Techmeme
January 31, 2022, 2:25 PM

Top News

Brendan Sinclair / GamesIndustry.biz:
Sony Interactive Entertainment announces it is buying Bungie, which makes Destiny and other games, for $3.6B; Bungie will become an independent subsidiary  —  Destiny studio will remain multiplatform, able “to self-publish and reach players wherever they choose to play”
Connie Loizos / TechCrunch:
Ryan Breslow, co-founder of one-click checkout startup Bolt, steps down as CEO and becomes executive chairman, after his tweets bashing YC and Stripe went viral  —  Ryan Breslow, who founded the “one-click” checkout tech company Bolt as a Stanford student and dropped out of college to build it …
Sam Byford / The Verge:
Joe Rogan posts a video to Instagram defending booking contentious guests, apologizes to Spotify for the backlash, and says he may book more “experts”  —  'I'm very sorry that this is happening to them.'  —  Joe Rogan has issued a response to the ongoing controversy …
Daniel Ek / Spotify:
More: Spotify, Wall Street Journal, The Verge, CNN, New York Times, Quartz, BBC, CNBC, Glenn Greenwald, TechCrunch, New York Times, JOMO, Billboard, The Guardian, Daring Fireball, RAIN News, Protocol, Light Reading, Digital Threat Digest, Mindless Drivel, Engadget, KnowTechie, Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Grapevine, Fortune, TechCabal, Los Angeles Times, Bastonate per Posta, iMore, Ars Technica, Gizmodo, BGR India, PCMag, Tom's Guide, Digital gefesselt, Webb Chatham Report, Reuters, TechRadar, New York Post, Livemint, Forbes, Mashable, Insider, Ty Burr's Watch List, Silicon Republic, Engadget, Variety, Axios, Bloomberg, Fossbytes, Music Ally, AppleInsider, iPhone in Canada Blog, SlashGear, Input, Hollywood Reporter, Pocket-lint, Think Things Through, Polygon, International Business Times, Tech Policy Press, NBC News, and NPR
New York Times:
Current and former Meta employees say the company's metaverse moves have caused disruption and uncertainty, as some feel funneled towards AR and VR initiatives  —  Shifting a 68,000-person social networking company toward the theoretical metaverse has caused internal disruption and uncertainty.
Frank Chaparro / The Block:
Crypto exchange FTX raises a $400M Series C from SoftBank, Paradigm, Tiger Global, and others at a $32B valuation, up from $25B in October 2021  —  The frothy venture capital market continues to buoy the empire of billionaire trader and entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.
Kim Lyons / The Verge:
Meta rolls out updated 3D avatars across Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram Stories in the US, Canada, and Mexico  —  It's a step toward the company's concept of the metaverse  —  Facebook parent company Meta is introducing 3D avatars to Instagram Stories and direct messages and updating …
Reuters:
Citrix Systems says Elliott Management and Vista Equity have agreed to acquire and take the company private for $16.5B  —  Hedge fund Elliott Management and investment firm Vista Equity Partners have agreed to buy Citrix Systems (CTXS.O) in a deal valued at $16.5 billion, the cloud computing company said on Monday.
Jeff John Roberts / Decrypt:
Coinbase adds Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke to its board; Lütke says the promise of Web3 is that “opportunity exists for the many, not the few”  —  Coinbase announced on Monday that Tobias Lütke, who leads the ecommerce giant Shopify, will be joining its board of directors.

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