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

Art by Clark Miller.

The Buzz Is Gone: Tech Companies (With a Few Exceptions) Are Reining In Once-Legendary Holiday Parties

By Arielle Pardes and Annie Goldsmith · Dec 16, 2022 9:00am PST

On December 8, several thousand Adobe employees and their guests milled around San Francisco’s Chase Center arena for the company’s holiday-slash-40th-anniversary party. Starting at 7 p.m., the Adobe workers and their dates shot hoops in an arcade, received spray-on temporary tattoos, and grabbed drinks and food (tacos, sliders,... On December 8, several thousand Adobe employees and their guests milled around San...

Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest. Photo by Bloomberg

Pinterest Stock Prospects Hinge on ex-Googler’s Shopping Plans

By Mahira Dayal · Dec 16, 2022 6:00am PST

What a difference a year makes. At the start of 2022, Pinterest was on the outs with investors. Plagued by reports that executives were fleeing, along with falling user numbers, its stock was trading at a deep discount to that of Snap, a similar-size social media app that for the past few years had shown faster revenue growth. Today, the tables... What a difference a year makes. At the start of 2022, Pinterest was on the outs with investors....

Elon Musk. Photo by Baron Capital. Background generated in DALL E 2.

Why It’s Tough to Assess the True State of Musk’s Twitter

By Martin Peers · Dec 15, 2022 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

Some companies that go private disappear from public view. Not Twitter. It’s hard to think of another corporate takeover whose aftermath has drawn so much media attention, with so many details leaking out. And that has surely complicated Elon Musk’s life by, for instance, scaring away advertisers and possibly making it harder to recruit... Some companies that go private disappear from public view. Not Twitter. It’s hard to think of...

Howl founder Li Haslett Chen. Photo: Spencer Ostrander

Startup Howl Tries to Upend Influencer Marketing; Senate Passes TikTok Bill

By Kaya Yurieff · Dec 15, 2022 2:40pm PST

Howl founder Li Haslett Chen. Photo: Spencer Ostrander

Creator Economy

Startup Howl Tries to Upend Influencer Marketing; Senate Passes TikTok Bill

By Kaya Yurieff · Dec 15, 2022 2:40pm PST

As our Creator Economy Database shows, influencer marketing is a crowded field. The two-year old startup Howl hopes to stand out by focusing on a variety of collaborative tools on its marketplace for creators and retailers, including Samsung and Sephora. The startup has raised $27 million in Series A funding led by venture firm Highland Capital... As our Creator Economy Database shows, influencer marketing is a crowded field. The two-year old...

Elon Musk via Getty Images

Musk’s Twitter Layoffs Inspire Founders to Cut Deep

By Kate Clark · Dec 15, 2022 12:04pm PST · 2 comments

Some might call Elon Musk’s leadership style toxic. Others consider it heroic. It’s certainly influential. When the Tesla CEO and new Twitter owner fired more than half of the social network’s 7,500 staff in November, then took aim at standard tech-company perks like free cafeteria food and remote work flexibility, startup founders took... Some might call Elon Musk’s leadership style toxic. Others consider it heroic. It’s certainly...

Chris Britt, CEO of Chime. Photo by Getty Images.

Chime Made Two Offers to Buy DailyPay, Topping Out at $2 Billion, but Was Spurned

By Kate Clark · Dec 15, 2022 11:20am PST

Chime spent much of this year trying to buy paycheck-advance startup DailyPay, but both of its offers–including a $2 billion bid–were rejected, according to people with direct knowledge of the deal talks. The talks died during the second half of the year, the people said, with one of them characterizing it as a slow wind-down in... Chime spent much of this year trying to buy paycheck-advance startup DailyPay, but both of its...

Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond, Wash. Photo by Getty.

Microsoft Squeezed by Growing Resistance to Software Bundles

By Aaron Holmes · Dec 15, 2022 6:00am PST · 6 comments

It’s been a popular sales tactic at Microsoft for several years now: Approach a corporate customer paying for Microsoft’s popular 365 workplace apps and suggest they sign up for an all-in-one software bundle that also includes cybersecurity and compliance tools, along with a suite of other business apps. It costs 58% more per user a... It’s been a popular sales tactic at Microsoft for several years now: Approach a corporate...

