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Best for accelerated death benefits
Best insurance agents
Best for military
Best for people with HIV
Best for no medical exam
Best for investing
Pick the best whole life insurance policy
The best whole life insurance companies of 2022
Whole life insurance has long competed against term life insurance policies. Life insurance agents promise lower premiums and higher benefits with term policies, but unfortunately they may leave out the part where you must go through the application process again to make your old term life insurance policy permanent. As such, whole life insurance is often referred to as permanent life insurance. With a term life insurance policy, the benefits will expire if you don't or can't convert to a whole life insurance policy at that time.
Whole life insurance offers benefits that don't expire as long as you make your premium payments. Most policies require a medical exam. Insurance companies also ask questions about your medical history. Whether you're just buying a small amount of coverage for death benefits or if you want a more comprehensive policy that could offer benefits during your lifetime, you can customize life insurance to meet your needs.
Best whole life insurance policy for customer satisfaction: State Farm
Established insurance company
Nationwide presence
Highly rated customer satisfaction
Highly rated claims satisfaction
Discounts for bundling insurance products
None — State Farm scores high marks across the board
Best for seniors: Prudential
Risk profiles are minimal, good for older adult applicants
Accelerated death benefits may not cover all things
Best for accelerated death benefits: Columbus Life
Columbus Life
Buyers can pull money out for medical and other bills in the event of disease or disability
Columbus uses lien method to simplify accelerated death payments
Company offers a wide range of riders to customize policies
Premiums may be higher than competitors
Term policies are not guaranteed to be converted to whole
Best insurance agents: New York Life
Best for military: USAA
Established provider to the military and veterans
Has all insurance types and other competitive financial products
Only offers coverage and other products to military members and their families
Best for people with HIV: Guardian Life
Scored below the industry average in J.D. Power's life insurance customer satisfaction survey
Best for no medical exam: Mutual of Omaha
No variable universal plans available
Best for investing: Allianz
Allianz Life
Plans offer high returns on investment
Great for investment and long-term retirement planning
May increase your income by as much as 20%
Allianz offers plans for foreign nationals including H-1B visas
Plans are meant specifically for high-income adults, alternatives may not be offered
Compare the best whole life insurance companies
State Farm continues to lead the way in customer satisfaction. Customers typically hold auto, home, and other insurance policies with multi-policy discounts. Life insurance agents with State Farm can only quote its company policies. But they have the training to apply all available discounts to be as aggressive as possible with policy premiums.
Like many other companies, State Farm now offers "living benefits" in the event of illness or injury. Whole life insurance options include a single premium, premiums payable to age 100, and premiums payable to an agreed-upon point. Buyers can discuss options with a licensed life insurance agent.
State Farm agents can quote with all applicable discounts and customized benefits
Single premium plans and premiums payable for a set time are available
Life insurance customers can take out loans from their policy, and State Farm offers living benefits
Prudential is known for its superior financial stability, and its life insurance products are no exception. The Prudential VUL Protector (and the Pruco Life of New Jersey VUL Protector plan) offers specialized life insurance planning for seniors. Premiums are fixed, and Prudential provides a lower risk profile on this plan to minimize potential losses. With less aggressive investments, buyers won't see the significant gains associated with higher-risk investment vehicles.
Coverage is specialized for senior applicants with a high likelihood of acceptance
Low-risk investment vehicles to minimize losses
Fixed premiums over the entirety of your life insurance policy
Columbus Life remains a top competitor in life insurance overall. More companies now offer accelerated death benefits, sometimes called living benefits. Columbus remains on the cutting edge. Buyers can pull money for immediate medical bills, long-term care, and end-of-life expenses before they pass away. Competitors frequently use a discounted death benefit, which offers confusing data for the average consumer. So it's hard to know what impact an early withdrawal would have on your death benefit. Columbus simplifies the process with the lien method. It makes it easier for the average life insurance investor to understand the impact of withdrawals on long-term financial planning.
Columbus Life customers enjoy various life insurance plans supplemented with plenty of riders. Base premiums are highly affordable, and riders allow policy customization to find the best life insurance products for each buyer. Some customers choose whole life policies up front, but Columbus Life enables qualified applicants to apply to convert term life insurance policies to whole life policies up to the end of the policy.
Accelerated life insurance benefits available for long-term disability or extreme illness
Columbus uses the lien method instead of the discounted death benefit
Plenty of riders available to customize policies
New York Life offers life insurance policies with payouts going into the millions. Many life insurance plans are designed for investment purposes allowing buyers to withdraw money on a set schedule. Expected payout and penalties are laid out up front, and sales agents are knowledgeable and friendly.
Buyers looking to maintain a significant death benefit for their beneficiaries can take out loans against the life insurance balance. While interest may apply, penalties will not. Qualified New York Life insurance agents can guide you through different life insurance options to find the plan that meets your needs.
Extensively trained insurance agents are there to answer any questions you have about New York Life
High-value life insurance plans available for financial planning
Loan options to preserve higher death benefits while using existing funds as needed
Eligible military members in the major branches and reserves may qualify for $400,000 in coverage with the servicemember's group life insurance (SGLI). Due to deployment, traditional life insurance companies may not offer policy options for military members. USAA specializes in serving active duty military members, and it provides additional life insurance options for veterans. USAA underwriters consider factors like age, health, and lifestyle, and medical exams are involved.
Active-duty service members can use it to supplement SGLI
Available for a diverse range of military members and veterans
Applicants may still be required to undergo medical exams
Due to medical innovations, undetectable cases of HIV are on the rise. The long-term health issues and early deaths of patients with HIV are lower than ever before, but many insurers are still hesitant to issue life insurance policies to HIV patients. Guardian Life offers unique policies for high-risk groups, including HIV patients.
Applicants should be between 20 and 60 years old and in good health. Guardian Life also requires accepted applicants to be on antiretroviral therapy for a minimum of two years with promising lab results. While an HIV diagnosis is acceptable for Guardian Life insurance policies, applicants cannot have any AIDS-defining illnesses. Because of its thorough underwriting process, Guardian offers generous policies with reasonable premiums for qualified applicants.
Specialized plans available for patients with HIV
Applicants must be under the care of an HIV doctor and on retroviral therapy for at least two years
Applicants cannot have AIDS-defining illnesses
Mutual of Omaha is known, above all else, for its financial stability. It offers various plans and riders, including no-exam life insurance plans. Some policies are as small as $2,000 for applicants between 50 and 75. Life insurance policies max out at $25,000 for healthy applicants looking to avoid a medical exam.
Once approved, there is a two-year waiting period for no medical exam life insurance policies with Mutual of Omaha. If policyholders die during those two years, Mutual of Omaha will pay out 110% of the premiums paid to date. The company closes most claims on the same business day for qualifying claims.
No medical exam policies are available, with payouts up to $25,000
Available for applicants up to 85 except in New York, where the age limit is 75
Two-year waiting period for full benefits
Allianz offers high-value plans for tax-free payouts and aggressive investments. Many applicants use Allianz life insurance policies to supplement 401(k)s and other retirement investment vehicles. Some estimates suggest qualified applicants could increase their income by up to 20%. In addition, buyers can add riders to customize life insurance plans.
Allianz is among a few companies offering life insurance policies for foreign nationals with H-1B visas.
Million-dollar policy limits for qualified applicants
Strong growth and investment options
Plans available for foreign nationals with H-1B visas
Best whole life insurance companies ranked by customer satisfaction
J.D Power ranks life insurance companies on a scale of 1,000 by gathering customer reviews. Read on to compare providers based on customer reviews.
Life insurance company J.D. Power ranking out of 1,000 points
State Farm 839
Globe Life 812
Mutual of Omaha 801
Northwestern Mutual 794
Pacific Life 793
Nationwide 791
Guardian Life 787
MetLife 786
MassMutual 780
New York Life 775
Prudential 773
Principal Financial 772
Primerica 766
Lincoln Financial Group 764
Protective Life 759
Securian 754
Midland National Life 752
John Hancock 749
AIG 744
Brighthouse Financial 741
Transamerica (AEGON) 740
Equitable 737
Personal Finance Insider explores the ins and outs of whole life insurance policies and companies. We compare premiums, payouts, exclusions, and more.
Whole life insurance plans offer diverse and aggressive options for death benefits, investment plans, and much more. It depends on where you buy and your insurance plan with individual riders. Life insurance gets confusing for the average applicant. We use our existing knowledge and ongoing research to determine what the best life insurance companies offer buyers.
Shopping for life insurance quotes goes in two directions: financial planning or death benefits. Accelerated death benefits, riders, and life insurance types come into play individually. As a result, the whole life insurance policy that works for one person may be different than the best life insurance policy for the next. Personal Finance Insider works to keep insurance reviews up to date and relevant to help consumers make informed decisions.
Life insurance comes in many shapes and forms, and a whole life insurance policy isn't always the right option. It depends on your goals, your current finances, and other factors. We base our reviews on crucial factors to help consumers determine which life insurance plan is right for them.
Price: The insurance premium often overshadows other factors when generating life insurance quotes. Cheap life insurance has appeal now, but it doesn't always get you the coverage you need. We look at affordability as part of the bigger picture.
Coverage: How much coverage can you qualify for? Will it cover the death benefits you want for family or other beneficiaries? Will it meet your investment goals? Applicants seeking death benefits to cover funeral costs have different expectations than those looking to live comfortably in retirement. We also look at unique products like those for HIV patients, seniors, foreign nationals, and more.
Performance: What kind of gains can you expect? We look at the risk profile and average financial gains over the policy's lifespan.
Payouts: A whole life insurance policy will pay out upon death or earlier based on what's written in the policy documents. We examine the claims process, average processing time, and payment rate.
How to pick the best whole life insurance policy for you
How does life insurance work for the average consumer? With many riders and options available, life insurance options are better than ever. Buyers enjoy more types of life insurance, competitive life insurance rates, and much more.
Insider recommends working with a trusted life insurance agent to make the final decision. Insurance professionals can help you set parameters that make sense for your search and compare prices with benefits. As a result, qualified insurance agents can get consumers affordable pricing and ensure greater customer satisfaction.
Whole life insunrace — frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Is whole life insurance better than term life insurance? Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options.
Term life insurance policies are frequently sold as more affordable with higher payouts. The benefits of term life insurance apply for a certain period. As the name suggests, term life insurance has a term after which it expires. Some policies can be converted to whole life insurance plans, but insurance holders have to go through the application process again at that time. Life, by its very nature, is often unexpected. Term policies don't always allow for unforeseen illnesses or emergencies. If you're looking to maximize your death benefit, some policies allow buyers to increase the insurance benefit every year they continue to pay premiums.
How much do I need to spend on life insurance? Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options.
A bare-bones life insurance policy with no additional riders might be cheap. However, this policy will also have limited coverage, and users may find other holes later. For example, adding extra coverage for disability or missed payments may cost more now. But suitable riders can save you money and protect your investment later on.
How does life insurance work? Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options.
Life insurance was initially meant to pay beneficiaries after the applicant's death. However, buyers can use current life insurance policies for investment purposes, retirement, sudden illness or injury, and more. A life insurance agent can help you set up a plan that meets your needs. Then you pay the agreed-upon premiums. Some policies will institute a waiting period to qualify for full benefits. Then beneficiaries can file a claim after a qualifying event such as death, disability, or retirement.
Do I have to schedule a medical exam for a life insurance policy? Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options.
Some of the best life insurance companies sell whole life insurance or term life insurance with no medical exams required. However, insurers may still ask about your medical history and pull other medical records. These policies generally offer lower benefits, and successful applicants are typically younger and healthy. If you do not qualify, a life insurance agent can help you apply for a medical exam life insurance policy.
PERSONAL FINANCE The largest life insurance companies and how they rank in customer satisfaction
PERSONAL FINANCE Whole life insurance is a type of permanent life insurance with unchanging premiums
PERSONAL FINANCE How does term life insurance work?
Insurance Life Insurance Whole life insurance | 2022-12-01T00:44:03Z | www.businessinsider.com | Compare the Best Whole Life Insurance Companies of 2022 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/best-whole-life-insurance-companies | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/best-whole-life-insurance-companies |
Sam Bankman-Fried denied reports that employees of his now-bankrupt crypto empire were fueled by drugs and alcohol.
His denial comes after tweets about "stimulants" and "amphetamines" from SBF and Caroline Ellison surfaced.
When asked whether FTX was run by "kids who are on Adderall having a sleepover party," SBF said, "we messed up big."
Sam Bankman-Fried denied reports that employees of his now-defunct crypto empire were fueled by drugs and alcohol, saying any drug use was "totally on-label."
"I had my first sip of alcohol after my 21st birthday, and I had maybe half a glass of alcohol a year, roughly speaking. There were no wild parties here. When we had parties, we would play board games," he told reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times Dealbook conference on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, Bankman-Fried's companies, FTX and Alameda Research, declared bankruptcy, setting off turmoil in the entire cryptocurrency industry after allegedly misusing customer funds. FTX still owes its creditors $8 billion.
As the crisis unfolded, reports surfaced that Bankman-Fried and his top deputies shared an apartment together and allegedly dated each other, as did old drug-related tweets from Bankman-Fried and Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison.
Bankman-Fried tweeted about "stimulants when you wake up, sleeping pills if you need them while you sleep," while Ellison once tweeted, "nothing like regular amphetamine use to make you appreciate how dumb a lot of normal, non-medicated human experience is."
Bankman-Fried pushed back on the notion that improper drug use was common at FTX, though, saying any medicine he took was prescribed by a doctor.
"I have been prescribed various things at various times to help with focus and concentration.... these have all been totally on-label use of medications," he said.
"I think they are things that, on the margins, helped me focus a little bit. I wish I had been a lot more focused over the last year."
FTX's in-house coach and psychiatrist, Dr. George K Lerner, told the New York Times earlier this month that some employees at FTX took A.D.H.D prescription medication but that the "rate of A.D.H.D. in the company was in line with most tech companies."
When asked whether FTX was run by "a bunch of kids who are on Adderall having a sleepover party," by Andrew Ross Sorkin, Bankman-Fried responded, in part, "look, I screwed up. I was the CEO of FTX... That means that I was responsible ultimately for asking great things and I didn't. We messed up big." | 2022-12-01T01:14:18Z | www.businessinsider.com | SBF Denies Rampant Drugs at FTX: 'Totally on-Label Use of Medication' | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-drug-use-ftx-alameda-caroline-ellison-amphetamines-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-drug-use-ftx-alameda-caroline-ellison-amphetamines-2022-11 |
Following the FTX collapse, the founder and former CEO exchanged wild DMs with a Vox reporter.
Sam Bankman-Fried said Wednesday he didn't realize the conversation would be public.
Bankman-Fried made the comments in a long and at times awkward interview with The New York Times.
Sam Bankman-Fried said he didn't realize the infamous direct message exchange he had with a Vox reporter would be public, claiming he thought the journalist was a "longtime friend."
The Twitter direct messages were published by Vox on November 16, days after his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, collapsed. Among the eye-popping messages, the founder and former CEO said regulators "make everything worse" and that he regretted FTX filing for bankruptcy.
Bankman-Fried was asked about the exchange during an interview with The New York Times's Andrew Ross Sorkin at the Times's DealBook Summit on Wednesday.
"This was not meant to be a public interview. It was a longtime friend of mine who I stupidly forgot was also a reporter," Bankman-Fried said, adding: "I'm not sure what they thought the capacity was at the time, but it certainly ended up being reported on."
The reporter, Kelsey Piper, is a staff writer at Vox and has worked there since 2018, according to her LinkedIn.
In a statement provided to Insider, Vox spokesperson Lauren Starke refuted Bankman-Fried's claims. She said Piper interviewed Bankman-Fried in May while reporting out a profile and that "several years prior they interacted directly a handful of times through overlapping social and professional networks."
"Any suggestion that he forgot she's a journalist is not credible — in addition to the May interview, she is clearly identified as a reporter in her Twitter bio," Starke continued. "She notified him from her Vox email, where her signature clearly shows that she is a Vox reporter, that she planned to write about their on-the-record exchange, and he made no objection in his reply prior to publication."
In the Vox story publishing the messages, Piper wrote she had a Zoom interview with Bankman-Fried over the summer for a profile she was working on. After news broke of FTX imploding, she said she messaged him via Twitter seeking comment but didn't expect him to respond since he was the subject of several investigations.
Piper said he got back to her a few days later, resulting in the direct message exchange, of which screenshots were published by Vox. During the exchange, Piper also mentioned the conversation the two had over the summer.
Generally, when speaking to a reporter, a conversation is considered on the record unless otherwise discussed and agreed upon.
In a lengthy Twitter thread published shortly after the DMs came out, Bankman-Fried also referred to the Piper as his "friend."
"Last night I talked to a friend of mine. They published my messages. Those were not intended to be public, but I guess they are now," he wrote.
Bankman-Fried on Wednesday did a long, and at times awkward, interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin at The New York Times's DealBook Summit, covering everything from refuting reports that FTX and Alameda employees were fueled by drugs to calling his parents as FTX was collapsing.
Bankman-Fried, acknowledging his lawyers did not want him to be interviewed, said of the FTX fiasco: "I have had a bad month."
Sam Bankman-Fried ftx Vox | 2022-12-01T03:46:37Z | www.businessinsider.com | Sam Bankman-Fried: DMs With 'Friend' Reporter Not Meant to Be Public | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-vox-reporter-friend-not-meant-public-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-vox-reporter-friend-not-meant-public-2022-11 |
Antony Blinken (left) and Xi Jinping.
Anusak Laowilas/NurPhoto via Getty Images; Ju Peng/Xinhua via Getty Images
Antony Blinken says it's a "sign of weakness" for Xi Jinping to quash Chinese dissent.
He said the "massive repressive action" taken by Xi's government is not a sign of strength.
Blinken added that it's obvious that China has to find a way forward from its zero-COVID policies.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Chinese President Xi Jinping's efforts to quash dissent "a sign of weakness."
In a Wednesday appearance on MSNBC, Blinken talked about how the Chinese government has suppressed mass protests in every major city across the country.
"I think any country where you see people trying to speak out, trying to speak up to protest peacefully, to make known their frustrations, whatever the issue is — in any country where we see that happening and then we see the government take massive, massive repressive action to stop it, that's not a sign of strength," Blinken said. "It's a sign of weakness."
He added that he could not say much about whether Xi's standing within the Communist Party had changed after the protests.
"China has to figure out a way forward on dealing with COVID, a way forward that answers the health needs, but also answers the needs of the people," Blinken said. "We can't address that for them."
Blinken's comments come amid widespread protests in Chinese cities like Guangzhou, Shanghai, and the capital, Beijing, against China's zero-COVID policy. These protests mark a rare moment of mass dissatisfaction and the largest organized rallies against the Chinese government since the Tiananmen Square protest in 1989.
Police in Beijing arrested at least three people from their homes after they attended a protest in the capital on Sunday. A protester in Shanghai this week also gave an account of how he was snatched indiscriminately while peacefully protesting, then hung upside down before being bundled onto a bus.
Censorship, meanwhile, is going into overdrive in China. The Chinese police are now conducting stop-and-search checks on peoples' phones and making them delete foreign apps like Instagram and Twitter, per the Wall Street Journal and CNBC. Chinese protesters are also trying to evade the long arm of censorship on social media, resorting to Telegram and other platforms to try to spread their message of dissent against the country's anti-COVID measures.
NOW WATCH: Watch the awkward exchange between Xi Jinping and Justin Trudeau at the G20 Summit
InsiderAsia China Xi Jinping | 2022-12-01T04:13:01Z | www.businessinsider.com | Blinken: Xi Is Showing a Sign of Weakness by Repressing Protesters | https://www.businessinsider.com/blinken-xi-showing-sign-weakness-repressing-protesters-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/blinken-xi-showing-sign-weakness-repressing-protesters-2022-12 |
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on November 5, 2022.
Former RNC chairman Michael Steele says GOP leadership can't move on so easily from Trump.
He said the GOP would much rather focus on the "bright, shiny" Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Trump left a deep stain on the GOP after the Capitol riot and by meeting Nick Fuentes, Steele said.
Former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele says that while the Republican Party would like to move on from former President Donald Trump, it won't be easy to do.
Speaking on MSNBC on Wednesday, Steele said Republican leaders seemed eager to focus on other possible GOP presidential candidates for 2024, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
"Oh, Trump was bad. Oh, this bright, shiny object down in Florida. Let's focus on that in Gov. DeSantis," Steele said of the GOP and its narrative. "But I'm sorry, you don't get to wipe that stain off your clean white shirt that easily because that's a deep stain."
Steele referred to Trump's dinner with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and rapper Kanye West as yet another stain.
"Embracing Fuentes was a deep stain. While you may not have done so directly, the leader of your party did," Steele added. "And as the head of your party and as a leader on the Hill or representing the party across the country at the state level, if you don't reject that, then that's you, baby."
Steele was the chairman of the RNC between 2009 and 2011. He is now a vocal critic of Trump and a commentator on MSNBC.
DeSantis has not announced his 2024 candidacy but is considered one of the GOP's leading candidates for the 2024 presidential ticket.
Trump, who declared his bid for the 2024 GOP ticket on November 15, received considerable backlash after dining with Fuentes at Mar-A-Lago on November 22. Fuentes marched in the 2017 white supremacist "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, during which an avowed neo-Nazi drove his car into a group of counterprotesters, killing one woman and injuring 35 other people.
Several GOP figures have blasted Trump for the dinner. On Friday, former GOP governor Chris Christie called the meeting "another example of an awful lack of judgment from Donald Trump" and a sign that Trump is an "untenable general election candidate." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday also slammed Trump for meeting with Ye and Fuentes, saying there is "no room" in the GOP for white supremacy.
A spokesperson at Trump's post-presidential press office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Donald Trump Trump 2024 GOP | 2022-12-01T08:47:10Z | www.businessinsider.com | GOP Can't Move on From Trump so Easily: Former RNC Chair | https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-cant-move-on-from-trump-easily-former-rnc-chair-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-cant-move-on-from-trump-easily-former-rnc-chair-2022-12 |
Even before the pandemic sparked a work-from-home revolution, the instant-messaging platform Slack haunted office workers so much that someone went viral for dressing up as a Slack notification for Halloween.
Slack helps staff at 100,000 organizations and 77% of Fortune 100 companies stay in touch in the era of hybrid working, according to the company.
But its pop-up push notifications, accompanied by sound by default, can be distracting.
Henderson said he had no patience for bosses who send emails at night, like Elon Musk.
Henderson said he started to feel "Zoom fatigue" about two years into the pandemic, adding that his calendar was full of "back-to-back 30-minute Zoom slots."
Productivity Careers Slack | 2022-12-01T10:23:00Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Stop Slack From Ruling Your Day, According to Its Cofounder | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-slack-effectively-desktop-mobile-cal-henderson-tips-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-slack-effectively-desktop-mobile-cal-henderson-tips-2022-11 |
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Chris Orzechowski, a freelance copywriter and e-commerce email-marketing strategist based in Westfield, New Jersey. Insider has verified his yearly revenue with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I went on Amazon and bought a dozen books on copywriting, including "Scientific Advertising" and "The Ultimate Sales Letter." I also started reading blog posts and consuming content from top copywriters including André Chaperon, Frank Kern, and Russell Brunson, and I invested in online courses such as CopyHour and Copy Chief.
I also create video content for my YouTube channel. All the traffic flows back toward my email list, which I care about more than anything else in my business. My email list is where I get the lion's share of my clients. It's where most of my consulting work comes from, and it's a platform I own.
copywriting Freelancing SMB | 2022-12-01T10:23:08Z | www.businessinsider.com | How I Turned My Copywriting Side Hustle Into a $974,000 Business | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-turned-copywriting-side-hustle-into-974000-business-teacher-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-turned-copywriting-side-hustle-into-974000-business-teacher-2022-12 |
'This is Xi's first real test'
With a stumbling economy and angry citizens, Xi Jinping is facing the biggest crisis of his time in power
Chinese President Xi Jinping has a lot of problems: from blank paper-wielding protestors to a crumbling economy. But seeing the limits of his power will only make him more paranoid — and defiant — than ever before.
Over what has been a stunning week, China has erupted in mass protests calling for an end to the country's restrictive COVID lockdowns. The boldest of the disruptors have even demanded an end to political repression in China — a startling and unprecedented challenge to the authoritarian rule of President Xi Jinping.
"This is Xi's first real test," Minxin Pei, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College and a leading expert on governance in China, told me. "The choices are very hard, and he's not been faced with such a tough challenge in the last decade."
Unfortunately, Xi does not have the tools he needs to pass the test. Easing the COVID lockdowns could spur a potentially devastating public health crisis. China still lacks effective vaccines, and a large swath of the population, especially the elderly, have not kept up with booster shots of the vaccines that the country does have. Forcing people to remain indoors is the only public health response that China has the ability to enforce.
At the moment, Xi also has no way to convince the Chinese people to continue buying into his rule. As prospects for growth have dimmed in recent years, he has little to offer in the way of economic growth or entrepreneurial opportunity to distract people from the growing political unrest. As analysts at Societe Generale wrote in a note to clients last month, China's economy is "in the gutter."
That leaves Xi with the one thing authoritarians typically rely on when faced with domestic pressure — more repression to enforce order, as Xi did in Hong Kong. "If they see another round of protests," Pei said, "they'll say: Let's just go back to the good old ways of using overwhelming force to show resolve." The choice for Xi is lockdowns or batons. And either way, the Chinese people lose.
Xi won't change
Beijing tried to subtly relax zero COVID restrictions last month, reducing quarantine time for those who had come into contact with the virus. They were minor tweaks, but the number of COVID cases immediately jumped, prompting tighter lockdowns across the country. Last month, 53% of the businesses surveyed by China Beige Book, a data collection firm, reported COVID cases among their employees, up from 24% in October.
During the last wave of nationwide protests — the Tiananmen Square uprising of 1989 — authorities met peaceful demonstrators with violence, killing thousands. This time around, Xi is clearly keen to avoid a repeat of the bloodshed, but there is little room for him to maneuver. Accepting Western vaccines or rolling back zero COVID would be a tacit admission that he is fallible. Allowing for more political expression would only trigger more anti-government expression and discontent. So for now, China's security forces are trying to put down opposition as quietly as possible, relying on its sweeping surveillance state to identify protestors and threaten their families.
For now, China's security forces are trying to quietly quell the protests using the country's massive surveillance state.
For all of the "inconvenience" of zero COVID — as one state news outlet wrote — the policy has been useful in further centralizing Beijing's control over every Chinese citizen. Under zero COVID protocols, people are required to show a "green code" on their smartphones whenever they enter public places or ride mass transit. The code indicates that they do not have COVID, have not been in close proximity to anyone who has had COVID, and have not come from an area where an outbreak is occurring.
What the tracking mechanism failed to detect was the rising level of discontent that spurred tens of thousands to take to the streets in protest. That failure will have political consequences. "The CCP will have some soul searching to do," Pei told me. "What happened this time is that the surveillance state failed to detect the protests before they happened. That's quite serious."
In the short term, the CCP is trying to diffuse the situation by going after COVID itself. Officials have announced plans to ramp up vaccination efforts for seniors, a modest effort that seeks to preserve Xi's zero COVID policy — and hence his genius. For the moment, the party is also going easy on the protestors, in the hope that the unrest won't escalate. But it remains to be seen, Pei warns, whether that strategy will work. "Are they going to keep this little door open, so the people can blow off steam?" he says. "Or are they going to keep North Korea-style repression all the time?"
Xi can't change
Ever since Tiananmen, Chinese citizens have exchanged their political freedom for the Chinese Communist Party's promise of competent management and economic growth. For years, the tradeoff worked: living standards climbed, GDP soared, and the country enjoyed decades of relative political stability. But over the past few years, the CCP has failed to hold up its end of the bargain.
Ambitious plans to dominate the future of technology have stumbled. Youth unemployment has hit 20%. Retail sales and industrial output continue to disappoint. Exports, which have been carrying the economy through the nosedive, are starting to slump due to a slowdown in global growth. China used to be the reliable factory of the world; now, international investors are backing away at a moment when the country is at its most desperate. To make matters worse, a massive property bubble is deflating while the population is both aging and shrinking — a recipe for long-term economic decline.
So China finds itself stuck in a painful and volatile loop: Unless it relaxes zero COVID, its economy will remain in tatters, meaning Xi cannot offer his people economic growth. And until he can offer them economic growth, he must use the surveillance state built around zero COVID to maintain his hold on power. Xi has responded to the dilemma by protect his own image by deflecting culpability. State media has blamed Western forces for plotting the protests, shifted responsibility for the repressive COVID lockdowns to overzealous local officials, and accused COVID testing companies of exploitation. Xi knows that any sign of weakness or wavering can shatter his legitimacy and bring about his end. Seeing the limits of his power reflected in unrest in the streets will only make him more paranoid — and defiant — than ever before.
Xi knows that any sign of weakness or wavering can shatter his legitimacy, so the protests will only make him more paranoid and defiant.
Another leader might consider opening up the country to foreign investment, which would help jumpstart the economy. But Xi is a closer, not an opener. Since taking power, he has tightened control over the economy and many elements of society while making a show of pushing back against Western democratic ideals. His impulse is to crush his enemies, whether they be political rivals or Hong Kong protestors. He is well known for being a student of the USSR, and has blamed its collapse on Soviet leaders who went too soft on democratic activists — who allowed themselves to be critiqued by their own people. It is unlikely he will turn his back on those beliefs now.
Wall Street continues to pounce on any signal, however small or insignificant, that China might be opening trade. That's completely understandable. There's lots of money to be made in China, and its economy would almost certainly improve if zero COVID restrictions were loosened. But such optimism ignores the underlying reality. Under Xi, China was already shuttering its doors long before the pandemic struck. He is still the same leader who purged his enemies from the party, destroyed entire industries to strengthen his grip on the economy, and ended democracy in Hong Kong. His inclination is to centralize power, not to allow it to be dispersed. Whatever investors may think, that's unlikely to change, long after both the pandemic and the protests have receded.
China China protests Xi Jinping | 2022-12-01T11:23:29Z | www.businessinsider.com | Xi Jinping's Biggest Crisis yet: China Lockdown Protests, Stumbling Economy | https://www.businessinsider.com/china-xi-jinping-covid-lockdown-protests-economy-recession-crisis-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/china-xi-jinping-covid-lockdown-protests-economy-recession-crisis-2022-11 |
Here's how investors should position themselves for success in 2023 as the US follows Europe into a recession, according to financial giant Macquarie
Investors are on the lookout for a recession next year, and Macquarie has some ideas about how to play it.
Michael Nagle/Xinhua via Getty
Macquarie Asset Management of Australia managed $535 billion in assets as of September 30.
The firm expects a US recession in 2023 and sees a few major challenges to long-term growth.
Its top experts explained what's worth buying in stocks, fixed income, and alternative assets.
The dominos are already in motion and the US is going to follow the UK and Europe into a recession in the next few months, according to the $535 billion financial firm Macquarie Asset Management.
That's the bad news. But in its outlook for 2023, Macquarie says that a turn for the better isn't far off.
"In the first half of 2023 the US is likely to enter a fairly shallow and fairly short lived recession," Head of Thought Leadership Daniel McCormack said on a media and investor call on Wednesday. "By 4Q all those three economies should be driving global growth fairly robustly."
That should be music to investors' ears, as an era of global growth was responsible for several years of strong economic and stock market performance in the late 2010s. McCormack and his colleagues aren't promising anything quite so powerful this time.
They noted that the global economy is facing three major obstacles today. Globalization was an aid to economic growth over the last few decades, but it's fading, or even reversing. Meanwhile productivity growth is weakening, and the aging populations of many countries means there are fewer workers, which makes growth harder to achieve and sustain.
"Each of those forces is durable. It's going to be a feature of the economic landscape for quite some time to come," McCormack said.
John Leonard, the head of equities for the Australian firm, says there are a lot of dark clouds hanging over stocks right now, including high and rising energy costs, rising mortgage rates, the strong US dollar, and cutbacks in government spending post-COVID. But he recommends investing in two themes.
"We think that the reversal of globalization is a long-lived trend," he said. Leonard says that hundreds of companies are changing their supply chains and manufacturing operations and moving parts of their operations to the US from China, Germany, and elsewhere.
He says the Midwestern US is benefiting from a lot of that re-shoring activity, and over time it will help the housing market in that region. It should also fuel an increased capital spending cycle, and its benefits should trickle down to consumer discretionary companies and to tech and digital companies whose services enable re-shoring.
"That typically leads to productivity gains, and that could partially offset at least in the US some of the declines in productivity," Leonard said. He also said the transition to alternative energy sources and cleaner fuels will contribute to long-lived outperformance.
Global Fixed Income Strategist Graham McDevitt says that bond yields are peaking and prices are attractive in a lot of fixed income sectors, but overall fixed income pricing "is much more aligned with a soft landing" than the recession Macquarie's experts expect.
He recommends taking a defensive position in credit markets and investing in highly-rated investment grade sectors that aren't overly exposed to the economic cycle.
Lastly, in real assets, McCormack says he's bullish on infrastructure and agriculture assets, and positive on real estate to a lesser extent. He says that infrastructure assets offer exposure to some important structural economic growth forces, and they have defensive characteristics and can deliver yield while hedging against inflation.
"All of those traits will be very attractive to investors," he said. "We think that area offers compelling traits and a compelling risk-reward proposition."
Agricultural assets can also deliver inflation protection, yield, and steady returns while diversifying a portfolio away from stocks and fixed income, he said. He added that there are some solid opportunities in real estate, but for now, it's being challenged by falling prices as mortgage rates rise. | 2022-12-01T11:23:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Invest Ahead of a Recession: Macquarie Advice for 2023 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-invest-ahead-of-recession-stock-market-advice-macquarie-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-invest-ahead-of-recession-stock-market-advice-macquarie-2022-11 |
Good morning, readers. I'm senior reporter Phil Rosen. I never thought I'd see a bankrupt, vilified ex-crypto CEO overshadow comments from the chairman of the Federal Reserve, but alas, I can't think of everything.
Speaking at the Brookings Institution Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that there's still a chance of a soft landing, and it'd be possible for the US to skirt a recession.
He maintained the fight against inflation is far from over, and policymakers will likely have to keep interest rates high for some time.
"We will stay the course until the job is done," Powell said, and stocks rallied on his words.
While the world's most powerful finance official took the lunchtime billing, it was Sam Bankman-Fried who held the primetime slot.
Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX CEO, at a digital assets hearing in 2021.
1. The 30-year-old disgraced FTX founder gave a wide-ranging interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times Dealbook Summit yesterday via a video call from The Bahamas.
Within minutes of starting, Sorkin asked Bankman-Fried directly if there was a commingling of funds between the two now-bankrupt companies he founded, FTX and Alameda Research.
"I didn't knowingly commingle funds," Bankman-Fried said.
He shook visibly as he spoke. Even over video, he appeared nervous and jittery. Bankman-Fried kept his head bowed for much of the hour-long conversation, and his eyes drifted away from the camera often.
"I've had a bad month," he said.
Bankman-Fried said he's working diligently to figure out how to make customers whole again. In his view, American and Japanese customers could actually be made whole right now if the relevant parties — presumably FTX's new management, led by John Ray III — allowed it to be the case.
"I made a lot of mistakes," Bankman-Fried said. "There are things I would give anything to be able to do over again. I didn't ever try to commit fraud on anyone."
Remember, Ray III was the one who cleaned up the mess left by the Enron scandal in the early 2000s, and wrote in a court filing after taking over FTX that he'd never before "seen such a complete failure of corporate controls."
When Sorkin asked whether Bankman-Fried feels he has any criminal liability, Bankman-Fried said that's not what he's focused on right now.
"There's going to be a time and place when I think about myself and my own future, but I dont think this is it," he said, before bringing the conversation back to those who lost money in the tumult.
"What matters is the millions of customers, all the stakeholders in FTX who got hurt, and trying to do everything I can to help them out," he said. "I don't think what happens with me is the important part."
Near the end of the interview, Bankman-Fried, who just a month ago had a net worth of $16 billion, admitted that he has close to nothing left. All his money was tied up in his businesses, and he has only about $100,000 left in a bank account now.
"I don't have any hidden funds here. I'm down to one working credit card," he said.
What do you think of the FTX fallout and Sam Bankman-Fried's latest comments?
2. US stock futures fall early Thursday, after rallying Wednesday following Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech. Meanwhile, Salesforce's stock slid as much as 6% in extended trading on the shock news that co-CEO Bret Taylor is stepping down. Here are the latest market moves.
3. Earnings on deck: Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Montreal, and Dollar General Corporation, all reporting.
4. BlackRock bond chief Rick Rieder said he's never seen a market this rich in income opportunities. In his view, bond yields will remain high and should be more stable heading into the new year. He explained how he's investing right now to get the strongest returns possible.
5. Investors should stick with energy stocks despite the recent slide in oil prices. Analysts at Datatrek broke down why it's a good time to buy into the sector, even as short interest grows. See their three reasons.
6. A new survey showed global stocks will be in a rut for another three months. Yet, inflation concerns and central bank tightening means any rebound in 2023 won't be enough to erase this year's losses. Analysts are expecting even the top indexes to have single-digit gains by the end of next year.
7. European Central Bank officials said bitcoin is on the "road to irrelevance." In a Wednesday blog post, writers from the ECB's market infrastructure and payments division broke down why bitcoin is on its last gasp — and why the token was already headed for a dead-end even before FTX collapsed.
8. Bank of America's stock chief explained how investors can thrive during a recession. The firm is forecasting a recession, and that will make it tricky to balance a portfolio moving forward. Here's BofA's Savita Subramanian's five-part playbook.
9. An investor with nine real estate properties breaks down his methodology for finding strong deals. Stephen Yin shared the spreadsheet he built that helps him evaluate whether to add something to his property portfolio — and he also explained how he avoids bad deals.
10. Markets will face more turmoil next year and the benchmark US index could see a potential 24% decline. Bank of America strategists warned that the new year could bring a sustained economic downturn that weighs on company earnings targets. "We think the market could drop as low as 3,000 based on a panoply of indicators, given a host of risks we face as payback continues and a recession unfolds." | 2022-12-01T11:23:55Z | www.businessinsider.com | Sam Bankman-Fried Explains What Happened at FTX: Everything to Know | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-dealbook-collapse-crypto-ftx-markets-economy-bankruptcy-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-dealbook-collapse-crypto-ftx-markets-economy-bankruptcy-2022-11 |
Sam Bankman-Fried said there were "no wild parties" at FTX to Andrew Sorkin at the New York Times' Deal Book Summit.
Sam Bankman-Fried said FTX had "no wild parties," at the New York Times' DealBook Summit.
He said people would play board games at his parties and barely consumed any alcohol.
He told reporter Andrew Sorkin that he only drank half a glass of alcohol a year.
Sam Bankman-Fried pushed back on claims about drug and alcohol use at FTX saying there were "no wild parties" at the company.
Speaking to Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times' Dealbook Summit in his first live interview since stepping down as FTX's CEO, Bankman-Fried said that his "first sip of alcohol" was after his 21st birthday and he only had "half a glass of alcohol a year" after that.
"There were no wild parties here," Bankman-Fried said. "When we had parties, we played board games and, you know, 20% of people would have three-quarters of a beer each or something like that. And you know, the rest of us would not drink anything."
He clarified that he "didn't see any illegal drug use" in the office and that his parties were just "having people over for dinner."
While denying any illegal drug use, Bankman-Fried acknowledged that he took prescription medications, saying he has "been prescribed various things at various times to help with focus and concentration," but these were all "totally on-label use of medications."
"I think these have on the margin helped me focus a little bit. I wish I had been a lot more focused over the last year."
Bankman-Fried had previously tweeted about using prescription drugs, saying in a 2019 tweet that he uses: "stimulants when you wake up, sleeping pills if you need them when you sleep."
When Sorkin said that all the stories about FTX made it seem like "a bunch of kids who are on Adderall having a sleepover party," Bankman-Fried admitted, "I screwed up."
He said he was "responsible ultimately for doing the right things," but "we messed up big."
Bankman-Fried's cryptocurrency companies, FTX and Alameda Research, declared chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this month. The 30-year-old lost 94% of his $16 billion fortune overnight and told Axios on Monday that he had $100,000 left in his account.
Coinbase reported that FTX was "run by a gang of kids in the Bahamas" who were all roommates and had dated each other. Former employees told Coinbase that Bankman-Fried lived with 10 of his inner circle in a penthouse, and they all were in romantic relationships with each other at some point.
ftx Sam Bankman-Fried FTX Sam Bankman-Fried | 2022-12-01T11:24:07Z | www.businessinsider.com | Sam Bankman-Fried Shuts Down Claims of 'Wild Parties' at FTX: Report | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-shuts-down-claims-wild-parties-ftx-report-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-shuts-down-claims-wild-parties-ftx-report-2022-12 |
Ronna McDaniel has an 'F' grade track record as RNC chair, says Mike Lindell, as he ramps up his campaign to replace her
My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell arrives at Mar-a-lago in Palm Beach, Tuesday, November 15, 2022.
Mike Lindell is running for RNC chair and believes the incumbent gets an "F" grade for her performance.
The MyPillow CEO and Trump ally said Ronna McDaniel's RNC had failed badly in past elections.
Lindell said he would fire the RNC's lawyers and raise more money than ever before.
Donald Trump ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who is campaigning to take over as chair of the Republican National Committee, has pointed the finger firmly at incumbent Ronna McDaniel for past failures.
In an interview with former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis on Wednesday, Lindell said that Republicans had a poor election record under McDaniel, giving her an "F" grade.
"Let's look at Ronna's Report Card. 2018: F, 2020: F, 2022: F. and it shouldn't be," he said
Lindell said of the 2022 result: "I would rank that the absolute worst one and it should have been the biggest red wave in history."
He later said that "you don't reward failure in any business."
Lindell announced that he was running to be the RNC chair on Monday, saying that he wanted to move the party towards backing candidates that support former President Trump and question the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Lindell said in the interview that he decided to run because he was "approached" by big Republican donors who said they would no longer donate to the RNC unless something big changed. He did not identify the donors.
He added that the first thing he would do if he got the job was to fire all of the RNC's lawyers, adding: "I'll raise more money than would ever be raised in history."
News UK RNC Mike Lindell | 2022-12-01T11:53:57Z | www.businessinsider.com | Ronna McDaniel Has 'F' Grade Record As RNC Chair, Says Mike Lindell | https://www.businessinsider.com/ronna-mcdaniel-f-grade-track-record-as-rnc-chair-says-mike-lindell | https://www.businessinsider.com/ronna-mcdaniel-f-grade-track-record-as-rnc-chair-says-mike-lindell |
A dyslexic worker who was unfairly dismissed for making spelling mistakes has been awarded almost $65,000
Rita Jandu felt she was "singled out" by Marks & Spencer due to her dyslexia.
Rita Jandu, who is dyslexic, lost her job for issues including concerns about errors in her emails.
She claimed disability discrimination and unfair dismissal against UK retailer Marks & Spencer.
An employment tribunal awarded Jandu £53,855 after managers ignored the impact of dyslexia on her work.
A dyslexic worker was unfairly dismissed for making errors in her emails, an employment tribunal has ruled.
Rita Jandu was awarded £53,855 (almost $65,000) last week after she successfully claimed disability discrimination and unfair dismissal against her former employer, the UK retailer Marks & Spencer.
Jandu told the tribunal that she struggled to read and write long emails and preferred to communicate in bullet points. Her employer was aware of her longstanding diagnosis of dyslexia, but failed to offer adequate support, according to Jandu.
She was laid off in July 2020 by Marks & Spencer in redundancies linked to pandemic-related financial pressures.
Staff were rated on various criteria to determine who should lose their jobs. According to the company's notes, Jandu's ranking was "totally marginal" and would have kept her job had she scored just one more point.
Jandu said she felt "singled out" and suspected "unconscious bias" concerning her dyslexia had affected her employer's assessment of her work.
She was selected for redundancy due to concerns over inaccuracies and spelling errors in her emails. Her assessment read: "Rita's performance is good but there have been question marks over her consistency and accuracy."
At a meeting in September 2020, a manager told Jandu: "Sometimes communications appear rushed and not thought through."
Jandu attributed this to her dyslexia. She said: "Writing emails is the worst part of my day, it takes me ages to write an email." She also noted that her previous line manager "proofread every single email" she sent, but never raised any concerns about her "tone."
Jandu had worked for Marks & Spencer for 22 years and had been in the role of clothing and home planner since 2013.
After being selected for redundancy, Jandu's manager suggested she apply for other roles, but Jandu told the court she felt unable to do so since she was "so upset about losing the job that she loved."
Ultimately, the tribunal ruled that managers had ignored the impact of Jandu's dyslexia on her work.
The ruling stated that her manager "allowed her perception that [Jandu] was prone to 'rushing' and 'inaccuracies' to count against her. These were things caused by her disability."
A spokesperson for Marks & Spencer told Insider: "We are disappointed by the tribunal's decision. We ensure that all line managers conducting assessments for redundancy exercises complete mandatory training so that scoring is fair and objective. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive place of work for all colleagues, regardless of ability."
In a statement, Jandu said: "I am delighted that I had the strength to go all the way, and I hope this gives other people out there the courage not to accept being treated the way I was."
Zillur Rahman, her solicitor, said: "The employment judge has found what we stated all along in this case, which is that the managers were not experts in dyslexia and not enough was done by them to make enquiries into her disability, including making reasonable adjustments and obtaining specialist advice from Occupational Health, which we told them to do. Disabilities are often overlooked and it is simply not good enough for an employer the size of M&S to behave in this manner."
