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

The Information’s 411 — Facebook’s Appointment Viewing

By Tom Dotan · Jul 28, 2017 1:45pm PDT

Amir explains why SoftBank's big spending on Grab could force another Uber truce. Tom and Cory talk about whether Facebook's original video initiative will succeed. Amir explains why SoftBank's big spending on Grab could force another Uber truce. Tom and...

Alibaba founder Jack Ma , Chinese president Xi Jinping and Dalian Wanda chief Wang Jianlin. Photos by Bloomberg and Flickr/Stuart Isett

China’s Crackdown Could Squeeze Tech

By Shai Oster · Jul 28, 2017 10:30am PDT · 2 comments

It’s easy to get caught up in the exciting possibilities of the new tech world being forged in China. Billion-dollar startups seemingly born every other day. Smartphone digital wallets replacing cash. Facial scanners instead of airplane boarding passes. But this euphoria masks one of the harshest crackdowns gripping China in... It’s easy to get caught up in the exciting possibilities of the new tech world being forged...

Art by Matt Vascellaro

Announcing The Information Accelerator

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 28, 2017 5:46am PDT · 7 comments

The fight to save quality journalism isn’t complicated. It’s just hard.In less than four years, we’ve built The Information into a rapidly growing, cash flow-positive business with millions in revenue and a team of 25. We did so by charging for original reporting from experienced reporters. Plain and simple. And now we want to... The fight to save quality journalism isn’t complicated. It’s just hard.In less than...

Southeast Asia's online travel market is expected to more than quadruple to $90 billion by 2025 , driven in part by strong demand for low-cost flights. Photo by AP.

Expedia to Invest $350M in Indonesia’s Traveloka

By Juro Osawa · Jul 27, 2017 8:44am PDT · 1 comment

Southeast Asia's online travel market is expected to more than quadruple to $90 billion by 2025 , driven in part by strong demand for low-cost flights. Photo by AP.

Expedia to Invest $350M in Indonesia’s Traveloka

By Juro Osawa · Jul 27, 2017 8:44am PDT · 1 comment

Expedia is investing about $350 million in Southeast Asia’s biggest local online travel portal, as the U.S. company tries to increase its presence in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, people familiar with the matter said. Indonesia-based Traveloka, which operates in six countries in Southeast Asia, is raising a total of... Expedia is investing about $350 million in Southeast Asia’s biggest local online travel...

Former LinkedIn China head Derek Shen. Photo: LinkedIn

LinkedIn Regroups in China After Key Executive Departs

By Yunan Zhang · Jul 27, 2017 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

By the standards of foreign internet companies in China, LinkedIn has been seen as a success. Under the guidance of Google veteran Derek Shen, LinkedIn China grew to 32 million registered users from four million in three years, on par with its biggest domestic rival Maimai. Mr. Shen led the launch of LinkedIn China’s mass-market mobile... By the standards of foreign internet companies in China, LinkedIn has been seen as a success....

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Facebook’s Video Reality Check

By Cory Weinberg and Tom Dotan · Jul 26, 2017 4:27pm PDT · 1 comment

After Wall Street analysts peppered Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday about the social network’s Messenger and WhatsApp businesses, he told them they were missing the point. The biggest question on Facebook executives’ minds these days, he said, is whether it can pull off its ambitious video strategy, which includes rolling... After Wall Street analysts peppered Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday about the social...

Source: PitchBook

More VCs Investing in Insurance Startups as Lending Fades

By Serena Saitto and Mike Sullivan · Jul 26, 2017 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

As the rush of venture capital money into online lending dissipates, VCs have turned their attention to another fintech sector: online insurance startups. Venture capital investments in insurance startups rose 50% to $1.4 billion in 2016 from a year earlier, even as money flowing into lending startups fell by more than half to $2.1 billion from... As the rush of venture capital money into online lending dissipates, VCs have turned their...

A Snap sign at the New York Stock Exchange. Photo by Bloomberg.

Snap’s General Counsel Stepping Down

By Tom Dotan · Jul 25, 2017 1:10pm PDT

A Snap sign at the New York Stock Exchange. Photo by Bloomberg.

Snap’s General Counsel Stepping Down

By Tom Dotan · Jul 25, 2017 1:10pm PDT

Snap’s general counsel Chris Handman has stepped down, citing a desire to spend more time with his family. Mr. Handman announced the news in an email to the company employees last week, saying that he was staying on as an advisor.Mr. Handman had been with the company since mid-2014, having joined after many years as a partner at Hogan... Snap’s general counsel Chris Handman has stepped down, citing a desire to spend more time...

Grab CEO Anthony Tan. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Uber Might Sell Asian Business to Grab

By Amir Efrati · Jul 25, 2017 10:00am PDT

Grab’s $2 billion fundraising, announced on Monday and led by SoftBank, has changed the ride-hailing game in that region, giving the Singapore-based firm what may be an unassailable advantage. Uber may have to consider selling its assets to Grab.That is an enormous turnaround on the situation for much of last year. Grab, the ride-hailing... Grab’s $2 billion fundraising, announced on Monday and led by SoftBank, has changed the...

A scene from HBO's Game of Thrones. Photo by HBO.

Will AT&T Throttle HBO?

By Martin Peers and Tom Dotan · Jul 25, 2017 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

HBO has been flying high on the backs of dragons, but it has done little to face down the rising beast of Netflix over the past five years. With a widely recognized brand name and deep pockets, HBO could have tried to match Netflix as the streaming service quadrupled spending on films and TV shows. But that’s not what happened.HBO raised... HBO has been flying high on the backs of dragons, but it has done little to face down the rising...

