The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica E. Lessin and the team at The Information

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica E. 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

David Marcus, Facebook VP for messaging products. Photo by Bloomberg.

Bots and Humans Strain to Get Along on Messenger, Twitter

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 17, 2017 7:01am PST · 6 comments

When customers started chatting with 1-800-Flowers.com on Facebook Messenger in recent months, they often received two different kinds of responses in the same thread. One would be an automated response run by a bot company that can serve up flower orders in a few taps. The other response would be from a human agent that signed his or her name,... When customers started chatting with 1-800-Flowers.com on Facebook Messenger in recent months,...

Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

Cruise’s Self-Driving Cars May Not Be as Smart as They Appear

By Amir Efrati · Feb 16, 2017 12:26pm PST · 3 comments

Cruise Automation, the General Motors-owned autonomous car startup, turned heads in the self-driving car world earlier this month. Test results filed with California regulators implied that its self-driving software might be more advanced than that of Mercedes, Tesla, Bosch and Delphi. The results showed that the company’s workers had to... Cruise Automation, the General Motors-owned autonomous car startup, turned heads in the...

IBM Watson general manager David Kenny. Photo by AP.

Q&A

How IBM is Competing with Google in AI

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 16, 2017 7:01am PST · 5 comments

Amazon, Apple and Google have each built branded artificial intelligence-powered assistants in Alexa, Siri and Google Now. But it’s doubtful any are as broadly known as IBM Watson, which debuted on “Jeopardy!” six years ago this week and earlier this month was featured in a Super Bowl ad.Ironically, despite that wide name... Amazon, Apple and Google have each built branded artificial intelligence-powered assistants in...

Go-Jek CEO Nadiem Makarim. Photo by Bloomberg.

China’s Tencent Eyes Indonesian Unicorn Go-Jek

By Juro Osawa · Feb 15, 2017 7:00am PST · 2 comments

Go-Jek CEO Nadiem Makarim. Photo by Bloomberg.

China’s Tencent Eyes Indonesian Unicorn Go-Jek

By Juro Osawa · Feb 15, 2017 7:00am PST · 2 comments

The battle for Southeast Asia’s potentially huge mobile Internet market is getting intense. In the latest indication, Chinese Internet company Tencent Holdings is in talks about a possible investment in Go-Jek, Indonesia’s biggest mobile ride-hailing and delivery service, people familiar with the matter said.Go-Jek, backed by Sequoia... The battle for Southeast Asia’s potentially huge mobile Internet market is getting intense....

*No growth data available for HelloFresh in Q1 2015; Source: Slice Intelligence

Growth Cools Off for Blue Apron, HelloFresh

By Cory Weinberg and Mike Sullivan · Feb 14, 2017 10:48am PST · 12 comments

The novelty of ordering a “meal kit,” to make dinner at home, appears to be wearing thin.Blue Apron and HelloFresh, the two biggest startups that ship recipes and ingredients to customers, saw a sharp slowdown in growth in the second half of last year, new data shows. After posting more than 200% increases in new buyers every quarter... The novelty of ordering a “meal kit,” to make dinner at home, appears to be wearing...

Photo by Jessica Stark.

How Snap Discovered Android

By Tom Dotan and Amir Efrati · Feb 14, 2017 7:02am PST

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel rarely appears in public or gives interviews. But in recent months, he could be found on Reddit, responding to complaints from Snapchat users about persistent problems with the Android version of the app.In one exchange last fall, Mr. Spiegel promised “[s]ignificant Android performance improvements coming early next... Snap CEO Evan Spiegel rarely appears in public or gives interviews. But in recent months, he...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

Snap Changed Employee Lockup Period

By Tom Dotan and Alfred Lee · Feb 13, 2017 2:42pm PST

Snap employees will be free to sell their stock on the public market at the same time as Snap’s co-founders and other pre-IPO investors, under new agreements offered to employees in recent weeks, according to a person familiar with the situation.This is a change from the timeframe contained in Snap’s previous agreements with... Snap employees will be free to sell their stock on the public market at the same time as...

A Snap banner at the New York Stock Exchange. Photo by Bloomberg.

How Snap’s IPO Lockup Hurts Employees

By Alfred Lee · Feb 13, 2017 11:01am PST

A Snap banner at the New York Stock Exchange. Photo by Bloomberg.

How Snap’s IPO Lockup Hurts Employees

By Alfred Lee · Feb 13, 2017 11:01am PST

About five months after Snap goes public early in March, it will cross an important milestone as a public company. At that time, co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy as well as other pre-IPO investors will be free to cash out and sell stock on the public markets, according to the IPO filing. But employees will have to wait another month... About five months after Snap goes public early in March, it will cross an important milestone as...

Art by Otto-Draws.

Modest Proposals

The Similarity Between Silicon Valley and Trump

By Sam Lessin · Feb 13, 2017 7:01am PST · 13 comments

For all the discussion about the relationship between Trump and Silicon Valley over the last several weeks, there is a deep narrative similarity that I think has gone under-acknowledged. It is this similarity between Trump and the Valley that is going to make it particularly difficult for them to work together in the coming months and... For all the discussion about the relationship between Trump and Silicon Valley over the last...

The Weekly Digest

The Information You Missed This Week

By The Information Staff · Feb 11, 2017 8:02am PST

Good Morning!Twitter once again missed earnings and the solution is clear. Donald Trump should become CEO and Jack Dorsey should serve as president—while remaining Square CEO. Good Morning!Twitter once again missed earnings and the solution is clear. Donald Trump should...

