The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

Five times/week

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.

By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy

Recent Editions

Photo generated by Midjourney.

The Bear Case Against Large-Language Model Developers

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 1, 2023 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

When Axios on Monday reported on Google’s plan to revamp Assistant—its voice assistant that competes with Apple’s Siri—with technology based on large language models, it got us thinking about a trillion-dollar question that has consumed the tech industry for months. Which software companies will benefit most from the LLM boom: upstart LLM... When Axios on Monday reported on Google’s plan to revamp Assistant—its voice assistant that...

Reed Jobs. Photo via Emerson Collective.

Reed Jobs to Start $400 Million VC Fund, Testing Appetite for New Funds

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 1, 2023 6:55am PDT · 2 comments

Reed Jobs, son of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and his spouse, philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, is leaving his mother’s Emerson Collective to start his own venture capital fund, according to a person with direct knowledge. The 31-year-old Reed Jobs is planning to raise $400 million for the fund he’s calling Yosemite Fund 1,... Reed Jobs, son of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and his spouse, philanthropist Laurene Powell...

Plaid’s Leadership Evolves to Prove It’s Not a One-Hit Wonder

By Mark Matousek · Aug 1, 2023 6:00am PDT

Plaid is at a crossroads. The financial technology company has been pushing new services and inking deals with companies such as automakers as it attempts to diversify beyond its business of selling software that connects consumers’ bank accounts to financial services firms like Robinhood and Venmo. Its current structure, mapped out in The... Plaid is at a crossroads. The financial technology company has been pushing new services and...

Photo by Getty.

Iger Produces His Own Disney Drama

By Nick Wingfield · Jul 31, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Photo by Getty.

Iger Produces His Own Disney Drama

By Nick Wingfield · Jul 31, 2023 5:00pm PDT

For those of you still mourning the end of “Succession,” you’re in luck—a new season just unexpectedly dropped. This time, though, it will be presented by Walt Disney, not HBO, in the form of an arrangement in which two onetime Disney heir apparents, Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, have returned as advisers to CEO Bob Iger. Officially, Iger—who... For those of you still mourning the end of “Succession,” you’re in luck—a new season just...

Photo via Shutterstock

Creator Economy

Twitch’s Top Streamers Dominate Watch Time

By Kaya Yurieff · Jul 31, 2023 3:02pm PDT · 1 comment

New data shows just how important Twitch’s top streamers are to the livestreaming service. Last month, 10,000 Twitch streamers made up 76% of the hours users watched on the platform, according to Rainmaker.gg, the analytics partner of StreamElements, a creator tools and sponsorships startup. These creators represent just 0.5% of the 2... New data shows just how important Twitch’s top streamers are to the livestreaming service. ...

Coatue co-founder Philippe Laffont. Photo by Getty.

Coatue Raises $331 Million for Early-Stage Fund, 34% Below Target

By Kate Clark · Jul 31, 2023 11:26am PDT · 1 comment

Coatue Management has raised $331 million for its third fund focused on early-stage startups, according to a financial filing, a third less than its target and lower than its previous early-stage fund. The smaller than anticipated total shows how the firms that raised huge funds during the pandemic investing boom are falling short of their... Coatue Management has raised $331 million for its third fund focused on early-stage startups,...

Partner Content

Event Recap: The State of VC Investing in Data and AI Startups

By The Information Partnerships · Jul 31, 2023 8:15am PDT

The artificial intelligence boom has resulted in an explosion of new startups and new products. All of these companies need funding, but the venture capital landscape has become more lean and focused. With the proliferation of so many new companies, how do venture capitalists decide where to put their money? In a live panel discussion held in... The artificial intelligence boom has resulted in an explosion of new startups and new products....

Swami Sivasubramanian. Photo by Getty.

The AWS Empire Strikes Back; A Week of LLM Jailbreaks

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 31, 2023 7:00am PDT

Swami Sivasubramanian. Photo by Getty.

The AWS Empire Strikes Back; A Week of LLM Jailbreaks

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 31, 2023 7:00am PDT

Amazon Web Services, the king of renting cloud servers, is facing an unusually large amount of pressure. Its growth and enviable profit margins have been dropping, Microsoft and Google have moved faster—or opened their wallets—to capture more business from artificial intelligence developers (TBD on whether it will amount to much), and Nvidia is... Amazon Web Services, the king of renting cloud servers, is facing an unusually large amount of...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang with one of the company's graphics processing units. Photo by Getty.

In an Unusual Move, Nvidia Wants to Know Its Customers’ Customers

By Anissa Gardizy · Jul 31, 2023 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

Nvidia plays favorites with its newest, much-sought-after chips for artificial intelligence, steering them to small cloud providers who compete with the likes of Amazon Web Services and Google. Now Nvidia is also asking some of those small cloud providers for the names of their customers—and getting them—according to two people with... Nvidia plays favorites with its newest, much-sought-after chips for artificial intelligence,...

In October, Byd unveiled the electric Atto-3 SUV in New Delhi, with hopes of opening up a new market in India. Photo: Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times/Getty

The Electric: Pushback to China's EV Juggernaut

By Steve LeVine · Jul 31, 2023 4:30am PDT

China dominates the electric vehicle, battery and critical metals industries. In recent weeks, though, policymakers in other countries have begun to push back: In Australia, regulators blocked Chinese investment in a lithium mine; in India, officials rejected a factory proposed by the largest Chinese EV maker; and in the U.S. Congress,... China dominates the electric vehicle, battery and critical metals industries. In recent weeks,...

