Good Morning! While you were sleeping, the work in the digital scene continued elsewhere.
The top topics:
Zoom has called off its plans to buy the call center provider Five9. Five9 shareholders rejected the deal on Thursday. Growth concerns were cited as the reason. In July, Zoom announced its intention to acquire Five9 in a total share purchase for $ 14.7 billion. This would have been the second largest tech deal of the year.
The failed takeover is due to Zoom’s recent stock market problems. Shares had fallen 29 percent since the deal was announced. Another factor may have been an emerging review of the deal’s national security impact by the Justice Department as Zoom faced questions about its ties to China. Five9 shares fell two percent in expanded trading.
You are reading on the founding scene today : It takes several weeks, even months, to set up a company in Germany. In Estonia, on the other hand, it is only 18 minutes. Other countries have asked us about digitization long left behind, believes our guest author, the notary public Astrid Plantiko . In your opinion, Germany needs a digital revolution in the notarial sector. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]
And here are the other headlines of the night:
Blue Origin -Employees wrote an open letter commenting on a “toxic” corporate culture and criticizing safety concerns about the work environment. The letter was signed by 20 unnamed current and former employees from different teams as well as Alexandra Abrams, the company’s former head of employee communications. According to the letter, employees allege that numerous executives are inappropriate towards women and that two executives allegedly sexually harassed female employees. It also said that many of the employees would not fly a Blue Origin rocket for safety reasons. [Mehr bei The Information und Techcrunch]
Several US Senators have Facebook criticized for dealing with young girls. Antigone Smith, Facebook global security chief, was grilled on Thursday at a Senate subcommittee hearing on Instagram’s impact on teenage mental health. The senators compared Facebook to the tobacco industry for luring teenagers and children with a product they know is harmful to their health. The hearing followed a series of revelations by the Wall Street Journal on how damaging the Instagram photo platform can be to girls’ mental health. [Mehr bei CNBC und Wall Street Journal]
Waymo and Cruise Approved to Operate Commercial Autonomous Car Services in California. California’s Department of Motor Vehicles on Thursday approved the use of autonomous vehicles for both the General Motors-backed Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo. This brings companies one step closer to offering services to the general public outside of a test program. Now these offers have yet to be approved by the California Public Utilities Commission. [Mehr bei CNBC]
Tiktok has announced its very first collection of NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens), the unique digital collectibles that use the same blockchain technology that powers cryptocurrencies. The short video app turns six popular videos with pop star Lil Nas X, creator Bella Poarch and others into NFTs. The company, which is owned by Bytedance, said digital collectibles are a way for creators to be recognized for their content and for fans to enjoy a culturally significant moment on Tiktok. [Mehr bei Bloomberg und The Information]
Investments: The French startup Voodoo acquires Beach Bum , a game studio based in Israel that specializes in table and card games. According to a source, voodoo, which develops and publishes games, could pay a total of a few hundred million dollars. Beach Bum had sales of $ 70 million for the past 12 months. Meesho , an Indian social Commerce platform, backed by Facebook and the Softbank Group, announced a $ 570 million round of funding at a valuation of $ 4.9 billion. The round was chaired by Fidelity Management & Research Company and B Capital Group. The Nasa has two US Companies selected to develop electric propulsion technologies for aircraft, with the goal of introducing the technology to U.S. aviation fleets by 2035. The two companies GE Aviation and Magnix will do their job perform over the next five years. GE Aviation receives $ 179 million, Magnix $ 74.3 million. [Mehr bei Techcrunch, Reuters und Techcrunch]
Our reading tip on the start-up scene That’s it? “Macho manager”. It’s about the Gorillas boss Kagan Sümer . Our author Lisa Ksienrzyk spoke to confidants of the Unicorn founder and found out what makes him tick. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]
Have a nice Friday!
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