By ASHISH AKSHAT and DAVID MARTEN
From billion-dollar companies in Silicon Valley to the emerging startup scene in New York City, keeping up with the latest developments in the tech world can be difficult. In a new weekly feature, The Sun breaks down this week’s top stories in tech.
TWTR Goes Public
In the most anticipated initial public offering since Facebook’s in May 2012 , Twitter shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 7. While the stock was priced at $25 per share, huge demand pushed the stock to open trading at $45.10. TIME took a look at how much money some of Twitter’s insiders made on the IPO:
“Ev Williams, founder, 41 – $2.57 billion on 56.9 million shares
Jack Dorsey, chairman, 36 – $1.06 billion on 23.5 million shares
Dick Costolo, CEO, 50 – $346.2 million on 7.7 million shares
Adam Bain, president of global revenue, 40 – $80.5 million on 1.8 million shares
Peter Currie, director, 57 – $13.5 million on 300,000 shares”
Snapchat Turns Down $3 Billion Offer from Facebook
The two-year old startup turned joined the list of companies like Tumblr and Instagram with huge valuations without actually having any revenue. Snapchat has turned down multiple takeover offers, including a recent $3 billion bid from Facebook. The company, which until last month was run out of a bungalow in Venice, Calif., has seen explosive growth in 2013, stating recently that it processes upwards of 350 million messages a day. That’s up from only 60 million a day in February. Snapchat’s co-founders seem to have been influenced to reject the offers due to several factors, including the potential for further growth, according to The New York Times:
“Snapchat and applications like it represent a coming sea change in social media, one not necessarily defined by shared or public interactions. These services present an antidote to mainstream services that are meant to capture life moments so they can be shared, liked and commented on. Snapchat’s appeal lies largely in the lack of permanence. It offers a reprieve from worrying about awkward or unflattering photos turning up unexpectedly.”
Coin Hits Its Pre-Order Goal in 40 Minutes
Coin, an electronic credit card device, allows users to store their credit, debit and gift cards, reducing the amount of plastic you have to carry in your wallet. The device, which is as thin as a normal credit card, “mimics” your real cards, and you can swipe it to pay as you would with any old Visa or MasterCard.
The Y Combinator-backed company planned an initial pre-order campaign that would top out at $50,000. They blew through that goal in 40 minutes Thursday, which TechCrunch called “a testament to the desire for folks to leave their plastic at home.” Coin goes on sale next summer.
Google Books Lawsuit Dismissed
A U.S. district court judge in New York City on Thursday dismissed a long-running lawsuit against Google by authors who accused the company of uploading millions of books to its Google Books service without permission. The judge accepted Google’s argument that its scanning of more than 20 million books, and its displaying of snippets text online, was allowed under the “fair use” doctrine of U.S. copyright law.