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

An AR/VR-focused GDC event in San Francisco in 2019. Image: GDC

Facebook’s VR Fitness Challenge

By Mathew Olson · May 3, 2021 11:46am PDT · 2 comments

If you are a Facebook employee reading this newsletter, and you don’t already own an Oculus Quest 2, what are you waiting for? Last week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a new perk for all Facebook employees: Any purchase of a Quest 2 can now be reimbursed under the company’s wellness plan. Since the Quest 2’s launch last year,... If you are a Facebook employee reading this newsletter, and you don’t already own an Oculus...

Kim Posnett, head of investment banking services for Goldman Sachs. Photo: Goldman Sachs

The Big Interview

The ‘Tech Supercycle’ for Listings Is Accelerating: Top Goldman Sachs Banker

By Berber Jin · May 3, 2021 9:30am PDT

For tech investors used to last year’s massive initial public offerings and price pops, the last few weeks have been sobering. UiPath priced its IPO below its last private valuation, Compass slashed the size of its IPO and once-hot cloud-computing stocks have tumbled. But according to Kim Posnett, global head of investment banking services... For tech investors used to last year’s massive initial public offerings and price pops, the...

At Booming Google, Search Chief Gives More Love to Product Managers

By Sarah Krouse and Kevin McLaughlin · May 3, 2021 6:01am PDT · 1 comment

Even as Google’s business booms and hiring accelerates, senior leaders have made changes to the unit housing its biggest moneymakers—web search and advertising. For instance, the sales team for Google Maps is being moved from Prabhakar Raghavan’s 20,000-person search, maps and ads product group to Google Cloud, the unit... Even as Google’s business booms and hiring accelerates, senior leaders have made changes to...

Why There Is More to the Big Tech Growth Story

By Jessica E. Lessin · May 1, 2021 7:47am PDT · 7 comments

Why There Is More to the Big Tech Growth Story

By Jessica E. Lessin · May 1, 2021 7:47am PDT · 7 comments

Ahead of the largest tech companies’ earnings reports this week, expectations were high. But when Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple reported their quarterly numbers, they exceeded analysts’ expectations and sent their stocks (mostly) soaring. There is one easy explanation: the pandemic. Our lives and businesses were... Ahead of the largest tech companies’ earnings reports this week, expectations were high....

Apple's Phil Schiller, a key figure in the upcoming trial.

Europe Opens New Front in War on Apple’s App Store

By Martin Peers · Apr 30, 2021 5:10pm PDT

After the earnings party comes the hangover. The European Commission’s preliminary ruling today accusing Apple of abusing its “dominant market position” in its treatment of music streaming rivals like Spotify crystallizes the regulatory risks facing the iPhone maker. Related issues will be litigated starting next week in the trial of Epic’s... After the earnings party comes the hangover. The European Commission’s preliminary ruling today...

Shouzi Chew, TikTok's new CEO, and Zhang Yiming, CEO and founder of TikTok-owner ByteDance. Photos: Bloomberg

With New TikTok CEO, ByteDance Roots Itself Firmly in Asia

By Alex Heath and Jessica E. Lessin · Apr 30, 2021 2:04pm PDT

TikTok said Friday that it had tapped Shouzi Chew as its new CEO, installing a lieutenant from its parent company, ByteDance, to oversee one of its most important and challenging businesses. The move is a big departure from the hiring of former Disney executive Kevin Mayer, the flashy U.S. executive ByteDance lured to lead TikTok before former... TikTok said Friday that it had tapped Shouzi Chew as its new CEO, installing a lieutenant from...

Will Epic Fail? — The Information’s 411

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 30, 2021 1:41pm PDT

Apple's app store in on trial. Will Epic Games be able to loosen Apple's grip on app developers? Cory talks to The Information's legal reporter Josh Sisco about how Apple got in this situation and why it's likely to pull out a victory next month. Then, Cory and The Information senior editor Wendy Pollack discuss whether... Apple's app store in on trial. Will Epic Games be able to loosen Apple's grip on app...

