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Understanding what APY is and how it can be used to grow your money
APY, or annual percentage yield, measures your interest rate over a year.
Annual percentage yield (APY) is the rate of return you earn over a year on deposit accounts, like CDs, savings, and checking.
The APY can be fixed or variable and includes compound interest — so you earn interest on your original balance plus any previously earned interest.
The APY on a deposit account changes based on whether the economy is does well and when the Fed raises interest rates.
There are many ways to invest your money to earn more. Investing in the stock market is one way to go about building wealth over time, but it's not for everyone. Some prefer to take a more conservative approach and earn money through deposit accounts that offer an APY, or annual percentage yield.
What is an annual percentage yield?
An APY is what you'll earn on interest on a deposit account over the course of a year. It's common for consumers to earn an APY through deposit accounts such as savings accounts, certificates of deposits (CD), and money market accounts. An APY is always expressed as a percentage and is what you'll earn on funds that you keep in your account year around.
"It is generally assumed the investment is to be held for 365 days," says Laura Lonie, CPA and Financial Coach at Laura J. Lonie LLC. Lonie adds that this is helpful when consumers are comparing various CDs or deposit accounts in that they can better understand what they can earn on their money without having to calculate the interest themselves.
Note: Compound interest is when interest builds on the principal amount as well as any earnings on that amount. So you get a higher return — or yield — on products with APY.
Use Personal Finance Insider's compound interest calculator to see how much your money can grow
APY calculates the total amount of interest earned in an account over the course of one year. It includes your interest rate and your compounding interest, or what you earn on the principal amount plus the interest on your earnings.
"A savings account held for one year at a lower interest rate than one held for two years may have a higher amount of interest earned because interest is compounded more frequently on the one-year term account," Lonie says. "Because APY annualizes the investment, a consumer can compare APYs even though they have different holding periods and interest may be compounded differently, such as quarterly versus monthly."
You might see APY in products like savings, checking, CDs, and money market accounts . These are all considered deposit-type investment accounts.
To get a better sense of how APY works, let's take an example. Here's the formula for APY:
Let's say, for example, you deposit $1,000 into a 12-month CD offering a 5% APY, compounded monthly.
Using the above equation, here's that broken down:
(1 + 0.05 ÷ 12)12 - 1
(1.0041666666667)12 - 1
1.05116 - 1
$1,000 x 5.116% = $51.16 total interest earned.
The total amount in the account at the end of the year is $1,051.16.
The type of APY you have depends on the financial product you have, although many offer fixed APY. Some products like CDs offer fixed APYs while savings accounts have variable APYs.
Any accounts with a variable APY typically see rates go up and down with market interest rates. So when the Federal Reserve raises or lowers its target interest rate, variable-rate accounts typically follow.
"APY can be either fixed or variable, but most savings and checking accounts are variable," Lonie says. "Interest rates change based on the economy and actions of the Federal Reserve . Certificates of deposits are at a fixed interest rate for a set period."
Because APY represents what you earn on your money, the higher the APY is, the better. "[A good APY is] the highest yield available to you," Lonie says. "It varies depending on the economy."
That means you should explore all your options when shopping around for a savings account or CD to find the highest APY available. Remember: The higher the APY, the more earning potential you have.
APY and interest rates have some overlap, but they are different. While APY represents what you can earn on a deposit account, interest rate by itself commonly represents what you're charged for an auto loan, credit card, or mortgage.
"The interest rate does not take into effect compounding interest, and the APY includes compound interest ," Lonie says. "Interest rate is generally used for loans and APY for deposit-type accounts."
Calculated using compounding interest
Calculated using simple interest
Used for deposited accounts, like savings, CDs, and money market accounts
Used in deposit accounts or to borrow money, like loans or credit cards
Can have fixed or variable rates, depending on the account
One exception to interest rates representing what you will owe when repaying a loan are bonds. These are debt securities that often offer an interest rate — commonly referred to a coupon payment — represents how much you'll earn back each year until the bond matures.
Both APY and APR use interest rates in their calculations, but APY uses compounding interest, where you get interest on the principal amount and the earnings. APR doesn't have that.
"The APY includes interest earned on interest while the APR uses the simple interest method," Lonie says. "Generally, APY is used for deposit-type accounts and APR for loans or credit cards."
Determines what you earn
Determines what you pay
Used to calculate what you can earn on your money on deposited accounts
Used to calculate the cost of borrowing for loans or credit cards
Computes using compound interest
Calculated with any fees or charges
The higher the APY, the higher the total return on investment
The lower the APR, the less extra you pay out of pocket in interest
Quick tip: APYs give a holistic view of what you earn, while APRs are a realistic view of what you'll pay. When comparing products, use either APYs or APRs, not just interest rates.
Using an APY is one of the best ways to determine your total return on a deposited account, like savings or money market. The higher the APY, the higher the return. Use this as you shop around for products that showcase APYs.
Dori Zinn is a freelance contributor to Insider. She has been a personal finance journalist for more than a decade. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, CNET, Forbes, Yahoo!, TIME, and others. She graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a Bachelor's degree in Multimedia Studies.
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More: Personal Finance Insider PFI Reference Freelance Saving | 2022-04-25T17:46:10Z | www.businessinsider.com | APY: Definition, Formula, How It's Calculated | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/what-is-apy | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/what-is-apy |
Forget chief revenue officers. Startups are hiring a new kind of CRO: the chief recruiting officer.
"Recruiting looks so simple on the surface," Richard Cho, the chief recruiting officer at Gem, said. "It really isn't to someone who is a practitioner."
Startup recruiters are making inroads to the C-suite.
This year, the software firm Gem hired the early Facebook employee Richard Cho to lead recruiting.
In an interview, Cho laid out the reasons companies needed a "chief recruiting officer."
Richard Cho was lined up to become an engineer, like his father, his grandfather, and his great-grandfather before him.
In college, he discovered that it wasn't the right fit. But he learned something else about himself. He loved talking to his friends and classmates about what they wanted to do for a living and giving advice for how to reach their career goals, Cho said.
"I wanted nothing more than to help people find job that they were meant for," he said. Cho found his calling and pursued a career in recruiting.
Today, Cho's job title — "chief recruiting officer" at the software startup and tech unicorn Gem — is not a common one in the startup world. But the 22-year industry veteran believes the role will become standard as one of history's worst labor shortages drags on.
In recent years, the executive suite has widened to welcome people focused on different aspects of work. There's the chief remote officer, chief impact officer, chief future-of-work officer, and even chief joy officer. The list goes on. These job titles respond to tectonic shifts in the workplace.
In this way, the chief recruiting officer is perhaps overdue. The record number of workers quitting their jobs over the past couple years means startups have a large number of openings to fill. The competition for engineers remains fierce, with tech salaries entering the stratosphere as unicorn startups raise more money to spend on employees. This hiring blitz has heightened demand for recruiters as the shepherds of talent, Insider has reported.
A LinkedIn search found hundreds of people with the title chief recruiting officer at software startups like Facet and Positioning Universal, as well as corporate law firms including Gibson Dunn, Taft, and King & Spalding.
Soon, more startups may add "CROs" to force their leadership ranks to pay closer attention to recruiting as the talent wars continue for engineers and other competitive roles in technology.
Cho said that without a talent-acquisition practitioner in the executive suite, "it's too easy to think about recruiting as a numbers game." Executives ask whether the company hit its hiring goals. Too often, they overlook the strategy that helps them make great hires.
"We're starting to see that candidates are absolutely adamant about joining companies that align to their mission and values," Cho said. The companies that win are clear about their missions and values and show candidates how those things match their own goals. The employer's success often hinges on the candidate experience, he added.
"Recruiting looks so simple on the surface," he said. "It really isn't to someone who is a practitioner."
From one rocket-ship startup to another
Cho has prepared for his current role over 22 years of field work.
He joined a staffing agency a few years out of college. While there, he learned to build relationships with people whether or not they were jobseekers. He would meet them for coffee every few months to ask their likes and dislikes, how their vacation was, or what got them excited at work.
"That's where I was able to build some credibility," Cho said, recalling a product manager he got to know over a year before placing him in a leadership role at Facebook.
Cho went to Cisco, then eBay on contract, before joining Facebook as an early recruiter. During his tenure, he built the company's first recruiting team focused on product management and design and assisted in the release of software for tracking Facebook job applicants. His efforts helped the firm go from 500 employees to more than 6,000 in five years.
His turn at Facebook and Dropbox after that gave Cho a ticket to any rocket-ship startup, and he went to Robinhood as its head of recruiting in 2019. The stock-trading app couldn't hire fast enough during its hypergrowth phase, Cho said. But a clear, articulate mission of "democratizing finance for all" — and the company leadership's readiness to put resources behind its recruiting staff — allowed Robinhood to hire over 3,500 people in less than three years.
Cho left in January for Gem, whose software he used at Robinhood.
Founded in 2017, the firm makes software for recruiters to source candidates and track them through the interview process. It has raised $148 million in funding to date and has 235 employees in San Francisco and remote.
In his new role, Cho is tasked with growing the startup's internal recruiting staff, setting strategy, and sharing best practices with hiring managers at Gem and its customers. The company prides itself on having talent experts.
"We don't want to bottle it up," he said. "We want to share it with the world."
More: Startups Venture Capital Recruiting
recruiting software | 2022-04-25T17:46:16Z | www.businessinsider.com | Startups Are Hiring Chief Recruiting Officers to Win the Talent Wars | https://www.businessinsider.com/startups-hiring-chief-recruiting-officers-to-win-the-talent-wars-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/startups-hiring-chief-recruiting-officers-to-win-the-talent-wars-2022-4 |
COVID-19 vaccines may start costing more money if the public health emergency ends.
Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News/Getty Images
The federal government renewed a public health emergency declaration earlier this month.
It paves the way for extra federal assistance on food stamps, COVID-19 vaccines, and testing.
But unwinding it could spell benefit cuts for many people — here's how.
Millions of Americans could soon be dealing with cuts to federal benefits in just a few months.
The Department of Health and Human Services extended the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration earlier this month. The 90-day designation was renewed on April 12, setting up a mid-July expiration unless the Biden administration decides to continue it.
That emergency declaration opens the door to increased federal funding for a variety of programs, ranging from improved access to Medicaid to more generous food benefits. But if the declaration lapses, that extra funding could vanish.
"Prematurely declaring an end to the public health emergency hampers the response to COVID-19," Larry Levitt, a health policy expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, wrote on Twitter.
The Biden administration has assured states they will receive 60 days of advance notice before the public health emergency ends. Yet the pandemic is ongoing and while new recorded cases remain far below their winter peak, they're ticking upward once again after an early springtime lull.
Here are four ways that Americans could get hammered with abrupt ends to more generous health and nutritional benefits.
Extra food assistance from the federal government will expire.
A supermarket displays stickers indicating they accept food stamps in West New York, N.J.
The declaration paves the way for the federal government to provide more assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.
Eligible families get at least an extra $95 per month in federal aid as a result of the public health emergency, per the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Once that ends, most SNAP recipients are poised to lose $82 per month in benefits, according to the Food Research and Action Center.
Not everyone is accessing this aid. Some GOP-led states like Florida and Missouri pulled the plug on their beefed-up nutritional assistance programs last year. At least five more that are also GOP-controlled intend to cut the aid next month since they ended their state public health emergency declarations, The New Republic reported.
The Department of Agriculture will give states one month to transition beneficiaries off the enhanced assistance once the federal government ends the designation.
Around 15 million Americans could lose Medicaid coverage.
A health worker.
Millions of low-income Americans will also lose access to free health insurance through Medicaid since the federal government will no longer be picking up the tab for states.
The federal government and states share responsibility in financing Medicaid. An earlier pandemic relief law in March 2020 expanded the federal government's share of payments for the duration of the public health emergency.
Estimates on the extent of coverage losses once the emergency ends vary. But the Urban Institute projected in late 2021 up to 15 million Americans will lose their Medicaid health insurance over 14 months.
A recent analysis from the left-leaning Center on American Progress warned of financial strains on hospitals dealing with a spike in uninsured patients, along with people delaying medical care since they cannot afford it.
The report also warned that the policy's end would have an outsized impact on low-income Black and Latino people. Those two groups are twice as likely to be enrolled in Medicaid compared to non-Hispanic Whites — and they have suffered greater hospitalization and death rates from COVID-19.
COVID-19 shots won't be free.
Public health workers.
Free COVID-19 shots won't be as available as they used to be.
The public health emergency designation widened eligibility for free coronavirus vaccines under Medicaid.
But that will change for people without health insurance, since they will have start footing the bill for some shots, per the Kaiser Family Foundation.
However, those with private insurance will likely be okay. Under changes enacted through the CARES Act in March 2020, insurers must provide access to vaccines at no cost to their beneficiaries since they are now considered preventive care.
Covid-19 testing may not come without a charge.
A covid-19 researcher.
Kristin Palitza/picture alliance via Getty Images
Some people will have to start paying for COVID-19 testing once federal funding dries up with the end of the emergency designation.
The declaration mandates state Medicaid programs to cover testing at no charge to enrollees. A similar rule is in place for private health insurance as well, requiring coverage for up to eight over-the-counter COVID-19 tests per month for their beneficiaries.
Americans could soon be left paying out-of-pocket for their COVID-19 testing and medical care. Some testing manufacturers are charging $100 per test, ABC News reported.
The Biden administration is pushing Congress to set aside extra COVID-19 funding. But it ran aground last month due to Republican resistance to fresh federal spending that's not redirected from existing programs.
More: Features Slideshow Congress Republicans
COVID-19 shots | 2022-04-25T18:24:50Z | www.businessinsider.com | Americans Will Confront Federal Aid Cuts Once COVID-19 Is Not Official Emergency | https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-benefit-cuts-pandemic-food-stamps-medicaid-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/covid-benefit-cuts-pandemic-food-stamps-medicaid-2022-4 |
Who is JB Perrette? Meet the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery streaming, David Zaslav's right hand who's charged with integrating HBO Max and Discovery+ into a global powerhouse
Warner Bros. Discovery streaming CEO JB Perrette will combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into one service.
Perrette was a key NBC exec behind the launch of Hulu and led streaming and international at Discovery.
Insiders say he's a smart, cautious exec who "doesn't need to be the loudest guy in the room."
For years, David Zaslav has started most days with a call to JB Perrette, who for the past two decades has been the guy charged with turning his bosses' big ideas into successful business operations — first at NBCUniversal, then at Discovery, and now at the newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery.
In all, Perrette has spent more than 15 years working alongside Zaslav at NBCU and Discovery. "He has David's unwavering trust," said a person who has worked with Perrette. "From a business perspective and a personal perspective, [David] has a lot of confidence in JB."
But even though Zaslav has spent the last year conducting a conspicuous listening tour across Hollywood, Perrette — who's taking on a pivotal role as the new company's CEO and president of Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment — is less known to the entertainment industry.
WBD employees got their first introduction to him on April 21 when he joined CNN CEO Chris Licht for an employee town hall after WBD announced the closure of CNN+, which will eliminate hundreds of jobs.
Coming down the pike in the next month or two are more big decisions for Zaslav, Perrette, and the rest of WBD leadership as they integrate fledgling services Discovery+ and HBO Max into one streamer — including sorting out whether that offering takes the name Discovery+, continues with HBO Max, or emerges as some new brand. Further out will be some potential big bets on sports rights to try to take on ESPN in streaming globally.
All in all, it's a Rubik's Cube of choices for the executive who's still based in London — he'll relocate to Los Angeles this summer — and has been busy watching movies on his frequent transatlantic flights.
The mission for Perrette, who'll also be responsible for growing WBD's digital and gaming operations, is to combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into a hugely profitable business — one robust enough to challenge global leader Netflix and rapidly growing Disney+ — and leave the big spending to others.
Perrette takes on this role at a moment when the streaming story is shifting, with Wall Street questioning whether streaming can be as profitable as the lucrative pay-TV business it is replacing. Netflix's Q1 subscriber drop pummeled media stocks, including WBD's.
Insider spoke to six executives who've worked with or done business with Perrette, as well as people familiar with company plans, about his decision-making and leadership style and what they say about how he'll navigate the challenges ahead.
'He doesn't need to be the loudest guy in the room'
People who've worked with Perrette describe a very smart, cautious, down-to-earth executive who's fun and funny when you get to know him. A devoted family man who'd rather talk about his kids than golf, he's "much less flashy" than a figure like outgoing WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, said the person who's done business with him. "He doesn't need to be the loudest guy in the room."
He now oversees a streaming portfolio with just shy of 100 million subscribers (77 million for HBO Max and 22 million for Discovery+) paying monthly to watch properties as varied as "Succession" and "90 Day Fiancé." How many of those subscribers overlap is a key question for Perrette and the team he's building.
Perrette got an early education in streaming as one of the key NBC leaders who built the Hulu joint venture before he made the move to Discovery, where he led international and streaming operations in more than 200 countries. He is credited with executing a host of strategic decisions, including Discovery's acquisitions of Eurosport and Scripps Networks.
As early as 2011 — just before Perrette joined — Discovery signed a deal with Netflix to offer programming in India and Discovery-branded shows in the US, but the venture ended after the two couldn't come to terms on price and Discovery shows headed to Hulu.
With Perrette on board, Discovery figured out after some trial and error that an aggregated streaming play would work better than the series of niche offerings the company once had on offer. At the CNN employee gathering April 21, Perrette cited "painful" lessons Discovery learned from launching those smaller services, according to the New York Times.
While other legacy companies like Disney and WarnerMedia pivoted to streaming, Discovery protected its cable business, not launching its single SVOD product, Discovery+, until January 2021.
A former Discovery executive said Perrette has been an able and smart steward of the businesses under his purview, particularly Discovery's international cable assets, but was not seen by some colleagues as the kind of offensive player that Zaslav is.
"He's intelligent, he gets it, he understands the need for certain moves — but if David didn't want to do it," it wouldn't happen, this person said of Perrette. "He doesn't push the boat out."
An 'indefatigable' worker with a strong social conscience
Zaslav has outlined his vision for a service combining news, sports, movies, and TV series "that we take everywhere in the world and in every language," as he said in a WBD town hall on April 14. Perrette's international expertise puts him ahead of other streaming players still trying to figure out the ins and outs of overseas markets.
"JB is intelligent, he listens, he likes to have people around him who are very, very smart," said the former Discovery executive. The person who's done business with him said Perrette doesn't hesitate to ask questions and is "happy to acknowledge" what he doesn't know.
"He is an actual problem solver," this person added. "He tells you what he thinks in the room."
Liberty board member Derek Chang, who worked at Scripps International before the company was bought by Discovery, described Perrette as "easy to talk to" and "very level-headed." Though Perrette let him go after the acquisition — Chang quickly moved on to be CEO of NBA China — the two still meet a couple of times a year to catch up on family and discuss industry challenges.
Larry Aidem, who is on the supervisory board of German broadcaster ProSiebenSat1 and is managing partner of advisory firm Reverb Advisors, knew Perrette as a board member at the Sundance Channel, where Aidem was CEO for 10 years. He described an exec with boundless energy and a strong social conscience.
Aidem recalled a trip to an industry event in Italy where Zaslav and Perrette barely surfaced from a meeting room as they worked on a deal for long hours. At the end, Aidem asked if Perrette was taking some time to have fun, and he replied: "Yes, we're going to take a vacation. We're going to work on a humanitarian mission for a few weeks."
"He is indefatigable," Aidem said, adding that Perrette is "extremely comfortable operating outside of the limelight. That may be about to change."
'How he makes his leadership decisions will be key'
Raised in the US by a French father and American mother, Jean-Briac Perrette spent some of his formative years overseas, including summers in France's Brittany. He has said his favorite place to eat is a quiet village creperie in France. At home he's described as a goofball who likes to sing and dance with his children, son Ansel and daughter Isabelle.
After nearly a decade in London, he'll soon make the move to Los Angeles with them and his wife, Amy — a journalist and sometime NBC producer.
The person who's done business with Perrette believes that he has the credentials and the ammunition to succeed with WBD streaming. "They have exquisite assets," this person said. "It's not even a question that as more consolidation comes, they're going to be one of the winners and they're going to build a service that is a must-own for the average household."
One WBD exec told Insider Perrette is making a positive mark so far on the WarnerMedia teams he's inherited. "The conversations people are having make it seem like he's focusing on the right stuff," this person said. "How he makes his leadership decisions will be key."
More: Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming Hollywood | 2022-04-25T18:25:26Z | www.businessinsider.com | Warner Bros. Discovery: How Streaming CEO Perrette Will Build Business | https://www.businessinsider.com/warner-bros-discovery-merger-streaming-ceo-perrette-zaslav-hbo-max-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/warner-bros-discovery-merger-streaming-ceo-perrette-zaslav-hbo-max-2022-4 |
The majority of young voters want Biden to act on student debt, per Harvard poll.
Chuck Savage
A Harvard poll found 85% of young Americans want Biden to take some form of action on student debt.
Still, it found 42% of voters under 30 don't believe their votes "make a real difference."
Democratic lawmakers are urging Biden to deliver on young voter priorities before the midterms.
Young Americans might be pessimistic about the impact of their votes — but that doesn't mean they don't have ideas about how elected officials can act on their behalf.
On Monday, Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics released results of a national youth poll that surveyed over 2,000 18-to-29 year olds on their opinions on policy issues and voting. With the midterm elections approaching, young voter turnout is becoming an increasingly prominent issue among lawmakers, and the poll found that while youth turnout in 2022 is likely to match that of 2018, 42% of them agree with the statement, "I don't believe my vote will make a real difference," up from 31% in 2018.
But they still want to see President Joe Biden act on the issues they care about. According to the poll, 85% of young Americans favor some form of government action on the student debt crisis, with 38% of them favoring full debt cancellation. Of young Democrats likely to vote in November, 43% favor canceling student debt for everyone, compared to 13% of likely Republican young voters.
"In the past two election cycles, America's youngest voters have proven themselves to be a formidable voting bloc with a deep commitment to civic engagement. Our new poll shows a pragmatic idealism as they consider the state of our democracy and the concerning challenges they face in their lives," Institute of Politics Director Mark Gearan said in a statement. "Elected officials from both parties would benefit from listening to young Americans and as we head into the midterm elections."
As Biden's approval rating remains low, Democratic lawmakers have increased the urgency of carrying out progressive priorities, like student-loan forgiveness, before midterm elections in order to maintain the majority in Congress. Biden most recently extended the pause on student-loan payments an additional four months, through August 31, but if he chooses to restart payments before November, it'll make outcomes at the polls a lot less favorable for his party.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — a leading lawmaker advocating for student-loan forgiveness — told the LA Times last week that canceling student debt is a key way for Democrats to emerge from the midterms victorious.
"The idea that young people today should be shackled by debt just to try to get an education so they can try to compete is fundamentally wrong," Warren said.
California Rep. Ro Khanna agreed with Warren in a recent interview with Insider, saying that young people are "very clear, and very passionate, they expect the Democrats to deliver on student debt relief. They say this is something we promised, the president promised."
Khanna was referring to the pledge Biden made on his campaign trail to approve $10,000 in student-loan forgiveness for every federal borrower, but with that pledge remaining unfulfilled, many lawmakers and advocates believe it's time for the president to deliver.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki recently said Biden will "make a decision" about canceling student debt or extend the payment pause again before the end of August, and Democrats and young voters are hopeful that decision will amount to broad relief for millions of federal borrowers. | 2022-04-25T18:25:32Z | www.businessinsider.com | Most Young Americans Want Biden to Act on Student Debt: Harvard Poll | https://www.businessinsider.com/young-americans-want-biden-act-student-debt-crisis-harvard-poll-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/young-americans-want-biden-act-student-debt-crisis-harvard-poll-2022-4 |
A screenshot from a video that purportedly shows a captive Ukrainian being interrogated by Russian forces.
Mykhailo Podolyak/Twitter
Russian-speaking kidnappers threatened to kill a Ukrainian man if they did not get ransom money, the man's mom alleged.
Meduza interviewed the woman, who said the captors demanded more than $5,000 to keep her son alive.
A top advisor to Ukraine's president compared Russian forces to ISIS as he shared the purported ransom video.
A Ukrainian man was captured by Russian-speaking kidnappers who threatened to kill him if they did not get more than $5,000 in ransom money, the man's mother alleged.
Independent Russian news outlet Meduza published an interview with the man's mother, Olha Novikova, who said her son, Oleksii, was captured in Mariupol as Russian forces bombard the city.
Olha Novikova said that on Sunday afternoon, a strange man called her on Facebook messenger through her son's account, saying, "We give you 15 minutes to think: if you get us interested, we will let him live, if not, we will shoot him," Meduza reported.
"They demand a ransom, and if I don't give them money, they promise to kill him and send me a video of the execution," Olha Novikova, a filmmaker from Mariupol, told the news outlet.
The captors told Novikova they would execute her son if they did not receive 5,000 euros within a day, Meduza reported. Oleksii — a freshman at Mariupol State University — was reportedly included in a list of possible captives to trade between Ukraine and Russia.
"They called back 15 minutes later and I told them that I did not understand how I could get them interested: I am a refugee and I do not have any funds," Novikova said.
Novikova, who said she was not permitted to talk to her son, added, "They are now bargaining with me for the life of my son — and they do not give any guarantees," Meduza reported.
Novikova said she began collecting money on Facebook to pay for the ransom. But even if she does pay, Novikova said the kidnappers only promised to turn her son over to Russian forces where they said he could be "work for the good of the Soviet Union."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's advisor Mykhailo Podolyak on Monday shared the purported ransom video and compared Russian forces to ISIS terrorists.
Podolyak shared a 53-second video on Twitter on Monday showing the captive Ukrainian man being interrogated in a dark room amid Russia's two-month, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
—Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) April 25, 2022
Russian soldiers "are increasingly similar to ISIS militants," said Podolyak, adding that Russia "must be recognized as a terrorist-state."
The presidential advisor claimed the video was sent by "Russian soldiers" to the mother of the Ukrainian man, though Novikova herself told Meduza she believes the kidnappers spoke without a Russian accent and suggested the gang could be people from the Donbas region in Ukraine.
In the video shared by Podolyak, a young man identifies himself by name and says he is a soldier of the 109th brigade of the Territorial Defense Force of the Donetsk region, according to a translation.
Novikova told Meduza that "most likely, he was forced to say that he served in the territorial defense."
In the video, the Ukrainian man from the besieged city of Mariupol revealed that he was captured on April 23 and claimed he was a volunteer fighter as he was questioned.
When asked how he has been treated, the man responded: "Okay, I have food here, water, a toilet," according to a translation of the video.
He also said that aside from being physically hit one other time, he was not beaten again and did not need medical attention, according to the video.
The man's fate is unclear.
More: Speed desk Ukraine Russia | 2022-04-25T19:16:58Z | www.businessinsider.com | Russian-Speaking Kidnappers Sent Ransom Video of Captive Ukrainian: Mom | https://www.businessinsider.com/kidnappers-ransom-ukrainian-mom-execute-son-video-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/kidnappers-ransom-ukrainian-mom-execute-son-video-2022-4 |
Warren Rojas, Madison Hall, Camila DeChalus, and Dave Levinthal
Elon Musk, the world's wealthiest person, is set to purchase Twitter. Several members of Congress have, or have recently had, a financial stake in Twitter.
Six Democrats and one Republican in Congress invest, or have recently invested, in Twitter.
New ownership will likely change who — and what — is allowed on the far-reaching platform.
Elon Musk's multibillion-dollar Twitter takeover is a big deal for investors — including 7 members of Congress who've recently scooped up the social media site's stock shares.
Insider has identified at least five Democrats — including Sen. John Hickenlooper of Colorado, and Reps. John Garamendi of California, Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Susie Lee of Nevada, and Dean Phillips of Minnesota — that held shares in Twitter at the end of 2020, either themselves or through a spouse, according to congressional financial records.
Democratic Rep. Marie Newman of Illinois and Republican Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas joined the Twitter trading spree more recently, buying and selling up to $60,000 and $310,000 worth of shares, respectively, throughout 2021 and 2022.
Members of Congress routinely introduce and vote on legislation that affects the tech industry broadly and Twitter specifically. Twitter, for its part, has spent more than $1 million lobbying the federal government during each of the past four years, according to federal records compiled by nonpartisan research group OpenSecrets.
Fallon has been a frequent trader of Twitter stocks. According to congressional financial disclosures, Fallon bought up to $215,000 in shares and sold a maximum of $95,000 in Twitter stock between 2021 and 2022. (Members of Congress are only required to report the value of their stock trades in broad ranges.)
Personal financial disclosure from Rep. Pat Fallon, a Republican from Texas
In his 2020 annual financial disclosure, Gottheimer and his spouse jointly reported having up to $15,000 in Twitter shares. The pair sold at least $1,001 to $15,000 worth of Twitter stock on three different occasions in 2021 in addition to a purchase of up to $15,000 in stock in March 2021. It's unclear if the couple still owns any stake in Twitter.
Lee reported joint-owning shares of the company in her 2020 financial disclosure report. She and her husband reported buying shares of the company in April 2020 before selling some of it just a month later.
Phillips, who represents Minnesota's 3rd District, reported owning up to $15,000 worth of Twitter stock in his 2020 financial disclosure. Phillips' assets are now held in a blind trust.
In his 2020 financial disclosure form, Hickenlooper reported that his wife owns up to $50,000 in Twitter stocks. Hickenlooper's wife appears to still own the stock, as Hickenlooper has not since filed a disclosure indicating any sale of it.
Garamendi reported in his 2020 financial disclosure that his wife owned up to $15,000 in Twitter shares before selling it all in early 2022.
Newman's husband, Jim Newman, purchased up to $30,000 in Twitter stocks in January 2021. Congressional records indicate she later sold up to $30,000 of the stock just a few weeks after the initial purchase.
Representatives for Gottheimer and Newman did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.
"Prior to taking office, Josh turned over management of his portfolio to a third party and only receives statements of prior transactions," Gottheimer spokesperson Chris D'Aloia told Insider in February. "All decisions related to buying and selling of securities are done so without Josh's approval."
Since them, Gottheimer says he's gone a step further, beginning a process to put assets into what's known as a "qualified blind trust."
A $44 billion deal
Musk's roughly $44 billion bid to acquire the pioneering microblogging service could pay dividends for politicians on both sides of the aisle — and that's what's most troubling to ethics watchdogs eyeing the swirling media deal.
Under the terms of Twitter's agreement with Musk, "Twitter stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common stock that they own upon closing of the proposed transaction," the company announced Monday. "The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter's closing stock price on April 1, 2022, which was the last trading day before Mr. Musk disclosed his approximately 9% stake in Twitter."
Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, government affairs manager at the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, called the 11-figure Twitter sale "a case study in why it's so ethically sketchy" for lawmakers to play the stock market.
"Depending on the day, members might be criticizing Twitter and promising to regulate them out of existence or using Twitter to generate attention and support for their agenda, all the while having a direct financial interest in Twitter's share price," he told Insider.
Insider's "Conflicted Congress" project revealed that tech-curious politicos have pumped serious money into various internet companies, including the nearly three dozen lawmakers trading in Facebook stocks. Some of the higher profile investors tied to Facebook (now Meta) include House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — her husband, Paul, trades heavily — and MAGA firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
Congress is now actively debating whether to ban federal lawmakers from trading stocks.
Republicans who've publicly clashed with Twitter about its content moderation are personally invested in Musk's take over plans for other reasons.
Twice-impeached former President Donald Trump was banned from the site following his involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. The purge sparked cries of "cancel culture" from conservatives and prompted GOP leaders on Capitol Hill to put "Big Tech" on notice about all the investigations MAGA world plans to launch should Republicans flip the House, Senate, or both in the midterm elections.
"@elonmusk's offer to buy Twitter is a good deal for shareholders and raises the prospect that the platform will be a place where free speech can thrive, not a tool for narrative enforcement," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of the higher profile Republicans testing the waters for a 2024 presidential run, wrote online.
Greene was stripped of her personal account for repeatedly posting misinformation about the global pandemic.
"Prepare for blue check mark full scale meltdown after @elonmusk seals the deal and I should get my personal Twitter account restored," Greene wrote Monday.
No matter which side of the aisle they're on, ethics watchdog Kedric Payne said all lawmakers should agree to steer clear of obvious financial entanglements.
"The past two years have shown us that when members of Congress trade stocks in individual companies they either trigger allegations of insider trading or you have the appearance of a conflict of interest," the former deputy chief counsel at the Office of Congressional Ethics told Insider. He added that lawmakers "shouldn't use their official position to influence the value of the stock that they own."
More: Elon Musk Twitter John Hickenlooper John Garamendi | 2022-04-25T19:56:15Z | www.businessinsider.com | Elon Musk's Twitter Grab Could Pay Off for Several Members of Congress | https://www.businessinsider.com/musk-twitter-takeover-hickenlooper-garamendi-gottheimer-lee-phillips-newman-fallon-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/musk-twitter-takeover-hickenlooper-garamendi-gottheimer-lee-phillips-newman-fallon-2022-4 |
What is equity crowdfunding?
3 steps to raise capital with equity crowdfunding
What happens after you've raised the money?
What are equity crowdfunding's benefits and drawbacks?
Is equity crowdfunding right for you?
Equity crowdfunding gives startups an alternative to venture capital by raising money from smaller investors
Equity crowdfunding lets the general public in on private-market investing.
Equity crowdfunding allows startups and early-stage companies to issue ownership stakes to many investors in exchange for capital.
Shareholders stand to profit if the company does well, but can lose all of their money if the company fails.
The Securities and Exchange Commission oversees equity crowdfunding because it involves issuing shares of the company.
Every startup needs capital, and securing that money can be a challenge. Traditionally, businesses looking to get going would look to some of the most common sources of funding, including business loans, angel investors, venture capitalists, or even an initial public offering of stock.
Nowadays, crowdfunding is an increasingly popular form of fundraising that lets founders raise capital on their own, bypass institutional funding, and retain more control over their companies. The idea behind crowdfunding is to convince large numbers of people to invest in or donate to a cause or business. There are several different types of crowdfunding, including an approach that allows companies to offer partial ownership in the form of equity.
Equity crowdfunding is the one type of crowdfunding that most closely mimics conventional methods of raising capital. It's used primarily by startups or early-stage companies. The founders, following a regulated process, issue securities (stock) to the public on a crowdfunding platform in exchange for cash.
Other types of crowdfunding include rewards-based crowdfunding in which investors receive a new product or other reward and donation crowdfunding where investors neither receive nor expect a reward. Debt-based crowdfunding operates much like a bank loan , except the "loan" comes from the crowd.
Note: Equity crowdfunding is overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Among the most well-known and successful equity crowdfunding platforms are:
Wefunder has attracted a broad range of startups including an online encyclopedia, bionic pancreas, and film production. Any US-based startup can apply to join the platform, which charges a flat fee of 7.5% of funds raised only if the campaign is successful.
StartEngine
StartEngine carries a wide variety of listings including environment-friendly startups, tech companies, and a smattering of Cannabidiol (CBD) entries as well. Companies pay a fixed fee plus a dollar percentage of capital raised and an equity share.
Republic, owned and maintained by OpenDeal Inc., was set up in 2016 for US-based companies. The platform includes health and wellness startups, fintech companies , and cryptocurrency platforms. Startups pay a 6% charge on funds raised, but only if the funding goal is reached.
Mainvest
Mainvest, founded in 2018, specializes in supporting small brick-and-mortar businesses by letting investors deploy "community capital into the neighborhoods where they live, visit, and enjoy." Mainvest does not charge an upfront fee to launch a campaign and if the raise is not successful, there is no fee. Otherwise "in-network" funds (those you raise) are charged a 3% fee and "out-of-network" funds from Mainvest investors carry a 9% fee. Additional fees may apply.
SeedInvest
SeedInvest is an exclusive marketplace that accepts just 1% of the startups that apply. The platform entertains a broad range of US startups seeking funding from robotics to food and beverage to several different types of healthcare platforms. Startups pay a 7.5% placement fee and 5% equity.
3 steps to raising capital with equity crowdfunding
Before you start, determine the amount of financing you will need, refine your business plan, and prepare for the questions you're likely to face in the due diligence phase of your campaign.
The amount you raise determines the certification requirements for your financial statement. Less than $107,000 only requires a company officer to certify. Amounts from $107,000 to $535,000 require independent review. Anything more than $535,000 requires independently reviewed or audited financial statements.
Once you've laid the groundwork, the process of choosing a platform and conducting a campaign begins.
1. Choose an equity crowdfunding platform
Start by researching platforms and zeroing in on those that tend to support projects similar to yours. "Many platforms specialize and have a pool of investors looking for specific types of investments," says Chris Rawley, founder and CEO of agriculture crowdfunding platform Harvest Returns.
Learn about SEC regulation of crowdfunding platforms including Reg CF, Reg D, Reg A+, and others. "Each of these has implications regarding the marketing of the offering, future reporting requirements and future capital raise implications," says Jay Jung, managing partner and founder of Embarc Advisors, who urges founders to make sure the platform is knowledgeable when it comes to these regulations.
Ask pointed questions about the platform to ensure you will get the support you desire.
CEO Jason Frishman at private fundraising company Netcapital advises founders to ask three questions as part of the platform vetting process: "How expensive is this funding portal going to be for me to use? How quickly can I get my deal live on the platform? And how will the platform help me get attention for my offering?"
Warning: Safdar Alam, CEO of the equity crowdfunding platform Maydan Capital Select, cautions that platforms that don't commit to significant due diligence pass all this risk onto retail investors and provide less support to founders.
Once you've chosen a platform that meets your needs, register and prepare for the next step — selling yourself and your company.
2. Pitch your business
Your pitch to potential investors can be in writing or a video, depending on what format the platform accepts or prefers. Factors to consider with either include:
Take a personal approach. Share who you are and why you started this project. Be relatable.
Share the mission. Explain the goal and the impact it will have on people, society, and the world.
Explain what's in it for investors.
Be transparent about how the funds will be used. Explain why outside funding is needed.
"Beware of platforms that ask you to bring a large number of investors long before you can launch a raise," cautions Rawley. "Additionally, ensure you fully understand the fees and any equity splits the platform may require."
3. Promote your campaign
All platforms have a system for running a campaign. Some are tightly structured, and others are more flexible. Make sure you understand the promotional structure of the platform you choose.
"The way the bigger platforms work is that they have certain events that get triggered which then leads to your startup being promoted on the platform," says Anna Gudmundson, CEO and founder of the startup, Sensate BioSelf Technology."It's a bit like if you build a website or a blog. Unless you promote it, not many people are going to visit it, and it's important that the founders understand the dynamics and algorithms that the platforms use to promote it to the crowd investors."
Warning: Many sites will only let you access your funds if you reach your fundraising goal. Otherwise, the money raised is returned to investors.
What's next for startups once they raise funds through equity crowdfunding? Some use it for the stated purpose of the campaign and concentrate on growing the business. Others move on to banks or angel investors for their next or follow-on campaigns. Many return to the original crowdfunding platform for a second or even third round.
Much of what happens next depends on the platform you select.
If you have wisely selected a platform that does its due diligence and isn't full of low-quality candidates, ask about post-investment involvement, Alam says. "Platforms that request regular updates from founders should be valued compared to platforms that do not want any contact with the founders post-investment."
As with any funding system, equity crowdfunding has pros and cons, both for founders and investors.
The biggest benefit to investors and founders alike is that nonaccredited investors are able to participate, increasing the pool of potential backers. "Depending on the way you structure your traditional raise, you may be limited to the number of nonaccredited investors, or you may not be able to have any," says Andrea Sager, a lawyer and owner of The Legalpreneur, a legal advice subscription service for small businesses. "Crowdfunding allows you to let any number of nonaccredited investors in."
The convenience for backers of investing online also makes raising capital easier for founders. "Anyone can invest with the click of a button. It doesn't get any easier than that for someone to be able to invest in your company," notes Frishman.
Alam points to the versatility of equity crowdfunding. "This approach can also be used alongside more traditional fundraising from venture capital firms – as the entire round does not need to be executed on a crowdfunding platform."
The ability to control the pace of the raise, is another issue that falls in favor of equity crowdfunding according to Steven Weinstein, CEO of early-stage growth investor Seismic Capital. "Typically when working with venture capitalists, startups are tied to quick turnaround times and deadlines to bring the product or service to market, regardless of whether or not it aligns with the time needed to refine the offering. With crowdfunding, startups are able to take a patient capital approach, forgoing immediate returns with the intent of gaining more substantial, lasting returns as their company grows."
Equity crowdfunding is also a good way to engage the community and allow your customers to become part of the business, says Gudmundson. "Your customers are people who actually understand your product, so you're allowing them to be part of the round, as well as professional investors who find valuable early-stage companies to invest in as part of their high risk/reward portfolio."
Equity crowdfunding is time consuming and the involvement it requires from founders can hurt the bottom line. "It can quickly become a distraction to the true business if you don't have a solid marketing plan in place," notes Sager.
Capitalization tables listing hundreds of small investors may scare off larger investors or worse, trigger disclosure requirements that can be costly and complicated, says Jung. "Thankfully, several crowdfunding platforms have introduced workarounds that allow the investors in the crowdfunding campaign to be aggregated as one registered shareholder on the cap table."
Frishman points out that while equity crowdfunding platforms can be a big help in marketing a company, they do not underwrite or guarantee a successful capital raise. "A big trap when launching a campaign is assuming the platform will raise all the money for you."
Alam points to another potential shortcoming that founders and investors should watch for. "Platforms that do not commit to significant due diligence, and pass all this risk onto retail investors without support, will treat the founders and the startup very differently than a platform that focuses on a lower volume of deals and specializes in specific sectors."
Crowdfunding campaigns require intense involvement on the part of founders. As Gudmundson says: "The main thing is to understand that it doesn't run itself. Simply creating a page with your product on it is unlikely to raise much money."
Open to nonaccredited investors
Offers easy online accessibility
Versatile (combine with traditional funding)
Pace controlled by the founder
Encourages community engagement
Campaign can distract from business
Potential for lengthy cap tables to trigger disclosure
Successful offerings not guaranteed
Possible lack of due diligence from platform
Intense involvement required of founders
Since equity crowdfunding is similar to traditional fundraising in many ways, it will seem more familiar to founders with prior experience. Strong support from the right platform along with an easier process makes equity crowdfunding a good match for inexperienced first-timers as well.
Review the pros and cons, especially the amount of involvement required. If you decide equity crowdfunding is for you, read and take the advice of experts to heart:
"Marketing is key when it comes to crowdfunding. Having an existing audience or community tends to make crowdfunding easier," says Sager.
Remember that just being listed on on a platform with tens of thousands of potential investors doesn't necessarily mean you're reach your funding target, Rawley says. "Investors are still looking for a solid team, executable business plan, and a path to an exit."
Also remember that a large "anchor investor" will lend credibility to your campaign, Jung says. "Sometimes we will see a $2 million raise with an anchor investor coming in with a 10%-30% of the offering."
PERSONAL FINANCE Crowdfunding is an increasingly popular source of borrowing for small businesses looking to grow
FINANCE An IPO is when a company starts trading on a public exchange, offering investors a chance to get in on a hot new stock
PERSONAL FINANCE The best real estate crowdfunding investment platforms
More: Personal Finance Insider PFI Reference Freelance Crowdfunding | 2022-04-25T19:56:21Z | www.businessinsider.com | Equity Crowdfunding: Definition, How It Work, Pros & Cons | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/equity-crowdfunding-dummyfile | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/equity-crowdfunding-dummyfile |
As Elon Musk succeeds in Twitter takeover, an employee 'exodus' is likely to follow
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been openly critical of Web3, labelling it as a "marketing buzzword."
Musk's public comments and leadership style appear antithetical to Twitter's mission-driven culture.
"Any sense that an exodus is building is correct," a former Twitter executive said.
Many employees are already looking for other jobs, although stock considerations may be key.
Twitter has long been a place its workers see as genuinely mission-oriented under founder Jack Dorsey and new CEO Parag Agrawal. Elon Musk, soon to own the platform via an acquisition, does not fit this mold and some employees are already looking for an exit.
A former Twitter executive who now leads another company said messages and calls from Twitter employees asking about job opportunities have become daily occurrences.
"Any sense that an exodus is building is correct," the person said. As for what happens to Agrawal, who is seen internally as someone selected because of his ability to continue the mission of Twitter, the former executive said it is "unlikely" Musk will keep him.
A major concern about a Musk-owned Twitter among employees and executives, the person said, is Musk's impulsive leadership style and that he will force the company to act on "his hot takes" and "knee-jerk reactions." Another worry: His lack of understanding of the "nuances and complexity" behind content moderation and the years of work Twitter has put into limiting harassment, hate speech, and toxic content from the platform, as it works toward better monetization of the app and growing its user base.
"Musk taking over is a bad outcome," the former executive said. "He doesn't get it and employees are concerned that he doesn't get it."
Three current employees said there is relatively open talk among colleagues about actively looking for other jobs and lining up interviews at other companies.
"Many new people have joined and we've still been growing," one employee said. "I'm sure some people will leave though. It seems people over-exaggerate online how likely they are to leave and under-exaggerate in real life how likely they are to leave."
The person added that they would likely have stayed if Musk had been fended off somehow. The desire to leave comes down to Musk, the employee said, his comments about content moderation on the platform and why he wants the company, and his reputation as a mercurial workaholic.
"It's all about Elon," the employee said. "There will be some sort of exodus event from those who do not approve of him."
Greg Selker, head of the North America technology practice at the executive recruiting firm Stanton Chase, said he's been "very busy" in recent weeks and is hearing back from Twitter employees his firm had previously reached out to and been ignored by, including several at a "very senior" level. Another tech recruiter said they have also seen an increase in responses from workers at Twitter since Musk's takeover efforts.
"Twitter has had a pretty good culture and people liked working there; it has done a good job of retaining its employee base," Selker said. "Now, people are definitely looking at leaving."
Selker said there has been some concern about post-Elon changes that could affect how the platform operates, as well as concern about its "long-term relevance."
Still, the likelihood is small of Musk coming in on day one of his ownership and there is a mass exit of workers. Nearly all Twitter employees have part of their total compensation tied up in stock reliant on individual vesting schedules, so how their shares are dealt with or paid out will play a role in most people looking to leave.
"There will be a lot of departures among those with valid moral and business concerns," Aaron Solomon, chief legal analyst at Esquire Digital, said. "But it's really going to come down to vesting."
Twitter employees are on a four-year vesting schedule, typical among tech firms, with 25% of their restricted stock units vesting each year, or a little over 8% each month. While Musk is offering to take the company private, meaning Twitter will be delisted and its shares will no longer be available on the public market for purchase, employees have so far been told little about what will happen to the shares they were granted. The New York Times reported Sean Edgett, Twitter's general counsel, has told employees any potential buyer would likely be required to keep employee equity "as is" or provide equivalent compensation, like a cash award.
Solomon said if Twitter goes private, it is only unable to issue stock to the public. It can still maintain and even issue additional stock to employees. And those employees can keep their stock even if a purchase offer is made, although vesting options could change under whatever the terms of a Musk acquisition would be.
Given the stock has been rising, Solomon thinks many Twitter employees, even those who dislike Musk, are vested and looking to leave, may want to hold on to their stock, if possible and "ride the Musk wave."
As for Agrawal, Solomon does not see a scenario in which he stays with the company. "The entire board will be gone."
More: Tech Twitter Social Media | 2022-04-25T20:48:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | As Elon Musk Twitter Takeover Succeeds, Employee Exodus May Follow | https://www.businessinsider.com/as-elon-musk-twitter-takeover-succeeds-employee-exodus-may-follow-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/as-elon-musk-twitter-takeover-succeeds-employee-exodus-may-follow-2022-4 |
Kayla Epstein and Kimberly Leonard
Donald Trump told Fox News he's not returning to Twitter after Elon Musk's purchase.
Musk will buy the social network for $44 billion.
Trump was banned from Twitter due to his tweets about the January 6 Capitol attack.
Donald Trump said he won't be returning to Twitter anytime soon amid news that billionaire Elon Musk will purchase the social network for $44 billion.
Instead, Trump said in an interview with Fox News that he would join his own new social network, TRUTH Social, in the coming days.
"I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH," Trump told Fox News just before Musk's deal was formally announced. "I hope Elon buys Twitter because he'll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH."
"The bottom line is, no, I am not going back to Twitter," Trump said.
Trump's post-presidential office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Trump was banned from Twitter in January 2021, after a mob of his supporters attempted to stop the certification of the 2020 election by ransacking the US Capitol. His tweets had repeatedly violated Twitter's rules against spreading disinformation, instigating violence, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading false information about the disease.
Musk has not said if he would force Twitter to reverse the ban should he take ownership of the company, but has said, "I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy."
Many Republican politicians, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, have cheered on the news of Musk's interest in purchasing Twitter. They believe that the billionaire CEO of Tesla, who has a freewheeling Twitter personality of his own, would make the platform more friendly to conservatives.
Since losing his @realDonaldTrump account and the nearly 90 million followers that had signed up for his spontaneous posts, Trump has mainly made himself heard through statements put out by his office.
Several right-wing social networks have attempted to gain traction since Trump's banishment from Twitter. Their creators say they are meant to be a safe haven from Big Tech's alleged censorship of conservatives — and Twitter and Facebook's content moderation policies.
Trump is personally backing TRUTH Social, though its development has been beset by delays.
"We're taking in millions of people, and what we're finding is that the response on TRUTH is much better than being on Twitter," Trump told Fox News. "Twitter has bots and fake accounts, and we are doing everything we can."
Jason Miller, the CEO of the conservative social media platform GETTR, told Insider in an interview that he thinks Trump will run for president again in 2024.
"The one litmus test when it comes to Twitter trying to get its reputation back is letting Trump back on the platform," he said on Monday.
If Twitter were to open its doors to Trump, then he should take the company up on it — as well as join all available social media platforms to reach a broad audience, said Miller, who is a former Trump advisor.
Miller doesn't expect that Twitter will let Trump back on, however, saying, "I don't think Musk will pick this hill to die on."
Some of Trump's other allies think he shouldn't rejoin Twitter, even if Musk's ownership means that the social network will reinstate his account.
Being off Twitter "has actually ironically benefited him," Sean Spicer, Trump's former White House press secretary, told Insider last week. "And therefore I would argue that he should reap those benefits."
Trump seemed to agree.
"TRUTH Social will be a voice for me," Trump told Fox News. "And that's something nobody else can get."
More: Trump Twitter Elon Musk Donald Trump | 2022-04-25T20:48:12Z | www.businessinsider.com | Trump Says He Won't Return to Twitter After Elon Musk's Purchase | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-wont-return-to-twitter-after-elon-musks-purchase-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-wont-return-to-twitter-after-elon-musks-purchase-2022-4 |
iPad Mini review: A compact, modern design and fast performance make a perfect balance of tablet power and portability
What accessories can you use with the iPad Mini?
