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

Photo: Bloomberg

Creator Economy

Twitch’s Revolving Creator Leadership; Substack Poaches from Meta

By Mahira Dayal · Nov 15, 2022 2:00pm PST

On Tuesday we published our first Twitch org chart. It charts out more than 50 people at the Amazon-owned video streaming unit led by chief executive officer Emmett Shear. One takeaway: There’s been an exodus among the ranks of creator leadership at Twitch this year. That reduced the number of senior leaders who can liaise with creators, some of... On Tuesday we published our first Twitch org chart. It charts out more than 50 people at the ...

Sam Bankman-Fried. Photo by Bloomberg.

VCs Consider Suing Bankman-Fried

By Cory Weinberg and Kate Clark · Nov 15, 2022 8:49am PST · 11 comments

Venture capitalists who collectively plowed billions of dollars into FTX are discussing whether to sue Sam Bankman-Fried for alleged fraud, two people familiar with the matter said. A lawsuit would be aimed at recovering money to offset what shareholders have likely lost now that FTX has filed for bankruptcy. Among the questions are whether... Venture capitalists who collectively plowed billions of dollars into FTX are discussing whether...

The People in Power at Twitch After Executive Departures and a Cut in Streamer Pay

By Mahira Dayal · Nov 15, 2022 6:00am PST · 1 comment

Twitch, Amazon’s video-streaming unit, shook up its top ranks earlier this year following the departures of Chief Operating Officer Sara Clemens and Chief Content Officer Michael Aragon. That led to a consolidation of power under President Dan Clancy. The Information’s first Twitch org chart maps out more than 50 people in power at... Twitch, Amazon’s video-streaming unit, shook up its top ranks earlier this year following...

Photo by Shutterstock

The Moment Tech’s D.C. Opponents Have Been Waiting For

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 14, 2022 5:00pm PST

Photo by Shutterstock

The Moment Tech’s D.C. Opponents Have Been Waiting For

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 14, 2022 5:00pm PST

Talk about blood in the water. Washington, D.C., regulators and lawmakers have been chomping at the bit to put Silicon Valley in its place for years—and the moment they’ve been waiting for has finally arrived. The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are tripping over themselves to investigate FTX CEO Sam... Talk about blood in the water. Washington, D.C., regulators and lawmakers have been chomping at...

On chat app Geneva, users join groups based on interests. Graphic: Shane Burke

Creator Economy

Chat App Geneva Raises Series A; Musk’s Creator Questions

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 14, 2022 1:00pm PST

The rise of TikTok, which prioritizes recommended videos over social connections, has created an opening for other social media apps that help users connect privately around common interests. One is Geneva, a group chat app that’s similar to Discord and Slack. As we wrote in October, Geneva and others—including SMS texting... The rise of TikTok, which prioritizes recommended videos over social connections, has created an...

Sea executives when the stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Photo by Getty.

Southeast Asia’s Biggest Internet Firm Has Laid Off 7,000 Workers

By Juro Osawa · Nov 14, 2022 8:55am PST

Sea Ltd., Southeast Asia’s largest internet company by revenue and market value, has laid off more than 7,000 employees, or around 10% of its workforce, over the past six months, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Sea, a Nasdaq-listed company whose shareholders include Tencent, BlackRock and T. Rowe Price, had been seen... Sea Ltd., Southeast Asia’s largest internet company by revenue and market value, has laid...

Illustration by Jesús Escudero

Inside Apple’s Love-Hate Relationship With Its $4 Billion Ads Business

By Wayne Ma · Nov 14, 2022 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Inside Apple’s advertising department, there’s a list of forbidden words that sales representatives are told never to utter when speaking to clients. Instead of using the term “targeting” to describe the company’s ability to deliver Apple search ads tailored to users’ tastes, Apple asks its ad sales reps to... Inside Apple’s advertising department, there’s a list of forbidden words that sales...

