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☆ The American consumer has bad news for the economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

That’s why Wall Street is already fretting over Friday’s retail sales report, which is expected to show that the mighty American consumer is pulling back. Economists forecast that retail sales fell 0.4% in March from the month before. But Goldman Sachs and Bank of America analysts say core sales — that’s without autos, gasoline, and building materials — slowed by about 1%. A taxing problem: Still, the health of the American consumer is still relatively strong, the BofA analysts said. A one-bedroom apartment had a median rent of $4,150, up 9.6% from last year, while a two-bedroom apartment had a median rent of $5,680, up 18.3% from a year ago.

☆ Amazon is ‘investing heavily’ in the technology behind ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Amazon wants investors to know it won’t be left behind in the latest Big Tech arms race over artificial intelligence. In a letter to shareholders Thursday, Amazon (AMZN) CEO Andy Jassy said the company is “investing heavily” in large language models (LLMs) and generative AI, the same technology that underpins ChatGPT and other similar AI chatbots. Since ChatGPT was released to the public in late November, Google (GOOG), Facebook (FB) and Microsoft (MSFT) have all talked up their growing focus on generative AI technology, which can create compelling essays, stories and visuals in response to user prompts. With that in mind, Amazon on Thursday unveiled a new service called Bedrock. It essentially makes foundation models (large models that are pre-trained on vast amounts of data) from AI21 Labs, Anthropic, Stability AI and Amazon accessible to clients via an API, Amazon said in a blog post.

☆ Elizabeth Holmes must report to prison this month while waiting out her appeal, judge rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A judge on Monday denied Elizabeth Holmes’ request to remain free while she appeals her conviction, setting the stage for the disgraced Theranos founder to report to prison later this month. Davila previously ordered Holmes to turn herself into custody on April 27, 2023. Balwani’s request to remain out of prison during his appeal was also denied, and he has been ordered by Davila to surrender to prison on April 20. Holmes’ trial was initially delayed multiple times, due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and then because of her pregnancy. Following her sentencing in November, Holmes sought to delay the start of her prison term after giving birth to her second child.

☆ Bob Lee: Moments following stabbing of Cash App founder captured on video, local news site reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Taylor Romine | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The moments following the San Francisco stabbing attack of Cash App founder Bob Lee were captured on surveillance video and in a 911 call to authorities, according to a local Bay Area news portal. The driver of the Toyota pulls the car away and Lee collapses to the ground. Lee manages to get up and walk a bit further before he collapses in front of an apartment building. “No one who commits a violent crime, or who’s a repeat offender are receiving overly lenient plea deals.”Her comments appear to be in response to Twitter’s new owner, billionaire Elon Musk. In total, there were 56 homicides in San Francisco in 2022, the same as in 2021.

☆ When you're talking to a chatbot, who's listening?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

And just last week, regulators in Italy issued a temporary ban on ChatGPT in the country, citing privacy concerns after OpenAI disclosed the breach. Google and Microsoft have since rolled out AI tools as well, which work the same way and are powered by large language models that are trained on vast troves of online data. When users input information into these tools, McCreary said, “You don’t know how it’s then going to be used.” That raises particularly high concerns for companies. The privacy policy states it may provide personal information to third parties without further notice to the user, unless required by law. “We also have guardrails in place designed to prevent Bard from including personally identifiable information in its responses,” Google said.

☆ Bob Lee, Cash app founder, dead after apparent stabbing attack in San Francisco
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Bob Lee, the former chief technology officer of Square who helped launch Cash App, has died after an apparent stabbing attack in San Francisco. We love you.”Tech entrepreneur CashApp founder Bob Lee. San Francisco has been grappling with an apparent uptick in crime as it still attempts to bounce back from the pandemic. In total, there were 56 homicides in San Francisco in 2022, which is the exact same number of homicides the city saw in 2021. Prior to joining Square, Lee was at Google, where he helped lead the team that launched Android.

