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

Photo by Getty.

Fast-Delivery Startups Getir and Flink Held Merger Talks

By Maria Heeter and Erin Woo · Feb 7, 2023 11:46am PST

Turkey-based fast-delivery firm Getir had preliminary talks late last year about merging with Flink, the Germany-based startup, in a sign that consolidation in the fast-delivery sector may have another round to go. Merging with Flink would strengthen Getir in Germany, where it expanded through last year’s acquisition of Gorillas. Flink... Turkey-based fast-delivery firm Getir had preliminary talks late last year about merging with...

Ben Schwerin. Photo: Getty

Coatue Hires Snap Exec as New General Partner After String of Exits

By Kate Clark · Feb 7, 2023 10:34am PST · 2 comments

Ben Schwerin, a senior vice president of content and partnerships at Snap who helps lead the company's TikTok competitor Spotlight, will join Coatue Management as a general partner, Schwerin told The Information. The new hire follows the departures of four general partners at the New York-based firm, including most recently David Cahn, chief... Ben Schwerin, a senior vice president of content and partnerships at Snap who helps lead the...

Hedge funds, pensions funds and even huge asset managers are outsourcing more and more of their trading. Photo by Bloomberg.

Where Did All the Traders Go? Investment Funds Lean on Outsourcing to Cut Costs

By Lauren Tara LaCapra · Feb 7, 2023 7:11am PST · 2 comments

More and more investment funds are outsourcing their trading, a move that cuts costs and aims to boost returns but also poses risks for the funds’ portfolios and underlying investors. Once a niche Wall Street business that catered to young hedge funds, outsourced trading has now attracted mutual funds, pension funds and other asset... More and more investment funds are outsourcing their trading, a move that cuts costs and aims to...

Artwork by Clark Miller. Photo of SpaceX Starship by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images

Musk’s Long Road to Mars: How Poor Planning Dogged the Development of SpaceX Rocket

By Becky Peterson · Feb 7, 2023 6:00am PST · 6 comments

Artwork by Clark Miller. Photo of SpaceX Starship by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images

Musk’s Long Road to Mars: How Poor Planning Dogged the Development of SpaceX Rocket

By Becky Peterson · Feb 7, 2023 6:00am PST · 6 comments

Early last year, Elon Musk stood on a stage near the coast of Southern Texas with a 400-foot-tall stainless steel rocket made by his company, SpaceX, jutting up into the night sky behind him. That rocket was supposed to be the first of a powerful new class of space vehicles, known as Starship, that SpaceX was preparing to blast into orbit, part... Early last year, Elon Musk stood on a stage near the coast of Southern Texas with a 400-foot-tall...

The U.S. shot down this alleged Chinese spy balloon on Saturday. Photo: Peter Zay/Anadolu/Getty

The Electric: Would China Retaliate by Squeezing the U.S. Battery Supply?

By Steve LeVine · Feb 7, 2023 4:00am PST

China has so far refrained from retaliating for U.S. attacks on its tech sector, such as the clampdown on Chinese access to advanced semiconductors. But should Beijing decide to strike back, a primary source of leverage is its near-chokehold on the global supply of electric vehicle battery chemicals and components, according to an expert on... China has so far refrained from retaliating for U.S. attacks on its tech sector, such as the...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Google’s AI Catch-Up Reveals

By Martin Peers · Feb 6, 2023 5:00pm PST

Google is finally waking up. After weeks of excitement coursing through tech about OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, paired with news coverage of how Microsoft plans to incorporate it into products like Bing and Word, Google has made a move. The tech company once seen as a leader in artificial intelligence on Monday unveiled its version of a... Google is finally waking up. After weeks of excitement coursing through tech about OpenAI’s...

Luke Voiles. Art: Shane Burke.

Pipe, a Lending Startup Backed By Benioff and Shopify, Nears CEO Appointment

By Maria Heeter and Erin Woo · Feb 6, 2023 4:53pm PST

Pipe, one of a cluster of startups that found a niche in lending money to companies against their recurring revenues, is close to naming a new CEO to succeed co-founders Harry Hurst and Josh Mangel, who were co-CEOs until last fall, according to people familiar with the decision. Luke Voiles, an executive from payment app Block, has surfaced as... Pipe, one of a cluster of startups that found a niche in lending money to companies against their...

