Disney CEO Bob Iger just stepped down, and while it's not surprising that CEOs like him make a lot more money than their employees, the massive extent of that pay gap can sometimes be overlooked.US companies are required to publish their chief executives' annual compensation, as well as the ratio of that compensation to the annual pay of the company's median employee.Using those ratios, we calculated how long it took CEOs at 19 of the biggest companies in the US to make what at typical employee earned in a year.Several CEOs, including Iger and Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, took less than a day to make a typical employee's annual salary.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Disney CEO Bob Iger just stepped down, and it's no surprise that chief executives like him make a lot more than the workers they oversee. We took a look at just how big that gap is at some of America's biggest corporations.

One of the provisions of the post-financial-crisis Dodd-Frank reform bill requires corporations to disclose the ratio of their CEO's pay to that of the median employee at the company. Using those pay ratios, we calculated how long it would take the CEOs of big US companies to make what the median employee earned in a year.

So far, 19 of the 100 largest corporations in the S&P 500 as measured by their market capitalizations have filed their CEO compensation figures and pay ratios for the 2019 fiscal year. More companies will follow over the next several months.

The gap between what a CEO makes and what a typical employee makes varies widely from company to company. Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang had a total compensation 88 times larger than the typical employee at his company, meaning it took him a little over four days to earn the median employee's annual salary. Meanwhile, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon made 1,076 times what the typical Walmart worker made, and thus earned a median Walmart employee's annual salary in just eight hours.

As with any discussion of executive compensation, it's worth noting that pay for people at the top is a bit more complicated than just getting a biweekly direct deposit. Many CEOs receive the bulk of their compensation in the form of equity in the companies they run, and so they may not realize the full value of their pay as reported to the SEC for years.

Here's the full list, along with the CEOs' fiscal year 2019 compensation, median employee pay, and the CEO to median worker pay ratio:

Original author: Andy Kiersz

Keith Block, the departing co-CEO of Salesforce, first joined the company in 2013 after a sudden and unexpected departure from Oracle. Block had been a respected sales executive at Oracle before clashing with the late Mark Hurd, who had been co-president, when Block led the tech giant's North America sales organization.Their feud turned nasty public after Block's text messages denigrating Hurd became public. In one message to a colleague, Block called Hurd "lots of noise, not much results." Block quickly became a star executive at Salesforce where he was named co-CEO in 2018."Keith Block is a super strong operator" who "presided over tremendous growth at Salesforce and had a big role in shaping what the company is today," IDC President Crawford Del Prete told Business Insider.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Keith Block's surprising exit as Salesforce co-CEO caps what had been an impressive run at the tech powerhouse he helped lead against his former company, Oracle.

Salesforce said Tuesday that Block is stepping down as founder Marc Benioff's co-CEO. Block will remain as an adviser to Benioff, who will become sole CEO.

Block's unexpected departure at Salesforce marks yet another sudden exit in a distinguished, though sometimes controversial, career in the business software market.

Block's Oracle career

Block joined Salesforce in 2013 after a distinguished 26-year career at rival Oracle where he played a critical sales role. Block had been head of Oracle's North America sales organization. But Block's Oracle career hit a rough spot after he clashed with the late Mark Hurd, who was then co-president with Safra Catz.

The feud turned nasty when Block's text messages denigrating Hurd and the Oracle hardware business were made public during a 2012 court case with Hewlett-Packard. 

Block complained to another Oracle executive that Hurd "doesn't like to travel … likes to stay in the U.S. and rattle around" and that he was "lots of noise, not much results." Block also suggested that Hurd should do his job and "be a f------ global president."

Block also blasted the decision to buy server giant Sun Microsystems in 2010, saying the business was "dead, dead, dead." Block also said: "We bought a dog...Mark wants us to sell the dog."

The messages quickly led to speculation that Block was on the way out which also sent Oracle's stock price to slide at the time. Oracle subsequently confirmed that Block had left the company.

A superstar at Salesforce

Salesforce quickly moved in to hire Block who is widely respected as an enterprise software sales leader. 

The hire was widely considered a coup for Salesforce, whose founder Benioff, was also an Oracle alum who was known for public feuds with Oracle founder Larry Ellison.

Block's reputation and experience as a respected enterprise sales leader were also seen as giving Salesforce a major edge. Block joined Salesforce as president and chief operating officer. He was named co-CEO in 2018.

Salesforce was so impressed with Block's performance the company soon rewarded him with a $211,703 car and an $86,423 watch.

IDC President Crawford Del Prete described Block as "a super strong operator," who "presided over tremendous growth at Salesforce and had a big role in shaping what the company is today."

"At the same time, it's clear that Marc likes doing a lot of things, and one of them is running Salesforce so the company will be in good hands with him as sole CEO," he told Business Insider. 

What's next for Block? He speculated that Block will "will take on a role running" another cloud software company.

Got a tip about Salesforce or another tech company? Contact this reporter via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., message him on Twitter @benpimentel or send him a secure message through Signal at (510) 731-8429. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Original author: Benjamin Pimentel

The National Transportation Safety Board said both Tesla's Autopilot system and an inattentive driver played a role in a fatal 2018 crash, The Verge reported.The NTSB held a hearing about the incident on Tuesday after a 23-month investigation.The 2018 incident raised questions about how Tesla has marketed Autopilot, and whether drivers are capable of using it responsibly.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The National Transportation Safety Board has determined that Tesla's Autopilot advanced driver-assistance system and the inattention of driver Walter Huang were likely factors in Huang's fatal 2018 crash in Mountain View, California, The Verge reported.

Huang had too much confidence in Autopilot, which was activated at the time of the crash, and had been playing a game on his phone before his Model X SUV hit a broken crash attenuator, the NTSB concluded, according to The Verge's report. The agency reportedly said that if the attenuator had been replaced, Huang would likely have survived.

The NTSB held a hearing about the accident on Tuesday following a 23-month investigation. The agency clashed with Tesla in 2018 over the electric-car maker's decision to reveal information about the crash on its blog.

Autopilot can control steering, acceleration, and braking in some situations, but requires the driver to keep their hands on the wheel and pay attention to the road at all times. The 2018 incident highlighted questions that have been raised about whether Tesla has been too aggressive in marketing Autopilot, and whether drivers are capable of paying sufficient attention to the road while using the feature.

Tesla has argued that, overall, Autopilot makes drivers safer, pointing to data that shows a lower rate of crashes in Tesla vehicles using Autopilot than in all vehicles in the US. But that data doesn't account for the fact that Autopilot is designed for use only during highway driving, something that by itself could result in fewer accidents.

Over 90% of respondents in a 2019 Bloomberg survey of 5,000 Model 3 sedan owners said they believed Autopilot made them safer.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

An NTSB representative directed Business Insider to the agency's Twitter account. At the time of publication, the account had not yet published an update regarding the agency's conclusions about the 2018 crash.

Are you a current or former Tesla employee? Do you have an opinion about what it's like to work there? Contact this reporter at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can also reach out on Signal at 646-768-4712 or email this reporter's encrypted address at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Original author: Mark Matousek

Mike Bloomberg. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Monday.

