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

Koji’s Annie Morita Photo: Morita Editorial

Creator Economy

A Startup Building an App Store for Creators Hires Apple App Store Ex-Exec

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 8, 2021 4:00pm PDT

Koji, one of a group of fast-growing startups that offers landing pages that creators can connect to their social-media bios, is taking a cue from two very large companies—Apple and WeChat—by offering a web store of smaller, web-based apps created by outside developers. To further those aims, it has hired Annie Morita, a former Apple executive... Koji, one of a group of fast-growing startups that offers landing pages that creators can connect...

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. Photo by Bloomberg

What Coinbase’s SEC Troubles Mean for Crypto Startups

By Hannah Miller · Sep 8, 2021 3:03pm PDT

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s disclosure that the Securities and Exchange Commission has threatened to sue the cryptocurrency exchange over its upcoming Lend product shows that regulators are ready to act on their concerns about the crypto industry. It doesn’t bode well for similar crypto lending platforms such as BlockFi, and ones that... Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong’s disclosure that the Securities and Exchange Commission has...

The invite image for Apple's next event, which has also been incorporated into an AR teaser. Image: Apple

Apple’s AR Hype for New iPhones; Facebook Readies its Ray-Bans

By Mathew Olson · Sep 8, 2021 11:00am PDT

Today marks a small anniversary for Apple: it’s been one year since the company started hiding augmented reality teasers in the invites for its events. Monday brought yet another one of those simple, lightly interactive AR experiences inviting people to next Tuesday’s event, which will probably focus on the next version of the iPhone.Facebook... Today marks a small anniversary for Apple: it’s been one year since the company started hiding...

The Whoop smartwatch. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

The Electric Flash Analysis: A Silicon Battery in a New Smartwatch Could Transform the EV Market

By Steve LeVine · Sep 8, 2021 9:00am PDT · 2 comments

The Whoop smartwatch. Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

The Electric Flash Analysis: A Silicon Battery in a New Smartwatch Could Transform the EV Market

By Steve LeVine · Sep 8, 2021 9:00am PDT · 2 comments

Today at noon ET: The Electric Presents: Making the Forever Battery. In my second Live Chat, I'm delighted to welcome Sila Nanotechnologies CEO Gene Berdichevsky, who has news he wants to break. For a decade and a half, Berdichevsky has helped lead development of some of the world’s most important commercial batteries. ... Today at noon ET: The Electric Presents: Making the Forever Battery. In my second Live...

Google's Mountain View campus. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google’s Answer To Overheated Job Market: Demanding Proof of Rival Offers

By Sarah Krouse · Sep 8, 2021 6:01am PDT · 7 comments

Google has a message for job candidates who say rival companies are offering them higher pay: Prove it. In a competitive market for talent in which some technology workers are soliciting employment offers from several companies, Google recruiters increasingly take the unusual step of asking candidates for written proof of what rivals are... Google has a message for job candidates who say rival companies are offering them higher pay:...

Photo by Bloomberg

ByteDance in Talks to Borrow Up to $5 Billion to Fund Overseas Expansion

By Juro Osawa · Sep 7, 2021 11:30pm PDT

TikTok owner ByteDance is in talks with banks to borrow up to $5 billion in a syndicated loan to refinance debt and pay for overseas expansion, people with knowledge of the matter said, as the path to an initial public offering appears unlikely this year. ByteDance plans to use more than half of the money to refinance its existing debt to take... TikTok owner ByteDance is in talks with banks to borrow up to $5 billion in a syndicated loan to...

Steve Martin and Martin Short, two of the stars of Hulu's New "Only Murders in the Building"

Disney Threatens Hulu’s Success With Price Hike

By Martin Peers · Sep 7, 2021 5:00pm PDT

It may be time for a consumer price index just for video streaming. Disney’s Hulu is raising its price by $1 a month, the company revealed today, just six months after Disney jacked up the price of its flagship Disney+ service by the same amount. Both price bumps followed a similar move by Netflix late last year. If this reminds you of the cable... It may be time for a consumer price index just for video streaming. Disney’s Hulu is raising its...

