Office workers have been working at home en masse across the world for about a month and have been successfully maintaining their productivity, tech CEOs tell Business Insider.This is causing CEOs to rethink whether they really need to provide office space for everyone.Some CEOs are starting to think about using offices more like "flex-space" meeting rooms, rather than as permanent desks.One New York VC who has invested in real estate startups thinks that a whole new business model may emerge, one that's even more flexible than the coworking model pioneered by WeWork.In fact, the shift doesn't bode well for WeWork, the CEOs say.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

If you are lucky enough to not be among the 22 million Americans who lost their jobs this month, chances are, you are working from home.

And if you work for a tech company or live in a major metropolitan area, chances are you've been working from home for a month.

Tech CEOs have noticed that their companies are still running well and employees are still productive even with everyone working from home. For instance, just this week, Oracle founder and chairman Larry Ellison felt so moved by how well his 136,000-employee strong company had been performing, that he took to YouTube to praise the videoconference tech they are using, Zoom, and to say that the company will never fully go back to just in-person meetings again.

Rimini Street founder CEO Seth Ravin Rimini Street All of this is causing at least some CEOs to wonder: why are they paying so much for real estate and office headquarters when their companies operate so well with a fully remote workforce.

"If everyone can really work at home, why do we have all these big offices around the world?" says Rimini Street CEO Seth Ravin, a software technical support company based in Las Vegas that operates 30 offices worldwide.

"Maybe you don't need everyone having an office, right? Maybe you don't need all that real estate. Maybe you only need half. And it's just full of conference rooms and hotel-like spaces for those who come in and use it occasionally versus permanently based in the office," he says.

He predicts. "You're going to see so many companies rethinking real estate."

Flex is in, desks are out 

He says that Japan is providing the ultimate proving point.  The notoriously hard-working Japanese culture centers around office life and doesn't have much a remote work ethic. But at the urging of government officials major Japanese companies such as Honda, Toyota and Nissan have asked staff to work from home. And Japan's Ministry of Labor has offered grants to help small and medium-sized companies retool themselves to support teleworking, reports CNN.

Okta founders Todd McKinnon and Frederic Kerrest at the office Okta Rimini Street has offices in both Tokyo and Osaka. "This is changing Japanese culture dramatically because they were not a work at home culture. So I think the world will change," he said.

Okta CEO Todd McKinnon agrees. His company grew from 1,561 employees at the start of 2019 to 2,248 employees at the start of 2020, most of them at its 207,000 square-foot San Francisco headquarters but also scattered among offices in 12 other countries.

His real estate team has not only secured the lease for that building, but had been working on grabbing more square footage in expensive and competitive San Francisco in preparation for more growth.

But now that his company has been successfully working from home for a month "this is going to lead to us having less square footage of real estate for sure," McKinnon says.

"Our growth plans were to add a bunch more square footage, but I think we're seeing with the productivity we're having, we probably don't need as much square footage," he said. Now his real estate team is talking about turning the office "into more flexible work environments, not dedicated desks, and moving to a more dynamic, flexible work space."

The idea is to allow employees and teams who are thriving working from home to continue, with no pressure to commute to an office every day, except for a specific need for an in-person gathering.

Not great for WeWork

To the extent that WeWork doubles down on its original, so-called "space-as-a-service" offering, where it offers companies very flexible short-term lease terms on smaller spaces, WeWork could fair well in the post-COVID-19 business world, McKinnon believes.

Brooklyn Bridge Ventures But, WeWork is currently struggling, not helped by the economic implosion, and has reportedly fallen behind on some of its own rent payments.

Prior to the COVID-19 WeWork was gravitating towards longer-term, more lucrative, and less-risky enterprise contracts, where it custom-designed offices spaces for large companies. Its current website is splashed with endorsements from companies like GE, BBC Royal Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, for instance.

But in the post-coronavirus world, larger companies won't need such a real estate middleman, especially when they're shrinking their real estate footprint.

"That's not going to be great for the real estate business, even the WeWorks, if this kind of culture holds. You would rent less space from them than you would before," says Ravin.

Interestingly, this could become a new business opportunity for both landlords and coworking companies, says New York venture capitalist Charlie O'Donnell, the founder of the seed-stage fund Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. Among O'Donnell's investments is some real estate startups including like The Wing, a coworking space designed for women. The Wing has been hurting during lockdown and laid-off nearly all of its staff last week.

O'Donnell has been vocally opposed to the way WeWork has been treating some of its struggling startup tenants.

He sees real the potential for a new business model, one that involves even more flexible space than coworking, or even The Wing-like clubs.

"Maybe flexible work space is an answer, but much more flexible than that's been offered by a coworking company," O'Donnell says.

Instead of a permanent desk in a room, multiple companies might use a room more like a timeshare, keeping their things in lockers when other tenants used the space. He points to an office furniture company like Heartwork, which designs easily moved furniture and office cabinets on casters, as being an example of how this might be set up.

"Spaces could be built with the assumption that the same people are not in every day. Maybe they're going to use this office only on Thursdays," he suggests.

The one thing that most business leaders can agree on is that now that workers have gotten a taste of home offices with no commute, and CEOs have seen the money that can be saved on real estate, the status quo will shift.

"It changes real estate," says Ravin. "It changes the way people think about what are the critical things we spend our money on."

Original author: Julie Bort

San Francisco will start requiring residents to wear a mask in public.While the law will require residents to wear masks at essential businesses such as grocery stores and takeout restaurants, residents will not have to wear them when outdoors for exercise — though they should have one on hand, the city says. The city is again relying on voluntary compliance, although noncompliance is considered a misdemeanor punishable by fines, jail time, or both.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

San Francisco will start requiring people to wear a mask when they leave their homes for essential needs.

Based on guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the city's new order will require residents to have a mask covering their nose and mouth at essential businesses, public facilities, and on public transit. That includes waiting in line to enter a grocery store or picking up food from a restaurant. Essential workers are also required to cover their faces.