Employment employment laws Careers | 2022-12-01T12:55:01Z | www.businessinsider.com | A Dyslexic Worker Was Unfairly Dismissed for Making Spelling Mistakes | https://www.businessinsider.com/dyslexic-worker-unfairly-dismissed-making-spelling-mistakes-awarded-65000-dollars-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/dyslexic-worker-unfairly-dismissed-making-spelling-mistakes-awarded-65000-dollars-2022-12 |
11 VCs working in the payments space investing in the next wave of fintech darlings
Charles Birnbaum, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners; Amol Helekar, a general partner at TCV; Emily Man, an investor at Redpoint; and Sarah Hinkfuss, a partner at Bain Capital Ventures.
Bessemer Venture Partners; TCV; Redpoint; Bain Capital Ventures; Alyssa Powell/Insider
Payments investments reached $3.9 billion in Q3 2022, a well-performing area despite VC pullback.
VCs plan to continue to focus on the payments space as it gets more embedded in other industries.
Here are 11 of the top investors in the space searching for the next fintech darling.
Fintech investing has seen a slump in the past few months, but venture capitalists have pointed to several bright spots in the space that they're still interested in. One of these areas is payments.
To be sure, funding for payments companies dropped to $3.9 billion in the third quarter from $9.6 billion in the same period last year, according to data from the research firm CB Insights.
But that hasn't stopped VCs from talking up, and putting money into, payments startups. The payments industry runs the gamut from platforms allowing a consumer to directly pay for a service, better known as embedded finance, to the transfer of money across borders, to buy-now, pay-later companies.
And they have seen a lot of investor interest in the past few years. Since September, the corporate-spending platform Mesh Payments raised $60 million from investors including Tiger Global and Alpha Wave, the embedded payments API provider Astra got $10 million from FPV and Slow Ventures, and Battery Ventures invested $14 million in the international money-transfer company Higlobe.
That's because payments present enticing opportunities to expand not just in the US but also in other countries, Amol Helekar, a general partner at TCV, told Insider.
"It presents a massive global opportunity," he said. "While we've seen certain markets shift toward digital payments, particularly through consumer offerings, there are many other categories that remain under-digitized."
Insider compiled a list of the top VCs investing in the space based on submissions from VC firms and data on their investing histories.
Here are the 11 VCs who are bullish around payments and why they think it's going to gain traction soon, listed alphabetically:
Charles Birnbaum, Bessemer
Birnbaum.
Investors long underestimated the impacts payments could have on software providers, according to Birnbaum, a partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. And while its impacts have already begun to spread, large swaths of the economy, especially healthcare, haven't yet seen major payments-software disruption, he said.
"Despite the fact that some of the most successful companies over the past decade have already disrupted some elements of the payments stack, the vast majority of the payments landscape still runs on legacy infrastructure and hasn't even moved to the cloud," Birnbaum said.
There are a lot of opportunities for entrepreneurs to move in, he said — for instance, software that connects services like clinics to their customers' banks. And Birnbaum knows that because Bessemer invested in startups pushing payments forward like Shopify and Toast. He's also invested in the financial-identity-verification startup Alloy and the payments-card processor Lithic.
Before becoming an investor, Birnbaum served as director of business development at the location-data software company Foursquare.
Ryan Falvey, Restive Ventures
Falvey.
Restive Ventures
Falvey, the founder and managing partner at Restive Ventures, argues that the payments industry as we know it is broken. And that is why he wants to continue investing in payments companies.
"Ideally, making payments should be instant, omnipresent and free — it's obviously not," Falvey said. "There is literally no part of the global payments infrastructure that can't be improved, and it's an incredibly compelling and exciting place to invest."
He said all payments companies, from bill payments to consumer payments, were exciting. But one thing Restive is interested in exploring more is the world of crypto payments, which Falvey says requires a lot of technical sophistication on the part of the end user right now.
One way Falvey says payments startups can make it easier to participate in that ecosystem by allowing users to buy blockchain-held assets called NFTs with their bank accounts. In this space, Falvey invested in Crossmint, a company that lets users buy NFTs with just a credit card. He also invested in the rent-payment platform Flex and Ascend, which deals with insurance-premium payments.
Mark Fiorentino, Index Ventures
Fiorentino.
Index Ventures
The Index Ventures partner Fiorentino takes a broad view of the payments space.
"Two of the best ways to build a multibillion-dollar business in tech are to be the central repository for a core set of data and to control where and when money moves," Fiorentino said. "Payments often combine these two concepts."
He has a bias for investing in business-to-business payments-infrastructure companies, which he attributes to the four years he spent at the financial-services company Stripe in its finance and strategy team. But he also works with embedded fintech companies, where payments and other financial services are built directly into a non-finance company's platform, a category he calls appealing, particularly for healthcare and construction.
One of Fiorentino's investments is RevenueCat, a company that uses data to manage in-app purchases, because purchases through mobile apps are gaining steam, he said.
Another area in payments Fiorentino looks at revolves around helping small and midsize businesses spend, he said.
Jonathan Golden, NEA
Golden, a partner at NEA, wants money movement to be out in the open, he told Insider.
"Payments are still so complex, so I want to find opportunities to bring transparency to money movement," he said. "The metadata around payments is more interesting to me."
His experience as a director of product at Airbnb helped him understand the world of payments more, as one of the teams he ran at the tech giant revolved around payments, he said.
Golden returned to investing in 2018 after six years at Airbnb. He looks at payments as a bridge not just to other industries and geographies but also to develop the next iteration of the web, he said.
One of the investments he is most excited about is MoonPay, the startup looking to onboard payments to Web3 experiences, he said.
"They are positioned to be the payment platform for the next wave of the internet," he said.
Tyler Griffin, Restive Ventures
Griffin.
Financial Venture Studio
Before founding Restive Ventures and becoming an investor, Griffin ran a bill-payments company called Prism Money until 2016, when he sold it. And now, as a VC and managing partner at Restive, he says payments still fascinates him.
Griffin sees much room for improvement in payments, especially with how slowly payments get cleared to reach the correct people.
Griffin likes working with companies with a strong team and technical talent, as payments have proved to be a complicated space with a lot of incumbents and regulatory pressure, he said.
The ability to understand how simple problems in payments are actually deceiving is one of the things that he looks out for when investing in a startup, Griffin said. So far, he's invested in Flex, which helps people pay their rent on their own schedule, and the couples finance app Ivella.
Amol Helekar, TCV
Helekar.
The way Helekar, a general partner at TCV, sees it, vertical-focused payments platforms can improve the way small businesses run not just in the US but around the globe. After all, companies are increasingly international and certain sectors like logistics have to deal with borders all the time, he said.
Helekar invests in small and medium-size business payments startups focused on niche problems for industries. Payments touch everything from lien waivers for construction companies to creating trust accounts for legal and compliance, he said.
Helekar invested in Payoneer, the cross-border business-to-business payments platform, before it went public in 2021. Born in India and growing up in Texas, Helekar said innovation in payments could come from anywhere.
"There are many global markets contributing to major innovations and benefiting from those innovations — whether mobile payments in China, open banking in Europe, or integrated digital payments in Brazil," he said.
Sarah Hinkfuss, Bain Capital Ventures
Hinkfuss.
Hinkfuss, a partner at Bain Capital Ventures, said she never had a linear path to VC investing. She began working in a venture-backed startup called Applied Predictive Technologies on operations before joining the business side and eventually transitioning into fintech investing. Hinkfuss broke into fintech investing after business school and previously worked at the investment firm KKR.
That's why she likes working with founders, especially in the payments space, she said. That way, she gets to learn from and support founders who she said were "often the most passionate and knowledgeable in the world in the space they're building."
As an investor in the payment space, Hinkfuss said, she sees it as an essential industry in lowering costs for businesses and offering better experiences for end users, as streamlining the payments systems gets people paid much faster.
Hinkfuss mainly focuses on business-to-business payments, particularly embedded payments. Her investments include the Japanese payments and e-commerce startup Hey and the mobile point-of-sale company SumUp. She's also excited about Moov, a company that helps developers add embedded payments capabilities to their programs, she said.
Tricia Kemp, Oak HC/FT
Kemp.
Courtesy Oak HC/FT
In the view of the Oak HC/FT managing partner Kemp, the payments space will only keep growing, especially as digitization continues pace. Cash and check still dominate business-to-business payments, but this manual method is slow, so digitizing more enterprise payments opens up more avenues to improve transactions, she said.
Focusing on business-to-business payments, Kemp invested in Feedzai, a company that automates fraud detection in payments transactions, as one of Oak's first fintech investments in 2015. Since then, Kemp and her fund have supported companies like the e-commerce platform Cart.com and the payments company Rapyd.
She looks for startups that increase access to financial services and enable more businesses to grow, Kemp said. And she's interested in working with companies that make transactions safer and easier.
Kemp founded Oak HC/FT with Annie Lamont and Andrew Adams in 2014.
Emily Man, Redpoint
Redpoint
Man, an investor at Redpoint, described the payments industry as "the lifeblood of our global economy." But because so much of the world still relies on manual cash and checks, there's potential for startups to build massive businesses and even invent new ways to pay, she said.
Man is an investor in payments companies such as Stripe, Ramp, and the payments-infrastructure builder Proper Finance.
Growing up in China, Man said she always found fintech fascinating, especially when she realized mobile payments were taking over day-to-day life. This pushed her to take her more quantitative background as a hedge fund analyst. She then got the opportunity to help build a venture team at Point72 before moving to Redpoint in 2020, Man said.
Infrastructure and embedded payments make up many of the types of companies she wants to invest in, she said.
Matt Risley, QED
Risley.
The payments industry is constantly in motion, Risley, a partner at QED Investors, said.
"It's always responding to trends and innovation in the underlying real economy," Risley said. "Payments need to constantly evolve to support changes in commerce."
While Risley and QED want to invest in many types of payment companies, the emergence of real-time-payment networks has evolved the world of payments much more, he said. More people no longer have to wait several days before using their money.
Risley also closely looks at embedded payments. One company he's invested in and is excited about is Mudflap, which provides payments, controls, and discounts to truck drivers and fleets. Risley also invested in the international cross-border payments platforms Flywire and Remitly.
Before QED, Risley served as the chief financial officer and chief credit officer at the buy-now, pay-later giant Klarna.
Hans Tung, GGV
Tung.
When end users interact with businesses, they expect the same experience as with the apps they use in their day-to-day lives, the GGV managing partner Tung said. So, Tung and his team at GGV invest in companies that democratize access to strong payment services, are global-minded, are embedded in different platforms, and have founders that are always learning, he said.
These tenets shine in what Tung considers a signature investment in payments for GGV: the point-of-sale and payments platform Square. Tung also pointed to Novo, Northstar, and Pinwheel as investments he's also very excited about.
A lot of his focus now in the payments space is in areas that integrate with small and midsize businesses and other verticals like health, retail, transportation, and property, Tung said.
"The next phase of fintech innovation will be marked by financial services that are closely integrated with commercial activity," he said.
Tung was an early investor in the consumer-goods giant Xiaomi, Airbnb, and Musical.ly, which was eventually bought by ByteDance and became TikTok. | 2022-12-01T12:55:16Z | www.businessinsider.com | 11 Payment VCs Investing in the Next Wave of Fintech Darlings | https://www.businessinsider.com/payment-venture-capital-vc-invest-fintech-bessemer-index-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/payment-venture-capital-vc-invest-fintech-bessemer-index-2022-11 |
Today we've got stories on more layoffs in crypto, a secret 9/11 memo, and the people best positioned to be Bob Iger's top deputies at Disney.
And while I've got you here, it's time to start thinking about gifts with the holidays season in full swing. Do you know what's an informative, funny gift that has a long shelf life and, most important of all, is free? A subscription to this newsletter! So forward it to a friend, or maybe just sign them up here. They'll thank you later!
There was Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon's Andy Jassy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke, as did BlackRock's Larry Fink. Even Ben Affleck showed up.
And while the interview perhaps wasn't the blockbuster event some had hoped for, it was an illuminating look into the mind of SBF.
2. Fink sees VCs backing the environment. BlackRock cofounder and CEO Larry Fink said venture money will move away from service-providing apps in the wake of the FTX collapse, instead heading toward environmentally focused startups. More on that here.
3. What did President George W. Bush know ahead of 9/11? A newly declassified 2004 interview with Bush helps shine a light on the warnings he received in the lead up to the attacks. Read our investigative report.
4. Turns out UBS doesn't even want your money anyway. Colm Kelleher, the chairman of the Swiss bank, said the firm is purely focused on the wealthiest US clients, and is not interested in expanding to the mass affluent in the wake of the failed Wealthfront deal, Bloomberg reports. More on the bank's change of heart.
5. If you're thinking about relocating for work, read this first. A new survey maps out the best places to live and work abroad. Spoiler: No US cities cracked the top 10. Check out the best, and worst, cities for expats.
6. Meet Bob's best buds. Now that Bob Iger is back at the helm at Disney, we mapped out the six executives who will be in his inner circle. Read more here.
7. Billionaire Alibaba founder Jack Ma has reportedly resurfaced in Japan. Ma, who also founded Ant Group, disappeared from the public eye after a dispute with Chinese regulators. Here's a timeline of his rise and fall.
8. State Street's bid for Brown Brothers Harriman's investor services business is cooked. Both sides agreed to part ways as a result of "regulatory feedback and potential transaction modifications to address that feedback," according to a release. More on the nixed deal here.
9. More bad news for crypto. Kraken, the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, announced plans to lay off nearly a third of its staff amid the market downturn. Here's what we know about the cuts.
10. Billy McFarland is back, and he's got another idea that's totally not a scam. The genius behind the Fyre Festival who eventually plead guilty to two counts of wire fraud has big plans in the Caribbean again. Here's his pitch. | 2022-12-01T12:55:18Z | www.businessinsider.com | SBF Interview Reveals How Careless, Reckless Rise of FTX Was | https://www.businessinsider.com/sbf-interview-ftx-downfall-nyt-dealbook-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/sbf-interview-ftx-downfall-nyt-dealbook-2022-12 |
Here's an exclusive look at the 12-slide pitch deck the artificial-intelligence startup Durable used to raise $6.25 million in seed funding
Durable's founder and CEO, James Clift.
Durable offers solo entrepreneurs sales, marketing, and finance tools through its platform.
The startup recently landed $6.25 million from investors like Altman Capital and Torch Capital.
Here's a look at the 12-slide pitch deck it used to raise its latest seed round.
An artificial-intelligence startup that offers solo entrepreneurs a one-stop shop for sales, marketing, and finance tools has landed $6.25 million in fresh funds.
Durable, founded in 2021, closed its $6.25 million seed round in May from Altman Capital — the venture-capital firm run by Jack Altman, the CEO of the people-success startup Lattice — along with Torch Capital, Dash Fund, Infinity Ventures, and South Park Commons. Durable targets solo entrepreneurs, or people who start and run their own business independently, without a cofounder or other employees.
Solo entrepreneurship skyrocketed in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic as workers looked for more flexibility and control in their jobs, Durable's founder and CEO, James Clift, told Insider. In fact, the number of unincorporated self-employed workers has grown by more than 300,000 since February 2020, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That has given Durable a growing market to target, especially as it specifically addresses service businesses, according to Clift.
"In services, it doesn't make sense to be employed," Clift said. "There's a market price for your skill, and all you need to get started is a website, a customer, and a way to get paid."
Durable's main value-add is that it offers several services on one platform, Clift said. It uses generative artificial intelligence, or AI that can create content, to generate business websites with just the user-provided input of business category. With the base website, users can then tweak photos, copy, and layouts to match their needs.
Durable also provides entrepreneurs with customer-relationship-management software to track customer details, automate marketing campaigns, and send billing invoices. Business owners can also accept payments and track expenses through the startup.
Additionally, though vertical-specific startups exist today for solo entrepreneurs, like Housecall Pro for home services or Squire for barbers, Clift said these competitors gave up an intuitive user experience for added complexity and features. The success of these startups, however, demonstrates continued strong investor appetite for small-business tools even during an economic downturn. Housecall Pro achieved a $1.15 billion valuation in its June round, according to PitchBook, and Squire landed over $58 million in capital in its July 2021 raise.
Clift said the latest round provided Durable with enough capital to get through the next three years and tough economic cycle. Until its next raise, Durable will focus on strengthening its capital efficiency, building out additional features, and investing in its artificial intelligence capabilities, he said.
Here's an exclusive look at the 12-slide pitch deck Durable used to raise $6.25 million in seed funding from Altman Capital, Torch Capital, Dash Fund, Infinity Ventures, and South Park Commons: | 2022-12-01T13:25:32Z | www.businessinsider.com | Read the Pitch Deck Durable Used to Raise $6.25 Million | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-durable-raise-seed-funding-artificial-intelligence-solopreneur-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-durable-raise-seed-funding-artificial-intelligence-solopreneur-2022-11 |
Unless Collective's "Degenerate" sneaker, which biodegrades
Unless Collective, cofounded by Eric Liedtke, on Thursday unveiled its first sneaker.
Like the startup's apparel, the shoes are biodegradable and contain no plastic.
An analyst called the sneaker a "game changer" given the industry's addiction to plastic.
Athletic footwear is inherently tough on the environment. Most sneakers are made with pollutants, including plastics and toxic glues.
Eric Liedtke, a former Adidas brand president who is perhaps best known for launching Kanye West's partnership with the brand, is on a mission to remove those pollutants from apparel.
On Thursday, he unveiled a shoe that won't leave a damaging environmental footprint. In fact, it won't leave any.
Last year, Liedtke cofounded Unless Collective, a Portland, Oregon-based streetwear startup that doesn't use any plastics or polyester. The new shoe, called the Degenerate, will decompose at the end of its useful life.
"It's a first of its kind," Liedtke told Insider. "It's made from the elements to go out into the elements and return to the elements. It's a circular story that I think consumers will really jive on."
The sneaker solves one of the hardest problems in athletic footwear — creating a shoe that completely biodegrades — and puts pressure on industry giants to ramp up sustainability efforts. Even "sustainable" sneakers from brands like Nike tend to include polyester, which is made from plastic. The Degenerate doesn't include any plastic or petrochemicals.
The Unless shoe, which will retail for $139, was made in partnership with Natural Fiber Welding, which makes various materials from natural products, including plants and minerals.
Eric Liedtke and Kanye West in 2016. West later changed his name to Ye.
"This is a game changer," said industry analyst and ARCH-USA founder Chris Burns. "This is a big deal. This looks close to the 'impossible shoe,'" a reference to an aspirational shoe made entirely with plants and minerals that completely disintegrates and leaves no toxic waste.
The Degenerate includes four of Natural Fiber Welding's materials. While other brands, including Allbirds and Camper, have worked with Natural Fiber Welding, Unless is the first to build a shoe from top to bottom with its materials.
"What's unique about what Eric has done in the footwear industry is paid attention to every single component of the shoe," Natural Fiber Welding President Steve Zika told Insider.
Unless Collective's "Degenerate" sneaker
Zika called the Degenerate, which is available in black and white, a "revolutionary idea" because "the whole shoe is made out of nutrients."
In April, Natural Fiber Welding announced an $85 million Series B investment round. Its investors include industry giants such as Ralph Lauren and Allbirds.
Liedtke said the development of the shoe required rethinking every detail of the manufacturing process.
For instance, since the shoe doesn't include glue, it sinks lower into the sole, so it can more easily be sewn together with linen thread. Unless hired cobblers in Northern Italy to do the sewing. And instead of plastic tips for the shoelaces, Unless figured out a way to cross-stitch the ends of the laces.
"Every little thing had to be innovated," Liedtke said. "To build a shoe without glue and without an ounce of petrochemicals has been a passion."
Industry giants, including Nike and Adidas, are working on getting more petroleum-based plastics out of athletic footwear, but it's a challenge because of the durability of plastics.
Burns said the Degenerate could put pressure on other companies, but he said there's still an education gap that needs to be closed.
"The education around sustainability is sorely missing," he said. "No brand is doing enough."
Style-wise, Burns expects the Degenerate to appeal to consumers because of its chunky sole, which Burns said is on-trend, noting its popularity in shoes like the Jordan Elevate.
"It's perfectly on trend," Burns said. "It looks great."
Now that the manufacturing process has been worked out, Liedtke said more design flourishes are to come.
"There's 1,000 things we'd like to pursue," he said.
Retail Sneakers Sustainability | 2022-12-01T14:26:26Z | www.businessinsider.com | Adidas Exec Releases Biodegradable Sneaker From Unless Collective | https://www.businessinsider.com/adidas-exec-releases-biodegradable-sneaker-from-unless-collective-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/adidas-exec-releases-biodegradable-sneaker-from-unless-collective-2022-11 |
In the past two years, highly funded startups have tried to disrupt mental-health care.
They spent tons of cash competing for patients, wreaking havoc on their finances.
Now a class of companies that makes nice with industry incumbents is gaining traction.
In the past two years, mental-health startups got a record $7.8 billion in investment from venture firms like SoftBank.
The startups said they wanted to help solve the industry's biggest problems: Mental-health care is too expensive, and there isn't enough of it to go around.
That was the pitch for Cerebral, a mental-health startup that launched in 2020 and offers both medication and therapy, reaching out directly to patients with online ads. Its cofounder, Kyle Robertson, said his experience struggling to get care for his depression because of wait times, cost, and stigma led to starting the company. Just one year later, it was the self-proclaimed fastest-growing mental-health startup ever.
Cerebral got into hot water for sacrificing clinical quality for growth. But what's more, it became the poster child for a vulnerable business strategy.
Over the last year, Cerebral and a few competitors with similar "direct-to-consumer" models ate losses to compete for patients over the internet with expensive advertising campaigns. Then after the economy worsened, they had to slow growth to stop bleeding capital.
Cerebral, for one, was losing money on patients coming through the door. It had to cut workers, marketing, and a number of programs in October.
"We grew in a way that was not sustainable, aka was not profitable," Jessica Muse, Cerebral's president, told staff at the time, per virtual-meeting audio reviewed by Insider. "We were paying more with advertising dollars to bring someone in than we could recoup from them staying with us and paying us fees for the service."
The pullback has thrown into perspective the ways in which healthcare companies can struggle to succeed when they try to operate outside the industry's gatekeepers such as health plans and the employers that pay for roughly half of Americans' care. Mental-health companies like Cerebral, Talkspace, and Headspace Health are all taking shelter in strategies that better work with the system, while those with deep industry partnerships are gaining ground.
"Right now, I'm pretty bearish on companies that are just pure direct-to-consumer for both acquisition and payment," Aike Ho, a partner at ACME Capital, told Insider. "Because the reality is that most patients in the US are not motivated to pay out-of-pocket for care."
Cerebral's online mental-health platform connects patients to appointments with medical providers and care coordinators.
Spending up to $1,000 a customer
As venture capital money flowed into the mental health space, companies' customer-acquisition cost, or the cost required to get someone to sign up for the product, skyrocketed in 2021.
Last November, Talkspace, a public mental-health company, could spend $800 or more on each new customer, a big increase from the year prior, a former manager told Insider. The company could lose hundreds of dollars per patient.
It became so expensive that executives such as Mark Hirschhorn, Talkspace's former president, proposed shuttering that part of the business, according to the former manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution and whose identity is known to Insider.
Talkspace declined to comment on the consumer-business dynamics.
Cerebral's success may have added fuel to the fire. The company raised $300 million in December 2021 in a round led by SoftBank's Vision Fund 2. The following months, Cerebral rapidly gained market share, according to an analysis from Jefferies.
Dr. Ho Anh, a Cerebral cofounder, attributed the growth largely to the advertising machine.
"You could put ads pretty much anywhere you want with a war chest that big," he told investors at a Jefferies event in May. Anh estimated that the cost of acquiring a customer for direct-to-consumer healthcare companies ranged from $500 and $1,000, up from around $150 in 2018.
In the first quarter of 2022, BetterHelp, owned by publicly-traded telehealth giant Teladoc, saw less bang for its buck on paid search advertising. Cerebral, per Jefferies, was stealing many of its patients.
On the earnings call, CEO Jason Gorevic blamed smaller private competitors pursuing unsustainable strategies. He also called them out for "exploiting" suspended regulations to prescribe highly regulated drugs, which Cerebral did until recently.
It wasn't just the venture-backed competition that stung. Apple released a privacy update in April 2021 that decimated companies' ability to target users for ads, ACME's Ho said.
ACME Capital principal Aike Ho
Aike Ho
"I think every single behavioral-health company in the direct-to-consumer space — I don't know if anyone's doing well," Ho said. "I think some people are doing less bad."
Investment into mental-health, and healthcare in general, has slowed down amid recession fears.
"The cost of capital has gone up over the past three months, so all those CAC dollars are disappearing," Amar Kendale, a former Livongo executive and the president of the primary-care startup Homeward, told Insider. "Then this whole engine grinds to a halt."
Finding different ways to reach patients
To cope with the turbulence, consumer-oriented healthcare companies are changing their strategies.
Talkspace's priority is now its division that sells mental-health care to employers, which pay recurring fees for employee access. The consumer unit is shrinking, while revenue at the employer-focused business is surging.
In a statement to Insider, a spokesperson for Talkspace said it's worked with health plans and employers since 2017, but the company expected that work to be an even greater share of company revenues in the coming quarters because of demand.
"We have prioritized our resources to optimize for this," the spokesperson said.
Cerebral is now looking to fuel growth through referrals from places like primary-care clinics, rather than advertising, according to the audio reviewed by Insider.
It's also trying to get more patients to pay with insurance. More than 80% of Cerebral's patients pay with cash, and Cerebral is aiming for more of a 50-50 split, a current employee who was not authorized to speak with the press, said.
Anh told the Jefferies analysts that working with insurance was the more sustainable strategy for Cerebral because people who paid with insurance could afford to subscribe for longer.
Cerebral did not respond to a request for comment.
Headspace Health, the meditation-app maker, grew popular by marketing its meditation and mindfulness exercises directly to consumers. But since it merged with Ginger, a therapy startup that works with employers, the combined company is dedicating most of its investments to enterprise partnerships, CEO Russell Glass told Insider's Rebecca Torrence.
Russell Glass, the CEO of Headspace Health.
Headspace Health
Stretching a limited supply of professionals
The mental-health upstarts say they're solving for two industry-wide issues.
Many therapists have long wait times, in part due to a shortage of clinicians, making care scarce. Plus, many work solo and don't accept insurance, making care costly.
But these companies aren't expanding the limited supply, and their products can be expensive.
A common strategy has been to charge patients more for shorter visits, thus stretching clinicians' availability, Homeward's Kendale said. And while sometimes more affordable than out-of-network care, subscription services at companies like BetterHelp can cost hundreds of dollars per month.
Last year, for about $100 a month, including an $80 subscription fee and the cost of medication, many of Cerebral's patients were getting treatment for the first time in their lives because this is a relatively affordable deal, a former provider told Insider. She said she felt like she could do a lot of good caring for them.
But her allotted time to see patients, 15 minutes every three months, wasn't enough to do her job well. Plus she was concerned that clinicians without mental-health expertise were taking on serious patients. The provider spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution; her identity is known to Insider.
"Here they are spending their hard-earned money on Cerebral, and they're getting crap for care," the Cerebral provider said. "It really upset me."
To address the shortage of professionals and bring down the cost of care, companies are proliferating that do group care, work with technology to replace certain clinical tasks, and help therapists work with health plans.
Startups tackling more serious mental-health conditions are working with health plans
There's also a rising crop of mental-health companies tackling the costliest mental-health conditions, something the direct-to-consumer firms tend to shy away from. That makes shared priorities with insurers easier to find and can drive down the cost for patients.
Care for eating disorders is one example. There aren't many clinics that treat them. Residential treatment has become the go-to, but it can cost health plans $45,000 a month, Kristina Saffran, a cofounder and the CEO of Equip, told Insider.
Kristina Saffran.
Instead, Equip provides virtual care for patients with eating disorders and incorporates their families into the recovery process. About 93% of Equip's patients are using insurance to pay, Saffran said. A Medicaid plan in California reached out to partner with Equip because it saw kids with eating disorders pop in and out of the emergency room multiple times throughout the year, she said.
"The bar was on the floor. There's no outpatient providers," Saffran said.
ACME invested in the psychiatry startup Brightside Health because it worked well with patients with more serious conditions and prescribed medication, a big draw for health plans because those folks tend to generate a lot of the cost in the medical system, Ho said.
About 40% of Brightside's patients are covered by health plans, she said.
Bicycle Health, a startup that treats folks with opioid addiction over the internet, says it's observing a similar trend.
Ankit Gupta.
Bicycle Health
It works with health plans to get paid based on factors like patient retention and can save them upward of $15,000 a patient each year by reducing emergency-room visits and other costly uses of healthcare, CEO Ankit Gupta said.
About half of Bicycle's patients pay with their insurance, a number he's looking to increase.
"The biggest barrier to care for patients whose insurance we don't accept is money," he said.
The future of direct-to-consumer mental-health care
Reaching consumers directly can still be a good strategy to expand access to care and turn a profit.
For instance, after Ginger started offering free Headspace access to its employer clients, sign-ups jumped, Stephanie Davis, a healthcare analyst at SVB Securities, said. Companies like that can route people to the level of care they need, whether it's coaching or therapy, she added.
Teladoc's BetterHelp, which had to learn how to survive before the boom of venture-capital funding, is doing well financially, and nearly half of its patients had never sought therapy before.
Andrew Dudum, the CEO of Hims & Hers, a direct-to-consumer healthcare company, said the mental-health part of the business is growing in part thanks to other companies' challenges.
"As other players in the market, both competitors and noncompetitors, are obviously pulling back and retreating, it creates a really powerful opportunity for us to take a disproportionate amount of share," he said.
Healthcare Digital Health Dispensed | 2022-12-01T14:26:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | The Future of Mental-Health Care After VCs' Billions Fueled Failures | https://www.businessinsider.com/future-of-mental-healthcare-cerebral-talkspace-equip-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/future-of-mental-healthcare-cerebral-talkspace-equip-2022-11 |
Sam Bankman-Fried at the New York Times DealBook Summit, interviewed by Aaron Ross Sorkin.
An FTX user wrote to the host interviewing Sam Bankman-Fried at a New York Times summit.
He said he lost $2 million and accused SBF of stealing it.
"I am deeply sorry about what happened," Bankman-Fried said.
Sam Bankman-Fried apologized to an FTX user who said he lost $2 million after the crypto exchange went bankrupt.
The controversial "Crypto King" was interviewed at the New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday evening, and one of his previous customers wrote in to demand answers.
Andrew Ross Sorkin – the journalist hosting the summit – shared the email "from a gentleman who said he lost his life savings." It had the subject line: "Sam Bankman-Fried stole $2 million from me."
The user wrote: "Andrew, can you please ask SBF why he decided to steal my life savings and the $10 billion more from customers to give to his hedge fund, Alameda?"
"Please ask him if he thinks what happened was fraud."
Sorkin added that he had gotten several similar letters, before asking Bankman-Fried: "What do you tell this man?"
"I am deeply sorry about what happened," he replied.
Bankman-Fried added that the FTX.US platform was still "fully funded" and he believed withdrawals "could be opened up today."
He then went on a long explanation of Alameda's risky trade positions, before blaming an "all-out PR assault, which led to a total market collapse in a pretty short period of time."
But Sorkin then raised the question of money being mixed between Alameda and FTX.
On November 11, The Wall Street Journal reported that FTX lent $10 billion of customer assets to Alameda for its high-risk bets.
The customer had also referenced the FTX terms of service in his email, which said: "None of the digital assets in your account are the property of, or shall or may be loaned to, FTX Trading."
Under further questioning from Sorkin about the close-ties between his companies, Bankman-Fried eventually said: "I didn't knowingly commingle funds."
Later on in the DealBook interview, SBF also said he doesn't think he's "criminally liable" for FTX's implosion.
Recent bankruptcy documents have shown that FTX didn't have an accounting department, while company expenses were approved by emojis on online chats.
One former employee told the Financial Times: "It just kinda went crazy. If Sam said OK, it was good to go. Regardless of the amount." | 2022-12-01T14:26:44Z | www.businessinsider.com | Sam Bankman-Fried Apologized to FTX User Who Says He Lost $2 Million | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-apologized-ftx-user-lost-2-million-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-apologized-ftx-user-lost-2-million-2022-12 |
A Good Morning America journalist said interviewing ex-FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried "felt like a therapy session."
"He just had a lot to get off his chest and clearly wanted to get through this," George Stephanopoulos said.
"There are a lot of things that are worrying me right now," Bankman-Fried said in response to one question.
An Good Morning America journalist said that interviewing former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried "felt like a therapy session" for the crypto mogul.
"He really wanted to talk," George Stephanopoulos said. "He just had a lot to get off his chest and clearly wanted to get through this."
Stephanopoulos said that during a short phone call with Bankman-Fried on Saturday, the ex-CEO invited him to fly over to the Bahamas the next day to talk to him. Stephanopoulos interviewed Bankman-Fried for around two hours on Monday for Good Morning America.
"At some level, it felt like a therapy session," Stephanopoulos said. It seemed like Bankman-Fried "felt that it was really important for him to get his story out," he said.
Stephanopoulos added that Bankman-Fried had gone against the advice of his lawyers by speaking to a reporter. He had said on Wednesday at The New York Times' DealBook Summit that his lawyers had advised him not to speak publicly about the circumstances around FTX's collapse.
When asked by Stephanopoulos whether he was worried about going to jail, Bankman-Fried said: "There are a lot of things that are worrying me right now, and as best as possible I am trying to focus on what I can do going forward to be helpful."
"At the end of the day, it's not my call what happens and the world will judge as it will," he added.
SBF Sam Bankman-Fried FTX collapse | 2022-12-01T14:26:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Interviewing Sam Bankman-Fried 'Felt Like Therapy' for Crypto Mogul: Reporter | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-sbf-collapse-interviewing-felt-like-therapy-session-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-sbf-collapse-interviewing-felt-like-therapy-session-2022-12 |
Messaging app Telegram is moving into crypto with the launch of decentralized exchanges to 'fix the wrongs' of centralized firms like FTX
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov.
Manuel Blondeau/AOP.Press/Corbis/Getty Images
The collapse of FTX shows that blockchain projects must return to decentralization, the CEO of Telegram said.
Pavel Durov announced that the messaging app is planning to build crypto exchanges and other decentralized tools.
"The blockchain industry was built on the promise of decentralization, but ended up being concentrated in the hands of a few who began to abuse their power."
As the FTX collapse continues to reverberate through the cryptocurrency sector, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov wants to revive some of the good will toward blockchain technology by developing a range of decentralized tools including digital asset exchanges.
"The blockchain industry was built on the promise of decentralization, but ended up being concentrated in the hands of a few who began to abuse their power," Durov wrote Wednesday on his Telegram page. "As a result, a lot of people lost their money when FTX, one of the largest exchanges, went bankrupt."
The antidote to FTX's downfall is renewed prioritization of decentralization, he said. Durov maintained that blockchain projects must return to their roots of decentralization, and move away from relying on third-party corporations.
Additionally, he said it's possible today for developers to steer the blockchain away from centralization with the release of new products that a wide audience can access.
Moving forward, Telegram, a messaging and social-media app, will build non-custodial wallets and decentralized exchanges for millions of people to trade and store cryptocurrencies, Durov said.
"This way we can fix the wrongs caused by the excessive centralization, which let down hundreds of thousands of cryptocurrency users," he said. "The time when the inefficiencies of legacy platforms justified centralization should be long gone. With technologies like TON reaching their potential, the blockchain industry should be finally able to deliver on its core mission – giving the power back to the people."
Telegram Pavel Durov Decentralized | 2022-12-01T14:56:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | Telegram to Develop Decentralized Exchanges Amid FTX Fallout, CEO Says | https://www.businessinsider.com/ftx-collapse-bankman-fried-blockchain-decentralization-telegram-ceo-crypto-exchange-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ftx-collapse-bankman-fried-blockchain-decentralization-telegram-ceo-crypto-exchange-2022-12 |
Delivering bad news to your coworkers is never easy. College classes and executive coaches are trying to teach how to do it.
Leading difficult conversations and offering empathy are crucial responsibilities for many leaders.
Many managers are responsible for leading difficult conversations and solving internal conflict.
Executive coaches and university classes are now teaching the skills needed to do so.
Here's how future managers should prep for the tough role, according to founders and professors.
Conflict resolution is a part of almost any job.
Whether it's a disagreement with a coworker, feeling overloaded by your boss, or not getting what you want from your hires, it's important to be able to address these situations as an employee and a leader.
That's why Michael Yan, the founder of the job-search platform Simplify, hired an executive coach. He hoped to learn how to better manage business success, business failure, and his mental health.
"Executive coaching has helped me manage stress and burnout," Yan told Insider.
Together, he said he and his coach worked on questions like, "How do you mediate between difficult arguments with your cofounders or how do you deal with difficult employees?"
He added: "Because a lot of those are what contributes to the difficulty in mental health for founders."
While executive coaches are one way to better your management style, higher-education institutions like Harvard, Stanford, and now the University of California, Berkeley, are providing courses on the topic, too. Launched this fall by the instructors Francesca LeBaron and Bree Jenkins, Berkeley's Haas School of Business class "Difficult Conversations: Conflict Lab" focuses on delivering tough feedback and navigating work clashes, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Here's what Yan's coach, a Berkeley participant, and leadership experts suggest managers focus on.
You need a good mindset to be a good leader
One of the first topics Yan and his executive coach covered was bettering his mental and physical health, he said.
"As a founder, balancing mental health and the success of the company almost seem opposite," Yan said. "But something that we've learned from executive coaching is if you're not prioritizing your own health, it's hard to prioritize the success of the company."
Working on mental-health best practices informs how he manages and responds to company conflict today, he said.
"Small triggers may affect your mental health," like when cofounders are angry at one another or when the staff is underperforming, he said.
"There are times where arguments lead to me being stressed out for a long time," he said, "and it's like, how do I approach those things?"
Since working with a coach, he's created a positive mindset, allowing him to better communicate with his team, he said.
Sometimes, difficult conversations are necessary
Like Yan and his coach, Berkeley's class works on approaching difficult situations like performance reviews and layoffs, The Journal reported.
In fact, students are required to role-play from both sides of the conversation to experience what the conflict feels like from each perspective, The Journal said. One role-playing exercise includes giving and receiving negative feedback.
From the manager's perspective, it's crucial to have discussions with employees who are not performing well, even if it's difficult, Brooke Vuckovic, a professor of leadership at the Kellogg School of Management, wrote for Insider.
"When you don't deal directly with problematic employees, you're sending the clear message to others that their work doesn't matter," she said.
She suggests navigating the conversation objectively: Describe what you're seeing as the boss, note the influence the behavior is having, seek the employee's perspective, and come to an agreement based on that conversation.
Lead with empathy to build positive rapport
Empathy is a required trait for managers today, especially when they're tackling difficult conversations. Khalil Somani, a Berkeley student, used empathy when delivering news of a "layoff" to his classmate.
"You're still resolute in your decision, but you can still be genuine," he told The Journal after his session.
When managers explicitly communicate with employees about their needs, it also shows empathy. For example, ask them what work-life balance looks like to them, Ed Zitron, the CEO of EZPR, a national tech and business public-relations agency, wrote for Insider.
"A manager's job should be straightforward: Understand the work their employees are doing and the time it will take to complete the work, and then be able to empathize with those doing the work," Zitron wrote.
Entrepreneurship Management Leadership | 2022-12-01T16:28:20Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Be an Effective Leader, According to Colleges and Exec Coaches | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-be-an-effective-business-leader-university-executive-coaches-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-be-an-effective-business-leader-university-executive-coaches-2022-11 |
From left, TikTok influencers Christian Maldonado, Tega Orhorhoro, and Ryze Hendricks.
Compiled by Insider, courtesy of Social Currant
A Gen Z-led company tapped TikTok influencers in November to persuade young people to vote.
Young people had one of their highest turnout rates ever in a midterm election in November.
Now some progressive groups are looking to influencers to mobilize young voters in 2024.
Two months before the midterm elections, Social Currant Founder and CEO Ashwath Narayanan thought TikTok and Instagram influencers would have better luck persuading young people to vote than a Facebook ad.
So Narayanan, a 22-year-old recent college graduate, matched his progressive advocacy clients like NextGen America and Community Change Action with creators on social media who have nothing to do with politics. Among them were a comedian, an actress, a makeup artist, and a rapper, who all delivered the message in whatever way they saw fit.
Their followers responded, and now the influencer campaigns of 2022 have become a model for how some advocacy groups will mobilize young voters in 2024.
"I think the people that cracked the youth voter turnout code are the youth," said Narayanan, whose staff is mostly Gen Z. "Trusting us to get other young people to vote I think is the lesson here. And I definitely think creators, and reaching young people where they are, is a huge part of it."
Young people aged 18 to 29 had one of their highest turnout rates ever in a midterm election in November. They overwhelmingly favored Democrats, helping prevent a Republican "red wave" election, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. President Joe Biden, who also courted TikTok influencers, especially thanked young people for the election results.
Politicians have long struggled to get young people to vote on election day. Maybe they've just been the wrong messengers.
"The challenge is that with few exceptions, there hasn't been a politician in recent memory that connects with young people in a way that's authentic and credible," said Shripal Shah, a partner at the Democratic media, strategy and public affairs firm Left Hook. "Creators, however, do."
Digital creators and influencers are the main source of trusted information for young people who grew up on social media platforms, said Shah, who is advising Social Currant. It's a "no-brainer" to use them to mobilize voters, "just like brands do with their products."
Without young voters' support in 2022, Democrats "would've been wiped out by Republicans across the map, up and down the ballot," he said. "That reality underscores the need to invest in creators for 2024 and beyond."
It's hard to imagine Republican groups embracing a similar strategy with influencers on TikTok, given their distrust of the Chinese-company owned app. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem went so far as to ban the use of TikTok on government devices, saying China uses information gathered on the app to "manipulate the American people." Some national security and social media experts, the Washington Post reported, also worry that the app isn't prepared to identify misinformation.
The Republican National Committee says it does not have a TikTok account. "We do not have any plans to give the Chinese Communist Party our data, nor do we plan to use their spyware," RNC spokesperson Nathan Brand told Insider.
But when it comes to reaching members of the digital generation, they aren't listening to anchors on major networks, said Antonio Arellano, a spokesperson for the youth voting organization NextGen America. "They're listening to influencers on TikTok and on Instagram. These are the trusted messengers," he said.
NextGen America spent $500,000 on its 2022 influencer program, the largest in youth politics nationwide during the midterm election cycle, Arellano said. They worked with young athletes, fashion bloggers, comics, and other influencers, creating a "blueprint" for their digital organizing efforts in 2024, he said.
"People were really clicking our links, which led them to pledge to vote, which led them to register to vote," he said.
NextGen is working on an influencer voter study to try to match voter files to influencer followers to know exactly how many followers went out and voted, he said.
TikTok influencer "Dez" applauds a follower's response to a voter mobilization video.
Courtesy of Community Change Action
Community Change Action used a "rapid testing tool" to understand how the videos were being received by target audiences, including young people of color. They also monitored the responses online, said Mikka Kei Macdonald, the group's creative director.
"The comments were, 'Oh my gosh, I'm finally old enough to vote, I had totally forgotten that I had to register, doing that right now,'" Macdonald said.
Between NextGen America and Community Change Action, Narayanan said they were able to reach about 13 million people on TikTok and Instagram in just the last two months of the midterm campaigns. Social Currant worked with nearly 300 creators in the last two months to produce more than 500 pieces of content, he said.
"We're trying to build … a movement with influencers," he said.
Ashwath Narayanan, 22, Social Currant founder and CEO
Courtesy of Kariann Tan, community manager at Social Currant
NextGen America and Community Change Action both said they pay influencers and give them control over the creative process. "We don't tell our influencers how to say things," Arellano said. "We lean into their skills and talents."
Rapper Ryze Hendricks, who has 6.3 million TikTok followers, delivered his message in rhyme: "I got a message for the youth. You got the power to make a difference and expose the truth."
Tega "Reacts" Orhorhoro danced with Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a New York Democrat, in a TikTok video for her nearly 4 million followers as part of a get-out-the-vote event.
@tegareacts #ad Get you a friend like Congressman Jamaal Bowman who loves to vote! Make sure you have a plan to vote on NOV 8 because voting is what besties do. #CCAPartnerAd ♬ original sound - bri
The groups turned to Social Currant, partly because its team members are young, themselves. "It's run by Gen Z folks," Arellano said. "They are uniquely positioned to connect us to the absolute most digitally savvy and successful voices online right now."
Narayanan, who graduated from George Washington University in May, said he launched the agency in September 2020 after noticing that advocacy organizations were often trying to figure out how to reach young people like him. He wanted to give other young people "voices in these rooms where they were making decisions about reaching us — without us," he said.
He quickly began to see investing in influencers, rather than ads on social media, as a powerful tool to build audiences. Now Social Currant is working on technology to make it easier for nonprofits to find the right trusted messenger for topics such as immigration, health care, abortion access or gun violence prevention.
He wants to continue tapping influencers to spread messages about important legislation passing Congress or voter registration deadlines.
"The youth vote this year has just been phenomenal," Narayanan said. "I think it just shows what young people can do.
TikTok Instagram 2024 | 2022-12-01T16:28:24Z | www.businessinsider.com | Progressives Look to TikTok Influencers to Mobilize Young Voters in 2024 | https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-instagram-influencers-young-voters-gen-z-2022-2024-elections-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-instagram-influencers-young-voters-gen-z-2022-2024-elections-2022-11 |
CNN CEO Chris Licht announced on Wednesday that layoffs were coming.
CNN told staff Wednesday that layoffs had started. Affected employees would be notified Thursday.
