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

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo. Photo by Bloomberg

The Ugly Reality of Instacart’s IPO Plans

By Martin Peers · Sep 19, 2022 5:00pm PDT

After the caning tech stocks have suffered this year, it’s understandable that few companies are looking to brave the public markets right now. An exception is apparently Instacart, which, according to The Wall Street Journal today, seems determined to go public soon come hell or high water. It may have a good reason—The Journal’s report said... After the caning tech stocks have suffered this year, it’s understandable that few companies are...

Chart: Shane Burke

Creator Economy

YouTube Increases Pressure on Instagram, TikTok to Share Ad Revenue

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 19, 2022 4:14pm PDT

Social media companies are gradually introducing more ways to share their ad revenue with creators to keep them on their apps. YouTube is preparing to give creators 45% of the ad revenue generated on YouTube Shorts, the video platform’s short-form video feature, The New York Times reported late last week. That’s a smaller cut than the 55% of... Social media companies are gradually introducing more ways to share their ad revenue with...

Netflix’s New Ad Chief Has an Appetite for Danger

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 19, 2022 6:00am PDT

Before Netflix hired Jeremi Gorman as its new advertising chief to bring growth back to its struggling business, Gorman had compiled a colorful résumé of professional and personal accomplishments. While she’s best known for turning her previous employer, Snap, into an internet ad powerhouse, Gorman also played an important... Before Netflix hired Jeremi Gorman as its new advertising chief to bring growth back to its...

From the first electric vehicle era: The 1922 Detroit Electric Model 90, in the lobby of Our Next Energy, could go up to 50 miles on a charge. Photo: The Electric

The Electric: Automakers Are Suddenly Serious About Next-Generation Batteries

By Steve LeVine · Sep 18, 2022 2:00pm PDT

From the first electric vehicle era: The 1922 Detroit Electric Model 90, in the lobby of Our Next Energy, could go up to 50 miles on a charge. Photo: The Electric

The Electric: Automakers Are Suddenly Serious About Next-Generation Batteries

By Steve LeVine · Sep 18, 2022 2:00pm PDT

Last week, greater Detroit hosted two big industry conferences—The Battery Show and the Detroit auto show. The tone at both suggested that the new Inflation Reduction Act, which allocates about $100 billion for electric vehicles and batteries, has triggered a sea change among automakers, which are suddenly ultra-eager to sign contracts for the... Last week, greater Detroit hosted two big industry conferences—The Battery Show and the Detroit...

Stoolies, Doodles, Royals and Whistles

Stoolies, Doodles, Royals and Whistles

By Jon Steinberg · Sep 17, 2022 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! On a week when The Information celebrated the rising tide of women leaders in media, tech and finance at its annual WTF conference, we also examined a more complicated paragon of female leadership. This week's cover story by Annie on Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini is a masterclass in tightrope walking—by both... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! On a week when The Information celebrated the rising tide of...

Lucidworks CEO Will Hayes. Photo by Bloomberg

CEO of AI Startup Lucidworks to Step Down Following Layoffs

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 16, 2022 5:18pm PDT · 1 comment

The CEO of Lucidworks, a San Francisco startup that provides search engine technology, is stepping down from that role following recent layoffs that cut 24 workers, or roughly 10% of its staff, a company spokesperson confirmed. The 15-year-old company, backed by Shasta Ventures and Francisco Partners, said CEO Will Hayes will relinquish his... The CEO of Lucidworks, a San Francisco startup that provides search engine technology, is...

Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Palace Intrigue

When Queen Elizabeth Played Venture Capitalist

By Abram Brown · Sep 16, 2022 1:46pm PDT

“That’s a little bit naughty!” exclaimed the queen. That’s the reaction Abdul Alim remembers from Queen Elizabeth II when he explained his company to the then-90-year-old monarch at a November 2016 session of Pitch@Palace, a Buckingham Palace–run startup accelerator–cum–pitch competition. Alim’s business, Offer Moments, made digital billboards... “That’s a little bit naughty!” exclaimed the queen. That’s the reaction Abdul Alim remembers from...

ByteDance's Zhang Yiming, Ant's Jack Ma, and Didi Global's Cheng Wei. Photos by Bloomberg.

Why Ant Group and Didi Investors Have to Wait Another Six Months for IPO Clarity

By Shai Oster · Sep 16, 2022 11:38am PDT

ByteDance's Zhang Yiming, Ant's Jack Ma, and Didi Global's Cheng Wei. Photos by Bloomberg.

