The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

Five times/week

The Briefing

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

Get smarter about the day’s news in tech, media and finance by following Silicon Valley’s most-read executive newsletter.

By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy

Recent Editions

Mark Zuckerberg and Alexandr Wang. Photos: Getty, Flickr

The High Stakes for Meta’s New Super AI Team

By Martin Peers · Jun 30, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Start your timer. Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday unveiled the company’s new artificial intelligence organization—Meta Superintelligence Labs—replete with heavyweights from Silicon Valley. This new org is the product of a massive spending spree by Zuckerberg to snag the best AI talent possible in hopes of turning around Meta’s... Start your timer. Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday unveiled the company’s new...

Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise at the European premiere of F1. Photo via Getty

Apple’s “F1” Movie Opens, Spotlighting Puzzle Over Strategy

By Martin Peers · Jun 27, 2025 3:00pm PDT

Can I have a show of hands of those who plan this weekend to see the new Apple-made Brad Pitt movie, “F1,” which opened today in theaters? It is the kind of film—full of shots of cars racing at high speed—that surely looks better on the big screen. That’s definitely the view of Eddy Cue, the Apple executive with responsibility for the company’s... Can I have a show of hands of those who plan this weekend to see the new Apple-made Brad Pitt...

Travis Kalanick. Photo via Getty

Kalanick May Ride Pony Back to Prominence

By Martin Peers · Jun 26, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Welcome back, Travis Kalanick! We’ve missed you as a generator of news. The New York Times scooped the juicy news today that Kalanick is in talks to get Uber’s backing for a buyout of Chinese autonomous vehicle developer Pony.ai’s U.S. assets. Assuming the deal gets done, it may not involve big dollars—Pony’s market capitalization of $5.2... Welcome back, Travis Kalanick! We’ve missed you as a generator of news. The New York Times...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo via Getty

Microsoft’s Shaky AI Leadership

By Martin Peers · Jun 25, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo via Getty

Microsoft’s Shaky AI Leadership

By Martin Peers · Jun 25, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Microsoft is on a hot streak. Its stock has soared in recent weeks and so far this year is up 17%, more than that of any other big tech name besides gravity-defying Meta Platforms. What makes Microsoft’s performance so striking is that the stock was not cheap before the rally—based on multiples of earnings and sales—and it is even less cheap... Microsoft is on a hot streak. Its stock has soared in recent weeks and so far this year is up...

Timothée Chalamet enters a movie premiere in London on a Lime Bike in January. Photo via Getty.

As Stocks Roar, IPO Hopefuls Come Out of Woodwork

By Martin Peers · Jun 24, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Welcome to summer, particularly for those in cities like New York that are enduring 100-degree temperatures today. And it was hot in a different sense on Wall Street, where all those worries about tariffs seem to have faded into the background, judging by the recent stock market frenzy. The Nasdaq 100 index, for instance, rose 1.5% on Tuesday to... Welcome to summer, particularly for those in cities like New York that are enduring 100-degree...

Photo via Shutterstock

Fiserv’s Stablecoin Plans Show Intensifying Crypto Stampede

By Ken Brown · Jun 23, 2025 5:00pm PDT

The crypto stampede is on, and hardly a day goes by without the launch of some bitcoin scheme or stablecoin offering. On Sunday, my colleague Yueqi reported that OKX, one of the three biggest global crypto exchanges, was considering an initial public offering in the U.S. Today, Fiserv, one of the companies that manages the plumbing of the nation... The crypto stampede is on, and hardly a day goes by without the launch of some bitcoin scheme or...

SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son with a humanoid robot in 2015. Photo via Getty

Why SoftBank’s Robots-in-the-Desert Project Could Be a Mirage

By Nick Wingfield · Jun 20, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Masayoshi Son is a man who keeps adding zeros to his grand ambitions. Apparently, the SoftBank Group founder isn’t content with his $500 billion Stargate plan to build artificial intelligence data centers and is now trying to rally partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., to build a $1 trillion industrial complex in Arizona... Masayoshi Son is a man who keeps adding zeros to his grand ambitions. Apparently, the SoftBank...

Scale AI's Alexandr Wang in 2023. Photo via Getty

What a Scale AI Rival’s Extraordinary Success Says About the Meta Deal

By Nick Wingfield · Jun 19, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Scale AI's Alexandr Wang in 2023. Photo via Getty

What a Scale AI Rival’s Extraordinary Success Says About the Meta Deal

By Nick Wingfield · Jun 19, 2025 5:00pm PDT

The past week has been a steady drip, drip, drip of new details shedding light on Meta Platforms’ $14.3 billion investment in Scale AI and its hiring of the startup’s CEO, Alexandr Wang. The latest eye-opener came this morning in Stephanie and Cory’s profile of a Scale competitor, Surge AI, and its founder, Edwin Chen.In essence, they report,... The past week has been a steady drip, drip, drip of new details shedding light on Meta Platforms’...

Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters earlier this month. Photo via Getty

Netflix Is Becoming What It Replaced: Live TV

By Sahil Patel · Jun 18, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Before we get into this evening’s briefing, check out Kalley and Cory’s late-breaking scoop today about Meta Platforms’ latest efforts to boost its artificial intelligence efforts. We reported that the company is holding advanced talks with Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross, two prominent investors, about joining Meta. Meta is also discussing... Before we get into this evening’s briefing, check out Kalley and Cory’s late-breaking scoop today...

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Photo via Getty

Amazon’s Andy Jassy Says the Quiet Part About AI Out Loud

By Theo Wayt · Jun 17, 2025 5:00pm PDT

The tech industry has spent the past few years telling everyone that the artificial intelligence tools they’re building are about to change the world. But until recently executives at the largest tech firms haven’t been willing to spell out what exactly that means for the hundreds of thousands of white-collar staffers at their own companies.... The tech industry has spent the past few years telling everyone that the artificial intelligence...

Image via Getty

Meta’s New Way to Pay for AI Investments: WhatsApp Ads

By Kalley Huang · Jun 16, 2025 5:00pm PDT

The days of “No ads! No games! No gimmicks!” are over. That was the slogan coined by one of the founders of WhatsApp, Brian Acton, which the other founder of the messaging app, Jan Koum, used to keep taped to his desk on a sticky note. On Monday, though, WhatsApp’s owner, Meta Platforms, said the app will start showing ads for the first time in... The days of “No ads! No games! No gimmicks!” are over. That was the slogan coined by one of the...

A Waymo autonomous vehicle. Photo via Getty

Robotaxis Get Real

By Abram Brown · Jun 13, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

A Waymo autonomous vehicle. Photo via Getty

Robotaxis Get Real

By Abram Brown · Jun 13, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

Flying cars may not have arrived yet, but the long-awaited era of everyday robotaxis is here. And not just in America, if I’m correctly reading signals about the state of the industry from the last several days. They were all equally eye-opening, even if one was a little grim. In Los Angeles, a real-life “Black Mirror” moment played out,... Flying cars may not have arrived yet, but the long-awaited era of everyday robotaxis is here. And...

Photo Bloomberg via Getty Images

In IPO Market, FOMO Replaces Fear

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 12, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Did you hear that pop? Tech initial public offerings are getting loud, a little silly, and highly profitable for investors again. Banking app Chime’s share price jumped 37% above its IPO price Thursday, its first day of trading on Nasdaq, lifting its market cap past $15 billion. It’s the latest in a string of price pops that are helping to... Did you hear that pop? Tech initial public offerings are getting loud, a little silly, and highly...