Some HR experts say advance notice is helpful, but one said it could create unnecessary anxiety.
A company's approach to layoffs can affect its ability to attract and retain talent.
CNN employees on Wednesday received a memo from the CEO saying the company had started conducting layoffs. Anyone who was losing their job would be informed … the next day.
In the past several months, layoffs have rippled across numerous industries. Employers have taken different approaches. Elon Musk slashed half of Twitter's staff by locking them out of their work laptops. The founders of the payments platform Stripe published a detailed memo outlining how they would support the people they were laying off.
As for Licht's decision to announce layoffs ahead of time, two human-resources experts told Insider the advance notice showed compassion and transparency. Another expert said the announcement was an unnecessary source of anxiety. Their divergent reactions suggest that perhaps there isn't a great way to let employees know you're getting rid of them. Above all, the approach you settle on should take into account that, as much as this is a business issue, you're dealing with people and their livelihoods.
Advance notice of layoffs gives employees time to emotionally prepare
CNN employs 3,000 people in the US and has already let hundreds of staff members go in the past several months, Insider's Claire Atkinson reported. The layoffs are part of the CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery's efforts to cut costs.
In the memo, CEO Chris Licht called the process of conducting layoffs a "gut punch." He said that after notifying those employees who were losing their jobs, he would follow up with more details. Laid-off employees would receive information about severance, and anyone eligible for a bonus in 2022 would still receive one.
"I think employees appreciate advance notice that layoffs are coming," said Jaime Klein, the CEO of the human-resources consultancy Inspire HR. It gives them a chance to "emotionally prepare" for the possibility of losing their job, she added, and "if they are not personally laid off, they can be aware in order to be extra sensitive and supportive of impacted employees."
Jason Averbook, the CEO of the HR consultancy Leapgen, said the notice "gives people an opportunity to let things settle in" and consider how a layoff might affect them. "That's really, really important," he added, because it shows that leadership is being relatively transparent and has some empathy for employees.
Then again, the memo didn't specify which areas of the organization would be affected, indicating only that a "limited number of individuals" would be let go. Ayesha Whyte, an HR executive and employment attorney at the Virginia law firm Dixon Whyte, said this was a mistake. "Just narrow it, so some people can take a breath," she said. "This is really anxiety-provoking," she added.
Employers should consider how their approach to layoffs will affect their reputation
Whyte said leaving everyone hanging for a day might backfire for CNN.
Even people who end up keeping their job will "remember this feeling that now everybody has," she said. When those people are approached by another employer, Whyte added, they'll think about the stress that CNN's announcement caused them and think: "I see that, really when it comes down to it, you're going to look out for CNN. So maybe I should start looking out for me."
Averbook disagreed, describing Licht's memo as "very empathetic." And when you conduct layoffs with empathy, he said, "it's much, much easier to recover from." If you ever want to rehire some of the employees you're letting go, it helps to leave a good impression. (Averbook said companies that conduct mass layoffs typically end up asking 25% to 50% to return within a year.) How the layoff is handled therefore can affect whether they'll come back.
Layoffs done right, Averbook added, "are really a combination of empathy and economics."
CNN Chris Licht Layoffs | 2022-12-01T17:29:17Z | www.businessinsider.com | CNN Layoffs: Should You Give Employees Advance Notice of Staff Cuts? | https://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-layoffs-should-you-give-employees-advance-notice-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-layoffs-should-you-give-employees-advance-notice-2022-12 |
Bryen Lackey, 18, has the genetic bleeding disorder hemophilia B. He said he could be interested in receiving a newly approved gene therapy if his doctors recommended it.
James Lackey
Fajrul Islam/Getty Images
Jerry McMillan Jr., 47, of New York. McMillan has a severe case of hemophilia B.
Jerry McMillan Jr. | 2022-12-01T17:29:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | Hemophilia Patients React to New $3.5 Million Gene Therapy | https://www.businessinsider.com/hemophilia-patients-react-to-new-3-million-gene-therapy-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/hemophilia-patients-react-to-new-3-million-gene-therapy-2022-11 |
What happened to BlockFi?
What will happen to your crypto?
How does this impact your taxes?
How can investors store their crypto safely?
What's going on with BlockFi, and how does it affect crypto users?
Here's what's happening with BlockFi.
Crypto lender BlockFi filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this week.
The company has paused withdrawals and other platform actions as it stabilizes and restructures its business.
BlockFi users must still account for gains and/or losses on their 2022 taxes, but there are ways to reduce your tax bill.
New Jersey-based crypto lender BlockFi filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this week. Prior to the announcement, the platform paused all activity as the FTX crypto exchange crash unfolded. With this filing, BlockFi has resumed the platform freeze, barring all of its users from making withdrawals and performing other activities.
On the retail side, the news hits those with exchange-held assets the hardest, as BlockFi's bankruptcy proceedings and reorganization process will determine how much they'll get back, if anything at all.
Here's what the BlockFi bankruptcy means for current users, as well as its tax implications.
BlockFi announced its bankruptcy filing on November 28, 2022, less than three weeks after the FTX collapse. The crypto lender had also paused platform activity before filing for bankruptcy, and activity remains paused.
BlockFi said its filing would give it a chance to stabilize its business and establish a reorganization plan that benefits both stakeholders and its clients. In addition, the company says it plans to work on recovering all obligations it's owed. In a hearing on November 29, 2022, BlockFi's lawyer, Joshua Sussberg, revealed that FTX and Alameda Research owe BlockFi more than $1 billion. However, BlockFi says it owes FTX.US $275 million in USD stablecoins.
Following its bankruptcy announcement, a series of BlockFi tweets on November 29 revealed it's forming an Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors (which will mainly be comprised of its clients). Plus, it tweeted that the court (on an interim basis) will allow it to "redact the names, addresses, and contact information of individual and clients" from the list of its 50 largest creditors. BlockFi intends to submit this to the court.
The crypto lender says it's requesting approval from the Court to restore withdrawal activities for those with BlockFi Wallet accounts. It currently has $256.9 million in cash, and the company believes this will be enough liquidity to handle certain operations as it restructures. BlockFi also asked users not to submit any deposits to the BlockFi Wallet or its interest accounts.
If you're a BlockFi user and you've stored all of your assets through an external, non-custodial crypto wallet, its bankruptcy filing and platform freeze shouldn't affect your holdings. But the story is different for those with assets stored through the BlockFi Wallet.
"Users who stored their digital assets on BlockFi may never be refunded," said David Kemmerer, co-founder and chief executive officer of CoinLedger. "Assets held with a bankrupt crypto lender are sold to compensate creditors – who are the priority in the compensation list."
According to Kemmerer, the crypto space is largely unregulated, and there's less intervention from entities like the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The Federal Reserve, he added, doesn't keep money to bail out investors in such a situation. "So, the compensation of BlockFi's investors remains at the mercy of BlockFi."
Georgia Quinn, General Counsel of Anchorage Digital, believes coverage for crypto users could be stronger.
"Recent market events have highlighted the lack of critical consumer and bankruptcy protections around crypto exchange custody," she said. "When crypto is held in custody on an exchange, client assets could be commingled with the exchange's assets, blurring the lines of whose assets are whose and what assets are subject to creditor claims."
Traditional financial exchanges, she added, aren't allowed to take custody of user assets, meaning there is no legal precedent for this particular relationship with respect to an exchange.
Although BlockFi shut down its interest accounts to new customers earlier in 2021 (later relaunching them as BlockFi Yield for accredited investors in early November 2022), existing customers could still earn rewards on the cryptocurrencies in their accounts.
"The bad news is that the interest earned by investors from BlockFi's interest-bearing accounts is still taxable, despite investors being unable to access the funds," said Kemmerer. The IRS, he added, treats cryptocurrencies as property — requiring investors to pay capital gains on the asset class.
However, the crypto assets of those who utilized the BlockFi Wallet are currently locked on the platform, and the activity freeze — along with the question of whether traders will receive their full balances — creates a hurdle when it comes to reporting gains or losses on IRS Form 8949.
Quick tip: There's another option traders can utilize once platform activity resumes. According to Kemmerer, you can take advantage of the crypto bear market by netting "the losses from the cryptocurrencies kept in the interest-bearing accounts through tax-loss harvesting."
With tax-loss harvesting, you can offset your capital gains (i.e., investments that have grown in value since you first purchased them) and lower the amount you owe in taxes by selling an investment that has suffered loss. By selling the investment (aka "realizing the loss"), you can lower your tax bill.
By selling the investment and replacing it with another security, you get the tax benefit while maintaining market exposure. And the wash-sale rule — a law that prevents investors from buying an investment similar to the one they sold within 30 days of the sale — doesn't apply to cryptocurrencies.
If you take the custodial route in storing your cryptocurrencies, you'll generally be at the mercy of the exchange or platform you've chosen. And as we've seen with several crypto platforms (e.g., Mt. Gox and Celsius), users with assets held through the company will either receive payouts last — after creditors are paid off and financial obligations are settled — or nothing at all.
But you'll have a few options for protecting your assets against bankruptcy. These include decentralized custody and DeFi wallets.
With decentralized custody, you — and only you — control the private keys to your crypto. This option allows you to either set up a hot wallet, or utilize a cold wallet. Hot wallets are online software that offer secure storage for digital assets. However, cold wallets, or hardware wallets, are external devices, meaning that they allow for offline storage.
DeFi wallets are also self-custodial, giving you total authority over your crypto wallet. Plus, another option is to set up both a non-custodial wallet and a custodial wallet, but this limits your overall control over your assets.
But none of the previously mentioned storage options are completely immune to things like theft or security breaches. Therefore, it's important to thoroughly consider all of your options before choosing a particular method, and experts recommend never investing more than you can afford to lose. Plus, at this stage, you unfortunately won't be able to transfer your existing BlockFi Wallet-held assets to another wallet due to the platform freeze.
If you stored your digital assets through the BlockFi Wallet, you'll be restricted from making withdrawals or taking other actions until the company lifts its platform freeze. In addition, users are typically last to receive payouts in the event of crypto bankruptcy, since companies settle debts with creditors first.
Once platform activity resumes, you'll still have to account for your gains and losses for the 2022 tax year, but you may be able to lower your tax bill by utilizing strategies like tax-loss harvesting.
PERSONAL FINANCE What is a crypto wallet? Understanding the software that allows you to store and transfer crypto securely
PERSONAL FINANCE Your crypto may not be protected against bankruptcy — here are steps you can take to protect it
PERSONAL FINANCE What to know about staking — the process of locking up crypto holdings to earn rewards and interest
PERSONAL FINANCE Blockchain is a digital database used to store data for crypto transactions and other assets — here's how it works
BlockFi ftx Mt. Gox | 2022-12-01T17:59:49Z | www.businessinsider.com | BlockFi Bankruptcy: Everything You Need to Know, and How It Affects You | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/blockfi-bankruptcy-tax-implications-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/blockfi-bankruptcy-tax-implications-2022-12 |
Why business alliances are a triple-win for your company, partner, and customers
Created by VIU by HUB with Insider Studios
In today's competitive climate, companies need to be creative and innovative in their offerings to retain customers and derive more economic value from every transaction. Strategic partnerships are one way organizations can expand their offering to drive significant customer satisfaction and engagement.
But not all partnerships are made equal. VIU by HUB offers strategic partners something unique: An omnichannel insurance brokerage platform — with options to shop online with access to experienced agents — that provides customers with unbiased choices alongside best-in-class advice. Whether a customer is purchasing a new home or auto, VIU enables strategic partners to embed the VIU by HUB platform into their customer experience, differentiating their overall value proposition.
Here's why — and how — they do it.
Some well-known examples of successful strategic partnerships include Starbucks and Target. Walk into most Target stores and you'll see a Starbucks waiting to take your order. This was no coincidental success; Target and Starbucks know their brands share a similar audience and similar wants and needs.
Another great example is Apple Pay and Mastercard. When Apple released its Apple Pay system, it needed a credit card company to partner with them and support the technology. Mastercard jumped at the opportunity. When Apple Pay launched, only Mastercard customers could pair their cards with an iPhone and make payments without having the physical card handy. This partnership also paid off later on when Apple partnered with Mastercard again in the launch of the Apple credit card.
Businesses are looking at strategic partnerships for growth now more than ever. In fact, according to PwC's Pulse Survey, almost half (47%) of CEOs surveyed said they deemed pursuing corporate M&A, joint ventures, and alliances as "very important." Unfortunately, insurance is often overlooked when it comes to such potential alliances. A recent survey from HUB International found that 82% of survey respondents do not offer insurance as a value-add service, even though 51% of those agree that offering insurance would increase their company value and reinforce their relationship with their customers.
Why strategic partnerships are important
Business partnerships offer several benefits, including:
Access to new customers: Partnering with another business means you'll be able to reach their clients as well, making strategic partnerships an incredibly effective marketing strategy for both sides.
Diversified revenue stream: Partnerships offer the opportunity to reach new markets, and with that comes a wider variety of customers — people your business likely would have never reached without a partner.
Increased brand awareness: Partnering with other businesses allows for more chances for people to be exposed to your business name, logo, and services, thereby creating organic curiosity.
Improved customer service: Customers benefit from these partnerships because they are able to access more goods and services, thereby enhancing their overall customer experience.
Expanded brand trust: Brand trust is the natural product of a good business partnership. When customers see you joining with other trusted brands, their confidence — and the confidence of other potential partners — increases.
The value proposition
Strategic partnerships with an omnichannel insurance broker, such as VIU by HUB, can be a win-win for many potential partners. Companies such as auto dealers, real estate agents, and bankers will be able to offer their customers the opportunity to buy insurance through VIU's embedded digital platform. The value this brings to partners and customers is vast, including:
Deepening of customer touchpoints, leading to forever clients for both strategic partners and VIU by HUB.
The ability to support the transactional experience, enabling strategic partners to provide their customers with additional value while staying focused on their core business.
Providing strategic partners with the ability to grow their revenue.
Offering access to hard-to-get coverage and expanded coverage due to HUB's deep industry experience.
HUB has been in the insurance industry for four decades, which gives clients of our partners insight and choice backed by years of experience — something insurtechs, startups, or carriers can't offer.
How they do it
VIU by HUB is an omnichannel insurance brokerage platform created for those who want a digital-first experience, supported by human interaction and expert advice. VIU, which is a part of HUB International and is licensed through HUB International Midwest Limited, offers home and auto insurance for consumers. Acting as a digital-first broker, VIU delivers value to both insurance carriers and clients. By giving clients access to neutral advice, counsel, and carrier options, each insurance quote can be based on unique individual needs and is not limited to one single carrier's product availability.
Learn how VIU by HUB can be a trusted partner for your business.
This post was created with VIU by HUB with Insider Studios. | 2022-12-01T17:59:49Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Improve Your Business With a Strategic Partnership | https://www.businessinsider.com/sc/how-to-improve-your-business-with-a-strategic-partnership | https://www.businessinsider.com/sc/how-to-improve-your-business-with-a-strategic-partnership |
Crypto firms like Binance, Grayscale, and OKX are pouring money into marketing to regain trust and save their companies from the fallout of the FTX implosion
Lara O'Reilly, Reed Alexander, Lauren Johnson, and Claire Atkinson
The bitcoin crash and FTX implosion massively dented the crypto advertising boom.
A handful of companies are advertising through the crisis in a bid to reassure skittish investors.
Crypto marketers say there's an opportunity to get more bang for their buck as ad prices have dropped.
The FTX calamity has been infectious, already imperiling crypto lenders and resulting in BlockFi's late November bankruptcy.
The crypto community faces a "huge trust problem," said Shane Rodgers, a former investment banker-turned-CEO of PDX Advisors LLC, a company that's created its own proprietary digital token and is set to launch a crypto digital wallet.
Even before the FTX meltdown in early November, the crypto industry faced a crisis of confidence, and many crypto companies started betting on marketing to position themselves as the adult in the room.
Crypto asset manager Grayscale recently launched a new ad campaign to show that Grayscale is "established, regulated, professional, and accessible," said Seres Lu, the vice president of marketing at Grayscale Investments, in an emailed statement.
Coinbase ran a full-page print ad in the Wall Street Journal in November detailing the attributes of its business model in a bid to allay consumers' fears. OKX, a crypto exchange based in the Seychelles, is running video ads with messaging around responsible trading.
And Binance, which played a major role in alerting the world to troubles at FTX, this month launched its first-ever brand marketing campaign, featuring soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo.
A Binance spokesperson said the crypto exchange hopes the campaign will "shed positive light on the crypto industry and continue to strengthen public trust."
Ty Smith, the founder and CEO of crypto marketing firm Coinbound, said some crypto firms are "doubling down on ad spend" to send a muted message that reflects the tenor of the times: "Everything is kind of on fire. The market is not super exciting to be here, but we are still here."
Some crypto advertisers are taking advantage as competition winnows and prices decline
To be sure, crypto ad spending is still significantly down from earlier in the year, when brands spent $100 million on TV advertising — including around splashy events like the Super Bowl — to just $2.3 million by the third-quarter of this year, according to research firm Kantar.
But fewer crypto advertisers can also create an advantage for those still trying to get their messages to consumers.
"There's more inventory, less noise, and more opportunity to have a consistent conversation with both crypto natives and even folks that are curious about the space and wanting to invest but unsure how," said Gati Curtis, the executive vice president of product and services at BBDO, OKX's ad agency of record.
Last year, amid the crypto boom, companies like Crypto.com and FTX were spending lavishly, said OKX CMO Haider Rafique, leading to a "5X multiplier" on the pricing of packages like sports naming rights. "I'm very happy that the FOMO is gone now," he said.
The company plans to maintain a similar marketing budget in 2023 and is considering a Super Bowl commercial, Rafique added.
OKX is also taking advantage of lower ad prices in programmatic display, as well as on platforms like the Apple App Store and Twitter, as a result of the crypto pullback and the wider digital advertising downturn.
Some publishers have slashed their costs by as much as 30% in recent weeks to attract crypto advertisers, said Bogdan Dinu, a cofounder of CryptoVirally, a global marketing agency based in Romania.
And Dinu added that crypto companies' efforts to advertise to restore trust could persist "well beyond" the next six months.
Some crypto companies are still launching splashy campaigns, similar to crypto ad campaigns from the beginning of the year. Crypto.com has been a prominent presence during the World Cup, and a company spokesperson told Insider that the company's ad spend is focused on "global brand and sports partnerships." The spokesperson said Crypto.com's campaigns have boosted its users to 70 million, up from 50 million in May.
But it remains to be seen if such a strategy is wise over the long term.
The remaining crypto advertisers should be mindful to outsmart rather than outspend their competitors, according to Mo Said, CEO of advertising agency Mojo Supermarket, which has previously worked with crypto clients such as Grayscale. He was speaking generally, and not specifically about Crypto.com.
"Any big spend will be punished; you've got to be creative," he said. "Crypto companies have to stop talking about themselves and start talking about how cryptocurrency or blockchain fits into normal people's lives."
It's also uncertain if any degree of marketing around trust can restore the crypto industry. At a New York Times summit on Wednesday, FTX's embattled former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried admitted that FTX's marketing messages were disingenuous.
OKX Binance | 2022-12-01T19:00:45Z | www.businessinsider.com | Binance, Grayscale, OKX Turn to Ads to Reassure Skittish Crypto Investors | https://www.businessinsider.com/ftx-binance-grayscale-okx-turn-to-ads-to-reassure-crypto-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ftx-binance-grayscale-okx-turn-to-ads-to-reassure-crypto-2022-12 |
Andreessen Horowitz's buzzy tech publication Future is shutting down
Future.com was once called the 'future of media.' But not any more.
Rob Price and Melia Russell
Future was the next big thing in media.
Launched in June of 2021, it was billed as a buzzy new tech publication from prestigious venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz — and a way to sidestep the legacy media entirely and take the message of technological progress directly to readers.
With minimalist indigo branding and a flashy website address — future.com — Future enlisted the Menlo Park-based investment firm's portfolio company executives, outside experts, and a suite of high-profile editorial hires to pump out a stream of hopeful articles about technology and society.
"We're going to be having an optimistic lens on technology and the future," Margit Wennmachers, an operating partner at the firm, told an Insider reporter in an interview at the time.
The New Yorker wrote about the launch, calling it an "opportunity to introduce new terminology, new ideologies, new framing, and new ways for people in and around technology to conceptualize their work." Independent journalist Eric Newcomer said its debut was part of a strategy with "dramatic implications for the future of media and the venture capital industry." Tech news site Protocol, which shut down recently, asked whether it was "the future of media."
But a year and a half later, the publication is dead in the water.
Future hasn't published a new article in months, most of its editorial staffers have left, and its newsletter is defunct. A source familiar with Andreessen Horowitz's content strategy confirmed to Insider that Future is shutting down.
The ignominious fizzling out highlights the challenges of "going direct" and building a new media brand from scratch — even with one of tech's biggest investors driving the effort.
An Andreessen Horowitz spokesperson declined to comment on the record.
The technology industry increasingly wants to "go direct."
Venture capital firms have long sought to speak straight to founders, recruiting former journalists to create newsletters and blogs, styling their partners on podcasts as philosophical thought-leaders, and even hiring ghost writers.
Historically, the strategy helped differentiate firms in a red-hot market, where cash was abundant and startups had their pick of investors, said multiple public relations consultants and executives in the industry.
But in recent years, tech investors and executives have grown increasingly frustrated with mainstream media reporting on their businesses. Coverage has evolved from optimistic blogging to more adversarial reporting that often delves into thorny labor, political cultural issues, and closely scrutinizes power and influence, in a way some tech figures perceive as deliberately hostile.
Build your own media arm, hire an EIC, and go direct. Joe Lonsdale
In this new climate, many tech and venture firms' media strategy has shifted from glorified marketing to a more full-fledged editorial operation. IVP, one of the oldest investment firms in Silicon Valley, hired a head of content early this year (some Insider tech journalists have left to pursue similar opportunities). Early-stage investor NFX brought on a vice president of "narrative" in October. Coinbase, a cryptocurrency giant, commissioned a hagiographic documentary about its founder Brian Armstrong. (The Atlantic panned the film as "monotonous" and "the latest frontier in corporate propaganda.")
Investing powerhouse Sequoia Capital began commissioning long-form magazine-style articles about its portfolio company founders. There are risks to the approach: When crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried's firm FTX imploded in November, evaporating billions of dollars in investor and customer capital, Sequoia's glossy profile about him was mocked until the firm quietly deleted it.
"Stop giving free content to the NYT company. They are rooting against you and against the positive sum nature of what we do," Palantir founder and VC investor Joe Lonsdale advised founders in 2020. "Build your own media arm, hire an EIC, and go direct."
Marc Andreessen. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Ben Horowitz. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Andreessen Horowitz (often referred to as "a16z") was an early champion of this approach. "That was one of the selling points to entrepreneurs," said a person with knowledge of the firm's content marketing strategy, who asked for anonymity because they continue to invest alongside the firm. "'We have this powerful content program so we will help promote who you are.'"
In 2021, an army of more than two dozen marketers at Andreessen Horowitz doubled down on this approach. It already produced articles, videos, newsletters, and a basic-cable channel's worth of programming on the podcast. But it increasingly looked to supplant the media entirely.
—Benedict Evans (@benedictevans) October 7, 2015
Future launched on June 15, 2021 with the simultaneous publication of more than 20 articles, on subjects ranging from the creator economy to crypto's potential to disrupt Hollywood.
Its core focus was technology with a decidedly optimistic bent, but it sometimes branched out — also writing on wildfires in the American West and how to secure medical laboratories. It became a home to big editorial projects like the Data 50, an analysis of top startups working on data, and the similar list Marketplace 100.
It soon settled into a regular cadence, publishing a story every three or four days on average. "Say I'm 'Mr. Smarty Pants' or a very interesting analyst, I think the question should be: Should I try to get this into The New York Times or should I get it into Future?" said Wennmachers at Future's launch. "We want to help advance the narrative about the future, and how technology shapes it. Because if we do that, our companies will have an easier time flourishing."
Future.com, a16z's tech publication, hasn't published anything since early October, and its top headline is from July.
Future.com
But Future fell short of expectations, observers say. People are drawn to a venture firm's content because of the names behind it, said a marketing executive at another VC firm. Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, the firm's cofounders, almost never wrote for the site. "Future ended up being a hodgepodge of self-serving content. That's what we have Medium for," they said.
Its output also drew sneers from journalists. "It doesn't always end well when you hire people to tell the world how great you are. Future.com, from my periodic glances, is a snooze fest, devoid of even the most justifiable skepticism and tension," wrote Brad Stone, a veteran tech journalist, in a Bloomberg newsletter this year.
As recently as June, Future's direction seemed positive. "We launched Future to be the go-to place for anyone building, advancing, or curious about technology, the most powerful force shaping the future," it wrote on Twitter. "We're just getting started."
After slow growth, reader interest waned over the summer. In July 2022, its website had around 1.3 million visits, according to estimates from Similar Web; by September, it dropped to 423,000.
Then it stopped publishing.
Future's last story was released on October 5, — an interview examining the intersection of machine learning and biology. The top "featured post" on its homepage, "What the Merge Means for Ethereum," was published in July.
The publication has also seen an exodus of staffers. Ex-CNN editor Maggie Leung, Future's executive editor, has left, and so has managing editor Amelia Salyers, who joined the firm four years ago.
Other departures included crypto editor Jeff Benson, who joined from industry publication Decrypt but left in October after just six months, along with veteran science writer Nicole Neuman, who had served seven months as biology editor.
Laura Nunnally, a partner and marketing expert on the initiative, left in July, as did Theresa Fisher, a general editor who previously worked for publications at medical startup Zocdoc and mattress company Casper.
None of the editorial staffers responded to Insider's requests for comment.
On November 9, Andreessen Horowitz made another big media announcement: It was relaunching its podcast.
The company dropped a triple-bill of episodes, featuring Marc Andreessen, director Karen X Cheng, and Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, with the show helmed by Steph Smith (previously a key staffer at Future.)
The move indicates that, despite Future's travails, A16z is by no means giving up on direct media.
Future.com, from my periodic glances, is a snooze fest. Brad Stone
There's still a steady drumbeat of blog posts and think-pieces on the promise of new technologies, startup hiring advice, and new investments — but they're being published directly on the firm's website, a16z.com, or cryptocurrency-focused sister site a16zcrypto.com. In November, it published a glossy feature called "The American Dynamism 50," a list of 50 companies working on "pressing issues to support the national internet" that followed a similar format to other lists it published to Future over the past year.
Andreessen Horowitz remains committed to "going direct" and plans to continue to crank out content at a regular cadence, a person familiar with the firm's content strategy said, but such material will live on its main website instead. A16z concluded over the past year that it wasn't worth spending the time and energy building a new, separate brand given the firm's prominence, the person added.
It's also leaning into YouTube as part of its podcast push, though it's still early days: Most of its recent videos have a few hundred or thousand views. The firm recently hired Maria LaMagna Morales, who previously worked on CNN's streaming service, to aid efforts. And a job listing on the website reveals the firm is preparing to launch a new, flagship podcast on tech and culture.
The company's top partners are personally embracing the "going direct" philosophy.
General partner Sriram Krishnan runs a YouTube channel with his wife, fellow investor Aarthi Ramamurthy: Aarthi and Sriram's Good Time Show. Interviewees include Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and conservative pundit Saagar Enjeti, on subjects ranging from NFTs to the dangers of politics in the workplace. (Their most popular videos get tens of thousands of views; others get a few hundred or few thousand.)
Andreessen, historically a prolific tweeter, is also keen to sidestep the traditional media. When Insider reporters began reaching out to some of his colleagues and associates in October 2022 to inquire about his recent activities, he fired off a 34-tweet thread about Andreessen Horowitz's growth, the future of California, and books he's been reading. "Lord knows what they'll ultimately publish, so I thought I'd just write this instead," he explained.
He followed it up with a second, tongue-in-cheek thread in November, informing his followers he was not consuming ayahuasca, skiing, or "plotting any subversion of American democracy."
Disclosure: Melia Russell's husband is a former employee of Andreessen Horowitz.
Do you work at Andreessen Horowitz? Contact reporter Rob Price via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 650-636-6268 or email at rprice@insider.com. Melia Russell is at +1 603-913-3085 and mrussell@insider.com. | 2022-12-01T19:31:07Z | www.businessinsider.com | Andreessen Horowitz Tech Site Future.com Shuts Down, Staff Leave | https://www.businessinsider.com/a16z-future-closes-staff-exit-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/a16z-future-closes-staff-exit-2022-11 |
William Edwards and Lisa Kailai Han
Hennessy Funds has had multiple funds outperform their benchmarks in 2022.
On Wednesday, fund managers said they see value stocks continuing to outperform into 2023.
They also shared which stocks they're continuing to bet on.
Value stocks have had a banner year in 2022, just like they did in 2021.
Judging by their MSCI All-Country World Indexes, value stocks outperformed growth by the widest margin since 2001 in the year through September 30, according to GMO. That's thanks to the economic reopening that followed COVID-19 lockdowns, and the growth-stock apocalypse that's taken place over the last year as the Federal Reserve has aggressively hiked interest rates.
Stocks that are cheaper relative to their fundamentals will remain strong performers in 2023, according to Ryan Kelley and Josh Wein. They are fund managers of the Hennessy Cornerstone Mid Cap 30 Fund, which has beaten 98% of similar funds in 2022 by returning over 9% versus their category average of a 4.5% decline.
At Hennessy Funds' 2023 outlook luncheon in New York on Wednesday, Kelley and Wein said they think that continued Fed rate hikes with inflation not yet under control will continue to propel the value trade for at least another six months.
"We do think that value is where you continue on to be in this type of market," Kelley said, adding that US equities also continue to look good on a relative risk-reward basis.
3 winning sectors for downside protection
Heading into a potential economic downturn, they also recommended that investors continue to protect their portfolios on the downside, even if it means positioning away from some of the traditionally higher-octane sectors. To do this, Kelley and Wein have overweight allocations to three sectors: financials, utilities, and energy.
"We're not going to be in some of the high-flying names, and we're not going to participate fully sometimes on the upside," Kelley explained. "But we've always told our investors that it's important to protect on the downside, and that's what we've done this year."
He believes that the asset quality for the financial sector continues to look "pristine," while its stocks remain attractively priced at about half of the overall market. In addition, rising rates are expected to help swell these firms' bottom lines. Kelley also likes the defensive nature of utilities companies due to their high dividends and downside protection, calling the sector a "slow and steady play in the market."
Even though energy stocks have experienced a sustained rally in the past few months, Kelley said that the sector still has more upside to offer investors. Over the next 12 months, the firm expects a "very strong" outperformance for energy stocks, especially from traditional names, said Ben Cook, portfolio manager for the Hennessy energy funds.
According to Cook, there are several important impediments that will prolong the world's dependence on hydrocarbon energy sources and slow the pace at which the energy transition to renewable sources will unfold. These include policy gaps across geographies, cost disadvantages with certain types of renewable energy, and — highlighted by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis — the issue of securing reliable energy sources.
Key drivers for markets in 2023
Although a recession may be brewing in the near term, the firm is optimistic about stocks going forward.
Chief Market Strategist Neil Hennessy predicts that the Dow Jones Industrial Average will climb to 38,000-40,000 in the next 12-18 months, representing about 12% to 16% upside from its current price in the mid-34,000s.
Heading into 2023, Kelley and Wein believe that high inflation and interest rates will continue to drive markets and worry investors next year, although these factors may be somewhat mitigated by a strong labor market and US consumer. Most importantly, cash remains king in this kind of macroeconomic environment after years of yielding almost zero.
"Even if you leave it in the bank, that cash is productive. You're earning something on that money. So that's a big, important part of the picture going forward as well," Kelley explained.
In addition to being bullish on the three sectors above, Kelley and Wein also listed nine "keeper stocks" they're continuing to bet on after their most recent portfolio rebalance on September 30.
The nine companies, which span several sectors, are listed below.
1. AutoNation
Ticker: AN
2. Academy Sports and Outdoors
Ticker: ASO
3. BJ's Wholesale Club
Ticker: BJ
Ticker: BTU
5. Commercial Metals
Ticker: CMC
6. Green Plains
Ticker: GPRE
8. Penske Automotive Group
Ticker: PAG
9. WESCO International
Ticker: WCC
Investing Hennessy Funds | 2022-12-01T19:31:50Z | www.businessinsider.com | 9 Best Stocks for 2023: Fund Manager Outperforming 99% of Peers | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-investing-advice-2023-picks-recommendations-advice-sectors-hennessy-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-investing-advice-2023-picks-recommendations-advice-sectors-hennessy-2022-11 |
Disney insiders are worried about how Bob Iger will remake former CEO Bob Chapek's business structure — here's what they hated about it and what they hope will change
Elaine Low and Lucia Moses
Getty/Michael Tullberg
Disney CEO Bob Iger has said he will put "decision-making back in the hands of our creative teams."
Under former CEO Bob Chapek's structure, distribution and budgets were taken out of the hands of creative execs.
Getting approvals under that process was "insane," said one Disney exec. It resulted in the loss of at least one content deal.
Walt Disney Co. insiders are largely celebrating the return of their not-so-recently departed leader of 15 years, Bob Iger, who stunned the town the Sunday before Thanksgiving with news that he would be returning to the role of Disney CEO, displacing pandemic-era boss Bob Chapek.
Chief among the eagerly anticipated changes Iger will make: undoing much of the Disney reorganization that took place in 2020, which took distribution and profit-and-loss management away from creative execs at the studios and networks, instead centralizing those functions under a unit called Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution (DMED).
"I've asked Dana Walden, Alan Bergman, Jimmy Pitaro, and Christine McCarthy to work together on the design of a new structure that puts more decision-making back in the hands of our creative teams and rationalizes costs," Iger wrote in a note to staff on November 9, name-checking his key execs who lead TV, film, ESPN, and finance for the company.
Chapek's 2020 restructuring — which focused the company's firepower on boosting streaming subscriber growth at Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ — meant additional layers of approval for studio and network execs at Disney General Entertainment (DGE) to get projects made. While the ability to greenlight a film or TV series technically rested with DGE, those creative executives now had to get budgetary permission from DMED on development decisions, significantly diluting their power and independence.
"If you don't control the P&L, you don't control the narrative," one former Disney executive told Insider.
That meant hands were tied across Disney's studios and networks, from Disney+ to 20th Century to Hulu. A network or studio chief who could previously balance different show budgets themselves or dole out extra shooting days to a showrunner now had to send those requests through another layer of the Disney machine.
'It just got really difficult when it came to budgeting," a former Hulu executive told Insider. DMED communicated to execs at the streamer that it could "only spend so much on content per subscriber." While the guidance generally made sense, this person said, it didn't take into account the various negotiations between the network or studio and talent, or the subjective nature of creative endeavors — i.e. sometimes, Hollywood execs just have to take a gamble on a project that may or may not wind up bringing in new subscribers.
'It was a complete mess. It became a battle," said the ex-Hulu vet. "It got too complicated and inefficient."
The bureaucratic process to get those approvals was "insane," echoed one current Disney exec. "It was so frustrating, especially if you're in a competitive bidding situation."
Two Hollywood agents affirmed that the sentiment was shared from the opposite side of the bargaining table.
"'It was miserable waiting for this [DMED] team to sign off," said one of the agents, adding that in one case, all of that red tape caused Disney to lose a deal to a different company. The Mouse House's DMED team had mistakenly approved a talent agreement as an overall deal — which commits their work exclusively to a studio or network — instead of a first-look deal, in which a studio or network has the first opportunity to develop a project. Disney took so long to correct the relatively small error, though, that the agency wound up taking the project elsewhere.
'They lost a deal. It definitely has not been good for them," said the agent.
For creative execs whose careers were built on their ability to balance storytelling and business needs, losing control over the latter was frustrating. Some felt the DMED executives who took over budgeting and distribution decisions — many of whom came from unrelated or tangentially related units like ad sales, consumer products, or parks — weren't well versed in their new roles, said the Disney exec, whose assessment was echoed by the second agent.
Now, many inside Disney are looking forward to yet another reorg that will give creatives control over their budgets and distribution, and hopefully strip away a layer of bureaucracy. The entertainment giant has long been known for its already rigid structure and sometimes slow-moving ship as it looks to carefully curate brands including Marvel, Lucasfilm, Pixar and its deep bench of historic Disney IP.
Just how quickly that reorganization will take place remains a question mark for a company with tens of thousands of employees. Said the Disney exec: "You can't put all the toothpaste back in the tube."
Disney Streaming | 2022-12-01T20:32:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | Disney Insiders Worry How Iger Will Remake Chapek's Business Structure | https://www.businessinsider.com/disney-bob-iger-remake-former-ceo-bob-chapek-business-structure-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/disney-bob-iger-remake-former-ceo-bob-chapek-business-structure-2022-12 |
A monkey demoing Neuralink's brain chip at the company's show-and-tell event on November 30, 2022.
Elon Musk shared a video he said showed a monkey with a brain chip selecting letters with its mind.
Musk clarified that the monkey was not spelling on its own.
The demo video was shown at Neuralink's show-and-tell event on Wednesday night.
Elon Musk shared a video of a monkey demonstrating "telepathic typing" during Neuralink's show-and-tell event on Wednesday night.
In the demo video, the monkey appears to type out words on a screen using only his mind, thanks to an implanted brain chip. Musk was quick to explain that the monkey was using his mind to move the computer cursor to a highlighted keys to spell out what the computer program wanted him to write.
"Technically, he can't actually spell so I don't want to over sell this thing." Musk said.
The founder of the startup said the video shows how the Neuralink implant could help people who were quadriplegic use their phone, saying that individuals with the brain chip "would be able to control their phone better than someone who has working hands."
A Neuralink spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.
Musk cofounded Neuralink in 2016 as a brain-computer interface company. The billionaire has said in the past that Neuralink's chips — which are coin-sized devices designed to be implanted in the brain via a surgical robot — could one day do anything from cure paralysis to give people telepathic powers, referring to the device as "a Fitbit in your skull."
Last year, Neuralink shared a demo video that appeared to show a monkey playing the video game "Pong," using only its mind. The year before, Neuralink shared footage that appeared to be neural readouts from a chip that had been implanted in a pig.
On Wednesday, Musk also used the video to address concerns from an activist group over Neuralink's treatment of its monkey test subjects. Earlier this year, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine said it had obtained records showing the monkeys experienced "extreme suffering as a result of inadequate animal care and the highly invasive experimental head implants during the experiments." Ahead of the Neuralink event, the animal rights group called on Musk to release details about the experiments on the monkeys.
"It's important to show that Sake [the monkey] actually likes doing the demo and is not like strapped to the chair or anything," Musk said on Wednesday, adding that "the monkeys actually enjoy doing the demos" as they are rewarded with banana smoothies and other fruits.
In the video, Sake gets a handful of grapes and the monkey appears to suck on a metal feeding straw.
The Neuralink founder said that he expects the company will begin human trials in the next six months, pending approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. The billionaire added that he plans to get his own brain implant once the device is available. Musk has repeatedly set and missed his own projections for when Neuralink would begin implanting its devices in human brains since 2019. | 2022-12-01T20:32:12Z | www.businessinsider.com | Musk Startup Says Video Shows Monkey Telepathically 'Typing' | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-chip-startup-monkey-typing-video-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-neuralink-brain-chip-startup-monkey-typing-video-2022-12 |
Some illegal cannabis shops operating in NYC are selling weed contaminated with salmonella and pesticides, survey says
President Joe Biden said he is issuing pardons for thousands of people with federal convictions for marijuana possession.
A November survey tested 40 cannabis products from 20 unlicensed weed retailers in New York City.
The study found harmful bacteria and pesticides in at least 16 of the products tested.
Nearly 40% of the products failed at least one of the standard tests conducted on legal marijuana products, survey reports.
As hundreds of applicants await approval for a license to legally sell recreational marijuana, a survey finds convenience stores and smoke shops in New York City selling cannabis tainted with harmful bacteria.
A November survey conducted by the New York Medical Cannabis Industry Association tested 40 cannabis products from 20 unlicensed stores advertising marijuana. The test results found E. coli, salmonella, pesticides, and heavy metals in many of the products.
The bacteria were found in both flower and edible cannabis products, the survey alleges. According to the CDC, infection from salmonella can cause diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps.
Of the illicit drugs tested, 40% of the THC products failed at least one of the standard tests administered to legal cannabis products, according to the survey. When questioned on the origin of their product, the survey says 75% of the businesses said California or the West Coast.
The NYCMIA— along with the NJ Cannabis Trade Association and Connecticut Medical Cannabis Council — stated there are "likely tens of thousands of illicit cannabis businesses" operating in New York City.
"The report's findings are deeply troubling and highlight the tremendous risks posed by unscrupulous firms operating above the law," NYMCIA president Ngiste Abebe said, according to New York Post.
"New York has a responsibility to not only protect the health and safety of its residents but also to fulfill the promise of a socially equitable adult-use market. Neither goal can be realized without stricter enforcement against bad actors."
Consumers not only have to worry about the health concerns of potentially contaminated pot but also misleading packaging on THC products.
According to the survey, lab results found gummy bears from one shop labeled at 100 mg of THC tested more than double the advertised amount at nearly 205 mg. Doses of 100 mg or more are considered extremely high and are only recommended to frequent THC consumers, Greenside Recreational reports.
"These bad actors present a clear danger that could undermine both the budding industry and the health of New York residents and visitors," the study concluded.
The New York State Cannabis Control Board announced it first round of approvals for applicants seeking Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary licenses in November, ABC7NY reported.
According to the report, the board approved 36 provisional licensees of the total 150 licenses it plans to make available.
Despite slow-moving efforts to open legal dispensaries, medical marijuana has been legally available to New Yorkers since 2014 and recreational use of the drug has been legal since 2021, the city's official site states.
Cannabis Marijuana New York City | 2022-12-01T20:32:48Z | www.businessinsider.com | NYC Smoke Shops Are Selling Contaminated Pot, Survey Finds | https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-smoke-shops-contaminated-salmonella-pot-survey-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/nyc-smoke-shops-contaminated-salmonella-pot-survey-2022-12 |
The SEC is suing real-estate mogul Kent Swig's shady crypto partner for perpetuating a 'pump-and-dump' scheme with a different gold-backed crypto currency
Alex Nicoll and Daniel Geiger
Kent Swig, the chair of Dignity Gold.
Patrick McMullan/Getty Images; Marianne Ayala/Insider
Kent Swig, a real-estate scion, started a gold-backed cryptocurrency last year with a shady partner.
Now the SEC is suing the CEO of Swig's company for an earlier, separate gold-backed crypto scam.
The suit comes as Swig faces multiple lawsuits and crypto's biggest names crash.
Kent Swig, a Manhattan real-estate scion, took an unlikely career turn last year.
The 61-year-old executive, who built a commercial-real-estate empire in Manhattan that collapsed during the Great Recession, launched a cryptocoin backed by billions of dollars in gold he said he would unearth in the parched hills outside of Las Vegas.
He called the coin Digau, a play on the digging he and his partners planned to do for the precious metal and gold's elemental symbol, AU.
But behind the quixotic venture was a network of shadowy business partners with considerably less star appeal than Swig, including two men who have past felony convictions. The state of Nevada also accused one of those men, Gary Wayne Walters, of trying to raise millions of dollars from investors for a phony COVID-19 cure early in the pandemic.
A Securities and Exchange Commission civil suit filed on September 30 in the Southern District of Florida now expands the circle of disrepute surrounding the digital coin that Swig pitched as a safer alternative in the volatile world of cryptocurrency.
The federal suit names Stephen Braverman, a partner of Swig's and the chief executive of the company that offered Digau, as the perpetrator of a pump-and-dump scheme involving another cryptocurrency that has striking similarities to Swig's token.
Before his involvement in Digau, Braverman was one of the creators of a different coin called Dig that also was purported to be backed by gold, according to the SEC suit. The promoters of Dig, including Braverman and three other men charged in the case, sold $36.8 million's worth of the coins to retail investors before its value collapsed in 2019. The SEC claims that it was "highly unlikely" the gold backstopping its value ever existed.
The SEC is seeking to compel Braverman and three other defendants to repay victims of their alleged fraud, along with interest and other financial penalties. The men also face a lifetime prohibition from acting as corporate officers or directors, a punishment that would bar Braverman from maintaining his position as the CEO and president of Dignity Gold, the company that minted the Digau coins.
A spokesman for Swig told Insider that Braverman is "defending himself vigorously against these baseless allegations" and his legal counsel is seeking to have the case dismissed. According to the SEC, Braverman was said to be the chief operating officer of one of two companies the regulator targeted in the complaint. Swig's spokesperson claimed Braverman had no formal involvement with that company.
Swig, the chair of Dignity Gold whose son Oliver Swig is also on the board, has not been charged in the SEC case and the spokesperson said that Swig was not involved in the creation of the Dig coin and that Digau and Dig are "unrelated." There does, however, appear to be a connection between the two cryptocurrencies. In an interview with Business Insider last year, Swig said that Dignity Gold would provide free Digau tokens to customers who held the now-worthless Dig token.
Digau has recently seen its price erratically jump as high as $4.01 per token and as low as 6 cents over the past month, according to Coinbase. When Swig's company announced Digau, cryptocurrencies were on a sugar high, with bitcoin trading above $60,000. Now, the collapse of the exchange FTX has threatened the industry and drawn heavy regulatory scrutiny, sapping the buzz around flashy new coins like Digau.
The case against Braverman and his cohorts draws further scrutiny to Digau, which had already faced questions over the unsavory and felonious business partners involved in the coin, and whether the gold that Swig claims underpins its value will ever materialize.
Dignity Gold has made eyebrow-raising claims about its mines
In an April 2022 press release, Dignity Gold claimed that it had secured mining rights to 80 acres where it said geological surveys had showed "gold, silver, platinum, and rare earth elements" with "a combined valuation of over $214 billion."
Neither Swig nor Dignity Gold would reveal to Business Insider any of the specific site locations where the company plans to mine. Swig's spokesperson said the company plans to file full geological surveys of the sites with the SEC within the next 60 to 90 days.
Mining experts said such extraordinary claims should be treated with skepticism, especially in the American West, which miners have combed for over a century in search of precious metal reserves. Rather than a bonanza of riches, mining in the US generally involves managing costly logistics and byzantine regulations, hurdles that can often stymie projects or render them unprofitable.
"Everyone thinks they can mine, until they realize they can't," Carl Nesbitt, an associate professor at the University of Nevada's department of mining and metallurgical engineering, said. "There's a thicket of regulation, complex engineering and geological studies, and tremendous costs of extraction. It's hugely risky."
Nesbitt pointed out that the mining business had been scarred by the nearly 30-year-old scandal of Bre-X, a Canadian company that raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors after claiming to have found enormous gold deposits in the jungles of Indonesia in the 1990s. The claim was later revealed to be a fraud.
"If there's someone in a mining venture who's black and blue because of problems with the SEC, oh boy, that's a red flag," Nesbitt said, referring to the legal case involving Braverman.
To extract the gold, Swig partnered with a mining company called Apache Mill Tailings. An August 2021 investigation by Business Insider found that the firm had not unearthed an ounce of the precious metal and that Walters, who had served two stints in prison for deed forgery in Las Vegas and cocaine possession, controlled it. A former employee of Apache sued the company in Nevada court in 2020, claiming it was "nothing more than a front" for Walters' "illegal activities."
More trouble brewing for real-estate scion Swig
Swig is the blue-blooded heir to a decades-old family real-estate fortune, more comfortable at upscale Manhattan real-estate-industry gatherings than the dusty mining fields of the American West.
His father and grandfather controlled the Fairmont Hotel chain and were once major owners of office buildings across the country. Swig built a name for himself in New York City in the mid-2000s, launching his own firm and buying up about a dozen office buildings using the spigot of easy debt that was one of the hallmarks of commercial-real-estate finance in that era.
During the Great Recession, Swig was forced to sell off much of his portfolio or hand assets over to lenders or partners, his marriage to the daughter of a real-estate billionaire ended in a messy divorce, and he was even clubbed with an ice bucket during a business dispute. In the ensuing years, Swig has attempted to mount a comeback, in part through his crypto venture.
There are signs, however, that he is again under strain.
In August, Swig and a collection of businesses he controls, including Dignity Gold, were sued for failing to pay rent on an office they occupy at 444 Madison Avenue. In September, Louden Broadway Properties, a small tech and real estate investment firm run by Long Island investor Ted Doukas, sued Swig and Dignity Gold for failing to pay back millions of dollars in loans. Swig's lawyers claimed that the company had repaid Louden... in Digau tokens.
Marianne Ayala BI Graphics | 2022-12-01T20:33:00Z | www.businessinsider.com | SEC Sues Kent Swig's Crypto Partner for an Earlier Crypto Scheme | https://www.businessinsider.com/sec-sues-kent-swig-crypto-partner-over-earlier-crypto-coin-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/sec-sues-kent-swig-crypto-partner-over-earlier-crypto-coin-2022-11 |
Home Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Advertising
Seeking nominations for the rising stars of brand marketing
Marketing leaders from Meta, Behr Paint, and OkCupid were honored in 2021.
Meta; Momentive; OkCupid; Behr Paint; Alyssa Powell/Insider
Insider is seeking nominations for our list of rising stars of brand marketing.
We're looking for up-and-coming brand marketers who have the potential to be industry leaders.
Please submit nominations by January 6.
Insider is seeking nominations for its 2022 rising stars of brand marketing. Please submit your ideas via this form.
Like our annual list of the rising stars of Madison Avenue, this list features up-and-coming talent, but at brands rather than agencies. Check out 2021's list here.
Criteria and methodology
The candidates shouldn't be CMOs or other high-ranking marketing executives, but the people working behind the scenes to create the future of marketing at established and up-and-coming brands.
They are tackling modern-day marketing challenges, whether that's in-housing or privacy; developing innovative campaigns, using data in new ways, and helping hold their agencies and other partners accountable. They are demonstrating the potential to be industry leaders.
The honorees will be determined by factors including their role and responsibilities and impact on their company and the industry. Some emphasis will be placed on how this person has already demonstrated leadership.
Submit your nominations here and include as much detail as to why your nominee deserves to be recognized.
The deadline for submissions is January 6. Submissions received after January 6 will not be considered.
Advertising Advertising Agencies Brand Marketing | 2022-12-01T21:02:34Z | www.businessinsider.com | Nominate up-and-Coming Marketing Talent for a List of Rising Stars | https://www.businessinsider.com/nominate-up-and-coming-marketing-talent-for-a-list-of-rising-stars-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/nominate-up-and-coming-marketing-talent-for-a-list-of-rising-stars-2022-11 |
CNN is making big cuts, axing about 400 positions including open roles, insiders say
CNN's Chris Licht
Staff cuts are being felt at CNN operations around the world.
The company is being slimmed down as part of Warner Bros. Discovery's repositioning of the cable news brand.
Programming and operations are most affected, an insider said.
CNN is eliminating some 400 positions around the world, including open roles, equating to about 10% of staff, according to two people familiar with the company.
The cuts come on top of the August closure of CNN+, which resulted in the departure of more than 200 employees at the now-defunct news streamer.
The biggest cuts are coming from programming and operations while newsgathering is the unit least affected, according to one executive who is familiar with internal conversations.
Staff waited anxiously at their laptops today for a notification of a video call in which they would be laid off. Colleagues were terminated by the hour, and others were struggling to focus on work assignments not knowing if they'd be next, according to nervous executives who spoke with Insider.
At HLN, once a major force carrying court cases, will no longer have live programming and will add content from Investigation Discovery. HLN has been run by Ken Jautz, one of the three executives who had run CNN temporarily after CEO Jeff Zucker stepped down earlier this year. It isn't immediately clear whether Jautz is remaining with the company. A second acting head of CNN, EVP programming Michael Bass, stepped down late last month.
Chris Cillizza, a Washington political contributor, was one of the most prominent contributors to be dumped, Insider confirmed. The news was first reported by Variety.
Paid contributors who survived the layoffs were told that their deals would be cut along with travel and expenses, according to a current contributor. Contributor deals can pay anywhere between $500 per appearance to $300,000 per year for top-level experts.
CNN International is also expected to experience a rejig of teams and bureau, according to the exec familiar with internal conversations. | 2022-12-01T22:03:31Z | www.businessinsider.com | CNN to Ax About 400 Positions Including Open Roles, Insiders Say | https://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-axing-positions-including-open-roles-insiders-say-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-axing-positions-including-open-roles-insiders-say-2022-12 |
Lucid is offering employees $18,000 discounts to buy its cars by the end of the year as it looks to rack up orders
Lucid began offering all full-time regular US employees a "stipend" to buy the 2022 Grand Touring.
EV startup Lucid Motors just launched an employee purchase program.
Lucid saw reservations drop from 37,000 in Q2 to 34,000 in Q3, due in part to cancellations.
Lucid Motors is offering workers an $18,000 discount to buy its luxury cars by the end of the year, the electric vehicle startup confirmed to Insider.
This week, Lucid began offering all full-time regular US employees a "stipend" to buy the 2022 Grand Touring, according to an internal email viewed by Insider. The Grand Touring is the company's third variant behind the limited Air Dream Edition and Grand Touring Performance. It starts at $154,000.
Employees who purchase a Grand Touring and take delivery by December 31 will receive $500 each pay period (which covers two weeks) until the payments total $18,000, provided they continue to work at Lucid. The company also said availability and configurations are limited.
"We have always wanted to find the right time to help reward our employees who were interested in driving a Lucid Air every day," Lucid spokesperson Nat Lingo told Insider. "With our recent ramp up, we have been able to honor this request from our team."
The program could help Lucid juice delivery numbers before year-end, as it ramps up production of its flagship Air sedan. As of the third quarter, Lucid had produced a total of 3,687 vehicles this year, and is targeting building between 6,000 and 7,000 vehicles in 2022. It has not yet given 2023 guidance.
Meanwhile, Lucid saw reservations drop from 37,000 in Q2 to 34,000 in Q3, which CFO Sherry House attributed to a mix of deliveries made and customer cancellations.
Even with reservations declining, the company has thousands of reservations to fulfill — including an order for up to 100,000 vehicles from Saudi Arabia's government.
A former employee told Insider that despite employee interest, this type of program was not offered earlier due to the company's order volume.
Unconfirmed reports have said startup Rivian has also introduced an employee purchase program. | 2022-12-01T22:03:34Z | www.businessinsider.com | Lucid Offers Employees $18,000 Discounts on Its Luxury EV | https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-vehicle-startup-lucid-offering-employee-purchase-discounts-luxury-air-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-vehicle-startup-lucid-offering-employee-purchase-discounts-luxury-air-2022-12 |
Sponsor content Home Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Careers
Top 5 skills (you may already have) for a career in clean energy
Created by Enel North America with Insider Studios
Enel North America employees.
The world's much-needed sprint to reduce carbon emissions has created a burst of job opportunities in the clean energy field. Industry experts estimate that climate, energy, and environmental investments from the Inflation Reduction Act will create 9 million jobs over the next decade. Demand is high, and supply is willing: The pandemic taught us that US workers are ready to trek down new career paths. As the economy stares down serious headwinds in the coming years and the tech industry faces mounting layoffs, clean energy jobs will hit a continued growth trajectory, even in an economic downturn.
Mobilizing a green workforce is a global imperative and an employee's opportunity — especially for the growing number of job seekers who want an environmentally sustainable employer. But workers might not be making the connection between their current skills and those needed in a newer, greener economy. Are you looking to do something good for the world while advancing your career with greater job security? You might be surprised to learn that you've already got what it takes.
Here are the top five skills that will catapult your career in clean energy:
Those with an innate ability to solve problems — IT project managers, air traffic controllers, construction managers, computer programmers, social workers, and more — have a much-needed skillset for the clean energy industry. Decreasing our carbon footprint to zero is the biggest problem we'll need to solve in our lifetime.
Clean energy businesses and governments are counting on the problem solvers to assist with supply chain management, project management and execution, financial analysis and modeling, construction, and all types of engineering (electrical, mechanical, network, and software). Those currently in the transportation, construction, and manufacturing industries could make an easy — and lucrative — transition to clean energy. Construction managers can make a healthy salary.
Collaboration is key to the success of any business, but particularly those in an industry tasked with doing new, hard things fast. The teamwork required in the military, combined with leadership and technical skills, make veterans a natural choice for roles in the clean energy field.
For Lee Herrick, the skills he gained in his six years in the Marine Corps translated well to clean energy. After working in aircraft maintenance, Herrick switched to the role of solar technician.
"Military life helps to develop the skills and attitude that are required to perform high-quality work. It also emphasizes the importance of team unity, which is vital on a solar project," said Herrick.
If you're a veteran or your career began in a collaboration-heavy field like communications, human resources, marketing, customer service, or market research, you likely have skills that are easily transferable to clean energy roles.
3. Analytical thinking
The increasing impacts of climate change require the accelerated growth of renewable energy, alongside large-scale updates to the power grid. Companies tackling this work need employees who can do data-driven modeling, risk analysis to continue making these systems more renewable and resilient.
If your resume reads data analyst or even software architect today, it could translate to a role as an energy analyst tomorrow. Network engineers with experience rethinking traditional approaches to data configuration, troubleshooting, and analysis, will play a critical role in building the next generation of energy infrastructure.
Those with the analytical thinking skills to both digest data, shape a story, and turn evaluation into action will be the builders of a smarter, cleaner grid for communities across the country.
4. An innovation mindset
If you yearn to create something new, now's your chance. Wind and solar technologies have been mainstays of renewable energy for years, but the development of new technologies like battery storage, hydrogen fuels, and bioenergy — will also be needed to achieve net-zero emissions.
In addition to creating new technologies, those in the clean energy field will help the world create new systems. City planners are working to develop sustainable urban environments by electrifying bus fleets, embracing rooftop solar, and rethinking community design.
Today's engineers and art directors are tomorrow's systems designers and sustainable city developers.
5. A sustainability mindset
Those who work in the clean energy field embrace a sustainability mindset. Some workers climb wind towers; others manage sustainable supply chains. All of them, like Enel senior civil engineer Israa Ismail, are working hard to figure out how we can make our companies and communities places that meet our needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs.
A sustainability mindset recognizes that our efforts must address economic viability, environmental protection, and social equity. As the clean energy industry grows so grow opportunities to create a diverse workforce. Said Ismail, "Projects in clean energy create job opportunities, build community relationships, and help create more resilient local economies and energy systems. If that's not sustainability, I don't know what is."
One other big thing to consider? The job security that comes with longevity. The clean energy industry is just getting started tackling huge, Earth-moving problems that we'll be working on for generations. Your soft skills are more transferable than you might have considered, and your technical skillset can be enhanced through reskilling and training programs offered by many companies, colleges, and technical schools across the country. Assess your skillset and make a change. It will be worth it.
Visit our Career Hub to explore clean energy career opportunities with Enel North America.
This post was created by Enel North America with Insider Studios.
Sponsor Post Studios Enteprise Studios Consumer | 2022-12-01T22:04:00Z | www.businessinsider.com | Top 5 Skills You Need for a Career in Clean Energy | https://www.businessinsider.com/sc/top-5-skills-you-need-for-a-career-in-clean-energy | https://www.businessinsider.com/sc/top-5-skills-you-need-for-a-career-in-clean-energy |
Blackstone's bet on small investors bites the private-equity giant as investors pull out of its high-profile real-estate fund
Jon Gray, the president of Blackstone, told analysts in October that it's "not a surprise" that flows from individuals into its BREIT fund would drop off in a turbulent market.
Heidi Gutman/CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
Blackstone shares fell on Thursday after the firm said it was limiting redemptions from BREIT.
BREIT, as the large real-estate fund is known, has been key to the firm's retail investor push.
The private-equity giant's efforts to reach individuals, not just institutions, now faces pressure.
Blackstone, the $951 billion private-equity behemoth, is better known for its big buyouts, splashy deals, and real-estate market domination than its products catering to individuals.
So the sprawling investment firm has been on a quest in recent years to break into that client segment and build out its business aimed at retail investors and tap into investor demand for alternative assets outside the public markets like private-credit and real-estate.
Blackstone and other alternative asset managers like Apollo and KKR have assembled teams to establish relationships with firms such as family offices and big wealth managers to reach their many financial advisors and clients.
That strategy has worked well. Two of Blackstone's prized and fairly young funds aimed at these individuals, the Blackstone Private Credit Fund and the Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, have amassed $57 billion of assets and $69 billion of assets, respectively. BREIT, as the real-estate fund is known, has posted a return of 9.3% so far this year and a 15.5% three-year annualized return, according to its website.
But investor sentiment has appeared to turn for this real-estate fund, posing a challenge for the firm's retail push.
After the firm said in a letter on its website Thursday that it was limiting redemptions from BREIT, Blackstone shares fell 7% to its lowest level in more than a month.
The fund allows for redemptions up to 2% of its net asset value in any month, and 5% in a quarter. Blackstone said the fund received withdrawal requests equal to 2.7% of its net asset value in October, or some $1.8 billion, and that withdrawal requests had exceeded both the monthly and quarterly limit. That prompted the firm to limit withdrawals.
"Our business is built on performance, not fund flows, and performance is rock solid," a spokesperson for Blackstone said in a statement on Thursday. The spokesperson emphasized the firm's returns for investors and said it was well-positioned in part because of its concentration in the rental-housing market and logistics in the US Sunbelt region.
Analysts raise concerns
The dramatic stock move on Thursday comes after months of analysts raising concern on earnings calls with Blackstone management and in reports to clients. Last month, Credit Suisse downgraded Blackstone stock over concerns in BREIT and BCRED.
"BREIT and BCRED seem to be areas of concern," a JPMorgan analyst asked Blackstone executives in July on a call to discuss earnings, according to a transcript from Sentieo. "Do you see net redemptions as possible in coming months? And how are those funds positioned to manage a period of redemptions beyond redemption limits, particularly if they exhaust cash and credit lines?"
Jon Gray, the president of Blackstone, said the two funds were "designed for an inflationary environment," which gives the firm "a lot of confidence." He said he was confident in the health of the residential-housing and logistics industries, which underpin BREIT.
When analysts again raised concerns over BREIT in October on the earnings call, Gray said: "It's not a surprise that you would see a deceleration in flows from individual investors when you've had this kind of market decline." Clients based in Asia had driven much of the outflows, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. Bloomberg also reported that UBS advisors were reducing their exposure.
Others on Wall Street are more sanguine. On Wednesday Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Cyprys doubled down on Blackstone stock, adding it to its "Financials Finest List" and pointing to the firm's belief that investor sentiment will start to improve around the name.
"As we approach peak rates, we expect the current negative investor sentiment to turn more positive surrounding the stock, particularly around BREIT fund flows and performance," Cyprys wrote.
Private Equity Blackstone | 2022-12-02T00:05:21Z | www.businessinsider.com | Blackstone Retail Investor Push Faces Pressure As BREIT Concerns Mount | https://www.businessinsider.com/blackstone-breit-retail-investor-concerns-redemptions-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/blackstone-breit-retail-investor-concerns-redemptions-2022-12 |
Delta Sky Club access is becoming more expensive — and more exclusive. There's still a way you can get in on the cheap, though.
Delta Sky Clubs are a popular oasis away from the hectic airport terminal for many Delta flyers.
Beginning in 2023, it will become harder to gain access to Delta Sky Clubs.
If you've got a qualifying Amex card, such as The Platinum Card® from American Express , you don't have to worry about these new rules.
Read Insider's guide to the best credit cards for airport lounge access.
Acquiring airport lounge access is the single greatest way you can instantly elevate your travel experience. It turns the necessary evil of commuting through the airport into an event that you might even look forward to.
Delta operates its own network of (usually) high quality airport lounges, currently with more locations than any other legacy US carrier. Delta Sky Clubs are extremely popular. But its membership rates are about to increase significantly — and Delta will even restrict eligibility to purchase access to a select few.
Both of these things are bad news for most Delta flyers. But they're excellent news for anyone with a flavor of The Platinum Card® from American Express or Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card. Here's why.
Delta Sky Club Access will soon be harder to get (unless you have the right Amex card)
One of the big complaints of airport lounge membership holders (no matter which lounge network you're a part of) is the tendency to crowd. Airport lounges are a welcome respite from the bustle of the airport terminal, with comfy seats, plenty of outlets, and often free food and alcohol.
However, the lounge becomes about as enticing as your gate if the comfy seats and outlets are all taken and there's only standing room to drink a beer.
Delta is taking two drastic steps to prevent overcrowding and maintain a quality experience for everyone who enters its lounges.
1. Rates are increasing (wildly)
Here are the current annual rates for Delta Sky Club membership versus the rates that will be enforced on January 1, 2023.
Membership type Individual Executive
Current price $545 (or 54,500 miles) $845 (or 84,500 miles)
Price in 2023 $695 (or 69,500 miles) $1,495 (or 149,500 miles)
Benefit Bring up to two guests (or spouse/domestic partner and children under 21) for an additional fee per visit. Bring up to two guests (or spouse/domestic partner and children under 21) for free.
As you can see, this represents an increase of between 27% and 77%, depending on which membership you're after. Delta is making lounge access more prohibitive than ever, particularly for those who expect to bring frequent guests.
2. Only Delta elites can purchase an annual membership
The new rates should be enough to remove off a portion of the overcrowding. But beginning January 1, 2023, only those with Delta Silver, Gold, Platinum, or Diamond Medallion elite status are even allowed to buy membership in the first place.
While this should theoretically eliminate another demographic of Delta customers overcrowding the lounges, it doesn't seem likely that a casual Delta flyer would pay for a Delta Sky Club membership, anyway. Time will soon tell if this strategy is an effective one. After all, you can earn Delta's lowest-tier elite status by flying as little as 15 qualifying round trips and spending $3,000 on Delta flights.
3. Basic Economy restrictions
Beginning February 2, 2023, Delta Basic Economy customers cannot enter a lounge with a purchased Sky Club membership. As we'll cover below, those with a qualifying American Express card can still access Delta lounges (and bring guests — for a price) regardless of the fare type you book.
These are the cards that can still get you Sky Club access
If you hold the following American Express credit cards, the above changes mean little to nothing to you:
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card
Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
American Express Centurion Card
These cards will give you access to Delta Sky Clubs as long as you've got a same-day Delta boarding pass. You don't have to pay for membership and you don't need to have Delta elite status. You will not have guest privileges, however — you'll have to pay for those.
One change that will affect Amex Platinum and Delta Reserve cardholders is when bringing a guest. Previously, you could purchase a guest pass for $39, but it will increase to $50 beginning February 2, 2023.
Day passes will also increase to $50 for those with cards like the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card.
Even if you are an elite member and are considering purchasing an individual membership, these American Express cards are more enticing than ever. For example:
The Platinum Card® from American Express charges a $695 annual fee (the exact same price you'll pay for an annual membership). By opening this card instead, you'll get the same Delta Sky Club lounge privileges, plus access to more than 1,300 other lounges worldwide. The card also comes with thousands of dollars in annual statement credits.
The Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card charges a $550 annual fee ($145 cheaper than purchasing an annual membership). The card comes with excellent Delta-focused perks, such as an annual Delta companion certificate, complimentary upgrades, free checked bags, and more.
Anyone in the market for a Sky Club membership will do far better by opening one of these cards.
In addition to the above changes, Delta is enforcing other entry rules for its Sky Clubs in the near future. For example, beginning February 2, 2023, elite members flying anything below Premium Economy won't receive complimentary access for international flights.
There's quite a lot to remember, but here's the short of it: If you've got a qualifying American Express credit card, namely an Amex Platinum or Delta Reserve, it's business as usual. For anyone who isn't a cardmember, these 18-gram slabs of metal are an easy way to simplify your Sky Club access.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, please click here.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, please click here. | 2022-12-02T01:06:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | Delta Sky Club Changes Make the Amex Platinum and Delta Reserve More Valuable | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/delta-sky-club-changes-amex-platinum-delta-reserve-valuable-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/delta-sky-club-changes-amex-platinum-delta-reserve-valuable-2022-12 |
Creators are getting whiplash from Instagram's unpredictable changes in how they can make money — and some are leaning away from the platform
Meta-owned Instagram has launched more than 10 money-making tools for creators since 2020.
But not all have lasted, with Instagram shutting down programs that some creators relied on.
Creators said the many changes have left them exhausted, with some leaning away from the platform.
Instagram creators are tired.
"Instagram has always been my favorite platform — it was the first platform I had been on," said one content creator with over 1 million Instagram followers, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid damaging their relationship with the platform. "But they want so much from their creators that it's draining."
Instagram's leadership has, in recent months, recognized that to compete with rivals like newcomer TikTok, and old foe YouTube, the platform has to come up with new ways to keep creators happy and help them earn a living. To this end, since 2020, Instagram has unveiled more than 10 features aimed at helping creators make money.
But there has been a big problem. Instagram's tendency to launch and then shut down or scale back these initiatives has left many creators with the feeling that the platform has repeatedly pulled the rug out from under them.
"I'm always a little cautious because Instagram changes all the time and I don't know how long something is going to last," said Yesenia Lizette, a creator with 40,000 followers. "It sucks when you love a feature and then it's like … Oh, this could be gone tomorrow."
"I've scaled back on Instagram because looking at time invested and the return, Instagram pays me the least," said the first creator, who also makes money directly from other platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and even Facebook.
Instagram launched Subscriptions, an exclusive content tool, in 2022.
Insider spoke with more than a dozen creators, as well as talent managers, creator economy insiders, and former Instagram employees, to understand how the influencer industry has been impacted by the platform's changes.
Many creators said that Instagram's attempts to build a sustainable ecosystem to help them make money have instead led to burnout and confusion, with some influencers looking beyond the platform for alternatives.
"Over the last two years, we've tested and launched a variety of features to meet the rapidly evolving needs of creators, including ways to earn money," a Meta spokesperson told Insider in a written comment. "As we build a suite of creator monetization tools, we're constantly learning and testing remains crucial in understanding what offers the best experience. We'll continue to do all we can to make testing and feature transitions as transparent and smooth as possible."
Instagram ramps up its monetization features in an attempt to help creators 'make a living'
One of Instagram's earliest monetization pushes was IGTV ads, a move to compete with YouTube's Partner Program that pays creators a percentage of ad revenue on videos. It began rolling out in April 2020.
But the real rush of new tools for creators followed Instagram's 2020 debut of Reels, its short-form video feature that competes with TikTok.
Between August 2020 and November 2022, Meta rolled out more than 10 features or programs aimed at paying creators. Some of them fell into its pledge to pay creators $1 billion through 2022.
Generally, these tools fall into three categories: getting paid by fans, brands, or Instagram itself. (The majority of the tools Instagram has offered fall into the first bucket.)
To rival TikTok's Creator Fund, Instagram pushed out its own version: Bonuses. Otherwise known as "creator incentive programs," these bonuses pay out eligible creators anywhere from a couple of bucks to thousands of dollars per month for hitting certain milestones.
"The bigger picture here is that Instagram is finally realizing that creators are valuable themselves," Jackson Weimer, a meme creator, told Insider last year after he had gotten access to Instagram's Reels Play Bonus.
As Meta teased and began testing new monetization options over the last two years, creators like Bethany Everett-Ratcliffe, a micro influencer, were excited. Everett-Ratcliffe, who went full-time as a creator in 2020, was especially interested in using Instagram's features like affiliates, bonuses, and its brand deal marketplace.
But even at the beginning, others were wary and questioned Instagram's commitment to creators.
"Everything is a little, too little, too late," said Patrick Janelle, a lifestyle and travel creator and founder of talent management firm Untitled Secret. "It would've been nice if these things happened a decade ago as opposed to this last year."
Jera-Foster Fell shared how much money Instagram offered her as a Reels Play Bonus in 2021.
Screenshot/@Jera.bean/TikTok
And while Instagram rolled out some monetization programs broadly — and typically, to creators with more than 10,000 followers — not everyone got access.
"Trust me, if I could get access to everything, I would," said Brittany Bright, a content creator with 30,000 followers and founder of The Influencer League network.
Some tools are limited as tests to "select" creators that Instagram staffers curate and invite. Others are limited to only US-based creators.
The Reels Play Bonus, as an example, is not available to creators with more than 1 million followers.
But even if influencers did get access, that didn't mean the programs would stick around.
Constant change is breeding distrust among creators
"I have trust issues with Instagram," said micro influencer Kristen Bousquet. "Since they've been coming out with all these different monetization options, I have seen them be really good at first, and then get worse and worse as time goes on."
For instance, Instagram's only ad revenue share program, IGTV ads, shut down earlier this year. The feature was once a "big bet" on Instagram's part, a former Instagram employee told Insider. But nailing down a rev-share model was tricky, the former staffer said, and it slid into irrelevance when Instagram pivoted to short-form, vertical video.
"Once [IGTV's ad-revenue sharing] went away, there was no reason to do IGTV anymore," the first creator said.
It wasn't the only initiative to come and go.
One of the first Bonus incentives that Instagram introduced paid creators for livestreaming and enabling "Badges." It began in June 2021. Austen Tosone, a micro influencer with 13,000 followers, told Insider she earned $750 while she had access to the Badges bonus program. But by August 2021, Tosone no longer had access to this incentive program. Several months later, Instagram confirmed to Insider that it had also ended its specific-to-summer Reels Bonus, as well as its IGTV sign-up Bonus. These few Bonus programs were intended to be temporary, though.
Meanwhile, creators have had to adapt to a constant ebb and flow of how much they can potentially earn from the Reels Bonus program, which gives different creators various milestones and maximum earnings each month.
Beyond Bonus incentives, which Instagram has said are meant to fluctuate, the shuttering of other programs has left some creators with whiplash.
Influencers could link products and earn commissions from Instagram's limited test of affiliates.
Screenshots/Instagram
In June 2021, Instagram began testing a native affiliate program that paid creators a commission from sales made through the app. The test was earning some creators, like Everett-Ratcliffe, several hundred dollars each month.
But a year after the test launched, Instagram shut it down in August (along with the affiliate-specific incentive programs Instagram was paying creators).
Creators who were relying on that income were forced to pivot. And Instagram had a new option for those influencers: the Creator Marketplace, where brands and influencers could ink deals.
"With Instagram, it feels like we're caught up in their experiment of trying to figure out how to keep their business alive," said Bousquet, who was one of the creators earning money through affiliates. "But it's affecting all of us, because we're businesses too."
That feeling has persisted as Instagram has continued to debut new tools. Over the last few months, Instagram has expanded Subscriptions, introduced Gifts (read: tips) on Reels, and added monetization tools to its NFT offerings. Instagram's parent company, Meta, has promised to not take a cut of those earnings until the start of 2024.
In October, Instagram also announced that it would start testing a new ad revenue share model on in-feed ads on creators' profiles — a first for Instagram since axing IGTV ads. Whether or not ad-rev share will come to Instagram Reels (as is the case on Facebook), however, has not been announced.
Revenue share models are "empowering" for creators if the platform is backed by advertising dollars, the former Instagram staffer said — but it's also one of the "hardest" features to build, they added.
Regardless, some creators have been receptive to continuing to try out new offerings, despite Instagram's many strategy changes.
"It's really important for us to adapt," said influencer Christine Cruz. "Unfortunately, sometimes things are just going to change and some things are going to be taken away."
Instagram isn't the only social platform making sweeping changes to creator monetization tools, either. Last month, Snapchat reduced how much it was paying creators through its Spotlight program; and just this week, Pinterest axed some creator payouts. Other platforms, from TikTok to LinkedIn, are continuing to test out new programs, too.
Instagram remains a vital part of creators' businesses
Even as Meta laid off more than 11,000 staffers in November, including several members across Instagram's creator monetization and partnerships org, the platform's broader commitment to creators appears to be intact. In part, this is because Meta may need creators just as much as they need Instagram.
"Without us, there is no content," Bousquet said.
While the relationship between platform and creator can be "exhausting," as Tosone puts it, she said she didn't see herself "letting go of Instagram in the near future."
"Instagram has replaced business cards," Tosone added. "It's that first impression, that community hub, that place where someone can go and in one second get a glimpse of 'Who is this person?'"
Managers, too, say they understand the platform's importance and are trying to educate themselves on all the changing features.
One of Instagram's more recent investments is its Creator Marketplace, which connects creators with brands.
Instagram; Sydney Bradley/Insider
"The last year and a half, a huge part of my job is making sure that I'm on top of the trends and changes and launches," said Ali Grant, founder of talent management firm Be Social. "If I don't know about them, it's a missed opportunity for my clients to make money."
But still, as Instagram continues to test features, creator industry insiders appear to be in agreement on one basic takeaway: don't put all your eggs in one basket.
"You can't just be on Instagram and rely on that day-to-day," Grant said. "There's too much going on that it could fall apart tomorrow — literally." | 2022-12-02T10:14:52Z | www.businessinsider.com | Creators Get Whiplash From Instagram Monetization Changes | https://www.businessinsider.com/creators-get-whiplash-from-instagram-monetization-changes-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/creators-get-whiplash-from-instagram-monetization-changes-2022-12 |
BLACKROCK: Here's how to survive a market that's underestimating the damage from a recession, and profit on the other side
A big screen display of stock prices hangs behind traders working at the New York Stock Exchange NYSE on May 9, 2022.
Stock market investors haven't priced in a recession yet, according to BlackRock.
The firm says investors are too hopeful about future rate cuts and aren't ready for falling profits.
The firm's playbook lays out a multi-asset strategy for before and after an expected recession.
Investors have been focused on the possibility of a recession for a long time, but it's too soon to act as if markets have already priced it in, according to BlackRock.
The world's largest asset manager says that investors need to track two things to succeed in 2023. One is an understanding of risk sentiment, meaning how much risk market participants are willing to tolerate. The other — based on BlackRock's view that a recession is coming — is how much "economic damage" is reflected in asset prices.
"We find that earnings expectations don't yet price in even a mild recession," according to a recent report from the BlackRock Investment Institute. "We think equity markets are getting too excited by rate cuts that we don't see coming."
The firm is chalking up current prices to hopes for a soft landing, and says that investors should underweight stocks from the US, Europe, and the UK in their portfolios until prices reflect reality 6-to-12 months from now.
"We lean against any equity bounce predicated on hopes for rate cuts in 2023," BII said.
BlackRock recommends energy, financials, and healthcare because of higher interest rates, tight energy supply, and the combination of defensive characteristics and long-term US demographics that will drive healthcare usage.
Overall, BII Head Jean Boivin and his colleagues say they're at maximum defensive positioning today. In addition to being less positive on stocks in the short term, they're getting more bullish on investment-grade credit.
"Higher yields and strong balance sheets suggest to us investment grade credit may be better placed than equities to weather recessions," BII wrote in its 2023 outlook. The firm also recommends short-term government bonds and agency mortgage-backed securities, especially inflation-linked bonds.
Meanwhile, BII says long-time bond prices look high. It's less certain that longer-term bonds will work because inflation is likely to stay high, which weakens the returns those bonds can deliver for investors. The last year has shown that those bonds didn't provide effective diversification, as stocks and bonds both fell sharply while inflation and interest rates soared.
Over the long run, BII says that when recessions or slowdowns develop, the Federal Reserve and other central banks aren't going to come to the rescue and won't do as much to support markets as they did over the past decade-plus. That means investors shouldn't "buy the dip" whenever markets hit lulls.
"Navigating markets in 2023 will require more frequent portfolio changes and a new investment playbook," the firm wrote. "It also calls for taking more granular views by focusing on sectors, regions and sub-asset classes, rather than on broad exposures."
As conditions shift and the economic damage is priced in, BII says investors should gradually ramp up their exposure to equities to a slight overweight and trim their credit market positions to a neutral stance.
Later on, when prices have declined and markets have adopted a more risk-on stance that is more favorable to stocks, BII suggests a larger overweight to equities and a corresponding underweight to credit and long- and short-term bonds.
Over the next decade, the firm says it has its largest overweight to inflation-linked bonds, a sign of how long it expects inflation to linger above its former levels. It's also overweight investment-grade credit and, to a lesser extent, developed-market stocks.
The marked underweight to government bonds, it says, "is our strongest conviction in any scenario."
Investing BlackRock | 2022-12-02T10:45:12Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Invest Before Recession: BlackRock's Stock & Bond Playbook | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-invest-recession-inflation-stock-bond-credit-market-blackrock-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-invest-recession-inflation-stock-bond-credit-market-blackrock-2022-12 |
Sam Bankman-Fried showed a Bloomberg reporter a spreadsheet of company finances.
He said that problems were discovered after FTX and Alameda finances were added together.
The company, which had no accounting department, had double-counted $8 billion.
Sam Bankman-Fried says he "misaccounted" $8 billion after some FTX customer funds were mistakenly counted twice, Bloomberg reported.
The news outlet interviewed Bankman-Fried at his $30 million Bahamas penthouse after the collapse of FTX.
The former billionaire – who now says he's down to his last $100,000 – showed Bloomberg's Zeke Faux a spreadsheet of FTX and Alameda's accounts.
"I thought the downside was not nearly as high as it was," Bankman-Fried said. "I thought that there was the risk of a much smaller hole. I thought it was going to be manageable."
He then explained how the balance sheet combined FTX and Alameda finances, because the latter had defaulted on its debt by this point.
On one line labelled "What I *thought*," the spreadsheet listed $8.9 billion in debts but also more than enough to cover it with $27.6 billion worth of assets.
"It looks naively to me like, you know, there's still some significant liabilities out there, but, like, we should be able to cover it," Bankman-Fried said.
But he then revealed a glaring oversight – the actual numbers were down $8 billion.
When the Bloomberg reporter asked Bankman-Fried if he had "misplaced $8 billion," the FTX founder replied: "Misaccounted."
He said that some FTX customers sent money directly to Alameda's account because some banks were more willing to work with the hedge fund than the crypto exchange.
Then, FTX's internal accounting system counted this money twice by crediting it to both companies.
Court documents filed by John J. Ray III – the FTX CEO appointed to oversee its bankruptcy – revealed that the company didn't have an accounting department.
Ray, who also handled Enron's bankruptcy, said FTX is full of "inexperienced" executives and demonstrates a "complete failure of corporate controls."
Company expenses were approved by emojis on online chats, too. Staff perks included a $200 daily allowance for food delivery, and private planes to deliver Amazon packages from Miami to the Bahamas. | 2022-12-02T11:46:17Z | www.businessinsider.com | Sam Bankman-Fried Says He 'Misaccounted' $8 Billion in FTX Collapse | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-says-misaccounted-8-billion-in-ftx-collapse-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-says-misaccounted-8-billion-in-ftx-collapse-2022-12 |
BMO Capital Markets is more cautious on stocks in 2023 as a recession nears.
BMO Capital Markets isn't changing its S&P 500 price target of 4,300 heading into 2023.
The firm expects corporate earnings to fall but is optimistic about earnings multiples.
Here's a look at BMO's 2023 market outlook as well as 11 US stocks to buy now.
The days of easy stock market gains may be over, but 2023 will still offer attractive opportunities for investors who look in the right places, according to BMO Capital Markets.
"It is very likely that US stocks are in the early stages of a multi-year recovery in traditional value investing and small/mid-cap stocks," wrote Brian Belski, BMO's chief investment strategist, in a November 30 note about his 2023 outlook.
Stock valuations have fallen sharply from historically lofty levels as interest rates jumped to 15-year highs, while earnings growth has retreated to single digits. That environment means active stock-picking — not passive index investing — is now the key to outperformance, Belski wrote.
Belski was Wall Street's biggest bull heading into 2022, with his year-end S&P 500 price target of 5,300 implying that US stocks had 11.2% upside from where it stood at the beginning of the year. He then cut his target to 4,800 in April after the outbreak of both rampant inflation and the Russia-Ukraine war, before slashing it again to 4,300 in October after another hotter-than-expected inflation report sent stocks spiraling.
Now, Belski is taking a more cautious approach and is keeping his S&P 500 target for 2023 at 4,300. That suggests US stocks have limited upside of about 5.5% from current levels.
"For the first time in many years, our enthusiasm for stock market performance potential next year is relatively tempered," Belski wrote.
Why stocks will rise in 2023, even though a recession is coming
Though Belski sees stocks rising modestly next year, he warned that the path forward will be bumpy, and thinks another market correction can't be ruled out.
"We believe it is entirely possible for the S&P 500 to retest its current cycle low or even establish a new one," Belski wrote. "Although if that does happen it is not likely to be much lower than the previous one, in our view, and in no way alters our outlook."
In Belski's base case, S&P 500 earnings will fall 5% in 2023, which would be the biggest decline in corporate earnings since 2015 (excluding 2020). The drop would come as the US economy continues to weaken, but would be necessary to bring inflation expectations back down and convince the Federal Reserve to stop raising interest rates, Belski wrote.
A recession in the US is "almost inevitable" in 2023, Belski wrote. However, he added that the continued strength of both consumer balance sheets and the labor market despite the Fed's aggressive interest rate hikes means that any downturn would be milder than those in the past.
Stocks can only rise while corporate earnings decline if earnings multiples expand. Although stock valuations aren't yet cheap on a historical basis, Belski wrote that if inflation, bond yields, and interest rates fall back to earth, investors will be willing to pay up for future earnings again.
"The market will care more about falling inflation than a slight earnings decline — and maybe even more so than the prospect of a mild recession," Belski wrote.
Though it doesn't seem likely now, Belski thinks there's an outside chance that the US can avoid a recession if the Fed nails its policy response and inflation comes down faster than expected. In that bullish scenario, flat-to-positive earnings combined with plummeting bond yields would make stocks more attractive and cause the S&P 500 to rise to 4,800.
But in Belski's bear case, the S&P 500 would sink to 3,600 as a worse-than-normal recession caused by a Fed policy error crushes corporate earnings. Unemployment would accelerate, though the silver lining would be that interest rates and inflation drop swiftly in a weak economy.
11 stocks to buy now
Besides sharing their 2023 market outlook, Belski and his team of strategists made monthly updates to the lists of stocks that they're bullish on right now. BMO's investing preferences evolve alongside markets, so these aren't necessarily names to buy and hold for all of 2023.
"Investors will need to be nimble throughout the year rotating in and out of areas to take advantage of what we think will be constantly evolving market conditions in order to deliver outperformance," Belski wrote.
Four types of stocks look attractive right now, according to BMO: value, small caps, mid-caps, and US-based names. Value stocks are strong bets since macro developments, fundamentals, and sentiment all favor the group for the first time in decades, Belski noted, while small caps contain dirt-cheap, consistent growers and mid-caps have improved cash flow and valuations.
As for US stocks, Belski wrote that in 2023, "non-US investors who have been reluctant to own US stocks in the past several years will have no choice but to re-allocate back to the US."
Below are 11 US-listed stocks that Belski and his colleagues added to their investment strategy portfolios, according to a December 1 note. Along with each name is its ticker, market capitalization, and price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio.
2. APA Corporation
Ticker: APA
3. ConocoPhillips
Ticker: COP
Ticker: TMO
Ticker: GM
Ticker: ABBV
7. Blackstone Group
Ticker: BX
9. Antero Resources
Ticker: AR
10. Arch Resources
Ticker: ARCH
11. TC Energy
Ticker: TRP
Market cap: $44B | 2022-12-02T11:46:27Z | www.businessinsider.com | 11 Stocks to Buy, Investing Strategy As Recession Hits in 2023: BMO | https://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-to-buy-how-to-invest-2023-recession-outlook-bmo-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-to-buy-how-to-invest-2023-recession-outlook-bmo-2022-12 |
Top of the morning, readers. Phil Rosen here, ready to jump start your Friday with a breakdown of what some of Wall Street's top players expect for the stock market for 2023.
One programming note before we dive in: You won't have to wait until Monday to get 10 Things in your inbox again.
Tomorrow, you'll receive a special weekend edition of the Opening Bell newsletter, which features a fascinating Q&A from a veteran strategist about the state of the US economy and the biggest risks ahead.
1. Morgan Stanley's top market strategist said the bear market isn't over yet. Investors might pour back into stocks on hopes of the Fed pausing rate hikes, but that's unlikely to have staying power going into the new year, according to Mike Wilson.
"Powell's commentary is right in line with what we've been saying, which is that they're going to pause probably in January and the market is getting in front of that," Wilson said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday. "This is a classic Fed pause stock market rally."
In fact, Wilson, who this year was named Wall Street's top portfolio strategist by Institutional Investor, warned that the S&P 500 could see another 26% drop next year to as low as 3,000.
His comments followed those of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose remarks this week caused markets to surge on the expectation that the central bank will slow the pace of interest rate increases at its meeting this month.
"This rally will go further and will probably drag people back into thinking that this bear market is over," Wilson said.
Similarly, JPMorgan analysts wrote in a note to clients yesterday that the S&P 500 is set to revisit this year's lows early next year. They said the Fed's inflation fight won't end anytime soon, and that's going to weigh on indexes.
"Fundamentals will likely deteriorate as financial conditions continue to tighten and monetary policy turns even more restrictive (Fed raises rates by another 75-100bp with an additional ~$1T in QT), while the economy enters a mild recession with the labor market contracting and unemployment rate rising to ~5%," the firm's analysts said.
Ultimately, JPMorgan's view is for disinflation, a rising jobless rate, and weaker corporate sentiment to force the Fed to signal a policy pivot.
That move could then lift the S&P 500 to 4,200 by the end of 2023, according to the bank. That's just slightly above where the benchmark index closed on Thursday, meaning investors should be prepared for tepid gains in the coming year.
What's your full-year 2023 forecast for the S&P 500?
A) Below 4,100
B) 4,100-4,500
C) 4,500-4,800
D) Above 4,800
The housing market boomed in 2020 and 2021 but is now cooling rapidly.
2. US stock futures fall early Friday, as investors await the US monthly jobs report. Meanwhile, Binance has frozen withdrawals of a crypto linked to its own token that looks like it's been hacked. Here are the latest market moves.
3. Earnings on deck: Copart Inc., Prospect Capital Corp., and more, all reporting.
4. These fund managers have beaten 98% of their peers in 2022. They broke down the "keeper stocks" they are betting on for 2023 — and the three market sectors they are overweight on heading into the new year.
5. European Union leaders have reportedly settled on a $60-a-barrel price cap for Russian oil. The trading bloc must now convince its members to agree to the level, and time is running out — the deadline is meant to be December 5.
6. A housing market correction will take a long time. Prices need to fall as much as 20% in the next few years to return to their historical trend, DataTrek said. The research firm pointed to previous decades' home cycles and bubbles that could help forecast what comes next in 2023.
7. China's yuan now accounts for nearly half of Moscow's currency market. Russia's central bank called for a balanced transition to the redback, even as it's seen its share of the market jump from 1% to over 40% in less than a year.
8. Goldman Sachs made its case for why the US won't be hit with a recession in 2023. Low jobless claims, positive wage growth, and slowing inflation are among the reasons analysts listed in their forecast. Here are 10 reasons why they expect to skirt a downturn.
9. BlockFi is the latest victim in the crypto contagion. The fallout from FTX's collapse has spread to other companies in the digital asset space, and it's becoming more important than ever for investors to educate themselves on associated risks. Experts shared their best tips to safely gain exposure to the market right now.
