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

Illustration by Jesus Escudero

Have Employers Peeked at Pay History for Job Applicants? Hard to Tell

By Sarah Krouse · Oct 27, 2021 6:00am PDT

For several years, local and state governments in places including California and New York have banned employers from asking job applicants how much they’ve earned in the past. The worry was that the practice could perpetuate pay inequities. But an information service employers use to vet job applicants—including at top tech... For several years, local and state governments in places including California and New York have...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Bloomberg.

Alphabet and Microsoft Power Through Q3

By Martin Peers · Oct 26, 2021 5:00pm PDT

September earnings reports today from Alphabet and Microsoft made it clear that the two tech giants are better insulated than some of their smaller peers from the vagaries of the world economy. It’s a reminder that despite all the regulatory and political doubts about big tech companies, their businesses continue to grow at an impressive pace.It... September earnings reports today from Alphabet and Microsoft made it clear that the two tech...

The Dogecoin website on a smartphone. Photo:Bloomberg

Robinhood Results Muddied by Dogecoin; Bitcoin’s Top 1,000

By Hannah Miller · Oct 26, 2021 4:44pm PDT

Robinhood on Tuesday revealed a significant drop in the money it earned from cryptocurrency trading. The company reported $51 million in crypto transaction-based revenue, a 78% decline from the $233 million it made during the second quarter. The shift indicates that Robinhood might be less of a crypto-fueled company than previously... Robinhood on Tuesday revealed a significant drop in the money it earned from cryptocurrency...

Jennifer Stout, vice president of global public policy at Snap, and Michael Beckerman, Americas vice president and head of public policy at TikTok, in a Senate hearing Tuesday.

TikTok in the Dock; YouTube’s Big Quarter

By Mark Di Stefano · Oct 26, 2021 3:18pm PDT

Jennifer Stout, vice president of global public policy at Snap, and Michael Beckerman, Americas vice president and head of public policy at TikTok, in a Senate hearing Tuesday.

Creator Economy

TikTok in the Dock; YouTube’s Big Quarter

By Mark Di Stefano · Oct 26, 2021 3:18pm PDT

Remember that surreal Finsta moment from Facebook’s congressional hearing a few weeks ago? If you somehow missed it: Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) asked Facebook’s global head of safety: “Would you commit to ending finsta?” Twitter commentators went nuts over Blumenthal’s seeming ignorance that finsta was slang for a second private... Remember that surreal Finsta moment from Facebook’s congressional hearing a few weeks ago? If you...

Image: Jan Holmquist/Creative Commons

The Electric Flash Analysis: AI Can Make Better EV Batteries, but Only If the Industry Fixes Its Data Problem

By Steve LeVine · Oct 26, 2021 1:19pm PDT

A reminder to tune in tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. PT to a special pop-up event: Will AI Transform Batteries? Machine learning has unleashed a new age for drug discovery and on-line advertising, but it has barely penetrated battery science. Can it do so this decade? My guests for this vibrant Live Chat are AI pioneer Andrew Ng, founder of... A reminder to tune in tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. PT to a special pop-up event: Will AI Transform...

Creator Economy Summit

Announcing the Creator Economy Summit Masterclasses

By The Information · Oct 26, 2021 11:34am PDT · 6 comments

We’re excited to see everyone on October 28 at The Information’s inaugural Creator Economy Summit. Our masterclass breakout sessions are an important part of the Summit. At this year’s event, we’ll have three sets of 45-minute masterclasses. Here is a preview of this year’s topics. For group ticket information,... We’re excited to see everyone on October 28 at The Information’s inaugural Creator...

A promotional image for the Oculus Quest 2 VR headset. Credit: Facebook

Facebook’s Earnings; Google’s Police VR Training; Pimax’s Moonshot

By Mathew Olson · Oct 26, 2021 11:00am PDT

We can look forward to more details about Facebook’s AR/VR and metaverse efforts now that the company plans to report its Facebook Reality Labs unit as its own segment starting in the fourth quarter. After years of Facebook not disclosing headset sales figures and with only a handful of cherry-picked statistics to champion the strength of Oculus... We can look forward to more details about Facebook’s AR/VR and metaverse efforts now that the...

