Startup founder Elizabeth Giorgi is hoping to trigger a chain reaction in startup due diligence by requiring potential investors to disclose all allegations of gender discrimination or sexual harassment in the company's fundraising documents. The CEO of the Denver-based Soona asked her lawyers draw up the requirement, dubbed the 'candor clause,' after a potential investor sent Giorgi unsolicited nudes. But she hopes other founders will use the open-source legal disclosure to also protect themselves. In an industry that has drawn scrutiny for longstanding gender discrimination and sexual harassment, Giorgi says that the clause has rapidly accelerated the pace of trust building with investors.Investors in Giorgi's company also supported the clause, with one investor telling Business Insider that including such a provision was a "no brainer." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Like many tech startups, Elizabeth Giorgi's media production firm recently raised venture capital funding. But before the funding deal closed, investors in Giorgi's startup had to fill out a special document disclosing any allegations of gender discrimination or sexual harassment. 

The so-called "candor clause" is something that Giorgi's startup, Soona, requires of all potential investors. It's similar to the criminal background disclosure that some employers put on job applications. But in the male-dominated world of venture capital, where the investor typically has the bargaining power, the candor clause is a bold step for a startup seeking money.

The effort was born out of need to better vet company investors, Giorgi told Business Insider. Several bad experiences in front of male investors - including one sending her unsolicited naked photos after expressing interest in her company - left the Denver-based CEO feeling the need to come up with a more comprehensive due diligence process. 

"What if we made this effort to do due diligence on investors? That was really how this was born," Giorgi said. After "multiple conversations and iterations" with Soona's lawyers, the candor clause came into being. 

Silicon Valley and the venture capital industry in particular, have drawn a great deal of scrutiny for an entrenched culture of gender discrimination and sexual harassment. And while tech investors are increasingly including #MeToo clauses in deals with startups, as the Financial Times reported back in March 2019, Giorgi says it is more uncommon for founders to ask the same types of diligence questions from its investors. 

"It's not uncommon for investors to be able to ask us a lot of questions, but it's really unusual for a founder to ask about the background of an investor," Giorgi said. "We want to work with these people but we want to ask them to do the same kinds of diligence questions." 

To help founders address the power imbalance between founders and investors, Giorgi's candor clause is available online. And she says that both male and female founders have adopted the clause. At least 45 founders have reached out to say they included similar language in their fundraising documents, Giorgi said. 

So far, Soona has secured about $1.5 million in funding from her investors, who have all included the candor clause in their contracts with the company. That was a relief to Giorgi, who said that she was initially very nervous telling investors about the new requirement. 

"I just felt like that this is going to be a scary conversation," Giorgi said. "I really hoped that this isn't gonna be a dealbreaker." 

2048 Ventures, which led a $1.2 million seed round for Soona, said that was very much not the case. Managing Partner Alex Iskold said that when Giorgi first told him about the clause, it immediately seemed like a "no brainer," and compared disclosing allegations of sexual harassment to disclosing a criminal record. 

"I thought it was a great idea, a no-brainer on my part," he said. "It's very clear to me that it makes a lot of sense to have in the document if both parties want that ... Just like you represent you're not a thief or criminal, that kind of disclosure can be really helpful." 

In fact, in an industry that has drawn scrutiny for gender discrimination and sexual harassment, Giorgi says that the clause has reaped advantages beyond just protecting founders.

"I think the candor clause has rapidly accelerated the pace of trust building and collaboration that I've been able to have with my investors," Giorgi said, citing an "ability to have really honest dialogue together," as a key reason. 

Original author: Bani Sapra

Verily, the life-sciences arm of Google's parent company Alphabet, just presented at the biggest healthcare conference of the year. Verily has its hands in projects spanning robotics, blood-sugar-tracking devices, and work on addiction treatment. In its presentation, it laid out its three businesses and how the company approaches partnerships. The company has taken $1.8 billion in outside investments from investors including Temasek, Silver Lake, Capital Group, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, and T. Rowe Price. In 2019, it raised a $1 billion round from Silver Lake. Conrad also spoke about the company's new hires, including former Tesla chief financial officer Deepak Ahuja, who took Tesla public.Subscribe to Dispensed, Business Insider's weekly healthcare newsletter.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

When Verily CEO Andy Conrad was looking to hire someone to run clinical trials, he turned to Google. 

