Trending Stories from wsj.com
Research: non-bank lenders have issued asset-backed bonds to help finance about $2B of loans to fast-growing but unprofitable software companies since November
Community, which lets public figures, media outlets, and brands text with fans, raises $40M from Salesforce Ventures, bringing its total raised to $90M
Researchers say Facebook's algorithms disproportionately show certain types of job ads to men and women; no evidence of gender skewing was found on LinkedIn
Amazon workers vote against unionizing in Alabama
Hacker News · 1 day ago
China Creates its Own Digital Currency, a First for Major Economy – WSJ
Patreon raises $155M Series F led by Tiger Global Management at a $4B valuation, up from $1.2B in September, bringing its total raised to $411M
UK launches the Digital Markets Unit, a watchdog with limited powers, initially tasked with stopping big tech companies from exploiting market dominance
Credit Suisse Loses 4.7B
Coinbase Independent Directors Have Close Company Ties
How Big Tech firms rely on the interplay of collaboration and competition between each other in order to protect their market position
New York's MTA, LA's Metro, London's TfL, and other transit agencies are using digital navigation and live service apps to boost ridership
US lawmakers ask 8 digital-ad auctioneers, including Google and AT&T, to name foreign clients who had access to user data through auctions over the past 3 years
Sources: Facebook staff are raising concerns internally over allowing Chinese propaganda ads about Xinjiang, as Facebook awaits UN's response to the situation
Robinhood says it will remove digital confetti, which appears when making a first trade and elsewhere, from its app after criticism that it "gamifies" investing
Dapper Labs, maker of NFT-focused NBA Top Shot, raises $305M, sources say at $2.6B valuation; investors include several pro athletes including Michael Jordan
Report: VCs and PE firms invested in 403 Chinese semiconductor-related companies in 2020, a 47% rise from 2019
As Moore's Law slows down, a look at 2D materials like graphene, which is already being used to create flexible electronics and could replace silicon in chips
Amid a shortage of therapists, experts discuss how AI can make mental health treatment cheaper and accessible, its privacy concerns, product efficacy, and more
Interviews and documents reveal that in the year before his death, Tony Hsieh was surrounded by people who lived off his fortune and enabled his risky lifestyle
Some VC firms are using AI algorithms to help with investment decisions; Gartner forecasts that AI will be involved in 75% of VC investment decisions by 2025
WeWork to merge with a SPAC in a deal that would raise $1.3B and values the company at $9B
Tony Hsieh Bankrolled His Followers. In Return, They Enabled His Risky Lifestyle
Sources: Microsoft is in exclusive talks to acquire Discord for $10B+ and could complete the deal next month
A look at the impact of NFTs on the music industry, with sales of $42.5M since June, as most musicians are splitting their proceeds evenly with visual artists
Coaching and mental health startup BetterUp says Prince Harry has joined as chief impact officer
Analysis of 3,100 sites shows that hospitals are using code to hide pages containing pricing data from being crawled by search engines, violating US federal law
Hospitals Hide Pricing Data From Search Results
In January, there were more real-estate agents than homes for sale in the U.S.
Japanese chip maker Renesas says a fire at one its plants has halted production for at least a month, impacting automakers, and estimates losses at $160M/month
Blackstone, with a goal of managing $1T in assets by 2026, is increasingly investing in fast-growing tech companies and has opened a San Francisco office
How Pinduoduo leads China's adoption of social e-commerce by putting social media first, and gamifying the shopping experience so people win deals and discounts
After Citigroup erroneously sent $900M to lenders using Oracle's Flexcube, some are calling for simplified business software UX to match consumer-facing design
Coalition of Microsoft, Salesforce, and healthcare providers to release a global "tamper-proof" standard for COVID-19 proof of vaccination apps in April
Sources: Chicago-based Relativity, which law firms use to sift through data during discovery, gets an investment from Silver Lake valuing the company at $3.6B
GroupM: Google, Facebook, and Amazon "triopoly" grew its share of US digital ad market from 80% in 2019 to 90% in 2020, and now collects 50%+ of all US ad spend
Techmeme · 3 weeks ago
Justice Department Investigating Visa over Debit-Card Practices
Sources: China is restricting use of Tesla cars by military and state employees, citing concerns that the data they collect could be sent back to the US
China to ban Tesla Use by Military and State Employees
Pinduoduo's founder and chairman has stepped down; its 788.4M annual active buyers in 2020 exceeded Alibaba's 779M, making it China's largest e-commerce company
Chinese streaming service Bilibili will start a secondary listing in Hong Kong on March 29, expected to raise $2.8B, after listing on the Nasdaq in March 2018
France says Apple's upcoming IDFA ad privacy changes are not abusive but will investigate if Apple has stricter rules for third-party apps than for its own apps
Telegram is booming but needs advertisers and $700M soon
Apple, Google, and others hire lobbyists to counter proposed legislation in Arizona, Maryland, Virginia, and Texas aimed at privacy, app store fees, and ads
Toyota Chief Says Apple Should Steel for Long Haul if It Enters Auto Industry. Akio Toyoda says new entrants to the sector should be ready for 40-year commitment
Sources: tools used in the Feb. 28 Exchange hack are similar to proof-of-concept attack code that Microsoft distributed to security partners a week earlier
In a letter to GOP Senators, Amazon says it removed a book because of its policy not to sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness
Techmeme · 4 weeks ago