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

Don’t Cap Uber or Airbnb, Readers Say

By Wendy Pollack and Mike Sullivan · Aug 27, 2018 10:38am PDT · 3 comments

Local governments should take a hands-off approach to regulating ride-hailing and home-rental services, said a majority of readers responding to The Information’s monthly survey. Two-thirds of readers are opposed to restrictions such as New York City’s newly approved cap on the number of vehicles companies like Uber and Lyft can... Local governments should take a hands-off approach to regulating ride-hailing and home-rental...

Software maker Twilio was among the companies in which mutual funds sold a substantial portion of their holdings post-IPO. Photo: Bloomberg

Post-IPO, Mutual Funds Quick to Shrink Startup Stakes

By Alfred Lee · Aug 27, 2018 7:01am PDT · 2 comments

Mutual funds investing in private tech firms are often perceived to be in it for the long haul, rather just holding out for an IPO windfall. But public filings tell a more complicated story: Mutual funds sometimes cut their investments substantially after their portfolio companies go public. Mutual funds have sold significant portions of their... Mutual funds investing in private tech firms are often perceived to be in it for the long haul,...

The Information’s 411 — Gadzoox!

By Tom Dotan · Aug 24, 2018 4:00pm PDT

Cory discusses his reporting on the troubles at construction startup Katerra. He also explains why Airbnb's rental inventory has been shifting toward year-round rentals. Amir talks about the drama at Zoox, which this week ousted its CEO. Cory discusses his reporting on the troubles at construction startup Katerra. He also explains...

Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang. Photo by Bloomberg

Alibaba’s Dilemma: Bargain Basement Shoppers

By Juro Osawa and Yunan Zhang · Aug 24, 2018 7:00am PDT · 4 comments

Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang. Photo by Bloomberg

Alibaba’s Dilemma: Bargain Basement Shoppers

By Juro Osawa and Yunan Zhang · Aug 24, 2018 7:00am PDT · 4 comments

When Alibaba executives talked with Wall Street analysts after announcing June quarter earnings on Thursday, the first question from an analyst was about the “fast growth” of cut-price ecommerce rivals. It was a clear reference to Pinduoduo, the discount shopping app that has taken China by storm in the past year—and has put... When Alibaba executives talked with Wall Street analysts after announcing June quarter earnings...

Indochino CEO Drew Green. Photo by Indochino

Q&A

Why This Online Retailer Is Expanding Its Chain of Stores

By Priya Anand · Aug 23, 2018 10:01am PDT

Even before Amazon.com bought Whole Foods last year, smaller ecommerce companies like eyeglasses seller Warby Parker and custom suit maker Indochino had seen the value of opening their own brick-and-mortar stores. For one thing, the stores make it much easier to lure new customers, according to Indochino CEO Drew Green.In an interview, Mr. Green... Even before Amazon.com bought Whole Foods last year, smaller ecommerce companies like eyeglasses...

Airbnb’s Big Growth Driver: Full-Time Rentals

Airbnb’s Big Growth Driver: Full-Time Rentals

By Cory Weinberg · Aug 23, 2018 7:01am PDT · 2 comments

A growing share of new homes on Airbnb are year-round rentals owned by hosts who never live in them. These rentals now surpass private rooms inside a house occupied by the host, one of Airbnb’s traditional offerings, according to company data for a week’s worth of listings from June obtained by The Information.This shift towards... A growing share of new homes on Airbnb are year-round rentals owned by hosts who never live in...

Zoox's former CEO Tim Kentley-Klay with his co-founder Jesse Levinson at The Information's self driving car summit in June. Photo by Erin Beach

CEO of Self-Driving Car Startup Zoox Is Out

By Amir Efrati · Aug 22, 2018 1:47pm PDT · 3 comments

Tim Kentley-Klay, the co-founder and CEO of Zoox, one of the most high-profile and well-financed startups in the self-driving car world, has left the company, according to a person familiar with the matter. In a tweet, Mr. Kentley-Klay said he was fired.Carl Bass, the former CEO of Autodesk who has been a board director of Zoox, has stepped up... Tim Kentley-Klay, the co-founder and CEO of Zoox, one of the most high-profile and well-financed...

