After years of back-and-forth with regulators, Uber could be kicked out of London by the end of 2020. The UK capital's transport regulator blasted Uber on safety, saying 14,000 fraudulent rides took place where drivers hadn't uploaded accurate photos to their profiles.Business Insider asked competitors Kapten, Bolt, Ola and Xooox how they planned to avoid the same fate as Uber in the city. Ola, the Indian ride-hailing app, announced on Friday it would launch in London this month. Click here for more BI Prime stories.

After a troubled few years battling transport authorities, Uber looks set to lose its license in London at some point in the next 12 months. 

In November, London's transport regulator Transport for London (TfL) refused to renew the ride-hailing firm's license, highlighting a "pattern of failures" on safety and security. In some 14,000 cases, it said, Uber drivers had completed trips using an incorrect profile picture.

FILE PHOTO: A Bolt (formerly known as Taxify) sign is seen on the taxi car in Riga Reuters

Appealing the decision has kept Uber on the road for now, with an as-yet-to-be-determined court date set to resolve the matter once and for all – but when and if Uber is kicked out of London, what happens next? 

Today, the Silicon Valley startup still dominates the London market, with around 45,000 drivers and millions of users. But competitors have been mobilizing, both to ensure they're best placed to lure new drivers onto their platform and to scoop up Uber's customer base. 

Competitors capitalized on Uber's troubles. French competitor Kapten, which launched in London in 2019, said in a statement: "London needs ride-hailing, but doesn't need Uber." It added: "We believe it is the duty of a responsible ride-hailing operator to work cooperatively with regulators." 

Around the same time another opponent, Bolt, sent its customers an email, claiming news of Uber's woes had brought in "thousands of new sign-ups already". 

Catty putdowns aside, it's clear the ride-hailing firms are eyeing the potential gap in the market. But with that opportunity comes risk: On the surface, none of these companies offer a discernibly different service to Uber, and will be subject to the same regulatory pressures. 

Business Insider asked four of the best-known ride-hailing startups in London how they plan to avoid the troubles that have plagued Uber. 

(Disclaimer: All figures below apply to London only.) 

Original author: Martin Coulter

Airbnb quietly acquired Eliot, a real-time pricing calculator for rental property owners, in a previously unreported 2018 deal, an Airbnb spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider.

Airbnb bought up Eliot, an on-demand rental pricing tool, in a previously unreported deal in October 2018, an Airbnb spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider.

Eliot, founded in 2017 by Edouard Tabet, analyzed "billions of vacation rental pricing points to accuratly [sic] predict short-term rental revenue, trends and price surge events," its website said in 2018, according to The Internet Archive.

On-demand or "surge" pricing, where prices for a product fluctuate as demand ebbs and flows, has been an essential aspect of platform-based companies like Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb, allowing them to make more money during busy times and keep consumers coming during slower periods.

In 2015, Airbnb rolled out its Smart Pricing feature, which it said "allows hosts to set pricing controls that automatically adjust to demands in order to stay competitively priced." Since Smart Pricing's debut predated the Eliot by several years, it's unclear whether Airbnb wanted to acquire the company's technology and talent, buy out a potential competitor, or both.

Airbnb did not disclose how much it paid for the company or what the terms were, though Tabet's LinkedIn profile lists his current job title as "head of growth, Growth & Traffic" at Airbnb. The domain for Bold's website now redirects to a company called Velo Payments, which says it's "making the payouts process accurate, reliable and easy." Business Insider could not confirm whether there is any connection between the companies.

Bold is among several acquisitions made by Airbnb that the company has been relatively quiet about, in contrast to its purchases of companies like HotelTonight and Luxury Retreats. With Airbnb preparing to go public in 2020, investors will be paying close attention to how each of its more than 20 past purchases have paid off.

Original author: Tyler Sonnemaker

Musician Grimes, who is reportedly the girlfriend of tech billionaire Elon Musk, opened up about her pregnancy and how she feels "woefully ill prepared."She posted a photo on Instagram asking her followers for pregnancy advice and apologizing for not promoting her album more or posting on social media more often.She went on to describe her pregnancy for the first time, talking about how it has "been good" but taken a toll on her physically.Grimes said she felt "woefully ill prepared" because she said she didn't really understand what she was getting into."I didn't even google it, I was just like sure [why] not," she concluded her post.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Musician Grimes, who is reportedly dating tech billionaire Elon Musk, opened up about her pregnancy and how she feels "woefully ill prepared."

Grimes wrote on Instagram asking for pregnancy advice and apologizing to fans for not promoting her album more.

"This whole thing has been a bit of an ordeal," Grimes wrote. "Had some complications early on, a decent second trimester but starting to hurt everywhere at 25 wksz [sic]."

Despite the complications, the pop star mentioned that "it's been good too," but has taken a toll on her physically. Grimes said she felt "woefully ill prepared" because she said she didn't really understand what she was getting into.

"I didn't even google it, I was just like sure [why] not," she concluded her post.

The musician first ignited pregnancy rumors on Instagram after posting a semi-nude photo of her with a fetus Photoshopped onto her stomach with a caption about being "knocked up." She subsequently posted another photo on Twitter of her looking pregnant, to which Musk cryptically responded "x is y."

The couple officially went public with their relationship after appearing together at the Met Gala in 2018.

