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

Art by Clark Miller.

Screentime: The Inventor of the Hashtag Is Still a Twitter Loyalist

By Annie Goldsmith · Jun 3, 2022 1:34pm PDT · 1 comment

Welcome toScreentime,where tech leaders divulge their most personal phone habits. In spite of everything, the man who invented the hashtag is still enthralled with Twitter. Chris Messina, the “product therapist” who first proposed the hashtag function in a 2007 blog post,, said that Twitter is still the most used app on his phone. Formerly at... Welcome toScreentime,where tech leaders divulge their most personal phone habits. In spite of...

Art by Clark Miller

Let Everyone Else Have Miami: Garry Tan Will Take San Francisco

By Scott Alan Lucas · Jun 3, 2022 12:00pm PDT · 5 comments

It’s often said that politics in San Francisco is like a knife fight in a phone booth: up close, slashing and surprisingly vicious. But there’s a reason for the hand-to-hand combat. The small city—with a mere 875,000 residents, fewer than in Columbus, Ohio—is massively important to Democrats nationally, having produced the current vice president... It’s often said that politics in San Francisco is like a knife fight in a phone booth: up close,...

Illustration by J. Escudero.

Disappearing Term Sheets and Down Rounds: Inside Venture Capital’s New Normal

By Kate Clark · Jun 3, 2022 6:00am PDT · 6 comments

On a Monday in February, founder Annafi Wahed downed two glasses of wine, called her best friend and had a good cry. A venture capitalist had just emailed to say he was walking back a verbal agreement he made late last year to lead a seed round in The Flip Side, her media startup, with a $500,000 investment. The investor was abandoning the... On a Monday in February, founder Annafi Wahed downed two glasses of wine, called her best friend...

The Lilium Jet. Photo: Courtesy Lilium Air Mobility

The Electric: A Troubled Air Taxi Company Attempts to Answer Its Critics

By Steve LeVine · Jun 3, 2022 4:00am PDT

The Lilium Jet. Photo: Courtesy Lilium Air Mobility

The Electric: A Troubled Air Taxi Company Attempts to Answer Its Critics

By Steve LeVine · Jun 3, 2022 4:00am PDT

On Sunday, we discussed the race to commercialize air taxis, and the challenges that make it likely that the industry will be smaller than a lot of the companies suggest. One particularly challenged company is Germany’s Lilium Air Mobility, which has been plagued by doubts over whether the unusual design of its electric air taxi makes the... On Sunday, we discussed the race to commercialize air taxis, and the challenges that make it...

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong in April in India. Photo by Bloomberg

Coinbase’s Deep Freeze; Microsoft Subtweets Big Tech

By Akash Pasricha · Jun 2, 2022 5:35pm PDT

What a difference a few months makes. In February, as storm clouds were beginning to form over the economy, Coinbase announced a plan to hire 6,000 new employees, which would have more than doubled its head count. That ambitious plan came to a screeching halt on Thursday, when the cryptocurrency exchange announced it would freeze hiring “for the... What a difference a few months makes. In February, as storm clouds were beginning to form over...

Creator Caryn Marjorie. Photo: Ishan Goel

Creator Economy

Lessons From China’s Creator Economy; YouTuber Caryn Marjorie on YouTube’s Waning Influence

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 2, 2022 2:03pm PDT

By some measures, China has the world’s largest and most mature creator economy. Chinese sites embraced online tipping years before Western counterparts Twitch and YouTube. Before TikTok blew up in the West, the app’s Chinese version Douyin was already a hit in China. And the latest trend that has taken China by storm is livestreaming ecommerce,... By some measures, China has the world’s largest and most mature creator economy. Chinese sites...

Vice Media's office in Amsterdam. Photo by Shutterstock.

Vice Media Makes Cost-Cutting Push as it Eyes Sale Options

By Jessica Toonkel · Jun 2, 2022 12:02pm PDT

Vice Media is looking to cut costs and had brought in consultancy AlixPartners in recent weeks to help review its business as it explores a sale of its studio arm or the entire company, according to people familiar with the situation. The New York-based media company is slowing down hiring and cutting other costs to attain positive cash flow and... Vice Media is looking to cut costs and had brought in consultancy AlixPartners in recent weeks to...

