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The Briefing

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

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Recent Editions

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Getty Images
The Briefing

Google’s Meta Talks Put the Ball in Nvidia’s Court

By Martin Peers · Nov 25, 2025 5:00pm PST
We’re getting close to the year’s end, when reporters’ minds turn to predictions for the new year. So here’s one: I predict sometime soon Nvidia will announce it is investing billions of dollars into Meta Platforms, in exchange for Meta committing to continue using Nvidia’s AI chips. This is just a wild guess, to be clear, but it’s based on how... We’re getting close to the year’s end, when reporters’ minds turn to predictions for the new...
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The Briefing

Grindr’s Control Issues

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 24, 2025 5:00pm PST
It’s not too often that a controlling shareholder can’t get their way at a public company. But an attempt by the two biggest investors in Grindr to take the gay dating and hookup app private went south on Monday. The reason? They didn’t come up with the money. It’s the latest chapter in a long-running corporate finance saga surrounding Grindr,... It’s not too often that a controlling shareholder can’t get their way at a public company. But an...
Oracle, Warner Bros. Discovery and the Ellisons
The Briefing

Oracle, Warner Bros. Discovery and the Ellisons

By Martin Peers · Nov 23, 2025 3:00pm PST
The Ellison family will have plenty to talk about when they convene for Thanksgiving this week (assuming they do!). The price of Oracle has plummeted in the past six weeks, for one thing, reflecting AI bubble jitters centering on Oracle. In the same period of time, Larry Ellison and his son David have been—by all accounts—busy plotting the... The Ellison family will have plenty to talk about when they convene for Thanksgiving this week...
Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Getty Images
Ron DeSantis Spotlights Key AI Question
By Martin Peers · Nov 20, 2025 5:00pm PST
Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Getty Images
The Briefing

Ron DeSantis Spotlights Key AI Question

By Martin Peers · Nov 20, 2025 5:00pm PST
We’re moving off the (unresolved) AI bubble debate to a much more fundamental question about AI. That is whether decisions about an enormously costly technology, which threatens to put many people out of work, should be left to tech leaders or discussed more broadly. It turns out Republicans may have the best handle on this issue, most obviously... We’re moving off the (unresolved) AI bubble debate to a much more fundamental question about AI....
Jensen Huang. Getty Images.
The Briefing

Nvidia Doesn’t See an AI Bubble as It Rakes In the Cash

By · Nov 19, 2025 5:00pm PST
Bubble? What bubble? Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dismissed fretful talk about massive AI investment on Wednesday, extolling the benefits of AI for a wide variety of companies—from startups to big firms like Meta Platforms. Of course, the biggest beneficiary of the AI transformation is Nvidia itself, whose stranglehold on the AI chip market is... Bubble? What bubble? Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang dismissed fretful talk about massive AI investment...
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Get smarter about the most important stories in tech, media and finance by following Silicon Valley’s most-read executive newsletter.
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Judge James Boasberg. Getty Images
The Briefing

How Trump’s TikTok Tactics Helped Meta Win Antitrust Case

By · Nov 18, 2025 5:00pm PST
For once, the latest multibillion-dollar AI deal—this time Microsoft and Nvidia investing in Anthropic—isn’t the day’s biggest tech news development. (Skip down for details on that story.) More important was a Washington judge’s ruling on Tuesday that Meta Platforms isn’t a monopoly. So much for all those breathless headlines suggesting Meta... For once, the latest multibillion-dollar AI deal—this time Microsoft and Nvidia investing in...
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Getty Images.
The Briefing

What Google Has That OpenAI Doesn't

By · Nov 17, 2025 5:00pm PST · 1 comment
Who let the dogs out? Shares of Google parent Alphabet, which was in Wall Street’s doghouse for the past couple of years, are now running freely. Friday night’s news that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway had bought a $4.3 billion stake in Alphabet sent the shares rising 3% on Monday, even as other tech stocks sagged amid a broader market... Who let the dogs out? Shares of Google parent Alphabet, which was in Wall Street’s doghouse for...
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Getty Images.
What to Expect From Nvidia Earnings
By Martin Peers · Nov 16, 2025 3:00pm PST
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Getty Images.
The Briefing

