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

Five times/week

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.

By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy

Recent Editions

ack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square, speaks during the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami in June. Photo: Bloomberg

Jack Dorsey’s Mining Ambitions; Steam Bans NFTs; a Bitcoin ETF Preps Launch

By Hannah Miller · Oct 18, 2021 4:32pm PDT

Tweets from Square CEO Jack Dorsey indicate the e-commerce payments company is further embedding itself in the crypto market. Dorsey tweeted Friday that Square is looking to develop bitcoin mining hardware for individuals and businesses to use. Bitcoin mining uses specially designed computers known as mining rigs that validate transactions... Tweets from Square CEO Jack Dorsey indicate the e-commerce payments company is further embedding...

Animal Capital managing director Marshall Sandman. Photo: Marshall Sandman

Creator Economy

Q&A With Animal Capital’s Marshall Sandman; TikTok’s Growing Influence on YouTube

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 18, 2021 2:57pm PDT

Before becoming managing partner at Gen Z-focused venture firm Animal Capital early this year, Marshall Sandman had been advising celebrities, reality TV stars and social media creators, such as chef Jake Cohen, about what he calls building the “equity component of their business.” That work, which he has kept up on the side, includes educating... Before becoming managing partner at Gen Z-focused venture firm Animal Capital early this year, ...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Finnish Cloud Database Firm Aiven Doubles Valuation to $2 Billion in Latest Funding

By Mark Di Stefano · Oct 18, 2021 12:19pm PDT

Finnish data management startup Aiven has more than doubled its valuation to $2 billion in a fresh fundraising just six months after its last funding, according to a person familiar with the matter, reflecting investor enthusiasm for the enterprise software sector. Aiven raised $60 million in an extension of a Series C round in March in which... Finnish data management startup Aiven has more than doubled its valuation to $2 billion in a...

Nick Clegg, Facebook's VP of Global Affairs and co-author of Sunday's EU hiring announcement. Photo: AP

Facebook Promises Metaverse Jobs, VR Gets an Antitrust Nod

By Mathew Olson · Oct 18, 2021 11:00am PDT

Nick Clegg, Facebook's VP of Global Affairs and co-author of Sunday's EU hiring announcement. Photo: AP

Facebook Promises Metaverse Jobs, VR Gets an Antitrust Nod

By Mathew Olson · Oct 18, 2021 11:00am PDT

Facebook’s announcement on Sunday that it plans to hire 10,000 people to “help build the metaverse” in Europe would double the number of people working on all things AR, VR and metaverse-related by 2026. Why commit to a huge hiring spree in Europe? Concerns about how the EU’s more proactive privacy regulations will shape the metaverse surely has... Facebook’s announcement on Sunday that it plans to hire 10,000 people to “help build the...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Facebook’s Ad-Tracking Loss Is Startups’ Gain

By Malique Morris · Oct 18, 2021 8:01am PDT

Apple’s clampdown on ad tracking has prompted some small online merchants to cut back their ad spending on social media sites like Facebook, which they see as a less effective outlet than in the past. Among the beneficiaries are e-commerce software firms that specialize in collecting data on how consumers behave on merchants’... Apple’s clampdown on ad tracking has prompted some small online merchants to cut back their...

Clockwise from upper left: Brian Brooks, Catherine Coley, Venkata “Murthy” Renduchintala, Brian Boland, Kirthiga Reddy and Janice Min

On the Market: Executives From Facebook, SoftBank, Intel and Binance.US

By The Information Staff · Oct 18, 2021 6:01am PDT

The wave of job changes dubbed the Great Resignation includes top tech and media leaders. Executives who have left roles at Intel, SoftBank, Facebook and crypto exchange Binance.US in the last year are among those on the move. Some have been spending their time between jobs making personal investments and advising on corporate boards. One... The wave of job changes dubbed the Great Resignation includes top tech and media leaders....

