10 things in tech you need to know today
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- Airbnb's stock popped on its debut. The firm's share price closed at $144.71, giving it a valuation of $86.5 billion.
- The Chinese government retweeted Donald Trump. Officials insisted the embassy account was hacked after resharing a tweet raising doubts about the recent presidential race.
- Jeff Bezos issued a rare compliment to Elon Musk. On Wednesday, the Amazon tycoon complimented SpaceX on its first high-altitude test of its prototype Starship spacecraft, which ended with the rocket exploding.
- Facebook tried and failed to acquire a mystery competitor. But it wasn't Twitter or Snapchat, according to the FTC's new lawsuit.
- Influencers are using ghostwriters on OnlyFans. Industry insiders think fans would be furious if they found out.
- 'Cyberpunk 2077' amassed $480 million in sales before launch. The game's developer, CD Projekt Red, said 8 million people pre-ordered the game ahead of launch.
- Wall Street isn't convinced Facebook will get broken up. Analysts rubbished suggestions Instagram posed an 'existential threat' to Facebook when it was acquired in 2012.
- Jeff Bezos is set to net millions from the Airbnb IPO. The Amazon CEO was an early Airbnb investor, participating in Airbnb's Series B round in 2011.
- Denmark is home to Europe's happiest tech employees. Copenhagen is home to some of the continent's biggest startup success stories, including Just Eat, Trust Pilot, and Too Good To Go.
- We spoke to Airbnb's cofounder Nate Blecharczyk. He told us how the pandemic threw IPO plans off course, its winning strategy in China, and about the decision to take on loans to get through.