Bezos-owned Washington Post won’t endorse a presidential candidate

Many established startups in Seattle and across the Pacific Northwest are ranked among the GeekWire 200, our list of top privately held tech companies in the region. But countless others are just getting off the ground. Read about six new startups we recently came across, and email us at tips@geekwire.com to flag other companies and startup news we should know about. Above, from top left, clockwise: Alice CEO Karan Gupta; Maelstrom CEO Neal Fachan; Clearly AI CEO Emily Choi-Greene; Silurian AI CEO Jayesh Gupta; Rome CEO Ana Malhotra; and Ravenna CEO Taylor Halliday. 

“I would say I’ve never been more excited about anything in my entire career.” That’s Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, speaking to GeekWire this week for an upcoming podcast episode. Read more about what he’s excited about in this preview, and check back Saturday for the full episode. Subscribe to GeekWire in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

The Washington Post, owned by Amazon founder and chairman Jeff Bezos, is getting out of the business of endorsing candidates for president, starting with the upcoming election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. The stance drew swift reaction from readers, Post employees, and the newspaper’s former editor. Read more.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella asked the company’s board to reduce the cash component of his compensation for the tech giant’s 2024 fiscal year. Here’s why.

Kurt Cobain and tech? Famed British actress Helen Mirren made a peculiar reference to GPS in an interview about the Nirvana singer and grunge icon. Read more.

Hot Links:

• Amazon has a team of 35 people, including former Justice Department and FBI employees, taking on counterfeiting organizations. (CNBC)

• Happy Birthday, Microsoft Word: It’s been 41 years since the word processor debuted. (LinkedIn via Brad Smith)

• Seattle tech vet Steven Maheshwary built an online tool that calculates how much your vote counts based on historical data on voter turnout. (LinkedIn)