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

An employee uses a facial recognition device as she swipes her badge to enter the assembly line area at a Pegatron factory in Shanghai in 2016. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple Forbids Facial Scanning of Employees—But Not Factory Workers

By Wayne Ma · Mar 24, 2021 6:01am PDT

Apple says privacy is a “fundamental human right,” and shielding people’s privacy is the cornerstone of the company’s public relations fight against rivals such as Google and Facebook. But those privacy concerns don’t necessarily apply to the workers who make its products. Apple recently told its manufacturing... Apple says privacy is a “fundamental human right,” and shielding people’s...

Adam Selipsky. Photo by Tableau

The Briefing: Amazon’s Unexpected AWS Choice

By Martin Peers · Mar 23, 2021 5:01pm PDT

Amazon surprised the enterprise software industry with its choice of Adam Selipsky, chief of Salesforce’s Tableau unit, to succeed Andy Jassy as CEO of the cloud unit. Selipsky is a onetime lieutenant to Jassy, who is moving upstairs to Jeff Bezos’ job. So he has the experience for the role. But Selipsky had been seen as a possible... Amazon surprised the enterprise software industry with its choice of Adam Selipsky, chief of...

Adam Selipsky, the new chief of AWS, in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Names Adam Selipsky Head of AWS

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Mar 23, 2021 1:19pm PDT · 1 comment

Amazon on Tuesday said that Adam Selipsky, the chief of Salesforce’s Tableau Software unit, will become the new head of Amazon Web Services. Selipsky, a former AWS executive before he left to run Tableau, will replace Andy Jassy, the current CEO of AWS. Later this year, Jassy will replace Jeff Bezos as CEO of Amazon, the company previously... Amazon on Tuesday said that Adam Selipsky, the chief of Salesforce’s Tableau Software unit,...

Screenshot of “Half-Life: Alyx.” Image: Valve

TI Reality Check: Why VR Needs More Than a Single ‘Killer App’

By Mathew Olson · Mar 23, 2021 12:11pm PDT · 6 comments

Screenshot of “Half-Life: Alyx.” Image: Valve

TI Reality Check: Why VR Needs More Than a Single ‘Killer App’

By Mathew Olson · Mar 23, 2021 12:11pm PDT · 6 comments

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the release of Half-Life: Alyx, a new installment of the Valve PC game, one built exclusively for virtual reality. While the Half-Life series, launched in the late 1990s, isn’t as popular as giant gaming franchises like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto, it has made a big mark in gaming. Earlier... Today marks the one-year anniversary of the release of Half-Life: Alyx, a new installment of the...

Illustration by Mike Sullivan

What Comes After Radical Candor

By Kim Scott · Mar 23, 2021 9:01am PDT · 9 comments

When I published Radical Candor, I joked that it was a guerrilla feminist text—even if all the feminism was buried in the subtext. Embarrassingly, I failed to notice the irony here: that I had encoded a clandestine message about equitable work environments in a book about candor. I was not living in accordance with my personal philosophy.... When I published Radical Candor, I joked that it was a guerrilla feminist text—even if all...

Chart by Mike Sullivan

Why Netflix Will Keep Subscriber Edge Over Rivals

By Jessica Toonkel · Mar 23, 2021 6:01am PDT · 3 comments

Wall Street has fallen in love with video-streaming services. And the more subscribers a company says it is signing up, the more investors pile into its stock. There’s only one problem: for most services other than Netflix, a fair amount of fuzziness surrounds what constitutes a subscriber and even fuzzier math defines what a subscriber is... Wall Street has fallen in love with video-streaming services. And the more subscribers a company...

Screen grab of David Dobrik from YouTube

Spark’s Dispo Decision: A ‘Precursor of What Is to Come’

By Kate Clark · Mar 22, 2021 6:56pm PDT · 2 comments

For Spark Capital, Dispo must have seemed like a stellar investment opportunity: a photo-sharing app co-founded by a YouTube star, David Dobrik, that had become an overnight sensation with young users. Within days of Dispo’s second launch in February, Spark led a $20 million funding round for the startup at a steep $200 million valuation.... For Spark Capital, Dispo must have seemed like a stellar investment opportunity: a photo-sharing...

