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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Creator Economy

How Instagram Can Keep Threads Growth Going

By Kaya Yurieff · Jul 17, 2023 2:46pm PDT

On Friday, my colleague Sylvia and I published a behind-the-scenes report on how Instagram, after mulling a Twitter-type rival years ago, quickly moved to launch its text-based app Threads after Elon Musk took over Twitter. What struck me from our reporting is how much Instagram focused on creators from the start—even more so, according to some... On Friday, my colleague Sylvia and I published a behind-the-scenes report on how Instagram, after...

A SpaceX rocket lifts off in Florida in May. Photo by Getty

SpaceX Forecasts Doubling of Revenue to $8 Billion

By Becky Peterson and Cory Weinberg · Jul 17, 2023 1:12pm PDT

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies, the most highly valued private tech company in the U.S., has told some investors it expects to bring in about $8 billion in revenue in 2023, roughly doubling its revenue from the previous year, according to people familiar with the discussions. The expectation for rapid growth helps explain the... Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies, the most highly valued private tech company in...

Pat Bajari, Amazon's former chief economist. Photo by Getty.

Architect of Amazon’s Economist Army Exits

By Theo Wayt · Jul 17, 2023 6:01am PDT · 3 comments

Over the past decade, Amazon has built an army of several hundred economists with doctorates who inform executives’ decisions in e-commerce, cloud computing and other businesses—an approach other tech giants have copied. The architect of that buildout, Chief Economist Pat Bajari, quietly left in March, he confirmed to The... Over the past decade, Amazon has built an army of several hundred economists with doctorates who...

China's Byd, which sells most of its EVs at home, is attempting to carve out a market for its electric Tang in Europe. Photo: Sjoerd van der Wal/Getty

The Electric: An EV Sales Warning for Major Automakers

By Steve LeVine · Jul 17, 2023 4:31am PDT · 1 comment

China's Byd, which sells most of its EVs at home, is attempting to carve out a market for its electric Tang in Europe. Photo: Sjoerd van der Wal/Getty

The Electric: An EV Sales Warning for Major Automakers

By Steve LeVine · Jul 17, 2023 4:31am PDT · 1 comment

Over the next three years, General Motors, Toyota and other automakers plan to launch dozens of new electric vehicles, hoping to capture serious market share from industry leaders Tesla and Byd. But sales growth is slowing and unsold EVs are multiplying on dealer lots, casting doubt on the pace of the EV transition and some automakers’ chances... Over the next three years, General Motors, Toyota and other automakers plan to launch dozens of...

Character.AI's cofounders Noam Shazeer and Daniel de Freitas. Photos by Getty. Art by Shane Burke.

Character.AI in Talks to Raise Funding as Meta Platforms Tests Rival

By Jon Victor and Kate Clark · Jul 15, 2023 7:00am PDT

Character.AI, which lets users create artificial intelligence–powered chatbots modeled after figures like TV character Tony Soprano and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, is in talks with investors about raising an additional round of funding, according to a person with direct knowledge. The discussions come just four months after Character.AI said... Character.AI, which lets users create artificial intelligence–powered chatbots modeled...

Animation by Clark Miller

The New Mavericks: Mark Zuckerberg Joins Pilot–CEOs Elon Musk, Sam Altman in Pursuing Flying License

By Andrew Zucker · Jul 15, 2023 6:01am PDT · 6 comments

When tech’s biggest names head home from the Allen and Co. mogul fest in Sun Valley, Idaho, this week, most will walk up the airstairs of their private jet and turn right toward their cream-colored cabin seats. But an increasing number could take a left and sit in the cockpit. Every top gun in tech, it seems, wants to become a pilot. The... When tech’s biggest names head home from the Allen and Co. mogul fest in Sun Valley, Idaho,...

