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

Disney CEO Bob Iger. Photo by Bloomberg

Disney’s Costly Streaming Plans Win Approval From Wall Street

By Martin Peers and Tom Dotan · Apr 12, 2019 11:25am PDT

Old media’s Wall Street curse may finally be lifting.Friday’s 10% surge in Walt Disney stock suggests that investors are finally willing to treat entertainment companies—or at least Disney—the same as tech companies: that is, accepting short-term losses in exchange for long-term growth. Disney stock is rising despite the... Old media’s Wall Street curse may finally be lifting.Friday’s 10% surge in Walt...

FTC Chairman Joe Simons spoke during a Senate hearing in May 2018. Photo: Bloomberg

Tech Crackdown Collides With Old Rules

By Ashley Gold · Apr 12, 2019 6:30am PDT · 3 comments

In Washington, the calls to rein in large technology platforms are louder than ever—and coming from all sides. Fueled by a consumer backlash, Republicans, usually loath to regulate private companies, are complaining about the size and privacy practices of Google and Facebook. Democrats are pointing to the influence of “Big... In Washington, the calls to rein in large technology platforms are louder than ever—and...

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Photo by Bloomberg

Uber’s IPO Filing Shows Sharp Growth Slowdown for Ride Hailing

By Amir Efrati and Martin Peers · Apr 11, 2019 4:12pm PDT · 2 comments

Uber made public its IPO filing on Thursday, showing that its ride-hailing and food delivery businesses were profitable after most expenses for the first three quarters of last year. But the filing also showed the revenue growth of Uber’s ride-hailing business slowed sharply last year, which is likely to raise questions among investors... Uber made public its IPO filing on Thursday, showing that its ride-hailing and food delivery...

Pinterest’s IPO Winners

By Zoë Bernard and Martin Peers · Apr 11, 2019 6:30am PDT

Pinterest’s IPO Winners

By Zoë Bernard and Martin Peers · Apr 11, 2019 6:30am PDT

Pinterest’s forthcoming IPO is shaping up to be one most characterized by lowered expectations. The firm, which operates an image-based search and recommendation site, has set a preliminary selling price 26% below where it last raised money. Its revenue and user numbers—$756 million last year and 250 million monthly active... Pinterest’s forthcoming IPO is shaping up to be one most characterized by lowered...

Mike Sullivan

Crypto Newsletter

No Rush to No-Action Letters

By Jon Victor · Apr 10, 2019 12:16pm PDT

The past week has been big for regulation: Crypto lawyers have been hard at work trying to determine whether the SEC’s “plain English” guidance on ICOs clarifies things or just muddies them further. And in Washington, D.C., Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, reintroduced a bill that seeks to exempt tokens from securities laws.... The past week has been big for regulation: Crypto lawyers have been hard at work trying to...

How Lyft Trading Volumes Compare to Google and Twitter IPOs

By Amir Efrati · Apr 10, 2019 11:30am PDT · 3 comments

The inquest into how Lyft stock was pressured by short-sellers immediately after its IPO is far from over. But it is clear that trading volumes in Lyft in the first week after it went public were far higher than in the IPOs of Alibaba, Google, Facebook, Snap or Twitter, suggesting the Lyft aftermath is an historical anomaly.That’s... The inquest into how Lyft stock was pressured by short-sellers immediately after its IPO is far...

Amazon's Beth Galetti, center. Photo by Amazon

Amazon’s Talent Scout Has Tech’s Toughest HR Job

By Priya Anand · Apr 10, 2019 6:30am PDT · 1 comment

Last month, Amazon’s top human resources executive, Beth Galetti, told a group of employees at a company all-hands meeting how seriously she takes Amazon’s leadership principles, a collection of 14 company proverbs with titles like “bias for action” and “have backbone; disagree and commit.” Ms. Galetti told... Last month, Amazon’s top human resources executive, Beth Galetti, told a group of employees...

