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

Sea CEO Forrest Li and other top Sea executives ring the opening bell in October 2017 as Sea goes public on the New York Stock Exchange. Photo by Bloomberg.

How Singapore’s Sea Used Facebook to Become an E-Commerce Giant

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Mar 19, 2021 6:01am PDT

Five years ago, Facebook was a catalyst for e-commerce across Southeast Asia, where cheap smartphones were changing consumer behavior in a region with twice the population of the U.S. On the Facebook and Instagram apps, local merchants and shoppers were able to find each other and arrange sales, sorting out payment and delivery elsewhere. It... Five years ago, Facebook was a catalyst for e-commerce across Southeast Asia, where cheap...

Kansas City Chiefs playing Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the Super Bowl last month. Photo by AP.

The Briefing: Big Entertainment’s High-Risk NFL Deals

By Martin Peers · Mar 18, 2021 5:31pm PDT

We had some big news in the streaming video world today: NFL games will be available on several streaming services in addition to existing TV networks starting in 2023, as a result of new deals between the football league, Amazon and most of the big entertainment companies. The new deals are extraordinarily expensive, costing the companies... We had some big news in the streaming video world today: NFL games will be available on several...

Zach Perret, CEO and co-founder of Plaid, speaks during the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit in Salt Lake City in 2020.

Altimeter to Lead Plaid Deal After Scrapped Visa Merger

By Kate Clark, Berber Jin and Josh Sisco · Mar 18, 2021 5:11pm PDT

Plaid, the financial technology startup whose planned sale to Visa fell apart in January, is raising about $600 million in a funding round that could value it at between $10 billion to $15 billion, according to four people close to the company. Altimeter Capital, a hedge fund turned VC firm that has bought stakes in some of Silicon... Plaid, the financial technology startup whose planned sale to Visa fell apart in January, is...

A prototype of Facebook’s neural interface wristband. Image: Facebook

TI Reality Check: Facebook’s Ambitions for AR Interfaces

By Mathew Olson · Mar 18, 2021 11:29am PDT · 1 comment

A prototype of Facebook’s neural interface wristband. Image: Facebook

TI Reality Check: Facebook’s Ambitions for AR Interfaces

By Mathew Olson · Mar 18, 2021 11:29am PDT · 1 comment

Earlier this week, Facebook gave journalists a glimpse of the progress that the company’s researchers have made toward developing a neural interface for AR glasses, a method of controlling software based on reading nerve impulses via the wrist. The technology builds off the work developed by CTRL-labs, a company Facebook acquired for $1... Earlier this week, Facebook gave journalists a glimpse of the progress that the company’s...

Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta. Photo by Bloomberg.

Instacart Eyes Fourth-Quarter Public Listing, International Expansion

By Alex Heath and Amir Efrati · Mar 18, 2021 10:27am PDT

Grocery-delivery app Instacart has been among the biggest beneficiaries of Americans being stuck at home during the pandemic. But its executives don’t want future buyers of its stock to worry about what happens when that ends. The company, which hopes to become a major challenger to Amazon by selling a wide variety of products from retail... Grocery-delivery app Instacart has been among the biggest beneficiaries of Americans being stuck...

Zoom, Amazon Hired at Fastest Clip During Pandemic

By Nick Wingfield · Mar 18, 2021 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Early last year, before the pandemic flipped the world upside down, you could have fit the entire global workforce of Zoom Video Communications on about 45 charter buses. By the end of January this year, though, it would have taken 79 buses to hold all of the videoconferencing provider’s employees, thanks to a whopping headcount increase... Early last year, before the pandemic flipped the world upside down, you could have fit the entire...

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Photo by Bloomberg

The Briefing: The Challenge Facing Amazon M.D.

By Martin Peers · Mar 17, 2021 5:02pm PDT

It’s getting harder to think of any aspect of American life that Amazon isn’t now trying to serve. The company ticked the health care box on Wednesday by unveiling Amazon Care, an on-demand health care business, designed as a service companies can offer their employees. Amazon’s description of the service makes it sound like a... It’s getting harder to think of any aspect of American life that Amazon isn’t now...

