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

Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Streaming Service Quibi Seeks Up to $1 Billion in New Funding

By Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel · May 15, 2019 2:32pm PDT · 2 comments

Quibi, the mobile video streaming service headed by Hollywood and tech veterans Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, made headlines last year when it announced $1 billion in funding before it even launched a product. Now, with the service’s launch still many months away, Quibi is gearing up to raise even more.The company is currently... Quibi, the mobile video streaming service headed by Hollywood and tech veterans Jeffrey...

Mike Sullivan

Crypto Newsletter

Can Crypto Crack the Retail Market?

By Jon Victor · May 15, 2019 12:00pm PDT

Greetings from day three of Consensus, where the mood has grown increasingly celebratory after bitcoin broke $8,000 for the first time in almost a year on Tuesday. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been rallying for the last two weeks, and some have speculated that investors could be using crypto as a hedge against the capital markets,... Greetings from day three of Consensus, where the mood has grown increasingly celebratory after...

The floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Photo by Bloomberg.

Uber’s Biggest IPO Losers

By Amir Efrati · May 15, 2019 11:39am PDT · 9 comments

Uber’s initial public offering may have made history, but not for the reasons most of its investors were expecting, especially those who bought shares in later funding rounds.After Uber’s post-IPO stock drop, late-stage investors who put almost $17 billion into the ride hailing giant—about 77% of its total equity... Uber’s initial public offering may have made history, but not for the reasons most of its...

Illustration by J. Claeys

Behind the Intel-Apple Modem Divorce

By Aaron Tilley · May 15, 2019 7:02am PDT · 1 comment

Illustration by J. Claeys

Behind the Intel-Apple Modem Divorce

By Aaron Tilley · May 15, 2019 7:02am PDT · 1 comment

Johny Srouji, the Apple executive in charge of building chips for the company’s devices, was fed up with Intel.It was early 2017 and Apple was preparing a new line of iPhones to be released the next year, but the Intel modem for the devices, known as the 7560, wasn’t working properly, according to two people with knowledge of the... Johny Srouji, the Apple executive in charge of building chips for the company’s devices,...

Hellobike bikes parked on a sidewalk in Shanghai. Photo: AP

Is China’s Bike Boom Over? Hellobike Says No

By Juro Osawa and Yunan Zhang · May 14, 2019 11:00am PDT · 1 comment

The failed Chinese bicycle app Ofo, which burned through $1.5 billion in venture capital, convinced many investors that bike sharing is a horrible business. But Hellobike, backed by Jack Ma’s Ant Financial, is trying to prove the skeptics wrong as it looks to raise significant new funding. Hellobike is seeking a valuation of $4... The failed Chinese bicycle app Ofo, which burned through $1.5 billion in venture capital,...

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Photo by Bloomberg

Uber’s Three Paths to Becoming Profitable

By Amir Efrati · May 14, 2019 6:30am PDT · 7 comments

Three months after Dara Khosrowshahi joined Uber as CEO in September 2017, he told his top executives he would like Uber to nearly break even in 2018 and be profitable by 2019. But by May of last year, after competition in ride-hailing and food delivery ticked up, he shifted course. A focus on making money would require sacrificing too much... Three months after Dara Khosrowshahi joined Uber as CEO in September 2017, he told his top...

Daniel Wall, a lawyer for Apple in the Apple v. Pepper case, left, leaves the U.S. Supreme Court last November. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple’s Grip on Apps Faces Challenge From Supreme Court Ruling

By Ashley Gold and Christopher Stern · May 13, 2019 3:08pm PDT · 2 comments

Could Apple’s vise-like grip on the distribution of iPhone apps be slipping? That’s the most important long-term question resulting from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Monday, which allowed a lawsuit from a group of iPhone users who accused Apple of overcharging them for apps to proceed in a lower court. The case—which argues... Could Apple’s vise-like grip on the distribution of iPhone apps be slipping? That’s...

John Stankey. Photo by Bloomberg.

