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

FTC Chair Lina Khan. Photo by Bloomberg

FTC Chief Khan Resurrects Antitrust Review of Zillow Deal That Staff Previously Cleared

By Josh Sisco · Sep 30, 2021 2:40pm PDT

Zillow Group, an operator of apps for real estate listings, is waking up to the new reality of mergers and acquisitions with Lina Khan in charge of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission: Even after the agency allows a specific deal to close, that doesn’t mean the antitrust review is over. About two weeks ago, Khan revived a review of... Zillow Group, an operator of apps for real estate listings, is waking up to the new reality of...

A close-up look at Nreal's new Air glasses. Credit: Nreal

Nreal’s Newest AR Glasses Go One Step Forward, One Step Back

By Mathew Olson · Sep 30, 2021 11:00am PDT

Of all the upstarts seeking to carve out a space in the AR glasses market before heavy hitters like Apple come to town, Nreal stands out. The reason? It’s already shipped one model of AR glasses. Today it announced a second, simpler model, demonstrating that the company is determined to get more people using its glasses before it focuses on... Of all the upstarts seeking to carve out a space in the AR glasses market before heavy hitters...

Art by Mike Sullivan

The Mystery Man Who Made Amazon an Ad Giant

By Sahil Patel and Mark Di Stefano · Sep 30, 2021 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Paul Kotas may be the most important person in internet advertising that almost nobody in advertising has ever heard of. Mention Kotas—the leader of Amazon’s burgeoning, multibillion-dollar ad businesses—around ad agencies, as The Information did to more than a half-dozen senior ad executives, and you’ll get blank stares.... Paul Kotas may be the most important person in internet advertising that almost nobody in...

Warby Parker's signage out the front of the New York Stock Exchange today. Photo by AP

Warby Parker’s Triumphant Market Debut is Good and Bad News

By Martin Peers · Sep 29, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Warby Parker's signage out the front of the New York Stock Exchange today. Photo by AP

Warby Parker’s Triumphant Market Debut is Good and Bad News

By Martin Peers · Sep 29, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Warby Parker’s sterling debut on the public markets today makes two things about the markets clear. One is that digitally-savvy, venture-backed consumer goods startups such as Warby Parker aren’t as unpopular on Wall Street as would appear from the disastrous IPOs of others in that category, such as Casper and Honest Co. The second is that... Warby Parker’s sterling debut on the public markets today makes two things about the markets...

Dallas Cowboys' Trevon Diggs (7) and Maurice Canady, right, combine to stop Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, center, during an NFL football game Monday. Photo: AP

NFL Teams Up With Dapper Labs on NFTs; Paxos CEO Talks Going Public and Facebook Crypto

By Hannah Miller · Sep 29, 2021 4:11pm PDT

Non-fungible tokens have scored a touchdown with a new partnership between the National Football League and blockchain startup Dapper Labs. The NFL said Wednesday that it’s partnering with Dapper to develop NFTs of video highlights from professional football games. Dapper has already had success with these digital, blockchain-based assets... Non-fungible tokens have scored a touchdown with a new partnership between the National Football...

Big Tech’s Cybersecurity Playbook

By The Information Staff · Sep 29, 2021 3:12pm PDT

The Information hosted a Live Video Summit on “What’s Next in Cybersecurity” to learn from top security and trust executives from Adobe, Microsoft and Salesforce about how big tech companies are preparing for and dealing with threats such as ransomware attacks, which are on the rise. Companies need to be prepared for... The Information hosted a Live Video Summit on “What’s Next in Cybersecurity” to...

Whatnot CEO Grant LaFontaine Photo: Whatnot Illustration: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

Whatnot CEO Plots Live-Shopping App’s Expansion Into NFTs

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 29, 2021 2:45pm PDT

Grant LaFontaine, the CEO and co-founder of Whatnot, has big plans for the live-shopping app that is trying to become QVC for the smartphone generation. The two-year old startup just raised Series C funding that valued it at $1.5 billion. Now the company is working on selling non-fungible tokens, the one-of-a-kind digital collectibles... Grant LaFontaine, the CEO and co-founder of Whatnot, has big plans for the live-shopping app that...