Original author: Lauren Frias

Mark Zuckerberg has grown "more religious" over the past few years.The Facebook CEO said the birth of his daughters and the challenges his company have faced have influenced his faith.The 35-year-old tech exec made the rare public comments about religion at a conference in Utah.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he's grown more religious over the last few years as a result of fatherhood and the "challenges we've been through as a company."

In an on-stage interview at a conference in Utah on Friday, the 35-year-old technology executive made rare public comments about his Jewish faith.

Asked about who his mentors are Zuckerberg segued into a discussion about religion. "I've become more religious," he said: "The last few years have been really humbling for me."

He went on: "I think there's a comfort in knowing and having confidence that there are things bigger than you ... it's why I have so much faith in democracy overall, it's why I care so much about giving people a voice."

Zuckerberg attributed his evolution to two factors: The issues his company has faced over the last few years, and the birth of his two daughters, now aged four and two. 

He added: "You have to believe in things that are bigger than yourself."

Zuckerberg subsequently jokingly clarified that "I did not mean to say that God is a mentor."

The billionaire chief executive grew up in Dobbs Ferry, New York in a Jewish household. He only rarely talks about his faith, and in a reply to a Facebook post in 2016 said that after a period of questioning in his life, he no longer considered himself an atheist. " I was raised Jewish and then I went through a period where I questioned things, but now I believe religion is very important," he wrote.

His wife Priscilla Chan is Buddhist, he wrote in a Facebook post in 2015.

Got a tip? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at (+1) 650-636-6268 using a non-work device, email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Telegram or WeChat at robaeprice, or Twitter DM at @robaeprice. (PR pitches by email only, please.)

Original author: Rob Price

Airbnb bought payments startup Bold Financial Technologies in November 2016 in a previously unreported deal, a spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider.Bold aimed to make international payments easier and more secure for large marketplaces like Airbnb and Uber.

In November 2016, continuing its under-the-radar buying spree, Airbnb acquired Bold Financial Technologies, a startup that aimed to make international payments safer and more convenient, an Airbnb spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider.

Bold, started in 2014 by Sean Safahi and Noah Spirakus, targeted clients like Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, and eBay that facilitate payments to lots of recipients, Safahi told the Phoenix Business Journal. Airbnb, whose platform had just surpassed two million listings earlier in 2016, had a growing need for managing payments to hosts across the globe.

Airbnb did not disclose how much it paid for the company or what the terms were, though Safahi now works on "payments partnerships" at Airbnb, according to his LinkedIn profile. The domain for Bold's website now showcases a company called Velo Payments, which says it's "making the payouts process accurate, reliable and easy." Business Insider could not confirm whether there is any connection between the companies.

Bold is among several acquisitions made by Airbnb that the company has been relatively quiet about, in contrast to its purchases of companies like HotelTonight and Luxury Retreats. With Airbnb preparing to go public in 2020, investors will be paying close attention to how each of its more than 20 past purchases have paid off.

Original author: Tyler Sonnemaker

In 2016, Airbnb bought Minbox, a tool for syncing files across cloud storage services like Google Drive and Dropbox, an Airbnb spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider.The previously unreported purchase was one of several quiet acquisitions by Airbnb in 2016.Airbnb did not say how much it acquired Minbox for or how it has integrated Minbox's team and technology.

Airbnb, in a previously unreported May 2016 transaction, bought a small cloud service startup called Minbox, an  Airbnb spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider.

Minbox let users sync files across multiple cloud service providers like Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, Evernote, Slack and OneDrive. Started in 2013 by Alexander Mimran, Michael Lawlor, and Simon Fletcher, the company raised a seed round of $800,000 from Correlation Ventures, Rho Ventures, and other individual investors, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Airbnb did not disclose how much it paid for Minbox, what the terms were, or what happened to its team or product. However, it appears to be an "acqui-hire," as Mimran and Lawlor both went on to work at Airbnb, according to their LinkedIn profiles, and the Minbox app is no longer available for download on its website.

Minbox is among several acquisitions made by Airbnb that the company has been relatively quiet about, in contrast to its purchases of companies like HotelTonight and Luxury Retreats. With Airbnb preparing to go public in 2020, investors will be paying close attention to how each of its more than 20 past purchases have paid off.

Original author: Tyler Sonnemaker

Airbnb quietly bought Proprly, a property management service for short-term rentals, in a previously unreported May 2016 deal, an Airbnb spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider.The purchase suggests that Airbnb's appetite for expanding beyond bookings to become a one-stop shop for travel predated its 2018 acquisition of property management software Luckey.

In a previously unreported deal in May 2016, Airbnb bought Proprly, a property management service that managed cleaning, guest check-in, and other aspects of the rental process on behalf of hosts, an Airbnb spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider.

The popularity of platforms like Airbnb and HomeAway's VRBO has given rise to a related industry of startups, like Proprly, that cater to the newfound needs of property owners. Countless companies have popped up to offer everything from cleaning services to home security to insurance, custom-tailored for short-term rental operators.

Airbnb has mostly stayed out of offering those services itself, preferring instead to partner with other providers. But its acquisition of Luckey, a property management software company, caused some observers to speculate whether it might be adjusting its strategy.

While Airbnb eventually shut down Proprly, the purchase suggests it may have been experimenting with building out more in-house services as far back as 2016.

Airbnb did not disclose how much it paid for the company or what the terms were, though Proprly's founder, Randy Engler, joined Airbnb shortly after the deal and currently works on its Olympics partnership team, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Proprly is among several acquisitions made by Airbnb that the company has been relatively quiet about, in contrast to its purchases of companies like HotelTonight and Luxury Retreats. With Airbnb preparing to go public in 2020, investors will be paying close attention to how each of its more than 20 past purchases have paid off.

