SoftBank is walking away from a sizeable chunk of its WeWork rescue package, which included a near billion dollar windfall for ousted founder Adam Neumann. From a report: The Japanese tech company has backed out of a plan to buy $3 billion worth of shares in the coworking startup from existing shareholders and investors, according to statements from SoftBank and a…
Tag: SoftBank
Global Telcos Join Alphabet, SoftBank’s Flying Cellphone Antenna Lobbying Effort
Alphabet and SoftBank’s attempts to launch flying cellphone antennas high into the atmosphere have received backing from global telcos, energizing lobbying efforts aimed at driving regulatory approval for the emerging technology. From a report: Loon, which was spun out of Google parent Alphabet’s business incubator, and HAPSMobile, a unit of SoftBank Group’s domestic telco, plan to deliver high speed internet to…
Amazon Unveils New Server Chip To Compete With Intel’s Product
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Amazon Web Services has developed a more powerful version of its own chips to power services for cloud-computing customers, as well as some of AWS’s own programs. AWS Chief Executive Andy Jassy on Tuesday introduced a second-generation chip, called Graviton2, aimed at general-purpose computing tasks. He didn’t specify a release date. The company…
Amazon’s Cloud Unit Has Designed a More Powerful Datacenter Chip
Amazon’s cloud computing unit has designed a second, more powerful generation of datacenter processor chip, Reuters reported Thursday, the latest sign that the e-commerce company is pouring money into custom silicon for its fastest-growing business. From a report: The new Amazon Web Services chip uses technology from SoftBank Group-owned Arm Holdings, the sources said. One of the sources familiar with the…
WeWork In Talks To Hire T-Mobile CEO John Legere
According to The Wall Street Journal, WeWork is in discussions with T-Mobile CEO John Legere to take over leadership of the troubled office-sharing startup (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source). From the report: WeWork’s parent, formally known as We Co., is searching for a CEO who can stabilize the company following the erratic tenure of its co-founder Adam Neumann. After WeWork’s failed…
ARM Will Continue Supplying Huawei With Mobile Chip Designs
ARM will keep supplying Huawei with its chip designs at least through the next generation, the company said today. From a report: That’s a reversal from earlier this year, when ARM had reportedly notified personnel to halt all dealings with the Chinese company. “ARM can provide support to HiSilicon for the Armv8-A architecture, as well as the next generation of that…
2,000 WeWork Employees To Lose Their Jobs As Former CEO Adam Neumann Prepares To Walk Away With at Least $1 Billion
WeWork’s value has tumbled, about 2,000 employees are being cut and many investors are nursing losses after the firm’s bailout. But founder Adam Neumann is still a billionaire. From a report: SoftBank’s proposed rescue package of WeWork involves Neumann selling about $1 billion of stock and getting a $185 million consulting fee from the Japanese firm even as the deal values…
Why The ‘Not-Com’ Stock Bubble Is Popping
“In the dot-com bubble, public investors got hosed,” remembers The Atlantic. “Today, it’s public investors that are doing the hosing.” When the web browser Netscape went public on August 9, 1995 — the day many cite as the beginning of the dot-com bubble — its stock skyrocketed from $28 to $75 in a matter of hours, even though the company wasn’t…
Dog-Walking Startup Wag Raised $300 Million To Unleash Growth. Then Things Got Messy
At the start of 2018, Wag looked like tech’s next Big Thing. From a report: In January, the founders of the dog-walking startup announced they had landed a $300 million investment from SoftBank’s Vision Fund. The world’s largest tech investor, SoftBank had $93 billion at its disposal and a network of global connections second to none. Unlike almost any other venture…
SoftBank Bet Big on Disruptive Companies. Many Have Not Paid Off.
Anyone who has taken an Uber, sent a Slack message or enjoyed a free beer at a WeWork owes a little something to Masayoshi Son. The New York Times: Through his Japanese conglomerate SoftBank and a $100 billion investment fund, Mr. Son plowed huge sums into these and other companies that aim to change how people work, travel and live. His…