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

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

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

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

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

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.

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...

Left to right: Erin Woo, Christin Klein, Kellie Sweet, and Angelique Gillmer. Photo by Erin Beach for The Information.

Partner Content

WTF Recap: How to Stay Relevant With Gen Z

By The Information Partnerships · Nov 10, 2023 9:55am PST

Gen Z, ages 13 through 26, has been the force behind fashion trends and political movements. Most can’t recall a time before smartphones. They’ve lived their entire lives connected digitally. What’s more, they are highly suspicious of traditional marketing tactics. Instead, they embrace YouTube and Snapchat. So how do brands... Gen Z, ages 13 through 26, has been the force behind fashion trends and political movements. Most...

Art by Clark Miller

The Surprise Fanatics for Meta’s VR Headset? Your Mom’s Facebook Friends

By Pranav Dixit · Nov 10, 2023 9:00am PST · 4 comments

Art by Clark Miller

The Surprise Fanatics for Meta’s VR Headset? Your Mom’s Facebook Friends

By Pranav Dixit · Nov 10, 2023 9:00am PST · 4 comments

Karla Mellinger doesn’t care about the metaverse. “It’s silly,” said the 62-year-old from Spokane, Wash., who works as a credit manager at a company that manufactures steel studs used in construction. “The whole thing is just silly.” And yet, five days a week, Mellinger straps on a Meta Quest 2 virtual reality... Karla Mellinger doesn’t care about the metaverse. “It’s silly,” said the...

Dario Amodei, co-founder and CEO of Anthropic. Photo via Getty.

Pro Weekly: AI Pushes Cloud Vendors to New Heights

By Akash Pasricha · Nov 10, 2023 8:00am PST

Running a big cloud-hosting service is a good business. Thanks to artificial intelligence, it’s getting even better. This week, we made two big additions to our Cloud Database: OpenAI and Anthropic. OpenAI is spending more than $400 million per year on Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing service, according to The Information’s reporting. In... Running a big cloud-hosting service is a good business. Thanks to artificial intelligence, it’s...

Google's AI chief Demis Hassabis, left, and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, right. Photos by Getty

OpenAI’s New Weapon in Talent War With Google: $10 Million Pay Packages for Researchers

By Jon Victor · Nov 10, 2023 6:00am PST

The recruiting fight between OpenAI and Google is growing fiercer. As OpenAI proceeds with an employee share sale that would nearly triple the startup’s valuation to more than $80 billion, its recruiters are courting top artificial intelligence employees at Google with millions of dollars and a message: Join us now to lock in a stock... The recruiting fight between OpenAI and Google is growing fiercer. As OpenAI proceeds with an...

Photo via Shutterstock

SoftBank and the Real Tragedy of WeWork

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 9, 2023 5:00pm PST · 2 comments

It was an all-hands speech that would have fit with 2023’s cost-conscious corporate dogma: A tech founder urged his employees to check if the lights were turned off when they were leaving the offices, telling them, “The universe does not allow waste.” That was Adam Neumann talking to WeWork employees in 2016, a year before SoftBank began... It was an all-hands speech that would have fit with 2023’s cost-conscious corporate dogma: A tech...

How Livestreaming Tipping Payouts Compare

How Livestreaming Tipping Payouts Compare

By Kalley Huang · Nov 9, 2023 3:58pm PST

How Livestreaming Tipping Payouts Compare

Creator Economy

How Livestreaming Tipping Payouts Compare

By Kalley Huang · Nov 9, 2023 3:58pm PST

In the third quarter, TikTok users sent more than $250 million worth of digital gifts to U.S.-based livestreamers on the video app, my colleague Erin reported last week. Those virtual tips are turning into significant revenue for creators. TikTok turns over half of those proceeds—calculated after paying Apple and Google app store fees and... In the third quarter, TikTok users sent more than $250 million worth of digital gifts to...

Photo via Adobe

Why a Stampede of Startups Will Try to Raise in the First Quarter

By Kate Clark · Nov 9, 2023 1:53pm PST · 2 comments

As winter turned to spring last year, venture investors told me startups desperate to raise cash were likely to set off a stampede of fundraising attempts. That never happened. Instead, startups went on extreme diets with the aim of making the cash they raised at the peak of the 2021 bull market last as long as possible.Another year went by.... As winter turned to spring last year, venture investors told me startups desperate to raise cash...

Photo via Getty.

Deel Hits $400 million in Annual Recurring Revenue, as Rippling Rivalry Grows

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Nov 9, 2023 12:47pm PST · 1 comment

Deel, a human resources startup last valued at $12 billion, has hit $400 million in annual recurring revenue, a senior sales director at the startup said last month, up from a pace of $295 million in January. Deel’s growth shows how some enterprise software startups have been able to thrive during a pullback in business software spending.... Deel, a human resources startup last valued at $12 billion, has hit $400 million in annual...

Photo via Shutterstock.

AI Startups Raising Money From China Are Taking a Risk; Why a New OpenAI Product Costs $2 Million; Anthropic’s Lucrative Love Triangle

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Nov 9, 2023 7:00am PST

The U.S. has increasingly restricted China’s ability to access American tech, but for now, Chinese investors are still free to ride the U.S.-led AI software wave. Partners at top Chinese VC firms including Sequoia Capital China, Source Code Capital and ZhenFund have been criss-crossing the U.S. and quietly taking minority stakes in all manner of... The U.S. has increasingly restricted China’s ability to access American tech, but for now,...

Amazon Style's now-closed store in Glendale, Calif. in May 2022. Photo by Los Angeles Daily News via Getty.

Why Amazon’s Futuristic Fashion Stores Flopped

By Theo Wayt · Nov 9, 2023 6:00am PST · 6 comments

Amazon Style's now-closed store in Glendale, Calif. in May 2022. Photo by Los Angeles Daily News via Getty.

Why Amazon’s Futuristic Fashion Stores Flopped

By Theo Wayt · Nov 9, 2023 6:00am PST · 6 comments

When Amazon CEO Andy Jassy made a surprise visit to one of his company’s Style clothing stores in Glendale, Calif., this past August, he posed for selfies with workers while holding a pair of shopping bags. It seems he wasn’t impressed. Three months later, Amazon announced that the store, along with its other Style location in Ohio,... When Amazon CEO Andy Jassy made a surprise visit to one of his company’s Style clothing...