Photo by Bloomberg

ByteDance’s Stock Value Falls by 20% in Secondary Sale After China Crackdown

By Juro Osawa · Oct 26, 2021 8:33am PDT

Photo by Bloomberg

ByteDance’s Stock Value Falls by 20% in Secondary Sale After China Crackdown

By Juro Osawa · Oct 26, 2021 8:33am PDT

Is TikTok cheap? Some investors think so and are buying private shares of TikTok owner ByteDance from existing investors at prices that value it at a steep discount compared to trades from earlier this year. Recently, the family office of a Middle Eastern billionaire struck a deal in the secondary market to buy shares that valued closely held... Is TikTok cheap? Some investors think so and are buying private shares of TikTok owner ByteDance...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at an Oculus Connect event in 2017. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Will Metaverse Be Worth in 2025? Our Guess Is $82 Billion

By Mathew Olson · Oct 26, 2021 6:01am PDT · 6 comments

Facebook is spending tens of billions of dollars in the next few years building the virtual immersive world dubbed the metaverse, CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicated on Monday night. But he also acknowledged that the metaverse won’t evolve into a money-making business until “later in this decade.” We decided to try to calculate the... Facebook is spending tens of billions of dollars in the next few years building the virtual...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Facebook Has to Make the Metaverse Investment

By Martin Peers · Oct 25, 2021 5:34pm PDT

Facebook wants the world to know just how much money it is investing in the metaverse, the futuristic immersive world that CEO Mark Zuckerberg hopes will draw in a billion people at some point in the next few years. Superficially, the investment numbers are impressive—Facebook said today that its spending on the Reality Labs unit which is... Facebook wants the world to know just how much money it is investing in the metaverse, the...

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev. Photo: Bloomberg

Robinhood Earnings Preview; Facebook Whistleblower’s Crypto Cache

By Hannah Miller · Oct 25, 2021 4:33pm PDT

Robinhood will hold its second-ever earnings call late Tuesday, likely providing more details on its growing crypto business. CEO Vlad Tenev has already given a peek into what might be discussed on the call: he told CNBC on Thursday that more than 1 million people are on the waitlist for the company’s crypto wallet, which has a full launch... Robinhood will hold its second-ever earnings call late Tuesday, likely providing more details on...

What Our Latest Database Launch Tells Us About the Creator Economy

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 25, 2021 3:03pm PDT

Creator Economy

What Our Latest Database Launch Tells Us About the Creator Economy

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 25, 2021 3:03pm PDT

Today we launched the latest version of The Information’s Creator Economy Database, with information on more than 100 companies focused on creators. That’s double what the database contained in June! Some of the recent entrants include StreamElements, a startup that provides tools like chatbots and virtual tip jars for streamers, and Mayk.it, a... Today we launched the latest version of The Information’s Creator Economy Database, with...

Outside an Apple store in New York. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple Very Likely to Face DOJ Antitrust Suit

By Josh Sisco · Oct 25, 2021 1:18pm PDT

Apple so far has avoided the worst outcome in its U.S. legal battle with Epic Games, but its antitrust woes remain. In the last several months the U.S. Department of Justice has accelerated its two-year-old antitrust probe of the iPhone maker, according to two people with knowledge of the investigation, increasing the likelihood of a lawsuit. ... Apple so far has avoided the worst outcome in its U.S. legal battle with Epic Games, but its...

Attendees at Facebook's 2019 Connect event gather around a Horizon display. Photo: Bloomberg

How Long Will the Wait for Facebook’s Horizon Worlds Be?

