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

Hailey Bieber. Photo via Getty

Creator Economy

A $1 Billion Boost to Beauty M&A

By Laura Mandaro and Ann Gehan · May 29, 2025 2:01pm PDT

After explosive growth, a generation of beauty brands that blew up on TikTok over the past few years seemed at risk of stalling out. Startups selling lip gloss and body creams lined up bankers last year, hoping for sales to larger consumer product companies. Then few of those deals actually happened.That is, until Wednesday, when Elf Beauty said... After explosive growth, a generation of beauty brands that blew up on TikTok over the past few...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty

OpenAI’s New Path to Conversion Faces Activist Opposition

By Rocket Drew · May 29, 2025 1:33pm PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI has backed off on its plans to carve out its for-profit business, which is responsible for ChatGPT, from its nonprofit charity arm. However, OpenAI’s new proposal to restructure its ownership hasn’t won over nonprofit advocates who opposed the original plan. The advocates are pressing the attorneys general in Delaware and California to... OpenAI has backed off on its plans to carve out its for-profit business, which is responsible for...

Art by Clark Miller

Jensen Huang Used to Delegate Politics—Until Trump’s Return

By Qianer Liu and Wayne Ma · May 29, 2025 10:41am PDT

Since the start of this year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been thrust into an unexpected new role—chief lobbyist for his company—forcing him to carry its hopes, suggestions and pleas directly to President Donald Trump. Many of Huang’s conversations with Trump have happened at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s residence and private club in south... Since the start of this year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been thrust into an unexpected new...

Image via Getty

The Downsides of Vibe Coding

By Jon Victor · May 29, 2025 10:00am PDT · 1 comment

Image via Getty

The Downsides of Vibe Coding

By Jon Victor · May 29, 2025 10:00am PDT · 1 comment

Some businesses are waking up to the downsides of automated coding products. While most customers cite huge gains in developer productivity from tools like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or Anthropic’s Claude, the code they generate sometimes doesn’t work as expected—or worse, it can make a business vulnerable to hacking or a data leak.The risks can be... Some businesses are waking up to the downsides of automated coding products. While most customers...

Image via Getty

VCs Are Keeping an Ear Out for Voice AI Startups

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 29, 2025 7:21am PDT

Each new month of the AI boom has brought along with it a new “AI startup flavor of the month” for venture capitalists to drool over. The latest one, VCs tell me, are startups building AI voice agents for various verticals, from hotels to hospitals.Up until recently, AI software that can understand and respond with human speech has largely been... Each new month of the AI boom has brought along with it a new “AI startup flavor of the month”...

Art by Mike Sullivan

VC Funds Are for Sale—at a Discount

By Sri Muppidi · May 29, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

The year 2025 was supposed to bring a cash windfall to venture capital backers, as companies that had delayed going public finally made the leap. That hasn’t happened. With a roller-coaster stock market delaying many long-anticipated initial public offerings, the limited partners in VC funds have been finding new ways to cash out of their stakes... The year 2025 was supposed to bring a cash windfall to venture capital backers, as companies that...

Photo via Getty

Nvidia’s Inconveniently Good Quarter

By Martin Peers · May 28, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Well, this is inconvenient. Despite President Donald Trump’s order in April immediately blocking Nvidia from selling AI chips to China, the AI chipmaker reported another stellar quarter through the end of April. Revenue rose 69%, while free cash flow soared 75% to $26 billion, more than either Apple or Google throws off. Nvidia said the Trump... Well, this is inconvenient. Despite President Donald Trump’s order in April immediately blocking...

Coachella 2025. Photo via Getty.

Nylon Launches Creator Membership Program, Paid by Advertisers

By Sahil Patel · May 28, 2025 2:51pm PDT

Coachella 2025. Photo via Getty.

Creator Economy

Nylon Launches Creator Membership Program, Paid by Advertisers

By Sahil Patel · May 28, 2025 2:51pm PDT

Fashion and culture magazine Nylon has launched a new membership program for creators—paid for by advertisers. It’s an effort by Nylon’s parent company, Bustle Digital Group, to take advantage of advertisers’ growing interest in experiential, in-person events, as well as working with influential creators on Instagram, TikTok and other... Fashion and culture magazine Nylon has launched a new membership program for creators—...

Image via Getty

China’s Answer to Vibe Coding

By Jing Yang · May 28, 2025 7:00am PDT

A new front has opened in the AI race between the U.S. and China. A six-month old Chinese startup has jumped into the market for coding assistants aimed at amateurs, hoping to make a global splash the way Chinese firms DeepSeek and Manus did in open-source models and AI that controls web browsers, respectively.YouWare, created by a 20-person... A new front has opened in the AI race between the U.S. and China. A six-month old Chinese startup...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

AI Shopping Race Means a New Talent War Is Brewing

By Ann Gehan · May 28, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Artificial intelligence is ready to disrupt the $1.2 trillion U.S. e-commerce industry. And ad giants, retailers and payment companies are bringing in reinforcements. The Information tracked 14 executives leading key products and partnerships at the center of an AI-driven shift in how people shop for and buy things online. These include... Artificial intelligence is ready to disrupt the $1.2 trillion U.S. e-commerce industry. And ad...

