June 05, 2015
LinkedIn tops $5B in quarterly revenue for the first time, and its TikTok pivot is paying off
January 29, 2026
(Bigstock Photo) Remember when everyone said Microsoft overpaid for LinkedIn? Nearly a decade later, the $26.2 billion “overpriced” acquisition now generates that much in revenue every 15 months. As Wall Street obsessed over Microsoft’s Azure growth rates and OpenAI accounting, LinkedIn...
Microsoft beats expectations, cloud tops $50B as OpenAI and Anthropic deals reshape its business
January 28, 2026
The entrance to “Experience Center One” on Microsoft’s Redmond campus. (GeekWire File Photo) Microsoft’s big financial bet on artificial intelligence got even bigger in the December quarter, but it also showed continued signs of paying off for its cloud business. The company spent $37.5...
Filing: Amazon Fresh and Go closures will eliminate about 400 jobs in Washington state
January 28, 2026
An Amazon Fresh store in the Seattle region. (GeekWire Photo / Taylor Soper) Amazon will lay off approximately 400 workers in Washington state as part of its decision to close all Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores across the country, according to a notice filed with the state Employment Security...
Seattle’s data privacy chief falls victim to identity theft, and shares tips for how to recover
January 28, 2026
(BigStock Image) Even for the person in charge of protecting the data of an entire city, total privacy is elusive. Ginger Armbruster, Seattle’s chief data privacy officer, recently found herself on the other side of a breach when she discovered a fraudster had used her leaked information to...
Filing: Expedia Group layoffs impact 162 workers in Washington state
January 28, 2026
Expedia Group offices at the company’s waterfront campus in Seattle. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Seattle-based travel giant Expedia Group will cut 162 workers in Washington state, according to a new filing Wednesday with the Employment Security Department. The layoffs, confirmed...
Tech overhaul helps Starbucks post first U.S. transaction growth in two years
January 28, 2026
Starbucks is reporting early signs of progress from its operational overhaul, with transaction growth turning positive for the first time in two years. (Starbucks Photo) The “mosh pit” at Starbucks is getting less intense. That’s the term former CEO Howard Schultz used for the peak morning...
An ‘extinction-level event’ for startups: Seattle tech leaders fight new state tax proposal
January 28, 2026
Clearly AI CEO and co-founder Emily Choi-Greene testifies at a Senate Ways & Means Committee meeting on Tuesday in opposition to a new bill proposal that targets capital gains. (Screenshots via TVW) Emily Choi-Greene says she’s the type of person who supports tax increases on her ballot. But a...
Rover acquires Meowtel, a cat-sitting marketplace in the U.S.
January 28, 2026
Seattle-based Rover Group has acquired Meowtel, a cat-focused pet-sitting marketplace, as the company expands deeper into specialized care for pet owners. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 2015, Meowtel has built a network of more than 4,000 cat sitters, serving over 125,000 cats...
AZX lands $6M: Seattle-area tech veterans reunite to build custom AI solutions for energy industry
January 28, 2026
AZX co-founders from left: Michael Albrecht, Aaron Goldfeder and Rich Evans. (Jamison Weeks Photography) AZX, a startup building bespoke AI solutions for customers that include utilities and energy companies, has raised a $6 million pre-seed round. The Bellevue, Wash.-based business launched...
Amazon confirms 16,000 more corporate job cuts, bringing total to 30,000 since October
January 28, 2026
Amazon is laying off another 16,000 corporate employees globally, the company confirmed Wednesday morning, the second phase in a restructuring that now totals 30,000 positions — adding up to the largest workforce reduction in the company’s history. The company is “reducing layers, increasing...
Amazon is ending its palm ID system for retail, Amazon One, as it closes physical stores
January 28, 2026
Entering an Amazon Go store in Seattle in 2020 by scanning a palm with Amazon One technology. (GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop) Amazon is discontinuing its Amazon One palm recognition ID system for stores later this year, the company said in messages to users Tuesday night. The company will...
The rise and fall of Amazon’s homegrown stores: A decade of retail experiments comes full circle
January 28, 2026
The original Amazon Books store in Seattle’s University Village, before it closed in 2022. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) In November 2015, an intrepid GeekWire photographer attached a camera to a pole in an attempt to get a look inside Amazon’s first bookstore before it opened. OK, so...