Microsoft's Redmond, Washington campus. Photo by Bloomberg

The Briefing: Microsoft Starts Return to Office

By Martin Peers · Mar 22, 2021 5:31pm PDT

Microsoft's Redmond, Washington campus. Photo by Bloomberg

The Briefing: Microsoft Starts Return to Office

By Martin Peers · Mar 22, 2021 5:31pm PDT

We’re inching closer to normal life. Microsoft’s announcement that next Monday it will start reopening its Redmond, Wash., campus to employees now working at home suggests that, a year after a wave of companies mandated remote work, the momentum is reversing. If the experience of last year is anything to go by, once one big company... We’re inching closer to normal life. Microsoft’s announcement that next Monday it...

A Mojo Vision AR contact lens. Photo provided by the company

TI Reality Check: Is the World Ready for AR Contact Lenses?

By Mathew Olson · Mar 22, 2021 11:31am PDT · 1 comment

Just over a year ago, a startup called Mojo Vision emerged from stealth mode with prototypes for augmented reality contact lenses. That’s a category of devices that could display interactive content for people who wear them, while also giving them enhanced vision, such as the ability to zoom in on objects. Last month, Mojo Vision revealed... Just over a year ago, a startup called Mojo Vision emerged from stealth mode with prototypes for...

Art by Sam Lessin

Modest Proposals

The Future of Investing Directly In People

By Sam Lessin · Mar 22, 2021 8:59am PDT · 19 comments

When companies need capital to grow, they can generally go down one of two financial paths. They either borrow money at a fixed rate, or they sell equity where they owe nothing, but the investors get to participate in any future upside. People, of course, only have access to debt. The idea of investing in the future earnings of a person has been... When companies need capital to grow, they can generally go down one of two financial paths. They...

Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian at an event in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

Google Cloud Caps Sales Commissions as Losses Mount

By Kevin McLaughlin · Mar 22, 2021 6:01am PDT · 7 comments

Last year, Google lost $5.6 billion on its cloud computing business—real money even for one of the most wildly profitable companies on the planet. Now it’s taking a new approach that could help it stem a bit of that flood of red ink. Thomas Kurian, chief of Google’s cloud computing unit, recently reintroduced a cap on the... Last year, Google lost $5.6 billion on its cloud computing business—real money even for one...

Image from a Side video.

Coatue Invests in Real Estate Startup Side at $1 Billion Valuation

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 20, 2021 7:46pm PDT

Image from a Side video.

Coatue Invests in Real Estate Startup Side at $1 Billion Valuation

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 20, 2021 7:46pm PDT

Side, a startup that offers brokerage services and software to real estate agents, raised nearly $150 million at a valuation of $1 billion after the investment, according to a regulatory filing and two people familiar with the matter. It is the latest in a string of high-priced financings ignited by the home-buying boom. Coatue Management led... Side, a startup that offers brokerage services and software to real estate agents, raised nearly...

Preparing for a Pandemic Reset? Not So Fast.

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 20, 2021 7:46am PDT · 7 comments

As the U.S. vaccine rollout accelerates, companies are planning for life once we return to our offices and (eventually) our post-pandemic lives. The media, and casual conversation, are quick to turn to what will be different: Fully remote work. No commuting. The end of physical retail. The end of cities. As the U.S. vaccine rollout accelerates, companies are planning for life once we return to our...

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Briefing: Market Jitters and IPO Planning

By Martin Peers · Mar 19, 2021 5:32pm PDT

What a week! The stock market seemed to be doing its best imitation of a yo-yo, with hour-by-hour gyrations that made it harder than usual to predict in the morning whether it would end the day up or down. Pity any executive who is trying to plan for a public market debut later this year: Trying to guess where the market might be in six days,... What a week! The stock market seemed to be doing its best imitation of a yo-yo, with hour-by-hour...

The Information’s 411 — Katerra’s Shaky Foundations

By Tom Dotan · Mar 19, 2021 3:30pm PDT · 1 comment

Cory and Wendy dive into the disaster that befell Katerra, the high-profile construction tech startup that nearly went bankrupt. They also explore the future of construction tech. Also, co-host Tom bids a fond farewell to the podcast we launched five years ago. Cory and Wendy dive into the disaster that befell Katerra, the high-profile construction tech...

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

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

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

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...