WeWork paid over $2 million in cash to a woman who threatened to expose claims of sex, illegal drugs, and discrimination in a horrifying 50-page document. With at least one external law firm, WeWork launched an investigation that would later find credible evidence of sexual relations between coworkers and drug use. 
Huawei is downplaying coronavirus impact on its smartphone sales, but experts say it will suffer more than Apple. Analysts said factory shutdowns, employee travel plans, and supply chain issues would all dent Huawei's performance.
Google AI will no longer use gender labels like 'woman' or 'man' on images of people to avoid bias. Google emailed Cloud Vision API customers on Thursday morning stating that it won't use labels that pertain to gender because you can't deduce someone's gender by their appearance alone.Two major US startup investors, Sequoia Capital and Microsoft's M12, have struggled to recruit talent in London as each plots expansion to Europe. According to three sources, Sequoia held talks with partners at VC firms Accel and Index Partners for its upcoming London office – but neither decided to join. Google has been resisting demands from the Justice Department to surrender documents for an antitrust probe, the Wall Street Journal reports. A Google spokeswoman said the company is concerned because the probe has brought in outside advisers who "work with our competitors and vocal complainants."Mike Bloomberg's social media strategy came under fire as Twitter suspended 70 pro-Bloomberg accounts for platform manipulation. The accounts in question were tweeting support for Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg using identical messages.Facebook has reportedly shown users 1.5 billion Bloomberg 2020 ads, more than twice as many as all other presidential candidates combined, including Trump. Since launching his campaign in November, Bloomberg has spent $45 million on Facebook ads — also more than his opponents combined, The Guardian found.The coronavirus is causing Amazon to worry whether it can get enough stock in ready for Prime Day, according to a report from the New York Times. Prime Day takes place in July, and the company reportedly sent an email to brands on Wednesday expressing concern that logistical problems arising from restrictions and slowdowns on Chinese goods could affect it this year.Inventor of the web Tim Berners-Lee raised $10 million last year for his company Inrupt which is trying to build a new, decentralized version of the web, the Financial Times reports. Inrupt is using the money to build an open source decentralised platform called Solid.Trump's campaign reportedly paid millions to buy out the ad space on YouTube's homepage ahead of the election, ensuring it will reach viewers at a crucial time. Obama made a similar ad buy on the YouTube homepage on Election Day during the 2012 race.

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Original author: Isobel Asher Hamilton

Among startups that don't fail, most are acquired instead of going public.Although most startups that are acquired are still purchased by other independent companies, a growing number and proportion are being snatched up by private equity firms.In the past, private equity firms were largely considered bottom feeders, buying up companies on the cheap for their cash flow, but increasingly, they're buying companies with the intent to help them grow or to combine them with other startups to reach a larger scale — and they're more willing to pay up for them, industry experts say.The trend is being driven by a surge of cash into private equity firms and the growing number of companies that are avoiding the public markets, they say.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

It used to be that the goal of every startup founder was to take their company public.

That may still be the goal for most, but in the last several decades, a much more realistic option for startups that managed to stay afloat was to be acquired by another company in the same sector.

In recent years, though, a third option has emerged for startups — being purchased by a private equity fund or by a company owned by one. Those kinds of buyouts now far outnumber IPOs and account for one out of every five so-called exits for venture capital-backed companies in the US, according to data PitchBook compiled for Business Insider.

The growing influence of private equity on the startup market has "really reshaped the industry," said Wylie Fernyhough, a senior private equity analyst at PitchBook.

The kinds of startups being targeted by private-equity firms likely would have gone public 20 years ago, industry experts told Business Insider. But today, they're generally considered too small or don't have bright enough prospects to hit the public markets.

For such companies, private equity has become "an attractive exit opportunity," said Pete Flint, a managing partner at venture capital firm NFX.

The vast majority of startups that don't fail are acquired

Venture capitalists back startups with the intent of cashing out those investments at some point in the future, either by being able to sell their shares to public investors when or after the companies go public or by selling the startups to other companies.

While initial public offerings get lots of attention, they've become relatively rare. In part that's because many startups never make it to the exit stage at all, because they go out of business first. But also it's because the vast majority of startups that don't go out of business are acquired instead of going public.

Last year, for example, of the 934 startups that had some kind of exit event, 853 — about 91% — were acquired either by another company or as part of a private equity-related deal, according to PitchBook. That rate has been relatively steady over the last 18 years.

"The vast majority of exits that all of us are thinking about are things that are not the public markets," said Sean Foote, a member of the professional faculty at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Acquisitions, he continued, are "the major way in which companies find their home."

While such deals have long been important, what's changed over the last 20 years is the growing influence of private equity. In that time period, private equity firms have gone from bit players in the startup ecosystem to major actors in it.

Ruobing Su/Business Insider

In 2003, just 17 startups were acquired by private equity firms or companies owned by them, according to PitchBook's data. That amounted to just 5% of total exits that year. By 2012, 88 startups were snatched up in private equity-related deals, accounting for 10% of all exits. Last year, 186 were acquired in private-equity deals, amounting to 20% of all exits.

Private equity firms are big players in the acquisition market

In 2004, IPOs outnumbered private-equity buyouts by a ratio of 3-to-1, according to PitchBook. But private equity acquisitions have outnumbered IPOs every year since 2008, and for the last three years, there have been more than twice as many of those kinds of deals as public offerings.

What's more, even as startup acquisitions of all kinds have skyrocketed — jumping from 279 in 2002 to 853 last year — private equity-related ones have accounted for a growing portion. They accounted for 22% of all startup acquisitions last year after making up less than 7% in 2002, according to PitchBook.

"I think it's a trend that's going to keep growing," said Lanham Napier, the cofounder of startup investment firm BuildGroup.

The amount of money startups are seeing from selling to private equity firms is still a small portion of the total value of all exits, varying from less than 1% to about 8% annually over the last 10 years. But it's grown significantly, going from just $690 million in 2012 to $6.3 billion last year. And some individual deals have become quite large.

Ruobing Su/Business Insider

In 2017, for example, private equity-backed PetSmart bought online pet supply retailer Chewy for $3.35 billion. And last year, PE firm Thomas Bravo acquired ConnectWise, a maker of mobile device management software, for $1.5 billion.

Generally, the private-equity firms are snatching up more mature startups. On average, the companies they're acquiring are around 10 years old, according to PitchBook's Fernyhough. By contrast, startups that went public were about 9 years old at the time of their IPO and those that were acquired by other companies were about 7 years old, he said.

But increasingly, private equity firms are backing more mature companies and using them to buy younger startups, creating larger companies or "platforms" that potentially offer better growth or market prospects, the industry experts said.

"You can sell early stage companies to PE-backed platforms," said Dan Malven, a managing director at 4490 Ventures. "I think we're going to see more and more of that."

Fewer companies are going public

Part of what's driven the surge of private-equity buyouts — and acquisitions overall — is that fewer and fewer venture-backed companies are going public. That's a trend that dates back to the 1990s and one that's linked to the growing dominance of small numbers of firms over large sectors of the tech industry, according to research by Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida who has been studying the public offering market since the 1980s.

But that trend has arguably been accelerated over the last 20 years by regulations that added to the costs and burdens of being a public company and, conversely, made it much easier for companies to remain private for far longer periods.

"The public market has evolved to a point where it's not that you couldn't have these companies go public, but there are significant regulatory costs that you can avoid if you stay private," said Robert Hendershott, an associate finance professor at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business. "Private equity is a natural way to give someone an exit."

Ruobing Su/Business Insider

The kinds of startups generally favored by the public markets these days are those that are growing quickly, operate in a large market, and are either profitable or have a clear path to profits, NFX's Flint said. Unfortunately, there are lots of good companies that don't meet all three of those criteria. But they can be a good fit for private equity firms, because such firms can invest in their long-term growth or combine them with other startups to give them the scale they need to be more attractive to public investors, he said.

"They are perfect opportunities for private equity rollup or acquisition," Flint said.

Private equity firms are swimming in cash

The surge in private equity buyouts has also been stoked by a huge gust of money into the industry, particularly in the last 10 years. In 2010, US-based private equity firms raised $59.2 billion, according to PitchBook. Last year, that amount had swelled to $301.3 billion.

Most VCs are still looking for startups that offer big returns, said NFX managing partner Pete Flint. But the reality is that most startups won't and being able to sell such companies to private equity firms, even for lower returns, is beneficial to founders and their venture backers, he said. NFX While only a portion of those amounts are going to tech-focused funds, that portion has been growing. Tech-focused private equity funds based in North America and Europe raised just $3.7 billion in 2010, according to PitchBook. By last year, that amount was up to $68.3 billion. By contrast, the US venture capital industry raised $46.3 billion in new funds last year, according to PitchBook.

Private equity funds have access to "a staggering amount of capital," said Mike Smerklo, a managing director at Next Coast Ventures.

But another reason why private-equity acquisitions have become increasingly popular for startups and their venture backers is because the deals can be more attractive than either going public or being acquired by another operating company, industry experts said.

It used to be that private equity firms acted kind of like bottom feeders in the startup market, paying relatively small amounts for firms that had few other options and focusing on the cash flow those companies could generate for them. But that's no longer the case. Private equity firms — particularly the tech-focused ones — are increasingly looking at companies that can offer revenue growth and they're often willing to pay top dollar for them, the experts said.

Startups used to see the biggest exits by going public or by being acquired by an operating company, said BuildGroup's Napier.

Now, though, "some of these private equity firms have gotten so good at [buying startups], some of their valuations are just as big as those other things," he said.

PE firms can move quickly and offer fewer restrictions

Private equity firms also tend to be far less bureaucratic than corporate merger-and-acquisition departments, they said. Such firms also can often throw far more resources to bear on analyzing potential deals than corporations can. And the deals they strike typically don't have to go through the kinds of shareholder votes or board approvals that corporate deals often require.

"They're able to move a lot more quickly," said PitchBook's Fernyhough.

What's more, venture investors and founders often confront more obstacles to accessing their promised returns when they sell to corporations or take their companies public than when they sell to private equity firms. Typically in an IPO, there's a lock-up period of up to six months during which early investors are barred from selling the company's stock. Meanwhile, in corporate acquisitions, there often are conditions put in place that allow founders or early investors to see the full value of the buyout only if the startup hits certain financial or performance targets after the acquisition.

"When I sell a company to a private equity firm, it's clean," said Foote, who in addition to his role at Berkeley is a managing director at venture capital firm Transform Capital. "There's often very few strings attached."

It's not unusual for acquirers, whether they are large, independent enterprises, other startups or private equity-backed conglomerates, to pay for their purchases with shares of their own stock. But the private equity-backed roll-ups often are perceived to have greater prospects for growth than big, established corporations, potentially making their shares more desirable.

"We try and analyze that growth potential," said 4490's Malven. They try to figure out if "we want to ride on their equity."

The fast pace can also cut against startup founders and VCs

To be sure, the growing influence of private equity does have some drawbacks for venture capitalists and startups. The fast pace of those firms and their large research teams can go against founders and their backers, Malven said. The private equity firms can have their teams analyzing multiple companies and potential deals at once, he said. If a startup doesn't act on an offer quickly, the firm can threaten to move on to doing a deal with a rival company, he said.

"They can put you in a squeeze," said Malven.

And the firms can have their shortcomings when it comes to evaluating startups, industry experts said. Because they're typically focused on analyzing the financial health of companies, they can be very good at evaluating companies that already have established a market for their products and have a revenue stream, they said. But they're not as good at sizing up companies based on the potential of their technology or their intellectual property or their unproven ideas, they said.

"They're much at better looking in the rear-view mirror than they are in through the windshield," Malven said.

Still, by and large the venture capitalists and other industry experts said the venture ecosystem has benefitted from private equity firms providing more exit options for startups.

Venture capitalists are often looking for home runs with their investments — companies that have the potential to deliver huge returns on their investments. That remains the primary focus of firms like his, said NFX's Flint. But not every startup is going to be a home-run investment, and having the ability to get a modest return on those kinds of companies is a good thing, he said.

"More options for more capital is great for the ecosystem," Flint said. "It's great for founders, it's great for early stage VCs, it's great for customers."

Got a tip about the venture-capital industry or startups? Contact this reporter via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., message him on Twitter @troywolv, or send him a secure message through Signal at 415.515.5594. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Original author: Troy Wolverton and Ruobing Su

"Sonic the Hedgehog" narrowly topped "The Call of the Wild" to win the weekend domestic box office."Sonic" brought in an estimated $26.3 million while "Wild" earned $24.8 million."Sonic the Hedgehog" has been number one at the box office for two straight weeks.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

It's very rare that Disney has to duke it out with any other studio for box office supremacy, but that's what happened this weekend with its 20th Century title "The Call of the Wild" against Paramount's "Sonic the Hedgehog."

The adaptation of Jack London's classic novel starring Harrison Ford and a CGI dog brought in an estimated $24.8 million its opening weekend at the domestic box office. But "Sonic," the classic video game adaptation, topped that with a $26.3 million take in its second weekend in theaters (its domestic total is now over $100 million).

"Call of the Wild." 20th Century Studios The two movies have been trading blows the whole weekend. On Friday, "Call of the Wild" brought in $7 million to top "Sonic," which brought in $6.2 million. By Saturday night, the hedgehog had passed the gruff Ford movie as it took in $12 million on the day versus $9.9 million. Sunday estimates have "Sonic" edging out "Wild" once the weekend ends.

Many believed "Sonic the Hedgehog" would easily win the box office for a second-straight weekend, but the $25 million take by "The Call of the Wild" is better than industry projections (though it does have a hefty $135 million budget) as Ford's name above the poster seems to have motivated families to check out the movie. And it probably didn't hurt that "Wild" had the Disney marketing muscle behind it.