The 2021 iPad Mini is a powerful, compact tablet that's less cumbersome than larger iPads.
It's easier to carry around due to its small size, and its screen is still larger than any phone I know about.
It's a smaller version of the 2022 iPad Air rather than a smaller version of the standard 2021 iPad.
Apple iPad Mini 6th Generation (2021)
If the standard 2021 iPad is the "best" iPad for most people, then the 2021 iPad Mini is the "perfect" iPad.
That designation of "perfect" is subjective, to be sure — the iPad Mini and its 8.3-inch screen might be too small for some. On the other hand, the standard iPad and its 10.2-inch screen might be too large for others.
What's objective, however, is that the iPad Mini still offers a bigger screen than any phone I know about, thus fulfilling its purpose as a tablet. It's also incredibly light and portable, making it the easiest tablet to carry around anywhere — much easier than the comparatively bulky and cumbersome 10.2-inch iPad.
These are just some factors contributing to the iPad Mini's perfection. Read on to get the whole picture.
Apple iPad Mini 2021 specifications
Specification 2021 iPad Mini
Display 8.3-inch (2,266 x 1,488) Liquid Retina LED
Memory and storage 4GB RAM (estimated) / 64GB, 256GB storage
Battery and charging 19.3 Wh, 20W charger included
Cameras 12MP main camera
Front camera 12MP FaceTime HD camera with Center Stage
Audio Stereo speakers
Authentication Touch ID
The 2021 iPad Mini adopts Apple's modern iPad design you'll find on the iPad Air and iPad Pro series. That means the tablet is sleek, thin, and it has flat edges and a flat back. It also has uniform bezels around the display rather than the thicker top and bottom bezels from the classic iPad design.
Again, the iPad Mini is also lightweight, and combined with its smaller overall size, it's noticeably more portable than larger tablets. That extra portability, I'd argue, is more useful than a larger display. I found myself using the iPad Mini more often than larger iPads simply because it was easier to bring from the couch in the sitting room to the kitchen, or any other room in the house.
And just by virtue of its smaller size, it takes up less room than larger iPads. The iPad Mini is more akin to a large phone than a standard iPad, which has the footprint of a small laptop.
The iPad Mini is often known as a pocketable powerhouse, or "pocket-size," and it does fit in my jeans pockets. But it doesn't fit in all the pockets on certain pants and shorts. Your pockets really need to be quite large to fit the iPad Mini, but it's possible — more so than any larger iPad.
All of this is to say that the iPad Mini is perfect in its portability compared to its hardware inside.
The iPad Mini has an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display, which is the same type of Retina display panel you'd find on the iPad Air, and even the 11-inch iPad Pro. It's not the biggest deal — colors are only slightly bolder compared to the regular Retina display on the standard iPad. Still, it's a higher-quality display.
Sharpness-wise, the 2021 iPad Mini has a 1448p resolution that's technically sharper than the iPad and even the iPad Air's display. You get 326 pixels-per-inch (PPI), which outclasses the 264 PPI with those aforementioned iPads. To be honest, it's not that noticeable, as the screen is smaller.
There's no getting around the fact that apps, videos, and photos are, indeed, smaller on the iPad Mini's 8.3-inch display compared to the 10.2-inch display on the iPad and the 10.9-inch display on the iPad Air. Still, I've been using the large iPhone 13 Pro Max with a 6.7-inch screen, and the iPad Mini still offers the larger display experience I seek from a tablet.
However, the iPad Mini's smaller screen starts to truly feel smaller for productivity. It's fine for simpler productivity, like writing an email or a simple document, but larger screens are definitely more useful for more complex tasks, like research, especially with a more convenient keyboard cover.
Note that, with the iPad Mini, you don't get Apple's ultra-smooth ProMotion display feature that you get with the iPad Pro series, or the iPhone 13 Pro series. ProMotion runs the display at a 120Hz refresh rate, which means it refreshes the screen 120 times per second compared to the 60Hz on the iPad Mini, iPad, iPad Air, and standard iPhone 13 line. That higher refresh rate makes animations appear smoother, which gives off the impression that the device is faster and more powerful.
It would have been nice if the 2021 iPad Mini came with ProMotion, but it's fine that it doesn't because of the display's relatively small size, especially if the omission helps keep the cost down.
The 2021 iPad Mini runs on the same A15 Bionic processor as the iPhone 13 series, which means apps and games of all levels of intensity run smoothly and flawlessly.
Running on Apple's latest mobile processor surely counts towards the iPad Mini's $170 premium over the standard iPad, which runs on the two-year-old iPhone 11 A13 Bionic processor. While I wouldn't say there's a noticeable performance difference between these iPads today, I expect that the iPad Mini will remain snappy and responsive for at least two years longer than the iPad, thanks to its processor that's two generations newer.
As expected, benchmark scores using the Geekbench 5 app show the iPad Mini as having similar performance as the iPhone 13 series. Indeed, both devices run on the same A15 Bionic processor.
Benchmark 2021 iPad Mini 2021 iPad
In our usual battery test where I continuously stream a YouTube video at the iPad Mini's full brightness streaming at 1440p resolution, the 2021 iPad Mini lasted six hours and two minutes. That's the best battery test result when compared to the standard iPad's five hours and 25 minutes, and the iPad Air's four hours and 53 minutes.
2021 iPad Mini 2021 iPad 2022 iPad Air
6 hours, 2 minutes 5 hours, 25 minutes 4 hours, 53 minutes
The 2021 iPad Mini uses a USB-C port to charge, which is good to see, considering Apple's laptops also use USB-C to charge, and consumer electronics overall have adopted USB-C as the latest standard.
The 2021 iPad Mini is compatible with Apple's second-generation Pencil, which is more responsive than the first-generation Pencil that the standard iPad supports. That's to say, the iPad Mini is a better note-taking and drawing device than the iPad.
Apple doesn't make a keyboard case for the iPad Mini, and third-party options are pretty slim, possibly because a small keyboard that fits within the iPad Mini's footprint is uncomfortable to type on. Rather, you can connect a normal or compact Bluetooth keyboard to the iPad Mini for typing.
The iPad Mini also supports mouse input, so you can connect a Bluetooth mouse for finer control, which is especially useful for productivity. However, it's not quite as convenient as a keyboard case or cover.
For $100 more, you can get the 2022 iPad Air, which is essentially a bigger version of the 2021 iPad Mini. Apart from its larger 10.9-inch display, the iPad Air's main draw is its powerful, computer-grade M1 processor. It's the same processor you'd find in the iPad Pro series, as well as the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini. It's certainly tempting for an additional $100, especially if you don't think the iPad Mini's 8.3-inch display is big enough.
If spending more than $500 is out of the question, but you still want a bigger display, the standard $330 iPad offers a larger 10.2-inch display and perfectly capable performance. Just note that the standard iPad runs on an older processor that will show its age sooner than the iPad Mini or the iPad Air.
Again, the 2021 iPad Mini is the "perfect" iPad for its balance of portability and performance.
Due to its small size, it's more useful as a tablet for video watching, gaming, and quick messaging than a true mobile productivity machine. For instance, I wouldn't recommend the 2021 iPad Mini as a replacement for a laptop — larger iPads, like the standard iPad or iPad Air, are better suited as laptop replacements.
The iPad Mini's high $500 price tag may seem overpriced compared to the standard $330 iPad, which also has a larger screen. But the 2021 tablet's design, performance, and features make it more a smaller version of the $600 iPad Air than a smaller version of the standard iPad. Plus, for a $170 premium, you're getting a tablet with longer legs for the future, too.
More: Tablets Insider Reviews 2022 Insider Picks IP Tech | 2022-04-25T21:27:23Z | www.businessinsider.com | Apple 2021 iPad Mini Review: the "Perfect" iPad | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/apple-ipad-mini-2021-review | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/apple-ipad-mini-2021-review |
The best new books to read in 2022, based on your zodiac sign
Whether you're an independent Aries or connection-driven Gemini, here are great 2022 book recommendations based on your zodiac sign.
With so many great books to choose from, finding a great read can be overwhelming.
To help, here are newly released 2022 book recommendations based on your astrological sign.
These picks include exciting new fiction and nonfiction reads in 2022.
With so many amazing books on the market, it can feel impossible to choose the one you know you'll enjoy.
As a Leo who doesn't fiercely crave the spotlight, I know our astrological signs don't create a flawless, spot-on image of who we are. But they can offer intriguing insights into what motivates or interests us.
These 2022 books focus on great characters, stunning writing styles, and unique plots that mirror zodiac personality traits for each sign.
So whether you're an independent Aries or connection-driven Gemini, here are 3 great 2022 book recommendations based on your zodiac sign.
The best 2022 books to read, based on your zodiac sign:
"The Memory Librarian" by Janelle Monáe
"The Memory Librarian" by Janelle Monáe, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $23.99
This collection of science fiction short stories begins with Jane 57821, who decides to break free from a world in which your thoughts can be controlled and erased by a select few. As a natural leader that craves leadership and freedom, Aries will love the powerful characters rising against a totalitarian landscape in this inspired and artistic read.
"The Verifiers" by Jane Pek
"The Verifiers" by Jane Pek, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.59
Featuring a strong, quick-witted heroine with which Aries can easily identify, "The Verifiers" is a mystery that follows Claudia Lin, an amateur sleuth who's just been recruited to work for an online-dating detective agency. In a story that will appeal to Aries' bold and brave nature, Claudia has to break protocol to investigate when someone goes missing.
"The Lost Dreamer" by Lizz Huerta
"The Lost Dreamer" by Lizz Huerta, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.99
In this debut YA fantasy, Indir is a Dreamer whose existence is threatened when a new king seeks to bring her kind to a permanent end and Saya is a seer who discovers she has more than one gift. Aries will love these two determined trailblazers as they face impossible choices, new frontiers, and high-stakes risks in this supernatural read inspired by ancient Mesoamerica.
"The Nineties" by Chuck Klosterman
"The Nineties" by Chuck Klosterman, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $17.78
This new nonfiction read revisits 1990s America, recognizing the accelerated cultural revolution that occurred before convenience technology crept into everyday life. While "The Nineties" is a fascinating analysis of a decade of social rifts and shifts, Tauruses will revel in the nostalgia and the "good old days" feelings from which they've never quite let go.
"Homicide and Halo-Halo" by Mia P. Manansala
"Homicide and Halo-Halo" by Mia P. Manansala, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $13.39
"Homicide and Halo-Halo" is a cozy, tasty mystery novel about Lila Macapagal, whose summer is turned upside down when a resurrected local beauty pageant leads to the murder of a judge. Taurus readers will love to settle into the comfort of this foodie mystery novel as Lila and her old rival put aside their past to solve the case.
"House of Sky and Breath" by Sarah J. Maas
"House of Sky and Breath" is the stunning fantasy sequel to "House of Earth and Blood." In this novel, the dust has just begun to settle around Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar when they get pulled into rebel plans and must continue to fight for what's right. Tauruses will revel in the sheer beauty of this book, both inside and out, and enjoy the familiarity of a continued but equally captivating story.
"All My Rage" by Sabaa Tahir, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $12.99
While "All My Rage" will certainly appeal to Geminis because of its multiple storylines that stretch generations and continents, it's the connection between characters that will truly speak to Gemini readers. Sal and Noor were as close as family members until a terrible fight split them apart. Now, as each former friend struggles against personal and familial trials, they must weigh the value of friendship against what once divided them in this story of family, loss, and forgiveness.
"Gallant" by V.E. Schwab
"Gallant" by V.E. Schwab, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.95
When a strange letter invites Olivia Prior home to the secret-laden Gallant, she accidentally finds herself on the other side of a ruined wall, in a strange alternate version of the world she just left. As they are curious and extremely adaptable, Gemini readers will love to follow Olivia as she unravels generations of secrets and tries to find the place she belongs.
"Don't Cry for Me" by Daniel Black
"Don't Cry for Me" by Daniel Black, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $22.48
As Jacob lies on his deathbed, he begins to write letters to his estranged son, Isaac, pouring out truths from his heart and ancestral stories he believes his son should know. Geminis, who are natural communicators and expressive with their emotions, will undoubtedly cherish this hopeful and authentic story of empathy, reconciliation, and forgiveness.
"Black Cake" by Charmaine Wilkerson
"Black Cake" by Charmaine Wilkerson, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $17.81
Cancers are family-oriented and drawn to nurturing, so the moving familial story of "Black Cake" is sure to be a great pick for this water sign. In the wake of their mother's passing, Byron and Benny are left with a voice recording and a family recipe for a traditional Caribbean black cake. As the once-close siblings attempt to fulfill their mother's final wish, they embark on a journey of inheritance, family history, and motherhood.
"Book Lovers" by Emily Henry, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.99
With their hard shell and soft interior, it's easy to know Cancers will love an enemies-to-lovers romance. Nora Stephens is a cutthroat literary agent ready to become the heroine of her own story when she takes a trip with her sister to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina. Hundreds of miles from the city, Nora still manages to run into editor Charlie Lastra, with whom she's had more than her share of unpleasant interactions, but can't seem to avoid in this bookish romance.
"Vinyl Moon" by Mahogany L. Browne
"Vinyl Moon" by Mahogany L. Browne, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.53
As Angel attempts to heal from a painful incident that led her to Brooklyn and away from her California life, she manages to find healing in her literature course, amongst the prose of Black writers. As Cancers are sensitive but protective of their emotions, Angel's story will resonate with Cancer readers as she allows herself to become immersed in words and slowly heal from her past.
Lucy Foley's newest twisty thriller, set in a Parisian apartment surrounded by eclectic and mysterious neighbors, is a great pick for any drama-loving Leo. When Jess is in need of a fresh start, her half-brother apathetically agrees to let her stay with him for a while but seems to be missing once she turns up at his apartment. As Jess begins to investigate his strange disappearance, it soon becomes clear that every neighbor is a suspect with their own secrets.
"Run Rose Run" by James Patterson and Dolly Parton
"Run Rose Run" by James Patterson and Dolly Parton, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $18.00
Co-written by a musical legend and one of the bestselling authors of all time, "Run Rose Run" is a fast-paced mystery about a young girl who comes to Nashville to rise to the top while outrunning her past. Leo readers will root for AnnieLee Keyes while reveling in the danger, drama, and desire of this page-turner.
"Ramón and Julieta" by Alana Quintana Albertson
"Ramón and Julieta" by Alana Quintana Albertson, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.40
Celebrity Chef Julieta Campos is fighting against a bitter rivalry, rising tensions, and a surprising connection to her new landlord, Ramón, to save her beloved taqueria. Strong, ambitious, and determined Leos are sure to love this contemporary retelling of "Romeo and Juliet" as Ramón and Julieta must decide if they'll allow rivalries to divide them or allow love to bring them together.
"To Paradise" by Hanya Yanagihara
"To Paradise" by Hanya Yanagihara, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $20.18
Internally emotional and detail-oriented Virgos will find themselves easily immersed in "To Paradise", a powerful literary novel that spans three centuries from an alternate 1893 reality, to 1993 Manhattan submerged in the AIDS epidemic, to a totalitarian future in 2093. As the three sections of this incredible novel come together, the characters connect through their perfectly flawed humanity.
"The Intersectional Environmentalist" by Leah Thomas
"The Intersectional Environmentalist" by Leah Thomas, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $20.99
Since Virgos are intellectual and resourceful problem-solvers, "The Intersectional Environmentalist" is a great nonfiction pick for Virgo readers. In this book, Leah Thomas demonstrates how minorities, especially BIPOC, are significantly more impacted by environmental injustices. Both an informational read and a call to action, this book shows how the fight for civil rights and our environment are irrevocably intertwined.
"What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma" by Stephanie Foo
"What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma" by Stephanie Foo, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $23.99
"What My Bones Know" is a powerful memoir about Stephanie Foo's journey to understand the years of abuse and generational trauma that led to her diagnosis of complex PTSD. Because Virgos are compassionate and driven to understand and support others, Stephanie Foo's deeply personal and heavily researched memoir will affect Virgio readers with a painful but hopeful and enlightening story.
"Weather Girl" by Rachel Lynn Solomon
"Weather Girl" by Rachel Lynn Solomon, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $11.99
This charming new love story is perfect for eternally romantic Libras. Ari Abrams and Russell Barringer work together on a news team, both subjected to the constant conflict of their divorced bosses. After a calamitous work party, Ari and Russell decide to secretly meddle in their bosses' issues in the hopes of mending their relationship until their plan backfires and they realize the real chemistry might be between them instead.
"The Violin Conspiracy" by Brendan Slocumb
"The Violin Conspiracy" by Brendan Slocumb, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $17.88
When Ray McMillian's prized family heirloom violin is stolen just before an international competition, his dreams of becoming a professional musician seem to be crushed. Libras, who value fairness and balance, will root for Ray as others, from family to foe, try to claim the precious violin as their own.
"Fiona and Jane" by Jean Chen Ho
"Fiona and Jane" by Jean Chen Ho, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $16.99
Social and diplomatic Libras will love "Fiona and Jane," an alternating collection of short stories that illuminate two best friends who drift in and out of each other's lives over two decades. Best friends through childhood and adolescence, Fiona and Jane are separated by distance and betrayals but brought together by a multi-layered friendship in this contemplative read.
"An Arrow to the Moon" by Emily X. R. Pan
"An Arrow to the Moon" by Emily X. R. Pan, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $16.99
When a new boy named Hunter Yee upends Luna Chang's life, their shared family secrets and hostility will bring them together in the face of an uncertain future. As Scorpios are intense and passionate, this magical retelling of "Romeo and Juliet" mixed with Chinese mythology will draw them in as Hunter and Luna are torn between fate and love.
"Time Is a Mother" by Ocean Vuong
"Time Is a Mother" by Ocean Vuong, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $21.22
"Time Is a Mother" is a deeply emotional, intimate, and slowly rejuvenating collection of poems that will speak to Scorpios' brooding and powerfully emotional side. In these poems, Ocean Vuong grapples with grief, loss, and restoration in the wake of his mother's passing.
"Sea of Tranquility" by Emily St. John Mandel, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $17.38
Since Scorpios crave psychological depth, "Sea of Tranquility" is sure to connect with their powerful mind. This epic, genre-bending tale illuminates humanity as it follows characters across time and space from the Canadian wilderness in 1912 to a writer who has left her colony on the moon to travel the Earth on a book tour. This novel is simply mesmerizing as Emily St. John Mandel creatively weaves three main stories into a transcendent work of fiction.
"Violeta" by Isabel Allende
"Violeta" by Isabel Allende, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $24.99
Born in 1920, Violeta's 100-year life is marked by revolutionary events, from the Great Depression to suffrage to personal heartbreak and great joy, outlined in this novel as she tells her incredible life story in a letter to her grandson. Because Sagittariuses crave exploration that leads to personal expansion, this historical fiction epic is sure to dazzle.
"The Cartographers" by Peng Shepherd, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $25.19
When Nell Young's legendary cartographer father is found dead in his office, she finds an incredibly rare and valuable map, possibly the last copy in the world. With a passion of her own for cartography, Nell sets out to uncover the secrets behind the map, her father, and the fight that tore their relationship apart. Sagittarius readers love adventure and anything that helps them understand the world better, so this new fantasy would make a great read.
"How High We Go in the Dark" by Sequoia Nagamatsu
"How High We Go in the Dark" by Sequoia Nagamatsu, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $19.97
"How High We Go in the Dark" is an intricately told story about an accidentally unleashed Arctic Plague that devastates and reshapes humanity. Following a series of loosely connected characters and unique stories, this science fiction book is great for Sagittarius readers, who are curious explorers always seeking new ideas.
"How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer" to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur
"How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer" to Every Moral Question by Michael Schur, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $23.14
Since they're always searching for the answer to success, "How to Be Perfect" is a great new nonfiction read for Capricorns. Funny and thought-provoking, this philosophical book analyses complex ethical questions and searches for an ultimate "right" answer to each one through different insightful perspectives. Plus, Capricorns love having a greater perspective and finding a balance where success meets emotional and spiritual truths.
"The Atlas Six" by Olivie Blake
"The Atlas Six" by Olivie Blake, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $17.41
This super popular fantasy book is about the Alexandrian Society, a secret and revered group of magical academicians that only considers six magicians per decade to attempt initiation into their society of wealth, power, and prestige. Drawn to all of these attributes, Capricorns will love to follow the six newest candidates as they fight to prove themselves and survive amongst their greatest rivals.
"What the Fireflies Knew" by Kai Harris
When KB and her sister, Nia, are sent to live with their estranged grandfather, they are still grappling with their father's death and the loss of their family home. With a disconnected family, sometimes-friendly neighbors, and a looming feeling of loneliness, KB must make sense of the pieces of her new, challenging life in this coming-of-age novel that Capricorns will cherish because of their own determination to succeed despite adversity.
"Wahala" by Nikki May
"Wahala" by Nikki May, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $18.73
Social and fascinated by group dynamics, Aquarius readers will love this novel about Ronke, Boo, and Simi, who each have very different lives but are kept close by their deep and longstanding friendship. When the charismatic Isobel arrives and begins to infiltrate their small circle, chaos slowly ensues and threatens to dismantle relationships, aspirations, and trust in this entertaining read.
"Moon Witch, Spider King" by Marlon James
In this sequel, Sologon, the 177-year-old Moon Witch, fights to tell her side of the magical and unforgettable story from "Black Leopard, Red Wolf." Curious, grounded, and proud to stand out from the pack, Aquarius readers will appreciate Sologon's perspective and crave to understand the reasoning behind her actions.
"South to America: A Journey Below the Mason Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation" by Imani Perry
"South to America: A Journey Below the Mason Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation" by Imani Perry, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $23.16
"South to America" anecdotal history of the American South is a great pick for Aquariuses, as they seek knowledge to better understand the world in order to make a powerful difference. This nonfiction read uses personal, political, and historical stories to demonstrate that the key to a greater, more equitable future lies in understanding the complexities of the South.
Pisces are known for their emotional and intuitive nature and walking the line between fantasy and reality, so "One Italian Summer" is the perfect Pisces read. This book uses magical realism to bring Katy's story to life as she adventures on a mother-daughter trip alone shortly after her mom passes away. On the magical and alluring Amalfi Coast, Katy can somehow see her mother and get to know her as the young woman she once was.
"You Truly Assumed" by Laila Sabreen
"You Truly Assumed" by Laila Sabreen, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $15.15
In "You Truly Assumed", a terrorist attack and growing Islamophobia brings three Black Muslim girls together over a blog used as an outlet and support system for a community of Muslim teens across the country. As Pisces readers are deeply compassionate and empathetic, the characters in this YA novel will resonate as they push back against the threats and hatred they receive in the fight to create a safe space for themselves and other Muslim teens.
"You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty" by Akwaeke Emezi, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $24.30
Five years after the accident that killed the love of her life, Feyi Adekola wants to ease into dating again when she's whisked into a whirlwind summer of romance and luxury, complicated by an off-limits potential relationship that leaves her searching for real answers. Pisces are sure to love the passion in Akwaeke Emezi's writing and want to follow Feyi to the very last page as she seeks joy and healing after loss.
More: Books Zodiac Sign Education & Personal Development Insider Picks Guides
"60 Days In" | 2022-04-25T22:19:27Z | www.businessinsider.com | Best Book Recommendations Based on Your Zodiac Sign in 2022 | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/learning/2022-books-to-read-based-on-your-zodiac-sign | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/learning/2022-books-to-read-based-on-your-zodiac-sign |
The 5 best music streaming services you can subscribe to in 2022
Angela Tricarico, Steven Cohen, and Ben Blanchet
The best music streaming services include access to millions of songs.
Spotify; Apple Music Tidal Streaming Service; Amazon Music Unlimited; Youtube Music; Alyssa Powell/Business Insider
What is HiFi music?
Check out our related buying guides
Music streaming services offer on-demand access to all the music you'll ever need right on your smartphone or computer with an internet connection. There are a few competing services out there, all with different features, plans, and price points. With multiple options to choose from, it can be tricky to figure out which one is the right fit for your specific needs.
When deciding which service to go with, it's worth considering a few things. You'll want to make sure that there's an app available on all the devices you use the most. You'll also want to consider things like audio quality and support for extra features, like digital assistants, music videos, lyrics, playlist sharing, and more.
To help you find the ideal subscription, we rounded up the best music streaming services you can sign up for right now. Our picks include several services with free ad-supported plans and a couple that even offer lossless audio for the best listening experience.
Here are the best music streaming services:
Spotify has a ton of songs and podcasts, along with a free streaming option and compatibility with a range of devices.
Apple Music works especially well on Apple devices, but the service has apps across a range of platforms, including Android.
Tidal is available on many devices, plus it offers plans with better audio quality than a lot of other music streaming services.
Amazon Music Unlimited integrates perfectly with Alexa and and it's available at a discount for Prime subscribers and Echo owners.
YouTube Music has a decent library of songs, plus it integrates very well with Google's other apps and services, including Google Assistant .
$9.99 from Spotify
Spotify has a ton of music and podcasts, along with a free streaming option and support for a range of devices.
Spotify: Free ad-supported streaming
Spotify Premium: $10/month for streaming without ads
Spotify Premium Duo: $13/month with support for two family members
Spotify Premium Family: $16/month with support for six family members and Spotify Kids access
Spotify Premium Student: $5/month with Showtime and ad-supported Hulu
Pros: Huge library of songs, podcasts, supports many devices, free plan, collaborative playlists, group listening, live audio platform
Cons: No lossless audio (coming soon)
Looking for a music streaming service that has a huge range of songs and is compatible with all your devices? Spotify is the way to go. Spotify has apps for all major platforms and there's a free plan with ads.
Spotify's free plan allows users to access the service's entire music library, but you're only given a limited number of skips per hour and all playlists and albums are played on shuffle. If you want to stream without ads or limitations, you can opt for a Premium plan, which starts at $10 a month.
One of the perks of Spotify is its focus on discovery and playlist curation. This includes the service's "enhance" button that lets you add similar songs to existing playlists. You can also filter your saved songs by mood and genre, so it's easy to find exactly what you want to listen to.
In 2021, Spotify updated its mobile interface with smoother transitions and the option to pin certain playlists, albums, and podcasts for easy access. Spotify also recently integrated its live audio platform, Spotify Live (formerly known as Greenroom), directly into the Spotify app.
The service has podcasts and video content as well, plus it streams music in up to 320Kbps, which should be good enough for most listeners. Spotify also plans to introduce a CD-quality option, called Spotify HiFi, sometime in the near future. That said, this tier was delayed from its original 2021 launch window and it's not clear when it will be available.
All Spotify Premium subscribers get a one-month trial regardless of the plan they choose.
$9.99 from Apple
$9.99 Free from Best Buy
Apple Music works great on Apple devices, plus there's an app for it across a range of platforms, including Android.
Apple Music Individual: $10/month for ad-free streaming
Apple Music Family: $15/month with support for six family members
Apple Music Student: $5/month for ad-free streaming
Apple Music Voice: $5/month for Siri-enabled, ad-free streaming
Apple One Bundle: $15/month for Apple Music, Apple TV Plus, Apple Arcade, and iCloud
Pros: Over 90 million songs, live radio, integration with Apple devices, curated playlists, six-month trial with Best Buy, discounted bundle with other Apple services, lossless and spatial audio
Cons: No free version
If you use an iPhone and other Apple products, then it's worth considering Apple Music. Apple Music integrates perfectly with Apple's hardware and software, plus it works with your existing iTunes library.
Apple Music has a large selection of content, too, with over 90 million songs available to stream on-demand. The service also offers the Apple Music 1 radio station and some exclusive tracks.
If you want to tap into what your friends are listening to, Apple Music has curated playlists for that, as well as other playlists for new music, personal favorites, and more.
Apple added lossless and spatial audio (Dolby Atmos) options to Apple Music in June 2021. This free upgrade gives listeners access to CD-quality versions of Apple's entire catalog, plus an enhanced surround sound listening experience on select songs.
New members can receive a free one-month trial and Best Buy customers can take advantage of a six-month trial. Unlike Spotify, however, Apple Music does not offer a free version with ads.
Apple has also a budget-friendly plan, called Apple Music Voice, for just $5 a month. This plan gives users ad-free access to Apple Music's entire library , but only on Apple devices with Siri enabled. Apple Music Voice does not give you access to premium features like lossless and spatial audio, offline listening, or the ability to see what your friends are listening to.
$9.99 from Tidal
Tidal is available on a range of platforms, plus it offers plans with better audio quality than a lot of other music streaming services.
Free: Ad-supported access to songs at up to 160Kbps
HiFi: $10/month for ad-free streaming at 1411Kbps
HiFi Plus: $20/month for Master Quality, 360 Reality Audio, and Dolby Atmos music
Family HiFi: $15/month with support for six family members
Family HiFi Plus: $30/month with support for six family members
Read our Tidal review
Pros: Lossless playback and MQA tracks, Dolby Atmos audio, available on a range of platforms, exclusive content, includes music videos, free option
Cons: Missing some features found on other services, HiFi Plus plan is expensive
Tidal is a little different from other music streaming services in that it's targeted toward those who want a higher resolution audio experience — and as such, it provides excellent sound quality.
Tidal's base plan includes ad-free streaming at up to 1411Kbps bitrate in the lossless format. This means that you get to listen to music in full CD-quality exactly as it was meant to be heard.
In addition to lossless audio, the more expensive HiFi Plus plan adds support for an even higher bitrate of up to 9216Kbps and support for the MQA format, along with Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality tracks.
Tidal is also known for streaming some notable exclusive content. Albums like Jay-Z's "4:44" and Kanye West's "The Life of Pablo" were first launched on Tidal. There are also music videos and other behind-the-scenes content, too.
New subscribers to Tidal receive a free 30-day trial. Students get 50% off Tidal subscriptions, while active duty military, veterans, and first responders can claim a 40% discount.
When it comes to other lossless music options, Tidal now faces competition from popular services like Amazon Music Unlimited and Apple Music. These services offer similar audio quality for a competitive price. They both lack MQA support, however, which could be a drawback for fans of that audio format.
Amazon Music Unlimited integrates perfectly with Alexa and offers discounts for Prime subscribers or Echo owners.
Amazon Music Unlimited: $10/month ($8 with Prime) for ad-free streaming
Amazon Music Unlimited (Single Device): $4/month for playback on one Echo or Fire TV device
Amazon Music Unlimited Family: $15/month with support for six family members
Amazon Music Unlimited Student: $1/month for ad-free streaming
Read our Amazon Music Unlimited review
Pros: Discounts for Amazon Prime members, large selection, Alexa integration, HD music included
Cons: No free version for the Unlimited library
If you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, you might want to take advantage of some special savings and go for Amazon's music subscription service, Amazon Music Unlimited.
Prime subscribers already get access to Prime Music as part of their membership, but this service only has 2 million songs. If you want access to more than 75 million tracks, then it's worth upgrading to Music Unlimited.
The service even includes HD and spatial audio streaming for no extra cost. Music HD offers lossless audio tracks in CD-quality or higher, while spatial audio uses the Dolby Atmos and Sony 360 Reality formats.
Music Unlimited is available on a range of platforms, including iOS, Android, and the web. The service is tightly integrated with Amazon's Alexa, so if you have an Echo or other Alexa-enabled products, it'll work perfectly.
New subscribers who purchase an eligible item from Amazon can even get a three-month free trial of Music Unlimited. Regular trials for new members last one month. After the trial, your subscription will automatically continue for the regular monthly price unless you decide to cancel.
Amazon Music Unlimited does not offer a free tier, but you can stream a small selection of curated playlists without paying using the ad-supported Amazon Music service.
$9.99 from YouTube
YouTube Music has a decent library of songs, plus it integrates very well with Google's other apps and services, including Google Assistant.
YouTube Music: Free ad-supported streaming
YouTube Music Premium: $10/month for ad-free streaming
YouTube Music Premium Family: $15/month with support for six people
YouTube Music Premium Student: $5/month for ad-free streaming
YouTube Premium Bundle: $12/month for ad-free YouTube and YouTube Music
Pros: Interesting playlists, good integration with Google services, free version available
Cons: Doesn't integrate with Alexa, no lossless audio option
YouTube Music is the way to go if you're really plugged into Google's ecosystem of products. In other words, if you have an Android phone and want your music streaming service to integrate well with Google Assistant, then YouTube Music is a convenient option.
It's also available on iOS and on the web, so you should be able to access the service wherever you are. The platform even offers location-based playlists and the ability to search for songs based on lyrics.
Users on any of YouTube Music's premium plans can listen to their saved music offline and with their screen off, something the YouTube app doesn't support unless you pay for a subscription.
YouTube Music isn't perfect, but Google has been working on making it better. The app doesn't really integrate with other voice assistants like Alexa, so if you have an Echo you'll be stuck with playing music through the Bluetooth connection on your phone. With that said, the service does now support Siri.
Like Spotify, YouTube Music offers a free, ad-supported version. New subscribers also get a one-month trial to test out the ad-free Premium plan.
If you're interested in bundling ad-free YouTube Music and YouTube video streaming, you can package the two services together under a YouTube Premium plan for $12 a month. YouTube Premium also includes exclusive video content. Since this option is only $2 more than Music Premium is on its own, it's a better value for music fans who also like to watch YouTube videos.
iFi Audio
Most music streaming services offer base plans that feature songs presented with "lossy" compression. This means that some of the original audio recording's quality is being sacrificed to make the file smaller and easier to stream. In other words, standard streaming audio isn't equal to the quality you'd hear on an actual CD.
Though this loss in quality is hard to notice for the average listener, most audiophiles demand "lossless" music that preserves the full range of the original track. This is where "HiFi" music streaming comes in.
Different platforms brand their lossless audio plans under different names, including HiFi, HD Music, and Hi-Res Music. Though there are some differences between them, they all generally refer to streaming audio tracks that are presented in at least CD-quality.
Tidal, Amazon Music Unlimited, and Apple Music are some of the most popular services with lossless audio options, making them a better fit for listeners who want the very best quality. Spotify has announced plans to launch HiFi audio, but a release date has not been revealed.
On the downside, lossless audio streaming requires more bandwidth so you'll need a fast internet connection and big data plan. To take full advantage of the audio quality benefits you'll also need a nice pair of headphones and a dedicated digital-to-analog converter, or a high-end set of speakers.
You can learn more about lossless audio formats in our guide to HD audio.
If you're signing up for a music streaming service, chances are you'll need a reliable media player or smartphone to access the app, along with a nice pair of speakers or headphones to actually listen to your favorite tracks on.
With that in mind, we've highlighted some of our other buying guides for streaming players, mobile devices, headphones, and speakers that are sure to come in handy for anyone who wants to stream music.
The best streaming sticks and boxes
The best smartphones
The best cheap headphones
The best true wireless earbuds
The best speakers
The best Bluetooth speakers
The best digital-to-analog converters
More: Features streaming services Spotify Amazon Music | 2022-04-25T22:19:27Z | www.businessinsider.com | The 5 Best Music Streaming Subscriptions in 2022 | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/best-music-streaming-service-subscription | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/best-music-streaming-service-subscription |
In a second victory Monday for NY AG Letitia James' probe of Trump's business, his former appraisers must now turn over documents.
Cushman & Wakefield had fought to get the AG's "overly broad" subpoena's quashed.
The same Manhattan judge who approved the C&W subpoenas held Trump in contempt earlier Monday.
A Manhattan judge has ordered Donald Trump's longstanding appraisers, Cushman and Wakefield, to turn over documents to New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The decision is the second victory Monday for James' probe of the former president's business dealings; in a press statement, James promised, "our investigation will continue undeterred."
Earlier Monday, the same judge, New York State Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, held Trump personally in contempt of court and ordered that he, too, comply with James' subpoenas, which in his case seek his personal business documents.
Trump additionally must pay a $10,000-a-day fine, Engoron ordered.
It is unclear when Trump would begin paying the fine. His lawyer, Alina Habba, said after court that she would move quickly to draft and sign an affidavit that will address the court's concerns by describing specifically where the Trump Organization searched for his documents before coming up empty.
As for Cushman & Wakefield, the firm, which severed ties with Trump's business last year with some fanfare, must by May 27 turn over all documents relating to its prior real estate work with Trump.
The firm must also turn over details on thousands of comparable non-Trump assessments, and business communications relating to their decision to sever ties with Trump's business.
"Cushman severed ties a year or so ago, correct?" the judge asked a lawyer for the AG, Kevin C. Wallace, during Monday afternoon's hearing.
"And you want to see internal documents on why they did that?" the judge asked.
"I think it's fair to say they made a noisy exit," Wallace said.
In February, Trump's longtime accounting firm, Mazars USA, also announced — noisily — that it was severing ties with the former president's business.
The AG's office believes Cushman has a decade-long history of issuing questionable statements about the value of Trump's properties, Wallace said.
The AG's office has said that those questionable assessments were used by Trump to get hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and tax breaks.
Those properties include the Trump family's Westchester County estate, Seven Springs, the Trump National Golf Club near Los Angeles, and 40 Wall Street in Manhattan.
Cushman valued Trump's stake in the skyscraper at $220 million in 2012. Three years later, they assessed his stake at $550 million, more than double what they'd said just three years prior.
Trump's lawyers left without commenting on the decision.
"For the second time today, a judge has made clear that no one is above the law," James said in her press statement.
"Cushman & Wakefield's work for Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization is clearly relevant to our investigation, and we are pleased that has now been confirmed by the court." | 2022-04-25T22:58:37Z | www.businessinsider.com | Donald Trump's Appraisers, Cushman & Wakefield, Must Turn Over Documents | https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-longtime-appraisers-cushman-and-wakefield-documents-letitia-james-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-longtime-appraisers-cushman-and-wakefield-documents-letitia-james-2022-4 |
In Twitter all-hands meeting, employee asks whether Donald Trump will be reinstated on the platform after Elon Musk's acquisition
Twitter's board accepted Musk's takeover offer on Monday.
Musk has said he wants Twitter to be a 'digital town square.'
Trump's Twitter account was permanently suspended in early 2021.
Twitter executives were peppered with questions from staff about Elon Musk's acquisition of the company during a terse all-hands meeting on Monday.
Employees got to submit questions and they were read out during the gathering. One employee asked if Donald Trump would return to the social-media platform after Musk takes control. CEO Parag Agrawal didn't have a clear answer, replying that once the deal closes "we don't know what direction the platform will go."
Trump's Twitter account was permanently suspended in early 2021, "due to the risk of further incitement of violence," the company said in a tweet at the time. Trump has said he won't return. However, Musk has already pledged to make Twitter a "digital town square" with a more open policy toward who can say what on the platform.
Another employee asked about the approach to free speech on Twitter, and Agrawal made it clear Musk will be the decider on such topics going forward. "We will find a way to bring Elon in for a Q&A," the CEO said.
Some employees have been particularly concerned about Musk rolling back Twitter's work on content moderation, part of the company's effort to limit misinformation and harassment on the platform while wooing more advertisers.
One staff member also asked why Twitter accepted Musk's offer at $54.20 a share, when the company's stock traded above $70 less than a year ago. "What should we take away about the health and the strength of the company given it's being sold for 50?" the employee said.
Board chair Brett Taylor replied that the directors decided Musk's offer was the best available. "Based on the analysis and the perceived risk and perception of value, the board unanimously decided the offer from Elon represented the best value for our shareholders," he said.
Taylor also noted that Jack Dorsey, Twitter's co-founder and former CEO, voted for Musk's takeover offer. "Jack is a member of the Twitter board and the vote was unanimous," Taylor said. "The board no longer exists on the other end of this transaction," he added.
There were also several pointed questions about potential layoffs and what happens to employees' stock awards.
Agrawal tried to calm staff during the meeting, but he was also frank about the current situation.
"Yes, there's uncertainty about what happens after this but we will learn more as time goes on," he said. "I and the management team and the board will continue to spend time with Elon and as we learn more we'll share with you.
So while there's a lot of uncertainty today over time, that will decrease."
Are you a Twitter employee with insight to share? Got a tip? Contact Kali Hays at khays@insider.com or through secure messaging app Signal at 949-280-0267. Reach out using a non-work device. Twitter DM at @hayskali. Check out Insider's source guide for other suggestions on how to share information securely.
More: Tech Twitter Elon Musk | 2022-04-25T22:58:49Z | www.businessinsider.com | Twitter Staff Ask CEO If Trump Will Return to Platform After Musk Deal | https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-ceo-dodges-question-on-trump-returning-after-musk-deal-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-ceo-dodges-question-on-trump-returning-after-musk-deal-2022-4 |
Leaked recording reveals Twitter executives laying out what will happen to employees' stock grants after Elon Musk's acquisition closes
Employees got some clarity on how their stock will be treated after Elon Musk takes over.
Stock can make up a large percentage of a tech worker's overall compensation package.
Pay will be treated the same for now, but changes are coming after the deal closes, executives said.
Twitter executives shared details of how employees' compensation will work once Elon Musk takes the company private, stressing efforts to limit attrition during an all-hands meeting.
The board accepted Musk's takeover offer of $54.20 a share on Monday. Some employees are concerned the billionaire will dilute content moderation efforts and several have said they are already looking to leave.
Shifting from a public company to a private business could make it more difficult for Twitter to retain talented engineers. Most big tech companies grant restricted stock units to staff that vest over multiple years, keeping employees around longer with the potential to increase their income well beyond a base salary.
During the all-hands meeting, recordings of which were heard by Insider, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and board chair Brett Taylor were peppered with questions about how the company will handle this switch. Employees submitted questions that were read out by CMO and chief people officer Leslie Berland during the gathering.
One staffer asked why Twitter has decided to pay out RSUs on their current four-year vesting schedule after the takeover, versus having the equity vest all at once. "Are major shareholders being paid out on a similar schedule? It feels like a way to get out of paying employees who may leave or get laid off what they were granted," the employee added.
Taylor said that when the Musk deal closes, instead of being paid in RSUs, those employee stock grants will translate into cash. "People's compensation plans don't change in this transaction. Merely the currency of those compensation plans change," Taylor added.
The executive didn't elaborate, but it's likely that Twitter employees' RSUs will vest in the form of cash rather than additional stock on the current schedule. This means the company will keep some of the retention benefits of these grants, because staff will have to stick around still to get the future payouts. Most of Twitter's workers receive at least some of their compensation in stock awards.
Another employee question was about the potential for an exodus of staff in the wake of Musk's takeover. "How did the board and Mr. Musk plan on dealing with the mass exodus of employees, considering the acquisition is by a person with questionable ethics?" this worker asked.
Taylor made it clear that Twitter, the board and Musk are focused on this retention challenge.
"One of the themes of today is continuity and making sure Parag and this leadership team continues to operate this platform successfully on behalf of our users and that has obviously been a big topic of discussion at the board and as I mentioned, that is important to Elon Musk as well because of the importance of Twitter as a service," Taylor said.
Taylor admitted that Twitter leadership is set to change. He told staffers during the meeting that the board "no longer exists on the other end of this transaction."
Without a board in place, an employee asked "Who will keep Elon accountable and how?" Again, it was Taylor who answered, explaining that public and private companies "operate differently" and that there were certain to be changes to the company's "governance structure" as soon as Musk takes over.
"There will be a new structure in this place," Taylor added.
More: Elon Musk Twitter Takeover | 2022-04-26T01:56:56Z | www.businessinsider.com | Twitter Execs Lay Out Future of Employee Stock Grants After Musk Deal | https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-execs-describe-future-employee-stock-grants-after-musk-deal-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-execs-describe-future-employee-stock-grants-after-musk-deal-2022-4 |
Sources close to former President Donald Trump says his interest in Twitter remains, despite Trump's own claims that he won't return to the platform.
Thiago Prudencio/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images; James Devaney/GC Images via Getty Images
Donald Trump's aides don't believe him when he says he won't go back to Twitter, reports The Washington Post.
The Post spoke to several people who were familiar with Trump's Twitter-reading habits.
"He loved his Twitter," one aide told the post. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
Some of former President Donald Trump's aides do not believe him when he says he won't go back to Twitter even if he gets his account back, per a new report from The Washington Post.
The Post interviewed several people familiar with Trump's habits and a Trump adviser, who commented on how the former president still appears to have significant interest in the platform.
Two people who spoke to The Post anonymously told the publication that Trump, despite criticizing Twitter and calling it "boring," still checks out content on the site fairly often. The sources told The Post that Trump mainly accesses his Twitter content by reading tweets from journalists and politicians that aides print out for him.
The sources also commented that Trump often complains about how his reach has been dramatically reduced because he's been off Twitter.
His spokeswoman, Liz Harrington, now communicates most of his statements, though she only has 265,000 followers — a fraction of Trump's peak follower count of more than 88 million people.
On his homegrown social media app Truth Social, Trump has 1.4 million users, a fraction of his former follower base.
"Truth Social is working out its kinks, they are onboarding people … but he loved his Twitter," a Trump adviser told The Post. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."
Musk has not said whether he will move to reinstate Trump's account. However, the newly-minted Twitter owner said in a statement on Monday that he views free speech as "the bedrock of a functioning democracy," pledging to make Twitter a "digital town square." Musk separately tweeted that he thought the platform should keep its "worst critics" on the site in the interest of promoting free speech.
Trump has been permanently suspended from Twitter since January 8, 2021, after the platform judged that his account was being used to incite violence, particularly in light of the January 6 Capitol riot. At a Twitter all-hands on Monday, CEO Parag Agrawal demurred when asked if he thought Trump would be allowed back onto the platform.
"We don't know what direction the platform will go," he said.
Trump, however, claims that he will not return to Twitter, saying: "The bottom line is, no, I am not going back to Twitter."
"I am not going on Twitter. I am going to stay on TRUTH," Trump said, referring to TRUTH Social. "I hope Elon buys Twitter because he'll make improvements to it, and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH."
The former president has made only one post on Truth Social since its launch. He was also heard struggling to say the name of the platform during a rally in Ohio on Saturday, bungling the name and calling it "Truth Central" instead.
More: TRUTH Social Twitter Trump Donald Trump | 2022-04-26T05:02:39Z | www.businessinsider.com | Trump's Advisers Believe He'll Rejoin Twitter If Allowed | https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-advisers-dont-believe-resist-rejoining-twitter-if-unbanned-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trumps-advisers-dont-believe-resist-rejoining-twitter-if-unbanned-2022-4 |
Zelenskyy says Russia's holding of "pseudo-referendums" in occupied Ukrainian areas would mean the end of peace talks.
Any attempts by Russia to form new "pseudo-people's republics" in Ukraine would also be a deal-breaker, he said.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of planning such referendums in order to legitimize Russia's invasion.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has explained the factors that would end any potential peace talks with Russia — namely the latter's holding of "pseudo-referendums" in occupied Ukrainian regions and any attempts by it to annex more territories.
During a press conference at a Kyiv metro station on Sunday, Zelenskyy outlined what would make Ukraine walk away from negotiations with Russia.
"If our people in Mariupol are killed, if there will be pseudo-referendums and the establishment of new pseudo-people's republics, Ukraine will not continue negotiating," Zelenskyy said.
"But our citizens, located on the temporarily occupied territories of the Kherson region and many other settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region in the east of Ukraine, they have to know, and they should not assist the occupying forces."
He added that Russia should refrain from holding referendums in occupied areas because it would not facilitate the diplomatic settlement of the conflict.
"This would definitely be the wrong step made by Russia," Zelenskyy added. "This would mean that all those meetings of the diplomatic teams were fiction and that this is just theater — with very bad actors."
Ukraine has previously accused Russia of scheduling referendums in occupied territories from Kherson to Zaporizhzhia.
According to The Kyiv Independent, Ukraine's military has received intelligence of a staged referendum in Kherson, set for April 27. In March, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's minister for foreign affairs, also spoke of this "fully staged" sham referendum in a tweet, disavowing the move and declaring: "Kherson is and will always be Ukraine."
During Sunday's press event, Zelenskky also said that he did not think any messages being passed to Russian leader Vladimir Putin by friendly nations as a form of mediation would work, signaling that he is open to in-person negotiations.
"This war can only be stopped by the person who started it," Zelenskyy said of Putin. "I want the war to be stopped."
"There is a diplomatic path. There is a military path. And any person of sound mind would always opt for the diplomatic path because they would know that even if it's difficult, the diplomatic path allows one to save hundreds, thousands, or even millions of lives," he added.
Ukraine has put offers on the table, saying it may be open to negotiating with Russia if corridors are opened up for soldiers and citizens alike to evacuate Mariupol. Zelenskyy has also noted that the killing of Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol could end negotiations.
Reports from Ukraine indicate that Putin may have lost interest in peace negotiations and might be looking to grab and annex as much territory as possible. A top Russian general has also voiced similar sentiments, noting that the current goal for Moscow is to "establish full control" over Ukraine's eastern and southern regions. | 2022-04-26T08:04:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | Zelenskyy Outlines Factors That Would End Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks | https://www.businessinsider.com/zelenskyy-pseudo-referendums-russia-annex-ukrainian-territory-end-peace-talks-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/zelenskyy-pseudo-referendums-russia-annex-ukrainian-territory-end-peace-talks-2022-4 |
As bitcoin is hit by macro fears and an impending death cross, an ex-Goldman Sachs investment banker-turned crypto exchange CEO explains why she's not worried about its short-term volatility — and lays out the firm's plans for NFTs
Hong Fang is the CEO of crypto exchange Okcoin.
Bitcoin could extend its losses this week amid renewed macro fears and a technical death cross.
Hong Fang, CEO of Okcoin, explains why she's not worried about the token's short-term volatility.
She also lays out the crypto exchange's NFT plans as the race to launch such marketplaces heats up.
The macro fears over faster rate hikes, higher interest rates, and tightening financial conditions have caught up with the crypto market after they caused a global equity market meltdown on Friday.
As of Monday afternoon, the total crypto market cap had retreated to $1.81 trillion, with major tokens including bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) dropping to as low as $38,339 and $2,805, respectively, according to CoinMarketCap.
Faced with an impending death cross, the largest cryptocurrency, which has already slid to a six-week low, is expected to suffer further losses. A death cross is formed when a security's 50-day or short-term moving average falls below its 200-day or longer-term moving average.
The combination of bearish macro sentiment and an ominous technical chart pattern spells trouble ahead for the digital currency, but some say the scarily low price level of bitcoin also presents an attractive opportunity for long-term investors.
"If you are someone who has done their homework and developed a thesis on certain protocols longer-term, periods like this are great entry points just like with other investment opportunities," Hong Fang, the chief executive of crypto exchange Okcoin, told Insider in an interview.
Fang said she has been able to look past short-term volatilities because the fundamentals of crypto have not changed and the technological capabilities are only getting stronger. In her view, clearer regulation and continued tech improvement will only help push the crypto market forward in the long term.
"Crypto assets are not securities, but think about the stocks of Amazon, Apple, and Tesla," she said. "If you have done the homework and have a general assessment of where their long-term value is, it's a great entry point when there are market situations where the stock prices were below that."
