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

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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.

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Recent Editions

The Electric: Why Tesla Veterans Dominate the EV and Battery Industries

The Electric: Why Tesla Veterans Dominate the EV and Battery Industries

By Steve LeVine · Mar 11, 2024 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

In 2013, Landon Mossburg, then 29, was hired by Tesla to work on its supply chain team. Tesla threw him into negotiations with the senior executives of cellphone, internet and tech companies to secure internet connectivity deals that would feed Tesla’s over-the-air software updates. Mossburg had a bachelor’s degree in business and had worked as... In 2013, Landon Mossburg, then 29, was hired by Tesla to work on its supply chain team. Tesla...

A Rising Star Investor's Polarizing Plan

A Rising Star Investor's Polarizing Plan

By Abram Brown · Mar 9, 2024 7:00am PST

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:The Silicon Valley rising star who angered AndreessenHow a white-collar pirate pilfered the richA million-dollar strawberry that venture capitalists cravePlus—Oscars weekend! A digital shortcut to enjoying this year’s biggest films and what the Academy should do in the years to come.A week ago, I bent the... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:The Silicon Valley rising star who angered AndreessenHow...

Art by Clark Miller

A High-Tech Strawberry—and Our Other Favorite Fancy Fruit

By The Information · Mar 9, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

By Larissa Zimberoff As a GPU is to Nvidia, a strawberry is to Oishii: expensive, deeply coveted—and backed by enormous amounts of capital and technology. New Jersey–based Oishii (pronounced oy-shi) operates two vertical farms that rely on robotic sensors, which collect over a million data points daily to ensure the berries grow in... By Larissa Zimberoff As a GPU is to Nvidia, a strawberry is to Oishii: expensive, deeply...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Altman Is More Powerful Than Ever; Trump’s TikTok Reversal

By Martin Peers · Mar 8, 2024 4:30pm PST

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Altman Is More Powerful Than Ever; Trump’s TikTok Reversal

By Martin Peers · Mar 8, 2024 4:30pm PST

If you’re one of those people who was obsessed with last November’s OpenAI drama, you can wipe it from your memory. The ChatGPT creator put CEO Sam Altman back on its board late Friday, we scooped (the company later confirmed the details in this blog post). You may remember, unless you’ve already erased your memory, that Altman lost his board... If you’re one of those people who was obsessed with last November’s OpenAI drama, you can wipe it...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

OpenAI Board Reappoints Altman and Adds Three Other Directors

By Laura Mandaro, Natasha Mascarenhas and Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 8, 2024 2:01pm PST · 2 comments

OpenAI’s board said an investigation into the circumstances surrounding CEO Sam Altman’s short-lived firing last November had exonerated the executive, who had been reinstated after a staff revolt. As a result, the company announced Altman had rejoined the board. The company said that the investigation, which was undertaken by the... OpenAI’s board said an investigation into the circumstances surrounding CEO Sam...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

JPMorgan Sees Mixed Results From Silicon Valley Push

By Michael Roddan · Mar 8, 2024 10:45am PST · 4 comments

A few months after JPMorgan Chase bought the collapsed First Republic Bank last year, Eric Bahn decided he needed a new home for his money. The general partner and co-founder of Hustle Fund, a $130 million fund that invests in pre-seed and seed companies, had been a First Republic customer for years. He liked its capital call credit lines, which... A few months after JPMorgan Chase bought the collapsed First Republic Bank last year, Eric Bahn...

TikTok’s Latest Crisis, Elon’s Emails, AI Monopolies

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 8, 2024 10:19am PST

A potential TikTok ban is back in the news—and this attempt feels different. Plus, Musk on the attack and more on this week's More or Less. Hope you enjoy! Apple Spotify A potential TikTok ban is back in the news—and this attempt feels different. Plus, Musk on...

Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO of Snowflake. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images.

