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

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Shopify Rolling Out TikTok Shop Integration, Adding New Twist to Rivalry

By Ann Gehan · Aug 31, 2023 1:45pm PDT · 3 comments

Shopify is making peace with the threat posed by TikTok Shop. This week, the Canadian e-commerce software firm quietly began rolling out a way for merchants using its software to integrate more closely with TikTok’s small but growing online shopping service, according to a person familiar with the matter. The arrangement is a concession of... Shopify is making peace with the threat posed by TikTok Shop. This week, the Canadian e-commerce...

Chamath Palihapitiya. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

The Summer of Stake Sales

By Kate Clark · Aug 31, 2023 1:25pm PDT

Venture capitalists need to show their limited partners they can make money off their past investments if they have any hope of raising another fund in the future. That’s what’s driving a number of attempted startup stake sales this summer. In two of the latest instances, Tiger Global Management and Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital are... Venture capitalists need to show their limited partners they can make money off their past...

James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley. Photo via Getty.

The Secret Sauce Morgan Stanley’s CEO Is Leaving for His Successor

By Lauren Tara LaCapra · Aug 31, 2023 8:00am PDT

Over the past five years, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman spent $14 billion buying the pieces of what is now the world’s second-biggest provider of corporate stock plans. It was a bold bet to get an inside track to people sitting on valuable company equity who one day will be rich. The bank's overall workplace business now oversees... Over the past five years, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman spent $14 billion buying the pieces of...

Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce. Photo by Getty.

Salesforce Shows Incumbents’ Power in AI Race

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 31, 2023 7:00am PDT

Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce. Photo by Getty.

Salesforce Shows Incumbents’ Power in AI Race

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 31, 2023 7:00am PDT

In a year that’s seen one out of every four dollars of venture funding go to an artificial intelligence startup, a historically un-sexy breed of investor has dominated the field: corporations.And not just the tech behemoths. It’s no secret that Microsoft, Google, Nvidia and Oracle have collectively invested billions of dollars into AI startups... In a year that’s seen one out of every four dollars of venture funding go to an artificial...

Photo by AP.

A Tangled Mess of Tech: JPMorgan’s Tall Task to Integrate First Republic

By Michael Roddan · Aug 31, 2023 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

In the hours after JPMorgan Chase bought troubled First Republic Bank for $10.6 billion in a government fire sale, its consumer banking chiefs Marianne Lake and Jennifer Piepszak—both potential successors to CEO Jamie Dimon—flew to California. What they found when they arrived the morning of May 1 was startling: The business JPMorgan... In the hours after JPMorgan Chase bought troubled First Republic Bank for $10.6 billion in a...

When they crash, like the Tesla above, EVs take an average of 58 days to be repaired and cost $6,587 to fix. Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu/Getty

The Electric: The Nightmare Cost of Repairing Your Wrecked EV

By Steve LeVine · Aug 31, 2023 4:30am PDT

When considering an electric vehicle, a motorist will typically focus on its looks, how fast it accelerates and how far the vehicle will go on a charge. What the motorist will almost certainly not contemplate: the average of 58 days they will have to wait for repairs should they wreck that brand-spanking-new car, and the average $6,587 it will... When considering an electric vehicle, a motorist will typically focus on its looks, how fast it...

Photo by Shutterstock.

Salesforce Delivers on Profits, but Growth Is Not What It Was

By Martin Peers · Aug 30, 2023 5:01pm PDT

It was a relaxed Marc Benioff who addressed Wall Street analysts on Wednesday afternoon, after Salesforce reported its July-quarter earnings. Not only did he tease a couple of his top executives on the call, but he waxed lyrical about his experience using Google’s Bard chatbot and talked up the potential of AI startups to revive San Francisco’s... It was a relaxed Marc Benioff who addressed Wall Street analysts on Wednesday afternoon, after...

Credit: Shutterstock

Efforts to Protect Child Influencers Are Just Getting Started

By Alex Perry · Aug 30, 2023 3:50pm PDT

Credit: Shutterstock

Creator Economy

Efforts to Protect Child Influencers Are Just Getting Started

By Alex Perry · Aug 30, 2023 3:50pm PDT

It looks like efforts to ensure young influencers get a share of earnings from their social media work could become more widespread. Earlier this month, the Illinois state legislature passed an amendment to a state law that mandates guardians of children under 16 who appear in monetized social media posts must set aside portions of the... It looks like efforts to ensure young influencers get a share of earnings from their social media...

The founders of AI21 Labs. Left to right: Yoav Shoham, Ori Goshen and Amnon Shashua. Photo via AI21 Labs.

OpenAI Challenger AI21 Labs Nears Funding at $1.2 Billion Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Aidan Ryan and Erin Woo · Aug 30, 2023 12:29pm PDT · 1 comment

AI21 Labs, an Israel-based rival to OpenAI, has neared a new round of funding that would value the six-year-old startup at $1.2 billion, before the new capital, according to two people familiar with the matter. It’s the latest sign of investor appetite for firms developing conversational artificial intelligence as the technology becomes a... AI21 Labs, an Israel-based rival to OpenAI, has neared a new round of funding that would value...

Antonio Gracias. Photo by Getty.

Valor Equity Returns Show Limits of Musk Halo

By Becky Peterson · Aug 30, 2023 11:59am PDT · 3 comments

Valor Equity Partners made a name for itself thanks to early bets on Elon Musk companies such as Tesla, and its repeat investments in Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies have paid off handsomely. Yet despite the Musk glow, Valor’s recent and biggest funds are only performing slightly better than those of its venture capital peers,... Valor Equity Partners made a name for itself thanks to early bets on Elon Musk companies such as...

