BuzzFeed is laying off 100 employees after missing its revenue goalsBuzzFeed is laying off about 100 employees — about 6 percent of its workforce — after it failed to hit its 2017 revenue targets. And Greg Coleman, the longtime digital advertising executive who joined the company as its president in 2014, is moving out as well. BuzzFeed is looking for a chief operating officer to take on some of his duties. The cuts come as digital publishers worry that most of the money online advertisers are spending is going to two companies: Google and Facebook. [ Recode ] Uber deal reflects SoftBank's growing power in Silicon ValleyEarly Uber investors Benchmark Capital and Menlo Ventures have said that they will sell a portion of their shares in the ride-hail giant to Japan's SoftBank Group via a well-publicized stock tender. There are no specifics on how many shares the firms might be willing to sell, nor is it certain that the deal will get done. Bottom line: Do not underestimate how concerned VC firms are of crossing SoftBank. Not only has it become venture's largest and most aggressive player via its $98 billion Vision Fund, but it also has become a vital source of interim liquidity. Venture capitalists obviously owe a fiduciary duty to their investors, but could rationalize selling a small percentage of Uber stock in order to maintain the possibility of SoftBank investing in other portfolio companies. [ Axios ] Android’s Andy Rubin Left Google After Inquiry Found Inappropriate RelationshipAndy Rubin, the creator of Android and a key executive at Google Inc. for nine years, left the company in 2014 shortly after an internal investigation determined that he had carried on an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, The Information has learned. Mr. Rubin has taken a leave of absence from his new smartphone startup, Essential, for personal reasons, the firm’s employees were told on Monday. The Information had earlier contacted Mr. Rubin’s spokesman for this story. Google initiated its investigation after an employee complained to the company’s human resources division about her relationship with Mr. Rubin, according to three people familiar with the matter. The people declined to elaborate on the specific nature of the woman’s complaint against Mr. Rubin. [ The Information ] 2 of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges are experiencing issues as bitcoin surges past $11,000
This Investor Launched a VC Firm During the Financial Crisis. Here’s What He LearnedKrishna K. Gupta founded Romulus Capital in his MIT dorm room when he was just 20 years old. In the last nine years, Gupta has built Romulus into an active, early-stage venture capital firm that invests primarily in technology and science-enabled companies, including Cogito, Humanyze, Ceres Imaging, and Allurion Technologies. With approximately $200 million in assets under management, the firm has backed more than 30 companies. [ Fortune ] So Long, Copycats. Warby Parker Is Already Onto Its Next Big ThingWarby Parker has always had its eyes on the future. Yet when the eyeglass company first launched in 2010, naysayers thought its direct-to-consumer model eschewing traditional retail channels seemed, well, shortsighted. "We got a lot of advice from people that said, 'You guys are crazy, this is never going to work, if this was a good idea it would have existed already,'" recalls Neil Blumenthal, Warby Parker's co-founder and co-CEO. [ Inc. ] Microbes, Robots, and Ambition - Robin Sloan on His Novel SourdoughThe Origin of Silicon Valley’s Dysfunctional Attitude Toward Hate SpeechOn January 30, 1989, an article appeared in the student-run Stanford Daily under the headline “Racial slurs cause University to shut down bulletin board.” The bulletin board in question, rec.humor.funny, was one of hundreds of so-called newsgroups—glorified mass e-mails organized around specific interests—that streamed onto the school’s computer terminals via Usenet, an early precursor to today’s Internet forums. Rec.humor.funny was conceived as a place to share jokes, many of them crude and off-color, and one in particular, the Daily explained, had caught the eye of Stanford’s nascent I.T. department. Though decidedly stale and not nearly as offensive as some of the other material in the newsgroup, it relied on ethnic stereotypes: “A Jew and a Scotsman have dinner. At the end of the dinner the Scotsman is heard to say, ‘I’ll pay.’ The newspaper headline next morning says, ‘Jewish ventriloquist found dead in alley.’ ” Upon reading those words, a student at M.I.T. had complained, and the attention had led a Canadian university to stop hosting rec.humor.funny. Eventually—most likely thanks to Usenet—word reached Stanford. [ CrunchBase ] Refinery29 has hired a Facebook exec to help it compete against FacebookDigital media companies are in a tough fight for ad dollars with Google and Facebook. Will hiring a Facebook exec help? Refinery29 is going to find out. The online publisher that targets millennial women has hired Sarah Personette, a top Facebook marketing executive, to be its chief operating officer. At Facebook, Personette was vice president of global marketing, which means she ran a 500-person group that pushed Facebook’s ad products to current and potential clients. At Refinery29, her main focus will be on the company’s sales and marketing efforts. Her hire comes a few months after an org-chart shuffle at Refinery29 that saw the departure of its chief financial officer, chief revenue office and head of marketing. [ Re/Code ] Ex-Warrior David Lee in talks to join VC firmSilicon North Stars is raising money to help Minnesota students explore careers in the Bay AreaNYU Startup School: When and How to Raise VCMobieFit, m-fitness startup backed by Gul Panag, raises pre-series A funding of $1.35MWhy This Startup Left Silicon Valley And Moved Back To AustraliaHow a startup and funding boom is having a seismic impact on Europe’s economyAustralia risks “getting left behind” if visa issues aren’t solved, StartupAUS Crossroads report warnsBox is cash flow positive again, with 26% revenue growthFirst-Time Venture Capital Funds See Strong PerformanceWhy work collaboration startups keep drawing massive valuationsHere’s How Andreessen Horowitz & Union Square Ventures Are Betting On BlockchainBitcoin Gains – Tax Advice For US TaxpayersHow Quickly Does Headcount Scale In The Fastest Growing Software Businesses?Luther Burbank Proposes $131 Million IPO Terms |