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

A panel from our 2018 Autonomous Vehicle Summit. Credit: Erin Beach.

Announcing The Information’s 2019 Autonomous Vehicle Event

By Amir Efrati · Dec 13, 2018 1:48pm PST

We are excited to announce that our third annual Autonomous Vehicle Summit will be held June 13, 2019 at Fort Mason in San Francisco.The purpose of this event is to bring together the technologists, investors, business leaders and strategists who are actively deploying self-driving technology and building next-generation businesses around it.... We are excited to announce that our third annual Autonomous Vehicle Summit will be held June 13,...

Juniper CEO Rami Rahim, center, at the New York Stock Exchange last month. Photo by Bloomberg

AWS’ Shift to Homegrown Networking Equipment Raises Questions for Juniper

By Kevin McLaughlin · Dec 13, 2018 12:33pm PST · 1 comment

Juniper Networks, which makes high-end devices that route traffic around the internet, looked to be making headway in a key growth market a few years ago when it started selling its routers to Amazon Web Services. AWS is the biggest of the public cloud providers that handle an increasing share of big companies’ computing work.But hopes... Juniper Networks, which makes high-end devices that route traffic around the internet, looked to...

Photo by Bloomberg

Facebook to Cut Funding for Some News Shows on Watch

By Jessica Toonkel, Tom Dotan and Beejoli Shah · Dec 13, 2018 7:02am PST

Six months after Facebook launched a slate of original news shows from outlets like CNN, ABC News and BuzzFeed, the company has told news executives it is likely to reduce its funding for individual shows, as it refines its programming strategy for the effort. Facebook’s overall spending on news content for its Watch service—$90... Six months after Facebook launched a slate of original news shows from outlets like CNN, ABC News...

Mike Sullivan

Investors Regroup; ConsenSys’ Consulting Stumble

By Jon Victor · Dec 12, 2018 12:01pm PST · 1 comment

Mike Sullivan

Crypto Newsletter

Investors Regroup; ConsenSys’ Consulting Stumble

By Jon Victor · Dec 12, 2018 12:01pm PST · 1 comment

Crypto winter is here, but who can say when it actually began? It has now been about a month since the price of bitcoin started to drop off its $6,400 level, falling by almost half in that time. But many assets were already down more than 80% from their 2018 highs before the latest plunge. Even as prices remain low, however, market... Crypto winter is here, but who can say when it actually began? It has now been about a month...

A view of an Apple wireless chip inside the company's AirPods at a 2016 event. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple Developing Modem as Chip Efforts Expand

By Aaron Tilley · Dec 12, 2018 7:01am PST · 6 comments

For some time, Apple has been serious about building more wireless components for its own devices, putting its own Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chips into the latest Apple Watches and AirPod earbuds.Now Apple has provided the clearest evidence yet that it is working on one of the most complicated and expensive hardware ingredients in its devices: a... For some time, Apple has been serious about building more wireless components for its own...

Huawei ads in Beijing. Photo by Bloomberg

Huawei’s Deep Ties to U.S. Researchers Face Backlash

By Juro Osawa and Matt Drange · Dec 11, 2018 12:44pm PST

Professor Song-Chun Zhu of UCLA is one of the world’s leading authorities on computer vision. He has won numerous grants, including from the Pentagon—and more recently from Huawei Technologies. Now, Mr. Zhu, who has already received one-third of the $450,000 Huawei grant, says he doesn’t want to accept the rest because of the... Professor Song-Chun Zhu of UCLA is one of the world’s leading authorities on computer...

Photo of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by AP, others courtesy of the lawmakers

10 Lawmakers Tech Should Watch

By Sarah Kuranda and Nick Wingfield · Dec 11, 2018 7:16am PST · 1 comment

When Google CEO Sundar Pichai took a seat in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning, he became the latest Silicon Valley tech executive summoned for hostile questioning from politicians.Lawmakers are expected to ask him about Google’s plans to return to China with a censored version of its search engine, whether... When Google CEO Sundar Pichai took a seat in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday...

