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

MGM's headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg.

Amazon Puts MGM in Shopping Cart, Doubling Down on Hollywood

By Martin Peers · May 26, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Amazon’s $8.45 billion purchase of MGM signals, for Hollywood, just how much video streaming has reshaped the entertainment landscape. Tech-driven companies are taking more of Hollywood’s real estate while older players, like WarnerMedia and Discovery, join forces so as to better compete. But does the deal mean much for Amazon, the... Amazon’s $8.45 billion purchase of MGM signals, for Hollywood, just how much video streaming has...

Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta. Photo by Bloomberg

Instacart’s Facebook Hiring Program

By Martin Peers · May 25, 2021 5:00pm PDT

Instacart may soon get the nickname “little Facebook,” judging by the number of Facebookers joining the grocery-delivery company. Today came news that Instacart hired Nikila Srinivasan, most recently a product executive at Facebook, to be its first VP of product for international markets. Srinivasan’s hiring follows two other senior hires from... Instacart may soon get the nickname “little Facebook,” judging by the number of Facebookers...

AT&T CEO John Stankey. Photo by Bloomberg.

AT&T CEO Predicts Music, Games Coming to Video Streaming Services

By Martin Peers · May 24, 2021 5:30pm PDT

Prepare for a deluge of headlines about tech and entertainment. News accounts today suggested that Amazon’s interest in buying MGM—which we first reported a week ago—could lead to a deal this week. As we have noted, one reason for the deal is that Hollywood outsiders like Amazon that operate streaming services are finding it harder to get their... Prepare for a deluge of headlines about tech and entertainment. News accounts today suggested...

Apple's Tim Cook in the courthouse today. Photo by Bloomberg

Why Apple Execs Lost Credibility During the Epic Trial

By Martin Peers · May 21, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Apple's Tim Cook in the courthouse today. Photo by Bloomberg

Why Apple Execs Lost Credibility During the Epic Trial

By Martin Peers · May 21, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Next time Apple reports quarterly profits, pull up your favorite music app and stream the song ‘I’ve got a feeling’. That appears to be what CEO Tim Cook does to assess how each of Apple’s divisions do. He testified today, in his time on the witness stand in the Apple-Epic trial, that while Apple doesn’t track the profitability of the App Store,... Next time Apple reports quarterly profits, pull up your favorite music app and stream the song ‘I...

Xi Jinping, China's president. Photo by Bloomberg.

Beijing’s Message to Tech Moguls: Don’t Be Too Successful

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

When former President Trump was waging his war against TikTok last year, some commentators focused on how ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming had failed to anticipate the political headwinds he would face as the first Chinese firm to create a successful global product. As it turned out, it was the Chinese government much more than the U.S. that Zhang had... When former President Trump was waging his war against TikTok last year, some commentators...

Jittery stock traders on the New York Stock Exchange last year. Photo by Bloomberg

Bitcoin’s Bad Day Doesn’t Scare Off Bulls

By Martin Peers · May 19, 2021 5:29pm PDT

Jitters have returned to the markets, both in equities and in cryptocurrencies. Crypto prices and crypto-sensitive stocks—from Bitcoin to Ethereum to Coinbase—tumbled by double-digit percentages today before recovering somewhat, while the broader market also lost ground. Not that there’s anything wrong with that: The sell-off in crypto in... Jitters have returned to the markets, both in equities and in cryptocurrencies. Crypto prices and...

Phil Schiller arriving at court last week. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple’s Blissful Ignorance on App Store Profits

By Martin Peers · May 18, 2021 5:00pm PDT

If Apple executive Phil Schiller is to be believed, Apple executives don’t know whether the App Store is profitable. That subject “doesn’t come up” in internal Apple discussions, Schiller testified today at the Epic-Apple trial. This is a business that by some estimates generates between $10 billion and $12 billion in annual profits for Apple—... If Apple executive Phil Schiller is to be believed, Apple executives don’t know whether the App...

AT&T former CEO Randall Stephenson. Photo by Bloomberg

AT&T Hangs Up on WarnerMedia

By Martin Peers · May 17, 2021 5:00pm PDT

AT&T former CEO Randall Stephenson. Photo by Bloomberg

AT&T Hangs Up on WarnerMedia

By Martin Peers · May 17, 2021 5:00pm PDT

AT&T’s agreement to sell WarnerMedia to Discovery ends the telecom firm’s six-year dalliance with the entertainment industry, which as expected turned out to be an egregious waste of shareholder money and management attention. Including its DirecTV acquisition, AT&T spent $126 billion and assumed billions of dollars more in debt on two... AT&T’s agreement to sell WarnerMedia to Discovery ends the telecom firm’s six-year dalliance...

The Real Cost of Amazon Prime

By Martin Peers · May 14, 2021 5:00pm PDT

In his annual shareholder letter a few weeks ago, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos calculated the value the e-commerce giant had created for its customers. He concentrated on how much time Amazon saves shoppers in freeing them from driving to a store to buy goods. His conclusion: The convenience of Amazon Prime is worth $630 a year for each Prime... In his annual shareholder letter a few weeks ago, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos calculated the value...

Disney's headquarters in Burbank.

Why Disney’s Streaming Slowdown Isn’t as Bad as It Looks

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

How many video streaming services does it take to profitably entertain America? That question has been top of mind for people in the tech and media industries over the past year, as numerous TV companies jumped into the market made popular by Netflix with their own streaming offerings. Whether there was enough demand for each of these to make... How many video streaming services does it take to profitably entertain America? That question has...

