Techmeme
December 18, 2023, 2:50 PM

Top News

Reuters:
Adobe and Figma end their $20B merger, announced in September 2022, over “no clear path” to EU and UK antitrust approval; Adobe owes Figma a $1B termination fee  —  Adobe (ADBE.O) on Monday shelved its $20 billion cash-and-stock deal for cloud-based designer platform Figma …
More: Figma, Adobe Press Releases, The Verge, TechCrunch, Ars Technica, TechCrunch, Euractiv, Crunchbase News, Thurrott, Bloomberg, PCMag, Silicon Republic, PYMNTS.com, Politico, AppleInsider, Tech Monitor, SiliconANGLE, The Adobe Blog, European Commission, The Guardian, San Francisco Business Times, The Messenger, Metaverse Post, MobileSyrup, Wall Street Journal, iClarified, CNBC, Bloomberg, Engadget, New York Times, UKTN, Gizmodo, Fortune, Neowin, Associated Press, Investor's Business Daily, Bloomberg, TechStartups, Financial Times, ITPro, Business Insider, diginomica, Coinspeaker, The Information, PetaPixel, City A.M., Constellation Research, Variety, Barron's Online, Pixel Envy, and MarTech
Om Malik / On my Om:
UK and EU regulators blocking Adobe's Figma acquisition changes the liquidity environment for startup founders and VCs, focusing dollars on likely IPO winners  —  The writing has been on the wall for sometime — the regulators on both sides of the Atlantic have been hemming and hawing …
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple plans to halt Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 sales in the US this week, to “preemptively” comply with an ITC patent ruling under US review until December 25  —  In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple has announced that it will soon halt sales of its flagship Apple Watch models in the United States.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
The European Commission opens a DSA investigation into X, focusing on “illegal content and disinformation”, ad transparency, “deceptive design”, and data access  —  X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, may have broken the European Union's tough new Digital Service Act rules …
David Pierce / The Verge:
Flipboard plans to replace its entire social back end with ActivityPub and by April 2024 let any Flipboard user follow any fediverse account from within its app  —  Flipboard is taking its biggest step yet into the fediverse.  The company announced on Monday that it is beginning to switch …
Andrew Solender / Axios:
Coinbase, a16z, the Winklevoss twins, and others poured $78M into crypto super PACs in Q4 2023, an immense raise in three months, ahead of the 2024 US elections  —  Cryptocurrency industry leaders have poured $78 million into super PACs aimed at bolstering and growing the ranks …
Rachel Metz / Bloomberg:
OpenAI says its board can hold back the release of an AI model even if OpenAI's leadership says it's safe, and announces a new internal safety advisory group  —  The arrangement was mentioned in a set of guidelines released Monday explaining how the ChatGPT-maker plans to deal with AI risks.
More: Axios and OpenAI
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Mortgage and loan giant Mr. Cooper says hackers stole the personal data of 14.6M+ customers, like dates of birth, phone numbers, SSNs, and bank account numbers  —  Hackers stole the sensitive personal information of more than 14.6 million Mr. Cooper customers, the mortgage and loan giant has confirmed.
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Streaming TV appears to have entered its franchise era; Netflix plans spinoffs of the Addams Family, Peaky Blinders, and action movie Extraction, among others  —  Sequels and prequels have already taken over the movie business.  Now they're coming for TV.  —  Good afternoon from Los Angeles …
Bloomberg:
IBM plans to acquire data integration platforms StreamSets and WebMethods from Germany-based Software AG for €2.13B in cash, a deal expected to close in Q2 2024  —  - Deal will strengthen IBM's AI and cloud capabilities  — Software AG backer Silver Lake also made deslisting offer
Matt Day / Bloomberg:
Inside Amazon's Mission Operations Center during Project Kuiper's first launch, part of a its $10B+ project to launch 3,000+ satellites and challenge Starlink  —  Project Kuiper could transform Amazon into a telecommunications giant, but first the company needs to loft more than 3,000 satellites into orbit.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Reimagine your photos with a prompt  —  Our new native image generation and editing is state-of-the-art, and ranked #1 in the world.  Try it for free in the Gemini app.
Zoho:
Planned US Data Center Maintenance on 23rd November 2025 and 07th December 2025, between 08.30PM to 12.30AM PST  —  Dear Customers,Our annual infrastructure maintenance for our US Data Center is scheduled for 23rd November 2025 …
Sevalla:
Sevalla - PaaS from the future  —  Deploy your app before your coffee gets cold.  It's that simple.  Application, database, object storage and free static site hosting.  Start with $50 free credit!
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI Bailout?, Elon's $1 Trillion Pay Deal, Amazon Sues Perplexity
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
We Met NEO, the Viral Humanoid Robot + HatGPT
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
How AI is fueling an existential crisis in education
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Great Chat:
Tech is getting more political—should you?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Dylan Field from Figma
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Invest Like the Best:
Luca Ferrari - Building Bending Spoons
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:50 PM ET, December 18, 2023.

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.

More News

Earlier Picks

Wall Street Journal: