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: Bloomberg

Creator Economy

Problems Inside Facebook Gaming’s Black Creator Program; Meta Expects Revenue to Drop

By Mahira Dayal · Jan 30, 2023 4:01pm PST

On Monday, I reported that Meta Platforms has reduced the contracts it paid out to creators on its game-streaming service Facebook Gaming. As part of my reporting, I confirmed that Meta let its Black Gaming Creators Program, a $10 million fund, sunset at the end of last year. That brings up an important question of how successful this fund and... On Monday, I reported that Meta Platforms has reduced the contracts it paid out to creators on...

Photo of Sam Altman by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan.

OpenAI Dangles Perks and Early Access to Win Investments in AI Startups

By Kate Clark · Jan 30, 2023 11:17am PST

OpenAI has proven itself to be a prolific fundraiser, collecting billions of dollars from Microsoft and others to perfect its artificial intelligence software. Lately, it’s also been flexing its muscles as an investor in other AI startups, a strategy that could tie a generation of young companies to its machine-learning models and... OpenAI has proven itself to be a prolific fundraiser, collecting billions of dollars from...

Attendees at the E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles in June 2018. Photo by Bloomberg.

Meta’s Twitch Competitor Cuts Contracts With Gaming Creators

By Mahira Dayal · Jan 30, 2023 6:00am PST

Since 2018, Meta Platforms has paid videogamers to stream their play on Facebook’s gaming service, its alternative to Twitch. Now, in a new era of austerity, Meta is cutting back on those payments. Facebook Gaming in the second half of last year dropped its contracts with at least 200 creators that paid them to spend time streaming on the... Since 2018, Meta Platforms has paid videogamers to stream their play on Facebook’s gaming...

In Palo Alto, CA. in November 2010, Musk and Toyoda announce what would become a star-crossed partnership. Photo: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

The Electric: Modern EVs Were Born in Japan. So Why Have the Japanese Lost Their Way?

By Steve LeVine · Jan 29, 2023 2:00pm PST

In Palo Alto, CA. in November 2010, Musk and Toyoda announce what would become a star-crossed partnership. Photo: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

The Electric: Modern EVs Were Born in Japan. So Why Have the Japanese Lost Their Way?

By Steve LeVine · Jan 29, 2023 2:00pm PST

In 2010, Akio Toyoda, chief executive of Toyota, the Japanese automaker his grandfather founded decades earlier, sipped red wine in Palo Alto, Calif., with Elon Musk, CEO of electric vehicle upstart Tesla, and drove the entrepreneur’s flashy Roadster. Toyoda, only recently installed as CEO, was taken by Musk’s spirit and determination on the... In 2010, Akio Toyoda, chief executive of Toyota, the Japanese automaker his grandfather founded...

Ban It, Divest It or Regulate It? Washington Looks for an Answer to TikTok

Ban It, Divest It or Regulate It? Washington Looks for an Answer to TikTok

By Jon Steinberg · Jan 28, 2023 7:00am PST

Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Interesting dinner table discussion this week: My 13-year-old daughter, hearing about Nancy Scola’s cover story on TikTok’s war in Washington, offered her prediction for what would happen if the U.S. took the drastic step of banning the app.“Every teenager in America would refuse to come out of their rooms,” she... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Interesting dinner table discussion this week: My 13-year-old...

The cofounders of Character.AI, Noam Shazeer (CEO) and Daniel de Freitas Adiwardana (president) at the company's office in Palo Alto, CA. Photo via Getty.

Chatbot Startup Character Seeks $250 Million, Testing Investor Appetite for AI

By Jon Victor, Kate Clark and Erin Woo · Jan 27, 2023 2:25pm PST

Character, an AI chatbot startup founded by two former Google researchers, has told investors it wants to raise as much as $250 million in new funding, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The pitch will test investors’ appetite for machine-learning startups as Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar deal with OpenAI... Character, an AI chatbot startup founded by two former Google researchers, has told investors it...

Nate CEO Albert Saniger. Art by Shane Burke.

