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 — Hazing

By Tom Dotan · Mar 11, 2016 2:05pm PST

On this week's episode, Stephen Nellis discusses Slack's new funding round. Cory Weinberg talks about Facebook's ad tech strategy. Tom talks to podcaster and comedian Marc Maron and his producer.You can find our RSS feed here or subscribe via iTunes and SoundCloud. On this week's episode, Stephen Nellis discusses Slack's new funding round. Cory...

Tsinghua University's x-lab.

A Lesson About Chinese Entrepreneurship

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 11, 2016 8:23am PST · 1 comment

Greetings from Beijing, where I was honored to give a talk about trends in Silicon Valley to some students at the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management. The school is a pre-eminent business school in Beijing with close ties to U.S. finance and tech. CEOs seeking to do business in China—Elon Musk, Tim Cook and Mark... Greetings from Beijing, where I was honored to give a talk about trends in Silicon Valley to some...

Dropbox's COO Dennis Woodside, left, and CEO Drew Houston. Photo by Bloomberg.

Dropbox Picks up Enterprise Sales Vets

By Steve Nellis · Mar 10, 2016 12:02pm PST

Dropbox has quietly hired two enterprise sales veterans, part of a broader push to gain big corporations as customers.Yamini Rangan and Eddie O'Brien both joined earlier this year, the company confirmed on Thursday. Ms. Rangan, who was an executive at Workday for four years, is overseeing global sales operations. Mr. O’Brien is... Dropbox has quietly hired two enterprise sales veterans, part of a broader push to gain big...

Marc Maron, left, and Brendan McDonald. Photo by Sarah Cain.

Marc Maron on Media, Louis C.K. and Podcasting’s Future

By Tom Dotan · Mar 10, 2016 7:00am PST · 2 comments

Marc Maron, left, and Brendan McDonald. Photo by Sarah Cain.

The Big Interview

Marc Maron on Media, Louis C.K. and Podcasting’s Future

By Tom Dotan · Mar 10, 2016 7:00am PST · 2 comments

Like a Silicon Valley startup, comedian Marc Maron built his WTF podcast in the garage of his Highland Park, Calif. home. But unlike startups that have moved from scrappy beginnings into shinier digs, that garage is where he’s remained.What has scaled in the show’s six years, though, is the audience and the business model. Mr. Maron,... Like a Silicon Valley startup, comedian Marc Maron built his WTF podcast in the garage of his...

Twitter's office in San Francisco. Photo by Flickr/Guilhem Vellut

SF’s Tech-Fueled Real Estate Surge Slows

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 9, 2016 10:00am PST

After financial technology firm Credit Karma raised a $175 million Series D financing round last summer, the company went searching for office space in San Francisco that could hold hundreds of eventual hires. But after getting close to a deal that would nearly triple its footprint, top executives in recent weeks got cold feet about renovation... After financial technology firm Credit Karma raised a $175 million Series D financing round last...

Catcha Group CEO Patrick Grove. Photo by Bloomberg.

Iflix Funding Fuels SE Asia Video War

By Tom Dotan · Mar 9, 2016 7:02am PST

In the worldwide land grab for video streaming services, a battleground has emerged in Southeast Asia. Startups, telecom operators, movie studios and Netflix have all converged on the region in the last year to try and establish themselves within the nascent—but promising—video streaming market.The newest development comes from... In the worldwide land grab for video streaming services, a battleground has emerged in Southeast...

Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield. Photo by Bloomberg.

Slack in Talks with Thrive Capital

By Steve Nellis and Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 8, 2016 4:48pm PST · 2 comments

Thrive Capital is in talks to take a big piece of Slack’s next funding round, according to people familiar with the situation.Slack could raise between $200 million to $250 million at a $3.6 billion pre-money valuation, according to a person briefed on the conversations. The talks remain ongoing and fluid. Thrive Capital is in talks to take a big piece of Slack’s next funding round, according to...

Photo by Flickr/Kansir.

Former Samsung Execs Headed to China’s LeEco

By Amir Efrati and Tom Dotan · Mar 8, 2016 11:43am PST

Photo by Flickr/Kansir.

Former Samsung Execs Headed to China’s LeEco

By Amir Efrati and Tom Dotan · Mar 8, 2016 11:43am PST

Two former Samsung executives in the U.S. are expected to join Chinese video streaming service and electronics manufacturer LeEco, previously known as LeTV, according to people familiar with the matter. Their hirings are part of a push by LeEco, sometimes called the Netflix of China, to establish a bigger presence in the U.S.The two are... Two former Samsung executives in the U.S. are expected to join Chinese video streaming service...

Art by Ben Rosen.

VCs Face Questions on Valuation Gap

By Alfred Lee · Mar 8, 2016 7:00am PST · 1 comment

As mutual funds continue to mark down the value of their private tech holdings, venture capitalists say they are facing more questions from their investors about how they are valuing the same companies on their books. The VCs predicted that mutual funds markdowns could start to pressure their own valuations if firms were found by investors to be... As mutual funds continue to mark down the value of their private tech holdings, venture...

Cornerstone executives, including CEO Adam Miller in the center, on the day the company listed on Nasdaq. Photo by Nasdaq.

