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

SEC chair Gary Gensler and LBRY co-founder Jeremy Kauffman. Art by Clark Miller

The SEC v. LBRY: How a New Hampshire Court Battle Could Rewrite the Rules of Crypto

By Aidan Ryan · Aug 26, 2022 10:00am PDT

Less than two hours before we spoke on the phone last week, Jeremy Kauffman tweeted that if voters elected him as New Hampshire’s next U.S. senator, his goal would be “for America to never launch another drone strike in the Middle East.” It was a sentiment shared by many self-identified libertarians, who have long opposed U.S. military... Less than two hours before we spoke on the phone last week, Jeremy Kauffman tweeted that if...

A collage of Shuffles collages by Mike Sullivan.

Can a New Collage App Make Pinterest Cool Again?

By Annie Goldsmith · Aug 26, 2022 9:01am PDT

Bec Martínez-Cristillo was hours into her search for an eight-character access code. She’d scrolled through Reddit threads. She’d sorted through hundreds of TikTok and Instagram comments. She’d even considered buying a codeon Depop, Gen Z’s favorite resale app, where they were priced from $5 to $100. Then, late last week, Martínez-Cristillo... Bec Martínez-Cristillo was hours into her search for an eight-character access code. She’d...

Photo by Bloomberg

AWS Preps ‘Bastion’ Cloud Service for Advertisers

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Aug 26, 2022 6:00am PDT

Amazon Web Services is preparing to unveil a cloud service to help companies improve the way they target ads to potential customers without violating data privacy laws, according to three people with knowledge of the product. The move comes as advertisers try to recover from, and get ahead of, Apple’s and Google’s restrictions on... Amazon Web Services is preparing to unveil a cloud service to help companies improve the way they...

Photo by Bloomberg.

The U.S.-China Headline That’s Not All Bad News

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 25, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Photo by Bloomberg.

The U.S.-China Headline That’s Not All Bad News

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 25, 2022 5:00pm PDT

We listened to Mark Zuckerberg’s three-hour interview with Joe Rogan so you don’t have to. In short: New virtual reality products are coming in October. It might be a tall task for Meta Platforms’ VR headsets to recreate all the running, fencing, surfing, wrestling, jujitsuing and hydrofoiling the Meta co-founder and CEO tells Rogan he... We listened to Mark Zuckerberg’s three-hour interview with Joe Rogan so you don’t have to. In...

Chart: Shane Burke

Creator Economy

Inside Spotter’s C-Suite; Twitter’s Staff Exodus

By Mahira Dayal · Aug 25, 2022 3:14pm PDT

The Information’s org charts are a reader favorite. Today we’re giving Creator Economy readers a mini version, with this map of Spotter’s C-Suite. Why are we starting with Spotter? Primarily because the three-year-old startup, which offers creators upfront financing in exchange for licensing their backlog of YouTube videos, has been on a hiring... The Information’s org charts are a reader favorite. Today we’re giving Creator Economy readers a...

Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. Art by Clark Miller

Scene and Heard

Andreessen Horowitz Takes Tinseltown

By Erin Woo · Aug 25, 2022 12:32pm PDT · 6 comments

Andrew Chen, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, was waiting outside The Bungalow, a bar in Santa Monica, Calif., before heading to an after-party when he noticed that his colleague Connie Chan had her head buried in her phone. “Stop sending emails,” he joked. “You’re not in SF anymore.” Chen, Chan and 15,000 of their fellow techies and... Andrew Chen, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, was waiting outside The Bungalow, a bar in...

Art by Laurent Bazart

The Kids Are Alright: Big-Tech Interns Upbeat About Prospects Despite Turbulence

By Stephen Council · Aug 25, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

This summer, the hearts of college interns across tech collectively skipped a beat as layoffs and hiring freezes began to mount throughout the industry. It didn’t help when two big companies, Meta Platforms and Twitter, made headlines due to their decisions to delay permanent job offers to current interns because of the wobbly... This summer, the hearts of college interns across tech collectively skipped a beat as layoffs and...

