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

Zoox CEO Aicha Evans. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon to Pay More Than $1 Billion for Self-Driving Car Developer Zoox

By Amir Efrati · Jun 25, 2020 8:31pm PDT · 1 comment

Amazon has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to buy Zoox, an early developer of autonomous vehicles, marking the entrance of one of the world’s most deep-pocketed companies in the long race to develop driverless cars, according to people with knowledge of the deal. The deal, which could be announced as early as Friday, would give... Amazon has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to buy Zoox, an early developer of autonomous...

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google's parent Alphabet. Photo by Bloomberg

Google’s Concession to News Publishers: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jun 25, 2020 5:08pm PDT

News executives around the world are almost certainly feeling triumphant, thanks to news that Google has agreed to pay some publishers overseas for news content. It marks a significant step in publishers’ long effort to get tech giants to pay for their content. Facebook has already begun to pay publishers a little for stories that appear... News executives around the world are almost certainly feeling triumphant, thanks to news that...

A recent image of a Waymo Via, a self-driving truck protoype. Photo by Waymo

Autonomous Vehicles Summit

Aurora’s Trucking Bet Shows Industry Shift From Robotaxis

By Amir Efrati · Jun 25, 2020 11:54am PDT · 4 comments

Most of the investment capital going into the autonomous vehicle sector has focused on cars. But now automated trucks and delivery vehicles are becoming more appealing amid difficulties in making cars safe enough for the public, according to several speakers at The Information’s fourth annual Autonomous Vehicles Summit. Underscoring the... Most of the investment capital going into the autonomous vehicle sector has focused on cars. But...

Unicorn Deals Drive Valuations to Record Highs

By Kate Clark · Jun 25, 2020 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Unicorn Deals Drive Valuations to Record Highs

By Kate Clark · Jun 25, 2020 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

When coronavirus fears sent stocks tumbling this spring, venture capitalists expected startup valuations to follow. Instead, late-stage valuations for U.S. startups have risen in the first half of 2020 as the stock market, shaking off fears of a pandemic-caused recession, rebounded.The median valuation for Series C or later-stage... When coronavirus fears sent stocks tumbling this spring, venture capitalists expected startup...

A restaurant in New York that reopened this week. Photo by AP

Reopening: One Step Forward, Two Back: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jun 24, 2020 5:17pm PDT · 1 comment

The rapid pace of reopening across parts of America, leading to spikes in Covid-19 infection rates, suggests we’re taking two steps back for every step forward. On the job front, in the tech industry, the picture is also mixed. The pandemic is still causing layoffs—Sonos, for instance, said this week it will cut 12% of its global... The rapid pace of reopening across parts of America, leading to spikes in Covid-19 infection...

Bill Nye, host of a show made by Stitcher. Photo by AP

Scripps Exploring Sale of Podcast Service Stitcher

By Tom Dotan · Jun 24, 2020 10:25am PDT · 2 comments

TV broadcaster E.W. Scripps Co. is shopping podcasting service Stitcher around, according to people familiar with the matter, in an apparent effort to cash in on a surge of interest in the podcasting industry from companies such as Spotify and satellite radio giant Sirius XM.Stitcher is one of the biggest podcast apps not owned by the two giants... TV broadcaster E.W. Scripps Co. is shopping podcasting service Stitcher around, according to...

Mukesh Amabani and Mark Zuckerberg. Photos by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

How India’s Jio Won Facebook’s Heart

By Wayne Ma and Juro Osawa · Jun 24, 2020 7:02am PDT · 2 comments

Four years ago, India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, set out to remake India’s mobile industry by launching a cellular phone service with rock-bottom prices that made it affordable for India’s rural poor. After Reliance Industries, his business empire spanning oil, retail and other sectors, invested $30 billion to build the... Four years ago, India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, set out to remake India’s mobile...

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Photo by Bloomberg

Canada’s Tech Lure: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jun 23, 2020 5:40pm PDT

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Photo by Bloomberg

Canada’s Tech Lure: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jun 23, 2020 5:40pm PDT

Most major tech leaders have called out the wrongheadedness of President Trump’s H-1B visa halt. But probably the most telling comment came from Twitter chairman Patrick Pichette, a Canadian, who tweeted that all H-1B seekers should “just look to the North, where we welcome you.”Tobi Lutke, CEO of Canada-based Shopify, tweeted... Most major tech leaders have called out the wrongheadedness of President Trump’s H-1B visa...

Pierre Omidyar, shown in 2010. Photo: Bloomberg

The Tech Billionaire Marshaling the Fight Against Big Tech

By Christopher Stern · Jun 23, 2020 7:01am PDT

In 2018, when Google engineer Liz Fong-Jones was rallying fellow employees to oppose the company’s contract to do artificial intelligence work for the U.S. Department of Defense, she turned to techniques developed by Coworker.org, a nonprofit that supports employee activism.Using Coworker’s guidelines, Fong-Jones set up petitions and... In 2018, when Google engineer Liz Fong-Jones was rallying fellow employees to oppose the...

Apple CEO Tim Cook on the company's online-only Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple’s Chip Shift: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jun 22, 2020 6:55pm PDT

In 2008, when Apple acquired a semiconductor startup called P.A. Semi, I asked Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO at the time, why he would bother buying a chip company. “We’ve got some cool stuff we’re going to do,” he told me, then a reporter at The Wall Street Journal. On Monday, more than 12 years after that... In 2008, when Apple acquired a semiconductor startup called P.A. Semi, I asked Steve Jobs,...

