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

Photo: Barry Winiker/The Image Bank via Getty

Venture Capital Has Never Felt More Polarized

By Kate Clark · Feb 29, 2024 5:22pm PST · 1 comment

Venture capital leaders flew to Los Angeles this week for the annual Upfront Summit, a two-day conference featuring investors, founders and a smattering of celebrities like Lady Gaga. The energy was high and the references to the painful VC correction that pummeled valuations and knocked out VC firms were rare. The downtown is over, apparently!... Venture capital leaders flew to Los Angeles this week for the annual Upfront Summit, a two-day...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Lessons From an Energy Drink Company’s Crazy Stock Run

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 29, 2024 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

My writing and reporting workload over the last few days has gotten pretty heavy, so I’ve regularly been grabbing Celsius energy drinks. The sleek cans have become ubiquitous in grocery and convenience stores. Celsius drinks, which taste better than Red Bull, contain a crazy caffeine jolt and have no added sugars. They’re favored by TikTokers,... My writing and reporting workload over the last few days has gotten pretty heavy, so I’ve...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

Why TikTok Can Outstare UMG in its Music Standoff

By Erin Woo · Feb 29, 2024 3:31pm PST · 1 comment

TikTok’s standoff with Universal Music Group is the latest example of how the app has changed from its roots as a lip-syncing platform toward one more focused on shopping.To recap: Late last month, TikTok and Universal Music Group, one of the biggest record labels in the world, failed to reach an agreement to let TikTok license UMG songs for use... TikTok’s standoff with Universal Music Group is the latest example of how the app has changed...

Photo by Getty

Behind Meta’s Effort to Make Llama 3 More Engaging

By Kalley Huang · Feb 29, 2024 7:10am PST

Photo by Getty

Behind Meta’s Effort to Make Llama 3 More Engaging

By Kalley Huang · Feb 29, 2024 7:10am PST

“Promoting or encouraging harmful or illegal activities is not acceptable,” Meta AI, an artificial intelligence assistant, told me the other day. “It's important to respect the safety and well-being of individuals and property.”I had asked the assistant, which is embedded in Meta Platforms’ apps and Ray-Ban smart glasses, how to kill the engine... “Promoting or encouraging harmful or illegal activities is not acceptable,” Meta AI, an...

Bill Gurley. Photo by Getty.

How Nextdoor Became a Missed Opportunity for Benchmark’s Gurley

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 29, 2024 6:00am PST · 3 comments

Nextdoor once looked like the next great bet for Bill Gurley, the prominent Benchmark venture capitalist known for early investments in Uber, Zillow and Stitch Fix. Now the neighborhood social network is looking like a missed opportunity for him. Gurley urged Nextdoor co-founder Nirav Tolia not to sell the startup in 2018, when it was valued at... Nextdoor once looked like the next great bet for Bill Gurley, the prominent Benchmark venture...

A CATL battery pack in a chassis at the Munich Motor Show. Photo: Getty

The Electric: China Digs In With Iron-Based Batteries, Wrong-Footing Western Automakers

By Steve LeVine · Feb 29, 2024 4:30am PST

A new, ultracheap battery, a $233,000 electric supercar and a big five-year deal for iron-based batteries all deliver a single, pointed message—a fresh threat to Western auto and battery manufacturers already struggling to compete with their Chinese rivals. A new, ultracheap battery, a $233,000 electric supercar and a big five-year deal for iron-based...

Art by Clark Miller.

Consumer Startups Are a Better Bet Than Enterprise Startups

By Kirsten Green and Jason Bornstein · Feb 28, 2024 7:13pm PST · 12 comments

We live in a consumer-driven economy—consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the U.S. GDP. Yet Carta recently reported that just 7% of seed capital raised on the site last year went to consumer companies, the smallest share since 2018. Andreessen Horowitz meaningfully cut its consumer investing team and folded it under its... We live in a consumer-driven economy—consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the U.S....

Editor’s Note

Editor’s Note

By The Information Staff · Feb 28, 2024 6:53pm PST

Editor’s Note

Editor’s Note

By The Information Staff · Feb 28, 2024 6:53pm PST

On February 28, 2024, The Information published an article “Apollo Names Partner to Lead Its $100 Billion Climate Push.” The article did not meet The Information’s editorial standards and has been retracted. Any links to it have been disabled. On February 28, 2024, The Information published an article “Apollo Names Partner to Lead...

Sridhar Ramaswamy. Photo by Getty.

What Snowflake’s CEO Shake-Up Means

By Martin Peers · Feb 28, 2024 5:00pm PST

Big news tonight in the enterprise software sector—and we’re not talking about Salesforce introducing a dividend (although that’s notable). No, the real headline is an AI-inspired changing of the guard at Snowflake, until recently a fast-growing enterprise software hotshot whose 2020 IPO turned into a blockbuster. Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman is... Big news tonight in the enterprise software sector—and we’re not talking about Salesforce ...

Acquired podcast hosts Ben Gilbert (left) and David Rosenthal. Photo: Acquired

Creator Economy

The Super Long-Form Podcasters Selling Sponsorships for $750,000

By Kaya Yurieff · Feb 28, 2024 2:27pm PST

TikTok’s rise has put the spotlight on short, snackable content, but I’m hearing more and more buzz about how long-form is making a comeback. For some, it never left. Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, friends and former colleagues at venture capital firm Madrona, started their podcast “Acquired” in 2015, before it was common for investors to... TikTok’s rise has put the spotlight on short, snackable content, but I’m hearing more and more...

Art by Clark Miller.

