Articles by Todd Bishop

Seattle economic study finds strong tech assets, a risky concentration, and a tax that ‘penalizes’ hiring

An independent study commissioned by the City of Seattle says the city should protect the big tech employers it has while building a more diverse economy on top of them. The 127-page report also says Seattle’s tax structure is unique among its peers in penalizing the hiring of senior, high-compensation workers. Read More

Amazon’s new board member is a cybersecurity founder who sold his last company to Google for $5.4B

Amazon has named Kevin Mandia, the founder of breach-investigation firm Mandiant, to its board of directors, adding security expertise a few months after former NSA director Keith Alexander stepped down. Mandia now runs Armadin, a startup that uses AI to run attacks against corporate networks as a way of testing their defenses. Read More

NLM Photonics adds key investors in quest to reduce the power needed to move data between chips

The Seattle startup’s materials sit on top of silicon chips and imprint data onto a beam of light using less power. Mitsubishi Chemical’s venture arm and Pangaea Ventures joined a $13 million round. Read More

General Robotics, led by Microsoft vets, says its AI has cut robot setup from a month to hours

A Redmond startup founded by former Microsoft researchers says its GRID platform now automates much of the engineering that keeps robots stuck in pilot projects. CEO Ashish Kapoor says the company has roughly a dozen customers and revenue in the millions of dollars. Read More

Podcast

NBA’s Ballmer crackdown echoes Microsoft antitrust; SF vs. Seattle housing; and a Seahawks tech twist

This week on the GeekWire Podcast: The NBA suspends former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for a year and hits the… Read More

Seattle Times sues Microsoft and OpenAI, alleging they trained their AI on its journalism

Microsoft was sued Friday by the parent company of its hometown daily newspaper, The Seattle Times Co., which joined with Newsday to accuse the Redmond tech giant and OpenAI of using their journalism to train their artificial intelligence models. Read More

AI learns nature’s code: Allen Institute, UW and Fred Hutch launch $95M open science initiative

Three of Seattle’s top scientific institutions are launching a nearly $95 million research initiative that will generate data and train AI models to design proteins and genes that don’t exist in nature — sharing the results freely to help others develop new medicines and materials. Read More

Qualtrics cut 117 jobs tied to Seattle headquarters, new filing shows

A new state filing shows Qualtrics is cutting 117 jobs tied to its Seattle headquarters, the first public figure showing the regional impact of layoffs the experience management software company made globally two weeks ago. Read More

McGraw Hill acquires Teachally, an AI startup for teachers led by Seattle tech vet Daniel Bernstein

McGraw Hill has acquired Teachally, a five-person startup whose AI tools help teachers build and customize lessons, assignments and assessments aligned to state standards. Founder Daniel Bernstein, who built and sold the game studio Sandlot Games two decades ago, ran the sale through his own M&A firm. Read More

How to make industry giants chase you, and other lessons from 28 years inside T-Mobile

Mike Katz is leaving T-Mobile after 28 years, from selling VoiceStream phones at a Circuit City to running marketing, strategy and products. He reflects on the Un-carrier turnaround and the business lessons behind it. Read More

Seismic CEO on the Highspot merger: revenue, job cuts, Seattle, AI, and the Salesforce question

Two weeks after Seismic completed its merger with Highspot, CEO Rob Tarkoff disclosed the combined company’s revenue for the first time and addressed questions about job cuts, the future of Highspot’s Seattle offices, and how AI is reshaping the competition with Salesforce. Read More

Madrona’s annual IA40 list shows an AI industry splitting in two

Madrona’s sixth annual Intelligent Applications 40 names 45 private AI companies that have raised $410 billion combined, with Anthropic, OpenAI and Databricks accounting for 92% of that total. Rising round sizes forced the firm to raise its own funding thresholds for what counts as an early-stage company. Read More

Seattle-area biotech led by ex-Athira CEO Leen Kawas raises $35M for hepatitis D drug

A Kirkland, Wash.-based biotech company led by former Athira Pharma CEO Leen Kawas has raised $35 million in a Series… Read More

Podcast

Bill Gates in his own words: How he’s using AI, and why he’s worried about the future

Bill Gates warned this week that the AI industry is crossing safety lines it set for itself, and that no one is preparing for what comes next. On this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, we play highlights from our interview with Gates about the essay, and debate his three proposals. Read More