Redfin’s first Super Bowl ad enlists Lady Gaga, who brings new life to a Mister Rogers classic
January 27, 2026
The Seahawks are going back to the Super Bowl. Seattle-based Redfin is going for the first time. The 20-year-old real estate company, under new parent Rocket Companies, released a teaser video on Tuesday for a Super Bowl ad that will feature Lady Gaga performing the Mister Rogers classic...
F5 stock surges 13% after topping estimates with $822M in Q1 revenue
January 27, 2026
Shares of F5 were up more than 13% in after-hours trading after the Seattle-based security giant beat fiscal first quarter expectations with $822 million in revenue, up 7% year-over-year, and net income of $180 million, up from $166 million. CEO François Locoh-Donou called out customer demand...
Proposals take aim at 3D printing tech to strengthen Washington state laws against ‘ghost guns’
January 27, 2026
3D-printed weapon parts. (Bigstock Photo) New legislative proposals in Washington state are putting 3D printing and similar technologies in the crosshairs when it comes to the use of the tech to create so-called “ghost guns.” But some industry leaders and hobbyists are alarmed by potential...
Microsoft earnings preview: Record capital spending puts a bigger spotlight on cloud growth
January 27, 2026
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is under pressure to show steady cloud growth to justify AI investments. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota) Microsoft is heading into its earnings report facing what one analyst calls a “prove it” moment, with investors looking for signs that its massive AI bet is...
Tech Moves: Truveta hires president; Veeam bolsters exec lineup; Fortive names HR chief; Heard taps CTO
January 27, 2026
Johnathan Lancaster. (Truveta Photo) — Dr. Johnathan Lancaster — an oncologist, cancer genomics expert and former exec at Regeneron — has joined Seattle-area health data company Truveta as its new president and chief scientific officer. Lancaster, who spent the past six years at publicly...
Battery company Group14 furloughs workers at Washington factory — just as rival Sila ramps up
January 27, 2026
Group14 is producing next-gen battery materials at its factory in South Korea. (Group14 Photo) Next-gen battery materials company Group14 Technologies last week furloughed an undisclosed number of employees at its yet-to-be-finished facility in Moses Lake, Wash., as neighboring rival Sila...
Ai2 cooks up open-source coding agents with tech equivalent of ‘hot plate and frying pan’
January 27, 2026
Ai2 Image The Allen Institute for AI (Ai2) is open-sourcing the recipe and ingredients for advanced coding agents, making them trainable on an organization’s own code base at low cost — a move that could loosen the grip of tech giants on artificial intelligence for software development. Ai2’s...
Amazon closing all Amazon Fresh and Go stores to focus on Whole Foods and grocery delivery
January 27, 2026
The Amazon Fresh store on Aurora Avenue in Seattle, shown before it opened in 2021, is among the locations set to close as part of the company’s shift away from Amazon-branded grocery stores. (GeekWire File Photo / Kurt Schlosser) Amazon’s homegrown grocery stores are getting shelved. The...
Washington proposal to tax startup exits sparks backlash from Seattle tech leaders
January 27, 2026
(Bigstock Photo) Startup leaders in the Seattle region say a new proposal to expand the capital gains tax in Washington state could spur founders and investors to build companies somewhere else. SB 6229 (and a companion HB 2292) would apply the capital gains tax to profits from the sale of...
Rad Power Bikes sells for $13.2M as asset auction attracts bidders for bankrupt e-bike maker
January 26, 2026
(Rad Power Bikes Photo) Update: This story has been updated with more details from court documents. Rad Power Bikes — the Seattle-based e-bike maker once valued at $1.65 billion — auctioned off its assets for $13.2 million as part of an ongoing bankruptcy process, the company confirmed to...
Expedia Group lays off employees in latest cuts at Seattle travel giant
January 26, 2026
Expedia’s headquarters in Seattle. (GeekWire File Photo / Todd Bishop) Expedia Group is laying off employees, according to posts online from impacted workers. Program managers and engineers in the Seattle region and other locations are among those affected. The company cut about a fifth of its...
‘Leading nuclear project in the U.S.’: TerraPower closes in on key permits for first next-gen reactor
January 26, 2026
Construction of TerraPower’s full-scale demonstration nuclear plant in Kemmerer, Wyo. (TerraPower Photo) In perhaps a matter of weeks, Bill Gates-backed TerraPower expects to receive federal permits to begin building the nuclear components of its first-of-a-kind, next-generation power plant in...
