Recode Daily - Microsoft pulls the plug on its phone business - May 25, 2016

[banner] [..] [..] [.] Two years ago Microsoft spent $7.2 billion buying Nokia, in a last-ditch effort to get back into the mobile phone business. Now that's over: CEO Satya Nadella is shuttering the company's consumer phone unit, laying off nearly 2,000 people, and taking a $950 million charge. Microsoft still insists it will sell phones to the enterprise market, but that seems like a dubious proposition. [[Ina Fried | Recode]] [.] Gawker CEO Nick Denton has long suspected that a third party was funding Hulk Hogan's lawsuits against Gawker. [Forbes is pointing the finger] at Paypal co-founder, billionaire investor and Facebook board member Peter Thiel, who Gawker's Valleywag outed as gay in 2007. [[Peter Kafka | Recode]] [.] Apple is reportedly working on an intelligent assistant device, similar to Amazon's Echo. And next month at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple is expected to announce that software developers can start building services on Siri. [[Amir Efrati | The Information]] [.] Uber has confirmed that it is [taking an investment from Toyota], an agreement that is largely about pooling their self-driving car efforts. Uber has spent the last year talking with basically every automaker — including Cruise, GM's [recent billion-dollar acquisition] — about striking such a deal. [[Johana Bhuiyan | Recode]] [.] Many startups and tech companies are chartered in Delaware, traditionally for tax and privacy purposes. But now investors and ex-employees are beginning to use an "obscure" Delaware state law in order to force companies to open up their books, and possibly valuation estimates, to shareholders. [[Rolfe Winkler | The Wall Street Journal]] [..] Transportation [Volkswagen Group is getting into the ride-hail game with a $300 million investment in Uber competitor Gett] By Johana Bhuiyan Another automaker joins the mobility-as-a-service movement. Media [The new head of Vice News is firing some and will hire more] By Noah Kulwin Ex-Bloomberg editor Josh Tyrangiel is putting his mark on the company. Enterprise [Hewlett Packard Enterprise will spin off its troubled services business in an $8.5 billion deal] By Arik Hesseldahl This finally puts to rest one of then-CEO Mark Hurd's biggest and most disastrous acquisitions. Mobile [Why Huawei is suing Samsung over cellphone patents] By Ina Fried Silly you. You thought the mobile patent wars were over. Commerce [Groupon is spending millions on TV ads to remind you it still exists] By Jason Del Rey Do millennials watch TV? Mobile [U.S. smartphone growth dipped below 10 percent last year] By Ina Fried It's not just China that is seeing a slowdown. [..] [A persuasive and well-researched case for why Donald Trump's hair is a $60K weave] [Gawker's Ashley Feinberg has assembled a compelling argument for why Donald Trump's hair looks the way it does, tying it (metaphorically) to a $60,000 treatment given by a scandal-ridden faux doctor who once had an office in... Trump Tower.] [facebook] [twitter] [YouTube] [Instagram] [News] [divider][Podcasts] [divider][Events] [img-3] You are receiving this email because you subscribed to Recode Daily. If you would like to unsubscribe, [click here]. Mailing Address: Vox Media, 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2016 Vox Media, Inc.