Oracle Chief Marketing Officer Ariel Kelman, previously the global marketing chief at Amazon Web Services. Photo: Oracle

Ex-AWS Exec Kelman, Now at Oracle, Calls AWS Prices ‘Hostile’ to Customers

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 29, 2021 12:34pm PDT · 2 comments

Oracle Chief Marketing Officer Ariel Kelman, previously the global marketing chief at Amazon Web Services. Photo: Oracle

Q&A

Ex-AWS Exec Kelman, Now at Oracle, Calls AWS Prices ‘Hostile’ to Customers

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 29, 2021 12:34pm PDT · 2 comments

Ariel Kelman spent nine years as global marketing chief of Amazon Web Services, but it only took him 18 months at AWS’ smaller rival, Oracle, to publicly criticize his former employer. In an interview with The Information, Kelman blasts some much-criticized AWS practices such as the heavy fees it charges customers to move data out of one... Ariel Kelman spent nine years as global marketing chief of Amazon Web Services, but it only took...

The lead characters of Facebook's Lone Echo VR games. Credit: Oculus Studios/Ready At Dawn

Oculus’ Overstuffed October; Shopify Flicks at Virtual Meetings

By Mathew Olson · Sep 29, 2021 11:10am PDT

For a moment, let’s forget about the metaverse and focus on something simpler that Facebook is still trying to get a handle on: games.Yesterday, Facebook announced that Lone Echo 2, developed by its Ready At Dawn team, will launch on Oct. 12. In July, I pointed out that Lone Echo 2 will likely be the last title that a Facebook-owned studio... For a moment, let’s forget about the metaverse and focus on something simpler that Facebook is...

Honest Co's co-founder Jessica Alba with Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman and Honest Co CEO Nick Vlahos the day Honest went public in May. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Warby Parker and Allbirds May Struggle on the Public Market

By Malique Morris · Sep 29, 2021 6:01am PDT · 4 comments

Warby Parker’s stock market listing today, along with Allbirds’ initial public offering expected in the coming weeks, will add two high-profile consumer goods brands to a stock market that lately has shown little love for similar businesses. In the past two years, Casper and The Honest Co. have been pummeled on Wall Street, with... Warby Parker’s stock market listing today, along with Allbirds’ initial public...

Dave Limp, Amazon's senior vice president of devices and services. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon’s Spray-and-Pray Hardware Strategy

By Martin Peers · Sep 28, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Yes, Amazon wants to be bigger in the consumer gadget business. The ecommerce-and-cloud- behemoth introduced so many new devices today that it's tough to fit a mention of all of them into one sentence. Everything from a robot that roams around the home to a new Fitbit-like health tracker to a video doorbell and a new video-calling device. One... Yes, Amazon wants to be bigger in the consumer gadget business. The ecommerce-and-cloud- behemoth...

Affirm CEO Max Levchin. Photo: Bloomberg

Affirm Plans a Crypto Card; Koji Launches NFT Apps

By Hannah Miller · Sep 28, 2021 4:37pm PDT

Affirm CEO Max Levchin. Photo: Bloomberg

Affirm Plans a Crypto Card; Koji Launches NFT Apps

By Hannah Miller · Sep 28, 2021 4:37pm PDT

Affirm, the largest U.S. firm dedicated to “buy now, pay later” online loans, is planning to release a debit card that will allow consumers to hold and earn interest on cryptocurrencies, CEO Max Levchin said at an investor presentation Tuesday.The offering would bring Affirm up to speed with crypto trading exchanges including Robinhood, which... Affirm, the largest U.S. firm dedicated to “buy now, pay later” online loans, is planning to...

Chart: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

How Creator Marketplaces From Social Networks Stack Up

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 28, 2021 2:13pm PDT

For more than a decade, when advertisers wanted to reach the young audiences of popular internet personalities, they reached out to marketing agencies to broker deals or just contacted the creators directly. In the past two years, TikTok, Snap and Instagram have stepped into the fray, rolling out tech-driven marketplaces designed to pair... For more than a decade, when advertisers wanted to reach the young audiences of popular internet...

