Techmeme: Sources: founder Richard Liu Qiangdong berated JD.com executives for poor performance and remains the undisputed decision maker despite quitting frontline roles (Ben Jiang/South China Morning Post)

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December 31, 2022, 2:55 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Sam Bankman-Fried will likely plead not guilty to fraud and other charges at a January 3 hearing; SBF returns to Twitter to deny he moved Alameda funds — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is likely to plead not guilty to eight counts of fraud at a hearing next week, according to a person familiar with the matter.

More: Bloomberg, Reuters, Cointelegraph, Insider, The Block, CoinGape, Cryptonews, Decrypt, Forbes, Investing.com, Yahoo News, CryptoSlate, The Information, Decrypt, and Bloomberg

Mastodon: @MikeElgan@mastodon.social and @davidgerard@circumstances.run

Tweets: @sbf_ftx, @cryptomanran, @trengriffin, @bitfinexed, @marcslove, @bitboy_crypto, @renato_mariotti, @teddyschleifer, @pixelatedboat, @gerberkawasaki, @cgasparino, @danprimack, @iansherr, @lukewearechange, @mikeelgan, and @laurashin

Reuters:

The Bahamas' Securities Commission says it is holding FTX assets worth $3.5B temporarily and plans to deliver them to customers and creditors who own them — The Securities Commission of the Bahamas said on Thursday that it is holding FTX assets worth $3.5 billion based on market pricing …

Nathan Crooks / The Block:

FTX says it would seek the return of its digital assets held by the Bahamas, claiming the value was ~$296M when transferred on November 12 and is now ~$167M

More: FTX, Reuters, Crypto Daily, CoinJournal, CryptoSlate, and Bitcoin News

New York Times:

Sources detail Elon Musk's Twitter cost-cutting measures, including closing a data center, reducing training for new staff, and canceling janitorial services — Elon Musk has reduced the company to a bare-bones operation, and employees are under a “zero-based budgeting” mandate to justify any spending.

Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

After not paying rent, Twitter is reportedly closing its Seattle office, its second-largest engineering hub outside of San Francisco, and asking staff to WFH

More: The Seattle Times, Firstpost Tech, New York Post, CoinGape, and San Francisco Business Journal

Tweets: @zoeschiffer, @watcherguru, @jasonrantz, @unusual_whales, @wflbc, @techwontsaveus, @oalexanderdk, @drskyskull, and @carnage4life

Matt Levine / Bloomberg:

Crypto created a toy financial system and had a toy financial crisis; in order to work in the long run, crypto must prove its real usefulness outside of finance — On Oct. 25, Bloomberg Businessweek published “The Crypto Story,” a cover-to-cover issue of the magazine that I wrote about what crypto is and what it all might mean.

More: TheStreet

Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to. Tweets: @smdiehl, @mdudas, @nathanbenaich, @tomi, @carnage4life, @joelwebershow, and @ccatalini

Lily Hay Newman / Wired:

A look at 2022's worst breaches, leaks, ransomware attacks, state-sponsored hacking campaigns, and digital takeovers, including at least two Twilio breaches — The year was marked by sinister new twists on cybersecurity classics, including phishing, breaches, and ransomware attacks.

More: Krebs on Security, Techaeris, and HotHardware

Brian Merchant / The Atlantic:

Meta's dramatic implosion, Elon Musk's Twitter train wreck, and Amazon's labor uprising show that 2022 was not just a disastrous year, but a reckoning for tech — The companies that define our digital lives have hit a wall. — The dramatic, multidimensional implosion of Meta …

More: The Ringer, CNN, Electronic Frontier Foundation, CrimsonRock, and Beyond Search

Tweets: @alexhuds, @davemcclure, @mpawlo, @carnage4life, @ringer, @pt, @greg_doucette, @neilturkewitz, @bcmerchant, @nc_renic, @dlberes, @dwallacewells, @bcmerchant, @estherkeziat, @techwontsaveus, @adriennelaf, and @dlberes

Sandali Handagama / CoinDesk:

Italy's parliament approves a 26% tax on gains of €2,000+ from crypto trading per tax period and offers incentives for declaring crypto profits for tax purposes — Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's new bill also includes an incentive for those declaring crypto for tax purposes.

More: CryptoSlate, Reuters, PYMNTS.com, crypto.news, Watcher Guru, Cryptopolitan, and The Block. Tweets: @coindesk

Anton Shilov / Tom's Hardware:

Report: AMD, Intel, Nvidia, and others are slashing their orders with TSMC, with the contract manufacturer's Q1 2023 sales projected to decrease by 15% QoQ — Large customers revise orders to TSMC due to the economy slowdown. — Being the world's No. 1 foundry, TSMC was almost immune …

More: TechSpot, Appuals.com, and Neowin

Tweets: @vadimyuryev and @vettechtrader

Emily Birnbaum / Bloomberg:

Tim Wu, who helped shape Joe Biden's antitrust agenda, plans to leave his adviser role on January 4 and return to teaching antitrust law at Columbia Law School — Adviser Tim Wu, who helped to shape President Joe Biden's antitrust agenda, will leave his position Jan. 4, the White House said Friday.

