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I saved over $1 million for retirement by age 48. Here are 5 strategies I followed religiously to make it happen.
Tanya Taylor traveling in Antigua, Guatemala.
Tanya Taylor, 50, is a CPA and financial coach based in New York.
She set a goal to save $1 million for retirement and hit her goal two years early at age 48.
Taylor says maxing her 401(k) contributions and learning to manage her own investments were key.
I have spent more than 20 years of my career working at large banks and insurance companies. At age 48, I hit $1 million in my savings for retirement, almost three decades after I'd made it a goal. It wasn't an easy task, but being passionate about personal finance and wealth building and following specific habits helped me make it happen.
When I was 16 and had just graduated high school, I left my entire family in Jamaica with big dreams and only $100 to my name. For a poor girl like me, moving to New York was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I intended to use to break the cycle of poverty in my family.
I wasn't immediately able to go to college because I was undocumented, so I returned to high school to get my diploma from a US public school and also got a part-time job at a local restaurant making $75 per week.
I carefully budgeted every dollar I made and paid a weekly stipend for meals and accommodations to the family friends I lived with. I put the rest toward college savings, everyday necessities, and sending to my family in Jamaica.
When I was 24, I set a goal to have $1 million in my retirement account by age 50. To make that goal a reality, I mapped out a plan and set some guidelines for myself. Here are five things I did.
1. I lived below my means and budgeted carefully
At 32, I was making more than $100,000 and lived on just $50,000 per year after taxes while putting the rest into savings. Whenever my income increased or circumstances changed, like when I got married or had kids, I would revisit my budget, make adjustments, and continue to save toward my retirement goal.
Some of the ways we lived below our means included purchasing a two-family home to rent out half of it to a tenant to cover part of our mortgage, purchasing only used cars, shopping sales, happily accepting secondhand clothing for our children, and only giving gifts once per year.
2. I always made the maximum contribution to my employer-sponsored retirement plan
As I've progressed in my career and switched jobs, I've always contributed the maximum amount possible to my employer's retirement plan.
For example, when I worked as a word processor in my early 20s, I put about 5% of my $40,000 salary into my 401(k). After graduating college, I got a job as an auditor at Deloitte and contributed about $7,000 a year to my 401(k) plan.
Some years it was hard to contribute the maximum, especially when I got married and had two kids in a three-year span. But even as expenses changed, I continued to contribute the maximum amount I could no matter how difficult it was.
3. I contributed to a Roth IRA every year until I reached the income threshold
Around age 27, I opened a Roth IRA with a brokerage firm and set up automatic transfers from each paycheck into this account. Each month, the funds in this account were used to purchase the same mutual fund. I contributed approximately $8,000 over five years until I hit the income threshold at 32. Later, I converted this account from mutual funds to stocks that did pretty well, and this account now has approximately $40,000.
The IRS has rules in place that once your income exceeds a certain dollar amount, you can't contribute to a Roth IRA. For example, in 2022, if you're single and make more than $144,000, you can't contribute to a Roth IRA.
4. I built my stock market knowledge through books, investing events, and by being in an investing club
One of the first books I read when I began my financial journey was "Rich Dad, Poor Dad," which helped shift my mindset toward wealth building. Two other books that were instrumental in my investing journey were "One Up On Wall Street" by Peter Lynch, and "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham.
I slowly built my stock market and investing knowledge through auditing pension plans and mutual funds while employed at Deloitte and attending investing seminars and conferences. I also followed personal finance websites like Kiplinger, CNBC, Forbes, and Money.
After college, I also cofounded a stock market investment club with a few friends. As a group, using resources like Bloomberg and Morningstar, we would research individual stocks and industries to make at least one "buy" recommendation at each monthly meeting. We also invited guest speakers to help build our knowledge of the stock market.
While the investments from this club went towards my children's college funds rather than my retirement, the knowledge that I gained helped me in growing my retirement portfolio.
5. I transferred my retirement plan to a brokerage firm and invested it in individual stocks
As my investing knowledge grew, I decided that I wanted to have more control over how my retirement funds were being invested. I also wanted to avoid annual administration fees that my employer charged, so around age 30, I rolled over my 401(k) to a brokerage firm where I was able to invest in a wider variety of funds and individual stocks.
Since I was still young enough to take more risks, I closely followed the stock market and purchased stocks that were underperforming but that I thought would eventually increase in the long term.
While I believe my job as a CPA and auditor did aid my investing decisions, most of what I learned was self-taught and came from sheer desire to learn more about personal finance and money management . It's information that can be learned by anyone who's ready and willing to learn.
One million dollars may seem like a daunting number, but regardless of your wealth or income it really is achievable if you have the right mindset. Map out a solid plan, adjust your budget as your income grows, and always prioritize savings.
Tanya Taylor is the founder of Grow Your Wealth, a financial coaching business where she helps clients ditch bad debt and create a six- and seven-figure retirement income. Learn more on her website.
More: Savings Retirement Investing Savings Advice
Personal finance advice | 2022-05-16T18:09:15Z | www.businessinsider.com | I Saved 7-Figures for Retirement by Age 48 — Here's How | https://www.businessinsider.com/saved-one-million-for-retirement-savings-strategies-finances-advice-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/saved-one-million-for-retirement-savings-strategies-finances-advice-2022-5 |
A veteran fund manager shares how he's beaten 96% of peers this year while minimizing risk — and makes the case for 4 of his top investing ideas despite seeing downside risk for stocks
Salem Abraham's Abraham Fortress Fund has beaten 96% of opposing funds this year.
Managing downside risk through diversification has been his key to success.
Here are Abraham's favorite investing ideas and four stocks that are among his largest holdings.
At first glance, it might seem like the city of Canadian, Texas would be an odd place from which to run an investment management firm. The tiny North Texas town has just two stop lights, a population of less than 3,000, and is about 45 miles from the nearest Starbucks.
But it's where 34-year market veteran Salem Abraham grew up, met and married his high school sweetheart, and has since raised eight children of his own. It's hard to imagine, then, why his eponymous firm, Abraham Trading Company, would be headquartered anywhere else.
Besides, it's not like being over 1,600 miles away from Wall Street has hurt Abraham's performance. The long-time investor's flagship mutual fund, the Abraham Fortress Fund (FORTX), has beaten 96% of competing funds so far in 2022, according to Morningstar.
The last thing Abraham would do though — other than move away from Canadian — is give himself a pat on the back.
"We wake up every day not smug, but paranoid," Abraham told Insider in a recent interview. "It helps to wake up paranoid every day."
Brace for downturns by diversifying
Abraham, who's a self-described math geek with decades of experience running a hedge fund and trading futures, uses a simple motto to guide his decisions: "Downside risk is always likely."
With that in mind, the mutual fund manager limits risk by prizing diversification above all else.
What Abraham called the "bedrock principle of investing" is the secret to his fund's success — and the reason why the market veteran said he sleeps easy, even during steep stock market selloffs. The Abraham Fortress Fund is down just 0.5% year-to-date while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have fallen by 16.2% and 25.4%, respectively.
"It's like wearing your seatbelt," Abraham said. "Is it likely you're going to have a wreck today? I don't know. But I'm going to wear my seatbelt, and I'm going to have an airbag, and I'm not driving too fast."
Abraham illustrated the importance of diversification with the following example. Imagine a coin that, when flipped, makes investors money 60% of the time and loses them an equal amount of money 40% of the time. Flipping that coin once would be profitable 60% of the time. However, Abraham said that flipping 100 coins with that same 60-40 positive-negative outcome split would yield money about 98% of the time since the downside risk gets minimized over time.
The takeaway from that example is that Abraham believes it's best to have many small positions in a portfolio instead of a handful of large ones — even if the large investments are promising.
Diversification has been widely accepted as one of few no-brainer investing strategies for decades, ever since it was championed by Nobel-prize winning economist Harry Markowitz. However, while the practice is common sense, it's not too common in practice, Abraham said.
"What makes me laugh is when people have this diversified bucket of stocks, and they think that's diversified," Abraham said. "And I'm like, 'OK, tell me: If you told me to make a fruit salad, and I brought a fruit salad to your house with 20 types of apples, you would say, "Salem, this is an apple salad. This is not a fruit salad."'"
Abraham's point is that owning stocks across sectors or even factors — like growth and value or large-cap and small-cap — isn't real diversification. That's because during downturns, stocks tend to all "go in the toilet together," the Abraham Trading Company founder said. Such has been the case lately, and Abraham doesn't see the selling pressure letting up anytime soon.
With that said, Abraham still believes that stocks are a vital part of a balanced portfolio. He simply derided the notion that "there is no alternative" to stocks, given his thesis that alternative investments and bonds, to an extent, are worth having exposure to.
"If you're worried about stocks, it's probably because you got too big an allocation to stocks," Abraham said.
4 of the biggest opportunities in stocks
Investors who have a reasonably sized allocation to stocks in their portfolio may want to add exposure to the following types of companies, Abraham said: airlines, oil and gas firms, and utilities. Select blue-chip technology names also make up a large part of his mutual fund.
The case for airlines is straightforward, in the fund manager's view: People have returned to the air, as evidenced by Transportation Security Administration data on checkpoint throughput. As the summer nears, passenger levels are within 5-10% of their pre-pandemic levels, Abraham noted, adding that the high fuel prices that hurt airlines' profitability are priced in to the stocks.
"For the next six months, I think airlines really take off — literally and stock-wise," Abraham said.
Energy stocks, specifically those in the oil and gas industry, have more room to run because supply shortages won't catch up to resilient demand for years, the market veteran said.
"I'm seeing a lack of investment in oil and gas," Abraham said. "And I know everyone wants to go green, but most people still go fill up their car full of gasoline and their house is being lit with natural gas."
Similarly, demand for the energy that utilities provide is inelastic, meaning that it doesn't fade in recessions. Though utilities are anything but sexy, they're a simple, no-nonsense way to have exposure to stocks and protect a portfolio from price surges without taking on much risk.
"They're a good inflation hedge, and they make you a decent rate of return, and they're not such a wild ride," Abraham said.
Lastly, Abraham confirmed that blue-chip tech giants like Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Amazon (AMZN) are core holdings of his mutual fund. Not only does Abraham like these stocks, but he said that owning these them allows the Abraham Fortress Fund to have broad exposure to some of the largest names in the S&P 500.
Insider compiled a list of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that offer exposure to the three industries that Abraham said he liked: The US Global Jets ETF (JETS), the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP), and the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU).
More: Investing Salem Abraham Salem Abraham business insider
Abraham Fortress Fund
Abraham Trading Company
airlines stocks
utilities stocks | 2022-05-16T18:09:21Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Invest, 4 Investments to Make: Top 4% Fund Manager | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-strategy-how-to-invest-now-fund-manager-abraham-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-strategy-how-to-invest-now-fund-manager-abraham-2022-5 |
8 ways to troubleshoot if Chrome won't show you notifications
There could be several issues at hand if Chrome isn't showing you notifications.
Shutterstock / Jacob Lund
If Chrome won't show you notifications, you might need to turn them on for a particular website or enable them for the browser.
Chrome can keep you informed about important updates from your website with convenient notification windows.
Here are eight ways to troubleshoot when Chrome won't show notifications.
If you rely on notifications in Chrome to find out about important news, email, and other information, your world can come to a halt if notifications aren't working properly. Thankfully, it's usually not too hard to fix Chrome if it won't show notifications — here are eight things to check when you run into trouble.
Not surprisingly, notifications depend on a solid internet connection, so make sure that you have a reliable connection, whether that's Wi-Fi or cellular. If you're using Windows, for example, check the WiFi icon in the notification area, and make sure other apps can use the internet. Playing a video using YouTube is a good test to make sure your connection is fast and reliable enough.
Ensure notifications are enabled for the website in question
You won't see notifications for websites which don't have permission to show them, so make sure notifications are enabled. The first time you visit a website it may display a pop-up asking to show notifications, but if you choose to block notifications, you'll need to enable them if you later change your mind. Open the website that you want notifications for and then click the Lock icon in the address bar. To the right of Notifications, make sure the button is swiped to the right, which enables the setting.
If you’ve turned off notifications for a website, you can click the lock to re-enable them.
Make sure Chrome can send notifications on your computer
The browser might be configured to not allow notifications. A few clicks can fix this problem whether you're using Windows or a Mac.
On Windows, click the Start button and then Settings. In the navigation pane on the left, choose System, then Notifications. At the top of the page, make sure Notifications is on by swiping the button to the right. In the Notifications from apps and other senders section, make sure Google Chrome is turned on as well.
Turn on notifications for Chrome in Windows Settings.
On a Mac, click the Apple icon in the menu bar and then choose System Preferences. Click Notifications & Focus. Find the two instances of Google Chrome in the pane on the left, and in both cases turn on Allow Notifications by swiping the buttons to the right.
Make sure Gmail's own notification is enabled
A few websites have their own proprietary notifications that work independently of Chrome's notifications, so it bears investigation to see if this is your problem. Perhaps the best example of this is Gmail, which has its own notification options.
To check, open Gmail and then click the Settings icon (shaped like a gear). Click See all settings and scroll down to Desktop notifications. Make sure New mail notifications on is selected, and then click Save changes at the bottom of the page.
You’ll need to enable notifications for Gmail separately.
Turn off focus assist or Do Not Disturb
Both Windows and Mac have their own version of do not disturb that helps you stay focused without annoying distractions. If these features are enabled, though, you won't see Chrome notifications. Make sure they're turned off.
On Windows, click the Start button and then Settings. In the navigation pane on the left, choose System, then Focus Assist. Click Off.
Quick tip: If you want to minimize distractions but still see Chrome notifications, click Priority only and then Customize priority list. Add Chrome to the priority list of apps which can send notifications.
If you have a Mac, you'll want to disable Do Not Disturb. To do that, click the Control Center icon at the top right of the menu bar and then click the Focus icon. If you see the icon dim, it's now turned off.
Keep the site open
Sometimes it's the simple things that you overlook. If you're not getting notifications for a particular website, make sure the website is open in Chrome. If you accidentally close the site, you can pin the tab to make sure it stays open.
Make sure the tab isn't muted
Are you missing notifications because you don't hear the notification sound? Your tab could be muted. Right-click the tab and, in the drop-down menu, choose Unmute site. If the only option is to mute the site, it's possible it could be an issue with your computer's audio — the volume might be too low or is otherwise muted.
If you don’t hear your notifications, make sure the tab isn’t muted.
Restart Chrome
If you've tried everything here and notifications still aren't working, it's possible a restart might fix the problem — this can flush out a temporary glitch or reset a temporary setting that is preventing notifications from working properly. Close and restart Chrome, being sure to close every instance of the browser if you have multiple windows open (including any on other virtual desktops). To be sure you get them all, it's often just easier to restart your computer.
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More: Google Chrome Chrome Troubleshooting Software & Apps | 2022-05-16T18:39:04Z | www.businessinsider.com | 8 Ways to Troubleshoot If Chrome Won't Show Notifications | https://www.businessinsider.com/chrome-wont-show-notification | https://www.businessinsider.com/chrome-wont-show-notification |
Bezos stepped up his attacks on the White House on Monday.
He assailed the Biden administration for trying to "muddy" the debate on their domestic agenda.
It's the latest in a back and forth between the world's third-richest billionaire and the White House.
The feud between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and the White House is blasting off to new highs.
"Look, a squirrel!" Bezos wrote on Twitter in response to a White House statement critiquing his perspective on inflation and their domestic agenda. "They understandably want to muddy the topic. They know inflation hurts the neediest the most. But unions aren't causing inflation and neither are wealthy people."
He went on to say that if the administration had succeeded in passing Build Back Better, "inflation would be even higher than it is today, and inflation today is at a 40 year high."
It's the latest entry in a back and forth between the world's second-richest billionaire and the Biden administration over skyrocketing prices.
On Sunday night, Bezos criticized the White House's proposed Build Back Better Plan, saying that "the administration tried hard to inject even more stimulus into an already over-heated, inflationary economy and only Manchin saved them from themselves."
The White House quickly blasted Bezos right back.
The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Bezos's latest broadside.
The defunct $2 trillion Build Back Better plan contained a bevy of new social and climate spending to expand childcare, affordable housing, and provide monthly checks to parents among other initiatives. Democrats intended to pay for it with tax hikes on large firms and the richest Americans — people like Bezos.
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia came out against the package at the end of last year and Democrats have been unable to pass a slimmer version so far.
In March, inflation was at a 41-year-high. While prices cooled a bit in April, things are still 8.3% more expensive than they were last year. Some economists argue that the Biden administration's domestic agenda is capable of cooling inflation with tax increases on the super-rich.
"I think @JeffBezos is mostly wrong in his recent attack on the @JoeBiden Admin," wrote Lawrence Summers, a prominent Democratic economist, on Twitter. Summers himself has been a frequent critic of the administration's and the Fed's responses to the pandemic's economic turmoil and rising prices.
Bates also noted that Bezos' tweet came after President Joe Biden met with union organizers, including Amazon Labor Union founder Christian Smalls. Smalls was behind the drive to successfully unionize Amazon's Staten Island JFK8 warehouse — a seismic shift for the company, which previously had no unionized warehouses.
Amazon was accused by the NLRB of "threatening, surveilling, and interrogating" unionizing workers at JFK8.
Bezos previously chimed in on the union vote in Bessemer, Alabama, where workers initially voted against unionizing. He said he did not "take comfort" in the outcome of that vote.
"While the voting results were lopsided and our direct relationship with employees is strong, it's clear to me that we need a better vision for how we create value for employees – a vision for their success," Bezos wrote in his 2020 shareholder letter.
More: Policy Joe Biden Jeff Bezos Build Back Better | 2022-05-16T18:39:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | Jeff Bezos Steps up Feud With White House Over Inflation | https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-steps-up-feud-white-house-bbb-inflation-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-steps-up-feud-white-house-bbb-inflation-2022-5 |
Databricks VP explains the significance of Uber CEO's letter and why companies that don't use AI, cloud, and open source won't survive a prolonged inflationary period
Junta Nakai
Junta Nakai says companies that use innovations like AI have a clear competitive advantage over those that don't.
Junta Nakai is the VP and global head of financial services and sustainability at Databricks, a $38 billion big data startup.
He argues inflation makes operational efficiency a core priority for companies to preserve margins.
Companies will become much more discerning on how they spending money, especially on IT.
The window of tolerance for companies that merely talk about AI is closing. In today's inflationary environment, it is crucial for companies to deliver profits by leveraging data and AI in their operations or in their products and services.
Companies that don't make the transition to AI quickly will be at a great disadvantage relative to those that do.
The collective global economy is currently experiencing an inflationary environment not seen for decades. In the US, inflation hit 8.5% in March of 2022, a level of inflation not seen for over 40 years.
In response to the inflationary pressures, central banks around the world are poised to raise interest rates. The Federal Reserve recently raised rates by 0.5%, the biggest hike in over 20 years.
Higher rates slow down the economy because it makes borrowing or raising money (the cost of capital) more expensive. When this happens, every decision to spend money comes under more scrutiny.
Inflationary and high rates environments change corporate decision making in three ways:
CEOs must protect margins
When costs of capital are high, the opportunity costs are high
Time lines are shortened
All of these trends were recently highlighted by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi in an email to employees. "It's clear that the market is experiencing a seismic shift," he said, before making several additional points that illustrate the points above.
CEOs must protect margins: "We will be even more hardcore about costs across the board."
When costs of capital are high, the opportunity costs are high: "They see how big the TAM is, they just don't understand how that translates into significant profits and free cash flow. We have to show them."
Timelines are shortened: "Now it's about free cash flow. We can (and should) get there fast. There will be companies that put their heads in the sand and are slow to pivot. The tough truth is that many of them will not survive."
Just like how technology lifted us from the depths of Covid, technology will likely prove to be the antidote to any upcoming economic malaise.
As Khosrowshahi mentions, companies that are slow to pivot may not survive a high inflation, high rates, and slower growth economic paradigm.
But agile companies will likely survive this economic landscape, so what makes a company agile?
Leadership, culture and talent undoubtedly play a big role, but Agile companies aren't solely created through organizational excellence — technology plays a critical role. This is where digitally native companies like Uber have a massive advantage versus legacy organizations.
Digitally native companies have spent years building and perfecting cloud native data platforms that enable them to make smart, data-driven business decisions in changing economic times.
The rest have not and now must make the decision to either build it themselves or to buy a platform that afford them the kind of capabilities that digitally native companies possess.
As timelines shorten, CEOs must make the buy or build decision today.
Innovations like cloud, open source, and AI will streamline costs
While a growing chorus of economists and pundits worry about 1970s-style stagflation, the world today is in a very different place thanks to the innovations in cloud computing, open source software, and Data analytics/AI.
These three innovations can become invaluable tools to protect margins and drive growth even in unfavorable economic conditions.
First, for most companies, leveraging cloud service providers like Azure, AWS and GCP will prove cheaper than owning and managing their own data centers. Leveraging cloud services means you don't have to build, manage and update your own IT infrastructure. Cloud enables companies to pay for what they use, which means most businesses find cost savings in the cloud especially during times of economic volatility .
Second, open source software means companies don't have to spend money solving common challenges. Today, there are open source consortiums in many sectors where companies come together to collaborate. For example, OHDSI (Observational Health Data Sciences Informatics) is an organization that open sources health data solutions built to address common challenges faced by healthcare companies . This means hospital systems, pharmaceutical companies and health insurers can focus on promoting better health decisions rather than recreating the wheel.
Finally, data analytics/AI can automate manual workloads and drive efficiencies required to quickly achieve optimal cost structures. For example, incorporating AI into call centers by using Natural Language Processing (NLP) chatbots can help reduce customer service costs by up to 30%. This single AI use-case can potentially save companies billions given businesses spend approximately $1 trillion a year on call centers.
Data analytics and AI also spurs innovation, which can drive new revenue streams in a slower growth backdrop. For example, Frito-Lay leveraged data analytics and AI during the pandemic and was able to deliver a new direct-to-customer service within 30 days, creating a new revenue stream for the company in uncertain times.
AI is critical for CEOs who want the upper hand
For CEOs that need to protect margins, make tough decisions on where to spend, and operate within shorter timelines, technology decisions on cloud, open source, and AI will take on critical importance.
Ultimately, whether or not a company possesses these capabilities could be a key source of competitive advantage in a vastly different economic paradigm. CEOs must make strategic technology decisions that enable data analytics and AI quickly across the enterprise.
If the period of low rates and high growth that characterized the last decade are truly gone, simply put, cloud, open source, and AI become "must haves," no longer just "nice to haves."
Junta Nakai is VP, Global Head of Financial Services and Sustainability at Databricks, a $38 billion big data startup.
More: Thought Leadership original contributor contributor 2022
artificial intellegence | 2022-05-16T19:39:42Z | www.businessinsider.com | Why Higher Inflation and Higher Rates Accelerate the Need for AI | https://www.businessinsider.com/databricks-uber-inflationary-period-accelerating-need-ai-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/databricks-uber-inflationary-period-accelerating-need-ai-2022-5 |
I used to make thousands side-hustling on the weekend, and I think 5 simple gigs can earn you the most cash
The author, Jen Glantz, whose wedding-industry side hustle turned into a profitable business.
When I moved to NYC at 23, my full-time job barely covered my expenses. So I took on weekend work.
I made money working events, giving tours, and babysitting, and I still think they're great side gigs.
You can make money selling other people's stuff — just do the legwork and take a cut of the profit.
When I moved to New York City at the age of 23, I took an entry-level job that barely covered my expenses. In order to avoid credit card debt, I started taking on different side hustles so I could bring in enough cash to pay my bills, and try to save for the future.
I realized that I could not only capitalize on my skills (such as writing, public speaking, and marketing) to take on side work as a freelancer, consultant, and workshop teacher but that I could use my free time on the weekends to make money, too.
I decided to start a business in the wedding industry as a bridesmaid for hire so that it wouldn't interfere with my full-time job during the week and brought in additional income through that stream. I also created profiles on babysitting websites like Care.com and helped friends sell their clothes and furniture when they moved using platforms like the Letgo app, and took a fee from sales that were made.
After shifting how I spent my weekends, from using the time to relax and socialize to finding ways to make money, I was able to earn a few thousand dollars extra every month through various side hustles.
This came in handy when I got laid off from my full-time job in 2015. When I lost that steady paycheck, I decided to build my wedding business up and lean into some of the other side hustles to bring in more money than I was making from just the full-time job.
If you're looking to make extra cash on the weekend, here are five side hustles you can try that may help you make more money every month.
1. Work events
If you're looking for steady work, grab a job in the event industry, since the weekends are when many people throw parties, celebrations, and weddings.
First, identify what skills you have that could be of value in the event industry. Use websites like Gigsalad or Thumbtack to browse common vendors that people hire for parties and see what passions you have that could be listed for hire on those types of websites.
For example, if you're someone with a passion or hobby, turn that into an offered service (floral design, DJ, photographer, etc.) or join an existing company that offers those services as their weekend assistant.
If you have experience in the food services industry (as a server or a hostess), you can also secure a job working for a caterer as a cater-waiter. These jobs typically pay hourly and are a great way to get out of the house on a weekend and work as a food server at a big celebration. You can find a list of local opportunities on websites like Indeed or Simplyhired.
2. Give local tours
In college, I took a weekend job as a campus tour guide. Each tour took around three hours and I'd start the week off with a few hundred dollars in my pocket from that gig.
If you're someone who is extroverted, enjoys working with groups of people, and can retain information easily, you can find a weekend job as a local tour guide. Cities that are popular tourist destinations offer a variety of tours that focus on landmarks, food, famous TV shows, and more. You can browse local event websites, like Trip Advisor, to see what tours are offered and contact those companies to see if they are hiring tour assistants so you can get started.
You can also consider creating profiles on websites that offer tourists tours by locals, like Tours By Locals or With Locals.
If you notice a specific kind of tour that you believe would attract customers on a weekend, consider starting it yourself. You can advertise your tour on websites that tourists visit to find local activities, like Airbnb Experiences or Yelp.
As a tour guide, your weekend pay can be determined by a variety of factors including how many people take your tour, whether you're receiving an hourly salary, and how much cash you make in tips. If you run your own tour company and charge $50 a tour, you'd need to book 20 spots on Saturday and 20 on Sunday to make $2,000 in potential profit.
3. Help with random tasks
In my early 20s, when I wanted to make extra cash on the weekends but didn't want to commit to a regular job, I put myself on task-based websites where people could hire me for one-off projects.
If you use websites like TaskRabbit or Thumbtack, you can offer your time, resources, or skills to people who need them for a variety of projects, events, or needs that they have that day.
In one weekend, you can help someone move, build their furniture, paint their apartment, or even take on tasks as their virtual assistant.
The amount of money you can make through this side hustle does vary based on how much you charge and how many hours on the weekend you work. However, you can set your rate for different tasks that you're willing to do or just set a general hourly rate.
4. Become a sitter
When I first moved to New York City and needed to supplement my income, I took on weekend babysitting jobs. I created a profile on a local babysitting website, posted flyers in my apartment building, and shared the word with my friends. It helped me bring in an extra $1,000 a month.
But in addition to babysitting, you can also get paid to house sit or pet sit for people when they go out of town. You can set up a profile on Rover or House Sitter and set your rate. If you're willing to let this side hustle carry over to during the week (especially if you work from home and can pet sit or house sit while working full-time), you can really increase the amount of money you take in from these jobs.
Just like with other service-based side hustles, you can set your rate and the locations that you're willing to travel to for potential opportunities.
5. Sell people's things
Most people can look around their living spaces and find a collection of items that they are ready to part with. But rather than tossing old electronics in the trash or leaving unused furniture in the garage to collect dust, you can create a side hustle out of selling your own, or other people's, unwanted things.
A couple of times a year, I gather a pile of items around my house and list them for sale on places like Facebook Marketplace or Offerup and I take clothing, accessories, and shoes to local thrift stores. In the past, I have been able to make a few thousand dollars off things around my house by doing very little work.
The first thing I always do is take inventory of what I want to sell by listing out the proper name of the item, writing out a detailed description, and assigning it a price based on the retail value and its condition. Then I take photos of the item from different angles using my phone.
I then list each item on multiple different platforms (for example, Tradesy, Poshmark, Letgo, etc.) in order to get the products in front of more people. Some items sell within a day or two and others take months, it just depends on the supply and demand of what you're selling.
To be able to really profit off this side hustle, offer to do this for other people so you have access to more items that you can list. Determine how much profit you'll take from each sale and even consider picking a specialty (like only selling electronics or furniture) so you can create a niche in the resale industry.
ECONOMY Think working from home has changed your job? Wait 'til you see what the explosion in side hustles and self-employment is going to do
PERSONAL FINANCE A 'sidepreneur' who built 12 income streams to quit their day job uses 5 strategies to earn more without burning out
MARKETS 'It's never been easier to make money in history': A millennial who achieved financial independence at age 30 shares his top strategies for earning more money
More: side hustles side gigs Personal Finance Insider PFI Storytelling | 2022-05-16T19:40:12Z | www.businessinsider.com | 5 Simple Weekend Side Hustles That Can Earn You Thousands | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/simple-weekend-side-hustles-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/simple-weekend-side-hustles-2022-5 |
1. A different bank account has funds
2. You've reached your daily purchase limit
3. You've traveled but didn't notify your bank
4. Your new debit card isn't activated yet
How to fix problems with your debit card
Tips for managing your debit cards
4 reasons why your debit card might be denied even when you have money
To manage your debit cards effectively, consider using budgeting apps.
There are several reasons why a debit card may be declined even if you have money in your account.
Commons reasons may include changing cities or not having your card activated.
Stay on top of your cards and consider using budgeting apps to help avoid being unable to use them.
It's a frustrating experience when your debit card is denied from making a purchase even when you know there's money in your bank account happily waiting to be spent.
On the bright side, the reason for a denied debit card purchase may have a simple solution. Here are the most common reasons your debit card may be declined and tips on fixing your debit card dilemmas.
You might have money in your savings account, but the checking account or money market account you're withdrawing funds from has a negative balance.
Some financial institutions may deny you from overdrawing from your account, preventing you from making a debit card purchase.
Brian Walsh, a CFP® professional and senior manager of financial planning at SoFi, says in his experience working with people, an overdrawn account has been the most common reason for being denied a debit card purchase.
How to fix your debit card issue
Transfer money to the correct bank account so enough money is in your account to keep you from overdrawing.
Keep in mind you might have to pay an overdraft fee or overdraft transfer fee depending on where you bank. If your account balance has been overdrawn for less than 24 hours, you might be able to get an overdraft refund even if you don't have overdraft protection.
If you've made some big-ticket purchases in the last 24 hours, your debit card might be denied because you've reached your daily purchase limit.
Debit cards have daily purchase limits set by financial institutions to ensure your money is safe. The daily purchase limit for your debit card depends on where you bank.
Most financial institutions will generally allow you to spend between $400 to $25,000 daily on a debit card. Some banks also offer higher withdrawal limits for specific bank accounts.
Quick tip: Here are daily purchase limits from 25 of the biggest banks and credit unions .
You may request a temporary purchase increase on your debit card to complete your purchase. As extra security, you may be asked to verify your identity.
Many banks require you to set a travel notice before visiting a new city or country. If you've traveled to a new location and didn't notify your bank beforehand, a financial institution may deny purchases because they think it's an unauthorized user.
Contact your bank to let them know you are traveling. Before your next trip, consider going through our banking travel checklist, so your banking doesn't affect your vacation.
4. Your new debit card isn't activated
If you've just started using a new debit card because you're old one expired, it may not be activated yet. You won't be approved for any debit transactions that require a PIN.
You may activate your debit card by phone, online, at an ATM, or through your bank's mobile app. When you activate it, you'll be able to set your PIN to something you can easily recall.
Walsh recommends keeping track of how often you use your debit cards and when they expire.
"You don't want to get in a position where you're traveling, and you only have a card that's either expired or not activated. It can really make your life inconvenient," explains Walsh.
You can also use technology to your advantage by analyzing how much you owe, own, and spend, notes Walsh.
"A lot of times, technology gets a bad rep because it makes it easier for you to spend money and make impulse purchases," says Walsh. "You can stay on top of your spending and see your balances and where your spending is in real-time without having to bust out a calculator or spreadsheet."
Budgeting apps allow you to link your bank accounts, credit cards, and other financial tools and organize expenses into categories. You may also be able to set personal goals or limit spending through specific features on a budgeting app.
PERSONAL FINANCE You can cancel a check if you make a mistake or it gets lost. Here's how to fix it
PERSONAL FINANCE ATM cards let you withdraw money easily from your bank account, but have more limits than debit cards
More: Debit Card Debit Card Limits pfi PFI-XAMP | 2022-05-16T19:40:18Z | www.businessinsider.com | Why Is My Debit Card Denied When I Have Money? | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/why-is-my-debit-card-declined-when-i-have-money | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/why-is-my-debit-card-declined-when-i-have-money |
Dutch startup Squad Mobility unveiled its first car, the all-electric Squad.
The tiny city car charges through a built-in solar panel and has 62 miles of driving range.
Squad Mobility is taking preorders now and says the Squad will be available in 2023.
Preorders opened on Monday for a tiny new electric car that aims to combine the convenience of a moped with the practicality of a regular four-wheeled vehicle.
The little city car is called the Squad, and it's the first model out of a Dutch electric-vehicle startup called Squad Mobility.
The two-seat EV looks a lot like a golf cart. But Squad Mobility envisions it as a convenient way to scoot around dense urban environments, rather than around the country club.
Squad Mobility says the vehicle will go on sale in Europe in 2023 with a starting price of 6,250 euros, or around $6,500. The company aims for lease deals to start at 100 euros per month, or roughly $104.
Squad Mobility says it hopes to introduce the Squad to the US market next.
Unsurprisingly, that low price point doesn't buy you all the capabilities of a real car.
The Squad is classified in Europe as an L6e vehicle, so its top speed is limited to 28 mph.
That means that in Europe, drivers 16 or older can zip around in a Squad without a driver's license.
The Squad can also be parked perpendicular to the street, like a motorcycle.
Ideal for running quick errands around town, the new model could be a more economical and eco-friendly alternative to a second car for lots of folks. Plus, it could replace a bike for longer trips or rainy days.
But you can't travel too far. The Squad has a range of 100 kilometers (62 miles), Squad Mobility says.
Inside, the Squad has space for cargo, cup holders, a USB port, and a phone holder.
Charging can happen in a few different ways. The Squad comes equipped with a solar panel integrated into its roof, which Squad mobility says can add 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) of driving range daily.
Clearly, this varies based on the weather. But the ability to add mileage while parked on the street is a neat idea.
Or, the Squad can be plugged into a wall socket like other electric cars. It also has removable batteries, so owners can remove them and plug them in inside their homes.
Squad Mobility says its vehicle is designed for vehicle-sharing platforms and envisions a future where people can locate Squad via a smartphone app and hop in.
It promises to sell a battery-charging product to make swapping batteries easier for fleet companies.
This kind of pint-sized electric car isn't a totally new phenomenon in Europe. Citroen recently launched a (much cuter) model with similar capabilities called the Ami.
Citroen's electric mobility quadricycle Ami.
In the US, too, startups are developing or selling smaller, low-range electric models aimed at cruising around cities or neighborhoods.
Arcimoto charges $17,900 for its Fun Utility Vehicle (FUV), a three-wheeler with a 75-mph top speed and around 100 miles of city range.
Arcimoto FUV.
The Squad is certainly an interesting vehicle that could work for a lot of people. But, as the trials of well-funded companies like Rivian and Lucid Motors have shown, getting an EV startup off the ground is extremely challenging.
Now let’s see if Squad Mobility has what it takes to get units into customers’ hands.
More: Features Transportation Tech Electric Vehicles | 2022-05-16T19:40:24Z | www.businessinsider.com | See the $6,500 Solar-Powered Electric Car Arriving in 2023 | https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-cheap-electric-car-ev-squad-mobility-2023-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/solar-cheap-electric-car-ev-squad-mobility-2023-2022-5 |
Carlos Yudica
Frontier Airlines is ending its flights between Orlando and New Castle Airport in Delaware.
Delaware will be the only state in the US without airline service once Frontier operates its last flight on June 6.
Frontier previously served Delaware until 2015 but left for six years before returning in 2021.
Delaware will soon become the only state in the US without any commercial airline service.
On Friday, a Frontier Airlines spokesperson confirmed to Insider it would be ending flights between Orlando, Florida, and New Castle Airport near Wilmington, Delaware, saying "sufficient demand did not materialize to support the service." The airline will operate its last flight on June 6.
The exit would leave Delaware as the only state without any air link to the rest of the US, forcing locals to drive to nearby airports like Philadelphia or Baltimore.
Frontier started flying between Orlando and New Castle Airport in February 2021 after postponing the original launch from May 2020 due to the pandemic, reported The Points Guy. The airline also previously flew between Delaware and the Florida cities of Tampa and Orlando but ended service in 2015 after just two years.
Delaware River and Bay Authority spokesperson Jim Salmon told The Delaware News Journal in a statement that he is "disappointed" in Frontier's decision to leave New Castle, but was confident that the airport's commercial service "can and will succeed." DRBA had recently completed about $2 million worth of renovations to accommodate Frontier by its return in 2021.
Despite the exit, Frontier told Insider that New Castle may not be off its route map for good, saying "we are continually evaluating our routes and ILG will certainly remain in the consideration set for potential service in the future."
While Frontier is leaving, New Castle will continue to operate charter and general aviation flights.
More: Frontier Airlines Frontier Airlines Delaware
new castle airport | 2022-05-16T20:14:40Z | www.businessinsider.com | Delaware to Become the Only State Without Airline Service | https://www.businessinsider.com/delaware-to-become-the-only-state-without-airline-service-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/delaware-to-become-the-only-state-without-airline-service-2022-5 |
Dave Levinthal and C. Ryan Barber
Insider reported in December 2020 that Jared Kushner, helped create a shell company that secretly paid President Trump's family members and spent $617 million in reelection cash.
The Federal Election Commission has "evenly divided" on a case involving Donald Trump's 2020 re-election committee.
A complaint alleged that Trump's campaign hid the true sources of its payments.
Trump continues to face significant legal peril in other realms.
Federal regulators have deadlocked on a complaint that Donald Trump's 2020 White House campaign laundered hundreds of millions of dollars in spending through corporate entities closely tied to the ex-president and his family, according to a ruling document obtained by Insider.
The ruling by the Federal Election Commission, which the agency has not yet made public, does not offer reasons for the bipartisan body's decision on an arrangement detailed in late 2020 by Insider. The six-member commission was "equally divided" on several legal questions it considered, according to a letter it sent Monday to the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center, which had filed a formal complaint.
Had the FEC ruled against the Trump campaign, Trump's committee could have faced significant fines.
The Campaign Legal Center alleged that the Trump campaign routed funds through two firms — American Made Media Consultants and Parscale Strategy — to conceal its spending in the 2020 presidential election.
The Trump campaign, it further contended, had failed to keep an "arm's length relationship" with American Made Media Consultants, citing Insider's reporting in December 2020 that Jared Kushner, the then-president's son-in-law and advisor, helped create a shell company that secretly paid the president's family members and spent $617 million in reelection cash.
In the complaint, the Campaign Legal Center said Trump's campaign funneled millions of dollars to American Made Media Consultants and Parscale Strategy, which then paid sub-vendors.
In addition to Kushner's involvement, the lawsuit notes Insider's reporting that American Made Media Consultants' board included family members of Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence. The other firm, Parscale Strategy, is run by former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale.
The Campaign Legal Center filed an initial complaint in July 2020 and a supplement to its complaint in January 2021, following Insider's reporting on Trump's campaign operations.
In March, the Campaign Legal Center sued the FEC in federal court, alleging that the commission was slow-walking its complaint against Trump's operation.
"The FEC is responsible for protecting voters' right to know how politicians are raising and spending money, but the FEC has abdicated its responsibilities for years — particularly when it comes to enforcing the law against the Trump campaign — so the FEC's deadlock over the campaign's massive concealment scheme is shameful but not surprising," Adav Noti, the Campaign Legal Center's vice president and legal director, told Insider.
A Trump spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment on the latest FEC ruling. The FEC did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
More legal trouble for Trump
An adverse ruling from the Federal Election Commission would have only added to Trump's legal woes.
Democratic Reps. Ted Lieu of California and Kathleen Rice of New York in December 2020 had asked both the FBI and FEC to investigate the shell company created by Kushner, in response to Insider's investigation. They argued that Trump's campaign may have violated laws barring the spending of campaign cash for personal use and public disclosure requirements when it spent its money through American Made Media Consultants.
Separately, Rep. Mark Pocan, a Democrat of Wisconsin, wrote in a December 2020 letter to then-Attorney General Bill Barr and then-FEC Chairman Trey Trainor: "If Mr. Kushner's American Made Media Consultants did in fact spend $617 million as reported, he and his associates — which include additional Trump family members as well as the Vice President's nephew — could face penalties amounting to more than one billion dollars."
Trainor, one of three Trump-nominated commissioners currently on the FEC, worked as a lawyer in service of Trump's 2016 re-election effort.
In New York, Trump is facing investigations into his namesake business, with the Manhattan district attorney and the state attorney general mounting parallel inquiries. While the district attorney's investigation appears to be winding down, the New York Attorney General Letitia James' office has repeatedly signaled in recent months that it has a bounty of evidence against the Trump Organization.
During a court hearing Friday, an assistant New York attorney general said James' office had amassed a "substantial amount of evidence" that could support an enforcement action against against Trump's business. James had previously stated that her office has "uncovered significant evidence that suggests Donald J. Trump and the Trump Organization falsely and fraudulently valued multiple assets and misrepresented those values to financial institutions for economic benefit."
Trump is also facing continued scrutiny over his conduct in the White House. The New York Times reported last week that federal prosecutors have opened a grand jury investigation examining whether classified White House documents taken to Trump's home in Florida were mishandled. That inquiry stems from the National Archive's discovery that, at the end of his four-year term, Trump took 15 boxes from the White House that contained government documents, mementos, gifts and letters.
Meanwhile, the special House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol has been preparing for public hearings that are likely to address Trump's conduct leading up to the insurrection. The House panel recently subpoenaed five Republican lawmakers, including Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, all of whom are close allies of the former president.
More: Donald Trump campaign legal center Jared Kushner Campaign Finance
brad parscale
American Made Media Consultants | 2022-05-16T20:14:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Federal Enforcers Deadlock on Trump Money Laundering Complaint | https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-jared-kushner-campaign-shell-company-money-laundering-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-jared-kushner-campaign-shell-company-money-laundering-2022-5 |
House Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry backs Kathy Barnette in Pennsylvania Senate primary, breaking with Trump
Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Republican Senate candidate Kathy Barnette.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images and Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
Barnette, who marched in DC on January 6, is surging in the polls ahead of Tuesday's primary.
Perry, the chair of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, donated $1000 to her campaign via his leadership PAC.
The PA congressman was recently subpoenaed by the January 6 committee along with Kevin McCarthy.
Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania is backing Kathy Barnette in the Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary, according to documents filed with the Federal Election Commission.
Barnette's campaign reported on Monday that it received a $1,000 contribution on Saturday from Perry's "First Capital" leadership PAC, a campaign account often used by members of Congress and other politicians to support like-minded causes and candidates.
The contribution comes as Barnette has surged in the polls ahead of Tuesday's primary election and disrupted what had previously been a head-to-head matchup between Dr. Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund manager David McCormick. Perry is breaking with former President Donald Trump, who's endorsed Oz and publicly criticized Barnette as unelectable in the general.
Perry, the chairman of the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus, was recently subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the January 6 riot along with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and three other Republican lawmakers. In response, Perry slammed the committee as an "illegitimate body" that's simply interested in "fabricating headlines and distracting Americans from their abysmal record of running America into the ground."
Meanwhile, Barnette reportedly marched alongside Proud Boys in Washington on January 6, 2021, though she has insisted that she didn't engage in violence or enter the Capitol that day.
Spokespeople for Perry did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Trump has sought to convince Republican voters in the state that Barnette will "never be able to win the General Election."
Barnette, a conservative commentator, has a history of making Islamophobic and homophobic statements. Oz, who would be the first Muslim elected to the Senate, slammed Barnette as "reprehensible" for a 2015 tweet in which she declared that pedophilia is a "cornerstone" of Islam.
Asked about the tweet by NBC on Friday, Barnette falsely denied that she wrote it.
"I don't think that's me," she said. "I would never have said that."
More: Congress Kathy Barnette Scott Perry january 6 | 2022-05-16T20:14:52Z | www.businessinsider.com | Freedom Caucus Chair Perry Backs Barnette in PA Senate Primary | https://www.businessinsider.com/freedom-caucus-scott-perry-kathy-barnette-pennsylvania-senate-january-6-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/freedom-caucus-scott-perry-kathy-barnette-pennsylvania-senate-january-6-2022-5 |
Block has been giving some workers extra stock to make up for the company's plunging share price. But not everyone got it. Here's how it works, according to an internal update shared recently.
Jack Dorsey, a cofounder of Square.
Block, formerly known as Square, has faced a steadily declining stock over the past six months.
Consequently, the compensation of many Block employees has plummeted.
Block told employees that it would provide equity refreshes to some who were affected.
Block has been giving some employees more equity after shares of the digital-payments company collapsed more than 60% in recent months, people familiar with the matter said.
An internal memo sent to staff explained that the company would be increasing "the overall compensation budget" compared to what was initially set in Block's annual plan at the end of 2021. "We aim to get everyone within the total compensation band for their role so long as they're meeting or exceeding performance expectations," said the memo, parts of which were shared with Insider.
Once a year, Block plans a budget that includes salary and increases, one of the people said. Because of the firm's cratering share price this year, Block notified employees it would reevaluate the budget to include more compensation in the form of an equity refresh.
But not everyone got it.
"It varied greatly, a bit tied to performance increases," one Block employee told Insider. "So people got raises and more stock all at once, and it was more than they would have normally gotten as a kind of market correction."
A Block spokesperson said that although the terms "refreshers" and "merit grants" are often used interchangeably, refreshers are automatic renewals given to employees, while merit grants are based on individual performance. The most recent compensation adjustment was considered a merit grant internally.
The recent pay review took place in February, an employee said, and the equity refreshes were received in April, just before Block shares dropped again in early May. A spokesperson for Block confirmed the timing.
Insider previously reported that Block's stock shock has hammered the total compensation of many of its employees. One Block employee previously told Insider that they lost $172,000 in equity because of the dips, and another employee said they lost $400,000.
"Honestly, this is going to suck way more for new employees who joined during the high because typically the stock grant you get when joining is the highest you'll get," a Block employee said.
Another employee said the company gave equity refreshes to some employees at $120 a share. The company's shares peaked at $290 in August and have been steadily declining for many months. The stock is now trading at about $81.
Additionally, people familiar with the matter told Insider that Block didn't plan for additional equity grants anytime soon.
"They tell you, 'We're paying you in stock, and it goes up, it goes down, and that's just life. We don't take the money back from you when it goes up. So we won't give you more when it goes down,'" a Block employee said. "But on the other hand, if everybody's leaving, it's bad for the company, so they try to not do it until they kind of have to."
Block's elusive compensation process
Block's compensation bands are calculated with an internal tool and takes into account the level of employment, the makeup of a team, and salary ranges. Then, the tool provides the manager with a budget based on those factors. Only employees who have fallen out of these bands get a refresh.
A Block spokesperson said employees are free to view their own compensation bands, but equity ranges aren't available to view because of their dynamic nature.
"We don't have bonuses. We just have stock that we vest. And every year, your salary may increase, and you may get a new grant," an employee said. "But it's usually not much unless you get promoted."
Are you a tech employee with insight to share? Got a tip? Contact Kylie Robison at krobison@insider.com, through secure messaging app Signal at 347-829-5826 or Twitter DM at @kyliebytes.
More: block Square Fintech Payments | 2022-05-16T21:11:04Z | www.businessinsider.com | Block Has Been Giving Workers Extra Stock Amid Plunging Share Price | https://www.businessinsider.com/block-equity-refresh-extra-stock-amid-plunging-share-price-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/block-equity-refresh-extra-stock-amid-plunging-share-price-2022-5 |
In West Virginia, Obamacare premiums would spike $1,536 on average if stimulus aid expires.
A new Families USA report has new projections on healthcare insurance costs if Democrats fail to extend federal aid.
Manchin has signaled openness on a smaller spending bill, but there's been little headway.
West Virginians are poised to experience the steepest increase in health insurance premiums in the nation if Sen. Joe Manchin blocks Democrats from enacting swaths of their stalled economic agenda in the next few months.
That's according to a new report released Monday from liberal group Families USA on estimated Obamacare premium hikes if Democrats are unable to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of 2022. The temporary initiative under last year's stimulus law made health insurance cheaper for millions of people who buy their own coverage through the ACA — either on state marketplaces or the federal exchange on Healthcare.gov.
Democrats had intended to renew the program for at least four more years under the House-approved Build Back Better plan. But Manchin sank it and Democrats have not attempted to advance a smaller version in the 50-50 Senate.
In West Virginia, people would see an average premium hike of $1,536 per person, per the Families USA data. Wyoming and Delaware would experience the second and third biggest premium increases respectively.
Stan Dorn, Director of the National Center for Coverage Innovation at Families USA, said in an email the enormous hike stems from premiums generally being higher in rural areas like those in West Virginia. Healthcare providers in rural communities have more leverage to demand higher rates from insurers. In addition, many of the ACA beneficiaries in West Virginia are older compared to other states, Dorn said.
