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

Photo via Getty

Figma’s Bubble and Apple’s Surprise

By Martin Peers · Jul 31, 2025 5:00pm PDT

What a day! Apple surprised with a much better quarter than it had projected, lifting revenue in the June quarter 10%, thanks to 13% higher iPhone revenue, the best iPhone quarter in four years. Amazon, meanwhile, reported the best growth for its online stores in three years. (See below for more on the quarterly results.) The biggest news today,... What a day! Apple surprised with a much better quarter than it had projected, lifting revenue in...

Adam Presser. Photo by Getty

Creator Economy

TikTok Leadership Shake-Up Lifts Presser’s Role

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Jul 31, 2025 3:00pm PDT

As TikTok nears another deadline to sell its U.S. business, the company is shaking up some of its senior roles. In a note to staff Thursday, which The Information reviewed, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said that Adam Presser, TikTok’s head of operations and trust & safety, will become head of USDS—a unit the company created to secure U.S.... As TikTok nears another deadline to sell its U.S. business, the company is shaking up some of its...

Dylan Field, co-founder and CEO of Figma, rings the opening bell today at the New York Stock Exchange. Photo via Getty

Figma’s Shares Soar 250% in IPO, Making It Hottest in String of Tech Deals

By Cory Weinberg · Jul 31, 2025 1:31pm PDT

Figma became the second-most richly valued publicly traded software company, after Palantir, following a blockbuster initial public offering. The company’s shares rose more than 250%, pushing its enterprise value at the end of Thursday to $67 billion. That means that investors are valuing Figma at about 55 times the revenue that bankers expect... Figma became the second-most richly valued publicly traded software company, after Palantir,...

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Getty

Meta Is on the Hunt for AI Video Deals

By Rocket Drew, Stephanie Palazzolo and Kalley Huang · Jul 31, 2025 12:09pm PDT

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Getty

Meta Is on the Hunt for AI Video Deals

By Rocket Drew, Stephanie Palazzolo and Kalley Huang · Jul 31, 2025 12:09pm PDT

Meta Platforms is prowling for partnerships with startups that use artificial intelligence to create and edit videos, as the social media giant’s AI dealmaking blitz enters new terrain. In recent weeks, Meta and Pika, which develops AI that can generate realistic videos, have discussed a partnership, including a possible acquisition or a deal to... Meta Platforms is prowling for partnerships with startups that use artificial intelligence to...

Diablo Canyon Power Plant in California. Photo by Getty

U.S. Taps Microsoft, OpenAI Tech to Cut Nuclear Red Tape

By Aaron Holmes and Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 31, 2025 10:30am PDT

Staff at the Idaho National Laboratory, a federal nuclear research facility, have been using artificial intelligence from OpenAI and Anthropic to automate routine work, such as drafting literature reviews of research papers or generating lines of code.But now, the lab is starting a more ambitious effort: using AI to automate how companies obtain... Staff at the Idaho National Laboratory, a federal nuclear research facility, have been using...

Erik Bernhardsson, CEO of Modal. Screenshot via YouTube

Another AI Cloud Startup Becomes a Unicorn

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Sri Muppidi · Jul 31, 2025 7:30am PDT

Lately, investors have been eager to back cloud startups that provide application developers with access to Nvidia graphics processing units and help them to develop and run AI models quickly. The investor interest comes despite questions about the profit margins of these startups, otherwise known as cloud GPU resellers or inference providers.In... Lately, investors have been eager to back cloud startups that provide application developers with...

Koray Kavukcuoglu. Photo courtesy of Google; Art by Mike Sullivan

How Google’s New AI Architect Plans to Spread Gemini Everywhere

By Erin Woo · Jul 31, 2025 6:00am PDT

When Google’s billionaire co-founder, Sergey Brin, needs something done at the company’s artificial intelligence unit—AI chips allocated to a team, a researcher hired, an employee moved to a new department—there’s one person he messages: Koray Kavukcuoglu. Kavukcuoglu isn’t Google’s flashiest AI leader, though he’s the chief... When Google’s billionaire co-founder, Sergey Brin, needs something done at the company’s...