Qichao Hu, CEO of SES. Photo: Courtesy SES

This GM-Backed Startup Could Upend All You Know About Lithium

By Steve LeVine · Oct 17, 2021 2:09pm PDT

Welcome back to The Electric.Don't forget to RSVP for Tuesday's Live Chat—Winning the EV Wars: The Establishment vs. The Upstarts. My guest for this super-important discussion of how legacy automakers might win the EV war is Ford Motor's Darren Palmer. Palmer is general manager of Ford's electric vehicle program and a founding member of the... Welcome back to The Electric.Don't forget to RSVP for Tuesday's Live Chat—Winning the EV Wars:...

Dave Chappelle. Photo by AP.

What the Chappelle Drama Says About the Difference Between Netflix and Facebook

By Martin Peers · Oct 15, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Dave Chappelle. Photo by AP.

What the Chappelle Drama Says About the Difference Between Netflix and Facebook

By Martin Peers · Oct 15, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

If news media coverage is anything to go by, the biggest drama on Netflix right now isn’t “Squid Game” but the internal company battle over Dave Chappelle’s comedy special. And what’s striking is how differently Netflix management has handled this free speech issue from how other tech executives—such as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg—have handled... If news media coverage is anything to go by, the biggest drama on Netflix right now isn’t “Squid...

How TikTok Is Changing YouTube

By Sarah Krouse and Sahil Patel · Oct 15, 2021 7:56am PDT

YouTube isn’t just trying to mimic TikTok, the viral short-form video app that has taken the world by storm. It’s also copying TikTok’s growth playbook by paying professionals to produce original short videos. After YouTube in May said it would give $100 million to individual video creators to post original... YouTube isn’t just trying to mimic TikTok, the viral short-form video app that has taken...

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian in 2019; photo by Bloomberg

Why a Key Google Cloud Product Ended Up Generating Less Than 0.1% of Revenue

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Oct 15, 2021 6:01am PDT · 3 comments

Three months after becoming CEO of Google Cloud, Thomas Kurian tried to shake up the cloud market and gain an edge on his bigger rivals, Amazon and Microsoft. He launched a service called Anthos to make it easier for businesses to host their websites and applications in private data centers and on Google Cloud as well as in clouds operated by... Three months after becoming CEO of Google Cloud, Thomas Kurian tried to shake up the cloud market...

A Fridge No More delivery facility in New York City. Photo by Mike Sullivan.

The Real Risks of the Ultrafast Delivery Wars

By Martin Peers · Oct 14, 2021 5:01pm PDT

We hear a lot nowadays about social media’s divisive impact on the country. But another venture-backed industry arguably poses a much graver danger to people’s long-term health: ultrafast delivery startups. Venture capitalists are currently pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a sector whose entire goal in life is to enable couch... We hear a lot nowadays about social media’s divisive impact on the country. But another...

Photos by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Andreessen’s Haun Will Keep Coinbase, OpenSea Board Seats as NFT Rivalry Grows

By Hannah Miller · Oct 14, 2021 4:24pm PDT

Photos by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Andreessen’s Haun Will Keep Coinbase, OpenSea Board Seats as NFT Rivalry Grows

By Hannah Miller · Oct 14, 2021 4:24pm PDT

Coinbase is still riding high two days after announcing its non-fungible token marketplace. The crypto exchange’s stock closed at $260 on Thursday, up 5%, after CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted late Wednesday that more than 1 million people had joined the waitlist for the marketplace, which is called Coinbase NFT. By Thursday afternoon, the waitlist... Coinbase is still riding high two days after announcing its non-fungible token marketplace. The...

At Roblox's developer conference, the company said creators can now create and sell their own items for avatars, such as hats and clothing. Photo: Roblox

Creator Economy

Roblox to Offer NFT-Like Collectibles; FTC Fires Shots on Sponsored Content

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 14, 2021 2:49pm PDT

Roblox has faced criticism that it’s difficult for young game developers—also referred to as creators —to earn money from its online gaming service. The company’s developer conference on Thursday tried to paint a rosier picture. Roblox said it now has 1.3 million creators earning money on the platform. It’s on track to pay $500 million to these... Roblox has faced criticism that it’s difficult for young game developers—also referred to as...

