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

Tricks for Trimming Cloud Costs in Downturn

By Kevin McLaughlin · May 26, 2020 7:01am PDT · 4 comments

The business turmoil caused by Covid-19 is prompting companies to cut costs any way they can, from furloughing staff to begging landlords for breaks on their rent. Another tactic is finding ways to save on cloud computing expenses, which are increasingly significant for many companies. Although cloud computing is often touted as a way to... The business turmoil caused by Covid-19 is prompting companies to cut costs any way they can,...

Nisa Leung, Qiming Venture Partners (l); Vikram Bajaj, Foresite Capital; Annie Lamont, Oak HC/FT; Bob Kocher, Venrock; and Vijay Pande, Andreessen Horowitz. Illustration: Mike Sullivan

How 5 Biotech Investors Are Responding to the Covid-19 Crisis

By Kate Clark and Shai Oster · May 25, 2020 7:01am PDT

When an oxygen tank exploded aboard the ill-fated Apollo 13 in 1970, a team of NASA engineers used cardboard, plastic bags and duct tape to rescue the astronauts on board. Andreessen Horowitz general partner Vijay Pande, who invests out of the firm’s $750 million biotech fund, likens the Apollo 13 engineers to the entrepreneurs... When an oxygen tank exploded aboard the ill-fated Apollo 13 in 1970, a team of NASA engineers...

Could Remote Work Backfire for Minorities?

By Jessica E. Lessin · May 23, 2020 8:00am PDT · 2 comments

A month or so ago, when it became clear that the pandemic would change the way we work permanently, I was hopeful that one change—more remote work—could help Silicon Valley fix its diversity problem. When I think about the subject of remote work cultures, I think back to the very stressful months at the beginning of my two... A month or so ago, when it became clear that the pandemic would change the way we work...

A person runs past a building under construction at the Google campus in Mountain View, California, U.S., on Thursday, May 21, 2020. Photo: Bloomberg

Welcome to the 3-Day Office Week: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · May 22, 2020 7:00pm PDT · 1 comment

A person runs past a building under construction at the Google campus in Mountain View, California, U.S., on Thursday, May 21, 2020. Photo: Bloomberg

Welcome to the 3-Day Office Week: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · May 22, 2020 7:00pm PDT · 1 comment

This week seemed the perfect time to ask our subscribers about their plans to return to the office. While tech companies are starting to mark their calendars for when some employees head back to the workplace, Mark Zuckerberg’s expectation that half of Facebook employees will work remotely in five to 10 years seemed to draw a line in... This week seemed the perfect time to ask our subscribers about their plans to return to the...

The Information’s 411 — TikTok on the Clock

By Tom Dotan · May 22, 2020 3:14pm PDT · 2 comments

Cory joins to discuss Mark Zuckerberg's announcement that Facebook is fully embracing the work from home workforce. We explore the reasons tech is rushing to adopt the policy and whether it will have a big effect on cities. Then Tom gives the backstory on Kevin Mayer, TikTok's new US CEO. He explains what it means for Disney to lose... Cory joins to discuss Mark Zuckerberg's announcement that Facebook is fully embracing the...

A DoorDash delivery person in New York City in March. Photo by Shutterstock

Reality Check: Are Food Delivery Apps Actually Awful Businesses?

By Amir Efrati · May 22, 2020 12:09pm PDT · 10 comments

In the past week, Uber’s attempt to buy Grubhub and a memorable story about DoorDash’s money-losing tactics have sparked a wave of critical press and social media dunks on the U.S. restaurant delivery industry.It’s easy to understand why. Countless mom-and-pop restaurants fighting to survive amid the Covid-19 downturn are... In the past week, Uber’s attempt to buy Grubhub and a memorable story about...

GrubHub delivery bicycles in New York City. Photo by Shutterstock

Why Regulators Aren’t Likely to Block an Uber-Grubhub Deal

By Christopher Stern · May 22, 2020 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Democratic lawmakers have stepped up their attacks on a possible merger between Uber and Grubhub, accusing the companies of seeking to profit from the Covid-19 crisis. Yet antitrust experts said that robust competition in the meal-delivery business will make it tough for regulators to block the deal if the two companies reach an agreement.On... Democratic lawmakers have stepped up their attacks on a possible merger between Uber and Grubhub,...

