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

Art by Clark Miller; photos from Getty Images

Elizabeth Holmes’s Resurrection is Gonna Happen

By Abram Brown · Sep 13, 2025 7:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Anthropic’s different approach to Trump • The Arena: Steve Ballmer may be too rich for the NBA• Artificial Intelligence: AI boom complicates how schools recruit, retain doctoral students • Plus, our Recommendations: “Fiasco: Benghazi,” “Make Me Commissioner” and “And So It Goes”... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Anthropic’s different approach to...

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images.

Is Steve Ballmer Too Rich for the NBA?

By Sara Germano · Sep 13, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Earlier this week, a handful of the richest people in the world convened at a five-star hotel in midtown Manhattan to discuss typical titans-of-industry fodder: overseas expansion, the future of media, yadda yadda. But there was an elephant in the room: Did a billionaire in their ranks secretly siphon millions of dollars to an NBA star through a... Earlier this week, a handful of the richest people in the world convened at a five-star hotel in...

Art by Clark Miller

Artificial Intelligence

AI Talent Frenzy Complicates How Universities Retain, Recruit Doctoral Students

By Andrew Zucker · Sep 13, 2025 5:34am PDT · 1 comment

Even though applications aren’t due until December, an avalanche of emails have already hit Naomi Saphra, a soon-to-be assistant professor of computer science at Boston University who’s currently finishing up research across town at Harvard University. The messages are from people eager to join Saphra as BU doctoral students and contribute to... Even though applications aren’t due until December, an avalanche of emails have already hit Naomi...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty,

OpenAI to Gain $50 Billion From Cutting Revenue Share with Microsoft, Partners

By Sri Muppidi, Aaron Holmes and Stephanie Palazzolo · Sep 12, 2025 7:18pm PDT · 2 comments

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty,

OpenAI to Gain $50 Billion From Cutting Revenue Share with Microsoft, Partners

By Sri Muppidi, Aaron Holmes and Stephanie Palazzolo · Sep 12, 2025 7:18pm PDT · 2 comments

As OpenAI irons out new terms of a partnership with Microsoft, it has told some shareholders that the percentage of revenue it will hand over to Microsoft will drop considerably in the coming years. As part of their original partnership agreement, Microsoft is entitled to 20% of the startup’s revenue through 2030. But OpenAI has projected to... As OpenAI irons out new terms of a partnership with Microsoft, it has told some shareholders that...

Satya Nadella, left, and Sam Atman. Photos by Getty

Why Microsoft and OpenAI Announced a Tentative Deal

By Amir Efrati · Sep 12, 2025 3:00pm PDT

As we wrap up what has been a busy week in artificial intelligence-cloud land—one dominated by Oracle—we want to circle back to the striking announcement on Thursday night from Microsoft and OpenAI. Anytime two companies, worth at least $4.5 trillion combined, issue a three-sentence press release with no concrete information about a highly... As we wrap up what has been a busy week in artificial intelligence-cloud land—one dominated by...

CEO of Kalshi, Tarek Mansour, left, and CEO of Polymarket, Shayne Coplan. Photos by Getty

Polymarket Fields Offer for $9 Billion Valuation; Kalshi Nears $5 Billion Valuation

By Katie Roof and Yueqi Yang · Sep 12, 2025 10:23am PDT

Startups that enable people to bet on events such as the New York mayoral race, NFL games and the Federal Reserve rate decisions are in talks to raise more money at multi-billion-dollar valuations, as trading volume and rivalry between the two apps intensifies. Polymarket has considered an offer that would value the company as much as $9... Startups that enable people to bet on events such as the New York mayoral race, NFL games and the...

Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images

As Tech Leaders Flatter Trump, Anthropic Takes a Cooler Approach

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Sep 12, 2025 9:00am PDT

In June, the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic was finally getting close to hiring a candidate—a Republican—for its top government relations job after months of searching for someone. That decision marked a shift: Anthropic had hired several former Biden staffers earlier in the year, which had aggravated people in the... In June, the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic was finally getting close to hiring a...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang via Getty

Nvidia Steps Back From Cloud Effort to Compete with AWS

By Anissa Gardizy · Sep 12, 2025 6:00am PDT

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang via Getty

Nvidia Steps Back From Cloud Effort to Compete with AWS

By Anissa Gardizy · Sep 12, 2025 6:00am PDT

Nvidia is stepping back from its nascent cloud computing business, which had put it in quasi-competition with Amazon Web Services. It has lessened its efforts to attract businesses to the cloud service, dubbed DGX Cloud, said a person with direct knowledge of the situation. Instead, Nvidia plans to primarily use the service, which consists of... Nvidia is stepping back from its nascent cloud computing business, which had put it in...

David and Larry Ellison. Photos via Getty

OpenAI’s Microsoft Deal; Ellison’s Risky Business

By Martin Peers · Sep 11, 2025 5:00pm PDT

We got big news this afternoon from the folks at OpenAI and Microsoft: They are close to a peace deal. Yes, after nearly a year of talks over changes to their partnership, the companies announced they had signed a “non-binding memorandum of understanding for the next phase of our partnership.” Contractual terms now have to be finalized. Hmmm.... We got big news this afternoon from the folks at OpenAI and Microsoft: They are close to a peace...

Photo via Getty

The AI Haves and Have Nots at Goldman's Big Tech Event

By Valida Pau · Sep 11, 2025 2:31pm PDT

At the historic Palace Hotel in San Francisco, Goldman Sachs is wrapping up three and half days of its annual Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference.Attendees were mostly in a buoyant mood, but not because this week is on track to be the biggest of the year for initial public offerings. Instead, the biggest pop during the conference... At the historic Palace Hotel in San Francisco, Goldman Sachs is wrapping up three and half days...

Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes (l) and The Information reporter Akash Pasricha (r).

Atlassian CEO Claims Edge on Glean; Trouble Exporting From Teams

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 11, 2025 10:41am PDT

Enterprise search startup Glean has attracted customers and venture capital thanks to an AI search tool that lets employees quickly find corporate files and data in all of the apps their companies use. But Mike Cannon-Brookes, the CEO and co-founder of productivity app Atlassian, thinks his company is ahead of Glean in enterprise search—despite... Enterprise search startup Glean has attracted customers and venture capital thanks to an AI...

OpenAI’s $350 Billion Computing Cost Problem

By Amir Efrati and Sri Muppidi · Sep 11, 2025 9:12am PDT · 10 comments

OpenAI’s $350 Billion Computing Cost Problem

By Amir Efrati and Sri Muppidi · Sep 11, 2025 9:12am PDT · 10 comments

The most popular consumer internet services usually figure out how to make money even after a decade or more of losses. Amazon, Uber, Netflix and Snap all started generating cash by raising prices or leveraging their large audiences to sell ads or other services. OpenAI’s growing audience would seem to put it in a similar position. Its... The most popular consumer internet services usually figure out how to make money even after a...

Deep Research Report: Why AI ROI is Hard to Prove

By The Information Staff · Sep 11, 2025 8:52am PDT

Despite the widespread hype around AI, its adoption in the enterprise is facing challenges. How are CEOs handling the high costs of implementing AI and the difficulty in demonstrating a return on investment? We asked our new Deep Research tool and got the following answer. Despite the widespread hype around AI, its adoption in the enterprise is facing challenges. How...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Alibaba and Baidu Adopt Their Own AI Chips in Major Shift for Chinese Tech

By Qianer Liu · Sep 11, 2025 8:24am PDT · 1 comment

Chinese tech giants Alibaba Group and Baidu have begun using their own internally designed chips to train their artificial intelligence models, partly replacing AI chips made by Nvidia, according to four people with direct knowledge of the moves. The move is the latest sign that a decoupling of Chinese AI development from the Western... Chinese tech giants Alibaba Group and Baidu have begun using their own internally designed chips...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty

OpenAI’s Spending Spree is Reordering the Cloud Market

By Amir Efrati · Sep 11, 2025 7:00am PDT

When OpenAI two months ago agreed to rent an unfathomably large amount of data center capacity from Oracle (4.5 gigawatts, or enough to power several large cities), we thought the market would have priced in the eventual mammoth revenue from that publicly announced deal. We were wrong.On Tuesday, Oracle disclosed that computing contracts would... When OpenAI two months ago agreed to rent an unfathomably large amount of data center capacity...

Photo via Getty

Judge’s Google Data Sharing Order Leaves Small Rivals Hanging

By Erin Woo · Sep 11, 2025 6:00am PDT

Photo via Getty

Judge’s Google Data Sharing Order Leaves Small Rivals Hanging

By Erin Woo · Sep 11, 2025 6:00am PDT

Just over a week after a federal judge ordered Google to share its search data with rivals, the limitations of the judge’s order have become more clear—as have the doubts about whether rivals will be able to take advantage of it. The order was designed to weaken Google’s monopoly in search by allowing smaller search rivals to get access to... Just over a week after a federal judge ordered Google to share its search data with rivals, the...

A stationary storage facility in Houston, Texas. Photo: Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle/Getty

The Electric: Chinese Stationary Storage Batteries Are All the Rage in the U.S.

By Steve LeVine · Sep 11, 2025 4:30am PDT

Pushed by a surge of electricity demand, stationary battery companies have been on a tear, making the U.S. the second-fastest growing battery market in the world behind China. Further juicing demand for batteries and components is a rush to build stockpiles ahead of possible new tariffs and the loss of subsidies. Pushed by a surge of electricity demand, stationary battery companies have been on a tear, making...

Flynt CEO Daniel Kirchert. Photo: Steve LeVine/The Electric

The Electric: An EV Developer Urges Rivals to Capitalize on China's Cheap Batteries

By Steve LeVine · Sep 11, 2025 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

Batteries made in China are dirt cheap. So are a slew of other electric vehicle components manufactured there. So if you’re a shrewd Western entrepreneur, why not embrace these cut-rate prices, and make valuable products from them for U.S. and European customers? How about a low-priced delivery van, for instance? Batteries made in China are dirt cheap. So are a slew of other electric vehicle components...

Karol Hausman, co-founder and CEO of Physical Intelligence. Images via YouTube.

Robotics Startup Physical Intelligence in Talks to Raise at $5 Billion Valuation

By Katie Roof · Sep 10, 2025 7:05pm PDT

Physical Intelligence, a startup developing large artificial intelligence models to power robots, is in talks with investors to raise additional venture capital at a valuation of about $5 billion, according to two people who have recently spoken to the company. A financing at that valuation would more than double the price investors awarded the... Physical Intelligence, a startup developing large artificial intelligence models to power robots,...

Photo via Getty

Oracle Frenzy Spreads

By Ken Brown · Sep 10, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Photo via Getty

Oracle Frenzy Spreads

By Ken Brown · Sep 10, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Years from now, today may be remembered as the moment of peak euphoria for artificial intelligence. Not only did Oracle’s stock jump 36%—thanks to the company’s stunningly optimistic forecast for AI-related cloud revenue growth—but the enthusiasm spread to a range of companies that may not get the same boost from AI.I’ll be quick with the... Years from now, today may be remembered as the moment of peak euphoria for artificial...