However, people are not required to wear face coverings while outdoors walking, hiking, bicycling, or running. They're instead recommended to have one on hand.

The mask does not need to be an N-95 or surgical mask — it can be a homemade mask, bandanna, scarf, or a towel. The order is part of the city's efforts in preparing for eventual relaxed shelter-in-place restrictions.

"As we look to a time where we can begin to ease the Stay Home Order, we know that face coverings will be part of that future – and we want San Franciscans to become more comfortable with this new normal," Mayor London Breed said in a press release. "We know it will take some time to get used to, but it will help save lives."

The order, issued by County Health Officer Tomás Aragón, is effective going into Saturday, but will not be enforced until April 22. A similar order was announced by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday. 

The coronavirus disease, known as COVID-19, is transmissible through respiratory droplets. Wearing a mask can help prevent sick people from infecting others as well as healthy people who aren't exhibiting symptoms from passing it onto others.

San Francisco was one of six counties in the Bay Area that enacted a shelter-in-place order on March 17.

Original author: Katie Canales

Original author: Christina Liao

Airbnb is facing a big challenge thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to a deep decline in the travel industry.The crisis poses a big test for CEO Brian Chesky, who's largely a self-taught manager and has little experience to draw from in terms of guiding a big company through an economic crisis.Fortunately for Chesky, Airbnb's board is comprised of seasoned executives who have led companies through similar challenges.Among the company's directors are Kenneth Chenault, who led American Express through the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and the Great Recession, and Angela Ahrendts, who helped turnaround Burberry and guide it through that latter downturn also.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

There are probably few startup founders who are in as much need for guidance and direction from experienced leaders right now as Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky.

The online travel company's business — like others in the industry — has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. But in addition to just trying to stay afloat, Airbnb has the tricky job of trying to balance that imperative with addressing the needs and interests of the travelers and property managers that use its online marketplace, and without which it wouldn't have a business.

Fortunately for Chesky, he's got an assembly of seasoned operators and financial experts on his company's board of directors. They include Kenneth Chenault, the former CEO of American Express; Angela Ahrendts, who was CEO of fashion retailer Burberry before becoming the head of Apple's retail division; Alfred Lin, who was chairman of and chief operating officer of shoe retailer Zappos; and Jeff Jordan, who served as the CEO of restaurant reservation company Open Table when it went public.

Until a couple of months ago, this board of directors would likely have been laser-focused on a planned IPO that was expected to value the company at $40 billion or more. Now, the directors must apply their business experience to navigating a crisis instead of a Wall Street debut.

Chesky, 38, now meets every Sunday with his eight fellow board directors, he told the Wall Street Journal.

In this crisis "you're only focused on this moment, and all I try to do is just get to next week," Chesky told the Journal.

Interestingly, Airbnb's board does not technically have an official chairperson or lead independent director, though Chesky effectively serves as the board leader, chairing meetings and handling other functions.

According to some media reports there has been flashes of tension between Chesky and certain directors as the company grapples with the crisis, though Airbnb spokesperson Nick Papas has denied the tensions.

The pandemic has crushed Airbnb's business

What's clear is that the board's ability to collaborate and to leverage its collective wisdom will be put to the test by the pandemic.

With governments around the world having restricted the movement of their citizens to try to contain the coronavirus outbreak, little leisure or business travel is taking place. Thousands of flights have been cancelled and hotel operators have laid off thousands of workers.

Some 90% of reservations with recent check-in dates at Airbnb — which dominates the market — were cancelled, according to industry research firm AirDNA. And new bookings in the United States have fallen by more than half in the last two months.

Several Airbnb directors have gone through experiences similar to what he's facing. Chenault, for example, took over American Express right before the dot-com bust hit in 2001. He then led the financial giant through the Great Recession. Ahrendts was in charge at Burberry during that downturn. Jordan was heading OpenTable and guided it through a successful initial public offering at a time when few companies were going IPO.

"If I was the CEO, I'd look at [Airbnb's board] and say, 'Hey, I've got a good, diverse group of people that have been through the ringer. They've had a lot of experiences in the past,'" said Harry Kraemer, clinical professor of leadership at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. "They'll help them get through that as best as any board I could think of."

Airbnb's directors have lots of varied experience

One seeming hole in Airbnb's board is its lack of someone with direct experience in the travel industry, running a hotel chain, say, or an airline, or another one of the online travel sites, such as Expedia. But that's maybe not as big a problem as it might seem, said Kraemer.

American Express, which Chenault ran for nearly two decades, is primarily a financial services company, but it does plenty of travel-related things. People can book trips and hotels through it. It has a corporate travel service. And it offers services such as travelers checks and travelers insurance.

"I think of Amex as a travel company," Kraemer said. "That's basically what they do."

But having direct experience in the industry in which a company operates is not necessarily that important for its board members, he said. Indeed, it can be a benefit to have directors who come from other industries, because they often have different ways of looking at problems, he said. And in many cases, the knowledge and experience they have from their own industries can translate to that of the company on whose board they serve.

Prior to becoming a professor, Kraemer was CEO of healthcare firm Baxter International. Among his board members was Fred Turner, who at the time was the CEO of McDonalds. Turner had no experience in the healthcare industry, but he did have experience managing a complex supply chain and operating internationally.

"He was incredibly valuable," Kraemer said.

The board and Chesky have reportedly been at odds

Crises such as the one playing out right now can lead to a wide range of negative emotions — stress, worry, fear, anxiety — all of which can hamper decision-making and lead to interpersonal conflict. Even companies with well-regarded directors aren't immune to such problems. Indeed, there has already been a report of tensions playing out at Airbnb in particular.