Away CEO and co-founder Jen Rubio. Photo by Bloomberg

Away’s New CEO Rubio Says There’s No ‘Time to Waste’ as Business Recovers From 50% Drop Last Year

By Malique Morris · Apr 30, 2021 10:33am PDT · 1 comment

Away CEO and co-founder Jen Rubio. Photo by Bloomberg

Q&A

Away’s New CEO Rubio Says There’s No ‘Time to Waste’ as Business Recovers From 50% Drop Last Year

By Malique Morris · Apr 30, 2021 10:33am PDT · 1 comment

Online luggage retailer Away’s new CEO, co-founder Jen Rubio, says the company doesn’t have “time to waste” as it prepares for a surge in business in the wake of the pandemic that brought travel to an abrupt halt and sent Away’s revenue plunging 50% to about $135 million in 2020. This year, Away is hoping to bounce... Online luggage retailer Away’s new CEO, co-founder Jen Rubio, says the company...

TheRealReal CEO Julie Wainwright. Photo by Bloomberg.

Web Retailers Resume Brick and Mortar Expansion After Pandemic Pause

By Malique Morris · Apr 30, 2021 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

For years, e-commerce companies have experimented carefully with their own brick-and-mortar stores, which are costly to run but can help them snag new customers. The pandemic interrupted the dalliance for many of them, prompting brands such as Glossier and Thredup to close their stores for good. Now, as shoppers return to the outside world with... For years, e-commerce companies have experimented carefully with their own brick-and-mortar...

An Amazon truck. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon, Twitter Round Out Tech’s Bonanza Quarter

By Martin Peers · Apr 29, 2021 5:02pm PDT

Another day, another blockbuster result for a tech company. This time it was Amazon’s turn, posting a 44% lift in first-quarter revenue to a stunning $108.5 billion. This was the third quarter in the past 12 months where Amazon’s topline increased more than 40%. In 2019, pre-pandemic Amazon’s sales grew just 20%. That tells you how much of a... Another day, another blockbuster result for a tech company. This time it was Amazon’s turn,...

An image from the Cameo app. Photo: Bloomberg

Creator Economy

Instagram Holds a ‘Meme Summit,’ Cameo Opens its Wallet

By Kaya Yurieff · Apr 29, 2021 3:15pm PDT · 2 comments

One of the most exciting aspects of starting this newsletter is reporting on the creator economy, a beat that’s just coming into its own. There’s the David and Goliath saga of big tech platforms like Facebook and Google rivaling smaller companies such as Patreon and OnlyFans. There’s the proliferation of startups that offer creators everything... One of the most exciting aspects of starting this newsletter is reporting on the creator economy,...

Apple's App Store is increasingly facing antitrust accusations. Illustration by Jesus Escudero.

The Guardians of Apple’s App Store Gird for Battle

By Josh Sisco · Apr 29, 2021 11:53am PDT

Apple's App Store is increasingly facing antitrust accusations. Illustration by Jesus Escudero.

The Guardians of Apple’s App Store Gird for Battle

By Josh Sisco · Apr 29, 2021 11:53am PDT

For the next three weeks, one of Apple’s most senior executives, Phil Schiller, will spend his days in a sterile courtroom in Oakland, Calif., 50 miles from Apple’s gleaming spaceship-like headquarters in Cupertino. Schiller, who helped launch the App Store 13 years ago and still oversees it, is the designated “corporate... For the next three weeks, one of Apple’s most senior executives, Phil Schiller, will spend...

Stanford's Jeremy Bailenson. Photo provided by Bailenson

TI Reality Check: How a Stanford Professor is Using VR to Measure Minds

By Mathew Olson · Apr 29, 2021 11:00am PDT

Since 2003, Jeremy Bailenson, a cognitive psychologist who leads Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, has been at the forefront of studying the use and potential impacts of AR and VR. His work touches on how the technologies can change human perception and the ways that they can be leveraged to monitor and understand our... Since 2003, Jeremy Bailenson, a cognitive psychologist who leads Stanford University’s...

