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

Mike Sullivan

Crypto Newsletter

Bitfinex Explores New Token Sale After Tether Trouble

By Jon Victor · May 1, 2019 12:25pm PDT

What do you do if you don’t have enough cash in reserve to back up the tokens you issued? If you are Bitfinex, your answer might be: Create a new token to sell. The exchange is on the defensive this week after the New York attorney general accused it of covering up $850 million in lost funds. Bitfinex is weighing a fundraising that, if... What do you do if you don’t have enough cash in reserve to back up the tokens you issued?...

Why Zoom’s IPO Success Signals Trouble for Uber

By Martin Peers · May 1, 2019 7:01am PDT · 7 comments

How is Zoom like Google?Both companies stand out from recent large tech IPOs in being financially self-sustaining without raising gobs of venture capital money. And that is very likely one of the reasons why Zoom stock has nearly doubled since its IPO earlier this month. It also highlights the challenge for Lyft and Uber, both of which raised... How is Zoom like Google?Both companies stand out from recent large tech IPOs in being financially...

Tech, Media Job Cuts Rise Again in March

By The Information Staff · Apr 30, 2019 1:22pm PDT · 2 comments

Technology companies announced plans to lay off more than 5,200 workers in March, as reorganizations and shutdowns hit the industry, news reports and state filings showed. The media industry was not far behind, announcing plans for more than 3,300 layoffs in the month, mostly due to ongoing cutbacks at Disney in the aftermath of its acquisition... Technology companies announced plans to lay off more than 5,200 workers in March, as...

Shutterstock.com

These Blockchains Want to Overtake Ethereum

By Jon Victor · Apr 30, 2019 10:01am PDT · 1 comment

Shutterstock.com

These Blockchains Want to Overtake Ethereum

By Jon Victor · Apr 30, 2019 10:01am PDT · 1 comment

It was the height of the crypto craze in December 2017, and a new cryptocurrency-based game was having its moment. Within about a week of launching, people spent more than $3 million buying digital cats on an Ethereum-based app called CryptoKitties.But other Ethereum users weren’t having as much fun. The game’s popularity pushed the... It was the height of the crypto craze in December 2017, and a new cryptocurrency-based game was...

Uber’s Biggest IPO Winners

By Amir Efrati · Apr 30, 2019 7:01am PDT · 5 comments

In the decade since its founding, Uber has raised $14 billion in equity funding, one of the biggest sums in private tech history. And Uber's investors are likely to see equally history-making returns from its IPO.Uber is expected to go public next week at a valuation of more than $80 billion. The biggest winners include some investors well... In the decade since its founding, Uber has raised $14 billion in equity funding, one of the...

A WeWork co-working office building in Tokyo. Photo by Bloomberg.

What We Know About WeWork’s Financials

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 29, 2019 4:52pm PDT · 1 comment

WeWork’s announcement Monday that it had filed to go public took many employees by surprise. WeWork confidentially submitted the filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission in December, it said, and on Monday updated the document, which it drafted mostly with an internal team and without an investment bank, according to a person... WeWork’s announcement Monday that it had filed to go public took many employees by...

Inside an iPhone. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple Executive Responsible for 5G Efforts Departs

By Aaron Tilley and Wayne Ma · Apr 29, 2019 12:32pm PDT · 1 comment

A longtime Apple hardware engineering leader who oversaw a key wireless component inside its devices has left the company, The Information has learned. The executive, Rubén Caballero, was until recently in charge of working with suppliers to integrate the modems that connect iPhones wirelessly to the internet. That part of Apple’s... A longtime Apple hardware engineering leader who oversaw a key wireless component inside its...

The People With Power at Tencent

By Juro Osawa and Wayne Ma · Apr 29, 2019 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

The People With Power at Tencent

By Juro Osawa and Wayne Ma · Apr 29, 2019 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Pony Ma is well known as the co-founder and chief executive of Chinese tech giant Tencent, which operates the ubiquitous app WeChat. The bookish Mr. Ma, whose passion outside of work is astronomy, has long been the public face of Tencent. But the key executive in Tencent’s daily operations is as much President Martin Lau as Mr. Ma. All of... Pony Ma is well known as the co-founder and chief executive of Chinese tech giant Tencent, which...

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...