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

Five times/week

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.

By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy

Recent Editions

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Getty

Nvidia on the Outs as Tech Stocks Rally

By Martin Peers · Dec 16, 2024 5:00pm PST

Is Nvidia’s great bull run over? For the moment, at least, it seems so. Even as other big tech stocks have been riding the wave of bullish sentiment in recent weeks—shares of Apple, for instance, hit $251 on Monday, giving it a market capitalization of $3.8 trillion—Nvidia stock has been going in the opposite direction. On Monday it was down... Is Nvidia’s great bull run over? For the moment, at least, it seems so. Even as other big tech...

The Venture Capitalists Set to Win Big in 2025

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Dec 16, 2024 2:12pm PST · 4 comments

For three years, venture capitalists struggled to return cash to their investors. In 2025, many believe the dam is about to break. With more than a dozen tech startups on track to list publicly next year, early and large investors in companies including Klarna, Chime and CoreWeave will have the opportunity to cash out their shares. Below, we... For three years, venture capitalists struggled to return cash to their investors. In 2025, many...

Art by Mike Sullivan via Midjourney

Runway Shows There’s Money to Be Made in AI Video Too; ‘Scaling Laws’ and Reasoning Dominate NeurIPS

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 16, 2024 7:20am PST

AI-generated video seems to be having somewhat of a renaissance this month: OpenAI released its long-awaited Sora video model last Monday and startup Pika released an updated version of its video AI on Friday.Still, the question remains as to whether video model developers can make money off such tools, especially given how expensive and finicky... AI-generated video seems to be having somewhat of a renaissance this month: OpenAI released its...

The Airbnb Leaders Charged With Reigniting Growth

By Akash Pasricha · Dec 16, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

The Airbnb Leaders Charged With Reigniting Growth

By Akash Pasricha · Dec 16, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Airbnb rebounded strongly from the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, however, revenue is projected to grow less than 12%, down from 40% as recently as 2022. To reignite growth, CEO Brian Chesky a year ago shifted Dave Stephenson, the company’s longtime chief financial officer, to a role plotting new products and international... Airbnb rebounded strongly from the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, however,...

Photo: Getty

The Electric: While Musk Rides High With Trump, His Empire Faces a Multifront Challenge

By Steve LeVine · Dec 16, 2024 4:30am PST

Tesla is always out to sell cars, but this month it’s really out to sell cars: In both the U.S. and China, customers can take a five-year, Tesla-financed loan on one of its electric vehicles at 0% interest. They can get three months of free charging at its Supercharger stations and three months of free use of its autonomous driving software, not... Tesla is always out to sell cars, but this month it’s really out to sell cars: In both the U.S....

Art by Clark Miller

OpenAI’s New Toy Could Be a Problem

By Abram Brown · Dec 14, 2024 7:00am PST

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Inside tech’s embrace of devout Christianity• Media and Entertainment: Silicon Valley’s favorite videogames of 2024• The Top 5: The best disaster kit supplies • Plus: A play that morphs; America’s only universal creed; and a saga’s brilliant end.Santa won’t show up for weeks yet, but... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Inside tech’s embrace of devout...

Art by Clark Miller

Media and Entertainment

Silicon Valley’s Favorite Video Games of 2024

By David Ewalt · Dec 14, 2024 5:00am PST · 5 comments

Despite China’s massive presence in the tech world, the country’s videogame industry never had a big-budget, AAA game release until this August, when Shenzhen-based Game Science released Black Myth: Wukong, an action role-playing game inspired by the classic Ming dynasty novel “Journey to the West” about a demigodlike... Despite China’s massive presence in the tech world, the country’s videogame industry...

Art by Clark Miller

How Techies Stock Their Disaster Kits

By Todd Plummer · Dec 14, 2024 5:00am PST · 2 comments

Art by Clark Miller

How Techies Stock Their Disaster Kits

By Todd Plummer · Dec 14, 2024 5:00am PST · 2 comments

A twofold panic washed over Northern California last week. The first was very immediate when everyone’s phones got the same alert: an unexpected tsunami warning sparked by a rare 7.0 magnitude earthquake 40 miles off Cape Mendocino. In the end, it was a false alarm, and the warning was canceled. Yet that’s when the second panic hit,... A twofold panic washed over Northern California last week. The first was very immediate when...

Sora Reveal, Google’s AI Agents and Digital Trade Under Trump

By Jessica E. Lessin · Dec 13, 2024 3:31pm PST · 1 comment

This week on More or Less: Sora reveal, Google's AI agents and digital trade under Trump. Apple Spotify This week on More or Less: Sora reveal, Google's AI agents and digital trade under Trump. ...

Photo by Getty

Broadcom Stock Soars on Upbeat AI Talk

By Martin Peers · Dec 13, 2024 3:00pm PST · 1 comment

Broadcom CEO Hock Tan wants some of Jensen Huang’s limelight. Stock of the chip and software firm rocketed 24% on Friday, the day after Tan claimed that the company had a “massive” opportunity in artificial intelligence chips over the next three years. Speaking on an earnings call on Thursday night, he said Broadcom had three customers whose AI... Broadcom CEO Hock Tan wants some of Jensen Huang’s limelight. Stock of the chip and software firm...

Art by Clark Miller

The Antichrist and the New Apostles

By Julia Black · Dec 13, 2024 9:03am PST · 19 comments

Worship at Epic Church in downtown San Francisco last Sunday began in a darkened room, on the second floor of a former factory building. The shades were drawn across the tall windows, while colored lights cast a theatrical glow on a band that sounded a bit like Arcade Fire—if Arcade Fire made worship music. A mostly millennial congregation... Worship at Epic Church in downtown San Francisco last Sunday began in a darkened room, on the...

