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

Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat. Photo by Bloomberg

Alphabet Job Cuts Widen to Robotics Subsidiary

By Jon Victor · Jan 11, 2023 3:29pm PST

Less than a month ago, Alphabet’s industrial robotics subsidiary Intrinsic said it acquired a team of people from a software development firm called Open Robotics. On Wednesday, Intrinsic went in the other direction by laying off 40 employees, a spokesperson confirmed to The Information. A person close to the company said the layoffs... Less than a month ago, Alphabet’s industrial robotics subsidiary Intrinsic said it acquired...

Gemini’s Blind Spot; What’s on Coinbase’s Chopping Block

Gemini’s Blind Spot; What’s on Coinbase’s Chopping Block

By Aidan Ryan · Jan 11, 2023 3:20pm PST

The Gemini-Genesis battle has reached a boiling point.Cameron Winklevoss, the Gemini co-founder and president, published an open letter Monday that called for the Digital Currency Board to remove CEO Barry Silbert from his post and had a scathing assessment of the financial health of Genesis, DCG’s crypto lending subsidiary. The Gemini-Genesis battle has reached a boiling point.Cameron Winklevoss, the Gemini co-founder...

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet. Photo by Bloomberg.

Alphabet’s Verily Lays Off 15% of Staff

By Jon Victor · Jan 11, 2023 12:14pm PST

Alphabet’s life-sciences subsidiary Verily is laying off 15% of staff, or roughly 250 people, according to an internal memo reviewed by The Information, a move that raises the prospect of job cuts at sister company Google. Update: Job cuts on Wednesday also hit a different Alphabet subsidiary, Intrinsic, The Information first... Alphabet’s life-sciences subsidiary Verily is laying off 15% of staff, or roughly 250...

Twitter's San Francisco headquarters. Photo via Getty Images

Twitter’s Efforts to Court Advertisers Turns Them Off

By Sahil Patel and Erin Woo · Jan 11, 2023 11:54am PST

Twitter's San Francisco headquarters. Photo via Getty Images

Twitter’s Efforts to Court Advertisers Turns Them Off

By Sahil Patel and Erin Woo · Jan 11, 2023 11:54am PST

Twitter’s ad business is not recovering. Clients of WPP-owned GroupM, the world’s largest ad-buying firm, have cut their spending on Twitter by between 40% and 50% since Elon Musk took control of the company in late October, according to people familiar with the matter. Standard Media Index, an ad industry firm that tracks... Twitter’s ad business is not recovering. Clients of WPP-owned GroupM, the world’s...

How to Get Your Opinions Published in The Information

By The Information · Jan 11, 2023 10:10am PST · 7 comments

We are always hunting for fresh, exciting essay ideas, and where better to look than from The Information’s own illustrious readership? If that’s something you’re interested in, here’s how to make it happen. Step 1: Come up with an idea. Good ideas come in all shapes and sizes, but in general they are: Specific. Less... We are always hunting for fresh, exciting essay ideas, and where better to look than from The...

Illustration by Josh Brill

How Congress Can Get Crypto Legislation Right

By Jake Chervinsky and Kristin Smith · Jan 11, 2023 9:00am PST · 2 comments

The near-overnight collapse of FTX International sent shockwaves through the crypto industry that are now reverberating in Washington. As the dust settles and details of what went on behind closed doors emerge, it’s clear that FTX’s leadership displayed a complete disregard for corporate governance, risk management and, most... The near-overnight collapse of FTX International sent shockwaves through the crypto industry that...

From left: Peter Thiel, Vinod Khosla, Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai and Marc Benioff. Photos by Bloomberg, Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Microsoft + OpenAI: Inside Tech’s Hottest Romance

By Erin Woo, Aaron Holmes and Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 11, 2023 8:17am PST · 8 comments

Three years ago, as Microsoft sought to overtake Amazon and Google in cloud computing and artificial intelligence, the company made a major move. It invested $1 billion into a project originally co-founded by Elon Musk, former Y Combinator president Sam Altman and other tech leaders to create artificial general intelligence—software that... Three years ago, as Microsoft sought to overtake Amazon and Google in cloud computing and...

