The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

Five times/week

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.

By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy

Recent Editions

The Case Against Video

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 27, 2017 7:02am PDT · 7 comments

Any way you slice it, a golden age of video is upon us. Faster mobile networks, lower production costs and a thirst for TV ad dollars are driving both video supply and demand. But the euphoria is covering up an important point: Video is a tremendous medium for occupying time, aka serving the “boredom” market. But it is a terrible... Any way you slice it, a golden age of video is upon us. Faster mobile networks, lower production...

Photo by Flickr/Open Grid Schedular

Airbnb China Chief Was Ousted Over Relationship With Subordinate

By Yunan Zhang and Cory Weinberg · Oct 26, 2017 7:45am PDT · 1 comment

Hong Ge, vice president of Airbnb’s China division, resigned earlier this week after the company learned of allegations about an inappropriate personal relationship between him and a subordinate, a person briefed on the decision said.Mr. Ge, who reported directly to CEO Brian Chesky as Airbnb’s first China chief, left after about... Hong Ge, vice president of Airbnb’s China division, resigned earlier this week after the...

Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell. Photo by Bloomberg.

Dell’s EMC Bet Looking Shaky

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Oct 26, 2017 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

When Michael Dell bought EMC a year ago for $67 billion, he was betting he could defy the shift towards public cloud services like Amazon Web Services that’s eroding sales of older hardware like EMC’s data storage equipment. He hoped to sell Dell’s servers with EMC’s equipment and dominate the market for traditional... When Michael Dell bought EMC a year ago for $67 billion, he was betting he could defy the shift...

Snap Chief Strategy Officer Imran Khan on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange when Snap went public in March. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Snap Is Putting a Lid on Costs

By Tom Dotan · Oct 25, 2017 7:01am PDT · 2 comments

Snap Chief Strategy Officer Imran Khan on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange when Snap went public in March. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Snap Is Putting a Lid on Costs

By Tom Dotan · Oct 25, 2017 7:01am PDT · 2 comments

In the summer of 2016, a team of Snap engineers began building a feature known as Snap Map, which would display people’s locations and publicly posted stories on a map. Then, a month before its release to the public last June, Snap acquired Zenly, a French company that had a similar mapping product.The news took many people who worked on... In the summer of 2016, a team of Snap engineers began building a feature known as Snap Map, which...

DFJ founding partner Steve Jurvetson. Photo by Bloomberg.

DFJ Investigating Allegations About Jurvetson

By Serena Saitto and Amir Efrati · Oct 24, 2017 4:23pm PDT · 8 comments

DFJ, the 32-year-old venture capital firm that backed Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX, has hired an external law firm to investigate allegations against founding partner Steve Jurvetson, the firm said.The Menlo Park, Calif. based firm started the investigation in August after rumors began circulating about Mr. Jurvetson, prompting press... DFJ, the 32-year-old venture capital firm that backed Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX, has...

Uber's headquarters in San Francisco. Photo by AP.

Two Women File Complaints Against Uber Over Unequal Pay

By Priya Anand · Oct 24, 2017 9:08am PDT

Two women have filed complaints with the state of California against Uber for allegedly paying them less than men in similar roles. The previously unreported claims were filed with the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency this summer through the Private Attorneys General Act, in what is typically the first step toward a public... Two women have filed complaints with the state of California against Uber for allegedly paying...

Sources: theBoardlist and Qualtrics

Boards Stay Silent on Sexual Harassment

By Serena Saitto · Oct 24, 2017 7:01am PDT · 8 comments

Only 23% of company boards have discussed sexual harassment or gender discrimination in recent months, according to a survey of 600 company directors done in August. And only 12% of boards have taken any action to address the issues in their companies. The findings suggest that an onslaught of sexual harassment allegations against business... Only 23% of company boards have discussed sexual harassment or gender discrimination in recent...