The Information’s 411 — Trump is an Influencer

By Tom Dotan · Feb 10, 2017 2:49pm PST

Amir and Tom talk about why Google bends over backwards for Snap, what transportation startups are on the rise and why Trump doesn't help Twitter. Amir and Tom talk about why Google bends over backwards for Snap, what transportation startups...

Huawei consumer business chief Richard Yu at CES last month. Photo by Bloomberg.

Huawei Sold More Phones but at Less Profit

By Juro Osawa · Feb 10, 2017 7:00am PST

Huawei consumer business chief Richard Yu at CES last month. Photo by Bloomberg.

Huawei Sold More Phones but at Less Profit

By Juro Osawa · Feb 10, 2017 7:00am PST

Last year, China’s Huawei enlisted Hollywood A-listers like Scarlett Johansson to help market its flagship phone in Europe and elsewhere. The campaign worked. Its handset shipments grew nearly 30% despite virtually no growth in the overall smartphone industry globally. There was only one problem: Profits dropped. The world’s... Last year, China’s Huawei enlisted Hollywood A-listers like Scarlett Johansson to help...

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins. Photo by Bloomberg.

Former Cisco Execs Reunite to Form New Networking Startup

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 9, 2017 11:20am PST · 1 comment

Plans by four former Cisco executives to create a new startup have come together with the registration last month of a company called Pensando Systems. The company may develop a new kind of chip for networking and storage, said a person close to the startup, although product plans haven’t been finalized.The new company, whose name is... Plans by four former Cisco executives to create a new startup have come together with the...

Delhivery couriers. Photo by Delhivery.

Seven Transportation Startups Worth Watching

By Amir Efrati · Feb 9, 2017 7:01am PST · 3 comments

The gold rush around self-driving cars is inspiring engineers and designers to strike out on their own. A shortage of experienced professionals in the field and carmakers’ confusion about the technology is creating opportunities for engineers, from the lesser known to the high profile. They’ll parlay their skills in robotics,... The gold rush around self-driving cars is inspiring engineers and designers to strike out on...

Alibaba founder Jack Ma. Photo by Bloomberg.

Alibaba’s Ant Financial Raising Money for Global Expansion

By Juro Osawa · Feb 8, 2017 11:29am PST

China’s most valuable online finance company is on an acquisition spree to build a global powerhouse stretching from India to Texas. To fund its overseas deals, Ant Financial Services Group—an affiliate of online shopping giant Alibaba Group—is in early discussions with bankers to raise more than $3 billion, possibly by issuing... China’s most valuable online finance company is on an acquisition spree to build a global...

A St. Petersburg, Florida, facility owned by Jabil Circuit, an electronics manufacturer. Photo by Bloomberg.

The American Manufacturing That’s Being Ignored

By Reed Albergotti · Feb 8, 2017 7:00am PST · 8 comments

A St. Petersburg, Florida, facility owned by Jabil Circuit, an electronics manufacturer. Photo by Bloomberg.

The American Manufacturing That’s Being Ignored

By Reed Albergotti · Feb 8, 2017 7:00am PST · 8 comments

One of the hottest topics in the wake of the presidential election is about trying to move manufacturing back to the U.S. There’s been very little talk, however, about the electronics factories that are already here. There’s a quiet revolution happening inside of factories that still dot the landscape in Silicon Valley, where flashy... One of the hottest topics in the wake of the presidential election is about trying to move...

Macy's is testing Facebook's new ad-measuring technology. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facebook, Google Try Again to Prove Ads Help Stores

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 7, 2017 10:01am PST · 5 comments

Facebook and Google are trying to keep their mobile ads businesses humming by executing what they’ve largely failed to do so far: prove to brick-and-mortar retailers that their ads drive customers into stores.Both companies say this will be a big investment year toward solving the problem. They’re marshalling data scientists and... Facebook and Google are trying to keep their mobile ads businesses humming by executing what...

Snap co-founder Bobby Murphy (left) and Google's Urs Hölzle in 2014. Photo by Bloomberg.

Behind Snap’s Marriage to Google and the Cloud

By Amir Efrati · Feb 7, 2017 7:01am PST · 17 comments

Snap is the biggest consumer internet company to be built from scratch on top of cloud computing infrastructure it doesn’t own. That makes it an important symbol for the public cloud industry led by Amazon, Microsoft and Google, all of whom would like future Snaps to grow up on their clouds.Last week Snap disclosed in its IPO filing that... Snap is the biggest consumer internet company to be built from scratch on top of cloud computing...

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet. Photo by Bloomberg.

NetEase Offers Google a Way Back to China

By Juro Osawa, Shai Oster and Amir Efrati · Feb 6, 2017 9:01am PST · 1 comment

Ever since Google left mainland China nearly seven years ago, it’s been looking for a way back in. The latest hope is a proposed tie-up to launch Google’s mobile app and digital-media store in China with NetEase, one of the country’s first internet brands.NetEase has approached Google to form a joint venture to launch the... Ever since Google left mainland China nearly seven years ago, it’s been looking for a way...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Bloomberg.

Snap’s Spiegel Poised to Gain Sole Control After IPO

By Alfred Lee · Feb 6, 2017 7:01am PST · 1 comment

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Bloomberg.

Snap’s Spiegel Poised to Gain Sole Control After IPO

By Alfred Lee · Feb 6, 2017 7:01am PST · 1 comment

Snap’s IPO won’t just make CEO Evan Spiegel richer. It also will likely give him sole voting control of the company, according to an analysis of last week’s IPO filing.That’s because the bonus that Mr. Spiegel will receive for taking the company public will be in the form of so-called supervoting shares, which carry more... Snap’s IPO won’t just make CEO Evan Spiegel richer. It also will likely give him sole...