Bitcoin is becoming a 'stable' asset in crypto
As investors shun risk assets in a flight to safety, the possibility of further downside in bitcoin is not only reflected in the token's price but also in retail investors' dwindling interest.
After search volumes for bitcoin hit an all-time high in May last year, the general public's interest in the token has steadily fallen, giving away to enthusiasm over smaller-cap altcoins and riskier ways of making money in crypto.
The rotation from bitcoin to altcoins has historically corresponded with a risk-on sentiment in crypto. However, as the retail-led market becomes more institutionalized, bitcoin has shed some of its wild volatility to trade in a relatively close range over the past few weeks.
This has led some to label it "boring" at a time when the likes of dogecoin (DOGE) are soaring amid the speculation over Elon Musk's imminent purchase of Twitter.
Fang, an ex-Goldman Sachs investment banker who has seen such cycles play out many times before, interprets bitcoin's growing "stability" as a sign of its long-term value proposition.
"The long-term price of bitcoin is very much reflective of the scale of consensus that is building around it globally, and that consensus-building comes in waves," she said. "When you are at the tail end of one wave, the short-term capital is looking for volatility and trading profitability, and bitcoin tends to be a more stable asset within the crypto market."
NFTs — a starting point for newcomers in crypto
Aside from the shifting dynamics between bitcoin and altcoins, non-fungible tokens are another crypto sector that has seen a change in sentiment recently.
After a slump in trading volumes over the past two months, NFT volumes surged in April, according to data from The Block. The uptick has mostly been fueled by Moonbirds, a collection of 10,000 pixelated owls that claim to also bestow private club membership and additional benefits for long-term holders.
In the past week, seven out of the top 10 NFT sales were purchases of Moonbirds, with metaverse project The Sandbox paying 350 ETH or a little more than $1 million for Moonbirds NFT #2642, according to analytics provider DappRadar.
"NFTs are a good starting point for newcomers to crypto," Fang said. "The experience of buying a digital asset, then transacting it in an NFT purchase is a useful way to familiarize yourself with the basics of crypto."
As rival crypto exchanges including Coinbase, FTX.US, and Kraken go through the various stages of rolling out their NFT marketplaces, Okcoin has also pushed out a waitlist to gauge users' interest in the product, according to Fang.
Slated for later this year, the Okcoin NFT marketplace will feature zero transaction fees for retail investors and set no limit on the royalty rates that creators can set for sales of their work, Fang said at the eMerge Americas conference.
"We will also be gathering information and feedback from customers in terms of what they want and use that to iterate on the product that we have in the pipeline," she added. "The goal that we are aiming at is to really build the interoperability and build a go-to app for everyone to jumpstart their crypto journey."
bitcoin bear market
bitcoin death cross | 2022-04-26T08:55:49Z | www.businessinsider.com | Bitcoin Bear Market Could Make for 'Great Entry Point:' Exchange CEO | https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-bear-market-death-cross-entry-point-crypto-exchange-ceo-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-bear-market-death-cross-entry-point-crypto-exchange-ceo-2022-4 |
Some Chinese social media users cheered Elon Musk's Twitter purchase as a win for freed speech, others said the takeover reflects one of the sins of capitalism
Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter has sparked mixed reactions on China's social media platforms.
Social media users in China are praising Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter as a move in "the spirit of freedom."
Others say capitalism has allowed a rich billionaire like Musk to gain unprecedented media control.
China's social media is heavily moderated and censored, and often described as a propaganda tool.
Users of China's Twitter-like Weibo social media platform have expressed mixed feelings about Elon Musk's recent purchase of Twitter.
Reactions to the news have been mainly split into two camps: one lauding the takeover as a step forward for freedom of speech, and the other describing it as an example of how Western capitalism allows the rich to control too much, echoing Beijing's rhetoric that the US is a broken nation.
As of 2 p.m. (Beijing time) on Tuesday, the topic of Musk's deal had received over 130 million views.
"Spirit of freedom," wrote one user in a comment with nearly 3,000 likes. Their comment came with a thumbs-up emoji.
"He just doesn't want the Democratic Party to control all the media! The forces behind the Republican Party also want to control public opinion!" replied one user, who claimed to have six Twitter accounts that were banned.
While Musk claimed he purchased Twitter to protect free speech, Weibo heavily moderates and censors posts or comments that it deems inappropriate and has been labeled a propaganda tool for the Chinese government.
Another Weibo user expressed hope that Musk would eventually run for US President. "After all, he is young, innovative, and not so old-fashioned. These few years, American presidents have all been old," they wrote.
Musk, a South African by birth, is not eligible for the office of the US presidency.
Other social media users used the billionaire's Twitter buyout to jeer at the West and its ideologies for allowing a prominent billionaire like Musk to gain ownership of a major social media platform.
"As long as you have economic capital, you can control the President of the United States," commented one user in a Weibo thread discussing how Musk's control of Twitter might affect US politics.
"What does capitalism have to do with the freedom of people?" another user asked. "Money plus public opinion. Are you not invincible? You will soar," another wrote.
Other users pointed out that Western whistleblowers such as Julian Assange and Edward Snowden face charges in the US, a common Beijing talking point used to amplify the idea that the US is hypocritical in emphasizing freedom of speech.
The irony wasn't lost on some Weibo users. "Good fellows, are you not embarrassed to say these things while in China?" wrote a Weibo user.
More: Asia insider news insider asia Elon Musk | 2022-04-26T08:55:51Z | www.businessinsider.com | Chinese Social Media Users React to Elon Musk's Twitter Purchase | https://www.businessinsider.com/china-elon-musk-twitter-social-media-users-freedom-speech-capitalism-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/china-elon-musk-twitter-social-media-users-freedom-speech-capitalism-2022-4 |
Juno enables employees to pick their own benefits. Its founder walked us through the 10-slide pitch deck the startup used to raise $4 million.
Ally Fekaiki, founder and CEO of Juno.
Ally Fekaiki
A startup enabling employees to choose their own benefits raised $4 million from Hoxton Ventures.
London-based Juno offers over 5,000 services, from childcare to food delivery, to clients globally.
Founder and CEO Ally Fekaiki took Insider through the pitch deck used to raise the funds.
A startup that's curated an employee benefits marketplace where workers can choose their perks has raised $4 million from Hoxton Ventures.
London-based Juno launched in 2019 after founder and CEO Ally Fekaiki experienced how prevalent workplace burnout was — and realized that employee benefits weren't catered to everyone's needs.
"The reason why benefits or perks have been under-utilized is because there's no one size fits all," he told Insider. "The idea was to give employees the power and flexibility to make their own choices."
Employers give employees money for their perks in the form of 'Juno points', which they can use to access a range of over 5000 services, from fitness and food delivery boxes to childcare. The startup also offers a Juno card to enable employees to use subscription-based services, and has the option of reimbursing existing services — like childcare or therapy — in almost 40 different currencies, Fekaiki said.
The startup counts the likes of ride-hailing company Bolt, rapid delivery startup Zapp, and HR platform Oyster, among its customers.
Juno makes its money through commission on vendor purchases — and has recently introduced an admin fee for brands who want to sell via its platform. For an extra fee, it also offers companies an opportunity to promote their services on Juno's social media pages.
Fekaiki found that Juno attracted investor attention because it was a "category new" in the future of work sector, which has witnessed a pandemic-fueled boom as employers accommodate to "shifting employee values."
"The pandemic didn't invent anything new, but it made us confront the existing issues we'd been living, such as flexibility and remote work," he said. "It reminded us that our system wasn't set up to be human first, and we've seen an incredible embrace of a more empathetic way of approaching work."
The round was led by London-based VC firm Hoxton Ventures, which has backed healthtech heavyweights such as Babylon Health and Clue, with participation from strategic angels Tony Jamous, CEO of OysterHR, and Christian Owens, CEO of Paddle. This brings the startup's total funding to $19.47 million.
"Technological advancement and the new generation of digital natives make up our market," said Fekaiki. "So we've focused on building a brand that's genuinely appealing to modern professionals."
Fekaiki took Insider through the 10-slide pitch deck Juno used to raise the fresh funds — check it out below.
Fekaiki said that Juno was built to "appeal to a generation that's used to fresh brands" — and has adopted a social-media-savvy approach to its marketing in order to attract the next generation of employees.
"Since 2019, we've kept the same vision, which is to create a new category," said Fekaiki. "Prior to the pandemic, we saw a shift away from existing systems. We want to become the company that becomes synonymous with all the pain points of employees."
Its aim is to give employers a "one-stop-shop for employees' needs."
"In a nutshell, we're both a marketplace for brands and an expense platform. The virtual card lets you cover subscriptions and services, and we're trusted by tech companies and agencies," he added.
Fekaiki noted that employers have a duty of care to their employees — and after the shift to remote work, companies have been under increasing pressure to offer more inclusive perks.
"Following #MeToo and the climate change movement, people are showing that they're not willing to put up with subpar conditions," Fekaiki said.
Fekaiki said that Juno wants to change the way that employee benefits are perceived.
"I thought about benefits more as a lifestyle upgrade," he told Insider. "How can we get people to not just see their employment as just a salary, but how the employer could help them out in their daily life."
While traditional benefits are usually geared towards healthcare and pension plans, Juno's expanded the services it offers to encompass learning and development outside of the workplace, from language courses to ceramics and cookery classes.
Fekaiki notes that its client Stuart, a B2B delivery platform, has also adopted Juno as a means to attract better talent — a growing trend among companies as labour markets become more competitive.
"When you look at markets, the L&D, wellbeing, and health insurance markets are massive," Fekaiki said. "We can attract the budgets from all of those."
Juno aims to have an international appeal and is using its scalable tech to cater to broad markets overseas.
"We find that globally, the needs of employees follow the same thing wherein they want security, but they also want to eat well, exercise, learn," he said. "Our goal is to reach more people, show more employers that there's a method to make employees and them happy."
It's started by aggregating a marketplace of perks on one platform, but in the future, it hopes to directly integrate its technology with HR platforms.
The pitch deck also offers a case study of its client Stuart.
"If you look at how Stuart uses it, it's a global logistics business with six HQs," Fekaiki said.
"Before Juno, they had vendors in every country, for different perks. Employees weren't engaging so they consolidated everything with us. They use Juno for their global lunch allowance, mental health, and everything in between."
More: Features Future of Work Employee Benefits | 2022-04-26T08:55:52Z | www.businessinsider.com | Employee Benefits Startup Juno Raised $4 Million With This Pitch Deck | https://www.businessinsider.com/employee-benefits-juno-raised-4-million-with-this-pitch-deck-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/employee-benefits-juno-raised-4-million-with-this-pitch-deck-2022-4 |
There's a better-than 50% chance that a recession is coming in the next 12 months as inflation stays hot and consumer spending weakens, warns a strategist at Putnam Investments who says that commodities are the best way to protect your portfolio
Russia is a major exporter of commodities, including oil and gas.
castenoid/ Getty Images
Jason Vaillancourt, a strategist at Putnam Investments, is no longer bullish on stocks.
High inflation will weigh on consumer spending and could cause a recession in the next year.
Here's how to invest in commodities to hedge risk in a late-cycle investing environment.
Not long ago, Jason Vaillancourt was bullish on stocks. Now, the global macro strategist at Putnam Investments believes an economic downturn is probably coming in the next year.
"It's definitely better than a coin flip at this point," Vaillancourt said of a recession in a recent interview with Insider. "In general, as a firm, we think recession is quite a bit more likely than consensus expects in the next 12 months."
One of the biggest reasons why Vaillancourt has downgraded his outlook on equities to neutral is the threat of surging inflation.
Headline inflation is currently at four-decade highs, and while Vaillancourt said it may ease after possibly peaking at 8.5% in March, he cautioned that another common indicator of price growth, Core PCE, remains abnormally high at 5.4%. Shelter prices, which the strategist noted make up a large part of the Core PCE, are still "nowhere near" their apex, he said.
Higher prices inevitably hurt customers, companies, or both — depending on if businesses can pass on price hikes. Corporate profit margins, which Vaillancourt noted have steadily grown for years as taxes and interest expenses fell, will be under heavy pressure in the Q1 earnings season, the strategist said. Shares of firms without pricing power will likely get punished.
But while demand destruction and profit margin erosion are serious headwinds, there's a sense among some economists that inflation only poses an indirect threat to the economy, and that it's the risk of a policy error from the Federal Reserve that should cause investors to lose sleep.
The US central bank has long dismissed inflation as "transitory," or temporary. But Fed chair Jerome Powell has done a 180 in recent months and made it clear that the Fed has made stopping inflation its top priority, even if doing so hurts economic growth.
"Essentially, Powell has told you what their reaction function is, which is they will actually sacrifice growth for the sake of bringing inflation down," Vaillancourt said.
Consumers appear to be healthy, but looks can be deceiving
Central bankers insist that their policy pivot to tackle inflation at all costs is justified because the US economy is so strong, and they aren't alone. Market experts like Bob Doll, the CIO at Crossmark Global Investments, have been comforted by historically low unemployment and healthy consumer balance sheets that have led to robust spending in the face of higher prices.
On the surface, it appears that the two-year-old economic expansion is indeed on stable footing. The Consumer Confidence Index (CCI), a widely followed survey that gauges consumer sentiment, is historically elevated, and consumer spending accounts for about 70% of US GDP.
But in February the Consumer Sentiment Index, a well-respected survey conducted by the University of Michigan, plunged to a level last seen during the great financial crisis. While it's worth noting that while the sentiment index rebounded by 10.6% month-over-month in April, the readings were still down by 25.6% year-over-year.
Jason Vaillancourt, Putnam Investments
"When you see two pieces of soft data that historically are very highly correlated, that almost always behave exactly the same — when you see a big divergence between them and they're no longer behaving the same, that should cause you to ask some questions," Vaillancourt said.
The dispersion between what are typically two tightly intertwined surveys is highly unusual, but it's not unexplainable.
The Conference Board's survey is heavily influenced by the labor market, Vaillancourt noted, so it makes sense that it's showing strength, given the plethora of available jobs and remarkably low unemployment rate of 3.6%. The University of Michigan's index, however, is broader and likely better reflects the sky-high inflation that's weighing on consumers, the strategist said.
Surveys and other forms of soft data are imperfect because there can be a difference between what people say and how they act, Vaillancourt said.
But there's a question on the University of Michigan's index that he found to be a particularly accurate predictor of future consumption that asks if it's a good or bad time to make large household durable purchases. The percentage of respondents who said it was a poor time to buy big items, like cars and appliances, was the highest it's been since 1978, Vaillancourt said.
"The pandemic stimulus pulled forward a lot of that demand for those things, and we're seeing that now that that demand is kind of falling off," Vaillancourt said.
A sharp demand dropoff should be buffered by what appear to be robust consumer balance sheets, but Vaillancourt said that what looks to be a strong US economy may instead be a mirage.
"If you actually break down the US by demographic, by income quintiles, almost all of that cash and almost all the benefits from that have resulted from the increases in financial asset prices over the last 18 months," Vaillancourt said. "And that all accrues to the top fifth of US households by wealth."
Vaillancourt continued: "Real wage growth is actually negative now because of inflation. That's gonna have a really big impact on the bottom four-fifths of the income distribution. And that, to me, is where the big risk is. And it's being masked by just looking at the averages, at the aggregate numbers."
How to invest in the late stages of an economic cycle
If Vaillancourt is correct that high inflation will hurt consumer spending and cause a recession in the next 12 months, investors should tread carefully. Adding exposure to commodities, which tend to fare well in inflationary environments and can also be considered defensive assets, is Vaillancourt's top investing idea right now.
"We've essentially come out of the pandemic almost exactly where we were before it, which is pretty late in the cycle," Vaillancourt said. "And so traditionally, the late-cycle investing playbook tends to be pretty bullish on commodities."
Maintaining a balanced basket of commodities is wise, Vaillancourt said, but he added that riding the energy sector's momentum may be especially prudent in the next few months.
"The early part of the late-cycle — that tends to be pretty energy-intensive," Vaillancourt said. "But as you kind of get later and later in the cycle, I think that broadens out to other things. So energy costs and energy pressures ultimately feed through into things that require the use of energy."
Higher oil prices combined with supply disruptions and sanctions resulting from Russia's invasion of Ukraine have sent fertilizer prices spiking, and food prices have followed.
"Higher energy costs have meant higher fertilizer prices," Vaillancourt said. "Higher fertilizer prices ultimately result in higher food prices."
Precious metals, however, are one subgroup within commodities that Vaillancourt said he's no longer crazy about. Central banks hiking interest rates makes having a hedge against government-issued fiat currencies less urgent, the strategist said, which means gold isn't as enticing for investors. However, Vaillancourt did say that miners are still worth considering.
While Vaillancourt declined to issue specific investing recommendations, Insider compiled a list of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on the ideas he shared.
Several ways to play the energy sector include the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE), the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP), the iShares MSCI Global Energy Producers ETF (FILL), and the Invesco Dynamic Energy Exploration & Prod ETF (PXE).
Funds with exposure to commodities include the iShares U.S. ETF Trust iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF (COMT), the Invesco DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund (DBC), and the United States Commodity Index Fund (USCI).
Finally, ETFs designed to track the metals and mining industry include the SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME) and the iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF (PICK).
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jason vaillancourt putnam investments | 2022-04-26T09:30:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | Invest in Commodities to Prepare for a Recession: Putnam Strategist | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-prepare-invest-for-recession-stocks-commodities-energy-vaillancourt-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-prepare-invest-for-recession-stocks-commodities-energy-vaillancourt-2022-4 |
The electric F-150 started as the job nobody inside Ford wanted. Here's how CEO Jim Farley and top execs made it the company's most important and exciting vehicle in decades.
Electric F-150 Lightnings on the assembly line in Dearborn, Michigan
An electric F-150 was a "radical idea" four years ago, CEO Jim Farley said.
The Lightning enters a competitive EV truck market.
The first F-150 Lightning will roll off the assembly line in Dearborn Tuesday.
When Jim Farley first considered making an electric version of the Ford F-150, he thought it was ridiculous.
The idea came from Bobby Stevenon, a big Ford investor from the firm Franklin Templeton, during a 2018 conversation set up by Ted Cannis, the head of Ford's nascent EV division.
"So I call up Bobby and he goes, 'Dude, you gotta electrify the F-150,'" said Farley, who was Ford's COO at the time, and is now CEO. "And I'm like, 'What?' No one in the company was talking about this."
Farley wasn't the only one who balked at the idea of tearing the engine out of anything resembling a work truck like Ford's F-Series, the top-selling truck in the US for 45 years running.
But Ford couldn't electrify its icons — the task given to Cannis in 2017 under then-CEO Jim Hackett — without tackling Ford's crown jewel: the F-150.
And so it fell to Farley and Cannis (who now heads Ford's commercial business) to build a team of engineers to bring the first electric F-150 to fruition.
A new kind of team
When Farley became CEO of Ford in October 2020, he said one of his first priorities was to install an EV leader and do everything he could to protect the rag-tag team assembled in Detroit's hip Corktown neighborhood.
"This team that ended up working on the Mustang and the E-Transit and the Lightning were constantly challenging the establishment at Ford, and had a really tough time, frankly," Farley said of the early days in Ford's EV division, which is now split from the rest of the company.
The EV team, then known as Team Edison, was constantly pushing against the grain of a 118-year-old company, Farley said, before slowly getting absorbed into the company and becoming the Model E division under Farley.
The first engineer both Cannis and Farley wanted on the project was Darren Palmer, a Brit who had just arrived in the US to head up Ford's Mustang and luxury vehicle division.
The proud owner of a rumbling, gas-powered Mustang GT 350, Palmer needed convincing to leave what he called his "dream job." Palmer also looked to past electric vehicle projects at Ford, a collection of unsuccessful, uninspiring compliance cars, projects that never got enough investment and buy-in from leadership to get off the ground.
It took a month of convincing, but Palmer eventually agreed to take over the project that would become the F-150 Lightning, which begins production today at Ford's Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan.
What eventually sold Palmer was the support from the very top of Ford – Farley and Chairman Bill Ford – for an electric take on Ford's prized pickup.
"The company was really committed to doing this in a way they had never been before," Palmer told Insider. "That meant we were really free to go and work out what's needed to make this thing succeed."
From day one, engineers competed in "sprints" to prove out new features and uses made possible by a battery large enough to power a pickup truck.
The team scattered across the country to talk to past and prospective F-Series customers. And previously skeptical engineers rallied around the mantra Farley and his executives had applied to the electric F-150 project: Make a truck that can do things an F-Series has never done before.
A new kind of F-150
The team delivered. The F-150 Lightning has more torque and towing capacity – up to 10,000 pounds – than any F-Series that came before it. The massive battery can power a worksite, and the truck's lockable "frunk" fits a set of golf clubs. The F-150 Lightning can go from 0 to 60 mph in under four seconds, a spec that President Joe Biden tested on a visit to Ford's Michigan campus last year.
So far, Ford's bet to electrify its icons, the Mustang and the F-150, has been met with enthusiasm by investors and consumers alike. The Mustang Mach E was one of the top-selling electric vehicles in the US last year, and the Lightning already has 200,000 reservations in the bank.
But the Lightning is entering a competitive market. It will go up against startup Rivian's R1T electric pickup truck, GMC's electric Hummer EV pickup and Chevrolet's electric Silverado. Stellantis, the company that owns the Ram truck brand, also has plans for an electrified pickup truck, and Tesla now plans to start Cybertruck production in 2023 (two years later than originally promised).
With all this competition in mind, Farley pushed his Lightning team to make their truck the most affordable option, without sacrificing quality. The F-150 Lightning has a starting price around $39,974. Rivian's trucks go for around $70,000 and GMC's Hummer EV is priced at $108,000.
"We have plenty of people in the company who would love that thing to be $110,000," Farley said of the Lightning's lower starting price. "My view has always been that it's better to put pressure on the team to find a way to make money and scale the production."
More: Ford F-150 Lightning F-Series | 2022-04-26T10:27:03Z | www.businessinsider.com | How the F-150 Lightning Went From Zero to Hero Inside Ford | https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-f-150-lightning-electric-went-from-zero-to-hero-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-f-150-lightning-electric-went-from-zero-to-hero-2022-4 |
Today's mortgage and refinance rates: April 26, 2022 | High rates hurt affordability
When home values shot up during the pandemic, record low rates helped carve out some affordability for homebuyers. But as rates rise past 5% and home prices remain high, many buyers will have to reconsider just how much house they can afford.
If you're planning to buy a home soon, Heck advises that you explore multiple mortgage options, including different types and terms, to determine what works best for you. And if you're struggling with a newfound lack of affordability in this rising rate environment, be prepared to adjust your budget.
Some mortgage lenders let you customize your mortgage rate on their websites by entering your down payment amount, zip code, and credit score . The resulting rate isn't set in stone, but it can give you an idea of what you'll pay. | 2022-04-26T10:27:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | Today's Mortgage, Refinance Rates: April 26, 2022 | High Rates Hurt Affordability | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/best-mortgage-refinance-rates-today-tuesday-april-26-2022 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/best-mortgage-refinance-rates-today-tuesday-april-26-2022 |
Social media users mock Russia's spy agency after copies of 'The Sims 3' video game were spotted in a clip of agents allegedly foiling an assassination plot
Copies of "The Sims" video game were seen in a video purporting to show Russian agents foiling an assassination plot on a journalist.
Screengrab/Russian FSB
A video purporting to show Russian agents foiling an assassination plot has been mocked by social media users.
The video of a sting operation showed copies of "The Sims" video game laid out on a bed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had earlier alleged that journalist Vladimir Solovyov was the plot's target.
Eagle-eyed social media users have mocked Russia's spy agency — the Federal Security Service (FSB) — after spotting clues indicating that FSB agents may have staged their foiling of an assassination plot on a Kremlin propagandist.
A video released over Telegram on Monday by Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti news agency showed what appeared to be a sting operation.
Captioned "Full video of the FSB with the moment of detention and the testimony of neo-Nazis who planned assassination attempts on Russian journalists," the video shows an individual being forcibly pinned down and detained by Russian agents in an apartment.
The video then shows the items the agents said they found in the apartment, including a stack of Ukrainian passports, a green wig, shirts with Nazi swastikas on them, and a photo of Adolf Hitler. Also found were what appeared to be drugs, pistols, and other weapons.
The video also showed a stack of supposed evidence of Nazi-linked activity, namely three copies of the popular "Sims 3" video game. Laid out on a bed were the expansion packs for the game titled "The Sims 3: Master Suite Stuff," "The Sims 3: Outdoor Living Stuff," and "The Sims 3: Seasons."
The sighting of the games led some journalists to speculate there may have been some confusion between the "Sims" game and SIM cards, which are used in cellphones.
Francis Scarr, a senior digital journalist with BBC Monitoring, jokingly called the games part of the "Ukrainian neo-Nazi starter pack," writing: "Who knew they were so into The Sims 3?"
—Francis Scarr (@francska1) April 25, 2022
Eliot Higgins, a staff member at investigative journalism outlet Bellingcat, tweeted: "I genuinely believe this is a dumb FSB officer being told to get 3 SIMs."
Meanwhile, political scientist Sergej Sumlenny highlighted how another still from the video showed a note bearing the Russian phrase "signature unclear," rather than an actual signature.
"Yes, FSB got an order to sign it with a "signature unclear" — and did so!" Sumlenny wrote in his tweet.
—Sergej Sumlenny (@sumlenny) April 25, 2022
An alternative version of the video, which showed the Sims games blurred out, was later released on the FSB's official YouTube channel.
According to The Kyiv Independent, the FSB has insisted that those arrested during the operation are part of the National Socialism/White Power group, a neo-Nazi organization that was supposedly plotting to kill journalist Vladimir Solovyov, a prominent state media figure.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin made similar accusations, per VOA News, saying that the West was plotting to kill journalists.
"They have resorted to terror! To preparing the murders of our journalists. We know by name the curators of Western secret services, primarily, of course, from the CIA, who work with the security agencies of Ukraine," Putin said, per the outlet.
"Apparently they give such advice [to kill journalists]. So much for their attitude towards the rights of journalists ... [and] human rights in general," he said, according to VOA News.
EA Games, the makers of "The Sims 3" and its latest iteration, "The Sims 4," did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
More: Ukraine Russia Neo-Nazi fake | 2022-04-26T10:27:34Z | www.businessinsider.com | Russia's Spy Agency Mocked After 'Sims 3' Games Spotted in Video | https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-agents-the-sims-video-game-sting-operation-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-agents-the-sims-video-game-sting-operation-2022-4 |
Feeling weirdly upset after a work Zoom? You may be confusing task and emotional conflict, and the pandemic made it worse.
Working from home is making many employees feel more sensitive.
Working from home is causing some employees to take work disagreements personally.
This is because remote work blurs the line between task conflict and emotional conflict, according to Scott Sonenshein.
Building trust and organizing hybrid work so teamwork is done in person can help.
Does a short message from a boss make you doubt your job security? Or is a once productive brainstorming session on Zoom now feeling more like a personal attack?
Working from home is making it harder for us to distinguish between different types of conflict at work, blurring the line between productive debate and personal criticism, according to Scott Sonenshein, professor of management at Rice University.
"It harks back to the two types of conflict that teams tend to have," Sonenshein said on an April episode of Dare to Lead with Brene Brown.
"One is what we would call the good conflict, that's task conflict. This is when we have disagreements about ideas," he said. "Then there's a bad conflict, we call it affective conflict or relationship conflict. This is the conflict about what happens when it's more about the person and the personality conflict."
Task conflicts are disagreements about the best way to do work and often come from employees having different priorities. This kind of conflict leads to problem-solving and is important to the productivity of a workplace.
Relationship conflict is interpersonal conflict, clashes of personality that might leave a person feeling angry or upset.
When you mostly speak to colleagues via instant messaging or video calls, these different types of conflict can start to become confused, said Sonenshein.
"What's really hard about Zoom is that when you have task conflict, it's actually pretty easy for that task conflict to spill over into relationship conflict," he said.
It comes down to technology "not being as rich of a communication medium as in person," he added. "It's sometimes hard to translate and experience what people are feeling."
When working from home, it's easy to think "this isn't about the idea, this isn't about coming up with the best decision, this is because someone in another screen somewhere else in the world right now, doesn't like me," he said.
Hybrid work can be organized to make teamwork a little less tense.
Organizing hybrid work by type of work
Hybrid work means employees can mix office and home-working. One way to avoid work conflict becoming emotional conflict is to head into the office on team-orientated days.
"We have to match the task at hand with where we're doing the task," Sonenshein said.
"Creative work, that's fine in the home, but when it comes time to collaboration and teamwork and fostering relationships, doing it in person is the way to go."
"No matter how good the technology is, it can't replicate the human experience of what it's like to look at someone directly in the eye and get a sense for not just what they're saying, but also what they're feeling."
Trust between teams is essential
A lack of trust in remote organizations can be a downside of working from home. Sonenshein said this happens when employees are not connected to co-workers.
"It is incredibly hard to build trust with the team when you're not in the same room," he added. But, when there's trust, task conflict at work is a productive force.
"You put them in the same room, and that task conflict can keep going," Sonenshein said.
"And you don't have the downside of people feeling like they've got hurt feelings because they're not being respected or they're being attacked for who they are and not what they're saying."
"There's one antidote to that spill over from task conflict to relationship conflict, and that's trust."
Listen to the full podcast here.
More: Working From Home Remote Work career advice | 2022-04-26T10:27:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Why Working From Home Exacerbates Task and Emotional Conflict at Work | https://www.businessinsider.com/working-from-home-making-employees-more-sensitive-scott-sonenshein-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/working-from-home-making-employees-more-sensitive-scott-sonenshein-2022-4 |
8 ESG leaders to watch as Wall Street's battle for sustainable-investing talent heats up, according to recruiters
Rebecca Ungarino and Alyson Velati
Kristen Weldon.
Recruiters identified influential ESG professionals to watch, from fund managers to execs.
Banks and asset managers are building out teams and creating roles dedicated to ESG.
A veteran sustainability headhunter said this moment is the "Great Expansion" for ESG roles.
Virtually every big bank and asset manager is hiring in droves — in roles ranging from top leaders to distribution specialists — to tackle ambitious sustainable-investing and environmental, social, and governance goals this year.
Firms are expanding these teams at a key moment for the sustainable-investing universe. In the US, regulators are targeting so-called greenwashing, or the marketing of products as sustainable or "green" without justification, as well as pushing for greater transparency from companies in how they make climate-related disclosures.
According to Morningstar, in 2021, for the sixth straight year, US-listed sustainable funds set an annual record for net flows. These funds drew some $70 billion in net flows for the year, up 35% from 2020. Global sustainable funds held $2.74 trillion in assets in December.
The job market remains highly competitive across financial services. Demand for those with ESG specializations is no exception. Pay packages and incentives are soaring as a result. And even as financial firms get creative in hiring people for ESG roles, such as seeking out people with backgrounds in areas like climate science, some say challenges remain.
Insider surveyed recruiters on the highly sought-after talent worth watching across the industry, from fund managers responsible for ESG strategies to chief sustainability officers overseeing firmwide priorities. Some recruiters requested anonymity to discuss specific people and firms.
Many of the ESG leaders the recruiters pinpointed have held a variety of roles in recent years or have taken on newly created positions, underscoring the scramble for their expertise and the expansions that firms are plotting.
Nidhi Chadda, the founder and CEO of the sustainability consulting firm Enzo Advisors, said the biggest challenge for asset-management firms in hiring talent is a general lack of experience in investing with an eye toward ESG.
"Few individuals come from a long-standing financial background and have had the experience of integrating ESG principles into prior funds, especially given how quickly the industry has grown in the last several years," Chadda told Insider. "Not finding the candidates that have the background with the intersection of ESG and investing could only further contribute to greenwashing if that individual is less experienced and has to lead ESG integration efforts with limited external support from experienced advisors."
To Ellen Weinreb, a veteran sustainability headhunter who in 2011 founded the California-based executive-search firm Weinreb Group, elements like budget increases for ESG teams amount to the "Great Expansion," playing off the term "Great Resignation" that has come to define the many people leaving their jobs for new opportunities.
She wrote in a report in April that "the Great Expansion is reflective of a mounting climate crisis that requires increasingly bold action," adding that "CEOs are more engaged, more companies are expanding their sustainability efforts and the size of their teams, and more commitments are being made" to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.
Dan Hanson, senior portfolio manager and head of the US sustainable-equity team at Neuberger Berman
Dan Hanson.
The role: Hanson joined the investment firm Neuberger Berman in April and oversees the $5.5 billion US sustainable-equity team.
Based: New York
Previously: Hanson was the chief investment officer at Waddell & Reed and its fund manager Ivy Investment Management, which Macquarie acquired in 2021. Before Ivy, he was the head of impact investing at the activist investment firm Jana Partners.
Why he's one to watch: Hanson has helped shape the industry's approach to sustainable investments. Earlier in his career he spent a decade at BlackRock, where he launched and ran the firm's first fundamental, active ESG strategy.
In 2011 he was a founding board member of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board, now the Value Reporting Foundation, the prominent organization that administers guidelines for companies to disclose sustainability information to investors.
Hanson took the reins of Neuberger Berman's sustainable-equity fund from two managers who left after nearly two decades with the firm. The Morningstar analyst David Kathman said in a report in February that the change was significant for the fund, "which has been an appealingly steady presence in the sustainable investing space for a long time."
"Its returns have not looked very impressive over the past decade, when its 'quality' focus and valuation discipline have often been out of sync with the broader market," Kathman said, though he added that the fund "has always done an excellent job of adhering to environmental, social, and governance principles."
Kristen Weldon, global head of sustainable investing for BlackRock's alternative-investments business
The role: Weldon, who joined BlackRock last fall, is in charge of implementing BlackRock's sustainable-investing strategy across the alternative-assets business that encompasses real estate, infrastructure, hedge funds, private equity, and credit. Part of her role includes expanding its sustainable-product lineup.
BAI, as the unit is known, managed $330 billion in client assets across illiquid and liquid alternatives and liquid credit as of March 31.
Based: London
Previously: Weldon joined BlackRock from Partners Capital, the outsourced investment office for clients such as endowments, foundations, and ultrawealthy families, where she was the global head of ESG and impact investing. Earlier in her career she spent 13 years at Blackstone, where she was a cohead of the firm's London office for hedge-fund solutions.
Why she's one to watch: BlackRock's alternatives business comprises a small but integral slice of its overall $10 trillion in assets. The New York money manager has made the business a priority in recent years as clients increasingly seek exposure to such assets, especially in the growing private markets.
Weldon takes on the key role of promoting ESG within an important unit of BlackRock, which is also an influential force on sustainability. A recruiter in London called Weldon a "phenomenal hire" because of her experience helping companies implement ESG-focused investments.
"Somebody with her kind of background is like a dream hire, because, obviously, she understands the investing side from having invested in fund of funds for so long," the recruiter told Insider.
Alexandra Russo, head of ESG client portfolio management for the US and the UK at Candriam
Alexandra Russo.
The role: Russo joined Candriam, the money manager that New York Life Investments acquired in 2013, in this newly created role in March. She is focused on developing the ESG business for Candriam across the US and the UK.
She works with the firm's New York team to raise assets in key ESG products and has a focus on supporting New York Life's strategy and business development efforts.
Candriam, which stands for "conviction and responsibility in asset management," managed a record 158 billion euros, or roughly $170 billion, at the end of 2021.
Previously: Russo spent the first decade of her career at Allianz Global Investors, where she was a product specialist and director with a focus on sustainable and ESG investing in thematic equity coverage. She also specialized in the firm's global water fund, which invests in companies developing technologies aimed at addressing water scarcity.
Why she's one to watch: New York Life, known for its insurance business, has been expanding its lineup of funds that consider ESG factors. Last fall it launched three exchange-traded funds with focuses on ocean conservation, sustainable modes of transportation, and gender equality through its IndexIQ business. Candriam helped advise on the underlying indexes for two of the funds.
Valerie Grant, portfolio manager at Nuveen
Valerie Grant.
The role: Grant joined Nuveen in April as a managing director and portfolio manager in its active-equity group. A spokesperson said the team has 34 portfolio managers responsible for managing $474 billion in assets. Grant runs active US large-cap core ESG strategies and is involved with firmwide responsible-investing efforts.
Previously: Grant was a portfolio manager and senior research analyst at the investment-management firm AllianceBernstein, where she oversaw the large-cap Responsible US Equities portfolio. Grant was a co-chair of the firm's equities ESG research committee and was on AB's proxy-voting and governance committee.
Why she's one to watch: Grant has a key voice in the ESG landscape as regulators and investors seek greater transparency from corporations. She is a member of the Value Reporting Foundation's Standards Advisory Group, which advises the organization — a standard-bearer in ESG disclosure frameworks — on which issues should be considered in the way companies disclose ESG data.
Ed Farrington, head of North American distribution at Impax Asset Management
Ed Farrington.
Impax Asset Management
The role: Farrington joined Impax, a specialist asset-management firm known for its sustainable-investment approach, last September in a newly created role. He heads up efforts to get Impax's funds into the hands of more investors in North America and reports to the firm's president. Impax, headquartered in London, managed some 41 billion pounds, or about $54 billion, as of December.
Based: Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Previously: Farrington led institutional and retirement business development and consultant relations at Natixis Investment Managers and had led some of its ESG efforts. While he was at Natixis, the firm helped develop a certificate program for retirement-plan advisors on how to evaluate ESG investments.
Why he's one to watch: With fierce competition for money managers to set sustainable funds apart in a crowded industry, Farrington is in a key role for Impax, which is seeking to establish a bigger presence in North America. Impax said last month that it had added two other leadership positions to Farrington's team.
Asset-management firms, such as those focused on sustainable investments like Impax or private-equity firms, are building out their distribution teams to get their funds and other products in front of more investors.
Caroline Löfgren, chief sustainability officer of Hg Capital
Caroline Löfgren.
The role: Löfgren joined the London private-equity firm Hg in 2017. She oversees all ESG topics internally and across the firm's portfolio companies. Löfgren works on both the client-services and portfolio teams.
Hg says it has some $40 billion worth of assets under management and a portfolio of about 35 software and technology companies.
Previously: Löfgren led the global supply-chain sustainability team at GlaxoSmithKline, the pharmaceutical company based in the UK. Earlier in her career she was a consultant with a specialization in sustainability.
Why she's one to watch: Hg, an active investor in the software and technology sectors, is looking to raise about $15 billion for two new buyout funds, The Wall Street Journal reported in January. With new activity likely, Löfgren will be busy.
Chief sustainability officers are increasingly common across private-equity firms as clients seek sustainability assessments of both private portfolio companies — where information is often much harder to obtain and compare than at publicly traded companies — and the firm's own operations. The private equity giant Apollo, for instance, named its first such officer last fall.
The consultant Bain said in a report in February that more limited partners and private-equity firms were embracing ESG. It said that in a survey of some 100 limited partners, two-thirds of respondents said ESG considerations played a part in PE investment policies.
Michael Baldinger, chief sustainability officer of UBS
Michael Baldinger.
The role: UBS named Baldinger its first firmwide chief sustainability officer last year when it created an internal group meant to lead its sustainability and impact unit.
Baldinger is responsible for implementing sustainability and impact strategy across the Swiss firm, including reporting on UBS's progress toward net-zero goals. He joined UBS in 2016 as the head of sustainable and impact investing for UBS Asset Management.
Based: Zurich, Switzerland
Previously: Baldinger was the chief executive of RobecoSAM, the sustainability specialist firm that operated a widely followed ESG-ratings business that S&P Global acquired in 2019.
Why he's one to watch: Baldinger is driving a key growth strategy for UBS, which has some $3.3 trillion in invested assets within its global wealth business. And he has been in the C-suite before; he ran RobecoSAM from 2011 to 2016.
His role is increasingly important, too, as UBS last year started tying executives' pay to achieving explicit sustainability goals.
UBS faces fierce competition in setting its investment strategies apart in a crowded ESG landscape where its largest asset-management and wealth-management peers are diving deeper into sustainable investments — for instance, Morgan Stanley's acquisition of Eaton Vance included Calvert, the fund manager widely known for its ESG expertise.
Eoin Murray, head of investment of the international business at Federated Hermes
Eoin Murray.
Asian Private Banker
The role: Murray is responsible for Federated Hermes' investment approach, which is rooted in ESG. He joined in 2015 and is a member of the senior leadership team. Murray leads the firm's investment office.
In 2018, Federated Investors, based in Pittsburgh, acquired Hermes, based in London and long known for its sustainable-investing expertise. The firm managed $669 billion as of December.
Previously: Murray was a fund manager at GSA Capital Partners, an investment firm in London.
Why he's one to watch: Hermes has long been a leader in the relatively burgeoning ESG space. One recruiter said Murray, who often serves as a voice for Federated Hermes on sustainable-investing matters, is a reason for that reputation.
"I give the credit to Eoin because he fundamentally was just interested in it and started to invest in ESG," the recruiter said.
Murray wrote in a note in February 2021 that at the beginning of each year the firm works with its pension-fund clients to come up with a set of engagement objectives for the year. "We believe ESG is an essential component of investment fiduciary obligations — a view increasingly reflected in regulations," he wrote.
More: ESG Sustainability Finance Asset Management | 2022-04-26T11:06:07Z | www.businessinsider.com | 8 ESG Leaders to Watch, According to Recruiters | https://www.businessinsider.com/esg-finance-leaders-investors-to-watch-recruitment-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/esg-finance-leaders-investors-to-watch-recruitment-2022-4 |
Goldman Sachs-backed fintech Starling Bank doubles valuation to $3.3 billion as it taps existing investors for fresh funds
Anne Boden, founder & CEO Starling Bank.
British challenger bank Starling Bank has doubled its valuation in a new funding round.
The fintech has raised an extension to its Series D at a £2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) valuation.
Starling will use the additional £130 million to fund a series of acquisitions.
UK fintech Starling Bank has more than doubled its valuation to £2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) in a new funding round.
The London-based challenger bank, which was founded in 2014, has tapped existing investors for an additional £130 million in an extension to its Series D that first closed at a £1.1 billion valuation in March 2021. The startup has accrued more than 2 million users and boasts around 350,000 business accounts.
Starling, which counts US giants like Fidelity and Goldman Sachs among its investors, has planned to go public through an initial public offering in London later this year or in early 2023. The company intends to use the fresh cash to fund its growth through acquisitions.
The funding was filed on Companies House and subsequently confirmed by Starling to Insider.
"This will enable us to continue our growth and to build a war chest for acquisitions," a spokesperson said. "We are looking at a number of potential targets."
The fintech raised the funds from both Goldman and Fidelity as well as other existing backers, including the Qatar Investment Authority, the UK's railway workers' pension fund Railpen, Merian Global Investors, and Chrysalis Investments.
Among the potential acquisition targets eyed by Starling is specialist mortgage lender Kensington, Bloomberg reported. However, it is understood a deal for Kensington may now not proceed and other targets may be evaluated instead.
The extension comes in the midst of a positive period for UK fintechs, with rival Monzo also increasing its valuation substantially in a $500 million fundraise in December. Both Monzo and Starling remain some way off Britain's most-valuable digital bank, Revolut, which was valued at $33 billion last July when both SoftBank and Tiger Global backed the startup.
More: Fintech Starling Bank Monzo | 2022-04-26T11:06:19Z | www.businessinsider.com | Starling Bank: UK Fintech Bank Doubles Valuation With New Funding | https://www.businessinsider.com/starling-bank-uk-fintech-bank-doubles-valuation-with-new-funding-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/starling-bank-uk-fintech-bank-doubles-valuation-with-new-funding-2022-4 |
GOLDMAN SACHS: These 6 charts show whether a recession will be necessary to tame skyrocketing inflation
Some investors worry that interest rate rises will lead to a recession instead of helping to curb inflation.
Inflation hit a four-decade high in March, with energy prices skyrocketing.
The Federal Reserve has begun hiking rates to curb inflation, but some fear this may lead to recession.
Goldman Sachs weighed in on whether negative economic growth will be necessary to bring inflation under control.
Soaring inflation and a potential recession are both weighing heavily on investors' minds right now, and there's a significant link between the two issues.
The Federal Reserve recently began hiking interest rates in an attempt to curb inflation. But interest rate rises often also hit economic growth, with the US and other western countries already experiencing a significant slowdown.
With inflation hitting a 41-year-high of 8.5% in March - and having a disproportionately negative impact on the poorest Americans, the Fed has little choice but to intervene. But policymakers face a difficult balancing act, according to Goldman Sachs.
"It is premature to conclude that a recession is the only possible solution to the inflation problem," the bank's chief US economist David Mericle said in a recent research note. "But [the Fed] probably do need growth to slow to a somewhat below-potential pace, a path that raises recession risk."
Mericle shared six charts that sum up the issues central bankers are dealing with as they try to tame inflation while avoiding recession.
Supply-side disruption
Some investors are worried that factors outside of the Fed's control will make it impossible for them to bring inflation under control. War in Ukraine has fueled price rises for both goods and services, with durable goods like cars, computers, and refrigerators particularly squeezed.
Department of Commerce, Federal Reserve, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
"The most immediate unknown is how long supply-side problems will last," Mericle said. "The Russian invasion of Ukraine, restrictions in China, and the path of the virus all have the potential to worsen [current supply chain issues]."
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has also triggered a sharp run-up in energy prices, with crude oil briefly passing $100 a barrel before sliding back towards the $95 level. Last month, US President Joe Biden warned that ordinary Americans will likely feel the impact of "Putin's price hike" at the gas pump.
Supply-constrained goods and energy have contributed most significantly to a sharp rise in the US Consumer Price Index this year, according to Goldman Sachs. The cost of both will have to fall significantly for inflation to reach a more manageable 3% level, the bank said.
Department of Commerce, Department of Labor, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
If the disruption of supply chains is only a short-term issue and commodity price pressures ease, inflation will likely slow down over the next two years. But long-term supply-side issues would likely force the Fed to keep hiking interest rates - increasing the risk of a recession, the bank said.
Federal Reserve, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
Significant wage growth could also push inflation far beyond the Fed's long-term target of between 2 and 3%. Goldman Sachs analysts found wages have risen by 5.5% over the past year, outpacing the 3% peak of the previous economic cycle.
Department of Labor, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
Surging rates of pay increase the risk of the economy entering a wage-price spiral. After receiving a pay rise, workers have greater disposable income and higher demand for goods and services, which, in turn, causes prices to rise.
"If the economy had definitively entered a wage-price spiral with inflation expectations and wage growth firmly entrenched well above target-consistent levels, then a recession might be the only solution," Mericle said. "But reality is more complex."
Mericle noted most companies see the current period of wage growth as a one-off, rather than the new normal. Employees have been offered pay rises due to recent cost of living increases, or to reflect their work during the pandemic, he said.
Goldman Sachs aggregated 12 surveys of major companies and found that, on average, they expect a more moderate 3.6% wage growth this year.
Federal Reserve, XpertHR, The Management Association, Salary.com, Payscale, Willis Tower Watson, Economic Research Institute, Mercer, The Conference Board, Empsights, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
Mericle believes there's a path to taming inflation without entering a recession, but it's clear the Fed is in a difficult position. If central bankers push up rates too slowly, price rises could run out of control. If they raise interest rates too fast, they risk a significant economic downturn.
Wage growth should be chairman Jerome Powell's primary concern, according to Mericle. A decline in wage growth would lead to a narrower jobs-workers gap, leading to fewer job openings and giving the Fed the capacity to slow GDP growth, he said.
Department of Labor, Department of Commerce, Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research
Goldman Sachs' base case is that there's a 15% chance of a recession occurring in 2022. Those odds rise to 35% over the next two years, according to the bank.
"We do not need a recession," Mericle said. "But [we] probably do need growth to slow to a somewhat below-potential pace of about 1-1.5% for a year, a path that would raise recession risk above normal levels." | 2022-04-26T11:06:25Z | www.businessinsider.com | Recession, Inflation Outlook in 6 Charts From Goldman Sachs | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-recession-risk-inflation-interest-rates-goldman-sachs-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-recession-risk-inflation-interest-rates-goldman-sachs-2022-4 |
Autonomous driving will force drastic change in the insurance industry. This startup is helping the likes of Mercedes Benz take on liability for its self-driving tech.
ByMiles CEO James Blackham.
ByMiles
Car manufacturers like Mercedes Benz are now accepting liability for autonomous driving.
The auto insurance industry is facing massive disruption from the rise of self-driving vehicles.
London-based ByMIles is one of the first European companies to offer specific insurance for it.
The car insurance market is undergoing drastic change as the rise of autonomous vehicles begins to shift liability away from insurers and onto manufacturers.
German auto giant Mercedes Benz said in March it will accept legal responsibility for accidents that involve its self-driving feature, Drive Pilot, which enables the car to conduct automated driving on approved roads. It marked a significant shift from the way car insurance is typically operated, where it is assumed a driver is in control.
London-based startup ByMiles is among the first companies to work with car brands on a specific insurance solution for autonomous driving.
"Car insurance is not sexy but it is the enabler of mobility," James Blackham, CEO and founder of ByMiles, told Insider.
"What's happening in the automotive space is the start of something. The information that insurers previously held on drivers is becoming defunct and there is now a race on to insure driverless vehicles."
ByMiles first emerged as a flexible car insurer, where it offered premiums based on how the car was driven through a model known as "usage-based insurance" (UBI). The startup, which has raised $26.6 million to date, works directly with manufacturers like Mercedes, Tesla, and Ford to match up usage data on customers.
Traditional car insurance aggregates factors like age, gender, and vehicle type to calculate a premium. UBI instead operates on driver behavior and mileage as improved GPS and self-driving capabilities help motorists avoid potential incidents.
A fifth of all auto insurers in the US could offer UBI within the next five years, according to figures from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and first mover advantage could be key. ByMiles closest offering in North America would be Metromile, which was acquired by insurance startup Lemonade in November 2021.
There is still considerably uncertainty around whether or not autonomous driving will in fact reduce accidents on the roads, however insurers are preparing for the possibility that the rise of self-driving vehicles could slash car premiums.
"If manufacturers create vehicles which are significantly safer then as a buyer you are encouraged to buy that safety feature from them because it will make your insurance cheaper," Blackham added.
"It creates a positive feedback loop but it also makes the calculations around risk per mile driven much more complicated meaning you have to have a lot of data for your pricing."
The move by Mercedes to assume responsibility potentially points to how the insurance sector will operate in the future. The German manufacturer's self-driving tech, which comes in its luxury S-Class model, is considered to be level 3 automation, where drivers can take their hands of the wheel and undertake other tasks. It is a considerable step up from level 2 automation where a driver must keep their hands on the wheel at all times.
More: Insurance Mercedes Tesla | 2022-04-26T11:58:14Z | www.businessinsider.com | ByMiles: Car Insurance Startup Offers New Driverless Offering | https://www.businessinsider.com/bymiles-car-insurance-startup-offers-new-driverless-offering-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bymiles-car-insurance-startup-offers-new-driverless-offering-2022-4 |
Hawaiian Airlines Airbus A330 aircraft
Ryan Fletcher/Shutterstock
Elon Musk's SpaceX has signed deals with two US airlines to provide Starlink WiFi service on passenger planes.