Vive Facial Tracker. Image: HTC

TI Reality Check: Why Duct Tape Is Still a Leading VR Accessory

By Mathew Olson · Mar 17, 2021 11:22am PDT

Vive Facial Tracker. Image: HTC

TI Reality Check: Why Duct Tape Is Still a Leading VR Accessory

By Mathew Olson · Mar 17, 2021 11:22am PDT

I’ve been seeing a lot of excitement from VR enthusiasts over HTC’s new Vive Facial Tracker. At $130, the price won’t scare away people who have already dropped thousands of dollars on VR gear. And the tracker offers users the kind of face-tracking features—namely, a way to have more expressive avatars in online social... I’ve been seeing a lot of excitement from VR enthusiasts over HTC’s new Vive Facial...

Parag Agrawal, Twitter’s chief technology officer. Photo provided by Twitter

The Big Interview

Twitter CTO: ‘We Need to Do Better’

By Kevin McLaughlin · Mar 17, 2021 6:01am PDT · 1 comment

For a tech company, Twitter has often had a surprisingly difficult relationship with technology. Twitter outages were once so common that the Fail Whale—the marine mammal–themed error message its users received when Twitter went down—became fodder for countless tech industry jokes. More recently, the company’s convoluted... For a tech company, Twitter has often had a surprisingly difficult relationship with technology....

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Briefing: What BuzzFeed and Vice SPAC Talks Show

By Martin Peers · Mar 16, 2021 5:01pm PDT · 1 comment

It turns out SPAC deals aren’t a surefire way to riches for every company executive. That’s one takeaway from our report this morning that neither BuzzFeed nor Vice Media are likely to recapture their 2016-17 era peak valuations when they merge with a special purpose acquisition company to go public. Instead, shareholders in both... It turns out SPAC deals aren’t a surefire way to riches for every company executive....

Stripe-Like Valuation Jumps Are Becoming More Common

By Berber Jin · Mar 16, 2021 1:09pm PDT

Stripe’s funding round was breathtaking for its size and price of $95 billion, amounting to 2.6 times its valuation less than a year ago. But it wasn’t unique. The valuations of the six U.S. startups with the biggest increases over the last year averaged 3.6 times higher than their prior round, according to data compiled for The... Stripe’s funding round was breathtaking for its size and price of $95 billion, amounting to...

An Ikea mobile AR app for furniture shopping. Photo from Ikea

TI Reality Check: Mobile AR Isn’t Just a Stepping Stone

By Mathew Olson · Mar 16, 2021 11:15am PDT

An Ikea mobile AR app for furniture shopping. Photo from Ikea

TI Reality Check: Mobile AR Isn’t Just a Stepping Stone

By Mathew Olson · Mar 16, 2021 11:15am PDT

Welcome back! I have a feeling the topic won’t come up too often in this newsletter, but let’s take a moment to talk about AR and non-fungible tokens or NFTs—the new fad sweeping cryptocurrency circles and the art collector world (for more on the broader NFT craze, read The Information’s Sam Lessin on the capital and... Welcome back! I have a feeling the topic won’t come up too often in this newsletter, but...

Signage for Bumble's IPO at the Nasdaq market in February. Photo by Bloomberg.

After Bumble’s Stock Pop, Chinese Dating App Soul Seeks Billion-Dollar IPO

By Yunan Zhang · Mar 16, 2021 10:49am PDT · 1 comment

A Chinese dating and social chat app called Soul is preparing for an initial public offering likely to value the company at $1 billion or more, riding a wave of interest after the recent success of U.S. dating app Bumble and a rush of Chinese startups tapping red-hot capital markets. Soul, which masks users’ profile pictures and matches... A Chinese dating and social chat app called Soul is preparing for an initial public offering...

