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

Art by Clark Miller.

Market Research

The Starlink Exit Plan: How SpaceX’s Satellites Are Bringing Remote Workers to the Wilderness

By Tim Stevens · Mar 11, 2023 7:00am PST · 7 comments

The promise of Starlink is simple: You, city dweller, dream of holing up in a cabin, sailing the high seas or vagabonding across the country in an RV. But you’re still going to need an internet connection. Enter Starlink, the satellite internet provider operated by SpaceX that will beam high-speed internet down to you whether you’re... The promise of Starlink is simple: You, city dweller, dream of holing up in a cabin, sailing the...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Shuo Wang Once Sold Scooters at Flea Markets—Now Her Startup Is Worth $12 Billion

By Annie Goldsmith · Mar 11, 2023 7:00am PST · 2 comments

When Shuo Wang was 16, she got her first sales job and learned what she considers the biggest lesson in business. Despite not speaking English well, Wang sold scooters at flea markets in and around Washington, D.C., an offshoot of her mother’s business of selling motorcycles and scooters wholesale. Decades later, Wang attributes many of... When Shuo Wang was 16, she got her first sales job and learned what she considers the biggest...

Photo of Kopit Levien by Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images. Photo-illustration by Clark Miller

The News Business Is in Crisis—but Not The New York Times Co.

By Abram Brown · Mar 11, 2023 6:00am PST · 9 comments

Meredith Kopit Levien exists in a perpetual yo-yo motion. Most weeks, the CEO of The New York Times Co. spends three days in New York—“sometimes more if needed”—where a pied-à-terre gives her easy access to the company’s landmark Eighth Avenue headquarters. The rest of the time she spends in Washington, D.C.,... Meredith Kopit Levien exists in a perpetual yo-yo motion. Most weeks, the CEO of The New York...

People line up outside of the shuttered Silicon Valley Bank headquarters on March 10 in Santa Clara, Calif. Photo by Getty.

The Final Breaths of Silicon Valley Bank

By Michael Roddan, Lauren Tara LaCapra and Kate Clark · Mar 11, 2023 5:30am PST · 16 comments

People line up outside of the shuttered Silicon Valley Bank headquarters on March 10 in Santa Clara, Calif. Photo by Getty.

The Final Breaths of Silicon Valley Bank

By Michael Roddan, Lauren Tara LaCapra and Kate Clark · Mar 11, 2023 5:30am PST · 16 comments

Silicon Valley Bank wasn't just a bank—it was a central artery in the venture capital circulatory system. VC firms recruiting new partners would tell them SVB could set them up with a mortgage in a day. The bank wined and dined the industry in Napa. It sponsored numerous events across the Valley. While other banks that routinely... Silicon Valley Bank wasn't just a bank—it was a central artery in the venture capital...

People walk past a Silicon Valley Bank sign at the company's headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., Friday, March 10, 2023.

Startups Seek to Raise Emergency Cash from VC Firms, Secondary Sales

By Kate Clark and Maria Heeter · Mar 10, 2023 6:41pm PST · 1 comment

As the weekend approached, startup founders with money stuck in Silicon Valley Bank raced to sell secondary shares and enter financing deals to meet payroll and other needs, a sign of the desperate dash for funds set off by the abrupt collapse of the tech-centric bank. Many startup founders on Friday signed up for new loans based on the future... As the weekend approached, startup founders with money stuck in Silicon Valley Bank raced to sell...

Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, Calif., on Friday March 10. Photo by Bloomberg

Q&A

Bank Execs on SVB Fallout: ‘2,000 Times Better If a Buyer Comes In’ This Weekend

By Amir Efrati · Mar 10, 2023 3:38pm PST · 8 comments

Thousands of businesses and investors are panicking after federal regulators on Friday froze their assets at Silicon Valley Bank in what was the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history. From publicly-traded firms like Roku to privately-held startups like Shield AI, many SVB customers are girding for problems or scrambling to ensure they can... Thousands of businesses and investors are panicking after federal regulators on Friday froze...

An SVB Financial Group chart displayed on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, US, on Friday, March 10, 2023. Photo by Bloomberg.

Startups and VCs Scramble to Pay Employees After SVB’s Collapse

By Kate Clark, Cory Weinberg, Aaron Holmes and Maria Heeter · Mar 10, 2023 12:21pm PST · 6 comments

The sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank sowed panic at hundreds of startups and venture capital firms that banked there and now must seek new ways to pay employees and access funds from their investors and customers. Founders and VC firms, which also kept billions of dollars worth of assets with SVB, on Friday rushed to figure out whether... The sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank sowed panic at hundreds of startups and venture...

