Kanye agrees to buy Parler, Elon Musk reportedly plans mass layoffs at Twitter, and Netflix gets into cloud gaming • TechCrunch

Hey, good friends! Welcome back to Week in Assessment, in which each individual Saturday we recap a handful of the best TechCrunch tales from the past 7 times. Want it in your inbox? Get it right here!

This 7 days marked the in-particular person return of TechCrunch Disrupt, with our group having the exhibit again into the authentic planet soon after two years entirely digital. It was just one helluva show, with appearances from persons like tennis legend (turned trader) Serena Williams, comedian (also turned investor!) Kevin Hart, Lyft co-founder John Zimmer, and Figma CEO Dylan Discipline. Congrats to Minerva Lithium for profitable the Startup Battlefield levels of competition!

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Google’s Ping-Pong robot: “As if it weren’t ample to have AI tanning humanity’s conceal (figuratively for now) at just about every board activity in existence,” writes Devin, “Google AI has received 1 doing work to destroy us all at Ping-Pong as well.”

Elon expects substantial Twitter layoffs: Musk reportedly wants to slash up to 75% of Twitter’s workforce — around 5,600 positions — if/when his acquisition of the organization goes by means of. That selection seems really absurd. Even significantly scaled-down layoffs have compounding effects on points like group morale and productivity — just picture the amount of awareness/insight that disappears if the majority of a company is enable go.

Kanye West is obtaining Parler: Properly, that’s a headline I hardly ever, ever, ever would’ve predicted. “Kanye West, the rapper who also goes by the name Ye, has arrived at an settlement to buy ‘uncancelable free speech platform’ Parler,” writes Manish, “in a go [the involved parties say] will assistance people today categorical their conservative opinions freely.”

Balance AI raises $101 million: The firm at the rear of the AI-powered picture generator Secure Diffusion and new music-creating process Dance Diffusion has elevated $101 million at a described valuation of $1 billion.

Netflix explores cloud gaming: Just as Google gives up on its cloud gaming attempts, Netflix is diving in. At Disrupt this 7 days, Netflix’s VP of Gaming stated the firm is “seriously exploring a cloud gaming supplying,” saying that Google’s shuttered energy was a “technical success” with “issues with the business enterprise product.”

audio roundup

Here’s what’s up in TC podcast land this 7 days:

• Equity was live and in human being! Immediately after yrs in pandemic method, the Equity crew (Alex, Natasha, and Mary Ann) kicked off Disrupt by recording a clearly show confront-to-encounter for the initially time.
• On Observed, Darrell and Jordan caught up with Jerrica Kirkley and Matthew Wetschler and discovered the tale of Plume, their telehealth organization that focuses on transgender care.

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What were being TC+ customers examining most guiding the paywall? Here’s a peek:

2023 VC predictions: Following a wild few yrs of ups and downs, what will enterprise cash search like in 2023? Contrary Cash founder Eric Tarczynski weighs in.

Ron explores Celonis and its $13 billion valuation: Celonis might not be a identify that every person recognizes…but the 11-calendar year-aged info-processing corporation has managed to increase billions of bucks in the past few a long time by itself. What are they executing so appropriate? Ron Miller requires us on a deep dive.