Delta Air Lines has conducted "exploratory" Starlink tests, CEO Ed Bastian confirmed to the Wall Street Journal.
Starlink's proximity to Earth and speed make it an attractive option for airlines that want better WiFi options.
SpaceX, founded by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, wants to enter the aviation sector by providing fast and reliable inflight WiFi using its string of Starlink satellites.
On Thursday, semi-private regional carrier JSX announced it will be the first-ever airline to use Starlink satellites for inflight WiFi. The US-based carrier placed an order to equip 100 jets with the technology, with the first taking off this year.
Shortly after the announcement, Hawaiian Airlines revealed it has also chosen Starlink to provide its internet service, becoming the first major US carrier to opt for Musk's network of satellites onboard its planes. The carrier said Starlink will be fitted onto the airline's Airbus A330, A321neo, and incoming Boeing 787-9 aircraft, and is set to debut in 2023.
"We waited until technology caught up with our high standards for guest experience, but it will be worth the wait," Hawaiian Airlines CEO Peter Ingram said Monday.
Both JSX and Hawaiian's new Starlink WiFi will be free for passengers, according to both carriers. However, Hawaiian said its Boeing 717 planes that fly inter-island routes will not have the service.
Delta Air Lines has also done "exploratory" tests of Starlink, CEO Ed Bastian revealed to the Wall Street Journal in mid-April. In 2018, Bastian told the WSJ that WiFi service should be complementary on planes and actually offered free internet on certain flights during a two-week trial in 2019.
Musk's Starlink internet service is a string of about 2,000 low-orbiting satellites, which the company calls a "megaconstellation." The technology is particularly suited to bring connectivity to remote places where connection to the internet is unreliable or unavailable, according to Space X.
Illustration of SpaceX's Starlink network of satellites.
According to space exploration and astronomy news website Space.com, because the satellites are networked together and are close to Earth, they can beam large amounts of data to any place on the planet faster than fiber-optic cables.
The information moves 47% faster than cables because it moves through a vacuum in space, Insider's Dave Mosher reported, and its proximity to Earth reduces the latency, or lag time.
Airline executives have shown enthusiasm about Starlink's promised speed and reliability, with Ingram saying the service will be the "best connectivity experience available in the air." JSX CEO Alex Wilcox said Starlink will provide faster internet on planes than available at home.
Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX's vice president of Starlink commercial sales, said passenger expectations for inflight connectivity "has changed faster than the technology has changed," CNBC reported, giving Starlink an opportunity to fulfill a market need.
SpaceX has been seeking regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission to deploy Starlink on commercial aircraft and shipping vessels, having tested the WiFi on Gulfstream private jets and military planes, Reuters reported.
In June 2021, Musk tweeted that the technology needs to be approved for all plane types, but is focusing on the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 because they "serve most number of people."
So far, the FCC has approved testing of Musk's aviation-focused technology on passenger jets, according to the New York Post, though the Federal Aviation Administration still needs to approve the installation of Starlink technology on airliners.
More: Hawaiian Hawaiian Airlines JSX Delta
inflight wifi | 2022-04-26T11:58:16Z | www.businessinsider.com | Elon Musk's Starlink Internet Service Coming to US Airlines; Free WiFi | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-starlink-internet-coming-to-us-airlines-free-wifi-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-starlink-internet-coming-to-us-airlines-free-wifi-2022-4 |
Adviser on ministerial interests Lord Geidt (left) and Boris Johnson
Geidt: Chris Radburn/PA Images via Getty Images; Johnson: Danny Lawson - WPA Pool/Getty Images; Composite: Insider
The annual report on ministers' interests will not be published until May, sources say.
Lord Geidt, the ministerial sleaze watchdog, had previously said the report would come out in April.
The report is likely to set out expanded powers for Geidt's role, pledged by Boris Johnson.
The annual report from Boris Johnson's ministerial sleaze watchdog has been delayed until May, sources have told Insider.
The report from Lord Geidt, the prime minister's independent adviser on ministers' interests, had been expected to be published in April.
As well as the usual summary of investigations and issues of concern over the last 12 months, this year's report was expected to include details of Geidt's new responsibilities after Johnson vowed to beef the role up following a row over his refurbishment of the Downing Street flat.
New powers – which are backed by campaigners, think-tanks, and ethics bodies including the Committee on Standards in Public Life – were supposed to be in place by the end of March, but the government missed that deadline.
In December, Geidt wrote to Johnson saying he anticipated being able to describe his role "in terms of considerably greater authority, independence and effect" in time for April's annual report.
But a Downing Street source, granted anonymity to speak frankly, told Insider the report is now likely to be published in May. A second official echoed that view.
They said it was likely the report would come after the local elections on May 5, although it is not thought to be related to purdah, the pre-election period when officials are prevented from making political interventions.
Geidt is currently investigating Chancellor Rishi Sunak's declarations of interest, following revelations he held a US green card while in office, and that his wife held non-domicile tax status.
This is under his original terms of reference, without the greater independence and powers Geidt is expected to be given.This probe is not believed to be the cause of the delay, the official said.
Tim Durrant, associate director at the Institute for Government, told Insider: "Recent events have shown the need for greater independence for Lord Geidt, so he can begin his own investigations into potential misbehaviour by ministers.
"It is disappointing that his report has been delayed – when it is published, it is crucial that he has the powers he needs to do his job properly. If the prime minister has not agreed to these powers, Geidt's role will be further weakened."
Wendy Chamberlain, chief whip of the Liberal Democrats, said: "It's no wonder that Boris Johnson is dragging his feet when it comes to strengthening independent oversight of government ministers.
"Johnson and the Conservatives clearly believe they are above the rules, so the current system that makes him judge and jury on the ministerial code suits him just fine."
Downing Street had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication. The Cabinet Office declined to comment.
More: UK Politics News UK Boris Johnson Lord Geidt | 2022-04-26T11:58:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | Geidt Annual Sleaze Report Delayed Until After May Local Elections | https://www.businessinsider.com/geidt-annual-sleaze-report-delayed-until-after-may-local-elections-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/geidt-annual-sleaze-report-delayed-until-after-may-local-elections-2022-4 |
Executives say being off camera is risky for your career, but some people say that's biased
A new Vyopta survey found that most US executives thought remaining off camera wasn't good for a worker's long-term future at a company.
KT images/Getty Images
A new Vyopta survey shows 92% of executives think off-camera workers don't have a long-term future.
Most executives said being off camera in meetings reduced trust between employers and workers.
Vypota's CEO, a career coach, and a working mom share how companies can solve this issue.
Before the pandemic hit, the therapist Courtney Tracy had her own company, where most of her employees worked remotely. She said she never had any issues with workers completing projects, and during the pandemic, she didn't even think about making them turn their cameras on in meetings.
"If the notes were in, I knew the work was done. I could review the work and grow trust with my employees," she said. Remote work gives her the chance to take care of her 3-year-old son, and she usually has her camera turned off in case she needs to run after him.
Tracy, who's in California, believes that working from home and occasionally being off camera are essential for working moms like her. So when she read the new survey by Vyopta, she was surprised by the findings. The survey found that 92% of the 200 US executives surveyed said that without enough face time, remote workers didn't have a long-term future at a company. These executives said that when cameras weren't turned on during meetings, they found it difficult to trust that their employees were actually working.
Even though research has shown that most people prefer remote work and are just as productive, Vyopta's survey suggests that leadership believes that being on camera is vital for building trust and fostering engagement. As a result, if workers remain off camera for most meetings while they're remote, it may adversely affect their careers.
Fostering engagement and building trust
Alfredo Ramirez, Vyopta's president and CEO, spoke with Insider about why employers might not trust their off-camera workers. His company's survey found that 40% of executives said that when cameras were off or audio was muted during meetings, they thought workers were browsing social media or texting instead of paying attention. Ramirez said this distrust might be because employers were worried about the high numbers of workers now quitting their jobs.
"A lot of executives are very sensitive to the Great Resignation. The turnover is concerning them, so they are thinking about how to drive greater engagement, and this is something that they have homed in on," he said, referring to cameras. "As trust is developed within teams, the need for video could decline. But trust takes longer to develop without video."
But Tracy doesn't think that being on camera is always necessary for establishing trust between employers and employees, especially because of her experience running a company. "The trust should come from the workers showing their worth in productivity however they are best productive," she said. Tracy said companies needed to understand that certain groups, such as working moms, caretakers, and those with disabilities, greatly benefited from being off camera.
"Honestly, I wish I could keep my camera off more, and that more of my meetings were emails. The balance between tending to my child and being 'on' both verbally and visually can be a lot, even for a mental-health professional," she said.
Lisa Medley, a career coach, agreed, explaining that people of color were another subset that could benefit from being off camera. She said these workers might want to avoid unconscious bias that stems from being judged by their appearance.
"When you think about companies today, they are primarily led by white, cisgender males. I can't speak for all, but people of color want to avoid compromising their authenticity. Being on camera might be limiting to them," she said.
Finding a balance between employer and employee expectations
The survey found that workplace communication and technology must improve to keep both companies and workers happy. Even though most executives surveyed said they trusted off-camera employees less than those physically in the office or on camera, 46% said they weren't providing workers with the necessary tools to be more engaged. They said more training for managers, providing direct feedback, and investing in better technology were all ways that trust could be improved between leadership and workers.
Medley also said that managers should set up conversations with their direct reports to learn why they chose to remain off camera. She said this could help both parties figure out in advance which meetings employees needed to be on camera for. That way, executives and workers could both get what they want.
Meanwhile, Ramirez said organizations should come up with a guide around best practices and have each team make its own decisions. This would work better than a company-wide policy about being on camera and coming into the office.
"Flexibility of work is here to stay," he said, "but it does come with great responsibility on everyone — from the leadership to the workers."
More: working moms career coach Remote Work | 2022-04-26T11:58:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Being Off Camera Is a Career Risk, but Some People Say That's Biased | https://www.businessinsider.com/off-camera-is-risky-but-some-say-its-biased-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/off-camera-is-risky-but-some-say-its-biased-2022-4 |
Here is the 9-page pitch deck NovoPayment used to nab $19 million that lays out how it plans to compete with fintech giants like SoFi in Latin America
Anabel Perez is the CEO of NovoPayment.
NovoPayment is a fintech that provides banking-as-a-service tools to mostly Latin American clients.
NovoPayment hopes its existing relationships give it a competitive edge as others eye the region.
See the 9-slide pitch deck CEO Anabel Perez used to raise a $19 million Series A round here.
Latin America is shaping up to be the next hot market for fintechs.
The region raked in a record $13.5 billion in venture capital funding for fintechs in 2021, according to a report from CB Insights.
For Miami-based banking-as-a-service provider NovoPayment, the focus on Latin America and the Caribbean is nothing new. The fintech startup has targeted companies in the region since it launched in 2007.
Founder and CEO Anabel Perez is betting that both her company's established relationships with some of the region's largest startups and $19 million in new Series A capital will help NovoPayment continue to expand — even as US fintech heavyweights, like SoFi's API provider Galileo, set their sights on the region.
NovoPayment provides traditional banks, fintechs, neobanks , and merchants with APIs and other tools for digital banking and financial services. It offers a single tech stack for both banking and payment infrastructure, as well as card solutions.
"That's very important because today, many organizations spend a lot of resources and time trying to put together different assets to make the magic and to create those experiences for end customers or enterprises," Perez said of NovoPayment's integrated approach.
NovoPayment announced its $19 million Series A round this week, led by Fuel Venture Capital and IDC Ventures. Other investors in the round included Endeavor Catalyst and Visa Ventures.
Prior to the Series A, NovoPayment raised a seed amount of an undisclosed size from its founders.
The capital will mainly be used to help NovoPayment expand. The company has plans to add over 100 employees to its current headcount of 350 before the end of the year, mainly focusing on engineering, product, and business development roles. NovoPayment will also add offices in Austin and San Francisco, in addition to its existing offices in Miami, Bogotá, Lima, Mexico City, Quito, and San José.
One key area of focus for NovoPayment as it expands is the gig economy, which the company says represents a $34 billion opportunity in Latin America alone. Perez, who is originally from Venezuela, said that Latin America's high number of cities with large populations make it the "perfect storm" for gig apps.
NovoPayment's platform powers Rappi, one of the largest food delivery apps in Latin America, and allows it to deliver just-in-time payments and funding, payment, and authentication services for the app's delivery drivers. Perez hopes to build off of NovoPayment's successful relationship with Rappi, which operates in nine countries, by helping more startups expand with an integrated, cross-border model.
NovoPayment uses what it calls a "wrap and digitize" model, which allows it to work with clients ranging from large, traditional financial institutions seeking to expand their digital capabilities to neobanks and startups looking to disrupt new industries or markets. NovoPayment's tech can sit on top of a client's infrastructure or work alongside it and complement existing infrastructure.
NovoPayment also helps companies work across borders as they expand into new markets, leveraging its presence in the United States and 13 additional markets in Latin America and the Caribbean to help clients develop infrastructures that work across borders. Perez pointed to cross-border transactions like remittances and B2B payments as key capabilities the platform offers.
"Because we did the heavy lifting first, now for us, it's just all about the maturation and onboarding clients," Perez said. "Building infrastructure to make all this connectivity and cement the foundation of a technology fabric takes time to do something really scalable."
See the 9 slides NovoPayment used to raise $19 million below.
More: Fintech Pitch Decks Finance | 2022-04-26T11:58:52Z | www.businessinsider.com | The Pitch Deck NovoPayment Used to Raise a $19 Million Series a | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-latin-american-banking-fintech-novopayment-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-latin-american-banking-fintech-novopayment-2022-4 |
Home Secretary Priti Patel attending the premiere of "No Time To Die" in September 2021
Ming Yeung/Getty Images
Priti Patel declared two free tickets to the premiere of "No Time To Die" in her role as home secretary.
By declaring the tickets as a minister, the freebies took longer to come out, and no value was given for them.
Michael Ellis told MPs this was appropriate because the Bond film is about "executive function".
Priti Patel was right to declare freebie tickets to the premiere of "No Time To Die" in her role as home secretary because the film concerns "executive function", a minister has told MPs.
Patel attended the premiere, held on September 28 2021, with her husband, according to data released by the Home Office in February 2022.
The tickets were paid for by the Jamaica Tourist Board. Because it was declared through the government, no cost was published for the value of the gift.
Commons Leader Mark Spencer told MPs it was down to ministers to decide where to register freebies: either through the government which is supposed to publish the information on a quarterly basis, or through the House of Commons within 28 days.
But Chris Bryant, chair of the Standards Committee, questioned why she had declared the gift as home secretary instead of as an MP.
"What's a Bond premiere got to do with her role as home secretary?" Bryant asked Michael Ellis, a Cabinet Office minister.
"The nature of the film is, one could argue, connected to executive function," Ellis replied, to laughter in the room. "It's a matter for her, though, individual cases notwithstanding."
Spencer said the very fact the committee was discussing the freebie demonstrated the system worked.
Free tickets to the premiere were not just for Patel's eyes only.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also received free tickets to the premiere from the film's producers, Eon, according to data from the Foreign Office. Culture ministers Nadine Dorries and Julia Lopez received tickets from Pinewood Studios and NBC Universal respectively.
Spencer's admission that it was down to ministers to decide where to declare gifts and hospitality contrasts with claims made by a spokesperson for former health secretary Matt Hancock.
Responding to a story in the Guardian about an undeclared overnight stay by Hancock at a country estate owned by a healthcare firm, the spokesperson said if departmental officials "judge an event political" then the aspects of the ministerial code on declaring gifts "doesn't apply".
A spokesperson for Patel was contacted for comment.
More: UK Politics News UK Priti Patel James Bond
Ministers interests | 2022-04-26T12:37:19Z | www.businessinsider.com | Declare Another Day: Patel's Bond Freebie Scrutinised by MPs | https://www.businessinsider.com/declare-another-day-patels-bond-freebie-scrutinised-by-mps-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/declare-another-day-patels-bond-freebie-scrutinised-by-mps-2022-4 |
Google reinstates job offers to students in Russia, after withdrawing them over the invasion of Ukraine
Google imposed a string of punitive measures on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
The tech giant withdrew job offers from applicants with Russian university addresses.
Those applicants appear to have had those offers reinstated, Insider understands.
Google appears to be reinstating job offers to candidates studying in Russia, after a brief hiatus following the invasion of Ukraine.
The tech giant had offered, and then withdrawn, internship placements for candidates with Russian addresses, Insider reported earlier this month.
Two candidates currently studying at Russia's Innopolis University went public, telling Insider their internship offers had been rescinded because they used their dorm addresses on their applications.
In a Linkedin post, Egyptian national Khaled Mohamed said he had accepted an offer to work as an intern at Google's office in Zurich, Switzerland, in February, and was due to start later this year. Meanwhile, Syrian native Mahmood Darwish, a fellow computer science student at Innopolis, also signed a contract to start an internship at Google's office in Munich, Germany.
A Google spokesperson confirmed the withdrawals at the time to Insider, saying the firm had been forced to make "very difficult decisions in unprecedented circumstances, based on security considerations and legal sanctions requirements."
Speaking to Insider on Sunday, Darwish said the tech giant appeared to have U-turned on its decision, reinstating both his and classmate Mohamed's internship offers last week.
"They informed me that they will reinstate my offer. I received the news through a call," he said. "It does seem however that I am back in the internship program."
It remains unclear if Google is now accepting applications from both Russian candidates and non-Russians who live in the country. At least one current employee, research engineer Aleksandr Chuklin, publicly stated on LinkedIn that Googlers were trying to get clarity on the offer withdrawals. Insider approached Google for comment.
A host of major corporations implemented measures against Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine in February. Goldman Sachs had cut ties with the country, McDonald's closed more than 800 restaurants indefinitely, and Walt Disney paused theatrical releases.
Meanwhile, Google said it had halted ads sales in the country, and imposed a ban on new cloud computing customers in Russia.
More: Alphabet Google | 2022-04-26T12:37:32Z | www.businessinsider.com | Google Reinstates Job Offers for Candidates Studying in Russia | https://www.businessinsider.com/google-reinstates-job-offers-for-russia-students-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/google-reinstates-job-offers-for-russia-students-2022-4 |
Indonesia is banning palm oil exports and Ukraine may lose half its grain harvest. 2 experts lay out why food security is now a major investing theme and how to tap into it
Getty Images / Xinhua News Agency
Globalization and modern supply chains created an abundance of cheap food in developed countries.
This situation is becoming less secure as the fallout from the pandemic and war in Ukraine threaten supplies of key foods.
Investors can hedge against this development by making certain additions to their portfolios.
Food is something many of us take for granted, even though we shouldn't. With a plethora of delivery services now available you do not even need to leave your house to acquire something good to eat.
Globalization and the development of modern supply chains during the latter part of the 20th century created an abundance of cheap food in economically developed countries.
For the first time in decades though, there are threats emerging to this comfortable situation, as the knock-on effects of the pandemic are compounded by the war in Ukraine.
This week, one of the world's major edible oil producers, Indonesia, announced it is banning exports of palm oil to ensure its own food security.
This follows hot on the heels of forecasts that grain production in Ukraine could be as much as 50% lower this year due to the conflict, while Russian exports will dwindle due to sanctions.
This has not escaped the attention of the world's top investors, and some are warning that financial markets are about to feel the pain of this reality.
"Russia is the world's largest wheat exporter and one of the biggest fertilizer producer—have pushed agricultural commodity prices higher, in some cases to record levels," noted the UBS Chief Investment Office.
"We expect production of key crops in Ukraine to fall as much as 40% this year, keeping commodity prices higher into 2023 and pushing importers to diversify their sources of supply. Moreover, with curtailed access to fertilizer supply from Russia, we expect farmers to put a greater focus on solutions that maximize yield and lower input use, i.e. in seed technology and machinery."
"There are also longer term dynamics that have pushed food prices higher, such as the conversion of corn into ethanol, encouraged by subsidies, more volatile weather patterns and increased meat production, which in turn requires more cereals for animal feed," noted Anthony Rayner, a fund manager with Premier Miton's Macro Thematic Multi Asset team.
"Energy costs are relevant here too, as they are an important input into the production and transportation of agricultural output. The effects of this recent inflation dynamic is being felt far and wide right now. Take recent events in Sri Lanka as an example."
Soaring prices for food and fuel in Sri Lanka, along with a shortage of foreign exchange reserves, have plunged the country into its worst economic crisis in decades. The rupee currency has collapsed, losing almost 70% in value against the dollar this year, which is exacerbating the problem.
"The economy had already been weakened due to the negative impact of Covid lockdowns on the important tourism sector," Rayner continued. "A shortage of imports has been adding to existing inflation, which looks to be surging beyond 20%, and the currency has weakened significantly, with foreign reserves dwindling. As a result, the central bank has raised rates significantly."
While the impact on households' day to day finances is what is most important here, this developing situation also has serious implications for investors.
"We think fears of future disruptions are likely to incentivize investments in more localized production, including improvements in agricultural yield, food waste reduction, and supply chain efficiency," UBS said. "These elements are key building blocks in our food revolution theme, which focuses on technology along the value chain that reduces the negative impacts of food production and lifts food security."
One option for investors is to buy commodities trackers. "Broad commodities have performed well historically during inflation regimes and are an effective geopolitical hedge given the risk of further supply disruptions arising from the Russia-Ukraine war, UBS said. "We see room for another 10% move up in total return for broad commodity indexes over the next six months. We continue to advise investors to stay long commodities with a preference for active commodity exposure."
Exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) available from many retail investment brokers are a simple and cost effective way of gaining exposure to wheat, corn and other foods like coffee beans.
In terms of companies that fit the bill, investors seeking to tap into this theme should target the major firms operating in food and agriculture tech, according to UBS.
As a starting point, major players in the food tech arena include multinational conglomerate Bayer which acquired seed tech specialist Monsanto in 2018, Corteva Agriscience, genomics firm Evogene and fertilizer specialist Nutrien. | 2022-04-26T13:29:27Z | www.businessinsider.com | Stocks to Buy: How to Invest As Risks to Food Security Grow | https://www.businessinsider.com/food-supply-palm-oil-indonesia-ukraine-crisis-how-to-invest-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/food-supply-palm-oil-indonesia-ukraine-crisis-how-to-invest-2022-4 |
RBC: The big challenges that have frightened investors are now priced into stocks, paving the way for a rally. Here's what to buy and why the firm says 23% upside is possible this year.
Growth investors have had to endure a difficult first quarter, but RBC's Calvasina says there may be a light at the end of the tunnel.
Lori Calvasina, RBC's head of US equity strategy, says stocks should rise through year-end.
Calvasina says that after re-testing its March lows, the S&P 500 should rally to 4,860.
She departs from the current consensus in several ways, and says a surge to 5,200 is possible.
It always sounds like bad news when a major Wall Street firm cuts its estimates for stocks, but there's some surprisingly good news in RBC's latest update.
Head of US Equity Strategy Lori Calvasina reduced her year-end target for the S&P 500 index from 5,050 to 4,860 due to the spike in bond yields, and said stocks look like they'll slip in the immediate term. But she also said that most of the fears that investors have been reacting to in recent months are now priced in.
"At the March 8th low – which stocks seem poised to retest – sentiment already priced in many of the challenges that equity market participants have been grappling with," she wrote in a recent note, adding that this helps explain why US stocks haven't crashed in the face of continued worries about inflation, rising interest rates, slowing growth, and the war in Ukraine.
"The P/E contraction seen on March 8th was in line with the multiple contraction seen in past Fed tightening cycles," Calvasina said. "Like many other things associated with pandemic trading, it simply seemed to happen with a vengeance on an accelerated time frame."
Even after the cut to her estimates, Calvasina is projecting a rally of about 14% for the benchmark US index over the course of 2022.
"We think US equities are likely to keep benefiting from safe haven status for a bit longer," she wrote.
The new 4,860 target is based on the average of a series of models, but Calvasina wrote that one model suggests stocks could rally more than 20% by year-end, with another suggesting a year-end surge to 5,259.
That's "the number implied when we bake in the average rebound off growth scare lows such as 2010, 2011, 2015-2016, and late 2018, which recent trading has mimicked, including the latest bout of weakness," she wrote.
Most of RBC's models based on economic momentum and stable valuations are similarly optimistic, although others are far more bearish. The most bearish model "bakes in the average P/E contraction seen during the past five Fed hiking cycles," as well as heightened geopolitical risks, and points to the S&P 500 potentially dropping just below 4,400 by the end of the year.
Don't forget about growth stocks just yet
In the note, Calvasina cuts against a consensus that's developed on Wall Street, writing that she prefers growth stocks to value stocks from here on out.
Growth stocks are expected to put up greater-than-average growth over the long term, and they tend to trade at greater multiples based on traditional metrics like price-to-earnings ratios. Experts generally think that those sorts of stocks are more vulnerable when interest rates rise.
But it's consistent with Calvasina's view that a lot of bad news is basically priced into US stocks at this point, and she says that's consistent with both US stocks and growth stocks outperforming. She writes that economic growth forecasts for the US are improving, while expectations for a recession in the EU are on the rise.
"When US equities are outperforming non-US equities, Growth tends to outperform Value within the US," she said, adding that after the Fed starts raising rates and economic growth slows down, growth also generally wins out.
"Despite the shift in momentum back to Value in April, we continue to be more intrigued with Growth than Value going forward," she wrote. "We find that defensive sectors are already overvalued with poor earnings revisions trends and low quality profiles."
Calvasina also argues that after all the recent selling of US large-cap tech stocks, they're now trading at "modestly attractive valuations" compared to the market, while analyst estimates for those stocks are favorable compared to other sectors, and their quality — as measured by factors like balance sheet health and earnings stability — look good. They also face less ESG risk and fewer risks related to the war in Ukraine.
She's also bullish on financials because of trends in their valuations, earnings, and quality, but says there is less reason for optimism in small-caps, another hard-hit area, as slower growth isn't good for that part of the market.
RBC is also especially bearish on communication services companies and real estate trusts.
Lori Calvasina | 2022-04-26T13:29:31Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Invest When the Stock Market Rallies: Lori Calvasina, RBC | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-rally-investing-upside-forecast-lori-calvasina-rbc-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-rally-investing-upside-forecast-lori-calvasina-rbc-2022-4 |
How 3 cofounders used Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to build a 6-figure startup about soccer
Jamie Pollitt, Eni Shabani, and Brendon Shabani are the founders of the digital-media platform Rising Ballers.
Rising Ballers
Eni Shabani, Jamie Pollitt, and Brendon Shabani are the media company Rising Ballers' cofounders.
The company netted nearly seven figures in revenue last year and works with Nike, Puma, and the BBC.
This is part of Insider's entrepreneur series "Star, Rising," which highlights early entrepreneurs.
Names: Eni Shabani, Jamie Pollitt, and Brendon Shabani
Ages: 28, 25, and 20
Business: A digital-media publication that highlights emerging global soccer stars
Backstory: For Brendon Shabani, Rising Ballers started as a hobby where he'd post on Instagram about his favorite upcoming soccer stars. He teamed up with his brother Eni Shabani and his fellow soccer fan Jamie Pollitt in 2017 to turn his passion into a digital-media company that lives solely on social platforms .
"We felt like young footballers were underrepresented at the time, particularly in English football," Brendon Shabani told Insider. "We wanted to create a platform that gave young players the exposure they need to help them become a success in the game."
In 2018, the company expanded to open and fund four soccer teams; there's one for men, one for women, one for players under the age of 18, and one for those under 16 across the UK. Additionally, Rising Ballers produced the YouTube reality shows "Unsigned" and "Youngers," which document the teams' journeys. Today, pro clubs sign talent from Rising Ballers teams, including Iliman Ndiaye, a 22-year-old who plays for Sheffield United.
"We're seeing clubs push their young players into the senior teams," Brendon said, adding that young players were often ignored in soccer until Rising Ballers started chronicling their importance. "We're proud to say we played a part in the culture shift."
Tapping into the global soccer audience can be lucrative for entrepreneurs: Billions of people globally watch soccer, and the European market is estimated to be worth $30 billion, according to a 2019 report from the professional-services firm Deloitte.
Pollitt was previously running a rival Instagram account before the Shabani brothers called in late 2017 and asked whether he wanted to merge accounts.
Growth: Rising Ballers netted nearly seven figures in revenue last year, which Insider confirmed with documentation. The company primarily earns its income from advertising and paid partnerships and has worked with brands such as Nike, New Balance, Puma, and the BBC to produce sports-related shows and host events. Rising Ballers' content has received more than 200 million digital impressions — the number of times a person has engaged with the content — across its four Instagram pages, three TikTok accounts, Twitter profile, and YouTube pages. Today, the brand has 2.8 million followers.
Before Rising Ballers: Eni Shabani worked for the private-equity firm Holland Mountain, Pollitt studied anthropology at the University of Bristol, and Brendon Shabani played professional soccer while studying for the UK's General Certificate of Secondary Education. When they started the business, they initially worked part time.
Challenges: Tackling the oversaturated world of soccer media was difficult, so the cofounders depended on their relationships with professionals in the soccer industry, like agents and players, who could help them stand out, Eni Shabani said.
"We knew we had something special and had to be careful of people trying to take advantage of that," Pollitt added. "Knowing who around us was genuine and who wasn't was tough but made us much better judges of character in the long run."
Brendon Shabani started Rising Ballers as a hobby in 2017.
Brendon Shabani
Business advice: "Realize how big the mountain it is you're about to climb," Pollitt said of launching a business.
Meanwhile, Brendon Shabani emphasized the importance of taking a chance. "If you don't try, then you don't succeed," he said.
Business mentor: Eni Shabani leans toward his former finance boss who told him not to fear going against the status quo. Pollitt looked to the music entrepreneur Jamal Edwards as a mentor and said he taught him the importance of believing in yourself. Brendon Shabani said his former manager, Justin Edinburgh, advised him to live a life without regret.
Why is now the best time to start a business: "Never before could you start something from a laptop in a bedroom and grow it to become a successful business," Pollitt said. "In times of adversity lies great opportunity."
On hiring: The company has nine full-time workers and six part-time employees. Pollitt said the cofounders hoped to double that head count this year.
Managing burnout: Eni Shabani listens to podcasts and trades cryptocurrencies, Brendon Shabani likes to play soccer, and Pollitt enjoys spending time in nature.
"When you're in the office, dedicate 100% time and effort to your work, and when you're with friends or family, try your best to be present and 100% in that," Pollitt said. "Easier said than done."
More: Small Business gen z Sports entrenpreneur | 2022-04-26T14:07:38Z | www.businessinsider.com | Rising Ballers Cofounders Built Business With Soccer and Social Media | https://www.businessinsider.com/rising-ballers-soccer-players-how-to-build-digital-media-company-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/rising-ballers-soccer-players-how-to-build-digital-media-company-2022-4 |
Warren Buffett is on a buying spree. 7 experts analyze the investor's recent trio of purchases, and break down why he spent $23 billion on them.
Warren Buffett has made or agreed about $23 billion worth of investments in recent weeks.
Berkshire Hathaway built stakes in Occidental Petroleum and HP, and struck a deal to buy Alleghany.
Seven experts mostly praised Buffett's recent bets, and lauded the investor's fiscal discipline.
Warren Buffett, perhaps the world's most famous bargain hunter, has been starved of deals in recent years as stocks have soared to record levels, and private equity firms and SPACs have driven up the prices of acquisitions.
Buffett's luck has finally turned, if his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate's recent $7 billion investment in Occidental Petroleum stock, $4 billion bet on HP shares, and agreement to buy Alleghany for $12 billion are any indication.
We asked seven experts on the 91-year-old investor and his company to discuss his recent buying spree. They largely welcomed all three wagers, and praised Buffett for having the discipline to wait until three juicy pitches came along, and the decisiveness to take big swings at all of them.
Here's what the 7 experts told Insider. Their comments have been lightly edited for length and clarity:
1. James Shanahan, a senior equity analyst at Edward Jones:
"Occidental and HP are classic Berkshire stocks. They both generate a lot of free cash flow, pay good dividends, and are buying back stock. Both have price-earnings ratios in the high single digits or double digits.
"Alleghany is very similar to Berkshire. It owns property and casualty reinsurance and insurance businesses, but also owns operating businesses and manages investments. We view this deal as complementary and a good use of Berkshire's significant excess cash."
2. Bill Smead, the founder and CIO of Smead Capital Management:
"Alleghany is another source of float in the insurance business. Buffett loves float and outperforms the prior investment format. (Smead was referring to the difference between premiums collected and claims paid out; Berkshire invests the money left over.)
"Buffett is betting that you get rich in the oil business as we transition to a cleaner energy future. HP looks by size to be a Ted or Todd investment." (He was referring to Ted Weschler and Todd Combs, Buffett's two portfolio managers, who manage about $30 billion of assets between them.)
3. Lawrence Cunningham, a law professor at George Washington University and the author of several books about Buffett and Berkshire:
"Alleghany is the perfect Berkshire company, a microcosm of it. The other investments seem like chugging along, par for the course. I like how they stick with their Sox — not keeping up with ESG and other fads."
4. Darren Pollock, the portfolio manager at Cheviot Value Management:
"Berkshire's recent activity reflects one thing: Buffett and his lieutenants will act when sound opportunities present themselves. Making acquisitions only when the price is intelligent is the sole driver of investment behavior at Berkshire. If prices are not appropriate, the cash levels at Berkshire will rise and that's fine. Money can be used within the company to fund operations across dozens of subsidiaries while the investment team waits for attractive opportunities in financial markets, public or private.
"Occidental is generating tons of free cash flow and using it to pay down debt, repurchase shares, and pay dividends to shareholders – of which Berkshire is now the largest. Buffett likes the company's CEO, Vicki Hollub. Even after the significant move higher, Occidental's shares are trading at a very low multiple of free cash flow.
"The merging of Alleghany within Berkshire is a perfect and obvious fit. The company is managed in a very similar way to Berkshire; it prioritizes quality and profitability of insurance underwriting over growth of underwriting, and company leadership is cut from the same cloth as those at Berkshire. It's valuable to have someone of Joe Brandon's caliber on the bench at Berkshire.
"Operating within Berkshire, Alleghany's insurance divisions can take advantage of more underwriting opportunities given the parent company maintains excess insurance capital. Berkshire also stands to gain by increasing the return on Alleghany's investment portfolio, the majority of which is currently invested in bonds."
5. David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland:
"The confluence of these three large investments in a short period of time might be coincidental. Buffett waits patiently for opportunities to develop and pounces on them when they occur.
"Occidental may have become more attractive to Buffett because he expects high oil prices to continue. In the current inflationary environment, oil prices would be expected to remain high and oil companies would appear to be attractive investments.
"The HP investment might have resulted from a very attractive price, which Buffett considered to undervalue the company. It also possesses a highly regarded and respected brand name with a 'moat' protecting its market share in its laptop computer and printer businesses. "
6. Adam Schwartz, the CIO of Black Bear Value Partners:
"Many of the existing Berkshire assets have pricing power and an ability to withstand volatile and challenging times. Being patient with that much cash is something most could not do, though they have put meaningful capital to work buying back Berkshire stock.
"Generally speaking, as investors hit the exits and the market stops mindlessly going up and to the right, more reasonable pricing and opportunities present themselves. If a good deal is present, they act swiftly and when there are fewer opportunities, they wait. The quote from Confucius applies to their style: 'Do not depend on applause.'
"Occidental has been delevering its balance sheet and seems to be approaching a time where a prodigious amount of free cash will be generated. The CEO has expressed a desire to shrink the share count so if they can deliver on their operating plan, Berkshire should benefit from increasing ownership without more of a cash outlay.
"Hard to know what the long-term oil price is, but with demand returning post-COVID, reduced existing supply from Russia, and lack of investment in the space, it does not take much imagination to see energy prices higher benefiting Occidental and others in the space."
7. Adam Mead, the CEO and CIO of Mead Capital Management and the author of "The Complete Financial History of Berkshire Hathaway":
"What you're seeing is luck in the sense that any correlations are just happenstance. Berkshire famously has no strategic plan. Sometimes we wait a long time, other times we see a flurry of deals. Another such time was in the early 2000s, when Berkshire acquired a slate of 'boring' basic companies like Benjamin Moore, MiTek, Shaw, Fruit of the Loom, and others.
"Occidental is a clear supply/demand play. Alleghany is a 'mini-Berkshire' of sorts run by Joe Brandon, former CEO of Berkshire subsidiary General Re, who could be an excellent second or successor to Ajit Jain. The deal brings about $12 billion of float and an insurance operation that's managed an underwriting profit over time.
"In short, this is a great 'plug and play' operation to expand Berkshire's already massive insurance business. I'd expect the company to operate autonomously like other Berkshire subsidiaries, although investment portfolio management will almost assuredly move to Omaha."
More: Markets Stocks Warren Buffett
stock portfolio | 2022-04-26T14:07:56Z | www.businessinsider.com | 7 Experts Explain Warren Buffett's $23 Billion Bet on Oxy, HP, Alleghany | https://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-experts-occidental-petroleum-hp-alleghany-deals-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-experts-occidental-petroleum-hp-alleghany-deals-2022-4 |
The director of research at Token Metrics shares his 3 favorite altcoins — and why bitcoin and ethereum have limited upside and are no longer the best crypto investments
Solana is one of several promising ethereum competitors, according to the director of research at Token Metrics.
Bitcoin and ethereum may be range-bound for a while, said crypto expert Mehdi Farooq.
The director of research at Token Metrics shared which three altcoins he's bullish on instead.
Each can pose a serious threat to ethereum, even if the bigger crypto survives long term.
Bitcoin and ethereum may be victims of their own success. The two largest cryptocurrencies have, in the eyes of many, legitimized digital assets over the past half decade — but by doing so they have laid the groundwork for a wave of new competitors that have built superior networks.
Contrary to what bitcoin maxis will argue, "there is definitely better tech out there," said Mehdi Farooq, the director of research at Token Metrics, in a recent interview with Insider.
But while Farooq doesn't see either bitcoin or ethereum logging big gains anytime soon, he also said that he's not bearish on them because both have achieved scale, which should allow them to survive for the long term.
"Crypto is all about network effects," Farooq told Insider. "So you don't necessarily have to have a superior technology to achieve that. That's why there's a lot of emphasis on marketing."
Large and small cryptos have, for the most part, had a dreadful year. Concerns about runaway inflation — and the Federal Reserve's decision to quickly raise interest rates in response to it — have gripped the crypto market and are worth watching closely, according to Farooq.
"The monetary policy and the fiscal policy in the US was very loose," Farooq said. "And now you're going to see the Fed aggressively hike rates. And this is something that markets do not appreciate."
What's next for bitcoin and ethereum? More of the same
Unlike many of his contemporaries who predicted that bitcoin would top $100,000 in 2021, Farooq didn't get carried away with his price target for the token. He told Insider in late November that he thought bitcoin would only reach $70,000 over the next 18 months — a level it had nearly hit just two weeks earlier. It has since fallen about 30% from the mid-$50,000s to $39,800 today.
Five months later, Farooq's view on bitcoin hasn't changed much — with one big exception: He now sees inflation as a headwind for the token instead of a tailwind. But besides that, the Token Metrics research director is still lukewarm about bitcoin compared to its altcoin peers, and said he expects it to stay range-bound between $40,000 and $65,000 over the next two years.
"I just do not see any futuristic catalyst unless markets start to price bitcoin as an inflation hedge, and we are seeing a lot of confusion there," Farooq said.
The only significant price driver Farooq sees for bitcoin is the same reason he has a hunch that the crypto will one day be treated as an inflation hedge: the next iteration of its halving cycle, which isn't scheduled to occur until March 2024.
Bitcoin has a capped supply, which is why some have called it "digital gold," and the 50% reduction in new bitcoin circulated should make each token relatively more scarce, in theory. Either way, Farooq said the bitcoin halving should trigger a surge of investment in the crypto.
Ethereum, like bitcoin, has done little in recent months to make Farooq more bullish on it, even though it too has the promise of a key technical change on the horizon. Though supply for ether, the native token of the ethereum blockchain, isn't capped like bitcoin's is, its upcoming "merge," or move to a proof-of-stake consensus, may lift sentiment in the near term, Farooq said.
However, ethereum still has "major headwinds" in the medium term, Farooq said, which is why he expects the token to trade between $3,500 to $5,000 indefinitely, like he said in November.
According to Farooq, the main reason why ethereum's fundamentals aren't very strong is because the upgrade to Ethereum 2.0 will affect three key parts of its network: its composability, and how it handles execution and settlement.
Composability refers to how decentralized applications on blockchains can leverage and build off of one another "like Lego blocks," Farooq said. That may be negatively affected as ethereum shifts consensus protocols, the research director said.
"That was the beauty of ethereum," Farooq said. "So with ethereum 2.0, you have this roadmap where you'll have sharded architecture, and you'll have rollup. So execution and settlement and computation all will get fragmented. And this could create issues."
3 promising altcoins to watch
In November, Farooq shared a trio of altcoins that he saw potential in: Moonriver, Polymath, and Efinity Token.
But now, three different cryptos top the Token Metrics research director's list heading into the summer. They're tokens that he said he would be "scared about" as an ethereum investor, even though the larger crypto is unlikely to ever disappear.
"You'll have different competitors that will carve out their own niches," Farooq said.
Below are three altcoins that Farooq said he's currently interested in, along with the symbol, market capitalization, use case, and thesis from Farooq for each. Coincidentally, all three were also top picks by Brian Mosoff, the CEO of Ether Capital, seven months ago.
Use case: An ethereum competitor that allows for the creation of decentralized apps, and is designed to improve scalability.
Thesis: "One promising chain, which does not sacrifice on composability, is solana. I feel it's a monolithic chain while ethereum will become a modular chain. So since Solana is monolithic, execution and computation happen on one chain. And that is something that we have to be mindful of because there are not that many competitors out there that focus on composability. Ethereum will suffer at least in the short-to-medium run on this composability."
"For example, you have different L2s, which are different rollups. So every L2 will have its own ecosystem, and it kind of fragments the user experience. So for example, if I do yield farming in one rollup L2, then I'll have to bridge it to another and then settle my transaction in ethereum mainchain. So you have this breakdown of user experience, which Solana wouldn't have, at least in short to medium run."
"Solana will become a serious competitor because their focus from the start was on bootstrapping their own native ecosystem, similar to Ethereum."
"You have this one developed ecosystem, and there is no fragmentation of developers or user experience. So what that means is you'll have loyal developers similar to what ethereum had in 2017 to 2020. And that makes them a major competitor, in my opinion. Composability, native ecosystem, loyal developers and users — what that means is that solana will be a serious competitor."
Use case: A layer one blockchain and decentralized application platform that aims to offer faster transaction speeds and scalability.
Thesis: "I'm especially bullish on NEAR protocol in the short term. They're launching USN, which is a stablecoin, which would be similar to terra luna. NEAR is basically — the architecture is such that whatever ethereum 2.0 is trying to do, they've implemented that at the moment."
"They have the sharded structure. They're also great for dynamic sharding, which is slightly superior than what ethereum is trying to do."
"So you also have another serious competitor in terms of NEAR. And NEAR also has a lot of investors backing it."
Symbol: AVAX
Use case: A smart contract platform that offers scalability and speed.
Thesis: "Avalanche is also one of the serious competitors. I would say it is doing what polkadot intended to do but was able to achieve faster, and now you have the whole ecosystem."
"One good thing about avalanche is their subnets, which will allow people to spin out their own blockchain specific to the application."
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Mehdi Farooq
Mehdi Farooq Token Metrics | 2022-04-26T14:59:40Z | www.businessinsider.com | 3 Altcoins to Buy As Bitcoin, Ethereum Struggle: Token Metrics | https://www.businessinsider.com/3-altcoins-to-buy-bitcoin-ethereum-price-prediction-token-metrics-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/3-altcoins-to-buy-bitcoin-ethereum-price-prediction-token-metrics-2022-4 |
Ben Winck, Alcynna Lloyd, and Madison Hoff
The typical household is now spending 31% of its income on mortgage payments, according to new data from Black Knight, a mortgage technology and data provider. That's the largest share since 2007 and up from 24% at the end of last year.
The surge in the mortgage payment-to-income ratio underscores the problem facing prospective US homebuyers. House prices ballooned throughout the pandemic as record-low mortgage rates and intense demand fueled a historic home shortage. Various housing-market indicators flashed the hottest readings since the bubble of the late 2000s, and fears of another crash quickly emerged.
"This is not the same market of 2008," Odeta Kushi, First American's deputy chief economist, previously told Insider. "It's no secret the housing market played a central role in the Great Recession, but this market is just fundamentally different in so many ways."
More: Economy Real Estate Housing Market Mortgages | 2022-04-26T14:59:42Z | www.businessinsider.com | Americans Are Spending Nearly a Third of Their Income on Mortgages | https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-homeowners-spending-third-of-income-mortgage-payments-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-market-homeowners-spending-third-of-income-mortgage-payments-2022-4 |
Tips for ending a professional email
Email sign-offs you should use
Email sign-offs to avoid
How to end an important email so you don't appear unprofessional — and which sign-offs to use and avoid
Every professional email should have some kind of contextually appropriate ending.
Most professional emails should end with a call to action, sign-off, your name, title, and contact information.
Be thoughtful about the sign-off you use in your email messages; avoid being potentially offensive or unprofessional.
Some all-around safe and professional sign-offs include "best," "regards," and "thank you."
Don't overlook your sign-off; writing a clear, effective, and professional email is equal parts art and science, and if you put a lot of effort into making the body of your messages, don't fumble at the end with an email ending that's curt, rude, or tonally inappropriate.
That's true whether you're writing an email to coworkers, a potential client, hiring manager during a job hunt, or any other situation that can arise in your daily correspondences.
You can think of the end of your email as a conclusion that ties everything together and poises you and your correspondent for success. That means that, for the most part, every email should have some kind of closing — don't end your message abruptly and then sign off with a curt "Sincerely."
It's a good idea to get in the habit of closing any important email with these four elements:
A summary or call to action: This is a final sentence that leaves your correspondent with the most critical information, whether it's, "I look forward to continuing this conversation in our meeting on Monday," "Thanks for putting your proposal together by next week," or "Thank you for considering me for this role."
A contextually appropriate sign-off: Whether it's "Thank you" or "Sincerely," use some form of sign-off to segue from the email to your contact information. See the next sections for sign-off suggestions.
Your full name and title: It's a good idea to include your full name. Just your first name or initials can be too familiar for some kinds of emails, but more importantly, if the message gets forwarded or snipped, other recipients can lose the context of who sent the message.
Contact information: If you're sending an email, the recipient obviously has your email address. Or do they? Again, if the message gets forwarded or snipped, other recipients might not have access to the email header and may not be able to reply directly to you. Alternatively, you can use the closer to supply additional contact information, such as your phone number or website.
Your sign-off in particular deserves some additional thought because many sign-off expressions have unanticipated implications or can convey an unprofessional tone. Here are a selection of all-around excellent sign-off choices that should serve you well in the vast majority of professional email situations.
Sincerely: This is an all-around solid choice for all professional emails, but it's especially suitable for initial contacts and when you are exchanging emails with recruiters and hiring managers.
Regards: This is the vanilla cake of sign-offs — plain, unremarkable, and inoffensive.
Best: Signing off with "best" works well in virtually any situation, though it's somewhat more casual than "sincerely." It's a good choice for communication within your team and with correspondence whom you know well. Switch to sincerely for more formal messages.
Thank you or thanks: Saying thank you (or the more casual thanks) is a great choice for email messages in which you, unsurprisingly, are asking for the recipient to take some kind of action. Even if the email is purely informational, it's still a professional and inoffensive choice.
Respectfully: This is among the most formal sign-offs you should consider using. It's a great choice for emails sent to government officials or executives in senior leadership positions. For other correspondences, though, you might want to dial it back and use one of the other options.
Likewise, there are some regrettably common sign-offs that strike a very unprofessional tone and can offend some recipients, or at the very least demonstrate a lack of polish.
Sent from my iPhone or Sent from Android: This choice is sure to trigger many people who see this as a weirdly mundane brag. While some people use this sign-off as an indirect way of saying "I apologize for the typos, because I sent this from my phone," even that is a poor reason to use that sign-off. If you're sending a professional email, take the time to clean up your typos, even on your phone. Note that your phone's email settings might use this sign-off by default, so be sure to take the time to change it.
Cheers: While a somewhat innocuous sign-off for people in the UK, it can seem contrived or pompous when sent by an American. If you wouldn't greet someone with an English accent, don't end an email with "cheers."
Yours in [religious icon of your choice]: Likewise, avoid "blessings," "have a blessed day," or any other religiously themed closer. The reason should be obvious; you should not expect your correspondence to share your religious culture, and anything you say might not just be tone-deaf or inappropriate, but catastrophically damaging.
Thnx: Don't abbreviate your sign-off. Email isn't a text message, and many professionals expect email correspondence to be somewhat formal.
Looking forward to hearing from you: At first glance, this sign-off seems friendly and engaging, but depending on the content and context of the email, this can be interpreted as a passive aggressive call to action. This might be fine for some emails — especially informal ones and emails without any sort of ask — but it's best avoided if your email includes a request for a deliverable.
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More: Email Ending Sign-off Software & Apps | 2022-04-26T15:00:00Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to End an Important Email: Sign-Offs to Use and Avoid | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-end-an-email | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-end-an-email |
Inside JPMorgan's appointment of 25 'mini-CEOs' and new strategy to operate more like a startup, which the bank says was straight out of Google's playbook
The JPMorgan Chase & Co. world headquarters on April 17, 2019, in New York City.
JPMorgan is restructuring its tech organization to meld customer-experience and back-end-IT teams.
By organizing these teams along product lines, the bank hopes to work faster and more efficiently.
A top exec walked Insider through how the bank was tackling this change and tracking progress.
Overhauling a 50,000-person division that spans products, countries, and a $12 billion annual budget is no easy task — but it's one that Monika Panpaliya is spearheading for the nation's largest bank.
As the head of JPMorgan's global technology-product office, Panpaliya is pivoting the bank to a product operating model that will sync IT teams and digital tech products. The goal is to operate more like a startup, Panpaliya told Insider. With the initiative, the bank appointed 25 "mini-CEOs" who are dialed in on the product and the teams supporting them.
"When you look at companies that are successful, it's about delivering products that customers love, and it's about delivering them at speed," Panpaliya added.
To get there, Panpaliya said JPMorgan had turned to another large corporation for inspiration: Google. A decade ago, the tech giant, which has about 150,000 employees, undertook its own research to determine what drove an effective team.
Monika Panpaliya, the head of JPMorgan's global technology-product office.