Typing the question "Who's running the biggest trial" led him to Jessica Mega, now Verily's chief medical officer, who leads the company's 10,000-person Project Baseline study.

Verily is Alphabet's life sciences company, making it a sister firm to Google, and Mega wasn't the only result of Google searching, Conrad told an audience of investors on Monday.

He was speaking in the company's first-ever presentation on the stage at the biggest healthcare conference of the year, the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. Conrad told the investors he also used a Google search to find its partner Dexcom. Dexcom makes equipment for people with diabetes, and is working with Verily on a continuous glucose monitor.

Verily is involved in efforts such as robotics and addiction treatment

Verily has its hands in projects spanning robotics to blood-sugar-tracking devices to work on addiction treatment. It's struck up relationships with pharmaceutical companies to launch joint ventures such as diabetes-focused Onduo. Often, the work can seem like a collection of random projects. 

"Sometimes if you just read some of the press, it seems like we're doing a bunch of disparate projects, but that's not true," Conrad said. 

Conrad used the presentation as a chance to explain Verily's strategy. He also highlighted a recent hire, former Tesla chief financial officer Deepak Ahuja, who took Tesla public. Ahuja is now Verily's CFO.

He laid out Verily's three businesses: care solutions, like its work managing diabetes via Onduo; research solutions, in which Verily partners with hospitals and pharmaceutical organizations in how they conduct clinical trials; and innovation solutions, which is meant to fill in gaps found through the first two businesses.

Verily is focused on collecting and organizing data, then putting it to use

Through those businesses, Verily works to collect data, organize it, and use that to drive changes in behavior to help make people healthier. 

In the presentation, Conrad outlined data on how Onduo's working that was published in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology in December. Verily was able to show that a virtual program incorporating blood sugar readings, taking pictures of food, and lifestyle monitoring, is helping people living with type 2 diabetes. 

Verily spun out of Google's Google X division as part of the creation of Alphabet in 2015.  The company has taken in $1.8 billion in outside investments. In 2019, it raised a $1 billion round from Silver Lake. And in 2017, the company raised $800 million from Singaporean investment firm Temasek. 

Read more: Here's everything we know about the patient search tool Google is building for doctors — and the internal documents that reveal what it's like to use in its early days

"They teach us how to behave like a business, not like a hobby," Conrad said. "They're mean and sometimes kind, but they're certainly thoughtful about an investment at that scale." 

Read more: A top hospital consultant just laid out what Google could do in healthcare over the next 5 years, from creating a medical-records system to helping form a more functional health system

Conrad finished the presentation discussing the company's approach to partnerships. Verily set up its relationships to hit certain milestones, through joint ventures, and by directly monetizing the products that come out of the partnership. 

"We are never doing any work for any of those partners in a fee for service basis," Conrad said. "We're never doing any of it just contractually." 

So far, the company has 32 partnerships, up from three the year it officially spun out. 

Original author: Lydia Ramsey

Sony Interactive Entertainment, the division behind PlayStation, announced Monday that it will not participate in this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) — the biggest video game industry event of the year, put on by the Entertainment Software Association this year beginning on June 9th.

"After thorough evaluation SIE has decided not to participate in E3 2020. We have great respect for the ESA as an organization, but we do not feel the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year," the company said in a statement emailed to Business Insider.

Sony's decision not to participate in E3, reported earlier by GamesIndustry.biz, came as a surprise given the company's plans to unveil the PlayStation 5 later this year. It means we don't know when we'll get key details on the new console — while Sony has confirmed that it will play PlayStation 4 titles, and have a solid-state hard drive, we still don't know what the PlayStation 5 will look like or what it will cost.

Sony used the E3 event to announce the price and details for the American launch of the original PlayStation and the PlayStation 2, while the PlayStation 3 was officially unveiled at E3 2006. Most recently, in 2013, Sony debuted the design of the PlayStation 4 console and its price at the event. That streak now appears to be coming to an end.

This also marks the second consecutive year Sony won't be in attendance — a major blow for E3 given that Sony had been one of its largest exhibitors.

Sony's announcement has also fueled speculation about the future of the E3 event itself. Kotaku editor Jason Schreier tweeted that the event is "in the worst shape it's ever been," for the lack of a major heavyweight like Sony. 

Video game industry analyst Mat Piscatella said the decision would not impact Sony's sales, saying it is "certainly not make or break for a new console or for a title to miss [E3]."

