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

AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi. Photo via AppLovin

Venture Capital’s Big AppLovin Miss

By Martin Peers · Jun 3, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

One of venture capital’s big misses has to be AppLovin, an ad-tech firm specializing in selling ad space in gaming apps. Its shares have soared more than 900% since the beginning of last year, giving AppLovin a market capitalization today of $135 billion. That makes it just a bit smaller than Spotify, Shopify and Arm Holdings—and bigger than... One of venture capital’s big misses has to be AppLovin, an ad-tech firm specializing in selling...

Chris Best. Photo by Erin Beach.

Creator Economy Summit

Apple’s App Store Changes ‘Have Been Fantastic,’ Says Substack CEO

By Sahil Patel · Jun 3, 2025 4:27pm PDT

Apple’s court-ordered relaxation of controls on its App Store has been “a big win for independent media,” according to Substack’s co-founder and CEO Chris Best. But that’s one of the few positives in the media landscape, where Google’s use of AI-powered search results is hurting publishers’ traffic while advertisers are increasingly shifting... Apple’s court-ordered relaxation of controls on its App Store has been “a big win for independent...

Photo via Getty

Why CoreWeave’s Stock Surge Might Surprise the Doubters

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 3, 2025 3:13pm PDT · 2 comments

The most dangerous game in artificial intelligence investing right now is CoreWeave. Retail traders have helped bid up its stock price by 277% since its lackluster initial public offering, powering its market valuation from $23 billion to a remarkable $72 billion in two months. “It’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen,” one hedge fund... The most dangerous game in artificial intelligence investing right now is CoreWeave. Retail...

Photo via Adobe

Why Creators Are Inking More FAST Channel Deals

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 3, 2025 1:00pm PDT

Photo via Adobe

Creator Economy

Why Creators Are Inking More FAST Channel Deals

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 3, 2025 1:00pm PDT

As we send out this newsletter, we are kicking off our Future of Influence event in Los Angeles. We look forward to seeing so many of our subscribers in person! Keep an eye on theinformation.com for our latest coverage from the event, and we’ll be back with more highlights in Wednesday’s newsletter. One of the major themes of our... As we send out this newsletter, we are kicking off our Future of Influence event in Los Angeles....

Rory McIlroy at the Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla in March. Photo by Getty.

How Anthropic Helps the PGA Tour Give Golf Fans Data on Every Shot

By Jon Victor · Jun 3, 2025 10:00am PDT

At any given moment during a typical professional golf tournament, 14 balls are in motion, and players hit upwards of 30,000 shots over the four-day event. It’s been next to impossible for the PGA Tour, which runs these tournaments, and sports broadcasters to provide commentary or information on every shot—even though the Tour thinks there’s... At any given moment during a typical professional golf tournament, 14 balls are in motion, and...

Image via Shutterstock

Stanford Math PhD’s AI Startup Targets $300 Million Valuation

By Aaron Holmes, Natasha Mascarenhas and Stephanie Palazzolo · Jun 3, 2025 7:00am PDT

Mathematicians have been enthralled with artificial intelligence that can solve difficult math problems. And some developers behind these models at OpenAI and elsewhere believe AI that learns to solve hard math can use similar reasoning methods to solve other types of problems.But since today’s AI still hasn’t proven it can beat human experts at... Mathematicians have been enthralled with artificial intelligence that can solve difficult math...

Photo via AppLovin

How AppLovin Scared Google

By Catherine Perloff · Jun 3, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

In 2023, Google ad executives noticed something alarming about one aspect of their business. Once-red hot revenue growth from selling ads promoting mobile apps, a business worth double-digit billions of dollars for Google, had slowed, a former employee said. When staffers discussed what was going on, they agreed a small ad tech firm called... In 2023, Google ad executives noticed something alarming about one aspect of their business....

Photo by Getty

Chime’s Founders Hedge Their Bets

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 2, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Photo by Getty

Chime’s Founders Hedge Their Bets

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 2, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Chime executives and bankers will spend the next week trying to convince investors that its stock will rise after its initial public offering. The company’s cofounders seem to be preparing for the opposite.New stock awards granted to cofounders Christopher Britt and Ryan King as part of the offering set a low bar potentially at the expense of... Chime executives and bankers will spend the next week trying to convince investors that its stock...

Mike Cessario, founder and CEO of Liquid Death, on stage at an event. Photo by Getty.

The Takeover Targets Emerging Out of IPO Dead Ends

By Akash Pasricha · Jun 2, 2025 1:02pm PDT

This year has seen trickles of tech initial public offering activity, but there’s still a sizable list of IPO hopefuls whose public market ambitions have stalled. Bankers say that dynamic is encouraging more private companies to try to find a buyer instead. To that end, we updated our Tech IPO Tracker to highlight the likeliest takeover targets... This year has seen trickles of tech initial public offering activity, but there’s still a sizable...

Chris Lehane, head of policy at Open AI. Photo by Getty

OpenAI’s Democrats in Action; China’s Open-Source AI

By Rocket Drew · Jun 2, 2025 7:00am PDT

As OpenAI defends its planned corporate restructuring against a range of nonprofit critics, it’s probably feeling pretty good about its decision last year to hire a number of personnel with deep ties to the Democratic establishment.Those hires, including career Democrat Chris Lehane, who leads OpenAI’s global affairs team, looked like a... As OpenAI defends its planned corporate restructuring against a range of nonprofit critics, it’s...

