SoftBank, which is already making waves with its $93 billion Silicon Valley fund, is in talks to raise a second, possibly larger, tech fund. CEO Masayoshi Son is already writing huge checks for stakes in Slack and WeWork, so this could super-size his giant ambitions. Meanwhile SoftBank is closing in on a deal to buy up to 20 percent of Uber [Theodore Schleifer, Kara Swisher / Recode]
Recode Daily: SoftBank is raising another giant Silicon Valley fund
Plus, #MeToo reveals a painful truth, Facebook buys a teen texting app instead of just copying it, and pro-level doodling.
Netflix beat its own Q3 projections by adding another 5.5 million subscribers, and it will spend up to $8 billion on making new content next year. And the company’s stock is at an all-time high. But we’re burying the lede: This is what CEO Reed Hastings wore during yesterday’s triumphant earnings call. The big earnings day is next Thursday, Oct. 26, when Alphabet, Amazon, Intel and Microsoft all show their hands. [Peter Kafka / Recode]
Your social media feeds yesterday were almost certainly filled with tweets and posts of “Me Too” yesterday. Following the sexual misconduct allegations against movie producer Harvey Weinstein, women began posting “Me Too” on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to say that they have experienced sexual harassment and assault; the #MeToo meme virally spiraled to more than half a million tweets by yesterday afternoon. [Kat Bogerding / Recode]
Facebook is always looking for new ways to be popular with the kids, so it makes sense that Facebook bought — instead of just copying — a free anonymous texting app called TBH, which was kind of the teenage social media hit of the summer. The app, which comes with five million downloads and 2.5 million daily active users. will remain active, and the startups’ founders will keep running it. On Facebook. [Kurt Wagner / Recode]
The largest bank in the U.S., JP Morgan Chase, is investing in the blockchain technology behind bitcoin — the aim is to “significantly reduce” the number of parties needed to verify global payments, cutting transaction times “from weeks to hours.” Bank CEO Jamie Dimon very recently called the digital currency a “fraud,” and said that if people are “stupid enough to buy” bitcoin, they will pay the price for it. [Evelyn Cheng / CNBC]
Top stories from Recode
Emil Michael said he’s not to blame for violating the privacy of the victim of an attack by an Uber driver.
That’s up from 63 percent this year. Ad spending, meanwhile, is still catching up.
And the products don’t have to be originally funded through the site, either.
Substack says it’s time to tap your inner Ben Thompson.
This is cool
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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