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

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Recent Editions

One of the underwriters on Snap's coming IPO, Morgan Stanley, displayed a Snap sign on its building in New York last month. Photo by Bloomberg.

When Will Snap Embrace Data?

By Tom Dotan · Mar 1, 2017 7:01am PST · 5 comments

When Snap employees pitch CEO Evan Spiegel on a new feature for the app, they’ve found he’s more likely to pay attention if they emphasize how they think users will feel about the feature than if they cite data about users’ likely response, says a former employee.It’s essentially the opposite at Facebook. That... When Snap employees pitch CEO Evan Spiegel on a new feature for the app, they’ve found...

Taylor Swift at a DirecTV Now concert before the Super Bowl earlier this month. Photo by AP.

Q&A

What’s Next for DirecTV Now

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 28, 2017 11:30am PST · 2 comments

Of all the attempts in distributing traditional TV channels online, DirecTV’s may be the one that has faced the most skepticism. With a starting price of $35 a month—rising as channels are added—DirecTV Now seemed destined to lose money. Customers initially complained the service was glitchy. Investors worried the service would... Of all the attempts in distributing traditional TV channels online, DirecTV’s may be the...

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Photo by Bloomberg.

AWS Takes Aim at Call Center Industry

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 28, 2017 7:01am PST · 6 comments

Alexa is coming to customer call centers.Amazon Web Services is preparing to sell software to help companies manage their call centers, based on software Amazon developed for its retail call centers, according to a person who’s been briefed on the plans. The new services also incorporate Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant to respond to... Alexa is coming to customer call centers.Amazon Web Services is preparing to sell software to...

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Photo by Bloomberg.

Gender Reports: How Companies Stack Up

By Mike Sullivan · Feb 27, 2017 10:05am PST · 4 comments

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Photo by Bloomberg.

Gender Reports: How Companies Stack Up

By Mike Sullivan · Feb 27, 2017 10:05am PST · 4 comments

As Uber scrambles to release a diversity report following sexual harassment allegations, private tech companies such as Snap, WeWork and Palantir are glaring holdouts from firms that release data on gender diversity. The table below shows that the workforce of major tech companies remains overwhelmingly male. Men account for at least two-thirds... As Uber scrambles to release a diversity report following sexual harassment allegations, private...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

How Rizvi’s Clients Will Do on Snap IPO

By Alfred Lee · Feb 27, 2017 7:00am PST · 1 comment

When Snap goes public on Thursday, one of the investors closely watching the result will be Rizvi Traverse, the secretive firm that rose to prominence amassing large stakes in Twitter and Square. Chances are Rizvi will do well on the offering—and probably better than people who invested in Rizvi-arranged funds holding Snap stock.Rizvi put... When Snap goes public on Thursday, one of the investors closely watching the result will be Rizvi...

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Feb 25, 2017 8:00am PST

Good Morning!If you want to make some money this week on Snap, forget the IPO. Sell your services explaining the app to middle-aged investors. Good Morning!If you want to make some money this week on Snap, forget the IPO. Sell your services...

The Information’s 411 — The Bots Aren’t Good

By Tom Dotan · Feb 24, 2017 11:52am PST

Cory talks about why Facebook is betting on a new scaled-down version of M for Messenger. And Tom gives details on the private high school in Mountain View that's going to cash in on the Snap IPO. Cory talks about why Facebook is betting on a new scaled-down version of M for Messenger. And Tom...

AWS CEO Andrew Jassy. Photo by AP.

AWS Taking On Microsoft, Google with Productivity Suite

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 24, 2017 7:01am PST · 7 comments

AWS CEO Andrew Jassy. Photo by AP.

AWS Taking On Microsoft, Google with Productivity Suite

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 24, 2017 7:01am PST · 7 comments

Amazon Web Services dominates the market for cloud server and storage services and has made inroads in other enterprise technologies like databases. Now it wants to become a more potent competitor in productivity apps, where Microsoft and Google are well established. AWS is working on upgrades to its WorkMail email-calendar app and its WorkDocs... Amazon Web Services dominates the market for cloud server and storage services and has made...

Lightspeed partner Jeremy Liew. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

How a Mountain View High School Cashed in on Snap

By Alfred Lee and Tom Dotan · Feb 23, 2017 5:01pm PST

Lots of people stand to make a fortune when Snap goes public next week, including co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy and early investors like Lightspeed Venture Partners. Then there’s Saint Francis High School, of Mountain View, California. An investment fund associated with the high school is believed to have been one of the... Lots of people stand to make a fortune when Snap goes public next week, including co-founders...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple Severed Ties with Server Supplier After Security Concern

By Amir Efrati · Feb 23, 2017 3:44pm PST · 4 comments

In early 2016, Apple discovered what it believed was a potential security vulnerability in at least one data center server it purchased from a U.S.-based manufacturer, Super Micro Computer, according to a Super Micro executive and two people who were briefed about the incident at Apple. The server was part of Apple’s technical... In early 2016, Apple discovered what it believed was a potential security vulnerability in at...

Stacks of Chinese RMB currency to be handed out to workers at a real estate project in China last month. Photo by AP.