Pro Weekly: Pessimism Permeates Our Survey

Pro Weekly: Pessimism Permeates Our Survey

By Akash Pasricha · Dec 13, 2024 8:00am PST

Pro Weekly: Pessimism Permeates Our Survey

Pro Weekly: Pessimism Permeates Our Survey

By Akash Pasricha · Dec 13, 2024 8:00am PST

After a November full of optimism, The Information’s readers have turned decidedly pessimistic. Nearly 39% of respondents to our monthly survey expect conditions for technology companies to worsen over the next six months, outnumbering the 27% who expect conditions to improve. (The remainder expect conditions to stay the same.) Last... After a November full of optimism, The Information’s readers have turned decidedly...

AppLovin CEO, Adam Foroughi. Photo via AppLovin.

Why DTC Brands Suddenly Love AppLovin Ads

By Ann Gehan · Dec 13, 2024 6:00am PST

Direct-to-consumer retailers burned by higher digital ad prices over the past three years have grown desperate to reduce their dependency on Meta Platforms. So this fall, when mobile game giant AppLovin started letting retail brands buy ads that run within games like Legend of Slime and Sushi Roll 3D, the results seemed almost too good to be... Direct-to-consumer retailers burned by higher digital ad prices over the past three years have...

Vahe Kuzoyan, President & Co-Founder of ServiceTitan, at the Nasdaq MarketSite today in New York City. Photo by Getty.

ServiceTitan Runs With the Bulls in Well-Timed IPO

By Martin Peers · Dec 12, 2024 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

Timing is everything. ServiceTitan, a smallish tech firm that specializes in selling software for plumbers, roofers and other tradespeople, demonstrated that on Thursday when its shares debuted on the public markets at $101 apiece, a 42% premium to its IPO price of $71. That translates to a market capitalization of about $9 billion, which is not... Timing is everything. ServiceTitan, a smallish tech firm that specializes in selling software for...

President-elect Donald Trump. Photo by Getty.

The Tech Insiders Who Could Join Trump’s Orbit

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Dec 12, 2024 4:37pm PST

The list of venture capitalists and Silicon Valley insiders joining the next presidential administration is growing. Just this week, President-elect Donald Trump named Jacob Helberg, an adviser to Palantir Technologies and husband to Keith Rabois, a Khosla Ventures managing director, as a top economic policy and trade official. Helberg follows... The list of venture capitalists and Silicon Valley insiders joining the next presidential...

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas. Photo via Getty.

Google Challenger Perplexity Promises Booming Growth, Rosy Margins

By Sri Muppidi · Dec 12, 2024 3:10pm PST · 1 comment

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas. Photo via Getty.

Google Challenger Perplexity Promises Booming Growth, Rosy Margins

By Sri Muppidi · Dec 12, 2024 3:10pm PST · 1 comment

Google Search challenger Perplexity AI recently projected it will more than double its annualized revenue in 2025 to $127 million, implying it would be generating $10.5 million per month, according to three people who have seen the projections. Perplexity also projected it would quintuple annualized revenue to $656 million by the end of the... Google Search challenger Perplexity AI recently projected it will more than double its annualized...

Art by Mike Sullivan via Midjourney.

Creator Economy

Music AI Startups Get Creative to Avoid Copyright Lawsuits

By Rocket Drew · Dec 12, 2024 2:40pm PST

With the Grammys on the horizon, let’s talk about the growing number of startups that are using generative AI to make music. There’s been a wave of investor and founder interest in this technology. But creating music from other music faces major copyright risk. Already, companies including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and... With the Grammys on the horizon, let’s talk about the growing number of startups that are using ...

Bobby Kotick. Photo by Getty.

TikTok Suitor Bobby Kotick Waits for Trump

By Jing Yang, Nick Wingfield and Juro Osawa · Dec 12, 2024 11:55am PST · 1 comment

Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick remains interested in buying TikTok, said people familiar with Kotick’s thinking, but he is expected to wait until Donald Trump takes office before moving ahead with an offer. Barring a last minute court intervention, TikTok has until Jan. 19 to sever its ties with its Chinese parent ByteDance or... Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick remains interested in buying TikTok, said people...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai, left, and Donald Trump. Photos by Getty

Google CEO Expected to Meet with Trump Thursday

By Aaron Holmes and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Dec 12, 2024 10:52am PST · 1 comment

Google CEO Sundar Pichai is expected to fly to the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday to meet with President-elect Donald Trump, according to a person briefed on the plans. The meeting comes as Trump has signaled a desire to crack down on Google and other big tech companies that he has claimed are biased against him and... Google CEO Sundar Pichai is expected to fly to the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach,...

Photo via Getty

Tech IPOs Shift Focus to Rewarding Early Backers

By Anita Ramaswamy and Cory Weinberg · Dec 12, 2024 8:00am PST · 5 comments

Photo via Getty

Tech IPOs Shift Focus to Rewarding Early Backers

By Anita Ramaswamy and Cory Weinberg · Dec 12, 2024 8:00am PST · 5 comments

Initial public offerings were once about financing a tech company’s future hopes and dreams. More and more, however, IPOs are about looking backward—paying down debt or allowing early backers to sell some of their shares. Take ServiceTitan, which makes business software for tradespeople and is set to go public Thursday on the Nasdaq.... Initial public offerings were once about financing a tech company’s future hopes and...