Facebook Stock Now Trades at Biggest Ever Discount to Alphabet

By Aidan Ryan and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Sep 28, 2021 12:58pm PDT · 1 comment

Investors appear to be losing confidence in Facebook. The social media stock is currently trading at a lower valuation—measured by its total value to its projected earnings—than any of the other major consumer tech companies. Most significantly, Facebook is now trading at its biggest-ever discount to Alphabet’s valuation, ... Investors appear to be losing confidence in Facebook. The social media stock is currently trading...

New Phiar CEO Gene Karshenboym and co-founder/CTO Chen-Ping Yu. Photo: Phiar

Ex-Android Automotive Head Jumps Over to AR Navigation Startup

By Mathew Olson · Sep 28, 2021 11:00am PDT

Several leading automakers have partnered to use Google’s Android operating system in their new cars, including Honda, which announced its plans last week. So, when one of the Google higher-ups behind Android Automotive leaves to join a startup working on AR navigation for cars, it’s worth taking note.Yesterday, Phiar Technologies announced that... Several leading automakers have partnered to use Google’s Android operating system in their new...

Photo of AWS CEO Adam Selipsky by Amazon. Illustration by Mike Sullivan

AWS’ Microsoft Problem

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Sep 28, 2021 6:01am PDT · 3 comments

Photo of AWS CEO Adam Selipsky by Amazon. Illustration by Mike Sullivan

AWS’ Microsoft Problem

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Sep 28, 2021 6:01am PDT · 3 comments

Microsoft has been on Adam Selipsky’s brain for a while. In 2016, Selipsky—who at the time was the No. 2 executive at Amazon’s cloud computing unit, Amazon Web Services—helped lead discussions with Salesforce to carry out a joint acquisition of Quip, then an independent startup that had made a collection of productivity... Microsoft has been on Adam Selipsky’s brain for a while. In 2016, Selipsky—who at the...

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facebook’s Instagram Kids Retreat Signals Limits on Expansion Potential

By Martin Peers · Sep 27, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

It’s hard to imagine a more predictable announcement than the one made by Facebook today. Less than two weeks after an uproar over the damage being done to teenage girls by Facebook’s Instagram, sparked by a Wall Street Journal report, is anyone surprised by today’s news that the company isn’t going forward with a version of “Instagram Kids”?... It’s hard to imagine a more predictable announcement than the one made by Facebook today. Less...

The Aftermath of China’s Crypto Ban; Coinbase to Offer Direct Deposit

By Hannah Miller · Sep 27, 2021 4:37pm PDT

China’s decision to ban all cryptocurrency transactions on Friday caused the price of bitcoin to drop 6% to around $41,000. But since then, prices have bounced back to near $43,000. Crypto markets were able to recover because these new measures weren’t that surprising, unlike China’s crypto mining crackdown in May and June, said Ed Moya,... China’s decision to ban all cryptocurrency transactions on Friday caused the price of bitcoin to...

Chart: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

How TikTok Outpaced Instagram in Rise to 1 Billion Users

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 27, 2021 3:46pm PDT · 1 comment

TikTok announced a big milestone on Monday: more than 1 billion people around the world log on to the ByteDance-owned video app every month. In the chart above, we plot just how fast it reached that level—and how that rapid ascent compares to Instagram’s earlier rise.Our analysis, which uses past company statements as well as a suit filed by... TikTok announced a big milestone on Monday: more than 1 billion people around the world log on to...

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

Inside Instagram’s Failed Campaign to Win Over Critics of Kids’ App

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Sep 27, 2021 12:21pm PDT · 2 comments

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

Inside Instagram’s Failed Campaign to Win Over Critics of Kids’ App

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Sep 27, 2021 12:21pm PDT · 2 comments

In August, Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida dialed into a Zoom call with Adam Mosseri, the head of Facebook’s Instagram, and two of his colleagues. Castor said in an interview that the executives “wanted to try to calm the waters” after she had spent months publicly criticizing Instagram’s development of an app for... In August, Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida dialed into a Zoom call with Adam Mosseri, the...