Coatue-Backed ‘AI’ Shopping Startup Nate Has Slashed Most Staff and Disabled Key Features of its App

By Ann Gehan · Jan 27, 2023 1:46pm PST · 1 comment

Nate, the shopping app that drew attention last year for overstating its use of artificial intelligence technology to power its transactions, has stopped processing payments on its app and has cut most of its workforce, according to three people directly familiar with the matter. The moves suggest Nate is poised to become the latest casualty... Nate, the shopping app that drew attention last year for overstating its use of artificial...

Art by Clark Miller

Bari Weiss Brings the Culture Wars Home

By Annie Goldsmith · Jan 27, 2023 12:00pm PST · 5 comments

Art by Clark Miller

Bari Weiss Brings the Culture Wars Home

By Annie Goldsmith · Jan 27, 2023 12:00pm PST · 5 comments

“I’m just putting my face on!” yelled the voice around the corner. Bari Weiss—former New York Times Op-Ed staff editor and writer and current founder of the controversy-courting new media company The Free Press—came streaming into her living room, hair wet, dressed all in black. She greeted me and two of her... “I’m just putting my face on!” yelled the voice around the corner. Bari...

Stripe CEO Patrick Collison. Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan.

‘We Haven’t Won Yet’: Stripe Finds Growth Has a Cost

By Cory Weinberg, Maria Heeter and Becky Peterson · Jan 27, 2023 11:09am PST

Last fall, executives at payments giant Stripe gave employees an unusual warning: Look out for watermelons. The company had just scuttled a crucial project called Sonic, which was supposed to rewrite significant pieces of Stripe’s code in part to speed up transactions—an important step to reduce cloud computing costs and boost profit... Last fall, executives at payments giant Stripe gave employees an unusual warning: Look out for...

Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Modern Media Companies Have a Delightful Problem to Solve

By Andrew A. Rosen · Jan 27, 2023 10:00am PST · 2 comments

Sign up for Rosen’s newsletter, Parqor, part of The Information’s newsletter network. Fifteen years after Netflix launched its streaming-video service, it now has gaming and advertising offerings, both built under the purview of Netflix Chief Product and Operating Officer Greg Peters, who has lately been elevated to co-CEO.... Sign up for Rosen’s newsletter, Parqor, part of The Information’s newsletter...

Art by Clark Miller.

TikTok’s Last Stand: Can an Army of Lobbyists Quell a Washington Uprising?

By Nancy Scola · Jan 27, 2023 9:00am PST · 4 comments

There’s perhaps no one in Washington who distrusts TikTok quite as much as Brendan Carr. Carr, a 44-year-old Donald Trump appointee to the Federal Communications Commission, has spent much of the last year going around cable news and elsewhere calling for the hugely popular short-video app to be restricted, if not banned, over its ties to... There’s perhaps no one in Washington who distrusts TikTok quite as much as Brendan Carr. ...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Apple Devising Software to Help Anyone Build AR Apps, to Drive Headset Sales

By Wayne Ma · Jan 27, 2023 7:27am PST · 1 comment

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Apple Devising Software to Help Anyone Build AR Apps, to Drive Headset Sales

By Wayne Ma · Jan 27, 2023 7:27am PST · 1 comment

Apple is developing software to make it easy for users of its upcoming mixed-reality headset to build their own augmented reality apps, according to four people who have worked on the headset. With the software tools, Apple hopes that even people who don’t know computer code could tell the headset, via the Siri voice assistant, to build an... Apple is developing software to make it easy for users of its upcoming mixed-reality headset to...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

What Went Wrong at Wyre, the Crypto Payments Startup That Went From $1.5 Billion Deal to Last-Ditch Rescue

By Aidan Ryan · Jan 27, 2023 6:00am PST · 2 comments

In early May, crypto startup Wyre rented out three houses in Arizona for an offsite for its product and engineering teams. Executives arranged a tour of the Grand Canyon nearby and rented all-terrain vehicles to ride around the area, one person who attended told The Information. There was good reason to celebrate: Weeks before, checkout startup... In early May, crypto startup Wyre rented out three houses in Arizona for an offsite for its...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg

Why DOJ’s Damaging Evidence Against Google May Not Be Enough to Break Up the Company

By Jon Victor · Jan 26, 2023 6:25pm PST · 1 comment

Justice Department lawyers on Tuesday revealed embarrassing details about Google’s conduct in the online ad industry as part of a new antitrust lawsuit. Despite evidence and allegations that Google rigged advertising auctions and effectively stole money from website publishers that rely on the company’s advertising tools, the DOJ... Justice Department lawyers on Tuesday revealed embarrassing details about Google’s conduct...

