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

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Partner Roundtable

Scaling Engineering Teams Globally, During and Post-Covid

By The Information Staff · Oct 28, 2020 12:00pm PDT

On October 22, The Information hosted a roundtable discussion with chief technology officers and engineering leaders from dozens of tech companies to discuss scaling engineering teams during this strange new era of remote work. The conversation, hosted in partnership with the Consulate General of Canada, was confidential. We wanted to share with... On October 22, The Information hosted a roundtable discussion with chief technology officers and...

Airbnb policy and communications chief Chris Lehane. Photo by Getty. Photo illustration by Mike Sullivan

Airbnb’s Spin Master

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 28, 2020 8:18am PDT · 1 comment

Chris Lehane was piping mad. Laurence Tosi, Airbnb’s chief financial officer, had accused the Airbnb policy and communications chief of spending millions of dollars before Tosi had signed off on the plans, approval Lehane didn’t think he needed. Their dispute flared up near the parking lot behind Airbnb’s headquarters one... Chris Lehane was piping mad. Laurence Tosi, Airbnb’s chief financial officer, had accused...

Art by Mike Sullivan

The Tech Giants’ Cultures Are Incompatible With Fixing the Societal Problems They’re Causing

By Yaël Eisenstat · Oct 28, 2020 6:01am PDT · 8 comments

The chief executives of Facebook, Google and Twitter are rightly under fire for their role in spreading disinformation and hate speech, including in the context of the U.S. presidential election. They’ve been summoned to testify before the U.S. Senate today in part about their responsibility for the real-world harms their business models... The chief executives of Facebook, Google and Twitter are rightly under fire for their role in...

AMD CEO Lisa Su. Photo by Bloomberg

What the Xilinx Deal Says About AMD: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Oct 27, 2020 5:31pm PDT

AMD CEO Lisa Su. Photo by Bloomberg

What the Xilinx Deal Says About AMD: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Oct 27, 2020 5:31pm PDT

AMD’s proposed $35 billion purchase of chip maker Xilinx will get a lot of attention as an example of consolidation in the semiconductor industry. But it is also significant for symbolizing the extraordinary turnaround that Lisa Su has engineered at AMD since taking the helm in 2014. The company wouldn’t be in a position to even... AMD’s proposed $35 billion purchase of chip maker Xilinx will get a lot of attention as an...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (l-r). Photo: Bloomberg

How Facebook, Google, Twitter Diverge in Defense of Tech’s Liability Shield

By Christopher Stern, Nick Bastone and Alex Heath · Oct 27, 2020 5:12pm PDT

When the chief executives of Facebook, Google and Twitter testify Wednesday before a Senate committee on how they control content on their services, they will argue against rolling back Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields internet companies from lawsuits over user-generated posts. That’s where their agreements may... When the chief executives of Facebook, Google and Twitter testify Wednesday before a Senate...

Photos by Bloomberg; photo illustration by Mike Sullivan

Inside Apple’s Eroding Partnership With Foxconn

By Wayne Ma · Oct 27, 2020 11:05am PDT · 2 comments

When Apple’s 2018 iPad Pro was undergoing production trials at the company’s largest outside manufacturer, Foxconn Technology, the Taiwanese firm gave Apple a list of how many workers it needed to develop the new product. That was standard procedure for Foxconn, whose factories across China have been responsible for assembling the... When Apple’s 2018 iPad Pro was undergoing production trials at the company’s largest...

Art by Mike Sullivan

To Fix Section 230, Target Algorithmic Amplification

By Roddy Lindsay · Oct 27, 2020 6:01am PDT · 13 comments

It now seems inevitable that the U.S. government will try to roll back some of the protections that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has provided to internet companies. The fine line it needs to walk is to reverse the slide of social media platforms into a cesspool of clickbait and a breeding ground for conspiracy theories—but... It now seems inevitable that the U.S. government will try to roll back some of the protections...

