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

Jack Valenti. Photo by Bloomberg

Why Tech’s Infighting Feeds Critics

By Christopher Stern · Apr 27, 2019 7:47am PDT

The current storm of political attacks on big tech in Washington D.C. reminds me of a period in the 1990s, when the television industry was facing bipartisan outrage over the amount of sex and violence on TV. Back then, just as is happening now in tech, elements of the entertainment industry tried to shift the blame to other parts: local... The current storm of political attacks on big tech in Washington D.C. reminds me of a period in...

The Information’s 411 — Xanny Do

By Tom Dotan · Apr 26, 2019 4:07pm PDT

Jessica Toonkel talks about AT&T's struggles to turn its advertising unit, Xandr, into a powerhouse capable of challenging the big digital companies. Kevin discusses Apple and how its scaled back its reliance on AWS. Jessica Toonkel talks about AT&T's struggles to turn its advertising unit, Xandr, into a...

Spotify CFO Barry McCarthy. Photo by Spotify

The Big Interview

Spotify Finance Chief Sees Important Test in Slack Listing

By Zoë Bernard · Apr 26, 2019 1:21pm PDT · 1 comment

On Friday, the business messaging company Slack filed paperwork confirming it will go public through a direct listing of its shares. Slack has the chief financial officer of another company, Spotify’s Barry McCarthy, to thank for making the process a little smoother.That’s because Mr. McCarthy last year shepherded Spotify through the... On Friday, the business messaging company Slack filed paperwork confirming it will go public...

Slack CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield. Photo by Bloomberg

What Slack’s Filing Reveals

By Nick Wingfield and Martin Peers · Apr 26, 2019 9:34am PDT

Slack CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield. Photo by Bloomberg

What Slack’s Filing Reveals

By Nick Wingfield and Martin Peers · Apr 26, 2019 9:34am PDT

More than 83% of the organizations using Slack do so without paying the business messaging company, but the minority who do have helped create a business that saw revenue jump 82% to more than $400 million in its most recent fiscal year. Those were among the details in Slack’s much-anticipated filing with securities regulators for a direct... More than 83% of the organizations using Slack do so without paying the business messaging...

Xandr chief Brian Lesser. Photo by AT&T. Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Inside AT&T’s Effort to Revolutionize TV Advertising

By Jessica Toonkel · Apr 26, 2019 6:32am PDT · 2 comments

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson hopes to transform the telecom giant into a media powerhouse with the help of a new targeted advertising business. But he’s run into a major snag: Rival TV networks and major cable operators, which he needs to support the new business, don’t want to play along. Some, like Comcast and a separate... AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson hopes to transform the telecom giant into a media powerhouse with...

China Tech Has Hangover From Last Year’s IPO Party

By Yunan Zhang, Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Apr 25, 2019 11:16am PDT · 1 comment

Last year, Chinese tech giants such as smartphone maker Xiaomi and on-demand services app Meituan Dianping hogged the global IPO spotlight with some of the world’s biggest initial public offerings. But this year, few blockbuster China tech IPOs are in the pipeline, and Silicon Valley is retaking center stage as startup unicorns such as... Last year, Chinese tech giants such as smartphone maker Xiaomi and on-demand services app Meituan...

Apple CEO Tim Cook on stage at Apple's news and video presentation last month. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple Slashed Amazon Cloud Spending 50 Percent in Bid for Self-Sufficiency

By Amir Efrati and Kevin McLaughlin · Apr 25, 2019 6:31am PDT · 8 comments

Apple has cut its spending on Amazon Web Services dramatically over the past year, to around $370 million in 2018 from $775 million in 2017, according to a person with direct knowledge of the figures. The reduction is partly due to Apple’s decision to operate more of its own cloud services, in keeping with the company’s broader... Apple has cut its spending on Amazon Web Services dramatically over the past year, to around $370...

Amnon Shashua, co-founder and chief technology officer of Mobileye, speaks at a conference last year. Photo by Bloomberg

Layoffs Hit an Intel Autonomous Vehicle Team, but Investments Continue

By Aaron Tilley · Apr 24, 2019 5:24pm PDT · 1 comment

Amnon Shashua, co-founder and chief technology officer of Mobileye, speaks at a conference last year. Photo by Bloomberg

Layoffs Hit an Intel Autonomous Vehicle Team, but Investments Continue

By Aaron Tilley · Apr 24, 2019 5:24pm PDT · 1 comment

Intel has laid off several dozen employees in a Silicon Valley research lab focused on autonomous vehicles as it seeks to reduce overlapping efforts inside the company, The Information has learned. Despite the layoffs, which were confirmed by Intel, the company isn’t backing away from its work on autonomous vehicles. It has begun... Intel has laid off several dozen employees in a Silicon Valley research lab focused on autonomous...

How Facebook Penalty Would Stack Up Against Past Corporate Fines

By Ashley Gold · Apr 24, 2019 3:03pm PDT

Facebook said Wednesday it expects to pay between $3 billion and $5 billion in costs related to the Federal Trade Commission’s continuing investigation of the social media company’s privacy practices. The penalty would be the highest the FTC has ever levied against a tech company, the closest being a $22.5 million against Google in... Facebook said Wednesday it expects to pay between $3 billion and $5 billion in costs related to...

