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

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Recent Editions

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son (left) and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

Nvidia Disarmed: What’s Next After Aborted $66 Billion Acquisition of SoftBank-Owned Arm

By Josh Sisco and Stephen Nellis · Feb 7, 2022 8:57pm PST

Nvidia has called off its $66 billion acquisition of chip design firm Arm Holdings, ending an 18-month regulatory review process that had long been doomed because the deal drew opposition from many quarters of the semiconductor industry that depend on Arm’s technology. But the megadeal’s demise, first reported by the Financial Times... Nvidia has called off its $66 billion acquisition of chip design firm Arm Holdings, ending an...

A Coinbase sign in New York at the time of its April direct listing. Photo: Bloomberg

How Coinbase Reaped Rich Rewards for Late-Stage Private Investors

By Aidan Ryan · Feb 7, 2022 5:15pm PST

Coinbase has proven to be a disappointment for investors who bought soon after the crypto exchange’s April direct listing. But that’s far from the case with the handful of venture firms that snapped up shares in the company’s last private fundraising. As I wrote in a story on Friday, Tiger Global Management is a big winner here: Coinbase... Coinbase has proven to be a disappointment for investors who bought soon after the crypto...

A Rivian truck driving past the Nasdaq in New York the day of Rivian's IPO. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Problem With Amazon’s Big Rivian Gain

By Martin Peers · Feb 7, 2022 5:00pm PST

Here’s a puzzle: Did Amazon’s fourth-quarter profit rise or fall? Depending on what you read, it could be either. One metric, Amazon’s net income, nearly doubled while another, slightly nerdier metric called operating profits, fell by about half. It might sound confusing. But all anyone needs to know is that the net income increase was... Here’s a puzzle: Did Amazon’s fourth-quarter profit rise or fall? Depending on what you read, it...

Riley Bell, the creator behind the Instagram account @memequeen. Photo: Riley Bell

Why Static Video Memes Are All Over Instagram

By Kaya Yurieff · Feb 7, 2022 3:39pm PST

Riley Bell, the creator behind the Instagram account @memequeen. Photo: Riley Bell

Creator Economy

Why Static Video Memes Are All Over Instagram

By Kaya Yurieff · Feb 7, 2022 3:39pm PST

A quirky form of video posts has taken over Instagram, the consequence of Meta Platforms’ recent push to prioritize Reels and other videos on its Facebook and Instagram apps as it counters the rise of rival TikTok. I’m dubbing this creator growth hack the static video meme. Here’s how it works: Creators who run photo-focused accounts, such... A quirky form of video posts has taken over Instagram, the consequence of Meta Platforms’ recent...

An illustration of the new "personal boundary" system in Horizon Worlds. Credit: Meta.

Meta’s Personal Space Patch; PC VR Figures and an Earnings Roundup

By Mathew Olson · Feb 7, 2022 11:00am PST

To sell people on the potential of AR and VR, Meta Platforms has often referred to “superpowers” that the technology can grant people, such as teleportation. Meta wants people to embrace these ideas not as sci-fi fancies, but as shorthand for how people will go about their lives with the aid of the metaverse. But a problem arises whenever Meta... To sell people on the potential of AR and VR, Meta Platforms has often referred to “superpowers”...

Illustration by Josh Brill

Why Netflix Rivals Are Ditching Binge Watching

By Jessica Toonkel · Feb 7, 2022 10:30am PST · 4 comments

Netflix turned itself into an entertainment empire by getting the world hooked on binge watching. That used to be a model rivals tried to copy, but now it’s starting to look outdated. Cranking out entire original seasons to drop all at once is costly, and viewership can be hit or miss. And if users are accustomed to the instant... Netflix turned itself into an entertainment empire by getting the world hooked on binge watching....

Photo by Bloomberg

Uber and Its Delivery Rivals Reveal Closely Guarded Data to Antitrust Investigators

By Josh Sisco · Feb 7, 2022 6:00am PST

Last October, Uber completed its $1.1 billion purchase of alcohol-delivery startup Drizly and began integrating the business into its Uber Eats food-delivery operation. But the Federal Trade Commission isn’t done reviewing the acquisition. A team of FTC lawyers in New York is scrutinizing the deal as part of a broader probe of whether Uber... Last October, Uber completed its $1.1 billion purchase of alcohol-delivery startup Drizly and...