Original author: Tyler Sonnemaker

The day before IBM formally announced that CEO Ginni Rometty would step down in April, the company released some information about her 2019 pay package.Rometty received her full cash bonus of $5 million for the year — something that hasn't always happened during her tenure, during which she's overseen a difficult period of transition for IBM.The filing also showed that in 2019, she was granted $13.3 million in stock, which was slated to be paid out as a performance-based reward through 2021.It's not clear if or how Rometty will get that money, given that she's leaving in the first part of 2020, though the company may speed up the process as part of a retirement package.Investors may get more clarity when IBM releases its next proxy statement, which it typically does in March.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The day before IBM formally announced that it had selected a successor for CEO Ginni Rometty, the company released some information about her 2019 pay package.

Notably, Rometty earned her full 2019 performance bonus of $5 million in cash. That's in addition to her annual salary of $1.6 million, also in cash. She hasn't earned that $5 million every year, by the way — last year, her bonus was just over $4 million, well below the target.

In a proxy statement released in March 2019, IBM said that for 2019 it had made "no change to Mrs. Rometty's base salary or target annual incentive. She was granted an annual long-term incentive award valued at $13.3 million."

It was to be comprised of shares dependent on her hitting performance goals (65%) between the years 2019-2021, with the remaining as restricted stock units, not tied to performance (35%). 

However, on Tuesday, days before the company announced her planned retirement, IBM disclosed via an SEC form, "The Long-Term Incentive Awards will be granted on June 8, 2020" and that 100% of this grant was performance-based as RSUs.

It's not entirely clear from the filing if this is the same $13.3 million stock grant discussed in the 2019 proxy. This tranche was scheduled to be granted in June of this year.

It is also not clear yet if IBM will accelerate any portion of Rometty's unearned long-term grants as part of her retirement package. Rometty will be staying on as CEO for one more quarter, through April, and then continue on as chairman through 2020.

This form promised more information about pay in its 2020 proxy, which it usually files in March.

But for now, she finished 2019 with her full $5 million, which has got to feel good.

Rometty had a rough run at IBM overseeing the company through a major transformation as the IT world stopped buying so much hardware and software from legacy players like IBM and turned to cloud services, often from companies like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft.

IBM's revenue was $104.5 billion in 2012, the year she took over, it said. Revenues shrunk to $77.2 billion in 2018 and returned to growth at $79.6 billion in 2019, the company said. Rometty also purposefully sold off poor performing units, shedding $2 billion worth of lackluster businesses, she told CNBC.

With the happy news that the company had returned to growth in 2019, Rometty also promised that IBM would continue to grow, not just in revenue but profit margins, too.

The share price bounced for a few days after the earnings report, but investor confidence didn't hold and the stock declined to its pre-earnings price by the day before her retirement announcement.

With news that she's turning over the keys to 29-year company veteran Arvind Krishna, the exec that orchestrated IBM's $34 billion Red Hat acquisition, the stock is on the rise again.

Original author: Julie Bort

In mid-December, the $967 million data management company DataStax faced a round of layoffs, impacting somewhere between 60 to 100 employees, three sources estimated.Late last year, DataStax hired former Apigee CEO Chet Kapoor, who took that company public and later sold it to Google, to replace Billy Bosworth as chief executive.Under Kapoor's leadership, DataStax will focus more on its cloud offerings and engaging with its developer community amid rising competition with tech titans like Amazon and Microsoft.The changes arrive as DataStax comes under significant competitive pressure: Amazon Web Services, the market-leading cloud platform, launched a service based on the same technology as DataStax's flagship product."We do not comment on rumors and speculation," a DataStax spokesperson said.Click here for more BI Prime stories. 

The $967 million data management startup DataStax, which was previously reported to be planning a 2019 IPO, faced a major round of layoffs right before Christmas, and shortly after a leadership shakeup that saw the arrival of a new CEO.

Somewhere between 60 to 100 people were laid off in mid-December, three sources close to the company estimated. According to Pitchbook, DataStax has about 500 employees. The professional services and customer success team were hit the hardest by the layoffs, sources said, and employees in the graph database, solutions engineering and sales teams were also impacted. 

DataStax builds software using Apache Cassandra, a popular open source database that was originally started at Facebook. Internally, some DataStax employees believe the company was too slow to offer versions of its software that were optimized to run on cloud platforms like Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure, and that it was struggling to compete with those tech titans, who offer their own database products, four sources said. 

The layoffs were driven from a change in direction under new CEO Chet Kapoor, who joined in October, to focus more on the company's cloud offerings, a source said. A key part of Kapoor's strategy is to build the company's appeal to developers and generate a loyal community of users as a bulwark against competitors, three sources said.

"We do not comment on rumors and speculation," a DataStax spokesperson said.

DataStax has had several leadership departures and changes in the past year, including another major round of layoffs. In July, the company laid off a little less than 10% of staff and moved some employees into new teams as part of a restructuring. 

"This has been a time of tough decisions and we have done everything we can to transition these valued people with dignity and compassion," DataStax's former CEO Billy Bosworth and cofounder Jonathan Ellis wrote in a blog post at the time. 

DataStax CEO Billy Bosworth DataStax

In October, Kapoor, the former Apigee CEO known for taking that company public and later selling it to Google for $625 million, joined DataStax as chief exec, replacing Bosworth.

