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

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri. Photo by AFP via Getty.

Instagram Looks for Ways to Revive Interest in Threads

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Oct 2, 2023 3:11pm PDT · 4 comments

Three months ago, Threads, Meta Platforms’ answer to Twitter, was the hottest social media app around. In just days, 100 million people had signed up for it. Since then, usage has plunged, prompting Meta staffers to look for ways to revive interest in the app. One top priority is getting creators to post more often, as a way of boosting... Three months ago, Threads, Meta Platforms’ answer to Twitter, was the hottest social media...

VidCon's inaugural conference in Baltimore. Photo via VidCon

Creator Economy

What You Missed at VidCon Baltimore

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 2, 2023 2:31pm PDT

First, some breaking news: ByteDance, the parent of TikTok, is planning to buy at least $300 million in stock from current and former employees, a buyback that implies a valuation around $223.5 billion. That’s about 26% lower than the buyback ByteDance announced a year ago. In an unusual move, TikTok is buying back shares at different prices,... First, some breaking news: ByteDance, the parent of TikTok, is planning to buy at least $300...

TikTok's booth at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. Photo via Getty.

ByteDance Valuation Falls 26% to $223.5 Billion in New Employee Share Buyback

By Kaya Yurieff and Amir Efrati · Oct 2, 2023 12:56pm PDT

TikTok parent company ByteDance is planning to buy at least $300 million worth of stock from current and former U.S. employees in a deal that values the privately-held company at $223.5 billion, down 26% from a similar buyback offer a year ago, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. Current and former employees must... TikTok parent company ByteDance is planning to buy at least $300 million worth of stock from...

Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg. Photos via Shutterstock and AP.

Meta, OpenAI Square Off Over Open Source AI

By Jon Victor · Oct 2, 2023 10:32am PDT

Sam Altman and Mark Zuckerberg. Photos via Shutterstock and AP.

Meta, OpenAI Square Off Over Open Source AI

By Jon Victor · Oct 2, 2023 10:32am PDT

Artificial intelligence leaders and policymakers are divided on a key question: Are cutting-edge AI models too powerful to hand to just anyone? That question has pitted companies such as Meta Platforms, which recently made the code for its conversational AI freely available on the internet, against rivals such as OpenAI that sell proprietary AI... Artificial intelligence leaders and policymakers are divided on a key question: Are cutting-edge...

Dave Rogenmoser, co-founder of Jasper. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

AI Startups Are Facing a Reckoning

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Oct 2, 2023 7:35am PDT · 10 comments

A reckoning may be coming for once-hot artificial intelligence startups. Among the most vulnerable: consumer apps (think Character.AI) and “thin wrapper” startups like CopyAI that merely provide a nice user interface on top of a third-party model from model developers like OpenAI. We got a sense of the slowdown last week, when Natasha and I... A reckoning may be coming for once-hot artificial intelligence startups. Among the most...

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo rings the Nasdaq opening bell on Sept. 19. Photo via Nasdaq.

Instacart’s Bleak Second-Half Outlook: Slower Growth, Lower Profits

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 2, 2023 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Instacart’s first couple of quarters on the public markets could come with slower revenue growth and lower profits than it reported in the first half, according to private forecasts from analysts at banks that underwrote Instacart’s initial public offering this month. The low expectations could further dent Instacart’s stock... Instacart’s first couple of quarters on the public markets could come with slower revenue...

GOP presidential candidates lashed out at electric vehicle subsidies in last week's debate. Photo: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg/Getty

The Electric: Some Republicans Want to Kill the IRA. The Industry Isn’t Worried. That’s a Big Risk

By Steve LeVine · Oct 2, 2023 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

Former President Donald Trump and other Republicans have united around a vow to gut President Joe Biden’s landmark laws supporting electric vehicles, which marshal more than $500 billion to build a U.S. battery industry. Industry hands foresee little threat to the nascent industry, even in a Republican landslide that wins the White House and... Former President Donald Trump and other Republicans have united around a vow to gut President Joe...

