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

Twitter's former CFO Anthony Noto. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Twitter’s $809.5 Million Legal Payout Tells Us

By Martin Peers · Sep 20, 2021 5:00pm PDT

It’s tempting to view Twitter’s $809.5 million settlement today of a shareholder lawsuit—which alleged that top executives misled investors with overly optimistic statements about user growth—as a meaningful development. The news media spends much of its time obsessing over the massive gulf between company executives’ public statements and... It’s tempting to view Twitter’s $809.5 million settlement today of a shareholder lawsuit—which...

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan. Photo by Bloomberg

Zoom Video’s Stock Decline Raises Questions About Five9 Deal

By Martin Peers · Sep 17, 2021 5:01pm PDT · 1 comment

How Zoom Video’s star has fallen. The videoconferencing hit of the pandemic is on the outs with investors, not horribly but enough that it may have trouble winning over shareholders of Five9. That’s the contact-center software firm Zoom proposed buying in July for a price then estimated at $14.7 billion. A 20% drop in Zoom’s stock price since... How Zoom Video’s star has fallen. The videoconferencing hit of the pandemic is on the outs with...

DoorDash CEO Tony Xu talking at a conference in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg.

DoorDash Passes Uber in Market Cap—And What That Means

By Martin Peers · Sep 16, 2021 5:00pm PDT

DoorDash shares today hit their highest level since the company went public last December. At $221.50, DoorDash shares are worth more than double the IPO price, valuing the company at $74.8 billion in market cap. For those who see life as a contest, that means DoorDash is worth a tad more than Uber, which is a significantly bigger and more... DoorDash shares today hit their highest level since the company went public last December. At...

Goldman CEO David Solomon. Photo by Bloomberg

Goldman’s GreenSky Purchase Shows Blue Sky Belief in Online Lending

By Martin Peers · Sep 15, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Goldman CEO David Solomon. Photo by Bloomberg

Goldman’s GreenSky Purchase Shows Blue Sky Belief in Online Lending

By Martin Peers · Sep 15, 2021 5:00pm PDT

It’s a good time to be in the business of lending people money to buy stuff online, at least if you’re one of those credit-card alternatives that have reclaimed the age-old term “buy now, pay later.” Until recently, some of these companies couldn’t get the time of day from investors. But that’s all changed. Take today’s deal, Goldman Sachs’ $2.2... It’s a good time to be in the business of lending people money to buy stuff online, at least if...

An image from Apple's streamed presentation today. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple’s iPhone Commercial Highlights Environmental Challenge

By Martin Peers · Sep 14, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

In its annual product advertisement-disguised-as-news-event today, Apple executives went out of their way to highlight the environmentally friendly techniques they now employ to make hardware. The iPhone 13’s antenna lines will use recycled material from water bottles, for instance, while Apple has eliminated the outer plastic wrap on iPhone... In its annual product advertisement-disguised-as-news-event today, Apple executives went out of...

Investor Tim Draper. Photo by Bloomberg

Mammoth Funding Deal Signals Frothiness of VC Funding Market

By Martin Peers · Sep 13, 2021 5:00pm PDT

If only Michael Crichton had lived to see this day. The author of “Jurassic Park,” the 1990 novel that became a monster hit movie, would be pleased to see his fiction become reality in the biotech firm Colossal, which revealed today that it has raised $15 million in venture funding to bring back to life the woolly mammoth. That creature has been... If only Michael Crichton had lived to see this day. The author of “Jurassic Park,” the 1990 novel...

Apple CEO Tim Cook at the Epic trial in May. Photo by Bloomberg.

Court Delivers Epic Ruling on Apple's App Store

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

Today’s court ruling on Epic v. Apple is the kind of decision that seems to have something for everyone, even the news media (a big story on a Friday—yippee!). Apple won on most counts, including one of its counterclaims against Epic. But Epic prevailed on a key count: Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled that Apple’s policy preventing app... Today’s court ruling on Epic v. Apple is the kind of decision that seems to have something for...

Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington. Photo by Bloombrg.

The Downside of Tech’s Neverending Remote Work Shift

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

Microsoft's campus in Redmond, Washington. Photo by Bloombrg.

The Downside of Tech’s Neverending Remote Work Shift

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

Is remote work going to end up as standard across tech, simply by default? Microsoft today followed Apple, Facebook, Google and Amazon in delaying, again, plans for a full reopening of its offices. Unlike those companies, each of which set January as the next planned reopening target, Microsoft has given up forecasting a date. Instead, it... Is remote work going to end up as standard across tech, simply by default? Microsoft today...

Outside a Whole Foods store in Berkeley, Calif. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Finally Fesses Up on Cashierless Whole Foods Plans

By Martin Peers · Sep 8, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Ever since Amazon opened its first Amazon Go cashierless convenience store to the public at the start of 2018, its executives have been brushing off questions about whether they planned to introduce the same technology to Whole Foods. Sometimes those brushoffs were outright denials, like in this New York Times account, while other times... Ever since Amazon opened its first Amazon Go cashierless convenience store to the public at the...

Steve Martin and Martin Short, two of the stars of Hulu's New "Only Murders in the Building"

Disney Threatens Hulu’s Success With Price Hike

By Martin Peers · Sep 7, 2021 5:00pm PDT

It may be time for a consumer price index just for video streaming. Disney’s Hulu is raising its price by $1 a month, the company revealed today, just six months after Disney jacked up the price of its flagship Disney+ service by the same amount. Both price bumps followed a similar move by Netflix late last year. If this reminds you of the cable... It may be time for a consumer price index just for video streaming. Disney’s Hulu is raising its...

