Techmeme: The case for Apple to offer a 15-inch iPad home hub is supported by devices like the Portal and Echo Show 15, as well as Apple's ~5% smart speaker market share (Mark Gurman/Bloomberg)

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December 20, 2021, 3:00 PM

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Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:

Oracle will acquire electronic medical records company Cerner for $28.3B, or $95 per share, in an all-cash deal, its biggest acquisition yet — - Enterprise software giant Oracle will acquire electronic medical records company Cerner. — Enterprise software giant Oracle …

Nick Statt / Protocol:

Microsoft's Phil Spencer says the success and growth of games like Minecraft show the ingredients required for the metaverse to shed its dystopian roots — When Phil Spencer thinks about the tech and gaming industries' newfound obsession with the metaverse, the Xbox chief's mind goes to Minecraft.

More: GamesIndustry.biz, Forbes, and OnMSFT.com

Tweets: @nickstatt, @protocol, @protocol, and @nickstatt

Emma Roth / The Verge:

The FCC settles with AT&T, Verizon, Intrado, and CenturyLink over failed 911 calls during network outages in 2020; the companies will pay $6M collectively — The companies will pay a total of $6 million — The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reached settlements with AT&T …

More: Federal Communications …, CNET, Light Reading, TechRadar, 9to5Mac, Telecompetitor, and Reuters. Tweets: @jrosenworcel

Wall Street Journal:

Airlines begin preparing for potential FAA flight limits in up to 46 large American metro areas, as a new 5G wireless service is set to go live on January 5 — Carriers are taking steps to prepare for potential FAA flight limits when a new 5G wireless service goes live Jan. 5

More: Gizmodo, New York Post, PCMag, Bloomberg, Forbes, The Points Guy UK, and The Mac Observer. Tweets: @jeffnolan

Wall Street Journal:

Profile of Bret Taylor, made co-CEO of Salesforce and chairman of Twitter last month, who joined Salesforce in 2016 after stints at Google and Facebook — Promotions to co-CEO of Salesforce and chairman of Twitter have turned the Silicon Valley entrepreneur into one of tech's highest-profile executives

Tweets: @yoda and @amy_e_weaver

Brian Sozzi / Yahoo Finance:

Rocket Companies, a consumer finance-focused holding company, will pay $1.275B in cash to acquire personal finance app Truebill, which has 2.5M members — Rocket Companies CEO Jay Farner wasn't kidding around when he told Yahoo Finance Live in November he was on the hunt for acquisitions …

More: TechCrunch, Protocol, FinLedger, Rocket Companies, Inc., Benzinga, and Crowdfund Insider

Tweets: @ekp, @yoda, @sarthakgh, and @gokulr

Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:

The UK's National Crime Agency shares 585M+ compromised passwords, found during an investigation, with Have I Been Pwned, after the FBI started sharing in May — The UK National Crime Agency has shared a collection of more than 585 million compromised passwords it found during an investigation …

More: Troy Hunt, BBC, and BleepingComputer

Tweets: @troyhunt and @campuscodi

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Social gaming startup Rec Room raises $145M led by Coatue at a $3.5B valuation, up from $1.25B in March, and says it has 37M players, up from 2M in March — On the heels of Roblox hitting it big with its platform for user-created gaming content, another startup has landed a major round …

More: The Information, Road to VR, GeekWire, and VentureBeat

New York Times:

Investigation details China's social media propaganda machine, which uses private contractors to generate content to sculpt opinion on Facebook and Twitter — Register accounts on foreign social media platforms — 按月报单价

Tweets: @muyixiao, @danharris, @pekingmike, @niubi, @samuelbickett, @gadyepstein, @baldingsworld, @walterlohman, @zachcoelius, @sinbad_w, @noupside, @smxfr, @williamyang120, @pacstandardtw, @nytimes, @mmcintire, @judah_grunstein, @aleszubajak, and @mauracunningham

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Zepto, which offers a “10-minute” grocery delivery service in five Indian cities, raises a $100M Series C led by YC Continuity Fund at a $570M valuation — Zepto, a Mumbai-based startup that operates a 10-minute instant grocery delivery service, has more than doubled its valuation …

More: Bloomberg, Entrackr, The Economic Times, and Tech in Asia

Tweets: @geoff_ink, @refsrc, @anmolm_, and @ycombinator

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Spotify, Meta, and Netflix find Gen Z elusive in a way TikTok never has; Spotify says Gen Z accounts for the majority using its Blend playlist feature — Good afternoon from Puerto Rico. Hope you all are staying safe out there. Hollywood is celebrating the good news of a record-breaking weekend …

More: New York Times. Tweets: @lucas_shaw and @sleepwellcap

Tim Copeland / The Block:

Crypto staking service Figment raises a $110M Series C led by Thoma Bravo at a $1.4B valuation; Figment has $10M in revenue/month with ~$100M projected for 2021 — Quick Take — Staking provider Figment has raised $110 million at a $1.4 billion valuation.