Pro Weekly: The Many Ways to Run a Software Company

By Akash Pasricha · Mar 8, 2024 8:00am PST

Sridhar Ramaswamy, CEO of Snowflake. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images.

Pro Weekly: The Many Ways to Run a Software Company

By Akash Pasricha · Mar 8, 2024 8:00am PST

Fresh off Sridhar Ramaswamy’s appointment as CEO of Snowflake, we published an Org Chart for the cloud database software company this week, highlighting the 41 top executives. Snowflake is the latest software company added to our Org Charts catalog. We published ServiceNow and MongoDB earlier this year, and we’ve long had Org Charts for ... Fresh off Sridhar Ramaswamy’s appointment as CEO of Snowflake, we published an Org Chart for the...

Art by Clark Miller

The Startup Investor Who Earned Andreessen’s Ire

By Kate Clark · Mar 8, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

The inner sanctum of one of Silicon Valley’s most intriguing investors is a small, bland room in Los Altos Hills, Calif., filled on a recent morning by little more than a marble-top conference table, a whiteboard and a stack of bagged spicy chili potato chips. The home office belongs to General Catalyst CEO Hemant Taneja, and... The inner sanctum of one of Silicon Valley’s most intriguing investors is a small,...

Photo by Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images.

How You Fight Back Against Elon Musk

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 7, 2024 5:03pm PST · 30 comments

There was a moment last summer when Elon Musk had challenged Mark Zuckerberg to a mixed martial arts fight, and I, for once, had sympathy for Meta Platforms’ public relations team. The owner of X was proposing he settle his differences with Zuckerberg by fighting him in the Roman Colosseum. It was absurd. And yet, months later, it seems to... There was a moment last summer when Elon Musk had challenged Mark Zuckerberg to a mixed martial...

TS Anil, CEO of Monzo. Zed Jameson/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

What Monzo’s Monster Fundraise Says About Fintech

By Abubakar Idris · Mar 7, 2024 3:55pm PST · 2 comments

For much of the past year, most articles about fintech startups have sounded alike: A once high-valued startup struggles to live up to its lofty valuation after interest rates spike, making it difficult to fund expansive growth plans. (I wrote about one, Chipper Cash, earlier this week.) But an announcement from a U.K. neobank has offered a... For much of the past year, most articles about fintech startups have sounded alike: A once...

Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images.

TikTok Engages Its 170 Million Fans to Fight Potential Ban

By Sahil Patel and Kaya Yurieff · Mar 7, 2024 2:22pm PST · 3 comments

Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images.

Creator Economy

TikTok Engages Its 170 Million Fans to Fight Potential Ban

By Sahil Patel and Kaya Yurieff · Mar 7, 2024 2:22pm PST · 3 comments

Here we go again! TikTok is back in the crosshairs of the U.S. government and it’s already using the most valuable marketing real estate at its disposal—its own app—to rally U.S. users to its defense. Over the last day, some people with the TikTok smartphone app received push notifications stating that it “is at risk of being shut down in... Here we go again! TikTok is back in the crosshairs of the U.S. government and it’s already using...

Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) speaks with reporters about TikTok outside the U.S. Capitol today. Photo via AP.

TikTok Reactivates Creator Lobby as Ban Bill Clears House Panel

By Kaya Yurieff, Erin Woo and Juro Osawa · Mar 7, 2024 1:17pm PST · 4 comments

A bipartisan bill to ban TikTok unless it cuts ties with its Chinese owner, ByteDance, cleared a crucial hurdle in the House of Representatives on Thursday when the House Energy Committee approved it with a unanimous vote. The vote signaled that a long-simmering threat to the app may be boiling over into concrete action. The bill’s quick... A bipartisan bill to ban TikTok unless it cuts ties with its Chinese owner, ByteDance, cleared a...

Photo via Midjourney.