Photo: Bloomberg

After Beating Uber, Didi Faces New Rivals in China

By Yunan Zhang, Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Oct 23, 2017 10:00am PDT · 2 comments

Photo: Bloomberg

After Beating Uber, Didi Faces New Rivals in China

By Yunan Zhang, Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Oct 23, 2017 10:00am PDT · 2 comments

Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing is facing fresh competition at home, as companies such as on-demand services app Meituan-Dianping see an opportunity to leverage their huge customer base in new areas. When Uber abandoned China last year, many thought Didi had won the battle to become the country’s dominant ride-hailing service.... Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing is facing fresh competition at home, as companies such...

Customers standing outside Snap's Spectacles store in New York in December last year. Photo by Bloomberg.

Snap’s Misfire on Spectacles

By Tom Dotan and Reed Albergotti · Oct 23, 2017 7:00am PDT · 4 comments

Snap badly overestimated demand for its Spectacles and now has hundreds of thousands of unsold units sitting in warehouses, either fully assembled or in parts, according to two people close to the company. The disclosure undercuts Snap CEO Evan Spiegel’s recent contention that Spectacles sales of more than 150,000 had topped the... Snap badly overestimated demand for its Spectacles and now has hundreds of thousands of unsold...

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Oct 21, 2017 8:01am PDT

Good Morning!Amazon.com is nearing a decision on the city for its second headquarters. We hear the top criteria for Jeff Bezos is proximity to a Gold’s Gym. Good Morning!Amazon.com is nearing a decision on the city for its second headquarters. We hear...

The Information's Tom Dotan (l.), and Jessica Lessin with BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti. Photo by Erin Beach

Subscriber Summit

BuzzFeed CEO: News Outlets Need to ‘Bridge’ Subscription, Ad Models

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 20, 2017 6:01pm PDT

Subscription-based and advertising-based news organizations need to coexist “in peace and harmony” so they can both push back against sensationalized or false stories on social platforms, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti said Friday at The Information’s Subscriber Summit.Both types of media companies face challenges from the ways... Subscription-based and advertising-based news organizations need to coexist “in peace and...

Stripe CEO Patrick Collison talking with The Information's Jessica Lessin on Friday. Photo by Erin Beach.

Stripe CEO Says Firm Is ‘Years Away’ From IPO

By Serena Saitto · Oct 20, 2017 4:55pm PDT · 1 comment

Stripe CEO Patrick Collison talking with The Information's Jessica Lessin on Friday. Photo by Erin Beach.

Subscriber Summit

Stripe CEO Says Firm Is ‘Years Away’ From IPO

By Serena Saitto · Oct 20, 2017 4:55pm PDT · 1 comment

Stripe, the seven-year-old digital payments firm, is still in “the early stage of its cycle” and is therefore “years away” from going public, co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison said Friday.“We are not a capital-intensive business, and we don’t need to go public to raise capital,” Mr. Collison said,... Stripe, the seven-year-old digital payments firm, is still in “the early stage of its...

The Information’s 411 — Containers Are Commoditized

By Tom Dotan · Oct 20, 2017 4:01pm PDT

Kevin talks about why Docker is finally jumping on board the hottest trend in cloud technology and Cory discusses the internal deliberations at Sidewalk Labs about which city it should use as its test bed. Kevin talks about why Docker is finally jumping on board the hottest trend in cloud technology...

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner. Photo by Erin Beach.

Subscriber Summit

LinkedIn May Consider Developing Original Shows

By Priya Anand · Oct 20, 2017 1:44pm PDT · 1 comment

LinkedIn would be open to developing or buying original video programs, CEO Jeff Weiner said in an interview, as an extension of a recent push into video.“We’re certainly open to the idea of original content and at some point would be very interested in exploring that with various publishers,” Mr. Weiner said at The... LinkedIn would be open to developing or buying original video programs, CEO Jeff Weiner said in...

Consensys CMO Amanda Gutterman. Photo by Erin Beach.