However, Paramount gets the rare two weekends in a row above the box office heap with "Sonic." The movie scored a rare box office win last weekend for the studio, and to win again is much-needed fuel for Hollywood's oldest studio that only shines these days when it's releasing Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible" titles.

"Brahms: The Boy II.' Stxfilms STXfilms/Lakeshore Entertainment's "Brahms: The Boy II" brought in $5.9 million. The horror starring Katie Holmes hit its projections and is a solid win for STXfilms.But not all horrors are working in theaters. Sony's "Blumhouse's Fantasy Island" took in a minuscule $4.2 million in its second weekend out. Its domestic cume is now at $20.17 million. Thankfully for all involved, the movie was only made for $7 million.

Original author: Jason Guerrasio

"Hunters" creator David Weil told Business Insider he has enough ideas for five seasons of the new Amazon series about Nazi-killing vigilantes. Weil said that it was important that the series had a "vision toward the future" as he was trying to sell it to potential buyers.He wrote a spec script and an 80-page series bible five years ago that detailed the character backstories and the entire first season, and also included details for future seasons.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

For those who have already finished "Hunters" — Amazon's new drama about Nazi-killing vigilantes in 1970s US starring Al Pacino and Logan Lerman — and are hungry for more, its creator has good news.

"I have at least five seasons' worth of ideas of where I see the series going, and I certainly know the ending of the series," David Weil, the show's creator and coshowrunner, told Business Insider.

Weil wrote an 80-page series bible and spec script for "Hunters" five years ago before he shopped it to potential buyers. The bible included specific details about character backstories and everything that would happen in the first season, along with ideas for future seasons.

"Really anything that would be asked about the show, I wanted to have an answer for, or any fear that a buyer would have I wanted to be able to address," Weil said.

Amazon has yet to announce a season two renewal, but Weil said that conceiving of a show with "legs" and a "vision toward the future" was important for selling the series. It worked, as Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke bought it after another network had passed, Weil said.

"She saw something really special in this piece, so Jordan [Peele] and I were so thrilled to call Amazon home," Weil said. "They've supported the vision. It was a long ride with ups and downs, but ultimately a wonderful result."

Peele, an executive producer on the series, was already on board before Amazon came along. Weil and Peele (who directed "Get Out" and "Us") shared the same agent and after the two met, Weil sent Peele his pilot script for "Hunters."

"He's a champion for underrepresented stories," Weil said of Peele. "So he came on and just from day one of this journey he's been such a champion. He's pushed me to be bold and brave and just have confidence."

Weil said that the best piece of advice Peele gave him was to lean into the boldness of the series.

"People are afraid to make content about incredibly sensitive or difficult subject matter," Weil said. "I think the boldest storytellers are the ones who take that chance and risk. Stories about the Holocaust are some of the most important stories to tell, but I think a lot of buyers caution against it because it's not safe or easy."

Original author: Travis Clark

 

Aiven CEO Oskari Saarenmaa. Aiven Finnish startup Aiven offers cloud services that make it easier for businesses to set up and manage their cloud data and applications based on open source software.Open source technologies allow an organization to build a more robust network in a collaborative way with the help of a community of developers.But Aiven CEO and cofounder Oskari Saarenmaa said open source can be complex to manage and expensive. Aiven's platform gives businesses the tools and services to manage their open source networks.Here are the slides Aiven used to raise $50 million from investors, including IVP, Earlybird VC and Lifeline Ventures.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Businesses are moving their networks to the cloud, often with the help of open source technologies.

But implementing such projects can be tricky and expensive, said Oskari Saarenmaa, CEO and cofounder of Aiven.

The Finnish startup offers cloud-based tools and services to make it easier for businesses to manage their open source projects, which are based on the collaborative effort of a community of developers. 

The startup, which is based in Helsinki, announced recently that it raised $40 million from investors in a Series B round. Aiven has raised a total of $50 million from investors, including IVP, Earlybird VC and Lifeline Ventures.

"Oftentimes, these open source technologies are rather complex to manage," Saarenmaa told Business Insider. "We take the best open source data technology that allows you to store or ingest data and turn those into managed cloud services."

Aiven said its platform is now used by more than 500 businesses, including Atlassian, Comcast and Toyota.  The startup said it is addressing a pressing need as more businesses move to the cloud. "While larger companies have the resources and expertise to manage these deployments internally, most companies require some level of third-party support to effectively utilize open source," Aiven explained in a statement.

Aiven's growth underscores the growth in open source systems for managing data, which is expected to account for more than 15% of data base management spending by 2023,  propelled mainly by more enterprises moving to the cloud, according to Gartner.

Here are the slides Aiven used to raise $50 million from investors:

Original author: Benjamin Pimentel

Mark Lapidus left his high profile executive role as a real estate kingpin for coworking giant WeWork in October, 2018, under mysterious circumstances, according to WeWork employees who worked in the real estate group at the time. 

The official story, among those who heard it, was that, as one of WeWork's earliest employees, he was exhausted from non-stop dealmaking and travel, disliked the humdrum of a company grown past its startup roots to over 9,000 employees, people with knowledge of the matter told Business Insider.

But there was more to the story. 

As Business Insider previously reported, in the summer of 2018, a woman who formerly reported to Lapidus and later worked on the same real estate team, sent a document with allegations that, while they didn't name Lapidus directly, involve involved the department he once ran and its general culture. Among some of her softer allegations: bosses were sleeping with subordinates and rampant hard drug use. She was threatening to sue. Business Insider obtained a copy of the document.

WeWork conducted an internal investigation found credible claims of drug use and sexual relationships between employees and their bosses. It offered her a settlement. Neumann also bowed to pressure from several members of his senior leadership team to negotiate an exit for Lapidus, sources told Business Insider. 

Until that investigation, Lapidus had seemed untouchable.

He was the first cousin of Rebecca Neumann, wife to then-WeWork CEO Adam Neumann, and had been with the company since nearly the beginning. He had overseen some of WeWork's most precious real estate deals as the global head of real estate through 2016, before he moved into other roles on the team. For years, the company had gathered on a large property his parents owned for a raucous party known as Summer Camp.

Former colleagues characterized him as a good dealmaker who loved to schmooze and party.

His expense reports, per records viewed by Business Insider, offer a window into a wild lifestyle enabled by WeWork.

In May 2017, Lapidus spent more than $5,000 for a team outing at hot London nightclub The Box, per records reviewed by Business Insider.

Later that month in Las Vegas, Lapidus paid $36,000 for a table at Encore Beach Club and another $9,000 for one dinner while he was at real estate conference International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).  The Vegas event, ICSC, has in the past been notorious for hard partying and wild spending across the real estate industry.

At ICSC, Lapidus racked up $9,500 in room charges at the Wynn hotel, including more than $500 at the spa.

One WeWork real estate executive recalled being shocked by Lapidus's spending, since the conference was full of people ready to shower WeWork executives – their clients – with dinners, bottle-service tables, and other gifts.  But another explained that the large tab was the result of an event WeWork threw to schmooze its landlords and other groups.

To read the full investigation into a trail of settlements at WeWork, and how one woman on Lapidus' team got paid over $2 million in cash to go away ahead of WeWork's major Softbank fundraise, click here.

