Sources: Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony do not plan to attend E3 2023, to be held in-person from June 13 to June 16; E3 2022 was canceled due to the pandemic  —  All three of gaming's first-party console manufacturers appear poised to skip E3's big return.  —  E3's first physical event …

Samsung reports Q4 operating profit down 69% YoY to ~$3.5B, its lowest since Q3 2014, and revenue down 8% YoY to ~$57.3B, citing weak chip and smartphone demand  —  South Korean tech giant's slump expected to continue in first half of this year  —  SEOUL — Samsung Electronics said Tuesday …

Sources: Sony halves its Q1 PlayStation VR2 shipment forecast to ~1M units after disappointing early preorders; the headset will be launched on February 22  —  Sony Group Corp. reduced projections for the initial launch of its PlayStation VR2 headset dramatically after early pre-orders disappointed …

Sources: Stripe is aiming to raise ~$2.5B at a $55B to $60B valuation, led by Thrive Capital, which has committed $1B; Stripe was valued at ~$95B in March 2021  —  Thrive has committed $1 billion, which would value the payments provider Stripe at about $55 billion to $60 billion, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Kaspersky: from January 2020 to June 2022, hacker groups offered salaries from six figures to $1.2M, bonuses, and paid leave to attract talent on the dark web  —  Despite the obvious risks, tech jobs with hacking groups can be alluring for those who need the money or want to do the work.

The US NLRB says Apple executive comments and policies for staff violate workers' rights, after ex-employees Ashley Gjøvik and Cher Scarlett filed cases in 2021  —  Comments by Apple Inc. executives and policies imposed on employees have been deemed illegal by US National Labor Relations …

Paramount Global plans to merge its Showtime streaming service with Paramount+'s ad-free tier later in 2023 and call the new offering Paramount+ with SHOWTIME  —  It's been a long time coming, but later this year, Paramount Global will finally fully integrate the streaming arm …

Sources detail Twitter's nascent moves to facilitate payments, a key to becoming a “super app”, as the company files for regulatory licenses across the US  —  Company has started applying for US state licences in bid for fresh revenues beyond advertising

Manu Jain, who led Xiaomi's India business for seven years, leaves, joining a long list of key departures; sources say he pitched investors on EV startup ideas  —  Manu Jain, the executive who helped Xiaomi set up and scale business in India, has left the company, he said Monday …

A US judge allows the names of the two people who posted SBF's $250M bail to be made public, but stays the ruling until at least February 7, expecting an appeal  —  A U.S. judge on Monday said the names of two people who helped guarantee bail for indicted FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried …

Sources: the Department of Commerce told some companies the Biden administration stopped giving licenses for exporting US tech to Huawei ahead of a total ban  —  White House moving closer to imposing total ban on sale of American tech to Chinese company  —  The Biden administration …

Nothing CEO Carl Pei says the company had $200M+ in 2022 revenue, up from ~$24M in 2021, and plans to launch a “more premium” Phone (2) in 2023 aimed at the US  —  Nothing CEO Carl Pei tells Inverse the next phone will be “more premium,” the U.S. is the top priority in 2023 …