Internet

Chinese surveillance giant offers up a fig leaf

16 April 2019

SenseTime has exited a venture in Xinjiang, where efforts to crush Muslim extremism have involved mass detentions. The deal may attenuate bad PR before an offshore IPO, but the $6 bln startup still sells facial recognition tech to China's police. Foreign backers get only thin cover.

UK web rules will speed internet’s balkanisation

8 April 2019

The government may fine groups like Facebook – and senior managers – who fail to police harmful content. This adds teeth to lame social-media regulation, but also creates a UK-specific standard. As other states beef up local regulations, web groups’ margins will feel the squeeze.

Big Tech could use some schooling on ethics

5 April 2019

Google has scrapped an advisory council on artificial intelligence after protests about a few members. Yet it deserves credit for training staff on the dangers of unintended bias in algorithms. More outside input, particularly from academia, can help Silicon Valley reduce risk.

America can define down China’s harsh cyber rules

2 April 2019

Beijing may be willing to bargain over rules for how and where companies doing business in the country store data. It would be a surprise softening of its position. With more allies on the issue than usual, including in China, Washington has a better shot at winning concessions.

Zuckerberg’s plea for regulation is a siren call

1 April 2019

The Facebook founder wants governments to develop more standardized rules for the internet to combat problems from harmful content to data security. The idea has merit. But it also smacks of a way for tech firms to keep profits private while socializing responsibility and costs.

Grindr stokes bad blood in U.S.-China relationship

27 March 2019

The dating app’s Chinese ownership has been flagged as a U.S. security risk, Reuters reports. That ought not be a surprise given the potential to use hook-up data for Kompromat. But amid a trade war, this jilting move is likely to make U.S.-China relations even rockier.

Pinterest’s future relies on pegging global sales

25 March 2019

The scrapbooking app has a healthier balance sheet than other startups going public. Ad growth has outpaced expenses, shrinking its net loss by 65 pct over two years to $63 mln. But most new users are overseas, and still far less lucrative than U.S. crafting counterparts.

Tencent needs new obsession to replace video games

21 March 2019

The web giant’s fourth-quarter earnings slumped by nearly a third to $2 bln as Chinese curbs on mobile games took effect. Bets on payments and cloud computing have yet to pay off, and Tencent’s M&A record is patchy. Investors deserve a clearer idea of where it’s headed next.

Google fines make case for tougher antitrust curbs

20 March 2019

Europe has hit the Alphabet unit with its third penalty in less than two years, taking the toll to over $9 bln. That sum pales against the $600 bln the firm has added to its market cap since the investigations began in 2010. Both sides are being pushed to a bigger showdown.

Facebook’s presidential foes are also customers

14 March 2019

Silicon Valley has become a political punching bag for Elizabeth Warren and other 2020 contenders. But their campaigns are big users of Facebook and other online platforms. It reflects the power of tech giants, and suggests that bashing them may not persuade voters.

Facebook’s new privacy plan: Stitch wings on a pig

6 March 2019

Boss Mark Zuckerberg is extolling the virtues of small, closed networks, the antithesis of the behemoth he created. His manifesto borrows from Snap, WeChat and Apple, creating service-like revenue but jeopardizing advertising. It raises the question of whether he’s serious.

Three digital ad giants are no better than two

20 February 2019

Google and Facebook’s combined share of U.S. online advertising is poised to fall for the first time this year. The reason: Amazon is taking a bite out of their slice. Even a muscular challenger does little to reduce the case for tighter regulation.

Verisign may be the real dot-com monopoly

19 February 2019

Facebook, Google and others are under fire for social-media dominance. But $21 bln Verisign exclusively manages .com domains. The U.S. government just extended its contract and allowed price increases. With a 63 pct operating margin in 2018, it’s already sitting on a gold mine.

German $6 bln non-LBO is sign of lean buyout times

15 February 2019

Hellman & Friedman and Blackstone are buying classifieds group Scout24. They can’t pile much debt on it, and the return looks way off the level investors usually expect. With buckets of cash, private equity needs to do deals. Buying fast-growing targets offer a little security.

Amazon, NYC shoot selves and each other in foot

14 February 2019

Jeff Bezos’s company is ditching its Big Apple HQ plan after local opposition to the $3 bln in incentives it would receive. It makes Amazon look short-term greedy and uninterested in community concerns. Punchy politicians, meanwhile, have cost the city jobs and tax revenue.

Hadas: Four principles for regulating the internet

14 February 2019

The web needs watchdogs, and they need guidelines. Make internet operations a privilege, not a right. Replace neutrality with a duty of care. Keep big data within strict limits. Provide ample honest information. These ideas will make the internet less profitable, but much better.

SoftBank’s Einstein pitch fails relativity test

6 February 2019

Masayoshi Son invoked the Nobel Prize winner’s theories to argue the Japanese group is worth $110 bln more. But adjust his sums for low liquidity and the possibility of squandered cash, and the black hole is small. Massive objects like the Vision Fund distort the laws of physics.

Singapore’s Grab tempts headquarters curse

1 February 2019

The ride-hailing app plans to occupy a newly designed $135 mln building, under an 11-year lease. From Myspace to Yahoo, lavish moves have been a bad omen. Grab has cash, but is young, unprofitable and in a fierce rivalry with Go-Jek. Tech optimism may have gone too far again.

Big Brother startups offer white knuckle returns

24 January 2019

Facial recognition startups SenseTime and Megvii are in fundraising mode. Video surveillance in China is tipped to be a $20 bln industry by 2022. Sticky questions could result in volatile valuations, but Beijing’s resolve to watch its citizens closely will drive growth.

Elliott puts eBay’s parts up for auction

22 January 2019

The $30 bln online merchant has a history of spinning off bits of itself. It has, though, missed opportunities in its core business. While the activist may persuade eBay to offload StubHub, for example, the big payoff could be selling the marketplace unit to a buyer like Walmart.