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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Subscriber Survey

Self-Driving Cars Destined for the Slow Lane

By Amir Efrati and Peter Schulz · Nov 2, 2016 10:00am PDT · 6 comments

Hype over self-driving cars may be at an all-time high, but around half of The Information subscribers believe it will take an entire generation, or 25 years, before most of the miles people travel on roads in the U.S. will be in fully autonomous vehicles.Surprisingly, nearly two-thirds of subscribers believe the autonomous car revolution will... Hype over self-driving cars may be at an all-time high, but around half of The Information...

Colin and Sarah Northway. Photo by Flickr/PAX Prime 2014.

Indie VR Developers Find Calling, Not Profits

By Reed Albergotti · Nov 2, 2016 7:02am PDT · 4 comments

Dirk Van Welden, a Belgium-based mobile and PC game developer, was in the midst of two big projects last year when he donned one of HTC’s prototype virtual reality headsets, forever changing his career. “I am like, ‘I’m going to drop every single project I am working on now,’” he said. A year later, his old... Dirk Van Welden, a Belgium-based mobile and PC game developer, was in the midst of two big...

Photo by Bloomberg.

WeChat’s Next Step Toward a SuperApp

By Kai Qu · Nov 1, 2016 10:01am PDT · 4 comments

Tencent is Asia’s most valuable company in part because 800 million people use its WeChat mobile messaging application every month. Now WeChat’s inventor, Allen Zhang, is rolling out a new feature he calls “small programs,” which lets people use app-like services within WeChat but without needing to download apps. I... Tencent is Asia’s most valuable company in part because 800 million people use its WeChat...

A professional videogamer at a live championship in South Korea. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facebook Preps Bigger Plunge into E-Sports

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 1, 2016 7:01am PDT

A professional videogamer at a live championship in South Korea. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facebook Preps Bigger Plunge into E-Sports

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 1, 2016 7:01am PDT

Facebook is stepping up plans to broadcast popular e-sports tournaments, in a potential challenge to Twitch and YouTube.Facebook had “extensive conversations” with the developer of popular mobile e-sport “Vainglory” to stream professional competitions, said Kristian Segerstrale, chief operating officer of developer Super... Facebook is stepping up plans to broadcast popular e-sports tournaments, in a potential challenge...

Conference Call

The Information’s Most Likely Tech Acquirers

By The Information Staff · Oct 31, 2016 4:57pm PDT

The Information's Jessica Lessin will make sense of the rampant speculation about acquisitions with a ranked list of likely acquirers, based on conversations with our sources. We'll discuss Salesforce, Apple, Disney, Oracle, Microsoft, Verizon, Tencent, Amazon and more on a conference call this Thursday, November 3rd at 12pm... The Information's Jessica Lessin will make sense of the rampant speculation about...

Photos by Snap, Bloomberg. Visualization by Ian Civgin.

The People Who Matter at Snap

By Tom Dotan · Oct 31, 2016 11:07am PDT

After some turmoil at senior levels of Snapchat’s parent Snap last year, things have stabilized considerably this year. Most of the crucial management roles have now been filled, in time for the company’s expected IPO in early 2017. Earlier this year Snap made interim CFO Drew Vollero permanent, reporting to CEO Evan Spiegel instead... After some turmoil at senior levels of Snapchat’s parent Snap last year, things have...

Art by Sam Lessin.

Modest Proposals

Where Airbnb May Be More Vulnerable than Uber

By Sam Lessin · Oct 31, 2016 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

Airbnb and Uber are, far and away, the two poster children for digital businesses disrupting physical-world industries in deep ways. As such, it is unsurprising that they have been reaping all the growth, value, attention and regulatory scrutiny that comes when scalable marketplaces hit up against large and entrenched industries.Uber’s... Airbnb and Uber are, far and away, the two poster children for digital businesses disrupting...

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Oct 29, 2016 8:02am PDT

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Oct 29, 2016 8:02am PDT

Happy Saturday!Still need a Halloween costume for this weekend? There are now plenty of zombies to choose from if you want to bring Vine, Meerkat or Vessel back from the dead. Happy Saturday!Still need a Halloween costume for this weekend? There are now plenty of zombies...

The Information’s 411 — Satya’s Coming For You

By Tom Dotan · Oct 28, 2016 12:24pm PDT

Martin explains why the AT&T-Time Warner deal makes no sense. Stephen delves into Oracle's offer for NetSuite and what the future of the enterprise software landscape holds. Martin explains why the AT&T-Time Warner deal makes no sense. Stephen delves into...

Apple CEO Tim Cook at a MacBook event on Thursday. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Missing Seat on Apple’s Board

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 28, 2016 7:01am PDT · 4 comments

Apple reported rocky financial results and a disappointing forecast this week, sending shares falling. And there are other reasons to worry. The company had been plowing away on a bold new cable-killer TV service. But all we’ve seen is an updated Apple TV box and yesterday a new TV listings app. Meanwhile, the car project seems to be in... Apple reported rocky financial results and a disappointing forecast this week, sending shares...

Former Cisco CEO John Chambers. Photo by Bloomberg.

Former Cisco Execs Talk to Microsoft About Startup

By Kevin McLaughlin · Oct 27, 2016 10:21am PDT · 1 comment

Microsoft has talked with four former Cisco Systems engineering executives about backing them in a new networking startup, said a former Cisco employee and another person with knowledge of the matter. The four left Cisco earlier this year after 20 years creating new businesses for the company that now generate billions of dollars in annual... Microsoft has talked with four former Cisco Systems engineering executives about backing them in...

Merchants who use Etsy display their wares outside the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York the day Etsy went public last year. Photo by Bloomberg.

