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

Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan has recently turned regulators' attention to the deceptive use of "dark patterns" by tech companies. Art by Clark Miller

Lina vs. the Dark Arts: The FTC Wants Big Tech to Know It’s Watching

By Nancy Scola · Aug 4, 2023 9:00am PDT · 7 comments

Lina Khan was hauled before the House Judiciary Committee one morning in mid-July to discuss a favorite Republican topic of the moment: the 34-year-old chair’s supposed mishandling of the Federal Trade Commission and its $430 million budget. Seated at the sprawling witness table next to a bevy of Deer Park water bottles—a sign of the... Lina Khan was hauled before the House Judiciary Committee one morning in mid-July to discuss a...

Elad Gil, Sam Altman and Mamoon Hamid. Photos by Getty.

Pro Weekly: Our Top Enterprise Investors Flock Together

By Kalley Huang · Aug 4, 2023 8:00am PDT

Welcome back!This week, to help readers follow the shifting playing field of enterprise software, we published The Information’s Enterprise Tech Power List. For this second edition of the list, we identified 10 of the most powerful executives, 10 emerging executives and 13 investors who exert the most influence over the enterprise software... Welcome back!This week, to help readers follow the shifting playing field of enterprise software,...

Graphic by Mike Sullivan.

‘Tidal Wave’ of Down Rounds Hits Startups

By Cory Weinberg and Kate Clark · Aug 4, 2023 6:01am PDT · 13 comments

Turntide Technologies, a maker of electric motor systems backed by Bill Gates–founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures, was one of the more than 300 private companies that passed the $1 billion valuation threshold last year, putting it firmly into unicorn status. It’s not worth close to that anymore. The Sunnyvale, Calif., firm is... Turntide Technologies, a maker of electric motor systems backed by Bill Gates–founded...

Photo by Getty

Apple Services Salvage a Blah Quarter

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 3, 2023 5:11pm PDT

Photo by Getty

Apple Services Salvage a Blah Quarter

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 3, 2023 5:11pm PDT

Apple services to the rescue! The part of Apple’s business that includes the App Store and various subscription services was the star of the show in the company’s fiscal third quarter, which ended July 1. It’s a star the company badly needed, too. Total revenue at Apple dropped for the third consecutive quarter, shrinking 1% year over year. At... Apple services to the rescue! The part of Apple’s business that includes the App Store and...

Photo by Shutterstock. Graphic: Shane Burke

Creator Economy

Snafus on Patreon, Facebook Stymie Creator Payouts

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 3, 2023 3:27pm PDT

What is going on this week? In two separate instances, creators on membership site Patreon and Facebook-owner Meta Platforms report they’ve had issues with payments. These snafus highlight the precarious nature of creators’ income, particularly when multiple companies are involved in payouts.Let’s start with Patreon. The San Francisco startup on... What is going on this week? In two separate instances, creators on membership site Patreon and ...

Photo via Midjourney.

The Unicorn Fire Sales Ahead

By Kate Clark · Aug 3, 2023 11:19am PDT · 4 comments

Welcome back! Hopin, one of the most iconic startups of the pandemic era, said this week it sold its virtual event and webinar hosting business to RingCentral, and that its founder and CEO, Johnny Boufarhat, is stepping down. The sale marks a pitiful finale for the once-heralded startup.Similar to Clubhouse, the chat app valued at $4... Welcome back! Hopin, one of the most iconic startups of the pandemic era, said this week it...

Photo via Parade.

Gen Z Underwear Startup Nears Sale, Highlighting New Phase of Retail M&A

By Ann Gehan and Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 3, 2023 10:47am PDT · 1 comment

Gen Z–founded underwear startup Parade, a size- and gender-inclusive brand that built an avid fan base on Instagram and was valued at nearly $200 million last year, is nearing a deal to be acquired, according to three people familiar with the talks. The company recently held talks with lingerie manufacturer Ariela & Associates... Gen Z–founded underwear startup Parade, a size- and gender-inclusive brand that built an...

