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

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Recent Editions

In a shot over the bow, Toyota—after decades of watching U.S. automakers—became the third best-selling auto line in the U.S. with the $1,780 Corona. Photo: AP

The Electric: To Get Its Battery Supply Chain, the U.S. Will Have to Mimic China

By Steve LeVine · Aug 21, 2022 2:00pm PDT

Save the date: A year ago, we launched The Electric to cover one of the most important—and least reported—new sectors in technology: batteries and electric vehicles. On September 8, we’ll celebrate our anniversary with a special event on perhaps the most important challenge facing the industry—building a battery supply chain independent of... Save the date: A year ago, we launched The Electric to cover one of the most important—and least...

Will Investors Ever Take to the Abortion Pill?

Will Investors Ever Take to the Abortion Pill?

By Jon Steinberg · Aug 20, 2022 8:00am PDT · 2 comments

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! This week began with the news that the once-disgraced CEO of WeWork, Adam Neumann, was receiving a $350 million lifeline from Andreessen Horowitz. It ended with the news that the once-valorized CEO of Gravity Payments, Dan Price, had resigned in the wake of abuse allegations. How long before a blue-chip... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! This week began with the news that the once-disgraced CEO of...

Art by Clark Miller.

Screentime: Investor Sarah Guo on Pairing Podcasts With Peloton and Why She Carries Her Phone ‘Naked’

By Annie Goldsmith · Aug 20, 2022 7:00am PDT · 6 comments

After spending the past nine years as a partner at Greylock Ventures, Sarah Guo struck out on her own in June. Now she’s launching her own fund, Conviction, focused on early-stage tech investments (her notable angel investments include FTX andMagic Eden, the leading Solana non-fungible token marketplace). Though she can’t share much about her... After spending the past nine years as a partner at Greylock Ventures, Sarah Guo struck out on her...

Photo by AP.

KKR Has Considered Buying Venture Lender to Expand Startup Debt

By Maria Heeter · Aug 19, 2022 3:52pm PDT

Photo by AP.

KKR Has Considered Buying Venture Lender to Expand Startup Debt

By Maria Heeter · Aug 19, 2022 3:52pm PDT

Private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. is looking to expand its lending to venture-backed startups and has considered buying a venture-focused lender or recruiting a team of professionals focused on such deals, people familiar with the talks told The Information. Some KKR rivals, including Blackstone, have been making a similar... Private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. is looking to expand its lending to...

Art by Clark Miller.

‘I Don’t Think There’s Anything Foolish About Blitzscaling’: Reid Hoffman Regrets Nothing—Except Maybe Those SPACs

By Adam Lashinsky · Aug 19, 2022 12:00pm PDT · 7 comments

It's check-writing season for Reid Hoffman, and not just for his two venture capital firms, two special purpose acquisition corporations, two podcasts, six startup boards or any of the other extracurricular activities that keep him stupendously busy. (I counted one real job—at Greylock Partners—and 15 side hustles, which he confirmed.) Hoffman,... It's check-writing season for Reid Hoffman, and not just for his two venture capital firms, two...

Art by Clark Miller.

‘100% in Office Every Day, Including Weekends’: The Rise of the Hard-Line Return-to-Office Policy

By Annie Goldsmith · Aug 19, 2022 10:00am PDT · 18 comments

Among the 75,000 people at San Francisco’s Outside Lands music festival on Sunday, August 7, were 10 co-workers from Merge, an enterprise platform that integrates human resources, payroll, recruiting and accounting systems. The group, with a few chosen plus-ones, gathered at noon on one colleague’s Russian Hill rooftop. They lingered a bit, and... Among the 75,000 people at San Francisco’s Outside Lands music festival on Sunday, August 7, were...

Amazon; HBO; Disney+. Art by Mike Sullivan

It’s Not TV, It’s the Customer Experience

By Andrew A. Rosen · Aug 19, 2022 9:00am PDT

PARQOR is part of The Information’s newsletter network. To receive it in your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, sign up here. The next four weeks will deliver a one-two-three punch of big intellectual property in streaming: First, the Game of Thrones prequel “House of the Dragon” premieres on HBO Max (and, of... PARQOR is part of The Information’s newsletter network. To receive it in your inbox every...