WarnerMedia to Put Some Shows on Streaming Service First

By Jessica Toonkel and Beejoli Shah · May 13, 2019 10:52am PDT · 1 comment

John Stankey. Photo by Bloomberg.

WarnerMedia to Put Some Shows on Streaming Service First

By Jessica Toonkel and Beejoli Shah · May 13, 2019 10:52am PDT · 1 comment

Cable TV’s iron grip on the entertainment industry may be starting to loosen.AT&T’s WarnerMedia is planning to run new episodes of some of its popular cable shows—such as TNT’s “The Alienist”—first on its upcoming streaming service, before they debut on cable networks, say several people familiar... Cable TV’s iron grip on the entertainment industry may be starting to loosen....

A plant-based burger from Impossible Foods. Photo by Impossible Foods

Impossible Foods in Talks With Fast Food Chains, Sees Revenue Tripling in 2019

By Zoë Bernard · May 13, 2019 8:12am PDT · 1 comment

Impossible Foods, the hot Silicon Valley maker of plant-based burgers, predicts its revenue will more than triple this year and the company is in discussions with an array of fast food chains, including Little Caesars, about putting its vegetarian meats on their menus, according to documents viewed by The Information. The documents—part of... Impossible Foods, the hot Silicon Valley maker of plant-based burgers, predicts its revenue will...

Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, shown during a Judiciary Committee hearing on May 1, has called for greater FTC oversight of tech companies. Photo: AP

‘Upside-Down’ World: Facebook Debate Divides Republicans

By Ashley Gold · May 13, 2019 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Federal regulators’ negotiations with Facebook over how severe a penalty the social media company should face for privacy violations has shaken the political status quo. Democratic and Republican lawmakers, who these days find little to agree on, have teamed up to demand tough consequences for Facebook. Typically reticent Federal Trade... Federal regulators’ negotiations with Facebook over how severe a penalty the social media...

What Chris Hughes Got Right and Wrong

By Jessica E. Lessin · May 11, 2019 8:49am PDT · 3 comments

I’ve read Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes’s op-ed calling to break up Facebook a few times now and fixate on a different point of his very lengthy argument each time. It’s an ambitious attempt to drawn on history and our own ethical senses to argue that the world would be better off with a far weakened version of the company... I’ve read Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes’s op-ed calling to break up Facebook a few...

The Information’s 411 — The Prophecy Is Complete

By Tom Dotan · May 10, 2019 4:15pm PDT

The Information’s 411 — The Prophecy Is Complete

By Tom Dotan · May 10, 2019 4:15pm PDT

Zoë talks about allegations of harassment against the CEO of Intercom and what a culture of partying means for women in the tech industry. Jessica Lessin discusses Uber's underwhelming IPO and the implications of a Facebook co-founder suggesting the company should be broken up. Zoë talks about allegations of harassment against the CEO of Intercom and what a culture of...

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi (center) with early Uber employee Austin Geidt (wearing red) and other Uber employees and drivers. Photo by Bloomberg.

Uber’s Weak Debut Sobering Up Silicon Valley

By Amir Efrati, Jessica E. Lessin and Nick Wingfield · May 10, 2019 1:49pm PDT · 9 comments

The weak public-market response to Uber’s public offering on Friday has already triggered some soul-searching in Silicon Valley.Some venture capital investors and entrepreneurs were full of reasons that the one-off IPO, in which Uber stock ended the day 7.6% below its already lowered IPO price, wouldn’t bring down the private tech... The weak public-market response to Uber’s public offering on Friday has already triggered...

The trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York. Photo by Bloomberg.

How VCs Actually Cash In on an IPO

By Jessica E. Lessin and Mike Sullivan · May 10, 2019 7:02am PDT

Today, Uber is going public at a valuation of $82 billion, making a number of investors and early Uber employees very, very rich (or much, much richer). Benchmark will make $7.6 billion, based on the IPO price of $45; Google Ventures will make $3 billion. (Here’s a more complete list of some of the winners.)But how the general partners who... Today, Uber is going public at a valuation of $82 billion, making a number of investors and early...

