relationships”, likely impacting sugar daddy dating apps, beginning September 1
Today, Google published a handful of changes to its Play policies, and nestled among precise legalese refinements …
Facebook says Q2 ad revenue was $28.58B, up 56% YoY, with average price per ad up 47% YoY and a 6% YoY increase in ads delivered
Stephanie Condon / ZDNet :
Sources: Didi is considering going private in order to placate Chinese authorities and compensate investors for losses using money made during its IPO
Ride-hailing giant has been contemplating delisting plan as crackdown widens and has obtained support from cybersecurity watchdog
Senate reaches a deal on an infrastructure plan including $65B for broadband investments, $35B less than Biden's original plan; final vote still yet to happen
That's less than the original $100 billion plan — On Wednesday, bipartisan Senate negotiators reached a deal on an infrastructure package after weeks of tense discussion.
New bipartisan infrastructure bill in Congress aims to raise ~$30B by imposing new taxes on exchanges trading digital assets including crypto
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk :
Twitter says it is testing Shop Module, a new shopping section that brands can add to the top of their profiles, launching in the US on iOS
Starting with a pilot of around a dozen brands — Twitter is piloting a new feature that allows businesses to add a shopping section to the top of their profiles, the company has announced.
Profile of Sophie Zhang, a former Facebook data scientist who wrote an exit memo detailing Facebook's inadequate steps to address global election misinformation
Sophie Zhang, a former data scientist at Facebook, revealed that it enables global political manipulation and has done little to stop it.
OpenAI introduces Triton 1.0, an open-source programming language for writing GPU code for neural networks, and claims it is easier to write than Nvidia's CUDA
SEO: Python-like language promises to be easier to write than native CUDA and specialized GPU code but has performance comparable … Source: OpenAI and GitHub Tweets: @copyconstruct , @davidfowl , @gdb...
Sources: SoftBank is preparing to sell about one-third of its stake in Uber, or 45M shares, to cover its Didi losses; SoftBank has lost ~$4B on Didi
Samsung Q2: profit of $10.8B, up 54% YoY, on $55.2B revenue; its chips business accounted for nearly half the profit; mobile division revenue declined QoQ
Samsung's operating profit showed strong growth in the second quarter, thanks to higher-than-expected chip prices and continued consumer demand … Source: Samsung Global Newsroom .
Twitter closes its NY and SF offices, two weeks after reopening, and pauses further office reopenings, after “consideration of the CDC's updated guidelines”
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch :
NSO Group confirms that Israeli government officials opened an investigation and visited NSO's Tel Aviv office on Wednesday to assess Pegasus abuse allegations
‘We want them to check everything,’ says CEO of cybersecurity company implicated in campaigns against politicians, activists and other notable figures.
Facebook says it will require its US staff be vaccinated before returning to offices this fall, and will work around medical or other vaccine exemptions
In a memo, Apple says it plans to restore a mask requirement for staff and customers at most of its US retail stores on Thursday, due to rising COVID cases
Huawei announces P50 and P50 Pro, its first flagship phones with HarmonyOS, in China; Huawei executive says the phones lack 5G support due to US sanctions
Google's apps and services continue to be absent — Huawei has announced its latest flagship phones for the Chinese market, the P50 and P50 Pro.
US Marshals Service has given a $6.6M+ contract to crypto startup Anchorage to manage seized crypto assets; BitGo had won a similar $4.5M contract in April
The U.S. Marshals Service, a branch of the Department of Justice charged with tracking down fugitives, has given a contract worth …
Global smartphone market grew 19% YoY in Q2 with 329M units shipped, led by Samsung with 58M units, Xiaomi with 53M, Apple with 49M, and Oppo with 34M
- Global smartphone market grew 19% YoY but declined by 7% QoQ as 329 million units were shipped, led by Samsung.
LinkedIn will let most staff opt for full-time remote work, reversing a policy from last October that would have required in-office work half of the time
LinkedIn will allow most employees to opt for full-time remote work as offices gradually reopen, Chief People Officer Teuila Hanson told Reuters.
Singapore-based Vauld, formerly Bank of Hodlers, a crypto trading and lending service, raises $25M Series A led by Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures
Quick Take — Crypto trading and lending platform Vauld has raised $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures.
Researchers: Google Play Protect, Android's built-in malware detection tool, identified only 68.8% of 20K+ malicious apps, ranking last out of 15 security apps
More than 90 CEOs, including Cook, Pichai, Jassy, and Zuckerberg, urge Congress to ensure citizenship for Dreamers, after a judge ruled against the program
- More than 90 executives seek legal status for Dreamers — They say allowing citizenship would give U.S. economic boost
Prime Trust, which offers financial services APIs to fintech and digital asset companies, raises $64M Series A
Prime Trust, one-stop-shop for API-based financial infrastructure for fintech and digital asset innovators, has raised $64 million in a Series A funding round led by Mercato Partners.