The group calculated the premium hikes for the 33 states that use the federal healthcare.gov marketplace rather than their own state-run exchanges using data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Democrats face a grueling midterm landscape in November with inflation and other pocketbook issues near the top of voters' concerns. Rising prices have severely dented Biden's approval rating, despite the economic rebound from the the pandemic that has led to low unemployment.
With ACA open enrollment kicking off on Nov. 1, many Americans would see the eye-popping premium increases for 2023 just a week before casting votes in the midterms.
Manchin had voiced support for the subsidies in February. But the conservative Democrat was noncommittal when Insider asked him twice earlier this month about his current position. He has signaled some openness to cutting a deal on a smaller Democrat-only spending bill focused on reducing the federal deficit and stepping up taxes on the richest Americans.
"Senator Manchin is always willing to engage in discussions about the best way to move our country forward," Sam Runyon, a Manchin spokesperson, said in an email statement. "He remains seriously concerned about the financial status of our country and believes fighting inflation by restoring fairness to our tax system and paying down our national debt must be our first priority."
Runyon also said Manchin is in favor of an "an all-of-the-above energy policy" as well as cutting the cost of prescription drugs. Manchin's office didn't respond to a follow-up email on ACA subsidies.
President Joe Biden last week doubled down on his pledge to provide financial relief from rising prices by expanding the Affordable Care Act and cutting energy costs with new spending on cleaner forms of energy like wind and solar.
But Democrats haven't been able to sort through the wreckage of their domestic ambitions or lock down Manchin's vote. They could face political blowback in the fall if they fail to renew subsidies on their own. Republicans are generally opposed to widening financial assistance for people relying on Obamacare, given the party's past efforts to repeal and replace the law under the Trump administration.
The Families USA report projected that premiums for people buying their own private insurance coverage would increase by 53% on average once subsidies expire. As the map above shows, there are similar increases in battleground states like Wisconsin, Arizona, Ohio, and New Hampshire where Democrats are hoping to defend or win back Senate seats from Republicans.
Manchin, a conservative Democrat, isn't up for re-election until 2024. But his current resistance to a party-line spending bill may jeopardize his party's chances of hanging onto their narrow majority and hand Republicans another political attack in the fall.
"People will be finding out about premium increases right before the midterm elections. It will certainly reflect poorly on Democrats," Larry Levitt, a healthcare expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, previously told Insider. "The ACA is their premier domestic achievement of the last decade."
More: Joe Manchin Obamacare BI Graphics Health Insurance | 2022-05-16T21:11:34Z | www.businessinsider.com | West Virginians Will See Biggest Spike in Obamacare Premiums If Manchin Blocks Biden Agenda | https://www.businessinsider.com/west-virginians-obamacare-premiums-spike-manchin-blocks-biden-agenda-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/west-virginians-obamacare-premiums-spike-manchin-blocks-biden-agenda-2022-5 |
Leaked meeting shows Microsoft employees worrying the tech titan's massive new pay raise scheme is too little, too late to compete with Amazon for talent
Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images
As Insider reported, the raises are aimed at stopping employees going to competitors.
The plans were met with skepticism from some employees, interviews and meeting screenshots show.
Microsoft cloud boss Scott Guthrie held his monthly "Ask Me Anything" meeting on Monday. The long-planned event just so happened to come only hours after Microsoft announced plans to significantly expand budgets for pay raises based on performance and stock grants.
The move was intended to address employee dissatisfaction with pay — and at least partially to discourage its workers from going to rivals like Amazon, which recently doubled its base salary.
However, at least some within Microsoft are skeptical of the move, according to a person present at the meeting and screenshots of questions asked by employees. The attendees of that meeting were workers in its cloud division, including the fast-growing Microsoft Azure platform, representing some of the most in-demand types of tech talent on the market today.
As Guthrie himself noted at the meeting, pay is always a sensitive topic, particularly at a company the size of Microsoft: "You can't please all 200,000 employees around the world," the exec said. Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.
Still, the complaints generally reflected a belief among at least some of its massive workforce that even under this new initiative, Microsoft would still pay less than the likes of Amazon pay for new hires. That, in turn, might hurt its ability to both attract and retain talent, they said. They similarly worried if their new paychecks would be enough to justify the wait until September 1, when the changes take effect.
"Do we think the increase in stock range and a ~3% increase in merit will make us competitive with major local competitors paying up to 2x more when hiring?" one of the top-voted comments from the AMA asks in a screenshot viewed by Insider. The comment appears to refer to Amazon, which like Microsoft, makes its home in the larger Seattle area, as well as competitors with significant presence in the region including Google and Meta.
"I think our stock ranges seem low compared to competition," another top-voted comment states. Each of those comments had hundreds of upvotes from the authors' colleagues in Microsoft's cloud division.
As Microsoft confirmed Monday, the company is nearly doubling its budget to increase compensation. The plan includes salary bumps based on performance, with a focus on early and mid-career employees and local market demands. Annual stock awards are also going up by a minimum of 25% for employees level 67 and below, which are staff below "partner" status at the software giant.
As Insider reported earlier on Monday, Microsoft chief people officer Kathleen Hogan circulated a memo amongst managers showing that the company has seen an overall attrition rate below 10% over the last year, though it's higher in some parts of the company.
The raises are seen internally as a competitive response to Amazon, which in February more than doubled its maximum base salary to $350,000 in response to widespread angst over what employees there saw as comparatively low pay. Amazon's announcement was met with similar skepticism and the change didn't amount to significant raises for everyone, though some engineers told Insider they got pay increases as high as 90%.
The comments during the meeting echo skepticism expressed directly to Insider from other employees. One employee told Insider they will continue to look for another job because they can't afford to wait until the changes come into effect to see if they get a pay raise high enough to keep them around.
One employee said "nearly doubling" the budget for salary increases based on performance "just means merit increase will continue to roughly match inflation." Another suggested that giving employees more stock instead of cash is just a way to "keep us further chained to Microsoft" while their options vest.
"As we approach our annual total rewards process, we are making a significant additional investment this year to compensate our employees globally," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email earlier on Monday.
"We are nearly doubling our salary budget and increasing Annual Stock ranges by at least 25 percent, primarily for our early to mid-career employees. We remain a pay-for-performance company and these investments are part of our holistic rewards offering to our employees. While we have factored in the impact of inflation and rising cost of living, these changes also recognize our appreciation to our world-class talent who support our mission, culture and customers and partners," the spokesperson wrote. | 2022-05-16T22:41:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | Employees Skeptical of Microsoft's Pay Raises, Leaked Meeting Shows | https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-pay-raises-cloud-employee-skepitcism-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-pay-raises-cloud-employee-skepitcism-2022-5 |
Leaked numbers show Uber is lagging behind DoorDash on building a subscription service
Uber has 8 million global subscribers for its subscription services compared to more than 10 million for DoorDash.
Uber employees debated whether to build a subscription business for years, delaying its release.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has taken a more involved role in UberOne recently.
At Monday's Uber product showcase, the company hired comedian Ilana Glazer to pitch new features like planning trips, booking party buses and ordering food at baseball games all through the Uber app. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi closed the show, personally pitching its subscription service Uber One, which the company hopes will unite all these new services under one membership.
But internal figures show that Uber is lagging behind its competitor DoorDash when it comes to signing up subscribers. The company has around 8 million global subscribers for its slate of subscription services, according to a person familiar with the figure. DoorDash recently disclosed that it has more than 10 million subscribers.
It's a big underperformance for Uber given that DoorDash's membership program, DashPass, only offers discounted food delivery. Uber One combines perks for meal delivery and rides, as well as a handful of new services. Further, the majority of DoorDash's customers are in the US, whereas Uber is the biggest rides and delivery service globally.
Several insiders at Uber chalk up its slow uptake on building a subscription service to company politics and a lack of direction from CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Although employees have discussed and tested the idea of an Uber subscription both for rides and delivery for years, DoorDash beat them to the punch by rolling out Dashpass in 2017. Uber raced to launch its UberEats membership service a year later.
But the company's bigger proposal, combining Eats and Rides in a single plan, was a five-year-long process, several current and former employees said. Some executives argued at the time that it would be too costly to launch such a plan, especially when the Eats business was a fraction of the size of the mobility business, according to a person familiar with the matter. These two lines of business leveled to equal footing during the pandemic when UberEats took off as mobility struggled.
Others said Uber could have been bolder in its strategy and taken an early lead. They blame Khosrowshahi for not shepherding the process through internal politics, in spite of having personally expressed support for subscriptions in the past.
Lately, Khosrowshahi has taken a more hands-on role in Uber One to avoid these issues, according to a person familiar with the matter. That was evident at Uber's product showcase.
The stock market has been punishing tech stocks in recent months, particularly businesses like Uber that aren't profitable.
Since the beginning of April, Uber's stock is down 34%. Last week Khosrowshahi sent a memo to employees telling them the company was working to speed up its plans to start producing cash as a business. That puts pressure on products like Uber One, which holds the promise of growing Uber's business while keeping customers loyal with fewer costs to its bottom line than expensive discounts.
More: Uber DoorDash Subscriber Growth | 2022-05-16T22:41:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | Uber's Subscription Offering Is Losing to DoorDash | https://www.businessinsider.com/ubers-subscription-offering-is-losing-to-doordash-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ubers-subscription-offering-is-losing-to-doordash-2022-5 |
The White House and Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos have been trading barbs on Twitter.
Bezos has criticized Biden's handling of inflation. Biden blames the rich.
The duel could help Biden by turning voters' ire on billionaires as he tries to fix the economy.
The most powerful man in the world and one of the richest people on Earth are in a Twitter spat.
Jeff Bezos, founder and chairman of online retail giant Amazon, lashed out at President Joe Biden on Monday after the White House issued a tweet that blamed billionaires for skyrocketing inflation.
The feud comes as Biden struggles to find a solution to the country's runaway inflation in a midterm election year where voters are blaming him for the high cost of living. Vulnerable Democrats have tried to cast the blame on wealthy billionaires and corporations, and Bezos appears to have given them an opportunity to name names.
The two parties spent Monday going back and forth, through tweets and press statements, arguing about the role billionaires play in the US' economic climate and who is responsible for Americans' current financial woes.
The episode signals a newer, more combative relationship between the White House and Bezos, who had heralded Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' victory in the 2020 election.
The moment could benefit Biden, Democratic insiders say, as it gives the president a high profile opponent who's extremely unpopular with the progressive wing of the party.
Biden could have "no greater political villain and punching bag than a billionaire," said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
Brad Bannon, a pollster for Democrats, progressive issue groups and labor unions, called Bezos "a formidable enemy as the publisher of the Washington Post and one of the wealthiest people in America." But he said it's a "bold move" and a "good fight for the President."
One of the few things the American left and right can agree on is the benefit of using Amazon and its CEO as a political cudgel. Former President Donald Trump repeatedly lashed out at Bezos because of his ownership of the Washington Post, which published in-depth reporting on the Trump administration's many dysfunctions as well as nefarious business dealings.
Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during a press briefing at the White House in 2021/
Biden, a centrist, appears more willing to agree with liberals in his party, which calls for higher taxes on billionaires like Bezos and supports unionization efforts at companies like Amazon.
Bannon said Biden "needs to be aggressive against inflation, and picking a fight against a mega-rich guy and a poster child for corporate greed is a great way to go."
Attacking Bezos allows Democrats to highlight voters' concerns that Republicans are "beholden to wealthy special interests" that don't care about the financial plight of "ordinary Americans, Bannon added.
Democratic strategist and former Sen. Bernie Sanders advisor Chuck Rocha said he sees an advantage in the president taking on Bezos.
"Anytime Biden is standing up to the rich and wealthy, it's good!"
At a White House briefing on Monday, newly minted press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre cast Bezos as a wealthy foil to Biden's middle class agenda.
"It's not a huge mystery, why one of the wealthiest individuals on Earth opposes an economic agenda that is for the middle class, that cuts some of the biggest costs families face," she said.
A downside to going after Bezos
"The downside of going after Bezos is he has the media platform and the money to influence public opinion against President Biden," Bannon added. "Biden might get on the wrong side of the generally liberal Washington Post which often gives Democrats political cover."
The Washington Post's newsroom leadership has repeatedly said Bezos does not influence their coverage, and the newspaper has been aggressive in its accountability reporting on Amazon and Blue Origin, another of Bezos' companies.
Kristen Hawn, a strategist and former communications director for the Blue Dog Coalition of moderate House Democrats, said Bezos isn't wrong about the debt and deficit.
"But both parties are at fault for that over multiple administrations and congresses," she wrote in an email. "Generally speaking, right now is the time for business and government to come together post-pandemic to address the issues workers are facing in the current economy. It doesn't help anyone for the public and private sectors to be at war."
A spokesperson for Amazon did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
Jeff Bezos speaking at the COP26 UN climate conference.
Paul Ellis - Pool/Getty
'Look, a squirrel!'
Bezos and the Biden team have traded blows for more than 24 hours over who's to blame for US economic problems. The Amazon CEO first took issue with a Biden administration tweet, which boasted the administration was lowering the federal deficit, thereby easing inflation.
That critique drew a rebuke from White House spokesman Andrew Bates, who told the Washington Post that "it doesn't require a huge leap to figure out why one of the wealthiest individuals on Earth opposes an economic agenda for the middle class that cuts some of the biggest costs families face." Bates also implied that Bezos was angry at the White House for hosting Amazon warehouse employees who wanted to unionize.
By Monday afternoon, Bezos was on the offense.
"Look, a squirrel!" Bezos tweeted along with a screenshot of Bates' quote. "They understandably want to muddy the topic. They know inflation hurts the neediest the most. But unions aren't causing inflation and neither are wealthy people."
Asked for comment, Bates pointed to a thread he posted on Twitter, citing Amazon's support in 2021 for federal investments to lower emissions, Biden's meeting this month with the Amazon labor union leader and economist Larry Summer's statement, calling Bezos "mostly wrong."
More: Jeff Bezos Joe Biden White House Twitter | 2022-05-16T23:19:31Z | www.businessinsider.com | Joe Biden a New Political Foe in Jeff Bezos As Inflation Bites | https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-jeff-bezos-tweets-political-enemy-inflation-amazon-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-jeff-bezos-tweets-political-enemy-inflation-amazon-2022-5 |
Erin Snodgrass and Ayelet Sheffey
Biden's Education Secretary said student loan borrowers will eventually have to start paying what they can.
Miguel Cardona told MSNBC's Symone Sanders that student loan forgiveness is "pretty complex."
"The work that we've done since day one under this administration has put the borrowers first," he said.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona offered a stark reality check for hopeful student loan borrowers this week: Payments are coming back and borrowers should be ready to make them.
"At some point, people are going to have to start paying what they can afford to pay," Cardona told MSNBC's Symone D. Sanders in an exclusive interview slated to air this week.
Federal student loan payments and accruing interest have been on pause for more than two years due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. First implemented by former President Donald Trump in March 2020, the reprieve has been extended several times since. And in April, President Joe Biden extended the pause one more time, telling borrowers that they should prepare to resume payments come September.
Cardona's comments are similar to those of former Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who said in April that she expects student-loan borrowers will have to pay off their debt "at some time" during the Biden administration.
Meanwhile, lawmakers and advocates are continuing to urge the administration to consider broad student loan forgiveness, with progressives pushing for $50,000 per borrower — an amount the president himself has said he is not considering. But according to a recent report from Politico, leading lawmakers pushing for student-loan forgiveness —Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Chuck Schumer, and Raphael Warnock — want Biden to hold off on issuing an executive order until they have a chance to meet with him one last time and urge him to go big on relief.
Cardona dodged specific questions about the status of the president's campaign promise to forgive $10,000 per borrower, telling Sanders that the issue is "pretty complex."
"As I said before, those conversations are ongoing. You heard the president a couple weeks ago mention that something should be coming soon, that he is having conversations with the Department of Education and DOJ on this," Cardona said.
Earlier this month, the White House indicated Biden is considering linking student-loan forgiveness to income and capping forgiveness for borrowers earning less than $125,000 to $150,000, or $250,000 to $300,000 for couples who file joint tax returns. But former Press Secretary Jen Psaki later said during a press briefing that those caps are "not related to necessarily" the final policy Biden will implement, and Politico also reported that income thresholds will be difficult because the Education Department alone does not have the data to carry that out.
Cardona highlighted additional steps Biden's administration has already taken to alleviate the national student loan debt, which clocks in at over $1.7 trillion, including forgiving $18 billion of debt for more than 725,000 borrowers with disabilities and those defrauded by for-profit schools. Cardona has also started conducting reviews of student loan forgiveness programs that don't work as they should.
"I can assure you the work that we've done since day one under this administration has put the borrowers first, has forgiven loans where possible, but has also made a process a lot easier for our borrowers to manage," he told Sanders.
Republican lawmakers have been increasingly vocal in criticizing broad student-loan relief, arguing it will benefit the wealthiest earners while exacerbating inflation. But as 45 million Americans continue to wait for broad student loan relief, Cardona said he knows his work isn't yet finished.
"And as I said before, we're about a year and a few months in. We're not — we're not done, but that doesn't mean that we haven't stopped looking for ways to protect our borrowers and provide some loan debt relief."
More: student loan student loan forgiveness Miguel Cardona Biden
student loan pause | 2022-05-17T02:24:08Z | www.businessinsider.com | Ed Sec: People Will Have to Start Paying 'What They Can' on Student Loans | https://www.businessinsider.com/ed-sec-people-start-paying-what-they-can-student-loans-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ed-sec-people-start-paying-what-they-can-student-loans-2022-5 |
Leaked email: Mental-health startup Cerebral will stop prescribing most controlled drugs like Xanax and Adderall
Cerebral's founders, Ho Anh and Kyle Roberston.
Cerebral will stop prescribing most controlled substances, CEO Kyle Robertson told staff on Monday.
It will cease prescribing the potentially addictive medications to new patients with conditions like anxiety and ADHD on May 20.
Existing patients on controlled substances will be tapered off or referred away, per the email.
The $4.8 billion mental-health startup Cerebral just announced a major change to its business, as it faces mounting scrutiny from federal investigators over how it prescribes controlled substances.
In an email to staff Monday evening, Cerebral CEO Kyle Robertson said the company's clinicians will stop prescribing most controlled substances to new patients starting May 20 and to existing patients starting October 15. Controlled substances like the benzodiazepine Xanax and the stimulant Adderall are classified as such because of the risks involved with prescribing, such as the potential for addiction.
"We want to assure you that we are confident in the future of the business. While we will no longer provide care using controlled medications, we will continue to provide a holistic approach to care with both behavioral and medication-based treatments (when clinically appropriate)," Robertson wrote in the email seen by Insider.
Cerebral did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Cerebral, backed by venture-capital firms, including SoftBank and Oak HC/FT, provides medication and therapy online to people with anxiety, depression, ADHD, and other conditions.
The move to discontinue controlled substances comes after months of increasing scrutiny from the federal government, newsrooms, and pharmacies over its prescribing practices.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, federal law prohibited clinicians from prescribing such highly regulated drugs to patients without an in-person appointment. Only a handful of companies took advantage of relaxed rules for prescribing controlled substances online amid the public health crisis.
In the email, Robertson said Cerebral began prescribing controlled substances in 2020 at the height of the pandemic when people lacked access to the in-person care required to receive those medications. It's making the change now because of the ability for patients to return to an in-person or hybrid care model, he said.
Cerebral previously said it would halt prescribing controlled substances like the stimulant Adderall for new patients with ADHD starting in May, The Wall Street Journal reported. National pharmacy chains had expressed concerns that clinicians at Cerebral and another company are writing too many prescriptions for stimulants, per The Journal.
Federal agencies have also taken notice of Cerebral. The US Drug Enforcement Administration and the US Department of Justice are investigating the startup, as Insider exclusively reported in May.
Cerebral will continue writing prescriptions for Suboxone
Robertson said patients with existing prescriptions for controlled substances to treat conditions like ADHD and anxiety will be notified of the upcoming changes and encouraged to visit with their Cerebral clinician to develop a plan to taper off their current medication and begin another treatment option, or transition away from Cerebral's care.
Cerebral will continue to prescribe controlled substances to patients with opioid use disorder, however, because of the lack of access to such care, Robertson said. The company launched a program to treat opioid use disorder with Narcan and the controlled substance Suboxone in March.
Cerebral is making other changes to its clinical policies and marketing strategies to ensure quality of care and patient safety, Robertson said in the email.
Further, Robertson said Cerebral is recruiting more psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners, and it's reviewing how it pays its clinicians "to ensure that all incentives align with a value-based care model," the email said. Cerebral has relied largely on nurse practitioners to prescribe medication to patients.
More: Cerebral Healthcare Digital Health Startups | 2022-05-17T03:22:17Z | www.businessinsider.com | Exclusive: Cerebral Will Stop Prescribing Most Controlled Substances | https://www.businessinsider.com/cerebral-to-stop-prescribing-most-controlled-substances-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/cerebral-to-stop-prescribing-most-controlled-substances-2022-5 |
FDA and Abbott Nutrition reach deal to restart production of baby formula amid nationwide shortage
Baby formula displayed on almost-empty shelves in Carmel, Indiana, on May 10, 2022.
Abbott Nutrition and the FDA struck a deal to reopen its Sturgis, Michigan, plant.
Abbott closed the plant and recalled several formulas after two infant deaths.
Abbott said that after FDA approval to reopen the plant, it could take eight to ten more weeks for product to reach stores.
The Food and Drug Administration reached a deal with Abbott Nutrition to reopen its Sturgis, Michigan, plant amid a nationwide shortage of infant formula.
The shortage came after the FDA said it was investigating reports of bacterial infections related to powdered formula at the Sturgis plant. The FDA said it received reports of two deaths and that a Cronobacteria infection may have contributed to them.
In February, Abbott shut down the Sturgis plant and voluntarily recalled several of its infant formulas, leading to a shortage in supply and prompting retailers to limit how much formula people could buy in stores, Insider's Kelsey Vlamis reported. Supply-chain issues and the FDA's slow approval process also exacerbated the shortage.
Abbott is the largest infant formula manufacturer in the US. It's not exactly clear how much of the US supply the Sturgis plant produces, but as of May 8, some 43% of retailers across the US reported running out of baby formula, Datasembly reported.
The shortage has prompted some desperate parents to ration or water down formula for their kids, moves that doctors warned could dilute the nutrition and damage children's health, The New York Times reported. Some parents have also started feeding their infants powdered oatmeal and fruit juice, neither of which have as much nutritional value as formula or breast milk, the outlet added.
Abbott on Monday agreed to a consent decree, filed by the Justice Department on behalf of the FDA, which involves an FDA inspection at the Sturgis plant and Abbott bringing in outside help to carry out the necessary steps to reopen it.
The consent decree is subject to approval by a federal court in Western Michigan. Abbott said in a statement that after FDA approval, it could reopen the site in two weeks, and then it would take a further six to eight weeks for product to hit the shelves.
Retailers previously warned that it could take months for any formula to return to stores again.
Abbott also said that a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigation found "no conclusive evidence" to link its formulas and infant illnesses.
"We know millions of parents and caregivers depend on us, and we're deeply sorry that our voluntary recall worsened the nationwide formula shortage," Robert B. Ford, Abbott's chairman and CEO, said in a Monday statement.
"We will work hard to re-earn the trust that moms, dads, and caregivers have placed in our formulas for more than 50 years."
More: Baby formula Abbott Laboratories Food and Drug Administration News UK | 2022-05-17T03:52:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | Baby Formula Shortage: FDA, Abbott Reach Deal to Restart Production | https://www.businessinsider.com/baby-formula-shortage-fda-abbott-nutrition-each-deal-restart-production-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/baby-formula-shortage-fda-abbott-nutrition-each-deal-restart-production-2022-5 |
A buy now, pay later fintech plans to take on giants like Klarna, Afterpay, and Affirm by giving customers access to its services at any merchant, from DoorDash to Best Buy
Philip Belamant is the CEO and founder of Zilch, which launches in the US today.
The UK fintech Zilch launches its "buy now, pay later 2.0" services in the US on Tuesday.
The company hopes its approach will set it apart from competitors like Affirm, Afterpay, and Klarna.
Users can pay fully or in installments online or in stores via a virtual Mastercard.
One of Europe's newest unicorns is setting its sights on the US to compete in the hotly contested buy now, pay later market.
Zilch, a UK fintech, offers BNPL services via a virtual Mastercard in its app that can be used online and at the physical point of sale using tap to pay.
The startup officially launched in the US on Tuesday and is facing off against heavyweights like Klarna, Affirm, and Afterpay. Zilch CEO Philip Belamant said his company's direct relationships with customers would help it stand out, as opposed to larger players, who primarily cut deals with merchants.
Zilch works primarily through a mobile app, which allows customers to select the retailer they want to shop at and receive a spending limit for that transaction. Users can opt to pay the first 25% at the time of purchase and pay the rest in a total of four installments, or pay in full and receive cash back and rewards points. The choice between buy now, pay later and paying in full can also be changed retroactively after a purchase.
Despite fierce BNPL competition, as well as rising inflation and interest rates, Belamant said he's confident in Zilch's US launch.
"We look at this and we go, 'What better time than now to come to the market?'" Belamant said. "To really go and make sure customers understand and know that they've got a free way — zero interest, zero fees — to actually defer the cost of some of these items and to better manage their cash flow."
According to Belamant, Zilch's virtual Mastercard allows shoppers to use Zilch at a wider variety of retailers than many BNPL competitors, whether online or in store, because of its direct-to-consumer strategy. About 55% of Zilch transactions happen in person, the company said.
Other providers have taken notice of the opportunity physical retail offers: Klarna recently announced a deal with Brookfield Properties to bring its BNPL services to retailers like H&M, Sephora, and Abercrombie & Fitch in over 150 US malls.
While Zilch avoids relying on merchants to opt in to its services, competitors see relationships with retailers as advantageous. Affirm CEO Max Levchin told investors in May 2021 that the company was not just a payment provider. "We are fundamentally a marketing device for merchants," he said.
Zilch counts nearly 2.5 million users in the UK and says it's adding nearly 250,000 new users each month. Before its launch Tuesday in the US, Zilch said it amassed a wait list of nearly 150,000 users. By comparison, Klarna announced it had reached 20 million US users in August and that its app had 4 million monthly users.
Belamant said some Zilch customers were using the product as many as 20 times each month. By comparison, Afterpay says its top US customers shop 24 times annually with the service.
"We are not mandating how people should manage cash flow," he said. "What we're doing is providing them the opportunity to earn some form of value on each and every transaction they make, whether that's debit or credit."
Zilch offers 'BNPL 2.0' amid mounting scrutiny
Belamant touts Zilch as "BNPL 2.0," which may prove a smart strategy in distancing itself from the headwinds competitors have faced in the US. Concerns have grown around BNPL providers making it easy for consumers to purchase items they can't afford and contributing to rising consumer debt.
A September survey of American BNPL users conducted by Credit Karma found that 34% of respondents had fallen behind on one or more payments and that more than half of Gen Z and millennial respondents who used BNPL services had missed at least one payment.
The space is also facing impending regulatory scrutiny. In December, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau opened an inquiry into BNPL providers, citing "accumulating debt, regulatory arbitrage, and data harvesting in a consumer credit market already quickly changing with technology" as concerns about the services.
In March, Experian and the other two main US credit-reporting agencies, TransUnion and Equifax, also announced they would begin collecting data on BNPL purchases.
In the US, Zilch will leverage a partnership with Experian to make more informed decisions about consumers' spending limits. Zilch will have access to the data collected by the credit-reporting giant, which it will incorporate alongside other open banking data into its own proprietary algorithm to decide a consumer's spending limit.
Zilch will also report consumers' payment histories to Experian to help them build credit.
Each Zilch transaction has its own spending limit, and a consumer's financial data and payment history is updated after each Zilch transaction, unlike credit-card limits, which can typically be increased only a few times a year.
Belamant said the use of more data enabled Zilch to gain a fuller picture of a user's finances and approve them only for spending they can afford.
"We can change our model based on you and what we feel you can afford, with no pressure to advance you X amount per transaction from the retailer at all," Belamant said. "So from that point of view, we are in a far better position." | 2022-05-17T04:52:36Z | www.businessinsider.com | Fintech Zilch Launches in US to Take on Klarna, Afterpay, and Affirm | https://www.businessinsider.com/zilch-launches-in-us-compete-with-klarna-afterpay-affirm-bnpl-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/zilch-launches-in-us-compete-with-klarna-afterpay-affirm-bnpl-2022-5 |
US Customs seized 460 counterfeit Rolex watches that would have been worth a collective $10.1 million if they were real
460 fake Rolex watches were seized in Indianapolis.
Courtesy of US Customs and Border Protection
In April, US Customs seized 460 fake Rolexes that were heading for a Brooklyn address.
Last year, US Customs seized 27,107 shipments of pirated goods valuing over $3.3 billion.
The majority of these shipments come from China, the world's largest producer of fake goods.
In April, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Indianapolis seized 460 fake Rolex watches that had been imported from Hong Kong.
The shipment was addressed to a residence in Brooklyn, according to a statement released by CBP on May 2. The Rolex watches would have been worth $10.1 million had they been real. Officers picked out the shipment as they recognized the details of the sender, who has a history of fraudulent activity, CBP said.
CBP said it will hand over investigations to Homeland Security and inform authorities in the sender's country of the seizure. Steven Bansbach, a spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection Public Affairs, told Insider it's difficult to track and prosecute counterfeiters even if they've been identified.
The CBP regularly seizes counterfeit luxury goods. In 2021, it confiscated 27,107 shipments of pirated goods that would have been worth more than $3.3 billion if the products were genuine, Bansbach said. The total amount of counterfeit goods seized annually rose by 152% in 2021.
In 2021, watches and jewelry were the top products seized based on value in US.
Bob Henry/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Watches and jewelry were the top products seized based on the value in 2021, amounting to $1.18 billion, Bansbach said. Handbags and wallets came in second, with the estimated value of confiscated shipments exceeding $972 million. The majority of these shipments come from China, the world's largest producer of fake goods.
The rise of ecommerce has made it increasingly difficult to clamp down on counterfeit trading, since merchants do not face a strict vetting process when setting up an online store.
To clean up its reputation as a producer of high-grade counterfeit products, China passed a law in 2019 that makes ecommerce operators liable if merchants sell copycat goods on their platforms, and face fines of up to 2 million yuan (US$290,000) if they do not remove disreputable merchants when notified by authorities.
China is the world's largest producer of fake goods.
However, the increased scrutiny on counterfeit production in China has not deterred copycat manufacturers.
"Sometimes better quality components are found in copies than in originals, when brands supply themselves in China," Thierry Dubois, CEO of Selective Trademark Union, told Europa Star in January 2020. Selective Trademark Union is an organization that protects the interests of luxury brands and cooperates with local authorities in field investigations to flag counterfeit products.
As a result, younger generations in China buy the latest editions from stores to avoid accidentally purchasing fakes, Nicole Li, a China-based marketer for a luxury brand, told Insider. "We tend to follow specific brands too, and it's easy for us to figure out if it's a fake," Li said.
China also offers masterclasses where students learn how to detect fake luxury products. In the case of Chanel, the lining of their black handbags must be pink, and two alphabets in the brand's authenticity cards will light up under a special ultraviolet light. Certain letters in the Chanel logo also use a rectangle font instead of a square font, per the South China Morning Post.
NOW WATCH: How 26,000 counterfeit products are seized and destroyed at JFK Airport
More: Retail China Watches Counterfeit products | 2022-05-17T05:22:55Z | www.businessinsider.com | US Customs Seized 460 Counterfeit Rolex Watches Worth $10.1 Million | https://www.businessinsider.com/us-customs-seized-460-counterfeit-rolex-watches-china-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/us-customs-seized-460-counterfeit-rolex-watches-china-2022-5 |
Investors are pouring millions into startups tailored to ride-hail drivers and gig workers. Check out the 13-slide pitch deck insurance startup Cachet used to raise $5.7 million.
Cachet cofounders Kalle Palling, left and Hedi Mardisoo, right.
Meeli Küttim/Cachet
Cachet, an Estonian startup that offers an insurance marketplace for gig workers, has raised $5.7 million.
The company offers "data-led pricing" by aggregating workers' data across gig platforms.
Cachet plans to spend the fresh funds on expanding its services across Europe.
Estonia-based startup Cachet aggregates gig workers' data to offer personalized insurance coverage based on hours worked across multiple apps.
The startup has raised $5.7 million (€5.5 million) in a seed/Series A round led by venture capital firm Truffle Capital. The fresh funds bring its total raised to $7.26 million (€7 million). Venture capital firms Uniqa Ventures and Icebreaker.vc also joined the round.
The marketplace offers insurance plans for gig workers at a rate it says is 47% cheaper on average than standard insurance plans. It covers independent contractors working concurrently for Uber, Bolt, Deliveroo, and TaskRabbit, among others.
The idea behind Cachet is to offer insurance plans that accurately represent gig workers' hours and activity, without requiring that they work solely for one company. "Platform workers are not loyal to only one platform. So if we take whatever area, whether it's ride hailing or its delivery, they work at least two, if not more platforms at the same time," cofounder Hedi Mardisoo said.
Cachet currently has operations in Estonia, Latvia and Poland, and is eyeing the Nordic states as their next market for expansion, according to Mardisoo.
Meanwhile, the EU is deliberating around a current regulation gap for gig workers. The European Commission's platform workers directive, introduced in December, would mark a radical shift in Europe's gig economy. If passed, the onus would be on tech companies to prove that a worker is not an employee and therefore not eligible to benefits like insurance.
Insurance options in the Cachet marketplace stem from at least 12 insurance underwriters and includes third-party liability, motor and micro-mobility insurance, and personal health and accident coverage.
Cachet was founded in late 2018 by Mardisoo, ex-head of corporate affairs at banking group Swedbank, and Kalle Palling, an ex-member of the Estonian Parliament. Palling, who was first elected to Parliament in 2007 at the age of 22, served as chairman of the Parliament's European Union Affairs Committee.
While in Parliament, Palling was the architect of policy measures that regulated ride sharing that put into place standardized licensing and quality processes for private-hire drivers and taxi drivers alike. However, the question of insurance for Uber drivers, like for gig workers at other tech companies that don't offer insurance directly to contracted workers, was not resolved.
"Everything was perfect for the platforms, meaning that they were allowed to operate by the books. But then the only option for the driver was to buy full time taxi insurance," Palling said.
Cachet has ambitious plans for 2022, including a tripling of its workforce by the end of the year. It's hiring for roles including chief insurance officer, country manager, expansion manager, and content marketer.
Check out the 13-slide pitch deck Cachet used to raise $5.7 million in its latest round.
More: pitchdeck Pitch Deck Startups | 2022-05-17T09:26:53Z | www.businessinsider.com | Pitch Deck: Gig Economy Insurance Startup Cachet Raises $5.7 Million | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-insurance-startup-cachet-raises-5-7-million-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/pitch-deck-insurance-startup-cachet-raises-5-7-million-2022-5 |
As Twitter navigates a potential takeover by Elon Musk, experts say CEO Parag Agrawal needs to be more transparent and timelier in his communication
Tweeting about the Elon Musk deal marked a shift in strategy for Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal.
Agrawal's tweet seems to show he cares, but experts said he could have communicated in a better way.
Timeliness and frequency of communications matter, experts added.
It's hard to be a CEO on Twitter, especially if you're the CEO of Twitter.
Tweets just last week from Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, nearly a month after Elon Musk proposed a $44 billion takeover of the company, point to challenges leaders face when trying to communicate on a platform that rewards combativeness and lets millions of users pick apart every word.
The lesson, experts told Insider, is you don't have to tweet, but if you're going to, don't wait.
The communicator-in-chief aspect to Agrawal's job is vexing — because how can the CEO of Twitter not tweet? Yet for weeks, while restive employees sounded off about the takeover proposal by the richest man, Agrawal stayed silent on the platform he runs. Musk, characteristically, was anything but.
Now, as with other controversies the platform often magnifies, the tweets continue to flow: Agrawal on Monday pushed back, via Twitter, against speculation that the social-media company allowed bots to remain on the platform to bolster the site's overall user base.
Musk's response: the poop emoji.
Tweeting about the deal marked a shift in strategy for Agrawal, who on Friday said in a thread he had been focusing on the company and making changes to leadership. He added that while he expected the deal with Musk to go through, he was preparing for all scenarios.
Some experts who analyzed Agrawal's tweet said that even though it seemed like he cared about the company, he could have communicated it in a better way.
Insider spoke with three leadership coaches who analyzed Agrawal's tweets and what his next steps as a leader should be, especially since Musk tweeted that the deal was on hold.
"The key to being a good leader is consistency in communication," Laura Weldy, a leadership coach, told Insider.
"Because this was a one-off series of tweets, it could have rubbed some people the wrong way. We're not sure if it's genuine, or emotional manipulation."
The tweets seem authentic, but they should have come out sooner
According to Simone Morris, a leadership coach and expert in diversity, equity, and inclusion, issues, it's difficult for CEOs to publicly acknowledge the weight of difficult decisions they have to make. But Agrawal's tweet does just that, she said.
"Agrawal's language demonstrates authenticity and vulnerability. As a DEI practitioner, I like to see CEOs take accountability, and in his tweets, Agrawal is telling us he's accountable," Morris told Insider.
Weldy said Agrawal's tweets were also indicative of his leadership style, which she labeled the catalyst model. That, she said, means that Agrawal tries to inspire employees and the public by rallying them to a cause.
"You can see that he uses a lot of emotional language in the tweets, like when he talks about keeping the lights on," she said.
But that inspiration might have come too late. Agrawal's response came on a platform known for promoting hot takes nearly a month after the takeover announcement. That can feel like a year on Twitter.
Weldy said the timing of the tweets was what could be throwing people off.
"He's practicing some delayed transparency, which, unfortunately, often misses the intended mark," she said. "Citing transparency weeks after the events have started isn't exactly transparent and instead can feel patronizing and constructed."
As Agrawal continues to manage the day-to-day operations and prepare for a takeover, he needs to be timelier and more frequent in his communication, Weldy said.
She said the delayed response could have been because Agrawal was focused on finding the best way to convey his thoughts.
"Don't worry so much about it being the perfect communication but instead keeping it present," Weldy added. "People are looking for someone to tell them what is going on as it happens — that's what builds trust with people."
Choose your communication tools carefully
The choice of platform is also very important when communicating with internal and external stakeholders, Nihar Chhaya, another leadership coach, said. He said CEOs should make it a point to keep off social-media platforms when discussing sensitive issues such as takeovers.
"Twitter is not a platform that lends itself to long attention spans, so once you get involved, you get immediate reactions and debates from just about anyone. It explodes," Chhaya told Insider.
But it's complicated because Agrawal leads the platform, so people expect him to tweet, Chhaya said.
"We all want our leaders to be honest and authentic, but the problem is that we are in an environment where everything is a debate," he added. "Parag is in a place where he really can't win, no matter what he says, because the stakeholders are all Twitter users. It's impossible to satisfy everyone."
More: Twitter Parag Agrawal Elon Musk | 2022-05-17T10:58:15Z | www.businessinsider.com | Twitter's Parag Agrawal Needs to Be Transparent, Timely, Experts Say | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-takeover-parag-agrawal-tweets-communication-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-takeover-parag-agrawal-tweets-communication-2022-5 |
Brandon Lewis was speaking ahead of Liz Truss' statement to MPs today to set out plans for new legislation.
Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, was due on Tuesday to set out plans for new legislation to allow the government to ignore parts of the border agreement.
Truss was due to speak in parliament at 12.30 p.m. Tuesday after a Cabinet meeting to give a statement on the protocol.
The timetable for Truss putting forward the legislation has slipped: originally the bill – known internally as UKIM2 – was due to be set out this week, as previously reported by Insider.
Sources told Insider of fractures forming between Number 10 and the Foreign Office, with frustration at the more provocative approach taken by Truss, who one insider said had been "nowhere" in negotiations.
A unilateral move is likely to put the government on a collision course with both its own backbenchers, many of whom rebelled over previous efforts to overwrite the Brexit agreement. It could also worsen relations with the EU and the US.
Having previously told Maros Sefcovic the UK had "no choice" but to act unilaterally, Truss spoke with Simon Coveney, Ireland's foreign affairs minister, on Monday night to discuss the UK's position. | 2022-05-17T10:58:28Z | www.businessinsider.com | Minister: UK Ready to Unilaterally Change Northern Ireland Protocol | https://www.businessinsider.com/minister-uk-ready-to-unilaterally-change-northern-ireland-protocol-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/minister-uk-ready-to-unilaterally-change-northern-ireland-protocol-2022-5 |
How do I know if I'll get approved to refinance?
This week's student loan refinancing rates: May 17, 2022 | Rates have skyrocketed over the past 6 months
Some interest rates for refinanced student loans dropped last week, while others held steady, according to Credible. But like interest rates on many types of loans, student loan rates have jumped since the end of 2021 overall.
Interest rates on private student loans are generally in lockstep with a variable index rate and borrowers' credit scores. Mark Kantrowitz, president of PrivateStudentLoans.guru, says lenders may wait to change rates significantly until they see where federal loan interest rates are at in July. This could help companies decide what interest rates to charge so they can have a better rate than Parent PLUS loans, for example.
Kantrowitz believes rates will start going up in June.
The average refinance rate on 5-year variable undergraduate student loans has dropped significantly since two weeks ago and now sits at 3.46%. It's now comparable to the rate of 3.29% one year ago.
On the other hand, the variable refinance rates on 5-year graduate loans have spiked by almost 2% compared to two weeks ago.
Refinance rates on 10-year undergraduate fixed student loans haven't changed much since two weeks ago, but they've spiked over the last six months.
Graduate loan rates are just a little higher than two weeks ago. But like undergraduate rates, they've jumped since November.
Your credit score has a substantial effect on the rate you'll receive when you refinance. Usually, the higher your credit score, the lower rate you'll receive. Below, we've listed the 10-year fixed student loan rates by credit score:
You may qualify for a lower rate when you refinance your student loans. You will also be able to change from a variable-rate loan to a fixed-rate loan, or switch up your term length. By picking a different term length, you might be able to spread out payments over a longer amount of time for smaller monthly payments, though you'll cough up more in total interest.
How do I know if I'll get approved to refinance my student loan?
Generally the best barometer of loan approval is your credit score and history. Lenders like to see that you have a track record of reliably paying back your loans on time, so the better your credit score, the more likely you are to qualify for a low rate as well. Additionally, most lenders will run a soft credit check when you apply (which doesn't impact your credit score), so you can find out from an individual lender if you'll get approved at no harm to you.
How do I choose between a fixed-rate and variable-rate loan?
Both types of loans make sense for different borrowers.
A fixed-rate student loan has a set interest rate for the life of your loan. The rate you get when you take out your loan is the rate the lender will charge you until you pay back your loan in full.
A variable-rate loan has an interest rate that the lender will change regularly during your loan's term. Lenders usually tie this rate to specific market benchmarks that the federal funds rate often has an impact on. Variable rates may start lower than fixed rates, but could rise significantly over the life of your loan.
More: Student Loans pfi Credible Personal Finance Insider | 2022-05-17T10:58:40Z | www.businessinsider.com | This Week's Student Loan Refinancing Rates: May 17, 2022 | Rates Have Skyrocketed Over the Past 6 Months | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/student-loan-refinancing-rates-today-tuesday-may-17-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/student-loan-refinancing-rates-today-tuesday-may-17-2022-5 |
A Qantas cabin crew member checks the business class cabin on board a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.
Travelers are buying more expensive seats as leisure travel recovers, the head of the IATA said, according to Bloomberg
The trend comes despite a surge in oil prices driving an increase in air fares.
Demand for premium travel is helping the aviation sector recover from its pandemic slump, IATA's director general, Willie Walsh, said.
Leisure travelers are driving a recovery in premium air travel as more holidaymakers opt to spend their savings on business and first class seats amid a return to the skies, the head of the International Air Transport Association said.
Demand for premium seats is outpacing a recovery in economy travel, helping the aviation industry bounce back faster from its pandemic collapse, and despite the impact of higher oil prices on fares, IATA's director general Willie Walsh said Monday, according to Bloomberg.
"There's a strong pent-up demand for travel," Walsh told media at the Changi Aviation Summit in Singapore on Monday, Bloomberg reported. "Consumers had disposable income during the two years of the pandemic. People have saved and therefore they are prepared to spend that money."
Air travel slumped during the pandemic but has been steadily recovering as countries ease their restrictions on overseas arrivals. International travel in the first quarter of this year stood at 48% of 2019 levels, Walsh said in a keynote address at the summit, an improvement on 2021 when traffic was at 25% of 2019 levels.
Travel is picking up despite soaring fare prices, as income saved up during the pandemic, combined with a hunger for travel, means people are willing to pay extra for a more comfortable flying experience, Walsh said.
"It's principally down to what we call premium leisure, which again supports the idea that consumers have discretionary spend and that they are prepared to spend for a premium experience," Walsh said, according to Bloomberg
That income has so far helped outweigh the impact of oil prices on fares, he added.
Higher oil prices – driven by the post-pandemic recovery and, more recently, international sanctions on Russia – now account for up to 38% of an airline's cost, he said, compared with 27% in the years prior to 2019. That's pushed up airfares by 10% in the first quarter of this year, Walsh said, according to Bloomberg.
"It's inevitable that those higher oil prices will find their way through to consumers in the form of higher ticket prices," the director said, according to the newswire.
More: Transportation Travel Airlines Aviation | 2022-05-17T11:33:06Z | www.businessinsider.com | People Are Splurging on Business and First Class Seats Post-Pandemic | https://www.businessinsider.com/passengers-are-splurging-business-first-class-seats-post-pandemic-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/passengers-are-splurging-business-first-class-seats-post-pandemic-2022-5 |
I've made $26,000 renting out my extra yard space. It's been a great low-lift side hustle and only takes 5 to 10 hours a month.
Julz Maleno and the empty acre lot on her property in Chino, California.
Julz Maleno is a 30-something acupuncture student living in Chino, California.
In 2020, she listed a vacant lot on her property as storage space on Neighbor, a storage rental app.
Since then, she's made over $26,700 renting out spaces for RVs, trailer, and more.
Here's what she thinks of the app and how it works, as told to writer Perri Ormont Blumberg.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Julz Maleno, an acupuncture student in California, about her storage rental side hustle. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I'm in my last year of classes for my doctorate in acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. Throughout school, I've worked a variety of odd jobs to help pay the bills while juggling coursework.
I worked as an Uber driver at night and on the weekends, but after being sideswiped by another car, I decided being a driver was no longer an option for me as a single mom. I also worked as an acupuncture assistant at my school clinic and other clinics, but as my class schedule changed every quarter, I needed more flexibility.
I started looking into different ways to earn money that didn't require much time and heard about Neighbor on the radio. It's a website and app that connects people who have extra room in their home, garage, shed, or yard with locals seeking space to store their belongings. After doing more research, I learned I could make money by listing the gated, vacant acre lot on my property as a storage and parking space.
Since listing my space was free, I figured I had nothing to lose. [Editor's note: While listing is free, Neighbor charges the property owner a payment processing fee of 4.9% of the total reservation cost plus $0.30 per payout.]
So I signed up, took pictures of the yard, and then listed each spot with the general length and width dimensions. I divided my yard into three general sections to store cars, RVs, and trailers. I then divided those sections into a total of 20 "parking spot" spaces, each of which rents for between $40 and $200 a month.
I listed my first space right before the pandemic began in early 2020 and within days got a renter who wanted to store their RV. Since then, my extra acre of yard space has brought in more than $26,700.
The passive aspect of renting has been great for my busy schedule
I was initially skeptical about listing my space because I didn't know much about storage or what was considered a fair price, but the passive aspect of renting really sold me in the end.
Since I'm not renting out a garage or spare bedroom, I don't spend time cleaning or reorganizing the rental spaces. In fact, I didn't have to do anything to my yard before listing it.
I'm busy with school and don't have time to keep up with a gig job or maintain my yard, so it's great to be able to make extra cash without a big lift.
I do remember that my first listing was well underpriced, but with more experience I've priced more competitively with other Neighbor listings in the area. I was modest with my pricing at first and priced the spaces less than other local hosts because I wasn't sure if they would actually rent. After seeing how easy it was and how steady the inquiries were, I decided to message Neighbor's customer service to discuss increasing my rates. The support team helped me determine the best price for my area and space size.
There's not much on a day-to-day basis that I have to do for Neighbor
Maleno rents her lot mainly to people looking to store vehicles, trailers, or RVs.
I spend five to 10 hours a month on the Neighbor app messaging renters, mostly just coordinating if they need to drop off or pick up something from their outdoor space. All of our communication happens on the platform, which is convenient so that messages don't get lost.
I require renters to reach out to me in advance when they'd like to visit their vehicle or trailers. I'm usually pretty flexible, but I need to keep the space secure and monitor who's visiting and when. Luckily, my renters are all pretty low-maintenance and very accommodating, so it's been easy to plan drop-off and pick-up times around my school schedule.
Many of the renters are very friendly and we'll chat from time to time. One renter had 20 Volkswagens stored with me for about a year with plans to restore them, and another renter had a school bus that was converted into a recording studio.
Using the app has been a perfect low-lift side hustle
It's been a rewarding experience to have nice renters who care about me and in turn, I keep a close eye on their property and monitor all other renters visiting the lot.
