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The Briefing

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

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Recent Editions

Amazon.com Inc. packages sit stacked on the sidewalk in New York, U.S., on Thursday, June 11, 2020. Photo: Bloomberg.
The Briefing

Amazon’s Big Quarter: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 30, 2020 6:53pm PDT
Any attempts by Jeff Bezos in yesterday’s antitrust hearing to cast Amazon as a minor player in the global retail market quickly got overshadowed by Amazon’s superlative-laden second-quarter results. Sales surged 40% to $89 billion, net income doubled to $5.2 billion and the number of its employees hit one million, it told... Any attempts by Jeff Bezos in yesterday’s antitrust hearing to cast Amazon as a minor...
The Briefing

Scoring the Tech CEOs: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 29, 2020 6:51pm PDT · 2 comments
Members of Congress scored some direct hits against big tech CEOs at Wednesday’s antitrust hearing, in an intense series of exchanges lasting more than five hours. From the opening gavel, the lawmakers asked pointed questions and showed little patience for the CEOs’ attempts to provide long responses that didn’t directly answer... Members of Congress scored some direct hits against big tech CEOs at Wednesday’s antitrust...
Art by Mike Sullivan
The Briefing

Tech’s High Noon in Washington: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 28, 2020 6:01pm PDT
At high noon tomorrow, Eastern time, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s Tim Cook and Google’s Sundar Pichai will appear via videoconference before Congress in a long-awaited showdown with the House of Representatives antitrust subcommittee. If you are planning to watch, make sure you have a... At high noon tomorrow, Eastern time, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg,...
Photo: AP
Alphabet’s Remote Work Extension: The Information’s Tech Briefing
By Martin Peers · Jul 27, 2020 5:31pm PDT
Photo: AP
The Briefing

Alphabet’s Remote Work Extension: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 27, 2020 5:31pm PDT
There has been a lot written about how the pandemic affects businesses very differently. One subject that maybe hasn’t received as much attention as it should: how businesses cope with the long-term impact of remote work on productivity and employees’ mental health.Google’s decision to delay a return to work for its employees... There has been a lot written about how the pandemic affects businesses very differently. One...
The New York Stock Exchange. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Tech’s Big Earnings Week: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 24, 2020 5:30pm PDT
Our plans to spend Monday glued to our screen watching big tech CEOs getting grilled by various congresspeople are out the window, likely delayed for at least a week. But next week will be an important one for big tech nonetheless, as all four of the major companies—Apple, Alphabet, Amazon and Facebook—are reporting earnings.We go... Our plans to spend Monday glued to our screen watching big tech CEOs getting grilled by various...
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Twitter’s Subscription Hope: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 23, 2020 5:31pm PDT
Twitter very successfully changed the subject on Thursday. Most of the discussion of its second quarter earnings results could have focused on the 19% drop in revenue the company reported, which was a marked contrast with Snap’s 17% growth for the same period.Instead, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey confirmed that the company was considering... Twitter very successfully changed the subject on Thursday. Most of the discussion of its second...
Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Slack Ends Microsoft’s Exceptionalism: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 22, 2020 5:46pm PDT
Slack has brought to an end Microsoft’s exceptionalism amid big tech’s current antitrust moment. The business messaging company lodged a European Union complaint against its much bigger rival on Wednesday, pulling it into the broad antitrust war being waged even more aggressively by the European regulators than by the U.S. agencies.... Slack has brought to an end Microsoft’s exceptionalism amid big tech’s current...
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Bloomberg
Snap Shows the Way: The Information’s Tech Briefing
By Martin Peers · Jul 21, 2020 5:47pm PDT
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Snap Shows the Way: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 21, 2020 5:47pm PDT
We’re finally starting to get a real sense of the impact that the coronavirus has had on tech. And it’s clear the results will be all over the map.Snap’s results on Tuesday, for instance, showed decent growth in its business, with revenue up 17%. That is admittedly a comedown for Snap, which in the first quarter had posted 44%... We’re finally starting to get a real sense of the impact that the coronavirus has had on...
Mark Cuban. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

The New Stock Market Bubble: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 20, 2020 5:31pm PDT · 1 comment
Investor Mark Cuban on Monday likened the present stock market to the dot-com boom of the late 1990s. Cuban, of course, made his fortune by selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo during that era, so he knows what he is talking about. He sold the company a year before the tech crash of early 2000.Cuban also made the point that the dot-com boom lasted... Investor Mark Cuban on Monday likened the present stock market to the dot-com boom of the late...
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Why the Netflix Sell-Off Isn’t Meaningful: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 17, 2020 6:02pm PDT
Netflix’s second-quarter results on Thursday were about as good as it gets. But you could be forgiven for missing that, given some media coverage that took its cue from the stock sell-off following the earnings report. Investors were supposedly upset that Netflix wasn’t forecasting a repeat of the rip-roaring growth in the third... Netflix’s second-quarter results on Thursday were about as good as it gets. But you could...
EU flags outside of the European Union Commission building in Brussels.
The Briefing

