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 via Shutterstock

Seattle’s More Pragmatic—And Quieter—AI Boom

By Kate Clark · Oct 19, 2023 4:23pm PDT · 3 comments

As someone who grew up in Seattle, then spent several years in San Francisco, I’ve gotten a good feel for the two cities’ tech scenes and how they differ. Those differences are more clear than ever as the generative artificial intelligence boom reverberates through both tech hubs.In San Francisco, techies have been pumping their chest about AI,... As someone who grew up in Seattle, then spent several years in San Francisco, I’ve gotten a good...

Thrive's Josh Kushner, left, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photos via Thrive Capital and Getty.

Thrive Capital to Lead Purchase of OpenAI Employee Shares at $80 Billion-Plus Valuation

By Kate Clark · Oct 19, 2023 3:10pm PDT · 6 comments

Investment firm Thrive Capital is leading a deal to buy OpenAI shares from employees through a tender offer that would give the company a paper valuation of at least $80 billion, according to a person with direct knowledge. The deal would boost OpenAI’s valuation by at least three times from a similar transaction the startup made six... Investment firm Thrive Capital is leading a deal to buy OpenAI shares from employees...

Magic Johnson. Photo via Shutterstock.

Creator Economy

Magic Johnson Leaves Cameo's Board

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 19, 2023 1:30pm PDT

Kicking off today’s newsletter with a scoop: Cameo in recent weeks has sought to raise at least $10 million in funding, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Such a deal, if completed, would be a sign investors are still hopeful of the celebrity video site’s future. But the site has also lost a high-profile ambassador. ... Kicking off today’s newsletter with a scoop: Cameo in recent weeks has sought to raise at least...

Photo via Convoy.

Trucking Startup Convoy Shuts Down, Wiping Out Investors

By Maria Heeter and Theo Wayt · Oct 19, 2023 9:01am PDT · 1 comment

Photo via Convoy.

Trucking Startup Convoy Shuts Down, Wiping Out Investors

By Maria Heeter and Theo Wayt · Oct 19, 2023 9:01am PDT · 1 comment

Trucking startup Convoy is shutting down, the company told employees and investors on Thursday, in a dramatic collapse of a business that raised nearly $1 billion from big name investors including T. Rowe Price, Fidelity and CapitalG. Convoy abruptly stopped accepting new business this week and is laying off a majority of its staff, while CEO... Trucking startup Convoy is shutting down, the company told employees and investors on Thursday,...

Art by Clark Miller

Biden’s Not Pushing U.S. Investors Away From China. China Is

By Ming Liao · Oct 19, 2023 9:00am PDT

On Aug. 9, President Joe Biden signed an executive order banning U.S. investments in China’s advanced technology sectors, including semiconductors, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. The ban has attracted much attention, and concern from some investors. But it will have only a modest impact. Dollar-denominated funds in China... On Aug. 9, President Joe Biden signed an executive order banning U.S. investments in...

Photos via Getty.

How Shein Decided to Partner With Rival Forever 21

By Jing Yang · Oct 19, 2023 8:00am PDT

When Shein announced a partnership with Forever 21 in August, it unveiled a deal that would align two firms that might otherwise be enemies: a China-founded online fashion retailer and a U.S. brick-and-mortar retail label that’s bleeding sales to e-commerce upstarts. The deal involves Shein issuing $300 million to $400 million worth of its... When Shein announced a partnership with Forever 21 in August, it unveiled a deal that would align...

Photo via 1X Technologies.

SoftBank Looks to Invest $75 Million in OpenAI-Backed Humanoid Robotics Startup

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 19, 2023 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

In tech, all software roads eventually lead to hardware. Look no further than OpenAI’s Sam Altman dreaming up an artificial intelligence-powered personal device with ex-Apple designer Jony Ive and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Another topic the three men may have discussed at Ive’s San Francisco studio: existing AI hardware companies that... In tech, all software roads eventually lead to hardware. Look no further than OpenAI’s Sam Altman...