How Etsy is Becoming a Services Firm

By Alfred Lee · Oct 27, 2016 9:31am PDT · 1 comment

Merchants who use Etsy display their wares outside the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York the day Etsy went public last year. Photo by Bloomberg.

How Etsy is Becoming a Services Firm

By Alfred Lee · Oct 27, 2016 9:31am PDT · 1 comment

Online craft marketplace Etsy, considered one of last year’s IPO duds, has seen its stock rebound like the handmade bouncy ball cat toys it sells ($5 for two, with felted wool and organic catnip). It’s more than doubled to above $13 in recent months, closer to its $16 IPO price than it has been for a while.Yes, it’s fended off... Online craft marketplace Etsy, considered one of last year’s IPO duds, has seen its stock...

Chinese President Xi Jinping at last year's World Internet Conference in China. Photo by AP.

How China is Asserting Control of Tech Sector

By Shai Oster · Oct 27, 2016 7:01am PDT

November is a big month for China tech. First, on the 11th, Alibaba brings in Katy Perry to help mark Singles’ Day, its $14 billion online shopping festival. Then on the 16th, domestic and foreign tech leaders will head to the tourist town of Wuzhen for the Cyberspace Administration of China’s Third World Internet Conference.... November is a big month for China tech. First, on the 11th, Alibaba brings in Katy Perry to help...

Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison. Photo by Bloomberg.

As Oracle’s Offer Flounders, What’s Next for NetSuite?

By Steve Nellis · Oct 26, 2016 10:01am PDT

Oracle Corp. has set a hard deadline of Nov. 4 for shareholders in NetSuite to accept or reject its $9.3 billion offer to purchase the cloud financial software maker. That puts the pressure on T. Rowe Price, an 18% shareholder in the company, to accept a deal it has so far rejected. The mutual fund firm contends that Oracle founder Larry... Oracle Corp. has set a hard deadline of Nov. 4 for shareholders in NetSuite to accept or reject...

Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, former IBM CEO Sam Palmisano, President Obama, former National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. Messrs Palmisano and Donilon lead the president's cybersecurity panel. Photo by AP.

Why ISPs Have to Help Fight Cyber Attacks

By Reed Albergotti · Oct 26, 2016 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

A massive hack brought down much of the internet on Friday, including Twitter, Spotify and Reddit. According to a commissioner on President Obama’s cybersecurity panel, future attacks could be prevented if Internet Service Providers got involved in defense efforts.Steven Chabinsky, who also serves as general counsel of internet security... A massive hack brought down much of the internet on Friday, including Twitter, Spotify and...

Jessica Lessin presenting her keynote at The Information San Francisco Subscriber Summit.

Jessica Lessin Presents The Information’s Annual Report

By The Information Staff · Oct 25, 2016 10:12am PDT

Jessica Lessin presenting her keynote at The Information San Francisco Subscriber Summit.

Jessica Lessin Presents The Information’s Annual Report

By The Information Staff · Oct 25, 2016 10:12am PDT

Where is The Information headed? On Friday, October 21 at The Information's San Francisco Subscriber Summit, founder and CEO Jessica Lessin presented the company’s annual report to subscribers and announced two new products: The Information for Students and The Information for Investors.Other highlights include: plans to grow our... Where is The Information headed? On Friday, October 21 at The Information's San Francisco...

Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Big Interview

Sling and the Coming Brawl for Streaming TV

By Tom Dotan · Oct 25, 2016 10:01am PDT · 8 comments

Right now you could roughly divide the companies trying to stream shrunken bundles of TV channels over the internet into two camps. There are distributors with ties to legacy TV, like Dish’s Sling TV or DirecTV’s upcoming service. Then there are tech companies like Sony, Hulu and YouTube.Sling’s CEO Roger Lynch says that when... Right now you could roughly divide the companies trying to stream shrunken bundles of TV channels...

Source: 7Park Data's Merchant Intelligence

Lyft Gains on Uber, to a Point

By Amir Efrati and Peter Schulz · Oct 25, 2016 7:01am PDT · 8 comments

Did a $1 billion investment led by General Motors in January help Lyft fight Uber in the U.S.?New data show that Lyft made market share gains over the past year in eight of eight major U.S. cities tracked by 7Park Data, including San Francisco, New York, Boston, Dallas and Washington, D.C. Did a $1 billion investment led by General Motors in January help Lyft fight Uber in the U.S.?New...

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson in the background. Photo by Bloomberg.

A Wrinkle with the Logic of AT&T-Time Warner

By Martin Peers · Oct 24, 2016 11:24am PDT · 1 comment

One of the questions hanging in the air after AT&T announced it wants to buy Time Warner for $85 billion is: Who will follow? Will other tech companies, including those that sniffed around Time Warner, like Apple, or Amazon.com and Google, look to buy a studio to lock up programming?The rhetoric coming out of AT&T might lead one to think... One of the questions hanging in the air after AT&T announced it wants to buy Time Warner for...

San Francisco's Prop. Q would enact a stricter ban on tents on public sidewalks. Photo by AP.

Making Sense of Bay Area Ballots

By Cory Weinberg and Steve Nellis · Oct 24, 2016 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

San Francisco's Prop. Q would enact a stricter ban on tents on public sidewalks. Photo by AP.

Making Sense of Bay Area Ballots

By Cory Weinberg and Steve Nellis · Oct 24, 2016 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Residents of the tech industry’s Bay Area hub will face a dizzying array of ballot measures next month—everything from legalizing marijuana to abolishing the death penalty. But it’s the measures on how to fix crumbling public transportation and runaway housing costs that are likely of most concern to tech.To help sort through... Residents of the tech industry’s Bay Area hub will face a dizzying array of ballot measures...