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

Art by Javier Garcia

Amazon Says No to Ads on Alexa, Frustrating Sony

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 29, 2018 7:01am PST

Here’s a question for Amazon’s Alexa: Will running ads on the virtual assistant turn off users?The answer, according to Amazon, is yes. Last year, Sony Corp., maker of the Jeopardy game on Alexa, approached Amazon several times about running ads during the game, said a person with knowledge of the matter. But Amazon refused,... Here’s a question for Amazon’s Alexa: Will running ads on the virtual assistant turn...

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Jan 27, 2018 8:00am PST

Good Morning!Data journalism website FiveThirtyEight is up for sale. Nate Silver is said to have told people there’s a 71.9% chance the business is profitable. Good Morning!Data journalism website FiveThirtyEight is up for sale. Nate Silver is said to have...

The Information’s 411 — Infinite Horizon

By Tom Dotan · Jan 26, 2018 2:10pm PST · 2 comments

Cory talks about his profile of Airbnb's CFO Laurence Tosi, while Priya talks about Amazon Go and whether Amazon Prime has a chance to take off in India. Cory talks about his profile of Airbnb's CFO Laurence Tosi, while Priya talks about Amazon...

Art by Matt Vascellaro

AI Doesn’t Have to Shrink Your Workforce

By Paul Daugherty and Harold Wilson · Jan 26, 2018 10:00am PST · 2 comments

Art by Matt Vascellaro

AI Doesn’t Have to Shrink Your Workforce

By Paul Daugherty and Harold Wilson · Jan 26, 2018 10:00am PST · 2 comments

The artificial intelligence revolution in business is here, and it has a lot of people worried. In a recent survey of 3,000 executives, a study we conducted at Accenture found that more than two-thirds were planning to invest heavily in AI-related technologies over the next three years. Such investments have sparked much discussion about what... The artificial intelligence revolution in business is here, and it has a lot of people worried....

The branding for Baidu's Apollo self-driving car system is displayed on a car at the Baidu World Technology Conference in Beijing, China. Photo by Bloomberg.

Waymo Faces Roadblocks in China

By Shai Oster and Yunan Zhang · Jan 26, 2018 7:02am PST

China is the world’s biggest market for new cars, making it a hugely valuable place for global car makers to do business. But when it comes to autonomous vehicles, China is likely to impose severe restrictions on foreign companies, hurting firms like Alphabet’s Waymo in particular.Chinese policy makers want to leapfrog the West and... China is the world’s biggest market for new cars, making it a hugely valuable place for...

A Lyft car. Photo by Bloomberg.

Lyft Investigates Allegation That Employees Abused Customer Data

By Amir Efrati · Jan 25, 2018 12:51pm PST · 2 comments

Lyft is investigating whether employees abused access to its customers’ data, a spokeswoman said on Thursday, after a current or former Lyft employee anonymously alleged online that some employees had tracked Lyft rides taken by their romantic partners and pulled information about celebrities such as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.The... Lyft is investigating whether employees abused access to its customers’ data, a spokeswoman...

Source: CB Insights

VCs Step Up Investing in Mental Health Startups

By Serena Saitto · Jan 25, 2018 7:00am PST · 3 comments

Venture capitalists are paying more attention to mental health.Venture investment in mental health startups has nearly quadrupled since 2014, thanks in part to a 2008 federal law that required health insurers to treat mental health equally to other kinds of health care.In 2017, VCs invested $191.3 million across 33 deals in the sector, up from... Venture capitalists are paying more attention to mental health.Venture investment in mental...

Meg Whitman. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Meg Whitman’s TV Job Says About Tech and Media

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 24, 2018 3:11pm PST

Meg Whitman. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Meg Whitman’s TV Job Says About Tech and Media

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 24, 2018 3:11pm PST

Coming to you with a mid-week column, as Tom and I just got off the phone with Meg Whitman, who was talking about her surprise decision to become CEO of a short-form video startup in Los Angeles. Yup, that Meg Whitman. The outgoing CEO of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, which came out of a $22 billion split she orchestrated as the company struggled... Coming to you with a mid-week column, as Tom and I just got off the phone with Meg Whitman, who...

Source: Second Measure

Sun Basket Raising Money Amid Pressure on Meal Kit Startups

By Alfred Lee · Jan 24, 2018 11:32am PST · 1 comment

Since Blue Apron’s disappointing IPO last summer, meal kit delivery startups have been under pressure to sell or fold. But at least one smaller competitor, Sun Basket, is showing decent growth, according to credit card data. Now the firm is raising money—and offering big protections to investors to limit their risk.Sun Basket, which... Since Blue Apron’s disappointing IPO last summer, meal kit delivery startups have been...

Amazon Prime head Akshay Sahi. Art: Matt Vascellaro

Q&A

Amazon Prime’s Rapid Growth in India Yields Lessons

By Priya Anand · Jan 24, 2018 7:02am PST

Last year was a big year for Amazon Prime in India. Membership doubled from January to June, and then doubled again from June to October. Driving the fast growth, said Akshay Sahi, Amazon’s head of Prime in India, are exclusive deals, a strategy the company might deploy elsewhere.The expansion in India has been costly, and the company is... Last year was a big year for Amazon Prime in India. Membership doubled from January to June, and...

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son at a news conference announcing quarterly earnings late last year. Photo by Bloomberg.

