The FT expands its San Francisco bureau

The Financial Times has announced it is expanding its San Francisco bureau with a series of senior appointments to deepen its coverage of technology companies, venture capital and the intersection of money and technology.

Stephen Morris has been appointed San Francisco bureau chief to spearhead the FT’s technology coverage from Silicon Valley, producing news and analysis of the world’s most important technology capital, added the publisher. He will lead coverage of some of the biggest tech companies, including Alphabet, Microsoft and Tesla, as well as the semiconductor industry and emerging fields such as quantum computing, robotics and artificial intelligence.

Morris succeeds Richard Waters, who has held the position since 2002. Waters will move into the newly created role of technology writer-at-large to explore the big trends shaping the tech sector through analyses and columns.

Michael Acton has been appointed San Francisco correspondent, leading coverage of Apple and other hardware manufacturers. Acton will be responsible for writing on one of the world’s largest companies, from its operations and clashes with other Big Tech companies to policy issues such as data privacy, corporate taxes, and US-China relations, added the FT.

Cristina Criddle has been appointed technology correspondent in San Francisco and will join the FT’s global AI team, led by AI editor Madhumita Murgia in London. Criddle will focus on West Coast-based AI startups and investigate how AI is changing industries, as well as the ways AI companies contend with growing regulatory scrutiny around the world.

“As the leading global business news organisation, there is no more important global business story for us than the rise of Big Tech – which is why we’ve made the strategic decision to expand our team covering Silicon Valley,” said Peter Spiegel, US managing editor. “Stephen has distinguished himself as one of the FT’s most prolific scoop getters and insightful news analysts as banking editor. I’m hugely excited to have him in San Francisco leading our growing tech team.”

The FT says Morris, Acton and Criddle will be joining a growing bureau that includes a newly expanded finance team, headed by West Coast financial editor Tabby Kinder, to deepen coverage of the venture capital sector and the intersection of money and technology. Other new additions to the bureau include Camilla Hodgson, who leads coverage of Amazon, ecommerce and the gig economy, and George Hammond, who covers venture capital on Kinder’s finance team.