Termed Project Aristotle (after the philosopher's aphorism that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts), Google found that five key issues determined the performance of teams in reaching both quantitative and qualitative goals.
Most importantly, Google employees had to feel psychologically secure on their teams and be willing to take risks without fear of retribution or ridicule. They also had to feel like they could reliably depend on other team members and that the responsibilities of the team were clearly defined. Last, Google found that its staff had to find meaning in their work and then see an effect in the results of the team.
For JPMorgan, implementing Google's research as the bank structures its product operating model has come down to one key task, Panpaliya said: adequately measuring employee satisfaction. It's an issue that is as salient as ever given the battle for tech talent in a highly competitive ecosystem of banks, fintechs, and other financial firms.
"We have to start measuring the sentiment of our teams and how empowered they feel. In that comes things like, 'Do I trust the people around me? Do I have psychological safety? Can I depend upon the folks on my team?'" Panpaliya said.
JPMorgan's road to a product operating model
To get the multiyear transformation underway, Panpaliya started with what she believed to be foundational pieces: company culture and mindset.
"I talked about the business outcomes, obsessing over customer experience, and then, ultimately, delivering value faster," she said.
Customer obsession, to be sure, is the first leadership principle of another Big Tech firm, Amazon. The tenet encourages employees to start at the customer and work backward, much in the way JPMorgan's product transformation starts with a customer-facing product and works backward to organize its team.
Then the bank set a road map — a product catalog that identified 25 internal and external products, like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning — and realigned its budget to its products. For each product in the catalog, JPMorgan prioritized the order of which would migrate to the new structure and appointed a general manager to function as a startup CEO who is empowered to make decisions.
"The fundamental change that they undergo is the decision-making and the skill set on that team," Panpaliya said.
Once those building blocks were laid, JPMorgan instituted a quarterly business review, "moving from an annual cycle of looking at our investments to a quarterly cycle," Panpaliya said.
The bank also appointed a "cabinet" of stakeholders, which varies from product to product, to sit in on the quarterly evaluation. The cabinet has a say in where prioritization should be and where the strategy should be headed, and it analyzes feedback from real customers to see whether the bank is moving in the right direction.
During those business reviews, general managers evaluate their strategy, mission, vision, and purpose. They are appraised on their prioritization and how they're thinking about the investment and their road maps. And, of course, they assess their talent and the structure and sentiment of their teams.
In pursuit of product officers and managers
As JPMorgan undergoes the transformation, it has put an emphasis on a new kind of technologist: one that fuses business and technology for the customer experience.
In September, the bank promoted its chief information officers Rohan Amin and Anish Bhimani to chief product officers of Chase's and JPMorgan's commercial banks, respectively. And the bank will continue to appoint chief product officers and heads of product to focus on the product and experience, Panpaliya said.
JPMorgan's transition to a product-oriented mindset has also shaped the bank's approach to recruiting.
When hiring its general managers, for example, Panpaliya said JPMorgan looked for "different dimensions" in candidates than it might have in the past. For one, the bank prioritized business and customer experience alongside technical leadership skills and "the ability to build products with the right risk and regulatory constraints."
And for product-specific roles, Panpaliya said JPMorgan also assessed how well candidates "are able to discover problems and then bring the right design, engineering, product expertise to solve that problem."
More: JPMorgan Chase chief product officer Google | 2022-04-26T15:00:06Z | www.businessinsider.com | JPMorgan Chase Takes After Google to Build a Product-Centered Tech Org | https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-shift-product-oriented-tech-org-mini-ceos-google-inspired-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-shift-product-oriented-tech-org-mini-ceos-google-inspired-2022-4 |
A gaming company just adopted the rare and controversial benefit of period leave. Some women worry it's just another reason for discrimination.
One 2017 survey of 32,748 women in the Netherlands found that 14% of respondents had taken time off work or school during their periods.
Jay Yuno/Getty Images
A Polish gaming company recently granted its employees time off during their periods.
It's a rare policy that's becoming more common as the potential toll of period symptoms gains attention.
Some people argue that such policies make women who take them a target for workplace inequity.
A company is offering a rare type of leave for its employees that's been debated all over the world.
GOG, a gaming company based in Poland, announced this month that it will be granting employees time off during their periods. While some say this type of policy is a welcome relief, others are worried about how they'll be viewed by their employers and peers if they take it.
Gabriela Siemienkowicz, GOG's culture and communication manager, told Axios that the policy is "experimental in a sense that we plan to evaluate in what way those additional days off impact the well-being of our menstruating employees at the end of 2022, and consider expanding the policy in the upcoming year."
For now, GOG employees can take off time as needed "whenever period pains occur," according to Siemienkowicz. The company estimates that will amount to a day off per quarter.
Menstrual leave isn't novel, but it has been scarce in recent history. Researcher Melanie Ilic in a 1994 article in the journal Europe-Asia Studies credits the idea of menstrual leave to Soviet Russia in the 1920s and 30s, when menstruating women were released from work to ensure their reproductive health and boost employment. The policy was also popular with Japanese labor unions during the same period, and became national law in 1947.
But people who menstruate in Japan rarely use such policies, even with seven decades of access. That sentiment might occur in other countries as companies begin to adopt the policies. After all, many American workers are already unwilling to take sick leave, even when they do have it. And despite sick and menstrual leave policies, countries like the United States and Japan have some of the widest gender pay gaps in the world, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Globally, women who would benefit from additional leave policies might not want to take them, already at a disadvantage when it comes to workplace equity.
"Women were fearful… They had fought to be equal to men, not be seen as weak, and didn't want this drawing attention to a weakness within them and creating a stigma so that they couldn't get promotions," Bex Baxter, former director of UK social enterprise Coexist, told Time last year.
A tug of war between sick leave and gendered workplace expectations
The Italian parliament struck down a proposal in 2016 to offer up to three days of paid menstrual leave per month to employees, a relief to some who were concerned it would make Italian companies more reluctant to employ women.
But some companies like GOG are trying to eliminate the stigma that accompanies taking menstrual leave.
Siemienkowicz told Axios that by implementing such a policy at GOG, the company was acknowledging that employees had been suffering through something privately. For many, period pains are as painful as heart attacks.
"It fosters inclusiveness by accepting that there are biological differences in the workplace," she said, saying that it helps to break down taboos around periods. "By giving such additional days off, we acknowledge these symptoms are real."
One 2017 survey of 32,748 women in the Netherlands found that 14% of respondents had taken time off work or school during their periods. Others said that they had shown up to work but had difficulty working while experiencing symptoms. The researchers estimated that each woman lost nearly nine days of productivity per year.
Although menstrual leave policies have been met with backlash and derision in countries such as the United Kingdom and Indonesia, companies like GOG and the food delivery company Zomato in India hope that their ones will change how people think about periods.
"There shouldn't be any shame or stigma attached to applying for a period leave," Zomato CEO Deepinder Goyal told his staff in a 2020 email. "You should feel free to tell people on internal groups, or emails that you are on your period leave for the day."
More: Economy Policy Gender pay gap Pay Gap | 2022-04-26T15:38:51Z | www.businessinsider.com | Polish Gaming Company GOG Is Giving Menstrual Leave for Periods | https://www.businessinsider.com/gaming-company-gog-leave-for-periods-menstruation-pay-equity-gender-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/gaming-company-gog-leave-for-periods-menstruation-pay-equity-gender-2022-4 |
How to remove yourself from a group text or mute the ones you can't leave
Blocking numbers is a makeshift way to remove yourself from group texts.
Trevor Williams/Getty Images
There's no way to remove yourself from most group texts — you just have to mute them.
If everyone in the group text is using iMessage, though, you can leave it by tapping the "Leave this Conversation" button.
You can also block contacts or ask the creator of the group text to remake it without your phone number.
Few things are more annoying than a group text you don't want to be part of. The more people in the text, the more notifications you have to sit through — it's enough to make someone turn on Silent Mode permanently.
Luckily, both iPhone and Android devices offer a few ways to deal with unwanted group chats. Unfortunately, it's probably not the method you're looking for.
There's no way to remove yourself from most group texts
If you're in a group text, there's a good chance that you don't have a way to leave it. Most group texts don't let participants freely remove themselves.
There's only one exception to this. If everyone in the group chat is using iMessage — the texting service that's native to iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and Mac — then you are given a way to leave. To do this, open the group text and tap its name at the top of the screen, then tap Leave this Conversation.
If every member has iMessage, leaving is simple.
But if your group chat contains anyone who's not using iMessage, even if it's only one person, you can't leave it. Instead, you'll need to take a different path.
How to mute or block a group text
If you're in a group chat you can't leave, you've still got a few options for dealing with it.
Mute the group text
This will ensure that you never see any notifications from it, making it much easier to ignore.
To mute a group text on iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, find it in your list of text conversations and hold your finger down on it, then select Hide Alerts. On a Mac, find it in the list and right-click it, then click Hide Alerts.
Muting the group text stops all notifications, but it still appears in the list of conversations.
To mute group texts on an Android, open the conversation and tap the three dots in the top-right corner, tap Group details, and then tap Notifications. You'll be given a few different options you can use to mute the text.
You can immediately silence the chat by switching off the “Notifications” toggle at the top.
Block the senders
You can also try blocking every phone number in the group text. This ensures that you'll never receive messages from them, but it also means they can't text or call you on their own either.
To block a number on Apple devices, open the group chat and tap its name or the list of participants at the top, then tap the tab that tells you how many people are in it. Tap the caller that you want to block, then select Block this Caller. You have to do this on a mobile device — it's not available on Mac.
On an Android, open the conversation and tap the three dots in the top-right corner, then tap Group details. Select the number you want to block, then tap the three dots in the top-right corner again. Select Block numbers.
Quick tip: You can also choose to report the number as "spam" on this screen, which sends a report about them to Google and your phone carrier.
Report the group text on Android
Some Android phones also include a "Report spam" feature. This immediately blocks the group text and everyone inside of it, and moves the chat into a separate "Spam & blocked" folder.
But it also sends a report to both Google and your phone carrier about the people in the chat, which can lead to penalties for them — possibly even having their phone accounts shut down. If you're just trying to leave a group chat that's filled with your friends, this definitely isn't the method you want to use.
To do this, open the chat and tap the three dots in the top-right corner, and then Group details. Tap Report spam, then confirm you want to do it.
Reporting the conversation sends copies of its messages to Google and the phone carrier.
Remake the group text
Finally, you can ask the person who created the group text to remake it, just without your phone number. This still isn't the same as removing yourself from a group text, but is a way to separate yourself from it.
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More: Tech How To Group Texts Group chat Texting | 2022-04-26T15:38:57Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Remove Yourself From or Mute Group Texts | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-remove-yourself-from-a-group-text | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-remove-yourself-from-a-group-text |
I'm a Twitter employee who was at the all-hands meeting after Elon Musk bought the company. I'm not freaking out like everyone else.
A Twitter engineer thinks many of his colleagues are overreacting to Elon Musk's buyout.
A machine learning engineer at Twitter described the tense atmosphere among the company's employees yesterday.
They said Elon Musk's takeover could be a good thing, because he understands the product and is a pragmatic leader.
This is their story, as told to Insider's Tekendra Parmar.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a machine learning engineer at Twitter who was present at yesterday's all-hands meeting where Twitter CEO Parag Agarwal addressed employees on Elon Musk's purchase of the company. They wished to remain anonymous in order to speak freely about their situation. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I woke up yesterday morning to the news that Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter was imminent. My notifications were going off on Twitter and on my phone. People were asking me about it, but I had as much information as everybody else: Internally, people were speaking to a wall trying to get more information. Leadership was apologetic, but almost all of us were learning everything we knew from the press.
I joined Twitter last year as a machine learning engineer, shortly before former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stepped down to make room for Parag Agarwal. Back then, people felt like this was a natural progression for the company. But on Monday, employees were a lot more emotional about the news.
At work, I had a lot of people cancel meetings because they were preoccupied. People would say, "I have a lot on my mind today, can we reschedule?"
This was understandable, but I also wondered what we could actually do about the situation.
In a Slack group, one employee shared one of Elon's old tweets — the infamous 'pregnant man' tweet. They asked, "How am I going to explain to my children I work for someone that tweets like this?"
Others were worried about whether or not Musk would reinstate Donald Trump's Twitter handle and what that might mean for misinformation and freedom of speech on the platform. Some joked about polishing their résumés, while a handful threatened to leave. Others advised caution and not to say anything they might regret later.
At around noon, management also announced that there would be a production freeze where no changes can be made to our site until Friday.
But I think Musk's taking over Twitter could be a good thing. Here's why.
Elon Musk is a boss that understands the product
I joined Twitter after working for several startups. I loved the product and thought it was an amazing tool. As a user, I had even made several IRL friends through Twitter. But when I got to Twitter, it felt as though product development had slowed down.
I knew to temper my expectations: People move slower in more established tech companies. There are always people trying to do good things, but sometimes the organization is what slows you down.
Our newsfeed isn't as engaging as TikTok or even Facebook, and as an engineer I saw a lot of easy and obvious fixes that could change that.
Sometimes the quote that goes around the valley is that Twitter is a "clown car that drove into a goldmine." As unprofessional as Musks's tweets can be, I think his relationship to Twitter is similar to mine — he signals to me that he is a boss that understands the product.
Elon's a determinate optimist and a hardened pragmatist. Historically, Twitter has been slow. It's doing fine. But it doesn't charge forward. I'm not saying that will absolutely happen with Elon, and there are obviously good and bad to the culture he instills, but I think Twitter could learn quite a lot from his willingness to try new things.
A good example of this: Internally, people have been working on an edit button. Most recently, the team has been working on it for around a year. When Elon was just a shareholder and he tweeted out "let's try and make an edit button happen," internally there was a backlash where people thought this threw us under the bus and made it look like we didn't have the idea. But the truth is everybody had that idea. While people were upset on that team, now they're seriously considering pushing up the deadline and making things happen.
A slack message my coworker sent to our team on April 15.
You need a determinate optimist and a hardened pragmatist to make the world better.
Parag had to answer for legitimate concerns during the all-hands
A major question was how our equity plans and vesting schedules might be impacted by this new move. We were worried, but during the all-hands on Monday, Parag assured us that there will be no changes to current vesting schedules. He also said there will be no changes to other benefits for the next year.
To me, the way Parag addressed the issue of free speech felt quite direct, although some might disagree. He said that the company has always known what free speech is and that free speech as a concept will not change with Elon on board. That sounded like he was saying that we are still going to work in the fuzzy area that we've always worked in, that there will always be a push and pull. It felt as though Parag was saying we would still be operating in the same zone.
He also mentioned that there would be no plans for layoffs right now, which felt like an uncertain answer.
I'm hoping people will calm down
While we're a hybrid team right now, I plan on going back into the office and meeting some people at work. I'm hoping to take the pulse and help calm some people down. It feels like there are a lot of vocal voices that have people worried for good and bad reasons. But I hope we can minimize some of these worries.
The hype of this is fun. It's getting played up on Twitter. But I don't know how much things will change.
More: Twitter Elon Musk Parag Agrawal | 2022-04-26T15:39:21Z | www.businessinsider.com | A Twitter Employee Describes the All-Hands and Explains Why Musk Buyout Could Be Good | https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-employee-all-hands-elon-musk-buyout-takeover-good-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-employee-all-hands-elon-musk-buyout-takeover-good-2022-4 |
UK watchdog warns challenger banks to be more vigilant over financial crime defenses
The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that some challenger banks may have inadequate financial crime defenses.
Challenger banks must strike a balance between reducing barriers to entry for customers while minimizing the risk of crime through robust controls.
The news: The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned challenger banks that their inadequate financial crime defenses could be exposing them to "money mule networks" laundering cash.
What the FCA's review found: The regulator reported that its review of six unnamed challenger banks led it to conclude:
Monitoring of transaction alerts is "ineffective" and controls around financial crimes are weak.
Insufficient checks are performed on new customers.
Most banks failed to identify high-risk customers during onboarding and weren't gathering information like applicants' income and occupation.
But the FCA did praise banks' "innovative use of technology" to verify customers quickly.
What this means: Challenger banks aim to utilize quick, hassle-free onboarding and loan approvals to try to outcompete incumbent lenders and win new customers. But in their haste to lower the barriers to accessing financial products, they are ignoring sound risk management practices and credit-risk-worthiness assessment metrics.
The FCA's review may highlight endemic flaws among challenger banks' controls compared with incumbents, and the greater risks that these banks, the financial system, and their customers could be exposing themselves to.
It could also signal a harder stance by the watchdog. The regulator singled out banks' role in stamping out sanctions evasion in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and reducing money laundering, which costs the UK £100 billion ($137.5 billion) annually, per the National Crime Agency.
The big takeaway: The FCA has long been a supporter of fintech-friendly oversight in the UK to level the playing field between incumbents and neobanks , and to help maintain the UK's status as a global financial services headquarters. However, as British challenger banks have flourished, financial controls of some have not kept pace with their rapid growth.
Challenger banks must strike a balance between reducing barriers to entry for customers while minimizing the risk of crime through robust controls. Those that fail to do this risk harsh punishment like the heavy fines handed to NatWest and HSBC in December and as well as potentially losing business due to reputational damage. | 2022-04-26T15:39:27Z | www.businessinsider.com | UK's Challenger Banks at Higher Risk of Financial Crime, FCA Warns | https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-challenger-banks-at-higher-risk-of-financial-crime-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-challenger-banks-at-higher-risk-of-financial-crime-2022-4 |
In a newly leaked 2017 memo, Nike declared it had achieved pay equity. Current and former female employees called it 'gaslighting.'
In April 2017, Nike proclaimed victory on pay equity, saying women earned 99.6% of what men earned.
Seven months earlier, Nike announced it had signed the White House Equal Pay Pledge.
The self-congratulatory public proclamations spurred an independent survey of pay practices.
On April 4, 2017, Nike's top human-resources executive sent a companywide memo declaring that it had achieved pay equity because women made 99.6% of what men made.
"At best it was the most tone-deaf thing we've ever seen come out of Nike," a former technology employee said about the memo, which was sent by David Ayre, then the executive vice president of human resources.
Insider obtained a copy of the memo — its subject line was "Equal Pay Day: Nike has Pay Equity" — as part of its reporting on a gender-discrimination lawsuit that's awaiting a decision on class certification.
The memo was sent roughly seven months after Nike announced it had signed the White House Equal Pay Pledge.
Insider spoke with three former Nike employees and one current employee who recalled reading the memo.
One former female employee described the memo as "gaslighting." Another former female employee said it caused frustration, as it suggested that Nike's top management thought 99% was good enough.
"It was confusing as to why they even sent it out," a current female employee said. "If you're not 100%, what are we celebrating here? It felt really strange. It also felt exposing; you're actually telling me I'm paid less."
Another former employee said the memo's "self-congratulatory" tone was met with "universal dismay."
"That's what bothered us," the former employee said. "This isn't equity in our books."
The memo is part of what drove a group of female Nike executives to conduct an internal survey about pay and promotion disparities. By March 2018, the survey had made it to the desk of the CEO at the time, Mark Parker.
A 2018 report from The Oregonian mentioned the memo's role in spurring the surveys.
In May 2018, Parker hosted an all-staff meeting to apologize for Nike's corporate culture. Nike also promoted two women to executive roles.
Nike has said it's taken additional steps to address its pay and promotion practices, including a round of raises in July 2018.
Ayre is no longer with Nike; he's one of a group of executives who left the company in 2018. He has not commented publicly about his departure.
In its latest corporate-responsibility report, Nike said it had achieved 100% pay equity.
The company declined to comment on the memo. Ayre could not be reached.
Plaintiffs in the ongoing gender discrimination lawsuit seemingly disagree with Nike's claims of pay equity, but critical pieces of their argument remain sealed, including a full study done by labor economist David Neumark.
"Dr. Neumark's report shows that Nike paid women less in base pay and bonuses," plaintiffs claimed in their motion for class certification.
The percentage and dollar amount conclusions in Neumark's report remain sealed.
Nike has broadly described Neumark's analysis as flawed.
Insider is part of a coalition working to unseal more of the lawsuit.
Read the 2017 memo below:
Subject: Equal Pay Day: Nike has Pay Equity
Today, on Equal Pay Day, we are pleased to share that NIKE, Inc. has pay equity globally across all team members in all brands, inclusive of our wholesale and retail employees. This means that women, men and all races/ethnicities who undertake the same work at the same level, experience and performance are equitably compensated.
You may recall that several months ago Mark Parker communicated our commitment to pay equity as part of the White House Equal Pay Pledge. At that time, we shared that we would review pay practices across the company. In keeping with industry best practices, we worked in partnership with outside experts to complete a comprehensive study of all aspects of our pay across all jobs and all levels globally.
At Nike, for every $1 earned by men, women employees globally earn 99.6 cents. Racial and ethnic minorities (combined) in the U.S., where we track this information, earn 99.7 cents for every $1 earned by white employees. This confirms that there are essentially no differences in pay and that we have pay equity, highlighting the strengths of our Total Rewards programs and our continued focus on market competitiveness and pay for performance.
As Mark stated, "we are proud of our leadership and efforts to create a level playing field where all team members can perform at their best." We'll continue to focus on maintaining and reporting on pay equity across Nike. However, to truly unleash our full potential, we recognize that we must increase our efforts to create an inclusive culture where all of our diverse employees thrive, with supporting policies and practices, and — most importantly — where diverse individuals are represented at every level of leadership.
David Ayre
EVP, Human Resources
More: Retail Sportswear Legal | 2022-04-26T16:30:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | Leaked Nike Memo Claimed Pay Equity. Insiders Call It 'Gaslighting.' | https://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-memo-nike-gender-pay-equity-2017-lawsuit-gaslight2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-memo-nike-gender-pay-equity-2017-lawsuit-gaslight2022-4 |
An Amazon Labor Union (ALU) organizer greets workers outside Amazon’s LDJ5 sortation center, as employees begin voting to unionize a second warehouse in the Staten Island borough of New York City, U.S. April 25, 2022.
A new Brookings report examines how profits changed compared to wages at major companies.
The profits of five "winning" companies grew by 41% from January 2020 to October 2021.
Wages increased by a much smaller 5% at these five companies together, after adjusting for inflation.
The pandemic plunged the world economy into unprecedented waters as millions of workers suddenly lost their jobs.
But the economic picture wasn't dreary for everyone: Big US companies like Amazon and Target saw huge profits as the world shuttered. A new report from Brookings looked back at how those profits compared to worker pay.
According to Molly Kinder, a fellow at Brookings and one of the report's co-authors, the researchers wondered "are companies moving to a more equitable, more inclusive, fairer version of capitalism — especially in this unique pandemic moment where there's so much goodwill for workers?"
Brookings found that even as profits climbed, worker pay mostly didn't rise at the same rate. It's a familiar pandemic tale, and one that may be fueling the ever-present wave of low-wage workers quitting at near-record rates.
Brookings focused on 22 companies that have a lot of hourly frontline workers, 12 of which Bookings called "winning" companies. Kinder said they defined these winning companies as those that have "done better financially in the pandemic than they did before the pandemic."
"Three-quarters of 'winning' companies posted their most profitable years on record in 2020," the authors wrote in the report.
In fact, at five companies who "won" the pandemic profit-wise and for which Brookings had wage data, profits rose by 41% together after adjusting by inflation — but real wages rose by just 5% for workers. Those companies are Amazon, Walmart, CVS, Target, and Kroger. This means "profits rose at eight times the pace of worker wages," per the report.
Kinder told Insider that with the Great Resignation and rising pay, it may seem like hourly, lower-wage workers are "really the ones doing the best in this economy."
However, "gains for low-wage workers are not nearly what you'd expect given all those headlines," Kinder said. "Inflation has taken such a huge bite out of those gains. And really the pay gains were very modest."
Kinder said when they talk to these workers, they say "these headlines don't match our experience." They don't feel like they're getting ahead when they go to pay for groceries or gas, she said.
Take Amazon, for instance. After adjusting for inflation, Amazon saw 94% profit growth, a massive increase compared to the increase of real wages for workers of just 10%.
"Wages are up even at the most successful companies modestly," Kinder said. "If you think about a two-year time horizon, on average, they're up 5%. Today, that number would be less."
Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island voted earlier this month to unionize, a first for the company. One of their demands: A $30 minimum wage.
At Target, inflation-adjusted profits grew by 73%. At the same time, real wages grew by just 3%; according to the EPI and Shift wage tracker, 82% of Target workers make $14 to $16 an hour.
Meanwhile, at Walmart, profits rose by 6%, after adjusting for inflation. At the same time, real wages increased by 9%, making Walmart the only one of the five companies highlighted by Brookings with a larger wage than profit gain. According to a new company wage tracker from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute and the The Shift Project, 51% of Walmart workers make less than $15 an hour.
At CVS, inflation-adjusted profits grew by 17%, while real wages increased by 3%. The EPI and Shift wage tracker finds that 32% of CVS workers made less than $15 an hour.
"Throughout the pandemic, we made several bonus payments to our pharmacists and other essential workers to recognize their important contributions supporting the communities we serve," a CVS spokesperson said in a comment to Insider. "We also committed to raise our enterprise minimum hourly wage to $15 by July 2022."
Kroger's profits rose by 59% after inflation, while real wages rose by just 1%. Thousands of Krogers workers in Colorado went on strike earlier this year, and some won an over $5 an hour raise.
Amazon, Target, Walmart, and Kroger did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
Even though workers at all five of those "winning" companies did see a pay bump bigger than inflation since the start of 2020, rising prices could still take a bite out of those raises.
"Workers really feel like the actual purchasing power of those wage increases has been dramatically eroded because of inflation," Kinder said even though she said most companies that they looked at raised wages.
Importantly, "a lot of these companies started with such low pay that even if you raise pay 4% in real terms, it's on such a low starting wage that still these workers, even with those pay raises, most of them can't pay their bills."
More: Wages Brookings corporate Corporate Profits
Hourly workers | 2022-04-26T17:09:58Z | www.businessinsider.com | Major Companies Together Saw Profits Grow Faster Than Real Wages | https://www.businessinsider.com/major-companies-together-saw-profits-grow-faster-than-real-wages-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/major-companies-together-saw-profits-grow-faster-than-real-wages-2022-4 |
The healthtech industry is worried about startup investments cooling off in 2022 — here's why
Samantha Stokes
Ninety percent of respondents in a new Venrock study said they expected healthtech investments to decrease in 2022.
Healthtech investing in startups is expected to cool in 2022, a Venrock report said.
Fifty percent of study participants expected a "dramatic" drop-off in healthtech VC funding.
Bob Kocher, a Venrock partner, expects recent healthtech IPOs, such as One Medical, to rebound.
After multiple years of growth and billions of dollars poured into the healthcare industry, tech investments by venture capitalists into health startups are largely expected to cool off in 2022.
Venrock's sixth annual Healthcare Prognosis study, which surveyed more than 250 industry experts, found that 90% of respondents expected healthtech investing to decrease this year. The sentiment is in stark opposition to the industry's success over the past few years, in which private funding for healthtech startups tripled since 2019 to reach $29.1 billion last year thanks to healthtech unicorns — such as the primary-care platform Ro, the remote physical therapist Hinge Health, and the digital mental-health provider Lyra Health. Half of the survey respondents also said they expected a "dramatic" drop-off in healthtech-startup funding, to the tune of at least 30%.
Bob Kocher, a partner at Venrock, said the cool-off in healthtech investing was largely because of the normalization of COVID-19. "Lots of the funding over the past two years has been driven by Covid-induced changes in how people access healthcare," he told Insider in an email.
The drop-off in healthtech-startup funding follows the greater trend of VCs broadly pulling back on startup funding after a year that saw a record-setting run of investment dollars into startups. This means that it may be harder for startups to raise money as valuations crash and VCs become more cautious with their wallets and investments.
Venrock's survey included founders from healthtech startups, large employers, insurance companies, healthcare providers, academics, the government, investors, and professional service providers. Venrock's recent healthtech investments include the biotech startups Mahzi Therapeutics and Mythic Therapeutics.
Kocher said the healthcare space still had a long way to go to improve care, productivity, and consumer experience. That means a ripe landscape for young founders who want to disrupt the status quo, especially ones offering telehealth and virtual care, he said.
"One of the byproducts of the 'great resignation' is an influx of talented people being drawn to mission-oriented healthcare startups," Kocher said.
Primary-health IPO flops are also expected to drive success in the healthtech space. Venrock's survey respondents said they expected companies such as Teladoc, One Medical, and Oak Street Health — whose valuations plummeted by as much as 90% when they went public in recent years — to rebound.
Primary-care startups digitize parts of routine doctor visits, either through online scheduling, apps to message providers, or telehealth appointments that replace physical trips to a medical office.
"People are bullish about virtual care and primary care," Kocher said. "While valuations are down, the long-term view is positive."
Survey respondents favored Village MD, Omada, and Hinge Health for their top IPO picks this year.
Meanwhile, the practice of creating a publicly listed shell company, called a SPAC , to purchase a private company to bring public is falling by the wayside after having a moment in early 2021. Instead, survey respondents favored exit opportunities such as private equity, smaller mergers, and Big Tech acquisitions over a SPAC initial public offering.
Kocher anticipated that acquisitions and consolidation would continue to be a big theme in the healthtech-startup industry this year.
He said, "We expect lots more M&A when companies are burning lots of capital and possess weak unit economics for raising more growth capital."
More: Healthcare Venture Capital Startups | 2022-04-26T17:10:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | VC Firm Venrock's 2022 Healthcare Report Says Tech-Startup Investing Will Slow | https://www.businessinsider.com/venrock-2022-healthcare-startups-study-impact-on-health-tech-investing-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/venrock-2022-healthcare-startups-study-impact-on-health-tech-investing-2022-4 |
A nano influencer with under 10,000 followers makes money from Instagram and TikTok sponsored posts. Here's how much she charges brands.
Jalyn Baiden is an Instagram and TikTok nano influencer.
Emmanuel Baiden
Jalyn Baiden is an Instagram and TikTok nano influencer with fewer than 10,000 followers.
Baiden has worked with brands like Lancôme and GoPuff on sponsored content.
She shared how much money she charges brands, and how she started her business.
"Nano" influencers, those with only a few thousand followers, have become a valuable category to brands because of their highly engaged audiences.
Influencer-marketing firm Izea recently published a report that says influencers with between 1,000 and 10,000 followers have seen the biggest growth in payouts from brands. In 2015, these creators got paid an average of $25 dollars for a sponsored post. In 2021, the average price per post was $901 — 36 times higher.
Take nano influencer Jalyn Baiden, who started posting as a a skincare influencer in mid-2020. In late 2021, Baiden left her day job as a digital marketing coordinator to pursue content creation full time.
Since then, Baiden has earned over $26,000 as an influencer from sponsorships, commissioned content for brand accounts, and affiliate marketing.
"It's something that I always wanted to pursue; I just never had the courage to do it," she told Insider. "But I am so glad that I did take that leap of faith."
Baiden, who is 28 and lives in Virginia with her husband, has 4,000 followers on Instagram and 8,000 followers on TikTok. She has worked with brands including Lancôme and GoPuff on paid partnerships. She also recently launched her own digital marketing agency, Balm Creative Co.
Baiden's creator business has already earned $19,985 this year, according to documentation she shared with Insider.
"One of my goals this year was to replace my old salary, between my digital marketing agency and content creation," she said, referring to her former career as a digital marketing coordinator. "So far, I've made 40% of my old salary in the last four months. It's crazy to even say that out loud."
She shared the scale she uses to determine her rates when negotiating with companies on sponsored posts. Her rates change depending on the deliverables, usage rates, and exclusivity — or the terms around working with similar brands.
Here are Baiden's starting rates as an influencer:
Instagram story: $350 (3 frames)
Instagram in-feed post: $750
Instagram reel: $1,000 (15 to 60 seconds)
TikTok video: $1,000 (15 to 60 seconds)
*Note: These rates don't include usage rights or exclusivity.
Insider verified these rates with documentation provided by Baiden.
Aside from creating content for her own social channels, she also works with brands and other influencers on their social media strategies.
"Brands hire creators to create user-generated content for them, and I've had a couple opportunities like that, and they are very lucrative," she said. "You can create 10 to 15 videos a month for a brand and get paid thousands of dollars."
In late 2021, Baiden left her day job as a digital marketing coordinator to pursue content creation full-time.
Baiden's template for cold DMing brands on Instagram
Landing paid brand deals as a new influencer isn't easy. Instead of waiting for a brand to reach out to her, Baiden often cold pitches a company over an Instagram direct message or email.
Here are two of Baiden's DM templates:
Instagram DM template: Hello! My name is Jalyn and I'm a content creator from Richmond, VA. I'm super interested in partnering with [brand] and would love to send a collaboration proposal to your marketing team. Could you please let me know the correct email contact? Thanks so much!
Email template: Introduce yourself (who you are and what you do); state your interest in working with the brand (share your experience with a product, that you like their focus on sustainability, etc.); ask about their marketing goals for the quarter and how you can best support them. The key is to showcase the value that you can add to the brand, not what the brand can do for you. Attach your media kit and send.
When she's not reaching out to brands directly, she uses the influencer networks Lumanu and Aspire to land paid partnerships.
"At the end of the day, this is your income," Baiden said. "Especially if you are still working full time and you want to do this full time, you need to be setting yourself up to have a stable salary. You can always negotiate down."
More: Influencers Instagram TikTok | 2022-04-26T18:01:35Z | www.businessinsider.com | How Much a Creator With Under 10k Followers Charges for Branded Posts | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-creator-with-under-10k-followers-charges-sponsored-posts-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-creator-with-under-10k-followers-charges-sponsored-posts-2022-4 |
The cofounder of an $800 million crypto investment firm explains why bitcoin could hit $300,000 in the next 2 years — and says political unrest could increase adoption
Arca cofounder and chief investment officer Jeff Dorman.
Jeff Dorman is the cofounder and chief investment officer of Arca, an $800 million asset manager.
Ukraine has received approximately $100 million worth of crypto donations amid Russian invasion.
The Wall Street vet explains why Russia's invasion of Ukraine could lead to crypto adoption longterm.
War zones are difficult places to get money into and out of.
As Russian forces lay siege in the Ukraine over the past two months, the central bank of Ukraine attempted to mitigate risk by suspending currency and equity trading. Digital money transfers were halted too.
Viral videos circulated of residents in both countries scrambling to withdraw funds from ATMs and banks in anticipation of potential economic calamity — leading to fears of bank runs. On February 24, the National Bank of Ukraine employed a withdrawal limit of 100,000 hryvnia, or about $3,339 per day.
In moments of chaos, when people are unable to gain access to their money from financial institutions they've historically used, where does cryptocurrency fit in?
It could lead to adoption for the digital asset class, Arca cofounder and chief investment officer Jeff Dorman told Insider.
"What we thought used to be our money, if it's sitting in the bank, is not actually our money," Dorman said. "It's the government's money and whether or not they decide to let you have it is their decision."
Geopolitical unrest could lead to a sizable jump in bitcoin's price as well.
The largest crypto by market cap , Dorman said, could hit $300,000 in the next two years. This would require a jump of 765.4% from its price on Tuesday near $39,193, according to blockchain research firm Messari. Bitcoin has previously experienced a spike of this magnitude in less than two years: between March 2020 and November 2021, when it rose 1,285%.
But Dorman is not the only person making long-term bullish calls on price action.
ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood said that the token would hit $1 million by 2030. 10T cofounder Dan Tapiero —the Wall Street vet who runs a crypto-focused private equity firm — also said that the crypto could hit $500,000 in the next five years.
Ambitious forecasts, however, don't always pan out.
Morgan Creek Capital Management CEO Mark Yusko previously told Insider in 2019 that bitcoin would top $100,000 by 2021. Yusko cited bitcoin's network, store of value, fundamental growth metrics, and ability to mitigate income inequality as a catalyst. The crypto, instead, notched a high of $34,810 in December 2020.
Bitcoin made a run for the widely predicted $100,000 level last year but peaked just above $69,000. Still, Dorman and other experts still see that price as attainable, partly because of political factors.
On March 16, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed into law a bill on digital assets, which detailed their legal classification and regulators. Then on April 22, Ukraine's central bank banned the purchase of crypto in its local currency with exceptions for foreign currencies.
Per a Coindesk report, the Ukrainian government posted wallet addresses to accept donations two days after the invasion, garnering roughly $100 million worth of cryptocurrency.
"Crypto really helped during the first few days because we were able to cover some immediate needs," Alex Bornyakov, a Ukraine deputy minister for digital transformation, said.
The unrest, Dorman says, could lead to citizens on both sides turning to less centralized means of accessing funds.
"I think the history books will talk about February, March and April of 2022 as a really big inflection point for why people care about bitcoin," Dorman said. "People are going to recognize that there's real value in a bearer asset like this."
Dorman started $800 million crypto asset manager Arca with WisdomTree cofounder Rayne Steinberg in 2018. Before that, he had a 20-year-career on Wall Street, working at Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Citadel Securities.
"All the alpha is gone in stocks and bonds," Dorman said. "There's a ton of alpha in digital assets, because people haven't figured out how to value these things yet."
NOW WATCH: The CIO of a crypto hedge fund shares the 3 biggest risks of investing in cryptocurrencies
More: Investing Bitcoin crypto
Jeff Dorman | 2022-04-26T18:40:32Z | www.businessinsider.com | Bitcoin Could Hit $300,000 in the Next 2 Years: Crypto Asset Manager | https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-forecast-crypto-300000-next-2-years-asset-manager-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-price-forecast-crypto-300000-next-2-years-asset-manager-2022-4 |
I run a company that owns the boutique fitness brands Pure Barre, Club Pilates, and Rumble. Here are my 3 best tips for scaling up a franchise.
Shaun Grove.
Courtesy of Shaun Grove
Shaun Grove, 47, is a former attorney and now the president of the boutique boxing gym Rumble.
Before joining Rumble, Grove grew the Club Pilates chain to 700 studios from 25.
Here's his story and best advice for building a franchise, as told to Claire Turrell.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Shaun Grove, the 47-year-old president of the boutique boxing gym Rumble. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I trained to be an FBI agent, but early on there were telltale signs it wouldn't be a lifelong career. It was very bureaucratic, which wasn't for me. When I finished my two-year training at Quantico, I was asked to move from California to Boston. Instead of making the move, I resigned.
Before I joined the FBI, I was an attorney. So in August 2009 I went back to law and started working as a general counsel for the LA Boxing gym chain, owned by former internet entrepreneur Anthony Geisler. As a former college footballer, I immediately felt at home in the fitness world.
Fast-forward two years, and I'd bought four LA Boxing franchises of my own. Then UFC Gym decided to acquire it.
Anthony was then looking at new ventures and wanted to buy a boutique Pilates studio called Club Pilates. At that time Pilates was seen as a workout for the elite, and he wanted to roll it out to the masses. It had 25 studios but no consistency in any area, whether that was equipment or marketing.
By March 2015, Anthony had bought Club Pilates, I had become a partner, and we'd completely revamped the brand
Within six years we'd launched 700 studios across the globe. We sold the brand to a private-equity firm in May 2017, but Anthony stayed on as CEO and I stayed on as Club Pilates' president.
Even though I was a franchisor, I never stopped being a franchisee. I'd sold three of my UFC Gyms, but I remained the owner of one UFC franchise. I wanted to remember what it was like to be a franchise partner and need the support of the franchisor.
We had a blueprint for boutique franchises and wanted to do the same for other fitness brands, so we created the umbrella company Xponential Fitness and started buying up other boutique fitness brands, including Club Pilates, CycleBar, Row House, and its latest venture, Rumble, which is backed by Sylvester Stallone and Justin Bieber. In July 2021 we took Xponential public on the New York Stock Exchange.
Here are my tips for building a successful franchise.
Our opening support program was a game-changer for us
I think our biggest learning curve — which we acknowledge that we'd gathered over several years — was the importance of our opening support program, helping franchises move from presale to soft opening and grand opening. I equate it to an airplane taking off, getting that initial lift, and then reaching cruising altitude.
Our opening support program is a very robust marketing and sales program that allows us to generate the number of prospective members that we need and then convert those into actual members so that we have a certain number before the studio even opens. Nine times out of 10 this puts a studio at a breakeven point even before they open their doors.
We choose our franchise partners carefully
When we're choosing our franchise partners, we like to see some level of business experience and that they're well capitalized and passionate about what they're getting into.
At the beginning, many of the Club Pilates franchisees were what I call corporate refugees, or people who'd been in corporate America for 20 years making money for someone else and wanted to go out and do it for themselves.
Each potential franchisee goes through a three-month process where they're educated on what the concept is and what our expectations are of them. They need to take part in interviews, hold weekly calls with the presidents, and have conversations with existing franchise partners. This puts them through a funnel that takes them to "Confirmation Day," where they meet our corporate team, take a class at a local studio, and listen to presentations about the company. Once this is done, we'll decide who to award a territory to.
We overstaffed from the start to oversupport the franchise partners
When we relaunched Club Pilates we were definitely overstaffed, but we've always taken the position that we want to oversupport our franchise partners. We created development departments for each line item in the business, from real estate and construction to sales and education. Even when we only had 25 locations, we still had all these people in place. We now have a team of 52 people at Club Pilates.
When Club Pilates started to get larger, it became evident that we didn't just need to fill vertically underneath these departments, but we needed to create some new departments to help us continue to grow. We found really quickly that we needed someone who had a little bit more expertise in scaling the business, so we took on a COO when we reached 300 studios.
More: BI-freelancer Franchise Franchisees
Boutique Fitness
Franchise Costs | 2022-04-26T18:40:44Z | www.businessinsider.com | How a Former Attorney Built a Successful Pilates Chain Franchise | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-former-attorney-built-successful-pilates-chain-franchise-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-former-attorney-built-successful-pilates-chain-franchise-2022-4 |
Slow Ventures made so much money on solana, it paid for its $145 million fund 'many times' over, its cofounder says. It has ambitions plans for DAOs with a new $325 million fund.
The solana logo.
Slow Ventures raised a new $325 million fund, bringing its AUM to $770 million, Insider has learned.
The new fund sailed to its target because of investor fervor for Slow's creative strategies.
It bought solana at $0.04 a coin when other VCs shunned it. Now, it has set its sights on DAOs.
The biggest players in venture capital aren't all that adventurous, said Kevin Colleran, an early Facebook employee turned venture capitalist who cofounded his own firm, Slow Ventures.
"So much of what is called 'venture capital' has simply become a matter of piling capital into things which everyone sees and knows is 'working,'" he wrote in a blog. "Our job is to push the envelope ahead of the herd of large funds."
Now, his firm is growing its financial might to stay ahead. Slow told Insider it raised $325 million in new capital across a seed fund and a growth fund, bringing its total assets under management to $770 million.
The fundraise highlights investor enthusiasm for the firm's methods, which include investing in crypto tokens and buying equity in "influencers" for a percentage of their profits.
The firm filed paperwork in the fall to raise $195 million for its fifth seed fund and ended up oversubscribed and turned new investors away, Colleran said. He added that Slow didn't need more money to achieve its goal of leading seed rounds. The average check size hovers around $1.5 million, and most initial investments fall below $3 million.
"It is never fun" to reject "new limited partners who want to invest their money with Slow but it's the right decision given our fund model," Colleran told Insider in an email.
Established in 2011, Slow grew out of a small angel fund backed exclusively by five friends from Facebook's early days. Over the years, the firm's investor pedigree helped it nab lucrative stakes in tech companies like Slack , Airtable, Allbirds, Postmates , and Robinhood, and raise fund after fund. Last year, it took the unusual step of writing small checks directly to people, like content creators and serial entrepreneurs, for a share of their earnings.
Buying equity in an influencer might be a gamble, but seed investors are in the business of taking risks.
"We invest in usually a person — in an idea — before anything's built," Sam Lessin, a general partner at Slow, told Insider last year. "So much of our analysis is around 'do we trust the person?'"
How one investment paid for a fund
In 2018, Lessin took a bet on an engineer who he once tried to hire at Facebook.
Anatoly Yakovenko had an idea for a faster blockchain for financial transactions and raised money to develop it through the sale of digital tokens. This was during a "crypto winter," when bitcoin prices plunged, digital-token sales had a reputation as fly-by-night operations, and venture capitalists pulled back from blockchain startups.
Still, Lessin bought into solana at $0.04 a token and doubled down the next year at $0.23 each.
Solana traded at $100.60 as of Friday afternoon, down from its peak of $260.06, according to Coinbase. And Colleran said that one investment was big enough to pay for the firm's $145 million fund "many times" over. He declined to be more specific.
Will Quist, Kevin Colleran, and Sam Lessin are among the firm's leadership.
Courtesy of Kevin Colleran
The firm has since issued some of its tokens to its limited partners who wish to hold them, instead of selling the coins and returning cash proceeds, Colleran said. Investors jumped at the opportunity, he added.
For its next act, Slow has set more ambitious plans.
The firm is wading into decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, which are loosely formed groups on the blockchain. They've been used to fund companies, run social clubs, and even bid on a copy of the US Constitution.
Slow doesn't care to buy assets so much as use DAOs to run companies, a twist on the corporate structure, Lessin told Insider in an email. Its first entity, Slow DAO, is buying land in Montana as an experiment. The firm hopes to prove the model and get a repeatable process for creating DAOs that it can use many times for other purposes.
"Using DAOs to help humans better coordinate capital and labor in the real world is the name of the game," Lessin said.
In his blog, Colleran said the firm would continue to look for nonobvious opportunities.
"We take pride in funding founders from the earliest days," he wrote, "before everyone else comes knocking."
More: Slow Ventures Kevin Colleran Solana | 2022-04-26T18:41:08Z | www.businessinsider.com | Slow Ventures Made Hundreds of Millions on Solana, Bets on DOAs | https://www.businessinsider.com/slow-ventures-solana-creators-new-fund-crypto-doas-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/slow-ventures-solana-creators-new-fund-crypto-doas-2022-4 |
DTC brand Your Super does $60 million in annual sales. Now the wellness startup is locking down retail partners like Target and CVS with a laser focus on profitability.
Kristel de Groot and Michael Kuech run Your Super, a $60 million DTC wellness startup.
Your Super quietly built a loyal customer base as a DTC brand and did $60 million in sales in 2021.
This year, it's going wholesale via partnerships with Target, CVS, Sprouts, and The Vitamin Shoppe.
The pivot is due to increasing investor focus on profitability over top-line growth.
It wasn't Apple's iOS 14 updates alone that pushed Your Super into a major retail expansion this year. The updates, which allowed iPhone users to opt out of data tracking by apps for the first time, were just the straw that broke the camel's back.
Your Super has sold its superfood-based powder blends, which can be mixed into smoothies, lattes, and other drinks, only through its own website and Amazon for the past four years. The brand quietly built up a devoted fan base through social-media marketing and reached $60 million in revenue last year, mostly from its direct-to-consumer site.
This spring, Your Super is reversing its playbook, entering Target, CVS, Sprouts, and The Vitamin Shoppe stores across the country. With the move, the brand is projecting profitability by the end of the year.
"For years, we were thinking, 'OK, when is the right time?' And with the iOS changes, we were finally like, 'OK, maybe this is the right time,'" Kristel de Groot, one of Your Super's cofounders, said. "Being an online brand, awareness is a tough funnel, and it's becoming more important and more broken."
Selling wholesale is a move de Groot and Michael Kuech, her cofounder, had contemplated in the past but thought wouldn't happen for years. Now, Your Super is just one of many DTC brands expanding into retail in a big way. The childrenswear brand Primary is entering 100 Buy Buy Baby stores, and the men's grooming line Hawthorne is going into nearly all of Target's locations.
The timing is no coincidence. The DTC market is becoming increasingly saturated with new brands. Apple's privacy updates have also made it much harder to track data and accurately target prospective customers with Facebook ads, which are skyrocketing in price. Brands that were once mostly or solely DTC are realizing that entering a retail store can boost brand awareness and help them tap into larger retailers' established customer bases.
"The competitive space online is becoming more difficult. The tracking is more difficult, and there's more competition to stand out," de Groot said.
The Your Super Gut Feeling mix.
VCs are favoring profits over the 'growth at all costs' model
De Groot said she'd also noticed a shift in investors' attitude in the past year. While years ago, venture capitalists fully supported the "growth at all costs" business model, investors are now more concerned about profitability.
"There's been a really big shift in focus with investors and even potential buyers," de Groot said. "Even last year, there were still expectations of just 'growth, growth, growth.' Now, I can just tell by the environment and by talking to new investors, there's a shift. They're looking way more at profitability."
De Groot sees retail partnerships as Your Super's best and fastest chance at becoming profitable this year. As online customer-acquisition costs continue to rise, visibility at retail stores is another way to raise awareness of a brand's direct channels.
"The power of them together is where the magic is at," de Groot said. "You increase brand awareness, and online ads might help in-store purchases."
To determine which retailers to partner with, Your Super surveyed its customer base, which primarily follows the brand on Facebook and Instagram.
A post shared by Your Super (@yoursuperfoods)
"The first step was looking at the current customer base and where they shop, and asking them where they want us," de Groot said.
The customers overwhelmingly chose Target. This month, Your Super's Super Greens and Moon Balance powders, which retail for $30 each, appeared on-shelf at 500 of Target's stores.
The brand will launch with its other partners later in the year. But for now, it's promoting the Target launch to its DTC customers on Facebook and Instagram.
"I don't think you need to be afraid to kind of take your existing customer on that journey with you, of like, 'Hey, we're growing. You're going to see us in Target,'" de Groot said. "You can find us here and be part of our success story."
More: DTC DTC brands Wellness | 2022-04-26T19:32:42Z | www.businessinsider.com | DTC Brand Your Super Pivots to Wholesale for Profitability Over Sales | https://www.businessinsider.com/dtc-wellness-brand-your-super-pivots-to-wholesale-eyeing-profits-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/dtc-wellness-brand-your-super-pivots-to-wholesale-eyeing-profits-2022-4 |
Trump being allowed back on Twitter after Elon Musk purchase is the 'litmus test' for the platform's future, ex-top advisor says
Jason Miller, CEO of GETTR, was a senior advisor to former President Donald Trump's re-election campaign.
Jason Miller, CEO of GETTR, wants Trump back on Twitter.
He warned that new ownership wasn't enough to change Twitter's culture.
Conservatives often complain Twitter silences their voices more often than liberal counterparts.
GETTR CEO Jason Miller is watching for one thing when it comes to whether Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk can change Twitter.
"The one litmus test when it comes to Twitter trying to get its reputation back is letting Trump back on the platform," Miller told Insider in an interview. "If they don't, that shows that none of their politically charged culture has really changed."
Top conservatives are cheering the purchase by Musk, who has signaled he'll prioritize "free speech" once he takes the social media giant private. Republicans often complain that they are more frequently blocked or suspended from Twitter than Democrats are, and accuse Twitter's employees of having an anti-conservative bias.
