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

Disney CEO Robert Iger. Photo by Getty.

Disney’s New Boss Sounds a Lot Like the Old Boss

By Andrew A. Rosen · Aug 2, 2023 9:00am PDT · 1 comment

Disney CEO Robert Iger surprised investors recently when he revealed that the company’s traditional television business, including the ABC network and ESPN, “may not be core” to its future. Selling the linear networks would leave Disney’s future primarily in its parks and direct-to-consumer businesses. The irony is that... Disney CEO Robert Iger surprised investors recently when he revealed that the company’s...

From left to right: Yamini Rangan, Melanie Perkins, Satya Nadella, Adam Selipsky, and Mamoon Hamid. Photos via Getty and Wikimedia. Art by Shane Burke.

AI Shakes Up the 30 Most Powerful Enterprise Software Execs and Investors

By Anissa Gardizy, Aaron Holmes, Jon Victor, Kate Clark and Amir Efrati · Aug 2, 2023 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

The rise of artificial intelligence that can understand or mimic language has upended the power balance in enterprise software this year. Some executives have become more powerful, others have become less relevant, and a new cohort of company operators and investors is suddenly pulling the strings as customers incorporate the new AI software. ... The rise of artificial intelligence that can understand or mimic language has upended the power...

Photo by Shane Burke/generated by Midjourney.

What Happened at the Big Machine Learning Confab

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 2, 2023 7:20am PDT

Thousands of machine learning researchers, founders and venture capitalists flooded the sandy beaches of Oahu last week for the International Conference on Machine Learning. Notable attendees included John Schulman, an OpenAI co-founder and head of its reinforcement learning team; OpenAI researcher Noam Brown, known for creating the first AI to... Thousands of machine learning researchers, founders and venture capitalists flooded the sandy...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Getty.

The Bill Comes Due for Microsoft’s AI Push

By Aaron Holmes · Aug 2, 2023 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Getty.

The Bill Comes Due for Microsoft’s AI Push

By Aaron Holmes · Aug 2, 2023 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

For the past year, Microsoft has been racing to add capacity to its Azure cloud computing platform, especially for customers seeking to train and run artificial intelligence applications. Now the cost of that effort is becoming visible. Microsoft’s capital expenditures—primarily purchases of hardware and software—in the second... For the past year, Microsoft has been racing to add capacity to its Azure cloud computing...

Dara Khosrowshahi. Photo by Getty.

Uber Investors Ought to Look at the Big Picture

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 1, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Uber shareholders kicked the ride-hailing giant in the shins today for what some may have considered lackluster revenue growth. They ought to be celebrating! Finally, at long last, Uber’s operations are profitable.The company this morning said it generated $9.23 billion in revenue in the second quarter, a little more than $100 million less than... Uber shareholders kicked the ride-hailing giant in the shins today for what some may have...

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance. Photo by AP.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao Pushed to Shutter U.S. Exchange

By Aidan Ryan · Aug 1, 2023 3:40pm PDT

Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao attempted to shut down the crypto exchange’s U.S. offshoot earlier this year, showing how far he was willing to go in order to protect the much larger global exchange amid mounting regulatory scrutiny, two people familiar with the matter told The Information. The Binance.US board of directors, for... Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao attempted to shut down the crypto exchange’s U.S....

Forefront founder and CEO Jordyn Weaver. Photo courtesy of subject

Creator Economy

A New Startup Connects Creators with Black-Owned Businesses

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 1, 2023 3:20pm PDT

Sales at Black-owned businesses fell 51% in January 2022 vs. a year earlier, undoing some gains made by Black entrepreneurs after George Floyd’s murder in 2020 sparked national discussions about institutional racism. Jordyn Weaver sees an opportunity to boost Black-owned businesses again with the launch of her new Atlanta-based startup Forefront... Sales at Black-owned businesses fell 51% in January 2022 vs. a year earlier, undoing some gains...

NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube graphic during the 2023 NFL Draft on April 27. Photo by AP.

Hollywood’s Pain Is YouTube’s Advertising Gain

By Sahil Patel · Aug 1, 2023 12:45pm PDT · 3 comments

NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube graphic during the 2023 NFL Draft on April 27. Photo by AP.

Hollywood’s Pain Is YouTube’s Advertising Gain

By Sahil Patel · Aug 1, 2023 12:45pm PDT · 3 comments

The Hollywood labor strikes have proven a boon for YouTube, with Google’s video-streaming service luring television ad buyers who are worried about committing to traditional TV ads while actors and writers remain on the picket lines. That, combined with YouTube’s push into live sports with National Football League games starting in... The Hollywood labor strikes have proven a boon for YouTube, with Google’s video-streaming...

Photo generated by Midjourney.

The Bear Case Against Large-Language Model Developers

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 1, 2023 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

When Axios on Monday reported on Google’s plan to revamp Assistant—its voice assistant that competes with Apple’s Siri—with technology based on large language models, it got us thinking about a trillion-dollar question that has consumed the tech industry for months. Which software companies will benefit most from the LLM boom: upstart LLM... When Axios on Monday reported on Google’s plan to revamp Assistant—its voice assistant that...

Reed Jobs. Photo via Emerson Collective.

Reed Jobs to Start $400 Million VC Fund, Testing Appetite for New Funds

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 1, 2023 6:55am PDT · 2 comments

Reed Jobs, son of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and his spouse, philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, is leaving his mother’s Emerson Collective to start his own venture capital fund, according to a person with direct knowledge. The 31-year-old Reed Jobs is planning to raise $400 million for the fund he’s calling Yosemite Fund 1,... Reed Jobs, son of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and his spouse, philanthropist Laurene Powell...

