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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AWS Cuts Ties With Fast-Rising Cloud-Sales Partner

By Anissa Gardizy · Jun 13, 2023 10:19am PDT · 1 comment

Amazon Web Services has suddenly cut ties with a key firm that earns commissions for bringing new customers to AWS, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation. The firm, Philadelphia-based Triumph Tech, was among a select number of “premier tier” partners, AWS’s highest designation for partners. The reason for... Amazon Web Services has suddenly cut ties with a key firm that earns commissions for bringing new...

Photo by Getty.

Why Shopify Ditched Its Amazon-Like Delivery Dreams

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · Jun 13, 2023 9:32am PDT · 2 comments

When Shopify last month announced the sale of its delivery operation, it was an abrupt reversal of a strategy to compete with Amazon it had spent four years and billions of dollars developing. Just six months earlier, for instance, top Shopify executives dismissed suggestions from logistics leaders that they scale back their investment to reduce... When Shopify last month announced the sale of its delivery operation, it was an abrupt reversal...

Art by Clark Miller.

How Silicon Valley Can Stretch Its Dollars

By Rob Jesudason · Jun 13, 2023 9:05am PDT · 6 comments

Silicon Valley was perhaps the world’s greatest beneficiary of nearly 15 years of extraordinarily loose monetary policy. From this fertile mix, West Coast venture capitalists and financial institutions spun a finely tuned ecosystem that excelled at converting cheap capital into high valuations. But with interest rates high and quite... Silicon Valley was perhaps the world’s greatest beneficiary of nearly 15 years of...

Illustration by Laurent Hrybyk

A Reckoning Arrives for Creator Economy Startups

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 13, 2023 6:09am PDT · 4 comments

Illustration by Laurent Hrybyk

A Reckoning Arrives for Creator Economy Startups

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 13, 2023 6:09am PDT · 4 comments

Two years ago, Dmitry Shapiro and Sean Thielen were so optimistic about the booming creator economy that they pivoted their startup to a new product: a simple tool called Koji that lets influencers more easily link to their online tip jars, merch and other services in their social media bios. Sure, there were already dozens of other startups... Two years ago, Dmitry Shapiro and Sean Thielen were so optimistic about the booming creator...

Photo via YouTube/TCV

TCV Raised 50% to 75% Less Than Planned For New Venture Fund

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Kate Clark · Jun 12, 2023 6:23pm PDT · 5 comments

TCV, a 28-year-old mainstay of the venture capital industry, has raised 50% to 75% less capital for its next flagship fund for private investments than the $5.5 billion target it set last year, according to new securities filings and a document compiled by one of TCV’s limited partners. The filing doesn’t clarify whether TCV is... TCV, a 28-year-old mainstay of the venture capital industry, has raised 50% to 75% less capital...

Photo by Getty

Thoma Bravo Hits Home Run With Adenza Deal

By Martin Peers · Jun 12, 2023 5:00pm PDT

The pace of tech news is picking up—and not just because antitrust regulators in both Europe and the U.S. are busy filing new lawsuits against big tech companies. And it has little to do with the fact that Twitter is once again communicating with the news media using something other than a poop emoji. No, today’s significant tech news... The pace of tech news is picking up—and not just because antitrust regulators in both Europe and...

Elon Musk. Photo by Bloomberg

After Elon Musk Bashes Sacramento Data Centers, Tesla Gets One

By Erin Woo and Becky Peterson · Jun 12, 2023 3:38pm PDT · 1 comment

Last December, in a live event on Twitter, Elon Musk called Sacramento “possibly the worst place to have a data center,” complaining about the hot temperatures of California’s inland capital, where Twitter’s data centers once went down because a heat wave overwhelmed their equipment. Musk seems to have gotten comfortable... Last December, in a live event on Twitter, Elon Musk called Sacramento “possibly the worst...

Flavrs founders Alejandro Oropeza and François Chu.

Flavrs Cooks Up Creator Equity Fund

By Isabelle Sarraf · Jun 12, 2023 2:18pm PDT · 1 comment

Flavrs founders Alejandro Oropeza and François Chu.

Creator Economy

Flavrs Cooks Up Creator Equity Fund

By Isabelle Sarraf · Jun 12, 2023 2:18pm PDT · 1 comment

Flavrs, a three-year-old creator-focused cooking app, is taking an unusual approach to attracting creators: It’s promising to give online food influencers a small stake in the startup if they post short-form videos on the app. Creators approved for what Flavrs is calling a creator equity fund will receive shares that vest over time. In... Flavrs, a three-year-old creator-focused cooking app, is taking an unusual approach to attracting...

Image via Getty

U.S. Investors Are Bailing Out of China Funds

By Juro Osawa · Jun 12, 2023 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

Sequoia Capital’s decision this week to split off its China operations showed the impact of growing tensions between Washington and Beijing. But the political conflict has sparked a bigger and more important change: Suddenly, American capital has stopped flowing to Chinese venture capital and private equity funds en masse. The University... Sequoia Capital’s decision this week to split off its China operations showed the impact of...

Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Sumo Logic Cuts Staff After Francisco Partners Takeover

By Paris Martineau and Maria Heeter · Jun 10, 2023 7:30am PDT · 8 comments

Data analytics software company Sumo Logic made widespread layoffs this week, according to people familiar with the matter and an email to staff viewed by The Information, less than a month after private equity firm Francisco Partners bought the company for $1.7 billion. The exact size of the cuts couldn’t be learned. Chief Executive Joe... Data analytics software company Sumo Logic made widespread layoffs this week, according to people...