Art by Clark Miller

The Abortion Pill Paradox

By Margaux MacColl · Aug 19, 2022 9:00am PDT · 2 comments

Art by Clark Miller

The Abortion Pill Paradox

By Margaux MacColl · Aug 19, 2022 9:00am PDT · 2 comments

In April, a young woman named Maya found herself in a Barnes & Noble bathroom in California, staring at a positive pregnancy test. Twenty-one years old and not ready to raise a baby, Maya knew “instantly” what she needed to do: Schedule an abortion. Her first call was to Planned Parenthood, but the local clinic’s next available appointment... In April, a young woman named Maya found herself in a Barnes & Noble bathroom in California,...

Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins in May. Photo by Bloomberg

What Belt-Tightening? Cisco CEO Plans $1 Billion Budget Increase to Retain Employees

By Aaron Holmes · Aug 19, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins told managers earlier this month that the networking hardware pioneer would increase its operating expenses $1 billion over the next 12 months, in part to raise employee pay to stem a rise in departures, said a person with direct knowledge of the situation. Robbins made the surprising comment after the... Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins told managers earlier this month that the networking hardware...

Sequoia Capital's office in Menlo Park, Calif.

Sequoia, Andreessen and Bessemer’s Beating and Snap’s Selfie Drone

By Nick Wingfield · Aug 18, 2022 5:25pm PDT

Is anybody else pumped for some appointment streaming this weekend? The first episode of HBO’s “House of Dragon,” the hotly anticipated prequel series to “Game of Thrones,” premieres Sunday night. Then, 12 days later, Amazon will debut its own fantasy series, “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” on Sept. 2. It’s fair to say HBO and... Is anybody else pumped for some appointment streaming this weekend? The first episode of HBO’s “...

Olivia Deng, Investor at Banana Capital. Art: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

TikTok-Like Full Screen Video Takes Over; Interview With Banana Capital’s Deng

By Mahira Dayal · Aug 18, 2022 3:13pm PDT

The urge among internet companies to copy TikTok is about to take over your home screen.Two years ago, YouTube and Facebook rushed to introduce short-form videos that capitalized on the exploding popularity of TikTok. Now these companies as well as new startups like Mixo are trying on different features, like full-screen video. The latest:... The urge among internet companies to copy TikTok is about to take over your home screen.Two years...

From left: Sequoia's Alfred Lin, Bessemer's Kent Bennett and A16z's Marc Andreessen. Photos by Getty; Bessemer; Bloomberg

Public Stock Held by Sequoia Capital, Andreessen and Bessemer Fell 44% in Second Quarter

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 18, 2022 12:52pm PDT

From left: Sequoia's Alfred Lin, Bessemer's Kent Bennett and A16z's Marc Andreessen. Photos by Getty; Bessemer; Bloomberg

Public Stock Held by Sequoia Capital, Andreessen and Bessemer Fell 44% in Second Quarter

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 18, 2022 12:52pm PDT

Public stocks held by Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Bessemer Venture Partners lost 44% of their value, or $18.3 billion, between March 31 and June 30 as the venture capital firms held on to sizable stakes in tech companies they had backed as startups, though they have recovered somewhat in recent weeks, according to recent securities... Public stocks held by Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Bessemer Venture Partners lost 44%...

Singapore's business district. Photo by Bloomberg

Chinese Venture Firms Expand in Singapore as Risks Rise at Home

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Aug 18, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

China’s venture capitalists made fortunes gambling on the country’s blockbuster tech successes such as Alibaba and Meituan. But as a slowing economy, new regulations and pandemic restrictions cast a pall over China’s tech sector, some of those investors have begun looking to make their next big bets from new outposts in another... China’s venture capitalists made fortunes gambling on the country’s blockbuster tech...