Art by Clark Miller

‘Your Dreams Are No Longer Safe’: The Washington Crowd Gets an Alarming Crash Course in AI

By Nancy Scola · Mar 10, 2023 9:00am PST · 5 comments

Art by Clark Miller

Scene and Heard

‘Your Dreams Are No Longer Safe’: The Washington Crowd Gets an Alarming Crash Course in AI

By Nancy Scola · Mar 10, 2023 9:00am PST · 5 comments

Frank Luntz, the famed Republican pollster and communications guru, stood in awe listening to himself. “It sounds like I had a stroke,” Luntz called out from the back of a banquet room at the National Press Club on a blustery evening in downtown Washington. He and around 100 other attendees at the invitation-only gathering were... Frank Luntz, the famed Republican pollster and communications guru, stood in awe listening to...

The Pro Weekly: Why Software Vendors Are Moving to the Cloud

The Pro Weekly: Why Software Vendors Are Moving to the Cloud

By Scott Thurm · Mar 10, 2023 8:00am PST · 1 comment

This week, we added 11 companies to the Cloud Database, bringing the total to 76. Collectively, those companies spend more than $13 billion annually on cloud computing services, most of that at Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. All 11 of the newly added companies use AWS for at least part of their cloud needs. The... This week, we added 11 companies to the Cloud Database, bringing the total to 76. Collectively,...

Silicon Valley Bank headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg.

Silicon Valley Bank Fails After No Buyer Emerges. What Happens Next?

By Lauren Tara LaCapra, Michael Roddan and Maria Heeter · Mar 10, 2023 7:03am PST · 10 comments

Silicon Valley Bank failed on Friday after it couldn't find a buyer, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. taking over its assets and liabilities, sending shivers through the startup world. The failure came after a tense period during which many of SVB's customers fled as the bank frantically tried to raise capital to... Silicon Valley Bank failed on Friday after it couldn't find a buyer, with the Federal Deposit...

Silicon Valley Bank headquarters in Santa Clara, California. Photo by Bloomberg

Silicon Valley Bank’s Troubles Threaten a Key Bridge Between Chinese Startups and U.S. Investors

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Mar 10, 2023 5:42am PST

The panic over the status of Silicon Valley Bank intensified on Friday, as the stock of SVB’s parent fell another 66% in pre-trading hours. Meanwhile, anxieties spread to China overnight, prompting local venture capitalists and entrepreneurs to follow their U.S. counterparts and look for alternative banks for their U.S. dollar holdings. ... The panic over the status of Silicon Valley Bank intensified on Friday, as the stock of...

Greg Becker, chief executive officer of Silicon Valley Bank. Photo by Bloomberg.

Silicon Valley Bank’s Spiral

By Martin Peers · Mar 9, 2023 5:00pm PST

Greg Becker, chief executive officer of Silicon Valley Bank. Photo by Bloomberg.

Silicon Valley Bank’s Spiral

By Martin Peers · Mar 9, 2023 5:00pm PST

What a panic. You might have thought a new coronavirus had surfaced in Silicon Valley Bank’s Santa Clara, Calif., headquarters, as SVB investors (and, apparently, depositors) rushed for the exits. SVB’s shares fell 60% in regular trading and another 21% after hours. This doesn’t seem likely to end well. My best guess is that SVB will get... What a panic. You might have thought a new coronavirus had surfaced in Silicon Valley Bank’s...

Photo by Bloomberg

Silicon Valley Bank Told Some Customers Money Transfers Are ‘Backed Up’

By Kate Clark and Michael Roddan · Mar 9, 2023 2:59pm PST · 5 comments

Silicon Valley Bank on Thursday told at least four clients that wire transfers could be delayed, and the bank’s support phone lines were recently inaccessible. Other clients reported trouble logging in to the company’s website to view their account information and make transfers. One founder who reached an SVB customer support agent... Silicon Valley Bank on Thursday told at least four clients that wire transfers could be delayed,...

Founder and CEO Hans Swildens of Industry Ventures in his office. Photo by The San Francisco Chronicle/Getty.