Have a WeWork tip? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (646) 768-1627 using a non-work phone, email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or Twitter DM at @MeghanEMorris. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Original author: Julie Bort and Meghan Morris

When Megan Murphy was laid off from her job at a Chicago-based tech company before Thanksgiving, she created a spreadsheet and slack channel, and invited other job-hunters to join. The newly-born Chicago Superstars allows laid-off local tech workers to network, connect with recruiters and find new jobs. As waves of layoffs hit the tech industry across the country, crowd-sourced spreadsheets, job seeker databases and online communities like Chicago Superstars have cropped up around the country, pointing to a demand for a space where job-hunters can band together and support each other. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

When Megan Murphy was suddenly laid off from her marketing job at a Chicago-based software company in November — right before the holiday season — she had few resources on which to draw, and no network to call on to find her next gig.

"What does it say about me as an employee that I'm not critical to the organization? My brain was spinning," Murphy told Business Insider. 

It didn't take long, though, for inspiration to strike. Taking her cue from a trend that started in Silicon Valley last year in the wake of layoffs at Juul, Zenefits, and Uber, she created a spreadsheet for laid-off workers to circulate their names, positions, companies and LinkedIn profiles. Referrals help people get hired faster than employees who throw their resumes at online job postings, Murphy reasoned. 

"Job boards are everywhere," Murphy said. "The power of the community is how we can help you avoid that application-tracking black hole." 

Chicago Superstars, as the project came to be known, is one of the latest examples of how the tech industry is banding together for support in a time when mega-companies like Uber and WeWork go through rough patches that see big layoffs.

To help laid-off workers grappling with the emotional toll of suddenly finding themselves without job or purpose, Murphy took the project one step further and added a form that invited applicants to join a chat room in the Slack app and support each other through the process. 

"Misery loves company," she joked in a blog post describing the project.

 

Less than three months after its inception, Chicago Superstars looks entirely different from the initial bare-bones spreadsheet.

A talent database lists the names, experiences, and contact details of 65 Chicago workers. Murphy sends out a weekly newsletter to recruiters, to introduce new additions and resumes on the list. And Murphy's original vision of a "community" for laid-off tech workers on Slack has grown into 13 channels. It may keep growing, as her self-described "passion project" picks up speed. 

"It's kind of been coming in waves," Murphy added. "But its been very cool, having it grow so quickly."

Tech workers band together as layoffs shake the industry

Layoffs have racked the tech industry over the past year, as startups like WeWork and Zume have hit significant turbulence and been forced to make job cuts. More than 3,000 people were laid off by SoftBank-backed startups alone over the past two months, Business Insider previously reported. 

Job openings have also dwindled in many companies. For instance, Uber's open job postings have shrunk by about 34% over the past year, according to data analytics firm Thinknum, tightening the competition to land a new job in tech.

In Silicon Valley, where in-built startup alumni networks already exist, efforts to help tech workers rebound from layoffs have taken place in the form of crowd-sourced spreadsheets, like that of Uber and Juul. These spreadsheets have been emulated in different forms by projects like Chicago Superstars, as Crunchbase first reported. 

And these talent databases have proved massively helpful for companies looking to scale their business. "Companies are still looking to hire aggressively," said Matthew Green, a senior executive at Sales Assembly, a company that helps Chicago's growth-stage startups grow their operations. "They have to hire twenty, or fifty, or even a hundred bodies," so Green helps connect these companies to the members of Chicago Superstars. 

The spreadsheet trend spreads

As the spreadsheet trend spreads across the country, devotees to the model have carved out a space for laid-off tech workers to band together and support each other through a difficult time. 

In Seattle, Chris Brownridge has built an online jobs site called Silver Linings, that is taking a similar approach to Chicago Superstars. Recruiters can pay $30/month to browse a social network of local talent, while job-seekers pay nothing to participate in its community.

Like Murphy, Brownridge created the site as an outcome of his own personal experiences with tech layoffs — but he came at it as the founder of a startup forced to shut down and lay off all his employees. Although Brownridge passed around a spreadsheet for his employees to join, he felt like it didn't do enough to help resettle laid-off workers, in an idea that proved to be the genesis of Silver Linings. 

Both Brownridge and Murphy say, however, that their efforts aren't enough; employers who know that they're about to embark on a round of job cuts need to be upfront about the news to better help their workers. 

"There's a bit of a stigma around layoffs... larger companies could do a better job of getting ahead of it," Brownridge said. 

And more than anything, Murphy says, the project wants those who lost their jobs to know that they're not alone.

"I feel like getting laid off comes with a lot of shame and uncertainty and fear," Murphy said. "And it doesn't have to be that way." 

Original author: Bani Sapra

Microsoft spent more than $9 billion on acquisitions during its last fiscal year, mostly attributable to its $7.5 billion purchase of GitHub.Analysts expect the buying spree to continue, and speculated on a few big names that Microsoft might try to buy.The list includes Salesforce, Twilio and Workday — though be advised that there's no indication that anybody at Microsoft has so much as thought of buying any of these companies; this is all speculation from industry analysts.Also of note is that most of these companies are worth far more than the $26.2 billion Microsoft spent on LinkedIn in its biggest acquisition ever.Click here to read more BI Prime stories.

Microsoft spent more than $9 billion on acquisitions during the company's last fiscal year — mostly spent on its $7.5 billion GitHub acquisition, plus 19 other companies besides. 

Analysts expect the buying spree to continue, going so far as to speculate on potential acquisition targets, including Salesforce, Twilio and Workday.

Business Insider compiled a list of the companies analysts expect Microsoft could try to buy — though it should be noted that this is all speculation, and there's no indication that anybody at Microsoft has so much as thought of buying any of these companies.

It's also worth noting most of the companies on the list cost significantly more than Microsoft has ever paid to acquire any company.

Microsoft's largest acquisition to date was paying $26.2 billion for LinkedIn; Salesforce carries a market cap of some $168 billion at the time of writing. Wedbush Securities expects Microsoft to spend around $2 billion on mergers and acquisitions this year – which is too little to buy even one of the companies on this list.

But Microsoft's rivals including Google Cloud are expected to be mulling big acquisitions to get ahead in the cloud game, which may entice the Redmond-based tech titan to open its wallet.

Here are the companies analysts expect Microsoft could buy in the coming years, including to boost the company's multibillion-dollar cloud business: 

Original author: Ashley Stewart

An Austrian architecture firm designed modular treehouses, called Bert.The quirky designs are inspired by cartoons, like Minions and Sesame Street.Designers also see the homes as a way to combat "lazy and boring" architecture.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Tiny homes are fashionable right now, but the Bert modular home isn't like other tiny homes on the market.

In general, they tend to have minimalist, sleek looks, but this treehouse is oddly-shaped and almost whimsical. 

Bert homes are "shaped by playfulness and invite people to experience architecture and nature through the eyes of children," according to the press release. The homes were designed by Austrian architecture studio Precht, in collaboration with Baumbau, a startup that specializes in tiny homes and treehouses. 