Photos by Bloomberg

Big Tech Stocks Still Aren’t Cheap

By Martin Peers · Dec 14, 2022 5:01pm PST

Photos by Bloomberg

Big Tech Stocks Still Aren’t Cheap

By Martin Peers · Dec 14, 2022 5:01pm PST

In times like this, when people in Silicon Valley are gripped by a sense of “panic”—as my colleague Kate Clark wrote today—it’s tempting to think we’ve hit bottom in the yearlong market sell-off. Just as you might think it’s time to sell stocks when your neighbors are giving you stock tips, maybe it’s time to buy when everyone is freaking out.... In times like this, when people in Silicon Valley are gripped by a sense of “panic”—as my ...

Photo: Bloomberg

Creator Economy

The SEC Slaps Financial Influencers; Seven Seven Six Backs Startup July

By Mahira Dayal · Dec 14, 2022 3:50pm PST

Financial influencers often like to attach disclaimers on their accounts, advising their Twitter followers and YouTube subscribers that their statements don’t amount to financial advice. Securities regulators have a retort: Those disclaimers are pointless when it comes to plain old fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday... Financial influencers often like to attach disclaimers on their accounts, advising their Twitter...

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. Photo by Bloomberg.

Binance and Coinbase CEOs Go on the Defensive

By Aidan Ryan · Dec 14, 2022 3:03pm PST

Top executives at Binance and Coinbase have been busy penning messages to reassure their employees and customers that they’re no FTX.Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao told his staff that he expects the “next several months to be bumpy” but Binance will get through it and be “stronger for having been through it,” according to a Bloomberg report. Top executives at Binance and Coinbase have been busy penning messages to reassure their...

Illustration by Jesus Escudero

Welcome to the Age of the Fit Startup

By Ben Narasin · Dec 14, 2022 9:00am PST · 14 comments

In 2011, Eric Ries took a two-word concept—the “lean startup”—and turned it into a manifesto, a guidebook for a burgeoning class of entrepreneurs empowered by the new proliferation of seed investors. Lean startups ran fast and cheap, testing and deploying products repeatedly until they achieved the holy grail of product... In 2011, Eric Ries took a two-word concept—the “lean startup”—and turned...

From left: David Sacks, Roelof Botha and Sam Bankman-Fried. Photos by Getty; Sequoia; Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan.

‘Moment of Panic’: FTX Collapse Deepens Fear in Silicon Valley

By Kate Clark · Dec 14, 2022 6:00am PST · 2 comments

From left: David Sacks, Roelof Botha and Sam Bankman-Fried. Photos by Getty; Sequoia; Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan.

‘Moment of Panic’: FTX Collapse Deepens Fear in Silicon Valley

By Kate Clark · Dec 14, 2022 6:00am PST · 2 comments

A month after the sudden collapse of crypto exchange FTX, Silicon Valley startup founders and venture capitalists are grappling with a new feeling: panic. Immad Akhund, founder and CEO of a San Francisco–based banking startup called Mercury, had to deal with one such scare—about the future of his company—that became so serious... A month after the sudden collapse of crypto exchange FTX, Silicon Valley startup founders and...

Phil Schiller speaks during the opening keynote address at WWDC in 2016. Photo by Getty

When It Comes to Apple, Watch the Fine Print

By Jessica E. Lessin · Dec 13, 2022 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

Pour one out for the Silicon Valley gatekeepers. The mightiest of them all has a little crack in its walls. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Apple will allow developers to sell their apps to iPhone users without going through the company’s own App Store—and possibly without paying the 30% App Store tax. This was expected because a new... Pour one out for the Silicon Valley gatekeepers. The mightiest of them all has a little crack in...