A lithium pile at Pilbara Minerals' Pilgangoora mine in Port Hedland, Australia. Photo: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

The Electric: Biden Administration Favors Making More Nations Eligible for U.S. Battery Subsidies

By Steve LeVine · Jan 11, 2023 5:00am PST

A lithium pile at Pilbara Minerals' Pilgangoora mine in Port Hedland, Australia. Photo: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

The Electric: Biden Administration Favors Making More Nations Eligible for U.S. Battery Subsidies

By Steve LeVine · Jan 11, 2023 5:00am PST

The landmark climate bill signed into law in August offered tens of billions of dollars in subsidies for electric vehicles whose batteries contain materials from the U.S. or countries with which the U.S. has a free trade agreement. That excluded many of the most ore-rich countries of the world, and the Biden administration has been seeking a way... The landmark climate bill signed into law in August offered tens of billions of dollars in...

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. Photo by Bloomberg.

Coinbase May Have the Best Shot of Weathering the Crypto Winter

By Akash Pasricha · Jan 10, 2023 5:40pm PST

By crypto standards, today was like any other day—both newsy and noisy. Let’s see, Coinbase laid off 20% of its staff, and the Winklevoss twins escalated their public battle with crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group with an open letter demanding the removal of its chief, Barry Silbert. Meanwhile, a former Coinbase manager's brother was... By crypto standards, today was like any other day—both newsy and noisy. Let’s see, Coinbase laid...

Writer Elle Griffin. Photo courtesy of subject

Creator Economy

The Writer Who Serialized Her Novels on Substack

By Kaya Yurieff · Jan 10, 2023 3:12pm PST

Elle Griffin's Substack career over the last two years is a testament to how tech platforms have transformed what it means to be an aspiring novelist. The former content marketing writer found success on Substack by taking a page from Alexandre Dumas and Charles Dickens: starting in 2021, she serialized her gothic and utopian novels to her... Elle Griffin's Substack career over the last two years is a testament to how tech platforms have...

A scene from the 2017 day when Okta went public. Photo by AP.

Okta Chief Revenue Officer Departs Amid Sales Shakeup

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 10, 2023 12:38pm PST · 2 comments

Okta’s chief revenue officer, Steve Rowland, is leaving the identity and access management software provider at the end of the month, according to a current Okta employee. Rowland’s departure, less than two years after the enterprise software veteran joined Okta, comes as Okta is grappling with an industrywide slowdown in the... Okta’s chief revenue officer, Steve Rowland, is leaving the identity and access management...

Redfin, with a market capitalization of less than $600 million, had $1.3 billion of convertible debt on its books as of September. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Looming Debt Crunch Facing Tech Companies Like The RealReal

By Cory Weinberg · Jan 10, 2023 8:08am PST · 5 comments

Redfin, with a market capitalization of less than $600 million, had $1.3 billion of convertible debt on its books as of September. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Looming Debt Crunch Facing Tech Companies Like The RealReal

By Cory Weinberg · Jan 10, 2023 8:08am PST · 5 comments

In 2020, a wave of public tech companies—including The RealReal, Vroom and Redfin—began selling record amounts of ultra-low-interest bonds that would convert into shares if the companies’ stocks kept soaring. Instead, stocks have been crushed, and a wall of potentially crippling or course-altering debt now looms over some... In 2020, a wave of public tech companies—including The RealReal, Vroom and...

Art by Mike Sullivan via Shutterstock.

After ‘Irrational Cycle,’ Venture’s Limited Partners Exert More Power Over Funds

By Kate Clark · Jan 10, 2023 6:00am PST · 7 comments

The increasingly bloodied market for tech startups is strengthening the hand of one group of investors: the wealthy individuals and institutions that put money into venture capital funds. These limited partners are seeking better terms, such as guaranteed access to startup deals, reductions in the fees they pay the VC firms and even stakes in a... The increasingly bloodied market for tech startups is strengthening the hand of one group of...

