The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica E. Lessin and the team at The Information

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica E. 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

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Creator Economy

Reddit’s Ad Gains Could Mean More Cash for Creators

By Isabelle Sarraf · Feb 8, 2023 3:34pm PST · 1 comment

This morning, I published a story about Reddit, the online news aggregator and discussion forum, which benefited from a jump in year-over-year advertising spending at the end of 2022, a contrast with drops for competitors including Meta Platforms, Snap and Pinterest. Reddit may still only draw a sliver of spending from large advertisers, but a... This morning, I published a story about Reddit, the online news aggregator and discussion forum,...

Elon Musk. Photo by Bloomberg.

Musk Tells Twitter Staff to Pause Development Amid Outage

By Erin Woo · Feb 8, 2023 3:11pm PST

Elon Musk told employees on Wednesday afternoon to pause feature development as Twitter staff worked to solve an outage that left users unable to tweet or send and read direct messages for more than an hour. “Please pause for now on new feature development in favor of maximizing system stability and robustness, especially with the Super... Elon Musk told employees on Wednesday afternoon to pause feature development as Twitter staff...

Alexis Ohanian. Photo by AP.

Alexis Ohanian Venture Fund Plots $776 Million in New Funds

By Kate Clark · Feb 8, 2023 12:26pm PST

Seven Seven Six, the venture capital fund launched by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in 2020, plans to raise $776 million for two new funds, according to investment documents viewed by The Information. The planned fundraising is more than 50% bigger than what it raised last year and will test investor appetite for bigger funds during a tough... Seven Seven Six, the venture capital fund launched by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in 2020,...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman. Art by Clark Miller. Photos by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

OpenAI’s Hidden Weapon: Ex-Google Engineers

By Jon Victor · Feb 8, 2023 11:00am PST · 3 comments

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman. Art by Clark Miller. Photos by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

OpenAI’s Hidden Weapon: Ex-Google Engineers

By Jon Victor · Feb 8, 2023 11:00am PST · 3 comments

As OpenAI’s web chatbot became a global sensation in recent months, artificial intelligence practitioners and investors have wondered how a seven-year-old startup beat Google to the punch. Google runs two of the world’s foremost AI research groups, yet a startup quickly developed a product, ChatGPT, that tens of millions of people... As OpenAI’s web chatbot became a global sensation in recent months, artificial intelligence...

Art by Shane Burke. Photos via Reddit/Shutterstock.

How Reddit Grew Its Ad Business, Bolstering IPO Hopes

By Isabelle Sarraf · Feb 8, 2023 6:00am PST

While whiling away the hours on Call of Duty and other videogames, gamers love to chew on Kraft Singles. At least, that’s what research done by food giant Kraft Heinz implies. So to drive more sales of the individually wrapped pieces of processed cheese, Kraft Heinz targeted gaming interest groups on Reddit and launched an ad in the form... While whiling away the hours on Call of Duty and other videogames, gamers love to chew on Kraft...

In the Enovix lab in Fremont, Calif. Photo: Courtesy Enovix

The Electric: Two More Senior Executives Leave Silicon Battery Maker Enovix

By Steve LeVine · Feb 8, 2023 4:30am PST

Two more senior executives have stepped down from silicon anode developer Enovix in recent weeks, including co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Ashok Lahiri, part of a widening shakeup after the company missed key milestones in scaling up. Two more senior executives have stepped down from silicon anode developer Enovix in recent weeks,...

Satya Nadella. Photo by Bloomberg.

Microsoft Might Keep Losing in Search and Still Win

By Nick Wingfield · Feb 7, 2023 5:00pm PST

Could Microsoft win even if it loses in the next chapter of internet search? That was the question running through my head at an event in Redmond, Wash., earlier today, where Microsoft confirmed reporting from The Information and others when it announced it will remake its Bing search engine using artificial intelligence technology from... Could Microsoft win even if it loses in the next chapter of internet search? That was the...