Photo by Getty

Who’s In Charge of AI at Meta After Shake-Up

By Kalley Huang · May 27, 2025 5:42pm PDT · 1 comment

In recent weeks, there were growing signs that all wasn’t well inside Meta Platforms’ generative artificial intelligence group. The group’s pulse score—an internal measure of employee satisfaction—was among the lowest in the company, according to a person familiar with the matter. In feedback to leaders, group members complained... In recent weeks, there were growing signs that all wasn’t well inside Meta Platforms’ generative...

Photo via Getty

Benioff the Dealmaker Resurfaces With Informatica Purchase

By Martin Peers · May 27, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Photo via Getty

Benioff the Dealmaker Resurfaces With Informatica Purchase

By Martin Peers · May 27, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Marc Benioff is in his happy place once again, buying companies. Salesforce’s deal to buy data management firm Informatica for $8 billion in cash is the first sizable acquisition Benioff has done since a bunch of activist investors in late 2022-early 2023 forced him to focus more on profits and less on deals. And it comes at a critical time for... Marc Benioff is in his happy place once again, buying companies. Salesforce’s deal to buy data...

Josh Kushner and Jony Ive. Images via Getty. Art by Clark Miller.

OpenAI’s $6.5 Billion Deal to Boost Returns for Ive’s Backers

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Miles Kruppa · May 27, 2025 3:46pm PDT

The OpenAI deal that values Jony Ive’s artificial intelligence startup at $6.5 billion stands to reward investors in the stealth company handsomely—at least on paper.After becoming one of OpenAI’s biggest outside shareholders, Thrive Capital last year invested about $30 million in the device startup, called Io Products, according to a person... The OpenAI deal that values Jony Ive’s artificial intelligence startup at $6.5 billion stands to...

Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo via Getty.

Creator Economy

A Guide to Our Future of Influence Event

By Kaya Yurieff · May 27, 2025 2:00pm PDT

We are just one week away from our fifth annual creator economy event in Los Angeles!This year’s event, called The Future of Influence: What’s Next for Creators, Entertainment & AI, will bring together about 250 people, including creators, entrepreneurs, brands, tech executives and investors shaping the sector. (It’s not too late to buy a... We are just one week away from our fifth annual creator economy event in Los Angeles!This year’s...

Partner Content

Financing the AI Revolution Recap: Adopting AI in the Enterprise

By The Information Partnerships · May 27, 2025 10:32am PDT

LLMs are improving rapidly, with new capabilities and record-setting scores on reasoning and coding benchmarks seemingly announced each week. And yet there remains a significant adoption gap, with organizations of all sizes still in the early days of translating these improvements into measurable business impacts. During a panel discussion at... LLMs are improving rapidly, with new capabilities and record-setting scores on reasoning and...

Image via Getty

Where Autonomous Coding Tools Excel

By Jon Victor · May 27, 2025 10:02am PDT

Image via Getty

Where Autonomous Coding Tools Excel

By Jon Victor · May 27, 2025 10:02am PDT

New AI-powered programming tools like OpenAI’s Codex or Google’s Jules might not be able to code an entire app from scratch just yet. But when it comes to working with large amounts of previously written code, those products could soon be saving developers a ton of time.For example, Codex excels at finding bugs in a large code base and... New AI-powered programming tools like OpenAI’s Codex or Google’s Jules might not be able to code...

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Chief Product Officer Mike Krieger and Head of Communications Sasha de Marigny at Anthropic's first developer conference in San Francisco. Photo by Getty.

Anthropic’s Tattle-Tale Model Goes Viral But Will Customers Care?

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 27, 2025 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Anthropic’s drop on Thursday of its latest generation of models—Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4—landed lots of praise on social media, as early users highlighted how the models were able to stay on track for long-running coding tasks, like creating an entire CRM or complicated video games. (Our readers already knew some of this since we had ... Anthropic’s drop on Thursday of its latest generation of models—Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4...

Art by Clark Miller; Musk and Cook images via Getty.

Apple’s Satellite Ambitions Threatened by Elon Musk, Internal Resistance

By Aaron Tilley and Wayne Ma · May 27, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Three years ago, Elon Musk approached Apple with an eleventh-hour offer. Musk had heard that Apple was about to announce a feature for the upcoming iPhone 14 in partnership with satellite firm Globalstar that would allow iPhones to send text messages to emergency services in areas without cellular reception. He wanted Apple to instead use... Three years ago, Elon Musk approached Apple with an eleventh-hour offer. Musk had heard that ...

Photo via Getty

Chime’s IPO Is Coming. Here’s How to Value the One-of-a-Kind Fintech

By Anita Ramaswamy · May 26, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Chime, a fintech that offers banking services to people with low and moderate incomes, says it aims to address the “fundamental misalignment between what’s good for banks and what’s good for consumers.” Now Chime is planning to go public, and the big question is what will be good for investors. The answer is complicated. Chime straddles the... Chime, a fintech that offers banking services to people with low and moderate incomes, says it...

Art by Clark Miller.

Deel Bolsters Governance as It Fights Spying Claims

By Michael Roddan · May 25, 2025 7:00am PDT

Art by Clark Miller.

Deel Bolsters Governance as It Fights Spying Claims

By Michael Roddan · May 25, 2025 7:00am PDT

Global payroll startup Deel is bolstering its governance and ending some of its unusual practices as it fights accusations in a lawsuit that its CEO and board chair recruited and paid a corporate spy at its archrival, Rippling. Deel is moving its official corporate headquarters from its current location: a two-bedroom apartment in a San... Global payroll startup Deel is bolstering its governance and ending some of its unusual practices...