Photo by Bloomberg

Why Netflix’s Streaming Edge Won’t Erode

By Martin Peers · Jan 9, 2023 5:00pm PST

It’s the quiet before the earnings storm, which makes it a good time to take a step back and consider the situation of Netflix, the first big tech name to report December quarter numbers, on Jan. 19. Its stock has nearly doubled since it bottomed out at around $167 in June, although even at current levels of around $315 it is still down 47% from... It’s the quiet before the earnings storm, which makes it a good time to take a step back and...

Graphic: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

Our Creator Economy Summit Kicks Off April 20

By Kaya Yurieff · Jan 9, 2023 2:22pm PST

We are kicking off today’s newsletter with an exciting announcement: Our annual Creator Economy Summit is happening for the first time in person on April 20 in Los Angeles at The London West Hollywood. We’ll have a jam-packed day of fireside chats, masterclasses and panel discussions, with lots of time to ask questions and network with... We are kicking off today’s newsletter with an exciting announcement: Our annual Creator Economy...

ByteDance's Beijing headquarters. Photo by Getty.

TikTok Parent ByteDance’s E-Commerce Volume Surged in 2022, Internal Data Show

By Juro Osawa · Jan 9, 2023 2:13pm PST

ByteDance's Beijing headquarters. Photo by Getty.

TikTok Parent ByteDance’s E-Commerce Volume Surged in 2022, Internal Data Show

By Juro Osawa · Jan 9, 2023 2:13pm PST

TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is making inroads in e-commerce. Consumers in China last year spent 1.41 trillion yuan, or $208 billion, buying things on ByteDance’s Douyin video app, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok, an increase of 76% from 2021, according to two people with knowledge of the internal data. Meanwhile,... TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is making inroads in e-commerce. Consumers in...

Art by Mike Sullivan via Shutterstock

Six OpenAI Rivals Google and Microsoft Are Watching

By Jon Victor · Jan 9, 2023 6:00am PST · 5 comments

Microsoft’s big bet on OpenAI, whose ChatGPT software can understand and generate conversational text, is starting to look like a stroke of genius. Microsoft plans to use OpenAI’s tech to improve results in Bing searches and help Word and Outlook customers automatically generate documents and emails using simple prompts, as The... Microsoft’s big bet on OpenAI, whose ChatGPT software can understand and generate...

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, with the concept electric Ram Revolution. Photo: Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg

The Electric: EV Makers Brag About Next-Gen Batteries, but They Won’t Be Ready Soon

By Steve LeVine · Jan 8, 2023 2:00pm PST

Late to the electric vehicle race, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares bounded onstage Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show, the biggest tech event of the year, and boasted: In 2026, he said, Stellantis would produce a sleek new electric version of the popular Ram pickup truck. Among other bells and whistles, a breakthrough solid-state... Late to the electric vehicle race, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares bounded onstage Thursday at the...

The Pied Piper of Defense Startups

The Pied Piper of Defense Startups

By Jon Steinberg · Jan 7, 2023 7:00am PST

Hi, welcome to the first Weekend of 2023!You have to hand it to Josh Wolfe. The co-founder of Lux Capital has spent the past two decades zigging while many in the Valley have zagged. This week’s cover story by Margaux focuses on the rise of defense tech as a booming startup sector in Silicon Valley. It’s a space Wolfe and Lux have owned for... Hi, welcome to the first Weekend of 2023!You have to hand it to Josh Wolfe. The co-founder of Lux...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Art by Mike Sullivan

Ghost Writer: Microsoft Looks to Add OpenAI’s Chatbot Technology to Word, Email

By Aaron Holmes and Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 7, 2023 6:00am PST · 3 comments

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Art by Mike Sullivan

Ghost Writer: Microsoft Looks to Add OpenAI’s Chatbot Technology to Word, Email

By Aaron Holmes and Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 7, 2023 6:00am PST · 3 comments

In a move that could change how more than a billion people write documents, presentations and emails, Microsoft has discussed incorporating OpenAI’s artificial intelligence in Word, PowerPoint, Outlook and other apps so customers can automatically generate text using simple prompts, according to a person with direct knowledge of the... In a move that could change how more than a billion people write documents, presentations and...