Since then, chief product officer Ed Anuff, chief financial officer Don Dixon, and chief strategy officer Sam Ramji, all former Apigee employees, have joined DataStax's leadership team.

Kapoor's tenure as CEO was quickly met with a new challenge to the company: Amazon Web Services, the market-leading cloud platform, in December launched a service based on Cassandra, the open source database software at the core of DataStax's flagship product.

"DataStax is the largest contributor of code, service, support, and training to the Apache Cassandra project and community, and we recognize the sign of a flourishing project is greater market attention and investment," Ellis said in a statement at the time. "With that, we welcome Amazon's news as another vehicle that accelerates Cassandra adoption."

Do you work at DataStax? 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

Hulu CEO Randy Freer is set to exit the streaming company, Disney announced on Friday.The streaming company's leadership will report to execs within Disney's direct-to-consumer and international business as part of a reorganization.Disney is bringing Hulu closer to help scale all of its platforms more quickly, it said.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Hulu CEO Randy Freer is stepping down from the streaming company as Disney brings Hulu deeper into its streaming segment, Disney announced on Friday.  

Leaders at Hulu will report directly to execs within Disney's direct-to-consumer and international business as part of the reorganization. 

The leadership change comes after Disney agreed in May to acquire Comcast's minority stake in Hulu and take full ownership of the streaming company. Disney has since made Hulu a key part of its streaming strategy as the general-audience complement to its family-friendly Disney Plus service and its sports-focused ESPN Plus platform.

The company is bringing Hulu closer to help scale all of its platforms more quickly, it said.

"I want to thank Randy for his leadership the last two years as CEO and for his collaboration the past several months to ensure an exceptionally bright future for Hulu," Kevin Mayer, Disney's head of direct-to-consumer and international, said in a statement. "With the successful launch of Disney+, we are now focused on the benefits of scale within and across our portfolio of DTC businesses. Further integrating the immensely talented Hulu team into our organization will allow us to more effectively and efficiently deploy resources, rapidly grow our presence outside the U.S. and continue to relentlessly innovate. There is a tremendous amount of opportunity ahead, and I am confident in our ability to accelerate our positive momentum and better serve consumers."

Freer said in a statement: "I am grateful for my time at Hulu, and the opportunity to work and learn with an incredibly talented and dedicated group of people. I also want to thank Kevin and The Walt Disney Company, as well as NBCUniversal and Fox, for providing me the opportunity to lead Hulu during a time of tremendous growth and significant industry transformation. Hulu has established itself as a leading choice for consumers looking for the best TV service available today, and I am confident Hulu will thrive inside Disney under DTCI's leadership and resources."

Freer will remain in his role for the next several weeks to help with the transition.

Original author: Ashley Rodriguez

The primary-care startup One Medical just went public.

On Thursday, One Medical priced its shares at $14 apiece, the low end of its expected range of $14-$16 a share. The stock started trading at $18 a share late Friday morning, closing the day 58% higher than where it priced at $22.07 a share. 

It trades under the ticker ONEM.

One Medical CEO Amir Dan Rubin. One Medical When One Medical opened for business in San Francisco in 2007, its goal was to upend the way people got medical care by making it easy and convenient to see a doctor. The company charges a $200 annual fee and bills your insurance. One Medical had 397,000 members and operated in 77 locations as of September 30, according to the filing.

At the close Friday, One Medical is valued at roughly $2.7 billion, based on the more than 122 million of shares outstanding disclosed in its S-1.

According to the company's filings, One Medical's net losses deepened as membership climbed. From 2017 to 2018, losses widened from $31.7 million to $44.4 million. For the first nine months of 2019, One Medical's net loss was $34.2 million.

The company had about 397,000 members as of September 30, up from 346,000 at the end of 2018.

In its filing, One Medical listed the top shareholders in the company and their stakes.

These are One Medical's top investors, and how much their stakes are worth:

The Carlyle Group, a private-equity firm that in 2018 led a $220 million private financing round for One Medical, taking on a massive stake in the company. As of the IPO, Carlyle Group owns 28.2 million shares, or 22.9% of One Medical after the offering, a stake worth $621.4 million based on the closing share price Friday. Benchmark Capital, a Silicon Valley venture firm that was an early investor in One Medical, owns 13.6 million shares of One Medical, worth $300.8 million at the close of the first day of trading. The firm has a 11.1% stake in the company after the offering.Oak Investment Partners, another early investor in One Medical, owns 12 million shares, or 9.8% after the offering. That stake is worth $265.3 million based on the closing price on Friday. Tom Lee, the founder of One Medical who served as its CEO until 2017, owns 8.2 million shares of One Medical ahead of the IPO, or 6.6% after the offering, a stake worth $181.9 million. According to the filing, Lee resigned from One Medical's board of directors in August. A doctor and entrepreneur, Lee has since gone on to found a new healthcare startup called Galileo, which offers a mix of online and in-person care.DAG Ventures, another early investor in One Medical, owns 8 million shares, or 6.5% after the offering. That stake is worth $176.1 million.GV, which led One Medical's $30 million Series F round in 2013, owns 6.2 million shares of One Medical, or 5% after the offering, a stake worth $136.5 million. JPMorgan, which led One Medical's $65 million financing round in 2015, owns 5.7 million shares, or 4.7%. That stake is worth $126.4 million.Maverick, another early investor in One Medical, owns 5.5 million shares, or 4.4%, a stake worth $120.5 million.Amir Dan Rubin, 50, is the president, CEO, and chair of the board at One Medical. Rubin joined One Medical in August 2017 after working as an executive at UnitedHealth Group's Optum division. Before that, he was the CEO of Stanford Health Care. He owns 5.3 million shares of One Medical, a 4.2% stake in the company after the offering. That stake is worth $117.2 million.Andrew Diamond, 49, is the chief medical officer of One Medical, overseeing the doctors that practice at One Medical's clinics. He is also a member of the company's board of directors. He has served as the company's chief medical officer since September and was the company's national medical director before that. Diamond has been practicing with One Medical since 2007, according to his LinkedIn profile. He owns 304,309 shares in One Medical, worth $6.7 million.Kimber Lockhart, 33, is One Medical's chief technology officer and a member of the board of directors. She joined the company in 2014 and became chief technology officer in 2015. Before One Medical, she worked at the cloud-storage company Box. Lockhart owns 620,390 shares in One Medical, worth $13.7 million.Kalen Holmes, 53, is a member of One Medical's board, which she joined in January 2017. A former Starbucks executive, Holmes also sits on the board of Red Robin and Zumiez. She owns 31,915 shares of One Medical, worth $704,364 at the opening price.  David Kennedy, 49, a partner at Serent Capital, has been on the board of One Medical since 2007. He owns 381,341 shares, worth $8.4 million at the opening price.