SoftBank Looks to Raise Billions More Against Arm and Uber Stakes

By Juro Osawa · Jan 23, 2018 10:21pm PST

SoftBank, which controls the $93 billion Vision Fund, wants to raise even more money. The Japanese investment giant is in talks with banks to raise as much as $5 billion in new debt by using its U.K. chip subsidiary Arm as collateral, according to people familiar with the matter. At the same time, SoftBank is also considering how it might use... SoftBank, which controls the $93 billion Vision Fund, wants to raise even more money. The...

Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff. Photo by Flickr/Christopher Michel.

Smart Doorbell Maker Ring Raising Money at Close to $1 Billion Value

By Aaron Tilley, Serena Saitto and Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 23, 2018 4:09pm PST · 1 comment

Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff. Photo by Flickr/Christopher Michel.

Smart Doorbell Maker Ring Raising Money at Close to $1 Billion Value

By Aaron Tilley, Serena Saitto and Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 23, 2018 4:09pm PST · 1 comment

Ring, a maker of camera-enabled doorbell products, is raising $160 million at a valuation of nearly $1 billion, nearly double from only a year ago, according to a securities filing and investors.The rapid rise reflects investor interest in smart home products, particularly doorbell cameras, which are useful for tracking package delivery and home... Ring, a maker of camera-enabled doorbell products, is raising $160 million at a valuation of...

Laurence Tosi and Brian Chesky. Photos by Bloomberg.

At Airbnb, Tensions Bubble Between Chesky and Tosi

By Cory Weinberg · Jan 23, 2018 12:01pm PST · 1 comment

When Airbnb was contemplating getting into the air travel business a year ago, CEO Brian Chesky considered launching an airline to reinvent the “actual experience of taking a plane,” according to a person familiar with the situation. CFO Laurence Tosi, a former Wall Street executive, thought it would be wiser to integrate with an... When Airbnb was contemplating getting into the air travel business a year ago, CEO Brian Chesky...

Art by Scotty Reifsnyder

Amazon’s Cybersecurity Move Threatens Startups

By Sarah Kuranda · Jan 23, 2018 7:01am PST · 2 comments

When security company ForeScout Technologies was preparing for its initial public offering last year, Chief Strategy Officer Pedro Abreu kept hearing the same question from investors: What happens if Amazon Web Services takes over your market?Mr. Abreu’s answer was that ForeScout could survive because its technology works on any cloud... When security company ForeScout Technologies was preparing for its initial public offering last...

A Chinese filmgoer walks past posters of "Wolf Warriors 2" at a cinema in Yichang city, central China's Hubei province, last August. Photo by AP.

Why Hollywood Movies Are Losing Market Share in China

By Matt Pressberg · Jan 22, 2018 10:00am PST · 2 comments

Wu Jing, the director and star of Chinese smash hit “Wolf Warrior II,” has been pressing the flesh around Los Angeles in recent months to build buzz for the film ahead of this year’s Oscars, whose nominees will be unveiled Tuesday. While “Wolf Warrior II” is unlikely to score a nomination, it’s arguably the... Wu Jing, the director and star of Chinese smash hit “Wolf Warrior II,” has been...

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston during an event in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg

Why Dropbox IPO Could Fall Short of Private Pricing

By Alfred Lee · Jan 22, 2018 7:00am PST

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston during an event in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg

Why Dropbox IPO Could Fall Short of Private Pricing

By Alfred Lee · Jan 22, 2018 7:00am PST

As Dropbox readies for one of the year’s biggest IPOs, it hopes to avoid joining the growing list of Silicon Valley darlings that can’t match their private valuations when they meet public market scrutiny. To buck the trend, it needs to either be growing faster or show it is more profitable than other software firms.Right now, a... As Dropbox readies for one of the year’s biggest IPOs, it hopes to avoid joining the...

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Jan 20, 2018 8:01am PST

Good Morning!We found out why Amazon kept San Francisco off its short list of potential second headquarters cities: Jeff Bezos is also tired of hearing about your cryptocurrency gains at parties. Good Morning!We found out why Amazon kept San Francisco off its short list of potential second...

Wag's app. Photo by Bloomberg.

How SoftBank’s Interest Cost One Startup Other Potential Investors

By Serena Saitto · Jan 19, 2018 2:53pm PST

Late last year Wag, an app that helps people find dog walkers, was in talks to raise $100 million. SoftBank took a look but would only invest if the round was $300 million. Other investors, including NEA and Kleiner Perkins, felt that was too much money for the startup to raise and dropped out, say people involved in the deal. SoftBank still... Late last year Wag, an app that helps people find dog walkers, was in talks to raise $100...

The Information’s 411 — Men Overboard

By Tom Dotan · Jan 19, 2018 1:35pm PST

Kevin talks about why AWS is planning to build "no-code" capabilities into its services to attract a different type of customer. Alfred calls in to talk about the problem of investors that serve on too many boards. Kevin talks about why AWS is planning to build "no-code" capabilities into its services...

Art by Mike Sullivan

How the Demise of Net Neutrality Affects Cryptocurrencies

By Amanda Gutterman · Jan 19, 2018 10:00am PST · 3 comments

Art by Mike Sullivan

How the Demise of Net Neutrality Affects Cryptocurrencies

By Amanda Gutterman · Jan 19, 2018 10:00am PST · 3 comments

The Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of “net neutrality” last month has sparked worries in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space that cryptocurrencies could be hurt or even “shut down” altogether.But cryptocurrencies such as ether, bitcoin and bitcoin cash are unlikely to be seriously... The Federal Communications Commission’s repeal of “net neutrality” last month...