The designers talked about how architecture has turned toward buildings that are easy to construct and profitable, but "lazy and boring," making cities across the world look the same. With Bert, they hope to buck this trend and show that modern, sustainable architecture can also be fun and interesting. 

The first Bert structures will go on sale in spring 2020, and they start at €120,000 (about $130,00) with the option to add on more modules. The companies plan to announce further collaborations on more unique buildings soon. 

Original author: Mary Meisenzahl

Bay Area tech workers are becoming more aware of the importance of personal style, according to Kimberly Gant, who's been a stylist in the Bay Area for seven years. That's reflected in major tech CEOs like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, who have started dressing more fashionably and professionally over the past few years. Gant highlighted three issues she's noticed among people who come to her for guidance, and gave advice for improving your own wardrobe. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

For years, the reputation in Silicon Valley was that business casual clothing was a thing of the past, and jeans and t-shirts are the norm. 

But as tech CEOs grow up, perhaps the tech industry's sense of style has, too. Jeff Bezos, for instance, underwent a style revamp three years ago, and even Mark Zuckerberg has ditched his gray t-shirts — these days, you're just as likely to see him in a suit and tie as jeans. 

That's being reflected in Silicon Valley as a whole. Over the past five years or so, Bay Area workers have become more aware of how they want to present themselves, according to Kimberly Gant, who's been a stylist in the Bay Area for seven years. 

Gant owns a personal styling business called Canvas Styling, and said many of her clients work in tech. But Gant has also worked with tech workers at all levels, from those just starting out in Silicon Valley to VCs and upper management at tech companies.

Below are the biggest issues she sees among people who come to her for guidance, and her advice for stepping it up. 

Original author: Avery Hartmans

Anglo American, ENGIE, and Williams Advanced Engineering are working together to create the world's largest electric vehicle: a hydrogen-powered mining truck.Anglo American claims the vehicle will be capable of performing just as well, if not better, than its diesel-powered counterparts.The truck will begin testing in a platinum group metals mine in Mogalakwena, South Africa before being used in other locations.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Anglo American, ENGIE, and Williams Advanced Engineering are working together to create the world's largest hydrogen-powered mining truck capable of performing just as well, if not better, than its diesel-powered counterparts.

Anglo American is in the process of modifying its fleet of mining trucks to make them hydrogen-powered. ENGIE will be supplying the hydrogen technology and Williams the battery system, while Anglo American is providing its own Komatsu trucks. 

The first rounds of the hydrogen-powered truck production will begin this year, and testing will occur at the platinum group metals mine in Mogalakwena, South Africa before being used in other locations. Keep scrolling to see the environmentally-friendly mine truck:

Original author: Brittany Chang

Back in 2015, GitLab set a very specific goal: It would go public in November 2020. Now worth $2.75 billion, GitLab is still on target — though GitLab CEO Sid Sijbrandij says that it "might be sooner, and it might be later" depending on market conditions.Sijbrandij says that to get there, the company needs to build a more "predictable" business and make itself more transparent to would-be investors.In the past year, GitLab nearly tripled in size, but has also undergone some internal turmoil as employees and executives depart under unusual circumstances.GitLab also faces intense competition from GitHub, which is backed by Microsoft's vast resources.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Back in 2015, developer startup GitLab called its shot: It would go public in November 2020.

As that date draws closer, the startup has built itself up to a $2.75 billion valuation, and closed a $268 million funding round in September. In January of this year, GitLab also announced that it had surpassed $100 million in annual recurring revenue. And the all-remote company hit 1,100 employees, almost tripling from 400 a year ago.

Despite all these changes, GitLab CEO Sid Sijbrandij says the company is still on track to go public this year — though it may or may not be right at its original planned date of November 18th. He notes that the company is "not beholden to that date," and that market conditions might forcing plans to change.

"It might be sooner, and it might be later," Sijbrandij told Business Insider. "The date we set is an ambition."

The timing is for a few reasons, Sijbrandij said. In 2015, when it set the goal, the company took its first venture capital, and Sijbrandij said that it wanted to show investors a return on the investment sooner rather than later. Secondly, that same year is when it started issuing stock options to early employees, with a four-year vesting period.

In other words, employees and investors alike are primed and ready for the chance to cash out on their GitLab shares. "We want to make sure that pretty soon afterwards, there was liquidity," Sijbrandij said.

Previously, Sijbrandij told Business Insider that the company is leaning towards a direct listing, but he now says that it could still go the more traditional IPO route. 

Either way, Sijbrandij says, the company has some work to do in order to make its very startup-like business and working style more palatable to Wall Street investors — especially as the rising competitive threat from the Microsoft-owned GitHub only grows.

"Reviewing all the aspects of our business is a lot of work," Sijbrandij said. "I expect a lot of discussions about transparency and combine that with making sure the investors have the right information to base our decisions."

Transparency

A big part of the company's IPO prep is around its much-prized culture of transparency, Sijbrandij says.

GitLab has always prided itself on making all information available to parties inside and outside the company — its IPO plans were in a public document for anybody to view, from the moment they were made. Similarly, the company publishes certain information about its revenue, employment stats, and even the employee handbook, where anybody can see.

Sijbrandij says that if GitLab wants to keep up that transparency after IPO, it will have to get a lot more diligent about making sure that any information it does share publicly is up to Wall Street standards. And once it's subject to SEC scrutiny, it will also have to come up with a plan for quickly correcting any mistakes in public documents.

"One of the things that will be different from other companies is we're a much more transparent company than most," Sijbrandij said. "Being a public company means you're sharing more with the world...We want to keep saying a lot and keep sharing a lot, but whenever there is an inaccuracy, we're much better at addressing that inaccuracy."

A 'predictable' business

Sijbrandij also says GitLab is working to make sure business becomes "predictable," even as its revenue grows. As a public company, Wall Street will be keeping extremely close tabs on the company, and Sijbrandij says GitLab needs to "manage expectations accordingly."

"If you're a public company, investors don't just want to see growth," Sijbrandij said. "We have to rely on meeting the predictions that you gave off. At GitLab, we're good at growing fast, but in the past, we had one quarter that was good, one quarter that was not as good, and the next quarter was even better."

A big bar to that predictability has been hiring, Sijbrandij says. There have been quarters where the company simply didn't have enough headcount to keep pace with growth, holding it back from reaching higher highs, he said. It's something the company has gotten better at over time, he says. 

"It's hard to keep hiring the exact high amount of people while having a super high bar," Sijbrandij said.

Sijbrandij also says GitLab has a "high-margin business," which will help as it prepares to go public. He expects that in the long term, GitLab will show "high profitability."

Executive changes

Another step towards the IPO has been some new executive hires.

In January, it hired Michelle Hodges as vice president of global channels and Robin Schulman as chief legal officer. Sijbrandij said that hiring a chief legal officer was "a really important goal" as GitLab gets closer to becoming a public company.

However, the appointment of Schulman to the role follows a period of upheaval at the company. Schulman's predecessor as the company's top lawyer, vice president of legal Jamie Hurewitz, was fired from GitLab in January, as Bloomberg reported at the time.

