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

Christopher Young, former executive vice president of business development at Microsoft. Photo via Getty.

Microsoft’s Former Deals Chief to Join AI Roll-Ups Rush

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Aaron Holmes · Jun 1, 2025 10:00am PDT · 3 comments

It’s become one of the most popular private investing strategies of the last year: Firms including General Catalyst, Thrive Capital and 8VC have been investing in startups that buy services businesses such as call center operators, merge them with similar companies, and use artificial intelligence to boost sales and keep costs low. In... It’s become one of the most popular private investing strategies of the last year: Firms...

Art by Clark Miller

What Anthropic’s Big Acquisition Could Mean

By Abram Brown · May 31, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Jensen Huang’s precarious balancing act between Trump and China• The Top 5: The fanciest fitness memberships• Plus, our Recommendations: A forgotten horror; the mighty Sahara; and an internet star’s subtle-enough sitcomAnthropic has a shiny new addition I can’t stop thinking about: Reed... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Jensen Huang’s precarious balancing act...

Art by Clark Miller.

The Fanciest Fitness Memberships That Techies Love

By Alex Perry · May 31, 2025 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

What do thousands of dollars at a fitness center get a person? Amenities like AI-powered weightlifting machines, in-house physicians, meditative sound baths and color-coded, know-it-all orbs. Earning a clean bill of health has never inspired such extravagance. Here are five of the most luxe fitness memberships popular among the technorati and... What do thousands of dollars at a fitness center get a person? Amenities like AI-powered...

Photo via Getty

Musk’s White House Departure Shifts His Focus to Tesla, xAI and SpaceX

By Martin Peers · May 30, 2025 3:19pm PDT

Photo via Getty

Musk’s White House Departure Shifts His Focus to Tesla, xAI and SpaceX

By Martin Peers · May 30, 2025 3:19pm PDT

Elon Musk has left the building—the White House, that is. President Donald Trump gave Musk a farewell press conference today, complete with a golden key (literally), marking the end of Musk’s formal time overseeing the Department of Government Efficiency. While both Trump and Musk said the Tesla CEO would visit Washington from time to time, Musk... Elon Musk has left the building—the White House, that is. President Donald Trump gave Musk a ...

Art by Clark Miller.

The Information Events

How DeepSeek Is Unlocking a New Wave of AI Ambition in China

By Qianer Liu · May 30, 2025 12:35pm PDT

The tightening of U.S. chip export controls on China has forced Chinese artificial intelligence developers such as DeepSeek to get creative, finding more efficient ways to train AI models on limited computing resources. And that creativity is likely to continue, according to two Chinese investors and startup founders who spoke at a subscriber... The tightening of U.S. chip export controls on China has forced Chinese artificial intelligence...

Photo via Midjourney

How AI and E-Commerce Can Play Nice

By Ann Gehan and Akash Pasricha · May 30, 2025 8:00am PDT

Online shopping is an emerging battleground for AI companies. If you don’t believe us, check out our latest Talent Tracker of executives leading the way in AI-driven shopping. It highlights people at AI heavyweights like OpenAI and Perplexity, but also e-commerce and online payment incumbents like Shopify and PayPal. (See our full list of 14... Online shopping is an emerging battleground for AI companies. If you don’t believe us, check out...

Photo via Getty

Every VC-Backed IPO in the Past 12 Months Has Been a Down Round

By Cory Weinberg · May 30, 2025 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

When banking app Chime goes public next month, it will mark the eighth straight venture capital–backed initial public offering in the past 12 months to be valued less than it was in private fundraising rounds. Chime, for instance, was valued at $25 billion in 2021, but its bankers have been discussing pricing its shares at roughly an $11... When banking app Chime goes public next month, it will mark the eighth straight venture...

Photo via Getty

AI Can Help Companies Become More Efficient—Except When It Screws Up

By Martin Peers · May 29, 2025 5:15pm PDT

Photo via Getty

AI Can Help Companies Become More Efficient—Except When It Screws Up

By Martin Peers · May 29, 2025 5:15pm PDT

Artificial intelligence really does make mistakes—sometimes big ones. Last weekend, I put half a dozen emails with details of airplane and hotel bookings for an upcoming vacation into Google’s NotebookLM and asked it to write me an itinerary. The resulting document read great—until I realized it listed a departure date 24 hours later than the... Artificial intelligence really does make mistakes—sometimes big ones. Last weekend, I put half a...

Photo via Getty

Why One Startup Is Telling Investors Not to Wire the Money

By Natasha Mascarenhas · May 29, 2025 5:06pm PDT

A few months ago, I wrote about a number of early-stage startup founders who chose not to raise venture capital after an initial seed round, instead running their startups on the sales their businesses were generating. Dan Shipper, founder of media and artificial intelligence software startup Every, is taking this “seed-strapping” approach a... A few months ago, I wrote about a number of early-stage startup founders who chose not to raise...

