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

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Recent Editions

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

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

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

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...

Eli Mack is one of the NFL's "Creator of the Week" picks. Photo courtesy of NFL

Creator Economy

Inside The NFL’s Creator Strategy

By Kaya Yurieff · Feb 7, 2024 2:54pm PST

When you’re not scanning Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast for a Taylor Swift sighting, look out for some high profile creators like MrBeast, Mark Rober and Deestroying. The National Football League, as part of a strategy to turn more Gen Z viewers into football fans, is working with a record number of creators around the big game this year—in... When you’re not scanning Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast for a Taylor Swift sighting, look out for...

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. Photo by Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images

OpenAI Shifts AI Battleground to Software That Operates Devices, Automates Tasks

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Feb 7, 2024 1:50pm PST · 5 comments

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. Photo by Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images

OpenAI Shifts AI Battleground to Software That Operates Devices, Automates Tasks

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Feb 7, 2024 1:50pm PST · 5 comments

OpenAI’s first major product, ChatGPT, proved so popular that it sparked a generation of wannabes. But as rivals like Google catch up, OpenAI is hustling to release a product that could prove almost as revolutionary. OpenAI is developing a form of agent software to automate complex tasks by effectively taking over a customer’s... OpenAI’s first major product, ChatGPT, proved so popular that it sparked a generation of...

Pictured: Temu and Amazon packages; Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores; and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Photos via Getty Images, Shutterstock and YouTube

Inside Amazon, Temu’s Rise Prompts Soul Searching

By Theo Wayt and Jing Yang · Feb 7, 2024 7:00am PST · 3 comments

Amazon’s executives pride themselves on their obsession with customers rather than competitors. A year ago, though, the head of Amazon’s e-commerce business, Doug Herrington, had one Amazon competitor very much on his mind. Herrington sent his subordinates a news article about Temu, at the time a little-known subsidiary of Chinese... Amazon’s executives pride themselves on their obsession with customers rather than...

Photo via Midjourney.

One Class of AI Startups That Can Thrive Without Funding: Porn Chatbots

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 7, 2024 7:00am PST

Sex sells, and sex created by artificial intelligence is no exception.While many generative AI startups have struggled to manage the exploding costs of AI and retain their customers, AI-powered romantic chatbots haven’t had much trouble attracting and keeping their users. Since OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022, a thriving ecosystem has... Sex sells, and sex created by artificial intelligence is no exception.While many generative AI...

Image by Clark Miller

Apple Develops a Foldable Clamshell iPhone

By Wayne Ma · Feb 7, 2024 6:00am PST

Apple is building prototypes of at least two iPhones that fold widthwise like a clamshell, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation. If Apple ends up launching a foldable iPhone, it would be one of the biggest hardware design changes in the product’s history. Foldable phones can be smaller and more portable than typical... Apple is building prototypes of at least two iPhones that fold widthwise like a clamshell,...

The Golden State Warriors versus Brooklyn Nets yesterday in New York City. Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images.

Media Giants’ Sports Venture Could Trigger Earthquake in Cable and Streaming

By Martin Peers · Feb 6, 2024 5:00pm PST

The Golden State Warriors versus Brooklyn Nets yesterday in New York City. Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images.

Media Giants’ Sports Venture Could Trigger Earthquake in Cable and Streaming

By Martin Peers · Feb 6, 2024 5:00pm PST

Whoa! We got very big news in the television world late Tuesday, as Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox announced they were joining forces to create a new streaming joint venture for sports. By including access to programming on traditional cable channels such as Disney’s ESPN, Fox’s sports channels and Warner’s TNT and TBS, the new service... Whoa! We got very big news in the television world late Tuesday, as Disney, Warner Bros....

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel

Creator Economy

Evan Spiegel’s Snap Game Plan; YouTube’s Top Priorities

By Erin Woo · Feb 6, 2024 4:44pm PST

Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, is having a rough week. Snap’s stock plunged 30% in after-hours trading on Tuesday, after the company reported revenue that fell within its own guidance but below stock pickers’ expectations. That followed Snap’s decision to lay off 10% of staff, a move that targeted senior (and thus expensive)... Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, is having a rough week. Snap’s stock plunged 30% in...

Photo by NurPhoto via Getty Images.