☆ A grassroots group took on Amazon and won. Then came the hard part
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Amazon still refuses to recognize the union or come to the bargaining table, dashing the Staten Island workers’ hopes of creating their first contract. Union organizer Christian Smalls (L) celebrates following the April 1, 2022, vote for the unionization of the Amazon Staten Island warehouse in New York. “I told Christian, ‘We have a problem, you need to stop traveling, you need to focus on the workers,’” Goodall told CNN. The company has claimed the independent federal agency tasked with overseeing union elections exerted “inappropriate and undue influence” with the Staten Island effort. An Amazon employee signs a labor union authorization for representation form outside the Amazon LDJ5 fulfillment center in the Staten Island borough of New York, on Monday, Feb. 7, 2022.

☆ How Uber left Lyft in the dust
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

In the process, Lyft cultivated a feel-good brand – but Uber dominated the market. “As a member of the board, he knows both the challenges and opportunities ahead.”For Lyft, the current challenges are immense. While Uber diversified its business beyond ride-hailing by delivering meals and grocery items, Lyft never did. David Risher, Lyft's new CEO, flanked by Lyft's co-founders, Logan Green (left) and John Zimmer (right). Davidson, wrote in a note this week that the new CEO “could signal an increased willingness to broaden the strategic aperture at LYFT a bit as it relates to areas like product strategy (delivery), partnerships, or other novel ways to create value.”Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick (left); current Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi (right).

☆ Lyft announces new CEO, says co-founders will step aside from management positions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Lyft announced on Monday that Amazon veteran David Risher will join as chief executive next month, and that co-founders Logan Green and John Zimmer will step down from their management positions at the ride-hailing company. Green, who is currently the CEO, will be succeeded by Risher effective April 17, the company said in a statement. Both Green and Zimmer will stay on at Lyft in non-executive roles as chair and vice chair of the Lyft board, respectively. Lyft (LYFT) emphasized Risher’s management experience at Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT), though he has not worked at either in two decades according to his LinkedIn profile. He was the 37th employee of Amazon (AMZN), and went on to become the e-commerce giant’s first head of product and head of US retail, according to a statement from Lyft (LYFT).

TikTok was the top downloaded app in the United States in 2021 and 2022, according to data from analytics firm Sensor Tower. And legacy news organizations like the 176-year-old Associated Press have recently joined TikTok to reach new audiences. Goodwin told CNN that more than 90% of her orders currently come from people who discover her business through TikTok. “If it were to get banned, I would see business plummeting,” Goodwin told CNN. (Laurie Gomez)At a time when major tech giants including Meta and Twitter are slashing staff, TikTok is still hiring American engineers.

☆ TikTok hearing: CEO Shou Chew to testify before Congress for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

TikTok CEO Shou Chew will face the House Energy and Commerce Committee during his first appearance before Congress, in a hearing that kicks off at 10 a.m. In his prepared remarks, Chew is expected to issue broad promises to protect US user data, to keep teens safe and to remain free from any government influence. As scrutiny from lawmakers’ mounts, however, so does the app’s popularity and reach in the United States. TikTok was the top downloaded app in the United States in 2021 and 2022, according to data from analytics firm Sensor Tower. In the months leading up to his appearance on Capitol Hill, Chew, who rarely gave interviews previously, has gone on a media tour in the United States.

☆ TikTok and its CEO are fighting to save the app in the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

In his talk, Chew, the CEO of TikTok, said the social network would not provide US user data to the Chinese government and has never been asked to do so. Chew stressed the steps TikTok has taken to protect US user data. The Harvard event is just one of several media appearances Chew has made in recent weeks amid mounting scrutiny of TikTok and of himself. “It’s life or death for TikTok, from their perspective,” said Justin Sherman, the CEO of Global Cyber Strategies, D.C.-based research and advisory firm, who was among the researchers TikTok invited to be briefed on “Project Texas,” the company’s $1.5 billion initiative to address lawmakers’ security concerns. But for some lawmakers with security concerns, the latest push “may be too little too late.”In his TikTok video on Tuesday, Chew appealed directly to users of the app.

