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

The FTC Chair, Lina Khan. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why FTC’s Amazon-MGM Probe Is Based on Flawed Logic

By Martin Peers · Jul 9, 2021 5:00pm PDT

The Federal Trade Commission’s decision today to formally open an in-depth probe into Amazon’s $8.5 billion purchase of MGM signals just how much the Biden administration is changing the course of antitrust inquiries into tech. It’s not just about the obvious targets—Google’s self-evident dominance of the search market, for instance. Instead,... The Federal Trade Commission’s decision today to formally open an in-depth probe into Amazon’s...

MGM's headquarters in Beverly Hills. Photo by Bloomberg.

FTC Opens Probe of Amazon’s MGM Purchase, Signaling a Lengthy Inquiry

By Josh Sisco · Jul 9, 2021 2:31pm PDT

Any hopes that Amazon had of completing its $8.5 billion purchase of movie and TV studio MGM anytime soon may have just gone out the window. The Federal Trade Commission on Friday opened an in-depth investigation into the deal, according to people familiar with the matter, setting the stage for a lengthy probe that could last six months or more.... Any hopes that Amazon had of completing its $8.5 billion purchase of movie and TV studio MGM...

A Town Fights Amazon Trucks — The 411 Podcast

By Cory Weinberg · Jul 9, 2021 1:59pm PDT

What happens when a small town becomes a choke point for tens of thousands of Amazon deliveries every day? Cory talks to The Information’s Paris Martineau about what residents' struggles in a small Massachusetts town tell us about the challenges of Amazon’s rapid physical expansion. Then, Hong Kong bureau chief Shai... What happens when a small town becomes a choke point for tens of thousands of Amazon...

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple in Early Talks With NFL on Sunday Ticket Games

By Sahil Patel · Jul 9, 2021 8:58am PDT · 1 comment

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple in Early Talks With NFL on Sunday Ticket Games

By Sahil Patel · Jul 9, 2021 8:58am PDT · 1 comment

Apple has expressed interest in the streaming rights for a package of National Football League games the NFL is now auctioning, said people familiar with the situation, a possible sign the tech giant is looking to beef up the audience for its Apple TV+ streaming service. The iPhone maker is one of a number of companies, including TV networks and... Apple has expressed interest in the streaming rights for a package of National Football League...

An Instacart personal shopper placed a customer's order into her car. Photo: Getty Images

Instacart’s New CEO Faces Sales Slowdown, Retailer Pushback

By Cory Weinberg · Jul 9, 2021 6:02am PDT

Instacart’s surprise decision to replace its CEO with a prominent Facebook executive followed a big drop-off in sales from last year’s pandemic-boosted results. At the same time there are signs that some supermarket partners are chafing at the restrictive terms of their agreements with the grocery-delivery service. San... Instacart’s surprise decision to replace its CEO with a prominent Facebook executive...

Instacart's new CEO Fidji Simo. Photo by AP

Instacart’s Simo Hiring Caps Management Overhaul

By Martin Peers · Jul 8, 2021 5:07pm PDT

Instacart’s hiring of Facebook’s Fidji Simo as CEO is a masterful stroke by the grocery delivery app, capping six months of executive hiring that has built out its management team ahead of an expected public debut later this year. It speaks well of Apoorva Mehta that he made way for Simo, a sign that he knows that building Instacart into a much... Instacart’s hiring of Facebook’s Fidji Simo as CEO is a masterful stroke by the grocery delivery...

Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta, left, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photos by Bloomberg

Instacart CEO Hire Is Part of Monthslong Raid of Facebook Staff

By Amir Efrati and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Jul 8, 2021 4:06pm PDT · 1 comment

Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta’s decision to hire his replacement as the grocery delivery firm prepares a public stock debut surprised most of its employees and investors. The fact that Mehta’s replacement came from Facebook didn’t. Fidji Simo, who is taking over Instacart after more than a decade at Facebook, will oversee a... Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta’s decision to hire his replacement as the grocery delivery firm...

