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

Flipkart CEO Binny Bansal. Photo by Bloomberg.

Q&A

The Toughest Tech CEO Job in India

By Amir Efrati · Nov 10, 2016 7:01am PST

Binny Bansal carries the weight of India’s web sector on his shoulders. He’s the co-founder and CEO of Flipkart, the country’s most prominent homegrown web company, an e-commerce firm whose mistakes allowed Amazon.com to catch up to it in terms of sales. Flipkart, once valued at as much as $15 billion, has a symbolic... Binny Bansal carries the weight of India’s web sector on his shoulders. He’s the...

Andrew McAfee. Photo by Flickr/Gordon Haff.

Q&A

Why Tech Must Get Ahead of Jobs Debate

By Tom Dotan · Nov 9, 2016 11:18am PST · 6 comments

The movement that catapulted Donald Trump into the presidency Tuesday was heavily rooted in concerns that immigration and trade was hurting the U.S. job market. But a future version of Mr. Trump will rail against robots rather than immigrants, according to Andrew McAfee, the co-director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy. He has... The movement that catapulted Donald Trump into the presidency Tuesday was heavily rooted in...

President-elect Trump arriving on stage during an election night party in New York on Tuesday night. Photo by Bloomberg.

Trump Victory Could Mean Tougher Times for Tech

By Cory Weinberg and Reed Albergotti · Nov 9, 2016 7:02am PST · 9 comments

Donald Trump’s stunning victory in Tuesday’s presidential election foreshadows a massive shakeup for the American economy with far-reaching ramifications for the tech sector. These include tighter restrictions on immigration, pressure to hire more American workers, tougher attitudes to mergers and a weaker stock market that could... Donald Trump’s stunning victory in Tuesday’s presidential election foreshadows a...

People waiting for Uber rides at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. Photo by Bloomberg.

Snap Poaches Uber Lawyer

By Amir Efrati · Nov 8, 2016 11:13am PST

People waiting for Uber rides at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. Photo by Bloomberg.

Snap Poaches Uber Lawyer

By Amir Efrati · Nov 8, 2016 11:13am PST

Snap last month hired a top lawyer from Uber, one of three executives who quietly left Uber in the past few months.Katherine Tassi, who was an associate general counsel at Uber in charge of privacy issues, moved from San Francisco to Snap’s headquarters in Venice, Calif., to take on a similar role, reporting to general counsel Chris... Snap last month hired a top lawyer from Uber, one of three executives who quietly left Uber in...

Art by Matt Vascellaro.

The Googler in the Trenches of the Ad-Blocking War

By Kevin McLaughlin · Nov 8, 2016 7:02am PST · 8 comments

Scott Spencer isn’t a recognizable name in the consumer tech industry, but he’s one of the executives most likely to shape the future of advertising across the web.The veteran Googler is dead center in the battle between publishers and website visitors over ad blocking. Millions of people are using ad-blocking software, a response to... Scott Spencer isn’t a recognizable name in the consumer tech industry, but he’s one...

Art by Sam Lessin.

Modest Proposals

The First Modern Election

By Sam Lessin · Nov 7, 2016 10:00am PST · 11 comments

We just witnessed the first fully modern campaign cycle. If you are versed in science fiction, it played out exactly as predicted. It wasn’t pretty.The public discussion about technology’s impact on the election has mostly centered on the direct-to-consumer populism of Donald Trump on social media, but this goes way beyond Twitter... We just witnessed the first fully modern campaign cycle. If you are versed in science fiction, it...

An UberEats delivering takeaway food at a launch event in Japan. Photo by Bloomberg.

Uber’s Second Act Makes Progress, Creates New Dilemmas

By Amir Efrati · Nov 7, 2016 7:00am PST · 3 comments

Now that Uber has largely conquered the ride-sharing market in the U.S., CEO Travis Kalanick is accelerating his long-term plan to challenge Amazon.com in delivering goods to people’s homes. But he has to overcome a key problem: how to expand in delivery of food and other goods without undermining Uber’s core business.Those secondary... Now that Uber has largely conquered the ride-sharing market in the U.S., CEO Travis Kalanick is...

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Nov 5, 2016 8:00am PDT

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Nov 5, 2016 8:00am PDT

Happy Saturday!Turns out Halloween isn’t the scariest day of the year. This year, it's Election Day. Happy Saturday!Turns out Halloween isn’t the scariest day of the year. This year, it's...

The Information’s 411 — VR is the Killer App

By Tom Dotan · Nov 4, 2016 2:39pm PDT

Reed and Tom talk about the community of indie VR developers and dive into Snap's internal org chart. Also we play a clip from our subscriber conference call about the most likely tech acquirers. Reed and Tom talk about the community of indie VR developers and dive into Snap's internal...

Facebook's VP of messaging products, David Marcus. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facebook Preps Larger Rollout for Messenger Games

By Tom Dotan · Nov 4, 2016 1:54pm PDT · 2 comments

Facebook is preparing to launch a new way to play games on Messenger called “Instant Games,” according to two people briefed on the product. It could roll out as soon as this month, one of these people said.Earlier this year Facebook quietly launched a few games—basketball, soccer and chess games—as experiments. The... Facebook is preparing to launch a new way to play games on Messenger called “Instant...

Snap's co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. Photo by AP.

