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

David Marcus, head of Novi at Meta Platforms. Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan.

What’s Next for Meta as Longtime Crypto Chief David Marcus Leaves

By Hannah Miller · Nov 30, 2021 4:18pm PST

The exit of David Marcus from Facebook-parent Meta Platforms at the end of this year throws another wrench into the company’s crypto plans. Marcus, who heads Meta’s Novi financial products division, has been integral to the company’s crypto-related projects during his seven-year tenure.Marcus co-created libra, the predecessor to diem, the... The exit of David Marcus from Facebook-parent Meta Platforms at the end of this year throws...

Soy Nguyen. Photo: Vincent Elejorde

Creator Economy

LinkedIn Flexes its Creator Muscles; Q&A With TikToker Behind ‘Food With Soy’

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 30, 2021 2:00pm PST

LinkedIn isn’t an obvious destination for finding posts from top social media personalities. But the Microsoft-owned company is trying to change that perception by doubling down on efforts to woo creators amid a bigger fight for online talent among social platforms. On Tuesday, LinkedIn unveiled the first class of its creator accelerator... LinkedIn isn’t an obvious destination for finding posts from top social media personalities. But...

Naver's headquarters in Seongnam, South Korea. Photo: AP

Zepeto’s Hefty SoftBank Raise; A Google Earth Reunion at Niantic

By Mathew Olson · Nov 30, 2021 11:00am PST · 1 comment

News that SoftBank is pouring $150 million into a yet-to-close Series B for South Korean social media platform Zepeto is a big vote of confidence for the burgeoning metaverse player. So far, Zepeto has focused on the quality of its avatars. It hasn’t spent much time building more immersive and deeply interactive experiences—but it’s not clear... News that SoftBank is pouring $150 million into a yet-to-close Series B for South Korean social...

Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov. Sequoia Capital is investing in the crypto custodian, one of a trio of recent crypto deals by the VC firm. Photo: Saffello.

Sequoia Capital’s Crypto Frenzy Intensifies With Three New Deals

By Kate Clark · Nov 30, 2021 6:01am PST

Fireblocks CEO Michael Shaulov. Sequoia Capital is investing in the crypto custodian, one of a trio of recent crypto deals by the VC firm. Photo: Saffello.

Sequoia Capital’s Crypto Frenzy Intensifies With Three New Deals

By Kate Clark · Nov 30, 2021 6:01am PST

Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and crypto trading firm FTX are co-leading an investment of more than $100 million in LayerZero Labs, a 10-month-old crypto firm that has yet to launch its product publicly, at a $1 billion valuation, according to two people familiar with the deal. LayerZero’s rapid rise to unicorn status, unusual for a... Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and crypto trading firm FTX are co-leading an investment of...

Twitter's new chair, Bret Taylor. Photo by Bloomberg.

Twitter’s New CEO Gets Thumbs-Down From Wall Street

By Martin Peers · Nov 29, 2021 5:00pm PST

It seems Jack Dorsey’s abrupt departure as CEO of Twitter was welcome news to the company’s long-suffering shareholders—until it wasn’t. A 10% uplift in Twitter shares that was triggered by the initial headline evaporated shortly after Twitter identified his successor as Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal. Talk about going from the devil you... It seems Jack Dorsey’s abrupt departure as CEO of Twitter was welcome news to the company’s...

Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Jack Dorsey’s Crypto Portfolio Hints at His Next Move

By Hannah Miller · Nov 29, 2021 4:21pm PST

Jack Dorsey’s decision to step down as CEO of Twitter on Monday has everyone wondering whether his next move will be to dive further into crypto. Even though Dorsey still has Square to run, it would make sense if he doubled down on bitcoin and tried his hand at managing a project entirely focused on crypto. He may have hinted at this kind... Jack Dorsey’s decision to step down as CEO of Twitter on Monday has everyone wondering whether...

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. Photo: Bloomberg, Illustration: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

The Creator Challenges Facing Twitter’s New CEO

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 29, 2021 2:53pm PST

Over the past year, Twitter has stepped up efforts to appeal to creators, including acquiring newsletter service Revue, adding live audio feature Spaces, introducing tipping and starting Super Follows, which allow creators to charge their top fans for bonus tweets. Now the question is whether its new CEO Parag Agrawal will accelerate those... Over the past year, Twitter has stepped up efforts to appeal to creators, including acquiring...

