2024-10-15
“Podcaster raises one of Europe's biggest venture funds” (FT) New 2nd fund is $400m 1st fund was $140m in 2021 “28-year-old British podcaster Harry Stebbings” Backers include MIT and Josh Kushner https://www.ft.com/...
Financial Times
UK podcaster Harry Stebbings' 20VC raised a $400M fund for early stage startups, one of Europe's biggest venture funds; the podcast recently hosted Sam Altman
British firm 20VC pulls in $400mn to invest in early stage tech start-ups — A venture firm founded by 28-year-old British …
2024-10-02
@ajb_powell “Why small games have a big future” (FT) “Going bigger can be bad for games. Better graphics and bigger worlds don't necessarily make them more fun to play. Meanwhile, the more expensive games are, the less willing developers are to take risks” https://www.ft.com/... [image]
Financial Times
2024 has been a barren year for big video games compared to 2023, helping indie games take center stage; the gaming industry has laid off 10,000+ people in 2024
As gamers turn their backs on gargantuan adventures, we could be entering a golden age of modest titles
2024-07-12
“Apple has avoided the threat of fines from EU regulators by agreeing to open up its mobile wallet technology to other providers free of charge for a decade” (Bloomberg) “Consumers in Europe will be able to use alternative digital wallets ... at checkouts” $AAPL $PYPL
Bloomberg
Apple settles with the EU over Apple Pay and avoids potential fines by agreeing to open NFC access on iOS to third-party wallet developers for free for a decade
2024-07-11
“Apple has avoided the threat of fines from EU regulators by agreeing to open up its mobile wallet technology to other providers free of charge for a decade” (Bloomberg) “Consumers in Europe will be able to use alternative digital wallets ... at checkouts” $AAPL $PYPL
Bloomberg
Apple settles with the EU over Apple Pay and avoids potential fines by agreeing to open NFC access on iOS to third-party wallet developers for free for a decade
- EU accepts Apple pledge to open up payment tech to rivals — Firm still faces mounting EU antitrust scrutiny in other areas
2024-06-22
“China's 618 online shopping event marks first-ever sales drop (-7%)” (FT) Bad news for Estée Lauder $EL, currently guiding to a +6-10% organic sales growth for their Apr-Jun (FY24Q4; PY: +4%), even after some Asia Travel Retail order pull-forward into Q3 https://www.ft.com/... [image]
Financial Times
Data provider Syntun: total GMV during China's 618 online shopping event fell 7% YoY to $102B, in first-ever drop; Alibaba, JD, and PDD didn't release GMV data
Financial Times :
2024-06-18
“Apple to settle ‘tap-and-go’ payments probe with EU” (FT) “Regulators had accepted a no. of measures that $AAPL had committed to in January this year ... incl. providing developers with free access to its NFC technology on iOS devices and without ... Apple Pay or Apple Wallet” [image]
Financial Times
Sources: Apple is set to settle a long-running EU antitrust investigation over payments, after the EU accepted measures that Apple committed to in January 2024
Tech company willing to open mobile pay system to rivals in concessions that will help avoid antitrust fines from the bloc
2024-02-16
“Meta Steers Users Away From New Apple Fees in Latest Spat Between Tech Giants” (WSJ) $META will begin charging users of “boosted posts” on Facebook and Instagram 30% for $AAPL service fees, and is encouraging them to buy direct from its website
The Verge
Meta plans to start charging a 30% fee for boosting Facebook and Instagram posts on iOS later in February, after Apple extended its 30% cut to boosting in 2022
Emma Roth / The Verge :
2023-11-04
@ajb_powell “Sam Bankman-Fried ... has a $200mn investment in two funds run by Sequoia, the US venture capital investor, held through his Alameda Research crypto trading group” (FT) https://www.ft.com/... [image]
TechCrunch
A jury finds Sam Bankman-Fried guilty on all seven counts of fraud and money laundering in the FTX trial; the judge sets SBF's sentencing for March 28, 2024
and what comes next Qadir AK / Coinpedia Fintech News : DOJ Cracks Down: Binance and Tether Face Terrorism Financing Charges PC Gamer : ‘The king of crypto’ found guilty of fraud, ...
2023-11-03
@ajb_powell “Sam Bankman-Fried ... has a $200mn investment in two funds run by Sequoia, the US venture capital investor, held through his Alameda Research crypto trading group” (FT) https://www.ft.com/... [image]
TechCrunch
A jury finds Sam Bankman-Fried guilty on all seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in the FTX trial; the judge sets SBF's sentencing for March 28, 2024
Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder and former CEO of crypto exchange FTX and trading firm Alameda Research, has been found guilty …
2023-01-19
Peter Thiel & $BTC: “In Apr '22, about the same time Founders Fund sold out of most of its crypto. holdings, Thiel said he was optimistic about the future of bitcoin (and) said JPM CEO Jamie Dimon & BlackRock boss Larry Fink ‘need to be allocating some of their money to bitcoin’” https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Financial Times
Sources: Peter Thiel's Founders Fund sold most of its crypto portfolio by the end of March 2022, before the crypto market crash, generating ~$1.8B in returns
Billionaire was early mainstream investor in the digital currency but VC fund no longer has significant exposure
2023-01-10
“Some brands & advertisers have expressed caution ... some creators do not disclose whether videos are paid partnerships ... concerned about what content their adverts might appear next to ... TikTok's ad capabilities did not fully match its larger & older rivals” $META $GOOG https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Financial Times
VaynerMedia: in 2022, buying 1K video ad impressions on TikTok cost around 50% less than Instagram's Reels, ~33% less than Twitter, and 62% less than Snapchat
Advertisers and brands say an increasing amount of digital ads spend is moving away from Meta, YouTube and Twitter
2022-09-02
“Apple overtakes Android to account for 50% of smartphones used in US ... the iPhone's highest share since it launched in 2007”. “It's not that we are seeing a big year where $AAPL grows its market share 10% or 15% ... they quietly just grab more share every year”. $GOOG $META https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Financial Times
Counterpoint: iPhone active installed base overtook Android to gain 50%+ share of the US smartphone market in Q2, up from 35% in 2019 and the highest since 2007
Milestone was passed in quarter ending in June, says Counterpoint Research — Apple has overtaken Android devices to account …
2022-04-05
$SQ disclosed internal data breach at Cash App Investing. Former employee “downloaded certain reports ... without permission after their employment ended”, incl. full name, a/c number, portfolio value, holdings & trades for 1 day. Block contacting 8.2m current & former customers https://twitter.com/...
TechCrunch
Filing: Block is contacting 8.2M Cash App customers in the US after a breach caused by a former employee four months ago exposed some of their account info
Block has confirmed a data breach involving a former employee who downloaded reports from Cash App that contained some U.S. customer information.