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

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Sunday Insights

Why Reddit’s Stock Plunged 42% In Past Five Weeks

By Martin Peers · Feb 22, 2026 8:00am PST

Reddit’s explosive revenue growth of the past two years turbocharged the company’s stock after its 2024 initial public offering, lifting it nearly 700% to its highs of around $270 last fall. That rally was markedly different from the tepid performance that similarly sized social media companies such as Snap and Pinterest endured after their... Reddit’s explosive revenue growth of the past two years turbocharged the company’s stock after...

Art by Clark Miller

Google Turns Up in the Music in AI

By Abram Brown · Feb 21, 2026 7:00am PST

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: A radical bet on a totally different type of longevity cure • The Top 5: The best home sauna tech• Plus, Recommendations—our weekly pop culture picks: “The Secret World of Roald Dahl,” “Vigil” and “Love Story”Judging strictly by appearances, anyone who is anyone in tech is looking to... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: A radical bet on a totally different type...

Art by Clark Miller

Techies Are Getting Hot and Bothered For Home Saunas

By Jemima McEvoy · Feb 21, 2026 6:00am PST

The tech world is a realm that enjoys obsessing over the newest things: the vibe coding apps, the orchestrating agents, the driverless cars. It also enjoys modernizing the very ancient. The latest example: saunas, which are believed to have existed in some form or another since the Stone Age. They’ve been popular gathering points since the... The tech world is a realm that enjoys obsessing over the newest things: the vibe coding apps, the...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Prakash Singh/Getty Images.

OpenAI Boosts Revenue Forecasts, Predicts $111 Billion More Cash Burn Through 2030

By Sri Muppidi and Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 20, 2026 2:44pm PST · 1 comment

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Prakash Singh/Getty Images.

OpenAI Boosts Revenue Forecasts, Predicts $111 Billion More Cash Burn Through 2030

By Sri Muppidi and Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 20, 2026 2:44pm PST · 1 comment

OpenAI recently hiked its revenue outlook for the next five years, predicting that it would generate about 27% more than previously forecast from sales of its ChatGPT subscriptions, AI models, and newer business lines such as advertising and hardware, according to financial forecasts. But it warned it will burn more than twice as much cash... OpenAI recently hiked its revenue outlook for the next five years, predicting that it would...

Art by Clark Miller; Photo by Amy Dockser Marcus, Getty Images.

Longevity Treatments for a 91-Year-Old? A Bold Bet in Silicon Valley’s Immortality Race

By Amy Dockser Marcus · Feb 20, 2026 9:39am PST

In Silicon Valley, some quests for the fountain of youth have most definitely won the backing of tech’s leading names. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, personally invested $180 million to launch Retro Biosciences, which is working on ways to rejuvenate aging cells. CoinBase’s Brian Armstrong co-founded NewLimit, which has raised over $200 million for a... In Silicon Valley, some quests for the fountain of youth have most definitely won the backing of...

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI Plans to Price Smart Speaker at $200 to $300, as AI Device Team Takes Shape

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Qianer Liu · Feb 20, 2026 6:00am PST

OpenAI has more than 200 people working on a family of AI-powered devices that will include a smart speaker and possibly smart glasses and a smart lamp, according to a person with knowledge of the plans. New details are starting to emerge about the group and its development strategy. The smart speaker—the first device OpenAI will... OpenAI has more than 200 people working on a family of AI-powered devices that will include a...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi today. Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images.

What OpenAI's Funding Says About Google's Value

By Martin Peers · Feb 19, 2026 5:00pm PST

The nervous Nellies in the investor community sold tech stocks again on Thursday, dragging down the Nasdaq 0.4%. Sounds like a normal day in February 2026, you might say. But it’s striking how anxieties about the disruption caused by AI continue to weigh on stock prices, including those of leading AI firms like Google, even as private AI leaders... The nervous Nellies in the investor community sold tech stocks again on Thursday, dragging down...

Ebay CEO Jamie Iannone. Photo by Getty Images

EBay’s Secondhand Depop Buy

By Valida Pau and Ann Gehan · Feb 19, 2026 3:00pm PST · 1 comment

Ebay CEO Jamie Iannone. Photo by Getty Images

EBay’s Secondhand Depop Buy

By Valida Pau and Ann Gehan · Feb 19, 2026 3:00pm PST · 1 comment

EBay struck a bargain this week with its agreement to purchase Depop, the popular secondhand clothing resale app, for $1.2 billion in cash. That’s less than the $1.63 billion Etsy paid for Depop five years ago. There’s a reason eBay got a good deal. Even while Depop increased its total sales last year by roughly 25% to $1 billion, Etsy had... EBay struck a bargain this week with its agreement to purchase Depop, the popular secondhand...

Art via Shutterstock/Mike Sullivan

How Amazon Tracks Employee AI Usage—and Measures Results

By Catherine Perloff · Feb 19, 2026 11:00am PST

Amazon prides itself on being data obsessed, and its approach to tracking its own employees’ use of AI has been no different. Amazon has been using an internal system called Clarity to track how often employees use AI tools in their work, two people with knowledge of the tracking said. (Clarity also tracks other things about employees, such... Amazon prides itself on being data obsessed, and its approach to tracking its own employees’ use...

Art by Mike Sullivan

AMD to Backstop $300 Million Crusoe Loan, Following Nvidia Playbook

By Miles Kruppa and Valida Pau · Feb 19, 2026 10:43am PST

Chipmaker AMD is pursuing the same growth-driving strategy that has boosted sales at rival Nvidia: lending its financial support to upstart cloud providers buying its chips. AMD will effectively guarantee a $300 million loan for data center and cloud startup Crusoe to purchase AMD’s AI chips and install them in a data center in Ohio. The loan... Chipmaker AMD is pursuing the same growth-driving strategy that has boosted sales at rival...