A still image taken from an ABC TV station, showing the self-driving car that hit a pedestrian in Tempe, Ariz., last March. Photo by AP

The Uber Whistleblower’s Email

By Amir Efrati · Dec 10, 2018 4:00pm PST

A still image taken from an ABC TV station, showing the self-driving car that hit a pedestrian in Tempe, Ariz., last March. Photo by AP

The Uber Whistleblower’s Email

By Amir Efrati · Dec 10, 2018 4:00pm PST

Below is Robbie Miller’s March 13 email to Eric Meyhofer, Jon Thomason and several others, including two in-house lawyers. Below is Robbie Miller’s March 13 email to Eric Meyhofer, Jon Thomason and several others,...

An Uber self-driving car being tested in Arizona in February. Photo by AP

How an Uber Whistleblower Tried to Stop Self-Driving Car Disaster

By Amir Efrati · Dec 10, 2018 4:00pm PST · 5 comments

Five days before an Uber self-driving car prototype killed a pedestrian in Arizona last March, a manager in Uber’s autonomous vehicle unit warned the group’s top executives that the software powering the company’s prototype robotaxis was dangerous. He also warned that the human back-up drivers in the vehicles weren’t... Five days before an Uber self-driving car prototype killed a pedestrian in Arizona last March, a...

Mark Zuckerberg, Brad Smith and Bill Gates. Photos AP; Bloomberg

To Rebuild Trust, Facebook’s Zuckerberg Looked to Microsoft

By Nick Wingfield · Dec 10, 2018 7:02am PST · 1 comment

When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants advice, he occasionally turns to a kindred figure: Bill Gates, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist. Recently, Mr. Gates suggested to Mr. Zuckerberg that Facebook consider hiring someone with a profile like that of Brad Smith, the president and chief legal officer at Microsoft, a lawyer... When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants advice, he occasionally turns to a kindred figure: Bill...

Lime scooters parked in South Bend, Ind. Photo: AP

Scooter Firm Chases Funding to Staunch Losses

By Cory Weinberg · Dec 9, 2018 9:05pm PST · 5 comments

Investors in Lime were surprised this spring that the startup already had spent much of the $70 million it had raised only a few months earlier. The company was trying to shift quickly from running a bike-share business to one focused on electric scooters, and needed to buy thousands of the vehicles, according to people familiar with the matter.... Investors in Lime were surprised this spring that the startup already had spent much of the $70...

The Tech Industry: 2018 Through 2023

By Jessica E. Lessin · Dec 8, 2018 12:58pm PST · 1 comment

The Tech Industry: 2018 Through 2023

By Jessica E. Lessin · Dec 8, 2018 12:58pm PST · 1 comment

Last week we looked backwards. This week, we are looking ahead at subjects that we think will shape the tech industry over the next five years. There are some common themes that run across several of these topics, including the continued growth of artificial intelligence. (Although our team fiercely debated whether its impact will be more... Last week we looked backwards. This week, we are looking ahead at subjects that we think will...

The Information’s 411 — The Last Five Years

By Tom Dotan · Dec 7, 2018 4:02pm PST

Jessica talks about how the business models for news have shifted since The Information launched in 2013. Juro gives us the context behind the recent arrest of Huawei's CFO and what the episode means for relations between the US and China. Jessica talks about how the business models for news have shifted since The Information launched...

Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf at an event in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday. Photo by Bloomberg

Qualcomm Lays Off 269 Employees, Mostly in Data Center Business

By Aaron Tilley · Dec 7, 2018 11:31am PST · 1 comment

Qualcomm is laying off 269 employees at its offices in Raleigh, N.C. and San Diego, mostly in its faltering data center unit, according to documents reviewed by The Information. Only around 50 employees remain in the data center unit, down from nearly 1,000 employees earlier this year, said one person with knowledge of the situation.The layoffs... Qualcomm is laying off 269 employees at its offices in Raleigh, N.C. and San Diego, mostly in its...