Thacker Pass, Nev., the site of a four-year struggle by Lithium Americas to develop a lithium mine. Photo: Suzanne Featherston/The Daily Free Press/AP

The Electric: The Climate Bill Sparks Two New Political Battles

By Steve LeVine · Aug 25, 2022 4:00am PDT

Thacker Pass, Nev., the site of a four-year struggle by Lithium Americas to develop a lithium mine. Photo: Suzanne Featherston/The Daily Free Press/AP

The Electric: The Climate Bill Sparks Two New Political Battles

By Steve LeVine · Aug 25, 2022 4:00am PDT

Save the date: On September 8, we celebrate our first anniversary with a special event on perhaps the most important challenge facing the industry—building a battery supply chain independent of China. Our guest for this 3 p.m. ET live chat will be Bob Galyen, former chief technology officer of China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd., the... Save the date: On September 8, we celebrate our first anniversary with a special event on perhaps...

Art by Shane Burke.

Peloton’s Amazon Deal Could Be Prelude to Acquisition

By Martin Peers · Aug 24, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Peloton may have found its white knight. The fitness equipment maker’s decision to start selling its bike and other accessories through Amazon could be a first step toward Amazon buying the entire company. Certainly that seems to be investors’ interpretation—how else can one explain the 20% lift Peloton stock got on the news? Peloton management... Peloton may have found its white knight. The fitness equipment maker’s decision to start selling...

Vitalik Buterin and Brian Armstrong. Art by Shane Burke.

Who’s Cashing In on the Ethereum Merge

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 24, 2022 3:52pm PDT

The crypto community is abuzz this week with all things “merge,” the looming date when the Ethereum blockchain will transition from proof of work to proof of stake. If that language is still gobbledygook to you, don’t worry, we’ll break it down below. But the question we’re asking today is: Which crypto companies will benefit most from the... The crypto community is abuzz this week with all things “merge,” the looming date when the...

YouTube creator Jordan Matter. Photo: JJ Ignotz Photography

Creator Economy

One Untapped Market for Creator Economy Startups; TikTok Is the New Digital Crack, Say Bernstein Internet Analysts

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 24, 2022 2:00pm PDT

As our Creator Economy Database shows, there are more than 260 startups catering to creators, from marketing and banking services to online courses and live shopping. But most fail to address one group of creators: everyone working behind the camera, according to Jordan Matter, a 55-year-old YouTuber with 12.6 million subscribers.“It’s an... As our Creator Economy Database shows, there are more than 260 startups catering to creators,...

Art by Mike Sullivan

What We Don’t See Online Is Warping Our View of the World

By Jillian York · Aug 24, 2022 9:00am PDT

Art by Mike Sullivan

What We Don’t See Online Is Warping Our View of the World

By Jillian York · Aug 24, 2022 9:00am PDT

Recent events around the world—from the wars in Yemen and Ukraine to protests in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade and the all-too-regular mass shootings in the U.S.—have raised fresh questions about how social media platforms deal with violence and extremism on their platforms. Many of these concern... Recent events around the world—from the wars in Yemen and Ukraine to protests in the wake...

Alex Atallah, Aparna Chennapragada, Bill Qian, Michael Moro, and Rod Bolger.

On the Market: Crypto Execs From OpenSea, Paradigm and Binance

By Aidan Ryan and Akash Pasricha · Aug 24, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

This year’s dramatic slump in crypto prices left few parts of the industry unscathed. As the dust settles following a wave of layoffs, reorganizations and bankruptcies, seasoned crypto executives—including some who had only recently started their latest roles—are in the market for new gigs. And despite all the upheaval,... This year’s dramatic slump in crypto prices left few parts of the industry unscathed. As...

Peiter "Mudge" Zatko at a Stripe keynote in 2019. Photo courtesy of YouTube.