Tech's Proudest Workforce No Longer

Tech's Proudest Workforce No Longer

By Jon Steinberg · Jul 15, 2023 6:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend.The problems that have afflicted Google over the past 12 months are not unique to the search giant or its parent company Alphabet. The entire tech industry has been in correction mode after the hyper-growth years of 2020-2021, with more than 218,000 jobs slashed thus far in 2023, according to Layoffs.fyi.But Google’s... Hi, welcome to your Weekend.The problems that have afflicted Google over the past 12 months are...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

With Nvidia’s Help, Revenue Surges at Smaller Cloud Providers

By Aaron Holmes, Anissa Gardizy and Amir Efrati · Jul 14, 2023 2:22pm PDT · 9 comments

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

With Nvidia’s Help, Revenue Surges at Smaller Cloud Providers

By Aaron Holmes, Anissa Gardizy and Amir Efrati · Jul 14, 2023 2:22pm PDT · 9 comments

The demand for artificial intelligence chips is turning into a boom for several upstart cloud-server providers, thanks to the complicated politics of the tech industry. Consider the case of one young cloud provider, CoreWeave. The company has received a generous allotment of the latest AI server chips from Nvidia, the dominant force behind... The demand for artificial intelligence chips is turning into a boom for several upstart...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Why Meta Finally Went for Twitter’s Throat

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Kaya Yurieff · Jul 14, 2023 11:42am PDT · 5 comments

Meta Platforms’ successful launch of its Twitter-like app, Threads, came together in just six months of furious work by a tiny team of engineers. But the desire within Meta’s top ranks to take on Twitter goes back years. The company’s Instagram unit even began building a text-based prototype similar to Twitter, which they... Meta Platforms’ successful launch of its Twitter-like app, Threads, came together in just...

Art by Mike Sullivan

The New Ballgame

American Cricket, Anyone? Behind a New Pro Sports League, a Lineup of Elite Tech CEOs

By Daniel Kaplan · Jul 14, 2023 10:00am PDT · 2 comments

Ordinarily, a new joint venture backed by executives from Microsoft, Adobe, Meta Platforms, Akamai and Accenture would grab major headlines in the U.S. tech press. But when that venture is a pro cricket league, well…it’s crickets. Still, this week’s launch of Major League Cricket marks a seminal moment for American cricket... Ordinarily, a new joint venture backed by executives from Microsoft, Adobe, Meta Platforms,...

Art by Clark Miller

Google’s Darkest Days: After Three Deaths, a Workforce Reckons with a Changed Company

By Becky Peterson · Jul 14, 2023 8:21am PDT · 22 comments

For Google employees, the news was a devastating turn in an already disorienting year. In May, a 31-year-old senior engineer at the company, later identified by police as Kevin Rawlings, died at Google’s New York office late at night in an apparent suicide. Rawlings’ death followed that of another Google employee in New York, a... For Google employees, the news was a devastating turn in an already disorienting year. In...

Photo by Unsplash.

Pro Weekly: Google's Influence on Generative AI

By Kalley Huang · Jul 14, 2023 8:00am PDT

Photo by Unsplash.

Pro Weekly: Google's Influence on Generative AI

By Kalley Huang · Jul 14, 2023 8:00am PDT

Welcome back!Since we last wrote about The Information’s Generative AI Database, we added eight companies. We now track 55 companies building generative artificial intelligence technology or services. At least 10 of these companies have at least one founder who previously worked at Alphabet, including at its AI labs, Google Brain and... Welcome back!Since we last wrote about The Information’s Generative AI Database, we added eight...

Deal Activity on the Rise as Bankers Say Merger Conversations Are Picking Up

By Rachel Graf · Jul 14, 2023 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

After more than a year of stalled merger and acquisition activity, the deals market is showing signs of life. Bankers, lawyers and private equity dealmakers say they’ve had more discussions about potential acquisitions in the past several weeks than in the past year. And “it’s not just kicking tires,” said Brian McPeake,... After more than a year of stalled merger and acquisition activity, the deals market is showing...

Photo by Getty.

Court Ruling Will Create Ripples for Individual Crypto Investors

By Akash Pasricha · Jul 13, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Good news for institutional crypto investors: The courts have your back. But as for individual traders: You’re on your own. That was the spirit of a New York district judge’s ruling on an SEC lawsuit against Ripple Labs, which alleged that the crypto firm illegally sold securities. In a split-the-crypto decision, the judge ruled that Ripple... Good news for institutional crypto investors: The courts have your back. But as for individual...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty.

