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The Briefing

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

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Recent Editions

Jeff Bezos. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Bezos Hands Off CEO Baton: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Feb 2, 2021 5:00pm PST
Jeff Bezos likes to say that it’s always Day 1 at Amazon. But now that the founding CEO is passing the baton to his lieutenant Andy Jassy, Day 2 may not be far away. That might sound unfair, given that Bezos has defined Day 2 as “stasis, followed by irrelevance, followed by excruciating, painful decline, followed by death.”... Jeff Bezos likes to say that it’s always Day 1 at Amazon. But now that the founding CEO is...
Elon Musk. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

Robinhood’s GameStop Saga Ropes In Musk and Netflix: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Feb 1, 2021 5:01pm PST
There’s something strangely appropriate about the news, broken by Deadline on Monday, that Netflix is in talks to make a movie of the GameStop stock market drama. GameStop is the type of brick-and-mortar chain that internet firms like Netflix have put out of business over the past 20 years. That’s of course why the stock rally in... There’s something strangely appropriate about the news, broken by Deadline on Monday, that...
iPhones on display in an Apple store. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

The Other Big Tech Power Story: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 29, 2021 5:01pm PST
Put aside for a moment all the drama around Robinhood and Reddit, and think of GameStop in the same vein as DoorDash, Tesla or Snowflake—as another hugely overvalued stock that defies fundamental analysis. With that in mind, it’s worth spending a little time on the news of this week that may have longer-lasting implications than... Put aside for a moment all the drama around Robinhood and Reddit, and think of GameStop in the...
Robinhood's web site. Photo by Bloomberg
Robinhood’s Hero to Zero Moment: The Information’s Tech Briefing
By Martin Peers · Jan 28, 2021 5:02pm PST · 1 comment
Robinhood's web site. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Robinhood’s Hero to Zero Moment: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 28, 2021 5:02pm PST · 1 comment
Talk about self-immolation. Robinhood’s decision to restrict trading in GameStop and other “meme” stocks seems guaranteed to alienate a big chunk of its user base. Who would go back to a trading platform responsible for losing them money, no matter the explanation? This also can’t bode well for its hopes of going public.... Talk about self-immolation. Robinhood’s decision to restrict trading in GameStop and other...
A GameStop store in California. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Where Social Media’s GameStop Surge Could Lead: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 27, 2021 5:00pm PST · 2 comments
There’s no doubt the current stock market hysteria over GameStop and the like will come to a bloody end. The real question is whether the craziness, fueled by social media sites like Reddit and Discord and stock trading app Robinhood, leads those companies to clamp down on stock debate or trading. Media post-mortems are sure to blame those... There’s no doubt the current stock market hysteria over GameStop and the like will come to...
Verizon technicians installing fiber optic cable in New York. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Internet Outages, Verizon and Value: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 26, 2021 5:03pm PST
If you’re on the East Coast, you might have experienced the internet outage this morning that played havoc with Zoom calls, Gmail and other everyday working tools. Unlike previous outages, this wasn’t caused by a cloud provider like AWS or a specific application like Slack but by Verizon, which owned up to a “fiber cut”... If you’re on the East Coast, you might have experienced the internet outage this morning...
Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

The Clubhouse Investment Boom: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 25, 2021 5:00pm PST
Just when you think the stock market excesses couldn’t get any crazier, along comes GameStop. In the space of a few hours today the stock, which was trading at $20 two weeks ago, more than doubled to a high of $159 before collapsing back to $76.79. Like a lot of other stocks bouncing around like a yo-yo lately—video-streaming service... Just when you think the stock market excesses couldn’t get any crazier, along comes...
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg
Google’s Threat Down Under: The Information’s Tech Briefing
By Martin Peers · Jan 22, 2021 5:31pm PST
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Google’s Threat Down Under: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 22, 2021 5:31pm PST
Google’s threat to shut down its search engine in Australia if the legislature there proceeds with a plan to require the search giant to pay publishers for linking to their news articles puts the spotlight on a little-understood question. What is the potential cost for Google, and Facebook, if they had to pay for news content on terms... Google’s threat to shut down its search engine in Australia if the legislature there...
The Justice Department's sign at a press conference. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

When Antitrust Opposition Boosts Value: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 21, 2021 5:01pm PST
Sometimes, the government is here to help. The Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit that killed Visa’s acquisition of Plaid promises to become a windfall for shareholders in the fintech startup, as The Information reported today. Visa had agreed to pay $5.3 billion for Plaid, but there’s now investor interest in the company... Sometimes, the government is here to help. The Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit that...
Anthony Levandowski. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