This article was published on January 6 and has been updated.

Original author: Lydia Ramsey

Isaiah Kelly/Twitter; SUNY Geneseo/YouTube; Paige Leskin/Business Insider Students at a New York state school are looking for answers after a student's Twitter account mocking the school was handed over to college administrators.SUNY Geneseo student Isaiah Kelly was behind Twitter account @SUNYGenseeo, which he suddenly found himself locked out of, the email associated with the account changed, and all its tweets deleted.Twitter's policy on impersonation states that an account is in violation if it "portray[s] another entity in a misleading or deceptive manner." The punishment is the account's suspension.Twitter told Business Insider it made a "mistake," and that "the school should not have been provided access to this account." The company says it's "still investigating" what led to SUNY Geneseo getting access.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In an unprecedented move, Twitter took away a college student's access to his parody account mocking his school and handed it over to the university's administrators.

A SUNY Geneseo student took to Twitter this week to express his frustration after losing access to a Twitter account he made to poke fun at his school's social media presence and communication with students. What has happened in the days since — allegations the school hacked his email, the removal of all his account's tweets, the school's defense of its actions, and his account's eventual suspension — has only led to further confusion, and more questions than answers.

What we know is that, at one point, the university complained to Twitter about the account, and in response, the social media platform transferred ownership of the profile away from the student and to an administrator. When reached for comment by Business Insider, Twitter said it made a "mistake" in handing over access to the school.

The action that Twitter took against the student's account is not something that seems to have happened before, and is not included in Twitter's policies. The decision Twitter made — and the university's ensuing steps — raise concerns about online censorship and the power colleges wield over their students' social media presences.

It's been an eventful month for SUNY Geneseo, a public school nearly 300 miles northwest of New York City. At least nine dorms on campus lost power earlier this week for nearly 24 hours, leaving affected students without central heating as temperatures hit the mid 20s.

Isaiah Kelly, a 20-year-old sophomore at SUNY Geneseo and the creator of the parody account, discovered Wednesday afternoon that he had been locked out of the account, which ran under the handle @SUNYGenseeo. He created the account earlier this month, replicating the look of SUNY Geneseo's official Twitter account for the full effect: the same profile picture and banner, the same bio, and a handle just two letters off.

Kelly posted tweets from the account mocking the school's Twitter announcements, including one where he joked that the school's main library — closed this semester due to asbestos exposure — would remain open, and students would instead be provided with surgical masks. When the blackout ensued on campus, Kelly tweeted, "lol forgot to pay the power bill," followed by a post saying the school's president would hand out cookies "since we have nothing else to offer our students."

To anyone briefly glancing through Twitter, it would be easy enough to confuse SUNY Geneseo's Twitter account and Kelly's parody account. It's why Twitter has policies against impersonation, which include any account that not only has a similar username and appearance, but also "portray(s) another entity in a misleading or deceptive manner." Twitter's policy also says the punishment for violating this policy is the account's suspension.

So Kelly was at a loss when he received an email Tuesday informing him the email address for his parody account had been changed. Not only was he locked out of his account, but he found that virtually everything from the account — his tweets, his profile photo and banner, and his bio — had been deleted. The only contents remaining was a retweeted post from the campus police.

Isaiah Kelly

Kelly told Business Insider that the email he received from Twitter to notify him that the new email associated with his account appeared to match that of a school administrator. Kelly said that his first thought was that the school, which manages his student email address, had improperly accessed his email and Twitter account and taken control of the profile. Kelly then took to his personal Twitter to claim to his followers that the school must've hacked into his email and obtained ownership over his Twitter. Kelly told Business Insider he has been in contact with the school about the parody account, including the administrator whose email appeared to be given access to it.

Like many administrations at higher education institutions, SUNY Geneseo has the ability to access and look through any email account associated with the schools' .edu address, although it has previously said it has only done so in the case of an investigation or legal obligation. SUNY Geneseo uses Google's G Suite for Education, as do many other universities, which gives administrators "access to information stored in the Google Accounts of users in that school or domain."