From left: Eddie Wu, Jack Ma and Zhou Jingren. Photos by Getty

How Alibaba Helped China Take the Lead From the U.S. in Open-Source AI

By Juro Osawa and Qianer Liu · Jun 2, 2025 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

When Alibaba Group’s cloud business unit announced the first generation of artificial intelligence models developed by its own team in 2023, the Chinese tech giant said in a statement that it would integrate the models, known as Qwen, into its various businesses “in the near future.” The reality wasn’t so simple. Each of the company’s six... When Alibaba Group’s cloud business unit announced the first generation of artificial...

Christopher Young, former executive vice president of business development at Microsoft. Photo via Getty.

Microsoft’s Former Deals Chief to Join AI Roll-Ups Rush

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Aaron Holmes · Jun 1, 2025 10:00am PDT · 3 comments

Christopher Young, former executive vice president of business development at Microsoft. Photo via Getty.

Microsoft’s Former Deals Chief to Join AI Roll-Ups Rush

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Aaron Holmes · Jun 1, 2025 10:00am PDT · 3 comments

It’s become one of the most popular private investing strategies of the last year: Firms including General Catalyst, Thrive Capital and 8VC have been investing in startups that buy services businesses such as call center operators, merge them with similar companies, and use artificial intelligence to boost sales and keep costs low. In... It’s become one of the most popular private investing strategies of the last year: Firms...

Art by Clark Miller

What Anthropic’s Big Acquisition Could Mean

By Abram Brown · May 31, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Jensen Huang’s precarious balancing act between Trump and China• The Top 5: The fanciest fitness memberships• Plus, our Recommendations: A forgotten horror; the mighty Sahara; and an internet star’s subtle-enough sitcomAnthropic has a shiny new addition I can’t stop thinking about: Reed... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Jensen Huang’s precarious balancing act...

Art by Clark Miller.

The Fanciest Fitness Memberships That Techies Love

By Alex Perry · May 31, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

What do thousands of dollars at a fitness center get a person? Amenities like AI-powered weightlifting machines, in-house physicians, meditative sound baths and color-coded, know-it-all orbs. Earning a clean bill of health has never inspired such extravagance. Here are five of the most luxe fitness memberships popular among the technorati and... What do thousands of dollars at a fitness center get a person? Amenities like AI-powered...

Photo via Getty

Musk’s White House Departure Shifts His Focus to Tesla, xAI and SpaceX

By Martin Peers · May 30, 2025 3:19pm PDT

Elon Musk has left the building—the White House, that is. President Donald Trump gave Musk a farewell press conference today, complete with a golden key (literally), marking the end of Musk’s formal time overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency. While both Trump and Musk said the Tesla CEO would visit Washington from time to time, Musk... Elon Musk has left the building—the White House, that is. President Donald Trump gave Musk a ...

Art by Clark Miller.

How DeepSeek Is Unlocking a New Wave of AI Ambition in China

By Qianer Liu · May 30, 2025 12:35pm PDT

Art by Clark Miller.

The Information Events

How DeepSeek Is Unlocking a New Wave of AI Ambition in China

By Qianer Liu · May 30, 2025 12:35pm PDT

The tightening of U.S. chip export controls on China has forced Chinese artificial intelligence developers such as DeepSeek to get creative, finding more efficient ways to train AI models on limited computing resources. And that creativity is likely to continue, according to two Chinese investors and startup founders who spoke at a subscriber... The tightening of U.S. chip export controls on China has forced Chinese artificial intelligence...

Photo via Midjourney

How AI and E-Commerce Can Play Nice

By Ann Gehan and Akash Pasricha · May 30, 2025 8:00am PDT

Online shopping is an emerging battleground for AI companies. If you don’t believe us, check out our latest Talent Tracker of executives leading the way in AI-driven shopping. It highlights people at AI heavyweights like OpenAI and Perplexity, but also e-commerce and online payment incumbents like Shopify and PayPal. (See our full list of 14... Online shopping is an emerging battleground for AI companies. If you don’t believe us, check out...

Photo via Getty

Every VC-Backed IPO in the Past 12 Months Has Been a Down Round

By Cory Weinberg · May 30, 2025 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

When banking app Chime goes public next month, it will mark the eighth straight venture capital–backed initial public offering in the past 12 months to be valued less than it was in private fundraising rounds. Chime, for instance, was valued at $25 billion in 2021, but its bankers have been discussing pricing its shares at roughly an $11... When banking app Chime goes public next month, it will mark the eighth straight venture...

Photo via Getty

AI Can Help Companies Become More Efficient—Except When It Screws Up

By Martin Peers · May 29, 2025 5:15pm PDT

Artificial intelligence really does make mistakes—sometimes big ones. Last weekend, I put half a dozen emails with details of airplane and hotel bookings for an upcoming vacation into Google’s NotebookLM and asked it to write me an itinerary. The resulting document read great—until I realized it listed a departure date 24 hours later than the... Artificial intelligence really does make mistakes—sometimes big ones. Last weekend, I put half a...

Photo via Getty

Why One Startup Is Telling Investors Not to Wire the Money

By Natasha Mascarenhas · May 29, 2025 5:06pm PDT

Photo via Getty

Why One Startup Is Telling Investors Not to Wire the Money

By Natasha Mascarenhas · May 29, 2025 5:06pm PDT

A few months ago, I wrote about a number of early-stage startup founders who chose not to raise venture capital after an initial seed round, instead running their startups on the sales their businesses were generating. Dan Shipper, founder of media and artificial intelligence software startup Every, is taking this “seed-strapping” approach a... A few months ago, I wrote about a number of early-stage startup founders who chose not to raise...