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

Modest Proposals

Why Instagram’s Reels Rollout Will Slow, but Not Stop, TikTok’s Growth

By Sam Lessin · Aug 10, 2020 12:25pm PDT · 4 comments

Last February, I wrote a product teardown of the 10 core product mechanics that make TikTok such a deeply innovative and successful product. At the time, I asserted that TikTok’s breakthrough patterns of social design were so countercultural to the dominant follow-and-feed model that the product would be hard for existing large networks to... Last February, I wrote a product teardown of the 10 core product mechanics that make TikTok such...

Photo by Bloomberg

Marc Benioff in Lockdown

By Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 10, 2020 6:16am PDT

Every fall, more than 150,000 people flood a convention center in San Francisco for Dreamforce, the annual conference put on by the city’s largest technology company, Salesforce. Although nominally about the online marketing tools and other cloud services Salesforce specializes in, the event has turned into a cultural jamboree featuring... Every fall, more than 150,000 people flood a convention center in San Francisco for Dreamforce,...

Larry Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary. Photo by Bloomberg.

Larry Summers on Trump’s ‘Tragic Precedent,’ TikTok and Regulation

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 8, 2020 8:00am PDT · 5 comments

It was a week of shattering precedents as President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. Treasury would exact a bounty for allowing the sale of TikTok and signed an executive order that would block U.S. companies from doing deals with the video app and with Chinese messaging service WeChat. So I reached out to someone who knows a little bit... It was a week of shattering precedents as President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. Treasury...

Trump, TikTok and Tencent: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Aug 7, 2020 7:18pm PDT

Trump, TikTok and Tencent: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Aug 7, 2020 7:18pm PDT

The Trump administration’s surprise executive orders that would effectively ban TikTok and WeChat in the U.S. raised a flurry of questions, such as whether the ban would extend to video games owned by WeChat’s parent Tencent. Equally unclear: whether a related government effort could thwart lucrative cloud services deals, such as the... The Trump administration’s surprise executive orders that would effectively ban TikTok and...

The Information’s 411 — Tik Talk

By Tom Dotan · Aug 7, 2020 6:49pm PDT

Yunan joins to explain why the TikTok saga and the U.S. government's decision to ban the app, unless it sells to an American company, has hurt the reputation of Zhang Yiming, the CEO of the app's parent company ByteDance. And Cory speaks to Kate about Headspin and the case of the startup that had to give back much of its capital to... Yunan joins to explain why the TikTok saga and the U.S. government's decision to ban the...

Andy Forssell, WarnerMedia. Photo: Getty Images

WarnerMedia CEO Unveils Major Reorg that Promotes New Head of Streaming

By Jessica Toonkel · Aug 7, 2020 12:49pm PDT

WarnerMedia on Friday announced a major reorganization that elevates streaming executive Andy Forssell to oversee the company’s global direct-to-consumer business, including HBO Max, reporting directly to new CEO Jason Kilar. The new structure, which resulted in the departure of two top entertainment executives, also streamlines... WarnerMedia on Friday announced a major reorganization that elevates streaming executive Andy...

Illustration by Mike Sullivan.

TikTok’s Next Political Fight: Setting Up Shop in London

By Mark Di Stefano · Aug 7, 2020 7:01am PDT

London—As the geopolitical fight continues between the U.S. and China over the future of TikTok, Chinese owner ByteDance has moved forward with plans to open its first non-U.S. headquarters for the short-form–video app in the central London district of Farringdon, according to a person familiar with the matter.It won’t be... London—As the geopolitical fight continues between the U.S. and China over the future of...

An Uber Eats delivery courier in Tokyo on April 21. Photo: Bloomberg

The New Uber, Google Founders’ Letter: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Aug 6, 2020 6:45pm PDT

An Uber Eats delivery courier in Tokyo on April 21. Photo: Bloomberg

The New Uber, Google Founders’ Letter: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Aug 6, 2020 6:45pm PDT

In a sign of the times, Uber said Thursday its restaurant-food delivery revenue surpassed ride-hailing for the first time. Uber Eats revenue rose 103%, to $1.2 billion in the June quarter, and its profit margin—at negative 19%—was the unit’s best in many quarters. Ride-hailing generated just $790 million, down 67% due to... In a sign of the times, Uber said Thursday its restaurant-food delivery revenue surpassed...

Zhang Yiming, CEO and founder of Bytedance, in Beijing. Photo by Bloomberg.

Once a Hero, TikTok’s Founder Is Under Attack in China

By Yunan Zhang and Juro Osawa · Aug 6, 2020 8:01am PDT · 4 comments

Zhang Yiming was a hometown hero. Local media heralded his startup, ByteDance, as China’s most internationally successful internet product. It was the first Chinese tech company to challenge the likes of Facebook for global pop-culture dominance with its breakout hit app, TikTok. Now, as his company is under attack across the world,... Zhang Yiming was a hometown hero. Local media heralded his startup, ByteDance, as China’s...

Illustration by J.Claeys

Casper’s Sleep Troubles

By Zoë Bernard · Aug 6, 2020 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Hours after Casper Sleep executives rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange to inaugurate the mattress maker’s initial public offering in early February, the mood at the company’s downtown New York offices was celebratory. CEO Philip Krim was jubilant, while Gregory Macfarlane, then Casper’s chief financial officer,... Hours after Casper Sleep executives rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange to inaugurate...

Facebook launched its TikTok competitor Reels, a feature of Instagram, into the U.S. and other markets on Wednesday. Photo: Bloomberg

Facebook Takes On TikTok: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Aug 5, 2020 6:48pm PDT

Facebook has never been shy about drawing inspiration from competitors. It was already preparing a rival to TikTok—Instagram Reels—even as concern about TikTok’s Chinese ownership reached a fever pitch in recent months. So it wasn’t surprising when Instagram quickly rolled out Reels in India shortly after the government... Facebook has never been shy about drawing inspiration from competitors. It was already preparing...

