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

Art by Clark Miller; Images via Getty

The UFC Alone Isn’t Enough Streaming Punch for David Ellison’s Paramount

By Sara Germano · Aug 16, 2025 6:00am PDT

It didn’t take long for David Ellison, the fresh-faced millennial owner and CEO of Paramount Skydance, to make a statement. Just five days after the merger between Paramount and Skydance closed, the scion of Oracle’s Larry Ellison reached into his deep pockets to acquire seven years of broadcast rights to UFC mixed-martial arts matches for $7.7... It didn’t take long for David Ellison, the fresh-faced millennial owner and CEO of Paramount...

Carrie Wheeler and Keith Rabois. Photos via Opendoor/Getty

Online Critics Push Opendoor CEO Out

By Martin Peers · Aug 15, 2025 3:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Carrie Wheeler isn’t one of tech’s big names, but she may go down in history as the latest victim of an online mob. The CEO of home-buying firm Opendoor stepped down Friday after weeks of relentless attacks on her on X, including from investor Eric Jackson and venture capitalist Keith Rabois, a co-founder and onetime executive chair of Opendoor.... Carrie Wheeler isn’t one of tech’s big names, but she may go down in history as the latest victim...

Mark Zuckerberg at Llama Con 2025. Photo via AP

Meta Plans Fourth Restructuring of AI Efforts in Six Months

By Kalley Huang · Aug 15, 2025 2:11pm PDT · 3 comments

Meta Platforms is planning the fourth restructuring of its artificial intelligence efforts in six months, according to three people familiar with the matter. Meta’s new AI organization, Meta Superintelligence Labs, is expected to be divided into four groups: a new lab that has been going by TBD Lab, short for to be determined; a team focused on... Meta Platforms is planning the fourth restructuring of its artificial intelligence efforts in six...

Art by Clark Miller; Trump image via Getty

Tech Needs AI Talent From China and Other Countries. But Researchers Are Caught In a Bind

By Kalley Huang and Erin Woo · Aug 15, 2025 9:04am PDT · 2 comments

Art by Clark Miller; Trump image via Getty

Tech Needs AI Talent From China and Other Countries. But Researchers Are Caught In a Bind

By Kalley Huang and Erin Woo · Aug 15, 2025 9:04am PDT · 2 comments

In the fast-paced AI wars, time is precious. So when Google last month said it would pay Windsurf $2.4 billion to license the prominent AI startup’s technology and hire some of its employees, the search giant hurried to add Windsurf’s researchers and engineers to its ranks. Within a day, Google had onboarded most of the Windsurf staff it had... In the fast-paced AI wars, time is precious. So when Google last month said it would pay Windsurf...

Photo via Getty

Elon Musk’s xAI Runs on Ex-Google Talent

By Theo Wayt · Aug 15, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

When artificial intelligence researcher Igor Babuschkin announced his departure from Elon Musk’s xAI this week, he became the second founding member of the team to quit this year. And like Christian Szegedy, another co-founder who left in May, Babuschkin had originally come from Google. Despite the pair’s departure, xAI still relies heavily on... When artificial intelligence researcher Igor Babuschkin announced his departure from Elon Musk’s...

Photo by AP.

Dry Powder Is Falling. SPVs May Be a Lifeline.

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 14, 2025 5:44pm PDT

Earlier this week, I published a look at the blitz of fundraising deals for artificial intelligence startups, often triggered by unsolicited term sheets. A few days later, my colleagues Sri, Erin and I reported on Perplexity’s talks to raise more money at a valuation of more than $20 billion, which, if it closes, would be its third fundraising... Earlier this week, I published a look at the blitz of fundraising deals for artificial...

Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel, leaves a meeting at the White House on Monday. Photo via Getty.

Trump’s Intel Play

By Martin Peers · Aug 14, 2025 5:00pm PDT

We’re in a new era of government intervention in corporate America. The latest example is Bloomberg’s report on Thursday that the Trump administration was in talks to “take a stake” in Intel. Just on Monday, President Donald Trump said he and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had agreed that Nvidia would pay the government 15% of whatever revenues it... We’re in a new era of government intervention in corporate America. The latest example is ...

Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch at The Information's San Francisco AI Summit in 2024. Photo by Erin Beach for The Information.

Cloud Startup Vercel Fields Offers for $9 Billion Valuation

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Sri Muppidi · Aug 14, 2025 3:30pm PDT · 1 comment

Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch at The Information's San Francisco AI Summit in 2024. Photo by Erin Beach for The Information.

Cloud Startup Vercel Fields Offers for $9 Billion Valuation

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Sri Muppidi · Aug 14, 2025 3:30pm PDT · 1 comment

Vercel, a nine-year-old cloud startup that companies use to host and develop websites and artificial intelligence apps, has been approached by investors offering to invest hundreds of millions of dollars at a valuation between $8 billion to $9 billion, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions. The new funding could nearly... Vercel, a nine-year-old cloud startup that companies use to host and develop websites and...

Chart by Shane Burke

Creator Economy

Why Payouts Keep Rising at Online Course Provider Kajabi

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 14, 2025 2:22pm PDT

Kajabi, a 15-year-old software service best known for selling online courses, supercharged sales a few years ago when—armed with a big check from Tiger Global Management—it started heavily marketing itself to creators, who pay a monthly fee to host courses and sell other digital goods, such as newsletters, podcasts, coaching and memberships.The... Kajabi, a 15-year-old software service best known for selling online courses, supercharged sales...

Secret Snowflake AI Revenue Figure Shows Brand-Name LLMs Reign Supreme

By Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 14, 2025 1:02pm PDT

For all the talk about the rise of low-cost or open-source AI models, enterprises are still gravitating to brand-name models from OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. That’s prompting database providers like Snowflake, Databricks and Oracle to strike deals allowing database customers to use the brand-name AI to build chatbots and search tools that... For all the talk about the rise of low-cost or open-source AI models, enterprises are still...

Jeff Green, founder of The Trade Desk. Photo via Getty

Walmart Backing Away From Trade Desk, an Amazon Ad Tech Rival

By Catherine Perloff and Theo Wayt · Aug 14, 2025 7:16am PDT

Amazon’s most direct rival in handling ad sales across the web, the Trade Desk, could be in danger of losing one of its most valuable clients—Walmart. Last year, Walmart renegotiated its four-year-old arrangement with the Trade Desk, under which advertisers buying spots on the Web using Walmart shopper data for targeting have to use the... Amazon’s most direct rival in handling ad sales across the web, the Trade Desk, could be in...

Photo via Getty

How Startups Are Getting in Their Robots' Heads

By Rocket Drew · Aug 14, 2025 7:00am PDT

Photo via Getty

How Startups Are Getting in Their Robots' Heads

By Rocket Drew · Aug 14, 2025 7:00am PDT

When I talk to roboticists, one scenario that keeps them up at night is the possibility of their robots making an unexpected movement and hurting someone. An industrial arm could accidentally wallop a nearby worker, a self-driving car could swerve off a road or a humanoid robot could fall on a toddler. Yikes!Historically, a surefire way to guard... When I talk to roboticists, one scenario that keeps them up at night is the possibility of their...

Michael Liberty (left) and Donald Trump Jr. Art by Clark Miller; Getty Images, YouTube.

Trump Pardon Leads to Business Deal for His Son

By Michael Roddan and Aaron Tilley · Aug 14, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

On President Donald Trump’s last day of his first term, in 2021, he pardoned Michael Liberty, a real estate developer and tech entrepreneur who had served jail time for illegal campaign contributions and was facing new federal criminal and civil charges. The pardon may pay dividends for the president’s family. Roughly a year after the pardon,... On President Donald Trump’s last day of his first term, in 2021, he pardoned Michael Liberty, a...

Alan Clarke, right, head of Ford's secret skunkworks, with Doug Field, Ford's chief EV officer, middle, and Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson. Photo: Courtesy Long Beach Mayor's Office.

