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

Photo via AP.

Could Trump Be Considering a Revised TikTok Global Deal From 2020?

By Martin Peers · Jan 20, 2025 4:45pm PST

Donald Trump is president again, as of today! And in tech, among the most immediately affected will be viewers of the long-running drama “TikTok—Ban or Not?”. Trump on Sunday promised to renew the series for an expected three months. So far, Apple and Google don’t appear to be sticking around for the new season. While cloud service... Donald Trump is president again, as of today! And in tech, among the most immediately affected...

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri. Photo via Getty

Instagram Courts TikTok Creators With Big Cash Bonuses

By Kaya Yurieff and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Jan 20, 2025 4:31pm PST · 2 comments

Instagram isn’t letting a good TikTok crisis go to waste. Representatives for the Meta Platforms–owned app in the last week have been contacting creators with large TikTok followings, offering cash bonuses ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 per month or even more to make short videos for Instagram Reels, according to a person with direct... Instagram isn’t letting a good TikTok crisis go to waste. Representatives for the Meta...

Art by Clark Miller

Venture Capital’s Latest Strategy: Private Equity–Style Roll-Ups

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Jan 20, 2025 6:00am PST · 3 comments

Venture capital firms have increasingly been acting like private equity firms by investing in or buying mature businesses in need of a turnaround. Now those firms are utilizing another PE strategy—rolling up multiple competitors into a single company that can operate more efficiently by combining costs. Venture capital firms such as... Venture capital firms have increasingly been acting like private equity firms by investing in or...

Photo by Getty

Oracle Prepares to Start Shutting TikTok Servers Saturday Night

By Anissa Gardizy · Jan 18, 2025 5:54pm PST

Photo by Getty

Oracle Prepares to Start Shutting TikTok Servers Saturday Night

By Anissa Gardizy · Jan 18, 2025 5:54pm PST

Leaders at Oracle, the main cloud computing provider for TikTok’s U.S. operations, have told some staff to prepare to shut down servers that host U.S. TikTok data on Saturday night as early as around 9 p.m. Eastern, in advance of a U.S. law that bans the app starting Sunday. Oracle CEO Safra Catz was expected to give the final go ahead to... Leaders at Oracle, the main cloud computing provider for TikTok’s U.S. operations, have...

Art by Clark Miller.

TikTok in Last-Minute Dash to Prepare Retailers, Staff for Ban

By Kaya Yurieff and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Jan 18, 2025 11:56am PST · 1 comment

With a U.S. ban of TikTok just hours away, the company’s U.S. staff has been scrambling to contain the fallout for the millions of creators and merchants who have tied their livelihoods to the app. TikTok was considering creating a website to handle TikTok Shop returns once the company shuts down the app, managers told staff in its... With a U.S. ban of TikTok just hours away, the company’s U.S. staff has been scrambling to...

Art by Clark Miller

Wildfire Startups Need a SpaceX Moment

By Abram Brown · Jan 18, 2025 7:00am PST

Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Sports league startups bet on selfies and shape-shifting putting greens* Power and Influence: The tech industrial complex gets ready to party over Trump• Media and Entertainment: Apple’s most intriguing TV show• Plus, our Recommendations—for deep-winter binges: A buffed-up Baldur’s... Welcome, Weekenders! In this newsletter:• The Big Read: Sports league startups bet on selfies and...

Art by Clark Miller; Bezos, Zuckerberg, and Musk via Getty.

Power and Influence

The Tech Industrial Complex Greets Trump 2.0 With Galas and Sky-High Hopes

By Nick Wingfield, Steve LeVine, Yueqi Yang and Julia Black · Jan 18, 2025 5:00am PST · 3 comments

On Thursday, about 200 founders and investors tucked into seared sea bass and key lime pie at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s Palm Beach private club. The mood was celebratory, and the attendees talked about their hopes for a deregulatory boom in the nuclear and space industries. Each attendee received a black baseball cap emblazoned with the... On Thursday, about 200 founders and investors tucked into seared sea bass and key lime pie at...

Apple’s Most Intriguing TV Show Isn’t What You Think It Is

By Josh Duboff · Jan 18, 2025 5:00am PST · 2 comments

Media and Entertainment

Apple’s Most Intriguing TV Show Isn’t What You Think It Is

By Josh Duboff · Jan 18, 2025 5:00am PST · 2 comments

In the streaming era’s current period, deducing the whereabouts—and fate—of a favorite series is often a more complex mystery than the ones that confront the fictional investigators and detectives in many of these shows. Some shows air weekly, while others get released in a single drop. Certain episodes arrive in the evening,... In the streaming era’s current period, deducing the whereabouts—and fate—of a...

The Supreme Court this morning. Photo via Getty.

TikTok in Trump’s Court Now

By Martin Peers · Jan 17, 2025 3:00pm PST

When future historians chronicle recent events in the tech industry, they’re likely to marvel at the endurance of TikTok, which has become like a cockroach in a nuclear war: the ultimate survivor. Today’s Supreme Court decision upholding the ban-or-sell law should have been the nail in the coffin for the company. After all, as we recounted... When future historians chronicle recent events in the tech industry, they’re likely to marvel at...

Left to right: Oracle founder Larry Ellison, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan. Photos via Getty.

Who Wins and Who Loses From a TikTok Ban

By The Information Staff · Jan 17, 2025 1:36pm PST · 1 comment

It’s not just Meta Platforms, Snap and Google’s YouTube that stand to benefit if TikTok shutters in the U.S. as a result of Friday’s Supreme Court decision upholding the ban-or-sell law against the Chinese-owned app. Several small social and video apps, including Flip, Clapper and Whatnot, could also come out ahead. ... It’s not just Meta Platforms, Snap and Google’s YouTube that stand to benefit if...

