The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

Five times/week

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.

By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy

Recent Editions

Mercedes will offer silicon anodes from Sila Nanotechnologies in its ultraluxury G-Class SUVs in 2025. Silicon Photo: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The Electric: Will Next-Gen Batteries Break into Mass Market EVs This Decade?

By Steve LeVine · Mar 27, 2023 4:30am PDT

Vincent Pluvinage, CEO of silicon anode developer OneD Battery Sciences, is on a rant: His fellow next-generation battery makers, he says, are overpromising a future of cheap, faster-charging, long-distance electric vehicles. Pluvinage says automakers will be reluctant to adopt these technologies after sinking billions of dollars into factories... Vincent Pluvinage, CEO of silicon anode developer OneD Battery Sciences, is on a rant: His fellow...

Elon Musk. Photo by Bloomberg.

Musk Puts $20 Billion Value on Twitter

By Erin Woo and Martin Peers · Mar 25, 2023 4:45pm PDT · 3 comments

Elon Musk offered Twitter employees stock grants at a valuation of roughly $20 billion, said a person familiar with an email Musk sent to staff, less than half what he paid to buy the company. It was a concrete acknowledgment of how much Twitter’s value has dropped since the deal—but it is still well above public market valuation... Elon Musk offered Twitter employees stock grants at a valuation of roughly $20 billion, said a...

Art by Clark Miller.

An AI Researcher Tries to Build Good AI While Burning Down the Bad

By Margaux MacColl · Mar 25, 2023 7:05am PDT · 2 comments

In the hours after Margaret Mitchell was fired by Google over email in February 2021, she ran to the bathroom and threw up. “I was just so terrified that I was never going to get a job in tech again, that my name had been scarlet lettered,” she told me over an hourlong Zoom this week, calling from her home outside Seattle. That was... In the hours after Margaret Mitchell was fired by Google over email in February 2021, she ran to...

Art by Clark Miller.

The Skin-Tech Devices Helping Execs Beautify in a Hurry

By Aja Mangum · Mar 25, 2023 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

Art by Clark Miller.

Market Research

The Skin-Tech Devices Helping Execs Beautify in a Hurry

By Aja Mangum · Mar 25, 2023 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

I’m always 29 at heart,” said Liyia Wu, CEO of ShopShops, a livestream shopping app for fashion, beauty and lifestyle products. But now that she’s actually over 40, Wu is searching for her fountain of youth. She’s one of the many time-starved executives navigating the crowded beauty tech marketplace, which did an... I’m always 29 at heart,” said Liyia Wu, CEO of ShopShops, a livestream shopping app...

How (and Where) VCs Take Their Coffee

How (and Where) VCs Take Their Coffee

By Jon Steinberg · Mar 25, 2023 7:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend!We all have our spot: The one cafe within a 5-minute walk (or a 10-minute drive, if you work in L.A.), where you can grab a quick meeting, sidle up to an acquaintance or eavesdrop on a stranger. It’s the kind of place where you feel like you’re being productive, even when you’re really procrastinating. My... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!We all have our spot: The one cafe within a 5-minute walk (or a...

A TikTok advertisement at Union Station in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Photo by Bloomberg.

TikTok Shifts Into Damage Control Mode

By Kaya Yurieff · Mar 24, 2023 3:27pm PDT · 2 comments

TikTok and some companies that work with the popular app have shifted into damage control mode after a rancorous Congressional grilling of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew failed to allay lawmakers’ concerns that its Chinese parent, ByteDance, poses a national security risk. Golin, a major public relations firm that hires creators on behalf of... TikTok and some companies that work with the popular app have shifted into damage control mode...

Anu Aiyengar, global head of M&A at JPMorgan Chase, said potential sellers that have endured steep stock price drops are getting closer to coming back to the table. Photo by Bloomberg.

