The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

Five times/week

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.

By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy

Recent Editions

On the Market: Veterans of Facebook, HBO and Coinbase

By The Information Staff · Jun 24, 2019 7:01am PDT

Prominent figures have left their jobs in tech, media and entertainment in recent months. Tensions in the upper ranks of such companies as Coinbase and Facebook led to some of the departures, while AT&T’s takeover of Time Warner prompted some other executive changes.The Information’s latest batch of Free Agents—industry... Prominent figures have left their jobs in tech, media and entertainment in recent months....

Stewart Butterfield and the Changing of the SaaS Guard

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jun 23, 2019 9:21pm PDT

Slack’s listing got a lot of attention for its unusual structure. No underwriters, as is standard in a traditional initial public offering. No weeks on the road pitching the company to investors in hotel meeting rooms. Just let the shares float and see what happens. (As an aside, it seems like the banks were quite involved behind the... Slack’s listing got a lot of attention for its unusual structure. No underwriters, as is...

The Information’s 411 — Facebook’s Libra Horoscope

By Priya Anand · Jun 21, 2019 3:45pm PDT · 1 comment

Jon unpacks Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency plans and the sour reactions from lawmakers. Tom and Alex highlight the power players who are turning around the ship at Snap. Jon unpacks Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency plans and the sour reactions from lawmakers. Tom...

Hulu CEO Randy Freer. Photo by Bloomberg

Hulu Tells TV Studios: Give Disney a Stake in Shows

By Beejoli Shah and Jessica Toonkel · Jun 21, 2019 11:27am PDT

Hulu CEO Randy Freer. Photo by Bloomberg

Hulu Tells TV Studios: Give Disney a Stake in Shows

By Beejoli Shah and Jessica Toonkel · Jun 21, 2019 11:27am PDT

In a sign of how Hulu’s programming decisions have shifted since Disney took control of the streaming service, Hulu executives have begun telling outside studios that Disney will likely have partial ownership in most shows Hulu buys, according to multiple studio executives and Hollywood agents. In recent weeks, Hulu executives have told... In a sign of how Hulu’s programming decisions have shifted since Disney took control of the...

Stock Comp Key to Amazon’s Low Tax Rate

By Martin Peers · Jun 21, 2019 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Joe Biden joined a chorus of Amazon critics last week attacking the e-commerce giant for not paying enough in federal taxes. But Amazon’s effective tax rate is only a couple of percentage points below that of some other big tech companies. And they all benefit from the same thing: the tax deduction they get from paying employees heavily in... Joe Biden joined a chorus of Amazon critics last week attacking the e-commerce giant for not...

Jyve co-founders James Kairos, Sam Purtill, Cammy Bergren and Brad Oberwager. Photo: Jyve

Startup of the Week

Jyve Enlists Gig Workers to Restock Grocery Shelves

By Priya Anand · Jun 20, 2019 10:02am PDT · 1 comment

Startups looking to capitalize on the growing popularity of gig work are gaining increasing attention from investors. Among them is Jyve, which is focused on the retail sector where it connects workers to stores and brands needing people for tasks such as restocking shelves and setting up displays inside grocery stores. What sets Jyve apart from... Startups looking to capitalize on the growing popularity of gig work are gaining increasing...

Question for Slack: When Will Investors Cash In on Gains?

By Alfred Lee · Jun 20, 2019 6:00am PDT

The biggest venture capital shareholders in messaging firm Slack stand to make billions of dollars when the company goes public on Thursday. One of the big questions surrounding the listing is how fast the VCs, who as a group own a majority of the stock, will want to lock in those gains by selling their shares.Unlike a conventional initial... The biggest venture capital shareholders in messaging firm Slack stand to make billions of...

Mike Sullivan

What We Still Don’t Know About Libra

By Jon Victor · Jun 19, 2019 12:42pm PDT

Mike Sullivan

Crypto Newsletter

What We Still Don’t Know About Libra

By Jon Victor · Jun 19, 2019 12:42pm PDT

Facebook’s big announcement yesterday about its new Libra cryptocurrency answered some questions we all had about the project. It also triggered many new ones.On The Information’s conference call following Facebook’s big reveal, a lot of subscribers focused in on a potentially fundamental conflict: whether the interests of... Facebook’s big announcement yesterday about its new Libra cryptocurrency answered some...

Salesforce Chief Product Officer Bret Taylor. Photo by Salesforce

The Big Interview

Salesforce’s Bret Taylor Talks Tableau and the ‘New Normal’ Among Businesses

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jun 19, 2019 7:02am PDT

Throughout his career, Bret Taylor helped create some of the most widely used services on the internet, including Google Maps and Facebook’s “like” button.Now, as president and chief product officer at Salesforce, he is helping the company move beyond its roots in cloud-based customer management software into tools that... Throughout his career, Bret Taylor helped create some of the most widely used services on the...

An Uber self-driving car. Photo by AP

Uber Eyes Acquisition of Mighty AI for Self-Driving Car Effort

By Amir Efrati and Nick Wingfield · Jun 18, 2019 2:04pm PDT

Uber has held recent talks to buy Seattle-based Mighty AI, a startup that helps autonomous vehicle developers train their computer vision algorithms to better identify objects on the road, said three people briefed on the discussions.The potential deal is another sign of a looming shakeout in the self-driving car field, where companies have... Uber has held recent talks to buy Seattle-based Mighty AI, a startup that helps autonomous...