Since the listings are month to month, I like that I can adjust my prices and rotate renters in and out as needed, although I do have some long-term renters, including one who's been storing a Chevy Workhorse since 2020.
Renting out my empty yard has been great as a fairly passive income source. I don't have to do anything or spend anything to earn money, like I did with Uber, and the month-to-month commitment means I could stop renting at any time if I needed to. If you have extra space that you're not using right now, I'd definitely recommend trying out renting it as storage.
More: Strategy side hustles Passive Income Rentals | 2022-05-17T11:33:12Z | www.businessinsider.com | I've Made $26,000 Renting My Extra Yard Space on a Storage App | https://www.businessinsider.com/side-hustle-income-from-storage-space-yard-rental-app-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/side-hustle-income-from-storage-space-yard-rental-app-2022-5 |
Nestle is sending more baby formula to the US to help ease shortages.
The company told Insider it would fly formula from Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Formula shortages are ongoing in the US as a result of supply chain constraints and product recalls.
Nestle is flying baby formula from Europe to the US amid ongoing shortages of the product, the company said on Tuesday.
In a statement sent to Insider, Nestle said it was accelerating production of baby formula in Europe for shipment to the US, despite being a "small player" in the US market.
"We have significantly increased the amount of our infant formula available to consumers by ramping up production and accelerating general product availability to retailers and online, as well as in hospitals for those most vulnerable," the statement said.
Supermarkets across the US have been hit by shortages of baby formula as a result of ongoing disruptions in the supply chain and after a series of recalls by manufacturer Abbott Nutrition following complaints of illnesses in four infants who consumed its products. Retail giants including Target, Walgreens, and CVS have rationed supplies online or in store.
Nestle said it would send supplies of its Alfamino infant formula from Switzerland and its Gerber formula from the Netherlands to the US to help ease constraints.
"We prioritized these products because they serve a critical medical purpose as they are for babies with cow's milk protein allergies," the statement said.
"Of note, both products were already being imported but we moved shipments up and rushed via air to help fill immediate needs," it added.
The shortage of baby formula has caused concern among parents who are anxious about feeding their children.
"It's stressful enough being a new mom, whether it's your first, second, third child, or whatever, but this is an extra layer of stress," Jessica Booth, of Long Island, New York, recently told Insider's Jane Ridley.
Abbott Nutrition recently stated it could restart production at its shuttered Michigan plant within two weeks. It would still take around six to eight weeks for products to reach the shelves following the restart, the company added.
The US Food and Drug Administration announced on Tuesday that it is encouraging international formula manufacturers to send more supplies to the US, where the body would make it easier to accept and distribute products.
FDA commissioner, Robert M. Califf, added that the initiative could result in imported formula reaching US shelves in "a matter of weeks."
More: Retail News Nestle Baby formula | 2022-05-17T12:29:26Z | www.businessinsider.com | Nestle Is Flying Baby Formula Supplies to the US to Ease Shortages | https://www.businessinsider.com/nestle-baby-formula-shortage-europe-us-abbott-nutrition-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/nestle-baby-formula-shortage-europe-us-abbott-nutrition-2022-5 |
Oracle's CMO says it's expanding its cloud partnership with Microsoft in response to customer demand for using more than one cloud provider
Ariel Kelman, the chief marketing officer of Oracle.
Oracle and Microsoft are expanding their three-year cloud partnership with new data center regions.
Oracle's CMO said the update is a commitment to helping customers use more than one cloud provider.
He also told Insider that partnerships with other cloud providers could be on the horizon.
Oracle and Microsoft are expanding their cloud partnership, which was first launched in 2019.
The two companies on Tuesday announced the opening of new high-speed connection points between their respective cloud data centers in Phoenix, Arizona, Seoul, and Singapore. The companies already have data links between their cloud platforms in North America, Europe, Brazil, and Tokyo.
Ariel Kelman, Oracle's chief marketing officer, told Insider that over 250 customers have signed up in the three years since the partnership's inception. The alliance helps customers run their networks across Microsoft Azure and Oracle's cloud, and makes it easier to use software and applications from both companies at the same time.
Both Oracle and Microsoft have a shared interest in moving customers from their existing data centers to the cloud, and share a customer base of large enterprises that have a history of using technologies from both. That also makes Oracle and Microsoft logical allies in the larger fight for cloud market share from leader Amazon Web Services.
Oracle, which lags behind AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud, has been shoring up its own cloud platform and slashing prices to compete. Its alliance with Microsoft not only aligns the database giant with Microsoft strategically, but also helps its base of mutual customers use services from both more seamlessly, and at lower cost.
Businesses have shown a growing interest in multicloud, or using services from more than one cloud provider. Over 75% of companies are already doing so, according to a recent Gartner survey — a reality Kelman says Oracle is responding to with the expansion of its Microsoft partnership.
"Our belief, that's shared by most of our customers, is that multicloud is the new normal," he told Insider. "It's showing customers that we are serious about supporting a multicloud architecture. We're not coming in and saying, 'You have to run everything on us.'"
But Oracle isn't alone. All the major cloud providers, including Amazon, have indicated that making their cloud platforms more open is on the horizon. While AWS has long been seen as resistant to the idea that customers should use more than a single cloud provider, it has shown signs of warming up to the trend in recent years.
The other area where Oracle aims to stand out is pricing: It has attacked Amazon for charging customers for data transfer fees, and argued that doing so forces customers to remain with a single vendor. Oracle and Microsoft have eliminated those fees for their joint customers, which helps them save even more via the partnership than if they used Azure on its own, an Oracle spokesperson said.
For example, Peter Gawroniak, the head of global IT at medical devices company Integra LifeSciences, told Insider that the company saves about $10,000 to $15,000 each month by taking advantage of the partnership's data transfer savings.
For Oracle, the latest expansion of its Microsoft alliance is ultimately a doubling down on multicloud as a strategy to win more cloud customers, and a signal that more cooperation between cloud providers may be coming.
While Kelman stopped short of saying Oracle would be working with other competitors like Google Cloud, which has been vocal about highlighting its multicloud capabilities, he said other partnerships are dependent on customer demand and "how cooperative the other cloud providers are at wanting to support multicloud use cases."
Gartner analyst Tobi Bet told Insider that Oracle and Microsoft's partnership is still "slightly unique" in the cloud industry, but there may be an increase in these types of partnerships, coinciding with the growth of multicloud IT environments.
As a result of seeing Oracle and Microsoft play nice, Gawroniak says he'd like to see similar relationships among other cloud providers.
"I think these two companies with this type of healthy partnership really brings a lot of value to their customers. I think they both realize that, and that's why it works so well," he said. "More options is better."
More: Oracle Oracle Cloud Microsoft Microsoft Azure | 2022-05-17T12:29:27Z | www.businessinsider.com | Oracle and Microsoft Expand Their Partnership to Support Multicloud | https://www.businessinsider.com/oracle-microsoft-interconnect-cloud-partnership-expansion-multicloud-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/oracle-microsoft-interconnect-cloud-partnership-expansion-multicloud-2022-5 |
Pro-Russian forces seen outside the Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol, Ukraine, on May 16, 2022.
Ukraine said Monday it was evacuating all troops from its last holdout in the city of Mariupol.
Thought Ukraine effectively gave up the territory, it extracted a huge price from Russia for it.
Thousands of well-armed Russian troops took much longer than expected to prevail, one analyst said.
Russia's capture of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, following weeks of strident Ukrainian resistance, came at too great a cost, according to Ukrainian officials and experts.
As Russian troops began to take over the city last month, a group of Ukrainian fighters, namely the Azov Battalion, retreated to fight from basement tunnels below the steel works.
At one point, Russian troops were preparing to storm the steel plant, but President Vladimir Putin called off the raid on April 21, calling instead for a blockade "so not even a fly can get through."
Ultimately, it worked. After weeks weathering attacks from Russian troops, Ukraine's military announced Monday it was evacuating the troops, whom it had "performed their combat task."
Although the Ukrainian military did not use the word, the move effectively surrendered the plant to Russia and handed them total control of Mariupol.
One analyst told Insider that the Ukrainians vastly outperformed expectations, "holding out for many weeks longer than was considered feasible."
Though a blow for Ukraine in principle, analysts said that Ukraine forced Russia to pay a disproportionately high price for the city, mostly reduced to rubble in the attacks.
In its statement, Ukraine's military said Russia had to commit 20,000 troops to the steel works, who were then unable to attack other targets in Ukraine.
Smoke rises above Azovstal Iron and Steel Works during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine April 21, 2022.
"Forging the enemy's core forces around Mariupol has given us the opportunity to prepare and create the defensive frontiers on which our troops are still present today and give a decent counterpoint to the aggressor," it said.
"We got the critically needed time to build reserves, regroup forces, and get help from partners."
Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow on the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House, agreed.
"It was plainly important to Russia to continue hammering the defenders in the Azovstal complex long after they were surrounded and cut off from any possible relief, as opposed to waiting and starving them out," he told Insider.
"This is one of the many spectacular achievements of the defenders, not only holding out for many weeks longer than was considered feasible, but also in the process tying down numbers of Russian troops that were out of all proportion to the complex's value as a military objective, and therefore making the task of Ukrainian defenders across the rest of the country easier."
"The length of the siege and resource that Russia has committed to it just underline the extent to which the political drivers for the Russian offensive run counter to military common sense," he added.
UK intelligence suggested on April 18 that Russian commanders would be furious at the slow progress their forces were making in Mariupol. It ultimately took a month more to take the city.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, tweeted Tuesday: "83 days of Mariupol defense will go down in history as the Thermopylae of the XXI century," a reference to the legendary battle where 300 Spartans held back a vast Persian army before being killed.
Podolyak continued: "'Azovstal' defenders ruined [Russia's] plan to capture the east of [Ukraine], took a hit on themselves and proved the real 'combat capability' of [Russia] … This completely changed the course of the war."
Ukraine's defense ministry said 53 of the troops evacuated from Monday were "seriously wounded" and that another 200 had been evacuated to the Russia-controlled town of Olenivka. Russia's defense ministry said Monday that it had agreed to the rescue mission.
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Tuesday that Ukraine wants to swap Russian prisoners with those troops rescued from Azovstal. In a message posted to Telegram Tuesday, Zelenskyy said: "We hope that we will be able to save the lives of our guys. Among them are the seriously wounded, they are being provided with medical aid. I want to emphasize: Ukraine needs Ukrainian heroes alive."
Mariupol became a critical target for Russia following Putin's decision to refocus Russian attacks away from Kyiv and onto the pro-Kremlin Donbas region.
Control of it enables them unbroken access by land between mainland Russia and the peninsula of Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.
However, Russia has struggled to achieve its aims in the Donbas, and is still facing stiff resistance from Ukrainian forces.
One critical target which Ukraine managed to secure in recent days is the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city located in the north of the country.
Ukraine's defense ministry said Saturday that Russian troops were now withdrawing from the city a major concession from Moscow.
Speaking to Insider, Giles, the analysts, said: "The manpower crisis that Russia is experiencing, and its difficulty in making progress on the front line, owes an intangible amount to their failure to seize Mariupol weeks before they did. "
More: News UK Russia Ukraine Mariupol | 2022-05-17T12:29:44Z | www.businessinsider.com | Russia Botched Mariupol Capture, Took Too Long, Too Many Men: Analysts | https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-capture-azovstal-plant-too-great-cost-ukraine-resisatance-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-capture-azovstal-plant-too-great-cost-ukraine-resisatance-2022-5 |
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, center, looks on as Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto, left, and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde bump fists after a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, January 24, 2022.
Members of Finland's parliament voted on Tuesday for the country to join NATO.
Lawmakers voted 188-8 to approve the country joining the military alliance, The Associated Press reported.
Public and political support in Finland for joining NATO reached an all-time high after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
Finland shares a large border with Russia.
Finland's president and prime minister said on Sunday that they wanted their country to apply to join NATO.
Multiple reports on Tuesday said that Sweden, Finland's neighbor, had also applied to join NATO, in a move prompted by Russia's invasion.
Russia has repeatedly threatened to retaliate against the two countries if they apply to join, though the country's leaders have given more measured statements in recent days and painted Finland and Sweden joining as something that would not pose a large threat to Russia.
More: News UK Speed desk Finland Sweden | 2022-05-17T13:04:19Z | www.businessinsider.com | Finland's Parliament Votes Overwhelmingly to Join NATO | https://www.businessinsider.com/finland-parliament-votes-overwhelmingly-to-join-nato-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/finland-parliament-votes-overwhelmingly-to-join-nato-2022-5 |
The luxury department store Harrods in London, England.
Jeff Spicer/Getty Images.
A British department store said it would stop sales of luxury items to Russian residents.
Harrods said it identified buyers who might be affected by the UK government's ban on luxury exports.
The UK government announced it would ban luxury goods exports to Russia in March.
British department store Harrods said it will stop selling pricey luxury goods to customers living in Russia.
It has contacted customers whose details suggest they may be affected by the UK government's ban on exporting luxury goods to Russia and therefore would not be able to shop at the upmarket store.
In a statement sent to Insider, the store said it introduced the restrictions in order to comply with UK sanctions imposed on Russia.
"The UK authorities have introduced further regulations as part of their ongoing sanctions against Russia, which specifically target the sale of certain categories of luxury goods," the statement said.
"This impacts a wide range of retailers and brands, and relates to goods worth over a certain value (generally £300), restricting any customers who are currently or ordinarily resident in Russia," Harrods added.
The UK government introduced a package of sanctions against Russia in March banning the export of "high-end luxury goods" to Russia.
The ban would affect exports of luxury cars, fashion and artwork, according to the UK government.
"In order to ensure we are complying with these restrictions, we reviewed our database to identify potentially impacted customers, and asked them to notify Harrods if the information we hold is not accurate and current," the statement said.
"This was not based on nationality, but address/contact details or previous transaction delivery data," the statement added.
Dan Webster, group general counsel at Harrods, added: "To confirm, the recent steps taken by Harrods are to comply with the law and this applies to all retailers of luxury goods in the UK."
The department store did not confirm which luxury items were subject to the export ban when asked by Insider.
The new restrictions come months after Harrods was criticized by lawmakers in the House of Commons for selling an expensive brand of Russian vodka "literally underneath the counter."
Harrods is one of UK's most famous luxury department stores, stocking more than 5,000 brands, according to its website.
More: Retail News department store Luxury goods | 2022-05-17T13:04:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | Harrods Will Stop Selling Luxury Goods to Customers Living in Russia | https://www.businessinsider.com/luxury-goods-department-store-russia-ukraine-sanctions-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/luxury-goods-department-store-russia-ukraine-sanctions-2022-5 |
Why Amazon is opening Fresh grocery stores within walking distance of Whole Foods locations, as the tech giant overhauls its brick-and-mortar strategy
The sign above an Amazon Fresh store in Washington, DC.
Amazon is opening Amazon Fresh stores minutes away from Whole Foods locations.
But analysts say Amazon Fresh is going after a different kind of customer.
Fresh wants to capitalize on the downfall of chains such as Albertsons and SuperValu, analysts say.
Across the US, an unlikely store has been popping up down the street from Amazon-owned Whole Foods supermarkets: Amazon Fresh stores.
It's Amazon's bet to expand its grocery business beyond affluent Whole Foods shoppers, analysts said.
Amazon has opened 30 Fresh stores since mid-2020, the company's website said. Several of those openings have put Fresh locations close to existing Whole Foods stores.
In the center of Washington, DC, for example, Amazon opened a Fresh store last year near Logan Circle. Just a seven-minute walk south, there's a Whole Foods.
It's a similar situation in Seattle, where a downtown Fresh store is a six-minute walk from the nearest Whole Foods.
Even the first-ever Fresh grocery store, located outside Los Angeles in Woodland Hills, is just under 2 miles — about a five-minute drive — from Whole Foods.
Whole Foods and Fresh are at the center of Amazon's shifting strategy on physical stores. The Seattle company closed dozens of other stores, including Amazon Books, 4-Star, and Pop Up locations. It also said in early May that it would close six Whole Foods in four states.
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment from Insider on its strategy for Fresh stores.
A 'market-saturation move'
Most retailers avoid putting similar stores too close to each other. Their worry is that one store will eat into the other's customer base — a phenomenon called "cannibalization" in the retail industry .
But as it opens new Fresh stores, Amazon is likely going after a new type of customer, said R.J. Hottovy, the head of analytical research at Placer.ai.
To get a better sense of who shops at Amazon Fresh, Placer.ai looked at the other grocery chains those shoppers frequented. The results suggested that they shop at other "value-oriented" chains more often than they did at Whole Foods.
"This appears to be more of a market-saturation move more than anything else," Hottovy said.
Fresh stores look different from Whole Foods stores. Besides offering lower prices, Fresh stores offer more national brands and have fewer health-focused options than Whole Foods stores do.
Fresh stores are also better integrated with some Amazon technology. Before they leave home, for instance, customers can use Alexa to come up with a grocery list, then check items off their list as they shop in-store using an Amazon Dash smart cart.
Several of the stores also use Amazon's Just Walk Out technology, which allows customers to pay for their orders without a checkout.
Whole Foods has also added Amazon's technology to its stores since Amazon acquired the chain and its 500 stores in 2017. Amazon Prime shoppers scoured Whole Foods' aisles to fill orders during the early months of the pandemic, and the first Whole Foods store to use Just Walk Out opened in Washington, DC, earlier this year.
But management at Whole Foods has also pushed back against some of Amazon's proposed changes, such as selling ads on the grocer's mobile app, which has led to a tense relationship between Whole Foods and Amazon.
Amazon itself has officially said little about its long-term plans for Fresh stores. But Brian Olsavsky, Amazon's senior vice president and CFO, said on the company's first-quarter earnings call in April that Fresh stores were a key venue for Amazon's checkout-less technology.
"We're confident that the Just Walk Out technology will be a boon, a benefit to customers," Olsavsky said.
"We're very excited about what's in the works," he added about plans for Fresh stores, saying that Amazon was still on "day one" of the project.
Rival chains are 'stuck in the 1990s'
Whole Foods has maintained its reputation as a store for upper-income shoppers, said David Livingston, a consultant and expert on supermarket site selection.
"They love being 'Whole Paycheck,'" Livingston said, referring to a nickname that jabs Whole Foods for its high prices. "That's how they got to be so successful."
Amazon Fresh, by contrast, is targeting a more middle-income consumer at a time when many established grocers are struggling to stay relevant with young middle-income consumers, he said.
Over the past decade, chains, including SuperValu and Albertsons, have closed stores and limited their spending on e-commerce, creating an opportunity for players such as Amazon Fresh.
"A lot of these stores signed 20-year leases 20 years ago," Livingston said. "You're going to see a lot of conventional stores just disappear."
He added, "As more and more supermarket chains stuck in the 1990s go out of business and their customer base dies off, Amazon Fresh will cater to a newer generation of consumers."
More: Grocery Big Box Fast Food | 2022-05-17T14:00:42Z | www.businessinsider.com | Why Amazon Fresh Stores Are Popping up Next to Whole Foods Markets | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-fresh-stores-are-opening-next-to-whole-foods-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-fresh-stores-are-opening-next-to-whole-foods-2022-5 |
Finland's President Sauli Niinisto attends a joint news conference on Finland's security policy decisions at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, May 15, 2022.
Finland's president on Tuesday said he's "sure" Turkey's Erdogan will eventually back a NATO bid.
Erdogan has previously said he will not support Finland and Sweden joining NATO.
NATO enlargement requires unanimous support among its 30 member states.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said on Tuesday that he's "sure" Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will eventually support Finland's and Sweden's bids to join NATO.
"In recent days, Turkey's statements have changed and hardened very quickly. I am sure, however, that we will solve the situation through constructive discussions," Niinisto said in an address to Sweden's Parliament.
Finland and Sweden announced their intentions to formally apply to join NATO on Sunday.
Erdogan has said he will not support the move, citing the Scandinavian countries' support for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) — who Turkey considers terrorists.
NATO enlargement requires unanimous support among its 30 member states, leaving all eyes on Turkey. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg previously said the alliance would welcome Finland and Sweden with open arms.
"We hope that all Member States will give their strong support," Niinisto said on Tuesday. "We expect to sign the accession protocols soon, after which we hope for swift ratification by national parliaments of the member countries."
Niinisto said Finland — and neighboring Sweden — enjoy "wide support" among NATO member states and will be able to "enforce" the alliance with political, military, and societal stability.
"As NATO members, our primary task will continue to be to secure our own territories," Niinisto said. "But at the same time, we are committed to taking responsibility for the security of our allies."
The two Nordic countries have long been militarily unaligned but cited Russian President Vladimir Putin's unprovoked war in Ukraine as the final catalyst that pushed them to seek NATO membership.
Russia over the last few weeks delivered threats and warnings to both countries, saying that joining NATO could bring northern Europe closer to conflict. Russian leaders have seemingly taken a more relaxed stance on the move in recent days.
Meanwhile, Finland's parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining NATO on Tuesday as public and political support for the military alliance continues to soar. | 2022-05-17T14:00:45Z | www.businessinsider.com | Finland's President Says He's 'Sure' Turkey Will Back NATO Bid | https://www.businessinsider.com/finland-president-sure-turkey-back-nato-bid-russia-ukraine-war-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/finland-president-sure-turkey-back-nato-bid-russia-ukraine-war-2022-5 |
Alexa St. John and Nora Naughton
The electric-vehicle industry is full of budding talent eager to help companies best Tesla.
Insider collected nominations for the industry's rising stars and chose 35 of them.
Nominees had to be 35 or younger at the end of March to be eligible.
As the world of electric vehicles heats up, it's no longer just about the cars themselves. The cars are critical, but charging infrastructure, batteries, supply chains, fleet management, and more make the space complex — and in need of incredible talent to move the needle.
As the auto industry pours $515 billion into electrification by 2030, according to a recent Reuters analysis, it requires young talent that can steer it through the critical parts of the transition. This means talent capable of developing vehicle technologies, reinventing decades-old manufacturing processes, and creating charging products and services.
Insider considered nominations from across the EV industry, limiting the pool to those 35 or younger at the end of March. (Some selected may have turned 36 before publication.) From over 150 nominations, we selected 35 young professionals as most likely to advance in their industry and move it forward.
These are the electric-vehicle industry's rising stars.
You can also check out our list of electric-vehicle rising stars from 2021.
Insider will be accepting nominations for electric-vehicle-industry power players in the coming weeks.
Jigar Shah, 32, Electrify America
Jigar Shah.
Shah serves as the head of energy services at Volkswagen's charging-infrastructure firm, Electrify America. He's responsible for the company's energy portfolio, which includes using energy storage to manage electricity costs, communicating with utilities and energy markets on policy and rates, and overseeing development of vehicle-to-grid integration. Shah has managed the energy used from more than 200 utilities by more than 3,250 fast chargers across 785 Electrify America charging stations.
Shah has also led the development and deployment of behind-the-meter energy-storage systems — which optimize the use of renewable energy and supplement the grid at peak charging times to reduce utility costs — at over 150 Electrify America charging locations.
His application of large-scale energy storage coupled with solar has enabled public fast-charger installations with insufficient grid capacity.
The company said his expert witness testimony had encouraged utility commissions and policymakers to support EV adoption and charging infrastructure. He also has pushed for utility rates that enable affordable and equitable public charging in disadvantaged and underserved communities.
Joseph Rooney, 29, Elevation Proving Grounds
Joseph Rooney.
Joseph Rooney
Rooney is a cofounder and the CEO of Elevation Proving Grounds, a firm that helps electric- and autonomous-vehicle companies and divisions hire the best talent in the industry.
He is a mechanical engineer who has dedicated his career to matching rising EV talent with the right companies. Through his staffing services, Rooney and his team help their clients build all types of EV products, such as electric trucks, buses, motorcycles, and chargers.
Selinay Filiz Parlak, 23, Bluedot
Selinay Filiz Parlak.
Parlak is the chief operating officer for Bluedot, a software-development company focused on making charging stations more accessible and convenient for EV drivers, while making the charging experience more enjoyable.
Parlak joined Bluedot right out of college and, in the past year, has brought on close to 3,000 business partners looking to scale through the use of EV chargers.
Branden Flasch, 26, Circle K
Branden Flasch, Circle K
Flasch is an e-mobility technical manager for the convenience-store chain Circle K. In this role, he has developed standardized hardware configurations for chargers and a site design that meets the needs of EV drivers. Flasch is also working to maximize the value of charger installation to improve the business case for public fast charging.
He also has a YouTube channel on which he travels the country with a Tesla Model S, visiting the nation's charging stations and offering tips to electric-vehicle owners.
Larla Halsey, 26, Xeal Energy
Larla Halsey.
Larla Halsey
Halsey is the head of partnerships for the EV-charging company Xeal Energy. Halsey was the first employee at Xeal and worked with the founders to build the company that exists today.
Xeal provides charging solutions for a variety of stakeholders, including apartment complexes, condominiums, and workplaces. It was founded in 2018 and has $11 million in funding, according to Crunchbase.
Arlena Amiri, 34, Polestar
Arlena Amiri.
As the head of advanced engineering at the EV firm Polestar, Amiri works to ensure the company's vehicles aren't just dynamic, advanced, and aesthetically pleasing but also sustainable and circular through the entire product cycle.
The company said Amiri and her team were working to bring to market new materials for cars, like a flax-based carbon-fiber replacement, and looking at how to further make green the entirety of the engineering and construction of its vehicles.
Amiri previously spent time at the marine- and industrial-applications engine supplier Volvo Penta.
Esther Unti, 26, Lucid
Esther Unti.
Unti is the manager of controls, calibration, and validation at Lucid, where she helps shape the driver experience of the EV startup's vehicles. This includes things like torque vectoring, regenerative braking, and acceleration.
She has been at Lucid for three years and started in vehicle dynamics, spent time in suspension components, and, most recently, moved to the software organization.
Unti interned at Tesla and graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Tim McCusker, 23, SparkCharge
Tim McCusker.
At the mobile-EV-charging startup SparkCharge, McCusker is an embedded-systems engineer, helping develop its portable fast-charging system, the Roadie.
The company said: "His hands-on approach to problem-solving and figuring out solutions to development's biggest problems coupled with 'his whatever it takes, let's work all night to get it done' attitude makes him a huge value."
McCusker graduated from the Wentworth Institute of Technology with a degree in computer engineering.
Weimin Wang, 33, Sila Nanotechnologies
Weimin Wang.
Wang joined the battery startup Sila Nanotechnologies over three years ago and is a scientist, working on battery-performance optimization, specifically for its anode product. This includes anode-powder design and qualification, cell-build and test capabilities, analytical tools, electrode and electrolyte development, and customer-programs management.
She has developed or led the teams that have developed Sila's electrode product solutions deployed with partners.
The company said Wang "is technically excellent, efficient, and tremendously resilient in her work, but perhaps more importantly she is selfless and team-oriented."
"She leads by example, mentoring others with as much attention as she commits to her own work, ensuring that the team is rising as she does," it added.
Brandon Jacobs, 32, Blink
Brandon Jacobs.
At Blink, Jacobs serves as a regional vice president of sales and manages business development in the Northeast, Southeast, and central regions of the US.
He joined Blink in 2018 as regional manager. Jacobs then became senior executive sales manager. Jacobs now manages a team of seven executive sales managers. He has sold or deployed over 1,500 EV chargers during his tenure, the company said.
Jacobs serves as a key partner, educating utilities like Con Edison and National Grid, as well as legislators and industry organizations. He has collaborated with Sustainable Westchester to make EV charging more accessible.
Jacobs previously worked at the solar-energy company UGE and in the supply-chain departments at Rolls-Royce and Stryker. He is a member of the Electric Automotive Association of the Hudson Valley, working to expand infrastructure access in the area. Jacobs earned a Master of Science in sustainability management at Columbia University.
Lance MacNiven, 33, WSP
Lance MacNiven.
MacNiven leads zero-emission planning nationally for WSP, an engineering and professional-services firm that works with communities on building, transportation, energy, water, and environmental projects.
In his role at WSP, MacNiven has delivered several planning, design, and implementation projects for transit agencies and ports across the country.
Anurag Kamal, 28, ElectricFish
Anurag Kamal.
Kamal is the founder, CEO and product lead for ElectricFish, a climate-tech company deploying extremely fast-charging stations using microgrid scale energy storage.
ElectricFish's technology, known as the 350squared, is able to take advantage of low-voltage AC connections at a site and discharge high-voltage DC power to EVs – up to 350 kilowatts – without incurring peak demand at the site. This tech could accelerate much-needed DC fast-charging infrastructure.
Ashley Revay, 29, Volta Charging
Ashley Revay.
Revay was one of the first members of the EV-charging startup Volta, first working on securing property partners. Volta's business model is unique: Instead charging customers to top off their battery, the company's stations use video screens to generate ad-based revenue.
She has since been promoted to vice president of enterprise charging solutions and has helped secure some of Volta's most significant property clients, including a major pharmacy chain, a nationwide movie-theater chain, and a supermarket chain.
The company said Revay had an "ability to build long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationships with commercial locations that showcase the unique value EV charging brings to their properties."
Revay is also an advocate for women in the technology and EV industries and is an active member in Volta's women affinity group.
Lindsay Stone, 30, Ample
Lindsay Stone.
Stone serves as the director of deployment at Ample, a battery-swapping startup in San Francisco. There, she helps grow teams that support battery swapping at scale and defines repeatable processes to rapidly deploy a network anywhere.
She started her career at SolarCity, where she was responsible for the design of residential solar-panel systems and built a training program to scale the department.
Later, at Tesla, Stone led Powerwall deployment programs and built processes to support growth of Powerwall installations.
Stone studied civil engineering at MIT.
Marcus Li, 32, Eli Electric Vehicles
Marcus Li.
Eli Electric Vehicles
Li is the founder and CEO of Eli Electric Vehicles, a startup focused on affordable micro electric vehicles for short daily trips.
Under Li's leadership, Eli Electric has grown from a cash-strapped startup to a company that last year began building and shipping its first micro EV, the Eli Zero.
Sandhya Srinivas, 27, Xos
Sandhya Srinivas.
Sandhya Srinivas
As the only female systems engineer at Xos, Srinivas tests prototype components and verifies vehicle-control units by simulating the behavior of the company's electric truck in the lab.
She previously interned at Robert Bosch and worked at the electric-motorcycle startup Ultraviolette Automotive, helping develop its battery-management system. She also spent time at Trane Technologies and Tesla.
Srinivas received her undergraduate degree in instrumentation technology in India and received her master's in electrical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
She is one of the founding members of the employee-resource group for people of color at Xos.
Andrew Hsieh, 35, Liminal
Andrew Hsieh.
Hsieh founded Liminal with three other entrepreneurs in 2016 and now serves as its CEO.
Liminal, formerly known as Feasible, gives automakers and manufacturers a glimpse inside its manufacturing process to ensure its EV batteries and production are safe, reliable, and healthy. The startup, which could help companies like General Motors avoid major battery recalls, recently raised $8 million.
Before Liminal, Hsieh spent time in academia, serving as a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University.
Christianna Lininger, 34, Voltaiq
Christianna Lininger.
Christianna Lininger,
As the director of battery science and engineering for the battery-performance-software developer Voltaiq, she works directly with Voltaiq's EV customers, including Mercedes-Benz, to accelerate the use of the startup's battery software.
Lininger has expertise on energy, electrochemistry, and energy storage, as well as on analytics and software. At Voltaiq, she has mapped several new processes, analyses, and workflows for the startup's customers.
Hector Inirio, 35, Indigo Technologies
Hector Inirio.
Indigo Technologies
Inirio is the director of mechanical engineering at Indigo Technologies, an EV startup developing EVs for ride-sharing, delivery, and fleets.
He helped invent, develop, integrate, and patent Indigo's robotic wheels, which the company says makes its vehicles smoother and more spacious than other EVs on the market.
The robotic wheel moves all active suspension and powertrain elements to the corner in-wheel hub motors. Inirio's contributions improve light EV ride quality and interior room, the company says.
Inirio also supports Indigo in all facets of its engineering process, like maturing the engineering-validation and design process from a lab stage to one closer to manufacturing readiness, as well as engineering several generations of EV prototypes.
The company said he was "Indigo's resident Computer-Aided Design engineer, the only Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing certified employee, the front-line vehicle kinematics designer, a process creator, a core inventor, and lately a project and people manager."
Marco Batra, 32, Rivian
Marco Batra.
Batra is Rivian's vice president of commercial operations, a vital role as the white-hot EV startup ramps up production of its pickup truck, SUV, and Amazon delivery vehicle.
Batra, a Tesla alum, joined Rivian in 2020 to serve as the company's senior director of global delivery and field operations. While at Tesla, he worked on the launch of the Model S, Model X, and Model 3. He brought this expertise to Rivian as it launched its three vehicles this year. Batra started his current role at Rivian in December.
Brandan Boggs, 30, Chargeway
Brandan Boggs.
Brandan Boggs
Boggs started his electric-vehicle career working for Tesla as a product specialist while in college. This is where he developed his passion for educating new and prospective EV buyers, a skill that has helped him in his career at the charging-app developer Chargeway.
He's using his background in data and research to provide accurate data for the app, which helps EV owners plan a trip, finding a charging station and seeing how long their car will take to charge. Boggs also works with various business stakeholders on their existing and new charging stations, setting up data across all platforms that are the same and accurate for users to see.
Visrin Vichit-Vadakan, 35, Spring Free EV
Visrin Vichit-Vadakan.
Spring Free EV
Vichit-Vadakan cofounded the EV fintech startup Spring Free EV last year. The company — which launched a mileage-purchase agreement that charges a fee per mile of use with the goal of making EVs more affordable — has been backed by investors like Reid Hoffman, Marianne Wu, and Mark Pincus.
Vichit-Vadakan serves as the head of sales and business development and is responsible for growing partnerships with fleet managers.
She previously spent 3 1/2 years at Tesla in demand generation and sales growth. She also worked at Sunrun, where she led solar-financing product development, from identifying market opportunities to launch.
Vichit-Vadakan has a degree in earth systems from Stanford University.
Hooman Shahidi, 32, EVPassport
Hooman Shahidi.
Shahidi is a cofounder and the president of EVPassport, an EV-charging network that allows drivers to have a membership-agnostic charging experience.
In this role, Shahidi has brought an extensive list of commercial-real-estate owners into the EVPassport fold with EVPassport's charging stations.
Candace Chu O'Melia, 30, GM
Candace Chu O'Melia.
O'Melia is an EV-charging analyst for General Motors. In this role, she works to ensure there is enough EV infrastructure available in all communities. This includes advocating for equitable place-based solutions to support a community's health as GM invests $750 million in charging in the coming years.
O'Melia's work has helped shape a holistic approach to charging from GM's Ultium Charge 360. This strategy takes into account charging solutions for multifamily, rural, and workplace locations so EV drivers can charge their EVs safely and affordably.
A second-generation Taiwanese American, O'Melia is earning her master's in public administration in the Lincoln Institute 75 Fellowship for ethics and equity in public administration from Claremont Lincoln University.
Eddie Burch, 28, Solid Power
Eddie Burch.
Burch joined the solid-state-battery-cell startup Solid Power five years ago, and the company said: "In that time, he's had a hand in building the ins and outs of the entire cell production process." He serves as a senior automation engineer.
The manufacturing systems Solid Power uses are directly influenced by Burch's engineering. The company began producing cells in its pilot production line in 2019.
Burch helped the company engineer processes, machinery, and systems, and built automated tools needed to produce these early prototype cells. Now, he's helping automate and optimize Solid Power's under-construction "EV cell pilot line."
Solid Power's machine, which stacks battery electrodes to form full multilayer cells, was designed, built, and validated by Burch. His automated system has made this layering precise and eliminated human error.
Ajay Kochhar, 30, Li-Cycle
Ajay Kochhar.
Kochhar founded Li-Cycle in 2016 and serves as the president and CEO of the battery-recycling company. Li-Cycle aims to support a circular lithium-ion battery supply chain by increasing global recycling capacity with facilities in North America and abroad.
Kochhar oversees the company's many business units and shared services, and supports development of company growth initiatives.
Under Kochhar, the company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in August with a $1.5 billion valuation. Li-Cycle has also built partnerships with LG Chem and LG Energy Solution, Glencore, Ultium Cells, and more.
Before Li-Cycle, Kochhar worked with the advisory and industrial clean-tech practices at Hatch. He received his bachelor's in applied science in chemical engineering at the University of Toronto.
Bethany Tabor, 36, Consumers Energy
Bethany Tabor.
Tabor works on the electric-vehicle program for Consumers Energy, the largest energy utility company in Michigan. Consumers has set a goal to power 1 million electric vehicles in the communities it serves by 2030. The company powered 15,000 EVs at the start of 2022.
In her role on the electric-vehicle team at Consumers Energy, Tabor helps lead the company's effort to install public EV charging and provide resources and direction to over 50 businesses that want to electrify their vehicle fleets.
Daniel Öster, 30, Kempower
Daniel Öster.
Daniel Öster holds two positions in the electric-vehicle industry, as a service engineer for the EV-charging company Kempower and the owner of Dala's EV Repair.
Öster started his small business repairing EVs and doing battery upgrades and replacements for EVs at more affordable prices than the manufacturers offer. He's now applying his skills in electrical and battery work as an engineer growing Kempower's charging network. In his spare time, Öster is converting a Nissan NX into a high-performance electric car.
Megan Gould Weston, 30, Ford
Megan Gould Weston.
Weston serves as the launch supervisor for Ford's F-150 Lightning. In this role, Weston is responsible for overseeing everything from timing to quality for the start of production of the electric pickup truck at Ford's EV factory in suburban Detroit. Production of the Lightning, which already has nearly 200,000 purchase reservations, began on April 26.
With this high level of consumer interest, Weston worked with her team to overcome supply-chain snags and other constraints to ensure the first F-150 Lightnings arrive in customer's driveways on time.
Weston and her team are set to oversee Ford's plan to nearly double production of the Lightning to 150,000 trucks annually in the coming years.
Alex Sibila, 26, Shell Recharge Solutions
Alex Sibila.
Alex Sibila works as a sales engineer for Shell Recharge Solutions, the electric-charging arm of the oil giant Shell. Sibila, an EV owner, has applied his expertise in electric engineering to work with utilities in the electric-vehicle-charging industry.
Sibila also runs a YouTube channel, where he documents his EV ownership for more than 27,000 subscribers.
Samantha Rudolph, 31, Dcbel
Samantha Rudolph.
dcbel
Rudolph serves as the customer-experience lead for Dcbel, a home-charging-station startup that focuses on installing DC fast chargers in home settings. Rudolph has worked her way up the ranks at Dcbel over the past seven years, starting as a part-time legal intern in 2015.
As a founding employee at Dcbel, Rudolph also served as the startup's first product manager for the R16 Home Energy Station. She's also led marketing at Dcbel, which is backed by blue-chip investors like Coatue and West Texas Intermediate.
Vartan Badalian, 28, GreenBiz
Vartan Badalian.
Vartan Badalian
Badalian for the past two years has served as the government-affairs manager in the US and Canada for Climate Group, a nonprofit organization that works with business and government leaders to tackle the climate crisis.
In this role, Badalian worked on the EV100 initiative, which is designed to encourage companies to commit to switching their vehicle fleets to EVs and installing charging infrastructure for customers and employees by 2030. Badalian helped double the size of the initiative, working with major companies like Lyft, Siemens, and Donlen to secure their corporate commitment to electrify their entire light-duty fleets and deploy charging.
Earlier this month, Badalian became a transportation analyst at GreenBiz Group, an events and media company focused on spreading awareness of climate change.
Saad Dara, 35, Mangrove Lithium
Saad Dara.
Dara cofounded the Vancouver, British Columbia, lithium-refining and -processing outfit Mangrove Lithium in 2017 as part of his Ph.D. thesis at the University of British Columbia.
The startup, backed by the Bill Gates-led climate venture fund Breakthrough Energy Ventures, does not extract materials or manufacture batteries. Instead, it's developing a more optimized way of processing the raw material used in EV-battery cathodes or anodes.
As CEO, Dara is focused on building technology that can reduce EV supply-chain bottlenecks by bringing lithium-refining capabilities to lithium production facilities.
Neal Callinan, 27, Xcel Energy
Neal Callinan.
Callinan helped found the clean-transportation practice at the utility holding company Xcel Energy and is now its strategy and policy principal. He's worked in the energy and utilities space with the company for nearly eight years.
He defines utility business plans and strategies for EV-charging programs and industry partnerships. He leads and supports its business and regulatory strategies for electric-transportation customer programs across residential and commercial segments. This includes creating EV customer-program designs, drafting regulatory filings, testifying and presenting information at public-utility-commission meetings, and engaging with stakeholders.
Callinan has established Xcel's team to develop, scale, and operate a program for utility-provided home charging as a service, called EV Accelerate at Home, to give customers a one-stop-shop charging solution.
He's also worked on partnership strategy for a utility-managed EV auto-dealer network, with resources to educate and promote EVs and Xcel Energy charging programs. Callinan also contributed to Xcel's pop-up exhibition EV Garage, which showcased EV models and their benefits and demystified charging for residential customers.
Raven Hernandez, 27, Earth Rides
Raven Hernandez, Earth Rides
Kathy Thomas Photography
Hernandez founded Earth Rides, a Nashville, Tennessee, electric-vehicle ride-hailing platform, in 2020. Earth Rides has raised $2 million in funding, according to the company, and served more than 300,000 riders in 18 months of operation.
The company is looking to beat the ride-hailing giant Uber and Lyft to electrifying services by starting with a fleet that is entirely EV. Right now, the company's fleet is made up of Teslas.
Before Earth Rides, Hernandez, a first-generation American, attended law school at the Pepperdine University Rick J. Caruso School of Law. It was there where Hernandez developed a passion for health and clean air.
More: Features BI Graphics Savanna Durr | 2022-05-17T14:00:51Z | www.businessinsider.com | Meet 2022's 35 Rising Stars of the Electric-Car Industry | https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-2022s-35-rising-stars-of-the-electric-car-industry-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-2022s-35-rising-stars-of-the-electric-car-industry-2022-5 |
Recession watch: The investing chief at an $80 billion firm says markets are overplaying the risks. He lays out why some experts are getting it wrong and what investors should do.
Rathbones
Talk of recession is picking up, with experts and economists warning we are heading straight into one this year.
Not everyone agrees that it's inevitable and bailing out of the stock market now could be a mistake.
The co-CIO at an $80 billion investment firm lays out why he sees a recession as unlikely and what investors should do.
The talk of an impending recession in the US and globally is picking up, with an increasing number of markets experts and economists warning we are heading straight into one this year.
Share prices are reflecting this bearish outlook, with sharp plunges across major indices over the past month.
The central argument is that inflation running above 8% leaves the Federal Reserve no choice but to carry out a major upward adjustment to interest rates that will squash demand in the economy.
Geopolitical factors such as the war in Ukraine and its effect on energy prices are exacerbating already-high inflationary pressure and supply chain troubles that emerged as the world exited pandemic lockdowns.
There are, however, parts of the picture that do not point to a recession taking hold any time soon. A slowdown of some level is clearly on the cards, but whether this reaches the status of a significant recession is far from clear.
There is a very healthy labor market in the US, UK and other parts of the world, which is typically a feature of a strong economy. There are more jobs than people to fill them in many sectors. Cash savings levels are still robust after households stashed money away during the pandemic.
Not all experts agree a near-term recession is inevitable and if one is avoided, bailing out of stocks now could be a big mistake.
Among those who think the talk is overdone is Ed Smith, who is co-chief investment officer of $80 billion firm Rathbone Investment Management. He believes a global recession is possible but "unlikely."
"Globally, stocks and bonds have fallen to levels consistent with recession," he said in a note. "Yet economic indicators, and growing company earnings and profit margins, suggest otherwise. The probability of recession in the next six to 12 months is a far-from-insignificant 30%."
"Stocks and bonds have fallen again over past weeks. American and Chinese equities have even plumbed new lows for the year. Many commentators like to post-rationalize short-term gyrations with what, to our mind, is often spurious accuracy. We think it's sufficient to say that the tumult is the result of the huge amount of economic uncertainty – particularly around GDP growth, inflation and interest rates – that we have written about for almost a year."
"However, importantly, we still don't think a global recession is the most likely outcome which means neither is a bear market – where stock markets drop by more than 20% and stay there for a long time. If we're correct, that means the recovery in equity markets is likely to be measured in months, not years. And so it makes sense to stay invested."
Smith said some of the key signals of a recession are simply not evident in the way he would expect to see.
"The indicators that anticipate recession the furthest in advance, such as shorter-dated US government bond yields and the inflation-adjusted money supply, suggest a negligible chance of recession."
"Apart from consumer confidence – whose correlation with actual spending has broken down significantly since the pandemic – shorter-term leading indicators of activity, such as business confidence and intentions to invest in plant, equipment and technology, largely show impressive resilience," Smith said. "This is likely due to all the cash amassed by businesses and consumers over the past two years. We've got a decelerating global economy, for sure, but not much sign of recession."
Despite the negative sentiment in the market right now, Smith sees a turnaround for the stock market as a near term, but not imminent, possibility.
"We must acknowledge that we may not get a catalyst for another couple of months. We probably need to see signs that rates of core inflation, which ignore volatile energy and food prices, have peaked, we'll need to see further confirmation that wage inflation isn't going to spiral out of control, and then we'll need to see the Federal Reserve start to soften its language around the extent of future monetary tightening," he said.
In terms of where to allocate money given this take on the situation, Smith pointed to an opportunity in the bond market, and holding firm with a well-diversified equities portfolio as the smart plays.
"Because we believe it's more likely than not that the US economy will avoid recession, we think the 10-year US Treasury yield – an important benchmark of global financial conditions – could continue to rise. Especially given all the ongoing uncertainty around inflation, as well as the central bank's unwinding of the trillions of dollars of bond purchases it made as part of its quantitative easing programs."
"To sum up, we expect market volatility to continue, but because a global recession appears unlikely within the timeframe to which equity investors react, we continue to believe staying invested in stocks is warranted."
More: stock market 2022 Stock Market Analysis stock recommendations 2022 investing advice 2022 | 2022-05-17T14:00:59Z | www.businessinsider.com | Recession Risk: $80 Billion Firm's Investing Chief Says Predictions May Be Wrong | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-risk-80-billion-firms-investing-chief-says-predictions-may-be-wrong-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-risk-80-billion-firms-investing-chief-says-predictions-may-be-wrong-2022-5 |
How a southern California high-school shielded a beloved teacher who groomed students
A sign on Rosemead High School's campus.
Three former Rosemead High students confirmed they had sexual relationships with Eric Burgess, the school's "Golden Boy."
School officials repeatedly missed opportunities to investigate allegations against Burgess, allowing his behavior to continue for more than 20 years.
The district also obstructed Insider's reporting on Burgess, repeatedly denying its public records requests.
"Our Library Clerk sent this to me... it was a request from Matt Drange re: Eric Burgess," Rosemead principal Brian Bristol wrote in an email to his boss. "How would you like us to handle this?"
I knew that getting documents for my investigation into my alma mater's handling of teachers accused of sexual misconduct would be difficult. But I didn't expect that requesting images of old yearbooks – copies of which can easily be found at the local library — would prompt a frantic response, including the principal emailing the superintendent and instructing campus staff to stop returning my phone calls.
The more I dug into Rosemead High's reckoning with the behavior of its one-time "Golden Boy," English and journalism teacher Eric Burgess, the more school officials dug in their heels to obstruct my reporting. Word got around that I was calling teachers across campus in the summer of 2019, shortly after Burgess was suspended while district officials investigated his relationship with a former student. Many employees on campus told me they were instructed not to speak with me.
Read more: He was my high school journalism teacher. Then I investigated his relationships with teenage girls.
A few months earlier, after officials obtained a series of sexually explicit messages Burgess exchanged with the former student, I asked district superintendent Edward Zuniga whether he thought the district had done all it could to keep students safe, among other questions. Zuniga tapped an outside PR firm, emails show, to craft a canned response:
"This is a confidential personnel matter and the district does not comment on confidential personnel matters," Zuniga told me.
Eric Burgess's yearbook photo.
The secrecy around Burgess intensified once the district brought in an outside investigator, Lisa Strachan, to interview employees and alumni. Strachan's firm has come under scrutiny in the past for its tactics in sexual abuse investigations in other southern California schools, which prompted at least one person she contacted to ignore her calls. Responses to my records requests, meanwhile, grew increasingly creative, as the outside lawyers hired by the district began to stretch legal exemptions as they saw fit.
Attorneys who specialize in public records access and who reviewed the denials the school district sent me said the secrecy was egregious. Among the records the district either denied me access to or claimed it didn't possess were disciplinary records from Burgess' personnel file — including records from the first time he was suspended, following a tip that he was dating a student — as well as any portion of the district's 2019 investigation, which ultimately led to Burgess' resignation. Even after he'd been pushed out, lawyers for the school district argued "the public's interest is furthered by maintaining the confidentiality" of Burgess' records. Burgess' teaching credential was revoked by California's disciplinary commission in 2021.
Other instances of abusive behavior have surfaced in the school district in recent years. In 2019, a Rosemead track coach went to jail for three years after pleading no contest to lewd acts with a student. The district paid $2 million to settle a case brought by another student at a nearby school after a teacher admitted to molesting her. Other students filed a lawsuit shortly after, accusing the district of failing to protect them from teachers who preyed on teenage girls.