What to Expect From Nvidia Earnings

By Martin Peers · Nov 16, 2025 3:00pm PST
We’re heading into the last full workweek before Thanksgiving and plenty is going on. A short time ago, bets on prediction market Polymarket were giving an 88% chance that Google would release its much-anticipated Gemini 3 AI model this week. Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Friday fueled the speculation with this cryptic X post. Meanwhile, Microsoft... We’re heading into the last full workweek before Thanksgiving and plenty is going on. A short...
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. Getty Images
The Briefing

Anthropic’s Cybersecurity Cause and Cure

By Martin Peers · Nov 13, 2025 5:00pm PST
If you listen to tech executives nowadays, AI can solve all of the world’s problems. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman likes to talk about AI’s potential to cure cancer. Elon Musk the other day promised that Optimus robots—AI in a hardware form—would “eliminate poverty” and prevent crime. But will AI cause almost as many problems as it solves? When it comes... If you listen to tech executives nowadays, AI can solve all of the world’s problems. OpenAI CEO...
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The Briefing

Waymo Speeds Up

By Martin Peers · Nov 12, 2025 5:00pm PST · 1 comment
Next time you’re barreling down a highway and you get stuck behind someone driving at the speed limit, don’t honk or flash your lights. It might be a Waymo self-driving car! The Alphabet-owned robotaxi business announced Wednesday that its cars will now drive on freeways in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles and Phoenix, a major advance for... Next time you’re barreling down a highway and you get stuck behind someone driving at the speed...
The Briefing Newsletter
Get smarter about the most important stories in tech, media and finance by following Silicon Valley’s most-read executive newsletter.
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SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Getty Images.
The Briefing

SoftBank Hunts for Pennies to Meet Its OpenAI Commitment

By Martin Peers · Nov 11, 2025 5:02pm PST
Would you trade shares in Nvidia for stock in OpenAI? That’s what SoftBank just did, selling $5.8 billion worth of shares in the AI chip giant to finance a commitment to invest $22.5 billion in the ChatGPT maker. On the surface, it might seem a logical trade, given that chip companies purporting to compete with Nvidia have proliferated like... Would you trade shares in Nvidia for stock in OpenAI? That’s what SoftBank just did, selling $5.8...
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Instacart’s Slow Growth Lesson
By Martin Peers · Nov 10, 2025 5:00pm PST
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The Briefing

Instacart’s Slow Growth Lesson

By Martin Peers · Nov 10, 2025 5:00pm PST
Next time you contemplate the much-hyped IPO of a brand-name company, ask yourself this question: Are its glory days behind it? One of the disadvantages for public investors of snapping up newly public tech firms—particularly those that have taken their time going public—is that very often they have already peaked. Take Instacart, which reported... Next time you contemplate the much-hyped IPO of a brand-name company, ask yourself this question:...
BlackRock's Tony Kim. Getty Images.
The Briefing

Debt Can Plug the AI Hole in Big Tech’s Deep Pockets

By Martin Peers · Nov 9, 2025 3:00pm PST
We’ve moved from marveling about AI’s potential to puzzling over how to pay for it. The price tag seems to grow every day. On Thursday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk suggested Tesla will need so many chips for its robots and self-driving cars that it might build its own chip factory. He also said Tesla would have to spend “tens of billions” to train the... We’ve moved from marveling about AI’s potential to puzzling over how to pay for it. The price tag...
Elon Musk at today's annual Tesla shareholder meeting. YouTube/Tesla.
The Briefing

