Welcome to Internal Tech Emails: internal tech industry emails that surface in public records. 🔍 If you haven’t signed up, join 45,000+ others and get the newsletter:
Companies
Amazon | Apple | FTX | Google | Meta | Microsoft | OpenAI | Tesla | Theranos | Twitter | Uber | Others
People
Jim Allchin | Sam Altman | Sam Bankman-Fried | Jeff Bezos | Sergey Brin | Dick Costolo | Eddy Cue | Tim Cook | Jack Dorsey | Craig Federighi | Scott Forstall | Bill Gates | Elizabeth Holmes | Steve Jobs | Travis Kalanick | Marissa Mayer | Elon Musk (Tesla) | Elon Musk (Twitter) | Larry Page | Satya Nadella | Sheryl Sandberg | Sundar Pichai | Phil Schiller | Phil Spencer | Eric Schmidt | Kevin Systrom | Linda Yaccarino | Mark Zuckerberg
Key
🔍 = Editor’s Pick
Amazon
Jeff Bezos
“I’d buy [Ring] right now” 🔍
December 15, 2017
Email to exec about Signal
February 29, 2020
Others
Meeting notes on super-fast delivery
September 19, 2013
Memo about why Amazon should acquire Ring
October 10, 2017
Amazon exec’s concerns about Ring acquisition
October 31, 2017
Meeting invite template
March 5, 2021
Apple
Eddy Cue
Email brainstorming Apple's rules for in-app subscriptions
February 9, 2011
Email about promoting Shazam Player in the App Store
January 12, 2012
Email to execs about iTunes gift cards
February 15, 2013
Email to Tim Cook about improving App Store discovery
June 9, 2015
Email to Tim Cook about search deal renegotiations with Google
January 22, 2016
Tim Cook
Reaction to email from Epic’s Tim Sweeney
June 26, 2015
Email to execs: “I need the two of you to play the role I usually play”
October 27, 2018
Talking points for earnings call: "Hot topics"
October 31, 2018
Email about supplier leaks
November 5, 2018
Email to execs about China
November 24, 2018
Notes for Apple board call
December 17, 2018
Email to employees about war in Ukraine
March 1, 2022
Craig Federighi
Email about detecting more apps that use private APIs
August 28, 2013
Emails about acquiring a cloud gaming service
August 22, 2017
Emails with execs about preventing phishing
December 1, 2019
Scott Forstall
Email to Steve Jobs about the future of mobile
October 19, 2006
Feedback on a draft of Steve Jobs’s letter announcing third-party iPhone apps
October 14, 2007
Email to Steve Jobs about alert copy 🔍
May 17, 2008
Email to Steve Jobs about Google contacts
June 29, 2008
Initial requirements for In-App Purchase feature
December 19, 2008
Steve Jobs
Email negotiating Apple’s deal with Microsoft 🔍
July 24, 1997
Email to Bill Gates about Apple’s relationship with Microsoft 🔍
February 3, 1998
Email to employees referencing Aristotle
January 20, 2002
Emails with Adobe CEO Bruce Chizen about recruiting 🔍
May 26, 2005
Email to Jony Ive and Bas Ording about phone design 🔍
October 5, 2005
Email to execs about negotiations with Qualcomm
November 14, 2006
Emails with Eric Schmidt about recruiting 🔍
March 7, 2007
Executive team meeting agenda 🔍
August 5, 2007
Emails with Palm CEO Ed Colligan about recruiting 🔍
August 24, 2007
Email with Bertrand Serlet about third-party apps on the iPhone 🔍
October 2, 2007
Email to Phil Schiller about Google’s ad platform for iPhone
October 10, 2008
Email to himself: “I grow little of the food I eat…” 🔍
September 2, 2010
Outline of Apple’s strategy for 2011 🔍
October 24, 2010
"It's time for [Amazon] to use our payment mechanism or bow out” 🔍
November 22, 2010
Email to Eddy Cue about bookstores on iOS
February 6, 2011
Emails with execs about Facebook’s iPad app