In Burgess' case, despite numerous red flags, school officials repeatedly missed opportunities to put a stop to his behavior. After they finally took action, school officials willingly agreed to remain silent about the reasons Burgess lost his job as part of the settlement agreement he signed in December 2019.
Carly Sanchez, an attorney who specializes in sexual abuse lawsuits involving children, was stunned when I briefed her on the agreement. In other cases of teacher misconduct she has reviewed, Sanchez said that school officials "had to say that a teacher 'violated these specific policies.' There's generally very specific language about references, as well."
It's unclear what recommendation, if any, district officials made when they referred Burgess' settlement to the state disciplinary commission. I was denied access to that, too.
Have a story tip? Connect with Matt via email, at mdrange[at]insider[dot]com, or by phone, at +1 (626) 233-1063.
More: insider investigates Researched BI Graphics Rebecca Zisser | 2022-05-17T14:36:06Z | www.businessinsider.com | How a Southern California High-School Shielded a Predatory Teacher | https://www.businessinsider.com/eric-burgess-rosemead-high-sexual-misconduct-district-failures-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/eric-burgess-rosemead-high-sexual-misconduct-district-failures-2022-5 |
SIGN UP NOW: How a purposeful approach to ESG governance can build long-term value
Two blurred business people walk past a corporate office.
Effective corporate governance requires dedicated focus and financial support to build long-term value.
Leaders in finance and healthcare will explore the five core principles of good governance.
On June 14, 2022, Insider is hosting "Financing a Sustainable Future: Advancing Effective Corporate Governance," a free virtual event at noon ET, featuring speakers from Bank of America, Deloitte, and Pfizer.
Click here to register for this free virtual event.
The future of environmental and social wellness is one of the most harrowing issues of our time and requires effective participation and leadership in every realm of society.
Corporate responsibility's impact on not only business value, but environmental and social wellness, is formidable and calls on business leaders, investors, and financial experts to be thoughtful and strategic with their corporate governance.
In understanding and prioritizing non-financial determinants of sustainable governance, business leaders and investors can develop value growth and ethical behavior while lowering risk.
As part of the "Financing a Sustainable Future" series, Insider's virtual event "Financing a Sustainable Future: Advancing Effective Corporate Governance," in partnership with Bank of America, takes place Tuesday, June 14, 2022, at noon ET. It will include live conversations with Insider editors, sustainable finance experts, business leaders, and ESG professionals.
Panelists will take a closer look at the five core principles of good governance: accountability, leadership, integrity, stewardship, and transparency — including criteria measuring risk and ethical behavior.
As public companies continue to adapt and refine their governance practices, this virtual hour-long bootcamp provides a platform for sustainable finance experts, business leaders, and ESG professionals to discuss the purposeful approach of ESG-driven governance.
The event will take a closer look at the third of the four pillars of ESG reporting, as defined by the World Economy Forum: Principles of Governance.
Mary Obasi, Global Climate Risk Executive, Bank of America
Jennifer Steinmann, Global Sustainability & Climate Practice Leader, Deloitte
Caroline Roan, Chief Sustainability Officer, Pfizer
A look at past series events:
Financing a Sustainable Future: Investing in People Transforms Economies on March 8, 2022
Financing a Sustainable Future: Accelerate the Net-Zero Transition on April 12, 2022
Financing a Sustainable Future: Creating Broad-based Economic Prosperity on May 10, 2022
More: Financing a Sustainable Future Corporate Governance Insider Events Principles of Governance
bofa-bootcamp4 | 2022-05-17T14:36:12Z | www.businessinsider.com | FREE VIRTUAL EVENT: Experts Discuss Principles of Corporate Governance | https://www.businessinsider.com/free-virtual-event-experts-discuss-effective-corporate-governance-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/free-virtual-event-experts-discuss-effective-corporate-governance-2022-5 |
UK counter-terrorism strategy has 'double standards' regarding far right and Islamist extremism, review claims
William Shawcross, the review's author
There is a "double standard" in responses to far-right and Islamist terrorism, a leaked review says.
William Shawcross said definitions of far-right extremism were too broad, and called for a crackdown of Islamist groups.
Alistair Carmichael MP told Insider the review "risks toxifying the debate around tackling extremism still further".
The UK's counter-terrorism strategy has been guilty of a "double standard" when it comes to dealing with far-right and Islamist groups, leaked extracts of a major report suggest.
William Shawcross's review of the UK's Prevent programme argues that too much emphasis has been put on rightwing terror because the definition of neo-nazism has expanded too widely, while the focus on Islamist extremism has been too narrow, the Guardian reported.
The review said definitions of far-right extremism include "mildly controversial or provocative forms of mainstream, rightwing-leaning commentary that have no meaningful connection to terrorism or radicalisation".
In contrast, Shawcross said the strategy had ignored "Islamist narratives" by focusing on proscribed organisations.
The leak from the already-controversial Shawcross review came days after a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, where a white supremacist shot 11 black and two white victims in what authorities called a "racially motivated hate crime".
The appointment of Shawcross, a former chair of the Charity Commission, led to a number of campaign groups and NGOs including Amnesty International, boycotting the process over past comments he had made.
In 2012, as a director of the neo-conservative Henry Jackson Society, Shawcross said: "Europe and Islam is one of the greatest, most terrifying problems of our future. I think all European countries have vastly, very quickly growing Islamic populations."
Amnesty said these were "patently Islamophobic views".
Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson, told Insider: "These leaks reinforce what the Liberal Democrats have said from the start – that this review should have been fully independent from government to ensure that it could be a truly neutral assessment of extremism in the UK.
"Instead the government has dragged its feet, politicised the process and left us with a review that risks toxifying the debate around tackling extremism still further.
"Violent extremism needs to be combatted wherever it arises – by turning this into a bun fight over which extremism is 'worse' we risk undermining that fight. The government needs to act to restore confidence in the process."
A Home Office spokesperson told Insider: "Prevent remains a vital tool for early intervention and safeguarding. We will not allow extremists or terrorists to spread hate or sow division and Prevent remains an important driver to help divert people away from harm.
More: UK Politics News UK prevent counterterrorism | 2022-05-17T14:36:36Z | www.businessinsider.com | UK Counter-Terrorism Strategy Has 'Double Standards': Leaked Review Draft | https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-counter-terrorism-strategy-has-double-standards-leaked-review-draft-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-counter-terrorism-strategy-has-double-standards-leaked-review-draft-2022-5 |
Bill Gates already poured millions into this startup racing to figure out how to get more lithium for the EV industry. Now he's in for a second round of investment as lithium scarcity becomes critical.
Saad Dara, CEO of Mangrove Lithium, just attracted funding from BMW i Ventures and Bill Gates' fund.
Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures just poured more money into startup Mangrove Lithium.
Gates' fund previously led a $10 million round into the company.
Here's how Mangrove plans to solve the EV business' biggest bottleneck.
Bill Gates' firm Breakthrough Energy Ventures on Tuesday announced a second investment in a lithium startup that's racing to solve the electric-car industry's looming battery-supply-chain crisis — and this time it joined German automaker BMW's venture-capital outfit.
Mangrove Lithium just closed a new round led by BMW i Ventures with Breakthrough, which led Mangrove's $10 million Series A raise in November. This brings the startup's total funding to more than $25 million.
Mangrove's investors declined to share the exact amount of the recent round, but according to Crunchbase, the company had accumulated a total of $13 million as of its Series A raise, including a $3 million seed round.
For startups like Mangrove, the battery market, which McKinsey estimates could be worth at least $360 billion by 2030, presents a massive opportunity.
Automakers are desperate to secure the supply of lithium they will need to build batteries for the dozens of new electric-vehicle models they've promised to debut over the next several years. They're investing billions of dollars, partnering up, and doing everything they can to avoid a battery shortage similar to the one affecting computer chips.
But the lithium shortage is likely to get worse before it gets better; S&P Global Commodity Insights expects the lithium-supply deficit to continue for at least the next five years.
In the meantime, lithium prices are skyrocketing. And lithium-site permitting, construction, and extraction can take at least five years, says Pedro Palandrani, the director of research at the fund-management firm Global X ETFs, meaning that having enough supply to fill that demand is a while away.
Mangrove, based in Vancouver, British Columbia, is not a lithium-extraction or EV-battery-manufacturing firm. The company, spun off from a project at the University of British Columbia and founded in 2017, says its processing technology takes mined lithium feedstock and recycled lithium and produces lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide, key ingredients for battery manufacturing. Mangrove can license this technology to extraction companies, battery producers, and carmakers.
Bringing a commercial plant to North America
Mangrove's looking to build a commercial plant in North America this year to prove its tech works. The company says it wants to establish it somewhere strategic in terms of access to supply and proximity to companies like Tesla, such as Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ontario, or Quebec.
Mangrove says this backs up its mission to eliminate reliance on foreign manufacturing, especially as automakers look to source domestically to qualify for the $3.1 billion the Biden administration has pledged to boost battery production in the US.
"People are starting to recognize that there's a shortage and that is going to be a key driver in preventing EVs from coming onto the market," said Saad Dara, the CEO of Mangrove. "Instead of a lot of that product going across the Pacific or from Australia to the Asian markets, that product can come through North America and be refined here, which means that we have a more local supply chain."
Neither Gates' fund nor BMW i Ventures is new to the battery industry. Both participated in a $150 million Series B round for Lilac Solutions, a lithium-extraction company, and a $25 million Series A raise for Our Next Energy, a battery startup.
This could be a strategic move for BMW, which has said it expects electric cars to account for half of its global sales by 2030.
Mangrove plans to start production as soon as mid-2023 and to produce up to 3,000 metric tonnes each year to start. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence has said lithium demand could reach 2.4 million metric tonnes by 2030.
Caspar Rawles, the chief data officer at Benchmark, said every bit produced to meet that demand helps.
"If the industry is going to have any hope of getting to that 2.4-million-tonne number, it's going to need novel processing technologies to get there," Rawles said. "You only have to look at pricing to know the market is extremely tight, there's a lack of supply to meet rising demand, and we're looking at a scenario where potentially lithium could be a constraining factor on cell battery or the uptake of EVs."
Rawles added that "new technologies are going to be welcome, particularly if it's coming from very different geographies if it reduces geopolitical risk."
More: Transportation Electric Vehicles Manufacturing
lithium mine | 2022-05-17T15:32:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | Bill Gates' Fund Has Poured Millions Into a Lithium Startup Racing to Solve the EV Industry's Biggest Problem | https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-investment-lithium-startup-electric-vehicle-industry-problem-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-investment-lithium-startup-electric-vehicle-industry-problem-2022-5 |
Bitcoin's risks present opportunities for CBDCs
Bitcoin isn't suitable as a payments network, FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, says.
Bitcoin and other proof-of-work (PoW) cryptos have been highly criticized for their environmental impact.
The news: Bitcoin won't work as a payments network because it's inefficient and bad for the environment, Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and CEO of crypto exchange FTX, told the Financial Times.
Bankman-Fried said the energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) process used to mine many cryptocurrencies isn't capable of scaling to handle the millions of transactions needed to make cryptos an effective payment method. He also noted that a functional crypto payments network would require technological innovations.
Key context: Bitcoin and other PoW cryptos have been highly criticized for their environmental impact—Bitcoin mining consumes more energy than Norway, according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index.
While efforts like proof-of-stake—meant to be a less energy-intensive mining process—are gaining steam in the wider crypto space, that doesn't address cryptos' extreme price volatility . Bitcoin's price soared past $65,000 in November 2021—only to crash below $30,000 as of writing.
Price volatility is a major reason Bitcoin has yet to take off as a meaningful payment method.
El Salvador, which made Bitcoin legal tender last September, is at risk of a multibillion-dollar national default after pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into Bitcoin before the currency's price collapsed.
The government's Chivo Bitcoin wallet app has "almost no new adopters," and less than 5% of sales have been paid in Bitcoin through Chivo, most of which have been to large firms, per a US National Bureau of Economic Research survey.
Despite its risks, Bitcoin is still popular among consumers, though mostly for investment purposes: 75% of US crypto owners will hold Bitcoin in 2022, per Insider Intelligence forecasts.
What this means: The risks involved with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can open the door to increased central bank digital currency (CBDC) research and development.
CBDCs offer many of the same advantages as traditional cryptocurrencies, like fast payment speeds and lower transaction costs, without the risks. And because CBDCs are issued by the state, their values can't deviate from their corollary fiat currencies.
While countries like China and India have ramped up efforts to launch CBDCs, the US is still in the early stages. President Biden signed an executive order calling for research into CBDCs in March, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in April that the US is years, not months, away from issuing a CBDC. | 2022-05-17T15:32:16Z | www.businessinsider.com | Bitcoin Isn't Suitable As a Payments Network, FTX Founder Says | https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-isnt-suitable-as-a-payments-network-says-expert-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-isnt-suitable-as-a-payments-network-says-expert-2022-5 |
How I turned my niche side hustle into a successful YouTube channel that's made me $31,000 in the last year
Max Hockley.
Courtesy of Max Hockley
Max Hockley runs a YouTube channel that gives advice on collecting and selling coins.
He found this passion as a student and decided to create a resource online for people like him.
Here's how he grew his audience, as told to writer Robin Madell.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Max Hockley, who runs the YouTube channel Silverpicker and is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Insider has verified his income on YouTube and Patreon with documentation. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I've always been a hustler. Over the years, my entrepreneurial pursuits have evolved from selling sports cards to my friends in elementary school to marketing surplus video players from a defunct airline on eBay.
It wasn't until college, however, that I found a side hustle that I truly loved and was good at: collecting and selling rare coins. I've since amassed a following of around 137,000 subscribers on my Silverpicker YouTube channel, which deals out advice to other aspiring rare coin collectors and sellers.
My coin business has always ebbed and flowed from side hustle to full-time business depending on what else was going on in my life at any given time. I spent almost three years as a consultant at Accenture before leaving in December 2019 to start a car rental company, Jax Rideshare Rentals, renting cars to Uber and Lyft drivers.
From April 2021 to April 2022, I made more than $31,000 in YouTube ads. I also made $5,400 last year from Patreon .
My interest in coins and metals started in 2011 while I was a student
Some housemates and I were watching TV when another housemate crashed through the front door and casually threw a wad of $100 bills onto the coffee table. He told me that a guy in New York's Diamond District told him that since silver and gold were at all-time highs, he should go to garage sales and buy up all the broken jewelry he could get his hands on. He did just that and made several thousand dollars in that one weekend alone. I begged him to teach me how to do it and he offered to let me ride along with him the following weekend.
I was instantly hooked. I decided to spend my whole summer buying up precious metals at garage sales, estate sales, and flea markets and reselling them to vendors in the diamond district. The moment that really changed everything was when after I bought some silver jewelry, one host of a garage sale asked, "Do you also buy silver coins?" At the time I didn't know whether I did or didn't, but my answer was, "Of course!"
Once I started buying coins, I really found my niche
I did tons of online research, often on YouTube. I found most of the videos to be of pretty low quality and felt I could do better.
Thus, my channel Silverpicker was born. The same year I began collecting coins, I started making videos about my weekend garage sale hauls, sharing my loot along with the stories of my wins, losses, and lessons learned.
Like many YouTube creators, my first videos were not good. I produced videos about whatever I wanted, whenever I felt like it. After investing in some better gear, like a good camera and tripod, I got to 15,000 subscribers by early 2019.
After leaving my consulting job, I decided that I was going to post a video every single week
On top of that, I began focusing on what made videos on other channels I watched so captivating and successful and started applying those principles to my own work. I watched videos of people buying random packs of sports cards and other trading cards from eBay, so I did the same with coins.
Another thing I learned from other channels is that when I bought a collection, I stated how much I paid and then added a running ticker with the total value as I showed off each coin, building up excitement to see if the coins did indeed add up to what I paid — in other words, did I lose money, make money, or break even?
In March 2019, I posted a video titled, "Web Notes: Dollar Bills Worth Money Hiding in Your Wallet!" which has since received more than 1.8 million views. I made that video before I realized how powerful that type of video is.
If you're thinking about starting your own side hustle or YouTube channel, the best advice I can offer is just get started
Don't worry about being perfect. Your first videos won't be. In fact, they'll probably stink. Keep at it and you'll get better with each video.
The work ethic and consistency is the most important thing to getting and maintaining an audience on YouTube. That means making content every single week without fail. Focus on the storytelling and engaging the audience more than the technical editing or filming.
Collaborate with other channels to get yourself exposure to their audience. If something works, keep doing it until it doesn't, whether genre, topic, style, or length. Promote yourself on blogs and other websites where it's genuinely relevant; don't just post spam. Finally, remind your viewers to share your videos and reward them for doing so if you can.
There's no guarantee that you'll gain any specific level of success, but if you're consistent and share your passion each week, you'll gain a following and brighten people's lives.
More: Careers side hustles side gig YouTube | 2022-05-17T15:32:39Z | www.businessinsider.com | How I Started a YouTube Channel That's Made Me $31,000 in a Year | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-started-youtube-channel-side-hustle-made-31000-rare-coins-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-started-youtube-channel-side-hustle-made-31000-rare-coins-2022-5 |
3 things to do now if you make under 6 figures and want to retire a millionaire, according to financial planners
I asked financial planners how to retire a millionaire if you make less than six figures.
They told me to make use of tax-efficient accounts and avoid lifestyle inflation when my income rises.
They also recommended investing regularly — weekly, rather than monthly or quarterly.
For the past seven years, I've worked full-time for myself making money through a variety of projects, businesses, and passive income streams. Unlike someone who is an employee at a company, my annual income varies from year to year.
But even though how much money I make fluctuates, I've tried to put practices in place to keep my financial plans steady. I set a budget every month and contribute a set amount to both my emergency and retirement funds. If I make more money in a given month, I'll allocate some of that cash toward different financial goals.
I'm hyper-focused on my goal of retiring a millionaire, but I wondered if it was something that could happen as someone with an unpredictable salary. That's why I asked financial experts how anyone who makes under six figures a year could retire with a seven-figure net worth .
Regardless of what your income is today, financial planner Lauren Anastasio believes that retiring as a millionaire is less about how much you earn and more about how much you are saving. Which is why it's important to pay attention to how your spending changes as you do begin to earn more money throughout your career.
"Avoid the lifestyle creep," says Anastasio. "That's when you allow your lifestyle to become more expensive as you earn more during your career."
While it can look different for everyone, Anastasio says that a good rule of thumb is to try and save at least 50% of each pay increase you receive during your career.
2. Make smart use of tax-efficient accounts
Your income is just one factor that can determine how much your net worth is when you retire. Anastasio says another way to make sure you retire as wealthy as possible is to leverage a 401(k), IRA, and health savings account, when available, as they can help grow your savings over time.
"It's important to know that money you earn on investments is typically taxable, but using tax-efficient accounts allows your money to continue to grow and compound without paying taxes each year," says Anastasio.
While you're creating your retirement plans, Anastasio says it's important to look into pre-tax 401(k)s and traditional IRAs, which are tax-deferred, and Roth accounts, which grow tax-free. Money in a health savings account also grows tax-free and can be used throughout your life, including before retirement, for health-related expenses.
As you're managing your finances, financial planner Nicole Peterkin Morong says that it is important to try to invest a meaningful amount on a regular basis, whether that's in a retirement account or taxable brokerage account.
For example, Peterkin Morong says if you're making $100,000 a year, investing $10,000 a year (which is 10% of your gross salary), by making weekly contributions, will help you become a millionaire in 30 years if you're averaging 8% a year.
"Invest more, retire earlier or with more, invest less, it's going to take longer," says Peterkin Morong.
She says that investing weekly, instead of monthly or a few times a year, can really pay off since you're able to benefit from additional compounding.
More: pfi PFI-XAMP PFI Bankrate PFI SmartAsset | 2022-05-17T15:32:51Z | www.businessinsider.com | What to Do If You Make Under 6 Figures, Want to Retire a Millionaire | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/make-under-6-figures-retire-millionaire-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/make-under-6-figures-retire-millionaire-2022-5 |
Travel influencers share the 2-page report they send brands after a paid campaign
Travel creators TheLoversPassport built a following of 229,000 on Instagram and 266,000 on TikTok.
TheLoversPassport.
Brands are increasingly looking for ways to track the ROI of influencer-marketing campaigns.
One way to track success is looking at a campaign's performance metrics.
Here's the deck the creators behind TheLoversPassport send to brands with insights from paid posts.
Brand partnerships are one of the most lucrative income streams for creators.
Fostering long-term relationships with brands is a key part of an influencer's job, and it helps when an influencer can prove a return on a sponsored campaign, whether that return is in sales or awareness.
But unlike traditional advertising, there are no direct ways to track the ROI of influencer-marketing campaigns.
Brands commonly request data — like reach, impressions, likes, and saves — from the backend analytics of a creator's profile at the end of a collaboration.
But unless brands are supported by an influencer-marketing agency, they can only obtain that data from the creators themselves.
To solve this problem, some creators, like Giselle Langley and Stephen Jiroch (known as @TheLoversPassport on social media), started putting together campaign reports at the end of a brand partnership.
The couple is known to their 266,000 TikTok followers and 229,000 Instagram followers for their content about travelling on a budget.
At first, content creation was a side hustle for the couple, who started posting in early 2020.
Giselle, who used to work as a marketing director for a skincare brand but is now a full-time creator, had some experience working with influencers, but not as one, herself.
"At my job, it significantly helped when people sent me analytics at the end of a campaign, and I didn't have to manually figure out all of the analytics on my end," she told Insider. "It made my life so much easier."
This idea was reiterated in a course they attended taught by another travel influencer. That creator recommended making a summary report at the end of a campaign.
"We try to really think in the mind of a marketer, about what would they want to see on their end, and then we curate that information for them," Giselle said.
To speed up the process, the couple uses a template for their reports. They also keep track of the performance of branded posts on a spreadsheet.
The strategy has paid off.
"When we started sending the report, people literally told us we were the gold star creators on that campaign," Giselle said. "So we started doing it more often, and brands really respond well to it."
Here's an example of one of their campaign reports:
The first page is an opening page.
The first page is a simple introductory page with the name of the brand, a sample post from the campaign, and the date the partnership wrapped up.
This specific campaign was an Instagram partnership for the tourism board of Abu Dhabi that took place in March 2022.
The second page has information about deliverables and how the campaign performed.
The second page includes various data points about the campaign's performance.
The slide includes a recap of the campaign's deliverables, as well as links to posts and examples of visuals. In this case, the campaign included seven in-feed posts and 51 Stories.
It also includes statistics like engagement, reach, impressions, interactions, and sticker taps in Stories.
"It does take a long time to add up all the story impressions, the reach, and analytics, and comments, especially if it's a multi-post and multi-platform campaign," Stephen said. "We want to make it easier for brands to see everything."
At the bottom of the page are notable comments, which shows the impact the campaign had on their followers.
More: Features Influencers Influencer Marketing
travel influencers | 2022-05-17T15:32:57Z | www.businessinsider.com | Read the Report Travel Influencers Send Brands After Paid Deals | https://www.businessinsider.com/read-campaign-report-influencers-send-brands-after-paid-deal-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/read-campaign-report-influencers-send-brands-after-paid-deal-2022-5 |
It's too soon for investors to hunt for bargains in a plunging market, according to an asset allocation leader for UBS. Here's what they should do to keep their money safe.
Jason Draho is the head of Americas asset allocation for UBS Global Wealth Management.
He says volatility is too high and liquidity is too low for investors to start bargain hunting now.
Draho explained how people should play defense as both stocks and bonds fall.
Jason Draho of UBS Global Wealth Management isn't mincing words when he says this is a shaky investing environment for practically everything.
With the Federal Reserve raising interest rates and tightening financial conditions to fight inflation, Draho says there are a lot of assets with limited upside or a lot of downside in the near future.
"It means they basically want equities to go down, credit spreads to widen, the dollar to strengthen, and interest rates to go higher," he said. "Across the board, that's a negative environment."
It's also a tough environment to invest in safely. Draho, the firm's head of asset allocation in the Americas, warns that stocks and bonds are likely to keep trading in tandem because investors are worried about high inflation. That means stock and bond prices could keep falling simultaneously, as they've done in recent months.
The idea behind a traditional stock/bond portfolio is that those two components will usually move in opposite directions. If stocks are down because of recession fears, bonds will probably go up because they're considered a very safe investment. But Draho says inflation fears are short-circuiting that.
The US S&P 500 index has fallen 16% this year, and Barclays Aggregate Bond Index, a fixed-income benchmark, is down almost 10%. And Draho argues that it's not a good time to step in and hunt for bargains, as thin trading means that a down day in the market is more likely to turn into a multi-day rout right now.
" Liquidity is very poor," he said. "There's not a lot of trading volume. The amount of bids and market price is quite low. So people just aren't willing to step in and buy."
The one place in the market that's been immune so far is commodities. Prices are high because of elevated demand and tight supplies, and Draho says increasing commodity exposure is still a good idea because inflation will probably stay above the Federal Reserve's target rate of 2% for several years. That will help support those high prices.
"You want to be tilting your portfolios in ways to asset classes that all tend to benefit from an inflationary environment," he said.
Draho says that quality and value stocks should continue to outperform as rates stay elevated and the economy moves into a late stage. In fixed income, he says rising rates are largely priced in, and that means it's makes sense to buy longer duration assets compared to earlier this year, when he was advising clients to go short-term.
Since the outlook for both stocks and bonds is cloudy, he says private credit is an especially appealing option today.
"Private credit is an asset class that we've liked for a while," he said, adding that the sector is still somewhat risky because a recession could be drawing closer.
"We don't have the kind of conviction we did on private credit 6 to 12 months ago," he said.
They key, he says, is to stay balanced and avoid betting on any specific economic or market outcome right now, because the volatility in the market and questions around inflation, interest rates, and recession mean things could break in a number of different directions.
Jason Draho | 2022-05-17T15:33:09Z | www.businessinsider.com | Stock and Bond Market Investing Strategy, Asset Allocation: UBS GWM | https://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-bond-market-investing-strategy-asset-allocation-ubs-gwm-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-bond-market-investing-strategy-asset-allocation-ubs-gwm-2022-5 |
The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange platform, Coinbase, is feeling the effects of the crypto downturn.
Coinbase is "slowing hiring" and pausing plans to triple the size of the company.
Bitcoin value dropped has dropped 50% in the last six months, which has impacted the entire crypto market.
The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, is pausing growth plans for the year amid a major downturn in the crypto market.
"Given current market conditions, we feel it's prudent to slow hiring and reassess our headcount needs against our highest-priority business goals," Coinbase President Emilie Choi wrote in a note to staff that was also published on the company's blog.
Coinbase was planning to "triple the size of the company" this year, but those plans are now on hold. It will instead focus on "fully integrating all recent hires," Choi said, in light of the ongoing downturn in the crypto market.
In the last six months, the value of bitcoin has dropped by half — from about $60,000 per bitcoin in November 2021 to about $30,000 by May 2022.
Since bitcoin is foundational to much of the crypto economy, other popular digital coins, like Ethereum, have also plummeted in value.
Coinbase operates as a kind of stock exchange for crypto assets. Users are able to exchange currency for crypto coins, which can then be resold or held like stocks. The company recently said it might have to absorb its users' cryptocurrency in the event of a bankruptcy; it currently holds about $256 billion in user assets across fiat currency and cryptocurrency.
In that event, all Coinbase users could lose any holdings kept on the service. Following that disclosure, crypto enthusiasts encouraged Coinbase users to transfer their holdings elsewhere.
More: Coinbase cryptocurrency Bitcoin crypto | 2022-05-17T16:11:24Z | www.businessinsider.com | Coinbase Slows Hiring Companywide As Bitcoin Value Drops | https://www.businessinsider.com/coinbase-slows-hiring-companywide-as-bitcoin-value-drops-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/coinbase-slows-hiring-companywide-as-bitcoin-value-drops-2022-5 |
Sen. Elizabeth Warren has been outspoken about taxing the ultra-rich.
MARK RALSTON/AFP via Getty Images; Tom Williams/Getty Images
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has been feuding with the White House over the causes of inflation.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren stepped into the fray on Tuesday, saying he's a "thin-skinned billionaire."
Warren said Bezos is trying to distract from Amazon's tax avoidance and treatment of workers.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts lambasted Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as he kept up a days-long feud with the White House over social spending and inflation.
Warren on Tuesday wrote on Twitter that Bezos is a "thin-skinned billionaire" who is lashing out to distract from Amazon's "shameful treatment of workers and its massive tax avoidance."
It comes after Bezos feuded with the White House over the size and scope of their economic agenda, once known as the Build Back Better plan. The billionaire attacked the Biden administration over the weekend for pushing an expansive social spending and climate bill on the heels of a large stimulus law. He argued the Build Back Better bill would worsen inflation and push prices up.
"They know inflation hurts the neediest the most," he wrote in a Tuesday tweet.
The Biden administration assailed Bezos, saying it "wasn't a surprise" he opposed a measure that included taxes on the richest people like him. That package was meant to level the playing field in the US economy with new spending on childcare and healthcare. They also said it would be fully paid for with tax hikes on the super-rich, thus diminishing its potential to fuel inflation.
Bezos is not a new sparring partner for Warren, who has previously taken aim at him in myriad calls for a wealth tax — and criticized how little both he and Amazon currently pay.
A bombshell 2021 report from ProPublica found that Bezos reportedly did not pay income taxes for two years, and even reportedly received a tax credit for families who make under $100,00 in 2011. Amazon also paid nothing in federal income taxes in both 2018 and 2017.
When touting her Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, which would put a 2% tax on households with a net worth of $50 million to $1 billion, and a 3% tax on households with a net worth over $1 billion, Warren specifically homed in on Bezos.
"Jeff Bezos, I'm looking at you," she told CNBC's Squawk Box.
And, as Bezos prepared to blast off into space last summer, Warren told TMZ that he was "laughing at every person in America who actually paid taxes."
"Jeff Bezos' trip to outer space is being financed by all the rest of the US taxpayers who paid their taxes so that Jeff Bezos didn't have to," she said.
More: Economy Politics Elizabeth Warren Jeff Bezos
Elizabeth Warren wealth tax
Jeff Bezos taxes | 2022-05-17T16:11:30Z | www.businessinsider.com | Elizabeth Warren: Jeff Bezos Is Thin-Skinned Billionaire | https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-jeff-bezos-thin-skinned-billionaire-tax-avoidance-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-warren-jeff-bezos-thin-skinned-billionaire-tax-avoidance-2022-5 |
Redfin's deputy chief economist breaks down why red-hot housing markets like Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta aren't in a bubble — but explains why they may see competition among homebuyers drop off
Cities like Austin, Phoenix, Nashville, Miami, and Atlanta have seen massive home price growth.
But Redfin economist Taylor Marr suggests that these markets may not be experiencing a true bubble.
However, he believes that buyer competition in these cities could drop off in the years ahead.
As median home sale prices took off in the past two years, some markets in the US saw higher appreciation — and demand — than others.
Numerous reports from recent months have highlighted the cities with red-hot home price growth: Austin, Phoenix, Nashville, Miami, and Atlanta, just to name a few.
The rapid price appreciation in these areas have caused both real estate analysts and regular home bueyrs to worry about localized bubbles in these markets, as home price growth has risen faster than median local incomes.
But according to Redfin's deputy chief economist, Taylor Marr, there's little reason to worry.
Why? Migration.
Remote work and migration
In an interview with Insider on May 2, Marr said the outsized price increases in some smaller markets were justified by the higher salaries that coastal migrants are bringing with them.
"One of the most convincing things that I've seen is when you look at metro areas that are really leading the country in terms of price appreciation, if you compare them to local incomes like in Austin, or Phoenix, or maybe even Nashville, it might seem like home prices are far outpacing income growth in those areas," Marr said.
He continued: "But once you factor in that a large size of the pool of homebuyers in those metro areas are actually come from these more expensive coastal cities, and bringing with them higher income or even higher cash from selling homes in those coastal cities, these migrants typically have much larger budgets, and are really able to save money on housing relative to what they were leaving."
As remote work becomes more common, residents of bigger coastal cities like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco have begun to move to smaller metropolitan areas like the ones listed. And while the move may be easier for the cost of living of upwardly-mobile tech workers, it has had an opposite affect on the lower-earning residents who were already living in these markets to begin with.
According to Redfin's Chief Economist Daryl Fairweather, about one-third of prospective homebuyers are looking outside of their current city for a new home, and many are looking for more outdoor space.
"Being close to the outdoors has always been a desire of homeowners, but before the pandemic, homebuyers placed a higher priority on being close to the office," Fairweather told Insider in recent weeks. "Now with remote work, more homebuyers are living out their dream of living close to nature."
The year-over-year median home price change between March 2021 and 2022 jumped 29% in Tampa, 27% in Phoenix, and 22% in Atlanta, Marr said in a recent post written alongside Redfin Data Journalist Dana Anderson. Across the US, median home price growth was 17%.
Despite the speed of the appreciation across the board, Marr said the US market as a whole was also not in a bubble.
"A bubble typically involves a pop and a subsequent crash," Marr explained. "We might see some air let out of an inflated balloon, but certainly not like a pop."
Many in the real estate space, including UBS, are echoing these sentiments, saying that the pace of price growth is due to slow down in the year ahead as mortgage rates continue to rise and steep inflation cuts into budgets.
Some, however, are seeing something closer to a crash in home prices due to how rapidly and significantly mortgage rates are rising. Average 30-year mortgage rates in the US have soared since the start of 2022, rising above 5% from around 3%.
Why competition in hot markets may drop off
A big reason Marr sees price growth potentially slowing down in some of the new hot-spot cities in the years ahead is because they are quickly losing their affordability attractiveness as homebuyers rush there.
"A homebuyer would still save a lot of money by moving from San Francisco to Phoenix if they kept the same job and the same salary–but the discount is less than it was two years ago," Marr said in a recent post.
He added: "Because so many other people are using the same strategy, prices of homes and other goods and services in popular destinations are going way up and inflation is more tame in the places people are leaving. There may come a point where it won't make financial sense to move from coastal California to Phoenix or Atlanta."
As Marr pointed out above, it's not just home price growth that is soaring above the national average in these areas. Broader inflation is also rising in these markets faster than others, he said, making daily items and necessities more expensive as well.
Miami, Phoenix, Tampa, and Atlanta have some of the highest inflation rates in the country, Marr pointed out.
"Not everyone in the country is experiencing inflation the same way," Marr said in the post. "It's having an especially big impact in places like Tampa and Phoenix, which are attracting the most new residents and seeing double-digit increases in prices overall and even bigger increases in housing costs."
More: Investing Housing Market Housing Market Signals | 2022-05-17T17:03:35Z | www.businessinsider.com | Why Cities Like Phoenix, Austin, & Atlanta May Not Be in a Housing Bubble | https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-bubble-cities-phoenix-austin-atlanta-miami-nashville-redfin-marr-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/housing-bubble-cities-phoenix-austin-atlanta-miami-nashville-redfin-marr-2022-5 |
A node operator who oversees over $50 million in staked funds explains 5 platforms that provide passive crypto earnings, and whether this is a good approach to riding out a bear market.
Staking is one way investors can earn yields on their crypto while they park it.
Mohak Agarwal operates nodes that validate transactions on blockchains.
Investors stake crypto within these protocols to earn yields in exchange for supporting a network.
It's done through a platform or directly on a validator. The latter is more technically difficult.
The crypto market has been in freefall since the Federal Reserve announced its second interest rate hike of this cycle, by 0.5%. The move to fan off inflation has some investors dumping their risky bets, which includes crypto.
Money has also been pouring out of DeFi. The collapse of Terra's ecosystem after UST, its stablecoin, de-pegged from the dollar, has fearful investors running for the exits. Since May 6, the total value of assets locked on DeFi protocols plunged by 45%, according to DeFi Llama, a value tracker.
DeFi can be plagued with glitches, shaky protocols, and unsustainable returns. Still, some investors choose to park their digital assets on DeFi platforms because of their yields, which tend to be higher than safer fixed-income assets like Treasuries. Staking is one of the more secure DeFi methods because it relies on the consensus of a blockchain rather than smart contracts and dodgy developers. However, it doesn't mean that there's no risk involved.
Mohak Agarwal, the founder of ClayStack, a decentralized cross-chain staking protocol that allows users to stake their crypto without locking it up, says investors should never buy a crypto just to stake it. That's primarily because the yields may not beat out a token's plunging price. This method is more appropriate if you're planning on holding the underlying asset regardless of what the market does.
Agarwal operates the nodes that validate transactions on blockchains. In exchange, those nodes receive rewards in the form of minted tokens, which get distributed to depositors.
Overall, it's a bit like mining but it requires capital. For example, staking on Polkadot could earn an investor about a 13% APR as of Monday, according to Stakingrewards.com, a live rewards tracker. These rates can vary based on the platform used or the number of tokens within a network.
Depending on the blockchain, operating a node or validator can be expensive because it requires a large crypto deposit that a single investor often can't afford. It also requires technical skills and hardware. That's why many people turn to a firm or platform where they deposit or stake a fraction of the required funds and together, they can meet the deposit minimum. Agarwal's firm keeps about 5% to 15% of the rewards, based on the varying costs of running each network, he said.
He oversaw more than $50 million in staked crypto as of Monday, according to live staking dashboards. These funds are spread across both ClayStack and a second firm he founded, WolfEdge Capital, which provides native staking.
The main thing to note is that there are various forms of staking, and some approaches are riskier or technically more difficult than others.
5 ways to stake
There are five main ways an investor can decide to participate in a staking protocol.
The first way is through a centralized exchange and this is a great option for beginners, Agarwal said. These are widely known platforms such as Coinbase, Binance, or Kraken. They often have user-friendly features and are simple to navigate. However, with this option, you lose custody of your crypto, he added. This means if an exchange such as Coinbase is bankrupt, you may lose your crypto.
A centralized wallet is another option and it's similar to a centralized exchange because you also give up custody, he said. These are platforms like Celsius or Nexo. However, it will require users to transfer crypto from a wallet or exchange. These platforms allow you to borrow and lend your crypto.
A stacking pool is another option. This method involves smart contracts on a blockchain. In this instance, users don't give up custody of their crypto but they do give up the decision-making process for which validator to stake on Agarwal said. The pool operator decides where that pool will stake.
The fourth approach is through liquid staking protocols, which are also implemented through smart contracts. It's the next evolution of pool staking because you get a synthetic crypto in return, which is a digital representation of your staked crypto, he noted. That token can then be put to use on other DeFi protocols to lend and borrow. Another perk Agarwal highlighted is that selecting the validator is not in the hands of one decision-maker but rather through a governance process that can vary depending on the protocol, usually a voting system.
Finally, native staking is the rawest form, he said. It allows you to keep full custody of your crypto because it's secured by the blockchain rather than a middleman. You can choose where to stake. However, it's your responsibility to withdraw rewards and keep tabs on the validators.
Considering the risks
It's important to do your due diligence when picking which platforms you're sending your crypto to. There are four main risks to consider, Agarwal said.
The first is the risk of slashing. This happens when a validator knowingly or unknowingly conducts malicious activity, such as sending inaccurate transactions on the blockchain. Some networks will punish validators by taking part or all of their funds — that's a slash, he said. This means you can lose your crypto too.
If you're native staking, pool staking, or liquid staking, you're exposed to this risk. However, a centralized entity or a liquid staking protocol can incur the cost on your behalf.
The second is a change of commissions. At any given moment, a validator can change the number of rewards given to stakeholders. Investors should review the terms and conditions of each provider, he noted.
The third is investors may need to lock up their crypto for a set period. This means they have to be ready to ride out the volatility associated with that crypto.
The fourth risk is that rewards could come to a stop. This happens if you're native staking. The node operator can become inactive. In this event, you no longer receive any rewards and you'll need to withdraw your crypto from that validator, Agarwal said.
Overall, if you want to reduce your risk, don't stake all your crypto assets in one platform, he said. Instead, spread them across multiple platforms, but keep in mind this could increase transaction fees depending on the network, he added.
More: staking crypto staking DeFi defi hacks
defi projects
DeFi tokens | 2022-05-17T17:03:47Z | www.businessinsider.com | Passive Income in Crypto, 5 Ways and Platforms to Earn: Node Operator | https://www.businessinsider.com/passive-income-crypto-staking-ways-to-earn-apr-node-operator-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/passive-income-crypto-staking-ways-to-earn-apr-node-operator-2022-5 |
Travel influencers famous for their Instagram photos say they've seen big engagement drops as the platform pushes short-form video
Chris Hau / Kristin Addis / Instagram
Instagram's preference for video and Reels has hurt many photo-focused travel influencers.
Five creators said their engagement and reach had declined in recent months.
Some are scrambling to learn video skills, while others are refocusing on their old-school blogs.
Some top travel influencers, who helped shape Instagram's culture in its early days, say they are being hurt by the priority the platform is now giving to short-form Reels and video in general.
Five influencers told Insider they'd seen an overall decline in reach and engagement on the enviable, high-quality vacation photos that first made them famous. While some are trying to pick up video production skills, others said they are completely reassessing their investment in Instagram.
"I would say everyone I know personally in this space are in a stage of, 'I have to learn video or I'm not relevant anymore,'" said Chris Hau, a Canadian travel photographer and videographer with more than half a million followers on Instagram. "Anyone that is an amazing photographer has to learn video now. They're definitely feeling the pressure. Potentially 30% of their opportunities and livelihoods are being taken away."
Hau and four other travel creators independently reported a 30% to 50% dip in reach and engagement in 2022 so far. Insider verified creators' downturns with their internal analytics. Some said they had pivoted toward video and seen their reach and engagement begin to recover.
These changes seem in line with an announcement made by Instagram lead Adam Mosseri at the end of 2021, in which he said the company planned to "double down" on its video focus.
"We're going to have to rethink what Instagram is," Mosseri said at the time.
Instagram did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Some say these changes are doing away with Instagram's bread and butter, and others urge embracing the change
Kirsten Alana, 41, has been on Instagram for fourteen years. She created her account @kirstenalana in the early 2010s when the platform was first introduced. Like many other travel influencers, she was already traveling heavily for work as a professional photographer, and posting her polished photos to Instagram opened new doors for her.
Photos like hers also helped shape Instagram's iconic culture and aesthetic in the company's early phases.
"I started shared photos of my coffee and breakfast when I traveled ... geo-tagging their locations and using it as a marketing tool," she said. "None of the algorithm issues existed then. It was just photos and people loved it."
Nowadays, she said she feels aged out, and believes her core audience does not want to see Reels or video from her.
"The algorithm now penalizes older accounts that [aren't using] Reels ... I'm really in the midst of examining everything and what direction I want to go," Alana said. "Instagram thinks we want to see Reels, but I've polled my audience, and a lot of them do not."
"Engagement has dropped for me personally," she added. "Likes and comments are down across the board by at least a third."
A study done by the social-media management company Hootsuite last year found that engagement and reach incrementally increased as accounts it was testing posted more videos and Reels.
Alana said she doesn't want to shift her content to video and Reels because she's a photographer first and wants to maintain her authenticity. And while she's unsure of her next move, other influencers told Insider they were trying to quickly embrace the changes to keep up.
Elman Beganovich has 711,000 Instagram followers on her personal account, and has started doing consulting for other travel influencers. She's urging her own clients, and the community at-large, to learn video shooting and editing skills. In fact, she thinks it will even improve how travel content looks.
"With the travel industry it lends itself beautifully to video content," Beganovich said. "There are spectacular things you can do with video that you can't with an image. It's not that hard to produce videos. When we started, I had to learn Photoshop, Lightroom ... As an influencer your content is king. It's basically an influencer's job to get really creative and learn new tools."
Kristin Addis / Instagram
Some influencers are refocusing their attention back to their old-school blogs
Asdghik Melkonian, 36, calls herself a "digital nomad" and full-time traveler. She's had her account @thejetsetterdiary for seven years, where she's amassed 104,000 followers. But these days she's considering pouring her resources into her travel blog, her first online imprint.
For Melkonian, she's seen at times a 60% decrease in engagement and reach from her static posts.
"I'm honestly looking at diversifying my income streams with my blog," she said. "Instead of relying heavily on Instagram, I'm focusing on my blog and doing SEO work to increase that revenue stream."
More: Instagram Reels Blogs Influencers | 2022-05-17T17:03:59Z | www.businessinsider.com | Travel Influencers See Drop in Instagram Photo Engagement and Reach | https://www.businessinsider.com/some-travel-influencers-see-drop-in-instagram-photo-engagement-reach-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/some-travel-influencers-see-drop-in-instagram-photo-engagement-reach-2022-5 |
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, vice-chair of the select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol, speaks during a business meeting on Capitol Hill on December 13, 2021 in Washington, DC.
The January 6 committee is working to hash out its endgame ahead of public hearings.
Liz Cheney maintains that Trump and his allies to the insurrection is mission critical.
Some Democrats want to drill down on security failures to improve Hill life in general.
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney is working to keep the House January 6 committee trained on former President Donald Trump's role in the attack on the US Capitol more aggressively than some Democratic counterparts as the panel races to finish its year-long investigation.
The Wyoming Republican's insistence on holding the twice-impeached former president and his most ardent supporters in the House Republican caucus accountable for the deadly siege in Washington was on full display last month, The Washington Post reported, as the bipartisan committee mapped out plans for a series of public hearings.
During the discussion, Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy of Florida reportedly made the case for devoting more energy to analyzing the security and intelligence failures that facilitated the deadly breach on Capitol Hill than Trump's behavior.
"Rep. Cheney's view is that security at the Capitol is a critical part of the investigation, but the Capitol didn't attack itself," Cheney spokesman Jeremy Adler told the Post of the need to keep the heat on Trump.
Cheney, who was stripped of her GOP leadership role last year and is facing a Trump-led primary challenger this August, wants Trump-aligned House Republicans who were in any way involved in the election overturning effort to come clean about what happened that day.
The committee subpoenaed House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and Reps. Scott Perry, Jim Jordan, Mo Brooks, and Andy Biggs on May 12, though none of the Republicans seemed inclined to comply with the formal request. The panel voted unanimously in December to hold Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt for failing to cooperate with the ongoing investigation.
Trump said Cheney's "like a crazed lunatic" on that panel when it comes to him. "From what I've heard, she's worse than any Democrat," Trump told Post reporters.
The last-minute strategizing by the select committee members comes as they prepare for up to eight public hearings where they're expected to distill down the thousands of documents they've reviewed and hundreds of interviews they've done into a recap of what went wrong on January 6, 2021 and who is ultimately responsible for everything that followed.
A Department of Justice criminal referral against Trump is one potential outcome — but not the only goal, according to Democrats.
"We need to look at this issue from all angles — inclusive of the role the president played as well as the security of the Capitol on that day," Murphy said during the April retreat.
"Cheney has wanted to make sure we keep the focus on Trump and the political effort to overthrow Biden's majority in the electoral college and to attack the peaceful transfer of power," a committee member told Post reporters.
More: Donald Trump Liz Cheney Kevin McCarthy Stephanie Murphy | 2022-05-17T17:04:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | Cheney Pushes Democrats on January 6 Panel to Target Trump: Report | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-liz-cheney-january-6-committee-attack-accountability-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-liz-cheney-january-6-committee-attack-accountability-2022-5 |
Several of the world's largest oil companies reported first-quarter earnings in recent weeks, giving investors new detail as to how sky-high gas prices are bolstering firms' bottom lines. Performance, in a word, was stellar. ExxonMobil reported a net profit of $5.5 billion, more than doubling its earnings from the year-ago period. Shell notched its strongest quarterly profit ever, and Chevron posted its best earnings quarter in nearly a decade.
The rally has since continued, with pump prices hitting yet another record on Tuesday, according to AAA data.
"They're not raising prices to cover their costs — they're raising prices to pad their profits," he said in a May 11 tweet.
Concerns about oil-sector price gouging even made their way to the White House. The Biden administration called on Congress in late March to charge oil producers for untapped wells and leased public lands not being used for oil production. Companies "aren't doing their part" and are choosing "extraordinary profits" over "investment to help with supply," President Joe Biden said.
More: Economy Gas Prices Commodities Energy Prices | 2022-05-17T17:43:12Z | www.businessinsider.com | 2 Charts Show Big Oil Profits Skyrocketing As Prices at the Pump Rise | https://www.businessinsider.com/gas-prices-oil-company-profits-skyrocketing-energy-sector-earnings-charts-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/gas-prices-oil-company-profits-skyrocketing-energy-sector-earnings-charts-2022-5 |
Trump once asked, 'Where's Durham?' The special counsel is sitting in on the trial of a Clinton campaign lawyer.
The first trial from John Durham's special counsel inquiry kicked off with opening arguments.
A prosecutor said lawyer Michael Sussmann lied to the FBI to "inject" it into the 2016 election.
Sussmann's defense team said he never lied to the FBI and never would.
Donald Trump spent his final months in the White House seeking vindication, predicting that a special counsel would prove ahead of the 2020 election that the Russia investigation was rooted in a "deep state" conspiracy.
But no such word ever came from John Durham, the special counsel examining the origins of the Trump-Russia inquiry. In March 2021, over a month after leaving office, Trump was apparently still smarting over the silence when he released a statement asking, "Where's Durham? Is he a living, breathing human being? Will there ever be a Durham report?"
Durham has given proof of life. More than a year after Trump's sarcastic statement, Durham emerged this week to sit in on the first trial stemming from his special counsel office's three-year investigation.
A jury in Washington, DC, heard opening arguments Tuesday in the trial of Michael Sussmann, a onetime lawyer for the Hillary Clinton campaign, who stands charged with lying to the FBI during a 2016 meeting about possible links between Trump and Russia. The opening arguments painted dueling portraits of Sussmann, a former federal prosecutor and onetime partner at the law firm Perkins Coie with contacts at the highest levels of the law enforcement and intelligence communities.