Art: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

Pearpop, a Startup That Enables Creator ‘Collabs,’ Inked Financing Before Downturn

By Mahira Dayal · Aug 17, 2022 4:38pm PDT

Pearpop, a nearly two-year-old startup whose technology facilitates collaborations between influencers, raised an undisclosed amount of funding in March through a simple agreement for future equity, or SAFE, a person familiar with the company told The Information. Investors in the March round included music management company Red Light... Pearpop, a nearly two-year-old startup whose technology facilitates collaborations between...

Left: Mike Belshe. Right: Mike Novogratz. Art by Shane Burke.

Why Galaxy Digital May Be Backing Out of BitGo

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 17, 2022 3:14pm PDT

The crypto world may get its own Elon Musk vs. Twitter-esque legal battle! Well, it might not be quite as grand, but here it is: BitGo, a crypto custodian and financial services platform for institutional investors, is threatening to sue a much larger crypto financial services firm, Galaxy Digital, after the latter pulled out of last year’s $1.2... The crypto world may get its own Elon Musk vs. Twitter-esque legal battle! Well, it might not be...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Whatever Happens Between China and Taiwan, the U.S. Needs Its Own Chips

By Jared McKinney and Mark Rosenblatt · Aug 17, 2022 9:00am PDT · 3 comments

Art by Mike Sullivan

Whatever Happens Between China and Taiwan, the U.S. Needs Its Own Chips

By Jared McKinney and Mark Rosenblatt · Aug 17, 2022 9:00am PDT · 3 comments

The intentions of the People’s Republic of China toward Taiwan are clear—it intends to take possession of the island and thereby “reunify” China. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island, during which she met with political leaders as well as the chair of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., provoked... The intentions of the People’s Republic of China toward Taiwan are clear—it intends...

Bolt co-founder Ryan Breslow. Photo by Julian Buitrago. Art by Mike Sullivan

Startup Workers Find Founders Cashed Out When They Couldn’t

By Erin Woo, Becky Peterson and Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 17, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

A few weeks before Ryan Breslow stepped down as CEO of commerce software startup Bolt in January, he made a deal with investors. As part of a funding round in which BlackRock and other investors bought new stock in Bolt that valued the privately held company at $11 billion, Breslow also sold $10 million worth of his own shares to existing... A few weeks before Ryan Breslow stepped down as CEO of commerce software startup Bolt in January,...

A cell stacker in the Enovix factory. Photo: Courtesy Enovix

The Electric: A Next-Gen Battery Maker Ignites an 82% Stock Price Runup With Real Revenue

By Steve LeVine · Aug 17, 2022 4:00am PDT

Save the date: A year ago, we launched The Electric to cover one of the most important—and least reported—new sectors in technology: batteries and electric vehicles. On Sept. 8, we’ll celebrate our anniversary with a special event on perhaps the most important challenge facing the industry—building a battery supply chain that’s not reliant on... Save the date: A year ago, we launched The Electric to cover one of the most important—and least...

Photo by Bloomberg

Why Prices Do—and Should—Go Up

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 16, 2022 5:00pm PDT

I had a lot of fun chatting this afternoon with The Information corporate subscribers who participated in our predictions call for the second half of 2022. Amir, Laura, Meredith and I covered a lot of ground on what we expect with tech initial public offerings, debt deals, new headwinds in crypto regulations and enterprise spending. If you... I had a lot of fun chatting this afternoon with The Information corporate subscribers who...

Credit: Sharon Schuur. Art: Mike Sullivan

TikTok for Food Tests Tipping; Meta Takes Horizon Worlds to Europe

By Mahira Dayal · Aug 16, 2022 2:00pm PDT

Credit: Sharon Schuur. Art: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

TikTok for Food Tests Tipping; Meta Takes Horizon Worlds to Europe

By Mahira Dayal · Aug 16, 2022 2:00pm PDT

Instagram isn’t the only social platform that wants to look more like TikTok. A new app called Mixo provides the same quick scroll through lots of vertically-oriented videos, but—twist!—provides exclusively cooking and food-related content. When its co-founder and CEO Shirley Romig, 45, launched the New York City-based company in June, she... Instagram isn’t the only social platform that wants to look more like TikTok. A new app called ...