Photo via Midjourney

Investors Flock to Crypto-AI Startups

By Aidan Ryan · Aug 30, 2023 9:00am PDT

Crypto venture funding has cratered since last year, but some startups are bucking the trend by piggybacking off the AI investing craze. The latest example: Niraj Pant, a former general partner at crypto-focused venture firm Polychain Capital, is raising at least $20 million in a seed round for a new startup focused on the intersection of... Crypto venture funding has cratered since last year, but some startups are bucking the trend by...

Thomas Kurian. Photo via Google Cloud.

Why Google Still Needs Nvidia; The AWS-OpenAI Marriage That Could Have Been

By Jon Victor · Aug 30, 2023 7:00am PDT

Thomas Kurian. Photo via Google Cloud.

Why Google Still Needs Nvidia; The AWS-OpenAI Marriage That Could Have Been

By Jon Victor · Aug 30, 2023 7:00am PDT

Google unveiled its next-generation artificial intelligence chip at its annual enterprise software conference, Google Cloud Next, on Tuesday. But it still felt the need to tout a different kind of win: a partnership with Nvidia to offer that company’s state-of-the-art AI chips through Google Cloud alongside its own hardware. Nvidia CEO Jensen... Google unveiled its next-generation artificial intelligence chip at its annual enterprise...

AWS CEO Adam Selipsky (left) and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Art by Clark Miller/Photos by Getty

How AWS Stumbled in AI, Giving Microsoft an Opening

By Anissa Gardizy and Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 30, 2023 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Long before ChatGPT arrived on the scene last year, Amazon Web Services was developing artificial intelligence software akin to the technology that powers the hit chatbot from OpenAI. AWS had hoped to unveil the software, then known inside the company as Bedrock, at its annual customer conference late last November, but had to postpone it due to... Long before ChatGPT arrived on the scene last year, Amazon Web Services was developing artificial...

Photo by Getty

Apple and Biden Aren’t Aligned on China

By Martin Peers · Aug 29, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

If Apple was a country, its annual sales—nearly $400 billion last year—would make it roughly the 40th biggest economy in the world, ahead of Iran and on par with Denmark. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that Apple appears to have its own foreign policy, one that isn’t always totally aligned with U.S. policy, at least when it comes to dealing... If Apple was a country, its annual sales—nearly $400 billion last year—would make it roughly the...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo via Getty

OpenAI Passes $1 Billion Revenue Pace as Big Companies Boost AI Spending

By Amir Efrati and Aaron Holmes · Aug 29, 2023 3:58pm PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI is currently on pace to generate more than $1 billion in revenue over the next 12 months from the sale of artificial intelligence software and the computing capacity that powers it. That’s far ahead of revenue projections the company previously shared with its shareholders, according to a person with direct knowledge of the... OpenAI is currently on pace to generate more than $1 billion in revenue over the next 12 months...

Kat Callaghan. Photo courtesy of the subject.

TikTok’s ‘Jessie’ Voice Heads to Calm

By Alex Perry · Aug 29, 2023 3:19pm PDT

Kat Callaghan. Photo courtesy of the subject.

Creator Economy

TikTok’s ‘Jessie’ Voice Heads to Calm

By Alex Perry · Aug 29, 2023 3:19pm PDT

Canadian radio show host Kat Callaghan has become known to tens of millions of TikTok users as Jessie, one of the voices that narrate captions users write into the short-form video app. Now, after becoming something of a TikTok celebrity after revealing her identity in October, she’s bringing the Jessie voice to meditation app Calm. ... Canadian radio show host Kat Callaghan has become known to tens of millions of TikTok users as ...

Exchange Square in Hong Kong. Photo via Getty.

Chinese Regulator Stalls IPOs, Frustrating Investors

By Jing Yang · Aug 29, 2023 8:00am PDT · 2 comments

It’s not too often that China-based leaders of major venture capital and private equity firms, including Neil Shen of Sequoia Capital China and David Liu of DCP, gather as a group to voice their concerns to China’s securities regulator. But an opportunity arose in late July when the two were among dozens of investors who met with the... It’s not too often that China-based leaders of major venture capital and private equity...

Photo by Midjourney.

WTF is RAG? It Could Solve LLMs’ Biggest Weaknesses

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 29, 2023 7:40am PDT

You may have noticed artificial intelligence researchers have a gift for coming up with new acronyms seemingly every week. We’re sorry to inform you of another one you need to remember: RAG, which stands for retrieval augmented generation.It’s a method to help AI software such as chatbots answer questions about information they’ve never seen... You may have noticed artificial intelligence researchers have a gift for coming up with new...

Composite by Clark Miller. Apple Vision Pro photo by Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images.

Apple Hopes Chinese Suppliers Can Solve Vision Pro’s Display Challenges

By Wayne Ma · Aug 29, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

When Apple dealt with Chinese manufacturers in the past, it was to buy low-level components such as small metal parts, paper boxes and batteries. For advanced parts such as displays and chips, the iPhone maker turned to firms headquartered in the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Times are changing. Apple is currently testing advanced... When Apple dealt with Chinese manufacturers in the past, it was to buy low-level components such...

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Beijing on August 28, 2023. Photo by Getty.

Will Beijing Buy Raimondo’s Dividing Line?

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 28, 2023 5:01pm PDT

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in Beijing on August 28, 2023. Photo by Getty.

Will Beijing Buy Raimondo’s Dividing Line?

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 28, 2023 5:01pm PDT

BEIJING—After five minutes of staring at the wrinkle cream and waxing products, it all started to make sense. The U.S. can trade more with China, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo argued. But it will stick to products that have nothing to do with its national security, like moisturizer—or other items that contribute the vast majority of... BEIJING—After five minutes of staring at the wrinkle cream and waxing products, it all started to...