Barry Diller’s Puzzling Magazine Drive

What is the fascination that internet billionaires have with print media? First Jeff Bezos buys The Washington Post, then Marc Benioff snaps up Time magazine. And now Barry Diller is in “advanced talks” to buy Meredith Corp., the company behind People, Better Homes and Gardens, Entertainment Weekly, among others, according to the Wall Street Journal....

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Online Learning Company Udemy Plans October IPO

Udemy, a San Francisco–based startup that sells online courses to individuals and businesses, is preparing to file paperwork for an initial public offering whose listing could come as soon as next month, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The company, which raised $50 million at a $3.3 billion valuation in November, is targeting...

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Google Seeks Search Deals For TikTok and Instagram Videos

If you’ve ever tried searching on Google for one of those TikTok or Instagram videos all your friends are gushing about—such as sea shanties or the Renegade dance—you’ll notice something. The videos don’t show up. Google is trying to fix that—but there’s no guarantee its efforts will succeed. Google executives have been quietly negotiating with...

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Europe Aims to Solve Tech’s Knottiest Problem: Too Many Chargers

The FTC’s new chair, Lina Khan, wants to drastically shake up antitrust enforcement in the U.S., by taking into account the interests of “workers and independent businesses as well as consumers,” she outlined in a memo made public this week. Over in Europe, antitrust czar Margrethe Vestager, no stranger to vigorous antitrust enforcement, is tackling...

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Twitter Adds Bitcoin Tips; Circle and Plaid Team Up; College Football Star Issues Own Crypto

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is backing up his bitcoin bullishness with actual changes to how the social media network functions. The company introduced the ability to tip in bitcoin on its Apple iOS app on Thursday. Twitter users can send bitcoin payments using Strike, a third-party crypto payment service. Strike is based on the Lightning Network, a protocol...

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Twitter’s Subscription Challenge; Live Shopping App NTWRK Raises $50 Million

Twitter is trying hard to go after creators with new features including tipping, newsletters and Super Follows, which ask fans to pay a monthly subscription of between $3 and $10 for bonus tweets. But data from mobile app- tracking firm Sensor Tower shows a slow start to at least one of these features: Super Follows has only generated about $6,000 in...

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Blackrock Values ‘Space Carpool’ Startup Loft Orbital at $550 Million

Commercial space startups have had a mixed track record as investment prospects: While shares in space tourism outfit Virgin Galactic have doubled in two years, satellite internet provider OneWeb ended up in bankruptcy court last year. Even after that bumpy ride, investors are still keen on the sector, which they see as a way to bet on the next generation...

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Gorillas Raising $950 Million Amidst European Delivery Wars

Gorillas, one of the biggest of a crop of European startups in the convenience delivery market, has finalized a $950 million series C fundraising round, valuing the company at $3 billion, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. The fundraising is the latest example of the investor frenzy around startups seeking to deliver groceries,...

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Epic’s Metaverse Needs Mobile Eventually

Fortnite won’t be coming back to iOS any time soon, and the outcome of Epic v. Apple doesn’t exactly augur well for Epic’s prospects of prevailing in its pending lawsuit with Google either. For now, as has been for over a year, Fortnite remains unavailable on either app store and without updates for those who already had it installed.“So what?” you...

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How Google Spies on Its Employees

At Google, a seemingly innocuous action can earn an employee the attention of the company’s corporate security department. For example, when Google wants to find out who has been accessing or leaking sensitive corporate information, the company often homes in on employees who are thinking about leaving it. In the past, its security teams have flagged...

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