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

Musical.ly's Shanghai headquarters in 2016. Photo by Bloomberg.

Biden’s Path to Forcing TikTok Sale Leads to Now-Dead App Musical.ly

By Juro Osawa and Maria Heeter · Mar 21, 2023 1:00pm PDT

Would TikTok have become a powerhouse without Musical.ly? As arcane as that question might appear, it could become the paramount issue in court if the Biden administration tries to force TikTok’s parent ByteDance to sell the app. That’s because ByteDance’s 2017 purchase of Musical.ly, a rival to the then-young TikTok, is what... Would TikTok have become a powerhouse without Musical.ly? As arcane as that question might...

Art by Shane Burke / Dall-E 2.

Twitter Used to Make Us Smarter

By Jillian York · Mar 21, 2023 9:00am PDT · 6 comments

A handful of months into Twitter’s new management and it’s clear an era has ended. For the site’s power users, which include academics, journalists and lawmakers, the sudden changes in the social network’s policies, practices and culture have destroyed years of careful network building. What that will cost us in the... A handful of months into Twitter’s new management and it’s clear an era has...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, left, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photos by Getty Images; Bloomberg.

OpenAI and Microsoft Are Partners, Until They Vie for the Same Customers

By Aaron Holmes and Kevin McLaughlin · Mar 21, 2023 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

OpenAI’s ChatGPT has enraptured the business world since its November release and OpenAI is signing up customers eager to pay to use its artificial intelligence models in their own products. But the Microsoft-backed startup faces a surprising rival: Microsoft itself. As part of its multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, Microsoft has... OpenAI’s ChatGPT has enraptured the business world since its November release and OpenAI is...

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon. Photo via Getty.

Amazon Takes Its Time Delivering Second Round of Job Cuts

By Martin Peers · Mar 20, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 3 comments

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon. Photo via Getty.

Amazon Takes Its Time Delivering Second Round of Job Cuts

By Martin Peers · Mar 20, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 3 comments

Amazon is in the lead! The e-commerce behemoth has moved ahead of Alphabet in the contest to win this year’s IBM Cup, awarded occasionally to the most bureaucratic and slow-moving big tech company around. That’s one takeaway from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s explanation today for cutting another 9,000 jobs, on top of the 18,000 layoffs already... Amazon is in the lead! The e-commerce behemoth has moved ahead of Alphabet in the contest to win...

Chart: Shane Burke

Creator Economy

How Meta Verified Compares to Other Social Subscriptions

By Isabelle Sarraf · Mar 20, 2023 3:20pm PDT

Pegged as a bundle “to help creators establish their presence” on its platforms, Meta Verified grants subscribers a blue checkmark, extra protection from impersonation and a direct line to customer support for an $11.99 monthly price tag (or $14.99 on mobile). But it will no longer include an increase in visibility and reach for paid users.... Pegged as a bundle “to help creators establish their presence” on its platforms, Meta Verified...

The TikTok Investors With the Most to Lose From a U.S. Ban

By Juro Osawa · Mar 20, 2023 2:29pm PDT

For venture investors that have collectively invested more than $8 billion in TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, the fate of the video app in the U.S., where officials are seeking changes to its ownership, could mean the difference between a huge portfolio win and a soul-crushing loss. Early backers of ByteDance such as Susquehanna... For venture investors that have collectively invested more than $8 billion in TikTok’s...

Partner Content

Event Recap: Now Presenting the Metaverse

By The Information Partnerships · Mar 20, 2023 12:42pm PDT

The term “metaverse” has been around for years, but what’s the state of it today—and where is it going next? Jillian Goodman, opinion editor of The Information, sat down for a virtual discussion with Kevan Yalowitz, software and platform global industries lead at Accenture, Vince Cacace, founder and CEO of Vertebrae, a... The term “metaverse” has been around for years, but what’s the state of it...

Clockwise from top left: Julie Bornstein, Esther Crawford, Mark Hammond, Max Cutler, Kağan Sümer. Photos via Julie Bernstein, Robert Cowherd, Microsoft, Wikimedia and Kağan Sümer.

