The Information

Tempus AI founder Eric Lefkofsky. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Tempus AI Shows IPOs Are Finally Getting Weird Again

By Cory Weinberg · May 24, 2024 6:00am PDT

The handful of tech companies that have taken the leap into the public markets over the past nine months have been sure to show investors heavy profits (Instacart and Arm), fast growth (Rubrik, Ibotta and Klaviyo) or a clear story about how they’re benefitting from artificial intelligence (Astera Labs and Reddit). Tempus AI, a healthcare... The handful of tech companies that have taken the leap into the public markets over the past nine...

Jensen Huang, left, and Colette Kress. Photos by Getty; X/J.P. Morgan.

Ten Gifts Nvidia Gave Its Investors

By Amir Efrati and Anita Ramaswamy · May 23, 2024 9:21am PDT · 1 comment

How good was Nvidia's quarterly earnings call? Let us count the ways. Everyone is buzzing about Nvidia’s revenue nearly quadrupling to $26 billion in the quarter ended in April, mostly from the sale of artificial intelligence server chips. But Nvidia immediately shared three other pieces of good news: a strong sales forecast, a 10-to-1... How good was Nvidia's quarterly earnings call? Let us count the ways. Everyone is buzzing...

HubSpot's Cambridge, Mass. headquarters. Photo via AP.

Why HubSpot Needs Google

By Anita Ramaswamy · May 21, 2024 8:00am PDT · 3 comments

HubSpot investors better hope that Google actually buys it. The marketing software company’s growth is slowing as the small businesses it caters to try to cut down their bills, and it faces mounting competition from flashy AI tools that could chip away at its business. As Google reportedly discusses an acquisition of HubSpot, which sells... HubSpot investors better hope that Google actually buys it. The marketing software...

Pinterest CEO Bill Ready. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Why Investors Are Starting to Take Pinterest Seriously

By Anita Ramaswamy · May 8, 2024 12:40pm PDT · 2 comments

Pinterest CEO Bill Ready. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty Images.

Why Investors Are Starting to Take Pinterest Seriously

By Anita Ramaswamy · May 8, 2024 12:40pm PDT · 2 comments

If you’re looking for the social media stock that could, just maybe, break the logjam of the digital ad market—where Meta Platforms and Google take the lion’s share of spending, leaving the rest to everyone else—you might want to check out Pinterest. Yes, we’re talking about the company many investors likely left... If you’re looking for the social media stock that could, just maybe, break the logjam of...

Chart by Mike Sullivan.

How Will AI Investment Affect Big Tech Profits? It May Be Hard to Find Out

By Anita Ramaswamy · May 2, 2024 7:32am PDT

The four big tech firms that reported earnings results in the past 10 days—Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta Platforms and Amazon—posted substantially richer operating profit margins than they have in several years. Investors shouldn’t get used to it. That boost to profits, a result of layoffs and other cost-cutting measures last year,... The four big tech firms that reported earnings results in the past 10 days—Microsoft,...

Chart by Mike Sullivan

Meta’s Big Rally Spotlights Investors’ Questions About AI Returns

By Aaron Holmes · Feb 2, 2024 9:59am PST · 2 comments

Shares of Meta Platforms stock soared 20% on Friday as investors applauded the company’s fourth-quarter results, which showed a strong ad recovery from its 2022 slump. But the enthusiasm of some investors was tempered by uncertainty about the returns Meta can get from the billions it is pouring into new generative artificial intelligence... Shares of Meta Platforms stock soared 20% on Friday as investors applauded the company’s...

Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short in a scene from "Only Murders in the Building." Photo by Craig Blankenhorn/Hulu

Why Disney’s Hulu Buyout Will Cost At Least $5 Billion More

By Sahil Patel and Martin Peers · Dec 4, 2023 7:00am PST

How much should Walt Disney Co. pay to buy Comcast’s 33% stake in Hulu, the video-streaming service best known for “Only Murders in the Building” and “The Bear”? It’s shaping up to be the most contentious entertainment industry deal of 2024. And guess what: Disney is likely to be on the hook for billions more,... How much should Walt Disney Co. pay to buy Comcast’s 33% stake in Hulu, the video-streaming...

Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Stripe Is Cheaper Than Adyen

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 27, 2023 6:00am PST · 8 comments

Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Stripe Is Cheaper Than Adyen

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 27, 2023 6:00am PST · 8 comments

Stripe has been blessed with a few big advantages over its Netherlands-based digital payments rival, Adyen. Stripe serves smaller businesses, allowing it to take a bigger cut of each sale. The vast majority of its customers are in the U.S., a more lucrative market than that of the European-centric Adyen. The result has been faster growth for... Stripe has been blessed with a few big advantages over its Netherlands-based digital payments...

A scene from the 2017 day when Okta went public. Photo by AP.

Three Cybersecurity Stocks That Look Cheap

By Akash Pasricha and Martin Peers · Feb 21, 2023 7:02am PST · 1 comment

You can tell a company’s stock price has fallen too far when its shareholders resist private equity buyout offers on the grounds that valuations are too depressed for selling. That’s what has happened lately in enterprise software, and it’s a sign that there are bargains to be had for savvy investors. Two examples:... You can tell a company’s stock price has fallen too far when its shareholders resist...

Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest. Photo by Bloomberg

Pinterest Stock Prospects Hinge on ex-Googler’s Shopping Plans

By Mahira Dayal · Dec 16, 2022 6:00am PST

What a difference a year makes. At the start of 2022, Pinterest was on the outs with investors. Plagued by reports that executives were fleeing, along with falling user numbers, its stock was trading at a deep discount to that of Snap, a similar-size social media app that for the past few years had shown faster revenue growth. Today, the tables... What a difference a year makes. At the start of 2022, Pinterest was on the outs with investors....

Chart by Shane Burke

How Money-Losing Tech Firms Redefine Profits

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 31, 2022 6:00am PDT · 12 comments

Last month, Rent the Runway CEO Jennifer Hyman announced that the e-commerce company, used by tens of thousands of fashion aficionados on a budget, had turned a tiny profit during the second quarter after several years of losses—at least, that is, by the firm’s favorite metric of profitability. But that definition of profitability... Last month, Rent the Runway CEO Jennifer Hyman announced that the e-commerce company, used by...

Chart by Shane Burke

Why E-Commerce Disruptors Are Trading Like Brick-and-Mortar Dinosaurs

By Akash Pasricha and Martin Peers · Oct 17, 2022 6:00am PDT

Chart by Shane Burke

Why E-Commerce Disruptors Are Trading Like Brick-and-Mortar Dinosaurs

By Akash Pasricha and Martin Peers · Oct 17, 2022 6:00am PDT

E-commerce is on sale. Online commerce companies including ThredUp, Rent the Runway, Stitch Fix and Farfetch have seen their valuations tumble, putting them in the same ballpark as aging brick-and-mortar giants like Macy’s and Nordstrom. Already South Korea’s internet search giant, Naver, has taken advantage of the collapse to snap... E-commerce is on sale. Online commerce companies including ThredUp, Rent the Runway, Stitch Fix...

Art by Mike Sullivan

The Haziness in Microsoft’s Cloud Numbers

By Martin Peers · Sep 20, 2022 12:16pm PDT · 2 comments

Here’s a quick question for enterprise software acolytes out there: which tech giant is bigger in cloud, Microsoft or Amazon? It depends. Microsoft says total revenue for “Microsoft Cloud” was $91 billion in the year to June, which is significantly more than AWS’ $72 billion for the same 12-month period. But the... Here’s a quick question for enterprise software acolytes out there: which tech giant is...