Illustration: Mike Sullivan

What TikTok’s Growing Threat to YouTube Means

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 7, 2021 4:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Illustration: Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

What TikTok’s Growing Threat to YouTube Means

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 7, 2021 4:00pm PDT · 2 comments

TikTok’s rise is often seen as a major threat to Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram. And for good reason. Instagram head Adam Mosseri has talked about how TikTok is ahead and he’s laid out plans for making Instagram’s home screen look a lot more like the short-form video app. But the way TikTok is rattling YouTube has generated less... TikTok’s rise is often seen as a major threat to Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram. And for...

El Salvador President and bitcoin enthusiast Nayib Bukele. Photo by Bloomberg

Bitcoin Drops After El Salvador Rollout; The NFL’s Crypto Ban

By Hannah Miller · Sep 7, 2021 2:39pm PDT

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts have been wishing each other “Happy Bitcoin Day” as El Salvador officially adopted the digital currency as legal tender on Tuesday, the first nation to do so. But the occasion hasn’t been that joyous for owners of bitcoin. The price of the digital currency fell as much as 17% on Tuesday, to just under $43,000, after El... Cryptocurrency enthusiasts have been wishing each other “Happy Bitcoin Day” as El Salvador...

Zach Lieberman, a developer, wearing Snap's AR Spectacles. Photo by Snap

Snap’s Newest AR Hire; The Questions Raised by Police VR Training

By Mathew Olson · Sep 7, 2021 11:01am PDT

Snap is continuing its AR hiring spree—helping bring a clearer picture of its AR strategy into focus. What we’re learning is that Snap wants its camera and AR tech to be spread widely across the hardware ecosystem.Nishad Pai, most recently a business development and partnerships executive at Adobe, is joining as Snap’s Global Head of Platform... Snap is continuing its AR hiring spree—helping bring a clearer picture of its AR strategy into...

Tech IPO Scorecard: Why Monday.com Soared and Sprinklr Flopped

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 7, 2021 6:00am PDT · 6 comments

Forget all the talk about high-profile consumer initial public offerings like Robinhood. Most of the best-performing tech IPOs of this year are enterprise software firms, such as Monday.com, a project management software firm that has soared 160% since its June IPO, and Couchbase, a database provider whose stock has doubled since its July... Forget all the talk about high-profile consumer initial public offerings like Robinhood. Most of...

Fidji Simo. Photos by AP; art by Mike Sullivan

Can Instacart’s New CEO Deliver?

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Berber Jin · Sep 6, 2021 11:57am PDT

Fidji Simo. Photos by AP; art by Mike Sullivan

Can Instacart’s New CEO Deliver?

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Berber Jin · Sep 6, 2021 11:57am PDT

In late June, Instacart CEO and founder Apoorva Mehta had a message for DoorDash: After weeks of discussions between the two companies about a possible merger, Mehta told his counterparts at the meal-delivery company that the talks were off, according to several people with knowledge of the matter. But the talks weren’t off. In early July,... In late June, Instacart CEO and founder Apoorva Mehta had a message for DoorDash: After weeks of...

The prize from ore-to-gigafactory processing: cathode powder. Photo: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

Congress Has Slashed Biden’s Vaunted $174 Billion Battery Supply Chain. Now What?

By Steve LeVine · Sep 5, 2021 2:00pm PDT

This Wednesday, Sept. 8, at noon ET: The Electric Presents: Making the Forever Battery. In its second live chat, The Electric is delighted to present a conversation between editor Steve LeVine and Sila Nanotechnologies CEO Gene Berdichevsky, who for a decade and a half has helped lead development of some of the world’s most important commercial... This Wednesday, Sept. 8, at noon ET: The Electric Presents: Making the Forever Battery. In its...