Illustration by Jonathan Holt

Spotify’s Next Dilemma: Grappling With Hate Speech

By Jessica Toonkel and Mark Di Stefano · Apr 29, 2021 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

At a Spotify employee workshop held in late 2018, participants were presented with a series of statements which they were told came from a podcast on the service, urging violence against the police. The participants were asked if the statements amounted to hate speech and should be removed from Spotify. Most everyone attending agreed they should... At a Spotify employee workshop held in late 2018, participants were presented with a series of...

Apple's San Francisco store this week. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple and Facebook United in Big Profits

By Martin Peers · Apr 28, 2021 5:30pm PDT

Apple and Facebook are feuding about privacy and ad targeting but they had one thing in common on Wednesday: bonanza earnings. Coming in the wake of healthy reports from Alphabet on Tuesday, it’s clear that consumer tech companies are benefiting enormously from the post-pandemic economic recovery. How often do large companies, particularly... Apple and Facebook are feuding about privacy and ad targeting but they had one thing in common on...

A screen displays a NFT, or non-fungible token, work of art in New York on April 10. Photo: AP

Chasing the NFT ‘Gold Rush’; YouTube Shorts Picks Up Views

By Kaya Yurieff · Apr 28, 2021 3:02pm PDT

A screen displays a NFT, or non-fungible token, work of art in New York on April 10. Photo: AP

Creator Economy

Chasing the NFT ‘Gold Rush’; YouTube Shorts Picks Up Views

By Kaya Yurieff · Apr 28, 2021 3:02pm PDT

The internet craze for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has piqued the interest of creators, who are experimenting with selling their own NFTs, the one-of-a-kind digital collectibles that range from Jack Dorsey’s first tweet to the photo behind the Disaster Girl meme. A service called Rally.io, which allows people to launch their own digital currency,... The internet craze for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has piqued the interest of creators, who are...

A mock-up of how MicroVision's Lidar sensor for autonomous vehicles works. Picture by MicroVision.

An AR Stock Gets Caught Up in the Meme Cycle

By Mathew Olson · Apr 28, 2021 11:02am PDT

Earlier this year when the GameStop stock surge seemingly became all that anyone was talking about, I wondered whether an AR or VR company’s stock would one day end up in the crosshairs of Reddit’s trigger-happy traders. As it turned out, it was already happening, with a small AR-related company called MicroVision. The company... Earlier this year when the GameStop stock surge seemingly became all that anyone was talking...

Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba. Photo by Bloomberg

Alibaba Frets Over Apple Privacy Policy

By Juro Osawa · Apr 28, 2021 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Last week, Alibaba invited half a dozen marketing industry executives to discuss a growing worry: Apple’s new privacy policy on its mobile software threatens to cut off the Chinese e-commerce giant and its advertising partners from troves of user data that fuel the company’s all-important ad business. The private meeting at Alibaba... Last week, Alibaba invited half a dozen marketing industry executives to discuss a growing worry:...

Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Briefing: Tech is Booming, Quarterly Numbers Show

By Martin Peers · Apr 27, 2021 5:31pm PDT

Tech companies are awash in cash. That’s the takeaway from earnings results for the March quarter so far, including today’s numbers from Alphabet, Microsoft and Pinterest. And it means more cash to be invested in their businesses and, for the bigger companies, to be returned to shareholders through buybacks or dividends. We... Tech companies are awash in cash. That’s the takeaway from earnings results for the March...

Justin Zhu, Former Iterable CEO. Photo provided by Iterable

Before CEO’s Ouster for LSD Use, Iterable Investor Sold Stake to Silver Lake

By Kate Clark · Apr 27, 2021 4:47pm PDT · 6 comments

Justin Zhu, Former Iterable CEO. Photo provided by Iterable

Before CEO’s Ouster for LSD Use, Iterable Investor Sold Stake to Silver Lake

By Kate Clark · Apr 27, 2021 4:47pm PDT · 6 comments

Weeks before the board of Iterable pushed out its CEO Justin Zhu for violating a company drug policy, one of the company’s biggest investors sold about half its stake in an unusual move that could signal its dissatisfaction with his leadership. Earlier this month, venture capital firm Index Ventures sold about $92 million worth of shares... Weeks before the board of Iterable pushed out its CEO Justin Zhu for violating a company drug...