More: Forbes

Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:

The US DOJ charges five Russian nationals with hacking two SEC Filing Agents between January 2018 and September 2020, and using the stolen info for stock trades — The US Department of Justice has charged today five Russian nationals, including a former officer of Russia's GRU military intelligence agency …

More: CyberScoop. Tweets: @campuscodi

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:00 PM ET, December 20, 2021.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Axios:

Sources: WH officials believe NYT's Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan obtained audio recordings of Situation Room meetings for their upcoming book Regime Change

Marah Eakin / Current:

Fred Rogers Productions launches a Mister Rogers' Neighborhood YouTube channel, curating content based on monthly themes and focusing on reach over monetization

Gary Baum / The Hollywood Reporter:

A look at the first “case” brought before Objection, which aims to use AI to evaluate news stories, and a Q&A with Objection's founder; the site is now dark

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More News

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Turing, which uses AI to source, evaluate, hire, onboard, and then manage engineers remotely, raises an $87M Series D, valuing the startup at $1.1B

Eleanor Olcott / Financial Times:

Alibaba suspends China's biggest shopping celebrity Huang Wei from Taobao after she was fined ~$210M for tax evasion, in a blow to Alibaba's livestream shopping

More: BBC, New York Post, and Protocol

Ezra Fieser / Bloomberg:

Bogota-based buy now, pay later service Addi raises $80M in equity and $125M in debt at a $700M+ valuation, says 1,000+ retailers and 500,000+ customers use it

More: PYMNTS.com and FinLedger

Livemint:

Bizongo, which offers digital vendor management, supply chain automation, and supply chain financing to businesses, raises a $110M Series D at a $600M valuation

More: Finextra, The Economic Times, Crowdfund Insider, Business Standard, Tech in Asia, and Times of India

Annie Njanja / TechCrunch:

Nigerian startup Metro Africa Express (MAX), which provides vehicle subscription and financing services, raises a $31M Series B to expand within Africa

More: afrotech.com, Disrupt Africa, and Ventureburn

Harsh Upadhyay / Entrackr:

New Delhi-based B2B commerce and financing startup OfBusiness raises a $325M Series G at a ~$5B valuation, after raising $200M at a $3B valuation in September

More: The Economic Times and TechCrunch

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Taptap Send, which provides cross-border remittances for underserved markets, raises a $65M Series B led by Spark Capital, following a $13.4M Series A in June

Tweets: @cmschroed

YLE:

Leaked docs: Facebook has not developed Finnish-language automated moderation for hate speech and other content, and employs just 11 moderators based in Berlin

Tweets: @rmac18

Earlier Picks

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Cars24, an India-based marketplace for used cars, raises a $400M Series G, including $100M debt and $300M equity, led by Alpha Wave Global at a $3.3B valuation

More: The Economic Times, Bloomberg, The Economic Times, Benzinga, Tech in Asia, Entrackr, and Livemint

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Bangalore-based Razorpay, a top payment processor in India whose products resemble Stripe's, raises a $375M Series F at a $7.5B valuation, up from $3B in April

More: Finextra, Moneycontrol, Bloomberg, Tech in Asia, PYMNTS.com, Livemint, The Economic Times, and Entrackr

Tweets: @kunksed, @anshublog, and @saxenasagar91

Scott Murdoch / Reuters:

Chinese AI company SenseTime, which focuses on computer vision, relaunches its $767M Hong Kong IPO, a week after the US investor ban and pulling the IPO listing

More: BBC, Financial Times, MSN, Bloomberg, Tech in Asia, Coinspeaker, Agence France-Presse, Pandaily, Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, and The Economic Times

MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:

Sources estimate ~20% of the world's bitcoin miners remain in China, after moving operations underground following the country's crypto mining ban in May

More: Bitcoin Magazine, CryptoSlate, Cryptonews, and Riding The Wave

Tweets: @epro, @cnbc, and @kenziesigalos

Kate Park / TechCrunch:

South Korea-based online grocery startup Kurly, which says it plans to IPO in H1 2022 at a ~$5.8B valuation, raises $210M at a $3.3B valuation

More: ExchangeWire.com

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

The case for Apple to offer a 15-inch iPad home hub is supported by devices like the Portal and Echo Show 15, as well as Apple's ~5% smart speaker market share

More: MacRumors, Pocketnow, BGR India, Tom's Guide, Benzinga, PhoneArena, 9to5Mac, and AppleInsider

Tweets: @mikeorren, @dan_ness, @johnwilson, @mattbirchler, and @markgurman

Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:

Berlin-based Vay, which wants to launch a service in Hamburg in 2022 that uses remote operators to drive rental cars to and from users, raises a $95M Series B

More: Crunchbase News and Tech.eu. Tweets: @inafried

Ben Bowman / The Streamable:

YouTube TV reaches a deal with Disney to bring back 17+ channels including ABC, Disney, ESPN, Freeform, FX, and National Geographic