Eric Schmidt is stepping down as executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet. Schmidt, who was Google’s CEO for a decade before taking over the chairman role and helping oversee Google’s transition into Alphabet, will remain on the company’s board, but in a “technical advisor” role focused on science and tech projects. Alphabet says it expects to appoint a “non-executive chairman.” [Kurt Wagner / Recode]
Recode Daily: Eric Schmidt is stepping down as Alphabet chairman after driving Google from grad-student research project to global tech conglomerate
Plus, Facebook signs a deal with the world’s largest music label, Amazon streamlines its food delivery efforts, and say buh-bye to the biz buzzwords of 2017.
Facebook has taken its first real steps into the music business — which means YouTube may finally have a competitor for the music video business. The social network signed a deal with Universal Music, the world’s largest music label, to let users include bits of songs when they upload videos to Facebook and Instagram. But the deal does not give Facebook the right to create its own version of Vevo, the music video service owned by the music labels that generates most of its views on YouTube. [Peter Kafka / Recode]
Amazon has combined the leadership of all of its food-delivery efforts under rising-star executive Stephenie Landry, who launched and runs the company’s Prime Now express delivery service. Landry joined Amazon in 2004 and was a founding team member of Amazon Fresh; in the three years since its launch, she has led the expansion of Prime Now to more than 30 U.S. cities and 50 markets globally. [Jason Del Rey / Recode]
Is Steve Bannon running for president? Four months ago, Bannon was a supporting player to President Trump; now he has made himself the frontman of his own “take our country back” movement. In a substantial interview conducted during his recent Asia trip — a mirror of Trump’s — Bannon reveals what really went down in the White House, his unfettered thoughts on Javanka — and his own political ambitions. Meanwhile, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit yesterday that accused Trump of violating the Constitution by continuing to own and profit from his business empire.[Gabriel Sherman / Vanity Fair]
The Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler, invested their $65 million settlement from Facebook in bitcoin — their virtual currency stockpile is now worth around $1.65 billion. “We still think it is probably one of the best investments in the world and will be for the decades to come,” said Tyler, the right-handed Winklevoss. “And if it’s not, we’d rather live with disappointment than regret.” But be careful, bitcoin speculators! BTC prices tanked by 25 percent in the last 24 hours. [Nathaniel Popper / The New York Times]
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This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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