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 Yovanno, CEO of Impact. Credit: Impact

Creator Economy

Influencer Startup Impact Plans IPO Filing for Third Quarter

By Mahira Dayal · Jan 26, 2022 4:16pm PST

For some creator economy startups whose growth took off during the pandemic, the prospect of going public is now a reality. But one of the most turbulent stock markets in two years could muddy those plans. Impact, a provider of marketing software that last valued at $1.5 billion, aims to file confidentially to go public in the third quarter... For some creator economy startups whose growth took off during the pandemic, the prospect of...

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev. Photo by AP. Art by Mike Sullivan.

Robinhood Earnings Preview; Ripple Labs Boosts Valuation Amid SEC Lawsuit; Diem’s Potential Demise

By Hannah Miller · Jan 26, 2022 4:06pm PST

Robinhood will report fourth-quarter financial results on Thursday, only the third report it has issued since it went public in July. Eyes will be on the money the company earns from crypto trading. In the third quarter of 2021, Robinhood reported $51 million in revenue from crypto transactions, a 78% decline from the $233 million it made during... Robinhood will report fourth-quarter financial results on Thursday, only the third report it has...

Population: One, a Meta-owned VR game with many cosmetic options. Credit: BigBox VR/Meta.

Meta VP Tempers Gaming NFT Hype; Snap Upgrades Its AR Shopping

By Mathew Olson · Jan 26, 2022 11:00am PST

You have to hand it to Meta. While the company has talked up the potential of the metaverse, it hasn’t gone overboard with the potential riches of NFTs the way some in the NFT market have. Instead, Meta executives have stuck to talking about the potential of NFTs for small businesses and digital items like concert merchandise. On Tuesday,... You have to hand it to Meta. While the company has talked up the potential of the metaverse, it...

Art by Shutterstock; Mike Sullivan

Bitcoin Is Failing Its Original Mandate. That Doesn’t Mean It’s Worthless

By Eswar Prasad · Jan 26, 2022 9:00am PST · 12 comments

Art by Shutterstock; Mike Sullivan

Bitcoin Is Failing Its Original Mandate. That Doesn’t Mean It’s Worthless

By Eswar Prasad · Jan 26, 2022 9:00am PST · 12 comments

By plenty of standards, Bitcoin is a failure. Transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain take at least 10 minutes to process, which would make it cumbersome for day-to-day transactions if its wildly fluctuating price hadn’t already rendered it useless as a means of exchange. As the product of an algorithm with no inherent value or claim to a... By plenty of standards, Bitcoin is a failure. Transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain take at...

Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman (left) and Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi. Photos by Snowflake, Bloomberg. Collage by Mike Sullivan

Snowflake vs. Databricks: How Onetime Friends Became Fierce Cloud Rivals

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 26, 2022 6:00am PST · 2 comments

A few years ago, Snowflake and Databricks were up-and-coming cloud software startups that were so friendly, their sales teams regularly passed customer leads to each other. Both companies made unglamorous but critical components for businesses—from Shell Oil to DoorDash—that helped them boost sales or reduce costs by making better... A few years ago, Snowflake and Databricks were up-and-coming cloud software startups that were so...

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. Photo by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan.

YouTube Explores NFTs for Creators; Recur Sells NFTs From Big Brands

By Hannah Miller · Jan 25, 2022 5:10pm PST

YouTube is the latest social media giant exploring ways to integrate non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The details are vague, but Susan Wojcicki, CEO of the video platform, said in a blog post on Tuesday that the platform is looking ahead at ways it can help YouTube creators take advantage of the increasingly popular digital collectibles.On the... YouTube is the latest social media giant exploring ways to integrate non-fungible tokens (NFTs)....

Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Pinterest and Peloton Have in Common

By Martin Peers · Jan 25, 2022 5:00pm PST

Here’s a thought experiment: How would Pinterest or Peloton be doing today if they weren’t controlled by their co-founders? Both companies appear to be in disarray—Pinterest is losing users and lately a string of executives, as The Information scooped today. Peloton’s challenges…well, let’s just say they’ve been well chronicled. Both companies... Here’s a thought experiment: How would Pinterest or Peloton be doing today if they weren’t...

