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

Shari Redstone. Photo by Bloomberg

O’Reilly Show Thrusts ViacomCBS Into Middle of Controversy

By Jessica Toonkel · Jun 10, 2020 11:01am PDT · 1 comment

ViacomCBS’ $340 million purchase of streaming video service Pluto TV two years ago was part of an effort by the aging TV empire to update its business for the digital age. But now Pluto is thrusting ViacomCBS into the middle of an increasingly contentious debate about the nature of content that big entertainment companies should carry.... ViacomCBS’ $340 million purchase of streaming video service Pluto TV two years ago was part...

Kuli Kuli CEO and co-founder Lisa Curtis. Photo: Kuli Kuli Foods

After Chaotic Start, Federal Loan Program Helped Startups Avoid ‘Deep Layoffs’

By Kate Clark · Jun 10, 2020 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

After the coronavirus hit, Kuli Kuli Foods CEO Lisa Curtis and co-founder Jordan Moncharmont cut their salaries by 50% and established “furlough Fridays” for the 13-person staff. It wasn’t enough. Walmart had delayed a rollout of Kuli Kuli’s energy snacks and drinks, and the startup’s sales forecasts dropped by... After the coronavirus hit, Kuli Kuli Foods CEO Lisa Curtis and co-founder Jordan Moncharmont cut...

Facial recognition technology being demonstrated at a conference in China last year. Photo by Bloomberg

A Reckoning on Facial Recognition? The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jun 9, 2020 6:16pm PDT

IBM’s decision to stop offering facial recognition technology is likely to amplify calls for other big technology companies—notably, Amazon—to do the same. As IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said in a letter to several members of Congress, Big Blue’s decision reflected concerns about the technology’s potential use as a tool... IBM’s decision to stop offering facial recognition technology is likely to amplify calls...

A Hulu sign at a Disney Expo in Anaheim, Calif., last August. Photo by Bloomberg

Tensions Over Hulu Expose Fissures Within Disney Streaming

By Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel · Jun 9, 2020 10:20am PDT · 1 comment

A Hulu sign at a Disney Expo in Anaheim, Calif., last August. Photo by Bloomberg

Tensions Over Hulu Expose Fissures Within Disney Streaming

By Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel · Jun 9, 2020 10:20am PDT · 1 comment

For more than a dozen years, Hulu was an oddity in video streaming: owned by a group of entertainment giants but controlled by none of them. That fostered a streak of independence at the service—one that employees, who called themselves Hulugans, were proud of. But that independence ended last year when Disney took control of Hulu and... For more than a dozen years, Hulu was an oddity in video streaming: owned by a group of...

Instacart Blows Past Walmart in Online Grocery Business

By Amir Efrati · Jun 9, 2020 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

The coronavirus pandemic gave a major boost to online grocery orders, as many people sheltered in their homes. But one company—Instacart—benefited a lot more in the business than its bigger rival, Walmart, as new data demonstrates.Walmart saw its weekly share of the online grocery business relative to other major players in the... The coronavirus pandemic gave a major boost to online grocery orders, as many people sheltered in...

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Photo by Bloomberg

Bezos Shows the Limits to Amazon’s Customer Obsession: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jun 8, 2020 6:45pm PDT

Among the dozen or so leadership principles that Amazon employees are expected to learn and operate by, “customer obsession” is the first, and, in many ways, the most sacred. In more than two decades following the company, I can’t think of a time when I heard an executive bash an Amazon customer, and certainly not in any kind... Among the dozen or so leadership principles that Amazon employees are expected to learn and...

Art by Sam Lessin

Modest Proposals

The Slippery Slope to Censored Speech

By Sam Lessin · Jun 8, 2020 10:01am PDT · 26 comments

Last week, once again, the topic of content moderation on social networks took center stage. Against the backdrop of explicitly divergent policy decisions by major social media platforms, and in the context of extremely high social and political tensions, the debate exploded on what role those platforms should take in moderating speech.After... Last week, once again, the topic of content moderation on social networks took center stage....