Illustration by Clark Miller

Blind Loyalty to an Anonymous Chat App

By Jon Steinberg · Jul 29, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.What’s that I hear? It’s the sound of thousands of techies in the Bay Area calling in favors and taking out second mortgages to score tickets to Taylor Swift’s concert at Levi’s Stadium last night and tonight in Santa Clara. If you succeeded, congratulations! Speaking of Taylor, I stumbled across a fascinating... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.What’s that I hear? It’s the sound of thousands of techies in the Bay...

Photo via Shutterstock.

Tech Companies Can’t Ignore Broadband Prices

By Martin Peers · Jul 28, 2023 3:00pm PDT

Photo via Shutterstock.

Tech Companies Can’t Ignore Broadband Prices

By Martin Peers · Jul 28, 2023 3:00pm PDT

Enough with the chatter about Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Let’s talk about ordinary people for a second. If you’re in that group (and let’s face it, we can’t all be billionaires), then you may be aware that nowadays you’re spending more on broadband than you might have a few years ago. In fact, we may all find we’re spending more and more... Enough with the chatter about Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Let’s talk about ordinary people for...

More or Less: Elon’s X Game and RIP Seed Investing

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 28, 2023 2:52pm PDT

Does Elon know what he’s doing? Is he just doing “sh— to stay in the news cycle?” This week, in More or Less, we debated Musk’s motivations for Twitter’s strange rebrand. And then things got a little heated as Sam posited that seed investing as we know it is over. That would certainly be a change for... Does Elon know what he’s doing? Is he just doing “sh— to stay in the news...

Art by Clark Miller. Photo of Lee By Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images

Elan Lee Wants to Explode More Than Kittens

By Janko Roettgers · Jul 28, 2023 8:46am PDT · 2 comments

Exploding Kittens CEO Elan Lee still remembers the exact moment when he realized that he had to quit his job at Microsoft. Back in 2014, when he was chief design officer for the company’s Xbox Entertainment Studios division, Lee was visiting his younger brother for a small family reunion, only to find his niece and nephew zoned out in... Exploding Kittens CEO Elan Lee still remembers the exact moment when he realized that he had to...

Tesla's Nevada Gigafactory. Photo by Tesla.

Pro Weekly: More Plans for Battery Gigafactories

By Kalley Huang · Jul 28, 2023 8:00am PDT

Welcome back!This week, we added two proposed factories for making electric vehicle batteries to The Information’s Gigafactory Database. The newest entrants include a plan by South Korea’s Samsung SDI and Chrysler parent Stellantis for a battery factory somewhere in the U.S., as well as a factory proposed by India’s Tata Group in Bridgwater,... Welcome back!This week, we added two proposed factories for making electric vehicle batteries to...

Art by Clark Miller

How Blind Became the App Silicon Valley Bosses Love to Hate

By Paris Martineau · Jul 28, 2023 6:00am PDT · 16 comments

Art by Clark Miller

How Blind Became the App Silicon Valley Bosses Love to Hate

By Paris Martineau · Jul 28, 2023 6:00am PDT · 16 comments

Alex Shin was pretty sure he’d just screwed up the deal. It was early 2021, and Shin was pitching a couple of investors from the venture capital arm of Cisco Systems on the idea of investing in Blind—an app used by millions of workers at tech companies and employers to anonymously gossip about compensation, the horrors of dating in... Alex Shin was pretty sure he’d just screwed up the deal. It was early 2021, and Shin was...

Margrethe Vestager, European Commission's Executive Vice-President who leads competition policy. Photo by Getty.

Europe's New Microsoft Probe Strikes a Familiar Chord

By Scott Thurm · Jul 27, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Microsoft, which has managed to keep its nose clean with antitrust regulators for more than a decade, is now back in their crosshairs. The European Commission Thursday said it had opened a formal probe of complaints that Microsoft is improperly tying its Teams collaboration software to its Microsoft 365 productivity suite. The Commission... Microsoft, which has managed to keep its nose clean with antitrust regulators for more than a...

Creator Economy

A Creator Creates a Digital Twin

By Alex Perry · Jul 27, 2023 1:25pm PDT

Social media creators have been exploring how they can use generative artificial intelligence to promote their personal brands, find inspiration and offload work. Giselle Ugarte, an online performance coach who has nearly 300,000 followers on TikTok, is testing whether the technology can help her with a particularly time-consuming task:... Social media creators have been exploring how they can use generative artificial intelligence to...

Sequoia Capital's Menlo Park, Calif. campus. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Why VC’s Platform Teams Are on the Chopping Block

By Kate Clark · Jul 27, 2023 11:00am PDT · 6 comments

Shortly after the exit of five of its partners, Sequoia Capital let go of seven members of its in-house recruiting and talent team, sending a clear signal to other firms that it’s time to reevaluate the platform teams, which grew exceedingly large during the record bull run. Across VC, I suspect there are thousands of these platform employees—... Shortly after the exit of five of its partners, Sequoia Capital let go of seven members of its...

Art by Clark Miller

Keep Patent Trolls in Check

By Neil McGovern · Jul 27, 2023 9:14am PDT · 8 comments

Art by Clark Miller

Keep Patent Trolls in Check

By Neil McGovern · Jul 27, 2023 9:14am PDT · 8 comments

Many startups and tech nonprofits face legal harassment from patent holders that don’t make products but file lawsuits in the hopes of wringing settlements from businesses. These so-called patent trolls have been thorns in the side of small innovators for years. Now, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the agency that oversees the patent... Many startups and tech nonprofits face legal harassment from patent holders that don’t make...