For TikTok, Universal Standoff Shows Music No Longer Matters Like It Once Did

By Erin Woo · Feb 28, 2024 1:05pm PST · 1 comment

TikTok once depended on the music industry to provide the soundtrack for its viral lip-syncing and dancing videos. But TikTok’s leaders have decided the app just doesn’t need those relationships the way it once did. Multiple times over the past two years, TikTok executives told employees handling music on the platform that one of the... TikTok once depended on the music industry to provide the soundtrack for its viral lip-syncing...

Art by Midjourney/Mike Sullivan.

Startups Are Using Questionable Metrics in an Effort to Raise Capital

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 28, 2024 7:45am PST · 1 comment

Art by Midjourney/Mike Sullivan.

Startups Are Using Questionable Metrics in an Effort to Raise Capital

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 28, 2024 7:45am PST · 1 comment

Venture capitalists’ wallets are still open for artificial intelligence startups. But as the field has gotten more crowded, some startups that are raising new capital have leaned on metrics that don’t exactly scream confidence in their business prospects. They include the number of AI PhDs on staff, how many Nvidia AI chips the company has, and... Venture capitalists’ wallets are still open for artificial intelligence startups. But as the...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Meta Wants Llama 3 to Handle Contentious Questions as Google Grapples With Gemini Backlash

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Kalley Huang · Feb 28, 2024 6:30am PST · 8 comments

As Google grapples with the backlash over the historically inaccurate responses on its Gemini chatbot, Meta Platforms is dealing with a related issue. As part of its work on the forthcoming version of its large language model, Llama 3, Meta is trying to overcome a problem perceived in Llama 2: Its answers to anything at all contentious... As Google grapples with the backlash over the historically inaccurate responses on its Gemini...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Apple, Now Carless, Faces Renewed Questions About Growth

By Martin Peers · Feb 27, 2024 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

Maybe Apple should cancel multibillion-dollar projects more often! Shares of the iPhone maker, which have fallen since the start of the year, rose nearly 1% Tuesday after Bloomberg scooped the news that Apple had canned Project Titan, its decade-old autonomous car project. As a Morgan Stanley analyst said in a research note, the Bloomberg... Maybe Apple should cancel multibillion-dollar projects more often! Shares of the iPhone maker,...

Visa chief marketing officer Frank Cooper III. Photo: Visa

Creator Economy

Visa’s Marketing Chief on the Creator Economy ‘Gold Rush’

By Kaya Yurieff · Feb 27, 2024 2:18pm PST

Visa is stepping up its efforts to become more synonymous with the creator economy, from utilizing creators heavily in marketing to servicing their payments needs.“It’s been the gold rush for creators. Everyone’s like, ‘Hey, up in those hills are a bunch of creators who have a lot of reach and big audiences,’” said Frank Cooper III, chief... Visa is stepping up its efforts to become more synonymous with the creator economy, from...

Photo by Getty

EU Antitrust Cops Investigate Microsoft’s Security Software Practices

By Aaron Holmes · Feb 27, 2024 12:25pm PST

Photo by Getty

EU Antitrust Cops Investigate Microsoft’s Security Software Practices

By Aaron Holmes · Feb 27, 2024 12:25pm PST

European Union regulators are probing whether Microsoft is preventing its customers from buying security software that competes with Microsoft’s, according to a document the EU sent to at least one rival in January. It’s the latest sign of growing scrutiny from policymakers, especially in the EU, of Microsoft’s fast-growing... European Union regulators are probing whether Microsoft is preventing its customers from buying...

Art by Clark Miller

The Media Revolution Will Be Prompted

By Andrew A. Rosen · Feb 27, 2024 9:00am PST · 3 comments

In a letter to YouTube creators earlier this month, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan shed light on the emerging challenges artificial intelligence poses to creators. “AI should empower human creativity, not replace it,” he wrote. “Everyone should have access to AI tools that will push the boundaries of creative expression.” ... In a letter to YouTube creators earlier this month, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan shed light on the...

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photo by Getty

TikTok Shakes Up Executive Ranks, Giving CEO More Oversight of Content Moderation

By Erin Woo and Kaya Yurieff · Feb 27, 2024 8:20am PST

TikTok has shaken up its senior ranks, replacing several senior executives including the person running its trust & safety unit, which handles content moderation, and appointing a protege of CEO Shou Zi Chew to oversee that part of the business, according to people at the company and a memo distributed to staff. The shakeup comes weeks after... TikTok has shaken up its senior ranks, replacing several senior executives including the person...

Parspec CEO Forest Flager. Photo courtesy of Parspec.

The Real Risk of Google’s Race Riot; Why Microsoft Took a Stake in Mistral; Your Next House Could Be Built With LLMs

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Jon Victor · Feb 27, 2024 7:00am PST

First, some news. As generative AI has seeped into a number of industries, from law to healthcare, industry-specific large language model startups have proliferated, as we showed in this analysis. But I was still surprised to come across a startup working to apply AI in a traditionally unsexy field: construction.Parspec, a startup that uses AI... First, some news. As generative AI has seeped into a number of industries, from law to healthcare...

Kyle Leahy. Screenshot via YouTube

Glossier’s CEO Charts Next Chapter of Growth

By Ann Gehan · Feb 27, 2024 6:00am PST

Kyle Leahy. Screenshot via YouTube

The Big Interview

Glossier’s CEO Charts Next Chapter of Growth

By Ann Gehan · Feb 27, 2024 6:00am PST

Beauty company Glossier was an Instagram-fueled breakout star of the mid-2010s, winning over shoppers and investors alike with its promise to reinvent the stodgy, slow-moving beauty industry. But today, as a host of younger makeup brands made famous on TikTok nips at its heels and the trends it helped start now dominate the industry,... Beauty company Glossier was an Instagram-fueled breakout star of the mid-2010s, winning over...