In a 20-minute opening argument, a prosecutor from Durham's office said Sussmann falsely told the FBI's general counsel at the time, James Baker, that he was not acting on behalf of any client when he presented odd internet data showing communications between servers connected to the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank, a Kremlin-linked financial institution. The prosecutor, Brittain Shaw, said Sussmann was actually working on behalf of the Clinton campaign but concealed that client relationship to give his tip more credibility, in hopes of kicking off an investigation that would "inject the FBI into a presidential election."
Sussmann lied, she said, to "direct the power and resources of the FBI to his own ends, to serve the agendas of his clients."
A defense lawyer for Sussman, Michael Bosworth, told jurors flatly that Durham's theory for the case "doesn't make sense."
At the time of the 2016 meeting, he said, the Clinton campaign wanted media coverage of the internet research showing a possible communications backchannel between the Trump Organization and the Russian bank. But the FBI looked into the supposed link and determined it was unsubstantiated.
Sussmann, he said, met with Baker so the FBI would not be caught flat-footed by a story the New York Times was preparing to publish.
"He went to the FBI to help the FBI," Bosworth said.
"This meeting was the opposite of what they wanted," he added, referring to the Clinton campaign.
The trial is expected to feature testimony from FBI agents, Baker and prominent Democratic figures, including former Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook and the campaign's general counsel, Marc Elias, a former Perkins Coie partner and leading voting rights advocate.
For Durham's office, the trial comes with high stakes. An acquittal would fuel questions about the cost and purpose of the inquiry, which commenced in the spring of 2019. (In October 2020, then-Attorney General William Barr conferred special counsel status on Durham, a move that has preserved the investigation into the Biden administration.)
A guilty verdict would almost surely galvanize Trump and his supporters, who have long looked to Durham to uncover evidence of bias and a "deep-state" plot against the former president.
But, in the Sussmann case, Durham's office has presented the FBI as the victim — "used and manipulated," as Shaw put it Tuesday, to deliver an "October surprise" that would harm Trump.
"We are here because the FBI is our institution. It should not be used as a political tool for anyone — not Republicans, not Democrats, not anyone," she said.
An earlier prosecution resulted in Kevin Clinesmith, a former FBI lawyer, pleading guilty in 2020 to altering an email that federal authorities relied on to renew court-authorized surveillance of former Trump advisor Carter Paige. Clinesmith was sentenced in January 2021 to 12 months of probation.
In another case, Durham's office charged Russia analyst Igor Danchenko with lying to the FBI. Danchenko was a source for the so-called Steele dossier — a since-discredited compilation of opposition research about purported links between Trump and Russia — and he is set to stand trial later this year.
In Sussmann's case, Durham is expected to call Baker, the former FBI general counsel, as a star witness. But in the opening argument, Bosworth highlighted past testimony from Baker in which he could not recall portions of the 2016 meeting with Sussmann.
"You will see Mr. Baker's memory is [as] clear as mud," Bosworth said.
Sussmann has not just denied lying to the FBI. His defense team has raised a legal argument that, even if he did lie, the false statement made no difference because the FBI was well aware that he represented the Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and Rodney Joffe, a tech executive involved in the internet research.
Ahead of the trial, Sussmann's defense team and legal experts noted the extensive detail of court filings from the Durham team. Conservative news outlets have picked up on the filings as evidence of nefarious conduct by the Clinton campaign, but the narratives have often been inaccurate.
In the detail of the charging papers against Sussmann, some legal experts saw a so-called "speaking indictment" intended to tell a broader story rather than lay out a single false statement offense.
Bosworth, in his final words to jurors Tuesday, described the prosecution as an "injustice."
"As jurors, you have the extra responsibility to do justice in this case. And as jurors, you have the extra responsibility to prevent injustice. This case is an injustice," he said. "And I expect when all of the evidence is in, you will agree."
More: michael sussmann John Durham Trial | 2022-05-17T17:43:30Z | www.businessinsider.com | Trump-Era Special Counsel John Durham Surfaces in the Trial of Clinton Campaign Lawyer | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-special-counsel-john-durham-michael-sussmann-trial-clinton-lawyer-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-special-counsel-john-durham-michael-sussmann-trial-clinton-lawyer-2022-5 |
Cart.com set out to challenge Amazon and Shopify. The founder credits a harrowing near-death experience for the firm's feverish speed, which is convincing investors and industry insiders it's a true threat.
Cart.com founder Omair Tariq (left) sits with chief of staff Remington Tonar.
Caitlin Bolaños, Cart.com
Cart.com is an e-commerce platform startup that has raised nearly $400 million in 18 months.
The platform seeks to compete with Shopify and Amazon by offering all the services sellers need.
CEO Omair Tariq has made seven acquistions and convinced investors he can keep up the rapid pace.
When Omair Tariq was 16 he was kidnapped and held at gunpoint. He thought he would die, but he didn't thanks to a malfunctioning gun. And it changed him for good.
"After that moment, I lived a very different life," Tariq told Insider. "I had this level of urgency — that everything has to be now because who the hell knows what tomorrow is gonna bring?"
Tariq went on to work in e-commerce. He was head of finance, strategy, and data science at Blinds.com when it was acquired by Home Depot in 2014. He became the subsidiary's CFO and the COO before leaving in 2020 to found Cart.com.
Now, in just 18 months, he has raised $380 million in funding and made seven acquisitions plus a handful of acquhires. He's building Cart.com like there's no time to lose and it's stunning onlookers and investors.
"When I started Cart, I knew that I wanted to go build a $100 billion company and I couldn't wait to get there," Tariq said.
Why small sellers need a better champion
The early months of the pandemic put into sharp focus how difficult it is for small online sellers to compete.
"E-commerce has been made way too complicated," Tariq told Insider last year when the company had raised just $143 million. "During Covid, we saw so many brands get destroyed because they just didn't have the financials, the skill set, capabilities, ecosystem — whatever you might need to solve for the digital part of their organization. And that's not fair."
Tariq set out to build the software to make all of those services — online storefront, marketplace sales, social media strategy, marketing, fulfillment — centralized in one interface. The unified platform also puts sellers' data all in one place. And Cart.com owns the services too, so it's not just competing with Shopify or Amazon, but dozens if not hundreds of services across the e-commerce ecosystem.
Acquisition sprint
Initially, investors liked the concept, but some bristled at the speed at which Tariq wanted to build it — not to mention the billions of venture dollars backing startups in every category he would be taking on.
But the pace at which the CEO was able to make key acquisitions was one of the factors that convinced David Sawyer, COO and managing partners at Legacy Knight Capital Partners, which led Cart's February $240 equity and debt round, that the founder could execute on his appetite.
Sawyer caught onto Cart.com's rise through partner Abe Minkara, who also works with Mark Cuban to develop consumer products companies from the TV show Shark Tank. The small brands Cuban invested in saw the challenges Cart.com set out to solve.
Cart.com's rapid growth crib sheet
Cart.com founded by Omair Tariq and Jim Jacobsen
$20 million Seed Round led by Bearing Ventures
Cart.com acquired e-commerce storefront software firm AmeriCommerce
$45 million Series A led by Mercury Fund and Arsenal Growth
Cart.com acquired growth marketing consultancy The DuMont Project and fulfillment firm Sauceda Industries
$98 million Series B led by Oak HC/FT
November 2021 Cart.com acquired online marketplace sales platform 180Commerce
January 2022 Cart.com acquired fulfillment firm FB Flurry and multi-channel sales management software SellerActive
February 2022 $240 million equity/debt round led by Legacy Knight Capital Partners
March 2022 Cart.com acquired European e-commerce data managment form DataFeedWatch
Many founders of Cart's acquisitions have stayed with the company, moving into roles like head of marketplaces, chief logistics officer, and chief customer officer.
"When you interact with them and the team, it's almost like you're dealing with a Fortune 500-level business that's been around for a decade," Sawyer said.
Buying companies is easy compared to what happens after the deal closes. Integrating people and digital products is the part that can often take years.
Cart's speed has two components. The first is finding growth-focused businesses where the leadership wants to accelerate, not exit. The second is about ease of integration.
Tariq looks for companies using "friendly codestacks" and in some cases started the integration before the deal closed. In the case of SellerActive, a multi-channel management company: Cart.com closed the acquisition in December and had it fully integrated by Valentine's Day, Tariq said.
"We've literally invented the technology that glues different components of e-commerce enablement together in a way that has never been done before," Tariq said. The company has roughly 250 developers on staff.
Running fast where others stumble
On top of creating an e-commerce platform that is more comprehensive than any on the market today, Cart.com is getting into the physical side of e-commerce from the beginning.
Warehousing is an area of e-commerce that has only recently started to attract as much funding as the digital ecosystem. And it's also proved to be a difficult skill to learn, even for giants like Shopify. Tariq admitted integrating physical fulfillment and Cart's technology seamlessly would be the hardest thing the company does. Keeping on the leaders of the two fulfillment acquisitions is part of the plan to get it right.
Cart.com acquired fulfillment business Sauceda Industries in July 2021 and then FB Flurry in January 2022, adding 3.5 million square feet of warehouse to the Cart.com arsenal in a matter of six months.
Sawyer said Tariq's quick integration of acquisitions gave him confidence in Cart.com's move into order fulfillment — owning and operating the warehouses that pack the orders.
"What they're doing — it's hard. That's why no one has done it," Sawyer said. "I think that candidly, I think the market is recognizing that," referencing Shopify's zig-zagging moves toward a fulfillment strategy to compete with Amazon's logistics empire.
And more M&A could be coming in the future. Cart.com expects to be profitable by the end of 2022 — its second full year in business — and Sawyer said Tariq would have no problem raising more capital if it were needed.
Though the market conditions may not be as exciting as last year, investors and onlookers expect Cart.com to be one of the fastest IPO's in e-commerce history. Tariq didn't put a timeline on going public, but he did say the company is ready now. The books are "squeaky clean," according to the CEO, and the company hired a seasoned CFO in November with the expressed intention of going public within two years — before the startup's fifth birthday.
"If the markets are favorable, and everything is going according to plan then yea — we will be one of the fastest companies to go public," Tariq said.
More: BITranspo eCommerce Startups | 2022-05-17T18:34:38Z | www.businessinsider.com | Amazon, Shopify Challenger Cart.com Founder Explains Feverish Growth | https://www.businessinsider.com/cartcom-challenge-amazon-shopify-funding-acquisitions-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/cartcom-challenge-amazon-shopify-funding-acquisitions-2022-5 |
Lyft is hiring for hundreds of jobs despite a looming potential tech industry hiring freeze. Here are the average salaries for 56 jobs at the ride-hailing giant, from data engineer to industrial designer.
Lyft is hiring for hundreds of jobs, despite a looming tech industry hiring freeze.
Soaring gas prices, a driver shortage, and the pandemic have wreaked havoc on Lyft.
Data shared with the US government shows the average Lyft salary is roughly $180,000.
Here are the average salaries for 56 job positions at Lyft.
While tech companies are pulling back, Lyft is still hiring — and the median salary at Lyft is $165,647 per year.
With rising interest rates, supply chain struggles, and inflation, there's a growing fear that a tech industry-wide hiring freeze is coming, with Facebook already announcing hiring freezes that "will affect almost every team in the company."
But Lyft is still hiring for a number of roles across the company in finance, communications, data analytics, and more. The company pays an average of roughly $180,000 a year, based on data reported in 2021 to the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification. (The agency requires companies to disclose compensation for permanent and temporary employees from outside the US to ensure the firms aren't paying them less than the average wage earned by their peers.)
Surging gas prices, a driver shortage, and the ongoing pandemic have all been major issues for Lyft, with the ride-hailing company's stock falling 26% after reporting its first quarter earnings in early May.
But employee salaries at Lyft are still routinely above $100,000, with positions like data engineers earning a salary of $175,000, a project manager making $128,000 per year, and a systems engineer earning $178,909.
The highest paying position was for an engineering manager, with an annual salary of $235,982.
Here's what a number of Lyft employees in various job positions earn each year:
Actuarial analyst: $143,753
Actuarial manager: $181,016
Analyst: $136,955
Associate manager: $136,800
Business systems engineer: $146,000
CAD sculptor: $176,000
Counsel: $220,000
Data analytics manager: $160,000
Data science manager: $220,000
Finance manager: $165,000
Finance operations manager: $165,000
Financial analyst: 132,950
Financial data analyst: $115,904
Firmware engineer: $204,730
Growth marketing manager: $182,500
Industrial designer: $179,399
Internal communications designer: $120,500
Investor relations manager: $195,500
IT network engineer: $168,250
Maintenance operations manager: $140,000
Manager learning experience and design: $150,000
Material planning manager: $115,000
Material requirements planner: $123,500
Mechanical engineer: $172,391
Network engineer: $122,000
Partner engineer: $195,000
Payment solutions manager: $179,000
Product manager: $187,0223
Program lead: $112,000
Project manager: $128,000
QA engineer: $200,000
Quality engineer: $160,281
Regulatory analyst: $90,000
Security analyst: $190,586
Security assurance analyst: $160,000
Software engineer in test: $200,000
Solution architect: $190,000
Strategic sourcing manager: $143,482
Technical accounting manager: $155,000
Treasury analyst: $140,000
Validation engineer: $167,000
XD market strategist: $130,000
More: Transportation Lyft Tech | 2022-05-17T18:34:45Z | www.businessinsider.com | How Much Lyft Pays Data Engineers, Industrial Designers, and More | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-lyft-pays-employees-salary-hiring-tech-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-lyft-pays-employees-salary-hiring-tech-2022-5 |
RESULTS: Idaho Gov. Brad Little faces a Trump-backed primary challenge from Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin
Grace Panetta and Nicole Gaudiano
Idaho is holding gubernatorial primaries on Tuesday. Polls close at 8 p.m. local time.
Incumbent Gov. Brad Little is facing a primary challenge from his own Lieutenant Governor Janice McGeachin, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
The Republican faceoff marks the first time since 1938 that a sitting governor has been challenged by a lieutenant governor of the same party, according to the Idaho Press. They are the most notable among eight contenders vying for the GOP nomination.
Little, a former sheep and cattle rancher, is focusing his reelection campaign on his record of "cutting red tape," lowering taxes, opposition to Covid mandates, and education investments. He was the first governor to sign legislation barring transgender girls from female sports and to legalize asking athletes to undergo sex testing to compete.
She encouraged businesses to violate his stay-home public safety order in 2020, according to the Idaho Capital Sun. While serving as acting governor, she twice issued COVID-related executive orders, one banning all mask mandates and another banning COVID-19 testing and vaccinations at schools. Little, who deferred to local control, repealed them when he returned to the state.
In 2020, Trump won the state by 31 percentage points. Republicans have controlled the statehouse and governor's office since 1995, according to Ballotpedia. Idaho has elected Republicans in the last seven gubernatorial elections.
More: Idaho 2022 midterms INSIDER Data DDHQ | 2022-05-17T18:34:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Idaho Governor Primary, Brad Little Vs. Janice McGeachin: Live Results | https://www.businessinsider.com/idaho-governor-primary-brad-little-vs-janice-mcgeachin-live-results-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/idaho-governor-primary-brad-little-vs-janice-mcgeachin-live-results-2022-5 |
RESULTS: Kentucky holds US Senate, House, and state legislative primary elections
House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth, D-Ky., talks with reporters after meeting with the House Democratic Caucus and Biden administration officials to discuss progress on an infrastructure bill, at the Capitol in Washington. A primary election is taking place in Kentucky's 3rd District to replace Yarmuth, who is not running for reelection.
Kentucky is holding congressional and state legislative primaries on Tuesday. Polls close at 6 p.m. ET.
For Senate, former state Rep. Charles Booker is poised to secure the Democratic nomination to challenge GOP Sen. Rand Paul in November. Booker unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for Senate to run against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2020, and would again be the underdog in 2022 against Paul.
And in the House, the most notable primary race of the night is the Democratic primary in Kentucky's Third District to replace retiring Democratic Rep. John Yarmuth, the influential chairman of the House Budget Committee.
State Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey appears poised to secure the Democratic nomination to represent the safely blue Louisville-based district over progressive candidate state Rep. Attica Scott, FiveThirtyEight reports.
Kentucky Senate and House primaries:
Kentucky state legislative primaries:
More: Kentucky 2022 midterms 2022 elections DDHQ | 2022-05-17T18:35:04Z | www.businessinsider.com | Kentucky Senate, House, State Legislative, Mayor Primaries: Results | https://www.businessinsider.com/kentucky-senate-house-state-legislative-mayor-primaries-results-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/kentucky-senate-house-state-legislative-mayor-primaries-results-2022-5 |
Pennsylvania is holding primaries for a high-stakes gubernatorial race. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.
Democrats and Republicans are facing off for the nomination to replace term-limited outgoing Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in Pennsylvania, a critical battleground state.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro has all but cleared the field for the Democratic nomination, but a crowded and unpredictable field of Republicans has remained in flux.
The Republican primary contenders include state Sen. Doug Mastriano, former congressman and 2018 Senate candidate Lou Barletta, former federal prosecutor Bill McSwain, and wealthy businessman Dave White, among others.
Mastriano, the definite frontrunner in the race, was elected to the state senate in 2018, but soon rose to prominence through his aggressive but unsuccessful role in the plot to overturn President Donald Trump's 2020 election loss in the state.
Mastriano's efforts included organizing bus transport to the protests in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021, and pushing for a partisan review of the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania. He's been subpoenaed by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection about his role in seeking to overturn the election, but has so far refused to testify.
Mastriano has scant support from his fellow Pennsylvania lawmakers, but his work pushing the lie that the 2020 election was stolen earned him a last-minute endorsement from Trump just days before the election.
"There is no one in Pennsylvania who has done more, or fought harder, for Election Integrity than State Senator Doug Mastriano," Trump said in his endorsement statement. "He has revealed the Deceit, Corruption, and outright Theft of the 2020 Presidential Election, and will do something about it."
Mastriano's election-related policy planks include eliminating no-excuse mail voting, which Pennsylvania enacted in 2019, and wiping all voters off the rolls and making them re-register to vote, which is illegal under federal law.
He's also said he would sign a heartbeat-style abortion ban, implement constitutional carry for guns, ban "Critical Race Theory and Gender Theory studies" in Pennsylvania schools, and establish "strike f0rce" teams at every state agency to cut regulations.
Mastriano has also tried to ban the press from his campaign events, which a CNN reporter recently circumvented by renting a room at a hotel where he held a rally in the courtyard. An aide who blocked press from a subsequent campaign event was also present near the Capitol on January 6, NBC News reported.
Mastriano has been running as an unofficial ticket with Senate candidate Kathy Barnette in the Republican primaries. Barnette has also barred the press from public events, often with those blocking media access declining to identify themselves as members of the campaign or security.
Mastriano's rise through a crowded field has prompted anxiety among Pennsylvania Republicans, who worry that his far-right views and ties to the Capitol riot and extremist groups could jeopardize the GOP's chances of flipping the state's governorship in the fall if he secures the nomination, NBC News and Politico reported.
In Pennsylvania, which is expected to see one of the most competitive governor's races of 2022, Republicans winning back the governorship would give them full control of the state government — and allow the governor to appoint the state's chief election official.
On Thursday, just five days before the primary, state Senate President Jake Corman dropped out of the gubernatorial race and endorsed Barletta out of that exact fear, saying, "The only way that we will not be successful in the fall is if we nominate someone who can't possibly win."
But Pennsylvania Republicans rallying around Barletta at the last minute may have come too late. On the day of the election, Real Clear Politics' polling average showed Mastriano leading the rest of the field by 14 points.
More: Pennsylvania 2022 elections DDHQ INSIDER Data | 2022-05-17T18:35:58Z | www.businessinsider.com | Pennsylvania Governor Primary, Doug Mastriano: Live Results | https://www.businessinsider.com/pennsylvania-governor-primary-doug-mastriano-live-results-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/pennsylvania-governor-primary-doug-mastriano-live-results-2022-5 |
RESULTS: Pennsylvania holds primaries for one of the most competitive Senate races of 2022
Pennsylvania is holding primaries for a closely-watched Senate race on Tuesday. Polls close at 8 p.m. ET.
Pennsylvania candidates are facing off in Tuesday's primaries for the open US Senate seat held by retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey.
The Republicans fighting for the nomination to hold onto the seat include Dr. Mehmet Oz, a celebrity doctor endorsed by former President Donald Trump, former hedge fund executive Dave McCormick, former Ambassador Carla Sands, and 2020 congressional candidate Kathy Barnette, who's seen a late-breaking surge in the race.
Meanwhile, Lt. Governor John Fetterman, Rep. Conor Lamb, and state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta are the leading contenders for the Democratic nomination for the seat.
Fetterman, the former mayor of Braddock in western Pennsylvania, appears poised to secure his party's nomination. His lead in Real Clear Politics' polling average sat at 31 percentage points above the rest of the field in the week before Election Day.
On the Republican side, however, the field is far less settled — and could see a major upset from Barnette.
McCormick and Oz, two wealthy candidates who've lent their own campaigns $11 million and $12 million, respectively, have spent much of the campaign attacking each other on the airwaves and largely ignoring their lesser-known rivals.
Barnette, who has raised just $1.7 million through the end of April, saw her support rise from voters and donors alike, including with a last-minute influx of ad spending from the conservative, anti-tax Club for Growth.
The Pennsylvania primary is also proving to be another battle in an ongoing feud between Trump and the Club after the two backed different candidates in Ohio and clashed over the Club's ads highlighting previous anti-Trump comments made by Trump's endorsed candidate JD Vance.
President David McIntosh, the Club's president, is hoping that a Barnette victory in Pennsylvania will knock Trump down a peg, The New York Times reported.
Barnette's appeal among Republicans skeptical of Oz and McCormick — the two big spenders in the race — comes amid a particularly unusual backlash to Trump's endorsement of Oz, as Insider recently reported from Pennsylvania.
While Trump remains as popular as ever among the base, Oz was greeted with boos during every mention of his name ahead of his big speech at the May 6 Trump rally in Greensburg. Meanwhile, Barnette rose by shoe-leather campaigning across the state and an eye-catching, emotional campaign ad about abortion where she shared that she was conceived when her mother was raped at age 11.
Barnette has scant political experience aside from a 2020 congressional run, where she lost to Rep. Madeline Dean by 20 points. Her background, ties to Pennsylvania, and long history of inflammatory, Islamophobic and homophobic comments have also come under scrutiny.
She's also running on an unofficial ticket with Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, a state senator and vocal leader in efforts to overturn Trump's election loss in the state. Both Mastriano and Barnette were present at rallies protesting President Joe Biden's victory in Washington on January 6, 2021, but neither entered the Capitol.
Trump criticized Barnette in a recent statement saying she couldn't win the general election, but said he'd support her if she managed to secure the GOP's nomination. Barnette's rise has also spurred infighting among Republicans, with high-profile conservative figures including Fox News host Sean Hannity fully circling the wagons to try and avert a Barnette victory.
And Barnette has delighted in the last-minute scramble to stop her.
"Their problem with me is I didn't ask for permission," Barnette said at a recent event where she also referred to figures like Hannity as "jokers," according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. "I just walked through the front door."
Polls show support split almost evenly between Oz, McCormick, and Barnette leading into primary day, meaning the winner could secure the nomination with as little as 30% or even just over 20% of the vote.
More: Pennsylvania 2022 midterms DDHQ INSIDER Data | 2022-05-17T18:36:04Z | www.businessinsider.com | Pennsylvania Senate Primaries, Mehmet Oz: Live Results, Vote Counts | https://www.businessinsider.com/pennsylvania-senate-primaries-mehmet-oz-live-results-vote-counts-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/pennsylvania-senate-primaries-mehmet-oz-live-results-vote-counts-2022-5 |
Throughout the past several months, businesses across the US shared a common problem: not enough employees.
For Amazon in particular, it's a major shift from previous years. The company has added hundreds of thousands of fulfillment-center jobs since the onset of the pandemic but has shed workers faster than it could hire them. A New York Times investigation last year found that hourly workers had a turnover rate of roughly 150% each year, leading some executives to worry about running out of people to hire.
More: Walmart Doug McMillon Amazon labor shortage | 2022-05-17T18:36:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | Walmart, Amazon Were Overstaffed in Q1, Hurting Profits | https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-amazon-overstaffed-q1-profit-impact-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-amazon-overstaffed-q1-profit-impact-2022-5 |
Inside the Wells Fargo town hall that had a top exec telling staff 'I love each and every one of you' while explaining that home lending layoffs were inevitable
Dakin Campbell and Carter Johnson
Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf testifies before a House Financial Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S.
In April, Wells Fargo laid off mortgage staff across large markets like Phoenix and San Antonio.
In a recent town hall, the bank's head of home lending, Kristy Williams Fercho, addressed the cuts.
The town hall included a discussion of CEO Charlie Scharf's three key priorities.
Wells Fargo's head of home lending held a town hall last week to discuss recent mortgage division layoffs, including the company's plan to 'rightsize capacity' by moving workers to areas that have been less affected by rising interest rates.
The layoffs, which Insider first reported in late April, were necessary to allow the bank "to continue to be successful as we move forward," Kristy Williams Fercho told mortgage staff attending the meeting, which was also webcast.
While Fercho said she "loves each and every one" of the employees, she added: "the reality is, at this market size, we just can't keep doing it," according to a recorded copy of the webcast.
Fercho didn't put a number on the layoffs, but she said they could have been far worse. As part of the downsizing, the bank moved 300 of its underwriters into positions servicing existing loans, Fercho said at the May 12 town hall which was broadcast from Charlotte, NC.
"There are other parts of the business that are growing, other parts of the businesses, in the risk and control group, in the customer remediations group, inside of home lending, inside of servicing," said Fercho, who joined Wells Fargo in 2020 from Flagstar Bank. "We were able to move 300 of our underwriters out of originations and into servicing to be able to help with some of the work that we're doing there."
People who cannot be placed within the company stand to get job training and severance, said Fercho, who suggested the bank may still be in rightsizing mode.
"I want you guys to be confident in the fact that we are doing it very thoughtfully, and very intentionally, thinking about how do we preserve the business not only for what the needs are today but what the needs are as we continue to move forward. That's going to continue, and we will continue to have discussions about it," she said.
CEO Charlie Scharf's top priorities
Wells Fargo declined to confirm the exact scope of the cuts to its mortgage business this spring — but teams across home lending operations, including those working in processing, underwriting, and credit administration, were cut in at least five markets, from Des Moines to Phoenix and San Antonio.
A spokesperson for Wells Fargo referred Insider to a statement provided when the bank first announced the layoffs in home lending this April, saying, "We are carrying out displacements in a transparent and thoughtful manner and providing assistance, such as severance and career counseling. Additionally, we are committed to retaining as many employees as possible and will do everything we can to help them identify other opportunities within Wells Fargo."
Fercho ultimately said the layoffs would provide Wells Fargo with more flexibility to adapt to swings in the broader mortgage market.
One current Wells Fargo employee said they found Fercho's comments to come across as insincere, and Fercho quickly moved from the discussion about layoffs to cheerier news about a business summit that CEO Charlie Scharf had recently held with Wells Fargo's top 200 executives.
Fercho referenced the meeting of Wells Fargo's top leaders, a group that itself has seen high turnover since CEO Charlie Scharf took the helm in 2019. The event brought together the group of executives at a Marriott hotel in Charlotte, where Wells Fargo's east coast headquarters are located, for three and a half days.
Fercho shared the highlights of that meeting and the priorities shaping Wells Fargo's "future strategies." Among them were a "focus on the customer" and "efficiency." Wells Fargo, one slide detailed, has "an opportunity to gain ground by reducing expenses without sacrificing our control environment or strategic investment in our future growth."
But Scharf's first point spoke to the drag on Wells Fargo's performance since the bank's wide-ranging sales practices scandal first came to light in 2016.
"We'll never reach our full potential while still facing legacy issues," the slide read, "or worse yet, creating new issues."
Later in the roughly 30-minute town hall, Fercho responded to a question by expressing commitment to Wells Fargo's current model of having loan officers in markets, a nationwide consumer-direct channel, and an option to buy loans from other lenders called correspondents.
She pointed to a recent increase in the fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government sponsored enterprises which provide liquidity for the mortgage market, as one area where Wells Fargo's model gave it an advantage. The fee increase, which went into effect this April, applied to high balance and second home mortgage loans.
"We said, 'That would be great returns for the portfolio, let's lean into that, we can competitively price that, we're going to put those loans on balance sheet,'" Fercho explained. "We turned on that correspondent channel and that team went after it," Fercho said, snapping her fingers.
Are you a Wells Fargo employee with thoughts on the bank's mortgage layoffs, or Charlie Scharf's leadership, or do you work for another bank that's talking about layoffs? Get in touch with these reporters: Dakin Campbell can be reached via email at dcampbell@insider.com or via SMS/the encrypted app Signal at (917) 408-3732; Carter Johnson can be reached via email at cjohnson@insider.com or via the encrypted app Signal or text at (646) 376-6028.
More: Wells Fargo Layoffs Mortgages | 2022-05-17T18:36:28Z | www.businessinsider.com | Inside Wells Fargo's Town Hall to Explain Mortgage Layoffs | https://www.businessinsider.com/wells-fargo-town-hall-explaining-mortgage-layoffs-kristy-williams-fercho-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/wells-fargo-town-hall-explaining-mortgage-layoffs-kristy-williams-fercho-2022-5 |
How Ukrainians transformed their military to take on Russia, according to a US official who watched them do it
Liam Collins,
Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline outside the eastern Ukrainian city of Debaltseve, in the Donetsk region, December 24, 2014.
On paper, Russia's military outmatches its Ukrainian rival.
But better training, strategy, and battlefield decisions have helped Ukraine keep Russian forces at bay.
Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, many observers looked at Russia's overwhelming combat power and thought Russia would achieve a quick victory.
Success in battle is also a function of strategy, operational employment, doctrine, training, leadership, culture and the will to fight. Russia held and continues to hold an overwhelming numerical advantage in manpower and weapon systems, but Ukraine holds the advantage in every other factor.
Ukraine's military competence goes a long way to explain why Russia failed to seize Kyiv and Kharkiv and why Russia's attempts to seize the entirety of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces in its latest offensive in the east will likely fail.
Ukraine's military reforms
A Ukrainian soldier with an FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile during exercises in western Ukraine, May 26, 2021
Volodymyr Tarasov/ Ukrinform/Barcroft Media via Getty Images
The ensuing report led former president Petro Poroshenko to enact the Strategic Defense Bulletin of Ukraine in May 2016. The bulletin mandated broad and sweeping reform across the defense establishment, with the goal of producing a force capable of performing up to NATO standards by 2020.
Over the next six years, Ukraine reformed its military with the help of Western advisers, trainers and equipment. From 2016 to 2018, I served as the executive officer to the US senior defense adviser to Ukraine and was able to witness some of these reforms.
In that position I met with dozens of members of Ukraine's security establishment, including then-President Poroshenko and then-Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak.
Ukrainian soldiers and an armored personnel carrier at a checkpoint near the town of Slaviansk in eastern Ukraine May 2, 2014.
By the time Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Ukraine had built a well-led, professional force with a culture that encouraged junior leader initiative on the battlefield. These initiatives occur when original battlefield orders are no longer relevant or fit the changing situation.
Benefiting from eight years of fighting in the Donbas and six years of Western trainers and advisers, Ukraine's military in 2022 wasn't the same as it had been in 2014, much to Russia's surprise. In fact, it was far superior to Russia's military in nearly every measure but size.
As a result, Russia's latest invasion pitted a large but poorly trained force against a much smaller but well-trained, well-led and motivated force. As the war moves east, Ukrainian levels of proficiency, training, leadership, culture and motivation remain constant.
Ukrainian troops after the liberation of Hostomel, April 6, 2022.
Jana Cavojska/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Many media reports have focused on the fact that Russian forces' moving from the north of Ukraine to support operations in the east will increase Russia's likelihood of success of occupying Ukraine's eastern region.
Yet, what is often ignored is that Ukraine is also able to move forces east. Sure, a small element of Ukrainian forces will remain to defend Kyiv. But others will move east, meaning the overall ratio between Russian and Ukrainian forces is unlikely to change much unless Russia decides to ship in even more troops.
Ukrainian soldiers at a frontline position in Donbas, April 11, 2022.
A key to Ukraine's holding off this much larger force is the ability to rapidly replace military equipment that gets depleted or destroyed.
Western aid since the start of the war in February 2022 has been absolutely critical to Ukraine's continued success. Ukraine's needs have not changed since then.
As Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba explained during a meeting with NATO officials in April 2022, his wish list "only has three items on it. It's weapons, weapons, and weapons."
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Liam Collins, Founding Director, Modern War Institute, United States Military Academy West Point
NOW WATCH: How America's state police got military weapons | 2022-05-17T19:18:36Z | www.businessinsider.com | How Ukrainians Reformed Their Military to Take on Russia | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-ukrainians-reformed-their-military-to-take-on-russia-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-ukrainians-reformed-their-military-to-take-on-russia-2022-5 |
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol March 3, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Manchin wants to aid Ukraine first before dealing with Biden's economic agenda.
"Right now is how do we get Ukraine and make sure that Ukraine wins this war?" he told Insider.
It threatens to stall Biden's economic agenda even further.
Sen. Joe Manchin's chief priority above all else for now: Helping Ukraine win its war against Russia. It may throw President Joe Biden's stalled economic agenda even further down the to-do list with time running out for Democrats to take it up before midterm campaigning starts in earnest.
"We're in a much different part in the world right now with the turmoil that we have," he told Insider on Tuesday. "Right now is how do we get Ukraine and make sure that Ukraine wins this war?"
The conservative Democrat said he wanted to secure final passage of a $40 billion financial and humanitarian aid package for Ukraine.
"We should be going what we call pedal to the metal back home in West Virginia, as hard as we can to help Ukraine," he told Insider. "We should be doing everything we can to make sure Ukraine can secure their country. And then we should all be gathering together in a Marshall Plan to help rebuild."
He repeated familiar demands about using reconciliation as a way to pay down the growing federal debt and to "get our financial house in order." Reconciliation is the procedure that Democrats employed to circumvent united GOP opposition, but it requires the party to march in lockstep in the 50-50 Senate.
The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last year, Manchin often threw cold water on the emerging Build Back Better legislation as it made its way through Congress. He raised other problems that he felt lawmakers should deal with first, such as the chaotic American withdrawal from Afghanistan, the ongoing pandemic, and worsening inflation.
He ultimately sank the bill in late December and Democrats haven't been able to revive a smaller social and climate spending package since then. Without his vote, their economic agenda is stalled in the upper chamber.
The conservative Democrat earlier this month convened a working group in an effort to strike a bipartisan energy deal. But those talks haven't yielded a breakthrough since Democrats and the GOP often harbor competing priorities on electric vehicles and other climate measures.
Manchin also reiterated his skepticism about incentivizing people to buy electric vehicles, raising the prospect of energy shortages comparable to the 1970s. He said he didn't want China to be in a position to block battery shipments to the US.
"I remember the 70s when I had to stand in line to buy gas because of OPEC had control over our transportation mode — because we'd become so dependent on oil," he said. "I don't want to be dependent on China."
The House-approved Build Back Better bill contained $550 billion in clean energy spending, some of it devoted to encouraging the domestic production of chips and EV batteries.
More: Policy Joe Manchin Joe Biden Democrats | 2022-05-17T19:18:42Z | www.businessinsider.com | Manchin Wants to Help Ukraine Win War With Russia Before Dealing With Biden Agenda | https://www.businessinsider.com/manchin-ukraine-war-biden-agenda-congress-democrats-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/manchin-ukraine-war-biden-agenda-congress-democrats-2022-5 |
Netflix lays off 'around 150 employees' amid slowing growth and subscriber losses
Netflix laid off "around 150" people on Tuesday, the company said in a statement.
The layoffs, which impact "mostly US-based" staff, are due to "slowing revenue growth," the statement from Netflix said. "These changes are primarily driven by business needs rather than individual performance," the statement said," which makes them especially tough."
It's unclear which departments were impacted, but Deadline reported the layoffs impacted at least some employees in "executive ranks, including in original content." The company has about 11,000 employees in total.
Earlier this year, Netflix revealed that it had lost subscribers to its video streaming service in the previous quarter, its first subscriber loss in over a decade.
Moreover, company leadership warned at the time of further subscriber losses in the months to come. Executives blamed "revenue growth headwinds" in a report to shareholders, and cited false expectations set by high Netflix use during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"COVID clouded the picture by significantly increasing our growth in 2020," the letter in April said, "leading us to believe that most of our slowing growth in 2021 was due to the COVID pull forward."
In the years since, new competition from the likes of Disney Plus and HBO Max have increasingly drawn away viewers from a streaming market once dominated by Netflix.
More: Netflix Layoffs | 2022-05-17T19:18:48Z | www.businessinsider.com | Netflix Lays Off 150 Amid Slowing Growth, Subscriber Losses | https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-lays-off-150-amid-slowing-growth-subscriber-losses-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/netflix-lays-off-150-amid-slowing-growth-subscriber-losses-2022-5 |
Merger investor Clint Carlson's take on the potential Elon Musk Twitter takeover: It 'could be the highest profile, most controversial and most interesting arbitrage deal ever'
Billionaire Elon Musk's offer for Twitter has run into some obstacles.
Clint Carlson's hedge fund is closely watching the Musk-Twitter deal.
Carlson is a long-time merger investor, but thinks the deal could be the most controversial yet.
The hedge fund believes the deal has a 60% chance of being completed as is.
It is a deal unlike any other — just ask an investor who has spent decades studying mergers.
Billionaire Elon Musk's convoluted offer to buy social media giant Twitter has been both a joke (he made sure to include 420 in the share price somehow) and incredibly serious. It's now situated in a murky in-between state after putting the $44 billion deal "on hold" as he awaits details on the number of bots on the platform.
For Carlson Capital, the eponymous hedge fund of Clint Carlson, the potential deal is a chance to make money — if it happens at all — but also one that changes fortunes by the day.
"Twitter could be the highest profile, most controversial and most interesting arbitrage deal ever. We think we will
make money on this situation, but at this juncture it is impossible to predict exactly how, why and when," Carlson wrote to investors in his Double Black Diamond fund earlier this month.
Merger arbitrage investors like Carlson take advantage of differences in prices being offered by a potential buyer, like Musk, and by the market. For example, if Musk were to offer to buy Twitter at a share price higher than what it is trading at, then investors like Carlson could buy the undervalued Twitter stock and then profit when the deal went through.
This strategy can be tricky when investing in not-yet-finalized deals, and Musk has proven to be a wild card.
Carlson wrote that he currently gives the deal, as it is constructed, a 60% chance of being completed, but "I have to adjust that probability on a daily basis, as events unfold."
"The motivation for the deal may not be purely economic, and the spread and probability of completion will be more sensitive to market levels than most deals where we have participated," he wrote.
Carlson's fund has had a good start year, avoiding the pain felt by others in the hedge-fund space. Carlson wrote that Double Black Diamond was up 3.94% in April, bringing the fund's year-to-date performance to 5.27%.
The firm has bled assets and people over the last couple of years. Double Black Diamond, the firm's flagship fund, started 2022 with just under $600 million in assets — significantly less than the more than $3 billion it ran in 2019. But performance in the flagship fund has been a bright spot for the long-running Dallas-based firm: It outperformed the average manager last year, making 13.3% compared to an average return of 10.3%.
More: Hedge Funds Carlson Capital Twitter | 2022-05-17T20:05:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | Carlson Capital's Take on the Potential Elon Musk Takeover of Twitter | https://www.businessinsider.com/carlson-capital-on-potential-elon-musk-twitter-deal-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/carlson-capital-on-potential-elon-musk-twitter-deal-2022-5 |
CNN poached talent from CBS, the New York Times, and NBC to launch CNN+. Meet 7 execs who are free agents after Warner Bros. Discovery shut down the news streamer.
CNN CEO Chris Licht
More than 400 CNN+ staffers are looking for their next role after Warner Bros. Discovery shut down streamer.
CNN and WBD will hire many who worked on the streaming launch; others will receive severance.
Insider spoke to industry executives to identify some of the top talent that might be on the market.
The launch of CNN+ generated a ton of excitement around the TV news business, with the company flooding LinkedIn with callouts for open positions and ultimately hiring more than 400 editorial and managerial staff — most of whom now find themselves on the job market.
Just a month after the news streamer's March 29 launch date, the new Warner Bros. Discovery management team pulled the plug on CNN+ almost immediately, leading to the departure of chief digital officer Andrew Morse, who had been at CNN for eight years and spearheaded the streaming push.
CNN+ carried breaking news, lifestyle, and documentaries as well as panel discussions — big name talent like Fox News' Chris Wallace and MSNBC's Kasie Hunt were hired for the service while existing network stars like Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper also hosted shows on parenting and books, respectively.
The fledgling service saw slow early growth and was not aligned with WBD's broader streaming strategy to create a single streaming platform with news, sport, entertainment, and movies — combining Discovery+, HBO Max , and other assets. The company will share more details about the future direction of CNN under new CEO Chris Licht and could include news on whether CNN+ shows might live on at its upfront presentation on Wednesday.
CNN plans to hire many of the CNN+ staff for open positions at the network and other WBD units such as HBO Max. For those who don't want to continue, the company has said it will pay six months severance after a three-month period when staff will remain on payroll.
While some executives felt devastated by the closure of CNN+, others are more matter of fact. "My biggest take-away even though it ended the way it did is, I would still do it all over again. I worked with the best people in the entire business and did something extraordinary and in short period of time," said Amanda Wills, former VP, content programming, told Insider. "No regrets."
Wills is just one of several seasoned pros who joined CNN+ and may be on the job market soon if WBD doesn't find a place for them in the organization. Insider canvassed agents and news stakeholders both inside and outside of CNN to identify seven strong news and product leaders — almost all of them women — who could soon be free agents.
Anna Frost
Anna Frost, senior vice president of growth marketing
Frost joined CNN+ in September to help build the streamer's audience. She previously led growth teams at Live Nation Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company.
Several executives who spoke to Insider mentioned Frost in addition to citing the many editorial staff who will likely land on their feet. She built growth marketing from scratch at CNN+ and executed subscriber acquisition, engagement, and retention as well as brand partnerships. At Disney, Frost worked on multi-platform campaigns for blockbuster movies and TV shows across digital, building partnerships with Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, according to her LinkedIn bio.
Nancy Han
Nancy Han, vice president, weekly programming
Han once ran ABC News' digital channel, ABCNews Now, before becoming a producer at "CBS This Morning." She joined CNN+ from NowThisNews, where she worked for three years, most recently as executive vice president, news. Han is part of a TV news family — she's married to CNBC's Scott Wapner.
Alex MacCallum, head of product, GM of CNN Direct-to-Consumer, and interim head of CNN Digital
MacCallum exited the New York Times to join CNN+ as head of product and general manager of CNN's direct-to-consumer business. She was named to the role just a little over a month ago after four years building the Times' standalone businesses including Cooking, Games, and Wirecutter.
Morse argued to incoming WBD bosses that a standalone news streamer could potentially have a broad audience given the size of the Times' subscription base, which stands at 9.1 million. MacCallum, who was in charge of CNN+ customer acquisition, growth and revenue operations, was widely praised by both colleagues and a former boss as a talent in the news space.
https://www.cnn.com/
Scott Matthews, executive producer of weekly programs
Veteran TV News producer Matthews was responsible for CNN+ shows including "No Mercy, No Malice with Scott Galloway" — centered on the digital economy — and former TNT host Rex Chapman's series about the highs and lows of being an athlete and entertainer. Matthews' prior credits include a long stint as vice president, specials at CNBC; he was also previously a director of programming at CNN.
Eva Nordstrom, director of planning and features
Nordstrom joined CNN+ after a decade on the broadcast side, working at CBS News as a managing editor of "CBS This Morning" and then as an executive producer. Former colleagues say she would be a valued leader given her experience overseeing breaking news and special events.
Susan Zirinsky, the former CBS News chief, described Nordstrom as "one of the brightest minds in news." Nordstrom was a senior producer for multiple presidential inaugurations and helped manage Gayle King's explosive interview with R. Kelly. "A talented producer and a valuable person," said a former Nordstrom colleague.
Jennifer Suozzo
Jennifer Suozzo, vice president, daily programming
Suozzo joined CNN to help launch CNN+ after a three-year stint as executive producer of NBC's "Nightly News," helmed by Lester Holt. Suozzo had spent her entire career at NBC News Group, starting as a teleprompter operator in Hartford, Connecticut and becoming the first executive producer of "Andrea Mitchell Reports," among other roles.
She worked hand in hand with the top team at CNN+ to create the streamer's live programming offering which comprised eight shows a day. The streamer broke into regular programming to bring viewers news of the April subway shooting in Brooklyn, New York.
Amanda Wills
Amanda Wills, vice president, content programming
Wills was previously executive producer of breaking news for CNN Digital joining the company in 2016. She led live news coverage of the pandemic while also running 2020 election coverage. Wills told Insider that her unit was where all the teams came together and that she had a hand in prioritizing what content lived where at CNN+ and when the service went to live news and how workflow systems looked. Prior to joining CNN, she was the deputy executive editor at Mashable where she her responsibilities included managing international bureau and the live breaking news team.
More: CNN Plus CNN Streaming TV News | 2022-05-17T20:05:54Z | www.businessinsider.com | CNN+ Execs Who Are Free Agents After Warner Bros. Discovery Shut Streamer | https://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-plus-execs-free-agents-warner-bros-discovery-shut-streamer-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/cnn-plus-execs-free-agents-warner-bros-discovery-shut-streamer-2022-5 |
Why direct-to-consumer baby formula brand Bobbie is choosing responsible retention over supercharged customer growth during a national shortage
A Bobbie baby formula subscription box.
Bobbie's subscribers doubled in the weeks after Abbott recalled several of its baby formulas.
When the brand realized it couldn't meet growing demand, Bobbie stopped accepting new customers.
Halting growth was "tough," but the right call, Bobbie's founder Laura Modi said.
A nationwide baby formula shortage has left parents and caregivers scrambling to find supply as some 43% of retailers across the US are out of the in-demand products.
Reports of parents rationing and watering down formulas or driving hours to find a store with formula in stock have dominated the news cycle in the last week.
Ostensibly, a baby formula shortage would provide an opportunity for emerging brands to quickly gain market share.
Bobbie, a DTC baby formula subscription brand, is doing the opposite. Founder Laura Modi decided to stop accepting new customers three weeks ago in order to focus on Bobbie's current 70,000 subscriber base.
"Right now, we need to give peace of mind back to our current families that we have the supply to meet their needs, and that they're going to continue receiving product on their doorstep every month," said Modi. "Our customers are the only customers out there not experiencing a shortage."
The decision to cut off new customers to focus on retention was "fairly tough," Modi added.
Four major manufacturers dominate the baby formula market in the U.S. In March, shortly after market-leader Abbott recalled some of its most popular formulas that the FDA had linked to deadly bacteria, Bobbie's customer count nearly doubled.
"It was unprecedented growth week after week straight after the recall," Modi said.
Modi soon realized the brand wasn't equipped with enough baby formula in its reserves to meet the surge in demand from new customers.
"You can set yourself up to grow as a company, but you're never quite prepared to absorb the shock of one of the companies being unable to meet demand," she said.
Bobbie was already growing rapidly before the baby formula shortage. Launched in 2021, its formula instantly became popular with parents looking for European-style baby formula, which contains less additives than formula made in the US. Modi expected to do $4 million in revenue for the year, but ended with $18 million in sales.
In March, Bobbie closed a $50 million Series B round of funding, which Modi had planned to use for product innovation.
Now, she's planning to use the money instead to ramp up production and operations in order to bring on new customers. She's also looking into retail partnerships.
"We're staring at a market that we need to be prepared for so that if there's one bacteria, we're not in a position where babies can't get fed. So how do we support it?," Modi said. "We're heads down ramping up production right now to be able to get to a place where by mid-summer we'll be able to start slowly moving people off the waitlist."
Modi said that Bobbie's waitlist continues to grow "rapidly," but a spokesperson for the company would not confirm the number of people on it.
Modi says her decision to focus on Bobbie's customer retention and shut off acquisition was the best one she could have made for her business.
The company's social channels have been flooded with grateful messages from its subscribers, who have been continuing to receive their Bobbie formulas on time amid the shortage.
"The responses we've got from customers now in hindsight has made me realize that prioritizing your current customers is actually the right decision," said Modi. "It is actually the easier decision."
More: DTC Brand baby formula recall | 2022-05-17T20:05:57Z | www.businessinsider.com | Baby Formula DTC Brand Bobbie Is Choosing Retention Over New Customers | https://www.businessinsider.com/dtc-baby-formula-brand-bobbie-choosing-retention-over-new-customers-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/dtc-baby-formula-brand-bobbie-choosing-retention-over-new-customers-2022-5 |
Facing repeated questions from Insider and other reporters about his party's association with the so-called replacement theory, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell repeatedly declined to condemn it at his weekly press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday.
"What I'm concerned about with regard to the southern border is the relative openness of it," he said, criticizing the Biden administration for lifting Title 42.
On Saturday, 18-year-old white man Payton Gendron opened fire at a Tops supermarket in a predominantly Black area of Buffalo, New York, killing 10 people and wounding several others. Gendron is an avowed white nationalist and an adherent of replacement theory, according to a 180-page manifesto and a compilation of messages written online by someone who identified as Gendron.
