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

Elon Musk and Sam Altman in 2015. Photo via Getty

Elon Musk Wins OpenAI Battle, but Altman May Win the War

By Martin Peers · May 5, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Elon Musk might have won the battle over OpenAI’s future, but who’s to say Sam Altman isn’t going to win the war? Today’s announcement by the ChatGPT creator that it was abandoning plans to move its for-profit arm out from under control of the nonprofit—conceding to Musk’s legal efforts to stop the restructuring—could end up cementing... Elon Musk might have won the battle over OpenAI’s future, but who’s to say Sam Altman isn’t going...

Partner Content

Financing the AI Revolution Recap: AI and the IPO Market

By The Information Partnerships · May 5, 2025 2:12pm PDT

After a yearslong slump in the initial public offering market, 2025 was poised to be the year exits made a comeback, with many big companies in tech and artificial intelligence—including Databricks, Chime, StubHub and Klarna—primed to hit the exchange and deliver a long-anticipated return on investment. All of that was before Trump’s on-again,... After a yearslong slump in the initial public offering market, 2025 was poised to be the year...

Why the Dollar’s Fall Matters to Tech Investors

By Anita Ramaswamy · May 5, 2025 8:00am PDT · 2 comments

The impact of the falling dollar is rumbling through tech companies’ earnings and threatens to reduce investments in the industry for both established players and startups. Since President Donald Trump’s tariffs announcements a month ago, the dollar has fallen to its lowest level since 2022. The move was so big that companies including Meta... The impact of the falling dollar is rumbling through tech companies’ earnings and threatens to...

From left to right: Andrew White, FutureHouse head of science and cofounder; Michael Skarlinski, member of technical staff; and Sam Rodriques, CEO and cofounder. Photo courtesy of FutureHouse.

The Startup Building an AI Scientist

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 5, 2025 7:00am PDT

From left to right: Andrew White, FutureHouse head of science and cofounder; Michael Skarlinski, member of technical staff; and Sam Rodriques, CEO and cofounder. Photo courtesy of FutureHouse.

The Startup Building an AI Scientist

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 5, 2025 7:00am PDT

Scores of scientists are using reasoning AI models to help them come up with hypotheses and experiments in fields like nuclear fusion, biology and pathogen detection. However, some researchers believe that startups with backgrounds in specific domains like biology or chemistry would be better equipped to build the AI models for those domains,... Scores of scientists are using reasoning AI models to help them come up with hypotheses and...

How Bill Ready Remade Pinterest—And Its C-Suite

By Catherine Perloff · May 5, 2025 6:00am PDT

Bill Ready has transformed Pinterest from a struggling social media firm under activist investor pressure to a growing company. While he may have calmed investors’ concerns, he’s still figuring out the right people to help him run the company. Ready, a former president of commerce and payments at Google, has overhauled his management team more... Bill Ready has transformed Pinterest from a struggling social media firm under activist investor...

Rendering of Epsilon's planned synthetic graphite plant in North Carolina. Photo: Courtesy Epsilon.

The Electric: These U.S. Battery Companies Think Full-Throttle Tariffs Are Great

By Steve LeVine · May 5, 2025 4:30am PDT

A lot of companies and investors are predicting a bottom-line disaster if President Donald Trump doesn’t seriously scale back or—better yet—eliminate the double- and triple-digit tariffs he has tacked onto imports. But Vikram Handa, managing director of Epsilon Carbon, isn’t one of them. Handa, whose India-based company is building a $650... A lot of companies and investors are predicting a bottom-line disaster if President Donald Trump...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Apple Plans iPhone Release Schedule Shakeup, New Styles

By Wayne Ma · May 3, 2025 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

After years of incremental changes to the iPhone, Apple is mixing things up much more dramatically. Later this year it’s expected to introduce an ultrathin new device, followed by a foldable phone expected in 2026. Also next year, Apple plans to change its release strategy, launching pricier, more premium versions in the fall as usual, but... After years of incremental changes to the iPhone, Apple is mixing things up much more...

What’s Bad About a Nice Robot?

What’s Bad About a Nice Robot?

By Abram Brown · May 3, 2025 7:00am PDT

What’s Bad About a Nice Robot?

What’s Bad About a Nice Robot?

By Abram Brown · May 3, 2025 7:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Arena: Why sports leagues learned to love creators and stop fighting them• The Top 5: The startups hoping for a “MAHA” boom• Power and Influence: Tech’s Trumpists have no regrets • Plus, our Recommendations: A sinister snafu; when India changed the world; Amy Sherman-Palladino strikes backWhy... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Arena: Why sports leagues learned to love creators...

Art by Clark Miller; Kennedy photo via Getty.

The Startups Hoping for a ‘MAHA’ Boom

By Ann Gehan · May 3, 2025 6:30am PDT · 3 comments

A few weeks ago, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, and Marty Makary, the new Food and Drug Administration commissioner, announced plans to ban eight commonly used petroleum-based dyes from food products in the U.S. Kennedy envisions far more changes ahead in his crusade to force American food companies to... A few weeks ago, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, and Marty...

Art by Clark Miller

Tech Companies Tiptoe Around Trump

By Nick Wingfield and Theo Wayt · May 3, 2025 6:30am PDT · 5 comments

On Thursday, Microsoft announced it had jacked up the prices on its game products, raising the price of its flagship Xbox console by $100—or 20%—to $600. It was an extraordinary move: Five-year-old consoles like the current generation of Xboxes almost always see price cuts, not increases. To anyone even dimly aware of economic news,... On Thursday, Microsoft announced it had jacked up the prices on its game products, raising the...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo via Getty

Microsoft’s Big Week

By Martin Peers · May 2, 2025 2:59pm PDT · 3 comments

Satya Nadella, take a bow! Microsoft finished the week as the most valuable company in the world, worth $3.235 trillion, above Apple, long the market leader, which closed Friday with a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion. It’s no mystery why: Microsoft shares have outperformed all year, and this week they rallied strongly following the... Satya Nadella, take a bow! Microsoft finished the week as the most valuable company in the world,...

