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

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. Photo by Bloomberg.

Netflix’s Originals Push Faces Marketing Squeeze

By Martin Peers · Jun 11, 2015 10:01am PDT · 2 comments

Netflix has mastered getting buzz for originals like “House of Cards” through public relations and word of mouth. But as its slate of Netflix-only shows grow, the company will likely have to boost marketing in the competitive U.S. market or risk wasting the estimated $450 million it is spending on originals this year. The streaming service is... Netflix has mastered getting buzz for originals like “House of Cards” through public relations...

Richard Yu, who leads the devices group at Huawei Technologies. Photo by Bloomberg.

Under U.S. Scrutiny, Huawei Aims for Small Victories

By Amir Efrati · Jun 11, 2015 7:01am PDT

Last fall, the Washington Redskins football team announced a deal with world’s largest telecom-equipment provider, Huawei Technologies of China, to outfit its stadium with a Wi-Fi network. Several weeks later, the deal was quietly unwound. American firms Verizon and Cisco Systems got the assignment instead. Huawei and the Redskins won’t say why,... Last fall, the Washington Redskins football team announced a deal with world’s largest...

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. Art by Matt Vascellaro.

Spotify, Apple and the Race to $100 Billion

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jun 10, 2015 3:25pm PDT

Whenever a big company enters a startup’s turf, the founder is quick to say the move “validates the category.” The phrase induces some eye-rolling. But if there was ever a time to hear it, it would be now with Spotify. The Stockholm-based streaming music company has been on a mission to get people to pay $10 a month to access a library of music... Whenever a big company enters a startup’s turf, the founder is quick to say the move “validates...

Tencent CEO Pony Ma Huateng. Photo by Bloomberg.

U.S. Studios Fuel Video Arms Race in China

By Tom Dotan · Jun 10, 2015 7:01am PDT

Tencent CEO Pony Ma Huateng. Photo by Bloomberg.

U.S. Studios Fuel Video Arms Race in China

By Tom Dotan · Jun 10, 2015 7:01am PDT

As Netflix executives publicly contemplate the company’s path into China, that country’s tech giants aren’t standing still. Firms like Xiaomi, Alibaba and especially Tencent are jockeying for position in the Chinese streaming market, striking licensing deals with U.S. studios for exclusive content. And it’s becoming increasingly likely that the... As Netflix executives publicly contemplate the company’s path into China, that country’s tech...

Data via Information Research

The Real Costs in TV Dealmaking

By Martin Peers and Peter Schulz · Jun 9, 2015 7:01am PDT

Pay television and broadband companies are increasingly consolidating to insulate themselves from slowing growth. But in doing so, they are inheriting a financial straitjacket while their potential competitors in Silicon Valley are cash-rich. AT&T is awaiting regulatory approval to buy DirecTV, while Charter Communications recently struck a... Pay television and broadband companies are increasingly consolidating to insulate themselves from...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Apple Could (But Won’t) Do To Save News

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jun 8, 2015 1:05pm PDT · 2 comments

I spend a lot of time thinking about the future of news and its business models. And lately my thinking has boiled down to this: Television has a killer business model, with networks like ESPN and Bravo getting fees from distributors and advertising revenues. How does traditional print and digital news replicate the approach? Well, the first... I spend a lot of time thinking about the future of news and its business models. And lately my...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facebook Dumps Secret Plan to Build Satellite

By Amir Efrati · Jun 8, 2015 7:00am PDT

Silicon Valley’s space race has ended before getting off the ground. Facebook has abandoned plans to spend as much as $1 billion to build and launch a satellite to provide Internet service on continents such as Africa, says a person with direct knowledge of the project and a person briefed about it. Facebook’s decision follows a pull-back by... Silicon Valley’s space race has ended before getting off the ground. Facebook has abandoned plans...

Nest CEO Tony Fadell. Photo by Bloomberg.

More Details about Nest’s Plans in Home Security

By Jessica E. Lessin and Reed Albergotti · Jun 5, 2015 12:46pm PDT

Nest CEO Tony Fadell. Photo by Bloomberg.

Exclusive (Brief)

More Details about Nest’s Plans in Home Security

By Jessica E. Lessin and Reed Albergotti · Jun 5, 2015 12:46pm PDT

Tony Fadell and Nest have long set their sights on reimagining home security. We wrote about it when we were the first to report that they were in talks to buy Dropcam, which they did. And the company has also pursued partnerships with companies like ADT. We’ve heard a few more details about a new standalone security product. In one design, the... Tony Fadell and Nest have long set their sights on reimagining home security. We wrote about it...

Ben Silbermann and the New Math on E-Commerce

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jun 5, 2015 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Sometimes the best way to determine how a CEO will act is to consider his or her background. A CEO plucked from the media business is likely to talk a lot about content. One raised outside the U.S. is more likely to focus on international users. It’s a maxim I often turn to when thinking about Pinterest and its noticeably... Sometimes the best way to determine how a CEO will act is to consider his or her background. A...

Data via comScore, CrunchBase

Funding Doesn’t Buy Traffic for Media Companies

By Tom Dotan and Martin Peers · Jun 4, 2015 8:00am PDT · 4 comments

Outside capital has been flowing into digital media companies, pumping up valuations and forcing media executives to question what future exits will look like. Outside capital has been flowing into digital media companies, pumping up valuations and forcing...

Vox CEO Jim Bankoff. Photo by Bloomberg.

