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

A Secret Power Clique Revealed

A Secret Power Clique Revealed

By Jon Steinberg · Oct 1, 2022 7:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend!If you’re like the rest of the tech world, you may have spent the latter part of this past week flipping through “The Texts”—Elon Musk’s subpoenaed SMS chats with a rogues’ gallery of Silicon Valley power brokers and suck-ups. They make for fascinating reading, revealing how a bunch of guys named Joe, Jason and Jack... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!If you’re like the rest of the tech world, you may have spent the...

Art by Clark Miller.

Market Research

Silicon Valley’s ‘Swag Gap’: A Colorful Rival Comes for Patagonia’s Abdicated Throne

By Annie Goldsmith · Sep 30, 2022 11:00am PDT · 5 comments

Earlier this month, Peter Coats was milling about a block party in San Francisco’s Glen Park neighborhood wearing one of his most discussed articles of clothing: a Cotopaxi windbreaker with army green and blue colorblocking across the chest and a barely visible Google logo on the sleeve. Coats, Google’s head of strategic finance, said he wears... Earlier this month, Peter Coats was milling about a block party in San Francisco’s Glen Park...

Photo by Getty Images

Wall Street’s Expectations for Legacy Media Are Getting Weird

By Andrew A. Rosen · Sep 30, 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. Maximizing subscriber growth was a fun objective for media executives and Wall Street investors alike. Hollywood bosses got to rack up billions of dollars in annual losses on content spending... Parqor is part of The Information’s newsletter network. To receive it in your inbox...

Art by Clark Miller

Saint Frances of the Whistle: A Year After Frances Haugen’s Facebook Leak, Every Corporate Secret Is Now Up for Grabs

By Abram Brown · Sep 30, 2022 8:30am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Clark Miller

Saint Frances of the Whistle: A Year After Frances Haugen’s Facebook Leak, Every Corporate Secret Is Now Up for Grabs

By Abram Brown · Sep 30, 2022 8:30am PDT · 1 comment

When Frances Haugen has sought refuge during the past year of personal attacks, speaking engagements, and congressional and parliamentary hearings, she has found it beside a placid blue lagoon in Puerto Rico. She shares a home in Miramar—“the Brooklyn of San Juan,” she said—with her new husband, Alex, whose last name and background she prefers,... When Frances Haugen has sought refuge during the past year of personal attacks, speaking...

Photo by Getty Images.

Tesla Makes Cash, Not Stock, the Default for Many Employees’ Compensation Awards

By Mark Matousek and Becky Peterson · Sep 30, 2022 7:28am PDT · 5 comments

Tesla will start giving its employees cash grants as their default incentive to stick with the company, rather than the equity awards it has traditionally handed out, according to internal documents viewed by The Information. The electric car maker’s employees will still be able to receive stock awards instead of cash grants if they prefer... Tesla will start giving its employees cash grants as their default incentive to stick with the...

FTX Org Charts: Inside Sam Bankman-Fried’s Crypto Empire

By Akash Pasricha · Sep 30, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

FTX, the second-biggest crypto exchange in the world by trading volume, has recently been dubbed a “central bank” of crypto as the firm—under the helm of co-founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried—emerged as a lender of last resort to struggling businesses amid the market meltdown. That level of influence has been possible in... FTX, the second-biggest crypto exchange in the world by trading volume, has recently been dubbed...

Photo by Bloomberg

Google’s Stadia Flop and Zuckerberg’s Oh-So-Innocent AI

By Nick Wingfield · Sep 29, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

It’s finally time to pour one out for Stadia, Google’s cloud-based game-streaming service. Google on Thursday morning said in a blog post that it would begin winding down the service because it never caught on with users. Stadia’s death is another blow to Google and parent company Alphabet’s efforts to expand beyond the search engine’s core... It’s finally time to pour one out for Stadia, Google’s cloud-based game-streaming service. Google...

