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

Isobel Tollenaar (bottom left), Naomi Brauner and Colin Burns. Photos provided by Tollenaar, Brauner and Burns

Many Gen Zers Loathe Amazon—but Can’t Quit It

By Paris Martineau · Dec 1, 2020 6:02am PST · 18 comments

Like most of her friends, Isobel Tollenaar isn’t a fan of Amazon. “I definitely find it to be an uncomfortably powerful and gross company,” said Tollenaar, 23, who graduated from college just last year and currently works at a nonprofit in the Chicago area. “It has its fingers in way too many pies, and I find it to be... Like most of her friends, Isobel Tollenaar isn’t a fan of Amazon. “I definitely find...

Slack's top executives the day the company went public. Photo by Bloomberg.

Salesforce Nears Slack Deal: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Nov 30, 2020 5:01pm PST

Salesforce appears to be closing in on its latest acquisition target, Slack. A deal may be announced Tuesday afternoon, CNBC reported today, with Salesforce paying a premium to Slack’s current price. That suggests Salesforce could pay more than $23 billion, the enterprise value of Slack implied by its closing price on Monday of $42.88. ... Salesforce appears to be closing in on its latest acquisition target, Slack. A deal may be...

A DraftKings kiosk at Gillette stadium in Massachusetts. Photo by AP

SPAC Merger Class of 2020 Is Trading Better Than 2019

By Ross Matican · Nov 30, 2020 9:01am PST · 1 comment

Special purpose acquisition companies are the hottest investment phenomenon of the year. But they’re not a surefire way to make money, as many lose value after they merge with operating businesses. The good news is that the SPACs that have completed mergers this year are trading better than last year’s crop, according to new data. ... Special purpose acquisition companies are the hottest investment phenomenon of the year. But...

Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in the U.K. sit behind partition screens in a break room in October. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Drops Pandemic Test to Track Warehouse Workers Through Wi-Fi

By Mark Di Stefano · Nov 30, 2020 6:01am PST

Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in the U.K. sit behind partition screens in a break room in October. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Drops Pandemic Test to Track Warehouse Workers Through Wi-Fi

By Mark Di Stefano · Nov 30, 2020 6:01am PST

Amazon has promised to spend billions of dollars this year on safety precautions to protect the workers in its warehouse facilities from the coronavirus pandemic. But it has quietly abandoned a test of one such safety measure that involved tracking the location of warehouse workers through their personal cell phones, The Information has learned.... Amazon has promised to spend billions of dollars this year on safety precautions to protect the...

Poshmark co-founder Tracy Sun. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Not-Amazons: Wish, Poshmark and the Race for Retail’s Soul

By Laura Mandaro · Nov 28, 2020 7:46am PST

To say 2020 has thrown retail shopping into upheaval would be a gross understatement. HP Inc. provided the latest reminder this week when it disclosed an 18% jump in unit sales of its consumer printers, an almost retro device that, along with e-bikes, virtual reality headsets and food delivery, people have discovered they want to have while... To say 2020 has thrown retail shopping into upheaval would be a gross understatement. HP Inc....

The Information’s 411 — I Left My Startup in San Francisco

By Cory Weinberg and Tom Dotan · Nov 27, 2020 11:35am PST

Cory talks to Scott Wiener, a member of the California state senate, about housing, the pandemic and the future of the tech industry in San Francisco. We wrote this week about the CEOs of Dropbox, Brex and Splunk leaving the city permanently. Wiener isn't sure the trend will last. "There have been a lot of speculative predictions that... Cory talks to Scott Wiener, a member of the California state senate, about housing, the pandemic...

Still images from The Crown (left), Bordertown, The Boys, Devs and Homeland. Photos provided by Netflix, Amazon, FX and Showtime

The Information’s Guide to 10 Must-Stream TV Shows

By The Information Staff · Nov 27, 2020 9:02am PST · 10 comments

The holiday season is a great time to curl up on the couch and immerse yourself in a streaming television show—and that is triply true when a pandemic has fouled up travel and most other opportunities for entertainment. The Information’s editorial staff reflected on some of their favorite offerings on Netflix, Amazon and other... The holiday season is a great time to curl up on the couch and immerse yourself in a streaming...