Tech Moves: Former Xbox exec named Dolby CEO; Microsoft AI exits; new Fred Hutch leaders

— Marc Whitten, a former Microsoft and Amazon executive, was named president and CEO of San Francisco-based Dolby Laboratories. He… Read More

Pro.com co-founders reunite to launch OnTrade, an AI startup for the wealth management industry

OnTrade deploys AI agents to handle analytical work for wealth management firms, connecting their fragmented software systems into a single interface. The Seattle startup has been building in stealth for two years with backing from General Catalyst and Madrona. Read More

Startup Spotlight: Skyfarer connects pilots with flight training, aviation services and airplanes in one place

Skyfarer is building a marketplace that connects pilots with flight instructors, mechanics, examiners and aircraft across all 50 states. Founder Nick Tsang talks about pivoting from online instruction, using AI to accelerate development and why general aviation is overdue for a unified platform. Read More

AI turns up a promising finding in cancer data that researchers hadn’t noticed for years

An AI system built by the Allen Institute for AI has found evidence that a common form of breast cancer may respond to immunotherapy, leading to an expanded partnership with the Paul G. Allen Research Center at Providence Swedish Cancer Institute. Read More

Amazon to acquire DuckLabs, adding the team behind DuckDB amid broader shakeup in cloud data

Amazon is acquiring DuckLabs, the Amsterdam company behind DuckDB, the fast-growing open-source database developers use to analyze large amounts of data without paying for a cloud data warehouse. The team joins AWS, but the DuckDB project itself stays free and open source under an independent foundation. Read More

‘I am very concerned’: Bill Gates says the world needs a plan to deal with AI, and he has three ideas to start

Bill Gates says the “turbulent AI era” has arrived, and the AI industry is crossing safety lines it once promised to respect. In a new essay and an interview with GeekWire, he lays out three ideas for managing what’s coming: new national and global institutions, a category of jobs reserved for humans, and a tax on AI and robots. Read More

Report: Amazon eyes ‘fully automated’ delivery stations to bring robotics to the last mile

Amazon is developing an internal initiative called Project Tetromino to build “fully automated” delivery stations, according to an internal planning document obtained by Business Insider. The effort could rely on technology from Boxbot, a robotics startup that uses AI-driven storage trays to sequence packages for vehicle loading. Read More

How the FTC’s last-minute settlement with Zillow and Redfin reshapes their $100M rentals deal

Zillow and Redfin settled an antitrust case with the FTC and five states on the day their trial was set to begin, agreeing to undo part of the $100 million deal that took Redfin out of the apartment rental advertising business. The proposed settlement requires Redfin to relaunch that business within six months, while the listings partnership between the two Seattle companies continues. Read More

Podcast

Amazon drones go national, inside Anduril’s Seattle buildup, and AirTag leads to secret book-scanning site

Amazon’s Prime Air drones are set to reach nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns this year, 13 years after Jeff Bezos unveiled the idea on 60 Minutes. Also on this week’s episode: John Cook’s visit inside Anduril’s unmarked Bellevue office, and how a reporter’s AirTag led to a secret Amazon facility where old books are cut apart and scanned. Read More

Starbucks lays off 224 workers tied to Seattle HQ, including tech roles, as restructuring winds down

A new state filing shows Starbucks is cutting 224 more jobs tied to its Seattle headquarters, including technology positions and roles in the group that designs and builds its coffeehouses. The company says the layoffs complete restructuring work announced earlier this year rather than starting a new round of cuts. Read More

Tech Moves: AWS data leader jumps to Oracle; Seattle Children’s names new CIO; Zillow’s new legal chief

An AWS director who ran the launch of Oracle Database@AWS has joined Oracle. Also in this edition: Seattle Children’s names a Stanford informatics leader as CIO, Zillow fills a newly created chief legal and policy role and a former Convoy executive is Uber Freight’s new product chief. Read More

Seattle keeps No. 2 spot in closely watched tech talent ranking, with warning signs

The region held onto the No. 2 spot in CBRE’s annual tech talent scorecard, behind only the Bay Area. The report also flagged Seattle’s office vacancy rate, the highest of the 50 markets ranked, and a population of 20-somethings that shrank between 2019 and 2024, raising questions about the pipeline. Read More