TikTok, Trade Wars & Tech 2.0

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 17, 2025 12:22pm PST

This week on More or Less: TikTok and the coming digital trade war. Apple Spotify This week on More or Less: TikTok and the coming digital trade war. Apple Spotify

AI in Business: Harnessing the ‘Tremendous Power Now in Our Hands’

By The Information Partnerships · Jan 17, 2025 10:26am PST

Partner Content

AI in Business: Harnessing the ‘Tremendous Power Now in Our Hands’

By The Information Partnerships · Jan 17, 2025 10:26am PST

Artificial intelligence has the potential to solve the world’s problems, like climate change, plastics and even inequality, believes one of the readers of The Information. Whether it will do so depends “on the questions we ask of this tremendous power now in our hands,” says the reader. A recent survey of 108 readers of The... Artificial intelligence has the potential to solve the world’s problems, like climate...

Art by Clark Miller

Sports League Startups Face Long-Shot Odds. Could Selfies, Simulators and Makeup Salons Help?

By Sara Germano · Jan 17, 2025 9:06am PST · 1 comment

When Unrivaled, a new professional women’s basketball league, tips off tonight on TNT, fans will be introduced to a version of the sport that Alex Bazzell, one of the league’s founders, described to me as “a Broadway show on steroids.” That spectacle will feature three-player teams rather than traditional five-on-five... When Unrivaled, a new professional women’s basketball league, tips off tonight on TNT, fans...

Photos by Getty.

TikTok Had No Backup Plan to Legal Fight—but Trump Lobbying May Save It

By Juro Osawa and Kaya Yurieff · Jan 17, 2025 8:10am PST

In the eight months since President Joe Biden signed into law a requirement that TikTok sever its ties with its Chinese parent, ByteDance, or face a ban in the U.S., TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has been asked numerous times by company executives what TikTok would do if its legal fight against the law failed. Chew never gave a clear answer and... In the eight months since President Joe Biden signed into law a requirement that TikTok sever its...

Jay Parikh will lead Microsoft's new Core AI team. Photo via Getty.

Pro Weekly: Big Tech Strengthens Its AI Muscles

By Akash Pasricha · Jan 17, 2025 8:00am PST

Several big tech companies are laying off employees and making performance-based job cuts. But firms are also hiring and shifting senior executives to bolster their artificial intelligence credentials—as reflected in The Information’s Org Charts. This week, Microsoft said Executive Vice President Jay Parikh would lead a new “Core AI” team.... Several big tech companies are laying off employees and making performance-based job cuts. But...

A Fabletics store in 2017 in Torrance, California. Photo by Getty.

‘Zombie’ Brands and IPO Doldrums: Inside the Consumer Deep Freeze

By Ann Gehan · Jan 17, 2025 6:00am PST

A Fabletics store in 2017 in Torrance, California. Photo by Getty.

‘Zombie’ Brands and IPO Doldrums: Inside the Consumer Deep Freeze

By Ann Gehan · Jan 17, 2025 6:00am PST

A mergers and acquisitions slowdown for beauty, apparel and other consumer startups, plus a yearslong initial public offering drought, have created a quandary for once-hot brands: Many risk becoming too passé to go public but too big for buyers to swallow. Avoiding that fate was top of mind for many investors, advisers and executives I... A mergers and acquisitions slowdown for beauty, apparel and other consumer startups, plus a...

Chuck Schumer. Photo by Getty.

TikTok's Powerful New Friends

By Martin Peers · Jan 16, 2025 5:00pm PST

While it’s too early to predict what’s going to happen with TikTok, it’s beginning to look like ByteDance has successfully called the U.S.’s bluff. For months, ByteDance has refused to contemplate selling TikTok to avoid a ban. And now, days before the ban is due to take effect, politicians are caving in. Most notably, Senate Democratic... While it’s too early to predict what’s going to happen with TikTok, it’s beginning to look like...

Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Palantir in Talks to Invest in Drone Startup at $5 Billion Valuation

By Cory Weinberg and Natasha Mascarenhas · Jan 16, 2025 4:06pm PST · 1 comment

Shield AI, a maker of drones and software whose customers include the Ukrainian and U.S. governments, is in talks to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from investors including Palantir and Lockheed Martin, three people familiar with the matter said. The round would likely value the San Diego-based startup at about $5 billion, before the... Shield AI, a maker of drones and software whose customers include the Ukrainian and U.S....

Harvey co-founders Winston Weinberg and Gabe Pereyra. Photos via Harvey.

Why Sequoia Is Doubling Down on Harvey

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Jan 16, 2025 2:32pm PST

Sequoia Capital is planning to double down on Harvey, which uses artificial intelligence to automate work for lawyers, less than two years after first investing in the startup. The reason probably has something to do with its revenue growth.Harvey expects to raise about $300 million at around a $3 billion valuation in a round led by Sequoia... Sequoia Capital is planning to double down on Harvey, which uses artificial intelligence to...

Photo by Getty

What Could Happen Next With TikTok

By Kaya Yurieff and Catherine Perloff · Jan 16, 2025 2:15pm PST

Photo by Getty

Creator Economy

What Could Happen Next With TikTok

By Kaya Yurieff and Catherine Perloff · Jan 16, 2025 2:15pm PST

It’s crunch time for TikTok, and my phone is blowing up with panicked messages from creators, their managers, agencies and ordinary users about what will happen. It’s crunch time for TikTok, and my phone is blowing up with panicked messages from creators,...