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

Amazon’s Next Chapter — The 411 Podcast

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 4, 2021 2:50pm PDT

Amazon has been making big moves in Hollywood. What does that tell us about the company’s new CEO Andy Jassy? Cory talks to The Information’s Kevin McLaughlin and Jessica Toonkel about their recent reporting on what Amazon's incoming boss is up to. Then, Cory and senior editor Wendy Pollack discuss the downfall of Katerra, the... Amazon has been making big moves in Hollywood. What does that tell us about the company’s...

Illustration by Laurent Bazart

Fearing ‘Tsunami’ of Lawsuits, SPAC Insurers Hike Premiums

By Berber Jin · Jun 4, 2021 6:20am PDT · 3 comments

It’s getting costlier for SPAC backers to buy insurance against future shareholder lawsuits, a fresh sign of soured sentiment toward these once-hot public offerings. Insurance carriers that write policies to shield company directors and executives against shareholder lawsuits are increasing premiums for those affiliated with special... It’s getting costlier for SPAC backers to buy insurance against future shareholder...

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Photo by Bloomberg

Twitter’s Subscription Plan Generates Yawn From Wall Street

By Martin Peers · Jun 3, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Twitter finally provided some clarity about its plans for subscriptions today, unveiling what it calls Twitter Blue, now going live in Canada and Australia. For about $3 a month, hardcore Twitter users can get what can only be described as minor enhancements, such as the ability to undo a tweet within 30 seconds of sending it. This won’t... Twitter finally provided some clarity about its plans for subscriptions today, unveiling what it...

TikTok performer Adam Rose. Photo: Storm Santos

TikTok’s Hidden Political Ads; How a Viral Dance Won a Fortnite Deal

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 3, 2021 3:06pm PDT

TikTok performer Adam Rose. Photo: Storm Santos

Creator Economy

TikTok’s Hidden Political Ads; How a Viral Dance Won a Fortnite Deal

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 3, 2021 3:06pm PDT

When it comes to making sure its influencers fess up when they’re getting paid to post, TikTok has trailed peers like Instagram, which has a system that automatically prompts creators for such disclosures.New research from Mozilla that exposed how influencers used undisclosed sponsorships to get around TikTok’s ban on political advertising... When it comes to making sure its influencers fess up when they’re getting paid to post, TikTok...

Jony Ive in 2019. Photo by AP

Ex-Apple Design Boss Jony Ive Recruited at Least Five Former Colleagues to New Firm

By Wayne Ma and Sarah Krouse · Jun 3, 2021 11:58am PDT · 1 comment

Wan Si, a 16-year veteran of Apple’s famed design team who worked on numerous Apple app icons, buttons and home screens, recently joined the consulting firm founded by Apple’s former design chief Jonathan Ive, The Information has learned. She is one of at least five Apple design team members Ive has recruited to his firm since... Wan Si, a 16-year veteran of Apple’s famed design team who worked on numerous Apple app...

People wearing Magic Leap's first headset at a conference in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

Magic Leap Switches to Team AMD

By Mathew Olson · Jun 3, 2021 11:18am PDT

There isn’t much we know about Magic Leap’s next AR headset, aside from its late-2021 release date. The few details Magic Leap has shared—for example, that its field of view will be double that of its predecessor—tend to beg a lot of questions about the product.But yesterday we got one intriguing clue. The upcoming headset, the first since Magic... There isn’t much we know about Magic Leap’s next AR headset, aside from its late-2021 release...

Shoppers in front of the Tesla showroom at a shopping plaza in Shanghai, China, in March. Photo by Bloomberg.

Tesla’s China Orders Halved in May, Internal Data Show, As Crisis Deepens

By Juro Osawa · Jun 3, 2021 10:42am PDT · 3 comments

Tesla vehicle orders in China fell by nearly half in May compared to April, according to internal data, as the electric car pioneer grappled with public outcry and government criticism over its handling of consumer complaints. Taken together, the developments put in doubt Tesla’s vaunted position and success in the world’s biggest... Tesla vehicle orders in China fell by nearly half in May compared to April, according to internal...

Scenes from Netflix's anime series Knights of Sidonia, Eden and Yasuke. Screengrabs via YouTube.

Netflix’s Anime Push Helps Drive Strong Growth Everywhere—Except in Japan

By Jessica Toonkel and Juro Osawa · Jun 3, 2021 6:00am PDT

Scenes from Netflix's anime series Knights of Sidonia, Eden and Yasuke. Screengrabs via YouTube.

Netflix’s Anime Push Helps Drive Strong Growth Everywhere—Except in Japan

By Jessica Toonkel and Juro Osawa · Jun 3, 2021 6:00am PDT

If you had to list all the factors that made Netflix a global success, near the top of the list would be the streaming service’s ability to make programs that travel well. Spanish-made shows such as “Money Heist” have done well in India, for instance. Millions of households across Southeast Asia and Japan watched the South... If you had to list all the factors that made Netflix a global success, near the top of the list...

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston. Photo by Bloomberg

Elliott to Dropbox: Houston, We Have a Problem

By Martin Peers · Jun 2, 2021 5:02pm PDT · 2 comments

Activist investor Elliott Management has had remarkable success lately, helping push both AT&T to abandon its disastrous entertainment diversification and Dell to spin off VMware. (Its track record in Twitter, on the other hand, is, well, meh). It will, however, take all of Elliott’s skill to get a return on its investment in Dropbox, first... Activist investor Elliott Management has had remarkable success lately, helping push both...

An Apple customer in Sydney, Australia, on Friday, Nov. 13, 2020. Photo: Bloomberg

Creator Economy

Apple’s Brewing Battle Over Creator Commissions; Stir Hires from Instagram

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 2, 2021 4:00pm PDT

Apple’s high-profile trial with Epic Games stoked the complaint that Apple’s 30% cut of every in-app purchase hurts social media creators. These gripes are lasting beyond the trial’s end last month, suggesting that even if the judge rules favorably for Apple, creators may be increasingly willing to fight a PR battle to pressure the company to... Apple’s high-profile trial with Epic Games stoked the complaint that Apple’s 30% cut of every...

An example of the new multipeer AR effects for Messenger. Image courtesy of Facebook

Facebook and Snap Vie for New AR Developers

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

Here’s a figure that Facebook and Snap more or less have in common: 2 million AR effects. Just last month, Snap announced that its community of AR creators had produced nearly that many AR Lenses—Snap’s term for an AR effect. And today Facebook announced that the total number of AR effects made for its apps (chiefly Instagram and Messenger) has... Here’s a figure that Facebook and Snap more or less have in common: 2 million AR effects. Just...

Chart by Mike Sullivan

Apple’s Supplier List Shifts Towards China Despite Trade War

By Wayne Ma · Jun 2, 2021 9:00am PDT

Chart by Mike Sullivan

Apple’s Supplier List Shifts Towards China Despite Trade War

By Wayne Ma · Jun 2, 2021 9:00am PDT

Apple has disclosed the list of its top 200 suppliers for the first time in two years, revealing an increased reliance on Chinese companies—even as some of them have expanded production to Vietnam and India to avoid U.S. tariffs and export controls. Meanwhile, the company relied less on suppliers based in either Japan or the U.S. The shift... Apple has disclosed the list of its top 200 suppliers for the first time in two years, revealing...

Art by Mike Sullivan

‘Shopify Mafia’ Aims to Become Bigger Force in Angel Investing

By Mark Di Stefano · Jun 2, 2021 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Every week, the phones of more than two dozen current and former Shopify employees ping with alerts for a new group chat on Signal, the encrypted messaging app. The chat—dubbed Shopify Angels by its participants—has become a gathering spot for a new generation of investors connected through their past or present work for... Every week, the phones of more than two dozen current and former Shopify employees ping with...

Credit: Erin Beach

Autonomous Vehicles Summit

Announcing the 2021 Autonomous Vehicle Summit Breakouts

By The Information Staff · Jun 1, 2021 11:28pm PDT

We’re excited to see everyone virtually on June 9 at our 5th annual Autonomous Vehicles Summit, focused on the latest developments in the field. An important part of the Summit is the breakout session: your opportunity to hear from key principals in the industry and to ask them all your burning questions. This year, you’ll be able to... We’re excited to see everyone virtually on June 9 at our 5th annual Autonomous Vehicles...