Twitter booted Trump after a mob of his supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
But Miller, who was a White House spokesman and advisor to Trump during his 2020 reelection campaign, predicted Twitter wouldn't allow the former president to get his handle back.
"I dont think Musk is going to pick this hill to die on," Miller said.
He also said he was was less certain than other Republicans that the Musk purchase alone could change Twitter's culture, even as he called Musk "the greatest innovator of our lifetime."
Musk would find it "easier to land a rocket on Mars than change the political nature of Twitter" because people in the company — from moderators to engineers — "use political discrimination to pick winners and losers in the free speech debate," Miller said.
Outside of his interview with Insider, Miller detailed his thoughts about the purchase in an opinion piece he published on the War Room, the website founded by former Trump advisor Steve Bannon. GETTR is considered to be a competitor to Twitter and has attracted conservatives worried about limits on speech.
Trump has not joined GETTR, which has 5 million users. He said Monday he didn't plan to re-join Twitter either, if asked, but would be joining his own struggling social media platform, called Truth Social.
Miller, who said he thinks Trump will run for president again in 2024, said that he thought Trump should reconsider.
"If he asked me," he said, "I would tell him to be on all platforms to reach a broad audience."
More: Elon Musk Twitter Donald Trump GETTR | 2022-04-26T19:32:43Z | www.businessinsider.com | GETTR CEO Jason Miller Wants Trump Back on Twitter | https://www.businessinsider.com/gettr-ceo-jason-miller-wants-trump-back-on-twitter-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/gettr-ceo-jason-miller-wants-trump-back-on-twitter-2022-4 |
How BeReal targeted fraternities and sororities to kickstart growth, and how much its college ambassadors earn
BeReal / Apple
BeReal has become the latest buzzy social-media app, and has been downloaded over a million times.
While many users seem to be discovering it organically, the company first targeted college students.
BeReal and its campus ambassadors used marketing tactics like sponsoring frat parties to help kickstart growth.
The new social-media app BeReal has seen a 315% increase in downloads this year, and a barrage of headlines testing out the platform and its more "authentic" experience that comes from giving users only a two-minute window every day to share a photo.
The hype is real, and many users are responding positively to the app. But BeReal's initial downloads have also been helped by guerilla marketing tactics that specifically target Greek life organizations at colleges across the US.
Three college ambassadors for BeReal, who all started in February, shared with Insider some of the tasks the company had asked them carry out (they're only paid if they're completed). The tasks ranged from traditional tabling, to handing out stickers or a slice of pizza for a download, to sponsoring frat parties that offered $5 to 8 for each new user sign-up (paid to the Greek-letter organization).
Some of these early-stage strategies, which borrow cues from the college approaches of companies like TikTok and Bumble, have likely helped kindle BeReal's massive growth over the last few months.
BeReal wants to be an anti-influencer platform, but it's looking for ambassadors with influence
"BeReal won't make you famous," reads a note in the company's PR package a BeReal rep sent to Insider. "If you want to become an influencer you can stay on TikTok and Instagram."
While BeReal touts itself as being more authentic and less showboaty than its predecessors, the company seems to be scouting young college reps with a lot of connections and leverage at their respective campuses.
"BeReal college ambassadors host parties, manage a marketing budget, identify key moments on campus for us to get involved, represent BeReal's mission and execute creative activations," the job description on the company website says.
While it doesn't specify working with Greek life, all three ambassadors said having a connection to these organizations was paramount.
"One of the main things they talked to me about was to get Greek life on campus to get involved with BeReal — in return for compensation for the organization," said Jake Leonard, a freshman and BeReal ambassador for the University of Massachusetts Amherst. "I'm in a fraternity ... that was my main help as an ambassador."
Tiffanie Johnson, an ambassador for Old Dominion University, told Insider that in her interview process she was asked how much of a "pull" she has on campus, specifically with various student organizations.
"My first task was to get contact information for every sorority and fraternity — I was compensated for that," Johnson said.
All the ambassadors said their first assignment was to collect emails and numbers for sorority and fraternity chairs so that a full-time BeReal employee could reach out. Johnson and Leonard said they were paid a few hundred dollars to complete this assignment.
BeReal sponsors frat parties and gives goodies in exchange for downloads
Ambassadors told Insider that BeReal, like many other startups, has turned to fairly traditional marketing devices, like tabling or offering students free goodies in exchange for downloading the app.
Simran Athavale, a freshman and BeReal ambassador at the University of Texas in Austin, said she was recently tasked with handing out slices of pizza and a can of Celsius energy drink for every download.
Athavale said she was paid $450 for doing six rounds of tabling, and the company offered bonuses in $100 or $300 amounts if an ambassador collected the most downloads in a month.
But the ambassadors who Insider spoke with said the most fruitful marketing seemed to happen with Greek life events.
"We try to set up partnerships with sororities and fraternities," Athavale said. So far, she's mostly seen interest from fraternities."For every download from a fraternity brother, we donate $5 to the fraternity, and sometimes we'll donate to their philanthropy."
"We also sponsor fraternity parties," she added. "In order to pick up your wrist band for a party, you need to have the app downloaded." She would then take down a list of usernames that she handed over to her boss at the end of her shift, so they could verify how many new users continued to post, and how many immediately deleted the app.
Leonard has also helped with sponsoring different fraternity chapters at his school in exchange for downloads. For a concert hosted by a fraternity at UMass, he said BeReal offered free and reduced tickets if students downloaded and used the app.
He said the rate offered at his school was about $6 to $8 per download. The highest amount of people he'd helped sign up for an event was about 50 active members, which amounted to $300 to $400 paid to the fraternity.
A BeReal spokesperson declined to comment on these figures, and on the company's overall college-marketing strategies, including the number of initial downloads that had come from them. But the spokesperson confirmed that initial growth was largely because of targeting this demographic.
"Its growth began amongst college students, and is now multi-generational," the spokesperson said in a statement. "We're seeing families using BeReal together."
While these tactics have helped to immediately bring BeReal to young people who can make it trend, the ambassadors said they'd seen a lot more people download the app from word-of-mouth buzz.
"I don't think I have any friends who don't post on it at least every other day," Leonard said.
More: BeReal college ambassadors TikTok Bumble | 2022-04-26T19:33:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | How Social Media App BeReal Used Campus Ambassadors to Grow | https://www.businessinsider.com/new-social-media-app-bereal-used-campus-ambassadors-to-grow-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/new-social-media-app-bereal-used-campus-ambassadors-to-grow-2022-4 |
How VC Brianne Kimmel hustled to get deals in hot startups like Pipe and Hopin, getting a 7x return for her fund in less than 3 years
Brianne Kimmel, founder and managing partner of Worklife Ventures.
Worklife Ventures
Brianne Kimmel's VC firm, Worklife Ventures, has generated 7x returns from its first fund.
Kimmel has gotten into hot startups by opening her network to founders even before writing a check.
Worklife has backed unicorns such as Pipe, Hopin, Deel, and Public.
In just three years, solo venture capitalist Brianne Kimmel has landed deals in hot startups like Pipe, Deel and Public, which Kimmel says has helped generate sevenfold returns for her firm, Worklife Ventures.
Like many startup investors, Kimmel touts her ability to provide resources beyond sheer cash to founders — only she's willing to roll up her sleeves even before she writes a check. That was the case when Kimmel started hearing buzz about a new startup called Pipe not long after launching her firm in 2019.
The startup was poised to "disrupt venture capital," she'd heard, by providing an alternative method of financing for software-as-a-service companies. Kimmel was intrigued.
She asked around her circle of friends and colleagues until she got ahold of the phone number of Pipe's cofounder and CEO, Harry Hurst.
But Hurst wasn't interested in chatting. He'd already secured more funding than he initially sought and didn't need any more. Kimmel was undeterred, calling and emailing Hurst several more times, offering connections to potential hires and customers.
Finally, Hurst agreed to meet with her over drinks at the Soho House in Los Angeles, where Kimmel had flown to celebrate her birthday. A few hours later, she became an investor in Pipe's seed round.
"I ended up wiring the money from the parking lot," she said.
It's that hustle that's allowed Kimmel to win the trust of founders such as Hurst and Johnny Boufarhat, the CEO and founder of virtual event platform startup Hopin, another one of Worklife's portfolio companies.
Those investments, along with stakes in other unicorns such as Webflow, Public, and Deel, have created outsized returns for Worklife's first $10 million fund as those companies have raised additional funding at higher valuations, Kimmel told Insider. She has recently raised a new $35 million fund from her original backers and plans to raise an additional fund later this year.
'Finding ways to be helpful'
Kimmel first became interested in startup investing while working in growth marketing at Zendesk. There, she saw several of her colleagues take up angel investing and build nest eggs for themselves. She thought she'd try her hand at it, too and dipped into her personal savings to make her first investments.
One company that caught Kimmel's eye was a startup called Webflow, which runs a platform for building design-forward websites without needing to code. She wasn't sure if the company was raising money, but she wanted to get to know the founders.
So she sent them an email and invited them to a workshop she was running on growing SaaS businesses. Later on, she invited them to a dinner she hosted for founders working on no-code startups.
Webflow ended up becoming Kimmel's first angel investment.
"As someone that was new, that didn't have a track record and didn't have a lot of money, my solution to making these investments in really competitive companies was finding ways to be helpful," she said.
In September 2019, Kimmel launched Worklife Ventures, which invests in companies addressing the future of work. But her approach to connecting with founders hasn't changed all that much from her angel investing days.
When Kimmel sought to invest in Hopin, for instance, she contacted everyone she knew that had run an event on Hopin and asked if they could connect her with Boufarhat, the company's CEO. The two eventually had a seven-minute phone call, followed by a series of conversations on WhatsApp. She connected him with several of the company's eventual hires, including Sarah Manning, Hopin's vice president of people.
"Her network is phenomenal," Boufarhat wrote in an email. He told Insider he also appreciated her willingness to offer support in other ways, such as flying cross-country for one of the company's happy hours: "She goes the extra mile," he said.
The future of Worklife
By proactively building relationships with founders, Kimmel has gained access to early funding rounds of companies that now command steep valuations. Pipe, for instance, was valued at just $13 million when Worklife participated in its seed round, she told Insider. After the company raised $250 million last year, its valuation soared to $2 billion.
It's also gained her a strong following in the tech community. When Kimmel raised her first fund, she decided to seek money primarily from the individual CEOs, founders, and tech executives she had met over the years, along with venture-capital-focused funds, rather than larger institutional investors. Worklife's backers include tech founders such as Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield and Zoom CEO Eric Yuan.
With the new $35 million fund, Kimmel is seeking to lead seed rounds, writing checks up to $2 million.
Kimmel told Insider she's especially interested in tools for small businesses, which she expects to benefit from trends such as the Great Resignation and remote work. The search for meaningful work will likely lead more people to start their own businesses, she said, and with more people working from home, they have greater occasion to visit neighborhood shops.
"I believe we are going to reconnect locally," she said. "So I'm looking at restaurant tech, small-business tech, things more human in nature."
More: Venture Capital Startups Pipe | 2022-04-26T20:11:51Z | www.businessinsider.com | How Solo VC Brianne Kimmel Wins Deals in Hot Startups | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-vc-brianne-kimmel-worklife-wins-deals-startups-pipe-hopin-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-vc-brianne-kimmel-worklife-wins-deals-startups-pipe-hopin-2022-4 |
Make sure your iPhone isn't muted
Turn off any Focus modes
Adjust the volume in the app
Disable any Bluetooth devices
Make sure your speakers aren't blocked
Check the sound settings
7 ways to troubleshoot when there's no sound on your iPhone
Several issues and features could be preventing your iPhone from producing sound.
If there's no sound on your iPhone, there are a number of possible causes.
Make sure your phone's ringer switch isn't set to silent, and turn off any Focus modes in the Control Center.
You can also make sure audio isn't being routed to a nearby Bluetooth device.
Can't hear anything on your iPhone? It's a more common problem than you might expect, because there are so many things that can go awry, preventing your audio from working properly. Here are seven of the most common ways to resolve no sound on your iPhone.
This might seem obvious to some, but it's easily overlooked if you're perplexed why there's no sound coming out of your iPhone — make sure the Ring/Silent switch, commonly known as the Mute button — isn't set to Silent. If the switch is in the downward position and you can see red, it's muted.
Make sure the Ring/Silent switch is flipped to the up position.
Apple's latest iteration of Do Not Disturb includes a sometimes confusing array of so-called Focus modes which can minimize distractions when you're trying to get work done. But it can also sometimes be confusing and prevent sound from playing when you expect it to. Open the Control Center (on most iPhones, swipe down from the top right) and check the Focus icon. If it says anything other than Focus, tap the icon to turn it off.
If the Focus button simply says Focus, there are no Do Not Disturb modes enabled.
It's possible the sound is dialed too far down to hear, so start the app you are trying to use and then use the Volume buttons on the side of the phone to ensure it's turned up.
It's possible that your iPhone is still securely connected to a Bluetooth audio device like a Bluetooth speaker or earbuds that are too far away to hear. The easiest way to ensure that's not the case is to simply disable Bluetooth entirely, at least temporarily. Open the Control Center (on most iPhones, swipe down from the top right) and tap the Bluetooth icon to turn off the Bluetooth radio. That will release any Bluetooth devices and force the iPhone to use its own built-in speaker.
Turn off all Bluetooth devices at once by disabling Bluetooth in Settings.
It's possible that some sort of physical obstruction could be muting the sound enough that you can't hear it. If your phone has any sort of case or screen protector, remove it — especially if it might be covering the phone's speakers. Then inspect the speaker to see if they are possibly blocked or muted by dirt or debris. If so, carefully clean the speakers.
It's possible that there's some sort of software glitch preventing your iPhone from playing audio properly. The easiest way to resolve any remaining issues is to restart your iPhone — in other words, to turn your phone off and then back on again. In many cases, your phone will work properly when it's restarted.
If your iPhone still isn't playing any sound even after the previous troubleshooting steps and restarting the phone, check your sound settings.
2. Tap Sounds & Haptics.
3. In the Ringer & Alerts section, drag the slider to the left and right. You should hear some sound.
Test your phone’s sounds by sliding the Ringer and Alerts slider.
If you don't hear anything, it is likely there's a serious problem with your phone's hardware. Contact Apple's customer support for service.
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More: iPhone Sound Troubleshooting Smartphones | 2022-04-26T21:03:13Z | www.businessinsider.com | 7 Ways to Troubleshoot When There's No Sound on Your iPhone | https://www.businessinsider.com/no-sound-on-iphone | https://www.businessinsider.com/no-sound-on-iphone |
Twitter chairman Bret Taylor upset by leaked information around Elon Musk takeover, says it shows "disrespect" for a "sensitive process"
Bret Taylor, Salesforce co-CEO and Twitter chairman.
Twitter executives held an all-hands meeting with employees to discuss Elon Musk's impending takeover.
During the call, board chairman Bret Taylor criticized leaks to the press during negotiations.
He also apologized to employees for being put in such a "disruptive" situation.
Twitter's board chairman is not happy that information about Elon Musk's proposal to take over the social platform has leaked to the press and the public over the last two weeks.
During an all-hands meeting on Monday to discuss with employees Twitter's acceptance of Musk's $44 billion takeover bid, recordings of which Insider reviewed, chairman Bret Taylor expressed frustration that workers were being informed of board decisions and deliberations via the press.
"The most important thing in this process is maintaining confidentiality," Taylor said, prompted by an employee questioning the lack of communication and transparency with Twitter's workers around Musk's initial investment that quickly turned into a hostile takeover.
A current employee told Insider workers have been "speaking to a wall" in recent weeks, and that what little they did know about the future of the company they worked for came from press reports, echoing sentiments other employees shared earlier with Insider. Employees also peppered Taylor and CEO Parag Agrawal with questions about their stock and Donald Trump being allowed back on the platform. One asked about how the company would deal with an impending "employee exodus," also reported by Insider.
As for why employees had been told so little, Taylor said being more transparent with them, and risking leaks, "would not do justice to the process" of attempting to work out a deal with Musk that "achieved the right outcome for our shareholders."
The value of Musk's $54.20 per share offer for Twitter that the board accepted on Monday is the same price he initially offered two weeks ago. It appears nothing about the offer materially changed over what Agrawal said during the call had been "sleepless nights" of work since Musk formally made the offer April 14.
During the call, Taylor went on to express some frustration and criticize information that has leaked about the offer and Twitter's deliberations, saying information being kept private "is one of the assets we have" in negotiations.
"I can't speak to why people leak, but they do," Taylor said. "There are a lot of people and advisors involved in this process."
He went on to say he sympathized with the unenviable position Twitter workers were put in by having to read about the fate of their company in the press.
"I can't imagine how disruptive this was for all of you, but I want to apologize for that," Taylor said. "We all care about this company, and to read those leaks in the press, in my mind it represents a disrespect for an extremely sensitive process."
Yet, Taylor admitted that with so many people involved, such a situation is "inevitable."
"As much as I find it distasteful, it is fairly common."
Taylor also said during the call that the board he currently leads at Twitter "will not exist" after the deal with Musk closes, which it is expected to do later this year, and "there will be a new structure in this place."
Are you a Twitter, Facebook, or Snap employee with insight to share? Got a tip? Contact Kali Hays at khays@insider.com or through secure messaging app Signal at 949-280-0267. Reach out using a non-work device. Twitter DM at @hayskali. Check out Insider's source guide for other suggestions on how to share information securely. | 2022-04-26T21:03:14Z | www.businessinsider.com | Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor Frustrated by Leaks Around Elon Musk Deal | https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-chairman-bret-taylor-frustrated-by-leaks-around-elon-musk-deal-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-chairman-bret-taylor-frustrated-by-leaks-around-elon-musk-deal-2022-4 |
This new Berkshire Flyer route will operate throughout the summer of 2022 and 2023. The passenger train will run a Friday afternoon departure from New York City and a Sunday afternoon return trip from Pittsfield. Along the way, the train will stop in several cities like Albany, New York, one of the busiest Amtrak stations in the state, according to the company.
"This critical link will boost our regional economy through tourism and by allowing us to base more remote workers in the Berkshires," Massachusetts Sen. Adam Hinds said in a press release.
This new announcement comes months after Amtrak received $66 billion from the bipartisan $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure bill. This funding will support Amtrak's existing lines and stations, update its trains, and expand its services into new cities and routes, like the Berkshire Flyer.
More: Amtrak Train Travel New York City | 2022-04-26T21:41:57Z | www.businessinsider.com | Amtrak Will Begin a Seasonal Route From New York to the Berkshires | https://www.businessinsider.com/amtrak-will-begin-a-seasonal-route-from-new-york-to-the-berkshires-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/amtrak-will-begin-a-seasonal-route-from-new-york-to-the-berkshires-2022-4 |
Ford is already planning an electric pickup truck to follow the F-150 Lightning — and it will be key to CEO Jim Farley's plan to overtake Tesla
Nora Naughton and Alexa St. John
"We plan to challenge Tesla and all comers to become the top EV maker in the world," CEO Jim Farley said as the company launched the F-150 Lightning.
Ford wants to leapfrog Tesla as the top seller of EVs.
A second electric pickup truck will be built in Kentucky, CEO Farley said.
The Lightning is an early entry in what is expected to be a competitive electric truck market.
Less than 24 hours after launching production of the F-150 Lightning, Ford CEO Jim Farley revealed that his automaker is already planning a second fully electric pickup truck as part of its grand plan to surpass Tesla as the country's top EV maker.
Speaking at the F-150 Lightning production launch Tuesday, Farley shared scant details, saying only that Ford would build the pickup at its new EV campus in Tennessee, and that it would not be an F-150. Ford already makes a full suite of pickup trucks, ranging from the heavy-duty F-Series trucks and rugged Raptor variants to the smaller Rangers and Mavericks.
The second pickup, along with a fleet of new EVs coming down the pipeline, is part of Farley's plan to make Ford the world's top seller of electric vehicles, taking the crown long-held by Elon Musk's Tesla.
"We plan to challenge Tesla and all comers to become the top EV maker in the world," Farley said. "That's something that no one would have believed just two years ago from us."
Ford, which recently siloed off its EV division as part of a $50 billion plan to electrify its fleet, has already seen high demand for the Lightning. The company had to close reservations after hitting 200,000 at the end of last year. Farley told reporters Tuesday that Lightning reservations may not open again until the end of this year.
Farley, who took the top job at Ford in October 2020, has gambled Ford's two biggest icons on electric vehicles, with the Mustang Mach E before the F-150 Lightning. He has said this is part of a plan to play to Ford's strengths and find a quicker way to become a leader in the new electric vehicle market.
The F-150 has been the top-selling pickup truck in America for the last 45 years running, and Ford is hoping to leverage that success and brand loyalty on its electric version. Farley counts the truck's large number of reservations as an indicator that the Lightning will live up to the popularity of its gas-powered predecessors.
While Ford is among the first to enter the electric truck market – after Rivian's R1T truck – the segment is expected to get very crowded in the coming years. The Lightning will eventually compete with two electric trucks from crosstown rival General Motors – a Hummer EV and an electric Chevrolet Silverado.
Tesla also now plans to start Cybertruck production in 2023, two years later than the electric-car company originally planned.
Ford is positioning the Lightning in that cadre of EVs as the affordable electric truck, starting the price at $39,974.
More: Ford F-150 Lightning Electric Vehicles | 2022-04-26T21:42:03Z | www.businessinsider.com | Ford Is Already Working on Another Electric Pickup Truck | https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-is-already-working-on-another-electric-pickup-truck-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-is-already-working-on-another-electric-pickup-truck-2022-4 |
Vlad Tenev, CEO and co-founder, Robinhood.
Stock-trading app Robinhood plans to lay off 9% of its workforce, CEO and co-founder Vlad Tenev said in a blog post Tuesday.
The company hired ferociously as it boomed in popularity during the pandemic. But that expansion was too quick, leading to overlapping job functions and other issues, Tenev said.
"This rapid headcount growth has led to some duplicate roles and job functions, and more layers and complexity than are optimal. After carefully considering all these factors, we determined that making these reductions to Robinhood's staff is the right decision to improve efficiency, increase our velocity, and ensure that we are responsive to the changing needs of our customers," Tenev said.
Between 2020 and 2021, Robinhood grew its staff from 700 to around 3,800, Tenev said. The layoffs mean Robinhood is cutting loose more than 300 workers.
Shares of Robinhood plunged by more than 5% to a record low below $10 per share in late trading on Tuesday before rebounding slightly. Shares are down more than 70% from their debut prices.
Robinhood grew at breakneck speed over the last two years thanks to massive trading interest as the pandemic kept people at home and government stimulus checks gave them some extra cash. But it has since lost momentum.
Monthly active users dropped from 18.9 million in the third quarter of 2021 to 17.3 million by the fourth quarter. In January, it projected that its first-quarter revenue will be 35% less than the same period last year.
Are you an employee of Robinhood? Get in touch with this reporter via email or via Signal at 1-347-829-5826 using a non-work device.
More: Robinhood app Tech Markets Stock Trading | 2022-04-26T21:42:33Z | www.businessinsider.com | Robinhood Cuts Hundreds of Jobs As Pandemic Trading Wave Wanes | https://www.businessinsider.com/robinhood-layoffs-jobs-as-pandemic-popularity-wanes-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/robinhood-layoffs-jobs-as-pandemic-popularity-wanes-2022-4 |
Canopy Growth is slashing about 250 jobs in the latest cost-cutting move for the cannabis giant
A worker shakes cocoa nibs into a machine during a tour at a Canopy Growth facility.
Canadian cannabis giant Canopy Growth is cutting 250 jobs effective immediately.
The cuts come as the company struggles with losing market share in Canada's cannabis market.
Canopy Growth's stock has slipped over 43% this year.
Canadian cannabis giant Canopy Growth is slashing 250 jobs, effective immediately, Insider has learned.
A company spokesperson confirmed the job cuts over email and said that the cuts weren't centered in a specific department but rather across the organization. In a Tuesday afternoon statement, Canopy said it would embark on cost-cutting initiatives in an effort to save CA$100 - $150 million over the next year to year-and-a-half.
Beyond the layoffs, the cost-cutting measures include a plan to reduce manufacturing costs, as well as costs associated with offices and third-party service providers, among other measures. The company said it anticipates non-cash charges of CA$250-$300 million as a result of the changes.
"These necessary changes are being implemented to ensure the size and scale of our operations reflect current market realities and will support the long-term sustainability of our company," Canopy Growth CEO David Klein said in the statement.
Klein, who took over Canopy's top job in January of 2020, has presided over months of cost-cutting initiatives while the company has struggled to turn a profit. Canopy has already slashed 200 jobs from its corporate office and closed two large cultivation facilities in Canada resulting in a loss of over 500 jobs.
Canopy Growth's stock has suffered this year as the company has lost market share in Canada's increasingly competitive cannabis market — Nasdaq-listed shares of the company are down 43% this year.
Canopy isn't alone in its struggles, however. Competitor Tilray's stock is down over 31% this year, and an exchange-traded fund that tracks a basket of cannabis stocks is down just under 30% as investors and consumers alike have become impatient over supply-demand imbalances and the delayed rollout of legalization in US states.
More: Cannabis Marijuana Canopy Growth | 2022-04-26T22:34:08Z | www.businessinsider.com | Cannabis Giant Canopy Growth Is Slashing 250 Jobs, Other Cost Cuts | https://www.businessinsider.com/cannabis-giant-canopy-growth-is-slashing-250-jobs-other-cost-cuts-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/cannabis-giant-canopy-growth-is-slashing-250-jobs-other-cost-cuts-2022-4 |
How I'm stacking Amex Platinum benefits to book a $1,600+ weekend in Italy for free
Caruso isn't part of a hotel loyalty program — but you can still book it with points.
The Platinum Card® from American Express comes with several benefits to make your hotel stays cheaper and more luxurious.
You can use Amex Membership Rewards points in a variety of ways to further discount your hotel stays.
I plan to stack credit card benefits to reserve a $1,600+ weekend in Italy for free.
I'm about to burn a ton of Amex points in a very irresponsible way.
Caruso Hotel is a bewitching five-star property located along Italy's Amalfi Coast. It's a Belmond hotel, which doesn't offer a loyalty program. It's therefore impossible to book award nights.
That's unfortunate, because the nightly rates are the stuff of nightmares. The hotel is not intended for travelers of my middle-class ilk. But I'm going there, anyway, thanks to The Platinum Card® from American Express. By stacking three card benefits, I'll book a weekend at this hotel for effectively zero dollars.
The method I'm using is frowned upon in the award travel community, but it's worth it to mark off a bucket list item I've failed for years to achieve.
How to use the Amex Platinum's perks and points to get a free luxury hotel stay
The Amex Platinum charges a $695 annual fee (See Rates). That's a big investment, but well worth it if you'll use the card's ongoing benefits, such as:
Up to $200 in airline fee credits each calendar year
Up to $200 in credits per year toward prepaid hotel bookings through Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts or The Hotel Collection (with a two-night minimum)
Up to $240 in annual credits (up to $20 per month) toward eligible digital subscriptions with Hulu, Audible, Peacock, SiriusXM, and The New York Times**
Up to $200 in Uber Cash each calendar year**
But two extra-special card benefits will help me to stay at Caruso on the cheap:
The Amex Platinum comes with up to $200 in statement credits annually for booking prepaid hotels through the Amex Travel Portal.
The card also grants you access to Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts, a collection of luxury properties around the world, while offering you potentially hundreds of dollars in value (for things like free breakfast, resort credits, room upgrades, etc.).
These perks, along with Amex points, allow cardholders the ability to book super Instagrammable hotels for cheap — or even free. Here's how I'll do just that.
Combine the Amex Platinum's $200 hotel credit with Fine Hotels and Resorts and Membership Rewards points for free stays
I'm looking for the cheapest rates Caruso Hotel has to offer.
The first thing I do is find the town where the hotel is located: Ravello, Italy. I then search that town on Google Hotels, find Caruso Hotel, and search the entire year for the cheapest prices. October displays plenty of sub-$800 nightly rates.
I then note these dates and head to the American Express Travel Portal. The hotel participates in Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts (one of the absolute best features of the Amex Platinum), meaning you'll get elite-status-esque benefits like:
Free breakfast (I believe this hotel already offers that, though)
A room upgrade (when available)
Guaranteed 4 p.m. late checkout
Noon check-in (when available)
Fine Hotels and Resorts also offers a $100 food and beverage credit to use on the property. Because I'll be eating at the hotel, this is as good as cash to me.
Booking in late October, I see that prices are $728 before taxes. I'm not trying to pay anywhere near that for a hotel night.
As long as I book a prepaid rate, my Amex Platinum's annual $200 hotel credit will trigger. When clicking through to book the room, I'll select "Pay Now."
My wife and I both have an Amex Platinum, so we each have a $200 credit to burn. We'll both book one night with our card, thereby receiving a total of $400 in hotel credits — plus, we'll both receive a $100 food and beverage credit, giving us another $200 in value. That's an effective $600 discount for this two-night stay.
At the payment screen, the final cost is $811.99 per night. I'll now use Amex points to further offset my bill. Amex points are worth 1 cent each when used to book Fine Hotels and Resorts through Amex.
Because I'm getting a value of $300 per night between hotel credits and food, I'll split my payment as follows for each night:
51,199 Amex points
After checkout, I'll get an automatic $200 statement credit. That leaves me with $100 per night out-of-pocket. I don't mind paying this, as I'll recoup that money from the $100 on-site food and beverage credit.
This is not the best use of Amex points
By stacking these benefits with Amex points, I'll get a luxury $1,624 weekend stay for $0 and 102,398 Amex points.
I'll be the first to admit that this isn't the optimum use of Amex points. After all, Insider estimates that Amex Membership Rewards are worth 1.8 cents each, on average. You can get exponentially more value by using them for fancy lie-flat business class seats that sell for thousands of dollars. You can transfer them to hotel loyalty programs like Hilton for free hotel stays at 6,000+ properties around the world. Considering the amazing value you can get from your points by transferring them to airlines and hotels, redeeming them through Amex Travel for 1 cent each is actually ... a bad deal.
However — my wife and I have enough points between us that we'll not run out in the foreseeable future. And using points for a hotel we've been wanting to visit for years will make us happier than worrying too much about getting "maximum value" from our rewards.
Besides, Amex points are easy to earn if I find myself running low two or three years from now.
Don't constantly stress over the "best use" of your credit card rewards. Use them in a way that fulfills you the most.
I could be using my Amex points for $15,000+ first-class flights to Japan or overwater villas at Hilton hotels in the Maldives. But I want to visit a particular expensive hotel in Italy, and I don't want to pay for it. I've got enough Amex points that I don't mind redeeming them at an inferior value to tick this bucket list item off my list. And I refuse to feel bad about it.
More: Personal Finance Insider Credit Cards Credit card essay American Express | 2022-04-27T00:04:17Z | www.businessinsider.com | Stacking Amex Platinum Benefits to Book a $1,600+ Weekend in Italy for Free | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/stack-amex-platinum-benefits-book-weekend-italy-free-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/stack-amex-platinum-benefits-book-weekend-italy-free-2022-4 |
A Metro Police detective testified that officers blocked out the "traumatic" events of the Capitol riot.
The testimony came in the trial of a retired New York cop charged with assaulting an MPD officer on January 6, 2021.
The accused ex-cop claims he assaulted the Metro police officer in self-defense.
In the immediate aftermath of January 6, 2021, investigators observed a phenomenon: police officers who responded to the day's violence at the Capitol could not always remember the assaults they suffered at the hands of a pro-Trump mob.
But as he reviewed hours of body-worn camera footage, Metropolitan Police Detective Jonathan Lauderdale could see everything — the shouts, the shoves, the punches, the profanity.
"Reviewing that over and over again was traumatic," Lauderdale said Tuesday, recalling the "complete chaos" of January 6, 2021, at the latest jury trial connected to the Capitol siege.
"The amount of body-worn camera footage I reviewed ... If I could forget that, I would," he added.
Lauderdale took the stand on the first day of testimony in the trial of Thomas Webster, a retired New York City police officer and former Marine charged with attacking a Washington, DC, police officer on January 6, 2021.
The testimony underscored how video footage — recorded by police and, in some cases, accused Capitol rioters themselves — has played a critical role in the nearly 800 prosecutions stemming from the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Webster argued that he acted in self-defense after being struck in the face by Metropolitan Police Officer Noah Rathbun, whom Webster is accused of hitting with a flag pole — bearing the Marine Corps flag — and later tackling to the ground and choking.
A former Marine himself, Lauderdale testified Tuesday that he was not surprised that Rathbun could not initially remember his violent encounter with Webster outside the Capitol. Rathbun's body-worn camera captured the moment on January 6, 2021, when Webster began shouting at him from across a bike fence, then slammed his flag pole against the metal barrier before charging at Rathbun.
Lauderdale on Tuesday testified that he reviewed the officer's body-worn camera footage after Rathbun reported an injury suffered during an apparently related incident inside the Capitol rotunda on January 6. Asked whether he was surprised that Rathbun did not initially recall his encounter with Webster, Lauderdale said: "No, it didn't seem strange."
"It didn't seem strange at all. It was understandable," Lauderdale testified. Referring to officers who guarded the Capitol on January 6, he said, "Either they blocked it out or had no recollection" of violence they experienced.
With Lauderdale's testimony, federal prosecutors sought to head off Webster's argument that he acted in self-defense after being struck in the head by Rathbun. On Wednesday, Rathbun is expected to take the stand, and Webster's defense lawyer is planning to display video footage showing Webster push the metal fencing into the police officer before being struck in the face.
—Ryan Barber (@cryanbarber) April 26, 2022
Prosecutors acknowledged Tuesday that Rathbun at one point struck Webster with an open hand, but in his testimony Tuesday, Lauderdale said the officer was "trying to create distance" after Webster pushed the bike rack into him.
Lauderdale said the camera footage showed Webster calling Rathbun a "piece of shit" before pushing the bike rack into him and slamming his flag pole multiple times into the metal barrier.
"He was clearly aggressive," Lauderdale said, adding that he was impressed that Rathbun opted to show restraint by disarming Webster — taking away his flag pole — rather than using pepper spray or his baton.
Webster then breaches the metal barrier and "bullrushes" him with his fists raised, Lauderdale said, narrating the body-worn camera footage for the jurors.
Once on the ground, Webster tried to forcibly remove his helmet and facemask, prosecutors said. In an FBI interview, Rathbun said he was unable to breathe during the assault because Webster was choking him with his helmet's chin strap.
Lauderdale on Tuesday testified that Webster was "actively choking" the Metro police officer.
"He was being choked out," the detective testified.
In an interview with the FBI, Webster characterized him grabbing of the police officer's helmet and face mask as "a hockey type of move type thing where you don't want to fight somebody." Webster's defense lawyer James Monroe advanced the self-defense argument in his questioning of Lauderdale, suggesting that Rathbun had made "hand gestures to invite Mr. Webster to fight with him."
When the defense lawyer raised how Rathbun had not reported his altercation with Webster, Lauderdale reiterated that he did not find the oversight unusual.
"A lot of people forgot stuff due to the chaos there," Lauderdale said. | 2022-04-27T01:35:10Z | www.businessinsider.com | Police 'Blocked Out' Trauma of Jan. 6 Attack, MPD Detective Testified | https://www.businessinsider.com/traumatic-january-6-capitol-attack-trial-police-violence-self-defense-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/traumatic-january-6-capitol-attack-trial-police-violence-self-defense-2022-4 |
The House Minority Leader is embroiled in controversy for leaked audio revealing he privately criticized former President Trump following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol while publicly supporting him, then lied about it.
In April polling by Politico, McCarthy's overall approval rating was 22% nationwide. 40% of registered voters had an unfavorable opinion, while 38% said they either had no strong feelings or hadn't heard of the representative.
It's so far unclear what, if any, impact McCarthy's recorded comments about Donald Trump and Rep. Matt Gaetz will have on local voters. Trump has signaled he is "on very good terms" with McCarthy since finding out about the recorded call, alluding to McCarthy's strong public support in the days since.
More: News Politics Kevin McCarthy Congress | 2022-04-27T03:48:48Z | www.businessinsider.com | Bakersfield Voters Are Polarized on Kevin McCarthy Amid Controversy | https://www.businessinsider.com/bakersfield-voters-are-polarized-on-kevin-mccarthy-amid-controversy-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bakersfield-voters-are-polarized-on-kevin-mccarthy-amid-controversy-2022-4 |
Biden has signaled that he may be open to forgiving some federal student loan debt
The Biden administration recently extended a pause on student loan repayments until August 31.
President Joe Biden has hinted that he might be open to forgiving some student loan debt.
Congressional Hispanic Caucus members said he responded positively to the idea of writing off at least $10,00 in debt.
However, Biden did not commit to an amount nor did he give a timeframe for when it would happen.
President Joe Biden hinted this week that he is open to forgiving some student loan debt.
According to multiple media outlets, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who met with Biden on Monday said he appeared open to the idea of writing off some student loans.
CBS reported that California Rep. Tony Cárdenas, who attended the 90-minute meeting, had told Biden that the former's caucus would support moves to forgive $10,000 in college debt if the House failed to pass legislation on the issue.
Cardenas told the outlet that, in response, Biden "smiled and said, 'You're going to like what I do on that, I'm looking to do something on that, and I think you're going to like what I do.'"
"The president never mentioned an amount, nor did the president say that he was going to wipe out all student debt," noted Cardenas, per CBS.
He added that CHC members had advised Biden that students from both private and public schools should benefit from any debt write-offs, to which he said the president replied: "'Okay, good to know.'"
California Rep. Nanette Barragán, who was also at the meeting, told CNN that Biden had spoken with Democratic lawmakers about student debt cancellation but had not revealed a timeframe, nor did he make a solid commitment to forgiving these debts.
According to The Wall Street Journal, around $1.6 trillion in federal student debt is currently owed by about 40 million people.
"As far as the president going out and talking about student loan cancellation with different groups, I do think that's a very good sign," Cody Hounanian, executive director of the Student Debt Crisis Center, told CBS.
"I think the president is starting to recognize that student debt cancellation is very popular," Hounanian added, per the outlet. "It's very popular with specific groups of voters that the president needs to win for this upcoming election, and the fact that he's using debt cancellation as a tool from which to talk to these communities, to me that's a little bit of a change."
The Biden administration most recently extended a pause on student loan payments until August 31. However, progressive lawmakers have pushed the president to prioritize canceling student debt ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
A recent Harvard poll also found that most young Americans heading into the midterm polls would like Biden to make a move on student debt, with 85% of 18-to-29-year-olds surveyed saying that they would like him to cancel some student debt.
In recent weeks, Democratic lawmakers like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have also signaled that Biden might be open to putting student debt cancellation on the table.
However, during a press briefing earlier this month, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that student-loan borrowers would likely need to pay off their debts "at some time" during the Biden administration.
More: student loan Student Loan Debt student loan debt deferral Joe Biden | 2022-04-27T06:50:57Z | www.businessinsider.com | Biden Signals That He Might Forgive Some Student Loan Debt | https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-signals-that-he-might-forgive-some-student-loan-debt-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-signals-that-he-might-forgive-some-student-loan-debt-2022-4 |
Some prominent Twitter accounts have lost hundreds of thousands of followers after news broke of Elon Musk's buyout.
The makeup of Twitter's userbase has shifted since Elon Musk struck a deal to buy the platform.
Left-leaning accounts are losing thousands of followers, while right-wing users are gaining more.
Twitter said the "organic" fluctuations were likely due to a wave of account creations and deactivations.
A day after Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter was announced, some of the social network's most popular accounts lost hundreds of thousands of followers overnight, while others received an unusual surge in followers.
The platform said it saw an exodus of users on Tuesday, coupled with a wave of newly created accounts following the news of Musk's acquisition.
"While we continue to take action on accounts that violate our spam policy which can affect follower counts, these fluctuations appear to largely be a result of an increase in new account creation and deactivation," Twitter said in a statement, according to NBC.
Twitter called the fluctuations "organic," per the outlet.
Politically left-leaning accounts appear to have borne the brunt of the shift. According to statistics from SocialBlade, among the most prominent users who lost followers was President Joe Biden, who saw a decline of 5,610 followers on Tuesday compared with his consistent daily average gain of 15,551.
Meanwhile, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who usually sees an average gain of 463 followers per day, lost nearly 37,000 followers over the last two days. And Ron Filipkowski, a defense attorney known for monitoring the right-wing activity, regularly clocks an average of 977 followers a day but lost 1,591 on Tuesday.
Former President Barack Obama's Twitter account, the most followed account on the site, also lost more than 300,000 followers since the buyout announcement, NBC reported.
Some celebrities' accounts also took a pounding: For instance, pop star Katy Perry's follower count dropped by 200,000 since the Monday announcement, per NBC.
Conversely, many accounts that saw a leap in followers belonged to right-wing politicians or pundits. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz's personal account gets a daily average of 1,165 new followers but enjoyed a bump of 24,929 extra followers on Tuesday, per SocialBlade statistics.
On the same day, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida received 141,566 new followers compared with his usual daily average of 5,406. In addition, the account of right-wing pro-Trump broadcast news channel One America News Network also gained 13,568 followers on Tuesday, compared to 522 on average per day.
The swing in followers mirrors the elation that many Republicans have expressed over a perceived relaxation of Twitter's regulation of posts following Musk's buyout and the concerns of Democrats who worry that the billionaire will allow misinformation to run rampant on the platform.
Musk, who secured the social network for $44 billion, cited the importance of free speech in a statement about the purchase, calling it the "bedrock of democracy."
"I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it," Musk said.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
More: insider news Elon Musk Markets Twitter | 2022-04-27T07:38:39Z | www.businessinsider.com | Twitter Says Users Are Leaving After Elon Musk Bought Platform | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-users-leaving-deal-to-buy-platform-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-users-leaving-deal-to-buy-platform-2022-4 |
Check out the 12-slide pitch deck LottieLab, a startup banking on the death of GIFs, used to raise $4 million in fresh funds.
LottieLab cofounders Andrew Ologunebi and Alistair Thomson.
LottieLab
LottieLab is building software for the lottie file type, which it said will replace GIFs in animation.
Founded in 2021, the startup hopes to make it easier for everyone to create lottie animations.
Check out the 12-slide pitch deck the startup used to raise $4 million.
A startup banking on the death of GIFs has just raised $4 million for its animation software.
London-based LottieLab is building software to create, collaborate on, and manage lottie file types, which it claims will be the next-generation of GIF.
GIFs may be a popular way to react to friends over text, but they are not fit purpose in the design world, LottieLab cofounder Andrew Ologunebi told Insider.
The file type requires a lot of space on apps, meaning greater loading times, and can't be exported as code, Ologunebi said. They must be embedded rather than hard-coded into software, meaning they are not easily manipulated to respond to user data.
"When you have a GIF or video that's already rendered out, you can't change the way it works," Ologunebi said. "That's exactly the way it's always going to look. With coded animations, you can actually make it respond to user interactions."
Language learning platform Duolingo uses lotties extensively, for example its mascot's background changes depending on the location of the user.
"If a user is visiting from Paris, you have the Eiffel Tower in the background," Ologunebi said. "If it's from New York, it'd be the Brooklyn Bridge. San Francisco will be the Golden Gate Bridge." These animations "respond live" to user data, which is why different animations show up, Ologunebi added.
Lottie files are already used by Instacart, Disney and Headspace but they are not built on specialist software, Ologunebi said. Most Lottie animations are created on Adobe After Effects, he added, and this requires "a series of plugins and open source tools" and becomes complicated.
LottieLab, founded in 2021, is a browser-based animation platform for designers, developers, and non-technical marketers to create, manage, and deploy Lottie animations.
The platform lets users both export files as code, which increases performance and interactivity, the company said, or embedded live links into software. When doing the latter, the animation can be changed centrally and automatically updated across all websites and apps.
Ologunebi built LottieLab with cofounder Alistair Thomson to be as easy to use as possible. The software "goes back to frame by frame animations," allowing users to create a timeline of key frames, with the software automatically animating the transition. To create motion paths, where animations move around the screen, the user can also just click and drag.
LottieLab is currently in private beta mode but expects to be in public beta by the end of the year. It plans to operate a SaaS model, with different tiers depending on the number of users and output.
The fresh round, led by European early-stage investor Point Nine, will be used to triple headcount in the next year and build out the product. Podcaster Harry Stebbings's 20VC and Entrepreneur First also participated in the round.
Check out the 12-slide pitch deck LottieLab used to raise the cash.
LottieLab pitch deck
More: Pitch Deck Startups Venture Capital | 2022-04-27T08:18:03Z | www.businessinsider.com | LottieLab: Animation Startup Banking on the Death of GIFs Raises $4m | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-startup-lottielab-animation-software-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-startup-lottielab-animation-software-2022-4 |
Amazon's biggest compensation overhaul in years leaves employees disappointed, with single-digit raises for some staff
Eugene Kim, Ashley Stewart, and Katherine Long
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy speaks at the GeekWire Summit.
Amazon started sharing new salaries with employees earlier this month.
The update follows Amazon's announcement in February to more than double its base salary cap.
While some were happy with their 90% increase in total comp, others said their low-double digit raise was small when you account for record-high inflation.
When an employee on Amazon's advertising business heard the company was more than doubling its maximum base pay this year, they expected a substantial raise in their mid-five-figure salary.
But the new compensation was disappointing. This person's salary increase could barely keep up with the record-high inflation.
"You're seeing the company expand and grow, you're seeing executives getting raises," this person said. "But the very people from the warehouse level to the corporate side are not seeing a massive increase."
When Amazon announced a major shift in its compensation plan in February, which effectively increased the base pay cap and the pay range for most corporate jobs, employees anticipated a major salary bump this year. But after receiving their updated pay stubs — internally called "Personal Compensation Statements" — this month, employees are having mixed feelings, with many expressing dashed hopes of substantially higher income.
Insider spoke to more than a dozen Amazon employees about this year's updated salary. While some reported a total compensation increase as high as 90%, others said theirs fell significantly short of expectations, with single-digit-percent raises. These people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they're not authorized to speak to the press.
High levels of inflation blunted the effect of salary bumps that in previous years might have been cause for celebration at notoriously frugal Amazon, employees said. Perceived disparities in salary increases between job roles has also solidified some Amazon employees' perception that the company values software developers over staff with less-technical skills.
That's prompting some people to look for opportunities at other companies, at a time when Amazon is already grappling with unusually high turnover, largely driven by relatively low pay, as Insider previously reported. The company has also faced an exodus of top executives leaving for firms offering better compensation, leadership opportunities, or a less cutthroat culture, Insider previously reported.
"Everything at Amazon is competitive except compensation," one of the people said.
Amazon's spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment.
Inconsistent pay changes across divisions
In February, Amazon said it would increase its base pay cap for US employees to $350,000, up from the previous $160,000 max for most employees. It also said most jobs globally would get new ranges for their base pay and overall compensation, citing "a particularly competitive labor market."
The base pay increase ranged from as low as 3% to 60%, depending on the role and tenure, according to pay statements seen by Insider and interviews with current employees.
Pay changes also hit hurdles even before they rolled out, employees said. Managers were unable to set up meetings to discuss new salaries because of technical glitches on the company's internal salary tool website, including "high load and errors," according to a screenshot seen by Insider. Those glitches delayed the compensation notification process, which was supposed to begin April 6, by 24 hours.
Non-engineers, or those in business and administrative roles, were less likely to get a substantial pay increase. Two non-technical program managers Insider spoke to said raises for their roles, which ranged from 11% to 13%, were composed largely of restricted stock units that vest in two years and felt underwhelming. Both said they believed they had been ranked as good, but not exceptional, employees in the most recent round of performance evaluations.
Another person on the retail business side said their team was getting a base pay increase of 5% to 20%, with the bulk of the increase going to the top performing employees. For some, this year's pay increase was lower than expected because newly awarded stock grants at Amazon don't start vesting until next year.
"The question is whether people will stick around for next year," this person said.
Engineers appear to be treated better. A manager on the Amazon Web Services cloud business showed varying base pay increases on their team that reached as much as 30%. This person said the raise is a "big shift" in philosophy for Amazon, but still insufficient when you factor in inflation-adjustments.
That's in line with the 15% to 30% baseline raises Amazon put in for most software developers, as Insider previously reported. Software developers who earned high ratings in Amazon's most recent round of performance reviews could receive raises of 30% or higher, according to compensation data for 15 positions previously obtained by Insider.
One software engineer, for example, said they received a base pay increase of more than 50% after the new cap was announced. Some engineers said they received base pay increases between 25% and 60%.
"I really worked hard last year, and they rewarded me," one of the AWS engineers said.
'Not worth it to stay'
One of the non-engineers who spoke to Insider, an Amazon veteran with nearly a decade of experience, said the company's lackluster salary increase prompted them to start taking recruiting calls from other tech companies more seriously. The 11% raise barely kept pace with inflation, they noted. Prices for consumer goods have risen nearly 8.5% in the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"It's just not worth it to stay here any more," this person said.
Many rank-and-file employees admitted that they were uncertain about how their pay compared to their colleagues because of Amazon's opaque performance rating system. One of the managers who spoke to Insider said the raise was largely based on "Overall Value (OV)" ratings, an internal five-scale performance grade that puts employees on a curve, as Insider previously reported.
Since announcing earlier this year that it would raise base pay, Amazon has not publicly addressed employees' concerns over compensation. Salaries were not on the agenda in an April 19 all-hands meeting, and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy — who received a mammoth $212 million compensation package last year — did not take any questions related to compensation during the Q&A portion of the meeting, as Insider previously reported.
Jassy did address a question about Amazon's fluctuating stock price, which has been a point of contention for many employees because the bulk of their compensation is often tied to stock awards. His answer, however, came across as "out of touch," one employee said, as Jassy simply repeated a well-known adage former CEO Jeff Bezos used to say — that the stock market is a voting machine in the short term, but a weighing machine in the long term. (In other words, the company's stock price is dictated by the substance of its business versus sheer popularity in the long term.)
More: Amazon Andy Jassy Amazon base pay
Amazon compensation | 2022-04-27T09:09:50Z | www.businessinsider.com | Amazon Employees Are Mixed About New Salary Update, 3% to 90% Change | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-employee-compensation-pay-new-salary-update-range-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-employee-compensation-pay-new-salary-update-range-2022-4 |
A protest outside the German embassy in Brussels, Belgium.
Russia's Gazprom said it cut gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria after they refused to pay in rubles.
The UK's deputy prime minister accused Russia of "bullying" the countries over energy.
Dominic Raab said Britain would stand "shoulder to shoulder" with them, warning the move would backfire.
Russia is "bullying" Bulgaria and Poland by cutting off the countries' gas supply, the UK's deputy prime minister said.
The Russian energy giant Gazprom enacted Moscow's threat to halt supplies to the two countries on Wednesday after they refused to pay for its energy in rubles, as had been demanded of "hostile countries" by President Vladimir Putin.