Microsoft unveils Maia 200 AI chip, claiming performance edge over Amazon and Google
January 26, 2026
Microsoft’s new Maia 200 AI chip. (Microsoft Photo) Microsoft on Monday announced Maia 200, the second generation of its custom AI chip, claiming it’s the most powerful first-party silicon from any major cloud provider. The company says Maia 200 delivers three times the performance of...
Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Jan. 18, 2026
January 25, 2026
Get caught up on the latest technology and startup news from the past week. Here are the most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Jan. 18, 2026. Sign up to receive these updates every Sunday in your inbox by subscribing to our GeekWire Weekly email newsletter. Most popular stories on...
Microsoft and Amazon, together on housing: Tech giants find common ground in push for policy changes
January 24, 2026
Microsoft and Amazon published a joint op-ed and full-page ad in The Seattle Times urging Washington lawmakers to address the state’s housing crisis. (GeekWire Illustration) They’re rivals in the cloud, and competitors for customers and talent. But Microsoft and Amazon are on the same page when...
Microsoft’s private OpenAI emails, Satya’s new AI catchphrase, and the rise of physical AI startups
January 24, 2026
This week on the GeekWire Podcast: Newly unsealed court documents reveal the behind-the-scenes history of Microsoft and OpenAI, including a surprise: Amazon Web Services was OpenAI’s original partner. We tell the story behind the story, explaining how it all came to light. Plus, Microsoft...
Seattle’s ORCA transit system gets major tech upgrade with new ‘Tap to Pay’ feature
January 23, 2026
(Photo via ORCA presentation) One of the more seamless aspects on a recent trip to Japan was being able to simply “tap” my iPhone to pay for subway rides in Tokyo. That frictionless transit payment capability, common in many major cities worldwide, isn’t available in Seattle. But that’s about to...
Light rail across Lake Washington — a major connection for Seattle-area tech hubs — to open March 28
January 23, 2026
Sound Transit’s Link light rail service will cross over Lake Washington between Seattle and Eastside on the I-90 bridge. (Sound Transit Photo) The date is set for a transportation milestone that could impact how thousands of Seattle-area commuters travel between home and work, especially at the...
Tech Moves: Amazon employee retiring after 20 years; former Oracle and Microsoft execs take new roles
January 23, 2026
Mark Griffith. (LinkedIn Photo) Mark Griffith — Amazon employee No. 1,037 and the third hire for what would become Fulfillment by Amazon — is retiring after more than two decades with the Seattle-area tech giant. Griffith spent most of his career at FBA, which handles shipping, customer...
Startup Radar: Seattle founders tackle nutrition apps, retail media, business data, and digital artifacts
January 23, 2026
From top left, clockwise: Axel AI CEO Bobby Figueroa; Eluum CEO Bilkay Rose, DrunR CEO Yaya Ali, and profileAPI CEO Wissam Tabbara. New year, new Startup Radar. We’re back with our regular spotlight on early stage startups sprouting up in the Seattle region. For this edition, we’re featuring...
Reports: Amazon’s latest layoffs could begin next week
January 23, 2026
Amazon’s Seattle headquarters. (GeekWire File Photo) Amazon is preparing for another round of corporate job cuts next week, according to a report from Reuters on Thursday. Bloomberg also reported that layoffs could begin next week. We reached out to Amazon for comment. Amazon laid off about...
Seattle startup Overland AI partners with CAL FIRE to use self-driving 4-wheelers for wildfire response
January 22, 2026
Overland AI’s “ULTRA” self-driving vehicle delivers supplies as part of a test with CAL FIRE. (Overland Photo) Overland AI, a Seattle-based startup that develops autonomous driving technology for rugged terrain, is expanding its reach beyond military applications. The company this week...
B.C. energy company General Fusion aims to go public via a $1B SPAC deal
January 22, 2026
General Fusion’s Lawson Machine 26, a magnetized target fusion demonstration device operating in Vancouver, B.C. (General Fusion Photo) Less than a year after layoffs and a public plea by its CEO for new investments, General Fusion on Thursday announced a $1 billion SPAC agreement to take the...
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