Kent Bye, host of the Voices of VR podcast. Photo illustration: Mike Sullivan.

Talking Ethics With VR’s Top Podcaster; Surreal Expands With New Partnerships

By Mathew Olson · Jun 2, 2022 11:02am PDT

Kent Bye, host of the Voices of VR podcast. Photo illustration: Mike Sullivan.

Talking Ethics With VR’s Top Podcaster; Surreal Expands With New Partnerships

By Mathew Olson · Jun 2, 2022 11:02am PDT

Podcaster Kent Bye bought one of the early Oculus developer kits in 2014 and never looked back. In the eight years since he launched Voices of VR, an interview-focused podcast series, Bye has built up a library of over a thousand episodes, which together comprise one of the best historical resources for the VR and AR industry. Along the way, Bye... Podcaster Kent Bye bought one of the early Oculus developer kits in 2014 and never looked back....

Brian Dammeir. Art by Adyen.

This Stripe Competitor Says the Future of Payments Is on the Phone

By Malique Morris · Jun 2, 2022 10:39am PDT · 1 comment

After a huge surge during the pandemic, growth in online shopping is slowing. Inflation and worries about a possible recession have cast a cloud over retail. Payments players sit at the intersection of these factors. “There was a catapult during Covid, and then there’s a normalization now,” said Brian Dammeir, president of... After a huge surge during the pandemic, growth in online shopping is slowing. Inflation and...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Democracy Deserves Better Algorithms

By Tara McGowan · Jun 2, 2022 9:00am PDT · 9 comments

Once again, Americans are approaching a nationwide election cycle, and with it the threat of election misinformation and disinformation spreading via social media. This is not the first time we’ve been here. In many ways, we’re still living with the mistakes of the last election—most especially social media’s role in ... Once again, Americans are approaching a nationwide election cycle, and with it the threat of...

Photo by iStock, Screengrabs of Viya (Taobao), Li Jiaqi (TikTok). Art by Haejin Park

Why China’s Influencers Are Losing Their Influence

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Jun 2, 2022 6:00am PDT

China’s love affair with influencers is starting to cool. For years, the country’s internet users have been under the spell of online celebrities who promote all kinds of goods—makeup, automobiles, kitchen appliances—in livestreams, at times moving billions of dollars’ worth of merchandise in a single broadcast.... China’s love affair with influencers is starting to cool. For years, the country’s...

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Photo by Bloomberg

Sheryl Sandberg’s Long Goodbye; Back to the Office, or Else

By Laura Mandaro · Jun 1, 2022 6:51pm PDT

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Photo by Bloomberg

Sheryl Sandberg’s Long Goodbye; Back to the Office, or Else

By Laura Mandaro · Jun 1, 2022 6:51pm PDT

Publicly traded companies typically disclose big personnel announcements outside of normal trading hours, with the hope that investors will think twice before they trade. But not Meta Platforms. It rolled out a series of coordinated announcements on its top executives’ Facebook pages, alongside an interview with Bloomberg, about 30 minutes... Publicly traded companies typically disclose big personnel announcements outside of normal...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Why B2B Blockchain Startups May Fare Better in a Bear Market

By Akash Pasricha · Jun 1, 2022 4:11pm PDT

Stablecoins and decentralized finance have all dominated headlines in the past month. But ultimately, finance and payments still represent just one category of crypto startups. Founders are working on applying blockchain in several other ways, too. Stablecoins and decentralized finance have all dominated headlines in the past month. But...

From left, Facebook policy chief Nick Clegg, incoming Chief Operating Officer Javier Olivan, and outgoing COO Sheryl Sandberg. Photos by Bloomberg

What Sheryl Sandberg’s Replacements Are Up Against

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Amir Efrati · Jun 1, 2022 3:43pm PDT

Inside Meta Platforms, employees for years have increasingly wondered when Sheryl Sandberg, the longtime chief operating officer in charge of its advertising business and many other functions, would decide to leave. On Wednesday, Sandberg announced she would be out by this fall, ending her 14-year run as the right hand of CEO Mark Zuckerberg and... Inside Meta Platforms, employees for years have increasingly wondered when Sheryl Sandberg, the...