ZaiNar cofounder and CEO Daniel Jacker. Photo courtesy of ZaiNar.

Startup Developing GPS Alternative for Physical AI Earns $1 Billion-Valuation

By Katie Roof · Feb 19, 2026 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Over the last two years, investors and researchers have flocked to startups helping bring AI into the physical world, from developing robot hands to the AI models that train robots to software to train self-driving cars. Now one startup says it can solve a perennial problem for robots and other AI-powered systems: getting precise location... Over the last two years, investors and researchers have flocked to startups helping bring AI into...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Hungryroot Posts 55% Revenue Growth, Eyes Potential 2026 IPO

By Ann Gehan · Feb 19, 2026 6:00am PST

Art by Mike Sullivan

Hungryroot Posts 55% Revenue Growth, Eyes Potential 2026 IPO

By Ann Gehan · Feb 19, 2026 6:00am PST

With software and other sectors melting down at the merest hint of AI disruption, businesses that sell food and other consumer goods are finally getting some love. That’s good news for venture-backed companies like Hungryroot, which could benefit from investors’ desires to AI-proof their portfolios. Hungryroot, which offers an app for ordering... With software and other sectors melting down at the merest hint of AI disruption, businesses that...

Ford's first stab at electric pickups, the Lightning, was a flop. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty

The Electric: Ford Doubles Down On Beating the Chinese in EVs

By Steve LeVine · Feb 19, 2026 4:30am PST · 1 comment

For months, Ford has backpedaled furiously from a massive gamble it made on electric vehicles, writing down $19.5 billion in costs and killing newly designed EVs it had paraded as proof of its tech cred. For months, Ford has backpedaled furiously from a massive gamble it made on electric vehicles,...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Getty Images

OpenAI Is Finalizing First Commitments for $100 Billion Mega Round

By Sri Muppidi · Feb 18, 2026 6:21pm PST · 1 comment

OpenAI is finalizing initial commitments from investors in a round that could raise $100 billion at a $830 billion valuation including the investment, according to two people with direct knowledge of the fundraising. SoftBank is expected to anchor the round with a $30 billion investment, which it will spread in three installments of $10 billion... OpenAI is finalizing initial commitments from investors in a round that could raise $100 billion...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives to court today in Los Angeles. Jill Connelly/Getty Images.

Zuckerberg's Day in Court

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 18, 2026 6:02pm PST · 2 comments

“We call Mark Zuckerberg to the stand.” Thus began Wednesday’s nearly six hours of testimony from the Meta Platforms CEO in a trial of a lawsuit brought by a young woman against several tech companies including Meta, contending that social media causes depression and suicidal thoughts. I was in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom, where... “We call Mark Zuckerberg to the stand.” Thus began Wednesday’s nearly six hours of testimony from...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wearing a pair of Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses at an event last year. ,Photo by David Paul Morris/ Getty Images

Meta Revives Plan for Smart Watch, Targets 2026 Launch

By Jyoti Mann · Feb 18, 2026 12:57pm PST

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wearing a pair of Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses at an event last year. ,Photo by David Paul Morris/ Getty Images

Meta Revives Plan for Smart Watch, Targets 2026 Launch

By Jyoti Mann · Feb 18, 2026 12:57pm PST

Meta Platforms plans to release its first smartwatch in 2026, according to two people familiar with the matter. Meta’s plans come as other big tech companies, including Apple, OpenAI and Google, are stepping up their plans for new consumer devices. The company has revived a previously shelved smartwatch project, now code-named Malibu 2, and... Meta Platforms plans to release its first smartwatch in 2026, according to two people familiar...

What AI Means for Software Builders—and Software Business Models

By The Information Staff · Feb 18, 2026 11:11am PST

The impact of AI on software is showing up both on the engineering side and in the economics of the industry. Tools that automate coding are altering productivity assumptions, while AI-driven workflows are challenging how providers price and package their products. We asked Deep Research to analyze how these changes are affecting incumbents,... The impact of AI on software is showing up both on the engineering side and in the economics of...

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev. Bloomberg via Getty Images.

The Information Finance

Robinhood’s Private Startup Fund Could Open the Floodgates

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 18, 2026 8:00am PST · 2 comments

A soon to be listed Robinhood fund that invests in private startups could lay a path for Silicon Valley—including VC firms—to raise more money from individual investors. Robinhood is raising $1 billion for the fund, which has the New York Stock Exchange ticker of RVI. The fund, Robinhood says, will invest in “best-in-class” private... A soon to be listed Robinhood fund that invests in private startups could lay a path for Silicon...

Photo via Getty Images

Don’t Get Tricked By Fake ‘Continual Learning’

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Feb 18, 2026 7:00am PST

A new holy grail has emerged in the AI industry in recent months: continual learning, or the promise of AI that’s able to learn from real-world experience the way humans do, without having to undergo long formal training processes that require tons of computational power and data.And as you’d might expect with the rise of an ill-defined, buzzy... A new holy grail has emerged in the AI industry in recent months: continual learning, or the...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Meet 16 Data Center Executives Leading the AI Buildout

By Anissa Gardizy · Feb 18, 2026 6:00am PST

Art by Mike Sullivan

Meet 16 Data Center Executives Leading the AI Buildout

By Anissa Gardizy · Feb 18, 2026 6:00am PST

The battle for AI talent is no longer just about landing the best AI researcher. People with experience developing giant AI data centers suddenly are among the most sought-after professionals in tech right now. While an array of big tech firms and other developers is committing billions to data centers for AI, few people have designed and built... The battle for AI talent is no longer just about landing the best AI researcher. People with...