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

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Recent Editions

Art by Clark Miller.

Meta Renews Work on Facial Recognition Tech as Privacy Worries Fade

By Kalley Huang and Catherine Perloff · May 7, 2025 6:01am PDT

Back in 2021, Mark Zuckerberg and other top Facebook executives were dreaming big about how to design the company’s first generation of smart glasses. One feature they considered adding to them was facial recognition, which would have allowed someone wearing the glasses to, say, identify a person they bumped into at a party. Ultimately, though,... Back in 2021, Mark Zuckerberg and other top Facebook executives were dreaming big about how to...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, left, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo via Getty

OpenAI Plans to Slash Revenue Share to Microsoft After Restructuring

By Sri Muppidi, Aaron Holmes, Stephanie Palazzolo and Erin Woo · May 6, 2025 6:52pm PDT · 2 comments

As OpenAI moves ahead with a corporate restructuring to appease its investors as well as regulators, it needs to get clearance from Microsoft, its biggest outside shareholder and business partner. One part of OpenAI’s plan involves reducing the percentage of revenue it shares with Microsoft. In financial projections OpenAI shared with investors,... As OpenAI moves ahead with a corporate restructuring to appease its investors as well as...

Photo via Getty

DoorDash Buys European Fixer-Upper

By Martin Peers · May 6, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Food delivery’s great rivalry is heating up. DoorDash and Uber, the two giants of the restaurant-meal delivery scene in the U.S., are now poised to duke it out in Europe. DoorDash unveiled on Tuesday a $3.8 billion proposed takeover of UK-based Deliveroo, its biggest step yet to expand in Europe. Uber, meanwhile, did its best to rain on DoorDash... Food delivery’s great rivalry is heating up. DoorDash and Uber, the two giants of the...

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, at the Milken Institute Global Conference. Photo via Getty

At Milken, Wall Street's Eyes Widen for Data Centers

By Cory Weinberg · May 6, 2025 4:19pm PDT

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, at the Milken Institute Global Conference. Photo via Getty

At Milken, Wall Street's Eyes Widen for Data Centers

By Cory Weinberg · May 6, 2025 4:19pm PDT

Billions and even tens of billions don't generate much excitement at the annual Milken conference, taking place now in Los Angeles. But trillions, and especially $6.7 trillion, get some attention. That's the much-talked about number from a McKinsey report about the money needed to build out data centers to power artificial intelligence by... Billions and even tens of billions don't generate much excitement at the annual Milken...

From left to right Matt Dahlia, Ammar Kandil and Thomas Brag, who are behind the Yes Theory YouTube channel. Photo courtesy of Fan of a Fan.

Creator Economy

Why a YouTuber-Founded Company Is Selling Its Warehouse Business

By Kaya Yurieff · May 6, 2025 2:00pm PDT

Creators eager to expand their online fame into offline fortune have discovered they need to learn the intricacies of logistics overnight. Now one group of YouTubers that built a shipping business is going back to its roots.Selery Fulfillment, a Dallas-based logistics company backed by Mark Cuban, is acquiring the fulfillment operations of Fan... Creators eager to expand their online fame into offline fortune have discovered they need to...

Illustration via Getty.

Amazon and Shopify Sellers Face Crunch as E-Commerce Lenders Pull Back

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · May 6, 2025 11:01am PDT

On Friday, Amazon sent many merchants selling goods on its e-commerce site a memo with pointers on how to navigate trade uncertainty amid steep U.S. tariffs. Suggestions included pivoting to selling in new countries and reshuffling inventory to different warehouses. Amazon also suggested merchants consider taking out loans, giving them funds to... On Friday, Amazon sent many merchants selling goods on its e-commerce site a memo with pointers...

Glenn D. Fogel, chief executive officer of Booking Holdings Inc., at the Semafor World Economy Summit during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring meetings in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, April 25, 2025. The International Monetary Fund sharply lowered its forecasts for world growth for this year and next, warning the outlook could deteriorate further as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs spark a global trade war. Image via Getty.

