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

A Lyft drivers hub in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg

Lyft’s Pandemic Is Far From Over

By Martin Peers · Aug 3, 2021 5:04pm PDT · 1 comment

After the rush of the advertising-based internet firms reporting blockbuster growth, we’re coming down to earth this week with the ride-sharing companies Lyft and Uber reporting their second-quarter results. The verdict, at least so far: meh. Lyft went first today, reporting 125% growth in revenue from last year’s pandemic-crushed second... After the rush of the advertising-based internet firms reporting blockbuster growth, we’re coming...

Patreon CEO Jack Conte. Photo credit: Patreon

Creator Economy

Patreon’s Jack Conte: ‘Phase Two’ of Creator Tools Will Help Them Build Companies

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 3, 2021 4:28pm PDT

On Monday, we wrote about the rise of fan membership services. Many of them are following the model of Patreon, the platform for artists and other creators. CEO Jack Conte, who co-founded the startup eight years ago because he was frustrated with his band’s slim earnings from YouTube ads, has played a pioneering role in developing new ways for... On Monday, we wrote about the rise of fan membership services. Many of them are following the...

SEC’s Gensler Vows Tighter Crypto Rules; Digital Yuan Risks

By Hannah Miller · Aug 3, 2021 2:54pm PDT

Gary Gensler has put the crypto industry on notice. While speaking at the Aspen Security Forum on Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission chair made clear that he plans to bring more oversight to crypto trading, lending and decentralized finance platforms—and wants lawmakers to give the agency additional power to better regulate the... Gary Gensler has put the crypto industry on notice. While speaking at the Aspen Security Forum on...

Attorney-General Merrick Garland. Photo by Bloomberg

DOJ Weighing a Lawsuit to Block UnitedHealth’s $8 Billion Change Purchase

By Josh Sisco · Aug 3, 2021 2:42pm PDT

Attorney-General Merrick Garland. Photo by Bloomberg

DOJ Weighing a Lawsuit to Block UnitedHealth’s $8 Billion Change Purchase

By Josh Sisco · Aug 3, 2021 2:42pm PDT

The U.S. Department of Justice is weighing a possible lawsuit to block UnitedHealth’s $8 billion purchase of health care analytics and technology vendor Change Healthcare, according to people familiar with the matter. If the DOJ proceeds with litigation, it would be the latest sign that the Biden administration is aggressively pursuing... The U.S. Department of Justice is weighing a possible lawsuit to block UnitedHealth’s $8...

Workers at a store in Brazil, in May 2020. With more shoppers at home, online e-commerce surged in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America last year. Photo: Bloomberg

Nuvemshop, a Shopify Rival in Latin America, Valued at $2 Billion by Tiger Global

By Berber Jin · Aug 3, 2021 12:35pm PDT

Nuvemshop, a Latin American e-commerce startup similar to Shopify, is raising a new round of funding led by Tiger Global Management that could value the company at $2 billion including the new capital, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Series E round would add to the $90 million the São Paulo–based Nuvemshop raised... Nuvemshop, a Latin American e-commerce startup similar to Shopify, is raising a new round of...

Google's hardware chief Rick Osterloh. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google’s New Mobile Chip Is For AI First, AR Second

By Mathew Olson · Aug 3, 2021 11:00am PDT

With its upcoming line of Pixel 6 phones, teased on Monday months before the fall release, Google demonstrated just how much it is prioritizing artificial intelligence-powered improvements over AR-focused enhancements. It’s one way Google is differentiating the phones from Apple, which has gone all-in on new AR capabilities on the iPhone thanks... With its upcoming line of Pixel 6 phones, teased on Monday months before the fall release, Google...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Munich in 2020. Photo: Bloomberg.

Facebook Researchers Hope to Bring Together Two Foes: Encryption and Ads

By Sarah Krouse and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Aug 3, 2021 6:10am PDT · 2 comments

Facebook is bulking up a team of artificial intelligence researchers, including a key hire from Microsoft, to study ways of analyzing encrypted data without decrypting it, the company confirmed. The research could allow Facebook to target ads based on encrypted messages on its WhatsApp messenger, or to encrypt the data it collects on billions of... Facebook is bulking up a team of artificial intelligence researchers, including a key hire from...

