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

Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice President of the European Commission for A Europe Fit for the Digital Age. Photo by Thierry Monasse/Getty Images.

Europe-U.S. Tech Regulatory Battle Opens New Front

By Martin Peers · Jun 24, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Students of history will recall the Hundred Years’ War between England and France in the 1300s and 1400s. It feels like we’re in the early stages of a second Hundred Years’ War, this time pitting U.S. tech firms against the European Commission.On Monday, the commission opened a new front in that war by issuing “preliminary findings” that Apple... Students of history will recall the Hundred Years’ War between England and France in the 1300s...

Photo by Pierre Crom/Getty Images.

Apple Throws Down the Gauntlet to European Regulators

By Martin Peers · Jun 21, 2024 3:00pm PDT · 10 comments

Will Europeans start to regret their governments’ aggressive regulation of U.S. tech? That’s surely going to be a question sparked by Apple’s decision today to withhold a bunch of attractive new technologies—such as its artificial intelligence–powered offerings—from its products in Europe, citing the continental rules on how tech firms operate.... Will Europeans start to regret their governments’ aggressive regulation of U.S. tech? That’s...

Daniela Amodei, co-founder and president of Anthropic. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Why Picking an AI Chatbot Might Require Help From a Chatbot

By Martin Peers · Jun 20, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Artificial intelligence companies increasingly seem to have adopted a product marketing approach modeled on that of cellphone plans. Anyone who uses Verizon should know what I mean: The cellphone firm has long offered an evolving array of plans, each with a slightly different name and offering slightly different options, forcing customers to... Artificial intelligence companies increasingly seem to have adopted a product marketing approach...

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia (center), and Antonio Nero, CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (left), take a photo with an attendee of today's HPE Discover Event at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Photo by Ian Maule/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Nvidia Passes Microsoft in Value, Heightening Risks

By Martin Peers · Jun 18, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia (center), and Antonio Nero, CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (left), take a photo with an attendee of today's HPE Discover Event at the Sphere in Las Vegas. Photo by Ian Maule/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Nvidia Passes Microsoft in Value, Heightening Risks

By Martin Peers · Jun 18, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Nvidia is No. 1! A 3.5% rally in the artificial intelligence chipmaker’s stock on Tuesday, as most other tech stocks fell, catapulted its market capitalization above that of both Microsoft and Apple for the first time. It ended the day worth $3.34 trillion, while Microsoft was valued at $3.31 trillion and Apple was at $3.29 trillion. Those are... Nvidia is No. 1! A 3.5% rally in the artificial intelligence chipmaker’s stock on Tuesday, as...

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy speaking at a hearing on youth and mental health last June. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images.

Social Media Can’t Ignore Kids’ Mental Health Issues Forever

By Martin Peers · Jun 17, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Call me crazy, but a product that has to carry a health warning label seems like it might have a bit of a problem attracting customers. And yet that’s the situation social media platforms—such as Meta Platforms’ Instagram and Facebook, Snap’s Snapchat and TikTok— might be in if the surgeon general has his way. As he opined in this New York Times... Call me crazy, but a product that has to carry a health warning label seems like it might have a...

Craig Federighi, Apple's SVP of Software Engineering. Screenshot via Apple.

AI’s Real Promise Isn’t in Fun iPhone Features

By Martin Peers · Jun 14, 2024 4:00pm PDT · 1 comment

We’re living in a world of AI-powered news. No, I don’t mean large-language models are writing news reports—just the opposite. In tech business news, at least, AI is the thread that runs through most everything nowadays. Apple’s AI presentation on Monday drove this week’s news cycle, while the other big story of the week, Tesla’s shareholder... We’re living in a world of AI-powered news. No, I don’t mean large-language models are writing...

Photo by Patrick T. Fallon via Getty Images.

Musk’s Vote Win Is Far From the End of the Pay Battle

By Becky Peterson · Jun 13, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

We’ve got good news and bad news on the story that has dominated Tesla coverage for weeks, the shareholder vote on Elon Musk’s pay package. The good news is we have a decision—as Musk posted late Wednesday, shareholders approved his $46 billion pay package. The bad news, at least for those shareholders hoping for a resolution, is that the vote... We’ve got good news and bad news on the story that has dominated Tesla coverage for weeks, the...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Apple’s AI Storytelling Casts a Spell on Investors

By Martin Peers · Jun 12, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Apple’s AI Storytelling Casts a Spell on Investors

By Martin Peers · Jun 12, 2024 5:00pm PDT

What a difference a snazzy presentation makes! Apple regained its status as the most valuable company for a few hours on Wednesday as its stock rallied for the second day in a row following its Monday artificial intelligence revelations. By day’s end, though, investors seemed to realize they’d gone overboard. Apple stock fell back from its... What a difference a snazzy presentation makes! Apple regained its status as the most valuable...

Photo by Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images.

Oracle Feeds Off AI Leftovers

By Martin Peers · Jun 11, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Talk about fighting for crumbs. Microsoft and OpenAI announced Tuesday that they’ll tap Oracle’s cloud servers for “additional capacity for OpenAI.” That counts as great news for Oracle, sending its stock up 9% in after-hours trading. Investors overlooked the fact that Oracle also reported Tuesday that its cloud revenue growth slowed by several... Talk about fighting for crumbs. Microsoft and OpenAI announced Tuesday that they’ll tap Oracle’s...

Apple CEO, Tim Cook. Screenshot via Apple.

Apple’s Tech Master Class

By Martin Peers · Jun 10, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Apple just delivered a master class in how to explain complex technology to ordinary people. Its presentation on Monday of how it will harness the latest artificial intelligence advances in its software was well done, to say the least. If you’ve been wondering exactly what AI can do—other than overhyped exercises such as designing a menu for a... Apple just delivered a master class in how to explain complex technology to ordinary people. Its...

