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

Discovery Borrowing More To Boost Buybacks

Discovery Borrowing More To Boost Buybacks

By Martin Peers · Nov 3, 2015 10:43am PST

Here’s a development of interest for anyone watching media companies’ slavish interest in stock buybacks. Standard & Poor’s cut Discovery Communications’ credit rating, and Moody’s indicated it was considering doing the same, after the company said it was willing to increase its debt-to-earnings ratios higher... Here’s a development of interest for anyone watching media companies’ slavish...

Source: comScore

Netflix Still Below AOL’s Peak Market Share

By Peter Schulz and Martin Peers · Nov 3, 2015 10:01am PST · 1 comment

In its heyday, AOL’s dial up service was more popular than Netflix is today. That’s one of the takeaways from our analysis of major tech companies and the percentage of U.S. Internet users that used each service at its peak. The stats in the accompanying charts illustrate how dominant each giant was back when. In the Netflix case, it... In its heyday, AOL’s dial up service was more popular than Netflix is today. That’s...

Cronologics CEO Leor Stern. Photo by Amir Efrati.

Startup to Watch

Why the Smartwatch is Behind the Times

By Amir Efrati · Nov 3, 2015 7:01am PST

In its zeal to create consistency in how people use Android smartwatches, Google has limited the selection of watches available, stifling growth in the category. A startup led by two former Googlers is trying to break open the market with its own version of Android software that will work with any watch and be compatible with any... In its zeal to create consistency in how people use Android smartwatches, Google has limited the...

By Matt Vascellaro · Nov 2, 2015 10:14am PST

By Matt Vascellaro · Nov 2, 2015 10:14am PST

SAP's Bernd Leukert. Photo by Steve Nellis.

SAP’s Complicated Dance with AWS

By Steve Nellis · Nov 2, 2015 10:02am PST · 1 comment

If Bernd Leukert, the head of product for SAP, had his way, the German firm and Amazon Web Services would be be partners in enterprise IT, with SAP providing apps for running sales, marketing and financials and AWS providing cloud infrastructure. But AWS refuses to play ball.At AWS’ annual conference in October, AWS leaders said the unit... If Bernd Leukert, the head of product for SAP, had his way, the German firm and Amazon Web...

Art by Matt Vascellaro.

Tech’s Under-the-Radar Ad Stars

By Tom Dotan · Nov 2, 2015 7:00am PST · 1 comment

Silicon Valley’s culture may be ruled by engineers, but the purses of many of the industry’s biggest companies are filled by marketers.And while the names at the top of the company’s ad sales organization charts are somewhat well-known—people like Carolyn Everson at Facebook or Adam Bain at Twitter—there are people... Silicon Valley’s culture may be ruled by engineers, but the purses of many of the...

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Oct 31, 2015 8:00am PDT

Good morning! Happy Halloween—San Francisco’s favorite holiday! Also, Instagram’s favorite holiday. May all your Halloween selfies get lots of hearts. Good morning! Happy Halloween—San Francisco’s favorite holiday! Also,...

The Information’s 411 - Supervoting

By Tom Dotan · Oct 30, 2015 10:28am PDT

The Information's 411

The Information’s 411 - Supervoting

By Tom Dotan · Oct 30, 2015 10:28am PDT

Earlier this week, we learned that Information subscribers aren’t as impressed with the Internet of Things as the tech industry would probably like them to be. And as Steve Nellis explains on this week’s podcast, that’s a big problem given how much emphasis companies like Google, Apple and even Salesforce are putting on making... Earlier this week, we learned that Information subscribers aren’t as impressed with the...

Henry Kissinger. Photo by Bloomberg.

A Wake-Up Call for Private Boards

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 30, 2015 7:35am PDT · 1 comment

Theranos managed to make more headlines Thursday by saying it had quietly whittled down its board this past summer to remove people like 92-year-old Henry Kissinger. You’ll remember that one of the issues the press has raised about the company is the fact that its board roster read like a committee of the Council on Foreign... Theranos managed to make more headlines Thursday by saying it had quietly whittled down its board...

Xiaomi global operations vp Hugo Barra. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facing Pressure in China, Xiaomi Also Stalls in India

By Amir Efrati · Oct 29, 2015 9:36am PDT · 1 comment

The worries for Xiaomi, the world’s second-highest-valued private tech firm, keep growing. Not only is it facing increasing competition in its home market of China; it has stalled in India, its first major attempt to branch out of China.The brand launched in India in July of last year, grabbing about 4% of smartphone sales by the fourth... The worries for Xiaomi, the world’s second-highest-valued private tech firm, keep growing....

Elizabeth Holmes. Photo by Bloomberg.

Inside Private Tech Voting Structures

By Alfred Lee · Oct 29, 2015 7:01am PDT

Medical testing company Theranos faces mounting questions about its technology. But founder Elizabeth Holmes may be insulated from investor pressure, thanks to a supervoting share structure that gives insiders 100 votes per share, compared to a single vote for every share held by everyone else, according to an analysis done by research firm... Medical testing company Theranos faces mounting questions about its technology. But founder...

The Information staff. Photo by Erin Beach.

Be The Information’s Marketing Associate (Social Media)

By The Information Staff · Oct 28, 2015 11:07am PDT

The Information staff. Photo by Erin Beach.

Be The Information’s Marketing Associate (Social Media)

By The Information Staff · Oct 28, 2015 11:07am PDT

The Information is a fast-growing, financially healthy media startup in the heart of San Francisco. We’re the go-to daily read for the most important people in technology and business and are building a one-of-a kind community of subscribers. We have a thriving business, and big ambitions. We need your help to take our social media... The Information is a fast-growing, financially healthy media startup in the heart of San...

Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Interview Mark Zuckerberg! Cover Facebook for The Information

By The Information Staff · Oct 28, 2015 10:52am PDT · 1 comment

The Information is seeking a reporter to cover Facebook and the broader advertising industry.The technology industry is consolidating around big players and Facebook is one of the most important. The company’s ambitions are endless and span everything from online advertising to Internet connectivity to machine intelligence. We’re... The Information is seeking a reporter to cover Facebook and the broader advertising industry.The...

*Calculation: More Optimistic - Less Optimistic = The Information Score

Subscriber Survey

Nobody Needs a Nest

By Peter Schulz and Steve Nellis · Oct 28, 2015 10:01am PDT · 2 comments

There’s a distinct lack of interest in home automation devices among subscribers to The Information, this month’s subscriber survey shows, a sign that companies jockeying for position in the Internet of Things have yet to prove the need for their devices.The monthly survey also showed that sentiment about tech and the economy... There’s a distinct lack of interest in home automation devices among subscribers to The...

No Deal Between Microsoft, Mesosphere

No Deal Between Microsoft, Mesosphere

By Amir Efrati and Steve Nellis · Oct 28, 2015 9:26am PDT

Mesosphere and Microsoft couldn’t come to terms over a potential buyout of the cloud infrastructure startup, said people briefed on the recent discussions.Microsoft this summer made an offer of around $150 million for Mesosphere, these people said, but the startup wanted more. It looked for alternative bidders willing to pay more than... Mesosphere and Microsoft couldn’t come to terms over a potential buyout of the cloud...

King Digital CEO Riccardo Zacconi. Photo by Bloomberg.

Barriers To Entry Rising in Mobile Game Market

By Tom Dotan · Oct 28, 2015 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

King Digital CEO Riccardo Zacconi. Photo by Bloomberg.

Barriers To Entry Rising in Mobile Game Market

By Tom Dotan · Oct 28, 2015 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

If someone showed you a chart with the day’s top five highest grossing mobile games, it’d be near impossible to tell whether you were looking at a chart from today, two years ago, or, in all likelihood, two months from now. Since late-2013, Candy Crush, Clash of Clans and Game of War have been three of the top five highest grossing... If someone showed you a chart with the day’s top five highest grossing mobile games,...

New Tuber at YouTube

New Tuber at YouTube

By Amir Efrati · Oct 27, 2015 1:32pm PDT

In what some “Tubers” describe as a controversial move, YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki has hired former eBay executive Matthew Mengerink to lead the Google unit’s engineers. The role was previously held by Venkat Panchapakesan, who died in May.The question now is whether John Harding, the longest-serving eng executive at YouTube,... In what some “Tubers” describe as a controversial move, YouTube chief Susan Wojcicki...

Source: Pitchbook

The Old-Media Firms Betting on Tech

By Tom Dotan and Peter Schulz · Oct 27, 2015 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

It’s no secret that established media firms like newspaper publishers, TV networks and music companies have spent years trying to figure out how to survive technology’s erosion of their businesses. New data show which media companies have been the most active venture investors, mostly in areas that could be natural extensions from... It’s no secret that established media firms like newspaper publishers, TV networks and...

These could be your colleagues!

Be The Information’s Head of Growth

By The Information Staff · Oct 26, 2015 1:53pm PDT

The Information has a big mission: to build the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal of the digital era, backed by quality reporting that puts readers, not advertisers, first.In the digital news universe, subscription businesses get a bad rap. But we believe they are the most powerful way to deliver quality journalism to engaged readers... The Information has a big mission: to build the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal of the...

Dropbox Shifts Strategy with Developers

By Steve Nellis · Oct 26, 2015 10:01am PDT

Dropbox Shifts Strategy with Developers

By Steve Nellis · Oct 26, 2015 10:01am PDT

This month Dropbox is turning off two APIs that it rolled out in 2013, when CEO Drew Houston took the stage at San Francisco’s Fort Mason at the company's first, and so far only, developer conference.The tools, called the Sync API and the Datastore API, let developers sync files to Dropbox from mobile devices more easily and also tap... This month Dropbox is turning off two APIs that it rolled out in 2013, when CEO Drew Houston took...