Creator-Related Job Postings at Amazon, Google Spike

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

Creator Economy

Creator-Related Job Postings at Amazon, Google Spike

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

Companies have taken note of the millions of people who consider themselves social media creators. That’s showed up in job listings: Hiring for roles related to creators, such as engineers building features for them or managers overseeing influencer marketing, has exploded. In the past three years, job listings with the word creator in the... Companies have taken note of the millions of people who consider themselves social media...

China’s Stablecoin Skepticism Rattles Bitcoin Market

By Hannah Miller · Jul 8, 2021 2:36pm PDT · 1 comment

It was not only Chinese tech stocks that got hit by Chinese government regulatory steps this week. China also showed it remains a thorn in the side of the crypto market.Bitcoin prices fell 4.1% in the past 24 hours to under $33,000 after a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China told reporters the central bank is “quite worried” about the... It was not only Chinese tech stocks that got hit by Chinese government regulatory steps this...

An image of the Potter Portal effect in action. Image by Facebook.

Facebook Sprinkles a Little AR Magic on Portal

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

Facebook’s Portal device, which offers video chatting and an Amazon Alexa-powered digital assistant, might feel like the odd item out in the company’s AR/VR product division, where it is housed. But news from the company on Wednesday suggests Facebook is doubling down on Portal as another way to get more people using AR.The strategy? Use a big... Facebook’s Portal device, which offers video chatting and an Amazon Alexa-powered digital...

Josh Brill

What Congress’s Antitrust Proposals Miss

By Steve C. Holtzman · Jul 8, 2021 9:00am PDT

Last year, I began work on a project that alerted me and my co-counsel to a new antitrust challenge that many young, innovative companies were facing. In addition to the roadblocks already erected by Google, companies’ mobile phone manufacturer partners were reporting that Google was seeking to renegotiate agreements under which it shared... Last year, I began work on a project that alerted me and my co-counsel to a new antitrust...

Amazon vans departing a new staging lot outside an Amazon delivery station in Milford, Mass. Photo by Paris Martineau

When Amazon Comes to Town

By Paris Martineau · Jul 8, 2021 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Amazon vans departing a new staging lot outside an Amazon delivery station in Milford, Mass. Photo by Paris Martineau

When Amazon Comes to Town

By Paris Martineau · Jul 8, 2021 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

MILFORD, MASS.—When the Amazon warehouse came to town in 2016, most residents of Milford, located 45 minutes from Boston, didn’t think much of it. The internet retailer submitted plans to city officials for a delivery station—essentially a post office exclusively for Amazon packages—that it wanted to open in a vacant... MILFORD, MASS.—When the Amazon warehouse came to town in 2016, most residents of Milford,...

The Signal app icon. Photo: AP

MobileCoin, Which Powers Crypto Payments on Signal, Valued at $1 Billion

By Hannah Miller and Kate Clark · Jul 7, 2021 6:38pm PDT · 1 comment

MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency business with close ties to Signal and its founder, Moxie Marlinspike, has raised more than $75 million in venture capital funding at a $1 billion valuation, more than 10 times higher than at its last financing in March, according to two people familiar with the matter. Founded in 2017, MobileCoin has developed a... MobileCoin, a cryptocurrency business with close ties to Signal and its founder, Moxie...

Amazon's just-retired CEO Jeff Bezos.

Amazon’s Much Feared Day Two May Already Have Started

By Martin Peers · Jul 7, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

One of Jeff Bezos’ big fears about Amazon is the notion that it could one day enter “Day Two,” which he has defined as “stasis,” followed in close order by irrelevance and then death. By at least one measure, the size of Amazon’s senior management team, it looks like the sun has started to rise on Day Two. And that occurred even before Bezos... One of Jeff Bezos’ big fears about Amazon is the notion that it could one day enter “Day Two,”...