Getir CEO Nazim Salur. Photo: Getir

Instant-Delivery Startup Wars Heat Up as Turkey’s Getir Expands in U.S.

By Berber Jin · Nov 29, 2021 12:47pm PST · 1 comment

Getir CEO Nazim Salur. Photo: Getir

Q&A

Instant-Delivery Startup Wars Heat Up as Turkey’s Getir Expands in U.S.

By Berber Jin · Nov 29, 2021 12:47pm PST · 1 comment

Nazim Salur, the founder and CEO of six-year-old Getir, has an ambitious goal: He expects to offer the startup’s 10-minute grocery-delivery services to major cities on the West Coast within one year. Getir also expects to eventually serve the suburbs of cities like Los Angeles, areas normally avoided by ultrafast providers given their... Nazim Salur, the founder and CEO of six-year-old Getir, has an ambitious goal: He expects to...

Tim Cook presenting at an Apple product event. Photo: Bloomberg

Apple Analyst Predicts AR Replacing iPhone; Roblox’s “Hacking” Case

By Mathew Olson · Nov 29, 2021 11:00am PST · 1 comment

What use are 10-year projections in AR/VR? None at all, I’d argue, which is why a prediction from TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo about how Apple plans to move away from the iPhone in favor of AR wearables over the next decade should be taken with a healthy amount of salt. What use are 10-year projections in AR/VR? None at all, I’d argue, which is why a prediction from...

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti. Photo by Bloomberg.

BuzzFeed’s Commerce Slowdown Undercuts Its Investor Pitch Ahead of Stock Listing

By Sahil Patel and Jessica Toonkel · Nov 29, 2021 6:00am PST

When BuzzFeed unveiled its planned deal to go public last June, its pitch to investors centered around the high growth potential of its commerce business. BuzzFeed, like many other media companies, makes money by inserting links to merchant websites in its articles. It’s a way for media companies to participate in the rapidly growing... When BuzzFeed unveiled its planned deal to go public last June, its pitch to investors centered...

Photo: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

The 7 Things That Changed the Game for EVs and Batteries in 2021

By Steve LeVine · Nov 28, 2021 2:00pm PST

Welcome back to The Electric!The next Live Chat is this Tuesday at noon E.T.: Will the U.S. Control Its Own Battery Fate? At the cusp of the new age of batteries and electric vehicles, China starts with a potent strategic advantage—possession of some 80% of the global battery metals supply chain. For the entirety of the 2020s, it will... Welcome back to The Electric!The next Live Chat is this Tuesday at noon E.T.: Will the U.S....

Images of live-shopping app NTWRK. Illustration by Mike Sullivan. Photo courtesy of NTWRK.

Can Livestream Shopping Cure the Holiday Gifting Blues?

By Jon Steinberg · Nov 27, 2021 8:00am PST

Images of live-shopping app NTWRK. Illustration by Mike Sullivan. Photo courtesy of NTWRK.

Can Livestream Shopping Cure the Holiday Gifting Blues?

By Jon Steinberg · Nov 27, 2021 8:00am PST

Hi, welcome to the Weekend.It might seem against the holiday spirit to say so, but does anyone really love gift-shopping these days? Even pre-pandemic, it was a stress-inducing affair, loaded with decision fatigue, toy-of-the-year FOMO and ghosts of bad presents past.Into this consumerist minefield has stumbled a strange new entrant: livestream... Hi, welcome to the Weekend.It might seem against the holiday spirit to say so, but does anyone...

Traders on the floor of the NYSE in September. Photo by Bloomberg.

Covid’s Tech Stars Twinkle Again—at Least Today

By Martin Peers · Nov 26, 2021 4:00pm PST

Life in our pandemic-dominated world increasingly feels like one of those scary TV series where just when you think the monster has been vanquished, you realize it’s still alive. Today’s big market sell-off on news of the new Covid-19 variant in South Africa—dubbed Omicron by the World Health Organization—is a good reminder of how vulnerable the... Life in our pandemic-dominated world increasingly feels like one of those scary TV series where...

Art by Haejin Park. Photo by iStock.com/Renphoto. Stickers by Giphy.