Booking Holdings’ CEO Is Hedging His AI Bets

By Jon Victor · May 6, 2025 10:23am PDT

We’ve written a lot about the possibility that consumers could soon use ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots for tasks like booking travel or ordering food, depriving app developers of ad revenue and eroding their relationship with customers.But Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking Holdings, which generates more than $20 billion in revenue... We’ve written a lot about the possibility that consumers could soon use ChatGPT and other...

Sam Altman speaks onstage during Sam Altman’s World Celebration for the US Launch at Fort Mason Center on April 30, 2025 in San Francisco, California.

What OpenAI’s Governance Reversal Means

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Natasha Mascarenhas and Amir Efrati · May 6, 2025 7:30am PDT · 1 comment

Sam Altman speaks onstage during Sam Altman’s World Celebration for the US Launch at Fort Mason Center on April 30, 2025 in San Francisco, California.

What OpenAI’s Governance Reversal Means

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Natasha Mascarenhas and Amir Efrati · May 6, 2025 7:30am PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI’s decision on Monday to change course on its corporate restructuring looks to be a smart business choice. OpenAI has avoided a possible protracted conflict with Delaware—whose attorney general oversees nonprofits registered in the state, like OpenAI and implied she had something to do with the about-face. And OpenAI contends the... OpenAI’s decision on Monday to change course on its corporate restructuring looks to be a smart...

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, after testifying in federal court last week. Photo by Getty

Google Likely to Emerge Battered but Intact From Search Case

By Erin Woo · May 6, 2025 6:00am PDT

As the latest phase of the antitrust legal battle that could reshape Google’s business nears a conclusion, the tech giant seems likely to emerge battered but not broken up. Two weeks into a three-week trial meant to decide how Google should be overhauled to curb its search monopoly—which a judge found last August violated antitrust... As the latest phase of the antitrust legal battle that could reshape Google’s business nears a...

Elon Musk and Sam Altman in 2015. Photo via Getty

Elon Musk Wins OpenAI Battle, but Altman May Win the War

By Martin Peers · May 5, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Elon Musk might have won the battle over OpenAI’s future, but who’s to say Sam Altman isn’t going to win the war? Today’s announcement by the ChatGPT creator that it was abandoning plans to move its for-profit arm out from under control of the nonprofit—conceding to Musk’s legal efforts to stop the restructuring—could end up cementing... Elon Musk might have won the battle over OpenAI’s future, but who’s to say Sam Altman isn’t going...

Partner Content

Financing the AI Revolution Recap: AI and the IPO Market

By The Information Partnerships · May 5, 2025 2:12pm PDT

After a yearslong slump in the initial public offering market, 2025 was poised to be the year exits made a comeback, with many big companies in tech and artificial intelligence—including Databricks, Chime, StubHub and Klarna—primed to hit the exchange and deliver a long-anticipated return on investment. All of that was before Trump’s on-again,... After a yearslong slump in the initial public offering market, 2025 was poised to be the year...

Why the Dollar’s Fall Matters to Tech Investors

By Anita Ramaswamy · May 5, 2025 8:00am PDT · 2 comments

Why the Dollar’s Fall Matters to Tech Investors

By Anita Ramaswamy · May 5, 2025 8:00am PDT · 2 comments

The impact of the falling dollar is rumbling through tech companies’ earnings and threatens to reduce investments in the industry for both established players and startups. Since President Donald Trump’s tariffs announcements a month ago, the dollar has fallen to its lowest level since 2022. The move was so big that companies including Meta... The impact of the falling dollar is rumbling through tech companies’ earnings and threatens to...

From left to right: Andrew White, FutureHouse head of science and cofounder; Michael Skarlinski, member of technical staff; and Sam Rodriques, CEO and cofounder. Photo courtesy of FutureHouse.

The Startup Building an AI Scientist

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 5, 2025 7:00am PDT

Scores of scientists are using reasoning AI models to help them come up with hypotheses and experiments in fields like nuclear fusion, biology and pathogen detection. However, some researchers believe that startups with backgrounds in specific domains like biology or chemistry would be better equipped to build the AI models for those domains,... Scores of scientists are using reasoning AI models to help them come up with hypotheses and...