Anthropic to Buy Back Employee Shares at $61.5 Billion Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 2, 2025 2:01pm PDT · 2 comments

Anthropic to Buy Back Employee Shares at $61.5 Billion Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 2, 2025 2:01pm PDT · 2 comments

Anthropic is offering to buy back shares from hundreds of current and former employees, the first transaction of its kind for the four-year-old company. The buyback is a sign of how integral these have become in rewarding employees at fast-growing startups and retaining rare research talent in the artificial intelligence talent war. San... Anthropic is offering to buy back shares from hundreds of current and former employees, the...

Harvard University. Photo by Getty

Endowments Need Cash, but VC Firms Have None to Offer

By Miles Kruppa · May 2, 2025 10:39am PDT

The long and fruitful relationship between venture capital firms and university endowments is facing hard times as both sides struggle with worsening cash squeezes. Over the past three years, VC funds have been returning money to their investors at the lowest rates in the past 25 years, levels that have only occurred during major market and... The long and fruitful relationship between venture capital firms and university endowments is...

Clark Miller

How Sports Leagues Learned to Love Creators Instead of Fighting Them

By Sara Germano · May 2, 2025 9:04am PDT

In summer 2021, Matt Scharf and some of his guy friends were playing a round of golf at a leafy course near Austin, Texas, when they arrived at the 14th hole, a 290-yard uphill par 4. Clad in a busy Hawaiian-print polo and a trucker hat, Scharf thwacked a drive straight down the fairway to the green, eliciting immediate whoops of “Dude!” and “... In summer 2021, Matt Scharf and some of his guy friends were playing a round of golf at a leafy...

Modular AI's Chris Lattner and Encharge AI's Naveen Verma. Photos via YouTube and Encharge AI.

AI Chip Startups Chug Along

By Akash Pasricha · May 2, 2025 8:00am PDT

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made headlines this week when he told reporters the artificial intelligence chips race between the U.S. and China is neck and neck. He was referring to Huawei Technologies’ progress on its own new AI processor. But it’s worth remembering that many startups in the U.S. are also working on developing their own custom... Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made headlines this week when he told reporters the artificial...

Art by Clark Miller.

Advertisers Plan Cuts to TV Advertising As Economic Worries Mount

By Sahil Patel · May 2, 2025 8:00am PDT

Art by Clark Miller.

Advertisers Plan Cuts to TV Advertising As Economic Worries Mount

By Sahil Patel · May 2, 2025 8:00am PDT

Google and Meta Platforms have signaled they’re not seeing much pullback by advertisers worried about the economy, but it’s likely to be a different story for TV networks and video-streaming services. TV ad sales executives and ad buyers say marketers are already indicating plans to cut back spending on entertainment and news programming by as... Google and Meta Platforms have signaled they’re not seeing much pullback by advertisers worried...

Jensen Huang. Photo by Getty.

Nvidia Is Again Working on China-Tailored Chips After U.S. Export Ban

By Qianer Liu · May 2, 2025 6:00am PDT

The U.S. government is steadily tightening the noose on Nvidia’s sales to China. But the AI chip giant isn’t giving up on the market. Nvidia has told some of its biggest Chinese customers, including ByteDance, Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings, that it is tweaking the design of its artificial intelligence chips so they can be sold to Chinese... The U.S. government is steadily tightening the noose on Nvidia’s sales to China. But the AI chip...

Photo via Getty

How Apple Is Dealing With Tariffs, So Far

By Martin Peers · May 1, 2025 5:00pm PDT

What a buzzkill. After Wednesday’s robust results from Meta Platforms and Microsoft, sparking Thursday’s tech stock rally, we came down to earth with results from Apple and Amazon Thursday evening. The numbers were pretty much par for the course for two companies whose high-growth days are in the past—5% top-line growth for Apple and 9%... What a buzzkill. After Wednesday’s robust results from Meta Platforms and Microsoft, sparking...

Scale CEO Alexandr Wang. Photo via AP

Scale AI’s Share Sale Isn’t Open to All

By Cory Weinberg · May 1, 2025 2:59pm PDT

It’s the startup equivalent of misplacing a winning lottery ticket. Former employees of Scale AI are being excluded from a planned share sale at a $25 billion valuation. “I just heard back from the stock admin. Former employees won’t be participating in the tender offer. rip,” one ex-employee wrote last month in a private Slack channel of... It’s the startup equivalent of misplacing a winning lottery ticket. Former employees of Scale AI...

Whatnot's Armand Wilson. Photo via Whatnot.

Whatnot Users Spend 80 Minutes a Day Shopping

By Ann Gehan · May 1, 2025 2:00pm PDT

Whatnot's Armand Wilson. Photo via Whatnot.

Creator Economy

Whatnot Users Spend 80 Minutes a Day Shopping

By Ann Gehan · May 1, 2025 2:00pm PDT

Livestream shopping, while popular in Asia on apps like ByteDance-owned Douyin and Alibaba’s Taobao Live, has been hard for most U.S.-focused startups and creators to crack. Shoppers have been slow to grow comfortable buying stuff on livestreams, while retailers haven’t devoted much time and money to changing existing consumer habits. ... Livestream shopping, while popular in Asia on apps like ByteDance-owned Douyin and Alibaba’s ...