Europe Queries Alexa and Siri: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 16, 2020 5:31pm PDT
A day after European authorities suffered an embarrassing court defeat in a 4-year-old tax case against Apple, regulators on the Continent are going after big tech again. Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s top antitrust enforcer, announced an inquiry into the internet of things sector, including how voice assistants like Siri,... A day after European authorities suffered an embarrassing court defeat in a 4-year-old tax case...
Twitter's San Francisco headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg
Scammers Hack Twitter: The Information’s Tech Briefing
By Martin Peers · Jul 15, 2020 6:01pm PDT
Twitter's San Francisco headquarters. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Scammers Hack Twitter: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 15, 2020 6:01pm PDT
Wednesday’s hack of the Twitter accounts of top executives and politicians, including Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Barack Obama, is an enormous black eye for the company. Scammers have used Twitter before to make money. What is worrisome about this hack is the possibility, raised by some people on Twitter, that the hackers gained... Wednesday’s hack of the Twitter accounts of top executives and politicians, including Jeff...
Europe's competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Europe’s Regulatory Traffic Jam: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 14, 2020 5:31pm PDT
European regulators seem to be caught in a traffic jam of cases against big U.S. tech companies. It’s a situation we could easily see develop in the U.S. in the not-too-distant future, an interesting wrinkle that is likely to work to some companies’ advantage.The logjam in Europe has emerged in recent days as we have been waiting to... European regulators seem to be caught in a traffic jam of cases against big U.S. tech companies....
Photo: AP
The Briefing

Trio of Deals: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 13, 2020 5:35pm PDT
Monday’s late stock market sell-off halted, at least for a day, what appeared to be a bubble enveloping Wall Street. Even as Covid cases surge, investors had been acting like all was fine. (And one of the trading apps powering the rally, Robinhood, is directly benefiting, as we note below.)But deal-making hasn’t slowed: Today we had... Monday’s late stock market sell-off halted, at least for a day, what appeared to be a...
Photo: Bloomberg
The Briefing

Amazon’s Stunning TikTok Reversal: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 10, 2020 5:35pm PDT
For a few hours on Friday, it looked like any Trump administration ban of TikTok was going to be pre-empted by companies. But Amazon’s startling reversal of its ban on TikTok—it said a Friday morning email to employees ordering the app to be deleted from their phones had been sent “in error”—made that thought moot.... For a few hours on Friday, it looked like any Trump administration ban of TikTok was going to be...
Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer of Nvidia. Photo by Bloomberg
A New Chip King: The Information’s Tech Briefing
By Martin Peers · Jul 9, 2020 5:32pm PDT
Jen-Hsun Huang, president and chief executive officer of Nvidia. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

A New Chip King: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 9, 2020 5:32pm PDT
The tech industry saw a symbolic passing of the baton on Thursday, as the market capitalization of Nvidia—the top maker of chips for artificial intelligence projects—surpassed that of Intel, long Silicon Valley’s most dominant chip provider, for the first time, reported Reuters.The shift underscores the strategic importance... The tech industry saw a symbolic passing of the baton on Thursday, as the market capitalization...
Ant Financial's headquarters in Hangzhou, China, last October. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

China’s Market Rally, Twitter’s Latest Subscription Idea: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 8, 2020 5:01pm PDT
If you’re wondering why U.S. stocks keep going up—the Nasdaq rose another 1% on Wednesday—one likely influence is China’s stock market. The Shanghai Composite Index has jumped 15% since the end of June, taking it to its highest level since early 2018. Numerous commentators are warning the rally makes no sense, given... If you’re wondering why U.S. stocks keep going up—the Nasdaq rose another 1% on...
Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Clouds Hover Over TikTok: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 7, 2020 5:01pm PDT · 1 comment
What price would shares in ByteDance, owner of the hugely popular TikTok app, fetch today? ByteDance last raised money at a $75 billion valuation, and its shares traded at even higher levels recently on secondary markets. Today, though, investor interest might be just a bit weaker.TikTok has been banned in India, its biggest market, and now the... What price would shares in ByteDance, owner of the hugely popular TikTok app, fetch today?...
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Photo by Bloomberg
The Briefing

Why Uber’s Postmates Deal Doesn’t Deserve Celebration: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 6, 2020 5:47pm PDT
Uber's 6% stock price rise on Monday suggests investors like the company's $2.65 billion acquisition of Postmates. And it is, in theory, a way to shore up Uber Eats' restaurant food delivery in some U.S. cities and consolidate the market.But investors should curb their enthusiasm. Postmates’ share of the U.S. market in... Uber's 6% stock price rise on Monday suggests investors like the company's $2.65...
Lemonade executives ringing in the company's IPO at the New York Stock Exchange. Photo by NYSE
Lemonade’s IPO Lesson: The Information’s Tech Briefing
By Martin Peers · Jul 2, 2020 5:31pm PDT
Lemonade executives ringing in the company's IPO at the New York Stock Exchange. Photo by NYSE
The Briefing

Lemonade’s IPO Lesson: The Information’s Tech Briefing

By Martin Peers · Jul 2, 2020 5:31pm PDT
Next time a venture capitalist like Bill Gurley complains about the IPO process, expect them to use Lemonade’s IPO as Exhibit A. The insurance tech firm priced its IPO at $29 a share this week, implying a market capitalization well below its most recent private valuation of $2.1 billion.Yet when Lemonade stock started trading Thursday... Next time a venture capitalist like Bill Gurley complains about the IPO process, expect them to...