Bay Area Tech Wire -- March 11

============================================ BAY AREA TECH WIRE -- March 11, 2016 ============================================ Mid-Atlantic Marketing Summit - April 22 - Washington,  D.C. http://www.mamsummit.com o GM Reportedly to Pay $1 Billion for S.F.-Based Cruise Automation o San Francisco-based Optimizely Cuts 10% of Staff o Gannett to Launch Virtual Reality News Show o Survey: Most Americans Believe Robots Will Replace Humans at Work o Briefly Noted: Autodesk _____________________________________________ > Job/Event/Marketplace Classified Listings (Full Listings Below Stories) --Mid-Atlantic Marketing Summit - April 22 Full Job, Event, Marketplace and Services Descriptions Below in Classified Ad Section Post Job/Event/Marketplace ad at: http://www.bayareatechwire.com _____________________________________________   o GM Reportedly to Pay $1 Billion for S.F.-Based Cruise Automation San Francisco -- Auto giant General Motors said on Friday it will acquire San Francisco-based Cruise Automation in a bid to accelerate its development of autonomous vehicle technology. Though financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Fortune, citing a source close to the situation, pegged it at "north of $1 billion." Cruise, which has developed and tested autonomous vehicle technology since its founding in 2013, will operate as an independent unit within GM's recently formed Autonomous Vehicle Development Team, and will continue to be based in San Francisco. "Cruise provides our company with a unique technology advantage that is unmatched in our industry," said Mark Reuss, GM's executive vice president of global product development, purchasing and supply chain. "We intend to invest significantly to further grow the talent base and capabilities already established by the Cruise team." The acquisition is expected to close by mid-year. http://www.getcruise.com/  http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/home.detail.html/content/Pages /news/us/en/2016/mar/0311-cruise.html  http://fortune.com/2016/03/11/gm-buying-self-driving-tech-startup-for-more-than-1-billion/ _____________________________________________ o San Francisco-based Optimizely Cuts 10% of Staff San Francisco -- Optimizely, the San Francisco-based developer of a website and mobile A/B testing platform, said it has cut 40 jobs, or about 10% of its staff, as it attempts to reach breakeven and eliminate its need for additional venture capital. The company, which has attracted more than $146 million in funding from Benchmark Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Index Ventures, said it made the decision after evaluating its business over the past several weeks. "We considered all our options and ultimately it became clear that we were over-invested in some parts of the business," wrote co-founder and CEO Dan Siroker in a note to staff. "Given that employee-related costs are our greatest expense, we went through a very rigorous and meticulous process to comprehensively review every role and determine whether that role is essential to our journey at this time. Through this process we identified 40 individuals across all departments who will not continue with us." All 40 were notified on Thursday, which was their final day. https://blog.optimizely.com/2016/03/10/controlling-our-own-destiny/  _____________________________________________ o Gannett to Launch Virtual Reality News Show McLean, Va. -- In a bid to take virtual reality technology into the mainstream, media giant Gannett said that its USA Today Network will launch a virtual reality news show this spring. The show, VRtually There, will feature content from USA Today and 92 local news organizations in areas such as news, sports, music, politics, money and technology. The company, which didn't say how often the show will air or what its length will be, also plans to sell various tiers of new VR advertising units. http://www.usatoday.com/vrstories/ http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160310006361/en/USA-TODAY-NETWORK-Premieres-Virtual-Reality-News  _____________________________________________ o Survey: Most Americans Believe Robots Will Replace Humans at Work Washington, DC -- Roughly two-thirds of Americans now predict that within 50 years robots and computers will do much of the work currently done by humans, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Despite that, 80% of the 2,000 adults surveyed don't expect their own jobs to be affected. In fact, just 11% of workers say they are at least somewhat concerned about losing their jobs to robots or computers. Far more (26%) are concerned they'll lose their job because their company is poorly managed, 22% fear losing their job because their overall industry is shrinking and 20% fear their employer might find someone willing to do their job for less money. The complete report is available at the link below. http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/03/10/public-predictions-for-the-future-of-workforce-automation/  _____________________________________________ |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| > Mid-Atlantic Marketing Summit - April 22 Now in its fifth year, the annual summit has become the "must-attend" annual marketing event for the DC region and beyond. The summit brings together 400+ CMOs, Senior Marketers, Agency Professionals and Technology Executives from the DC area. The event features dozens of case studies, keynotes, presentations and networking breaks on the most important issues facing marketers in 2016-2017. For more information, go to: www.mamsummit.com |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| _____________________________________________ o Briefly Noted: (San Rafael, Calif.) San Rafael-based Autodesk, the developer of design and engineering software, on Friday named Scott Ferguson, Rick Hill and Jeff Clarke to its board of directors. Ferguson is the managing partner of Sachem Head Capital Management, Hill is the chairman of Tessera Technologies and Clarke is the CEO of Kodak. http://news.autodesk.com/press-release/corporate-sustainability/autodesk-appoints-new-directors  =================================================== Job/Event/Marketplace Listings: =================================================== To Post in Job/Event/Marketplace: http://www.bayareatechwire.com 7,000 Readers: 5 day ad: $120--10 day ad: $175--20 day ad: $300 > Mid-Atlantic Marketing Summit - April 22 Now in its fifth year, the annual summit has become the "must-attend" annual marketing event for the DC region and beyond. The summit brings together 400+ CMOs, Senior Marketers, Agency Professionals and Technology Executives from the DC area. The event features dozens of case studies, keynotes, presentations and networking breaks on the most important issues facing marketers in 2016-2017. For more information, go to: www.mamsummit.com _____________________________________________ > Advertising on Bay Area Tech Wire Post jobs, events, webinars, whitepapers or service ads on Bay Area Tech Wire and grow your business. Reach more than 7,000 business and technology professionals from the Bay Area. http://www.bayareatechwire.com/ =================================================== Subscribe to other newsletters from Tech Wire Media Group: Potomac Tech Wire: http://www.potomactechwire.com Bay Area Tech Wire: http://www.bayareatechwire.com New England Tech Wire: http://www.newenglandtechwire.com Advertising: If you are interested in advertising in our newsletters, call Paul Sherman at 1-301-656-0057 x1103 or send email to paul@techwiremedia.com News tips, press releases. Send email to: editorial@bayareatechwire.com Tech Wire Mailing Address: P.O. Box 15180 Washington, DC 20003 Copyright: CapWire Inc. 2016

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