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

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: Mike Sullivan

A Boost From Andreessen; BitMEX’s Reputation Rehabilitation

By Hannah Miller · Jun 24, 2021 2:57pm PDT

In a week marked by heightened volatility, cryptocurrency got some positive news: Andreessen Horowitz announced its third crypto fund with a whopping valuation of $2.2 billion. The investment firm’s new commitment on crypto is a reminder that despite some gloomy signals—Coinbase’s lackluster stock performance in the months after its direct... In a week marked by heightened volatility, cryptocurrency got some positive news: Andreessen...

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan. Photo by Bloomberg

New FTC Chair Lina Khan Appoints Antitrust Chief, Other Key Staffers

By Josh Sisco · Jun 24, 2021 12:54pm PDT · 1 comment

Lina Khan, the new chair of the Federal Trade Commission, on Thursday named three top staff members amid one of the most radical shifts in the agency’s history, according to a memo viewed by The Information. Holly Vedova, who was an adviser to FTC commissioner Rohit Chopra, a Democrat, on antitrust issues, is now the acting director of the... Lina Khan, the new chair of the Federal Trade Commission, on Thursday named three top staff...

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti. Photo by Bloomberg.

BuzzFeed Confirms Merger Plans, Showing Advertising Remains Central to Future

By Sahil Patel · Jun 24, 2021 12:34pm PDT

When BuzzFeed confirmed its plan to go public on Thursday, it made the pitch that it can accelerate growth through newer, fast-growing businesses like commerce. Yet the details of its presentation to investors show BuzzFeed still expects to be heavily reliant on advertising, a business in which it has struggled to grow over the past few years. ... When BuzzFeed confirmed its plan to go public on Thursday, it made the pitch that it can...

By Visual Generation

Tech Companies Discover Hidden Costs of Remote Work

By Sarah Krouse · Jun 24, 2021 6:00am PDT · 8 comments

By Visual Generation

Tech Companies Discover Hidden Costs of Remote Work

By Sarah Krouse · Jun 24, 2021 6:00am PDT · 8 comments

Last August, executives at Happy Money, a financial services startup, told staff the company would go fully remote after noticing remote workers were more productive and focused during work hours. Nearly a year later, the cost of the move has become apparent. The Tustin, Calif.-based company has incurred new expenses such as postage associated... Last August, executives at Happy Money, a financial services startup, told staff the company...

Apple executive Craig Federighi. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple’s Malware Red Herring

By Martin Peers · Jun 23, 2021 5:02pm PDT

In case you missed it—by perhaps living in the Arctic with no internet access—Apple wants you to know that allowing people to “sideload” apps from third party app stores would pose a security risk for iPhone users. It made that case today in a paper it published that was written in the most consumer-friendly way, complete with colorful drawings.... In case you missed it—by perhaps living in the Arctic with no internet access—Apple wants you to...

Homebrew partner Hunter Walk. Photo courtesy of Homebrew

Creator Economy

Investments in Creator Economy Startups Hit $2 Billion; An Interview With Homebrew’s Hunter Walk

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 23, 2021 4:00pm PDT

The deals & debut section of this newsletter is always hopping—and that’s starting to show up in the numbers. Investors have poured at least $2 billion into U.S.-based creator economy startups so far this year, according to data compiled by The Information. For the full list of VC-backed startups, tune in next week when we launch our creator... The deals & debut section of this newsletter is always hopping—and that’s starting to show up...

Bitcoin’s Loss Could Be Stablecoins’ Gain

By Hannah Miller · Jun 23, 2021 3:20pm PDT

The latest volatility in the cryptocurrency market appears to be giving stablecoins a boost, as crypto investors gravitate toward currencies seen as less vulnerable to sharp gyrations. The market capitalizations of leading stablecoins including tether and USDC have jumped in the past 24 hours, gaining hundreds of millions of dollars. With their... The latest volatility in the cryptocurrency market appears to be giving stablecoins a boost, as...

Art: Mike Sullivan

Startups Bank On Artificial Intelligence to Help Fill News Deserts

By Aidan Ryan · Jun 23, 2021 12:26pm PDT · 1 comment

Art: Mike Sullivan

Startups Bank On Artificial Intelligence to Help Fill News Deserts

By Aidan Ryan · Jun 23, 2021 12:26pm PDT · 1 comment

Who is covering your local school board meeting? It could be a computer algorithm. As local newspapers continue to struggle financially, some startups are looking to artificial intelligence to help report on local news. In the past few years, investors have funneled millions of dollars into companies such as Knowhere News, News Break and... Who is covering your local school board meeting? It could be a computer algorithm. As local...

Apps on a Vizio television set, including for YouTube and YouTube TV. Photo from Vizio

YouTube’s Audience on TVs Soars, But TV Advertisers Go Slow

By Sahil Patel · Jun 23, 2021 6:00am PDT

Viewers of YouTube, who have long watched the popular video service on their phones and computers, are now increasingly watching it on television sets, according to new data shared with The Information. But despite the shift, some traditional TV advertisers are still balking at moving their ad dollars to the service. Nearly 40% of ads that air... Viewers of YouTube, who have long watched the popular video service on their phones and...

Splunk's San Jose, Calif. office. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Silver Lake’s Splunk Investment Means

By Martin Peers · Jun 22, 2021 5:05pm PDT

The Federal Reserve feels raising interest rates too soon could choke off the recovery. But if you’ve been paying attention to what cheap money has wrought, you might wish the Fed could move faster. Take the recent spate of money-raisings by a select group of tech companies, which has fueled less-than-productive spending on stock buybacks and... The Federal Reserve feels raising interest rates too soon could choke off the recovery. But if...