10. Shares of a Japanese company that makes MSG are up 29% and just notched a new record high. Food seasoning maker Ajinomoto will accelerate its expansion in producing high-tech chipmaking film, the CEO told Bloomberg. Find out more about its push into the hot semiconductor industry. | 2022-12-02T11:46:34Z | www.businessinsider.com | Wall Street's Top Players Break Down Why the Bear Market Isn't Over. | https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-banks-markets-morgan-stanley-bear-market-stocks-economy-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-banks-markets-morgan-stanley-bear-market-stocks-economy-2022-12 |
Today we've got stories on what it was like working at Lehman Brothers in the lead up to its fall, incoming layoffs at Morgan Stanley, and the search for a rat hunter in NYC.
Blackstone, the world's largest private-equity fund, is facing that reality within its Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT), which has seen withdrawal requests exceed its quarterly limit.
BREIT is a $69 billion fund for individual investors that's mostly focused on rental housing and industrial assets in the southern and western US, according to its website. It's also a key part of the firm's push to attract retail investors, Insider's Rebecca Ungarino reports.
Blackstone's not alone in its push into retail. Plenty of alternative asset managers have been building out distribution teams for smaller investors, as previously reported by Insider.
2. The grind for Goldman juniors hasn't stopped. A recent survey of investment-banking analysts suggested first-year bankers at Goldman Sachs are still pulling 100-hour workweeks. Read more about pay and work culture among analysts.
3. The SBF media tour rolls on. George Stephanopoulos of "Good Morning America" interviewed Sam Bankman-Fried in what he described as a "therapy session" for the disgraced crypto executive. In the interview, SBF acknowledged that if he spent "an hour a day" assessing risk then FTX might not have collapsed.
4. A first-person POV on the downfall of Lehman Brothers. Adam Taylor worked within the firm's London M&A team, and was let go weeks before the firm's collapse. He shares his perspective on what it was like at the bank before it went under.
5. Top investors in the payments space. We mapped out the 11 venture capitalists who have zeroed in on the payments space, one of the lone bright spots in the fintech ecosystem. Check out our list here.
6. A four-day work week could be on the horizon. Companies that shifted to a four-day schedule over a six-month trial actually saw an increase in revenue, according to a recent global study. Check out the full story here (or just forward this to your boss).
7. Things are not that bad at Credit Suisse, according to Credit Suisse. Axel Lehmann, the bank's chair, said that things have leveled out at the bank after a difficult few weeks, the Financial Times reports. Here's why he's confident.
8. The cuts are coming at Morgan Stanley. James Gorman, the bank's CEO, said layoffs are coming to Morgan Stanley, but didn't specify numbers or specific divisions, Reuters reports. This is what we know so far.
9. Michael Corbat is back in the game. The former CEO of Citigroup will serve as a senior advisor to Apollo Global Management cofounder Josh Harris' new investment firm, 26North Partners, Bloomberg reports. More on that here.
10. NYC's rat problem has gotten so bad they're willing to pay someone six-figures to sort it out. A recent job posting for a director of rodent mitigation entails "keeping the city's rats in check and on notice." Here's hoping Master Splinter and Remy keep their heads on a swivel. More info from the surprisingly funny job posting. | 2022-12-02T12:16:36Z | www.businessinsider.com | Blackstone's BREIT Faces Increased Redemptions Amid Market Uncertainty | https://www.businessinsider.com/blackstone-breit-real-estate-redemptions-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/blackstone-breit-real-estate-redemptions-2022-12 |
BP holds a near-20% stake in Russian state-owned Rosneft.
Tommy Lee Walker/Shutterstock
BP is set to get "blood money" from its stake in a Kremlin-controlled firm, a Zelenskyy aide said.
It still owns a near-20% stake in Rosneft after saying in February that it would sell its holding.
A BP spokesperson told Insider it had taken a $24 billion hit on its investment in Russia.
One of Volodymyr Zelenskyy's top aides has said that BP stood to make "blood money" from its stake in Kremlin-controlled Rosneft.
In a letter seen by BBC News and The Guardian, the Ukrainian president's economic aide, Oleg Ustenko, accused the oil giant of profiting from its near-20% stake in holding in the Russian company.
A BP spokesperson said it was not making any profit from its Rosneft stake.
Following Vladimir Putin's decision to invade Ukraine in February, BP announced that it would sell its 19.7% holding in Rosneft, but has yet to do so. Two BP-nominated Rosneft board members also stood down from their roles.
Despite sanctions, surging oil prices this year have helped Rosneft deliver bumper half-year profits of $7 billion. Ustenko said that any funds BP received from the Russian company could not be justified.
"This is blood money, pure and simple, inflated profits made from the murder of Ukrainian civilians," Ustenko wrote, per BBC News.
"BP was among the first of the oil majors to announce its intention to exit Russia by selling its stake in Rosneft, the Kremlin's oil company. Yet after nine months of Russian aggression, war crimes and the bombardment of civilian infrastructure, all funded and fueled by Russian oil, gas and coal, BP remains a shareholder in Rosneft."
A BP spokesperson told Insider that the company took a $24.4 billion hit in the first quarter of this year 2022 by writing down the value of its Rosneft stake, while annual profits would be $2 billion lower after removing the contribution from the Russian firm.
"BP is exiting Russia, we have no intention of returning to 'business as usual'. Just three days after Russia's attack on Ukraine, BP announced that we will exit our shareholding in Rosneft and other businesses in Russia – we said the attack was 'a fundamental change.' This is still our position," the spokesperson added.
BP's ability to sell its holding in Rosneft was complicated by western sanctions on Russian companies since the invasion.
Western governments are still trying to find a way to meaningfully hobble Russia's biggest economic weapon. On Thursday, the EU settled on a $60-a-barrel price cap for Russian crude in an attempt to reduce the Kremlin's ability to profit from selling oil.
Rosneft President Zelensky volodymyr zelensky | 2022-12-02T12:16:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | BP to Make 'Blood Money' From Stake in Russia's Rosneft: Zelenskyy Aide | https://www.businessinsider.com/bp-to-make-blood-money-from-stake-in-russias-rosneft-zelenskyy-aide-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bp-to-make-blood-money-from-stake-in-russias-rosneft-zelenskyy-aide-2022-12 |
Walmart's active-shooter training is so old and 'inadequate' that it has become a meme, some workers say
Flowers and balloons placed near the scene of a shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia.
Walmart's active-shooter training has been around in some form for at least a decade, employees say.
It includes information on spotting "concerning behaviors" and how to respond to an attack.
Some workers say Walmart needs to do more on top of the training to address workers' mental health.
Long before the shooting at a Walmart store in Virginia last month, Walmart employees were required to complete a virtual active-shooter training each quarter to prepare them for sudden workplace violence.
The training has been used in some form for at least a decade, Walmart employees told Insider.
But after a team lead fatally shot six colleagues and himself at a store in Chesapeake, Virginia, concerns that the training is inadequate are growing among Walmart employees. Three current and former employees of the retail giant told Insider the active-shooter training wasn't enough to keep them safe. These concerns come with violent incidents accelerating at Walmart and other major grocery-store chains. One survivor of the Chesapeake shooting has accused the company of ignoring her concerns regarding what she describes as the shooter's earlier "threatening" behavior and is suing Walmart for $50 million.
The training is "the absolute bare minimum that could be offered," said a manager at a Walmart store in the southwestern US who asked to be anonymous because of fear of retaliation.
According to screenshots obtained by Insider, the training for the fourth quarter of 2022 included slides that instructed associates to look out for concerning and threatening behaviors, "life stressors," and social-media threats among their colleagues. The training also directed them on how they could help their colleagues and report suspicious behavior.
The training also includes a video that depicts a gun-wielding assailant in Walmart and how associates should respond. The video instructs people to "avoid, deny, and defend" — or get out of harm's way, go into a room and barricade it, or "defend yourself by any means necessary" if they can't get away from the shooter. The avoid, deny, defend strategy was developed by a program at Texas State University in 2002.
"Our company is committed to providing a safe and violence-free environment for our associates, members, customers, and vendors," the training says. "Together, we can be better prepared by listening, helping others that are struggling, and understanding the warning signs associated with concerning behaviors."
Walmart didn't respond to questions for this story, including whether the company planned to modify its safety training or add additional training in light of the shooting in Chesapeake.
'It has become a meme'
In 2019, a gunman at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, fatally shot 23 people using a semiautomatic rifle — prompting calls for Congress to pass more stringent gun-control legislation. The voices for reform included Walmart's president and CEO, Doug McMillon, who wrote to then-President Donald Trump and Congress to urge stronger background checks and restrictions on sales of certain types of guns.
The shooting in Chesapeake is only one of hundreds at Walmart and other US grocery stores in the past few years. Over the past two years, Walmart stores nationwide saw 363 gun incidents resulting in 112 deaths, the most incidents and deaths by far among 12 major grocers tracked by the gun-control-advocacy campaign Guns Down America, citing data from gunviolencearchive.org. Kroger, which has roughly 1,800 fewer US stores than Walmart, had the second-most incidents tracked by Guns Down America, with 45 resulting in 20 deaths.
Walmart employees told Insider they're worried about whether the quarterly active-shooter training had prepared them for violence in stores.
"The issues with the training are abundant," a former Walmart employee from Florida told Insider. "We watch the same video all the time. It has become a meme." He asked to remain anonymous for privacy reasons.
A survey a few months ago in the subreddit r/walmart asked respondents to choose their "weapon of choice" during an active-shooter situation after the video showed employees using telephones and laptops.
A Walmart employee in Michigan, who asked to remain anonymous, citing a fear of retaliation, called the training "mediocre and inadequate."
"It's ridiculous," the employee said. "I'd like to see Walmart pay more attention to the mental wellness of their associates."
The Chesapeake shooting survivor suing Walmart alleges that she reported "disturbing and threatening" behavior from the shooter but he continued to work at the store.
In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Chesapeake Circuit Court, Donya Prioleau, the Walmart employee, said the gunman — who had been working at the Walmart since 2010 — had been "disciplined on several occasions" and was "demoted by management for his improper and disturbing interactions with others" before being reinstated as a team lead.
The gunman "demonstrated a pattern of disturbing behavior leading up to the shooting, which Walmart knew, or should have known," argued the lawsuit, which was filed against Walmart by the law firm Morgan & Morgan on behalf of Prioleau.
The lawsuit said the shooter had a "personal vendetta" against several Walmart employees and kept a "kill list" of targets before the shooting.
The lawsuit also said the shooter "repeatedly asked coworkers if they had received their active shooter training."
"When coworkers responded that they had," the lawsuit said, the shooter "just smiled and walked away without saying anything."
Walmart Chesapeake shootings | 2022-12-02T13:18:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | Walmart Shooting: Employees Say Active-Shooter Training Is 'Inadequate' | https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-shooting-employees-say-active-shooter-training-is-inadequate-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-shooting-employees-say-active-shooter-training-is-inadequate-2022-12 |
A "now hiring" sign is displayed in a window in Manhattan on July 28, 2022 in New York City.
The US gained 263,000 nonfarm payrolls in November, better than the 200,000 economists expected.
The unemployment rate stayed the same at 3.7%.
November's gain shows ongoing strength in the jobs market.
The US jobs market continues to thrive.
There were 263,000 nonfarm payrolls added in November, according to the latest release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). That's higher than what economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected — a median forecast of 200,000 jobs added.
October's job creation was revised from 261,000 to 284,000. September's data was also revised from 315,000 payrolls added that month to 269,000.
The US unemployment rate stayed the same in November at 3.7%, matching expectations from economists surveyed by Bloomberg and the same as October's 3.7%.
BLS previously released Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) results for October on Wednesday which showed job openings remaining elevated but slightly down from September's estimate — another sign of some cooling. Quits didn't change much in October with a large figure of 4.0 million.
"Rumors of the labor market's demise have been greatly exaggerated," Nick Bunker, head of economic research at Indeed Hiring Lab, said following the release of the latest JOLTS report. "The outlook for next year is still hazy with an aggressive Federal Reserve willing to raise unemployment to bring inflation down. But as we head to the end of 2022, the US labor market remains resilient."
The "temperature is still high" in the labor market as Bunker told Insider after the last jobs report. However, it's been cooling based on both the employment situation and JOLTS releases from BLS.
"After nonfarm payrolls recovered to pre-pandemic levels late in the summer—and as the US Federal Reserve Bank continues increasing interest rates to cool the economy in an effort to manage inflation—employment growth, hires, and job openings are all now below their 2022 peaks and trending down, BLS data show," stated an analysis from the Washington Center for Equitable Growth's Carmen Sanchez Cumming, Kate Bahn, and Kathryn Zickuhr before Friday's data release.
The Fed has increased interest rates by 0.75 percentage point four straight times as it deals with inflation, but this may not be the case at the next meeting. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during a Brookings Institution event this week that "the time for moderating the pace of rate increases may come as soon as the December meeting."
Powell also talked about the labor market situation during the event.
"In the labor market, demand for workers far exceeds the supply of available workers, and nominal wages have been growing at a pace well above what would be consistent with 2 percent inflation over time," Powell said.
Economy Labor Market Economic Indicators | 2022-12-02T13:48:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | November Jobs Report: 263,000 Payrolls Added, Unemployment Rate at 3.7% | https://www.businessinsider.com/november-jobs-report-payrolls-unemployment-rate-us-labor-market-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/november-jobs-report-payrolls-unemployment-rate-us-labor-market-2022-12 |
Chinese oil refiners have bought Russian oil cargoes at steeper discounts than just weeks ago, according to Bloomberg.
Those purchases were made in yuan rather than US dollars, and financed through local banks, per the report.
Price cap talks remain underway but the deadline is meant to be December 5.
After a brief halt, Chinese oil refiners are buying Russian crude at even steeper discounts than just weeks ago, according to Bloomberg, and buyers are completing those purchases in yuan rather than US dollars.
Per the report, Chinese private processors, so-called teapots, purchased steeply discounted cargoes of Russian ESPO crude slated for December-January arrivals. Local banks and institutions also financed the yuan-based deals, Bloomberg said.
The purchases come ahead of the December 5 start date for a Russian oil price cap as well as the European Union's ban on seaborne Russian crude imports.
It remains to be seen whether these cargoes would be hit by sanctions or meet the parameters for the price cap, as it's unclear when the supplies would be loaded and unloaded. The Chinese buyers are also unconcerned because purchases were made on a delivered basis, meaning the responsibility of insurance and shipping is on the sellers, sources told Bloomberg.
The Treasury Department has said that ships with Russian crude loaded before December 5 and unloaded at their destination before January 19 wouldn't be subject to the price cap.
The final price of the Russian oil purchases won't be clear until a later date, as the deals are completed against Brent crude's front-month February contract, which only emerges at the end of December.
Meanwhile, talks among EU nations on the exact level of the price cap are ongoing. While EU leadership has proposed a price cap at $60 a barrel, the bloc still has to convince all its members to agree to it for it to take effect.
The EU has faced pushback by the likes of Poland, Estonia, and Lithuania, as each of those nations have instead called for a price cap of $30 a barrel.
Markets China Russia | 2022-12-02T14:49:00Z | www.businessinsider.com | China Is Buying Russian Oil at a Steeper Discount Using Yuan: Report | https://www.businessinsider.com/china-russian-oil-yuan-steep-discount-price-cap-europe-sanctions-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/china-russian-oil-yuan-steep-discount-price-cap-europe-sanctions-2022-12 |
This comes after an apparent bomb inside an envelope exploded at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid.
In a later Facebook post, Nikolenko said that the Embassy of Ukraine in Madrid, Spain, also got a blood-stained package "like those previously received to other Ukrainian diplomatic institutions."
This comes after an apparent bomb concealed inside an envelope exploded at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid on Wednesday, injuring a worker handling the letter, officials said.
Meanwhile, Nikolenko said there were other incidents in addition to the bloody packages.
The entrance to the ambassador's residence in the Vatican was vandalized and the Ukrainian embassy in the United States received "a letter with a photocopy of a critical article about Ukraine," according to Nikolenko. The letter came with others from Europe, he said.
"We urge foreign governments to guarantee maximum protection of Ukrainian diplomatic institutions in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," Nikolenko said.
The reported incidents come amid Russian President Vladimir Putin's nine-month-long war with Ukraine.
Speed desk Ukraine Europe | 2022-12-02T15:19:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | Ukrainian Embassies Got Bloody Packages With Animal Eyes: Official | https://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-embassies-bloody-packages-animal-eyes-official-says-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ukrainian-embassies-bloody-packages-animal-eyes-official-says-2022-12 |
Influencers reveal how much Pinterest was paying them for short videos in a program it's shutting down — and how they view the platform moving forward
Amanda Perelli and Marta Biino
In 2021, Pinterest announced it would invest $20 million in an invitation-only beta program.
Pinterest.
Pinterest is ending its paid, invitation-only beta program that rewarded creators for short videos.
In 2021, Pinterest announced it would invest $20 million in the beta program.
The program rewarded creators monthly for completing specific posting goals.
Pinterest is ending its paid, invitation-only beta program that rewarded creators for engagement on short videos.
The Creator Rewards program launched in a closed beta test in October 2021, with an initial investment of $20 million.
The Information first reported that Pinterest would be ending the test program and would shift to developing other paid features for Pinterest creators.
Some creators were earning thousands of dollars a month from the program. As part of the program, Pinterest rewarded creators monthly for completing specific posting goals related to the platform's short-video feature called Idea Pins.
For one lifestyle influencer, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely about the payouts, the program was worth the time spent. They earned around $14,000 from the program, according to documentation viewed by Insider, and they would often cross-post the short videos to other platforms like Instagram, where they have over 200,000 followers.
A second lifestyle influencer, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely about the payouts, said they earned a few thousand dollars from the program by posting one Idea Pin every week.
Some examples of rewards offered to influencers were a $1,300 payout for completing 1 Idea Pin every week for a month, and a $300 payout for every Idea Pin with at least 3 saves, according to documentation viewed by Insider.
Some influencers were making far less, however. Seyi Famuyiwa, a fashion and beauty influencer with 17,000 Instagram followers, earned $58 from the program in May and $70 in June, according to documentation view by Insider.
Although the influencers Insider spoke with said they didn't depend on the bonus program for their business, they did wish the platform would continue to reward its creators for their video content.
"As far as if I'll keep creating at the same level, honestly probably not," the first influencer said. "Only because obviously I have to focus on where I am making money. That is a crucial piece of the creator economy — especially for people who aren't doing this as a hobby, and instead as a career."
Pinterest isn't the first platform to end a paid creator program this year. In August, Instagram shut down its native affiliate-marketing program after a year of testing, and in October, Snapchat once again reduced payouts for its short-video feature Spotlight.
Pinterest will be paying a one-time cash bonus for no additional work to creators who participated in at least one reward goal in August, September, or October, the company said. November reward goals will be paid out as usual by the end of the year.
Example of Pinterest Creator Rewards goals in April (left) and in May (right).
James Greene.
Some monthly payouts began dropping in May
Some creators noticed that the invite-only bonus program — which rivaled Instagram's Reels Bonus program, TikTok's creator fund, and the YouTube Shorts creator fund — began to change earlier this year.
Five creators told Insider in July that they were making thousands of dollars a month from the program, but payouts dropped sharply in May.
Creator Natasha Greene told Insider in July that she made over $5,000 in both March and April from the program, but $1,800 in May.
Still, some creators were surprised to see it end so suddenly.
"I find it kind of odd that they are just cutting the program so quickly out of nowhere," the first influencer said.
Even though the program is over, creators can still earn money on Pinterest from tools such as product tagging, affiliate links, paid partnerships and a creator fund focused on rewarding people of color, people with disabilities, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Famuyiwa, who was part of Pinterest's Creator Fund, said the program pays creators for posting a certain number of times a day for a certain period of time.
Aside from the paid bonus, the second influencer said they'd found the most success on Pinterest by directing users to their blog.
"Will I stay publishing on Pinterest? Yes, definitely," the second influencer said. "Pinterest is still a big marketing machine for me that helps drive traffic."
Pinterest Influencers | 2022-12-02T16:20:36Z | www.businessinsider.com | Influencers Reveal What Pinterest Was Paying Them for Short Videos | https://www.businessinsider.com/influencers-reveal-what-pinterest-was-paying-them-for-short-videos-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/influencers-reveal-what-pinterest-was-paying-them-for-short-videos-2022-12 |
$3 billion customer management startup Podium laid off 12% of staff
Rosalie Chan
Podium CEO Eric Rea
The $3 billion customer management startup Podium laid off 12% of its staff on Thursday.
Podium had raised $201 million from firms like Accel, IVP, and Summit Partners.
Podium will extend its hiring slowdown through the beginning of next year.
Podium, which is based in Lehi, Utah, has raised $201 million from VC firms including Accel, IVP, and Summit Partners, according to PitchBook. The company, which helps businesses communicate with their customers, had about 1,300 employees, according to PitchBook.
Amid growing economic uncertainty, layoffs in the technology industry have been escalating this Fall. A number of high-profile startups have announced layoffs in recent weeks, including Stripe, Chime and StockX. With VCs pulling back on funding, more startups are being forced to cost-cut and slash their workforce.
Podium has plans to cut costs in other ways, such as extending its hiring slowdown through the beginning of next year, subleasing its office space, cutting costs on software spend, and reducing perks, according to an internal memo viewed by Insider.
"As founders of this business, we understand how painful and personal these changes are for all of you," Podium cofounders Eric Rea and Dennis Steele wrote in the memo. "We accept full responsibility for the decisions that led us here, and we are incredibly sorry to have to make these necessary decisions."
Rea and Steele cited an "uncertain macroeconomic environment," overhiring, and decisions in sales and customer experience made at the beginning of the year that did not "have the impact we expected."
"While we have always been disciplined about unit economics, we are going to need to be even more focused in order to drive the business forward in a macroeconomic environment that is less forgiving," Rea and Steele wrote in the memo. "While these are very difficult decisions, they put us in a position where we can control our own
destiny."
Impacted employees learned that they were laid off through email, or if they were no longer able to access their work tools. They also received a calendar invite to meet with their department leadership and a member of the people operations team.
Impacted employees will receive six weeks of severance and the company will pay for existing healthcare premiums for US employees through the end of January, according to the memo. Departing employees will also receive one additional month of vesting, and employees who haven't reached their one-year vesting cliff will have it waived, the memo said.
Podium did not respond to a request for comment.
Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at rmchan@insider.com, Signal at 646.376.6106, or Telegram at @rosaliechan. (PR pitches by email only, please.) Other types of secure messaging available upon request.
Software As A Service Podium Layoffs | 2022-12-02T16:50:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | $3 Billion Customer Management Startup Podium Laid Off 12% of Staff | https://www.businessinsider.com/podium-layoffs-customer-management-startup-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/podium-layoffs-customer-management-startup-2022-12 |
Apple's mixed-reality headset will rename its operating software to 'xrOS,' Bloomberg reports.
The name change comes as Apple ramps up its efforts on the AR/VR headset.
The tech giant's headset will be its newest product group since the Apple Watch was released.
Apple is changing the name of the operating software for its long-rumored mixed-reality headset to "xrOS" from "realityOS," Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
Apple did not respond to Insider's immediate request for comment before publication.
Development of the headset first began seven years ago, per Bloomberg, and it is set to be released next year. When it launches, the AR/VR headset will mark the company's first new product group since the Apple Watch was released in 2015.
The name change provides a glimpse into the gadget's features as the tech giant ramps up its development efforts, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
'XR' refers to extended reality, which means the product will likely include both augmented reality — which refers to an overlay of visual elements or information on the real world — and virtual reality — which refers to completely immersive environments.
The mixed-reality operating system will encompass new versions of popular Apple apps like Messages and Maps, Bloomberg reported. Third parties will be able to create their own games and apps using the software.
In addition to the software, Apple may also name the headset hardware "xrOS, "Bloomberg reported, citing trademark applications from Deep Dive, a shell company that may be owned by Apple.
In August of this year, Immersive Health Solutions, a company that is reportedly also tied to Apple, filed trademark applications linked to the headset for the names "Reality One," "Reality Pro," and "Reality Processor," Insider reported.
The headset itself is expected to contain 12 cameras that track the wearer's hand and eye movements, and could cost $3,000, The Information reported.
In November, Apple's Technology Development Group — the secretive unit allegedly developing the headset's operating system, per Bloomberg — posted job listings for engineers to work on visual effects and 3D graphics to build out the headset, Insider reported.
The Apple headset could rival similar products like Meta's Quest Pro, Facebook's Oculus Quest, and Sony's Playstation VR headset, as major tech companies vie to lay claim to the metaverse.
NOW WATCH: Why sinkholes swallow roads and cities
Apple AR/VR Mixed Reality | 2022-12-02T19:23:19Z | www.businessinsider.com | Apple's VR/AR Headset Software Will Reportedly Be Renamed 'XROS' | https://www.businessinsider.com/apples-vrar-headset-software-will-reportedly-be-renamed-xros-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/apples-vrar-headset-software-will-reportedly-be-renamed-xros-2022-12 |
Bath & Body Works' annual Candle Day sale kicked off on Friday — $26.50 candles are on sale for $9.95.
The brand added a presale and is placing shoppers in a virtual waiting room, drawing comparisons to Ticketmaster.
One shopper said it's what "should've been the [Taylor Swift] eras tour ticket experience."
Bath & Body Works' blowout candle-shopping holiday is here, and its early-access sale and virtual waiting room are drawing comparisons to Ticketmaster.
The brand's annual candle sale, known as Candle Day, kicked off Friday and extends through Saturday, December 3. Bath & Body Works' coveted three-wick candles, typically $26.50, are on sale for $9.95, which the brand calls "pre-pandemic pricing." Last year, the candles cost $10.25 on Candle Day.
Also new this year: early access for Bath & Body Works rewards members that allowed loyal customers to begin shopping from 8 p.m. Eastern to midnight on December 1.
While the brand started putting eager shoppers in virtual lines during last year's Candle Day, this year's sales event added the presale feature, which shoppers likened to Ticketmaster's presale event for Taylor Swift's Eras tour. Ticketmaster experienced technical difficulties and sowed confusion during the presale process, so much so that outraged fans are demanding the Federal Trade Commission investigate.
But so far, customers are hailing Bath & Body Works for its virtual line: Shoppers simply need to visit the brand's site to be entered into the queue, and as of Friday afternoon, the wait was only about two minutes.
—Ashley (@ashlynnlee_14) December 2, 2022
—Adam Kelsey (@adamkelsey) December 2, 2022
—grace (@graceawbrey) December 2, 2022
Candle Day is one of the brand's biggest shopping holidays of the year, with popular scents often selling out and lines forming at Bath & Body Works stores much like Black Friday. Bath & Body Works has been hosting Candle Day for 11 years and "millions of Americans" have shopped during the event, the brand says.
Bath & Body Works is one of a growing cohort of brands creating virtual "waiting rooms" ahead of big sales. SNKRS, Nike's sneaker-shopping app, places shoppers in a queue during sales of in-demand products, which the brand says helps ensure that everyone gets a fair shot at buying shoes. While these types of waiting rooms often just generate hype for products, they also help prevent sites from crashing during major sales events, according to Retail Dive.
Bath & Body Works Bath & Body works candles Candles | 2022-12-02T19:23:30Z | www.businessinsider.com | Bath & Body Works Online Candle Sale Draws Ticketmaster Comparisons | https://www.businessinsider.com/bath-and-body-works-online-candle-sale-draws-ticketmaster-comparisons-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bath-and-body-works-online-candle-sale-draws-ticketmaster-comparisons-2022-12 |
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on preserving and protecting Democracy at Union Station on November 2, 2022 in Washington, DC.
President Joe Biden targeted antisemitism on Friday after Kanye West, known as Ye, praised Hitler.
The president tweeted that politicians should reject antisemitism "wherever it hides. Silence is complicity."
Ye was suspended from Twitter on Thursday after posting an antisemitic image.
President Joe Biden spoke out against antisemitism on Friday after Kanye West, the rapper who goes by Ye, praised Adolf Hitler, the mastermind of the Holocaust that killed more than six million Jews and millions of others.
"The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a demonic figure," Biden tweeted from his presidential account and retweeted from his political account. "And instead of giving it a platform, our political leaders should be calling out and rejecting antisemitism wherever it hides. Silence is complicity."
The message, which did not mention Ye by name, stands in contrast to the actions of former President Donald Trump, who was widely condemned for hosting Ye and white nationalist and anti-semite Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner.
The former president, who announced his 2024 presidential bid last month, wrote after the meeting on Truth Social that Ye "expressed no anti-Semitism" during their dinner.
Biden's message comes after a day in which Ye ramped up his antisemitic outbursts. He was suspended from Twitter by its owner Elon Musk, who said Ye "again violated our rule against incitement to violence."
Among the tweets Ye posted was an image of a swastika superimposed over the Star of David, a Jewish symbol. Ye's Twitter account was restricted for two weeks in October after he posted antisemitic remarks, but his account was restored after Musk took control of the platform.
Also on Thursday, Ye repeatedly talked about his appreciation for Hitler and the Nazis during an appearance with Fuentes on the far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' "Infowars" show.
"I like Hitler," Ye said at one point, adding, "I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis."
NOW WATCH: Highlights from the final presidential debate between Trump and Joe Biden
Joe Biden Donald Trump Elon Musk | 2022-12-02T19:23:59Z | www.businessinsider.com | Joe Biden Condemns Kanye West's Anti-Semitic Praise of Hitler and Nazis | https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-targets-antisemitism-after-kanye-west-praised-hitler-twitter-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-targets-antisemitism-after-kanye-west-praised-hitler-twitter-2022-12 |
Fashion brands can't keep up with the latest trends because of supply chain chaos — and it's one more reason everything's on sale
Victoria's Secret Chief Financial Officer Timothy Johnson said the company should regain the supply chain confidence to chase trends next year.
Many retailers are offering heavy discounts to cut down unusually high inventories.
Victoria's Secret execs said supply chain woes means it can't 'chase' trends, adding to the pileup.
The brand expects to get back to trend-chasing next year, and to get faster from there.
Fashion retailers have been missing an important tool for the last couple years, which may partly explain why inventories have been elevated and the appearance that everything — especially apparel — is on sale.
"When the business was at its best, we would start the season, the fall season, with 65% of our money spent and 35% of our money opened to chase," Victoria's Secret CEO Martin Waters said at an October investor day, according to a transcript from Sentieo.
"Chase" is the CEO's term for seizing on trends and consumer preferences. A few weeks into a new season, the brand would use sales to determine what styles to order more of and what styles to ditch.
"It means you don't buy the losers, and you buy more of the winners," Waters said. "During COVID, forget that, tear that playbook up completely."
It's quite the about-face from before the pandemic, when many retailers were consciously working on decreasing their "lead times" — the time from when a design starts to when it hits the store. Brands like Nike, Kohl's, and Ralph Lauren were laser-focused on shaving days and even weeks out of their lead times in order to be more responsive to consumer preferences. Back in 2017, Nike was trying to get 60-day lead times down to 10 days.
But last year, products were spending 80 days just in transit from the factory to the warehouse — not including design and manufacturing time.
Brands can't chase trends successfully if they lack any semblance of certainty on when goods will arrive — certainly the pandemic stripped away.
Factory shutdowns, port pileups, shifting air freight capacity, and materials shortages are just a few of the reasons that retailers haven't been able to count on estimated delivery dates since the second half of 2020. That means they're more likely to sell out of the "winners" and have too many of the "losers," which then lead retailers to offer deep discounts to get rid of them.
And industry data suggests even though the line of ships off the coast of California is gone and most shipping modes are nearly back to normal, retailers haven't completely recovered. The inventory to sales ratio, tracked by the Census Bureau, is still below pre-pandemic levels. And uncertainty around COVID policies in China and labor issues in the US could keep apparel brands from trusting supply chains to remain smooth for at least a little longer.
Victoria's Secret Chief Financial Officer Timothy Johnson said on a Thursday earnings call that the company should regain the supply chain confidence to chase trends next year. And total inventories will be down somewhat early in 2023, he predicted.
Waters estimated that Victoria's Secret is currently able to use the "chase" model for 5% to 10% of its stock. And at the end of the third quarter, the company's inventory was up 21.8% year-over-year.
The plan for the future though, is still to get faster. The company is working on transitioning to digital design methods, incorporating artificial intelligence into the planning process, and using digital samples instead of physical ones that must be sent from factories to design offices — shaving off precious days and weeks of the design process.
That precision, if they achieve it, could mean more profits for retailers and fewer discounts for consumers, but it's a big "if."
BITranspo Supply Chain Retail | 2022-12-02T19:24:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | Supply Chain Chaos Means Brands Can't Keep 'Chasing' Trends | https://www.businessinsider.com/supply-chain-chaos-brands-chase-trends-victorias-secret-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/supply-chain-chaos-brands-chase-trends-victorias-secret-2022-12 |
Here are the best AirPods of 2022
Best AirPods overall
Best AirPods for casual users
Best AirPods on a budget
The best AirPods for audiophiles
When will Apple release new AirPods?
Read on for our picks of the best AirPods across generations.
Apple; Alyssa Powell/Insider
Each pair of AirPods comes with its own benefits and features, and which model is right for you will largely depend on how you intend to use them.
Buyers who favor portability should consider one of Apple's earbud-style models. Those who just want the basics will be satisfied with the entry-level AirPods (2nd Generation). The mid-range AirPods (3rd Generation) promise better audio quality and longer battery life. Apple's AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) are even pricier, but they take things further with the addition of noise cancellation.
If you really want the best sound quality, there's also the AirPods Max. These headphones are best for Apple fans that don't mind paying top dollar for exceptional audio, noise cancelling, and prefer an over-ear design.
Learn more about how Insider Reviews tests and researches tech products.
Best AirPods overall: AirPods Pro (2nd generation), $230 on Amazon
The second-generaton AirPods Pro are Apple's premium wireless earbuds with much improved sound quality and noise-cancellation over the first-generation AirPods Pro.
Best AirPods for casual users: AirPods (3rd generation), $169 from Apple
The third-generation AirPods offer better sound quality than the previous-gen AirPods. They have a similar design to the AirPods Pro, but they lack noise cancelling.
Best AirPods on a budget: AirPods (2nd generation), $120 at Best Buy
Apple's second-generation AirPods nail the basics when it comes to truly wireless earbuds, such as quick connectivity, decent sound quality, and plenty of other features that pair nicely with the iPhone.
Best AirPods for audiophiles: AirPods Max, $549 on Apple
The AirPods Max are the definition of luxury audio, offering superb sound quality, a premium and comfortable build, and top-notch noise cancellation.
The second-gen AirPods Pro are the best AirPods for most people.
The second-generation AirPods Pro are Apple's premium wireless earbuds with much improved sound quality and noise-cancellation over the first-gen AirPods Pro.
Fit and style: Earbuds with customizable tips
Battery life: Up to 6 hours (ANC on), 30 hours with charging case
Water resistant: Yes
Features: Personalized Spatial Audio, active noise cancellation, Adaptive Transparency Mode, Hey Siri, automatic switching, quick pairing, auto play and pause, pressure sensitive touch sensor controls
Pros: Best sound quality in AirPods, excellent noise cancelling, Adaptive Transparency Mode blocks sudden loud noises, most universal fit
Cons: Only average battery life
The second-gen AirPds Pro, released in September 2022, are Apple's top-line wireless earbuds. If you're seeking superior sound quality and noise cancellation — and your budget allows for it — the AirPods Pro are what I'd recommend.
The second-gen AirPods Pro easily offer the best sound quality out of all of Apple's AirPods. A new custom driver results in a big improvement with noticeably richer sound over the original AirPods Pro, which always sounded a little hollow and distant to me.
They are the first AirPods to use the new H2 processing chip, which Apple claims can deliver twice as powerful noise-canceling as the H1 chip housed in the first-generation AirPod Pros. Good noise cancelling isn't just useful during a commute or while traveling — it's a key feature when simply working at a desk to hush distracting noise. It's the kind of feature that's worth spending on if your budget allows for it.
Beyond sound quality and the excellent noise cancelling, the second-gen AirPods Pro and their in-ear tip design might even be the only option for some people who have experienced issues with AirPods actually staying in their ears. The second-gen AirPods Pro fit more securely than regular AirPods thanks to the customizable tips that fit deeper in your ear.
The third-gen AirPods lack active noise-cancellation, but they're a good option for casual listeners.
The third-generation AirPods offer better sound quality than the second-gen AirPods and the AirPods Pro design, but they lack noise cancelling.
Fit and style: Earbuds, non-customizable
Battery life: Up to 6 hours, 30 hours with charging case
Features: Personalized Spatial Audio, Hey Siri, automatic switching, quick pairing, auto play and pause, pressure sensor controls.
Pros: Good sound quality, includes premium audio features, sleek AirPods Pro design
Cons: May not fit all ears, only average battery life
Apple's third-generation AirPods are worth the extra expenditure over the second-gen AirPods.
They include premium audio features like Adaptive EQ and Personalized Spatial Audio that gives the impression that music is coming from around you rather than directly into your ears (in stereo).
Not everyone likes the surround sound aspect of Personalized Spatial Audio, so it's good that it's only an option. What can't be denied is that the third-gen AirPods have higher quality drivers and amplifiers than the second-gen AirPods for better sound quality.
While the third-gen AirPods has a contoured design and shorter stem, making it look like the AirPods Pro, they don't include noise cancelling, which isn't surprising for this price point for Apple's AirPods.
In your ears, the third-gen AirPods fit more like the second-gen AirPods rather than the in-ear tip design of the AirPods Pro. If you've had issues with AirPods staying in your ears, the third-gen AirPods won't help.
If you're not looking to spend over $200 on the second-gen AirPods Pro for the better fit or noise cancelling, you might still be able to find the first-generation AirPods Pro for a great deal under $180.
Read the full third-generation AirPods review
The second-generation AirPods is the most basic AirPods available.
Apple's second-gen AirPods nail the basics when it comes to truly wireless earbuds, such as quick connectivity, decent sound quality, and plenty of other features that pair nicely with the iPhone.
Battery life: Up to 5 hours, more than 24 hours with charging case
Water resistant: No
Features: Hey Siri, automatic switching, quick pairing, auto play and pause
Pros: Convenient pairing features, lightweight design, hands-free Siri access, quick device switching
Cons: May not fit all ears, audio quality isn't good for the price, only average battery life
Apple's second-generation AirPods package all the core features — like quick pairing with iOS devices and automatic playing and pausing — in a more affordable pair of wireless headphones.
They're the right choice if you primarily listen to podcasts and other voice-based audio rather than music, or you'd rather sacrifice features like noise cancellation, spatial audio, and water resistance to save a few bucks.
The second-gen AirPods have longer stems than the third-gen AirPods and AirPods Pro that essentially makes them look like Apple just snipped the wires off its wired EarPods headphones. It's not a bad look — they have actually becoming an iconic design — but it's not as sleek as the shorter stems on the more expensive AirPods listed here.
The second-gen AirPods have Apple's standard AirPods fit that works fine for many, but for some, they're impossible to keep in their ears. If you've ever had issues with AirPods fitting in your ears and you're not willing to spend over $120 for either the original or second-gen AirPods Pro that offer a more universal fit, you're better off looking elsewhere.
Read the full second-generation AirPods review
The AirPods Max are Apple's only over-ear headphones.
Lisa Eadicicco/Business Insider
At $549, the AirPods Max are the definition of luxury audio, offering superb sound quality, a premium and comfortable build, and top-notch noise cancellation.
Fit and style: Over-ear headphones with adjustable ear cups
Features: Active noise cancellation, adaptive EQ, transparency mode, digital crown for media controls, Hey Siri, automatic switching, quick pairing, auto play and pause
Pros: Top-notch audio quality, noise cancellation, premium design, comfortable fit
Cons: Expensive, no charging case, included case doesn't protect entire headset, no input options or included cables for other audio connections
The AirPods Max deliver first-rate audio performance and noise cancellation, all wrapped in an elegant design that outclasses rivals from Bose and Sony.
The biggest difference you'll notice between the AirPods Max and Apple's other AirPods is its over-ear design. That alone suggests these headphones are designed for people that care more about audio quality than the average person, and also want a pair of headphones that make a statement when worn in public.
The AirPods Max come with an Apple-designed driver and 10 audio cores for delivering computational audio and adaptive EQ, which allows the headphones to adjust their sound based on the fit of the ear cups. Like the AirPods Pro, the AirPods Max also support spatial audio and other features like quick-pairing.
During my testing, I found that the AirPods Max sound significantly crisper, bolder, and louder than the $379 Bose Noise Cancelling 700 headphones. They also outperformed the $350 Sony WH-1000XM4, although Sony's headphones came impressively close.
The AirPods Max also deliver when it comes to noise cancellation. When I sat underneath an elevated subway that runs above a very busy street near my apartment, the AirPods Max were able to significantly dull the sound of the train screeching to a halt and nearby traffic.
The downside, however, is that the included case doesn't charge the AirPods Max. Instead, it puts them in low power mode.
There's no doubt that the AirPods Max are excellent, but their price makes them inaccessible to many people. If you're an Apple loyalist that cares about having top notch audio and prefers over-ear designs — and are willing to splurge for it — the AirPods Max are the AirPods to get.
Read the full AirPods Max review
Apple's standard AirPods are now in their third generation, the AirPods Pro are in their second generation, and the AirPods Max are still in their first generation. The release cycle for AirPods isn't as easy to predict as the iPhone's, but here's what we know based on reliable reports.
AirPods: Apple's third-generation AirPods launched in October 2021, and we don't expect a new model anytime soon. We haven't seen reliable reports that Apple is planning to release a successor.
AirPods Pro: Apple just released the second-generation AirPods Pro in September 2022, so we don't anticipate a new model anytime soon. To keep in mind, the original AirPods Pro were released in 2019, giving them a three-year life cycle. A third-gen AirPods Pro launch could follow the same timeline for an announcement in 2025.
AirPods Max: Apple released the AirPods Max in December 2020, and we have not heard reliable details about when a successor could launch. We also don't know if there will be additional over-ear or on-ear headphones.
Transition to USB-C: While there may not be new AirPods soon, a report suggests we could see them transition to USB-C from Lightning, which would be in-line with the iPhone's transition to USB-C . This would mean the current AirPods would include cases or cables that support USB-C.
IP Tech Tech Headphones | 2022-12-02T19:53:48Z | www.businessinsider.com | The Best AirPods in 2022: Which Is Right Pair for You? | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/best-apple-airpods | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/best-apple-airpods |
Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California.
Twitter's decision to throttle stories about Hunter Biden's laptop prompted bipartisan criticism.
Though the laptop was authenticated, some reports about its content have not been confirmed.
Some lawmakers have since called to repeal Section 230, a law "that created the internet."
Newly published internal communications regarding Twitter's decision to throttle a New York Post story about Hunter Biden's laptop in late 2020 revealed the social platform fielded widespread bipartisan criticism over its decision. The criticism has since intensified a movement to repeal Section 230, which could change the Internet forever.
Matt Taibbi, who writes the Substack newsletter "TK News," on Friday posted a thread of tweets he titled "The Twitter Files" that included screenshots of internal correspondence about the social platform's content moderation system. In a note to his readers on Substack, Taibbi wrote he had to "agree to certain conditions" in order to publish the files, though he did not reveal what those conditions were.
When reached via phone, Taibbi declined to comment to Insider.
Much of Taibbi's thread focused on Twitter's handling of the New York Post's October 2020 story about Hunter Biden's laptop, which the Post reported was left in a Delaware repair shop. Early reports about the laptop were met with skepticism by social media platforms — which faced heavy criticism about content moderation following the 2016 controversy regarding then-candidate Hillary Clinton's emails — and warnings from law enforcement about disinformation campaigns spread through social apps.
Elon Musk and representatives for Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself confirmed in an August interview with Joe Rogan that his platforms suppressed reporting on Hunter Biden's laptop prior to the 2020 election, saying it "fit the pattern" of misinformation Facebook had been advised by the FBI to look out for. Though the laptop and some of its contents have since been authenticated as belonging to Biden, some reports about its content have not been confirmed.
The documents published by Taibbi focused on internal discussions among Twitter staff regarding the laptop story and the ultimate decision to slow its reach across the platform and label it using the platform's "hacked materials" policy. At the time, the veracity of the reporting was under question and it was unclear whether the material reported to be on the laptop had been legally obtained, though critics were quick to question why Twitter had chosen to throttle the material.
"I say this as a total Biden partisan and convinced he didn't do anything wrong," Taibbi reported Rep. Ro Khanna wrote in an email to the head of Twitter's legal department, Vijaya Gadde, at the time. "But the story now has become more about censorship than relatively innocuous emails and it's become a bigger deal than it would have been. It is also now leading to serious efforts to curtail section 230 — many of which would have been a mistake."
Section 230 is a clause in the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which its advocates have called "the most important law protecting internet speech." The 26-word phrase "that created the internet" limits legal liability for tech platforms hosting user-generated content — that is, in other words, a social media platform like Twitter cannot be held legally responsible for any illegal content posted by its users.
The section says: "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider." Tech companies view a potential reversal as a threat to free speech that would force small web hosts to close their sites or risk legal liability for what their users posts.
Representatives for Khanna did not answer questions about the congressman's current position on whether or not to repeal Section 230.
"I believe our Constitution and First Amendment are sacred," Rep. Khanna of California said in a statement emailed to Insider. "As the congressman who represents Silicon Valley, I felt Twitter's actions were a violation of First Amendment principles so I raised those concerns. Our democracy can only thrive if we are open to a marketplace of ideas and engaging with people with whom we disagree."
Khanna was not alone in his criticism of Twitter's move – which the site's former trust and safety chief has since said was a mistake. Taibbi reported 9 Republicans and 3 Democrats surveyed by a research firm in 2020 also disapproved of the decision — and bipartisan calls for the reform or reversal of Section 230 have increased since the Hunter Biden laptop story.