Airbnb operates a kind of accommodation marketplace, helping travelers who are looking for places to stay connect with property managers with apartments, rooms, and houses. Typically, the company allows property managers to set their own terms for reservations, including their cancellation policies. But after the coronavirus outbreak turned into a pandemic and governments started ordering their citizens to stay in their homes, Airbnb decided to override its hosts' terms and allow guests to cancel their reservations and get full refunds. The move infuriated many property managers.

It also ticked off some of Airbnb's directors, because Chesky didn't inform them before making the change, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Papas, the Airbnb spokesperson, has said Airbnb's board and management had "extensive discussions" about the cancellation policy change. 

But that's not the only area of reported tension. After being close to breakeven in 2018, Airbnb's bottom line dipped deeply into the red last year, long before anyone had heard of COVID-19. Chenault and Mather have been pushing Chesky and the company's management team to cut costs, and have picked up that effort in the wake of the crisis, The Journal reported.

Among the areas Chenault and Mather have been pushing Chesky to cut is Airbnb Experiences, according to The Journal. That offering, which helps travelers book tours, has lost $1 billion, The Journal reported.

Papas has said that instead of telling Chesky to cut the experiences services, Airbnb's board has encouraged the company to keep investing in it.

Airbnb reportedly told employees last month that it is cutting its marketing expenses and freezing most hiring to conserve costs. It recently raised $2 billion in debt financing — at a high cost — to shore up its bank accounts. Even so, the company faces the prospect of running out of cash in the near future if the travel business doesn't revive soon.

But tensions aren't surprising given what's going on

Some investors are unhappy with Chesky himself, according to The Journal, although it's unclear if their feelings have been echoed by any members of Airbnb's board. Those investors have pushed to have Chesky step down, give up some of his voting control over the company, or bring in an executive with experience in turnarounds to help guide him through this period, The Journal reported.

Papas has denied anyone communicated those demands to Airbnb.

Regardless, it's not surprising nor necessarily concerning for such tensions to be playing out in the company's board room, Kraemer said. Similar discussions are playing out at lots of other companies right now; they just aren't getting the same attention as what's happening at Airbnb, he said. Many companies are facing dramatic declines in their business and are having to make tough choices on how to best move forward. When jobs and product lines and the like are on the line, contentious discussions aren't unusual, he said.

"The discussion's going to get heated," Kraemer said. "I would be amazed if there wasn't a lot discussions on [how to react to the crisis] and a lot disagreements."

Here are the members of Airbnb's board and some of their relevant experiences:

Original author: Troy Wolverton

The Canadian rapper Tiagz (Tiago Garcia-Arenas) has built a career as a music producer by strategically uploading songs to the short-form video app TikTok. Tiagz achieved TikTok fame by writing songs that directly referenced the app's popular memes and trends, effectively gaming its search and content recommendation algorithms. Two years after he started producing music, the 22-year-old artist is now signed by the record label Epic Records and has millions of monthly listeners on streaming apps like Spotify. Business Insider spoke to Tiagz to learn more about his playbook for going viral on TikTok. Click here for more BI Prime stories.

The Canadian rapper Tiagz (Tiago Garcia-Arenas) is quickly rising up in the music world and he owes it all to TikTok. 

After having multiple songs go viral on the short-form video app, the 22-year-old producer landed a deal with the record label Epic Records, which represents artists like DJ Khaled, Mariah Carey, and Camila Cabello. His Spotify account now averages three million monthly listeners, and he's generated tens of millions of streams on his top tracks.

Tiagz is certainly not the first artist to recognize TikTok's potential for catapulting an artist or song into mainstream culture. Lil Nas X first rose to fame when his single "Old Town Road" blew up on the app and Drake recently released a sample of his new track "Toosie Slide" on TikTok so its users could learn to dance to it before it officially launched on music streaming services. TikTok's imprint on the music industry is undeniable as the app continues to shape the Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart each month.

But for Tiagz, TikTok has been more than just a promotional tool. TikTok trends and memes have defined the creative direction that he's taken as a music artist. 

Tiagz's strategy for growing an audience on TikTok has been to write songs that directly reference a phrase or idea that's become popular on the app. Since joining TikTok in August 2019, several of Tiagz's songs have gone viral through this method, appearing in over 5 million videos to-date. 

The artist's first successful song on TikTok was "Rise and Shine," a two-minute track that sampled a snippet of a video of Kylie Jenner singing the words "rise and shine" to her daughter. The song appeared in a few thousand videos on the app and Tiagz spent hours "dueting" and reposting the track in order to try to boost its popularity. 

"I tried to understand the platform," Tiagz told Business Insider. "I kept doing these memes because I saw that it worked."

The producer continued to grow his TikTok audience after posting a song that sampled a popular meme in India, "Chicken Leg Bis (Chicken Leg Piece)," which was used by the former Miss India, Ruhi Singh. Tiagz's next track, "I'm in the Ghetto (Ratatata)" (also referencing a TikTok meme), was used in over 9,000 videos, and encouraged the artist to continue leaning into trending topics.

Tiagz's surging popularity on TikTok caught the attention of Eric Parker of EP Music Group, who reached out about becoming the artist's manager. 

"He explained a little about the music industry and the business and he was also a lawyer," Tiagz said. "At that time, a lot of people were reaching out, so I was just really closed up. I thought that everyone just wanted to monetize stuff, or money, or this or that. But he reached out and said, 'Hey look, I can really help you.'"

Tiagz's popularity really exploded on TikTok once some of the app's top influencers began using his song, "My Heart Went Oops," which sampled an already trending 1951 jazz single "Oops!" that was first performed by the actress Doris Day.

"I told myself people aren't really going to jam to a jazz and blues song," Tiagz said. "I'm going to make a trap song with it. I'm going to twist it, and it's going to be super cool. I called it 'My Heart Went Oops' because I knew that people when they were going to search for the sound were going to search 'my heart went oops.' It was a strategy so that people could find it."

The TikTok user Troy Zarba, who has 3.2 million followers, added "My Heart Went Oops" to a video, and then TikTok's most popular creator, Charli D'Amelio, posted a video of herself dancing to the song at Dunkin' Donuts. 

"As soon as she used the sound, all the verified creators started using it, and I was like, 'Yo, this is crazy.' After that the label reached out. Then all the other labels started reaching out, and I was like, 'Whoa, I think now people are noticing.'"

After getting a manager and record deal with Epic Records, Garcia-Arenas quit his part-time job teaching kids' gymnastics and parkour at a local center in Ottawa to focus full time on creating music. He also began to go through proper channels to get approval to use samples in his songs, running them by his record label for clearance before posting.

"I didn't really know everything about clearance and all that stuff, so I would just release and that was it," Tiagz said. "I saw a lot of interviews of other artists and they were explaining, 'Don't ever let sampling stop you from your creativity.'"

Since its release, Tiagz's "My Heart Went Oops" has appeared in over 3 million videos on TikTok. His recent track "They Call Me Tiago (Her Name is Margo)" — which was also used in videos by Charli D'Amelio and her sister Dixie — has appeared in roughly 2 million TikTok videos. Tiagz now has 1.6 million followers on the app. 

Tiagz. John Arano/Epic Records.

Having TikTok's top users dance to his tracks has been the most effective way of getting noticed on the app, Tiagz said. The artist said he tried paying a creator to promote one of his songs in the past (paid song integrations are a fairly common way for TikTok influencers to earn a living), but it wasn't nearly as effective as having his songs appear in videos from the app's popular creators organically.

Even after signing with Epic Records, Tiagz said he's continuing to focus on producing music about current memes and trends since that's what's driven his success as an artist thus far.

Tiagz recently released a track called "Bored in My House (Quarantine)," and is working on collaborations with other creators like King Bach.

"The trends work, but the quality of the music matters too because a lot of songs that I made are flops," he said. "I think it's important to keep that same process and maybe evolve through time, but not really change the strategy completely."

For more stories on how artists and creators are building a business on TikTok, check out these other Business Insider Prime posts:

Original author: Dan Whateley

Samsung created new packaging for its Lifestyle TVs that lets customers re-use the cardboard in useful ways.Cardboard packaging for The Serif, The Frame, and The Sero TVs can be made into shelves, cat houses, or containers.Samsung teamed up with Dezeen, a British magazine, to award up to $20,000 to the customer that repurposes the packaging most creatively.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Samsung designed new eco-friendly packaging for some of its TVs so customers can transform what might have been a heap of garbage into useful household items like cat houses, magazine and book holders, or entertainment centers, the company recently announced.

Samsung introduced the new packaging, which we first saw thanks to Gizmodo, as a way to limit waste and encourage recycling. The packing comes with some of Samsung's luxury TVs including The Serif, The Frame, and The Sero. 

Check out what you can do with Samsung's cardboard packaging:

Original author: Jessica Snouwaert

The next game in the massive "Grand Theft Auto" game series is currently in production, according to a new Kotaku report, but it's still early days.The game is said to be smaller than a traditional "GTA" game — the series is known for huge open worlds — but it could be expanded out after launch.The game is also said to be "early in development," which would mean we're still a few years away from hearing anything official. "GTA" maker Rockstar Games has yet to officially announce a sequel to 2013's "Grand Theft Auto 5," and representatives did not respond to a request for comment on this report as of publishing.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

It's been nearly seven years since the last major "Grand Theft Auto" game launched, and the game remains a juggernaut. 

It's the third-best-selling game of all time, just behind "Tetris" and "Minecraft." It just keeps selling — "GTA 5" has been one of the 20 best-selling games in the US nearly every month since it launched.

But where is the next "GTA" — the long-awaited, but still unannounced, "Grand Theft Auto 6"? 

The franchise's creator, Rockstar Games, is said to be working on that very game right now, but it's still early days for the next major "GTA" entry. 

"Rockstar's next big project is still early in development," according to a new Kotaku report. Moreover, the game is said to be smaller than past entries in the series, and there could be ongoing expansions post-launch.

Rockstar Games

The new report is the first major indication that Rockstar is currently producing the next entry in the "Grand Theft Auto" series.

That said, Rockstar's history across the past decade paints a pretty clear picture of what's to come.

The studio's last game, "Red Dead Redemption 2," came out in October 2018. Before that, it launched "Grand Theft Auto 5" in September 2013. And prior to that, it launched "Red Dead Redemption" in May 2010. 

Before that? You guessed it: "Grand Theft Auto 4" in April 2008.

To put it mildly, there's a sense of inevitability about the next Rockstar game being the next "Grand Theft Auto" entry.

Besides a publishing deal Rockstar made with an outside development studio to publish 2011's "L.A. Noire", the company has a steady cadence of one major game launch every two to three years — sometimes it goes even longer, as in the five-year gap between "GTA 5" and "Red Dead Redemption 2."

Given that the next "GTA" is said to still be in the early development stages, and most video games take years to develop, we can safely assume it's planned for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X — so-called "next-generation" game consoles scheduled to arrive this holiday season.

Rockstar itself has yet to announce a new "Grand Theft Auto" game, and a studio representative didn't respond to a request for comment as of publishing.

Original author: Ben Gilbert

I tested a $62,515 2020 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck that featured a 3.0-liter diesel engine.The Silverado ranks behind the Ram 1500 and the Ford F-150 in my full-size pickup list, but the diesel motor adds something special to this Chevy truck.Towing capacity is respectable, and fuel economy is appealing at nearly 30 mpg on the highway.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Of the top three full-size pickups in the US market, the Chevrolet Silverado has long been last on my list. Driving the diesel version didn't move it up, but it sure did heighten my opinion of the truck.

That list, of course, includes the Ram 1500 and Ford F-150 ahead of Chevy's offering. The Silverado was new for 2019, but I didn't think the pickup's designers and engineers went far enough. Meanwhile, the F-150 retrained its lordly position, and the revamped Ram 1500 was so good that we named it our 2019 Car of the Year.

The Silverado is a good truck, and it's newer than than the mighty F-150, which is slated for a redesign in 2020. But it just hasn't been good enough to pass the other two. 

A funny thing happened a few months back, however. Chevy loaned me a 2020 Silverado featuring a Z71 off-road package and a 3.0-liter Duramax diesel engine, and it was so good that it made me completely reassess my view of the truck. Read to find out why:

Original author: Matthew DeBord

Advertisers across industries have cut their budgets due to the coronavirus pandemic, but a study from tech company Playground XYZ found people are paying more attention to ads as they spend more time online.Attention paid to ads in certain categories, like finance and food, went up by more than 20%, according to the study.Playground XYZ CEO Rob Hall said brands that pull their ads could miss the chance to make a lasting impression.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Ad agencies and marketers are scrambling to retool their strategies as the coronavirus pandemic leads to campaign cancellations, furloughs, and layoffs.

But a new study by ad tech company Playground XYZ found that as people spend more time online during the lockdown, their attention paid to ads grew 6% in March, with some ad categories increasing as much as 23%.

People are paying more attention to ads in categories like finance and food

A recent study by Global Web Index found that 87% of US respondents are consuming more content during lockdown, with nearly 50% reading more news stories.

Playground XYZ CEO Rob Hall said his company, whose primary product is a programmatic ad buying platform that it sells to brands and media agencies, used smartphone cameras to track eye movement responses to 1,200 ads over the past six months.

It found people are not only seeing more ads despite brands' efforts to avoid appearing near virus-related news but spending more time looking at the ads themselves — especially in categories, like personal finance, food and drink, and ecommerce, that have grown more relevant during this time.

Playground XYZ

Consumer attention to ads for sports, education, and travel dropped by 20%, 13%, and 9% in March, respectively, as those industries have all but shut down. Health and fitness ads also took a hit.

Meanwhile, attention paid to style and fashion ads increased by 20%. Hall theorized that this was because consumers have more time on their hands.

Context also mattered, with ads that appear in stories about business, technology, and lifestyle topics garnering the most attention.

The coronavirus is reversing people's efforts to reduce mobile time

A 2018 study by Omnicom media-buying agency Hearts and Science found 67% of people were trying to use mobile devices less to avoid wasting personal time.

But new research from Omnicom data firm Annalect and mobile platform Kochava showed a big uptick in app downloads and time spent on browsers, social, gaming, and video since the pandemic struck.

Brands that stop advertising will miss out on a chance to make a lasting impression because people are spending more time online, said Renee Cassard, chief audience officer for Hearts and Science, which was not involved in the study. Making sure the messaging is right is especially important now, though, she added.

In another example of an opportunity for brands, she said Omnicom research shows that ad revenue for Amazon streaming platform Twitch has nearly quadrupled over the past month.

Cassard predicted some of these trends will continue post-pandemic. News consumption may die down, but new apps that prove popular — some of which are ad-supported — will stay around.

Still, the data might leave some advertisers unconvinced. Even if consumers are paying more attention to ads, 88% of publishers said brands have canceled recent campaigns, according to a new report from the Internet Advertising Bureau. 

Original author: Patrick Coffee

Google is working on physical and virtual debit cards as it looks to catch Apple's lead in the fintech space, a new report claims.The card will reportedly be co-branded with various bank partners and would link to an app that offers details of the users' transactions.Google already has a payment platform in Google Pay, but a card would make it easier for users to make purchases physically, using the app, or online.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Google is reportedly working on a smart debit card as it looks to make a splash in the fintech space – and catch Apple's lead.

TechCrunch reports that Google is working on physical and virtual debit cards which would link to an associated checking account.

The cards will be co-branded with different bank partners, depending on the users' checking account, with CITI and Stanford Federal Credit Union mentioned in the report.

As of right now, the company's Google Pay platform offers online and peer-to-peer transactions, as well as tap-to-pay using an associated bank card, but Google doesn't actually have a card of its own – something Apple started offering last year with the Apple credit card, which is backed by Goldman Sachs.

Similarly, Google's card would connect to an app and allow the user to purchase things either using the card, their phone, or online. Like the Apple app, Google's will give the user an easy way to see activity on their account.

Not everything is known about this card, but TechCrunch obtained images of what appears to be a chip card on the Visa network. The report says users would be able to add and remove funds from their linked account, presumably using the Google Pay app.

If any of this happens, Google will essentially be leaning on banks to provide the infrastructure while taking some of the friction out of the overall banking experience.

But this would also give Google the opportunity to charge interchange and other various fees, opening up new, potentially highly lucrative new revenue streams for the company. 

Last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google was eyeing banking as its next major conquest. With regards to the latest report, Google gave TechCrunch the same response it gave the Journal last year: "We're exploring how we can partner with banks and credit unions in the US to offer smart checking accounts through Google Pay, helping their customers benefit from useful insights and budgeting tools, while keeping their money in an FDIC or NCUA-insured account. Our lead partners today are Citi and Stanford Federal Credit Union, and we look forward to sharing more details in the coming months."

A spokesperson had not responded to Business Insider's request for comment at the time of publishing.

There's no guarantee the Google card will actually launch, but if it does, privacy will naturally be a big area of concern here. Google Pay already links users' payment information to their Google Account when they add cards. A Google card would presumably do the same, and could allow the company to improve ad targeting using people's transaction information.

That means Google might struggle more than Apple to sell the idea of a banking card to its users.

Original author: Hugh Langley

Melinda Gates said in an interview with BBC Radio on Thursday that she and her husband, Bill, had been storing food in their basements for years in anticipation of a pandemic or other disaster.

"A number of years ago, we had talked about, you know, what if there wasn't clean water? What if there wasn't enough food? Where might we go? What might we do as a family?" she said on the radio show. "So I think we should leave those preparations to ourselves. But absolutely we had prepared and had, you know, some food in the basement in case."

The only thing they did not prepare, however, was the vaccine or a treatment for the virus that would cause a pandemic, though she acknowledged her and her family's privilege when it comes to dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak.

"What we mostly talk about now in our home every night is how lucky we are," she continued. "We understand our privilege. And when we say our grace at night, what we're thankful for, around the table, is that we aren't struggling to put a meal on the table as so many families around the world are."

Business Insider's Debanjali Bose previously reported that Bill Gates has been warning about a pandemic for years, saying in a 2015 TED Talk that the world wasn't "ready for the next epidemic" and repeating the sentiment in a 2017 op-ed article for Business Insider, where he wrote that the next epidemic could be "a super contagious and deadly strain of the flu."

The Microsoft cofounder has been outspoken during the coronavirus pandemic, telling the Financial Times in early April that it would be the "biggest event" of most people's lifetimes. He has been suggesting actions countries could take to help keep track of the virus, including creating an international database to share information with one another.

On Wednesday, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced it would provide $150 million in funding to help deploy additional medical supplies and to help scientists discover treatments and a vaccine for the virus. The foundation has donated a total of $250 million to aid global coronavirus response efforts.

Original author: Dominic-Madori Davis

I recently spoke with Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and coauthor of "Option B," on video chat about grief and loss during the coronavirus pandemic.She talked about the 2015 death of her husband, Dave Goldberg, and revealed she recently lost a family member because of complications from the novel coronavirus. I talked about losing my brother, Matthew Ward, because of an accidental drug overdose in 2019.Sandberg said the pandemic is causing mass grief but it is also presenting an opportunity for collective resilience and courage.She and the psychologist Adam Grant recently released an excerpt from their book, "Option B," along with a new foreword about grief during the coronavirus pandemic to help people cope.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

For the past 11 months, I've been grieving the death of my younger brother, Matthew Ward, who died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 21. I've been living what Facebook COO and author Sheryl Sandberg calls "Option B."

It's the state where, after experiencing something earth-shattering, a person tries to find the next best option in life. It's where you learn to climb mountains, one step at a time.

Sandberg started living "Option B" in 2015 after her husband, the SurveyMonkey CEO David Goldberg, died at age 47 that same year. Two years later, she coauthored a book with the same name along with the Wharton psychologist Adam Grant. Since then, she's become a public advocate for addressing grief, building personal strength, and for bereavement leave.

On Thursday, I interviewed the Facebook COO on a Zoom call for a story on grief.

I decided to go with my gut and lead with why I was passionate about covering the topic — because of my own journey. When I told her what happened to my brother, she stopped me mid-sentence.

"So sorry. Like, so sorry," she said, putting up her hands. "'Cause the death, it's an avoidable — that — like so sorry."

There was a pause. She knew there were no other words. And I knew too.

After a moment, I began the interview, asking her about what the world is experiencing right now. We began the conversation with how not only we were personally grieving but the world is grieving because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"You didn't want your brother to die. I didn't want my husband to die. The entire world is living 'Option B' right now. Everyone," Sandberg said.

In the US alone, more than 28,000 people have died because of the coronavirus. Some 22 million Americans have lost their jobs in the past month. Millions of others have lost their sense of normality, with social distancing and self-isolation affecting households everywhere.

As I was speaking with Sandberg, I realized that the pandemic has given me, and everyone else on the planet, a unique opportunity. It's given us the chance to talk freely and openly about an extremely difficult, and often personal, subject most keep quiet — grief.

Sandberg revealed she lost a family member because of complications from the coronavirus.

"Now some people are suffering much more than others," she said. "We lost my fiancé's first cousin, so we've had direct death in our family. Some people have health things, some people are much more worried about the economic situation. But I honestly think there's not a single person who's not living some form of Option B right now."

The collective psyche is changed, she says. The pandemic presents an opportunity for collective resilience.

"I think this is going to change us and I hope and want it to change us for the better so that we do more. We give more to strangers, we give more to the people in our lives, and I think we are seeing that, and that is collective resilience," she said.

Recently, Sandberg said that the coronavirus is exacerbating inequality in the US and called on individuals, government, and business leaders to help address it. She and several high-profile business leaders, for example, raised more than $8 million to fund local food banks.

Now Sandberg, along with coauthor Grant, is helping out in a different way. She released an excerpt from the book "Option B," with a new foreword responding to the crisis, available online free. The excerpt includes several tips for coping with anxiety and loss.

"The question is when life throws the unexpected challenge our way, death for you and me, everything we're going through, now what do we do? And the answer is we try to build resilience," Sandberg said.

Here are five important things to remember if you're experiencing anxiety or grief right now, according to Sandberg.

Original author: Marguerite Ward

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"The Last Dance" will focus on Jordan's 1997-98 season with the Bulls. Jeff Haynes/Staff/Getty Images It doesn't matter what LeBron fans on Twitter or morning sports show hosts try to argue; Michael Jordan is still widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time.During his last season with the Chicago Bulls, 1997-98, a camera crew followed Jordan and the team, capturing never-before-seen footage.ESPN has now compiled that footage with new interviews to create "The Last Dance," a 10-part documentary series originally scheduled to premiere in June.With the NBA season on an indefinite pause, fans (and even LeBron James) lobbied for an earlier release date, and ESPN has now granted that wish.The first two episodes will now drop on April 19 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN via cable, satellite, or live TV streaming services, including Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, AT&T TV, and YouTube TV.

Michael Jordan is one of the most celebrated figures in popular culture and almost universally regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time. In a career filled with too many accolades to list, MJ dominated the '90s, leading the Chicago Bulls to six championships. The only years the team didn't win it all during this incredible run were when Jordan was either retired or trying his hand at minor-league baseball.

In 1997-98, Jordan's final season with the Bulls, an NBA Entertainment crew followed the team, capturing never-before-seen footage. ESPN has partnered with director Jason Hehir ("The Fab Five," "Andre the Giant") to use this footage to create a new docuseries called "The Last Dance."

In addition to the footage collected in the 1997-98 season, the documentary will include new interviews featuring various people involved with the team. The trailer features appearances by Scottie Pippen, Steve Kerr, Phil Jackson, Dennis Rodman, and a modern-day Michael Jordan paired with a comically large cigar.

"The Last Dance" will unfold across 10 episodes over five weeks. Two episodes will air every Sunday starting April 19, and the final installments will drop on May 17.

Updated on 4/17/2020 by Joe Osborne: We've pushed this article to the top of our pages again to remind you that this documentary begins airing this Sunday, April 19, at 9 p.m. ET on all of the below mentioned channels and services. Meanwhile, read our guides on Sling TV as well as Hulu Live, both of which are airing the documentary.

Several of Jordan's teammates have been interviewed for "The Last Dance," including Dennis Rodman. Fred Jewell/AP

With fans (including LeBron James) pining for content in the wake of sports shutdowns, ESPN recently announced plans to release "The Last Dance" earlier than expected. Though the documentary series was originally set to debut in June, the first two episodes will now premiere on April 19 at 9 p.m. ET. A new batch of two episodes will then drop each following Sunday at that same time.

The series will be aired live on ESPN in the United States through various cable and satellite packages that carry the network. International viewers can watch the show on Netflix the day after each episode airs on ESPN.

The episodes will also be available to stream through the ESPN app in the US after they premiere. With that said, you'll still need an authenticated pay-TV subscription to access the show this way.

Meanwhile, if you want to watch live without a traditional cable subscription, you can stream "The Last Dance" using live TV streaming services with access to ESPN, including Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, AT&T TV, and Youtube TV.

Of those four options, the most affordable way to get live streaming access to "The Last Dance" is via a Sling TV Orange subscription. This plan features 32 channels, including ESPN, for $30 per month.

Original author: Danny Bakst

Verizon agreed to acquire enterprise-focused video conferencing service BlueJeans for an estimated $400 million. BlueJeans provides a paid, encrypted video conferencing platform to over 15,000 clients, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Original author: Hirsh Chitkara

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Original author: Antonio Villas-Boas

Airbnb laid off its contract workers during a Zoom call with CEO Brian Chesky, as first reported by Protocol and confirmed to Business Insider by a worker in attendance.The company also postponed summer internships until 2021, Protocol reported.An Airbnb contractor told Business Insider that many people were caught off guard by the announcement, which came during Chesky's weekly Q&A.The layoffs come after Airbnb said it had slowed hiring and frozen all marketing spending as the company struggles to navigate the coronavirus pandemic.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Airbnb announced it was ending most of its temporary workers' contracts early, effectively laying them off, during a weekly Q&A over Zoom on Thursday with CEO Brian Chesky, as first reported by Protocol and confirmed to Business Insider by a worker who was in attendance.

"We are ending Agency Temp contracts early," Airbnb vice president of employee experience Beth Axelrod wrote in an email, according to Protocol, adding: "The expectation is that there will only be a small number of exceptions based on critical business needs. We don't have information on those exceptions yet, but they will be communicated over the next week."

The company also postponed summer internships and undergraduate hiring until 2021, Protocol reported.

Workers in attendance told Business Insider and Protocol that the announcement caught people by surprise, saying many in the meeting, including managers, appeared to not have been made aware of the layoffs beforehand.

The layoffs follow Airbnb's decision in late March to tell teams to halt or significantly slow hiring and freeze its marketing spending as the company began assessing the damage caused by coronavirus-related cancellations.

In the past two weeks, Airbnb has raised $2 billion in debt and equity in two separate fundraising deals as it looks to build add some financial cushion to help it survive in a travel industry that has been decimated in recent weeks. Airbnb was also reportedly losing money even before the pandemic, threatening to delay the company's plans to go public this year.

Airbnb did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Original author: Tyler Sonnemaker

Original author: Malarie Gokey and Antonio Villas-Boas

Buzzy AI security firm Onfido has raised $100 million in a funding round backed entirely by private equity firm TPG Capital, which has previously invested in Spotify and Uber.With more than 400 employees based in nine offices around the world, Onfido counts fintech unicorn Revolut, sports betting firm DraftKings and car-rental service Zipcar among its biggest clients. The firm was founded in 2012 by Oxford graduates Ruhul Amin, Husayn Kassai, and Eamon Jubbawy.  Business Insider got an exclusive look at the pitch deck they used to convince Spotify and Uber backer TPG Capital to invest. Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Buzzy AI security startup Onfido has raised $100 million in a new fundraising round backed entirely by TPG Capital, the private equity firm which has previously invested in Spotify and Uber. 

The firm, founded in 2012 by Oxford graduates Ruhul Amin, Husayn Kassai and Eamon Jubbawy, counts fintech unicorn Revolut and car-sharing service Zipcar among its biggest clients. 

In January, the company acquired US-based tech company Aviata and partnered with some of the world's largest identity companies including ForgeRock, SecureKey Technologies and Okta.

Business Insider recently reported the firm was in talks with the US government to design "immunity passports" for those that had recovered from COVID-19.

Speaking to Business Insider, CEO Kassai said the firm hoped to "standardize" account security in the same way Big Tech giants had defined their own niches. 

"We're standardizing the way we prove our real identity, in a similar way to how Facebook has standardized the way we share our social identity, and LinkedIn has standardized the way we signal our professional identity," he said. 