Photo via Shutterstock/Shane Burke.

Developers Ask GPT-4 What it Thinks About Google’s AI

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 3, 2023 9:22am PDT

Photo via Shutterstock/Shane Burke.

Developers Ask GPT-4 What it Thinks About Google’s AI

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 3, 2023 9:22am PDT

It’s a question on the mind of every artificial intelligence startup founder and developer: Can I trust my large-language model?This deceptively simple inquiry has become more difficult to answer, as recent research shows OpenAI’s GPT-4 and other LLMs can improve in some ways over time but also get worse too.For startups using these models, it... It’s a question on the mind of every artificial intelligence startup founder and developer: Can I...

MoonPay's booth at the Bitcoin 2021 Convention in Miami. Photo by Getty.

How MoonPay Employees Missed Out on the Crypto Boom

By Aidan Ryan · Aug 3, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

As the crypto investing boom was reaching a fever pitch in 2021, crypto payment startup MoonPay—known for its flashy celebrity endorsements—was barreling toward a blockbuster fundraising. Investors including Tiger Global Management and Coatue Management invested $555 million at a whopping $3.4 billion valuation in a deal that allowed... As the crypto investing boom was reaching a fever pitch in 2021, crypto payment startup...

One sailor died and seven were injured jumping overboard when the car carrier Fremantle Highway, ferrying 498 EVs and more than 3,000 other vehicles, caught fire last week near the Netherlands. Photo: Dutch Coast Guard/Anadolu/Getty

The Electric: A New Concern for EVs: Fires Aboard Transport Ships

By Steve LeVine · Aug 3, 2023 4:30am PDT

Shipping companies have urged international maritime regulators to create safety rules for transporting electric vehicles after a spate of fires aboard freighters carrying EVs, including one last week near the Netherlands that killed a crew member and injured seven others. In the latest accident, the 650-foot Fremantle Highway caught fire... Shipping companies have urged international maritime regulators to create safety rules for...

Photo via Shutterstock

DoorDash and Shopify Offer E-commerce Bright Spots

By Nick Wingfield · Aug 2, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Anybody hunting for dark signs about consumer spending will have to look somewhere other than a couple of earnings reports from e-commerce companies today. DoorDash, for example, said its food-delivery business hit all-time highs in terms of revenue, gross value of orders on its marketplace and total orders. The company said revenue jumped 33%... Anybody hunting for dark signs about consumer spending will have to look somewhere other than a...

At Pinterest, Talk of Creators Fades as AI Rises (Chart)

At Pinterest, Talk of Creators Fades as AI Rises (Chart)

By Alex Perry · Aug 2, 2023 3:58pm PDT

At Pinterest, Talk of Creators Fades as AI Rises (Chart)

Creator Economy

At Pinterest, Talk of Creators Fades as AI Rises (Chart)

By Alex Perry · Aug 2, 2023 3:58pm PDT

The buzzwords that executives drop during their companies’ quarterly conference calls provide a window into management’s interest at the moment, or at least what they want investors to hear. At Pinterest, executives led by CEO Bill Ready have been effusive about artificial intelligence lately—and as the chart above shows, they’ve spent much less... The buzzwords that executives drop during their companies’ quarterly conference calls provide a...

Photo via Clutter.com.

Storage Startup Clutter, Running Out of Cash, Sells Itself at Steep Discount

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 2, 2023 10:56am PDT · 13 comments

Late last month, the CEO of storage and moving startup Clutter emailed some of the company’s investors to say the firm was in dire straits: Clutter, which had been valued at a reported $600 million in 2019 and garnered investments from SoftBank and Sequoia, had essentially run out of cash. To stay alive, it struck a deal to be sold for... Late last month, the CEO of storage and moving startup Clutter emailed some of the...

