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

Wayve, May Mobility, Einride and Nuro self-driving vehicles. Photos: Wayve, May Mobility, Nuro, Einride, Getty. Art: Shane Burke

Startups to Watch

Nine Self-Driving Startups Chasing Waymo’s Lead

By Alex Perry · May 8, 2025 10:30am PDT · 5 comments

For years, self-driving cars were a feature of the sci-fi future. But Waymo’s leap from testing to ferrying paying customers in four cities has made robotaxis a reality. That’s set off a race among newcomers and industry stalwarts to expand new businesses that support autonomous vehicles. Below we provide exclusive details on nine startups worth... For years, self-driving cars were a feature of the sci-fi future. But Waymo’s leap from testing...

Illustration via Getty

Why Voice AI Is Hard to Listen To

By Jon Victor · May 8, 2025 10:00am PDT

Artificial intelligence has gotten great at automating customer support emails and text chats. But automating customer support phone calls is far more challenging because AI that can understand and generate human-sounding speech is still too costly, slow and unreliable, said Jesse Zhang, CEO of Decagon, a developer of AI for customer support.... Artificial intelligence has gotten great at automating customer support emails and text chats....

Robotic arms harvesting crops inside a greenhouse. Photo by Getty.

OpenAI’s Big Hire; Farming Robots Seed New Startups, Despite Setbacks

By Rocket Drew · May 8, 2025 7:42am PDT

Before we get into today’s column, OpenAI late Wednesday evening announced the hire of Fidji Simo, currently the Instacart CEO and a member of OpenAI’s board, in the newly created position of CEO of OpenAI Applications, to run “the product, business, and other company functions,” reporting to CEO Sam Altman. (My colleagues Jessica Lessin and... Before we get into today’s column, OpenAI late Wednesday evening announced the hire of Fidji Simo...

Art by Clark Miller.

Spies Are Everywhere in Cutthroat Fintech Industry

By Michael Roddan · May 8, 2025 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

Art by Clark Miller.

Spies Are Everywhere in Cutthroat Fintech Industry

By Michael Roddan · May 8, 2025 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

It’s easier than ever to spy on a rival company. It’s also easier than ever to catch a spy. The result is a surge in spy-versus-spy lawsuits in the fintech industry, one of the most cutthroat in Silicon Valley. It’s easier than ever to spy on a rival company. It’s also easier than ever to catch a spy. The...

Coreshell Technologies headquarters in San Leandro, Calif. Photo: Courtesy Coreshell

Exclusive From The Electric: With a Poached Gigafactory Veteran, Coreshell Looks for Manufacturing Street Cred

By Steve LeVine · May 8, 2025 4:30am PDT

Asia’s battery powerhouses have frightened many next-generation Western startups into abandoning their ambitions to manufacture electric vehicle batteries. But California-based silicon anode developer Coreshell Technologies is pushing ahead with a well-tested survival strategy: It has poached a key South Korean gigafactory expert to help take on... Asia’s battery powerhouses have frightened many next-generation Western startups into abandoning...

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo. Photo via Getty

OpenAI Hires Instacart CEO Simo For Major Leadership Role

By Jessica E. Lessin and Amir Efrati · May 7, 2025 9:43pm PDT · 6 comments

Update: OpenAI confirmed it is hiring Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to oversee some of the company’s divisions in a major leadership restructuring at the artificial intelligence firm. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, confirming an earlier report by The Information, said he would continue overseeing research and infrastructure teams that are core to... Update: OpenAI confirmed it is hiring Instacart CEO Fidji Simo to oversee some of the...

A Foundation robot. Screenshot via YouTube

Ex-Synapse CEO’s Robot Startup Targets $1 Billion Valuation

By Michael Roddan and Natasha Mascarenhas · May 7, 2025 5:33pm PDT · 2 comments

A humanoid robotics startup founded by the former chief executive of failed fintech firm Synapse is aiming to finalize a $100 million fundraising that will value the year-old company at $1 billion, according to people who spoke to the company’s founders this week. The startup is in talks to raise money from the family office of a member of the... A humanoid robotics startup founded by the former chief executive of failed fintech firm Synapse...