Dealmakers See M&A Targets in Tech When Slowdown Abates

By Cory Weinberg and Lauren Tara LaCapra · Mar 24, 2023 1:25pm PDT · 2 comments

Dealmakers who gathered in New Orleans this week are hopeful that the prolonged deals freeze will thaw this year—and that the tech sector in particular holds plenty of companies ripe for acquisition. That may be a case of optimism transcending reality. On panels and in coffee chats at the annual Tulane Corporate Law Institute conference,... Dealmakers who gathered in New Orleans this week are hopeful that the prolonged deals freeze will...

Art by Clark Miller

Silicon Valley’s Realtors, Like Its Bankers, Are Having a Tough Month

By Zara Stone · Mar 24, 2023 12:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Art by Clark Miller

Silicon Valley’s Realtors, Like Its Bankers, Are Having a Tough Month

By Zara Stone · Mar 24, 2023 12:00pm PDT · 2 comments

In early March, Ken DeLeon, founder of DeLeon Realty, a Silicon Valley–based brokerage that sold more than $1 billion in homes in 2021, called one of his venture capitalist clients to discuss the purchase of a $20 million–plus megamansion. The client was flip-flopping between a cash offer and a loan. “First Republic Bank has a... In early March, Ken DeLeon, founder of DeLeon Realty, a Silicon Valley–based brokerage that...

Block chairman and co founder Jack Dorsey. Photo by Getty

Fintech’s Big Wakeup Call

By Ann Gehan · Mar 24, 2023 10:20am PDT · 4 comments

Fintechs were supposed to transform banking by making it dead simple for users to open savings accounts or pay their bills. But a series of recent high-profile setbacks with both fintechs and the traditional banking sector is setting off alarm bells. This month’s series of bank collapses has shined a spotlight on the health of small banks,... Fintechs were supposed to transform banking by making it dead simple for users to open savings...

Art by Clark Miller.

Caffeinated Capitalists

Venture Capital’s 25 Favorite Cafes

By Annie Goldsmith · Mar 24, 2023 9:00am PDT · 10 comments

Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto. Buck’s of Woodside. The Creamery in SoMa (RIP). Silicon Valley’s coffee shops have undoubtedly seen more dealmaking than any one fancy office building or members’ club. Now a new guard of cafes, spread throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, New York and Los Angeles, is growing in popularity among... Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto. Buck’s of Woodside. The Creamery in SoMa (RIP). Silicon...

Pro Weekly: Insights From The Information 50 Database

Pro Weekly: Insights From The Information 50 Database

By Scott Thurm · Mar 24, 2023 8:00am PDT

Welcome back! The Information 50 is our guide to promising startups, which we’ve published each year since 2020. Now we’ve brought together the 150 startups we’ve identified over the past three years, with added information about how they’ve fared since. The Information 50 Startups Database, which we published Thursday, details each... Welcome back! The Information 50 is our guide to promising startups, which we’ve published...

Art by Jesús Escudero

‘This Is Going to Be a Blip’: Investors, Founders Move On After Bank Crisis

By Kate Clark · Mar 24, 2023 6:00am PDT

Art by Jesús Escudero

‘This Is Going to Be a Blip’: Investors, Founders Move On After Bank Crisis

By Kate Clark · Mar 24, 2023 6:00am PDT

On Monday, David Garner rose at 5 a.m. to sign the final documents required to finish setting up an account for his startup at JPMorgan Chase, following a two-week ordeal that began with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Garner’s Seattle-based startup—CalmWave, which develops software for hospital intensive care units—had... On Monday, David Garner rose at 5 a.m. to sign the final documents required to finish setting up...

Jack Dorsey, head, chairman and cofounder of Block. Photo by Bloomberg.

Let’s Talk About Jack Dorsey

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 23, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Well, it’s been a minute since Jack Dorsey has been in the news. But lest you think that Elon Musk—and Congress’s favorite punching bag, TikTok—get all the fun, today short seller Hindenburg Research sent Block’s stock down 15% with a report saying the payments company, formerly known as Square, had been inflating its user metrics by serving... Well, it’s been a minute since Jack Dorsey has been in the news. But lest you think that Elon...

