Techmeme
May 18, 2020, 11:40 PM

Top News

New York Times:
Disney's top streaming exec, Kevin Mayer, resigns to become CEO of TikTok and COO of parent company ByteDance; Disney names Rebecca Campbell as his successor  —  Kevin Mayer will lead the Chinese-owned app for making and sharing short videos, which has exploded in popularity during the pandemic.
Michael Potuck / 9to5Mac:
AG Barr says that, “no thanks to Apple”, the FBI succeeded in unlocking the “phones” of the Pensacola gunman, who they found had significant links to Al Qaeda  —  It looks like the most recent contention between the FBI and Apple over device encryption has come to an end …
Preetika Rana / Wall Street Journal:
In email to staff, Dara Khosrowshahi says Uber will cut 3,000 more jobs, in addition to the 3,700 that were let go earlier this month, and will close 45 offices  —  The ride-hailing giant also is exploring the sale of noncore businesses  —  Uber Technologies Inc. is cutting several thousand …
Richard Speed / The Register:
At an MIT event, Microsoft president Brad Smith says the company was “on the wrong side of history” with open source  —  Tell-all with president Brad Smith reveals Obama warned tech giants that a privacy reckoning was coming  —  Microsoft president Brad Smith (pictured) …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says Minecraft has now topped 200M sales, up from 100M in 2016, with 126M monthly players; Minecraft saw a 25% increase in new players last month  —  Minecraft continues to grow despite being 11 years old  —  Minecraft sales have officially topped 200 million, with 126 million people playing the game monthly.
Oculus:
Oculus says it will start accepting Quest titles that support hand tracking this month and details two new collaboration and productivity apps coming this year  —  We're about to celebrate an exciting milestone: the one-year anniversary of Oculus Quest and Rift S!
Janko Roettgers / Protocol:
Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asian Review:
Sources: TSMC, the biggest contract chipmaker, has halted new orders from Huawei in response to new US export controls; orders placed before are not impacted  —  Taiwan chipmaker's relationship with its second biggest customer under fire  —  TAIPEI — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. …
Sam Nussey / Reuters:
Alibaba's Jack Ma resigns from SoftBank board, as he pulls back from formal business roles to focus on philanthropy; SoftBank to propose three new appointments  —  TOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp said on Monday that Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma will resign from its board …
Pavel Alpeyev / Bloomberg:
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Jack Dorsey has told Square employees they can work from home even after the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders end, following a similar move at Twitter  —  Employees can work remotely even after the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders end  —  Square employees will be able to work from home …
Echo Wang / Reuters:
Sources: Nasdaq to unveil new rules requiring companies from some countries, including China, to raise $25M+ or 25%+ of post-listing market cap in their IPOs  —  NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nasdaq Inc (NDAQ.O) is set to unveil new restrictions on initial public offerings (IPOs) …

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Earlier Picks

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Bloomberg:
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