The Register reported that her termination was linked to Hurewitz's support for Candice Ciresi, GitLab's former director of risk and global compliance, who resigned over claims that the company is 'engaging in discriminatory and retaliatory behavior' after proposing a ban on hiring in China and Russia.

In a broader sense, the Register report indicates that the company has seen some executive turnover, linked to concerns among GitLab's female employees of unfair treatment, unequal pay, or limited advancement opportunities at the company.

A company spokesperson says that "diversity and inclusion is a core GitLab value," and that "because we value the privacy of our current and former employees, we do not discuss personnel issues publicly."

Market timing

In the run-up to IPO, Sijbrandij says he's also keeping an eye on murmurs about a possible economic downturn. He says that GitLab would have some advantages in such a situation — the company's technology helps developers be more productive, if nothing else — such a downturn would certainly impact the company.

"If you Google GitLab's biggest risks, an economic downturn is one of the biggest things we list," Sijbrandij said. "On one hand, it won't hurt so much because GitLab is not only a way to increase revenue for companies but also a way to save money...What you do see in an economic downturn is that decisions are delayed and the sales cycle gets longer."

If GitLab were to go public, it would also be in a market climate that hasn't always been kind to high-flying startups Companies like Uber, Lyft, and Casper have hit turbulence since their own recent IPOs.

Bigger goals ahead

Right now, one of GitLab's biggest competitors is GitHub, which is now owned by Microsoft. To compete with GitHub and its very deep-pocketed owner, Sijbrandij says GitLab needs to make sure that it uses its biggest advantage as a smaller company and move faster.

"Every month we're shipping a new version that has 50 significant features," Sijbrandij said. "We want to keep innovating faster than the rest of the industry. If you're going to base your whole company on one DevOps platform, it better be the best and most complete platform."

It's also important to note that the November 2020 wasn't the end of GitLab's plans for the company. By November 2023, it plans to hit a billion dollars of revenue, to be cash flow positive, and for its employees to have a high satisfaction rate about working at the company — among other milestones.

In the interim, Sijbrandij says, he's gratified that the company has seen the growth that it has.

"We're excited that customers are trusting us and investing in GitLab," Sijbrandij said. "We're excited that we've been able to grow at a really rapid pace last year."

Do you work at GitLab? Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Signal at 646.376.6106, Telegram at @rosaliechan, or Twitter DM at @rosaliechan17. (PR pitches by email only, please.) Other types of secure messaging available upon request. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Original author: Rosalie Chan

Hello!

Imagine the following scenario: You're a first time investor who wants to start trading on a fancy new app you've downloaded to your iPhone. But your dream investment, Apple, has a stock price of around $310, more than the $200 you've put aside to start investing.

Enter: fractional-share trading.

As Dan DeFrancesco and Rebecca Ungarino report this week:

At a time when some of the most popular stocks are at all-time highs, fractional-share trading allows customer exposure to companies they might not typically be able to afford whole shares in. Consider shares of Amazon, trading this week north of $2,000.

Interactive Brokers, Robinhood and Fidelity have launched an offering in recent months, and Charles Schwab says it plans to.

Dan and Rebecca talked to nearly a dozen insiders and executives about the rise of fractional-share trading in mainstream retail investing to understand who wins, who loses, and what it says about the industry today. You can read their story here.

And you can read more about the strategy at Interactive Brokers, which has consistently led the way in introducing new features like fractional-share trading, right here. 

In related news, Morgan Stanley this week announced a $13 billion deal to buy E-Trade. Rebecca broke down why the Wall Street bank, which has 15,000-plus financial advisers catering to the super-wealthy, is buying a discount broker known for its talking baby ads.

And Dan talked to industry insiders who said the deal could kick off a buying spree for wealth-management fintechs. He explained why banks could be ready to "open up their pocketbooks" and what it means for startup valuations.

Samantha Lee/Business Insider

Elsewhere this week, Meghan Morris, Julie Bort, and Dakin Campbell reported that WeWork paid over $2 million to a woman who threatened to expose claims of sex, illegal drugs, and discrimination in a horrifying 50-page document.

From their story:

The story is the result of a months-long investigation, in which they spoke with 18 current and former executives and employees who were either involved with the company's investigation or familiar with the real estate team more broadly, revealed how the department escaped scrutiny for years. Business Insider also learned of several other WeWork settlements while investigating these claims.

You can read the full story here. 

Lastly, Patrick Coffee, Lauren Johnson, and Tanya Dua had a string of stories this week on the advertising pros operating Michael Bloomberg's political advertising machine.

Happy reading!

-- Matt

Finance and Investing

Private equity is finally warming up to data-science hiring. Here's how 6 firms like Blackstone and Cerberus are building teams — and what's holding some back from going all in.

Private-equity firms have long relied on human judgment to pick investments and figure out how to generate the best returns from them.

$1.9 trillion investment giant PIMCO used a Nobel winner's methodology to envision the next recession — and concluded that its likely trigger is well underway

One does not need be bearish on the economy to start thinking about the next recession.  

Tech, Media, Telecoms

Leaked memo: A key Google Cloud president is leaving his role amid a reorganization that will see 'a small number' of positions eliminated

An executive who has been with Google Cloud since 2016 is leaving his role amid a reorganization that will see "a small number" of positions eliminated, according to an internal memo sent on Thursday.

Wall Street is betting AMC is in a downward spiral. Here's the inside story of how the world's biggest movie-theater chain is battling for a comeback.

As you enter AMC Entertainment's headquarters in the Kansas suburb of Leawood, you'll hear familiar lines.

Privacy is going to kill advertising as we know it, putting publishers at risk and strengthening Facebook and Google. Here's what's at stake for each player.

There's more ability than ever to measure people's online behavior. But what if it all went away?

Healthcare, Retail, Transportation

Big Pharma just started copying the buzzy startups that ship Viagra and hair-loss pills to your door, and it could be the start of a 'mega-trend'

Healthcare startups like Roman and Hims have found success in selling prescription drugs online that ship straight to your door for conditions like erectile dysfunction and hair loss.

Inside the chaotic 'Valentine's Day massacre' at Wayfair where hundreds of workers lost their jobs

Hundreds of Wayfair's US employees were asked to gather in meeting rooms at the company's Boston headquarters or to log in to Google Hangouts video calls for a mandatory meeting with heads of human resources.

Elon Musk wants to build a private 'SpaceX Village' with 100 rooms, lounge parties, volleyball tournaments, and rock climbing amid a South Texas retiree community

SpaceX, the rocket company founded by Elon Musk, hopes to construct a new private community at the southern tip of Texas where a dwindling retirement community already exists.

Leadership and Entrepreneurship

Netflix insiders share how they feel about its internal 'postmortem' emails that detail why employees were fired to their coworkers

Netflix may have one of the happiest workforces in the US tech sector, but its internal culture isn't for everyone.

A freelance web designer who makes over $200,000 a year says the majority of his income comes from referrals. Here are the emails he sends to get businesses to refer him to their customers.