Photo: Shutterstock

Bill Ready’s Pinterest Turnaround Plan Is Expensive

By Mahira Dayal · Feb 6, 2023 4:36pm PST

Photo: Shutterstock

Creator Economy

Bill Ready’s Pinterest Turnaround Plan Is Expensive

By Mahira Dayal · Feb 6, 2023 4:36pm PST

Pinterest on Monday gave us an updated view into its new CEO Bill Ready’s strategy to revitalize the company. It’s an expensive plan, leading to such a spike in spending that profit fell a whopping 90%. And Pinterest, similar to Meta Platforms, is forecasting revenue that’s barely growing, thanks to a downturn in digital ad demand. But Ready can... Pinterest on Monday gave us an updated view into its new CEO Bill Ready’s strategy to revitalize...

Elon Musk, right, last month. Photo by Getty.

Musk’s Twitter Has Just 180,000 U.S. Subscribers, Two Months After Launch

By Erin Woo · Feb 6, 2023 1:16pm PST · 5 comments

Around 180,000 people in the U.S. were paying for subscriptions to Twitter, including Twitter Blue, as of mid-January, or less than 0.2% of monthly active users, according to a document viewed by The Information. The tiny number signals the challenge Elon Musk faces in turning the subscription product into a major source of revenue. The U.S.... Around 180,000 people in the U.S. were paying for subscriptions to Twitter, including Twitter...

Barry Silbert, photo by Getty Images.

Genesis Creditors Agree to be Paid Back With Stock in Barry Silbert’s DCG

By Akash Pasricha and Aidan Ryan · Feb 6, 2023 11:04am PST

To smooth things over with the customers who’d handed crypto lender Genesis billions, Barry Silbert is slowly dismantling his crypto empire. Silbert’s Digital Currency Group will issue more than $1 billion worth of new shares and look to go public by 2025 to help pay back creditors of its bankrupt Genesis subsidiary, in a... To smooth things over with the customers who’d handed crypto lender Genesis billions,...

Illustration by Shane Burke.

Let Section 230 Stay

By Karan Lala · Feb 6, 2023 9:00am PST · 19 comments

Gonzalez v. Google, which the Supreme Court will hear this month, is the culmination of years of litigation. The action—a consolidation of lawsuits filed against Google, Twitter and Facebook—attempts to hold these platforms liable for their automated recommendation of content to users. Social media platforms are publishers, not... Gonzalez v. Google, which the Supreme Court will hear this month, is the culmination of years of...

John and Patrick Collison. Photos by Bloomberg.

Stripe Walks Tightrope to Stay Private. Could Other Firms Follow?

By Cory Weinberg, Maria Heeter and Becky Peterson · Feb 6, 2023 6:00am PST · 1 comment

John and Patrick Collison. Photos by Bloomberg.

Stripe Walks Tightrope to Stay Private. Could Other Firms Follow?

By Cory Weinberg, Maria Heeter and Becky Peterson · Feb 6, 2023 6:00am PST · 1 comment

Thirteen years after starting Stripe, chief executive Patrick Collison is raising his company’s largest ever slug of cash from venture capitalists. And he plans to alter employees’ stock plans so the company can delay a public offering. Is this a sign that more tech firms will once again try to delay going public? Not necessarily.... Thirteen years after starting Stripe, chief executive Patrick Collison is raising his...

In September 2020, Musk and technology protege Drew Baglino, introducing the concept of dry cathode processing. Photo: Courtesy Tesla

The Electric: The Challenge for a Cheaper Battery—Dry Electrodes

By Steve LeVine · Feb 5, 2023 2:00pm PST

Last month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased investors with an artist’s rendering of a planned $3.6 billion expansion of the company’s flagship Nevada battery gigafactory. Using a fraction of the floor space devoted to the plant’s existing equipment, Musk said, Tesla would triple production, making enough batteries to equip 1.5 million electric... Last month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased investors with an artist’s rendering of a planned $3.6...

Art by Clark Miller.

