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

Apple's new Mac laptop. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple’s Mac Renaissance

By Martin Peers · Jan 27, 2022 5:19pm PST

For a company as routinely successful as Apple, continued success can get repetitive. Tonight’s earnings call, for instance, was so full of the usual hyperbole about record revenues that Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri repeated a segment of his commentary without missing a beat. But within the eye-glazing recitations of Apple’s various... For a company as routinely successful as Apple, continued success can get repetitive. Tonight’s...

Neil Young. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Neil Young’s Protest Means to Spotify

By Martin Peers · Jan 26, 2022 5:00pm PST · 2 comments

You can be a huge fan of Neil Young (guilty!) but still acknowledge that his decision to pull his music off Spotify, in a protest over its hosting of Joe Rogan, probably won’t cause millions of people to cancel their Spotify accounts. Yes, Spotify subscribers could switch to Apple. Given the likely age of the 76-year-old rocker’s typical fan,... You can be a huge fan of Neil Young (guilty!) but still acknowledge that his decision to pull his...

Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Pinterest and Peloton Have in Common

By Martin Peers · Jan 25, 2022 5:00pm PST

Here’s a thought experiment: How would Pinterest or Peloton be doing today if they weren’t controlled by their co-founders? Both companies appear to be in disarray—Pinterest is losing users and lately a string of executives, as The Information scooped today. Peloton’s challenges…well, let’s just say they’ve been well chronicled. Both companies... Here’s a thought experiment: How would Pinterest or Peloton be doing today if they weren’t...

Peloton executives when the company went public in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg.

Tech Stock Slump Hits 2021 Stock Comp

By Martin Peers · Jan 24, 2022 5:00pm PST

Peloton executives when the company went public in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg.

Tech Stock Slump Hits 2021 Stock Comp

By Martin Peers · Jan 24, 2022 5:00pm PST

Tech company managers have some interesting compensation discussions coming up with their direct reports, thanks to the bear market affecting much of tech. If those subordinates receive annual awards of stock or options, they’ll very likely hear both good and bad news. The good news is that grants made this year will have lots of upside as the... Tech company managers have some interesting compensation discussions coming up with their direct...

A trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Photo by Bloomberg

Netflix Stock Slump Drags Down TV Stocks

By Martin Peers · Jan 21, 2022 5:00pm PST

Greetings!Another day, another market sell-off. And things are getting a little indiscriminate. Take today’s 5% to 7% drop in the stocks of Disney, Discovery and ViacomCBS, apparently triggered by a 22% plunge in the price of Netflix. It’s a little like a teacher punishing an entire class for the misdeeds of one student. Penalizing TV stocks for... Greetings!Another day, another market sell-off. And things are getting a little indiscriminate....

Peloton bikes in a company store. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Apple Will Buy Peloton

By Martin Peers · Jan 20, 2022 5:00pm PST · 4 comments

Tim Cook, please call Peloton’s head office. Today’s CNBC scoop that Peloton has temporarily halted production of its bikes and treadmills feels like the prelude to an acquisition of the troubled fitness equipment maker. Surely Apple must be the obvious buyer if it comes to that. Judging by Peloton’s 24% stock plunge today to $24.22—85% below... Tim Cook, please call Peloton’s head office. Today’s CNBC scoop that Peloton has temporarily...

A trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month. Photo by Bloomberg.

Nasdaq’s Belated Correction

By Martin Peers · Jan 19, 2022 5:00pm PST

The big news this afternoon was that the Nasdaq’s sell-off put it in “correction territory,” Wall Street lingo for a drop of more than 10%, since the tech-heavy index hit a high in mid-November of 16,057. In reality, declaring a correction today is akin to a baby boomer discovering last week that TikTok is a big deal. Many tech stocks have... The big news this afternoon was that the Nasdaq’s sell-off put it in “correction territory,” Wall...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Bloomberg.

Microsoft’s Big Activision Bet

By Martin Peers · Jan 18, 2022 5:00pm PST

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Bloomberg.

Microsoft’s Big Activision Bet

By Martin Peers · Jan 18, 2022 5:00pm PST

Bobby Kotick could be the star in a fun new videogame we’ll call The Great Escape: how a CEO extricates himself from a scandal over his handling of sexual harassment allegations by selling his company. Not only does the Activision Blizzard CEO get to keep his job until the deal closes—at least a year from now—but the value of his stock just rose... Bobby Kotick could be the star in a fun new videogame we’ll call The Great Escape: how a CEO...

Netflix's Reed Hastings. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Netflix Risks With Its Latest Price Hike

By Martin Peers · Jan 14, 2022 5:00pm PST

Netflix is raising prices—again—to as much as $20 a month. Yes, while the video-streaming pioneer may have improved a lot on the cable television experience—no ads!—it’s copying one of cable’s worst habits: regular price hikes. Today’s increase is the third time in just the past three years that Netflix has raised prices in the U.S. The service’... Netflix is raising prices—again—to as much as $20 a month. Yes, while the video-streaming pioneer...

Jonah Peretti. Photo by Bloomberg.

BuzzFeed’s Stock Plunge Has Gone (a Little) Too Far

By Martin Peers · Jan 13, 2022 5:00pm PST

This has to be a tough time to be Jonah Peretti. The BuzzFeed CEO’s reputation as a media visionary is looking more than a little battered since the public listing of his digital media firm. No one would enjoy watching their stock drop 54% in five weeks—but it must be worse for Peretti, a high-profile executive whose company’s public debut was... This has to be a tough time to be Jonah Peretti. The BuzzFeed CEO’s reputation as a media...

Apps on an iPhone. Photo by Bloomberg.

