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

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica E. 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.

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Recent Editions

Art by Mike Sullivan

Whatever Happens Between China and Taiwan, the U.S. Needs Its Own Chips

By Jared McKinney and Mark Rosenblatt · Aug 17, 2022 9:00am PDT · 3 comments

The intentions of the People’s Republic of China toward Taiwan are clear—it intends to take possession of the island and thereby “reunify” China. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island, during which she met with political leaders as well as the chair of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., provoked... The intentions of the People’s Republic of China toward Taiwan are clear—it intends...

Bolt co-founder Ryan Breslow. Photo by Julian Buitrago. Art by Mike Sullivan

Startup Workers Find Founders Cashed Out When They Couldn’t

By Erin Woo, Becky Peterson and Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 17, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

A few weeks before Ryan Breslow stepped down as CEO of commerce software startup Bolt in January, he made a deal with investors. As part of a funding round in which BlackRock and other investors bought new stock in Bolt that valued the privately held company at $11 billion, Breslow also sold $10 million worth of his own shares to existing... A few weeks before Ryan Breslow stepped down as CEO of commerce software startup Bolt in January,...

A cell stacker in the Enovix factory. Photo: Courtesy Enovix

The Electric: A Next-Gen Battery Maker Ignites an 82% Stock Price Runup With Real Revenue

By Steve LeVine · Aug 17, 2022 4:00am PDT

Save the date: A year ago, we launched The Electric to cover one of the most important—and least reported—new sectors in technology: batteries and electric vehicles. On Sept. 8, we’ll celebrate our anniversary with a special event on perhaps the most important challenge facing the industry—building a battery supply chain that’s not reliant on... Save the date: A year ago, we launched The Electric to cover one of the most important—and least...

Photo by Bloomberg

Why Prices Do—and Should—Go Up

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 16, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Photo by Bloomberg

Why Prices Do—and Should—Go Up

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 16, 2022 5:00pm PDT

I had a lot of fun chatting this afternoon with The Information corporate subscribers who participated in our predictions call for the second half of 2022. Amir, Laura, Meredith and I covered a lot of ground on what we expect with tech initial public offerings, debt deals, new headwinds in crypto regulations and enterprise spending. If you... I had a lot of fun chatting this afternoon with The Information corporate subscribers who...

Credit: Sharon Schuur. Art: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

TikTok for Food Tests Tipping; Meta Takes Horizon Worlds to Europe

By Mahira Dayal · Aug 16, 2022 2:00pm PDT

Instagram isn’t the only social platform that wants to look more like TikTok. A new app called Mixo provides the same quick scroll through lots of vertically-oriented videos, but—twist!—provides exclusively cooking and food-related content. When its co-founder and CEO Shirley Romig, 45, launched the New York City-based company in June, she... Instagram isn’t the only social platform that wants to look more like TikTok. A new app called ...

Gili Raanan of Cyberstarts. Art by Clark Miller

How a Former Sequoia Capital Partner Cornered the Israeli Security Startup Market

By Aaron Holmes · Aug 16, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Whenever a cybersecurity startup seeks capital from venture capital firms in Israel, whose military trains an outsize number of security software entrepreneurs, the first thing prospective investors usually do is check whether Gili Raanan has invested in it. If he hasn’t, there had better be a good reason, said Shlomo Kramer, co-founder of... Whenever a cybersecurity startup seeks capital from venture capital firms in Israel, whose...

Photo by AP

Creator Economy

How Instagram Is Getting Teens to Share More; Snap Expands Subs

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 15, 2022 3:03pm PDT

Earlier today, we published a story about Instagram’s internal efforts to take on TikTok. Our reporting found out that tests of TikTok-like changes to Instagram—which Instagram paused after an outcry from major influencers—were part of a broader initiative that began last year to simplify the app, code name Panavision. You can read more... Earlier today, we published a story about Instagram’s internal efforts to take on TikTok. ...

Why ‘Battered’ SaaS Valuations Look Out of Touch With Reality

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 15, 2022 1:29pm PDT · 3 comments

Why ‘Battered’ SaaS Valuations Look Out of Touch With Reality

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 15, 2022 1:29pm PDT · 3 comments

Valuations for publicly traded enterprise software companies such as Salesforce and Workday have plunged from pandemic-era peaks, thanks to rising interest rates and worries that customers will cut software budgets during an economic slowdown. But there are signs the sell-off has gone too far. For the first time since at least 2019, the... Valuations for publicly traded enterprise software companies such as Salesforce and Workday have...

Art by Clark Miller.

How Instagram’s TikTok Envy Finally Backfired

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 15, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Last month, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and other influencers stirred up a public relations firestorm for Instagram, complaining to their hundreds of millions of followers about the app's recent attempts to mimic TikTok. Those efforts were just part of a broader internal effort to take on the Chinese short-form video app, though. The... Last month, Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and other influencers stirred up a public relations...

The Voyah Free SUV is among the challengers to Tesla's luxury crown in China. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Electric: Homegrown Brands Challenge Tesla’s Lock on China’s Luxury EV Market

By Steve LeVine · Aug 15, 2022 5:00am PDT

Today's column is by Dalibor Petkovic, a researcher specializing in Chinese industrial policies. Since 2017, he has focused on the Chinese EV market, as well as smart cities, urban logistics and battery recycling management. The emergence of electric vehicles in the past decade offered Chinese automakers—viewed as producing low-quality... Today's column is by Dalibor Petkovic, a researcher specializing in Chinese industrial policies....