Subscriber Survey

Facebook Revelations Damage Image in Tech Industry, Subscribers Say

By Wendy Pollack · Dec 7, 2018 10:02am PST · 7 comments

The continuing stream of revelations about Facebook’s business practices are taking a severe toll on the company’s reputation within the tech industry, The Information’s latest subscriber survey shows. Just over three-fourths of respondents said they are less inclined to work at Facebook following this year’s... The continuing stream of revelations about Facebook’s business practices are taking a...

Google Cloud's outgoing CEO Diane Greene and Tencent CEO Pony Ma. Photos by Bloomberg.

Google and Tencent Secretly Explore Cloud-Computing Cooperation

By Juro Osawa · Dec 7, 2018 7:00am PST · 2 comments

Google Cloud's outgoing CEO Diane Greene and Tencent CEO Pony Ma. Photos by Bloomberg.

Google and Tencent Secretly Explore Cloud-Computing Cooperation

By Juro Osawa · Dec 7, 2018 7:00am PST · 2 comments

Google is secretly exploring ways to use Tencent as a proxy for Google Cloud in China, where the U.S. company doesn’t operate its own cloud-computing business, people familiar with the matter said. If the project moves forward, corporate customers using Google Cloud’s software tools and services outside China—for tasks ranging... Google is secretly exploring ways to use Tencent as a proxy for Google Cloud in China, where the...

Logos of some of the apps produced by ByteDance.
Photo by Imaginechina via AP Images

ByteDance in Talks to Raise $1.45 Billion for Startup Shopping Spree

By Yunan Zhang and Juro Osawa · Dec 6, 2018 11:58pm PST

China’s ByteDance, the world’s most valuable startup worth $75 billion, is in talks to raise the equivalent of more than $1 billion for its first venture fund to invest in artificial intelligence and media content, people familiar with the matter said. The Beijing-based company, whose popular video app TikTok is growing... China’s ByteDance, the world’s most valuable startup worth $75 billion, is in talks...

Launching Our Updated Org Charts

By Jessica E. Lessin · Dec 6, 2018 10:10am PST · 1 comment

I am incredibly excited to take the wraps off a new section of The Information devoted to our org charts and available to annual subscribers today. You can sign up or upgrade under our special 5-year anniversary deals, which are good for a few more days.When our reporters told me they had the data to map out the leadership teams of the most... I am incredibly excited to take the wraps off a new section of The Information devoted to our org...

What Airbnb’s New Guard Faces Ahead of IPO

By Cory Weinberg · Dec 6, 2018 7:01am PST · 2 comments

As Airbnb prepares to go public, its strengths and weaknesses are coming into focus. A previously shorthanded executive team has been reinforced with veterans from Amazon, creating new power centers inside the company, as our new org chart shows. The company’s home-sharing business has become more popular with lucrative business travelers.... As Airbnb prepares to go public, its strengths and weaknesses are coming into focus. A previously...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaking at a conference in Paris in May. Photo by Bloomberg

Facebook Emails Reveal Debates Over Selling Data Access

By Nick Wingfield, Reed Albergotti and Sarah Kuranda · Dec 5, 2018 3:31pm PST · 1 comment

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaking at a conference in Paris in May. Photo by Bloomberg

Facebook Emails Reveal Debates Over Selling Data Access

By Nick Wingfield, Reed Albergotti and Sarah Kuranda · Dec 5, 2018 3:31pm PST · 1 comment

Facebook has long stressed it has never sold the personal data of its users, but a new cache of internal emails between Facebook executives reveals they considered charging developers for access to it. The emails—released Wednesday by a British member of Parliament overseeing an international committee examining Facebook—provided a... Facebook has long stressed it has never sold the personal data of its users, but a new cache of...