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

Gillian Tans. Art by Matt Vascellaro.

The Big Interview

How Priceline’s Booking.com Plans to Move Onto Airbnb’s Turf

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 15, 2018 7:00am PST · 1 comment

A long-simmering battle between Airbnb and Priceline’s Booking.com, the two most popular travel accommodation apps in the world, is about to explode.In an interview with The Information, Booking.com CEO Gillian Tans said the firm, which specializes in hotel listings, is determined this year to become more of a force in short-term home and... A long-simmering battle between Airbnb and Priceline’s Booking.com, the two most popular...

Microsoft's Julie White. Photo by Karen Obrist.

Subscriber Summit

Microsoft Touts Azure Stack Software as Advantage on Cloud Rivals

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 14, 2018 6:26pm PST

Microsoft is hoping a new cloud-services software product aimed at customers running their own data centers will help it gain ground on leading cloud provider Amazon Web Services, a senior Microsoft cloud executive said on Wednesday. Julia White, corporate vice president of Microsoft Azure, said at The Information’s hybrid cloud and AI... Microsoft is hoping a new cloud-services software product aimed at customers running their own...

The Information's Kevin McLaughlin in conversation Wednesday with Oracle's Amit Zavery. Photo by Karen Obrist.

Subscriber Summit

Oracle Says It Needs to Change Customer Perceptions to Win Cloud Business

By Amir Efrati and Priya Anand · Feb 14, 2018 1:57pm PST · 3 comments

A top Oracle executive on Wednesday said the company had to improve its image with customers as part of its effort to compete better with rivals like Amazon Web Services.Oracle needs to highlight its strengths in the cloud, such as artificial intelligence applications, said Amit Zavery, executive vice president of Oracle’s cloud platform,... A top Oracle executive on Wednesday said the company had to improve its image with customers as...

Apple executives Eddy Cue and Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg.

Inside Apple’s Courtship of News Publishers

By Tom Dotan · Feb 14, 2018 7:00am PST · 4 comments

Apple executives Eddy Cue and Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg.

Inside Apple’s Courtship of News Publishers

By Tom Dotan · Feb 14, 2018 7:00am PST · 4 comments

When news publishers have a big story these days, their editors jump on Slack and pitch it to an unlikely partner: Apple. The tech company has built a small but powerful news team that is making Apple a key distribution outlet for news publishers.From the pitch received via a dedicated Slack channel, Apple’s editorial team of about a dozen... When news publishers have a big story these days, their editors jump on Slack and pitch it to an...

Photo by Bloomberg

Uber Narrowed Loss in Q4: Full Financial Breakdown

By Amir Efrati · Feb 13, 2018 2:30pm PST

Uber is moving toward profitability.The ride-hailing firm reduced its fourth-quarter loss by 26% to $1.1 billion, compared with the third quarter, the company disclosed exclusively to The Information and its investors on Tuesday. The improvement, on 14% higher revenue of $11.1 billion, was a result of Uber better controlling costs such as... Uber is moving toward profitability.The ride-hailing firm reduced its fourth-quarter loss by 26%...

The Information’s Media Business Bootcamp

By The Information Staff · Feb 13, 2018 9:34am PST

The Information Accelerator is offering a one-day media business bootcamp for entrepreneurs and professionals who want to diversify their business models and get profitable.Date: Tuesday, March 20, 2018Location: Grand Central Tech, 335 Madison Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10017Speakers: Jessica Lessin, Founder and... The Information Accelerator is offering a one-day media business bootcamp for entrepreneurs and...

Bridget van Kralingen. Photo: IBM

Q&A

IBM’s Blockchain Infusion

By Sarah Kuranda · Feb 13, 2018 7:01am PST · 5 comments

A year and a half ago, the IBM blockchain business was just a piece of paper. Now, Bridget van Kralingen has assembled a team of 1,500 people, all tasked with figuring out how blockchain technology can be applied to many types of businesses. That’s a big question to answer. Blockchain technology has gained a lot of attention in recent... A year and a half ago, the IBM blockchain business was just a piece of paper. Now, Bridget van...

Art by Sam Lessin

The Intellectual Tension Between Social Networking and Blockchains

By Sam Lessin · Feb 12, 2018 10:01am PST · 12 comments

Art by Sam Lessin

Modest Proposals

The Intellectual Tension Between Social Networking and Blockchains

By Sam Lessin · Feb 12, 2018 10:01am PST · 12 comments

There is an interesting irony that social networks and blockchains, two of the most important information technologies of the day, sit in fundamental intellectual tension.The core idea of a blockchain is that there is a common shared “memory” on which all nodes choose to agree. In a blockchain-based world, consensus is both the goal... There is an interesting irony that social networks and blockchains, two of the most important...

Amazon's Echo devices, powered by Alexa. Photo by Bloomberg.

Amazon Is Becoming an AI Chip Maker, Speeding Alexa Responses

By Aaron Tilley · Feb 12, 2018 7:00am PST · 2 comments

Amazon.com is developing a chip designed for artificial intelligence to work on the Echo and other hardware powered by Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant, says a person familiar with Amazon’s plans. The chip should allow Alexa-powered devices to respond more quickly to commands, by allowing more data processing to be handled on the... Amazon.com is developing a chip designed for artificial intelligence to work on the Echo and...

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Feb 10, 2018 8:01am PST

Good Morning!We hear Uber and Waymo decided to settle after both sides realized neither had any idea what Lidar is. Good Morning!We hear Uber and Waymo decided to settle after both sides realized neither had any...

