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

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

Snapchat Eyes App Install Ads

By Tom Dotan · Jan 27, 2016 7:01am PST · 2 comments

As Snapchat faces down a big year, and a true test of its ability to create a sustainable business, the company may be dipping its toe into Facebook’s domain for mobile revenue: app install ads.Snapchat’s sales representatives have indicated in recent discussions with ad agencies it is considering selling app install ads, according... As Snapchat faces down a big year, and a true test of its ability to create a sustainable...

Prosper executive chairman Stephan Vermut. Photo by Bloomberg.

How Colder Deal Climate Could Change Payouts

By Alfred Lee · Jan 26, 2016 11:01am PST

Last fall, New York startup BillGuard was acquired by Prosper Marketplace for a price of between $25 million and $30 million, depending on future performance. In many ways it was an unremarkable exit. While the price was below BillGuard’s previous valuation in the $40 million range, it was hardly a fire sale. Series A investors even made... Last fall, New York startup BillGuard was acquired by Prosper Marketplace for a price of between...

Come to China With The Information!

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 26, 2016 7:51am PST · 2 comments

As you know, we’re very excited about China at The Information. And so, we’re thrilled to invite a small number of our subscribers to join me for a special opportunity for exclusive, on-the-ground access to technology leaders in Beijing the week of March 14, 2016.We’re looking for a small number of U.S. entrepreneurs,... As you know, we’re very excited about China at The Information. And so, we’re...

Source: Dell Procurement & Engineering

Flash Startups Squeezed by Falling Prices

By Steve Nellis and Peter Schulz · Jan 26, 2016 7:01am PST · 6 comments

Source: Dell Procurement & Engineering

Flash Startups Squeezed by Falling Prices

By Steve Nellis and Peter Schulz · Jan 26, 2016 7:01am PST · 6 comments

In a big development for the storage industry, solid state “flash” drive prices are falling so much that later this year they’ll be nearly as cheap as enterprise-grade disk drives, after years of flash drives being the pricier option. That promises to cut costs for data centers. But it will create more competition among... In a big development for the storage industry, solid state “flash” drive prices are...

GitHub co-founder Chris Wanstrath. Photo by Bloomberg.

Executive Exodus at GitHub

By Steve Nellis · Jan 25, 2016 2:34pm PST

Nine executives have left GitHub in recent months, according to people briefed on the matter and public disclosures.GitHub makes software for tracking changes to open-source project code. It has raised $350 million from Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital. Chief Information Officer Scott Chacon, head of corporate sales Brandon... Nine executives have left GitHub in recent months, according to people briefed on the matter and...

Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos

Amazon’s Next Phone Play

By Amir Efrati · Jan 25, 2016 7:01am PST · 1 comment

Amazon.com is looking to cement tighter software partnerships with Android phone makers, its latest effort to get more customers for its services on smartphones, say people briefed on different aspects of the discussions at Amazon.Amazon has discussed working with phone brands at a “factory level” to integrate its services with... Amazon.com is looking to cement tighter software partnerships with Android phone makers, its...

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Jan 23, 2016 8:02am PST

Good Morning! With rain in San Francisco and snow on the East Coast, this may be the ideal time to stay indoors and catch up with the news. And there’s plenty of it. In the public markets, the selloff appears to have halted, at least for the moment. Closely-held details of Google’s financials are leaking out, courtesy of... Good Morning! With rain in San Francisco and snow on the East Coast, this may be the...

Source: SEC Filings; T. Rowe Price portfolio holdings reports. Graphic by Peter Schulz.

T. Rowe Marks Down Dropbox Stake 51%

By Alfred Lee · Jan 22, 2016 3:14pm PST · 2 comments

Source: SEC Filings; T. Rowe Price portfolio holdings reports. Graphic by Peter Schulz.

T. Rowe Marks Down Dropbox Stake 51%

By Alfred Lee · Jan 22, 2016 3:14pm PST · 2 comments

Mutual fund manager T. Rowe Price marked down its investments in several private tech companies in the fourth quarter of 2015, including cutting the carrying value of its stake in Dropbox by 51%.T. Rowe valued its Dropbox investments at $9.40 a share as of Dec. 31, according to portfolio holdings reports it released last week, down from the... Mutual fund manager T. Rowe Price marked down its investments in several private tech companies...

The Information's 411

The Information’s 411 — Heartstrings

By Tom Dotan · Jan 22, 2016 1:35pm PST

San Francisco is an infamously expensive city to live in, and the tech companies renting office space here are feeling it acutely. Cory joined to talk about how much tech firms are spending on their offices. The ones paying out big bucks are those in the multi-billion dollar valuation club like Uber and Dropbox.Cory stayed on to talk about his... San Francisco is an infamously expensive city to live in, and the tech companies renting office...

Students in Hyderabad protesting Free Basics on Dec. 29. Photo by AP.

What Facebook Hasn’t Learned from India

By Amir Efrati · Jan 22, 2016 7:00am PST · 2 comments

Inside of Facebook, there’s lately been discontentment among some of its Indian employees, including those based in Hyderabad and New Delhi.They’re frustrated with what they see as Facebook’s mishandling of a PR and regulatory mess over Free Basics. That’s the program that gives people access to Facebook, Wikipedia and... Inside of Facebook, there’s lately been discontentment among some of its Indian employees,...

