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

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Photo by Associated Press.

Google Nears Major Investment in SpaceX to Bolster Satellites

By Jessica Lessin · Jan 19, 2015 8:36am PST · 1 comment

Google is close to investing in rocket maker SpaceX, according to several people familiar with the talks, creating a formidable alliance in Silicon Valley’s accelerating Internet space race. The purpose of a deal, which is still in the works, is to support the development of SpaceX satellites that could beam low-cost Internet around the globe... Google is close to investing in rocket maker SpaceX, according to several people familiar with...

Terry Myerson, head of Microsoft's operating systems group. Photo by Bloomberg.

Microsoft’s Latest Mobile Game Plan is Apps over OS

By Steve Nellis and Amir Efrati · Jan 19, 2015 7:00am PST

Microsoft on Wednesday will unveil the latest strategy to expand its share of the mobile computing market: leveraging its strength in PCs to lift sales of Windows Phone. In previewing its Windows 10 operating system, Microsoft will show a single code base inside the software that will allow an app to run well on phones, tablets and PCs, as... Microsoft on Wednesday will unveil the latest strategy to expand its share of the mobile...

A Key Difference in How Chinese and U.S. Tech Cos. Approach Deals

By Jessica Lessin · Jan 16, 2015 10:30am PST · 4 comments

Here’s a riddle. Why do the biggest Chinese tech companies prefer to invest in companies strategic to their businesses while U.S. tech leaders prefer to acquire such companies outright? Tencent and Alibaba, for example, have bought partial stakes in everything from on-demand cab companies to peer-to-peer lenders to games. Mobile phone maker... Here’s a riddle. Why do the biggest Chinese tech companies prefer to invest in companies...

photo by Bloomberg

Tough Road for Online Video Vendors

By Martin Peers · Jan 16, 2015 7:01am PST

photo by Bloomberg

Tough Road for Online Video Vendors

By Martin Peers · Jan 16, 2015 7:01am PST

Online video consumption is exploding. But for technology vendors jockeying to help media companies distribute online video, it’s a brutal market right now. Sending digital video requires many steps, including making sure the video runs on multiple software and hardware systems, tagging the video so it can be searched, inserting ads and more. ... Online video consumption is exploding. But for technology vendors jockeying to help media...

Photo by Bloomberg

More Tech Firms Prove Online Ads Drive Offline Sales

By Amir Efrati · Jan 15, 2015 12:11pm PST · 1 comment

The online ad industry is inching closer toward a longstanding goal: helping retailers determine how online ads drive sales at their physical stores. Retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Williams Sonoma are increasingly using data about their customers to track their “path to purchase” from Web to store, thanks to new ad tech startups and... The online ad industry is inching closer toward a longstanding goal: helping retailers determine...

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo. Photo by Bloomberg.

Twitter’s Uphill Struggle To Become A Media Firm

By Tom Dotan · Jan 15, 2015 7:01am PST · 2 comments

As Twitter looks to turn a corner after several quarters of sluggish user growth and executive shakeups, the company is resolved to become a media platform. But even what counts as its biggest hit with media partners isn’t yet a significant money maker. Twitter has succeeded at getting media companies and sports leagues to embrace its platform,... As Twitter looks to turn a corner after several quarters of sluggish user growth and executive...

Art by Matt Vascellaro.

Q&A

Inside Adobe’s ‘Burn the Boats’ Bet

By Jessica Lessin · Jan 14, 2015 10:01am PST · 6 comments

Plenty of companies talk about changing their business models to adapt to new technologies, but few actually pull it off. Netflix shifted from DVDs to streaming, and Apple survived the transition from the personal computer business to mobile. A possible new success story: Adobe Systems. In 2013, amid lagging sales, CEO Shantanu Narayen... Plenty of companies talk about changing their business models to adapt to new technologies, but...

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Bandwidth Problem That Deserves More Attention

By Martin Peers · Jan 14, 2015 7:01am PST · 4 comments

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Bandwidth Problem That Deserves More Attention

By Martin Peers · Jan 14, 2015 7:01am PST · 4 comments

This past Sunday night I sat down with my wife and daughter to watch a movie on Amazon Prime. What could have been a fun experience turned into a chore, however, as the film stopped repeatedly to buffer, for some stretches, every few seconds. This was the second time in a few weeks we’d had this experience, the last time being when we bought a... This past Sunday night I sat down with my wife and daughter to watch a movie on Amazon Prime....

Art by Tom Dotan.

YouTube Creators Near Their Audience Limits

By Tom Dotan · Jan 13, 2015 10:00am PST

The world of YouTube creators is reaching maturity, revealing an interesting pattern. For a medium that has threatened to replace television, the YouTube audience has started to look TV-like. Different channels are approaching different subscriber ceilings based on their genres. And that pattern could make online video more appealing to... The world of YouTube creators is reaching maturity, revealing an interesting pattern. For a...

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Photo by Bloomberg

Cloud Giants’ Strength Is Their Achilles Heel

By Steve Nellis · Jan 13, 2015 7:00am PST

The conventional wisdom is that the biggest cloud computing providers like Amazon, Microsoft and Google have an unstoppable lead because they’re big enough to buy superior custom hardware straight from suppliers. But some are beginning to question how durable the big players’ hardware advantages really are. Some investors and entrepreneurs argue... The conventional wisdom is that the biggest cloud computing providers like Amazon, Microsoft and...

