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Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie are divorcing.
Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Thursday.
- Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie announced they are divorcing. The pair have been married for 25 years, and MacKenzie drove across America with Bezos to start Amazon.
- The National Enquirer, a longtime ally of President Trump, says it's about to release scandalous photos of Jeff Bezos' alleged affair. Hours after Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos announced their divorce, the National Enquirer reported it tracked romantic involvement between Bezos and a former TV anchor.
- Facebook's job evaluations are so ruthless that "meeting most" expectations could lead to getting fired, former employees say. Former Facebook staffers told Business Insider that receiving two consecutive reviews of "meets most" expectations - which is equivalent to a "B" grade - would ultimately result in an employee being fired.
- Amazon is holding invitation-only meetings with small sellers at CES to convince them to pay it another $5,000 a month. In room called One Amazon at the Venetian in Las Vegas, Amazon is holding meetings to convince companies who sell their products on Amazon to join a new coaching program called Amazon Growth.
- Samsung had a 5G smartphone prototype on display at CES. It was the closest official look we've had to future smartphones from Samsung that come with 5G compatibility.
- Elon Musk got some time with China's Premier Li Keqiang in a sign that the heat is going out of Trump's trade war. Li said he hoped Tesla could be "a promoter of the stability of Chinese-US relations" in a sign that the two countries' trade war may be thawing.
- A sex-toy company accused CES of sexism after being stripped of an innovation award. The Osé personal massager, the startup Lora DiCarlo's first product, originally won the CES Innovation Award in the robotics-and-drones category.
- A new type of scam call causes Apple's logo and phone number to pop up on iPhone lock screens. Because iPhones come with the number for Apple's help line pre-loaded in contacts, that means that Apple's logo and name pops up on the iPhone caller ID when an attacker manages to successfully fake the call's origins.
- Apple has reportedly hired Sandy Parakilas, a former Facebook employee who has become a prominent critic of the social network. According to the Financial Times, Parakilas will join Apple's privacy team and work to ensure new products protect users' security and privacy.
- Deliveroo, the $2 billion food delivery startup coveted by Uber, has lost its COO. Roy Blanga stepped down in December, sources told Business Insider.
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