SoftBank CEO Masa Son. Photo by Bloomberg

SoftBank's Year of Dramas and Crises

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

What a year SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has had. The Japanese investment giant was arguably one of the worst affected by the Covid downturn last year, given its high debt and significant exposure to companies like Uber and WeWork that were walloped by the lockdowns. Even before the worst of the economic impact had hit, SoftBank reported a $9... What a year SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son has had. The Japanese investment giant was arguably one of...

The New York Stock Exchange during a winter storm. Photo by Bloomberg

Digital Media’s SPAC Scramble Heats Up

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

The New York Stock Exchange during a winter storm. Photo by Bloomberg

Digital Media’s SPAC Scramble Heats Up

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

Digital media’s great SPAC scramble of 2021 is under way. Today we published new details about BuzzFeed’s plans to go public via a SPAC merger, including its discussions about simultaneously merging with lifestyle publisher Complex Networks. Meanwhile, Vice Media is preparing to pitch investors on its SPAC deal this week, the Wall Street Journal... Digital media’s great SPAC scramble of 2021 is under way. Today we published new details about...

Apple's Cupertino headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple and the Repression of the Uyghur in China

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

Of all the big stories in tech over the past decade, the one that is likely to reverberate long into the future may be the one that draws the least attention from consumers right now. And that’s the horrific repression of the Uyghur people in China—which the Biden administration has described as genocide. Part of the story is that the Uyghur are... Of all the big stories in tech over the past decade, the one that is likely to reverberate long...

Google's Mountain View campus. Photo by Bloomberg.

YouTube Checkmates Roku

By Martin Peers · May 7, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

In the power struggle between YouTube and Roku, the Google-owned video giant may have just outmaneuvered its smaller rival. YouTube today announced it was making YouTube TV, the cable TV-like subscription service at the center of the dispute, available within its main app on Roku devices and later on other devices. The move effectively... In the power struggle between YouTube and Roku, the Google-owned video giant may have just...

CBS personality Stephen Colbert with ViacomCBS' Shari Redstone and Bob Bakish. Photo by Bloomberg

TV’s Bleak Advertising Picture, By the Numbers

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

It must be galling to be a TV executive nowadays. Over the past few weeks, they’ve had to watch a parade of tech companies reporting ad revenue up 30%-75% for the quarter. Now it’s the media companies’ turn—and their numbers haven’t been quite as bountiful. Most so far have reported little or no real growth.Take ViacomCBS, which today reported... It must be galling to be a TV executive nowadays. Over the past few weeks, they’ve had to watch a...

Microsoft executive Lori Wright outside the courtroom in Oakland, Calif., today. Photo by Bloomberg

Trial Testimony Cracks Open Microsoft’s Black Box

By Martin Peers · May 5, 2021 5:01pm PDT

Microsoft executive Lori Wright outside the courtroom in Oakland, Calif., today. Photo by Bloomberg

Trial Testimony Cracks Open Microsoft’s Black Box

By Martin Peers · May 5, 2021 5:01pm PDT

Greetings!The big news coming out of today’s proceedings in the Epic–Apple trial had nothing to do with either company. It was that Microsoft does not now, and never has made any money from the sale of its Xbox console. For a device that has been on the market for 20 years, it’s surprising that Microsoft has yet to figure out the economics so... Greetings!The big news coming out of today’s proceedings in the Epic–Apple trial had nothing to...

A Lyft driver hub in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg

Lyft's Q1 Numbers Show Pandemic Recovery on the Way

By Martin Peers · May 4, 2021 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Greetings!There’s a saying, most recently popularized by former Obama adviser and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, that one should “never let a good crisis go to waste.” It seems that the executives at Lyft, at least, took that advice to heart when it came to the pandemic. Brutal cost-cutting forced by last spring’s lockdowns has put the company much... Greetings!There’s a saying, most recently popularized by former Obama adviser and Chicago mayor...

Yahoo's headquarters in 2018. Photo by Bloomberg

Verizon Dumps Yahoo-AOL for Rock-Bottom Price

By Martin Peers · May 3, 2021 6:12pm PDT

Greetings!For digital history buffs, Verizon’s $5 billion sale today of its Yahoo-AOL media group to Apollo is an opportunity to take a stroll down memory lane, marveling at how much the value of the two former internet titans has shriveled in 20 years. But the pitiful amount of money the business fetched isn’t just of academic interest—it's a... Greetings!For digital history buffs, Verizon’s $5 billion sale today of its Yahoo-AOL media group...

Apple's Phil Schiller, a key figure in the upcoming trial.

Europe Opens New Front in War on Apple’s App Store

By Martin Peers · Apr 30, 2021 5:10pm PDT

After the earnings party comes the hangover. The European Commission’s preliminary ruling today accusing Apple of abusing its “dominant market position” in its treatment of music streaming rivals like Spotify crystallizes the regulatory risks facing the iPhone maker. Related issues will be litigated starting next week in the trial of Epic’s... After the earnings party comes the hangover. The European Commission’s preliminary ruling today...

An Amazon truck. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon, Twitter Round Out Tech’s Bonanza Quarter

By Martin Peers · Apr 29, 2021 5:02pm PDT

An Amazon truck. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon, Twitter Round Out Tech’s Bonanza Quarter

By Martin Peers · Apr 29, 2021 5:02pm PDT

Another day, another blockbuster result for a tech company. This time it was Amazon’s turn, posting a 44% lift in first-quarter revenue to a stunning $108.5 billion. This was the third quarter in the past 12 months where Amazon’s topline increased more than 40%. In 2019, pre-pandemic Amazon’s sales grew just 20%. That tells you how much of a... Another day, another blockbuster result for a tech company. This time it was Amazon’s turn,...