Ben Schwerin. Photo: Getty

The Questions Around Snap’s TikTok Clone After Top Exec Resigns

By Mahira Dayal · Feb 7, 2023 3:22pm PST

Ben Schwerin. Photo: Getty

Creator Economy

The Questions Around Snap’s TikTok Clone After Top Exec Resigns

By Mahira Dayal · Feb 7, 2023 3:22pm PST

After eight years at the company, Snap’s senior vice president of content and partnerships, Ben Schwerin, is departing to join Coatue Management as a general partner, my colleague Kate reported. Schwerin helped lead Snap’s Spotlight, the app’s TikTok clone launched at the end of 2020. His replacement will face the task of maintaining Spotlight’s... After eight years at the company, Snap’s senior vice president of content and partnerships, Ben...

Photo by Getty.

Fast-Delivery Startups Getir and Flink Held Merger Talks

By Maria Heeter and Erin Woo · Feb 7, 2023 11:46am PST

Turkey-based fast-delivery firm Getir had preliminary talks late last year about merging with Flink, the Germany-based startup, in a sign that consolidation in the fast-delivery sector may have another round to go. Merging with Flink would strengthen Getir in Germany, where it expanded through last year’s acquisition of Gorillas. Flink... Turkey-based fast-delivery firm Getir had preliminary talks late last year about merging with...

Ben Schwerin. Photo: Getty

Coatue Hires Snap Exec as New General Partner After String of Exits

By Kate Clark · Feb 7, 2023 10:34am PST · 2 comments

Ben Schwerin, a senior vice president of content and partnerships at Snap who helps lead the company's TikTok competitor Spotlight, will join Coatue Management as a general partner, Schwerin told The Information. The new hire follows the departures of four general partners at the New York-based firm, including most recently David Cahn, chief... Ben Schwerin, a senior vice president of content and partnerships at Snap who helps lead the...

Hedge funds, pensions funds and even huge asset managers are outsourcing more and more of their trading. Photo by Bloomberg.

Where Did All the Traders Go? Investment Funds Lean on Outsourcing to Cut Costs

By Lauren Tara LaCapra · Feb 7, 2023 7:11am PST · 2 comments

More and more investment funds are outsourcing their trading, a move that cuts costs and aims to boost returns but also poses risks for the funds’ portfolios and underlying investors. Once a niche Wall Street business that catered to young hedge funds, outsourced trading has now attracted mutual funds, pension funds and other asset... More and more investment funds are outsourcing their trading, a move that cuts costs and aims to...

Artwork by Clark Miller. Photo of SpaceX Starship by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images

Musk’s Long Road to Mars: How Poor Planning Dogged the Development of SpaceX Rocket

By Becky Peterson · Feb 7, 2023 6:00am PST · 6 comments

Artwork by Clark Miller. Photo of SpaceX Starship by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images

Musk’s Long Road to Mars: How Poor Planning Dogged the Development of SpaceX Rocket

By Becky Peterson · Feb 7, 2023 6:00am PST · 6 comments

Early last year, Elon Musk stood on a stage near the coast of Southern Texas with a 400-foot-tall stainless steel rocket made by his company, SpaceX, jutting up into the night sky behind him. That rocket was supposed to be the first of a powerful new class of space vehicles, known as Starship, that SpaceX was preparing to blast into orbit, part... Early last year, Elon Musk stood on a stage near the coast of Southern Texas with a 400-foot-tall...

The U.S. shot down this alleged Chinese spy balloon on Saturday. Photo: Peter Zay/Anadolu/Getty

The Electric: Would China Retaliate by Squeezing the U.S. Battery Supply?

By Steve LeVine · Feb 7, 2023 4:00am PST

China has so far refrained from retaliating for U.S. attacks on its tech sector, such as the clampdown on Chinese access to advanced semiconductors. But should Beijing decide to strike back, a primary source of leverage is its near-chokehold on the global supply of electric vehicle battery chemicals and components, according to an expert on... China has so far refrained from retaliating for U.S. attacks on its tech sector, such as the...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Google’s AI Catch-Up Reveals

By Martin Peers · Feb 6, 2023 5:00pm PST

Google is finally waking up. After weeks of excitement coursing through tech about OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, paired with news coverage of how Microsoft plans to incorporate it into products like Bing and Word, Google has made a move. The tech company once seen as a leader in artificial intelligence on Monday unveiled its version of a... Google is finally waking up. After weeks of excitement coursing through tech about OpenAI’s...