Vice CEO Nancy Dubuc. Photo by Bloomberg

Vice, BuzzFeed Facing Valuation Cuts in SPAC Deals

By Jessica Toonkel · Mar 16, 2021 6:01am PDT · 2 comments

Media firms such as Vice and BuzzFeed are likely to go public by merging with special purpose acquisition companies in the next few months—but unlike SPAC deals in bubbly industries like electric vehicles, the deals are likely to be done at valuations below what the media firms have fetched in the past. Vice Media is in talks with at least... Media firms such as Vice and BuzzFeed are likely to go public by merging with special purpose...

Netflix Co-CEO Reed Hastings. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Briefing: Netflix Wins Oscar Nominations, Loses Wall Street

By Martin Peers · Mar 15, 2021 5:31pm PDT · 2 comments

This year’s Academy Awards ceremony on April 25 will air on Disney’s ABC network, as it has for many years. But it could well be Netflix’s show, judging by the 35 award nominations received by Netflix movies Monday morning, including 10 for “Mank.” Not only does Netflix dominate the streaming side of television,... This year’s Academy Awards ceremony on April 25 will air on Disney’s ABC network, as...

Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla. Art by Mike Sullivan

Khosla’s Lawsuit Against Lime Shows Ugly Side of Aborted Acqui-Hires

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 15, 2021 12:48pm PDT · 2 comments

Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla. Art by Mike Sullivan

Khosla’s Lawsuit Against Lime Shows Ugly Side of Aborted Acqui-Hires

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 15, 2021 12:48pm PDT · 2 comments

It would have been an unremarkable transaction: Electric skateboard pioneer Boosted was running out of money in late 2019 and tried to sell key assets and transfer some employees to Lime, a scooter rental firm, for $30 million in Lime’s stock. The deal would have helped Boosted’s biggest financial backer, Khosla Ventures, recoup some... It would have been an unremarkable transaction: Electric skateboard pioneer Boosted was running...

A customer wearing a pair of AirPods Max headphones at an Apple store in South Korea. Photo by Bloomberg

TI Reality Check: Time to Talk About AR Audio

By Mathew Olson · Mar 15, 2021 11:01am PDT

Welcome back! The visual side of VR and AR captures the bulk of the attention, but audio merits a lot more discussion than it gets, something that a recent Apple patent reminded me of. First though, let’s talk about one kind of audio technology that’s on the market today: smart hearing aids. While hearing aids are today mainly used... Welcome back! The visual side of VR and AR captures the bulk of the attention, but audio merits a...

A worker at a picking station at an Amazon warehouse. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Expands Effort to ‘Gamify’ Warehouse Work

By Paris Martineau and Mark Di Stefano · Mar 15, 2021 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

At dozens of Amazon warehouses every day, employees go about their regular work routines, plucking the items from shelves that make up customer orders and dropping them into plastic bins. They get paid, of course, but some of them are also vying for digital rewards that allow them to buy virtual narwhals, dinosaurs and other electronic pets. ... At dozens of Amazon warehouses every day, employees go about their regular work routines,...

What I Learned as a Founder During Covid-19

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 13, 2021 7:46am PST · 4 comments

A few weeks ago, one longtime team member at The Information asked one of her colleagues on Zoom: “So, how tall are you?” She’d never met her in person. It’s one of many examples of the utter strangeness of the last year. A year ago this week, like all of you, we at The Information shut down our offices. In a note to... A few weeks ago, one longtime team member at The Information asked one of her colleagues on Zoom:...

Microsoft president Brad Smith. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Daily Briefing: Behind Microsoft’s Attacks on Google

By Martin Peers · Mar 12, 2021 5:32pm PST

Microsoft president Brad Smith. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Daily Briefing: Behind Microsoft’s Attacks on Google

By Martin Peers · Mar 12, 2021 5:32pm PST

A public brawl between two big companies is always fun to watch. It doesn’t happen very often, as most business executives go to great lengths to avoid saying anything in public remotely colorful (that’s one reason why Elon Musk is so much fun to watch). So the war of words between Microsoft and Google on Friday, triggered by... A public brawl between two big companies is always fun to watch. It doesn’t happen very...