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 Mike Sullivan

Apple Loses Web Search Technology Chief to Google

By Jon Victor · Nov 11, 2022 6:00am PST

In late 2018, Apple boosted its development of a web search engine by buying Laserlike, a startup founded by a trio of former Google search engineers to recommend websites to people based on their interests and browsing history. Four years later, Laserlike’s founders have returned to Google, according to a person with knowledge of the... In late 2018, Apple boosted its development of a web search engine by buying Laserlike, a startup...

Photo by Bloomberg

Musk’s Cure Is Making Twitter Sicker

By Martin Peers · Nov 10, 2022 5:00pm PST · 2 comments

Elon Musk certainly dodged a bullet when it comes to Sam Bankman-Fried. Those paying attention might remember that text messages unearthed in the Twitter litigation showed Bankman-Fried’s adviser suggesting to Musk in March that the FTX founder could easily invest up to $8 billion—and up to $15 billion “with financing”—in a joint Twitter... Elon Musk certainly dodged a bullet when it comes to Sam Bankman-Fried. Those paying attention...

Gwynne Shotwell. Photo by Bloomberg.

SpaceX’s Gwynne Shotwell Takes Over Starbase Mars Mission

By Becky Peterson · Nov 10, 2022 3:08pm PST · 2 comments

SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell will assume oversight of the company’s Starbase facility in Texas that is building Starship, the rocket planned for a trip to Mars, according to two people familiar with the change. The appointment is part of a reorganization at Starbase that follows a summer of strategy... SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell will assume oversight of the...

Creator Alyssa McKay posts on Snapchat about 100 times per day. Photo: Brian Nelson

Musk’s Twitter Wants to Take On YouTube; The Snapchat Creator Who Posts 100 Times Per Day

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 10, 2022 2:58pm PST

Creator Alyssa McKay posts on Snapchat about 100 times per day. Photo: Brian Nelson

Creator Economy

Musk’s Twitter Wants to Take On YouTube; The Snapchat Creator Who Posts 100 Times Per Day

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 10, 2022 2:58pm PST

We knew Elon Musk wanted to go big with his new Twitter purchase. Now we know just how high he’s aiming—YouTube. Musk, at an all-hands with Twitter’s product meeting Thursday, indicated he has aspirations to turn Twitter into a home for video creators, including by sharing ad revenue with those who post videos on Twitter. We knew Elon Musk wanted to go big with his new Twitter purchase. Now we know just how high he’s...

Amy Wu. Photo via YouTube

FTX’s $2 Billion Startup Fund Ensnared in Collapse

By Kate Clark · Nov 10, 2022 1:35pm PST

The Lehman Brothers–style collapse of crypto exchange FTX is shaping up to be a major embarrassment for the venture investors who backed it. Already it’s left one VC fund in shambles: FTX’s own venture investing arm, FTX Ventures. In fact, at least one startup that received an investment from the 10-month fund has taken advantage of FTX’s... The Lehman Brothers–style collapse of crypto exchange FTX is shaping up to be a major ...

Elon Musk.

Musk Warns Twitter May Lose Billions Next Year

By Erin Woo · Nov 10, 2022 1:13pm PST · 5 comments

Elon Musk told Twitter employees on Thursday the company may have a “net negative cash flow of several billion dollars” next year, adding that “bankruptcy is not out of the question” if the company can’t “bring in more cash than we spend." “We can’t scale to a billion users and take massive... Elon Musk told Twitter employees on Thursday the company may have a “net negative cash flow...

Photo by FTX Arena.

From Voyager to Miami, FTX Implosion Leaves Crypto World in Limbo

By Maria Heeter, Aidan Ryan and Akash Pasricha · Nov 10, 2022 12:45pm PST · 1 comment

The near-collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire, FTX, has sent shockwaves across the crypto industry, leaving many firms with ties to Bankman-Fried in limbo. Most notably, Bankman-Fried was poised to buy up the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager, but while that agreement was announced in September, it hasn’t closed.... The near-collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire, FTX, has sent shockwaves across the...

