Techmeme
May 4, 2021, 8:05 AM

Top News

Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Court docs: Epic's total gross revenue was $5.6B in 2018 and $4.2B in 2019, with the vast majority of revenue coming from Fortnite  —  New financial figures were revealed as part of Epic Games' antitrust case against Apple  —  After a meteoric rise to popularity in 2018 …
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Epic vs. Apple trial begins with Epic attacking the App Store's “walled garden”, arguing Apple's 30% cut is monopolistic; Apple argues 30% is standard practice  —  Today marked the beginning of the highly-anticipated Apple vs. Epic trial, and things kicked off with both companies presenting their opening statements.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Court docs: in a 2011 email Phil Schiller floated cutting Apple's 30% fee, provided it could still generate $1B in annual App Store profits when the fee was cut  —  - Top executive proposed fee cut at $1 billion in annual profit  — App Store fee structure, policies at issue in trial with Epic
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Basecamp employees detail an all-hands that led to resignations, including the head of strategy, who questioned the existence of white supremacy at the company  —  I.  —  At 8AM PT on Friday, a bleary-eyed Basecamp CEO Jason Fried gathered his remote workforce together on Zoom to apologize.
Jeff Grubb / VentureBeat:
Sony says Discord will be integrated into PlayStation Network starting early 2022; Sony will invest an undisclosed amount in Discord as part of the partnership  —  Join GamesBeat Summit 2021, happening today!  Watch live here!  —  Sony is planning to integrate Discord into PlayStation Network starting in early 2022.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter opens Spaces, its live audio feature, to anyone with 600+ followers and details plans for Ticketed Spaces, reminders, co-hosting, accessibility, more  —  Twitter Spaces, the company's new live audio rooms feature, is opening up more broadly.  The company announced today it's making …
Reuters:
Apple hires ex-Google AI scientist Samy Bengio, who left Google last month after colleagues' firings; sources: Bengio to lead new AI unit under John Giannandrea  —  Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said on Monday it has hired former distinguished Google (GOOGL.O) scientist Samy Bengio …
Stephen Shankland / CNET:
Intel to invest $3.5B to upgrade its chipmaking plant in New Mexico, resulting in 700 new jobs over three years, as part of CEO Pat Gelsinger's turnaround plan  —  Intel on Monday plans to announce a $3.5 billion upgrade to a chip manufacturing plant in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Apple releases iOS 14.5.1, watchOS 7.4.1, and macOS Big Sur 11.3.1 with security fixes for flaws in WebKit that Apple says were being actively exploited  —  Alongside iOS 14.5.1 and watchOS 7.4.1, Apple today also released macOS Big Sur 11.3.1, which the company says “provides important security updates”.
Sarah McBride / Bloomberg:
Justin Zhu, former Iterable CEO ousted for taking LSD before a meeting, on his disputes with key investors and the challenges of being Chinese in Silicon Valley  —  Justin Zhu, chief executive officer of digital marketing startup Iterable Inc., was walking down Broadway in San Francisco …
CNN:
The Oversight Board says it will announce its decision on Facebook's banning of Trump at 9AM ET on Wednesday, after receiving 9,000+ public responses  —  (CNN Business)The Facebook Oversight Board will announce its long-anticipated decision on the fate of former President Trump's Facebook account …
Steve Kovach / CNBC:
Verizon says it will sell Yahoo and AOL to PE firm Apollo Global Management for $5B, keeping a 10% stake in the company, which will be rebranded as just “Yahoo”  —  - Verizon will sell its media group, which includes brands from AOL and Yahoo, to private equity firm Apollo Global Management.

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Kim Lyons / The Verge: