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

Himagiri Mukkamala, GE's Head of Engineering for Predix. Art by Matt Vascellaro.

The Big Interview

Why General Electric Won Talent From Apple

By Steve Nellis · Jun 21, 2016 10:32am PDT · 5 comments

General Electric made a splash in the tech world when it poached two top engineers working on voice assistant Siri, Darren Haas and Steve D'Aurora. The two are charged with building out the cloud computing infrastructure for GE’s software platform for industrial users called Predix.Their hiring reflects how GE is looking to become an... General Electric made a splash in the tech world when it poached two top engineers working on...

Source: Tubular Labs

Media Firms Lose Out to Celebrities on Facebook Live

By Cory Weinberg and Peter Schulz · Jun 21, 2016 7:02am PDT · 2 comments

Celebrities are dominating viewership of live video streams on Facebook. But media companies still created most of the top-viewed videos on Facebook that weren’t posted live, new data show.The disparity suggests media companies still struggle to get viral live hits while users are rushing to check out what Jennifer Lopez, Vin Diesel and... Celebrities are dominating viewership of live video streams on Facebook. But media companies...

Art by Sam Lessin.

Modest Proposals

The Negative Side of Incubators

By Sam Lessin · Jun 20, 2016 7:01am PDT · 9 comments

We are awash in startup incubators. And while some like Y Combinator have strengthened the startup ecosystem, I fear the incubators’ increasingly standardized, demo day-focused financing model are harming entrepreneurs and young startups. The most common critique: Truly great ideas don’t come together in the 12 weeks these... We are awash in startup incubators. And while some like Y Combinator have strengthened the...

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Jun 18, 2016 8:02am PDT

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Jun 18, 2016 8:02am PDT

Good Morning!To the dads out there, enjoy Father’s Day tomorrow. To Warriors fans, try to relax. There’s more chance the team turns out to be the Facebook of high-flying sports teams than the Twitter.As for the news, M&A season is well and truly underway. There are predictions for more deals. But for now, here’s our recap... Good Morning!To the dads out there, enjoy Father’s Day tomorrow. To Warriors fans, try to...

The Information’s 411 — Stolen Thunder

By Steve Nellis · Jun 17, 2016 3:17pm PDT

Amir discusses Apple’s performance at its annual World Wide Developer Conference and Amazon’s ambitious plans for its Echo voice-activated speaker. Steve mulls why Microsoft might have a tough time adding LinkedIn to its professional network. And Cory discusses how long commute times to Facebook’s suburban Menlo Park campus may... Amir discusses Apple’s performance at its annual World Wide Developer Conference and...

Our Top Comments of the Week

By The Information Staff · Jun 17, 2016 10:58am PDT

Here are this week’s top comments as selected by our reporters and editors. Here are this week’s top comments as selected by our reporters and editors.

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner. Photo by Bloomberg.

LinkedIn’s Long Leash Poses Risk for Microsoft

By Steve Nellis · Jun 17, 2016 7:01am PDT · 4 comments

Steve here, filling in for Jessica this week. In the past few days, I’ve talked to a lot of people about Microsoft’s $26.2 billion deal to buy LinkedIn. One thing has become clear. Talk about the potential benefits of integrating LinkedIn’s huge set of data with Microsoft’s workplace software sounds promising. But the... Steve here, filling in for Jessica this week. In the past few days, I’ve talked to a lot of...

Facebook's Menlo Park campus. Photo by AP.

Uber’s Office Moves Pressure Facebook

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 16, 2016 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Facebook's Menlo Park campus. Photo by AP.

Uber’s Office Moves Pressure Facebook

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 16, 2016 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

One of the most consistently high-ranking requests Facebook employees make in an annual survey gauging their happiness is for an office in San Francisco, reducing the commute to Menlo Park for city residents, former employees said. Facebook executives have resisted, however, even as a growing number of tech companies competing for talent become... One of the most consistently high-ranking requests Facebook employees make in an annual survey...

David Limp, Amazon's Senior Vice President of Devices, showing off the Echo earlier this year. Photo by AP.

Amazon’s High Hopes for Echo Sales

By Amir Efrati · Jun 15, 2016 11:40am PDT · 3 comments

Amazon is hoping to sell as many as 10 million of its voice-activated Echo devices next year, which would make it a roughly $1 billion hardware business, according to a person with direct knowledge of the projections.That would be an increase from the 3 million units Amazon hopes to sell this year—a number that was projected before the... Amazon is hoping to sell as many as 10 million of its voice-activated Echo devices next year,...

Guokr CEO Ji Xiaohua (also known as Ji Shisan). Photo by Guokr.

China’s New Twist on Q&A App: Paying Users

By Zara Zhang · Jun 15, 2016 7:01am PDT · 7 comments

It’s long been known that getting people in China to pay for information or entertainment is tough, whether it’s news, music or videos. But a new Chinese Q&A app, Fenda, has turned that belief on its head.Fenda, which literally translates into “minute-long answer,” attracted 6 million paying users in the first 20 days... It’s long been known that getting people in China to pay for information or entertainment...

