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

Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo arrives for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and Prosperity ministerial during the APEC summit in San Francisco. Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty.

Raimondo on AI Safety: ‘Off to a Good Start’

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 14, 2023 5:02pm PST

A day before U.S. President Joe Biden and China President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet in a highly anticipated meeting in San Francisco at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, I sat down in a small conference room off Market Street with one of Biden’s key deputies, who will be by his side in the meeting: Secretary of Commerce Gina... A day before U.S. President Joe Biden and China President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet in a...

Photo: Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty.

Creator Economy

TikTok Reorganizes Content Operations After Pappas’ Exit

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 14, 2023 2:20pm PST

I’m kicking off today’s newsletter with some new details about internal changes happening at TikTok, this time in its operations division, which includes creators and content. The company has organized the hundreds of operations staff around three key areas: creators, publishers, and content strategy and policy. That’s different from... I’m kicking off today’s newsletter with some new details about internal changes happening at ...

Evan Spiegel. Photo by AFP via Getty.

To Revive Snap, Evan Spiegel Promotes Hardcore Work Culture

By Erin Woo · Nov 14, 2023 11:55am PST · 15 comments

Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel has lately taken to walking around his company’s Santa Monica, Calif., headquarters in the evenings, stopping at employees’ desks and asking what they’re working on. He has noticed, however, that he always spots the same handful of people working late in the office, he told employees at a... Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel has lately taken to walking around his company’s Santa...

Puzzle cofounder and CEO Sasha Orloff. Photo courtesy of Puzzle.

Nvidia Steals AMD’s Thunder; The Generative AI Startup Hoping to Making Accounting Exciting Again

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 14, 2023 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Puzzle cofounder and CEO Sasha Orloff. Photo courtesy of Puzzle.

Nvidia Steals AMD’s Thunder; The Generative AI Startup Hoping to Making Accounting Exciting Again

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 14, 2023 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Those who follow the fast-growing world of artificial intelligence chips may have noticed fanfare on Monday surrounding Nvidia’s new H200 AI chip, a successor to the vaunted H100 that everyone has been trying to get their hands on this year.But Nvidia’s announcement simply may have been an attempt to steal the spotlight from its biggest... Those who follow the fast-growing world of artificial intelligence chips may have noticed fanfare...

ByteDance's Douyin Group offices in Beijing. Photo by Andrea Verdelli/Bloomberg via Getty.

ByteDance Revenue Surges to $29 Billion in Second Quarter, Closing in on Meta

By Cory Weinberg, Juro Osawa and Jing Yang · Nov 14, 2023 6:00am PST

ByteDance is closing the revenue gap with Facebook owner Meta Platforms as it generates more sales from advertising and e-commerce. The Chinese owner of TikTok saw revenue surge more than 40% to $29 billion in the second quarter from a year earlier, according to people with knowledge of the figures. That’s a far higher growth rate than... ByteDance is closing the revenue gap with Facebook owner Meta Platforms as it generates more...

Photo by Getty.

Amazon Reaches Deal to Run Shopping Ads on Snap

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Theo Wayt · Nov 13, 2023 7:06pm PST

Amazon has reached a deal with Snap that will let people buy Amazon products directly from ads on the Snapchat app, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed. The previously unreported arrangement closely resembles an ad partnership announced last week between Amazon and Meta Platforms, which lets people buy products through Amazon ads on Instagram and... Amazon has reached a deal with Snap that will let people buy Amazon products directly from ads on...

Photo via Shutterstock

What Investors Are Getting Wrong About Apple and Microsoft

By Martin Peers · Nov 13, 2023 5:00pm PST

Today’s tech stock market is no country for unthinking investors. A bunch of stocks—among them Alphabet and Amazon—have gone nowhere amid the market gyrations of the past two years, while others such as Apple have seen OK but not great performance. That adjective can really only be applied to Nvidia, which has soared this year thanks to its... Today’s tech stock market is no country for unthinking investors. A bunch of stocks—among them...

Photo by NurPhoto via Getty.

