10 things in tech you need to know today

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1. Bill and Melinda Gates’ first divorce hearing is scheduled for this Friday. The couple announced their divorce less than two weeks ago. Read more about the hearing here.

2. Jeff Bezos’ space exploration company, Blue Origin, reportedly tried to poach SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell. According to a new book about Bezos, Shotwell turned the offer down because it “wouldn’t look right.” Read more about it here.

3. Meet Google’s $55 million man, head of search Prabhakar Raghavan. Googlers told Insider about how Raghavan has re-shuffled executives at the search giant and become one of CEO Sundar Pichai’s most important lieutenants. Here’s our exclusive profile on Raghavan.

4. Tesla is reining in its expansion in China amid political tensions between Washington and Beijing. The automaker reportedly scrapped plans to expand its Shanghai factory, and will slow production in the country. Read about it here.

5. The Pentagon is reportedly considering severing its JEDI cloud contract with Microsoft to avoid hassle from Amazon. Amazon has mounted various legal challenges since the Trump administration awarded the defense contract to Microsoft. Read more about it here.

6. Uber avoided paying nearly $6 billion tax by using 50 Dutch shell companies, a research group reported. Uber has talked about its Dutch tax haven before, but not in detail. Read here why one researcher called the alleged scheme “the Champions League of tax avoidance.”

7. Jeff Bezos wanted to make a huge splash for Amazon’s climate pledge in 2019, and considered announcing it from a polar ice cap. This was revealed in a new book about the Amazon’s CEO’s career. Read more about it here.

8. Police issued a warrant for a YouTuber who snuck into SpaceX’s Texas launch site. Caesar L. Galaviz filmed a Starship rocket while wandering around on the site for his vlog channel, “Loco VlogS.” Here’s why police have issued a warrant for his arrest.

9. Mental-health startups have raised a record $1.9 billion in 2021 due to the pandemic. Q1 2021 saw global funding for mental health startups increase 54% on Q4 2020. Read Insider’s report on it here.

10. Sam Altman’s SPAC is looking to raise $400 million instead of its original $1 billion target. The Y Combinator founder’s SPAC is lowering its expectations less than two months after launch. Here’s why that’s a sign the SPAC craze is cooling off.

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