Silicon Valley’s Hypocrisy Over Elizabeth Holmes

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 4, 2021 7:45am PDT · 8 comments

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is back in the news in Silicon Valley. The jury in her forthcoming trial, in which she stands accused of defrauding investors and the public about the company’s blood tests, was selected this week. The trial starts next week and will last a few months. I was thinking about Holmes this week as I was... Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is back in the news in Silicon Valley. The jury in her...

Jeff Bezos, center, after his space flight in July. Photo by AP

The Best and Worst of the Summer's Tech Stories

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

With Labor Day upon us, summer is effectively over. And with news today thin on the ground, this seems an appropriate moment to review the highs and lows of the summer in tech business. So without further ado, here are The Briefing’s awards for the most distinctive tech business stories of the past three months:Worst Boys-and-Their-Toys Moment:... With Labor Day upon us, summer is effectively over. And with news today thin on the ground, this...

Payments Startups Edge Out Shopify Rivals in VC Sweepstakes

By Malique Morris · Sep 3, 2021 9:37am PDT · 2 comments

Payments Startups Edge Out Shopify Rivals in VC Sweepstakes

By Malique Morris · Sep 3, 2021 9:37am PDT · 2 comments

Spurred by record levels of online shopping, investors have rushed to back e-commerce software companies this year. As they did so, they shifted their bets to startups that process digital payments and power online checkout, such as Klarna and Rapyd. Investment in e-commerce software companies—a group that includes firms working behind the... Spurred by record levels of online shopping, investors have rushed to back e-commerce software...

Photo of Agnes Chu by AP. Art by Mike Sullivan

Agnes Chu Tries to Bring Some Disney to Condé Nast. It’ll Be a Challenge.

By Sahil Patel and Mark Di Stefano · Sep 3, 2021 6:01am PDT

A year ago, executives at Condé Nast turned some heads when they hired Agnes Chu, a rising star who helped launch the Disney+ streaming service, to bring some entertainment mojo to magazine brands including The New Yorker, Vogue and Vanity Fair. The idea was to develop more films and long-form shows and documentaries that the company... A year ago, executives at Condé Nast turned some heads when they hired Agnes Chu, a rising...

Apple's Fellow Phil Schiller, who oversees the App Store. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple’s Already-Arbitrary App Store Rules Just Became More Complex

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

Law schools may want to start introducing a new program to train lawyers in interpreting Apple’s App Store rules. The company’s latest changes, introduced to settle a Japanese antitrust investigation, add a layer of complexity to already-opaque rules. The rules have long had an element of arbitrariness, treating developers differently, as The... Law schools may want to start introducing a new program to train lawyers in interpreting Apple’s...

Andreessen Horowitz attorney Miles Jennings. Photo by Andreessen Horowitz

A16z’s New Crypto Hire; Another Blow for Binance

By Hannah Miller · Sep 2, 2021 3:24pm PDT

Andreessen Horowitz’s cryptocurrency group became the latest to beef up its regulatory expertise. The VC firm named Miles Jennings, previously a partner at law firm Latham & Watkins, as general counsel of its crypto team, citing his experience with crypto startups and regulators. Adding new talent with extensive legal knowledge... Andreessen Horowitz’s cryptocurrency group became the latest to beef up its regulatory expertise....

Clubhouse host and comedian Leah Lamarr. Photo: Andrew Max Levy

Where Apple Could Loosen App Store Rules Next; Clubhouse’s New Icon

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 2, 2021 2:20pm PDT

Clubhouse host and comedian Leah Lamarr. Photo: Andrew Max Levy

Creator Economy

Where Apple Could Loosen App Store Rules Next; Clubhouse’s New Icon

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 2, 2021 2:20pm PDT

Earlier this week we quoted a creator-economy startup founder who predicted Apple would keep chipping away at its rules on in-app payments to make it easier to bypass the company’s 30% fees on digital purchases. That forecast is coming true more quickly than we expected. Late Wednesday, the iPhone maker said it would allow reader apps, such... Earlier this week we quoted a creator-economy startup founder who predicted Apple would keep...