Oracle CEO Safra Catz. Photo via Getty

Stargate Snag Doesn’t Stop Oracle Cloud Growth

By Nick Wingfield and Anissa Gardizy · Jun 11, 2025 5:00pm PDT

We learned a few interesting things from Oracle’s earnings report today. First, CEO Safra Catz dropped the news that Stargate, the splashy, $500 billion joint venture between Oracle, SoftBank and OpenAI to build artificial intelligence data centers, is “not yet formed.” The tidbit from Oracle is another sign Stargate is off to a slow start after... We learned a few interesting things from Oracle’s earnings report today. First, CEO Safra Catz...

Photos via Getty

Meta’s Risky Scale AI Bet Shows Self-Assurance—or Hubris

By Nick Wingfield and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Jun 10, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Mark Zuckerberg seems confident! As we reported earlier today, Meta Platforms is on the cusp of taking a 49% stake in Scale AI for $14.8 billion and bringing the AI startup’s CEO, Alexandr Wang, on board to lead a new AI lab. There are echoes in the Meta–Scale AI talks of earlier deals between big tech companies and AI startups, including Google... Mark Zuckerberg seems confident! As we reported earlier today, Meta Platforms is on the cusp of...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo via Getty

Apple Plays It Safe at Developer Conference

By Aaron Tilley · Jun 9, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo via Getty

Apple Plays It Safe at Developer Conference

By Aaron Tilley · Jun 9, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Apple appears to have learned its lesson about overpromising on artificial intelligence. Last year, at its Worldwide Developers Conference, the company made a bunch of bold promises about its AI plans to show that it too had an answer to the ChatGPT age. Those claims turned out to be half-baked, as many of the AI features under its Apple... Apple appears to have learned its lesson about overpromising on artificial intelligence. Last...

Tim Cook at WWDC 2024. Photo via Getty

Apple’s Needless App Store Fight

By Martin Peers · Jun 6, 2025 2:30pm PDT

Forget the Musk-Trump drama for a moment. Next week is WWDC, Apple’s annual developer conference, when the iPhone maker shows off slick new software features coming later in the year. I’m tempted to say this year’s event will be more in the spotlight than usual, except that might be difficult to assert given the massive attention Apple gets for... Forget the Musk-Trump drama for a moment. Next week is WWDC, Apple’s annual developer conference,...

Photo via Getty

What’s Next for Tech in Post-Musk Washington

By Martin Peers · Jun 5, 2025 5:00pm PDT

Today’s episode of America’s greatest reality series—yes, I’m talking about Elon Musk’s falling-out with President Donald Trump—was a barn burner. But rather than rehashing the gory details here (as extraordinary as their social media back-and-forth was, it was also entirely predictable), it’s more interesting to consider what this means for... Today’s episode of America’s greatest reality series—yes, I’m talking about Elon Musk’s...

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire. Photo via Getty

Squaring Away Circle’s IPO

By Yueqi Yang · Jun 4, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 3 comments

One of the longest running stories in crypto, Circle Internet Group’s effort to go public, is finally wrapping up. After four years of trying, the stablecoin firm priced its initial public offering tonight at $31 per share, above its preliminary range of between $27 and $28, and valuing the company at $6.9 billion based on outstanding shares.... One of the longest running stories in crypto, Circle Internet Group’s effort to go public, is...

AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi. Photo via AppLovin

Venture Capital’s Big AppLovin Miss

By Martin Peers · Jun 3, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

AppLovin CEO Adam Foroughi. Photo via AppLovin

Venture Capital’s Big AppLovin Miss

By Martin Peers · Jun 3, 2025 5:00pm PDT · 1 comment

One of venture capital’s big misses has to be AppLovin, an ad-tech firm specializing in selling ad space in gaming apps. Its shares have soared more than 900% since the beginning of last year, giving AppLovin a market capitalization today of $135 billion. That makes it just a bit smaller than Spotify, Shopify and Arm Holdings—and bigger than... One of venture capital’s big misses has to be AppLovin, an ad-tech firm specializing in selling...