"E3 2020 will be an exciting, high-energy show featuring new experiences, partners, exhibitor spaces, activations, and programming that will entertain new and veteran attendees alike," the ESA said in a statement to Business Insider.

Read Sony's full statement below:

"After thorough evaluation SIE has decided not to participate in E3 2020. We have great respect for the ESA as an organization, but we do not feel the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year. We will build upon our global events strategy in 2020 by participating in hundreds of consumer events across the globe. Our focus is on making sure fans feel part of the PlayStation family and have access to play their favorite content. We have a fantastic line up of titles coming to PlayStation 4, and with the upcoming launch of PlayStation 5, we are truly looking forward to a year of celebration with our fans."

Read the ESA's full statement below:

"E3 is a signature event celebrating the video game industry and showcasing the people, brands and innovations redefining entertainment loved by billions of people around the world. E3 2020 will be an exciting, high-energy show featuring new experiences, partners, exhibitor spaces, activations, and programming that will entertain new and veteran attendees alike. Exhibitor interest in our new activations is gaining the attention of brands that view E3 as a key opportunity to connect with video game fans worldwide."

Original author: Tyler Sonnemaker

If you have ever made a purchase or accepted a payment via PayPal, there is a record of the transaction, and there's really nothing you can do to hide said transaction either. 

In past years, PayPal offered the ability to archive transactions on a case-by-case basis; however this option was discontinued in 2014.

Here's what you need to know about how PayPal's transaction history, and how to delete yours.

How to delete your PayPal history

For a while, PayPal transactions would be automatically archived after a certain period of time. Yet, even then they couldn't be completely deleted — they were just harder to find.

Today, every PayPal exchange is clearly visible under the "Activity" tab at the top of the screen of the PayPal site.

Original author: Steven John

A SoftBank deal to invest a new round of funding in troubled robotics pizza startup Zume was scuttled in December, the latest example of the Japanese tech conglomerate's changing appetite for ambitious but money-losing Silicon Valley tech startups.

Zume and SoftBank had a letter of intent for equity financing when the deal was scrapped last month, according to an internal memo reviewed by Business Insider.

The memo does not specify why the deal fell through, or the financial terms of the deal. But the memo describes the loss of the deal as having precipitated the cost-cutting measures — which includes hundreds of layoffs — and the sharp strategy shift Zume announced last week. In its new strategy, Zume is abandoning its robotics efforts to focus entirely on the sustainable packaging business. 

The cancelled deal with Zume is the latest in a series of nixed funding deals by SoftBank and its $100 billion VisionFund in the wake of the implosion of WeWork, one of SoftBank's biggest bets. According to an Axios report from Dan Primack earlier this month, SoftBank has recently walked away from several other investments in startups that it had submitted term sheets to — including Honor, Seismic, and Creator — throwing its ambitious Vision Fund and its wide range of cash-burning portfolio companies into uncertain territory.

Zume was reported in November to be in talks with SoftBank for a funding round that would have valued the startup at $4 billion, a significant step up from the $1 billion valuation it fetched a year earlier, according to a report in Recode at the time.

SoftBank previously backed Zume to the tune of $375 million in funding in 2018. The memo reviewed by Business Insider stated that without the additional funding from SoftBank, Zume had about $150 million on hand from its 2018 funding. 

Representatives from Zume and SoftBank declined to comment. 

Zume announced on Wednesday that 360 employees would be laid off across its San Francisco, Seattle, and Mountain View offices due to a shifting business strategy. That strategy change included shutting down Zume Pizza, the robotics division, in favor of growing the packaging business. Several sources attributed the abrupt change and layoffs to the lack of funding and subsequently high burn rate over the past year. One source said that the burn rate was cut in half after the layoffs, but declined to specify the exact amount.

Melia Robinson

Another source with knowledge of the original SoftBank deal told Business Insider that the Japanese fund pushed hard for Zume to pursue "global domination," far beyond cofounder and CEO Alex Garden's ambition to unseat traditional pizza chains like Domino's. The added pressure pushed Zume to adopt aggressive business strategies that are uncommon for young startups. 

One of those strategies included pursuing high-profile acquisitions of other startups, something the source said was unusual for a venture-backed startup. Zume's renewed focus on sustainable packaging, for instance, is the result of its acquisition of Pivot Packaging for an undisclosed amount in June. Zume partnered with Pivot Packaging to develop its "pizza pod" that is currently being used in a pilot program at a Pizza Hut location in Arizona before acquiring the company.