Art by Sam Lessin.

Modest Proposals

Native Advertising: A Convenient Pitch I’m Not Buying

By Sam Lessin · Jan 12, 2015 11:08am PST · 4 comments

There is a lot of attention around native advertising these days. Up-and-coming media companies like BuzzFeed and Vice are hauling in huge valuations against business models around branded content, namely writing content for advertisers that resembles stories on their sites. Venerable media houses like The New York Times, with its “T Brand... There is a lot of attention around native advertising these days. Up-and-coming media companies...

Global Race For Real Estate Ad Dollars Heats Up

By Martin Peers · Jan 12, 2015 7:00am PST

Global Race For Real Estate Ad Dollars Heats Up

By Martin Peers · Jan 12, 2015 7:00am PST

In the next month or so, the Federal Trade Commission is expected to decide whether to allow online real estate hubs Zillow and Trulia to complete their $3.5 billion merger. The decision will send ripples through a multi-billion dollar ad market involving everyone from Google to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and possibly even Facebook. While Zillow... In the next month or so, the Federal Trade Commission is expected to decide whether to allow...

Art by Matt Vascellaro.

By Matt Vascellaro · Jan 9, 2015 11:54am PST

Don’t Be Fooled by Boatloads of Cash

By Jessica Lessin · Jan 9, 2015 7:01am PST

You hear it a lot in the technology sector these days. Company X is flailing, but don’t worry: “They have a lot of cash. They’ll figure it out.” Cash in the bank, the theory goes, can reverse a company’s fortunes by helping it buy its way to relevance. And tech companies have plenty of it, even deducting the stockpiles stuck overseas they aren’t... You hear it a lot in the technology sector these days. Company X is flailing, but don’t worry: “...

Samsung’s mobile CEO J.K. Shin. Photo by Bloomberg.

Samsung’s Mobile Moment of Truth

By Jessica Lessin · Jan 8, 2015 11:14am PST · 1 comment

This week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas often felt like the Samsung Electronics Show. The world’s largest consumer electronics company showed off a giant television, a slew of “Internet of Things” connected devices and an oven that cooks two dishes at once. (Don’t all ovens do that?) But the spectacle was all a sideshow for what... This week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas often felt like the Samsung Electronics Show....

Zenefits CEO Parker Conrad. Photo by Bloomberg

Selling Outside the Startup Box

By Steve Nellis · Jan 8, 2015 7:01am PST · 2 comments

Zenefits CEO Parker Conrad. Photo by Bloomberg

Selling Outside the Startup Box

By Steve Nellis · Jan 8, 2015 7:01am PST · 2 comments

Last spring, HR automation platform Zenefits realized it had a problem: It was too reliant on other young tech companies as customers to keep up its growth rate. Not wanting to be typecast as a service provider for startups, Zenefits deliberately looked outside of tech for new business. While finding non-tech firms harder to sign up than... Last spring, HR automation platform Zenefits realized it had a problem: It was too reliant on...

Illustration by Matt Vascellaro

Q&A

The Cloud Hanging Over VMWare

By Steve Nellis · Jan 7, 2015 10:03am PST · 1 comment

Before the public cloud, there were hypervisors, and VMware was nearly synonymous with the technology. Now VMware is facing multiple threats to its business. VMware rose to prominence, and its eventual acquisition by storage giant EMC in 2004 for $625 million, by selling hypervisors that helped big companies make more efficient use of their... Before the public cloud, there were hypervisors, and VMware was nearly synonymous with the...

The cast of FX's "The Americans." Photo by Associated Press.

The Pitfalls of TV’s Mixed-Up App World

By Tom Dotan · Jan 7, 2015 7:00am PST · 6 comments

The unbundling of cable and the rise of Internet-enabled streaming was supposed to be the promised land for consumers. While it’s still early in the life of over-the-top video content, the current era is marked more by chaos than a clear view of the future. Thanks to complicated rights agreements, different technical standards and poor... The unbundling of cable and the rise of Internet-enabled streaming was supposed to be the...

Warner Bros chief Kevin Tsujihara; photo by Bloomberg

Hollywood’s Flawed Home Entertainment Numbers

By Martin Peers · Jan 6, 2015 10:00am PST · 2 comments

The final tally on how much consumers spent on home entertainment in 2014 released Tuesday showed a downtick of a couple of percentage points, which given the sharp declines in DVD sales could be seen as hopeful. But the true picture is much worse. That’s because the numbers, released by the industry-funded Digital Entertainment Group to... The final tally on how much consumers spent on home entertainment in 2014 released Tuesday showed...

ARM CEO Simon Segars. Photo by Bloomberg.

Amazon, Facebook Eye New Chips for Servers

By Steve Nellis · Jan 6, 2015 7:00am PST

ARM CEO Simon Segars. Photo by Bloomberg.

Amazon, Facebook Eye New Chips for Servers

By Steve Nellis · Jan 6, 2015 7:00am PST

Amazon.com, Google and Facebook are gaining expertise in a closely watched area of the server and microprocessor business, in a potential challenge to Intel. For years, tech giants have built data centers comprised of larger servers that run x86 chips, the same microprocessors that run PCs and are mostly made by Intel. But new types of servers... Amazon.com, Google and Facebook are gaining expertise in a closely watched area of the server and...