Illustration by Jesse Howe

Facebook Has a Recipe For Better Social Media. Why Isn’t The Company Using It?

By Robert Lindsay · Nov 27, 2020 6:00am PST · 11 comments

Illustration by Jesse Howe

Facebook Has a Recipe For Better Social Media. Why Isn’t The Company Using It?

By Robert Lindsay · Nov 27, 2020 6:00am PST · 11 comments

A New York Times article this week about the struggles within Facebook to get a handle on disinformation after the election illuminates a fascinating idea: surveying users to generate training data for artificial intelligence algorithms. As the Times reported: The company had surveyed users about whether certain posts they had seen were... A New York Times article this week about the struggles within Facebook to get a handle on...

Salesforce chief Marc Benioff. Photo by Bloomberg.

Salesforce Goes After Slack: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Nov 25, 2020 5:01pm PST

Just in time for the holidays, we have a possible big enterprise software merger. Salesforce’s interest in buying Slack, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. We even predicted Salesforce could be a bidder for the workplace messaging service last January, along with several other companies... Just in time for the holidays, we have a possible big enterprise software merger....

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield (left) and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Photos by Bloomberg

Slack Deal Could Fulfill Salesforce Chief’s Decade-Old Vision

By Kevin McLaughlin · Nov 25, 2020 2:27pm PST · 1 comment

Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff has long had a vision of replacing email with new forms of collaboration software, though his attempts to build that future have mostly fizzled. Now it appears that Benioff might be on the verge of buying his way to that future, through a possible acquisition of Slack Technologies. A Salesforce... Salesforce co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff has long had a vision of replacing email with new...

Axel Springer's Lars Kahl. Photo by Axel Springer

Q&A

Insider’s Parent Axel Springer Wants to Help Drive US Media Mergers

By Mark Di Stefano · Nov 25, 2020 9:01am PST · 1 comment

Axel Springer, the German owner of Business Insider, is ready to take part in a second wave of consolidation in the U.S. digital media market, according to the company’s U.S.-based head of news and media investments, Lars Kahl. Backed by its big new shareholder, private equity giant KKR, Axel Springer wants to spend 2021 on an expansion... Axel Springer, the German owner of Business Insider, is ready to take part in a second wave of...

Gene Kimmelman. Photo: Bloomberg

The Biden Adviser Who Brawls With Big Tech

By Christopher Stern · Nov 25, 2020 6:01am PST · 3 comments

Gene Kimmelman. Photo: Bloomberg

The Biden Adviser Who Brawls With Big Tech

By Christopher Stern · Nov 25, 2020 6:01am PST · 3 comments

Gene Kimmelman, the consumer advocate preparing the incoming Biden administration to take over antitrust enforcement at the Justice Department, has been exasperating lawmakers, regulators and even his peers in the public interest community for more than 35 years. In the late 1980s, Rep. Rick Boucher, a Virginia Democrat, grew so frustrated over... Gene Kimmelman, the consumer advocate preparing the incoming Biden administration to take over...

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

Uber Finally Hits $90 Billion Market Cap; The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Nov 24, 2020 5:00pm PST

Most major tech stocks rallied with the rest of the stock market on Tuesday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average passed the 30,000 mark for the first time. Some tech stocks hit highs nearly as symbolic as the Dow’s closing level. Uber, for instance, rose 2.4% to $51.26, its highest price ever and putting its market capitalization at $90... Most major tech stocks rallied with the rest of the stock market on Tuesday, as the Dow Jones...

Nick Clegg, Facebook’s VP of Global Affairs and Communications. Photo: AP.

