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

Reddit co-founder and CEO Steve Huffman. Photo by Bloomberg.

Reddit’s Ad Push: Two Steps Forward, One Back

By Amir Efrati · Apr 28, 2016 7:01am PDT

Reddit’s ad business is beginning to take off, though not as quickly as some at the company had hoped.The online news aggregator and discussion forum recently projected internally that it would boost revenue to more than $20 million this year, from single-digit millions last year, according to one person with direct knowledge of the... Reddit’s ad business is beginning to take off, though not as quickly as some at the company...

WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum. Photo by Bloomberg.

How WhatsApp Will Tiptoe Into Business

By Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Apr 27, 2016 10:01am PDT · 2 comments

WhatsApp is planning later this year to offer banks, airlines and other businesses the ability to send one-way messages to customers, people familiar with the plans said. It will be WhatsApp’s first official move to lure businesses onto the messaging app.WhatsApp has said it would soon start testing business accounts, but it’s now... WhatsApp is planning later this year to offer banks, airlines and other businesses the ability to...

Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage. Photo by AP.

Why HBO May Lose Video Throne

By Tom Dotan · Apr 27, 2016 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

This past Sunday, as HBO premiered the latest season of “Game of Thrones,” the network once again could bask in the show’s success. It should enjoy the moment. Given how much the TV environment has changed, it may not come again.“Game of Thrones,” now in its sixth season, is currently on track to end in two more... This past Sunday, as HBO premiered the latest season of “Game of Thrones,” the...

Source: Apptentive

Spam or High Value: The App Choice

By Cory Weinberg and Peter Schulz · Apr 26, 2016 10:01am PDT

Source: Apptentive

Spam or High Value: The App Choice

By Cory Weinberg and Peter Schulz · Apr 26, 2016 10:01am PDT

People respond to messages from shopping apps far more often than those from banks, news or food apps, new data shows. That suggests banks, news media and food apps need to make their messages more useful. It also might mean they should be selective about what they send to avoid annoying potential customers with too many messages. People respond to messages from shopping apps far more often than those from banks, news or food...

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Photo by Bloomberg.

Stock Deals Moving the Needle on Valuations

By Alfred Lee · Apr 26, 2016 7:01am PDT

When Fidelity Investments marked up its SpaceX stake by 15% last fall, while marking down many other private tech stocks, its reasoning was shrouded in mystery. It now appears the upgrade was due to SpaceX’s rising valuation in the secondary market, where investors can buy shares from employees and other shareholders.Recent securities... When Fidelity Investments marked up its SpaceX stake by 15% last fall, while marking down many...

Graphic by Sam Lessin.

Modest Proposals

The New Business of Editing

By Sam Lessin · Apr 25, 2016 10:02am PDT · 21 comments

I was having dinner with my good friend and Fin co-founder Andrew Kortina, when we began talking about the nature of good editing.Kortina pointed out that many good TV series—like “House of Cards,” or “Mad Men,” or even “Game of Thrones”—would be significantly better if they were dramatically... I was having dinner with my good friend and Fin co-founder Andrew Kortina, when we began talking...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Facebook and Baidu Are Becoming Fast Friends

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 25, 2016 7:02am PDT

Facebook’s own apps may be banned in China, but the company has a powerful tool to forge closer ties with large Chinese app publishers: its mobile ad network.Apps such as China’s Baidu, Cheetah Mobile and APUS have quietly joined the largest sellers in Facebook’s network. Those apps—which range from mobile games like... Facebook’s own apps may be banned in China, but the company has a powerful tool to forge...

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google Preps New Corporate Incubator

By Jessica E. Lessin and Amir Efrati · Apr 24, 2016 8:37am PDT · 1 comment

Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google Preps New Corporate Incubator

By Jessica E. Lessin and Amir Efrati · Apr 24, 2016 8:37am PDT · 1 comment

Sundar Pichai has a new plan to stop Google employees from jumping ship to start companies: Create a startup incubator within Google. Dubbed “Area 120,” the incubator will be overseen by long-time Google executives Don Harrison and Bradley Horowitz, according to people familiar with the project. The two discussed the new group at a... Sundar Pichai has a new plan to stop Google employees from jumping ship to start companies:...

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Apr 23, 2016 8:00am PDT

Good morning! We know you’re eager to catch the big HBO premiere this weekend—“Silicon Valley” of course! (We’re joking. We prefer dragons too.) But before you settle in for Sunday night TV, check out what really happened in Silicon Valley and beyond with this week’s stories. Good morning! We know you’re eager to catch the big HBO premiere this...

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman

Ex-Reddit Exec Quietly Launches ‘Positive’ Reddit Rival

By Amir Efrati · Apr 22, 2016 11:34am PDT · 1 comment

The former second-in-command at Reddit who was pushed out of the online news aggregator last year has launched a competing site of his own, with a focus on “healthy, positive communities.”Dan McComas, who was known to be critical of Reddit’s inflammatory discussion groups related to topics like race or overweight people, is... The former second-in-command at Reddit who was pushed out of the online news aggregator last year...

Art by Maria DeFelice.

Our Top Comments of the Week

By The Information Staff · Apr 22, 2016 11:22am 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.

The Information’s 411 — Flights of Fantasy

By Tom Dotan · Apr 22, 2016 11:21am PDT

The Information’s 411 — Flights of Fantasy

By Tom Dotan · Apr 22, 2016 11:21am PDT

Jessica explains why Silicon Valley isn't doomed like some media reports suggest. Stephen talks about the infighting in Apple's cloud division as well as Microsoft's earnings.You can find our RSS feed here or subscribe via iTunes and SoundCloud. Jessica explains why Silicon Valley isn't doomed like some media reports suggest. Stephen...

Thomas Middleditch, who stars in HBO's "Silicon Valley." Photo by Bloomberg.

Silicon Valley’s Depression is Greatly Exaggerated

By Jessica E. Lessin · Apr 22, 2016 7:00am PDT · 5 comments

Dear Subscribers,Every week, I read a growing number of stories about doom and gloom in Silicon Valley, with irresistible headlines around bubbles “popping” and “fizzing” or whatever else bubbles do. Ailing unicorns. Dying unicorns. Unicorpses. Things getting (even) worse for Theranos. Yahoo withering on the sales vine.... Dear Subscribers,Every week, I read a growing number of stories about doom and gloom in Silicon...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Bloomberg.

Microsoft’s Silver Lining Is Shrinking

By Steve Nellis · Apr 21, 2016 4:39pm PDT · 1 comment

Microsoft’s earnings were bad. Revenue and profits missed analysts’ expectations. But beneath the surface, it’s even worse than it looks. A key profitability metric in Microsoft’s fight against Amazon Web Services hit the lowest point since it’s been measurable, suggesting that Microsoft’s transition to a... Microsoft’s earnings were bad. Revenue and profits missed analysts’ expectations. But...

Eddy Cue. Photo by Bloomberg.

Infighting Slows Apple’s Cloud Engineering Efforts

By Amir Efrati and Steve Nellis · Apr 21, 2016 7:02am PDT

Political infighting within Apple’s engineering ranks is holding back the company’s efforts to fix technical problems that have plagued iCloud and iTunes, say people with direct knowledge of the situation. Two engineering teams working on new internal cloud-computing infrastructure to power Apple’s Web services are in open... Political infighting within Apple’s engineering ranks is holding back the company’s...

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

What Messenger Still Has To Fix in Mobile Shopping

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 20, 2016 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

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

What Messenger Still Has To Fix in Mobile Shopping

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 20, 2016 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

Among the tools that Facebook released for developers at F8 last week was one that allowed Messenger users to click on a retailer like Spring and scroll through a product list while in the chat app. But to actually buy one of Spring’s products, users have to jump to a slow-to-load mobile web page. Another problem: Someone trying to buy a... Among the tools that Facebook released for developers at F8 last week was one that allowed...

Art by Ben Rosen.

Subscriber Op-Ed

Escaping the Digital Media ‘Crap Trap’

By Jim VandeHei · Apr 19, 2016 2:00pm PDT · 10 comments

Digital media companies are caught in the "crap trap," mass-producing trashy clickbait so they can claim huge audiences and often higher valuations. Here is how they fell into this lethal trap: They got into the content game to produce news or info they might be proud of, believing they could lure us to read it and maybe even pay... Digital media companies are caught in the "crap trap," mass-producing trashy clickbait...

Ben Horowitz with his wife Felicia and Oprah Winfrey, center. Photo by AP.

A16Z’s Low-Key Diversity Outreach

By Reed Albergotti · Apr 19, 2016 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

In 2011, Soldsie co-founder Chris Bennett got an email from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz inviting him to a talk on leadership. When Mr. Bennett showed up, he was surprised that a large number of the people there shared his background: They were black and worked in the technology industry.“I was just like, whoa, this is so... In 2011, Soldsie co-founder Chris Bennett got an email from venture capital firm Andreessen...

Working in a datacenter. Photo by Flickr/Leonardo Rizzi.

In Pivot, Mesosphere Plans to Give Away Key Software

By Steve Nellis and Amir Efrati · Apr 18, 2016 7:33pm PDT · 3 comments

Mesosphere, a cloud infrastructure startup popular with developers, will start offering its flagship product for free, according to people briefed about the move. It marks a major shift in the company's business model and offers more proof of the challenges of building a business around open-source software.Mesosphere will give away the... Mesosphere, a cloud infrastructure startup popular with developers, will start offering its...

Dennis Woodside, left, and Drew Houston. Photo by Bloomberg.

Putting a Sale Price on Dropbox

By Alfred Lee and Steve Nellis · Apr 18, 2016 7:02am PDT

Dennis Woodside, left, and Drew Houston. Photo by Bloomberg.

Putting a Sale Price on Dropbox

By Alfred Lee and Steve Nellis · Apr 18, 2016 7:02am PDT

Mutual funds have marked down their stakes in Dropbox as much as 59% below the $10 billion valuation the company reached when it last raised money in 2014. But at least one fund seems to see the possibility of Dropbox being acquired for $6.8 billion, well above the implied value of recent markdowns.Securities filings last month show that, as of... Mutual funds have marked down their stakes in Dropbox as much as 59% below the $10 billion...