Here's How Big Tech Is Tackling Deepfakes

By Kalley Huang · Mar 7, 2024 7:01am PST

Here’s an increasingly familiar feeling: You see an image and you can’t tell if it was made or manipulated using artificial intelligence. It’s a big problem, given the potential of fake images to influence elections, among other things. Fortunately, many of the companies whose technology makes it easy to create and spread AI-generated content... Here’s an increasingly familiar feeling: You see an image and you can’t tell if it was made or...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Amazon Pumps the Brakes on Global Domination

By Theo Wayt · Mar 7, 2024 6:00am PST

Less than two years ago, Amazon had big plans to continue its march into the sizable areas of the world where it hadn’t yet officially opened an online store for business. In 2022, it planned to launch local versions of its store that year in at least three new European countries—Ireland, Belgium and Switzerland—according to a... Less than two years ago, Amazon had big plans to continue its march into the sizable areas of the...

Battery making in Germany. Photo: Getty

Exclusive From The Electric: A Battery Startup Proposes Souped-Up CT Scans to Prevent Fires

By Steve LeVine · Mar 7, 2024 4:30am PST

Battery making in Germany. Photo: Getty

Exclusive From The Electric: A Battery Startup Proposes Souped-Up CT Scans to Prevent Fires

By Steve LeVine · Mar 7, 2024 4:30am PST

Two Tesla veterans have formed a startup to apply X-ray technology to one of the biggest problems for the makers of electric vehicle batteries: finding defects in the batteries as they’re made—and before they cause bigger problems. Two Tesla veterans have formed a startup to apply X-ray technology to one of the biggest problems...

Garry Tan. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan Discussed OpenAI Board Role

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Mar 6, 2024 7:05pm PST · 1 comment

Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, a longtime venture capitalist, early this year talked with directors of OpenAI about joining the board that governs the artificial intelligence startup valued at more than $80 billion, according to a person who has spoken to board members. The talks were preliminary, and it’s not clear if the board is still... Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, a longtime venture capitalist, early this year talked with...

Photo via Getty Images

The Talent Battle Behind Musk’s Feud With OpenAI

By Amir Efrati · Mar 6, 2024 5:00pm PST

Elon Musk seems to enjoy getting into verbal fisticuffs with other CEOs (as Bob Iger of Disney can attest). But his attacks on OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman in a lawsuit last week may have a strategic purpose. In artificial intelligence, talent has long been a priceless commodity. And it’s a good bet Musk’s OpenAI battle has something to do with... Elon Musk seems to enjoy getting into verbal fisticuffs with other CEOs (as Bob Iger of Disney...

Linktree co-founders, from left to right: Nick Humphreys, Alex Zaccaria, Anthony Zaccaria

Creator Economy

Linktree Jumps Into Social Commerce With Sephora

By Kaya Yurieff · Mar 6, 2024 2:33pm PST

Linktree, the largest and best known among the dozens of startups offering link-in-bio tools—the landing pages that link creators’ social media accounts to product pages, podcasts and videos—is expanding into social commerce. The seven-year-old startup is testing an affiliate marketing program with Sephora, Revolve and Urban Outfitters.... Linktree, the largest and best known among the dozens of startups offering link-in-bio tools—the...

AWS VP Matt Wood, left, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in 2017. Photo via YouTube/Bhushan Sonawane.

AWS Exec: Demand for Nvidia Chips Will Stay High

By Anissa Gardizy and Amir Efrati · Mar 6, 2024 8:58am PST · 3 comments

AWS VP Matt Wood, left, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in 2017. Photo via YouTube/Bhushan Sonawane.

AWS Exec: Demand for Nvidia Chips Will Stay High

By Anissa Gardizy and Amir Efrati · Mar 6, 2024 8:58am PST · 3 comments

Nvidia’s rapid climb to become the third most valuable company has drawn comparisons to Cisco, whose success in selling routers during the dot-com boom briefly made it the world’s most valuable public company in 2000. But Matt Wood, a vice president of artificial intelligence products at Amazon Web Services which is among... Nvidia’s rapid climb to become the third most valuable company has drawn comparisons to...