Techmeme
January 31, 2022, 9:55 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”
The New York Times Company:
The New York Times acquires Wordle, the simple word game that has amassed “millions of daily players”, for “an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures”  —  Wordle, Josh Wardle's stimulating and wildly popular daily word game, is joining The New York Times's portfolio of original …
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 …
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 …
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:
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.
Ann-Marie Alcántara / Wall Street Journal:
Pinterest introduces a new augmented reality tool for home furniture, letting users see how the items would look in their homes via its mobile app  —  The new tool expands on its existing technology used for beauty products  —  Pinterest Inc. is introducing a new augmented reality tool for home furniture …
More: Engadget, iMore, and MarTechThanks:@malliegator
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
Silvergate Bank confirms it's purchasing the Diem Association's IP and other assets, issuing $132M in stock and paying an additional $50M in cash for the deal  —  The Diem Association is shutting down.  —  Silvergate Bank confirmed Monday that it's purchasing the technology and other assets from Diem …
Wall Street Journal:
Antenna: Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, and others struggle to retain US subscribers who joined to watch a hit show; some subscribers only stay for a few months  —  Roughly half of U.S. viewers who joined right after ‘Hamilton’ and ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ were gone in six months, data show
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Phantom, a Solana wallet similar to Ethereum's MetaMask, raises a $109M Series B at a $1.2B valuation, debuts an iOS app, and promises Ethereum support in 2022  —  Quick Take  — Phantom has raised $109 million in Series B funding and is now a unicorn.  — The Solana wallet is looking …
Jonathan Greig / ZDNet:
Education publisher Pearson acquires Credly, which helps businesses issue digital credentials to certify workers' skills, for $140M  —  Pearson already owned a 20% stake in the digital workforce credentialing platform worth about $40 million but is now buying the entire company.
Samuel Stolton / Politico:
Doc: the US is pressing EU officials to revise the Digital Markets Act to focus less on tech giants and ensure that the act covers tech firms outside of the US  —  The United States is pressing the EU to revise rules targeting digital giants to make them focus less on American companies …
Reuters:
Sources: Cybereason, which offers endpoint detection and response services, has confidentially filed for a US IPO that could value it at more than $5B  —  Cybereason, a security startup backed by SoftBank's (9984.T) Vision Fund 2 and Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google Cloud unit …
More: CNBC
Ryan Weeks / The Block:
Meta joins the Crypto Open Patent Alliance, a trade body that promotes the free use of innovative crypto tech; Block established the group in September 2020  —  Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has signed up to a trade body that promotes the free use of innovative technology in the crypto sector, according to an announcement.

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