The Map That Shows Which EV Battery Factories Will Be Built—and Which Won’t

By Steve LeVine · Nov 14, 2022 5:00am PST

The Map That Shows Which EV Battery Factories Will Be Built—and Which Won’t

By Steve LeVine · Nov 14, 2022 5:00am PST

Automakers are racing to convert their fleets to electric vehicles. By 2030, global automakers want to be producing 40 million or more EVs a year, half the global fleet. That’s sparked a secondary race among established companies and startups to supply them with batteries. The factories where those batteries are built have come to be... Automakers are racing to convert their fleets to electric vehicles. By 2030, global automakers...

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Photo: Bloomberg

Startups Should Prepare for ‘Second-Order Fallout’ From FTX Collapse

By Kate Clark and Erin Woo · Nov 13, 2022 2:15pm PST · 9 comments

The failure of crypto exchange FTX has prompted venture investors to issue a blunt warning to startup founders: The current economic situation poses steep challenges to companies. As a result, startups shouldn’t expect to raise new money through 2024 and should prepare for “deep cuts.” Arjun Sethi, a co-founder of FTX backer... The failure of crypto exchange FTX has prompted venture investors to issue a blunt warning to...

The Electric: The Proposed Gigafactories That Will Be Built—and Those That Won't

The Electric: The Proposed Gigafactories That Will Be Built—and Those That Won't

By Steve LeVine · Nov 13, 2022 2:00pm PST

For two or so years, there seems hardly to have been a week without the announcement of another new gigafactory somewhere. If they are all built, they will number at least in the hundreds. But that's a big "if." This week, we dive into the dozens of gigafactories proposed in the U.S. and Europe, and assess which will probably make it, and... For two or so years, there seems hardly to have been a week without the announcement of another...

Silicon Valley Pours One Out

Silicon Valley Pours One Out

By Jon Steinberg · Nov 12, 2022 7:00am PST

Hi, welcome to your Weekend!After everything that transpired this week—from the midterms, to the Elon–Twitter debacle to the FTX implosion—much of tech could probably use a stiff martini right now. But as Annie reports in this weekend’s extremely well-timed cover story, much of tech will politely abstain.Sobriety—as it pertains to alcohol, if... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!After everything that transpired this week—from the midterms, to the...

Art by Mike Sullivan. Photo George Sivulka.

The Wunderkind Who Won Over NASA, Stanford and Peter Thiel

By Margaux MacColl · Nov 12, 2022 6:00am PST · 9 comments

Art by Mike Sullivan. Photo George Sivulka.

The Wunderkind Who Won Over NASA, Stanford and Peter Thiel

By Margaux MacColl · Nov 12, 2022 6:00am PST · 9 comments

When George Sivulka was 12, he was building lasers that could light fires. At 16 he had an internship at NASA. By 22, he was hanging out with Peter Thiel, talking for hours about artificial intelligence and philosophy. Thiel, thoroughly impressed, wrote one of the first checks for Hebbia, Sivulka’s AI-powered search engine. Instead of relying on... When George Sivulka was 12, he was building lasers that could light fires. At 16 he had an...

Animation by Clark Miller

‘People Think He’s Just a Straight-Up Sociopath’: The 5 Biggest Warning Signs We Missed About SBF

By Margaux MacColl · Nov 11, 2022 4:29pm PST · 35 comments

Another day, another fallen crypto titan. But this one has shocked the system more than most. This week, all of Silicon Valley watched with mouths agape as blockchain golden boy Sam Bankman-Fried tumbled from his very high pedestal. Many are now asking the same question: What signs did we miss? (For a good recap of everything that’s happened to... Another day, another fallen crypto titan. But this one has shocked the system more than most....

Sam Bankman-Fried. Photo by Bloomberg

In FTX Bankruptcy, Startup Stakes Could Be Sold Off Fast

By Aidan Ryan · Nov 11, 2022 1:47pm PST

The bankruptcy of Sam Bankman-Fried’s global crypto exchange FTX, its U.S. affiliate and Alameda Research means its stakes in startups including Aptos Labs, Mysten Labs and the Near Protocol could be for sale. FTX invested at least $1 billion on venture bets in these and other companies. Selling those stakes could generate cash that could... The bankruptcy of Sam Bankman-Fried’s global crypto exchange FTX, its U.S. affiliate and...