Jagdeep Singh, CEO of QuantumScape. Photo: Courtesy QuantumScape

QuantumScape’s Fast-Charging Claims Have Sparked a Backlash

By Steve LeVine · Feb 6, 2022 2:00pm PST

Jagdeep Singh, CEO of QuantumScape. Photo: Courtesy QuantumScape

QuantumScape’s Fast-Charging Claims Have Sparked a Backlash

By Steve LeVine · Feb 6, 2022 2:00pm PST

Welcome back to The Electric! Save the date: As it has done for decades with oil and OPEC, the world is relying on a single point of supply for its future electric vehicle batteries—China. But how can the U.S. and Europe catch up and establish their own, competitive battery metals supply chain? One answer: by reinventing how battery metals... Welcome back to The Electric! Save the date: As it has done for decades with oil and OPEC,...

Tired of Being Sidelined by 'Another Boy's Club,' Women Are Demanding Their Piece of the Crypto Pie

Tired of Being Sidelined by 'Another Boy's Club,' Women Are Demanding Their Piece of the Crypto Pie

By Jon Steinberg · Feb 5, 2022 8:00am PST

Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Is there a cryptocurrency linked to schadenfreude? Because you can bet its price would have skyrocketed this week on the news of Meta suffering the biggest wipeout in U.S. corporate history, losing $230 billion in market value in a single day. It’s a safe bet that no tech company in history has built up the ill will... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Is there a cryptocurrency linked to schadenfreude? Because you can...

Art by Haejin Park.

Death of a Duopoly: Why It’s Time to Reconsider the Facebook-Google Rivalry

By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 5, 2022 5:00am PST · 4 comments

Before I was an entrepreneur, my career as a tech journalist was marked by covering one story: the rise of the Facebook and Google advertising duopoly and everything it shaped.I started following Facebook as a cub college reporter when it had a few hundred users. Google was my first big corporate beat at The Wall Street Journal, and I spent... Before I was an entrepreneur, my career as a tech journalist was marked by covering one story:...

Meta Platforms' Menlo Park headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg.

Believing in Zuckerberg’s Startup Chops

By Martin Peers · Feb 4, 2022 5:00pm PST

Here’s a question for investors and employees contemplating Meta Platforms after this week’s stock drop: Do you think Mark Zuckerberg can do it again? If you believe the co-founder of Facebook still has the startup chops to turn Meta’s metaverse investment into a lucrative business, then you’re probably going to be buying Meta stock right now.... Here’s a question for investors and employees contemplating Meta Platforms after this week’s...

From top, Brit Morin, Tyra Banks, Jaime Schmidt and Mila Kunis. Art by Haejin Park. Photographs AP and courtesy BFF.

‘The Boys Are Getting Loaded Rich.’ Now Women-Led Crypto Groups Demand Their Turn

By Kate Clark · Feb 4, 2022 12:30pm PST · 1 comment

From top, Brit Morin, Tyra Banks, Jaime Schmidt and Mila Kunis. Art by Haejin Park. Photographs AP and courtesy BFF.

‘The Boys Are Getting Loaded Rich.’ Now Women-Led Crypto Groups Demand Their Turn

By Kate Clark · Feb 4, 2022 12:30pm PST · 1 comment

For Mila Kunis, the actress known for her starring roles in “That ’70s Show,” “Bad Moms” and “Black Swan,” the journey down the crypto rabbit hole involved a lot of lost sleep and some new gray hairs. As she developed the adult animated series “Stoner Cats”, which launched last summer with a collection of non-fungible tokens that grossed $8... For Mila Kunis, the actress known for her starring roles in “That ’70s Show,” “Bad Moms” and “...

Art by Haejin Park.

Dear Parentverse: My Four-Year-Old Trusts Amazon’s Alexa More Than Me

By Emily Dreyfuss · Feb 4, 2022 12:00pm PST · 4 comments

This is Parentverse, The Information Weekend’s advice column for tech-savvy parents. Email us your questions at [email protected]. Or, if you don’t mind sharing them with your fellow subscribers, post them in the comments below. Dear Parentverse: My four-year-old daughter asks Alexa everything—I mean everything. I thought it was... This is Parentverse, The Information Weekend’s advice column for tech-savvy parents. Email us...