Photo via Getty

Disney's Sports Advantage Over Netflix

By Martin Peers · May 7, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Photo via Getty

Disney's Sports Advantage Over Netflix

By Martin Peers · May 7, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Television advertising is becoming a one-trick pony—it’s all about sports. Check out Walt Disney Co.’s March-quarter results, released Wednesday. Ad revenue from its sports TV and streaming businesses rose 22%, due to staggering growth at ESPN’s U.S. business. “Live sports, as you know, is doing extremely well,” said Chief Financial... Television advertising is becoming a one-trick pony—it’s all about sports. Check out Walt...

World record holder Tobi Amusan (#4 in center) competes in the women's 100 meter hurdles at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest. Photo via Getty

Creator Economy

Sports Influencers Edge Into Journalists’ Turf

By Sara Germano and Kaya Yurieff · May 7, 2025 2:18pm PDT

I write The Arena column, where last week I took a deep dive into the increasingly central role that creators play in driving young audiences to live sporting events. For anyone who’s watched the Golf Channel, the NBA All-Star Game, or the Olympics, this trend has been brewing for some time.The rise of influencers in sports coincides with the... I write The Arena column, where last week I took a deep dive into the increasingly central role...

David Bailey. Photo by Getty.

David Bailey, Who Advised Trump on Crypto, Plans Bitcoin Investing Firm

By Yueqi Yang · May 7, 2025 8:05am PDT · 1 comment

David Bailey, who advised President Donald Trump on crypto policy during his 2024 campaign, is raising $300 million to launch a publicly traded bitcoin investing company, according to people familiar with the matter. He is following a string of companies that buy up crypto seeking to replicate the success of Michael Saylor’s Strategy, which... David Bailey, who advised President Donald Trump on crypto policy during his 2024 campaign, is...

Mira Murati. Photo by Getty

VCs Are Giving AI Founders Ever More Leverage

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

These days, investors are pulling out all the stops and getting more creative to convince founders of AI startups—particularly those with experience as executives at AI labs like OpenAI and Anthropic—to take their money, VCs tell me.The latest example we wrote about concerned Thinking Machines Lab, the buzzy startup cofounded by ex-OpenAI chief... These days, investors are pulling out all the stops and getting more creative to convince...

Art by Clark Miller.

Meta Renews Work on Facial Recognition Tech as Privacy Worries Fade

By Kalley Huang and Catherine Perloff · May 7, 2025 6:01am PDT

Art by Clark Miller.

Meta Renews Work on Facial Recognition Tech as Privacy Worries Fade

By Kalley Huang and Catherine Perloff · May 7, 2025 6:01am PDT

Back in 2021, Mark Zuckerberg and other top Facebook executives were dreaming big about how to design the company’s first generation of smart glasses. One feature they considered adding to them was facial recognition, which would have allowed someone wearing the glasses to, say, identify a person they bumped into at a party. Ultimately, though,... Back in 2021, Mark Zuckerberg and other top Facebook executives were dreaming big about how to...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, left, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo via Getty

OpenAI Plans to Slash Revenue Share to Microsoft After Restructuring

By Sri Muppidi, Aaron Holmes, Stephanie Palazzolo and Erin Woo · May 6, 2025 6:52pm PDT · 2 comments

As OpenAI moves ahead with a corporate restructuring to appease its investors as well as regulators, it needs to get clearance from Microsoft, its biggest outside shareholder and business partner. One part of OpenAI’s plan involves reducing the percentage of revenue it shares with Microsoft. In financial projections OpenAI shared with investors,... As OpenAI moves ahead with a corporate restructuring to appease its investors as well as...

Photo via Getty

DoorDash Buys European Fixer-Upper

By Martin Peers · May 6, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Food delivery’s great rivalry is heating up. DoorDash and Uber, the two giants of the restaurant-meal delivery scene in the U.S., are now poised to duke it out in Europe. DoorDash unveiled on Tuesday a $3.8 billion proposed takeover of UK-based Deliveroo, its biggest step yet to expand in Europe. Uber, meanwhile, did its best to rain on DoorDash... Food delivery’s great rivalry is heating up. DoorDash and Uber, the two giants of the...

