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

An iPhone 15 on display. Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images.

Apple Plans a Thinner iPhone in 2025

By Wayne Ma and Qianer Liu · May 17, 2024 9:17am PDT · 1 comment

Apple is developing a significantly thinner version of the iPhone that could be released as early as 2025, according to three people with direct knowledge of the project. The slimmer iPhone could be released concurrently with the iPhone 17, expected in September 2025, according to the three people with direct knowledge and two others familiar... Apple is developing a significantly thinner version of the iPhone that could be released as early...

A driver and crew make a pit stop at the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at the Phoenix Raceway in November 2023. Photo by Grindstone Media Group via Shutterstock.

Pro Weekly: Why Sports Rights Fees Keep Climbing

By Scott Thurm · May 17, 2024 8:00am PDT

We launched our latest Pro database on Wednesday, the Sports Rights Database. My colleagues Sahil and Akash detailed more than $180 billion in sports rights deals across eight professional and college sports leagues and 10 platforms, including Disney’s ESPN and Apple TV+. We launched our latest Pro database on Wednesday, the Sports Rights Database. My colleagues Sahil...

Art by Clark Miller

How Lacework Went From Cybersecurity Stardom to Fire Sale Talks

By Aaron Holmes and Natasha Mascarenhas · May 17, 2024 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Last summer, more than a hundred people crowded into the brightly lit basement of a Lululemon store in Manhattan at the invitation of Lacework, a cybersecurity unicorn. By all appearances, the startup seemed to enjoy an enviable position, with an $8.3 billion valuation and an assortment of blue-chip investors, including Sutter Hill Ventures,... Last summer, more than a hundred people crowded into the brightly lit basement of a Lululemon...

Photo by Getty Images.

Stability AI in Talks to Raise Money From Group Including Sean Parker

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 16, 2024 6:42pm PDT · 3 comments

Photo by Getty Images.

Stability AI in Talks to Raise Money From Group Including Sean Parker

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 16, 2024 6:42pm PDT · 3 comments

A group of investors including Sean Parker, Facebook’s first president, has discussed making an investment in Stability AI, a startup developing products that run on open-source image generator Stable Diffusion, according to a person directly involved in deal conversations. The deal would represent a lifeline for Stability, which... A group of investors including Sean Parker, Facebook’s first president, has...

Credit: Photo via Adobe Stock

Walmart and Amazon’s Favorite New Catchphrase

By Theo Wayt · May 16, 2024 5:00pm PDT

A few years ago, in the salad days of startups like Gopuff, Getir and Gorillas that promised grocery deliveries in as little as 10 or 20 minutes, investors like SoftBank and Mubadala bet billions of dollars on the idea that shoppers wanted “ultrafast delivery.” Now it’s looking like the actual future of delivery will wind up being “just fast... A few years ago, in the salad days of startups like Gopuff, Getir and Gorillas that promised...

Photo by Getty

The Year of Venture Capital Breakups

By Kate Clark · May 16, 2024 3:05pm PDT · 1 comment

This is turning into the year of venture capital breakups.First, two high-profile splits announced last year became official in 2024. At Tiger Global Management, private investments chief Scott Shleifer moved into an advisory role at the firm led by Chase Coleman. And Neil Shen’s Sequoia Capital China (now HongShan) officially split from... This is turning into the year of venture capital breakups.First, two high-profile splits...

Carbone Fine Foods has worked with Ampla for funding on its retail tomato sauce. Photo via Adobe Stock.

Creator Economy

The Lending Cracks That Could Halt Creators’ E-Commerce Brands

By Ann Gehan · May 16, 2024 2:15pm PDT

Over the last year, we’ve seen more creators try to expand their offline businesses, inspired by high-profile launches such as MrBeast’s snack company Feastables and Emma Chamberlain’s Chamberlain Coffee, which disclosed in a filing Wednesday it had raised an additional $4.6 million in funding. While that trend is likely to continue, it could... Over the last year, we’ve seen more creators try to expand their offline businesses, inspired by...

