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

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Recent Editions

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images.

Meta Shows Strong Defense to FTC’s Antitrust Lawsuit

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

There is something perverse about the Biden administration’s willingness to ban TikTok even as it is arguing that Meta Platforms, whose Instagram is one of TikTok’s biggest rivals, holds “monopoly power” in social media. That contradiction came to mind when we read Meta’s court filing on Friday, asking a court to toss out the Federal Trade... There is something perverse about the Biden administration’s willingness to ban TikTok even as it...

The Amazon Fresh store in Pasadena, Calif. Photo by Getty David Crane via Getty Images.

What’s Behind Headlines About Amazon’s 'Just Walk Out' Feature

By Theo Wayt · Apr 4, 2024 5:00pm PDT

We’re at the point in the artificial intelligence hype cycle where online pundits are looking to tear down what they’ve spent much of the past 18 months building up. Exhibit A is the spread this week of a nugget of a story The Information wrote nearly a year ago about the role of human reviewers in India in powering Just Walk Out, Amazon’s... We’re at the point in the artificial intelligence hype cycle where online pundits are looking to...

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images.

DOJ’s Facile Crusade Against ‘Competing’ Company Directors

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

We’ve learned this week just how flexible the government’s definitions of “monopolist” and “competition” are. On “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” Monday night, Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan declared that a company can be judged monopolist if it mistreats its customers and gets away with it. By that definition, any bank or phone... We’ve learned this week just how flexible the government’s definitions of “monopolist” and “...

Ibotta advertising at an NBA game in 2022. Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images.

Judging the Rubrik and Ibotta IPO Beauty Pageant

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 2, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Ibotta advertising at an NBA game in 2022. Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images.

Judging the Rubrik and Ibotta IPO Beauty Pageant

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 2, 2024 5:00pm PDT

In the beauty pageant of initial public offerings, the latest tech companies to step to the stage, Ibotta and Rubrik, are trying to showcase the “glow-up” transformations they’ve undergone in the past two years.In early 2022, couponing startup Ibotta was struggling for relevance, barely growing and burning cash, looking more like a candidate for... In the beauty pageant of initial public offerings, the latest tech companies to step to the...

Photo via Shutterstock

Microsoft Unbundles Teams—Are Customers Better Off?

By Martin Peers · Apr 1, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

We got big news today from the world of enterprise software. Microsoft has decided to stop including its Teams feature, a rival to Slack and Zoom Video, by default in its Office suite of software services, at least for new customers. The software giant made this change in Europe last summer, after a regulatory inquiry in its Teams bundling... We got big news today from the world of enterprise software. Microsoft has decided to stop...

Generative AI illustration via Adobe Stock.

AI Rivals Broadband in High Upfront Cost—What About the Return?

By Martin Peers · Mar 29, 2024 3:30pm PDT

Chatbots powered by artificial intelligence, like Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are cool to experiment with. But it’s becoming clearer by the day just how humongously expensive this kind of AI technology is to develop. Our scoop today about Microsoft drawing up plans to spend as much as $100 billion on a data center project for OpenAI... Chatbots powered by artificial intelligence, like Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are cool...

U.S. Attorney General, Merrick Garland at a news conference on March 21 after the Justice Department sued Apple for alleged antitrust violations. Photo by Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

When Tech Regulators Shift on a Dime

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 28, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Ask most founders, venture capitalists and tech executives how they feel about the state of regulation—from the antitrust case the Justice Department brought against Apple to the executive order regarding artificial intelligence—and you’ll hear a familiar refrain. Most tech leaders ignore regulators because they believe these authorities are... Ask most founders, venture capitalists and tech executives how they feel about the state of...

Photo by Tada Images/Adobe Stock.

What Amazon’s Anthropic Update Doesn’t Tell Us

By Martin Peers · Mar 27, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Photo by Tada Images/Adobe Stock.

What Amazon’s Anthropic Update Doesn’t Tell Us

By Martin Peers · Mar 27, 2024 5:00pm PDT

You could hear a pin drop in the tech world today, things were so quiet. (Are techies off painting Easter eggs?) We’re so starved for news that we appreciated Amazon’s decision to “update” everyone on the status of its commitment to invest up to $4 billion in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic. The update was…Amazon has completed the full... You could hear a pin drop in the tech world today, things were so quiet. (Are techies off...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

IPOs Still Face a High Bar, Despite Upbeat Debuts

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 26, 2024 5:00pm PDT

Startup CEOs are feeling practically poetic after watching Reddit and Astera Labs trade up following their public debuts in recent days. It feels like “the sun peeking through the clouds after a long period of rain,” one CEO who has been eyeing a public listing texted me. Bankers and venture capitalists, of course, are writing love sonnets to... Startup CEOs are feeling practically poetic after watching Reddit and Astera Labs trade up...

Nelson Peltz. Photo by Bloomberg.

Peltz’s New Tactic in Activist Campaign: Supporting Iger

By Martin Peers · Mar 25, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Here’s a new one in the annals of shareholder politicking. Activist investor Nelson Peltz, whose campaign for seats on Disney’s board has drawn an aggressive response from the company lately, declared on Monday that he is a supporter of CEO Bob Iger. Yes, after he has for weeks been assailing Disney’s poor performance, Peltz put out a statement... Here’s a new one in the annals of shareholder politicking. Activist investor Nelson Peltz, whose...