The Debate Over Teen Fitness Content on Instagram

By Kalley Huang · Nov 13, 2023 3:25pm PST · 2 comments

Photo by NurPhoto via Getty.

Creator Economy

The Debate Over Teen Fitness Content on Instagram

By Kalley Huang · Nov 13, 2023 3:25pm PST · 2 comments

It’s Kalley again. On Friday, my colleague Sylvia and I reported on ongoing challenges at Meta Platforms over how to limit content that’s risky to young people. A centerpiece of the debate over youth safety and well-being is what sort of content Meta should limit on Instagram, Facebook and its other apps, and what the company should... It’s Kalley again. On Friday, my colleague Sylvia and I reported on ongoing challenges at Meta...

YouTube cofounder, Chad Hurley, in October 2014. Photo by David Buchan/Getty.

YouTube Co-Founder Hurley’s Stealth AI Startup Raises Money from A-Star Capital, Ron Conway

By Kate Clark and Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 13, 2023 2:00pm PST · 1 comment

Eighteen years after co-founding YouTube, Chad Hurley is back with a new startup, EyeTell, which uses artificial intelligence to generate short-form video scripts and content, according to two people familiar with the matter. The five-month-old startup has raised a seed round led by Kevin Hartz’s A-Star Capital with an investment from Ron... Eighteen years after co-founding YouTube, Chad Hurley is back with a new startup, EyeTell, which...

Henrique Dubugras, founder and co-CEO of Brex. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Brex’s Quarterly Revenue Growth Slows to 1%, Following Post-SVB Growth Spurt

By Mark Matousek · Nov 13, 2023 12:09pm PST

Almost no startup benefited more from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank than Brex, which saw a surge in deposits from young companies who use its credit card and cash management products. But that growth spurt has petered out in recent months, internal data reveal, putting more pressure on the company to ramp up its expense software... Almost no startup benefited more from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank than Brex, which saw a...

From left to right: Ross Weiner, Brandon Hightower and Alan Bressers. Photo courtesy of AXOM Partners.

The AI Talent Wars Heat Up; The Bankers Banking on AI Deals

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 13, 2023 7:00am PST

After reading my colleague Jon Victor’s piece Friday morning, I called up my 16-year-old brother to give him some career advice: Become an AI researcher.As Jon’s piece details, the market for AI talent is heating up, with recruiters from top companies like OpenAI and Google dangling lucrative compensation packages in front of AI researchers.... After reading my colleague Jon Victor’s piece Friday morning, I called up my 16-year-old brother...

Art by Midjourney/Mike Sullivan

Startups’ Annus Horribilis—and What Comes Next

By Kate Clark · Nov 13, 2023 6:00am PST · 1 comment

Art by Midjourney/Mike Sullivan

Startups’ Annus Horribilis—and What Comes Next

By Kate Clark · Nov 13, 2023 6:00am PST · 1 comment

If 2022 was a year of shock and denial for tech founders and investors as stocks collapsed, 2023 was a year of acceptance of their harsh new reality. Startups slashed headcount. Founders swallowed their pride and accepted ego-shattering down rounds just to survive. Venture capitalists cut ambitious targets for the size of their next funds and... If 2022 was a year of shock and denial for tech founders and investors as stocks collapsed, 2023...

Ijaz, at company headquarters. Photo: Courtesy ONE

The Electric: Raising $1 Billion to Make Batteries in the U.S.—An Afternoon With Our Next Energy CEO Mujeeb Ijaz

By Steve LeVine · Nov 13, 2023 4:30am PST

In the 2000s, Mujeeb Ijaz—managing a team that made experimental electric vehicles for Ford—designed a sedan that would operate on two batteries rather than just one, like most EVs even today. One battery would be conventional lithium-ion, and the other a hydrogen fuel cell. The magic of the approach was that the car—a Ford Focus—could deliver... In the 2000s, Mujeeb Ijaz—managing a team that made experimental electric vehicles for Ford—...