Mike Sullivan

Crypto Newsletter

Binance Chain’s Beginning

By Jon Victor · Apr 24, 2019 12:02pm PDT

We still don’t know that much about Binance’s new blockchain, but that hasn’t stopped the crypto world from buzzing about it since it launched this week. For the most part, what has people excited about Binance Chain is that crypto startups can run their tokens on the network. That raises the possibility that the new blockchain... We still don’t know that much about Binance’s new blockchain, but that hasn’t...

An Amazon warehouse. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Tests Program to Combat Patent Infringement

By Priya Anand · Apr 24, 2019 11:00am PDT · 1 comment

Amazon is testing a new program that allows merchants on its marketplace who are victimized by cheap, patent-violating knockoffs to get them removed in a few months for just a few thousand dollars or less—much faster and cheaper than a typical legal process.The new program, which Amazon has been testing since at least the fall, connects a... Amazon is testing a new program that allows merchants on its marketplace who are victimized by...

Sonder CEO Francis Davidson. Photo: Sonder

Sonder and Knotel Near Deals as Real Estate Startups Snap Up Funding

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 24, 2019 6:31am PDT · 5 comments

Sonder CEO Francis Davidson. Photo: Sonder

Sonder and Knotel Near Deals as Real Estate Startups Snap Up Funding

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 24, 2019 6:31am PDT · 5 comments

A new breed of real-estate focused startups is attracting a sudden flood of venture money.The group includes Sonder, a travel rental firm which is finalizing a deal to raise more than $200 million from investors such as Fidelity Investments, according to people familiar with the matter. Just days ago Lyric, a short-term rentals manager,... A new breed of real-estate focused startups is attracting a sudden flood of venture money.The...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Bloomberg

Snap Made Special Stock Grants to Boost Morale

By Tom Dotan · Apr 23, 2019 9:20am PDT

When Snap reports its first quarter earnings Tuesday afternoon, there will be one group of employees praying Wall Street likes the results. They’re the people, such as engineering chief Jerry Hunter, who got a special grant of stock in December. Mr. Hunter, for instance, has $1.8 million riding on the results.Snap made the grants to... When Snap reports its first quarter earnings Tuesday afternoon, there will be one group of...

A Chill for Acquisitions as Big Tech Scrutiny Intensifies?

By Nick Wingfield · Apr 23, 2019 6:31am PDT · 2 comments

Last month, Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts running for president, grabbed attention with a proposal to curb the power of big tech companies by pushing them to reverse past acquisitions. But large deals of the kind Sen. Warren targeted are rare among the Big Five—as Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and... Last month, Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts running for president,...

Zap's radiosurgery device. Photo by Zap

Zap Surgical, Backed by Foxconn, Seeks New Funding

By Wayne Ma · Apr 22, 2019 10:38am PDT

Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn Technology, lost both his first wife and brother to cancer. The deaths galvanized him to invest in a radiosurgery startup founded by the American neurosurgeon who helped treat his brother. Now the startup, Zap Surgical Systems, which recently came out of stealth... Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn Technology, lost both...

Art by Sam Lessin

Why the Internet Could Help Small Businesses Regain Power

By Sam Lessin · Apr 22, 2019 6:30am PDT · 7 comments

Art by Sam Lessin

Modest Proposals

Why the Internet Could Help Small Businesses Regain Power

By Sam Lessin · Apr 22, 2019 6:30am PDT · 7 comments

What is going to happen to small businesses in the U.S. in the coming years? The general thesis is that technology allows mega-companies like Amazon to scale, putting small businesses into a systemic decline. But I am not at all convinced this is the way the future needs to play out.If the last wave of the internet empowered big businesses over... What is going to happen to small businesses in the U.S. in the coming years? The general thesis...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, whose company is reporting earnings next week.

Tech Earnings Spotlight Growth Concerns

By The Information Staff · Apr 20, 2019 7:47am PDT

Many big tech companies—Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter and Snap—report their March quarter results next week, while Alphabet and Apple come the week after. The earnings dump is a great way to assess the state of the business. To give you a sense of what to expect, here’s a cheat sheet on each company, assembled by our... Many big tech companies—Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter and Snap—report their...

The Information’s 411 — Diversity and Capital

By Tom Dotan · Apr 19, 2019 2:09pm PDT

Chris joins to talk about the latest edition of our VC Diversity Index. Matt breaks down what user information Lyft employees and contractors can access. Cory talks about Airbnb's engineering challenges. Chris joins to talk about the latest edition of our VC Diversity Index. Matt breaks down what...

Mike Sullivan

Bug Juice, Amazon Envy: Inside Airbnb’s Engineering Challenges

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 19, 2019 6:30am PDT · 3 comments

Airbnb software engineers were struggling a couple of years ago to keep up with the number of technical glitches that were piling up with the site. At one point, employees halted all work on new features for a week to try to fix bugs in the code. To toast the effort, CEO Brian Chesky drank a cup of liquefied bugs—one for every problem... Airbnb software engineers were struggling a couple of years ago to keep up with the number of...

Silicon Valley’s Most and Least Diverse Venture Capital Firms

By Zoë Bernard · Apr 18, 2019 6:30am PDT · 1 comment

Silicon Valley’s Most and Least Diverse Venture Capital Firms

By Zoë Bernard · Apr 18, 2019 6:30am PDT · 1 comment

The percentage of African American and Hispanic decision makers in the U.S. venture capital industry fell last year from already extremely low levels in 2017, reversing three years of small gains. Female representation in the industry’s senior ranks edged up to just over 15% from 14.6%, while Asian presence climbed. Overall, venture... The percentage of African American and Hispanic decision makers in the U.S. venture capital...