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

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica 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

Cerebras CEO Andrew Feldman. Photo by Getty

Cerebras CEO’s Past Felony Conviction Hangs Over IPO Listing

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 5, 2024 7:43am PDT · 4 comments

Cerebras Systems, a $4 billion-valuation semiconductor designer taking on Nvidia, stands out as one of the few tech startups aiming to list its shares publicly this year, trying to capitalize on investor interest in hardware that powers artificial intelligence. What may dampen some of the fervor is another unusual detail: Its co-founder and CEO,... Cerebras Systems, a $4 billion-valuation semiconductor designer taking on Nvidia, stands out as...

Tech’s Performative Grudge Matches

Tech’s Performative Grudge Matches

By Abram Brown · Oct 5, 2024 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Why women in tech are sounding an alarm• Power and Influence: The tangled web behind the VC who wants to be mayor• Plus: Terrors from a storm; Netflix escapism; and a podcast with Tom Hanks and chimpanzee butts. Silicon Valley grudgery really can devolve into such absurd... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Why women in tech are sounding an alarm•...

Mark Farrell. Art by Clark Miller; Farrell image via Getty

Power and Influence

San Francisco’s Would-Be Mayor Has a Tangled History in Venture

By Josh Koehn · Oct 5, 2024 5:00am PDT · 4 comments

In 2015, many San Franciscans were furious with startups like Airbnb as they depleted the city’s housing supply and pushed rent in the city to some of the highest levels in the country. Mark Farrell—a venture capitalist then serving as a city supervisor and now a leading candidate in San Francisco’s current mayoral... In 2015, many San Franciscans were furious with startups like Airbnb as they depleted the...

Photo via Shutterstock

Amazon Learns Tech Isn’t Everything in Retail Stores

By Theo Wayt · Oct 4, 2024 3:30pm PDT

Photo via Shutterstock

Amazon Learns Tech Isn’t Everything in Retail Stores

By Theo Wayt · Oct 4, 2024 3:30pm PDT

It looks like Amazon has finally realized most people go to grocery and convenience stores to browse and shop—not to be wowed by technology. Case in point: Amazon is closing more of its futuristic cashierless convenience shops and launching mini Whole Foods stores that are comparatively low tech. When Amazon opened its first Go store to the... It looks like Amazon has finally realized most people go to grocery and convenience stores to...

Art by Clark Miller

Why Women in Tech Are Sounding an Alarm

By Julia Black · Oct 4, 2024 9:00am PDT · 24 comments

There wasn’t any one thing that led to the slow death of Girls in Tech, a standard-bearer nonprofit that provided Silicon Valley women with the kind of mentorship and training opportunities that men took for granted. First, the pandemic struck, and donors shifted their attention to health and science causes. Then the Black Lives Matter... There wasn’t any one thing that led to the slow death of Girls in Tech, a standard-bearer...

Cohere's Aidan Gomez, Safe Superintelligence's Ilya Sutskever and World Labs' Fei-Fei Li. Photos via Flickr and Getty.

Pro Weekly: Third-Quarter AI Funding Falls, but There’s a Catch

By Akash Pasricha · Oct 4, 2024 8:00am PDT

Fourth-quarter artificial intelligence funding is off to a big start with OpenAI locking in $6.6 billion in fresh capital this week. It’s the second-largest funding round we’ve ever recorded in our Generative AI Database, behind Microsoft’s $10 billion OpenAI investment in January 2023.But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The third quarter just... Fourth-quarter artificial intelligence funding is off to a big start with OpenAI locking in $6.6...

Chart by Shane Burke

Google Antitrust Case Comes Too Late for Publishers

By Sahil Patel · Oct 4, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Publishers are happy that the Department of Justice sued Google over its control of online display advertising. But some would have preferred to have seen the case brought five or six years ago—when the gap between what publishers and the tech giants generate from online ads was not as wide as it is today. Publishing executives say they... Publishers are happy that the Department of Justice sued Google over its control of online...

Scene from WTF 2023. Photo by Erin Beach.

Announcing the WTF Summit 2024 Breakout Sessions

By The Information Staff · Oct 3, 2024 6:47pm PDT

Scene from WTF 2023. Photo by Erin Beach.

WTF: Women in Tech, Media and Finance

Announcing the WTF Summit 2024 Breakout Sessions

By The Information Staff · Oct 3, 2024 6:47pm PDT

We’re excited to see everyone on October 7th and 8th at The Information's WTF Summit. Our breakout sessions are an important part of the Summit. At this year’s event, we’ll have two sets of 35-minute breakout sessions on Tuesday, October 8th. Here’s a preview of this year’s topics. Connected Experiences: What... We’re excited to see everyone on October 7th and 8th at The Information's WTF Summit....

Sam Altman. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Why OpenAI Shouldn’t Buy Back Employee Shares

By Martin Peers · Oct 3, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

On the public markets, the idea of companies that are burning cash also spending money on stock buybacks is a giant no-no. Yet for some reason, private tech investors are willing to give startups a pass for doing the same thing. Exhibit A is OpenAI, which we reported wants to use some of the $6.6 billion in cash it raised in its recent... On the public markets, the idea of companies that are burning cash also spending money on stock...

Photo via Getty.

Will OpenAI’s Investor Terms Hurt Anthropic—or Help It?

By Kate Clark · Oct 3, 2024 3:22pm PDT · 1 comment

It’s reasonable to ask that your VC backers not fund your greatest competitors. In the past, avoiding such rival investments was the norm! Still, OpenAI’s private request of its backers, that they avoid investing in other artificial intelligence model makers, stands out. Increasingly investors have been funding rival AI businesses as a way to... It’s reasonable to ask that your VC backers not fund your greatest competitors. In the past,...