July 11, 2011
Phil Schiller
Emails with execs about removing the iOS developer NDA
August 4, 2008
Email about Steve Jobs's request for the App Store’s financials
July 15, 2009
Emails with eBay CEO John Donahoe
November 1, 2009
Email to Steve Jobs about App Store complaints
November 20, 2009
Email about the "very high" threat from Amazon's App Store
March 29, 2011
Email about “bad apps” in the App Store 🔍
February 3, 2012
Email about Microsoft's desire to use an external payment system
April 13, 2012
Email to Apple’s ad agency about iPhone marketing 🔍
January 25, 2013
Email to Tim Cook about switching ad agencies
January 27, 2013
Emails with execs about iMessage for Android 🔍
April 8, 2013
Email about growing the Mac App Store
December 24, 2015
Forward of App Store comments from Apple bloggers
January 9, 2016
Email about iOS racing games
November 27, 2017
Idea for a “Jump Start” program for small developers
June 21, 2018
Emails with execs about a “unique arrangement” with Netflix
July 28, 2018
Emails with T-Mobile exec about In-App Purchase
September 6, 2018
Discussion of an upcoming CNBC story about the App Store
June 21, 2019
Email about controversy surrounding HEY email app
June 17, 2020
Others
Emails between Apple and its ad agency about iPhone “firsts”
April 5, 2010
Samsung exec: "this is our best opportunity to attack iPhone"
October 4, 2011
Slides from presentation: “Competing on Privacy”
January 10, 2013
Discussion of a blog post: “10 Things Google Play Does Better than the App Store”
March 19, 2015
Discussion of Google’s app review process
March 19, 2015
Email from developer Cabel Sasser about App Store frustrations
January 4, 2016
Email from Beats Music CEO about iMessage and Android
March 3, 2016
Email from App Store chief about app downloads from farmed accounts
July 19, 2016
Headspace CEO reaching out to App Store about copycat apps
November 18, 2016
App Store team: Apple's Files app was manually boosted over Dropbox
May 7, 2018
Discussion of taking a 30% cut of Uber's membership program
June 26, 2018
Email from Uber product manager about In-App Purchase
August 7, 2018
Apple exec’s concerns about buying or partnering with Bing
August 29, 2018
App Store chief: If In-App Purchase is optional, “no one will ever use it”
December 12, 2018
Emails about Metal games with memory problems on iOS 12
February 20, 2019
"LinkedIn has been rejected for using the same language that Apple uses”
May 1, 2019
Emails about Fortnite’s problems upgrading to Xcode 11
March 3, 2020
Summary of press coverage before House antitrust hearing
July 29, 2020
FTX
Sam Bankman-Fried
Emails to Paradigm VCs about investing in FTX
April 22, 2021
Memo about “uncanny valleys” and “an approximate list of what matters”
Undated
Memo about Michael Kives and “a one-stop shop for relationships”
February 2022
Email to Attorney General of The Bahamas
November 10, 2022
Messages to Vox writer
November 16, 2022
Google Doc with “random probably bad ideas” 🔍
Circa late 2022
Others
Notes from Caroline Ellison: “Things Sam is freaking out about”
Circa fall 2022
Messages with Sam Bankman-Fried about “an increasing dread”
November 2022
Google
Sergey Brin
“Irate call from Steve Jobs” 🔍
January 23, 2006
Email to execs: "There is a social networking bubble"
October 13, 2007
Marissa Mayer
Email to execs about the advantages of scale
August 20, 2009
Larry Page
"I think we should look into acquiring [YouTube]" 🔍
November 8, 2005
“Where are we at” on acquiring YouTube?