Figma CEO Dylan Field at SXSW 2024. Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images.

Figma Shareholders to Sell Up to $900 Million of Stock at Deep Discount to Adobe Price

By Cory Weinberg · May 16, 2024 12:00pm PDT

Figma CEO Dylan Field at SXSW 2024. Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images.

Figma Shareholders to Sell Up to $900 Million of Stock at Deep Discount to Adobe Price

By Cory Weinberg · May 16, 2024 12:00pm PDT

Figma employees and early shareholders collectively will be able to sell as much as $900 million of their shares after lining up commitments from nearly two dozen new and existing backers that valued the design collaboration startup at $12.5 billion. The price represents a nearly 38% decline from Adobe’s proposed plan to buy the company... Figma employees and early shareholders collectively will be able to sell as much as $900 million...

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, left, and AWS's new leader Matt Garman. Photos via Getty

For AWS’ New Leader, Big Decisions Lie Ahead on AI, Business Apps

By Anissa Gardizy and Theo Wayt · May 16, 2024 11:39am PDT · 1 comment

For years, many current and former executives at Amazon expected Matt Garman to lead Amazon Web Services someday, given his long tenure at the cloud provider and reputation as a protégé of AWS’ first leader, Andy Jassy. But that day arrived a little sooner than they expected when Jassy, now Amazon’s CEO, said Tuesday... For years, many current and former executives at Amazon expected Matt Garman to lead Amazon Web...

Carnegie Mellon University. Photo via Adobe Stock.

Legal Problems Are Coming for AI Researchers in Academia; OpenAI Cofounder Shares His AGI Timeline

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 16, 2024 7:30am PDT

Artificial intelligence developers have a long history of playing fast and loose with intellectual property rights when it comes to getting data to train their models. While data owners are increasingly suing OpenAI, Microsoft, Meta Platforms and other major firms over such alleged violations, the heat may soon be turned on academics who operate... Artificial intelligence developers have a long history of playing fast and loose with...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

How Coinbase Is Seeking to Ease Crypto’s Credit Crunch

By Yueqi Yang · May 16, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Crypto has always been a boom-and-bust business. And right now, Coinbase is flush. That has allowed the crypto exchange to lend more money to big traders, which have struggled to borrow since the 2022 market collapse wiped out Genesis, Voyager and most other big crypto lenders. Coinbase’s loans to customers swelled to nearly $800 million... Crypto has always been a boom-and-bust business. And right now, Coinbase is flush. That has...

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announces tariffs on China. Photo by Getty.

Exclusive From The Electric: Biden to End Tariff Exemption on Synthetic Graphite from China

By Steve LeVine · May 16, 2024 4:30am PDT

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden announces tariffs on China. Photo by Getty.

Exclusive From The Electric: Biden to End Tariff Exemption on Synthetic Graphite from China

By Steve LeVine · May 16, 2024 4:30am PDT

In a new move meant to protect the nascent U.S. electric vehicle battery industry, the Biden administration will announce a 25% tariff on Chinese-made synthetic graphite later this month, to be imposed in stages over the next two years, a U.S. official said. In a new move meant to protect the nascent U.S. electric vehicle battery industry, the Biden...

A trader on the NYSE floor earlier this month. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Everything’s Coming Up Big Tech

By Cory Weinberg · May 15, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Wall Street traders sent U.S. stocks to all-time highs on Wednesday. An ebullient market, pleased with easing inflation, liked big tech even more. Most of the tech giants like Nvidia, Meta Platforms and Microsoft saw gains higher than the S&P 500. As if those companies need more help, the market’s friendliness plays into big tech’s... Wall Street traders sent U.S. stocks to all-time highs on Wednesday. An ebullient market, pleased...

Photo via YouTube.