Art by Matt Vascellaro.

The Big Interview

Bustle’s Slower but Steady Growth Path

By Tom Dotan · Jun 14, 2016 10:02am PDT · 3 comments

In digital media these days, the most contrarian strategy is the simplest. Take female-focused Bustle, trying to keep costs and investments low, hoping to turn a profit. While everyone else is making video the centerpiece of their content as they chase TV ad dollars, Bustle has zeroed in on newspaper and magazine advertisers and is only dabbling... In digital media these days, the most contrarian strategy is the simplest. Take female-focused...

Source: SEC Filings

How Private Tech Buybacks Soak Up Cash

By Alfred Lee and Peter Schulz · Jun 14, 2016 7:00am PDT · 4 comments

Source: SEC Filings

How Private Tech Buybacks Soak Up Cash

By Alfred Lee and Peter Schulz · Jun 14, 2016 7:00am PDT · 4 comments

In the three years before it went public, Coupons.com raised $202 million. But not all of that money went to building its business. About 35% of it was used to buy back shares from executives, early investors and other shareholders. Coupons isn’t unusual. Several other tech companies that filed to go public since 2013, including Twilio and... In the three years before it went public, Coupons.com raised $202 million. But not all of that...

Apple's Senior Vice President of software engineering, Craig Federighi. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple’s Machines Can Learn Too

By Amir Efrati · Jun 13, 2016 6:04pm PDT · 2 comments

Amid the new features unveiled at Apple’s annual developer conference were some that demonstrated the company is making progress on artificial intelligence. It was an important rebuttal for critics of the company’s ability to compete in advanced software with the likes of Google, Facebook or Microsoft.One little-noticed but important... Amid the new features unveiled at Apple’s annual developer conference were some that...

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield. Photo by Bloomberg.

Slack, LinkedIn and the Trouble with Social Networks

By Steve Nellis · Jun 13, 2016 4:24pm PDT · 4 comments

There’s one lesson from the Microsoft-LinkedIn deal that companies like Slack should keep in mind: It’s really hard to make big money off a social network unless it has both scale and engagement.Facebook and LinkedIn started within a year of each other. But now, more than a dozen years later, Facebook counts nearly one out of every... There’s one lesson from the Microsoft-LinkedIn deal that companies like Slack should keep...

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner. Photo by Bloomberg.

LinkedIn is Microsoft’s Sales Software Play

By Steve Nellis · Jun 13, 2016 9:02am PDT · 1 comment

LinkedIn is one of the most-used pieces of sales software on earth, disguised as a social network. But it’s had a tough time turning its sales business into a money-maker, instead relying on recruiting and marketing tools to bring in the bulk of its revenue. Paired with Microsoft’s more fully fledged sales software and massive... LinkedIn is one of the most-used pieces of sales software on earth, disguised as a social...

Google Senior Vice President for Enterprise, Diane Greene. Photo by AP.

Google’s Secret Weapon in Database Wars

By Steve Nellis and Amir Efrati · Jun 13, 2016 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Google Senior Vice President for Enterprise, Diane Greene. Photo by AP.

Google’s Secret Weapon in Database Wars

By Steve Nellis and Amir Efrati · Jun 13, 2016 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Looking for ways to better compete with Amazon Web Services, engineers at Google Cloud Platform have tested how to turn an internal database technology called Spanner into a product it can sell to developers, according to two people briefed on the effort. Spanner is now used to power many Google consumer products.The tests are part of a broader... Looking for ways to better compete with Amazon Web Services, engineers at Google Cloud Platform...

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Jun 11, 2016 8:02am PDT

Good Morning!If it’s June, it must be time for WWDC. And yes, Apple’s annual developer conference kicks off on Monday. Prepare for a flood of news coverage. Good Morning!If it’s June, it must be time for WWDC. And yes, Apple’s annual...

The Information’s 411 — Moonlighting

By Tom Dotan · Jun 10, 2016 3:11pm PDT

Jessica talks about Larry Page's flying-car side projects and why they should live inside Alphabet. Zara Zhang, our summer intern, makes her podcast debut to talk about China's live streaming market. Reed discusses the future of Nest post Tony Fadell. Jessica talks about Larry Page's flying-car side projects and why they should live inside...

Our Top Comments of the Week

By The Information Staff · Jun 10, 2016 1:14pm PDT

Here are this week’s top comments as selected by our reporters and editors. Here are this week’s top comments as selected by our reporters and editors.

Alphabet CEO Larry Page. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Real Problem with Larry Page’s Flying Cars

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jun 10, 2016 7:00am PDT · 6 comments

Alphabet CEO Larry Page. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Real Problem with Larry Page’s Flying Cars

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jun 10, 2016 7:00am PDT · 6 comments

Is it me or does Larry Page’s secret flying car company—revealed this week by Bloomberg BusinessWeek—not smell right? It’s not that the idea is straight out of science fiction. That’s hardly surprising in Silicon Valley these days.It’s that, last I checked, Page ran a public company that prided itself on its... Is it me or does Larry Page’s secret flying car company—revealed this week by ...