Announcing The Information Fellowship

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 5, 2020 2:12pm PDT

Announcing The Information Fellowship

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 5, 2020 2:12pm PDT

The Information Fellowship is a three to six-month program for journalists early in their career to develop their reporting skills by joining a team of award-winning journalists and editors passionate about covering the tech industry and how it is changing society. The Information is an online publication dedicated to in-depth coverage of... The Information Fellowship is a three to six-month program for journalists early in their career...

Roku, Amazon Devices Risk Losing Grip on Streaming TV

By Jessica Toonkel · Aug 5, 2020 12:45pm PDT · 2 comments

In recent weeks, the absence of two high-profile new streaming services—WarnerMedia’s HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s Peacock—from streaming devices made by Roku and Amazon has shown how important the two tech companies have become as media gatekeepers. That clout might not last, though.Streaming-video devices are losing... In recent weeks, the absence of two high-profile new streaming services—WarnerMedia’s...

Illustration by Scotty Reifsnyder

A Summer Slowdown in Venture Capital? Not This Year

By Kate Clark and Jessica Toonkel · Aug 5, 2020 7:05am PDT · 2 comments

Private tech investing usually slows down in July and August when startup investors take a hiatus from pitch meetings and escape to their sunny destination of choice. But with vacations canceled because of the coronavirus, venture capitalists are entering into new investments at a rapid clip.Startups seeking early-stage funding say they’ve... Private tech investing usually slows down in July and August when startup investors take a hiatus...

An employee at Walt Disney Co.'s Disneyland Resort in Hong Kong on June 18. Shutdowns resulting from the coronavirus contributed to a $4.7 billion quarterly loss.

Disney Streamers Hit 100 Million: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Aug 4, 2020 7:12pm PDT

Disney pulled off a successful misdirection today by getting investors to think less about Covid-19 and more about the invasion of the Huns.The company said during an otherwise dismal earnings report that it will release Mulan—its twice-delayed big budget release about a young woman who fends off invaders in China—as a rental in... Disney pulled off a successful misdirection today by getting investors to think less about...

From left to right: Lunchclub founders Vladimir Novakovski and Scott Wu; Mmhmm founder Phil Libin; Run The World founders Xiaoyin Qu and Xuan Jiang; Hopin founder Johnny Boufarhat. Photos courtesy of the companies.

Four Startups Helping You Network in a Virtual World

By Kate Clark · Aug 4, 2020 7:01am PDT · 2 comments

From left to right: Lunchclub founders Vladimir Novakovski and Scott Wu; Mmhmm founder Phil Libin; Run The World founders Xiaoyin Qu and Xuan Jiang; Hopin founder Johnny Boufarhat. Photos courtesy of the companies.

Startups to Watch

Four Startups Helping You Network in a Virtual World

By Kate Clark · Aug 4, 2020 7:01am PDT · 2 comments

A new spate of startups is building video communication and virtual event software for the coronavirus era. Backed by venture capital funding and undeterred by Zoom’s dominance, leaders of these nascent firms say they offer more-effective ways to meet new people, host events and communicate with colleagues—tools that will outlast... A new spate of startups is building video communication and virtual event software for the...

HeadSpin founders Manish Lachwani and Brien Colwell. Photo courtesy of Headspin.

Startup HeadSpin to Return Funding After Probe of Financial Statements

By Kate Clark · Aug 3, 2020 10:08pm PDT · 1 comment

HeadSpin, a mobile app testing company recently valued at $1.16 billion, plans to return up to $95 million in funding to investors after an internal review of financial irregularities forced it to restate its financials.The previously unreported review follows the board’s discovery that the company was on track to post only $15 million in... HeadSpin, a mobile app testing company recently valued at $1.16 billion, plans to return up to...

Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., at a tech conference in Bengaluru, India, on February 25, 2020. Photo: Bloomberg

Microsoft’s Focus Gets Fuzzier: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Aug 3, 2020 7:57pm PDT

A few months after Microsoft’s board named Satya Nadella CEO of the company in 2014, Nadella sent a 3,100-word memo to the tech giant’s employees describing what he saw as Microsoft’s “soul” and “unique core.” “Microsoft is the productivity and platform company for the mobile-first and cloud-first... A few months after Microsoft’s board named Satya Nadella CEO of the company in 2014,...

ByteDance may lose TikTok. Photo by Bloomberg

TikTok’s U.S. Retreat Could Heighten ByteDance’s Rivalry with Alibaba, Tencent

By Juro Osawa and Yunan Zhang · Aug 3, 2020 10:32am PDT

TikTok, ByteDance's blockbuster app, may get kicked out of the U.S. and is banned in India. With ByteDance's global expansion stopped cold in two of its most important markets, the powerhouse tech company may refocus its vast energies on its home market in China.In the long run, that could be bad news for Alibaba and Tencent, which... TikTok, ByteDance's blockbuster app, may get kicked out of the U.S. and is banned in India....

Art by Shutterstock

Tech in 2023: What Will and Won’t Have Changed

By The Information Staff · Aug 3, 2020 4:02am PDT · 4 comments

Art by Shutterstock

Tech in 2023: What Will and Won’t Have Changed

By The Information Staff · Aug 3, 2020 4:02am PDT · 4 comments

The coronavirus will have a lasting impact on business. But from where we sit today, it is difficult to tell which of the changes sparked by the pandemic will be temporary and which permanent. Will we return to office buildings? Very likely yes. Will we shop in stores as often? Probably not.To help you think through what will last and what... The coronavirus will have a lasting impact on business. But from where we sit today, it is...