Chartbeat CEO Tony Haile. Photo by AP.

The Big Interview

How Banner Ads Can Work

By Tom Dotan · Jan 21, 2016 11:43am PST · 2 comments

Chartbeat CEO Tony Haile sees the current plight of banner advertising in literally apocalyptic terms. This type of advertising is under assault by what he describes as the four horseman of the apocalypse. There’s Famine: viewability, where sometimes half of a site’s inventory can be unusable because it never gets seen. Pestilence:... Chartbeat CEO Tony Haile sees the current plight of banner advertising in literally apocalyptic...

A customer using Apple's Siri feature. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Interface Race in Artificial Intelligence

By Cory Weinberg · Jan 21, 2016 7:02am PST · 4 comments

A customer using Apple's Siri feature. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Interface Race in Artificial Intelligence

By Cory Weinberg · Jan 21, 2016 7:02am PST · 4 comments

Facebook and Google have poured money into getting artificial intelligence-powered messaging apps out the door, but the companies didn’t get one prize they wanted. Each expressed interest in acquiring the AI startup Viv Labs, founded by the developers of Apple’s Siri, people familiar with the discussions said.Viv rebuffed the... Facebook and Google have poured money into getting artificial intelligence-powered messaging apps...

Photo by Bloomberg.

The Tech IPO to Watch in 2016

By Steve Nellis and Alfred Lee · Jan 20, 2016 10:00am PST

In normal times, the initial public offering of Nutanix wouldn’t get much attention. It makes esoteric computing gear for big corporate customers, it only has $241 million in revenue and was valued at $2 billion in 2014, when it last raised private money. Hardly a blockbuster in the age of Uber, valued 30 times higher than that.But these... In normal times, the initial public offering of Nutanix wouldn’t get much attention. It...

Art by Myk Klemme.

Beijing’s O2O Winter

By Kevin Zhou · Jan 20, 2016 7:00am PST · 2 comments

BEIJING—There’s a street in Wangjing, an area northeast of Beijing where many tech companies are located, dubbed “ground promotion street.” Until recently, you could walk down that street and run into at least 30 promotion stands within 100 meters. As you passed them by, the salespeople—mostly young... BEIJING—There’s a street in Wangjing, an area northeast of Beijing where many tech...

Photo by Flickr/Dennis Crowley.

Foursquare Lets Employees Swap Out Underwater Options

By Alfred Lee · Jan 19, 2016 1:57pm PST · 2 comments

In the wake of its recent down round, Foursquare will allow any employee to convert out-of-the-money stock options into restricted stock units, or RSUs, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.The move, which will go into effect over the next few weeks, ensures employees will have stock of some value. Unlike options, which convert to stock at a certain... In the wake of its recent down round, Foursquare will allow any employee to convert...

Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley. Photo by Bloomberg.

How Foursquare’s Investors Fared in Down Round

By Alfred Lee · Jan 19, 2016 10:18am PST · 1 comment

Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley. Photo by Bloomberg.

How Foursquare’s Investors Fared in Down Round

By Alfred Lee · Jan 19, 2016 10:18am PST · 1 comment

Foursquare announced new financing last week that reportedly cut the valuation of the company by roughly half. But a close reading of the company’s charter shows investors in certain rounds, such as series C, come out of the down round much worse off than those in series D.If Foursquare ends up getting sold at the latest valuation, Series... Foursquare announced new financing last week that reportedly cut the valuation of the company by...

Source: SEC Filings; The Information Research

The Real (Estate) Price of Tech Expansion

By Cory Weinberg and Peter Schulz · Jan 19, 2016 7:01am PST · 5 comments

San Francisco tech firms such as DocuSign and Stripe last year agreed to office rental prices more than 50% higher than what they were already paying, new data show. It’s a sign of how skyrocketing rental prices in the city are affecting startups as they expand into more space.Some tech companies were lucky enough to lock in lower prices... San Francisco tech firms such as DocuSign and Stripe last year agreed to office rental prices...

Art by Sam Lessin.

Modest Proposals

On Bots, Conversational Apps and Fin

By Sam Lessin · Jan 18, 2016 7:01am PST · 9 comments

2016 is being declared the year of bots. And it feels like there is a broad shift in the developer ecosystem away from traditional point-and-click apps, towards chat-based user interfaces.It’s happening because there is broad consumer and developer fatigue with apps. Consumers don’t want to install or use new traditional apps.... 2016 is being declared the year of bots. And it feels like there is a broad shift in the...

A trader at the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. Photo by AP.

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Jan 16, 2016 8:00am PST

Good Morning! Over the past few days, watching the markets has been like watching a slow motion car crash. But, as they say, out of market upheaval comes opportunities. At least, for anyone looking to invest. Good Morning! Over the past few days, watching the markets has been like watching a slow...

The Information’s 411 — Bad Week

By Tom Dotan · Jan 15, 2016 2:25pm PST

The Information's 411

The Information’s 411 — Bad Week

By Tom Dotan · Jan 15, 2016 2:25pm PST

It was a bad week for the markets but an especially bad week for tech stocks like Twitter. Each new day seemed to bring a new low for the company’s stock. That kind of a collapse has rippled through the tech industry as investors and companies nervously eye private valuations. It was a story we covered earlier this week, and Reed joined to... It was a bad week for the markets but an especially bad week for tech stocks like Twitter. Each...