Someone taking a photo of Cloudera signage when the company went public at the New York Stock Exchange in 2017. Photo by Bloomberg

Requiem for Cloudera and What It Means for Confluent IPO

By Martin Peers · Jun 1, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Next time you feel the urge to buy stock of a fast-growing enterprise software company, remember Cloudera. Private equity firms KKR and Clayton Dubilier & Rice today unveiled a deal to buy the enterprise software company for $16 a share, $1 more than where Cloudera went public in 2017. Still, the offer price is a darn sight better than the... Next time you feel the urge to buy stock of a fast-growing enterprise software company, remember...

Racks housing GPUs mine the Ethereum and Zilliqa cryptocurrencies at the Evobits crypto farm in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Photo by Bloomberg

Union Square Ventures Values Crypto Publishing Tool Mirror at $100 Million

By Kate Clark · Jun 1, 2021 4:09pm PDT · 2 comments

Racks housing GPUs mine the Ethereum and Zilliqa cryptocurrencies at the Evobits crypto farm in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Photo by Bloomberg

Union Square Ventures Values Crypto Publishing Tool Mirror at $100 Million

By Kate Clark · Jun 1, 2021 4:09pm PDT · 2 comments

Union Square Ventures, an early backer of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has invested in crypto publishing tool Mirror.xyz at a $100 million valuation, according to two people with direct knowledge of the funding. The one-year-old startup has raised at least $10 million across two recent seed financings from investors including USV and... Union Square Ventures, an early backer of the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has invested in...

Karyn Spencer. Photo: Steph Girard

Creator Economy

How Vine Missed its Shot With Creators; Clubhouse on the Move

By Kaya Yurieff · Jun 1, 2021 3:26pm PDT

Karyn Spencer has straddled tech and Hollywood for years: she started as Ashton Kutcher’s personal assistant and eventually worked her way up to vice president of production for his media company. Then she moved into tech, becoming Vine’s head of creators in 2015, when online celebrities still largely operated on the fringe. After stints with... Karyn Spencer has straddled tech and Hollywood for years: she started as Ashton Kutcher’s...

SoftBank-Backed Katerra to Shut Down

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 1, 2021 11:35am PDT · 2 comments

Construction startup Katerra has told employees it plans to shut down, people familiar with the matter said, marking the collapse of the SoftBank-backed company that had raised more than $2 billion to slash the cost of building apartments. Katerra is expected to let go of thousands of employees and is likely to walk away from dozens of... Construction startup Katerra has told employees it plans to shut down, people familiar with the...

An image showing how Instagram's new AR features might work. Image by Facebook

Instagram Spruces Up Its AR Ahead of F8 Refresh

By Mathew Olson · Jun 1, 2021 11:15am PDT

Facebook’s annual F8 developers conference last year was one of the first notable tech events to get canceled due to the pandemic. This year it’s returning, but as a digital-only event with an altered name and, as Facebook claims, a renewed focus on its developer community.F8 Refresh, as it will be called, gets underway tomorrow, June 2, with a... Facebook’s annual F8 developers conference last year was one of the first notable tech events to...

Marne Levine, left, and Sheryl Sandberg. Photos by Bloomberg

Facebook’s Marne Levine is Top Internal Candidate for Chief Business Officer Role

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Jun 1, 2021 10:57am PDT

Marne Levine, left, and Sheryl Sandberg. Photos by Bloomberg

Facebook’s Marne Levine is Top Internal Candidate for Chief Business Officer Role

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Jun 1, 2021 10:57am PDT

Facebook executive Marne Levine, who is vice president of global partnerships, has emerged as the leading internal candidate to fill the company’s newly formed chief business officer role, according to a person familiar with the matter. If appointed, Levine will have the job of maintaining Facebook’s rapid advertising growth while... Facebook executive Marne Levine, who is vice president of global partnerships, has emerged as the...