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

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Recent Editions

Bob Bakish, CEO and President of Paramount Global. Photo by Getty.

Paramount Global’s Q2 Results Show It’s Going Nowhere Fast

By Martin Peers · Aug 7, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Talk about a missed opportunity. Paramount Global said today it would sell its Simon & Schuster book business, which publishes author Stephen King, among others, to private equity firm KKR for $1.6 billion. Paramount CEO Bob Bakish should have thrown a few other assets into the deal, like some of its once-valuable cable channels (MTV, VH1,... Talk about a missed opportunity. Paramount Global said today it would sell its Simon &...

Alix Earle at her graduation from the University of Miami on May 11. Photo by Getty.

Creator Economy

TikTokers Are Becoming Philanthropists

By Alex Perry · Aug 7, 2023 3:22pm PDT · 1 comment

Creators are lending their online influence to social causes. Alix Earle, a creator with 5.6 million followers on TikTok, is one of the most recent. This June she started a scholarship at the University of Miami for juniors and seniors pursuing a business degree at the University of Miami’s Herbert Business School. The 22-year-old, who recently... Creators are lending their online influence to social causes. Alix Earle, a creator with 5.6...

TSMC CEO C.C. Wei, left, and Apple CEO Tim Cook in Arizona in December. Photo by AP

How Apple Will Save Billions of Dollars on Chips for New iPhone

By Wayne Ma · Aug 7, 2023 8:00am PDT · 9 comments

When Apple’s next iPhone goes on sale in September, its upgraded core processor will be more powerful than that of any rival smartphone. That’s possible because of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which makes all of Apple’s custom chips. TSMC is using a new process to make smaller, faster and more power-efficient chips,... When Apple’s next iPhone goes on sale in September, its upgraded core processor will be...

Photo via Midjourney.

Hype About AI ‘Agents’ Rises Again; Why GPUs Are So Hard to Find

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 7, 2023 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Photo via Midjourney.

Hype About AI ‘Agents’ Rises Again; Why GPUs Are So Hard to Find

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 7, 2023 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Like many others, I dream of having my own personal artificial intelligence-powered assistant to answer texts I’ve been avoiding or land that impossible-to-get reservation at a restaurant blowing up on TikTok. So like seemingly everyone else in AI-land, I was excited when a young startup, HyperWrite, publicly launched an AI-powered assistant... Like many others, I dream of having my own personal artificial intelligence-powered assistant to...

Navin Chaddha and Jenny Lefcourt. Photos via Getty

Venture Firms Still Writing Small Checks Despite $271 Billion in ‘Dry Powder’

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 7, 2023 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

In 2019, Sean Park—a co-founder of Anthemis Group—was on the road 200 nights a year, traveling to Boston, London and other tech hot spots to meet with startups. Even after Covid-19 curtailed travel, Park, who is also the firm’s chief investment officer, was swamped with Zoom meetings with entrepreneurs he was thinking about... In 2019, Sean Park—a co-founder of Anthemis Group—was on the road 200 nights a year,...

German electric air taxi maker Lilium hopes to begin commercial operations in 2025. Photo: Paul Hanna/Bloomberg via Getty

The Electric: A University Leaps Into Electric Aviation

By Steve LeVine · Aug 7, 2023 4:30am PDT

In 2000, Toyota introduced the hybrid Prius in the U.S. Sales started slowly—Americans bought just 5,600 of the novel cars that first year and 15,600 the next, a tiny fraction of the Japanese company’s sales. Yet-Ming Chiang, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who at the time was just about to set up his own battery... In 2000, Toyota introduced the hybrid Prius in the U.S. Sales started slowly—Americans bought...

Art by Clark Miller

‘Fix It—or Go Surfing’: Jessica Lessin on What She’d Tell Her Younger Self

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 5, 2023 6:00am PDT · 84 comments

Ten years ago, almost to the day, my husband Sam took a video of me curled up in bed, convinced I had food poisoning. I was so nauseous, I felt like I couldn’t move. It turned out it was just nerves. I had just told my parents I was going to leave a plum reporting job at The Wall Street Journal to start something new. It was the moment my... Ten years ago, almost to the day, my husband Sam took a video of me curled up in bed, convinced I...