Attendees watching a video game streamed at Facebook Gaming's booth during the 2018 Entertainment Expo show in Los Angeles. Photo by Bloomberg

Facebook-Apple Tensions on the Rise: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Oct 26, 2020 5:31pm PDT · 3 comments

Attendees watching a video game streamed at Facebook Gaming's booth during the 2018 Entertainment Expo show in Los Angeles. Photo by Bloomberg

Facebook-Apple Tensions on the Rise: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Oct 26, 2020 5:31pm PDT · 3 comments

Facebook escalated its low-level warfare against Apple by unveiling a cloud gaming service that is only available on Android devices. This is a twist on a longstanding reality of mobile phones: lots of apps on iOS aren’t available on Android (try downloading the New Yorker magazine’s app to your Pixel), but because most affluent... Facebook escalated its low-level warfare against Apple by unveiling a cloud gaming service that...

Photo by Bloomberg

AWS Warms Up to ‘Multicloud’ With Changes to Management Tools

By Kevin McLaughlin · Oct 26, 2020 12:21pm PDT · 1 comment

Amazon Web Services is taking another step towards acknowledging it’s not the only game in town. The cloud giant has never been happy with the idea that its customers might use other cloud providers for some of their computing needs. At one point, it even forbade its business partners from using the term “multicloud” in... Amazon Web Services is taking another step towards acknowledging it’s not the only...

Clockwise from top left: Vice CEO Nancy Dubuc; Offerup CEO Nick Huzar; Glossier CEO Emily Weiss; Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff. Photos by Bloomberg

The SPAC Target List: Private Tech and Media Firms in Their Teenage Years

By Ross Matican and Martin Peers · Oct 26, 2020 6:01am PDT · 1 comment

A dozen private tech and media firms, ranging from BuzzFeed to Getaround, have been left behind in the initial public offering surge of the past two years. Some are in their teenage years and are struggling to grow, while others appear to be doing fine—but need a way for their investors to exit. For either kind, an SPAC may be their... A dozen private tech and media firms, ranging from BuzzFeed to Getaround, have been left behind...

The Startup Trap Quibi Fell Into (and I Almost Did Too)

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 24, 2020 7:47am PDT · 9 comments

This week, Tom and Jessica broke the news that Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg had told people the video startup might have to shut down and then—a day later—reported the shutdown officially. I’m very proud of their excellent work, and I have to admit that I have a love-hate relationship with digital media startup stories. I... This week, Tom and Jessica broke the news that Quibi founder Jeffrey Katzenberg had told people...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks via videoconference during a congressional committee's tech CEOs hearing in late July. Photo by Bloomberg

Next Week’s Earnings Traffic Jam: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Oct 23, 2020 5:31pm PDT

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks via videoconference during a congressional committee's tech CEOs hearing in late July. Photo by Bloomberg

Next Week’s Earnings Traffic Jam: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Oct 23, 2020 5:31pm PDT

It may be hard to believe, but next week is the last week before the election. Perhaps for that reason, the five big tech firms all decided to release their September quarter profit details next week. That’s fine, except that four of them—Amazon, Alphabet, Apple and Facebook—decided to do it on the same day, Thursday, at about... It may be hard to believe, but next week is the last week before the election. Perhaps for that...

The Information’s 411 — Quibi, We Hardly Knew Ye

By Tom Dotan · Oct 23, 2020 1:28pm PDT

Nick Bastone and Christopher Stern join to talk about the DOJ's antitrust suit against Google and where things go from here. And Jessica Toonkel and Tom dive into the brief life and sudden death of video streaming service Quibi. Nick Bastone and Christopher Stern join to talk about the DOJ's antitrust suit against Google...

