Technet: Daily Crunch - SAP's CEO steps down

Friday, October 11, 2019

Daily Crunch - SAP's CEO steps down

Happy Friday

SAP’s CEO steps down, Uber acquires a Chilean grocery delivery startup and Twitter launches its new Mac app.

Here’s your Daily Crunch for October 11, 2019.

SAP's Bill McDermott on stepping down as CEO

Bill McDermott, SAP’s CEO for the last nine years, is stepping down immediately, although he’ll remain involved in an advisory role for the next two months. To replace him, SAP Executive Board members Jennifer Morgan and Christian Klein have been appointed co-CEOs.

McDermott told us that his decision to step down was very much a personal one — and while he's not ready to retire just yet, he simply believes that now is the right time for him to pass on the reins of the company.

SAP's Bill McDermott on stepping down as CEO image

Uber to acquire grocery delivery startup Cornershop

Cornershop was founded in 2015, and is headquartered in Chile. Uber says the company will continue to operate under its current leadership, while reporting to a board where Uber representatives make up the majority.

Twitter comes back to the Mac

Twitter was one of the more highly anticipated Mac apps built using Apple’s new Catalyst toolset — not only because of how the app was created, but also because Twitter previously decided to kill off its Mac desktop client last year.

Descartes Labs snaps up $20M more for its AI-based geospatial imagery analytics platform

Descartes Labs describes itself as a "data refinery.” By this, it means it ingests imagery and unstructured data from satellites and other sensors, then applies AI-based techniques to make sense of the sometimes-grainy imagery.

To beat Amazon Go, Standard Cognition buys cashierless DeepMagic

Valued at $535 million, autonomous retail startup Standard Cognition has emerged as a soon-to-be tech giant and the best hope for merchants to compete with Amazon Go. DeepMagic, meanwhile, is a pioneer in autonomous retail kiosks.

Google's Pixel 4 launches next week; here's what we expect

Based on the rumors, this year’s event will offer a veritable deluge of Google hardware news. In addition to multiple Pixel versions, we're also anticipating a new addition to the Pixelbook line and perhaps even a new take on the company's lukewarmly received Pixel Buds.

Why venture capital firms need culture experts

This week, San Francisco-based True Ventures hired its first-ever vice president of culture — a move that suggests VCs are taking concrete steps toward further involving themselves in diversity and inclusion efforts. (Extra Crunch membership required.)