Techmeme
May 5, 2022, 9:20 PM

Top News

Dan Primack / Axios:
Filing: Elon Musk raises $7.14B for his Twitter bid from Saudi Prince Alwaleed, Larry Ellison, Sequoia, VyCapital, Binance, a16z, and others; Ellison gives $1B  —  Elon Musk on Thursday disclosed a group of co-investors in his Twitter takeover.  The names are impressive, but most of their check sizes aren't.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Sources: Elon Musk is expected to serve as the temporary CEO of Twitter for a few months after he completes his $44B takeover of the company  —  - Elon Musk is expected to serve as a temporary CEO of Twitter for a few months after he completes his $44 billion takeover of the social media company, according to CNBC's David Faber.
New York Times:
Elon Musk's hate for ads conflicts with Twitter's business model, as ad execs say they will move spending elsewhere if the company relaxes content moderation  —  Many marketers were already lukewarm on the service.  Now, some may move their money elsewhere if the content moderation policies are relaxed.
Edwin Chan / Bloomberg:
Wall Street Journal:
Whistleblowers: Meta deliberately took down Pages for hospitals and other Australian institutions in 2021 as a negotiating tactic over the news bargaining law  —  When Facebook blocked news pages last year to pre-empt Australian legislation that would force it to pay for content …
Ian Sherr / CNET:
Ian Sherr / CNET:
Apple, Google, and Microsoft plan to offer the FIDO Alliance's passwordless tech on websites and apps, using fingerprint readers, face scanners, and smartphones  —  What's happening  —  Why it matters  —  What it means for you  —  If Apple, Google and Microsoft have their way …
Michael Bellusci / CoinDesk:
Block reports Q1 revenue down 22% YoY to $3.96B, vs. $4.1B est., profit up 34% YoY to $1.29B, and Cash App bitcoin revenue down 51% YoY to $1.73B; stock up 5%+  —  Fintech and digital payments giant Block Inc. (SQ) reported first-quarter earnings that missed analyst expectations on Thursday …
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Amazon stock closes down ~8%, Meta ~7%, Apple ~6%, Alphabet ~5%, and Microsoft ~4% as a Big Tech selloff pushes the Nasdaq to its steepest drop since June 2020  —  - Cloud and e-commerce stocks were among the biggest losers on Thursday on disappointing earnings reports and after the U.S. central bank raised interest rates.
Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:
Sources: On Deck, which connects founders with capital and advice, laid off 25% of its staff, or ~72 people, after raising ~$40M of a planned $100M-$150M fund  —  On Deck, a tech company that connects founders to each other, capital and advice, has laid off 25% off its staff, per sources familiar with the company.
Joe Warminsky / The Record:
The White House instructs federal agencies to ramp up preparations over the next six months for quantum computers capable of breaking public-key cryptography  —  A memorandum issued Wednesday by President Joe Biden orders federal agencies to ramp up preparations for a day when quantum computers …
Joshua Bote / SFGATE:
A look at buy now, pay later services, popularized by social media culture and Gen Z, and the risks involved; Afterpay says 73% of Gen Z purchases are fashion  —  Do a quick scan of TikTok and you'll find trendy young people casually blowing hundreds or thousands of dollars on clothes and jewelry …
Stefanie Marotta / Bloomberg:
Shopify reports Q1 revenue up 22% YoY to $1.2B, below $1.25B est., and GMV up 16% YoY to $43.2B; Shopify acquires Deliverr for $2.1B; stock closes down 14.92%  —  Shopify Inc. shares plunged below their pre-pandemic level after the company missed revenue and profit estimates …

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.
Intel:
Intel Delivers powerful CPUs for AI and Networking  —  With the onset of AI, businesses demand powerful and efficient CPUs.  Explore new Intel Xeon 6 processors, for the broadest set of workloads with leadership performance and lower TCO.
Zoho:
Women's Day Special: Practical Lessons from Zoho's Women Leaders on Productivity  —  On this International Women's Day, it's great to take a moment to recognize some of the incredible women at Zoho who are making a real difference.
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

Diggnation:
Diggnation Live in Austin Texas: Old Rivals, New Vision
Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht give you their unique, sometimes awkward, and always hilarious take on the edges of the internet.
Subscribe to Diggnation.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Is Manus "DeepSeek" 2.0?
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Grit:
Boom's Blake Scholl on Supersonic Flight & Risking It All
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (CEO and co-founder)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:20 PM ET, May 5, 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

Earlier Picks

Casey Newton / Platformer:
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Jordan Novet / CNBC: