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

Illustration: Clark Miller (Photo: Getty Images)

Can Protein-Obsessed Techies Help Save Sweetgreen?

By Jemima McEvoy · Mar 14, 2026 6:56am PDT

For a little salvation, Sweetgreen co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman has lately been looking beyond the piles of chopped romaine lettuce and maple-glazed squash that originally won his company a devoted following with the suit-and-salad lunch set in Washington, New York and Los Angeles. The high-earning young people who used to frequent... For a little salvation, Sweetgreen co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman has lately been looking...

Getty Images

Ex-Anthropic Researchers Are Raising Capital For New Startup at $1 Billion Valuation

By Julia Hornstein, Anissa Gardizy and Sri Muppidi · Mar 13, 2026 12:54pm PDT · 1 comment

Former Anthropic researchers are in talks to raise $175 million at a $1 billion valuation for a new startup that aims to conduct AI-driven research and development for scientific fields such as biology and materials science, according to people who have spoken to them. Andreesseen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins are in talks to co-lead the round,... Former Anthropic researchers are in talks to raise $175 million at a $1 billion valuation for a...

Travis Kalanick. Photo by AP

Travis Kalanick Plots New Robotics and Self-Driving Venture with Levandowski, Uber

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 13, 2026 10:18am PDT

Former Uber CEO and cofounder Travis Kalanick is preparing to launch a new robotics and self-driving car company with major backing from the ride-hailing giant, according to several people familiar with the matter. Kalanick has also been discussing acquiring the startup founded by Anthony Levandowski, a self-driving car pioneer who has been... Former Uber CEO and cofounder Travis Kalanick is preparing to launch a new robotics and...

Elon Musk at Space X in Brownsville, Texas. Photo by Marvin Joseph/ Getty Images.

SpaceX Discusses Dividing Up Bank Roles in Echo of Alibaba’s Lineup

By Valida Pau · Mar 13, 2026 10:06am PDT · 1 comment

Elon Musk at Space X in Brownsville, Texas. Photo by Marvin Joseph/ Getty Images.

SpaceX Discusses Dividing Up Bank Roles in Echo of Alibaba’s Lineup

By Valida Pau · Mar 13, 2026 10:06am PDT · 1 comment

When companies typically go public, they appoint one or two investment banks to oversee everything—from valuing the company to lining up investors. That’s not how Elon Musk plans to handle the upcoming SpaceX giant’s initial public offering. The rocket and AI firm has discussed dividing up roles among a larger group of investment banks,... When companies typically go public, they appoint one or two investment banks to oversee...

Illustration: Clark Miller

Fast-Growing Kings League Looks to Conquer America With Lean Approach to Pro Sports

By Simon Parkin · Mar 13, 2026 9:01am PDT

Unlike London’s Wembley Stadium, with its arcing steel crown, or the University of Michigan’s Big House, cavernous and iconic, Barcelona’s Cupra Arena is easy to miss. It occupies a dockside warehouse on the outskirts of the city, unremarkable from the road, if not for the gusts of applause that rattle the corrugated walls. It’s home to the... Unlike London’s Wembley Stadium, with its arcing steel crown, or the University of Michigan’s Big...

Photo of Elon Musk via Getty Images. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Musk, OpenAI Lawyers to Face Off Over $109 Billion Claim

By Rocket Drew · Mar 13, 2026 8:00am PDT

On Friday morning, lawyers representing Elon Musk, OpenAI and Microsoft will file into a federal courtroom in Oakland, Calif., where a judge will resolve some crucial questions that remain outstanding before Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI goes to a trial next month. Among them: whether Musk can rely on the testimony of his damages expert, an... On Friday morning, lawyers representing Elon Musk, OpenAI and Microsoft will file into a federal...

Rajeeb Hazra, CEO, Quantinuum. Photo via Getty

The Startups Inching Toward an IPO in a Volatile Market

By Valida Pau · Mar 13, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Startups hoping to go public this year will need plenty of grit to get their shares listed. A rout in software stocks over fears AI will make their businesses irrelevant had already poured cold water on many startups’ initial public offering plans. Then the Middle East war made companies even more nervous about testing a volatile stock market.... Startups hoping to go public this year will need plenty of grit to get their shares listed. A...

