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

Ali Ghodsi. Photo via YouTube.

Databricks CEO On What It Takes to Turn LLMs Into a Big Business

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 14, 2024 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Ali Ghodsi, the CEO of Databricks, a $43 billion-valuation enterprise software firm, had lots to say about OpenAI and the potential challenges it faces in a conference call with The Information subscribers yesterday. (One new challenge it's likely wrestling with is the departure of high-profile researcher Andrej Karpathy, as we scooped... Ali Ghodsi, the CEO of Databricks, a $43 billion-valuation enterprise software firm, had lots to...

Life House CEO Rami Zeidan. Art by Clark Miller

A Hospitality Startup’s Promises Fall Short for Hotel Customers

By Paris Martineau · Feb 14, 2024 6:00am PST · 3 comments

A little over a year ago, Brittany Doyle had high hopes for the Taos Motor Lodge, a renovated, 28-room motel in New Mexico’s high desert that she was opening. To help her run the business, Doyle signed a contract with Life House, a hospitality startup that has raised over $100 million from Tiger Global Management, Trinity Ventures and... A little over a year ago, Brittany Doyle had high hopes for the Taos Motor Lodge, a renovated,...

OpenAI founding member Andrej Karpathy. Photo via Getty

OpenAI Researcher Andrej Karpathy Departs

By Jon Victor and Amir Efrati · Feb 13, 2024 5:21pm PST · 6 comments

Andrej Karpathy, one of the founding members of OpenAI, has left the company, a spokesperson confirmed. Karpathy, a prominent artificial intelligence researcher, was developing a product he has described as an AI assistant and worked closely with the company’s research chief, Bob McGrew. While ChatGPT has been a hit with consumers, OpenAI... Andrej Karpathy, one of the founding members of OpenAI, has left the company, a spokesperson...

Photo via Adobe Stock

Lyft Shows Proof of Life in Profitable Q4

By Martin Peers · Feb 13, 2024 5:03pm PST · 1 comment

Photo via Adobe Stock

Lyft Shows Proof of Life in Profitable Q4

By Martin Peers · Feb 13, 2024 5:03pm PST · 1 comment

Lyft lives! Well, maybe. The No. 2 ride-hailing firm reported that it generated real cash in the fourth quarter for the first time ever, and its CEO, David Risher, predicted the company would repeat the feat for all of 2024. Initial reaction from Wall Street was euphoric—at one point Lyft shares were up 60% in after-hours trading—but that... Lyft lives! Well, maybe. The No. 2 ride-hailing firm reported that it generated real cash in the...

Canva headquarters in Sydney. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Canva CFO Damien Singh Leaves Ahead of Potential IPO

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 13, 2024 4:42pm PST

Damien Singh, chief financial officer of Canva, the design software firm last valued at over $25 billion, has left the company. The departure leaves one of the most closely watched software firms with an important executive position to fill ahead of a potential initial public offering. The Australia-based company said in a note to investors last... Damien Singh, chief financial officer of Canva, the design software firm last valued at over $25...

Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi

Q&A

Databricks CEO Predicts Major Drop in AI Chip Prices

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Feb 13, 2024 4:37pm PST · 10 comments

Nvidia’s stock has been on a tear as major technology firms and app developers clamor for the company’s server chips for artificial intelligence, creating a shortage. But over the next year, prices for these chips, known as graphics processing units, will plummet, throwing a wrench into the business models of numerous major companies... Nvidia’s stock has been on a tear as major technology firms and app developers clamor for...

YouTuber MrBeast. Photo via Getty Images

Creator Economy

MrBeast Gives New Life to X’s Creator Plans

By Kaya Yurieff · Feb 13, 2024 2:41pm PST

Much ink lately has been spilled about MrBeast’s videos getting extra visibility on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter. Jimmy Donaldson, the real name of MrBeast, has expressed confusion himself about why his video of cars got more than 156 million impressions in a week, boosting his earnings from advertising revenue on the video to... Much ink lately has been spilled about MrBeast’s videos getting extra visibility on X, the social...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

For Google, ‘Good Enough’ Gemini AI Could Be Good Enough to Win

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Jon Victor · Feb 13, 2024 7:00am PST

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

For Google, ‘Good Enough’ Gemini AI Could Be Good Enough to Win

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Jon Victor · Feb 13, 2024 7:00am PST

Early reviews are pouring in for Google’s Gemini Ultra, the company’s most advanced large language model that powers a paid version of chatbot Gemini, a rival to ChatGPT. The reviews make us think that after an early scramble to catch up to its Microsoft-backed rival, Google is going to be just fine in this market.The vast majority of developers... Early reviews are pouring in for Google’s Gemini Ultra, the company’s most advanced large...

Photos via Getty Images and Shutterstock.

Private Equity Pushes to Hire the 1 Percenters’ Money Managers

By Francesca Friday · Feb 13, 2024 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Private equity firms are on the hunt for a red-hot skill set: wealth managers who can convince the richest 1% to invest in PE funds. As the flow of capital from pension funds and endowments has slowed, buyout firms are adding to their ranks of rich individual investors to boost assets under management for potential use in buyouts or other... Private equity firms are on the hunt for a red-hot skill set: wealth managers who can convince...

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

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

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

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

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

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...