The Heir Who Wants to Be Mayor

The Heir Who Wants to Be Mayor

By Jon Steinberg · Sep 30, 2023 6:00am PDT

The Heir Who Wants to Be Mayor

The Heir Who Wants to Be Mayor

By Jon Steinberg · Sep 30, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.To spend time with Daniel Lurie is to understand the true meaning of the word “mensch.” Everyone who knows the San Francisco philanthropist and Levi’s heir says pretty much the same things about him: Daniel is “a really good guy”—affable, smart, egoless and earnest in his desire to improve the lives of the... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.To spend time with Daniel Lurie is to understand the true meaning of...

Art by Clark Miller.

How a Videogame CEO Became the Boss of the Weight Room

By Margaux MacColl · Sep 30, 2023 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

Adventurer: Strauss Zelnick Escapades: 6 a.m. weightlifting, skiing the mountains of Montana, cycling through the Canadian Rockies Plenty of tech execs flex about their fitness regimen. But few can flex like Strauss Zelnick, CEO of videogame holding company Take-Two Interactive Software, which is responsible for hit games like BioShock,... Adventurer: Strauss Zelnick Escapades: 6 a.m. weightlifting, skiing the mountains of Montana,...

Photo via Getty.

Apple’s Hiccup, Blue Apron Gets Picked Up

By Martin Peers · Sep 29, 2023 3:00pm PDT

It’s hard to feel sympathy for Apple, given how much money it makes ($9.2 million in net income every hour in the most recent quarter). But the flood of complaints on social media about overheating in the latest line of iPhones makes you feel a bit for the tech giant and its executives. Here’s a company that wanted to make its high-end phones... It’s hard to feel sympathy for Apple, given how much money it makes ($9.2 million in net income...

Meredith Whittaker is an outspoken critic of the tech industry, but still hopes to find allies who believe in the right to privacy. Art by Clark Miller.

Signal Chief Meredith Whittaker Could Use Some Backup in the Fight for Encryption

By Julia Black · Sep 29, 2023 12:00pm PDT · 1 comment

I was about to sit down for coffee in Brooklyn with Meredith Whittaker when she started apologizing for the messages blowing up her phone. “Sorry, we’re launching our post-quantum protocol today,” she said while tapping away in—what else—her Signal app. Whittaker, the president of the Signal Foundation, the... I was about to sit down for coffee in Brooklyn with Meredith Whittaker when she started...

Why Your AI Startup is Probably Already Dead w/Special Guest Scott Belsky

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 29, 2023 10:31am PDT

Meet the AI Agents

Why Your AI Startup is Probably Already Dead w/Special Guest Scott Belsky

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 29, 2023 10:31am PDT

Just when I thought I understood the basics of what’s happening in AI, the field moves again. This week we welcomed our first “fifth wheel”—Scott Belsky, who runs emerging products for Adobe and is also its chief strategy officer. Scott has been living and breathing AI and brought us inside the latest on agents, promising... Just when I thought I understood the basics of what’s happening in AI, the field moves...

Two children of San Francisco from opposite sides of the tracks: Mayor London Breed and philanthropist Daniel Lurie. Art by Clark Miller; Breed photo by Getty Images.

Daniel Lurie Started Tech’s Favorite Charity. Can He Save Its Favorite City?

By Jon Steinberg · Sep 29, 2023 10:00am PDT · 11 comments

At 11 a.m. last Tuesday, a San Francisco icon stepped up to the podium at the century-old Potrero Hill Neighborhood House. With the Financial District’s half-vacant towers gleaming in the distance and the golden September sun streaming through the windows, the venue seemed stage-designed for a biopic: the room where a political star... At 11 a.m. last Tuesday, a San Francisco icon stepped up to the podium at the century-old Potrero...

Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo by Shutterstock

Indonesian Ban Could Kill Nearly One Third of TikTok Shop’s Business

By Juro Osawa and Jing Yang · Sep 29, 2023 9:04am PDT

TikTok just cannot escape government scrutiny. Even as the hugely popular ByteDance-owned app expands in the U.S. despite a persistent threat of a ban, the Indonesian government has decided on a new regulation to ban online shopping on social media. That would hobble TikTok’s fast-growing shopping service in Indonesia, which is the single... TikTok just cannot escape government scrutiny. Even as the hugely popular ByteDance-owned app...

Pro Weekly: The Market Sets the Mood

Pro Weekly: The Market Sets the Mood

By Akash Pasricha · Sep 29, 2023 8:01am PDT · 1 comment

Earlier this month, we asked The Information’s readers how they felt conditions for tech companies would change over the next six months. The results surprised us: Equal numbers of people thought conditions would improve and worsen. That sentiment was less optimistic than we’d seen during the summer and broke a trend of progressively sunnier... Earlier this month, we asked The Information’s readers how they felt conditions for tech...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

How a Hidden Bar Code in iPhone Screens Saved Apple Hundreds of Millions of Dollars

By Wayne Ma · Sep 29, 2023 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Art by Mike Sullivan.

How a Hidden Bar Code in iPhone Screens Saved Apple Hundreds of Millions of Dollars

By Wayne Ma · Sep 29, 2023 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Next time you try to wipe a smudge off your iPhone screen, take a closer look. See if you can spot one of the two tiny QR codes etched into its glass. Chances are you won’t be able to find them. Both codes are tiny—one is the size of a grain of sand and can only be seen with special equipment, while the other, roughly the size of the... Next time you try to wipe a smudge off your iPhone screen, take a closer look. See if you can...

Dave Rogenmoser, cofounder of Jasper. Photo via Getty.

Jasper, an Early Generative AI Winner, Cuts Internal Valuation as Growth Slows

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Stephanie Palazzolo · Sep 28, 2023 6:40pm PDT · 8 comments

Jasper AI, an early darling of the generative artificial intelligence boom, has cut the internal value of its common shares 20%, according to former employees who were notified by the company. The drop in Jasper’s internal valuation could indicate that the growth of its AI-powered writing tool for marketers has slowed since the company... Jasper AI, an early darling of the generative artificial intelligence boom, has cut the internal...

Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X. Photo via Getty.

Linda Yaccarino May Have the Toughest CEO Job

By Martin Peers · Sep 28, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Here’s a question: How long can someone stay as CEO of a company when the owner of that company is publicly repudiating what they’re saying? Take Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, previously known as Twitter. On Wednesday, Elon Musk confirmed a report in The Information about layoffs at X’s election integrity team—Musk even went further than what we... Here’s a question: How long can someone stay as CEO of a company when the owner of that company...

Tara Bernstein. Photo courtesy of the subject.

Creator Economy

Epic Blames Its Creator Margins; A Pickleball Influencer Inks Off-Court Deals

By Kalley Huang · Sep 28, 2023 3:36pm PDT

Epic Games, the publisher of the popular video game Fortnite, started to talk up its connections with creators a few years ago, most notably during its 2021 antitrust trial against Apple. At the time, Epic CEO Tim Sweeney argued that Apple’s App Store policies were squeezing the kind of small developers that make content for Fortnite. Epic’s... Epic Games, the publisher of the popular video game Fortnite, started to talk up its connections...

Jony Ive. Photo via Getty.

The Beginning of the AI Phone Wars

By Kate Clark · Sep 28, 2023 1:47pm PDT · 3 comments

Jony Ive. Photo via Getty.

The Beginning of the AI Phone Wars

By Kate Clark · Sep 28, 2023 1:47pm PDT · 3 comments

For years, Silicon Valley has been trying to figure out if hardware companies can generate venture scale returns, given the example of high-profile, venture capital–backed disappointments like Essential Products and Magic Leap. This challenging environment makes The Information’s recent reporting—that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and iPhone designer... For years, Silicon Valley has been trying to figure out if hardware companies can generate...