Facebook Researchers Found Its ‘Political Whitelist’ Influenced Misinformation Spread

By Alex Heath · Nov 24, 2020 10:30am PST

During a September 2019 speech in Washington, D.C., Facebook’s global policy and communications chief Nick Clegg gave an ardent defense of the company’s policy to not fact-check politicians, saying that it wasn’t the social network’s role to “intervene when politicians speak.” Behind the scenes that summer,... During a September 2019 speech in Washington, D.C., Facebook’s global policy and...

Illustration by Jeremie Claeys

To Regulate Social Media, Forget Net Neutrality

By Robert Lindsay · Nov 24, 2020 6:02am PST · 1 comment

The conservative Federalist Society’s virtual national convention recently hosted a panel on “Regulating Social Media” featuring a prominent cast of government officials and outside experts. I tuned in, expecting a robust discussion on privacy, data portability, algorithmic bias and content moderation. It was a disappointment.... The conservative Federalist Society’s virtual national convention recently hosted a panel...

Travelers at San Francisco Airport. Photo by Bloomberg

The Tech Industry’s Diaspora: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Nov 23, 2020 5:32pm PST

Travelers at San Francisco Airport. Photo by Bloomberg

The Tech Industry’s Diaspora: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Nov 23, 2020 5:32pm PST

The stock market is acting like the Covid vaccines have already been administered. Meanwhile, in the real world, what could be a long-term consequence of the pandemic is unfolding: there are signs the San Francisco Bay Area is losing its iron grip on the tech industry. We ran a story today on high-profile tech CEOs such as Dropbox’s Drew... The stock market is acting like the Covid vaccines have already been administered. Meanwhile, in...

Art by Jesse Howe

The Information’s Top 10 ‘Tech’ Gifts for 2020

By The Information Staff · Nov 23, 2020 9:02am PST · 3 comments

Like many of our subscribers, the reporters and editors at The Information have been working from home during the coronavirus pandemic over the past eight months. That explains why many of the products and services we are recommending this year in our annual gift guide have a distinct remote-work vibe. On the list of our top 10 favorite gifts is... Like many of our subscribers, the reporters and editors at The Information have been working from...

Brex co-CEO Henrique Dubugras, Dropbox CEO Drew Houston and Splunk CEO Doug Merritt. Photos: Bloomberg

Tech CEOs Are Saying Goodbye to San Francisco

By Cory Weinberg, Kate Clark and Zoë Bernard · Nov 23, 2020 6:02am PST · 2 comments

Splunk, Dropbox and Brex followed similar formulas as they grew from small startups to established companies. To attract employees and customers, each set up elaborate San Francisco offices and plastered billboards for its services around the city. Dropbox three years ago leased a giant new office building on the city’s eastern edge.... Splunk, Dropbox and Brex followed similar formulas as they grew from small startups to...

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. Photo by Bloomberg

Why Silicon Valley Loves Airbnb—for Now

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 21, 2020 7:46am PST · 1 comment

This week you saw something you don’t often see: goodwill for a tech company. Maybe it was a reaction to the endless years of lashing out against tech CEOs on Twitter, often coming from other tech CEOs themselves. Or the incessant pressure from the press about tech companies and their bad behavior. But as I read positive tweet after ... This week you saw something you don’t often see: goodwill for a tech company. Maybe it was...

The Nasdaq's New York office. Photo by Bloomberg

Wish’s IPO Filing Rounds Out Busy Week: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Nov 20, 2020 5:32pm PST

The Nasdaq's New York office. Photo by Bloomberg

Wish’s IPO Filing Rounds Out Busy Week: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Nov 20, 2020 5:32pm PST

E-commerce firm Wish filed to go public on Friday, the fifth high-profile tech firm to do so in the past week, and confirmation that the last few weeks of the year will be a busy time for IPOs. What’s notable is that four of the five companies—Wish, DoorDash, Roblox and Affirm—have enjoyed a burst of faster growth thanks to the... E-commerce firm Wish filed to go public on Friday, the fifth high-profile tech firm to do so in...