Customers in Beijing used JDPay electronic payment apps on their smartphones last year to pay at a 7FRESH grocery store operated by JD.com. Photo: AP

Deep Cuts Planned at China’s JD.com

By Juro Osawa and Yunan Zhang · Apr 9, 2019 8:32am PDT · 2 comments

Customers in Beijing used JDPay electronic payment apps on their smartphones last year to pay at a 7FRESH grocery store operated by JD.com. Photo: AP

Deep Cuts Planned at China’s JD.com

By Juro Osawa and Yunan Zhang · Apr 9, 2019 8:32am PDT · 2 comments

Chinese online retail giant JD.com is working on a substantial round of layoffs that could slash the workforce of some teams by half, according to people briefed on the matter. In total, JD.com could cut up to 8% of its 150,000-plus workforce, or more than 12,000 jobs, according to investors in the Nasdaq-listed company. While it isn’t... Chinese online retail giant JD.com is working on a substantial round of layoffs that could slash...

How Iger Broke Disney’s Netflix Addiction

By Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel · Apr 9, 2019 6:32am PDT · 5 comments

In the spring of 2015, Tom Staggs, who had just become Disney’s chief operating officer, held a strategy discussion with his top TV executives about the future of television. Mr. Staggs issued warnings about Disney’s licensing of TV shows to Netflix, worrying that the entertainment giant was selling Netflix “the bullets”... In the spring of 2015, Tom Staggs, who had just become Disney’s chief operating officer,...

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri. Photo by Bloomberg.

Oracle Gains Washington Traction With ‘Magic Suitcase’ Anti-Google Campaign

By Christopher Stern · Apr 8, 2019 11:14am PDT · 1 comment

Just over a year and a half ago, Oracle lobbyists started lugging a large black suitcase through the halls of Congress. It contained a tangle of communications equipment they used to demonstrate to members of Congress and regulators the river of real-time data that flows from Android phones to Google’s advertising servers.The... Just over a year and a half ago, Oracle lobbyists started lugging a large black suitcase through...

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Photo by Bloomberg

Ten Questions Uber’s IPO Investors Should Ask

By Amir Efrati · Apr 8, 2019 6:32am PDT · 7 comments

Uber, which is expected to follow its smaller U.S. rival Lyft to the public market in the next month or so, could get a valuation of $110 billion based on where Lyft is now trading. But valuing Uber will be tougher than figuring out Lyft. Uber is a bigger, more global company with a fast-growing hot-food delivery business and a costly... Uber, which is expected to follow its smaller U.S. rival Lyft to the public market in the next...

Lyft's co-founders John Zimmer and Logan Green the day the company went public. Photo by Bloomberg

Lyft’s IPO Lessons

By Martin Peers · Apr 6, 2019 7:45am PDT

Lyft's co-founders John Zimmer and Logan Green the day the company went public. Photo by Bloomberg

Lyft’s IPO Lessons

By Martin Peers · Apr 6, 2019 7:45am PDT

Lyft’s dramatic drop through its IPO price on its second day of trading on Monday sparked a lot of chatter about Lyft’s offering and the stock’s unusual short-selling-related trading patterns. The shares recovered by Friday, finishing the week above $74, so the immediate impact of the short-selling appears to have passed. But... Lyft’s dramatic drop through its IPO price on its second day of trading on Monday sparked a...

The Information’s 411 — Snapchat Is Fun Again

By Tom Dotan · Apr 5, 2019 4:20pm PDT · 1 comment

Beejoli joins to talk about Snap's new products and new image, how Disney is approaching original content for its new streaming service and the Hollywood standoff between TV writers and agencies. Beejoli joins to talk about Snap's new products and new image, how Disney is approaching...

Lyft's co founders John Zimmer and Logan Green after the company's IPO last Friday. Photo by Bloomberg.

Lyft Threatened Morgan Stanley With Legal Action Over Short-Selling Trades

By Martin Peers and Jessica E. Lessin · Apr 5, 2019 12:38pm PDT · 3 comments

Lyft threatened Morgan Stanley with legal action earlier this week, demanding in a letter the investment bank stop marketing a short-selling product that the ride-hailing firm believed was disrupting trading in its stock, according to four people familiar with the situation.The letter, sent on April 2, cited an article in the New York Post ... Lyft threatened Morgan Stanley with legal action earlier this week, demanding in a letter the...

Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy at a conference in March. Photo by Bloomberg

Demand Soaring for Amazon AI Services? Not So Fast

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Apr 5, 2019 6:32am PDT · 2 comments

Big cloud computing providers have said customers are clamoring for their artificial intelligence services, which help companies with everything from translating text into speech to automatically recognizing images to fraud detection. Just this week, an investment analyst raised his share price target for Amazon, the dominant player in cloud... Big cloud computing providers have said customers are clamoring for their artificial intelligence...

Atlassian's Jay Simons. Photo by Atlassian

Atlassian, a Software Outlier, Grows Up

By Kevin McLaughlin · Apr 4, 2019 10:30am PDT · 2 comments

Atlassian's Jay Simons. Photo by Atlassian

The Big Interview

Atlassian, a Software Outlier, Grows Up

By Kevin McLaughlin · Apr 4, 2019 10:30am PDT · 2 comments

Atlassian isn’t your typical cloud software maker. The company started in Australia, a country that hasn’t produced many globally recognized hits in the tech business. And it found success for its products, which enable teams inside companies to work collaboratively on complex projects, by mostly avoiding the pushy sales and... Atlassian isn’t your typical cloud software maker. The company started in Australia, a...

The People Behind ByteDance’s App Factory

By Yunan Zhang · Apr 4, 2019 6:30am PDT · 3 comments

To grow fast in China, apparently, you’ve also got to get big.ByteDance, the Chinese company behind TikTok, the viral short video app that has taken the world’s teenagers by storm, has gone on a massive hiring spree in the past year. Its headcount has roughly doubled to 40,000—more than Facebook, which had 35,600 at Dec.... To grow fast in China, apparently, you’ve also got to get big.ByteDance, the Chinese...

Mike Sullivan

Crypto Newsletter

The Race to Become Crypto’s ‘Red Hat’

By Jon Victor · Apr 3, 2019 1:00pm PDT · 1 comment

If you’re reading this, you probably already know that bitcoin is on a roll this week, jumping about 25% since Monday. But since the price could go back down in a few hours, let’s focus on two important trends that appear here to stay: the competition to become the “Red Hat” of crypto, and how staking is changing the... If you’re reading this, you probably already know that bitcoin is on a roll this week,...

A Chinese employee shows a wafer containing Huaxintong Semiconductor Technology's StarDragon chip. Photo by AP

Qualcomm’s China Venture Shows Risks of Beijing’s Tech Ambition

By Aaron Tilley, Wayne Ma and Juro Osawa · Apr 3, 2019 7:32am PDT

A joint venture between Qualcomm and the government of a rural Chinese province to make server chips appears to have stalled. And with it, a symbol of China’s push to boost its homegrown industries could instead spotlight the perils of letting bureaucrats pick technology winners.Chinese government officials showcased Huaxintong... A joint venture between Qualcomm and the government of a rural Chinese province to make server...

Ren Zhengfei, founder and chief executive officer of Huawei Technologies. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facing U.S. Pushback, Huawei Aims to Triple Its Consumer Electronics Business to $150 Billion

By Juro Osawa · Apr 3, 2019 5:40am PDT

Ren Zhengfei, founder and chief executive officer of Huawei Technologies. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facing U.S. Pushback, Huawei Aims to Triple Its Consumer Electronics Business to $150 Billion

By Juro Osawa · Apr 3, 2019 5:40am PDT

Huawei’s fight against Samsung and Apple is about to get even fiercer. The Chinese tech giant wants to more than triple its consumer electronics sales to $150 billion in four years, according to an internal speech last week by its founder. As Huawei’s other big business of selling infrastructure for wireless networks... Huawei’s fight against Samsung and Apple is about to get even fiercer. The Chinese tech...