By Wayne Ma · Oct 25, 2021 11:00am PDT · 1 comment

It’s Wayne Ma, filling in for Mat, who’s dealing with another project today.It’s the week of Facebook Connect, one of the most anticipated weeks in the VR/AR calendar. Some might be hoping for news of the next model of the Oculus Quest, new games or even better smart glasses. For my part, I’m hoping Facebook will finally reveal when Horizon, a... It’s Wayne Ma, filling in for Mat, who’s dealing with another project today.It’s the week of...

Illustration by Jesus Escudero

AI Weapons Need Human Safeguards

By Michael K. Atkinson · Oct 25, 2021 9:00am PDT · 1 comment

Frances Haugen, the former Facebook employee whose urgent concern about the lack of oversight for the company’s artificial intelligence systems have generated headlines and hearings in the U.S., the U.K., and soon the EU, may be the world’s most prominent AI whistleblower, but she will not be the last. Companies could spend nearly... Frances Haugen, the former Facebook employee whose urgent concern about the lack of oversight for...

How Creator Economy Investments Could Hit $5 Billion This Year

By Kaya Yurieff and Mahira Dayal · Oct 25, 2021 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Creator Economy Database

How Creator Economy Investments Could Hit $5 Billion This Year

By Kaya Yurieff and Mahira Dayal · Oct 25, 2021 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Facebook wants to talk about its ties to creators. So do Chipotle, Disney and Stripe. The upswell of interest in people earning a living from their online followers means it has never been a better time for founders building startups that serve creators. New data show how successful these efforts have been. Some 101 U.S. startups focused on... Facebook wants to talk about its ties to creators. So do Chipotle, Disney and Stripe. The upswell...

Storing raw manganese. Ian Waldie/Bloomberg

Soaring Metals Prices Are Deepening Western Exposure to China

By Steve LeVine · Oct 24, 2021 2:00pm PDT

Welcome back to The Electric! Tune in to a special pop-up event on Wednesday: Will AI Transform Batteries? Machine learning has unleashed a new age for drug discovery and genomics, but it has barely penetrated battery science. Can it do so this decade? To discuss, I am excited to host a Live Chat with AI pioneer Andrew Ng, founder of... Welcome back to The Electric! Tune in to a special pop-up event on Wednesday: Will AI...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during a virtual developer conference in June. Photo by Bloomberg

Facebook’s Rebranding Is About Tim Cook, Not Whistleblowers

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 22, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Next week is going to be a big one for Facebook. There will be a corporate rebrand from the company of some sort, a very high-stakes earnings report, and Facebook’s biggest event of the year, its Connect developer conference, featuring a keynote from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Oh, and a storm of a document dump that will be fairly unprecedented in... Next week is going to be a big one for Facebook. There will be a corporate rebrand from the...

Art by Mike Sullivan

New Facebook Storm Nears as CNN, Fox Business and Other Outlets Team Up on Whistleblower Docs

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Mark Di Stefano · Oct 22, 2021 2:55pm PDT · 6 comments

It’s not often that major news organizations coordinate to sift through a large trove of leaked company documents and agree not to publish stories about them until a certain date. But in the world of news related to Facebook, these are extraordinary times. Something similar happened in 2016 when the International Consortium of... It’s not often that major news organizations coordinate to sift through a large trove of...

Illustration by Josh Brill

No Longer Just Crypto Curious, Sand Hill Road Investors Get Blockchain Fever

By Kate Clark · Oct 22, 2021 6:01am PDT · 4 comments

Illustration by Josh Brill

No Longer Just Crypto Curious, Sand Hill Road Investors Get Blockchain Fever

By Kate Clark · Oct 22, 2021 6:01am PDT · 4 comments

For years, the most avid investors in crypto startups have been firms that specialize in the category—with the notable exception of Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm that got crypto religion early. Now, though, the most storied firms on Silicon Valley's Sand Hill Road are going from crypto curious to true... For years, the most avid investors in crypto startups have been firms that specialize in the...