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

Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat. Photo by Getty

Google and Other Alphabet Units Laid Off Staff as Industry Resumes Cost Cuts

By Jon Victor · Oct 18, 2023 5:58pm PDT · 2 comments

Google and its parent company Alphabet has quietly laid off staff, spokespeople for the conglomerate said, as tech firms continue to tighten their belts following a marked slowdown in business growth. Divisions such as Google News, Alphabet’s healthcare analytics subsidiary Verily and self-driving car unit Waymo recently laid off staff,... Google and its parent company Alphabet has quietly laid off staff, spokespeople for the...

Photo via Shutterstock.

Netflix Reports Healthy Q3 While Raising Premium Tier Price

By Martin Peers · Oct 18, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Let’s hope the boffins who track inflation are watching video streaming (and not for the entertainment value!). Netflix today raised the price on its premium tier by $3 a month to $22.99, a notably bigger increase than the last time it jacked up prices. Aggressive price increases are becoming standard in streaming, at least among the bigger... Let’s hope the boffins who track inflation are watching video streaming (and not for the...

Photo via Getty.

Creator Economy

TikTok Offers to Train Sports Advertisers

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 18, 2023 2:07pm PDT

Despite TikTok’s immense popularity, it still has work to do to help advertisers and the agencies that make ads understand how to best use the short-form video app.The latest effort to address this: Earlier this month, the ByteDance-owned company invited creative agencies to participate in a program focused on upcoming major sporting events,... Despite TikTok’s immense popularity, it still has work to do to help advertisers and the agencies...

Jason Citron, CEO of Discord. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Discord Shutters Gas, Making It Two in a Row for Gas Founder

By Mark Matousek · Oct 18, 2023 1:18pm PDT

Jason Citron, CEO of Discord. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Discord Shutters Gas, Making It Two in a Row for Gas Founder

By Mark Matousek · Oct 18, 2023 1:18pm PDT

Nikita Bier has done it again. Nine months after he sold anonymous-compliments app Gas to Discord, the app is being shut down, Discord CEO Jason Citron has told employees. Bier is known in Silicon Valley as the founder of TBH, another anonymous social app which he sold to Facebook in 2017. In mid-2018, Facebook said it was closing the app... Nikita Bier has done it again. Nine months after he sold anonymous-compliments app Gas to...

Tencent's headquarters in Shenzhen, China. Photo via Shutterstock.

China’s Government Takes Stake in a Tencent Domestic Unit

By Juro Osawa · Oct 18, 2023 11:39am PDT

China’s government has taken a stake in a domestic subsidiary of Tencent, the operator of WeChat, China’s biggest messaging app, in the latest step by Beijing to tighten its control over the country’s big tech firms. The government has taken a similar sized stake in the domestic subsidiaries of several other tech giants over... China’s government has taken a stake in a domestic subsidiary of Tencent, the operator of...

Photo via Convoy.

Trucking Company Convoy Halts New Orders, Tells Employees to Prep for ‘Transition’

By Maria Heeter and Theo Wayt · Oct 18, 2023 10:37am PDT · 1 comment

Digital trucking marketplace Convoy told employees on Wednesday to stop accepting new orders and said that it was canceling existing shipments, promising to share additional details with staff in the coming days, according to an internal message. The abrupt message comes after months of Convoy exploring strategic options including a potential... Digital trucking marketplace Convoy told employees on Wednesday to stop accepting new orders and...

Apple CEO Tim Cook in China earlier this year. Photo by Getty

Apple Fired App Store Staff After Finding Improper Dealings with Game Developers

By Wayne Ma · Oct 18, 2023 9:58am PDT

Apple fired at least five employees who worked in the company’s App Store in China following an internal probe into business misconduct, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation. Apple found infractions such as unsanctioned contact with mobile game developers or consultants working on their behalf, these people said. An... Apple fired at least five employees who worked in the company’s App Store in China...

Sam Bankman-Fried listens as Caroline Ellison testifies on Oct. 11. Sketch by Elizabeth Williams via AP.

Will SBF Testify?

By Aidan Ryan · Oct 18, 2023 9:30am PDT · 1 comment

Sam Bankman-Fried listens as Caroline Ellison testifies on Oct. 11. Sketch by Elizabeth Williams via AP.

Will SBF Testify?

By Aidan Ryan · Oct 18, 2023 9:30am PDT · 1 comment

Prosecutors expect to rest their case in the criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried next week (after the trial won’t meet for four consecutive business days), setting up the defense’s opportunity to persuade jurors they should not convict him on any of the seven fraud and conspiracy charges he faces.The case was already an uphill battle for... Prosecutors expect to rest their case in the criminal trial of Sam Bankman-Fried next week (after...

Art by Clark Miller.

Modest Proposals

What To Do About Misinformation in the Upcoming Election Cycle?

By Sam Lessin · Oct 18, 2023 9:00am PDT · 6 comments

We are 14 months out from our first ‘AI’ presidential election. Everyone knows that this is going to be a misinformation disaster. How bad will it be? This cycle is going to make 2016’s issues with “Russian bot farms” look downright quaint. Unlike the techno-fever-dream of the risk posed by Artificial General... We are 14 months out from our first ‘AI’ presidential election. Everyone knows that...

Chart by Shane Burke.

OpenAI Is Human After All; ‘Sharing Is Caring,’ Researchers Tell Model Developers

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 18, 2023 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

It seems like Silicon Valley’s golden child isn’t perfect after all. In a rare moment of weakness, large-language model developer OpenAI scrapped a new model, codenamed Arrakis, in mid-2023 that would have helped it run its popular chatbot ChatGPT more cheaply, my colleagues Jon Victor and Aaron Holmes reported on Tuesday.OpenAI researchers... It seems like Silicon Valley’s golden child isn’t perfect after all. In a rare moment of...

