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

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photo by Bloomberg.

U.S. Tech Should Support TikTok at This Moment

By Martin Peers · Mar 22, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 15 comments

If Steve Martin were to remake his 1984 film “Lonely Guy” this year, he could center it around Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok. It’s a paradox that the executive leading one of the most popular apps in the U.S. is basically on his own as he fights the threat of a ban from both the Biden administration and congressional opponents. The few people who... If Steve Martin were to remake his 1984 film “Lonely Guy” this year, he could center it around...

Larry Summers, former U.S. Treasury secretary, at a conference in 2019.

Larry Summers Has a Message for Silicon Valley

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 21, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Larry Summers has a message to all of us here in Silicon Valley: It’s time to switch up that reading list. “Perhaps pay a little more attention to history relative to science fiction in terms of understanding all the things that the future may hold,” he said during a conversation with me and The Information subscribers Tuesday. Larry Summers has a message to all of us here in Silicon Valley: It’s time to switch up that...

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon. Photo via Getty.

Amazon Takes Its Time Delivering Second Round of Job Cuts

By Martin Peers · Mar 20, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 3 comments

Amazon is in the lead! The e-commerce behemoth has moved ahead of Alphabet in the contest to win this year’s IBM Cup, awarded occasionally to the most bureaucratic and slow-moving big tech company around. That’s one takeaway from Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s explanation today for cutting another 9,000 jobs, on top of the 18,000 layoffs already... Amazon is in the lead! The e-commerce behemoth has moved ahead of Alphabet in the contest to win...

Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft, speaks during an interview in Redmond, Washington, on Wednesday, March 15, 2023. Photo by Bloomberg.

Tech Rivalries Are Getting Feisty Again

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 16, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft, speaks during an interview in Redmond, Washington, on Wednesday, March 15, 2023. Photo by Bloomberg.

Tech Rivalries Are Getting Feisty Again

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 16, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

The year was 2008 or so and Silicon Valley was in full swing. As an internet reporter—this is back when most of the internet companies were under one beat—it was my job to cover announcements out of Google, Yahoo, Facebook and the other rising tech giants. And I was pretty busy. Facebook was expanding to new geographies, and Google responded to... The year was 2008 or so and Silicon Valley was in full swing. As an internet reporter—this is...

The TikTok offices in Culver City, Calif. Photo by Getty.

TikTok Ban Threat Is Déjà Vu Moment

By Martin Peers · Mar 15, 2023 5:33pm PDT · 1 comment

What a bunch of Keystone cops. That’s the only way to think about the national security folks behind the latest U.S. threat to ban TikTok. As The Information reported just now, following an earlier report from The Wall Street Journal, the Biden administration is demanding that Chinese tech giant ByteDance sell TikTok—or else face a ban. That’s... What a bunch of Keystone cops. That’s the only way to think about the national security folks...

Signage outside of the Meta Store in Burlingame, Calif. Photo by Bloomberg.

Making Sense of Mark Zuckerberg’s Manifesto

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 14, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 5 comments

As if the technology industry hadn’t spit out enough news lately, today brought another big batch of headlines. Once again techies are closely tracking the arrival of OpenAI’s latest conversational artificial intelligence model, dubbed GPT-4. And then there are the sweeping layoffs at Meta Platforms. News of the layoffs, expected to total a... As if the technology industry hadn’t spit out enough news lately, today brought another big batch...

A Wellesley, Mass., police officer glances at his watch as customers and bystanders form a line outside a Silicon Valley Bank branch location, Monday, March 13, 2023, while waiting for the branch to open, in Wellesley, Mass. Photo by AP.

There’s No Perfect Place for Silicon Valley to Park its Cash

By Martin Peers · Mar 13, 2023 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Finally, there’s an advantage to being broke—you never have to worry about where to put your cash! The failure of three banks in the past few days, and today’s sell-off in the stocks of First Republic and other banks, has put the spotlight on the inherent risk in bank accounts. Of course, putting your money into bonds or stocks is much riskier... Finally, there’s an advantage to being broke—you never have to worry about where to put your...

Photo by Shutterstock

Why the Worst-Case Scenarios of SVB Fallout Are Unlikely

By Martin Peers · Mar 12, 2023 3:15pm PDT

Photo by Shutterstock

Why the Worst-Case Scenarios of SVB Fallout Are Unlikely

By Martin Peers · Mar 12, 2023 3:15pm PDT

What a weekend! The term “everything everywhere all at once” seems a better description for the turmoil sparked by Friday’s failure of Silicon Valley Bank than for an incomprehensible movie that’s up for an Oscar tonight. The good news is that the worst-case scenarios some on Twitter were broadcasting the past few days seem increasingly... What a weekend! The term “everything everywhere all at once” seems a better description for the...

Greg Becker, chief executive officer of Silicon Valley Bank. Photo by Bloomberg.

Silicon Valley Bank’s Spiral

By Martin Peers · Mar 9, 2023 5:00pm PST

What a panic. You might have thought a new coronavirus had surfaced in Silicon Valley Bank’s Santa Clara, Calif., headquarters, as SVB investors (and, apparently, depositors) rushed for the exits. SVB’s shares fell 60% in regular trading and another 21% after hours. This doesn’t seem likely to end well. My best guess is that SVB will get... What a panic. You might have thought a new coronavirus had surfaced in Silicon Valley Bank’s...

Photo by Bloomberg

To Prove Efficiency, Zuckerberg Should Reverse Name Change

By Martin Peers · Mar 8, 2023 5:00pm PST · 2 comments

Here’s an idea for Meta Platforms as we wait for the company to unveil another round of layoffs: Mark Zuckerberg should reverse his decision to change the name of the company to Meta. That label might have made sense (at least to him) back at the height of the boom times, in the fall of 2021, when his focus was all metaverse, all the time. The... Here’s an idea for Meta Platforms as we wait for the company to unveil another round of layoffs:...

Photo by Getty Images

Can CEOs Please Stop Acting like Jerks?

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 7, 2023 5:00pm PST · 5 comments

Twitter CEO Elon Musk was speaking at a Morgan Stanley conference around the corner from our office in San Francisco today. You can’t have a conversation in Silicon Valley these days without him coming up. It’s not just that tech people love to talk about Twitter (and they do). It’s also that they love to talk about CEOs and their styles and... Twitter CEO Elon Musk was speaking at a Morgan Stanley conference around the corner from our...

Photo by Bloomberg

Apple and Samsung’s Teamwork

By Martin Peers · Mar 6, 2023 5:00pm PST

Photo by Bloomberg

Apple and Samsung’s Teamwork

By Martin Peers · Mar 6, 2023 5:00pm PST

Comedian Louis C.K. had a smart observation a few years ago about how quickly people become blasé about the wonders of modern life, such as plane flight. His commentary came to mind after I read my colleague Wayne Ma’s story this morning about Apple’s rocky business marriage with Samsung. Among other things, the story describes how hard it is to... Comedian Louis C.K. had a smart observation a few years ago about how quickly people become blasé...

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon and Brian Millham, Chief Operating Officer at Salesforce. Photos by Bloomberg and Salesforce.

Walking Back Remote Work Won’t Woo Wall Street

By Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 2, 2023 5:00pm PST · 6 comments

Technology companies are trying a new way to please Wall Street: Promise to go back to the office. After years of extolling the value of remote work—and long after the rest of the business world has reverted to their in-office ways—tech companies are seeing if they can buck up investors by showing how much more productive they are when they... Technology companies are trying a new way to please Wall Street: Promise to go back to the...

Marc Benioff. Photo by Bloomberg.

Benioff Discovers Efficiency (and Profits)

By Martin Peers · Mar 1, 2023 5:00pm PST

Some people are easily pleased. Salesforce stock jumped 15% in after-hours trading after the enterprise software firm reported fourth-quarter results that were a little better than it had projected. Free cash flow was solid. And Salesforce announced it was doubling its stock buyback program. Wall Street will enjoy those goodies—and the... Some people are easily pleased. Salesforce stock jumped 15% in after-hours trading after the...

Elon Musk. Photo by Bloomberg.

Elon Musk’s BasedAI and the AI Culture Wars

By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 28, 2023 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

Elon Musk today confirmed our big story from yesterday that he’s been recruiting a team to build an AI and chatbot that is “anti-woke.” Jon Victor and I wrote that his aim was to build a chatbot that “would have fewer restrictions on divisive subjects compared to ChatGPT and a related chatbot Microsoft recently launched.”Today, Musk tweeted out... Elon Musk today confirmed our big story from yesterday that he’s been recruiting a team to build...

Photo by Getty Images.

Alphabet Needs to Replace Sundar Pichai

By Martin Peers · Feb 27, 2023 5:00pm PST · 2 comments

Photo by Getty Images.

Alphabet Needs to Replace Sundar Pichai

By Martin Peers · Feb 27, 2023 5:00pm PST · 2 comments

Shareholders in Alphabet are sending the company a message: It’s time for some drastic action. After a sharp slump in the past few weeks, Alphabet stock is up just 1.9% so far this year compared to the Nasdaq’s 10% rise. In contrast Facebook parent Meta Platforms, which was in the doghouse last year, has jumped 41% year to date. Alphabet and... Shareholders in Alphabet are sending the company a message: It’s time for some drastic action....

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery. Photo by Getty Images.

Warner’s Profit-First, No-Growth Streaming Strategy

By Martin Peers · Feb 23, 2023 5:00pm PST

Investors interested in the video-streaming segment can’t complain they don’t have choices. If they want to buy into a company that’s singularly focused on turning a profit in streaming, instead of trying to balance profits and growth, they can check out Warner Bros. Discovery. The parent of HBO Max and Discovery+ reported Thursday that the loss... Investors interested in the video-streaming segment can’t complain they don’t have choices. If...

Signage outside Intel headquarters in Santa Clara, California, US, on Monday, Jan. 30, 2023. Photo by Bloomberg.

Intel’s Predictable Dividend Cut

By Martin Peers · Feb 22, 2023 5:00pm PST

Intel’s other shoe dropped. Less than a month after reporting a miserable fourth quarter, in which revenue fell 32% and the chip giant lost $661 million, Intel said Wednesday it was slashing its dividend 66%. It’s a logical move given that Intel needs to spend tens of billions on new chip investments in the next few years, yet burned through $9... Intel’s other shoe dropped. Less than a month after reporting a miserable fourth quarter, in...

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. Photo by Bloomberg.

Coinbase Sets Bar Low for Long-Term Profit Goals

By Martin Peers · Feb 21, 2023 5:00pm PST

When it comes to profit goals, Brian Armstrong isn’t exactly setting the bar high. Coinbase declared today that it was abandoning the goal it laid out two years ago when it went public to operate “at break even, smoothed out over time,” so that losses sustained during crypto winters would be offset by profits made in good times. Instead,... When it comes to profit goals, Brian Armstrong isn’t exactly setting the bar high. Coinbase...

Susan Wojcicki. Photo by Bloomberg.

I Was Wrong About Susan Wojcicki

By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 16, 2023 5:00pm PST

Susan Wojcicki. Photo by Bloomberg.

I Was Wrong About Susan Wojcicki

By Jessica E. Lessin · Feb 16, 2023 5:00pm PST

I remember the day, nine years ago, when Susan Wojcicki took over as CEO of YouTube. I didn’t think it would go well. And I was wrong. As a tech reporter on the Google beat, I had known Wojcicki for a while and had followed her for even longer. She had been the 16th employee at the company—basically as closely tied to the history of Google... I remember the day, nine years ago, when Susan Wojcicki took over as CEO of YouTube. I didn’t...