Data Sheet—Tech Takes a Big Slice of Fortune 500 List

Of course, tech behemoth Apple is the highest ranked in the sector, coming in at number four. Ranked by revenue, Apple lags Berkshire Hathaway, Exxon Mobil, and Walmart. But don’t shed a tear for Tim Cook. Apple is still the Fortune 500 company with the largest market cap at $850 billion—and the most profits with $48 billion.

Other tech companies are also making their mark. Amazon cracked the top 10 for the first time and ranked eighth, aided by its acquisition of Whole Foods. Tesla made the biggest leap of any company on this year’s list, jumping 123 spots to No. 260. Nvidia was close behind, rocketing up 80 spots to No. 306. The graphic chipmaker also led the list in five-year returns to shareholders.

For what it’s worth, the threshold for making this year’s list was $5.4 billion in revenues, 6% more than last year. That meant up-and-coming chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, with $5.33 billion of 2017 revenue, just missed. Probably next year for CEO Lisa Su and company.

NEWSWORTHY

Think smaller. Ride hailing service Lyft may be looking to get into the scooter game. The startup is seeking permits to run an electric scooter rental business in San Francisco—just what the city needs.

Cord cutters uncutting. Premium cable channels like HBO and Showtime are garnering significant sales via Amazon, which sells the programming as additional options in its Prime video service. Over half of HBO subscriptions sold without a traditional cable systems and 72% of such Showtime subscriptions came from Amazon, Variety reports.

Checking chatbot. Hey Erica, pay my car insurance bill. So might say some Bank of America customers as of last week. The bank has started rolling out its "Erica" financial digital assistant to its 25 million mobile customers starting this month.

Neat. A phone reviewer at The Verge got to spend some hands on time with the new holographic smartphone from high-end camera maker RED. "It’s a hologram, basically, but it doesn’t really pop out of the screen so much as give you depth within it," reviewer Dieter Bohn writes. "I wouldn’t describe this screen as the reason to go out an buy this phone, but it was neat."

Unharmed. After the user data scandal hit Facebook, some predicted doom and gloom for the world's most popular social network. Not so, say analysts at Goldman Sachs, who report that both the number of active mobile users and time spent on the service rose in April compared to the same month a year earlier. The scandal, which started with revelations that political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica had obtained data on millions of users, isn't over, however. CEO Mark Zuckerberg agreed to allow his testimony on Tuesday to the European Parliament to be live streamed on the web.

21st century labor movement. A group of software developers who write apps for Apple's iOS have formed what they call "The Developers Union" to press for policy changes on the platform. The first effort is to push Apple to allow free trials of apps in the iOS app store.

Demanding accountability. In what truly must fit the definition of "kerfuffle," Google is moving to calm the controversy over its phone calling AI app Duplex. The app will identify itself to people it calls and will inform people that the call is being recorded in some states, Bloomberg reports. Microsoft may be jealous. On Monday, it bought startup Semantic Machines, which is developing conversational AI apps, for an undisclosed sum.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

After all the garbage and fake news that inundated social media during the 2016 election, companies like Twitter and Facebook have vowed to improve their filtering systems. Facebook has said it plans to add 20,000 new employees to search for inappropriate content. New York Times reporter Katrin Bennhold visited a Facebook office in Berlin where more than 1,000 "content moderators" are reviewing posts to delete the trash. It's not always easy:

Some decisions to delete are easy. Posts about Holocaust denial and genocidal rants against particular groups like refugees are obvious ones for taking down.

Others are less so. On Dec. 31, the day before the new law took effect, a far-right lawmaker reacted to an Arabic New Year’s tweet from the Cologne police, accusing them of appeasing “barbaric, Muslim, gang-raping groups of men.”

The request to block a screenshot of the lawmaker’s post wound up in the queue of Nils, a 35-year-old agent in the Berlin deletion center. His judgment was to let it stand. A colleague thought it should come down. Ultimately, the post was sent to lawyers in Dublin, London, Silicon Valley and Hamburg. By the afternoon it had been deleted, prompting a storm of criticism about the new legislation, known here as the “Facebook Law.”

“A lot of stuff is clear-cut,” Nils said. Facebook, citing his safety, did not allow him to give his surname. “But then there is the borderline stuff.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

What to Know About 'Freedom From Facebook,' the New Progressive Campaign to Break Up the Social Media Giant By David Meyer

Using Tinder Doesn’t Lead to More Casual Sex, a New Study Says By David Z. Morris

Fortnite Is Coming to Android This Summer By Chris Morris

Uber's Flying Car Chief Jeff Holden Has Stepped Down By Don Reisinger

Charging Electric Scooters Is a Profitable, Fun—and Occasionally Dangerous—Youth Trend By David Z. Morris

Elon Musk Says It Will Cost $1 to Ride the Boring Company's 'Loop' Under Los Angeles By Sarah Gray

Why Coinbase's Cryptocurrency Business Could Jump 50% By Jen Wieczner

BEFORE YOU GO

In case you were not among the 29 million plus Americans who got up early on Saturday to watch the royal wedding, consider this your notice to check out the fusion of classic and cutting edge in the bride and groom's getaway car. The newly-named Duke and Duchess of Sussex left the reception (for another reception) in a gorgeous blue 1968 Jaguar E-Type Roadster. But the car had been entirely overhauled to run on a modern electric engine. That let the royal couple make a rapid—and silent—getaway.