Plaid’s Leadership Evolves to Prove It’s Not a One-Hit Wonder

By Mark Matousek · Aug 1, 2023 6:00am PDT

Plaid is at a crossroads. The financial technology company has been pushing new services and inking deals with companies such as automakers as it attempts to diversify beyond its business of selling software that connects consumers’ bank accounts to financial services firms like Robinhood and Venmo. Its current structure, mapped out in The... Plaid is at a crossroads. The financial technology company has been pushing new services and...

Photo by Getty.

Iger Produces His Own Disney Drama

By Nick Wingfield · Jul 31, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Photo by Getty.

Iger Produces His Own Disney Drama

By Nick Wingfield · Jul 31, 2023 5:00pm PDT

For those of you still mourning the end of “Succession,” you’re in luck—a new season just unexpectedly dropped. This time, though, it will be presented by Walt Disney, not HBO, in the form of an arrangement in which two onetime Disney heir apparents, Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, have returned as advisers to CEO Bob Iger. Officially, Iger—who... For those of you still mourning the end of “Succession,” you’re in luck—a new season just...

Photo via Shutterstock

Creator Economy

Twitch’s Top Streamers Dominate Watch Time

By Kaya Yurieff · Jul 31, 2023 3:02pm PDT · 1 comment

New data shows just how important Twitch’s top streamers are to the livestreaming service. Last month, 10,000 Twitch streamers made up 76% of the hours users watched on the platform, according to Rainmaker.gg, the analytics partner of StreamElements, a creator tools and sponsorships startup. These creators represent just 0.5% of the 2... New data shows just how important Twitch’s top streamers are to the livestreaming service. ...

Coatue co-founder Philippe Laffont. Photo by Getty.

Coatue Raises $331 Million for Early-Stage Fund, 34% Below Target

By Kate Clark · Jul 31, 2023 11:26am PDT · 1 comment

Coatue Management has raised $331 million for its third fund focused on early-stage startups, according to a financial filing, a third less than its target and lower than its previous early-stage fund. The smaller than anticipated total shows how the firms that raised huge funds during the pandemic investing boom are falling short of their... Coatue Management has raised $331 million for its third fund focused on early-stage startups,...

Partner Content

Event Recap: The State of VC Investing in Data and AI Startups

By The Information Partnerships · Jul 31, 2023 8:15am PDT

The artificial intelligence boom has resulted in an explosion of new startups and new products. All of these companies need funding, but the venture capital landscape has become more lean and focused. With the proliferation of so many new companies, how do venture capitalists decide where to put their money? In a live panel discussion held in... The artificial intelligence boom has resulted in an explosion of new startups and new products....

Swami Sivasubramanian. Photo by Getty.

The AWS Empire Strikes Back; A Week of LLM Jailbreaks

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

Swami Sivasubramanian. Photo by Getty.

The AWS Empire Strikes Back; A Week of LLM Jailbreaks

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

Amazon Web Services, the king of renting cloud servers, is facing an unusually large amount of pressure. Its growth and enviable profit margins have been dropping, Microsoft and Google have moved faster—or opened their wallets—to capture more business from artificial intelligence developers (TBD on whether it will amount to much), and Nvidia is... Amazon Web Services, the king of renting cloud servers, is facing an unusually large amount of...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang with one of the company's graphics processing units. Photo by Getty.

In an Unusual Move, Nvidia Wants to Know Its Customers’ Customers

By Anissa Gardizy · Jul 31, 2023 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

Nvidia plays favorites with its newest, much-sought-after chips for artificial intelligence, steering them to small cloud providers who compete with the likes of Amazon Web Services and Google. Now Nvidia is also asking some of those small cloud providers for the names of their customers—and getting them—according to two people with... Nvidia plays favorites with its newest, much-sought-after chips for artificial intelligence,...

In October, Byd unveiled the electric Atto-3 SUV in New Delhi, with hopes of opening up a new market in India. Photo: Sonu Mehta/Hindustan Times/Getty

The Electric: Pushback to China's EV Juggernaut

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

China dominates the electric vehicle, battery and critical metals industries. In recent weeks, though, policymakers in other countries have begun to push back: In Australia, regulators blocked Chinese investment in a lithium mine; in India, officials rejected a factory proposed by the largest Chinese EV maker; and in the U.S. Congress,... China dominates the electric vehicle, battery and critical metals industries. In recent weeks,...

Illustration by Clark Miller

Blind Loyalty to an Anonymous Chat App

By Jon Steinberg · Jul 29, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.What’s that I hear? It’s the sound of thousands of techies in the Bay Area calling in favors and taking out second mortgages to score tickets to Taylor Swift’s concert at Levi’s Stadium last night and tonight in Santa Clara. If you succeeded, congratulations! Speaking of Taylor, I stumbled across a fascinating... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.What’s that I hear? It’s the sound of thousands of techies in the Bay...

Photo via Shutterstock.

Tech Companies Can’t Ignore Broadband Prices

By Martin Peers · Jul 28, 2023 3:00pm PDT

Photo via Shutterstock.

Tech Companies Can’t Ignore Broadband Prices

By Martin Peers · Jul 28, 2023 3:00pm PDT

Enough with the chatter about Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Let’s talk about ordinary people for a second. If you’re in that group (and let’s face it, we can’t all be billionaires), then you may be aware that nowadays you’re spending more on broadband than you might have a few years ago. In fact, we may all find we’re spending more and more... Enough with the chatter about Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Let’s talk about ordinary people for...