Why We Must Love A Moonshot

Why We Must Love A Moonshot

By Jon Steinberg · Jun 10, 2023 7:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Jon, our intrepid Weekender in Chief, is out. I’m happily subbing for him. Indeed, I feel particularly energized this week after spotting something I haven’t seen in what feels like for-ev-er: an actually audacious piece of technology—that might never take off. I’m talking, of course, about Apple’s newly debuted... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Jon, our intrepid Weekender in Chief, is out. I’m happily subbing for...

Oracle co-founder talks to Elon Musk in Miami in May. Photo by Getty

Oracle’s Answer to the Microsoft-OpenAI Alliance: Cozying Up to Cohere

By Anissa Gardizy · Jun 9, 2023 2:08pm PDT

Oracle co-founder talks to Elon Musk in Miami in May. Photo by Getty

Oracle’s Answer to the Microsoft-OpenAI Alliance: Cozying Up to Cohere

By Anissa Gardizy · Jun 9, 2023 2:08pm PDT

Oracle has invested in Cohere, an artificial intelligence startup that competes with OpenAI, the startup said on Thursday. What Cohere didn’t say: Oracle plans to make the startup a centerpiece of its strategy to catch up to bigger cloud rivals that sell services powered by large-language models. Steve Miranda, a senior Oracle executive,... Oracle has invested in Cohere, an artificial intelligence startup that competes with OpenAI, the...

Marc Andreessen. Photo: Bloomberg.

Andreessen Horowitz Merges Fintech and Consumer Teams After Some Bets Fizzle

By Kate Clark and Erin Woo · Jun 9, 2023 12:32pm PDT · 1 comment

Andreessen Horowitz has combined its finance and consumer investment teams into one, merging what were two of the hottest pandemic-era investment categories that have since cooled. The investment firm’s leaders have encouraged the combined team, led by general partner Alex Rampell, to pursue artificial intelligence deals, two people... Andreessen Horowitz has combined its finance and consumer investment teams into one, merging what...

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photo: Getty

U.S. Federal Agencies Cut TikTok Ad Spending

By Sahil Patel and Erin Woo · Jun 9, 2023 11:40am PDT · 1 comment

Parts of the federal government are pulling back from advertising on TikTok, according to an advertising executive who works with government agencies, as the U.S. government restricts federal employees’ and contractors’ use of the app, a unit of China’s ByteDance. Last week, NASA, the Department of Defense and the General... Parts of the federal government are pulling back from advertising on TikTok, according to an...

Art by Clark Miller

Rave on the Nile: The Secretive Jetsetters Rethinking the Future of Travel

By Annie Goldsmith · Jun 9, 2023 11:00am PDT · 6 comments

On a warm night last month, pop singer Mike Posner was working to whip up a crowd gathered in front of the Great Pyramids. “Is anybody out there aliiive?” he yelled from a stage. The 200-person group let out an affirmative whoop. Posner, clad completely in white from headscarf down, launched into a rendition of his pop-chart hit... On a warm night last month, pop singer Mike Posner was working to whip up a crowd gathered in...

Art by Clark Miller.

The Overlapping Galaxies of Delian Asparouhov

By Margaux MacColl · Jun 9, 2023 9:00am PDT · 2 comments

Art by Clark Miller.

The Overlapping Galaxies of Delian Asparouhov

By Margaux MacColl · Jun 9, 2023 9:00am PDT · 2 comments

Delian Asparouhov, newly minted Founders Fund partner and co-founder of Varda Space Industries, is obsessed with speed. As a hobby, he’s getting his pilot’s license, hoping to eventually fly a fighter jet. On the ground, he prefers to listen to audiobooks at triple the normal tempo. And when he started Varda in late 2020, he set a... Delian Asparouhov, newly minted Founders Fund partner and co-founder of Varda Space Industries,...

Photo by Getty.

Pro Weekly: More Generative AI Companies for Our Database

By Kalley Huang · Jun 9, 2023 8:00am PDT

Welcome back!This week, we added seven companies to The Information’s Generative AI Database, which now includes 46 companies building generative artificial intelligence technology or services. Six of the new entrants develop their own AI models, which ingest large amounts of data to learn patterns, even though building and training these models... Welcome back!This week, we added seven companies to The Information’s Generative AI Database,...

Photo via Shutterstock.

Inside the Culture Clash at JPMorgan and WePay

By Michael Roddan · Jun 9, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

When JPMorgan Chase struck a $400 million deal to buy WePay in late 2017, it pledged that the Bay Area fintech would become “Chase’s payments innovation incubator in Silicon Valley,” helping the country’s biggest bank compete with surging startups Stripe and Square and payments companies like PayPal. But it didn’t... When JPMorgan Chase struck a $400 million deal to buy WePay in late 2017, it pledged that the Bay...

New York City this week. Photo by Getty.

Why the Return to the Office Is Inevitable

By Martin Peers · Jun 8, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 33 comments

For proponents of a return to working in the office, it’s two steps forward and one step back. The haze of Canadian smoke that hung over New York City and other parts of the East Coast this week gave people a reason to stay inside. Some schools shuttered their doors. People on the streets have been wearing masks. Yes, it has felt a bit like... For proponents of a return to working in the office, it’s two steps forward and one step back....

Photo via Shutterstock

Twitch Capitulates, Reddit May Not

By Isabelle Sarraf · Jun 8, 2023 4:01pm PDT

Photo via Shutterstock

Creator Economy

Twitch Capitulates, Reddit May Not

By Isabelle Sarraf · Jun 8, 2023 4:01pm PDT

Well, that was fast! Twitch on Wednesday walked back its new branded content guidelines that restricted how streamers on the livestreaming platform are allowed to display paid promotion.The new rules, released just one day earlier, would have prevented or limited popular ad formats that streamers embed in their livestreams, including video,... Well, that was fast! Twitch on Wednesday walked back its new branded content guidelines that...