"I'm more determined than ever to strip Section 230 protections from Big Tech (Twitter) that let them be immune from lawsuits," Sen. Lindsay Graham tweeted in January 2021, just months after the Hunter Biden story surfaced and shortly after he introduced legislation to repeal section 230. "Big Tech are the only companies in America that virtually have absolute immunity from being sued for their actions, and it's only because Congress gave them that protection."
Donald Trump made Section 230 a staple issue of his presidency, singling out Twitter for what he called "selective censorship" after the platform added warning labels to several of his tweets regarding voting by mail. In the final weeks of his presidency, Trump vetoed a $740 billion defense bill, in part because it did not repeal Section 230.
Republican criticism of Section 230 often centers around claims of tech platforms censoring conservative viewpoints, while Democratic critics say the law allows social companies to avoid doing more to combat hate speech and disinformation.
"I'm calling on Congress to get rid of special immunity for social media companies and impose much stronger transparency requirements on all of them," Al Jazeera reported Biden said earlier this year, calling to repeal Section 230.
Should Section 230 be repealed, free speech advocates worry the digital landscape would radically change — by forcing website hosts to be held liable for the content posted to their sites, moderators would likely eliminate potential legal risk by drastically limiting what they allow users to post or by shutting down entirely.
"Repealing Section 230 is a drastic step that would upend the internet, punishing successful firms and internet users for the behavior of an antisocial minority," read an essay by Will Duffield, a policy analyst for the think tank Cato Institute. "Heaping legal liability on platforms will not render them more thoughtful or judicious. It will cause some to close, and others to exclude all but the most inoffensive sentiments."
Twitter Hunter Biden Hunter Biden's laptop | 2022-12-03T06:33:55Z | www.businessinsider.com | Twitter's Handling of Biden Laptop Story Risked Existence of the Internet | https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-handling-of-biden-laptop-story-risked-existence-of-internet-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-handling-of-biden-laptop-story-risked-existence-of-internet-2022-12 |
Here's how to stop the cost of Christmas from burning a big hole in your wallet
Gift-giving can seriously damage your finances at Christmas.
A recession looks likely to hit the US next year – and it could squeeze both incomes and employment.
With Americans predicted to spend nearly $1,000 each on gifts, Christmas is coming at a bad time.
Here are some ways to stick to your festive budget without compromising on holiday fun.
The holiday period is all about catching up with friends and family, giving and receiving gifts, and eating and drinking too much – but it can also be a minefield for your wallet.
A Gallup poll published in October suggested US households will spend an average of $932 on gifts alone. Add to that increased travel and socializing, and you could be putting yourself in financial peril at the worst possible time.
As the likelihood of a recession mounts, you might be worrying about the state of your finances when the new year arrives.
Insider spoke with four personal finance experts who shared some tips to help you feel more secure when the credit card bills land.
It's vital to budget appropriately for the holidays. Travis Forman of Harbourfront Wealth said high inflation and rising interest rates was already forcing people to move from being "impulse buyers to plan buyers". That shouldn't change at Christmas, he said.
Cameron Huddleston, a family finance expert with Carefull, a service built to protect aging adults' daily finances, said she often sees people making lists of gifts without having an idea what it's going to cost.
"In addition to having that list of gifts, you need to have a budget of how much you can afford to spend, not how much you want to spend, in cash rather than relying on credit cards," she said.
If you have to use credit cards, our experts suggest opting for those with the best cashback options.
Call a gift amnesty
Gift-giving is one of the costliest aspects of this time of year.
"Don't go into debt over your Christmas shopping," said Andrew Doerman of Legal and General America. "The holiday season in general is more about the experience and memories than it is about the stuff."
Organising a family Secret Santa, which imposes a price limit on gifts, could be an option, Huddleston said.
Steve Chen, founder of Call to Leap, a coaching platform for trading, investing and financial planning, suggested White Elephant, which turns gifting into a game that means each person only had to buy one gift.
Chen added that Black Friday deals aren't necessarily the place to find a bargain, with discounts often not what they seem.
Push gift-giving back a few days
If you want to carry on gifting, but aren't committed to tradition, you could try gifting in January. Most retailers run sales after Christmas Day, the experts said, and it can be a great way to get more for your money.
"You can find a lot of deals – stores have excess inventory from all those things that didn't sell before Christmas, so they're going to be marked down," Huddleston said.
Cut unnecessary expenses
If you're committed to going all-out on festivities, you can at least try to make savings elsewhere.
Some subscriptions are less necessary than others in the holiday period, while temporary lifestyle changes, like making your own lunch or working from home more, could free up enough cash for a couple of gifts or dinner with friends.
If you're travelling home for the holidays, Doerman said try to drive if possible, particularly as Christmas air fares are 39% higher than last year.
Chen suggests traveling light to avoid extra baggage fees could help cut costs if you do have to fly.
Other options include having friends over rather than going out for meals or drinks. Huddleston suggested getting each guest to bring a dish or bottle to share costs.
Seasonal side-hustles
There's always more demand for workers in the holiday season.
An Indeed Hiring Lab report from October found interest in holiday jobs was a third higher than last year, with retail still the most popular sector.
If you haven't got time to spare, there are other ways to pick up more income with a quirky, seasonal side-hustle.
Some that are in demand in December include setting up a decorating business, gift consulting, and pet or house-sitting while people visit relatives. Renting your car out on Turo is another way to add a bit more income too.
Affiliate marketing could also be fertile ground as brands boost marketing spend in a bid to stand out.
Christmas Personal Finance Economy | 2022-12-03T09:06:09Z | www.businessinsider.com | Recession 2023: How to Stop Christmas Burning a Big Hole in Your Wallet | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-2023-how-to-stop-christmas-burning-big-hole-wallet-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-2023-how-to-stop-christmas-burning-big-hole-wallet-2022-12 |
Wall Street experts are warning that stocks are in for more trouble as a robust November jobs report is crushing investor hopes of a dovish Fed
Getty Images / Drew Angerer
Stocks fell on Friday after the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced a robust November jobs report.
Investors had been anticipating a Fed pivot to dovish policy ahead.
But with the economy resilient, the Fed could continue to cause more pain for stocks going forward.
Stocks floated on a wave of optimism for most of November after investors deemed October's inflation numbers low enough for a less hawkish Federal Reserve.
Consumer prices in October were up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis, down from 8.2% in September and what looks to be a near-term peak of 9.1% in June. Maintaining price stability is one of the Fed's two main goals (the other is maximum employment), and so cooling price growth means the central bank is more likely to back off of their hawkish policies aimed at reducing inflation.
But 7.7% is still far above the Fed's stated long-term goal of 2% inflation, and its leaders have said they're committed to getting there.
Some investors, however, aren't buying the Fed's promise of resolve in pursuing their goal. For one, the Fed has already hiked interest rates at the most aggressive pace in decades, and some believe they ought to soon wait and see how the economy responds, as rate hikes work on a lag. Second, it may already be too late for that: many forecasters see a recession ahead thanks to the monetary tightening that's already taken place, and a recession will leave the Fed with no choice but to ease policy again.
On Wednesday, investors seemed to run with the pause or pivot narrative when Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in a speech at The Brookings Institute that the Fed would slow the pace of rate hikes. The S&P 500 jumped 3% on the comments, despite that markets have largely priced in hikes of 25-50 basis points going forward instead of the 75 basis point hikes that have occurred at the central bank's last four meetings.
November's jobs report, however, puts a pin the hopes of those anticipating easier policy sooner.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday morning that the US economy added 236,000 jobs in November, which beat economists' expectations of 200,000. The unemployment rate stayed at a near-50-year low of 3.7%. Stocks fell nearly a half-percent on the day.
The robust reading presumably gives the Fed permission to forge ahead with their hawkish regime, as the economy is shows its resiliency.
Has the bull market returned? Not yet.
That's bad news for stocks, many on Wall Street said Friday. Higher interest rates eventually weigh on consumer demand, hurting corporate earnings. They also tend to create higher yields on government and corporate bonds, creating more competition for riskier stocks.
"There were a lot of people expecting 50,000 on employment, maybe even a negative employment number, and that'd be super great because that means the Fed's going to have to definitely stop," said Lance Roberts, the CIO of RIA Advisors. "Today's employment number keeps the Fed in a very tough position of having to continue to hike rates. I mean this just guaranteed that we're going to see at least 50 basis points in December, and I don't think 75 basis points is completely off the table just yet."
While Roberts said he thinks the S&P 500 can rally to 4,100-4,200 by mid-January due to end-of-year stock buybacks and retirement fund inflows at the start of next year, he thinks the index will then retest lows around 3,700. That's almost 9% downside from current levels.
Yung-Yu Ma, the chief investment strategist at BMO Wealth Management, also forecasted trouble ahead for stocks.
"The equity market looks set to struggle on the triple-whammy of stronger job growth, accelerating wage growth, and reduced labor force participation," Ma said in a memo.
He added: "Chairman Powell's speech earlier in the week was interpreted with a dovish lens, but that spin is likely to be reassessed based on the jobs report. The FOMC has a mixture of hawks and doves, and this report certainly gives more ammunition to the hawks."
Jason Pride, the CIO of Private Wealth Management at Glenmede, also chimed in on the risk of tighter-for-longer policy.
"While the Fed may slow down its rate increases from the 0.75% per meeting pace to 0.50% per meeting pace, it may also place pressure on them to extend those rate increases further into 2023. Such a path to higher rates for longer should put a damper on both fixed income and equity markets."
Like Ma pointed out, healthy wage growth is another concerning part of Friday's report, said Matt Peron, the director of research at Janus Henderson Investors. Hourly wages grew 0.6% in November month-over-month, and 5.1% year-over-year. Wage growth helps fuel inflation, as consumers have more income at their disposal.
"Wages held surprisingly firm, which has confirmed a recent trend. Unfortunately, this is a step back in an otherwise improving inflation story," Peron said. "This will be concerning to markets and while we are on a better path than a few months ago, we are not out of the woods yet. Policy will likely continue to be restrictive near-term and the more it stays restrictive, the more pressure on earnings next year."
Even before Friday's jobs report, some Wall Street strategists and money managers have been warning of further trouble ahead.
Savita Subramanian, the head of US equity, quantitative, and ESG strategy at Bank of America, said in a webinar on Monday that she expects stocks to have a rough start to 2023 amid a recession unfolding.
Goldman Sachs' Chief US Equity Strategist David Kostin has also said the S&P 500 will remain flat through 2023, despite a base-case soft-landing outlook, and that the index would see a near-term decline to 3,600. | 2022-12-03T10:24:40Z | www.businessinsider.com | Stock Market Crash: Experts Warn More Trouble Ahead After Jobs Report | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-november-jobs-report-fed-pivot-investing-outlook-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-november-jobs-report-fed-pivot-investing-outlook-2022-12 |
Orthodox Jewish passengers wait in line after being barred from boarding a connecting Lufthansa flight to Budapest.
Dan's Deals
Lufthansa has reached a settlement with more than 100 Orthodox Jewish men who were barred from a flight.
Each passenger will receive "$21,000 and change" from the German airline, Hamodia reported.
The May 4 incident saw passengers accuse Lufthansa of racial profiling. The airline later apologized.
More than 100 Orthodox Jewish passengers who were barred from a Lufthansa flight in May 0f this year have reached a settlement with the airline for approximately $21,000 each, the Jewish-interest newspaper Hamodia was first to report.
A passenger told Hamodia that each passenger would receive "$21,000 and change" from Lufthansa. He described the settlement as "fair" and said that he had already received a check for $17,400 after attorney fees, Hamodia reported.
The passengers were represented by the American Center for Law & Justice — a conservative law firm and political advocacy group which focuses on religious freedom.
In an email to Insider, Lufthansa confirmed that a settlement had been reached with "the vast majority of passengers." The airline declined to comment further.
The incident on May 4 involved a large group of Orthodox Jewish men who were barred from taking a connecting flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Budapest, Hungary, for an annual religious pilgrimage to the grave of a revered rabbi.
A handful of the passengers did not wear masks, prompting the airline to deny boarding to more than 100 visibly Jewish passengers.
Speaking to Insider shortly after the incident, a passenger described it as racial profiling to "the highest degree I've ever witnessed in my life." Another passenger, Yitzy Schmidt, told Insider: "I was guilty by association, and that association is being an Orthodox Jew."
Lufthansa initially defended the decision, citing mask-wearing regulations in Germany, but videos later emerged of a Lufthansa employee saying it was "Jewish people who were the mess." The airline then apologized.
In a statement following the release of the videos, the airline said it "regrets the circumstances surrounding the decision to exclude the affected passengers from the flight, for which Lufthansa sincerely apologizes."
Lufthansa's CEO Carsten Spohr later spoke to Berlin's chief rabbi to express his remorse over the incident. According to the Orthodox Jewish news service COL Live, Spohr told Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal that "antisemitism has no place at Lufthansa."
The German airline moved to appoint an antisemitism officer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) reported in August. Lufthansa also adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism and introduced a new staff training on antisemitism, per the JTA.
Lufthansa Orthodox Jews antisemitism | 2022-12-03T12:08:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | 100+ Jewish Passengers to Get $21K Each From Germany's Lufthansa: Report | https://www.businessinsider.com/100-jewish-passengers-to-get-21k-each-germanys-lufthansa-report-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/100-jewish-passengers-to-get-21k-each-germanys-lufthansa-report-2022-12 |
Happy Saturday, readers. I'm senior reporter Phil Rosen. Markets are closed today, but I'm eager to welcome you to a special weekend edition of the Opening Bell newsletter.
Today features my conversation with top strategist and economist, Ed Yardeni, on his recession outlook and what he sees as the US economy's biggest risks for 2023.
And below the Q&A, I've rounded up the most fascinating weekend reads from across Insider's Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom, just for you.
Ed Yardeni, President of Yardeni Research
Ed Yardeni is the president of Yardeni Research. The conversation is lightly edited for length and clarity.
Phil Rosen: What are the biggest risks the US economy is facing right now?
Ed Yardeni: For the past year or so, the main issue for the US economy is inflation. Inflation was deemed by the Fed, and to a large extent by most people, as being transitory.
Back in 2021, when it first started to rear its ugly head, and it kind of made sense, we had a tremendous demand shock as a result of the excessively stimulative fiscal and monetary policies back in 2020.
And geopolitical risk I'd say is probably number two. The world just isn't a safe place these days. We've got things boiling in Russia and Ukraine, things coming to a boil in China. There's a Cold War between the United States and China that's been heating up. Iran is experiencing social turmoil.
If inflation actually goes up because of another round of geopolitical stress and supply chains and so on, then clearly the Fed would have to raise interest rates further.
The recession warning of inverted yield curves has been flashing. What is your recession outlook?
EY: This time around yield curves may not be predicting a credit crunch in a recession, which is what it did in the past quite brilliantly. This time around, the credit system is in much better shape, I think the economy is much more resilient to tighter monetary policy, and that we're likely to get a soft landing in which inflation moderates.
Having said that, I'm giving 60% to a soft landing, and 40% to a hard landing next year.
How do you think the Fed will adjust monetary policy moving forward?
EY: They can either continue to tighten until they cause a recession, but that's not my most likely scenario. I'll give it a 40%. That would mean they've concluded the only way to bring inflation down is with a recession.
Another scenario is that they're close to the so-called terminal rate, but will keep it there for most of next year, and that there won't be actual easing until 2023, 2024.
Then, of course, there's the possibility that all hell breaks loose and inflation remains persistent, there's geopolitical issues, and we find that the amount of tightening that's occurred so far that all, one way or another, add up to a pretty nasty recession.
I think either rates are going to go higher, causing a recession, which would bring interest rates down next year. Or else it's going to be a scenario where rates are going to just go sideways for a while and that'll relieve a lot of inflationary pressures and move through with a soft landing.
What's your stock market outlook for 2023?
EY: I think earnings are going to grow. I don't see the freefall in earnings that we got during the lockdowns or great financial crisis. The problem is valuation multiples are still high.
But I do think we'll be making new highs by the end of next year, something around 4,800 [for the S&P 500]. But I think the valuation multiples are going to continue to be problematic in terms of getting a rip-roaring momentum, bull market.
What did you think of Yardeni's insights?
Let me know on Twitter (@philrosenn) or email me (prosen@insider.com).
Xi Jinping showed loyal support to Vladimir Putin amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
1. Employees are using a controversial tactic to force their bosses to give them a raise. On the back of the pandemic sea change and so-called Great Resignation, employers are increasingly seeing staffers use other job offers as a bargaining chip. As one recruiting exec put it: "Everybody's moved from being a franchise player to a free agent."
2. A secret 9/11 memo revealed the warnings that former President Bush tuned out before the attack. In 2004, Bush hosted a meeting with the 9/11 Commission, and the words spoken in that room remained secret for nearly two decades — until now.
3. President Xi Jinping is facing his first real test. China's leader is facing angry citizens, a crumbling economy, and a housing sector in shambles. But seeing the limits of his power will only make him more paranoid and defiant than ever before.
4. This real estate investor who retired in his 40s doubled his portfolio during the 2008 housing crash. He shared what he learned from investing in a severe downturn and why it's best to focus on cash flow instead of home appreciation. Plus, he broke down his four best investing tips for 2023.
5. Rising stars are transforming how homes are sold and offices are built at firms like BlackStone, Redfin, and CBRE. This group of 30 young professionals, all age 35 and under, are innovating and disrupting. Meet Insider's third annual slate of emerging talent in real estate.
Ed Yardeni Newsletter 10 things opening bell | 2022-12-03T12:09:38Z | www.businessinsider.com | Here's What Market Veteran Ed Yardeni Expects for US Recession Odds | https://www.businessinsider.com/market-veteran-ed-yardeni-us-recession-economy-stock-banks-investing-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/market-veteran-ed-yardeni-us-recession-economy-stock-banks-investing-2022-12 |
In an interview with Insider, Ed Yardeni broke down his his 2023 outlook for the US economy and stock market.
He put the odds of a soft landing next year at 60% and the odds of a hard landing at 40%.
And by the end of 2023, Yardeni predicted the S&P 500 could climb to around 4,800.
Veteran market strategist and economist Ed Yardeni believes the US economy will likely avoid a recession next year, but highlighted key risks that could tilt those odds.
In an interview with Insider, Yardeni, who publishes research notes on QuickTakes and is the president of Yardeni Research, said he's forecasting a 40% chance of a hard landing, and a 60% chance of a soft landing for 2023.
His bullish view comes even as bond yield curves have inverted — typically a sign that a recession is on the way — by the most since 1981. But Yardeni said the yield curve may not be as reliable of a recession indicator compared to previous years.
"This time around, the credit system is in much better shape. I think the economy is much more resilient to a tighter monetary policy," he said, adding that robust consumer spending will help stave off a downturn.
It's also possible, he explained, the Fed is already close to the so-called terminal rate and will keep it there for an extended stretch of time. In that case, there wouldn't be an actual easing until 2023 or 2024.
"I think it's either rates are going to go higher, causing a recession, which would bring interest rates down next year," Yardeni said. "Or else it's going to be a scenario where rates are going to just go sideways for a while and that'll relieve a lot of inflationary pressures and move through with a soft landing."
The 2 biggest risks to the economic outlook
Inflation remains the largest risk for the economy, according to Yardeni, who said goods inflation is turning out to be transitory but the services side may not see a slowdown until the second half of 2023 when year-over-year growth in rents will peak.
Still, as long as there's enough progress in other areas of consumer inflation, he thinks it will be tolerable, adding that durable goods inflation should come down, as it did prior to the pandemic.
But the longer inflation sticks around, the higher the chances the Fed decides the only way to stem it is to push the economy into a recession, he warned.
Geopolitics presents the second largest risk to the economy, Yardeni continued, pointing to the Russia-Ukraine war, US-China tensions, Beijing's zero-COVID policies, and Iran.
"The world just isn't a safe place these days," he said.
The leaders of China, Russia, and Iran remain unpredictable, and that raises economic uncertainty for the US.
"If inflation actually goes up because of another round of geopolitical stress and supply chains and so on, then clearly the Fed would have to raise interest rates further," Yardeni said.
Top stock sectors for 2023
By the end of next year, Yardeni said the S&P 500 could climb to around 4,800, and he's most bullish on energy, financials, and technology.
Energy stocks can rise even as climate activism limits the supply side, he said, because the demand side remains stronger than ever.
"The transition from fossil fuels to renewable sources is obviously turning out to be much, much tougher on the climate activists who are way too optimistic about how easy it would be. So energy is definitely number one," Yardeni said.
Financials are in "great shape," he said, thanks to strong balance sheets and loans at all-time highs.
Finally, technology stocks still have upside despite enduring a rough 2022.
"Technology has gotten better, but the fundamentals of profit on the enterprise side look good and the productivity-enhancing side looks quite good," he said. "And as we know, semiconductors are just about everything these days."
Ed Yardeni Recession Stock Market Outlook | 2022-12-03T12:10:08Z | www.businessinsider.com | Top Strategist Ed Yardeni Explains Recession Odds and Best Stock Picks | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-outlook-2023-ed-yardeni-recession-forecast-best-stocks-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-outlook-2023-ed-yardeni-recession-forecast-best-stocks-2022-12 |
I visited Wegmans and it's clear why the supermarket chain was recently rated America's top grocery store
Wegmans is a regional grocery chain based in Rochester, New York, with just over 100 stores around the Northeast.
The chain is known for specialty shops inside, including a cheese counter, bakery, and florist.
During my visit it was clear that Wegmans is a step above other grocery stores, but the prices reflect that.
In late November, the store was already decked out for Christmas with wreaths and banners.
The displays right outside the entrance held miniature Christmas trees.
Other Christmas decor items were on sale next to the trees.
Then I walked through the door, where snowflakes were hanging from the ceiling.
Fruit and vegetable trays and dips were in a small setting labeled "seasonal favorites."
For an even more extravagant spread, there are different cheese wedge combinations with nuts.
There are always fresh bagels available, and free cookies for kids.
Customers can also order custom cakes.
Most of the fruit displays in the middle of the section are out in the open and not packaged, which give an attractive ambiance in the store's warm lighting.
Even aisle marker signs are neutral colors and understated, fitting in with the overall design theme.
Wegmans has sold its private label brand since the 1970s, and in the 1990s added the "food you feel good about" distinction to note it as free from certain additives.
Wegmans also caters its offerings to the local market, like selling Josh's Jaqs cereal in Rochester to Buffalo Bills fans.
It also highlights local brands, like Rochester-based Genesee Brewing Company.
There are also seltzers, and Wegmans owns a nearby wine shop that carries other liquors.
After going back to Wegmans, it's clear why people like it so much.
Unfortunately all the things that make Wegmans different from other grocery stores are also the most expensive, so I can't usually justify that for a regular grocery trip.
As much as I love shopping at Wegmans, I save it as a treat for special occasions or foods I can't get anywhere else, and I stick with Aldi for my regular groceries. | 2022-12-03T12:10:20Z | www.businessinsider.com | Wegmans Tour Photos: I Saw Why It's so Popular | https://www.businessinsider.com/wegmans-tour-photos-i-saw-why-its-so-popular-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/wegmans-tour-photos-i-saw-why-its-so-popular-2022-12 |
Britney Nguyen and Emmalyse Brownstein
Overworked junior banker
zwawol/Getty Images
Junior bankers at Goldman Sachs work an average of 98 hours per week, according to a new survey.
That means they are being paid around the same as a Starbucks manager before bonuses.
In 2021, Goldman's junior bankers protested similarly long work hours, calling it "workplace abuse."
Junior bankers at Goldman Sachs are working an average of 98 hours a week — 18 hours more than their peers, according to a new survey.
This means first-year bankers at the firm are making about $22 an hour, around the same as a manager at Starbucks, according to calculations by Insider's Emmalyse Brownstein. This number does not include bonuses, and assumes junior bankers are taking two weeks of vacation.
While end-of-year bonuses can be a large chunk of Wall Street pay, they are slated to dwindle this year due to a decline in IPOs and M&A. Bonus pools, which hit record levels last year, are on track to be slashed by about 30% at banks like JPMorgan and Citigroup, Bloomberg reported.
A spokesperson from Goldman Sachs told Brownstein that the "data does not match ours" in response to an email sharing the findings of the survey. The spokesperson also declined to share the firm's own findings about how many hours its junior bankers are clocking a week.
At an average of 98 hours a week, Goldman's junior bankers are working 18 hours more than their fellow junior bankers who reported working an average of 80 hours per week, the survey found. Junior bankers at the runner up to Goldman averaged about 86 hours a week.
Over 2,500 first-year investment bankers from around 50 US firms were asked their pay, what they like and don't like about their job, and their perks, in a survey by Odyssey Search Partners. The results from the survey are shared with private equity firms and clients who want to recruit talent from banks.
In 2021, Goldman was thrown into turmoil after an internal survey by first-year analysts at the firm was leaked to the press, showing junior bankers had reached a breaking point.
Junior bankers responded they were working 98 hours a week, only getting 5 hours of sleep, and went to bed around 3 a.m. All of them said work hours negatively affected their relationships, and almost 80% of respondents said they felt like a victim of workplace abuse.
"We recognize that our people are very busy, because business is strong and volumes are at historic levels," a Goldman spokesperson told Insider at the time. "A year into COVID, people are understandably quite stretched, and that's why we are listening to their concerns and taking multiple steps to address them."
According to Brownstein's report, it doesn't seem much has changed in regards to working hours for the first-years at Goldman.
Read more from the survey here.
NOW WATCH: Goldman Sachs is telling its multimillionaire clients not to worry about valuations or inflation
Junior Banker Goldman Sachs Banking | 2022-12-03T12:30:39Z | www.businessinsider.com | Goldman Sachs Analysts Still Working 100 Hour Weeks: Survey | https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-junior-analysts-working-100-hours-week-survey-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-junior-analysts-working-100-hours-week-survey-2022-12 |
The German brand recently launched the EQS, a luxurious electric sedan that takes direct aim at Tesla's long-running Model S. I recently drove a $141,000 EQS 580, the top dog of the EQS lineup. And while I loved its palatial interior and extra-long range, it has a few shortcomings too.
If you're spending $100,000 and up on an electric car, it had better deliver what EV buyers want most: range. The all-wheel-drive EQS 580 provides a generous 340 miles of range, as estimated by the Environmental Protection Agency. The rear-wheel-drive EQS 450+ promises up to 350. (That base model costs a little over $100,000.)
The EQS is a tech wonderland, featuring not one, not two, but three separate screens up front if you select the optional "Hyperscreen" add-on. Bump that to four if you count the head-up display, which projects important driving info like speed and turn-by-turn directions onto the windshield. It's five including the tablet rear passengers get as part of the "Executive Rear Seating" package.
NOW WATCH: How companies like Tesla and Mercedes-Benz plan to bring video games to cars | 2022-12-03T12:30:45Z | www.businessinsider.com | Mercedes EQS 580: Pros and Cons of the Luxurious Tesla Rival | https://www.businessinsider.com/mercedes-benz-eqs-580-pros-cons-review-tesla-electric-car-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/mercedes-benz-eqs-580-pros-cons-review-tesla-electric-car-2022-12 |
Alcynna Lloyd and Madison Hoff
Housing affordability tanked in California this year. But the state's stratospherically-high home prices have also led to it witnessing some of the biggest drops in median sale prices since much of the US housing market peaked earlier this year.
Outside of mortgage rates, Californian buyers have also long struggled with insufficient levels of housing supply. The state has less available land in which to build, which means developers have to pay more for land acquisitions and pass those costs on to consumers or halt their efforts entirely. And then there are also higher than average property taxes which further adds to the state's lack of affordable housing options — a predicament that has only worsened during the pandemic.
According to CAR's October housing outlook, California's existing single-family home sales are projected to fall 7.2% from 2022's estimated 359,220 units. The pullback in demand could ultimately result in the state's median home price declining 8.8% to $758,600, the report adds.
California Home Prices Home sales | 2022-12-03T13:40:18Z | www.businessinsider.com | California's Housing Market Is Rapidly Cooling | https://www.businessinsider.com/californias-housing-market-is-rapidly-cooling-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/californias-housing-market-is-rapidly-cooling-2022-12 |
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Stephanie Thomas, a certified personal trainer and the owner of Stephanie Thomas Fitness, who's in her late 20s and lives in Maryland. It has been edited for length and clarity.
All my offerings are online, so clients have the flexibility to complete their workouts on their own time. They connect with me directly through the app Trainerize, where they can message me with any questions or whenever they need extra motivation or support.
My most popular offering is a 90-day wedding-workout program called Bridal Body Fitness. It costs $247 total for three months of access to the program and includes a fitness plan, nutrition advice, and the support of 10 other brides in a group chat. Additionally, I offer digital PDF guides. The most popular digital plan is The Bridal Arms Workout Guide, which I sell for $19 and includes a four-week arm-sculpting workout plan designed specifically for brides.
I also run a "Sweating for the Wedding" Facebook community that I've grown to almost 7,000 members and a weekly wellness newsletter called the "Sunday Sweat" which has tens of thousands of subscribers. The Facebook group is getting refined right now, but in the past it's included monthly workout challenges in a calendar format. I'll be moving brides to a separate group soon who want weekly fitness and nutrition tips in addition to the challenges.
My startup costs were only a few thousand dollars. I didn't know if I should focus my time on Pinterest, Instagram, building my email list, or creating a good website, and I didn't know how to begin to market my services to my ideal client. To address this challenge, I started by posting regularly across platforms, and clients started signing up for my different offerings. Many of them also said they found me through a Google search.
I worked with a fantastic designer, Kailynn Summer, whom I met through a small-business-support group we were in together, to rebrand my business and create my dream website. Once I focused on this niche, I started bringing in more revenue.
One of my favorite resources is Jasmine Star's Social Curator, which gives you customizable social-media-caption templates, group-coaching sessions, a social-media action plan, and more for $49 a month. I've been a member for more than three years now.
I was also lucky enough to meet my business coach, Rebecca Kelly, through an online course we took together. Rebecca runs an online-coaching community for women in business called Badass Business Co, and signing up was one of the best decisions I've made. She's been one of the biggest supporters of my business. Getting feedback on marketing campaigns and systems from other business owners and having an extra set of eyes to look at things has been very helpful. Plus the overall accountability and support has helped me stay positive and excited about my business.
BI-freelancer Weddings Fitness | 2022-12-03T13:40:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | How I Run My Online-Only Personal Training Business for Brides | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-run-business-online-only-personal-trainer-brides-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-run-business-online-only-personal-trainer-brides-2022-11 |
Juliana Kaplan, Madison Hoff, and Ayelet Sheffey
The US added more payrolls than expected in November, marking another month of strong growth.
That expansion, along with even higher wages, is good news for the workers still job switching.
That red-hot labor market might mean more economic woes later on as the Federal Reserve steps in.
Hiring continues to boom in America. But a hot labor market could encourage the Fed to keep ramping up its war on inflation, and could make a recession next year worse than anticipated.
According to the latest data release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in November, the country added 263,000 payrolls. That's above the 200,000 payrolls economists that Bloomberg surveyed forecasted — and means one more month than anticipated of more-robust hiring.
While overall job creation in November was lower than October's revised gain of 284,000, growth was positive for most major industries in November.
November's increase is good news for workers, who also got another raise that month. Wage growth stayed strong in November, with average hourly earnings rising 5.1% year-over-year — above the 4.6% that economists Bloomberg surveyed predicted. Earnings also rose 0.6% alone in November, far from a slowdown.
"Overall, the job market is still hot. Despite headlines of layoffs and hiring freezes, employers are still adding workers," Daniel Zhao, the lead economist at Glassdoor, told Insider. "Ultimately, that's a positive sign for people who are still trying to find the job that is the right fit for them."
"Big picture here is that the labor market still has a lot of resilience," Nick Bunker, the economic-research director at Indeed Hiring Lab, told Insider.
Based on the robust recent growth in earnings and employers adding jobs at a "really rapid rate," Bunker said that "both jobs and wages have far more momentum than previously thought." Bunker also noted that workers still have bargaining power.
But while all that data spells good news for workers, it might have more dire consequences for the rest of the economy.
Bunker said the US labor market is "slowing down a little bit," however it has "far more momentum than the Federal Reserve would like." The Federal Reserve has been trying to pour cold water on a red-hot labor market by hiking interest rates: Four consecutive times now, the central bank has raised interest rates by 0.75%, which is the most aggressive measure it has taken so far to combat inflation.
The extreme hikes have sparked concerns from some Democratic lawmakers who argue that the tactic could push the economy into a recession and trigger a stream of job losses, but as the latest jobs data shows, the labor market is continuing to shine bright.
Still, while Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, signaled that rate increases could slow in December, he noted in a Wednesday speech that "the path ahead for inflation remains highly uncertain," and interest rates will likely need to stay high for some time.
With the thriving labor market, Bunker said "the risk of an imminent recession is relatively low."
But, Bunker said, there's still a risk that the continually strong labor market could prompt the Federal Reserve to become more hawkish and continue to hike rates aggressively — potentially tipping the economy into a recession.
"In the short term," the current labor market is "good news," he said.
"For maybe the latter half of next year, it might not be good news depending on how the Federal Reserve interprets this," he added.
There could still be a recession brewing
Interest rates getting ever higher could spell the dreaded term that's been looming over the economy for the last few months: recession.
Bank of America economists predicted this week that the US will enter a severe economic downturn in the first quarter of 2023, with growth set to fall by 0.4%. Economists at Deutsche Bank also see a dire outlook for the stock market, with major US stock indexes expected to plunge 25% when a potential recession hits.
But most predictions for a recession next year have been that it will be shallow and mild, which Brian Moynihan, the CEO of Bank of America, recently suggested to CNN.
While the job market is still hot, it's not growing at the same breakneck speed as it was last year. Job openings — while high — are slowly cooling, something that the Fed had been particularly concerned about.
"I don't think this report changes the Fed's view of where the labor market is today," Zhao said. "Yes, we did see wage growth tick up a little bit, but I viewed the increase in wage growth as more of a speed bump on the Fed's path towards the soft landing."
Amid concerns of a recession, though, both Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen think achieving a soft landing, in which the Fed combats inflation while avoiding a recession, is possible — but the path to do so continues to narrow.
"If you look over the course of this year, nobody expected us to raise rates this much, no one expected inflation to be this strong and this persistent and to have spread so broadly through the economy," Powell said during his Wednesday remarks.
"And so to the extent we need to keep rates higher or keep them higher for longer, that's going to narrow the path to a soft landing," he said. "On the other hand, if we get good inflation data… if all those things start to swing the other way, then we could very much achieve this."
Economy Recession Next recession | 2022-12-03T16:25:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | Job Market Is Strong, but It Means Recession Next Year Could Hurt More | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-forecast-outlook-job-market-strong-downturn-next-year-hurt-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-forecast-outlook-job-market-strong-downturn-next-year-hurt-2022-12 |
Home Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Taxes
If you're making at least $600 from Fantasy Football, the IRS wants to know about it – and you should tell them
Inside The Star
Starting in 2022, $600 and over in Fantasy Football gambling winnings must be reported to the IRS.
As part of the new rule, more people will be receiving 1099-K forms in 2023.
The extra steps added to your taxes could help you later in life as long as you aren't underreporting, expert says.
In the past, winnings from your Fantasy Football league may have been fine to leave off of your tax return, but, starting in 2022, the IRS is paying closer attention to how much you make from your bets.
Prior to 2022, payment platforms, like Venmo, Cash App, or PayPal, were only required to issue a 1099-K tax form if a person made at least $20,000 and had at least 200 transactions. That amount has since been lowered to $600 with no minimum amount of transactions, according to the IRS.
This new rule means you could be receiving a 1099-K in 2023 depending on the stakes of your Fantasy Football league. Although it's another step added to your taxes, there are benefits of reporting the $600-plus you're making on the side.
The IRS defines a 1099-K form as an "IRS information return used to report certain payment transactions to improve voluntary tax compliance." The payment transactions include those from third-party payment networks.
Tax expert Eric Bronnenkant explained to the Washington Post the detriments of hiding your income from the IRS.
For those interested in purchasing a home, tax returns are typically used to verify your income. This means underreporting how much you made could earn you a lower loan amount at a higher interest rate.
Your Social Security benefits are also on the line. According to the Social Security website, you earn one Social Security or Medicare credit for every $1,510 in covered earnings each year, and you must earn $6,040 to get the maximum four credits allowed in a year.
It takes at least 40 credits to qualify for Social Security benefits. But, it's all about "the average of your earnings over your working years" when it comes to determining the amount of your monthly payments.
Whether you're five years or five decades away from retiring, accurately reporting your earnings will serve you well as a retiree.
It's not just gambling income that can and should be reported. Bronnenkant said even Etsy shop owners should be reporting their earnings if they want to contribute more to their pension.
"The more earned income you have, the more contributions you can make," Bronnenkant said to the Post.
Fantasy Football IRS Taxes | 2022-12-03T16:43:12Z | www.businessinsider.com | Why You Should Report Your Fantasy Football Income to the IRS | https://www.businessinsider.com/why-you-should-report-fantasy-football-income-to-the-irs-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/why-you-should-report-fantasy-football-income-to-the-irs-2022-12 |
Early voters line up to cast ballots in the Senate runoff election between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker in Kennesaw, Ga., on November 28, 2022.
AP Photo/Mike Stewart
Georgia voters on Friday cast over 350,000 ballots, setting a one-day statewide early voting record.
The previous one-day early voting record was on Tuesday when nearly 310,000 voters cast ballots.
Voters are deciding between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker in the highly consequential Senate runoff.
Georgia on Friday set a one-day record for early voting in the state, as more than 350,000 Peach State voters cast ballots in the Senate runoff between incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican candidate Herschel Walker.
According to Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for the Georgia secretary of state's office, at least 353,440 people had voted on Friday by 9:45 p.m., smashing a previous record that had been set on Tuesday, when nearly 310,000 Georgians went to polling locations across the state to cast ballots.
"Our totals are over 1.8 million with a few days of absentees to arrive. That will likely put us over 1.9 million by Election Day," he wrote on Twitter.
On Friday night, Sterling praised the efforts of election officials and precinct workers who had prepared for early voting, which began in some localities last week.
"Great job by the counties' elections officials and voters," he said on the social media platform.
Before Friday, the one-day record for early voting in Georgia was set during the 2018 midterm cycle, when 233,000 people voted on the last day of early voting that year.
Headed into Election Day on Tuesday, turnout among Georgia voters sat at 26.4% as of December 3, per the secretary of state's office. The voter breakdown was 55% white, 32% Black, 9% unknown or other, 2% Asian, and 2% Hispanic.
Warnock is seeking a full six-year term after winning a runoff election last year against then-GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler to fill the remaining term of former Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson. He has sought to emphasize his bipartisanship and accomplishments in the upper chamber, including his work to enact a $35 insulin cap for individuals on Medicare, which was passed through the Inflation Reduction Act. (Warnock continues to push for a price cap for individuals with private insurance, a provision that was blocked by Senate Republicans earlier this year.)
Walker has sought to portray Warnock as beholden to President Joe Biden and Democratic interests, playing up gas prices and inflation while arguing that a Republican victory would give the party real leverage in a 50-50 Senate controlled by Democrats due to Vice President Kamala Harris' tiebreaking vote.
If Warnock were to win, the Senate would have a 51-49 Democratic majority in January; the party flipped the GOP-controlled Pennsylvania Senate seat with the victory of Sen.-elect John Fetterman, who defeated Republican Mehmet Oz.
Gabriel Sterling Georgia Early Voting | 2022-12-03T19:45:56Z | www.businessinsider.com | Georgia Voters Cast Record 350k+ Ballots on Last Day of Early Voting | https://www.businessinsider.com/georgia-voters-record-early-voting-senate-runoff-warnock-walker-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/georgia-voters-record-early-voting-senate-runoff-warnock-walker-2022-12 |
I quit a stressful 6-figure job as a VP in finance to start a fitness business. It was scary but worth the career change.
Alessia Scauzillo worked at PwC and then RBC Capital Markets, but felt sick from all the stress.
She began teaching fitness classes on the side and eventually gave up finance altogether.
Career changers should plan well, budget to save money, and be brave enough to take risks.
I got into banking because it was the traditional path.
My dad was an accountant, and my mom worked at a bank. I never really thought about what I wanted to do; I just put one foot in front of the other. My mom passed away when I was just out of school, and I was just trying to survive by moving from one job to another.
After studying business, I worked at PrincewaterhouseCoopers for three years before moving to the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to do corporate lending. I started as an associate but worked my way up to VP before leaving a six-figure salary and the industry altogether.
Now I'm the founder of an online subscription-based fitness business, A Sculpt Body. I never say never, but I don't see myself returning to finance.
But the decision to leave was not easy for me.
My job was high-pressure
When I worked at RBC, it was very intense. I didn't feel well, my hair started falling out, my hormones were all out of whack, and I didn't sleep regularly. I was constantly working late and realized the only time I really had to myself was early in the mornings. I would wake up before the sun came up just to attend workout classes because it was the only time I could.
For a few years, I'd had the instinct that finance wasn't the right life path for me. But one day I came home really upset — I can't remember about what — and said enough was enough.
I decided to reach out to two people I knew in the fitness industry and asked to get coffee so I could get their advice about entering that world. That was a huge turning point for me.
I started coaching fitness classes on the side
I did both finance and fitness for two years before quitting my banking job. I coached fitness classes a couple of nights a week and on the weekends in two different studios. I would have to literally run to my classes after leaving the office. I look back at that time now and have no idea how I had all that energy — it was extremely difficult to balance them both.
I started creating an online presence and posted videos online — even before the pandemic. When Covid hit, I continued to coach and work remotely.
But it took me a long time to feel confident in my decision to leave
I started by doing fitness and finance because I told myself the worst thing that could happen was that I wouldn't like teaching, or I would be bad at it, and I could just stop without jeopardizing my career. But that didn't happen — teaching felt great. It just felt right in my heart, while in my finance life I'd felt like it was just the circumstance I was in.
My trajectory in finance had felt so clear, but leaving the industry was the right decision for me. Here's my advice for anyone considering a career change.
1. You should try
As soon as you start to feel that gut instinct that you may want to pursue a different career, you should start trying it out in any way you can. Do it on the side or on weekends. It was really difficult for me to do both, but it helped give me peace of mind that I was making a good choice.
2. Do both as long as you can
I took a six-month sabbatical before leaving my finance job. This time gave me an opportunity to solely focus on fitness and see my profit potential. Having this time to focus on fitness without fully leaving finance yet allowed me to transition in the most risk-averse way possible.
Before switching, I made myself an 18-month cash flow plan. I looked into how much per month I was making from fitness subscriptions and brand partnerships. It's important to give your business 18 months — one year is too short to see a full picture of a business launch.
As soon as I realized that I may want to take my career to the fitness world, I started saving money and changed my lifestyle. This actually felt really easy to me because I was spending less naturally. I'd been trying to fill a void with my purchases when I worked in finance, so budgeting actually felt very easy for me.
5. Put your blinders on
The most important person in this decision is you. When I made my switch, very few people believed in what I was doing. It didn't matter to me. Once you come to a clear decision, ignore anything your family members, your coworkers, or anyone else says. It's only important that you are confident with your choice.
Anyone who wants to change careers should take the risk and do it. The corporate world will always be there for you — you already have the education, background, and experience. You can always go back if your career change doesn't work out. And if you never follow your passion, you may regret it.
Contributors 2022 Thought Leadership as told to | 2022-12-04T04:10:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | I Was a VP in Finance and Left to Start My Own Fitness Company | https://www.businessinsider.com/left-finance-for-fitness-heres-my-career-change-advice-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/left-finance-for-fitness-heres-my-career-change-advice-2022-12 |
Elon Musk's 'Twitter Files' drop revealed some of the tweets the Biden campaign asked the social app to remove were nude photos of Hunter Biden spread without his consent
Hunter Biden, right, the son of President Joe Biden, greets Labor Secretary Marty Walsh during a ceremony to present the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, to 17 recipients at the White House on Thursday, July 7, 2022.
Internal Twitter emails showed the Biden campaign asked the company to remove posts.
Some of the posts contained nude photos of Hunter Biden shared without his consent.
The posts were in violation of Twitter's non-consensual nudity policy and contained no political content.
The newly published "Twitter Files," toted as a bombshell report revealing the inner workings of the platform's content moderation practices, showed the 2020 Biden presidential campaign asked Twitter to remove posts that were already in violation of its revenge porn policy.
Journalist Matt Taibbi, who writes the substack newsletter TK News, on Friday published a thread of tweets containing internal communications from Twitter officials indicating they had received requests from Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign to review tweets posted to the platform. The posts were subsequently removed.
"Handled these," an unnamed Twitter executive wrote in an email in response to five links shared by another Twitter employee.
Of the links to five since-deleted tweets that were shared in a screenshot by Taibbi, four had archives available online. All four of the available archives depicted nude photos and videos of the president's son that had been leaked after he allegedly left his laptop at a Delaware repair shop.
The removal has been seized upon by critics as evidence of the social media platform's bias in favor of Democratic politicians — and owner Elon Musk went so far as to call them a violation of the First Amendment — but the tweets contained no political content at all and instead depicted pictures and videos of Hunter Biden that had been circulated without his consent.
Twitter's non-consensual nudity policy specifically prohibits sharing "images or videos that are taken in an intimate setting and not intended for public distribution." California state law, where Twitter is headquartered, also makes sharing such imagery illegal.
"Twitter acting by itself to suppress free speech is not a 1st amendment violation, but acting under orders from the government to suppress free speech, with no judicial review, is," Musk tweeted in response to readers who argued the Biden campaign's request was a violation of the constitution's First Amendment.