A Huawei store. Photo by Bloomberg.

Huawei Targets Database Market in Challenge to Oracle

By Juro Osawa · May 10, 2019 2:49am PDT · 2 comments

China’s Huawei Technologies is about to make its biggest-ever attempt to expand into an area of enterprise software currently dominated by Western giants like Oracle, Microsoft and SAP. Huawei is planning to unveil its new cloud database product at an event scheduled for May 15 in Beijing, people familiar with the matter said. A Huawei... China’s Huawei Technologies is about to make its biggest-ever attempt to expand into an...

A Nuro self-driving delivery robot prototype in suburban Phoenix. Credit: Nuro

Uber Talks to SoftBank-Backed Nuro About Autonomous Food Delivery

By Amir Efrati · May 9, 2019 12:39pm PDT

A Nuro self-driving delivery robot prototype in suburban Phoenix. Credit: Nuro

Uber Talks to SoftBank-Backed Nuro About Autonomous Food Delivery

By Amir Efrati · May 9, 2019 12:39pm PDT

Uber has had discussions with SoftBank-backed self-driving vehicle developer Nuro about using Nuro vehicles to help automate Uber’s hot food delivery service Uber Eats, according to a confidential document reviewed by The Information. Such a deal could someday help Uber reduce losses on Uber Eats, a critical issue for investors as the... Uber has had discussions with SoftBank-backed self-driving vehicle developer Nuro about using...

Andela co-founders, l.-r., Brice Nkengsa, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Ian Carnevale, Christina Sass, Jeremy Johnson, Nadayar Enegesi. Photo: Andela

Startup of the Week

Andela Taps Africa’s Software Talent

By Jessica Toonkel · May 9, 2019 11:11am PDT · 2 comments

The shortage of engineering and software development talent in the U.S. has been a growing challenge for employers ranging from startups to multinational corporations. While there are a number of development shops throughout the world these employers can outsource to, finding full-time talent that is easy to manage remotely, particularly with... The shortage of engineering and software development talent in the U.S. has been a growing...

Intercom CEO Eoghan McCabe. Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Harassment Allegations Against Intercom CEO Sparked Departures

By Zoë Bernard · May 9, 2019 6:31am PDT · 1 comment

Eight years ago, a group of Irish entrepreneurs led by an ambitious leader, Eoghan McCabe, relocated their software startup, Intercom, from Dublin to San Francisco, aiming to make a splash on tech’s biggest stage. They succeeded, raising more than $240 million in funding from pedigreed venture capital firms and joining an elite class of... Eight years ago, a group of Irish entrepreneurs led by an ambitious leader, Eoghan McCabe,...

Mike Sullivan

Crypto Newsletter

Consensus Attendance Drop-Off Creates Hurdles for CoinDesk

By Jon Victor · May 8, 2019 12:01pm PDT

As the crypto industry’s movers and shakers head to New York for the annual Consensus conference next week, I sat down with Kevin Worth, CEO of CoinDesk, the crypto news and data provider that organizes Consensus, to talk about how the weaker crypto market is weighing on the conference and on CoinDesk’s overall business. While down... As the crypto industry’s movers and shakers head to New York for the annual Consensus...

As Tech Firms Delayed Going Public, Pre-IPO Bonus Shrank

By Martin Peers · May 8, 2019 10:00am PDT · 3 comments

As Tech Firms Delayed Going Public, Pre-IPO Bonus Shrank

By Martin Peers · May 8, 2019 10:00am PDT · 3 comments

Some of Uber’s earliest investors could make more than 300,000% on their initial investment when the firm completes its closely watched IPO at the end of the week. But not everyone who owns Uber shares before the offering will do quite so well. In fact, the average price paid by investors who bought stock from the company before the... Some of Uber’s earliest investors could make more than 300,000% on their initial investment...