‘We Just Have to Keep Winning’: A Sonos Executive With a Colorful History Goes to War Against Google

By Janko Roettgers · Feb 4, 2023 7:00am PST · 7 comments

A few months into his job as chief legal officer of Sonos, Eddie Lazarus was ready to wage war. When Lazarus joined the audio hardware company in late 2018, it was facing growing competition from Amazon and Google. Both tech giants were selling cheap speakers capable of multiroom audio playback, a feature Sonos had pioneered on its devices... A few months into his job as chief legal officer of Sonos, Eddie Lazarus was ready to wage war. ...

Silicon Valley's Latest Invention: The Supplement Stack

Silicon Valley's Latest Invention: The Supplement Stack

By Jon Steinberg · Feb 4, 2023 7:00am PST

Greetings, and welcome to your Weekend!Today’s newsletter really ought to come with a surgeon general’s warning: “Consuming dozens of unregulated health supplements may not actually be awesome for your health.” It’s hard not to shake your head at the sheer number of nascent and untested substances that some of our tech-industry peers are... Greetings, and welcome to your Weekend!Today’s newsletter really ought to come with a surgeon...

A selection of AI-generated selfies (good ones on the left, duds on the right) of the author Zara Stone.

Know Thy Selfie: A Journey Into the Uncanny Valley of AI-Generated Avatars

By Zara Stone · Feb 3, 2023 12:00pm PST · 4 comments

A selection of AI-generated selfies (good ones on the left, duds on the right) of the author Zara Stone.

Market Research

Know Thy Selfie: A Journey Into the Uncanny Valley of AI-Generated Avatars

By Zara Stone · Feb 3, 2023 12:00pm PST · 4 comments

At 7 a.m. on August 22, 2022, Yaron Inger woke up to find his business irrevocably changed. The co-founder and chief technology officer of Lightricks, which develops Facetune and other popular media-editing apps, scrolled through his newsfeed, his eyes flicking from one image to another. While Inger slept, Stable Diffusion, an open-source... At 7 a.m. on August 22, 2022, Yaron Inger woke up to find his business irrevocably changed. The...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Genesis Creditors Could Miss Out on Recent Crypto Rally

By Akash Pasricha and Aidan Ryan · Feb 3, 2023 10:35am PST · 3 comments

Crypto prices have risen since parts of crypto lender Genesis filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy last month, lifting the value of customers’ crypto assets stuck in Genesis accounts. That’s not necessarily good news for Genesis’ creditors, however. Creditors are worried that any repayments they get from the bankruptcy will be made... Crypto prices have risen since parts of crypto lender Genesis filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy...

The supplement stacks of 11 founders and investors. Photos courtesy of subjects.

The Supplement Stacks: All the Pills, Powders and Potions Filling Tech’s Kitchen Counters

By Annie Goldsmith and Margaux MacColl · Feb 3, 2023 9:00am PST · 7 comments

When Courtney Reum wakes up in his Los Angeles home, it’s time to freeze, shake and dangle upside down. The co-founder of venture firm M13 takes a dip in his cold plunge—shocking his system awake—before stepping onto his Bulletproof vibration plate, which shakes him, getting his blood flowing. His morning routine crescendos... When Courtney Reum wakes up in his Los Angeles home, it’s time to freeze, shake and dangle...

Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos. Art by Mike Sullivan

How Amazon’s Bricks-and-Mortar Dreams Hit a Wall

By Theo Wayt and Nick Wingfield · Feb 3, 2023 6:09am PST · 2 comments

If Amazon’s ambitious vision for becoming a power in bricks-and-mortar retail had gone to plan, last month would have been a big milestone for the company. As recently as late 2021, Amazon had set January 2023 as the target date for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its first ever big-box store. It would have been a bit smaller than a Target... If Amazon’s ambitious vision for becoming a power in bricks-and-mortar retail had gone to...

Photos by Bloomberg

For Tech CEOs, ‘Challenging’ Means Dismal

By Martin Peers · Feb 2, 2023 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

Photos by Bloomberg

For Tech CEOs, ‘Challenging’ Means Dismal

By Martin Peers · Feb 2, 2023 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

Challenging! That’s the euphemism of the moment, used by way too many tech CEOs (including Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai tonight and Mark Zuckerberg and Evan Spiegel in recent days) to describe either 2022 or the current moment or both. Translated from corporate-speak into conversational English, it means business is bad. Just how bad became clear... Challenging! That’s the euphemism of the moment, used by way too many tech CEOs (including Tim...