A broken Lime scooter in Washington, D.C., last year. Photo: AP

Scooter Breakdowns Weigh on Lime

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 18, 2019 10:02am PDT · 1 comment

At the CES trade show in Las Vegas in January, Lime showed off a new model of its electric scooter with thicker tires, color display screens between the handlebars and stronger aluminum to help the vehicles last longer. But months later, the custom-designed scooter, called Gen 3, is having problems of its own. The screens frequently crack or... At the CES trade show in Las Vegas in January, Lime showed off a new model of its electric...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Paris in May. Photo by Bloomberg

Eight Takeaways From Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency

By Jon Victor and Alex Heath · Jun 18, 2019 5:00am PDT · 9 comments

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in Paris in May. Photo by Bloomberg

Eight Takeaways From Facebook’s Libra Cryptocurrency

By Jon Victor and Alex Heath · Jun 18, 2019 5:00am PDT · 9 comments

Inside Facebook, a group has spent the past year developing a cryptocurrency that could have far-reaching implications for the company’s business and the broader digital payments industry if successful. Now the group is finally going public with the details of its plans. Facebook unveiled the plans early Tuesday when it published an... Inside Facebook, a group has spent the past year developing a cryptocurrency that could have...

Photo: Chris Noble

What to Watch For When Slack Goes Public

By Alfred Lee · Jun 17, 2019 10:01am PDT

Slack is set to be Silicon Valley’s next big debut on the stock market, with plans to go public on Thursday. The start of public trading, through a rare direct listing in which no new shares are sold, will test investors’ confidence in the messaging firm’s growth potential. Already, there are signs that the company will be... Slack is set to be Silicon Valley’s next big debut on the stock market, with plans to go...

The People With Power at Snap

By Tom Dotan and Alex Heath · Jun 17, 2019 7:01am PDT

Snap is on the mend. After a year of turmoil, when most of the top management team departed and the stock plunged to as low as $5, things have stabilized. The revolving door of executive departures has halted, at least for the moment. A new senior team, with more women than in the past, is in place, drawn from companies as varied as Amazon,... Snap is on the mend. After a year of turmoil, when most of the top management team departed and...

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti at 2017's Subscriber Summit.

Announcing Our Fifth Subscriber Summit

By The Information Staff · Jun 15, 2019 8:01am PDT

Is it me or are a handful of narratives sucking up a lot of air in tech news at the moment? Online privacy. Deep Fakes. The streaming media wars. All are incredibly important and worthy of substantial coverage. But I worry that the news media’s obsession with a handful of topics like these is drowning out other developments in technology... Is it me or are a handful of narratives sucking up a lot of air in tech news at the moment?...

Software, Insurance Dominated Discussions at 2019 AV Summit

By The Information Staff · Jun 14, 2019 3:52pm PDT · 1 comment

Autonomous Vehicles Summit

Software, Insurance Dominated Discussions at 2019 AV Summit

By The Information Staff · Jun 14, 2019 3:52pm PDT · 1 comment

Panel discussions at The Information’s 2019 autonomous vehicle summit covered a lot of ground. The quality of automated driving software, the challenges of building and maintaining vehicles and other hardware, the role of insurance, and company valuations that are 30% lower than they were 18 months ago were hot topics. What follows is a... Panel discussions at The Information’s 2019 autonomous vehicle summit covered a lot of...

Jobs@TheInformation

We’re Hiring a Head of Event and Ad Sales

By The Information Staff · Jun 14, 2019 1:10pm PDT

The Information is hiring a senior executive to grow our event sponsorship and advertising businesses, reporting directly to our CEO.Over the last five years, The Information has become essential reading to business professionals across industries who closely follow the technology sector. We have been honored as one of the world's most... The Information is hiring a senior executive to grow our event sponsorship and advertising...

Meet the Experts at Subscriber Growth

By Jessica Toonkel and Tom Dotan · Jun 14, 2019 7:02am PDT · 1 comment

As companies like WarnerMedia and Apple prepare to market new video services to consumers, they are racing to develop hit shows. But as vital as good programming is, figuring out how to sign up and keep subscribers is just as important. To do so, media companies are tapping new types of executives with experience in areas like e-commerce and... As companies like WarnerMedia and Apple prepare to market new video services to consumers, they...

Softbank's Michael Ronen at The Information's Autonomous Vehicle Summit on Thursday. Photo by Erin Beach

Autonomous Vehicles Summit

SoftBank’s Ronen Says Self-Driving Market “Big Boys’ Game”

By Cory Weinberg, Aaron Tilley and Kevin McLaughlin · Jun 13, 2019 12:03pm PDT

The top automotive investor at tech’s largest investment fund predicted that the winners in the self-driving car sector will be those that can raise the most money. “It is abundantly clear to me that it’s not just an intellectual capital game but a financial capital game. The risks are so big and opportunities so massive that... The top automotive investor at tech’s largest investment fund predicted that the winners in...

Candid founders Lilla Cosgrove, Bobby Ghoshal; Sam Levine, Nick Greenfield and Spencer Salovaara. Photo: Candid

Candid Fixes Smiles by Mail

By Tom Dotan · Jun 13, 2019 10:06am PDT

Candid founders Lilla Cosgrove, Bobby Ghoshal; Sam Levine, Nick Greenfield and Spencer Salovaara. Photo: Candid

Startup of the Week

Candid Fixes Smiles by Mail

By Tom Dotan · Jun 13, 2019 10:06am PDT

Once a month, from second grade until I was in high school, one of my parents would pick me up from school and drive me to Dr. Wells’ office. He was my orthodontist. There I would sit in the waiting room, thumbing through reading material like the Complete Family Circus until the receptionist, Dr. Wells’ wife, told me the... Once a month, from second grade until I was in high school, one of my parents would pick me up...