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri. Photo via Getty.

Inside Meta’s Struggles to Turn Reels Into an Advertising Powerhouse

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Oct 19, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri. Photo via Getty.

Inside Meta’s Struggles to Turn Reels Into an Advertising Powerhouse

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Oct 19, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Anyone scrolling quick videos of people making elaborate kinds of spaghetti or sharing dating horror stories may not be in the mood to click on an ad suggesting they buy a new pair of jeans. That’s at least what ad executives are saying about Meta Platforms’ efforts to sell ads on Reels, the Facebook owner’s answer to TikTok. A... Anyone scrolling quick videos of people making elaborate kinds of spaghetti or sharing dating...

On Battery Day in 2020, Musk, right, and deputy Drew Baglino triggered a race to eliminate wet electrode production. Photo: Courtesy Tesla

Exclusive From The Electric: The Lead Inventor of Dry Electrode Coating Exits Tesla for a Startup

By Steve LeVine · Oct 19, 2023 4:30am PDT

Hieu Duong, lead inventor of a process touted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk as a way to sharply cut the carmaker’s battery costs, has left Tesla for a startup that’s pursuing the same advance using a different approach. In a surprising development, AM Batteries, a tiny Chelmsford, Mass., company with no revenue, hired Duong as chief manufacturing... Hieu Duong, lead inventor of a process touted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk as a way to sharply cut the...

Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat. Photo by Getty

Google and Other Alphabet Units Laid Off Staff as Industry Resumes Cost Cuts

By Jon Victor · Oct 18, 2023 5:58pm PDT · 2 comments

Google and its parent company Alphabet has quietly laid off staff, spokespeople for the conglomerate said, as tech firms continue to tighten their belts following a marked slowdown in business growth. Divisions such as Google News, Alphabet’s healthcare analytics subsidiary Verily and self-driving car unit Waymo recently laid off staff,... Google and its parent company Alphabet has quietly laid off staff, spokespeople for the...

Photo via Shutterstock.

Netflix Reports Healthy Q3 While Raising Premium Tier Price

By Martin Peers · Oct 18, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Let’s hope the boffins who track inflation are watching video streaming (and not for the entertainment value!). Netflix today raised the price on its premium tier by $3 a month to $22.99, a notably bigger increase than the last time it jacked up prices. Aggressive price increases are becoming standard in streaming, at least among the bigger... Let’s hope the boffins who track inflation are watching video streaming (and not for the...

Photo via Getty.

TikTok Offers to Train Sports Advertisers

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 18, 2023 2:07pm PDT

Photo via Getty.

Creator Economy

TikTok Offers to Train Sports Advertisers

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 18, 2023 2:07pm PDT

Despite TikTok’s immense popularity, it still has work to do to help advertisers and the agencies that make ads understand how to best use the short-form video app.The latest effort to address this: Earlier this month, the ByteDance-owned company invited creative agencies to participate in a program focused on upcoming major sporting events,... Despite TikTok’s immense popularity, it still has work to do to help advertisers and the agencies...

Jason Citron, CEO of Discord. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Discord Shutters Gas, Making It Two in a Row for Gas Founder

By Mark Matousek · Oct 18, 2023 1:18pm PDT

Nikita Bier has done it again. Nine months after he sold anonymous-compliments app Gas to Discord, the app is being shut down, Discord CEO Jason Citron has told employees. Bier is known in Silicon Valley as the founder of TBH, another anonymous social app which he sold to Facebook in 2017. In mid-2018, Facebook said it was closing the app... Nikita Bier has done it again. Nine months after he sold anonymous-compliments app Gas to...

Tencent's headquarters in Shenzhen, China. Photo via Shutterstock.