January 23, 2006
Sundar Pichai
Emails with execs about search negotiations with Apple
June 6, 2007
Email to exec about employee losses to competitors
April 16, 2019
Message to exec: “can we change the setting of this group to history off”
October 12, 2021
Eric Schmidt
Email to execs about phone call from Meg Whitman
September 7, 2005
“I don't want to create a paper trail” for Google’s recruiting rules
October 4, 2005
Emails exploring the “likely cost of acquiring YouTube” 🔍
February 7, 2006
Others
Email from YouTube cofounder Jawed Karim about "aiming high"
February 11, 2005
Email from YouTube cofounder Jawed Karim about “video idea” 🔍
February 13, 2005
Engineer’s notes on nascent Android project
July 15, 2005
Email from Sequoia’s Roelof Botha to YouTube cofounder
August 5, 2005
YouTube investment memo from Sequoia’s Roelof Botha
Circa 2005
Slide from presentation: “Antitrust Basics for Search Team”
March 2011
Email from Anthony Levandowski: Google’s self driving project is broken
January 9, 2016
Email from Epic’s Tim Sweeney about bypassing the Google Play Store
February 22, 2018
Emails about buying a stake in Epic Games
July 15, 2018
Email describing Sundar Pichai’s meeting with Tim Cook
December 20, 2018
Engineer: Deep ML is a serious risk to Google search
December 26, 2018
Email from Barry Diller to exec: “I’m on the edge of revolt”
December 12, 2019
Product manager: Stripe is “kicking our butt”
September 9, 2020
Meta
Sheryl Sandberg
Email to Google exec Jonathan Rosenberg about Facebook-Google relations 🔍
August 9, 2008
Kevin Systrom
Messages with investor Matt Cohler about Facebook buying Instagram 🔍
February 13, 2012
Messages with Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook buying Instagram 🔍
March 19, 2012
Mark Zuckerberg
Email to employees about development speed and major product areas
February 14, 2008
Facebook’s philosophy on perks
September 18, 2009
Email to employees: “Please Resign” 🔍
September 22, 2010
Messages with CFO David Ebersman about acquisition strategy 🔍
February 27, 2012
Messages with exec Mike Schroepfer about buying Instagram
March 9, 2012
Emails with execs: Could Facebook move faster? 🔍
March 30, 2012
“I just need to decide if we’re going to buy Instagram”
April 5, 2012
“It'll be a while before we can buy Google”
April 9, 2012
Email approving the shutdown of Vine’s API access
January 24, 2013
Thoughts on a Messenger Platform
December 9, 2013
Email about Tinder and people recommendations
January 11, 2014
Facebook’s VR / AR strategy 🔍
June 22, 2015
Email about competitive analytics for Snapchat 🔍
June 9, 2016
“I worry we’re miscalibrated” on Elizabeth Warren’s antitrust issues
March 8, 2019
Email to Peter Thiel and execs about Millennials and predictions for 2030 🔍
January 4, 2020
Email to Anthony Fauci
February 27, 2020
Other
Email from CFO David Ebersman about WhatsApp acquisition
February 18, 2014
Email from Reed Hastings to Peter Thiel about Facebook board 🔍
August 14, 2016
Memo on “Building the Discovery Engine” amid competition from TikTok
April 27, 2022
Microsoft
Jim Allchin
“We were smoked” by Apple’s music store 🔍
April 30, 2003
Emails with execs about the iPod
November 13, 2003
Email to Bill Gates: "I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft" 🔍
January 7, 2004
Bill Gates
Memo about the company’s strategy for the '90s
May 16, 1991
Email about the company's “hard-core detractors”
December 4, 1993
“I want to learn a lot of facts” about Netscape
July 28, 1996
Email to exec: I'm literally losing sleep over Java 🔍
September 30, 1996
Email to execs about discussions with Apple
July 1, 1997
“I want to apologize for my last email”
October 26, 1997
Email to Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg
May 14, 1998
Email to execs: “The quality is giving us a bad name”
October 19, 2000
Writeup of experience installing Movie Maker 🔍
January 15, 2003
Reactions to the launch of Apple’s music store 🔍
April 30, 2003
Emails with execs about the iPod and Apple’s music experience 🔍
November 2, 2003
Satya Nadella
Email about Xbox Cloud Gaming: "I want to use this tactically vs GOOG/AAPL"
September 1, 2022
Phil Spencer
Email about Microsoft's gaming strategy: “We are exactly like Polaroid”
February 15, 2019
Reactions to PlayStation 5: “today was a good day for us”
March 18, 2020
Email to execs about buying Nintendo amid TikTok talks
August 6, 2020
Others
"[Steve Ballmer] thinks we ought to admit that Windows 98 will be a yawner"
August 21, 1997
Mac Business Unit exec: "my recent discussions with Steve [Jobs]"
July 6, 1998
Summary of Bill Gates’s reactions to a product demo
December 4, 1999
Reactions to Mac OS X Tiger: “Steve copied our pitch” 🔍