Why Ant Group and Didi Investors Have to Wait Another Six Months for IPO Clarity

By Shai Oster · Sep 16, 2022 11:38am PDT

Despite recent signs that Beijing is easing its crackdown on domestic tech companies, the government won’t grant approval of hotly anticipated initial public offerings by domestic giants such as Ant Group, Didi Global and ByteDance for at least another six months, according to investors and senior Chinese technology executives. The... Despite recent signs that Beijing is easing its crackdown on domestic tech companies, the...

Photo Erika Nardini. Composite by Clark Miller.

Erika Nardini Isn’t Here to Apologize

By Annie Goldsmith · Sep 16, 2022 10:30am PDT · 2 comments

The Barstool Sports offices are heard before they are seen. Raucous cheers and hollering permeate the elevator bank inside its Manhattan headquarters—the sound of an ever-rowdy 400-employee media company revving up for the day. Located on the second floor of a nondescript building a few blocks from Penn Station, the offices are not as glossy as... The Barstool Sports offices are heard before they are seen. Raucous cheers and hollering permeate...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Seven Cloud Security Startups Ripe for Acquisition

By Aaron Holmes · Sep 16, 2022 6:00am PDT

The rise of cloud computing prompted venture capitalists to pour billions of dollars into cybersecurity startups that sell specialized software to secure cloud-based apps and data. Now the same investors say they expect to see bigger companies snap up many of those startups. A tougher environment for raising private capital and growing interest... The rise of cloud computing prompted venture capitalists to pour billions of dollars into...

Here's Dylan Field, Figma CEO. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Real Rationale Behind Adobe’s Figma Acquisition

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 15, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Earlier this week, I asked our team for a copy of the slides for our annual Women in Tech, Media and Finance event and waited for a PowerPoint in my inbox. But instead of a slide deck, our team sent me a link to the slides using the design program Figma.I asked why we had switched up our methods (especially because Figma was designed for web... Earlier this week, I asked our team for a copy of the slides for our annual Women in Tech, Media...

WTF speakers Mai-Lan Tomsen Bukovec, vice president, Amazon Web Services; Jessica Lessin, founder and CEO, The Information; Alicia Boler Davis, CEO of Alto Pharmacy; Jordan Taylor, CEO and co-founder, Medley; and Christine Moy, head of digital assets, Apollo. Photos Erin Beach

Better Work-Life Balance, Smarter Subscriptions, an Upgrade to Athleisure: What Women Wanted at WTF

By Arielle Pardes and Annie Goldsmith · Sep 15, 2022 3:00pm PDT

WTF speakers Mai-Lan Tomsen Bukovec, vice president, Amazon Web Services; Jessica Lessin, founder and CEO, The Information; Alicia Boler Davis, CEO of Alto Pharmacy; Jordan Taylor, CEO and co-founder, Medley; and Christine Moy, head of digital assets, Apollo. Photos Erin Beach

WTF: Women in Tech, Media and Finance

Better Work-Life Balance, Smarter Subscriptions, an Upgrade to Athleisure: What Women Wanted at WTF

By Arielle Pardes and Annie Goldsmith · Sep 15, 2022 3:00pm PDT

Stretchy waistbands were out, Bluetooth water bottleswere in at the Rosewood Sand Hill hotel this Wednesday, as more than 200 tech and business leaders gathered in Menlo Park, Calif., for The Information’s annual Women in Tech, Media and Finance summit. For some, it was the first in-person event in years—an opportunity to rub shoulders with... Stretchy waistbands were out, Bluetooth water bottleswere in at the Rosewood Sand Hill hotel this...

Kaya Yurieff, Melinda Chung, Stephanie Smith, Katelin Holloway. Photo: Erin Beach

Creator Economy

How to Thrive as Social Media Gets Less Social; Mosseri Sounds Alarm on Instagram’s Reach With Creators

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 15, 2022 2:58pm PDT

Social media isn’t as social as it used to be. Rather than using a Facebook feed to update friends every day or creating groups to host events, it’s becoming more common to use direct messaging for most personal interactions and instead place curated content on public profiles, such as an Instagram feed.That was one of the takeaways from The... Social media isn’t as social as it used to be. Rather than using a Facebook feed to update...

Adam Mosseri. Photo by Bloomberg.