Exclusive From The Electric: How Ford's EV Guru Plans to Beat Tesla and the Chinese

By Steve LeVine · Aug 14, 2025 4:30am PDT · 1 comment

For years, it’s been clear that Detroit is behind China and Tesla in the global race to build electric and autonomous vehicles. So, in what it viewed as a mission to save itself, Ford poached Tesla veteran Alan Clarke, who had helped create most of the EV maker’s vehicles. Clarke’s marching orders: Create a line of EVs that could beat those of... For years, it’s been clear that Detroit is behind China and Tesla in the global race to build...

A backup battery system form Base Power is installed on February 2025 in Houston. Photo by Getty.

Home Battery Startup Base Power Plots $4 Billion Valuation

By Anissa Gardizy · Aug 13, 2025 6:07pm PDT · 2 comments

Venture investors are discussing ploughing as much as $1 billion into Texas-based energy startup Base Power at a $4 billion valuation, or about four times its valuation in April, according to a person with knowledge of the investment talks. The startup, co-founded in 2023 by Zach Dell, a former Thrive Capital employee and son of PC mogul... Venture investors are discussing ploughing as much as $1 billion into Texas-based energy startup...

Bullish's New York Stock Exchange debut. Photo via Getty

Crypto’s Bullish Day

By Ken Brown · Aug 13, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Bullish's New York Stock Exchange debut. Photo via Getty

Crypto’s Bullish Day

By Ken Brown · Aug 13, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Crypto conquered the stock market again with the public debut of crypto exchange Bullish, whose stock soared as much as 220% on its opening day Wednesday after raising $1.1 billion in its IPO. The offering followed a glittering IPO from stablecoin issuer Circle and offerings from a raft of companies that have stuffed themselves with... Crypto conquered the stock market again with the public debut of crypto exchange Bullish, whose...

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas. Photo via Getty

Perplexity Explored Buying Other Search Browsers Before Chrome Bid

By Sri Muppidi, Erin Woo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 13, 2025 2:31pm PDT · 1 comment

Perplexity made headlines this week when the artificial intelligence startup said it had offered to buy Google’s Chrome, the world’s largest internet browser, for a price amounting to nearly double its valuation. While that acquisition seems unlikely to transpire, the company has been on the prowl for smaller browsers it could more easily bite... Perplexity made headlines this week when the artificial intelligence startup said it had offered...

Jonathan Katz-Moses, a woodworking creator, recently raised venture funding. Photo courtesy of subject

Creator Economy

The Woodworking Creator Who Raised $2 Million

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 13, 2025 2:00pm PDT

Jonathan Katz-Moses, a woodworking creator with nearly 600,000 YouTube subscribers, is an example of how the creator economy is evolving: creators are growing online followings with super niche content while running booming offline businesses. The 43-year-old creator posts educational woodworking videos on YouTube, but also is the founder... Jonathan Katz-Moses, a woodworking creator with nearly 600,000 YouTube subscribers, is an example...

A Rivos employee shown in a company video from last year. Photo via YouTube/Rivos.

Chip Startup Rivos Seeks Up to $500 Million to Compete With Nvidia

By Valida Pau and Wayne Ma · Aug 13, 2025 7:36am PDT

Rivos, a chip startup that aims to compete with Nvidia, is seeking to raise between $400 million and $500 million, according to two people familiar with the matter. The Santa Clara, Calif.–based startup, backed by Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan, is seeking a valuation of more than $2 billion, one of the people said. It’s not clear if the valuation... Rivos, a chip startup that aims to compete with Nvidia, is seeking to raise between $400 million...

Protege co-founder and CEO Bobby Samuels

The One-Year-Old Startup Notching Data Deals For Model Makers

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 13, 2025 7:00am PDT

Protege co-founder and CEO Bobby Samuels

The One-Year-Old Startup Notching Data Deals For Model Makers

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Aug 13, 2025 7:00am PDT

Companies like Scale AI and Surge have proven there’s a market for human-labeled data, like professionals’ answers to complex math or law questions, that AI research labs can use to train their models. Now, a young startup is tapping a similar opportunity, linking large model makers and AI startups with organizations that naturally generate... Companies like Scale AI and Surge have proven there’s a market for human-labeled data, like...