Apple's App Store boss Phil Schiller. Photo by Bloomberg

The Four Biggest Changes Apple Made to its App Store as Regulators Turned Up the Heat

By Wayne Ma · Dec 13, 2022 4:34pm PST · 2 comments

For years, Apple has defended its iron grip over the way developers distribute apps in the App Store, and the 30% commission it takes from in-app purchases. In reality, Apple has steadily made concessions as regulators and lawmakers have ratcheted up pressure after major app developers such as Epic Games and Spotify publicly battled Apple over... For years, Apple has defended its iron grip over the way developers distribute apps in the App...

Instagram's new Notes feature. Photo: Meta

Creator Economy

Instagram’s Evolution to Text; Interview With An Attorney-Turned-Influencer

By Mahira Dayal · Dec 13, 2022 2:46pm PST

Instagram has evolved from photos to videos to… text? On Tuesday, parent company Meta Platforms said it had made Notes, a new format to share short text posts on Instagram, available worldwide. Instagram began testing the feature this summer. It’s an opportune time to roll out a text feature amid turmoil at Twitter. Celebrities, including... Instagram has evolved from photos to videos to… text? On Tuesday, parent company Meta ...

Photo by Bloomberg.

SBF’s Criminal Charges Take the Heat Off the Crypto Industry

By Aidan Ryan · Dec 13, 2022 11:45am PST · 1 comment

Photo by Bloomberg.

SBF’s Criminal Charges Take the Heat Off the Crypto Industry

By Aidan Ryan · Dec 13, 2022 11:45am PST · 1 comment

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has just been charged with a raft of crimes. But they’re not really crypto crimes—and that’s a big relief for the broader crypto industry. The criminal charges, laid out in an indictment filed by federal prosecutors in New York, center on decidedly old-school allegations like wire fraud and... FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has just been charged with a raft of crimes. But they’re not...

Alphabet’s ‘Other Bets’ Come Under Pressure as Health Focus Grows

By Jon Victor · Dec 13, 2022 6:00am PST

More than seven years after Google morphed into Alphabet, employees and investors are no closer to figuring out whether Alphabet can generate long-term economic value from moonshot bets such as self-driving taxis, drug discovery and deliveries via drones. These “other bets,” as the company refers to them, are essentially a wager on... More than seven years after Google morphed into Alphabet, employees and investors are no closer...

Photo by Bloomberg

Microsoft’s LSE Cloud Deal Raises Plenty of Questions

By Martin Peers · Dec 12, 2022 5:00pm PST · 4 comments

Note to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, cc: Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Your big cloud customer wins are impressive—when you’re not also investing in the customer! Take today’s deal, where Microsoft bought a 4% stake in the London Stock Exchange as part of a deal in which the LSE is committing to spend at least $2.8 billion on Microsoft cloud... Note to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, cc: Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Your big cloud customer wins...

Twitter CEO Elon Musk said he was "open" to acquiring newsletter publisher Substack. Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

Could Twitter Boss Musk Really Buy Substack?

By Kaya Yurieff · Dec 12, 2022 2:56pm PST · 1 comment

Could Twitter’s new billionaire owner Elon Musk buy Substack? Musk tweeted that he’s “open” to acquiring the newsletter publisher after a Twitter user floated the idea on Friday, suggesting a deal would give Musk control of the “the narrative layer” of the internet.Of course, Musk has other things on his mind, like the... Could Twitter’s new billionaire owner Elon Musk buy Substack? Musk tweeted that he...

Snyk founder Guy Podjarny, left, and CEO Peter McKay. Photo: Snyk

Cybersecurity Startup Snyk to Raise a Down Round Led by Qatari Fund

By Cory Weinberg · Dec 12, 2022 2:39pm PST · 1 comment

Snyk founder Guy Podjarny, left, and CEO Peter McKay. Photo: Snyk

Cybersecurity Startup Snyk to Raise a Down Round Led by Qatari Fund

By Cory Weinberg · Dec 12, 2022 2:39pm PST · 1 comment

Snyk, a prominent cybersecurity startup, is nearing a deal to raise money from Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund at a valuation of roughly $7 billion—a slightly lower price than the firm’s previous round of funding—according to people familiar with the matter. The deal would make Boston-based Snyk one of the few high-valued... Snyk, a prominent cybersecurity startup, is nearing a deal to raise money from Qatar’s...