Testing Bedrock's autonomously driven excavator. Photo: Courtesy Bedrock

The Electric: These Ex-Waymo Executives Are Automating Construction Equipment

By Steve LeVine · Jul 31, 2025 4:30am PDT

Testing Bedrock's autonomously driven excavator. Photo: Courtesy Bedrock

The Electric: These Ex-Waymo Executives Are Automating Construction Equipment

By Steve LeVine · Jul 31, 2025 4:30am PDT

It’s taken a decade or so for companies like Tesla, Waymo and others to launch self-driving vehicles. Now a group of five former Waymo executives is aiming to produce giant excavators that operate autonomously in just two years. It’s taken a decade or so for companies like Tesla, Waymo and others to launch self-driving...

Photo via Getty.

OpenAI Hits $12 Billion in Annualized Revenue, Breaks 700 Million ChatGPT Weekly Active Users

By Sri Muppidi · Jul 30, 2025 6:42pm PDT · 8 comments

OpenAI roughly doubled its revenue in the first seven months of the year, reaching $12 billion in annualized revenue, according to a person who spoke to OpenAI executives. That figure implies the ChatGPT maker is generating $1 billion a month, compared to about $500 million a month at the start of the year. The growth comes as the company logs... OpenAI roughly doubled its revenue in the first seven months of the year, reaching $12 billion in...

Mark Zuckerberg and Satya Nadella. Photos via Getty

Microsoft and Meta Have a Bonanza June Quarter

By Martin Peers · Jul 30, 2025 5:00pm PDT

For big tech, business is booming. That’s good, because their costs are also skyrocketing. Microsoft and Meta Platforms both reported better than projected June-quarter earnings on Wednesday, sending stocks of the two leaping 9% and 11.7%, respectively, in after-hours trading. But there may well be a reckoning, as both companies projected... For big tech, business is booming. That’s good, because their costs are also skyrocketing....

Photo via Getty

Creator Economy

Meta Says AI Is Boosting Social Engagement

By Kalley Huang and Kaya Yurieff · Jul 30, 2025 4:37pm PDT

Artificial intelligence was the star of Meta Platforms’ second-quarter earnings call on Wednesday. Meta’s long-term path to making money from AI is fuzzy. But right now, some of the most material benefits from Meta’s investments in AI are improvements to “ranking,” or how the company shows users relevant content on its social media apps.... Artificial intelligence was the star of Meta Platforms’ second-quarter earnings call on...

Art by Clark Miller

AI Threats Raise Demand for Cybersecurity Products That Don’t Exist (Yet)

By Aaron Holmes · Jul 30, 2025 10:00am PDT · 3 comments

Art by Clark Miller

Special Report Series

AI Threats Raise Demand for Cybersecurity Products That Don’t Exist (Yet)

By Aaron Holmes · Jul 30, 2025 10:00am PDT · 3 comments

Artificial intelligence that handles complex tasks with minimal human oversight, also known as an agent, is creating a bevy of security holes that require plugging.The problem: Tools to protect companies against the risks posed by the newfangled AI don’t exist yet, according to cybersecurity sellers, investors and IT executives. Artificial intelligence that handles complex tasks with minimal human oversight, also known as an...

Art via Mike Sullivan

AI Agenda: The Startups Hoping to Unseat Scale AI

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Sri Muppidi · Jul 30, 2025 7:00am PDT

Before we get to today's column, my colleague Valida and I reported Tuesday that Canadian AI model maker Cohere is in talks to raise up to $500 million in a new funding round at a $6.3 billion valuation. Existing investors Inovia Capital and Radical Ventures are in talks to invest in the round. This company recently generated revenue at an... Before we get to today's column, my colleague Valida and I reported Tuesday that Canadian AI...

Photo via Getty.

Amazon Locks Down Against Google’s AI Shopping Agents

By Ann Gehan · Jul 30, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Amazon is taking steps to keep other companies’ artificial intelligence shopping tools from swarming its e-commerce site. In recent weeks, Amazon updated the code underpinning its website to add language warding off new AI agents from Google. These changes follow restrictions Amazon added earlier this year calling out bots from Perplexity,... Amazon is taking steps to keep other companies’ artificial intelligence shopping tools from...