In a statement, Gazprom said it had "completely suspended gas supplies to Bulgargaz (Bulgaria) and PGNiG (Poland)" and further warned that transit via Poland and Bulgaria would be cut if gas was taken illegally.
The decision followed Poland's announcement that it was imposing sanctions on 50 entities and individuals, including Gazprom, Russia's biggest gas company.
Dominic Raab, Britain's deputy prime minister and justice secretary, told Sky News Wednesday morning that the UK would stand "shoulder to shoulder" with the two countries.
"We need to show solidarity. Clearly what we're seeing is the need to wean ourselves off reliance on Russia. We have been warning about this for a while, but yes, we'll stand shoulder to shoulder with our Polish friends and allies," he said.
Raab warned the move would backfire on Russia, making the country "not just a political pariah, but an economic pariah."
"One thing is true and clear. We cannot allow [Putin's] bullying behavior, whether it is economic warfare, or it is military warfare, to succeed," he said.
Russia's move was also attacked by Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said Russia was "beginning the gas blackmail of Europe."
Yermak called on the European Union, of which Poland and Bulgaria are members, to "be united and impose an embargo on energy resources, depriving the Russians of their energy weapons."
And Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, vowed solidarity as she condemned the move as "yet another attempt by Russia to use gas as an instrument of blackmail."
"This is unjustified and unacceptable, and it shows once again the unreliability of Russia as a gas supplier," she added. "We are prepared for this scenario. We are in close contact with all member states."
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly called for Europe to wean itself off Russian energy, with Germany coming in for particular criticism over its reliance.
On Tuesday night Poland's minister for climate and environment, Anna Moskwa, moved to reassure citizens that the country had "the necessary gas reserves and sources of supply that protect our security — we have been effectively independent of Russia for years," local media reported.
"There will be gas in Polish homes," she said.
More: News UK Boris Johnson Dominic Raab Russia | 2022-04-27T09:09:52Z | www.businessinsider.com | Russia 'Bullying' Poland and Bulgaria by Cutting Off Gas Supply: UK | https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-bullying-poland-and-bulgaria-cut-off-gas-dominic-raab-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-bullying-poland-and-bulgaria-cut-off-gas-dominic-raab-2022-4 |
Elon Musk's jet is tracked via a Twitter account run by the 19-year-old Jack Sweeney.
Jack Sweeney, 19, runs a Twitter account which tracks the location of Elon Musk's private jet.
The teen said he has backup accounts in case the page is taken down after Musk takes control of Twitter.
Musk asked Sweeney last year to remove the ElonJet account, saying it was a security risk.
The teenager who runs a Twitter account that tracks Elon Musk's private jet said that he's made back up plans in case the page is pulled after the billionaire acquires the social media platform.
Jack Sweeney, the 19-year-old who became famous after Musk offered him $5,000 to remove his @ElonJet Twitter account earlier this year, tweeted a list of other platforms where people can track the plane "in case this account disappears."
The teen's concerns emerged after it was announced on Monday that Musk is buying Twitter in a $44 bln deal that will take the firm private. The acquisition has yet to be approved by regulators, and isn't expected to close until later this year, but Sweeney expressed uncertainty over the future of his Twitter account if Musk eventually takes control of the firm.
"It remains unknown if Elon would take down ElonJet if he takes over Twitter," Sweeney said in a tweet from his personal account. "If he considers ElonJet a security risk rather than a critic then I'm probably gone."
—Elon Musk's Jet (@ElonJet) April 25, 2022
Sweeney said the tracking data is in his Discord server and he's planning to make a Telegram channel onto which he could upload details of the jet's movements. People can also check where Musk's jet is via his Facebook and Instagram pages, he said.
The teen tagged Musk in a tweet on Monday, saying that negotiations don't have to be over and he's still willing to delete the Twitter account "if we figure something out."
Musk messaged Sweeney in fall last year, asking him to take down the Twitter account that tracks his private jet because it was a "security risk." The billionaire had previously said that social media accounts tracking his movements were "becoming a security issue."
Sweeney told Insider that he turned down Musk's offer of $5,000 in return for removing the Twitter account, because he enjoys the job. In a response to Musk, he suggested raising the figure to $50,000, which he said he could use to put towards college education or purchasing a Tesla Model 3.
More: Twitter Elon Musk jet Tracking | 2022-04-27T10:41:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | Musk Jet-Tracking Teen Makes Back-up Plans Over Fears for Twitter Page | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-jet-tracking-teen-backup-plans-twitter-account-worries-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-jet-tracking-teen-backup-plans-twitter-account-worries-2022-4 |
A compressor gas station of the Yamal–Europe gas pipeline in Wloclawek, Poland.
Russia's energy giant Gazprom has halted gas exports to both Poland and Bulgaria.
But both countries said Wednesday they will manage without Russian gas.
Putin said last month that countries would be cut off from Russian gas if they don't pay in rubles.
Poland and Bulgaria said Wednesday they won't bow down to Russia after its state-owned energy supplier Gazprom announced it will shut off their gas supply.
In a statement seen by Reuters, the Russian energy giant said that its services will not be restored in the countries until they pay for gas in rubles — Russia's currency, which has suffered since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Poland confirmed to the BBC that its gas supply had already been cut.
Bulgaria's gas network operator Bulgartransgaz told local news provider Novinite that supplies were still flowing as of Wednesday morning, but said this could change throughout the day.
Both countries said they can cope without Gazprom's gas in the short term, and that are seeking out alternative options.
"We have provided alternative quantities for a sufficiently foreseeable period," Bulgaria's energy minister Alexander Nikolov said on Wednesday, according to Novinite.
"As long as I am a minister and responsible for this, Bulgaria will not negotiate under pressure and with its head bowed," he added. "Bulgaria does not give in and is not sold at any price at any trade counterparty."
Bulgaria relies on Gazprom for more than 90% of its gas supply, according to the BBC. Nikolov reassured the public that no restrictions on consumption were currently required, as per Novinite.
The Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przdacz told the BBC the country had "taken some decisions many years ago to prepare for such a situation."
Przdacz also told the BBC that there are "options to get the gas from other partners," including the US and the Middle East.
The Polish state gas company PGNiG bought 53% of its gas imports from Gazprom in the first quarter of this year, the BBC reported.
Gazprom's energy cut comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned last month that he would stop sending gas to Europe if "unfriendly countries" don't pay in rubles.
The list of "unfriendly countries" — which received the designation from Russia in response to widespread condemnation of its invasion of Ukraine in February — includes the US, UK, and countries in the EU.
More: News UK Ukraine Russia Poland | 2022-04-27T10:41:06Z | www.businessinsider.com | Poland and Bulgaria Say They Don't Need Russian Gas After Supply Halt | https://www.businessinsider.com/poland-bulgaria-say-dont-need-russian-gas-after-supply-halt-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/poland-bulgaria-say-dont-need-russian-gas-after-supply-halt-2022-4 |
How entrepreneurs can decide between a business loan and venture capital when looking for financing options
Vernon Coleman closed a $4 million seed round backed by Alexis Ohanian in December 2020.
Courtesy of Vernon Coleman
Of the common types of funding, loans and venture capital can be the most accessible to founders.
For business owners deciding between the two, there are several factors to weigh.
For example, banks don't typically take equity in exchange for a loan but may not offer mentors.
When Deidre Mathis saw an opportunity to expand her hostel business by opening a second location, she knew finding the right financing would be integral to her plan.
There are dozens of funding options for founders, but the five most common sources are personal savings, angel investors, venture capital, business loans, and friends and family, according to business consulting firm GrowThink. Not everyone can tap their savings or loved ones for cash, and there's no common website that connects entrepreneurs with angel investors, making them hard to find. For business owners deciding between loans or venture capital, there are several factors to weigh when determining the right option.
For Mathis, one component was her race. As a Black woman, she knew the odds of securing both a loan and venture capital were slim. While Black-owned firms were the most likely to have applied for bank financing, less than 47% of those applications were fully funded, according to 2017 data from the US Federal Reserve that was released in 2020. Meanwhile, Black and Latina female founders received just 0.43% of the $166 billion in venture-capital funding raised in 2020, according to Project Diane, a biennial report on the state of Black and Latina women founders by the organization DigitalUndivided.
"The likelihood of a woman of color getting VC funded for a startup is very low," Mathis told Insider. "Seeing what would be the best way for me to get money, it was a bank loan ."
Here are the basics for entrepreneurs to consider when deciding between venture capital and bank financing, according to two founders and one expert.
Coleman is one of the youngest Black entrepreneurs to raise more than $1 million in funding, Insider previously reported.
Vernon Coleman
VC can provide mentorship but can come at a cost
Vernon Coleman, the founder of the social-media app Realtime, opted to raise venture capital so he could scale his business quickly and avoid debt from the bank. He closed a $4 million seed round in December 2020 that included investments from 776, the venture firm created by Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian.
Mentorship from the 776 team "helped me understand at different levels the phases of growing a consumer company," Coleman told Insider. "If I get a loan from the government, it doesn't necessarily come with the knowledge on how to scale a company."
However, a good mentor is not always guaranteed: Some venture capitalists can be unhelpful to founders or they can have conflicting views that don't align with the entrepreneur's vision, said Cameron Newton, cofounder of the venture firm Relevance Capital.
Another component of venture capital that Coleman preferred was that the consequences of failure are not as extreme — if he loses investor money, he doesn't have to pay the money back.
Mikal Quarles, a banking executive at JPMorgan Chase, said one downside of accepting venture-capital funding is that founders must often exchange a percentage of equity. If they need to raise multiple rounds, they can end up losing the majority stake in their business. Additionally, investors typically want to see the value of the company and its returns to be greater than the amount initially invested, Quarles said.
Banks don't take equity but also have downsides
Deidre Mathis secured a loan for her new location within seven months.
Courtesy of Deidre Mathis
Mathis preferred that banks don't take equity from a business, allowing her to maintain 100% control over her company. She secured a loan last year but declined to share for how much.
Additionally, working with banks allows founders to establish relationships with lenders. That can be useful when entrepreneurs look for more capital, because banks are more likely to lend money to entrepreneurs they trust, she said.
She also preferred that there were longer-term loans available, so she choose the interest rate that worked best for her.
Alternatively, there is only so much a bank will lend at one time, which can be a deterrent for founders, Mathis said.
Lastly, founders must assess their debt service — their capacity to pay back a loan — and estimate how much they want to borrow, Quarles said.
More: Personal Finance Small Business entrenpreneur Tech
Voices of Color | 2022-04-27T10:41:29Z | www.businessinsider.com | How Entrepreneurs Can Decide Between a Loan and Venture Capital | https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-capital-bank-loan-entrepreneurs-best-funding-options-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/venture-capital-bank-loan-entrepreneurs-best-funding-options-2022-4 |
Walmart Plus is revamping another perk.
Walmart Plus is doubling its fuel discount to 10 cents a gallon.
The cost of fuel in the United States has soared since the early spring.
The retailer is partnering with Exxon Mobil for the new perk.
Walmart Plus is doubling its fuel discount as the retail subscription service strives to offer its customers perks to combat rising prices at the pump.
In addition, thousands of Exxon and Mobil stations will now offer discounts to Walmart Plus members.
In the US, the price of fuel skyrocketed to $4.196 per gallon in early March, and on Monday it stood at $4.211. Political leaders have taken action to try to bring the costs down. Meantime in the private sector, members-only services like Walmart Plus are offering cheaper gas as a perk to entice subscribers.
Walmart Plus subscribers will now get 10 cents off each gallon at 12,000 participating Exxon and Mobil stations across the US. These members can also save five to 10 cents a gallon at Walmart-run gas stations, as well as Murphy USA stations. How much customers can save at Walmart and Murphy USA stations depends on varying state regulations.
The spike in locations offering discounted fuel to Walmart Plus represents "a more than sixfold increase," Walmart said in a statement Wednesday.
Subscribers will also get access to the gas stations at Sam's Club locations. Like rival Costco, Walmart's members-only warehouse chain has a reputation for offering inexpensive fuel.
"Fuel is not a discretionary purchase, it's something that consumers need," Chris Cracchiolo, senior vice president and general manager of Walmart Plus, told Insider. "From that standpoint, we felt that being more aggressive on the discount and also expanding to get national coverage with an excellent partner like Exxon Mobil was the right thing to do."
Walmart Plus members can turn on "geofencing" capabilities to allow their smartphone app to detect when they are near a participating fuel station. By clicking on a push notification , they can select their pump and fuel grade. Cracchiolo said that there will be QR codes at the pump for those who opt out of geofencing.
Walmart Plus, which has been widely viewed as the Arkansas-based retailer's answer to Amazon Prime, costs $98 a year or $12.95 a month. The service's other perks include free shipping from Walmart.com with no minimum basket size, scan-and-go contactless checkout, and even a complimentary six months of Spotify Premium.
NOW WATCH: 11 things you probably didn't know about Walmart
More: Walmart Sam's Club Walmart Plus gasoline prices | 2022-04-27T10:41:35Z | www.businessinsider.com | Walmart Plus Doubles Fuel Discount, Adds Exxon, Mobil Stations | https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-plus-doubles-fuel-discount-10-cents-a-gallon-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-plus-doubles-fuel-discount-10-cents-a-gallon-2022-4 |
With Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton looking on at left, President George Bush speaks during the first presidential debate in St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 12, 1992.
Bill Waugh/AP Photo
Trends in the current recovery are eerily similar to those that sparked the recession of the early 1990s.
Sour economic sentiments, high oil prices, and an inflation-fighting Fed all fueled that downturn.
A recession isn't a given, but the slump of the early '90s gives hints as to how such a decline could start.
With recession fears spreading across the US, economists are looking to previous downturns for clues as to how the economy will fare in the months ahead.
Many have looked to the Great Recession, citing how the housing market is the hottest its been since the mid-2000s bubble that sparked the financial crisis. Others argue the next downturn will mirror the 1970s, when slow economic growth and sky-high inflation pulled the US into a period of crippling stagflation.
A deeper dive into current trends and a 1993 paper from the Federal Reserve suggest a near-term downturn will most closely resemble the recession of the early 1990s. Many of the factors that caused that downturn have emerged in recent months, particularly in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. After the unusual bubble-fueled recessions of the early 2000s and the coronavirus crisis, the US could soon slide into its first traditional downturn in three decades.
The 1993 paper, published by the San Francisco Fed, lays out several causes for the early 1990s recession. They include "pessimistic consumers," elevated oil prices linked to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, and "attempts by the Federal Reserve to lower the rate of inflation."
If that sounds familiar, it should. The economy is currently dealing with those very same trends, and if the 1990 downturn is precedent, the US could be in for an extremely similar recession.
The Fed is ramping up its fight against inflation
Those forecasting a recession in the next year see the Fed's actions as the main driver. The central bank kicked off its fight with higher inflation in March, raising interest rates from historic lows and signaling it will keep hiking rates well into 2023. Yet inflation accelerated through March to the fastest pace since 1981, raising concerns that the Fed acted too late. The biggest risk, according to hawkish economists, is that the Fed will have to lift rates so aggressively that it'll slam the brakes on economic growth and stop the recovery in its tracks.
A similar dynamic played out in the early 1990s. The Fed aggressively hiked rates from 1988 to 1989 as inflation started to climb back to the highs of the previous decade. The higher rates weakened the economy while it was still rebounding from the recession of the early 1980s and laid the foundation for the coming downturn.
The Fed's actions left the economy "already significantly weakened" by the time the recession started in 1990, economists at the San Francisco Fed wrote, adding that the restrictive monetary policy kept the economy "relatively flat" when it otherwise would've kept growing.
With prices still surging and the Russia-Ukraine conflict risking persistently high inflation, it could take a similarly aggressive strategy from the Fed to pull price growth to healthy levels.
Foreign conflict is pushing oil prices to worrying highs
In 1990 it was Iraq's invasion of Kuwait that roiled the global energy market and boosted crude oil prices sharply higher. In 2022 it's Russia's invasion of Ukraine and related sanctions on Russian energy commodities doing the same.
The most obvious impact for typical Americans — both in the early 1990s and today — are higher prices at the pump. Though gas prices have fallen slightly from the mid-March peak they still sit near record levels.
Yet pricier oil reverberates throughout the global economy. Trade and shipping become more expensive, as it costs more to transport goods both within and across borders. Americans tend to rein in their spending and don't travel as much, leaving the economy with diminished activity. Manufacturing processes that rely on oil are also hit, leading to higher prices for various goods and the beginnings of an inflationary cycle.
Consumer spending remains strong, but the pace of growth is slowing. If oil prices stay elevated it could soon sap demand from the still-incomplete recovery.
Americans are feeling pretty sour about the economy
"Pessimistic consumers" played a major role in powering the downturn of the early 1990s, and Americans aren't feeling much better today.
Economic attitudes, as measured by the University of Michigan's sentiment index, are the second-weakest since 2011. Inflation is the biggest drag on Americans' recovery hopes, with respondents citing high gas prices as a particularly concerning strain on their finances.
While April's survey showed improvement, the university's gauge is "still too close to recession lows to be reassuring," Richard Curtin, chief economist for the Surveys of Consumers, said in the early April report. Another decline in economic moods could see spending activity dramatically slow and overall growth cool.
There are some differences between now and 1990, however
To be sure, today's economy is much stronger than it was heading into 1990. The labor market is extraordinarily tight, with job openings still significantly exceeding the number of available workers. Wage growth has been historically strong, and millions of workers have quit their jobs over the past several months to take advantage of strong labor demand.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell rebutted recession worries in March, saying during a press conference that the economy "will be able to flourish ... in the face of less accommodative monetary policy."
The Fed is also in a very different policy stance than it was thirty years ago. While the central bank was raising interest rates through the late 1980s, it held rates near zero throughout the pandemic.
Policymakers' latest actions were more geared toward removing crisis-era aid than restricting economic growth, and no forecasts of future interest rates see the Fed's benchmark coming close to the nearly 10% highs seen in 1989. Various signals also suggest inflation peaked in March, signaling the Fed won't have to raise rates nearly as high to cool price growth.
Yet fears of a downturn remain, and if the US is destined for an economic slump, the recession of the early 1990s gives some hint as to what will cause it.
More: Economy economic outlook Recession recession outlook | 2022-04-27T12:12:16Z | www.businessinsider.com | The 1990 Recession Is a Cautionary Tale for Today's Economy | https://www.businessinsider.com/next-recession-first-normal-downturn-three-decades-economic-outlook-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/next-recession-first-normal-downturn-three-decades-economic-outlook-2022-4 |
Dogecoin trading surged after Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter. 5 crypto veterans discuss the future of the meme coin and why its potential real-world uses may translate into future gains.
Doge coin is heading back to the moon as the hype surrounding Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter grows.
Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk purchased Twitter on April 25.
The billionaire's enthusiasm for doge sent investors scrambling to buy the cryptocurrency.
Will there be real dogecoin use cases implemented on the platform, or will the hype fizzle out?
On Monday afternoon Elon Musk entered an agreement to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share, valuing the social media company at approximately $44 billion. And while shares of Twitter understandably rose over 6% after the deal was announced, it may come as a surprise that Dogecoin surged as well.
The price of Musk's favorite cryptocurrency shot from $0.12 to $0.17 on the news, and has now become the 10th biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
Many speculate that Musk's purchase of Twitter will transform the cryptocurrency originally created as a joke into a legitimate contender in the world of crypto, complete with some very real use cases. For instance, Musk has accepted Dogecoin payments for Tesla merchandise in the past, and has recently alluded to accepting Doge for Twitter premium services.
We asked crypto experts for their thoughts on Musk's takeover, what it means for doge, and if there are going to be any major consequences for the crypto economy.
What is Dogecoin
Dogecoin was the fifth cryptocurrency created by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer. Both have since left working on the project full time.
While originally intended as a joke, Dogecoin began to be taken more seriously after Musk started publicly touting the meme cryptocurrency. The price of dogecoin rose from $0.010 in January 2021 all the way to $0.44 by early May of that year, garnering thousands of headlines and attracting the attention of retail investors all over the world along the way.
During that time Musk became the unofficial, self-appointed spokesperson for the cryptocurrency. As he promoted dogecoin and tweeted about the meme crypto more and more the price of the cryptocurrency continued to rise. Things came to a head when Musk hosted SNL in mid-May, with the price of doge peaking at an all-time high of $0.74.
But in the months since, the price of doge has plummeted back down to earth and interest in the crypto has dissipated. During the week Musk went on SNL, dogecoin's trading volume averaged $30 billion dollars, but since May 2021 there hasn't been a day where the trading volume of doge has surpassed $5 billion.
Why doge may go up
The fates of Elon Musk and dogecoin are closely tied to one another, so it should come as no surprise that when Musk made his offer to acquire Twitter the price of doge began to rise. In the days since, the crypto community has been buzzing about dogecoin.
Insider spoke with the Bitfinex trading team, who explained that their positive outlook for Dogecoin is largely predicated on continued promotion from Musk. "Dogecoin has soared on news that Elon Musk's bid for Twitter was successful, buoyed by a belief that Musk will continue to publicly support Doge. As Musk shows devotion to both being a social media influencer and bitcoin enthusiast, his purchase of Twitter is a bullish sign. If it achieves nothing else, it will surely bring entertainment."
Many Dogecoin believers think that Musk's acquisition goes beyond cheerleading, and that the meme coin will be incorporated into the social media platform. There are a variety of ways this could occur; for instance, Musk could begin accepting Dogecoin as payment for Twitter Blue — a premium service recently trialed by Twitter — or extending the Bitcoin Tipjar to accept dogecoin.
CMO of Kryptomon Tomer Nuni told Insider "Musk's takeover of Twitter will most likely provide even more credibility to doge from both crypto enthusiasts and the general public. He aims to give it utility as an acceptable payment method on one of the biggest social networks in the world, and the most popular among the international crypto community. We will probably see it reaching the top 5 or even top 3 coins by the year's end, placing it closer to ethereum and bitcoin."
As for the rest of the fast-growing crypto industry, Alexis Johnson, president of Light Node Media, says that Musk's purchase of Twitter opens the door to the integration of not just dogecoin, but of many other cryptocurrencies as well.
"Elon's acquisition of Twitter will be beneficial for the crypto market as a whole," Johnson told Insider via email. "He continues to express his stance and overall support for the cryptocurrency industry with great enthusiasm, so I can see him working on adding features and integrations to Twitter that will benefit crypto native users and introduce non-crypto users to crypto. Therefore I can see these features and integrations positively impacting all cryptocurrencies including Dogecoin."
The case against doge
But not everyone in the crypto space has as optimistic of an outlook for the acquisition.
Mahbod Moghadam, a crypto whale and the founder of the dogecoin platform Helladoge, said that Musk has yet to embrace Web3 ideals — and that will eventually hurt the dogecoin brand.
"Mimicking the Bitcoin Tipjar, or even accepting dogecoin payments isn't sufficient for wide adoption and is not reflective of Web3 values," Moghadam told Insider. "Users drive 100% of the value of social media companies, so if Elon wants to make a difference he will pay out a data dividend — a form of capitalist UBI — to Twitter's unpaid labor force."
Many crypto veterans still maintain that dogecoin is not a serious project — irrespective of the Twitter purchase. Lee Reiners, the executive director of the Global Financial Markets Center at Duke University, told Insider: "Elon Musk said what everyone already knew last year when he called dogecoin a hustle on Saturday Night Live. Buying Twitter doesn't change this simple fact."
It is worth noting that Musk himself urges caution when investing in crypto, tweeting "As I've said before, don't bet the farm on crypto." Moreover, Musk has a track record of flip-flopping with crypto payments: In March of 2021, Musk announced that Tesla would accept bitcoin payments only to publicly reverse that decision two months later.
Even dogecoin cofounder Markus isn't sold on the idea that Musk will benefit the crypto. In a Twitter exchange, he told Insider he doesn't know how the acquisition would impact dogecoin's price, and that he wouldn't take a seat on the board of Twitter if offered.
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Elon musk stock market | 2022-04-27T12:55:43Z | www.businessinsider.com | Experts Debate What Elon Musk's Twitter Acquisition Means for Dogecoin | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-acquisition-crypto-dogecoin-doge-meme-coin-btc-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-acquisition-crypto-dogecoin-doge-meme-coin-btc-2022-4 |
Check out the 13-slide pitch deck Reveal, a B2B platform identifying new sales leads among partners, used to raise $50 million from Insight Partners
The Reveal founding team of Perrine El Khoury, Alexandre Sadones, and Simon Bouchez.
Paris-based Reveal just raised $50 million in a round led by private equity firm Insight Partners.
The startup enables businesses to identify new sales leads with their existing partners.
A startup that has developed a platform to spot fresh revenue opportunities for companies with their existing business partners has raised $50 million.
Paris-based Reveal enables businesses to securely share customer intelligence with partners in their ecosystem as a means of making sales and collaboration opportunities easier to identify in real-time.
The appetite for such platforms has boomed since the start of the pandemic, as a shift to online work has driven demand for services that allow businesses to better connect with their partners across digital channels.
But many companies struggle to take advantage of existing partnerships in their business ecosystem as a result of lacking tools that fail to give real-time, accurate insights into available opportunities, according to Reveal.
The startup's platform enables partners to share customer lists with one another to identify new leads. It claims its customers have reported a 43% increase in win rates and a 41% increase in deal size on sales that have been secured through the technology. Sharing of customer lists enables partners to identify common leads with the biggest potential.
"Companies that build strong relationships within their ecosystem will win in an increasingly competitive market," said Simon Bouchez, CEO and cofounder of Reveal. "We empower our customers to unlock the revenue potential of their ecosystem partners."
Reveal raised the funds in a Series A round led by New York-based private capital firm Insight Partners, with participation from venture capital firms including Eight Roads, Chalfen Ventures, and Dig Ventures, as well as existing investors such as Kernel and LocalGlobe.
The startup claims it has over 4,500 companies on board, including the likes of SmartRecruiters and Qualtrics.
Check out the 13-slide pitch deck Reveal used to raise the fresh funds below:
More: Features B2B Insight Partners | 2022-04-27T12:55:55Z | www.businessinsider.com | Reveal: B2B Platform Raises $50 Million in Fresh Funds | https://www.businessinsider.com/reveal-b2b-platform-raises-50-million-in-fresh-funds-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/reveal-b2b-platform-raises-50-million-in-fresh-funds-2022-4 |
Amazon's new Buy with Prime feature is a jab at Shopify and a 'double-edged sword' for retailers, analysts say
Ann Gehan and Madeline Stone
Amazon's new Buy with Prime button.
Amazon announced its Buy with Prime feature last week.
The feature allows Amazon to compete more directly with e-commerce platforms like Shopify.
While the Amazon ecosystem has benefits, some retailers may not want to depend on it.
The crowded checkout-tech space got even more competitive last week with Amazon's announcement of its Buy with Prime feature.
With this announcement, the e-commerce giant is making a play to strengthen its relationships with smaller, direct-to-consumer brands and attempting to retain a competitive edge over other e-commerce platforms like Shopify.
Amazon says the feature will allow over 200 million Prime members to shop directly on merchants' websites while continuing to receive benefits from their Amazon Prime membership, including fast shipping, free delivery, and free returns. Shoppers on these sites will see a Buy with Prime button along with shipping information. They'll be able to check out using the payment and shipping information stored in their Amazon account.
Amazon said Buy with Prime's rollout would begin with merchants already using Fulfillment by Amazon, which allows sellers to pay to use Amazon's warehouse and distribution network.
The feature is set to eventually roll out to merchants that are not already selling on Amazon and instead use platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce to host their online stores. The move allows Amazon to compete with these e-commerce platforms — most notably Shopify — in a more direct way, outside of its marketplace for the first time.
The competition between Amazon and Shopify for e-commerce market share has heated up in recent years.
Amazon has a secretive team, known internally as "Project Santos," that has been tasked with fending off Shopify's threat to Amazon's e-commerce dominance, Insider reported in early April.
Meanwhile, Shopify recently announced plans to significantly ramp up its fulfillment-network efforts, in a move that many see as an attempt to compete with Amazon's robust fulfillment services. It has also been adding features similar to Amazon's marketplace to its consumer-facing Shop app.
A 'double-edged sword' for retailers
"Amazon is definitely taking notice of Shopify, and this feature is the latest in a series of moves to improve its own competitive position," Dan Romanoff, a senior equity research analyst at Morningstar, told Insider.
By moving off its marketplace platform and into the world of DTC, Amazon is also ramping up competition in a checkout space that has become crowded with new players in recent years. Startups like Bolt and Fast, now defunct, raised millions in VC funding to build products to help shoppers check out more quickly. When shoppers go to make an online purchase today, they'll see checkout options from more established companies, too, including Shopify, PayPal, and Apple.
Buy with Prime's rollout will begin with merchants already using Fulfillment by Amazon.
While the launch of Buy with Prime increases the competitive pressure between Amazon and other e-commerce platforms, experts don't think Amazon's entrance means disaster for competitors.
Buy with Prime could end up being a "double-edged sword" for retailers, said Neil Saunders, a managing director and retail analyst at GlobalData. While being part of the Amazon ecosystem is attractive to many merchants and could help them build consumer trust and increase conversion rates, becoming too dependent on Amazon's services could backfire.
While Amazon says Buy with Prime will give brands access to their consumer data, Saunders says the service still allows Amazon access to critical information about a merchant's customers and their purchases, like order volume and fulfillment data. Amazon has long been rumored to use customer data to create competitive products. In April 2020, former Amazon employees told The Wall Street Journal that they used third-party seller data to inform decisions about the development of Amazon's private-label products, though the company has repeatedly denied the practice.
"That's always been an issue — with not just Amazon, with any third-party site," Saunders told Insider. "I think that, especially with Amazon, because it is so big and has such influence, a lot of retailers will kind of sit up and think very carefully about whether they want to almost let the fox into the henhouse."
Saunders also cautioned that merchants that become overly reliant on Buy with Prime could end up in a bind if prices for the service rise. While Amazon says Buy with Prime's pricing is based on payment-processing, fulfillment, and storage fees and does not require merchants to purchase a subscription or sign a contract, a future price increase could cut into sellers' profits.
Amazon recently said it would begin adding a "fuel and inflation surcharge" for sellers who use its Fulfillment by Amazon services in response to rising prices and lingering supply-chain issues. While other companies like Uber and Instacart have added fees in recent weeks, Amazon is unique in adding the charge for sellers, who must weigh whether to pass on the cost to customers through higher prices or deal with lower profit margins.
"You have to be very savvy with this, because if you become overly reliant on Amazon, you sometimes become beholden to Amazon, and I think that's another concern that some third-party retailers will have," Saunders said.
Saunders said some retailers could still have concerns about partnering so closely with Amazon and seek a solution outside the Amazon ecosystem.
"I don't think this is fatal or even damaging for Shopify — I just think it sets up a lot more competition in the market," he said.
More: Amazon Amazon Prime Shopify | 2022-04-27T13:43:30Z | www.businessinsider.com | Amazon's Buy With Prime Feature Allows It to Compete Directly With Shopify | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-buy-with-prime-dtc-brands-shopify-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-buy-with-prime-dtc-brands-shopify-2022-4 |
A startup wants to give you thousands of dollars in cash for your down payment — if you promise Wall Street a piece of your home's value in return
American homeowners have roughly $26 trillion trapped in equity, according to the Federal Reserve.
adamkaz/Getty Images
A number of companies are offering homeowners cash in exchange for a piece of their equity.
HomePace, a startup, is partnering with the homebuilder Lennar to offer cash advances to buyers.
Legacy players like Lennar are looking to capitalize on the $26 trillion tied up in home equity.
Saving enough cash for a down payment is often the first hurdle to homeownership. A new startup is partnering with one of the nation's largest homebuilders to help buyers come up with that money — in exchange for a cut of their home's future value.
HomePace, founded in September 2020, currently gives existing homeowners up to $250,000 cash in exchange for a percentage of each home's appreciation. These "home-equity investments" give owners the chance to tap into their equity without selling their house or turning to traditional debt options, such as a home-equity line of credit, or a cash-out refinancing.
Today, HomePace and competitors like Point, EquiFi, and Hometap originate these deals and then sell the contracts to large investors, effectively giving Wall Street a stake in homes across the country.
Now, HomePace is looking to provide a similar service for buyers who have yet to land a dream home. The company said it would begin offering new buyers home-equity investments of up to 15% of a home's value — which could total tens of thousands of dollars, since the typical American home costs $365,000 — within the next year.
In December, HomePace closed on a $7 million Series A funding round led by LenX, the venture-capital arm of Lennar, the nation's second-largest homebuilder by revenue. The backing from one of the biggest players in real estate will help HomePace begin offering investments to prospective homeowners and could signal a new frontier in the quest to capitalize on the roughly $26 trillion that Americans have tied up in home equity.
HomePace's founding team features several Wall Street veterans, including its CEO, Joe Cianciolo, and its chief operating officer, Megan Graf, both of whom are BlackRock alums, as well as its chief investment officer, Jeboah Joerg, who worked in derivatives trading at Goldman Sachs.
After leaving BlackRock in early 2019, Cianciolo served as a vice president at Unison, another home-equity investment company, where he said he realized the space was ripe for new entrants.
Joe Cianciolo is a HomePace cofounder and its CEO.
HomePace
Partnering with new homebuyers is more challenging than working with existing owners, Cianciolo said, because it requires closer coordination with the mortgage lender to make sure the home transaction goes smoothly. But the upside is that it opens up an entirely new customer base and helps buyers get into homes they might not otherwise be able to afford, Cianciolo said.
Other participants in HomePace's latest funding round included its prior investors Bling Capital, NextView Ventures, and Ride Ventures.
In a statement announcing the funding round, Eric Feder, the president of LenX and a member of HomePace's board of directors, said the company had been closely monitoring the emerging landscape of home-equity investments and saw it as "an affordable instrument to offer to our homebuyers in the years to come."
LenX's investment in HomePace is just the latest sign that longtime players in real estate are taking home-equity investments seriously, Cianciolo said.
"It certainly gives gravitas to the space," Cianciolo said, "when you have somebody whose entire business is based on the homebuying and homebuilding and mortgage markets, saying, 'Yeah, we think this thing's credible, and we're going to put our name on it.'"
More: Real Estate Mortgage Affordability Housing Market | 2022-04-27T13:43:32Z | www.businessinsider.com | Homebuyers Could Get Down-Payment Help If They Give up Equity | https://www.businessinsider.com/down-payment-assistance-homepace-sell-equity-for-cash-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/down-payment-assistance-homepace-sell-equity-for-cash-2022-4 |
Chanelle S. Reynolds.
Chanelle S. Reynolds
Chanelle S. Reynolds is the head of DEI programs for the Washington Commanders NFL team.
She starts her workday with prayer, meditation, and exercise before addressing high-priority emails.
Here's what her morning work routine is like, as told to writer Robin Madell.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Chanelle S. Reynolds, the diversity, equity, and inclusion programs lead at the Washington Commanders. It has been edited for length and clarity.
My day starts between 6 and 7 a.m.
I believe the key to success and productivity lies in your daily habits. For me, following a consistent morning routine that incorporates self-care is important before starting work.
As someone deeply rooted in my faith, I start each day with prayer and meditation . I then head to the gym to work out. Both of these activities help me be focused and level-headed throughout the day.
I work in-office Monday through Friday and sometimes work remotely from home. I like working alongside my colleagues in an office setting and the feeling it gives me of being part of a team.
I plan out each workday the night before
This includes rearranging my calendars if necessary and preparing for meetings. Once I sit down to work each morning, I check my calendar to confirm that there are no last-minute meetings or sudden changes. I then check my emails and messages on Microsoft Teams.
Each morning is different, but I do like to check my emails first to answer questions or requests from my coworkers. I do this to make sure my teammates aren't waiting on me for answers or approvals to avoid causing a blockage in their workflow.
After answering emails, I begin to work on projects according to their due date and level of urgency. Projects with a quicker due date take priority over projects with a deadline that's further out.
I have regular check-ins with our internal ERGS, or employee resource groups
These check-ins are designed to provide guidance, answer any questions, and assist with programming. When managing specific campaigns, I conduct weekly check-ins with various departments throughout the company, which may include the marketing department, creative team, social media team, or content team.
I love the energy of having many innovative and creative minds on a call to diversify the input and maximize the outcome of our DEI program. I truly believe that teamwork makes the dream work.
For planning and to-dos, I use Outlook as well as regular pen and paper
I live by my Outlook calendar, as it catalogs all of my meetings, special projects, and reminders. Because I'm a visual person, the calendar is color-coded and categorized by event type.
For example, meetings are coded in red, planning sessions are coded in blue, and personal events such as doctor's appointments are coded in green. This helps me keep my day-to-day activities organized.
To help manage projects, I also use Trello, which allows me to list different components of the project in detail and check them off as they're completed.
If high-priority or urgent tasks pop up that I need to finish that day, I like to use a paper pad and pen to write them down so I can see them on my desk and remember to do them.
More: Careers Strategy NFL DEI
self care routine | 2022-04-27T13:43:39Z | www.businessinsider.com | My Morning Routine As DEI Lead for the Washington Commanders | https://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-washington-commanders-dei-executive-work-morning-routine-2022-e | https://www.businessinsider.com/nfl-washington-commanders-dei-executive-work-morning-routine-2022-e |
BlackRock's chief global investment strategist shares the 4 best investment opportunities she sees right now — and warns that the risk of a policy mistake by the Fed has grown despite her optimism about the economy
Wei Li, global chief investment strategist, BlackRock Investment Institute.
Wei Li remains constructive on US stocks this year.
However, she warned the risk of the Fed tightening too much is growing.
She shared with Insider where she thinks investors can find the best opportunities.
Wei Li believes some in the investing community are looking at Federal Reserve rate hikes the wrong way.
Instead of focusing on the pace and severity of hikes in the near-term, the BlackRock global chief investment strategist said investors should be paying attention to the terminal federal funds rate, or its eventual peak.
How high the fed funds rate eventually climbs is much more significant in terms of its impact on stocks than how much the Fed hikes rates by at meetings in the months ahead, she said.
"The reason for that is very much around the discount cash model for future earnings," Li told Insider in an April 22 interview, saying that the Fed raising rates above the neutral rate would come at too high a cost for the earnings and the labor market, according to her statistical model.
"If you listen to markets commentary there is a lot of focus on the fact that one year ago we were looking at one rate hike out near the end of 2023, and now we're looking at 2.5% rate hikes in 2022," Li said. "But we think that's actually justified, that's warranted, that in itself shouldn't be a terrifying thing for the equity market."
Li's projected neutral rate for the fed funds rate is 2.25-2.5%.
Li said the risk of the Fed raising rates above the neutral rate has risen since the start of the year. This is because inflation has consistently risen above expectations for longer than expected — the Consumer Price Index now sits at 8.5% year-over-year, the highest in 41 years — and the Fed now needs to respond aggressively to cool off rising prices.
Her base case is that the Fed will be able to conduct a so-called soft landing and not send the economy into recession . One reason for that is because she expects high inflation to start to dissipate.
But the proverbial runway has gotten smaller, she said, with risk on one side of tightening too harshly and risk on the other of not being able to slow down inflation and losing credibility and investor confidence. The Fed's credibility is already seemingly on thin ice, as many investors already think they've made a policy error by not starting to tighten sooner.
Others on Wall Street see the Fed inducing a recession because of its tightening regime ahead.
Deutsche Bank has a target of 2.6% for the fed funds rate peak in 2022, and they said in recent weeks that they see a recession coming in late 2023. Credit Suisse's Jonathan Golub also told Insider in April that he sees a recession coming around Q1 2024.
The bond market also signaled a recession ahead when the 2-year Treasury yield rose higher than the 10-year Treasury yield, inverting the yield curve. An inverted yield curve has preceded every recession since the 1950s, though the inversion usually occurs many months in advance of a downturn.
4 areas where Li sees opportunities
Given that Li's base case is for the economic expansion to continue, she said her first recommendation would be to stay invested broadly in US stocks despite heightened risk.
Another reason she likes stocks more broadly is because of still-unattractive real interest rates. Even though bond yields are rising, they are not rising fast enough to keep pace with inflation.
"I think it's really important to stay invested in the market even though the environment feels scarier compared with last year," she said.
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) offers exposure to US stocks.
More granularly, Li said she likes a barbell approach of investing equal weight in value stocks on one side and tech and healthcare stocks on the other. She likes healthcare and tech on a longer-term basis of multiple years.
Tech is attractive because of its ability to drive innovation and grow explosively despite what macroeconomic trends might be, and healthcare is appealing in part because of the growing focus on healthcare after the pandemic, she said.
Value stocks, meanwhile, have outperformed over the last year — and continue to do so — as investors anticipate higher interest rates, which are typically harmful to longer-duration growth stocks.
The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) and the Healthcare Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) offer diversified exposure to the above sectors.
The iShares Core S&P US Value ETF (IUSV) offers exposure to US value stocks.
More: Investing Investing advice Investing Strategy | 2022-04-27T13:44:02Z | www.businessinsider.com | BlackRock's Top Global Strategist Shares Her 4 Best Investing Ideas | https://www.businessinsider.com/top-investing-strategies-right-now-rising-rates-fed-recession-blackrock-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/top-investing-strategies-right-now-rising-rates-fed-recession-blackrock-2022-4 |
Former Twitter security chief joins CoinList in CEO role as part of an acquisition of his firm
Michael Coates will be CEO of a new security unit of Web3 platform CoinList.
After leaving Twitter, Coates started a security company that's now being acquired.
CoinList says its user numbers have soared 27-fold over the last year.
The former chief information security officer of Twitter is joining CoinList through an acquisition of a data-security firm he founded.
Michael Coates started Altitude Networks in 2018, the same year he left Twitter. Altitude, which has 12 employees, will become part of CoinList, a crypto and token-trading platform.
A price for the acquisition was not disclosed, however Coates confirming the purchase price was eight figures, or at least $10 million. CoinList was most recently valued at $1.5 billion and was initially backed by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey and Polychain Capital.
As part of the deal, Coates will become CEO of a new unit of the company, CoinList Digital Asset Services. Amir Kavousian, who led data security for Capital One before co-founding Altitude, will become CTO of CDAS. Graham Jenkin will remain CEO of CoinList.
"Joining Altitude Networks with CoinList was based on the explosive growth CoinList is facing with their existing offerings and the need to supercharge the next phase with security critical capabilities, an area where we're experts at Altitude," Coates told Insider. CoinList said the number of its users has multiplied by 27 times in the past year.
"With Michael and Amir, we can expand our existing wallet and custody services and dramatically improve our ability to support the newest networks," Jenkin said.
Beyond pumping up security for trading of digital goods and currency and digital wallets, Coates said his work at CoinList will take into account things like "lending, staking and governance," all of which are becoming a bigger part of digital assets. Security breaches have been a major pitfall of Web3, with thefts and scams occurring regularly.
For Coates, one of the most overlooked challenges in Web3 is the "entirety" of an operation's security controls, including more traditional internet functions that Web3 companies still often use. Companies like CoinList need "rock solid Web2 security with applicable and diligent processes across the entire tech stack," he added.
He's one of many high-level internet executives to join a company focused on or building Web3, a catchall term for decentralized digital goods and platforms like blockchain, cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Executives and developers alike are leaving older, more established tech companies like Facebook, Amazon and Google for the new challenge of Web3, as well as the chance to get in early on what could be the next trillion-dollar company.
More: crypto Web3 Tokens | 2022-04-27T14:23:02Z | www.businessinsider.com | CoinList Acquires Altitude Networks, Former Twitter Exec Joins As CEO | https://www.businessinsider.com/coinlist-acquires-altitude-networks-former-twitter-exec-joins-as-ceo-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/coinlist-acquires-altitude-networks-former-twitter-exec-joins-as-ceo-2022-4 |
Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Delaware on April 23, 2022, left. Michael Cohen leaves federal court in Manhattan on Nov. 22, 2021, right.
Left, Joe Maiorana/AP. Right, Carlo Allegri
Donald Trump's deposition has been released in a lawsuit claiming he sicced security on protesters in 2015.
Trump swore under oath that he gave no directives to his security personnel that day.
Michael Cohen has told the protesters' lawyer that Trump's sworn account is inaccurate.
A partial transcript has been released revealing Donald Trump's sworn account of a demonstration outside Trump Tower on September 3, 2015 — a day when his security guards tangled violently with protesters of Mexican heritage who held cardboard signs reading "Make America Racist Again."
Trump swore under oath that he did not sic his security staff on the protesters, or direct them to grab the signs, according to excerpts from an October deposition that were released Tuesday night as part of a lawsuit scheduled for trial in the Bronx next month.
But Michael Cohen has a very different account of Trump's actions that day, the protesters' lawyer said in a filing that accompanied the transcript.
In fact, Cohen was at Trump's side upstairs in Trump Tower that day, and he saw Trump order his top security guard, Keith Schiller, to "get rid" of the demonstrators, the filing in New York State Supreme Court in the Bronx said.
Cohen followed Schiller "downstairs, and then back upstairs," the filing states. Then, "Mr. Cohen observed Defendant Schiller return to Defendant Trump's office with [the protesters'] sign that was forcibly taken" from lead plaintiff Efraim Galicia, the filing said.
"Mr. Cohen is an eyewitness to events taking place in the Trump Organization offices and to Defendant Trump's directive to his private security personnel to 'get rid' of' [the protesters] on September 3, 2015," the protesters' lawyer, Benjamin Dictor, wrote in the filing.
"Moreover, Mr. Cohen's information directly contradicts Defendant Trump's defense that he knew nothing about the Plaintiffs' protest until a day or more after it occurred," the filing continued.
Dictor is asking a judge to briefly delay the original May 2 trial date for the case — which names as defendants Trump, his presidential campaign, his real estate business and Keith Schiller, a retired NYPD detective who has been Trump's director of security since 2004.
Five protesters filed the lawsuit in 2015. They say that the then-presidential candidate directed his security team to violently break up their demonstration on the sidewalk outside the Fifth Avenue Manhattan skyscraper where Trump has a penthouse apartment, the headquarters for his business, and, at the time, his campaign offices.
Schiller specifically is accused of punching lead plaintiff Efrain Galicia in the head after stealing Galicia's sign in a scuffle that was caught on video, including by local cable news channel NY1. Schiller has said in an affidavit that he believed Galicia was grabbing for his gun from behind when he turned and struck Galicia's head with an open hand.
Trump is the lead defendant in the lawsuit, but he's not required to testify in person at trial. Instead, jurors will see his 4.5-hour videotaped deposition, the excerpts of which were released Tuesday night.
Trump had fought hard not to be deposed. Once he was finally under oath six months ago, at a conference table in Trump Tower, he denied any involvement in the protest that happened six years prior, 26 floors below his offices.
"At any time on September 3, 2015, which is the date that Mr. Galicia contends he was injured, did you personally observe anyone protesting outside of Trump Tower?" Trump and Schiller's lawyer, Lawrence Rosen, asked toward the lengthy deposition's end.
"No," Trump answered.
"At any time on September 3, 2015, did you direct Keith Schiller to use force against any of the protesters outside Trump Tower?"
"At any time on September 3, 2015, did you direct anyone to take any of the protesters' signs?"
"No," Trump answered again.
Minutes later, Rosen asked Trump, "At any time on September 3, 2015, did you learn that Keith Schiller had taken one of the protesters' signs?"
Trump then launched into a condemnation of the demonstrators, who had gathered on the sidewalk to protest comments he'd made there three months prior in announcing his run for the White House — including that Mexican immigrants are "bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists."
"Well, sometime after the day that this took place, through a lot of bedlam that was caused by the Ku Klux Klan outfits and all of the things that were happening out there, I started to hear about this," Trump said.
A few of the protesters had worn parody Ku Klux Klan robes, to mock Trump for winning early support of white supremacist and former Grand Wizard David Duke.
"But a lot of public was calling and complaining about it because of the Ku Klux Klan in particular," Trump continued, according to the transcript.
"But so I started to piece things together," he said. "And at some point I heard that there was a sign that was taken away, blocking an entrance to a..." At that point, the transcript excerpt reaches the bottom of a page, and ends.
The delay being requested in the filing that accompanied the excerpts would allow Cohen time to sit for a deposition before the trial starts, and to tell his story in front of lawyers for both sides.
Trump's lawyers had subpoenaed Cohen to sit for an April 6 deposition, but Cohen was a no-show, telling Insider that the subpoena was improperly written, so, "I ignored it."
The matter has since been resolved, according to a stipulation that was also filed Tuesday night.
"Michael Cohen shall appear in person for a video-taped examination before trial at a location to be determined before May. 17, 2022," the stipulation says, adding that the resulting deposition would be played at trial in lieu of Cohen testifying in person.
The filing asks New York State Supreme Court Justice Doris Gonzalez for a new, June 20 trial date; it is signed by Nathaniel K. Charny, another lawyer for the protesters; Jeffrey Goldman, a lawyer representing the Trump campaign; and Alina Habba, a lawyer for Trump, the Trump Organization and Schiller.
Trump's deposition in the protester case is the first he has been successfully compelled to give since the 2016 election. But others will come, since Trump can no longer hold off his crowd of would-be deposers by arguing he is too busy running the country.
The former president's next deposition is scheduled for June 16 in a lawsuit alleging he promoted a scam multi-level marketing scheme. Trump has also been court-ordered to give a deposition by June 21 in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by "Electric Avenue" singer Eddy Grant.
Trump is also appealing a Manhattan judge's order that he sit for a deposition for New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has been probing The Trump Organization for three years.
More: Donald Trump Trump Tower Michael Cohen Protests
Keith Schiller | 2022-04-27T14:23:08Z | www.businessinsider.com | Trump Testified He Didn't Sic Security on Protesters in 2015 | https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-tower-security-protesters-2015-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-tower-security-protesters-2015-2022-4 |
The memo a 23-year-old used instead of a pitch deck to raise $4.5 million for her startup
Phoebe Yao.
Courtesy of Phoebe Yao
Phoebe Yao is the founder of Pareto, a data-collection tool run with the help of virtual assistants.
She started her company in 2020 and has since raised more than $4.5 million.
Yao shared the memo she used instead of a pitch deck for her seed round.
Phoebe Yao, 23, first became intrigued by how the gig economy could help people in developing nations gain access to well-paid opportunities after visiting an impact-focused BPO, or business-process outsourcing, company as an intern for Microsoft Research in India.
So when the Stanford alum moved back to California four months later, she began to think about how she could further connect bootstrapping entrepreneurs with the virtual workforce.
The result was Pareto, launched in May 2020 as a resource for startups to launch successful marketing and sales campaigns with the assistance of "data analysts," or virtual assistants who specialize in using Pareto's software and send data requests to clients.
Pareto now has 11 full-time staff members and 70 data analysts who work on an ad-hoc basis, Yao said. The data analysts, who are largely in the Philippines, were found by Yao through virtual-assistant communities on LinkedIn and Facebook and via referrals. Many are stay-at-home moms who appreciate the flexible hours, Yao said, and once worked in the back office of American companies or in call centers.