Hailey Bieber. Photo via Getty

Creator Economy

A $1 Billion Boost to Beauty M&A

By Laura Mandaro and Ann Gehan · May 29, 2025 2:01pm PDT

After explosive growth, a generation of beauty brands that blew up on TikTok over the past few years seemed at risk of stalling out. Startups selling lip gloss and body creams lined up bankers last year, hoping for sales to larger consumer product companies. Then few of those deals actually happened.That is, until Wednesday, when Elf Beauty said... After explosive growth, a generation of beauty brands that blew up on TikTok over the past few...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty

OpenAI’s New Path to Conversion Faces Activist Opposition

By Rocket Drew · May 29, 2025 1:33pm PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI has backed off on its plans to carve out its for-profit business, which is responsible for ChatGPT, from its nonprofit charity arm. However, OpenAI’s new proposal to restructure its ownership hasn’t won over nonprofit advocates who opposed the original plan. The advocates are pressing the attorneys general in Delaware and California to... OpenAI has backed off on its plans to carve out its for-profit business, which is responsible for...

Art by Clark Miller

Jensen Huang Used to Delegate Politics—Until Trump’s Return

By Qianer Liu and Wayne Ma · May 29, 2025 10:41am PDT

Art by Clark Miller

Jensen Huang Used to Delegate Politics—Until Trump’s Return

By Qianer Liu and Wayne Ma · May 29, 2025 10:41am PDT

Since the start of this year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been thrust into an unexpected new role—chief lobbyist for his company—forcing him to carry its hopes, suggestions and pleas directly to President Donald Trump. Many of Huang’s conversations with Trump have happened at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s residence and private club in south... Since the start of this year, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has been thrust into an unexpected new...

Image via Getty

The Downsides of Vibe Coding

By Jon Victor · May 29, 2025 10:00am PDT · 1 comment

Some businesses are waking up to the downsides of automated coding products. While most customers cite huge gains in developer productivity from tools like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or Anthropic’s Claude, the code they generate sometimes doesn’t work as expected—or worse, it can make a business vulnerable to hacking or a data leak.The risks can be... Some businesses are waking up to the downsides of automated coding products. While most customers...

Image via Getty

VCs Are Keeping an Ear Out for Voice AI Startups

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 29, 2025 7:21am PDT

Each new month of the AI boom has brought along with it a new “AI startup flavor of the month” for venture capitalists to drool over. The latest one, VCs tell me, are startups building AI voice agents for various verticals, from hotels to hospitals.Up until recently, AI software that can understand and respond with human speech has largely been... Each new month of the AI boom has brought along with it a new “AI startup flavor of the month”...

Art by Mike Sullivan

VC Funds Are for Sale—at a Discount

By Sri Muppidi · May 29, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

The year 2025 was supposed to bring a cash windfall to venture capital backers, as companies that had delayed going public finally made the leap. That hasn’t happened. With a roller-coaster stock market delaying many long-anticipated initial public offerings, the limited partners in VC funds have been finding new ways to cash out of their stakes... The year 2025 was supposed to bring a cash windfall to venture capital backers, as companies that...

Photo via Getty

Nvidia’s Inconveniently Good Quarter

By Martin Peers · May 28, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Photo via Getty

Nvidia’s Inconveniently Good Quarter

By Martin Peers · May 28, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Well, this is inconvenient. Despite President Donald Trump’s order in April immediately blocking Nvidia from selling AI chips to China, the AI chipmaker reported another stellar quarter through the end of April. Revenue rose 69%, while free cash flow soared 75% to $26 billion, more than either Apple or Google throws off. Nvidia said the Trump... Well, this is inconvenient. Despite President Donald Trump’s order in April immediately blocking...

Coachella 2025. Photo via Getty.

Creator Economy

Nylon Launches Creator Membership Program, Paid by Advertisers

By Sahil Patel · May 28, 2025 2:51pm PDT

Fashion and culture magazine Nylon has launched a new membership program for creators—paid for by advertisers. It’s an effort by Nylon’s parent company, Bustle Digital Group, to take advantage of advertisers’ growing interest in experiential, in-person events, as well as working with influential creators on Instagram, TikTok and other... Fashion and culture magazine Nylon has launched a new membership program for creators—...

Image via Getty

China’s Answer to Vibe Coding

By Jing Yang · May 28, 2025 7:00am PDT

A new front has opened in the AI race between the U.S. and China. A six-month old Chinese startup has jumped into the market for coding assistants aimed at amateurs, hoping to make a global splash the way Chinese firms DeepSeek and Manus did in open-source models and AI that controls web browsers, respectively.YouWare, created by a 20-person... A new front has opened in the AI race between the U.S. and China. A six-month old Chinese startup...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

AI Shopping Race Means a New Talent War Is Brewing

By Ann Gehan · May 28, 2025 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Artificial intelligence is ready to disrupt the $1.2 trillion U.S. e-commerce industry. And ad giants, retailers and payment companies are bringing in reinforcements. The Information tracked 14 executives leading key products and partnerships at the center of an AI-driven shift in how people shop for and buy things online. These include... Artificial intelligence is ready to disrupt the $1.2 trillion U.S. e-commerce industry. And ad...

Photo by Getty

Who’s In Charge of AI at Meta After Shake-Up

By Kalley Huang · May 27, 2025 5:42pm PDT · 1 comment

Photo by Getty

Who’s In Charge of AI at Meta After Shake-Up

By Kalley Huang · May 27, 2025 5:42pm PDT · 1 comment

In recent weeks, there were growing signs that all wasn’t well inside Meta Platforms’ generative artificial intelligence group. The group’s pulse score—an internal measure of employee satisfaction—was among the lowest in the company, according to a person familiar with the matter. In feedback to leaders, group members complained... In recent weeks, there were growing signs that all wasn’t well inside Meta Platforms’ generative...