Musk Welcomes a Whistleblower

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 23, 2022 6:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Of the many things that can be said about Elon Musk, one that I often return to is that he is really a CEO for the people. By that, I mean he’s an executive whose image is perpetually shaped and bolstered by the masses who adore him, look up to him or are in other ways obsessed by him. And so it is somewhat fitting that he appeared to... Of the many things that can be said about Elon Musk, one that I often return to is that he is...

Photo: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

Twitch Lets Creators Stream on Rival Services; Instagram’s BeReal Copycat

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 23, 2022 2:21pm PDT

Twitch streamers who are part of the company’s partner program are now allowed to livestream on competing services, such as YouTube or Facebook. Previously, streamers who wanted to be part of the program, which gives them access to money-making tools such as ad-revenue sharing and subscriptions, couldn’t also host streams on YouTube and... Twitch streamers who are part of the company’s partner program are now allowed to livestream on...

Illustration by Josh Brill

Companies Are Ditching Cybersecurity Insurance as Premiums Rise, Coverage Shrinks

By Aaron Holmes · Aug 22, 2022 11:00pm PDT · 8 comments

Illustration by Josh Brill

Companies Are Ditching Cybersecurity Insurance as Premiums Rise, Coverage Shrinks

By Aaron Holmes · Aug 22, 2022 11:00pm PDT · 8 comments

Can you imagine going without flood insurance if you lived alongside a river? That’s what is happening in corporate America nowadays, as skyrocketing cyberinsurance premiums prompt more companies to go without traditional cyber insurance even as ransomware and other digital hacks surge. Last year cyber insurance premiums in the U.S. spiked... Can you imagine going without flood insurance if you lived alongside a river? That’s what...

Photo by AP

Cybersecurity Startup Arctic Wolf in Talks to Raise $300 Million in Convertible Debt

By Maria Heeter · Aug 22, 2022 6:40pm PDT

Arctic Wolf, a 10-year-old cybersecurity startup valued last year at $4.3 billion, is in talks to raise $300 million in convertible debt from investors including direct lender Owl Rock Capital, according to people familiar with the matter. The debt would convert to shares at a premium to the price in an eventual initial public offering, the... Arctic Wolf, a 10-year-old cybersecurity startup valued last year at $4.3 billion, is in talks to...

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in June. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon’s M&A Blitz Presents Challenges for FTC

By Martin Peers · Aug 22, 2022 5:00pm PDT

We’re learning how Amazon plans to deal with Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan’s anti–tech acquisition policy—by striking so many deals that the FTC will have a hard time fighting them all. You could call it the whack-a-mole M&A strategy. That’s one interpretation of Sunday’s news that Amazon is a bidder for Signify Health, a health... We’re learning how Amazon plans to deal with Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan’s anti–tech...

Art: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

Twitter’s Bonus Cuts; Amazon’s Live Audio App Six Months In

By Mahira Dayal · Aug 22, 2022 3:40pm PDT

Twitter staff learned Friday their annual bonuses might be cut 50%, according to a memo sent by Twitter’s chief financial officer Ned Segal that The New York Times first reported. The warning followed Twitter’s first quarterly revenue drop in two years. The potential bonus cuts represent more bad news for Twitter employees, who have grappled... Twitter staff learned Friday their annual bonuses might be cut 50%, according to a memo sent by...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

E-Commerce Software Startups Poised for M&A Spree

By Malique Morris · Aug 22, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Mike Sullivan.

E-Commerce Software Startups Poised for M&A Spree

By Malique Morris · Aug 22, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

E-commerce software startups are going shopping—for each other. Attentive, a text message marketing startup, is one of the companies on the prowl. It has around $500 million in cash on hand, according to CEO Brian Long, who told The Information the company will look for more deals in the next six to 12 months. At that point, he expects... E-commerce software startups are going shopping—for each other. Attentive, a text message...