X CEO Linda Yaccarino departs; UCSF Health stays with Blue Shield
And now on to the day's top headlines here in the city and across the Bay Area.
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Blue Shield and UCSF Health reach new agreement
Blue Shield of California and UC Health announced on Tuesday they have reached a new agreement whereby UC Health will extend contracts pending the completion of formal contract renewal process. The move means that Blue Shield members can continue to access UC Health providers and UC Health providers will accept Blue Shield members as in-network. Blue Shield of California and UC Health had been in ongoing contract negotiations with a potential agreement expiration date of Aug. 9, which could have pushed UCSF Health out of network for Blue Shield members.
UCSF renews big Mission Bay lease
UCSF has secured a 147,000-square-foot lease renewal in Mission Bay's Alexandria Center at 499 Illinois St., the Registry reports. The transaction ranks among the quarter's most significant leases, according to a second-quarter 2025 market report by Newmark, alongside new deals from Coinbase's 150,671 square feet of space and LinkedIn's separate renewal of 150,000 square feet.
Tri Counties Bank plans West Portal branch with familiar faces
Tri Counties Bank is opening a new branch in San Francisco's West Portal neighborhood this summer. The branch is the former site of a First Republic Bank branch and will be led by former First Republic Bank employees. 'Our focus is to provide West Portal with a superior banking experience through personalized service and a full range of strategic financial solutions," Scott Robertson, senior vice president and head of community banking at Tri Counties Bank, said in a statement. Instead of traditional teller lines, the West Portal branch will feature five "relationship desks" where customers can sit down with a banker.
Cruise lays off 100 workers
San Francisco-based robotaxi company Cruise has announced 101 layoffs in the Bay Area, according to state WARN filings, as part of a broader restructuring to scale back its General Motors-backed operations. The lion's share of the layoffs — 85 of them — come at 1201 Bryant St. in San Francisco. An office at 840 W. California Ave. in Sunnyvale would also be affected. The job cuts are effective immediately.
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M&A Watch
Meta (Nasdaq: META) is taking a 3% stake in Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica for $3.5 billion in an effort to develop AI-powered smart glasses, Bloomberg reports. The market for smart glasses is expected to grow to $8.26 billion by 2030 from $1.93 billion in 2024, according to GrandView Research.
People on the Move
HTEC, a global digital engineering and product development company based in Palo Alto, has named Tim Sears as chief AI officer.
Funding Watch
South San Francisco-based Centivax has raised $45 million in Series A funding to advance its universal flu vaccine into human trials within eight months. Investors include Future Ventures, NFX, BOLD Capital, Amplify Partners, Kendall Capital and Base4 Capital. Funds will support clinical trials and enlarging a pipeline of vaccines.
S.F.-based edtech Honor Education raised $38 million in Series A funding from Alpha Edison, Wasserstein & Co, Audeo Ventures, Interlock Partners and New Wave Capital.
Palo Alto-based Sundial raised $16 million in Series A funding led by GreatPoint Ventures.
Final thought …
How about those Giants? If you didn't watch the final moment of last night's game against the Phillies, it's worth a look — especially with the help of announcer Dave Flemming's call. Meanwhile at the Business Times, don't forget to mark you calendar for our first Business of Sports event July 15 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the United Club inside Chase Center.
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