Zillow CEO Richard Barton. Photo courtesy of Zillow. Photo illustration by Mike Sullivan

Tech Firms Leapt Into Remote Work. Now Comes the Hard Part

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 23, 2020 11:56am PDT · 2 comments

Over the summer, Zillow Group joined a swarm of companies telling employees they would never have to return to their offices on a regular basis. This marked a reversal for the online home-buying firm, which had leased some of Seattle’s most expensive real estate and added amenities like air hockey and pingpong. But after a few weeks... Over the summer, Zillow Group joined a swarm of companies telling employees they would never have...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, left, and Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield. Photos by Bloomberg

Microsoft Bashes Slack Complaint in European Antitrust Filing

By Mark Di Stefano and Nick Wingfield · Oct 23, 2020 6:01am PDT

Microsoft has privately told European competition authorities that Slack’s antitrust complaint against the tech giant was motivated essentially by sour grapes. In a recent confidential filing, Microsoft told the European Commission, which oversees competition regulation, that Slack brought its complaint against Microsoft because the... Microsoft has privately told European competition authorities that Slack’s antitrust...

McAfee's headquarters in Silicon Valley. Photo by Bloomberg

McAfee’s Dismal Return to Public Market: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Oct 22, 2020 5:31pm PDT

McAfee's headquarters in Silicon Valley. Photo by Bloomberg

McAfee’s Dismal Return to Public Market: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Oct 22, 2020 5:31pm PDT

It’s a reflection of the strength of the IPO market that tech companies with less-than-stellar growth are managing to go public. Today, for instance, shares of cybersecurity firm McAfee began trading—its second stint on the public market, coming a decade after being acquired by Intel. It was not a happy return. McAfee shares fell... It’s a reflection of the strength of the IPO market that tech companies with...

Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg; photo illustration by Mike Sullivan

Facebook’s Oversight Board for Content Won’t Play Role in November Election

By Alex Heath and Mark Di Stefano · Oct 22, 2020 8:50am PDT

After significant delays, the independent group Facebook created to officiate disputes about content posted by its users is ready to start hearing cases. But the group, called the Oversight Board, is launching too late to meaningfully evaluate controversial posts related to the U.S. elections on Nov. 3. And while Facebook is giving considerable... After significant delays, the independent group Facebook created to officiate disputes about...

This Year’s Biggest Tech Stock Winners

By Ross Matican · Oct 22, 2020 6:02am PDT

This has been a tumultuous year for tech stocks, which as a sector have lifted the overall market’s recovery from the pandemic swoon in March. The tech stocks that have gained the most haven’t been the big companies such as Amazon, but the smaller ones in the niche businesses that are benefiting the most from the pandemic—most... This has been a tumultuous year for tech stocks, which as a sector have lifted the overall...

Jeffrey Katzenberg unveiling Quibi at CES earlier this year. Photo by Bloomberg

Quibi’s Short Life and Sudden Death: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Oct 21, 2020 5:30pm PDT

The sudden death of Quibi, the short-form video streaming service launched by Hollywood veteran Jeffrey Katzenberg six months ago, is sure to generate plenty of “I-told-you-so’s” from people in the entertainment and tech industries. For weeks, we’ve been hearing from senior entertainment executives that Quibi’s... The sudden death of Quibi, the short-form video streaming service launched by Hollywood veteran...

Apple CEO Tim Cook, left, and with then-Chief Design Officer Jony Ive in 2018. Photo: Bloomberg

Airbnb Taps Jony Ive for Design Help

By Zoë Bernard and Cory Weinberg · Oct 21, 2020 4:05pm PDT

Apple CEO Tim Cook, left, and with then-Chief Design Officer Jony Ive in 2018. Photo: Bloomberg

Airbnb Taps Jony Ive for Design Help

By Zoë Bernard and Cory Weinberg · Oct 21, 2020 4:05pm PDT

Airbnb has hired famed former Apple designer Jony Ive as a creative consultant ahead of its initial public offering, CEO Brian Chesky said Wednesday. The hire is the most significant in a series of moves that has shaken up Airbnb’s creative team, a key department in a company known for its emphasis on branding. The company told employees... Airbnb has hired famed former Apple designer Jony Ive as a creative consultant ahead of its...