China’s Trapped Money

By Shai Oster · Feb 23, 2017 7:02am PST · 2 comments

There’s a story making the rounds of Chinese startup investors in Beijing and San Francisco. A Chinese firm wanted to invest a few million dollars in an overseas venture. To avoid tougher new regulations on taking money offshore, the firm’s principal sliced up the money and had 30 employees wire tranches of $50,000 each to a foreign... There’s a story making the rounds of Chinese startup investors in Beijing and San...

Source: The companies

Snap’s Spending Spree

By Tom Dotan and Mike Sullivan · Feb 22, 2017 11:06am PST · 1 comment

Source: The companies

Snap’s Spending Spree

By Tom Dotan and Mike Sullivan · Feb 22, 2017 11:06am PST · 1 comment

Snap may not be the most prolific buyer of startups, but it’s lapping the field when it comes to deal size. In the last two years, the company spent more money than either Twitter or Facebook did in the same period before their IPOs, on just a handful of deals.Snap has acquired four companies of note between 2015 and 2016, according to its... Snap may not be the most prolific buyer of startups, but it’s lapping the field when it...

Facebook's VP for messaging products, David Marcus, at F8 last year. Photo by Bloomberg.

How Messenger and “M” Are Shifting Gears

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 22, 2017 7:00am PST · 4 comments

After two years of trying to figure out ways to get commerce flowing through Messenger, with little success, Facebook is taking a new tack. Messenger is trying to find ways to inject buttons into conversations between friends when it thinks they intend to do things like make restaurant reservations, buy tickets to something or order food. The... After two years of trying to figure out ways to get commerce flowing through Messenger, with...

Former SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White. Photo by Bloomberg.

SEC Looking at Employee Access to Private Tech Financials

By Alfred Lee · Feb 21, 2017 7:00am PST · 1 comment

When a former Domo employee in December won a legal fight for access to financial statements of the private software company, it highlighted an obscure Delaware law that gives investors the right to financial information of private tech firms in which they hold stock.That law applies only to Delaware-incorporated companies. But federal... When a former Domo employee in December won a legal fight for access to financial statements of...

Art by Sam Lessin.

Modest Proposals

The Return of History: Google Photos and Personal Big Data

By Sam Lessin · Feb 20, 2017 7:00am PST · 7 comments

For the last several years, thanks to social media, people have valued photos for the attention they immediately garner when shared. The value of a photo as a piece of history, or a memory, while once primary, has been mostly relegated to a relative afterthought.When barriers to sharing were far higher, in the days before social media, much more... For the last several years, thanks to social media, people have valued photos for the attention...

Photo by Bloomberg.

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Feb 18, 2017 8:01am PST

Photo by Bloomberg.

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Feb 18, 2017 8:01am PST

Good Morning!Snap is going to market, trying to pitch itself as a unique blend of Silicon Valley and Hollywood. And no wonder: It has the losses of a tech startup combined with the anemic growth of a media company. Good Morning!Snap is going to market, trying to pitch itself as a unique blend of Silicon Valley...

The Information’s 411 — What is Watson?

By Tom Dotan · Feb 17, 2017 12:38pm PST

Kevin explains how IBM uses Watson's consumer brand to sell to enterprises. Juro makes his first appearance on the podcast to discuss the big funding plans for Alibaba's Ant Financial as well as Huawei's narrowing profits on smartphones. Kevin explains how IBM uses Watson's consumer brand to sell to enterprises. Juro makes his...

David Marcus, Facebook VP for messaging products. Photo by Bloomberg.

Bots and Humans Strain to Get Along on Messenger, Twitter

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 17, 2017 7:01am PST · 6 comments

When customers started chatting with 1-800-Flowers.com on Facebook Messenger in recent months, they often received two different kinds of responses in the same thread. One would be an automated response run by a bot company that can serve up flower orders in a few taps. The other response would be from a human agent that signed his or her name,... When customers started chatting with 1-800-Flowers.com on Facebook Messenger in recent months,...

Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

Cruise’s Self-Driving Cars May Not Be as Smart as They Appear

By Amir Efrati · Feb 16, 2017 12:26pm PST · 3 comments

Cruise Automation, the General Motors-owned autonomous car startup, turned heads in the self-driving car world earlier this month. Test results filed with California regulators implied that its self-driving software might be more advanced than that of Mercedes, Tesla, Bosch and Delphi. The results showed that the company’s workers had to... Cruise Automation, the General Motors-owned autonomous car startup, turned heads in the...

IBM Watson general manager David Kenny. Photo by AP.

How IBM is Competing with Google in AI

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 16, 2017 7:01am PST · 5 comments

IBM Watson general manager David Kenny. Photo by AP.

Q&A

How IBM is Competing with Google in AI

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 16, 2017 7:01am PST · 5 comments

Amazon, Apple and Google have each built branded artificial intelligence-powered assistants in Alexa, Siri and Google Now. But it’s doubtful any are as broadly known as IBM Watson, which debuted on “Jeopardy!” six years ago this week and earlier this month was featured in a Super Bowl ad.Ironically, despite that wide name... Amazon, Apple and Google have each built branded artificial intelligence-powered assistants in...