Sam Schnitzler, a website consultant and the owner of the website-design firm Universal NYC, has been a successful web designer for over 17 years.

Original author: Matt Turner

Next-generation video game consoles from Sony and Microsoft — the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, respectively — are scheduled to arrive this holiday season.

Though much is known about each console, there's still one major question: How much will the two new consoles cost?

Neither company has said as much officially, but Sony's PlayStation 5 has a potential price tag: At least $470, and maybe more, according to sources within Sony speaking to Bloomberg. The Xbox Series X, from Microsoft, could be similarly priced — in terms of horsepower, the two consoles are remarkably similar on paper.

Notably, price is a crucially important factor when people are deciding which console to buy. It's arguably the most important factor.

A new survey proves out that logic: Price won out over several other crucial factors.

 

The survey, conducted by "Mortal Kombat" creator Ed Boon on Twitter, got over 50,000 responses from exactly the kind of folks who are likely to at least consider buying a new game console.

Beyond stuff like "better graphics" and "exclusive games," the most important factor of all was an "affordable price." And in the last few generations of game consoles, "affordable" pricing meant "$400 or less."

Take Sony's PlayStation 3, for example: In 2006, Sony launched the PlayStation 3 as a follow up to its wildly successful PlayStation 2.

The Japanese consumer electronics giant was riding high on the landmark success of its prior console, and set the price of its new PlayStation higher than ever before: The base model would cost $500, and a premium model with more storage would cost $600.

Sony launched the PlayStation 3 in 2006 with a base price of $500 and a premium version that cost $600 Sony

When the PlayStation 3 launched in November 2006, it arrived alongside a wave of criticism from consumers and game makers alike. Consumers didn't like the notoriously high price of the console, and game makers didn't like the complexity of making games for the PS3, which used a non-traditional "Cell" processor instead of the more familiar architecture used by Microsoft's Xbox 360.

"I'm getting concerned about Sony; the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and they don't make it easy for me to support the platform," Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said in a June 2009 interview, two years after the PS3 launched. "It's expensive to develop for the console, and the [Nintendo] Wii and the Xbox [360] are just selling better."

The PlayStation 3's reception looked especially bad by comparison with the competition: Nintendo's Wii was at peak popularity, and Microsoft's Xbox 360 was a runaway success despite requiring a $1 billion recall program in the wake of the so-called "Red Ring of Death" scandal. 

It took years for Sony to make up some of the ground it lost to competition from Microsoft and Nintendo, after lowering the price of the PlayStation 3 and bolstering the console's game library. By the time the PlayStation 4 launched in 2013, Sony had ingested the lessons of the PlayStation 3's failures.

The cost of the PlayStation 4? $400. 

AP Photo / Nam Y. Huh

The PlayStation 4, which was priced $100 lower than Microsoft's $500 Xbox One at launch, has gone on to sell over 100 million units across seven years.

A variety of factors go into the success of any game console, of course — a killer line-up of PlayStation 4-only games has kept people buying PlayStation 4 consoles across the last seven years, but few of those were available at launch. And Microsoft's Xbox One launched with its own sleight of Xbox-only games. 

The crucial difference between the two consoles, which launched just one week apart? $100.

Nintendo's Switch doesn't compete in horsepower with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4, but it's the only portable console and it has a murderer's galley of killer games you can only play on the Switch.

More importantly: it's very affordable, with the Nintendo Switch Lite coming in at just $200. 

The next Xbox and PlayStation consoles are unlikely to compete with that low of a price, but it's clear that consumers will be watching as Microsoft and Sony set the prices for their new consoles in the next six months — and it could make all the difference in the long run.

Original author: Ben Gilbert

Serenity Yachts just released two models for solar-powered yachts.The boats were unveiled at the Miami International Boat Show in February. The Serenity 64 costs $3.3 million, and the Serenity 74, which is in production, will cost $5.5 million.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Nearly everything is getting a sustainable makeover, even luxury yachts, apparently. Grand Cayman-based Serenity Yachts just showed off two of their new designs for solar-powered yachts at the Miami International Boat show.

The Serenity 64 and Serenity 74 will go for $3.3 million and $5.5 million, respectively. So far, two of the 64 have been produced, while the 74 is still in production. The yachts are designed to maximize efficiency while maintaining a smooth ride, according to Serenity.

Look at the Serenity 64 here. 

Original author: Mary Meisenzahl

The valuation gap between value and low-volatility stocks has grown twice as large as it was during the height of the dot-com boom.   This trend has created an unsustainable "equity factor bubble" that is likely to burst, according to Marko Kolanovic, JPMorgan's global head of macro, quantitative, and derivatives strategy.He explained why the bubble is inflating, how it will likely burst, and what investors should do to position accordingly.Click here for more BI Prime stories. 

It is still a tough time to be an investor whose preoccupation is finding cheap stocks.

Value investors, as they're called, caught a break last year when their factor returned to favor amid an underperformance streak that had largely been in place since 2007.

The sudden rotation led quantitative-investing heavyweights to call for a prolonged value comeback. They included Marko Kolanovic, JPMorgan's global head of macro, quantitative, and derivatives strategy, who expected that the shift to value would persist into Q1 2020.

He had identified a gulf between value's lag on one hand, and the outperformance of factors including momentum — which lifted many fast-growing technology stocks — and low volatility. Kolanovic even called the expected convergence between these factors a "once in a decade" opportunity.

But the gap has only gotten wider since last July and is now twice as large as it was during the dot-com boom. Value is still out of favor, while low-volatility and momentum-driven technology stocks are all the rage. 

"We caution investors that this bubble will likely collapse, i.e. this time is not 'different', with valuations reverting closer to 2010-2020 average," Kolanovic said in a recent note to clients. 

Original author: Akin Oyedele

Tesla's plans to build its first Gigafactory in Europe is back on track.Elon Musk's electric-car startup halted preparations after environmental activists won an injunction against it.However, a German court threw out the challenge on Thursday.Tesla wants to finish the factory's first phase and begin production next year.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Tesla's plan to build its first Gigafactory in Europe is back on track after a German court threw out a challenge by local environmental activists on Thursday.

Elon Musk's electric-car startup is clearing 91 hectares of forest land outside Grünheide, a town east of Berlin, in preparation for building the assembly plant. Green League campaigners secured an injunction to temporarily halt the clearing last weekend, after accusing Tesla of skirting regulations to rush the project and arguing it could threaten the area's drinking water. 

Less than a week later, a Berlin-Brandenburg court has flashed the green light for Tesla to restart its bulldozers and declared its decision is "final."

Tesla intends to offset the project's environmental impact by planting trees covering three times the area of the factory plot. It plans to finish the factory's first phase next year, employ up to 12,000 people and manufacture 500,000 cars annually. The company currently has Gigafactories in Nevada, New York, and Shanghai.

Musk capitalized on Tesla's lofty stock price — it surged past $900 for the first time this month —to raise $2.3 billion in a stock offering this week. He's likely to marshal those funds to build the German Gigafactory.

Original author: Theron Mohamed