SUNY Geneseo refuted Kelly's claim in a series of tweets Thursday — and there is no evidence that the school did gain access to Kelly's school email at any point. Kelly confirmed to Business Insider that he had no record of a login from another device, nor any recent password reset emails from Twitter, which would imply the account changed ownership without accessing his school email.

"The latest buzz on Twitter is that we hacked a student's Twitter account and took it down because it was making fun of Geneseo," the school posted on Twitter. "We want to be clear: We did not. Twitter determined the account violated their policy on account impersonation and turned access over to us."

This decision to provide a person or group access to a parody or fake account made about them does not seem to be something Twitter has ever made before. It also doesn't appear anywhere in Twitter's policies.

Twitter later told Business Insider it had made a "mistake."

"We're still investigating what exactly happened here," said Twitter spokesperson Aly Pavel. "That said, the school should not have been provided access to this account."

By Thursday night, Kelly had gotten access back to his SUNY Geneseo parody account, only to find Twitter had enforced its impersonation policy and suspended his account.

Original author: Paige Leskin

One Medical at the Nasdaq on the day of its initial public offering. Nasdaq One Medical surged in its stock-market debut.The company priced its shares at $14 apiece on Thursday. The stock closed 58% higher for the day at $22.07 a share. The company was valued at about $2.7 billion after its first day of trading under the ticker ONEM.One Medical operates primary-care practices that charge a $200 annual fee and bill your health insurance.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The primary-care company One Medical surged in its stock-market debut on Friday. 

On Thursday, One Medical priced its shares at $14 apiece, the low end of its expected range of $14 to $16 a share. The stock started trading at $18 a share on Friday morning, closing 58% higher at $22.07.

One Medical sold 17.5 million shares, raising $245 million in the offering. At the close on Friday, One Medical was valued at about $2.7 billion, based on the more than 122 million outstanding shares disclosed in its S-1.

Read more: Here are the investors and execs at One Medical who stand to make the most in the IPO

Original author: Lydia Ramsey

Photographer Alexander Stemplewski, 30, signed up for TikTok at the end of October and already has 3.4 million followers and more than 50 million likes on the app. He quit his full-time job as an insurance actuary to focus on TikTok, Instagram, and photography.Stemplewski is earning thousands of dollars from TikTok through paid song integrations and brand partnerships.He also uses the app to recruit clients for his online photography-coaching business.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Alexander Stemplewski, 30, grew his TikTok account to more than 3 million followers in just three months. Now he's quitting his job to work on social media and photography full time. 

Unlike many top influencers on the app, he gained popularity by photographing strangers, not himself. For Stemplewski, snapping passersby in a TikTok video style he calls "street photography" has been the key to his growth on the platform. 

"I'm asking a complete stranger if they'll do a spontaneous impromptu photo shoot," Stemplewski told Business Insider. "People absolutely love it on TikTok. I've seen people copy me down to the caption and song selection."

Stemplewski's profile, Alexander the Great, fits into a subgenre of TikTok photographer and videographer accounts, several of which have made it big on the app by filming or taking photos of other popular influencers.

Photography is a popular topic on TikTok. Stemplewski's preferred hashtag, #photographyeveryday, has generated 691 million views across different user videos on the platform. TikTok videos with the hashtag #photographer have been viewed nearly 1 billion times. 

"I knew that the organic reach on TikTok was pretty phenomenal," Stemplewski said. You can have essentially zero following and have a video reach literally millions of people just like that. I've just been producing a lot of content until I figured out what content performed really well, which was street photography."

Stemplewski said a creator manager at TikTok reached out to him once his account began taking off to help him build a following on the app.

"She's there to provide me with insights and advice on creating content for the app, as well as funnel in business opportunities," he said.

Like many TikTok users who have gained followers rapidly, Stemplewski hopes to turn his newfound fame into a full-time career. He gave his two weeks' notice at his job as an insurance actuary on Thursday so he could focus on TikTok, Instagram — on which he has more than 100,000 followers — and photography.

He earns revenue from TikTok in three ways:

Song integrations: Stemplewski charges for paid music integrations, earning a fee to include an artist's song in one of his videos. He works with the influencer marketing company, Muuser, which pays him $600 per video.Brand sponsorships: Stemplewski hasn't partnered with brands in the three months since he joined TikTok, but he said he was in the final stages of closing a $5,000 sponsorship deal with a camera company to use one of its bags and tripods in his TikTok videos.Photography coaching: Stemplewski developed an eight-week photography-coaching program. He recruits students from his millions of followers on TikTok and Instagram and charges $1,500 for eight one-hour Skype sessions in which he teaches fans how to take and edit photos, grow an Instagram account, find models, and network with other photographers. He has trained five students so far, he said.

Stemplewski hopes recurring income from song integrations, brand deals, and photography coaching will sustain him full time now that he has left his role as an insurance actuary.

"Mainly because of TikTok and the crazy organic reach, all these opportunities came to me out of nowhere," he said. "I was able to quit my job."

For more on how brands and TikTok stars are building a business on the app, read these other Business Insider Prime posts:

A milkshake brand blew up on TikTok, and its 460,000 followers have changed how it approaches marketing and its target audience: With 460,000 TikTok followers, the milkshake maker F'real has built a larger following than national brands like Chipotle, Walmart, and Burger King.How a pair of 30-year-old video producers turned TikTok from a side gig to their main job: Greg Auerbach and his childhood friend Nate Twer are building a business making funny videos on TikTok. They have more than 600,000 followers and nearly 14 million likes on the app.How TalentX plans to rule TikTok, starting with 32 influencers and a Los Angeles mansion: TalentX Entertainment is eyeing brand partnerships, merchandising, live events, and television and film development for its roster of TikTok stars.Marketers share what it's like to use TikTok's invite-only tool for finding the right influencers to hire for brand deals: Business Insider spoke with marketers who are beta testing TikTok's new matchmaking tool for influencers and brands, Creator Marketplace.