Multiple sources told Business Insider that Garden convened remaining employees on Friday to discuss the future of the company at an all-hands meeting streamed from its Mountain View headquarters. There, he reemphasized the focus on packaging as the company's best chance for profitability. 

He did not address previous goals that Zume would replace upwards of 1 billion styrofoam and plastic containers by 2020. 

Do you work at Zume or another SoftBank-backed startup and want to share your story? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (331) 625-2555 using a nonwork phone, email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or Twitter DM at @megan_hernbroth.

Original author: Megan Hernbroth

Your Roku is your ticket to enjoying all your favorite streaming media platforms as well as literally thousands of TV channels. 

So when your Roku isn't connecting to the internet, it means you're cut off from countless hours of entertainment that you can usually count on to brighten your day.

Here's how to fix that.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

Roku Streaming Stick+ 4K (From $49.99 at Best Buy)

Original author: Steven John

Instagram is under pressure to grow beyond its newsfeed by selling ads in Stories and the Explore tab.However, a new Cowen report found that 72% of advertisers' dollars are still going into newsfeed ads. Explore tab ads are also off to a slow start, although 24% of advertisers plan to test it in 2020, up from 6% in 2019.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Stories is becoming a bigger source of revenue for Facebook-owned Instagram, but advertisers are slow to adopt the format, a new report from financial services firm Cowen found.

Stories is expected to represent 26% of Instagram's ad revenue this year, or $5.3 billion, and rise to $25.6 billion, or 37% of its ad revenue, by 2025, Cowen says. But while more advertisers are experimenting with Stories, advertisers are still spending the bulk of their Instagram ad dollars on newsfeed ads, the survey found.

Facebook is looking to Instagram to grow as its own ad business slows, and Instagram is trying to push advertisers to ads in Stories and Explore, its photo and video recommendation section, as its newsfeed gets saturated with ads.

For the report, Cowen surveyed 50 US advertisers that collectively spent $12.5 billion on advertising in 2019.

Cowen's measures two numbers: A straight average and a weighted-average number that takes the advertiser's spending volume into consideration.

Advertisers are experimenting with Stories ads, with 64% of advertisers buying them in 2019.

Cowen

But on average, 72% of Instagram budgets will go to newsfeeds ads this year, the survey shows.

In general, buyers said they like Instagram for its targeting and low prices, particularly for direct-to-consumer brands. A consumer product advertiser called Instagram the "only place where direct-to-consumer brands can shine." When it comes to Stories, though, advertisers have reported challenges with vertical-oriented creative and performance.

Cowen

Ad buyers still favor Instagram Stories over Snapchat Stories, though, according to the survey.

Cowen In addition to Stories, Instagram is looking to sell sell more ads in Explore, but Explore hasn't become a significant source of advertising, per Cowen.

24% said they expected to test Explore ads in 2020, up from 6% in 2019.

Cowen

Original author: Lauren Johnson

Visa announced on Monday it has agreed to buy fintech startup Plaid for $5.3 billion.Plaid raised $250 million in a Series C in December 2018, which Visa participated in, at a reported valuation of $2.65 billion.Visa CEO and chairman Al Kelly said in a statement that the deal "will position Visa to deliver even more value for developers, financial institutions and consumers."

Payments giant Visa announced on Monday it has agreed to buy fintech startup Plaid for $5.3 billion. 

Plaid serves as the link between financial apps such as Betterment and Venmo and customers' bank accounts. The company uses application programming interfaces (APIs) to share data between both two sides. 

In December 2018 the buzzy startup raised $250 million in a Series C that Visa participated in and valued it at $2.65 billion, according to TechCrunch. 

In January 2019, Plaid acquired competitor Quovo for an undisclosed amount. 

"We are extremely excited about our acquisition of Plaid and how it enhances the growth trajectory of our business," said Al Kelly, CEO and chairman of Visa, in a statement. "Plaid is a leader in the fast growing fintech world with best-in-class capabilities and talent. The acquisition, combined with our many fintech efforts already underway, will position Visa to deliver even more value for developers, financial institutions and consumers."