However, legal experts were quick to point out that, since any representatives of the 2020 Biden campaign were not operating in any official government capacity as they were not yet government officials and because they were requesting illegal posts be removed, the contentious issue is not related to the constitution at all.
"For the millionth time, the First Amendment only applies to the government," Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School's Cyberlaw Clinic, tweeted in response to Musk. "Biden was a private individual and his campaign wasn't the government. The links were literally to accounts that posted nude pictures of Hunter Biden, which is revenge porn and is unlawful in many states."
Musk, Taibbi, and representatives for Twitter and the Biden administration did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.
Joe Biden President Joe Biden Hunter Biden | 2022-12-04T04:10:47Z | www.businessinsider.com | 'Twitter Files' Show Biden Campaign Asked Site to Remove Nude Photos of Hunter | https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-files-show-biden-campaign-asked-remove-tweets-hunter-biden-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-files-show-biden-campaign-asked-remove-tweets-hunter-biden-2022-12 |
"We're already in a recession": The chief market strategist at Charles Schwab says a soft landing isn't possible — and explains why there are no winning stock market sectors right now
Charles Schwab Chief Market Strategist Liz Ann Sonders believes that a rolling recession is the best-case scenario for the US economy.
The US economy is already in a "rolling recession," says Charles Schwab's Liz Ann Sonders.
Sonders believes investors should emphasize factor investing over picking sectors.
Investors should also stick to quality assets and consider overseas investments.
The timeline for the next recession may be the biggest topic of debate amongst investors right now. Some forecast a downturn on the horizon, while others believe that a healthy consumer, slowing inflation, and positive GDP growth have managed to tilt the scales in a positive direction.
But Liz Ann Sonders, the chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, believes that the US economy is already in a recession — whether it's been officially declared or not.
"It may not be a traditional one in the sense that we've been calling it a rolling recession, and that's very specific to the pandemic," she recently explained to Insider. "There's no question that things like housing and many of the goods categories of the economy are deep in recession — you can't argue otherwise."
Some recessions — like the Global Financial Crisis or the 2020 market selloff — occur because of a sudden shock to markets, and when that happens the bottom of the economy falls out all at once. But that's not the case this time around, Sonders said.
Sonders also believes that a soft landing is impossible. "To me, the best-case scenario is one where we just continue to see weakness roll through the economy, but as different pockets go through their time of pain, other pockets maybe start to stabilize or recover," she explained.
Near-term pain and volatility to be expected
In the near term, Sonders believes that there's more downside ahead for forward earnings estimates, which haven't yet been fully baked into analyst expectations. But she also believes that things under the market's surface look a lot better now than they did in the early stages of the bear market, adding that equities can continue to do well even if technology is no longer the leading sector.
However, Sonders — a big sentiment watcher — has grown increasingly concerned about rising investor optimism, and would prefer sentiment stay somewhat subdued even when the market rallies so the Federal Reserve doesn't feel the need to dampen Wall Street's spirits. She expects more pain and volatility in the near term, especially since the market has become overly beholden to Fed signaling, which is dangerous because the central bank isn't on any kind of predetermined path.
"I think the best case scenario of everything — just easing as smoothly as the Fed would like to — I've got to put a very low probability on it. The needle they're trying to thread is pretty narrow," she said. "I think they're erring on the side of overdoing it versus underdoing it."
There are no winning sectors
Sonders believes that investors are better served right now by picking stocks across all sectors, rather than picking a sector or two to position towards.
"Until this year you really could invest in that kind of monolithic way," she said. "I think you want to invest and screen based on factors or characteristics and not have the blinders on at the sector level."
In February of this year, Sonders shifted to a purely sector-neutral position in her portfolios, since equal portfolio weighting in the current market environment benefits investors by increasing diversification, lowering concentration risks, and reconnecting fundamental factors to prices. Rather than focus on specific sectors, she's chosen to emphasize a comprehensive collection of factors which includes both growth and value characteristics.
"You don't want to give up growth opportunities simply because you're looking for reasonable value," she explained. "So it's kind of hybrid growth- and value-type factors, but definitely with a bit of a quality wrapper around them."
For instance, as earnings revisions trend down and volatility rises, companies with positive earnings surprises and lower volatility will look increasingly attractive, as will companies raising their dividend. As interest rates spike, Sonders is also seeking out companies with shorter duration characteristics — meaning those with strong current earnings and cash flow — as well as those with high cash and low debt on their balance sheets.
At least in the near term, Sonders believes that it's still important to emphasize quality assets, since the economy is too fragile at the moment for investors to take on too much risk. She also believes that investors who primarily own US assets and have no exposure to overseas equities may miss out on potential returns.
"I think they're going to be sorry because you often tend to get domestic versus international leadership shifts that occur when you go through these market cycles," she explained.
Investing Stock Market Outlook | 2022-12-04T10:20:44Z | www.businessinsider.com | US Economy Already in a Recession, How to Invest: Charles Schwab | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-recession-2023-outlook-investing-inflation-strategy-charles-schwab-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-recession-2023-outlook-investing-inflation-strategy-charles-schwab-2022-12 |
The Crown Heights Tenant Union hosted a rally for Roberts (center) along with the Crown Heights Care Collective to protest the 77-year-old's living conditions.
Scott Heins/Crown Heights Tenant Union
Francis Roberts, 77, is suing his landlord for allegedly trying to force him out of his rent-stabilized Brooklyn apartment.
Roberts alleges he's been living in extremely poor conditions since his building was purchased in April.
New Yorkers have rallied around Roberts to help him receive adequate repairs to his apartment and stop the alleged bullying.
A Brooklyn man says he's the victim of harassment by his landlord who is trying to force him from his rent-stabilized, $450-per-month apartment where he's lived for 20 years, he claims in a lawsuit earlier reported by Brownstoner.
Francis Roberts, 77, said the alleged harassment — which he said includes a property full of garbage and even live chickens — is an attempt by his landlord to force him out of the building.
Already, Roberts refused a previous owner's offer to buy him out of his lease, the site reported. Although the amount of the offer is unknown, a former tenant of the building told the New York Times she accepted $150,000 to buy out of hers.
Meanwhile, Roberts claims the building, which was built around 1903, hasn't had heat since the new owners took over in April, the Times reported. And he said a green liquid is leaking through the ceiling of his basement apartment — and that loud music blasts from the upstairs apartment at all hours of the day
Legal Services NYC shared photos of the garbage they say litters the hall in front of Roberts' front door.
Courtesy of Legal Services NYC
He alleges his landlord, Yehuda Gruenberg, and a tenant who moved into the building in May, are to blame for the poor conditions. The new tenant, Roberts claims, was brought in by Gruenberg to bully him. Roberts contends that Gruenberg wants him out of the unit so that Gruenberg can raise the rent of the apartment and bring in higher-paying tenants.
Gruenberg's attorney, Julius Toonkel, denied allegations of harassment in a statement to Insider. Toonkel said the landlord couldn't gain access to Roberts' apartment because of a "hoarding problem." The attorney said Roberts in the past also has refused to allow repairmen access to his apartment. He didn't specifically address the chickens near Roberts' apartment.
Toonkel said Gruenberg even offered Roberts a "brand new" apartment to stay in during repairs, but said Roberts refused.
The disagreement between landlord and tenant comes as the neighborhood where Roberts lives — Crown Heights, Brooklyn — has experienced gentrification: According to StreetEasy, the median monthly rent for a two-bedroom Crown Heights apartment is $3,000. And like many Brooklyn neighborhoods, Crown Heights has seen a steep decline in its Black population, from 78% in 2000 to 48% in 2019. By the 2010s, rents began to soar as wealthier groups flocked to Brooklyn.
—CHTU #CancelRent (@CHTenantUnion) November 20, 2022
Roberts' rent is regulated by New York City rent-stabilization laws, which generally cover buildings built between 1947 and 1974. They place limitations on how much a property owner can increase rent. The law also doesn't allow a landlord to evict a tenant just because a landlord wants to turn the apartment over to a new, higher-paying tenant, according to New York's Homes and Community Renewal agency.
Roberts told Legal Services NYC, an advocacy group working on his case, that he'd voiced concerns about the state of the building to previous owners. But he told the Times that the property changed hands to its current owner before any adequate repairs took place.
He described living amid squalor: Legal Services NYC, whose Tenants Rights Coalition is assisting Roberts in his lawsuit against the building owner, published photos of what it said was his building. The pictures depicted port-a-potties placed just outside Roberts' door, trash littering the path to his door — and even chickens roaming the property.
Roberts alleges the garbage and livestock belong to squatters and the tenant who began living in the building earlier this year. "This is criminal. This is heartless," Roberts told Legal Services NYC. His legal team didn't respond to a request for comment from Insider.
Apartments rent stabilized New York City | 2022-12-04T11:52:08Z | www.businessinsider.com | Brooklyn Man in Rent-Stabilized Apartment Says He Is Being Harassed by Landlord | https://www.businessinsider.com/brooklyn-man-harassed-landlord-rent-stabilized-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/brooklyn-man-harassed-landlord-rent-stabilized-2022-12 |
Interior garage sale, housewares, clothing, sporting goods and toys.
Trekandshoot/Shutterstock
It's possible to discover valuable items at local yard sales, but having a strategy and tools is important.
One expert advised arriving early, and using a black light and loupe to examine potential finds.
Developing expertise in a specific area and sticking to a budget is also recommended.
As you're doing your holiday shopping this season, you may stumble upon a local yard or estate sale that piques your interest — and spot something more valuable than you realize.
There are many stories about bargain items bought at garage sales that turn out to be valuable. Differentiating between trash and treasure isn't easy, but experts say there are tricks to navigating sales to help you strike gold.
Bring the essentials
Vincent Zurzolo, COO of Metropolis Collectibles and the auction house ComicConnect, advised arriving at local sales as early as possible as the best items go fast.
"Get there an hour before the sale says it's starting, or go the day before and knock on the person's door and ask if you can look through everything to prepare for the sale or to buy early," Zurzolo said.
He added that shoppers should come prepared with cash, since most sales require cash payments rather than credit cards.
Reyne Hirsch, a former appraiser for "Antiques Roadshow" and the owner of an art gallery, recommends bringing two items: a black light and a loupe.
"Black lights can be used for spotting fake artwork," Hirsch said.
She recommended taking paintings into a dark room and hovering the black light over the signature. If the signature appears to pop off the canvas, it was added at a later time and the painting is not an original piece of art.
Signatures and markings on fine silver or jewelry can be very small and hard to read, so a loupe magnifying device can help, said Hirsch.
"If you can see that an item was manufactured in a certain location or country, marked as silver, has a maker's mark, or indicates the quality of gold, the item might be worth more," Hirsch said. "These are things you can't always see with the naked eye."
Making sure it's the real deal
Hirsch said there are a couple of things to look for when identifying fakes.
For clothing, furniture, or handbags, check labels to ensure that an item is not only from the apparent designer, but that the label is consistent with a company's brand during a specified period.
She also said shoppers should buy pricey items from a seller with a good reputation or know the return policy, especially at resale or antique stores.
Another trick is to see if something is handmade rather than made by a machine, Hirsch said, or if something is in its original condition vs. restored. She recommended using a black light again, to see if furniture has been repainted or touched up, which can diminish value.
Using a smartphone or collector's book can help determine the price and value of items you find, she added. Turning to Google, or resale sites like eBay, can also assist with pricing.
When browsing handbags, if an item has a high price tag, Hirsch advised searching for stains, repairs, and fabric damage. Any of those can lower resale value and the item should only be purchased if it's something you want to use yourself.
Look closely at vintage Christmas ornaments
Hirsch said vintage Christmas ornaments are commonly found at local sales and are potentially valuable collector items. To buy these and flip them for money, she said, condition is important.
"Make sure the hooks at the top aren't missing and the silver caps are still attached to the ornament," said Hirsch. "Also, look inside to see the coating to make sure the silver hasn't faded over the years, since those are less valuable."
Vintage Christmas ornaments in the original packaging have added value of 10-20%, she said.
Figure out an approach and stick to a budget
If you're completely new to hunting for treasures, Zurzolo advised having a set strategy.
He recommended developing expertise in one type of item or category, like comic books, stamps, or baseball cards. Spend time learning the market to determine what's valuable and pricing, he said.
Learn via Google about key time periods in certain categories and pick a specialty site, like 1stdibs or Artsy, where dealers from all over the world sell merchandise, advised Hirsch.
Another important factor is budget. Zurzolo said it's key to know how much you want to spend to avoid piling up items and overspending. He also suggested having a plan and deadlines for determining which items to keep and which to resell.
Zurzolo recommended selling finds on platforms like eBay, Craigslist, or even Etsy.
BI-freelancer Business News Contributor bi-weekend-freelance | 2022-12-04T12:31:06Z | www.businessinsider.com | Best Tips for Finding Valuable Treasures at Yard and Estate Sales | https://www.businessinsider.com/best-tips-finding-valuable-treasure-yard-estate-sales-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/best-tips-finding-valuable-treasure-yard-estate-sales-2022-12 |
"SBF was bad at League. Nuff said," Musk tweeted on Saturday, reminding users of Bankman-Fried's surprisingly low rank of Bronze III in the game.
"VCs were impressed by Bronze III??🥉(no offense to bronze IIIs)," Ocasio-Cortez wrote last month in response to a Twitter using highlighting her higher-ranked silver III rank, which she said she achieved during COVID-19 quarantine.
According to EarlyGame, there are nine tiers in LoL, with each divided into four divisions represented by a roman numeral between I and IV. The highest tier is Challenger, while the lowest is Iron. Bankman-Fried's Bronze is the second-lowest rank.
In February 2021, Bankman-Fried tweeted about how he was "(in)famous" for playing LoL during meetings. He once even played the game during a pitch meeting with Sequoia Investors for a funding round, according to a since-removed profile from FTX's website.
—SBF (@SBF_FTX) February 4, 2021
"I play a lot more than you'd expect from someone who routinely trades off sleep vs work," Bankman-Fried tweeted, suggesting it was an outlet to help him switch off.
Bankman-Fried's extracurricular activities came under the spotlight once more as FTX collapsed from a $32 billion valuation to a massive fire sale, which its new CEO John Ray described as a "complete failure of corporate controls."
Having traded blows over unions, Teslas, and Twitter, to name a few, it looks like Musk and Alexandria-Cortez both share the same views on at Bankman-Fried's LoL talents.
Weekend BI UK News Twitter Sam Bankman-Fried | 2022-12-04T12:31:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | Elon Musk and AOC Finally Agree: SBF Was Bad at League of Legends | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-aoc-finally-agree-sbf-bad-league-of-legends-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-aoc-finally-agree-sbf-bad-league-of-legends-2022-12 |
When I really want to give my friends and family nice gifts, I use a sinking fund. A sinking fund is when you set aside a small amount of money every month in a savings account. If I set aside $20 every month, by the time Christmas comes around, I'll have $240 to spend on gifts.
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Christmas Gifts Personal Finance Insider PFI Freelance | 2022-12-04T12:31:32Z | www.businessinsider.com | 3 Ways I Save Money on Holiday Gifts, Since I Work Part-Time | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/ways-save-money-holiday-gifts-work-part-time-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/ways-save-money-holiday-gifts-work-part-time-2022-12 |
With a potential recession looming, it is a good time to evaluate your budget. Create a list of priorities to determine needs versus wants, keep all your needs on the list, and rank your wants. Plan to keep only your top three to five wants and cut the rest.
These are annual expenses that you can safely predict will occur. Save a pre-determined amount each month to the various sinking funds. That way you can minimize the need to tap into your emergency fund for any smaller medical or car emergencies that may happen. I recommend you keep your sinking funds in a FDIC insured high-yield savings account.
Another option to consider is a balance transfer credit card that offers a 0% APR during a defined promotional period. This option only makes sense if you have good credit, and you expect to pay most or all the credit card balance during the promotional period.
At first glance this amount, may seem daunting and overwhelming. However, if you save a small amount each month, you will slowly build towards your goal. To ensure that your money is working for you but still easily accessible, I recommend that you save your emergency fund in an FDIC insured high-yield savings account.
During economic downturns you want to have as much cash on hand as possible. If it is not absolutely necessary, it may be best to delay any big-ticket purchases. Big purchases, such as a car or house, typically require you to either put down a large lump sum of cash or have a hefty ongoing payment. This would reduce your available cash flow, putting you at major risk if a recession were to occur. Taking on new debt before a recession is very risky and should be approached with caution.
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PERSONAL FINANCE The No. 1 advice from financial advisors going into a recession | 2022-12-04T14:02:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | 6 Ways to Save More Cash During a Recession | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/recession-save-more-cash-strategies-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/recession-save-more-cash-strategies-2022-12 |
A protester at Salt Bae's steakhouse in London on Saturday night.
Diners applauded as staff physically removed Animal Rebellion activists from the Nusr-Et Steakhouse.
The restaurant serves gold-plated steaks that cost as much as $1,750.
Animal Rebellion said it targeted the restaurant because it symbolized a "broken system."
Waitresses physically removed animal rights protesters from Salt Bae's steakhouse in an upmarket part of London on Saturday night following a non-violent protest.
Eight protesters from Animal Rebellion entered the restaurant and sat at empty tables holding mock menus outlining their demands, the Evening Standard reported.
In a video tweeted by the group, one activist was carried out of the restaurant by four staff members to the applause of diners shortly before 7pm.
—Animal Rebellion (@RebelsAnimal) December 3, 2022
Nusret Gökçe, better known as Salt Bae, rose to fame after his salt-sprinkling technique went viral online. The Turkish butcher, chef and restaurateur owns a chain of steakhouses.
The London branch targeted by Animal Rebellion serves gold-plated steaks costing up to £1,450 (almost $1,800).
Activists raised concerns about the employees' actions. One protester told the Press Association: "I'm not sure they're allowed to do that."
Another, identified as 21-year-old Orin Cooley-Green, said: "It was tougher than police would do it."
Activist Ben Thomas, 20, said in a statement: "Restaurants like these are symbolic of a broken system. Whilst 2 million people are relying on food banks in the UK right now, influencer chefs are selling gold-plated steaks for more than £1,000."
Animal Rebellion is calling for "a plant-based food system and mass rewilding." In a press release, the group said they targeted Nusr-Et because steaks, and other red meats, carry "the highest environmental impacts."
The group also occupied the Michelin-starred Mana restaurant in Manchester in northwest England on Saturday night. Police removed a number of protesters following the peaceful action and Animal Rebellion said in a tweet that arrests were made.
Nusr-Et did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
activists environmental activism Salt bae | 2022-12-04T15:33:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | 4 Waitresses Carried a Protester Out of Salt Bae's London Steakhouse | https://www.businessinsider.com/4-waitresses-carried-protester-out-of-salt-baes-london-steakhouse-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/4-waitresses-carried-protester-out-of-salt-baes-london-steakhouse-2022-12 |
The Chinese flag.
China has more than 100 "police stations" globally to monitor its citizens in exile, a report said.
Some of these facilities are set up with the help of the host nations, Safeguard Defenders alleged.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said he's "very concerned" about Chinese "police stations" in the US.
China operates more than 100 so-called police stations worldwide to monitor, harass and repatriate its citizens in exile, according to a report from Madrid-based human rights campaign group Safeguard Defenders quoted by CNN.
Many of these stations are set up through bilateral security agreements with host countries in Europe and Africa, the report alleged.
Safeguard Defenders tracked forced disappearances in China by looking through open-source, official Chinese documents for evidence of alleged human rights abuses.
It first revealed the existence of 54 such stations in September, and said it had now found evidence of 48 more.
The organization cited specific examples of a Chinese national being coerced into returning to China from France and other instances of Chinese nationals being forcibly returned from countries including Serbia and Spain.
Safeguard Defenders said it had found four separate police jurisdictions of China's Ministry of Public Security active in at least 53 countries, per CNN.
China has denied running undeclared police forces overseas, with its Ministry of Foreign Affairs telling CNN in November: "We hope that relevant parties stop hyping it up to create tensions. Using this as a pretext to smear China is unacceptable."
China has claimed that the facilities are simply for expatriates who need help with administrative tasks like renewing documents.
They have also claimed that some of the stations were set up in response to the pandemic, but the Safeguard Defenders report claimed that the offices were opened several years before.
FBI Director Christopher Wray told a Homeland Security Committee last month he was "very concerned" about possible unauthorized Chinese police stations in US cities.
"It is outrageous to think that the Chinese police would attempt to set up shop, you know, in New York, let's say, without proper coordination. It violates sovereignty and circumvents standard judicial and law enforcement cooperation processes," he said.
The revelations about the police stations have sparked investigations in at least 13 countries, CNN said.
Ireland ordered a Chinese police station found on its territory to shut down, as has the Netherlands. Canada has issued "cease and desist" warning to China over police stations.
China Police UK Weekend | 2022-12-04T17:05:18Z | www.businessinsider.com | China Operates More Than 100 Secret 'Police Stations' Globally: Report | https://www.businessinsider.com/china-operates-more-than-100-secret-police-stations-monitor-exiles-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/china-operates-more-than-100-secret-police-stations-monitor-exiles-2022-12 |
Dr Pepper drew scorn for its handling of a college tuition giveaway during halftime of the SEC championship game.
The brand announced one player as the winner based on an obscure rule after they tied twice.
The company eventually decided to give both contestants the $100,000 prize money.
Louisiana State University wasn't the only one getting trampled halfway into its SEC championship against Georgia on Saturday — so was Dr Pepper after a controversial ending to its halftime college tuition giveaway contest.
The beverage company drew disdain from the crowd and on social media alike after the annual competition, which involves contestants vying for $100,000 by throwing footballs into large cans of soda, devolved into a confusing tie-breaker.
After the two players — Reagan Whitaker of Baylor University and and Kayla Gibson of the University of St. Augustine — each scored 11 points in the first round, they advanced to a second round, but tied in that one, too. Due to time constraints, rather than continuing the face-off, Whitaker was deemed the winner, based on an obscure rule that counts points from a prior qualifying round.
The decision did not go over well. The crowd erupted into boos and a #JusticeForKayla movement quickly took over social media.
On Twitter, several users voiced their frustration with the rule.
—br_betting (@br_betting) December 3, 2022
—Chris Vernon (@ChrisVernonShow) December 3, 2022
—Logan Leger (@lleger) December 3, 2022
Others pointed out how "depressing" the contest is.
—Theo Ash 🇺🇸 (@TheoAshNFL) December 3, 2022
—Anthony Michael Kreis (@AnthonyMKreis) December 4, 2022
Dr Pepper appeared to take the outcry to heart. By the fourth quarter, CBS reporter Jenny Dell announced the company decided to give both contestants $100,000.
"Well, you all saw the unprecedented double tie of the Dr Pepper halftime tuition giveaway," Dell said. "We 've just been told by Dr Pepper that they're going to award both finalists $100,000. So both Kayla Gibson and Reagan Whitaker are taking home $100K. Congratulations, ladies, and great job by Dr Pepper there."
Keurig Dr Pepper, the brand's parent company, has held the contest since 2008 and given away a total of $13 million in college tuition. According to the company, this is the first time two finalists have tied twice in a row.
Andrew Springate, Chief Marketing Officer for Keurig Dr Pepper, said in a statement to Insider that while "every year there are surprises and unexpected moments," this year's game "proved to be one of the most exciting yet with the double tie-breaker."
"We're honored to celebrate inspiring students every year, and excited that this unexpected turn of events gave us the opportunity to extend the grand prize award to another deserving student," Springate said.
Dr Pepper NCAA SEC | 2022-12-04T18:36:43Z | www.businessinsider.com | Both Dr Pepper SEC Tuition Challenge Competitors Win Amid Controversy | https://www.businessinsider.com/dr-pepper-tuition-challenge-contestants-controversy-sec-championship-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/dr-pepper-tuition-challenge-contestants-controversy-sec-championship-2022-12 |
GOP Rep. Dave Joyce refused to answer whether he'd support Trump after his recent comments.
On Saturday, Trump called for the termination of the US Constitution.
"I will support whoever the Republican nominee is," Joyce told ABC News on Sunday.
A GOP congressman refused to answer whether or not he would back Donald Trump after the former president recently suggested suspending the US Constitution.
During an appearance on ABC's "This Week," host George Stephanopoulos pressed Rep. Dave Joyce of Ohio if he would support Trump if the Republican Party selects him in 2024 after his controversial remarks.
"I will support whoever the Republican nominee is," Joyce said. "And just don't think that, at this point, he will be able to get there because I think there's a lot of other good quality candidates out there."
Stephanopoulos told Joyce that his response was "a remarkable statement" and asked again if he would "support a candidate who's come out for suspending the Constitution?"
—This Week (@ThisWeekABC) December 4, 2022
"Well, you know, he says a lot of things. You have to take him in context. And right now I have to worry about making sure his Republican Governance Group and the Republican majority that we make things work for the American people," Joyce added. "And I can't be really chasing every one of these crazy statements...from any of these candidates that come out."
On his social media platform on Saturday, Trump called for the termination of the Constitution, making the unfounded claim that there has been "massive fraud" from tech giants and the Democratic Party in US elections.
Trump's baseless claim of election fraud came after journalist Matt Taibbi released a series of tweets called "The Twitter Files," Insider previously reported. The tweets, which Taibbi said he published after agreeing to "certain conditions," disclosed internal communications between Twitter workers who made the call to quash a dubious New York Post story regarding President Biden's son, Hunter, in 2020.
Elon Musk, the new CEO of Twitter, claimed that the files were evidence Twitter meddled in the 2020 elections by suppressing free speech, which experts have refuted, Insider previously reported.
Trump's statement about suspending the US Constitution has been met with immediate criticism, including from the White House, which called for his suggestion to be "universally condemned."
"You cannot only love America when you win," White House Spokesperson Andrew Bates told CNN in a statement.
Donald Trump Constitution dave joyce | 2022-12-04T19:28:59Z | www.businessinsider.com | GOP Congressman Dodges Question on If He Will Support Trump's 2024 Run | https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-congressman-dodges-question-if-he-will-support-trumps-2024-run-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-congressman-dodges-question-if-he-will-support-trumps-2024-run-2022-12 |
Brokerage startup Bux is acquiring the retail-trading arm of Spanish rival Ninety Nine as fintech consolidation continues
Yorick Naeff, Bux CEO
Bux, the online retail brokerage, has acquired the retail-trading arm of Spanish fintech startup Ninety Nine.
Tencent-backed Bux will bring in the company's retail investment customers as part of the deal.
The deal's terms were not disclosed but the move marks ongoing consolidation in fintech.
Bux, a European rival to US retail brokerage Robinhood, has acquired the retail-trading arm of Spanish fintech startup Ninety Nine.
Amsterdam-based Bux was founded in 2013 and offers European users access to US and European shares, cryptocurrencies, and CFD trading — the latter being illegal in the US. The acquisition means that Ninety Nine will no longer offer brokerage services in Spain but will instead focus on its embedded finance offering to banks.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bux, though it raised an $80 million from investors in 2021, recently turned to crowdfunding with a campaign on Seedrs. Ninety Nine was founded in 2018 and has raised $8.3 million to date.
After an initial boom, neo-brokers in Europe have seen venture capital funding to the sector plummet in 2022, setting the scene for more acquisitions. Globally, fintech startups raised just $13.3 billion in the third quarter of 2022 taking funding levels back to pre-pandemic levels, per Dealroom.
Bux had previously been in talks to sell to Tiger Global-backed US trading app Public.com, Insider reported, but the latter instead opted to build out its own European operations.
"We are proud and delighted to help a new group of Spanish clients create a stable investment base and build a better financial future," said Bux CEO Yorick Naeff in a release."Thanks to this acquisition, Ninety Nine users will have access to a wide range of services provided by Bux, such as investing in Spanish, European and US stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, fractional investing and the Bux Savings."
Earlier in 2022, $7.4 billion San Francisco-based fintech Carta acquired UK startups Vauban and Capdesk while Robinhood agreed a deal to buy London-based crypto player Ziglu after canning its own UK expansion.
Bux Neobrokers | 2022-12-05T07:38:01Z | www.businessinsider.com | Neobrokerage Startup Bux Acquires Part of Spanish Rival Ninety Nine | https://www.businessinsider.com/neobrokerage-startup-bux-acquires-part-of-spanish-rival-ninety-nine-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/neobrokerage-startup-bux-acquires-part-of-spanish-rival-ninety-nine-2022-12 |
Courtesy Jen Glantz
Jen Glantz is an entrepreneur who runs social-media accounts, a podcast, and a newsletter.
She started monetizing her following, and brand deals now make up 20% of her income.
Reaching out to brands is her first step, and she posts free content to get their attention.
I'm an entrepreneur, and for the past 10 years, I've been sharing the details of my life on the internet. I started out as a blogger and eventually began to use social media, a podcast, and an email newsletter as ways to grow my customer base and expand the reach of my personal brand.
But it wasn't until last year that I decided I wanted to start monetizing these different content streams by working with brand partners and sponsors.
After years of slowly building my audience, I realized that I was reaching close to 100,000 people a month on all of my platforms and could start doing deals with brands who wanted access to the people who followed me. I started off by building a media kit using a free template on Canva, which showcased what platforms I have, the types of content I create, and the numbers that support each vertical — from follower count to my email open rate to how many listeners my podcast gets every month, and more.
After I had a media kit ready to go, I started looking for brands who wanted to work with me. Today, more than 20% of my income comes from brand sponsorships.
Without using an agent or manager, here were the three ways I found my first handful of sponsors to work with in 2021 and 2022.
1. I reached out to brands directly
The very first approach I took was to make a list of brands that I genuinely loved and used regularly. I picked skincare, jewelry, and clothing companies I'd followed for years and reached out to them directly.
After searching on LinkedIn for the name of the brand's partnership or influencer manager, I located their email using a free tool called Any Mail Finder and drafted my pitch.
Here's my email template:
I'm Jen Glantz. It's wonderful to e-meet you! I'm reaching out because I've been a fan of [brand name] for several years, relying on [name of product] to get me through [a specific use case of when I use the product].
As a social media, newsletter, and podcast content creator in the wedding space, I'd love to work with [brand name] on a partnership to spread the word about your unique and incredible products.
I'm sharing my media kit with you today and hope we can chat more about working together this season.
While I only heard back from one of the three brands I initially pitched, I was able to close a small brand deal with a sunscreen company I use regularly called Solara to post an ad in my newsletter and do a TikTok video about its newest product launch. It helped me secure my first well-known brand partnership that can help lead to more deals in the future.
2. I used an influencer-management platform
One passive way that I've been able to land new brand deals is by using free influencer and creator-management platforms. These platforms let you create a profile, where you can share details about your content-creation verticals (social-media channels, newsletter, or podcasts) as well as your pricing for brand deals based on what kind of content you're open to creating or the types of ads you'll run. After you list that information, brands from beauty to fashion, kitchen supplies, and more can contact you if they believe you're a good fit for them.
You can also use these platforms to search for brands interested in working with content creators and pitch them directly on the platform. While these platforms are free to use, some might take a fee once you book a deal with a brand, while others charge the brand and not the creator.
For social-media brand deals, I use AspireIQ and Tinysponsor, and for newsletter and podcast ad deals I use Swapstack.
3. I post for free and tag brands
If there's a brand that I really want to work with and they haven't responded to my email pitch, I start creating content for free and tag them in my posts. I'll share my favorite products or items from them in an Instagram story, mention them in a TikTok video, send the brand account a DM, or talk about them in my newsletter.
The hope is that when they see these mentions and maybe even reach out to work together, I have a portfolio of content I can share with them about their product or service. This shows the brand your true commitment and also gives them a taste of the kind of content you can create for them.
Be sure to tag the brand in your posts, use their branded hashtags, and use any additional hashtags that are relevant to them. You can often find these hashtags by looking at the ones the brand has used in recent posts. While I don't advise creators to work for free, doing this occasionally to get on a brand's radar might be a good move, especially when starting out.
I recently did this with a skincare company that I really liked and that hadn't responded to two pitch emails I'd sent. Showing them what I'd created for free helped me enter the negotiation phase, and we're in talks about doing a 2023 partnership.
BI-freelancer Influencer Entrepreneurs | 2022-12-05T10:40:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | 3 Ways I Secured My First Brand Deals As an Entrepreneur | https://www.businessinsider.com/ways-got-first-brand-deals-sponsorships-podcast-social-entrepreneur-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ways-got-first-brand-deals-sponsorships-podcast-social-entrepreneur-2022-12 |
Twitter cofounder Biz Stone appears to slam Elon Musk over 'gross' release of 'Twitter files,' saying he's not a serious person
Biz Stone cofounded Twitter among other companies.
Twitter cofounder Biz Stone appeared to criticize the platform's new owner, Elon Musk.
Last week, some internal Twitter emails were leaked online by journalist Matt Taibbi.
In an apparent reference to Musk, following the leaks, Stone said he was "not a serious person."
Biz Stone, one of Twitter's cofounders, appeared to slam the company's new owner Elon Musk on Saturday.
Some of his comments were a reference to the recently leaked "Twitter Files," which were billed as a revelation about how the platform's content-moderation practices worked.
Resharing one of Musk's tweets about his plans for more "Twitter files," Stone simply wrote: "Gross."
Musk originally teased the release of the so-called "Twitter Files" last week, claiming they would show "free speech suppression." Some of the documents were shared on Twitter by Matt Taibbi, an author and journalist who writes the Substack newsletter TK News.
One of the revelations focused on internal Twitter communications about the controversial suppression of a news story concerning Hunter Biden's laptop.
Insider's Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert reported that the files showed the 2020 Biden presidential campaign asked Twitter to remove posts, including nude photos of Hunter Biden, which were already in violation of its revenge porn policy.
In an apparent reference to Musk, Stone later tweeted: "He's not a serious person. He does things for sport that have serious consequences for real people."
Responding to a user's tweet that accused Musk of being reckless, Stone wrote: "It's heartbreaking. All the world events we didn't make public to protect brave people. Also, on the Trump poll, "The people have spoken!" How many Russians voted? It's global."
He added: "That's not what we made it for."
Representatives for Musk and Stone did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Elon Musk Biz Stone Twitter | 2022-12-05T11:28:48Z | www.businessinsider.com | Twitter Cofounder Appears to Slam Musk: 'He's Not a Serious Person.' | https://www.businessinsider.com/biz-stone-twitter-elon-musk-founder-gross-twitter-files-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/biz-stone-twitter-elon-musk-founder-gross-twitter-files-2022-12 |
The pandemic was a crisis that fueled interest in novel drug discovery methods like AI. These 14 startups are predicted by investors to be future winners.
An AstraZeneca scientist at the pharma's research lab in Sweden.
Drug discovery startups bagged a record $5.5 billion globally in 2021, per Dealroom data.
Startups are innovating ways to speed up the expensive and time-consuming process of drug discovery.
Insider asked investors for the startups that are set to take off. Here's what they said.
Drug discovery, a process which aims to develop new medications and therapeutics, has long been a costly and time-consuming process. The return on impact, however, is projected to be high.
Investor appetite peaked as the pandemic highlighted the need for efficient approaches to drug discovery, from shorter clinical trial times to quicker avenues to mass distribution. In 2021 alone, venture capitalists churned a record $5.5 billion into drug-discovery startups, per Dealroom data.
Amid the global tech downturn that's dented startup valuations and curbed investor cash flow into the health and biotech sector, drug discovery has been relatively insulated compared to its counterparts in women's health or online pharmacies, according to Dealroom data.
Startups in the sector can be divided into two primary buckets, said Jaivir Pall, cofounder of health and biotech startup accelerator Harbr.
"The first is the AI-based drug discovery side, which is very data driven, and it's a very heavy process where they can repurpose drugs," he told Insider. "The second is driven biologically through basic science."
The original drug-discovery process required scientists to design molecules which can identify 'targets' — any biological molecules that contribute to the disease. But it's a long-drawn process that requires a hefty financial commitment, often spanning years.
With the introduction of AI in drug discovery, scientists have been able to make use of extensive datasets to better predict trial outcomes, speed up the process, and remove subjective bias when identifying targets.
While the AI-driven approach has matured past the infant stages since its introduction, no drug candidates have passed the clinical trials stage with the use of AI technology yet. Still, the technology is being picked up to accelerate the wider drug discovery pipeline — from identifying the most suitable patients for a drug, to increasing the efficiency of the drug manufacturing process, according to Sifted.
Consensus is mixed, but industry experts think that there are still around five to nine years before we see AI's role peak in drug discovery, per Pharmaceutical Technology.
Omar Daniel, cofounder of Harbr, thinks that the biggest winners will be the startups that create their own datasets "that can be leveraged to give different insights to help with their drug discovery."
Daniel noted that healthtech VCs are particularly keen to back drug discovery startups that have a sound network of advisors.
"You have to ensure the people in the team can move things at a good pace. People in the scientific advisory board need to validate the science," he added. "Often it's cutting-edge."
The drug discovery process is also cost intensive, and early-stage investors are often "staked on companies to be able to go out and raise money" — so they look at the ability of the companies to raise larger rounds in the future, Daniel told Insider.
An often overlooked opportunity for VCs to tap into talent is to go to university events, where there's a lot of spinout activity.
While Daniel and Pall noted that there's certain challenges to overcome— from a regulatory landscape that can be challenging to engage with, to nailing experiment reproducibility — there's equal opportunities for the sector to expand.
"There will be lots of players out there and we'll probably see a lot of aggregation in the coming years," Daniel told Insider.
We asked investors with biotech expertise for the startups that are set to take off. Here's what they said, listed in alphabetical order.
CellVoyant's team is formed of academics across the globe
Backers: Air Street Capital
What it does: CellVoyant is using AI to create cell-based therapies, specifically for chronic diseases.
Its AI technology is deployed for live cell imaging, which helps scientists in the process of stem cell differentiation — turning a stem cell into a more specialized type of cell. In turn, human cells can be manufactured at scale, more accurately.
"The result is a closed-loop, data-driven Google Maps-like navigation system for scalable precision cell and tissue engineering," said Uzma Choudry, biotech investor at Octopus Ventures.
It's also tapping into the growing cell therapeutics market, which "allows personalized therapy through activating and harnessing the patient's own cells and immune system," she added.
Coding.bio uses AI and computation for cell therapy
The CodingBio founding team.
CodingBio
Backers: BoxOne Ventures, Milad Alucozai
What it does: Oxford-based Coding.bio uses AI and synthetic biology to design new CARSs — chimeric antigen receptors that are collected using T cells and re-engineered to fight cancer.
The startup uses machine learning to speed up its discovery process, which it combines with its screening platform so it can find the best CARs to power cell therapy.
"Currently we are at the intersection of knowing how to utilize omics data (the breadth of data which spans a range of biological molecules) and the application and possibilities of CARs in respect to the cell therapy boom to provide curative therapeutics to as many patients as possible," Albion VC partner Christoph Ruedig told Insider.
Haya Therapeutics is based in Switzerland
Backers: Apollo Health Ventures, Bernina BioInvest, Schroders Capital, Broadview Ventures
What it does: Swiss startup Haya Therapeutics is focusing on how RNA — a molecule that's key in coding and decoding genes — can be used to drive treatments for serious health conditions from cancer to heart disease.
Its technology focuses on how the 'dark matter' in human genes, which includes the tissues and the cell-based drivers behind these diseases, can be used to map targets and drug candidates.
"The company has completed their pre-clinical studies and is preparing to enter clinical trial phase for FIM," said Rabab Nasrallah, PhD, investment specialist at Earlybird Health.
It's set to take off as "it has significant potential in the targeted therapy space for disease with high unmet need — fibrosis," she added.
Healx is speeding up the drug-discovery process for rare diseases
Healx founders Dr. Tim Guilliams and Dr. David Brown.
Healx
Backers: Atomico, Balderton Capital, Btov Partners, Intel Capital
What it does: Cambridge-based Healx — which was cofounded by the inventor of Viagra, Dr David Brown — is taking a different approach to AI-driven drug discovery.
The startup applies an algorithm to existing treatments for rare diseases, and finds alternative applications of drug treatments that are already in use.
Since these drugs have already secured regulatory approval, bringing them to market for alternative uses is a quicker process. As opposed to many of its competitors in the AI drug discovery space, Healx is focusing on rare genetic diseases, cofounder and CEO Dr. Tim Guilliams told TechCrunch.
As many of these diseases have a small patient size, finding new treatments from scratch is less economically viable when tailored to these cases. Healx's model is a more efficient and cost-effective way of bringing these treatments to market, Guillams added.
The startup has raised around $71 million to date, per PitchBook.
"Healx has been gaining a lot of traction in the market and the timing of the field is in their favor" as a result of "the accelerating demand for their kind of ability with computational power and use of AI in a clear and concise way (or as much as we can at the moment)," Ruedig told Insider.
ImCheck Therapeutics is pioneering development in a fast-growing area of cancer research
ImCheck Therapeutics CEO Pierre d'Epenoux.
ImCheck Therapeutics
Backers: Earlybird Venture Capital, Andera Partners, Eurazeo, EQT Ventures
What it does: Based in Marseilles, France, ImCheck Therapeutics raised $103 million in Series C funding in June 2022 to power its research into cancer therapy.
The startup is developing antibodies used to treat cancer and other immune-related conditions. Specifically, it uses a key immune cell — gamma-delta T cell, which is tipped to be a promising breakout basis for cancer therapies according to biotech investors — as a basis for its treatment.
Using gamma-delta T cells can be expensive, and the process by which it treats tumors is not refined. To counter this, ImCheck applies a cheaper antibody drug to these cells, to activate T cells in the body, as Insider previously reported.
Rabab Nasrallah, PhD, investment specialist at Earlybird Health, which invested in the startup's Series C, told Insider that the startup is poised to take off because of its development of an antibody therapy which "drives immunomodulation by targeting gamma-delta T cells".
Kuano is analyzing enzyme reactions using quantum technology
Vid Stojevic, cofounder and CEO of Kuano.
Kuano
Backers: AI Seed Fund, Innovate UK, Meltwind, Cambridge Angels
What it does: London-based Kuano is combining AI with quantum computing in a bid to refine its understanding of drug structures, and its identification of new therapeutics.
A lot of traditional drug designs don't take enzyme reactions — which are affected by quantum mechanics — into account.
The startup has designed a 'Quantum Lens' to better understand these reactions, so that they can be factored in as templates for effective drugs.
"Enzyme inhibitors account for 40% of all FDA approved drugs, yet it only represents 20% of potential enzyme targets," said Ala Alenazi, principal on the Ascension Life Fund. "Kuano is the first platform in the world that can predict transition state dynamics and design drugs against them."
Labstep is building a library of experimental procedures
Jake Schofield, CEO of Labstep.
Labstep
Launched: 2015 (founded in 2013)
Backers: Seedcamp, Oxford Accelerator
What it does: London-based Labstep is a digital platform which helps scientists to record experimental procedures, which they can build into a library on the company's app.
This can include a timeline of the experiment, as well as details about its procedure, in a bid to move away from the "archaic way in which science experiments are recorded," according to cofounder and CEO Jake Schofield.
Its software also helps to increase experiment reproducibility, from 48% to 83%, which in turn abets the drug discovery process, said biotech accelerator Harbr's founder Omar Daniel, who put the startup forward. Its technology provides drug discovery companies such as Exscientia with the infrastructure to collect and collaborate on experiments.
"Labstep captures data in real time, stopping the three-week average delay in retroactive writeup of experiments," added Daniel. "It's a problem that competitors are not solving."
Ladder Therapeutics is backed by Y Combinator
Rabia Khan, founder and CEO of Ladder Therapeutics.
Ladder Tx.
Backers: Y Combinator, Hummingbird Ventures
What it does: Ladder Therapeutics is taking a novel approach by combining machine learning and RNA biology, which examines the molecules that hold and carry genetic information, to open up new avenues for drug discovery.
While much of drug discovery has centered on working with proteins, Ladder Therapeutics targets RNA to help increase "the chances of identifying druggable targets and thereby improving phase-2 clinical trial success," said Uzma Choudry, biotech investor at Octopus Ventures.
Based in Canada, the startup is tapping into Europe's evolving tech bio landscape by "working on key initiatives to help position Europe as a leader in this space," added Choudry.
The startup will soon rebrand as Serna Bio, and aims to "expand the target universe for small molecule drugs and aiming to treat the complex diseases," founder and CEO Rabia Khan told Insider.
Molecule aims to be a Web3 marketplace for pharma research
The cofounders of Molecule.
Molecule.
Backers: Backed VC, Boost VC, Healthspan Capital, Speedinvest
What it does: Based in Switzerland, Molecule wants to establish a more collaborative platform through which scientific research and development processes can be digitized.
It bills itself as a "Web3 marketplace for research-related IP" and acts as an avenue to connect academics and biotech researchers.
The startup is "decentralizing access to R&D funding and creating collaborative ecosystems connecting academics and biotech companies" — while also "enabling patient, researcher, and investor communities to govern and own research-related IP," said Estelle Botbol, health investor at Speedinvest.
Often, academia can be biased towards more prestigious institutions when granting funding, which in turn can hinder the level of research conducted within these respective institutions. Molecule wants to close the gap through its platform by enabling direct investment into research teams.
The hope is that this will help bring products to market more quickly, and create a more equitable process for scientists. In July 2022, the startup raised a $12.7 million seed round led by Northpond Ventures.
By "turning IP and its development into a liquid and easily investable asset, lowering costs and risks for current stakeholders", the startup "is delivering on its mission to bring novel therapeutics to patients," Botbol added.
Pangea Botanica is building a nature-based drug discovery platform
Lars Wilde, cofounder of Pangea Botanica.
Pangea Botanica
Backers: Undisclosed
What it does: UK-based Pangea Botanica is tapping into existing natural remedies to power its drug discovery research.
