Bezos responds to endorsement backlash

Microsoft earnings preview | Amazon shuts down Kindle Vella | Inside startup’s ‘Stranger Things’ house ADVERTISEMENT [GeekWire]( SPONSOR MESSAGE: Get your ticket for AWS re:Invent, happening Dec. 2–6 in Las Vegas: [Register now for AWS re:Invent.]( TODAY'S TOP STORIES Jeff Bezos responded to the backlash over his decision to end presidential endorsements at The Washington Post, writing that there was “no quid pro quo of any kind” in the move, which reportedly cost his newspaper more than 200,000 digital subscribers. The Amazon founder did admit that when it comes to the appearance of conflict, he is “not an ideal owner” of the Post. [Read more.]( Microsoft earnings preview: Investors and analysts will be watching the tech giant’s results closely this week for the latest signs of customer demand for artificial intelligence, amid growing concern about the company’s outsized spending on the infrastructure needed to train and run massive AI models. Here are [the key numbers to watch](. - Related: Read more about Microsoft’s history and ambitions in AI in [the first chapter of our year-long series]( marking the company’s 50th anniversary. Priyanka Kulkarni loved working at Microsoft, but she always felt the itch to build something of her own. Yet when an opportunity to join Seattle’s AI2 Incubator arose, Kulkarni (above) faced a painstaking journey to apply for the right work visa. Now she’s using that experience to develop AI software that can shave weeks or even months off the visa application process. [Read more](. Amazon is shutting down its Kindle Vella platform for serial and episodic stories and books in February 2025, acknowledging for the first time that the service, launched in 2021, didn’t live up to its expectations. [Read more.]( Moondream, a new Seattle startup led by former Amazon Web Services employees, raised $4.5 million to build out its “vision language model” used by customers in various industries. [Read more](. This “Stranger Things” property was turned upside down. Seattle real estate startup Arrived Homes bought the Byers house, used for exterior shots on the popular Netflix series, and turned it into an Airbnb rental that fans of the show can own a share of. (Above: Bret Neuman, left, and Alejandro Chouza of Arrived Homes.) [Read more.]( Shares of Seattle-based application delivery giant F5 were up more than 10% after the company’s latest quarterly earnings report. F5 also announced a new CFO. [Read more](. “We’re growing faster than we ever thought we would,” said Read AI CEO David Shim, as the Seattle startup raised $50 million to fuel its “copilot everywhere” vision for enterprise software. [Read more.]( Hot Links - Microsoft accused Google of running secret “shadow campaigns” that aim to discredit the company’s cloud business in Europe. ([The Verge]( - Starbucks is threatening to fire corporate staff who don't comply with its new three-days-a-week office attendance policy. ([Bloomberg]( Thanks for subscribing to the GeekWire newsletter, and have a great day. — GeekWire editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com; GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop, todd@geekwire.com; and GeekWire reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com. SPONSOR MESSAGE [Seattle’s coolest holiday party returns on Thursday, December 12th.]( Make the GeekWire Gala your holiday party! Bring old friends, colleagues, significant or insignificant others, and kick off the holiday season in style on Thursday, December 12th as we turn the Showbox Sodo into a winter wonderland. [Get tickets.]( LATEST HEADLINES [Microsoft earnings preview: All eyes on AI — here are the numbers to watch for MSFT Q1-FY25]( [‘I really want to fix this’: Microsoft vet launches Seattle startup to transform work visa applications]( [Amazon to shut down Kindle Vella serial book platform, saying it ‘hasn’t caught on as we’d hoped’]( [Inside the ‘Stranger Things’ house that a Seattle real estate startup bought and turned into an Airbnb]( [Jeff Bezos says ‘no quid pro quo of any kind’ in decision to end Washington Post endorsements]( [Seattle startup Moondream, led by AWS vets, raises $4.5M for vision language model software]( [F5 reports $747M in quarterly revenue as stock surges 10%; company names new CFO]( [Tech Moves: Amazon grocery exec will join Marc Lore’s Wonder; AI2 Incubator adds venture partner]( [Electric boating insiders react to Pure Watercraft’s demise as court documents reveal sell-off details]( [Potato’s AI research assistant digs through publications for science experiment inspiration]( [Seattle startup Read AI raises $50M to fuel ‘copilot everywhere’ vision for enterprise software]( [Week in Review: Most popular stories on GeekWire for the week of Oct. 20, 2024]( GEEKWORK: TODAY'S TECH JOBS - [Gable.ai: Static Code Analysis Expert]( - [INRIX: Revenue Accounting Manager]( - [INRIX: Cloud DevOps Engineer]( [FIND MORE JOBS ON GEEKWORK]( [HIRING? 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