Photo by Shutterstock

Why CZ Wanted to Shut Down Binance.US

By Aidan Ryan · Aug 2, 2023 9:00am PDT

Changpeng Zhao really wants to cut off all ties to the U.S.I scooped yesterday that Zhao pushed to shut down Binance.US, the U.S. offshoot of the global exchange Binance. The decision shows just how far Zhao is willing to go to help preserve the image of the global exchange, which is the largest in the world. A spokesperson for Binance.US... Changpeng Zhao really wants to cut off all ties to the U.S.I scooped yesterday that Zhao pushed...

Disney CEO Robert Iger. Photo by Getty.

Disney’s New Boss Sounds a Lot Like the Old Boss

By Andrew A. Rosen · Aug 2, 2023 9:00am PDT · 1 comment

Disney CEO Robert Iger surprised investors recently when he revealed that the company’s traditional television business, including the ABC network and ESPN, “may not be core” to its future. Selling the linear networks would leave Disney’s future primarily in its parks and direct-to-consumer businesses. The irony is that... Disney CEO Robert Iger surprised investors recently when he revealed that the company’s...

From left to right: Yamini Rangan, Melanie Perkins, Satya Nadella, Adam Selipsky, and Mamoon Hamid. Photos via Getty and Wikimedia. Art by Shane Burke.

AI Shakes Up the 30 Most Powerful Enterprise Software Execs and Investors

By Anissa Gardizy, Aaron Holmes, Jon Victor, Kate Clark and Amir Efrati · Aug 2, 2023 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

From left to right: Yamini Rangan, Melanie Perkins, Satya Nadella, Adam Selipsky, and Mamoon Hamid. Photos via Getty and Wikimedia. Art by Shane Burke.

AI Shakes Up the 30 Most Powerful Enterprise Software Execs and Investors

By Anissa Gardizy, Aaron Holmes, Jon Victor, Kate Clark and Amir Efrati · Aug 2, 2023 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

The rise of artificial intelligence that can understand or mimic language has upended the power balance in enterprise software this year. Some executives have become more powerful, others have become less relevant, and a new cohort of company operators and investors is suddenly pulling the strings as customers incorporate the new AI software. ... The rise of artificial intelligence that can understand or mimic language has upended the power...

Photo by Shane Burke/generated by Midjourney.

What Happened at the Big Machine Learning Confab

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 2, 2023 7:20am PDT

Thousands of machine learning researchers, founders and venture capitalists flooded the sandy beaches of Oahu last week for the International Conference on Machine Learning. Notable attendees included John Schulman, an OpenAI co-founder and head of its reinforcement learning team; OpenAI researcher Noam Brown, known for creating the first AI to... Thousands of machine learning researchers, founders and venture capitalists flooded the sandy...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Getty.

The Bill Comes Due for Microsoft’s AI Push

By Aaron Holmes · Aug 2, 2023 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

For the past year, Microsoft has been racing to add capacity to its Azure cloud computing platform, especially for customers seeking to train and run artificial intelligence applications. Now the cost of that effort is becoming visible. Microsoft’s capital expenditures—primarily purchases of hardware and software—in the second... For the past year, Microsoft has been racing to add capacity to its Azure cloud computing...

Dara Khosrowshahi. Photo by Getty.

Uber Investors Ought to Look at the Big Picture

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 1, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Uber shareholders kicked the ride-hailing giant in the shins today for what some may have considered lackluster revenue growth. They ought to be celebrating! Finally, at long last, Uber’s operations are profitable.The company this morning said it generated $9.23 billion in revenue in the second quarter, a little more than $100 million less than... Uber shareholders kicked the ride-hailing giant in the shins today for what some may have...

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance. Photo by AP.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao Pushed to Shutter U.S. Exchange

By Aidan Ryan · Aug 1, 2023 3:40pm PDT

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance. Photo by AP.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao Pushed to Shutter U.S. Exchange

By Aidan Ryan · Aug 1, 2023 3:40pm PDT

Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao attempted to shut down the crypto exchange’s U.S. offshoot earlier this year, showing how far he was willing to go in order to protect the much larger global exchange amid mounting regulatory scrutiny, two people familiar with the matter told The Information. The Binance.US board of directors, for... Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao attempted to shut down the crypto exchange’s U.S....