Who Could Lead OpenAI’s VC Fund?

By Kate Clark · Jul 13, 2023 4:29pm PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI is on the prowl for a seasoned venture capitalist or two to run its startup investment fund.The San Francisco developer of ChatGPT is gearing up to soon start raising its second fund, which will be far larger than its $175 million debut, representatives of OpenAI have told several venture capital investors. They want an established... OpenAI is on the prowl for a seasoned venture capitalist or two to run its startup investment...

Fanhouse co-founder Rosie Nguyen (left) and Passes CEO Lucy Guo. Photos via YouTube/Karat and Celia D. Luna for The Information.

Lucy Guo’s Passes to Buy Fanhouse

By Kaya Yurieff · Jul 13, 2023 2:12pm PDT

Fanhouse co-founder Rosie Nguyen (left) and Passes CEO Lucy Guo. Photos via YouTube/Karat and Celia D. Luna for The Information.

Creator Economy

Lucy Guo’s Passes to Buy Fanhouse

By Kaya Yurieff · Jul 13, 2023 2:12pm PDT

A startup that rode the pandemic-era frenzy around OnlyFans is selling to a rival. Fanhouse, which operates a website where creators charge fans for exclusive content, has agreed to sell itself to Passes, a Miami-based membership service for creators and their superfans, Fanhouse CEO Khoi Le and Passes CEO Lucy Guo said in an interview with The... A startup that rode the pandemic-era frenzy around OnlyFans is selling to a rival. Fanhouse,...

The Ripple Labs Inc. booth at the Blockchain Week Summit in Paris on March 22. Photo by Getty.

Why the Crypto World Is Celebrating Ripple’s Partial Win Over the SEC

By Aidan Ryan · Jul 13, 2023 1:32pm PDT · 2 comments

The crypto world is celebrating after a federal judge issued a long-awaited ruling in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Ripple Labs, saying some sales of Ripple’s xrp token did not constitute illegal securities sales. Shares in top U.S. crypto exchange Coinbase soared 25% after the ruling dropped, and xrp tokens... The crypto world is celebrating after a federal judge issued a long-awaited ruling in the...

Art by Clark Miller.

If Gig Workers Are Truly Independent Contractors, Treat Them That Way

By David Pickerell · Jul 13, 2023 9:00am PDT · 3 comments

The California Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a challenge from labor unions to Proposition 22, which classified gig workers as independent contractors rather than as employees. Many gig workers want to be independent contractors, but Prop 22 doesn’t honor the spirit of what this means. I run a company that works frequently with gig... The California Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a challenge from labor unions to Proposition...

Foreground: Source Code Capital founder Charlie Cao. Background: Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance. Photos via Source Code Capital and Getty.

For Early ByteDance Investor and China Venture Star, the Results Are a Paper Tiger

By Juro Osawa · Jul 13, 2023 6:00am PDT

In some ways, Source Code Capital is China’s version of Andreessen Horowitz—it’s a relative newbie to venture investing that has surged to the top echelons of the Chinese venture capital industry and raised billions of dollars—in large part thanks to founder Cao Yi’s early bet on ByteDance. In fact, some of the... In some ways, Source Code Capital is China’s version of Andreessen...

Jeff Dahn. Photo: Courtesy Dalhousie University

The Electric: A New Way to Save Water, and Money, in Making Cathodes

By Steve LeVine · Jul 13, 2023 4:30am PDT

Jeff Dahn. Photo: Courtesy Dalhousie University

The Electric: A New Way to Save Water, and Money, in Making Cathodes

By Steve LeVine · Jul 13, 2023 4:30am PDT

Three years ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk pledged to halve the cost of batteries and produce a $25,000 electric vehicle for the mass market. Much of the savings was to come from changing how the batteries’ electrodes were produced, using a dry process that would eliminate thousands of gallons of chemicals, solvent and water.Now, in a new paper, Jeff... Three years ago, Tesla CEO Elon Musk pledged to halve the cost of batteries and produce a $25,000...