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

Anthropic to Buy Back Employee Shares at $61.5 Billion Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo · May 2, 2025 2:01pm PDT · 2 comments

Anthropic is offering to buy back shares from hundreds of current and former employees, the first transaction of its kind for the four-year-old company. The buyback is a sign of how integral these have become in rewarding employees at fast-growing startups and retaining rare research talent in the artificial intelligence talent war. San... Anthropic is offering to buy back shares from hundreds of current and former employees, the...

Harvard University. Photo by Getty

Endowments Need Cash, but VC Firms Have None to Offer

By Miles Kruppa · May 2, 2025 10:39am PDT

The long and fruitful relationship between venture capital firms and university endowments is facing hard times as both sides struggle with worsening cash squeezes. Over the past three years, VC funds have been returning money to their investors at the lowest rates in the past 25 years, levels that have only occurred during major market and... The long and fruitful relationship between venture capital firms and university endowments is...

Clark Miller

How Sports Leagues Learned to Love Creators Instead of Fighting Them

By Sara Germano · May 2, 2025 9:04am PDT

In summer 2021, Matt Scharf and some of his guy friends were playing a round of golf at a leafy course near Austin, Texas, when they arrived at the 14th hole, a 290-yard uphill par 4. Clad in a busy Hawaiian-print polo and a trucker hat, Scharf thwacked a drive straight down the fairway to the green, eliciting immediate whoops of “Dude!” and “... In summer 2021, Matt Scharf and some of his guy friends were playing a round of golf at a leafy...

Modular AI's Chris Lattner and Encharge AI's Naveen Verma. Photos via YouTube and Encharge AI.

AI Chip Startups Chug Along

By Akash Pasricha · May 2, 2025 8:00am PDT

Modular AI's Chris Lattner and Encharge AI's Naveen Verma. Photos via YouTube and Encharge AI.

AI Chip Startups Chug Along

By Akash Pasricha · May 2, 2025 8:00am PDT

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made headlines this week when he told reporters the artificial intelligence chips race between the U.S. and China is neck and neck. He was referring to Huawei Technologies’ progress on its own new AI processor. But it’s worth remembering that many startups in the U.S. are also working on developing their own custom... Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang made headlines this week when he told reporters the artificial...

Art by Clark Miller.

Advertisers Plan Cuts to TV Advertising As Economic Worries Mount

By Sahil Patel · May 2, 2025 8:00am PDT

Google and Meta Platforms have signaled they’re not seeing much pullback by advertisers worried about the economy, but it’s likely to be a different story for TV networks and video-streaming services. TV ad sales executives and ad buyers say marketers are already indicating plans to cut back spending on entertainment and news programming by as... Google and Meta Platforms have signaled they’re not seeing much pullback by advertisers worried...

Jensen Huang. Photo by Getty.

Nvidia Is Again Working on China-Tailored Chips After U.S. Export Ban

By Qianer Liu · May 2, 2025 6:00am PDT

The U.S. government is steadily tightening the noose on Nvidia’s sales to China. But the AI chip giant isn’t giving up on the market. Nvidia has told some of its biggest Chinese customers, including ByteDance, Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings, that it is tweaking the design of its artificial intelligence chips so they can be sold to Chinese... The U.S. government is steadily tightening the noose on Nvidia’s sales to China. But the AI chip...

Photo via Getty

How Apple Is Dealing With Tariffs, So Far

By Martin Peers · May 1, 2025 5:00pm PDT

What a buzzkill. After Wednesday’s robust results from Meta Platforms and Microsoft, sparking Thursday’s tech stock rally, we came down to earth with results from Apple and Amazon Thursday evening. The numbers were pretty much par for the course for two companies whose high-growth days are in the past—5% top-line growth for Apple and 9%... What a buzzkill. After Wednesday’s robust results from Meta Platforms and Microsoft, sparking...

Scale CEO Alexandr Wang. Photo via AP

Scale AI’s Share Sale Isn’t Open to All

By Cory Weinberg · May 1, 2025 2:59pm PDT

Scale CEO Alexandr Wang. Photo via AP

Scale AI’s Share Sale Isn’t Open to All

By Cory Weinberg · May 1, 2025 2:59pm PDT

It’s the startup equivalent of misplacing a winning lottery ticket. Former employees of Scale AI are being excluded from a planned share sale at a $25 billion valuation. “I just heard back from the stock admin. Former employees won’t be participating in the tender offer. rip,” one ex-employee wrote last month in a private Slack channel of... It’s the startup equivalent of misplacing a winning lottery ticket. Former employees of Scale AI...

Whatnot's Armand Wilson. Photo via Whatnot.

Creator Economy

Whatnot Users Spend 80 Minutes a Day Shopping

By Ann Gehan · May 1, 2025 2:00pm PDT

Livestream shopping, while popular in Asia on apps like ByteDance-owned Douyin and Alibaba’s Taobao Live, has been hard for most U.S.-focused startups and creators to crack. Shoppers have been slow to grow comfortable buying stuff on livestreams, while retailers haven’t devoted much time and money to changing existing consumer habits. ... Livestream shopping, while popular in Asia on apps like ByteDance-owned Douyin and Alibaba’s ...

Photo via Getty.

Amazon Takes Aim at Cursor With New AI Coding Service

By Kevin McLaughlin · May 1, 2025 10:54am PDT · 2 comments

Artificial intelligence–assisted coding firms are some of the hottest startups in Silicon Valley right now, drawing attention from OpenAI, among others. Amazon Web Services sees an opportunity. AWS is working on its own AI-assisted coding service that offers features similar to those from startups Anysphere, which makes Cursor, and... Artificial intelligence–assisted coding firms are some of the hottest startups in Silicon...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks during an event highlighting Microsoft Copilot agents, the company’s AI tool, on April 4, 2025 in Redmond, Washington.

