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Meanwhile, a Russian national has pleaded guilty in San Francisco federal court to a conspiracy to commit money laundering related to his role in operating the crypto exchange BTC-e.
Good morning, Bay Area. In tech, Elon Musk’s Neuralink encountered a problem with the implant in its first human patient, Noland Arbaugh, that reduced the amount of data it could capture from his brain, according to a blog post the company published on Wednesday. In biotech, AstraZeneca pulled its Covid-19 vaccine from the market due to lack of demand. The decision was not related to safety reasons, the company said. In commercial real estate, the 19-story tower at 350 Bush St. in San Francisco’s Financial District is now up for sale just six years after it was completed, the Chronicle reports. Meanwhile, outside today, it could be the hottest day so far this year in the Bay Area, with highs ranging from the 70s at the coast to mid-80s to near 90 inland. Here’s the rest of the local business chatter to start off your day.
Uber shares (NYSE: UBER) fell 10% in after-hours trading on Wednesday as the company delivered first quarter earnings showing that bookings fell a little short of expectations, missing forecasts by about a percentage point. The company clawed back about half of those losses on Thursday morning. This comes after Uber rival Lyft on Tuesday delivered its first quarter earnings, which projected higher-than-expected gross bookings and core profit for the current quarter. Its stock (Nasdaq: LYFT) is up about 1% this week. Meanwhile, shares of San Mateo-based online video game company Roblox (NYSE: RBLX) plunged 21% on Thursday toward their biggest selloff in nine months, after the company reported first-quarter revenue that was well below expectations and provided a downbeat current-quarter outlook. Also reporting earnings was Instacart (Nasdaq: CART), whose shares dropped about 6% on Wednesday after the company released financial results showing revenue of $820 million, up 8% from a year ago. The stock rebounded and rose a quarter of a point on Thursday. Finally was Airbnb, which beats earnings expectations Wednesday for first quarter but offered weaker-than-expected guidance. Its stock (Nasdaq: ABNB) ticked down more than 6% on Thursday.
A Russian national has pleaded guilty in San Francisco federal court to a conspiracy to commit money laundering related to his role in operating the cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e from 2011 to 2017. According to the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Alexander Vinnik was one of the operators of BTC-e, which was one of the world’s largest virtual currency exchanges until it was shut down by law enforcement in 2017. BTC-e processed over $9 billion worth of transactions and served over one million users worldwide, including numerous customers in Northern California. The DOJ said Vinnik operated BTC-e with the intent to promote illegal activities and was responsible for a loss amount of at least $121 million.
San Mateo-based Brilliant Home Technology has run out of money and is laying off its staff, the Verge reports. CEO Aaron Emigh said that the company has let go of the majority of its staff, shut down its support center and is no longer selling products. However, the company is maintaining its servers, and existing devices are continuing to operate in customer homes. Founded in 2015, Brilliant is a maker of smart home controllers and smart light switches. The company, which has between 50 and 100 employees, had raised more than $60 million in funding, according to Crunchbase.
The San Francisco Unified School District, or SFUSD, risks running out of cash next year and could face even stricter state oversight, the Examiner reports. To address a $420 million budget deficit next year, SFUSD will need to lay off more than 300 employees by the end of the month and implement its school closure plan.
Renew Home officially launched on Thursday in Oakland out of a merger of Google Nest’s Renew service and OhmConnect. Renew Home, which has $100 million in backing from Venture capitalist firm Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, is already working with the Google Home API as a provider of integrations to control devices and energy use in millions of homes.
San Francisco-based Marcy Venture Partners, the firm co-founded by Jay-Z, is in advanced talks to merge with the investment arm of Pendulum Holdings, Bloomberg reports.
Discord appointed Stephanie Hess as its first chief communications officer. Hess joins Discord after her tenure as head of global communications and marketing at Asana.
Brandon Boros has been hired as a venture partner by Oakland-based Kapor Capital.
Triomics, a San Francisco provider of workflow software for oncologic clinical trials, raised $15 million from Lightspeed, Nexus Venture Partners, General Catalyst and YC.
As the weather is heating up, so too is the action on the bay. Underscoring this was a superyacht spotting yesterday featuring Mogambo, one of four megaboats owned by Whatsapp CEO and founder Jan Koum. Forbes this year ranked Koum, a 48-year-old Atherton resident, as the ninth wealthiest Californian and the 117th wealthiest billionaire in the world with a net worth of just over $16 billion. Here are some pictures of the 241-foot-long boat that reveal how the other half live.
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