Versions of the theory have been promoted on right-wing outlets like Fox News and by Republican members of Congress, most notably House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York. Generally, arguments about replacement theory are framed in terms of voter power, with Republicans arguing that Democrats want to use immigration to dilute Republican votes.
But congressional Democrats have gone further, with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer slamming Fox News and Tucker Carlson for spreading the idea, while House Democratic leadership condemned Stefanik by name.
More: Congress Mitch McConnell replacement theory Racism | 2022-05-17T20:06:20Z | www.businessinsider.com | McConnell Refuses 3 Times in a Row to Condemn Replacement Theory | https://www.businessinsider.com/mitch-mcconnell-great-replacement-theory-3-times-buffalo-shooter-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/mitch-mcconnell-great-replacement-theory-3-times-buffalo-shooter-2022-5 |
For the first time ever, 2 Capital One student credit cards are offering a sign-up bonus — and it couldn't be easier to earn
The Capital One SavorOne and Quicksilver student cards now come with a welcome bonus of $100.
The Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card have never offered a welcome bonus.
Now, for a limited time, you can earn $100 cash bonus once you spend $100 on purchases within 3 months of account opening.
Cardholders can also refer up to five friends per year and receive $100 per referral.
Read Insider's guide to the best student credit cards.
Capital One launched the Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card last year, and they're great picks for students with a limited credit history who want to earn cash back on their everyday purchases.
Along with generous earning rates and surprisingly good benefits, neither card charges an annual fee. But one thing that was missing was a welcome bonus, which some other student credit cards offer.
That's now changed. For a limited time, both the Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card are offering $100 cash bonus once you spend $100 on purchases within 3 months of account opening. That's a good deal for a student credit card, particularly because the minimum spending requirement is very attainable.
If you're a college student — or about to become one — and you're considering opening a new credit card, either of these cards would be a solid choice. Here's what to know about the Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card to make the best decision for you.
Capital One Quicksilver and Savorone student cards: Earn a $100 cash bonus
Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card
Average, Fair, Limited
Good welcome bonus with an easy spending requirement
Solid cash back earning on all purchases with no bonus categories to track
No annual fee or foreign transaction fees
Only available to college students
Limited Time Offer: Earn $100 when you spend $100 in the first three months
Enjoy no annual fee, foreign transaction fees, or hidden fees
You can help build your credit with responsible use of a card like this
Be automatically considered for a higher credit line in as little as 6 months
Whether you're at a 4-year university, community college or other higher education institution, this card might be an option for you
Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card
Strong 3% cash back earning in popular everyday spending categories for students like dining, entertainment, eligible streaming services, and grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®)
Earn unlimited 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and at grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart® and Target®), with 1% on all other purchases. Plus, earn 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases and tickets at Vivid Seats
One of the most attractive things about these new welcome bonuses is how easy they are to unlock. With either card, you'll earn $100 cash bonus once you spend $100 on purchases within 3 months of account opening. Spending $100 in three months is within easy reach of most students, so you won't have to worry about missing the minimum spending requirement.
To compare, some other student cards require you to spend $500 or $1,000 within a similar timeframe to earn the welcome offer. For example, the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards Credit Card for Students comes with $200 cash rewards bonus after making $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days from account opening. While that's a higher cash offer, it also requires 10x the spending!
While the Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card offer the same sign-up bonus, the way each earns cash back is quite different.
The Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card is geared to those who spend a lot on food and entertainment, earning bonus cash back in popular categories for students:
8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases
8% cash back on Vivid Seats purchases through January 2023
3% cash back on dining
3% cash back on entertainment
3% cash back on popular streaming services
3% cash back at grocery stores (excluding Walmart and Target)
But if you prefer a flat rate of cash back on all purchases (or don't spend a lot in the SavorOne's bonus categories), the Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card could be the better play. It earns an unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases across the board, so you don't have to worry about keeping track of spending categories.
Capital One has also just announced new benefits for all Savor, Quicksilver, Spark Cash, and Journey cards. Eligible cardholders will have access to the Capital One Travel Portal and can now earn unlimited 5% cash back on hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One.
As for perks, both cards come with an impressive range of benefits, including some you won't often find on student or starter credit cards. Cardholders receive:
Price protection***
Car rental coverage***
Roadside dispatch***
Complimentary concierge services
When it comes time to use your rewards, you can redeem them for cash back, including gift cards, Amazon purchases, and PayPal purchases. As a cardholder, you'll also get access to useful tools and features like Capital One Entertainment, Capital One Dining, Capital One Credit Wise, and Mastercard ID Theft Protection.
The best choice for you really boils down to your spending habits. If you make a lot of dining, grocery, streaming , and entertainment purchases, you'll likely earn more cash back with the Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card. But if that doesn't sound like you, the Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card is probably the way to go.
Refer-a-friend offer
Once you've been approved for either card, you can refer friends to apply and earn even more cash back. You'll receive a $100 bonus for each person that's approved, up to $500 per year. Keep in mind the person you refer will only trigger the bonus if they're a new Capital One cardholder.
Who is eligible for the Capital One SavorOne and Quicksilver student cards?
To qualify for the Capital One SavorOne Student Cash Rewards Credit Card or Capital One Quicksilver Student Cash Rewards Credit Card, you must be currently enrolled (or admitted and planning to enroll in the next three months) at an accredited university, community college, or other higher education institution.
Capital One says applicants should have at least fair credit, which it defines as having a limited credit history, having had your own credit card or other credit for less than three years (including students, newcomers to the US, or authorized users on someone else's credit card).
The good thing about applying for either of these cards is that you can check to see if you're pre-approved on the application page with no impact on your credit score . Be sure to check out our step-by-step guides to applying for a credit card and how to build credit with a credit card if you're new to credit cards and not sure where to begin.
PERSONAL FINANCE The best credit cards for bad credit of May 2022
Bank of America Cash Rewards Credit Card for Students | 2022-05-17T20:06:26Z | www.businessinsider.com | Capital One Student Quicksilver and Savor Cards: Limited-Time $100 Bonus | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/capital-one-student-quicksilver-savor-cards-sign-up-bonus-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/capital-one-student-quicksilver-savor-cards-sign-up-bonus-2022-5 |
I used to think a 'vacation' meant traveling for someone else, but finally taking a trip just for me was a radical act of self-love
Michelle Chikaonda
The author, Michelle Chikaonda.
I used to travel only for other people's special occasions, but that changed in 2021.
I realized I'd maxed out my earned time off and couldn't accrue any more, so I booked a real vacation.
That trip showed me I need to give to myself at least as much as I give to others.
Before the pandemic, I never traveled for myself. All of my vacation days and travel money went toward community obligations: weddings, engagement parties, graduation parties, bridal showers, baby showers, and birthdays, whether milestones or not. If I ever took what might be called a real "vacation day," it was merely an extra day added to a weekend that was primarily about someone or something else — never time I'd allocated for its own sake alone.
Thus it did not occur to me, until over a year into the pandemic, that even though I couldn't travel to see and support people, I might still need time off for me. The notion of what I wanted or needed from earned time off had never before been a foremost consideration in my life.
Yet by April 2021, I clearly needed that time — I was constantly cranky and irate, simultaneously listless and emotional. I was a prime example of the reason vacation days from the office exist, yet I still didn't think it necessary to take that time, not if it couldn't be used toward a better purpose — like attending to someone else.
I got a wake-up call when I checked my company's HR portal
But in April 2021, I discovered that I was, in a sense, losing my paid time off, or PTO, from work: I had hit my yearly maximum of earned time off per month and couldn't accrue any more. In studying the HR portal closely, I realized I had effectively been losing PTO each pay period since two months prior, in February 2021. Angry at myself for having ceded my earned compensation back to my job for two months, I decided immediately to take a proper vacation, despite not having something or someone other than myself to orient it around.
As I booked my first real vacation ever — I decided, on the recommendation of a former work colleague, to go to St. Maarten — I was a nervous wreck. A part of me felt superstitiously fearful that something would happen to me before my trip — my train to the airport would crash, my airplane would fall out of the sky, I'd discover the hotel was a scam — serving me right for choosing to spend my time and money on myself. But as the clear waters of St. Maarten's shoreline came into view, I felt something inside me click into place, and I realized that I had stepped into a whole new way of being in my world.
I started using my credit card rewards to take even more trips
The decision to take my PTO back for myself was the gateway into taking my money and time, in general, back for myself. That was up to and including the hundreds of thousands of frequent traveler points across multiple programs that I had been accruing since the pandemic lockdown began, and a lot from before then, too. Before, I typically saved those in order to make all my travel for other folks' needs cheaper — all the weddings, in particular, were simply not affordable without using my earned airline and hotel points over the years to cut my travel expenses.
So for that first vacation, I made a point of using my travel points, covering most of the flight and hotel package I'd purchased with Delta using Delta SkyMiles; I could have covered the whole thing with points, but it was important to me for the purposes of that endeavor — to finally spend on myself — that I spend at least some literal dollars on myself, too.
For my next trip, to Alaska, I did the same thing: covered my whole week at my hotel with a combination of Marriott Bonvoy points and British Airways Avios, and then covered most of my Delta itinerary with a flight credit from a pandemic-canceled trip back in 2020, paying a small amount in cash on top of that.
By the time I got to planning my next two trips, to Italy and Iceland, I decided to use some of the remainder of the money I had saved up since March 2020 to travel — having just paid off the last of my credit card debt and become debt-free in June 2021 — but did so by first putting it on a travel-based credit card and then paying it all off immediately from those same savings. I was, and am, committed to staying out of debt, but still want to earn program points toward future travel; using my cards has also gotten me a couple of elevated travel statuses to gain free checked baggage and occasional airline lounge access for long-haul flights.
Travel became an act of self-love
In multiple ways, my 2021 travels became my road back to myself, a self I now believe was drowning under the weight of perceived community obligations long before the pandemic lockdowns arrived to force what I thought would be a temporary pause to that circumstance. I discovered in 2021 just how much I love travel for its own sake; I didn't know, until those first forays into taking my vacation time for me, just how happy visiting the places I'd always wanted to go but had never before made the time for would make me.
I'd always had dreams, of course, but only ever allowed myself permission to follow the functional ones — dreams related to school, to career goals, to socially visible achievements, like completing marathons and winning writing prizes. Last year was the first time I followed private dreams, like seeing a glacier cleaving in Alaska, or visiting Florence because of a movie I'd loved as a teenager. Following the light of the things I truly wanted reshaped me, insofar as teaching me what pursuing that light as a way of life even felt like.
Intentionally spending time and money on myself that I'd become reflexively accustomed to saving for others was the preliminary doorway toward continuing to follow that light in my life in general. And I am glad and grateful to have had that door finally thrown open, by way of the HR portal that first showed me what I was losing by not putting me first. I now believe that as much as I give to others, I must give at least that much to myself. After decades spent rigidly focused on the needs of others, my vacations last year were necessary, long overdue acts of self-love.
Michelle Chikaonda is an essayist from Blantyre, Malawi, currently living and working in Philadelphia. She is a contributing editor for nonfiction at Electric Literature. Her work can be found at Al Jazeera, the Globe & Mail, Catapult, and the Broad Street Review, among other publications.
PERSONAL FINANCE I'm ready to travel again — for free
More: Travel Credit Cards Credit Card points Personal Finance Insider
Pandemic travel | 2022-05-17T20:06:38Z | www.businessinsider.com | I Took My First Vacation for Myself and It Was an Act of Self-Love | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/first-vacation-for-myself-act-of-self-love-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/first-vacation-for-myself-act-of-self-love-2022-5 |
'There's blood in the water.' M&A dealmakers are circling troubled tech startups looking for acquisition bargains.
Leena Rao, Ben Bergman, and Samantha Stokes
Tech is in a historic downturn, with companies of all sizes conducting hiring freezes or layoffs.
M&A dealmakers are shopping, looking for startups to buy.
But conditions this time around are unusual, eight investors and bankers told Insider.
Like a pounding headache after a raging party, conversations in the boardrooms of many tech startups have gotten grim, said eight venture investors and bankers whom Insider spoke with.
After 2021's record-breaking year in venture capital, fresh funding has become tight, the IPO market is frozen, and both startups and tech giants are trimming expenses — and even laying off workers.
Yet, there's one group of investors licking their chops: M&A dealmakers. This is a market ripe for bargain hunting.
"M&A is going to go way up in startupland. The question is, who are the buyers, and at what stage?" said Matt Murphy, a partner at the VC firm Menlo Ventures.
Dealmakers are scouting in overdrive. In the past week, two M&A investment bankers who represent large public tech companies contacted a Silicon Valley growth VC asking for possible startups to acquire.
"People are going shopping and building out a shortlist," the VC said.
That's because there is — or soon may be — a glut of overvalued startups low on cash looking for a buyer to save them, bankers and VCs told Insider, with some VCs requesting anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak about potential deals. Their identities are known to Insider.
"On three boards I'm on, we're starting to look for homes for these startups," another early- to mid-stage venture investor told Insider. "We know our last-round prices were high, and we may not have the story to justify the next round being at a higher price. So we are preparing now."
"We are starting to have a number of acquisition conversations for startups in the portfolio," said another Silicon Valley VC who invests in early- to mid-stage startups. "Buyers are also putting feelers out offensively because there's blood in the water. The conversations are up by a magnitude."
Still, this period of M&A activity is different from any in recent history because the usual buyers — the biggest, wealthiest public internet companies — are being cautious under the scrutiny of regulators. And smaller public companies are being hamstrung by their slashed share prices as part of the overall "market exodus."
Steve Swisher/AMC
Zombie startups on a challenging road
Any startup running low on cash right now could be in the kind of bind not seen for years.
While fresh funding hasn't completely dried up, VCs are showing much more caution, which translates into lower valuations than the unicorn mania of 2021. Venture investments totaled $47 billion in April 2022 — the lowest in the past 12 months, Crunchbase said.
Investments from some of the biggest and most prolific investors, such as SoftBank to Tiger Global, have slowed way down, sources said.
"I would say compared to last year, the amount of new investment could be half or could be as small as a quarter," Masayoshi Son, the chair and CEO of SoftBank, told analysts on a conference call last week.
Tiger, which reports say lost $17 billion during the recent tech sell-off, has also sharply cut back on late-stage investing, multiple sources told Insider.
Another mid-stage investor predicted that many early-stage startups wouldn't be able to raise Series B or C rounds, nor would many later-stage, newly crowned unicorns — startups valued at over $1 billion — find investors willing to pay higher valuations.
"70% of the growth equity deals that got done over the last 12 to 18 months are going to be underwater," said Hussein Kanji, a partner at the early-stage venture Hoxton Ventures. "Those companies, they're basically the walking dead from that perspective. Some of those might turn into M&A, because that's one way to recover some capital."
But finding buyers is another matter.
"The pain I foresee is that there are a lot of companies that will be in a state of desperation for funding or an acquisition, but their last valuation is well north of $100 million, which is not an easy range to buy," one of the mid-stage venture investors said.
There's already been a number of unicorns, such as Cameo or the weight-loss startup Noom, that resorted to layoffs to cut their cash burn rates.
"Most of these companies are not going to exit as unicorns," the growth investor said.
VCs are preparing to lose money on deals, but employees, who often take a chunk of their pay in equity, may also lose.
"If a startup raised at a high valuation in the past two years, there's a good chance the company will have to make concessions," a mid-stage venture investor said. "More of these acquisitions will take place, and no one will be happy, especially the employees who joined in the past two years."
Public companies are not buying big, yet
In late 2020, Twilio bought the customer-data startup Segment in an all-stock deal valued at $3.2 billion. Ditto for the workplace-security company Okta, which did an all-stock deal valued at $6.5 billion to buy Auth0 in the spring of 2021.
But in the past six months, both Okta's and Twilio's share prices have dropped by almost 70%.
Because of the depressed public market, such blockbuster all-stock deals, especially from mid-cap tech companies, are in a holding pattern. "That archetype of M&A has hit a pause," said one investor who focuses on early- to mid-stage companies.
"The thought is that these types of companies need their share price to stabilize before they can make another big acquisition in the $100 million to $2 billion range," the mid-stage investor added.
"Every conversation around the $1 to $2 billion range of acquisitions has now been put on ice," he said.
Mike Wilkins, a partner at the venture firm Shamrock Capital, which manages $3.9 billion in growth and private-equity funds, saw an acquisition deal for a startup die when the public tech company's share price fell significantly.
"It was a sobering realization," Wilkins said. "The company didn't want to put additional pressure on its share price during a challenging time. "
Meanwhile, buyers with enough cash on their balance sheet to do a blockbuster all-cash deal, such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft, are facing a new, tougher regulatory environment.
"The American companies are boxed in because they're so heavily scrutinized," said Hoxton's Kanji. "I could see them doing smaller acquisitions, but I think the appetite for big ones, at least among the companies that are facing regulations, creates a pretty high bar to doing deals."
Of particular difficulty would be an acquisition of a company handling personal data. "There's a new regime with regulators wanting those companies to get broken up, not becoming stronger, and we can't rely on them to be the saviors," said Murphy of Menlo Ventures.
The easiest deals for public companies would be smaller, often undisclosed deals that complemented their existing products and services, known as "tuck-in" acquisitions, multiple investors said.
"We will likely see more tuck-in M&A, which is public companies acquiring much smaller startups," said Asheem Chandna, a partner at Greylock who has backed the enterprise companies Sumo Logic and Palo Alto Networks. Chandna predicted a flurry of M&A in the $50 million to $250 million range.
Such caution among these classic buyers is already playing out. The number of public companies buying US startups fell in the first quarter: 99 acquisitions in Q1 2022 compared to 150 during Q1 2021, Crunchbase data indicated.
Startups to the rescue
It may be other startups, particularly late-stage ones flush with cash from raising giant rounds last year, that will be the most active buyers.
In the first quarter of 2022, more startups bought other startups than in any other first quarter in the past decade, Crunchbase data indicated.
Another mid-stage investor explained, "A company like Carta, Discord , or Project44 could buy a startup in the $100 million range and give the founder and employees equity at the price of the last round, with the hope that markets and valuations will go up."
In fact, Project44 — a logistics startup that raised a $420 million round announced in January — confirmed that it's shopping. A spokesperson said, "Project44 is in a strong position to acquire and accelerate the growth of companies that may have reached the end of their financial runway and want to keep executing on their vision."
The industries that will be targets
Dealmakers have already been sniffing around cybersecurity and supply-chain startups in one investor's portfolio, that VC told us.
And all agreed that software-as-a-service companies are ripe targets, especially for public company buyers, because they use a dependable, subscription-based business model.
"Both private equity and strategics have always loved SaaS," said Cameron Lester, a managing director and cohead of global technology investment banking at Jefferies. "They love the recurring revenue and the predictability."
There could also be more video-game deals in the aftermath of Microsoft's $68.7 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard in January.
"I think we will continue to see significant M&A activity in the space," said Walter Driver, a cofounder and co-CEO of Scopely, a mobile video-game company. "I anticipate that we'll see private-equity firms be very active, and that large cap technology and media companies continue to look at ways to play in gaming as Microsoft did with Activision."
Digital-media and online-shopping startups are ripe for deals, said Robert Jackman, a senior managing director of tech investment banking for Silicon Valley Bank, while Jefferies' Lester sees autonomous-vehicle companies as potential targets.
And given their options, venture investors are standing by to broker the deals.
"I think we'll see more private-to-private M&A in the next 12 to 18 months," said Vas Natarajan, a partner at the VC firm Accel who has backed Frame.io and Deepnote. "You often see the investors in the background helping to broker these introductions within the portfolio."
More: Startups Venture Capital m&a | 2022-05-17T20:06:50Z | www.businessinsider.com | Tech M&a Is About to Explode, Sources Say. Here's Who's Buying. | https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-acquisitions-to-explode-who-is-buying-startups-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-acquisitions-to-explode-who-is-buying-startups-2022-5 |
Walmart is quietly seeing exponential growth with its new data-monetization platform
Walmart Luminate saw 75% growth quarter over quarter, company leaders said on Tuesday.
The platform launched in October to provide a suite of data products to merchants and suppliers.
Luminate's growth comes as Walmart doubles down on its efforts to sell services to other retailers.
Walmart's new data-monetization business is quietly but rapidly expanding its reach.
Walmart Luminate, which launched in October to provide a suite of data products to merchants and suppliers, experienced over 75% growth quarter over quarter, Brett Biggs, Walmart's chief financial officer, said during a quarterly earnings call on Tuesday.
Biggs said Luminate continues to accelerate as more supplier partners collaborate with merchandisers to use new customer insights on the platform.
The retail giant in Bentonville, Arkansas, filed to trademark the term "Walmart Luminate" on March 3, 2021.
The filing said Walmart Luminate consists of a downloadable computer software for retail-store inventory management. And the platform's website said Luminate gives US merchants and suppliers "unprecedented access" to aggregated customer insights. With this data, retailers can analyze shopper behaviors and test new strategies.
And Luminate also allows brands to solicit feedback from customers via surveys and other methods, Adweek said.
Walmart Luminate is looking to hire, as it's listed more than 20 job postings — ranging from business-development representatives to data stewards — on LinkedIn over the past month.
Walmart did not respond to Insider's request for additional details about Luminate.
Luminate's growth comes as the company doubles down on its efforts to sell services to other retailers.
In August, Walmart launched GoLocal, a platform that allows businesses to arrange local deliveries with the company. Two months later, the retail giant rolled out a new ad-buying software, Walmart DSP, where advertisers can show ads to people based on whether they've browsed specific products on Walmart's website and app.
And in January, the company filed a trademark for the term "Walmart Commerce Technologies," which describes a software as a service with extensive abilities and tools for retailers.
Along with Luminate's gains, Walmart touted global advertising success during its earnings call on Tuesday. The company had a 30% growth in global advertising during the first quarter of this fiscal year, Biggs said.
"I'm excited about what is ahead and what it means for customers as we more actively engage with them in different areas of their lives and deepen those relationships," he said.
The growth of Luminate and global advertising were bright spots in what was an otherwise difficult quarter for Walmart. Feeling the pressures of inflation and supply-chain costs, the company reported an adjusted earnings per share of $1.30 for the first quarter, missing analysts' expectations of $1.48 earnings per share.
Walmart also changed its outlook on earnings-per-share expectations. The company is now projecting the amount to decrease by about 1% for the year, which is a stark contrast from the mid-single-digit growth it projected in February.
Do you work at Walmart or have insight to share? Contact the reporter Ben Tobin via the encrypted messaging app Signal +1 (703) 498-9171 or email at btobin@insider.com. Check out Insider's source guide for other tips on sharing information securely.
More: Walmart eCommerce Shopping | 2022-05-17T20:25:35Z | www.businessinsider.com | Walmart Luminate, a Data Product for Retailers, Sees Massive Growth | https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-luminate-a-data-product-for-retailers-sees-massive-growth-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-luminate-a-data-product-for-retailers-sees-massive-growth-2022-5 |
Amanda Makki is running for Congress in Florida. She's a former Senate aide who has been active in GOP politics since the George W. Bush years.
John Mottern/AFP via Getty Images
Amanda Makki is running for US House in Florida's 13th District.
A Republican US House candidate in Florida potentially violated federal campaign laws by using donor funds to pay for her home's electric bill.
Amanda Makki's campaign paid more than $600 to Duke Energy, according to a letter the Federal Election Commission sent the campaign last week.
The FEC has not fined or otherwise penalized Makki's campaign to date but could investigate the matter if someone filed a complaint.
Eric Wang, an attorney for the Makki campaign, told Insider in an email that the campaign had thought they were allowed to use the funds based on a "good faith" understanding of the "highly confusing" rules. Makki and her campaign use her home office every day as its only campaign headquarters, including to shoot campaign commercials, he said.
"The campaign has used her home for campaign organizational and strategy meetings, campaign fundraising, general work space for campaign staff and volunteers, printing materials for her campaign, storage space for campaign materials, campaign media appearances, and media production associated with her campaign," he said.
"The campaign legitimately believed it could reimburse for a portion of the utility costs it incurred," Wang said.
The FEC only takes enforcement if campaigns don't address the issues in a letter or work to correct them. The letter isn't penalizing the campaign but instead gives the Makki campaign the opportunity to explain what happened or provide additional context.
But the restrictions on using campaign cash for home expenses are designed to prevent candidates from financially enriching themselves using donors' dollars, he said. Candidates could otherwise offload their personal expenses such as cable bills or mortgages, he explained.
"What the FEC is focusing on is not using campaign funds to reduce a personal financial obligation that a candidate has," he said.
Makki is an Iranian-American running in Florida's 13th District, which is currently held by Democrat Charlie Crist. The seat in Florida's 13th District is open because Crist is vacating the seat to run for Florida governor against Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Makki faces several opponents in Florida's August 23 primary, including Anna Paulina Luna, who in April won former President Donald Trump's endorsement. As of March 31, the Makki campaign reported having about $514,000 cash on hand, according to FEC records.
The Makki campaign said current campaign finance reimbursement rules favor wealthier candidates. Their reasoning: a congressional candidate may seek reimbursement from his or her campaign is operating out of operating out of another piece of real estate the candidate owns, such as an office space, so long as it's not a personal residence.
"This distinction is not intuitive and favors certain wealthy candidates who own investment properties while disfavoring candidates like Amanda who are not career politicians and are not steeped in the FEC's intricate and arbitrary rules," he said.
But "it's generally advisable not to seek to have a campaign office out of your own home," Toner said. "You can have a campaign office out of your own home but you can't charge the campaign."
More: Federal Election Commission Florida 2022 midterms Charlie Crist
Eric Wang | 2022-05-17T21:37:09Z | www.businessinsider.com | A Florida Congressional Candidate Potentially Violated Federal Campaign Law | https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-congress-candidate-amanda-makki-law-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-congress-candidate-amanda-makki-law-2022-5 |
19 of the best new books by AAPI authors in 2022, according to Goodreads
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. These are some of the best new and upcoming books by AAPI authors, according to Goodreads.
A great way to celebrate and honor AAPI heritage is by supporting AAPI authors.
We used Goodreads to rank the best new and upcoming books by AAPI authors.
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, an opportunity to recognize, honor, and celebrate the history and culture of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans. There are many great ways to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month, such as supporting artists, musicians, and authors, and we've collected some of the best new books by AAPI authors in 2022.
These titles have been ranked by how often they've been added to readers' "Want to Read" shelves on Goodreads — the world's largest platform for book reviews — and must have either been published in 2022 or will be published this year. If a book hasn't been published yet, we've included its publication date and you can still preorder them now.
19 of the best new and upcoming books by AAPI authors in 2022 so far, according to Goodreads:
"To Paradise" on Amazon and Bookshop, from $20.01
From the author of the brilliant and devastating "A Little Life" comes "To Paradise," a bold and expansive blend of historical and science fiction that spans from 1893 to 2093. Though each of the three main settings, characters, and situations may appear vastly different, each story is united by the theme of what makes us human from love and loss to regret and the decisions that make us who we are.
"The School for Good Mothers" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $18.19
From her career to her cheating husband, Frida Liu already feels like she's struggling in nearly every aspect of life — when one lapse in judgment makes everything so much worse. Now, Frida is in the hands of a government reform program for mothers where she must prove she's a good and devoted enough mother (or risk losing custody of her daughter) in this new science-fiction dystopia.
"How High We Go in the Dark" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $17.99
In 2030, researchers uncover the remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus and accidentally unleash an Arctic Plague that reshaped humanity and the Earth for generations. With tenderness and expansive imagination, this science fiction novel highlights stories that face tragedy with resiliency from an employee at a theme park for terminal children to a widowed painter and her teenage granddaughter.
“The Swimmers” by Julie Otsuka
"The Swimmers" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $19.99
From casual backstrokers to fast-lane kickers, the swimmers are generally unknown to each other, though they gather at their local pool every day for recreational swimming. When a crack appears at the bottom of the pool, the swimmer's routine is upended in this equally fun and emotional story of community, family, and what we know about those around us.
"The Cartographers" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $9.80
When Nell's father is found dead in his office, she ignores their rocky past to investigate what could have happened. She soon discovers the rarity and value of the seemingly worthless map found in his desk and sets out on an adventure to uncover why someone has been destroying copies of this map and eliminating anyone who gets in their way.
"Disorientation" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $20.54
Ingrid Yang cannot wait to be done with her dissertation on the poet Xiao-Wen Chou and complete her PhD, but when she finds a strange note in the Chou archives, it unravels an explosive discovery and ignites chaos in Ingrid's life and her college campus. The rabbit hole into which Ingrid falls leads her through a roller coaster of adventures, an upheaval of her identity, and a series of startling revelations.
"Time Is a Mother" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $21.36
Known for "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous", Ocean Vuong returns with a poetry collection spurred by his mother's death as he challenges his grief with a determination to survive it. With a clear and incredibly resounding voice, Vuong's poetry is emotionally devastating, clever, and deeply memorable.
"Honor" by Thrity Umrigar
"Honor" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $17.13
Though her family left India long ago, Smita, an Indian American journalist, is sent there on assignment to cover the case of a Hindu woman who was attacked by members of her own village for marrying a Muslim man. As Smita tries to help the woman, she's also drawn to an Indian man in this new dual love story that's also about familial love, hope, and sacrifice.
“Peach Blossom Spring” by Melissa Fu
"Peach Blossom Spring" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $16.99
"Peach Blossom Spring" follows three generations of a Chinese family beginning in 1938 when Meilin and her son Renshu are forced to flee their home and seek refuge as the Japanese army encroaches. A generation later, Renshu lives in America as Henry Dao and refuses to speak about his childhood, no matter how desperate his daughter is to understand him and her family's history in this moving new novel about family, heritage, and the importance of telling our stories.
"Kaikeyi" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $21.99
Kaikeyi is desperate for independence from her family when she turns to the library's scrolls and unearths her power, transforming from an overlooked princess into a warrior and favored, feminist queen. Yet as Kaikeyi carves out her legacy, her family's destiny clashes with her own order could mean devastating destruction.
"Portrait of a Thief" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $19.99
Will Chen is a senior at Harvard when he's approached by a mysterious benefactor with an impossible, dangerous, and illegal offer to lead a heist that will steal back five pieces of museum art once looted as spoils of war from China. Armed with a unique crew of other Chinese Americans, each of whom has their own complicated relationship with their identity, Will sets out to make history in this novel that is equal parts thriller and an examination of colonialism.
"Four Treasures of the Sky" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $18.69
Daiyu was named after the tragic heroine from "Dream of the Red Chamber" but never wanted to be like her, until she is kidnapped and smuggled from her home in China to America, forced to reimagine her life, future, and identity over and over again. Set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Daiyu faces great personal and social trials as she works to survive and honor her own name and story.
"Counterfeit" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $21.99
Ava Wong seems to have built a perfect life with her surgeon husband, young son, and successful law career, but beneath the surface, everything is crumbling until Winnie Fang, Ava's old college roommate comes back into her life. More confident and wealthy than ever before, Winnie approaches Ava in need of help with her wildly successful business-selling counterfeit luxury handbags. Though Ava agrees, Winnie disappears when a challenge arises and leaves Ava to deal with the aftermath in this exciting and dazzling upcoming novel.
Publication Date: June 7, 2022
"Siren Queen" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $24.29
"Siren Queen" is a historical fantasy set in 1930s Hollywood where the beautiful and talented Luli Wei is desperate to make it big but refuses to play the stereotypical parts the studio has for her. Meanwhile, the studio controls her life and runs on a system of blood, ancient magic, and sacrifices that force starlets to earn their fame at a steep and horrifying price.
"Nuclear Family" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $23.92
Set in the months leading up to the false missile alert of 2018, a Korean American family living in Hawai'i has a bright future as their restaurant business improves, their daughter finishes college, and their son, Jacob, moves to Seoul to teach English. When Jacob is detained by the South Korean government for attempting to run across the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea (and going viral for it), the family is forced to confront what has separated them in this upcoming novel of family history and healing.
“Kismet: A Thriller” by Amina Akhtar
"Kismet: A Thriller" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $22.95
When Ronnie leaves Queens for Arizona and her wellness guru, Marley Dewhurst, she's ready for a life of juice cleanses and yoga. But when bodies of Sedona glam gurus begin to turn up, "Kismet" transforms into a wild and suspenseful ride of murder, smoothies, and even neighborhood ravens, who narrate a few chapters from their spectating point of view.
Publication Date: August 1, 2022
“Gods of Want: Stories” by K-Ming Chang
"Gods of Want: Stories" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $24.84
This upcoming collection of short stories is divided into three sections — Mothers, Myths, and Moths — in which K-Ming Chang highlights the relationships, bodies, and memories of Asian American women. In "Gods of Want" Chang weaves queerness, migration, and corporeality into stories of power and memory.
Publication Date: July 12, 2022
"Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution" by R.F. Kuang
"Babel" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $25.19
"Babel" is an upcoming dark academia fantasy novel set in 1828 when Robin Swift is brought to London and trained in languages until the day he will attend the Royal Institute of Translation at Oxford University, also known as Babel. For Robin, serving Babel means betraying his motherland and, caught between the school and this powerful society, must decide how far he will go to bring Babel down.
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
“The Many Daughters of Afong Moy” by Jamie Ford
"The Many Daughters of Afong Moy" on Amazon and Bookshop from, $25.76
Dorothy Moy is used to channeling her mental health challenges into her art but when her five-year-old daughter begins to exhibit similar behaviors and seems to remember things from their ancestors' lives, Dorothy reaches out for help in the form of an experimental treatment specially designed for inherited trauma. "The Many Daughters of Afong Moy" is a historical fiction novel interwoven with magical realism as Dorothy connects with past generations and seeks to break the generational trauma that has already plagued her and her daughter.
More: IP Freelance Insider Reviews 2022 Insider Picks Insider Picks Guides | 2022-05-17T22:20:36Z | www.businessinsider.com | 19 Best New and Upcoming Books by AAPI Authors, According to Goodreads | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/learning/best-books-by-aapi-authors-2022 | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/learning/best-books-by-aapi-authors-2022 |
How to spot WhatsApp spam and stop it from reaching you
You can prevent some of the spam you receive on WhatsApp with a few tactics.
WhatsApp spam is becoming a problem, but there are ways to recognize and prevent some of this spam.
Follow the same rules for recognizing spam and fraudulent messages as you would for email.
Here are the top ways to recognize WhatsApp spam and how to combat it.
If you're a frequent WhatsApp user, you have probably noticed that the volume of spam messages has been on the rise. Like the epidemic of traditional spam phone calls and emails that started to plague mobile users a few years ago, WhatsApp spam is getting to be a serious distraction. If you know what to look for, though, you can minimize the impact of WhatsApp spam by blocking and avoiding some of the worst of it.
How to spot WhatsApp spam
As it happens, there are several different kinds of WhatsApp spam, each with a unique signature format and method for avoiding it.
Suspicious links
The same rules for recognizing email and SMS spam also apply in WhatsApp. First and foremost: Unsolicited messages from someone you don't know that includes any kind of link is probably spam. The message's goal is to get you to tap the link and go to a website, send a payment, or download an app (which may or may not be malware ). Don't tap links in WhatsApp messages unless you know exactly what that link is going to do or is from someone you trust.
Login requests
You've probably seen any number of email messages that masquerade as login requests, password recovery emails, notes from your bank, or other security-themed messages. If you know the signs, it's generally pretty easy to recognize fraudulent login emails when you see them. On WhatsApp, it's even easier — just assume 100% of unsolicited messages are fraud and spam. Genuine websites like online stores and banks do not use WhatsApp to request logins, validate accounts, send password recovery or two-factor authentication emails. If you get anything like that, it's spam.
Frequently forwarded messages
One of the laziest ways for spammers to flood your inbox with spam is by forwarding messages to many people, either all at once or in batches. Either way, WhatsApp is pretty good at detecting this, and warns you. When you open a conversation, forwarded messages show an arrow with the Forwarded at the top of the message; if it has been forwarded more than five times, it instead says Forwarded many times. If you see that, you can be virtually guaranteed it's some kind of unwanted spam and is safely ignored.
You can tell at a glance if a WhatsApp message has been forwarded more than five times.
How to stop WhatsApp spam
Now that you know what some of the most common kinds of WhatsApp spam look like, how can you deal with and stop it? Unfortunately, stopping spam is an uphill battle and it's simply not possible to eliminate it entirely. There will always be a higher volume of spammers targeting your inbox than you personally have the time or energy to combat. Even so, you can make a sizable dent in the amount of spam you receive with these tactics.
Opt out of groups
Group spam is common because it's convenient and time-effective for spammers to add a lot of people to a group and then spam them all at once. Thankfully, it's easy to prevent strangers from adding you to groups in the first place.
In WhatsApp, tap Settings and then tap Account. Tap Privacy, then Groups. By default, anyone can add you to a group, but you can switch it to My Contacts or My Contacts Except and specify who in your contacts can't add you to a group.
Report spammers
If you get messages from someone and they are clearly spammy in nature, you can report that user directly to WhatsApp. Will this have an effect on their account or the volume of spam you receive? It's hard to say — but it only takes a moment to report a spammer, so it's worth doing.
Open the conversation with the spammer and then tap on their name at the top of the screen. On the Contact info page, scroll down and tap Report Business or Report [phone number], depending upon the kind of user who spammed you.
If you get spam, take a moment to report the sender.
Block a spammer
Reporting the contact who sent you spam might be good for the WhatsApp community at large, but there's a way to have a more immediate effect on your own WhatsApp inbox — you can block the user, which means they will no longer be able to send you messages or calls.
TECH What the 'last seen' status on WhatsApp means, and how to turn yours off
TECH How to set up WhatsApp Web and use the messaging platform from your computer
More: WhatsApp Spam Social Media Tech How To | 2022-05-17T22:20:48Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Spot WhatsApp Spam and Stop It From Reaching You | https://www.businessinsider.com/whatsapp-spam | https://www.businessinsider.com/whatsapp-spam |
Dave Spending Account
Dave app features
How Dave works
Dave trustworthiness and BBB rating
Dave vs. Dora
Dave vs. Mission Lane
Dave banking review: Mobile banking platform with second chance banking and tools for building credit
Dave is a fintech company with a bank account and financial tools for building credit.
Dave; Insider
The bottom line: Dave may stand out if you're comfortable with mobile banking and searching for tools to help build your credit score . Its Dave Spending Account also might be worth exploring if you've struggled to open a bank account due to poor credit history.
Checking account and financial tools for building credit if you have minimal or poor credit/banking history
Cash advance of up to $250 with no interest or credit check required
No minimum opening deposit required for checking account
Budgeting features and rewards
Customer service is available 7 days per week
Online-only account
No savings account option
$1 monthly membership fee
Dave card included
1% fee per transaction if you use Google Pay or Apple Pay
Doesn't allow you to overdraw from your account
Doesn't accept wire transfers
Limited ways to deposit cash
Access to over 37,000 surcharge-free ATMs through the MoneyPass ATM network
Dave charges a $1 membership fee to access the Dave Spending Account and apps budgeting features
Dave will deny your purchase if you overdraw from your account
If you'd like to deposit cash, you'll have to visit a Green Dot location (can't deposit cash at ATMs)
Dave Spending Account may only be opened as an individual bank account
FDIC insured through Evolve Bank & Trust
The Dave Spending Account might be ideal if you're looking for an account that's easy to open — it doesn't require a credit check and has a $0 opening deposit. It also offers a 2-day early direct deposit, a notable perk if you need fast access to your paycheck.
You'll want to be mindful of potential fees and limitations to the account. Most notably, there's a $1 subscription fee to use the Dave app and limited ways to deposit cash.
Dave comes with a variety of features, including tools for building credit and establishing financial habits.
Here's an overview of the app's features:
Dave Cash Advance: You may request a cash advance of up to $250 with no interest and no credit check required. Dave will look at your bank account history to determine the amount you're eligible for. You'll likely get a higher amount on the cash advance if you receive a total deposit of $1,000 or more each month.
Dave LevelCredit: Dave has partnered with LevelCredit to provide a financial tool for building credit. The service is free as long as you have a Dave Spending Account and make a recurring monthly direct deposit. You'll open a Dave Spending Account and make at least two direct deposits of at least $1,000. After meeting this requirement, you'll receive an email about LevelCredit. Once you link your account, you may use monthly payments on rent or utility services to improve your credit score. LevelCredit will report your consistency to credit bureaus each month.
Dave Side Hustle: The app has a feature that lets you find remote work opportunities. You may set up a profile through the app and search for fully remote or local side hustles available.
Dave Goals: You may set up and keep up track of personal finance goals through private goals or public goals. Public goals may be shared with anyone who has the Dave app, while private goals can't be shared.
Dave Budgeting: Dave lets you organize your expenses to keep track of how much you spend in a category. It may also notify you of upcoming expenses and whether you might have a low account balance.
Dave Rewards: You'll be able to earn cash back if you frequently use the Dave debit card. Offers from retailers will be listed on the app.
Dave is a mobile fintech platform, not a bank. The Dave Spending Account is FDIC insured through Evolve Bank & Trust. Up to $250,000 is safe in an individual bank account.
Customers have access to 37,000 surcharge-free ATMs through the MoneyPass ATM network.
Customer service is available through live chat from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT Monday through Saturday. You may also call customer support from 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. PT on weekdays or 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.
Dave is rated 4.4 out of 5 stars in the Google Play store and 4.8 out of 5 stars in the Apple store.
Dave has a B rating because the BBB received a high volume of complaints against the business.
A good BBB rating won't guarantee your relationship with a company will be perfect. Talk to current customers or read online customer reviews to see if Dave is a solid match for you.
Dave hasn't been involved in any recent public controversies.
Dora Financial is an online banking platform with a free Bank On certified checking account. See how the two online-only platforms stack up below.
Checking account, credit building tools, budgeting tools
Both Dave and Dora have checking accounts that are great choices if you've struggled to open a bank account in the past. Your decision between these two platforms could come down to your preference in features.
You may favor Dora's Everyday Checking Account if you'd like a mobile app in English and Spanish. You also might lean more toward Dora if you don't want to pay any monthly fees. Dave has a $1 monthly subscription fee for its app.
Dave might be your top choice if you're looking for ways to build credit. You may be able to use monthly payments on rent and utility to improve your credit score.
Mission Lane is a fintech company with financial tools to help you improve your credit score. See how the two companies compare below.
Mission Lane might be worth exploring if you've been denied from taking out a loan in the past due to your credit history.
You'll open up a $300 loan, and the funds will be deposited into a secured savings account. You'll need to make 12 consecutive $25 monthly payments to be able to take out the full $300. For each month you make a payment, your Credit Builder Account will be reported to a credit bureau, so you can improve your credit score.
Dave might be your top choice if you aren't ready to apply for a loan. It partnered with LevelCredit, and you may be able to use monthly payments on rent and utility to build your credit score.
You may also prefer Dave if you're looking for additional tools to help you save. The app has budgeting features to keep track of expenses and also lets you set up personal finance goals.
Can I trust the app Dave?
The Dave Spending Account is a federally insured bank account, so you may safely keep up to $250,000 in the account.
Does Dave charge you monthly?
To use the mobile app's features, you'll need to pay a $1 monthly subscription fee.
How much will Dave let you borrow?
You may request a cash advance of up $250. You won't be charged interest for the cash advance, and there's no credit check required. Dave will look at the deposit and transaction history of your linked bank account or Dave Spending account to determine the amount of a cash advance.
Funds will be available in a few minutes through the Dave Spending account. If you'd prefer to send funds to an external bank account, it may take up to three business days.
PERSONAL FINANCE Mobile banking lets you bank from anywhere, but may not offer as many services as traditional banking
PERSONAL FINANCE Understanding what APY is and how it can be used to grow your money
PERSONAL FINANCE A direct deposit digitally transfers paychecks into your bank account so you can access your money sooner
More: Dave Dave Spending Account Checking Account Personal Finance Insider
Spruce Banking
Spruce Spending Account
Dora Financial
Dora Financial Everyday Checking Account | 2022-05-17T23:06:29Z | www.businessinsider.com | Dave Banking Review: No Credit Check for Checking Account or Cash Advances | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/dave-banking-review | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/dave-banking-review |
John Fetterman's momentum will run up against a tough midterms climate and a TBD GOP nominee
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D)
John Fetterman could be a midterms hero for Democrats.
The goateed, 6'8 lieutenant governor locked up the nomination for Pennsylvania's Senate race.
He could flip the seat for the Democrats, but there are several headwinds against the party.
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is awaiting an opponent in what will be one of the most hotly contested races of the 2022 midterms.
A November victory for Fetterman would take the seat off the board for the Senate GOP, with Sen. Pat Toomey retiring.
As Fetterman celebrated away from supporters Tuesday night hours after having a pacemaker procedure, he awaited the results of the GOP primary race between frontrunners David McCormick and Dr. Mehmet Oz. At press time, the pair remained neck and neck with thousands more votes to be tallied.
Whether Fetterman faces off against the Trump-endorsed Oz or former hedge fund CEO McCormick — whom his campaign described as "the only true, America First candidate" — his strengths will still be the same and the national climate should keep it a tough race for any Democrat, longtime Pennsylvania pollster G. Terry Madonna told Insider.
"He's a different kind of politician," Madonna, the co-creator of the Franklin & Marshall College poll, said in a phone interview.
"Six-foot-eight, baggy shorts, t-shirts, tattoos — a strong progressive, there is no doubt about that — but he doesn't fit the traditional genre of a politician," he continued. "So my way of thinking about this is that given that he's going to have a certain appeal to heal to sort of non-traditional voters — uh, particularly millennials and younger voters."
Despite all those unique qualities, Madonna added that Fetterman would likely run into the same headwinds as other major Democratic candidates: Inflation, supply chain issues, and President Joe Biden's poor approval rating.
Key areas for Fetterman will be the counties around Philadelphia — which President Joe Biden won while Republicans picked up county-wide races in 2021 — and his old stomping grounds in Western Pennsylvania, where he served as the mayor of Braddock from 2006 to 2019.
Fetterman appeals to many because of his non-traditional style — an asset amid the watered-down national brand of the Democratic Party — and that's likely to help keep Fetterman's momentum going, said Madonna.
"I think that has a certain appeal in the era in which we live in," Madonna said, "where voters look at conventional politicians and think, well, it's the same old, same old."
More: 2022 midterms Pennsylvania John Fetterman | 2022-05-18T04:29:53Z | www.businessinsider.com | What's Facing John Fetterman for the Pennsylvania General Election | https://www.businessinsider.com/john-fetterman-opponent-pennsylvania-general-election-democrat-republican-primaries-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/john-fetterman-opponent-pennsylvania-general-election-democrat-republican-primaries-2022-5 |
Freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn's loss in North Carolina to his primary challenger, Chuck Edwards, has busted the myth surrounding the power of former President Donald Trump's political endorsements.
However, Trump's backing did little to push Cawthorn over the line to beat Edwards, a candidate bolstered by a Republican-linked super PAC and endorsed by a senator from Cawthorn's home state, Thom Tillis.
Cawthorn's loss comes after a slew of scandals: In March, he angered senior GOP lawmakers by making claims about orgies and cocaine use by lawmakers in DC. The following month, he was accused by a former staffer of being a "habitual liar," and received a second citation for bringing a loaded gun into an airport.
Snaps of Cawthorn dressed in lingerie while on a cruise — which he dismissed as "goofy vacation photos" — were also leaked in April. He was also the subject of two leaked videos posted online by a PAC that campaigned against his re-election. Cawthorn dismissed both videos as part of a "drip campaign" to oust him.
Cawthorn's ouster comes weeks after Trump boldly claimed that his backing of Republican candidates was vital for their success.
Meanwhile, other Trump-backed figures, including Georgia gubernatorial candidate David Perdue, have struggled to keep up in their respective races.
JD Vance won his primary for the Ohio Senate on May 4, while Doug Mastriano, a clear front-runner backed by Trump, won his race in the Pennsylvania governor primary. Mastriano is best known for being a 2020 election denier and participating in the plot to overturn then-President Donald Trump's loss in the state.
Trump has made 183 endorsements since leaving office, per Ballotpedia, many of which have yet to play out.
More: Madison Cawthorn Charles Herbster Donald Trump GOP | 2022-05-18T04:29:59Z | www.businessinsider.com | Madison Cawthorn's Loss Undermines the Power of a Trump Endorsement | https://www.businessinsider.com/madison-cawthorn-smashes-myth-of-power-of-a-trump-endorsement-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/madison-cawthorn-smashes-myth-of-power-of-a-trump-endorsement-2022-5 |
The DOL fined the Kroger story almost $14,000 for the child labor breaches.
Three stores operated by Kroger subsidiary Fred Meyer also broke laws on hazardous machinery.
The store in Southaven allowed three workers aged 16 and 17 to load a trash compactor "with the keys in the machine to allow operation," the DOL said on Tuesday.
Minors are able to work in most retail stores from the age of 14. However, child labor regulations set by the Fair Labor Standards Act prohibit those under the age of 18 from loading or operating trash compactors.
The DOL said that in the 2021 financial year it had identified more than 2,800 minor-aged workers employed in violation.
More: kroger Retail Supermarket Grocery Store | 2022-05-18T10:39:53Z | www.businessinsider.com | Kroger Store Broke Child Labor Laws on Hours, Hazardous Machinery: DOL | https://www.businessinsider.com/kroger-mississippi-broke-child-labor-laws-hours-machinery-grocery-store-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/kroger-mississippi-broke-child-labor-laws-hours-machinery-grocery-store-2022-5 |
Nikita Gupta is the cofounder of the consultancy FAANGPATH.
