Adobe abandons Figma, Apple Watch sales stop, and hackers access millions of accounts – TechCrunch

Photo credit: Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Hey guys, welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch's regular newsletter that rounds up the top tech and technology-related stories from the last few days. With the holidays just around the corner, this reporter expected a quieter week. But the opposite happened – there was no shortage of stories to write about.

In this edition of WiR, we cover Comcast and Mr. Cooper's theft of customer data, electric scooter company Bird's bankruptcy filing, Adobe's termination of its Figma acquisition plans, and Apple's suspension by the International Trade Commission (ITC). is forced to stop selling the electric scooter Apple Watch. We also look at Nikola founder Trevor Milton's securities fraud conviction, Microsoft's Copilot chatbot getting a music generation feature, and Consumer Reports' take on Tesla's Autopilot recall solution (spoiler: it's not good).

There's a lot to deal with, so let's get to it. But first, we'd like to remind you to sign up here to receive WiR in your inbox every Saturday if you haven't already.

Most read

Hackers are targeting Comcast: Comcast has confirmed that hackers exploiting a critical security vulnerability accessed the sensitive information of nearly 36 million Xfinity customers. The vulnerability, known as “CitrixBleed,” is found in Citrix network devices commonly used by large enterprises and has been widely exploited by malicious actors since August, Carly reports.

Mr. Cooper under fire: In related news, hackers have stolen the sensitive personal information of over 14.6 million Mr. Cooper customers, Zack writes. The mortgage and lending giant confirmed that the criminals stole customer names, addresses, dates of birth and phone numbers, as well as social security numbers and bank account numbers.

Adobe gives up: Adobe's $20 billion mega bid to buy rival Figma is now officially dead after the companies said this week that regulatory resistance in Europe had caused them to end their acquisition plans. The deal, first announced in September last year, was always going to be subject to regulatory scrutiny due to the size of the transaction and the fact that it eliminated one of Adobe's main competitors, Paul notes.

Apple stops Apple Watch sales: Apple has stopped selling its Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches following a ruling from the ITC in October stemming from a patent dispute with California medical device company Masimo. The dispute centers on the blood sensor monitor on Apple's latest flagship watches; Apple is appealing the ITC ruling.

Nikola founder sentenced: Trevor Milton, the disgraced founder and former CEO of electric truck startup Nikola, was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday for securities fraud. Rebecca writes that the ruling caps a multi-year saga that once saw Nikola shares soar 83%, only to crash months later amid allegations of fraud and terminated contracts.

Copilot acquires music writing skills: Microsoft's AI-powered chatbot, Microsoft Copilot, can now compose songs thanks to an integration with generative AI (GenAI) music app Suno. Users can enter prompts like “Create a pop song about adventures with your family” into Copilot and let Suno bring their musical ideas to life via a plug-in.

Tesla fix “insufficient”: After testing, Consumer Reports says Tesla's solution to the Autopilot recall of over 2 million vehicles is “inadequate.” Although the tests are not comprehensive, Sean notes, they show that questions remain unanswered about Tesla's approach to driver monitoring – the technology at the heart of the recall.

Bird files for bankruptcy: Bird has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, capping a turbulent year for the electric scooter company. In a press release, Bird confirmed that it had initiated a “financial restructuring process to strengthen its balance sheet,” with the company continuing to operate as normal and targeting “long-term, sustainable growth.”

Audio

Need some listening material while you prepare a holiday meal—or to tune out particularly annoying relatives? You're in luck—TechCrunch's podcasts are for you.

On this week Equity capitalthe second of a two-part series looking back at 2023, the crew recapitulated the Silicon Valley Bank case, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's long and drawn-out trial, and OpenAI's wild internal politics.

In the meantime, Found focused on Charlie Hernández and his journey to building My Pocket Lawyer, an online platform designed to democratize access to legal advice and advice for those who may not be able to afford a lawyer. Hernández talked about why he decided to use his law degree to solve this problem.

And Chain reaction introduced Staci Warden, CEO of the Algorand Foundation, the organization behind the Layer 1 blockchain Algorand. Algorand is a Singapore-based blockchain that aims to be fast, secure, decentralized and “the most environmentally friendly” with its carbon negative network.

TechCrunch+

TC+ subscribers get access to in-depth commentary, analysis and polls – what you know if you're already a subscriber. If not, consider signing up. Here are a few highlights from this week:

Etsy layoffs: Etsy recently announced that it would lay off 11% of its workforce – which comes as no surprise to those who follow the e-commerce segment closely, writes Anna. She predicts that “junkification” and fierce competition mean a difficult road ahead.

DEI backlash: Dom writes about the disheartening backlash against DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion), a framework for creating more intentional initiatives in the workplace to help marginalized communities in the tech sector.

Figma's rosy outlook: Anna writes about how things aren't looking so bad for Figma even without Adobe. CB Insights estimates the startup is still worth between $8.3 billion and $9 billion.