Illustration by Danielle Davis

Heavy Losses, Big Funding: Instant-Delivery Startups Battle for Customers

By Berber Jin · Oct 14, 2021 10:16am PDT · 13 comments

The instant-delivery wars have hit New York City—and they will soon spread across the country. An array of startups, including Jokr, Fridge No More, Buyk and 1520, are pitching investors to raise fresh cash, sometimes totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, on the promise that they can get people groceries in 15 minutes or less. They... The instant-delivery wars have hit New York City—and they will soon spread across the...

The Vive Flow, a VR headset with a compact "immersive glasses" design. Credit: HTC

The Vive Flow Is VR for Downtime; Facebook Wants AR For Your Every Waking Moment

By Mathew Olson · Oct 14, 2021 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

With its Vive VR headsets, HTC beat Facebook’s Oculus to market for a full room-scale virtual reality product. The Vive Flow, unveiled Thursday, will beat Facebook, potentially by a matter of years, to the release of a radically thinner VR headset. At the same time, being first might hold the Flow back.The $499 Vive Flow is primarily intended as... With its Vive VR headsets, HTC beat Facebook’s Oculus to market for a full room-scale virtual...

Photos of Didi's Cheng Wei and Chinese president Xi Jinping by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

How China Broke Up With Its Internet Companies

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Oct 14, 2021 6:01am PDT

Photos of Didi's Cheng Wei and Chinese president Xi Jinping by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

How China Broke Up With Its Internet Companies

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Oct 14, 2021 6:01am PDT

Back in 2015, when China’s love affair with its internet sector was in full bloom, there were few startups the country’s rulers were more passionate about than Didi Global. At an internet conference that year in the scenic canal city of Wuzhen, President Xi Jinping sought out Didi’s cherubic-faced founder, Cheng Wei, whose... Back in 2015, when China’s love affair with its internet sector was in full bloom, there...

ViacomCBS executives, and SpongeBob, celebrate the merger of Viacom and CBS in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg.

Are SpongeBob NFTs a Dopey Idea? Maybe Not

By Martin Peers · Oct 13, 2021 5:01pm PDT

If you’re allergic to the catchy buzzwords executives and investors love to throw around, you might not want to read the next sentence, given the risk of anaphylactic shock. ViacomCBS has become “one of the first major media and entertainment companies to enter the metaverse in a significant way,” thanks to a partnership that will bring its TV... If you’re allergic to the catchy buzzwords executives and investors love to throw around, you...

U.S. Takes Bitcoin Mining Crown; Stronghold’s IPO Pricing

By Hannah Miller · Oct 13, 2021 4:33pm PDT · 2 comments

The U.S. has officially dethroned China as the world’s biggest bitcoin miner, according to data released Wednesday by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. The data tracks countries’ share of global hashrate, a measure of bitcoin mining power, and shows that as of August, the U.S. is now responsible for 35.4% of the global hashrate, more... The U.S. has officially dethroned China as the world’s biggest bitcoin miner, according to data...

Photo: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

TikTok’s Harassment Problem; Lessons for Creators From Udemy

By Kaya Yurieff · Oct 13, 2021 2:43pm PDT

TikTok’s latest report on how much hateful content and harassment it removes shows its challenge in protecting popular creators from bullying. During the second quarter, TikTok said it removed more than 81 million videos globally for violating its rules. Of these, videos containing harassment and bullying made up 6.8%. The biggest category... TikTok’s latest report on how much hateful content and harassment it removes shows its challenge...

The Focus 3, one of the Vive VR headsets released earlier this year. Credit: HTC

HTC’s New Headset Leaks; A Streaming Service Aims for VR Relevancy

By Mathew Olson · Oct 13, 2021 11:00am PDT · 1 comment

The Focus 3, one of the Vive VR headsets released earlier this year. Credit: HTC

HTC’s New Headset Leaks; A Streaming Service Aims for VR Relevancy

By Mathew Olson · Oct 13, 2021 11:00am PDT · 1 comment

Like all parts of the tech industry, VR hardware is prone to leaks. In late September we may have caught our first glimpse of new hardware from Oculus, and this time it’s HTC’s turn. Late Tuesday, ahead of an event planned for Thursday, prolific leaker Evan “evleaks” Blass released several images that appear to show off HTC’s latest: the Vive... Like all parts of the tech industry, VR hardware is prone to leaks. In late September we may have...