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

Sentient CEO Babak Hodjat. Photo by Bloomberg.

Early AI Startup Sentient Diversifies As AI Field Gets More Crowded

By Kevin McLaughlin · May 17, 2017 7:00am PDT

Sentient Technologies was an AI startup years before AI became fashionable. Now that the field has become crowded with big and small rivals, Sentient wants to diversify its business.The company, whose founders include the engineers who went on to found high-profile AI startups Siri and Viv, has been looking to raise what would be its first round... Sentient Technologies was an AI startup years before AI became fashionable. Now that the field...

Jana CEO Nathan Eagle. Photo by Flickr/PopTech

The Big Interview

Verizon-backed Jana Rides India’s Mobile Web Boom and Bust

By Cory Weinberg · May 16, 2017 11:51am PDT

One small beneficiary of the investment rush into Indian internet companies two years ago was Jana, a Boston-based startup that sells ads on an app store for Indian phone users. Jana sold ad space to Indian firms like Flipkart and U.S. companies Amazon.com and Twitter, each hoping to reach Jana’s 40 million registered users. That business... One small beneficiary of the investment rush into Indian internet companies two years ago was...

Source: SEC Filings, mutual fund reports

Mutual Funds Double Down on Snap—Will They Hold On?

By Alfred Lee and Mike Sullivan · May 16, 2017 7:00am PDT

Fidelity Investments and T. Rowe Price more than doubled their stakes in Snap in the month after the company went public, buying around $500 million of stock between them, an analysis of SEC filings and online portfolio reports show. As a result, the two funds appear to have maintained their pre-IPO status as the biggest mutual fund investors in... Fidelity Investments and T. Rowe Price more than doubled their stakes in Snap in the month after...

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Photo by Bloomberg.

Uber to Give Ex-Employees More Time to Exercise Options

By Amir Efrati · May 15, 2017 5:42pm PDT · 3 comments

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Photo by Bloomberg.

Uber to Give Ex-Employees More Time to Exercise Options

By Amir Efrati · May 15, 2017 5:42pm PDT · 3 comments

Longtime employees of Uber will find it easier to quit the company, thanks to a change in how it deals with stock options.The ride-sharing firm is dropping the requirement that employees who quit must exercise any options they have within 30 days, or lose them, according to three people briefed on the change. Instead the departing employees will... Longtime employees of Uber will find it easier to quit the company, thanks to a change in how it...

HBO's former programming chief Michael Lombardo with Silicon Valley producer Mike Judge. Photo by AP.

Apple in Search for Programming Chief

By Tom Dotan · May 15, 2017 2:41pm PDT

HBO’s former programming head Michael Lombardo met with Apple executives earlier this year to discuss Apple’s video programming strategy, says a person familiar with the talks. The talks suggest Mr. Lombardo could be a candidate to run Apple’s video efforts. Apple has been looking to fill that role, said another person briefed... HBO’s former programming head Michael Lombardo met with Apple executives earlier this year...

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. Photo by Bloomberg.

Airbnb’s China Challenge: Difficult Guests

By Juro Osawa · May 15, 2017 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Some Airbnb hosts in Shanghai were recently grousing about a shocking customer request on a competing Chinese vacation-rental site that resonated with their own frustration. A finicky guest demanded a host be on call every day during a monthlong stay to piggyback a wheelchair-bound father up and down to the apartment. Fed up with the demands,... Some Airbnb hosts in Shanghai were recently grousing about a shocking customer request on a...

Modest Conversations

Modest Conversations: Morning Routines of 2027 and 2047

By Sam Lessin · May 14, 2017 2:51pm PDT

Amanda and I pace out what a morning routine might look like in +10 and +30 years in the future. What will be the same about morning routines and what will technology change? Amanda and I pace out what a morning routine might look like in +10 and +30 years in the future....

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · May 13, 2017 8:02am PDT

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · May 13, 2017 8:02am PDT

Good Morning!Evan Spiegel has finally hit on something that Facebook won’t want to copy: poor earnings, a collapsing stock and a disastrous analyst conference call. Good Morning!Evan Spiegel has finally hit on something that Facebook won’t want to copy:...

The Information’s 411 — Snap Analogies and Judgments

By Tom Dotan · May 12, 2017 12:37pm PDT

Amir talks about turnover in Uber's litigation team and he and Tom discuss Snap's earnings call. Plus Martin compares Evan's Yahoo-Facebook analogy to a tech moment of the past. Amir talks about turnover in Uber's litigation team and he and Tom discuss Snap's...

Shen Hao, former president of 21st Century Media, convicted of extortion two years ago. Photo by AP.

In China, Fake (Business) News Makes the Truth Hard to Find

By Shen Xinmei · May 12, 2017 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

There’s a media boom in China. Amateur journalists and ex-reporters are setting up accounts in social media platforms and news aggregators to self-publish stories—bringing with it a rash of fake news. But this kind of fake news is aimed at taking down companies, not politicians.“Hei gao,” or black drafts in Chinese, are... There’s a media boom in China. Amateur journalists and ex-reporters are setting up accounts...

A smartphone app for Chinese auto information website Yiche.com, formerly called Bitauto.com, whose parent company is a big shareholder in Yixin. Photo by AP.

