TikTok parent begins mass layoffs in gaming unit

In today’s top story, there is trouble over at ByteDance — TikTok’s parent company. Rita reports that after two years, ByteDance is starting mass layoffs in its gaming business unit. No one is giving numbers other than the unit was around 3,000 people as far back as 2021. Find out why it was such a surprise.

Meanwhile, Sarah has your look at Amazon’s new thin hardware for accessing virtual desktop environments, and why it looks just like a Fire TV Cube.

And Lorenzo has an update on the cyberattack that plagued Fidelity National Financial last week, writing that homeowners and buyers have been left wondering what’s going on. And wanting to know where their money is.

More top reads

Out of stealth: PhysicsX launches with $32 million for AI to power engineering simulations. Learn about the problem it is tackling.

Doing the splits: Mozaic grabs $20 million in new funding to build a payment-splitting solution for creators. Read more.

Movement at the top: Byju’s taps Jiny Thattil as CTO following the departure of Anil Goel. Meet Jiny.

Slip me some skin: Dbrand, a company that makes gadget skins, is suing Casetify over stolen designs. Find out what happened.

EverExperimenting: Evernote pushes users to upgrade with the test of a free plan limited to only 50 notes. See how this affects users.

All zeros and ones: Haje built a tool that uses AI to parse through pitch decks. Most of the time the machine did its job. However, when it didn’t, it was bad. Here’s why Haje says your pitch deck needs to be machine-readable. (TC+)

Cyber fought the law and cyber won: A cyberattack on a legal tech provider is causing widespread disruption to U.K. law firms. Learn what happened.

I think they let it Lapse: Lapse, a photo app that forced users to invite friends, is seeing that business model run out of steam. Here’s why.

Digital doctor: RepeatMD lands capital to grow its aesthetics and wellness booking business. Read more.

Unicorn down: Prefab home builder Veev is reportedly shutting down after reaching unicorn status last year. Get the scoop.

Your daily AI update: Now that we’ve had time to digest what’s happened at OpenAI, Kyle is here to tell you that contrary to reports, OpenAI probably isn’t building humanity-threatening AI. Meanwhile, there are reasons to be wary of Grok, Darrell writes. With all these AI chatbots out there, will Elon Musk and the ultra-rich replace the masses?

Weekend warriors you might have missed:

What startup founders need to know about AI heading into 2024 (TC+)

Reflections on Web Summit: Out of the frying pan, and out of the fire?

Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain implant startup, quietly raises an additional $43M

Black Friday online buying hits a record $9.8B in the US, $70.9B globally

Fate of US venture capital in China teeters on uncertainty

Stories that posted while you were busy eating:

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway exits Paytm at a 40% loss

Adobe: Thanksgiving US online sales nudge up to $5.6B; Salesforce: $31.7B spent globally

Saviu Ventures’ second fund reaches €12 million first close to back Francophone Africa startups

I’m trying so hard not to gush over Teenage Engineering’s latest gadget

If I’m being honest, I didn’t have what it takes to be a founder (TC+)

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