SolarCity CEO talks the future of solar power

Co-founder and CEO Lyndon Rive discusses what makes SolarCity different—and successful with Wall Street.

FORTUNE -- If investors merely went by labels in making buy-sell decisions, SolarCity would have been doomed by its name. Companies involved in solar energy have been toxic on Wall Street of late. The culprit has been cheap solar panels from China that have whacked established manufacturers, like First Solar, and rendered stillborn well funded startups, including MORE

Meet the man behind Facebook's ad revenue

David Fischer, Facebook's vice president of business and marketing partnerships, has helped Facebook built its profit engine.

FORTUNE -- At the beginning of 2012, Facebook's mobile ad revenues were literally non-existent. By the end of the year, they generated 23% of Facebook's total advertising revenue. With more users logging onto Facebook from mobile devices than ever before, a new search feature that competes with Google, and increased scrutiny from Wall Street, MORE

Transcript: The keys to Andreessen Horowitz's success

Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz talk to Fortune's Adam Lashinsky about their investing philosophies, role models and business model.

FORTUNE -- When partners at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz are late to a meeting with entrepreneurs, they pay for it – literally. That's one of the rules established by co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, former entrepreneurs themselves, who started the firm in 2009. Partners are fined $10 for every MORE

What Apple CEO Tim Cook didn't say

Apple's CEO Tim Cook didn't bring up the company's most talked-about rumors. And that may be very telling.

FORTUNE -- Listening to a Tim Cook interview is like watching an old episode of Seinfeld. Nothing really happens, so the trick is to interpret the nothingness.

For example, Cook said nothing in his appearance Tuesday morning at a Goldman Sachs (GS) conference in San Francisco about whether or not Apple (AAPL) will produce MORE

What Apple's earnings really mean

The company is not quite as perfect as everybody thought. But it is at its best when it feels threatened.

FORTUNE -- First, the bad news: Apple's profits aren't growing much. We pretty much know why. The iPad Mini accounts for about half of Apple's iPad sales—and the Mini is a less profitable product than the Maxi. The other strain on Apple's profits is its capital expenditures, a forecasted $10 billion MORE

Why SurveyMonkey is holding off on an IPO

SurveyMonkey's CEO had a front-row seat for Facebook's rocky IPO. He's in no hurry to follow suit.

FORTUNE -- Forgive Dave Goldberg, chief executive of rapidly growing SurveyMonkey, for not being in the slightest rush to take his 13-year-old company public. Let's just say he has lived the downside.

"I took my first company public and worked at Yahoo (YHOO) for seven years, and I saw plenty of decisions made because of what MORE

What will Amazon do with $3 billion in nearly free money?

The tech giant has quietly raised capital -- at almost no cost.

FORTUNE -- While online shoppers were gobbling up e-deals on Cyber Monday, Amazon once again demonstrated its appetite for capital. It raised $3 billion in debt at ultra-low interest rates. Spread across three tranches of bonds that mature over 6 ½ years, Amazon will pay an average of 1.6%, which makes the loan nearly cost-free to Amazon, factoring in MORE

What Reid Hoffman should ask Steve Ballmer

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman is interviewing the CEO of Microsoft tonight. Here are a few questions he should pose.

FORTUNE -- The Churchill Club and Microsoft made an interesting decision in choosing Reid Hoffman to interview Steve Ballmer tonight. Let me explain.

Churchill is Silicon Valley's answer to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco or the 92nd Street Y in New York. It is where big names from the technology industry speak, MORE

Inside Apple's major shakeup

What is really behind the biggest management shakeup at Apple since the Steve Jobs putsch that eliminated Gil Amelio in 1997?

FORTUNE -- Tim Cook's honeymoon at Apple is over.

Apple's (AAPL) CEO announced the departure of mobile software chief Scott Forstall on Monday. He also booted retail chief John Browett, who lasted all of eight months after having been hired from the U.K. retailer Dixons. The moves, together with the divvying MORE

Why employment matters

Work is important to us -- and not just when we've "made it." Maybe more significant is the role it plays when we're figuring out who we are.

FORTUNE -- I shared a sumptuous meal in New York recently with a group of extraordinarily successful business people. As an ice-breaker, everyone related a quick anecdote about their first job. You could see the delight on their faces as this group of MORE