Lee Brown (left) and Daniel Ek (right). Photos via Getty

Spotify Throws Former Ad Chief Under Bus

By Martin Peers · Jul 29, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 3 comments

Talk about hanging someone out to dry! A day after DoorDash confirmed it had hired Lee Brown, Spotify’s longtime ad chief, as chief revenue officer, Spotify executives went out of their way to complain about the company’s ad performance—and by implication, the job Brown had done. When asked on the company’s second-quarter earnings call about... Talk about hanging someone out to dry! A day after DoorDash confirmed it had hired Lee Brown,...

Aidan Gomez, founder and CEO of Cohere. Photo by Getty

AI Startup Cohere Projects $200 Million Revenue Pace as New Funding Nears

By Sri Muppidi and Valida Pau · Jul 29, 2025 4:49pm PDT

Aidan Gomez, founder and CEO of Cohere. Photo by Getty

AI Startup Cohere Projects $200 Million Revenue Pace as New Funding Nears

By Sri Muppidi and Valida Pau · Jul 29, 2025 4:49pm PDT

Cohere, a Canadian artificial intelligence developer that competes with Anthropic and OpenAI, has sustained one of the richest valuations in the industry as a multiple of the relatively modest revenue it generates. Now it’s told investors that sales are picking up—enough to entice existing shareholders to sink more money into the... Cohere, a Canadian artificial intelligence developer that competes with Anthropic and OpenAI, has...

Kraken CEO Arjun Sethi. Photo via Getty

Kraken’s $15 Billion Price Tag; Dylan Field’s Unusual Power

By Cory Weinberg · Jul 29, 2025 3:01pm PDT

The tech investment climate feels more like New York City (97 degrees) today than San Francisco (67 degrees). That is to say, it’s scorching hot and starting to get uncomfortable. The latest major startup deal I’m hearing about is crypto exchange Kraken seeking about $500 million, at a $15 billion valuation, according to people familiar... The tech investment climate feels more like New York City (97 degrees) today than San Francisco...

Still from our interview with LTK co-founder Amber Venz Box on the July 24 episode of TITV.

Creator Economy

The Creator Startup Banning AI Bots

By Kaya Yurieff · Jul 29, 2025 2:00pm PDT

Nearly everywhere I look, I’m seeing signs of how artificial intelligence is shaking up the way we engage online, from shopping to social media. OpenAI is reportedly working on a new checkout feature, betting that more consumers will turn to chatbots like its ChatGPT to find and purchase products. At the same time, I’m seeing an influx of... Nearly everywhere I look, I’m seeing signs of how artificial intelligence is shaking up the way...

Andrew Feldman, co-founder of Cerebras. Photo by Getty.

Cerebras Seeks Up to $1 Billion in Private Funding, Delaying Possible IPO

By Valida Pau and Cory Weinberg · Jul 29, 2025 12:58pm PDT

Cerebras Systems, a startup that is developing artificial intelligence chips to challenge Nvidia’s, is planning to raise money privately, potentially delaying a plan to go public this year, the company has told investors. The company is in talks to raise up to $1 billion in fresh funding, according to a person familiar with the discussion.... Cerebras Systems, a startup that is developing artificial intelligence chips to challenge Nvidia’...

Arsalan Tavakoli, a Databricks co-founder.

Databricks Makes It Easier to Get Out of Oracle

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 29, 2025 11:23am PDT

Arsalan Tavakoli, a Databricks co-founder.

Databricks Makes It Easier to Get Out of Oracle

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 29, 2025 11:23am PDT

Artificial intelligence that rewrites code and can reprogram old apps into newer formats is lowering the cost of switching enterprise software providers and is poised to help companies tackle previously nearly impossible tasks, as Aaron reported Monday. One such task we’re hearing more about involves companies getting their data out of... Artificial intelligence that rewrites code and can reprogram old apps into newer formats is ...