Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson was paid $19.9 million in the 12 months ending March 31, 2022, down from $39.2 million, according to a new company filing.
Why it matters: Wilson’s pay for the year prior was subject to a rare but nonbinding “no” vote from shareholders last June, who took issue with EA’s executive bonuses.
Outside experts tapped by Activision to investigate allegations of misconduct at the company found no evidence of systemic problems or board cover-ups, the games publisher said this morning in a letter from its board of directors.
Why it matters: The game-maker is playing defense, offering its take on allegations that have shaken the company, its workers and the games community since the filing of a discrimination lawsuit by the state of California last summer.
Circle Internet Financial, the issuer behind the second-largest stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, is aiming for stablecoin dominance with a second offering — one pegged to the euro.
Why it matters: Circle's USDC dollar coin has a near $60 billion market capitalization and is rapidly closing in on Tether's USDT. Now, Circle is launching Euro Coin (EUROC), which like USDC, will be backed by full reserves, the firm said.
Elon Musk met with Twitter employees Thursday for the first time since he started his effort to acquire the company.
What's happening: Musk told a company town hall meeting that he wants to make the platform a haven for free speech, open-source the algorithm that determines what posts users see and use China's WeChat as a model for how Twitter could move to the center of users' lives.
The Golden State Warriors are now one game away from capturing the NBA championship — but to get there, they've been making adjustments all the way through the playoffs, with a major assist from a massive database.
Why it matters: While pro teams are increasingly relying on technology to improve their performance, coming up with specific insights from a sea of data remains a challenge.
Snapchat is launching a new feature that allows users to reply directly to creators' videos in Spotlight — its TikTok-like video feed — as a way of commenting on videos, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Commenting has become one of the most requested features on Spotlight since Snapchat launched the product in November 2020. Competitive video features, like TikTok and Instagram Reels, have comments.
Facebook plans to reorient its news feed yet again, this time to emphasize short video content that's popular across the entire platform, according to a leaked April memo first reported by the Verge Wednesday.
Why it matters: This is hardly Facebook's first pivot and won't be its last — but the change shows just how seriously Meta, its parent company, is taking the success of TikTok, which uses a similar approach.
The founders of major crypto lender BlockFi, Zac Prince and Flori Marquez, took pay cuts amidst broader cutbacks at the company that included laying off 20% of its staff, a spokesperson confirms for Axios.
Why it matters: Talks about salaries at the highest echelons of crypto leadership have bubbled up amid layoff announcements.
Kraken wants to hire more than 500 people to fill open and soon-to-be-open positions at the crypto exchange — only it comes with a disclaimer about company culture that job hunters might want to be aware of.
Why it matters: Signs of a bear market are all around, including the rash of layoffs over the last couple of weeks. That makes crypto job hunters, especially those who were disappointed lately, susceptible to leap before looking.
Some crypto projects make outlandish claims while largely flying under the radar of the press, all the while building up large followings of retail investors organically. Safuu is one such project. It has almost 47,000 Twitter followers, 32,000 Discord members and a claim that it can turn $1,000 into almost $4 million in a year.
Why it matters: Crypto may or may not be key technology for the future internet-of-value, but it's definitely beset with dodgy projects right now. Sometimes it's worth digging into these things so people know the danger signs.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer sunsets today, after more than 20 years.
Driving the news: The announcement came last year from Microsoft that they would be retiring the browser today and that they would be shifting their focus to their new browser Microsoft Edge.
Why it matters: Tesla has made up nearly 70% of the 392 car crashes that have occurred since last June involving vehicles using an advanced driver assistance system.
More and more retailers are experimenting with checkout-free technology, including this Camden Food Express store I recently visited while passing through New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
A retired general and former White House official is seeking U.S. approval for his startup to provide its secure communications technology to the Ukrainian military.
The latest: SEMPRE (Secure EMP Resistant Edge), a tech startup run by retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Robert Spalding, wants to offer its technology to allow Ukrainian soldiers to communicate securely without having to rely on traditional communications networks.
With the seemingly modest step of agreeing not to oppose workers' efforts to unionize, Microsoft has upended long-held assumptions about Big Tech's hostility to organized labor.
Why it matters: Microsoft's move suggests some tech leaders are beginning to accept the inevitability that at least some parts of their maturing industry will end up unionized.
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