Should You Start Concealing Your Children’s Faces on Social Media?

By Emily Dreyfuss · Nov 26, 2021 12:01pm PST · 14 comments

Welcome to the first installment of Parentverse, TI Weekend’s new advice column for tech-savvy parents raising kids in a tech-dependent world. As a mother of two boys, ages 6 and 2, I have sought advice in various forums—Facebook mom groups, my kid’s preschool app, the grocery store checkout line—but frequently I run into either extremely... Welcome to the first installment of Parentverse, TI Weekend’s new advice column for tech-savvy...

Illustration by Jesus Escudero.

Market Research

Livestream Shopping Is a Messy, Maddening Experience (for Now)

By Janet Ozzard · Nov 26, 2021 12:01pm PST

Holiday gift buying is hell. It always has been, and likely always will be, an anxiety-fueled decision tree that no machine-learning algorithmcan solve. However, another e-commerce paradigm has arrived with the promise of making gift shopping easier by adding that most social of social elements: an actual human, speaking directly to the camera,... Holiday gift buying is hell. It always has been, and likely always will be, an anxiety-fueled...

The Information’s Top Tech-Adjacent Gifts for 2021

By The Information Staff · Nov 26, 2021 9:01am PST · 4 comments

The Information’s Top Tech-Adjacent Gifts for 2021

By The Information Staff · Nov 26, 2021 9:01am PST · 4 comments

This year, there is no shortage of material—and immaterial—ways to show people you care. NFTs are certainly a choice, one that is more popular than ever, even if we can’t guarantee they’ll hold their absurdist values through the New Year. Another option is the ever-elusive Tungsten Cube, a hot commodity within crypto circles. One of these heavy... This year, there is no shortage of material—and immaterial—ways to show people you care. NFTs are...

Photos by Bloomberg; AP. Art by Mike Sullivan

What We Got Right (and Wrong) in Our Predictions for Tech in 2021

By The Information Staff · Nov 26, 2021 6:01am PST · 4 comments

Here at The Information we’ve come to enjoy the year-end ritual of publishing stories predicting what the coming year will look like for the tech industry. We also think it’s important to look back and grade ourselves on how well—or badly—we did with those predictions. Our grade point average for the 2021 tech predictions... Here at The Information we’ve come to enjoy the year-end ritual of publishing stories...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Breshad Perriman passing New York Giants cornerback James Bradberry an NFL game on Monday. Photo by AP.

The True Size of Disney’s Sports Burden

By Martin Peers · Nov 24, 2021 5:00pm PST

If there’s one number that sums up why Disney may decide to spin off ESPN sometime in the next couple of years, it’s contained in a securities filing the entertainment giant made tonight, as most folks were probably off drinking in anticipation of tomorrow’s Thanksgiving holiday. That number is $70.4 billion, representing what Disney has... If there’s one number that sums up why Disney may decide to spin off ESPN sometime in the next...

LTK co-founder Amber Venz Box. Photo: LTK

Creator Economy

LTK’s Amber Venz Box on Social Shopping’s Next Wave; Q&A With a Cheese Board Influencer

By Kaya Yurieff · Nov 24, 2021 2:42pm PST

Amber Venz Box, an early fashion influencer, co-founded social shopping app LTK ten years ago when she realized more people wanted to buy goods she recommended online than in person. Earlier this week, the Dallas-based company, which she runs with her husband Baxter Box, announced $300 million in funding from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a... Amber Venz Box, an early fashion influencer, co-founded social shopping app LTK ten years ago...

The protagonists of Resident Evil 4. Image: Capcom

A Quest Record, HaptX Funding and AR for Grocery Lists

By Mathew Olson · Nov 24, 2021 11:00am PST

The protagonists of Resident Evil 4. Image: Capcom

A Quest Record, HaptX Funding and AR for Grocery Lists

By Mathew Olson · Nov 24, 2021 11:00am PST

VR game publishers, take note: Meta Platforms said Tuesday that Resident Evil 4 VR for Quest 2 became the fastest selling title (in first week sales) in the history of the Quest since its release last month. Evidently, with the right franchise and at least a little elbow grease, Quest owners are quite happy revisiting old games with a new VR... VR game publishers, take note: Meta Platforms said Tuesday that Resident Evil 4 VR for Quest 2...