Original author: Dan Whateley

China is using drones to scold people for walking around outside without masks as the Wuhan coronavirus spreads throughout the country.According to a video by Chinese state-run paper the Global Times, drones are hovering above people in rural and urban areas, and a voice commands them to put masks on or go indoors. The video shows a drone telling people crossing the street to "Put on your masks! Hurry up!" Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As the coronavirus spreads throughout China, people there are getting scolded by drones for not wearing masks — or for just going outside. 

Drones hovering above people in rural areas and city streets appear to be broadcasting messages sent in real-time by a human, telling them to put on a mask or go indoors and stay home. 

"Yes, auntie, this is the drone speaking to you," says a voice echoing from a drone hovering over an elderly woman, who looks confused before walking away quickly, a video posted by Chinese state-run media outlet the Global Times showed. 

"You see, we've been telling people to stay at home but you still wander outside," the voice continues. "Now a drone is watching you." 

Another clip shows a drone telling a group of women to "put your masks on, hurry up!"

The patrolling comes after the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency because of the virus, which has now claimed the lives of over 200 people and infected over 9,700. 

However, experts warn that face masks are not effective at preventing the spread of the virus, advising that frequent hand-washing is the most effective prevention method. 

Even children aren't spared by the drones' patrolling. The video showed a child being told, "Hey kid! We are in unusual times. Don't stroll around outside!"

The Global Times tweeted that people walking outside without face masks "can't avoid these sharp-tongued drones!" 

You can watch the video below: 

 

Original author: Bryan Pietsch

Amazon now expects the servers running its massively profitable and market-dominating Amazon Web Services cloud computing unit to last longer.That means Amazon gets to spread the depreciation cost of the servers over a longer period of time, recording smaller expenses each year — and bigger profits.Analysts say the longer server durability is also a testament to AWS's technological prowess, as it's become more efficient with its data centers.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

A change in how Amazon accounts for the life expectancy of servers powering its Amazon Web Services cloud business could boost the company's profits by $2.3 billion this year.

Amazon disclosed during its fourth quarter earnings call on Thursday that it has extended the estimated useful life of its servers from 3 years to 4 years because of increased efficiency in its technology. That means Amazon now expects its servers to last longer, and gets to spread the total cost of running those servers over an extended period — 4 years instead of 3 years — which leads to bigger profits each year. 

In total, Amazon estimates $800 million in lower cost, or depreciation expense, this quarter, and $2.3 billion for the full year. The cost savings directly boost the company's bottom line.

The accounting change is one reason why Wall Street has turned even more bullish about Amazon's cloud business following Thursday's report, as it could help widen the company's profitability going forward. The longer durability of its servers also reflect the technological advances Amazon has been making in its data centers.

"This is a major boost to AWS profits as efficiency on its flagship cloud initiative continues to take hold," Dan Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities, told Business Insider.

Amazon's representative wasn't immediately available for comment.

Depreciation is the cost of certain assets, like buildings and equipment, that companies write off over a period of time. Since these fixed assets are typically expensive and have a limited life expectancy, companies are allowed to spread the cost of them over their estimated useful life — instead of recording the entire cost of the asset in year one.

In Amazon's case, the company is now estimating the servers in its cloud data centers to last one year longer than previously projected. As a result, Amazon gets to record a smaller amount as depreciation expenses this year — and a bigger profit.

Amazon disclosed in its annual report on Friday that its overall R&D costs will grow slower than expected following this change.

"We expect technology and content costs to grow at a slower rate in 2020 due to an increase in the estimated useful life of our servers," it said.

AWS is Amazon's main profit driver, despite accounting for a small part of its total revenue. Last year, AWS had $35 billion in sales, or 12.5% of Amazon's total. Its $9.2 billion operating income, however, was 63.4% of the company's total. AWS is estimated to own roughly 40% of the cloud market, followed by Microsoft in a distant second.

Ruobing Su/Business Insider

Bank of America's analyst Justin Post wrote in a note published Friday that his team has "significantly raised" Amazon's 2020 operating profit estimates — by 49% to $16.5 billion — because of a combination of higher revenues and the $2.3 billion benefit coming from lower server depreciation costs. 

"The results diminish the Azure/Google competition overhang, and AWS is seemingly back in a strong position as a top cloud play," Post wrote in the note.

Rob Sanderson, an analyst at Loop Capital, noted in a report Thursday that the accounting change doesn't save Amazon any cash — the money is already paid for, after all — and that skeptics may question the timing of it, as AWS has been reporting slowing growth and shrinking profit margins lately.

Still, Sanderson highlighted the technological advances Amazon has made in its data centers, and how it could be a huge advantage in the increasingly competitive cloud market. 

"While this is an accounting change, it comes from innovation and efficient design in server architecture and operations," Sanderson wrote in the note.

Amazon' CFO Brian Olsavsky also stressed during Thursday's earnings call that this isn't merely just an "accounting-related change." Rather, he said it's a reflection of the work that AWS has put into improving its server capacity over the past 13 years.