Tencent-backed Chinese Car-Financing Firm Plans $5 Billion IPO

By Juro Osawa · May 11, 2017 9:23am PDT

A Chinese online auto-financing marketplace backed by local tech giants Tencent, Baidu and JD.com, is planning a Hong Kong IPO that could value the company at nearly $5 billion, people familiar with the matter said.Yixin Capital, a closely-held arm of U.S.-listed Chinese online car information portal Bitauto, could go public as early as the end... A Chinese online auto-financing marketplace backed by local tech giants Tencent, Baidu and...

Facebook's Building 20 at its Menlo Park campus. Photo by Facebook.

When Tech Workers Sit as Far as the Eye Can See

By Cory Weinberg · May 11, 2017 7:01am PDT · 11 comments

Facebook's Building 20 at its Menlo Park campus. Photo by Facebook.

When Tech Workers Sit as Far as the Eye Can See

By Cory Weinberg · May 11, 2017 7:01am PDT · 11 comments

Some Facebook employees have a not-so-affectionate nickname for the Menlo Park building that houses its most important employee groups and executives: “the factory.” Spanning nearly 10 acres and housing 2,800 employees in one giant, dimly lit room, it’s typical of a new wave of Silicon Valley architecture. But what’s... Some Facebook employees have a not-so-affectionate nickname for the Menlo Park building that...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and co-founder Bobby Murphy at the New York Stock Exchange when Snap went public earlier this year. Photo by Bloomberg.

How Long Can Snap Stick to the Story?

By Tom Dotan · May 10, 2017 4:15pm PDT · 3 comments

With a little bit of hand waving and a pretty good crack about Yahoo on Wednesday, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel tried to make the point to investors that its disappointing first quarter earnings was nothing to be too worried about.Sure, the weak user growth wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the alarming slowdown the company saw last summer.... With a little bit of hand waving and a pretty good crack about Yahoo on Wednesday, Snap CEO Evan...

Uber's San Francisco headquarters. Photo by AP.

Uber Fired Lawyers Amid Debate Over Data Retention Policy

By Amir Efrati · May 10, 2017 1:33pm PDT · 1 comment

Uber fired two in-house lawyers before New Year’s after an internal debate over a proposed change in Uber’s policy related to how long internal documents and other company data are retained, according to people briefed about the episode. The lawyers went outside the company to get advice from several law firms, a move Uber deemed a... Uber fired two in-house lawyers before New Year’s after an internal debate over a proposed...

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins. Photo by Bloomberg.

Cisco’s Startup Shopping List

By Kevin McLaughlin · May 10, 2017 7:02am PDT

Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins’ corporate shopping spree shows no signs of ending. He has lately kicked the tires of several startups in storage, security and networking software, looking to upgrade Cisco’s product portfolio with new technology tied into cloud computing. The tire-kicking has led to at least one previously... Cisco Systems CEO Chuck Robbins’ corporate shopping spree shows no signs of ending. He has...

Art by Sam Lessin.

The Wrinkle In Forecasting Autonomous Cars

By Sam Lessin · May 9, 2017 7:02am PDT · 12 comments

Art by Sam Lessin.

Modest Proposals

The Wrinkle In Forecasting Autonomous Cars

By Sam Lessin · May 9, 2017 7:02am PDT · 12 comments

Onstage at TED last week, Elon Musk made the very bold proclamation that in about two years, Tesla owners will be able to go to sleep at the start of a drive and wake up at their destination.While I applaud his showmanship and acute engineering recruiting tactics, I think he is dead wrong—and am willing to very publicly take the... Onstage at TED last week, Elon Musk made the very bold proclamation that in about two years,...

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. Photo by Bloomberg.

Airbnb Negotiating Big SF Office Expansion

By Cory Weinberg · May 8, 2017 10:57am PDT · 1 comment

Airbnb is deep in negotiations for what would be the biggest office lease in San Francisco this year, according to two people familiar with the matter. It would also make Airbnb one of the biggest office tenants in San Francisco, giving it room to grow as it heads toward a possible IPO next year.The company is in talks to lease at about 250,000... Airbnb is deep in negotiations for what would be the biggest office lease in San Francisco this...

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti. Photo by Bloomberg.

How BuzzFeed Is Betting on Tasty for IPO

By Tom Dotan · May 8, 2017 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

BuzzFeed is aiming for a 35% jump in revenue this year to around $350 million, as it tries to show investors that it can maintain strong growth while keeping costs low, according to two people familiar with the matter. Among sources of growth are its video ads business and e-commerce efforts like book sales, say people familiar with the... BuzzFeed is aiming for a 35% jump in revenue this year to around $350 million, as it tries to...

Modest Conversations

Modest Conversations: 09 - Have We Reached The Limits of VC? - Bryce Roberts of OATV & Indie.vc

By Sam Lessin · May 7, 2017 12:10pm PDT

Bryce, a co-founder of O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and Indie.vc joins, to talk about the limits of traditional venture capital. What can / can’t traditional venture capital support in terms of company building in 2017? What are some financing alternatives? Bryce, a co-founder of O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures and Indie.vc joins, to talk about...

ESPN chief John Skipper. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · May 6, 2017 8:02am PDT

ESPN chief John Skipper. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · May 6, 2017 8:02am PDT

Good Morning!Apple has begun moving employees into its spaceship-like new headquarters. The thing that people are most excited about, though, is the observatory showing its giant cash pile. Good Morning!Apple has begun moving employees into its spaceship-like new headquarters. The thing...