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

Bolt, Once Worth $11 Billion, Slashes Share Price 97% in Buyback

By Cory Weinberg, Erin Woo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Feb 12, 2024 7:34pm PST · 5 comments

Some investors in Bolt, an e-commerce startup valued at $11 billion two years ago, plan to sell their stakes back to the company at a steep loss, showing the lengths to which venture capitalists will go to get some cash back on flailing investments. Tribe Capital has told its limited partners that it plans to sell shares back to Bolt at a price... Some investors in Bolt, an e-commerce startup valued at $11 billion two years ago, plan to sell...

"The Shy Five": Pat Collison (Stripe), Zhang Yiming (ByteDance), Ali Ghodsi (Databricks), Melanie Perkins (Canva) and Elon Musk (SpaceX).

Introducing the Shy Five

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 12, 2024 5:00pm PST

The insane stock rally in recent days of Arm, the SoftBank-owned chip designer, puts a big dent in the theory that the market for initial public offerings is still “closed.” The company’s stock price—which has doubled in the past week—is now up 192% from its September public listing, providing IPO investors with a juicy profit. What Arm... The insane stock rally in recent days of Arm, the SoftBank-owned chip designer, puts a big dent...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

The Most Exciting Thing About Altman’s Chip Dream

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Anissa Gardizy · Feb 12, 2024 7:00am PST

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stole the show last week with a report that he is trying to raise trillions of dollars in capital to develop and manufacture AI chips. But let’s set aside our collective incredulity for a moment (we’ll come back to it!) and consider the implication of Altman’s fundraising: that unlimited computing power will lead to... OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stole the show last week with a report that he is trying to raise trillions...

It’s Getting (Slightly) Easier to Sell Software

By Akash Pasricha · Feb 12, 2024 6:00am PST

It’s Getting (Slightly) Easier to Sell Software

By Akash Pasricha · Feb 12, 2024 6:00am PST

After a rough couple of years, software companies are finding it easier to sell their products to businesses. New data show that privately held software companies selling subscription services spent less time and money in the fourth quarter of 2023 to secure new customers, compared with earlier in the year. Preliminary data from January suggest... After a rough couple of years, software companies are finding it easier to sell their products to...

At a nickel smelter in Sorowako, Indonesia. Photo: Hariandi Hafid/SOPA/LightRocket/Getty

The Electric: Why is the U.S. Snubbing Indonesian Nickel?

By Steve LeVine · Feb 12, 2024 4:30am PST · 1 comment

Last week, Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines and Singapore’s Trafigura signed a deal to ship cobalt and copper from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo west, on a 1,000-mile, U.S.-backed railroad, to an Angolan port on the Atlantic Ocean. With a $250 million loan for the rail project, Washington is attempting to break China’s grip on central Africa... Last week, Canada’s Ivanhoe Mines and Singapore’s Trafigura signed a deal to ship cobalt and...

Just How Sick is Silicon Valley?

Just How Sick is Silicon Valley?

By Abram Brown · Feb 10, 2024 7:00am PST

Welcome to your Weekend!A week or so ago, I did a double redeye trip from New York to San Francisco, largely to see Brex co-founder Pedro Franceschi. As often happens these days, we spent part of our time in San Francisco talking about New York, where Franceschi had recently lived for a year and a half, stationing himself in a swank SoHo pad. In... Welcome to your Weekend!A week or so ago, I did a double redeye trip from New York to San...

Images courtesy of the manufacturers. Art by Clark Miller.

A Guide to Valentine’s Day Gifts, According to Actual Power Couples

By Margaux MacColl · Feb 10, 2024 6:00am PST · 3 comments

Money may not be able to buy happiness, but who’s to say it can’t generate a pretty nice ROI when it comes to love? Go ahead and test that theorem on romantic returns with our Valentine’s Day gift guide, which we assembled by talking with power couples in tech about what presents they’re giving each other this year and... Money may not be able to buy happiness, but who’s to say it can’t generate a pretty...

Photo by Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images.

