Techmeme
May 18, 2020, 2:05 PM

Top News

Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asian Review:
Sources: TSMC, the biggest contract chipmaker, has halted new orders from Huawei in response to new US export controls; orders placed before are not impacted  —  Taiwan chipmaker's relationship with its second biggest customer under fire  —  TAIPEI — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says Minecraft has now topped 200M sales, up from 100M in 2016, with 126M monthly players; Minecraft saw a 25% increase in new players last month  —  Minecraft continues to grow despite being 11 years old  —  Minecraft sales have officially topped 200 million, with 126 million people playing the game monthly.
Sam Nussey / Reuters:
Alibaba's Jack Ma resigns from SoftBank board, as he pulls back from formal business roles to focus on philanthropy; SoftBank to propose three new appointments  —  TOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp said on Monday that Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma will resign from its board …
Pavel Alpeyev / Bloomberg:
SoftBank Vision Fund records $17.7B loss in the last fiscal year after writing down investments including WeWork and Uber, reports a net loss of $8.96B  —  SoftBank Group Corp. said its Vision Fund business lost 1.9 trillion yen ($17.7 billion) last fiscal year after writing down the value of investments …
Preetika Rana / Wall Street Journal:
In email to staff, Dara Khosrowshahi says Uber will cut 3,000 more jobs, in addition to the 3,700 that were let go earlier this month, and will close 45 offices  —  The ride-hailing giant also is exploring selling noncore businesses  —  Uber Technologies Inc. is cutting several thousand additional jobs …
Bloomberg:
Apple says it's reopening 25 US stores this week plus 12 stores in Canada, adding to nearly 100 global locations that have reopened so far  —  - Company has 100 stores back in operation after virus closures  — Plans temperature checks and face coverings at every location
Ranjan Roy / Margins:
DoorDash is listing restaurants on its service without their permission, leading to inaccurate menus, unhappy customers, and even arbitrage opportunities  —  There is such a thing as a free lunch  —  If capitalism is driven by a search for profit, the food delivery business confuses the hell out of me.
Janko Roettgers / Protocol:
Facebook's VP of consumer hardware Andrew Bosworth says users have spent over $100M on Quest VR content and Portal sales are up 10x compared to mid-March  —  The latest on Oculus Quest, Portal and COVID-19 supply chain issues from Facebook's top hardware exec.
Sachin Ravikumar / Reuters:
Indian food delivery startup Swiggy says it will lay off 1,100 employees, or nearly 14% of its workforce, to cut costs amid the pandemic  —  BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian food delivery startup Swiggy said on Monday it would lay off 1,100 employees, or nearly 14% of its workforce, to cut costs …

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Earlier Picks

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: