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Today's mortgage and refinance rates: May 25, 2022 | Rates have stopped climbing
Mortgage rates have been trending down recently and are now hovering around 5%. Though softening rates are a good sign for homebuyers, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate is still at its highest level since 2009.
If you're considering buying a home, elevated rates shouldn't necessarily deter you. Consider your overall financial situation and how homeownership fits into that. | 2022-05-25T11:08:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | Today's Mortgage, Refinance Rates: May 25, 2022 | Rates Have Stopped Climbing | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/best-mortgage-refinance-rates-today-wednesday-may-25-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/best-mortgage-refinance-rates-today-wednesday-may-25-2022-5 |
Founder Finances: See the $2,000 monthly budget an entrepreneur uses to grow her clothing side-hustle.
Welcome to "Founder Finances," a new Insider series discussing founders' monthly budgets.
In this story, the founder of a luxury loungewear product line shares her $2,000 monthly budget.
She attributes much of her business growth to her investments in PR and social-media marketing.
After Diandra Harvin spent countless hours working from home in loungewear during the pandemic, she decided to create a clothing line that would help her and other women feel confident, beautiful, and productive.
"The pandemic put things into perspective as to what I care about," Harvin said. "I realized that there is something bigger in me that I wanted to share."
In October 2021, the 30-year-old Harvin launched Noite Rose, which sells satin garments like rompers and robes that cost between $80 and $160. Harvin used $14,000 in personal savings to start her business, allowing her to partner with a clothing designer from the freelance marketplace Fiverr to turn her sketches into viable designs, purchase samples and materials, and attend a 90-day intensive course for fashion entrepreneurs.
Diandra Harvin, founder of Noite Rose.
courtesy of Harvin
Noite Rose brought in more than $11,000 in sales between October and December of last year. Today, Noite Rose has hit nearly $25,000 in lifetime sales.
Harvin said a key component to her success has been allocating $2,000 a month for the marketing and promotion of her business, especially since she runs the company as a side hustle to her corporate-marketing job. That includes social-media collaborations, experiential marketing, and hiring a public-relations firm.
Insider has verified the founder's sales, revenue, and budget with documentation.
Here's the budget breakdown
This table reflects Noite Rose's April 2022 budget. Harvin said she has slightly increased the business budget since its first month and plans to expand it further as her business grows.
Harvin's average monthly budget hovers around $2,000. Every four to six months, Noite Rose releases new products that can increase her costs by about $2,500 per style.
The importance of investing in PR
Harvin allocates $1,000 a month to the public-relations firm she hired, something she says is necessary for the company's growth.
Harvin understands how to build social-media strategies and marketing campaigns. But as a side hustler, she doesn't have enough time to complete many of the tasks the PR firm does for her. For example, Harvin said her PR agency turns her founder story into media pitches and opportunities.
Harvin said her mentor suggested that she invest in PR. "She made me realize there was a lot that I couldn't do on my own just because I didn't have the connections."
Harvin encourages entrepreneurs from all industries to budget for PR because of the ability to grow a brand's customer base and audience, she added.
"I would definitely recommend it for somebody who is comfortable sharing their story," Harvin said. "You have to be willing to be vulnerable, open, expressive, and share your story as well as the company's."
Noite Rose garments come in multiple colorways.
Noite Rose
Social media and pop-ups bring new audiences
Harvin added that her marketing plan includes social-media strategies and pop-up shops.
"Whenever I have a feature on one of these platforms, I'll see an influx of followers coming in, people reaching out via direct message," Harvin said.
Harvin said Instagram has been most effective for sales, but partnering with influencers on platforms like TikTok also grows brand awareness. She recently spent a total of $225 on a Mother's Day promotion where she partnered with a site for moms, a video for a site targeting married millennials, and a collaboration with a business page to connect with followers interested in supporting local brands.
Pop-up shops are another investment Harvin makes to grow Noite Rose. A successful pop-up shop will typically yield four figures in sales and connect her with customers who may not have known her brand before, she said.
Harvin determines whether a specific pop-up shop will be worth the time and money based on factors like the season, the pop-up's theme, location, and expected volume of foot traffic. She typically spends around $100 monthly on hosting pop-up events.
"There needs to be hundreds of people walking around for me to get my sales minimum," Harvin said, adding that her minimum means selling more than the cost of attending the pop-up.
If you are a founder interested in sharing your monthly budget and financial advice, please email ayork@insider.com. See more Founder Finances stories here.
More: Finance Finance Advice Founder
Sleepwear | 2022-05-25T11:08:29Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to Create a Social Media Marketing Budget for Your Business | https://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-marketing-budget-promotion-clothing-line-side-hustle-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-marketing-budget-promotion-clothing-line-side-hustle-2022-5 |
Everything you need to know to become an analytics engineer, the hottest new job in tech that can pay upwards of $200,000
The Dbt Labs team.
Dbt Labs
Analytics engineers have some of the most in-demand big-data roles in the industry.
They're experts in SQL and a new tool called dbt, tasked with cleaning large data sets.
Companies like Amazon and Apple are hiring for the role, offering six-figure salaries.
There's a hot job emerging in the tech industry, and it revolves around mastering a new big-data tool run by a startup out of Philadelphia.
Called analytics engineers, people in this role use an open-source tool called dbt, built by Dbt Labs, to clean and maintain large data sets. The process is designed to make the jobs of analysts and data scientists — who are used to crunching unstructured and messy data sets — much easier and faster.
Companies like Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Discord, and Instacart are hiring analytics engineers. The median salary for an analytics engineer listed on Glassdoor, which relies on aggregated data, is about $127,000. One job listing for a senior analytics engineer at Discord suggests the role pays more than $200,000 a year, while one from CircleCI says it pays $128,000 to $160,000. (Companies must list salary bands in New York and Colorado.)
Becoming an analytics engineer doesn't necessarily require a lot of new skills for existing analysts. But it does require a mindset shift, said Emily Hawkins, Data Engineering Manager for Data Platforms at Drizly. Hawkins runs a course on co:rise explaining how to use dbt.
"If you just have a data dump in an Excel sheet, you're probably not thinking about how it got into that format," she said. "You have to think about how to get data from this very raw source that hasn't been processed or transformed into something that someone could dump in an Excel sheet and do some analysis."
Still, people interested in the role will need some technical (and soft) skills to get started.
Here's everything you need to know to become an analytics engineer, one of the hottest jobs in tech
It all starts with dbt
The interface for dbt looks a lot like an SQL query engine.
Dbt is mainly responsible for popularizing the role thanks to its ability to streamline the data-crunching process. Analytics engineers use dbt to transform data into a more useful format for people internally looking to derive insights.
Dbt relies on a language called SQL to pull data from a data warehouse like Snowflake. It then transforms that data into a more useful form, such as by aggregating parts of it or cleaning dates. Analysts can use the data from that dbt transformation instead of constantly rerunning those aggregations, which can be expensive and time-consuming.
Co:rise offers an analytics-engineering course on how to best use dbt run by Hawkins and Jake Hannan, a manager of analytics engineering at Gopuff. Dbt Labs also offers courses in building expertise with dbt.
Because the tool is very new, Hawkins, who works in analytics engineering at the alcohol-delivery platform Drizly, said that immersing yourself in the community is an excellent way to build experience and expertise.
"When I joined Drizly, I had never used dbt and had to learn it from scratch and learn it from nothing and implement it," she said. "For me, I had to put myself out there and ask questions in the dbt community. But I think now there are more resources available with courses, and I know dbt has some online tutorials."
SQL is a must-have
SQL is the most important language for analytics engineers.
VectorBird/Getty Images
Much of the appeal of the analytics engineer is that it expands what an analyst can do with SQL. It's one of the oldest and most popular database languages, and analysts are typically required to know it.
The role also allows SQL experts to take on some of the tasks data engineers typically handle using SQL. Those tasks have traditionally required expertise in Python, which, while nice to have, is no longer a necessity, Hannan said.
"I think what Snowflake and dbt have done well is SQL is the source of truth for everything," he said. "But what is interesting is that both Snowflake and dbt are working on Python support. You can write Python scripts in dbt and it'll compile to SQL and run it. But it won't be a hard requirement."
Both Udemy and Coursera offer courses on SQL for analytics and data science. IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle also run certification programs for SQL.
Understanding how data warehouses work is useful
Snowflake is one of the largest data warehouses dbt works with.
Analytics engineers are popular because they essentially simplify working with data warehouses like Snowflake or Amazon Redshift. Their work results in clean, easy-to-use tables that analysts can use to complete ad hoc requests or build dashboards with Tableau or Looker.
So it makes sense that they'd have a strong understanding of some of the inner workings of data warehouses like Snowflake or Redshift.
Snowflake has a Snowpro certification, while Amazon offers a big-data specialization.
The product is for data analysts
Data analysts are the primary end users of data that passes through dbt.
Analytics engineers often start as analysts because they're the target audience for what analytics engineers build. Hawkins, for example, was a business-intelligence analyst before moving into analytics engineering.
She said one of the most critical factors is to remember that analytics engineers are trying to simplify massive data sets for analysts and not trying to be overly technical.
"A typical analyst would write this bespoke query 400 lines long; it gets that one answer — that's what the stakeholder does today," she said. "With analytics engineers, it's a different paradigm: You get models that serve 90% to 95% of the use cases. I'm not creating this one query that solves this use case. I want to create value for everyone. Being an analyst is good as a background because you know what analysts tend to look for."
Experience with orchestration tools like Airflow is nice to have
Orchestration is an important step in the data-processing pipeline.
An essential part of data processing is ensuring that everything is running in order and that things aren't failing. That process is called orchestration, and several tools are designed to manage it, like Airflow, Prefect, or Dagster.
Hawkins said that while it helps to have experience with orchestration tools, it isn't vital. But analytics engineers at smaller companies may be expected to take on more data-engineering tasks, including implementing those orchestration tools.
Laurent Paris, a senior vice president of research and development at Astronomer, the startup behind Airflow, previously told Insider that the creators of Airflow were trying to make the product easier to use for analytics engineers.
"You could be an analytics engineer at a company and you just live and breathe SQL," Hannan said. "Other companies, you might own the full end-to-end of ingesting raw source, going to the other side of the spectrum, and creating dashboards. Each company has pretty different jobs."
Astronomer offers certification with Airflow, the most popular open-source tool. Companies like Udemy also offer courses on Airflow.
More: Features snowflake dbt Airflow | 2022-05-25T12:42:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | Analytics Engineer Using Dbt and SQL: Skills Needed and Salary | https://www.businessinsider.com/analytics-engineer-dbt-sql-skills-needed-get-hired-salary-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/analytics-engineer-dbt-sql-skills-needed-get-hired-salary-2022-5 |
Rich Rosenblum oversees a crypto market maker that moves billions each day. He shares a token that isn't 'very sexy' but is fighting the bearish tide — and a little-known chain to watch as he expects a surge in demand for new networks
Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos horribilis) adult standing on hind legs with open mouth, Montana, USA, Octobe
Avalon/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
GSR is one of the oldest and largest market makers in crypto and is deeply embedded in the ecosystem.
Its co-founder explains how terra's implosion and the bear market is impacting the big players' strategies.
He explains why it could create demand for new blockchains and shares a little-known chain to watch.
Each day market maker, GSR trades over $4 billion in crypto.
It's one of the oldest players in the market, having been founded in 2013, and it's deeply embedded in the ecosystem. Its trading technology is plugged into more than 60 trading venues.
When the terra ecosystem, which had a $33 billion market cap, started to crumble on May 7 due to the depegging of its algorithmic stablecoin UST, market participants questioned if this would be crypto's "Lehman moment", with a number of major players getting caught out in the collapse.
Richard Rosenblum, the co-founder and president of GSR, sees the contagion effects as being limited so far
"It's only been less than a week [really], I think that there hasn't really been much contagion and it seems fairly concentrated," Rosenblum said.
A number of funds got hit by terra's collapse including Arca, which doubled down on its positions as UST started to depeg, and Galaxy Digital, who's CEO and founder Michael Novogratz got a tattoo that references the ecosystem.
Even GSR had positions in terra, but Rosenblum said they weren't "big."
"We're very active in DeFi and think that part of it is our duty as a market maker," Rosenblum said. "We want to provide liquidity on both centralized exchanges and decentralized exchanges and we see it as part of our core knowledge base."
Even for players with larger positions, with billions to lose, Rosenblum explains that's minimal relative to the wider portfolio.
"I think that even if the investment community got hurt and was in fairly concentrated positions, these are groups that had the money to lose and have been very successful in the past couple of years," Rosenblum said. "And it doesn't seem like there's been all that much impact across the space."
Many investors and market markers had been flooding into decentralized protocols because they were oversubscribed, Rosenblum said. He expects this will switch to a more thoughtful approach looking at whether there's a sound business plan.
Already the decentralized finance ecosystem is starting to see a significant slowdown in activity.
Chart looking at DeFi dominance from The Block Research
The Block Research
"I think that's less to do with LUNA and more to do with just the private markets and public markets taking a beating for the first time in several years," Rosenblum said.
One example of this move toward more solid business models is the activity surrounding MakerDAO amidst the current bear market. It recently jumped to the top of the DefiLlama's total value locked leaderboard.
"[MakerDAO] wasn't always a very sexy project in 2018," said Rosenblum, describing the reaction to the project when it launched its algorithmic stablecoin DAI.
MakerDAO is a decentralized lending platform that enables individuals to lend and borrow cryptocurrencies. The ecosystem uses DAI, an over-collateralized stablecoin, to determine the lending rates.
"The concept of having an algorithmic borrowing and lending tool was new at the time but they really haven't done all that much since then," Rosenblum said. "And I think that it stood the test of time, because their product is rather simple relative to the grandiose plans of say, terra, but I think that it's still doing what it does, and it works."
Rosenblum highlights that Maker's token (MAKER) is one few that traded upwards of the course of the last week or so.
Chart of MAKER token trading activity over a one month period on FTX
"It's been a period where that type of investing has been very difficult because both stocks and bonds have been falling in lockstep with each other," Rosenblum said. "Over a period like that, it's hard to expect that crypto is going to have dispersion since it's a very new asset class … it makes sense it has some room to give some back."
To see a surprise bull market in crypto this year, Rosenblum expects that some really new ideas would need to hit the market to create a resurgence of interest like what happened with "DeFi summer".
One of the catalysts expected for the market this year is ethereum's "merge" to the proof-of-stake consensus model alongside the planned airdrops for highly anticipated layer 2 ethereum scaling solutions.
Crypto prop shop Dexterity Capital's co-founder Michael Safai is expecting to see developers and investors return to the safety of old guard blockchains like ethereum and bitcoin in light of terra's implosion.
Rosenblum disagrees and believes this instead will "open up the market's appetite for new layer ones."
"There's very much an open path now to, not just compete with ethereum, but to provide value in the space," he said.
Rosenblum highlights Aptos as one of those new contenders that is sitting with a multibillion valuation and is still pre mainnet.
"I do think that there's room for a few more blockchains to come out this year that can find success," he said.
trading shops
prop trading | 2022-05-25T12:42:53Z | www.businessinsider.com | Crypto Bear Market: How to Trade It, 2 Little-Known Plays | https://www.businessinsider.com/gsr-crypto-maket-maker-trading-strategies-bear-sentiment-blockchains-altcoins-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/gsr-crypto-maket-maker-trading-strategies-bear-sentiment-blockchains-altcoins-2022-5 |
President Joe Biden meets with his Cabinet at the White House on March 3, 2022.
Leadership at major student-loan company Nelnet expects $10,000 in relief for federal borrowers.
The Lincoln Journal Star reported its CEO still thinks relief won't solve costs of higher education.
Biden is getting closer to a decision on broad student-loan relief that could be income capped.
Even the leadership at one of the largest student-loan companies thinks relief for federal borrowers is on the horizon.
"The probability's pretty high" that President Joe Biden will forgive $10,000 in student debt for federal borrowers, Jacque Mosely, the director of government relations at student-loan company Nelnet, said during the company's annual meeting last week, as reported by the Lincoln Journal Star.
Jeff Noordhoek, the company's CEO, called the $1.7 trillion student-debt load in the country "too big." But, as the Journal Star reported, Noordhoek said forgiving that debt won't solve the rising costs of higher education because people will keep borrowing after the fact. According to Jim Krueger, Nelnet's chief financial officer, wiping out $10,000 in debt for every federal borrower will reduce the company's future cash flow from $1.8 billion to $1.2 billion.
Nelnet did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
President Joe Biden is inching toward a decision on student-loan relief, and multiple reports have suggested the relief will be close to his $10,000 forgiveness campaign pledge, and potentially targeted to those making under $125,000 a year. With the pandemic pause on student-loan payments set to expire after August 31, the administration made clear an announcement on relief will be made before then, and borrowers are waiting to hear if they will see cuts to their debt balances.
With news of relief on the horizon, Nelnet has not been the only company that's spoken out regarding potential debt forgiveness. In March, the CEO of SoFi — one of the nation's largest student-loan refinancing companies — Anthony Noto wrote that Biden has continued to "waffle" on potential student-loan relief, and he recommended that Biden should fulfill his campaign pledge to cancel $10,000 in student debt, target the pause on payments only for those in "severe hardship," and put the "affluent and capable" borrowers back into repayment when payments were set to resume on May 1.
Following the extension of the payment pause through August 31, SoFi later updated its 2022 guidance to note it assumes payments will not resume in 2022.
Insider previously reported on lobbying by student-loan companies that might be keeping Biden from delivering broad relief to federal borrowers. Nelnet, for example, spent $230,000 on lobbying in 2020 and made over $352 million in profits, and all student-loan companies spent nearly $4.5 million on lobbying efforts last year, according to OpenSecrets.
Despite lobbying and pushback from Republican lawmakers, who have argued canceling student debt would exacerbate inflation and cost taxpayers, it's increasingly likely some type of broad relief will be implemented. The question now is how much relief, and Democrats want to ensure Biden goes big and doesn't skimp on his executive authority.
"In order to reduce the racial wealth gap and advance a just and equitable economic recovery for all, we must alleviate the burden of student debt," Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty said in a recent statement. "Nothing is off the table, except inaction." | 2022-05-25T12:43:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | Student-Loan Company Leaders Expecting $10,000 in Relief Per Borrower | https://www.businessinsider.com/student-loan-company-nelnet-debt-relief-biden-coming-weeks-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/student-loan-company-nelnet-debt-relief-biden-coming-weeks-2022-5 |
At least 19 children and two adults were killed in the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. The victims identified so far include an eight-year-old boy and two teachers.
The Treasury Department on Tuesday said it would let a key sanctions waiver benefiting American investors to expire, a move that would push Russia closer to a potential default.
More: News UK Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy School Shooting | 2022-05-25T12:43:23Z | www.businessinsider.com | Zelenskyy: Ukranians 'Share the Pain' on Texas School Shooting | https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-school-shooting-zelenskyy-says-ukranians-share-pain-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-school-shooting-zelenskyy-says-ukranians-share-pain-2022-5 |
I tried the popular Pomodoro technique to improve my productivity, but it just made it worse — here's why
The Pomodoro technique says to follow intervals of working for 25 minutes and resting for five minutes.
To try to be more productive, she tried out the popular Pomodoro technique for one week.
Glantz says it took longer to finish each task and the forced breaks made it hard for her to focus.
As the founder and sole employee of my business, I don't have higher-ups holding me to deadlines, so it's up to me to be productive and focused to make sure all of my work gets done.
But when I was stuck at home all day and night in the early days of the pandemic, I found myself getting distracted constantly, whether by household chores or the TV on in the background.
When I mentioned to a friend that I was getting less done and picking up bad work habits, she recommended trying out the popular Pomodoro Technique, which she said helped her be more productive and get through all of her daily tasks.
The Pomodoro Technique works like this: You pick one single task and work on it in intervals where you focus for 25 minutes and then take a five-minute break, and repeat that cycle until the task is done.
I committed to trying this out for one week, but in the end, I found it to be ineffective for my work needs and a waste of time. Here's why.
1. I couldn't get in the zone
To make sure I was following this technique properly, I set a timer on my phone for 25 minutes. When the timer went off, I would stop the task and walk around for five minutes.
The problem was, when I start working on a task, I usually need a few minutes just to clear my head and settle in before I can get started. With the Pomodoro technique, I found that I wasn't able to get focused until about seven to 10 minutes into my 25-minute work interval. Then, by the time I was in the zone, the timer would go off and I'd have to stop what I was doing.
2. The breaks were too short
When I learned about this technique, I was most excited about the forced breaks, because during a typical work day I'd often find myself sitting in one spot for two to three hours straight.
But as promising as the five-minute breaks seemed, they were too short for me to do anything except walk a few circles around my apartment or scroll through my phone.
Usually, I'd take a 20 to 30 minute break to go for a walk outside, sit and eat lunch, or even take a power nap. These short five-minute breaks just had me scrolling on social media more than I did before.
3. It was hard to regain focus
After the short breaks ended, I'd then be faced with the tough task of sitting back down again and trying to regain focus on a partially completed task. I found that as the intervals went on, coming back after each break to work on the same task again became harder and harder to do.
As the week went on, I started to skip breaks. I'd work for 45 minutes or an hour and then take a 15-minute break. Then, I skipped the breaks all together and worked either until I lost focus or finished the task.
It seemed like less structure worked better for me and my productivity, and this forced interval approach just hurt my focus more than it needed to.
4. It took longer than usual to finish each task
In the end, I found that the Pomodoro Technique made many of my tasks take longer than they should have. I spent more time trying to settle back into my desk chair and focus on what I was doing than I used to by just getting through the task at my normal rate, without the forced pauses.
I'm glad I tried the Pomodoro technique out, but in the end it didn't work for me. Instead, I found that simply silencing my phone and refraining from browsing irrelevant websites helped me to be more focused and knock off tasks on my to-do list faster.
More: Strategy Advice Productivity Productivity Hacks | 2022-05-25T12:43:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | I Tried the Pomodoro Technique to Be More Productive — Here's How It Went | https://www.businessinsider.com/tried-pomodoro-technique-productivity-hack-made-me-less-focused | https://www.businessinsider.com/tried-pomodoro-technique-productivity-hack-made-me-less-focused |
The Taycan Cross Turismo is a new, electric station wagon from Porsche.
Its super-fast charging capability makes it more convenient to charge than other electric cars.
The Taycan Cross Turismo Turbo S Porsche loaned us cost $208,000. It usually starts at around $100,000.
Stop at a gas station, and you can fill up and be on your way in just a few minutes, regardless of the pump you pull into or the car you drive.
In an electric vehicle, however, fueling up is a bit more complicated.
Depending on a charging station's power rating, it could take anywhere from minutes to hours to top up an EV's battery pack. And all electric cars aren't created equal; some new models can absorb significantly more power at a time than others, leading to speedier charging stops.
Spending a weekend with one fabulous, cutting-edge EV, the Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo Turbo S, convinced me that ultra-fast charging is key to the future of electric cars. It may even be more important than total driving range, the number people typically care most about when comparing electric options.
The Taycan Cross Turismo can accept 270 kilowatts of charging power — more than most other models — leading to super-quick refueling times at stations that provide sufficient power. (Many electric cars max out at 50-150 kilowatts, and more kilowatts equals faster charging.) Porsche says a Taycan at a 5% charge can hit 80% in a brisk 22.5 minutes, a claim I was eager to test out on a recent weekend trip.
Whenever I've stopped to fast-charge electric cars in the past, whether it was the Volkswagen ID.4, Ford Mustang Mach-E, or Polestar 2, it always took something like 45 minutes to add significant amounts of range. A pit stop in the Taycan proved worlds quicker and more convenient.
I plugged into a 350-kilowatt Electrify America station — one of the very few locations in my area that's powerful enough to unlock the Taycan's full potential — and marveled at how quickly the car's battery level started shooting up from 20%. The Taycan immediately started charging at 252 kilowatts, taking just 2 minutes to gain 10% battery and add roughly 25 miles of driving potential.
Five minutes later it reached 50%. In the end, it took a brief 18 minutes for the Taycan's battery level to reach 80%, affording me 198 miles of driving range or 150 more than when I arrived. It was plenty for the drive home and then some. Overall, the experience felt almost as convenient as getting gas, but not quite.
Astute observers will notice these numbers don't compute with the Turbo S's estimated range of 202 miles. But I, like a handful of other outlets, experienced a considerably longer range than advertised, closer to 250 miles.
Stopping for 45 minutes to charge isn't the end of the world, but it can be frustrating when you're trying to get somewhere. And the inconvenience compounds over the course of a longer journey. The ability to charge at Taycan-level speeds could be a game changer, especially for urbanites who can't plug in at home and instead have to rely on public charging stations.
And the technology could go a long way toward making electric cars feel as practical as combustion vehicles.
The bad news is that, unless you drive a Tesla and can take advantage of that company's vast charging network, charging plugs rated at 250-kilowatts or more are still few and far between.
But there is good news: you don't need to shell out six figures for a Porsche to get an EV that charges incredibly quickly. Mass-market vehicles are starting to join the party too; the new Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 SUVs promise to charge from 10-80% in just 18 minutes.
Surely even more great options are just around the corner.
NOW WATCH: How an independent engineer built an electric Porsche that's quicker than a Tesla
More: Transportation Tech Electric Cars Electric Vehicles | 2022-05-25T14:13:59Z | www.businessinsider.com | Charging an Electric Car Isn't so Bad When It's a Porsche | https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-car-ev-charging-porsche-taycan-cross-turismo-range-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/electric-car-ev-charging-porsche-taycan-cross-turismo-range-2022-5 |
I'm a freelance SEO consultant who's made almost $500,000 in the 2 years since I lost my corporate job. Here's how I built my business.
Nick LeRoy
Nick LeRoy.
Courtesy of Nick LeRoy
Nick LeRoy is a freelance SEO consultant, podcaster, and newsletter author in St. Paul, Minnesota.
He makes six figures by specializing in technical SEO, content strategy, and website migrations.
He says his early success came from networking, and he grew his client base and audience from there.
In April 2020, I was the director of SEO at a global marketing agency. As COVID-19 started affecting businesses around the world, people started to lose their jobs. With SEO being a progressive digital-marketing channel, I wasn't too worried about my job. I should've been.
When I received an email scheduling a meeting with my boss and an HR representative, I knew something bad was going to happen. Upon joining the virtual call, I was informed that members of my team had already been let go, and that my position was being eliminated.
I decided my next step would be to freelance. In the remaining eight months of 2020, I made 40% more than I would've if I still had my corporate job. In the past two years since I started, I've earned almost $500,000 as a specialist in technical SEO, content strategy, and website migrations. (Editor's note: Insider has verified LeRoy's income with documentation.)
Here are the critical steps I took to kickstart my freelance consultancy.
I prioritized networking
Similar to many other freelancers' stories, my early freelance success came from networking. This wasn't just through people I had direct relationships with but also through social media. In fact, one of my first projects came through LinkedIn after I announced my transition to full-time consulting. That project ended up being a three-month, $12,000 website migration and relaunch project.
I highly encourage that when you meet new people you connect with them on LinkedIn. As you continue to post more and your connections "like" or comment, your post will become more visible to their network of connections as well.
Finally, don't limit yourself to online connections. More in-person networking events are starting to happen again, and this is a great opportunity to meet people in your industry. To date, the best projects I've landed have come from referrals as a result of my networking efforts.
The primary networking event I like to go to is the MnSearch Summit. It's a local digital-marketing group in Minneapolis. The SEO space is digital and involved on social media. Twitter and LinkedIn lead to one-off conversations that lead to one-on-one Zoom calls, coffee meetings, or happy-hour meetups.
I invested in digital assets
Similar to networking, creating digital assets is a great way to promote your business. At minimum, this could be a website outlining your credentials and your services. From there you can write blog posts, record podcasts, or even author a newsletter.
I attribute a fair amount of my initial success to the #SEOForLunch newsletter that I've been writing for more than five years. The newsletter has allowed me to build an audience that I can reach out to at any moment's time. I've received leads directly from subscribers, and I've also gotten referrals from people who get leads but then send them to me as a trusted thought leader within the SEO industry.
I have about 5,400 subscribers, and I created this newsletter for three primary reasons:
A weekly newsletter based on SEO updates held me accountable for keeping up with SEO best practices and updates as they became available.
I wanted a resource I could reference, as I was often writing one-off emails to clients explaining various changes or updates that search engines released.
I wanted an insurance policy. On the chance that my career bit me in the butt (it did), I wanted an audience to reach out to for work opportunities.
Creating a podcast, blog, or newsletter also builds your network. The larger your network, the bigger reach you have, which leads to more work opportunities.
I focused on measuring results
It doesn't matter how good of a salesperson you are or how big your network is if you can't deliver on your promise of results to your clients.
One of the biggest mistakes that I see with freelancers I consult with is the inability to measure the results behind their efforts. I highly recommend that every project that you work on starts with a conversation about key performance indicators. KPIs are the metrics in which you (and the client) should be able to judge your performance.
A good KPI is fully quantifiable and easily collected. A few examples of quality KPIs that I often track (and report) to my clients are these:
Revenue driven by the organic search channel.
Contact-form submissions or phone calls from the organic search channel.
Total sessions or users from the organic search channel.
Each of these KPIs is measurable through an analytics platform and/or a call-tracking solution. I primarily use Google Analytics, and I have experience with Adobe Analytics. If your client doesn't sell products directly on their website, then it's important to have a larger discussion about the lead value, and even potentially the lifetime value, of a customer. You can then use these numbers to place a monetary value on leads driven from your efforts.
Ultimately, your job as a freelancer is to provide a solid return on investment. I aim for a three- to four-time return, which means that if a client spends $5,000 with me, my work should provide their business with $15,000 to $20,000 in value.
Having a solid measurement plan in place allows you to always show proof of your value. I don't recommend that freelancers take on work where they can't measure and actively demonstrate their value. I think "I can't measure XYZ" is one of the biggest mistakes that freelancers make — all projects should be measured. The more value you provide, the more opportunities you have for contract extensions, which means more money in your pocket.
My more than 10 years of SEO experience gave me a significant advantage in launching my freelance career, but that doesn't mean I haven't made plenty of mistakes. I'm constantly learning and challenging myself to get better each day.
Don't get discouraged or give up when you hit hurdles in your freelance journey. You'll have good and bad days, but for me, the good days significantly outnumber the bad ones — which makes me only wish I'd started my freelance journey even sooner.
Are you a freelancer who wants to share your story? Email Lauryn Haas at lhaas@insider.com.
More: original contributor SEO Freelancing | 2022-05-25T14:14:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | I'm a Freelance SEO Consultant Who's Made $500,000 in 2 Years | https://www.businessinsider.com/freelance-seo-consultant-made-500000-2-years-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/freelance-seo-consultant-made-500000-2-years-2022-5 |
Regent Seven Seas Cruises has announced its 2025 150-night world cruise, its longest itinerary yet.
The five-month cruise aboard the Seven Seas Mariner starts at $87,000 for the most basic suite.
The ship will sail from Miami to San Francisco with stops in South America, the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia.
If you have an insatiable desire to sail around the world, at least $90,000, and five months to burn, this may be your calling.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings' luxury cruise brand Regent Seven Seas Cruises just announced its longest itinerary to date: a 150-night around-the-world cruise sailing in early 2025.
Months-long around-the-world cruises have remained popular with travelers since the resumption of sailing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
And some of the most in-demand global itineraries haven't been from big cruise lines.
Regent Seven Seas may have a smaller fleet compared to big brands like Celebrity Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line, but the smaller luxury cruise line has established itself as a strong player in the world cruise segment.
The cruise line operates annual global itineraries.
Source: Regent Seven Seas
And in 2021, Regent Seven Seas' 132-night 2024 world cruise sold out in less than three hours …
… the third year in a row the Regent Seven Seas' announcement of a global itinerary has broken its own "opening day" records, according to the company.
Courtesy of Regent Seven Seas
But unlike Regent Seven Seas' previous itineraries, the newly announced 150-night global cruise will be the company's longest itinerary, rivaling Miami-based cruise line Azamara's 155-night 2024 world cruise.
The 2025 cruise will sail from Miami to San Francisco aboard the Seven Seas Mariner.
Along the way, passengers will get to see or stop in destinations throughout South America, the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Alaska, and the Antarctic.
In total, the vessel will cross almost 36,300 nautical miles, three oceans …
… and 97 ports of call in 25 countries and five continents.
Of the 150 nights, passengers will get to spend 16 nights in destinations like Rio de Janeiro, Ho Chi Minh City, and Bora Bora.
And it wouldn't be a world cruise without a long list of UNESCO World Heritage Site visits (48, to be exact).
The itinerary includes stops to World Heritage destinations like Rapa Nui National Park in Chile, the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto in Japan, and Cascade Head in Oregon.
Days at sea in between these stops may seem tedious but the ship has plenty of activities to keep its passengers entertained.
The Seven Seas Mariner — which can accommodate almost 685 guests — has amenities like a bocce court, a putting green, a pool …
… seven dining venues, four lounges, and nighttime entertainment.
And if five months at sea isn't enough to satiate your cruise cravings, travelers can also add an extra 18-night cruise from San Francisco back to Miami.
Of course, a five-month luxury cruise like this won't be cheap.
If remote work or retirement from the sea is calling your name, get ready to pay more than what your monthly rent or mortgage might be.
The cruise starts at $87,000 per guest for the most basic 300-square-foot Deluxe Veranda Suite.
This price then shoots up to $250,000 for the largest 2,000-square-foot Master Suite.
This may be a hefty payment, but at least you'll have five months planned out for you.
And if it's any consolation, these prices also include WiFi, laundry, first-class airfare, medical services, and nonstop luxury for 150-nights.
More: World cruise Cruise Industry Norwegian Cruise Line Holding Regent Seven Seas Cruises | 2022-05-25T14:14:41Z | www.businessinsider.com | Photos: Regent Seven Seas' 5-Month World Cruise Starting at $87,000 | https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-regent-seven-seas-5-month-world-cruise-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-regent-seven-seas-5-month-world-cruise-2022-5 |
In January, Margaritaville opened its latest RV resort in Auburndale, Florida.
The hospitality empire wants to open up to 50 RV resorts over the next five years.
See what it's like staying at the new RV park complete with cabana cabin tiny homes and two pools.
Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville empire is growing and diversifying faster than the time it takes to find your lost shaker of salt.
The brand inspired by simple Jimmy Buffett lyrics now has a portfolio that includes nearly every aspect of the hospitality industry, from resorts to cruise lines to retirement communities.
John Cohlan, CEO of Margaritaville Holdings, has said the company may be the "fastest-growing hotel brand" in the US.
But there's one particular Margaritaville segment that seems to be expanding its footprint faster than the rest: its "casual luxury" RV resorts.
The hospitality empire currently has three RV resorts: one in Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.
The first resort in Lake Lanier, Georgia opened in spring 2019.
Shortly after, the US saw a COVID-19 pandemic-induced road travel boom.
Since then, Camp Margaritaville has seen "off the chart" receptions and reviews stronger than the company initially predicted, Jim Wiseman, the president of development at Camp Margaritaville, told Insider in 2021 …
… "which is why [Margaritaville] is trying to get in the business so fast."
In January, it launched its third location in Auburndale, Florida about an hour southwest of Orlando.
The recent opening is just one of five locations Margaritaville plans to launch this year as it aims to open 30 to 50 more RV parks over the next five years.
But the hospitality company isn't in the business of constructing new RV resorts.
Instead, it updates existing RV camps to fit its own recognizable branding and programs.
Before the 66-acre Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Cabana Cabins Auburndale became a hub of Margaritaville and RVing enthusiasts, the site was known as Cabana Club.
Conveniently for Margaritaville, Cabana Club already had plenty of amenities like a large pool, tropical bar, mini-golf course, and famed water slide, according to YouTube video tours of the site.
When Margaritaville stepped in, the most obvious aesthetic change was in the branding, which has all been replaced with Margaritaville's bright and kitschy logos.
Camp Margaritaville RV Resort and Cabana Cabins Auburndale has 183 RV sites, including 11 "Super Premium" RV suites, that all bask under direct Florida sun.
The basic RV site can accommodate all vehicle sizes and includes a grill, hookups, and a picnic table …
… while the premium sites have all of the above plus a "tiki hut," an outdoor television, lounge chairs, and a hammock.
But if you didn't come with or in a RV, you can always stay at one of the 60 cabana cabins complete with a kitchen, living room …
… bedroom, and bathroom.
These tiny homes can sleep up to six people and have the luxury of air conditioning, televisions, and a connected back deck. Think of it as an Airbnb on an RV resort.
A night at the basic RV sites ranges from around $70 to $200 …
… while the cabins and premium RV sites start at almost $200 nightly.
This price includes WiFi for remote workers who need to get some work done while lounging by one of the two pools …
… as well as access to all the on-site amenities.
These include the gym, laundry room, bathhouse, and all the on-site leisure activities.
Trust me, there's plenty of them. It's hard to feel bored at Camp Margaritaville Auburndale.
There are several lounge chairs for basking in the warm sun. But if you're looking for more active activities, the site is filled with hidden treasures that can appease any fussy children.
The site is so large, guests can rent golf carts to get around.
The main activity area right by the park's entrance includes most of the site's leisure amenities.
Here, you'll find a pool with a water slide …
… a dog park …
… corn hole …
… plenty of lounge seating near the bar …
… and a mini golf course.
The family-friendly site also has an indoor arcade …
… an outdoor children's playground …
… and a shallow children's water play area.
But you might need your golf cart to access the basketball court and second pool, which are separate from this main leisure area.
There are also plenty of programs throughout the day, from happy hour to live music to limbo and bingo.
And it wouldn't be a Margaritaville without a bar or two: Both pools have al fresco bars for guests.
If you're looking for a leisurely afternoon stroll under the sun, you can walk along the boardwalk over the lake.
But if you'd rather have a peaceful afternoon, take a seat at a lounge chair and enjoy an obligatory afternoon margarita.
You are, after all, staying in the perfect place to waste away again.
More: RV park RV Travel Transportation | 2022-05-25T14:14:47Z | www.businessinsider.com | Photos: What It's Like Staying at Margaritaville's New Florida RV Resort | https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-staying-at-margaritavilles-new-florida-rv-resort-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-staying-at-margaritavilles-new-florida-rv-resort-2022-5 |
Former President Donald Trump throws hats to the crowd during a rally with David Perdue in Commerce, Georgia.
A number of Trump-endorsed candidates slumped to defeat in key primaries in Georgia on Tuesday.
Some Republicans are now openly questioning Trump's endorsement strategy.
One RNC official said it's based on "who he dislikes," and Chris Christie slammed Trump's "vendetta tour."
A Republican National Committee official slammed Donald Trump's endorsement strategy after candidates backed by the former president crashed to defeat in the Georgia GOP primaries Tuesday.
Speaking to The New York Times, Henry Barbour, a Republican National Committee member from Mississippi, said that Trump's endorsements were "driven by who he dislikes and whoever's running against them."
"Sometimes that may work out, but I think as we see in Georgia, it's very unlikely to," Barbour said.
The comments are significant because few Republican leaders have been willing to openly criticize the former president, fearing backlash from his devoted followers and political allies.
But with a slew of Trump-backed candidates defeated in recent primaries, some Republicans are openly criticizing his endorsement strategy. The Republican Governors Association has provided financial and political support to state officials targeted by Trump in another sign of defiance toward the former president.
The latest setback came Tuesday, when the Trump-endorsed Georgia gubernatorial candidate David Perdue was convincingly defeated by incumbent Brian Kemp. Trump's pick in the race for the secretary of state nomination, Jody Hice, was also defeated by incumbent Brad Raffensperger.
Trump had picked both candidates as part of his revenge campaign against Kemp and Raffensperger for refusing to help him overturn his defeat in the state in the 2020 presidential election. Both Hice and Perdue based their campaigns around promoting Trump's baseless claims the 2020 election had been stolen from him.
In a Tuesday tweet, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a former Trump ally, said that Georgia voters had refused to take part in what he called Trump's "vendetta tour" against those he perceived as his foes in the state.
"Enormous win tonight for @BrianKempGA. I am so proud of and happy for my friend — and just as importantly for the Georgia GOP and the people of Georgia. They were not going to kick out a great Governor or be willing participants in the DJT Vendetta Tour," he wrote, referring to Trump by his initials.
Some Republican critics believe that Trump's fixation on his election-fraud claims alienates moderate voters, and that he is insufficiently focused on key issues that decide state races. But defenders of the former president insist that his endorsees have an unblemished record in national primaries.
More: Donald Trump Georgia News UK RNC | 2022-05-25T14:14:53Z | www.businessinsider.com | RNC Official: Trump Endorsements Based on 'Who He Dislikes' | https://www.businessinsider.com/rnc-official-says-trump-endorsements-based-on-dislikes-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/rnc-official-says-trump-endorsements-based-on-dislikes-2022-5 |
Walmart is expanding drone delivery to six states and four million households.
Customers primarily use the service for last-minute convenience needs, like food and medications.
Walmart says it plans to complete one million deliveries by the end of the year.
Walmart just announced plans to expand its drone delivery program to reach four million Americans by the end of the year, and it also revealed some information from deliveries so far.
Hamburger Helper is the best-selling item at one of the delivery hubs, senior VP of innovation and automation at Walmart David Guggina wrote in a blog post. So far, customers primarily use the service for convenience, like "a quick fix for a weeknight meal," such as hot dog buns, Guggina wrote. Other sellers include diapers and over the counter medications like Tylenol.
Walmart buyers in the delivery range can order items totaling up to 10 pounds for drone delivery, and anything that fits safely in the drone is eligible, Walmart said. The service costs $3.99 and is available from 8 am to 8 pm.
Walmart completed hundreds of deliveries in the past few months with positive feedback from customers, it said in the post.
The grocery chain is growing its partnership with DroneUp to create 34 delivery sites in 2022, offering grocery delivery by drone to customers in six states: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Virginia with the capacity to complete one million deliveries by the end of the year.
Walmart has partnered with other drone companies in the past, including Flytrex in Zipline in addition to DroneUp. In 2020, senior vice president for last-minute delivery Tom Ward told Insider the different partnerships were part of Walmart's experimentation "to increase [delivery] speed and convenience in a very new and innovative way."
Other companies have also experimented with drone delivery in recent years. Amazon is running a small test program with Prime Air drone deliveries this year, Insider reported. Google's drone delivery arm, Wing, partnered with Walgreens to distribute food, medications, and other household necessities in 2021, and UPS started delivering prescriptions by drone with UPS in 2020.
More: Retail Walmart Drone Amazon | 2022-05-25T14:15:23Z | www.businessinsider.com | Walmart Reveals Most Ordered Items for Drone Delivery | https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-reveals-most-ordered-items-for-drone-delivery-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-reveals-most-ordered-items-for-drone-delivery-2022-5 |
Alex Lucitante and Alexandra Narváez, 2022 Goldman Prize winners, conducting a patrol on the Aguarico River.
Alex Lucitante and Alexandra Narváez are part of an Indigenous patrol protecting ancestral territory from gold mining.
The duo are 2022 winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize for grassroots activism.
They helped win a major lawsuit against gold mining on Cofán land in 2018, suspending 52 projects.
Along the banks of the Aguarico River in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, 26 young members of the Cofán's Indigenous patrol grab their ceremonial spears, backpacks, and GPS devices several times a month, hunting for signs of trespassing gold miners.
The Cofán community established the guard, known as La Guardia, in 2017, to push back against miners' growing encroachment on their ancestral lands. As part of creating the guard, they wrote their own law, permitting patrol members to confiscate equipment and call in Ecuador's environmental police if they find trespassers in the area.
"We risk our lives to protect our life and our land," Alexandra Narváez, the first female land patrol member in Cofán's Sinangoe territory, told Insider in Spanish. "The Ai Cofán fight is about defending 73,000 hectares that belong to us — our home, our territory."
Alexandra Narváez and members of Ecuador's La Guardia, or the Indigenous guard, who protect their territory from gold miners.
The roughly 200 Cofán people of Sinangoe, in Ecuador's northern Amazon region, depend on the forest and rivers in and around their territories for food, drinking water, and sacred medicinal plants, all fundamental to the Cofán way of life. "We wanted to get together and defend this sacred space that we as Cofán have lived in for millennia," Alex Lucitante, a Cofán patrol member and human rights defender who spearheaded the group's formation, told Insider.
The patrol's work, and subsequent legal success, have earned Lucitante and Narváez a 2022 Goldman Environmental Prize for grassroots environmental activism, known as the "Green Nobel."
"This acknowledgement isn't for Alexandra or Alex," Narváez told Insider, adding, "It's about the Cofán community's hard work. It's an honor to represent them."
Lucitante and Narváez helped end more than 52 gold-mining projects on Cofán land
In January 2018, the Indigenous guard used GPS devices, drones, and camera traps provided by the Ceibo Alliance — an Indigenous-run Ecuadorian non-profit — to document environmental damage from several machines mining the Aguarico, one of Ecuador's largest and most important rivers. They discovered the Ecuadorian government had granted mining concessions on their land without consulting the Cofán community. Some were already operating and leaking contaminants, including mercury and cyanide, which are harmful to humans and wildlife, to the community downstream.
"We've been very clear that we don't want mining near us," Lucitante told Insider, adding, "We want the government to respect our decision to live in a healthy, clean place — free of contamination."
Las Pizarras, a rocky formation near the Aguarico River, where members of La Guardia first found heavy machinery in 2018.
They took the case to court, with the legal help of Amazon Frontlines, an environmental NGO, which focuses on Indigenous legal defense. Nearly a year of legal battles ended in a historic victory for the Cofán. Now, the Ecuadorian government must consult with the Indigenous community before a new mining project is slated on or near their territory. The decision also put the brakes on more than 52 gold-mining projects along the Aguarico River and protected nearly 32,000 hectares (79,000 acres) of land.
It was a huge win, Lucitante said. Some of the projects would have operated for up to 28 years, impacting not only Sinangoe, but other parts of the Cofán ancestral territory, as well as Indigenous peoples' territory downriver.
The Sinangoe community in the northern Ecuadorian Amazon, home to 200 Cofán people.
The Constitutional Court, Ecuador's most powerful judicial body, reinforced the ruling in early 2022, confirming that Indigenous communities have to consent to oil drilling, mining, and other extractive projects that affect their land. The decision gives them the final say over oil or mining projects on Indigenous land and forests, which previously could have affected huge swaths of their territory, according to Reuters.
'The fight continues'
Though the Cofán have successfully suspended dozens of gold-mining operations, Lucitante and Narváez stress that this is the beginning of a larger fight for the Indigenous community. The Ecuadorian government is still approving mining and oil drilling projects in order to advance the country's economy, they said. For instance, Ecuador's recently elected president — Guillermo Lasso — said he plans to expand mining in the coming years, despite environmental concerns from Indigenous groups, according to The Financial Times.
Alex Lucitante and Alexandra Narváez hope their legal win will galvanize Indigenous communities to challenge mining operations on their own land.
"The fight continues, because we're still seeing threats from mining," Narváez told Insider, adding, "As Cofán, we'll always remain vigilant."
Lucitante and Narváez hope that their legal triumph will inspire other Indigenous communities across Ecuador's Amazon, like the Waorani and the Shuar Arutam, to challenge the legality of mining operations on their own land.
"I want to invite other Indigenous communities in Ecuador and the world to join these collective fights happening in Amazonia," Lucitante told Insider, adding, "We're dreaming of a world where our communities — with their knowledge and culture — can keep living."
More: Amazon Rainforest Mining Goldman Environmental Prize Indigenous communities | 2022-05-25T14:22:40Z | www.businessinsider.com | Indigenous Guard Members in Ecuador Win Goldman Environmental Prize | https://www.businessinsider.com/indigenous-guard-members-in-ecuador-win-goldman-environmental-prize-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/indigenous-guard-members-in-ecuador-win-goldman-environmental-prize-2022-5 |
JPMorgan's UK digital bank wins half a million new customers but expects heavy losses
Chase has attracted half a million customers since September, but it's projected to lose $450 million this year.
The bank's projections are likely an attempt to appease investors who called for more clarity regarding the rationale behind launching the digital bank.
The news: JPMorgan's UK digital bank Chase has attracted half a million customers and $10 billion in customer deposits since its September launch.
A closer look: When Chase rolled out last year, it became JPMorgan's first retail banking presence outside of the US. The banking heavyweight's investor day slides reported that:
Chase has enabled 20 million card and payment transactions.
The estimated total non-interest expense per customer for digital challenger banks was two to three times less than for traditional banks.
But JPMorgan expected Chase to lose $450 million in 2022 and for this loss to continue at a similar level "for the next few years," according to CEO Sanoke Viswanathan.
The challenger bank was projected to break even in five to six years, with "planned expansion to multiple products to offer full-service banking."
Breaking it down: Chase's projected losses are a drop in the ocean when compared to its parent's huge earnings. And its performance is on par, considering it only launched in September and operates in an industry where less than 5% of neobanks break even.
However, the losses are significant, given the pressure the bank is under for its 30% hike in spending on new projects, which is mainly tech expenditure. The bank's projections for Chase are likely an attempt to appease investors who called for more clarity regarding the rationale behind launching the digital bank.
The big takeaway: JPMorgan will persevere with Chase, buoyed by encouraging customer acquisition and backed by the vast resources of the US's biggest bank by assets.
The bank has the resources to take a long-term approach to Chase's success and withstand losses that are likely to remain the same or even widen if planned product launches go ahead.
JPMorgan may view the UK as a testing ground for other markets to see how its digital bank "speedboat" fares.
But investors may not take the same view if it stays in the red by almost half a billion each year.
Chase's ability to disregard the short-term performance of its bottom line sets it apart from most other digital banks in the UK. Its long-term outlook will allow it to grow naturally and widen its product line. But it still has to balance this with keeping investor concerns at bay. | 2022-05-25T15:45:16Z | www.businessinsider.com | Chase Bank Attracts Half a Million Customers but Predicts Heavy Losses | https://www.businessinsider.com/chase-bank-wins-new-customers-but-expects-heavy-losses-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/chase-bank-wins-new-customers-but-expects-heavy-losses-2022-5 |
How early YouTube stars like Tyler Oakley and Hannah Hart are reinventing themselves on Twitch
Tyler Oakley, one of YouTube's most popular early stars, left the platform in January 2021.
From Tyler Oakley to Hannah Hart, YouTube stars of a bygone era are pivoting to Twitch.
Some say the switch has helped heal their relationship with the internet, despite earning less.
"Fame is so not even the point," Oakley said of his next chapter.
If there's one thing you need to understand about Tyler Oakley, it's that he doesn't care about being famous.
That may be something of an incongruent sentiment coming from one of YouTube's former posterchildren.
A decade ago, Oakley was synonymous with the video giant thanks to a specific brand of "challenge" video that feels almost quaint by today's standards. He garnered hundreds of millions of views by competing in drunk spelling bees and eating unlabeled canned food — a far cry from recreating "Squid Game."
He amassed 6.9 million subscribers, raised upwards of $1 million for The Trevor Project, visited the White House, and competed on "The Amazing Race."
But in January 2020, after 13 years on the platform, Oakley abruptly quit YouTube in a chipper video titled "See ya later," which offered little insight into his future plans or feelings about leaving.
"In the earlier days, YouTube felt so community-oriented and uplifting and non-judgmental and experimental," he told Insider. "It was a non-formulaic experience."
Then, in January 2021, he reemerged — this time on YouTube competitor Twitch , where he streams "cozy" games like "Animal Crossing" and "Stardew Valley," often stoned and occasionally bedecked in wigs.
It soon became his full-time job — something that even surprised him.
But he isn't alone. Several iconic YouTube stars of yesteryear — including Andrea Russett, Jc Caylen, Hannah Hart, Ricky Dillon, and Jenn McAllister — have either left the platform altogether or drastically reduced their output to allocate more time to the Amazon-owned streamer.
While it hasn't proven lucrative for all, creators told Insider that amid waning viewership and the rise of a drama-hungry culture on YouTube, Twitch has been a way to tap back into community, often the reason they started vlogging in the first place.
Idols of a bygone era, when YouTube wasn't so cynical
A self-described earnest person, Oakley recounts feeling a tone-shift toward the latter years of his YouTube career, with outrage and hate driving clicks. His more positive content wasn't drawing the viewership it once did.
"For me, it was witnessing tea getting spilled," he said. "I didn't want to participate in all of the back-and-forth, which felt like all people were clicking."
To that end, he feels protective about the close-knit community of 43,000 followers he's nurtured on Twitch, which is why he hasn't formally announced the move to his YouTube subscribers.
Andrea Russett, who launched her lifestyle YouTube channel 14 years ago, hasn't uploaded any videos for her nearly 3 million subscribers in roughly six months. Instead, she's recently opted to stream on Twitch, where she games, cooks, sings, and applies makeup for 5,500 followers.
She stepped away from YouTube to distance herself from polarizing stars like Jake Paul, she said, and because she felt the platform's algorithm wasn't delivering her videos to subscribers.
"It's like an active conversation," she said of Twitch. "That's the whole reason that I became an internet kid in the first place — because I didn't have a lot of friends growing up."
Lifestyle creator Andrea Russsett turned to Twitch to distance herself from polarizing YouTubers.
First-person vloggers Ricky Dillon and Jenn McAllister, both former teen idols of a sort, also haven't posted to their primary YouTube channels in about six months. (They do, though, repurpose their Twitch streams on secondary YouTube channels to passively rake in AdSense dollars).
And while challenge creator Jc Caylen is still active on YouTube, he began streaming on Twitch in 2019, and says his efforts are now evenly dispersed between both platforms.
He started out on Twitch playing "Fortnite," but hit his stride last year with IRL streams, which is Twitch's catch-all category for non-gaming content. He now has 227,000 followers on the platform.
"It was almost like YouTube back in 2014 where you would just do a challenge and boom — millions of views," he said.
'Healing my relationship to the internet'
Comedian Hannah Hart, who rose to YouTube superstardom thanks to drunk cooking tutorials, was burning out from brand deals.
"A career of making commercials," she said, "which is not what any part of me wanted to be doing with my life."
When the pandemic struck, she stopped posting on social media altogether.
Last year, when she tiptoed back onto the internet, it was mainly on Twitch, where she streams herself doing everything from gardening to playing video games for 8,000 followers.
"It's totally chaotic, and it appeals to my ADHD brain," Hart said.
"When I became a public figure, I kind of lost that connection to my online community," she said. "Being on Twitch has been about healing my relationship to the internet."
Hannah Hart has pivoted to Twitch, though has not yet earned money on the platform.
Oakley also called Twitch "healing," saying that the platform brought him closer with followers after existing on a pedestal for years.
"It feels like a little pocket of the internet that we get to decorate with our own language and our own sense of humor," he said. "Choosing to turn off the outside stressors and focus on the experience we're all sharing."
Navigating the next chapter, from finances to fandoms
Hart, who still occasionally posts on YouTube, says that Twitch hasn't helped her with a difficult financial situation.
"I'm making $0 and 0 cents. I might take out a business loan," she said of her switch to Twitch. She added that she currently takes care of two disabled family members and is living off of savings. "It's hard. It's just scary. I was such an income provider, and it's a gamble on yourself."
While Caylen said that YouTube is significantly more lucrative than Twitch, thanks to AdSense and brand deals, he has been able to cash in on Twitch thanks to subscribers, who pay for for various channel perks.
Today, he counts 3,400 subscribers, a figure Insider verified with screenshots he provided. At $5 per month, that adds up to a cool $17,000 per month (though Twitch pockets half of these earnings).
Oakley, who has hosted sponsored Twitch streams with gaming computer brand Omen and athleisure company Gymshark, has also harnessed Twitch to continue his charity efforts, including a recent 12-hour stream which raised $5,000 to free those incarcerated on cannabis charges.
And while he's confidently settling into the next phase of his career, he's aware it may never be as big as it once was.
"Fame is so not even the point. It was a fun little silly stupid roller coaster," he told Insider. "It's like thinking going to Disneyland is the end all be all. But you don't want go to Disneyland everyday forever."
More: YouTube Twitch Tyler Oakley | 2022-05-25T15:45:34Z | www.businessinsider.com | Early YouTubers Tyler Oakley, Hannah Hart Reinvent Careers on Twitch | https://www.businessinsider.com/former-youtube-stars-tyler-oakley-hannah-hart-pivoting-to-twitch-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/former-youtube-stars-tyler-oakley-hannah-hart-pivoting-to-twitch-2022-5 |
The work-from-home craze has opened the door to more chef working in private kitchens.
Becky Peterson
John Barone spent years working in the kitchens of Michelin-starred restaurants around the world. There was Jean-Georges and Daniel in New York; The French Laundry in Napa, California; and stints at Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Central in Lima, Peru.
But none of those jobs have made the chef as happy as the job he has now, cooking lunch and dinner five days a week in the home kitchen of a wealthy Silicon Valley couple.
Barone, who left the high-stress world of fine dining a decade ago, started out cooking for the couple twice a week to give their full-time chef some time off. When the pandemic hit, the full-time chef left, and Barone took over.
He started living with the couple for part of the week to reduce their exposure to COVID-19. Soon he was flying on a private jet to their house in Hawaii, where one day in March, after two years on the job, he spoke with Insider.
Barone, who grew up in New Jersey, estimates that it was his eighth trip to the Big Island, which has given him time to get to know the local farmers and find out who sells the best fish in town.
"I am just happy. I work for really great people now," Barone said.
Private-chef jobs have been in increasingly high demand, thanks to the explosion of people working from homeand indoor dining bans that put many high-end chefs out of work. Even with tech stocks tanking ahead of fears of an economic recession, work-from-home is here to stay — as are Silicon Valley's many millionaires and billionaires.
Of course, working in the homes of busy, health-conscious, secretive millionaires and billionaires can have its downsides. Nondisclosure agreements are par for the course, as are special diets. The travel can be burdensome and not always to gorgeous getaways like Hawaii.
While Barone works for "great people," some clients can take advantage of having a paid employee at the house and expect them to babysit their kids, run errands, or act as a chauffeur, Silicon Valley private chefs told Insider.
"Some want you to be a butler and put slippers by the door," said one private chef who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal.
Some want you to be a butler and put slippers by the door. Anonymous private chef
Despite the risks, high-end cooks are increasingly leaving the hustle and bustle of Michelin-starred kitchens for the mansions and vacation homes of Silicon Valley's elite. They say the salary and other perks make it worthwhile, especially if you end up with a family that treats you with respect.
One job listing in San Francisco offered $8,000 to $12,000 a month with a requirement that the chef is "able to deliver tasty, creative meals free from dairy, wheat, gluten, sugar, and salt."
Another listing for the Silicon Valley suburb of Atherton had a salary range of $104,000 to $170,000, depending on experience, and a long list of requirements, including "spatial awareness" and the "ability to distinguish, with a degree of accuracy, the differences or similarities in intensity and quality of flavors or aromas."
Working in the homes of busy, health-conscious, secretive millionaires and billionaires can have its downsides.
That's about twice the pay as cooking at some fine-dining restaurants, where some chefs said they've heard of wages totaling as low as $45,000 and up to $80,000, even while working 100 hours a week.
From the NDAs to the high-flying perks and special diets, some of Silicon Valley's private chefs share their experiences.
Max Porterkhamsy is a former executive chef of the Mayo Family Winery Reserve Room in Kenwood, California, and he previously worked at the prestigious Le Bernardin restaurant in New York. When he turned to private cooking several years ago, he stepped into a different and sometimes surreal world.
He mentioned a time a client sent a private jet to pick him up. A different family had Porterkhamsy living with them in an $80,000-a-month rental unit and driving their rented Lamborghini.
The family, Porterkhamsy said, was "afraid to drive the vehicle but wanted to go for rides in it. So I spent two days just driving random people around in the Lamborghini."
Today Porterkhamsy and his wife, Khambay, run Epicurate, an online marketplace like Airbnb, and a private-chef website, Vine Dining. Instead of renting houses, clients can schedule services from a curated list of high-end chefs.
The company is built on a core tenet of the private-chef world, which is that people who hire private chefs often have more money than they have time.
"What they can't afford is an evening of disappointment," said Porterkhamsy, who still occasionally cooks for private clients.
Preventing disappointment is a big part of the job. Whether it's an afternoon snack of carrots and hummus or a birthday cake, chefs become an integral part of their clients' daily lives. They must anticipate their clients' needs, including the best time to put out freshly baked cookies.
"You have to really anticipate what their needs are before they know they need them," Barone said.
You'll probably overhear conversations that are private. Chef John Barone
The job of private cooking can be surprisingly intimate. Unlike working in a restaurant kitchen, working in someone's home requires a level of hospitality that can be uncomfortable for more introverted types.
"You almost have to learn a different way of thinking," Barone said. "You'll probably overhear conversations that are private. You have to be aware of your surroundings and how people are feeling."
In some ways, being a chef is like running a small business. Many of the chefs Insider spoke with have to create menus days or weeks in advance and get the sign-off from their clients. Most are also responsible for keeping the kitchen organized and clean between meals. For those who work as freelancers, moving between clients and events, it literally is a small business.
On top of cooking three meals a day, full-time chefs may be expected to do all of the food planning and shopping for the household, which requires building relationships with small farms and meat vendors to ensure that the ingredients are always of the highest quality.
Since it can be hard to find certain products in remote areas, traveling chefs often find themselves packing private planes with ice chests full of favorite food and wine.
While food preferences change from person to person, chefs with experience cooking Asian-fusion dishes are in high demand in the Bay Area, where many high-level executives come from across the Pacific. Paleo, keto, and vegan diets are extremely popular, as are diets that exclude dairy and gluten. Once, Porterkhamsy said, someone even told him they had a salt allergy.
Traveling chefs often find themselves packing private planes with ice chests full of favorite food and wine.
While it's common for job ads to specify that they want a chef with a background at Michelin-starred restaurants, Barone said most clients don't want restaurant-style food seven days a week.
Compared to people dining at restaurants, Barone said, people eating at home "prefer more home-cooked food."
"I'll be making quesadillas and grilled cheese sandwiches for the kids," he said. "They're not eating caviar and shrimp cocktails."
Besides their cooking skills, the most important skill in the world of private chefs is discretion. No influential person wants their private family disputes, dealmaking, or political wielding leaked to the public.
Barone, Porterkhamsy, and the other chefs I spoke with for this story wouldn't tell me clients' names or any specifics about the people they've worked for. One chef said she couldn't talk to me at all because she'd signed an NDA with every single client she'd ever cooked for.
This emphasis on secrecy often starts at the beginning of the hiring process. One chef said he did a weeklong trial run for a Silicon Valley client without meeting or learning the identity of the person eating his food. Job ads usually list the employer as an anonymous holding company or a recruiting firm.
Ultimately, some retired restaurant workers decide private cooking isn't for them. But instead of returning to restaurant work, some have built new careers doing meal prep for multiple families, cooking at executive retreats and outdoor dinner parties, or running things behind the scenes at boutique meal-delivery companies that bring freshly made meals to the masses.
Restaurant hours are brutal. The salary is not very good. Chef Entzel Nolan
Working near San Francisco, some people said they found higher wages and less stress moving away from the kitchen and into the world of food tech, where they found high-paying jobs working on everything from menu planning at food-delivery startups to research and development on synthetic meats.
Jessica Entzel Nolan worked for Gordon Ramsay and as a pastry chef at Morimoto in Napa before leaving to work in San Francisco. Her post-restaurant jobs included managing culinary operations at David Friedberg's technologically enhanced quinoa restaurant Eatsa and running research and development at the now shuttered on-demand meal company Sprig.
The ability to make healthy foods and cater to special diets can also come in handy.
"Restaurant hours are brutal. The salary is not very good. You're working weekends. You're working nights — those are the top varsity positions," Entzel Nolan said.
"Switching from restaurants to tech is something a lot of chefs do later in their careers, especially if they're thinking of starting a family," she added.
Entzel Nolan enjoyed her time working in tech. With her nights and weekends free, she could finally "date and have a normal life." But in 2019, she decided to stop working altogether.
But she did go back to cooking. The position is live-in, requires babysitting, chauffeuring, and running errands.
It's for a family — her own.
More: Silicon Valley Private Chef Eatsa Sprig | 2022-05-25T15:45:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Silicon Valley Private Chefs Dish on Catering to the Tech Class | https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-the-job-of-a-private-chef-in-silicon-valley-2022-4 | https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-the-job-of-a-private-chef-in-silicon-valley-2022-4 |
Conservative MPs say they have 'certainly lost' the next election after partygate report but believe Boris Johnson is safe
Boris Johnson at Downing Street.
Sue Gray's report into COVID-19 breaches by UK government officials was released Wednesday.
Conservatives MPs said after the release that they have "certainly lost" the next election.
Boris Johnson is deemed "safe" but backbenchers fear lasting public backlash towards the party.
Conservative MPs are openly predicting electoral disaster while Boris Johnson is deemed "safe" after Sue Gray published her long-awaited partygate report on Wednesday.
The investigation into multiple breaches of COVID-19 lockdown rules in Downing Street and the surrounding departments — which has resulted in 126 police fines — makes for lurid reading, including details of excessive drunkenness resulting in people vomiting, fighting, and breaking a child's swing, as well as being rude to the cleaners.
But while Gray blamed "leadership failings," as she did in her previous report, she stopped short of naming names.
An hour after the report was made public, Johnson gave a statement to the House of Commons, in which he defended his own behaviour but said he was "humbled by the whole experience."
He also said he was "appalled by some of the behaviour, particularly in the treatment of the security and the cleaning staff."
During a back and forth with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, Johnson accused his political rival of hypocrisy, branding him "Sir Beer Korma" — a reference to allegations that Starmer also broke lockdown rules by drinking a beer and eating a curry with aides, in what is known as "beergate."
—Harry Yorke (@HarryYorke1) May 25, 2022
Conservative MPs were thin on the ground during the debate, with just a handful intervening to offer the prime minister their overt support.
Several others, including Aaron Bell, who has previously been outspoken in his criticism of partygate, asked Johnson probing questions.
Speaking to Insider afterwards, several Tory backbenchers expressed their dismay. They were granted anonymity to speak freely.
One said: "I've concluded from today's report — the PM is safe but we've certainly lost the next general election."
Another senior MP, who sits on a four-figure majority, said he was now expecting to lose his seat at the next vote, and was considering his future career.
A former minister told Insider: "The emails are starting to come in though. The public have not moved on."
A fourth MP said that "at least one" new letter of no confidence had been submitted this morning.
On Tuesday, sources suggested that Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 committee, had received as many as 50 letters already, and that a vote of no confidence could be imminent.
Johnson is expected to address the 1922 committee early Wednesday evening, after which 100 MPs have been invited to an overnight event to plan the party's future election strategy. | 2022-05-25T15:45:58Z | www.businessinsider.com | Partygate: Tories Say 'Certainly Lost' Next Election After Gray Report | https://www.businessinsider.com/partygate-sue-gray-report-tories-say-certainly-lost-next-election-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/partygate-sue-gray-report-tories-say-certainly-lost-next-election-2022-5 |
Krissi Driver
The author, Krissi Driver, in Korea.
Like many Americans, I graduated college with tens of thousands in student loan debt.
My monthly $600 payment was drowning me, even when I made spending cuts and got a lower interest rate.
Moving to Korea to teach English finally made the difference because my cost of living dropped.
When I graduated from a small university in 2009, I was immediately saddled with $60,000 in student loans and working a job that paid me just $25,000 a year.
I was paying three separate loan servicers a combined $600 a month — far more than I was paying for rent and my car combined. I constantly felt like I was drowning financially. I had no real disposable income and hated money because it felt like I never had any.
Eventually, I was putting expenses on my credit cards just to keep up with my loan payments and make ends meet. It seemed like my 20-year payoff date was never going to come.
But by making some drastic changes in how I approached my life and my money, I was able to pay off all my student loans nine years ahead of schedule. Here's how I did it.
I put my loans on autopilot and lowered my interest rates
After my six-month grace period, all three of my lenders offered a 0.25% break on my interest rates just for setting up automatic draft payments. I was able to work with each company and chose payment dates that worked with my salary direct deposits so I wouldn't accidentally overdraw my checking account.
This turned out to be a massive boon: Some of my federal loans' interest rates were only 0.25% while I was paying them. By setting up the auto-debit, getting that 0.25% interest rate discount meant I was paying zero interest on some loans., This allowed me to save a little money in the long run and pay them down faster.
I drastically cut my expenses
When your student loan payments are $600 a month and you're only making $25,000-30,000 a year, there's not much left for rent, insurance, and other everyday living expenses.
So, I was frugal. With the exception of one year when I was living in Colorado, I lived with roommates. I cooked meals at home. I took my lunch to work, even when I was doing door-to-door sales for a telecom company and my car was my office.
Moving to Portland, Oregon, in 2011 was the straw that finally broke the camel's back. Cutting my expenses, living with roommates, and being extra careful of how much gas I was pumping into my car each week wasn't enough. I could barely afford the basics and had to put some of my loans into forbearance for a year.
To get back on my payment schedule, I made a dramatic life change.
I moved abroad to live more affordably
This was the single most-defining decision that allowed me to pay off my loans nearly a decade ahead of schedule.
In 2013, I moved to South Korea to teach English. After eight years of teaching, I paid off my last loan.
Living in Korea has helped me lower my cost of living exponentially: My Korean employer pays my rent and I can walk to work every day. I take public transportation and as a foreigner in Korea, I benefit from a much lower tax rate than I was paying in the US.
I hustled in my off-hours
To earn more money, I took extra jobs working nights and weekends in retail stores.
When my teaching job needed someone to cover extra classes, I offered to help and pulled in some overtime pay.
In 2015, I took a paid internship with a college acquaintance who was running her own content marketing business. After the internship ended, I stayed on working part-time. When my boss decided to return to the workforce and leave entrepreneurship, I ventured off on my own and now run my own freelance writing business.
I still made a point to enjoy myself
In the early years of my loan repayment plan, I learned to restrict myself a lot. I made mistakes early on and built up a lot of credit card debt, making my situation feel all the more dire. Eventually, I cut back on a lot of "fun" spending. It was depressing and made me feel all the more trapped by my financial circumstances.
But after moving to Korea, I had a little more disposable income and made a point to enjoy life. I was never so restrictive that I didn't spend time going out with friends for dinner, drinks, or coffee. Moving to Asia has opened up a whole new side of the world, and I've traveled extensively.
I learned early on in adulthood that I don't need a lot to be happy. Those first years after college were rough and I cried a lot of stress-induced tears, but the lessons I learned about managing my finances have been invaluable.
I'm proud and humbled to finally be living debt-free. It's given me immeasurable peace of mind and the freedom to live comfortably.
Krissi Driver is a freelance writing coach and content creator based in South Korea. A life-long teacher and mentor, she teaches self-motivated women how to start and maintain a freelance writing business so they can supplement or replace their full-time income and build a life they love. You can download Krissi's freelance writing ebook, "How to Start a Freelance Writing Hustle This Weekend," for free by visiting her website or find her on LinkedIn.
PERSONAL FINANCE Understanding student loan interest is vital to managing your debt. Here's how it works.
ECONOMY Leadership at one of the biggest student-loan companies expects Biden to cancel $10,000 in debt per borrower in the next few weeks
STRATEGY I took out $200,000 in loans for law school but never passed the bar. Now I'm stuck with all the debt and none of the prestige.
PERSONAL FINANCE This week's student loan refinancing rates: May 24, 2022 | Rates could rise soon
More: Student Loans Student Debt Living Abroad Personal Finance Insider | 2022-05-25T15:46:10Z | www.businessinsider.com | Moving Abroad Was the Only Way I Paid Off $60,000 in Student Loans | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/moving-abroad-pay-off-student-loans-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/moving-abroad-pay-off-student-loans-2022-5 |
Delivery apps ignored business basics to supercharge growth — and now they're facing layoffs, stock crashes, and a brutal war for survival
Delivery apps ran on an unsustainable business for years, but the tech industry crash and economic slowdown may finally spell their doom.
Kartik Menon
Entertain a thought experiment: In this day and age, how would you build the world's biggest lemonade-stand business?
The business of lemonade should be simple: You need the raw goods (lemons, sugar, water) and a sales platform (table, cardboard signs, and coolers). Using this model, you might eke out $0.10 in profit for each $1 cup sold — not bad, but hardly a high-growth, paradigm-shifting business.
Suppose you become more ambitious. You sprinkle some caffeine into your concoction, tout the health benefits of vitamin C, and bill your beverage as the "future of hydration." You create a mobile app to place orders, contract with drivers to deliver the lemonade, and spend a truckload on marketing. All of this is expensive, so it now costs you $1.75 to sell a $1 cup. Despite these losses, your customer base grows explosively. It's still roughly the same beverage, but all that progress attracts Silicon Valley funding, which fuels your ascent as the global lemonade leader. Profit? You can figure that out later.
Now consider another question for your newly-minted lemonade unicorn: What happens when investor money runs out?
A whole class of gig-economy companies — Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and the like — have gone through these gymnastics at tremendous scale, building massive operations on the back of money-losing ideas. At their most basic these companies, from taxi-cabs to food delivery, are comparable to my proverbial lemonade stand: a simple business that allows its operators to eke out a profit.
But in pursuit of grand ideals — from the "future of transportation" to the "future of grocery" — and grander funding, these businesses hemorrhage money as they've relentlessly chased growth: burning cash, customers, and vendors along the way. Now, as tech valuations crumble and investors ditch their stakes in unprofitable startups, these companies face a reckoning of their own making.
Burning cash and bridges
While Uber wasn't the first gig economy platform, its rise in 2009 emboldened a generation of entrepreneurs to try their hand at founding companies reliant on contract work and mobile apps. These companies got cheap financing as investors, forced by a decade of near-zero interest rates, searched for yield in ever riskier propositions. Tech financiers piled into these unprofitable but buzzy startups, hoping that the temporary sacrifice of cash flow and huge losses in the present would lead to explosive growth and, eventually, superior returns. The boom continued for over a decade, culminating in a dizzying array of "instant grocery" startups — Gorillas, Zapp, Getir, Weezy, Jiffy, Gopuff, Yango Deli, Buyk, Fridge No More, Jokr, Voly, Market Kurly, and Instacart — that seized on the disruption of the pandemic to raise a combined $14 billion.
Although they provide a wide array of services, these gig economy companies generally share a dubious connection to profitability. For example, between 2018 and the first quarter of 2022, Uber's users have spent $53 billion on the platform while Uber has burned roughly $73 billion on costs – including erecting offices with a boatload of perks. In order to stem the tide of quarterly losses, Uber relies on frequent sales of stock, debt, and convertible notes to outside investors. Put simply, gig and delivery companies like Uber require regular infusions of cash from the public in order to remain in business. There are so many unprofitable companies staying afloat through investor cash that Goldman Sachs even created a separate index to track the performance of the "unprofitable tech" sector.
In attempt to lose somewhat less money, delivery apps have squeezed customers, workers, and the businesses they deliver from.
Another glaring similarity of many of these companies is that they continue to rack up staggering losses while barely investing in the equipment or labor of their underlying services. Delivery fees eat into already thin restaurant margins and cause chaos for food workers. Uber and its gig-economy brethren hire their frontline workers on a contract basis, meaning they have few obligations to their drivers and delivery people: no health insurance, retirement-savings plans, or consistent pay.
These companies don't mind squeezing their customers as well. The cost of fuel, previously borne entirely by the driver, is now shared with the passenger. Customers pay increasingly hefty prices for rides; an analysis last year found that fares were up almost 80% from prepandemic levels in some cities. In a world where restaurants can increasingly deliver directly to their consumers, DoorDash's model of surcharging both the restaurant and the diner is bad for all parties involved — except, of course, DoorDash. And yet the company somehow lost almost half a billion dollars last year.
Gig companies built their businesses on unstable ground, fighting for market share instead of building sustainable businesses. Now their priorities are coming back to bite them.
Time has run out
Given the steep rise of tech stocks over the past few years and their sharp fall over the past five months, it's hard to resist comparisons to the tech bubble of the late 1990s. Webvan, a 1999 dot-com company, promised to deliver groceries to customers in a 30-minute window of their choosing. In the 18 months before Webvan filed to go public in mid-1999, the company sold $395,000 worth of groceries. To do so, it had to spend more than $48 million. It went bankrupt two years later.
While the technology powering many delivery and gig apps has come a long way since Webvan, the economics of delivery and rideshare have not. And much like the sudden reversal of fortunes that led the tech bubble to burst in the early 2000s, the tide is turning against today's high-flying startup darlings.
For one thing, the macroeconomic tailwinds that helped fuel the rise of gig companies have begun to dissipate. Inflation and a tight labor market are squeezing companies' input costs. Higher interest rates and volatile share prices will make it harder for companies to find new financing when they need it.
Investors are also turning against these once-loved companies. Since its initial public offering, Uber has shed almost half of its value, and it's is down 60% from its record high in 2021. Lyft reported worse-than-expected earnings in early May, and its stock has collapsed more than 70% from its IPO price. After meeting with investors in New York and Boston, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi sent a letter to employees stating that "we have to make sure our unit economics work before we go big." Uber is a global company, they are already big. It defies belief that they are only now considering the validity of the basic premise of their business. Tiger Global Management and D1 Capital, two investing titans, have signaled a retreat from financing technology companies. Having been stung by the market downturn in these technology companies, hedge funds and private equity companies appear increasingly unwilling to finance the money-losing operations of the gig economy.
The most recent batch of gig companies and uber-fast delivery startups are facing the same struggles. Fridge No More shut down its operations after failing to sell itself to DoorDash. In a statement that makes one question why such a business would have ever been started, Fridge No More's CEO told employees that "investors were concerned" that "each order brings losses to the company." Jokr reportedly held talks to sell its New York operations, which make up the bulk of its US business. Gorillas has started layoffs and announced its exit from several European markets. Instacart slashed its valuation by 40% after growth slowed on its platform.
Even the basic labor model that powers these companies is under scrutiny. Drivers are taking advantage of the strong labor market to opt out of the exploitative model; Uber and Lyft have both struggled with driver shortages over the past two years. Lawmakers and regulators are questioning whether gig companies should be required to treat their drivers and frontline workers as full employees, a move that would exponentially increase their labor costs. These efforts are already causing an issue for their bottom lines, as a consortium of ridehailing and delivery companies spent over $200 million in 2020 to try to lobby themselves out of a California law that would reclassify gig workers as full employees. And the Biden administration has suggested it will take up this fight nationwide.
For years economic growth and low interest rates allowed gig economy companies to balloon into household names, stock market behemoths, and major employers without ever becoming viable businesses. Now that the economy, market, and regulatory tides have turned against them, gig economy companies are being forced to wage — and likely lose — existential war in defense of their clearly unsustainable business models.
Kartik Menon is a former Goldman Sachs securities trader who wrote quantitative strategies to trade equities and US-listed derivatives.
More: Uber DoorDash Recession | 2022-05-25T15:46:16Z | www.businessinsider.com | Delivery Apps, Gig Economy Companies Crushed by Tech Stock Crash, Recession Fears | https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-stock-market-crash-recession-gig-delivery-apps-uber-instacart-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-stock-market-crash-recession-gig-delivery-apps-uber-instacart-2022-5 |
Citi vs. Bank of America: Which bank is better for you?
Bank Editor's rating Standout feature Savings APY Next steps
High interest rate on Citi Accelerate Savings
Easy to waive monthly service fees on Bank of America Advantage Savings
Citi is the clear winner if you'd like to open a CD — there's more variety and higher CD rates.
For savings and checking accounts, it could be a tight race between the two banks.
Bank of America is more likely to address customer issues, but it's also been involved in public scandals.
Read Insider's bank reviews of Citi and Bank of America.
Citi and Bank of America are national brick-and-mortar banks with a variety of checking and savings accounts.
To help you figure out which bank is better for you, we've compared different types of bank accounts. We're also reviewing both institutions for trustworthiness, so you may see how each responds to customer issues and whether it's been involved in public controversies.
National bank with 690 branches and access to 72,000 fee-free ATMs
High interest rate on the Citi Accelerate Savings (need at least $1 in account to earn interest)
Competitive interest rate on 6-month CDs, 11-month CDs, and 5-year CDs
Citi groups its bank accounts into packages, so you'll need to open both a savings and checking account
Citi Accelerate Savings is only available in 42 states
Around 4,200 branches and 16,000 ATMs
Savings features on savings account (Earn up to 10% cash back through BankAmeriDeals and Keep the Change® feature lets you round up debit card purchases)
$100 opening bonus on Bank of America Advantage Banking until June 30, 2022
A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau
Low interest rates on savings account
Monthly services fees
Bank account history includes settlements involving racial discrimination and unauthorized bank creation
Citi vs. Bank of America checking account comparisons
Below, we've compared two of the lowest-fee checking accounts available at each bank.
Citi Access Account Bank of America Advantage Plus Checking Account
Minimum opening deposit $0 $100
Meet at least one of these requirements each month:
Make at least one direct deposit of any amount
Maintain an average monthly balance of $1,500 or more in all Citi accounts and investment accounts
Make $250 or more in direct deposits
Maintain an average daily balance of $1,500 or more in your checking account
Enroll in the Preferred Rewards program
Sign-up bonus None $100
Citi narrowly beats Bank of America in this category since its checking account has a $0 opening deposit, but your best option could come down to which bank account makes it easier to waive monthly service fees, and whether you prioritize a sign-up bonus.
Citi vs. Bank of America savings account comparisons
Citi offers two savings accounts — Citi® Accelerate Savings and the Citi® Savings Account. Meanwhile, Bank of America has one savings account option.
We've compared Citi® Accelerate Savings to the Bank of America Advantage Savings Account since these accounts are available in most states and have similar monthly service fees.
Citi® Accelerate Savings Bank of America Advantage Savings Account
Fulfill one of the following requirements each month:
Maintain an average monthly balance of $500 or more (for Elevate, Basic, or Access account packages)
Maintain an average monthly balance of $50,000 or more across all your Citi accounts (for the Citi Priority account package)
Maintain an average monthly balance of $10,000 or more across all your Citi accounts (for the Citi account package)
No monthly service fee during the first 6 months
After that, you must fulfill one of the following requirements each month:
Maintain an average daily balance of at least $500
Link a Bank of America Advantage Relationship Banking Account
Enroll in the Bank of America Preferred Rewards Program
Are under the of 25 and a student
Available in 42 states (you won't be able to open an account in CA, CT, IL, MD, NV, NJ, NY, VA, certain parts of FL, certain parts of Puerto Rico, or Washington, DC)
Choosing between the two will depend on your preferences since these accounts are distinct for different reasons. The Citi® Accelerate Savings may be ideal for earning a high interest rate, but you'll need to live in an eligible state and also be opening a bank account package. Meanwhile, the Bank of America Advantage Savings Account may be a better choice if you're only looking to open a savings account or find it easier to waive monthly service fees at Bank of America.
Bank of America Advantage Savings Account
New accounts have monthly fee waived for the first 6 months
Multiple ways to waive monthly fee after the first 6 months
No excess withdrawal fee if your balance is at least $20,000, or if you're a Preferred Rewards customer
Low APY
$100 opening deposit
$10 excess withdrawal fee
Access to over 4,200 branches and 16,000 ATMs
Earn slightly higher rates by becoming a Preferred Rewards customer and qualifying for the Gold, Platinum, or Platinum Honors tier
Earn cash back when you make a debit card or credit card purchase through the BankAmeriDeals® program; Cardholders will automatically be enrolled in the program when setting up online banking and a list of eligible offers and deals will be available through online banking
Waive $8 monthly service fee by maintaining $500 balance, OR linking to your Bank of America Advantage Relationship Banking® account, OR by becoming a Preferred Rewards customer
Waive monthly fee if you're a student under age 24
Interest compounded monthly and paid monthly
Citi vs. Bank of America CD comparisons
Citi Fixed Rate Certificates of Deposit Bank of America Standard Term Certificate of Deposit
Term lengths 1 month to 10 years 28 days to 10 years
Early withdrawal penalties 90 to 180 days interest 7 to 365 days interest
Citi CDs pay higher interest rates than Bank of America CDs, regardless of which term you choose. It will also be your default option if you're searching for step-up CDs (A CD where the interest rate increases over time) or no-penalty CDs.
Citi vs. Bank of America trustworthiness and BBB rating
We use ratings from the Better Business Bureau to evaluate how a bank resolves customer issues.
Bank of America has an A+ rating from the BBB, while Citi has an F rating because it's received a high volume of customer complaints and had government action taken against the business.
A good BBB rating won't guarantee that you'll have a perfect relationship with a bank. Talk to current customers or read online customer reviews to see if a particular bank will be a good fit for you.
Both Bank of America and Citi have been involved in recent public controversies.
Citi has been in the following public settlements:
In 2019, Citi accidentally sent $900 million to customers.
In 2020, the bank was required to pay $400 million in a settlement with the Comptroller of the Currency. The OCC stated the bank had inefficient banking practices.
Bank of America has been in the following cases:
In 2020, the Department of Justice claimed that Bank of America denied home loans to adults with disabilities based on their disability. Bank of America paid around $300,000 to people who were refused loans and needed to implement a new non-discriminatory policy.
In 2019, Bank of America paid $4.2 million in a settlement with the US Department of Labor to people who claimed the bank discriminated against female, Black, and Hispanic applicants in the hiring process.
Bank of America wins in this category since it is more likely to address customer issues, but keep in mind it's also been involved in public controversies. You might want to learn more about ethical banking if you prioritize finding an institution that fits your values.
Is Bank of America or Citi better?
You might favor Citi if you're searching for a brick-and-mortar bank that pays a solid interest rate. Citi 6-month, 11-month, or 5-year CDs are offering a great interest rate right now. If you live in one of 42 states that have the Citi® Accelerate Savings, you'll also be able to earn a higher interest rate than with the average savings account.
Bank of America could be a better choice if you find it easier to waive monthly services fees on a particular account. For example, the Bank of America Advantage Savings Account doesn't charge a monthly service fee during the first six months and waives the fee automatically for anyone under age 18.
Is Bank of America or Citi bigger?
Bank of America is available in more states than Citi. Bank of America also has 4,200 branches in the US, while Citi only has 690 locations.
PERSONAL FINANCE Relationship banking can offer special perks, but you'll have to open several bank products. Is it worth it?
More: Citibank Bank of America Citibank Access Account Bank of America Advantage Plus
Citi Accelerate Savings
Bank of America Advantage Savings
Bank of America CD | 2022-05-25T17:12:45Z | www.businessinsider.com | Citi Vs. Bank of America: Which Bank Is Better for You? | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/citi-vs-bank-of-america-comparison-review | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/citi-vs-bank-of-america-comparison-review |
As Americans start spending less and the economy settles into a new normal, more economists see a mild downturn coming next year.
Americans hate the economy right now, and are getting concerned that the US is in a recession.
Today's economy probably isn't in a slump, as most data shows the recovery still running strong.
Yet a growing number of economists see a mild downturn arriving in 2023.
Americans are certainly feeling like the economy is in the can.
Consumer sentiment is the weakest it's been in a decade, dragged lower by the highest inflation in four decades. Google searches for " recession " are on the rise. More and more Wall Street economists are bracing for a downturn. Americans worried the country is in a recession have many reasons for doing so.
Right now, few signs suggest that's the case, but more and more evidence points to an economic downturn in 2023.
For all the headlines, debates, indicators, and forecasts, recessions are finicky things. They can range dramatically in their severity, cause, and outcomes.
Here's what you should say when someone asks you what's going on in the economy.
The most commonly used criteria for a recession haven't been met
The National Bureau of Economic Research says recessions require "a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and lasts more than a few months." While the coronavirus crash was relatively short from peak to trough, the size and breadth of the decline were enough to meet the NBER's criteria.
Following that standard, it's unlikely the US economy currently sits in a recession. Economic output did decline at an annualized rate of 1.4% through the first three months of 2022, but that pales in comparison to the 31.2% plunge seen through the second quarter of 2020.
The bulk of the decline was also powered by slowdowns in net exporting and inventory build-up, not a broad waning of economic activity here at home. The trade slowdown was largely fueled by increased importing amid a time when Americans are buying a ton. The decline in businesses' inventories, meanwhile, was more a reversion to the normal trend, since the prior quarter saw their stockpiling spike higher.
Without those two factors weighing on overall GDP, the economy likely would've posted yet another quarter of stellar growth. Consumer spending, which makes up about two-thirds of GDP, grew at an annualized rate of 2.7%, and business investment expanded at a 9.2% pace, suggesting that companies are still seeing strong future prospects.
The economic recovery is still chugging away
To believe the economy is currently in a recession also ignores several signals it's still growing at a healthy pace. According to the most closely watched indicators, the recovery is alive and well.
Job creation, for one, remains about twice as strong as the pre-pandemic trend. The US added 428,000 nonfarm payrolls through April, beating economists' forecasts and matching the gain posted the previous month. The labor market has now recovered about 95% of the jobs it lost at the start of the pandemic, yet it's still adding payrolls at a healthy pace.
Despite some layoffs at high-profile tech companies, jobless claims are still near their pre-pandemic lows, hinting companies aren't laying off workers en masse to cut costs.
Inflation may be extraordinarily high, but that hasn't kept Americans from pouring more fuel into the economic engine. Spending at retailers and restaurants rose to a record $677.7 billion in April, dashing forecasts that soaring prices might finally be weighing on demand.
Recession forecasts peg 2023 as the year of the downturn
Just because the economy is doing well today doesn't mean a recession isn't on the horizon. A handful of economists have penciled in a downturn in the near future, arguing the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate increases will slow growth to a halt. Yet even those forecasters don't see the slump starting until at least late 2022, with most projections pointing to 2023 as the year of concern.
The delay comes down to the slow pace at which Americans shift their spending habits. Demand for goods shot higher early in the pandemic as lockdowns curbed spending on in-person services. That drove goods spending well above the pre-crisis trend, where it remains to this day.
That rally is expected to reverse course through 2022. Deutsche Bank economists — the first major bank to make a recession call — expect spending on goods to revert back to the pre-pandemic trend as demand moves back to services like travel and dining.
The reversion in goods spending won't spark a severe downturn, but it will be enough to slow economic growth next year, Brett Ryan, a senior US economist at Deutsche Bank, told Insider.
"The type of recession we're looking at is not like a serious, massive downturn in consumer spending across the board," he added.
So no, the US most likely isn't in a recession today. But as demand cools down and the economy settles into a new normal, more economists see a mild downturn coming next year.
More: Economy Recession recession watch recession 2022 | 2022-05-25T17:13:03Z | www.businessinsider.com | Recession Coming in 2022? Why Economic Downturn Is More Likely in 2023 | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-2022-or-2023-outlook-whats-happening-economy-growth-recovery-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-2022-or-2023-outlook-whats-happening-economy-growth-recovery-2022-5 |
Former Sen. David Perdue speaks May 3, 2022, in Rutledge, Ga. Perdue got trounced in his Trump-endorsed challenge to Gov. Brian Kemp, largely based on attacking the 2020 election.
Georgia resoundingly rejected two candidates who largely ran on Trump's 2020 election grievances.
But attacks on the 2020 election are animating other Republican primaries around the country.
Candidates who cast doubt on or tried to overturn the 2020 election made headway in Alabama.
Former President Donald Trump took his train of grievances down to Georgia, but the voters wanted no part in it.
Trump tried to exact revenge on incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp for certifying President Joe Biden's election victory by endorsing his challenger, former Sen. David Perdue, who said he wouldn't have certified the 2020 election.
But Perdue received a swift and brutal shellacking from Kemp, losing to the incumbent governor by over 50 points with over 95% of the votes in as of Wednesday morning.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who Trump unsuccessfully pressured to "find" him 11,780 votes on an extraordinary post-election phone call, beat expectations and defeated Trump's endorsed candidate, Rep. Jody Hice, outright, narrowly avoiding a June runoff election.
Kemp, Raffensperger, and Georgia's voters sent a resounding message to Trump that his election grievances have outstayed their welcome in the Peach State, and, importantly, reduced the chances of partisan meddling in the 2024 election.
These victories show the limits of campaigns driven by Trump's sour grapes, but they don't mean that Trump's election lies have lost their potency among Republican voters. Indeed, in open primaries for key election posts around the country, candidates who pose a threat to fair elections in 2024 are making headway with and without Trump's endorsement.
"In 16 states right now, there are still people in the running who are election denier candidates," Al Vanderklipp, a fellow at the nonpartisan Election Reformers Network who tracks secretary of state races, told Insider.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp speaks during a Get Out the Vote cookout at the Hadden Estate at DGD Farms on May 21, 2022 in Watkinsville, Georgia.
Incumbency and poorly-run campaigns helped Kemp and Raffensperger beat their opponents
In Georgia, Kemp and Raffensperger's victories not only proved the power of incumbency, but the importance of effective candidates and well-run campaigns.
Despite Trump's endorsement, Perdue's campaign struggled to gain support from the jump. Perdue, a wealthy businessman, spent less on his campaign than on expensive new property, The New York Times reported, and stayed largely off the air in the final stretch of the race, reportedly frustrating Trump.
Perdue also finished his campaign by making a racist remark directed at Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, accusing her of "demeaning her own race."
But Kemp focused on solidifying his support among the right-wing of his party after Trump's attacks in 2020, including with a new voting law, using both his political savvy — and the powers of his office — to consolidate a broad coalition of support behind his campaign.
Hice, for his part, ran what the Atlanta Journal-Constitution described as an "abysmal" campaign focused on appealing to pro-Trump election denier die-hards. While Raffensperger ran on his record of defending Georgia's elections, strategically tacked right to appeal to Trump voters, and padded his campaign coffers with some of his own money.
In Georgia, which has no formal party registration, around 40,000 Democratic and liberal voters are estimated to have crossed party lines and voted in the Republican primary to oppose Perdue and Hice, the AJC reported.
Elsewhere in the country, though, without those specific conditions, election denier candidates are gaining ground.
Candidates who attacked the 2020 election results made headway in Alabama
Last Tuesday, for example, a candidate who played a major role in supporting Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, won in a crowded open primary field to secure the gubernatorial nomination in Pennsylvania.
In the general election, Mastriano will go up against Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro. If elected, Mastriano would not only hold significant influence over the battleground state's voting laws, but also appoint Pennsylvania's chief election official.
And in Alabama, candidates who have pushed misinformation about the 2020 election and future elections made serious inroads on Tuesday night — even without a Trump endorsement.
The race to succeed outgoing Secretary of State John Merrill is headed to a runoff between current state auditor Jim Ziegler, who is endorsed by prominent election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell, and state Rep. Wes Allen.
Allen has said he would withdraw Alabama from an interstate consortium that helps states keep their voter rolls more accurate and up to date, based on the falsehood that it's a "leftist" group funded by George Soros. In reality, the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC, is nonpartisan and funded by the participating member states.
Meanwhile, a 24-year career election official in the Alabama secretary of state's office, Ed Packard, barely made a blip, only receiving eight percent of the vote.
GOP Rep. Mo Brooks, one of Trump's top allies in his efforts to overturn his 2020 election in Congress, is headed to a Republican primary runoff for US Senate against Katie Britt.
Trump endorsed and then un-endorsed Brooks for going "woke" after Brooks suggesting that Republicans should move on from 2020 at an August 2021 rally — an event at which Brooks still decried "the voter fraud and election theft in 2020."
Once-obscure races for secretaries of state who oversee election administration are seeing an unprecedented influx of outside attention and campaign spending, with election denier candidates in the lead in many states, according to a new analysis from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Already in this primary cycle, less closely-watched races for secretary of state in Nebraska and Idaho show the grassroots appeal of election denialism in deep-red states, Vanderklipp noted.
In both those states, neither of which have runoffs, candidates who attacked the integrity of the 2020 election ended up splitting the vote but ultimately earning more total votes than the more mainstream, non-election denying winners.
In Nebraska, two right-wing challengers earned, together, over 27,000 more votes than incumbent Secretary of State Bob Evnen. And in Idaho, Phil McGrane narrowly defeated state Rep. Dorothy Moon by just 4,450 votes.
"I think we should be very concerned, especially given the vote split in Nebraska," Vanderklipp said. "You still have a lot of support for these candidates. And these are primaries, which are already more likely to draw out people from the extremes, are low-information races — not a lot of people even know who the secretary of state is."
In this Sept. 24, 2020, file photo, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson speaks in Detroit. Benson, a Democrat, will face the Trump-endorsed Kristina Karamo for reelection.
Major tests lie ahead in Arizona and Michigan
Elsewhere in the country, it's more of the same.
Michigan Republicans have nominated Kristina Karamo, an election denier backed by Trump, to run against incumbent Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. Trump has also endorsed Matthew DePerno, a major figure in efforts to overturn and cast doubt on the 2020 election, for attorney general.
And this summer, election-denying candidates are running in primaries in key battleground states including Arizona and Nevada. Trump has endorsed two such candidates, Kari Lake for governor and Mark Finchem for secretary of state in Arizona, which was the site of an expensive partisan post-election review driven by falsehoods about the 2020 election.
Statewide officials, like secretaries of state, cycle in and out of office. But the election denialism movement has firmly established a foothold at the local level since 2020, and will be hard to uproot.
Over 357 currently-serving Republican state legislators participated in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a recent New York Times analysis. Trump allies have also begun taking over local canvassing boards in states like Michigan.
General elections in battleground states like Michigan and Arizona, Vanderklipp said, will be "where you're going to really see if, indeed, the Bie Lie is repudiated."
"Nobody really knows what's going to happen once we get a person like this in one of these high-level election positions," Vanderklipp added. "Because of the way our system is set up, if it's not a close election in 2024, then they might not do anything. If it is a close election, then they might have the power to put their thumb on the scale."
More: 2020 election 2022 midterms Donald Trump INSIDER Data | 2022-05-25T17:13:28Z | www.businessinsider.com | Trump Election Grievances Fell Flat in GA, but Big Lie Still Thrives | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-election-grievances-fell-flat-in-georgia-but-big-lie-still-thrives-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-election-grievances-fell-flat-in-georgia-but-big-lie-still-thrives-2022-5 |
Andreessen Horowitz just announced a $4.5 billion crypto fund — with no mention of the market downturn. Here's why the firm's investors believe Web3 startups will outlast the crash.
Arianna Simpson, a general partner on Andreessen Horowitz's crypto team.
Andreessen Horowitz just announced a new $4.5 billion crypto fund as VCs remain bullish on Web3.
Its announcement omits any mention of recent plunges in cryptocurrencies and tokens.
A16z has argued elsewhere that Web3 startup activity tends to persist even during crypto crashes.
Upon scanning Andreessen Horowitz's announcement of its latest $4.5 billion crypto fund, there isn't a single reference to a market crash or downturn.
To the contrary, wrote Chris Dixon, a general partner at A16z — as the firm is commonly known — and the founder of its crypto arm. "We think we are now entering the golden age of web3," he asserts, and that's why A16z is seizing the moment to "go big."
A16z's bullishness on crypto is in line with other investors' outlook on Web3: They're largely open to backing new startups in the space, especially those laying the foundations for future crypto-powered applications. It also helps that many Web3 startups are in the early stages of development, where funding has been more resilient than in later stages.
"They've raised a lot of money, and most crypto companies tend to be pretty small," said George Beall, the head of business, strategy, and operations at Common, a startup that provides tools for companies to create their own decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, which itself recently raised $20 million.
Beall told Insider he's recently seen seed-stage Web3 startups raise money at robust valuations of up to $40 million.
Still, A16z's fund announcement is striking in its lack of acknowledgement of market developments. Bitcoin has shed more than a quarter of its value over the past month, and ether has plunged more than 30% over the same period. And, of course, there's the implosion of the stablecoin TerraUSD and its governance token Luna.
Crypto companies are beginning to feel the effects: Coinbase, for instance, has slowed down its hiring.
A16z is far from oblivious to these circumstances, however. In its recent report on the state of crypto, released last week, the VC firm addresses the market downturn in its first of five key takeaways. Through its analysis, A16z concludes that crashes in crypto prices are actually a fertile period for Web3 startups.
"As legendary investor Benjamin Graham once allegorized: It's best to pay no mind to 'Mr. Market,' who frequently boomerangs from exuberance and euphoria to despair and depression ," the firm wrote. "To Graham's wisdom we add an addendum: Better to build."
In its crypto report, the VC firm makes the familiar argument that down times often give rise to future tech successes. A16z crypto partner Arianna Simpson echoed that line of thinking in an interview with Axios' Dan Primack, suggesting that crypto would soon eat the world just as the internet did before.
"Many of the best companies are really built in quieter markets, and many of the best builders are today are drawn to web3," she told Axios. "The same way that the Internet now powers all sorts of businesses that aren't viewed as tech businesses, crypto components are being embedded into games and online communities and other things that aren't traditionally crypto."
But even beyond the comparison to the Web's earlier days, Web3 startups have proven to be resilient on their own terms, according to A16z.
In a 2020 post, Dixon and Eddy Lazzarin, another investor at the firm, noted that booms in crypto prices tend to draw an influx of participants, including new startup founders. According to their data, that jump in activity — including growth in the number of developers and startups as well as discussions in crypto-related forums — doesn't entirely fade out when prices crash.
"You see choppy yet consistent growth in all of the key metrics," Dixon and Lazzarin wrote.
Though events such as the TerraUSD crash are likely to affect projects and companies built directly on the affected blockchains, Common's Beall told Insider, he believes other startups such as his are well positioned to regroup once market sentiment recovers.
With its mammoth new fund, A16z is betting on that to be the case.
More: Venture Capital Startups Andreessen Horowitz
Arianna Simpson | 2022-05-25T18:47:57Z | www.businessinsider.com | Andreessen Horowitz Bets $4.5 Billion on Crypto Despite Market Crash | https://www.businessinsider.com/andreessen-horowitz-crypto-fund-despite-market-crash-web3-startups-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/andreessen-horowitz-crypto-fund-despite-market-crash-web3-startups-2022-5 |
Coca-Cola is discontinuing Honest Tea by the end of 2022, in a move the brand's cofounder called a 'gut punch'
Aaron Davidson/Getty Images for SOBEWFF
Coca-Cola is dropping Honest Tea from its ready-to-drink tea lineup.
Honest Tea was once once of Coke's most successful non-soda acquisitions.
Coke eliminated 200 brands since 2020, cutting its portfolio in half.
Coca-Cola announced this week that it would discontinue production and sales of Honest Tea products by the end of 2022.
The beverage giant said in a press release eliminating Honest Tea is part of a larger strategy to "reflect consumer choice" and an effort to prioritize "fewer, bigger brands." Coca-Cola cut several underperforming "zombie" brands in 2020 to focus on more profitable labels during the pandemic. Around 200 brands were axed, including Tab and Zico, cutting the corporation's portfolio in half.
"Today's announcement by The Coca-Cola Company that they will be discontinuing Honest Tea is a gut punch to all the sweat, tears, and incredible passion that went into building our beloved brand," Honest Tea cofounder Seth Goldman wrote on LinkedIn following the news.
Goldman started Honest Tea in 1998 with cofounder Barry Nalebuff, later selling a 40% stake to Coca-Cola in 2008. The conglomerate fully acquired Honest Tea in 2011, and Goldman continued working for the brand until 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Honest Tea was once a shining example of Coca-Cola's ability to acquire and grow non-soda brands, Alex Bitter reported for Insider last year. Sales for Honest Tea reached $600 million in 2019, up from just $71 million in 2010 before it came under the Coca-Cola umbrella.
It was so successful it graduated from the Venturing & Emerging Brands arm to the main portfolio, with executives seeing potential for growing it to a billion dollar brand.
Now, Coca-Cola is repositioning its tea lineup around its Gold Peak and Peace Tea brands, though it will continue to produce Honest Kids.
"We believe Gold Peak and Peace Tea are best positioned to meet consumer preferences for high-quality brewed teas with different levels of sweetness and flavor," Sabrina Tandon, group director and general manager of Coca-Cola's North America tea portfolio, said in a statement.
More: Retail Food Food & Beverages Coca-Cola | 2022-05-25T18:48:15Z | www.businessinsider.com | Coca-Cola Is Discontinuing Honest Tea by the End of 2022 | https://www.businessinsider.com/coca-cola-is-discontinuing-honest-tea-end-of-year-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/coca-cola-is-discontinuing-honest-tea-end-of-year-2022-5 |
Vice President Mike Pence makes his way to the House floor to tally electoral college votes on Jan. 6, 2021.
Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images
Two people heard secondhand that Trump agreed with calls to hang Mike Pence on January 6, NYT reports.
Two witnesses testified to the January 6 Committee that Mark Meadows told them about it.
Trump had also complained to Meadows about Pence being taken out of the Capitol, the people said.
Two witnesses have testified to the House January 6 Committee that they heard secondhand that then-President Donald Trump reacted positively to calls by January 6 rioters to hang Vice President Mike Pence, The New York Times and Politico report.
The witnesses said then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told them that Trump had complained to him about Pence being taken out of the Capitol by security during the insurrection, and made a comment that Pence should perhaps be hung, The Times reported. The newspaper reported that it was "not clear what tone" Trump used.
One unnamed witness first told the committee they had heard the remark, which was later confirmed by testimony from former Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson, The Times reported.
The first witness and Hutchinson, who was at the White House on January 6, testified to the committee that Meadows told other people around him at the White House that day about Trump's remarks shortly after Trump made the comments in his private dining room off the Oval Office, The Times and Politico reported.
Meadows himself stopped voluntarily cooperating with the January 6 committee in December. He also defied a subpoena to provide testimony to the panel, leading the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to vote to hold him in contempt of Congress and refer his case to the Justice Department. So far, DOJ has not acted.
A spokesman for Trump, Taylor Budowich, did not deny the reported testimony and instead attacked the committee in a statement to The Times and Politico.
"This partisan committee's vague 'leaks,' anonymous testimony and willingness to alter evidence proves it's just an extension of the Democrat smear campaign that has been exposed time and time again for being fabricated and dishonest," Budowich said. "Americans are tired of the Democrat lies and the charades, but, sadly, it's the only thing they have to offer."
Trump and his associates, including legal scholar John Eastman, spent the weeks leading up to the joint session of Congress on January 6 pressuring Pence to reject slates of electors of Biden, something Pence did not have the power to do in his ceremonial role leading the count.
On January 6 itself, Trump urged Pence to "send back" slates of Biden electors to the states so they could "correct their votes" in a tweet at 8:17 a.m. tweet.
Then, in a tweet posted at 2:24 p.m. after rioters breached the building, Trump wrote: "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!"
Trump later appeared to defend the "hang Mike Pence" chants from his supporters in an on-the-record interview with ABC News correspondent Jon Karl for his book "Betrayal," saying, "the people were very angry."
"It's common sense, Jon. It's common sense that you're supposed to protect," Trump added. "How can you, if you know a vote is fraudulent, right, how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress?"
Michigan's chief election official Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, also recently told NBC News that she heard secondhand that Trump had said she should be arrested for treason and executed in the wake of his 2020 election loss in Michigan. Budowich, Trump's spokesman, denied that Trump had made the remark and accused Benson of lying.
More: Mark Meadows January 6 committee Donald Trump Mike Pence | 2022-05-25T18:49:03Z | www.businessinsider.com | Trump Overheard Agreeing Pence Should Be Hung on January 6: NYT | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-pence-should-be-hung-on-january-6-nyt-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-pence-should-be-hung-on-january-6-nyt-2022-5 |
When companies and activist investors fight for control, these are the 13 lawyers they call to go into battle for them
Courtesy of Sidley Austin LLP; Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP; Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP; Kirkland & Ellis LLP; Insider
Activist funds have evolved into an imposing asset class, running dozens of campaigns each year.
They are agitating around deals and installing directors on boards to push for ESG initiatives.
These 13 lawyers are leading the field, either representing investors or defending against them.
Shareholder activism has come a long way since the corporate takeovers of the 1980s, when billionaire investor Ronald Perelman took over Revlon, and Marty Lipton and others at his firm Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz crafted the poison pill defense.
While hostile takeovers are uncommon today, hedge funds and other activist firms have proliferated since the 2008 financial crisis as investors became much more vocal about companies' financial performance and management decision-making.
Activist funds have now grown into a huge asset class on their own. Last year, they ran some 173 campaigns, spending roughly $42 billion, according to Lazard's 2021 activism report.
The numbers show how old taboos and norms around shareholder advocacy have changed. Beyond challenging deals or pushing companies toward a sale, investors are also successfully agitating companies to boost their ESG. In a huge win for ESG investors, Engine No. 1 helped place three directors on Exxon Mobil's board last year in an effort to push green energy on the company.
Law firms including Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP and Schulte Roth & Zabel are go-tos for activist investors looking to change how companies do business. Meanwhile, attorneys at other firms have become specialized in defending against those activists. Activism defense work has even emerged as a standalone practice at top firms including Kirkland & Ellis, and Wachtell Lipton and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom also dominate in the field.
The lawyers leading the way on both sides of activist battles have expertise in proxy rules. They also understand the political gamesmanship and strategies involved in running or defending against campaigns, experts said.
"The very law firms and lawyers who would have been defending against takeovers in the 1980s and 1990s, they are now the people who defend against shareholder activism," said Robert Miller, professor at the University of Iowa college of Law, and a former attorney at Wachtell Lipton.
These 13 lawyers are go-to advisors for activist funds and the companies hoping to fight them off.
Shaun Mathew, Kirkland & Ellis
Shaun Mathew is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis.
Courtesy of Kirkland & Ellis.
Shaun Mathew, who leads Kirkland's shareholder activism and hostile takeover defense practice, landed major wins recently, including advising Huntsman Corp. in a several-month effort to prevent hedge fund Starboard Value, a major activist, from installing four directors.
Mathew also helped defend newspaper company Lee Enterprises from hedge fund Alden Global Capital, which sought to wage a proxy contest to install directors as part of its effort to take over the company.
These were some of the firm's more publicized episodes, but many disputes with activist shareholders are resolved privately and kept out of the press.
"We look at it holistically as a broader corporate relationship," said Mathew, of his approach to activism defense. "If you look at it that way, you're much more aligned with the client on what's in the best interest of the client."
Mathew began his career at Wachtell Lipton, where he practiced for nearly 5 years. At Vinson & Elkins after that, he worked with Kai Liekefett and Lawrence Elbaum, both of whom are also on this list, to build an activism defense practice there. (Liekefett is now at Sidley Austin).
Kirkland's specialized shareholder activism work also developed as part of the evolution of its public company practice that's grown since 2009, when it brought over deals experts David Fox and Daniel Wolf from Skadden, and other high-profile lateral hires since then.
Andrew Freedman, Elizabeth Gonzalez-Sussman, and Steve Wolosky, Olshan Frome Wolosky
Elizabeth Gonzalez-Sussman (L), Steve Wolosky (Top Right) and Andrew Freedman (Bottom Right) of Olshan Frome Wolosky.
Photos courtesy of Olshan Frome Wolosky.
Olshan's practice representing activist investors was founded decades ago by Steve Wolosky, who now co-chairs the firm's shareholder activism practice along with Andrew Freedman. Elizabeth Gonzalez-Sussman, who leads the firm's ESG Activist Investing group, joined the firm in 2007 from O'Melveny & Myers.
The firm's work has arguably been instrumental in changing conceptions around the potency of activist campaigns. In 2014, its attorneys including Wolosky, Freedman, and partner Megan Reda represented Starboard Value in helping to replace the whole board at Darden Restaurants Inc., the owner of the Olive Garden chain.
"There was an inflection point in the perception of activist investors, and the role they play in the corporate governance of public companies," Freedman said.
Gonzalez-Sussman has helped advise on contests against Gamestop, represented George Feldenkreis in helping him take back apparel company Perry Ellis in 2018, and, for the last few years, has represented Macellum Advisors in pushing for changes at Kohl's.
"Long-tenured directors with little relevant experience, all white-male boards — after the financial crisis, you started seeing greater scrutiny on the decisions of management and the board," she said. "The idea is that if you could get a different perspective, get the shareholder perspective, you could maximize shareholder value."
The firm has roughly 30 attorneys in its shareholder activism group, including litigation and M&A attorneys.
Richard Grossman, Skadden
Richard Grossman, a veteran in the activism space, has defended clients including Akamai Technologies Inc. and American Capital, Ltd. against leading activist investors including Elliott Management, which spent some $5.3 billion last year, according to Lazard.
Most firms that practice in this space have drawn a line on which side they represent (either investors or companies). Skadden represents firms only on the defense side. Lawyers, bankers, proxy solicitors and others who have been practicing in this relatively small but burgeoning niche know each other and the landscape well, experts said.
"The skill sets among the advisors are somewhat transferable," said Grossman. "If you've done a bunch of these campaigns, you pick up a little of everything."
Kai Liekefett, Sidley Austin
Kai Liekefett, partner at Sidley Austin.
Courtesy of Sidley Austin.
Kai Liekefett, who co-chairs Sidley's shareholder activism practice, last year successfully defended cloud company Box Inc. in a proxy fight by Starboard. Liekefett has also defended clients against major activist investors including Carl Icahn and Trian Partners.
Liekefett's career began as an M&A attorney, after he graduated from law school in Germany in 2000. He cut his teeth on his current practice back at Vinson & Elkins, where he saw shareholder activists starting to attack the oil and gas sector, and developed the practice there.
"I stumbled across a niche that was completely under-appreciated," he said.
Eleazer Klein, Schulte Roth & Zabel
Eleazer Klein, partner at Schulte Roth & Zabel.
Courtesy of Schulte Roth & Zabel.
Eleazer Klein, who co-chairs the firm's shareholder activism group, represented Engine No. 1 in its blockbuster win last year against Exxon Mobil to land three seats on the board. His other major investor clients include Elliott Management, which ran 17 campaigns in 2021, according to Lazard, as well as Starboard Value and Blue Harbor.
Schulte Roth generally focuses on advising investment funds and hedge funds, and advises on all aspects that can affect activism, including tax issues and raising funds, Klein said.
"The whole firm has the expertise to represent investment funds, that's our business model," he said. "That's the market advantage we have — the ability to do that, which no one else has."
Sabastian Niles, Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
Sabastian Niles, a partner at Wachtell Lipton who advises on issues related to activism and takeover defense is frequently cited as a top defense lawyer in the space. He has advised clients against major activist investors including Trian, Carl Icahn, Starboard Value and the billionaire Paul Singer.
Joseph Johnson, Goodwin Procter
Joe Johnson, who ran the firm's M&A practice for a long time, has advised major clients including Leaf Group and Brightcove against activist campaigns, and continues to advise many of them on M&A deals.
"I've been doing this before activism was a word," Johnson said. "Around 2010, we started branding ourselves and marketing our expertise."
Lawrence Elbaum and Patrick Gadson, Vinson & Elkins
Patrick Gadson (L) and Lawrence Elbaum (R), co-heads of Vinson & Elkins' shareholder activism group.
Courtesy of Vinson & Elkins.
Patrick Gadson and Lawrence Elbaum, who co-lead the firm's shareholder activism group, have helped defend against major campaigns through the evolution of the firm's practice. The firm, whose shareholder activism group has almost 30 attorneys, has advised on some 208 campaigns since 2016, according to data from Refinitiv this month.
"We have a reputation for getting our clients through their seemingly unwinnable situations, and we find pathways for clients to win that other folks typically overlook because they don't do as many of these," Elbaum said.
Mark Gerstein and Christopher Drewry, Latham & Watkins
Mark Gerstein (L) and Christopher Drewry (R), partners at Latham & Watkins.
Courtesy of Latham & Watkins.
Mark Gerstein, who was previously the global co-chair of Latham's M&A group, and Christopher Drewry, a partner in Chicago, have defended against major proxy fights in recent years. One notable win for the firm was their successful defense of Kohl's, which earlier this month managed to preserve all its directors after a campaign from Macellum Advisors.
The firm has also defended clients including e.l.f. Beauty and Landec Corporation from other major activist firms, and advised on a total of 40 public and private campaigns last year.
Latham's sizable activism defense practice includes some 20 partners and 40 associates, according to the group. | 2022-05-25T20:19:07Z | www.businessinsider.com | 13 Lawyers Leading in the Shareholder Activism Industry | https://www.businessinsider.com/13-lawyers-leading-in-the-shareholder-activism-industry-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/13-lawyers-leading-in-the-shareholder-activism-industry-2022-5 |
Kayla Epstein, John Haltiwanger, Jake Lahut, and Oma Seddiq
Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona speaks at a Senate hearing
Rod Lamkey/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
Democrats are outraged after the Uvalde school shooting. Some used profanity to express their anger.
But Democrats have not come up with gun safety legislation that can pass Congress.
A possible Republican filibuster in the Senate means passing any gun reform is nearly impossible.
Democratic lawmakers unleashed a deluge of rage and uncharacteristic profanity after an elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas left 19 small children and two adults dead. But what they have not yet offered in the hours after the tragedy are pieces of legislation that could pass Congress.
"It's fucking nuts to do nothing about this," Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday.
Rep. Ruben Gallego, another Arizona Democrat, let fly a swarm of f-bombs directed at conservatives who support greater access to guns.
"Fuck you, @NRA," he tweeted at the powerful gun lobby.
"Fuck you, @TedCruz," he tweeted to one of Texas' Republican senators, who opposes most gun safety measures. In a follow up tweet, he called Cruz a "fucking baby killer."
"Just quit and let someone who actually gives a damn do it instead," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York tweeted at Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Colorado conservative who had posted "You cannot legislate away evil" in response to calls for gun reform.
"Please, please, please, damn it, put yourself in the shoes of these parents for once," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer implored Senate Republicans, whose opposition to gun safety proposals makes passing any reforms in Congress nearly impossible.
"What are we doing?" asked Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat who was sworn in just weeks after a shooter gunned down 27 people, including 20 children, at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton.
Murphy's question to Congress on Tuesday was a moral one, but also a practical one. What, if anything, were they going to as a legislative body to prevent killings like the ones in Uvalde?
Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut.
Sarah Silbiger/Pool via AP
Democrats haven't made progress on gun safety during this Congress because of Republican opposition
In the hours since the Uvalde shooting, Democrats had yet to put forth a piece of viable legislation that could gain bipartisan consensus and pass Congress. Two Democratic senators who stand in the way of striking down the Senate filibuster, Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, did not change their positions.
Sinema deflected when asked by reporters if she would consider changing her position on the filibuster to allow Democrats to force through gun safety legislation.
Instead, she signaled a desire to work with Republicans to create "an opportunity for us to actually have real conversations and try to do something."
In a Wednesday morning floor speech, Schumer, who is responsible for putting any gun legislation up for a vote to the full Senate, blamed Republicans for standing in the way of legislation but did not propose a specific path forward or promise a vote. He told Americans to vote in November for lawmakers who supported gun safety legislation.
Later that day, he pledged, "We are GOING to vote on gun legislation," Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman reported.
Democrats do control the House of Representatives, which only requires a simple majority vote to pass legislation. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer pledged on Wednesday that the chamber would consider Rep. Lucy McBath's "Extreme Risk Protection Order Act", which she first introduced in 2019. But even if it passes the House, it's unclear if it will win enough bipartisan support in the Senate.
—Steny Hoyer (@LeaderHoyer) May 25, 2022
UVALDE, TX - MAY 25: A Texas State Trooper receives flowers for the victims of a mass shooting yesterday at Robb Elementary School where 21 people were killed, including 19 children.
The inability to pass gun safety legislation is a problem Democrats have faced for nearly a decade since Sandy Hook. But the issue has become more pronounced since they took over Congress in January 2021. Last year, America experienced 61 active shooter incidents, according to the FBI.
In March of 2021, newly in possession of both chambers of Congress, Democrats made a renewed attempt to pass gun safety legislation. Their best hope, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, passed the House but failed to advance in the Senate, where Republicans could filibuster the legislation.
That spring, there was talk of reviving a bill by Manchin and Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, that would have closed a loophole that allows private sales of guns purchased at gun shows or online to evade background checks. The proposal, known as "Manchin-Toomey," failed in 2013 in the months after Sandy Hook and hasn't gained serious traction since.
On Wednesday, Toomey told Capitol Hill reporters he did not have any updates on the status of the legislation.
In 2021, several other proposals floated around Capitol Hill, including some authored by Republicans or introduced with bipartisan support. They included so-called red flag or extreme risk laws, which allow law enforcement or family members to request a judge temporarily prevent individuals who may harm themselves or others from possessing or buying firearms.
None of these proposals have gone anywhere during this Congress, and it's unclear if Democrats will be able to cut a deal that will win over the 10 Republicans they would need to clear any legislative blockades in the Senate.
"My Republican colleagues can work with us now," Schumer said in his floor speech Wednesday.
But Schumer also acknowledged the odds were against any Republican cooperation.
"I know this is a slim prospect. Very slim. All too slim," he said. "We've been burnt so many times before.
More: Uvalde Democrats Kyrsten Sinema Ruben Gallego | 2022-05-25T20:19:19Z | www.businessinsider.com | Democrats Offer F-Bombs After Uvalde Shootings, but No Viable Bills | https://www.businessinsider.com/democrats-uvalde-school-shooting-congress-gun-safety-control-legislation-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/democrats-uvalde-school-shooting-congress-gun-safety-control-legislation-2022-5 |
Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) speaks during a press conference at the US Capitol August 11, 2016 in Washington, DC.
At least 21 people including 19 kids were killed in the latest mass shooting at a Texas elementary.
Former Rep. Steve Israel says GOP lawmakers won't vote on tough gun control so they can be elected.
Israel said people quickly forget shootings and re-elect lawmakers who vote against these policies.
Former Democratic Rep. Steve Israel said Republicans won't vote on tougher gun control measures because they're too afraid of losing elections.
In an op-ed in The Hill, Israel recalled a conversation in the Capitol Hill elevators for lawmakers where there was "no press, no staff, no constituents," where a GOP representative said that while they wanted to vote in favor of gun control, they'd lose their election in swing districts if they did.
"In the elevator, a friend – a pleasant, reasonable, moderate Republican – complained that the votes were politically motivated — forcing members in swing districts to choose between their pro-gun bases and more moderate constituents," Israel wrote.
The former lawmaker's op-ed comes a day after a gunman fatally shot 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
He was referencing the aftermath of "a series of votes in an Appropriations Committee markup of funding for the Department of Justice," where amendments to gun control legislation were shot down along party lines.
Israel said the unnamed politician said he had "no choice but to vote against" the measures.
"In a heavily polarized House, where districts were increasingly ruby red versus bright blue, any vote for any gun safety would invite a primary opponent and ignite his likely defeat. No issue, he told me, motivated his base more intensely than guns. Moderates would forgive and forget that he voted against background checks; but his base would never forgive him for voting for them," Israel wrote.
Political figures have called for tighter gun control measures following Tuesday's mass shooting, a similar plea in the aftermath of several mass shootings in recent years. Some GOP lawmakers, however, have come out in support of the gun industry, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene who said "we don't need more gun control. We need to return to God."
Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott also said he still plans to address the NRA on Friday in Houston, just three days following the elementary school shooting. A number of other Republican lawmakers are also expected to speak at the event.
Israel said in the aftermath of that elevator conversation he wrote a book that turned into a political parody of the power of the gun lobby called "Big Guns." The book he said was not only ciritical of lawmakers but of the general public, highlighting how quick people are to "forget" a shooting, as soon as new news breaks but will eventually have their hearts broken again with the next shooting.
"The cycle repeats: shock, greave, forget, shock, greave, forget," Israel wrote.
He added: "That congressman in the elevator had you all figured out. You forgive and forget too easily. And by doing so, you keep electing people who care more about surviving the next primary than they do about the survival of your kids in their classrooms."
More: Uvalde uvalde shooting Texas | 2022-05-25T20:19:25Z | www.businessinsider.com | Former Rep. Israel Says GOP Scared to Lose Elections Over Gun Control | https://www.businessinsider.com/former-rep-israel-gop-scared-lose-elections-over-gun-control-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/former-rep-israel-gop-scared-lose-elections-over-gun-control-2022-5 |
The best early Memorial Day TV sales, including up to $300 off OLEDs from LG, Samsung, and Vizio
To celebrate Memorial Day on May 30, many retailers are offering big sales on select TV models.
Several early discounts are already available on TVs from brands like LG, Vizio, and Samsung.
Memorial Day is just around the corner, and several retailers are already selling a bunch of TVs from different brands at considerable discounts, and we expect even better deals over the holiday weekend.
Spring is usually when TV manufacturers start launching their newest display models, so there are a few brand-new 2022 TVs already on sale. New stock also means big discounts on older inventory, so if you don't mind grabbing one of last year's models, you can find many great deals on 2021 TVs.
Below, we've compiled the best early TV deals you can get in the lead up to Memorial Day 2022. We'll update this page with new TV sales as they're revealed. | 2022-05-25T20:19:31Z | www.businessinsider.com | Best Memorial Day TV Sales 2022: Deals on Samsung, Vizio, TCL, Hisense | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/deals/best-memorial-day-tv-sales-2022 | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/deals/best-memorial-day-tv-sales-2022 |
26 page-turning mystery books that will keep you guessing until the very end
From a classic murder mystery tale to new thrillers, these are the best mystery books to read in 2022.
Mystery books are exciting puzzles for readers to solve.
They include fast-paced thrillers and detective procedurals.
We rounded up the best mystery novels from bestseller lists, Goodreads, and social media.
For decades, readers have loved the suspenseful and engaging puzzles between the covers of a great mystery novel. From Agatha Christie's classic detective novels to cozy, satisfying page-turners, mystery novels let readers follow a crime through revealing clues, suspenseful twists, and exciting reveals.
The mystery novels on this list stretch from the classics to new releases and include nail-biting thrillers, courtroom procedurals, and genre-twisting mysteries with elements of horror, romance, and fantasy. We collected readers' favorite mysteries from bestseller lists, Goodreads reviews, and popular titles on TikTok and Instagram to find your next great mystery read.
The 26 best mystery books in 2022:
A mystery of maps and magic
"The Cartographers" by Peng Shepherd, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $19.97
This adventurous and fantastical mystery novel takes off when Nell Young finds an incredibly valuable and rare map in her father's office after his mysterious death. When it appears someone is destroying the maps and anyone who gets in the way, Nell embarks on a journey of cartography and dark family secrets to get to the bottom of the map and the mystery.
A suspenseful mystery with an unreliable narrator
"A Flicker in the Dark" by Stacy Willingham, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $16.99
20 years ago, Chloe's father was arrested for the serial murders of six teenage girls in her hometown. Now, Chloe is getting ready for her wedding in Baton Rouge when teenage girls begin to go missing once again in this fast-paced thriller loved for its many twists and delightfully unreliable narrator.
A powerful mystery so much more than a missing violin
"The Violin Conspiracy" by Brendan Slocumb, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $17.88
Ray McMillian has been preparing for the most prestigious classical music competition in the world for years, bypassing financial, mental, and racial challenges on his mission to become a professional musician. When Ray's great-grandfather's violin, a priceless Stradivarius, is stolen, he's desperate to get it back — but must fend off his family and the descendants of those who once enslaved his great-grandfather in the fight to find the violin and prepare for the competition.
A classic murder mystery
"And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie, available on Amazon and Bookshop, from $11.16
"And Then There Were None" is a classic Agatha Christie mystery novel about 10 strangers who are invited by an unknown millionaire as weekend guests to a mansion on a private island. When the guests are murdered one by one (as foretold in a nursery rhyme hung in every room of the home), they must quickly figure out who is behind the killings before none of them are left alive.
A complex mystery with a twisted ending
"The Silent Patient" by Alex Michaelides, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $15.75
Alicia Berenson seems to live a perfect life as a well-known painter with her famous photographer husband — until one day when her husband returns home late and Alicia shoots him five times in the face and then never speaks again. Obsessed with Alicia's case and determined to find a motive, criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber sets out to uncover the truth in this gripping mystery with a fantastic final twist.
A historical mystery set in Joseon-era Korea
"The Red Palace" by June Hur, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $16.59
In 1758 Korea, 18-year-old Hyeon has finally earned a position as a palace nurse when her closest friend and mentor is pegged as the prime suspect for the murders of four women in one night. Launching her own investigation to prove her friend's innocence, Hyeon teams up with a police inspector and begins to uncover deadly and dangerous secrets that could point to the Crown Prince as the murderer.
An exciting mystery novel by an iconic horror writer
"Billy Summers" by Stephen King, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.10
Though Stephen King is certainly most well-known for his sensational horror novels, "Billy Summers" is a crime thriller/mystery novel about a man who is an assassin for hire, but only if the target is a bad person who deserves to die. Billy is ready to retire and preparing for one final job, but no matter what he does to prepare, it seems nothing is going how it should.
A new mystery with an impossible crime
"Under Lock & Skeleton Key" by Gigi Pandian, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $21.99
"Under Lock & Skeleton Key" is a multi-layered locked-door mystery that follows Tempest Raj back to her family's home after an accident derails her life and career. While visiting her dad's latest renovation site for his unique construction company, Tempest's former stage double is found dead inside a wall that seems to have been sealed for over a century. Tempest fears she was the intended victim of the murder and must uncover the killer before they return for her.
A mystery set in 1960s Harlem
"Harlem Shuffle" by Colson Whitehead, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $17
This historical fiction mystery book is about Ray Carney, an honest neighborhood furniture salesman, who falls into a disastrous heist with his cousin in 1960s Harlem. Walking the line between upstanding citizen and criminal, Ray finds himself caught in a tangle of mortality in this new novel from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead.
An exhilirating mystery focused on Indigenous culture
"Firekeeper's Daughter" by Angeline Boulley, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $10.23
Daunis Fontaine is an 18-year-old, biracial, unenrolled tribal member who has put her schooling on hold to care for her ill mother. When Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, she begins her own investigation to track down the criminals and protect her community, all while learning what it truly means to be a strong Ojibwe woman.
A cozy mystery perfect for foodies
"Arsenic and Adobo" by Mia P. Manansala, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $12.99
In this delicious new mystery book, Lila Macapagal is recovering from a devastating breakup when she's tasked to help save her Tita Rosie's struggling restaurant. When a food critic (who just happens to be Lila's ex) dies moments after a confrontation with Lila, she becomes the chief suspect and must begin her own investigation to prove her innocence in this witty mystery.
A romantic and highly suspenseful mystery
"Verity" by Colleen Hoover, available at Amazon, from $15.50
When bestselling author Verity Crawford is injured in a terrible accident, her husband hires a young and struggling writer, Lowen Ashleigh, to finish Verity's highly anticipated series. While sorting through notes in Verity's office, Lowen uncovers a hidden autobiography, full of terrible secrets — including the truth behind her daughter's death. Deciding to keep the devastating manuscript from Verity's husband, Lowen begins to search for the truth when it seems everyone has their own secrets.
A suspenseful mystery set on an Indigenous reservation
"Winter Counts" by David Heska Wanbli Weiden, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.49
Virgil Wounded Horse serves as the community enforcer on his reservation in South Dakota, so when heroin begins to affect his community and a terrible incident hits close to home, Virgil is determined to stop the influx of drugs from hurting anyone else. Teaming up with his ex-girlfriend, Virgil follows a lead to Denver and finds himself in a complex situation — one that will test his identity, community, and loyalties.
An entertaining mystery about four unlikely detectives
"The Thursday Murder Club" by Richard Osman, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $12.99
In a quiet retirement community, four elderly friends gather every Thursday night to talk about cold case murders, dubbing themselves "The Thursday Murder Club." When a local man is found dead with a strange photograph left next to his body, The Thursday Murder Club uses their sharp wit and skills from their former careers to defy all the stereotypes and solve the crime in this entertaining mystery loved for its rich and lively characters.
An emotional and heartfelt mystery about redemption
"Razorblade Tears" by S.A. Cosby, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $13.49
In this emotional thriller, Isiah and Derek are married and when they're both found murdered, their fathers each get a knock on the door with the terrible news. Fathers Ike and Buddy are flawed ex-cons with little in common besides their love for their sons, determination to find out who killed them, and a thirst for revenge.
A murder mystery about a copycat serial killer
"A Killer's Wife" by Victor Methos, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $11.99
In this mystery known for keeping readers on the edge of their seats, Jessica Yardley is a prosecutor who has moved on with her life after her ex-husband went to prison for a series of violent murders 14 years ago. When a string of new copycat murders begin once again, the FBI recruits Jessica to help find the killer, meaning working with her ex-husband and reliving the darkest days of her life.
A suspenseful courtroom mystery novel
"Miracle Creek" by Angie Kim, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.99
In this gripping courtroom mystery with multiple perspectives, a group of people in a small town in Virginia are brought together over a hyperbaric chamber that claims to cure anything from autism to infertility. When the chamber explodes and two people are killed, it's clear the explosion wasn't an accident, but it's not clear who is at fault. As the mystery unfolds, layers of secrets are revealed in this beautiful mystery about parenthood, healing, and the effects of our choices.
An engrossing mystery that demands to be read in a single sitting
"The Push" by Ashley Audrain, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $16.01
In this tense tour-de-force mystery, Blythe Connor wants nothing more than to be the mother she never had, but struggles to make a connection with her young daughter, convinced that something is wrong with her. After Blythe's son is born, she feels all the maternal love and instincts she's always longed for, but when her family's life changes in an instant, Blythe is left struggling to find out what really happened, even if that means confirming her worst nightmares.
A bestselling mystery novel
"Angels & Demons" by Dan Brown, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $13
"Angels & Demons" is the first book of the "DaVinci Code" series, which begins when world-renowned symbologist, Robert Langdon, is called to help solve the murder of a physicist who was discovered with a strange symbol seared into his chest. As Robert begins to investigate, he uncovers an elaborate plot against the Catholic Church by the Illuminati.
A historical murder mystery
"The Mimosa Tree Mystery" by Ovidia Yu, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $14.71
"The Mimosa Tree Mystery" is a historical fiction mystery story set in 1930s Singapore. It follows Su Lin, whose uncle is detained by the Japanese as retaliation for the mysterious murder of his neighbor, a known collaborator and blackmailer. When a former spy named Hideki offers Sun Lin's uncle in exchange for her help in finding the real killer, Su Lin discovers there is far more resting on this investigation than just one life.
A murder mystery with a paranormal twist
"Opium and Absinthe" by Lydia Kang, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $13.75
Set in 1899 New York City, Tille's sister is found dead — drained of blood and with two puncture wounds on her neck — and with the recent publication of "Dracula," Tille can't help but suspect a vampiric murderer. Tille is desperate to find out what happened to her sister, but as her obsession with the case intensifies, so does her addiction to opium. As each vice consumes her life, Tille struggles to know what's real in this Victorian-era murder mystery.
The first mystery featuring a famous detective duo
"A Study in Scarlet" by Arthur Conan Doyle, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $7.99
"A Study in Scarlet" was the first novel to feature the famous detective duo Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. First published in 1887, this story tells the origin of Holmes and Watson meeting as new roommates and solving their first murder together, which proves far more complex and intricate than either could have imagined.
A terrifying mystery about a young girl's dreams gone terribly wrong
"Grown" by Tiffany D. Jackson, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $10.49
When 17-year-old Enchanted Jones catches the eye of legendary R&B artist Korey Fields at an audition, she's offered the chance to make all her dreams come true and is ready for stardom, no matter the cost. One day, Enchanted wakes up with blood on her hands, Korey Fields' body next to her, and no memory of the previous night. In this emotional mystery, Enchanted must recount the horrifying details of the months prior in order to understand how something so terrible could have happened.
A classic gothic mystery book
"Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $10.19
First published in 1938, "Rebecca" is a classic mystery story where the unnamed narrator is swept off her feet by a wealthy and famous man named Maximilian de Winter, whose Cornwall mansion is even more famous than he is. When the narrator arrives at the mansion, she soon discovers that the ghostly presence of her husband's late wife is nearly impossible to escape — and slowly uncovers Rebecca's story in this mystery of layered revelations.
A gripping mystery about a missing woman
"When You Look Like Us" by Pamela N. Harris, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $15.39
When Jay Murphy's sister, goes missing, he knows the police won't go looking for her, seeing as they don't search for most Black kids that go missing from the projects. To make matters worse, the local news picks up the story of his sister's disappearance and twists it into a scandal. Despite the mountain of obstacles in his way, Jay is determined to find his sister in this gripping and authentic mystery about race and the dangerous power of stereotypes.
A murder mystery featuring a vigilante antihero
"Win" by Harlan Coben, available at Amazon and Bookshop, from $11.99
When a recluse is found murdered in his New York City apartment, the FBI discovers a clue that not only gives them a lead, but links the crime to two other cold cases including the robbery and kidnapping of an heiress 20 years ago. The clue leads the FBI to Windsor ("Win") Horne Lockwood III, who has no idea how his family's stolen painting could have ended up at a crime scene, but is determined to use his personal connections and limitless fortune to solve the dangerous case.
More: Features Education & Personal Development E-Learning Insider Picks | 2022-05-25T20:19:37Z | www.businessinsider.com | The 26 Best Mystery Books to Keep You Guessing in 2022 | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/learning/best-mystery-books | https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/learning/best-mystery-books |
These are the industries where LGBTQ+ employees are happiest, but they're still less satisfied than their straight colleagues
Even in the highest-rated industries by LGBTQ+ workers, they are less satisfied than their non-LGBTQ+ colleagues, according to Glassdoor's analysis of US reviews.
Real estate ranks as the highest-rated industry by LGBTQ+ workers, according to new research from Glassdoor.
Glassdoor's Daniel Zhao said LGBTQ+ workers "are less satisfied with their workplace experience compared to their non-LGBTQ+ peers in every industry."
In real estate, the average rating was 3.99 out of 5 for LGBTQ+ workers and 4.15 for non-LGBTQ+ employees.
LGBTQ+ employees aren't as happy at work as their non-LGBTQ+ peers, according to new research from job search and company review site Glassdoor.
Industry-specific ratings that were shared with Insider also show that this is the case even in the top-ranked industries by LGBTQ+ workers.
"Across the board, LGBTQ+ employees consistently are less satisfied with their workplace experience compared to their non-LGBTQ+ peers in every industry," Daniel Zhao, Glassdoor senior economist, told Insider in an email statement.
Glassdoor shared with Insider how satisfaction ratings in the highest- and lowest-rated industries by LGBTQ+ workers compare to the ratings of their non-LGBTQ+ colleagues. The following table is based on US Glassdoor reviews from April 25, 2021 to April 24, 2022, and are of current full-time or part-time employees.
The graphic shows ratings on a scale of one to five for LGBTQ+ employees in the highest-rated industries by LGBTQ+ employees and how that compares to the ratings of non-LGBTQ+ workers.
Real estate is the highest-rated industry by LGBTQ+ employees according to reviews on the job site. Even though it has an average rating of 3.99 out of 5 from LGBTQ+ workers, the industry has a higher average rating from non-LGBTQ+ workers, 4.15 out of 5.
Retail and restaurants were the two lowest-rated industries by LGBTQ+ employees.
"These industries tend to have lower employee satisfaction due to lower pay and significant in-person interaction, which have become even more important considerations during the pandemic," Zhao wrote about the different lowest-rated industries by LGBTQ+ employees in the report.
Like the highest-rated industries by LGBTQ+ workers, the ratings in the lowest-rated industries by LGBTQ+ employees are lower than their non-LGBTQ+ peers.
The new report that Glassdoor released right before Pride Month kicks off in June also includes the top companies rated by LGBTQ+ workers and looks at the share of reviews that mention discrimination or burnout for LGBTQ+ workers and non-LGBTQ+ workers.
According to the Glassdoor analysis of US reviews from April 25, 2021 to April 24, 2022, "LGBTQ+ employees rate their companies 3.62 out of 5 on average, 6 percent lower than non-LGBTQ+ employees." Non-LGBTQ+ workers had an average rating of 3.85.
When comparing the ratings for LGBTQ+ employees to non-LGBTQ+ employees for six workplace factors like career opportunities, the LGBTQ+ ratings were lower than the average ratings from non-LGBTQ+ employees in each category.
"LGBTQ+ employees rate their workplace experience lower because of the additional challenges and barriers that they face in the workplace," Zhao wrote in the new research report. "A Glassdoor-Harris Poll survey from 2019 found that over half (53 percent) of LGBTQ+ employees have experienced or witnessed anti-LGBTQ+ comments in the workplace, and nearly half (47 percent) reported believing being out at work could jeopardize their career."
"So although both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ employees report high satisfaction in professional industries like real estate, tech and legal, LGBTQ+ employees are still experiencing a gap compared to their non-LGBTQ+ colleagues," Zhao told Insider in a statement. "It's a stark reminder that companies in all industries still have progress to make when it comes to an equitable work experience for their people."
More: LGBT LGBTQ Pride Glassdoor Economic Research | 2022-05-25T20:19:49Z | www.businessinsider.com | The Industries Where LGBTQ+ Workers Are Happiest, Per Glassdoor | https://www.businessinsider.com/industries-where-lgbtq-workers-are-happiest-glassdoor-research-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/industries-where-lgbtq-workers-are-happiest-glassdoor-research-2022-5 |
Nalleli Cobo in front of the closed AllenCo site.
It was the first of many, soon accompanied by headaches, heart palpitations, stomach pain, spasms, and asthma .
Active pumpjacks from oil wells in Culver City, Los Angeles County, California, on March 10, 2022.
Nalleli Cobo has been fighting to end oil and gas drilling in Los Angeles since she was 9.
Nalleli Cobo, a 2022 Goldman Environmental Prize winner, and her mother.
Oil wells in Los Angeles, California.
Nalleli Cobo holds the Goldman Environmental Prize.
NOW WATCH: This massive Los Angeles county gas leak is spewing 110,000 pounds of methane an hour
More: Los Angeles California Gas Wells Oil Wells | 2022-05-25T20:20:01Z | www.businessinsider.com | Los Angeles Activist Wins 'Green Nobel' for Fight to Shutter Oil Wells | https://www.businessinsider.com/los-angeles-activist-green-nobel-prize-fighting-urban-oil-wells-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/los-angeles-activist-green-nobel-prize-fighting-urban-oil-wells-2022-5 |
Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego calls Ted Cruz a 'fucking baby killer' over the senator's pro-gun stance after Texas school shooting
Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego condemned Republicans following the Uvalde elementary school shooting.
"Fuck you @tedcruz," Gallego tweeted.
Republicans like Cruz are rejecting calls for stricter gun laws following the shooting.
Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona didn't pull any punches while criticizing Republican lawmakers and pro-gun advocates for reacting to a school shooting in Texas by pushing against calls for stricter gun laws.
At least 19 children and two adults were killed in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday. It was the second deadliest school shooting on record in the US, surpassed only by the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary.
"Fuck your prayers. They haven't worked for the last 20 mass shootings how about passing laws that will stop these killings," Gallego said in a tweet responding to GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of California offering "thoughts and prayers" to the families of the victims of the shooting. Republicans have often been ridiculed by Democrats for responding to such incidents with "thoughts and prayers" rather than embracing calls for more stringent gun legislation.
"Fuck you @NRA," the Arizona Democrat said in another tweet directed at the National Rifle Association.
The Texas shooting came on the heels of a leaked draft opinion from the Supreme Court that would overturn Roe v. Wade — the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide. The draft opinion has prompted fury and alarm among Democrats, who want to see Roe v. Wade upheld in order to protect reproductive rights. Meanwhile, Republicans have responded by zeroing in on the leak itself, while also reiterating their staunch opposition abortion.
Alluding to this debate in a tweet directed at GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who opposes abortion rights and stricter gun laws, Gallego said, "Fuck you @tedcruz you care about a fetus but you will let our children get slaughtered. Just get your ass to Cancun. You are useless." Gallego's mention of Cancun was an apparent reference to Cruz's controversial trip to the Mexican resort city as Texas contended with a deadly winter storm.
"Just to be clear fuck you @tedcruz you fucking baby killer," Gallego added in a subsequent tweet.
Cruz responded to the Uvalde shooting by pushing against calls for gun reform, while simultaneously echoing the gun lobby's "good guy with a gun" talking point — or the debunked notion that arming more people could help prevent mass shootings.
"Inevitably when there's a murder of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it, you see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens," Cruz said to reporters on Tuesday, adding, "That doesn't work. It's not effective. It doesn't prevent crime."
Studies have shown that states with stricter gun laws see fewer gun deaths. And though polling has consistently shown that most voters on both sides of the aisle support policies such as expanding background checks, Republicans in Congress have consistently blocked efforts to pass legislation along these lines.
Cruz in an interview with MSNBC on Tuesday also suggested that schools should have armed law enforcement present to help prevent shootings. "We know from past experience that the most effective tool for keeping kids safe is armed law enforcement on the campus," the Texas senator said.
Armed law enforcement on the scene in Uvalde, including a school district officer who worked at Robb Elementary, shot at the gunman as he moved to enter the building on Tuesday, but were unable to stop him, Sgt. Erick Estrada with the Texas Department of Public Safety told CNN. The presence of armed security has also failed to prevent previous incidents at schools, such as a 2018 mass shooting that killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida.
Following Tuesday's shooting, other Democrats have expressed outrage in a manner similar to Gallego and implored their Republican colleagues to embrace efforts to strengthen gun laws.
"It's fucking nuts to do nothing about this," Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona told reporters on Wednesday.
Sen. Chris Murphy, who has been an impassioned advocate for gun reform during his time in Congress and delivered an emotional speech to that effect on the Senate floor on Tuesday, told reporters that he wanted Republicans to "spare" him the "bullshit about mental illness." Republicans have often blamed mental illness for mass shootings, avoiding assigning responsibility to the ease of access to firearms in the US.
The US has the highest rate of civilian firearm ownership in the world, and the highest rate of gun deaths in the developed world.
Cruz and Issa did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider.
More: Ruben Gallego Ted Cruz Texas Mass Shooting | 2022-05-25T20:20:13Z | www.businessinsider.com | Ruben Gallego Calls Ted Cruz a 'Fucking Baby Killer' After Texas Shooting | https://www.businessinsider.com/ruben-gallego-calls-ted-cruz-a-fucking-baby-killer-after-texas-shooting-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ruben-gallego-calls-ted-cruz-a-fucking-baby-killer-after-texas-shooting-2022-5 |
Kellyanne Conway joins former President Donald Trump at the Wildwood Convention Center in New Jersey on January 28, 2020.
President Trump was incredulous that he'd face Biden or Warren in the 2020 election, a new book says.
Per ex-counselor Kellyanne Conway, Trump in 2019 showed interest in a big rally headlined by Warren.
Conway compared Warren to Kamala Harris, telling Trump that her campaign didn't live up to its hype.
As Democrats went through the early stages of their presidential nomination process ahead of the 2020 election, President Donald Trump kept a watchful eye on the race, eager to see who might be his challenger as he sought reelection.
When Kellyanne Conway told Trump in August 2019 that Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts held a rally that attracted over 10,000 attendees, he immediately paid attention, according to her newly-released memoir.
In the book, "Here's the Deal," Trump's former senior counselor wrote of the then-president's less than stellar impression of the unfolding Democratic field, despite initially showing some concern at Warren's appeal among the party's base voters.
"I printed up an article and some photos from the Warren rally," she wrote. "It was scheduled to be indoors but was moved outside due to the large turnout. I knew what to expect when I got to the Oval Office and started by urging the president not to overreact."
Conway proceeded to mention then-Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who launched her campaign in Oakland to much fanfare before seeing her campaign message stall amid a large field of candidates.
"I reminded him that we had all been wrongly impressed by the twenty thousand people who'd showed up for Kamala Harris's presidential announcement rally, only to see her appeal and popularity fade almost immediately," she said.
Trump then asked Conway: "So, would you rather run against Joe Biden or Elizabeth Warren?"
"I'd rather run against Elizabeth Warren," she responded, per the book. "But I'd rather debate Joe Biden. She would be up in your grill, finger in the face, calling you every name in the book. Pig. Sexist. Xenophobe. Racist. Disgrace."
She continued: "Six months later, Warren would do exactly that to hapless billionaire Michael Bloomberg, making quick work of his failed personal billion-plus-dollar investment in his own Mike-for-president campaign. His consultants may have been the biggest winners of the cycle."
Warren's sharp criticism of Bloomberg during a February 2020 Democratic debate, where she called him "a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians," was seen as a key turning point in the collapse of the former New York City mayor's presidential candidacy.
Trump was less impressed with the Democratic field — including former Vice President Joe Biden — as they made their case in ousting him from the White House.
"Trump could not believe he'd need to face either Biden or Warren. 'Is that the best they've got?' Now the president was asking the same core question many concerned Democrats were," Conway wrote.
Despite Trump's dismissal of the Democratic candidates, Biden went on to capture the nomination and defeat the then-president in the November 2020 general election, flipping the key states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
More: Donald Trump Kellyanne Conway Elizabeth Warren Joe Biden | 2022-05-25T20:20:19Z | www.businessinsider.com | Trump Couldn't Believe He'd Have to Face Biden or Warren in 2020: Book | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-biden-warren-2020-presidential-election-kellyanne-conway-book-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-biden-warren-2020-presidential-election-kellyanne-conway-book-2022-5 |
Investing fintech Vise is turning to partnerships and targeting smaller wealth firms to supercharge its tepid asset growth
Runik Mehrotra, cofounder and chief investment officer and Samir Vasavada, cofounder and CEO, are focusing on smaller wealth firms to boost their business goals.
Investing fintech Vise has raised $128 million since 2019 and has a $1 billion valuation.
Vise has seen its assets under management dip this year and also faced a leadership shakeup.
Now it's adjusting its strategy to double down on smaller wealth firms.
Vise, a $1 billion fintech that helps financial advisors customize and automate investment portfolios, is looking to scale up by partnering with smaller independent financial advisors and the industry players that support them.
The investing app, which has raised a total of $128 million since launching in 2019 from investors like Sequoia Capital, is adjusting its strategy after a leadership shakeup and seeing its assets under management dip following the loss of a large client.
Part of its new strategy is to partner with firms that offer capital and other services to growing registered investment advisors, also known as RIAs. That includes Vestria Capital, a new company launched in December by industry veteran and former UBS director Paul Hatch and partner Paul Landaiche.
Vise already has a startup RIA aggregator, a company that acquires advisory firms under one brand, in its pipeline.
"Our play is we can help these groups grow their asset base much more because if we're attractive to advisors, advisors want to find efficiency in their business. And we can help them find efficiency," Samir Vasavada, Vise's cofounder and CEO, told Insider.
"And then more importantly, it will help us, with capital behind us, it'll help us scale faster," he added.
Vise is starting with Hatch, an investor and advisor to the startup and someone who has worked for two major broker-dealers, including Morgan Stanley.
Broker-dealers have been leaking client assets as financial advisors break off in search for environments where they can have more control over their books of businesses. A Cerulli study projected that trend will continue with broker-dealers losing 2.4% of their financial advisors by 2025, starting from 2020.
As aggregators and private capital firms like Vestria swoop in to support those businesses by offering support from capital to middle-office technology, Vise hopes to be there also.
Vise faced a leadership shakeup and a dip in AUM
Shortly after cofounders Vasavada and Runik Mehrotra launched Vise in 2019, they ambitiously announced in 2020 they had $800 million in assets committed to the platform.
The New York-based company managed to get $560 million, according to Vasavada, by the summer 2021, but lost a chunk in 2022 when one of their investors who was also a client took their book of business elsewhere. The company's March ADV filing shows $362 million in assets under management.
Vise's last capital raise handed it $65 million in a Series C round led by Ribbit Capital in May, bringing its total funding to $128 million and giving it a $1 billion valuation. The company managed to grow from about 40 people in 2020 to 90 by the end of 2021, according to Vasavada.
However, the startup did face some employee turnover. Citywire reported that same month that the company laid off its sales team of 25 people as part of a shift in client strategy. And last year, 19 people left the firm, including members of its c-suite like Chief Technology Officer Andrew Fong.
Fong was hired for his infrastructure expertise and Vise thought infrastructure people could solve its financial problems, but Vasavada admitted they were wrong. "We needed people that built financial systems. So we recruited people that built financial systems instead," he said of the management shake-up.
Meanwhile, the client departure also led Vise to make adjustments. The ultra-high- net-worth -focused advisory firm that cut ties with Vise was focused on alternative investments. Vise discovered it wasn't ready to focus on that kind of business just yet.
"We can't measure clients' art holdings and venture capital and things like that included in their public markets portfolio, which is what some of the larger, more sophisticated RIAs want to do. That's just not where our product roadmap is going right now," Vasavada told Insider.
The wealth management tech company sees the experience as an experimentation period to help it find its sweet spot; independent financial advisory firms that focus on the mass affluent, people with net worths of $10,000 to $10 million.
"They're not considered ultra rich, but they're like, you know, the average person," he said, adding that the advisors who service them are usually helping them plan for milestones like buying their first home or sending their children to college.
More: Vise Fintech Wealth Advisor
Wealth Management Product | 2022-05-25T20:20:26Z | www.businessinsider.com | Vise Turns to Smaller Wealth Firms to Supercharge Its Growth | https://www.businessinsider.com/vise-fintech-strategy-to-supercharge-growth-smaller-wealth-firms-partnerships-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/vise-fintech-strategy-to-supercharge-growth-smaller-wealth-firms-partnerships-2022-5 |
ACH transfer vs. wire transfer: At a glance
Example of an ACH transfer
Example of a wire transfer
Choosing between an ACH and wire transfer may boil down to pricing and timing
You can make a dispute if you need to cancel an ACH transfer, but wire transfers are irrevocable.
ACH and wire transfers are the primary ways banks send money across different financial institutions.
Banks usually offer free ACH transfers, and they may be ideal for payments you can plan ahead.
Wire transfers cost a fee but can be sent immediately.
If you need to send money to another person's bank account, your bank has two primary methods of moving money across accounts — ACH transfers and wire transfers.
To determine which transfer method to ask about and see whether there's a cost involved, we've compared ACH transfers and wire transfers.
ACH transfers and wire transfers are processed differently, and choosing the right one will likely depend on the purpose of your transfer.
An ACH transfer is sent in batches through the Automated Clearinghouse network and usually takes a few business days to process.
A wire transfer is sent immediately and may not be easy to cancel.
Even if you're not familiar with the term ACH transfer, you may have likely used this type of transfer method before.
Tristan Thompson, payments strategy director at Arvest Bank, says common examples of ACH transfers include direct deposit and online bill pay.
"In general, anytime you can plan your payment ahead is a great opportunity to use ACH, or in the instance where you're going to have a reoccurring payment," adds Thompson. "If you set up something like an auto-pay, a lot of times what you're doing is just connecting your bank account, and because that's scheduled in advance, that's likely going to go over the ACH rails, and it will be cheaper for the customer."
ACH transfers sent through financial institutions generally won't cost a fee. If you need to cancel an ACH transfer, you may be able to cancel the transaction online or by phone.
Banks usually won't charge a fee
May be easier to cancel
Ideal for reoccurring payments or everyday transactions that aren't time-sensitive
Takes a few days to process, so you'll need to plan ahead
If you are looking for a tool to help you pay for monthly bills, an ACH transfer could be ideal.
To schedule an ACH transfer for your bill, you can set up online bill pay through your banks online or mobile banking . All you need to do is log into your account, and look for a tab that says "Bill Pay."
You can add a company or individual by entering your payee's name. You also may need to know the address and bank account number of the person or company you are sending money to.
Once you've entered this information and reviewed it, the money can get taken out of your account routinely so you won't accidentally miss a payment. You may also cancel an automatic bill payment easily.
There are two different types of wire transfers — domestic wire transfers and international wire transfers.
Domestic wire transfers can be sent to any bank account in the US. Depending on your bank, you may have to pay anywhere from $0 to $15 per transaction.
International wire transfers let you send money to people in other countries. The cost for an international wire transfer is much greater than domestic wire transfers — you may have to pay anywhere from $30 to $50 per transfer.
Quick tip: If you're planning on sending a wire transfer, review our step-by-step guide on sending wire money.
Wire transfers will be a good option if you need to send money immediately. However, you'll want to be mindful of who you send money to, since it may not be easy to get your money back.
"If you send a wire transfer, once you send it, the money is gone," says Thompson."It's considered immediate and irrevocable."
Tammy Robinson, the Arvest Bank Integrated Account Servicing senior director, also notes that fraudsters often ask people to send wire transfers because they recognize that the funds are often difficult to cancel.
Processed quickly (usually within the same day)
Ideal for time-sensitive transactions
Usually involves a fee (varies between institutions and whether it's a domestic or international transaction)
May not be easy to cancel
If you need to send money to a family member internationally for a pressing issue, you may consider using an international wire transfer.
To initiate a wire transfer, you'll usually have to contact your bank's customer support or visit a branch. By having a banker help you with the transaction, there's also an additional layer of security.
You may also have the following information readily available to make an international transfer:
Money that you are sending, plus an additional amount to cover the wire transfer fee
Name and home address of your recipient
Bank information, such as the financial institution's name, International Bank Account Number (IBAN), or SWIFT code
Since wire transfers cost a fee, you may want to make a one-time transaction to avoid additional fees.
PERSONAL FINANCE An IBAN number can be used for international bank transactions
PERSONAL FINANCE A remittance is type of money transfer that is important for people with family in other countries
PERSONAL FINANCE 5 ways to send money to someone who doesn't have a bank account
PERSONAL FINANCE Wire transfer fees tend to be expensive, but you may be able to lessen the cost depending on your bank
More: wire transfer ACH transfer Savings PFI Reference | 2022-05-25T21:51:00Z | www.businessinsider.com | ACH Vs. Wire Transfer: Which Type of Transfer Should You Use? | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/ach-vs-wire-transfer | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/ach-vs-wire-transfer |
The SEC wants ESG funds to show proof that they're not just greenwashing to draw in investor dollars
Catherine Boudreau
The SEC is cracking down on ESG investment funds that exaggerate their environmental and social benefits.
Natnan Srisuwan/Getty Images
The SEC wants fund managers to back up their environmental and social claims.
Environmental, social, and governance funds have grown rapidly, becoming a $3 trillion market.
Criticism of the ESG market is on the rise amid accusations of greenwashing and political agendas.
The Securities and Exchange Commission wants to rein in ESG funds that exaggerate their environmental and social bona fides as trillions of dollars flow into the market.
The agency proposed requiring funds that say they have an environmental, social, and governance strategy to back up their claims by disclosing how they select companies and vote at annual meetings. Funds with an environmental focus would also have to report the greenhouse-gas emissions linked to the portfolio.
The proposal comes as ESG funds balloon into a $3 trillion market with little transparency or rules around what it means, fueling misleading claims, greenwashing, and confusion for investors, the SEC said.
"When I think about this topic, I'm reminded of walking down the aisle of a grocery store and seeing a product like fat-free milk. What does 'fat free' mean? Well, in that case, you can see objective figures, like grams of fat, which are detailed on the nutrition label," SEC Chair Gary Gensler said on Wednesday during a meeting to consider the proposal. "When it comes to ESG investing, though, there's currently a huge range of what asset managers might disclose or mean by their claims."
The SEC has been preparing for a crackdown on companies, asset managers, and advisers that say they are incorporating issues such as climate change and diversity and inclusion into their business strategy.
Last year, the agency formed a Climate and ESG Task Force to scrutinize those claims, and in April it proposed that public companies disclose their carbon footprints and any plans to shrink them.
On Monday, the SEC announced its first ESG-related settlement with the asset-management arm of BNY Mellon, which said that all of its investments in certain mutual funds had undergone an ESG quality review — even though that wasn't always the case. BNY Mellon Investment Advisor paid a $1.5 million fine, and the SEC said the firm had taken remedial steps, including changing certain processes and policies.
The fine and SEC's latest rule marks the end of a month that rocked the ESG market, which is increasingly under fire from red-state officials and some top executives who argue that it's being used to fulfill a left-wing political agenda. Supporters say ESG funds are delivering higher returns and can steer capital into more sustainable investments.
The ratings giant S&P Global last week removed Tesla from its ESG Index as part of an annual review, citing employee accusations of racial discrimination and poor working conditions at a factory in Fremont, California, as well as the electric-vehicle maker's handling of a government investigation into deaths and injuries linked to its autopilot cars.
Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO, tweeted that "ESG is a scam," adding that the oil giant ExxonMobil still made S&P's index.
Ken Pucker, a senior lecturer at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, told Insider that while an ESG disclosure framework was important, he was skeptical that the market would lead to better environmental and social outcomes.
"If the outcome we're seeking is planetary welfare, such as mitigating climate change and water scarcity, do I think enhanced disclosure will suffice? The answer is unequivocally no," he said. "I'm concerned the growth of ESG investment will dampen the need for regulatory intervention. Will government think we don't need to fix the rules because the investment community has grown ESG assets?"
NOW WATCH: Companies ignoring climate change will be on the 'wrong side of history,' says World Economic Forum executive chairman
More: SEC ESG Investing Stocks ESG bonds | 2022-05-25T21:51:12Z | www.businessinsider.com | SEC Cracks Down on ESG Funds to Curtail Greenwashing | https://www.businessinsider.com/sec-cracks-down-on-esg-funds-to-curtail-greenwashing-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/sec-cracks-down-on-esg-funds-to-curtail-greenwashing-2022-5 |
The nonpartisan agency updated its economic forecasts on Wednesday, laying out how it expects the US to grow over the next several years, and the outlook is encouraging. The office sees growth holding strong through 2022 despite growing fears of a recession . And after several months of the fastest inflation since the 1980s, price growth is expected to have hit its peak.
The PCE price index — one of the most closely watched measures of US inflation — is expected to climb 4% through 2022, according to the report. That's down from the 6.6% annual gain seen in the year through March and last year's 5.5% increase. It also represents a return to rates last seen in May 2021, signaling much of the inflation surge will reverse course by the end of the year.
More: Economy economic outlook Economic Forecast CBO | 2022-05-25T21:51:30Z | www.businessinsider.com | The Worst of Inflation Is Over, Congressional Budget Office Says | https://www.businessinsider.com/the-worst-of-inflation-is-over-congressional-budget-office-says-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/the-worst-of-inflation-is-over-congressional-budget-office-says-2022-5 |
How to view a private Instagram account — even without requesting to follow it
Devon Delfino and Steven John
You can view a private Instagram in a few ways, but we recommend simply requesting to follow the account.
happydancing/Shutterstock
The best way to view a private Instagram account is by requesting to follow it.
If you Google search the private Instagram account, you may be able to view associated images.
You can also go through a friend's account if they follow the account you want to view.
Instagram gives us a sneak peek into the lives of other people. But since you can make an account private, you won't always have access to the photos and videos some people post, especially if you don't opt to follow those private accounts.
Sometimes, this can make sense: You may be wary of following an account without being able to see what they're posting. So it can help to look for examples of their posts to decide if you want to follow an account or not.
Here's what you need to know about seeing a private Instagram's posts:
How to view a private Instagram account
If you want to view a private Instagram account at any time, your best bet is to just follow the account. This requires the user to approve your follow request.
There are some alternative methods you can use to view a private Instagram account without following the account, including using third-party apps that violate Instagram's terms of use — which we don't recommend doing.
That said, there are other ways you could technically and ethically view a private Instagram account (or posts associated with the account) without following the account directly.
How to view a private Instagram account without requesting to follow it
If you aren't already following the private account, here are two methods you can try:
Do a Google image search for the account name
You can copy and paste the private account's Instagram name (you can view the name, post count, and follower and following figures even of a private account) into Google and then do an image search.
You can still see a private account’s name, post count and follower/following figures.
Chances are that some of their pictures will come up, having been tagged elsewhere on a public Instagram or even Facebook accounts.
A Google image search can sometimes show select photos from a private Instagram account.
Quick tip: It may help to add "Instagram" to your search query if you're not seeing anything pop up when searching the handle on Google images.
Go through someone else's account
If you know someone who follows the private Instagram you want to view, you could always access that account through their account – with your friend or acquaintance's permission, of course.
If there's a specific Instagram post you want to see, you could also ask them to take a screenshot of the private post and send it to you.
Otherwise, you could request to follow a private Instagram account from another account you've created. | 2022-05-25T23:22:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | How to View a Private Instagram Account in 2022 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-view-private-instagram | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-view-private-instagram |
This founder just listed his NFT company on a Toronto stock exchange with a valuation over $17 million. Here's why he thinks it's a good time for crypto firms to go public.
Mario Nawfal.
NFT Technologies listed on Toronto's NEO Exchange with a market capitalization of about $17 million.
Most companies refrain from public offerings during market downturns.
Despite the bear market, NFT Technologies' founder says there's no better time to go public. Here's why.
While most companies delay their public launches during market downturns, Mario Nawfal, NFT Technologies' cofounder and CEO, said this could be the best time for crypto firms to list on a public exchange.
"We've got more than enough capital, and we're really comfortable, and everything is really cheap," Nawfal told Insider. "An investment of a million dollars into a company would now cost 80 or 90% less, so if anything, we're in a better place."
Nawfal said he hoped that listing publicly would help his company attract the "big money" in traditional stock markets.
Wahid Chammas, the founder of the Cyprus-based asset-management firm TyreGate Capital, said listing in a bear market could help firms focus on "value creation as opposed to stock price." Chammas told Insider that investor expectations had been lowered, which could allow NFT Technologies to innovate without thinking about the volatility of the market.
"The listing could present a challenge for our nascent company, given its exposure to the current crypto market. While that challenge is not insurmountable, due to major market headwinds, the listing may not shine as much as it would have a few months ago," said an NFT Technologies employee who spoke with Insider on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to talk to the press. He sees an uphill battle for the company since NFTs are still a novel asset with volatile peaks and troughs.
"A few will rise to be unicorns and really impact our lives positively," he said, "But many won't survive."
"It not only will change society, it is already changing society right now," he said. For Nawfal, Facebook's recent rebranding is a good sign for crypto companies.
"Imagine if Ford twenty years ago changed their name to Ford Electric Cars," he said. "If people way smarter than me are changing their name to Meta, I don't know what else could be a good indicator."
More: contributor 2022 NFT Blockchain IPO 2022
Tekendra Parmar | 2022-05-26T00:53:15Z | www.businessinsider.com | NFT Technologies Goes Public on the NEO Exchange | https://www.businessinsider.com/nft-technologies-public-listing-toronto-neo-stock-exchange-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/nft-technologies-public-listing-toronto-neo-stock-exchange-2022-5 |
Russia said it would allow ships carrying food to leave Ukrainian ports if some sanctions were lifted.
More than 20 million tons of grains are stuck in Ukraine amid a global food crunch.
A senior Russian government official said the Kremlin would allow ships carrying food to leave Ukrainian ports in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
"We have repeatedly commented on the matter and said that a resolution of the food problem would require a comprehensive approach, including the lifting of sanctions imposed on Russian exports and financial transactions," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said on Wednesday, as reported by Interfax news agency.
Separately, Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, said there is a "safe corridor" allowing access to the key Odesa port, according to a Reuters report.
However, Ukraine needs to demine the waters before the safe corridors can be used, Nebenzia said, per Reuters. "They mined the ports, not us," he said. "There is a corridor which exists, which they don't use."
Russia's navy has disrupted trade at Ukraine ports and currently controls all traffic in the northern third of the Black Sea, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing a US government document it obtained. This makes commercial shipping unsafe, per the Post.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on May 21 warned of a global food crisis if his country still can't ship grains out of its ports.
"There will be a crisis in the world. The second crisis after the energy one, which was provoked by Russia. Now it will create a food crisis if we do not unblock the routes for Ukraine, do not help the countries of Africa, Europe, Asia, which need these food products," said Zalenskyy, according to a transcript from his office.
The war has sent prices of commodities skyrocketing due to disruption in production and shipping from Russia and Ukraine, as well as knock-on impact to global markets.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba hit back at Rudenko's suggestion, calling it "clear blackmail," according to CNN.
"You could not find a better example of a blackmail in international relations," Kuleba told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, per Reuters. "If anyone is buying it, I think there is a problem with that person, and we shouldn't waste too much time trying to understand why that person is making that point."
More: Russia Ukraine Ukraine War Food | 2022-05-26T05:26:43Z | www.businessinsider.com | Russia Says It Will Let Food Ships Leave Ukraine If Some Sanctions Are Lifted | https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-let-food-ships-leave-ukraine-if-sanctions-lifted-crisis-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-let-food-ships-leave-ukraine-if-sanctions-lifted-crisis-2022-5 |
A former tech lead from Google was dragged on Twitter for bragging about how he used to trash the resumes of women who interviewed with him.
A former Google tech lead bragged about how he used to trash female interviewees' resumes.
In now-deleted tweets, Patrick Shyu also shared why he believes "women shouldn't code."
"I told them, 'Go have some kids. Don't worry, I'm smarter than you, I know,'" Shyu wrote.
A former Google coder bragged on Twitter this week about how he used to trash the resumes of female interviewees in front of them.
In his now-deleted tweets, Patrick Shyu recounted how he used to treat women who interviewed with him.
"So when I used to conduct interviews for Google, I rejected all women on the spot and trashed their resumes in front of them," Shyu wrote in a May 22 post that was seen by Insider.
'I told them, 'Go have some kids. Don't worry, I'm smarter than you, I know,'" Shyu wrote.
Patrick Shyu, known on Twitter as "TechLeadHD," posted about his time working at Google on May 22.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Shyu worked at Google as a tech lead on the YouTube app and was at the company from September 2014 to April 2018. He then switched jobs and worked at Facebook — now called Meta — from May 2018 to July 2019 as a staff software engineer on Facebook Video.
Shyu now has a YouTube channel on which he posts controversial takes about his time working for Facebook and Google.
Shyu followed up his tweets on May 22 with multiple posts attempting to explain his stance. For instance, he suggested that women shouldn't code and should instead work as influencers or creators — careers that would lean into "their natural strength."
"Coding is a brutal 24/7 job, mutually exclusive with motherhood," Shyu said, saying that mothers would come back "obsolete and outdated" after maternity leave.
"No one asked for women programmers. We asked for women influencers and instead got 'independent women' in pants suits. Independence does not exist if you want a family. A woman should prioritize being a good mother and wife, not a coding machine. 'Mother/Wife' is a great job," he tweeted.
In a series of tweets posted this week, Shyu unloaded on female coders.
In a separate tweet, Shyu then clarified that he thought "women can be great programmers" but would also be encouraged to stay home to work.
"Unless your tech job supports part-time work for 3+ years, you don't support mothers," Shyu added. "Most men sacrifice for family. Women sacrifice family for career."
Two days later, Shyu tweeted: "Misogyny doesn't actually exist. It's an excuse for incompetent women who spent too much time researching 'misogyny' instead of improving themselves."
Shyu has been skewered by Twitter users for his comments, with some calling out his claim about the brutality of the coding profession. "Bro you sit in a gaming chair and bash out lines of text eating Cheetos you are not invading Berlin in 1945," wrote one user.
Others took aim at his views on women in his industry. "Men shouldn't be in tech, as the irrational emotions produced by testosterone make them biologically predisposed to falling for dumb ideas like cryptocurrency," wrote a Twitter user Eevee.
Shyu has lashed out at his critics, telling them to "get into Google first." On Thursday, he tweeted that he had deleted all of his previous tweets and stated that "opinions are not engraved in stone, just as how we never stop learning and growing as people."
Female coders have historically faced obstacles working in tech companies dominated by men. Some women in tech have also spoken out about how harassment and workplace discrimination pushed them out of the industry, despite the draw of lucrative salaries.
Representatives from Google and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment. Shyu also did not immediately respond to Insider when contacted.
More: Google Facebook Social Media female coders | 2022-05-26T08:29:20Z | www.businessinsider.com | Ex-Google Tech Lead Brags About How He Used to Trash Women's Resumes | https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-google-staff-brags-iabout-trashing-female-coders-resumes-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-google-staff-brags-iabout-trashing-female-coders-resumes-2022-5 |
3 Tory MPs call for Boris Johnson to quit as he faces renewed leadership crisis over 'partygate'
A file photo of Boris Johnson.
Three Conservative MPs submitted new letters of no confidence in Boris Johnson over partygate.
Julian Sturdy, David Simmonds, and John Baron said the prime minister should quit.
Backbenchers believe the threshold for a vote — 54 letters — could be reached imminently.
Boris Johnson is facing a renewed leadership crisis after a three more Conservative MPs said they had submitted letters of no confidence following the publication of Sue Gray's report into parties during lockdown.
The long-awaited report into so-called "partygate" set out in lurid detail rule-breaking behaviour that had taken place in Downing Street during lockdown, including alcohol-fueled parties that resulted in vomiting, fighting and broken property.
It also described disrespectful behaviour towards cleaners and security staff.
The report stopped short of blaming Johnson specifically, leaving MPs to conclude that Johnson was "safe", but that the party would likely lose the next election.
This assessment does not mean prime minister is out of the woods.
On Wednesday evening, while the prime minister addressed the 1922 Tory backbench committee, York Outer MP Julian Sturdy announced he had submitted a no-confidence letter.
Sturdy said: "Following the publication of the full Sue Gray report, I feel it is now in the public interest for the Prime Minister to resign."
He was followed Thursday by David Simmonds, who represents Johnson's neighbouring constituency of Ruislip, Northwood & Pinner. John Baron was a third MP to issue a call for his resignation.
Simmonds said in a statement that "while the government and our policies enjoy the confidence of the public, the Prime Minister does not".
He added: "Accordingly, it is time for him to step down so that new leadership can take forward the important work of the government in ensuring that our people and country prosper."
Baron echoed these comments, saying: "I'm afraid the Prime Minister no longer enjoys my support – I can no longer give him the benefit of the doubt."
Sir Roger Gale – who had previously said it was the wrong time to change leader, citing the war in Ukraine – also called for Johnson to go in recent days.
MPs told Insider that others had submitted letters but had not gone public yet.
One said: "It's more than three... It's the silent majority that the PM has to worry about."
Another said: "I am genuinely astonished it's not reached 54 yet," referring to the threshold required to trigger a leadership contest in the Conservative Party.
The total number of letters submitted is a secret until the threshold is reached, leading to intense speculation in Westminster about how many there are.
Earlier this week, several backbenchers told Insider they believed a vote of no confidence could be triggered as early as this week.
However, Parliament rises for recess Thursday afternoon – which could give Johnson time and space to rebuild support ahead of a vote when MPs return. | 2022-05-26T09:56:29Z | www.businessinsider.com | 3 Tory MPs Call for Boris Johnson to Quit After Lockown Party Report | https://www.businessinsider.com/3-tory-mps-want-boris-johnson-quit-gray-party-report-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/3-tory-mps-want-boris-johnson-quit-gray-party-report-2022-5 |
CHART: 26 tech companies 'underwater' on employee stock awards. See which ones are in the biggest hole as the market collapses.
Kali Hays and Diamond Naga Siu
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, left, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Michael Kovac/Getty Images; Francois Mori/AP
At least 26 US tech companies are "underwater" on equity granted to workers.
Stock prices at some of the companies are more than 50% below the average strike price on RSUs.
See the chart showing which companies are down the most compared to the price of their equity grants.
Technology companies are known for paying employees well with a combination of salary and stock. The stock part of the equation has taken a beating lately, though. That's left many Silicon Valley compensation plans "underwater," according to data compiled by Morgan Stanley.
Snap is one such company. Its share price, crushed by a sudden revenue slowdown, is 43% below the average value of equity granted to employees. The value of Snap's stock based compensation is now equal to the entirety of the company's expected free cash flow in 2023 (and then some), Morgan Stanley estimated this week.
There are many other tech companies in similar situations, including Stitch Fix, Peloton, and Lyft. Even Amazon and Facebook are underwater, although not as much. All this makes it harder for companies to keep paying staff handsomely. Either the companies have to issue more stock, diluting and angering shareholders, or they must pay more in cash, which cuts into profits. The other option is to pay workers less, but that risks losing talent to rivals.
"We see a rising tactical risk around talent retention/attraction and/or shareholder dilution to the extent to which more employee equity awards move underwater through this period," the analysts at Morgan Stanley said.
"This is becoming increasingly notable for other [companies]," they added. "This must be monitored for the entire space."
Companies across the tech sector are being hit by a reduction in ad spending linked to inflation and the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, among other factors, resulting in sinking stock prices. Major freezes on hiring and other expense reduction strategies are being put in place at companies like Facebook, Uber, and Twitter.
These same companies and more went on a hiring spree over the last two years, fiercely competing for tech talent and getting ever more generous with restricted stock units to retain and recruit workers. Such compensation tactics are "completely unsustainable," according to some experts.
For a breakdown of companies currently underwater on RSUs and other employee equity awards, see below:
Axel Springer, Insider Inc.'s parent company, is an investor in Nextdoor.
More: SNAP Facebook Meta | 2022-05-26T09:56:47Z | www.businessinsider.com | Which Tech Companies Are Most 'Underwater' on Employee Stock Awards? | https://www.businessinsider.com/which-tech-companies-are-most-underwater-on-employee-stock-awards-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/which-tech-companies-are-most-underwater-on-employee-stock-awards-2022-5 |
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky seen on a screen at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos on May 23, 2022.
Henry Kissinger suggested Monday that Ukraine hand over territory to Russia to secure peace.
Before the invasion, Russia controlled Crimea and, informally, the pro-Kremlin Donbas region of Ukraine.
Zelenskyy slammed the 98-year-old on Wednesday, saying he was "from the deep past."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for saying Ukraine should hand over territory to Russia in exchange for peace.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Monday, Kissinger said Ukraine should return to the "status quo ante," a Latin phrase meaning how things were before.
By that, Kissinger implied that Ukraine should let Russia control Crimea, the peninsula it annexed in 2014, as well as informally rule the Donbas region through the pro-Kremlin factions that have occupied the region since 2014.
In an address Wednesday, Zelenskyy derided Kissinger for his suggestion, saying the nonagenarian is emerging "from the deep past."
"It seems that Mr. Kissinger's calendar is not 2022, but 1938, and he thought he was talking to an audience not in Davos, but in Munich of that time," he said, referring to the appeasement of the Nazi Third Reich in Germany.
"By the way, in the real year 1938, when Mr. Kissinger's family was fleeing Nazi Germany, he was 15 years old, and he understood everything perfectly. And nobody heard from him then that it was necessary to adapt to the Nazis instead of fleeing them or fighting them."
In the same address Zelenskyy also attacked The New York Times for an May 19 article published by the editorial board, which said the US should avoid engaging with the conflict given that domestic inflation is a more pressing issue.
"Symptomatic editorials began to appear in some Western media stating that Ukraine must allegedly accept so-called difficult compromises by giving up territory in exchange for peace," Zelenskyy said.
"Perhaps The New York Times in 1938 also wrote something similar. But now, let me remind you, it is 2022."
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy reiterated remarks that Ukraine won't agree to peace until Russia agrees to return Crimea and the Donbas regions to Ukraine.
Months before the Russian invasion began, Zelenskyy pledged to do all he could to return the peninsula to Ukraine.
Russian forces have in recent days made advances in the Donbas region, with Ukraine's defense ministry spokesperson, Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, saying Tuesday that Russia's military had entered its "most active phase" of the war to date.
More: News UK Volodymyr Zelenskyy Ukraine Russia | 2022-05-26T09:56:53Z | www.businessinsider.com | Zelenskyy Slams Kissinger for Suggesting Ukraine Cede Lane to Russia | https://www.businessinsider.com/zelenskyy-slams-henry-kissinger-suggestion-ukraine-cede-territory-russia-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/zelenskyy-slams-henry-kissinger-suggestion-ukraine-cede-territory-russia-2022-5 |
The CIO at $177 billion Huntington Bank shares 3 reasons why he doesn't see a recession ahead for the US economy — and when investors should start to step back into tech stocks
Huntington Private Bank
Recession fears are rising in the US as growth slows.
But according to John Augustine, a recession is unlikely for 3 reasons.
As tech stocks get crushed, Augustine also shared his view on when to step back into the sector.
Recession fears have been bubbling up in the US this year as the Federal Reserve aggressively tightens policy to knock down consumer demand and cool historically high inflation.
The first quarter of 2022 already posted negative GDP growth, year-over-year. A recession is partly defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.
But for John Augustine, the CIO at Huntington Private Bank, which manages $177 billion in assets, the US economy is a long way off from going into recession, and it's unlikely a downturn occurs over the next 12 months.
There are three reasons for this, he told Insider on May 23. One is that businesses are continuing to spend robustly. Capital and durable goods spending by businesses increased in April, although at a slower pace than expected, the US Census Bureau announced on Wednesday.
"We're not seeing a slowdown in business capex spending," Augustine said. "Businesses are spending to protect margins."
Second, consumers remain healthy, with savings still high. Consumer savings are currently higher than they were before the pandemic, and spending remains strong despite poor sentiment.
"Consumers, they're paying up right now," he said. "Will that change this summer? Don't know. But right now consumers have the balance sheets, and they have the demand."
Finally, Augustine pointed to increasing exports as a sign of economic strength. According to the US Census Bureau and the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, exports rose by $32.9 billion, or 5.6%, in March compared to February.
"Exports were a record $228 billion in March," he said. "Now at some point, they're going to slow down given what's going on geopolitically, but exports have been a surprise, moving up, to us."
He added: "Until those back off — especially in the US, until the consumer backs off — there's no recession."
Augustine said if the Fed hikes rates above 3%, however, the economy could begin to become vulnerable to a recession.
When to step back into tech and growth
Given the rising-interest-rate environment, tech and growth stocks have been suffered the worst in this year's market sell-off. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite is down 27% compared to 17% for the broader S&P 500 index.
Some investors have said the sector has now sold off enough to be attractive again, while others argue it has further to fall. Snap's poor first-quarter earnings and future outlook suggests the pain might not be quite over yet.
For Augustine, the sector remains in the doghouse for the moment as the Fed continues to tighten, and is less attractive than sectors like the consumer good space and real estate.
But the time will come to step back into the sector, he said, and that is when the Fed and other central banks around the world signal they're done tightening. That will likely come next year, he said.
"When the market bottoms, it may be led back out by those inflation protection stories," Augustine said. "Now when the central banks start to say, 'We're about done, that's when those tech names come in."
More: Investing Investing advice tech stock sell-off
tech stock rally | 2022-05-26T10:09:17Z | www.businessinsider.com | Here's When to Start Buying Tech Stocks Again, According to a Bank CIO | https://www.businessinsider.com/when-to-buy-tech-stocks-again-faang-growth-augustine-huntington-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/when-to-buy-tech-stocks-again-faang-growth-augustine-huntington-2022-5 |
Good morning. A sea of red has throttled the stock market in recent months, and Wall Street seems to think that things will only improve if the Fed pumps the brakes on tightening.
But a few things have to happen for Mr. Powell to make that call.
Coffee at the ready…
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell
1. Wall Street needs "Fed pause" to save the market. But it isn't so straightforward. Stocks won't hit the bottom until the central bank halts its tightening cycle, the consensus among experts seems to be.
Fed tightening is the market's biggest headwind, DataTrek Research analysts said. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 are down roughly 30% and 20% year-to-date, respectively.
But for the Fed to ease up, Stifel said the central bank must observe three things:
Lower inflation
Lower GDP growth
In other words: Bad news may be good news for investors, and the Fed likely welcomes the current downturn as an inflation-busting tool, DataTrek said.
"Lower stock prices tell companies to stop hiring so aggressively and feeding wage inflation," DataTrek wrote. "They also create a reverse wealth effect, which should curtail consumer spending."
But as long as the Fed remains hawkish — and Wednesday's minutes said summer could see two half-point hikes — Stifel said investors should own more value stocks relative to growth.
"Until the Fed is less hawkish and oil breaks down, we'll stay with our 10:3 ratio of defensive value and selected growth," Stifel analysts wrote.
People commute in the central business district in Beijing, China.
2. US stock futures seesawed early Thursday, after minutes from the Federal Reserve 's meeting confirmed big rate hikes are coming. Here are the latest market moves.
3. Coming up today: Ulta Beauty, Costco Wholesale Corp, and Dollar Tree, all reporting. Plus, look out for the Bureau of Economic Analysis' revised GDP data for the first quarter of 2022, publishing at 7:30 am ET.
4. A stock-picking expert shared a batch of fallen-star names expected to surge by up to 135% when bullishness returns to Wall Street. Smart investors hunt for bargains when the dust settles after the markets fall. Maxim Manturov laid out his seven top companies he's eyeing for big returns.
5. Elon Musk is funding his $44 billion Twitter takeover with more of his own wealth. As per The Wall Street Journal, Musk plans to fund the buyout with $33.5 billion in equity, up from the initial $27.25 billion. He is also looking at additional backers, such as former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. The news caused Twitter's stock price to jump as much as 5.5% in premarket trading.
6. JPMorgan made a bullish call on bitcoin. The bank projected that the world's largest crypto by market cap will rise 28% — and said cryptocurrencies are now its preferred alternative asset.
7. Russia's central bank slashes interest rates to 11%, from 14%. It is the bank's third rate cut in just over a month, and is part of an effort to limit a rally in the ruble.
8. Sir John Templeton's growth fund averages 15% annual returns over a 38-year period. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest investors of all time. His great-niece broke down the four principles that guided his career success.
9. Rich Rosenblum oversees a crypto market maker that moves billions each day. He shared a token that isn't "very sexy" but is fighting the bearish tide — and also shed light on a little-known chain to watch ahead of a potential surge in demand for new networks.
10. A lot of people are saying we're in a recession right now. Even though economic data shows we're not quite in a slump just yet, the general consensus seems to think otherwise. Google searches for "recession" in the US are climbing. | 2022-05-26T11:31:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | 10 Things Before the Opening Bell: May 26 | https://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-before-the-opening-bell-may-26-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-before-the-opening-bell-may-26-2022-5 |
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia.
Sputnik/Sergey Guneev/Kremlin via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY.
Kremlin insiders are mulling Putin's successor, according to the independent Russian outlet Meduza.
Political elites are dissatisfied with the war in Ukraine and crumbling economy, Meduza reported.
Kremlin insiders are privately discussing a list of possible successors to Russian President Vladimir Putin in case he is forced out over the invasion of Ukraine or falls ill, the independent Russian outlet Meduza reported.
The impact of Western sanctions and the cost of waging the monthslong war in Ukraine have crippled Russia's economy, with discontent rising among the Kremlin and the government, Meduza reported.
Meduza reported, citing sources with ties to the Russian government, that political elites are now talking about "the future after Putin" more than before.
"It's not that they want to overthrow Putin right now, or that they're plotting a conspiracy, but there's an understanding (or a wish) that he won't be governing the state maybe in the foreseeable future," a source told Meduza of those inside the Kremlin.
The outlet also cited another source as saying: "The president screwed up, but he might still fix everything later, coming to some agreement [with Ukraine]."
Kremlin officials are discussing a list of potential successors to Putin in secret, Meduza reported, with officials floating Mayor Sergey Sobyanin of Moscow, National Security Council Deputy Chairman and former President Dmitry Medvedev, and First Deputy Chief of Staff Sergey Kiriyenko as possible candidates.
However, Russia's elites understand that the only realistic way to get Putin out of office is to wait for a major health issue, Meduza reported, citing sources.
"People are disgusted, but they're still at their jobs, helping to put the country on a war footing," a source told the outlet.
Rumours have swirled for weeks that Putin is seriously ill.
A Russian oligarch was secretly recorded saying Putin is "very ill with blood cancer," New Lines magazine reported, and the film director Oliver Stone, who has interviewed Putin several times, said Putin previously had cancer but recovered. The former British spy Christopher Steele said this month that Russian sources have also told him that Putin is terminally ill.
Western officials have largely poured cold water on those rumors, however, with one saying earlier this week: "My observation is that at the moment President Putin is firmly in control of his inner circle, the country, and the decisions which are being made, irrespective of any speculation about his health. President Putin is still the decision-maker."
A source close to the Kremlin told Meduza: "There's probably almost nobody who's happy with Putin. Businesspeople and many cabinet members are unhappy that the president started this war without thinking through the scale of the sanctions. Normal life under these sanctions is impossible."
Two sources with ties to the Kremlin told Meduza that Putin is reticent to acknowledge the clear economic difficulties resulting from the war in Ukraine.
That said, Meduza reported that there are several hawkish voices inside the Kremlin that believe Russia has gone past the point of no return with Ukraine, and must go all in.
"They figure, since we're entangled there already, there's no going soft now. We need to go even harder," a source told the outlet.
In recent days, Russian troops have made advances in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, with Ukraine's defense ministry spokesperson, Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, saying Tuesday that Russia's military had entered its "most active phase" of the war to date. | 2022-05-26T11:32:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | Kremlin Insiders Look for Putin Successor in Case Forced Out: Report | https://www.businessinsider.com/kremlin-insiders-looking-putin-successor-in-case-forced-out-report-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/kremlin-insiders-looking-putin-successor-in-case-forced-out-report-2022-5 |
Salesforce benefited big time from its investments in companies like Robinhood and Monday.com, but now its stock holdings could become a liability
Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.
Salesforce's venture-capital arm invests in cloud-software startups and reaps profits for the firm.
But as cloud-software valuations have fallen, the value of Salesforce's investments has dropped.
Combined with other market factors, it's caused Salesforce to cut costs and slow hiring.
Salesforce's robust venture-capital arm has invested in some of the biggest up-and-coming names in cloud software, reaping profits along the way.
But as public- and private-company valuations have fallen in recent months, cloud-software companies' stocks have taken a hit. That's caused the value of Salesforce's investments to drop, which could be a strain on the company's bottom line.
In an annual filing in March, Salesforce said that if its investments dipped by just 10%, its investment portfolio could lose up to $165 million. Given the current market conditions, the income Salesforce brought in from those investments is likely to decrease, and it'll have to find income from other places, the JMP Securities analyst Pat Walravens said in a recent note to clients.
Salesforce is slowing hiring or putting a hold on recruiting for some roles, Insider reported last week.
"If we are heading into a recession , you sell front-office software and you have a lot of exposure, and so it makes sense to put the break on some of your spend," Walravens told Insider. "If you want to get the stock up in this environment, the way to do that is to deliver better margins."
Since Salesforce Ventures started in 2009, it has financed over 400 enterprise-cloud companies, including well-known names like the videoconferencing platform Zoom , the electronic-signature startup DocuSign, the big-data company Databricks, and the data-analytics firm Snowflake.
In 2021, Salesforce reported $1.2 billion in profits from its strategic investments. That number was even higher in 2020, at $2.17 billion, after two of its portfolio companies, Snowflake and the fintech firm nCino, went public.
Salesforce's strategy hinges on the profits it makes once a company goes public or gets bought. Then Salesforce makes money back on its investment and uses it to invest in more companies, the annual filing says.
While Salesforce Ventures typically focuses on startups and earlier-stage funding rounds, in recent years it has also bought shares in the initial public offerings of companies like Zoom, the work-management-software firm Monday.com, and Snowflake.
Many of those companies' stocks have dropped in recent months, but Salesforce has made sales to avoid losing money.
Salesforce sold its shares of Zoom in 2020, and it sold most of its shares of Snowflake last year. It held a $35 million stake in Snowflake at the end of 2021 that it sold in the first quarter of this year as Snowflake's stock dropped by over 32%, CNBC reported, citing a regulatory filing from this month.
The regulatory filing says Salesforce has stakes in five public companies, including the stock-trading app Robinhood, Monday.com, and nCino. But the value of those holdings has decreased. For example, Salesforce holds 483,871 shares of Monday.com; a February filing says that stake was worth about $149 million, while the May filing shows it was worth about $76 million.
While public companies have been in turmoil, facing an unpredictable stock market, private companies have also suffered. Despite a pandemic-era boom in private funds for cloud startups, some investors have shied away from those expenditures as they brace for an economic downturn.
In its annual filing, Salesforce said the values of the private companies it's invested in are adjusted "if there are observable price changes in a same or similar security" or other external factors that have affected the valuation. Other VC firms are facing similar situations — Insider reported in February that they expected startup valuations to fall, given the public-market conditions, causing some to revise their funding criteria.
Salesforce's massive profitability over the past year came partly from its strategic investments, but the market shifts may mean it's due for a change in strategy, Walravens said.
"They're not going to get it anymore, so they may have to tighten their belt to make sure they deliver on investors' expectations," Walravens said.
More: Salesforce Salesforce Ventures Venture Capital Software As A Service | 2022-05-26T11:32:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Salesforce's Investments in Startups May Be Weighing the Company Down | https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-strategic-investments-snowflake-and-zoom-liability-markets-cool-off-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-strategic-investments-snowflake-and-zoom-liability-markets-cool-off-2022-5 |
The pandemic e-commerce boom is over. Here's what that means for UPS and FedEx.
A FedEx and UPS delivery van in Krakow, Poland, on February 22, 2022.
The pandemic-driven e-commerce boom buoyed results for UPS and FedEx the past two years.
That wave appears to be breaking as e-commerce shopping slows.
Analysts told Insider the package giants must find new ways to defend their profits going forward.
The evidence is mounting that the darlings of the pandemic economy are on the way down. Amazon, Peloton, Netflix, Shopify, Etsy, Wayfair … the earnings "disappointments" list grows with each passing day. Walmart posted just 1% e-commerce growth year-over-year in the first quarter.
As the fortunes of online sellers dip, so could those of UPS and FedEx, which have ridden the wave of online purchasing to new revenue heights. The logistics giants seized on the pandemic-induced e-commerce surge to pick and choose customers and raise prices, since supply and demand for package-delivery services hadn't been so mismatched in decades.
"UPS has ridden that wave well. However, at some point that wave needs to break," Morgan Stanley analysts wrote after the company's April 26 earnings call, in which CEO Carol Tomé reported an unexpected drop in package volume to the tune of 500,000 packages per day. For context, last holiday season, Tomé predicted that demand would outpace delivery capacity by 5 million packages per day.
E-commerce sales in the first quarter were up nearly 7% from the first quarter of 2021, according to the US Census Bureau. But since those figures are not adjusted for the rampant inflation consumers are experiencing, the actual numbers may be much more tepid.
Though there isn't evidence to suggest a precipitous drop across the e-commerce ecosystem, online sales are slowly coming back to earth, which means the boom times are ending — and UPS and FedEx are facing a new reality.
Feeling the dip
Retail numbers over the next few months will be a roller-coaster ride, according to Jack Kleinhenz, the National Retail Foundation's chief economist. Consumer sentiment is down, but aggregate retail sales are holding up. Retail stocks seem to be plunging with every earnings report, but consumer finances are still in decent shape. Kleinhenz expects inflation, including fuel prices, to peak midyear.
The portion of the spending that happens online is even squishier. Retailers are inconsistent in how they record online sales and how those sales are fulfilled. E-commerce appeared to be up in the first quarter compared to last year, but Cathy Morrow Roberson, the founder of Logistics Trends and Insights, said she takes the first quarter with an enormous grain of salt since it contains the "holiday hangover," extreme weather, and Chinese New Year, which disrupts imports and can affect retailer inventories.
"It's settling down. It's normalizing and it's nothing to be concerned about, because it's still high and it's probably going to still be high if you compare it to 2019," Roberson said. The NRF projected non-store and online sales — defined as transactions that take place online regardless of delivery or pickup — will grow by 11 to 13% in 2022.
But Wall Street analysts are starting to show concern over the e-commerce slowdown.
Tomé faced multiple questions about the overall environment for online shopping on the company's first-quarter earnings call.
She said there has been a "permanent shift in customer preferences," but that doesn't mean consumers only want their purchases delivered. "Customers want to shop when, where, and how they want to shop and they want their packages delivered to them when, where, and how they want them. It might be inside of the store, it might be at their home or at their workplace or at a consolidated pickup point," she said, adding that it's unlikely the company will see the kind of growth it experienced during the heat of the pandemic again.
About six weeks earlier, FedEx's chief marketing and communications officer, Brie Carere, said the slowdown was already visible, and the company expects e-commerce to grow by mid- to high-single digits for the next three to four years.
UPS and FedEx could lose more than their share
Though the uncertain picture for the rest of the year makes it difficult to predict what kind of challenges UPS and FedEx are facing, analysts say the shift is starting now.
The past two years kept retailers scrambling to find shipping capacity wherever they could, while UPS and FedEx layered on peak surcharges, many of which they've kept in place. The logistics giants have added fuel surcharges in recent months, and their customers report shifting policies that add hefty costs for large, heavy, and rural-bound packages.
"With the increased density, the final mile companies were making more money per stop. Now that e-commerce volume growth is beginning to taper, UPS and FedEx will have a more difficult time growing margins," Patrick Donnelly, a senior analyst at Third Bridge, an investor-research firm, told Insider via email.
The analysts conclude that both companies will find protecting their margins more challenging for two main reasons. The first is that they're competing not just with each other but with store-pickup options, aggressive growth from regional parcel carriers, venture-backed startups, a handful of retailers insourcing logistics after being burned by the capacity crunch, and the last-mile-delivery gig economy.
The other is that the slowdown may loosen the two companies' grip on the pricing power they've held for the past two years.
'Shippers have long memories'
The balance of 2022 may reveal what retailers really thought of those decisions — and how essential this pricing power is to the carriers' profitability.
UPS and FedEx were losing market share consistently for years before the pandemic and as alternatives (including Amazon) emerged and grew, and that will likely continue. In the past, Tomé has repeatedly acknowledged that new entrants and even in-store pickup programs threaten the role of parcel carriers.
"Our job is to keep them out of the pie that we want to eat," she said a year ago.
On the downward slope of the pandemic e-commerce boom, UPS and FedEx are going to be left with a smaller slice of a smaller pie.
"Shippers have long memories," Roberson said. He believes many companies haven't "forgiven" UPS and FedEx for getting dropped as customers during the height of the pandemic.
But many retailers are unlikely to stray from the big two to avoid the risks that could come with switching to smaller or less-experienced alternatives, Nate Skiver, a parcel consultant and founder of LPF Spend Management, said.
So far, both carriers are holding fast to their pricing power in the customary first-quarter contract negotiations, according to Roberson. "Neither one of them are negotiating," she said.
Tomé said in April that she expects to retain pricing power through the end of 2022 and to grow operating margins this year. She has been explicit that UPS's "better, not bigger" strategy would mean the company only keeps customers that make an adequate contribution to the bottom line. But, according to Morgan Stanley, it's currently unclear if sacrificing volume for price will win out in earnings in the end. With more choices than ever for last-mile delivery, the next two to three quarters may decide when capacity slackens.
FedEx didn't have quite the same success that UPS had during the pandemic, struggling to keep margins up despite demand and pricing power. But that has left the company with fewer questions as the tailwinds slow, according to Morgan Stanley. FedEx has also made several integral network changes that are still working themselves out, and the company has a new CEO in Raj Subramanian. The company's priorities in the coming six months are the same as they've been — improving margins on the back of more efficient operations.
More: BITranspo Logistics UPS | 2022-05-26T11:32:52Z | www.businessinsider.com | What Does the E-Commerce Slowdown Mean for UPS and FedEx? | https://www.businessinsider.com/ups-fedex-ecommerce-slowdown-post-pandmic-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/ups-fedex-ecommerce-slowdown-post-pandmic-2022-5 |
C Talent, an agency for deaf and disabled creators, is making the business case for inclusion and pushing the industry to move beyond 'inspiration porn'
Abigail Gorden
C Talent, an agency for deaf and disabled creators, has been acquired by influencer marketer Whalar.
The agency sees the 1 billion disabled people worldwide as a market rife with opportunity.
C Talent reps 85 creators and emphasizes placing talent in campaigns and projects that aren't disability-specific.
C Talent, which facilitates brand deals and other gigs for deaf and disabled creators, had a landmark moment last week.
Not only did founder and CEO Keely Cat-Wells visit the White House as part of a mental health summit, where President Biden thanked her for her work, but her two-and-a-half-year-old company was acquired by the influencer-marketing agency Whalar.
Whalar declined to disclose the purchase price, but CMO Jamie Gutfreund said it numbered seven figures.
Both parties said that while inclusion marks a moral calling, it can also help tap into underserved markets.
The World Health Organization estimates that 15% of the global population, or 1 billion people, are currently living with a disability.
"We represent so much of society – and then include our friends, include our family," said Cat-Wells, who underwent an ileostomy in 2016. "People want to hear our opinion. They want to know what we think about products. They want to know what we care about. They want to hear our voices."
In 2019 and 2020, those voices began to grow in stature, said Paula Carozzo, a micro influencer and activist repped by C Talent.
Some C Talent creators leading the charge included interabled YouTube couple Cole & Charisma, model Shelby Lynch, and Imani Barbarin, who is known to her 111,000 Instagram followers as "Crutches and Spice." They were amplified by broader conversations about inclusion and the onset of Covid, Cat-Wells said.
"When Covid hit, many people became disabled who never thought they were going to be disabled," Cat-Wells said. "They got long Covid and they were like, 'Wow, I'm chroniclally ill and I never knew what people had to go through.'"
'We have to create our own option'
Cat-Wells said that C Talent stands for the fact that disabled people "don't have access to option A or option B, so we have to create our own option."
The agency has 15 full- and part-time employees (Whalar has about 300 employees, 11% of whom identify as deaf or disabled, said cofounder and CEO Neil Waller). C Talent reps 85 creators, writers, actors, and producers. A major focus is on projects that aren't disability-specific.
"There's a lot of disabled talent agents that feed into inspiration porn," said Carozzo, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy after a tonsillectomy at age five caused brain injuries. She said her aim is to redefine these antiquated portrayals.
On her Instagram page, she shares her sunny life in Miami with 22,000 followers, from adaptive summer outfit ideas in partnership with JC Penney to rooftop cocktails with friends to accessible travel posts alongside sponsor Best Western.
In addition to brand deals, Carozzo is also the cofounder of the Inclusive Collective, a web3 venture comprising NFTs and hack-a-thons that will aim to foster accessibility within the metaverse.
Through its work with talent, C Talent derived a second business: consulting with companies like Twitter, Sony, and Netflix (on its upcoming "Lady Chatterley's Lover" film) to make them more inclusive at the corporate level. This includes HR and recruitment, company events, casting and onset accessibility, and improving web presence and advertising strategies.
In addition to integrating both talent management teams, Waller said that growing this consultancy will be a key focus for Whalar.
"I've constantly been up against the stereotype that disability requires charity," Cat-Wells said. "This acquisition really showcases the business case for disability inclusion."
More: Influencer Marketing Acquisition Talent Agency | 2022-05-26T13:03:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | How C Talent Is Making the Business Case for Disability Inclusion | https://www.businessinsider.com/c-talent-agency-for-deaf-disabled-creators-acquired-by-whalar-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/c-talent-agency-for-deaf-disabled-creators-acquired-by-whalar-2022-5 |
The amount of plastic in the world's oceans is projected to outweigh fish by 2050.
Jag_cz/Getty Images
In 2020, the rate of plastic recycling in the US dropped by 5.7% from the prior year.
New research shows that seeing pictures of ocean creatures can make people use less plastic.
It's wise to protect oceans because plastic waste enters the food web, one expert told Insider.
Your summer beach getaway: sun, surf, sand — and plastic.
As many of us head toward the water for Memorial Day, it's more likely than ever that we'll find our oceans aren't just white with foam. They're also laden with plastic flotsam that never biodegrades but keeps breaking into smaller pieces.
But maybe the thing to remember as we near the unofficial start of summer isn't how severe plastic pollution has become but how much we have to lose. That's because new research indicates that visualizing beloved ocean inhabitants can make more of us willing to go on a plastic diet.
It's certainly one we need. We're using more plastic and often recycling less of it. The amount of plastic in the world's oceans is projected to outweigh fish by 2050. And in 2020, the rate of plastic recycling in the US, which was already low, dropped by 5.7% from the prior year.
There might be a way we can use nature to help battle the plastic problem. Jiaying Zhao, a researcher with the University of British Columbia, and her colleagues found that placing pictures of marine life like sea turtles, whales, and dolphins above the recycling bins in a Vancouver office tower reduced overall plastic waste — either discarded or recycled — by 17% compared with before the signs went up.
The photos of animals grappling with plastic waste in their aquatic homes were more effective than simple recycling signs or ones that asked office-goers to pledge to cut down on how much plastic they used.
The decrease in plastic waste held even after the signs with animal pictures were removed, Zhao told Insider. She said that suggested office workers had begun to change their habits and perhaps do without things like single-use water bottles and utensils.
When Zhao returned to the building to interview the workers who'd unwittingly been part of the experiment, those questioned by her team said they didn't remember seeing the animals on the posters.
"That was most surprising because I thought it would be memorable," Zhao said of the photos that showed a turtle chewing on plastic or a dolphin with a plastic bag caught on its fin. "If it elicited some kind of emotional response in me, and I felt bad for throwing away plastic stuff now — and I'm making a conscious effort to not do it — I should remember it, right?"
Zhao said the animal pictures above the recycling bin appeared to be an effective nudge to change people's behaviors without proving so distressing that they were traumatized, as was the case with a viral video several years ago of a turtle with a straw lodged in its nostril. Outrage over that video pushed some consumers and businesses to ditch plastic straws.
Happy turtles could help change behavior
In some cases, less dire images might win out. Zhao said subsequent experiments she and her colleagues conducted using images of "happy" turtles and dolphins appeared to be even more effective in changing people's actions than unsettling images.
There could be broader lessons in all this for the environmental movement, Zhao said, because many awareness campaigns ask consumers to commit to shifting their behavior in some way.
"A lot of the tactics are like making a pledge," she said. "I pledge not to do this or not to buy this. That didn't work in our study."
The researchers found that when people made an emotional connection to the animals — even if they didn't remember it — the effect was more powerful.
Linda Escalante, the Southern California legislative director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said giving thought to the influence of our actions, including our reliance on plastics, was essential to maintaining a successful coexistence with marine life. Besides, she said, as plastic pollution breaks down into tiny bits, it makes its way back to us.
"It is penetrating the food web," she said. "You find this stuff all over the planet in places where you could never imagine because it is easily transported by water and air."
That's why it's now in our lungs and in our blood. And it's why we consume a credit card's worth of the stuff every week. So doing more to protect water is in our self-interest.
Escalante, who also sits on the California Coastal Commission, a powerful state agency, said she believed demand for beach days would increase because rising temperatures in many inland areas — and even wildfires in the parched Western US — would drive demand for access to water and cooler coastal areas. That's yet another reason it's so important to safeguard bodies of water, she said.
She also pointed to humans' need to experience natural beauty, something on display during the height of the pandemic.
"We became more attached to getting out there, to the outdoors, to finding that connection," Escalante said. She said she didn't expect that to diminish, adding: "Our beaches, our coasts are going to be in very high demand."
More: Sustainability Newsletter Sustainability Plastics ocean plastic | 2022-05-26T14:34:39Z | www.businessinsider.com | How Marine Life Can Reduce Our Plastic Consumption | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-marine-life-can-reduce-our-plastic-consumption-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/how-marine-life-can-reduce-our-plastic-consumption-2022-5 |
I lost out on 5 houses before finally buying a home, and the experience taught me 5 things I think other buyers should know
We expected to have to offer more than the listed price on homes, so we shopped for houses that were way under our budget.
We waived the inspection contingencies in our offers, but we still scheduled pre-offer inspections.
Not only did we bring extra cash toward a low appraisal, but we made our earnest money non-refundable.
I've been writing and editing articles about homebuying for over two years. But nothing could have prepared me for my own experience buying a house in this 2022 seller's market.
My husband and I probably looked at 30 or more houses in two months, and we tried to buy six. Each rejected offer was more emotionally draining than the last, but each one also taught me how to make my next offer better.
Turns out, number six was the charm. Here are five lessons I learned along the way that helped me make the winning offer on a house.
1. We looked at homes that were under our budget
Our mortgage lender pre-approved us to borrow more than I ever would have imagined. But my husband and I agreed that just because we could borrow that much, didn't mean we wanted to borrow that much.
Once we settled on our maximum budget, we still didn't search for houses listed for anywhere near that amount. We knew how competitive this market was and that we'd probably have to offer significantly over an asking price to be considered. One home we made an offer on was a two-bedroom, one-bathroom with 22 offers. It went for around $100,000 over asking.
For the house we finally ended up buying, we offered 15.3% over the listed price — which put us right at our maximum budget.
2. We asked for pre-offer inspections
In our market, you typically have to waive an inspection for your offer to be competitive. By waiving an inspection, there's less of a chance that you'll back out of your contract should something be wrong with the house.
We still wanted to know ahead of time about all of the problems with a house we might buy, though, so we ordered pre-offer inspections for homes we considered. A pre-offer inspection is similar to an inspection, except it takes place before you make an offer instead of after. This way, you can decide if it's worth making an offer on a house.
3. We brought money toward a low appraisal
In a seller's market, it's common for the buyer to have to offer above asking for a home. And there's actually one potential down side to this for the seller, too. Lenders will not approve a mortgage for more than the home appraises — so if the home appraises for less than the buyer offered, everyone is in a tough spot.
In the offer letter for the house we bought, we said we could bring $35,000 extra toward a low appraisal . This means that if the house appraised for up to $35,000 under what we offered, we would make up the difference.
If the house appraised even lower, the seller had the option to either accept a lower price from us, or they could drop us and choose another buyer. But having low appraisal money in the double digits definitely gave us a leg up. It did mean we were very on edge during the 10 days we were waiting on our appraisal report — we really didn't want to drain our retirement savings to pay for this house! (Don't worry, the house appraised for just over what we offered.)
4. We waived contingencies
When making an offer, we waived almost all of the contingencies we normally would have included in our letter. A contingency gives the buyer the right to legally back out of the contract, and they won't lose the earnest deposit they paid upfront if they withdraw for a specific reason covered in the contingency.
As previously mentioned, we waived our inspection contingency. We also waived contingencies for a clean title, information verification period, and the right of rescission based on the seller disclosure agreement.
Fewer contingencies meant there were fewer reasons that we would back out of the contract and the seller would have to re-list the property. Basically, we tried to make our offer compelling by making everything as easy as possible for the seller.
However, we did not waive the financing contingency, which states that even if we are not approved for a mortgage, we can still provide the money. Nope. No way.
5. We made our earnest money non-refundable
Earnest money is a percentage of your down payment that you make upfront, sort of like a safety deposit. Our earnest money deposit was $10,000, and we marked on our offer letter that we forfeited our earnest money.
Normally, we would receive our earnest money back if we didn't go through with the sale due to something going wrong, like with the inspection. But since we already waived so many contingencies, we knew there were slim chances we'd get our earnest money back, anyway. So we went the extra mile by forfeiting it completely.
This may have been appealing to the seller because they knew they could spend our $10,000 right away — there was no way we were getting it back. It also meant that if the appraisal came back so low that our extra $35,000 couldn't make up the difference, the seller could void the contract and still keep our earnest money.
The listing agent told our realtor that the non-refundable earnest money was one of the main reasons the sellers chose our offer. It would have been devastating to lose that $10,000, but we were willing to take the risk.
PERSONAL FINANCE Earnest money is a security deposit that signifies your commitment to buying a house
PERSONAL FINANCE Before you apply for a mortgage, make sure you have these documents ready
More: homebuying Home Pre-Inspection Personal Finance Insider PFI Storytelling | 2022-05-26T14:34:57Z | www.businessinsider.com | 5 Strategies I Learned for Buying a House in Today's Wild Market | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/strategies-for-buying-house-in-competitive-market-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/strategies-for-buying-house-in-competitive-market-2022-5 |
The restaurant paid $168,864 in back wages and damages to 17 workers, the DOL said.
A Mississippi restaurant paid some kitchen workers less than the minimum wage, the DOL said.
It also failed to prove to investigators that it had paid cash wages to two servers.
A restaurant in Mississippi has paid nearly $169,000 to staff after a Department of Labor investigation found that kitchen workers had earned less than the minimum wage.
Super King Buffet, a Chinese and Japanese buffet in Hattiesburg, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by paying some kitchen employees a monthly salary that pushed their average hourly pay below the federal minimum wage, the DOL said on Tuesday.
Mississippi doesn't have a state minimum wage, and instead uses the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
If staff work more than 40 hours a week their employers must also pay a 50% overtime premium for these additional hours.
"Paying a worker a monthly salary does not relieve an employer from their obligation to pay their workers at least the federal minimum wage or overtime premiums, should those apply," Audrey Hall of the DOL said in a statement.
"Agreements with workers that violate pay practices governed by the Fair Labor Standards Act are illegal schemes."
The DOL said that Super King Buffet had also invalidated the tip credit it had claimed for two workers by being unable to prove that it had paid them their cash wage. Companies can pay tipped staff as little as $2.13 an hour, with tips bringing their take-home pay up to at least $7.25 an hour.
The restaurant paid a combined $168,864 in back wages and liquidated damages to 17 workers, the DOL said. Super King Buffet did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
Low wages, lack of benefits, and poor working conditions helped drive millions of restaurant workers to quit their jobs during the pandemic.
Some restaurants have slashed their operating hours, changed their menus, and closed dining rooms or turned off online orders to cope with the staffing exodus.
More: Mississippi restaurant Servers Hospitality | 2022-05-26T14:35:03Z | www.businessinsider.com | Mississippi Restaurant Pays $169,000 to Staff for Minimum Wage Breach | https://www.businessinsider.com/restaurant-workers-mississippi-paid-staff-less-than-minimum-wage-dol-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/restaurant-workers-mississippi-paid-staff-less-than-minimum-wage-dol-2022-5 |
Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar.
In the wake of the Uvalde mas shooting, disinformation about the identity of the shooter began to spread.
GOP Rep. Paul Gosar spread the false claim that the shooter was a "transexual leftist illegal alien."
The claim spread from 4Chan to be pushed by right-wing influencers.
In the hours after the mass shooting in an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and 2 adults dead, rumors and disinformation about the shooter began to spread.
Among them was the claim promoted by Republican Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar in a now-deleted tweet that the shooter was a "transexual leftist illegal alien named Salvatore Ramos."
The post was wrong on all counts, including the name, which was Salvador not Salvatore.
—Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) May 25, 2022
The claim originated on 4chan, a largely unmoderated messaging board and online hub popular with far-right extremists.
The way it spread from fringe websites to the social-media feeds of public figures with millions of followers is emblematic of the way far-right disinformation travels online.
Insider contacted Gosar's representatives for an explanation of how he made the claim, but did not immediately receive a response.
According to analysts, those spreading these false claims about horrific events have two aims: to push anti-trans hatred and to divert debate about the shooting away from issues like gun-control legislation.
"The far-right generally have identified a pressure point, and have had success, in targeting trans people as part of a wider campaign to intensify hatred against minorities," said Joe Ondrak, lead investigator at Logically AI, a UK-based organisation that tracks online disinformation.
He pointed out that after a 2015 shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz had claimed the perpertator was a "transgendered leftist", citing a false report in The Gateway Pundit.
4Chan users in the hours after the shooting began posting pictures of trans women taken from their social media feeds and falsely claiming they showed the shooter. The transgender women had nothing to do with what happened.
Among the pictures was that of a Reddit user, Sam, who was subjected to abuse and trolling. She later posted a picture of herself taken after the shooting to prove it wasn't her.
"People are threatening me and harassing me for no reason," she wrote."They are actively trying to ruin my life instead of helping the families who were affected."
The TransSafety network, a UK-based organisation that monitors threats and hate speech, said that pictures of at least three trans women were being shared in the hope of substantiating the false identity.
"These viral tweets combined published photos of the actual shooter with pictures of 3 different trans people wearing skirts (none of which was the shooter), one waving a trans pride flag," the organisation said. It said it had contacted all three individuals to offer support.
Ondrak said the claims emerged from the online "haunts of the alt-right diaspora."
"Multiple instances of this claim have emerged from these areas, which have then been boosted by high reach personalities who may have picked it up from the generalised noise."
—Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) May 25, 2022
After Gosar pushed the claim, other right-wing figures followed suit. Candace Owens, a right-wing influencer, told her three million Twitter followers that photos showed the shooter "cross dressing."
Alex Jones, the right-wing conspiracy theorist, also falsely claimed the shooter was trans on his Infowars show Wednesday.
Jones is currently facing multi-million dollar liabilities for spreading false claims the Sandy Hook elementary school mass shooting in 2012 was a "false flag," or staged.
Insider contacted Twitter for comment. Insider also attempted to reach Owens and Jones.
More: Paul Gosar Uvalde right-wing disinformation anti-trans hate speech | 2022-05-26T14:35:09Z | www.businessinsider.com | Texas: School Shooter False Trans ID Spread From 4chan to GOP | https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-false-shooter-trans-id-began-on-4chan-spread-republicans-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-false-shooter-trans-id-began-on-4chan-spread-republicans-2022-5 |
An award-winning fund manager breaks down how the stock market's drop could degenerate into a global crash — and shares the move that could get an investor's 'face ripped off'
Michael Gayed believes the global market could tumble quicker than most people think.
Michael Gayed says the S&P 500 could return to its February 2020 highs.
He's betting on long-duration Treasuries because they're consistent risk-off safe-havens.
Most people won't position their money in Treasuries because of inflation and low yields, he says.
If you've ever skied down a steep slope, then you know how dangerous small cliffs and moguls are at high speeds.
These days, the trend line on the Dow Jones Industrial Average is looking a bit like a ski hill, marked with bull traps that look like cliffs. Since the Federal Reserve announced its second interest rate hike of this cycle, the stock market has been in a near-free fall.
Michael Gayed, a portfolio manager at Toroso Asset Management, calls the current state of the market, "a very treacherous environment" and one that we haven't really seen before, mainly because there's nowhere to hide.
Some traders may want to bet against the market by taking up short positions. The problem with that approach is that bear markets have enormous rallies, so you can get your face ripped off, he said.
Gayed, winner of the 2016 Charles H. Dow Award, the NAAIM 2020 Founders Award, among others, has been having a tough time on the slopes himself.
"All three of my funds have gotten hit this year because they're all predicated on this idea that Treasuries act as the risk-off assets," Gayed said.
Year-to-date, Gayed's ATAC Rotation Fund that switches between small-caps, large-caps, emerging markets, and Treasuries based on market conditions, is down over 15%.
Traditionally, when stocks are volatile, investors flee to bonds, in particular, long-duration Treasuries. What has been unique about this downturn is that Treasures have plunged too, leaving investors with no real risk-off, classic diversifiers, he said.
Gayed was beginning to work up a sweat until two weeks ago, when the downtrend on Treasuries reversed. Finally, investors began to flock towards this investment vehicle, dragging down the 10-year yield, which falls when Treasury prices and demand rise.
Gayed believes that bond investors may have seen the light and come to the conclusion that their long-term fear is less from inflation and more from deflation. He admits that's a contradictory view to most market participants. However, inflationary shocks are inherently deflationary, Gayed said. Why? Because of the speed with which the cost of capital increases.
"And we're seeing that cause a lot of people to rethink where they're spending their money. It causes companies to rethink all of their business plans because they cannot react fast enough to input prices. All this is going to be ultimately very, very negative for the economy," Gayed said.
In the last two weeks, we've witnessed investors move towards long-duration Treasuries, Gayed noted. If this trend persists, then we may be entering a classic risk-off period. This means there could be another big wave of drops in equities, in particular, the large-cap averages such as the S&P 500 and the Dow.
If you're trekking down a steep slope, you don't recede, you crash
Gayed's definition of a crash is not about the percentage decline but rather how far back in time you go. For example, the stock market crash of 1987, also known as Black Monday, shaved nine months of performance off the Dow while the COVID crash of March 2020 took the stock market back by about 14-15 months, Gayed noted.
In this round, it wouldn't surprise him to see the S&P 500 fall to its February 2020 highs. It would follow other stocks, especially innovation stocks, that have already dipped far below that mark, he noted.
Here's the thing: Everything is one big trade that's leaning on liquidity and the actions of the Federal Reserve . Once you combine those things with a very leveraged system, we're closer to a global margin call than people think, he said. In conclusion, the risk is no longer a recession but rather an abrupt crash.
When asked which asset class was most leveraged, Gayed responded that it's unequivocally crypto. The moment there's any kind of decline in one asset class, it creates a cascading sell-off and that's why crypto has been correlated with equities and bonds. Eventually, even commodities may have their own correction, he added.
"I don't believe, and I've said this many times too, that this market action can persist much longer without a significant break, faster than people think. The conditions are there for that. That's not a prediction," Gayed said.
People still believe that this is just a run-of-the-mill correction and a juncture to buy the dip. Gayed believes that this doesn't end until you break that psychology. It's hard to quantify fear, but usually, at major market lows, there's an element of post-traumatic stress disorder, where people say, 'I will never touch dogecoin, bitcoin, or Apple again.' We're still very far from that, he said.
It's all risky
"Bear markets make fools of both bulls and bears because in bear markets, it's volatile in a very aggressive way, both ways," Gayed said.
In general, there's no such thing as a store of value or safety and right now, even cash is getting hit with inflation, he noted.
Gayed's only hope is that Treasuries continue to act counter to equities, becoming a good haven for a moment in time.
The problem is that most people won't position their money in long-duration Treasuries because they don't understand the reasoning behind it, Gayed said. Why place that bet when inflation is so high and yields are so low? They're missing the point: It's a hedge against equities, he said.
"I built my funds around that entire premise, which is proven in history that Treasuries are historically your best and most consistent risk-off safe haven and play," Gayed said.
More: Stock stock markert stock market 2022 stock market crash 2022
risk-off assets
risk-on assets
equties | 2022-05-26T14:43:02Z | www.businessinsider.com | Stock Market Drop Could Degenerate Into a Global Crash: Fund Manager | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-recession-risk-global-crisis-fund-manager-gayed-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-crash-recession-risk-global-crisis-fund-manager-gayed-2022-5 |
Napaway
Startup Napaway Coach is launching a sleeper bus service with private suites.
These suites can be used as an office, lounge for two people, or bedroom with a mattress.
The company will begin red-eye services between Washington, DC and Nashville, Tennessee for $125.
Say goodbye to dreadful overnight travel sleeping upright in a cramped bus or plane. Startup Napaway Coach is launching a red-eye sleeper bus service with private suites for every guest.
Unlike the typical budget bus with rows of packed seats, Napaway Coach's 18 onboard suites can convert into an office, lounge for two people, or bedroom. Given Napaway's red-eye itineraries, the latter mode will likely be used more frequently, and for good reason: The seats can turn into a 6.5-foot-long bed with a memory foam mattress, bedding, and a privacy screen.
For a more restful slumber, passengers will also receive a "nap kit" with toiletries like an eye mask, earplugs, and a toothbrush. But if a night owl traveler would rather stay up and work, the suites will also have WiFi, outlets, foldout desks, device mounts, and "in-flight" entertainment options, creating a flexible space for every passenger's needs.
his arrangement was developed with Butterfly Flexible Seating Solutions and was inspired by the company's aviation seating designs.
Service will be limited when the company begins operations on June 17. Its first trip will bring passengers from Washington, DC to Nashville from 10 p.m. through 7:30 a.m. the following morning. Return service will then depart Sunday evening at 8:00 p.m. before arriving back in DC at 7:30 a.m. the morning after.
At least nine hours on the road may seem unreasonable compared to faster flight options. But according to a statement from Dan Aronov, Napaway's founder, using a coach service eliminates wasted waiting time at airports. And because pickups and dropoffs are in the heart of both cities, there's no need to navigate complicated bus terminals or airports.
More routes and times will be unveiled as the company progresses.
Napaway isn't the only new luxury bus startup servicing the Washington, DC market. In late 2021, the Jet began operating $99 bus rides between the capital and New York City. Like Napaway, the Jet relies on luxurious amenities — like its motion-canceling seats and in-seat service — to set it apart from less expensive long-haul bus competitors.
More: Travel Transportation Bus sleeper coach | 2022-05-26T16:05:37Z | www.businessinsider.com | Bus Startup With Beds Traveling Between Washington, DC, Nashville for $125 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bus-startup-beds-between-washington-dc-nashville-125-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bus-startup-beds-between-washington-dc-nashville-125-2022-5 |
Why this Lego-resale store owner built his business around a brick-and-mortar strategy, valuing personal connections over selling on eBay
Colton Kidd, the owner of Minifigure America in Riverdale, Utah.
Colton Kidd
Colton Kidd runs a Lego-resale store in Riverdale, Utah, that earns about $180,000 annually.
Licensed Lego minifigures sell for high prices on resale marketplaces like BrickLink and eBay.
Kidd shares his passion for Lego with his nearly 200,000 followers on TikTok.
The appeal of Lego spans generations. From television shows to movies and video games, Lego is prevalent in pop culture, including in franchises like "Star Wars" and "Harry Potter."
Some members of the Lego-collecting community have turned their passion for the products into a full-time resale business.
Colton Kidd owns and operates Minifigure America, a Lego-resale store in Riverdale, Utah. According to Kidd, as well as documentation viewed by Insider, he generates roughly $180,000 in annual revenue from his Lego resale business.
"I grew up with Lego as my toy of choice," Kidd said. "From 15 years old until about 21 years old would be my 'dark ages' of not being super involved with them. Opening the store definitely made them a big part of my life again, but I definitely haven't been able to play with them simply because of how busy the store and other commitments keep me."
Over the past nine years, Kidd has built his store into what he describes as a "Build-a-Bear but for Lego."
Customers can build minifigures in store for $3 each with an assortment of Lego heads, torsos, and legs. Kidd also sells bricks of all shapes and sizes in bulk, since the bigger bricks go quicker than others, he said. There's also an assortment of other Lego products, including baseplates and Bionicle sets.
Depending on the month, custom-built minifigures account for roughly 40% of sales, Kidd said. Among collectors, custom minifigures are popular. In March, Citizen Brick, a custom Lego-figure maker, was able to raise $145,000 for Ukraine by creating a Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy minifigure and Lego Molotov cocktails.
Kidd also resells licensed minifigures in his store. He sources the valuable collectibles through the same vendors he buys Lego bricks from. The cost of some licensed Lego minifigures exceed $300.
"I put out a 'Star Wars' Pre Vizsla minifigure the other day for $145. The little cloth pauldron on his shoulder is roughly $50 of that value." Kidd said. "The Green Goblin and the Spider-Man with, like, a shiny print on it that came out in 2003 and 2004, for the original Toby McGuire movies, were $20 to $30 figures before. As soon as the new Spider-Man movie came out, they're up around $80 to $100 now."
Pricing Lego bricks and minifigures correctly plays a big role in keeping Minifigure America running, Kidd said. He uses sites like BrickLink, one of the largest resale marketplaces where you can buy Lego products, to price his inventory. But Kidd prefers to stick to brick-and-mortar instead of listing his merchandise online and competing with other sellers on BrickLink and eBay.
Kidd goes through Lego bricks as part of a daily routine, constantly adding more pieces to his inventory to keep up with the demand from Lego builders.
"Processing for the Lego is the biggest time suck for me," Kidd said. "I probably spend 25 to 35 hours a week just sorting and prepping Lego to go into the display cases and different parts of the store, too."
Lego pieces used to build your own minifigures at Kidd's Minifigure America store.
Kidd operated of series of other entertainment businesses before fully devoting himself to his Lego-resale store, including a paintball field and an arcade, but he prefers keeping his business ventures local.
"It's more interesting to me to see what we can do locally than to go do what everyone else is selling online," he said. "Because at that point, I have to compete with all of those people that are just Joe Schmo wanting to flip their extra stuff on the internet for money."
Kidd uses trusted vendors to build his brick and minifigure inventory, but he doesn't necessarily buy from collectors themselves. This vetting process has helped to keep inventory quality up and allows him to seek out the Lego he needs directly, he said.
"I just go to the people that I know will have it. I call them vendors, but it's really just guys that they do what I don't want to do, which is buy it from individuals, aggregate it, and then sell it in lots," Kidd said.
As a husband and father, Kidd juggles his time between work and family, assisting when needed in his wife's neighboring bookstore. He also has a strong presence on TikTok, where he gives about 200,000 followers an inside look of what it is like to own a Lego-resale store.
"I make no money or advertising income from TikTok at the moment. I qualify for the creator fund, but I don't count that. The TikTok, for me, is literally just extra fun to do," Kidd said, adding that he was not looking to become an influencer anytime soon.
More: Retail Resale entrenpreneur | 2022-05-26T16:06:19Z | www.businessinsider.com | This Lego-Resale-Store Owner Generates $180,000 Annually in Revenue | https://www.businessinsider.com/lego-resale-store-owner-generates-180000-annually-in-revenue-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/lego-resale-store-owner-generates-180000-annually-in-revenue-2022-5 |
Neobanks must shift their focus from adding new customers and products to meeting increasing customer service needs, according to American Banker.
Less than half (47%) of 3,400 neobank customers surveyed by J.D. Power felt it was convenient to reach a customer service representative.
The news: Neobanks must focus on customer service to stand out among the crowd and catch up to incumbent banks, per American Banker.
It's hard to get human help: With approximately 400 neobanks at the start of 2022 serving more than one billion customers, the digital challengers must become fluent in customer service.
But less than half (47%) of 3,400 neobank customers surveyed by J.D. Power felt it was convenient to reach a customer service representative, as opposed to 61% of 6,500 direct bank customers.
Neobank users reported the most points of pain when seeking problem resolution services via email or secure online messaging.
Acquiring customers is easier than keeping them: Well-funded after a generous 2021, neobanks are now pushing hard to attain profitability by attracting more customers. They are approaching the task in a few ways.
Acquisitions: Neobanks are acquiring customers through mergers of other firms or clubs. For example, Bunq recently acquired TriCount to become the second-largest neobank in Europe, and Greenwood Bank acquired social club The Gathering Spot to foster community in addition to banking services.
New products: Neobanks are adding more products to pique new customers' interest. US-based Step added crypto and stock investing for teens. Canada-based Neo Financial will add mortgages this year, and UK-based Starling added lending.
Neobanks are flush with customers and new products. But more customers and more offerings add complexity to customer relationships. Neobanks must recognize when to shift their strategy from customer acquisition to investing in customer service to satisfy these more profitable relationships.
What can they do? The digital approach to banking may be convenient and efficient, but taking a digital approach to problem resolution isn't always the best choice. In addition to email and secure online messaging, a customer service phone line and a live-person chat function go a long way. Some banks even take it a step further.
"Voice differentiates us and allows us to serve different types of customers, even those who aren't digitally savvy and even though we are a digital bank," Tamara Lewis, head of customer operations at US-based neobank Varo, told American Banker. The bank sets service-level timing expectations and shifts focus between email, phone, and chat channels depending on client demand.
New York-based NorthOne sets times for its customer service representatives to call the customer, eliminating hold and wait times.
Affinity banks attract niche customers, and face niche customer service demands. Affinity neobank Majority, which focuses on immigrant customers, established meet-up centers in the Miami and Houston areas that are staffed with employees who speak their customers' native languages.
The big takeaway: Neobanks continue their push for profitability through new customer acquisition and new product offerings. The few that are focusing on improving customer service issues to keep profitable clients loyal will be the standouts. Incumbent banks can exploit this opportunity by doubling down on providing premier customer service in addition to their digital offerings. Highlighting their availability, responsiveness, and reliability in urgent situations will help them win over frustrated neobank customers. | 2022-05-26T16:06:31Z | www.businessinsider.com | Neobanks Must Focus on Customer Service to Stand Out Among Incumbents | https://www.businessinsider.com/neobanks-must-focus-on-customer-service-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/neobanks-must-focus-on-customer-service-2022-5 |
How to start house hacking in 7 steps
Step 1: Get your finances in order
Step 2: Apply for a mortgage
Step 3: Find a good agent
Step 4: Research your market
Step 5: Find the right property
Step 6: Close on your loan
Step 7: Move in and find tenants
Pros & cons of house hacking
Is house hacking right for you?
Want to make more from your home? House hacking may be the answer
Make sure to partner with a real estate agent who understands house hacking and has experience working with investors.
House hacking is an investment strategy in which you live in one unit or room of a house you own and rent the others out.
House hacking can help cover your monthly housing costs and help you generate income.
House hacking can also help you qualify for low-down-payment loans reserved for primary residences.
Residential real estate has long been known as a wealth-builder. You buy a home, and as property values rise over time, so do the profits you eventually stand to gain. It's a perk that's particularly noticeable in today's market, where home values are up over 19% in just the last year.
But selling a house isn't the only way to make money off of homeownership. With a method called house hacking, there may be a way to generate even more money from your property.
House hacking is an investment strategy where you buy a home using a low down payment residential mortgage and then rent out the home to generate income. Many consumers use it as a long-term investment strategy to both make money off of the property and also cover the costs of the mortgage.
"You're basically purchasing a house with a very low down payment that you can eventually turn into an investment property," says Devin Moreno, a longtime house-hacker and owner of Profusion Real Estate in Baltimore.
Here's how it works: You purchase a multi-room or multi-unit residential property with the intent of living in one and renting out the others. This allows you to leverage conventional and FHA mortgage loans, which require as little as 3% to 3.5% as a down payment on primary residences. After closing on your loan, you move into the property, rent out the additional units, and use the rent to cover the costs of your mortgage and property costs.
"Interest rates are much lower for a primary residence than for an investment property," says DJ Olhausen, a real estate agent with Realty ONE Group Pacific. "In order to qualify for these lower interest rates, the investor needs to live in the property for at least a year. It's also advantageous because the house hacker will essentially be living in his or her new home for free, because the other tenants are paying rent and, therefore, the mortgage."
While some consumers use this as a method to simply cover their housing expenses, for others, it's a long-term investment strategy that can serve as a source of income for as long as you rent it out. It can also pave the way for other investments. After a year — the minimum amount most lenders require you to live in a home as your primary residence — you could move out, purchase another property, and use the same strategy, eventually building up a whole portfolio of income-generating real estate.
"It's a great way to start a career in investing, especially when strapped for cash," Olhausen says.
House hacking functions much like any traditional home purchase does, only with more emphasis put on researching the property and its rental potential.
Here are the steps to take if you're considering house hacking for your next real estate purchase.
To start, you'll need to check your credit, as conventional loans require at least a 620 credit score and FHA loans require a minimum of 580 (at least if you want the smallest down payment possible). If your credit scores aren't there yet, you'll need to work on improving it, which could take a bit of time — so make sure you check your credit scores well in advance.
Another thing you'll need to do is make sure you have enough savings on hand. Moreno recommends enough to cover at least three months of your future property's costs in case you can't find renters right away, have a tenant who fails to pay, or come across other struggles. Your mortgage lender might also require that you have cash reserves before it'll approve your loan.
Step 2: Get a mortgage
The next step is to get preapproved for your mortgage. This requires filling out an application with a lender, agreeing to a credit check, and submitting various financial documents. Once you're done, the lender will let you know if it's willing to loan you money (i.e., whether you're prequalified), give you an estimate of your loan costs, and how much you qualify for. You can use this as a guideline for your property search since you'll know how much house you can afford to buy.
Though both FHA and conventional loans can be options on a house hack, Moreno typically uses conventional financing on these ventures. For one, it comes with a smaller down payment (3% of the purchase price compared to 3.5%).
Though conventional loans do require Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) with down payments this small, you can eventually cancel these premiums and reduce your monthly payment. With most FHA loans, on the other hand, you'll be stuck paying MIP (Mortgage Insurance Premium) for the entirety of the loan term.
Quick tip: If you do opt for an FHA loan, you can refinance into a conventional loan at a later date to remove MIP. Just keep in mind that this will mean trading your existing interest rate for a new one — which may or may not work in your favor.
Partnering with a real estate agent should be next on your list — ideally, one who understands house hacking and has experience working with investors.
"Get a realtor who understands what house hacking is," Moreno urges. "It's not just simply looking at rooms but analyzing it for a long-term investment."
An experienced agent can also help you find, screen, and place tenants once you have your property. This can reduce vacancies and help your property be more profitable.
You next need to determine where you'll purchase your property. As Olhausen explains, "Do market research first to make sure fair market rental values will be sufficient to cover your mortgage."
Researching local zoning laws is critical, too, as some communities do not allow rental properties. You should also study tenant protections and other laws that may impact your rental efforts.
"After you have done the math and know that your investment will be financially sound, make sure to understand your local and federal tenant laws," Olhausen says.
Important: Your local housing department is a good place to start when researching zoning regulations and tenant laws. You may also want to consult a real estate attorney in your area.
Finally, it's time to find the property you want to house hack — the most important piece of the puzzle. For this part, Moreno recommends analyzing properties as "purely rentals." This ensures you'll make income off the property when you move out, and it also covers you in case of vacancies.
"You want to make sure the property gets you to zero rent — or at least remotely close to that — while you're living there," he says. "That means once you're done living in it, you will have cash flow."
When analyzing a property, consider its rent potential, the mortgage it would come with, and. the costs to maintain the home.
"Doing the math is a key element to success," says Evelyn Fred, a broker associate with Baird & Warner. "Factor in all the costs, including insurance, property taxes, common area maintenance, and operating expenses."
Once you've made an offer and the seller has accepted, your lender will order an appraisal, underwrite your loan, and schedule a closing date. This is when you'll sign the paperwork, pay your down payment and closing costs, and get the keys to your property.
Important: If you purchase a property and tell your lender it will serve as your primary residence, it's vital that you follow through after closing. Failing to use the property as you asserted in your loan documents could constitute mortgage fraud.
Last but not least, you'll move into the property and work with your agent to find and screen tenants. When screening, Olhausen recommends conducting a background check, a credit check, and employment verification for each possible tenant.
"A successful tenant-landlord relationship is made upfront, so make sure you do your due diligence," Olhausen says.
You might also consider enlisting a property management company to handle rent payments, maintenance of the property, and other to-dos if you're not interested in taking a DIY approach. Just keep in mind that this will add an extra cost and could impact your investment's profitability.
Pros and cons of house hacking
There are both advantages and drawbacks to the house hacking strategy. On the one hand, you might be able to cover your housing cost entirely. You also might enjoy a lucrative long-term investment or even build enough wealth to purchase additional properties and investment homes.
"Your tenant will be paying some or all of your mortgage for you while you build equity," says Cliff Smith, a real estate broker and managing partner at The Agency New Canaan. "You can then use that equity to do a cash-out refinance and use the money to buy a second property."
On the downside, there is some risk involved. Vacancies are inevitable, and though comprehensive tenant screening can help, there's always the chance a renter fails to pay.
Additionally, house hacks can sometimes be tricky to get out of, Moreno says. If you wanted to sell the home, for example, you'd have to wait until every tenant left — and with leases staggered out, that could mean a few months with very little income coming in.
"With just one or two leases in effect, you're not covering your mortgage," Moreno says. "Then you have a bleeding asset."
There's also depreciation to think about. With more people living in the home, it will depreciate in value quicker, and you may need to invest more in maintenance and upkeep than you otherwise would have.
And finally, there's the lack of privacy that comes with sharing your home — as well as the potential for conflict with your renters.
"You will have to share space with tenants, which can be frustrating if they do not match your personality type," Olhausen says. "This may not be a great strategy for people who do not handle adversity well or lack in leadership qualities."
You can produce extra income.
You'll have roommates/housemates and less privacy.
It can make housing more affordable or even cover your costs entirely.
Vacancies and non-paying tenants pose a risk to profitability.
It allows you to build equity while tenants pay your mortgage.
Your home may have more wear and tear.
You can use the profits to grow your investment portfolio.
You'll have to manage the property and tenants (or hire someone to).
You can qualify for low-down-payment mortgage loans designed for residential use.
It can be difficult to sell the home.
At the end of the day, the decision to house hack is a personal one. While house hacking can generate income and often cover your housing costs entirely, it does mean living with roommates or housemates for at least a year. There are also financial risks to consider, and your home may depreciate faster than if you had lived in it on your own.
If you do move forward, have a plan for how you'll exit the investment if necessary, and make sure you have financial reserves on hand to weather any storm.
As Moreno puts it, "When you analyze the property purely as a rental, not just to eliminate your rent entirely but also for the exit strategy, that, in my opinion, is an effective house hack."
PERSONAL FINANCE Housing bubbles: When demand for real estate exceeds supply and causes a spike in prices
More: Personal Finance Insider PFI Reference Investment Property TOC-jump-to | 2022-05-26T16:06:43Z | www.businessinsider.com | House Hacking 101: 7 Steps to Making Money From Your Home | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/house-hacking | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/house-hacking |
Sequoia's Pat Grady explains why the market downturn has given the storied VC firm a golden opportunity to buy up shares in tech companies
Sequoia's Pat Grady says startups need to rein in their sales and marketing spending.
Sequoia is using the market downturn to buy deflated tech shares, partner Pat Grady told Insider.
It has kept its typical investing pace across stages even as other firms have pulled back, he said.
But Grady warned that many startups need to rein in spending, especially in sales and marketing.
The market downturn has knocked down valuations of tech companies. But it's not all doom and gloom, according to Sequoia Capital partner Pat Grady — it's also been a buying opportunity for the storied venture capital firm.
As tech stocks have tumbled, Sequoia has bought additional shares in some of its portfolio companies that have gone public, Grady said. He spoke with Insider ahead of a conference hosted by the product-analytics company Amplitude, a company that Grady invested in which went public last fall.
"We tend to be involved with companies for many, many years, and we tend to be shareholders for many, many years," he said. "We bought more of Amplitude since it went public. Most venture capital firms start to sell their positions once the company goes public. We actually bought more."
Sequoia notably restructured its US and European funds last year to reflect that long-term perspective, creating a pool of capital in which the firm may hold onto shares of companies indefinitely. Grady, who is part of Sequoia's growth team, has invested in companies such as Zoom , Snowflake, Embark Trucks, and Qualtrics — all of which are now public.
The VC firm remains active across early- and later-stage investments, Grady added. "We were less active than a lot of people in 2020 and 2021," he said. "I think we'll end up being more active than a lot of people in 2022 and 2023."
That activity stands in contrast to crossover firms that make both public and private investments, such as Tiger Global Management and D1 Capital Partners, which have reportedly slowed their pace of later-stage private investments.
Pat Grady, partner at Sequoia, and Spenser Skates, CEO of Amplitude.
In the shorter term, though, Grady acknowledged that conditions have gotten a lot tougher for startups. Sequoia famously issued a slide deck declaring "R.I.P. Good Times" as the financial crisis of 2008 roiled markets. More recently, as The Information reported, it gave a presentation to founders warning that the current market slide is a "crucible moment" from which it will take significant time to recover.
The boom in venture funding over the past two years has led many startups to develop "bad habits," namely, hiring too fast for teams outside of their core functions, Grady said. In his view, startups find more bang for their buck by investing in product and engineering teams rather than sales and marketing.
The focus on "product-led growth" — as this school of thought is known — has been a hallmark of the software companies he has invested in, including Zoom and Snowflake, he said.
"A lot of people say, 'Well, geez, I'll keep investing in sales and marketing, because that pays for itself,'" he said. "We recommend the opposite, because most sales and marketing organizations have become pretty inefficient over the last few years, just because there's a lot of money available. And so people just spent more than they really needed to."
More: Sequoia Sequoia Capital | 2022-05-26T16:06:55Z | www.businessinsider.com | Sequoia Is Buying More Tech Stocks Despite the Market Downturn | https://www.businessinsider.com/sequoia-buying-more-tech-stocks-despite-stock-market-downturn-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/sequoia-buying-more-tech-stocks-despite-stock-market-downturn-2022-5 |
TikTok has built a massive global music operation. We mapped out 24 key execs leading the charge.
Ole Obermann heads up music at TikTok and ByteDance.
Tolga Akmen / AFP.
TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have amassed huge influence in the music industry.
TikTok is a go-to app for music discovery, and ByteDance's streaming app Resso is on the rise.
Insider compiled a list of execs and other staffers who are shaping the companies' music strategies.
TikTok is a hitmaker in music, and it's been expanding into new business lines as it looks to convert its cultural influence into recurring revenue.
Songs that take off on the app often end up charting on the Billboard 100 or Spotify Viral 50. Music marketers, record labels, and independent artists are flooding TikTok with songs, hiring influencers (and slime accounts) to promote tracks in videos, and hosting private listening parties with the app's top talent.
But what does TikTok's outsized influence on music actually do for its business?
TikTok earns revenue from music marketers who pay the company to push songs, albums, and artists through in-app promotions. In March, the company launched a music marketing and artist distribution platform called SoundOn, enabling it to get directly involved in artist discovery and song releases.
ByteDance has also been testing a Spotify and Apple Music competitor, called Resso, in Brazil, India, and Indonesia. It recently launched a similar offering in China.
The companies' ability to parlay influence in music discovery into other businesses like audio streaming and distribution will require it to cut deals and collaborate with the major labels, up-and-coming artists, and creators.
"We obviously want to build a business around music," the companies' top music exec Ole Obermann said during a Music Matters Academy interview last year. "We think we've got a really big responsibility to figure out how we work with labels, publishers, managers, and artists, I think maybe even most importantly. Because TikTok is just organically becoming this giant global music festival."
ByteDance and TikTok have staffed up around the world to support the companies' ambitions in music. Employees handle functions like artist and record label relations, music licensing deals, new artist discovery, and nascent products such as SoundOn and Resso. ByteDance and TikTok also have a more experimental speech, audio, and music intelligence (SAMI) division that builds tools for music artists and other creators, a strategy that could influence future music products at the companies.
Here are 24 employees at TikTok and ByteDance charting a course for music to become a revenue-driver:
Ole Obermann, global head of music at TikTok and ByteDance
Ole Obermann.
Rita Franca/NurPhoto via Getty Images.
Ole Obermann is the top music exec at TikTok and ByteDance, leading music-business development and strategy at the companies.
Based out of London, Obermann oversees the long-term strategy for music on TikTok, including rights negotiations for TikTok and Resso and newer projects like SoundOn.
Before joining TikTok, Obermann was the chief digital officer at Warner Music Group where he aided in closing the company's first deal with Facebook. Prior to Warner, Obermann was EVP of global digital partner development at Sony Music where he worked on the company's first Spotify deal and helped the team build out its digital analytics tools.
Music operations
Beneath Obermann sits a slew of TikTok execs in charge of music operations in different parts of the world.
Music operations team members manage relationships with record labels, artists, and their teams. They offer content creation advice to performers on the app, work on new song releases, and handle TikTok's own music content strategy.
Inside TikTok's app, the music operations team adds songs to playlists in the "Sounds" section or promotes artists and tracks in a banner carousel unit on that page. The group optimizes keywords on TikTok's backend to make songs discoverable to users, and also works on playlists outside of TikTok on streaming apps like Spotify and Apple Music.
Corey Sheridan.
Corey Sheridan leads music operations for TikTok in the US.
Sheridan's team handles relationships with record labels, artists, TikTok's music editorial strategy, as well as music product operations.
"Whenever we see music trending, we always want to make sure we're engaging with the partners and make sure that there's a shared awareness and give them some feedback on what we would like to do in order to really continue to generate virality and success for that song," Sheridan told Insider during a webinar last year.
Prior to joining TikTok, Sheridan spent more than a decade working within the music distribution space at UnitedMasters, The Orchard, and SoundCloud.
Other top music operations team members for the US include:
Isabel Quinteros Annous, the group's director of artist partnerships, who focuses on supporting artists on TikTok, whether that's overseeing the onboarding of new talent or helping to boost their music in-app. Before joining TikTok, Quinteros Annous ran her own PR firm focused on hip hop and R&B artists.
Marisa Jeffries, TikTok's director of label partnerships, who supports the company's relationships with labels and label-signed talent. Jeffries most recently worked on label relations at SoundCloud. Before that, she held a variety of roles at Sony Music, including marketing director at Legacy Recordings.
William Gruger, music editorial lead for TikTok, who oversees the curation of music content in-app, including playlists and creative live productions. Gruger previously served as director of programming at the music streamer Tidal.
Isabel Quinteros Annous.
While TikTok's US operations team works out of music industry hubs like Los Angeles and New York, the company also has regional heads who lead its efforts internationally:
Adam Burchill heads up TikTok's music team in Canada where his team focuses on music programming and supporting Canadian artists. Burchill previously led music partnerships at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.
Roberta Guimarães is in charge of music content for TikTok in Brazil. Guimarães previously worked with brands and marketers at the music streamer Deezer.
Rob Ruiz leads music operations in Mexico. Prior to joining TikTok, Ruiz worked as a digital account manager at Warner Music Group.
Ollie Wards is the director of music for TikTok in Australia and New Zealand, leading label relations, artist outreach and music editorial on the app. Wards joined TikTok in August 2020 from Australian radio broadcaster Triple J where he served as content director.
Michael Kümmerle leads TikTok's music operations out of Germany. Prior to joining the company, Kümmerle was a digital sales and artist services director at Warner Music Group in the country.
Yuvir Pillay is the music operations lead for TikTok in Sub-Saharan Africa. Pillay oversees music editorial, artist support, and campaigns across the region, helping African artists and labels to promote music on TikTok globally. Prior to joining the company, Pillay managed his own record label and music-marketing company and served as a consultant for record labels in Africa.
Paul Hourican, TikTok's music operations head for the UK and Europe, first joined the company in November 2019. Hourican focuses on music partnerships, promotions, in-app editorial, as well as artist performances in the UK and Europe, including Ed Sheeran's 2021 livestream event, a record-breaker for the company.
Paul Hourican
Jo Hale/Redferns via Getty Images.
Other top music operations team members in the UK and Europe include:
David Mogendorff, head of artist partnerships in the UK, who leads a team that works with artists and their representatives to grow their TikTok audiences, share new music, and create original content in-app. Before TikTok, Mogendorff led artist partnerships for YouTube and YouTube Music in Europe.
Darina Connolly, head of label partnerships in the UK, where her team works with the major record labels, independent labels, and distributors in the country. Connolly previously served as music partnerships manager for Apple Music in the UK, Ireland, and Israel.
James Underwood oversees music content for TikTok's app in Europe where his team supports the company's music editorial strategy. Underwood previously served as a music programming lead for Vevo in the UK.
In Asia, several execs head up music-business development, partnerships, and licensing deals for ByteDance and TikTok:
Jay Bae serves as head of music-business development in Asia. Bae oversees music licensing and market development for ByteDance's music products across the region. Bae joined TikTok in 2018 from LG.
Oki Ito is the director of global business development at TikTok and ByteDance in Japan. Based in Tokyo, Ito is responsible for licensing and business development for the company's products in the country. He joined in 2017 after working for the Japanese broadcaster NHK.
Fennie Chin leads ByteDance's music partnerships and licensing in Southeast Asia.
Hari Nair heads up music partnerships for ByteDance in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Nair previously held roles at the music rights firm PPL India and Sony Music.
TikTok and ByteDance also maintain licensing agreements with top rights' holders like Warner Music Group and Sony Music and industry publishing organizations like the National Music Publishers' Association.
These agreements are what allow TikTok users to freely add songs to their videos, and for Resso subscribers to gain access to the latest pop hits.
Jordan Lowy is the head of music publishing licensing and partnerships at TikTok and ByteDance. Lowy joined TikTok in late 2018 shortly after ByteDance acquired and merged the lip-synching app Musical.ly into TikTok.
Based out of Los Angeles, Lowy's team helped strike music publishing deals for TikTok with the major music publishers, independent labels, and industry organizations like the NMPA and music rights' holder group ICE.
Lowy established TikTok's commercial music and creative licensing team, which opens up licensed options for brands to use music on the app. He also helped develop and launch ByteDance's music streaming service, Resso.
Prior to TikTok, Lowy held music publishing roles at Walt Disney Studios and Universal Music Group.
Other top staffers on TikTok's music-licensing side include:
Tracy Gardner, head of label licensing and partnerships, who negotiates global licensing agreements with record labels for ByteDance products while also supporting commercial relationships with TikTok's label partners. Prior to joining TikTok, Gardner served as SVP of global business development and strategy at Warner Music Group.
Bryan Cosgrove, who serves as director of commercial music and creative licensing. Before joining TikTok, Cosgrove worked in business affairs at a variety of advertising and marketing firms.
In Europe, Ella Kirby oversees music-publishing licensing and partnerships. Kirby, an alum of Facebook's music-publishing business development team, joined TikTok last year.
Negotiating rights agreements with music stakeholders is also key to enabling creators to use songs, both old and new, on TikTok and other ByteDance apps. The companies' legal work in music licensing is led by Ed McCardell, a former VP at SoundCloud and Rdio, who now serves as TikTok and ByteDance's head of legal counsel for music licensing.
More: TikTok Bytedance Music | 2022-05-26T16:07:19Z | www.businessinsider.com | Inside TikTok's Massive Global Music Operation and Map of Key Leaders | https://www.businessinsider.com/top-execs-leading-tiktok-bytedance-global-push-into-music-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/top-execs-leading-tiktok-bytedance-global-push-into-music-2022-5 |
President-elect Donald Trump, Eric Trump, left, Ivanka Trump, and Donald Trump Jr., listen during a press conference at Trump Tower in New York, NY on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017.
An appeals court has ordered Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. to sit for depositions in a NY probe.
The 3 Trumps will be asked about what AG Letitia James has called persistent fraud at the Trump Organization.
The Trumps have argued that their testimony could be used against them in related criminal probes.
An appeals court has ordered Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. to sit for depositions in a sprawling New York probe of the Trump Organization.
Thursday's decision by the First Department Appellate Division, sitting in Manhattan, upholds a state court decision ordering the Trumps' prompt compliance with 5-month-old subpoenas demanding their testimony.
A four-judge appellate panel found that the 3 Trumps were lawfully called to testify in a probe by NY Attorney General Letitia James.
"Once again, the courts have ruled that Donald Trump must comply with our lawful investigation into his financial dealings," James said in a press statement. "We will continue to follow the facts of this case and ensure that no one can evade the law."
Over the course of her 3-year civil inquiry, James has alleged persistent financial fraud at the Trumps' international real estate and golf resort business. She issued subpoenas for the 3 Trumps' testimony in January.
In trying to quash James' subpoenas, Trump lawyers have argued that their testimony could be used against them in parallel criminal probes by the AG and the Manhattan District Attorney's office.
The Trump lawyers have also argued that James herself was biased against Trump, as evidenced by numerous press statements in which she vowed to sue the former president and take down his business.
But in its decision, the appellate panel found James' civil probe was "lawfully initiated."
"The civil investigation was initiated in March 2019 after testimony before Congress by Michael Cohen, former Trump Organization senior executive and special counsel, in which Cohen alleged that respondent The Trump Organization, Inc. had issued fraudulent financial statements," Thursday's decision said.
"This sequence of events suggests that the investigation was lawfully initiated at its outset and well founded, apart from any parallel criminal investigation undertaken by the District Attorney."
The appellate court also shot down the Trumps' claims that James is conducting a politically motivated, "selective prosecution."
"A claim of selective prosecution requires a showing that the law has been administered 'with an evil eye and an unequal hand,'" the decision read, citing case law in upholding New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron's prior ruling ordering the Trumps be deposed.
Instead, James' probe began "after public testimony of a senior corporate insider and reviewed significant volumes of evidence before issuing the subpoenas," the decision said.
"Appellants have not identified any similarly implicated corporation that was not investigated or any executives of such a corporation who were not deposed. Therefore, appellants have failed to demonstrate that they were treated differently from any similarly situated persons."
A lawyer for the Trump family, Alan Futerfas, said he is still reviewing the appellate decision and has not made a decision on whether to file a further appeal.
James has identified Donald Trump as the "sole beneficiary" of Trump Organization profits and as a target of her probe.
Ivanka Trump, identified by James as a probe witness, is a former executive vice president of development and aquisitions and the point person for negotiating financing from principal Trump lender Deutshche Bank.
Donald Trump, Jr., who is also considered a witness, is a current executive vice president and manages the Trump Organization with his brother, Eric, who has already been deposed by James.
In what may be a sign of things to come in future depositions by his brother, sister and father, Eric invoked his 5th Amendment right more than 500 times when he sat for a James deposition in October, 2020.
The three are being compelled to testify in a civil probe, which means it could result in a lawsuit by the AG seeking restitution for any ill-gotten gains and potentially the dissolution of the business.
Lawyers for James' office have characterized her probe as winding down, though several ancillary legal matters are still ongoing.
Donald Trump has sued James in federal court in hopes of shutting the probe down, and he is appealing an order by Engoron holding him in contempt of court for failing to fully comply with a separate James subpoena demanding his personal business documents.
More: Donald Trump Letitia James | 2022-05-26T17:33:05Z | www.businessinsider.com | Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump, Jr. Must Sit for Depositions | https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-ivanka-trump-donald-trump-jr-must-give-depositions-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-ivanka-trump-donald-trump-jr-must-give-depositions-2022-5 |
Slack is spending big on a 'massive' marketing pivot as it repositions its brand for hybrid work
Slack is positioning itself for the hybrid work era with a new marketing campaign.
The new campaign uses case studies from startups Deliveroo and Kiva to educate people about Slack.
It's also eyeing industries like financial services and healthcare as it seeks to move beyond its core tech clients.
Slack , a darling of Silicon Valley tech workers and part of Salesforce, is seeking to change its reputation as a messaging app and broaden its appeal beyond tech as hybrid work becomes the norm.
To support the transition, it's releasing a new marketing campaign featuring case studies from delivery startup Deliveroo and lending nonprofit Kiva. The ads show how Slack can be used by teams from finance to logistics to coordinate complex projects.
The company declined to disclose the campaign's budget, which will run on streaming TV, podcasts, and social media, although Colin McRae, Slack's vice president of global brand marketing and creative strategy, said it would be "significant."
Slack spent 47%, or $95 million, of its Q1 2021 revenue on sales and marketing, its CFO said in its last available earnings call as a public company.
McRae said that as companies adapt to a hybrid workforce, it was important for Slack to show it could work for all kinds of teams and companies of all sizes.
"This work does signify a shift in how we are going to market thinking about our product positioning,'' he said. "It is a massive pivot organizationally."
Slack was purchased by enterprise software giant Salesforce for $27.7 billion last year as the startup took off on the rise of hybrid work in the pandemic. Salesforce expects Slack to generate $1.5 billion in revenue in FY 2023, up from about $1.1 billion in FY 2022.
In the acquisition announcement, Slack said it aimed to create "a single platform for connecting employees, customers and partners with each other and the apps that they use every day, all within their existing workflows."
"I see our customers like Nike sees its athletes," McRae said. "We don't make people great at their jobs. We just enable people to accomplish amazing things."
Slack is adapting its marketing for a changing category of work tools
Since its start as a messaging tool that founder Stewart Butterfield developed for his now-defunct gaming startup, Slack has been adopted by companies like Uber, PwC, and Sky News. It's added features like video calls and audio messages, and boasts a plethora of integrations with third-party applications, like Google Drive , Jira, and Salesforce.
McRae wants businesses to see Slack as they once saw their physical headquarters, as places that "bring people together and drive conversations and outcomes."
"We've gone from a simple messaging platform to a much more robust digital headquarters," McRae said. "This is really about celebrating how we've evolved as a brand and how our category has changed."
He pointed out that the app now offers features like "huddles" meant to replicate spontaneous office conversations, and "clips," which let users record things like presentations.
"This idea of asynchronous working is very much in celebration of a fundamental change in the way that we're positioning our product," McRae said.
Slack is betting on a hybrid workforce
Slack wants to educate people on the nuances of the product through real-world case studies.
One of its new ads details how lending nonprofit Kiva organizes a customer loan by bringing together its cross-functional teams from around the world in a Slack channel, while another shows how UK delivery startup Deliveroo sent 1 million pizzas to doctors in England during the pandemic.
"This idea of a digital headquarter for us is really powerful and we think very durable as we look at our product roadmap, and think about what else we want to roll out," McRae said.
"I'm not going to pretend to say we figured it all out," he added. "But I do feel like we're at a tipping point where we're sort of understanding, okay, this is the landscape we're living in. We are going to be a hybrid workforce."
Slack is one of the category leaders in enterprise messaging, competing with Microsoft's Teams app. While it made its name in Silicon Valley startups, it's now eyeing industries beyond tech, such as financial services and healthcare.
"Based on our awareness numbers, we know that there are people that do not know what Slack is, and if you do know about Slack, you might not know how it works," he said.
While tech stocks have nosedived recently, McRae insisted Slack's pivot to appeal to companies of all industries was not reactionary. "I will say that there is durability in diversifying your portfolio [of customers]," he said.
More: Marketing Slack hybrid work | 2022-05-26T17:33:33Z | www.businessinsider.com | Slack Is Launching a New Marketing Campaign for the Hybrid Work Era | https://www.businessinsider.com/slack-launching-new-ad-campaign-for-hybrid-work-era-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/slack-launching-new-ad-campaign-for-hybrid-work-era-2022-5 |
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows speaks with reporters at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, in Washington.
Trump's former chief of staff Mark Meadows burned documents after a meeting, according to Politico.
A former White House aide testified that she "saw Meadows incinerate documents."
Meadows torched the papers upon meeting with GOP Rep. Scott Perry after the 2020 election.
One of former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows' former aides testified to the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021 riot that she witnessed her boss burn documents after meeting with a Pennsylvania congressman seeking to help President Donald Trump overturn his 2020 election loss.
The testimony came from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, and was first reported by Politico.
She told the committee she "saw Meadows incinerate documents after a meeting in his office with Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.)," according to the report.
Meadows' meeting with Perry came in the weeks after the election, per Politico, but it remains unclear which specific documents the then-chief of staff scorched.
Perry's office and a lawyer for Meadows did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Politico's source was described as "familiar with the testimony" and requested anonymity to detail the events. Reporters Betsy Woodruff Swan and Kyle Cheney noted that they couldn't independently confirm that Meadows burned the papers after meeting with Perry.
Perry, whose district covers the area around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, the most pro-Trump voting block in the chamber.
The select committe has subpoenaed Perry and asked him to testify over his alleged efforts to install a Trump loyalist as attorney general in an effort to try and overturn the election. Perry has objected to the subpoena, CNN reported Thursday.
The committee is in possession of 2,319 text messages from Meadows from before and after the insurrection.
More: January 6 committee Mark Meadows White House Donald trump amazon tweet | 2022-05-26T19:08:16Z | www.businessinsider.com | Mark Meadows Burned Documents, According to Jan. 6 Committee Witness | https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-meadows-burn-documents-january-6-committee-investigation-witness-testimony-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-meadows-burn-documents-january-6-committee-investigation-witness-testimony-2022-5 |
Mitch McConnell cracked the door open to working with Democrats on bipartisan gun safety legislation.
He said he instructed Sen. John Cornyn of Texas to work with Democrats.
McConnell didn't name or endorse any specific gun safety proposals.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell signaled his willingness for Republican senators to work with Democrats on a bipartisan push for gun safety legislation in the wake of the deadly Uvalde school shooting, but did not endorse specific approaches for his caucus to take.
In an interview with CNN on Thursday, McConnell said he'd "encouraged" Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, to talk to key Democrats "who are interested in trying to get an outcome that's directly related to the problem."
McConnell's words potentially cracked open the door to compromise on gun safety legislation, an issue on which Republicans have signaled little willingness to collaborate in the decade since the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2013.
But McConnell did not specifically mention any policy outcome he wanted Republicans to seek, or identify what he believed to be the problem at the heart of the Uvalde school shooting.
When asked by CNN whether his comments could include current policy proposals before the Senate — such as expanded background checks, or 'red flag' laws that could temporarily prevent individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others from owning a gun — McConnell declined to offer specifics.
"What I've asked Senator Cornyn to do is to meet with the Democrats who are interested in getting a bipartisan solution and come up with a proposal, if possible, that's crafted to meet this particular problem," McConnell said.
The majority leader said he would "keep in touch" with Democrats working on bipartisan gun safety proposals.
"Hopefully, we can get an outcome that can actually pass and become law rather than just scoring points back and forth," McConnell said.
Senate Democrats, led by Chris Murphy of Connecticut, have vowed to make a push for gun safety legislation despite decades of Republican opposition to most proposals.
Democrats' ambitious goal is to woo at least 10 Republican Senators to vote with them on any bill, so as to avoid a filibuster.
On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said there would be a vote on gun safety legislation regardless of whether they had enough Republican support to pass it.
More: Uvalde uvalde shooting Mitch McConnell Guns | 2022-05-26T19:08:22Z | www.businessinsider.com | McConnell Willing to Let GOP Senators Work With Democrats After Uvalde Shooting | https://www.businessinsider.com/mcconnell-willing-to-let-gop-senators-work-with-democrats-after-uvalde-shooting-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/mcconnell-willing-to-let-gop-senators-work-with-democrats-after-uvalde-shooting-2022-5 |
Here's how I won a bidding war on a house in a hot market — without even making the highest offer
We won a bidding war even though the next-best offer had a little more money and a higher down payment.
We made our earnest money deposit non-refundable, so the seller could keep our money no matter what.
Waiving earnest money is a safe bet for the seller, because they'll still get some money even if we cancel the contract.
In the two months we spent shopping for houses, my husband and I tried to buy six homes. More than once, we lost out to an offer that was just slightly better than ours. It added salt to the wound to know that we were so close, but ultimately weren't chosen.
On attempt number six, there was yet another offer that was arguably slightly better than ours — but the seller chose our offer anyway. Here's how we won the bidding war.
We didn't have the highest offer
Our offer included an escalation clause. This means that we offered an initial amount but said we would increase our bid incrementally if there was a competing offer, up to a certain amount. We got the call that our offer had been chosen at the maximum bid.
With an escalation clause, the selling agent has to send you the competing offer to prove they escalated your offer according to the stipulations in your contract and didn't just jack up the price because they could. When we looked at the competing offer, we saw that the second-place buyer's maximum amount was actually $1,250 higher than ours. They also had a 20% down payment, while we only had 3% down. But the sellers still chose us.
We made our earnest money deposit non-refundable
Previously, the selling agent had told our realtor that the sellers were looking for a combination of a high-money offer, but also the safest offer. So to check the "safe" box, we made our earnest money non-refundable.
Earnest money is a portion of your down payment that you pay upfront once the seller accepts your offer, sort of like a safety deposit. My husband and I made a $10,000 earnest money deposit and ticked on our offer that we forfeited the money. This meant that no matter what happened — even if we backed out of the sale for legitimate, legal reason — the seller would get to keep the $10,000. The seller could access the money immediately and use it without worrying about having to give it back to us.
You don't have to forfeit your earnest deposit if it makes you uncomfortable
Forfeiting your earnest money makes your offer competitive, but it is a risk. For us, we decided it was a risk worth taking because we had already waived a lot of contingencies to make our offer competitive, including the inspection and title contingencies. So we knew it was unlikely that we would get our earnest money back, anyway.
The $10,000 also wasn't the full amount of our down payment, so even though losing that money would have been tough, we wouldn't be re-starting from square one if we lost it.
If you are interested in waiving your deposit, you don't have to forfeit it all from the get-go, like we did. There are different ways you can go about it.
For example, we made an offer on a different house that had a septic tank. We said we would forfeit half of our earnest money when they accepted our offer, and the other half after the septic inspection. (We didn't get that house, but it wasn't because of our earnest money strategy. Someone just offered way more money.)
But just because forfeiting earnest money makes your offer more appealing, doesn't necessarily mean you should do it. If losing that money would mean the end of your homebuying journey or put you in a dangerous financial position, you may decide you're not comfortable taking the risk — and that's OK. I had to learn what compromises I was comfortable making in the homebuying process, and which ones I wouldn't budge on.
PERSONAL FINANCE Ready to start house hunting? Here are 8 things to look for when buying a home
PERSONAL FINANCE Living in a neighborhood with a homeowner's association has pros and cons — make sure you ask about the fees if you decide it's worth it
More: homebuying Personal Finance Insider PFI Storytelling Buying A Home | 2022-05-26T19:08:34Z | www.businessinsider.com | How I Won a Bidding War on a House Without Making the Highest Offer | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-won-bidding-war-without-making-highest-offer-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/how-won-bidding-war-without-making-highest-offer-2022-5 |
39 top execs leading Netflix, Disney+, and more Hollywood streamers into international content and audiences
Natalie Jarvey and Ashley Rodriguez
L to R: Antony Root, Rebecca Campbell, Bela Bajaria, Morgan Wandell
WarnerMedia; Disney; Netflix; Todd Williamson/Getty Images for Amazon
Streaming shifted how Hollywood thinks about content's ability to travel across borders.
Many companies have reshuffled their original programming teams to prioritize international series.
We identified the top content execs commissioning international shows at Netflix, Disney+, and more.
With services like Netflix , Amazon Prime Video, and Disney now available around the world, it's easier than ever to mint a truly global hit. And it's not just US content that can find an international audience. Netflix thriller "Squid Game" proved — with more than 1 billion hours viewed in its first 28 days — that a local-language original can have resonance around the world, too.
As the US streaming market matures, the platforms are increasingly looking overseas for new subscribers, which means international content is only going to become more important in the years ahead.
To that end, many companies have reorganized their original programming teams expressly to supercharge their international content pipelines. In 2020, for instance, Netflix promoted Bela Bajaria to a newly created role overseeing its global TV business. And earlier this year, Disney created a new hub to feed a pipeline of international programming to Disney+. It now has some 500 local-language originals in the works.
Max Michael, head of Asian business development for UTA, told Insider that the so-called "Squid Game" effect has created "an increased level of attention on foreign-language content" in every market at the streamers.
"To Netflix's credit they've been so successful on some of their international shows that the growth has put a lot of attention on some of these territories and some of these projects," Michael added. While the result has meant a boom time for producers around the world, he said it has also created questions about "what is local-language content and what is global content."
Now, there are executives at almost every media company tasked with finding answers to that question.
Some streamers, like Netflix and Disney, have central execs overseeing their international content strategies, and regional leads commissioning shows in each market. Others, like Discovery+, mainly commission content locally.
One major streamer that has thus far watched from the sidelines as its rivals prioritize international expansion is NBCUniversal's Peacock, which isn't commissioning much local-language programming, aside from some shows from the UK and Canada and from Spanish-language partner Telemundo.
Peacock is currently available as a standalone service in the US and a few other markets, including the UK, Ireland, and Germany. (It's set to distribute some originals in other European countries through a streaming joint venture with Sky and Paramount called SkyShowtime.) But that could change as leaders including NBCU entertainment content chair Susan Rovner, head of content acquisitions Val Boreland, and Peacock programming EVP Brian Henderson build out the streamer's content strategy.
Below are the top executives driving the international content boom at the major streamers, as well as the people they have running point on programming around the world.
Bela Bajaria (Netflix)
Bela Bajaria, Head of Global TV, Netflix
Head of Global TV, Netflix
Netflix 's 2020 move to promote Bajaria into a role overseeing its global television business appeared prescient when, a year later, Korean drama "Squid Game" became the most-watched show in the streamer's history. Netflix's head start overseas — it's now available in nearly every country — helped it reach a market leading 222 million subscribers worldwide. But even as it anticipates subscriber losses amid a rise in streaming competition, local-language productions will remain crucial to helping it lure new members.
That's something Bajaria — a veteran of NBCU who, before her promotion, was overseeing international productions at Netflix — knows well. She's organized her team to ensure that she has point people in each region developing shows that, with a little luck, could turn into the next "Squid Game"-style hit.
That team of executives includes:
Minyoung Kim, VP of content for the Asia Pacific region (excluding India), one of Netflix's first content executives based in Asia who is responsible for bringing Korean series "Crash Landing on You" and "All of Us Are Dead" to the service.
Anne Mensah, VP of content in the UK, who spent nearly two decades at the BBC and Sky before joining the streamer in 2019.
Francisco Ramos, VP of Latin American content, a Mexico native and five-year Netflix veteran whose team is behind series such as Colombian telenovela "Café con aroma de mujer."
Monika Shergill, VP of content in India, a Star India alum who is growing the streamer's Hindi-language offering.
Larry Tanz, VP of original series in Europe, Middle East, and Africa, the former CEO of Michael Eisner's Vuguru who in his eight years at Netflix has worked on everything from "The Stranger" to "El Chapo" to "Fauda."
Rebecca Campbell (Disney)
Disney's Rebecca Campbell.
Chairman of International Content & Operations, Walt Disney Co.
As the head of Disney's new international content hub, Campbell has a big job managing the pipeline of more than 500 local-language originals currently in production for Disney+, including 200 shows in Latin American and another 150 shows in EMEA. She also oversees the Disney+ Hotstar business, which accounts for 36% of the streamer's total 138 million global subscribers. Disney expects those international productions — about 180 of which will bow on Disney+ this year — will help "attract new subscribers and drive engagement," per CEO Bob Chapek, as it continues to chase industry leader Netflix .
Campbell — a 25-year Disney veteran who spent two years running Disney's EMEA business — is known to get hands on with Disney's content leads in key regions as they build out their programming slates.
Gaurav Banerjee, a former news anchor who has been with the company formerly known as Star TV since 2005 and now oversees all content for Disney+ Hotstar in India.
Fernando Barbosa, a longtime Disney executive in Latin America who serves as SVP and general manager of media networks, production, distribution, and acquisition in the region.
Jessica Kam-Engle, head of content and development in Asia Pacific, who previously worked at HBO Asia and has produced such films as 2010 Hong Kong parody "Just Another Pandora's Box."
Liam Keelan, VP original content in Europe and Africa, who previously ran scripted TV for BBC Studios and consulted for Amazon.
Discovery+ leadership
Rather than organizing its international content efforts around a central team, Discovery+ has several leaders around the world running point on its local programming.
The streamer was one of the few to go global out the gate, launching in 25 initial countries including the US, UK, Ireland, and India in 2020 and 2021. It has found success with its content strategy by tailoring popular franchises like "90 Day Fiancé" for international markets and commissioning new local titles.
Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery — formed through the April merger of Discovery and WarnerMedia — also announced plans to bring its streaming content under a single global platform. At the moment, content from the legacy WarnerMedia business lives in the separate HBO Max service.
The company is expected to share more details later this year on what the combined offering will look like.
For now, these are the key content execs commissioning shows for Discovery+ in local markets:
Myriam Lopez-Otazu heads up acquisitions in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region and has been with Discovery for more than eight years.
Clare Laycock and Simon Downing lead in the UK, where Discovery+ has announced shows for 2022 including "90 Day Fiancé UK" and "Beauty And The Geek UK."
Tatiana Lagewaard runs point in the Netherlands, overseeing shows like the reality series "Singletown" and social-experiment series "Sex Tape."
Laura Carafoli leads in Italy, where the streamer has shows including "Drag Race Italia" and "Sex Tape Italia."
Katja Santala runs the content team in Finland, which has shows like "Connected" and "Stars in Uniform."
Magnus Vatn and Synøve Diserud are responsible for content in Norway, such as "All Against All" and "16 Weeks of Hell."
Axel Eriksson and Lena Strandner lead the content teams in Sweden.
Beata Biel heads up commissioning in Poland for the TVN24 Go platform, while Lidia Kazen is the lead for Player.
Douglas Craig (Paramount+)
SVP, International Content Strategy, Paramount+
Craig is a Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS) boomerang. He started at the company in the 1990s in MTV Networks, went on to lead programming at Discovery, where his portfolio included Animal Planet and the company's digital brands, and then at Roku and Fandango. He returned to Paramount in 2020 to run programming and acquisitions for its international unit, which set the stage for his current role overseeing plans to greenlight 50 new international scripted originals in 2022.
The streamer, which has a global production footprint through Paramount's international studio VIS, rolled out in 26 markets in 2021 and is set to expand this year into the UK and other European countries, as well as in South Korea through a bundle with CJ ENM-backed local streamer TVING. Next year, it'll land in India.
In addition to coming originals like the UK's "A Gentleman in Moscow," Paramount+ has a three-year slate deal with French studio Gaumont to produce originals like the horror-thriller "The Signal" from "Lupin" cocreator François Uzan.
Craig is supported by several regional content executives who lead teams of local commissioners:
Natalia Juliao, VP of content strategy in Latin America, who's been with Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS) since her days at MTV Brasil starting in 2011.
Bev McGarvey, chief content officer for VCN Australia, who spent more than a decade leading programming at Australia's Network 10.
Ben Frow, chief content officer in the UK, who leads a team based in London.
Susanne Schildknecht, senior VP of MTV Entertainment Brands in Central and Northern Europe and Asia, who leads a team based in Berlin that commissions content across Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.
Sebastien Pero, VP of content for Paramount+ in South EMEA, who leads a team in Milan, Italy and Paris, France.
HBO Max leadership
HBO Max's Antony Root.
HBO Max , now part of the new Warner Bros. Discovery, currently has a few key execs charting its content course overseas, including regional leads in markets like Europe, Latin America, and Asia.
After launching in the US in May 2020, Max began rolling out in June in Latin America and in October in Europe. The service was streaming in 61 countries as of March of this year, with more parts of Europe and Southeast Asia on the horizon.
Max started leaning into local-language originals particularly as it entered Europe, where it didn't have a large bank of live sports to rely on (like it did Latin America), and where streamers are required to carry certain amounts of local content.
It's looking for "fresh" content, and to new genres like competition and adventure formats, to help attract new audiences, execs said at a May international-TV festival.
"We want to broaden the appeal of what we do in local original programming beyond the die hard 'Euphoria' fan," Antony Root, who leads HBO Max's original programming in Europe, said at the festival, according to Deadline.
In Latin America, the streamer said last April that it planned to develop 100 originals over the next two years. Those include shows like "Bilardo, El Doctor del Fútbol," a docuseries about Argentine soccer manager Carlos Bilardo, and a stop-motion horror anthology called "Frankelda's Hidden Scars."
The top execs commissioning Max's locally produced originals include:
Antony Root, responsible for the Max originals commissioned and produced in Europe, who previously led HBO Europe's original programming and has executive produced shows including HBO España's horror thriller "30 Coins."
Jeniffer Kim, SVP of international originals for Max, who commissions international originals and coproductions that are targeted for US and global audiences, such as the British comedy "Starstruck" and Spanish limited series "Veneno."
Tomás Yankelevich, chief content officer for Latin America, who commissions programming across Max and the legacy-WarnerMedia business. He held a similar role at WarnerMedia before the merger, and at Turner before that.
Magdalene Ew, head of content, entertainment, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, who is programming mainly for HBO linear and standalone HBO Go streaming service since Max has not yet launched in Asia.
James Farrell (Amazon Prime Video)
Head of International Originals, Amazon Studios
With availability in more than 200 countries and territories around the world, Amazon Prime Video is among the more widely distributed streaming services. And it falls to Amazon veteran Farrell to manage the teams around the world developing local film and television programming (shows like Chile's "El Presidente" and the UK's "All or Nothing" franchise) for the platform's global audience. A former Wall Street trader, Farrell brings more than a decade of international experience to the role. He managed Sony Pictures Entertainment's film and TV distribution business in Canada and Japan and was overseeing content for Amazon Studios and Prime Video in Asia before studio head Jen Salke promoted him to his current role. (His counterpart on the Amazon Prime Video business is Kelly Day, who joined the streamer to lead its international business in late 2021.) The leaders on Farrell's team in each region include:
Georgia Brown, head of European originals, who joined Amazon after stints at Fremantle, Shine, and BBC Worldwide who has shepherded upcoming music drama "Jungle."
Javiera Balmaceda, head of originals for Latin America, Canada, and Australia, who previously led content acquisition in the region for the e-commerce giant and has also worked at HBO Latin America.
Aparna Purohit, head of India originals, a six-year Amazon veteran who has commissioned shows including comedy "Four More Shots Please!" and drama "Inside Edge."
Erika North, head of Asia-Pacific originals, a former Netflix and HBO Asia executive, who took over for Farrell after his promotion.
Morgan Wandell (Apple TV+)
Apple TV+'s Morgan Wandell.
Todd Williamson/Getty Images for Amazon Studios
Head of International Content Development, Apple TV+
Amazon Studios veteran Wandell is responsible for delivering Israeli spy thriller "Tehran" and Spanish- and English-language comedy "Acapulco" to Apple TV+. Though Apple TV+ isn't as widely distributed worldwide as rivals Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, it is offering its curated slate of originals to subscribers in more than 100 countries. Wandell brings global content development experience to his role, having previously led international series at Amazon, where he also shepherded shows like "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" as head of drama. An alum of ABC Studios and Berlanti Television, he reports to Apple coheads of worldwide video Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg. | 2022-05-26T19:08:46Z | www.businessinsider.com | Top Execs Buying International Streaming Shows at Netflix, Disney+, More | https://www.businessinsider.com/top-execs-buying-international-streaming-shows-at-netflix-disney-more-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/top-execs-buying-international-streaming-shows-at-netflix-disney-more-2022-5 |
An industry expert warns that these 5 housing markets with attractive opportunities for real estate investing and tech careers could also see the biggest corrections in an economic downturn
The tech industry has played a huge role in the rapid growth of cities like Austin and Nashville — but they're also most at risk of a downturn.
Origin Investments outlined five cities that look promising for real estate investing.
The technology industry plays a role in the each city's economic growth.
But real estate consultant Nicholas Gerli says that cities tangential to tech might dive the most.
Five of the top US cities that offer the biggest opportunities for multifamily real estate investing, rent growth, and development are all located in the southern Sun Belt, according to Origin Investments, a real estate private equity firm managing $1.4 billion in assets.
In a recent report, the firm examined the potential rental rate growth of different US markets by evaluating metrics like historical rental rates, housing affordability, supply and demand, recent migration, and growth of local jobs, income, and population. Out of the total 150 US markets considered, Origin found that Phoenix, AZ; Tucson, AZ; Las Vegas, NV; Austin, TX; and Nashville, TN were five cities with promising income, employment, and population growth potentials.
"All are mid-sized cities with room to grow and suburbs that give residents plenty of options in terms of lifestyle and location," the report reads. "Three of the cities are state capitals, and all have strong university presences that are shaping the kind of quality workforces the areas want to attract and retain."
The five cities each include diverse and robust job markets frequently tangential to the technology industry , said Origin.
Tech manufacturing is one of the biggest industries moving into Phoenix, AZ in recent years, while Origin expects jobs and wages in Nashville, TN to rise as more technology jobs are added. Caterpillar's 2017 move of its mining technology regional headquarters to Tucson, AZ brought about 600 jobs to the city. Las Vegas, NV, which already looks attractive due to a lack of state and corporate taxes, set forth recent plans to attract new industries like financial services and information technology. And technology firms are even more integral to the market in Austin, TX, where companies like Oracle, Tesla, Samsung, Apple, and Meta have moved their headquarters or plan to build new campuses.
Origin further pointed to each city's rapid rebound against pandemic-induced challenges as a sign of strength. The firm cited data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that average rent grew by 3% in the five years before the pandemic. Using this metric as a benchmark, Origin believes that the growth potentials in these five cities, at least through 2023, will far outpace the 3% figure.
"While we understand that real estate markets are always evolving, we look for places where employment and demographic trends point to future opportunities," Origin explained. "In these five cities, we see plenty to be optimistic about."
Are these cities overvalued?
Within the backdrop of the heated real estate market, it's impossible not to wonder if these staggering housing growth predictions are leading towards a bubble on the verge of bursting.
A recent analysis conducted by the NPR based on data from Moody's analytics revealed that Origin's five cities to watch — Phoenix, AZ; Tucson, AZ; Las Vegas, NV; Austin, TX; and Nashville, TN — rank respectively at 21, 155, 22, 36, and 16 on the list of most overvalued metropolitan areas in the US.
While Origin highlighted a connection to big tech as an asset for cities' housing growth, these same cities may be overly reliant on the tech workforce which means they are some with the highest risk in the case of an industry downturn, said Nicholas Gerli, the CEO of real estate data analytics firm Reventure Consulting. In a recent interview with Insider, Gerli warned that many tech firms are still unprofitable, despite investors flocking to them like moths to a flame.
"Tech employs a relatively small amount of people in the US economy compared to all the other industries, but they dominate an exorbitant amount of wealth and housing demand," Gerli said. "Now that stock prices are crashing and we're starting to see layoffs, that's a big economic risk factor for these housing markets."
Furthermore, he believes that justifying the phenomenal appreciation of leading metropolitan cities because of past growth is a "backward looking viewpoint."
"The areas that were the beneficiaries of [tech] over the last five to 10 years are going to see less growth from them going forward, at best," said Gerli. "And at worst, they're going to see economic pain."
Gerli particularly believes that Austin, TX is currently facing a housing bubble. That's because the city's annual housing costs have nearly doubled in the last two years, versus only a 7% wage growth and 24% rent growth over the same period.
On the other hand, Redfin's deputy chief economist, Taylor Marr, asserted in a recent interview with Insider that the migration patterns of higher-income earners are enough to justify the price appreciation in cities such as Austin.
"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," he explained.
Marr 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."
With that in mind, the five cities Origin highlighted are listed below, along with commentary for each city.
"Phoenix has the second-highest income growth of the markets we studied," the report from Origin Investments says. "The combination of job and population growth has created strong housing demand, but compared with the competition, it's still affordable for renters."
2. Tucson, AZ
The Phoenix valley isn't the only metro listed in the Origin Investments report. "Infrastructure plans to connect with Phoenix will help showcase the city's comparative affordability," the report reads. "Overall, Tucson offers lots of potential for rent growth as employment and income move in a positive direction."
RebeccaAng/Getty Images
"There's a high demand for Class A properties, of which Las Vegas has few," says Origin Investments, highlighting the reliance Las Vegas has on a couple of major industries. "With jobs and income on the rise, affordable rents have a long trajectory for growth without moving out of reach."
"Austin has the highest income growth and third-highest job growth of the markets studied; despite its popularity, it's much more affordable compared with other top markets," the report says about this hot Texas market.
Adina Olteanu/Getty Images
"Steady job and income growth is expected to continue as planned tech and other jobs enter the market, and housing inventory is at its lowest in the area's history," says Origin Investments analysts. "An established multifamily market that's still affordable for many offers many reasons for longer-term optimism."
More: Investing Housing Market housing market crash
housing market advice | 2022-05-26T19:08:58Z | www.businessinsider.com | Why Cities Reliant on Tech Might See the Biggest Housing Correction | https://www.businessinsider.com/why-cities-reliant-on-tech-might-see-the-biggest-housing-correction-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/why-cities-reliant-on-tech-might-see-the-biggest-housing-correction-2022-5 |
Investing and banking
Check out pitch decks used by startups to raise million.
Insider has been tracking the next wave of hot new startups in the crypto space.
Check out these pitch decks to see how founders sold their vision.
Crypto is dead. Long live crypto.
No matter what side of the debate you fall on, one thing is undeniable: There is no lack of startups launching with an eye on digital currencies.
A record $25 billion in funding went to blockchain companies last year, according to CB Insights 2021 State of Blockchain report. The market has gotten so hot that crypto companies are launching their own investing vehicles focused on startups in the space.
Insider has been tracking the next wave of hot new startups focused on crypto.
Check out these pitch decks to see how founders are selling their vision and nabbing big bucks in the process.
Crypto staking made easy
Ethan and Eric Parker, founders of crypto-investing app Giddy.
From the outside looking in, cryptocurrency can seem like a world of potential, but also one of complexity.
That's because digital currencies, which can be traded, invested in, and moved like traditional currencies, operate on decentralized blockchain networks that can be quite technical in nature. Still, they offer the promise of big gains and have been thrusted into the mainstream over the years, converting Wall Street stalwarts and bankers.
But for the everyday investor, a fear of missing out is settling in. That's why brothers Ethan and Eric Parker built Giddy, a mobile app that enables users to invest in crypto, earn passive income on certain crypto holdings via staking, and get into the red-hot space of decentralized finance, or DeFi.
"What we're focusing on is giving an opportunity for people who otherwise couldn't access DeFi because it's just technically too difficult," Eric Parker, CEO at Giddy, told Insider.
Here's the 7-page pitch deck Giddy, an app that lets users invest in DeFi, used to raise an $8 million seed round
Retirement accounts for crypto
Todd Southwick, CEO and co-founder of iTrustCapital.
iTrustCapital
Todd Southwick and Blake Skadron stuck to a simple mandate when they were building out iTrustCapital, a $1.3 billion fintech that strives to offer cryptocurrencies to the masses via dedicated individual retirement accounts.
"We wanted to make a product that we would feel happy recommending for our parents to use," Southwick, the CEO of iTrustCapital, told Insider.
That guiding framework resulted in a software system that helped to digitize and automate the traditionally clunky and paper-based process of setting up an IRA for alternative assets, Southwick said.
"We saw a real opportunity within the self-directed IRAs because we knew at that point in time, there was a fairly small segment of people that was willing to deal with the inconvenience of having to set up an IRA" for crypto, Southwick said. The process often involved phone calls to sales reps and over-the-counter trading desks, paper and fax machines, and days of wait time.
iTrustCapital allows customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies using tax-advantaged IRAs with no monthly account fees. The startup provides access to 25 cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ethereum, and dogecoin — charging a 1% transaction fee on crypto trades — as well as gold and silver.
iTrustCapital, a fintech simplifying how to set up a crypto retirement account, used this 8-page pitch deck to raise a $125 million Series A
A crypto neobank
Aaron Bai, CEO, and Sahil Phadnis, CTO, of Pebble.
It was during a fourth-year business class that Aaron Bai and Sahil Phadnis had their light-bulb moment to found Pebble.
The then-UC Berkley students were assigned a group project to pitch a startup to the rest of the class. It was early-2021, when crypto was riding high and re-emerged as a trending topic after digital currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin experienced a lift in the market.
"Me and Aaron wanted to do a crypto one and the entire group was like, 'No, this is a scam, we're not going to do anything crypto,'" Phadnis, the startup's CTO, told Insider. "It was kind of a wow moment."
Read the pitch deck that secured $6.2 million for Pebble, the new Y-Combinator-backed crypto startup that's been accused by a competitor of using sneaky tactics to copy its product and pitch
Private market data on the blockchain
Pat O'Meara, CEO of Inveniam.
Inveniam
For investors in publicly-traded stocks, there's typically no shortage of company data to guide investment decisions. Company financials are easily accessible and vetted by teams of regulators, lawyers, and accountants.
But in the private markets — which encompass assets that range from real estate to private credit and private equity — that isn't always the case. Within real estate, for example, valuations of a specific slice of property are often the product of heavily-worked Excel models and a lot of institutional knowledge, leaving them susceptible to manual error at many points along the way.
Inveniam, founded in 2017, is a software company that tokenizes the business data of private companies on the blockchain. Using a distributed ledger allows Inveniam to keep track of who is touching the data and what they are doing to it.
Check out the 16-page pitch deck for Inveniam, a blockchain-based startup looking to be the Refinitiv of private-market data
Blockchain for private-markets investing
Carlos Domingo is cofounder and CEO of Securitize.
Securitize
Securitize, founded in 2017 by the tech industry veterans Carlos Domingo and Jamie Finn, is bringing blockchain technology to private-markets investing. The company raised $48 million in Series B funding on June 21 from investors including Morgan Stanley and Blockchain Capital.
Securitize helps companies crowdfund capital from individual and institutional investors by issuing their shares in the form of blockchain tokens that allow for more efficient settlement, record keeping, and compliance processes. Morgan Stanley's Tactical Value fund, which invests in private companies, made its first blockchain-technology investment when it coled the Series B, Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo told Insider.
Here's the 11-page pitch deck a blockchain startup looking to revolutionize private-markets investing used to nab $48 million from investors like Morgan Stanley
Blockchain-based credit score tech
John Sun, Anna Fridman, and Adam Jiwan are the cofounders of fintech startup Spring Labs.
Spring Labs
A blockchain-based fintech startup that is aiming to disrupt the traditional model of evaluating peoples' creditworthiness recently raised $30 million in a Series B funding led by credit reporting giant TransUnion.
Four-year-old Spring Labs aims to create a private, secure data-sharing model to help credit agencies better predict the creditworthiness of people who are not in the traditional credit bureau system. The founding team of three fintech veterans met as early employees of lending startup Avant.
Existing investors GreatPoint Ventures and August Capital also joined in on the most recent round. So far Spring Labs has raised $53 million from institutional rounds.
TransUnion, a publicly-traded company with a $20 billion-plus market cap , is one of the three largest consumer credit agencies in the US. After 18 months of dialogue and six months of due diligence, TransAmerica and Spring Labs inked a deal, Spring Labs CEO and cofounder Adam Jiwan told Insider.
Here's the 10-page pitch deck blockchain-based fintech Spring Labs used to snag $30 million from investors including credit reporting giant TransUnion
Pay-as-you-go compliance for banks, fintechs, and crypto startups
Neepa Patel, Themis' founder and CEO.
When Themis founder and CEO Neepa Patel set out to build a new compliance tool for banks, fintech startups, and crypto companies, she tapped into her own experience managing risk at some of the nation's biggest financial firms.
Infrastructure for crypto and Web3 exchanges
Will Warren and Amir Bandeali co-founded crypto startup 0x Labs.
More: Finance crypto Blockchain cryptocurrency | 2022-05-26T20:44:26Z | www.businessinsider.com | 8 Crypto Pitch Decks That Raised Millions for Start-Ups | https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-pitch-decks-for-startups-raising-money | https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-pitch-decks-for-startups-raising-money |
Thanks to my first-ever travel credit card, my flight to Egypt didn't cost a cent — freeing up money for camel rides and hot air balloon trips
The author, Ryan Wangman, on a camel.
Ryan Wangman/Insider
For years, I steered clear of credit cards on my parent's advice and never got how points worked.
My flight to Egypt was free with the sign-up bonus points from my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
The money I saved allowed me to splurge on a hot air balloon ride and a trip to an ornate temple.
Read Insider's guide to the best current credit card sign-up bonuses.
If you're a recent college graduate like me, a bucket-list international trip with three of your closest buddies might seem way out of reach. Little did I know it was possible to hitch a ride on a camel and gobble down a grilled pigeon without breaking the bank, all thanks to credit card rewards points.
When I applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card last October, I had only a vague idea of what credit card points were — my parents taught me to generally avoid credit cards at all costs. I'd only opened my first credit card several months before and didn't have much of a credit history, so I didn't think I'd get approved for the card.
A helpful push from credit cards editor Jasmin Baron convinced me to apply anyway, and after meeting the minimum spending requirement, I found myself sitting on a huge stash of Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is currently offering an elevated welcome bonus of 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening (worth around $1,440 in travel based on Insider's points and miles valuations). This limited-time bonus ends on June 1, 2022.
For those new to the points game, like I was several short months ago, it's an easier concept to understand than you might think. You earn points by making purchases using your credit card and through sign-up and referral bonuses. Using points works similarly to the arcade when you were a kid — get enough tickets (points) and you can redeem them for cool prizes (rewards).
Depending on the card, you earn more points for certain types of purchases. With the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, for example, you earn 3 points per dollar spent on dining, select streaming purchases, and online groceries (excluding Walmart and Target). You also earn 5 points per dollar on travel booked through Chase, 2 points per dollar on other travel purchases, and 1 point per dollar on everything else.
Here's how I used my rewards to book a free flight to Egypt and what I was able to do with the money I saved.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred got me a free round-trip flight worth nearly $700
I booked my flight to Egypt through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, where each point from the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is worth 1.25 cents when used for travel. Otherwise, each point is worth 1 cent for most other redemptions, so this is a 25% bonus.
To get to Egypt from Chicago, I used 54,173 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to pay for a $677.17 flight on Royal Jordanian with a brief layover in Amman.
With the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you can also transfer your points to Chase's airline and hotel partners for award travel. You can sometimes pay even fewer points this way, but in my case it was cheaper to book through the Chase portal because the paid price was so low.
I paid $990 for an eight-day tour taking me throughout Egypt to the cities of Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan, earning 1,981 points in the process. I decided to allow myself $800 for the rest of the expenses on the trip — think additional activities, some food not included, and Ubers. The money I saved on the flight covered the vast majority of these extra costs.
Several hot air balloons over the Valley of Kings in Luxor, Egypt.
The free flight opened up room in my budget to pay for the hot air balloon ride pictured above, which cost roughly $110. It's an experience I highly recommend to anyone without a crippling fear of heights, as the railing on the basket only goes up to your waist. Just make sure you don't, uh, read this article until after your ride.
One of the Abu Simbel temples in Aswan, Egypt.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card also didn't hit me with any foreign transaction fees while making purchases abroad, so I didn't have to do any complex calculus over what the cost of an excursion really was. And, of course, I earned sweet, sweet points along the way.
My trip to Abu Simbel, the temple pictured above, was about $100. It was a four-hour bus ride to get there and we left well before sunrise because it gets scorching hot in the desert quickly, so you don't want to be there late in the morning or afternoon. The statues were massive and carved into the bedrock of the mountain (see the humans by the entrance for scale) and the temple was built over 3,000 years ago!
A trip to Egypt was always going to be special — seeing thousands of years of history with your own eyes never gets old — but the extra money I was able to spend allowed me to take part in experiences I may have felt were outside my budget had I had to purchase my flight as well.
I know I'll use points to fund my next flight across the world — taking suggestions on where I should go next! | 2022-05-26T21:35:58Z | www.businessinsider.com | My Flight to Egypt Was Free Because of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/chase-sapphire-preferred-card-free-flight-egypt-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/chase-sapphire-preferred-card-free-flight-egypt-2022-5 |
This week, a reader asks if taking on debt in an emergency was the right call if it's causing fights.
Our columnist says: Remember you're on a team and you share a goal. Decide on a strategy and make peace with it.
Dear For Love and Money,
What to do when a catastrophe happens to your home? Several years back our home flooded, walls torn out, every big appliance zapped, kitchen ruined. One of our dogs suffered an injury and had to get a $2,000 leg surgery.
Insurance did not cover the house, and we paid for the vet bill out of pocket. A state of emergency was declared, it took a month to get an assessor out, and they decided $1,200 should cover it. And yet, just over $30,000 was the finale even though we chose basic-grade everything.
A low-interest bank loan and credit cards are how we ended up handling it because we started fighting out of frustration and just needed to see progress. But now that we're working to pay everything off, I'm wondering if we should have handled things differently.
Dear When it Rains, it Pours,
Murphy's law, am I right? Because if anything can go wrong, it has the tendency to do just that. Thus, homeowners insurance, emergency funds, and warranties.
And yet, as you learned, no matter the size of the emergency fund you sock away, how much insurance you take out, or what warranties you purchase, there always seem to be exceptions that blow up our carefully orchestrated financial fail-safes.
This kind of unexpected disaster is always tough, but perhaps especially so when you also have to factor the thoughts and feelings of another adult into your solution-strategy.
Start by putting your relationship first
My advice for navigating these financial emergencies without anyone winding up sleeping on the sofa is to remember your priorities and agree from the outset that whatever you choose to do, you do it as a team. When you choose to share a life with someone, you're giving up both the burden and the convenience of handling things on your own and in your own way.
So make sure you're not only listening and communicating well with your partner, but that you put your relationship with them above everything else. Because let's say that worse comes to the absolute worst and you wind up on the streets due to whatever financial catastrophe has befallen your home — you'll still have your partner. This is why it's so important not to allow your hard times to compound and rob you of the person who matters to you most.
How to navigate the challenges of competing strategies
This can be harder than it sounds for a couple of reasons.
One, it's easy to forget you share a goal with your partner. On the face of it, you share a life, so of course you share a goal! But in reality, we have different ways of doing things, and we do things the way we do them because, on some level, we believe it's the best strategy to help us achieve our goal. So, when you see your partner approaching a shared goal differently, it can be easy to believe they're doing it differently because they want a different outcome. When in reality, they just have a different strategy.
While getting on the same page is an important step, the best way to do that is to give your partner the benefit of the doubt. After all, what's more likely? They love struggling financially or they simply have a different financial strategy than you?
Another reason it can be difficult to come together rather than fall apart as a couple during times of financial crisis is because we view our partners as competitors rather than teammates. Maybe this doesn't seem like something you relate with, but it's sneaky, so take a good long look at how you interact with your partner before you dismiss it.
If you find yourself keeping score over who does more around the house, makes more money, or is more exhausted at the the end of the day, that's your sign. You don't keep score with a teammate because their win is your win, but with your opponent, that's the name of the game.
A tendency toward turning every 2+ person activity into a rivalry is an unfortunate reality of the human condition, but if you let this tendency poison your relationship with your partner, you will find yourself struggling alone when you need the support of your partner most.
From the sound of your letter you made it out of your financial emergency mostly intact, which means now you know that you have what it takes should you ever find yourself faced with similar troubles in the future. In other words, you've got this.
Rooting for you both (and your pup),
More: For Love and Money Money and Relationships Homeowners Insurance Emergency Funds | 2022-05-26T21:36:04Z | www.businessinsider.com | We Took on Debt in an Emergency, and Now We Can't Stop Fighting | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/took-on-debt-emergency-cant-stop-fighting-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/took-on-debt-emergency-cant-stop-fighting-2022-5 |
Costco confirmed that it has no plans to raise the price of a $1.50 hot dog and soda.
The price has stayed the same since 1985.
Costco had a successful quarter with high sales and growing membership rates.
Costco says customers can rely on its famous $1.50 hot dog and soda combo staying at the same price despite record inflation.
In a third-quarter earnings call, Senior Vice President Robert Nelson told investors that there were no current plans to increase the food court favorite price, despite "online rumors."
The company has been saying the same thing about consistent prices since it was set in 1985.
"We have no plans to take that hot dog above a buck fifty. End of story," Costco CEO Craig Jelinek told shareholders in January 2020.
The company has publicly committed to maintaining the combo over the years. Costco founder Jim Senegal once told CEO Craig Jelinek, "If you raise the [price of the] effing hot dog, I will kill you. Figure it out."
"It's the mindset that when you think of Costco, you think of the $1.50 hot dog," Jelinek told 425 Business, a local Seattle publication, in 2018.
The commitment to protecting the deal has paid off. During its 2019 fiscal year, Costco sold 151 million hot-dog combos for a total of nearly $226.5 million. The famously inexpensive snacks are part of what draws people to Costco, Jelinek said in April 2021, when the big box chain reopened its food courts during the pandemic.
The price has stayed stagnant even as beef, the primary ingredient in Costco hot dogs, has been particularly hard hit by lofty price increases, up over 20% year-over-year in December, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Costco has some control in this regard because it operates Kirkland Signature hot dog factories in Los Angeles and Chicago as its own supplier.
So far over the inflationary period of the last year, Costco has also been reluctant to raise the prices of other staples, including its famous $4.99 rotisserie chicken. Costco Chief Financial Officer Rich Galanti said in a 2021 earnings call that there were no plans to charge higher prices on the chicken, despite "inflationary pressures" including "higher labor costs, higher freight costs, higher transportation demand, along with the container shortage and port delays." A year later, the rotisserie chickens also remain the same price.
Keeping a few staple items at the same price seems like a winning strategy for Costco. The chain just announced sales for the third quarter were up 16% over the previous year, beating analyst expectations with the highest ever rates of membership renewal.
More: Retail Costco Grocery Big Box | 2022-05-26T22:15:25Z | www.businessinsider.com | Costco Won't Raise Price of Hot Dog Combo | https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-not-raising-price-of-hot-dog-combo-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-not-raising-price-of-hot-dog-combo-2022-5 |
What is an iBuyer?
The process of working with an iBuyer
Is selling to an iBuyer worth it?
iBuyer companies
What is an iBuyer, and should you sell your home to one?
iBuyers typically charge fees equal to around 5% of the sales price.
An iBuyer is a company that purchases and buys homes directly from sellers using an algorithm.
Selling to an iBuyer can be convenient if you need to sell quickly or don't want to have to go through the stress of a traditional sale.
When you sell to an iBuyer, you might not earn as large a profit as you would selling your home the traditional way.
Selling a home can be a really stressful process. To attract buyers, you'll need to work with a real estate agent, do a lot of cleaning and repairing, and be prepared to vacate your home regularly while potential buyers tour it. Once you find a buyer and have a signed purchase agreement, things can go wrong — such as a bad inspection, a low appraisal , or an inability to obtain financing — that derail the process, sending you back to square one.
For a long time, most homeowners had no choice but to go through this process if they wanted to sell their homes. But now, tech companies called iBuyers aim to make the process simpler and faster.
An iBuyer, or "instant" buyer, is a company that buys homes directly from homeowners. These companies are often able to make offers on a home in a matter of hours or days based on information, photos, and video provided by the homeowner.
After purchasing a home, an iBuyer will then make any necessary preparations or repairs and list the home for sale.
To sell your home to an iBuyer, you'll first need to find out if your home meets the criteria iBuyers typically look for. This criteria can vary depending on the company you work with and the market you're in.
To be eligible for purchase, homes need to be in good condition and typically can't be located on large lots. iBuyers also aren't available everywhere in the US, so you'll only be able to sell your home to an iBuyer if one is available in your area.
When you request an offer on your home from an iBuyer, you'll submit some basic information about the property and may be asked to upload pictures or video. The iBuyer will then use the information you provide to determine the market value of your home with the help of an algorithm. iBuyer algorithms use data from your local housing market to compare your home to other similar homes that have recently sold, much like how a real estate agent would use comps, or comparable sales, to price a home.
If you're satisfied with what the iBuyer offers you for your home, you'll accept the offer and start preparing to close. Your iBuyer will schedule an inspection to determine if any repairs need to be made before the home can be resold. If the home needs repairs, the iBuyer may deduct the costs from its offer price or allow you to make the repairs before closing.
You'll also need to choose when you want to close with an iBuyer. Closings can often be completed within a couple of weeks or a couple of months.
The costs of working with an iBuyer
iBuyers charge fees for their services, often around 5% of the sales price. You'll pay this in addition to closing costs and any repair costs that were deducted from your proceeds.
By contrast, with a traditional sale, sellers typically pay between 5% to 6% of the sales price in real estate agent commission.
If you want, you can work with a real estate agent to help you sell your home to an iBuyer. Just keep in mind that if you do, you'll be paying both the iBuyer fee as well as any agent fees or commission.
The main benefit of selling to an iBuyer is convenience. iBuyer companies streamline the home-selling process so that all you have to do is provide them with some basic information and work with them to schedule your inspection and closing. For buyers who need to sell quickly or buy a new home while selling their current one, this can be a really valuable and time-saving service.
Kerry Melcher, head of real estate at the iBuyer company Opendoor, says that iBuyers make what is traditionally a taxing process easier for sellers.
"We're eliminating the need for folks to go through the process of repairs and upgrades for their homes," Melcher says. "Eliminating the myriad of people that have to come through their homes as well, providing that certainty of an offer, giving them the ability to determine the timeline, the dates that they want to close on, and that additional uncertainty that happens where you go into contract with a traditional buyer and in many cases that will fall through."
The trade-off is that you might not make as much money selling your home to an iBuyer as you could selling it to a traditional buyer. Though iBuyers say they make competitive offers on the homes they buy, housing market conditions heavily favor sellers right now. Receiving multiple offers on a home is still very common, which means sellers may be able to earn more on a traditional sale than what an iBuyer determines is their home's fair market value.
When you sell the traditional way, you'll also have the benefit of having a real estate agent who is an expert in your local market and can help you maximize your profits.
"The value proposition of a real estate agent is that I know the home, and I know the area, and I can convey what it's like to live there," says Marie Bromberg, a licensed real estate salesperson with Compass in New York City.
Because real estate agents know the market they work in so well, they have an advantage when it comes to conveying the value of your home to buyers and getting you a bigger profit, Bromberg says.
Don't need to clean and stage your home for showings
You might not earn as large a profit as with a traditional sale
No having to leave your home every time there's an open house or showing scheduled
iBuyers are only available in certain areas
Receive a strong cash offer without having to worry about the deal falling through
Fees are similar to real estate agent commission
Close more quickly according to your own timeline
Your home might not meet the criteria for purchase
If you're considering selling your home to an iBuyer but aren't sure if it makes sense profit-wise, you can typically get a commitment-free offer to see how much they're willing to pay. You can also talk to a real estate agent to see what they think your house could ultimately sell for if you were to do a traditional sale. How you decide to move forward should depend on your potential profits and what your goals for your home sale are.
If your main goal is to make as much money as you can, and a local agent tells you that homes like yours are consistently selling over asking, it might make more sense for you to sell to a traditional buyer. But if your priority is a quick sale or a less stressful experience, selling to an iBuyer might be worth it to you, even if that means you could potentially be leaving money on the table.
Some of the most popular iBuyer companies include Opendoor, Offerpad, and RedfinNow. Zillow used to have an iBuying business known as Zillow Offers, but it was shut down in 2021.
Each company has its own quirks and criteria for its buying processes. If you're considering selling to an iBuyer, compare multiple companies to determine which one best meets your needs. Be sure to look at the fees they charge, when you'll be able to close, and whether they offer any additional perks, such as free moving assistance.
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More: Home Sellers home selling iBuyers Opendoor | 2022-05-26T22:15:55Z | www.businessinsider.com | What Is an IBuyer? | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/what-is-an-ibuyer | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/what-is-an-ibuyer |
Chase points got us two nights at the Alila Ventana Big Sur
Arrival and check-in
Alila Ventana Big Sur Spa Suite
Alila Ventana Big Sur dining options
What to do at the Alila Ventana Big Sur
I spent more credit card points on two nights at the all-inclusive Alila Ventana Big Sur resort than I would've spent on a first-class flight, and I have no regrets
I redeemed 140,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points for getaway at the adults-only Alila Ventana Big Sur.
My girlfriend and I splurged on a two-night getaway at the Alila Ventana Big Sur using Chase points.
Our two-night all-inclusive stay would have cost $6,000, but instead, we spent 140,000 points.
While it was a lot of points to spend on such a short visit, we'd do it again in a hearbeat.
World of Hyatt is one of the more popular hotel loyalty programs among award travelers thanks to a reasonably priced award chart and the ability to transfer points at a 1:1 ratio from Chase Ultimate Rewards if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card. The downside is that Hyatt has a much smaller global footprint than bigger chains like Marriott or Hilton.
To address this concern, a few years ago Hyatt went on a shopping spree buying up a handful of smaller boutique brands to expand its reach. One of these was Alila, a smaller brand with just 17 hotels around the world in places like Oman, Bali, The Maldives, and … Big Sur, California.
My girlfriend and I are currently in the midst of a cross-country road trip, having spent the last ~10 weeks or so hiking around Arizona and Southern California. We were eager to take our time driving up the scenic Pacific Coast Highway, so spending a few nights in Big Sur happened to work perfectly with our plans.
Add in the fact that the Alila Ventana is all-inclusive (three meals a day and many activities —but alcohol, spa treatments, and select activities cost extra) and had been on my bucket list for years, and this seemed too good to pass up.
Here's how we booked a $3,000-per-night suite at the Alila Ventana Big Sur using Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and why it was worth it.
The Alila Ventana Big Sur is a Category 8 World of Hyatt hotel, meaning that free nights will cost 35,000 points for off-peak dates, 40,000 for standard, and 45,000 for peak. This pricing only applies to base rooms though, and with just 59 villas total on the property, it can be hard to find cheap availability.
While we had some flexibility with our dates, the only award space I could find in a two-week window was two nights in a premium Big Sur spa suite, pricing out at 70,000 points per night (or about $3,000 if we'd paid cash).
I transferred 140,000 points to Hyatt instantly from Chase Ultimate Rewards to lock in the reservation, cognizant that I could've used those points instead to fly first class to just about anywhere in the world.
Cards that earn transferable Chase points:
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: Earn 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening (read our Chase Sapphire Preferred review)
Chase Sapphire Reserve®: Earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening (read our Chase Sapphire Reserve review)
Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card: Earn 100,000 points after spending $15,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening (read our Ink Business Preferred review)
Cards that earn Hyatt points directly:
The World Of Hyatt Credit Card : Earn 30,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening, and up to 30,000 more bonus points by earning with 2 points per dollar spent on purchases that normally earn 1 point, up to $15,000 in the first six months of account opening
World of Hyatt Business Credit Card: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening
After confirming our reservation with the guard at the gate, we drove up a short hill through a stunning redwood forest where we were greeted by name at the valet stand and directed to "The Social House" to check-in.
We're traveling with our corgi Watson, and it became immediately clear that unlike most hotels that simply tolerate pets, the staff at the Alila were thrilled to welcome him. While we checked in, they brought out treats for him and explained the doggy menu that they had at the Sur House restaurant.
We were also informed that our full board package covered gratuity for our servers, valet, bellhops, and all staff (valet parking was complimentary for guests). Check-in was quick but our room wasn't ready yet, even though we'd arrived at 3:40 p.m. We decided to go grab a late lunch at the Ocean Meadow, a beautiful grassy expanse overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Within half an hour we got a text that our room was ready, so I went back to the Social House to grab our keys. The keys were a beautiful wooden disc featuring the hotel's redwoods-inspired logo on one side, and we were encouraged to keep them as a memento of our stay.
Rooms are grouped into about a dozen buildings, and the walk to and from our rooms was truly one of the most enjoyable parts of the stay
Our villa #56 was located in the bay house building, close to the gym, one of the pools, and closest to the restaurant (but more on that later)
The room itself was a simple and understated open space, that really emphasized the natural surroundings. To the left were the bed and a small den area with a TV and fireplace.
To the right was the bathroom, which featured an oversized tub and double sinks.
There was also a shower with delicious lemon scented toiletries in bulk containers.
I know some people think that bulk toiletries don't work as well in a luxury hotel (especially one where room rates are consistently over $1,500 a night), as they see it as a cost cutting mechanism and not really about sustainability. It's much easier to care about the environment when you're on a pristine beach or well preserved forest, and if a hotel doesn't want to look like they're cheaping out with their sustainability initiatives, there's one simple answer: spend a bit more money so people know you mean it.
In that vein, there were two reusable Alila Ventana branded water bottles waiting in our room, with water refill stations located throughout the property. We were encouraged to take the bottles with us.
Also waiting in our room was an oversized dog bed and a few Ventana branded water and food bowls, though Watson couldn't quite figure out what to do with the bed.
Both the bathroom and living room opened out onto the deck, where we had a hammock, some chairs, and the star of the upgraded spa suite: our own private jacuzzi.
I certainly wouldn't recommend paying for this upgraded room if there was a base room available on points, but with temperatures dipping into the 40s throughout our stay we certainly didn't mind having a hot tub that close.
All award rates at the Alila Ventana are full board, meaning three meals a day come included. You can choose to dine at the Sur House restaurant or in the privacy of your villa for no extra charge. We were contacted a few days before arrival by the hotel to make dinner reservations, and it appeared that they booked up full because we weren't able to modify at all once we arrived.
To get to the Sur House, you can either ask the hotel to arrange a golf cart for you, or enjoy a 0.3 mile stroll through the redwoods.
The path offered some incredibly scenic views and we enjoyed taking that stroll a few times a day.
The Sur House itself features a stunning terrace with ocean views, though depending on the season the wind can get biting. On our first night we were judging the people who packed up to move inside, but by the time our dessert course rolled around we needed a reprieve from the cold as well (even though our server brought out blankets and turned on the heat lamps to full blast)
For dinner on the first night, my girlfriend and I both started with the kabocha squash bisque with compressed apple, duck confit and pickled Fresno. The portions were slightly on the smaller side but packed full of flavor.
Next were the scallops with squid ink risotto, and finally carrot cake and apricot tea to round out the meal
While some all-inclusive hotels are embarrassingly stingy with the food, we were encouraged to order multiple items at breakfast if we wanted. I opted for a fruit bowl and a chia açaí bowl, and my girlfriend had the avocado toast.
That night at dinner when she couldn't decide what dessert to order, our server insisted on bringing a little bit of everything for her to try.
On our second day, we decided to order in-room dining for lunch after going on a long hike in the morning. It took a full 45 minutes to arrive which was just on the outside edge of what I'd consider okay, but Watson was so happy with his "coco patty" (ground beef, brown rice, and some veggies) that he didn't seem to mind the delay.
This property is beautifully suited to travelers looking to relax and unwind or get out and explore. We got a great hiking recommendation from our server at dinner the first night, which led us about half an hour north of the hotel to Garrapata State Park for one of the best hikes we've ever been on.
If you're looking to stay on-site, you can enjoy a short redwood loop trail around the property. You can explore this yourself or go on one of the guided hikes that are offered daily. Other complimentary activities included morning yoga, a coastal ridge hike, and astronomy. There was also a small but well-equipped gym featuring a few Pelotons.
There were a number of pools on the property, but most people seemed to congregate around the meadow pool and infinity hot tub just off the main reception area.
On our last afternoon before leaving, we booked a 50-minute couple's massage. Unfortunately, the spa was booked out as well, and while we were encouraged to make dinner reservations in advance if we hadn't taken initiative to call the spa ourselves, it's unlikely they would have been able to accommodate us.
The spa is located directly between the Social House reception area and the meadow pool, so while the area gets a bit of foot traffic once you step inside it's beyond tranquil.
We were invited to prepare our own blend of bath salts from a mix of ingredients they had available for use in our treatment, and to take them home with us. The actual massage took place in an outdoor cabana overlooking the redwood forests, and while the treatment was on the pricier side, it was one of the best massages I've ever had.
The hotel was fully booked and unable to offer us a late checkout, so we'd already packed up the room at this point. The staff at the spa were incredibly gracious and agreed to watch Watson for us so we could relax and enjoy the treatment.
There's no way around the fact that I spent an obscene number of points for a two-night stay. At the most conservative of valuations, 140,000 Ultimate Rewards points are worth anywhere from $2,100 to $2,800 (according to Insider's valuations, they're worth $2,520 in travel).
While that's still a good deal compared to the $6,000 it would've cost to book this room outright, it's also an undeniable splurge. So that begs the question: was it worth it? And the answer is, absolutely.
The redwood forests are a magical place, and pictures don't come close to doing those trees justice. Our spa suite offered a great vantage point from which to soak in the scenery in the comfort of our own private hot tub. The service we received at every turn was incredibly warm and personal, and the food was absolutely delicious.
I was more excited about this property than any that I'd stayed at in quite a while, and the Alila Ventana Big Sur met and exceeded my already lofty expectations. If the opportunity presents itself I'll certainly keep an eye out for standard award availability as an option to return.
Ethan Steinberg is an award-travel expert who loves helping readers leverage their credit card rewards for luxurious international travel on a budget. Before going back to grad school, Ethan spent two years based in Shanghai working as a senior points and miles contributor for The Points Guy. While living in Asia he developed an insatiable desire for mountain hikes, spicy noodles, and earning enough frequent flyer miles to enjoy a flat bed on his trips back to the US.
PERSONAL FINANCE The best Chase credit cards of May 2022 | 2022-05-26T23:50:47Z | www.businessinsider.com | How I Used Chase Points to Stay at the Alila Ventana Big Sur Resort | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/use-chase-points-hyatt-alila-ventana-big-sur-resort-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/use-chase-points-hyatt-alila-ventana-big-sur-resort-2022-5 |
The ridiculous claims began brewing on Telegram groups hours after the attack, with QAnon influencers weighing in on the massacre that has claimed the lives of at least 21 people, including 19 children.
Another prominent QAnon influencer, Ann Vandersteel, also posted about the Ulvade attack, claiming without basis that it was fake.
That idea then spread within a day to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones's Infowars show, when a caller suggested to Jones that the timing shooting appeared to coincide with the National Rifle Association's upcoming convention in Houston.
According to The New York Times, there have also been social media posts claiming that some parents affected by the shooting did not appear to be emotional enough in news clips and were crisis actors.
More: Uvalde uvalde shooting Texas QAnon | 2022-05-27T07:26:59Z | www.businessinsider.com | QAnon Conspiracy Theory Posits Texas Massacre Was False Flag Operation | https://www.businessinsider.com/outlandish-qanon-conspiracy-theory-posits-texas-massacre-false-flag-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/outlandish-qanon-conspiracy-theory-posits-texas-massacre-false-flag-2022-5 |
Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge; and Prince Louis of Cambridge on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in June 2019
Max Mumby/Getty Images
A UK manufacturer of baby formula is sending products to the US to overcome shortages.
Kendal Nutricare makes the formula that Kate Middleton fed to Prince Louis.
Parents have faced ongoing shortages of baby formula linked mainly to product recalls in the US.
A UK manufacturer of the baby food used by the British royal family to feed Prince Louis will fly formula to the US to help combat ongoing shortages.
Kendamil, produced by Kendal Nutricare, is in talks with the US Food and Drug Administration to fly the formula to the US and plans to send enough to fill 100 trucks over the next six months, the company said.
The baby milk, as well as Kendamil baby cereal products, were fed to Prince Louis by the Duchess of Cambridge, the company told Insider.
Manufacturers are now sending products to the US as part of Operation Fly Formula, which was launched by President Biden on May 18 to combat ongoing shortages caused by supply chain issues and product recalls.
The recalls affected some formula made by Abbott Nutrition at its factory in Sturgis, Michigan, following complaints of bacterial infection in four infants who consumed the product.
Parents have struggled to secure tins of their preferred formula as retailers including Target, CVS, and Walgreens also rationed supplies.
Under the plan, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture can use military aircraft to transport baby formula that meets the FDA standards into the US. The first batch of Nestle formula arrived in Indiana from Switzerland on Sunday.
Dylan McMahon, cofounder of Kendamil, told Insider: "The urgency and scale of the baby milk shortages in the USA is extremely concerning. We can only imagine how stressful it must be for those parents affected and are delighted to be able to step in and help."
"We look forward to bringing the highest-quality formula to the US parents, while supporting British jobs, local farming and organic dairy," he added.
Kendal Nutricare is based in Kendal in the Lake District of northwest England and is the UK's only manufacturer of infant formula. The company was founded in 1962.
The Kendal Nutricare factory in Kendal, England
More: Retail News Baby formula baby formula recall | 2022-05-27T08:58:21Z | www.businessinsider.com | British Maker of Baby Milk for the Royal Family Will Fly Formula to US | https://www.businessinsider.com/baby-formula-shortage-us-operation-fly-formula-royal-family-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/baby-formula-shortage-us-operation-fly-formula-royal-family-2022-5 |
7. Salesforce is navigating stormy seas. Salesforce's venture-capital arm has invested in some of the biggest names in cloud software — including Zoom , DocuSign, and Box. But as cloud-software valuations have fallen, the value of Salesforce's investments has dropped. As a result, the company has had to cut costs and slow hiring. | 2022-05-27T10:29:32Z | www.businessinsider.com | 10 Things in Tech: 'Zoomtowns' Face Catastrophe | https://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-in-tech-zoomtowns-face-catastrophe-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-in-tech-zoomtowns-face-catastrophe-2022-5 |
ABC affiliate in Dallas cuts short Jimmy Kimmel monologue criticizing gun laws after the Texas school shooting
Jimmy Kimmel attends the ABC Walt Disney Television Upfront on May 14, 2019 in New York City.
Jimmy Kimmel said his monologue after the Uvalde school shooting was cut short by an ABC affiliate.
He later accepted the apology from WFAA, based in Dallas, which blamed technical issues.
In the monologue, he criticised Texas GOP lawmakers over their refusal to take action.
Jimmy Kimmel said a monologue where he criticised Texas Republican lawmakers in the wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, was cut short by an ABC affiliate in the Dallas region.
He later accepted an apology from the affiliate, WFAA, which said technical issues had been behind repeated interruptions during transmission of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on Wednesday, including the monologue.
—Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) May 26, 2022
Kimmel in a tweet promised to get to the bottom of why his emotional monologue in the wake of the shooting had been abbreviated.
"To my friends in Dallas who are asking: I do not know whether our ABC Network affiliate WFAA cut away from my monologue tonight intentionally or inadvertently but I will find out," Kimmel said in a tweet in which he linked to the monologue for those that "didn't get to see."
In the monologue, Kimmel had criticised the refusal of Texas Republican lawmakers to act and restrict access to guns in the wake of a series of mass shootings.
The attack in Uvalde left 19 children dead as well as two teachers.
WFAA in a statement apologised for "for technical difficulties that interrupted Wednesday's [episode of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" at multiple points, including during his monologue on gun control."
More: Jimmy Kimmel uvalde shooting gun laws Texas | 2022-05-27T10:30:32Z | www.businessinsider.com | Texas School Shooting: Dallas Station Cuts Jimmy Kimmel Monologue | https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-school-shooting-dallas-station-cuts-jimmy-kimmel-monologue-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-school-shooting-dallas-station-cuts-jimmy-kimmel-monologue-2022-5 |
It's Friday! If you think prices at your local gas station are insanely high, you're right. But there might be a limit to how high they can get as drivers start to balk at the cost — right as summer driving season kicks off.
One last push before the long weekend…
1. Gas prices have hit record after record in recent weeks. But pain at the pump has gotten so bad that demand for gasoline is dipping just ahead of big travel months.
The average gallon of gas in the US hit $4.60 Thursday — up 51% from a year ago. And on a four-week rolling basis, demand has hit its lowest level during this time of year since 2013, excluding the pandemic-period in 2020.
But high prices are hitting air travelers even harder. Jet fuel prices have doubled since last year, outstripping the 51% jump in year-over-year gas prices.
Airfares are seeing record jumps and Bloomberg reported that major airlines are planning 12% fewer flights this summer due to a pilot shortage.
According to one hedge fund manager, the Fed won't be able to slow energy inflation either.
"While the [Fed's] knee-jerk reaction to the COVID outbreak was, let's say, necessary, in the end, clearly printing 40% more money than was in circulation in the first place was a little too much," Kyle Bass told CNBC Thursday.
"We're going to see energy and food prices march higher over the next year…and unfortunately the Fed's monetary policy just can't change that."
US Treasury Department.
2. Global stocks rise early Friday, edging toward their first weekly win in two months. US futures also showed signs of optimism, with the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and the Nasdaq 100 rising. Here are the latest market moves.
3. On deck today: Big Lots, Mimi's Rock, and Viomi Technology, all reporting. Plus, look out for the Advance Economic Indicators Report at 7:30 am ET.
4. One expert explained how today's housing market is different (and similar) to the real estate booms and busts from the past. "People always say, 'It's not going to be like 2005,' and yeah, that's pretty much certain." Read analyst John Wake's full breakdown.
5. Risks to Tesla stock are piling up and investors should prepare for less upside ahead, according to Jefferies. In lowering its price target on shares of the EV-maker by 16% to $1,050, analysts cited an "uncomfortable pile of negative news" surrounding CEO Elon Musk. They expect the headlines to weigh on shares.
6. Sequoia Capital sees a prolonged market downturn. The firm urged its startups in its portfolio to conserve cash for the market environment ahead. "We do not believe that this is going to be another steep correction followed by an equally swift V-shaped recovery."
7. Fed Vice Chair says stablecoins could exist alongside a digital dollar. In the wake of stablecoin terraUSD's dramatic collapse, Lael Brainard told lawmakers a central bank digital currency could one day coexist with — and be complimentary to — stablecoins. Here's what else Brainard said.
8. The CIO at $177 billion Huntington Bank shared why he doesn't see a recession ahead for the US economy. Fears are rising as growth slows, but John Augustine doesn't think a downturn is likely — and he shared three reasons why.
9. An award-winning fund manager explained how the stock market's drop could degenerate into a global crash. The S&P 500 could sink to its pre-COVID high, Michael Gayed said, and the nation could be heading toward a deflationary environment. He thinks investors should steer clear of one thing to avoid getting their "face ripped off."
10. GameStop extended a two-day rally on Thursday to as much as 67%. The stock is still down more than 70% from its record high in January 2021 — but it's surging amid a renewed crypto push and meme-stock momentum. | 2022-05-27T12:00:49Z | www.businessinsider.com | 10 Things Before the Opening Bell: May 27 | https://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-before-the-opening-bell-may-27-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/10-things-before-the-opening-bell-may-27-2022-5 |
Amazon is upping its charm offensive with advertisers — hiring an entire 'port' to entertain at the Cannes Lions festival and poaching key ad agency talent
Lara O'Reilly and Lucia Moses
The Cannes Lions festival is the ad industry's annual tentpole event.
Francois Durand/Getty Images for Unilever
Amazon is spending big on winning over advertisers in contrast to an earlier low-key approach.
The online retailer is boosting its presence at major ad industry events and hiring key ad agency talent.
It underscores the importance of Amazon's ad segment to its wider business.
Though Amazon has steadily built its ads business into a $31 billion juggernaut, it has typically taken a more low key approach with Madison Avenue than its rival ad sellers.
While tech and media giants tend to make a big splash at tentpole ad industry events, it was unusual to even see an Amazon exec on the speaker line-up. "I don't think you will ever see the [Amazon] yacht at Cannes, unfortunately," Will Margaritis, then-lead Amazon consultant at advertising group Dentsu Aegis Network, told The Wall Street Journal in 2018, referring to the annual summer advertising festival on the French riviera.
How times have changed. At this year's Cannes Lions, Amazon plans to rent out an entire "port" next to the main Palais theater to host meetings, panel sessions, morning workouts, evening soirées, and a "can't-miss concert." A " Twitch apartment" will be located a two-minute stroll away along La Croisette for advertisers to share a glass of rosé with the streaming service's execs and creators.
Amazon has notably upped its presence at industry shows since in-person events returned. It was a key sponsor of this month's Advertising Week Europe event in London, where it hosted programming in a virtual studio and plastered its logo on attendees' lanyards. Also this month, several hundred ad buyers flocked to the Lincoln Center in New York City to watch its second-ever (but first in-person) IAB NewFronts presentation, hosted by comedian Amy Poehler.
Earlier this year, it sent out packages stuffed with NFL swag to TV ad buyers for the first time, reminding them that Amazon Prime is the exclusive broadcast home of "Thursday Night Football" this season. And the buying community has noticed Amazon sales reps are more collaborative in their approach, asking what they can do to get more of brands' budgets.
"They are embracing not only the c-suite, which lots of companies do, but they are smart enough to understand the day-to-day decisions are made by the younger set – the media buyer, the brand manager, the planners," said Advertising Week Global CEO Matt Scheckner. "They recognize the importance of connecting and building their brand and their business by engaging with younger people."
An Amazon spokesperson had no comment.
Amazon is taking a page from TV ad sellers
From its humble search ad beginnings, Amazon has now grown to compete head-to-head with traditional players for TV, physical retail, and display advertising budgets — and its strategy to go after those dollars is finally mimicking established ad sellers.
Todd Hassenfelt, the e-commerce director of growth strategy and planning at Colgate-Palmolive, said he's noticed a change in Amazon's approach as it works to earn ad dollars from brand advertisers, a group that's still not entirely convinced the platform can help them with their awareness-building goals.
"The easiest way to say it is, the Amazon focus has gone more from the bottom of the funnel to the top of the funnel," he said.
Amazon hasn't just upped its investment on industry boondoggles — it's significantly upped its hiring of key ad agency and media talent as advertising becomes an increasingly important and profitable segment of its overall business.
In just the past year, it's hired Amy Armstrong from ad holding company IPG to be director of global customer development; ESPN and Disney veteran Danielle Carney to lead Amazon's NFL ad efforts; Meta and Google alum Anne Karp to manage relationships with Dentsu; and longtime agency vet Tim Castree as its vp of global content and media.
The charm offensive has been welcomed by agency executives. In prior years, an often-heard criticism was that Amazon's siloed structure was difficult to navigate for ad agencies, who were used to the more hands-on approach from the likes of Meta and Google.
"It's been encouraging to see Amazon recognizing the need to work closely with agencies to unlock the full potential their stack has to offer advertisers over the last 18 months," said David Counsell, head of trading at UK media agency The7Stars.
Jessica Chapplow, head of ecommerce at the agency Havas Market, said: "There's been a shift of headcount but also capability in their agency teams. If you're having a conversation around DSP, or vendor solutions, if the point-person doesn't necessarily know they absolutely go out and find it for us now. Whereas before it was just, 'We don't have access to that team, unfortunately,' they go to the ends of the Earth to find it for you now. That for me is a big change and has unlocked more efficiency and productivity in our partnership."
Amazon could be well positioned to ride out the economic storm
Amazon's investment in the ad industry comes as analysts have sounded caution about a looming advertising downturn as some consumers rein in their spending. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said this week that "the macro environment has deteriorated further and faster than we anticipated," denting its revenue and sending down the share prices of other internet companies like Meta, Google, and Twitter.
Amazon could be less exposed than some of its rivals because its troves of shopper data can directly show whether spending on an ad campaign led to an uplift in sales. Now it's making inroads beyond these so-called direct-response budgets to capture the full mix of marketers' spend. A recent reorg of the ad sales team put a bigger emphasis on non-endemic advertisers that don't sell products on the Amazon platform — and while some marketers are cutting back in the current environment, advertisers in non-endemic Amazon segments like travel, finance, and entertainment are upping their overall marketing outlay. And while other big retailers are nipping at Amazon's heels for retail media dollars, it's by far the dominant player — and will be an increasingly imposing one on the Cannes beach.
"They're moving fast," said Shaun Brown, head of commerce at the agency Tinuiti. "It's a different game than what Google and Facebook are playing. And it legitimizes retail media. More and more, the Facebook model — it's just a reach vehicle. And Amazon's in retail. I would be slightly concerned to know Amazon is there to compete for the dollars they have historically owned."
More: Amazon advertising Amazon Cannes Lions
Advertising Week Europe | 2022-05-27T12:00:55Z | www.businessinsider.com | Amazon Is Ramping up Charm Offensive With Advertisers | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ramps-up-advertising-charm-offensive-cannes-lions-hiring-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ramps-up-advertising-charm-offensive-cannes-lions-hiring-2022-5 |
Amazon's first physical clothing store makes heavy use of touchscreens and QR codes.
Customers can use an app to do things such as requesting items without leaving a fitting room.
The shop is the e-commerce giant's latest move into physical stores.
Amazon opened its first physical clothing store Wednesday in Glendale, California, the company confirmed to Insider. Its customers can shop for both men's and women's apparel, shoes and accessories.
The store, first announced by Amazon in January, uses some new technologies not found among traditional clothing retailers.
The exterior of the store.
As Insider previously reported, Amazon Style will rely heavily on technology for its shopping experience. Customers can use the Amazon Shopping app to send items they like to a fitting room.
In the rooms, customers can tap on a touchscreen to search and rate items. They can also use the screen to ask for additional sizes and styles, with Amazon Style workers delivering the items to the fitting room.
Touchscreens can be found in the fitting rooms.
As people shop throughout the store, they can scan a QR code of an item to see more details about it, such as other sizes, colors, and customer ratings. The app also lets customers send items to a pickup counter, eliminating the need to walk around a store with potential purchases.
Customers can use the Amazing Shopping app as they shop.
The store offers brands ranging from Levi's, to Tommy Hilfiger, to Champion, The Verge reported. The company said that prices for items will vary from more affordable items to more higher-end ones.
The men's section of the store.
The store, located at a large Los Angeles shopping mall called The Americana at Brand, is the retailer's latest move into physical stores. Amazon also operates cashier-less grocery stores Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh, as well as Whole Foods.
The fitting rooms at the store.
More: Amazon Retail Shopping Clothing | 2022-05-27T12:01:01Z | www.businessinsider.com | Amazon's Opens First Physical Clothing Store, Amazon Style: Photos | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-style-first-physical-clothing-store-qr-code-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-style-first-physical-clothing-store-qr-code-2022-5 |
Here's the 10-page pitch deck trucking tech startup LogRock used to raise $3.5 million to keep rising insurance costs from exacerbating the supply chain crisis
LogRock cofounders João Bosco (left) and Hunter Yaw previously worked together at trucking startup Loadsmart.
Rising insurance costs keep new truck drivers from joining the industry and can push carriers out.
Drivers leaving the industry exacerbate the supply chain forces that drive inflation.
LogRock is a startup looking to change that. Check out its 10-page pitch deck below.
Trucking tech startup founder Hunter Yaw has a secret plan to fight inflation, but he's taking the long way around — through trucking compliance.
Yaw brought his startup, LogRock, out of stealth Wednesday with $3.5 million in seed funding led by Dynamo Ventures. His mission is to keep truckers on the road and out of the courtroom or regulatory dog house.
Historically high freight rates over the last two years are one of the factors that raised prices in retail stores. Those rates went up due to overwhelming demand from explosive consumer spending. But on top of that demand, trucking companies have been facing rising insurance premiums for more than a decade.
"If you're a small trucking company that has historically done 2% to 3% operating margin," and your insurance line item is doubling, "that will put you out of business immediately," Morgan Stanley analyst Ravi Shanker told Insider last year.
Industry researchers say the premiums are in part the result of increasingly costly lawsuits that follow truck crashes.
Truck accidents are getting more destructive and more frequent, according to research from the American Transportation Research Institute. But insurance premiums for truckers are far outpacing that uptick. The ATRI argues that the increase in premiums stems from the increasingly dramatic court rulings that can result in payouts in the hundreds of millions.
Truck insurance premiums went up 22.5% from 2019 to 2020, according to ATRI data. Carriers told the institute insurance premiums were a top reason trucking firms reduced salaries and bonuses in 2020. And insurance premium costs per mile are three times the rate for small fleets as for large ones.
The regulatory burden on truckers has crept up over the last two decades and, Yaw said, has now reached a critical point. The increased premiums putting pressure on pay and profits and the high likelihood of missing a regulatory deadline that can take a driver off the road, is thinning the trucking supply, he told Insider.
"Unsafe operating practices that once incurred only short-term costs now result in long-running repercussions," including bankruptcy, concluded the ATRI.
LogRock digitizes trucking companies' safety and compliance information and all the legal requirements the companies have to meet, to proactively warn them when they're heading toward a violation. But it also creates a record of all the compliance efforts so that in the case of a crash, trucking companies are more prepared for legal action — and so are their customers.
"Brokers and shippers are now being held more and more accountable for the choice of truckers they make," Yaw said. "Legal and compliance teams are pressuring procurement teams to be more scrupulous and more careful about the companies they work with. Compliance has gone from a back office thing to something that creates enormous risk to brokers."
Here's the pitch deck Yaw used to convince investors this is a problem worth tackling with a software solution and raise a $3.5 million seed round.
LogRock pitch deck | 2022-05-27T12:01:25Z | www.businessinsider.com | Read LogRock's Pitch Deck From Its $3.5 Million Seed Round | https://www.businessinsider.com/logrock-seed-round-pitch-deck-trucking-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/logrock-seed-round-pitch-deck-trucking-2022-5 |
Shoppers walk through New York's Herald Square, outside Macy's on 34th Street.
Macy's and Nordstrom reported strong earnings and upped their financial guidance for the year.
They have upscale shoppers to thank, who haven't slowed spending despite record inflation.
But analysts warn of a retail downward spiral after Walmart, Target, and Kohl's missed on earnings.
Record inflation may be hitting some Americans' finances hard, but higher-income shoppers haven't slowed down — and it's giving some department stores the upper hand.
Amid a dreary few weeks of retail earnings, Nordstrom and Macy's were a bright spot, reporting strong first-quarter earnings despite high inflation and fears of an impending recession . Nordstrom's first-quarter sales exceeded analyst expectations and the retailer boosted its full-year financial outlook; Macy's raised its profit outlook for the year after reporting first-quarter results that surpassed Wall Street estimates.
"While macroeconomic pressures on consumer spending increased during the quarter, our customers continued to shop," Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette said in a statement Thursday.
Other high-end retailers are reporting the same. Ralph Lauren said demand hasn't slowed and called its customer base "resilient." Luxury jacket-maker Canada Goose said its customer confidence is "strong."
So while many Americans are switching to half-gallons of milk to save money or opting for cheaper, private-label brands to save a few dollars here and there, inflation hasn't yet impacted higher earners, who are still shelling out for luxury goods. The retailers who serve those customers have been insulated from inflation-era spending cuts, at least so far, but the retailers caught in the middle are already starting to feel the strain.
An impending retail apocalypse, but not for everyone
A man shops at a Nordstrom store in New York City.
Over the past few weeks, Walmart, Target, Kohl's, Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Burlington Stores all reported disappointing earnings.
Some cited high transportation costs as the culprit, while others blamed the comparison to last year, when government stimulus checks meant Americans were flush with cash with fewer ways to spend it. Walmart said its inventory levels are too high and customers are buying fewer items than usual, resulting in a worse-than-expected quarter.
Dennis Dick, a trader at Bright Trading, told Reuters last week that this is "a little bit of a retail apocalypse."
"It was Walmart ... and everybody thought it was a one-off," he said. "Now that Target missed earnings (by) a lot more than Walmart even did, they're scared that the consumer is not as strong as everybody thinks."
But it seems that not every type of consumer is feeling the crunch.
At Nordstrom, shoppers are buying apparel and shoes for social occasions, returning to the office, travel, and just typical wardrobe refreshes, CFO Anne Bramman said during Tuesday's first-quarter earnings call.
"To date, we haven't seen an adverse impact on customer spending from inflationary pressures, which we suspect is due to the higher income profile of our customer base," she said.
Macy's also made a point to highlight the stability of its higher-income shoppers. At Macy's-owned Bloomingdales, sales jumped 28% during the quarter, more than twice Macy's sales increase during the same period. During the analyst call Thursday, Gennette said the Bloomingdale's brand, which is more upscale than Macy's, is "quite hot right now, and we're really banging on all cylinders."
Gennette said that across Macy's portfolio, which also includes luxury cosmetics and skincare company Blue Mercury, customers with an income of less than $75,000 have been most affected by what's happening in the economy.
"When I look at kind of the mid-tier customer as well as the luxury customer, above $150,000, very healthy, and spend levels were quite strong," Gennette said. "I do think that when you look at the affluent customer, we're not seeing a slowdown there."
More: Macy's Nordstrom Walmart Target
Retail Apocalypse
luxury retail | 2022-05-27T12:01:31Z | www.businessinsider.com | Macy's, Nordstrom Insulated From Inflation Amid Retail Slump | https://www.businessinsider.com/macys-nordstrom-earnings-strong-amid-inflation-retail-apocalypse-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/macys-nordstrom-earnings-strong-amid-inflation-retail-apocalypse-2022-5 |
Spriha Srivastava and Stephen Jones
They're resigning in their droves, no longer willing to put up with companies that don't give them what they want. In March, 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs, notching up the 10th consecutive month that resignations surpassed 4 million.
While the US economy is not yet in a downturn, some economists, Wall Street banks and execs warn that one may arrive by sometime next year.
Supply chain woes, exacerbated by COVID-19 lockdowns in China, the Ukraine War and rising energy prices, coupled with a tight labor market pushed consumer price inflation up to 8.3% in the 12 months to April.
Despite enjoying record rises in pay during the first quarter of the year, increases have not kept up with inflation. The Employment Cost index, the best monitor of pay levels, rose by 4.5% in the year to March.
Dogged by ongoing labor shortages, employers have been increasing pay and investing in perks and training to stem the flow. There's a growing awareness that forcing staff to return to a prepandemic, full-time office is unrealistic if companies want to attract the best talent.
More: Economy Business great resignation CEOs
Great Reshuffle | 2022-05-27T12:01:49Z | www.businessinsider.com | A Recession Could End the Great Resignation, Business Leaders Warn | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-could-end-the-great-resignation-say-davos-business-leaders-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/recession-could-end-the-great-resignation-say-davos-business-leaders-2022-5 |
Dollar Tree put up its prices to $1.25 over the last quarter.
Dollar Tree raised prices to $1.25 and said that shoppers don't seem to be put off.
Comparable sales in the quarter increased by 11.2%, with fewer transactions but higher totals.
Dollar Tree and rival Dollar General said more consumers are buying their private-label products.
Dollar stores are pumping up prices amid soaring inflation.
Dollar Tree put up its prices to $1.25 over the last quarter but said shoppers don't seem to be put off. "The Dollar Tree banner delivered its strongest quarter in company history," CEO Mike Witynski said on its results call on Thursday.
The move to a $1.25 price point contributed to "both sales and margin improvements," he said. "Shoppers are responding favorably as the new greater value products hit our shelves."
Dollar Tree's comparable sales in the quarter rose by 11.2%. The number of transactions fell 3.6% but the value of each one rose by 15.4%, Witynski said.
Analysts say that the more flexible pricing could give customers more choice by allowing Dollar Tree to offer a wider variety of products and new brands, although they may have little option but to pay the higher prices as retailers across the board impose increases.
A myriad of factors including rising wages, the war in Ukraine, and supply-chain chaos have increased prices for gasoline, food, and energy in the US. The Consumer Price Index rose 8.5% in the year through March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, though data suggests that America is past peak inflation.
"The consumer overall has been fairly resilient through this hyperinflation that we've seen," Dollar General CEO Todd Vados said on the company's results call on Thursday.
Dollar General's net sales rose by 4.2% in the first quarter compared with the same period last year. The average transaction amount grew, but a decline in footfall meant same-store sales dipped by 0.1% compared with last year. The retailer slightly increased its 2022 sales outlook, citing its performance to date.
Both dollar store chains said more consumers had been buying their private-label products, and Vados said Dollar General expected to attract more shoppers throughout the year.
"We knew that the consumer was going to get tighter in 2022, just because of the lack of stimulus compared to last year," Vados said. But he explained that inflation, including fuel price increases, "has quickened the pace a little bit. So we believe that she'll flee even further to value as she moves into the back half of the year, especially as she gets to that holiday time frame."
Dollar stores are pushing higher-priced items
Dollar Tree plans to expand Dollar Plus, its range priced at $3 and $5, which it brought to an additional 790 Dollar Tree stores during the quarter, Witynski added.
Dollar General is pushing shoppers towards more expensive items, too. It's planning to open more stores under its Popshelf brand, which sells items at higher prices with some costing more than $20. The concept targets wealthy young surburbanites and focuses on non-food items.
Vados said that the company plans to double the number of Popshelf stores by the end of 2022 and reach 1,000 by the end of 2025, up from less than 100.
"We're starting to see that next tier of customers start to shop with us a little bit more as well," he said, saying that the company had retained "higher-end" consumers who started shopping at its stores during the pandemic. The company said that it had a "greater mix of higher-value products" than the previous year.
More: Dollar General Dollar Store dollar stores Retail | 2022-05-27T13:32:09Z | www.businessinsider.com | Dollar Tree Shoppers Aren't Being Scared Off by Its $1.25 Price Tags | https://www.businessinsider.com/dollar-tree-general-prices-inflation-grocery-buy-shop-retail-money-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/dollar-tree-general-prices-inflation-grocery-buy-shop-retail-money-2022-5 |
Katie Canales and Cadie Thompson
Peggy Johnson is the CEO of Magic Leap.
Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images
The CTO and CFO say they're catering to the business world, not trying to create an "alternative universe."
The Magic Leap 2 launched in March, joining the race alongside Meta's Oculus and Microsoft's HoloLens.
In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the CEO Peggy Johnson and CTO Julie Larson said their products have a unique proposition compared to rivals: a broader purpose, without gimmicks.
"We are also focused on really working on a tool for work, we are not going into trying to create this whole alternative universe or world that people are going to live in," Larson said, adding that Magic Leap is working towards producing tools to solve problems for people.
Larson, the CTO, said another differential is approaching products from the high-end while waiting for things like battery life to catch up.
"So we are starting out with all the learning you can get here and bringing it down," Larson said. "Other folks are starting lower and bringing it up, which I believe is a lot harder."
Its Magic Leap 2 goggles were released in March and feature dimming capabilities as well as an improved field of view in a bid to appeal to the enterprise market. The company announced a major pivot in mid-2020 toward catering to the business world.
Insider Inc.'s parent company, Axel Springer, is an investor in Magic Leap.
More: Magic Leap AR Microsoft Meta | 2022-05-27T13:32:10Z | www.businessinsider.com | Magic Leap Execs Explain the Firm's Leg up on Meta, Microsoft | https://www.businessinsider.com/magic-leap-ceo-cto-reveals-advantages-over-meta-facebook-microsoft-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/magic-leap-ceo-cto-reveals-advantages-over-meta-facebook-microsoft-2022-5 |
BNPL's outsize subprime borrower share gives regulators new ammunition
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) attracts users who are higher-risk and younger than the general credit-seeking population, a TransUnion study found.
Firms can ease regulators' concerns by proactively building tools that protect customers' financial well-being.
The news: Buy now, pay later (BNPL) users tend to be younger and higher-risk customers compared with general borrower demographics, a TransUnion survey found.
More than 70% of consumers said they have heard of BNPL, and 38% said they had used such services in the last year.
About 43% of point-of-sale (POS) financing applicants in the US were subprime borrowers, compared with 15% of the broader credit-active population.
Gen Zers and millennials made up 61% of all POS applicants. Only 35% of the general credit-active population belongs to those age groups.
The problem: BNPL firms are under the spotlight over concerns they introduce new financial risks by encouraging customers to take on debt to make a range of purchases—and regulators are taking notice.
More than one-third (34%) of consumers who've used BNPL have missed at least one payment, per Credit Karma research. And younger consumers are particularly at risk, with the demographic expected to make up 18.4% of US BNPL users this year, according to Insider Intelligence forecasts.
One Harvard researcher called BNPL a "bubble" given its widespread availability across a range of discretionary spending categories and low-value purchases, arguing that "when people start buying household goods on credit, that signals a problem."
Regulators across the globe are stepping in: The UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is crafting BNPL regulation and urged firms to carry out customer eligibility checks. In the US, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) opened an inquiry into five major BNPL providers to establish the risks and benefits of products.
The big takeaway: It seems increasingly likely that regulators will take a more hands-on approach to policing BNPL products, which are proving more attractive to customers who are vulnerable to missing payments and potentially unaware of the financial risks. Fee caps and penalties to enforce them could be likely.
Firms should prepare for tighter rules, and they can ease regulators' concerns by proactively building tools that protect customers' financial well-being. Tools could include options to let users pay installments early to help manage their debts and affordability checks to ensure customers can pay back what they owe.
More: BI Intelligence BI Intelligence Content Marketing Financial Services News Insider Intelligence - Finance | 2022-05-27T15:03:26Z | www.businessinsider.com | BNPL Providers Should Prepare for Tighter Regulatory Rules | https://www.businessinsider.com/bnpl-may-be-under-regulatory-scrutiny-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/bnpl-may-be-under-regulatory-scrutiny-2022-5 |
'We will be the highest-conviction investor on the cap table': How 3 VCs who just closed a $150 million Web3 fund are investing during the crypto bear market
Archetype Principal Danny Sursock, Venture Partner Katherine Wu, Founder and General Partner Ash Egan, and Research Partner Nick Pai
Archetype closed a second $150 million fund for early-stage Web3 startups on May 2.
The venture firm has an LP base that includes family offices, pension funds, and endowments.
The firm predicts that smart contracts will underpin all digital commerce within the next 15 years.
Crypto investment firm Archetype closed a $150 million fund focused on Web3 startups in May. The capital, founder and general partner Ash Egan said, will go towards founders with "unwavering conviction" and projects in their "earliest stages."
The Brooklyn, New York-based firm's second fund, called "Archetype II", cuts initial checks between $500,000 to $5 million. Past investments include non-fungible token platform POAP Inc., decentralized finance platform Polynomial, and DAO infrastructure provider Syndicate.
"We're backing founders who have a unique vision of the future," Egan told Insider. "We're looking for people who can create new markets or create new user behavior."
In the weeks following Archetype's announcement, broader crypto markets jolted.
This was in part due to the collapse of UST and LUNA, along with inflation concerns that led to bitcoin and ethereum trading similarly to risky technology stocks. Amid quantitative tightening by the Federal Reserve , investors have maintained a risk-off appetite, leaving analysts to predict a prolonged recovery for crypto.
Both bitcoin and ethereum are down more than 55% from their all-time highs, per Messari, with the total crypto market cap stumbling to $1.2 trillion from its peak in November of about $2.8 trillion.
"For people who have lived through multiple bear and bull cycles, whenever things get hard, talent leaves, investing money leaves, so you want to have a vision," Katherine Wu, a venture partner at Archetype, told Insider.
Price action, however, doesn't change Archetype's overarching twofold thesis.
Archetype's overarching twofold thesis and conviction
First, the firm predicts that smart contracts will underpin all digital commerce within the next 10 to 15 years. And the second is that a smart contract-denominated app will reach 10 to 100 million users in the "next few years," Egan said.
Founded in 2021, Archetype has LPs ranging from founders, to endowments, pension funds, family offices, and Web3-related companies. The venture firm has partnered with 30 early-stage crypto teams so far.
Archetype is looking for teams to invest in that have both "multi-decade disruptive ideas" and "a game plan with actionable steps," Danny Sursock, a principal at Archetype, said.
"It's balancing taking these incredible market-defining ideas and distilling them into very achievable steps that we can actually supercharge," he told Insider.
More bearish cycles, Egan said, are also the best time for participants in the nascent space to "dig deeper."
For Archetype, this means maintaining conviction by working with teams in their portfolio and using their products. The four-person venture firm, Egan said, actively uses at least 80% of the portfolio that they invest in.
"If you're investing based on the macro trends or off headlines, you will go absolutely crazy. You'll become jittery when the markets are jittery," Egan said. "It's hard to go against that and create your own thesis, but that's where the real returns are made."
The investment firm has also led or co-led most of its investments, including blockchain-based real estate investment platform Parcl.
"I think our promise to founders is that we will be the highest-conviction investor on the cap table and users of their product," Egan said. "We're going to give them feedback on a day-to-day basis, if that's what they want."
Archetype, however, is not the only firm to announce a sizable fund amid the recent market downtown.
On Wednesday, Andreessen Horowitz announced a new $4.5 billion fund for crypto investing. Volt Capital also closed a $50 million fund to invest in Web3 startups, which is backed by VC giants Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon.
NOW WATCH: The CIO of a crypto hedge fund shares the 3 biggest risks of investing in cryptocurrencies
More: Investing crypto Web3 | 2022-05-27T15:03:43Z | www.businessinsider.com | How Crypto VCs Who Just Closed a $150M Fund Invest in a Bear Market | https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-venture-capital-vcs-bear-market-web3-startup-fund-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/crypto-venture-capital-vcs-bear-market-web3-startup-fund-2022-5 |
Read the 37-page 'Ultimate Beastmaster' pitch deck that helped convince Netflix to make the competition show
Competition series "Ultimate Beastmaster" ran on Netflix for three seasons starting in 2017.
The show originated from reality TV producer Dave Broome, who created NBC hit "The Biggest Loser."
Read the full 37-slide pitch deck that prompted Netflix to greenlight the show.
"Ultimate Beastmaster," which ran new episodes on Netflix for three seasons starting in 2017, was a reality competition series in the vein of "American Ninja Warrior" that put contestants on complicated, flashy obstacle courses shaped like a literal beast.
A pitch deck shared with Insider reveals how creator Dave Broome, the reality-TV producer behind "The Biggest Loser" who now leads NFT company Orange Comet, successfully sold the series to Netflix.
"From day one, I said, 'Look, we're going to make the Olympics,'" Broome told Insider about the inception of the series. "We're going to do the very first thing that [looks like] the Olympics here in our unscripted show."
Broome aimed to replicate a video-game format, with a vast, metallic, dragon-like structure serving as the show's main course and a wall of announcers from all over the world, commentating in different languages.
His production company, 25/7 Productions, had an in-house graphics team that created the pitch deck.
"More than just a demanding gauntlet, the beast is a fantastic set piece that comes to life as it moves, breathes and grows each act," reads one slide of the deck, with a visual breakdown of the multi-part obstacle course.
Since the premiere of "Ultimate Beastmaster," Netflix has greatly expanded its lineup of unscripted shows, from reality to dating to competition series, including "Nailed It!," "Selling Sunset," and "Bling Empire." The streamer is now looking for its own major talent competition series akin to "The Voice" and "America's Got Talent," as Insider learned from agency sources, and is exploring a live programming option that could be applied to unscripted events like reality-show reunion specials or comedy events like Netflix Is a Joke.
Here's the complete 37-slide pitch deck that Broome used to convince Netflix to greenlight "Ultimate Beastmaster":
25/7 Productions
More: Netflix Entertainment Streaming | 2022-05-27T15:04:01Z | www.businessinsider.com | Read the Pitch Deck That Got TV Show 'Ultimate Beastmaster' on Netflix | https://www.businessinsider.com/read-pitch-deck-tv-show-ultimate-beastmaster-netflix-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/read-pitch-deck-tv-show-ultimate-beastmaster-netflix-2022-5 |
The world's most digitally mature companies all share these 3 traits that make them 'future-ready'
Google's President of the Americas and Global Partners, Allan Thygesen, shares what companies can learn from digital leaders in order to get ahead.
Marketing leaders have been future-proofing organizations since long before the pandemic. But for companies that may have struggled a few years back to gain momentum, the pandemic likely opened the floodgate to digital transformation.
Today, the opportunity for marketers is keeping that spirit of accelerated learning and agility going in a sustained, long-lasting way. For most, this is about continuing the digital transformation process, not starting over.
If we've learned anything since the pandemic began, it's that being ready isn't a feeling; it's a choice. We recently studied the world's most digitally mature companies and observed them making big gains. Among other achievements, digital leaders reported a 5% in market share during the pandemic versus their peers.1
Beyond embracing the idea of digital transformation, these companies made choices that not only prepared them to respond to a global crisis but helped them emerge as digital leaders. In our analysis, we observed three traits that leaders have in common. Consider how you might implement these into your organization's own transformation journey to be ready for what's next.
Agile, flexible plans
The brands best prepared for crisis had marketing programs that were agile and responsive enough to capture short-term opportunities while also building long-term resilience.
Take The Ordinary, for instance, a skincare line made by "the abnormal beauty company" Deciem. It was ready for the pandemic-driven, direct-to-consumer, and self-care trends.
While Deciem began as a scrappy Canadian startup looking for a global audience in the crowded beauty space, it broke through by breaking down its marketing approach into a few simple steps.
First, Deciem's marketing team set clear objectives, focusing on brand awareness and customer loyalty. Then they studied regional search trends to identify the top 5 markets where the brand could turn searches into sales using Google Shopping campaigns. Finally, they used our automated tools seeded with the data from those successful pilots to scale globally. Deciem's result has been a 5 to 1 return on ad spend.
Test-and-learn mindset
Another trait leading brands consistently demonstrated was a strong culture of experimentation. In fact, digital leaders reported seeing 3X higher returns from digital initiatives — in particular, customer-oriented solutions, such as automated campaign optimization and customized landing pages — versus those less digitally mature.2
Look at Monday.com, the cloud-based work operating system. Its product's evolution has been supported by marketing to match its agility and growth. The brand scaled globally, going public just last year, by using a data-driven approach to test and optimize messages on platforms like YouTube to capture different audience segments.
A B2B player, Monday has adapted its messaging from industry to industry to appeal to over 200 business verticals that manage core work processes on its platform. For example, when first trying to connect with marketers and creative teams, Monday realized it could better optimize its general go-to-market messaging. So it pivoted, and in less than a week, it was testing new campaigns that showcased the product benefits for marketers, driving a 25% increase in qualified sign-ups.
Monday has also incorporated an always-on testing mindset into planning and budgets, dedicating 30% of its budget to identifying new audiences, new creativity, and new bidding strategies.
Customer-centric to the core
Finally, we noticed that digital leaders routinely overcame organizational silos to make digital transformation a companywide imperative and to recommit to being consumer first.
Kia exemplifies this. It went through a brand relaunch, shifting from traditional automaker to sustainable mobility solution provider, and became a more customer-centric organization in the process.
Like many automakers, Kia used to see its dealers as customers and had limited direct interaction with consumer car buyers. But Kia recognized that potential drivers searching online wanted an integrated experience when they walked into a showroom and, hopefully, drove off the lot.
So Kia did something new. It started working with regional dealers to build standardized web templates and data policies to provide a more consistent experience for customers, and to give the company a better picture of its end users.
To build its first-party data strategy, Kia focused on providing a real value exchange with consumers. For example, car buyers love designing their dream rides in Kia's car-configuration simulator and appreciate the ease of booking an in-person test drive online.
The company has also been able to create more relevant offers for its logged-in users. In one test, Kia connected its website data with a dealer's CRM platform and saw a 4X boost to its conversion rates from marketing.
Partnering to build future-ready businesses
Charting our Route to Ready means always being focused on the customer journey, not just where customers are today but where they are heading next. Being future-ready is about more than your marketing. It's a broader transformation and an opportunity for us at Google to be a better partner. From rethinking go-to-market strategies to figuring out the operations of consolidated, hybrid retail models, there is so much more we can do together to get ready for the future.
Learn how Think with Google can help build your business for tomorrow and the future.
1Google and BCG, Unlocking Full Value from Digital Business Transformation, n=545 "digital leaders" (i.e., businesses with above average digital maturity), Aug. 2021–Nov. 2021. | 2022-05-27T15:04:07Z | www.businessinsider.com | 3 Traits That Make Businesses 'Future-Ready' | https://www.businessinsider.com/sc/3-traits-that-make-businesses-future-ready-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/sc/3-traits-that-make-businesses-future-ready-2022-5 |
Two individuals, a man and a woman, laying as they died in the House of the Craftsman in Pompeii, Italy.
Serena Viva, coauthor of the new study, examines remains of a man who died at Pompeii.
Remains of a man who died when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.
Photo of the Pompeii ruins from above, on March 29, 2014.
Leonardo Costa Farias
NOW WATCH: Ancient Romans had perfect teeth because their diets were low in one substance
More: Pompeii Volcano DNA | 2022-05-27T15:04:13Z | www.businessinsider.com | Scientists Sequence Ancient Pompeii Victim's Genome for the First Time | https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-sequence-ancient-pompeii-victims-genome-for-the-first-time-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-sequence-ancient-pompeii-victims-genome-for-the-first-time-2022-5 |
206 people sent Insider letters addressed to the President about student loan forgiveness. Here are 9 of our favorite.
Kristie-Valerie Hoang, Lauren Frias, Taiyler Simone Mitchell, and Erin Snodgrass
In the years since she’s graduated college, Tryon says that her debt has held her back from planning for the future.
Skye Gould/Insider
206 readers wrote letters to President Biden arguing their case for, or against, student loan cancellation.
45 million Americans hold student debt, totaling $1.7T.
The student loan moratorium is set to expire in August.
This survey is part of Cost of Inequity: Student Loan Edition, a series examining the origins and socioeconomic impacts of the student loan crisis.
In February, we asked readers to write a letter to President Biden presenting their support of, or against student loan cancellation. 206 of you wrote in.
The letters we received detailed your hopes for a debt-free future, the broken promises left in your hands after graduating college, and the overwhelming frustrations garnered as interest rates and inflation hampered your ability to repay.
In March 2020, President Biden tweeted his support for $10,000 student debt cancellation and championed this platform in speeches and interviews. But since taking office, it is unclear whether he will follow through on his past promises.
Biden has now extended the student loan moratorium three times and canceled millions in debt for defrauded borrowers. He has also called on Congress to send a debt cancellation bill to his desk, and in addition discussed income-based debt relief with groups of lawmakers.
The student loan industry put a price tag on the American dream. The marginalized and disenfranchised communities who buy in, seeking the new beginnings promised after an expensive degree, are often left drowning in a debt cycle.
Insider selected some of the most compelling letters we received for publication. The words below are a snippet of the trillion-dollar burden 45 million Americans hold.
Editor's note: The letters below were edited for clarity and style.
Madison Hughes, 28, Funding specialist
Owes about $90,000 in student debt
Has held student debt for 7 years
I have federal and private student loans and have been meticulous in ensuring I've never missed a payment. Even when I was struggling the worst, my student loans were the first thing I paid- to the detriment of my own health and safety. I am in a better place now, but the over $100,000 of loans I took out at 18-years-old are a drain on my life in a way I can't easily explain. I am putting my all into paying off my private loans- and a cancellation of my federal loans would give me more flexibility and a great ability to pay off my mountains of debt, as well as save and plan for the future.
Amanda Bailey, 29, Waitress and Environmental Consultant
As a first generation college student from a poor background, pell grants and working a full-time job only covered a fraction of tuition. Debt was necessary to break the cycle of poverty — in other words, get my degree, and I beat the odds to graduate cum laude. Now I have a whole other set of odds to tackle. This debt, I've realized, will hold me back for the rest of my life: my ability to buy a home, save for retirement, all things that are already so hard to do when you come from a family like mine. Debt relief would be life changing in the sense that I could invest in my future without this cloud looming over me. Every cent paid to loans is a cent not saved for my future home, children, or retirement.
Allycia Watanabe, 32, Healthcare Business Analyst
Owes $8,000 in student debt
Has held student debt for 10 years
Student Loans are hitting my generation the hardest. We were promised that if we went to college and got good grades, our careers were guaranteed to flourish. Then students bought into that idea, not predicting that the economy would be in a recession , and inflation would rob millennials of our piece of the "American Dream". Being shackled to student debt has halted the growth of our country as most with student debt can't even dream about owning a car, buying a house, (and sometimes) having children, because paying off their debt comes before everything. I could actually start planning for my financial future. I currently work for my state government, but was told that my status as an employee doesn't not qualify for the (public) service forgiveness program while I was five years in. But because my current position was a "safe choice" to pay my bills, taking a private sector contract job was too risky to possibly have put my loans in forbearance, and be in debt longer.
Jeff Galfer, 42, Actor
(Student debt relief) would allow us, at middle age, to pretend we now have a chance at owning a home before we die. It would also be an acknowledgement that signing up 17 year olds to pay the government's bills for the rest of their lives was akin to child abuse. Nothing. I'd still owe another 68K.
Mike Carlucci, 39, Senior Data Analyst
Owes about $195,000 in student debt
Has held student loan debt for over 10 years.
The changes in the student loan system over the years, including the 1990 goal to make it a profit center, did not align with facing wages, multiple recessions, sending jobs abroad to sweatshop countries, and the rise in housing cost. Students have been signing up hoping education would put them ahead, but the world pulled up the ladder as we tried. I graduated from law school in the Great Recession and at 9% interest from the government, not private loans, have never been able to afford payments that went to principal. So I fall further and further behind … Forgiving everything for everyone is honestly the least you can do since we spent many times that cost on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that my generation was against but Congress was for.
Leah Vitello, 30, High school teacher
Owes about $19,450 in student debt.
Has held student loan debt for 7 years.
I support student debt cancellation because it would make it possible for people like me to buy homes, work only one job (and not two or three…), have/adopt children and or pets, and actually contribute to the economy with the extra take-home money … For example, I am a single high school teacher. Exactly half of my monthly income goes out the window for rent for an 800 square foot apartment. Currently, there are no cheaper apartments in my area available, so I can't move. Because of this (among other factors), I am seriously considering leaving teaching after this school year in order to get a higher paying job just so I can afford rent … The incredibly high predatory interest rates and inflated tuition costs make it impossible to pay off student debt. This would never happen in the case of buying a car or a home. Getting a good education should not prevent people from accomplishing other major life milestones, but instead serve as a stepping stone toward attaining greater success and meaningful contributions to our country.
Anonymous, 30, Audiologist
Has held student debt for 4 years.
Rebecca L., 35, Public Administrator, Local Government
Has held student debt for over 10 years.
I have been paying on student loan debt since I took out my first loan in 2005 … When our student loans come due in May, we will pay more than $700 a month, and will have to each pick up side-jobs to pay them off. As half the payment goes to interest, this feels like an insurmountable task for credentials we needed for public service jobs … These loans should be forgiven as they are requirements for public servant positions that make about half of the average salary.
Amanda Hodges, 23, Registered Nurse
Owes $29,000 in student debt.
I am a nurse working on the frontlines fighting for patients during this ongoing pandemic crisis. I lose sleep at night because of my job, and the added stress of my crippling student loan debt does not help. If $10,000 of my student loans were wiped out, I would begin to save for a house so that I could someday become a homeowner.
More: Cost of Inequity Student Loans Student Loan Debt student loan crisis | 2022-05-27T15:16:26Z | www.businessinsider.com | 206 Readers Told Us Why President Biden Should Cancel Student Debt | https://www.businessinsider.com/206-readers-told-us-why-president-biden-should-cancel-student-debt-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/206-readers-told-us-why-president-biden-should-cancel-student-debt-2022-5 |
Scott Pruitt speaks during a candidate's forum for U.S. Senate Republican candidates Wednesday, May 11, 2022, in Oklahoma City.
Ex-EPA head Scott Pruitt pressured his security detail to speed and use sirens, report finds.
Agents in Pruitt's detail said Pruitt asked them to speed to make up for his chronic lateness.
Pruitt is now running for US Senate in Oklahoma to succeed retiring Sen. Jim Inhofe.
Ex-EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who served under former President Donald Trump, pressured his personal security detail to speed, use sirens, and drive dangerously to make up for his chronic lateness to events, according to a 2018 internal report obtained by The New York Times.
The heavily redacted report, compiled by the EPA's Office of Criminal Enforcement, Forensics, and Training (OCEFT) and dated June 2018, describes how the agents in Pruitt's detail frequently felt compelled by Pruitt to speed and turn on sirens that were only supposed to be used in emergency situations.
A special agent said "Administrator Pruitt was historically late" and his personal security detail (PSD), "tries to curtail that with earlier departures."
A special agent "recalled one instance" in which Pruitt "was late for a flight" and asked his drivers for a "magic button" to get through the traffic.
"The Administrator implied using lights and siren to get to the airport more quickly. SA recalled Administrator Pruitt saying, 'can you guys use that magic button to get us through traffic?'"
In another instance described in the report, an agent "recalled a specific instance" in which "the Administrator was 35 minutes late to his staff meeting and directed that he be taken to pick up his dry cleaning prior to going to the office."
The special agent "described using lights and sirens, driving contra-flow against oncoming traffic and said [redacted] believed it was reckless."
Pruitt's deputy chief of staff also spoke about a Department of the Interior event with President Donald Trump "wherein extreme speed and lights and sirens were utilized."
A person whose title was redacted "said the most recent occurrence was local while returning from the White House to EPA which is approximately four blocks" and "described the use of lights and sirens as "''overly obnoxious, excessive, and more dangerous to everyone,'" according to the report, adding that their opinion, "none of the circumstances witnessed of the use of lights and sirens was an emergency."
The report also detailed how special agents felt Pruitt retaliated against them for not speeding or turning on lights.
"The Administrator told SA that he was running late and mentioned the use of lights to speed up the trip. [Special Agent in Charge] told SA to stay in park and proceeded to explain to the Administrator that the use of lights and sirens was only for emergency situations and it would be against OCEFT policy to use them to expedite because he was late.'"
"The Administrator was visibly upset and was silent for an uncomfortable time in the car. The trip was uneventful but SA said the Administrator was upset and a few days later, SAC was removed from position," the report continued.
Pruitt eventually resigned his post in July 2018 after a slew of ethics scandals and official investigations into his misuse of government resources. He's now running for US Senate in Oklahoma to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Jim Inhofe.
Pruitt was accused of spending excessive amounts of taxpayer money on travel, with the new report also investigating whether the special agent in charge of Pruitt's detail "misrepresented perceived threats to the Administrator to falsely justify the use of higher-cost premium class travel."
The special agent "described the documentation of negative interactions with the citizenry wherein people approach the Administrator and cast aspersions on him" to justify first-class flights.
Pruitt was also accused of enlisting his taxpayer-funded government staff to carry out a variety of personal errands unrelated to agency business.
Those included helping him procure a new apartment, a used Trump Tower mattress, discounted Rose Bowl tickets at the 50 yard-line, and special Ritz-Carlton brand lotion.
Pruitt further reportedly leveraged the powers of his office to help secure a prestigious internship at the White House for his daughter and a job managing a Chick-Fil-A franchise for his wife Marilyn, defending himself by saying that Tulsa needed more Chick-Fil-As.
More: Scott Pruitt EPA Speeding Donald Trump | 2022-05-27T15:16:32Z | www.businessinsider.com | Trump EPA Chief Pressured Drivers to Speed, Use Sirens: Report | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-epa-chief-pressured-drivers-to-speed-use-sirens-report-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-epa-chief-pressured-drivers-to-speed-use-sirens-report-2022-5 |
Terri Spath used a simple approach that protected clients' money during multiple market downturns. She told us how she's updated her approach to play better offense and earn bigger returns.
Zuma Wealth founder and former Sierra Mutual Funds Chief Investment Officer and fund manager Terri Spath.
Sierra Mutual Funds
Terri Spath has managed mutual funds worth billions of dollars through severe downturns.
At her new firm, she's melding defensive quantitative techniques with a more traditional approach.
Spath told Insider how she's evolved her strategy to deliver more upside to clients.
After years of helping investors thrive by playing good defense, Terri Spath says she's added offense to the mix.
As a mutual fund and portfolio manager at firms including Franklin Templeton and Sierra Advisors, where she was also chief investment officer, Spath built a track record of outperforming the market during downturns like the dot-com crash, the Global Financial Crisis, and the COVID sell-off.
Today, as the founder and investment chief at Zuma Wealth, Spath says she's combining the best parts of the approaches she learned earlier in her career, using the quantitative techniques Sierra favored as well as the fundamental analysis she learned at earlier stops like Franklin Templeton.
She says that has helped Zuma post flat returns in April when the S&P 500 fell almost 9%.
"What I've got now as a decision process is that intersection of both fundamental analysis and quantitative metrics to determine is this not just the right thing to buy, but is it also the right time to buy it," she told Insider. "You can uncover cheap stocks all day long, but if you don't buy them at the right time or sell them at the right time, then it can just be dead money for a very long time."
Spath says the marriage of those styles helps her find stocks that are just beginning to rise.
In 2020 Spath told Insider that moving averages were the foundation of Sierra's defense-oriented approach, and she used those averages to identify sell signals that tell her when it's time to get out of the stock market. Today, Spath says those are still an important tool in her arsenal.
While quantitative analysis is helpful in preventing meltdowns with a momentum-focused approach, she says it doesn't answer the vitally important question of when to buy. While the selling on Wall Street is settling down, she's holding large amounts of cash and waiting for clearer 'buy' signs.
"There are certain crossovers that make sense for most stocks to help decide whether it's a good time to buy or whether you're just catching a falling knife," she said. "When does the nine day moving average, for example, cross over the 18 day?"
But Spath says there are some bargains already, including Home Depot, Starbucks, and JPMorgan Chase, while names like Wells Fargo and Charles Schwab may be bargains but don't look ready to break out yet. Using those traditional approaches also lets her cast a wider net than she could in the past.
"If you sharpen your pencil and start to do some homework, there's some blue chip S&P 500 companies that are within 5% of their 52-week lows. They pay a decent dividend, and they are in a sweet spot for their price to earnings ratio," Spath said.
Energy companies are very appealing, she adds, but she doesn't want to overload her clients' exposure to that volatile sector of the market. Spath also recommended the Invesco DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund, which tracks a basket of commodities and benefits from the strength in the US dollar.
Some alternatives are also performing reasonably well as she waits for an opportune moment to buy more stocks.
"You can park money in merger arbitrage funds right now, and you're going to make a nice, steady return," she said. "And managed futures, believe it or not, have been something that we've put money into."
quantamental investments
quantitative investing | 2022-05-27T16:34:58Z | www.businessinsider.com | Investing Advice for Volatile Markets: Terri Spath, Zuma Wealth | https://www.businessinsider.com/investing-stock-market-advice-volatile-markets-inflation-wealth-buy-sell-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/investing-stock-market-advice-volatile-markets-inflation-wealth-buy-sell-2022-5 |
Inside the little-known tool that gives JPMorgan Chase the power to collect data about everything its employees do at work
From tracking time spent on Zoom and phone calls, to seating arrangements and office attendance, JPMorgan's vast data-collection apparatus is fanning the flames of suspicion and 'paranoia' at America's biggest bank.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Employees of the bank say suspicion and fear are swirling over the firm's data-collection efforts.
From the moment they log into JPMorgan Chase's workplace portal on their computers each day, a powerful system begins pulling in data points about what hundreds of thousands of the bank's employees are doing — from how long they spend on Zoom calls to writing emails to talking on the phone, Insider has learned.
The data filters into a proprietary system called the "Workforce Activity Data Utility," or "WADU" for short. The bank is said to have begun building the data-management platform shortly before the outbreak of the coronavirus.
But in the more than two years since, it has come to inspire rumors and fear throughout the ranks of America's biggest bank, according to interviews with more than half a dozen current and former employees.
Insider learned about the WADU system through interviews and leaked internal documents that explain what kinds of data it captures. Publicly, references to the system are scant, and even employees concerned about the company's tracking efforts were not always aware of its official name.
Attorneys and experts on workplace data collection say that firms like JPMorgan Chase are legally within their rights to gather information regarding employees' activities on the job. In fact, many organizations use Big Data to draw broad-based conclusions about how workers spend their time, or how best to accommodate their needs. It isn't clear to what extent other Wall Street firms surveil their employees' activities, and regulators like FINRA and the SEC require banks and brokerages to keep track of employees' workplace-related communications and record their fingerprints upon hiring.
Amongst a lot of people, you will hear the term 'Big Brother' and you will hear the term '1984.'
But the JPMorgan employees interviewed for this story said the reasons the bank tracks how much time they spend on Zoom calls or composing emails are vague — and that its surveillance efforts have fueled internal rumors and fanned the flames of suspicion.
The workers, who insisted on the condition of anonymity to speak freely, said they are fearful that data about their work habits are being shared with managers to assess their performance and productivity.
"It's fostered paranoia. It's fostered distrust. And, to be honest with you, it's fostered a lot of disrespect," said a current US-based employee with direct knowledge of the system's functionality. "There's a lot of sentiment around Chase that we're just a number. That's all we are."
"Amongst a lot of people, you will hear the term 'Big Brother' and you will hear the term '1984,'" this person added.
An official at JPMorgan Chase told Insider that language within the firm's intranet, which is made available to all employees, is meant to allay concerns over the purposes of the data collection.
"This information is made available to help users better understand how and from where their teams are accessing the firm's physical facilities, equipment and systems and support efforts in relation to business efficiency, resiliency and workplace health and safety. This data may not be used for any other purposes. This data represents just a part of each employee's work profile and no employment action may be taken based on the data presented in this dashboard alone," the language within the intranet says.
Employees interviewed by Insider said they were unaware of such disclosures. They also noted that, in practice, the bank appears to have used the data collected by WADU tied to individual employment action.
As Insider has previously reported, bank staffers who have failed to swipe into work enough, or elected not to come into the office for personal or health-related reasons, have been spanked with calls from senior managers, or threatened with lower bonuses and yanked promotions. Data on office attendance is collected through WADU via employee ID swipes and then fed into reports that managers use to determine who's falling short of in-office quotas.
A US-based employee who sits within the commercial-banking division agreed that fears over tracking have been magnified by the bank's use of employee ID swipe data.
This person, who has spent more than a decade at JPMorgan, said that in recent months the company's efforts to "control its employees" through tracking appear to have escalated: "They are becoming more like a government and less like an employer."
Data begins streaming into WADU from the moment employees log into their virtual workspaces.
Employees log in through Citrix, a software service that gives them access to the bank's virtual desktop interface ("VDI"), according to the US-based staffer with direct knowledge. Once they've entered the VDI, WADU starts tracking what they're doing.
WADU records data about a wide variety of employee activities, including the total amount of time they work, how long they spend communicating, and the applications they use.
The system observes everything from the length of their calls on Zoom or desk phones, to the amount of time they spend actively using Microsoft Office applications like Outlook in order to draft emails, or Excel to work on spreadsheets.
The person with direct knowledge of the system's functionality said that some technology managers have recently discussed implementing a new tool that would enable WADU to verify whether employees had switched on their cameras during Zoom calls.
WADU monitors a number of other types of data, too. For one, the system can see when employees reserve seats in the office, which some said employees has recently become a hassle, as a result of the shared-desk arrangement that the bank adopted during its pivot to hybrid work.
Data from employees' calendars is also archived by WADU unless they designate events as private, the person said. Managers, therefore, could glean insights about whether employees are online during times they should be off, or offline during normally-scheduled days when they should be on, the person said.
The JPMorgan official said that individual employees' calendar entries are not shared with their managers, and that personal appointments or meetings are "masked" from view. Calendar data is only used "in aggregate" to maximize efficiency around activities like team meetings or other group interactions, the official added.
And data from employees' company-issued BlackBerry cell phones and applications is also gathered. "They can measure anything on your company BlackBerry," the person with knowledge said, such as phone calls, emails sent, or calendar information from the devices.
The system can route all of this data into dashboards and reports about individual workers, which can then be made available to senior managers.
The function for which WADU has become most recognizable in recent weeks is its assembly of dashboards that display employees' comings and goings from the office, using ID swipe data. "The Dashboard takes badge swipes into JPMC buildings or logins to JPMC workstations (from a tool called WADU)," explains a leaked screenshot from the JPMorgan intranet, which was obtained by Insider.
Insider has also seen a dashboard showing an individual worker's time spent on Zoom, email, and other apps, based on data collected by WADU.
One ex-manager who had visibility into WADU's reports — a former executive director within the private-banking division who departed the firm in the fall, citing personal privacy concerns — recalled accidentally stumbling upon troves of employee office attendance data within the bowels of the system last year. The discovery left the executive feeling uneasy.
"I was kind of surprised," the former executive director said. "I'm like, 'Why am I able to see this?'"
"Big Brother is watching you."
That's a statement from a manager in the commercial-banking division, who, during a March meeting, admonished members of their team that the company's watchful eyes were everywhere, according to the current commercial-banking employee.
That warning, the employee added, has prompted some of her colleagues to treat virtual team meetings like confessionals, where they volunteer uncomfortable explanations about why they might not have been working at certain times.
"There's this need to let somebody know that you're not a slacker. There's this need to defend the fact that, 'Hey, I'm a good employee,'" she said. "I know there was this 10 minute period where I totally look like I'm a bad employee — but really, I'm a good employee."
Now, she and some of her colleagues have chosen to move a number of their communications about the workplace to unmonitored, personal messaging platforms like the iMessage app, in an effort to avoid managerial detection. While she said they know such a move is against the company's policies on compliant communication, they're doing it anyway.
Such behavior runs the risk of provoking regulatory rancor down the road. Earlier this month, the SEC ordered banks to hand over dozens of personal cellular devices to screen for work-related messages that were possibly sent over non-compliant communications platforms.
There's this need to let somebody know that you're not a slacker. There's this need to defend the fact that, 'Hey, I'm a good employee.'
Uncertainty over how the WADU data is used has prompted other types of unusual behavior among employees keen to evade the system.
For instance, the staffer directly familiar with WADU's machinations described downloading a mouse jiggler, a digital tool that prohibits the virtual workplace from automatically logging out during spurts of inactivity.
Mouse jigglers are more closely associated with FBI raids than the workplace. Law enforcement agents who burst into the homes to seize computers might ram a jiggler into the devices to keep them from timing out while their users are being taken into custody.
But this person said that the use of a jiggler prevents the remote workspace from timing out, should the worker step away from the desk while logged in at home. The person described concern that such breaks could reduce their number of hours per day that are logged by WADU.
JPMorgan employees who spoke to Insider said the bank has long displayed a disclaimer, which pops up every time they log into the virtual system, informing them that their activities may be recorded.
"JPMorgan Chase monitors usage of these resources, subject to applicable laws and regulations. If you use these resources for unlawful, abusive, unethical, or other inappropriate purposes, your employment may be terminated," the disclaimer, which was viewed by Insider, reads.
"Your use of this system may be monitored and you do not have an expectation of privacy, subject to applicable laws and regulations," the notification adds.
While this disclaimer isn't new, it has adopted new significance for some employees in light of the company's use of ID swipe data to crack down on workers who don't meet office attendance requirements. Several cited the company's regular use of "lists" to identify individuals who fail to fall in line.
A current human-resources employee put it this way: "When return-to-office happened, we were told explicitly that our manager's going to get a list with our names on it, and then there would be trouble" for those who were seen to be in non-compliance.
"Everything is done through lists," the HR employee added. "That's just kind of how the company operates."
The former private-banking executive director recalled receiving instructions last year to download Movius, a communications monitoring app the bank uses to meet regulatory requirements, onto a personal cellular device. The executive was fine with downloading the app on a company-issued device, but was uncomfortable with the app's interface for personal use and refused to accommodate the directive for months.
After fielding multiple requests from a manager and being warned about getting added to a list of non-compliant employees, this person acquiesced and downloaded the app.
"There's just a culture of 'list' with a capital 'L,'" the former ED said. "It's like, 'Oh, you don't want to be on that list.'"
Stacia Garr, a researcher who specializes in people analytics data, said that fears and uncertainties like these could cause nervous staffers to spend valuable time and brainpower testing out red herring-like measures like the mouse jiggler, in the hopes of throwing their managers off the trail.
"How much did those employees who got some sort of technology that moves their mouse, how much time did they spend researching that and figuring that out and implementing it?" said Garr, a cofounder and principal analyst at RedThread Research who specializes in studying employee data and analytics. "They don't even know if it's effective. So how many other solutions are they also using at the same time? It quickly spins out."
JPMorgan's employee tracking efforts have backfired in the past, according to a 2018 report by Bloomberg on Palantir Technologies — the software mining company created by billionaire Peter Thiel to scout out terrorists in combat zones.
It started in 2009, when the bank onboarded "as many as 120 'forward-deployed engineers'" from Palantir to monitor emails, browser searches, GPS location information, and transcripts of phone conversations made by staffers, according to Bloomberg.
Though the use of Palantir was reportedly for security purposes, JPMorgan employees who spoke to Bloomberg said the situation quickly escalated. They described the environment that followed as Wall Street meets Apocalypse Now, Bloomberg reported, and "darkly joked" that the person tasked with monitoring the data collection "was listening to their calls, reading their emails, watching them come and go."
Some are said to have intentionally dropped false information in emails to test whether the executive would reference it in team meetings — which he reportedly did. This executive at the center of the "spying scandal" negotiated his severance package around 2013, and JPMorgan thereafter curtailed its use of Palantir, Bloomberg said.
By 2019, JPMorgan began constructing its own data-management system, eventually giving birth to the Workplace Activity Data Utility, according to the US-based staffer with direct awareness of its functionality. While the origins of the project preceded coronavirus pandemic, the person said, the bank floored the gas on its development in early 2020 as the health crisis forced a mass transition to remote work.
The former private-bank executive director agreed with this timeline, saying a new human resources system was rolled out across the company in the late spring of 2020. It gave managers the power to access employee data at a personal level, the person said.
A 2020 job posting for an associate for WADU's testing program called for a candidate with at least two to three years of "experience working with data and databases," as well as a variety of analytics tools and programming languages including Alteryx and Abacus.
The job post added that WADU sits within the bank's Chief Administration Office Strategic Initiatives organization, touting it as being "at the forefront of data-driven decision-making" and "building out a new firm-wide capability that unlocks the potential of our Workforce Activity data to enhance our strategic and investment decisions."
But employees said that, aside from WADU, some feel on edge over other forms of data collection at the bank.
This spring, JPMorgan told US-based staffers in an internal memo seen by Insider that the bank would begin "strengthening its background and fingerprinting process with the FBI." Employees' fingerprints would be registered with the FBI's Rap Back program, according to the memo. The program was founded in 2014 and notifies participating companies about changes to staffers' criminal histories during their employment.
It has also drawn criticisms from civil liberties advocates, according to a 2017 report from The Intercept. The JPMorgan official said that "many major employers are enrolled" in the program, and that the bank's employees "are already obligated" to disclose if they are arrested while employed at the firm.
Separately, the former private-bank executive director recounted having attended a virtual marketing meeting about recruiting advisors last year, in which a senior leader in the division proposed using home addresses to determine whether job candidates would be good fits to cater to high- net-worth clientele.
The idea, this former executive recalled, was that the value of candidates' homes would help inform whether or not they were suited to a financial advisor role serving wealthy individuals. The suggestion provoked swift objections from some people in attendance, said the executive, who chose to stop attending the regularly-scheduled meeting shortly thereafter.
It's unclear if the idea ever saw the light of day.
Employment experts say that companies like JPMorgan are well within their rights to collect data about what their employees are up to.
"There's no expectation of privacy in the workplace," said Helen Rella, an attorney and member of the global practice group at Wilk Auslander, a New York City-based law firm. "Indeed, when we're faced with situations involving employment termination or issues of improper use of confidential information, for example, we're able to have forensic experts come in, look at a computer that an employee has used, and track every keystroke that has ever transpired on that computer."
"If it's used relative to the workplace to determine if employees are actually working — which is what they're hired to do — then there's nothing impermissible about an employer monitoring the work that they are paying their employees to do," Rella added.
I think it's bullshit that they don't trust their employees. Maybe they should look at their hiring practices.
Other banks also gather some of the types of data that JPMorgan does, at least when it comes to their workers' comings and goings. Goldman Sachs, for instance, collects ID swipe data to keep tabs on who's in the office and when, as Insider recently reported.
But experts also said companies can stoke the coals of mistrust and anxiety by not being completely transparent about the data they are collecting.
"There is an ethical responsibility for organizations who are tracking data on their people, and then using that to make decisions, to be completely clear with employees about what data is being tracked, how it's being used, and the positive benefit that it will have on those employees," said Garr, the workplace data researcher and RedThread Research cofounder.
When companies are opague about how they use employee data, the consequences can be detrimental— from harming employee "engagement" to eroding their "mental health," Garr said.
"Before you get to turnover and attrition, you get to lower levels of engagement, lower levels of productivity," she added. Worst of all, she said, employees are left to contemplate one question about their bosses: "Why don't you trust me?"
Organizations should adopt best practices to keep employees informed about workplace monitoring, she added. That could mean being transparent about what companies are examining and why, or establishing a timeline for reviewing the findings to determine whether they hold helpful, work-related insights.
Companies that fail to do this run the risk of cultivating the kind of mistrust that JPMorgan employees claim is running rampant through their ranks.
"It does not sit well with me, what they're doing," said the US-based staffer with direct knowledge of the WADU system. "I understand the need for surveillance and monitoring from a cybersecurity perspective… What I don't agree with is because John Smith has an aging family member and needs to take four hours a week for doctors' appointments, that could possibly be held against them.
"That ethically and morally is completely wrong," this person added. "I think it's bullshit that they don't trust their employees. Maybe they should look at their hiring practices."
More: Wall Street Finance JPMorgan Chase | 2022-05-27T16:35:04Z | www.businessinsider.com | How JPMorgan Chase Gathers Data About Hundreds of Thousands of Workers | https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-chase-is-tracking-zoom-calls-workplace-activity-using-wadu-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-chase-is-tracking-zoom-calls-workplace-activity-using-wadu-2022-5 |
Ishmael Sunga, Chief Executive Officer, Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU).
World Economic Forum/Ciaran McCrickard
From satellite soil-monitoring sensors in Pakistan to blockchain in the Democratic Republic of Congo's coffee bean cherry production, technology is reshaping the agricultural sector.
But at a World Economic Forum session in Davos, a far simpler solution to solving world hunger issues was put forward: improved infrastructure and access to basic technology like cell phones.
These easy fixes could create more equitable supply chains and drastically transform the world's agricultural sector.
Food insecurity is a long-standing issue that requires a combination of technology and real-world solutions to solve.
This was the message put forward by Ishmael Sunga, CEO of the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions (SACAU), on the last day of the World Economic Forum conference in Davos.
At least 720 million people worldwide are thought to be hungry today. And although food supplies have been disrupted by the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic, we cannot pin these world events on the continued problem of global hunger, he told the room.
"The ones that are feeding the world are themselves hungry," said Sunga, who joined fellow panelists from Nestlé, the Indian government, and chemicals company Yara International in a panel discussion.
During the session, which sought to discuss how technology can drive food security, he called for equity and fairness in distribution, as well as improved infrastructure for the world's agricultural sector. "Technology plays an important role," Sunga said. "But context matters. Technology should be at the service of farmers, and it should be able to help solve their problems."
Many of those problems are simple and require simple solutions. "And yet those solutions can be very profound," he told attendees.
Technology as a solution
Technological advancements offer a promising opportunity for farmers around the world to improve their output and avert the negative impacts of climate change.
"Our founder was the first one that came up with the innovation to sequester, and get nitrogen out of the air, and turn it into fertilizer to feed a growing population," Svein Tore Holsether, president and CEO of Yara International ASA told the panel.
"Our agricultural universities are working on hybrid seeds," added Mansukh Mandaviya, minister of health and family welfare and minister of chemicals and fertilizers for India.
And from satellite soil-monitoring sensors in Pakistan to using blockchain to build food trust in the Democratic Republic of Congo's coffee bean cherry supply chain, Nestlé executive vice president, Leanne Geale outlined the myriad ways the conglomerate is leveraging technology in the agricultural space.
These innovative measures may prove fundamental in reshaping the world's agricultural landscape. But new forms of technology must come at a low cost to the individual farmer. And that often means the most simple forms of technology, could prove the most transformative.
"If you deploy simple technology, which could be providing cell phone technology, it is going to do things at scale, it's going to do things at speed, it is going to empower people to make decisions," said Sunga.
Tore Holsether agreed, telling Davos attendees that this approach has proven to be effective.
At the start of the pandemic, his company worked with farmers in East Africa to figure out how to rapidly increase food production. They used cell phones to provide economic advice and connect digitally with 2 million farmers. 250,000 of those farmers were also given fertilizer, and through the program, they were able to triple their maize yields in the first season.
An integrated approach that combines technology, and practice-based reward systems — like Nestlé's Income Accelerator project, which gives incentives to farmers who adopt agricultural practices like pruning and using shade trees to build more resilient crops — may help to empower farmers and move toward ending global hunger.
But above all else, Sunga argues that access to equitable value chains for all farmers has the biggest potential for impact. This means that better infrastructure for the world's poorer agricultural communities is critical, especially information and communication infrastructure.
"Issues around the areas you are farming on might influence your amount of input. Maybe you think your land is one hectare, but maybe it's half a hectare," said Sunga. When you input the data for that one hectare, you end up with waste. "Yet you can measure the size of the land with technology," he said, adding that "those basics are so fundamental to fix."
"The moment the value chain becomes more equitable, fair, and distributes fair work, and fair pay for the ecosystem role that management farmers play, you will see a big change," he said.
More: World Economic Forum WEF 2022 Davos Davos 2022 | 2022-05-27T16:35:16Z | www.businessinsider.com | Solving the World's Food Insecurity Crisis Requires Technology | https://www.businessinsider.com/solving-the-worlds-hunger-and-food-insecurity-crisis-requires-technology-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/solving-the-worlds-hunger-and-food-insecurity-crisis-requires-technology-2022-5 |
Here are the 5 easiest businesses to start as a solopreneur, including virtual assisting, graphic design, and business coaching
Jessica Hawks, a business coach and mentor, recording a podcast.
While it's a great time to start a business, it's even more promising for solopreneurs.
Three experts and five founders told Insider which businesses are best for solopreneurs today.
Virtual assisting, financial advising, and digital marketing companies are among them.
Entrepreneurship has been on the rise during the pandemic as people sought creative outlets, activities to fill their free time, and ancillary income.
While it's an advantageous time to start a business because of low startup costs and fewer barriers to entry, it's especially promising for solopreneurs — business owners who run a company without employees — to capitalize on skills they already have, said Dave Mawhinney, an entrepreneurship professor and executive director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University.
Luke Pardue, an economist at the human-resources platform Gusto, said personal and professional services such as grocery delivery and virtual assisting were among the most successful companies to emerge in the past two years.
"During the onset of the pandemic, we saw a focus on entrepreneurship in these personal-services sectors," Pardue said. "As the economy shifted towards remote work, we've seen that new business creation has been focused on professional services."
Insider spoke with three economy experts and five entrepreneurs about the best businesses to start today if you're a solopreneur. Pardue said virtual-assisting companies are promising right now, while Mawhinney and Arun Sundararajan, an author and professor of entrepreneurship at New York University, said financial advising and digital marketing companies are here to stay.
"If you are a digital marketer, can offer some sort of financial advice, or have anything to do with writing or computer coding, you can dip your toes into freelance work with platforms like Upwork," Sundararajan previously told Insider.
1. Web development and graphic design
Alyssa Nguyen is a graphic designer.
Given the increase in businesses created in the past two years, many entrepreneurs are seeking help with their digital presence.
Alyssa Nguyen launched her eponymous firm in 2020 after teaching herself how to design graphics and websites. Her business, which works with companies owned by women and people of color on branding, booked nearly $170,000 in revenue in 2021, documents verified by Insider showed.
Nguyen said that for those looking to enter the design or freelance markets, it's crucial to start creating content to have a digital portfolio so clients will find you.
"Even if you have no clients right now, make things that you enjoy making in the aesthetic that you enjoy," she said.
2. Business coaching
Jessica Hawks is a business coach and mentor.
Jackie Sterna
The market-research firm IBISWorld estimates that the business-coaching industry is worth more than $11 billion and is expected to continue growing. With the popularity of business coaches on Instagram and TikTok and the growing number of aspiring entrepreneurs, business owners have more avenues to find clients.
Jessica Hawks, who went viral on TikTok after sharing the benefits of a virtual-assistant career, transformed her services into a coaching company when thousands of viewers began asking how they, too, could earn $10,000 a month with a freelance career.
Her coaching platform now works with aspiring virtual assistants, Pinterest managers, social-media experts, and other professional freelancers who want to launch their businesses.
"In order to teach people or guide people, you have to have done exactly what you're helping them do," she said.
After launching her services as a solopreneur in 2020, she hired a team to help her scale.
Read more: A virtual assistant followed this daily routine to earn $9,000 a month and scale her business to $1.1 million in sales
3. Social-media production and strategy
Kar Brulhart is a social-media coach and expert.
Courtesy of Brulhart
Even if you don't want to become an influencer, social-media expertise is highly sought-after — brands of all sizes and industries need social-media strategies to scale. Kar Brulhart, who had experience working in digital media and brand marketing, used those skills to launch her own consulting agency.
Brulhart's eponymous brand works with businesses on their social-media strategies and helps clients increase social volume, quality, and relevance.
"When it comes to monetization, many business owners I work with are not making anything on TikTok," she previously told Insider, adding that her job is to evaluate analytics and come up with solutions for her clients.
Read more: A social-media coach who made 6 figures in revenue last year shares the 4 ways entrepreneurs can organically grow their social-media followings
4. Financial advising
Lisa Andrea is the founder of The Financial Cookbook.
Lisa Andrea
Experts told Insider that for those looking to start a business, it's best to capitalize on existing skills. Lisa Andrea, who has an MBA and experience working at a "big four" accounting firm, launched The Financial Cookbook in January 2021 as a financial-services guide for women.
Andrea runs her brand as a side hustle while keeping her full-time job.
"If you want to get your feet wet, start a blog and start driving traffic to your website," she said. "From there, that'll help you expand into other things."
Andrea has scaled her content to Pinterest, TikTok, and Instagram, each of which she said has brought her additional opportunities. She's booked $7,000 in monthly revenue several times this year, which Insider verified with documents.
Read more: The ultimate guide to building a successful side hustle: How to turn a dream into a moneymaking reality
5. Virtual assisting
Grace John is a Pinterest manager and business owner.
Emma Fox
Virtual assisting is a good way to find out what remote business tasks you enjoy, said Grace John, who started her virtual-assistant business in December 2020.
"I started off as a virtual assistant, and initially it was whatever random thing somebody wanted to throw at me," John said. These tasks included analyzing and increasing Instagram engagement, finding customers for her clients, and helping create courses and workbooks.
After spending time in business administration, she decided to specialize in Pinterest and Instagram management; she said those are the skills she enjoyed most. She said she's expecting to book six figures in revenue this year.
Read more: A 26-year-old Pinterest manager making $6,000 a month in revenue outlines how she started her business
More: Features Small Business Slideshow | 2022-05-27T18:05:57Z | www.businessinsider.com | The Easiest Businesses to Start Right Now As a Solopreneur | https://www.businessinsider.com/easiest-business-to-start-today-solopreneur-virtual-assistant-graphic-design-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/easiest-business-to-start-today-solopreneur-virtual-assistant-graphic-design-2022-5 |
Joe Manchin (D-WV) talks on the phone outside of a lunch meeting with Senate Democrats at the U.S. Capitol November 16, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Sen. Joe Manchin has once again expressed a willingness to discuss a reconciliation package.
He told Axios his talks with Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer have been "encouraging."
Manchin also seemed willing to compromise on hiking taxes, something that could win over Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
For over a year, Democrats have feuded over President Joe Biden's proposed social and climate spending package.
At the center of the debate stands two centrists: Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who have both shot down swaths of the Build Back Better plan, ranging from aggressive prescription drug price controls to monthly checks to parents.
In a fresh glimmer of hope, Manchin is hinting that the package he once pronounced "dead" might Frankenstein its way into existence via reconciliation — with a few major chunks taken out of it.
The conservative Democrat told Axios that his recent talks with Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer about a package on climate and deficit have been "encouraging, to a certain extent."
Manchin has previously supported some of Biden's proposals to hike taxes, including an increase to the corporate tax rate. He told Axios that he'd still like to see the corporate rate rise to 25%. Biden initially proposed 28%. Instead, per Axios, Manchin will "settle" for a domestic minimum rate of 15%, a proposal that Sinema previously backed.
A key hurdle to Manchin's chief tax goal is Sinema. She is adamantly opposed to increasing tax rates on the rich and large corporations, all but undoing a Democratic effort to roll back the Trump tax cuts. In February, Manchin said he wanted Sinema to take another look at potential hikes, but she didn't seem to budge. Sinema said in April that her demands for a package had not changed.
Manchin's comments indicate that the two could strike a deal and potentially move a spending package forward, but at the expense of keeping many Trump-era tax cuts in place.
Manchin reiterated his support to unwind the law at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland on Monday."What we need is a competitive tax code that spins off enough for us in the United States to take care of ourselves, pay down our debt, and live within our means," he said.
Schumer and Manchin have huddled three times in Schumer's office over the past month in what resembles a conclave carrying enormous consequences for President Joe Biden's economic agenda heading into the November midterms.
Manchin has voiced support for a smaller bill focused on reducing the federal deficit, cutting prescription drug prices, and stepping up taxes on the wealthiest Americans and large firms.
Many Democrats believe that the start of the August recess represents the deadline for the party to get a skinnier climate and tax bill to Biden's desk.
Still, that hasn't kept some from floating an even later deadline to lock in swaths of Biden's agenda. "Sept. 30, for sure, because that's when the reconciliation measure expires, and likely before the August recess," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island told The Washington Post.
However, there is still the possibility that Manchin could sink a package yet again.
"There could be nothing. There could be truly nothing," he told Axios. "That's all I can tell you."
More: Economy Build Back Better manchin Joe Manchin
Tax Hikes
Trump tax cut
Trump tax cuts | 2022-05-27T18:06:11Z | www.businessinsider.com | Joe Manchin Could Agree to Build Back Better With Trump Tax Cuts Intact | https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-manchin-compromise-build-back-better-trump-tax-cuts-intact-2022-5 | https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-manchin-compromise-build-back-better-trump-tax-cuts-intact-2022-5 |
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