Overpriced Digital Media Firms Could Face Reckoning

By Martin Peers and Tom Dotan · Jun 4, 2015 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

If there’s one field that would seem ripe for consolidation, it’s the one occupied by sites likes Business Insider, Mashable and The Verge. After years of investment by venture capitalists, wealthy families and media companies, there’s an overabundance of these digital quasi-news and entertainment sites. Meaningful profits, though, still seem... If there’s one field that would seem ripe for consolidation, it’s the one occupied by sites likes...

From left, AJ Brustein of Wonolo and Divya Bhat of Rickshaw. Art by Matt Vascellaro.

The Next Phase of On-Demand: Labor as a Service

By Steve Nellis · Jun 3, 2015 1:17pm PDT · 1 comment

From left, AJ Brustein of Wonolo and Divya Bhat of Rickshaw. Art by Matt Vascellaro.

Q&A

The Next Phase of On-Demand: Labor as a Service

By Steve Nellis · Jun 3, 2015 1:17pm PDT · 1 comment

As on-demand apps like Uber and Instacart grow, there’s one thing standing in their way: people. These companies work tirelessly to recruit and vet enough workers to meet spikes in demand and to keep them happy. A loyal and engaged labor pool is critical for industry leaders, like Uber, and losing a labor advantage is a big risk. (Hence, all the... As on-demand apps like Uber and Instacart grow, there’s one thing standing in their way: people....

Julia White, general manager of product marketing for Microsoft Office. Photo by Bloomberg.

Cloud Startups Chip Away at Excel’s Stronghold

By Steve Nellis · Jun 3, 2015 7:01am PDT

John O’Connor of wealth management firm Rincon Advisors should be the model buyer for Microsoft Excel, the Redmond giant’s stalwart spreadsheet software. For a dozen years as a financial professional, Mr. O’Connor tapped the program for intricate company financial models, portfolio tracking and generating chart-filled reports for clients. But a... John O’Connor of wealth management firm Rincon Advisors should be the model buyer for Microsoft...

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Credit: Bloomberg

Amazon Has Been Trying to Join Mobile Pay Party

By Amir Efrati · Jun 2, 2015 10:01am PDT

As more technology companies offer ways for people to pay for goods in stores by waving their phone or wrist, Amazon.com is still working on its strategy. The company has tried various ideas over the past year—introducing card-swiping terminals for small physical retailers and ways for consumers to store loyalty cards on their phone. The goal:... As more technology companies offer ways for people to pay for goods in stores by waving their...

Data via Datafox, Information research

How Much are Workers Worth to a Unicorn?

By Tom Dotan and Peter Schulz · Jun 2, 2015 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

There are many paths to becoming a startup worth a billion dollars, but to live up to those valuations companies eventually need to make money. One of the biggest factors standing in the way: headcount. The Information compared valuation-to-headcount ratios of big private startups that have been able to raise money at aggressive valuations. The... There are many paths to becoming a startup worth a billion dollars, but to live up to those...

Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman. Photo by Bloomberg.

Jawbone Lays Off 20 Employees

By Reed Albergotti · Jun 1, 2015 2:50pm PDT · 4 comments

Jawbone CEO Hosain Rahman. Photo by Bloomberg.

Exclusive (Brief)

Jawbone Lays Off 20 Employees

By Reed Albergotti · Jun 1, 2015 2:50pm PDT · 4 comments

Jawbone, maker of fitness trackers, jettisoned roughly 20 employees or about 4 percent of its workforce on Monday, a month after it raised $300 million in financing from private equity firm BlackRock. A Jawbone spokesman called the layoffs part of an ongoing restructuring. “We try to find roles for people inside the organization,” he said. “... Jawbone, maker of fitness trackers, jettisoned roughly 20 employees or about 4 percent of its...

Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma. Photo by Bloomberg.

China’s ‘Wild West’ May Be the Future of Peer-to-Peer Payments

By Tom Dotan · Jun 1, 2015 11:11am PDT

Peer-to-peer lending may be growing steadily in the U.S., but it’s truly taken off in China. And that is providing opportunities for U.S. venture capitalists and other startups willing to stomach a volatile marketplace. More than 2,300 services that allow consumers to get loans from individuals were operating in China at the end of 2014,... Peer-to-peer lending may be growing steadily in the U.S., but it’s truly taken off in China. And...

Art by Sam Lessin.

Modest Proposals

Pricing for Consumer Perception

By Sam Lessin · Jun 1, 2015 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

As Internet companies reach more deeply into the economy and our lives, they’re encountering a problem that has long afflicted other industries. When a person doesn’t understand how a service makes money, he tends to believe the worst. And it matters. In Silicon Valley, the issue of consumer trust is becoming more acute, and companies are... As Internet companies reach more deeply into the economy and our lives, they’re encountering a...

Apps Won’t Make the Apple Watch

By Jessica E. Lessin · May 29, 2015 8:04am PDT · 1 comment

This week Apple executive Jeff Williams made an announcement that had Apple fans cheering: technology for better Apple Watch apps is on the way. For those of you who haven’t played with an Apple Watch or read one of the myriad reviews, the third-party apps from thousands of developers like Evernote, Twitter and MLB are crummy. They aren’t very... This week Apple executive Jeff Williams made an announcement that had Apple fans cheering:...

The Information Fundraising Briefing

By The Information Staff · May 28, 2015 10:05am PDT

The Information Fundraising Briefing

By The Information Staff · May 28, 2015 10:05am PDT

Postmates, which primarily delivers food from restaurants like Starbucks and Chipotle, is raising more than $50 million at a roughly $400 million valuation, which has essentially doubled since the start of the year, The Information has learned. The round is being led by hedge fund Tiger Global, and many old investors are also participating.... Postmates, which primarily delivers food from restaurants like Starbucks and Chipotle, is raising...