The Information’s 411 — WeChat Because WeCare

By Tom Dotan · Feb 9, 2018 2:54pm PST

Hans Tung and Zara Zhang of GGV Capital join to talk about how China's tech industry is influencing Silicon Valley. Juro talks about how WeChat is embracing (and resisting) change to their business, including more advertising. Hans Tung and Zara Zhang of GGV Capital join to talk about how China's tech industry is...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Bitcoin, Unicorns and Why All Bubbles Aren’t Created Equal

By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 9, 2018 7:02am PST · 2 comments

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Bitcoin, Unicorns and Why All Bubbles Aren’t Created Equal

By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 9, 2018 7:02am PST · 2 comments

The “B” word returned this week. The stock market swooned. Bitcoin tanked. And the world was abuzz with conversations about whether bubbles were bursting—or not. Against this sudsy backdrop, I reached out to Bill Janeway, who has been studying bubbles as an economist and growth equity investor. Joining Warburg Pincus in the... The “B” word returned this week. The stock market swooned. Bitcoin tanked. And the...

Airbnb, Bloomberg, Getty Images, Flickr/TechCrunch

Airbnb’s High-Profile Executive Vacancies

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 8, 2018 10:01am PST

At a dinner for Airbnb’s board two months ago, the company’s co-founders and investors agreed that executive hiring would be a top priority for the coming year. With several top positions vacant, such as a marketing chief and head of the homes division, top executives have been stretched thin. CEO Brian Chesky even has taken a... At a dinner for Airbnb’s board two months ago, the company’s co-founders and...

WeChat founder Allen Zhang speaking last month at a conference in Guangzhou, China. Photo by Bloomberg.

At Tencent, Tensions Rise Over the Future of WeChat

By Juro Osawa · Feb 8, 2018 7:01am PST · 3 comments

WeChat had just turned seven. At a luxury hotel in southern China last month, the anniversary party raged for workers at one of the world’s most popular apps. There were lucky draws. Some employees performed a Chinese rap. Allen Zhang, WeChat’s creator, gave everyone a personally engraved iPhone X. But beneath the glitter and fun,... WeChat had just turned seven. At a luxury hotel in southern China last month, the anniversary...

Google's hardware chief Rick Osterloh at a product launch last October. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google May Step Into Gaming With ‘Yeti’ Streaming Service

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Feb 7, 2018 7:01am PST · 2 comments

Google may be about to take its most serious steps to get into the videogame business. The company is developing a subscription-based game streaming service that could work either on Google’s Chromecast or possibly a Google-made console still being developed, according to people with knowledge of the project.The service, codenamed Yeti,... Google may be about to take its most serious steps to get into the videogame business. The...

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. Photo by Bloomberg.

Spotify’s Q3 Revenue Points to Full Year Growth of 40%

By Alfred Lee · Feb 6, 2018 3:21pm PST

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. Photo by Bloomberg.

Spotify’s Q3 Revenue Points to Full Year Growth of 40%

By Alfred Lee · Feb 6, 2018 3:21pm PST

Spotify generated a billion euros ($1.2 billion) in revenue in the third quarter of 2017, according to two investors briefed on the numbers. That puts it on track for full year revenue of more than four billion euros, up about 40% from 2016. And it would continue a streak of fast growth as Spotify readies for one of the highest-valued tech... Spotify generated a billion euros ($1.2 billion) in revenue in the third quarter of 2017,...

*Numbers are estimates; Sources: SportsBusiness Journal, FanGraphs, Press releases

Why 2021-2022 Could Be a Watershed for TV Sports

By Matt Pressberg and Mike Sullivan · Feb 6, 2018 1:15pm PST · 2 comments

America’s major sports leagues will be living large for the next three or four years, reaping the benefits of TV and radio deals that pay them more than $18 billion a year combined. But that may change in 2021 and 2022, when several of the biggest deals come up for renewal, including Major League Baseball’s TV contract and... America’s major sports leagues will be living large for the next three or four years,...

Photo by Erin Beach

Announcing the Summit Lunch Breakouts

By The Information Staff · Feb 6, 2018 12:40pm PST

We're so excited to see everyone on February 14th at our first Seattle Subscriber Summit, focused on developments in the cloud. An important part of each Summit are our breakout sessions: a chance for you to hear from the innovators in cloud and AI.If you're registered for the Summit, you'll receive an email from... We're so excited to see everyone on February 14th at our first Seattle Subscriber Summit,...

An AWS office in Herndon, Virginia. Photo by AP.

Why D.C. Needs Amazon and Amazon Needs D.C.

By Cory Weinberg and Priya Anand · Feb 6, 2018 7:01am PST · 1 comment

When Washington, D.C., engineer Kenny Shin was raising the Series A round for his real estate crowdfunding startup Fundrise in 2014, potential investors urged him and his cofounders to move the company to San Francisco rather than keep it in Washington. “They would say, ‘You just don’t have the talent here,’” Mr.... When Washington, D.C., engineer Kenny Shin was raising the Series A round for his real estate...

Art by Sam Lessin

Stable Coins, Oracles, Trust, and Identity

By Sam Lessin · Feb 5, 2018 10:00am PST · 4 comments

Art by Sam Lessin

Modest Proposals

Stable Coins, Oracles, Trust, and Identity

By Sam Lessin · Feb 5, 2018 10:00am PST · 4 comments

One of the biggest structural challenges for digital platforms, ranging from blockchains to social networks, is figuring out how to translate the real world into a language that digital systems can process. It is one thing to build a self-contained digital ecosystem for distributing information or encoding contracts and memory. It is quite... One of the biggest structural challenges for digital platforms, ranging from blockchains to...