ShopMy cofounders Harry Rein, Tiffany Lopinsky, and Chris Tinsley.

Creator Economy

How a Social Shopping Startup Is Gaining Ground

By Ann Gehan · Oct 3, 2024 2:49pm PDT

When ShopMy first launched in 2020, it looked a lot like the popular creator startup LTK. Both help creators to set up personalized links to shopping pages they could share on social media sites, giving them a way to earn commissions from brands by promoting products. ShopMy, whose backers include Inspired Capital and AlleyCorp,... When ShopMy first launched in 2020, it looked a lot like the popular creator startup LTK. Both...

Art by Mike Sullivan

TikTok Braces for European Regulatory Rebuke

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 3, 2024 12:47pm PDT

Art by Mike Sullivan

TikTok Braces for European Regulatory Rebuke

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 3, 2024 12:47pm PDT

If the U.S. forces TikTok to go dark in January—a scenario its lawyers are fighting in federal court—it will fall back on its hundreds of millions of users outside the U.S. who have helped make the short-video app a global phenomenon. But some of those other regions, such as Europe, are becoming more hostile to TikTok. While EU... If the U.S. forces TikTok to go dark in January—a scenario its lawyers are fighting in...

Photo via Getty

OpenAI Needs to Raise More Money Again Soon

By Kate Clark and Kalley Huang · Oct 3, 2024 7:00am PDT

OpenAI just raised one of the biggest private pools of capital in Silicon Valley history. Ironically, one of the biggest questions is how soon it will try to raise that kind of money again, thanks to its high cash burn.Its $6.6 billion financing capped a convoluted and sometimes chaotic process that spanned continents. Investors are valuing... OpenAI just raised one of the biggest private pools of capital in Silicon Valley history....

A Tesla Cybertruck, which uses its 4680 battery. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty

Tesla Plans 4 New Batteries In 2026, Including For a Robotaxi

By Wayne Ma and Steve LeVine · Oct 3, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Tesla has embarked on an ambitious effort to design four new versions of its in-house battery to power the Cybertruck, its forthcoming Robotaxi and other electric vehicles, according to people with direct knowledge of its plans. This is the most battery projects the company has worked on simultaneously. The projects come four years after CEO... Tesla has embarked on an ambitious effort to design four new versions of its in-house battery to...

Photo by Getty

The Cynic’s Guide to OpenAI’s Megaround

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 2, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Sam Altman should organize a celebration dinner for the men behind the largest venture capital funding round ever. I’d love to overhear SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son give advice to Thrive’s Joshua Kushner on how to avoid giving too much money to charismatic tech founders. Imagine seeing Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella fight over... Sam Altman should organize a celebration dinner for the men behind the largest venture capital...

Image by Getty

Google Could Borrow Meta’s Strategy to Make Smart Glasses Cool

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Oct 2, 2024 3:20pm PDT

Image by Getty

Creator Economy

Google Could Borrow Meta’s Strategy to Make Smart Glasses Cool

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Oct 2, 2024 3:20pm PDT

There’s been a lot of chatter in the tech industry lately about smart glasses. Meta Platforms announced a string of updates to its Ray-Ban smart glasses at the company’s Connect conference in September. And this week, I reported Google had approached partner Samsung about developing AI-powered smart glasses. (You can read the story here.)If... There’s been a lot of chatter in the tech industry lately about smart glasses. Meta Platforms...

Image via YouTube.

Flexport Cuts Jobs, Plans to Unload Excess Warehouse Space

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · Oct 2, 2024 2:24pm PDT · 3 comments

Logistics company Flexport is making fresh job cuts and will sublease excess warehouse space to overhaul the money-losing fulfillment business it acquired from Shopify last year, according to a memo to staff on Wednesday. Flexport, which was valued at $8 billion in a 2022 funding round, has seen revenue drop since then amid a broader collapse in... Logistics company Flexport is making fresh job cuts and will sublease excess warehouse space to...

OpenAI Plugs the Holes In its $1 Billion App-Developer Business

OpenAI Plugs the Holes In its $1 Billion App-Developer Business

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 2, 2024 7:00am PDT

Before we get to OpenAI’s new products for customers of its artificial intelligence models, we wanted to flag the plans of Barret Zoph, one of three key technical leaders who unexpectedly resigned last week.Zoph previously led the OpenAI team responsible for preparing AI models for release, known as post-training, and has told people that he... Before we get to OpenAI’s new products for customers of its artificial intelligence models, we...

Sam Altman (left), Sarah Friar and Jack Dorsey. Photos by Getty Images

How OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar Is Keeping Startup Flush With Cash

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 2, 2024 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

At Square, Sarah Friar was the grownup who helped bring the fintech’s otherworldly CEO, Jack Dorsey, down to earth for investors. Now she has a shot at doing something similar for Sam Altman’s OpenAI—if she can last long term at the chaotic artificial intelligence startup. Since arriving at OpenAI as chief financial officer in... At Square, Sarah Friar was the grownup who helped bring the fintech’s otherworldly CEO,...

Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap, in September. Photo via Getty.

Snapchat’s Safety Struggle

By Erin Woo · Oct 1, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap, in September. Photo via Getty.

Snapchat’s Safety Struggle

By Erin Woo · Oct 1, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Snap likes to cast its Snapchat app as “an antidote to social media.” Unlike its rival social media apps, Snapchat was “designed to be safe” for kids, the company claims. But designing something to be safe and actually making it safe aren’t the same things.How Snap has fallen short on this front became clear from an unredacted version of a... Snap likes to cast its Snapchat app as “an antidote to social media.” Unlike its rival social...