Subscriber Summit

Consensys Executive: Blockchain Can Prevent ID Theft

By Wendy Pollack · Oct 20, 2017 1:28pm PDT

The blockchain-based Ethereum network has the potential to help protect personal data in an age of security breaches, an executive at the blockchain company Consensys said Friday at The Information’s Subscriber Summit in San Francisco.Consumers in the developed world are in a constant struggle to protect their personal information online.... The blockchain-based Ethereum network has the potential to help protect personal data in an age...

Uber's U.S. chief Rachel Holt on stage with The Information's Jessica Lessin. Photo by Erin Beach

Uber U.S. Chief: ‘Mistakes’ Made but Business Is ‘Sound’

By Amir Efrati · Oct 20, 2017 12:40pm PDT

Uber's U.S. chief Rachel Holt on stage with The Information's Jessica Lessin. Photo by Erin Beach

Subscriber Summit

Uber U.S. Chief: ‘Mistakes’ Made but Business Is ‘Sound’

By Amir Efrati · Oct 20, 2017 12:40pm PDT

Rachel Holt, who runs Uber’s U.S. and Canada business, acknowledged “mistakes and things that shouldn’t have happened that did happen” at the company, which exposed it to seemingly never-ending scandals.Speaking at The Information’s San Francisco Subscriber Summit on Friday, Ms. Holt said she was in Arizona... Rachel Holt, who runs Uber’s U.S. and Canada business, acknowledged “mistakes and...

WeWork CEO Adam Neumann. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

Deal Hurdles for WeWork: Neumann’s Style and Rich Stock Price

By Alfred Lee · Oct 20, 2017 7:01am PDT · 2 comments

When executives at office space provider WeWork considered expanding into China two years ago, they discussed buying a fledgling Chinese co-working firm called UrWork. A deal didn’t get done, in part because WeWork offered stock, which UrWork didn't want to accept, a UrWork adviser said.That was due to WeWork's rich stock value.... When executives at office space provider WeWork considered expanding into China two years ago,...

An Uber autonomous vehicle. Photo by AP.

Ex-Uber Map Execs Develop Routing Service for Self-Driving Cars

By Amir Efrati · Oct 19, 2017 4:27pm PDT

Three recently departed Uber managers have started a mapping company to help ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft introduce autonomous vehicles to the public, according to two people briefed about it. The startup, which is called rideOS, will focus on something few others are focused on: determining whether an autonomous vehicle is able... Three recently departed Uber managers have started a mapping company to help ride-sharing...

People walk past Google Fiber's store in Austin, Texas in April, 2015. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google Fiber Loses Key Wireless Executive

By Kevin McLaughlin · Oct 19, 2017 12:09pm PDT

Charles Barr, founder and president of Webpass, the high-speed wireless internet provider acquired by Google Fiber last year to help fuel its expansion, abruptly left the company last week, according to two people close to Webpass. The circumstances of his departure aren’t known. But it adds to uncertainty surrounding Google Fiber’s... Charles Barr, founder and president of Webpass, the high-speed wireless internet provider...

The site of the planned Sidewalk Labs development in Toronto. Photo: Sidewalk Labs

Sidewalk Labs Chose Toronto Despite Pushback From Larry Page

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 19, 2017 7:01am PDT · 5 comments

The site of the planned Sidewalk Labs development in Toronto. Photo: Sidewalk Labs

Sidewalk Labs Chose Toronto Despite Pushback From Larry Page

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 19, 2017 7:01am PDT · 5 comments

Before Alphabet subsidiary Sidewalk Labs could move forward with a grand plan for a new tech-enriched neighborhood in Toronto, Sidewalk CEO Dan Doctoroff had to persuade Alphabet CEO Larry Page of his vision. It was no easy task. The two clashed over some initial fundamentals of the project, which was announced Tuesday. Mr. Page preferred... Before Alphabet subsidiary Sidewalk Labs could move forward with a grand plan for a new...