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

Sunday Insights

As SpaceX and OpenAI Prepare for Public Debuts, What Recent IPO History Signals

By Julia Hornstein · May 24, 2026 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

Smart-ring maker Oura and crypto company Blockchain.com said last week they had filed paperwork to go public, adding to a growing number of companies, including OpenAI, that are making moves to list in the wake of SpaceX’s upcoming mega initial public offering. If recent history is any guide, the startups closely tied to AI will do well. For the... Smart-ring maker Oura and crypto company Blockchain.com said last week they had filed paperwork...

A Complicated Comeback for Stanford’s Ex-President

A Complicated Comeback for Stanford’s Ex-President

By Amy Dockser Marcus · May 23, 2026 8:01am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: The tech elite’s go-to real estate broker? The mayor’s brother • Crypto: Inside crypto’s Washington command center • Lists: 20 great books for summer 2026 • Plus, Recommendations—our weekly pop culture picks: “John Kiriakou’s Dead Drop,” “Returning”... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: The tech elite’s go-to real estate...

Art by Clark Miller

Politics and Policy

Inside Crypto’s Washington Command Center—and Blitz for Legitimacy

By Yueqi Yang · May 23, 2026 7:01am PDT

The most important real-world address in all of crypto may very well be 1155 F Street in Washington. The location is a 12-story, glass-paneled office tower that has quickly become the industry’s command center in its bid for securing greater sway in the nation’s capital. Nearly everyone who matters in crypto lobbying efforts has set up shop... The most important real-world address in all of crypto may very well be 1155 F Street in...

Art by Clark Miller; covers courtesy of publishers.

20 Great Books for Summer 2026

By Abram Brown · May 23, 2026 7:01am PDT

Art by Clark Miller; covers courtesy of publishers.

20 Great Books for Summer 2026

By Abram Brown · May 23, 2026 7:01am PDT

It may feel like AI has seeped deep into our lives, but compared to the world within “Certainty,” a new dystopian novel by best-selling author John Twelve Hawks, we’re practically in the Flintstones era. In Twelve Hawks’ realm, self-driving tractor-trailers dominate the highways. Parents delegate child-rearing to AI-powered stuffed... It may feel like AI has seeped deep into our lives, but compared to the world within “Certainty,”...

Art: Clark Miller

The Tech Elite’s Go-To Real Estate Broker? The Mayor’s Brother

By Eli Rosenberg · May 22, 2026 9:13am PDT

Even measured against the frenetic heart rate of San Francisco’s real estate market, Alexander Lurie moves at a rapid pace. On a recent Tuesday, Lurie, 41, who’s become a go-to broker for anyone with newfound AI riches, drove around Pacific Heights in a blur while touring a half-dozen of the city’s most expensive homes, hoping to scope out some... Even measured against the frenetic heart rate of San Francisco’s real estate market, Alexander...

Partner Content

How to Create Presentation Outlines in Seconds with Google Gemini

By The Information Partnerships · May 22, 2026 8:17am PDT · 3 comments

When business leaders are preparing for an important presentation, their teams sometimes need to shut down their other work for days or even weeks to clear time for the prep work: multiple meetings to bat around ideas, long email threads to pin down the overarching narrative, and a constant stream of notifications as various stakeholders mark up... When business leaders are preparing for an important presentation, their teams sometimes need to...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Artificial Intelligence

Microsoft Opens a New Front in the Fight Over Data for AI Agents

By Kevin McLaughlin · May 22, 2026 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Microsoft has opened a new front in the AI data wars, blocking partners from connecting their data management tools to a popular product as it tries to defend its business software strength in the era of AI agents. The friction centers on Power BI, a Microsoft product nearly all Fortune 500 firms use to analyze data about their operations in... Microsoft has opened a new front in the AI data wars, blocking partners from connecting their...

Photo via Getty Images

Chinese EV Battery Giant CATL Plans to Invest in DeepSeek

By Juro Osawa and Qianer Liu · May 22, 2026 4:56am PDT

Photo via Getty Images

Chinese EV Battery Giant CATL Plans to Invest in DeepSeek

By Juro Osawa and Qianer Liu · May 22, 2026 4:56am PDT

Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology, better known as CATL, is planning to invest in Chinese AI developer DeepSeek’s fundraising, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. CATL’s planned investment comes as it is aggressively stepping up its efforts to sell power equipment to AI data centers. DeepSeek’s... Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology, better known as CATL, is planning to...

Elon Musk and Sam Altman in 2015.

A Trio of Trillion Dollar IPOs

By Katie Roof · May 21, 2026 5:17pm PDT · 4 comments

On Wednesday, right before SpaceX dropped its long-awaited S-1, the company led by Musk adversary Sam Altman had some IPO news of its own: OpenAI was planning to file its IPO prospectus within weeks. The news not only took some of the spotlight away from SpaceX’s upcoming public debut, but also that of Altman’s other rival, Anthropic. ... On Wednesday, right before SpaceX dropped its long-awaited S-1, the company led by Musk adversary...

SpaceX's new Starship V3 rocket docked on May 21 in South Padre Island, Texas. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty.

Why SpaceX is Worth $700 Billion, Not $1.75 Trillion

By Martin Peers · May 21, 2026 5:01pm PDT · 9 comments

If SpaceX pulls off what is widely described in the news media as the “largest IPO in history” next month, it will be a testament to Elon Musk’s skills as a salesman. The company’s newly public IPO prospectus makes it plain that SpaceX is largely a telecom firm with a rocket launch business on the side, with future growth coming from a cloud... If SpaceX pulls off what is widely described in the news media as the “largest IPO in history”...

Art by Clark Miller.