Original author: Dan DeFrancesco

Multi-millionaire sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein introduced Kimbal Musk, Elon's brother, to a woman in his entourage, two sources tell Business Insider.The woman, who had previously dated Epstein and lived in an apartment building where he was known to house models, dated Kimbal Musk from 2011 to 2012.Though the relationship was by all accounts genuine, the sources say Epstein hoped it would open doors to Elon Musk and his companies.Epstein and his entourage were granted a private tour of Musk's SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, Calif., in 2012.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Jeffrey Epstein was in regular contact with Elon's brother Kimbal Musk, the tech millionaire turned restaurateur who serves on the boards of his older brother's companies Tesla and SpaceX, a Business Insider investigation has found.

It's unclear how Epstein and Kimbal Musk met initially, but they saw each other occasionally because Kimbal was dating a woman in Epstein's entourage at the time, the people said. The woman had previously dated Epstein himself, and lived in an apartment building that Epstein's brother owned and which Epstein had used to house people close to him, including models from Eastern Europe.

Do you have a story to share about Epstein or Musk? Contact Business Insider's tip line via encrypted messaging app Signal at (646) 768-4744 using a nonwork phone, or email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Twitter DM at @beckpeterson.

The couple, who dated from 2011 to 2012, was set up by Epstein himself, the sources said. Their relationship brought Epstein into contact with the Musk family and their businesses, and highlights how the convicted pedophile may have used the women in his inner circle to develop strategic relationships with prominent people in the world of tech and business.

"It almost seemed a little more transactional," said one source familiar with the couple. "The rumor has always been that Epstein facilitated introductions to beautiful women, looking for deal flow or access to capital. And the provenance of [Kimbal Musk's relationship to the woman] was right down the path of that."

Original author: Business Insider

The 2019 box office hit some major milestones, according to Comscore.The global box office for the year finished at $42.5 billion, an all-time high.At the international (non-US) box office, the closing figure was $31.1 billion, also an all-time high.North America finished strong thanks to "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" and "Jumanji: The Next Level" and had a $11.4 billion total. That's the second-biggest year ever and the fifth-straight year it has surpassed $11 billion.With no "Avengers" or "Star Wars" releases coming out in 2020, the box office totals for the year may not be as strong as what happened in 2019.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

 

Thanks to a strong push to the finish line, the 2019 box office ended up with an impressive take, according to Comscore. 

The third-party media and analytics company reported on Friday that the global box office ended up with a $42.5 billion total, an all-time high. The international (non-US) box office also had an all-time best, bringing in $31.1 billion.

This was thanks to the big earners of the year like Disney titles "Avengers: Endgame," "The Lion King," and "Frozen 2," along with Sony's "Spider-Man: Far From Home" and Warner Bros.' "Joker."

The North American box office also turned out to have a big year, finishing with a $11.4 billion take, the second-biggest year ever and the fifth-straight year it has surpassed the $11 billion mark. 

A big help to the North American total was the performance by December releases like "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," "Jumanji: The Next Level," and award-season titles overperforming like Sony's "Little Women" and A24's "Uncut Gems." It led to the deficit from 2018's record-breaking take of $11.8 billion going from 11% at the end of April to just 4% for the full year. 

The totals proved the strength of the 2019 slate for the entire year, but going forward there could be cause for concern. 

With no "Avengers" or "Star Wars" titles coming out in 2020, this year is lacking the number of event pictures compared to the last two years. 

Upcoming movies like "No Time To Die," "Wonder Woman 1984," "Black Widow," and "Top Gun: Maverick" will try to pick up the slack.

Original author: Jason Guerrasio

Spencer Platt/Getty

The great thing about a driver rating system is that it should, in theory, keep people honest and accountable. Bad drivers should receive bad ratings, and good drivers should receive good ratings.

When it is not used properly or is abused, the whole rating system might as well go into the trash can.

Passengers deserve rides in clean, safe, well-maintained vehicles driven by great, friendly drivers at safe speeds. That is my goal for every ride, and it should be the goal of every driver.

More than 3 million Uber trips take place in the US every day, and the company said in a safety report that 99.9% of rides end without any reports of safety-related incidents. But I have heard absolute horror stories from both friends and passengers in that 0.1%, and I've even experienced bad rides as a passenger myself.

A couple of years ago, I was in an Uber ride where the driver was driving with the phone navigation in her lap. She did not have a dash mount for her phone. She was literally looking down for half of the ride, as she was clearly in an area she did not know. She was driving erratically, I did not feel safe, and I was slamming the invisible brake the whole ride.

