Amazon tops 75,000 employees in Seattle region: The new milestone reflects the tech giant’s continued growth in its hometown over the past decade. Amazon disclosed the number when it announced a $2 billion initiative to increase affordable housing in the Seattle, Arlington, and Nashville regions. Amazon’s first affordable housing investment in the region will be in Bellevue, Wash., not Seattle — reflecting a subtle shift in the company’s growth strategy in the Seattle area. Read more.
Trump’s social media fallout: Twitter and Facebook deleted posts and locked Trump out of his accounts after the president’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. Other tech execs also sounded off on the historic events in Washington D.C. “This is a day to speak up for our Constitution and its values,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith. Read more.
Brain-scanning technology from ‘Making a Murderer’ spawns patent dispute: Seattle-area neuroscientist Larry Farwell’s “brain fingerprinting” technology was introduced to the masses when it played a supporting role in the second season of Netflix’s “Making of a Murderer,” with finding that Steven Avery lacked knowledge related to the murder for which he’s imprisoned. Farwell imagines a day when brain fingerprinting is standard practice in criminal investigations and counter-terror operations. It’s a dream he effuses about even as he’s locked in a legal nightmare, as journalist Levi Pulkkinen reports for GeekWire.
Pay equity startup Syndio raises $17.1M: The Seattle company’s HR software analyzes salaries, rooting out discriminatory differences in pay that are tied to gender, race, ethnicity or age while providing strategies for fixing those disparities. Demand has spiked for the startup’s product during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the wake of social justice protests. Read more.
Allen Institute CEO to step down: After nearly two decades helping lead the nonprofit, CEO and President Allan Jones will step down later this year. His departure is the latest of ongoing changes at organizations founded by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who passed away in 2018. Read more.
See ya, Simple: The Portland, Ore.-based banking service is shutting down. It was acquired in 2014 by Spain's BBVA, which is selling its U.S. operations to PNC. Read more.
More Tech Moves: Starbucks names a new CFO; Panopto adds a VP of marketing; F5 Networks hires a VP of security; and more key personnel changes across the Pacific Northwest tech industry.
Trading places atop the world’s richest list: Tesla CEO Elon Musk moved ahead of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos as the world’s wealthiest person on Thursday. A rally around Tesla’s stock appears to have pushed Musk’s net worth to about $185 billion. He tweeted, “Well, back to work …” Read more.
Thanks for reading, and see all of our latest headlines below. — GeekWire managing editor Taylor Soper, taylor@geekwire.com, and Geek Life reporter Kurt Schlosser, kurt@geekwire.com.
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