Art by Sam Lessin

Modest Proposals

On Feed Ranking and Free Speech

By Sam Lessin · Jun 22, 2020 10:02am PDT · 7 comments

Many people wrote to me in response to my last column, “The Slippery Slope to Censored Speech,” disagreeing with my contention that people have a right to have their speech distributed and magnified through social platforms and personally ranked feeds.These people assert that when social platforms suggest specific voices to follow or... Many people wrote to me in response to my last column, “The Slippery Slope to Censored...

Endeavor Group's Ariel Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell. Photo by Alex J. Berliner/ABImages via AP Images

What’s Next for Endeavor?

By Jessica Toonkel · Jun 22, 2020 6:46am PDT · 1 comment

Endeavor Group's Ariel Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell. Photo by Alex J. Berliner/ABImages via AP Images

What’s Next for Endeavor?

By Jessica Toonkel · Jun 22, 2020 6:46am PDT · 1 comment

For most of the past year, everything that could go wrong for Endeavor Group Holdings did go wrong. The entertainment firm—which owns everything from a controlling interest in Ultimate Fighting Championship, the mixed martial arts league, to WME, the powerful Hollywood talent agency that represents Matt Damon and Justin... For most of the past year, everything that could go wrong for Endeavor Group Holdings did go...

A street in San Francisco May 6. Even as coronavirus restrictions start to loosen, many office workers are likely to keep working from home. Photo: Bloomberg

The Aftershocks of Extended Remote Work

By Laura Mandaro · Jun 20, 2020 7:46am PDT · 1 comment

Today marks the official start of summer. Even here in the San Francisco Bay Area, which has been slower to remove coronavirus restrictions than many parts of the country, it feels shutdowns are nearly behind us. People are drinking beer on restaurant patios. Traffic is returning. Yet a review of when tech companies are planning to bring... Today marks the official start of summer. Even here in the San Francisco Bay Area, which has been...

The Information’s 411 — Party at the Mailbox

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 19, 2020 1:31pm PDT

As part of our Juneteenth episode, we're focusing on how tech companies and tech products can contribute to major policy changes. We talk to Catherine Bracy, executive director of TechEquity Collaborative, about why tech companies should fight for racial justice through property tax reform. Then we hear from Nykidra Robinson, who runs Black... As part of our Juneteenth episode, we're focusing on how tech companies and tech products...

Just 2.7% of Top Roles in Big Tech Held by Black Executives

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 19, 2020 12:39pm PDT

Shavone Charles got her start in the tech industry as an intern at Google in 2011, before moving to full-time media and partnerships jobs at Twitter and, later, Instagram. She has watched those businesses succeed in part because of their popularity with African Americans. But tech companies have few black executives. Charles, who is black, has... Shavone Charles got her start in the tech industry as an intern at Google in 2011, before moving...

Ulili Onovakpuri. Photo: Kapor Capital

Venture Capital’s Elite Must Knock Down Barriers for Black Founders, Says Kapor Partner

By Kate Clark · Jun 19, 2020 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

Ulili Onovakpuri. Photo: Kapor Capital

Q&A

Venture Capital’s Elite Must Knock Down Barriers for Black Founders, Says Kapor Partner

By Kate Clark · Jun 19, 2020 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

Ulili Onovakpuri has been getting a lot of emails lately—mostly from fellow venture capitalists and startup leaders, each with a similar message: “We realize that we have a diversity problem. Can you help?”For the Kapor Capital partner, one of very few black women partners in the venture capital industry, Silicon Valley’s... Ulili Onovakpuri has been getting a lot of emails lately—mostly from fellow venture...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg

Tech’s Anti-Apple Campaign Builds: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jun 18, 2020 5:32pm PDT

This might be what’s called a tech bandwagon. Within two days of news that the European Commission is investigating Apple over its App Store rules, a flood of companies’ complaints about the issue have appeared. It all culminated in a Bloomberg report on Thursday quoting Microsoft president Brad Smith calling for antitrust regulators... This might be what’s called a tech bandwagon. Within two days of news that the European...

Google Reorg Gives Top Exec Portfolio to Jump-Start Shopping

By Nick Bastone · Jun 18, 2020 12:28pm PDT · 2 comments

Until a few weeks ago, when Google staffers wanted to test new shopping features for Google’s search home page, the need to get approval from Google’s search team sometimes held things up, former employees say. But a management shake-up earlier this month, giving a key executive responsibility for search and e-commerce, could smooth... Until a few weeks ago, when Google staffers wanted to test new shopping features for...

Jack Dorsey, Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump. Photos: Dorsey and Trump, Bloomberg; Zuckerberg, AP. Art by Mike Sullivan

Facebook’s Month of Whiplash

By Alex Heath · Jun 18, 2020 7:00am PDT

Facebook finally got a breather. After getting pummeled for several years by lawmakers, privacy advocates and press, the company was riding a wave of positive publicity during the coronavirus lockdown. Executives began giving interviews about how their social apps were keeping people stuck at home connected rather than tearing them apart... Facebook finally got a breather. After getting pummeled for several years by lawmakers,...

Attorney General Bill Barr. Photo by Bloomberg

Trump’s Escalating Attacks on Tech: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jun 17, 2020 5:30pm PDT

Attorney General Bill Barr. Photo by Bloomberg

Trump’s Escalating Attacks on Tech: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jun 17, 2020 5:30pm PDT

The Trump administration on Wednesday escalated its attacks on Section 230 liability protections for tech companies, with the Justice Department issuing a 25-page paper that suggested how lawmakers could overhaul the law. Democrats immediately denounced the proposal, which they see as an effort by President Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr... The Trump administration on Wednesday escalated its attacks on Section 230 liability protections...