When we were about a minute away from our destination, she was coming up to a red light, except she was looking down at her phone and still accelerating, with no signs of slowing down. I yelled "Look out!" and she slammed on her brakes so hard that the tires squealed and we were inches from crashing into the back of the car ahead of us. My heart was pounding. We did not leave her a good review.

Multiple passengers have told me they have had drivers who were texting one-handed while driving. A friend told me a guy picked him up from the airport and his speed never dipped below 90 mph on the highway. One guy told me his driver was cursing nonstop about the traffic and had extreme road rage. A woman once told me a male driver picked her up late at night and kept making comments about how beautiful she was and asking if anyone was home as he was dropping her off at her house.

One woman told me an absolutely horrifying story. She said that years ago, one driver said he was asked by Uber to conduct a survey after the ride for a $25 Uber gift card, if she would just write down her name and phone number on this sheet. She wrote down her information. She said that a few days later this guy found all her social-media accounts and a slew of other personal information and was texting her nonstop about how beautiful she was and how they should be together. She ended up blocking the guy everywhere she could to get rid of him.

I asked all these people: Did you give that driver a one-star review? Did you report them to Uber or Lyft? Almost all of them said no and had some reason: They didn't feel like it, it would have taken too much time, they didn't want to get the driver fired because they probably needed the money.

The girl who wrote her number on the paper for that "survey"? She never reported her driver to Uber. He could still be out there, and you know he has probably done that creepy survey trick on others. (Just for the record, Uber or Lyft will never ask drivers to conduct surveys; never give your personal information to any driver, no matter how convincing they may seem.)

Bad drivers need to be one-starred and reported. If you do not feel safe, report your driver. If your driver is doing something that is violating safety laws or community guidelines, report them! If you do not report them, they could be out there driving another passenger unsafely or hitting on someone else inappropriately. That bad driver is also taking away rides and money from thousands of other great drivers who drive safely and respect you, and they also give the brand a bad image.

The reviewing concept also goes both ways. If you leave a negative review or report a driver, Uber or Lyft may follow up with you and even refund your ride or offer you a free ride in the future as a gesture of goodwill.

Give your bad drivers bad ratings and get them off the platform. Rate good drivers honestly to keep them on the platform. We all want good drivers to drive us, so use the rating system properly!

Original author: Clarke Bowman

Credit Karma, long known for its free credit scores, launched as something of a marketing firm, connecting its users with credit cards and loans and getting paid by the banks that offered those products.

But today, it's one of Silicon Valley's hottest fintechs, with a $4 billion valuation and 100 million members. And it's grown fast. The 13-year-old company added 75 million users in the last five years alone and says it counts 1 in 2 millennials as users.

Reports from the Wall Street Journal and CNBC have pegged Credit Karma as a 2020 IPO candidate, though its CEO has said he sees listing as a means, not an end, and is more focused on launching new products than going public soon. Credit Karma has indicated it is profitable according to past media reports. 

As Credit Karma looks to do more than free credit scores, it's also eyeing the next cohort of spenders — Gen Z.

When it launched a high-yield savings account last year (it's first financial product), it leaned on celebrity partners and influencers to get the word out to millennials and Gen Z.

At a press event in New York last November, Credit Karma and celebrity partner Jameela Jamil hosted journalists and influencers to talk financial wellness. Business Insider attended the event, which featured quippy personal finance-themed activities like a "nail your finances" manicure table, a "feng shui your wallet" organization station, and a tarot card reader to look into your financial future.

Jamil, an actor and activist, told her own story of going broke at 30 years old before booking a role on NBC's The Good Place, and spoke to the importance of managing your finances at any age.

We talked to Credit Karma's CEO Ken Lin and CMO Greg Lull about how the startup became a fintech, and the high stakes for making personal finance relevant for twenty-somethings.

Credit Karma raised $175 million in Series D funding from Tiger Global Management, Valinor Management, and Susquehanna Growth Equity in June 2015, and has since completed two rounds of debt financing and secondary sales.

Many are seeing a higher bar for IPOs in the near term, particularly for fast-growing tech companies. Across the board, thanks to high-profile, money-losing names like Uber and Lyft that have plunged in public trading, there's been increased scrutiny looking for sustainable growth. 

And as we've reported, other buzzy fintechs like neobanks have based their business model in part on referrals of their own — Chime, for instance, earns a portion of its revenue from referring customers to other fintechs like SoftBank-backed renters insurance startup Lemonade and fellow DST Global portfolio company Root Insurance.

