Microsoft 2.5: Hayete Gallot returned to Microsoft in February to run its security business, leading an expansion into agentic security systems that spot threats and act on them without waiting for a human. Gallot is also shaking up and rebuilding her leadership team following the departure of several veteran executives this year.
Read the first installment of Microsoft 2.5, a series by Mary Jo Foley on the people shaping Microsoft's future.
Games in Prime Video: Amazon has moved its Luna cloud gaming service into a dedicated tab inside Prime Video, letting Prime members with a Fire TV in the US and UK play games without leaving the app or buying a console. Jeff Gattis, GM of gaming at Amazon, tells GeekWire that one of Luna's biggest challenges remains that people don't know the benefit exists. Read more.
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Meanwhile, Microsoft is testing a free, ad‑supported version of Xbox Cloud Gaming that lets Insiders stream owned games for up to an hour per session, with ads only before play begins — a limited trial aimed at cheaper access to Xbox titles. (CNBC)
New game for a new era: Seattle-based video game developer Harebrained Schemes has revealed “GRAFT,” its first new title since returning to independent studio status. The dark sci-fi, survival-horror game places players on a decaying space station where they must salvage and graft body parts from enemies to gain new abilities. Read more.
$1.5B bio acquisition: BioLife Solutions, a Bothell, Wash.-based company developing products for cell and gene therapy, is being acquired for $1.5 billion by Massachusetts-based Repligen, a life sciences company that makes tools and other materials used to manufacture vaccines, antibodies and other biological therapies. Read more.
Tech Moves: Agility Robotics names a CFO ahead of its plans to go public, moving its current CFO/COO into an operations-focused role; Microsoft loses another security leader; Zap Energy gets a chief legal officer; and more personnel changes.
Startup Spotlight: Seattle's MediaPact is a marketplace for flat-fee direct media — sponsored articles, newsletters, podcast reads — letting buyers find publishers, sign the insertion order and pay in one place. Founder Lacie Thompson built the platform herself with AI coding tools, despite no coding background, and has raised $200K. Read more.
More Amazon job cuts: The tech giant confirmed an unspecified number of layoffs in its AGI organization, the group behind its Nova models, as it puts more focus on AI implementation for business customers. The cuts follow a year of leadership turnover in the group and a broader run of reductions since January. Read more.
Hot Links:
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Microsoft and Databricks deepened their long‑running partnership, shifting more Databricks workloads on to Azure and expanding use of Microsoft’s new Cobalt Arm infrastructure to help businesses ground AI in their own data. (Microsoft)
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Seattle-based FUSE led a $16 million funding round for AI-powered Prosper Medical to help the healthcare startup scale its platform and make concierge-style primary care accessible to a broader audience. (Fierce Healthcare)
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San Francisco's AI-fueled comeback is creating a new political headache for Mayor Daniel Lurie, as soaring housing costs and fierce competition for apartments threaten to price out the workers needed to sustain the city's tech revival. (The San Francisco Standard)
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T‑Mobile reported $19.0B in service revenue and $3.2B in profits, as rising average revenue per account ($152.91) and 277,000 new postpaid accounts drove steady subscriber growth in the Bellevue carrier’s second‑quarter results. (T-Mobile)
Thanks for subscribing, and have a great day. — GeekWire editor Todd Bishop, [email protected]; reporter Kurt Schlosser, [email protected]; and reporter Lisa Stiffler, [email protected]
