1 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
Skip to main content

Business Archive

Archives for August 2024

The rise and fall of OpenSea

Insider accounts of the company reveal a chaotic work environment, ever-shifting priorities, and troubles with the SEC

Ben Weiss
Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Former Microsoft AI expert Mikhail Parakhin joins Shopify as its new CTO.

The Windows and Surface team split last year when Panos Panay left, with Parakhin’s team building AI-powered web services like Bing Chat / Copilot. Then, this spring, in a shake up as Mustafa Suleyman became CEO of Microsoft AI, Parakhin was out.

He’s since joined the board of an AI startup and with Shopify:

Mikhail will oversee our engineering and data organizations and push Shopify to the cutting edge, not just in ML and AI, but in everything we’re building to make commerce better for everyone.

Jess Weatherbed
Jess Weatherbed
Brave has laid off around 15 percent of its employees.

The web browser and search startup confirmed to TechCrunch that 27 roles have been axed, but provided no explanation for the cuts.

That’s a significant number for a company the size of Brave — just 191 staffers according to a Pitchbook estimate. The move also follows Brave laying off 9 percent of its workforce in October last year.

Apple’s CFO will step downApple’s CFO will step down
Emma Roth
Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
Inside Apple’s theatrical U-turn on Wolfs.

George Clooney and Brad Pitt “...gave money back to make sure that we had a theatrical release” in thousands of theaters, but just ahead of a big Olympics marketing push, the Wolfs plan changed to a limited one-week run before its Apple TV Plus debut.

NYT:

Apple executives in Cupertino were already questioning the entertainment units over the amount of money being spent on movies, and the people said there was a thought within the company to not risk a public disappointment should the movie not succeed at the box office.

Elizabeth Lopatto
Elizabeth Lopatto
IBM is shutting down its China research and development efforts.

More than 1,000 people will lose their jobs — and others will be relocated to sites outside China. This follows Microsoft’s similar move in May. In a call, an IBM exec blamed increasing competition in China.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Paramount’s newest suitor could bring a tech giant into the picture.

Edgar Bronfman Jr., who put in a $6 billion bid for control of Paramount last week, would want to partner with a company like Amazon or Apple to bolster Paramount’s streaming service, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Paramount is expected to decide whether Bronfman’s offer beats its merger deal with Skydance on August 28th.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Skydance wants Paramount to stop shopping around.

In a letter seen by The Wall Street Journal, Skydance’s lawyers accuse Paramount of breaking their merger agreement by dragging out the amount of time it can review other bids, and said:

While Skydance is not currently exercising its right to terminate the Transaction Agreement, we reserve the right to do so in the future.

Paramount extended its “go shop” period after receiving a $6 billion bid from media investor Edgar Bronfman Jr.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Tech from Alphabet’s shuttered agricultural startup will live on at John Deere.

Mineral, which Alphabet shut down last month, says it has sold some of its technology to John Deere to support the company’s See & Spray product, according to a memo posted last week. The startup also confirms that the berry company Driscoll will use Mineral’s tech to “better forecast yields, optimize quality inspections, and reduce food waste.”

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
A new $6 billion bid to take over Paramount could undo plans to merge with Skydance.

Media investor Edgar Bronfman Jr. increased his offer to acquire Paramount from $4.3 billion to $6 billion, according to CNBC. Paramount has since extended its “go shop” period to 15 days, which allows it to review offers from other potential buyers. The offer could potentially upend the sweetened deal it reached with Skydance last month.