Square's Jack Dorsey. Photo by Bloomberg

What Dorsey’s Square Deal for Afterpay Means For Affirm

By Martin Peers · Aug 2, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Square's Jack Dorsey. Photo by Bloomberg

What Dorsey’s Square Deal for Afterpay Means For Affirm

By Martin Peers · Aug 2, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Affirm CEO Max Levchin owes Jack Dorsey big time. Just two weeks ago, news that Apple was working on an Affirm-like buy-now-pay-later consumer service sent Affirm shares plunging 14%. Today, after Dorsey’s Square unveiled plans to buy Affirm’s bigger rival, Australia-based Afterpay, Affirm’s stock jumped back 15%. Competition from Square cancels... Affirm CEO Max Levchin owes Jack Dorsey big time. Just two weeks ago, news that Apple was working...

Maroon 5 performs on Feb. 27, 2020. Photo: AP

Creator Economy

The Rise of Fan Membership Services; Pearpop’s Maroon 5 Challenge

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 2, 2021 4:09pm PDT

For some creators, brand sponsorships are losing their luster, even though they remain the top way to make money. Subscriptions, a path to earn recurring income directly from fans, have emerged as an attractive second option. That’s fueled the success of OnlyFans and Patreon. Now other startups and big social networks are following suit.... For some creators, brand sponsorships are losing their luster, even though they remain the top...

Industry Braces for New Tax Rules; Square’s Bitcoin Paradox

By Hannah Miller · Aug 2, 2021 2:51pm PDT

The bipartisan infrastructure bill, a full draft of which was released publicly on Sunday, continues to put the cryptocurrency industry on edge, as trade groups argue that the bill’s language is too broad and includes too many businesses as “brokers” that would have to report crypto transactions to tax regulators.While trade groups want the... The bipartisan infrastructure bill, a full draft of which was released publicly on Sunday,...

TaxBit co-founders Justin Woodward (left) and Austin Woodward (right). Photo: TaxBit, Shutterstock.

Crypto Software Startup TaxBit Triples Valuation in Insight-Led Round

By Kate Clark · Aug 2, 2021 12:39pm PDT · 1 comment

TaxBit, a startup that develops tax software for traders of cryptocurrency, is raising over $100 million at a $1.5 billion valuation in a new funding round, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter. Insight Partners, a New York-based VC firm, is one of the lead investors, one of the people said. The new round would more than... TaxBit, a startup that develops tax software for traders of cryptocurrency, is raising over $100...

A Japanese politician at the opening ceremony for a three-day Pokemon Go event in Japan in 2017. Photo by AP

What Pokemon Go’s Pandemic Decisions Might Mean for AR’s Future

By Mathew Olson · Aug 2, 2021 11:00am PDT

A Japanese politician at the opening ceremony for a three-day Pokemon Go event in Japan in 2017. Photo by AP

What Pokemon Go’s Pandemic Decisions Might Mean for AR’s Future

By Mathew Olson · Aug 2, 2021 11:00am PDT

Pokemon Go’s sustained success will surely influence the design of AR games for the foreseeable future. It’s worth paying attention, then, to what Pokemon fans have to say—and how the Go developer, Niantic, reacts to fan fury triggered by the company’s weekend decision to roll back some key pandemic-related changes to the game.Niantic designed... Pokemon Go’s sustained success will surely influence the design of AR games for the foreseeable...

Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Amazon Installed Cameras to Track Drivers. New Documents Reveal How They Work.

By Mark Di Stefano · Aug 2, 2021 6:01am PDT

Amazon raised privacy hackles earlier this year with a plan to put high-tech video cameras in delivery vans to keep tabs on its drivers’ attention to safety. Now confidential documents viewed by The Information show how Amazon is using the devices to collect safety data about drivers that can affect the profits of the independent companies... Amazon raised privacy hackles earlier this year with a plan to put high-tech video cameras in...