Stability AI, Facing Cash Crunch, Discusses Sale

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 15, 2024 4:51pm PDT · 2 comments

Stability AI, which has emerged as a poster child for investors’ rush to back unproven artificial intelligence startups, has talked to at least one potential buyer in recent weeks about a sale as its faces a cash crunch, according to a person involved in the conversations. The four-year-old startup raised at least $101 million from marquee... Stability AI, which has emerged as a poster child for investors’ rush to back unproven...

Photo via Duolingo.

Creator Economy

Duolingo’s TikTok Famous Owl Is Spending More Time on YouTube

By Kaya Yurieff · May 15, 2024 2:00pm PDT

Duolingo has made its TikTok account a hit with users, emerging as an example of how companies can find a voice on short-form video. It’s got a plan for a potential TikTok ban. The language learning app, best known by its pushy owl mascot, has been expanding its presence on YouTube Shorts since early last year. For example, it ran a... Duolingo has made its TikTok account a hit with users, emerging as an example of how...

Google DeepMind CEO, Demis Hassabis. Photo via Google.

Why Google and OpenAI Don’t See Eye to Eye on Voice Assistants

By Amir Efrati and Jon Victor · May 15, 2024 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Google DeepMind CEO, Demis Hassabis. Photo via Google.

Why Google and OpenAI Don’t See Eye to Eye on Voice Assistants

By Amir Efrati and Jon Victor · May 15, 2024 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Google has spent the past year and a half chasing OpenAI’s conversational artificial intelligence. But as the technical gap narrows between their products, the companies this week revealed an important difference in how their AIs will interact with people. (To read the five main takeaways from Google’s two-hour spate of announcements, see this... Google has spent the past year and a half chasing OpenAI’s conversational artificial...

Introducing The Information’s Sports Rights Database

By Sahil Patel and Akash Pasricha · May 15, 2024 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

A New York Yankees fan who wants to watch all of the team’s games this year needs more than a cable TV subscription. They’ll also need access to Amazon Prime, Apple TV+ and Roku, each of which has exclusive rights to stream certain games. It’s not just baseball. The NBA is nearing rights deals beginning in 2025 with... A New York Yankees fan who wants to watch all of the team’s games this year needs more than...

Google AI chief Demis Hassabis, left, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai via Getty

The Good and Bad of Google’s AI Bash

By Jon Victor and Amir Efrati · May 14, 2024 6:02pm PDT · 7 comments

Google on Tuesday gave its supporters and detractors a lot of fodder after a two-hour showcase of new conversational artificial intelligence for consumers and businesses. Although CEO Sundar Pichai described relatively few major technological breakthroughs during the marathon session, the dizzying array of new AI features in dozens of existing... Google on Tuesday gave its supporters and detractors a lot of fodder after a two-hour showcase of...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai at Google’s I/O developer conference on Tuesday. Photo by Google

Google Serves a Multicourse AI Meal

By Nick Wingfield · May 14, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

The season of AI hype continues. Yesterday it was OpenAI. Today it was Google, which used its annual developer conference, Google I/O, to chronicle all of the ways it’s pushing the ball forward in artificial intelligence. Google is part of a $2 trillion–plus company, so it had a lot of ground to cover, which may explain why its event clocked in... The season of AI hype continues. Yesterday it was OpenAI. Today it was Google, which used its...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Middle East Money Takes a Round Trip

By Kate Clark · May 14, 2024 3:00pm PDT

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Middle East Money Takes a Round Trip

By Kate Clark · May 14, 2024 3:00pm PDT

In the world of artificial intelligence, startups are raising heaps of cash from cloud and chip providers like Google and Nvidia. It’s a great deal for the big tech companies. The startups are also their customers, so much of that capital cycles back as revenue, a phenomenon some critics have dubbed “round-tripping.”A similar dynamic is... In the world of artificial intelligence, startups are raising heaps of cash from cloud and chip...