Each data analyst who works for Pareto undergoes a two-week training boot camp, where they learn hard skills around basic data-collection tools and soft skills like navigating cultural differences.
Raising funding using a 'memo'
Yao raised $600,000 in October 2019 from startup founders and venture capitalists. Two years later, she raised another $4.5 million from firms like MaC Venture Capital.
For her pre-seed round, Yao said she used a pitch deck. But when she chose to raise a seed round, she decided to switch from visual slides to a memo.
"I was very intimidated by the fundraising process," Yao told Insider. "I didn't really see how I could build the relationships or show up in a way that made sense for my personality."
Yao felt that a memo would better help her get her message across and iterated on it several times before reaching the final product.
"Changing the memo is key to the fundraising process," Yao said. "The first couple of weeks involve talking to investors, learning from those conversations, and learning what to emphasize in the memo. I think I probably edited the memo every day for the first two weeks to make it more succinct."
Yao walked Insider through the memo she used to raise $4.5 million and explained why she thought it worked in getting investors' attention.
Courtesy of Pareto
Yao said she wanted to start the memo with the vision for Pareto so that investors would think big about what it could be.
"We wanted to start with something that would be exciting for investors and show them the world we're trying to build," Yao said.
Yao said she then wanted to highlight that quality data was expensive and hard to access.
"We wanted to help investors understand what's so challenging about this space, and it helps frame the following solution," Yao said.
The goal of this section, she said, was to help investors experience the ease of using Pareto, including the fact that clients can expect a response within 24 hours of sending their first email about the data they need.
Yao knew that adding the customer voice to the memo would be powerful.
"There are three testimonials in the memo," she said. "Austen shows that customers want to fully integrate us into their day-to-day workflows, Michael talks about the core value that Pareto delivers, and David says how we deliver data that is strategic."
The market section says Pareto is part of a large industry that's continuing to grow. Yao said she also wanted to show investors it was a space where money could be made.
Within this section, Yao said she wanted to take investors "under the hood" and show how Pareto takes a simple request from a customer and turns it into machine-readable language that its software can then use to process data.
Traction was one of the three key points that Yao wanted to include in the memo.
"No. 1 was that we're at this incredible point in technology where we can use natural language processes to automate data delivery, which was impossible before," Yao said. "Another key message was that we're growing so fast and our customers appreciate what we're building. And the third key message is that we have a really clear mission-driven culture and we're not going to stop until we figure out what works."
Yao said she wanted to use this section to show investors she had a plan for continuing the company's growth.
"The market is ready for this, and people are excited to use it," Yao said.
This section includes how money will be made moving forward.
"We have a plan for going from project-based revenue to recurring revenue. Recurring revenue is the main thing that investors are focused on," she said.
To show how Pareto is positioned for success, Yao included her background and that of Adrian Villa, Pareto's vice president of engineering.
"Adrian has been the CTO of multiple startups in the past. I wanted to show investors that we had really incredible talent on our team," Yao said.
Yao chose to close the memo by focusing on money.
"It's really a call to action for investors," Yao said. "If they're excited about what we're doing, then they're going to want to get their money in and support us."
More: Features BI-freelancer memo | 2022-04-27T14:23:26Z | www.businessinsider.com | The Memo a Virtual-Task-Force Company Used to Raise $4.5 Million | https://www.businessinsider.com/memo-virtual-taskforce-company-used-raise-5-million-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/memo-virtual-taskforce-company-used-raise-5-million-2022-4 |
These are the 3 best ways to gain exposure to the real estate sector and prepare for inflation, says a strategist for a fund that has risen in 34 out of 37 quarters since its inception in 2012
Residential real estate is one of three subsectors to watch right now, a Bluerock strategist said.
Bluerock's Total Income + Real Estate Fund has had high risk-adjusted returns in the past decade.
Higher inflation has led investors to seek real assets, which historically are strong hedges.
A strategist shares three key real estate subsectors to invest in as inflation rises.
Investors who chase eye-popping gains in speculative stocks and cryptocurrencies have probably been disappointed in 2022 as risky assets continue to sell off.
Maybe they'd be better off pursuing solid, steady gains — like the kind that the Bluerock Total Income + Real Estate Fund (TIPRX) has consistently produced in the past decade.
The fund is up 10% this year — on pace to top the 9% annual gain it's averaged in its lifetime — while the S&P 500 has declined nearly 13% year-to-date.
The publicly traded interval fund has closed in the green every year since its inception in 2012 and — amazingly — has posted only three losing quarters in that span, out of a possible 37. It has fetched annual returns of between 1.4% and 21.6%, according to Morningstar, and has only returned less than 6% in a year once.
What's even more impressive than those returns is that the team at Bluerock Capital Markets running the fund has managed to hit those marks without taking on outsized risk.
In fact, an analysis of the Bluerock Total Income + Real Estate Fund and 6,138 competing open-end funds, closed-end funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) conducted by Bluerock using data from Morningstar Direct — which was then reviewed by Insider — showed that Bluerock's fund has had the highest Sharpe and Sortino ratios — two metrics designed to measure risk-adjusted returns — since it began trading on October 22, 2012.
Miguel Sosa, a research strategist at Bluerock who works on the investment product, gave Insider some insight into how the Bluerock Total Income + Real Estate Fund pulled this off.
"The natural question that we get is: How have you delivered these returns?" Sosa told Insider in a recent interview. "Very briefly for you, it's three fundamental pillars."
Those pillars are as follows, Sosa said: Private real estate, which is the asset class that the fund invests in and is what Sosa called "very stable" and "very growth-oriented;" subadvisors that the firm partners with to develop its strategies; and carefully constructed active asset management.
High inflation means high real estate returns
Though retail investors can't easily access the private real estate markets and institutional funds that Bluerock can, Sosa said that there are still ways to get exposure to the three subsectors within real estate that are substantial parts of the Bluerock Total Income + Real Estate Fund.
Sosa thinks that real estate is a particularly smart investment right now, given that abnormally high inflation has some experts worried about another recession.
In fact, four-decade-high inflation is one of the most compelling catalysts for the real estate sector, which is up 16.4% in the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 is barely breaking even.
"Real estate, historically, has been a very good hedge against inflation," Sosa said. "That's because it's ultimately a real asset, and it's an asset that is limited in supply by its very nature. You can't create new land; you can't create desirable land. Demand continues to grow for it over time."
Sosa continued: "So if you're a long term investor — especially during times of inflation — again, historically speaking — if we look at periods of high inflation, such as the late '70s, early '80s, and periods of the '90s — real estate has performed strongly."
Though Sosa said that there's evidence that inflation is starting to peak — such as falling car and energy prices — and should decelerate further in the coming years as supply-chain issues get resolved, he said that higher prices are still likely to persist for at least the next year or two.
How to invest in real estate during periods of high inflation
Investors can get inflation protection through real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the following three real estate subsectors: industrial, residential, and life sciences.
Real estate's industrial subsector, which includes warehouses and fulfillment centers, has had a great run but is still benefiting from a watershed shift accelerated by the pandemic, Sosa said. Distribution chains have been disrupted as three key trends continue to develop, Sosa said: the decline of physical brick-and-mortar stores, the e-commerce boom, and the advent of two-day, one-day, and even same-day delivery for goods purchased online.
As online order fulfillment gets more challenging and competitive, businesses are getting more efficient by establishing several smaller shipping centers instead of having one huge hub, Sosa said. More warehouse space is required than ever before, which should boost REITs in the space.
"The existing warehouses that they had no longer are suitable for this online presence," Sosa said.
The residential subsector of real estate has also taken off as a supply-demand mismatch in the housing sector sends home and apartment prices skyward, Sosa said. Since the financial crisis, home supply hasn't kept pace with demand as the US population grows, the strategist noted, and the pandemic led to millions of people relocating — especially out of cities.
Multifamily residential REITs are Bluerock's favorite way to play this trend, Sosa said, adding that properties in the Sun Belt are especially attractive because of the region's lower cost of living and plethora of jobs compared to cities in other parts of the country. Another catalyst for this subsector is that higher real wage growth should continue to support higher rent payments.
Finally, Sosa said he's excited about the life sciences real estate subsector — largely because of a significant supply-demand mismatch in the space.
Demand for new life-saving and -improving medications is as strong as ever, Sosa said, and job prospects in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries are strong. But building the laboratories that those companies use can be a challenge because of specific water, ventilation, and structural requirements, Sosa said, so labs tend to be concentrated in certain areas.
"You just can't take your run-of-the-mill office complex and convert it into a biotech center," Sosa said.
The strategist continued: "These types of very specific constraints limit the real estate developers that can construct or convert a life sciences complex for a life sciences tenant. And so this — and just the strong demand that we're seeing for novel therapeutics — really gives developers and real estate owners the upper hand in the life science sector."
Investors aiming to get exposure to those three real estate subsectors can either invest in the Bluerock Total Income + Real Estate Fund, which focuses on private markets, or target shares of REITs, or ETFs composed of REITs, in those industries. Note that the following list of ETFs and stocks was compiled by Insider and is not an investing recommendation from Sosa.
For focused exposure to the industrial subsector of real estate, investors can consider the Pacer Benchmark Industrial Real Estate SCTR ETF (INDS). A top way to get direct exposure to the residential real estate subsector is the iShares Residential and Multisector Real Estate ETF (REZ). And a REIT that's as well connected as any to the lifesciences subsector of real estate is Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE).
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Miguel Sosa Bluerock | 2022-04-27T14:23:38Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Invest in Real Estate: 3 Sectors From Top Fund Strategist | https://www.businessinsider.com/real-estate-investing-housing-market-home-prices-inflation-hedge-bluerock-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/real-estate-investing-housing-market-home-prices-inflation-hedge-bluerock-2022-4 |
In early April, a judge ordered the restaurants to pay just over $890,000 to the affected employees.
Mariah Tauger/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Two New Hampshire restaurants admitted that four servers worked for tips only.
The restaurants also admitted to failing to properly compensate around 58 employees for overtime.
A judge ordered the restaurants to pay just over $890,000 to the affected employees.
A judge has ordered two New Hampshire restaurants to pay almost $900,000 in back wages and damages to staff after a labor department investigation uncovered workplace violations, including not paying wages to some servers and only letting them take home tips.
The US Department of Labor said Monday that the La Carreta restaurants in Derry and Londonderry and a general manager agreed to pay $445,085 in back wages, plus the same amount in damages, to 63 employees after the investigation found that they had violated fair labor requirements, including on paying overtime premiums to some staff.
In a lawsuit filed in December 2020, the DOL said that the restaurant in Derry paid three front-of-house employees "no wage at all, requiring them to rely exclusively on tips for their pay." Two of the employees received no wages during "most or all" of the time between November 2016 and November 2019, the department said. The restaurant admitted to the allegations in a response filed in February 2021.
The Londonderry restaurant also made one employee rely solely on tips, the DOL said. The employee didn't get wages during "most or all" of the time from July 2016 to July 2017, the department said, although the restaurant only admitted that it had occurred between November 2016 and July 2017, saying the longer time period was out of the scope of the lawsuit.
According to the labor department, by not paying wages, the restaurant violated the Minimum Wage Act, which stipulates that workers must be paid at least $7.25 an hour. For tipped employees in New Hampshire, the company has to pay at least $3.26 an hour, with tips bringing the minimum up to $7.25 an hour.
The DOL said the restaurants also failed to pay overtime premiums. On top of the four servers not paid any wages, around a further 60 staff across the restaurants were not paid the one and a half-times pay rate applicable for time worked beyond a weekly total of 40 hours, the DOL said. Staff at the restaurants were required to work on average 63 hours a week, the department added.
Some staff received their regular rate of pay during overtime hours, while others were given a lump sum that didn't match the rate set out by the Fair Labor Standards Act, the DOL said.
The restaurants admitted that they failed to properly compensate "approximately" 58 employees, and that some were paid regular wages for overtime hours.
The restaurants also failed to keep "adequate and accurate records" of employers' names, hours worked, and wages paid, according to the DOL.
In addition to the two restaurants – La Carreta owns six in total across southern New Hampshire – the lawsuit listed Heriberto Leon, general manager at the Londonderry restaurant, as a defendant.
In a response to the lawsuit, the restaurants denied claims that their violations of the FLSA were knowing, deliberate, or intentional. The restaurants did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
In a consent judgment on April 5, Paul Barbadoro, a US district judge in New Hampshire, ordered the restaurants to pay the back wages and damages to the affected workers. One of the employees is set to receive more than $143,000, while two will be paid around $135,000 each.
"Paying restaurant workers straight-time for their overtime hours and requiring servers to work for tips only with no cash wages is quite simply wage theft," Steven McKinney, district director of the DOL's Wage and Hour Division in Manchester, New Hampshire, said in a press release Monday.
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hospitality workers | 2022-04-27T14:23:44Z | www.businessinsider.com | NH Restaurants Didn't Pay Servers, Only Let Them Work for Tips: Lawsuit | https://www.businessinsider.com/restaurants-didnt-pay-servers-only-tips-manchester-new-hampshire-dol-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/restaurants-didnt-pay-servers-only-tips-manchester-new-hampshire-dol-2022-4 |
A US judge forcefully rejected requests from Elon Musk to soften his agreement with the SEC.
Since 2018, Musk has had to have any tweets material to Tesla pre-approved by a lawyer.
In his decision, the judge called Musk's request "meritless and, in this case, particularly ironic."
Even as Elon Musk is on the verge of becoming the owner of Twitter, he'll still be legally required to run some tweets past his Tesla "Twitter sitter."
In a scathing decision, US District Judge Lewis J. Liman rejected a bid to soften the terms of the agreement Musk has with the US Securities Exchange Commission, which was put in place following Musk's now-infamous "funding secured" tweet in 2018.
The two provisions Musk wanted to be quashed were the subpoena the SEC has in place to investigate Tesla's compliance with its investigations, and the agreement that a company lawyer would pre-approve any public statements (especially on Twitter) by Musk that investors could consider significant.
Musk has been most vocal about what he has described as a campaign of harassment by the regulatory body, specifically by the San Francisco SEC field office.
But Judge Liman rejected those complaints, pointing to the SEC's broad enforcement mandate and Musk's apparent violations of the agreement.
"Musk may wish it were otherwise, but he remains subject to the same enforcement authority — and has the same means to challenge the exercise of that authority — as any other citizen," he wrote. "Indeed, to conclude otherwise would be to hold that a serial violator of the securities laws or a recidivist would enjoy greater protection against SEC enforcement than a person who had never even been accused of a securities law violation."
In requesting that his public statements about Tesla no longer be subject to review by a company lawyer, Musk invoked the First Amendment, saying that the consent decree amounts to unjust prior restraint on his protected speech.
Musk also argued that the SEC was abusing this rule as a basis to harass him and launch unreasonable investigations into his company. (The agreement covers only material information about Tesla's financial situation that would ordinarily require an 8-K filing with the SEC.)
Judge Liman had little patience for that line of reasoning, calling it "meritless and, in this case, particularly ironic."
Not only do defendants routinely waive portions of their basic rights — including free speech and due process — in the course of settlements, "It is unsurprising," Judge Liman wrote, that when Musk said he would base his decision to sell a tenth of his Tesla shares on the results of a Twitter poll, "the SEC would have some questions."
More: Elon Musk Funding secured Twitter SEC | 2022-04-27T18:13:34Z | www.businessinsider.com | Judge Blasts Elon Musk's 'Meritless' Bid to Tweet About Tesla | https://www.businessinsider.com/judge-blasts-elon-musk-meritless-bid-tweet-about-tesla-sec-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/judge-blasts-elon-musk-meritless-bid-tweet-about-tesla-sec-2022-4 |
Many more unicorn startups will go bankrupt, a VC who has backed Nest and Nextdoor, warns
Jason Pressman is the managing director of Shasta Ventures.
Jason Pressman is managing director of VC firm Shasta Ventures, which manages over a billion dollars.
He does not view the rapid demise of the one-click startup, Fast, as an isolated incident.
Pressman says most categories of startups are "overfunded and overhyped."
An early-stage investor says the biggest war for talent he's seen in his quarter-century working in Silicon Valley — combined with scores of overvalued, eight-figure startups — will lead to more large, venture-backed companies going out of business.
"I think there's overfunding and overhype in many sectors," Jason Pressman, the managing director of Shasta Ventures, said. "It's hard to think of a category that doesn't feel overfunded to be quite honest."
Shasta Ventures is an early-stage fund with $1.4 billion under management that has invested in companies from Nest to Nextdoor.
Pressman said he doesn't view the demise of Fast — the one-click startup once valued at a billion dollars that abruptly shut down earlier this month — as an isolated incident.
"We will see more Fasts," Pressman predicted. "I don't think it's going to become super prevalent, because companies are well-capitalized and boards are adjusting, but there will definitely be more."
After leading the development of Walmart.com as an executive at the retail giant in the early aughts, Pressman joined Shasta soon after it started, in 2005. He is unusually blunt among Silicon Valley VCs in his assessment of the tech market, but he's also critical of peers who have been scared away from backing early-stage companies.
Pressman said VCs have not only soured on financial technology companies like Fast but also on social-media and consumer hardware ones, in the wake of Meta's nearly 40% drop and Peloton's 80% plunge in stock value over the past year. (Shasta invested in a Peloton competitor, Tonal, in 2020; Robert Coneybeer, Shasta's cofounder and managing director, sits on Tonal's board of directors.)
Pressman, who sits on the boards of the online neighborhood community site Nextdoor, human-resources software company Lattice, and subscription-management company Zuora, said he has seen a sudden and marked shift away from the grow-at-all-cost mindset that dominated much of the last decade.
"All the boards I'm on and our firm is becoming more cognizant of the fact that the fundraising environment is more challenging, and therefore we need to moderate burn rates, have slower growth plans, and raise sooner with lower expectations," Pressman said.
The biggest challenge startups face is the tight labor market, especially for highly sought-after roles like engineers and UX designers, according to Pressman. He says every board discussion is dominated by concerns about turnover rates of more than 20%, which means companies have to spend big to retain and attract top employees, increasing salaries by upward of 30% a year.
"The war for talent is nuts," Pressman said. "I've been in the Valley for 25 years, and I have never seen anything like this."
Given Pressman's concerns about overhyped tech companies, one might expect Shasta to pause or at least slow its pace of investing, but Pressman said that would be a major mistake.
"We have a strong view about temporal diversification, which is just investing smoothly over time," Pressman said. "What most early-stage VCs do, I think, is really stupid, which is that they react to what's going on in the public markets. And that's really dumb because the companies we're investing in are five to 10 years away from liquidity , and it doesn't matter what's going on in the public markets right now."
Uber, Airbnb, Slack , and Warby Parker are among the companies that famously started right before or during the last Great Recession.
Shasta has made ten investments so far this year, according to PitchBook data, including Kubit, a product-analytics startup; Mayday Labs, which makes smart calendars; and CommerceIQ, a retail e-commerce management platform.
One thing Shasta has been doing differently for the past few years is selling some positions early, before a company goes public or gets acquired, a once-frowned-upon practice that has shed much of its stigma and has become popular with other early-stage VCs.
Pressman won't disclose which positions Shasta has cashed out, but said when a company in his portfolio reaches a billion-dollar valuation, Shasta will sometimes sell a 10% stake to take some money off the table.
"We're going continue to evaluate those opportunities as an early-stage fund," Pressman said. | 2022-04-27T18:13:52Z | www.businessinsider.com | Shasta Ventures' VC Is Sounding the Alarm on Unicorn Startup Failures | https://www.businessinsider.com/shasta-ventures-jason-pressman-unicorn-startup-failures-vc-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/shasta-ventures-jason-pressman-unicorn-startup-failures-vc-2022-4 |
Bank of America: Investors are aggressively buying the dip in these 5 sectors as individual stock inflows reach their highest level since February
Investors have been buying the dip most strongly in five sectors.
Stocks have been getting crushed lately, but investors have been net buyers for two straight weeks.
Inflows to single stocks were the biggest they've been since February.
Here are the five sectors with the largest inflows — and 10 buy-rated stocks across those sectors.
Investors have been buying the dip in stocks, according to new data from Bank of America, though it would be impossible to tell by looking at the ugly price action in markets lately.
Bank of America clients have been net buyers of US stocks for the past two weeks, wrote Jill Carey Hall, a US equity strategist who heads up BofA's small- and mid-cap investing strategy, in an April 26 note. The S&P 500 has retreated 4.8% in that nine-session span.
Buying was driven by BofA's institutional clients for the second straight week, Hall wrote, adding that retail clients were dip-buyers on a net basis for the first time in three weeks. Hedge funds, however, were net sellers of stocks for the eighth consecutive week, Hall noted.
Inflows to single stocks — excluding buybacks — last week were the highest since February, Hall wrote, even as markets fell 2.8%. But exchange-traded funds (ETFs) composed of stocks fell for the fourth week in a row despite value ETFs logging their 10th straight week of inflows.
Dip-buying has been strongest in these 5 sectors
Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors saw net inflows last week, Hall wrote, though buying was especially pronounced in five sectors: technology, healthcare, industrials, real estate, and consumer discretionary. The financials, energy, and materials sectors saw small net inflows, while "bond-proxy sectors" like utilities, consumer staples, and communication services saw net outflows as interest rates rebounded, Hall noted.
The five sectors that had the highest inflows last week are far from homogenous. Tech and consumer discretionary are typically thought of as growth-heavy sectors, while industrials and real estate often have a higher concentration of value stocks. The healthcare sector has a mix. Four of the five sectors are classified as cyclical — except for healthcare, which is defensive.
Investors appear to be treating the weakness in the tech sector — which matched the S&P 500's 2.8% drop last week — as a buying opportunity. Net inflows to the sector were the highest among all 11 sectors last week and were the most positive they've been since February, marking the third-straight week of accelerated buying in the sector, Hall noted.
Meanwhile, materials may not have seen large inflows, but the sector extended its positive-flow streak to five weeks — the longest active run of any sector. Along with industrials, materials have seen the largest inflows so far in 2022, Hall noted.
The consumer discretionary sector has struggled this year, but there's reason to believe that the worst of the outflows from the sector may be over, Hall wrote. Back-to-back weeks of inflows suggest that BofA clients are dipping their toes back into the beaten-down sector.
"Clients bought Consumer Discretionary stocks for the second consecutive week following historically extreme outflows in the four weeks prior (and the biggest outflows of any sector YTD)," Hall wrote in the note. "As we highlighted last week and the week before, such extreme outflows have typically suggested that sector performance could be close to bottoming."
While Hall didn't share any investing recommendations in the note, Insider recently compiled a list of 14 stock picks that have a buy rating from Bank of America, and also topped revenue and earnings expectations last quarter.
Ten of those stocks fall into one of the five sectors that saw the largest inflows last week. All ten can be found below, along with their ticker, sector, and market cap .
8. Option Care Health
9. WEX
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bank of america stock picks
bank of america investing
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consumer discretionary sector | 2022-04-27T18:13:58Z | www.businessinsider.com | Bank of America: 5 Stock Market Sectors With Highest Investor Interest | https://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-to-buy-market-sectors-inflows-outflows-bank-of-america-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-to-buy-market-sectors-inflows-outflows-bank-of-america-2022-4 |
Why pay off my student loans early?
What should you do before paying off your student debt early?
Should you pay off federal or private student loans first?
What is the biggest benefit to paying off your student debt fast?
Feel like you're suffocating under a pile of student loan debt? Here's how to get out from under it
Budgeting is key to paying off your student loans fast.
Paying off your student loans quickly starts with a thorough, well-researched budget.
Private loans often charge higher rates than federal ones, so you may want to pay those off first.
You'll free up cash to pursue other financial goals when you pay off your loans early.
Paying off student loan debt is a significant milestone. It's an accomplishment that frees up hundreds of dollars in monthly budgets for many borrowers.
However much you owe, paying it off quickly may offer peace of mind and the room to pursue other financial goals. Here's what you need to know about how to get out from under your student loan debt fast.
Where should I begin to start paying down my student loans fast?
The path to paying down your student loans starts with a budget. Mark Reyes, a certified financial planner with the personal-finance app Albert, recommends the 50/20/30 budget, where 50% of your income goes toward your essentials, 20% to your savings and investing, and 30% to whatever you want.
Begin this process by making a spreadsheet on your computer, using a budgeting app, or trying out a budget worksheet from a student loan company like Sallie Mae.
"Know who you owe and how much you owe," says Rick Castellano, spokesperson at the student loan company Sallie Mae. "It sounds simple, but that's one of the first things that we talk to students about. When it's a federal student loan, that means knowing who your federal student loan servicer is, and that can change from time to time. That'll help you to build the strategy around paying it down faster."
You may also consider starting to pay off your student loans while in school, an option some students might not know they have. A recent report from Sallie Mae finds that 56% of families are making student loan payments while in school, which helps save on the overall cost of the loan.
"If you're a current student and you want to start making payments now, you can definitely knock out some of the principal and make small payments to make sure that the interest doesn't accrue," Reyes says. "That way, you're taking actionable steps to lower that debt."
Paying off your student loans early frees up cash in your budget that you can then reallocate to other financial goals. You'll also lower your debt-to-income ratio, which you calculate by dividing all your monthly debt payments by your gross monthly income. The lower this ratio, the more likely you are to get approved for a loan and for better terms.
You may be able to start putting extra money toward your retirement savings once you pay off your student loans, setting yourself up for future financial success.
Castellano emphasizes that trying to pay off your student loan debt fast shouldn't come at the expense of ignoring other financial obligations. High interest credit card debt or a car loan may have higher interest rates than your student loan, so trying to pay off your student loan first might cost you more in total interest across all your debt.
Reyes says you should make sure you have paid off all of your so-called toxic debt with high interest rates such as credit cards and personal loans before making substantial payments toward your student loans.
"A lot of folks get kind of fixated on just becoming debt free and don't realize that there's good kinds of debt, and then there's bad," Reyes says. "Making sure that you prioritize paying off your toxic debt first is always a great sign to make sure that you know you're healthy enough to pay off your student loans."
Reyes also suggests building an emergency fund to cover three to six months of your essential expenses. This can help protect your finances if you lose your job, face a large medical bill, or incur other unexpected costs. You'll have a safety net to fall back on instead of having to take on high-interest credit card debt or a personal loan.
When deciding between prioritizing your federal or private student loans, Reyes recommends the "avalanche method." With the avalanche method, you make minimum payments on all of your debt and then focus any extra money on paying down your highest interest rate debt.
Private loans often come with higher interest rates and with fewer protections, so in many cases it makes sense to pay them off first. For example, the interest-free repayment pause on federal loans during the pandemic provided a good opportunity to pay down private loans — which continued charging interest — more aggressively.
On the other hand, any payments on federal student loans made during the payment applied directly to the balance, potentially reducing the amount of interest you pay over the life of your loan by hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
There are many pros to paying down your debt quickly, including the freedom to take your money and put it somewhere else, Castellano says. It may help you accomplish other financial goals and achieve financial independence, he says.
Many of the clients Reyes meets with at Albert talk about feeling like their student loan debt is never going to end, which takes a toll on their mental well-being. Reyes says paying off student loan debt early helps free borrowers of the emotional burden that accompanies it.
"If you can get the win of paying off your student loan debt, it encourages you to realize, 'Oh, what else can I do with my finances? What other financial goals may I be able to achieve?,'" Reyes says. "Maybe I can afford that house. Maybe I can get this car. Maybe I can get my credit score even higher now because I know that I can accomplish this."
PERSONAL FINANCE The best private student loans of 2022
PERSONAL FINANCE Student loan forgiveness is closer than ever for over 3 million borrowers — here's what you need to know
PERSONAL FINANCE This week's student loan refinancing rates: April 26, 2022 | 5-year undergraduate rates drop by nearly 0.50%
More: Student Loans Loans Sallie Mae Albert | 2022-04-27T19:00:55Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Pay Off Student Loans Quickly | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-to-pay-off-student-loan-debt-fast | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-to-pay-off-student-loan-debt-fast |
Robinhood's founders were 'visibly shaken' in announcing layoffs, but insiders say the writing was on the wall. 'There was not enough work and too many people.'
Asia Martin, Kylie Robison, Carter Johnson, and Bianca Chan
Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt attend Robinhood Markets IPO Listing Day on July 29, 2021 in New York City.
Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Robinhood
Retail-investing app Robinhood on Tuesday announced it was laying off 9% of its full-time staff.
Insiders say the company hired too many people in the wake of the GameStop trading mania.
Some employees expressed displeasure that the news comes on the heels of an announced acquisition.
When online brokerage Robinhood went public last July, the company was riding the wave of a retail trading frenzy that had dominated markets and headlines throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
The Menlo Park, Calif., startup — a pioneer of zero-commission stock trading — IPOed at a valuation of $32 billion after nearly doubling its customers in 2021. Robinhood, founded in 2013 by Vlad Tenev and Baiju Bhatt, had come a long way.
But this Tuesday, Tenev announced that Robinhood plans to lay off 9% of its total staff of nearly 4,000 employees as the company grapples with a new reality plagued by inflation, rising interest rates and volatile stock trading.
One Robinhood employee described the company's founders as "visibly shaken" in announcing the layoffs to employees at an all-hands meeting Tuesday.
"It was very solemn, people on the call looked sad," this person said of the meeting. "The founders were visibly shaken delivering news, which I think people appreciated that it didn't feel like lip service. Like this is something that really felt like a last resort in terms of how they kind of appeared emotionally."
But some Robinhood insiders said the layoffs were hardly a surprise. One former employee described the brokerage's business as slowing as the surge in pandemic-fueled retail trading faded this year, exacerbated by a rout in tech stocks, SPAC names, and Reddit darlings that had driven retail volumes.
"It was clear that there was not enough work and too many people. There were no new roles to really move up into or do something else with," the former employee, who left Robinhood last November, told Insider.
"It was pretty clear that they over hired," said the employee, a broker who worked with customers on complicated products, like margin and options trading.
The company "grew too fast, too quick," added a second employee, who was laid off this week after just six months on the job. "Just sad it had to go down like this."
From 'hyper growth' to cuts
Tenev on Tuesday also cited the company's "hyper growth" during the pandemic, saying the "rapid headcount growth led to some duplicate roles and job functions, and more layers and complexity than are optimal."
Headcount ballooned to 3,800 in 2021, up from 700 in 2019, Tenev wrote. Moving forward, Tenev said the firm would prioritize introducing internal use cases for automation.
Tenev didn't mention whether retail investors are also pulling back on trading. But Robinhood's own quarterly filings show that the company's once supercharged growth has been decelerating.
In the fourth quarter of last year, the brokerage's number of monthly active users shrank to 17.3 million (an 8% decrease from the prior quarter). Earlier in 2021, those users had been growing by north of 50%. And new funded accounts showed a similar trend, with Robinhood adding just 800,000 in the fourth quarter (in early 2021, that number was 5.7 million).
Data from data tracker Apptopia show that downloads and daily active users have plummeted in recent months, with downloads down 38% in the 90-day period ending April 26. DAUs were down 22% in the same period.
The startup's stock price, meanwhile, fell more than 70% from its IPO price of $38, to just above $10 this Monday.
Another sore point for employees: Robinhood's announced purchase earlier this month of Ziglu Limited, a UK-based electronic money institution and crypto-asset firm.
"We just signed a deal to acquire a crypto company in the UK, so that feels really weird," an employee told Insider. "That announcement was made last week and we didn't disclose the amount, but it's obviously going to be a significant amount of money for acquiring a company. And for this to come right after that, it hit really hard basically."
"To sign and to announce last week, last Tuesday morning, and then to have this layoff announcement exactly one week later, it's just tough. It's tough to hear together basically," this person added.
Tenev in his letter to staff suggested the company would not shrink from its planned expansion into crypto and internationally, despite the cuts. "We will continue to accelerate our product momentum through 2022 and will introduce key new products across Brokerage, Crypto, and Spending/Saving," he said in the memo.
"And of course, our international expansion efforts will continue to accelerate from here."
It remains to be seen if the layoffs were concentrated to a specific division, as the company says it continues to hire in "key roles." The former employee who left the firm in November said that the firm had "laid off a lot of the top performers," while another employee told Insider there were "lots of early-career layoffs."
That employee, meanwhile, described fear at the prospect of further layoffs to come. Robinhood reports its first-quarter financial earnings on Thursday, and poor results could pressure the startup's investors — the largest of which include Ribbit Capital, Cathie Wood's ARK Investment Management, Sequoia, and Tiger Global, among others — to push for further expense reduction. Among some investors and industry analysts, meanwhile, Robinhood seems a likely acquisition target, they told Insider in February.
More: Robinhood Stock Trading | 2022-04-27T19:01:01Z | www.businessinsider.com | Robinhood Employees React to Layoffs: It 'Grew Too Fast, Too Quick.' | https://www.businessinsider.com/robinhood-employees-react-to-layoffs-it-grew-too-fast-too-quick-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/robinhood-employees-react-to-layoffs-it-grew-too-fast-too-quick-2022-4 |
Satellite images of Sevastopol and the dolphin pens at the entrance to the Sevastopol Bay
Militarized dolphin pens were seen in satellite photos of a Russian naval base.
Animals in military marine mammal programs are trained to detect enemy swimmers and sea mines.
The dolphins could foil Ukrainian special operations attempting to sabotage Russian warships.
Satellite images captured by Maxar Technologies show two pens containing trained dolphins belonging to the Russian Navy at the harbor of Sevastopol, Crimea, a major port on the Black Sea.
Russia has deployed the militarized dolphins to protect its Black Sea naval base by foiling Ukrainian undersea operations aimed at sabotaging Russian warships, USNI News, a news and analysis site by the US Naval Institute, reported.
According to the report, the pens were moved to the naval base in February following Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian navy has operated a trained marine mammal program in Sevastopol since the Cold War, with the units being transferred to the Ukrainian armed forces following the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, USNI News reported. Russia regained the units following the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and expanded operations ever since, according to the report.
Animals in marine mammal programs — ranging from dolphins and beluga whales to sea lions and seals — are trained to find enemy combat swimmers and detect bottom mines and moored mines, according to H I Sutton, an expert on submarine and sub-surface systems who first reported on the dolphin pens in Sevastopol.
Four countries are known to run such military programs, including the US, Russia, Israel, and North Korea, according to Sutton.
More: Dolphins Russia Ukraine | 2022-04-28T03:22:49Z | www.businessinsider.com | Satellite Photos: Militarized Dolphin Pens at Russian Naval Base | https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-photos-militarized-dolphin-pens-at-russian-naval-base-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-photos-militarized-dolphin-pens-at-russian-naval-base-2022-4 |
Russian media outlets have tried to paint Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a drug addict.
Two videos shared by pro-Russia groups depict Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a cocaine addict.
In reality, the videos are altered versions of footage readily available to the public.
Russia has attempted to depict Zelenskyy as a drug addict since the start of the war.
Two doctored videos depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a cocaine user have been circulating on pro-Russia Telegram channels and social media groups.
The first video appears to show powdered cocaine and a credit card on Zelenskyy's desk while he speaks to billionaire Elon Musk over a video call.
The doctored footage was shared on Sunday on a Telegram channel name "Special Operation in Ukraine. True News."
"We don't know if it was editing or just Zelenskyy's cameraman was also on drugs and missed such a moment in the frame," wrote one of the channel's administrators in the accompanying post seen by Insider.
"Work requiring additional concentration!" reads another sarcastic post by Ilya Kiva, a pro-Russia former member of Ukraine's parliament who also shared the video.
The original clip was shared on Zelenskyy's Instagram page on March 6 and clearly shows that the space on the Ukrainian leader's desk was empty during his call with Musk.
Another doctored video being circulated involves clips from a January 2019 interview with Zelenskyy conducted by the Ukrainian Pravda news outlet.
"How do you feel about cocaine?" read the English subtitles on the doctored clip.
"Awesome! Awesome! Energy man number one. Seriously! This is energy for the whole day," Zelenskyy says, according to the video's subtitles. "At 7 a.m. I got up. Took a walk with the dog. And I do snort drugs. This is the mode. I live in it!"
The video, which has been viewed on Twitter 42,000 times, was posted with the caption: "Video Emerges Of Ukraine's President Zelensky Allegedly Praising Cocaine" with the hashtag #Cocaineisahellofadrug.
—𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚁𝚊𝚋𝚋𝚒𝚝 ❼ (@thedailyrabbit) April 19, 2022
However, according to The Associated Press, the clips in the viral video were cut and reassembled out of context. In reality, Zelenskyy denied taking cocaine in the video interview and instead spoke about his morning exercise routine and love of coffee.
"Great! Great! No, I'm sitting on something white, but it is a chair. It's not cocaine. I don't use drugs," Zelenskyy said when asked if he was taking drugs, according to a translation by the outlet.
"I breathe coffee, because I am very addicted to coffee. I really like coffee, it's true," the Ukrainian leader had said, per AP.
"This is the routine I'm doing. At 7 a.m. in the morning I get up, take my dog out and exercise. What is the use of exercising? It's about forcing you. Energy for the whole day, I recommend it to everyone, but not through intensive practice because it makes you sleepy during the day," he also said, AP reported.
At the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin called Ukraine's government "a band of drug addicts and neo-Nazis." The Kremlin and pro-Putin media outlets, such as Lenta.RU and Radio Sputnik, have seized on the claim as the conflict progressed. | 2022-04-28T05:36:27Z | www.businessinsider.com | Pro-Russia Spreading Doctored Videos Depicting Zelenskyy As Drug User | https://www.businessinsider.com/pro-russia-spreading-doctored-videos-depicting-zelenskyy-as-drug-user-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/pro-russia-spreading-doctored-videos-depicting-zelenskyy-as-drug-user-2022-4 |
The exterior of the M250 houseboat.
I boarded a floating tiny home which is only 250 square feet but is fully equipped for people to live onboard.
The houseboat has enough space for a living area, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and outside space.
Some buyers use them as holiday homes, others as a permanent residence, the manufacturer told Insider.
This floating tiny home is only 250 square feet but is spacious enough to live on comfortably. I hopped on the houseboat to take a look while it was docked at St. Katherine's Dock in London.
Inside the M250 floating home.
The name of the floating home model, M250, is derived from its size.
The living area in the M250 floating home.
Though it was compact, the floating home felt spacious. It has enough room for a double bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living area, and balcony.
The houseboat is built in the UK by On Water Developments. John Wood, cofounder of the company, said the homes are perfect for a few nights away, but some people purchase them as a permanent residence.
The sleeping area inside the floating home.
Buyer interest in the floating homes is varied and often reflects trends in local housing markets, Wood told Insider.
The kitchen area in the M250 floating home.
In UK seaside towns and resorts they are often bought for use as holiday homes. But they have also attracted interest from young professionals in urban centres, like London, who want to use them as permanent residences, Wood added.
The M250 houseboat.
Bates Wharf Marine.
The floating homes are sold as part of a package. Buyers purchase both the home and the right to keep it at a marina of their choice, but still have to pay an annual mooring fee on top, Wood told Insider.
The living space is compact but airy.
Buyers often choose to keep their floating homes in sheltered waters, such as marinas and lakes.
The bathroom space inside the floating home.
The M250 I boarded is the first of the smaller units to be showcased, but Bates Wharf have also sold a number of houseboats which are around three times larger and have the proportions of a modern home, complete with open plan lounge and integrated kitchen, according to Wood.
The floating home that I boarded had a small outdoor balcony, spacious enough to fit outdoor furniture. The home floats on a concrete pontoon according to Bates Wharf Marine who market the homes.
The floating home also has a small outside space.
The tiny home's compact kitchen is kitted out with a hob, sink, microwave, and fridge.
The kitchen area in the floating home
For colder weather, the living space has a small gas fire and is also fitted with electric panel heaters, according to Bates Wharf Marine's website.
More: Features Boats Real Estate tiny home | 2022-04-28T06:24:13Z | www.businessinsider.com | This 250 Square-Foot Houseboat Is Roomy Enough to Live on: See Inside | https://www.businessinsider.com/this-250-square-foot-houseboat-roomy-enough-live-see-inside-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/this-250-square-foot-houseboat-roomy-enough-live-see-inside-2022-4 |
Ирина Мещерякова/Getty Images
Char Nicholson, a 30-year-old financier, told Insider she was quoted HK$200,000 ($25,487) to transport her two snub-nosed dogs from Hong Kong to Singapore. However, she would need to fly back to Hong Kong to accompany the dogs on the flight.
More: jet aircraft COVID China Hong Kong
Pets on Jets | 2022-04-28T07:07:39Z | www.businessinsider.com | People Are Chartering Private Jets to Get Their Pets Out of Hong Kong | https://www.businessinsider.com/hong-kong-pet-exodus-chartering-private-jets-covid-measures-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/hong-kong-pet-exodus-chartering-private-jets-covid-measures-2022-4 |
Apryl just raised $4.4 million to scale its family-planning platform as a workplace perk. Check out the 10-slide pitch deck it used to raise the fresh funds.
Apryl cofounders Jenny Saft and Tobias Kaufhold.
Apryl is pushing for European employers to offer fertility and family planning as an employee perk.
Silicon Valley companies like Meta, Apple, and Google are among those with fertility coverage.
Cofounder Jenny Saft showed Insider the deck she used to land $4.4 million (4.1 million euros).
A startup that aims to scale its family-planning platform as a workplace benefit just raised $4.4 million, or 4.1 million euros, in seed funding.
Berlin-based Apryl, which recently changed its name from Oviavo, wants businesses to support employees with their fertility needs. The Apryl platform offers employees unlimited consultations on their family-planning needs, an array of information on all routes open to them, and distributes any reimbursements an employer wishes to offer its staff.
Many people wait to have children later in life but may be unsuccessful or not able to conceive naturally when the time comes. A woman's egg count, and the quality of those eggs, drops as she ages. Men can also have fertility issues, with low sperm count and quality a factor in about one-third of couples having trouble conceiving, according to the National Health Service.
Apryl CEO Jenny Saft said this presents a big opportunity for businesses to lure talent amid a shortage of skilled workers.
US businesses have already taken advantage of this, with big tech firms like Meta, Apple, and Google offering fertility support as an employee perk.
Saft, who is set on scaling the trend in Europe, had the idea when she experienced her own difficulties with fertility.
"The years went by and suddenly it was 2019. I was 32 with no partner, and I didn't see myself having kids anytime soon," she told Insider.
The cofounder decided to freeze her eggs but had "no idea" how to get started. "I was actually pretty frustrated with doctors and the whole lack of transparency in that market.
"I had no idea how it works, what it costs, where to go," she said. "I realized that doctors never learned to have a proper sales conversation in Europe, because it's all covered either in the UK under the NHS, or in Germany, it's a very similar thing."
Depending on the European country, singles and same-sex couples can face additional barriers. Germany, where Apryl was founded, does not allow eggs to be donated, posing difficulties for single men and those in same-sex relationships.
Saft said her startup is inclusive of such varying family structures and offers support to them. She added that US firms setting up offices in Europe are helping to spearhead fertility support as they try to achieve "perk parity."
Apryl's employee benefits include subsidies for care navigation, consultations, access to clinics and treatments such as egg and sperm freezing, IVF, adoption, and surrogacy.
The fresh round was led by early-stage investors Breega, and the funding will be used to increase head count and launch across in Europe.
Saft walked Insider through the 10-slide deck she used to raise cash.
The title slide highlights Apryl's vision clearly and concisely
Apryl started out as a direct-to-consumer platform helping women with egg freezing. The company quickly realized that its impact here was limited, Saft said, and decided to pivot.
"In the long run, we believe that the majority of the population will need support with reproductive treatments," she said. "We thought, 'If we know that, why don't we make it more accessible for people to use these treatments?'"
That's what Saft wanted to put front and center on the title page.
Apryl normally sends its pitch deck to investors after an initial meeting, so its content is designed to reinforce her in-person pitch.
The second slide reiterates and expands on Apryl's mission
Moving away from egg freezing, Saft said it was important for the company to be inclusive and cater to different family types.
It makes no sense that access to fertility treatment differs across Europe. "Why is it fair to do this?" Saft said.
Where governments fall short in making fertility more inclusive, Apryl sees fertility benefits via private companies as the "next best institution that can have impact on greater societal change."
"Companies can play a super-crucial part in designing the societal change that we want," Saft said.
Inclusivity is also reflected in Apryl's design choices, the company said. The mix-and-match shapes throughout the pitch deck is meant to reflect that there is no one-size-fits-all in terms of treatments and family structures.
Backing up the mission statement with data
When defining the problem, Apryl states that millennials are facing a fertility health crisis due to delayed parenthood and the "tremendous" cost of fertility treatments.
In this slide, the startup puts numbers behind the statement. Adding to its mission to be inclusive, it also includes figures on same-sex couples.
Saft said she wanted to keep the slides short and concise but realized that male investors didn't understand the problem, which influenced the decision to put five stats on one slide. "We had to play a little bit of an educational part and give these numbers," she said.
Connecting fertility with the workplace
This next slide is designed to connect fertility and the workplace. In this slide, Saft references the Great Resignation, war on talent, and employee power.
"A high salary alone is not enough to get talent," she said. "So companies all have to come up with solutions or demonstrate that they have a family-first culture, they support women in this particular life phase, and they support the LGBTQ community."
Apryl spent a lot of time designing this slide, Saft said, in an attempt to simplify the issue. "I think it was the hardest part for us in the pitch, to explain why this very personal, big problem has to come into the workplace," she said. "We tried to make it obvious."
Highlighting both sides of the solution
Showing off the product and its features, Saft said it was important to showcase both sides of the platform. There is a dashboard for employers to manage staff and tap into reports as well as the main platform, which supports employees – confidentially – on their fertility journey.
When working on the pitch deck, Saft and her team asked themselves what the most important message for each slide should be. They came up with a wall of text and sent it to their designers to ideate.
"It was really good to work with the designer; the designer only wants to have like one word" on each slide, she said. "We always had to find the middle ground between our work and the message that we want to send and, in the end, it needs to look nice."
Getting to the core of the product
This slide looks under the hood in more depth, demonstrating what the employee actually gets.
Focusing on three distinct steps makes the solution more memorable, Saft said.
Apryl is not just an idea. The company has a product already, and this is what it looks like
Apryl "teased" a deeper look at the platform on an earlier slide, but goes into more depth here.
Demonstrating the calendar function makes the platform more "tangible," Saft said, as investors can relate to it.
The product is at the minimum-viable-product stage, the cofounder said, which was important to emphasize at seed stage.
"It's not just on paper, an idea, we already have customers on it," Saft said. "And it's working, and it looks cool and nice. That was the goal."
The deck is light on images of real people, but this slide includes one alongside details of its 24-hour support line. This is to show users won't be talking to a chatbot, Saft said, but a real person.
'Why Europe' was a common question, the company said
This slide presents the market opportunity. At this point, investors understand why the company exists but often question the market.
"In the US, this is already a standard," Saft said. "We see that this wave is now also starting in Europe — and here's the data that supports it."
Apryl believes Europe will see a similar growth curve — "and we're just at the beginning."
Saft added that Apryl is driven by US companies opening offices in Europe and rolling out similar benefits.
Reinforcing benefits to the company
By now, Saft has run through the problem, the solution, and the market. Next, she looks at the platform's benefits to businesses in more depth, an argument which centers around employee attraction and retention.
Explaining why they are the right team to solve fertility and family planning
The pitch deck ends on a slide showcasing the team and its expertise.
"I always get asked, 'Why are you the right team to tackle this?'" Saft said.
The cofounder talks about her own experience throughout instead of leaving it to the end, she added.
"I think a from an investor's perspective, it makes the whole story a bit more tangible," she said. "It's logical where we came from. We didn't just start the company because we think that's where we can make the most money, but we really believe that there's a problem to solve."
More: Features Tech Insider Startups | 2022-04-28T07:07:45Z | www.businessinsider.com | Apryl: Fertility Startup Raises $4.4M to Scale As Workplace Perk | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-apryl-offer-fertility-treatment-as-a-workplace-perk-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-apryl-offer-fertility-treatment-as-a-workplace-perk-2022-4 |
A senator from Rep. Madison Cawthorn's home state has called for the congressman to be investigated for his undeclared crypto purchases.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis has called for Rep. Madison Cawthorn to be investigated.
Tillis said that Cawthorn "owes North Carolinians an explanation" about his crypto investments.
Tillis previously chastised Cawthorn for embarrassing the state with "juvenile behavior."
Republican Senator Thom Tillis has called for Congress to conduct a bipartisan investigation of his House colleague, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, over the latter's undeclared cryptocurrency purchases.
Tillis, who also represents North Carolina, said on Wednesday that Cawthorn's possible violation of congressional insider-trading laws needs to be looked into by the House Ethics Committee.
"Insider trading by a member of Congress is a serious betrayal of their oath, and Congressman Cawthorn owes North Carolinians an explanation," Tillis tweeted.
Cawthorn is suspected of possibly violating a federal conflict-of-interest law called the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (STOCK). Congress members must, by law, publicly declare their cryptocurrency trades worth more than $1,000 in their transaction reports.
The Washington Examiner reported on Tuesday that Cawthorn publicly declared that he had purchased a meme coin called "Let's Go Brandon," named after an anti-Biden chant. On December 29, Cawthorn was seen at an event with James Koutoulas, one of the people behind the crypto coin, per the outlet.
The following day, Brandon Brown, the NASCAR driver for whom the coin was named, said that the cryptocurrency would sponsor him, causing its value to skyrocket.
However, Cawthorn did not disclose his purchase of the cryptocurrency to Congress.
Despite representing the same party in the same state, Tillis has come out strongly to oppose Cawthorn. For one, a super PAC tied to Tillis spent $300,000 on an advertising campaign against Cawthorn, pushing the message that the Cawthorn "lies for the limelight."
Tillis was also one of the Republican leaders who chastised Cawthorn after the lawmaker claimed he had witnessed "sexual perversion" and drug use among his Congress colleagues.
Responding to Cawthorn's allegations, Tillis said the congressman had demonstrated "a consistent pattern of juvenile behavior, outlandish statements, and untruthfulness." In the same statement, Tillis threw his weight behind Cawthorn's primary challenger, Chuck Edwards.
Cawthorn has been the subject of a series of scandals. Besides his orgy claims, he was also the subject of a recent Politico article that ran photos showing him decked out in lingerie, which he dismissed as "goofy vacation photos."
Cawthorn was also cited this week for bringing a loaded gun into the Charlotte airport. This was the second time Cawthorn had been found with a gun in his carry-on luggage, having also been cited at the Asheville Regional Airport in February last year.
More: Madison Cawthorn North Carolina GOP Republican | 2022-04-28T07:55:26Z | www.businessinsider.com | GOP Senator Calls for Madison Cawthorn's Crypto Purchases to Be Probed | https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-senator-calls-for-madison-cawthorns-crypto-purchases-investigated-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-senator-calls-for-madison-cawthorns-crypto-purchases-investigated-2022-4 |
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