The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica E. Lessin and the team at The Information

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica E. Lessin and the team at The Information

Get smarter about the day’s news in tech, media and finance by following Silicon Valley’s most-read executive newsletter.

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Recent Editions

Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel, leaves a meeting at the White House on Monday. Photo via Getty.

Trump’s Intel Play

By Martin Peers · Aug 14, 2025 5:00pm PDT

We’re in a new era of government intervention in corporate America. The latest example is Bloomberg’s report on Thursday that the Trump administration was in talks to “take a stake” in Intel. Just on Monday, President Donald Trump said he and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had agreed that Nvidia would pay the government 15% of whatever revenues it... We’re in a new era of government intervention in corporate America. The latest example is ...

Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch at The Information's San Francisco AI Summit in 2024. Photo by Erin Beach for The Information.

Cloud Startup Vercel Fields Offers for $9 Billion Valuation

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Sri Muppidi · Aug 14, 2025 3:30pm PDT · 1 comment

Vercel, a nine-year-old cloud startup that companies use to host and develop websites and artificial intelligence apps, has been approached by investors offering to invest hundreds of millions of dollars at a valuation between $8 billion to $9 billion, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions. The new funding could nearly... Vercel, a nine-year-old cloud startup that companies use to host and develop websites and...

Chart by Shane Burke

Creator Economy

Why Payouts Keep Rising at Online Course Provider Kajabi

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 14, 2025 2:22pm PDT

Kajabi, a 15-year-old software service best known for selling online courses, supercharged sales a few years ago when—armed with a big check from Tiger Global Management—it started heavily marketing itself to creators, who pay a monthly fee to host courses and sell other digital goods, such as newsletters, podcasts, coaching and memberships.The... Kajabi, a 15-year-old software service best known for selling online courses, supercharged sales...

Secret Snowflake AI Revenue Figure Shows Brand-Name LLMs Reign Supreme

By Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 14, 2025 1:02pm PDT

Secret Snowflake AI Revenue Figure Shows Brand-Name LLMs Reign Supreme

By Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 14, 2025 1:02pm PDT

For all the talk about the rise of low-cost or open-source AI models, enterprises are still gravitating to brand-name models from OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. That’s prompting database providers like Snowflake, Databricks and Oracle to strike deals allowing database customers to use the brand-name AI to build chatbots and search tools that... For all the talk about the rise of low-cost or open-source AI models, enterprises are still...

Jeff Green, founder of The Trade Desk. Photo via Getty

Walmart Backing Away From Trade Desk, an Amazon Ad Tech Rival

By Catherine Perloff and Theo Wayt · Aug 14, 2025 7:16am PDT

Amazon’s most direct rival in handling ad sales across the web, the Trade Desk, could be in danger of losing one of its most valuable clients—Walmart. Last year, Walmart renegotiated its four-year-old arrangement with the Trade Desk, under which advertisers buying spots on the Web using Walmart shopper data for targeting have to use the... Amazon’s most direct rival in handling ad sales across the web, the Trade Desk, could be in...

Photo via Getty

How Startups Are Getting in Their Robots' Heads

By Rocket Drew · Aug 14, 2025 7:00am PDT

When I talk to roboticists, one scenario that keeps them up at night is the possibility of their robots making an unexpected movement and hurting someone. An industrial arm could accidentally wallop a nearby worker, a self-driving car could swerve off a road or a humanoid robot could fall on a toddler. Yikes!Historically, a surefire way to guard... When I talk to roboticists, one scenario that keeps them up at night is the possibility of their...

Michael Liberty (left) and Donald Trump Jr. Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images, YouTube.

Trump Pardon Leads to Business Deal for His Son

By Michael Roddan and Aaron Tilley · Aug 14, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

On President Donald Trump’s last day of his first term, in 2021, he pardoned Michael Liberty, a real estate developer and tech entrepreneur who had served jail time for illegal campaign contributions and was facing new federal criminal and civil charges. The pardon may pay dividends for the president’s family. Roughly a year after the pardon,... On President Donald Trump’s last day of his first term, in 2021, he pardoned Michael Liberty, a...