John and Patrick Collison. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Stripe Won’t Go Public Soon

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 26, 2023 5:00pm PST

Sorry, Silicon Valley. Stripe isn’t going public anytime soon. Today, The Information was the first to report that the Silicon Valley payments company told employees it would go public in the next year or find another way for them to cash out of some of their stock. In an icy-cold IPO market, the news sparked a glimmer of hope that the... Sorry, Silicon Valley. Stripe isn’t going public anytime soon. Today, The Information was...

Stripe's revenue growth fell sharply last year. Photo via Bloomberg.

Stripe’s Revenue Growth Slid Last Year as Firm Burned Through Cash

By Cory Weinberg · Jan 26, 2023 3:40pm PST · 3 comments

Stripe's revenue growth fell sharply last year. Photo via Bloomberg.

Stripe’s Revenue Growth Slid Last Year as Firm Burned Through Cash

By Cory Weinberg · Jan 26, 2023 3:40pm PST · 3 comments

Stripe’s revenue growth fell sharply last year and the firm was unprofitable, factors the payments giant will need to navigate while planning to either go public or raise money privately in the next year. The company’s gross revenue—the amount of sales it pulls in before paying out a significant chunk to credit card... Stripe’s revenue growth fell sharply last year and the firm was unprofitable, factors...

Keren Baruch, LinkedIn’s director of product management. Photo: Courtesy of subject

Creator Economy

LinkedIn’s Newsletter Subscribers Quadrupled as Meta, Twitter Axed Products

By Kaya Yurieff · Jan 26, 2023 2:26pm PST · 2 comments

LinkedIn is the only big social media company that’s sticking with newsletters. This month, Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Twitter both shuttered their respective newsletter products as these tech companies cut costs, including shutting down products for creators, after overspending during the tech boom. But for LinkedIn, newsletters are... LinkedIn is the only big social media company that’s sticking with newsletters. This month,...

Photo via Getty Images

Another Software Shakeup: Confluent Chief Revenue Officer Departs

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 26, 2023 11:39am PST · 8 comments

As software gets harder to sell, top sales leaders are increasingly getting replaced. Larry Shurtz, chief revenue officer at data analytics firm Confluent, is leaving about 18 months after joining from Salesforce, according to a person with direct knowledge. His departure follows similar removals of sales leaders at major enterprise software... As software gets harder to sell, top sales leaders are increasingly getting replaced. Larry...

Stripe co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison. Photo via Bloomberg

Stripe Should Have Gone Public Already; Volition Raises $675 Million Fund

By Kate Clark · Jan 26, 2023 11:32am PST

You can’t overstate the reverberations a Stripe initial public offering—or even the glimmer of one—would have on startup investing. As my colleagues reported today, the payment software company has told employees it plans to go public or allow them to sell stock in the next year.I doubt even a looming deadline for early stock awards could force... You can’t overstate the reverberations a Stripe initial public offering—or even the glimmer of...

Illustration by Mike Sullivan

At Google, Meta and Other Tech Companies, the Layoffs Are Streaming Live on TikTok

By Chris Stokel-Walker · Jan 26, 2023 10:21am PST · 4 comments

Illustration by Mike Sullivan

At Google, Meta and Other Tech Companies, the Layoffs Are Streaming Live on TikTok

By Chris Stokel-Walker · Jan 26, 2023 10:21am PST · 4 comments

Like many of the 12,000 workers laid off by Google last Friday, Zac Bowling didn’t see it coming. The software engineer, who had worked at the tech giant since May 2015, was building what Google has billed as the future of operating systems, its Fuschia project. He thought his company and his job were safe from the widespread layoffs... Like many of the 12,000 workers laid off by Google last Friday, Zac Bowling didn’t see it...