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

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TikTok and the Universal Law of Internet Companies

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 11, 2022 5:00pm PDT

So, what’s next for TikTok? A phone? Stay with me for a second here. As we reported a few months ago, TikTok wants its users to buy a lot more stuff through the app. Juro reported that TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, wants to double the revenue it gets from selling goods through its Chinese video app, Douyin. TikTok, meanwhile, has big... So, what’s next for TikTok? A phone? Stay with me for a second here. As we reported a few...

Photo by Bloomberg

What the Netflix-Disney Stock Price Gap Tells Us

By Martin Peers · Oct 10, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

We’re barely a week away from the start of tech earnings season, when Netflix reports its third-quarter numbers. Investors are feeling bullish: Netflix shares have rallied 30% since mid-July, roughly when the company reported it had lost fewer subscribers in the second quarter than it had projected. That supposedly “better than expected” result... We’re barely a week away from the start of tech earnings season, when Netflix reports its...

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photo by Bloomberg.

ByteDance’s Big Marketing Bill

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

It turns out that viral tech phenomena are not so, well, viral. That was one of the big takeaways from ByteDance’s 2021 financials, reported today by The Wall Street Journal. ByteDance, which owns TikTok and a range of extraordinarily popular Chinese apps, lost more than $7 billion from its operations last year. One reason was heavy... It turns out that viral tech phenomena are not so, well, viral. That was one of the big takeaways...

Photo by Bloomberg

Forget Musk and Twitter—Microsoft’s Activision Deal Is Really What’s in Doubt

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

Photo by Bloomberg

Forget Musk and Twitter—Microsoft’s Activision Deal Is Really What’s in Doubt

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

If you had to bet on which of this year’s big tech acquisitions would fall apart, you might have thought the obvious choice was Twitter-Musk, at least before Tuesday’s news that Musk has reversed course and is willing to close. (And even now the completion of that deal isn’t certain.) But arguably a more likely candidate for deal implosion was... If you had to bet on which of this year’s big tech acquisitions would fall apart, you might have...

Photo by Bloomberg

Elon Musk Learns to Prioritize

By Jessica E. Lessin · Oct 4, 2022 5:00pm PDT

So what happened? After spending weeks preparing for a legal battle to avoid buying Twitter, Elon Musk shrugged and said, “OK, I’ll buy it”—at exactly the $44 billion price he originally offered in April. Grand speculation greeted the move—as with all things Musk—about what was really going on behind the scenes. Was this another... So what happened? After spending weeks preparing for a legal battle to avoid buying Twitter, Elon...

Photo by Bloomberg

What Poshmark’s Discounted Sale to South Korea’s Naver Tells Us

By Martin Peers · Oct 3, 2022 5:14pm PDT

News tonight that Poshmark is selling itself to South Korea’s Naver, for just $1.2 billion—less than half Poshmark’s value when it went public early last year—signals that it’s not just private equity folks taking advantage of the stock market slump to shop for more reasonably-priced companies. Naver proclaims itself as South Korea’s biggest... News tonight that Poshmark is selling itself to South Korea’s Naver, for just $1.2 billion—less...

Photo by Bloomberg

Google’s Stadia Flop and Zuckerberg’s Oh-So-Innocent AI

By Nick Wingfield · Sep 29, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

It’s finally time to pour one out for Stadia, Google’s cloud-based game-streaming service. Google on Thursday morning said in a blog post that it would begin winding down the service because it never caught on with users. Stadia’s death is another blow to Google and parent company Alphabet’s efforts to expand beyond the search engine’s core... It’s finally time to pour one out for Stadia, Google’s cloud-based game-streaming service. Google...

Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Cellular Carriers are Apple's Best Friend

By Martin Peers · Sep 28, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Cellular Carriers are Apple's Best Friend

By Martin Peers · Sep 28, 2022 5:00pm PDT

This was not a day for Apple fans. Shares of the iPhone maker dipped just over 1% even as the rest of the market rallied, after Bloomberg reported that demand for the new line of iPhones was turning out to be weaker than expected. As a result, Apple won’t make as many devices as anticipated. This is supposedly the result of belt-tightening among... This was not a day for Apple fans. Shares of the iPhone maker dipped just over 1% even as the...

Photo by Bloomberg

Tech Companies Brace for the Strongest Dollar in Decades

By Akash Pasricha · Sep 27, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Stock charts and bond graphs from the past 18 months have seen all sorts of wonkiness and volatility. But the story of the U.S. dollar is much simpler: Since the start of 2021, it has inched up, and up, and up. Today, it’s trading at its highest point in roughly 20 years. And while the venture capitalists who spent their summers in Europe... Stock charts and bond graphs from the past 18 months have seen all sorts of wonkiness and...

Art by Shane Burke.

Lessons From the Last Three Years of IPOs

By Martin Peers · Sep 26, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Talk about hangovers in the wake of initial public offerings! It’s a telling sign when you have to go back to 2019 to find a decent number of tech IPOs that are still above water. As we recounted today—and demonstrated in a cool chart—the vast majority of last year’s IPOs are underwater. The group from the year before isn’t doing much better.... Talk about hangovers in the wake of initial public offerings! It’s a telling sign when you have...

Vlad Tenev. Photo by Bloomberg.

Robinhood Isn’t Out of the Woods Just Yet

By Akash Pasricha · Sep 22, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Vlad Tenev ought to be penning a very nicely worded thank-you card to SEC Chair Gary Gensler. The commission is throwing Tenev and his fellow Robinhoodies a much needed lifeline with its decision to not ban payment for order flow, the contentious practice brokerages like Robinhood rely on to make money, according to a Bloomberg report. ... Vlad Tenev ought to be penning a very nicely worded thank-you card to SEC Chair Gary Gensler. The...

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

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

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

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

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

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...