Tapping About My Generation

By Martin Peers · Jan 12, 2022 5:00pm PST

Anyone who’s raised a teenager knows they like to leave the house without a decent jacket, regardless of whether it’s raining or cold. That probably explains why there’s no weather app listed among the top apps for Gen Zers—young people don’t want to know if it’s going to rain. In contrast, the Weather Channel ranks at the top of apps most... Anyone who’s raised a teenager knows they like to leave the house without a decent jacket,...

Meta's headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg.

What FTC’s Meta Victory Means

By Martin Peers · Jan 11, 2022 5:01pm PST

Meta's headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg.

What FTC’s Meta Victory Means

By Martin Peers · Jan 11, 2022 5:01pm PST

The biggest story of today may seem the least surprising. A judge allowed the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against Facebook—now called Meta Platforms—to proceed. This is news, given that the same judge tossed the FTC’s original complaint out of court last summer, in one of the more embarrassing moments of recent regulatory... The biggest story of today may seem the least surprising. A judge allowed the Federal Trade...

Zynga's San Francisco headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg.

Zynga Deal Signals M&A Wave to Come

By Martin Peers · Jan 10, 2022 5:00pm PST

Looking for a bargain? Try the tech and media aisles of your local stock market. With lots of fast-growing stocks down 60% from their 2021 highs, acquisitions are likely to come back into vogue. We got a glimpse of what’s to come today with Take-Two Interactive Software’s $12.7 billion proposed acquisition of mobile gaming outfit Zynga. The... Looking for a bargain? Try the tech and media aisles of your local stock market. With lots of...

Traders on the New York Stock Exchange this week. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Discovery’s Rally Says About the Market

By Martin Peers · Jan 7, 2022 4:01pm PST

You know something’s screwy on Wall Street when shares of Discovery, the TV company due to merge with WarnerMedia later this year, rise 17% in one day, as they did today. While the rally was ostensibly sparked by a bullish analyst report, a bigger factor is undoubtedly the general market environment. High-growth tech stocks are no longer the... You know something’s screwy on Wall Street when shares of Discovery, the TV company due to merge...

New York Times Co CEO Meredith Kopit Levien. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Buying The Athletic Says About NYT

By Martin Peers · Jan 6, 2022 5:00pm PST

Folks throughout traditional media should take heart from The New York Times Co.’s $550 million purchase of The Athletic today. The deal crystallizes The Times’ remarkable recovery from the dark days of the 2008 financial crisis, which accelerated a dismantling of a onetime print-and-TV empire into a single newspaper. A dozen years ago, you... Folks throughout traditional media should take heart from The New York Times Co.’s $550 million...

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in November. Photo by Bloomberg.

2021’s Mammoth Venture Year

By Martin Peers · Jan 5, 2022 5:00pm PST

Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in November. Photo by Bloomberg.

2021’s Mammoth Venture Year

By Martin Peers · Jan 5, 2022 5:00pm PST

The final numbers for 2021 venture capital investments are in—and it was a whopper of a year. Crunchbase reported today that global venture funding nearly doubled last year to $643 billion compared to 2020. In tech, an industry that loves superlatives, that’s a truly astounding increase. Total venture funding had hovered around $300 billion for... The final numbers for 2021 venture capital investments are in—and it was a whopper of a year. ...

Adam Neumann. Photo by Bloomberg.

Adam Neumann's Return

By Martin Peers · Jan 4, 2022 5:00pm PST

Talk about Teflon coated. Adam Neumann, the WeWork co-founder who made hundreds of millions from his train wreck of a company, is building a new real estate empire, according to The Wall Street Journal. Just imagine how the shareholders and (mostly former) employees of WeWork are feeling about that news!According to The Journal’s report, Neumann... Talk about Teflon coated. Adam Neumann, the WeWork co-founder who made hundreds of millions from...

Elizabeth Holmes. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Elizabeth Holmes Shouldn’t Go to Prison

By Martin Peers · Jan 3, 2022 5:09pm PST · 36 comments

Finally! It shouldn’t be a surprise that a jury found Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes guilty this afternoon on four charges of fraud and conspiracy. It was obviously hard for jurors to look past evidence that, for example, Holmes had doctored paperwork by adding the logos of pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer to suggest they were... Finally! It shouldn’t be a surprise that a jury found Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes guilty...

Apple CEO Tim Cook at an AirPods production line with Luxshare CEO Grace Wang (standing behind Cook) in 2017. Photo by Luxshare

Designed by Apple: Female Billionaires; Tech Stocks’ Best and Worst

By Amir Efrati · Dec 30, 2021 5:12pm PST · 2 comments

Apple has created a lot of wealth for executives whose companies supply components and manufacturing services for its products, most notably Taiwan-based Foxconn and TSMC. One of the lesser known beneficiaries, Luxshare, and its CEO Grace Wang take center stage in Wayne’s excellent piece today about Apple getting cozy with Chinese suppliers as a... Apple has created a lot of wealth for executives whose companies supply components and...

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook-parent Meta Platforms. Photo: Bloomberg

Meta’s Facebook Deepens Partisan Lines; What Waymo Didn’t Say

By Laura Mandaro · Dec 29, 2021 6:11pm PST

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook-parent Meta Platforms. Photo: Bloomberg

Meta’s Facebook Deepens Partisan Lines; What Waymo Didn’t Say

By Laura Mandaro · Dec 29, 2021 6:11pm PST

For several years, Facebook has been in bad graces with Democrat policymakers, who blamed the company, recently renamed Meta Platforms, for securing Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential win by allowing Russian operatives to run riot on the social network. Two stories in the past week on Meta’s Washington operations suggest this distrust won’t go... For several years, Facebook has been in bad graces with Democrat policymakers, who blamed the...