China’s Government Takes Stake in a Tencent Domestic Unit

By Juro Osawa · Oct 18, 2023 11:39am PDT

China’s government has taken a stake in a domestic subsidiary of Tencent, the operator of WeChat, China’s biggest messaging app, in the latest step by Beijing to tighten its control over the country’s big tech firms. The government has taken a similar sized stake in the domestic subsidiaries of several other tech giants over... China’s government has taken a stake in a domestic subsidiary of Tencent, the operator of...

Photo via Convoy.

Trucking Company Convoy Halts New Orders, Tells Employees to Prep for ‘Transition’

By Maria Heeter and Theo Wayt · Oct 18, 2023 10:37am PDT · 1 comment

Digital trucking marketplace Convoy told employees on Wednesday to stop accepting new orders and said that it was canceling existing shipments, promising to share additional details with staff in the coming days, according to an internal message. The abrupt message comes after months of Convoy exploring strategic options including a potential... Digital trucking marketplace Convoy told employees on Wednesday to stop accepting new orders and...

Apple CEO Tim Cook in China earlier this year. Photo by Getty

Apple Fired App Store Staff After Finding Improper Dealings with Game Developers

By Wayne Ma · Oct 18, 2023 9:58am PDT

Apple CEO Tim Cook in China earlier this year. Photo by Getty

Apple Fired App Store Staff After Finding Improper Dealings with Game Developers

By Wayne Ma · Oct 18, 2023 9:58am PDT

Apple fired at least five employees who worked in the company’s App Store in China following an internal probe into business misconduct, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation. Apple found infractions such as unsanctioned contact with mobile game developers or consultants working on their behalf, these people said. An... Apple fired at least five employees who worked in the company’s App Store in China...

Sam Bankman-Fried listens as Caroline Ellison testifies on Oct. 11. Sketch by Elizabeth Williams via AP.

Will SBF Testify?

By Aidan Ryan · Oct 18, 2023 9:30am PDT · 1 comment

Prosecutors expect to rest their case in the criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried next week (after the trial won’t meet for four consecutive business days), setting up the defense’s opportunity to persuade jurors they should not convict him on any of the seven fraud and conspiracy charges he faces.The case was already an uphill battle for... Prosecutors expect to rest their case in the criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried next week (after...

Art by Clark Miller.

Modest Proposals

What To Do About Misinformation in the Upcoming Election Cycle?

By Sam Lessin · Oct 18, 2023 9:00am PDT · 6 comments

We are 14 months out from our first ‘AI’ presidential election. Everyone knows that this is going to be a misinformation disaster. How bad will it be? This cycle is going to make 2016’s issues with “Russian bot farms” look downright quaint. Unlike the techno-fever-dream of the risk posed by Artificial General... We are 14 months out from our first ‘AI’ presidential election. Everyone knows that...

Chart by Shane Burke.

OpenAI Is Human After All; ‘Sharing Is Caring,’ Researchers Tell Model Developers

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 18, 2023 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

It seems like Silicon Valley’s golden child isn’t perfect after all. In a rare moment of weakness, large-language model developer OpenAI scrapped a new model, codenamed Arrakis, in mid-2023 that would have helped it run its popular chatbot ChatGPT more cheaply, my colleagues Jon Victor and Aaron Holmes reported on Tuesday.OpenAI researchers... It seems like Silicon Valley’s golden child isn’t perfect after all. In a rare moment of...

Photo by The Washington Post via Getty.

Amazon to TV Ad Newbies: If You Buy Commercials, We’ll Make Them

By Theo Wayt · Oct 18, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Photo by The Washington Post via Getty.

Amazon to TV Ad Newbies: If You Buy Commercials, We’ll Make Them

By Theo Wayt · Oct 18, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Amazon is approaching brands that already buy search ads on its e-commerce website with an unusual pitch: if you buy streaming TV ads, we’ll make them for you. The incentive highlights the lengths Amazon is willing to go to in order to try to build a streaming ad business. Smaller brands that sell on Amazon often don’t have the money... Amazon is approaching brands that already buy search ads on its e-commerce website with an...