Two years ago Microsoft spent $7.2 billion buying Nokia, in a last-ditch effort to get back into the mobile phone business. Now that's over: CEO Satya Nadella is shuttering the company's consumer phone unit, laying off nearly 2,000 people and taking a $950 million charge. Microsoft still insists it will sell phones to the enterprise market, but that seems like a dubious proposition.
[Ina Fried | Recode]
Gawker CEO Nick Denton has long suspected that a third party was funding Hulk Hogan's lawsuits against Gawker. Forbes is pointing the finger at PayPal co-founder, billionaire investor and Facebook board member Peter Thiel, who Gawker's Valleywag outed as gay in 2007.
[Peter Kafka | Recode]
Apple is reportedly working on an intelligent assistant device, similar to Amazon's Echo. And next month at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple is expected to announce that software developers can start building services on Siri.
[Amir Efrati | The Information]
Uber has confirmed that it is taking an investment from Toyota, an agreement that is largely about pooling their self-driving car efforts. Uber has spent the last year talking with basically every automaker — including Cruise, GM's recent billion-dollar acquisition — about striking such a deal.
[Johana Bhuiyan | Recode]
Many startups and tech companies are chartered in Delaware, traditionally for tax and privacy purposes. But now investors and ex-employees are beginning to use an "obscure" Delaware state law in order to force companies to open up their books, and possibly valuation estimates, to shareholders.
[Rolfe Winkler | The Wall Street Journal]
