Techmeme
February 2, 2021, 6:25 PM

Top News

Todd Haselton / CNBC:
Amazon says Jeff Bezos will transition to the role of Executive Chair in Q3, with AWS CEO Andy Jassy becoming the CEO of Amazon at that time  —  Amazon announced on Tuesday that AWS CEO Andy Jassy will replace Jeff Bezos as CEO during the third quarter of this year.  Bezos will transition to executive chair of Amazon's board.
Jeff Bezos / About Amazon:
In letter to employees, Bezos says his transition is not a retirement and he'll use his time to focus on the Day 1 Fund, Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, and WaPo  —  Fellow Amazonians:  —  I'm excited to announce that this Q3 I'll transition to Executive Chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO.
Amazon Investor Relations:
Amazon reports Q4 net sales of $125.6B, up 44% YoY, net income of $7.2B, up from $3.3B YoY, with full year net sales increasing to $386.1B, up 38% YoY  —  Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos will transition to role of Executive Chair in Q3, Andy Jassy to become Chief Executive Officer of Amazon at that time
Alphabet:
Alphabet Q4: revenue of $56.90B, up 23% YoY, Google Cloud revenue of $3.83B, up from $2.6B, and YouTube ads revenue of $6.89B, up from $4.7B; stock jumps 5%+  —  MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - February 2, 2021 - Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) today announced financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2020.
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Facebook rolls out Messenger for Oculus Quest users, as well as App Lab, letting devs distribute apps outside the Oculus Store without needing to sideload  —  Facebook is continuing to stitch its services more closely together — it's now rolling out Messenger on Oculus.
Ian Hamilton / UploadVR:
Konrad Putzier / Wall Street Journal:
Amazon unveils plans for part of its HQ2 in VA, including three 22-story office buildings and the Helix, a 350-foot building with spiraling outdoor walkways  —  Centerpiece of design is a 350-foot building dubbed the Helix, which features two spiraling outdoor walkways
Federal Trade Commission:
FTC says Amazon will pay $61.7M to settle charges that it withheld some customer tips from Flex drivers over 2.5 years; FTC will use the sum to pay the drivers  —  Settlement prohibits Amazon from misrepresenting driver earnings, pay or percent of tips paid to drivers, changing its handling of tips without drivers' consent
New York Times:
Five current and former Robinhood employees describe CEO Vlad Tenev as someone who has moved quickly to new projects without fixing existing problems  —  Vlad Tenev has incited the fury of the trading app's fans amid a stock market frenzy.  His lack of preparedness on nuts-and-bolts issues …
Zachary Warmbrodt / Politico:
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
Dan Primack / Axios:
Uber says it is buying alcohol delivery startup Drizly for $1.1B in cash and stock; Drizly co-founder and CEO Cory Rellas is expected to remain with Uber  —  Uber on Tuesday announced an agreement to buy Drizly, a Boston-based alcohol delivery startup, for $1.1 billion in cash and stock.
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
In a report, NYU researchers call conservative claims of social media censorship “a form of disinformation” and warn against completely repealing Section 230  —  A new report concludes that social networks aren't systematically biased against conservatives, directly contradicting Republican claims …
Elizabeth Culliford / Reuters:
Wikimedia begins work on implementing its first global code of conduct, which addresses harassment, the introduction of false or biased information, and more  —  (Reuters) - The foundation that operates Wikipedia will launch its first global code of conduct on Tuesday, seeking to address criticism …
Jesse Pound / CNBC:
GameStop's shares closed at $90, down from a peak of $483 last week, as other Reddit-fueled stock trades like AMC suffer similar reversals  —  - Shares of GameStop skidded further before Tuesday's opening bell, with shares of the volatile retail-trader favorite sliding more than 40%, and then extended those losses during market hours.
Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:
Kuo: Apple Car will use Hyundai's E-GMP battery electric vehicle platform; new models could be built in association with GM and European manufacturer PSA  —  Noted TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo weighed in on “Apple Car” on Monday, saying Apple will work in close cooperation with Hyundai …
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Instagram now puts deleted content into a Recently Deleted folder for 30 days, where it can be restored by the user; deleted Stories disappear after 24 hours  —  Content can be brought back for up to 30 days  —  Instagram is making it easier to bring back deleted posts.
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Google to pay $2.5M to 5,500+ female engineers as well as female and Asian job applicants to settle pay and hiring discrimination allegations  —  The US Department of Labor alleges systemic pay and hiring discrimination  —  Google has agreed to pay $2.5 million to more than 5,500 employees …
Casey Newton / Platformer:
The unedited nature and serendipity of conversations makes Clubhouse a compelling platform for productive discussions on otherwise fraught topics  —  Elon Musk disrupts podcasting.  PLUS: Robinhood's big mistake  —  I. Andreessen Horowitz and the backdoor pilot  —  Hey, did you hear Elon Musk went on Clubhouse?

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