Facebook employees and family members march during the 44th annual San Francisco Gay Pride parade Sunday, June 29, 2014, in San Francisco.

Creator Economy

How to Celebrate Pride Month Better; Sheryl Sandberg’s Exit Leads to Shakeup

By Mark Di Stefano · Jun 1, 2022 2:50pm PDT · 1 comment

Let’s start by wishing you all a Happy Pride Month! We’ve come a long way from rainbow-framed Facebook profile pictures to mark Pride, the months-long celebration of LGBTQ history and culture. But I’ve also noticed a backlash against supporting Pride from certain (loud) corners of the internet. This has got me thinking about whether there’s a... Let’s start by wishing you all a Happy Pride Month! We’ve come a long way from rainbow-framed...

An environment bult by BeardedEye using Eden. Credit: Tripp.

Tripp Raises Another $11 Million; Unity CEO's Metaverse Messaging

By Mathew Olson · Jun 1, 2022 11:15am PDT

An environment bult by BeardedEye using Eden. Credit: Tripp.

Tripp Raises Another $11 Million; Unity CEO's Metaverse Messaging

By Mathew Olson · Jun 1, 2022 11:15am PDT

Meditation and wellness platform Tripp is making a two-pronged announcement today, unveiling an $11.2 million extension to its Series A funding along with an acquisition of BeardedEye’s Eden, a VR-first world building tool. The addition of Eden to Tripp’s offerings—which already span AR, VR, web and mobile—could end up being the most important... Meditation and wellness platform Tripp is making a two-pronged announcement today, unveiling an...

The People With Power at Cisco Amid Revenue Crisis, Flagging Employee Morale

By Aaron Holmes · Jun 1, 2022 6:00am PDT

Cisco Systems, the biggest seller of networking hardware for data centers, has held up better than the vast majority of tech companies during the stock market downturn. But the company spooked the market after saying in May it has struggled to get its components out of China amid Covid-19 lockdowns there, and it projected revenue would shrink in... Cisco Systems, the biggest seller of networking hardware for data centers, has held up better...

A Cameo NFT event in Beverly Hills in February. Photo courtesy of Cameo

Startup Parties Are Warning Signs; Salesforce Stays Bullish

By Nick Wingfield · May 31, 2022 5:35pm PDT

We’re starting to sense a pattern. More evidence is piling up that throwing a lavish party or corporate offsite is one of the leading indicators that a tech startup is on the verge of a reckoning. The latest example: our story today about the recent struggles of Amazon aggregators, which opens with this detail about a retreat in Mexico that the... We’re starting to sense a pattern. More evidence is piling up that throwing a lavish party or...

Charts: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

The Charts Showing Creator Economy Investments This Year

By Kaya Yurieff · May 31, 2022 2:00pm PDT

Before we dive into today’s news, I wanted to draw your attention to some updates we made recently to The Information’s Creator Economy Database, which now counts more than 240 private companies, up from 50 when we launched it last summer. In our latest update to the database, we’ve added the charts above, which break down how much money... Before we dive into today’s news, I wanted to draw your attention to some updates we made...

The Galea headset. Credit: OpenBCI/Varjo.

OpenBCI Teams Up With Varjo on Biosensing VR Headset

By Mathew Olson · May 31, 2022 11:00am PDT

The Galea headset. Credit: OpenBCI/Varjo.

OpenBCI Teams Up With Varjo on Biosensing VR Headset

By Mathew Olson · May 31, 2022 11:00am PDT

This morning, neurotechnology startup OpenBCI announced a new partnership with premium headset maker Varjo. Galea, a long in-development headset finally seeing a limited commercial run, melds the latest in VR tech with a wide range of OpenBCI’s sensors.Galea is based on Varjo’s Aero headset, a newer entrant at the higher end of PC VR’s consumer... This morning, neurotechnology startup OpenBCI announced a new partnership with premium headset...