Alan Clarke, right, head of Ford's secret skunkworks, with Doug Field, Ford's chief EV officer, middle, and Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson. Photo: Courtesy Long Beach Mayor's Office.

Exclusive From The Electric: How Ford's EV Guru Plans to Beat Tesla and the Chinese

By Steve LeVine · Aug 14, 2025 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

Alan Clarke, right, head of Ford's secret skunkworks, with Doug Field, Ford's chief EV officer, middle, and Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson. Photo: Courtesy Long Beach Mayor's Office.

Exclusive From The Electric: How Ford's EV Guru Plans to Beat Tesla and the Chinese

By Steve LeVine · Aug 14, 2025 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

For years, it’s been clear that Detroit is behind China and Tesla in the global race to build electric and autonomous vehicles. So, in what it viewed as a mission to save itself, Ford poached Tesla veteran Alan Clarke, who had helped create most of the EV maker’s vehicles. Clarke’s marching orders: Create a line of EVs that could beat those of... For years, it’s been clear that Detroit is behind China and Tesla in the global race to build...

A backup battery system form Base Power is installed on February 2025 in Houston. Photo by Getty.

Home Battery Startup Base Power Plots $4 Billion Valuation

By Anissa Gardizy · Aug 13, 2025 6:07pm PDT · 2 comments

Venture investors are discussing ploughing as much as $1 billion into Texas-based energy startup Base Power at a $4 billion valuation, or about four times its valuation in April, according to a person with knowledge of the investment talks. The startup, co-founded in 2023 by Zach Dell, a former Thrive Capital employee and son of PC mogul... Venture investors are discussing ploughing as much as $1 billion into Texas-based energy startup...

Bullish's New York Stock Exchange debut. Photo via Getty

Crypto’s Bullish Day

By Ken Brown · Aug 13, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Crypto conquered the stock market again with the public debut of crypto exchange Bullish, whose stock soared as much as 220% on its opening day Wednesday after raising $1.1 billion in its IPO. The offering followed a glittering IPO from stablecoin issuer Circle and offerings from a raft of companies that have stuffed themselves with... Crypto conquered the stock market again with the public debut of crypto exchange Bullish, whose...

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas. Photo via Getty

Perplexity Explored Buying Other Search Browsers Before Chrome Bid

By Sri Muppidi, Erin Woo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 13, 2025 2:31pm PDT · 1 comment

Perplexity made headlines this week when the artificial intelligence startup said it had offered to buy Google’s Chrome, the world’s largest internet browser, for a price amounting to nearly double its valuation. While that acquisition seems unlikely to transpire, the company has been on the prowl for smaller browsers it could more easily bite... Perplexity made headlines this week when the artificial intelligence startup said it had offered...

Jonathan Katz-Moses, a woodworking creator, recently raised venture funding. Photo courtesy of subject

The Woodworking Creator Who Raised $2 Million

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 13, 2025 2:00pm PDT

Jonathan Katz-Moses, a woodworking creator, recently raised venture funding. Photo courtesy of subject

Creator Economy

The Woodworking Creator Who Raised $2 Million

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 13, 2025 2:00pm PDT

Jonathan Katz-Moses, a woodworking creator with nearly 600,000 YouTube subscribers, is an example of how the creator economy is evolving: creators are growing online followings with super niche content while running booming offline businesses. The 43-year-old creator posts educational woodworking videos on YouTube, but also is the founder... Jonathan Katz-Moses, a woodworking creator with nearly 600,000 YouTube subscribers, is an example...

A Rivos employee shown in a company video from last year. Photo via YouTube/Rivos.

Chip Startup Rivos Seeks Up to $500 Million to Compete With Nvidia

By Valida Pau and Wayne Ma · Aug 13, 2025 7:36am PDT

Rivos, a chip startup that aims to compete with Nvidia, is seeking to raise between $400 million and $500 million, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Santa Clara, Calif.–based startup, backed by Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan, is seeking a valuation of more than $2 billion, one of the people said. It’s not clear if the valuation... Rivos, a chip startup that aims to compete with Nvidia, is seeking to raise between $400 million...