The Thinking Behind Levandowski’s Pardon: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By The Information Staff · Jan 20, 2021 5:02pm PST
Now-former president Trump’s last minute pardon of self-driving car engineer Anthony Levandowski raises a fascinating question about crime and punishment in Silicon Valley. When a judge last year sentenced Levandowski to 18 months in prison for stealing a proprietary Google document, he said his goal was deterrence. As we reported at the... Now-former president Trump’s last minute pardon of self-driving car engineer Anthony...
Netflix's Los Angeles office. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Netflix Passes Major Milestone: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 19, 2021 5:32pm PST · 1 comment
If the contest to build a profitable video streaming service were a footrace, Netflix would be the runner crossing the finish line as all the other contestants were leaving the starting blocks. The reality of that was brought home today when Netflix said it had passed 200 million global subscribers and was “very close” to being... If the contest to build a profitable video streaming service were a footrace, Netflix would be...
Apple's Eddy Cue at a developer conference in 2015. Photo by Bloomberg
Will Apple Kill the Free Podcast?: The Information’s Tech Briefing
By Martin Peers · Jan 15, 2021 5:30pm PST
Apple's Eddy Cue at a developer conference in 2015. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Will Apple Kill the Free Podcast?: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 15, 2021 5:30pm PST
The podcasting industry as we know it is about to change. Plans by Apple to launch a subscription service for podcasts, as The Information reported today, portends a shift to a much more balkanized podcasting world. Instead of shows being broadly available for free on a variety of outlets, in the future podcasts will be attached exclusively for... The podcasting industry as we know it is about to change. Plans by Apple to launch a subscription...
Poshmark's sign outside the Nasdaq in New York on Thursday. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Poshmark Goes Public, Fitbit Gets Bought: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 14, 2021 5:02pm PST
Used clothing website Poshmark began life as a public company today, with its stock more than doubling to around $100 a share. At the same time, Fitbit ended its life as an independent company, after Google completed its acquisition of wearables device maker for $7.35 a share, 63% lower than Fitbit’s IPO price in 2015. Call it a tale of... Used clothing website Poshmark began life as a public company today, with its stock more than...
Intel's outgoing CEO Bob Swan. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

What Intel’s CEO Flip Says About the Board: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 13, 2021 5:32pm PST
Intel’s decision to dump its CEO, Bob Swan, in favor of a former longtime executive and most recently VMware chief Pat Gelsinger may well prove the right move to deal with the immense challenges facing the iconic chipmaker. But Intel’s board needs to answer for its decision two years ago to put Swan into the job. Swan was named CEO... Intel’s decision to dump its CEO, Bob Swan, in favor of a former longtime executive and...
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan and others celebrate the day Zoom went public, in April 2019. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Zoom Stock Offering Hints at Future Deals: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 12, 2021 5:00pm PST
Zoom Video Communications sent a signal it may be planning a sizable acquisition. The corporate star of the pandemic era is raising $1.5 billion in stock, cashing in on the incredible run-up in its stock over the past year. In case you’ve forgotten, the videoconferencing company’s stock started last year trading at $68 and reached a... Zoom Video Communications sent a signal it may be planning a sizable acquisition. The corporate...
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Photo by Bloomberg
Most Subscribers See Trump, Parler Bans as Precedent-Setting: The Information’s Tech Briefing
By Martin Peers · Jan 11, 2021 5:01pm PST · 5 comments
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Most Subscribers See Trump, Parler Bans as Precedent-Setting: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 11, 2021 5:01pm PST · 5 comments
A sizable majority of The Information’s subscribers responding to a survey today see the decisions by tech companies to block Parler and President Trump as setting long-term precedents, rather than being specific to the events of Jan. 6. That view raises the fundamental question for all tech companies blocking Parler: Are they going to... A sizable majority of The Information’s subscribers responding to a survey today see the...
President Trump. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Twitter’s Trump Ban: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 8, 2021 5:31pm PST · 1 comment
Big tech took two daring steps today to deal with Trump and right-wing misinformation—Twitter banned Donald Trump’s account permanently, including deleting all his past tweets. That’s a ground-shaking move in itself. Separately, BuzzFeed reported that Apple has threatened to ban Parler, the social media site popular with... Big tech took two daring steps today to deal with Trump and right-wing...
Trump speaking to protesters on Wednesday before the riot. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Social Media’s Fuzzy Line in the Sand: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 7, 2021 5:01pm PST
Facebook’s decision to ban Trump for at least the next two weeks got a lot of airplay today, as the most decisive action yet by the social network to deal with disinformation from the president. But it’s doubtful this constitutes any major sea change in Facebook’s historically hands-off approach to dealing with toxic speech. ... Facebook’s decision to ban Trump for at least the next two weeks got a lot of airplay...
Protesters storming the Capitol building. Photo by AP
The Briefing

Tech Stocks Sell Off: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 6, 2021 5:02pm PST · 2 comments
It says a lot about Wall Street’s ability to compartmentalize that even as a mob of Trump loyalists stormed the Capitol in what looked like a scene from the French Revolution, stocks only dipped slightly during what was otherwise a big rally. Investors typically trade based on future expectations, not what is happening today. The bet... It says a lot about Wall Street’s ability to compartmentalize that even as a mob of Trump...
Two time CEO Eric Schmidt. Photo by Bloomberg.
CEO Experience Isn’t as Valuable as Believed: The Information’s Tech Briefing
By Martin Peers · Jan 5, 2021 5:31pm PST
Two time CEO Eric Schmidt. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Briefing

CEO Experience Isn’t as Valuable as Believed: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jan 5, 2021 5:31pm PST
A study reported by Harvard Business Review found that people who serve as CEOs of more than one company perform worse the second time around than chief executives without prior experience in the top job. It’s one data point that should help fuel a more diverse CEO cohort, by pushing back against the idea that experience as CEO is an... A study reported by Harvard Business Review found that people who serve as CEOs of more than one...