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

Robert Kyncl. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Kyncl’s Jump to Warner Music Says About Music’s Prospects

By Martin Peers · Sep 21, 2022 5:00pm PDT

If Robert Kyncl’s career is an indication of which part of the entertainment industry is about to take off, then maybe we should put our life savings into a music company. Kyncl—who spent the past decade as a senior executive at the YouTube rocket ship and earlier worked at Netflix—was on Wednesday named CEO of Warner Music Group. Warner, owner... If Robert Kyncl’s career is an indication of which part of the entertainment industry is about to...

Chamath Palihapitiya. Photo by Bloomberg.

Chamath’s Pullback is a Sign of What's to Come for SPACs

By Akash Pasricha · Sep 20, 2022 5:00pm PDT

The debate is done: the SPAC fad is over. Chamath Palihapitiya, one of the biggest promoters of special purpose acquisition companies in recent years, is shuttering two of his SPACs and will be returning the money to investors. Palihapitiya, who merged SPACs with businesses such as Virgin Galactic, Opendoor and SoFi, couldn’t find any attractive... The debate is done: the SPAC fad is over. Chamath Palihapitiya, one of the biggest promoters of...

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo. Photo by Bloomberg

The Ugly Reality of Instacart’s IPO Plans

By Martin Peers · Sep 19, 2022 5:00pm PDT

After the caning tech stocks have suffered this year, it’s understandable that few companies are looking to brave the public markets right now. An exception is apparently Instacart, which, according to The Wall Street Journal today, seems determined to go public soon come hell or high water. It may have a good reason—The Journal’s report said... After the caning tech stocks have suffered this year, it’s understandable that few companies are...

Here's Dylan Field, Figma CEO. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Real Rationale Behind Adobe’s Figma Acquisition

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 15, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Here's Dylan Field, Figma CEO. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Real Rationale Behind Adobe’s Figma Acquisition

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 15, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Earlier this week, I asked our team for a copy of the slides for our annual Women in Tech, Media and Finance event and waited for a PowerPoint in my inbox. But instead of a slide deck, our team sent me a link to the slides using the design program Figma.I asked why we had switched up our methods (especially because Figma was designed for web... Earlier this week, I asked our team for a copy of the slides for our annual Women in Tech, Media...

Photo by Bloomberg

Twilio Learns to Like ‘Profitable Growth’; Google’s Cuts

By Martin Peers · Sep 14, 2022 5:01pm PDT

This is the year of corporate mea culpas, there’s no doubt about it. Twilio, the enterprise software firm best known for its messaging product, became the latest to acknowledge the errors of its ways when it unveiled plans today to cut 11% of its workforce. Twilio, said CEO Jeff Lawson, grew “too fast” in the past couple of years. His words... This is the year of corporate mea culpas, there’s no doubt about it. Twilio, the enterprise...

Photo by Getty Images.

Which Digital Ad Businesses Work—and Which Don’t

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 13, 2022 5:08pm PDT

Here’s a puzzle. The economy has tanked. The digital ad business is in chaos, with new regulations and technology that make tracking customers much harder. Ad budgets are getting slashed and everyone is…launching advertising businesses? Roblox, an online gaming platform, announced it’s doing so. Netflix is also prepping its high-profile... Here’s a puzzle. The economy has tanked. The digital ad business is in chaos, with new...

Photo by Bloomberg.

What Tech’s Growing Anti-TikTok Sentiment Reveals

By Martin Peers · Sep 12, 2022 5:00pm PDT

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about what Snap CEO Evan Spiegel didn’t anticipate. Last week, he told employees, according to The Verge, that he hadn’t anticipated the extent to which interest rates would rise (really?). Also last week, speaking at the Code conference, he said ”nobody” in the U.S. had anticipated ByteDance would spend billions... We’ve been hearing a lot lately about what Snap CEO Evan Spiegel didn’t anticipate. Last week, he...

Photo by Bloomberg

Lyft’s Future in the Spotlight

By Martin Peers · Sep 8, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Photo by Bloomberg

Lyft’s Future in the Spotlight

By Martin Peers · Sep 8, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Are Lyft’s days as an independent public company numbered? Shares of the No. 2 U.S. ride-hailing firm jumped 17% today on social media chatter that General Motors might be contemplating what would be its second run at the firm. GM declined to comment, understandably, but the idea isn’t crazy. In fact, my colleague Amir Efrati, who knows this... Are Lyft’s days as an independent public company numbered? Shares of the No. 2 U.S. ride-hailing...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Flaw in Apple’s Safety-Focused Marketing Push

By Martin Peers · Sep 7, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 5 comments

How do you make a must-have device like an iPhone feel even more essential? If you’re Apple, you shoot a cool video showing people stranded on a mountaintop, using their trusty iPhone to communicate via satellite with a rescue helicopter. The satellite connectivity feature was one of the big new additions to the iPhone franchise, unveiled today... How do you make a must-have device like an iPhone feel even more essential? If you’re Apple, you...

Photo by Bloomberg

Instagram Takes an Ax to E-Commerce

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 6, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Imagine that you’re taking care of a tree—and all of a sudden it starts sprouting new limbs. And little by little those limbs start to suck more resources away from the heart of the tree. Then the main trunk gets hit with, I dunno, a big rock and all of a sudden is very weak. What do you do? You start chopping off those branches one by one... Imagine that you’re taking care of a tree—and all of a sudden it starts sprouting new limbs. And...

Photo by Bloomberg.

What Shopify and Snap Have in Common

By Martin Peers · Sep 1, 2022 5:00pm PDT

It’s been a bad week to be a mid-size tech firm. News broke today that Shopify is telling its merchants not to use Amazon’s Buy with Prime feature, which lets online stores use Amazon Prime’s speedy shipping service. The news signals that those at Shopify opposing integration with Amazon’s new service won an internal debate we previously... It’s been a bad week to be a mid-size tech firm. News broke today that Shopify is telling its...

Photo by Bloomberg.

Media Versus Time

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 31, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Photo by Bloomberg.

Media Versus Time

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 31, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Beneath the news of Snap’s massive layoff and cutbacks is a far bigger story that’s well worth paying attention to: The mania around original short-video programming is officially over. Let’s not forget one big nail in that coffin: Quibi, of course, which raised some $1.75 billion against the thesis that people wanted to watch "Game of... Beneath the news of Snap’s massive layoff and cutbacks is a far bigger story that’s well worth...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Bloomberg.

Snap Cracks, a YouTube Exec Bounces

By Martin Peers · Aug 30, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Snap! News today that Snap is laying off 20% of its workforce, and that two of its top ad executives are defecting to Netflix, represents a major setback for Evan Spiegel’s messaging app. After posting gangbusters growth last year in particular, it feels like Snap has slipped back into its dark days of 2018. Back then, Snap stock fell as low as... Snap! News today that Snap is laying off 20% of its workforce, and that two of its top ad...

Photo by Bloomberg

The Marketing Theory Behind Apple’s T-Mobile Deal

By Martin Peers · Aug 29, 2022 5:00pm PDT

If you’re still paying full freight for your streaming video services, perhaps you need to examine your life choices—or at least your choice of a cellular provider. News today that T-Mobile’s best customers will get free access to Apple TV+ is a good reminder of just how much the streaming video sector has become a marketing tool for telecom... If you’re still paying full freight for your streaming video services, perhaps you need to...

Photo by Bloomberg.

The U.S.-China Headline That’s Not All Bad News

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 25, 2022 5:00pm PDT

We listened to Mark Zuckerberg’s three-hour interview with Joe Rogan so you don’t have to. In short: New virtual reality products are coming in October. It might be a tall task for Meta Platforms’ VR headsets to recreate all the running, fencing, surfing, wrestling, jujitsuing and hydrofoiling the Meta co-founder and CEO tells Rogan he... We listened to Mark Zuckerberg’s three-hour interview with Joe Rogan so you don’t have to. In...

Art by Shane Burke.

Peloton’s Amazon Deal Could Be Prelude to Acquisition

By Martin Peers · Aug 24, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Art by Shane Burke.

Peloton’s Amazon Deal Could Be Prelude to Acquisition

By Martin Peers · Aug 24, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Peloton may have found its white knight. The fitness equipment maker’s decision to start selling its bike and other accessories through Amazon could be a first step toward Amazon buying the entire company. Certainly that seems to be investors’ interpretation—how else can one explain the 20% lift Peloton stock got on the news? Peloton management... Peloton may have found its white knight. The fitness equipment maker’s decision to start selling...

Peiter "Mudge" Zatko at a Stripe keynote in 2019. Photo courtesy of YouTube.

Musk Welcomes a Whistleblower

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 23, 2022 6:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Of the many things that can be said about Elon Musk, one that I often return to is that he is really a CEO for the people. By that, I mean he’s an executive whose image is perpetually shaped and bolstered by the masses who adore him, look up to him or are in other ways obsessed by him. And so it is somewhat fitting that he appeared to... Of the many things that can be said about Elon Musk, one that I often return to is that he is...

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in June. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon’s M&A Blitz Presents Challenges for FTC

By Martin Peers · Aug 22, 2022 5:00pm PDT

We’re learning how Amazon plans to deal with Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan’s anti–tech acquisition policy—by striking so many deals that the FTC will have a hard time fighting them all. You could call it the whack-a-mole M&A strategy. That’s one interpretation of Sunday’s news that Amazon is a bidder for Signify Health, a health... We’re learning how Amazon plans to deal with Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan’s anti–tech...

Sequoia Capital's office in Menlo Park, Calif.

Sequoia, Andreessen and Bessemer’s Beating and Snap’s Selfie Drone

By Nick Wingfield · Aug 18, 2022 5:25pm PDT

Is anybody else pumped for some appointment streaming this weekend? The first episode of HBO’s “House of Dragon,” the hotly anticipated prequel series to “Game of Thrones,” premieres Sunday night. Then, 12 days later, Amazon will debut its own fantasy series, “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” on Sept. 2. It’s fair to say HBO and... Is anybody else pumped for some appointment streaming this weekend? The first episode of HBO’s “...

Photo by Bloomberg

Why Prices Do—and Should—Go Up

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 16, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Photo by Bloomberg

Why Prices Do—and Should—Go Up

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 16, 2022 5:00pm PDT

I had a lot of fun chatting this afternoon with The Information corporate subscribers who participated in our predictions call for the second half of 2022. Amir, Laura, Meredith and I covered a lot of ground on what we expect with tech initial public offerings, debt deals, new headwinds in crypto regulations and enterprise spending. If you... I had a lot of fun chatting this afternoon with The Information corporate subscribers who...