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Reddit’s Big Winner Bets That The Best is Yet to Come

By Martin Peers · Mar 22, 2024 3:23pm PDT

Anyone who was thinking of taking their company public this year must be feeling more upbeat today. Shares of Reddit, the newest social media firm to go public, finished the week up 35% from the company’s IPO price, having lost only a bit of Thursday’s opening-day pop on Friday. Meanwhile, shares of Astera Labs, an artificial intelligence data... Anyone who was thinking of taking their company public this year must be feeling more upbeat...

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland answers questions during today's press conference announcing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple. Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP.

What the DOJ Suit Against Apple Means

By Martin Peers · Mar 21, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland answers questions during today's press conference announcing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple. Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP.

What the DOJ Suit Against Apple Means

By Martin Peers · Mar 21, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

The Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple completes the set of antitrust cases now outstanding against four big tech firms, also including Amazon, Meta Platforms and Alphabet (which faces two, one of which has gone through a trial and is awaiting a judgment). But the Apple case is symbolically important, given how respected and... The Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple completes the set of antitrust cases now...

Reid Hoffman. Photo by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Microsoft’s Inflection Deal Spotlights Reid Hoffman’s Role

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 20, 2024 5:00pm PDT

The AI startup gold rush has featured a recurring cast of characters from past seasons of Silicon Valley tech booms. Sam Altman! Vinod Khosla! Google! Microsoft! You already know ’em, you already love ’em. That fact not only has amused me as money poured in over the past year and a half, but has said something about how tech, money and... The AI startup gold rush has featured a recurring cast of characters from past seasons of Silicon...

Marc Lore, the founder, chairman and CEO of Wonder Group. Photo by Steven Ferdman/Getty Images.

Marc Lore Proves You Don’t Need an AI Angle to Raise Money

By Martin Peers · Mar 19, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Who says it’s hard for startups to raise capital? Marc Lore’s success in raising $600 million—in addition to $100 million he is contributing—for his restaurant startup, Wonder, is nothing short of stunning. As Lore acknowledged in a CNBC interview today, the fundraising wasn’t easy, given that most startups raising money nowadays are in... Who says it’s hard for startups to raise capital? Marc Lore’s success in raising $600 million—in...

Chris Lehane. Photo by Rodger Bosch/AFP via Getty Images.

Chris Lehane, Tech’s Weather Vane; Google (Finally) Gets Some AI Respect

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

Chris Lehane is beginning to look like the weather vane of tech. As we scooped today, the Clinton White House veteran is likely to join OpenAI, giving the ChatGPT creator some political muscle. Notably, Lehane is jumping to OpenAI after two years at crypto-focused venture capital firm Haun Ventures, which he joined in January 2022 as the crypto... Chris Lehane is beginning to look like the weather vane of tech. As we scooped today, the Clinton...

Photo via Shutterstock

Apple Settles Shareholder Suit on Cook Comments

By Martin Peers · Mar 15, 2024 3:31pm PDT · 1 comment

Photo via Shutterstock

Apple Settles Shareholder Suit on Cook Comments

By Martin Peers · Mar 15, 2024 3:31pm PDT · 1 comment

Let’s talk about something other than TikTok. How about the fact that Apple has agreed to pay $490 million to settle a years-old shareholder lawsuit alleging that CEO Tim Cook misled investors in comments he made on an earnings call in late 2018? It’s not every day you see the iPhone maker settling a lawsuit rather than fighting to the bitter... Let’s talk about something other than TikTok. How about the fact that Apple has agreed to pay...

The SpaceX Starship stands on the launch pad ahead of its third flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas on Tuesday. Photo by Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images.

Musk’s Rocket Ship Takes Flight as Do Mnuchin’s TikTok Ambitions

By Martin Peers · Mar 14, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Let’s start with some good news: today’s successful rocket launch by Elon Musk’s SpaceX (cool video here). This was the third flight test of SpaceX’s Starship, the enormous new rocket the company is building to launch second-generation Starlink internet satellites, among other things. The test lasted an hour (for more details, see here). It was... Let’s start with some good news: today’s successful rocket launch by Elon Musk’s SpaceX (cool ...

Photo by Getty Images.

Busting Myths on Foreign Media Ownership as TikTok Ban Looms

By Martin Peers · Mar 13, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

It’s taken four years, but the push to ban TikTok is moving at lightning speed—which will continue until it comes to a dead halt sometime in the near future. Today’s lopsided vote in the House of Representatives on the ban-or-sell TikTok bill moves the battle to the Senate, where its prospects are uncertain. Let’s assume it passes in that... It’s taken four years, but the push to ban TikTok is moving at lightning speed—which will...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images

Another Joe Takes Reins at Allbirds; Latest on TikTok

By Martin Peers · Mar 12, 2024 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

We’re in one of those news cycles where everything makes way for one dominant story, which right now is TikTok. Don’t worry—if you’re not fascinated by the to-ban-or-not-to-ban debate, it will eventually fade from the headlines. But not just yet: Instead, over the next few days, TikTok will become an even bigger story, as the House of... We’re in one of those news cycles where everything makes way for one dominant story, which right...

Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images.

TikTok War of Words Ramps Up

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

Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images.

TikTok War of Words Ramps Up

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

We’re in for a long few weeks as the ban-or-sell TikTok bill winds its way through Congress. The few moments of action we’re likely to see—such as this week’s vote in the House of Representatives—will be overwhelmed by lots of rhetorical shadowboxing between the various combatants. Today, for instance, the two congresspeople who sponsored the... We’re in for a long few weeks as the ban-or-sell TikTok bill winds its way through Congress. The...