Art by Mike Sullivan

From Theranos to FTX: Silicon Valley’s ‘No Additional Work Required’ Late-Stage VC Culture and What to Do About It

By Sam Lessin · Nov 10, 2022 12:20pm PST · 18 comments

Art by Mike Sullivan

Modest Proposals

From Theranos to FTX: Silicon Valley’s ‘No Additional Work Required’ Late-Stage VC Culture and What to Do About It

By Sam Lessin · Nov 10, 2022 12:20pm PST · 18 comments

First, two caveats: I have invested in two outright frauds in my life (to my knowledge) and lost in total a few million dollars on them. At the seed investment stage, losing around 1% to things that turn out to be frauds probably says you’re being innovative. I pick on Marc Andreessen for his “no additional work required” line,... First, two caveats: I have invested in two outright frauds in my life (to my knowledge) and lost...

Photo by Bloomberg.

FTX’s Bankman-Fried Quietly Invested More than $500 Million in Sequoia and Other VCs

By Kate Clark · Nov 10, 2022 11:53am PST · 3 comments

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was not only a tireless fundraiser from venture capital firms including Paradigm and Sequoia Capital, but also quietly made investments in those same funds, according to two people familiar with the matter. The unusual moves show how entangled Silicon Valley VC firms are in Bankman-Fried’s collapsing crypto... FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was not only a tireless fundraiser from venture capital firms...

Coinbase headquarters in San Francisco. Photo by Getty.

Coinbase Is Cutting More Jobs

By Aidan Ryan · Nov 10, 2022 10:45am PST

Coinbase is laying off staff in a fresh round of cuts, a company spokesperson confirmed. The layoffs, announced internally on Thursday, affect the company’s recruiting and institutional onboarding teams. The cuts come as the broader crypto industry is reeling from the high-profile struggles of the FTX crypto exchange, which have... Coinbase is laying off staff in a fresh round of cuts, a company spokesperson confirmed. The...

Art by Shane Burke/Shutterstock

TikTok’s Secret Weapon Has Always Been Audio

By Ryan Broderick · Nov 10, 2022 9:00am PST · 2 comments

There have been whispers all summer that some kind of stand-alone audio app is coming from TikTok. In May of 2020, TikTok launched a social music app called Resso in Brazil, Indonesia and India. Then in late July, Insider reported that the company had filed a trademark for “TikTok Music,” which would allow users to “purchase,... There have been whispers all summer that some kind of stand-alone audio app is coming from...

ServiceTitan's co-founders Ara Mahdessian (left) and Vahe Kuzoyan. Photo by ServiceTitan.

ServiceTitan Held Talks to Raise Money at 20% Valuation Cut

By Maria Heeter · Nov 10, 2022 7:00am PST

ServiceTitan's co-founders Ara Mahdessian (left) and Vahe Kuzoyan. Photo by ServiceTitan.

ServiceTitan Held Talks to Raise Money at 20% Valuation Cut

By Maria Heeter · Nov 10, 2022 7:00am PST

Software startup ServiceTitan, which about two months ago was trying to raise $900 million in a form of pricey debt-like funding, is going a different route—one that involves a different kind of pain. The company has held talks within the last few weeks to raise about $600 million in traditional equity from investors including TPG, at a... Software startup ServiceTitan, which about two months ago was trying to raise $900 million in a...

CEOs Mario Schlosser of Oscar Health, David Baszucki of Roblox, Tony Xu of DoorDash and Vlad Tenev of Robinhood (left to right) received "mega grants" of stock, but are far from realizing any of the shares. Photos by Bloomberg and Getty Images. Background created with DALL-E 2.

These CEOs Wanted to Be Paid Like Musk. They Failed

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 10, 2022 6:00am PST · 4 comments

Elon Musk became the world’s richest person in part through a controversial pay plan four years ago that awarded him millions of additional Tesla shares as the company’s valuation swelled. Other tech CEOs took note. Many executives taking their companies public in the years following reached for similarly massive deals. But it... Elon Musk became the world’s richest person in part through a controversial pay plan four...

Photo by Bloomberg.