Reaching Gen Z

Original author: Shannen Balogh

Every week, Parrot Analytics provides Business Insider with a list of the nine most in-demand original TV shows on streaming services in the US.Disney Plus' "The Mandalorian" passed Netflix's "The Witcher" for the top spot on this week's list.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

It's a battle of Witchers and Mandalorians, as Disney Plus' "Star Wars" series, "The Mandalorian," reclaims its title as the most in-demand original streaming series in the US from Netflix's hit fantasy series, "The Witcher."

However, "The Witcher" is still the most in-demand series globally. 

Every week, Parrot Analytics provides Business Insider with a list of the nine most in-demand TV shows on streaming services in the US. The data is based on "demand expressions," Parrot Analytics' globally standardized TV-demand measurement unit. Audience demand reflects the desire, engagement, and viewership weighted by importance, so a stream or a download is a higher expression of demand than a "like" or a comment on social media, for instance.

Below are this week's nine most popular original shows on Netflix and other streaming services:

Original author: Travis Clark

Casper, the buzzy online mattress startup, filed to go public on Friday.A company filing shows it spent about $422.8 million on marketing between January 1, 2016, through September 30.It's typical for a company to increase spending in sales and marketing before they file to go public, and Casper spent $113.9 million from January 2019 to September, a 23% increase year over year.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

The buzzy online mattress startup Casper filed to go public on Friday, submitting paperwork with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange. 

The company's filings revealed that while its net revenue grew to $357.9 million in 2018 from $250.9 million in 2017, net losses increased $92.1 million in 2018 from $73.4 million in 2017.

Casper spent nearly half a billion dollars on marketing from 2016 to 2019

Original author: Tanya Dua

The internet of things (IoT) refers to the network of everyday objects that are plugged into the internet.And as IoT continues to mature, experts and industry leaders are exploring applications through something we all do — buying stuff.Visa is exploring IoT payments through cars, and it thinks cars could pay for their own parking in as soon as 12 months.Citi Ventures is also eyeing the space. It's backing CarIQ, a startup that's already exploring payments initiated from vehicles without needing a credit card.But VCs at Edison Partners caution that while the funding is there for startups launching IoT platforms, it may not happen as quickly as we'd think.While tech moves fast, legacy infrastructures and consumer behavior could delay IoT adoption. Click here for more BI Prime stories.

You probably have heard of the so-called internet of things (IoT). It refers to the network of everyday objects that are plugged into the internet. Think: phones, refrigerators, cars, even lightbulbs.

Talks of IoT often conjure up fears of Black Mirror-esque dystopian realities. If the things you use every day are connected and communicating with each other, it's easy to see how privacy and security become top concerns. IoT devices can collect data including location, spending habits, and health information.

It's that rich trove of data and always-watching connectivity that has caught the attention of one of the world's biggest payments players, as well as venture investors and startups. 

And as IoT continues to mature, experts and industry leaders are exploring applications through something we all do every day — buy stuff. They're eyeing not only your wallet, but your car as the next opportunity to roll out IoT payments.

We talked with payments experts to learn what's possible when it comes to smart devices paying bills, and what some of the big hurdles to adoption will be.

Card network giant Visa has been investing in IoT payments for the past couple of years, Bisi Boyle, vice president of IoT at Visa, told Business Insider. 

Boyle heads up efforts around connected payments and is leading Visa's charge to make sure the card network's rails are connected on the IoT. And for 2020, she's focused on rolling out invisible payments in cars.

"We saw the opportunity because of this explosion of connected devices that make up the internet of things that people use every day now" said Boyle. Cars are first on the list, she said.

The four use cases Visa is exploring with cars are fuel, parking, food, and tolls. Cars, Boyle said, will likely be the first place consumers will see IoT payments — and she predicts that capability could arrive as soon as next year.

"The idea is you're just living your life and all these payment experiences happen," said Boyle. 

Take parking, for example. IoT enabled cars will be able to find open street parking and pay the meter, all without the driver needing to pull out their phone or wallet.

Visa is betting that fuel and parking use cases will surface in the 12 to 18 month range, said Boyle. And the card company has already partnered with car companies like Honda to start rolling out the tech.

Paying for parking and gas are just the beginning, though. Boyle sees drive-thru and curbside food pickup as the next step for the tech within three years. 

Tolls are another area with potential, but Boyle thinks adoption will take closer to the three years. The idea is to bring the toll payments into the cars using IoT, as opposed to the existing electronic toll providers like New York's E-ZPass and California's FasTrak.