Some 50% of approved drugs stem from natural products, said Estelle Botbol, health investor at Speedinvest, but "they also present challenges in screening, isolation, and manufacturing which contributed to a decline in their pursuit by the pharma industry."
Indigenous communities have also been using natural remedies for much of their history, and academic studies have highlighted the untapped power in, and pharmacological advances made from exploring these natural ecosystems.
Pangea is making use of this by developing an in-house AI discovery engine, in the hopes that it will identify successful nature-based treatments more efficiently.
The startup "is on track to unlock nature's therapeutic potential at scale," added Botbol.
Qubit is accelerating drug discovery through quantum physics
Robert Marino, CEO of Qubit.
Backers: EIT Health, Quantonation, Omnes Capital
What it does: French startup Qubit aims to cut the cost and time usually required in drug development trials at the pre-clinical stage.
It works at a quantum level, by designing potential drug treatments atom by atom. Its in-house modelling system — Atlas — then creates digital twins of these molecules, to analyze its effectiveness in the real world, per FinSMEs. The technology taps into the capabilities of supercomputers, and aims to find the safest drug candidate in a short space of time.
Its technology has been key in discovering a new therapeutic for Covid-19, within six months.
The startup raised $16 million from a host of deep tech investors such as Quantonation, Xange, and Omnes Capital in June 2022. It also has a professional partnership with Nvidia and AWS.
"Qubit is accelerating drug molecule simulation and modeling with hybrid quantum computing, to reduce time and investment needed to identify promising treatments in oncology, inflammatory diseases, and antivirals," an Nvidia representative told Insider.
Relation Therapeutics is using machine learning to examine genomics data
The Relation Therapeutics team.
Backers: OMERS Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Firstminute capital
What it does: London-based Relation uses machine learning to analyze cells. It wants to better understand the biology behind drug discovery, which is often gridlocked by a lack of understanding of the biological factors behind diseases.
The startup tackles this through its active graph machine learning platform, aiming to give scientists a better understanding of how genes interact with drugs. Its technology also creates genomics data, according to AI Techpark, which is integrated into the machine learning systems, and can be used to request new experiments to better hone its predictive insights.
It's currently working with semiconductor giant Nvidia, and has access to its supercomputer technology.
"Relation Therapeutics uses graph-based recommender system technologies to reveal causal relationships in diseases," a representative from Nvidia said. "Its platform can identify the areas of biology to focus on for drug discovery and accelerate research efforts for diseases that have not yet been widely studied."
Tailor Bio is using AI to develop biomarkers for cancer
Jason Yip, cofounder at Tailor Bio
Jason Yip
Backers: Illumina Accelerator, Innovate UK
What it does: Tailor Bio, based in Cambridge, UK, is using an AI-driven approach to create new diagnostic tools for cancer patient care.
The startup won a £650,000 grant from Innovate UK, which it will use towards its diagnostic test for a treatment for ovarian cancer, according to Business Weekly.
Around 50% of patients who undergo treatment for ovarian cancer don't benefit from the chemotherapy drug that's prescribed to patients. Tailor Bio's research aims to identify which patients are suited to this treatment.
In addition to this, the startup is using its AI platform to "identify specific mechanisms of action for Chromosomal Instability (CIN) tumors, which account for 80% of tumours," said Ascension Life Fund investor Ala Alenazi.
Vivan Therapeutics is a spinout from Mount Sinai, New York
Laura Towart, founder of Vivan Therapeutics
Vivan Therapeutics
Backers: Innovate UK, Reflect Ventures
What it does: UK-based Vivan Therapeutics is a spinout from Mount Sinai New York, pioneering a personalized drug discovery process wherein it replicates genetic profiles of patients through a fruit fly avatar.
Fruit flies are cheaper and more efficient than mice, and can be used to screen for FDA-approved drug combinations that best suit the patient.
The hope is to create a database of tested drug combinations and gene profiles based on the trials conducted on the fruit flies, so that patients can be matched with a treatment or drug quicker, according to WIRED.
"It's better performing than the standard of care for each patient. In doing this they discover novel combinations," said Harbr's Omar Daniel. "They also offer this technology to other pharma companies for their R&D."
Features Biotech | 2022-12-05T11:28:50Z | www.businessinsider.com | Top AI Drug-Discovery Startups According to Investors | https://www.businessinsider.com/drug-discovery-startups-set-to-take-off-top-investors-2022-11 | https://www.businessinsider.com/drug-discovery-startups-set-to-take-off-top-investors-2022-11 |
There is one troubling option for Elon Musk to try and keep Twitter afloat: siphoning cash from Tesla.
Vicki Bryan
If this happened, Tesla investors may or may not know how much it supports Twitter. Unlike Tesla's 2016 takeover of SolarCity, which was done with reasonable transparency, Tesla set up its Shanghai operations in 2019 as an unrestricted subsidiary with very limited visibility. Because of this arrangement, Tesla's investors only get a piecemeal snapshot of the China business' contributions to the overall company. Tesla has been able to use this obscurity to mask the fact that its China operations generate most if not all the company's total profits and cash flow while contributing less than 30% of total revenue—implying Tesla's US operations are still largely unprofitable after 18 years. | 2022-12-05T11:28:50Z | www.businessinsider.com | How Elon Musk Could Use Money From Tesla to Prop up Twitter | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-elon-musk-could-use-tesla-money-prop-up-twitter-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-elon-musk-could-use-tesla-money-prop-up-twitter-2022-12 |
Good morning, Opening Bell crew. Phil Rosen here, reporting from New York.
If you take anything away from today's newsletter, let it be this: As of today, Russian oil faces a new European Union embargo, as well as a price cap.
Scroll down for details.
1. EU leaders have been debating a price cap for months, but on Friday agreed to a $60-a-barrel level. That paved the way for the Group of Seven to launch the unprecedented measure by the December 5 deadline (that is, today).
As Insider's Brian Evans writes, the idea behind a price cap is to reduce Moscow's export revenues, thereby limiting President Vladimir Putin's ability to fund his war on Ukraine, while still keeping as much Russian oil flowing through global markets as possible.
Keeping those barrels on the market, the thinking goes, will prevent a crash in the world's crude supply, and stave off a price spike.
Still, experts have warned that it's possible the whole initiative falls flat.
Take China and India, the two biggest buyers of Russian crude. They haven't agreed to participate in the price cap, and are already getting steep crude discounts from Moscow.
Oil historian Gregory Brew said the two nations, among other buyers in Asia, won't feel obligated to commit to the cap.
"What it suggests is that Russian buyers are able to negotiate very favorable terms from Russian oil companies, who have to sell in order to maintain operations," Brew told me on a recent phone call.
But even if those major customers keep buying, Russia will have to figure out what to do with the 2.4 million barrels of crude per day that once flowed to the EU.
Some analysts predict Russian oil exports could drop by 1 million barrels per day, or about 20% of its seaborne volume.
To Energy Aspects' senior oil analyst Livia Gallarati, the price cap idea may prove moot because Moscow has cautioned for months that it will cease trade with countries that adhere to the ceiling.
She told me over a video call from London that, ultimately, oil markets probably won't react dramatically in either direction.
"If [Russia] kept selling at the level at which they're selling today, then no countries actually need to officially sign up to the price cap because they're getting that discount anyway," Gallarati said.
What do you think is the most likely outcome of the new sanctions on Russian oil?
2. US stock futures fall early Monday, as investors await further economic data from the Institute for Supply Management later today. Meanwhile, Asia shares rose after China announced an easing of COVID measures. Here are the latest market moves.
3. Earnings on deck: Wavestone SA, Meta Materials Inc, and more, all reporting.
4. BMO Capital Markets' chief strategist said stocks are ready for a multi-year recovery starting in 2023. He does expect a recession in the early stages of the year, but after that expects a rebound in US markets. These are the 11 stocks that he said look attractive right now.
5. China's zero-COVID policies are top of mind for investors. How Beijing decides to move forward in the coming months could influence how much money is flowing in and out of the world's second biggest economy. Here's what investors are watching as policymakers in Beijing signal a willingness to loosen some restrictions.
6. Bank of America said it's time for investors to sell any rally in stocks as job losses are about to rattle markets in 2023. Friday's nonfarm payrolls data came in hotter than expected, which has opened the door for more aggressive policy from the Federal Reserve. That means, just as inflation did in 2022, rising unemployment will shock indexes in 2023.
7. Veteran strategist Ed Yardeni expects a 60% chance of a soft landing for the US economy in 2023. In an interview with Insider, the economist broke down his market forecasts for the new year — and shared why the inverted yield curve may not be as serious a recession signal compared to previous downturns. Read the interview here.
8. This real-estate investor owns 22 units and started buying up properties during an economic downturn. In the grand scheme of things, according to Dana Bull, today's interest rates are "not that high." She gave her top advice for investors heading into the new year.
9. Here's how to survive a market that's underestimating the damage from a recession. According to BlackRock, there's a certain way to position in stocks, bonds, and credit next year — and doing so could help investors profit on the other side of a downturn.
Bitcoin price 05/12/2022
10. Crypto bull Mike Novogratz backed off his call for bitcoin to hit $500,000 in five years. He blamed the Fed's aggressive monetary policy tightening, and said now it will take longer than expected for the token to reach the half-a-million threshold. Bitcoin has dropped roughly 64% this year. | 2022-12-05T11:29:25Z | www.businessinsider.com | Russian Oil Just Got Hit With Sanctions and a Price Cap: What to Know | https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-oil-sanctions-price-cap-energy-markets-moscow-europe-sanctions-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-oil-sanctions-price-cap-energy-markets-moscow-europe-sanctions-2022-12 |
A Russian drone is seen during an airstrike on Kyiv, Ukraine, October 17, 2022.
Russia has stopped using Iranian-made suicide drones due to cold weather, a Ukrainian official said.
He said that the drones were made of plastic and other materials that can't deal with frost.
Russia has used the unmanned aircraft to knock out power infrastructure across Ukraine.
Yevgeny Silkin, of the Joint Forces Command for Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that Russia had stopped using the Iranian drones, which are made of plastic and other materials that are not frost resistant, according to Ukrainian news agency UNIAN.
The outlet said that the drones have not been used in Ukraine since November 17, which was also the first day that it snowed in Ukraine this year.
Winters in Ukraine can be cold, with mean temperatures often below freezing between December and March.
Russia started to use the Iranian drones in October, as part of a new playbook that targeted power distribution and other critical infrastructure from afar. Ukrainian civilians have also been killed by drone strikes.
A composite image showing an Iranian drone in the sky and the aftermath of a strike on Kyiv on October 17, 2022.
YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images; Insider
Multiple reports and Western intelligence assessments have contradicted this.
The UK, US, and EU have put sanctions on the drone manufacturer and some individuals over supplying the weaponry to Russia.
CNN reported in November that Iran was preparing to send more weapons to Ukraine, including short range ballistic missiles. And it reported that Iran and Russia had reached an agreement for Russia to start producing the drones itself.
The UK's ministry of defense said on November 23 that Russia was likely running out of the drones, but that it could purchase more.
Multiple reports have also said that Iran has been training Russia on how to use the drones and other weapons.
On December 3rd, Avril Haines, the US National Intelligence Director, said that winter conditions are expected to slow the war, and that there was already a "reduced tempo."
News UK Iran Russia | 2022-12-05T12:12:19Z | www.businessinsider.com | Russia Stopped Using Iran Suicide Drones Due to Cold Weather: Ukraine | https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-stopped-using-iran-suicide-drones-dont-work-cold-ukraine-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-stopped-using-iran-suicide-drones-dont-work-cold-ukraine-2022-12 |
Welcome back! It's Dan DeFrancesco checking in from NYC. Honestly, I didn't even want the US to win such a controversial World Cup.
Today we've got stories on Ken Griffin's extravaganza in Disney World, how SBF tried to gain a political influence, and why the rise of private debt is a real concern.
But first, I've got bad news.
A man pauses outside of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on January 15, 2016 in New York City.
1. Bummer season.
Let's not sugarcoat it: Bonus season is going to suck.
After Wall Street's banner 2021, bonuses are expected to come back to Earth like a lead balloon.
While they aren't internally announced and paid until early next year, firms are wrapping up discussions about the size of bonus pools that divisions will be able to disperse from. And for many firms, the pools are being resized from Olympic to kiddie.
A November report from compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates painted a stark picture of what bankers should expected to get paid, with some pools getting cut as much as 45% compared to 2021.
One month later the picture hasn't gotten any prettier. The Financial Times reported Friday that JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America are considering cutting bonus pools within M&A and IPO teams by 30%.
While none of this is surprising — the market for deals and public debuts has been about as active as FTX's risk-management team — it doesn't make any of this easier for bankers. Seeing a significant chunk of your overall comp cut by nearly a third is a tough pill to swallow. How do you expect them to get a reservation at Dorsia at this rate?
Despite this being evident for a while, there is at least one group that might be surprised.
Trading has been a bright spot for many, thanks to market volatility, with some banks even generating more revenue than last year, particularly fixed-income groups that benefitted from an increase in rates. But hold off on that trip to the Maserati dealership, traders.
It turns out the deep losses in other parts of the bank might ruin the fun for the actual earners.
Take Goldman Sachs, which is reportedly preparing to cut the bonus pool for its global markets division by "a low double-digit percentage," according to Bloomberg. This comes despite expectations that the firm's annual trading revenue will beat 2021's number by 15%.
Having to sacrifice comp as a result of others lack of production? I thought this was Wall Street, not the USSR?!
It'll be interesting to see where Goldman, along with the rest of the Street, lands on its bonus-pool allocations. People moves tend to ramp up in the wake of bonus season. And while the job market is not what it once was, a profitable trader, let alone an entire team, could easily find a new home if they feel they've been penalized for another division's lack of success.
Getty Images for Anheuser-Busch
2. Everyone but the banks are willing to lend money in a trend that surely won't backfire. The global private-debt market has swelled to $1.2 trillion as pension funds, college endowments, and fund managers look to make loans. But as a recession looms, things can get tricky. Click here to learn more.
3. Ken Griffin. Coldplay. Disney World. Carly Rae Jepsen. Diplo. What do these five things have in common? They're all part of the blowout 20th-anniversary celebration for Griffin's Citadel Securities. Read more about the all-inclusive weekend Griffin organized for his employees.
4. Inside SBF's political push. A key part of Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto empire was the strides he was making in Washington via big campaign contributions and lavish parties. Read Insider's deep dive on how he looked to gain influence in the nation's capital.
5. Investors aren't happy with tech companies giving out stock like it's candy. Stock-based compensation was an easy way to attract and retain talent when things were going good. But amid a market downturn, investors are raising concerns. Here's why.
6. Crypto turns to Madison Avenue. Firms like Binance, Grayscale, and OKX are launching marketing campaigns as the industry looks to bounce back in the wake of the FTX debacle. More on how crypto firms are hoping ads can quell trust concerns.
7. The post-Dalio era at Bridgewater Associates is off to a rough start. The world's largest hedge fund, which this fall saw its founder Ray Dalio step aside, has erased most of this year's returns over the past few months, Bloomberg reports. Inside Bridgewater's difficult two-month stretch.
8. BNY Mellon's CEO calls for crypto "reset." In an opinion piece penned for the Financial Times, Robin Vince details how crypto should move forward in the wake of FTX. I wonder if BNY Mellon's own crypto business will happen to be a key piece of this suggested reset? Read more here.
9. A former FTX executive is already on the hunt for funding for a new crypto startup. Brett Harrison, the former president of FTX's US arm, is raising money for a startup focused on crypto trading software, The Information reports. This is what we know about the raise.
10. These pictures of deep-sea animals are nightmare fuel. Check out the bizarre animals scientists recently discovered on the recesses of the Indian Ocean floor. Warning: It ain't pretty. | 2022-12-05T13:00:06Z | www.businessinsider.com | Banker Bonus Outlook Is Dire Even for the Businesses That Did Well | https://www.businessinsider.com/banker-bonuses-outlook-trading-investment-banking-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/banker-bonuses-outlook-trading-investment-banking-2022-12 |
Rep. Waters had previously invited Bankman-Fried to participate in a hearing on December 13.
Sam Bankman-Fried says he'll testify when he's finished "learning and reviewing what happened."
Bankman-Fried addressed his tweet to Rep. Maxine Waters and the US House Committee on Financial Services.
Sam Bankman-Fried says he'll testify before the US House Committee on Financial Services when he's "finished learning and reviewing what happened," following the implosion of his crypto empire.
Bankman-Fried is facing investigations in the US and the Bahamas after he was accused of misusing FTX customer funds to prop up the trading firm Alameda Research, which Bankman-Fried also owned.
In a tweet addressed to US Rep. Maxine Waters and the House Committee on Financial Services, the disgraced crypto boss said on Sunday: "Once I have finished learning and reviewing what happened, I would feel like it was my duty to appear before the committee and explain. I'm not sure that will happen by the 13th. But when it does, I will testify."
Representatives for FTX did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal working hours. The company's new CEO, John Ray III, has said that Bankman-Fried no longer speaks for the company.
Bankman-Fried has embarked on a media apology tour in the last few weeks.
The FTX co-founder has been giving interviews to publications making various comments about the collapse of FTX, including that he felt his "biggest" mistake was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Bankman-Fried also told Bloomberg last week that billions of dollars customers wired to Alameda Research were gone because the companies were spending more than they made. | 2022-12-05T13:00:10Z | www.businessinsider.com | SBF Says He'll Testify When He's 'Finished Learning and Reviewing' | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-testify-ftx-house-committee-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bankman-fried-testify-ftx-house-committee-2022-12 |
Why are lenders offering 'buy now, refinance for free later' mortgages?
How do these mortgages work?
Benefits of 'buy now, refinance later'
Pitfalls to watch out for
What you should know about the 'buy now, refinance for free later' deals some mortgage lenders are offering
A "buy now, refinance for free later" mortgage could potentially save borrowers thousands of dollars.
More lenders are offering "buy now, refinance for free later" mortgage deals to attract new borrowers.
If rates go down in a few years, you could potentially lower your monthly mortgage payment with no out-of-pocket costs.
Some lenders offer better deals than others, so be sure to read the fine print.
As mortgage rates have skyrocketed and the pool of buyers willing to take on decades-high rates has shrunk, mortgage lenders are looking for new and innovative ways to attract borrowers.
An increasing number of lenders are now offering a new type of deal on their mortgages where home shoppers can buy a house now at current rates, then refinance for free when rates drop. While this can help borrowers lower their monthly payments without having to spend thousands of dollars on refinance closing costs, not all of these deals are equal, and there are some pitfalls to watch out for.
So how exactly do these BOGO-style mortgage deals work, and are there any downside to them? Here's everything you need to know.
"There's really two aspects of this. One is to unlock buyers who are on the sidelines right now," says Dan Richards, executive vice president of Flyhomes Mortgage, a Seattle-based mortgage lender that's releasing its own "buy now, refinance for free later" product in January. "Secondly, it endears these borrowers to become long-term customers of Flyhomes."
Mortgage rates have increased by more than three percentage points in 2022, hurting affordability and pushing many buyers out of the market. The median monthly mortgage payment for conventional loan applicants in October was $2,047. A year ago, it was $1,431, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Because of how expensive it's become to get a mortgage, existing home sales are down 28.4% year-over-year, the National Association of Realtors reported in November. This has mortgage lenders struggling to find potential customers. Promising a free refinance down the road can help nudge hesitant buyers back onto the market.
With a "buy now, refinance later" deal, the lender agrees to waive or pay for some or all of the borrower's refinance closing costs. Some lenders only waive their own lender fees with these deals, while others will also cover third-party costs, such as appraisal fees. Some may simply roll your closing costs into the loan amount.
In addition to Flyhomes' soon-to-be-launched deal, which covers all closing costs, including third-party fees, a few other lenders have joined in the trend. Guild Mortgage has its Payment Protection Program, which guarantees a refinance with no lender fees. Better's Buying Guarantee will cover the cost of refinancing with up to $3,500 in lender credits to cover third-party costs (Better doesn't charge any lender fees), and Amplify Credit Union is offering a refinance deal with "zero costs or appraisal fees," according to its website.
Keep in mind that to take advantage of a "buy now, refinance later" deal, you'll need to refinance with the same lender you got your original mortgage with. You may need to wait at least six months before you're eligible to refinance.
Provided they meet the requirements to get a loan, borrowers always have the option to refinance when rates drop, so a high rate isn't necessarily permanent. But refinancing isn't free — often, it can cost at least a couple thousand dollars.
Depending on the lender and average closing costs in their area, a "buy now, refinance later" deal could save borrowers a lot of money, both at closing and each month with a lower monthly mortgage payment.
Though it's impossible to know exactly where mortgage rates will be in the coming years, Richards says that this type of deal is beneficial no matter how rates trend.
"If rates continue to go up, you won from that standpoint because you've locked in a relatively lower rate if rates continue to go up, and you're in a home, right?" Richards says. "If they go down from here, it's a win. Because you can come back and refinance at no cost."
Even if rates stay flat, borrowers still benefit because they're building equity in their home through price appreciation, he adds.
One major potential pitfall is that every lender has different rules for how their "buy now, refinance later" products work. If you're considering one, be sure to read the fine print.
Some lenders, for example, may use unclear language to make it sound like they're covering all your costs, when in reality you still have to pay third-party fees, or the closing costs are being rolled into your loan balance. When closing costs are rolled into the loan, it saves you money up front, but you're covering that cash with the loan, meaning you'll have to pay it back with interest.
You should also pay attention to the lender's deadline for refinancing. Guild says that borrowers have until December 2025 to get their lender-fee-free refinance, while Flyhomes doesn't have a deadline.
If the lender only offers a short window for you to refinance, and rates don't drop within that time frame, you'll have missed your chance.
You'll also have to work with the lender you got your original loan with, which means you'll be limited in terms of the rates available to you. If your goal with refinancing is to reduce your monthly payment as much as possible, shopping around with multiple lenders could be a better move.
Along with that, the lender offering the "buy now, refinance later" could end up charging you a slightly higher rate to help pay for the refinance. When the time comes, getting quotes from a few other lenders can help you get an idea of whether you're being charged more for your "free" refinance.
Even with a truly no-cost refinance, you'll still likely need to bring some cash to closing to prepay into the escrow account that covers your taxes and homeowners insurance.
Finally, there's the possibility that you could be ineligible for a refinance when rates drop. Home prices have started to drop somewhat, and some predictions say prices have room to fall as much as 20%. However, with housing supply at historic lows, many believe prices will only decrease slightly.
If prices do drop significantly and your home appraises for less than what you purchased it for, you likely won't qualify to refinance.
If you're considering a "buy now, refinance for free" mortgage, it's important to consider not only the specifics of the product you're considering, but the macroeconomic conditions that could affect your ability to refinance, too.
PERSONAL FINANCE A cash-out refinance helps you pocket money if your home has gained value since you bought it
PERSONAL FINANCE Before you apply for a mortgage, make sure you have these documents ready
Mortgages Mortgage Refinancing homebuying | 2022-12-05T15:14:59Z | www.businessinsider.com | Buy Now, Refinance for Free Later: How These Mortgages Work | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/buy-now-refinance-later-mortgage | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/buy-now-refinance-later-mortgage |
Do I have to pay taxes on my savings account interest?
How do I keep track of my savings account interest earnings?
Earnings from high-yield savings accounts or CDs are subject to income tax. Here's how that works
High-yield savings accounts are a great tool to help you earn more on your money — but they don't avoid taxes.
Interest on high-yield savings accounts and CDs is subject to ordinary income tax.
You will receive Form 1099-INT from any account that earned more than $10 during the year.
For most savers, the benefits of a high-yield account outweigh any minor bump in taxes.
See Personal Finance Insider's picks for the best tax software »
It's good practice to store cash for virtually any short-term goal in a high-yield savings account, where your money stays safe, accessible, and growing.
Even when interest rates are low, you can still earn more by keeping cash in a high-yield versus traditional savings account. A CD is a good option for storing money you don't need access to immediately, and may score you an even higher rate.
But the interest earned in a high-yield account — formally referred to as the APY, or annual percentage yield — isn't a total handout. Interest is actually considered income by the IRS, and it's taxed as such.
Any interest you earn is include ded in your gross income, along with any salaries, wages, and tips, and is taxed as ordinary income. This means that interest income you receive will be taxed at your marginal tax rate after all the appropriate deductions have been taken. For example, if your effective tax rate is 22%, you will pay 22% in taxes for the income received.
To be clear, you're never taxed on your contributions to any high-yield account, only on your earnings. But if you take advantage of a cash bonus offer for opening a new high-yield account, that amount is also added to your interest income total for the year since it's not your own contribution.
For most taxpayers, interest income from a high-yield account isn't enough to significantly increase tax liability, unless the amount of money held in the interest-bearing account is substantial. The benefit of keeping cash in a growing and secure account usually outweighs any minor bump in taxes.
If you earn interest throughout the year from a high-yield savings account, CD, or money-market account totaling more than $10, each bank will send you Form 1099-INT to include with your tax return at the start of tax season. Box 1 on the form will list exactly how much interest you earned in your account.
If you earned interest from more than one bank during the tax year, you'll get Form 1099-INT for each one and will need to add up the total interest and record it on Schedule 1 of Form 1040 (US Individual Income Tax Return). If your total interest income is more than $1,500 for the year, your interest income will be reported on Schedule B of Form 1040.
Since you haven't yet paid taxes on the interest income you report on your tax return, you'll owe money to the IRS if the taxes due outweigh the amount of taxes you paid throughout the tax year. However, if you're due for a refund, the taxes you owe in relation to the earned interest income will just reduce the size of your refund.
PERSONAL FINANCE Best tax software 2023: TaxAct, TaxSlayer, H&R Block, and more
PERSONAL FINANCE Should I do my own taxes or hire a pro? Here's how to decide.
PERSONAL FINANCE Federal income tax calculator: Estimate your 2022 refund, or how much you owe the IRS, in a few easy steps
PERSONAL FINANCE How long you should keep IRS records depends on how complicated your tax return is
Taxes on savings account interest Taxes High-Yield Savings | 2022-12-05T15:15:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | How Taxes Work on High-Yield Savings Account Interest | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/taxes-on-savings-account-interest-high-yield-savings | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/taxes-on-savings-account-interest-high-yield-savings |
How a work management platform can help your organization embrace digital transformation
Created by asana with Insider Studios
Courtesy of Asana
If traditional businesses are to guarantee their own longevity and avoid losing ground to sector upstarts, they must adapt their core business to market change and disruption. For many, this will mean moving on from a legacy ecosystem and investing in a new era of digital transformation. With just 11% of organizations believing their current business models will be economically viable through 2023, this has never been more critical.
Just ask global digital services company Ricoh. Founded in 1936, Ricoh has long been a pioneer for what the workplace should look like. Today, 60 years after establishing operations in the US, its legacy of customer centricity and innovation is still a part of the DNA, as the company looks to create workplace solutions for the modern world. But, as a business that wants to remain at the forefront of work innovation out in the world, Ricoh first had to be a visionary example of what's possible internally. And that meant moving on from legacy systems.
A tipping point for fundamental change
Like many businesses today, Ricoh suffered from silos across its workforce that made efficient collaboration challenging. Teams were without a consistent approach to project management and commercialization of offerings. Ricoh's team was also primarily operating in manual workflows, which resulted in uncoordinated project launches and lack of transparency across the organization.
Looking under the hood, it was clear that ongoing investment in varied technologies over the years had led to over-saturation that lacked a centralized strategy. For businesses around the world, this is a common result of a period of digital adoption that, due to COVID-19, came at pace with little to no strategy. Numerous processes and disparate technologies prevented alignment across teams, creating a reactive environment where it was difficult to collaborate, and employees spent more time switching between screens and apps.
This was seen as a moment for fundamental change, and Ricoh hired Lauren Sallata as its North American chief marketing officer to lay the groundwork for the company's modernization. That started with evolving the marketing team to reposition the company, focus on retention and acquisition of customers, and rebuild the marketing organization as a strategic function to support portfolio innovation and drive incremental, sustainable business growth.
Converting legacy systems to a modern platform
The first step was to shift to a continuous cycle of innovation with well-defined roles, processes, and an agile framework. Applying pragmatic framework methodology to establish a clear, cohesive market-driven approach, the next step was focusing on tools that would empower teams to reignite the organization's culture of innovation and ultimately drive more value for customers. Ricoh's goal of automating processes, prioritization, and communication so that everyone – including the leadership team – was more aligned on project status and outcomes required a new, centralized, modernized, and easy-to-manage MarTech stack.
To sit at the heart of this new tech stack, Ricoh needed a tool to consolidate and centralize its systems into simple and intuitive workflows. For this, Ricoh turned to Asana. A leading work management platform that helps organizations of all sizes orchestrate their work, Asana was a foundational step in working cohesively.
But like any digital transformation at scale, this one wasn't without its risks. This is why Ricoh opted for the iterative method when implementing Asana – a development process that can help reduce uncertainty, manage efficiency, and achieve results in a more flexible and dynamic way.
Ricoh also invested heavily in change management and encouraging buy-in. For the first 30 days, the onboarding process began with a core adoption team of 10 people. Then, only once the team was familiar with the platform, did it expand further. Meanwhile, Kory Vannoy, Ricoh's director of marketing process and commercialization management, created a four-month-long engagement program to help foster an "all-in" mentality at the company.
"The engagement, adoption, and executive sponsorship has been tremendous," said Vannoy. "The Asana implementation has been the springboard to unify our teams and accelerate our go-to-market process."
Key to gaining buy-in from across the organization was top-to-bottom participation and a culture that encouraged teams to imagine what's possible. Even today, the Ricoh team meets with Asana on a weekly basis to continue to optimize its use and ensure everyone is still getting what they need from the platform.
Nine months in, and Ricoh's marketing team is using Asana as its day-to-day workplace management platform. Stakeholders involved in the go-to-market launch process now have a complete view of the business activity pipeline and are equipped to understand the status of multiple tasks at any given moment. By enabling a consistent language and improved accountability, Ricoh is more efficient, effective, and collaborative than ever.
A transformation open to possibilities
Taking the first step, Ricoh's marketing team is leading the business' shift into becoming future-fit for the digital era – something that has ultimately transformed wider company culture, and the organization's vision of what the future looks like.
"Everyone is learning and adapting to our new way of managing the business," Vannoy added. "We are pleased with how far we have come and have a positive outlook on the future."
Now, Ricoh has the scaffolding to continue to grow and scale how it does business. And when it comes to Ricoh's mindset, Asana has helped open its horizons up to a new narrative where anything is possible.
Learn more about how Asana can help your team embrace a digital transformation.
This post was created by Asana with Insider Studios. | 2022-12-05T15:15:08Z | www.businessinsider.com | How a Work Management Platform Can Drive Digital Transformation | https://www.businessinsider.com/sc/how-a-work-management-platform-can-drive-digital-transformation | https://www.businessinsider.com/sc/how-a-work-management-platform-can-drive-digital-transformation |
Wall Street's biggest landlords thought they had a great hedge against inflation. But now these giant homebuyers are getting slammed by rising costs — just like the rest of us.
The exterior of a single-family home in Boise, Idaho.
Rising rents have made owning single-family rentals a good hedge against inflation.
Two Wall Street analysts are seeing warning signs for big landlords like Invitation Homes.
Raymond James downgraded its rating of Invitation Homes for the first time ever.
One of the centerpieces of big money's pandemic investment portfolios has run into trouble.
Record-low interest rates and rising housing costs made single-family rental, the strategy of buying up thousands of homes in order to rent them out, a surefire bet for Wall Street. Even as interest rates go up, big investors like JP Morgan are entering the arena. It may be more expensive to buy homes this year, but rents are going up, too.
The general consensus is that owning single-family rentals is a great hedge against inflation.
But Wall Street analysts are beginning to see cracks in the business model. In two recent research notes, investment analysts Buck Horne and Tousley Hyde at Raymond James and Keegan Carl and Andrew Rosivach at Wolfe Research recently downgraded their ratings for Invitation Homes and American Homes for Rent, the two largest single-family rental REITs.
While neither firm expects single-family rental companies to underperform the rest of the market, they see challenges including higher costs for growth, massive increases in property taxes, and growing issues with rent nonpayment and occupancy.
This is the first time Raymond James has downgraded its rating for American Homes for Rent since 2018, and the first time it has ever downgraded Invitation Homes. Raymond James now rates the two REITs as outperform, down from their previous strong buy rating, while Wolfe rated the two as peer perform, down from outperform.
Single-family rental companies face new challenges
High interest rates mean that it costs substantially more for single-family rental companies to buy up thousands of homes. As a result, they're buying a lot fewer homes. Both Invitation Homes and American Homes for Rent have said that they now expect to spend about 27% less this year on acquisitions than they had originally targeted.
Property taxes are also ballooning in lockstep with home valuations. In key markets like Texas, Florida, and Georgia, property taxes may increase by 20 to 30% year-over-year, according to Raymond James. Horne and Hyde expect well-resourced firms to fight their local tax assessors, which could make a dent in the expenses eventually but won't change the accounting in the short term.
Many homebuilders and fix-and-flippers are left with empty homes as purchases slow. They may choose to rent out the homes instead of sell them, competing with the single-family rental companies and posing a risk to their occupancy numbers.
Carl and Rosivach are tracking a slight dip in occupancy for both firms, causing the single-family rental companies to begin offering discounted rent on vacant homes.
Some Invitation Homes tenants aren't paying their rent as pandemic rent relief programs end, causing a slight increase in bad debt for the firm that was founded by Blackstone in 2012 before going public five years later. According to Carl and Rosivach, Invitation Homes' rent collection rolls are 2% lower than they were pre-pandemic, while on-time payments are 5% lower than they were pre-pandemic.
States like California, Las Vegas and Georgia are seeing eviction court backlogs of up to 200 days, which means single-family rental companies may have trouble turfing out nonpaying tenants.
Another issue for single-family rental companies: they own a lot of homes at risk for hurricane damage in areas of Florida and Texas. Take Hurricane Ian, which caused millions of dollars in damage to homes owned by both companies.
Big landlords still have the upper hand over regular homebuyers
Still, Hyde and Horne see single-family rental as "one of the best risk-adjusted investment opportunities in any residential subsector."
The main reason is that renting a single-family home is $1,200 a month cheaper, according to analysts at both firms, than the monthly cost of buying a home.
"Single family rentals remain the most affordable housing option for most U.S. consumers on a cost-per-square-foot basis," according to Hyde and Horne.
This means that many millennials, looking for the white picket fence for their young families, will be forced to keep renting instead of buy. This constant demand means that new lease and renewal rates for both companies are trending near or at 10% increases year over year.
single family rental Inflation hedge | 2022-12-05T15:15:13Z | www.businessinsider.com | Wall Street's Biggest Landlords Are Getting Slammed by Rising Costs | https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-biggest-landlords-face-rising-housing-costs-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-biggest-landlords-face-rising-housing-costs-2022-12 |
5 charts show why now is a good time to invest in bonds while they look the most attractive relative to stocks in years
Attractive Bonds.
After years of offering low returns, bond yields are up as the Fed raises interest rates.
And with stocks down big this year, fixed income is back in style.
Both UBS Asset Management and Bank of America have shared charts showing why bonds look attractive.
For years now, bond yields have been dismal.
Yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note have regularly been under 2.5% over the last decade-plus. Compare that to 11.8% average annual returns of the S&P 500 since the 1950s.
But with the Federal Reserve hiking rates to curb inflation, yields are up. For example, the 10-year yield is now near 3.5% and has gone as high as 4.2% in recent months. That's still lower than the long-term stock market return averages. But in an environment where stocks are getting hit by higher interest rates — the S&P 500 has fallen as much as 25% this year and banks like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America expect it to stay flat through 2023 — lower-risk returns from bond yields look more attractive.
In recent 2023 forecasts, strategists at Bank of America and UBS Asset Management said that the outlook for bonds looks better than that for stocks, at least for the first part of next year. That echoes what investors like Scott Minerd, the CIO of Guggenheim Partners, and Richard Saperstein, the CIO of Treasury Partners, have said in recent months.
"Bond investors are facing a unique win-win scenario right now," Saperstein said in October. "If inflation and rates continue to rise, bond prices will decline but unrealized price losses can be meaningfully offset by locked-in 4-6% income returns. If the economy slows meaningfully, inflation will likely cool, leading to falling interest rates and higher bond prices."
Below are charts that Bank of America and UBS Asset Management shared to put bonds' current attractiveness into historical context.
Yields are up
Bond yields across the board — from risk-free Treasurys, investment-grade credit, and junk bonds — are up big this year, as this chart from UBS shows.
Yields are also responsible for most of the returns bonds offer
In bonds, there are two ways to earn returns: by collecting the periodic yield paid out by the borrower, or by selling the bond for a higher price than it was bought for.
Since 2002, yields have been responsible for most of the returns paid to investors.
"Over the long-term, yield is by far the most stable and reliable component of total return for bonds," said Charlotte Baenninger, the global head of fixed income at UBS Asset Management in a November 30 note.
With yields relatively high, bonds look more attractive than they have been in years.
Attractive stock dividends are less abundant with yields high
Recently, many strategists on Wall Street have been recommending dividend stocks as a way to mitigate downside risk.
But the amount of stocks offering dividends above the level of risk-free Treasury yields (4% on a 3-year note) is low at just 16%, according to the Bank of America chart above.
Again, attractive dividend options are meager
For example, the proportion of stocks in the S&P 500 offering dividends higher than yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note is at the lowest level since 2011, this chart from Bank of America shows.
The 10-year Treasury note yield was near 3.56% on Monday.
Dividend yield levels relative to bond yield levels are also historically low
The S&P 500's cumulative dividend yield level is also historically unattractive relative to the 10-year Treasury — which, again, is risk-free — according to this Bank of America chart. | 2022-12-05T16:42:13Z | www.businessinsider.com | Bonds Are Most Attractive Relative to Stocks in Years, 5 Charts Show | https://www.businessinsider.com/bond-yields-investing-strategy-fixed-income-corporate-credit-bofa-ubs-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bond-yields-investing-strategy-fixed-income-corporate-credit-bofa-ubs-2022-12 |
Buy-now, pay-later kingpin Klarna's valuation dropped from $45.6 billion to $6.7 billion in 2022. Its CEO wants a 'sane market' before IPO.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO of Klarna
Buy-now, pay-later firm Klarna wants 'a sane market' before IPO.
The company is losing hundreds of millions of dollars annually, but says it is reducing credit losses.
Klarna took a valuation haircut to $6.7 billion and carried out two rounds of job cuts in 2022.
The chief executive of Klarna, the buy-now, pay-later giant, has said the firm is awaiting profitability and a return to market "sanity" before embarking on the route to IPO.
Founded out of Sweden in 2005 by CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski with Niklas Adalberth and Victor Jacobsson, Klarna lets shoppers spread the cost of online purchases across interest-free installments. The firm operates in Europe and expanded in the US alongside competitors such as Affirm and Afterpay. At one time, the company was the most highly valued startup in Europe with a valuation of $45.6 billion. That plunged by 85% to just $6.5 billion as the company raised again this year in a tougher market.
With the boom times in tech coming to an end, Klarna wants to become profitable as growth funding and appetite for tech stocks slump.
The firm will need to persuade potential investors that buy-now, pay-later is a sustainable model even through a pullback in consumer spending, and that it can avoid a Wonga-like reputation for overloading consumers with debt.
Klarna lets shoppers spread the cost of their online shopping out in installments.
Jonas Walzberg/picture alliance via Getty Images
Siemiatkowski indicated an IPO may be a few years off yet, drawing a comparison with Google's IPO in 2004.
"To me, Google's IPO was like perfect," he told Insider at the Slush conference in Helsinki. "It was a market that was a few years after dot-com. It was a sane market. It wasn't overhyped, it wasn't under hyped and Google also had tremendous opportunity ahead of itself.
"So it wasn't like you were IPO-ing at the end of the growth cycle and I think Klarna is probably getting fairly close to that and I think markets are getting very close to that. Maybe now we're a little bit over-depressed and then we can get to some sanity, hopefully, that coincides with Klarna being in a good position."
The general performance of consumer fintechs listed in 2021 has been poor. Trading app Robinhood, card issuer Marqeta, and money-transfer firm Wise all saw share prices plummet this year while Klarna's peer US Affirm has seen its share price drop 85% year-to-date.
Siemiatkowski has been coy about any potential public listing and previously told CNBC that market volatility made him "nervous."
Klarna anticipates being loss-making in 2023
Klarna posted both higher revenues and higher losses for the third quarter of 2022 after a tricky year. The company has been through two rounds of layoffs in 2022 and saw its valuation drop by 85% to $6.7 billion after a fresh funding round.
The company laid off 10% of its workforce in May this year and had a second round of cuts in September with around 700 people leaving the company. That's helped to cut the company's operating losses by 42% between Q2 and Q3, per its latest report but the business has still lost 8.3 billion Swedish krona ($787 million) in the nine months to the end of September.
The firm said revenue was up 22% year-on-year to $1.4 billion in the nine months to the end of September. Klarna said it now has 31 million customers in the US, with lower year-on-year credit losses and a 92% year-on-year increase in gross merchandise volume.
Even as costs, interest rates, and inflation rise, Siemiatkowski said the company's growth roadmap hasn't changed dramatically.
"We're going to stay in all markets because nobody ever forgives you when you pull out a market, you can't come back," Siemiatkowski said.
Like other VC-backed growth companies, profitability has been a looming theme of the change in sentiment among investors in 2022. Siemiatkowski said cash-flow positivity was still the company's ambition and said: "Somewhere after summer next year we should be on a month-by-month basis profitable... Then that may still mean that we post a loss on the full year next year, but I don't know yet. We'll find out."
Amid a challenging macro-economic situation for lending businesses, Klarna tweaked its credit underwriting strategy in January and May, a necessary move which upset some customers, Siemiatkowski said. The company's interim report outlined that this meant the business would lend less, particularly to new customers, as it looks to lower default rates.
Klarna is belligerent to critics
Klarna also has a PR battle to fight. Siemiatkowski argues that Klarna is a better kind of debt than credit cards, since its rates tend to be lower. But critics say buy-now, pay-later services like Klarna and its competitors over-normalize being in debt for small purchases.
Klarna came under fire for its decision to partner with food delivery giant Deliveroo. British consumer finance champion Martin Lewis called out the partnership, suggesting it would lead to higher levels of indebtedness for minor, discretionary.
—Martin Lewis (@MartinSLewis) October 12, 2022
This led to an angry rebuke from Siemiatkowski on Twitter. It's not the first time the Klarna CEO has taken to social media to criticize coverage of his business, having previously called out "media" for failing to understand his business.
—Sebastian Siemiatkowski (@klarnaseb) October 12, 2022
"If you provide a healthier form of credit, we're still credit, but it's a healthier form in my opinion, and you are rewarded through lower losses, our losses have been 30% below the credit card industry standard," Siemiatkowski said. "I know, because I took Klarna through 2007, that actually [our] kind of credit is also more recession-proof. You do get swings during a recession, yes, but you don't get them to the same extent as you would have gotten if you have very high-risk loans or very unaffordable loans on credit."
Klarna BNPL | 2022-12-05T16:42:19Z | www.businessinsider.com | Klarna: BNPL Fintech Giant on Profitability, IPO, and US Market Push | https://www.businessinsider.com/klarna-ceo-on-profitability-ipo-and-us-market-push-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/klarna-ceo-on-profitability-ipo-and-us-market-push-2022-12 |
Running Cruise costs GM about $2 billion a year.
Image provided by Cruise
GM's Cruise is still pushing forward after Ford's Argo called it quits.
Cruise is embarking on a commercialization push after years of R&D.
Profitability is not yet the marker of success for Cruise, GM president Mark Reuss said.
At a time when self-driving taxi services like Ford's Argo are calling it quits, GM's Cruise is in the autonomous vehicle business for the long haul, the automaker's president, Mark Reuss, told Insider.
In fact, GM's self-driving outfit is now embarking on the commercialization phase of its robo-taxi service, after a successful nighttime pilot in San Francisco earlier this year. Cruise is looking to offer rides in Austin and Phoenix, with plans to expand to more cities next year.
At the same time, Cruise continues to develop its purpose-built Origin autonomous vehicle, which executives have said opens more commercial opportunities for the business, like delivery, as well as shuttle-style ridesharing.
Going commercial does not mean becoming profitable, however. Running Cruise costs GM about $2 billion a year. Meanwhile, auto industry experts and executives caution that the tech is still in its infancy and is years away from mass commercialization.
In response to AV skeptics, Reuss said that Cruise is able to expand its offerings because the team has retained its focus.
"I don't think it's a good idea — particularly with R&D projects — to go in and out of it," Reuss said. "You end up losing a ton of momentum."
GM CEO Mary Barra told investors last month that the company would continue its current clip of spending on Cruise. GM and Cruise have not said when the self-driving car unit will start turning a profit.
That's essentially the opposite approach from crosstown rival Ford, which last month gave up on its money-losing self-driving unit, Argo. That set off alarm bells for investors in the autonomous vehicle space, hammering AV startup stocks. The change in valuations is expected to drive a wave of consolidation in the self-driving startup space next year, according to industry analysts.
For Reuss, profitability isn't the right marker of success for Cruise, at least not right now. Instead, designers and engineers are focused on meeting safety and comfort benchmarks as the service expands.
General Motors GM Autonomy | 2022-12-05T16:42:25Z | www.businessinsider.com | Why GM's Still Spending Billions on Self-Driving Outfit Cruise | https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-reuss-gm-cruise-spending-billions-ford-argo-fold-2022-12 | https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-reuss-gm-cruise-spending-billions-ford-argo-fold-2022-12 |
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