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

Disney's Burbank studio. Photo by Bloomberg

Disney’s Hulu Deserves More Respect

By Martin Peers · Aug 12, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Disney’s quarterly earnings tonight made clear that the company’s flagship streaming service Disney+ is getting most of its growth out of cut-priced Asian markets such as India. That’s a long term problem for the entertainment giant, which has to figure out a way to get Disney+ growing more strongly in richer, more lucrative markets, most... Disney’s quarterly earnings tonight made clear that the company’s flagship streaming service...

A DoorDash delivery person. Photo by Bloomberg

What Instacart’s Failed Deal Outreach Reveals

By Martin Peers · Aug 11, 2021 5:00pm PDT

It’s becoming clear that Instacart over the past six months or so has been a company in an almost constant state of turmoil. Our story today that Instacart initiated talks both with DoorDash—looking for a merger—and Uber—looking for a sales partnership—is an extraordinary insight into the challenges Instacart faces.We already knew that Instacart... It’s becoming clear that Instacart over the past six months or so has been a company in an almost...

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Photo by Bloomberg

SoftBank’s Son Doubles Down on Personal Risk Exposure

By Martin Peers · Aug 10, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Investing in tech is, by definition, a risky endeavor, given the high failure rate of new enterprises. But SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, whose tolerance for risk has always been unusually high, is doubling down on his personal exposure. Son revealed on Tuesday that he plans to invest $2.6 billion personally in the company’s Vision Fund 2, which he... Investing in tech is, by definition, a risky endeavor, given the high failure rate of new...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Unsurprising Reality Behind the Apple Privacy Storm

By Martin Peers · Aug 9, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg.

The Unsurprising Reality Behind the Apple Privacy Storm

By Martin Peers · Aug 9, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Nuance and complexity don’t translate well in today’s news media, so you can reliably bet that any time a complicated story is dominating the headlines, some key facts are astray. Witness the Apple child safety controversy of the past few days. Based on an Apple’s memo today, and a more thoughtful analysis published by Apple-watcher John Gruber,... Nuance and complexity don’t translate well in today’s news media, so you can reliably bet that...

Epic CEO Tim Sweeney. Photo by Bloomberg

Epic’s Disingenuous Google Claims

By Martin Peers · Aug 6, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney knows how to play to the crowd. In a court filing unsealed Thursday night related to Epic’s lawsuit against Google—initiated around the same time that Epic went after Apple last year—Epic makes the sure-to-generate-headlines assertion that Google had “contemplated buying some or all of Epic to squelch” the threat posed... Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney knows how to play to the crowd. In a court filing unsealed Thursday...

South Park's creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Photo by AP

ViacomCBS’ South Park Decision Shows Industry’s Muddled Strategy

By Martin Peers · Aug 5, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Most big TV companies are now squarely in the streaming game. But no one can accuse them of abandoning their buddies in the traditional cable world. Take ViacomCBS, which proudly announced today it had renewed its deal with the makers of “South Park” for several new seasons of that hit animated series, to run on… you guessed it, the decades-old... Most big TV companies are now squarely in the streaming game. But no one can accuse them of...

Instacart's new president, former Facebooker Carolyn Everson

Facebookers Crowd Instacart's C-Suite With Big Ad Plans

By Martin Peers · Aug 4, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Facebook staff’s takeover of Instacart appears to be complete. The grocery delivery service’s hiring Wednesday of former Facebook exec Carolyn Everson as president means that three key positions at the grocery delivery service are held by former Facebookers, including the CEO and COO roles. And that doesn’t count the more than 50 others hired... Facebook staff’s takeover of Instacart appears to be complete. The grocery delivery service’s...

A Lyft drivers hub in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg

Lyft’s Pandemic Is Far From Over

By Martin Peers · Aug 3, 2021 5:04pm PDT · 1 comment

A Lyft drivers hub in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg

Lyft’s Pandemic Is Far From Over

By Martin Peers · Aug 3, 2021 5:04pm PDT · 1 comment

After the rush of the advertising-based internet firms reporting blockbuster growth, we’re coming down to earth this week with the ride-sharing companies Lyft and Uber reporting their second-quarter results. The verdict, at least so far: meh. Lyft went first today, reporting 125% growth in revenue from last year’s pandemic-crushed second... After the rush of the advertising-based internet firms reporting blockbuster growth, we’re coming...

Square's Jack Dorsey. Photo by Bloomberg

What Dorsey’s Square Deal for Afterpay Means For Affirm

By Martin Peers · Aug 2, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Affirm CEO Max Levchin owes Jack Dorsey big time. Just two weeks ago, news that Apple was working on an Affirm-like buy-now-pay-later consumer service sent Affirm shares plunging 14%. Today, after Dorsey’s Square unveiled plans to buy Affirm’s bigger rival, Australia-based Afterpay, Affirm’s stock jumped back 15%. Competition from Square cancels... Affirm CEO Max Levchin owes Jack Dorsey big time. Just two weeks ago, news that Apple was working...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Bloomberg.

Microsoft’s Dubious Cloud Growth Tactic

By Martin Peers · Jul 30, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 4 comments

One of the more eyebrow-raising stories of this week, in a week full of big tech news, was that Microsoft is considering investing in India-based hotel chain Oyo. If true—and Microsoft declined to comment on the report, which appeared first in TechCrunch—it would be a truly bizarre use of the software giant’s cash resources. Forget, for a... One of the more eyebrow-raising stories of this week, in a week full of big tech news, was that...

