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

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Associated Press.

Apple Event Shows Subtle Shift in Product Strategy

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 10, 2014 6:52am PDT

Apple on Tuesday gave fans and customers a lot to be excited about, including an Apple Watch that seems to deliver great design at a competitive price. But Tim Cook and Apple’s growing leadership team also revealed an Apple that is bending its traditional approach to product releases at what could be a particularly opportune moment. First,... Apple on Tuesday gave fans and customers a lot to be excited about, including an Apple Watch that...

Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the watch. Photo by Bloomberg.

New Apple Products Viewed Warily by Wireless Carriers

By Amir Efrati · Sep 9, 2014 4:27pm PDT · 2 comments

Apple invited representatives of leading wireless carriers, including Softbank Chairman Masayoshi Son, to its iPhone, Apple Watch and mobile payment event on Tuesday, hoping to warm up a crucial group of sales-channel partners. But the carriers didn’t have much to cheer about, as Apple’s announcements could put pressure on some parts... Apple invited representatives of leading wireless carriers, including Softbank Chairman Masayoshi...

Cher Wang, chairwoman of HTC Corp. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why a Secret Amazon-HTC Phone Pact Fizzled

By Amir Efrati · Sep 9, 2014 7:46am PDT

When Amazon.com and HTC last fall struck a confidential agreement to launch smartphones together, the alliance seemed to make a lot of sense. Amazon lacked expertise in phone hardware and relationships with wireless carriers. HTC, which had both of those things, had fallen on hard times and needed a boost. Yet by this spring the deal was dead,... When Amazon.com and HTC last fall struck a confidential agreement to launch smartphones together,...

Selfies, Emoji and the Economics of Communication

By Sam Lessin · Sep 8, 2014 11:08am PDT · 5 comments

Modest Proposals

Selfies, Emoji and the Economics of Communication

By Sam Lessin · Sep 8, 2014 11:08am PDT · 5 comments

Today marks the debut of Modest Proposals, a new column by Sam Lessin. Sam is the former VP of product development at Facebook and is married to Jessica Lessin, founder of The Information. The human face is the oldest and most sophisticated communications technology ever developed. But even today, despite the word “selfie” being... Today marks the debut of Modest Proposals, a new column by Sam Lessin. Sam is the former VP of...

Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator. Photo by Bloomberg.

Venture Firms Fret as Y Combinator Soars

By Eric Newcomer · Sep 8, 2014 7:58am PDT · 5 comments

For even the most distinguished of venture capital firms, it’s now obvious that Y Combinator and other startup “accelerators” pose an existential threat. And recent moves by Y Combinator and its new boss, Sam Altman, are bound to further aggravate tensions with VCs even if the red-hot accelerater chooses not to become a direct... For even the most distinguished of venture capital firms, it’s now obvious that Y...

Welcome Martin Peers and Stephen Nellis!

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 7, 2014 7:49pm PDT · 1 comment

I am delighted to announce that Martin Peers, a longtime Wall Street Journal media reporter and editor, is joining The Information as a columnist. Since 2011, Martin has been running the paper’s coverage of the media and entertainment industries as its Media and Marketing bureau chief. He was previously Deputy Editor of Heard on the... I am delighted to announce that Martin Peers, a longtime Wall Street Journal media reporter and...

Vice co-founder Shane Smith. Photo by TechCrunch.

Big Funding Rounds Highlight the Tech/Media Divide

By Tom Dotan · Sep 5, 2014 11:57am PDT · 3 comments

The long-held belief among founders in the publishing business is that venture capitalists don’t like spending big on content companies. But that received wisdom has aged poorly in recent weeks. Both BuzzFeed and Vice Media, the two outlets that have fronted this latest era of Web-first, youth-focused media companies, have each received... The long-held belief among founders in the publishing business is that venture capitalists...

The Problem with Apple’s Juice

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 5, 2014 7:19am PDT

The Problem with Apple’s Juice

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 5, 2014 7:19am PDT

In the build-up to the new Apple Watch, it is easy to get seduced by the rumored features. Curved screen! Wireless charging! Jony Ive thinks it’s slick! But—and I hate to burst everyone’s bubble here—the appeal of the world’s most highly anticipated wearable computer is going to come down to something a... In the build-up to the new Apple Watch, it is easy to get seduced by the rumored features. Curved...

Photo by Bloomberg.

Court Ruling on Contractors a Red Flag for On-Demand Services

By Eric Newcomer and Tom Dotan · Sep 4, 2014 12:34pm PDT

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week called a spade a spade: If you’re driving a FedEx-branded truck, wearing a FedEx uniform, and doing what FedEx tells you to do, then you’re a Fedex employee, not an independent contractor. The implications of the ruling for companies such as Uber, Lyft, Google,... A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week called a spade a spade: If...

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Photo by Bloomberg.

For the Well-Connected, Some Venture Investing Now a ‘Safe Haven’

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 4, 2014 7:09am PDT · 6 comments

Venture capital investing isn’t for the faint of heart. Years of big wins are often followed by years of big losses; consistent performance is hard to come by. From March 2013 to March 2014, U.S. venture investors outperformed the S&P 500 by 40 percent, according to Cambridge Associates, which advises institutional investors. Yet over... Venture capital investing isn’t for the faint of heart. Years of big wins are often...

Twitch CEO Emmett Shear. Illustration by Matthew Vascellaro.