The Bad News That Elon Musk Shared and Everybody Missed

By Steve LeVine · Aug 1, 2021 2:00pm PDT

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, right, and battery chief Drew Baglino at Battery Day. Credit: Steve Jurvetson / FlickrLast week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk crowed about the company’s first $1 billion quarterly profit—its eighth consecutive profitable quarter—and seemed to leave behind the relentless specter of imminent corporate bankruptcy that had previously... Tesla CEO Elon Musk, right, and battery chief Drew Baglino at Battery Day. Credit: Steve...

What the Heck Is Going On in China?

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 31, 2021 7:45am PDT · 3 comments

It’s been a few months of startling headlines out of the China tech sector as the government has initiated an unprecedented crackdown across all corners of China’s tech economy. More on why it is happening later—first let’s consider some of the carnage. It’s been a few months of startling headlines out of the China tech sector as the government has...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Bloomberg.

Microsoft’s Dubious Cloud Growth Tactic

By Martin Peers · Jul 30, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 4 comments

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Bloomberg.

Microsoft’s Dubious Cloud Growth Tactic

By Martin Peers · Jul 30, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 4 comments

One of the more eyebrow-raising stories of this week, in a week full of big tech news, was that Microsoft is considering investing in India-based hotel chain Oyo. If true—and Microsoft declined to comment on the report, which appeared first in TechCrunch—it would be a truly bizarre use of the software giant’s cash resources. Forget, for a... One of the more eyebrow-raising stories of this week, in a week full of big tech news, was that...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Bloomberg

China Antitrust Officials Delay Review of Nvidia’s $40 Billion Arm Acquisition

By Josh Sisco · Jul 30, 2021 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

It’s not just Chinese tech companies that are facing difficulties with China’s ruling party. Take Nvidia’s $40 billion takeover of chip designer Arm. While China’s competition regulators have been talking to the two companies since early this year, the agency’s formal review hasn’t even started yet, according... It’s not just Chinese tech companies that are facing difficulties with China’s ruling...

Robinhood co founders Baiju Bhatt, left, and Vladimir Tenev, walk on Wall Street following their company's IPO. Photo by AP

Robinhood’s Dismal Opening Is a Telling Sign

By Martin Peers · Jul 29, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

The stock market may be at record highs, but there were plenty of red lights flashing today. The most glaring of these would have to be the dismal opening day performance of Robinhood, the company most obviously associated with the post-Covid bull market. After pricing at the bottom end of its preliminary range, the stock fell sharply shortly... The stock market may be at record highs, but there were plenty of red lights flashing today. The...

Photo by Bloomberg

Creator Economy

Can TikTok Be Knocked Off? Comments By Facebook, Snap and YouTube Point to ‘No’

By Kaya Yurieff · Jul 29, 2021 4:00pm PDT

Can anyone catch TikTok? YouTube, Instagram and Snap have each tried to adapt to the paradigm shift caused by the ByteDance-owned short-form video app, which took the world by storm in the past few years. They’ve given little indication that people actually like their TikTok clones.On a conference call with analysts on Wednesday, Facebook CEO ... Can anyone catch TikTok? YouTube, Instagram and Snap have each tried to adapt to the paradigm...

Ramp co-founders Karim Atiyeh (left) and Eric Glyman. Photo courtesy of Ramp.

Founders Fund, Iconiq Value Ramp at $3.8 Billion in New Funding Round

By Kate Clark · Jul 29, 2021 3:25pm PDT

Ramp co-founders Karim Atiyeh (left) and Eric Glyman. Photo courtesy of Ramp.

Founders Fund, Iconiq Value Ramp at $3.8 Billion in New Funding Round

By Kate Clark · Jul 29, 2021 3:25pm PDT

Corporate credit card startup Ramp is raising its fourth round of venture funding in under eight months, underscoring how back-to-back fundraising rounds—with relatively little business progress in between—is becoming the norm for startups in hot fields such as financial services. Founders Fund is leading a new funding round that... Corporate credit card startup Ramp is raising its fourth round of venture funding in under eight...