Nikita Gupta
It's understandable to feel confused and disappointed if a company pauses hiring mid-application.
Insider asked two recruiters for their advice and for a script on how to respond.
Don't respond immediately, be polite and never vent on social media, they suggest.
After four interviews, one assessment and a whole load of lies to your current manager, you're nearly there. Your dream job must be yours. Then an email from the recruiter pings into your inbox. The company is pausing hiring temporarily.
It's normal to be frustrated and disappointed when you desperately want a role, said Nikita Gupta, the founder of FAANGPath, a consultancy that offers career advice on how to land roles at major tech firms.
Hiring freezes are not unusual, but recent announcements that the likes of Meta, Uber and Twitter (previously some of tech's fastest-growing companies) are slowing down hiring, amid a backdrop of rising inflation, and stalling stock markets has some speculating that it could signal a wider shift in the labor market.
A small number of Gupta's clients have contacted her saying their applications have been stopped, she said. It's important to know how to respond if you find yourself in the same position.
Take time to think
It might feel therapeutic to let rip instantly, and send an email strewn with acerbic lines asserting how much effort you've put into the application and how they're the real suckers that don't know what they're missing out on.
"Whatever you're doing — think twice," Gupta said. The first thing to do is take some time, she advises.
Even if it's just for a few hours you will need your sanity to focus on your ongoing job search, or to get back into your current role, Gupta said.
Hiring freezes can happen for any number of reasons, usually beyond the recruiter's control, such as a slowdown in VC funding, overexpansion or post-lockdown readjustments.
The process can be just as frustrating for the individual recruiter, who often has little control over the process, as it can be for the candidate.
"It's soul-crushing when you find the perfect candidate and something goes on hold," said Jody Robie of Talent Works, which provides recruitment services for companies. As painful as it is, they should still have the conversation with the candidate, she said.
Here's how to respond and in what order
You don't want to burn a bridge with a recruiter, even if you have no intention of working for that company again.
Be polite and thank them for their time and for letting you know, Gupta said.
Roby also recommends being honest and offers a rough script of how to frame your response:
"I understand these things happen, I just want to genuinely let you know how much I enjoyed the process and I'm disappointed that it's on pause.
"I hope that if things shift you will be comfortable re-approaching me for the role."
An employer may give reasons for a hiring freeze, but if they don't you're absolutely entitled to ask why and for any feedback they may have, Robie said.
A complete hiring freeze is unlikely to last forever, Gupta said. Stay in touch with a recruiter, perhaps via LinkedIn, so that you're in their network once they do start hiring again.
The recruiter may also move to a new company where roles are open, she said.
Never vent on social media
There's one thing both agree on: little good can come from posting your anger all over social media – no matter what your experience has been.
"That's the last candidate I would want to recruit," Robie said. "If somebody is that angry and is blasting an organization — whether it was deemed worthy or not — you're starting off with a little bit of a red flag because somebody felt it necessary to do that."
She suggests venting to people in your network if you need to let off steam.
Some perspective can help
It might be painful, but sometimes a hiring freeze could save you torment down the line. For some companies, a hiring freeze can be a positive thing — showing that they're stopping to think about the roles they're adding and whether they're really needed, Robie said.
"A worse situation is that you do four interviews, get hired and then get let go within eight weeks," she said.
More: Careers Hiring interviews Advice
hiring freezes | 2022-05-18T10:40:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | What to Do If a Company Freezes Hiring During Your Job Application | https://www.businessinsider.com/recruiters-advice-respond-company-hiring-freeze-during-job-interview-application-employer-script | https://www.businessinsider.com/recruiters-advice-respond-company-hiring-freeze-during-job-interview-application-employer-script |
4 cloud-software companies, including Zoom and HubSpot, are best positioned to weather an economic downturn, RBC analysts say
Eric Yuan, Zoom's founder.
Tech companies are facing a downturn in the market, and cloud-software firms aren't immune.
But Zoom, Veeva, ZoomInfo, and HubSpot are prepared to come out of it ahead.
RBC analysts explain how profitability and growth investments set those companies up for success.
As tech companies get hit by the downturn in the market, cloud-software firms aren't immune from consequences.
While they were favorites during the height of the pandemic for enabling remote work, cloud-software stocks have dipped in recent days. For example, Zoom 's stock is valued at about the same level it was pre-pandemic, despite increasing its annual revenue from about $600 million to $4 billion over that time.
Though stocks are down, many cloud or software-as-a-service companies are still profitable, valuable businesses. That's why stocks from cloud-software firms Zoom, Veeva, ZoomInfo, and HubSpot would still be good buys for investors in a recession environment, RBC analysts said in a recent note to clients. Those firms are able to invest in growth despite the economy, so they are in the best place to get through a downturn in the market, the analysts said.
"These are companies that because they're profitable, because they have a valuation multiple based on free cash flow, which is profitability for SaaS companies, they should do much better in this environment,'' Rishi Jaluria, an RBC analyst and the lead author on the note, told Insider.
With that cash, these companies can continue to invest in new areas of their businesses and continue to hire. Zoom, for instance, is building out its platform beyond videoconferencing.
At the same time, competitors of these companies that aren't as strong financially are more likely to experience slower growth, Jaluria said. This is especially true as venture-capital money becomes harder to come by.
"We saw that play out in 2020," Jaluria said. "A lot of VC-backed companies had to put on hiring freezes or invest less because they didn't want to fundraise."
Venture-backed startups or software companies, like Asana and Dropbox, that are not profitable or don't have huge growth prospects could soon shrink, according to the analysts. That leaves more room for Zoom, Veeva, ZoomInfo, and HubSpot to keep growing and gain more market share, even amid a downturn.
Cloud-software firms that provide essential business tools can thrive despite market fluctuations
Shares of Zoom, a $26 billion company, are nowhere near the highs they reached earlier in the pandemic, and its growth has slowed over the past year. But the company is doing well because its product is better than those of competitors, like Microsoft, RBC analysts said.
Zoom's valuation might make it a merger or acquisition target, too, they said. It's cheaper than what Salesforce paid to acquire Slack last year, so it has a feasible price for many prospective acquirers.
Another cloud-software firm, Veeva, worth $25 billion, likely won't suffer during the downturn because it sells software to the pharmaceutical and life-sciences industries, according to RBC analysts. Even during a dip in the market, people keep buying drugs and medicine, so pharmaceutical companies aren't likely to stop spending money.
ZoomInfo, a $17 billion database company, is also doing well, RBC analysts said. Its low stock price of about $42 a share could be "due to potential risks from privacy" or because ZoomInfo is "perceived as more of a data company than a software company," analysts said.
But ZoomInfo has had a stable, growing business since its initial public offering in June 2020, making it a good investment, RBC analysts said.
Finally, HubSpot, a $15 billion marketing-automation firm, is also positioned to do well, according to the analysts. Compared with other customer-relationship-management companies that serve small or medium-size businesses like Zendesk or Freshworks, HubSpot is a more promising investment, Jaluria said.
HubSpot "can hold up better in this environment because it has profitability support that a lot of their competitors don't have," Jaluria said, adding: "HubSpot is a, a full platform, and so if I'm a smaller business, and I want to do my marketing and sales and operations and service on HubSpot, I can."
More: Cloud software cloud software stocks Zoom HubSpot | 2022-05-18T11:23:15Z | www.businessinsider.com | 4 Cloud-Software Companies Analysts Say Will Weather Economic Downturn | https://www.businessinsider.com/cloud-software-companies-zoom-hubspot-analysts-say-weather-the-downturn-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/cloud-software-companies-zoom-hubspot-analysts-say-weather-the-downturn-2022-5 |
Target's collection included things like astrology and being a "plant parent," and came after criticism for its 2021 collection.
"I feel like they actually hired gay people this year to design the merch," Cherie said, commenting on a much-lauded t-shirt from the collection that says, "Busy thinking about girls."
The TikToking reviewers seemed to appreciate that this year's collection includes queer culture overlaps such as being a "plant parent," enjoying iced coffee, and astrology.
The merchandise collection also features a binder-like "compression top," from TomboyX that Cherie noted (in another video) could be subtle enough for trans youth to wear without necessarily coming out to parents.
This wave of discussion comes after the company received criticism about its 2021 collection.
One writer called last year's assortment "foul" in F Newsmagazine, criticizing it for being unpleasant to look at and "reflect[ing] just how poorly and shallowly major corporations view the LGBTQ+ community."
Target is supporting GLSEN, an LGBTQ education nonprofit, again this year, among other groups, the company told Insider. It did not respond to a follow-up about the collection's appeal to LGBTQ people of color.
More: LGBTQ Target Pride Pride 2022
Rainbow capitalism | 2022-05-18T12:11:26Z | www.businessinsider.com | Photos: TikTokers Mostly Liked Target's 2022 Pride Collection | https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktokers-rated-targets-2022-pride-collection-tomboyx-humankind-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktokers-rated-targets-2022-pride-collection-tomboyx-humankind-2022-5 |
Ethereum scaling solution Optimism is about to kick off 'an entire season of airdrops'. Here's how ETH bulls are going to gain access to highly anticipated drop that's set to completely blindside competitors
A detail is seen on a replica Ether cryptocurrency coin based on the Ethereum technology
Blockchain scaling startup Optimism is kicking off an "entire season of airdrops."
On a podcast, Synthetix's Kain Warwick explains how this could blindside competitor blockchains.
Here's what you need to know about getting involved with the hotly anticipated airdrop.
Securing venture capital like returns can be near impossible for retail investors as getting into high growth startup deals early involving both an immense amount of capital and an impressive network.
The crypto market changed this. Retail investors are now on equal footing, if not sometimes ahead, of venture capitalists from Silicon Valley in investing in the networks powering Web 3.0, such as bitcoin, ethereum and solana.
One pocket of the market that's remained off limits to retail, however, is layer two scaling solutions for the ethereum network.
Blockchain start-ups are using technical solutions, such as zero knowledge proofs and roll-ups, to help scale the ethereum network without compromising on security. The aim is to reduce gas fees and improve transaction speeds to foster wider spread adoption of the blockchain.
As a result of the complexity of some of these operations, most startups remain venture-backed.
StarkWare, a start-up that uses zero knowledge proofs to scale ethereum, recently raised a $50 million Series C round bringing its valuation to $2 billion. Optimism, a solution that uses optimistic roll-ups, raised $150 million in a Series B round, giving it a valuation of $1.65 billion.
This year, however, it's changing.
Optimism, a highly anticipated ethereum scaling solution, is kicking off "an entire season airdrops". This will enable crypto investors and developers to play a role in the governance and development of the Optimism ecosystem.
"We must not recreate Web2 incentives in our quest for Web3 scalability. Web3 offers the opportunity to rebuild the internet to align with the values of its users," said the firm in a blog post about the drop. "Sacrificing this mission is sacrificing the purpose of crypto."
An airdrop is a distribution of tokens in cryptocurrency to certain wallet addresses. Airdrops are often used to create engagement in the ecosystem or to reward users of a platform or service.
Blindsiding competitors
Speaking on Laura Shin's Unchained podcast, Synthetix founder Kain Warwick explains how Optimism's airdrop will kickstart what he calls "L2 22", namely that 2022 will bring the rise of ethereum scaling solutions, which will result in a mass migration back to the network.
"There's a little bit of complacency because of the lack of competition from these alt L1s," said Warwick on the podcast where he was joined by Optimism foundation's cofounder Ben Jones. "And I think that Optimism and some of the other scaling solutions for ethereum are really going to blindside them."
"And they're going to be so surprised that all of their users that they thought were super loyal, are going to come kind of flooding back to L2s on ethereum," Warwick added. "Because that's where all the cool stuff is happening."
Warwick highlights that many other layer one blockchains, such as solana and avalanche, have seen amazing growth in the last year with little competition from ethereum, which has been switching from a proof-of-work consensus mechanism to proof-of-stake .
The transition to proof-of-stake is expected to complete this year following "the merge". ConsenSys's Simon Morris explains that "the merge" as introducing the preconditions for scalability on ethereum, which layer twos and sharding will build upon.
It's not just Optimism launching an airdrop. Ethereum cross-chain bridge Hop also just announced a new governance model and token airdrop. The Hop protocol allows tokens to be sent across ethereum scaling solutions.
"There's a lot of really good bridge protocols out there," Optimism's Jones said on the podcast. "Hop is a great example of one of them that basically leverages some mechanisms to be able to move funds directly from one L2 to another."
A new governance model
Optimism has a strong focus on governance.
" If you look at recent headlines, and the thing that you pull out [the] Optimism token, you are doing a disservice." Jones said. " … Really, what we introduced is the Optimism Collective."
Governance and token economics play a key role in the success of crypto projects. Poorly executed airdrops or token incentive structures can make or break a project. This is something Optimism is trying to tackle head on.
"So very core to what we want to do when we set out to decentralize Optimism was basically an acknowledgment that just because we have some very powerful technology doesn't mean that the incentives will just work out in the favor of people," said Jones on the podcast.
The Optimism collective offers two houses. The citizens house, which is governed by identities, and the token house, which is governed by tokens.
"Basically, together, they govern the system and try to put checks and balances on each other," Jones said. "The token house is there to be a plutocratic, one token, one vote system, the citizens house is there to be a human-centric, one person, one vote system. And so these things together are what will govern Optimism, not just the token."
Optimism hopes to avoid the mismatch that's occurred in ethereum where the majority of revenues have gone to the miners rather than the people building the protocol, Jones said.
Eventually Jones hopes this structure can make "public goods profitable". The Optimism Collective is going to explore how to take the blockchain's revenues and support those who have contributed the most to the network.
Gaining access to the Optimism airdrop
Optimism's first airdrop will be for the "token house" with an OP token being distributed to wallets.
Over 250,000 addresses will be eligible for the first airdrop, which will be 5% of initial supply of 4.29 billion tokens.
Addresses that are eligible for the drop are those that:
Have interacted with the Optimism network on multiple occasions.
DAO voters in either the Optimism or ethereum ecosystem
Multisig signers in the ethereum ecosystem.
Individuals who've made donations on gitcoin.
Individuals who've moved to other layer ones but still also remain an active user on ethereum.
For those who don't fit the criteria right now, fear not, Optimism's website highlights that "airdrop season still awaits."
eth 2022
ethereum scaling
layer 2 protocols
airdrops
alt coin | 2022-05-18T12:54:31Z | www.businessinsider.com | Altcoins to Watch: How to Access Hot Scaling Airdrops, Optimism | https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-airdrops-layer-2-scaling-optimism-hop-alt-coins-tokens-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-airdrops-layer-2-scaling-optimism-hop-alt-coins-tokens-2022-5 |
Gen Z is stressed, burned out, and doesn't plan to stop the Great Resignation
A new Deloitte report finds that 40% of Gen Zers surveyed say they'll quit in the next two years.
Gen Zers, who are very stressed, are especially likely to leave customer-facing roles.
That could worsen labor shortages, as Gen Z seeks out a more meaningful work-life balance.
It's an "apocalyptic" time to be a Gen Zer. Climate change is looming, the pandemic is still sticking around, and prices are on the rise.
A new Deloitte survey of 14,808 Gen Zers and 8,412 millennials around the world shows just how stressed and burnt out Gen Z is — and how they'll keep powering the Great Resignation.
Of the Gen Zers that Deloitte surveyed from November 2021 to January 2022, 40% said they'd like to leave their jobs in two years. Some of that may be for higher pay, or the other benefits that job switchers are racking up. But 35% said they'd leave even without another job lined up.
"Overall, we saw the way we work change radically, and I think that got people to thinking, 'well, it's not only how I work, but maybe it's who I work for," Patricia Buckley, an economist at Deloitte, told Insider.
Gen Zers are especially ready to leave some of the lowest-paying jobs in the economy, where some of the biggest staffing crunches have been concentrated. Almost half of Gen Zers working in customer-facing roles are ready to leave within two years, and, similarly, 48% of Gen Zers working in retail are ready to hightail it out within the same time.
"I think things are going to get worse before they get better," Buckley said of those industries and their labor shortages.
So what can keep Gen Zers working? The top reason they chose to work where they currently are is work-life balance, followed closely by learning and development opportunities. Next up was "high salary or other financial benefits."
All of that shows how the youngest generation of workers is bringing their — very fragmented — life experiences to the workplace, and changing what work means. For instance, 37% of the Gen Zers said that they rejected a job or assignment "based on their personal ethics." That's a positive development, according to Buckley.
"These young cohorts feel confident that, if you make me do something that I feel is not right for me to be doing with or without a new job lined up, I'll leave — but I feel confident that I can get something that suits my ethical system better," Buckley said.
That may stem from the strains Gen Z is under. Nearly half of Gen Z — 46% of those surveyed — said that they're stressed all or most of the time. That rate is even higher among Gen Z women. The top stressor for Gen Z: Their long-term financial future.
"When you look at the statistics talking about how many of both of these generations — the high proportion that are living paycheck to paycheck — that's really worrisome," Buckley said. "It's frankly more worrisome for the millennials because they're getting older, and they should be transitioning into the period of their life where you can start getting savings."
Some Gen Zers and millennials have decided to simply throw in the towel on saving for the future.
They've already weathered two recessions, and a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic. In the future looms the climate crisis, where cities could be flooded, and water scarce, as 3.6 billion people feel the direct fallout from rising temperatures. Indeed, climate change was the second top concern among the Gen Zers that Deloitte surveyed.
The result, as the New York Times' Anna P. Kambhampaty reports, is that Gen Zers and millennials are spending more now on experiences and things that bring meaning to their lives, rather than socking away money for the unknowable future.
More: Economy gen z Gen Z workers Gen Z Wealth
Millennial Lifestyle | 2022-05-18T12:54:35Z | www.businessinsider.com | Gen Z Is Stressed, Burned Out, and 40% Want to Quit in Next Two Years | https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-stressed-burned-out-want-to-quit-great-resignation-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-stressed-burned-out-want-to-quit-great-resignation-2022-5 |
Inside the world Squishmallows, where influencers and resellers profit off the plush toys' popularity while fighting criticism from devoted collectors
A collection of cow Squishmallows, including Connor the Cow and Ronnie the Cow.
Squishmallows, created by Kelly Toys in 2017, boomed in popularity at the height of the pandemic.
Collectors often turn to social media to share their Squishmallows and bash resellers.
One reseller sold $100,000 worth of Squishmallows in 2021, amid criticism from devoted collectors.
Not since the emergence of Beanie Babies has a plush-toy brand garnered the attention of the collector and reseller communities like Squishmallows have.
The round plush toys are described on the official Squishmallow website as having a soft, marshmallow-like texture, and they come in a variety of sizes, from 3.5 inches to 24 inches. Most resemble animals, such as cats or cows, and some take the form of mythical creatures, such as dragons and Sasquatch.
Kelly Toys LLC, a subsidiary of the toy company Jazwares, created Squishmallows in 2017, and it sells the round collectible items in retail stores, including Walmart, Target, Kroger, and Five Below. The company also sells alternatives to Squishmallows, such as Hug Mees and Stackables, which are also plush toys.
"One of the most unusual components of Squishmallows and the Squishmallows collecting community is that purchase intent is rarely for secondary market benefit," Jeremy Padaware, the chief brand officer at Jazwares, wrote in an email. He added that the purchase was "almost always for the uniquely huggable and loveable Squishmallows itself! This is a tremendous indicator for the long term."
Reselling Squishmallows is frowned upon by its devoted fan base. In fact, many Squishmallow collectors buy and trade the plush toys only to bolster their collections.
But some resell Squishmallows for profit, even under the radar. On marketplaces such as eBay and Mercari, Squishmallows can fetch a hefty price, sometimes double or triple their retail price. Squishmallows usually retail for between $10 and $50, depending on the size.
A zero-tolerance policy on resale
Bryan Frank's collection of Squishmallows.
Bryan Frank
The Squishmallow fan base has grown exponentially over the past five years. Fans of the plush figures have formed strong communities on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and TikTok.
As an example, a Squishmallow subreddit is home to 50,000 members, all sharing their collections.
One Reddit user, Bryan Frank, an 18-year-old Arizona native, recently posted a guide on how to spot fake Squishmallows to the subreddit.
"I created that guide to help out these new collectors. Although fakes aren't super common, people can still get fooled if they aren't careful," Frank told Insider via email.
Being part of the Squishmallow community comes with its upsides, but collectors are known to be skeptical of people seemingly profiting from the Squishmallow hype by reselling.
Aleya Samaniego is the account holder of @pacotheSalamander on TikTok, although she jokes that it's really her plushie Paco's page and she's handling his media inquiries.
The plushie influencer has 140,000 followers on TikTok and 17,500 followers on her Instagram account. She cited a handful of instances where she's been mistakenly labeled by collectors as a reseller after making a sponsored video for Mercari.
Samaniego has also partnered with toy and plush brands — such as Spin Master, Moon Pals, and Miniso — on her social accounts, but she began collecting Squishmallows in 2020. Many of her posts showcase her collection of plush Shinada World otters alongside her Squishmallows.
"When they found out someone was a local reseller in my town, they put a lot of energy trying to 'cancel' this person. Something that surprised me," Samaniego said. "If we all put this hate energy and this cancel energy just toward our collections, we would have a lot more fun. I've made a ton more friendships trying to ignore all the drama."
Jessica Dao, the founder of the Squish Alert app, told Insider recently that her app and growing Wendy the Frog Squishmallow collection, which she shows on her TikTok, have been a topic of controversy in the community. Skeptics thought the app encouraged reselling, and that Dao was making it harder to find more frog Squishmallows.
"During that time, I was so paranoid that someone would look up my name and find where I live, or people who I traded Squishmallows with or bought from would expose my address, and people would dox me," Dao said. "I don't show my face on TikTok or my Instagram because I don't want people to harass me when I'm in stores just getting things or looking at Squishmallows."
Hate towards resellers 'fueled me to keep doing it'
Juliana Chianese, a Squishmallow reseller.
Juliana Chianese
Some entrepreneurs making money from Squishmallows aren't letting the hate from the collector community stop them from reselling.
Juliana Chianese totaled $100,000 in revenue from her Squishmallow resale business in 2021. She recently shared the news of her success on her TikTok account, @lucifer.may, with over 14,000 followers. She made a profit of around $38,000 for the same year, she told Insider.
Some of her more noteworthy Squishmallow sales, mostly through her Mercari account, include the 24-inch Ronnie the Cow Squishmallow for upwards of $90 and 16-inch Hailey Bigfoot Squishmallow for $120.
"A lot of people will say it's too high-priced, but my response is, something is worth as much to someone as they'll pay for it. So if someone wants to spend that much, and that's their money, then someone will buy it, and I'll make money," Chianese said.
Chianese hunts for valuable Squishmallows in person to resell. Part of her strategy is memorizing when stores restock their inventory and calling stores in advance to see if they have particular Squishmallows.
"You had to get there before the shelves were stocked or right when they stock, and you had to get it all," Chianese said.
Ordering online from major retailers that sell Squishmallows, such as Walmart, was another easy way to build inventory, Chianese said, but she added that most of her purchases were made in-store.
"I have pictures of just our whole porch filled with boxes from ordering Squishmallows from Walmart," Chianese said.
As a reseller, Chianese is used to the ridicule that comes from flipping merchandise. Many in the Squishmallow community have shown their disdain for her side hustle via comments and posts on social media.
"The hate kind of fueled me to keep doing it. Maybe that's not good, but for me it didn't make me not want to do it," Chianese said. "Sometimes I'd get afraid to go into a store. Is someone going to swing at me over a stuffed animal? I'm not sure, but I would still wanna keep doing it."
Chianese said she's looking to end her resale business to dive into a real-estate business with her husband.
"I remember when I first locally was found out, that I was like the local 'shelf clearer' or whatever," Chianese said. "I was kind of upset about it, and then I just thought, 'Well, let me just use this to my advantage and make videos to get views and kind of just piss people off.'"
More: Retail Resale Collectibles | 2022-05-18T12:54:38Z | www.businessinsider.com | Some Resellers and Influencers Are Cashing in on Squishmallows Hype | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-resellers-influencers-are-cashing-in-on-squishmallows-hype-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-resellers-influencers-are-cashing-in-on-squishmallows-hype-2022-5 |
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary.
Horacio Villalobos/Corbis via Getty Images, Vilius Veitas/Shutterstock
The CEO of Ireland-based Ryanair had some choice words for Boeing over delayed deliveries of the 737 MAX.
CEO Michael O'Leary said in an earnings call on Monday that Boeing management needs a "reboot, or a boot up the a--".
O'Leary said the delays have forced the airline to cut back on spring and summer flying.
The CEO of Ireland-based Ryanair is fuming at Boeing over delayed deliveries of the 737 MAX.
In a heated investor earnings call on Monday, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary called out Boeing management for delaying aircraft deliveries and forcing the airline to pull back their spring and summer schedules.
Ryanair is the biggest buyer of the 737 MAX in Europe and a "willing customer" to Boeing, reported CNBC, but O'Leary is livid at the planemaker's slow deliveries. According to the CEO, the company expected some of the jets on order to deliver in late April, but that has been pushed back to late June.
"At the moment we think Boeing management is running around like headless chickens, not able to sell aircraft, and then even the aircraft they deliver, they're not able to deliver them on time," he said, according to a transcription reported by CNN.
The CEO didn't hold back in the call, saying Boeing staff needed a "reboot, or a boot up the a--," and accused the sales team of "sitting at home in their f---ing jimjams working from home instead of being out there selling planes to customers."
Ryanair did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, while Boeing referred Insider to Ryanair.
O'Leary's frustration particularly stems from "white tail" MAX planes sitting in Seattle. The brandless jets were built for other airlines years ago, but the orders were subsequently canceled after two fatal crashes led to a 20-month grounding of the MAX.
Ryanair is purchasing these planes and wants to buy more, but O'Leary says Boeing is dragging its feet in sales and delivery.
"We're a willing customer, but we're struggling with slow deliveries and an inability to do a deal on new aircraft despite the number of white tails they have sitting on the f---ing ground in Seattle," he continued.
According to CNN, O'Leary wants to get his hands on some of the white tail planes for summer 2023 and 2024 because "there's growth there to be won," but says in order to do that, Boeing would need to "get their s--- together."
If Ryanair can't strike a deal, O'Leary said the airline is looking to lease aircraft to power its expansion, reported Reuters.
This is not O'Leary's first run-in with Boeing. In September, Ryanair ended talks discussing a large order for 737 MAX 10 jets due to pricing disagreements, according to Fortune, with O'Leary calling Boeing's pricing "delusional."
Meanwhile, US airlines like American Airlines and United Airlines have also taken issue with Boeing over delays of a different plane, the widebody 787 Dreamliner.
In December, American revealed that 13 Dreamliners wouldn't be delivered on time, forcing the company to suspend or postpone international markets because it won't have enough planes to fly the routes. United has also been forced to cut capacity due to delays, reported Bloomberg.
The 787 has been facing quality control issues, with the FAA halting deliveries in May 2021 until further notice while they perform in-depth inspections of the jet, reported Chicago Business.
More: Ryanair Michael O'Leary Boeing aircraft deliveries
aircraft delays | 2022-05-18T13:42:42Z | www.businessinsider.com | Ryanair CEO Lashes Out at Boeing Over Delayed Delivery of 737 MAX Jet | https://www.businessinsider.com/ryanair-ceo-lashes-out-boeing-over-delayed-delivery-737-max-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ryanair-ceo-lashes-out-boeing-over-delayed-delivery-737-max-2022-5 |
Bob Iger recently invested in Gopuff and is advising the fast delivery startup's co-founders
Tom Dotan and Claire Atkinson
Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for Vanity Fair
Bob Iger recently invested in Gopuff and is advising the fast delivery startup's co-founders.
The former Disney CEO has invested in startups including Funko, Perfect Day Foods, and Canva.
Gopuff has pushed off plans to go public this year amid market volatility that has punished tech stocks.
Bob Iger's post-Disney life as a startup investor is taking shape.
His latest move is backing the rapid delivery company Gopuff. The Philadelphia-based startup announced that Iger has joined as an investor and advisor; he's poised to work directly with the executive team, specifically its young co-founders, Rafael Ilishayev and Yakir Gola.
Iger's Gopuff investment sits alongside the series of stakes he's taken in companies since stepping down as Disney's CEO in 2020. Iger quietly invested in graphic design startup Canva, according to two people familiar with the matter. He has also publicly disclosed stakes in vegan milk company Perfect Day, metaverse avatar company Genies, and toymaker Funko.
Canva declined to comment on Iger's investment.
Several private equity and venture capital firms have courted the media executive about joining them in some capacity. But so far he's chosen to stay independent. His key partner on his investments is his onetime chief of staff — and a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs — Nancy Lee. They're working out of RedBird Capital Partners' offices in Beverly Hills, though Iger is not in any official capacity with the firm, according to two people familiar with the matter.
It's possible Iger may eventually change his mind and join a larger firm, said one person familiar with his thinking.
The Gopuff investment is his first in commerce. Iger praised the company's strategy in a statement, noting that it's tapped into the future of retail. "I am excited to advise, mentor, and support the executive team as they continue building a company uniquely designed for how consumers are changing and growing. I believe consumer commerce will be very different in the near future and Gopuff is building the platform to power it," Iger wrote.
Getting a public endorsement from Iger is an impressive step for the 8-year-old company. Iger is one of the most successful CEOs in the past few decades, lauded for transitioning Disney into the streaming era and orchestrating a string of acquisitions like Marvel and Lucasfilm. While he doesn't have a long history running logistics and grocery operations, Disney has a sizable consumer products business.
It's unclear how Iger first linked up with the Gopuff founders. Co-CEO Yakir Gola mentioned that Iger had been mentoring him in a December interview with the UK Times. Gopuff didn't disclose the size of Iger's investment or when he bought in. The company's last equity round in 2021 valued Gopuff at $15 billion.
Gopuff is finalizing a $1 billion debt round, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has postponed plans to go public this year amid the recent market volatility that has been punishing tech stocks, especially unprofitable ones.
Gopuff is projecting to lose in hundreds of millions this year, Insider has previously reported.
More: gopuff Canva Bob Iger | 2022-05-18T14:25:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Former Disney CEO Bob Iger Invested in Gopuff and Joins As Advisor | https://www.businessinsider.com/bob-iger-investment-gopuff-former-disney-ceo-joins-startup-advisor-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bob-iger-investment-gopuff-former-disney-ceo-joins-startup-advisor-2022-5 |
TikTok users worldwide (2020-2025)
TikTok will have 750 million monthly users worldwide in 2022, according to Insider Intelligence's forecast. It is now the third-largest of the Big Five worldwide social networks (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Twitter).
TikTok's ascent to global phenomenon has been incredibly quick. It more than doubled its worldwide user base between 2019 and 2021 (291.4 million to 655.9 million). By 2025, it will approach 1 billion users.
Our estimates are significantly lower than the 1 billion users TikTok said it had as of September 2021 because of our forecast methodology. We factor out business and other nonhuman accounts, as well as spam and duplicate accounts. We also only include users who are logged in to the app (as opposed to those who view TikTok content outside of the platform or without being logged in to their accounts).
More: business insider intelligence business insider intelligence content marketing Insider Intelligence - Media | 2022-05-18T14:25:51Z | www.businessinsider.com | TikTok Users Worldwide (2020-2025) | https://www.businessinsider.com/global-tiktok-user-stats | https://www.businessinsider.com/global-tiktok-user-stats |
I'm a 22-year-old TikTok entrepreneur who made $114,000 last month. Here's how I used the app to promote my business.
Lucie Macleod initially designed her hair oils for own her damaged hair.
Lucie Macleod
Lucie Macleod noticed drugstore products weren't working on her damaged hair.
After feeling priced out of high-end haircare, she created her own hair oil treatment.
This is how a viral TikTok on her haircare inspired her business, as told to Amber Sunner.
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Lucie Macleod, a 22-year-old founder from Pembrokeshire, Wales, about starting a haircare company. It has been edited for length and clarity. Insider has verified Macleod's sales with documentation.
I noticed at 19 how my hair suffered after bleaching it. I had also just got a job in PR and marketing while taking a year out of university.
I became self-conscious because my hair was severely damaged and it kept breaking and falling onto my shoulders.
After spending hundreds of pounds on different shampoos and deep conditioners that promised to fix damaged hair, I quickly realized they were all missing something
My hair would look good for one day, but it would be tangled or crunchy the following day.
I needed something that had a long-lasting effect.
I began researching haircare for purely my own needs. I read a lot of articles that cited prewash treatments containing essential oils.
I couldn't find prewash treatments in stores, and they cost too much online; a 50-milliliter bottle of prewash oils was 35 pounds.
I decided to find the oils I needed to make my own prewash treatment. I went to my local health-food store and bought the raw oils I needed, including peppermint oil, argan oil, and avocado oil, and over the coming weeks I experimented on my hair.
I first mixed different oils in my student house
Each week I would try out a different homemade blend.
I kept the various oils in squeezy sauce bottles that cost 99 pence.
Before lockdown hit in 2020, I moved back to Wales to live with my parents. My mum was amazed by my hair when she saw me. It had also grown a lot, which was challenging to do before because of all the previous damage.
A few months later I downloaded TikTok to pass time during lockdown. I began to notice #hairtok, a hashtag for TikTok users to talk about hair.
I decided to do a video explaining to people how I made my hair healthy through my experiments. It was awful quality, but it went viral. It received 600,000 views over a week, and I was inundated with thousands of people saying that they would buy the prewash treatment.
Comments like these kept coming for three months.
In summer 2020 I started researching how to set up a cosmetic business because of the requests. I spent 600 pounds on lab testing, equipment, and the legal regulation for sale.
I then came up with the name Hair Syrup for the brand. I made the first website myself on Big Cartel because I didn't want to waste thousands if the business didn't take off.
I also designed my logo myself to cut costs.
I learned everything from Google, from the legal side of selling haircare to designing the logo. There were no shortcuts, because I had little money to spend.
In autumn I was ready to launch. I set up operations in two spare rooms in my parents' house. We would create the product, bottle it up, and ship it from there.
I grew the business solely on TikTok. After the viral video created the hype, I thought this would be the best way to get word of my business out. I post a few times a day on the app as marketing.
What works best for my brand is showing before-and-after haircare transformations so that people can see the results. Instructional videos also do well for the brand on the platform.
I juggled university and the business during the launch, and it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I would be up most nights till 2 a.m. juggling university assignments and Hair Syrup.
Doing restocks fortnightly helped me to keep the demand under control
After orders became too much for me to handle, I started only selling on three Fridays a month.
I got this idea from TikTok four months into the business. It meant I didn't become overwhelmed with orders every day, as I was only selling three days a month. It also meant that sometimes I could allocate more time to send orders out.
In February 2021, I had to shut the shop because I was overwhelmed with my university assignments. I knew I wanted to finish my degree. I was academically driven, and I had worked hard to get into the university.
I reopened the shop after handing in my university work three weeks later.
I finished university in June and went full time on Hair Syrup.
In July, retail brands began approaching me to stock it in their stores — but each contract asked for exclusivity, and I didn't think the retailers were completely on brand for the company. With more time to focus on it, I redesigned my website in October.
In November, the online beauty retailer Beauty Bay approached me. It felt amazing to be recognized by such a major cosmetics company.
It was getting hard to keep up with the orders
I realized I had to move out of my parents' house to keep up with the demand.
In February I decided to move operations to a unit in Pembrokeshire, Wales, to increase production. We've got a lot more space, and it doubles as an office.
In April our products appeared on Beauty Bay.
There have been challenges with the business too. I was asked by TikTok to go on a Live, and I was told that I wouldn't sell anything in the first two Lives. So I agreed, and quickly we had 50,000 viewers and 200 orders.
I had never sold on a Live, and having that many orders over two hours led to absolute chaos.
I now have four employees, who help with packing the orders and putting the oils that have been manufactured into bottles.
I made more than 93,000 pounds (about $114,000) from my DIY hair oil last month. I am proud of a business I created with 600 pounds.
If you have an idea or a product that you know is special, launch it.
I knew I had found a niche that had worked for my problem, and the fact that I had found a community on TikTok who wanted the product was the push I needed.
More: Small Business Jack Sommers Freelancer UK | 2022-05-18T14:25:57Z | www.businessinsider.com | My TikTok Haircare Business Makes $114,000 a Month. Here's How. | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-tiktok-for-business-account-hair-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-use-tiktok-for-business-account-hair-2022-5 |
A fund manager who specializes in predicting 'black swan' events shares his investing outlook on Russia, recession and rate rises — and breaks down why he expects bonds to bounce back despite their struggles this year
Stocks have been crushed in 2022, with the S&P 500 down 16% and the Nasdaq in bear market territory.
A black swan is an unpredictable event that has extreme consequences for markets
Dan Cupkovic, who manages black swan ETFs tracking the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, shared three events that could prolong the stocks bear market.
Cupkovic also recommended investing in bonds to shield a portfolio from the downturn, despite fixed income's struggles this year.
Markets have been unexpectedly choppy in 2022, with investors encountering "black swans" including Russia's invasion of Ukraine and top Wall Street names warning of an early recession.
A black swan is an extremely rare and unexpected event that triggers a market crash. Previous examples include the dot-com bubble bursting in 2001 and the housing market crash of 2008.
Alongside Amplify Investments, ARGI Investment Services' Dan Cupkovic developed a suite of "black swan" ETFs that are designed to offer stable returns in case there's a crash.
They trade under the tickers SWAN, QSWN, and ISWN and are designed to hedge against poor performance from the S&P 500, Nasdaq, and international markets, with investments in Treasurys and long-term call options.
"Those are two very diversely correlated assets, and the intermediate-term treasuries act as a sort of safety belt," Cupkovic told Insider in February. "That makes for a very appetizing risk-return dynamic."
We caught up with Cupkovic to discuss how the unexpected events of the last couple of months have affected markets - and whether investors are overlooking any potential future shocks.
Black swans
Three events pose some risk to the stock market, according to Cupkovic - Russia escalating its invasion of Ukraine, a recession , and a Federal Reserve policy mistake.
Investors should be most worried about war in Ukraine right now, Cupkovic said. Western sanctions against Russia have sent the price of crude oil past $110 a barrel, with other commodities including natural gas and wheat also affected by the conflict.
"Russia is still my number one concern," Cupkovic told Insider. "Investors have continuously underestimated that risk - it supplies so much oil to Europe, so the war is very inflationary."
Russia's ongoing invasion also makes a recession more likely, according to Cupkovic. Economist David Rosenberg recently warned that a period of negative economic growth "could be starting right now".
"It's easy to think of the war as a short-term risk, but any escalation could trigger a recession," Cupkovic said. "And even if the downturn doesn't happen until 2023 or 2024, fears could lead to a prolonged bear market for stocks."
The Federal Reserve is currently hiking interest rates to bring inflation under control. But Cupkovic downplayed the market risks that this creates.
"Everyone's acting as if rates might go up forever, which has led to panic selling," he said. "But the latest inflation data could be a ray of hope for investors."
Inflation slowed for the first time in eight months in April, which marked the first moderation since last August and could signal a peak.
Bond market outlook
Investors may feel like there's nowhere to hide in markets right now with stocks, bonds, and crypto all crushed over the last few months. But Cupkovic is backing fixed income to offer more attractive returns than stocks if the volatility continues.
"The downside in fixed income is pretty muted right now," he told Insider. "Inflation potentially peaking could be a stabilizing force, and there's still strong international demand for US bonds."
"This is a knock for bonds, but the plain vanilla 60/40 portfolio isn't necessarily broken," Cupkovic added.
10-year Treasurys have posted some price gains in recent weeks and currently offer yields of 2.99%. The yield rose to as much as 3.20% last week, marking a three-year high. | 2022-05-18T14:26:24Z | www.businessinsider.com | Stock Market Crash: Black Swan ETF Founder on Russia, Recession, Rates | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-recession-russia-interest-rates-black-swan-etf-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-recession-russia-interest-rates-black-swan-etf-2022-5 |
Movie theaters have the Hollywood studios back on their side. Now execs have their sights on Netflix.
"Army of the Dead."
Netflix could experiment with longer theatrical windows this year.
It's something movie-theater execs have pushed for years.
Industry leaders feel a 45-day window would be beneficial for both parties.
Movie theaters are charting their comeback story, and Netflix might be a part of that.
Theater execs have been trying to convince Netflix to expand their theatrical output for years, and they are still courting the streamer.
"We're always open to bigger theatrical releases from the streaming companies if they have appropriate windows," John Fithian, the CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, told Insider during an interview at the exhibition conference CinemaCon last month. "The theater door is open to Netflix if they want to go with a bigger theatrical strategy."
A source close to the theatrical industry said that theater owners want Netflix to release movies with a similar exclusive window as the traditional Hollywood studios, which has been reduced from the typical pre-pandemic 90-day window to, in most cases, 30 days or 45 days. And they would expect Netflix to invest significantly on marketing those movies, the person said.
Theatrical leaders may be getting their wish. Bloomberg's Lucas Shaw reported on Sunday that Netflix is considering releasing some of its movies this year to theaters with a 45-day window before they became available to stream. Some of the movies in consideration are the "Knives Out" sequel and "Birdman" director Alejandro González Iñárritu's "Bardo," according to Bloomberg.
A 45-day exclusive theatrical release would be quite the pivot for Netflix, which has resisted longer windows for the select titles it does release to theaters, much to theater execs' chagrin. It gave two-week windows to its two Oscar contenders last year, "Don't Look Up" and "The Power of the Dog," while its zombie action movie "Army of the Dead" played in theaters for a week before streaming.
But this wouldn't be the first pivot for Netflix of late. The company is eyeing an ad-supported tier, something it repeatedly shot down in the past, as it now faces slowing growth. It lost subscribers for the first time in a decade in Q1, and on Tuesday, said it was laying off 150 employees.
Theater execs say longer theatrical windows boost streaming releases
For movie theaters, it would help with one of their biggest hurdles on the road to recovery: fewer film releases, due to studios making more movies directly for streaming and to pandemic-related production delays.
Heading into 2022, Fithian told Insider during an earlier December interview that the major Hollywood studios had 90 movies on the theatrical release schedule, compared to the typical 120 in a pre-pandemic year.
Meanwhile, Netflix releases dozens of movies a year.
"We have played many Netflix movies and believe that they could enjoy increased success with an extended window," said Chris Jonson, the CEO of the Illinois-based theater chain Classic Cinemas. "They have a smart theatrical team and produce a wide range of films so we would love to extend our relationship with them and believe the industry and Netflix would both benefit."
Getting Netflix to agree to a longer window for the "Knives Out" sequel alone would be a major victory. The first movie, released by Lionsgate, was a surprise box-office hit, grossing over $300 million worldwide including $165 million in the US, off of a $40 million budget.
At CinemaCon, theater industry leaders were giddy that the major Hollywood studios had largely moved away from "day-and-date" releases, as in debuting movies in theaters and on a streaming service at the same time, a tactic most utilized during the pandemic.
People Insider spoke to at the conference believed that an exclusive theatrical release would only increase buzz for a movie's eventual streaming debut.
Some feel similarly about Netflix.
"The prestige and exclusivity of a theatrical release can pay big dividends both in the short term and over the long haul for movies that resonate with critics and/or audiences alike," said Paul Dergarabedian, the Comscore senior media analyst. "Nothing has the buzz building power of a major movie theater release."
He added that it could help Netflix with talent relations, as well. The streamer has attracted high-profile filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Jane Campion with big checks and freedom, but an exclusive theatrical release goes a long way in building those relationships, too — especially as the company anticipates more subscriber losses.
More: Streaming Movie theatres Hollywood Netflix | 2022-05-18T14:26:30Z | www.businessinsider.com | What Theaters Want From Netflix As It Weighs Longer Movie Windows | https://www.businessinsider.com/theaters-want-netflix-to-release-more-movies-with-longer-windows-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/theaters-want-netflix-to-release-more-movies-with-longer-windows-2022-5 |
TikTok is courting nano influencers with a new ad product as content 'challenges' for brands take off
Dan Whateley and Lindsay Rittenhouse
TikTok is testing a new ad format that lets nano influencers join content challenges for brands.
Brands post "missions" that invite creators with at least 1,000 fans to make videos on their behalf.
Participants whose videos perform well are compensated in cash and boosted views on their accounts.
TikTok is testing a new advertising product that lets users with as few as 1,000 followers get paid to make sponsored videos, the company announced on Wednesday.
The feature, dubbed "Branded Missions," rewards creators with cash payments for making a certain style of video that a brand outlines in a campaign brief.
Brands set "mission requirements" that prompt participants to perform an action like doing a dance, including a certain hashtag, adding a branded effect, incorporating a product or logo in a video, or adding a song to a post. If a user's video performs well and is deemed brand-safe by TikTok, the company will amplify the post as a sponsored ad and the creator will receive a cash payment.
Creators will be able to see the potential earning opportunity upfront to determine if they want to participate in a mission. In a mockup of the feature that appears in a video shared with Insider, creators are shown what percentage of the campaign budget remains with a description telling them they'll be paid on a first-come, first-served basis.
When asked whether all creator payments would be doled out first-come, first-served, a TikTok spokesperson said the company is testing different models and that "boosted traffic" will also be considered a form of compensation.
For brands, it's a way to take advantage of viral content on the platform. TikTok is unique in that the many successful moments for brands seem to take off by chance — like Ocean Spray getting attention for a viral skateboarding video.
Branded Missions are currently being tested in more than a dozen markets by creators who are at least 18-years-old and have at least 1,000 followers.
Why sponsored 'challenges' are taking off on TikTok
TikTok is not the first to try out crowd sourcing ad campaigns on its platform.
Startups like Pearpop and Preffy (owned by music-marketer Songfluencer) launched similar tools last year that reward creators for participating in TikTok challenges. Users of those two platforms are paid on a sliding scale based on the number of views or "likes" they drive.
In one current Preffy contest meant to promote the song "El Teke Teke" by Carlos Vives, Play-N-Skillz, and the Black Eyed Peas, creators are offered $150 if their TikTok video is among the top 5 most "liked" among all participants. In a different campaign on Pearpop's platform, footwear rental brand KYX World is paying participants based on the number of views their videos spark.
TikTok's move into the video "challenge" format shows how important user-generated content has become for brands on its platform.
Hiring traditional influencers for campaigns has recently become more expensive for marketers. And as TikTok's user base has ballooned to more than 1 billion monthly users globally, it's become tough for brands to predict whether a top influencer's sponsored video will even be able to break through the noise.
"The initial way influencer marketing would work would be you would go and pay a few people with big followings, but it would be like throwing a few big logs onto a non-existent fire," Pearpop cofounder Cole Mason told Insider in September. "With challenges, there's a way to actually start the fire." | 2022-05-18T14:26:36Z | www.businessinsider.com | TikTok Is Going After Nano Influencers With Its Latest Ad Product | https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-going-after-nano-influencers-with-its-latest-ad-product-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-going-after-nano-influencers-with-its-latest-ad-product-2022-5 |
Under pressure to achieve profitability, DTC brands are rushing into Target and Walmart. Wholesale can be advantageous but dangerous, analysts warn.
Target storefront in San Ramon, California.
As customer acquisition costs rise, many DTC brands are aggressively entering big-box retailers.
There are benefits to the strategy, but there's no solution that works for all brands.
Business Insider spoke to experts to learn what DTC brands need to know before going wholesale.
As direct-to-consumer brands navigate rising customer-acquisition costs and pressure from investors to show profitability, more are turning to retail partnerships for growth.
In January, the women's-razor brand Billie launched its products at Walmart. In February, Barry McCarthy, the CEO of Peloton, told investors the brand would rely on third-party retail to grow its membership. On Allbirds' first-quarter earnings call on May 10, CEO Joey Zwillinger said the sustainable-shoe company, which launched products on Zalando in Europe and at Public Lands in the US earlier this year, would push further into third-party retail.
"We view third-party as a highly effective way to build awareness and drive credibility while accelerating top- and bottom-line growth," Zwillinger said.
However, DTC experts say that going wholesale to fast-track growth is not a solution for all brands.
"For a lot of digitally native brands, the ability to scale and the cost to scale purely from digital-only has gotten really difficult," said Eunice Shin, the head of DTC at Prophet, a consultancy firm. "Going omnichannel is absolutely an approach to get to that next stage of growth. But it's a lot more nuanced than that. Do you have operations set up to deliver on that? There's a lot of pressure to working with third-party retailers."
Jody Pinson, who founded Sage Branch Consulting after spending three decades at Walmart, knows that pressure well. As the retailer's vice president of beauty merchandising from 2013 to 2020, Pinson ushered hundreds of new brands — many of which had never been in stores — into Walmart's catalog.
"They'd see the product order and the potential that they could launch in all stores, and it's a challenge for them to really understand what it means to do that, all the resources it takes internally to help the brand," Pinson said.
Pinson's advice to new brands entering retail is to always plan for the what-if.
"What if the business is super successful? What's the timeline to get that product back in stock?" she said. "On the flip side, what if the business doesn't make the hurdle rates? Is the major retailer going to put you in and take you back out? Those are real scenarios you need to plan for."
Many DTC brands broadening their third-party retail distribution this year have cited profitability as the key driver, especially with the rising cost of online-customer acquisition.
But costs associated with entering wholesale agreements with retailers — including costs related to marketing, damaged products, discounting, and supply-chain issues — often catch brands off guard.