Tech Rolls Out the Red Carpet

Tech Rolls Out the Red Carpet

By Jon Steinberg · Nov 11, 2023 6:00am PST

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Today marks the opening of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperative Summit in San Francisco, which is basically NBA All-Star weekend for government people. For the next seven days, our one-name tech leaders (Sam, Elon, Marc, Sundar) will play unofficial hosts to their lawmaking counterparts from around the globe (Joe,... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Today marks the opening of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperative...

Art by Clark Miller.

The Tech Evangelist Who Lives Life According to the Tides

By Margaux MacColl · Nov 11, 2023 6:00am PST · 4 comments

Adventurer: Guy Kawasaki Escapades: Hockey with his sons, surfing the shores of Santa Cruz, India and Australia The tides rule Guy Kawasaki’s life. “I almost called you up today to postpone this interview to go surf,” he laughed during a recent call from his home in Santa Cruz, Calif. “All my meetings, interviews, podcast... Adventurer: Guy Kawasaki Escapades: Hockey with his sons, surfing the shores of Santa Cruz, India...

Photo via Shutterstock.

How Stock Comp Dampens Tech Returns

By Martin Peers · Nov 10, 2023 3:30pm PST · 4 comments

Photo via Shutterstock.

How Stock Comp Dampens Tech Returns

By Martin Peers · Nov 10, 2023 3:30pm PST · 4 comments

It’s been a good week for shareholders in Uber, the ride-hailing giant, which reported solid third-quarter earnings on Tuesday. Investors seemed to have anticipated the report: The stock had been rallying for a couple of weeks. By the time the market closed on Friday, Uber was at $51.58, up 27% since late October and at its highest point since... It’s been a good week for shareholders in Uber, the ride-hailing giant, which reported solid...

Your GPT Will Make More Money Than Your Substack? Please Tell Us More…

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 10, 2023 12:58pm PST

So, have you built your GPT yet? What are you going to try first? It will not surprise you that the More or Less gang was brimming with ideas about OpenAI's lastest demos and what they mean for the AI arms race. Some of us had some skeptism, of course. Still, a big week, and we had a lot of fun unpacking it and sharing the pop culture... So, have you built your GPT yet? What are you going to try first? It will not surprise you that...

Arturo Bejar, former Instagram consultant, is sworn in during a Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday. Photo by Stephanie Scarbrough via AP.

Meta’s VR Age Change Prompted Concern About Risks

By Kalley Huang and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Nov 10, 2023 12:30pm PST · 5 comments

Before Meta Platforms decided in June to lower the minimum age for usage of some Quest virtual headsets to 10 from 13, employees had warned that the move increased the risk that children would see content on the app store meant for older people, two people with knowledge of the situation said. The issue was part of a broader debate inside Meta... Before Meta Platforms decided in June to lower the minimum age for usage of some Quest virtual...

“We have a good story to tell,” said Airbnb communications and policy chief Jay Carney, a former White House press secretary.

Airbnb Needed a New Story—It Found a Narrator from the West Wing

By Margaux MacColl · Nov 10, 2023 11:00am PST · 1 comment

It’s been a rough two years of headlines for Airbnb: hosts sneaking guests in through freight elevators, massive spiders hiding in the ceiling, tens of thousands of complaints about the platform’s ever-increasing fees. And that’s not even including the company’s legal issues, like New York’s recent crackdown on the... It’s been a rough two years of headlines for Airbnb: hosts sneaking guests in through...

Left to right: Meredith Mazzilli, Alison Levin, Val Kaplan, and Courtney Larson. Photo by Erin Beach for The Information.

WTF Recap: Marketing and Successful Audience Engagement

By The Information Partnerships · Nov 10, 2023 10:25am PST

Left to right: Meredith Mazzilli, Alison Levin, Val Kaplan, and Courtney Larson. Photo by Erin Beach for The Information.

Partner Content

WTF Recap: Marketing and Successful Audience Engagement

By The Information Partnerships · Nov 10, 2023 10:25am PST

There’s audience engagement, and then there’s fandom—people who connect passionately with a brand. But how do companies create breakthrough experiences and stories to reach them? Meredith Mazzilli, editor at The Information, facilitated a discussion with three marketers with deep expertise in this arena: Alison Levin, vice... There’s audience engagement, and then there’s fandom—people who connect...