How Amazon Influencers Can Cash Out This Prime Day

How Amazon Influencers Can Cash Out This Prime Day

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 29, 2022 3:32pm PDT

How Amazon Influencers Can Cash Out This Prime Day

Creator Economy

How Amazon Influencers Can Cash Out This Prime Day

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 29, 2022 3:32pm PDT

Amazon’s announcement that it will hold another shopping sales event known as Prime Day, in mid-October, could give a window into how creators will fare during the upcoming holiday shopping season.Amazon’s five-year-old influencer program rewards creators on Amazon and social media apps when they review Amazon-sold clothes, accessories and... Amazon’s announcement that it will hold another shopping sales event known as Prime Day, in...

Elon Musk considered Oprah Winfrey for Twitter's board, messages show. Photo by Bloomberg.

Who Could Run Twitter? Musk’s Friends Had a Few Ideas

By Becky Peterson and Kate Clark · Sep 29, 2022 2:38pm PDT · 3 comments

The question of how Elon Musk will manage Twitter if he is forced to buy it has largely been overlooked amid the legal wrangling over the $44 billion deal. But new court filings today identify a variety of people that Musk’s advisers and other associates recommended he consider for key roles, before he decided to back out of the deal in... The question of how Elon Musk will manage Twitter if he is forced to buy it has largely been...

Stina Ehrensvärd. Photo provided by Yubico.

Q&A

Google’s Anti-Phishing Frenemy Opens Door to Acquisition

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 29, 2022 1:35pm PDT · 1 comment

A streaming TV show about cybersecurity may not sound like must-see TV, but Yubico, a low-profile maker of computer security keys used by big tech firms and big banks to protect against phishing attacks, is optimistic about the project’s potential. The company has been developing a series about the biggest cybersecurity breaches of the... A streaming TV show about cybersecurity may not sound like must-see TV, but Yubico, a low-profile...

Jim Gorman, Marc Andreessen, Elon Musk and Larry Ellison. Photos by Getty, Bloomberg.

How Morgan Stanley CEO Buttered Up Elon Musk While Larry Ellison Brushed Him Off

By Becky Peterson · Sep 29, 2022 10:32am PDT

Larry Ellison can keep Elon Musk waiting. But Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and a whole team of bankers need to do all they can to butter up the erratic billionaire. In late April, as Twitter accepted Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition bid, Gorman sent Musk a text message to show just how much he appreciated his longtime client.... Larry Ellison can keep Elon Musk waiting. But Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and a whole team of...

Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

Billionaire ByteDance Founder Zhang Yiming Now Living Far From Home

By Juro Osawa · Sep 29, 2022 6:00am PDT

Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

Billionaire ByteDance Founder Zhang Yiming Now Living Far From Home

By Juro Osawa · Sep 29, 2022 6:00am PDT

As the future of the world’s most valuable startup—TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance—remains uncertain, its founder Zhang Yiming, one of the richest people in the world, is staying out of the limelight. Zhang, 39, has been spending much of this year overseas, using Singapore as a primary base, according to people with... As the future of the world’s most valuable startup—TikTok’s Chinese owner,...

Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Cellular Carriers are Apple's Best Friend

By Martin Peers · Sep 28, 2022 5:00pm PDT

This was not a day for Apple fans. Shares of the iPhone maker dipped just over 1% even as the rest of the market rallied, after Bloomberg reported that demand for the new line of iPhones was turning out to be weaker than expected. As a result, Apple won’t make as many devices as anticipated. This is supposedly the result of belt-tightening among... This was not a day for Apple fans. Shares of the iPhone maker dipped just over 1% even as the...

Morning Brew co-founder Alex Lieberman is launching a course for creators. Photo: Morning Brew

Creator Economy

Inside Morning Brew’s Plans to ‘Ride the Creator Wave’

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 28, 2022 2:30pm PDT

Morning Brew, the newsletter publisher focused on young business professionals, is launching a course called “Strategy for Creators” next month aimed at aspiring creators, founders and industry experts who want to build a personal brand online. Co-founder Alex Lieberman, who has 226,000 Twitter followers, will teach the one-week course in... Morning Brew, the newsletter publisher focused on young business professionals, is launching a...

Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky. Photo by Mike Sullivan. Art by Mike Sullivan.

What’s Next After the Great Crypto CEO Shuffle

By Aidan Ryan · Sep 28, 2022 2:02pm PDT

The crypto executive shuffle looks like it’s turning into a mass exodus. Just last week, Kraken co-founder and CEO Jesse Powell said he was stepping down from his post at the U.S.-based crypto exchange. Now, two more high-profile crypto leaders are heading for the exits—albeit each under different circumstances. The crypto executive shuffle looks like it’s turning into a mass exodus. Just last week, ...

Locket founder Matt Moss and his girlfriend Ava Thompson, who he says inspired the app. Photo from Locket.

Chasing TikTok: Investor Fever for Rival Photo Apps Ebbs

By Erin Woo · Sep 28, 2022 10:20am PDT · 2 comments

Locket founder Matt Moss and his girlfriend Ava Thompson, who he says inspired the app. Photo from Locket.

Chasing TikTok: Investor Fever for Rival Photo Apps Ebbs

By Erin Woo · Sep 28, 2022 10:20am PDT · 2 comments

Last year, investors competed fiercely to fund the next TikTok. This year, though, they haven’t been willing to pay as much for shares in young apps that might turn into the next social media stars. Take Locket Labs, the seven-person startup behind an app that allows users to share photos directly to their friends’ home screens.... Last year, investors competed fiercely to fund the next TikTok. This year, though, they...

Illustration by Mike Sullivan

How to Survive the Downturn Without Losing Your Shirt—or Your Sanity

By AJ Ayers · Sep 28, 2022 9:00am PDT

For many tech workers, the ongoing market downturn has been a punch in the gut—one that’s particularly painful because it’s the first one they’ve taken. We’re seeing private company valuations slashed and freshly public companies tumble 50%, 60%, even more than 90% off their initial public offering price. It’s... For many tech workers, the ongoing market downturn has been a punch in the gut—one...

The Metaverse Money Pit: How Meta’s $70 Billion Bet Compares to Tech’s Biggest Gambles

By Martin Peers and Amir Efrati · Sep 28, 2022 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

Is Meta Platforms’ $70 billion bet on the metaverse shaping up as the biggest money pit ever in tech? Perhaps. There are few precedents—if any—for a company spending as heavily as Facebook’s owner is to develop a new tech platform, an immersive world Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg envisages as “the next chapter” of... Is Meta Platforms’ $70 billion bet on the metaverse shaping up as the biggest money pit...

Adena Hefets, co-founder and chief operating officer of Divvy Homes Inc. Photo: Bloomberg

Andreessen-Backed Divvy Homes Lays Off 12% of Staff as Rates Rise

By Cory Weinberg and Kate Clark · Sep 27, 2022 6:16pm PDT · 2 comments

Divvy Homes, a property tech startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global Management, laid off about 12% of its staff Tuesday. The cuts reflect how younger real estate firms are responding to rising mortgage rates that have battered the home-buying market. The layoffs affected roughly 40 employees at the five-year-old firm. Divvy Homes... Divvy Homes, a property tech startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global Management,...

Photo by Bloomberg

Tech Companies Brace for the Strongest Dollar in Decades

By Akash Pasricha · Sep 27, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Photo by Bloomberg

Tech Companies Brace for the Strongest Dollar in Decades

By Akash Pasricha · Sep 27, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Stock charts and bond graphs from the past 18 months have seen all sorts of wonkiness and volatility. But the story of the U.S. dollar is much simpler: Since the start of 2021, it has inched up, and up, and up. Today, it’s trading at its highest point in roughly 20 years. And while the venture capitalists who spent their summers in Europe... Stock charts and bond graphs from the past 18 months have seen all sorts of wonkiness and...