Attorney General William Barr. Photo: AP

Antitrust Battle Focused on Ads Might Play to Google’s Advantage

By Christopher Stern and Nick Bastone · Jun 8, 2020 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Attorney General William Barr. Photo: AP

Antitrust Battle Focused on Ads Might Play to Google’s Advantage

By Christopher Stern and Nick Bastone · Jun 8, 2020 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

As regulatory agencies intensify their probe of Google’s business practices, the discussion in Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley has shifted from whether the Justice Department will sue Google for anticompetitive behavior to when it will do so.But one question remains unclear: what exactly the government is going to accuse Google... As regulatory agencies intensify their probe of Google’s business practices, the discussion...

The Conversation We Need to Have

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jun 6, 2020 7:47am PDT · 2 comments

As protests over police brutality and racial injustice continued to sweep the country this week, leaders from across the technology industry and the world picked up their pen. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel boldly called for a commission to address racism and higher taxes on the wealthy to support the underserved. Tim Cook promised Apple would do more to... As protests over police brutality and racial injustice continued to sweep the country this week,...

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. Photo by Bloomberg

HBO Max’s Edge; Grubhub’s Latest Suitors: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jun 5, 2020 7:30pm PDT

Two years after a federal court approved AT&T’s $81 billion purchase of Time Warner, we are finally seeing how the telecom giant aims to create synergies from the deal. Exhibit A is AT&T’s decision to exempt new streaming service HBO Max from AT&T data caps. That means AT&T customers can stream the service more... Two years after a federal court approved AT&T’s $81 billion purchase of Time Warner, we...

The Information’s 411 — Representation Matters

By Tom Dotan · Jun 5, 2020 5:31pm PDT · 1 comment

Cory talks with two black women in tech to see what tech companies have done and still need to do to address racial inequality. Sherrell Dorsey, a journalist and entrepreneur and the founder of The Plug, has been cataloguing the responses from tech companies showing support for the black community. Sarah Kunst, a venture capitalist at Cleo... Cory talks with two black women in tech to see what tech companies have done and still need to do...

Tolulope Komolafe moved to the U.S. from Lagos, Nigeria just over a year ago after working at software training startup Andela. Photo credit: Rotimi Okungbaye via Andela.

Layoffs Set Foreign Tech Workers on a Two-Month Dash for Sponsors

By Nick Bastone, Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Jun 5, 2020 9:01am PDT · 2 comments

Tolulope Komolafe moved to the U.S. from Lagos, Nigeria just over a year ago after working at software training startup Andela. Photo credit: Rotimi Okungbaye via Andela.

Layoffs Set Foreign Tech Workers on a Two-Month Dash for Sponsors

By Nick Bastone, Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Jun 5, 2020 9:01am PDT · 2 comments

After Tolulope Komolafe was laid off from her job at startup Everplans in March, the software developer sent out a tweet to summon the internet’s help. She needed to find a new job in 60 days or her work visa would expire, essentially forcing her to return to Nigeria. Her ask went viral. After interviews with dozens of companies, in early... After Tolulope Komolafe was laid off from her job at startup Everplans in March, the software...

Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook. Her portfolio includes Facebook's ad business. Photo by Bloomberg.

Ad Buyers Should Rethink Facebook Spending, Says Media Watchdog

By Jessica Toonkel and Alex Heath · Jun 5, 2020 7:00am PDT · 4 comments

Media Matters for America, the liberal media watchdog best known for getting advertisers to pull their spots from Fox News, has its eye on a new target: Facebook.The organization is drafting a letter urging advertisers to rethink their spending on Facebook following CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s recent decision to leave untouched a recent post by... Media Matters for America, the liberal media watchdog best known for getting advertisers to pull...