"We continue to refine our software to run more efficiently on the hardware," Olsavsky said. "It then lowers stress and extends the useful life both through the servers that we use in the AWS business and also the service that we use to support our own Amazon businesses."

Original author: Eugene Kim

"The Politician." Netflix Netflix received more than 350,000 job applications last year.Business Insider asked its head of recruiting what candidates should do if they don't get hired by Netflix the first time around. Valarie Toda, vice president of talent acquisition, said candidates should keep in touch with Netflix's recruiters and let them know how their career evolves. One employee, Toda said, went through the interview process three times before getting hired.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

One employee interviewed at Netflix three separate times before landing a job at the streaming company, its head of recruiting told Business Insider.

Netflix is one of the most-sought after companies to work for in media and tech. It fielded 350,000 job applications in 2019. By comparison, it had fewer than 6,800 full-time employees.

Valarie Toda, vice president of talent acquisition, said job candidates shouldn't get discouraged if they don't get hired the first, or even the second time, around.

Some candidates may not have the skills that hiring managers are looking for at the moment. In other cases, they may be applying for managerial roles and don't yet have enough experience. A year or two of additional experience can make a big difference.

"Keep in touch with us," she said. "Let us know as your career evolves."

Netflix's needs may change, too.

"I've been here for awhile and what we're looking for today, and what we looked for 10 years ago are very different," Toda said.

Ask the recruiter what other roles might be a good fit

Outside staffing experts said how candidates respond to rejection is crucial.

"Most candidates would respond with, 'If anything changes, let me know,'" Ryan Sutton, a district president at Robert Half Technology, said. "The problem with that response is you're putting it 100% on the recruiter to guess what you might be interested in."

A better response might be: 

Thank you for the opportunity. I'm still very interested in Netflix. Are there any other roles I could apply for in your eyes? 

This can start a dialogue with the recruiter about other roles you might be a fit for.

Sutton also recommended reaching out to the recruiter or hiring manager if you see the company post other job opportunities that interest you. Let the recruiter know you're interested in the position, and apply online. You don't want to miss out on an opening if your contact doesn't respond right away.

You can ask, 'Why am I not getting hired?'

The candidate who interviewed at Netflix three times before being hired asked the recruiter during his final round of interviews, "Why am I not being hired?" Toda said.

"I loved his openness," Toda said. "They had a really hard but really open conversation and we ended up hiring him."

Netflix hires for culture, as much as skill. A real desire to work for Netflix can go a long way, even if it takes a few attempts. (The company's famed culture document, by the way, is a must-read for anyone interested in working at Netflix.) The company also values how its employees "are extraordinarily candid with each other," as it says in its current culture memo.

In this case, the candidate had built new skillsets since he interviewed the previous times, and also showed he was a culture fit by engaging in an open and honest conversation with the recruiter.

Toda recommended working your network to get advice on the right skills to build over time. Look for Netflix employees who you have something in common with — maybe you worked at the same company or attended the same school.

"Be really specific about what you want out of those connections," Toda said. "Like, 'Hey, I want a coffee just to get some advice on skillsets I should build over time, or how I can break into an industry.' There's lots of stories of how, long term, those relationships really pan out. It just takes a little bit of investment."

Read our full BI Prime guide on how to get hired at Netflix in 2020:

See more of our Netflix hiring coverage on BI Prime:

Original author: Ashley Rodriguez

The smart speaker has been a runaway success in the handful of years since it hit the market, catapulting from obscurity to the peak of sales lists and cementing itself in the public consciousness.

Original author: Peter Newman

Apple is taking precautions to protect its workers against the spread of the coronavirus in mainland China.CEO Tim Cook said Tuesday the company has restricted employee travel to the country.It is also frequently deep-cleaning its Apple Stores and monitoring employees' temperatures.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

During Apple's fiscal first-quarter earnings call on Tuesday, CEO Tim Cook talked about the measures the company is having to take to protect its employees from the outbreak of coronavirus.

At last count, Chinese officials confirmed 6,000 domestic cases of the virus with a death toll of 132. The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus is thought to have originated, is currently on lockdown.

Cook told analysts that Apple has limited employee travel to "business-critical situations" in China as of last week.  Apple is not the only tech company to take this precaution since Facebook announced yesterday it has suspended all non-essential employee travel.

Unlike Facebook, Apple is reliant on its supply chain, the majority of which is in China. Cook said that supplier factories outside of Wuhan have had their re-openings following the Lunar New Year holiday delayed by ten days.

The supply chain isn't the only part of Apple's business affected by the virus. Cook added Apple has closed one of its stores, and many other stores are operating with shortened opening hours. "We're taking additional precautions and frequently deep-cleaning our stores as well as conducting temperature checks for employees," Cook said.

He added that the outbreak has affected sales in China. "While our sales within the Wuhan area itself are small, retail traffic has also been impacted outside of this area across the country in the last few days," he said.

During the call, Cook and Apple CFO Luca Maestri said Apple has made allowances to mitigate the cost of the virus outbreak.

The company gave a revenue forecast of $63 billion to $67 billion, with Maestri saying the "wider-than-usual" $4 billion spread was due to uncertainty thrown up by the outbreak (although as Business Insider's Troy Wolverton reports, $4 billion is not an unusual revenue spread for Apple to give).

"First and foremost, our thoughts are with all of those that are affected across the region," said Cook, adding that Apple is donating to groups who are fighting the disease. He did not say how exactly how much money the company has donated.

Original author: Isobel Asher Hamilton

Download on the App Store

Original author: Martin Coulter