Amazon Pilots New Driver Safety Features After Shootings

By Theo Wayt · Feb 6, 2024 2:17pm PST

Amazon is working on several new safety features for Amazon Flex gig drivers who make deliveries in their own vehicles, the company said. The measures follow several incidents in which residents had shot Flex drivers or threatened them with guns, in many instances saying they had mistaken them for intruders. Amazon is working on a feature in its... Amazon is working on several new safety features for Amazon Flex gig drivers who make deliveries...

Steven Kaye, chief scientific officer, Our Next Energy. Photo: Courtesy ONE

Exclusive From The Electric: In a New Blow, Chief Scientific Officer of Our Next Energy Resigns

By Steve LeVine · Feb 6, 2024 10:25am PST

Steven Kaye, chief scientific officer of embattled next-generation battery developer Our Next Energy, has resigned. The move is the latest blow to the Novi, Mich., startup, coming two months after company founder Mujeeb Ijaz stepped down as CEO and became chief technology officer. Kaye’s departure was announced at a company meeting Monday, a... Steven Kaye, chief scientific officer of embattled next-generation battery developer Our Next...

Menlo Ventures partner Rama Sekhar. Photo courtesy of Menlo Ventures.

Why We’re Worried About the Wrong AI Security Risk; Gemini is Coming (Again)

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 6, 2024 7:10am PST · 1 comment

Menlo Ventures partner Rama Sekhar. Photo courtesy of Menlo Ventures.

Why We’re Worried About the Wrong AI Security Risk; Gemini is Coming (Again)

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 6, 2024 7:10am PST · 1 comment

Put aside all of the scary talk about bad people theoretically using large language models to build bombs or bioweapons for a moment. A more urgent threat, says investor Rama Sekhar, are AI models that could leak sensitive corporate data or hackers that trigger ChatGPT service outages. Sekhar is a longtime cybersecurity investor who joined Menlo... Put aside all of the scary talk about bad people theoretically using large language models to...

Sam Altman. Photo via Getty Images

Some OpenAI Investors Sit Out Share Sale, Reflecting AI Divide

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Kate Clark · Feb 6, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

For the past year, owning a stake in OpenAI was akin to possessing Silicon Valley gold, signaling that the investor had a ticket to the next great tech transformation. But as the valuation of the startup has tripled, some investors have refrained from buying more. And a number of marquee venture capital firms have shied from investing in dozens... For the past year, owning a stake in OpenAI was akin to possessing Silicon Valley gold, signaling...

Snap Inc. stock figures displayed on the New York Stock Exchange floor this afternoon. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images.

Snap’s Layoffs Aim to Reduce Stock Comp Dilution

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

Hold the front page! A tech company is acknowledging that stock compensation is a real expense. On Monday, Snap said it was cutting 10% of its global workforce. As it was the latest in a very long list of tech companies to undertake layoffs in recent weeks, the news might not seem like a big deal. Like other companies, Snap said the layoffs were... Hold the front page! A tech company is acknowledging that stock compensation is a real expense....

A Shein warehouse in Indiana. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.

Shein’s Top U.S. Lawyer Departs

By Ann Gehan · Feb 5, 2024 1:47pm PST · 1 comment

Shein lawyers have plenty of work on their plate right now, as the China-founded fast-fashion firm fends off a raft of trademark infringement lawsuits and gears up for a potential U.S. initial public offering. But Shein’s internal legal ranks are going through a change in leadership, with Shein’s top U.S. lawyer, Valerie Ho,... Shein lawyers have plenty of work on their plate right now, as the China-founded fast-fashion...

Mike Clayville. Photo via Stripe.

Top Stripe Executive Clayville Departs, Is Helping Secretive Startup Omniva Hire

By Theo Wayt, Cory Weinberg and Anissa Gardizy · Feb 5, 2024 12:25pm PST

Mike Clayville. Photo via Stripe.

Top Stripe Executive Clayville Departs, Is Helping Secretive Startup Omniva Hire

By Theo Wayt, Cory Weinberg and Anissa Gardizy · Feb 5, 2024 12:25pm PST

Stripe returned to profitability last year in part by squeezing spending on sales and marketing. The executive in charge of growing sales to large customers isn’t sticking around to see how the slimmed-down strategy plays out. Mike Clayville, a former Amazon Web Services executive who became a marquee Stripe hire three and a half years ago... Stripe returned to profitability last year in part by squeezing spending on sales and marketing....