Q&A

Building the ‘Comcast of Gaming’ at Amazon

By Amir Efrati and Eric Newcomer · Sep 3, 2014 6:22pm PDT · 1 comment

Last week, 31-year-old Emmett Shear joined an exclusive club of tech startup founder/CEOs who agreed to sell their company for about $1 billion or more. While his startup, the online video-game broadcaster Twitch, is just three years old, it had spun out of a different live-video site he helped launch in 2007. Twitch quickly became the... Last week, 31-year-old Emmett Shear joined an exclusive club of tech startup founder/CEOs who ...

Jonah Goodhart, CEO of Moat. Courtesy Photo.

Controversy Rages Over How to Combat Phantom Ads

By Tom Dotan · Sep 3, 2014 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Jonah Goodhart, CEO of Moat. Courtesy Photo.

Controversy Rages Over How to Combat Phantom Ads

By Tom Dotan · Sep 3, 2014 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Frustrated by an online advertising marketplace in which many banner ads and videos are paid for but never seen, ad agencies and their clients have begun demanding that publishers provide robust, contractual guarantees on ad “viewability.” But many in the online ad business fear the new requirements are unrealistic. Some say these... Frustrated by an online advertising marketplace in which many banner ads and videos are paid for...

Greg Wyler. Photo by Bloomberg.

Abrupt Exit for Google Satellite Exec

By Jessica E. Lessin and Amir Efrati · Sep 2, 2014 3:35pm PDT

One of the leaders of Google's effort to build a constellation of Internet-beaming satellites, Greg Wyler, has left the company, according to two people familiar with the situation. Why the relationship between Mr. Wyler and Google deteriorated just a few months after his hiring couldn’t be learned. Mr. Wyler is well-known in the... One of the leaders of Google's effort to build a constellation of Internet-beaming...

Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman. Courtesy Photo.

Enthusiasm for Low-Cost TV Gaming Puts Ouya in Play

By Amir Efrati · Sep 2, 2014 7:30am PDT

As the high-stakes race among technology companies for control of living-room entertainment continues to heat up, a new generation of low-cost hardware and software for viewing Web video and playing video games on TV sets has emerged as a major battleground. As the scrum takes shape, Ouya, a high-profile startup that makes an inexpensive TV... As the high-stakes race among technology companies for control of living-room entertainment...

Twitch Through the Prism of Cable TV

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 29, 2014 10:27am PDT

Inevitably, when a little-known company comes out of nowhere to be acquired by a well-known one for nearly a billion dollars, people start looking for analogies. And so it was with Twitch, the site that broadcasts people playing video games that Amazon nabbed this week (as first reported by Eric and Amir.) The analogy of choice among... Inevitably, when a little-known company comes out of nowhere to be acquired by a well-known one...

Cyanogen co-founders Steve Kondik, left, and Kirt McMaster. Photo by Cyanogen

Obscure Android Software Firm Attracts Google Rivals

By Amir Efrati · Aug 28, 2014 2:18pm PDT · 3 comments

Cyanogen co-founders Steve Kondik, left, and Kirt McMaster. Photo by Cyanogen

Obscure Android Software Firm Attracts Google Rivals

By Amir Efrati · Aug 28, 2014 2:18pm PDT · 3 comments

A little-known software startup called Cyanogen is gaining attention from a long list of big-name companies that want to sell smartphones and applications based on Google’s Android operating system—but don’t want to be under the thumb of Google. Amazon.com, Microsoft, Samsung Electronics and Yahoo are among the companies... A little-known software startup called Cyanogen is gaining attention from a long list of big-name...

Robert Herz of FASB testifies on expensing of stock options in 2004. Photo by Bloomberg.

Tech Companies Sow Confusion by Refusing to Mind the GAAP

By Jonathan Weber · Aug 28, 2014 7:08am PDT · 1 comment

Did Twitter make a profit last quarter? That seems like a simple enough question, one that public companies are required to answer in very specific fashion. Yet a quick perusal of news coverage of the July 29 earnings announcement shows two drastically different answers: Twitter either had a $15 million profit, or a $145 million loss. The... Did Twitter make a profit last quarter? That seems like a simple enough question, one that...

Ricky Van Veen of CollegeHumor. Illustration by Matthew Vascellaro

Q&A

How Frat Jokes Led to YouTube—and then to Hollywood

By Tom Dotan · Aug 27, 2014 1:03pm PDT

The evolution of CollegeHumor from a site Ricky Van Veen started with his friends to host funny pictures and video clips into a digitally-minded studio that was acquired by IAC/InterActive Corp in 2006 has in many ways set the template for the entire online video movement. You can see traces of it in YouTube’s trajectory from a repository of... The evolution of CollegeHumor from a site Ricky Van Veen started with his friends to host funny...

Union workers protesting at Twitter in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg.

Tech Workers of the World, Unite?

By Eric Newcomer · Aug 27, 2014 8:04am PDT · 15 comments

The Silicon Valley technology worker doesn’t quite fit the profile of the exploited proletarian: The average high-tech salary in San Francisco is $156,518, according to one estimate. Compared with a fast-food worker, let alone a child laborer in Asia, the high-tech coder-laborer class—typified by the well-educated, male software... The Silicon Valley technology worker doesn’t quite fit the profile of the exploited...

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. Photo by Bloomberg.

Walmart Stumbles as Amazon Threat Mounts

By Amir Efrati · Aug 26, 2014 8:00am PDT

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. Photo by Bloomberg.

Walmart Stumbles as Amazon Threat Mounts

By Amir Efrati · Aug 26, 2014 8:00am PDT

Executives at Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s top brick-and-mortar retailer, say they have woken up to the long-term threat their company faces from the world’s top online retailer, Amazon.com. But Walmart’s e-commerce performance has been decidedly lagging. Executives at Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s top brick-and-mortar retailer, say they have...