Shantanu Narayen, Adobe chairman and CEO. Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Adobe CEO’s Departure and Enterprise Software Stress

By Martin Peers · Mar 12, 2026 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Shantanu Narayen, Adobe chairman and CEO. Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Adobe CEO’s Departure and Enterprise Software Stress

By Martin Peers · Mar 12, 2026 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

The Saaspocalypse may have claimed another scalp! Adobe said Thursday its longtime CEO and chair, Shantanu Narayen, had decided to give up the job as soon as his replacement can be found. Less than two months ago, Adobe had given Narayen an annual grant of stock, to vest based on the company's stock performance 2028, suggesting the board wasn’t... The Saaspocalypse may have claimed another scalp! Adobe said Thursday its longtime CEO and chair,...

Nscale CEO Josh Payne. Screenshot via YouTube/Nscale.

Nvidia Cloud Ally Nscale in Talks to Buy a Major U.S. Data Center Site Ahead of IPO

By Anissa Gardizy · Mar 12, 2026 4:35pm PDT

Nscale, an upstart cloud provider heavily backed by Nvidia whose customers include OpenAI and Microsoft, is in talks to take control of one of the largest available sites for AI data centers in the U.S., according to people with knowledge of the talks and fundraising documents viewed by The Information. A deal to buy the site, located in West... Nscale, an upstart cloud provider heavily backed by Nvidia whose customers include OpenAI and...

Assaf Rappaport, co-founder and CEO of Wiz. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Google-Wiz Completion Could Greenlight More Tech M&A

By Katie Roof · Mar 12, 2026 4:00pm PDT

Google completed its $32 billion purchase of Wiz this week, finalizing a real windfall for those who invested in the cybersecurity startup. But even the tech investors who missed out on backing Wiz stand to benefit.After many years of regulatory challenges from the U.S. and abroad, the ability for a big tech company to complete a mega deal... Google completed its $32 billion purchase of Wiz this week, finalizing a real windfall for those...

Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison with former Microsoft chair Bill Gates. Photo via Getty

Oracle’s Answer to the SaaS Slump: Free AI Features

By Kevin McLaughlin · Mar 12, 2026 2:39pm PDT

Investors’ fears that AI could dampen spending on traditional business applications have wreaked havoc on the shares of companies like Salesforce, ServiceNow and Workday. But Oracle executives this week cited how businesses can use Oracle’s AI tools as evidence that Oracle is immune to the so-called Saaspocalpyse. On an earnings call... Investors’ fears that AI could dampen spending on traditional business applications have wreaked...

Andrew Milich (left) and Jason Ginsberg (right). Screenshots via YouTube/Linkedin.

XAI Hires Two Senior Leaders From Cursor to Catch Up on Coding

By Erin Woo and Theo Wayt · Mar 12, 2026 12:31pm PDT · 3 comments

Andrew Milich (left) and Jason Ginsberg (right). Screenshots via YouTube/Linkedin.

XAI Hires Two Senior Leaders From Cursor to Catch Up on Coding

By Erin Woo and Theo Wayt · Mar 12, 2026 12:31pm PDT · 3 comments

Elon Musk’s xAI is hiring two senior Cursor leaders as part of an effort to catch up with AI rivals in coding, according to a person with direct knowledge of the move. The pair, Andrew Milich and Jason Ginsberg, will both report to Musk, the person said. The move follows a string of high-level departures at xAI, including the majority of its... Elon Musk’s xAI is hiring two senior Cursor leaders as part of an effort to catch up with AI...

A man wears a lobster hat that represents OpenClaw at Baidu's headquarters in Beijing. Photo by Adek Berry/ Getty Images)

Nvidia, Startups Race to Make OpenClaw Safer to Use

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 12, 2026 7:00am PDT

Enthusiasm for OpenClaw, the popular open-source software for powering personal AI agents using personal computers, has been tempered by a number of embarrassing security snafus, such as when OpenClaw started mass-deleting emails from Meta alignment director Summer Yue’s inbox.In China, where developers are arguably even more enthusiastic about... Enthusiasm for OpenClaw, the popular open-source software for powering personal AI agents using...

Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss during the company's initial public offering in September. Michael Nagle/Getty Images.

Winklevosses Bet Big on a Crypto Bull Market. They Bet Wrong

By Yueqi Yang and Michael Roddan · Mar 12, 2026 6:00am PDT

Shortly after Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss took their crypto exchange public last fall, they celebrated the company’s expansion in Australia with a swanky party at a greenhouse in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Garden. The Winklevoss twins appeared via video link before a DJ played for a throng of supporters. “We’re in Australia for good,” James Logan,... Shortly after Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss took their crypto exchange public last fall, they...

Beta Technologies' Alia CCX300. Photo: Courtesy Beta

The Electric: Trump Administration Favors Conventional Electric Planes Over Jetson-Age Aircraft

By Steve LeVine · Mar 12, 2026 4:30am PDT

For years, the subject of electric flying taxis conjured up images of sci-fi helicopters that looked like insects, took off and landed vertically, and flew almost silently above traffic-choked city streets. For years, the subject of electric flying taxis conjured up images of sci-fi helicopters that...

Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman. Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images

Anthropic in Talks With Blackstone, Other PE Firms to Form AI Consulting Venture

By Anissa Gardizy, Valida Pau and Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 11, 2026 7:05pm PDT · 1 comment

Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman. Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images

Anthropic in Talks With Blackstone, Other PE Firms to Form AI Consulting Venture

By Anissa Gardizy, Valida Pau and Stephanie Palazzolo · Mar 11, 2026 7:05pm PDT · 1 comment

Anthropic is in talks with a consortium of private equity firms including Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman about forming an AI-focused joint venture to sell the Claude maker’s technology to companies funded by the investment firms, according to a person involved in the discussions and another person who was briefed about it. The recent... Anthropic is in talks with a consortium of private equity firms including Blackstone and Hellman...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Patrick T. Fallon/Getty Images.

Nvidia Sprays the Cash; FCC Chair’s SpaceX Defense

By Martin Peers · Mar 11, 2026 5:00pm PDT

If you’re in need of a billion or two in cash, why not hit up Jensen Huang? The Nvidia CEO has plenty of money to spare, particularly if you’re in business with him in some way. Nvidia’s announcement on Wednesday that it was putting $2 billion into Nebius, a European AI data center developer, was the fourth investment in a business partner... If you’re in need of a billion or two in cash, why not hit up Jensen Huang? The Nvidia CEO has...

Artwork by Clark Miller

Anthropic vs. the Pentagon: What’s at Stake for AI Labs

By The Information Staff · Mar 11, 2026 11:49am PDT

The legal battle between Anthropic and the United States Department of Defense is testing the limits of how much control AI companies can retain over the use of their models. The case highlights the trade-offs between ethical guardrails, federal contracts, and talent retention in an industry under growing government scrutiny. We asked Deep... The legal battle between Anthropic and the United States Department of Defense is testing the...

Photo of the Stargate data center in Abilene, Texas by Getty Images. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Microsoft in Talks to Lease Large Texas Data Center Site After Oracle Walked Away

By Anissa Gardizy and Miles Kruppa · Mar 11, 2026 11:36am PDT

Microsoft is in advanced talks to lease hundreds of megawatts of data center capacity at a closely watched artificial intelligence campus in Abilene, Texas, after rival Oracle walked away from the same opportunity, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions and another person briefed about it. Meta Platforms is also in talks... Microsoft is in advanced talks to lease hundreds of megawatts of data center capacity at a...

Photo by Frederic J. Brown/ Getty Images

What the Iran War Means for the Funding of AI

By Ken Brown · Mar 11, 2026 8:00am PDT

Photo by Frederic J. Brown/ Getty Images

The Information Finance

What the Iran War Means for the Funding of AI

By Ken Brown · Mar 11, 2026 8:00am PDT

For much more on AI finance, please join me and my colleague Cory Weinberg at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, April 27, for The Information’s Financing the AI Revolution forum. Hear from top executives and investors on how the rapid buildout of AI is reshaping tech, finance, and capital markets. Learn more here.It’s hard to overstate how... For much more on AI finance, please join me and my colleague Cory Weinberg at the New York Stock...