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 Matt Vascellaro

Why the Tech Industry Is No Better Than Hollywood

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 13, 2017 7:01am PDT · 4 comments

When Amazon suspended its movie and film chief on Thursday after a producer accused him of sexual harassment, two things flashed through my head. The first was how meaningless internal corporate “investigations” have become. The producer, Isa Hackett, first told The Information of the 2015 alleged incident and internal investigation... When Amazon suspended its movie and film chief on Thursday after a producer accused him of sexual...

Amazon Suspends TV and Movie Chief Roy Price

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 12, 2017 5:31pm PDT · 2 comments

The head of Amazon.com’s movie and television business Roy Price has been put on a leave of absence, following an allegation of sexual harassment. An Amazon spokesman confirmed the move which he said was “effective immediately.” The Information in August reported a sexual harassment allegation was made against Mr. Price by... The head of Amazon.com’s movie and television business Roy Price has been put on a leave of...

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. Photo: Bloomberg

Airbnb Tackles Home Improvements

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 12, 2017 12:12pm PDT

For years, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has told employees that one of his regrets about how he shaped the company was that it didn’t vet hosts to make sure their homes were high quality, two people who spoke with him said. Now that the company plans to launch a program that will spotlight hand-picked homes, it is grappling with how to manage... For years, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has told employees that one of his regrets about how he shaped...

Spotify's offices in Berlin. Photo: Bloomberg

Fast Growth, Losses Continue as Spotify Eyes IPO

By Alfred Lee · Oct 12, 2017 7:03am PDT

Spotify's offices in Berlin. Photo: Bloomberg

Fast Growth, Losses Continue as Spotify Eyes IPO

By Alfred Lee · Oct 12, 2017 7:03am PDT

As eyes turn to a potential Spotify public offering next year, the company’s recent financial performance might bolster its case to investors. But questions about profitability remain.The music streaming service recorded revenue of 1.9 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in the first half of this year, according to two people briefed on the... As eyes turn to a potential Spotify public offering next year, the company’s recent...

Bill Gurley of Benchmark and Masayoshi Son of SoftBank. Photo by Bloomberg.

SoftBank, Benchmark Face Final Hurdle in Uber Deal

By Serena Saitto and Amir Efrati · Oct 11, 2017 2:38pm PDT · 1 comment

It’s been a week since the Uber board agreed, in theory, to sell between $7 billion and $10 billion worth of Uber’s shares to SoftBank—yet nothing has happened. The reason: SoftBank and major Uber investors, including Benchmark, still haven’t been able to agree on the deal’s structure and price.Benchmark wants every... It’s been a week since the Uber board agreed, in theory, to sell between $7 billion and $10...

Huawei executive Richard Yu. Photo: Bloomberg

Huawei Hosts Private AI Confab in Vancouver

By Juro Osawa · Oct 11, 2017 10:02am PDT

Some executives and researchers from Amazon.com, Microsoft and Google are gathered this week in Vancouver, to talk artificial intelligence. Their host: Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies.The conference, which Huawei kept confidential and didn’t announce, reflects the Chinese company’s eagerness to work more closely with American... Some executives and researchers from Amazon.com, Microsoft and Google are gathered this week in...

Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy. Photo by Bloomberg.

Q&A

Flipkart CEO Plays Down Amazon Threat

By Priya Anand · Oct 11, 2017 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy took the helm of India’s homegrown e-commerce company in January, about six months after Jeff Bezos pledged Amazon would invest $5 billion in its India business. But Mr. Krishnamurthy claims to be unconcerned about Amazon. “Committing a lot of money doesn’t matter,” he said.Amazon in the... Flipkart CEO Kalyan Krishnamurthy took the helm of India’s homegrown e-commerce company in...

Photo by Karen Obrist.

Announcing the Summit Lunch Breakouts

By The Information Staff · Oct 10, 2017 11:32am PDT

Photo by Karen Obrist.

Announcing the Summit Lunch Breakouts

By The Information Staff · Oct 10, 2017 11:32am PDT

We're so excited to see everyone on October 20th at our sold-out San Francisco Subscriber Summit. An important part of the Summit are our lunch breakouts: a chance for you to hear straight from big names in tech about the state of their businesses. If you're registered for the Summit, you'll receive an email from... We're so excited to see everyone on October 20th at our sold-out San Francisco Subscriber...

Source: Paysa

Where Amazon Finds, and Loses, AI Talent

By Priya Anand and Mike Sullivan · Oct 10, 2017 11:05am PDT · 3 comments

In the hunt for artificial intelligence talent, Amazon swaps employees with its Seattle neighbor Microsoft on a roughly one-for-one ratio. But it loses far more AI-oriented talent to Google than it gains from that firm, new data show.Amazon poached about a dozen AI-related people from Google in the five years ending April 2017. But Google lured... In the hunt for artificial intelligence talent, Amazon swaps employees with its Seattle neighbor...

Photo by Flickr/Incase

Cities Oppose New Self-Driving Car Law

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 9, 2017 10:01am PDT · 1 comment

Legislation that would set the stage for large-scale testing and potential deployment of autonomous vehicles appears poised to become law within months, with support from lawmakers in both parties as well as from car makers and tech companies. But the prospect of the new federal law has alarmed some city officials, who are worried the bill... Legislation that would set the stage for large-scale testing and potential deployment of...