Koji co-founders Dmitry Shapiro (left) and Sean Thielen. Photo: Koji

Koji, the Creator Economy’s App Store, Raises $20 Million from Jump Capital

By Kaya Yurieff · Jan 25, 2022 3:04pm PST

Koji co-founders Dmitry Shapiro (left) and Sean Thielen. Photo: Koji

Creator Economy

Koji, the Creator Economy’s App Store, Raises $20 Million from Jump Capital

By Kaya Yurieff · Jan 25, 2022 3:04pm PST

Koji, a startup that hosts a virtual store for apps used by creators, has raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Jump Capital. New investors include HBSE Ventures and Electric Feel Ventures, a venture firm set up by one of rapper Post Malone’s managers. The San Diego-based startup offers what’s known as link-in-bio web pages for... Koji, a startup that hosts a virtual store for apps used by creators, has raised $20 million in...

Workers in an Amazon fulfillment center in Robbinsville, New Jersey, last November. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Pauses ‘Pay to Quit’ Offers for Warehouse Workers

By Paris Martineau and Mark Di Stefano · Jan 25, 2022 2:02pm PST · 1 comment

Faced with an increasingly tight labor market, Amazon has quietly paused a longstanding program through which it paid warehouse workers up to $5,000 to quit their jobs after the busy peak season, The Information has learned. Amazon instituted the program—known inside the company as Pay to Quit or simply The Offer—in 2014 to help the... Faced with an increasingly tight labor market, Amazon has quietly paused a longstanding program...

Ready Player Me avatars sporting New Year's outfits. Credit: Wolf3D/Ready Player Me.

Why Wolf3D Went All-In on Avatars With Ready Player Me

By Mathew Olson · Jan 25, 2022 11:03am PST

Everyone will need an avatar (at least one) in the metaverse, or so the thinking goes. That’s probably one of the few things that the tech giants, startups and non-profit groups driving toward its creation can agree upon. But while making convincing digital humans is one notoriously hard problem, building customizable avatars that can move from... Everyone will need an avatar (at least one) in the metaverse, or so the thinking goes. That’s...

Pinterest headquarters office in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg

Pinterest Has Lost at Least 7 Senior Execs in Recent Weeks

By Jessica Toonkel and Sahil Patel · Jan 25, 2022 6:00am PST · 1 comment

Pinterest has lost at least seven senior executives in roles ranging from creator marketing to corporate development in recent weeks as the online scrapbooking app grapples with a drop in U.S. users and slowing ad revenue growth. Among the executives leaving are Gary Johnson, Pinterest’s head of corporate development, and Omar Seyal, head... Pinterest has lost at least seven senior executives in roles ranging from creator marketing to...

Robinhood Hits New Low Amid Crypto Selloff; Lit Protocol Connects NFT Owners

Robinhood Hits New Low Amid Crypto Selloff; Lit Protocol Connects NFT Owners

By Akash Pasricha · Jan 24, 2022 5:10pm PST

Robinhood Hits New Low Amid Crypto Selloff; Lit Protocol Connects NFT Owners

Robinhood Hits New Low Amid Crypto Selloff; Lit Protocol Connects NFT Owners

By Akash Pasricha · Jan 24, 2022 5:10pm PST

Cryptocurrencies are down from their historic highs seen in November, as is Coinbase, the leading American cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. But Robinhood, the company operating a popular retail trading platform for both stocks and cryptocurrencies, has had the worst decline of the bunch. Bitcoin and ethereum are both down more... Cryptocurrencies are down from their historic highs seen in November, as is Coinbase, the leading...

Peloton executives when the company went public in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg.

Tech Stock Slump Hits 2021 Stock Comp

By Martin Peers · Jan 24, 2022 5:00pm PST

Tech company managers have some interesting compensation discussions coming up with their direct reports, thanks to the bear market affecting much of tech. If those subordinates receive annual awards of stock or options, they’ll very likely hear both good and bad news. The good news is that grants made this year will have lots of upside as the... Tech company managers have some interesting compensation discussions coming up with their direct...

Photo credit: AP

Creator Economy

TikTok Creators Air Grievance Over Fund Payouts

By Mahira Dayal · Jan 24, 2022 4:17pm PST · 2 comments

TikTok has long been cloudy about how the money in its $1 billion Creator Fund, announced July 2020, is distributed. Some creators have told us they generate meager earnings through the fund, despite accumulating millions of views on the app. In recent days, they’ve used their social media megaphones to draw attention to their... TikTok has long been cloudy about how the money in its $1 billion Creator Fund, announced July...

