tech:

taffy

DIRECTV Names Dan York Chief Content Officer

[Techtaffy Newsdesk]

Derek Chang, DIRECTV’s executive vice president of Content Strategy and Development will be leaving at the end of the year. Succeeding him will be Dan York, former president of Content and Advertising Sales for AT&T, who will join DIRECTV in early July as executive vice president of Programming, and chief content officer.

Mr. York, who will report to Mike White, chairman, president and CEO of DIRECTV, will initially lead DIRECTV’s efforts in programming and content rights, and then oversee the content and ROOT Sports teams as Mr. Chang transitions out of his role at year-end.

As president of Content and Advertising Sales for AT&T, Mr. York developed the content strategy and offering for AT&T U-verse and oversaw AT&T’s content activities across all of its platforms, including TV, online and mobile. In six years, he helped build U-verse from zero to more than $9 billion in annualized revenue.

Mr. York was previously head of Programming and Development for In Demand Networks. Before that he worked for 12 years at HBO, most recently managing the distribution, marketing, sponsorship, and select content acquisitions and programming operations for HBO’s Sports PPV business. He holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Michigan State University.

Just in

Vercel raises $250M

San Francisco-based Vercel, a frontend cloud platform provider, has secured $250 million in Series E funding, bringing the company's valuation to $3.25 billion.

Worky raises $6M (Mexico)

Mexico City-based Worky, a provider of HR and payroll software solutions for Mexican companies, has closed a $6 million Series A financing round.

Amazon announces $1.31B investment in France

Amazon has announced a new investment of about $1.31 billion (€1.2 billion) in France, which the company says will lead to the creation of over 3,000 permanent jobs in the country.

Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky to step down — CNBC

Adam Selipsky, CEO of Amazon’s cloud computing business, will step down from his role next month. Matt Garman, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Amazon Web Services, will succeed Mr. Selipsky after he exits the company June 3, writes Annie Palmer. 

Palo Alto Networks, Accenture expand alliance to offer generative AI services

Palo Alto Networks and Accenture have announced the expansion of their strategic alliance to provide new offerings that combine Palo Alto Networks' Precision AI technology with Accenture's secure generative AI services.