Mike Sullivan

Stablecoin Havens; Bitcoin’s Grip

By Jon Victor · Aug 22, 2018 12:06pm PDT · 1 comment

Mike Sullivan

Crypto Newsletter

Stablecoin Havens; Bitcoin’s Grip

By Jon Victor · Aug 22, 2018 12:06pm PDT · 1 comment

This has been an interesting summer for bitcoin. While the price has stabilized after its sharp drop at the start of the year, bitcoin has grabbed a larger overall share of digital coins. Bitcoin now represents 53% of the cryptocurrency market, up from 38% since the start of 2018, according to CoinMarketCap.Investors tell me bitcoin’s... This has been an interesting summer for bitcoin. While the price has stabilized after its sharp...

Top row (l-r): Zach Johnson, Jennifer Tejada, Cole Crawford, Zach Johnson, Shaival Shah. Bottom row (l-r): David Gorodyansky, Yifani Li, Karsten Temme, Dawn Song, Matt Alexander

Startups to Watch

These Startups Want to Shake Up Home Buying, Shopping, Lidar and Agriculture

By The Information Staff · Aug 22, 2018 7:02am PDT · 1 comment

Some of Silicon Valley’s biggest startups are reaching their 10th anniversary as private companies. Their ability to attract funding, and dominate news cycles, means smaller companies doing creative things in their industries are easily overlooked. But the startup scene is as busy and competitive as ever.In our latest installment of... Some of Silicon Valley’s biggest startups are reaching their 10th anniversary as private...

The New York Yankees, whose games are carried on the Fox sports channel the Yes Network. Photo by Wikimedia Commons/Jeremy M. Call

Fox May Bid to Buy Back Sports Channels

By Jessica Toonkel and Tom Dotan · Aug 21, 2018 12:50pm PDT

Everyone from Amazon.com to YouTube to Liberty Media has been reported as a potential bidder for the 22 Fox regional sports networks that Disney must sell as a condition of buying most of 21st Century Fox. One name that hasn’t surfaced may be the least—and most—surprising: Fox itself. Executives at Fox have discussed... Everyone from Amazon.com to YouTube to Liberty Media has been reported as a potential bidder...

Didi founder Cheng Wei. Photo by Bloomberg.

As Didi’s Growth Misses Goals, Focus Shifts to Car Services

By Yunan Zhang · Aug 21, 2018 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Growth is falling short of internal targets at Didi Chuxing, the world’s biggest ride-hailing company. That has added urgency to its efforts to generate new revenue by diversifying into car insurance, maintenance, car sales and consumer loans. Didi, valued at $56 billion last December, has scaled back this year’s internal... Growth is falling short of internal targets at Didi Chuxing, the world’s biggest...

Art by Sam Lessin

The Future of Privacy: Disinformation

By Sam Lessin · Aug 20, 2018 10:02am PDT · 14 comments

Art by Sam Lessin

Modest Proposals

The Future of Privacy: Disinformation

By Sam Lessin · Aug 20, 2018 10:02am PDT · 14 comments

Between 2007 and 2010, I lived in New York and worked on a startup called drop.io, whose goal was to make it easy to privately share files and content across platforms. Given what I was working on in that period, I spent a lot of time talking about privacy.One theme—which I would highlight over and over in presentations—was that the... Between 2007 and 2010, I lived in New York and worked on a startup called drop.io, whose goal was...

Photo by Katerra

Inside the Struggles of a SoftBank-Backed Construction Startup

By Cory Weinberg · Aug 20, 2018 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Jon Hamilton, a longtime construction worker, got a job last year leading a small crew building a custom home near San Antonio, Texas. His employer, Katerra, was one of the most well-funded startups in Silicon Valley. The tech-oriented construction company has raised more than $1 billion from major investors including SoftBank, Foxconn and DFJ.... Jon Hamilton, a longtime construction worker, got a job last year leading a small crew building a...