Snap’s Founders to Maintain Voting Control after IPO

By Alfred Lee and Tom Dotan · Nov 4, 2016 12:39pm PDT · 1 comment

Snap Inc. has authorized a new class of shares that ensures founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy will retain control after the company goes public, according to a restated company charter filed in Delaware on Monday.The new class of shares ensures the founders would keep the supervoting rights they already have—a common move for a... Snap Inc. has authorized a new class of shares that ensures founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby...

Hillary’s Other Emails

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 4, 2016 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Hillary’s Other Emails

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 4, 2016 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

I have a confession to make. I am obsessed with Hillary Clinton’s email. Not the 33,000 emails she deleted from a private server nor the ones that may or may not have left a trace on Anthony Weiner’s computer. I’m talking about the steady drip—OK, sometimes a flood—of campaign emails that have been arriving in my... I have a confession to make. I am obsessed with Hillary Clinton’s email. Not the 33,000...

Tencent Chief eXploration Officer David Wallerstein. Photo by Tencent.

The Most Powerful American at Tencent Targets Silicon Valley

By Yunan Zhang · Nov 3, 2016 11:03am PDT · 1 comment

Behind the doors of a converted church in Palo Alto lies the unlikely lair of one of the most influential Chinese tech investors in America. David Wallerstein, an avid rock guitarist in his spare time, leads the overseas investment team for Tencent, Asia’s most valuable company, in its quest for emerging technology.His job is to bridge the... Behind the doors of a converted church in Palo Alto lies the unlikely lair of one of the most...

Disney CEO Bob Iger. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Information’s Most Likely Tech Acquirers

By The Information Staff · Nov 3, 2016 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

Another day, another M&A deal. In fact, most of the top deals this year have been announced in the last few weeks and more are to come. To help you cut through the rumor mill—and anticipate what’s going to happen next—we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 companies most likely to make a big tech acquisition in the next... Another day, another M&A deal. In fact, most of the top deals this year have been announced...

The Information Subscriber Survey

Subscriber Survey

Self-Driving Cars Destined for the Slow Lane

By Amir Efrati and Peter Schulz · Nov 2, 2016 10:00am PDT · 6 comments

Hype over self-driving cars may be at an all-time high, but around half of The Information subscribers believe it will take an entire generation, or 25 years, before most of the miles people travel on roads in the U.S. will be in fully autonomous vehicles.Surprisingly, nearly two-thirds of subscribers believe the autonomous car revolution will... Hype over self-driving cars may be at an all-time high, but around half of The Information...

Colin and Sarah Northway. Photo by Flickr/PAX Prime 2014.

Indie VR Developers Find Calling, Not Profits

By Reed Albergotti · Nov 2, 2016 7:02am PDT · 4 comments

Colin and Sarah Northway. Photo by Flickr/PAX Prime 2014.

Indie VR Developers Find Calling, Not Profits

By Reed Albergotti · Nov 2, 2016 7:02am PDT · 4 comments

Dirk Van Welden, a Belgium-based mobile and PC game developer, was in the midst of two big projects last year when he donned one of HTC’s prototype virtual reality headsets, forever changing his career. “I am like, ‘I’m going to drop every single project I am working on now,’” he said. A year later, his old... Dirk Van Welden, a Belgium-based mobile and PC game developer, was in the midst of two big...

Photo by Bloomberg.

WeChat’s Next Step Toward a SuperApp

By Kai Qu · Nov 1, 2016 10:01am PDT · 4 comments

Tencent is Asia’s most valuable company in part because 800 million people use its WeChat mobile messaging application every month. Now WeChat’s inventor, Allen Zhang, is rolling out a new feature he calls “small programs,” which lets people use app-like services within WeChat but without needing to download apps. I... Tencent is Asia’s most valuable company in part because 800 million people use its WeChat...

A professional videogamer at a live championship in South Korea. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facebook Preps Bigger Plunge into E-Sports

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 1, 2016 7:01am PDT

Facebook is stepping up plans to broadcast popular e-sports tournaments, in a potential challenge to Twitch and YouTube.Facebook had “extensive conversations” with the developer of popular mobile e-sport “Vainglory” to stream professional competitions, said Kristian Segerstrale, chief operating officer of developer Super... Facebook is stepping up plans to broadcast popular e-sports tournaments, in a potential challenge...

Conference Call

The Information’s Most Likely Tech Acquirers

By The Information Staff · Oct 31, 2016 4:57pm PDT

The Information's Jessica Lessin will make sense of the rampant speculation about acquisitions with a ranked list of likely acquirers, based on conversations with our sources. We'll discuss Salesforce, Apple, Disney, Oracle, Microsoft, Verizon, Tencent, Amazon and more on a conference call this Thursday, November 3rd at 12pm... The Information's Jessica Lessin will make sense of the rampant speculation about...

Photos by Snap, Bloomberg. Visualization by Ian Civgin.

The People Who Matter at Snap

By Tom Dotan · Oct 31, 2016 11:07am PDT

Photos by Snap, Bloomberg. Visualization by Ian Civgin.

The People Who Matter at Snap

By Tom Dotan · Oct 31, 2016 11:07am PDT

After some turmoil at senior levels of Snapchat’s parent Snap last year, things have stabilized considerably this year. Most of the crucial management roles have now been filled, in time for the company’s expected IPO in early 2017. Earlier this year Snap made interim CFO Drew Vollero permanent, reporting to CEO Evan Spiegel instead... After some turmoil at senior levels of Snapchat’s parent Snap last year, things have...