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

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Meta’s Quarter Offers Signs of Hope on Ads

By Martin Peers · Apr 26, 2023 5:00pm PDT

In tech, three is the new 30. Meta Platforms on Wednesday reported a 3% lift in revenue for the first quarter, the same revenue increase Alphabet reported for its first quarter on Tuesday. Increasing the top line by 3% is a far cry from the 25% to 30% quarterly growth Facebook’s owner once reported with monotonous regularity. But it’s a big... In tech, three is the new 30. Meta Platforms on Wednesday reported a 3% lift in revenue for the...

Photos by Shutterstock.

Microsoft Outperforms Google in Q1

By Martin Peers · Apr 25, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Score one for Microsoft. At 48 years of age, the software giant may be old by tech standards, but it’s performing better than younger rival Alphabet, as their March quarter numbers showed today. Both companies posted better results than they had for the December quarter, although that’s a low bar, given that neither showed much growth at all... Score one for Microsoft. At 48 years of age, the software giant may be old by tech standards, but...

NYSE. Photo by Bloomberg.

Five Big Tech Companies Report Earnings This Week—Here’s What to Watch

By Martin Peers · Apr 24, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Prepare yourselves. This week we’re going to hear lots of variations on the terms “headwinds” and “challenges” and “execution.” We’ve got March-quarter earnings coming from most of tech’s big names, and the picture isn’t expected to be pretty. Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Snap report between Tuesday and Thursday. You can see... Prepare yourselves. This week we’re going to hear lots of variations on the terms “headwinds” and...

Photo by Getty.

What BuzzFeed CEO’s Mea Culpa Means

By Martin Peers · Apr 20, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Photo by Getty.

What BuzzFeed CEO’s Mea Culpa Means

By Martin Peers · Apr 20, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Those CEO apologies we’ve become used to seeing whenever a company announces layoffs are getting even more elaborate. BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti, for instance, had quite a doozy of a mea culpa today as he announced the shuttering of BuzzFeed News and another round of layoffs at the digital media firm. After counting off all the... Those CEO apologies we’ve become used to seeing whenever a company announces layoffs are getting...

SeatGeek CEO Mr. Jack Groetzinger. Photo by Bloomberg.

The IPOs Are Coming (Maybe)

By Martin Peers · Apr 19, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Be still, my beating heart. Is that the sound of the IPO market stirring? We scooped the news today that event-ticketing firm SeatGeek had filed confidentially with regulators to go public, just a few of days after blockchain firm Chia Network Inc. said it had done the same. (For more on Chia, see our Crypto Global newsletter today). A long... Be still, my beating heart. Is that the sound of the IPO market stirring? We scooped the news ...

Photo by Shutterstock

Netflix Is Now a Real TV Firm: Slow-Growing but Printing Money

By Martin Peers · Apr 18, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Netflix is looking more and more like an old-fashioned television company. In other words, it’s growing slowly but producing lots of cash. The video-streaming giant reported what can only be described as anemic growth in the first quarter. Revenue rose 3.7%, which is the kind of growth rate we associate with traditional TV firms like Fox Corp.... Netflix is looking more and more like an old-fashioned television company. In other words, it’s...

Photo by Bloomberg

Apple’s New Savings Account Makes iPhones More Valuable—for Thieves

By Martin Peers · Apr 17, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 4 comments

Apple is now paying you to have an iPhone! That’s right. Sign up for the savings account now available through Apple Wallet, administered by Goldman Sachs, and you will get an interest rate of 4.15%, Apple announced today. That’s a very good rate—most other digital-only banks aren’t offering terms quite as generous (as for big banks, forget it—... Apple is now paying you to have an iPhone! That’s right. Sign up for the savings account now...

Andy Jassy. Photo by Getty.

Amazon’s Andy Jassy Needs a Raise

By Martin Peers · Apr 13, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 4 comments

Andy Jassy. Photo by Getty.

Amazon’s Andy Jassy Needs a Raise

By Martin Peers · Apr 13, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 4 comments

Andy Jassy needs a raise. Amazon's annual disclosure of its top executives' compensation, released today, portrays a CEO who is woefully underpaid given the immensity of the job he has. The company's stock-heavy executive compensation packages are laudable in how they align the interests of executives and shareholders. But shareholders also need... Andy Jassy needs a raise. Amazon's annual disclosure of its top executives' compensation,...

HBO & Max Content CEO Casey Bloys at today's event. Photo by Getty

Warner’s New Max Service Is a Decade Overdue

By Martin Peers · Apr 12, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Better late than never. That could be the motto of Warner Bros. Discovery, which today put on a glitzy presentation to promote its overhauled streaming service, to be renamed Max (dropping HBO from the name) on May 23. The new service, combining shows from the company’s Discovery portfolio of reality shows with HBO Max’s lineup, is a worthy... Better late than never. That could be the motto of Warner Bros. Discovery, which today put on a...

Garry Tan, CEO of YC. Photo by Getty.

Here Comes the Startup Panic

By Jessica E. Lessin · Apr 11, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Tech startups and investors have had a tumultuous few months. There was the crypto meltdown, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and, before that, the overall economic fallout from the weak economy and hammering of tech stocks. And as the dust has settled, there’s a new vibe in the air: concern—even a little desperation. Tech startups and investors have had a tumultuous few months. There was the crypto meltdown, the...

ThredUp CEO James Reinhart. Photo by Bloomberg.

What ThredUp’s Exec Comp Says About Founder Incentives

By Martin Peers · Apr 10, 2023 5:03pm PDT

Here’s a question: What incentives does a CEO need to stick around to work hard to advance the company’s priorities? If they’re a founder with a decent equity stake, the answer should be none. The opportunity to lift the value of their existing shares should be incentive enough. That’s apparently the view of big tech firms like Meta Platforms,... Here’s a question: What incentives does a CEO need to stick around to work hard to advance the...

Photo by Getty

What OpenAI Is Doing That Google Isn’t

By Martin Peers · Apr 6, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Photo by Getty

What OpenAI Is Doing That Google Isn’t

By Martin Peers · Apr 6, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Sibling rivalry. It’s a real thing, as any parent with more than one child knows, and it can either motivate a kid to work harder or alienate them. No, you haven’t accidentally opened a newsletter about parenting. Sibling rivalry turns out to be a big problem in tech. It prevented the two AI labs within Google’s parent Alphabet from working... Sibling rivalry. It’s a real thing, as any parent with more than one child knows, and it can...

Photo by Shutterstock

Arming the Enemy? Why U.S. VCs Investing in China AI Is Complicated

By Jessica E. Lessin · Apr 5, 2023 5:00pm PDT

It’s become a major refrain among several U.S. tech leaders that the U.S. can’t let China win in artificial intelligence. And so it is pretty interesting that leading venture firms funded by U.S. endowments and other institutional investors are putting money into the most promising young AI startups in China. In an important piece in The... It’s become a major refrain among several U.S. tech leaders that the U.S. can’t let China win in...

An Amazon warehouse in Rialto, Calif. Photo by Bloomberg.

Amazon’s Website Snafu Undercuts Its Image as a Well-Oiled Machine

By Martin Peers · Apr 4, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Who says there are no laughs in tech business news? Our scoop today that Amazon, the premier online retail website, was marking products made by big companies and foreign sellers with a label meant to denote small U.S. businesses has a comedic side (make sure you check out the anecdote about Chomps jerky). But there’s a serious angle here. Over... Who says there are no laughs in tech business news? Our scoop today that Amazon, the premier...

Photo by Getty.

Wall Street Greets WWE-UFC Deal With a Smackdown

By Martin Peers · Apr 3, 2023 5:00pm PDT

There’s no AI (and perhaps not too much human intelligence) involved in either World Wrestling Entertainment or Endeavor’s Ultimate Fighting Championship. But for sheer spectacle, today’s proposed merger of the two companies beats anything going on right now in tech—and we’re not talking just about what’s on the screen. Vince McMahon’s maneuvers... There’s no AI (and perhaps not too much human intelligence) involved in either World Wrestling...

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, Inc. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google, OpenAI and the Coming Copyright Storm

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 30, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, Inc. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google, OpenAI and the Coming Copyright Storm

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 30, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

So here is a question: If you develop some software and train it on random material from the internet to make it smarter, do the creators of that material have any right to the software?What happens if you are Google and you train your software with public conversations generated from a chatbot made by OpenAI, one of your main competitors, which... So here is a question: If you develop some software and train it on random material from the...

Mark Bertolini, Oscar Health's new CEO. Photo by Bloomberg.

Oscar Health’s New CEO Has a Tough Job—but Lyft’s New CEO Has It Worse

By Martin Peers · Mar 29, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Mark Bertolini must be feeling pretty good. Since he was named the new CEO of Oscar Health on Tuesday, Oscar’s long-suffering stock has bounced 78%. OK, skeptics will point out that bounce was off a very low base—the stock was at $3.59 on Monday. And even after the rally, Oscar stock is still down 84% from its initial public offering price. But... Mark Bertolini must be feeling pretty good. Since he was named the new CEO of Oscar Health on...

Photo by Bloomberg

Forget the IPO Window. Watch for More M&A

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 28, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Here’s some food for thought about initial public offerings. Yesterday I asked Brex co-CEO Henrique Dubugras when he thought the IPO window would open. His fintech company, after all, is one of many that could be beating down that door. Having raised $1.5 billion in funding, Dubugras said the company has a plan to break even off its existing... Here’s some food for thought about initial public offerings. Yesterday I asked Brex co-CEO...

Why the CFTC’s Binance lawsuit is good news for Coinbase. Plus, Musk’s backers need to believe.

Why the CFTC’s Binance Lawsuit Is Good News for Coinbase

By Martin Peers · Mar 27, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Privately held crypto exchanges are setting new lows in corporate governance. If you thought the initial bankruptcy filing for Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX was stunning in what it revealed about how that company was run, check out the Commodity Futures Trading Commissions lawsuit against Binance today. Here’s a business empire controlled by one... Privately held crypto exchanges are setting new lows in corporate governance. If you thought the...

Jack Dorsey, head, chairman and cofounder of Block. Photo by Bloomberg.

Let’s Talk About Jack Dorsey

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 23, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Jack Dorsey, head, chairman and cofounder of Block. Photo by Bloomberg.

Let’s Talk About Jack Dorsey

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 23, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Well, it’s been a minute since Jack Dorsey has been in the news. But lest you think that Elon Musk—and Congress’s favorite punching bag, TikTok—get all the fun, today short seller Hindenburg Research sent Block’s stock down 15% with a report saying the payments company, formerly known as Square, had been inflating its user metrics by serving... Well, it’s been a minute since Jack Dorsey has been in the news. But lest you think that Elon...