The Superconductor of the Summer

The Superconductor of the Summer

By Jon Steinberg · Aug 5, 2023 6:00am PDT

The Superconductor of the Summer

The Superconductor of the Summer

By Jon Steinberg · Aug 5, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Culturally, it’s been a very Barbie-Taylor-Tom (Cruise) summer. A season of mega-popular, mega-lucrative, four-quadrant entertainments that have returned us, however briefly, to the pre-internet days of the monoculture. So imagine my surprise when the online discourse shifted abruptly this week to the very niche... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.Culturally, it’s been a very Barbie-Taylor-Tom (Cruise) summer. A...

Photo via Clutter

A Week of Trouble in the Valley

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 4, 2023 2:00pm PDT

M&A has finally picked up—only it’s not the kind of dealmaking investors want. The Information was the first to report on two deals this week—the fire sale of storage company Clutter and the impending sale of troubled internet underwear company Parade. You know who gets screwed the most on these kinds of deals? It’s not the... M&A has finally picked up—only it’s not the kind of dealmaking investors want. The...

Where’s the Barbie Business Pop? Taylor Swift and Why Brands Beat Marketplaces

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 4, 2023 11:56am PDT

I was recently talking to a potential leadership coach and asked a few—I guess pointed—questions. “That’s why you are a journalist,” she remarked. “You are so skeptical.” I suppose I am. But this week, after taping More or Less, I momentarily wanted to join the optimistic camp. Sometimes... I was recently talking to a potential leadership coach and asked a few—I guess...

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, IRL co-founder Abraham Shafi. Photos by Getty and IRL

SoftBank Sues Former IRL CEO For Fraud

By Amir Efrati and Mark Matousek · Aug 4, 2023 11:11am PDT · 6 comments

SoftBank sued former IRL CEO Abraham Shafi and five siblings and cousins for allegedly misleading the investor about the messaging app’s growth, prompting the Japanese conglomerate to buy $150 million worth of shares in the company in 2021 at the height of a pandemic-fueled consumer internet boom. SoftBank said Shafi and his family members... SoftBank sued former IRL CEO Abraham Shafi and five siblings and cousins for allegedly misleading...

The poetry-minded Runway founder Cristóbal Valenzuela. Art by Clark Miller.

‘Not Everyone Is Trying to Build God’: Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela Tries to Dampen the Doomerism

By Julia Black · Aug 4, 2023 10:36am PDT · 1 comment

The poetry-minded Runway founder Cristóbal Valenzuela. Art by Clark Miller.

‘Not Everyone Is Trying to Build God’: Runway CEO Cristóbal Valenzuela Tries to Dampen the Doomerism

By Julia Black · Aug 4, 2023 10:36am PDT · 1 comment

It might have been a moment lost in translation, or perhaps a willful reinterpretation, but when I asked Cristóbal Valenzuela who in the tech world inspires him most, he named a Chilean poet. “Nicanor Parra came up with this idea of ‘anti-poetry,’” explained Valenzuela, co-founder and CEO of Runway, a generative AI... It might have been a moment lost in translation, or perhaps a willful reinterpretation, but when...

Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan has recently turned regulators' attention to the deceptive use of "dark patterns" by tech companies. Art by Clark Miller

Lina vs. the Dark Arts: The FTC Wants Big Tech to Know It’s Watching

By Nancy Scola · Aug 4, 2023 9:00am PDT · 7 comments

Lina Khan was hauled before the House Judiciary Committee one morning in mid-July to discuss a favorite Republican topic of the moment: the 34-year-old chair’s supposed mishandling of the Federal Trade Commission and its $430 million budget. Seated at the sprawling witness table next to a bevy of Deer Park water bottles—a sign of the... Lina Khan was hauled before the House Judiciary Committee one morning in mid-July to discuss a...