Elon Musk's Victory

By Theo Wayt · Nov 6, 2025 5:00pm PST
We’ve finally learned the result of a controversial, long-awaited vote that’s generated reams of punditry and put Wall Street on edge. No, I’m not talking about the mayoral election in New York City—I’m talking about the Tesla shareholder vote on Elon Musk’s gigantic compensation package. Musk won with over 75% of the vote, Tesla said at... We’ve finally learned the result of a controversial, long-awaited vote that’s generated reams of...
Tony Xu, CEO of DoorDash. Getty Images
The Briefing

DoorDash’s Investment Plans Unnerve Wall Street

By Martin Peers · Nov 5, 2025 5:00pm PST · 2 comments
Wall Street is getting jittery about corporate investment. DoorDash stock slumped as much as 20% in after-hours trading after the food-delivery service revealed it expects to “invest several hundred million dollars more” in upgrading its technology and expansion next year than it did this year. Given that DoorDash generates a couple of billion... Wall Street is getting jittery about corporate investment. DoorDash stock slumped as much as 20%...
The Briefing Newsletter
Get smarter about the most important stories 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
Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Getty Images
Perplexity Takes On Amazon
By Martin Peers · Nov 4, 2025 5:00pm PST
Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Getty Images
The Briefing

Perplexity Takes On Amazon

By Martin Peers · Nov 4, 2025 5:00pm PST
Cue the violins. Perplexity on Tuesday accused Amazon of bullying it by demanding that the AI startup no longer allow its users to send their AI assistants to Amazon to buy stuff. The startup, which is an expert at public relations theatrics, published a long blog post entitled “Bullying Is Not Innovation,” in which it claimed to be “fighting... Cue the violins. Perplexity on Tuesday accused Amazon of bullying it by demanding that the AI...
An AWS data center in Ashburn, Va. Getty Images.
The Briefing

AWS Joins OpenAI Club

By Martin Peers · Nov 3, 2025 5:00pm PST
If you’re tired of the seemingly endless parade of AI cloud deals, better get comfortable with them: They’re not going away anytime soon. On Monday, for instance, Microsoft struck deals with two little-known cloud firms, Lambda and Australia’s Iren, for additional computing capacity. Another firm, Cipher Mining Inc. announced a similar deal to... If you’re tired of the seemingly endless parade of AI cloud deals, better get comfortable with...
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The Briefing

Preparing for Elon Musk’s $1 Trillion Tesla Vote

By Theo Wayt · Nov 2, 2025 3:00pm PST
Over the past couple of months, my X feed and television have been bombarded with Tesla advertisements. For the most part, these ads don’t feature products anyone can actually buy—instead, they include futuristic Tesla projects like the Optimus humanoid robot and are aimed at convincing Tesla shareholders to approve a proposed compensation... Over the past couple of months, my X feed and television have been bombarded with Tesla...
Andy Jassy. Getty Images
The Briefing

Amazon’s Cloud Lifts

By Martin Peers · Oct 30, 2025 5:10pm PDT
The cloud over Amazon is lifting. The e-commerce and cloud giant reported Thursday that its cloud unit, Amazon Web Services, accelerated revenue growth by nearly 3 percentage points to 20% in the third quarter, its fastest rate of expansion since the end of 2022. That means AWS, by far the biggest of the major cloud firms, has joined its nearest... The cloud over Amazon is lifting. The e-commerce and cloud giant reported Thursday that its cloud...
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What Google, Meta and Microsoft Numbers Revealed
By Martin Peers · Oct 29, 2025 5:00pm PDT
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The Briefing

What Google, Meta and Microsoft Numbers Revealed

By Martin Peers · Oct 29, 2025 5:00pm PDT
Mark Zuckerberg is doubling down on AI—again. And the cost is mounting. Meta Platforms reported Wednesday that its increased investment in AI, both for hiring star AI researchers and for investing billions in data centers, hurt its operating profit margins and squeezed its free cash flow by one-third in the third quarter. Since the end of last... Mark Zuckerberg is doubling down on AI—again. And the cost is mounting. Meta Platforms reported...