June 29, 2004
Email about Apple’s reluctance to replace Google with Bing
November 5, 2009
CTO’s email to Satya Nadella and Bill Gates: “Thoughts on OpenAI”
June 12, 2019
Xbox exec: We could "go spend Sony out of business"
December 17, 2019
Emails from ex-PlayStation exec to current CEO about Microsoft buying Activision
January 19, 2022
OpenAI
Sam Altman
Email to Elon Musk about early plans for OpenAI 🔍
June 24, 2015
Tesla
Elon Musk (Tesla)
Draft schedule
April 30, 2017
Email to general counsel about added compensation
July 30, 2017
Emails to board about taking Tesla private
August 2, 2018
Texts with Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia 🔍
August 7, 2018
Texts with James Murdoch: “Everything’s better with fire”
August 7, 2018
Email to large investor: “Don't ever send emails like that to Tesla”
August 7, 2018
Texts with Larry Page 🔍
August 9, 2018
Texts with Saudi Public Investment Fund’s Yasir Al-Rumayyan 🔍
August 10, 2018
Email to Goldman Sachs advisor about taking Tesla private
August 11, 2018
Email to general counsel: Saudi PIF was “all-in for a Tesla take-private when we met"
August 12, 2018
“I just deleted my Instagram”
August 21, 2018
Email to employees: “If an email is sent from me with explicit directions…” 🔍
October 4, 2021
Emails to execs and employees about remote work 🔍
May 31, 2022
Others
Investor’s advice for Elon Musk
July 15, 2018
Email from Goldman Sachs advisor about taking Tesla private
August 9, 2018
Discussion materials from Goldman Sachs on target list for Tesla go-private
August 15, 2018
Email from Silver Lake advisor about potential investors for Tesla go-private
August 16, 2018
Theranos
Elizabeth Holmes
Handwritten schedule 🔍
Circa 2005–2009
Email to James Mattis
August 26, 2011
Email to investors about Theranos's commercial launch
September 6, 2013
Texts with Sunny Balwani about “My new life as of this night”
November 7, 2014
Email to Rupert Murdoch about “[being] part of our company”
January 6, 2015
Email to Rupert Murdoch about Wall Street Journal story
September 8, 2015
Others
Handwritten document from Sunny Balwani about “Pursuit of Success in Business”
Circa 2005–2009
Texts from Sunny Balwani: “I am responsible for everything at Theranos”
September 8, 2015
Email from James Mattis about The Wall Street Journal’s reporting
October 18, 2015
Twitter
Dick Costolo
Email to board: “We need to start shipping and iterating on the product”
October 16, 2014
Email to board about mobile video strategy
November 30, 2014
Email to board member about stepping down as CEO
March 4, 2015
Jack Dorsey
"I have three immediate priorities" as interim CEO
June 22, 2015
Texts with Elon Musk: “a new platform is needed” 🔍
March 26, 2022
Texts with Elon Musk: “This is the right and only path”
April 25, 2022
Texts with Elon Musk about Parag Agrawal
April 26, 2022
Elon Musk (Twitter)
Texts with Antonio Gracias about free speech
March 5, 2022
Texts with Parag Agrawal about ideas for Twitter 🔍
April 7, 2022
Texts with Parag Agrawal about bots on Twitter
April 8, 2022
Texts with Parag Agrawal: “What did you get done this week?” 🔍
April 9, 2022
Texts with board chair Bret Taylor
April 9, 2022
Sam Bankman-Fried reaches out about partnering on Twitter deal 🔍
April 25, 2022
Texts with Marc Benioff about “Twitter conversational OS”
April 27, 2022
Texts with banker: “It won’t make sense to buy Twitter if we’re heading into WW3”
May 8, 2022
First email to employees
November 9, 2022
Linda Yaccarino
First email to employees
June 12, 2023
Others
Product and engineering execs: We need to be focused on shipping
November 25, 2014
Email from investor relations about “Possible hot topics”
June 9, 2015
Email from Marc Andreessen about investing in Twitter acquisition
April 25, 2022
Email from board member to general counsel: “O My Freaking God”
October 27, 2022
Uber
Travis Kalanick
Email to Google exec about self-driving competition
March 7, 2015
Text to colleague about meeting with Joe Biden
January 2016
Texts with Anthony Levandowski about self-driving
March 1, 2016
Others
Email from Sequoia’s Doug Leone to portfolio companies
April 17, 2000
Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia: "I thought of a way to make a few bucks"
September 22, 2007
Stewart Butterfield's resignation letter from Yahoo 🔍
June 13, 2008
Email from Barry Diller to Tinder’s cofounder
March 14, 2014
Barry Diller: Facebook is trying to "steal" Tinder's cofounder
April 12, 2014
Email from Match CEO about Barry Diller's threats to Tinder’s cofounder
May 5, 2017
Messages with Robinhood COO about meme stocks
January 28, 2021
First email to employees from Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy
February 8, 2022