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 Sam Lessin.

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Apr 29, 2017 8:02am PDT

Good Morning!There's serious doubt now that Travis Kalanick really is the second-ranked Wii Tennis player in the world. In the same vein, can Larry Page really be the second-largest winner of Waze Goodies? Does Tim Cook really hold the record for the world’s second-longest Snapchat streak? Good Morning!There's serious doubt now that Travis Kalanick really is the second-ranked Wii...

The Information’s 411 — News is the News

By Tom Dotan · Apr 28, 2017 4:54pm PDT

Eugene talks about Dropbox's enterprise ambitions. Cory and Tom recap the New York subscriber summit. Eugene talks about Dropbox's enterprise ambitions. Cory and Tom recap the New York...

Photo by Karen Obrist

NYC Subscriber Summit

Watch Interviews from the Summit

By The Information Staff · Apr 28, 2017 3:49pm PDT · 1 comment

If you missed the New York Subscriber Summit this past Tuesday, you can watch the interviews below. Among those on stage were CNN CEO Jeff Zucker, Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo and Facebook executive Adam Mosseri. If you missed the New York Subscriber Summit this past Tuesday, you can watch the interviews...

Tencent president Martin Lau and CEO Ma Huateng. Photo by Bloomberg.

Tencent Finally Makes a Big Bet on Artificial Intelligence

By Juro Osawa · Apr 28, 2017 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Tencent president Martin Lau and CEO Ma Huateng. Photo by Bloomberg.

Tencent Finally Makes a Big Bet on Artificial Intelligence

By Juro Osawa · Apr 28, 2017 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Tencent, the company behind China’s largest social network and the world’s biggest online games business, always gets props for its products—but not necessarily for its cutting-edge tech. Now the juggernaut is taking steps to change that perception with a big push into AI.The owner of the WeChat messaging app will soon open an... Tencent, the company behind China’s largest social network and the world’s biggest...

LG Electronics’ vice president David VanderWaal and Amazon Echo vice president Mike George unveiling an LG fridge equipped with Amazon Alexa at CES in January. Photo by AP

Amazon Plans to Make AI Apps Easy to Build

By Kevin McLaughlin · Apr 27, 2017 7:01am PDT

The contest between Amazon.com and Alphabet to win over developers for their virtual assistants, Alexa and Google Assistant, may come down to whether developers want simpler tools that can do less. Amazon has prioritized AI tools that are easy for developers to work on, conscious that many developers don’t have the resources to work on... The contest between Amazon.com and Alphabet to win over developers for their virtual assistants,...

Dropbox COO Dennis Woodside. Photo by Bloomberg.

Dropbox Sees Growth in Business Sales But Challenges Remain

By Eugene Kim · Apr 26, 2017 11:50am PDT

Dropbox appears to be making progress in its efforts to expand in the large-business market but executive departures may complicate its efforts.Patrick Heim, Dropbox’s former head of trust and security, stepped down in January to join a startup called ClearSky Security, according to his LinkedIn page. Mr. Heim, who previously served as the... Dropbox appears to be making progress in its efforts to expand in the large-business market but...

The Information editor in chief Jessica Lessin. Photo by Karen Obrist

NYC Subscriber Summit

Watch the Keynote Address from the NYC Subscriber Summit

By The Information Staff · Apr 26, 2017 10:16am PDT

If you missed Tuesday's New York Subscriber Summit, you can watch The Information editor-in-chief Jessica Lessin's keynote address below. Ms Lessin gave an overview of the state of the media industry and also announced some important news from The Information.For coverage of the summit, see here, here and here. If you missed Tuesday's New York Subscriber Summit, you can watch The Information...

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom. Photo by Bloomberg.

Instagram’s Latest Growth Hacks

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 26, 2017 7:01am PDT

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom. Photo by Bloomberg.

Instagram’s Latest Growth Hacks

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 26, 2017 7:01am PDT

To take on Snapchat, Instagram has done more than just copy its features. It’s also heavily ramped up advertising on its parent site Facebook, and adopted other growth strategies long used by Facebook, such as sending more messages to users to get them to reopen the app. Instagram last year boosted digital ad spending by 30% to 40% to... To take on Snapchat, Instagram has done more than just copy its features. It’s also heavily...

FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver. Photo by Karen Obrist

NYC Subscriber Summit

538’s Nate Silver on the Bubble of Conventional Wisdom

By Alfred Lee · Apr 25, 2017 2:33pm PDT

Democrats will likely do well in coming national elections, something conventional wisdom has been slow to recognize, said Nate Silver, founder and editor in chief of FiveThirtyEight, at The Information’s New York subscriber summit on Tuesday.In making that prediction, he cited historical precedents of opposition parties gaining... Democrats will likely do well in coming national elections, something conventional wisdom has...

CNN CEO Jeff Zucker. Photo by Karen Obrist

NYC Subscriber Summit

CNN’s Zucker On O’Reilly, Trump and Reaching Audiences Without Being CNN

By Tom Dotan · Apr 25, 2017 2:31pm PDT · 2 comments

In its pursuit of younger viewers, CNN has realized a useful tactic is to avoid the name CNN, according to CNN chief Jeff Zucker.Speaking at The Information’s New York subscriber summit on Tuesday, Mr. Zucker described how CNN was “future proofing” itself to capture a new generation that is unlikely to pay for cable. It... In its pursuit of younger viewers, CNN has realized a useful tactic is to avoid the name CNN,...

