Lauren Thomas

IBM agrees to acquire data streaming software maker Confluent for ~$11B in cash, above its ~$8B market value as of its December 5 close, paying $31 per share

Confluent shares surged more than 25% in premarket trading Monday, while IBM's fell slightly.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan tells his employees the company is engaging with the Trump administration to address concerns about him and “ensure they have the facts”

A message from Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to all company employees.  —  The following note from Lip-Bu Tan was sent …

Sources: Intel's board has stalled recent efforts by CEO Lip-Bu Tan to raise capital and acquire an AI company meant to help it compete against Nvidia and AMD

Lip-Bu Tan and chip maker's directors have been clashing over how to revive the struggling tech giant

Alphabet acquires NYC-based cybersecurity startup Wiz for $32B cash, its largest acquisition yet, pending approval; antitrust fears stalled a $23B deal in 2024

The acquisition is Alphabet's biggest yet, after a $23 billion takeover attempt stalled last year.

A review of Dana Mattioli's The Everything War, which covers Lina Khan's antitrust battle against Amazon and makes a case that no company should be so powerful

And How It Became “Too Toxic to Touch” Todd Bishop / GeekWire : ‘The Everything War’: Inside Amazon with author and Wall Street Journal reporter Dana Mattioli The Logic on Crowdcas...

A review of Dana Mattioli's The Everything War, which covers Lina Khan's antitrust battle against Amazon and makes a case that no company should be so powerful

Dana Mattioli's important book looks the winner-takes-all dynamic that built a competition-squashing behemoth

Source: Salesforce has backed away from its talks to acquire cloud data management company Informatica, after the two companies could not agree on terms

Business software maker Salesforce (CRM.N) has backed away from its talks to acquire data-management software firm Informatica (INFA.N) …

Sources: Synopsys is in advanced talks to acquire Ansys, which makes software used in aerospace, health care, and automotive, for ~$35B in a stock-and-cash deal

Wall Street Journal :

A look at Disney and Comcast's fight over Hulu; sources say their Hulu valuations differ significantly, they're in arbitration, and Comcast stopped funding Hulu

Parent companies are in final phase of battle marked by legal threats, broken promises and secret arbitration

Sources: activist investor TCS Capital, which owns 4%+ of Yelp's common stock, urges the recommendation site to explore strategic alternatives, including a sale

Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal :

Tonal, which offers a smart home gym with strength training coaching, raised $130M; sources say the company's valuation fell to $550M-$600M from $1.6B in 2021

Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal :

WeightWatchers is acquiring Sequence, a digital health company offering $99/month telehealth visits with doctors who can prescribe weight loss drugs, for $106M

Andrea Petersen / Wall Street Journal :

Sources: activist investor Elliott Management acquired a multibillion-dollar Salesforce stake; a partner says the firm has “a deep respect for Marc Benioff”

Elliott Management makes a multibillion-dollar investment in the business-software provider

Sources: activist investor Ryan Cohen has built an Alibaba stake worth hundreds of millions of dollars and is pushing the company to accelerate stock buybacks

Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal :

How tensions grew between Salesforce co-CEOs Marc Benioff and Bret Taylor for months; sources: Benioff became frustrated about how Taylor was spending his time

Exit of Bret Taylor from role he has shared for about a year wasn't long planned  —  The Tech Sector Is Taking a Beating.  Here's Why.

Memo: Shopify plans to cut around 1,000 workers, or 10% of its global workforce, citing consumers pulling back from online shopping; SHOP drops 14%+

CEO Tobi Lütke says company made wrong bet on pandemic-fueled boom in e-commerce growth lasting  —  Shopify Inc. SHOP -16.29%▼ …

GameStop launches its NFT marketplace in beta, letting users connect digital asset wallets, including the recently debuted GameStop Wallet, to buy and sell NFTs

Filing: ex-Apple retail chief Ron Johnson's at-home tech setup company Enjoy files for bankruptcy, less than a year after its SPAC merger, and sells to Asurion

Bloomberg :

Adobe: US consumers spent $10.7B online on Cyber Monday, below expectations and down 1.4% from $10.8B in 2020, as many shoppers returned to physical stores

- Consumers logged online Monday and spent $10.7 billion, marking a 1.4% decrease from year-ago levels, according to data from Adobe Analytics.

Adobe: online US consumers spent $7.1B by 9PM ET on Cyber Monday, below expectations and down from $10.8B in 2020, as many shoppers return to physical stores

Online retailers offered fewer discounts because of limited inventory, while more shoppers returned to stores