"Over the next few years, we'll all be able to use our real identity to seamlessly access everything from financial services, online healthcare, trust marketplaces; to self-check-ins at airports, hotels and car rentals."

Check out Onfido's (redacted) pitch deck below: 

Original author: Martin Coulter

Buzzy AI security firm Onfido has raised $100 million in a funding round backed entirely by private equity firm TPG Capital, which has previously invested in Spotify and Uber.The firm was founded in 2012 by Oxford graduates Ruhul Amin, Husayn Kassai, and Eamon Jubbawy.  CEO Kassai told Business Insider what it was like to tie up a funding round as a global pandemic took hold. Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Buzzy AI security startup Onfido has raised $100 million in a fundraising round led by TPG Capital. 

Founded in 2012 by three Oxford graduates Ruhul Amin, Husayn Kassai, and Eamon Jubbawy, the firm's software uses artificial intelligence to help verify people's identities for financial services, gaming, and other industries. 

Identity fraud is the largest crime in the US and one of the fastest-growing in the world as an increasing number of firms move online. The UN estimates that up to 5% of the world's GDP ($2 trillion) is laundered money, of which 99% goes undetected. 

With more than 400 employees based in nine offices around the world, Onfido counts fintech unicorn Revolut, sports betting firm DraftKings and car-rental service Zipcar among its biggest clients. 

Business Insider recently revealed the firm was in talks with the US government to design "immunity passports" for those that had recovered from COVID-19.

Speaking to Business Insider, CEO Kassai revealed what it was like to tie up a funding round as a global pandemic took hold. 

"We started in January, when things weren't nearly so bad," he said. "But as we moved into March, of course, it was suddenly on everybody's mind. 

"I think we're lucky to be in a bracket that investors considered to be important moving forward: security. 

"Coronavirus has forced millions of people to either work from home or, at least, spend a lot more time online...so it becomes all the more important to make sure people feel secure." 

He added: "We're standardizing the way we prove our real identity, in a similar way to how Facebook has standardized the way we share our social identity, and LinkedIn has standardized the way we signal our professional identity."

Unusually, the $100 million round is backed solely by TPG, which has previously invested in Uber, Spotify and Airbnb. 

"Onfido's use of AI to develop market leading tech is extraordinary," said Mike Zappert, partner at TPG Growth.

"There is tremendous demand for seamless and simple identity verification and authentication across major sectors and we see them becoming the new standard for digital access."

The firm confirmed to Business Insider it had recently held talks with the US government on helping to roll out a coronavirus "immunity passport" in the coming months. 

Original author: Martin Coulter

A conspiracy theory linking the coronavirus with 5G has taken hold, and led to arson attacks on phone masts.More than 50 masts have now been targeted in arson attacks.One such attack forced the evacuation of some homes, while another damaged a mast providing coverage to an emergency coronavirus hospital.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

An online conspiracy theory blaming 5G for the coronavirus pandemic has led to arson attacks on approximately 50 phone masts in the UK.

Mobile UK, an organization that represents Britain's four mobile operators, confirmed the estimate to Business Insider.

A handful of attacks on phone masts took place in early April, but the Easter bank holiday weekend (April 10 to 13) saw a fresh burst of attacks.

Vodafone, EE, and BT also confirmed over the weekend that phone masts had been attacked, placing the blame firmly on 5G conspiracy theorists.

EE told the I newspaper that 22 towers had been set alight during the four-day holiday. The firm said that while not all the attacks were successful, all the sites had sustained damage from the fires.

A telecommunications mast damaged by fire is seen in Sparkhill, masts have in recent days been vandalised amid conspiracy theories linking the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and 5G masts, Birmingham, Britain, April 6, 2020. REUTERS/Carl Recine

One attack forced the evacuation of people from the home development that the mast was attached to. According to EE, the majority of the masts were not 5G.

Vodafone CEO Nick Jeffrey said in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday that 20 of the company's masts have been attacked, including a mast that provided coverage to Birmingham's Nightingale hospital, a newly erected emergency hospital set up to house coronavirus patients.

"It's heart-rending enough that families cannot be there at the bedside of loved ones who are critically ill. It's even more upsetting that even the small solace of a phone or video call may now be denied them because of the selfish actions of a few deluded conspiracy theorists," Jeffrey wrote.

BT CEO Philip Jansen wrote in an op-ed for the Mail on Sunday that 11 of BT's masts have been set alight, and 39 engineers had been attacked. 

Three has not given specifics on damage, but its CEO Robert Finnegan condemned attacks on engineers and masts. "This is absolutely vital work and the actions of a small minority who are abusing workers and vandalizing masts is extremely concerning," he said.

A tally would suggest that a minimum of 53 towers have been set ablaze across the UK.

Mobile UK said in a statement: "Theories being spread about 5G are baseless and are not grounded in credible scientific theory.

"Mobile operators are dedicated to keeping the UK connected, and careless talk could cause untold damage. Continuing attacks on mobile infrastructure risks lives and at this challenging time the UK's critical sectors must be able to focus all their efforts fighting this pandemic."

Anti-5G activists have claimed for years that the superfast mobile tech causes harm to humans.

The conspiracy theory mutated around January during the coronavirus outbreak to rest on the idea that 5G is either accelerating the spread of the virus, or that the virus itself is a myth concocted to cover up physical damage being done by 5G. That theory has picked up in the UK through March and April, as the nation's death toll rises.

There is no evidence to suggest 5G is harmful to human health, and multiple organizations, including the international radiation watchdog ICNIRP, have confirmed 5G is safe.

But anti-5G groups have started encouraging arson against phone masts. Over the weekend, Facebook removed two anti-5G groups whose members totaled more than 60,000, and who encouraged the destruction of 5G kit.

The UK is fast becoming of the worst-hit European countries by the coronavirus, with the official hospital death toll surpassing 12,000 on Tuesday.

Original author: Isobel Asher Hamilton