Microsoft’s $68.7 billion all-cash deal to bag gaming giant Activision Blizzard faces closer antitrust scrutiny in the U.K. where the country’s market watchdog has just announced it will move to an in-depth investigation — unless the pair submit suitable proposals to address its concerns in the next few days. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)
Month: September 2022
Although Netflix announced to the world in July that it is launching its ad-supported version in early 2023, the streamer could be changing its plans. As reported by The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, Netflix execs told ad buyers the launch date would now be November 1, 2022. If this ends up being the case,
On the latest episode of Studio 1.0, Emily Chang speaks with Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer about the $70B Activision Blizzard deal, whether CEO Bobby Kotick stays after the deal closes, and addresses broader culture challenges in the gaming industry. ——– Like this video? Subscribe to Bloomberg Technology on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrM7B7SL_g1edFOnmj-SDKg Watch the latest full
Yesterday’s tech stock rout was not evenly distributed; some companies and technology sectors fared better than others. The same can be said about tech sectors in 2022 more generally. For example, the basket of cloud stocks that we track was off 45% year to date before the open today, while cybersecurity index funds ($IHAK, $CIBR,
Nate Tepper first went to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), an international program dedicated to helping people recover from alcoholism with a 12-step program, in the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic. He didn’t show his face or share his story, but says that being in the presence of vulnerability was immensely impactful. Following the recommended level of
To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Happy Friday! For those of you excited to see us in your inbox for your daily dose of tech news, unfortunately, you will have to wait until Tuesday to hear from us
More games and more NFTs pose questions for the gaming industry Karan Bhasin 13 hours There has been stiff backlash against NFTs in video games since they first started popping up. In general, both gamers as well as industry professionals have disapproved blockchain implementations in video games, mostly over concerns over the environmental impact that
As a brutal heat wave cooks the West in the run-up to Labor Day, California’s power grid manager is calling on electric vehicle owners to avoid charging at peak times. The request is part of a broader effort to keep the state’s grid up and running, while locals crank their air conditioners to outlast a
The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has formally cleared the proposed $8.1 billion merger between cybersecurity giants NortonLifeLock and Avast, a month after provisionally greenlighting the deal. The merger has been hanging in the balance since plans were first revealed last August. The CMA revealed in March that it was launching an investigation, stating
India is planning to speed up testing and safety approvals of electronic devices, including smartphones and earbuds, to reduce their time to market. Currently, it can take as long as 20 weeks to for consumer electronics to pass safety tests — but the new approvals could bring that down to as little as three days.
A red-headed woman stands on the moon, her face obscured. Her naked body looks like it belongs on a poster you’d find on a hormonal teenager’s bedroom wall — that is, until you reach her torso, where three arms spit out of her shoulders. AI-powered systems like Stable Diffusion, which translate text prompts into pictures,
Kuda, the challenger bank based in Nigeria and the U.K., has joined the ranks of tech companies in Africa that are pruning their workforce. The news of the layoffs, which was first disclosed to TechCrunch by sources, was confirmed by Kuda via email, saying it laid off less than 5% of its 450-strong workforce, or
Ryan Falvey Contributor More posts by this contributor Is fintech’s Series A market hot, or just overhyped? Fintech’s $138 billion opportunity This past year has seen a wholesale shift in how the market feels about fintech. A year ago, nearly every investor had a fintech thesis, companies were racing to go public and investors at
Plus Snapchat layoffs, Clearco’s departure and big changes at Y Combinator Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This was a Live Week, meaning that Alex, Natasha and Mary Ann recorded the show on Twitter Spaces, hanging out with a bunch of the
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The UK could be gearing up to hit a handful of tech firms with enforcement orders (and potentially fines) related to a children’s online privacy and safety Code which has been in force for a year. “The ICO are currently looking into how over 50 different online services are conforming with the code, with four
Companies tend to divide their procurement spending into two main buckets. The first is large purchases over $500,000 with some starting $1 million, depending on the size of the organization. Anything below that figure falls under a category known as “tail spend.” Boston-based startup Fairmarkit has been working on a tail spend procurement solution for
Venture capital data thus far in the third quarter indicates that investment into blockchain-focused startups is on pace to contract dramatically compared to recent quarters and the heady 2021 period. Data from Crunchbase and PitchBook indicate that after totaling around $10 billion in some recent quarters, the total dollar value of web3 investments could more
Google’s decision to block the Truth Social app’s launch on the Play Store over content moderation issues raises the question as to why Apple hasn’t taken similar action over the iOS version of the app that’s been live on the App Store since February. According to a report by Axios, Google found numerous posts that
Four months after the spectacular feat that was catching a descending rocket stage in mid-air, Rocket Lab has re-ignited one of the engines from that booster — an important step on their roadmap to fielding a fully reusable rocket. The Rutherford engine, one of nine that power the Electron launch vehicles, went up on the
I’ve been tracking PsycApps, a startup that came up with a gamified mental health game called eQuoo, since 2016, and this company — and its founder — is nothing if not persistent in “pivoting into the wind”. The last we heard it had been approved by the U.K.’s National Heath Service and was even distributed
Draftea, which calls itself the first daily fantasy sports company in Spanish-speaking Latin America, is taking fantasy football (not fútbol) to the region in a new partnership with the National Football League (NFL) and the NFL Players Association, a labor union representing the league’s athletes. Draftea’s founder, Alán Jaime Misrahi, played soccer in Mexico’s third
Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora joins Emily Chang following their positive earnings results, and to discuss the state of the cybersecurity industry and whether he is expecting a pull back from customers facing high costs. Plus, his thoughts on the Twitter whistle blower’s security concerns.
In its own words, Front is a customer communication hub that keeps teams focused on what technology can’t replace: ensuring every conversation strengthens the customer relationship. The company recently raised $65 million at a $1.7 billion valuation, which is a hell of a funding round. Uniquely, the company has actually published all of its past
Hard tech is hard, but when there are major breakthroughs, that can come with outsize returns and enormous opportunities. Cantos just closed its third fund to invest in science-forward companies at the pre-seed and seed stages to ‘improve billions of lives and saving the planet.’ “I have a bachelor’s in international relations. I’m not technical
We’re nearly at the stopping point ahead of a long weekend here in the United States, but that doesn’t mean that the tech market has given up on making news. And the news is not good. In the wake of Snap’s layoffs and startup staff-cutting galore, you are likely not surprised that there is some bad
Picture the aftermath of a festival: A sea of fans depart, leaving behind any number of empty water bottles, disposable cups, wristbands, lost IDs and maybe even some used-up whipped cream chargers. For all the environmental lip service we hear from megastars, the carbon footprint of live entertainment has only recently received the attention it
To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here. Today, Haje is particularly psyched that he was able to talk the TechCrunch Plus team into letting him publish one of his Pitch Deck Teardowns without the paywall. If you’re not a
Snapchat’s parent Snap became the latest tech company to announce a huge round of layoffs, confirming ongoing rumors yesterday that it was cutting 20% of its global workforce, affecting at least 1,200 people. The reasons for Snap’s massive scaling back exercise are perhaps obvious, as it’s the same economic reasons why countless other businesses have
Tired: JBL announced the Tour PRO 2 earbuds with active noise cancellation (ANC). Wired: The case has a touchscreen. That’s right. In the off-chance you didn’t have enough screens in your life, the new earbuds’ case adds another 1.4-inch LED touch display. Users can flick through multiple screens like different watch faces that allow them