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

Why Rally in Snap and Pinterest Stocks May Last

By Tom Dotan · Nov 3, 2020 10:20am PST

Snap and Pinterest posted stellar revenue growth for the third quarter, sending their stocks to record highs and putting their valuations well above those of social media peers Facebook and Twitter. Whether they can maintain those valuations, however, depends on whether their recent advertising gains are sustained. Media buyers and advertisers... Snap and Pinterest posted stellar revenue growth for the third quarter, sending their stocks to...

Mike Sullivan

Biden Taxes Bad for Startups? It Depends on Whom You Ask

By Zoë Bernard · Nov 3, 2020 6:01am PST

For Diane Bryant, founder of Los Angeles-based medical robotics startup NovaSignal, the single most important election issue is how the next president will handle the coronavirus pandemic. Like many startups, NovaSignal saw its revenue take a significant hit after the pandemic swept through the country. Bryant, a former Intel and Google... For Diane Bryant, founder of Los Angeles-based medical robotics startup NovaSignal, the single...

Fast CEO Domm Holland. Photo courtesy of Fast

Fast, a Startup Backed by Stripe, Discusses Billion-Dollar Valuation

By Kate Clark · Nov 2, 2020 7:07pm PST · 2 comments

Fast, a two-year-old startup whose technology enables quick checkouts online, is in discussions with investors about a new round of financing between $50 million and $200 million. The deal could value the startup at as much as $1 billion, according to two people familiar with the talks. The discussions, which are in the early stages and could... Fast, a two-year-old startup whose technology enables quick checkouts online, is in discussions...

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey at last week's Senate hearing. Photo by Bloomberg

Dorsey Keeps Twitter CEO Job: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Nov 2, 2020 5:31pm PST

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey at last week's Senate hearing. Photo by Bloomberg

Dorsey Keeps Twitter CEO Job: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Nov 2, 2020 5:31pm PST

Maybe it was the beard. An independent committee of Twitter’s board, including a representative of activist investor Elliott Management, has decided CEO Jack Dorsey should keep his job. That’s a big deal. When Elliott bought a stake in Twitter early this year, speculation swirled that the investor would push to oust Dorsey, whose... Maybe it was the beard. An independent committee of Twitter’s board, including a...

Karan Mehandru. Photo credit: Outreach

Trinity Ventures Loses Top Dealmaker After Pausing Fundraising During Pandemic

By Kate Clark · Nov 2, 2020 9:23am PST

Trinity Ventures, an early-stage VC firm founded in 1986 that took pre–initial public offering stakes in Starbucks and Zulily, is losing a top general partner. The departure is the latest blow to a firm that has already had to halt fundraising efforts on its next fund due to the coronavirus outbreak. Karan Mehandru, 42, who first joined... Trinity Ventures, an early-stage VC firm founded in 1986 that took pre–initial public...

Farfetch CEO Jose Neves. Photo by Bloomberg

Alibaba in Talks to Invest in Online Fashion Retailer Farfetch

By Juro Osawa · Nov 2, 2020 7:38am PST

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is in advanced discussions to invest nearly $300 million in London-based online luxury fashion retailer Farfetch, people familiar with the matter said, as China emerges as the most important battleground for luxury brands. Alibaba, whose shopping apps have 874 million monthly active users in China, and Farfetch,... Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is in advanced discussions to invest nearly $300 million in...

Art by Shutterstock/Mike Sullivan

Amazon Plans for Rural Deliveries Amid Postal Service Problems

By Paris Martineau · Nov 2, 2020 6:02am PST · 1 comment

Amazon has explored expanding its already giant distribution network to rural areas, one of the few parts of the U.S. where it doesn’t now handle its own deliveries, under a new initiative called Wagon Wheel. The move would take business away from the U.S. Postal Service, which now handles most of Amazon’s deliveries to remote... Amazon has explored expanding its already giant distribution network to rural areas, one of the...

Photo by Bloomberg. Illustration by Mike Sullivan.

A Conversation with the Medium Baron

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 31, 2020 8:01am PDT · 2 comments

Photo by Bloomberg. Illustration by Mike Sullivan.

The Saturday Interview

A Conversation with the Medium Baron

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 31, 2020 8:01am PDT · 2 comments

One of the wonderful things about being a tech reporter for going on two decades is the chance to observe executives in multiple acts. And this week, while the internet was debating Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s scraggly pandemic beard, I was chatting with one of Dorsey’s predecessors in that role, Twitter co-founder and now Medium CEO... One of the wonderful things about being a tech reporter for going on two decades is the chance to...