☆ TikTok says it has 150 million US users amid renewed calls for a ban
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —TikTok now has 150 million monthly active users in the United States, CEO Shou Chew confirmed on Tuesday, in a clear attempt to highlight the platform’s vast and growing reach in the country amid renewed calls for a ban. “That’s almost half the US coming to TikTok to connect, to create, to share, to learn, or just to have some fun,” Chew said in a TikTok video on Tuesday. The figure also includes about five million businesses that use TikTok to reach customers, Chew said. TikTok acknowledged to CNN last week week that federal officials are demanding the app’s Chinese owners sell their stake in the social media platform, or risk facing a US ban of the app. In 2020, when the Trump administration made a similar threat, TikTok said it had 100 million US users.

☆ Amazon to lay off 9,000 more workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Amazon is cutting 9,000 more jobs, CEO Andy Jassy announced Monday in a memo to staff. The latest cuts come after the company announced earlier this year that it was eliminating some 18,000 positions as part of a major cost-cutting bid at the e-commerce giant. “This was a difficult decision, but one that we think is best for the company long term,” Jassy wrote in the memo. Amazon, like a number of other Big Tech companies, also rapidly grew its headcount during the early days of the pandemic. Just last week, Facebook-parent Meta said it was laying off an additional 10,000 workers, on top of the 11,000 job cuts announced late last year.

Google (GOOGL), which for years ranked as the top company to work for in the United States, laid off thousands of workers by e-mail. During her early years there, she worked in marketing and became known as the “The Bard of Google” for the internal emails she sent celebrating the company’s culture. Google employee affected by January layoffs“The problem was, suddenly, you didn’t work for a company that was sending stuff to space or building autonomous cars,” Rout said. Hundreds of Google employees in Switzerland staged a walkout last week to protest layoffs, partly out of frustration with the lack of transparency. About a month before the January layoffs, one former employee said Google painted “You Belong” on one of the walls in their working area.

CNN —Nearly two-and-a-half years after the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok in the United States if it didn’t divest from its Chinese owners, the Biden administration is now doing the same. The new directive comes from the multiagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), following years of negotiations between TikTok and the government body. “If protecting national security is the objective, divestment doesn’t solve the problem,” TikTok spokesperson Maureen Shanahan said in a statement. TikTok is really only a national security risk insofar as the Chinese government may have leverage over TikTok or its parent company. China has national security laws that require companies under its jurisdiction to cooperate with a broad range of security activities.

☆ ‘I am personally sticking with SVB.’ Prominent tech figures pledge support for bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —After a rollercoaster week for Silicon Valley Bank’s customers, some prominent voices in the tech world are now publicly saying they will keep their money with the embattled lender – and they’re urging others to do the same. It also comes after the regional bank’s saga sent shockwaves across global financial markets. The push to continue doing business with Silicon Valley also highlights the unique relationship between the tech lender and the startup community, and their mutual dependence on each other. The bank has worked with nearly half of all US venture-backed tech and health care companies. But not everyone shares the desire to stay loyal to the bank after its implosion.

☆ What metaverse? Meta says its single largest investment is now in ‘advancing AI’
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

“Our single largest investment is in advancing AI and building it into every one of our products,” Zuckerberg said Tuesday. And not to be left behind, Meta announced late last month that it was forming a “top-level product group” to “turbocharge” the company’s work on AI tools. “I do think it is a good thing to focus on AI,” Ali Mogharabi, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, told CNN of Zuckerberg’s comments. In 2022, Meta lost more than $13.7 billion in its “Reality Labs” unit, which houses its metaverse efforts. After taking a beating in 2022, shares for Meta have surged more than 50% since the start of the year.

☆ Facebook-parent Meta plans to lay off another 10,000 employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Facebook-parent Meta plans to lay off another 10,000 workers, marking the second round of significant job cuts announced by the tech giant in four months. With 11,000 job cuts announced in November and the 10,000 announced Tuesday, that would bring Meta’s headcount down to around 66,000. In the first months of this year, Amazon, Google-parent Alphabet and Microsoft have all confirmed major job cuts impacting tens of thousands of tech workers. When the first round of job cuts was announced in November, Zuckerberg blamed himself at the time for the company’s over-hiring earlier in the pandemic. On that call, Zuckerberg also suggested that more job cuts could be coming.