Facebook’s VP of News Feed Adam Mosseri talking with The Information's Cory Weinberg on Tuesday. Photo by Karen Obrist

NYC Subscriber Summit

Facebook Testing News Discovery Options

By Alfred Lee · Apr 25, 2017 1:44pm PDT · 1 comment

Facebook is testing out new ways for users to discover news content, including grouping articles or videos by topic, Facebook’s VP of News Feed, Adam Mosseri said at The Information’s New York subscriber summit on Tuesday.Another idea, which would likely expand beyond news to other types of content, is a discovery tab within... Facebook is testing out new ways for users to discover news content, including grouping articles...

Slack's VP of product April Underwood talking with The Information's Tom Dotan at the NYC Subscriber Summit. Photo by Karen Obrist

Slack Executive Not Worried About Facebook’s Workplace Competitor

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 25, 2017 9:14am PDT

Slack's VP of product April Underwood talking with The Information's Tom Dotan at the NYC Subscriber Summit. Photo by Karen Obrist

NYC Subscriber Summit

Slack Executive Not Worried About Facebook’s Workplace Competitor

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 25, 2017 9:14am PDT

Slack has faced, and survived, an onslaught of well-designed, consumer-friendly enterprise tech competitors since it launched three years ago. And what may be the newest, Facebook's Workplace, isn’t worrying Slack any more than earlier rivals, according to Slack’s vice president of product April Underwood.In an interview at The... Slack has faced, and survived, an onslaught of well-designed, consumer-friendly enterprise tech...

Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo talking with The Information's Tom Dotan at The Information's NYC Subscriber Summit on Tuesday. Photo by Karen Obrist

NYC Subscriber Summit

Quora’s CEO Sees Govt Regulation As One Possible Solution to Fake News

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 25, 2017 9:08am PDT · 6 comments

Facebook and Twitter could change their distribution strategies to better reward news that is accurate, as one way of dealing with fake news, the top executive of Quora said on Tuesday. Another possibility they face is more government scrutiny, he said at The Information’s subscriber summit on Tuesday.Adam D’Angelo, a former Facebook... Facebook and Twitter could change their distribution strategies to better reward news that is...

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Photo by Bloomberg.

Controversies Take a Toll on Uber’s Stock

By Alfred Lee · Apr 25, 2017 7:02am PDT

Investors have cut the price they’re willing to pay for Uber stock on the secondary market by about 15% in recent months to a level that values Uber at around $50 billion, according to a broker, a sign of how the recent onslaught of negative news has affected the company. Another broker said they had seen an uptick in the number of Uber... Investors have cut the price they’re willing to pay for Uber stock on the secondary market...

Art by Matt Vascellaro.

Teen Tennis Star’s Journey From China Tech IPO to Silicon Valley Deals

By Juro Osawa · Apr 24, 2017 10:02am PDT · 2 comments

This article is part of a series about the new cross-border investors wielding influence in Silicon Valley and China.In San Francisco’s financial district, venture capitalist Matt Cheng sat in the office cafeteria of video-streaming company Twitch last month. Over lunch, Mr. Cheng explained to the Amazon-owned firm’s executive how... This article is part of a series about the new cross-border investors wielding influence in...

Art by Sam Lessin

The Bay Area Should Levy a 5% Equity Tax on Startups

By Sam Lessin · Apr 24, 2017 7:00am PDT · 27 comments

Art by Sam Lessin

Modest Proposals

The Bay Area Should Levy a 5% Equity Tax on Startups

By Sam Lessin · Apr 24, 2017 7:00am PDT · 27 comments

There are a lot of new tax ideas circulating in conversations. With aging infrastructure, growing inequality, and an expectation of less federal support in the future, conversations among state and local politicians about raising more regional revenue through things like a wealth tax or adding high-earner income taxes abound.I have a... There are a lot of new tax ideas circulating in conversations. With aging infrastructure, growing...

Modest Conversations

Modest Conversations: The Future of Real Estate

By Sam Lessin · Apr 23, 2017 1:09pm PDT

Brad Hargreaves, the founder of Common and co-founder of General Assembly joins to discuss the future of Real Estate. We focus on topics like Millennial ‘Poverty’, how the death of retail is changing real-estate financing, and - of course - self-driving technology. Brad Hargreaves, the founder of Common and co-founder of General Assembly joins to discuss the...

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Apr 22, 2017 8:02am PDT

Good Morning!What’s with all the complaints about the $400 “Juicero”? As pricey as the gizmo is, it’s still cheaper than hiring TaskRabbits to squeeze vegetables by hand, as VCs usually do. Good Morning!What’s with all the complaints about the $400 “Juicero”? As pricey...

The Information’s 411 — F8 of the Furious App Developers

By Tom Dotan · Apr 21, 2017 1:45pm PDT

Alfred talks about the rise and implications of "mini IPOs." Cory shares his thoughts from this year's Facebook developer conference. Alfred talks about the rise and implications of "mini IPOs." Cory shares his thoughts...

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Disrupted Industries Get Wrong

By Jessica E. Lessin · Apr 21, 2017 7:02am PDT · 10 comments

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Disrupted Industries Get Wrong

By Jessica E. Lessin · Apr 21, 2017 7:02am PDT · 10 comments

Over the past few months—as I celebrated the birth of my son—I’ve had a lot of time to follow the news and think about the industry’s future. I look forward to sharing some new observations during my keynote address at our New York Subscriber Summit Tuesday, where we’ll also hear from speakers including Jeff Zucker,... Over the past few months—as I celebrated the birth of my son—I’ve had a lot of...