🚴 Peloton CEO to Step Down

Plus: Polygon raises $450M, Peter Thiel to Leave Meta Board to Pursue Trump Political Agenda and more ...

Jose Montes de Oca

Feb 8, 2022

Good morning. Today’s brief is jam-packed with:

Peloton CEO John Foley to Step Down, Firm to Cut 2,800 Jobs
Polygon raises $450M from Sequoia Capital India, SoftBank and Tiger Global
Peter Thiel to Leave Meta Board to Pursue Trump Political Agenda
The Economy Is Good, Actually
A New Trick Lets Artificial Intelligence See in 3D
IRS Backs Away From Facial Recognition to Verify Taxpayers' Identities
Apple Buys Startup That Makes Music With Artificial Intelligence

— Jose Montes de Oca

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Today’s pick

Peloton CEO John Foley to Step Down, Become Executive Chair

(Cara Lombardo via Wall Street Journal) Exercise-equipment maker to name former Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy as replacement, overhaul board and cut costs. Read more

Cara Lombardo @CaraRLombardo

Big @WSJ scoop: Peloton ($PTON) hopes to regain its footing by replacing its CEO, ending plans for a new factory and making several other changes. All the details:

wsj.comPeloton CEO John Foley to Step Down, Firm to Cut 2,800 JobsThe once-hot bike maker will name former Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy to succeed John Foley, cut roughly 2,800 jobs and other costs and overhaul its board after a slowdown in demand caused its value to plummet.

Polygon raises $450M from Sequoia Capital India, SoftBank and Tiger Global

(Manish Singh via TechCrunch) Ethereum scaling firm Polygon has raised $450 million in a new venture financing round as the firm, with a market cap of about $13 billion, aggressively expands its portfolio of Ethereum scaling solutions and works to attract the larger ecosystem. Read more

Manish Singh @refsrc

Confirmed: Sequoia Capital India leads $450M investment in Polygon's first major VC round. Others participating include: SoftBank, Tiger Global, Galaxy Digital, Alameda Research, Alexis Ohanian, Steadview Capital, Animoca Brand and Elevation Capital. techcrunch.com/2022/02/07/pol…

Manish Singh @refsrc

Scoop: Sequoia Capital India and Steadview Capital are in talks to back Polygon https://t.co/09Nhd3MXin

Peter Thiel to Leave Meta Board to Pursue Trump Political Agenda

(Lizette Chapman and Kurt Wagner via Bloomberg) Peter Thiel will step down from the board from Facebook parent company Meta in May, to increase his political support of Donald Trump’s agenda during the 2022 election. Read more

Joshua Frank @joshua__frank

The same day Peter Thiel announces he's leaving Meta's (Facebook) board to help Trump's alt-right agenda, we learn @joerogan is being pursued by the platform Rumble, which is financed by Thiel Capital, whose director is Eric Weinstein. 1/

bloomberg.comBloomberg - Are you a robot?

The Economy Is Good, Actually

(Zachary D. Carter via The Atlantic) Americans are living through the best labor market in half a century. Pay for low-wage workers is up. Why can’t the left take credit? Read more.

Zachary D. Carter @zachdcarter

The economy is in far better shape today than anyone could have reasonably expected at the outset of the pandemic. High demand is helping address chronic problems that have undermined American society for decades. My latest for @TheAtlantic:

theatlantic.comThe Economy Is Good, ActuallyAmericans are living through the best labor market in half a century. Pay for low-wage workers is up. Why can’t the left take credit?

A New Trick Lets Artificial Intelligence See in 3D

(Will Knight via WIRED) Some algorithms can now compose a 3D scene from 2D images—creating possibilities in video games, robotics, and autonomous driving. Read more.

Jon Barron @jon_barron

Well this is pretty exciting, Wired's cover story today is about NeRF!

wired.comA New Trick Lets Artificial Intelligence See in 3DSome algorithms can now compose a 3D scene from 2D images—creating possibilities in video games, robotics, and autonomous driving.

IRS Backs Away From Facial Recognition to Verify Taxpayers' Identities

(Richard Rubin and Laura Saunders via Wall Street Journal) The IRS will move away from a plan that would have used outside facial-recognition software to authenticate taxpayers’ information for online accounts. Read more.

House Judiciary GOP @JudiciaryGOP

Big win for privacy!

wsj.comIRS Retreats From Facial Recognition to Verify Taxpayers’ IdentitiesThe agency’s use of the technology has drawn bipartisan concerns over privacy.

Apple Buys Startup That Makes Music With Artificial Intelligence

(Mark Gurman via Bloomberg) Apple acquired a startup called AI Music that uses artificial intelligence to generate tailor-made music, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, adding technology that could be used across its slate of audio offerings. Read more.