Why ‘Battered’ SaaS Valuations Look Out of Touch With Reality

By Akash Pasricha · Aug 15, 2022 1:29pm PDT · 3 comments

Valuations for publicly traded enterprise software companies such as Salesforce and Workday have plunged from pandemic-era peaks, thanks to rising interest rates and worries that customers will cut software budgets during an economic slowdown. But there are signs the sell-off has gone too far. For the first time since at least 2019, the... Valuations for publicly traded enterprise software companies such as Salesforce and Workday have...

Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings. Photo by Bloomberg.

Netflix Could Boost U.S. Revenue 21% With Advertising Push

By Jessica Toonkel · May 23, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Netflix has spent its entire existence setting the trend for others in video streaming to follow. But as it prepares to launch an ad-supported tier, Netflix executives are pondering a different question: Which rival service should it follow as a model? At one extreme is Disney-controlled Hulu, which runs more ads than most services and therefore... Netflix has spent its entire existence setting the trend for others in video streaming to follow....

Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg.

Musk’s Buyout Playbook Means Big Job Cuts at Twitter

By Martin Peers · Apr 26, 2022 11:11am PDT · 11 comments

Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg.

Musk’s Buyout Playbook Means Big Job Cuts at Twitter

By Martin Peers · Apr 26, 2022 11:11am PDT · 11 comments

For all of Elon Musk’s talk about ridding Twitter of spam bots and introducing an edit button, his top priority when he takes charge may be more mundane—how to quickly cut costs. Given the amount of debt he is taking on in the acquisition, Musk will have a big incentive to lift Twitter’s profits as fast as possible. That almost... For all of Elon Musk’s talk about ridding Twitter of spam bots and introducing an edit...

Photo by Shutterstock.

Startups That Were Pandemic Darlings Look Overvalued as Stocks Drop

By Akash Pasricha · Mar 24, 2022 12:48pm PDT · 3 comments

Many of the stocks that benefited most from pandemic-driven bumps have since fallen to their pre-pandemic levels, even when their businesses remain much bigger than they were back then. Now, startups that privately raised money at sky-high valuations during the pandemic, piggybacking off the soaring valuations of public companies, could be due... Many of the stocks that benefited most from pandemic-driven bumps have since fallen to their...

Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Salesforce Trades Like Oracle—Investors Fear Benioff’s Next Big Deal

By Martin Peers · Mar 17, 2022 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

If you want an example of just how much more weight investors are placing on profits than on revenue growth, take a look at Salesforce and Oracle. On one side is Salesforce, whose top line has grown at a remarkably stable rate, averaging 26% over the past seven fiscal years. On the other is aging software giant Oracle, whose revenue averaged... If you want an example of just how much more weight investors are placing on profits than on...

Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud. Photo by AP.

Vimeo Is Looking Like a Prime Takeover Target

By Aidan Ryan · Feb 17, 2022 6:00am PST

Barry Diller’s IAC internet-media empire has a long track record of successful spin-offs, including companies such as travel booking site Expedia, ticket seller Ticketmaster, and dating app company Match. Vimeo, its latest, hasn’t exactly shared their fate. Since its May separation from IAC, the video software firm’s stock has... Barry Diller’s IAC internet-media empire has a long track record of successful spin-offs,...

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. Photo by Bloomberg.

Spotify’s Finances Show Why Music Streaming Is a Terrible Business

By Martin Peers · Feb 10, 2022 8:45am PST · 6 comments

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. Photo by Bloomberg.

Spotify’s Finances Show Why Music Streaming Is a Terrible Business

By Martin Peers · Feb 10, 2022 8:45am PST · 6 comments

Investors have slowly awakened to the realization that video streaming, as exemplified by Netflix, is a high-cost venture with lots of competition and no guarantee of a cash payoff. The economics of music streaming, though, are even worse. Just look at Spotify. It’s no secret that music companies take most of the money Spotify collects.... Investors have slowly awakened to the realization that video streaming, as exemplified by...