Jeff Bezos, center, after his space flight in July. Photo by AP

The Best and Worst of the Summer's Tech Stories

By Martin Peers · Sep 3, 2021 5:00pm PDT

With Labor Day upon us, summer is effectively over. And with news today thin on the ground, this seems an appropriate moment to review the highs and lows of the summer in tech business. So without further ado, here are The Briefing’s awards for the most distinctive tech business stories of the past three months:Worst Boys-and-Their-Toys Moment:... With Labor Day upon us, summer is effectively over. And with news today thin on the ground, this...

Apple's Fellow Phil Schiller, who oversees the App Store. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple’s Already-Arbitrary App Store Rules Just Became More Complex

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

Apple's Fellow Phil Schiller, who oversees the App Store. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple’s Already-Arbitrary App Store Rules Just Became More Complex

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

Law schools may want to start introducing a new program to train lawyers in interpreting Apple’s App Store rules. The company’s latest changes, introduced to settle a Japanese antitrust investigation, add a layer of complexity to already-opaque rules. The rules have long had an element of arbitrariness, treating developers differently, as The... Law schools may want to start introducing a new program to train lawyers in interpreting Apple’s...

Jeff Bezos. Photo by Bloomberg

Bezos’ New Growth Tactic is Filing Lawsuits

By Martin Peers · Sep 1, 2021 5:02pm PDT · 1 comment

Elon Musk joked on Twitter today that “filing legal actions against SpaceX” is Jeff Bezos’ “full time job.” Musk has a point. For all of Bezos’ talk about never forgetting the Day One principles of a startup, growing by a relentless focus on customers, it’s surprising how often his companies—Amazon and Blue Origin—have lately relied on legal... Elon Musk joked on Twitter today that “filing legal actions against SpaceX” is Jeff Bezos’ “full...

An Allbirds store in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg

AllBirds and Warby Parker Pose Test of Investor Appetite for Consumer Brands

By Martin Peers · Aug 31, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Allbirds’ IPO filing today, a week after Warby Parker filed to go public, means that we’re going to have two big consumer brand names hitting the public market in the last few months of the year. It will be something of a parallel to the end of 2020, when shares of DoorDash and Airbnb began trading on Wall Street. Not that investors are likely... Allbirds’ IPO filing today, a week after Warby Parker filed to go public, means that we’re going...

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google’s App Store Profits No Plaything

By Martin Peers · Aug 30, 2021 5:00pm PDT

It seems only to be a matter of time before Apple and Google have to give up the tight controls they exercise over their mobile app stores, given the onslaught of litigation, investigation and legislation they each face around the world. And that means investors need to start thinking about the bottom line impact of the potential changes.We got... It seems only to be a matter of time before Apple and Google have to give up the tight controls...

The Curious Timing of Apple’s App Store Settlement; Amazon’s Affirm-ation

By Josh Sisco · Aug 27, 2021 5:31pm PDT

The Curious Timing of Apple’s App Store Settlement; Amazon’s Affirm-ation

By Josh Sisco · Aug 27, 2021 5:31pm PDT

Late last night, Apple caught a break in its ongoing battle with app makers. To settle a class action antitrust lawsuit from a group of small developers, Apple will fork over $100 million to give to those who generate less than $1 million in annual revenue. It will also loosen some of the restrictions that had prevented developers from letting... Late last night, Apple caught a break in its ongoing battle with app makers. To settle a class...

Mathias Döpfner, chief executive officer of Axel Springer SE, at a conference in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg

The Risk of the Politico Deal; Peloton’s Party Ends

By Jessica E. Lessin · Aug 26, 2021 5:00pm PDT

I interrupt this regular Briefing—which will once again be brought to you by Martin Peers next week when he returns from vacation—with a dispatch from the land of the news media, which seemed to be on fire Thursday. German media company Axel Springer agreed to buy Politico in a deal worth more than $1 billion. Forbes is preparing to go... I interrupt this regular Briefing—which will once again be brought to you by Martin Peers next...

President Joe Biden (right) and Google CEO Sundar Pichai at a meeting at the White House on ransomware and other cybersecurity threats.

Jassy and Nadella Go to Washington

By Nick Wingfield · Aug 25, 2021 5:24pm PDT

The tech industry’s top CEOs made a pilgrimage to the White House on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the growing problem of ransomware and other cyber threats. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at that meeting to see the side-eye between Andy Jassy, Amazon’s new CEO, and Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s leader. The tech industry’s top CEOs made a pilgrimage to the White House on Wednesday afternoon to...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg

In Defense of Tim Cook

By Nick Wingfield · Aug 24, 2021 5:31pm PDT

Tuesday was a good day for Tim Cook. On the 10-year anniversary of his appointment as Apple CEO, tributes to his leadership of the company began flowing—drowning out, for a moment, the gripes from some of his critics.The most common of the Cook complaints is that Apple has lost its creative razzle-dazzle. His predecessor, Steve Jobs, hit a... Tuesday was a good day for Tim Cook. On the 10-year anniversary of his appointment as Apple CEO,...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg

Facebook's Own Goal on Giphy

By Amir Efrati · Aug 23, 2021 5:23pm PDT

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg

Facebook's Own Goal on Giphy

By Amir Efrati · Aug 23, 2021 5:23pm PDT

Last week, Federal Trade Commission lawyers made clumsy arguments when they refiled their antitrust case against Facebook. This week, it’s Facebook’s turn to look dumb and arrogant in its dealings with the FTC and the public.When Facebook acquired Giphy—a provider of animated GIFs—in May 2020, it structured the roughly $400 million deal in order... Last week, Federal Trade Commission lawyers made clumsy arguments when they refiled their...