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

Illustration by Mike Sullivan

How to Survive the Downturn Without Losing Your Shirt—or Your Sanity

By AJ Ayers · Sep 28, 2022 9:00am PDT

For many tech workers, the ongoing market downturn has been a punch in the gut—one that’s particularly painful because it’s the first one they’ve taken. We’re seeing private company valuations slashed and freshly public companies tumble 50%, 60%, even more than 90% off their initial public offering price. It’s... For many tech workers, the ongoing market downturn has been a punch in the gut—one...

The Metaverse Money Pit: How Meta’s $70 Billion Bet Compares to Tech’s Biggest Gambles

By Martin Peers and Amir Efrati · Sep 28, 2022 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

Is Meta Platforms’ $70 billion bet on the metaverse shaping up as the biggest money pit ever in tech? Perhaps. There are few precedents—if any—for a company spending as heavily as Facebook’s owner is to develop a new tech platform, an immersive world Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg envisages as “the next chapter” of... Is Meta Platforms’ $70 billion bet on the metaverse shaping up as the biggest money pit...

Adena Hefets, co-founder and chief operating officer of Divvy Homes Inc. Photo: Bloomberg

Andreessen-Backed Divvy Homes Lays Off 12% of Staff as Rates Rise

By Cory Weinberg and Kate Clark · Sep 27, 2022 6:16pm PDT · 2 comments

Divvy Homes, a property tech startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global Management, laid off about 12% of its staff Tuesday. The cuts reflect how younger real estate firms are responding to rising mortgage rates that have battered the home-buying market. The layoffs affected roughly 40 employees at the five-year-old firm. Divvy Homes... Divvy Homes, a property tech startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global Management,...

Photo by Bloomberg

Tech Companies Brace for the Strongest Dollar in Decades

By Akash Pasricha · Sep 27, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Photo by Bloomberg

Tech Companies Brace for the Strongest Dollar in Decades

By Akash Pasricha · Sep 27, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Stock charts and bond graphs from the past 18 months have seen all sorts of wonkiness and volatility. But the story of the U.S. dollar is much simpler: Since the start of 2021, it has inched up, and up, and up. Today, it’s trading at its highest point in roughly 20 years. And while the venture capitalists who spent their summers in Europe... Stock charts and bond graphs from the past 18 months have seen all sorts of wonkiness and...

Lachi, an artist and social media influencer who is legally blind. Photo courtesy of subject.

Creator Economy

How Social Media Can Be More Accessible for Blind Creators

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 27, 2022 2:01pm PDT

Last week, Twitter rolled out reminders to encourage users to add alternative text, or a written description, to images or GIFs they post. This is important for social media users who are blind or visually impaired and may rely on screen readers or text-to-voice software to navigate social media. Other platforms such as Instagram also offer what... Last week, Twitter rolled out reminders to encourage users to add alternative text, or a written...

Twitter-Musk Legal Battle Spotlights Tangled Web of Power Brokers

By Becky Peterson · Sep 27, 2022 6:00am PDT

When the trial between Twitter and Elon Musk starts in mid-October, it will finally be time to see how much of the pasta their legal teams have been flinging for the past several months has stuck to the wall. Predictably, Twitter and Musk have carpet-bombed nearly anyone involved in Musk’s $44 billion bid for Twitter, which he is trying to... When the trial between Twitter and Elon Musk starts in mid-October, it will finally be time to...

Art by Shane Burke.

Lessons From the Last Three Years of IPOs

By Martin Peers · Sep 26, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Talk about hangovers in the wake of initial public offerings! It’s a telling sign when you have to go back to 2019 to find a decent number of tech IPOs that are still above water. As we recounted today—and demonstrated in a cool chart—the vast majority of last year’s IPOs are underwater. The group from the year before isn’t doing much better.... Talk about hangovers in the wake of initial public offerings! It’s a telling sign when you have...

Dom Esposito. Photo courtesy of the subject.