Photo by The Washington Post via Getty.

Amazon to TV Ad Newbies: If You Buy Commercials, We’ll Make Them

By Theo Wayt · Oct 18, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Amazon is approaching brands that already buy search ads on its e-commerce website with an unusual pitch: if you buy streaming TV ads, we’ll make them for you. The incentive highlights the lengths Amazon is willing to go to in order to try to build a streaming ad business. Smaller brands that sell on Amazon often don’t have the money... Amazon is approaching brands that already buy search ads on its e-commerce website with an...

Midjourney founder David Holz. Photo via Getty.

Why You Want to Watch These Startups

By Scott Thurm · Oct 17, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Midjourney founder David Holz. Photo via Getty.

Why You Want to Watch These Startups

By Scott Thurm · Oct 17, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Earlier Tuesday, we published this year’s edition of The Information 50, our annual list of startups to watch. The list is intended as a guide to companies that haven’t yet broken through, but bear watching as candidates for future public listings or big-ticket acquisitions. Our task was complicated this year by the downturn in startup funding:... Earlier Tuesday, we published this year’s edition of The Information 50, our annual list of...

Prime energy drinks. Photo via Shutterstock

Creator Economy

The Most Promising Creator Startups

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 17, 2023 2:14pm PDT

On Tuesday, we released The Information’s 50 Most Promising Startups, an annual list where we select companies that have the potential to be the most valuable businesses in their sectors based on our reporting, including their revenue and growth prospects. The 50 companies we selected have raised less than $100 million in funding or started... On Tuesday, we released The Information’s 50 Most Promising Startups, an annual list where we...

The world premiere of Amazon Prime Video's "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" in London on August 30. Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty.

Amazon Pushes Advertisers to Commit Big to Prime Video

By Sahil Patel · Oct 17, 2023 12:19pm PDT

As Amazon gears up to run ads on its Prime Video streaming service early next year, company executives are asking advertisers to commit to spending significant amounts of money on the service in 2024. The requests, which ad executives say are more aggressive than what Netflix asked for when it launched an ad-tier last year, signify... As Amazon gears up to run ads on its Prime Video streaming service early next year, company...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty

OpenAI Dropped Work on New ‘Arrakis’ AI Model in Rare Setback

By Jon Victor and Aaron Holmes · Oct 17, 2023 12:16pm PDT · 10 comments

Late last year, around the time ChatGPT became a global sensation, the engineers at OpenAI began working on a new artificial intelligence model, codenamed Arrakis. Although OpenAI was preparing to boost ChatGPT with a different model, now known as GPT-4, which it had completed earlier in the year, the upcoming Arrakis model would allow the... Late last year, around the time ChatGPT became a global sensation, the engineers at OpenAI began...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Google’s ‘Wartime’ Urgency to Chase ChatGPT Shakes Up Culture

By Jon Victor · Oct 17, 2023 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Google’s ‘Wartime’ Urgency to Chase ChatGPT Shakes Up Culture

By Jon Victor · Oct 17, 2023 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

When staff working on Google’s ChatGPT rival, Bard, hear from managers that they need to work at “Bard speed,” they know it means moving much faster than they were accustomed to in other parts of the company. Legal reviews of new features can start and end in a day. A feature that might have taken a quarter to prepare in the past now gets done... When staff working on Google’s ChatGPT rival, Bard, hear from managers that they need to work at...

The Information 50

What to Know About The Information’s 50 Most Promising Startups

By Scott Thurm · Oct 17, 2023 6:00am PDT

It’s been a particularly tough year for startups. Venture funding is on pace for the lowest annual total since 2019, according to the PitchBook-National Venture Capital Association Venture Monitor. Silicon Valley Bank, an important cog in the startup finance machine, failed in March. One-time high-fliers such as Jasper AI, Hopin and... It’s been a particularly tough year for startups. Venture funding is on pace for the lowest...

Ian Sigalow and Dana Settle. Photos via Getty.

VC Firm Greycroft Cuts Five Investors After Missing Fundraising Target

By Kate Clark · Oct 16, 2023 7:23pm PDT · 4 comments

Greycroft, a New York venture capital firm that has backed Bumble, Venmo and Axios, is laying off five investors, the firm confirmed, after it failed to reach fundraising targets earlier this year. It’s also backing away from healthcare and fintech investing. The firm disclosed in April that it had raised a total of $980 million for... Greycroft, a New York venture capital firm that has backed Bumble, Venmo and Axios, is laying off...

Photo via Shutterstock

What the Latest Tech Job Cuts Indicate

By Martin Peers · Oct 16, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Whatever job security existed in tech appears to have disappeared. On Monday, LinkedIn said it was cutting 668 people, the third round of layoffs at the Microsoft-owned unit this year. Meanwhile, developer forum Stack Overflow said Monday it would cut its staff by 28%—which, according to the Verge, amounts to 100 jobs. And that’s just today:... Whatever job security existed in tech appears to have disappeared. On Monday, LinkedIn said it...

European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton. Photo by Thierry Monasse via Getty.

The Questions Breton Should Ask Elon Musk

By Erin Woo · Oct 16, 2023 4:17pm PDT

European Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton. Photo by Thierry Monasse via Getty.

Creator Economy

The Questions Breton Should Ask Elon Musk

By Erin Woo · Oct 16, 2023 4:17pm PDT

The Israel-Hamas war that erupted over the past week has been a test of social media companies’ ability to handle content moderation in a crisis. In Europe, it’s also been a chance for the European Commission to flex its muscle under the Digital Services Act for the first time. Over the past week, Thierry Breton, the EU commissioner for the... The Israel-Hamas war that erupted over the past week has been a test of social media companies’...