Venture’s Limited Partners Look for a Way Out; SVB’s Meltdown

By Kate Clark · Mar 9, 2023 2:13pm PST · 3 comments

Silicon Valley Bank’s stock was in freefall as I wrote this, down 60%, after it announced a $2.25 billion share sale, partially to counter “elevated cash burn” at the startups it banks. That news set off a wave of panic, with some VC firms like USV warning their portfolio companies to move their funds, we reported earlier today. CEO Greg Becker... Silicon Valley Bank’s stock was in freefall as I wrote this, down 60%, after it announced a $2.25...

Art by Shane Burke

Creator Economy

Discord Joins the AI Stampede

By Isabelle Sarraf · Mar 9, 2023 2:00pm PST · 1 comment

Another company is jumping on the artificial intelligence bandwagon: Discord, which is infusing AI into several platform features, including its mascot bot, Clyde. The messaging app commonly used by gamers announced Thursday it’s dipping its toes into OpenAI technology, transforming Clyde into a talkative chatbot that can answer user... Another company is jumping on the artificial intelligence bandwagon: Discord, which is infusing...

Silicon Valley Bank CEO Tells VC Clients to ‘Stay Calm’

By Erin Woo, Amir Efrati, Lauren Tara LaCapra, Michael Roddan, Kate Clark and Kaya Yurieff · Mar 9, 2023 12:02pm PST · 8 comments

Silicon Valley Bank CEO Tells VC Clients to ‘Stay Calm’

By Erin Woo, Amir Efrati, Lauren Tara LaCapra, Michael Roddan, Kate Clark and Kaya Yurieff · Mar 9, 2023 12:02pm PST · 8 comments

Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker on Thursday told top venture capitalists in Silicon Valley to “stay calm” amid concerns around a capital crunch that wiped nearly $10 billion off the bank’s market valuation. On a call, Becker said that “calls started coming and started panic.” He added that the bank has... Silicon Valley Bank CEO Greg Becker on Thursday told top venture capitalists in Silicon Valley to...

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew photographed in the company's Washington, D.C. office. Photo by Getty.

TikTok’s Plan to Stay in the U.S. Could Pose a Threat—to U.S. Tech Companies

By Matt Perault · Mar 9, 2023 9:00am PST · 8 comments

In a bid to avoid a U.S. ban, TikTok is embarking on a project to restructure its product and operations in the country. It plans to store local citizen data on local servers, create a domestic entity to house that data, comply with local legal and law enforcement requests for data, limit the flow of data across national borders—and spend... In a bid to avoid a U.S. ban, TikTok is embarking on a project to restructure its product and...

Greg Brockman. Photo by Getty

Q&A

OpenAI President on Musk Criticism: ‘We Made a Mistake’

By Jon Victor and Kevin McLaughlin · Mar 9, 2023 6:00am PST · 4 comments

Elon Musk fanned a growing culture war in artificial intelligence by confirming last week that he plans to develop an “anti-woke” alternative to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, as The Information first reported. Musk and other critics have a point, said Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s co-founder and president. In an interview, he said the... Elon Musk fanned a growing culture war in artificial intelligence by confirming last week that he...

Tonopah Flats, NV, where American Battery Technology is mining lithium from claystone. Photo: Courtesy American Battery Technology Co.

The Electric: A Big New U.S. Source of Lithium? Maybe.

By Steve LeVine · Mar 9, 2023 4:30am PST

A new report claims that Nevada land leased by lithium developer American Battery Technology Co. could contain the largest lithium deposit in the U.S., enough to equip 1.5 million electric vehicle batteries a year. The claim carries two big caveats: American Battery must do more work to confirm the size of the deposit, and it must perfect a... A new report claims that Nevada land leased by lithium developer American Battery Technology Co....

Photo by Bloomberg

To Prove Efficiency, Zuckerberg Should Reverse Name Change

By Martin Peers · Mar 8, 2023 5:00pm PST · 2 comments

Photo by Bloomberg

To Prove Efficiency, Zuckerberg Should Reverse Name Change

By Martin Peers · Mar 8, 2023 5:00pm PST · 2 comments

Here’s an idea for Meta Platforms as we wait for the company to unveil another round of layoffs: Mark Zuckerberg should reverse his decision to change the name of the company to Meta. That label might have made sense (at least to him) back at the height of the boom times, in the fall of 2021, when his focus was all metaverse, all the time. The... Here’s an idea for Meta Platforms as we wait for the company to unveil another round of layoffs:...