Techmeme
February 1, 2022, 5:20 AM

Top News

Brendan Sinclair / GamesIndustry.biz:
Sony Interactive Entertainment announces it is buying Bungie, which makes Destiny and other games, for $3.6B; Bungie will become an independent subsidiary  —  Destiny studio will remain multiplatform, able “to self-publish and reach players wherever they choose to play”
The New York Times Company:
The New York Times acquires Wordle, the simple word game that has amassed “millions of daily players”, for “an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures”  —  Wordle, Josh Wardle's stimulating and wildly popular daily word game, is joining The New York Times's portfolio of original …
Connie Loizos / TechCrunch:
Ryan Breslow, co-founder of one-click checkout startup Bolt, steps down as CEO and becomes executive chairman, after his tweets bashing YC and Stripe went viral  —  Ryan Breslow, who founded the “one-click” checkout tech company Bolt as a Stanford student and dropped out of college to build it …
John Hendel / Politico:
Nonprofit suicide chat service Crisis Text Line ends its data sharing relationship with for-profit spinoff Loris.ai and asks the company to delete existing data  —  The nonprofit mental-health hotline Crisis Text Line ended its data-sharing relationship with a for-profit spinoff Monday …
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
Silvergate Bank confirms it is purchasing the Diem Association's tech and other assets by issuing $132M in stock and paying $50M in cash; Diem is shutting down  —  The Diem Association is shutting down.  —  Silvergate Bank confirmed Monday that it's purchasing the technology and other assets from Diem …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
India proposes a 30% tax on income from the transfer of crypto, NFTs, and other digital assets and will launch a digital rupee in the next financial year  —  India on Tuesday proposed launching digital rupee in within a year and a 30% tax on income from transfer of virtual digital assets …
Wall Street Journal:
Antenna: Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, and others struggle to retain US subscribers who joined to watch a hit show; some subscribers only stay for a few months  —  Roughly half of U.S. viewers who joined right after ‘Hamilton’ and ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ were gone in six months, data show
Kim Lyons / The Verge:
Meta rolls out updated 3D avatars across Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram Stories in the US, Canada, and Mexico  —  It's a step toward the company's concept of the metaverse  —  Facebook parent company Meta is introducing 3D avatars to Instagram Stories and direct messages and updating …
Ed Dixon / SportsPro:
Report: crypto-based sports fan platform Iqoniq, which partnered with Spain's LaLiga and others, has entered liquidation; Iqoniq raised €100M in July 2020  —  Fan engagement platform Iqoniq has gone into liquidation, leaving multiple sporting organisations potentially out of pocket.
Jonathan Greig / ZDNet:
Education publisher Pearson acquires Credly, which helps businesses issue digital credentials to certify workers' skills, for $140M; Credly has 2,000+ customers  —  Pearson already owned a 20% stake in the digital workforce credentialing platform worth about $40 million but is now buying the entire company.
Faseeh Mangi / Bloomberg:
Riyadh-based Retailo, which aims to digitize mom-and-pop stores in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and the UAE, raises a $36M Series A led by Graphene Ventures  —  The e-commerce platform Retailo has raised $36 million to help fund its effort to digitize mom-and-pop stores in Pakistan, U.A.E. and its home country of Saudi Arabia.
Sam Byford / The Verge:
Joe Rogan posts a video to Instagram defending booking contentious guests, apologizes to Spotify for the backlash, and says he may book more “experts”  —  'I'm very sorry that this is happening to them.'  —  Joe Rogan has issued a response to the ongoing controversy …
Daniel Ek / Spotify:

Sponsor Posts

Termina:
AI Powered Diligence at Scale  —  VCs and founders deploy Termina AI Scans on >12% of all known series A+ deals to uncover hidden risks and opportunities.  Explore how you too can invest and build better companies with AI.
Zoho:
Zoho Notebook: The best free note-taking app for Mac  —  If you're a Mac user, you know the value of a tool that just fits when it's designed to keep up with you.  That's exactly what Zoho Notebook delivers.
SBS Comms:
Expect Better: SBS Comms  —  The media landscape is changing fast, so don't be slow — out with the old, in with the new.  SBS helps tech companies like GitHub, Cloudflare, Flexport, Ramp and more modernize comms and secure impactful results.
IDrive:
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.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
The 2,000th Episode Spectacular
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Yamini Rangan (CEO, Hubspot) On Sales and Marketing Frameworks That Win in the Age of AI
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Generative Now:
Arvind Jain: Why Now Is the Time to Solve Enterprise Search
A podcast from Lightspeed dedicated to highlighting the stories, strategies and insights behind today's most exciting AI companies.
Subscribe to Generative Now.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Matthew Ball: Why the games business is broken
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Invest Like the Best:
Ravi Gupta - AI or Die
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:20 AM ET, February 1, 2022.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Samuel Stolton / Politico:

Earlier Picks

Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Ryan Weeks / The Block:
New York Times: