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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Why 2023 Is Shaping Up to Be a Year of Restructurings, Sales in Tech

By Martin Peers · Nov 15, 2022 5:00pm PST · 1 comment

This has been a brutal year of fast-rising interest rates and fast-declining tech valuations, contributing to the recent cascade of mass layoffs and crypto bankruptcies. Next year, though, could be even more brutal. Money-losing companies that need to raise capital may find themselves running out of options: The pressure to sell may get more... This has been a brutal year of fast-rising interest rates and fast-declining tech valuations,...

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The Moment Tech’s D.C. Opponents Have Been Waiting For

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 14, 2022 5:00pm PST

Talk about blood in the water. Washington, D.C., regulators and lawmakers have been chomping at the bit to put Silicon Valley in its place for years—and the moment they’ve been waiting for has finally arrived. The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are tripping over themselves to investigate FTX CEO Sam... Talk about blood in the water. Washington, D.C., regulators and lawmakers have been chomping at...

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Musk’s Cure Is Making Twitter Sicker

By Martin Peers · Nov 10, 2022 5:00pm PST · 2 comments

Elon Musk certainly dodged a bullet when it comes to Sam Bankman-Fried. Those paying attention might remember that text messages unearthed in the Twitter litigation showed Bankman-Fried’s adviser suggesting to Musk in March that the FTX founder could easily invest up to $8 billion—and up to $15 billion “with financing”—in a joint Twitter... Elon Musk certainly dodged a bullet when it comes to Sam Bankman-Fried. Those paying attention...

Photo by Bloomberg.

What Tech People Should Learn From This Era of Excess

By Martin Peers · Nov 9, 2022 5:00pm PST

Photo by Bloomberg.

What Tech People Should Learn From This Era of Excess

By Martin Peers · Nov 9, 2022 5:00pm PST

Tech people love to talk about their “learnings” (presumably because they think that term sounds more innovative than “lessons.”) And tech folks sure have learned a lot of learnings this past week, particularly about assessing future growth and being more careful with how they spend money. That applies both to venture investors, a few of whom... Tech people love to talk about their “learnings” (presumably because they think that term sounds...

Sam Bankman-Fried. Photo by Bloomberg.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s Late-Night Move and How the FTX House Crumbled

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 8, 2022 5:02pm PST · 4 comments

Late last night, Sam Bankman-Fried sent a message he never thought he would send. He reached out to rival Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, CEO of crypto trading platform Binance and asked him if he would buy—and save—FTX, a person close to the deal told me. By early in the morning Pacific time, he had his answer. He would be selling his startup,... Late last night, Sam Bankman-Fried sent a message he never thought he would send. He reached out...

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Meta Could Be Taking a Page From Microsoft’s Age-Old Playbook

By Martin Peers · Nov 7, 2022 5:00pm PST

Investors like pink slips. Meta Platforms’ stock price bounced 6.5% today on news of impending mass layoffs at the social media giant. The rally likely reflects how cheap Meta stock has gotten—the low it hit last Thursday of $88.91 was 74% below where it started the year. Investors may also think layoffs mean Meta is listening to their concerns... Investors like pink slips. Meta Platforms’ stock price bounced 6.5% today on news of impending...

Patrick Collision. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Truth About Tech Layoffs

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 3, 2022 5:34pm PDT · 5 comments

Today, tech layoffs accelerated as Stripe slashed 1,000 jobs, or 14% of its workforce, and Lyft and Affirm joined the fray. The flood will continue tomorrow if Elon Musk slashes Twitter’s employee count in half, as he is expected to do. The first big takeaway from the massive recalibrations going on is that leaders dramatically... Today, tech layoffs accelerated as Stripe slashed 1,000 jobs, or 14% of its workforce, and Lyft...

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Ripple Effects of Tech Layoffs Will Sink In Soon

By Martin Peers · Nov 2, 2022 5:05pm PDT

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Ripple Effects of Tech Layoffs Will Sink In Soon

By Martin Peers · Nov 2, 2022 5:05pm PDT

Be happy if you’re a tech worker with a job. More and more people in the industry are losing theirs. Today alone, The Information reported that online banking startup Chime was cutting 12% of its workforce and Bloomberg reported that Opendoor slashed 18% of its headcount. Those cuts follow other layoffs in recent days instituted by recruiting... Be happy if you’re a tech worker with a job. More and more people in the industry are losing...

The Wrong Way to Look at Twitter’s Subscription Business

The Wrong Way to Look at Twitter’s Subscription Business

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 1, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 6 comments

Hell hath frozen over. Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk said publicly today that the company cannot be supported solely by advertising, and he tweeted new details about its subscription plans. What to me seems like a fairly run-of-the-mill business question—how to get more money from users who might be willing to pay you more—is apparently a... Hell hath frozen over. Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk said publicly today that the company cannot...

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Musk’s Management of Twitter May Catch Meta’s and Alphabet’s Attention

By Martin Peers · Oct 31, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Elon Musk is certainly giving big tech a lesson in how to manage decisively. It’s only been four days since he took control of Twitter, but he is reportedly poised to instigate mass layoffs while he simultaneously orders the pursuit of all manner of new business ideas, such as charging users for the privilege of having “verified” status, as The... Elon Musk is certainly giving big tech a lesson in how to manage decisively. It’s only been four...