Activist Investors Get SaaS-y

By Steve Nellis · Mar 7, 2016 10:01am PST

With share prices hitting new lows in recent months, activist investors such as Paul Singer’s Elliott Management are flooding into the enterprise software industry, taking stakes in companies ranging from Citrix Systems to Qlik. They’re hoping to cash in on—and possibly even spark—what could be a wave of consolidation led... With share prices hitting new lows in recent months, activist investors such as Paul...

Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facebook Pulls Plug on Ad Software

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 7, 2016 7:01am PST

Last year, Facebook tested software that would represent a bold expansion of its display ads business beyond its own inventory, a move potentially worth billions in revenue. Using a demand-side platform, or a DSP, marketers would be able to use Facebook users’ identity data to bid on ad slots across the mobile and desktop Internet in real... Last year, Facebook tested software that would represent a bold expansion of its display ads...

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Mar 5, 2016 1:01pm PST

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Mar 5, 2016 1:01pm PST

Good Morning! We’re looking forward to the start of our China trip next week, where we’ve got a number of events planned, including an entrepreneur meetup in Beijing on March 13. Good Morning! We’re looking forward to the start of our China trip next week, where...

The Information’s 411 — Low Hanging Fruit

By Tom Dotan · Mar 4, 2016 1:02pm PST

On this week’s podcast, Jessica Lessin on what’s wrong with most mergers.Cory Weinberg and Jessica discuss what’s coming at F8, Facebook’s developer conference (e-commerce in messenger). On this week’s podcast, Jessica Lessin on what’s wrong with most mergers.Cory...

Marissa Mayer. Photo by Flickr/Fortune Live Media.

Yahoo and the Wrong Reasons to do M&A

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 4, 2016 7:00am PST · 2 comments

AT&T, Verizon, Time Inc. and other suitors are thinking about bids for beleaguered Yahoo. And some advisors to these companies are ripe with reasons why Yahoo, battered as it is, could make an attractive target. The two most common reasons I am hearing are that Yahoo and its dwindling user base will help “build out their online... AT&T, Verizon, Time Inc. and other suitors are thinking about bids for beleaguered Yahoo. And...

InsideSales CEO Dave Elkington. Photo by InsideSales.

The Big Interview

The Science of the Cold Call

By Steve Nellis · Mar 3, 2016 10:02am PST

When Dave Elkington started InsideSales.com in 2004, he broke one of the cardinal rules of then-nascent cloud sales software. To persuade businesses to put their precious customer records in remote servers, pioneers like Salesforce.com had promised to never, ever look at the data. InsideSales took the opposite approach, saying it wanted not just... When Dave Elkington started InsideSales.com in 2004, he broke one of the cardinal rules of...

Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by AP.

Social’s Fight Over Brand Dollars

By Tom Dotan · Mar 3, 2016 7:01am PST · 1 comment

Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by AP.

Social’s Fight Over Brand Dollars

By Tom Dotan · Mar 3, 2016 7:01am PST · 1 comment

With Snapchat’s disclosure earlier this week that its users are watching eight billion videos a day, around as many as Facebook’s last reported number, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel hinted at what could be intensifying competition for video ad dollars between the social media companies.But the latest ad products being pitched by the two... With Snapchat’s disclosure earlier this week that its users are watching eight billion...

Dropbox CEO Drew Houston. Photo by Bloomberg.

Dropbox Mulls a Chat “Workspace”

By Steve Nellis · Mar 2, 2016 11:36am PST

Dropbox is working on a chat product, according to two people the company told about it.The product is likely to be a “workspace” where teams of people can collaborate on items stored in the main Dropbox application. It isn’t likely to take on chat programs like Slack and Yammer directly.The project has been in the works... Dropbox is working on a chat product, according to two people the company told about it.The...

Mark Zuckerberg at last year's F8. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facebook To Ramp Up Commerce on Messenger

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 2, 2016 7:01am PST

Facebook is expected to unveil at its developer conference F8 in April the first major Messenger partnership with a large e-commerce platform that would use bots to facilitate ordering in the chat app, says a person briefed by Facebook. The partnership is part of Facebook’s push to get the fast-growing number of Messenger users to transact... Facebook is expected to unveil at its developer conference F8 in April the first major Messenger...

SoftBank's investment chief, Nikesh Arora, right. Photo by Bloomberg.

SoftBank Pulls Back on Media Stakes

By Tom Dotan · Mar 1, 2016 12:30pm PST · 7 comments

A little more than a year ago, after a couple of big bets on entertainment companies, SoftBank had positioned itself as an aggressive investor in Hollywood and digital media. There was even talk of SoftBank buying DreamWorks Animation. But today the Japanese company appears to be in retreat from Hollywood.SoftBank announced last week it had sold... A little more than a year ago, after a couple of big bets on entertainment companies, SoftBank...

Source: 7Park Data

Google’s VR App Not Hooking Users

By Reed Albergotti and Peter Schulz · Mar 1, 2016 7:01am PST · 1 comment

Source: 7Park Data

Google’s VR App Not Hooking Users

By Reed Albergotti and Peter Schulz · Mar 1, 2016 7:01am PST · 1 comment

More people are trying Google “Cardboard” virtual reality app on their smartphone. But they aren’t getting hooked. The number of monthly active users of Google “Cardboard” soared in the past few months, according to 7Park Data, an analytics company. But the number of daily users of the app daily has barely budged... More people are trying Google “Cardboard” virtual reality app on their smartphone....