YouTube’s Tech Reviewers Grow Up

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 26, 2022 3:01pm PDT

Dom Esposito. Photo courtesy of the subject.

Creator Economy

YouTube’s Tech Reviewers Grow Up

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 26, 2022 3:01pm PDT

YouTube creator Dom Esposito has been around long enough to see the best and worst of YouTube tech reviews. He started posting to the Google-owned video unit in 2011, reviewing gadgets and making how-to videos. He now has 443,000 subscribers on YouTube, where he posts reviews of products ranging from phones, laptops and virtual reality headsets... YouTube creator Dom Esposito has been around long enough to see the best and worst of YouTube...

Tech IPOs in 2019 Are Up 38% While Those Since 2020 Have Fallen by About as Much

By Akash Pasricha · Sep 26, 2022 8:51am PDT · 2 comments

After the carnage in stock markets these past few months, you can’t really blame tech executives for rethinking the value of going public. Consider this: The median tech initial public offering since the start of 2020 has dropped 39% from the offering price. But another statistic may be more surprising. The median tech IPO from 2019 is up... After the carnage in stock markets these past few months, you can’t really blame tech...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Amazon’s Cross-Selling Team Scores Big With Top AWS Customers

By Kevin McLaughlin and Paris Martineau · Sep 26, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Amazon Web Services has a pitch for major customers of its cloud server rentals: Want more Amazon with that? When Peloton last month announced it would start selling its exercise bike and other products on Amazon, the first time it had used an outside retailer, the news appeared significant as a sign of Peloton’s effort to reach a broader... Amazon Web Services has a pitch for major customers of its cloud server rentals: Want more Amazon...

Talon Metals workers examine nickel cores from the company's Tamarack mine in central Minnesota. Photo: Courtesy Talon Metals

The Electric: The Next Hurdle for a U.S. Battery Industry: Talent

By Steve LeVine · Sep 25, 2022 2:00pm PDT

For more than a year, automobile and battery manufacturers have fretted over a stark shortage of raw materials, and how that will prevent them from making all the electric vehicles they plan this decade. This week we look at another major bottleneck they are wrestling with: labor. The U.S. and Europe simply don't have enough people who know how... For more than a year, automobile and battery manufacturers have fretted over a stark shortage of...

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo. Photo by Bloomberg.

Instacart Cuts Staff, Curbs Hiring in Run-up to IPO

By Mark Matousek and Erin Woo · Sep 24, 2022 3:54pm PDT · 1 comment

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo. Photo by Bloomberg.

Instacart Cuts Staff, Curbs Hiring in Run-up to IPO

By Mark Matousek and Erin Woo · Sep 24, 2022 3:54pm PDT · 1 comment

Instacart has been letting go of staff, slowing hiring and curbing other expenses as it heads toward a public listing, when the grocery-delivery company will try to convince public investors that it can maintain its growth—and make a profit—as the economy slows. The San Francisco startup over the last two months has fired some of its... Instacart has been letting go of staff, slowing hiring and curbing other expenses as it heads...

Knocked Down, Dragged Out, and Laid Off

Knocked Down, Dragged Out, and Laid Off

By Jon Steinberg · Sep 24, 2022 7:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! It was a tough week (and month and quarter) for people in tech. And that goes double for folks who work in crypto, which has seen a calamitous drop from its pandemic-era heights.Many might feel a hint of schadenfreude about the humbling of crypto. Certainly, its leaders seem worthy of comeuppance, after pumping... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! It was a tough week (and month and quarter) for people in tech....

Ana Kirova courtesy of Feeld.

‘Monogamy Should Not Be the Default’: What a Dating App CEO and Her Tech Clientele Have in Common

By Annie Goldsmith · Sep 23, 2022 11:00am PDT · 6 comments

Ana Kirova is a frequent user of her own dating app—but not without complications. As CEO of Feeld, which describes itself as “a dating app for exploration, curiosity and pleasure,” Kirova never knows when to divulge her role at the company to potential matches. “Should I say it outright?” she asked rhetorically while sipping coffee earlier this... Ana Kirova is a frequent user of her own dating app—but not without complications. As CEO of...