An attendee at a Facebook virtual reality event last year. Photo by Bloomberg

Facebook Settles the Remote Work Debate: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · May 21, 2020 6:44pm PDT

An attendee at a Facebook virtual reality event last year. Photo by Bloomberg

Facebook Settles the Remote Work Debate: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · May 21, 2020 6:44pm PDT

The work-from-home tipping point, in tech at least, has been reached. On Thursday, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg announced that in five to 10 years he expects half of the company’s employees will be working remotely and that it will allow many existing workers, along with new hires, to work from home permanently. Twitter, Coinbase,... The work-from-home tipping point, in tech at least, has been reached. On Thursday,...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo: Bloomberg

Facebook’s Remote Shift Puts Silicon Valley on Edge

By Cory Weinberg and Alex Heath · May 21, 2020 6:42pm PDT · 4 comments

In 2015, Facebook employees were offered an unusual perk: a cash bonus of at least $10,000 if they moved within 10 miles of the company’s suburban Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters. The lure was typical at the time for the social media giant, which had just completed a new office building that placed thousands of employees in one giant... In 2015, Facebook employees were offered an unusual perk: a cash bonus of at least $10,000 if...

Zenly CEO and Snap executive Antoine Martin. Photo courtesy of Zenly

The Big Interview

Snap’s Map Czar: In Five Years, Everyone Will Use Location Sharing

By Alex Heath · May 21, 2020 10:14am PDT · 2 comments

Zenly CEO Antoine Martin was on a weekend trip to Aspen, Colorado, in 2016 when an investor introduced him to Snap CEO Evan Spiegel over lunch. The two founders hit it off, and the next year, Snap bought Martin’s mapping app for $213 million.That deal, still Snap’s largest, rankled some Snap executives and investors who had watched... Zenly CEO Antoine Martin was on a weekend trip to Aspen, Colorado, in 2016 when an investor...

Photo illustration by Mike Sullivan

ByteDance’s Big Ambitions

By Alex Heath, Yunan Zhang and Jessica E. Lessin · May 21, 2020 7:01am PDT

Zhang Yiming, CEO of ByteDance—a $75 billion tech conglomerate from China that is behind some of the world’s most popular apps—needed help. Late last year, TikTok, the company’s app for sharing short videos, was exploding in popularity. It became the first social app from China to hit it big in the west. But the U.S.... Zhang Yiming, CEO of ByteDance—a $75 billion tech conglomerate from China that is behind...

A person wearing a protective mask in San Francisco on May 14, 2020. States are easing some coronavirus restrictions and tech companies are slowly planning a return to work. Photo: Bloomberg

A Two-Faced Market: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · May 20, 2020 7:25pm PDT

A person wearing a protective mask in San Francisco on May 14, 2020. States are easing some coronavirus restrictions and tech companies are slowly planning a return to work. Photo: Bloomberg

A Two-Faced Market: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · May 20, 2020 7:25pm PDT

The two-faced Roman god Janus hovered over the 2000 dot-com bubble, thanks to the Janus Capital Group’s big stakes in fast-growth tech stocks. When shares like Nokia and America Online crashed to earth, so did Janus.The stern deity, with one face looking to the past and another to the future, might be a fitting emblem for the current... The two-faced Roman god Janus hovered over the 2000 dot-com bubble, thanks to the Janus Capital...

Attendees at a Walt Disney Co. event last year. Photo by Bloomberg

Disney Shakes Up Streaming Group Following Leader’s Departure

By Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel · May 20, 2020 2:04pm PDT

Not long after Kevin Mayer arrived at Walt Disney Co. in the mid ’90s, employees gave the 6-foot, 3-inch former football player from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology a nickname befitting his beefy frame: Captain America. Now, with Mayer exiting the company for the top role at TikTok, he leaves a giant hole at the head of the... Not long after Kevin Mayer arrived at Walt Disney Co. in the mid ’90s, employees gave the...