What Tech People Should Learn From This Era of Excess

By Martin Peers · Nov 9, 2022 5:00pm PST

Tech people love to talk about their “learnings” (presumably because they think that term sounds more innovative than “lessons.”) And tech folks sure have learned a lot of learnings this past week, particularly about assessing future growth and being more careful with how they spend money. That applies both to venture investors, a few of whom... Tech people love to talk about their “learnings” (presumably because they think that term sounds...

Photo by Bloomberg

The (Swift) Rise and Fall of the FTX Empire

By Aidan Ryan · Nov 9, 2022 4:40pm PST · 1 comment

It’s often casually thrown around that crypto moves faster than other industries. That has never been more evident than it was over the past few days.In case you’ve been living under a rock, Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX crypto empire has fallen. On Tuesday, the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, signed a letter of intent to acquire FTX, a... It’s often casually thrown around that crypto moves faster than other industries. That has never...

Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers. Photo by Getty.

Larry Summers Compares the Surge of Pain in Tech to the Dot-Com Bubble

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 9, 2022 4:08pm PST · 9 comments

Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers. Photo by Getty.

Subscriber Conversation

Larry Summers Compares the Surge of Pain in Tech to the Dot-Com Bubble

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 9, 2022 4:08pm PST · 9 comments

Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers has a tough message to Silicon Valley and technology companies and investors ravaged by the downturn: “Part of it is not coming back.” In a private conversation Wednesday with The Information subscribers, Summers talked through the confluence of events that has brought Silicon... Former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers has a tough message to Silicon Valley and...

Meta’s Layoffs Hit Instagram, Facebook and Reality Labs—WhatsApp Less Affected

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Nov 9, 2022 3:08pm PST

It was a chaotic day for Meta Platforms employees, who woke up to an early-morning email from CEO Mark Zuckerberg telling them that the company would be laying off 13% of its employees, or 11,000 people. What came next was an anxious wait for the next email, which came a short time later, telling them whether they were among the unlucky ones. ... It was a chaotic day for Meta Platforms employees, who woke up to an early-morning email from CEO...

David Baszucki, CEO of Roblox. Photo: Bloomberg

Creator Economy

Roblox’s Bright Spot; Cameo and Meta Layoffs; The Creator Founder Rising at Twitter

By Mahira Dayal · Nov 9, 2022 3:06pm PST

Roblox said Wednesday that its core businesses in the U.S. and Canada have surpassed their peak levels during the pandemic, and sales of its digital currency Robux—its main source of revenue—have rebounded 10% after two straight quarterly drops. But that wasn’t enough to soothe investors who focused on the gaming platform’s net loss of $297.8... Roblox said Wednesday that its core businesses in the U.S. and Canada have surpassed their peak...

Art and animation by Clark Miller. Photo of Twitter building by Matthew Keys/Creative Commons.

Flying the Coop

‘It’s Difficult to Resist’: Surviving Twitter Employees Weigh a Flood of Offers From Rivals

By Chris Stokel-Walker · Nov 9, 2022 1:34pm PST · 2 comments

Days after Elon Musk fired half of Twitter’s workforce last Friday, one employee who escaped the cuts started receiving LinkedIn messages. The employee, a veteran engineer, said he received 40 messages from recruiters in the last week, from a variety of companies operating in a range of fields—artificial intelligence and machine learning,... Days after Elon Musk fired half of Twitter’s workforce last Friday, one employee who escaped the...

Esther Crawford. Photo via YouTube.

To Succeed in Musk’s Twitter: Embrace the Chaos

By Becky Peterson and Kaya Yurieff · Nov 9, 2022 7:00am PST · 4 comments

Esther Crawford. Photo via YouTube.

To Succeed in Musk’s Twitter: Embrace the Chaos

By Becky Peterson and Kaya Yurieff · Nov 9, 2022 7:00am PST · 4 comments

One of the Twitter managers Elon Musk met with as he completed his purchase of Twitter last month was Esther Crawford, a product manager who had previously overseen projects aimed at helping creators make money on Twitter. The two had a one-on-one discussion about the company’s future—including ways of generating more revenue from... One of the Twitter managers Elon Musk met with as he completed his purchase of Twitter last month...