AT&T Chief Technology Officer Andre Fuetsch. Art by Matt Vascellaro

Q&A

AT&T CTO Says Move to White Boxes a ‘Wake-Up Call’

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 24, 2017 10:00am PDT · 4 comments

For big enterprise hardware companies like Cisco Systems and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, AT&T has long been a valuable customer. The telecom behemoth spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year buying devices like switches and routers that transmit data around its network. But it recently began shifting toward cheaper,... For big enterprise hardware companies like Cisco Systems and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, AT&T...

Human Ventures CEO Heather Hartnett. Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for TechCrunch

New Breed of VCs Brings Startups In-House

By Jon Victor · Jul 24, 2017 7:02am PDT · 7 comments

Human Ventures CEO Heather Hartnett. Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for TechCrunch

New Breed of VCs Brings Startups In-House

By Jon Victor · Jul 24, 2017 7:02am PDT · 7 comments

Megan O’Connor hadn’t fully developed the concept for Clark, an app that connects tutors with students, when Human Ventures invited her in 2015 to build the company out of the venture capital firm’s New York office. Through Human Ventures, Ms. O’Connor found a business partner and hired her first employees, while gaining... Megan O’Connor hadn’t fully developed the concept for Clark, an app that connects...

Modest Conversations

Building Platform Products - Raylene Yung of Stripe & Facebook

By Sam Lessin · Jul 23, 2017 9:37am PDT · 1 comment

Raylene currently leads the applications team at Stripe, and formerly was an engineering manager at Facebook. She joins me to discuss building platforms from a product and engineering perspective. Raylene currently leads the applications team at Stripe, and formerly was an engineering manager...

VMware chief Pat Gelsinger. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Jul 22, 2017 8:00am PDT

Good Morning!Elon Musk claims he got verbal approval to create his underground hyperloop tunnel on the East Coast. Best-case scenario is he finishes it just as the AI-driven robots he sees overthrowing humanity start taking over, and we use the tunnels to escape. Good Morning!Elon Musk claims he got verbal approval to create his underground hyperloop tunnel...

The Information’s 411 — Tell Me About Kubernetes

By Tom Dotan · Jul 21, 2017 2:01pm PDT · 1 comment

Kevin talks about AWS and its latest strategic moves. Tom and Reed lay out the future of AR and how the tech giants are approaching the technology. Kevin talks about AWS and its latest strategic moves. Tom and Reed lay out the future of AR and...

Axel Springer CEO Mathias Dopfner. Photo by Bloomberg.

News Industry Can’t Put Genie Back in Bottle

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 21, 2017 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

Axel Springer CEO Mathias Dopfner. Photo by Bloomberg.

News Industry Can’t Put Genie Back in Bottle

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 21, 2017 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

This week Facebook confirmed it will begin testing new ways for news publishers to sell digital subscriptions on the social network this fall. Privately, for months, leaders of major news outlets who were being briefed by the company have been expressing enthusiasm for Facebook’s plans. Frankly, I’ve been a little surprised by their... This week Facebook confirmed it will begin testing new ways for news publishers to sell digital...

Sources: The companies; The Information calculations.

Volatile Cryptocurrencies Hit ICO Market

By Jon Victor and Mike Sullivan · Jul 20, 2017 12:03pm PDT · 5 comments

A telltale sign of the risks involved in investing in the latest breed of initial coin offerings: The underlying currencies are so volatile that even the ventures creating the new batch of digital coins often sell as fast as they can.The values of Bitcoin and Ether, the digital currencies that investors use to buy into ICOs, have declined since... A telltale sign of the risks involved in investing in the latest breed of initial coin offerings:...

AWS CEO Andy Jassy. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Considering New Cloud Service to Combat Google

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 20, 2017 7:01am PDT · 4 comments

Executives at Amazon Web Services used to pride themselves on ignoring products offered by rivals like Microsoft and Google. Not anymore.AWS is considering developing a new cloud service based on a Google-created software tool called Kubernetes, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. Used to run many applications at the same... Executives at Amazon Web Services used to pride themselves on ignoring products offered by rivals...

Uber HR chief Liane Hornsey. Photo by Uber.

Uber Boosts Employee Comp, Closes Gender Pay Gap

By Amir Efrati · Jul 19, 2017 12:55pm PDT · 3 comments

Uber is raising salaries for all employees, and lifting the value of equity awards for some, following complaints that its system for calculating compensation was unfair. The changes, some of which were outlined to employees by human resources chief Liane Hornsey on Tuesday, could cost Uber hundreds of millions of dollars in higher employee... Uber is raising salaries for all employees, and lifting the value of equity awards for some,...

Toutiao's app on a smartphone. Photo by Mike Sullivan.

How a News Startup Caught China’s Tencent by Surprise

By Juro Osawa · Jul 19, 2017 7:00am PDT · 5 comments

Toutiao's app on a smartphone. Photo by Mike Sullivan.

How a News Startup Caught China’s Tencent by Surprise

By Juro Osawa · Jul 19, 2017 7:00am PDT · 5 comments

In a lush valley near the ancient Silk Road’s starting point in Western China, young farmer Wang Zheng checks his smartphone for chicken feed tips and egg prices. Mr. Wang is using a news app called Jinri Toutiao—“today’s headlines” in English—whose machine-learning algorithm feeds him personally tailored... In a lush valley near the ancient Silk Road’s starting point in Western China, young farmer...