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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

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Recent Editions

Stitch Fix founder Katrina Lake. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

The Briefing: Coinbase’s Wall Street Test, Stitch Fix’s CEO Change

By Martin Peers · Apr 13, 2021 5:01pm PDT
We’re stockpiling superlatives ahead of tomorrow’s public debut of Coinbase, the crypto firm that seems likely to start trading at a valuation well above $100 billion, making it one of the biggest new tech listings of the year. Just as a comparison, when Airbnb went public in December in what was one of last year’s hottest... We’re stockpiling superlatives ahead of tomorrow’s public debut of Coinbase, the...
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

The Briefing: Microsoft Takes a More Nuanced Approach to Deals

By Martin Peers · Apr 12, 2021 5:02pm PDT · 3 comments
Phew! For a few months we’ve been worried that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had lost his bearings, as he reportedly looked at buying TikTok (can you imagine the cultural combination?), Pinterest (a little better) or Discord (a fit with Xbox at least). Instead, Microsoft is plunking down nearly $20 billion to buy Nuance Communications, a... Phew! For a few months we’ve been worried that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had lost his...
A union official involved in the Amazon campaign in Alabama. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

The Briefing: Amazon Wins Round One of Union Battle

By Martin Peers · Apr 9, 2021 5:32pm PDT · 1 comment
Amazon’s victory in the Alabama unionization vote will be a relief to the e-commerce giant in the short term, but it’s hardly the end of the matter. Leaving aside the legal appeals over the outcome of the Alabama vote, the labor movement is sure to try again elsewhere. Widespread reports of onerous working conditions for Amazon... Amazon’s victory in the Alabama unionization vote will be a relief to the e-commerce giant...
Box CEO Aaron Levie. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing: Box Tries, Again, to Appease Activist Shareholder
By Martin Peers · Apr 8, 2021 5:01pm PDT · 2 comments
Box CEO Aaron Levie. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

The Briefing: Box Tries, Again, to Appease Activist Shareholder

By Martin Peers · Apr 8, 2021 5:01pm PDT · 2 comments
Activist investors generally get favorable treatment from the business media, which likes to portray them as saviors riding in on a horse to rescue shareholders from poor management. While there are clearly situations where activists force much-needed changes that benefit all shareholders—eBay’s makeover under activist pressure comes... Activist investors generally get favorable treatment from the business media, which likes to...
YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

The Briefing: YouTube Dominates in Audience but Not Ads

By Martin Peers · Apr 7, 2021 5:02pm PDT
A Pew Research Center study out today reported that 81% of Americans surveyed said they watched YouTube, making it not only the most popular video service of any kind but the most widely used digital service, well ahead even of Facebook. YouTube was also one of only two services—the other being Reddit—to become more popular since... A Pew Research Center study out today reported that 81% of Americans surveyed said they watched...
Inside Coinbase's San Francisco office. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

The Briefing: Coinbase’s First Quarter Sets Stage for Big Debut

By Martin Peers · Apr 6, 2021 5:01pm PDT · 1 comment
Next week’s public market debut of cryptocurrency firm Coinbase is shaping up to be a true blockbuster. Coinbase’s first-quarter results today showed numbers any company would dream to use in their going-public pitch deck. For instance, Coinbase produced net profit of between $730 million and $800 million, up from $32 million a... Next week’s public market debut of cryptocurrency firm Coinbase is shaping up to be a...
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

The Briefing: The Supreme Court’s Good and Bad News for Tech

By Martin Peers · Apr 5, 2021 5:02pm PDT · 1 comment
The tech industry got some good news and bad news from the Supreme Court today. The good news was a ruling in favor of Google in its decade-long copyright battle with Oracle. Companies ranging from Microsoft to Etsy had warned that an Oracle victory would make life much harder for the entire industry, particularly software developers and... The tech industry got some good news and bad news from the Supreme Court today. The good news was...
Waymo CEO John Krafcik. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing: What Waymo CEO’s Exit Means
By Martin Peers · Apr 2, 2021 5:01pm PDT · 1 comment
Waymo CEO John Krafcik. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

The Briefing: What Waymo CEO’s Exit Means

By Martin Peers · Apr 2, 2021 5:01pm PDT · 1 comment
We got big news in the self-driving car industry today when John Krafcik, CEO of Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle unit Waymo, said he was stepping down. Krafcik says he is looking forward to new adventures after a “refresh” period. If he wants to stay in the industry, Krafcik would be an ideal candidate to hook up with one of the... We got big news in the self-driving car industry today when John Krafcik, CEO of Alphabet’s...
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

The Briefing: What the Compass IPO Tells Us

By Martin Peers · Apr 1, 2021 5:00pm PDT
Compass seems to have found its bearings. The SoftBank-backed real estate brokerage avoided the embarrassment of what Wall Streeters call a “broken IPO”—where the stock price falls below the IPO price on the first day of trading—thanks to its savvy decision to slash the size of the offering yesterday. As a result, Compass... Compass seems to have found its bearings. The SoftBank-backed real estate brokerage avoided the...
Compass CEO and founder Robert Reffkin. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

The Briefing: Compass, Deliveroo Show Fundamentals Still Count

By Martin Peers · Mar 31, 2021 5:02pm PDT · 1 comment
When you’re hot, you’re hot, like an electric vehicle startup on Wall Street today. And when you’re not, you’re...Compass or Deliveroo. That’s the takeaway from a day of extremes on the stock market. In London, Deliveroo, the U.K. restaurant meal delivery service, tanked on its public debut, falling 26% below its... When you’re hot, you’re hot, like an electric vehicle startup on Wall Street today....
Broadcom's Silicon Valley headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