Venture Capital Reshuffle Looms As IPO Drought Ends

By The Information Staff · May 21, 2026 12:44pm PDT

A potential cluster of mega-listings by SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic this year could cement the dominance of venture firms that managed to get into the most important private companies of the last decade. For years, venture investing has been defined by a lack of cash returns. Startups stayed private longer, initial public offerings slowed, and... A potential cluster of mega-listings by SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic this year could cement the...

Art via Shutterstock

AI Customers Negotiate a SaaS Escape Hatch

By Laura Bratton and Aaron Holmes · May 21, 2026 11:47am PDT

Art via Shutterstock

AI Customers Negotiate a SaaS Escape Hatch

By Laura Bratton and Aaron Holmes · May 21, 2026 11:47am PDT

Businesses used to feel locked in to their enterprise software providers, but some now say they can cut and run if they need to.Companies such as insurer National Life Group, for instance, have negotiated “opt out” provisions that let them exit their software contracts or reduce their subscriptions, even in the middle of a contract term, if the... Businesses used to feel locked in to their enterprise software providers, but some now say they...

OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images.

OpenAI Generated Nearly $6 Billion in Revenue in First Quarter, Boosted by Codex

By Sri Muppidi · May 21, 2026 11:26am PDT · 6 comments

OpenAI generated about $5.7 billion in revenue in the first quarter, nearly $1 billion more than archrival Anthropic generated in the same period, according to two people with knowledge of the financials. OpenAI’s coding agent Codex, along with growth from selling to businesses and testing ads on ChatGPT, helped drive first-quarter growth,... OpenAI generated about $5.7 billion in revenue in the first quarter, nearly $1 billion more than...

An AI data center under construction in Michigan for Oracle and OpenAI. Photo: Jim West/UCG/Universal/Getty

Exclusive From The Electric: AI Data Center Demand Could Finally Spur a Battery Boom

By Steve LeVine · May 21, 2026 9:00am PDT · 1 comment

Western battery makers, which have scaled back plans for new factories amid tepid consumer demand for electric vehicles, have found a smaller but much needed stream of income from their ability to quickly deploy backup power for AI data centers. Western battery makers, which have scaled back plans for new factories amid tepid consumer demand...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Cursor Sees Opening as GitHub Flounders

By Rocket Drew · May 21, 2026 7:10am PDT · 1 comment

Microsoft's GitHub unit has been on the defensive lately. Amid a series of outages and other snags, Jay Parikh, who oversees the software-project management platform, recently warned deputies that coding tools from Cursor and Anthropic could eventually make GitHub obsolete, my colleague Aaron wrote this week.Parikh was right to be worried.... Microsoft's GitHub unit has been on the defensive lately. Amid a series of outages and other...

Getty Imags.

Anthropic Is in Talks to Use Microsoft’s AI Chips

By Aaron Holmes and Qianer Liu · May 21, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Getty Imags.

Anthropic Is in Talks to Use Microsoft’s AI Chips

By Aaron Holmes and Qianer Liu · May 21, 2026 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Anthropic is in talks to rent servers powered by Microsoft-designed AI server chips as it seeks more computing power to meet rising demand for its AI, according to two people who spoke to executives involved in the discussion. Winning Anthropic as a customer would be a coup for Microsoft, whose in-house chip design effort ran into delays last... Anthropic is in talks to rent servers powered by Microsoft-designed AI server chips as it seeks...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Ian Maule/Bloomberg/Getty.

Nvidia’s Blowout and SpaceX’s Blue Sky Ambitions

By Martin Peers · May 20, 2026 5:00pm PDT

Nvidia, wow. The AI chip giant did it again, delivering better than projected 85% revenue growth for its April quarter, the first in its 2027 fiscal year. Even better, Nvidia forecast 95% growth for the second quarter. Its fiscal 2027 is shaping up to be a firecracker, with sharply faster growth than last year’s still-stellar 66% rate of... Nvidia, wow. The AI chip giant did it again, delivering better than projected 85% revenue growth...

Photo by Ethan Swope/Getty Images.

The 7 Biggest Reveals in SpaceX’s IPO Filing

By Cory Weinberg and Theo Wayt · May 20, 2026 3:38pm PDT · 1 comment

SpaceX’s long-awaited public offering paperwork revealed fresh details about its unlikely partnership with Anthropic that are representative of the overall IPO story for Elon Musk’s company: Enormous potential, with risks everywhere. The company said Anthropic agreed to pay SpaceX $1.25 billion per month to rent capacity from both of its... SpaceX’s long-awaited public offering paperwork revealed fresh details about its unlikely...

Photo of Donald Trump via Getty Images. Art by Mike Sullivan

White House Briefs AI Companies on Plan to Review Models Before Release

By Leo Schwartz and Stephanie Palazzolo · May 20, 2026 12:06pm PDT · 2 comments

The White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director hosted a briefing Tuesday for companies including OpenAI, Anthropic and Reflection AI on a planned executive order on AI that will empower intelligence and other government agencies to review advanced models before the models are released, according to people familiar with the matter. ... The White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director hosted a briefing Tuesday for companies...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Fintech Lenders are Still Learning the Hard Way

By Ann Gehan · May 20, 2026 9:41am PDT

Art by Mike Sullivan.

The Information Finance

Fintech Lenders are Still Learning the Hard Way

By Ann Gehan · May 20, 2026 9:41am PDT

The recent bankruptcy of Parker, a corporate card startup that catered to e-commerce customers, is a good reminder that lending is one of the toughest ways to make money in fintech. Parker had been among the dwindling number of standalone, tech-heavy lenders geared toward small businesses that first sprung up during the fintech funding... The recent bankruptcy of Parker, a corporate card startup that catered to e-commerce customers,...