☆ The tech industry avoided an ‘extinction-level event,’ but it’s not unscathed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —For much of the weekend, Silicon Valley scrambled to find a way through what one prominent tech investor described as an “extinction-level event for startups” after the collapse of a top lender in the industry. “You can feel the collective *sigh*,” Ryan Hoover, a tech founder and investor wrote on Twitter Sunday. SVB’s collapse also risks changing how the world, and prospective recruits, think of Silicon Valley. The bank worked with nearly half of all venture-backed tech and healthcare companies in the United States. President Joe Biden emphasized in remarks Monday that “no losses will be borne by the taxpayers” related to the government’s intervention for Silicon Valley Bank.

☆ Takeaways from America’s second-largest bank failure
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN —Silicon Valley Bank’s 48-hour collapse led to the second-largest failure of a financial institution in US history. Its stunning, and seemingly rapid, fall is the largest shutdown of a US bank since Washington Mutual in 2008. “That’s because its depositors were withdrawing their money so fast that the bank was insolvent, and an intraday closure was unavoidable due to a classic bank run.”High interest rates led to its demiseTo combat rampant inflation, the central bank has been aggressively raising interest rates since 2022. When interest rates were near historical lows, the banks bought up on long-dated, seemingly low-risk Treasuries. Faced with these higher interest rates, loss of IPOs and a funding drought, SVB’s clients began pulling money out of the bank.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank collapse sends tech industry into a panic
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Following the bank’s collapse on Friday, uncertainty in the startup community only grew. Founders Fund, an influential venture capital firm founded by billionaire Peter Thiel, reportedly advised its portfolio companies to pull money from the bank. “SVB is the most important capital provider to tech startups and the biggest supporter of the community,” he said in a tweet. “Now is the time to support them.”The rapidly unfolding fallout at Silicon Valley Bank comes at a challenging moment for the tech industry. Now, the bank’s collapse risks compounding the industry’s cash crunch and broader turbulence.

☆ TikTok could be a valuable tool for China if it invades Taiwan, FBI director says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —The Chinese government could use TikTok to control data on millions of people and harness the short-form video app to shape public opinion should China invade Taiwan, FBI Director Christopher Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday. Wray responded affirmatively to questions from Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the panel’s ranking member, on whether TikTok would allow Beijing widespread control over data and a valuable influence tool in the event of war in the Taiwan Strait. Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate panel, argued that TikTok presents “a substantial national security threat for the country of a kind that we didn’t face in the past.”Wray’s comments come a day after Gen. Paul Nakasone, head of the US National Security Agency, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he worried TikTok could censor videos to shape public opinion in a way that threatens US national security interests. The company is also negotiating a possible agreement with the Biden administration that could allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States under certain conditions. In a statement this week, a TikTok spokesperson said a US government ban would stifle American speech and would be “a ban on the export of American culture and values to the billion-plus people who use our service worldwide.”– CNN’s Brian Fung and Catherine Thorbecke contributed to this report.

☆ Elon Musk thinks he can fix Twitter’s advertising business after derailing it
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

In remarks at a Morgan Stanley Conference, Musk laid out his vision to boost Twitter’s core advertising business by adopting the standard strategy of most of the company’s peers: improving the relevance of the ads it serves. “The advertising relevance is the most gigantic thing,” Musk said. “And because it is useful, because it is relevant, there will be a massive increase in revenue, because it is now useful. At Tuesday’s event, Musk went on a series of unrelated tangents, including repeatedly taking aim at legacy media organizations. “Because what you see on Twitter is the real thing, and what you read in newspapers is not.”

☆ Snap stock surges as Congress renews efforts to ban TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner is expected to unveil bipartisan legislation Tuesday afternoon that expands President Joe Biden’s authority to ban TikTok and other suspected information technology risks from the United States, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. Angelo Zino, senior equity analyst CFRA Research, wrote in a note Monday that the “biggest beneficiaries of a TikTok ban” would be Snapchat, Facebook-parent Meta, and YouTube. “TikTok’s emphasis on short-form videos has increased engagement/time spent by consumers and has upended the entire industry, creating a headwind for META/SNAP,” Zino wrote. Shares of YouTube’s parent company Alphabet were essentially flat on Tuesday. A TikTok ban, or the possibility of it, may just be one more positive for Meta’s stock this year.

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