Luke Voiles. Art: Shane Burke.

Pipe, a Lending Startup Backed By Benioff and Shopify, Nears CEO Appointment

By Maria Heeter and Erin Woo · Feb 6, 2023 4:53pm PST

Pipe, one of a cluster of startups that found a niche in lending money to companies against their recurring revenues, is close to naming a new CEO to succeed co-founders Harry Hurst and Josh Mangel, who were co-CEOs until last fall, according to people familiar with the decision. Luke Voiles, an executive from payment app Block, has surfaced as... Pipe, one of a cluster of startups that found a niche in lending money to companies against their...

Photo: Shutterstock

Bill Ready’s Pinterest Turnaround Plan Is Expensive

By Mahira Dayal · Feb 6, 2023 4:36pm PST

Photo: Shutterstock

Creator Economy

Bill Ready’s Pinterest Turnaround Plan Is Expensive

By Mahira Dayal · Feb 6, 2023 4:36pm PST

Pinterest on Monday gave us an updated view into its new CEO Bill Ready’s strategy to revitalize the company. It’s an expensive plan, leading to such a spike in spending that profit fell a whopping 90%. And Pinterest, similar to Meta Platforms, is forecasting revenue that’s barely growing, thanks to a downturn in digital ad demand. But Ready can... Pinterest on Monday gave us an updated view into its new CEO Bill Ready’s strategy to revitalize...

Elon Musk, right, last month. Photo by Getty.

Musk’s Twitter Has Just 180,000 U.S. Subscribers, Two Months After Launch

By Erin Woo · Feb 6, 2023 1:16pm PST · 5 comments

Around 180,000 people in the U.S. were paying for subscriptions to Twitter, including Twitter Blue, as of mid-January, or less than 0.2% of monthly active users, according to a document viewed by The Information. The tiny number signals the challenge Elon Musk faces in turning the subscription product into a major source of revenue. The U.S.... Around 180,000 people in the U.S. were paying for subscriptions to Twitter, including Twitter...

Barry Silbert, photo by Getty Images.

Genesis Creditors Agree to be Paid Back With Stock in Barry Silbert’s DCG

By Akash Pasricha and Aidan Ryan · Feb 6, 2023 11:04am PST

To smooth things over with the customers who’d handed crypto lender Genesis billions, Barry Silbert is slowly dismantling his crypto empire. Silbert’s Digital Currency Group will issue more than $1 billion worth of new shares and look to go public by 2025 to help pay back creditors of its bankrupt Genesis subsidiary, in a... To smooth things over with the customers who’d handed crypto lender Genesis billions,...

Illustration by Shane Burke.

Let Section 230 Stay

By Karan Lala · Feb 6, 2023 9:00am PST · 19 comments

Gonzalez v. Google, which the Supreme Court will hear this month, is the culmination of years of litigation. The action—a consolidation of lawsuits filed against Google, Twitter and Facebook—attempts to hold these platforms liable for their automated recommendation of content to users. Social media platforms are publishers, not... Gonzalez v. Google, which the Supreme Court will hear this month, is the culmination of years of...

John and Patrick Collison. Photos by Bloomberg.

Stripe Walks Tightrope to Stay Private. Could Other Firms Follow?

By Cory Weinberg, Maria Heeter and Becky Peterson · Feb 6, 2023 6:00am PST · 1 comment

John and Patrick Collison. Photos by Bloomberg.

Stripe Walks Tightrope to Stay Private. Could Other Firms Follow?

By Cory Weinberg, Maria Heeter and Becky Peterson · Feb 6, 2023 6:00am PST · 1 comment

Thirteen years after starting Stripe, chief executive Patrick Collison is raising his company’s largest ever slug of cash from venture capitalists. And he plans to alter employees’ stock plans so the company can delay a public offering. Is this a sign that more tech firms will once again try to delay going public? Not necessarily.... Thirteen years after starting Stripe, chief executive Patrick Collison is raising his...