More: New York Times, Engadget, UPI, Axios, SiliconANGLE, Politico, and Slashdot

Tweets: @superwuster, @dmccabe, @samirunni, @samirunni, @tariqkrim, @robsmithonline, @patrick_spence, @alondranelson46, @zephyrteachout, and @pstasiatech

Washington Post:

Sources: Meta is still working on a wrist wearable device and wants to move its hardware manufacturing out of China but is struggling to find key suppliers — The company needs China's factories as it pushes to become a hardware producer — SAN FRANCISCO — For more than a year …

Tweets: @geoffreyfowler and @lizzadwoskin

Wall Street Journal:

Predictions for 2023: competition for Meta's metaverse, Apple's AR/VR headset debut, generative AI integration into products, continuing crypto gloom, and more — Our tech columnists look ahead to an Apple headset, Netflix password crackdowns, the next DALL-E and more — Big layoffs at Meta, Amazon, Snap and others?

Mastodon: @mimsical@mastodon.social. Tweets: @cathyhackl, @joannastern, @mims, and @wsj

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:

Meta buys Netherlands-based Luxexcel, which uses 3D printing to make prescription lenses for smart glasses; Meta reportedly worked with Luxexcel on Project Aria — As Meta faces antitrust scrutiny over its acquisition of VR fitness developers Within, the tech giant is making another acquisition.

More: The Verge, Engadget, The Brussels Times, Appuals.com, Road to VR, Metaverse Post, and SiliconANGLE

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:55 PM ET, December 31, 2022.

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

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Filing: David Zaslav is selling ~4M shares of Warner Bros. Discovery stock, with an aggregate market value of just over $114M

Peter White / Deadline:

Banijay and RedBird IMI-owned All3Media announce a merger, creating a production giant with $8B in annual revenue, in a deal expected to close in H2

Isabella Gomez Sarmiento / NPR:

Opening statements begin for the antitrust trial against Live Nation, which is accused of unfairly wielding its power over concert promotion, venues, and more

More News

Ari Levy / CNBC:

Ernst & Young: US tech IPO deal proceeds plummeted 94%, from $155.8B in 2021 to $8.6B in 2022; FactSet: no tech IPO raised $1B in 2022, compared to 15 in 2021

More: Bloomberg, EY, and John Battelle's Search Blog

Tweets: @davemcclure and @trengriffin

Ben Jiang / South China Morning Post:

Sources: founder Richard Liu Qiangdong berated JD.com executives for poor performance and remains the undisputed decision maker despite quitting frontline roles

More: TechNode and Tech in Asia

Ryan Broderick / Polygon:

A look at the disastrous 2022 for NFT-based games, after interest from EA, Ubisoft, Zynga, Niantic, and others, as the community grew more niche and scam-filled

Tweets: @starl3xx, @realjonahblake, @realjonahblake, @michaelcarusi, and @midimyers

Kashmir Hill / New York Times:

Google changes its appeals process for CSAM-flagged accounts; content deemed exploitative will still be removed and reported but users can plead their innocence

Mastodon: @ben@adida.net. Tweets: @kashhill and @kashhill

Ian Johnston / Financial Times:

Accounting software maker Sage threatens to turn off UK customers' single-payment licenses on security grounds, forcing them to buy costly monthly subscriptions

More: PYMNTS.com

Earlier Picks

Shadine Taufik / Tech in Asia:

Hangzhou-based Freetech Intelligent Systems, which makes a full autonomous vehicle software and hardware stack, raised a ~$100M Series B led by Chaos Investment

Source: Nikkei Asia. Tweets: @vaactiveangels and @techinasia

Dan Strumpf / Wall Street Journal:

Huawei has exited “crisis mode” following US restrictions and expects ~$91.5B in 2022 revenue, unchanged from 2021, due to growing telecom infrastructure sales

More: Reuters, Financial Times, Softpedia News, Bloomberg, Gizchina, SamMobile, Firstpost Tech, Pandaily, South China Morning Post, TelecomLead, CHINAdaily, Tech Xplore, Associated Press, and Huawei Central

Tweets: @mattvvolf and @jchengwsj

Reuters:

Canada's Competition Tribunal approves Rogers' ~$14.77B bid to acquire Shaw, saying the deal is “not likely to prevent or lessen competition substantially”

More: iPhone in Canada Blog, SiliconANGLE, Bloomberg, Competition Tribunal, MobileSyrup, and The Logic. Tweets: @jj_mccullough

Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:

Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft plan to connect data centers to heating systems in Europe; Meta began in 2020 in Denmark, and Google is assessing its opportunities

More: iPhone in Canada Blog, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, TechRadar, and 9to5Mac

Tweets: @nielsfuglsang, @fedprom, @kiavashzare_, @tunguz, and @staunovo

Sam Kessler / CoinDesk:

Sources: the FBI is probing the leak of ~100K API keys linked to users of crypto trading service 3Commas; a victim group of ~60 members tallies losses at $20M+

More: The Daily LEO, HackRead, TechRadar, crypto.news, The Daily Hodl, Zero Ex, Wu Blockchain, Coinmonks, and Cryptopolitan. Tweets: @wublockchain