Ann Gehan

As TikTok readies itself for the expected sale of its U.S. business to a new venture controlled by American investors, the company is trying to boost its commerce business, TikTok Shop. But the measures it has taken risk alienating merchants who sell on the shopping service. TikTok Shop in ...

Lately, venture capitalist Ben Lerer has found himself experiencing a bit of déjà vu: Once again, there’s a whole nest of thriving e-commerce startups worth his attention. When I reached him a couple weeks ago, his firm, Lerer Hippeau, was just putting money into two of them: Elm Biosciences, a ...

Amazon will pay $2.5 billion to settle the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit over the e-commerce firm’s alleged use of deceptive practices to unknowingly lock consumers into its Prime membership, the FTC announced Thursday. Amazon will pay a $1 billion civil penalty and refund $1.5 billion to roughly 35 million consumers, the statement said. In addition to the payments, the settlement will

A Federal Trade Commission lawsuit against Amazon’s alleged use of deceptive practices to lock consumers into its Prime subscription goes to trial this week in a Seattle court. In the lawsuit, which the FTC filed in 2023, the commission alleges that Amazon violated consumer protection laws by tricking shoppers into signing up for Prime memberships without their knowledge, including by making it

Deliveroo CEO Will Shu will step down from the company after DoorDash completes its acquisition of the European food delivery company, he said in a statement Thursday. The roughly $4 billion deal is expected to close in October. Shu cofounded Deliveroo, which is headquartered in the U.K., in 2013 and took the company public in 2021. But the company struggled to turn a profit, and announced the

Temu is looking to hire U.S. government relations staffers who can make the fast-fashion giant’s case to lawmakers as it contends with the fallout from tariffs and trade talks, according to two people with knowledge of the strategy. The move to build a team in Washington D.C. would be a dramatic shift for the low-cost seller, which has had virtually no physical presence in the U.S. since

I’ve written lots over the past few months about how startups and big tech companies alike are trying to tackle the problem of agentic commerce—the fancy term for “agent” services that take action on behalf of consumers, in this case, buying stuff. While AI search is a powerful tool to help ...

Over the past year, investor Brian Sugar has developed what he considers a “superpower,” finding it newly possible to push himself harder than ever before at home, in the gym—and in the office. What’s given him this boost? He attributes it to a recently acquired prescription for semaglutide, ...

JetBlue and Amazon have struck a deal for the airline to use Amazon’s Project Kuiper still-to-launch satellite internet service to power the Wi-Fi on some of its flights, the companies said Thursday, marking the first agreement between Project Kuiper and an airline. Project Kuiper will provide Wi-Fi service for roughly a quarter of JetBlue’s fleet beginning in 2027, the companies said. Amazon

Flip, a video-sharing social media app that at one point tried to challenge TikTok’s dominance, has shut down, according to a message to users and the company’s website. Flip didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The social commerce app raised over $300 million from investors since its founding in 2019, and was valued in April 2024 at more than $1 billion, according to PitchBook