Art by Clark Miller

‘What Am I Going to Do Now?’: Fired Crypto Workers Weigh Life After the Boom

By Margaux MacColl · Sep 23, 2022 9:00am PDT · 1 comment

On July 14, James Hu was sitting in his “fabulously expensive” apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He had just returned from the Soho offices of OpenSea, the non-fungible token marketplace, where he had been laid off from his job and locked out of his work computer. The event was not exactly a huge shock to Hu, who had watched mass crypto... On July 14, James Hu was sitting in his “fabulously expensive” apartment in Williamsburg,...

Illustration by Matheus Costa.

How Apple’s App Store Policies Squeeze NFT Startups

By Aidan Ryan · Sep 23, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Illustration by Matheus Costa.

How Apple’s App Store Policies Squeeze NFT Startups

By Aidan Ryan · Sep 23, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Non-fungible tokens, like much of the crypto world, are in regulators’ and lawmakers’ crosshairs. But NFT startups have been just as preoccupied with another rulemaker: Apple. With NFT volumes tanking along with the broader crypto market, marketplace startups could use a boost from using mobile apps to sell their wares. So far,... Non-fungible tokens, like much of the crypto world, are in regulators’ and lawmakers’...

Vlad Tenev. Photo by Bloomberg.

Robinhood Isn’t Out of the Woods Just Yet

By Akash Pasricha · Sep 22, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Vlad Tenev ought to be penning a very nicely worded thank-you card to SEC Chair Gary Gensler. The commission is throwing Tenev and his fellow Robinhoodies a much needed lifeline with its decision to not ban payment for order flow, the contentious practice brokerages like Robinhood rely on to make money, according to a Bloomberg report. ... Vlad Tenev ought to be penning a very nicely worded thank-you card to SEC Chair Gary Gensler. The...

Abe Santos leads Underscore Talent’s new outdoor lifestyle division. Photo: Underscore Talent

Creator Economy

Outdoors Creators Are Underserved and Ripe for Sponsorships

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 22, 2022 2:37pm PDT · 2 comments

Abe Santos isn’t your typical talent guru. He spent more than a decade as a detective and investigator working with the Los Angeles Police Department, Department of Homeland Security and FBI. In 2018, he joined Google’s investigations and threat division, where his job included investigations into data leaks and monitoring external threats to... Abe Santos isn’t your typical talent guru. He spent more than a decade as a detective and...

Patrick Collison. Photo by Getty Images.

Stripe’s Early Stock Awards Could Spur IPO Plans

By Kate Clark, Mark Matousek and Maria Heeter · Sep 22, 2022 2:00pm PDT · 4 comments

Stripe founders John and Patrick Collison have indicated the payments software pioneer, valued in its last fundraising at $95 billion, is in no rush to go public. And few tech firms want to test the whipsawed public stock markets. But a new listing could solve one looming problem for the 13-year-old startup: Stock awards to some of its earliest... Stripe founders John and Patrick Collison have indicated the payments software pioneer, valued in...

Art by Clark Miller

‘You Don’t Know This Nerd Is a Silent Killer’: A Raging Martial Arts Scene Finds a Home in Silicon Valley

By Arielle Pardes · Sep 22, 2022 12:46pm PDT · 4 comments

Art by Clark Miller

‘You Don’t Know This Nerd Is a Silent Killer’: A Raging Martial Arts Scene Finds a Home in Silicon Valley

By Arielle Pardes · Sep 22, 2022 12:46pm PDT · 4 comments

Few people have ever choked Mark Zuckerberg. Khai Wu is one of them. A professional fighter known as The Shadow, Wu has a black belt in jiujitsu and has been using it on the Facebook founder during private mixed martial arts training sessions the last several months. Their sparring bouts include an occasional down-on-the-mat Brazilian jiujitsu... Few people have ever choked Mark Zuckerberg. Khai Wu is one of them. A professional fighter known...