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

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

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 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

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

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

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...

Shouzi Chew, CEO of TikTok, in February. Photo by Bloomberg

TikTok’s Ad Business Is Giving Us Déjà Vu

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

Shouzi Chew, CEO of TikTok, in February. Photo by Bloomberg

TikTok’s Ad Business Is Giving Us Déjà Vu

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

First, some news about us! I am thrilled to share that we’ve hired Karl Wells—who has been running the subscription business at Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal—as our first chief commercial officer. Joe Pompeo broke the news for Vanity Fair. I’m really proud of how we’ve driven the conversation in tech journalism these past eight and... First, some news about us! I am thrilled to share that we’ve hired Karl Wells—who has been...

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong in India in April. Photo by Bloomberg

Coinbase Takes It in the Teeth

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 9, 2022 5:01pm PDT

How is this for a head-scratcher? Gaming software maker AppLovin made an unsolicited offer to buy Unity Software in an all-stock deal worth more than $17.5 billion, with one unusual condition: Unity must abandon an existing agreement to acquire an AppLovin competitor called IronSource.I’ll buy you if you don’t buy our competitor—I suppose we... How is this for a head-scratcher? Gaming software maker AppLovin made an unsolicited offer to buy...

David Zaslav. Photo by AP.

David ‘Option Value’ Zaslav and Tech’s Misguided Quest for ‘Efficiency’

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 4, 2022 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

I have so many thoughts today, I am not sure where to begin. First, I continue to be amused by all the CEOs publicly talking about the need to make their companies and teams more “efficient” and productive. We saw it again today when Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced “Simplicity Sprints”—new ways for Googlers to reduce corporate waste. I... I have so many thoughts today, I am not sure where to begin. First, I continue to be amused by...

Photo by Bloomberg

More Tech Earnings and the ‘Duh’ Economy

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 2, 2022 5:33pm PDT

The high-flying pandemic darlings have crashed back to earth (Netflix, Zoom, Shopify). It seems only right that the companies hit worst by the pandemic should start to show signs of life again. And indeed, that’s what happened today. Uber’s ride business grew 55%. That’s wonderful news because it turns out the driver side of the business is... The high-flying pandemic darlings have crashed back to earth (Netflix, Zoom, Shopify). It seems...

Apple CEO Tim Cook in June. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple and Amazon’s Not So Horrible Day

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 28, 2022 5:05pm PDT

Apple CEO Tim Cook in June. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple and Amazon’s Not So Horrible Day

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 28, 2022 5:05pm PDT

Today was a big day of winners and losers in tech. Losers: a defensive Instagram that walked back a controversial redesign test only a day or so after defending it. (I guess the data jibed with the views of the Kardashians, who panned it.) And then there is Intel, a company that wins points for most honest reaction to a truly poor earnings... Today was a big day of winners and losers in tech. Losers: a defensive Instagram that walked back...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in May. Photo by Bloomberg

The Microsoft-Alphabet Misses That Didn’t Matter

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 26, 2022 5:49pm PDT

Two stalwarts of the tech sector—Microsoft and Google’s parent company Alphabet—found different ways to put lipstick on a pig with their financial results on Tuesday. Both companies whiffed on their financial results for the quarter ended June 30. But both of them ended up seeing their shares rise by roughly the same percentage in after-hours... Two stalwarts of the tech sector—Microsoft and Google’s parent company Alphabet—found different...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon’s Health Dreams and Snap’s Headwinds

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 21, 2022 5:00pm PDT

In a day full of headlines, this one stood out: After reporting disastrous financial results, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said he and his chief technology officer Bobby Murphy are sticking around until at least 2027. That gives them enough time to build all their drones! All kidding aside, I suppose CEOs are doing everything they can these days to... In a day full of headlines, this one stood out: After reporting disastrous financial results,...

A Netflix advertisement in New York earlier this year. Photo by Bloomberg

Hastings Said It Best: Netflix’s Quarter Was ‘Less Bad’

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 19, 2022 5:51pm PDT

Elon loses round one. On Tuesday, the billionaire was swiftly defeated in a tussle over the timing of a trial that will determine whether he should be forced to buy Twitter, with the judge greenlighting an October start date. That’s far sooner than Team Musk—which says it needs time to conduct discovery—wanted. Judge Kathaleen McCormick didn’t... Elon loses round one. On Tuesday, the billionaire was swiftly defeated in a tussle over the...

Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

Why Netflix’s Microsoft Partnership May Not Be Enough

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 14, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

Why Netflix’s Microsoft Partnership May Not Be Enough

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 14, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Seems like another founder is reading The Information! Last week, we wrote about companies slashing their internal valuations to gain a recruiting edge. And now Stripe seems to have done just that. But don’t shed a tear for the payments company and its investors just yet: The valuation a company sets for employee compensation isn’t... Seems like another founder is reading The Information! Last week, we wrote about companies...