Modest Proposals

How Covid-19 Is Changing Seed Companies and Financing in Silicon Valley

By Sam Lessin · May 20, 2020 7:02am PDT · 5 comments

Two months into sheltering in place, it is becoming clearer how Covid-19 is going to affect the early-stage venture community. Raising venture funds will become harder, but some companies will get a boost from lockdowns and remote work.Here are several of the most important ways in which early-stage company formation and seed financing is... Two months into sheltering in place, it is becoming clearer how Covid-19 is going to affect the...

Signage at a TikTok event in Tokyo last year. Photo by Bloomberg

Will TikTok Be Disneyfied: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · May 19, 2020 6:45pm PDT

The announcement late Monday that Disney’s streaming honcho, Kevin Mayer, has become the CEO of TikTok made perfect sense—in my household at least. My 17-year-old daughter is a fanatical user of the short video app. Her face lights up when I ask her who her favorite Tik-Toker is (answer: @irisapatow, who happens to be the... The announcement late Monday that Disney’s streaming honcho, Kevin Mayer, has become the...

Kevin Mayer, TikTok CEO and former streaming chief at Disney. Photo by AP

TikTok Hire Signals Chinese Firms’ Growing Openness to Western Executives

By Wayne Ma · May 19, 2020 1:29pm PDT · 2 comments

Kevin Mayer, TikTok CEO and former streaming chief at Disney. Photo by AP

TikTok Hire Signals Chinese Firms’ Growing Openness to Western Executives

By Wayne Ma · May 19, 2020 1:29pm PDT · 2 comments

With the hiring of Kevin Mayer to lead TikTok, the former Disney streaming chief joins a handful of high-ranking Western executives whom Chinese tech companies have tapped to lead them on the world stage.Overall, few executives from the Americas and Europe have managed to penetrate the upper echelons of Chinese tech firms, which are still... With the hiring of Kevin Mayer to lead TikTok, the former Disney streaming chief joins a handful...

Apple CEO Tim Cook visiting a Luxshare plant in China in 2017. Photo by Luxshare

Apple to Make New Headphones in Vietnam in Shift From China

By Wayne Ma and Juro Osawa · May 19, 2020 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Apple is about to face a big test of its ability to manufacture its devices outside China—by making a brand-new product in Vietnam. Apple has tapped factories in Vietnam to make its own forthcoming over-ear headphones, a new phase in its effort to diversify manufacturing away from China amid political and trade tensions between... Apple is about to face a big test of its ability to manufacture its devices outside...

Masayoshi Son. Photo by Bloomberg. Illustration by Mike Sullivan

WeWork’s New Number: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · May 18, 2020 6:57pm PDT

A year ago, we noted an unusual discrepancy in WeWork’s apparent worth. Based on SoftBank’s earlier, large investments, the office co-working company carried a $47 billion valuation. Yet investors including mutual funds, secondary market buyers and even SoftBank in a smaller deal judged WeWork to be worth just $23 billion. Fast... A year ago, we noted an unusual discrepancy in WeWork’s apparent worth. Based on...

WarnerMedia CTO Jeremy Legg. Art by Mike Sullivan

Q&A

WarnerMedia Is Hiring, Considering Social Features for HBO Max

By Jessica Toonkel · May 18, 2020 10:43am PDT

Getting a new streaming service like HBO Max off the ground is a technical feat under normal circumstances, but the coronavirus pandemic has added wrinkles no one could have anticipated.Just a couple of weeks ago, when a small power outage in a Seattle neighborhood affected one of WarnerMedia’s data centers, the media company’s chief... Getting a new streaming service like HBO Max off the ground is a technical feat under normal...

Mike Sullivan

Dreams Upended: Layoffs Shatter Tech Boom

By Cory Weinberg · May 18, 2020 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

Mike Sullivan

Dreams Upended: Layoffs Shatter Tech Boom

By Cory Weinberg · May 18, 2020 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

Tim McLaughlin cheered alongside doctors and nurses at an Oakland, Calif., children’s hospital one evening in late April as his 3-year-old son rang a bell to celebrate major progress with his cancer treatment. The next day, McLaughlin opened his email to find scooter startup Lime had laid him off.McLaughlin, a 43-year-old Missouri native... Tim McLaughlin cheered alongside doctors and nurses at an Oakland, Calif., children’s...