Qualtrics cuts jobs in Seattle, Utah and overseas as it absorbs $6.75B acquisition

Qualtrics laid off employees across Seattle, Provo and international offices Wednesday, three months after closing its $6.75 billion acquisition of Press Ganey Forsta. The company declined to disclose how many jobs were cut, but a WARN notice reviewed by GeekWire indicates at least 50 cuts were made at its Seattle headquarters. Read More

Internal memo: Eight execs out at Expedia Group in AI-driven shakeup

Expedia Group is parting ways with at least eight vice presidents and senior vice presidents as it reorganizes its product and technology organization around AI, according to an internal memo obtained by GeekWire. The memo from the company’s product and technology chiefs also names five leaders who were promoted. Read More

TikTok cuts 75 jobs in Seattle area, hitting e-commerce teams

TikTok is laying off 75 workers in Bellevue, most of them in TikTok Shop and Global E-Commerce roles, according to a notice filed with Washington state. It’s part of a steady stream of tech layoffs this year in the Seattle region. Read More

Amazon drone delivery set to expand nationally, reaching nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns this year

Amazon’s Prime Air drone delivery service is finally going national. It’s a milestone nearly 13 years in the making: Jeff Bezos unveiled the program on 60 Minutes in December 2013, to widespread skepticism. Both the technology and the regulations took far longer than expected. Read More

Top Stories from Todd Bishop

‘The warning signs are flashing’: New regional partnership calls for cohesive Seattle-area tech strategy

Latest from Todd Bishop

Seattle economic study finds strong tech assets, a risky concentration, and a tax that ‘penalizes’ hiring

Amazon’s new board member is a cybersecurity founder who sold his last company to Google for $5.4B

NLM Photonics adds key investors in quest to reduce the power needed to move data between chips

General Robotics, led by Microsoft vets, says its AI has cut robot setup from a month to hours

NBA’s Ballmer crackdown echoes Microsoft antitrust; SF vs. Seattle housing; and a Seahawks tech twist

Seattle Times sues Microsoft and OpenAI, alleging they trained their AI on its journalism

AI learns nature’s code: Allen Institute, UW and Fred Hutch launch $95M open science initiative

Qualtrics cut 117 jobs tied to Seattle headquarters, new filing shows

McGraw Hill acquires Teachally, an AI startup for teachers led by Seattle tech vet Daniel Bernstein

How to make industry giants chase you, and other lessons from 28 years inside T-Mobile

Seismic CEO on the Highspot merger: revenue, job cuts, Seattle, AI, and the Salesforce question

Madrona’s annual IA40 list shows an AI industry splitting in two

Seattle-area biotech led by ex-Athira CEO Leen Kawas raises $35M for hepatitis D drug

Bill Gates in his own words: How he’s using AI, and why he’s worried about the future

Tech Moves: Former Xbox exec named Dolby CEO; Microsoft AI exits; new Fred Hutch leaders

Pro.com co-founders reunite to launch OnTrade, an AI startup for the wealth management industry

Startup Spotlight: Skyfarer connects pilots with flight training, aviation services and airplanes in one place

AI turns up a promising finding in cancer data that researchers hadn’t noticed for years

‘I am very concerned’: Bill Gates says the world needs a plan to deal with AI, and he has three ideas to start

Report: Amazon eyes ‘fully automated’ delivery stations to bring robotics to the last mile

How the FTC’s last-minute settlement with Zillow and Redfin reshapes their $100M rentals deal

Amazon drones go national, inside Anduril’s Seattle buildup, and AirTag leads to secret book-scanning site

Starbucks lays off 224 workers tied to Seattle HQ, including tech roles, as restructuring winds down

Tech Moves: AWS data leader jumps to Oracle; Seattle Children’s names new CIO; Zillow’s new legal chief

Seattle keeps No. 2 spot in closely watched tech talent ranking, with warning signs

Qualtrics cuts jobs in Seattle, Utah and overseas as it absorbs $6.75B acquisition

Internal memo: Eight execs out at Expedia Group in AI-driven shakeup

TikTok cuts 75 jobs in Seattle area, hitting e-commerce teams

Amazon drone delivery set to expand nationally, reaching nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns this year