Venture Government

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us //link.mail.bloombergbusiness.com/click/19671798.71559/aHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0dGVyLmNvbS90ZWNobm9sb2d5/582c8673566a94262a8b49bdB81d59117 [Get the newsletter]( Hi all, it's Natalia. Not a great start to the week, is it? Tech companies, like everyone else, have been reeling from the coronavirus's global spread, slashing their outlooks, re-vamping operations to let employees work at home, and taking a series of other hits that will impact the bottom line. And now, there's a stock market crisis. Oil prices dived on Monday after the dramatic breakdown of talks between OPEC and Russia prompted Saudi Arabia to launch a price war. The tech sector is already strained from the turbulent global economy, hitting supply chains, business activity, and even fundraising. [Sequoia Capital in a blog last week]( called the coronavirus the “black swan” of 2020, drawing parallels to the 2008 financial crisis. This mess is threatening tech's growth-first focus, already under pressure following a few high profile flareups last year, led by WeWork. After some soul-searching, investor [SoftBank informed its portfolio companies]( that perhaps they should start focusing on profit rather than growth. And[ Sequoia Capital noted some of its own portfolio companies]( are at risk of missing their first-quarter growth targets. While tech investors are changing their minds about the size of the checks they write, global governments are doing the opposite. The Trump administration is drawing up an economic package to blunt the fallout from the coronavirus epidemic. In Germany, Europe’s largest economy, said it would invest an additional 12.4 billion euros and introduce changes that will make it easier for companies heavily affected by the virus to apply for aid. Meanwhile, France’s finance ministers said Europe should prepare a “massive and coordinated” fiscal stimulus in response. The problem with throwing vast sums of money at a problem is that you're not sure where it will end up. Big venture checks enriched founders but didn't always create great businesses. Fiscal stimulus packages might've saved the global economy back in 2008, but they also helped pay out banker bonuses. The latest global crisis has made it easier for big venture investors to conclude that maybe throwing good money after bad isn't such a great idea. But it's clear that governments don't have that luxury. [-- Natalia Drozdiak](mailto:ndrozdiak1@bloomberg.net) If you read one thing A SoftBank-backed effort to change [the gaming industry is struggling.]( At least three games using new technology from Improbable Worlds Ltd. were pulled last year, raising questions about the company’s promise to revolutionize gaming by helping developers create complex worlds that rival the real one. The London-based startup’s travails are just the latest setback for SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund, some of whose investments, including WeWork, have run into difficulties recently. And here’s what you need to know in global technology news Twitter Inc. CEO Jack Dorsey is safe for now after [striking a pact](with activist investor Elliott Management Corp. and private equity firm Silver Lake. Again? Online brokerage[Robinhood Markets went down]( for the second time in a week. Doomsday Decline. Apple iPhone shipments [in China plunged more]( than 60% in February, when the virus outbreak shut down stores and hampered key manufacturing partners. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Fully Charged newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022