Cash-strapped WeWork, the office-sharing company that is trying to negotiate a financial lifeline, has a new problem that may prove costly. From a report: It has closed about 2,300 phone booths at some of its 223 sites in the United States and Canada after it says it discovered elevated levels of formaldehyde. The company, which abandoned plans for an initial public…
Tag: investors
A Prenup Is the Latest Must-Have For Tech Startup Founders In Love
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: In Silicon Valley, where penniless programmers fervently believe their ideas are worth billions, getting rich can take priority over getting married. California law assumes that any wealth created during a marriage is community property, which should be split equally in a divorce. That’s alarming not just for young entrepreneurs but also their investors….
Disgraced Google Exec Andy Rubin Quietly Left His Venture Firm Earlier This Year
Andy Rubin, the former Google senior vice president whose $90 million exit package caused a worldwide employee walkout at the search giant last year, quietly left Playground Global, the venture firm he founded in May, BuzzFeed News reported today citing internal documents. From the report: The revelation comes as Rubin, who was accused of coercing a subordinate into sexual acts while…
Lab-Grown Meat Could Be On Store Shelves By 2022
Thanks to Future Meat Technologies, lab-grown meat could be hitting store shelves by 2022. The company “has raised $14 million in new financing to build its first pilot manufacturing facilities to bring the cost of production of a cell-made streak down to $10 per pound — or $4 if the meat is combined with plant-based meat substitutes,” reports TechCrunch. From the…
Chrome Promises ‘No More Mixed Messages About HTTPS ‘
“Today we’re announcing that Chrome will gradually start ensuring that https:// pages can only load secure https:// subresources,” promises an announcement on the Chromium blog. It notes that Chrome users already make HTTPS connections for more than 90% of their browsing time, and “we’re now turning our attention to making sure that HTTPS configurations across the web are secure and up-to-date.”…
Docker Is In Deep Trouble
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: Docker, the technology, is the poster child for containers. But it appears Docker, the business, is in trouble. In a leaked memo, Docker CEO Rob Bearden praised workers — despite the “uncertainty [which] brings with it significant challenges” and “persevering in spite of the lack of clarity we’ve had these past few weeks.”…
Should We Build A Publicly-Funded Social Media Platform?
What if the problems with social media just can’t be solved by a for-profit platform? Writing in the New York Times, a former Tumblr executive argues the solution might require the creation of a nonprofit publicly-funded social media platform. The mechanics of how a public social media product would work have been fairly well figured out by now: It would be…
Open Offices Are a Capitalist Dead End
Strudelkugel shares an op-ed: What was We thinking? That’s the only question worth asking now about the clowncar start-up known as The We Company, the money-burning, co-working behemoth whose best-known brand is WeWork. What’s a WeWork? What WeWork works on is work. The We Company takes out long-term leases on in-demand office buildings in more than 100 cities across the globe…
WeWork’s Neumann Is Stepping Down as CEO
Adam Neumann, the charismatic entrepreneur who led WeWork to become one of the world’s most valuable startups, is stepping down as chief executive officer, after a plan to take the company public hit a wall. From a report: Members of WeWork’s board have been pressuring Neumann in recent days to step aside, taking a new role as non-executive chairman. The move…
China Boosts Government Presence At Alibaba, Private Giants
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: The government of one of China’s top technology hubs is dispatching officials to 100 local corporations including e-commerce giant Alibaba, the latest effort to exert greater influence over the country’s massive private sector. Hangzhou, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, is assigning government affairs representatives to facilitate communication and expedite projects, the city…