How Bill Ready Remade Pinterest—And Its C-Suite

By Catherine Perloff · May 5, 2025 6:00am PDT

Bill Ready has transformed Pinterest from a struggling social media firm under activist investor pressure to a growing company. While he may have calmed investors’ concerns, he’s still figuring out the right people to help him run the company. Ready, a former president of commerce and payments at Google, has overhauled his management team more... Bill Ready has transformed Pinterest from a struggling social media firm under activist investor...

Rendering of Epsilon's planned synthetic graphite plant in North Carolina. Photo: Courtesy Epsilon.

The Electric: These U.S. Battery Companies Think Full-Throttle Tariffs Are Great

By Steve LeVine · May 5, 2025 4:30am PDT

A lot of companies and investors are predicting a bottom-line disaster if President Donald Trump doesn’t seriously scale back or—better yet—eliminate the double- and triple-digit tariffs he has tacked onto imports. But Vikram Handa, managing director of Epsilon Carbon, isn’t one of them. Handa, whose India-based company is building a $650... A lot of companies and investors are predicting a bottom-line disaster if President Donald Trump...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Apple Plans iPhone Release Schedule Shakeup, New Styles

By Wayne Ma · May 3, 2025 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

Art by Mike Sullivan

Apple Plans iPhone Release Schedule Shakeup, New Styles

By Wayne Ma · May 3, 2025 8:00am PDT · 1 comment

After years of incremental changes to the iPhone, Apple is mixing things up much more dramatically. Later this year it’s expected to introduce an ultrathin new device, followed by a foldable phone expected in 2026. Also next year, Apple plans to change its release strategy, launching pricier, more premium versions in the fall as usual, but... After years of incremental changes to the iPhone, Apple is mixing things up much more...

What’s Bad About a Nice Robot?

What’s Bad About a Nice Robot?

By Abram Brown · May 3, 2025 7:00am PDT

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Arena: Why sports leagues learned to love creators and stop fighting them• The Top 5: The startups hoping for a “MAHA” boom• Power and Influence: Tech’s Trumpists have no regrets • Plus, our Recommendations: A sinister snafu; when India changed the world; Amy Sherman-Palladino strikes backWhy... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Arena: Why sports leagues learned to love creators...

Art by Clark Miller; Kennedy photo via Getty.

The Startups Hoping for a ‘MAHA’ Boom

By Ann Gehan · May 3, 2025 6:30am PDT · 3 comments

A few weeks ago, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, and Marty Makary, the new Food and Drug Administration commissioner, announced plans to ban eight commonly used petroleum-based dyes from food products in the U.S. Kennedy envisions far more changes ahead in his crusade to force American food companies to... A few weeks ago, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, and Marty...

Art by Clark Miller

Tech Companies Tiptoe Around Trump

By Nick Wingfield and Theo Wayt · May 3, 2025 6:30am PDT · 5 comments

On Thursday, Microsoft announced it had jacked up the prices on its game products, raising the price of its flagship Xbox console by $100—or 20%—to $600. It was an extraordinary move: Five-year-old consoles like the current generation of Xboxes almost always see price cuts, not increases. To anyone even dimly aware of economic news,... On Thursday, Microsoft announced it had jacked up the prices on its game products, raising the...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo via Getty

Microsoft’s Big Week

By Martin Peers · May 2, 2025 2:59pm PDT · 3 comments

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo via Getty

Microsoft’s Big Week

By Martin Peers · May 2, 2025 2:59pm PDT · 3 comments

Satya Nadella, take a bow! Microsoft finished the week as the most valuable company in the world, worth $3.235 trillion, above Apple, long the market leader, which closed Friday with a market capitalization of $3.07 trillion. It’s no mystery why: Microsoft shares have outperformed all year, and this week they rallied strongly following the... Satya Nadella, take a bow! Microsoft finished the week as the most valuable company in the world,...