Willa CEO Kristofer Sommestad. Photo: Willa

Creator Economy

The Startups Competing for Creators’ Wallets

By Kaya Yurieff · Jul 7, 2021 4:08pm PDT · 1 comment

Our recent dive into the startups reshaping how independent musicians get paid generated a lot of interest from readers. Today we wade into another subsector that’s a tad less glamorous—but just as important. These startups are developing software that manages the back-end tasks of a creators’ business, from tracking earnings on Stir to handling... Our recent dive into the startups reshaping how independent musicians get paid generated a lot of...

A video clip of Andy Murray, above, winning the 2013 Wimbledon championship, sold for $177,777 on a new NFT marketplace. Photo: AELTC/Wimbledon

Binance’s Image Crisis; Beeple on His Latest NFT Project

By Hannah Miller · Jul 7, 2021 3:03pm PDT · 1 comment

A video clip of Andy Murray, above, winning the 2013 Wimbledon championship, sold for $177,777 on a new NFT marketplace. Photo: AELTC/Wimbledon

Binance’s Image Crisis; Beeple on His Latest NFT Project

By Hannah Miller · Jul 7, 2021 3:03pm PDT · 1 comment

Binance gave more signals that it is feeling the heat from regulatory scrutiny around the world. The crypto exchange’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, commonly known in crypto as “CZ,” published an open letter Wednesday calling for more regulation of digital currency and detailing his company’s efforts to become more compliant. The letter makes you... Binance gave more signals that it is feeling the heat from regulatory scrutiny around the world....

Justin Overdorff. Photo: Lightspeed Venture Partners

Stripe’s Former VC Dealmaker Joins Lightspeed to Invest in Sizzling Fintech

By Berber Jin · Jul 7, 2021 11:23am PDT · 1 comment

While Justin Overdorff was at payments company Stripe, he helped it become a prolific VC investor, spearheaded its partnerships with companies including Amazon and developed its lending business. This spring, he joined Lightspeed Venture Partners as a fintech partner, the first time the venture firm has hired someone to specialize exclusively in... While Justin Overdorff was at payments company Stripe, he helped it become a prolific VC investor...

ViewMagic's Rolf Herken and James McCombe. Photo by ViewMagic.

How a Stealth Startup Hopes to Change Video Calls and VR

By Mathew Olson · Jul 7, 2021 11:00am PDT

Video calls became part of daily life during the pandemic and, while the tech has improved in recent years, they’re still far from ideal. ViewMagic, a Bay Area startup that’s been operating in stealth since 2014, has been focusing intensely on overcoming one shortcoming in particular: the difficulty that people have in making eye contact with... Video calls became part of daily life during the pandemic and, while the tech has improved in...

An employee types on a touch screen as a Geek+ Inc. Eve robot transports shelves at a warehouse in Japan in 2017. Photo by Bloomberg

Chinese Warehouse Automation Startup Seeks $1.3 Billion Valuation

By Juro Osawa · Jul 7, 2021 7:38am PDT

Hai Robotics, a Chinese startup that develops warehouse robots similar to those made by Amazon’s robotics unit, is in talks with Sequoia Capital China and other investors to raise more than $150 million at a pre-money valuation of $1.3 billion, roughly triple its last valuation from a funding round in March, said people familiar with the... Hai Robotics, a Chinese startup that develops warehouse robots similar to those made by...

Google’s ‘Moral Bellwether’ Cartoonist Quits: ‘I Have to Draw the Line Somewhere’

By Sarah Krouse · Jul 7, 2021 6:01am PDT · 5 comments

Google’s ‘Moral Bellwether’ Cartoonist Quits: ‘I Have to Draw the Line Somewhere’

By Sarah Krouse · Jul 7, 2021 6:01am PDT · 5 comments

For 14 years, Manu Cornet’s day job was to help speed up Google searches and develop new backgrounds for Gmail. But Cornet was better known inside Google for publishing hundreds of cartoons, known as Goomics, which initially poked fun at its culture and employees’ sense of entitlement and later became a blistering critique of senior... For 14 years, Manu Cornet’s day job was to help speed up Google searches and develop new...