IPO Market Reopens: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jun 4, 2020 6:19pm PDT

The IPO market is open for business! That’s clearly the message of the past two days, when both ZoomInfo and Warner Music debuted to strong reception. Thursday’s opening of ZoomInfo, a subscription software data analytics firm, in particular seemed like old times. The stock opened up double its IPO price, before easing off a little... The IPO market is open for business! That’s clearly the message of the past two days, when...

Eric Yuan, founder and CEO of Zoom, stands outside the Nasdaq in New York on April 18, 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

Zoom in Talks With Google to Use Cybersecurity Service

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jun 4, 2020 10:01am PDT · 1 comment

At a moment when Zoom’s security practices are receiving renewed attention, the fast-growing video-calling company is turning to a big tech business—Google—to help make those calls safer.Zoom is in advanced talks with Google’s cloud division about using a Google security service that alerts users to the dangers of... At a moment when Zoom’s security practices are receiving renewed attention, the...

Testing for Foxconn's industrial robots "Foxbot" are performed at Foxconn factory in Longhua town, Shenzhen in 2016. Photo by Getty Images.

What Apple Learned From Automation: Humans Are Better

By Wayne Ma · Jun 4, 2020 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Testing for Foxconn's industrial robots "Foxbot" are performed at Foxconn factory in Longhua town, Shenzhen in 2016. Photo by Getty Images.

What Apple Learned From Automation: Humans Are Better

By Wayne Ma · Jun 4, 2020 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Eight years ago, Apple executives including CEO Tim Cook attended a meeting in China where they watched a video of an experimental manufacturing line for the iPad operated by robots rather than humans. Cook and the other Apple executives watched as iPad parts traveled along conveyor belts and were cut, chemically treated, polished and partially... Eight years ago, Apple executives including CEO Tim Cook attended a meeting in China where they...

Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg

Little Support for Zuckerberg’s Hands-Off Policy Among The Information Subscribers: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jun 3, 2020 6:00pm PDT

A majority of The Information subscribers responding to our survey think Facebook should attach warning labels or fact-check Trump’s posts. Only a quarter think the social network should leave the posts alone, and 17% think Facebook should take down the incendiary posts.Those findings, in a poll we conducted Wednesday, suggest that the... A majority of The Information subscribers responding to our survey think Facebook should attach...

Cruise CTO Kyle Vogt unveiling a Cruise vehicle in San Francisco in January. Photo by Bloomberg.

GM’s Cruise Quietly Acquired German Radar Manufacturer

By Amir Efrati · Jun 3, 2020 4:14pm PDT

Cruise, the self-driving car developer that is majority owned by General Motors, has acquired a producer of high-resolution radar sensors for cars, The Information has learned. The deal reflects a belief among major self-driving–car developers that getting control of their own sensor production offers a competitive advantage. Sensors... Cruise, the self-driving car developer that is majority owned by General Motors, has acquired a...

Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning during last month's charity tournament that drew heavy betting. Photo by Getty Images/Mike Ehrmann

The Athletic and Bleacher Report Consider Betting Deals

By Jessica Toonkel and Tom Dotan · Jun 3, 2020 11:49am PDT

Over the past few years, online publishers have turned to commerce marketing as an important source of revenue. Now some publishers that specialize in sports, like The Athletic and AT&T’s Bleacher Report, are looking at doing similar deals around online sports betting, according to people familiar with the situation.Online betting is... Over the past few years, online publishers have turned to commerce marketing as an important...

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Photo by Bloomberg.

Uber’s Grocery-Delivery Expansion Plans Face Questions as Chains Rebel

By Amir Efrati · Jun 3, 2020 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Photo by Bloomberg.

Uber’s Grocery-Delivery Expansion Plans Face Questions as Chains Rebel

By Amir Efrati · Jun 3, 2020 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Uber faces legal challenges in California over its handling of drivers, while its effort to acquire online restaurant food ordering pioneer Grubhub is likely to get mired in an antitrust review if the companies ever reach a deal. Meanwhile, Uber's effort to get into grocery delivery is running into problems before it even starts.Uber's... Uber faces legal challenges in California over its handling of drivers, while its effort to...