Elad Gil, Sam Altman and Mamoon Hamid. Photos by Getty.

Pro Weekly: Our Top Enterprise Investors Flock Together

By Kalley Huang · Aug 4, 2023 8:00am PDT

Welcome back!This week, to help readers follow the shifting playing field of enterprise software, we published The Information’s Enterprise Tech Power List. For this second edition of the list, we identified 10 of the most powerful executives, 10 emerging executives and 13 investors who exert the most influence over the enterprise software... Welcome back!This week, to help readers follow the shifting playing field of enterprise software,...

Graphic by Mike Sullivan.

‘Tidal Wave’ of Down Rounds Hits Startups

By Cory Weinberg and Kate Clark · Aug 4, 2023 6:01am PDT · 13 comments

Turntide Technologies, a maker of electric motor systems backed by Bill Gates–founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures, was one of the more than 300 private companies that passed the $1 billion valuation threshold last year, putting it firmly into unicorn status. It’s not worth close to that anymore. The Sunnyvale, Calif., firm is... Turntide Technologies, a maker of electric motor systems backed by Bill Gates–founded...

Photo by Getty

Apple Services Salvage a Blah Quarter

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 3, 2023 5:11pm PDT

Photo by Getty

Apple Services Salvage a Blah Quarter

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 3, 2023 5:11pm PDT

Apple services to the rescue! The part of Apple’s business that includes the App Store and various subscription services was the star of the show in the company’s fiscal third quarter, which ended July 1. It’s a star the company badly needed, too. Total revenue at Apple dropped for the third consecutive quarter, shrinking 1% year over year. At... Apple services to the rescue! The part of Apple’s business that includes the App Store and...

Photo by Shutterstock. Graphic: Shane Burke

Creator Economy

Snafus on Patreon, Facebook Stymie Creator Payouts

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 3, 2023 3:27pm PDT

What is going on this week? In two separate instances, creators on membership site Patreon and Facebook-owner Meta Platforms report they’ve had issues with payments. These snafus highlight the precarious nature of creators’ income, particularly when multiple companies are involved in payouts.Let’s start with Patreon. The San Francisco startup on... What is going on this week? In two separate instances, creators on membership site Patreon and ...

Photo via Midjourney.

The Unicorn Fire Sales Ahead

By Kate Clark · Aug 3, 2023 11:19am PDT · 4 comments

Welcome back! Hopin, one of the most iconic startups of the pandemic era, said this week it sold its virtual event and webinar hosting business to RingCentral, and that its founder and CEO, Johnny Boufarhat, is stepping down. The sale marks a pitiful finale for the once-heralded startup.Similar to Clubhouse, the chat app valued at $4... Welcome back! Hopin, one of the most iconic startups of the pandemic era, said this week it...

Photo via Parade.

Gen Z Underwear Startup Nears Sale, Highlighting New Phase of Retail M&A

By Ann Gehan and Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 3, 2023 10:47am PDT · 1 comment

Gen Z–founded underwear startup Parade, a size- and gender-inclusive brand that built an avid fan base on Instagram and was valued at nearly $200 million last year, is nearing a deal to be acquired, according to three people familiar with the talks. The company recently held talks with lingerie manufacturer Ariela & Associates... Gen Z–founded underwear startup Parade, a size- and gender-inclusive brand that built an...

Photo via Shutterstock/Shane Burke.

Developers Ask GPT-4 What it Thinks About Google’s AI

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 3, 2023 9:22am PDT

Photo via Shutterstock/Shane Burke.

Developers Ask GPT-4 What it Thinks About Google’s AI

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 3, 2023 9:22am PDT

It’s a question on the mind of every artificial intelligence startup founder and developer: Can I trust my large-language model?This deceptively simple inquiry has become more difficult to answer, as recent research shows OpenAI’s GPT-4 and other LLMs can improve in some ways over time but also get worse too.For startups using these models, it... It’s a question on the mind of every artificial intelligence startup founder and developer: Can I...