Art by Sam Lessin

Modest Proposals

The Future of Work

By Sam Lessin · Oct 9, 2017 7:01am PDT · 12 comments

We are entering a period where machine learning is going to dramatically change the nature of work across a broad swath of service and knowledge industries.Extremists see a world where all human work evaporates rapidly, driving a conversation about human dignity and equality in a world of technological unemployment. A more sober group believes... We are entering a period where machine learning is going to dramatically change the nature of...

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Oct 7, 2017 8:01am PDT

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Oct 7, 2017 8:01am PDT

Good Morning!This week we found out AOL Instant Messenger will not BRB. Good Morning!This week we found out AOL Instant Messenger will not BRB.

Jessica Lessin interviews Alibaba's Joe Tsai. Photo by Brent Pottinger.

China Subscriber Summit

Watch Interviews From Beijing and Hong Kong Summits

By The Information Staff · Oct 6, 2017 2:47pm PDT · 1 comment

If you missed our summit meetings in Hong Kong and Beijing, you can catch up with the videos here. Among those on stage were Joe Tsai of Alibaba, Shou Zi Chew of Xiaomi and Bob Xu of Zhen Fund. If you missed our summit meetings in Hong Kong and Beijing, you can catch up with the videos...

An Auro autonomous shuttle. Photo by Auro

Ridecell Acquires Auro, Maker of Self-Driving Shuttles

By Amir Efrati · Oct 6, 2017 1:31pm PDT · 2 comments

Ridecell, a software startup in the car-sharing and ride-sharing market, is buying Auro Robotics, one of the earliest autonomous vehicle startups, Auro CEO Nalin Gupta confirmed to The Information, without elaborating. The all-stock deal is likely to value Auro at around $20 million, said a person briefed on the deal.Auro equips off-the-shelf... Ridecell, a software startup in the car-sharing and ride-sharing market, is buying Auro Robotics,...

The Information’s 411 — Turning the Page on Travis

By Tom Dotan · Oct 6, 2017 12:57pm PDT

Amir explains what Waymo is doing with self-driving cars in Chandler, Az. Cory and Reed break down the Facebook backlash as the company nears its day on Capitol Hill. Amir explains what Waymo is doing with self-driving cars in Chandler, Az. Cory and Reed break...

DeepMind co-founders Mustafa Suleyman and Demis Hassabis. Photos by Bloomberg and Flickr/TechCrunch.

Google Cloud’s AI Push Could Involve DeepMind

By Kevin McLaughlin · Oct 6, 2017 7:02am PDT · 6 comments

DeepMind co-founders Mustafa Suleyman and Demis Hassabis. Photos by Bloomberg and Flickr/TechCrunch.

Google Cloud’s AI Push Could Involve DeepMind

By Kevin McLaughlin · Oct 6, 2017 7:02am PDT · 6 comments

DeepMind may be coming to Google’s cloud service.The highly regarded artificial intelligence startup has operated as its own unit within Alphabet since it was acquired in 2014, helping improve Google services like Google Assistant but not generating much revenue on its own. But recently, executives from Google Cloud and DeepMind have... DeepMind may be coming to Google’s cloud service.The highly regarded artificial...

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Photo by AP.

SoftBank Money Comes at High Cost

By Alfred Lee · Oct 5, 2017 7:00am PDT · 5 comments

As SoftBank has been spraying money at tech companies in recent months, it has been negotiating unusually tough terms that sharply improve its chances of earning a big return, according to a review of previously undisclosed deal terms. In some cases, the terms allow SoftBank to assert control over many matters at the companies.For instance,... As SoftBank has been spraying money at tech companies in recent months, it has been negotiating...

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Photo by Bloomberg.

Uber Tender Gives Employees Chance to Realize Profits

By Serena Saitto, Alfred Lee and Amir Efrati · Oct 4, 2017 3:16pm PDT · 1 comment

Uber is expected to sign an agreement with SoftBank later Wednesday paving the way for the start of a tender offer for Uber shares that could be worth $8.5 billion.The offer is a big deal for Uber investors, including some of its 16,000 employees. While private tech firms often run tender offers to give employees and other shareholders an... Uber is expected to sign an agreement with SoftBank later Wednesday paving the way for the start...

Stars of Hulu's "Handmaid's Tale." Photo by AP.

Numbers Show Skinny Bundles Underwhelm

By Tom Dotan · Oct 4, 2017 10:01am PDT · 5 comments

Hulu plans to begin a major marketing push for its $40-a-month streaming cable competitor Hulu Live, a senior Hulu executive said in an interview, as it brings the service out of a test phase. But exclusive new data on subscriber numbers for streaming services suggests Hulu may struggle to sign up many people.Comparable “skinny... Hulu plans to begin a major marketing push for its $40-a-month streaming cable competitor Hulu...

Art: Matt Vascellaro

Cornell Tech’s Balancing Act Between Industry and Academia

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 4, 2017 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Art: Matt Vascellaro

The Big Interview

Cornell Tech’s Balancing Act Between Industry and Academia

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 4, 2017 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Daniel Huttenlocher is one of Amazon.com’s 10 board directors and dean of Cornell University’s nascent, tech-focused graduate school in New York City—roles that give him a unique vantage point on technology companies’ influence. On one hand, he says companies like Amazon deserve the benefit of the doubt from critics who... Daniel Huttenlocher is one of Amazon.com’s 10 board directors and dean of Cornell...