Microsoft's Move to Make People Pay for AI Starts to Pay Off

By Aaron Holmes and Jon Victor · May 1, 2025 10:00am PDT

Earlier this year, Microsoft stopped trying to convince consumers to pay extra for artificial intelligence features in its popular Office 365 software, instead opting to add the AI features by default while increasing the lowest price of the software by 30%. That strategy is showing early signs of wringing a few extra bucks out of individual... Earlier this year, Microsoft stopped trying to convince consumers to pay extra for artificial...

Art by Clark Miller.

Why Some Robot Startups Could Gain From Tariffs

By Rocket Drew · May 1, 2025 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Art by Clark Miller.

Why Some Robot Startups Could Gain From Tariffs

By Rocket Drew · May 1, 2025 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Among tech companies, robotics companies are particularly vulnerable to tariff hikes, given that many robot parts come from China. The import taxes mean higher costs that robotics firms will have to either absorb or pass on to customers—a setback to their business either way. But a number of startups that employ overseas workers to control... Among tech companies, robotics companies are particularly vulnerable to tariff hikes, given that...

Crypto Venture Capital Fundraising Springs Back to Life

By Yueqi Yang · May 1, 2025 6:00am PDT

Fundraising is picking up among crypto venture funds after two dismal years, as investors hope to profit from the friendly regulatory environment under President Donald Trump. The rebound is likely to be modest because venture capital funds are no longer the only game in town for big investors who want crypto exposure. Crypto VC funds are on... Fundraising is picking up among crypto venture funds after two dismal years, as investors hope to...

Polymetallic nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the Pacific. Photo: Courtesy The Metals Co.

The Electric: In His First Months, Trump Has Built on Biden’s Battery Policy

By Steve LeVine · May 1, 2025 4:30am PDT

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has denigrated electric vehicles and imposed tariffs on EV and battery parts that will make it far harder for carmakers to earn profits on the sale of the vehicles. But his first 100 days in power have been a clear winner for one segment of the industry—the miners and processors of the handful of... Since taking office, President Donald Trump has denigrated electric vehicles and imposed tariffs...

Photos via Getty

Meta Ramps Up AI Spending—Again

By Martin Peers · Apr 30, 2025 5:00pm PDT

When it comes to artificial intelligence, Mark Zuckerberg is not holding back. Meta Platforms revealed Wednesday it was raising its projected capital spending for this year to as high as $72 billion, from a previous high of $65 billion outlined in January. If Meta spent at the upper level of its new projection, its capital outlays this year... When it comes to artificial intelligence, Mark Zuckerberg is not holding back. Meta Platforms...

Photo via Getty

Where Meta Still Has an Edge on TikTok

By Kaya Yurieff · Apr 30, 2025 3:30pm PDT

Photo via Getty

Creator Economy

Where Meta Still Has an Edge on TikTok

By Kaya Yurieff · Apr 30, 2025 3:30pm PDT

Earnings season is in full swing, but one of the most telling comments about the state of social media today came from courtroom testimony highlighting a persistent challenge facing TikTok—and a perennial strength for Meta Platforms’ apps. Adam Presser, TikTok’s head of U.S. operations and trust and safety, told a judge that only a “very... Earnings season is in full swing, but one of the most telling comments about the state of social...

Introducing: The Information’s Tech Events Calendar

By The Information Staff · Apr 30, 2025 12:39pm PDT · 2 comments

Staying ahead in tech means keeping tabs on events like high-stakes court cases and promised dates for key product debuts—and whether companies live up to their ambitious deadlines. For the first time, we’re sharing The Information’s editorial calendar, which our own news team uses to plan coverage, exclusively with Pro subscribers. Staying ahead in tech means keeping tabs on events like high-stakes court cases and promised...

Meta's chief product officer, Chris Cox, on stage at LlamaCon 2025. Screenshot via YouTube.

Meta Plays Catch-Up, But Is It Working?

By Kalley Huang · Apr 30, 2025 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Meta Platforms kicked off its first-ever LlamaCon, a conference for AI developers, on Tuesday, unveiling a fleet of new products. They included a standalone smartphone app for its Meta AI assistant and a preview of an application programming interface for developers to access its large language model Llama. The releases put Meta on par with its... Meta Platforms kicked off its first-ever LlamaCon, a conference for AI developers, on Tuesday,...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Nvidia, Oracle Race to Get AI Chips Out of U.S. Ahead of New Export Rule

By Anissa Gardizy and Qianer Liu · Apr 30, 2025 6:45am PDT

Nvidia and cloud providers such as Oracle are rushing to ship chips and servers to data centers outside the U.S., ahead of a mid-May deadline when a controversial new regulation is scheduled to take effect that will cap their abilities to add new computing capacity in other countries. Oracle, for example, has taken the unusual move of asking... Nvidia and cloud providers such as Oracle are rushing to ship chips and servers to data centers...

Art by Clark Miller

Sleeping in Warehouses: The Hidden Costs of Shein and Temu Deliveries

By Theo Wayt · Apr 30, 2025 6:00am PDT

Art by Clark Miller

Sleeping in Warehouses: The Hidden Costs of Shein and Temu Deliveries

By Theo Wayt · Apr 30, 2025 6:00am PDT

In January, three police officers arrived at a warehouse in central Connecticut run by a company called UniUni, a logistics startup that handles millions of packages each week for mostly China-founded e-commerce clients like Temu, Shein and TikTok Shop. Inside, they found piles of cardboard boxes and plastic mailing bags in the brightly lit main... In January, three police officers arrived at a warehouse in central Connecticut run by a company...