‘Oozing, Dripping, Melting, Stretching’: The Art and Science Behind TikTok’s Viral Food Videos

By Flora Tsapovsky · Feb 4, 2022 12:00pm PST

I’m a food artist and made my eggs into cubes today,” says the robotic British voice-over narrating TikTok sensation David Ma’s recent cooking video. “Let’s look inside!” Over the thrumming beat of Awolnation’s “Sail,” a slicer slowly segments an egg, unveiling—gasp!—a yolk in the shape of a square, a climax befitting a Hitchcock murder mystery... I’m a food artist and made my eggs into cubes today,” says the robotic British voice-over...

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

‘Fleeing Facebook’: Why a $115 Billion Ad Business Hit a Wall

By Sarah Krouse and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Feb 4, 2022 11:53am PST

When Liz Curtis, CEO of event business Fulcrum Group, made a marketing push during the holiday season late last year, she purchased ads on Instagram and Google but stayed away from Facebook, which like Instagram is owned by Meta Platforms. Curtis said Facebook is a “louder and more chaotic place” than its sibling app Instagram, and... When Liz Curtis, CEO of event business Fulcrum Group, made a marketing push during the holiday...

The Biggest Winners of Pre-IPO Funding Rounds

By Aidan Ryan · Feb 4, 2022 6:36am PST

The Biggest Winners of Pre-IPO Funding Rounds

By Aidan Ryan · Feb 4, 2022 6:36am PST

There’s a reason hedge funds like Tiger Global Management have moved aggressively into the venture capital market over the last few years: The gains from buying private shares in startups like Zoom, Coinbase or Affirm, even in the last rounds before a public listing, can be huge. That’s especially true when compared to the... There’s a reason hedge funds like Tiger Global Management have moved aggressively into the...

An advertisement for Big Cats NFT on an electronic billboard in Times Square, NY. Photo: Bloomberg

Tiger’s Fund Flex; Bored Apes Funding Goes Bananas

By Aidan Ryan · Feb 3, 2022 6:09pm PST

As Crypto Global was about to go to press, my colleagues Kate Clark and Berber Jin published a scoop about Tiger Global Management’s fundraising. The New York-based hedge fund has so far raised more than $11 billion for its latest venture capital fund, which is expected to close in March with a total of $12 billion.Tiger’s ability to push past... As Crypto Global was about to go to press, my colleagues Kate Clark and Berber Jin published a...

Evan Spiegel, co-founder and chief executive officer of Snap Inc., Photo: Bloomberg

Creator Economy

Snap’s Spotlight Viewers Rise; Pinterest’s Ups and Downs; Cameo Joins the Crypto Party

By Mahira Dayal · Feb 3, 2022 5:30pm PST

Snap’s earnings report Thursday, in which it reported its first-ever quarterly profit, sent shares soaring 60% in after-hours trading. The report was a bright spot in a week that contained some disappointments for social media companies, including YouTube’s slowdown in ad revenue growth and Meta Platforms’ drop in users. Snap’s profit comes... Snap’s earnings report Thursday, in which it reported its first-ever quarterly profit, sent...

Evan Spiegel. Photo by Bloomberg.

Snap Shows Up Meta

By Martin Peers · Feb 3, 2022 5:00pm PST

Talk about a mood-altering drug. All three of the tech companies reporting fourth-quarter numbers this afternoon—Amazon, Snap and Pinterest—had some good news to deliver. The result was a dramatic change in mood on Wall Street. For hours tech stocks had been hammered, thanks to Meta Platforms’ downbeat report on Wednesday night. But stocks... Talk about a mood-altering drug. All three of the tech companies reporting fourth-quarter numbers...

Chase Coleman (l) and Scott Shleifer of Tiger Global Management. Photo: Bloomberg. Illustration: Haejin Park.

Tiger Global Raised $11 Billion for New Venture Fund, Exceeding Target

By Kate Clark and Berber Jin · Feb 3, 2022 4:02pm PST · 3 comments

Chase Coleman (l) and Scott Shleifer of Tiger Global Management. Photo: Bloomberg. Illustration: Haejin Park.

Tiger Global Raised $11 Billion for New Venture Fund, Exceeding Target

By Kate Clark and Berber Jin · Feb 3, 2022 4:02pm PST · 3 comments

Tiger Global Management, the New York–based hedge fund that made more private tech investments than any other firm last year, raised more than $11 billion for its latest venture capital fund as of January, according to a person familiar with the matter. The firm plans to close the fund, Private Investment Partners 15, in March with a total... Tiger Global Management, the New York–based hedge fund that made more private tech...