Sam Bankman-Fried. Photo by Bloomberg.

Inside the Venture FOMO Machine That Powered SBF’s Meteoric Rise

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 11, 2022 1:18pm PST · 7 comments

Venture capitalists who had managed to get into white-hot deals to fund the cryptocurrency exchange FTX in the past couple of years used to boast privately that Sam Bankman-Fried was “the most important person in crypto.” The 30-year-old, shaggy-haired finance savant not only controlled two separate cryptocurrency exchanges and a... Venture capitalists who had managed to get into white-hot deals to fund the cryptocurrency...

Graphic by Mike Sullivan.

SBF’s Web of Influence Is a Tangled Mess of Investors, Investments, and Firms Stuck In Between

By Akash Pasricha · Nov 11, 2022 11:48am PST

Graphic by Mike Sullivan.

SBF’s Web of Influence Is a Tangled Mess of Investors, Investments, and Firms Stuck In Between

By Akash Pasricha · Nov 11, 2022 11:48am PST

Sam Bankman-Fried touched nearly everything under the crypto sun. Now that his kingdom has imploded, more and more of his sprawling web of financial ties is coming to light. The firms interacting with Bankman-Fried were at times intertwined, playing multiple roles in his life. Multicoin Capital, for example, was not only an investor in... Sam Bankman-Fried touched nearly everything under the crypto sun. Now that his kingdom has...

Animation by Clark Miller.

Matt Levine Explains the World: A ‘Weird’ Walk in the Park With the Star Bloomberg Columnist

By Abram Brown · Nov 11, 2022 11:00am PST · 17 comments

A few months ago, Matt Levine, Bloomberg’s ascendant tech and finance columnist, schlepped from his home in Westchester County into New York with his wife and three small children to have weekend brunch on the Upper West Side, joined by his parents, his aunt and his uncle. The whole extended Levine clan was enjoying their meal when a woman... A few months ago, Matt Levine, Bloomberg’s ascendant tech and finance columnist, schlepped from...

FTX’s VC Backers That Lost the Most

By Kate Clark · Nov 11, 2022 9:07am PST

A sovereign wealth fund, a public pension fund, and dozens of venture capital firms invested $2 billion in FTX, propelling its valuation to $32 billion in January. FTX’s chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on Friday will likely wipe out the value of the equity stakes. Already several prestigious investment firms that backed it are marking their... A sovereign wealth fund, a public pension fund, and dozens of venture capital firms invested $2...

Tech Goes Cold Turkey: Inside Silicon Valley’s New Temperance Society

By Annie Goldsmith · Nov 11, 2022 9:00am PST · 5 comments

The year was 2008, and at Justin Kan’s Y Combinator–funded livestreaming site, Justin.tv, the end of the week meant only one thing: Fine Alcohol Friday. The ritual began when someone—Kan doesn’t remember who—sent a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label to the company offices. “It wasn’t even that good, to be honest,” he recalled. Justin.tv was... The year was 2008, and at Justin Kan’s Y Combinator–funded livestreaming site, Justin.tv, the end...

Illustration by Josh Brill.

Amid Layoffs, Tech Companies Throw Cash, Stock at the Workers They Still Want

By Mark Matousek · Nov 11, 2022 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Illustration by Josh Brill.

Amid Layoffs, Tech Companies Throw Cash, Stock at the Workers They Still Want

By Mark Matousek · Nov 11, 2022 7:00am PST · 1 comment

In August, amid a slump in stock and crypto prices, Robinhood took the dramatic step of slashing 23% of its workforce, just four months after laying off 9% of its employees. But those who survived the online brokerage’s cuts soon got an incentive to stick around and work hard. Shortly after the layoff, Robinhood told employees it would... In August, amid a slump in stock and crypto prices, Robinhood took the dramatic step of slashing...