Techmeme
August 4, 2021, 11:10 AM

Top News

Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Activision Blizzard says that Blizzard's head of global human resources, Jesse Meschuk, has also left the company  —  Jesse Meschuk, SVP of global HR, has left  —  Blizzard president J. Allen Brack isn't the only executive leaving the company today after presiding over a culture now accused of fostering “constant sexual harassment.”
Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Activision Blizzard says President J. Allen Brack is leaving the company, replaced by Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra, as the fallout from CA lawsuit continues  —  Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra will take over as co-leaders  —  In the last week or so, we've learned about the state of California filing …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Bloomberg:
Facebook says it has disabled the accounts, apps, Pages, and access to its APIs for researchers running NYU's Ad Observatory Project, citing TOS violations  —  - Company says researchers of political ads were scraping data  — NYU's Ad Observatory got cease-and-desist letter last October
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft pauses free trials of its new Windows 365 service, which lets users stream Windows 10 or 11 via web browser, after “significant demand”  —  Windows 365 lets you stream a cloud PC to a web browser  —  Microsoft launched its new cloud PC Windows 365 service earlier this week …
Maggie Fitzgerald / CNBC:
Robinhood shares surged as much as 80% on Wednesday, reaching $85, with trading halted several times, bringing total gains across the week to up to 140%  —  Robinhood shares soared again on Wednesday, extending a wild rally in the newly public stock trading app's stock.
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
WhatsApp is rolling out a View Once feature for photos and videos that disappear from the chat after the recipient opens it  —  There and gone  —  WhatsApp is rolling out its “View Once” feature today, which deletes photos or videos from your chat after they've been opened by the recipient.
Takashi Mochizuki / Bloomberg:
Sony beats estimates with Q1 operating profit of $2.6B and says the PS5 is no longer selling at a loss; PS Plus subscribers declined to 46.3M from 47.6M  —  - Sony expecting more from music streaming and digital cameras  — PlayStation software sales and subscriber additions slowed
Lauren Kaori Gurley / VICE:
Sources: NLRB probe found Amazon illegally interfered with workers organizing in Staten Island, NY; NLRB officer recommends election rerun for Alabama warehouse  —  The National Labor Relations Board found that Amazon illegally interfered with worker organizing at its Staten Island, New York warehouse in May.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
On-demand movie and TV service FandangoNOW has merged with video streaming service Vudu, which will become Roku's official movie and TV store  —  Last year, movie ticketing and discovery business Fandango, a division of NBCUniversal, bought the on-demand video streaming service Vudu from Walmart …
Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Email service Superhuman, which charges $30/month and hasn't formally launched, raises $75M Series C led by IVP, source says at a $825M valuation  —  Covering venture capital, software and startups  —  When Superhuman CEO Rahul Vohra agreed to meet with former Dropbox CFO Ajay Vashee's …
George Lawton / VentureBeat:
Buildots, which uses computer vision to modernize construction management, raises $30M Series B led by Lightspeed Ventures  —  All the sessions from Transform 2021 are available on-demand now.  Watch now.  —  Buildots, a construction digital twin company, garnered a $30 million series B round led …
Christine Hall / TechCrunch:
Zeni, which offers AI-powered tools to startups to manage finances for a flat monthly fee starting at $299, raises $34M Series B led by Elevation Capital  —  Zeni, a Palo Alto fintech company providing real-time financial services data to venture-backed startups, raised $34 million in Series B funding led by Elevation Capital.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple and Affirm's PayBright will launch a “buy now, pay later” program for iPhone, Mac, and iPad purchases in Canada on Aug. 11, according to a staff message  —  - Monthly installments to be offered in Canada on Apple devices  — Company working on future service for all Apple Pay purchases
Liana Baker / Bloomberg:
PE firm Apax Partners says it is merging three companies that make software for non-profits, EveryAction, Social Solutions, and CyberGrants, in a deal worth $2B  —  - EveryAction, Social Solutions and CyberGrants to combine  — Apax partner Jason Wright says investment fits ESG trend
Aria Alamalhodaei / TechCrunch:
Elroy Air, which is building autonomous drones to transport cargo over long distances, raises $40M Series A from Lockheed Martin and others  —  Elroy Air has raised a $40 million Series A, including financing from Lockheed Martin's venture capital arm, to ramp up the build …
Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan on monetizing Shorts, content moderation with Content ID, YouTube TV, competing with TikTok, and more  —  YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan joined Decoder this week to discuss YouTube's new $100 million fund to begin paying creators …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

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