The Shaky Mental State of Silicon Valley

The Shaky Mental State of Silicon Valley

By Jon Steinberg · Aug 13, 2022 8:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! Next month, when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors reconvenes after its summer recess, one of the matters up for discussion will be a resolution to decriminalize the use of psychedelics. While San Franciscans have never needed Board approval to partake in the wonders of nature, you can bet plenty of tech... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! Next month, when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...

Art by Clark Miller.

The Founder Who Got High on a Rooftop and Came Down With a Business

By Margaux MacColl · Aug 13, 2022 6:00am PDT

Art by Clark Miller.

The Founder Who Got High on a Rooftop and Came Down With a Business

By Margaux MacColl · Aug 13, 2022 6:00am PDT

Watching the app you built hit the 10 million-download threshold would be a career high for most founders. But for Ben-Zion Benkhin, it’s just another day at the office. Within the last two years, Benkhin, 26, has launched two wildly popular artificial intelligence–based apps. The first was Wombo.ai, which uses AI to create highly shareable,... Watching the app you built hit the 10 million-download threshold would be a career high for most...

Illustration by Clark Miller

Can Creatives Survive the Future War Against Dall-e 2?

By Louise Matsakis · Aug 12, 2022 12:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Earlier this year, Karen X. Cheng, a video director in San Francisco, was commissioned by a client to make an augmented reality dress for special events. The idea was to “hide” an animation of a beating heart within the dress, which an Instagram filter would reveal whenever a phone camera was pointed at the wearer’s chest. Cheng, who specializes... Earlier this year, Karen X. Cheng, a video director in San Francisco, was commissioned by a...

Art by Clark Miller

Bought and Sold

Meet Axios’ New Owners: Old-Money Atlanta Billionaires Hungry for the Next Big Thing

By Abram Brown · Aug 12, 2022 10:00am PDT · 5 comments

The pitch Sebastian Thrun made to investors in 2014 was an alluring one. Thrun—former head of Google X, the company’s top-secret skunkworks—had already raised over $20 million for his buzzy online-education startup, Udacity. Now he wanted more. He promised to profoundly disrupt education through online courses that put students through a... The pitch Sebastian Thrun made to investors in 2014 was an alluring one. Thrun—former head of...

Art by Clark Miller

‘It’s Just Bad News All the Time’: With the Tech Economy Buckling, Silicon Valley Therapists Are in High Demand

By Zara Stone · Aug 12, 2022 9:00am PDT

Over the last couple of months, David Mahabali has become highly skilled at lugging pillows, floor pads and blankets around the San Francisco Bay Area. He layers an assortment of them on the plush floors of McMansions in Woodside, spreads them across deep pile rugs in posh San Jose condos, and arranges them tidily in the living rooms of... Over the last couple of months, David Mahabali has become highly skilled at lugging pillows,...

Karl and me in New York. Karen Obrist Photography.

Meet Our First Chief Commercial Officer, Karl Wells

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 12, 2022 8:54am PDT · 6 comments

Karl and me in New York. Karen Obrist Photography.

Meet Our First Chief Commercial Officer, Karl Wells

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 12, 2022 8:54am PDT · 6 comments

It's been a busy few months at The Information. Our newsroom has been leading the narrative in coverage, from our early reporting on Netflix's dramatic move to advertising to our detection of the victims of the massive collapse underway in the private tech markets. Our scoops on major layoffs and cost-cutting have swung the... It's been a busy few months at The Information. Our newsroom has been leading the...

Illustration by Mike Sullivan.

Fintech Investors Cherry-Pick Deals in Boom’s Aftermath

By Erin Woo · Aug 12, 2022 6:00am PDT

In October, QED Investors managing partner Nigel Morris addressed the CEOs of several dozen fintech startups in an Alexandria, Va., hotel at the venture capital firm’s annual summit. After two days of discussions—and a cycling trip in Shenandoah National Park—he had a message for them: “These are the salad days.” ... In October, QED Investors managing partner Nigel Morris addressed the CEOs of several dozen...

Shouzi Chew, CEO of TikTok, in February. Photo by Bloomberg

TikTok’s Ad Business Is Giving Us Déjà Vu

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 11, 2022 5:00pm PDT

First, some news about us! I am thrilled to share that we’ve hired Karl Wells—who has been running the subscription business at Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal—as our first chief commercial officer. Joe Pompeo broke the news for Vanity Fair. I’m really proud of how we’ve driven the conversation in tech journalism these past eight and... First, some news about us! I am thrilled to share that we’ve hired Karl Wells—who has been...

Emily Yang, @pplpleaser. Credit: Emily Yang

Creator Economy

TikTok’s Ad Stumbles; an NFT Artist on Crypto Twitter, Philanthropy and Diversity

By Mahira Dayal · Aug 11, 2022 2:51pm PDT

TikTok aims to rival the ad revenue of digital titans such as Meta Platforms, but a new report from my colleague Sylvia shows that turbulence within the short-form video app’s ad sales department threatens to throw it off course.That turbulence includes a high-pressure culture that has resulted in heavy turnover. Since top-down instruction still... TikTok aims to rival the ad revenue of digital titans such as Meta Platforms, but a new report...

Art by Josh Brill

TikTok’s $4 Billion Advertising Machine Is Messy Behind the Scenes

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Aug 11, 2022 12:39pm PDT · 2 comments

Art by Josh Brill

TikTok’s $4 Billion Advertising Machine Is Messy Behind the Scenes

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Aug 11, 2022 12:39pm PDT · 2 comments

Two years ago, social media sensation TikTok came up with a slogan to prod brands to be more authentic in their advertisements on the app: “Don’t Make Ads. Make TikToks.” But last June that approach went off the rails with a high-profile marketing stunt by Starbucks. The coffee chain launched an ad campaign with Chance the... Two years ago, social media sensation TikTok came up with a slogan to prod brands to be more...