The Information’s 411 — Tencent’s Unquiet Riot

By Tom Dotan · Aug 17, 2018 1:18pm PDT

Wayne talks about his deep dive into the culture clashes between Riot Games and its owner Tencent. Matt Drange explains why government agencies are doing a poor job tracking accident data involving self-driving technology. Wayne talks about his deep dive into the culture clashes between Riot Games and its owner...

Tencent Music's QQ music streaming app on a phone in China last March. Photo by AP

Does Tencent Music Deserve a Spotify-Like Valuation?

By Alfred Lee and Wayne Ma · Aug 17, 2018 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

China tech IPOs, of companies such as Xiaomi and Pinduoduo, have struggled this year. That puts the spotlight on the next big U.S. public offering from China, which is likely to be Tencent Music Entertainment Group, China’s answer to Spotify. Its valuation has soared on private tech markets lately, suggesting that investors anticipate its... China tech IPOs, of companies such as Xiaomi and Pinduoduo, have struggled this year. That puts...

How Snap Is Becoming Twitter

By Tom Dotan · Aug 16, 2018 10:01am PDT · 3 comments

How Snap Is Becoming Twitter

By Tom Dotan · Aug 16, 2018 10:01am PDT · 3 comments

A few years ago, when Snap was a fast-growing, hot commodity venerated by venture capitalists, some would occasionally ask whether it would end up like Twitter—a niche platform with dedicated users but without the broad scale of, say, Facebook. It’s now becoming clear the answer is yes. A few years ago, when Snap was a fast-growing, hot commodity venerated by venture capitalists,...

Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Wish, an Internet Dollar Store, Struggles to Keep Customers

By Priya Anand · Aug 16, 2018 7:01am PDT

Private investors have put a lot of faith in Wish becoming the online version of dollar stores, betting on huge growth for the ecommerce site and rewarding it with a valuation of about $8.5 billion. One possible hitch in those plans is that Wish’s new customers stop shopping at the site in fewer and fewer numbers within a few months of... Private investors have put a lot of faith in Wish becoming the online version of dollar stores,...

Mike Sullivan

Crypto Newsletter

Overstock’s Crypto Eclipse

By Jon Victor · Aug 15, 2018 12:17pm PDT

I’m back in New York after a trip to San Francisco, where I attended the launch party for both this newsletter and Sam Lessin’s first picture book, “B Is for Bitcoin.” I’ll be keeping a copy on my desk as a trusty reference, replete with information on all the ABCs I need to know, from absolute algorithms to... I’m back in New York after a trip to San Francisco, where I attended the launch party for...

An Uber self driving car in Phoenix in February. Photo by AP

Uber’s Losses Mount at Self-Driving Car Unit

By Amir Efrati · Aug 15, 2018 7:01am PDT · 7 comments

Uber has been spending between $125 million and $200 million a quarter on its self-driving car unit over the past 18 months, The Information has learned, equivalent to between 15% and 30% of the company’s quarterly losses. The previously undisclosed spending highlights the financial burden that self-driving car development has imposed on... Uber has been spending between $125 million and $200 million a quarter on its self-driving car...

SkyWater's chip factory in Bloomington, Minn. Photo by SkyWater

Pentagon Backs U.S. Chipmaker to Counter China

By Aaron Tilley · Aug 14, 2018 10:00am PDT · 1 comment

SkyWater's chip factory in Bloomington, Minn. Photo by SkyWater

Pentagon Backs U.S. Chipmaker to Counter China

By Aaron Tilley · Aug 14, 2018 10:00am PDT · 1 comment

Last month at a chip conference in San Francisco, the United States Department of Defense’s investment arm for emerging technologies kicked off a plan to make $1.5 billion in grants over the next five years to university researchers and companies, part of a plan aimed at boosting advanced chip production in the U.S.Of the $75 million in... Last month at a chip conference in San Francisco, the United States Department of Defense’s...