Landing Apple as a Customer May Be More Trouble Than It’s Worth

By Martin Peers · Feb 9, 2024 3:15pm PST

Photo by Michael M. Santiago via Getty Images.

Landing Apple as a Customer May Be More Trouble Than It’s Worth

By Martin Peers · Feb 9, 2024 3:15pm PST

Be careful what you wish for, particularly if your wish is to sign Apple as a customer. That’s true whatever business you’re in, including, as The Information revealed this week, freight transport. As my colleagues Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan detailed in this report, freight firm Flexport’s biggest-name customer—one that hasn’t been disclosed before... Be careful what you wish for, particularly if your wish is to sign Apple as a customer. That’s...

Yes/No, Vision Pro? w/Special Guest Brian Singerman, Founders Fund

By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 9, 2024 11:21am PST

You rarely know where new technology is going to lead. In some ways, Apple's Vision Pro has seemed like a watershed product. Some believe it is the start of how computing will look five, ten, twenty years from now. Others think it is essentially a flat-screen television—the latest cool entertainment device. We debated that, of... You rarely know where new technology is going to lead. In some ways, Apple's Vision Pro has...

Franceschi and Dubugras photo courtesy of Brex. Art by Clark Miller.

The Brex Boys’ Uncomfortable Reckoning

By Abram Brown · Feb 9, 2024 9:00am PST · 5 comments

When pain clouds the present, the past can provide a welcome escape—a reality I see reflected on Pedro Franceschi’s face as we headed down Market Street in San Francisco last week. With the Muni trams crawling past us, he pointed out several of Brex’s former offices, narrating his startup’s high-speed rise: one at 580... When pain clouds the present, the past can provide a welcome escape—a reality I see...

Pro Weekly: Revisiting Our 50 Most Promising Startups

Pro Weekly: Revisiting Our 50 Most Promising Startups

By Akash Pasricha · Feb 9, 2024 8:00am PST

In October, we identified 50 companies for the fourth edition of The Information 50 Most Promising Startups. Today, we’re revisiting our latest picks. In less than six months, more than one in five have raised fresh funding, despite a lackluster investing climate. In the fourth quarter of 2023, global venture funds invested less money in... In October, we identified 50 companies for the fourth edition of The Information 50 Most...

Former FDIC Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji. Photo via YouTube/Art by Shane Burke.

The FDIC’s First Chief Innovation Officer Made Big Claims. Many Don’t Stack Up

By Michael Roddan · Feb 9, 2024 6:00am PST · 5 comments

Former FDIC Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji. Photo via YouTube/Art by Shane Burke.

The FDIC’s First Chief Innovation Officer Made Big Claims. Many Don’t Stack Up

By Michael Roddan · Feb 9, 2024 6:00am PST · 5 comments

In 2015, fintech founder and eventual FDIC Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji was sitting in a co-working space when a loud bang clapped through the room. It startled his colleagues, a group of founders from the St. Louis startup community, according to a person who was there. Meghji turned to a colleague and said the violent pop gave him... In 2015, fintech founder and eventual FDIC Chief Innovation Officer Sultan Meghji was sitting in...

Rene Haas, CEO of Arm Ltd. Photo by Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Arm’s Big Rally Doesn’t Compute

By Martin Peers · Feb 8, 2024 5:00pm PST

Wonders never cease: Arm’s pre-IPO promise to investors that the chip design firm would soon show decent growth turned out to be true! The company’s stock rocketed as much as 60% on Thursday after Arm reported a better-than-projected 14% revenue increase in December-quarter revenues. You might be thinking that 14% is hardly home run territory,... Wonders never cease: Arm’s pre-IPO promise to investors that the chip design firm would soon show...

Photo via Adobe Stock

Creator Economy

Pinterest Gets the Snap Treatment; Priceline’s Swift Super Bowl Play

By Kaya Yurieff · Feb 8, 2024 4:03pm PST

Add Pinterest to the same boat as Snap: a social media company that’s showing growth in digital ads, but far from the strength that wowed investors after Meta Platforms results. Pinterest stock fell 9% in extended trading Thursday afternoon after revenue rose 12% to $981 million during the fourth quarter compared to a year earlier. That was... Add Pinterest to the same boat as Snap: a social media company that’s showing growth in digital...