On the Market: The Founders Who Joined Microsoft, Spotify, Coinbase and Twitter

By The Information Staff · Mar 20, 2023 6:00am PDT

Clockwise from top left: Julie Bornstein, Esther Crawford, Mark Hammond, Max Cutler, Kağan Sümer. Photos via Julie Bernstein, Robert Cowherd, Microsoft, Wikimedia and Kağan Sümer.

On the Market: The Founders Who Joined Microsoft, Spotify, Coinbase and Twitter

By The Information Staff · Mar 20, 2023 6:00am PDT

Call them acqui-fires. Several founders who took positions at the bigger tech companies that bought their startups recently lost their jobs when layoffs rolled through Silicon Valley. That means managers and engineers who also have the entrepreneurial bug are now on the market. Twitter’s most recent round of job cuts included at least four... Call them acqui-fires. Several founders who took positions at the bigger tech companies that...

Manganese-rich nodules on the seafloor 2.5 miles below the surface of the northeast Pacific Ocean. Photo: Courtesy The Metals Co.

The Electric: An Undersea Drama Could Roil the EV Industry

By Steve LeVine · Mar 19, 2023 2:00pm PDT

More than 30 countries including France, Spain, Singapore and Brazil fiercely oppose deep-sea mining, warning of irreversible damage to one of the world’s few remaining pristine areas. But they may not be able to overcome the wishes of the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru. The island country is sponsoring a bid by The Metals Co., a Canadian mining... More than 30 countries including France, Spain, Singapore and Brazil fiercely oppose deep-sea...

Art by Clark Miller.

SVB Is Dead. Long Live SVB.

By Guest · Mar 18, 2023 9:00am PDT · 3 comments

We all know how it began. It started on March 9, when the run on Silicon Valley Bank made the innovation economy totter and threatened a global financial crisis. It continued on March 10, when SVB failed and it became clear that anyone who hadn’t gotten their money out yet was stuck, facing payroll in just five days with no clear way to... We all know how it began. It started on March 9, when the run on Silicon Valley Bank made the...

The Best of Times (for AI), the Worst of Times (for Your Bank)

The Best of Times (for AI), the Worst of Times (for Your Bank)

By Jon Steinberg · Mar 18, 2023 8:14am PDT · 1 comment

Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Deep breath, everyone. The last 10 days have been a doozy. First came the Great Regional Bank Panic of 2023, which essentially wiped out the previous weekend for anyone operating in the startup ecosystem. In the cover story below, our team recorded the stories of two dozen tech leaders, including... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Deep breath, everyone. The last 10 days have been a doozy. First came...

A sign outside TikTok's offices in Culver City, Calif. this week. Photo by Getty.

TikTok Tries to Allay Advertisers’ Concerns as U.S. Ban Threat Looms

By Kaya Yurieff and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Mar 17, 2023 12:21pm PDT

A sign outside TikTok's offices in Culver City, Calif. this week. Photo by Getty.

TikTok Tries to Allay Advertisers’ Concerns as U.S. Ban Threat Looms

By Kaya Yurieff and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Mar 17, 2023 12:21pm PDT

No matter what happens in Washington, TikTok needs to keep advertisers spending money on the app. The latest threat of a ban, made recently by the Biden administration, has prompted marketers to consider their alternatives, ad executives say. TikTok has been taking steps to reassure the ad industry, including convening a closed-door meeting with... No matter what happens in Washington, TikTok needs to keep advertisers spending money on the app....

Cover art and portraits by Clark Miller

The Instant Oral History of the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

By Abram Brown, Annie Goldsmith, Margaux MacColl, Arielle Pardes, Nick Wingfield and Kaya Yurieff · Mar 17, 2023 11:26am PDT · 2 comments

On a cosmic level, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was a mere blip. The murmurs about trouble began last Wednesday, the panic spread via group texts and Twitter threads on Thursday, the bank went under on Friday, the government got its act together on Saturday, and on Sunday every current and former customer of SVB could breathe a cautious... On a cosmic level, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank was a mere blip. The murmurs about trouble...