Instagram Trails TikTok and YouTube On Creator Satisfaction, Mosseri Tells Staff

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Kaya Yurieff · Sep 15, 2022 1:59pm PDT · 1 comment

For the past couple of years, as Instagram has sought to better compete with TikTok, becoming more appealing to creators has been a top priority. But in a memo to staff a couple of weeks ago, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri made it clear the app still badly trails both TikTok and YouTube in satisfying creators. In the memo, which The Information has... For the past couple of years, as Instagram has sought to better compete with TikTok, becoming...

From top left, clockwise: Index Ventures' Danny Rimer, Sequoia Capital's Andrew Reed, Kleiner Perkins' Mamoon Hamid, and Greylock Partners' John Lilly. Photos by Bloomberg, Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins

The Biggest VC Winners From Figma’s $20 Billion Sale

By Kate Clark · Sep 15, 2022 1:29pm PDT · 1 comment

Adobe’s planned $20 billion purchase of design tool developer Figma is the third-biggest acquisition of a subscription software firm in history, and the largest deal for a private tech company at the time of the announcement. It’s also a lucrative deal for a slew of well-known venture capital firms, including Index Ventures, Greylock... Adobe’s planned $20 billion purchase of design tool developer Figma is the third-biggest...

The People in Power at Snap After Its Shakeup

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 15, 2022 11:41am PDT

The People in Power at Snap After Its Shakeup

By Mahira Dayal · Sep 15, 2022 11:41am PDT

Snap last month laid off 1,200 people. Even before the job cuts, however, several Snap executives left, precipitating a shake-up in the top ranks. The latest update to our Snap org chart shows which executives now hold the most power. Notably, Jerry Hunter, Snap’s new chief operating officer, will now oversee ad sales, which Jeremi Gorman,... Snap last month laid off 1,200 people. Even before the job cuts, however, several Snap executives...

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen. Photo by Bloomberg

Adobe’s $20 Billion Deal For Figma is More Than 50 Times the Startup’s Revenue

By Amir Efrati · Sep 15, 2022 9:25am PDT · 13 comments

The significance of Adobe’s $20 billion purchase of design software provider Figma unveiled Thursday can be summed up in three data points, which show how motivated Adobe was to seal the deal: The significance of Adobe’s $20 billion purchase of design software provider Figma unveiled...

Art by Mike Sullivan

We’ve Got Misinformation All Wrong

By Karan Lala and Josh Krivoshein · Sep 15, 2022 9:00am PDT · 10 comments

Both advocacy groups and political leaders tend to assume that misinformation persists on social media because the platforms are unwilling to get rid of it—a gross and unhelpful oversimplification. Some of the largest technology companies in the world spend tens of billions of dollars each year to maintain the integrity of discourse on... Both advocacy groups and political leaders tend to assume that misinformation persists on social...

Illustration by Shane Burke.

Google Goes From Hot to Not With Startup Headhunters

By Mark Matousek · Sep 15, 2022 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Google employees were prized recruits for tech founders for much of the past two decades. But that’s changing. It was two years ago when Chris Johnson, founder of executive recruiting firm Artisanal Talent, first realized founders’ tastes were starting to shift. Johnson thought a veteran Google executive might be a good fit for a... Google employees were prized recruits for tech founders for much of the past two decades. But...

From left, Edith Cooper and Jordan Taylor, co-founders of Medley, and Cara Allamano, chief people officer of Lattice. Photo by Erin Beach.

WTF: A Tough Time for Startups but a Boon for the Cloud

By Paris Martineau, Kaya Yurieff and Mahira Dayal · Sep 14, 2022 6:27pm PDT · 3 comments

From left, Edith Cooper and Jordan Taylor, co-founders of Medley, and Cara Allamano, chief people officer of Lattice. Photo by Erin Beach.

WTF: Women in Tech, Media and Finance

WTF: A Tough Time for Startups but a Boon for the Cloud

By Paris Martineau, Kaya Yurieff and Mahira Dayal · Sep 14, 2022 6:27pm PDT · 3 comments

A looming recession has made fundraising tough for startups—“and it’s going to get tougher,” said Alicia Boler Davis, CEO of digital health startup Alto Pharmacy. The company raised $200 million in a late-stage funding round announced in January, led by SoftBank Vision Fund. “Previously there was this huge focus on... A looming recession has made fundraising tough for startups—“and it’s going to...