Daily Digest: Google's layoffs and firings; More home insurers exit California

Good morning, Bay Area. Starting the day with politics, a group of California voters seeking to change the state's criminal justice law says it has collected enough signatures to qualify for November’s ballot, Bloomberg reports. The group's proposed Homeless, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act seeks to roll back parts of Proposition 47, a law passed in 2014 that reduced punishments for some lower-level crimes, like petty theft and drug possession. Turning to earnings, San Francisco-based logistics real estate investment trust Prologis cut its annual guidance for 2024 on Wednesday as it said that uncertainty around the timing of interest rate cuts has slowed leasing demand in the near term. Prologis stock (NYSE: PLD) was down 1% on Thursday. Turning to biotech, genetic testing company and drug developer 23andMe could go private again under a plan by co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki. Senior Reporter Ron Leuty has the story. And finally in development, Walnut Creek's planning commission voted Thursday to approve a package of amendments to its North Downtown Specific Plan, which guides long-term development for the key neighborhood. Reporter Hannah Kanik has the story on what it could be paving the way for in that part of the East Bay. Here's the rest of this morning's local news to get your Thursday off on the right track.

Google fires workers

Google Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat has just told the company’s finance teams that their groups would see restructuring, including relocations and layoffs. The cuts will affect some employees in the U.S. and abroad. Here's more on that. Meanwhile, Google also said it fired 28 employees who protested this week against the tech giant’s cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a companywide email, Vice President for Global Security Chris Rackow said Google dismissed the employees after an investigation found they were involved in the protests at the company’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale. The $1.2 billion joint contract with Amazon has drawn criticism from tech workers.

More insurance companies pull out of California

Tokio Marine America Insurance Company and Trans Pacific Insurance Company said they will both withdraw from the homeowners and personal umbrella insurance markets in California, the Chronicle reports, citing filings with the California Department of Insurance. Both are subsidiaries of Tokio Marine Holdings Inc., a Japanese company. The two companies together insured 12,556 homeowner policies in California with $11.3 million in premiums, according to filings.

$29 million San Francisco listing that rocked the local pickleball world may have found buyer

Hotwire co-founder and venture capitalist Karl Peterson appears to have found a buyer for his Presidio Heights home at 3630 Jackson St. along the Presidio Wall, the Real Deal reports. The $29 million listing is now tagged on the MLS as “pending” as of April 15. If it sells within $5 million of its asking price, it will be the highest-priced sale so far this year in San Francisco. Steve Mavromihalis of Compass is the listing agent. The home was originally listed for $36 million last May, but the price dropped at the end of November, shortly after the owners argued the noise from the pickleball courts at the park across the street from their home was impacting their ability to sell.

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Compass Real Estate

M&A Watch

S.F.-based childcare tech provider Wonderschool announced it is acquiring the ChildcareMatters substitute teaching pool company from the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. This marks Wonderschool’s second acquisition in one month, having just acquired teacher recruitment service EarlyDay in March.

People on the Move

Victoria Dolan, former CFO of Revlon, has joined Instacart’s board of directors.

SurveyMonkey announced that Priya Gill has been promoted to global head of marketing.

Funding Watch

Chevron has committed $500 million for a third clean tech venture fund, Axios reports.

Maven Ventures, an S.F.-based consumer seed-stage venture firm, raised $60 million for its fourth fund.

Final thought …

As Tesla's board of directors gets ready to consider a sky-high high pay package for CEO Elon Musk, the billionaire is now taking stock of his own ex-employees' compensation. Musk reportedly sent an internal email on Wednesday, telling staffers that the company sent out some severance packages that were too low to several laid-off workers this week. “As we reorganize Tesla it has come to my attention that some severance packages are incorrectly low,” Musk wrote in the brief email. “My apologies for this mistake. It is being corrected immediately.”