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Google’s Pain Is Amazon’s Gain

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 27, 2022 5:00pm PDT

They say downturns provide opportunities for those ready to seize them. And to see how, look no further than Amazon’s very healthy ads business. In the most recent quarter, when marketers pulled back from Google, Meta and just about everywhere else, Amazon grew its advertising business 25%. It’s now at an annualized run rate of almost $40... They say downturns provide opportunities for those ready to seize them. And to see how, look no...

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On Metaverse Spending, Zuckerberg Doesn’t Care What Critics Say

By Martin Peers · Oct 26, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

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On Metaverse Spending, Zuckerberg Doesn’t Care What Critics Say

By Martin Peers · Oct 26, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Mark Zuckerberg has a message to all his metaverse critics out there: He doesn’t care what you think. Not only is he not cutting back on augmented and virtual reality investments to take account of the economic slump, he plans to spend even more money! In reporting third-quarter earnings Wednesday, Facebook owner Meta Platforms—showing a... Mark Zuckerberg has a message to all his metaverse critics out there: He doesn’t care what you...

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Google’s Head-Scratcher, Microsoft’s Slowing Azure

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 25, 2022 5:28pm PDT

So much for doing more with less. Alphabet, one of the many tech giants that has been discussing the need to be more efficient, still spent a lot in its most recent quarter, which ended up hurting them. Google’s parent company reported a big 19% drop in operating profit for its third quarter on Tuesday as it continued to hire heavily and... So much for doing more with less. Alphabet, one of the many tech giants that has been discussing...

Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Altimeter’s Meta Manifesto Says About Investor Attitudes to Big Tech

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

It’s no fun being a Big Tech executive nowadays. Not only do they have antitrust regulators breathing down their necks, now investors are beginning to complain about their spending! Today, for instance, Altimeter Capital’s Brad Gerstner published an open letter to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg calling for him to reduce staffing by at least... It’s no fun being a Big Tech executive nowadays. Not only do they have antitrust regulators...

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Snap Delivers Downbeat Q4 Outlook

By Martin Peers · Oct 20, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Yes, folks, it seems the economy really is deteriorating. After weeks of downbeat economic forecasts—including from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos—Snap’s third-quarter earnings Thursday provided some specifics. Snap reported 6% revenue growth for the quarter—half the rate of the second quarter, and a fraction of the first-quarter growth rate. Snap had... Yes, folks, it seems the economy really is deteriorating. After weeks of downbeat economic...

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The Logic of a Microsoft-Netflix Deal Is Growing

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

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The Logic of a Microsoft-Netflix Deal Is Growing

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

If you watched Netflix’s quarterly earnings analyst call on Tuesday night, you might have caught an interesting comment from Chief Operating Officer Greg Peters. One of the main reasons Netflix picked Microsoft as the company to handle the tech side of its new advertising sales effort, Peters said, was that “we felt like we were highly... If you watched Netflix’s quarterly earnings analyst call on Tuesday night, you might have caught...

Starboard Value CEO Jeffrey Smith. Photo by Bloomberg

Salesforce’s Wake-Up Call Was Long Overdue

By Akash Pasricha · Oct 18, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Jeffrey Smith might be just the jolt Salesforce needs. The CEO of Starboard Value told CNBC Tuesday that his activist investor hedge fund had taken a significant stake in Salesforce, noting that the cloud software company could do much better in the way of growth and profitability. Activists don’t always get things right, but in this case, Smith... Jeffrey Smith might be just the jolt Salesforce needs. The CEO of Starboard Value told CNBC...

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Tech Disruptors Lose Their Luster

By Martin Peers · Oct 17, 2022 5:00pm PDT

If you’ve closed your eyes lately to the constant gyrations in the stock market, you might have missed some interesting trends in valuations. One we’ve observed lately is how a number of older companies, in fields such as ad-supported media, retail, personal lending and shoes, are now trading at a premium to the venture-backed firms that were... If you’ve closed your eyes lately to the constant gyrations in the stock market, you might have...

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Netflix Fast Forwards To Ads

By Martin Peers · Oct 13, 2022 5:00pm PDT

When it comes to moving fast, the old entertainment folks just can’t beat Netflix. The streaming giant said today it was launching its ad-supported tier of service on Nov. 1 in Mexico and Canada, and then in the U.S. two days later. That’s barely six months after CEO Reed Hastings interrupted an earnings call to reveal his willingness to... When it comes to moving fast, the old entertainment folks just can’t beat Netflix. The streaming...

Photo by Bloomberg

Apple’s Mixed-Reality Plans Have Mark Zuckerberg Sweating

By Martin Peers · Oct 12, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Photo by Bloomberg

Apple’s Mixed-Reality Plans Have Mark Zuckerberg Sweating

By Martin Peers · Oct 12, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

You have to hand it to Mark Zuckerberg. He has managed to change the conversation around his company—from the noxious effects of social media to his hugely ambitious metaverse plans. This week in particular he rode a wave of publicity around Meta’s upcoming new high-end virtual reality headset. There are plenty of skeptics about his metaverse... You have to hand it to Mark Zuckerberg. He has managed to change the conversation around his...