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Disney’s Epic Deal Values Fortnite Maker at $22.5 Billion, a Sharp Cut

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 8, 2024 1:45pm PST

Disney’s $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games values the Fortnite maker at $22.5 billion, a person familiar with the matter said. The price is about a 29% drop from where investors last valued the company less than two years ago. The investment makes the “Fortnite” maker one of the largest private, venture-backed companies to... Disney’s $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games values the Fortnite maker at $22.5 billion,...

Somesh Dash, general partner at IVP. Photo via IVP.

IVP’s New Fund Shows Growth Investors Are Ready to Get Off Sidelines

By Kate Clark · Feb 8, 2024 11:00am PST · 1 comment

Somesh Dash, general partner at IVP. Photo via IVP.

IVP’s New Fund Shows Growth Investors Are Ready to Get Off Sidelines

By Kate Clark · Feb 8, 2024 11:00am PST · 1 comment

The market for investing in mature startups has been in the dumps for the last year, as higher interest rates curb these startups’ growth. But plans by one of Silicon Valley’s oldest growth-stage VC firms to raise a new fund suggest such investors are ready to get back to work.IVP, a 43-year-old venture capital firm that’s backed Coinbase and... The market for investing in mature startups has been in the dumps for the last year, as higher...

Google’s Mountain View campus. Photo by The Washington Post via Getty Images.

Google’s Strange Decision to Not Undercut OpenAI and Microsoft; OpenAI’s Secret Agents

By Kalley Huang · Feb 8, 2024 7:15am PST · 2 comments

I’m Kalley, a reporter covering Meta Platforms and social media. I’m now regularly contributing to AI Agenda.Google this morning launched Gemini Ultra, the long-awaited flagship version of its most advanced large language model. It also renamed its ChatGPT rival to Gemini from Bard, which seemed like a logical move. These announcements had... I’m Kalley, a reporter covering Meta Platforms and social media. I’m now regularly contributing...

Photo via YouTube.

Flexport’s Apple Air Freight Deal Has Burned Through Cash

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · Feb 8, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

For Flexport, a logistics company billing itself as the future of trade, it’s hard to think of a more impressive client than Apple, the poster child of globalization. Since late 2022, the iPhone maker has been using Flexport’s air freight services to fly products from some of its factories in Asia to U.S. cities for distribution to... For Flexport, a logistics company billing itself as the future of trade, it’s hard to think...

Kurt Kelty, General Motors' incoming vice president of batteries. Photo: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg/Getty

Exclusive From The Electric: GM Poaches Next-Gen Battery Hand to Lead Its Battery Efforts

By Steve LeVine · Feb 8, 2024 4:30am PST · 2 comments

Shaking up its troubled battery development unit, General Motors has hired Kurt Kelty, a senior executive with silicon anode developer Sila Nanotechnologies, for a newly created position as vice president of batteries. Shaking up its troubled battery development unit, General Motors has hired Kurt Kelty, a senior...

Disney CEO Bob Iger with Taylor Swift and Fortnite's Ice King. Photos via Getty Images and Fortnite.

Disney’s Bob Iger Enlists Taylor Swift and Fortnite to Help in Reelection Campaign

By Martin Peers · Feb 7, 2024 5:00pm PST

Disney CEO Bob Iger with Taylor Swift and Fortnite's Ice King. Photos via Getty Images and Fortnite.

Disney’s Bob Iger Enlists Taylor Swift and Fortnite to Help in Reelection Campaign

By Martin Peers · Feb 7, 2024 5:00pm PST

Taylor Swift! Fortnite! Disney CEO Bob Iger dropped the names of both entertainment icons as he ramped up his campaign to defeat the two activist shareholders—Nelson Peltz and Blackwells Capital—trying to win seats on Disney’s board. Using the power of incumbency, Iger on Wednesday unveiled a deluge of glitzy new entertainment ventures alongside... Taylor Swift! Fortnite! Disney CEO Bob Iger dropped the names of both entertainment icons as he...