Stephen Council

Evanston, San Francisco

Tech Reporter at SFGate

curious, on the move & tech reporter @sfgate / let’s talk on signal: 628-204-5452

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Articles

Bay Area biotech giant to lay off hundreds after $1.8B loss

1 month ago | sfgate.com | Stephen Council

Bio-Rad Laboratories is slashing 5% of its staff, including over 100 in its Bay Area hometown, amid struggles in the biotech industry.
Bay Area biotech firm guts staff, shuts trial after bad side effects

2 months ago | sfgate.com | Stephen Council

Cargo Therapeutics, a Bay Area biotech firm, is laying off half its staff after having to shut down a promising drug candidate due to serious side effects.
Bay Area live election results: Mahmood maintains lead in D5 race

Nov 9, 2024 | sfgate.com | Madilynne Medina |Alec Regimbal |Stephen Council |Kent German

Get the latest election results for key 2024 races in the San Francisco Bay Area.
After weeks of drama, SF tech CEO gives workers $30,000 to quit

Oct 6, 2024 | sfgate.com | Stephen Council

Automattic workers chose to quit the company, and take a large check, rather than continue being a part of the Matt Mullenweg and WP Engine drama.
Bay Area biotech firm Genentech cuts 93 workers just months after last layoff

Aug 27, 2024 | sfgate.com | Stephen Council

Genentech, a drugmaker based in South San Francisco, is laying off 93 more local workers just months after a 436-worker cut. The company, which is owned by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche, announced the new layoffs in a Thursday WARN document, as is generally required in the event of mass layoffs. Scientist roles will be the hardest hit, per the filing, but the layoff round will also include engineers, managers, analysts and one vice president.
Republicans successfully bullied Mark Zuckerberg out of huge pro-voting effort

Aug 27, 2024 | sfgate.com | Stephen Council

In the leadup to the 2020 election, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan donated $400 million to help Americans vote. “Voting is the single most important thing you can do as a citizen, and it’s the way that we hold our leaders accountable,” they said at the time. “We should be doing everything we can to make it easier for people to cast their ballots.”What a difference four years makes. In a Monday letter to Ohio Rep.
Swedish battery maker shutters Bay Area subsidiary, lays off nearly 200

Aug 23, 2024 | sfgate.com | Stephen Council

Northvolt, a Swedish battery marker, is shutting down a Bay Area subsidiary and laying off its nearly 200 employees as it consolidates research and development efforts in Sweden. The subsidiary, Cuberg, Inc., announced the cuts in a Tuesday WARN document filed with California officials, as is generally required in the event of mass layoffs. Cuberg’s facility in San Leandro will shut down, per the document, leaving 196 workers without jobs.
Google's backroom deal with California is bad for everyone — including Google

Aug 22, 2024 | sfgate.com | Stephen Council

Let’s imagine a perfect version of journalism in 2024. Say there’s a huge fire burning in California. Residents type “wildfire news near me” into a search engine. In return, they get a range of fresh reporting: interviews with firefighters, guidance on possible evacuations, photos, videos, maps. They get all the information they need, written by fact-checked journalists, plus ways to dig into anything else they might want to learn more about. There is not an AI-generated summary in sight.
Bay Area tech company Five9, worth $2.5B, lays off about 185 workers

Aug 21, 2024 | sfgate.com | Stephen Council

Five9, a Bay Area company that makes cloud software for call centers, is laying off 7% of its workforce. The tech firm announced the layoffs in a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The cut is likely to hit at least 185 workers given that the company had reported a head count of 2,684 at the end of 2023.
Bay Area startup founder arrested, accused of selling 3D-printed guns on Etsy

Aug 21, 2024 | sfgate.com | Stephen Council

A Bay Area man was arrested last week on suspicion of dealing firearms across state lines without a license. His Etsy store, according to federal officials, sold 3D-printed Glock-style handgun frames that he had labeled as Airsoft shooting toys. Before his Aug. 13 arrest, Alexander McGrail Reynolds was the founder of a small tech startup and the brains behind a now-defunct Etsy shop called Mcgrail’s 3D Prints.