"Additional fees are the biggest surprise to most entrepreneurs who have never sold to retail," Pinson said. "Brands need to look at the top line, but also the bottom line, and all the challenges."
To avoid surprises, some startups hire talent with experience navigating third-party retail.
Before Manscaped launched at Target in 2019, its founder, Paul Tran, hired Catherine Cronin as the company's vice president of retail. Cronin has over 20 years of experience in sales and business development at sportswear manufacturers including Nike, Adidas, and TaylorMade.
"Paul is really about bringing in specialists — people who have been on the manufacturing side of selling with years of retail experience," Cronin said.
Cronin said retail partnerships account for 17% of Manscaped's total sales. The company launched in Target's 1,900 stores with only two products and 12 x 24 inches of space but now occupies 12 x 48 inches and has its own endcaps, or shelving units at the end of an aisle, in high-traffic areas, she added.
A Manscaped endcap at a Target store.
Manscaped's strategy of starting with a small retail presence and building out is a reversal from the way early DTC brands launched with retail partners. Harry's, for instance, launched all its most popular products in all Target stores in 2016.
Some retail experts say that as curbside pickup and services known as "buy online, pick up in store" become more popular, it's no longer necessary for DTC brands to go big when they start wholesaling.
"More and more over the years, the realization is that you don't have to launch in all stores in order to be successful," said Eric Carl, a cofounder of the sexual-wellness brand Bloomi. "With digital capabilities, there's not that need, and it doesn't make as much sense as it used to."
From 2013 to 2018, Carl led Target's wellness-and-emerging-brand strategy, ushering in brands like Harry's and Olly.
"Bloomi has a few SKUs in Target, but not in all stores. But if a consumer wants to pick up a product at their local Target, they can buy online and have it ready to pick up at their local store," Carl said. "Even if you're not physically present in every store, that distribution standpoint can be solved with these new omnichannel strategies.
"It's much harder to start in all stores with all SKUs and then go backwards," he added. "I don't know of any brands that have gone backwards in terms of total distribution."
More: Target Wal-Mart Retail DTC | 2022-05-18T14:26:48Z | www.businessinsider.com | What DTC Brands Need to Know Before Launching in Target and Walmart | https://www.businessinsider.com/what-dtc-brands-need-know-before-launching-in-target-walmart-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/what-dtc-brands-need-know-before-launching-in-target-walmart-2022-5 |
Investment managers need in-house research to mitigate ratings flaws and tap $50 trillion ESG boom
ESG ratings lack the consistency and timeliness to inform research, according to a unit of Goldman Sachs.
Surging client demand will continue driving ESG growth, with total assets under management (AUM) forecast to exceed $50 trillion by 2025.
The news: Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings lack consistency and are updated too slowly to be useful for fund managers, according to a Goldman Sachs division.
Lack of ESG clarity: The ESG ratings industry has grown exponentially in recent years as fund managers utilize third-party data for sustainable investment research. But ratings are marred by "huge subjectivity that goes into how you can determine the quality of ESG practice," Goldman Sachs Asset Management's Luke Barrs told Bloomberg.
In the absence of globally agreed-upon standards for ESG definitions, different providers use differing methodologies to assess companies' scores, generating contrasting results. And the patchiness of ESG data means that the largest investment managers are forced to use two to five providers each, per EY research.
Flaws in the ratings mean wealth and asset managers need to also carry out their own research to mitigate the inconsistency risk from third party sources.
Our take: Surging client demand will continue driving ESG growth, with total assets under management (AUM) forecast to exceed $50 trillion by 2025, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. But a lack of quality, public ESG data threatens investment managers' ability to offer accurate products and might see them run into hot water with regulators.
Insider Intelligence's new report: "The Rise of ESG Investing: How Investment Managers Can Seize a $50 Trillion AUM Opportunity" highlights how ESG fund managers can lay out strategies to seize the huge growth opportunity available to them by both adopting internal ESG definitions and harnessing AI-powered technologies to generate better data:
Investment managers should aim to adopt an internal taxonomy based on those developed by respected international bodies, such as the EU's green taxonomy.
They can also look to tap AI-powered technologies to generate quality ESG data. This could include satellite imagery for monitoring emissions or using analytics to collect information from millions of media sources. Investment managers can then offer ESG products that align with each client's unique preferences and can avoid regulatory action.
A centralized data repository and stronger analytical tools should also be prioritized to aid with interpreting the disparate sources of ESG data. | 2022-05-18T15:56:43Z | www.businessinsider.com | ESG Ratings Lack Consistency and Speed, Says Goldman Sachs | https://www.businessinsider.com/esg-ratings-lack-consistency-and-speed-says-goldman-sachs-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/esg-ratings-lack-consistency-and-speed-says-goldman-sachs-2022-5 |
Digital health startups are booming, raising a record $23 billion in 2021. Here are 14 poised to take off in Europe, according to VCs.
The Amboss founding team, Dr. Madjid Salimi, Dr. Sievert Weiss, and Dr. Kenan Hasan.
Digital health startups raised a record $23.13 billion 2021, according to PitchBook data.
Startups offering to treat addiction, improve at-home care, and conduct VR therapy are booming.
Insider asked top VCs in Europe to highlight 14 digital health startups poised to take off.
The pandemic placed immense pressure on the world's healthcare systems, which were scrambling to save as many lives as possible in the face of repeated waves of COVID-19.
Widespread lockdowns sparked a boom among startups that promised to use technology to provide accessible care to those who were unable to access it, either through fear of infection or a lack of capacity in the health system.
Venture capitalists poured a record $54.26 billion into healthtech startups across the world last year, nearly double the $29.21 billion invested in 2020, according to data from PitchBook. Healthtech is an umbrella term that includes a range of services from deeptech disease screening, AI and robotics for surgery, to telemedicine.
Digital health, a subsection of healthtech was among the most-popular fragments of the burgeoning industry to investors last year. Startups in this subsector are geared to provide on-demand, personalized, and remote healthcare services to patients – usually through a web app.
They made up $23.13 billion of the investor funds pumped into healthtech last year – more than double the $11.88 billion raised in 2020.
Molly Gilmartin, an investor at Albion VC, said much of the boom has been due to a change among patients, who are "now driving their own care and management."
"Because covid has increased the acceptance of technology being used, in a lot of chronic diseases we will see tools where patients can become experts in their own care," she said. "GPs don't have the resources for this."
The shift to more personalized and private patient care has enabled startups to tackle "taboo" health subjects, such as fertility, menopause, men's health, and mental health. With the likes of Vira Health — a menopause management startup — and Numan — a men's sexual and mental health startup — raising in the past year, Gilmartin believes these microtrends in digital health will continue to grow.
But as heavyweights in the industry such as health insurance startup Alan and digital health platform Kry secure late-stage funding, the question of consolidation is one the sector will eventually have to grapple with.
"The economics of these startups is that they have to be big to function," Gilmartin said. "It's hard for telemedicine to profit if it's small. Because there's so much innovation coming from the grassroots, but this helps us understand the pain points of users."
Insider asked some of Europe's top VCs to identify digital health startups that are poised to take off:
Peppy cofounders, Maximilian Trotter-Landry and Mridula Pore (co-CEO), and Evan Harris (COO).
Picked by: Dr Molly Gilmartin, investor at AlbionVC and Morgan Kessous, partner at Revaia
Relationship: Non-portfolio
What it does: Peppy provides digital coaching for users dealing with menopause, fertility issues, and parenthood. Through its app, it connects users with practitioners via text, and video call, and offers a library of wellbeing resources.
The startup operates as an employee benefits services, a category that's seen a pandemic-fueled boom as employers take more initiatives to prevent burnout amongst their workforce.
It also aims to offer care for "taboo" subjects, such as fertility, menopause, mental health, and men's hormonal and sexual health. Consultations with practitioners are confidential, and there's options to attend community sessions with colleagues who have similar health experiences.
Funding raised: $9.11 million
Why it's poised to take off: "Despite recent growth, they are in a very strong position to accelerate growth due to their innovative business model in digital health that offers products to B2B employers," Molly Gilmartin, investor at Albion VC, said.
Revaia partner Morgan Kessous said Peppy Health was a "strategic tool" for companies to maintain their employer brands.
Doccla
Martin Ratz, cofounder of Doccla.
Picked by: Felix Faltin, principal at Speedinvest
Relationship: Portfolio
What it does: Doccla's platform allows hospitals to discharge patients from hospital and monitor them remotely at a cheaper cost than traditional hospital care.
Patients wear medical devices in the hospital that gather data on their progress, and combined with clinical expertise and support teams, it enables hospitals to predict when patients can adequately be discharged. Patients are then onboarded with any remote monitoring devices, with access to a team of clinicians to keep track of their health and recovery.
The startup recently secured $3.3 million from Speedinvest and impact fund Giant Ventures.
Funding raised: $3.3 million
Why it's poised to take off: Doccla takes the burden of monitoring post-acute patients off the NHS, and serves a broad spectrum of patients and clinical specialties, Faltin told Insider.
"It's already helping the NHS free up thousands of hospital beds and is experiencing strong demand and winning against established players with its end-to-end offering," he added.
"We expect Doccla will emerge as a clear market leader once the NHS rolls out its planned £450m investment into virtual ward technology – a key strategy for helping the NHS cope with post-Covid patient volume and budget tightenings."
LEIA Health
Cofounders Astrid Gyllenkrok Kristensen and Sandra Wirström.
Picked by: Dr Fiona Pathiraja, managing partner at Crista Galli Ventures
What it does: Stockholm-based LEIA has designed a platform for new mothers in the postpartum period of their pregnancy. It has created a digital screening app that allows mothers to log their health symptoms, chat about their mental health, and generates personalized feedback based on evidence-based studies and expert advice. It also provides a daily check-in tool so parents can keep track of their health.
It launched a pilot program with a maternity center in Stockholm in a bid to create a community for new parents.
In February, the startup raised $600,000 and will now invest the fresh funds into the development of its machine learning and AI tools.
Funding raised: $600,000
Why it's poised to take off: "The postpartum period is a mystery that is not discussed openly," Pathiraja said.
Despite millions of women who give birth experiencing physical or mental problems in the postpartum period, there's a "gap in support," she added.
The existing stigma surrounding post-birth issues leaves mothers feeling embarrassed and scared, according to Pathiraja, and LEIA's leading the efforts to destigmatize postpartum care globally.
Teale
Teale founding team, Gilles Rasigade (CTO), Julia Biz (CEO), Geoffroy Verzat, and Nicolas Merlaud.
Picked by: Jeanne Cluset, investor at Kima Ventures
What it does: Teale provides employees with mental health support through its mobile app. Users can complete a questionnaire that directs them to relevant mental health resources such as a partner therapist or wellness exercises.
It counts the likes of Meero, 360Learning, Selency, Tiller, and April Enterprise as its clients.
Part of Station F's Founder's Programme, the startup aims to become the next European unicorn in the mental health sector, according to founder and CEO Julia Néel Biz.
Why it's poised to take off: "The team has an overwhelming understanding of the issue and an exceptional product culture," Cluset said. "They are mission-driven and not opportunist like many others who want to replicate a model that works abroad."
Cofounders, Mac Parmentier, Rajiv Tanna, Abeed Mohamed, and Gwen Le Calvez.
Picked by: Will Gibbs, principal at Octopus Ventures
What it does: Birdie has designed software for the elderly care space that enables users to plan home care mechanisms. It provides assessments for elderly individuals, which takes into consideration their environment, communication capacity, and mobility, as well as personalized care plans and observation logs.
By combining these services into one app, families can keep tabs on elderly relatives by tracking their progress on one platform and removing the need for outsourcing IT systems that would otherwise log this data.
The elderly care market has seen considerable growth in the past decade, with US startups in the space nabbing $500 million in VC funds in the first half of 2021. Birdie's platform is accessible to both users and carers, making it a viable model to scale.
Funding raised: $28.34 million
Why it's poised to take off: "We've seen a lot of companies try and build their own care groups but we haven't seen too much success," Gibbs said.
"The Birdie team's approach is different in that they are taking a software-only approach."
The Octopus principal said Birdie had developed a system that was "more scalable" than other startups in the sector.
Cofounders of Formel Skin, Anton Kononov, Sarah Bechstein, and Florian Semler.
Picked by: Cherry Ventures
What it does: The Berlin-based startup offers treatments for chronic skin conditions through its digital platform. Its in-house team of dermatologists examine patient queries via a questionnaire, along with photos of their skin, and offers personalized solutions accordingly.
Formel Skin's care is geared towards long-term skin conditions that "require continuous treatment." Patients can also stay in contact with a designated doctor who checks in on their progress. Rates start at around €50 for a monthly subscription, although Germany's new DiGA policy enables doctors to reimburse digital health treatments through insurers.
Following its launch in June 2020, the startup has offered over 150,000 treatments and solutions across Germany and Switzerland, and will now look to expand out of Europe, according to Sifted.
Why it's poised to take off: "FormelSkin has been at the forefront of digital health and is really tackling a specific area, that being dermatology, in a way that benefits both sides of the medical relationship: patients and doctors," said a representative from Cherry Ventures.
Oviva cofounders, Kai Eberhardt, Manuel Baumann and Mark Jenkins.
Picked by: Dr Christoph Massner, principal at Earlybird VC
What it does: Oviva bagged one of Europe's largest healthtech raises in 2021 with its $80 million Series C. The startup caters to type 2 diabetes patients by offering health and lifestyle coaching services, as well as personal tools to track patient progress, such as consultations with dieticians via its app.
Type 2 diabetes can be managed by monitoring diet and exercise, and Oviva helps patients to reduce future risks through its preventative approach.
It has treated 200,000 patients to date, but sees bigger potential to scale its digital treatment in an underserved market in Europe, according to TechCrunch.
Oviva partners with healthcare insurers, and recently worked with the NHS to provide a Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Programme — a growing sign of healthtechs operating in the public sphere in Europe.
Funding raised: $113.17 million
Why it's poised to take off: "They are one of the few digital care delivery start-ups operating in multiple European countries — Switzerland, Germany, UK, and France — while being reimbursed by the different systems," said Massner.
"It was achieved through clinical evidence and superior performance of the team in overcoming regulatory barriers and masting the different reimbursement schemes."
CardMedic
Picked by: Fiona Pathiraja, managing partner at Crista Galli Ventures
What it does: Oxford-based CardMedic has launched an app that helps health professionals communicate with patients. As well as providing a library of flashcards that replicate common conversations occurring in a healthcare setting, it translates these medical terms into different languages for non-English speakers, and deaf and blind patients.
The startup has partnered with the UK government to offer its services in 47 hospitals across the country. It claims to have over 7,800 users across six continents and is regularly deployed across NHS trusts in the UK.
Funding raised: Undisclosed
Why it's poised to take off: "CardMedic's powerful core social mission is tech for good," Pathiraja told Insider.
May Santé
May Sante cofounders, Adrien Brunet, Cécilia Creuzet, and Antoine Creuzet.
May Sante
What it does: May was founded by a young couple with a mission to help parents raise young children until they start school. The startup has designed an app that combines a library of resources on parenting, with on-demand consultations with pediatricians, as well as access to community forums and virtual courses. The app has a care team that's available to answer queries from 8am to 10pm every day.
In the coming months, May plans to extend its services to more age ranges, and expand into newer geographies, according to cofounder Antoine Creuzet.
Why it's poised to take off: "We're excited for May because the company has reached an incredible 100,000 signups for a stunningly beautiful product with virtually no funding and has recently raised a seed round from French investors," said Faltin.
NuvoAir
NuvoAir cofounder and CEO, Lorenzo Consoli.
Picked by: Dr Molly Gilmartin, investor at AlbionVC
What it does: NuvoAir helps users to manage respiratory conditions such as asthma via its digital platform. Its services include a bluetooth -enabled lung function monitor, a sensor that can be attached to inhalers, an app that has a 'cough count' while users are sleeping, and an option to integrate its data with Fitbit watches.
It can be accessed as part of a health plan, but it also provides a pay-per-user plan as part of its clinical trial service. Its partnerships include the likes of Boston Children's Hospital, Seattle Children's Hospital, King's College Hospital, and Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, among others.
"The startup combines strong clinical evidence and a scalable care model that benefits patients, payers and providers in a truly unique patient-centric disease management solution," Gilmartin told Insider.
It raised a $25 million Series A in January 2022, and plans to use the cash injection to grow its team and expand its clinical trial partnerships internationally.
Why it's poised to take off: NuvoAir's platform saw rapid growth during the pandemic, said Gilmartin.
The company witnessed "500% growth in the first quarter of 2021 — yet as the world transitions to the post pandemic reality, we remain bullish about NovoAir's offering as they continue to develop across both Europe and the US," she said.
Quit Genius
Cofounders, Dr. Yusuf Sherwani, (CEO), Dr. Maroof Ahmed (COO), and Dr. Sarim Siddiqui (CPO).
What it does: Y Combinator-backed Quit Genius provides digital therapy for managing alcohol, opioid, and tobacco addiction. It uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help patients deal with negative thoughts or 'triggers', by encouraging them to adopt a positive thought process to replace this reaction. Additional services include a combination of human coaches, sensors, and medication. The startup is working with health providers in the US to bring its services to the mainstream.
Although it's available to individual users, the startup also offers packages for companies who are looking to help employees manage their addictions. It also has a 25% quit rate guarantee — and if this isn't fulfilled, it will partially refund subscription charges.
Funding raised: $79.4 million
Why it's poised to take off: "The global pandemic has driven a huge increase in the use of addictive substances. Despite the growing need, a perceived taboo has meant that mainstream health providers have largely shied away from innovations and new approaches trying to tackle addiction," said Gibbs.
"I'm a big fan of Quit Genius because the team has both created an easily accessible and effective way to treat addiction and they're also bringing that help into mainstream healthcare around the world."
Amboss cofounders, Dr. Madjid Salimi, Dr. Sievert Weiss, and Dr. Kenan Hasan.
What it does: Amboss has created a digital library of medical resources for students and healthcare professionals. Users can access its 'Qbank' via its app, which collates exam-style questions and illustrations, and offers tips to answer questions.
Its platform is used by medical students as well as hospitals across the world. Currently, over one million healthcare professionals use the platform globally and more than 50 top medical schools use the startup's product as a knowledge resource.
In 2019, it raised a €30 million Series B in a bid to expand its services for clinicians, and roll its product out globally.
Funding raised: €39.1 million
Why it's poised to take off: "Amboss is a brilliant business equipping doctors and soon-to-be doctors with the latest, most important medical knowledge that will enable both quick and critical thinking on the job," said a representative from Cherry Ventures.
"Not only are we excited about what Amboss is set to accomplish next, but we're even more excited about what the students and doctors who use it will."
Sympatient
Sympatient founders
What it does: Germany-based Sympatient offers therapy in virtual reality. It aims to provide personalized and accessible treatment for anxiety by combining digital psychotherapy with access to therapists.
Patients — particularly those with social anxiety or agoraphobia (anxiety surrounding being in public spaces) — can access therapy sessions from home, with additional cognitive behavioral therapy resources via its app.
Currently, Sympatient's therapy service Invirtio is reimbursed by Germany's largest healthcare insurer, Techniker Krankenkasse, according to Tech.eu. It's also reimbursed via Germany's DiGA — a policy that allows doctors to provide digital health apps as a form of treatment — as public health systems across Europe are embracing tech-enabled solutions to expedite patient care.
Why it's poised to take off: "Sympatient is one of the few digital health provisioning companies positioning themselves as a tool for healthcare professionals (HCPs)," said Massner.
"Their alignment of stakeholders is unique as they work with the HCPs as gatekeepers in the system and help them to deliver better care while working more efficiently."
Hublo founding team, Antoine Loron (CEO), Christopher Rydhal (CTO), and Adrien Beata (COO).
Picked by: Morgan Kessous, partner at Revaia
What it does: Hublo has built a digital platform for healthcare providers, such as hospitals, clinics, and retirement homes, to access short-term staffing tools. It aims to cut the time and cost usually channeled into recruiting healthcare professionals, so it can be better directed towards patient care.
The startup is also committed to ensuring healthcare workers have good labor conditions. It first offered its platform pro-bono during the start of the pandemic in France; partnering with 11 of 13 health ministries in France, it helped organize 60,000 volunteer healthcare workers in two months to provide hands-on help that was needed at the height of the first lockdown.
Why it's poised to take off: "Better managing healthcare staff on a daily basis, saving time, and improving the quality of life at work are important issues further highlighted by the COVID-19 crisis," said Kessous.
"Hence, one of the most urgent issues today is the shortage of qualified healthcare workers worldwide. According to the World Bank, the global shortage of health professionals is expected to reach 20 million by 2030. Digitalization and innovation in daily practices are late because the focus has always been on medical innovation."
More: Features Healthtech Digital Health | 2022-05-18T15:56:44Z | www.businessinsider.com | Here Are 14 Digital Health Startups Set to Take Off, According to VCs | https://www.businessinsider.com/european-digital-health-startups-to-watch-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/european-digital-health-startups-to-watch-2022-4 |
How ESG scores give investors insight into a company's environmental impact
Throughout the ratings industry, each agency utilizes proprietary methodology. All tend to use similar indicators but apply different methods.
An ESG score quantifies a company's risk with regard to the environment, internal society, and corporate governance.
ESG score providers each have its own proprietary methodology to compile these scores.
A good ESG score indicates a company's environmental, social, and governance risks are very low.
ESG scores are critical tools for investors who practice ESG investing. If you want to incorporate your values into your investment strategies, ESG scores can help you evaluate a company's commitment to the three legs of the ESG scoring model.
ESG stands for environmental, social, and governance and investors apply these non-financial factors as part of their risk analysis.
Companies utilize ESG scoring to measure their exposure to long-term ESG risks. As public and shareholder pressure on corporations increases, weighing ESG risk is becoming increasingly important to investors and companies alike.
What is an ESG score?
An ESG score measures environmental risks such as energy efficiency, social risks including worker safety, and governance risks, usually measured by board diversity. These measures are typically not part of traditional financial analysis.
Companies with strong ESG ratings manage these risks well when compared to peers. A weak or poor rating suggests unmanaged risks that can have a negative impact on both a company's reputation and its bottom line. ESG ratings are not, however, a substitute for financial analysis, but rather an extension of that analysis that covers areas of risk that are increasingly becoming part of a company's potential.
How are ESG scores calculated?
Investors and companies alike are turning to ESG rating agencies, third parties, and unrelated companies that specialize in ESG scoring. Prominent players in this space include MSCI ESG Research, Sustainalytics, Bloomberg ESG Data Services, and others. Overall, more than 140 rating firms provide proprietary ESG scores to investors and companies.
Warning: ESG ratings agencies are not currently regulated by the SEC. This lack of government regulation in the US allows the use of corporate statements to generate ESG ratings which are not considered reliable compared to those from prominent platforms.
"Because every ESG data provider uses a different set of criteria to assess a company's ESG performance, it makes it very hard for investors to get a clear picture of how different companies score in regards to their ESG performance," says Daphne Biliouri-Grant, senior ESG Advisor at Sibylline Ltd., a strategic advisory firm based in the UK. "The establishment of a framework of consistent and transparent reporting is a priority, so investors can obtain a realistic assessment of how companies are performing within the ESG space."
Through the use of analysts and proprietary algorithms, rating firms convert metrics such as a company's carbon emissions, employee safety procedures, and board diversity into environmental, social, and governance scores, which are then merged into a single primary rating.
MSCI, for example, examines hundreds of metrics and assigns a score of 0 to 10 to each company on each major issue. Issues are weighted based on timeliness. Those with the greatest potential impact within two years have the highest weights. Those with an impact timeline of five years or more have low weights. Ratings range from a low of CCC to a high of AAA. Ultimately, MSCI categorizes companies as leaders, average, or laggards.
"One of the challenges and pushbacks against MSCI is that their scores are awarded based on peer performance and are not absolute — therefore, a company in an energy-intensive sector needs to score only better than the average," says Max Messervy, Mercer's Head of Sustainable Investment, Americas.
Sustainalytics, a subsidiary of Morningstar, provides ESG ratings on 20,000 companies in 172 countries. ESG ratings, which are based on both quantitative ESG data and qualitative analysis, cover several different areas including governance, environmental impact, social contribution, and financial performance to provide a holistic view of the ESG profile of companies. Risk ratings cover five categories: Negligible risk (0 to 9.99), Low risk (10 to 19.99), Medium risk (20 to 29.99), High risk (30 to 39.99), and Severe risk (40 and above).
For comparison purposes, the table below lists ESG scores of several companies utilizing MSCI and Sustainalytics ratings. In some cases, both MSCI and Sustainalytics rate the company as an average or medium ESG risk. In others such as AES Corp, MSCI rates the company a leader, while Sustainalytics rates it a high risk. How can that be? The most likely culprits revolve around methodology, structural bias, and data collection.
MSCI (AAA to CCC)
Sustainalytics (0 to 40+)
A (Average)
28.5 (Medium risk)
16.4 (Low risk)
AAA (Leader)
Exxon Mobile (XOM)
BBB (Average)
36.5 (High risk)
AA (Leader)
Throughout the industry, each ratings agency utilizes a proprietary methodology. All tend to use similar indicators but apply different methods. Structural bias may result from the dependence all systems have on company disclosures. This favors large companies with more resources and penalizes smaller corporations whose resources are limited. It all adds up to a low correlation (35.1% between MSCI and Sustainalytics) between ratings agencies.
"At times, scores are awarded based on performance compared to peers as is the case with MSCI, and other times, is an absolute score, like with S&P Global's CSA," notes Messervy. "This inconsistency, and the fact that most data is unaudited or even unreported by companies, requires further analysis before comparing scores across entities."
Example of an ESG score
This ESG score from MSCI for Tesla, lists the company's comprehensive ESG score as A, which is on the high end of Average. According to MSCI, this overall score is an average of Tesla's ratings within the automobile industry on product safety and quality and labor management, where the company rates as a laggard. Then there's corporate behavior and carbon product footprint, where MSCI rated Tesla Average. And corporate governance and opportunities in clean tech, where Tesla was ranked a Leader. Tesla has been rated "A" since 2019.
Sustainalytics' score for Tesla is 28.5, which the agency says represents Medium Risk. Like most rating agencies, Sustainalytics ranks companies by sector so it too only compares Tesla to other automobile sector entities. Tesla's score of 28.5 ranks the company 42nd out of 82 companies in its sector for ESG risk (1 is the lowest risk).
The overall Sustainalytics score is derived from Tesla's industry-only score of Average when it comes to risk exposure to specific material ESG issues including subindustry and company-specific factors such as its business model and the company's management risk score (also Average) which assesses the robustness of a company's ESG programs, practices, and policies.
Between MSCI and Sustainalytics, Tesla's ESG risk score correlates well. This is unusual, since the average correlation between the two ratings agencies, as noted above, is only 35.1%.
Quick tip: The highest correlation between two ESG rating agencies, according to a study by the CFA Institute was 64.5% between Sustainalytics and S&P Global ESG Rank.
What is a good ESG score?
A good ESG score is one that indicates a company's environmental, social, and governance risks are very low. For MSCI, this would be a rating of AA or AAA (Leader). Under the Sustainalytics system, a score under 20 would likely be considered good.
"Irrespective of which scoring system or methodology is used, users of such ESG data need to remember that these scores are relative measures, which means that the 'bar' will and should continually be raised. Some investors will see relatively lower ESG scores of a company as an opportunity to engage with and influence that company to improve their ESG performance and extract Alpha, which should translate into improved shareholder value over the long term.
Since at the present time, each ratings agency has its own system, investors need to become familiar with the system(s) they plan to consult when evaluating investments to determine what rating or score meets the following criteria:
Excellent: Indicates the company follows best practices in all ESG areas and has no (or very few) ESG issues.
Good: Signifies a company meets best practices in most ESG categories and has a relatively low negative impact on the environment.
Average: Suggests the company only partly meets best practices and is not actively working toward meaningful ESG goals.
Poor: Indicates that no best practices are being followed and the company clearly has a negative impact on the environment and employees, and it's made no moves toward diversity in its governance structure.
It's important to remember that ESG scores are not the final word when it comes to evaluating investments. ESG scores are increasingly important when it comes to weighing the risk a company — and its investments — represents.
"Irrespective of which scoring system or methodology is used, users of such ESG data need to remember that these scores are relative measures, which means that the "bar" will and should continually be raised," says Troy Mortimer, director of ESG and Responsible Investment at Alpha FMC, a global wealth and asset management consultancy firm.
Since each rating agency has its own scoring methodology, it's worth learning the methodology and choosing a platform based on what you believe is the better way to evaluate ESG risk.
A freelance writer and editor since the 1990s, Jim Probasco has written hundreds of articles on personal finance and business-related content, authored books and teaching materials in the fields of music education and senior lifestyle, served as head writer for a series of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) specials and created radio short-form comedy. As managing editor for The Activity Director's Companion, Jim wrote and edited numerous articles used by activity professionals with seniors in a variety of lifestyle settings and served as guest presenter and lecturer at the Kentucky Department of Aging and Independent Living Conference as well as Resident Activity Professional Conferences in the Midwest.Jim has served on the boards of several nonprofit organizations in the Dayton, Ohio area, including the Kettering Arts Commission, Dayton Philharmonic Education Advisory Committee, and the University of Dayton Arts Series. He is past president of an educational foundation that serves teachers and students in the Kettering (Ohio) City School District.Jim received his bachelor's from Ohio University in Fine Arts/Music Education and his master's from Wright State University in Music Education.
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More: Personal Finance Insider PFI Reference ESG ESG Investing | 2022-05-18T15:57:14Z | www.businessinsider.com | ESG Investing 101: Understanding ESG Ratings | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/esg-score | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/esg-score |
The author, Jen Glantz
My parents' retired friends take luxury vacations thanks to their dividend-paying stocks.
I want to live like them in retirement, so I'm budgeting to invest more in dividend stocks.
One of the topics I like to chat about with my parents is retirement. Both of my parents recently turned 70 and they aren't retired yet. However, many of their friends (who are around the same age) have been retired for years and they seem to live affluent lives.
When I've brought this up to my mom and asked how her friends are constantly taking fancy trips, living in expensive houses, and driving nice cars, she simply says that many of her pals are living off their dividends.
At first, I wondered what that actually meant. Was that some sort of retirement planning secret I didn't know about yet? But the more I looked into it, the more I realized living off your dividends was a tactic that, while requiring strategy and good planning, could set a retiree up for a comfortable life when they stop working.
So what does it mean to live off your dividends? If you invest in dividend-paying stocks, mutual funds, or ETFs, which provide distributions of stocks or cash to shareholders, over time, the cash generated by those dividend payments can supplement your income when you retire. Depending on how much money you have in those stocks or funds, their growth over time, and how much you reinvest your dividends, you could be generating enough money to live off of each year, without having any other retirement plan.
This appeals to me because I started planning for retirement in my 30s. Before then, I didn't put any cash away in a 401(k) or IRA. I've always felt behind on my retirement savings goals, and since I want to retire in my 50s, adding dividend stocks and funds to my retirement plans seems like a viable option. Here's how I'm working now to be able to tap into dividends when I retire.
I'm researching the best dividend-paying stocks and funds for me
While I already invest in a few dividend-paying stocks through my SEP IRA, I want to invest in individual dividend-paying stocks in a taxable brokerage account as well. To pick the right stocks, I need to spend time researching companies that meet my criteria, which include long-term profitability, solid cash flow, and a track record of dividend payouts from years prior. Because this isn't my expertise, once I have a list of potential stocks I'm interested in, I plan to consult a financial advisor for their advice and guidance.
I'm determining how much I want this to make up my retirement plan
While living off of dividend checks is something I hope to do when I retire, I don't want to make it my entire plan. For the past four years, I've stuck to a regular and robust SEP IRA contribution plan and want to use that retirement fund to support the majority of my lifestyle when I stop working. While I do have some dividend-generating stocks in my SEP IRA portfolio, it's a very small amount.
In addition to what's inside my SEP IRA, I want to continue to work toward a strategy that has my retirement plan shaping up to include 20% future income from dividend stocks, 30% passive income from real estate and small business investments, 30% income from my SEP IRA (including some dividend stocks), and 20% from side hustles that I'd like to do when I officially retire.
I'm budgeting a certain amount to invest quarterly
Currently, I'm on a strict budget that allows me to contribute a set amount of cash every month to my SEP IRA. Now, I also want to budget a certain amount every quarter to invest in more dividend-paying stocks and funds.
Since this isn't my top priority right now, I'll determine how much to invest based on what other financial goals I've met that quarter. As I get more financially savvy and earn more money, I plan to increase my contributions.
I'm deciding how much of the dividends to take before retirement
One of the best ways to really make dividend-yielding stocks a worthwhile source of income in retirement is to make sure that you're reinvesting the distributions you receive to buy more stocks. That way, the amount of cash you have in that stock or fund can grow over time.
However, if there's a big financial move I want to make now, I can use some of those dividends to help support that thing I want to purchase and the distributions would be taxed as income. I've decided, unless it's for a financial emergency or to buy an investment property (that will generate passive income), I'd like to plan to re-invest all the distributions I receive back into that stock or fund while I'm still working.
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More: Rethinking Retirement Dividend Dividend Stocks Retirement | 2022-05-18T15:57:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | My Parents' Retired Friends Live Off Dividends, I'm Following Suit | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/parents-friends-live-off-dividends-retirement-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/parents-friends-live-off-dividends-retirement-2022-5 |
A hedge fund manager overseeing $2.2 billion sees a 'really bad' recession coming and thinks stock valuations are still in 'stupidville' — but says these 4 cryptos and 5 Chinese equities are worth buying anyway
Mark Yusko is the founder of North Carolina-based hedge fund Morgan Creek Capital.
Mark Yusko, Morgan Creek Capital
Unlike many of his Wall Street peers, Mark Yusko isn't surprised by the ongoing market sell-off.
The hedge fund manager believes that the Federal Reserve's plan to rapidly raise rates is a mistake.
Here are 10 investments that Yusko likes despite the risk of economic weakness.
Wall Street has been caught off-guard by this year's sharp stock market sell-off, but the downturn has been anything but a surprise to Mark Yusko. The founder of North Carolina-based hedge fund Morgan Creek Capital believes that a long-awaited "great unwind" for risk assets is here.
"We're definitely where I thought we would be," Yusko told Insider in a recent interview.
If anything, Yusko thought that stock valuations, which he said back in September were "wildly overvalued," would fall back to earth even sooner.
"Look, to be 100% fair, I was early — that's the euphemism for wrong," Yusko said. "I thought this would come to a head a while ago. We've been in what I deem 'stupidville' on valuations for a while, for coming up on 18 months."
Yusko added: "We've actually never seen this level of overvaluation. And that's measured on price-to-earnings, price-to-sales, price-to-enterprise value, market cap -to-GDP, P/E 10, which uses the 10-year average P/E. There was no measure you could look at where you didn't say, 'Huh, this is even worse than the bubble in 2000.'"
Stock valuations are so inflated, in Yusko's view, because investors long held onto the belief that "there is no alternative" to stocks. And the hedge fund veteran is far from alone in that stance. Leading mutual fund manager Salem Abraham recently told Insider that overexposure to stocks is a reason why he believes that US stocks could fall 25% in one day in a worst-case scenario.
"People just stopped trying to short, and there are a bunch of hedge funds that converted to long-only," Yusko said. "Everybody was long the market. And our view is: When everyone is on the same side of the boat, it's time to walk to the other side of the boat."
The Morgan Creek capital founder continued: "We told clients that we weren't sure of the timing, but we thought things would get bad. We didn't realize they'd get this bad."
In early 2021, investing was almost too easy. Companies with shaky or uncertain outlooks, including GameStop (GME) and AMC Entertainment (AMC), saw their market capitalizations soar to previously unimaginable levels while cryptocurrencies and other risky assets thrived.
Rock-bottom interest rates and an influx of government stimulus enacted shortly after President Joe Biden took office created an environment where more risk almost always meant more reward.
"The people who were locked up in their apartments after COVID couldn't gamble, couldn't go to Vegas, no sports," Yusko said. "The government sent you free money. What did people do? They put it in E-Trade and Robinhood."
While investing has historically proven to be one of the best ways to generate long-term wealth, Yusko wasn't applauding every aspect of the retail investing revolution.
Stimulus checks sent in March 2021 inadvertently played a role in catalyzing what Yusko saw as an "idiotic" and "horrifying" trend: buying random stocks based on randomly generated letters instead of the underlying business's fundamentals. That speculative excess, evidenced in the meteoric rise in meme stocks, was bound to backfire eventually, the hedge fund manager said.
"That's not investing — that's gaming," Yusko said. "And so the gamification of markets was going to have a bad ending. It always has. It did in 2000, it did in 2008, and it is right now."
Inflation will cause a 'massive' recession
Fast-forward to 2022, and investing has undoubtedly gotten more difficult as economic growth slows and inflation surges to four-decade highs. To complicate matters, the Federal Reserve has sworn to tackle that latter issue at virtually any cost, even if doing so hurts the economy.
"Inflation is way too high, and we need to bring it down," Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said on Tuesday afternoon in an interview at The Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything Festival. "We're going to use our tools to do that."
Powell also told The Wall Street Journal that "restoring price stability is an unconditional need" but that "we have to slow growth to do that," acknowledging that the unemployment rate may have to rise from historically low levels in the process.
The US central bank doesn't use Yusko as a consultant when making its policy decisions. If it did, however, the hedge fund manager would have plenty to say to Powell and company.
"I think the Fed is making a massive policy mistake by raising interest rates," Yusko said.
Yusko continued: "They didn't cause the inflation by keeping interest rates low, and they're not going to fix inflation by raising interest rates."
Supply-chain issues are the root cause of inflation, Yusko said, and, as Powell has recognized, the Fed can only influence demand. The market veteran believes that Powell is prone to being bullied by politicians and markets instead of holding firm to his naturally hawkish convictions.
A trio of what Yusko believes to be ill-advised policy decisions have the US in the predicament it's in now, the Morgan Creek Capital founder said: overly easy monetary policy that caused rampant speculation in risky assets, overspending by Congress, and pandemic-induced lockdowns that worsened supply shortages. Needless to say, he doesn't see a rosy future.
"Now, I think the bad stuff comes because now we've got to deal with probably a really bad recession ," Yusko said.
Top 10 investing ideas
Despite his dreary outlook for the economy, Yusko said he's bullish on a quintet of Chinese technology stocks, four cryptocurrencies, and crypto trading platform Coinbase (COIN).
Yusko appears to have no issue buying dips. All 10 of his current investing ideas are in the red in 2022, and most have been shelled by about 20%. The best year-to-date performer as of Tuesday's closing bell had retreated 6% while the worst showing was Coinbase at -72%.
But those disappointing starts to the year, including the crypto exchange's lackluster run, haven't shaken the hedge fund manager.
"I really like Coinbase here," Yusko said. "We own it. We were early investors. I think people have puked it out, which was a mistake. And I think it's kind of like, to me, the 'Amazon $6 in 2001' moment."
Coinbase's awful loss in 2022 comes as cryptocurrencies have crashed. Yusko was bullish on digital tokens to start the year but soon after acknowledged that they were set to struggle.
"I don't think we're in crypto winter," Yusko said. "I think we're probably closer to the bottom than we were when we talked in January, but I don't think we're at the bottom yet. But I would continue to accumulate the 'BASE:' bitcoin (BTC), avalanche (AVAX), solana (SOL), and ethereum (ETH).
Lastly, Yusko said that while his January call to buy Chinese tech companies was "early" — in other words, wrong — he's continuing to snap up shares of beaten-down stocks like Alibaba (BABA), Tencent (OTC:TCEHY), NetEase (NTES), JD.com (JD), and Meituan (OTC:MPNGY).
A tantalizing combination of dirt-cheap valuations and the potential for a snapback rally if government restrictions get dissolved have Yusko excited about Chinese tech titans. Plus, he said he has a hunch that Chinese President Xi Jinping won't get elected to a third term this fall, which he sees as a catalyst for the group.
"I think there's a lot of potential for a face-melting kind of rally," Yusko said. "I mean, these stocks are so cheap, and they make so much money. And if they get any relief from the crazy government regulations, they could go up a lot."
More: Investing Mark Yusko Mark Yusko Morgan Creek Capital
cryptos to buy
COIN stock price
chinese stocks to buy
chinese tech
Chinese tech stocks | 2022-05-18T15:57:28Z | www.businessinsider.com | Recession Investing: Top 10 Trades to Make Before Downturn, From Mark Yusko | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-risk-how-to-invest-stocks-to-buy-crypto-yusko-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-risk-how-to-invest-stocks-to-buy-crypto-yusko-2022-5 |
As recessionary woes loom, Goldman Sachs says buying these 20 attractively valued stocks with proven track records of strength and safety could protect investors in an increasingly uncertain market
Defensive assets look increasingly enticing in turbulent markets.
Investors panicked as stocks plummeted to their record 2022 lows last week.
Goldman Sachs' David Kostin said investors should buy assets that perform well in bear markets.
This means stocks with high liquidity and cash that are trading below previous recessionary lows.
Haunted by nagging pandemic pangs, seething geopolitical tensions, and blazing inflation, stocks nosedived last week to their lowest levels so far this year.
Heading into 2022, Goldman Sachs predicted that the S&P 500 would cross the 5,100 threshold by the year's end. But after a recent revision, the bank's year-end price target now sits at 4,300, said David Kostin, Goldman Sachs' chief US equity strategist, in a recent research note.
In dire straits like these, it's easy for the market to panic. But according to Kostin, it's important now more than ever for investors to consider protecting their portfolios by adding in stocks with a proven track record of safety and security.
Identifying safe-haven stocks
Kostin and team examined stocks' safe-haven track records by observing three factors: size and liquidity, strength of balance sheet, and valuation attractiveness. He identified 20 specific stocks that met all three criteria, discovering that these stocks have on aggregate outperformed the S&P 500 since mid-2021 despite trading at both cheap absolute and relative valuations.
In his analysis, Kostin only considered stocks with a market capitalization above $10 billion.
"In uncertain times, investors seek liquidity , which in practical terms means an above-average market cap ," he wrote. The median capitalization of the group of 20 stocks was $36 billion, versus the S&P 500's $29 billion.
Kostin also only selected for firms with a stronger balance sheet scoring than the S&P 500's median. That's because during times of economic downturn, it's advantageous for firms to hold more cash.
"Companies with strong balance sheets are typically less sensitive to an economic slowdown because they are better positioned to withstand a decline in credit market liquidity. At a factor level, strong balance sheet has historically outperformed when financial conditions tighten and growth slow," Kostin explained. To score each firm's balance sheet, he examined metrics like working capital, earnings, market capitalization, and sales versus overall assets.
Finally, Kostin rated each stock for its valuation attractiveness by comparing its current versus historical valuations in March 2009 and March 2020, two former recessionary troughs. Kostin adjusted current valuations by reducing forward earnings per shares (EPS) estimates to account for the downward corrections he anticipates analysts will make later this year.
"We screen for stocks with a 'margin of safety,' meaning the valuation today assuming EPS estimates for next year are reduced by 20% would still be attractive compared with how the shares were valued during previous bear markets," he explained, specifically comparing current versus historical price-to-earnings ratios, earnings yield, and income growth.
The current median price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of the 20 stocks on Kostin's list is 12x, below the group's median forward ratio of 14x in 2009 and 13x in 2020. By comparison, the S&P 500 currently trades at a P/E ratio of 20x. The 20 names are also more attractive today when measuring their adjusted earnings yield gap against the yield from the ten-year US Treasury.
Even after a 20% EPS reduction, Kostin's stocks have a median positive 4% EPS growth rate, versus the S&P 500's median -2% growth rate. Additionally, at 2.1%, the annualized dividend yield of all 20 stocks is still greater than the S&P 500's 1.6% for a typical stock.
Below are the 20 companies that Kostin identified with a proven track record of liquidity, strength, and safety that are still trading at attractive valuations compared to their previous bear-market levels. Besides its ticker, sector, and market capitalization, each stock is also listed with its forward P/E ratios from 2009 and 2020 versus its current price-adjusted P/E ratio.
2009 P/E ratio: 10x
2020 P/E ratio: 8x
2. Franklin Resources
Ticker: BEN
3. ConocoPhillips
4. Coterra Energy
2020 P/E ratio: NA
Ticker: EA
8. EOG Resources
Ticker: EOG
9. Microchip Technology
Ticker: MCHP
10. Micron Technology
Ticker: MU
11. Pioneer Natural Resources
12. Qualcomm
Ticker: QCOM
13. Qorvo
Ticker: QRVO
14. Robert Half
15. Skyworks Solutions
Ticker: SWKS
16. T. Rowe Price
17. Tyson Foods
Ticker: TSN
18. Take-Two Interactive Software
Ticker: TTWO
19. Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Ticker: VRTX
20. Exxon | 2022-05-18T15:57:40Z | www.businessinsider.com | 20 Stocks to Buy for Strength and Safety in Turbulent Markets: Goldman | https://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-to-buy-strength-safety-turbulent-markets-goldman-sachs-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-to-buy-strength-safety-turbulent-markets-goldman-sachs-2022-5 |
Brent D. Griffiths and Grace Panetta
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a rally Greensburg, Pennsylvania, on May 6.
Trump sought to sow questions about the outcome of Pennsylvania's GOP Senate primary.
Dr. Oz, the Trump-endorsed candidate, is currently locked in a too-close-to-call race.
Trump's statements mirror the lies about the 2020 election that he has repeated for more than a year.
Former President Donald Trump sought to sow doubt on Wednesday on the results in Pennsylvania's closely watched Republican Senate primary as Trump-backed candidate, Dr. Mehmet Oz, remains in a too close to call contest.
"Here we go again! In Pennsylvania they are unable to count the Mail-In Ballots. It is a BIG MESS," Trump wrote on TRUTH Social, his preferred social media platform.
Like Trump's lies about the 2020 election, there are some inaccuracies in his current statement. Officials are still counting Election Day votes in some counties, MSNBC's Steve Kornacki reports. It also is the case that Oz is currently favoring better in mail-in voting from Lancaster County, which per Kornacki, has the largest stack of uncounted GOP mail-in ballots.
According to Decision Desk HQ, Oz has a .2-percentage point lead, 2,567 votes, over former hedge fund manager David McCormick with an estimated 94% of the expected vote in. If that margin holds, the race would be headed for an automatic recount.
In the span of a few hours, Trump also became much more definitive in declaring Oz the winner of the race. No major media organization has called the race. Even if that does eventually occur, no election is truly over until states and counties officially canvass their results. Media "calls" are simply projections based on historical and current voting patterns that have no legal significance whatsoever.
"The Club For Growth Candidate, who lost, took many votes away from Oz," Trump wrote on TRUTH Social. 'Also, early Mail-In Ballots were sent without my having endorsed yet. Despite all of this, Oz won!"
Trump's mention of Club for Growth is a reference to his budding feud with a powerful, conservative interest group. The club spent millions boosting conservative radio host Kathy Barnette, whose campaign appeared to be peaking right at the end. Instead, Barnette is currently in third place and nowhere near Oz and McCormick's vote totals.
Before Trump, Republican campaigns ran early voting and vote by mail programs just like their Democratic opponents. But Trump's jeremiad against an entire method of voting both before, during, and after the 2020 election has led even more Republicans to prefer same-day Election Day voting. Many of Trump's attacks on mail-in voting are baseless. It is worth pointing out that while president, Trump himself voted by mail so that he could cast a ballot in South Florida.
Trump continued his post on Wednesday morning by repeating his call for the nation to go to a sole paper ballot, same-day voting policy.
"Our Country should go to paper ballots, with same day voting. Just done in France, zero problems," he wrote. "Get Smart America!!!"
Contrary to Trump's claims, however, the vast majority of voters in the United States now vote on paper ballots. In Pennsylvania, all voters now vote on hand-marked paper ballots or ballot-marking devices that produce a paper ballot compared to 83% who voted on electronic voting machines without paper trail in 2016, according to Verified Voting.
In late 2019, the Pennsylvania legislature also enacted Act 77, which established no-excuse absentee balloting and eliminated straight-ticket voting.
The legislation passed almost entirely along party lines, with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed to the measure — but the tide turned in 2020 when Trump aggressively denounced and discouraged mail voting.
The state legislature did not, however, make it easier for election officials to process and count those absentee ballots.
Election officials in Pennsylvania are not allowed to begin signature matching or verifying ballot envelopes until 7 a.m. on Election Day, in contrast to states like Ohio, Georgia, and Florida, where officials are able to speed up the counting process by processing ballots days to weeks ahead of time.
This means that counties in Pennsylvania count and report those absentee ballots on different timelines, VoteBeat noted.
In 2020, Trump repeatedly and falsely claimed fraud or impropriety when Biden took the lead in the Keystone State as more absentee ballots were counted. But absentee ballots could now push his endorsed candidate Oz over the edge.
A spokesperson for Oz did not immediately respond to a request for comment. McCormick's campaign pointed Insider to his election night speech, suggesting that mail-in votes would put him over the top. A representative for Pennsylvania's Secretary of State could also not be immediately reached.
More: Donald Trump mehmet oz Pennsylvania 2022 elections | 2022-05-18T15:57:42Z | www.businessinsider.com | Trump Attacks Mail Ballots As PA Senate Race Still Too Close to Call | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-attacks-pennsylvania-vote-mail-in-counting-dr-oz-primary-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-attacks-pennsylvania-vote-mail-in-counting-dr-oz-primary-2022-5 |
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