Google says its upcoming Play Store safety listings, similar to Apple's app nutrition labels, will feature info on app data collection, encryption, and more
Profile of Bessemer Venture Partners, an early investor in Twilio and Shopify, as its competition with Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global, and SoftBank ramps up
Bessemer Venture Partners is a thoughtful firm in a world of loose money. — 4 hr ago — In 2009, Ethan Kurzweil … Tweets: @ericnewcomer , @sarthakgh , @jasonlk , @ericnewcomer , @ericnewcomer , and...
A look at the rise of high-earning teens on Depop, who are using the Etsy-owned clothing marketplace to make thousands per week, often battling the algorithm
Seventeen-year-old Chelsea Aves of Fremont, California, has had a Depop account since her sophomore year of high school.
Nothing Ear (1) wireless earbuds review: comfortable, unique transparent design and lots of features, but buggy performance and so-so noise cancellation
Chris Welch / The Verge :
Inmarsat, the UK's largest satellite company, says it plans to launch low-orbit spacecraft and establish a 5G wireless network, competing with SpaceX and OneWeb
- Operator reveals plan to add 5G and at least 150 satellites — Joins wave of investment in 5G and low-earth orbit spacecraft
Cairo and Dubai-based Swvl, a bus-hailing and ridesharing provider in emerging markets, plans to go public in the US in a SPAC merger at a valuation of ~$1.5B
Cairo and Dubai-based ride-sharing company Swvl plans to go public in a merger with special purpose acquisition company Queen's Gambit Growth Capital, Swvl said Tuesday.
Hands-on with Intel's new NUC 11 Extreme, aka “Beast Canyon”, which has an 8-liter chassis for larger gaming components, starting at ~$1,150 for i7
Sean Hollister / The Verge :
Filing: Korean game studio Krafton, which develops PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, is set to raise $3.8B during a Seoul IPO, valuing the company at ~$21.2B
- Game developer sets share price at top of revised range — IPO values Tencent-backed developer at $21.2 billion
Qualcomm Q3: revenue of $8B, up 63% YoY, net income of $2.2B, up 124% YoY, chip segment revenue of $6.47B, up 70% YoY, and a strong Q4 revenue forecast
Kif Leswing / CNBC :
Google releases the first stable build of Jetpack Compose, a UI framework for Android, after two years in public development
Comcast says NBCUniversal's Peacock has 54M total signups since its April 2020 launch, with 20M MAUs in Q2, as it plans a European expansion via Sky
Cynthia Littleton / Variety :
Interview with Mona Shtaya of 7amleh, a social media advocacy and digital rights group in the Middle East, on how social networks censored Palestinians in May
Bani Sapra / WIRED Middle East : Tweets: @monashtayya , @ifex , and @wiredmiddleeast Tweets: Mona shtaya / @monashtayya : This is a special interview with @WIRED it highlighted how we @7amleh worked ...
PayPal beats with Q2 revenue of $6.24B, up 17% YoY, total payments volume of $311B, up 40% YoY, and 11.4M new active accounts for 403M total; stock down ~5%
Jonathan Greig / ZDNet :
Founder of India Covid Crypto Relief Fund says Buterin's gift of 50T Shiba Inu memecoin should eventually amount to $400M, and ~$20M has been paid out so far
Bloomberg :
Homebase, which offers tools to manage teams and hourly workers at SMBs, raises $70M Series C led by GGV Capital, sources say at a $500M-$600M valuation
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
Duolingo closes up 36% in its Nasdaq trading debut, giving it a market valuation of nearly $5B, after raising $521M in its IPO
Riley de León / CNBC :
Suzy, a SaaS provider for companies to conduct on-demand DTC market research, raises $50M Series D led by H.I.G. Capital, bringing its total raised to $104.1M
AlleyWatch :
La Haus, an online real estate marketplace operating in Mexico and Colombia, raises a $100M extension to its $35M Series B, bringing its total raised to $158M
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch : Tweets: @bayareawriter Tweets: Mary Ann Azevedo / @bayareawriter : Proptech plus now fintech...@LaHausCom is growing like crazy https://twitter.com/...
Culture Amp, an employee survey platform that lets users post anonymously, raises $100M Series F at a $1.5B valuation and says 4K organizations use its tools
Catherine Shu / TechCrunch :
Coralogix, which offers developers real-time insights for logs, metrics, and security data, raises $55M Series C led by Greenfield Partners
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
Filing: Ixigo, an Indian online travel app with 250M+ users, raises $53M led by Singapore's GIC; source: Ixigo is targeting a $750M+ valuation for its IPO in Q4
The Economic Times :
Belgium-based Odoo, which offers a huge variety of open-source enterprise apps, raises $215M at a $2.3B valuation from Summit Partners
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch :
As China expands oversight, Tencent's value dropped 23% in July, erasing ~$170B; nine of the top 10 losers in shareholder value in July were Chinese companies
Bloomberg :
Shopify's new AI commerce stack
Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control
Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data
Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.