GeekWire's Most-Read Stories of the Week

Catch up on the top tech stories from this past week. Here are the headlines that people have been reading on GeekWire. ADVERTISEMENT [GeekWire]( SPONSOR MESSAGE: Act Fast for INNOVATEwest Early Bird Tickets: [Save over $400 and gain exclusive access to social events including the Tech Bash Party, Welcome Reception and more.]( THIS WEEK'S TOP STORIES [Amazon Web Services cuts hundreds of jobs in sales, training, and physical stores tech group]( AWS is cutting several hundred jobs on its sales, marketing and services group, and a few hundred jobs on its physical stores tech team. [Where Amazon Web Services is still hiring after cutting hundreds of jobs this week]( Amazon Web Services announced hundreds of job cuts this week, but it’s still hiring in core areas, with thousands of jobs currently posted. [Google reportedly pausing Kirkland Urban office buildout in Seattle area]( Google’s growth plans east of Seattle appear to be on pause, according to a new report from real estate firm Broderick Group. SPONSOR MESSAGE [Your Future in Cybersecurity Starts at WGU]( You can help safeguard the digital world with WGU! Our online, accredited cybersecurity degrees include key industry certs at no extra cost. You’ll have the ability to accelerate through coursework, with no set log-in times. [Learn More.]( [Concur founder Steve Singh leads acquisition of Direct Travel in ongoing quest for ‘perfect trip’]( Steve Singh is one step closer to the “perfect trip.” The Seattle-based business leader and investor, former CEO of companies including Concur and Docker, is leading a group of investors in the acquisition of Direct Travel Inc., a Colorado-based corporate travel management company, founded in 2011, with more than $300 million in annual revenue and 1,800 employees. [Tableau releases Einstein Copilot beta as part of Salesforce’s broader AI rollout]( Tableau is releasing a new artificial intelligence tool that aims to make its advanced data analysis and visualization features more accessible to a broader set of users. [Microsoft and Quantinuum report a way to turn down the noise in quantum computing]( Microsoft and Quantinuum say they've demonstrated a quantum computing system that can reduce the error rate by a factor of 800. [Amazon closing smaller Fresh grocery store in Seattle as it focuses on expanded format stores]( Amazon is closing its Fresh grocery store in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, the company confirmed Wednesday, saying that it plans to focus on redesigned stores with an expanded selection. [Washington governor signs bill that could stoke semiconductor industry, draw CHIPS Act funding]( Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill into law that key players hope will be a boon for the semiconductor industry statewide and may open the door for more federal funding. [Tech Moves: F5 adds CTO and HR chief; Adaptive names CFO; Techstars Seattle leaders depart]( — Seattle-based application security and delivery giant F5 announced two new executive appointments this week: Lyra Schramm, the company’s new chief people officer, and Kunal Anand, chief technology officer. [Seattle office market continues to struggle as vacancy rates rise for ninth consecutive quarter]( A new Q1 report from Kidder Mathews shows regional vacancy rates in the Seattle area rising to 15.1%, up from 13.9% at the end of 2023, the ninth consecutive quarterly increase. [Amazon restarting construction on 22 unfinished floors inside Bellevue office tower]( Amazon is restarting construction on a 42-story office tower in Bellevue, Wash., to complete 22 floors of the building’s interior and make room for an additional 3,000 employees. [Ag-tech startup TerraClear raises $15M to grow its end-to-end solution for ridding fields of rocks]( TerraClear raised $15 million in new funding for its rock-mapping and picking technology solutions for farmers. [Cyber Safety Review Board finds Microsoft security culture ‘inadequate,’ calls for accountability]( Microsoft comes under intense scrutiny and pointed criticism in a 34-page report released Tuesday by the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB). [Inside the new Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology, which uses DNA to ‘record biology over time’]( Researchers opened the doors Monday to the new Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology, a collaboration between the Allen Institute, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the University of Washington. [Biotech giant Genmab to acquire Seattle company ProfoundBio in $1.8B deal]( ProfoundBio, a Seattle-based biotech firm developing drugs to treat ovarian and endometrial cancers, will be acquired by publicly traded Danish drugmaker Genmab in a $1.8 billion all-cash deal expected to close in the first half of this year, the companies announced Wednesday. GEEKWORK: TODAY'S TECH JOBS - [AdaptX: Vice President of Engineering]( - [GeekWork: ML Engineer]( - [GeekWork: Head of Engineering]( - [City of Newport: Systems Administrator II]( - [INRIX: Finance Pricing Manager]( [FIND MORE JOBS ON GEEKWORK]( [HIRING? 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