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in March. Photo by Bloomberg

Tech Selloff Follows Earnings: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Oct 30, 2020 5:31pm PDT

If Thursday was party time for tech companies, most of which reported better-than-expected earnings, Friday was the hangover. Most big tech stocks tumbled, as the Nasdaq led the market down by losing nearly 2.5%. Yes, there is a disconnect there, although major tech stocks have rallied strongly in recent months, so maybe they’re getting... If Thursday was party time for tech companies, most of which reported better-than-expected...

Ballot-counting equipment at the Philadelphia Convention Center in September. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple Rejects App for Verifying Pennsylvania Ballots

By Nick Wingfield · Oct 30, 2020 3:32pm PDT · 2 comments

Efforts to reject some ballots in battleground states like Pennsylvania could determine the outcome of next week’s election. But a mobile app designed to help ensure that Pennsylvania ballots are getting counted has already been rejected—by Apple. After almost two weeks of holding up the release of the app, called Drive Turnout,... Efforts to reject some ballots in battleground states like Pennsylvania could determine the...

The Information’s 411 — Contractors With Benefits

By Cory Weinberg and Tom Dotan · Oct 30, 2020 1:14pm PDT

Will Uber and Lyft drivers become full-time employees, or something more like contractors with benefits? California's Proposition 22 will help determine the fate of "gig" work, as well as the financial fortunes of Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Instacart. Tom and Cory break down this high-stakes battle ahead of Election Day, with some... Will Uber and Lyft drivers become full-time employees, or something more like contractors with...

Amazon Catapults Over Alphabet on Capex Spending

By Martin Peers · Oct 30, 2020 9:49am PDT

Amazon Catapults Over Alphabet on Capex Spending

By Martin Peers · Oct 30, 2020 9:49am PDT

Big tech companies’ third-quarter earnings on Thursday demonstrated their outsize performance in advertising, retail and hardware sales. At the same time, most of the companies—most noticeably Amazon—are increasing spending on properties and data centers to pave the way for future growth despite continued uncertainty about the... Big tech companies’ third-quarter earnings on Thursday demonstrated their outsize...

Illustration by Jesus Escudero.

The 100X Club: Software Startup Valuations Skyrocket Despite Small Revenue

By Kate Clark and Amir Efrati · Oct 30, 2020 6:01am PDT

When San Francisco–based Retool raised new funding this month, investors valued the maker of software development tools at just below $1 billion, or 100 times its annualized revenue of roughly $10 million. This price, essentially a bet that the three-year-old firm’s growth has just begun, is becoming the new standard for financing... When San Francisco–based Retool raised new funding this month, investors valued the maker...

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg

Digital Ad Market Rebounds Strongly: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Oct 29, 2020 5:31pm PDT

The digital ad market rebounded surprisingly strongly in the third quarter, a cavalcade of earnings results today showed. The results confirm earlier indications that marketers regained confidence over the summer after slashing spending when the pandemic crisis first began. The question now is whether the new surge in Covid cases will cause... The digital ad market rebounded surprisingly strongly in the third quarter, a cavalcade of...

People waiting to enter JPMorgan Chase's headquarters in New York in September. Photo by Bloomberg

JPMorgan, Goldman Order Software ‘Code Freezes’ Around Election

By Kevin McLaughlin · Oct 29, 2020 12:42pm PDT · 2 comments

Top banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, are battening down their technology hatches for next week’s presidential election. Around next Tuesday, the final day of voting, JPMorgan and Goldman will both halt software updates to the retail and investment banking systems their customers use to manage accounts, The Information has... Top banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, are battening down their technology...

Mark Zuckerberg, left, and Joe Biden. Photos by Bloomberg

Why Facebook Has the Most to Lose From Biden, Democratic Victories

By Christopher Stern · Oct 29, 2020 6:01am PDT · 1 comment

Mark Zuckerberg, left, and Joe Biden. Photos by Bloomberg

Why Facebook Has the Most to Lose From Biden, Democratic Victories

By Christopher Stern · Oct 29, 2020 6:01am PDT · 1 comment

If Democrats sweep to power next week, as several pollsters predict, Facebook’s already lowly political fortunes are likely to take a sharp turn for the worse, Democratic congressional staffers and lobbyists say. While the entire tech industry is fighting off demands by lawmakers for more regulation, Facebook is especially hard up for... If Democrats sweep to power next week, as several pollsters predict, Facebook’s already...

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey speaking by videoconference to the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday. Photo by Bloomberg

Tech CEOs Face Angry Senators: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Oct 28, 2020 5:31pm PDT

If today’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Section 230 demonstrated anything, it’s the impossible position faced by tech companies in responding to Democrats and Republicans complaining about their content moderation policies. As Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted in his opening statement, “Democrats often say we... If today’s Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Section 230 demonstrated anything,...

Art by Shutterstock

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

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...