Images courtesy of Twitter

Creator Economy

Twitter Cuts Creator Fees, Patreon CEO Weighs in on Apple Tax

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 22, 2021 4:00pm PDT

When Facebook announced early this month that it wouldn’t take a cut of revenues from new creator-focused features like fan subscriptions for at least the next 18 months, it put pressure on other social networks to reconsider their own fees.Twitter made its move Tuesday when it announced people can apply for Super Follows, which allow users to... When Facebook announced early this month that it wouldn’t take a cut of revenues from new...

Mike Sullivan

Why Bitcoin Could Weather China’s Tough Stance

By Hannah Miller · Jun 22, 2021 3:26pm PDT

Mike Sullivan

Why Bitcoin Could Weather China’s Tough Stance

By Hannah Miller · Jun 22, 2021 3:26pm PDT

The price of bitcoin hit its lowest point since January on Tuesday before rebounding to climb back above $32,000, as the market continued to process the impact of new mining restrictions in China. Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are equating Beijing’s latest crackdown setback to a rite of passage endured by Facebook and Google. Like the tech... The price of bitcoin hit its lowest point since January on Tuesday before rebounding to climb...

A screengrab of One Piece: Blood Routes via YouTube

TikTok Owner ByteDance Finds Game Success Through Influencers

By Juro Osawa · Jun 22, 2021 9:01am PDT · 2 comments

ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, has proved it can generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue from online ads on its blockbuster video apps. Now it may finally have figured out how to get a bigger piece of the huge games market, after having made repeated missteps in the category. In April, ByteDance launched a new mobile... ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, has proved it can generate tens of billions of...

Photos by Bloomberg. Photo illustration by Mike Sullivan.

Amazon Says Its Suppliers Must Protect Whistleblowers. This One’s in Jail

By Wayne Ma · Jun 22, 2021 6:01am PDT

Amazon says it expects its manufacturers to protect whistleblowers, but that wasn’t enough to help a manager who raised alarms about labor violations involving teenage workers at a Chinese factory that made Kindles and Echos. In 2019, the manager secretly sent records showing how the factory’s student interns were underpaid and... Amazon says it expects its manufacturers to protect whistleblowers, but that wasn’t enough...

Uber's San Francisco headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg.

Uber’s High-Price Grocery Delivery Bet

By Martin Peers · Jun 21, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Greetings!It’s boom time for lazy people! Well, at least those people who couldn’t be bothered leaving the house to buy a bottle of beer or pick up the groceries. Delivery service GoPuff today struck a deal to buy Liquor Barn, an alcohol retailer, its second such purchase in a few months. Uber, meanwhile, said it would spend $1.4 billion in... Greetings!It’s boom time for lazy people! Well, at least those people who couldn’t be bothered...

Views of Facebook's new podcast product. Photos courtesy of Facebook.

Why Facebook Needs to Get Into Podcasts

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 21, 2021 4:00pm PDT

Views of Facebook's new podcast product. Photos courtesy of Facebook.

Creator Economy

Why Facebook Needs to Get Into Podcasts

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 21, 2021 4:00pm PDT

Facebook could have chosen many moments over the last ten years to launch podcasts, say in 2018 when Google rolled out its own podcast app, or a year later, when Spotify bought popular producer Gimlet Media. Facebook’s decision to try podcasts now says a lot about how the medium has emerged as a part of a must-have toolset for creators—as well... Facebook could have chosen many moments over the last ten years to launch podcasts, say in 2018...

Mike Sullivan

China’s Bid to ‘Squash’ Bitcoin; Mining on the Move

By Hannah Miller · Jun 21, 2021 3:20pm PDT

Bitcoin prices tumbled Monday after China took fresh steps to rein in cryptocurrency activity by shutting down mining operations in Sichuan province. Ostensibly, Beijing’s latest move was tied to concerns about crypto mining’s toll on the environment. The new crackdown follows a wave of restrictions designed, in theory, to protect its citizens... Bitcoin prices tumbled Monday after China took fresh steps to rein in cryptocurrency activity by...

Unity Software CEO John Riccitiello. Photo by Bloomberg

The Big Interview

Unity CEO Predicts AR-VR Headsets Will Be as Common as Game Consoles by 2030

By Nick Wingfield · Jun 21, 2021 10:14am PDT

By his own admission, John Riccitiello has a long history of making predictions—some of them right, others not. Riccitiello, a long-time videogame industry executive who is now CEO of Unity Software, once blew it with a prediction that a new Sony PlayStation game console would come out a year earlier than it did. He did better in 2015... By his own admission, John Riccitiello has a long history of making predictions—some of...

Photo: Bloomberg

Shopify Seeks to Challenge Amazon Through Deals With BuzzFeed, Other Sites

By Jessica Toonkel and Sahil Patel · Jun 21, 2021 6:01am PDT · 2 comments

Shopify, which has become a major force in e-commerce by providing online tools to merchants, is rolling out a new service that will allow content publishers to link to merchants in the Shopify network in exchange for a cut of transaction revenue, according to people familiar with the situation. The nascent move into an area known as affiliate... Shopify, which has become a major force in e-commerce by providing online tools to merchants, is...

Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Is Clubhouse the Next Foursquare?

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jun 19, 2021 7:45am PDT · 14 comments

Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Is Clubhouse the Next Foursquare?

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jun 19, 2021 7:45am PDT · 14 comments

More than a decade ago, I was covering tech out of New York when a hot New York–based app hit the scene. It was called Foursquare, and the idea behind it was pretty radical—it allowed people to “check in” to locations from their phones to let their friends know where they were. If you had the most check-ins in one location, you could even become... More than a decade ago, I was covering tech out of New York when a hot New York–based app hit the...