The Briefing: Amazon Is Turning Its Back on Broadcom

By Martin Peers · Mar 30, 2021 5:01pm PDT
You know you’re playing an extreme version of hardball when you’ve scared off Amazon. As we reported today, Broadcom has so alienated Amazon with its unfriendly tactics that the cloud computing giant is working on its own networking switch chip. Amazon’s plan is to no longer do business with Broadcom. If this isn’t a sign... You know you’re playing an extreme version of hardball when you’ve scared off Amazon....
A Deliveroo courier in London last year. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing: Deliveroo Lowers IPO Expectations, Amazon’s Union Vote
By Martin Peers · Mar 29, 2021 5:02pm PDT
A Deliveroo courier in London last year. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

The Briefing: Deliveroo Lowers IPO Expectations, Amazon’s Union Vote

By Martin Peers · Mar 29, 2021 5:02pm PDT
Amazon-backed restaurant-meal delivery service Deliveroo on Monday downgraded the pricing expectations for its London IPO, showing just how much market conditions have changed. Just a few months ago, investors were tripping over themselves in their rush to buy into IPOs. In December, the offering of DoorDash, the U.S. equivalent of Deliveroo,... Amazon-backed restaurant-meal delivery service Deliveroo on Monday downgraded the pricing...
A WeWork office in San Diego. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

The Briefing: Blizzard of Deals, Despite a Choppy Market

By Martin Peers · Mar 26, 2021 5:31pm PDT
Deal activity is as intense as ever, despite some volatility in the market. Today we got the details of WeWork’s planned SPAC merger, which will bring the co-working firm to the public market 18 months after its aborted IPO. Used-clothing e-commerce site ThredUp went public with a big pop. We also learned that news outlets Axios and The... Deal activity is as intense as ever, despite some volatility in the market. Today we got the...
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey appearing at Thursday's virtual congressional hearing, as seen on a computer screen. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

The Briefing: Tech Executives Turn Feisty

By Martin Peers · Mar 25, 2021 5:01pm PDT
Tech executives appear to be tiring of being treated as political punching bags and are pushing back, at least a little. Leading that charge was Amazon retail chief Dave Clark, who in a series of tweets yesterday attacked Sen. Bernie Sanders for Vermont’s lower-than-Amazon’s minimum wage. “The [senator] should save his finger... Tech executives appear to be tiring of being treated as political punching bags and are pushing...
Attendees at a Japanese anime convention in 2016. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

The Briefing: How the DOJ Might Strengthen Netflix at Sony’s Expense

By Martin Peers · Mar 24, 2021 5:00pm PDT
You might think antitrust lawyers at the Justice Department would be crazy busy, what with the lawsuit they have going against Google, as well as an investigation underway into Apple, as well as deals outside of tech. And yet, as we reported today, the DOJ has decided to undertake a close review of...wait for it… Sony’s $1.2 billion... You might think antitrust lawyers at the Justice Department would be crazy busy, what with the...
Adam Selipsky. Photo by Tableau
The Briefing: Amazon’s Unexpected AWS Choice
By Martin Peers · Mar 23, 2021 5:01pm PDT
Adam Selipsky. Photo by Tableau
The Briefing

The Briefing: Amazon’s Unexpected AWS Choice

By Martin Peers · Mar 23, 2021 5:01pm PDT
Amazon surprised the enterprise software industry with its choice of Adam Selipsky, chief of Salesforce’s Tableau unit, to succeed Andy Jassy as CEO of the cloud unit. Selipsky is a onetime lieutenant to Jassy, who is moving upstairs to Jeff Bezos’ job. So he has the experience for the role. But Selipsky had been seen as a possible... Amazon surprised the enterprise software industry with its choice of Adam Selipsky, chief of...
Microsoft's Redmond, Washington campus. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

The Briefing: Microsoft Starts Return to Office

By Martin Peers · Mar 22, 2021 5:31pm PDT
We’re inching closer to normal life. Microsoft’s announcement that next Monday it will start reopening its Redmond, Wash., campus to employees now working at home suggests that, a year after a wave of companies mandated remote work, the momentum is reversing. If the experience of last year is anything to go by, once one big company... We’re inching closer to normal life. Microsoft’s announcement that next Monday it...
Traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange earlier this month. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

The Briefing: Market Jitters and IPO Planning

By Martin Peers · Mar 19, 2021 5:32pm PDT
What a week! The stock market seemed to be doing its best imitation of a yo-yo, with hour-by-hour gyrations that made it harder than usual to predict in the morning whether it would end the day up or down. Pity any executive who is trying to plan for a public market debut later this year: Trying to guess where the market might be in six days,... What a week! The stock market seemed to be doing its best imitation of a yo-yo, with hour-by-hour...
Kansas City Chiefs playing Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the Super Bowl last month. Photo by AP.
The Briefing

The Briefing: Big Entertainment’s High-Risk NFL Deals

By Martin Peers · Mar 18, 2021 5:31pm PDT
We had some big news in the streaming video world today: NFL games will be available on several streaming services in addition to existing TV networks starting in 2023, as a result of new deals between the football league, Amazon and most of the big entertainment companies. The new deals are extraordinarily expensive, costing the companies... We had some big news in the streaming video world today: NFL games will be available on several...
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing: The Challenge Facing Amazon M.D.
By Martin Peers · Mar 17, 2021 5:02pm PDT
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

The Briefing: The Challenge Facing Amazon M.D.

By Martin Peers · Mar 17, 2021 5:02pm PDT
It’s getting harder to think of any aspect of American life that Amazon isn’t now trying to serve. The company ticked the health care box on Wednesday by unveiling Amazon Care, an on-demand health care business, designed as a service companies can offer their employees. Amazon’s description of the service makes it sound like a... It’s getting harder to think of any aspect of American life that Amazon isn’t now...