Robinhood co founders Baiju Bhatt, left, and Vladimir Tenev, walk on Wall Street following their company's IPO. Photo by AP

Robinhood’s Dismal Opening Is a Telling Sign

By Martin Peers · Jul 29, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

The stock market may be at record highs, but there were plenty of red lights flashing today. The most glaring of these would have to be the dismal opening day performance of Robinhood, the company most obviously associated with the post-Covid bull market. After pricing at the bottom end of its preliminary range, the stock fell sharply shortly... The stock market may be at record highs, but there were plenty of red lights flashing today. The...

FTC Chair Lina Khan. Photo by Bloomberg

FTC’s Khan Accuses Big Tech of Promoting Fraud, Targets S. 230

By Martin Peers · Jul 28, 2021 5:02pm PDT

FTC Chair Lina Khan. Photo by Bloomberg

FTC’s Khan Accuses Big Tech of Promoting Fraud, Targets S. 230

By Martin Peers · Jul 28, 2021 5:02pm PDT

Lina Khan ratcheted up the rhetoric against big tech on Wednesday, accusing digital platforms owned by “some of the world’s largest companies” of promoting fraud. Gee, who could the FTC chair be talking about? What she said next should make it clear, if there was any doubt: “Business models singularly focused on scale and engagement coupled with... Lina Khan ratcheted up the rhetoric against big tech on Wednesday, accusing digital platforms...

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg.

Big Tech's Boffo Performance

By Martin Peers · Jul 27, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet each reported impressively robust earnings results for the June quarter, demonstrating that these giant companies continue to go from strength to strength even as they face greater regulatory scrutiny. If there is any downside for the companies and their shareholders, it’s that the results will only concentrate... Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet each reported impressively robust earnings results for the June...

A Meituan food delivery courier in Beijing in April. Photo by Bloomberg.

China’s Tech Crackdown Rattles Investors

By Martin Peers · Jul 26, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

American critics of U.S. tech giants must be looking a little enviously at how China is clamping down on its tech industry. On almost every issue that tech’s U.S. detractors have focused on—alleged antitrust breaches, data privacy and most recently, the rights of workers handling food delivery—the Chinese government has taken action against... American critics of U.S. tech giants must be looking a little enviously at how China is clamping...

Photo by Bloomberg

Cloudflare Complaint Pinpoints Amazon’s Antitrust Weak Spot

By Martin Peers · Jul 23, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 4 comments

Today’s blog post from top executives at Cloudflare blasting Amazon Web Services for the “egregious” fees it charges customers who move their data out of AWS’ servers raises an interesting question. Could the most fertile ground for pursuing antitrust action against Amazon lie in its cloud business, not the ecommerce business that gets all the... Today’s blog post from top executives at Cloudflare blasting Amazon Web Services for the “...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Bloomberg

Snap, Twitter Show Digital Ad Market is Booming

By Martin Peers · Jul 22, 2021 4:59pm PDT

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Bloomberg

Snap, Twitter Show Digital Ad Market is Booming

By Martin Peers · Jul 22, 2021 4:59pm PDT

Digital advertising was on fire in the second quarter, judging by results from Twitter and Snap today. That implies next week’s reports from Facebook and Alphabet could be even stronger than anticipated.Snap reported a stunning 116% top line increase, lifting its quarterly revenue to nearly $1 billion dollars. That means Snap’s growth rate has... Digital advertising was on fire in the second quarter, judging by results from Twitter and Snap...

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Photo by Bloomberg.

Salesforce Faces Skeptical Wall Street as Slack Deal closes

By Martin Peers · Jul 21, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Salesforce completed its $27.7 billion purchase of Slack Technologies today, thus ending Slack’s roughly two-year sojourn as a public company. No one who bought Slack at the beginning would put it down as a barn burner of an investment. Slack shares began trading in June 2019 at just above $38 and the effective sales price is around $45.50. That... Salesforce completed its $27.7 billion purchase of Slack Technologies today, thus ending Slack’s...

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. Photo by Bloomberg

Netflix’s Domestic Subscriber Dip Might Be Worse News for Rivals

By Martin Peers · Jul 20, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Things are getting interesting in video streaming. Netflix reported today that it lost 430,000 subscribers in North America in the second quarter. On top of The Information’s report from a few weeks ago that Disney’s flagship service Disney+ has essentially flatlined in the U.S. this year, it implies the two of the biggest players have hit a... Things are getting interesting in video streaming. Netflix reported today that it lost 430,000...

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan. Photo by Bloomberg

Zoom’s Five9 Deal Begs Question of What Comes Next

By Martin Peers · Jul 19, 2021 5:01pm PDT

Zoom Video kicked off its long-expected expansion, unveiling plans to acquire contact center software provider Five9 Inc. for $14.7 billion in stock. That gives Zoom a second business to complement its original videoconferencing service, which proved vital for companies and consumers during the pandemic. Contact center software, which helps... Zoom Video kicked off its long-expected expansion, unveiling plans to acquire contact center...

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg

Tech Earnings Kick Off Next Week—and Growth Numbers Will Be Big

By Martin Peers · Jul 16, 2021 5:05pm PDT

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg

Tech Earnings Kick Off Next Week—and Growth Numbers Will Be Big

By Martin Peers · Jul 16, 2021 5:05pm PDT

Fasten your seat belt. Next week kicks off the tech earnings season. And we’re in for some extraordinary numbers as companies report second-quarter results that compare with the pandemic-depressed period from a year ago. That will make for somewhat artificially inflated growth rates this time around that are sure to grab headlines. To get a real... Fasten your seat belt. Next week kicks off the tech earnings season. And we’re in for some...