Tim Cook and Elon Musk. Photos via Shutterstock and Getty Images.

Apple and Musk to Dominate News Next Week

By Martin Peers · Jun 7, 2024 2:30pm PDT

This was Jensen Huang’s week. As we saw when he appeared at the Computex conference in Taipei this week, Huang is now a fully fledged celebrity CEO. (See Qianer Liu’s report on Computex below). Fittingly, Nvidia also this week briefly passed Apple as the second most valuable company, with a $3 trillion market capitalization. It’s extraordinary... This was Jensen Huang’s week. As we saw when he appeared at the Computex conference in Taipei...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Annabelle Chih/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Is DOJ Inquiry Into Nvidia A Sign the Chipmaker Has Peaked?

By Martin Peers · Jun 6, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photo by Annabelle Chih/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Is DOJ Inquiry Into Nvidia A Sign the Chipmaker Has Peaked?

By Martin Peers · Jun 6, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Has Nvidia peaked? That’s a question investors may be pondering today, after The New York Times report that the U.S. antitrust police have decided to open an inquiry into the chip maker. (It’s surely coincidental that the report came a day after Nvidia passed $3 trillion in market capitalization, making it the second most valuable company, above... Has Nvidia peaked? That’s a question investors may be pondering today, after The New York Times...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Elliott's Implicit Message to SoftBank

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 5, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Activist investor Elliott Investment Management has bought a more than $2 billion stake in Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group, and is making an explicit demand for the company to buy back $15 billion of its shares, the FT scooped today. But the implicit message is telling: Investors like Elliott don’t trust that Masayoshi Son has really... Activist investor Elliott Investment Management has bought a more than $2 billion stake in...

Elon Musk. Photo by Apu Gomes/Getty Images.

Musk’s Chip Maneuvers Won’t Sway Tesla Vote

By Martin Peers · Jun 4, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Say what you will about Elon Musk, at least he is consistent. CNBC broke news today about Musk redirecting a shipment of Nvidia’s highly valued AI chips from Tesla to Musk’s privately held X and xAI, crystallizing concerns that some Tesla shareholders have about Musk’s divided loyalties. Once again, we have evidence that in his management of... Say what you will about Elon Musk, at least he is consistent. CNBC broke news today about Musk...

Photo by Roman Tiraspolsky via Adobe Stock.

Spotify’s Price Rise Makes Apple Music More Appealing

By Martin Peers · Jun 3, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Who said inflation was moderating? Spotify on Monday announced its second price increase in less than a year: The two price rises together total between 20% and 30%, depending on the tier. Jacking up prices so much in such a short period of time is a gutsy move by CEO Daniel Ek, whose company has long struggled to make any real money, due to its... Who said inflation was moderating? Spotify on Monday announced its second price increase in less...

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

AI Euphoria Disappears From Public Market

By Martin Peers · May 31, 2024 3:30pm PDT

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

AI Euphoria Disappears From Public Market

By Martin Peers · May 31, 2024 3:30pm PDT

What happened to all that AI euphoria we were hearing about for much of the past year? A big sell-off in enterprise software stocks this week dragged down names from Microsoft to Salesforce to Adobe. It demonstrated just how jittery investors are about the state of the software market. That makes sense: Executives at Salesforce, UIPath and other... What happened to all that AI euphoria we were hearing about for much of the past year? A big...

Scene from last year's Consensus conference. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

At Consensus, Crypto Seizes a Political Opportunity

By Yueqi Yang · May 30, 2024 5:00pm PDT

I’ve been in Austin all week, attending the biggest annual crypto conference, Consensus, along with 15,000 other people. The parties—particularly those at BBQ restaurants—were packed. And the vibe all week has been cautiously optimistic, in contrast with a year ago when the industry was merely trying to survive through the aftermath of FTX’s... I’ve been in Austin all week, attending the biggest annual crypto conference, Consensus, along...

Photo via Nasdaq

What CoreWeave’s IPO Plans Say About IPO Market

By Cory Weinberg · May 29, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Nothing focuses the mind quite like an impending hanging. That’s according to English poet Samuel Johnson, speaking in the 18th century. The paraphrased quote perhaps explains the mindset of the small circle of companies taking concrete steps to go public in the near future: It’s easier to carry heavy debt loads when you’re a public company than... Nothing focuses the mind quite like an impending hanging. That’s according to English poet Samuel...

Vivek Ramaswamy in February. Photo via Shutterstock.

Ramaswamy Plays BuzzFeed For Attention

By Martin Peers · May 28, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 3 comments

Vivek Ramaswamy was obviously missing the adrenaline rush of being in the headlines. His faux-activist plunge into BuzzFeed stock has cost him less than $5 million and has already paid dividends in more free press than he’s had since he dropped out of the Republican presidential race in January. But let’s not mistake this for an activist play.... Vivek Ramaswamy was obviously missing the adrenaline rush of being in the headlines. His...

Left to right: Shaquille O'Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley. Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images.

Warner’s NBA Relationship Fades Away

By Akash Pasricha · May 24, 2024 3:00pm PDT

Left to right: Shaquille O'Neal, Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, and Charles Barkley. Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images.

Warner’s NBA Relationship Fades Away

By Akash Pasricha · May 24, 2024 3:00pm PDT

Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang made plenty of news this week. But what about Charles Barkley? The legendary NBA-player-turned-broadcaster’s remarks on a podcast yesterday seemed to suggest that TNT’s hit halftime and postgame show “Inside The NBA” could be nearing its end if the network’s parent company, Warner Bros.... Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang made plenty of news this week. But what about...