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, at the Milken Institute Global Conference. Photo via Getty

At Milken, Wall Street's Eyes Widen for Data Centers

By Cory Weinberg · May 6, 2025 4:19pm PDT

Billions and even tens of billions don't generate much excitement at the annual Milken conference, taking place now in Los Angeles. But trillions, and especially $6.7 trillion, get some attention. That's the much-talked about number from a McKinsey report about the money needed to build out data centers to power artificial intelligence by... Billions and even tens of billions don't generate much excitement at the annual Milken...

From left to right Matt Dahlia, Ammar Kandil and Thomas Brag, who are behind the Yes Theory YouTube channel. Photo courtesy of Fan of a Fan.

Why a YouTuber-Founded Company Is Selling Its Warehouse Business

By Kaya Yurieff · May 6, 2025 2:00pm PDT

From left to right Matt Dahlia, Ammar Kandil and Thomas Brag, who are behind the Yes Theory YouTube channel. Photo courtesy of Fan of a Fan.

Creator Economy

Why a YouTuber-Founded Company Is Selling Its Warehouse Business

By Kaya Yurieff · May 6, 2025 2:00pm PDT

Creators eager to expand their online fame into offline fortune have discovered they need to learn the intricacies of logistics overnight. Now one group of YouTubers that built a shipping business is going back to its roots.Selery Fulfillment, a Dallas-based logistics company backed by Mark Cuban, is acquiring the fulfillment operations of Fan... Creators eager to expand their online fame into offline fortune have discovered they need to...

Illustration via Getty.

Amazon and Shopify Sellers Face Crunch as E-Commerce Lenders Pull Back

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · May 6, 2025 11:01am PDT

On Friday, Amazon sent many merchants selling goods on its e-commerce site a memo with pointers on how to navigate trade uncertainty amid steep U.S. tariffs. Suggestions included pivoting to selling in new countries and reshuffling inventory to different warehouses. Amazon also suggested merchants consider taking out loans, giving them funds to... On Friday, Amazon sent many merchants selling goods on its e-commerce site a memo with pointers...

Glenn D. Fogel, chief executive officer of Booking Holdings Inc., at the Semafor World Economy Summit during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring meetings in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, April 25, 2025. The International Monetary Fund sharply lowered its forecasts for world growth for this year and next, warning the outlook could deteriorate further as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs spark a global trade war. Image via Getty.

Booking Holdings’ CEO Is Hedging His AI Bets

By Jon Victor · May 6, 2025 10:23am PDT

We’ve written a lot about the possibility that consumers could soon use ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots for tasks like booking travel or ordering food, depriving app developers of ad revenue and eroding their relationship with customers.But Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking Holdings, which generates more than $20 billion in revenue... We’ve written a lot about the possibility that consumers could soon use ChatGPT and other...

Sam Altman speaks onstage during Sam Altman’s World Celebration for the US Launch at Fort Mason Center on April 30, 2025 in San Francisco, California.

What OpenAI’s Governance Reversal Means

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Natasha Mascarenhas and Amir Efrati · May 6, 2025 7:30am PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI’s decision on Monday to change course on its corporate restructuring looks to be a smart business choice. OpenAI has avoided a possible protracted conflict with Delaware—whose attorney general oversees nonprofits registered in the state, like OpenAI and implied she had something to do with the about-face. And OpenAI contends the... OpenAI’s decision on Monday to change course on its corporate restructuring looks to be a smart...

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, after testifying in federal court last week. Photo by Getty

Google Likely to Emerge Battered but Intact From Search Case

By Erin Woo · May 6, 2025 6:00am PDT

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, after testifying in federal court last week. Photo by Getty

Google Likely to Emerge Battered but Intact From Search Case

By Erin Woo · May 6, 2025 6:00am PDT

As the latest phase of the antitrust legal battle that could reshape Google’s business nears a conclusion, the tech giant seems likely to emerge battered but not broken up. Two weeks into a three-week trial meant to decide how Google should be overhauled to curb its search monopoly—which a judge found last August violated antitrust... As the latest phase of the antitrust legal battle that could reshape Google’s business nears a...