Protege co-founder and CEO Bobby Samuels

The One-Year-Old Startup Notching Data Deals For Model Makers

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 13, 2025 7:00am PDT

Companies like Scale AI and Surge have proven there’s a market for human-labeled data, like professionals’ answers to complex math or law questions, that AI research labs can use to train their models. Now, a young startup is tapping a similar opportunity, linking large model makers and AI startups with organizations that naturally generate... Companies like Scale AI and Surge have proven there’s a market for human-labeled data, like...

The People With Power at SAP as It Remakes Itself for the AI Era

By Aaron Holmes · Aug 13, 2025 6:00am PDT

SAP is in the midst of an artificial intelligence–fueled overhaul. The 53-year-old German enterprise software giant has undertaken a massive reorganization over the past year and a half, cutting 8,000 jobs since the start of 2024 as it aims to use AI for cost savings while hiring in new areas focused on selling enterprise AI applications.... SAP is in the midst of an artificial intelligence–fueled overhaul. The 53-year-old German...

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas. Photo via Getty

Perplexity’s PR Genius

By Martin Peers · Aug 12, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 5 comments

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas. Photo via Getty

Perplexity’s PR Genius

By Martin Peers · Aug 12, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 5 comments

For a relatively small player in the artificial intelligence sector, Perplexity AI certainly gets a lot of press. In the past couple of months, reports have suggested Apple and Meta Platforms have both contemplated buying it. At the same time, Perplexity offered to buy TikTok. And today we got news that Perplexity had offered to buy the Chrome... For a relatively small player in the artificial intelligence sector, Perplexity AI certainly gets...

Masayoshi Son, chairman and chief executive officer of SoftBank Group. Image via Getty.

OpenAI Starts to Look Like Masa’s Savior

By Cory Weinberg · Aug 12, 2025 3:19pm PDT · 3 comments

SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 has performed so terribly it seems like fiction. Yet SoftBank Group’s stock hit an all-time high on Tuesday. To followers of SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son, none of this is surprising. Once again, he’s pulling a rabbit out of a hat, finding a blockbuster investment that overpowers his string of losers. The... SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 has performed so terribly it seems like fiction. Yet SoftBank Group’s...

Photo via Getty

Creator Economy

Who Will Run a U.S. TikTok?

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Kaya Yurieff · Aug 12, 2025 2:00pm PDT

If TikTok does eventually sell its U.S. business, who is going to lead the new company?That’s a question we’ve been mulling as TikTok nears the September 17 deadline for a law to go into effect that will ban the video app in the U.S. unless it breaks off from its Chinese parent company. And now we have a little more insight into the possible... If TikTok does eventually sell its U.S. business, who is going to lead the new company?That’s a...

Replit CEO Amjad Masad. Photo via Getty

Why Flat Pricing for AI Agents Won’t Last

By Aaron Holmes · Aug 12, 2025 10:30am PDT

AI agents are getting more advanced—but they’re also getting more expensive to run. That trend is beginning to force AI agent sellers to change their pricing models to pass on more of the cost of running the agents to their users.Traditionally, AI companies have sold their products to businesses like most other types of software: by charging a... AI agents are getting more advanced—but they’re also getting more expensive to run. That trend is...

Venture and Deals Reporter Katie Roof to Join The Information

By The Information Staff · Aug 12, 2025 9:11am PDT · 3 comments

Venture and Deals Reporter Katie Roof to Join The Information

By The Information Staff · Aug 12, 2025 9:11am PDT · 3 comments

The Information’s editors shared this note with staff today. Hi - We’re delighted to announce Katie Roof is joining The Information to continue what she does best: break news about the most important tech deals. She will also share her years of experience by mentoring other reporters on the craft of deal-scooping. She’ll be our... The Information’s editors shared this note with staff today. Hi - We’re delighted to announce...