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified on Capitol Hill on Thursday. Photo by Getty

Creator Economy

TikTok CEO Keeps His Cool, But Scores Few Points

By Kaya Yurieff · Mar 23, 2023 4:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Well, that was something. For roughly five hours on Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew responded to a grilling by representatives from both major political parties who bombarded him with questions and accusations related to national security, TikTok’s data practices, and its Chinese parent company ByteDance’s alleged relationship with the Chinese... Well, that was something. For roughly five hours on Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew responded...

A Silicon Valley Bank branch in Santa Monica, Calif. Photo by Getty.

Breaking Up SVB Is Hard to Do

By Michael Roddan · Mar 23, 2023 1:14pm PDT

With bids for the entity formerly known as Silicon Valley Bank due Friday, potential buyers and regulators are running into an interesting reality: Breaking up—and salvaging—SVB is hard to do. Nearly two weeks after SVB failed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has yet to find a buyer for the so-called bridge bank that took over... With bids for the entity formerly known as Silicon Valley Bank due Friday, potential buyers and...

Photo via Good Eggs

The Coming Wave of Cram Downs

By Kate Clark · Mar 23, 2023 12:44pm PDT · 3 comments

Photo via Good Eggs

The Coming Wave of Cram Downs

By Kate Clark · Mar 23, 2023 12:44pm PDT · 3 comments

What do Good Eggs, a startup that delivers $4.99 broccoli bunches, and Tonal, a fitness startup that sells $3,995 exercise equipment, have in common—other than a business model subsidized by venture capital? They’re both engaged in a painful type of financing known as a “cram down.” If you grew up in the era of easy money, ultralow interest... What do Good Eggs, a startup that delivers $4.99 broccoli bunches, and Tonal, a fitness startup...

Shivon Zilis. Photo: GeekWire/YouTube.

Shivon Zilis, Musk Associate, Leaves OpenAI Board

By Becky Peterson · Mar 23, 2023 8:22am PDT · 4 comments

Shivon Zilis, director of operations at Elon Musk’s Neuralink, has stepped down from the board of OpenAI, according to a person familiar with the move and Zilis’ LinkedIn profile. Her departure follows public criticism of OpenAI from Musk, who aside from being her boss at the brain-computer interface startup Neuralink is also the ... Shivon Zilis, director of operations at Elon Musk’s Neuralink, has stepped down from the...

Bill Gurley in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

Good Eggs Cuts Its Valuation 94% in Lifeline Financing as More Startups Get Desperate

By Amir Efrati · Mar 23, 2023 6:00am PDT · 6 comments

As more startups struggle to raise money from venture capitalists and approach bankruptcy, they are going to extreme lengths to stay afloat. The latest example is Good Eggs, which delivers fresh produce and other groceries. The company this month raised around $7 million from Greenwich, Conn., investment firm Glade Brook Capital Partners at a... As more startups struggle to raise money from venture capitalists and approach bankruptcy, they...

Phosphate deposits in the Western Sahara near Morocco. Photo: Peter Turnley/Corbis/Getty

The Electric: A Phosphate Mine in Canada Could Feed a Rising U.S. Battery Industry

By Steve LeVine · Mar 23, 2023 4:30am PDT

As auto manufacturers increasingly choose lithium-iron-phosphate batteries to power their electric vehicles, a phosphate project under development in Canada marks another step in building a U.S.-led battery metals industry to compete with China’s.The project, launched by Vancouver, British Columbia-based First Phosphate, appears to be the first... As auto manufacturers increasingly choose lithium-iron-phosphate batteries to power their...

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photo by Bloomberg.

U.S. Tech Should Support TikTok at This Moment

By Martin Peers · Mar 22, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 15 comments

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photo by Bloomberg.

U.S. Tech Should Support TikTok at This Moment

By Martin Peers · Mar 22, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 15 comments

If Steve Martin were to remake his 1984 film “Lonely Guy” this year, he could center it around Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok. It’s a paradox that the executive leading one of the most popular apps in the U.S. is basically on his own as he fights the threat of a ban from both the Biden administration and congressional opponents. The few people who... If Steve Martin were to remake his 1984 film “Lonely Guy” this year, he could center it around...