Container ships and bulk carriers offshore from Singapore. Photo by Bloomberg

Startup Powering China’s Consumer Export Blitz in Talks to Raise $800 Million

By Juro Osawa · Jan 24, 2022 12:28pm PST

Xingyun Group, a seven-year-old startup that helps Chinese makers of everything from Bluetooth speakers to laundry detergent sell directly to overseas consumers, is in talks with investors to raise $800 million, and it is seeking a pre-money valuation of $5 billion, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The startup is... Xingyun Group, a seven-year-old startup that helps Chinese makers of everything from Bluetooth...

A 3D face rendered and animated in real-time with Ziva's ZRT Face Trainer tech. Credit: Ziva Dynamics.

Unity Buys Ziva in Photoreal 3D Race; Game Makers Balk at Metaverse

By Mathew Olson · Jan 24, 2022 11:00am PST

A 3D face rendered and animated in real-time with Ziva's ZRT Face Trainer tech. Credit: Ziva Dynamics.

Unity Buys Ziva in Photoreal 3D Race; Game Makers Balk at Metaverse

By Mathew Olson · Jan 24, 2022 11:00am PST

Game engine maker Unity is acquiring Ziva Dynamics, a company that uses machine learning to make more lifelike and efficient models of human characters. Its tech opens the door to creating hyper-detailed characters (and not just photorealistic ones) for games and AR/VR apps while also more easily letting those characters interact with users in... Game engine maker Unity is acquiring Ziva Dynamics, a company that uses machine learning to make...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Tech’s Great Headhunter Shortage: Employers Shower Recruiters With Better Pay, Benefits

By Mark Matousek · Jan 24, 2022 6:00am PST · 2 comments

In the middle of 2020, not long after the Covid-19 pandemic began sparking layoffs across the country, Joe Price watched as eight members of the recruiting department at an automotive software company he worked for lost their jobs. It turned out to be a fleeting downturn in his field. By the end of the year, tech companies were bombarding Price... In the middle of 2020, not long after the Covid-19 pandemic began sparking layoffs across the...

VW is aiming the ID.4 at mainstream consumers. Photo: Liesa Johannssen-Koppitz/Bloomberg

What GM, Ford and VW Need to Do to Avoid Selling EVs At a Loss

By Steve LeVine · Jan 23, 2022 2:00pm PST

Welcome back to The Electric! The spiking cost of battery metals is wreaking havoc on the expected economics of early electric vehicles. This week, we look at some of the strategies the automakers will have to undertake to avoid huge losses on their sales. Major automakers seem prepared to proceed on schedule with the collective launch... Welcome back to The Electric! The spiking cost of battery metals is wreaking havoc on the...

Art by Haejin Park. Photograph courtesy of Caroline Spiegel.

The Information Weekend: The Queen of Audio Porn; the Temptation of the Sneakerheads; a Heretical Wedding; and Parentverse Takes Your Kid Questions

By Jon Steinberg · Jan 22, 2022 8:21am PST

Hi, welcome to your Weekend!With apologies to next month’s annual Hallmark holiday, the theme of this weekend’s issue is love. Annie writes about a well-connected founder building an audio platform for better self-love. Malique talks to sneakerheads about their love of fresh Nikes and Adidas, and asks whether that love will translate... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!With apologies to next month’s annual Hallmark holiday, the theme of...

Photos courtesy Delian Asparouhov and Nadia Eghbal.

Meet the Couple Who Got Surprise-Married at Peter Thiel’s Hereticon Conference

By Margaux MacColl · Jan 22, 2022 7:00am PST · 8 comments

Photos courtesy Delian Asparouhov and Nadia Eghbal.

Scene and Heard

Meet the Couple Who Got Surprise-Married at Peter Thiel’s Hereticon Conference

By Margaux MacColl · Jan 22, 2022 7:00am PST · 8 comments

This year, Peter Thiel’s Hereticon conference changed lives. Some attendees left with fresh tattoos and piercings, others with a newfound belief in UFOs. But Delian Asparouhov and Nadia Eghbal arguably made the greatest leap of all: Between speeches about sex rings and sessions on hypnosis, the couple squeezed in a wedding. From the start,... This year, Peter Thiel’s Hereticon conference changed lives. Some attendees left with fresh ...