Sarah Nagy gives a demo of her startup, Seek.ai, at an AI event at the San Francisco Wine Society in January. Photography by Laura Morton for The Information

Boom Times in San Francisco’s AI Underground

By Arielle Pardes · Mar 17, 2023 9:02am PDT · 8 comments

Not even a banking crisis could chill the fever sweeping San Francisco. Last Wednesday, as the tech industry recoiled from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a party was scheduled at the offices of Maverick Ventures in an old army hospital in the Presidio. The venture capital firm’s partners were hosting the latest LangChain... Not even a banking crisis could chill the fever sweeping San Francisco. Last Wednesday, as the...

Chris Dixon, who leads crypto investments at Andreessen Horowitz. Photo by Getty Images

The Pro Weekly: Andreessen Horowitz Plays a Vital Role in the Creator Economy

By Scott Thurm · Mar 17, 2023 8:32am PDT

Andreessen Horowitz plays an outsize role in the startup ecosystem. But its influence among startups catering to creators is even greater. The firm has been a lead investor in at least one funding round for 23 companies in The Information’s Creator Economy Database. No other firm comes close: The next most common backers of creator startups are... Andreessen Horowitz plays an outsize role in the startup ecosystem. But its influence among...

The People With Power at Binance and Binance.US

By Aidan Ryan · Mar 17, 2023 6:03am PDT

The People With Power at Binance and Binance.US

By Aidan Ryan · Mar 17, 2023 6:03am PDT

After a series of crypto collapses over the past year, Binance has cemented its position as the industry’s powerhouse. But the world’s biggest crypto exchange by volume had been under mounting scrutiny from regulators even before the implosion of its top rival, FTX. Media reports over the past year have also revealed... After a series of crypto collapses over the past year, Binance has cemented its position as the...

Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft, speaks during an interview in Redmond, Washington, on Wednesday, March 15, 2023. Photo by Bloomberg.

Tech Rivalries Are Getting Feisty Again

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 16, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

The year was 2008 or so and Silicon Valley was in full swing. As an internet reporter—this is back when most of the internet companies were under one beat—it was my job to cover announcements out of Google, Yahoo, Facebook and the other rising tech giants. And I was pretty busy. Facebook was expanding to new geographies, and Google responded to... The year was 2008 or so and Silicon Valley was in full swing. As an internet reporter—this is...

Photo by Shutterstock

Venture Capitalists Made a Big Mess of SVB

By Kate Clark · Mar 16, 2023 3:30pm PDT · 25 comments

Venture capitalists just gave a master class in how not to handle a crisis. My sympathy goes out to the founders. They’ve been bombarded with conflicting advice for days, from all-caps emails written by panicked “seasoned” venture investors urging them to pull their funds out of Silicon Valley Bank, to emergency Zoom calls asking them to... Venture capitalists just gave a master class in how not to handle a crisis. My sympathy goes...

Photo via AP

Creator Economy

TikTokers Have Been Through Ban Threats Before

By Kaya Yurieff · Mar 16, 2023 3:15pm PDT · 1 comment

The threat of a TikTok ban is once again a real possibility, after U.S. officials said the ByteDance-owned app needed to rid itself of its Chinese ownership. Creators, having been through this rigmarole three years ago, are more prepared this time.In August 2020—when a U.S. ban felt imminent under former President Donald Trump—many of them ... The threat of a TikTok ban is once again a real possibility, after U.S. officials said the...

Photo by AP.

TikTok Sale Likely to Be Rejected by China

By Juro Osawa, Sylvia Varnham O'Regan, Kaya Yurieff and Shai Oster · Mar 16, 2023 2:55pm PDT · 10 comments

Photo by AP.

TikTok Sale Likely to Be Rejected by China

By Juro Osawa, Sylvia Varnham O'Regan, Kaya Yurieff and Shai Oster · Mar 16, 2023 2:55pm PDT · 10 comments

The Chinese government is likely to oppose any attempt by the Biden administration to force TikTok’s Chinese shareholders to sell their stakes in the hugely popular app, said China-based lawyers and investors, setting the stage for a protracted standoff between Beijing and Washington over the future of TikTok. “Why would China agree?... The Chinese government is likely to oppose any attempt by the Biden administration to force...