"You have to work with different governments and municipalities, so that's why that one takes a little bit longer," Boyle said.

And while these payments may be "invisible," Boyle does not see a world where machines are initiating payments without the involvement of the owner themselves.

To be sure, IoT payments will eliminate the need to take out a wallet, but users will still need to authorize payments made by machines. 

"I don't mind it paying for me, but I want it to ask me first, and I want it to know that it's me," said Boyle.

"You have to design the payment experience in a way that people feel that they can trust it," she added.

Fuel is one of the key use cases Visa is exploring. AP/Jessica Hill

Cars paying for their own gas

Like Visa, Citi Ventures' co-head of venture investing, Ramneek Gupta, is betting on cars to drive the first wave of IoT payments.

"It is a little bit nascent today — but I think there will be a lot more value creation there from the startup ecosystem—is the emergence of non-human or machine-originated payments," Gupta told Business Insider in November.

As everyday devices like cars and phones get smarter, Gupta thinks IoT payments are inevitable. "It's the natural next step," he said.

Gupta expects these machine-initiated payments to surface in the next two to three years. Citi Ventures backed an India-based startup called CarIQ, which is already exploring payments initiated from vehicles without needing a credit card.

The startup raised $5 million in a Series A in June, and in August, automotive manufacturer Varroc acquired a 74% stake.

Original author: Shannen Balogh

A recent survey of financial advisers found that 43% believe their population will shrink in the next five years.  And of that group, 43% believe robo-advisers are the leading factor in eliminating financial adviser roles, according to the survey conducted by research firm Greenwich Associates. Startup robo-advisers enjoyed growth last decade, forcing traditional wealth managers to consider how to adapt to changing customer tastes. Visit BI Prime for more stories.

The end is near for financial advisers, according to financial advisers. 

That's the sentiment from some advisers surveyed as part of a recent report on the impact of technology on their roles. 

Research and consultancy Greenwich Associates surveyed more than 2,500 advisers on the state of their occupation in five years — and the majority of the group's outlook was pretty bleak, with 43% believing fewer financial advisers will exist in the future.

Of that group who see a decline in the cards, 43% said robo-advisers would be the leading factor in the decline of the occupation, closely followed by "less interest in becoming a financial adviser."

Meanwhile, the technology is actually helping advisers' business, according to their customers. A survey of 312 US investors found that 37% trust their adviser more because of the increased use of fintech as part of the adviser relationship. 

"Put another way, financial advisers expect technology to take their jobs, but clients expect technology to make their financial advisers better," said Brad Tingley, a market structure and technology analyst at Greenwich Associates, in the report. "The reality is somewhere in between." 

The report's findings. Greenwich Associates

The results from the survey echo some findings from a recent CFA Institute poll.

More than half — 54% — of wealth managers, financial advisers, and planners, said they expected their roles to "substantially" change over the next five to 10 years, with 4% believing the job will cease to exist entirely in that time. 

Financial advisers have no love lost for robos, which spent the better part of the past decade growing in size thanks to their low fees and digital-first experiences. In a November survey of financial advisers by Greenwich Associates, 71% labeled robo-advisers and automated investing as over-hyped.  To be sure, pure-play robos still make up just a tiny fraction of overall global wealth assets, and some experts say the space could be overdue for consolidation.  

Still, despite their distaste for the up-and-coming tech, legacy players have been forced to consider how to use it. 

Business Insider first reported in November that storied asset and wealth manager Neuberger Berman was overhauling its client- and adviser-facing digital offerings in a firm-wide upgrade by the end of 2020.

In December, we surveyed executives across the wealth management spectrum to understand the skills human advisers would need to stay ahead of the curve in the future, and which technology would become ubiquitous in a decade. Many said artificial intelligence aiding advisers' decision-making for clients would only grow in popularity.

And while some advisers have come around to adopting new technology, most haven't been keen to share those capabilities with clients. Greenwich's latest report indicates just 29% of advisers make clients aware of all the tech tools available to them.

Meanwhile talent in the business — comprised of players like traditional wirehouses, independent registered investment advisers, and retail banks — is aging, and firms are trying to combat the industry's realities.

The average US financial adviser is 52 years old, according to research provider Cerulli Associates, and those under 35 comprise just 9% of the total workforce.

And over the next decade, some 37% of advisers overseeing about 39% of industry assets are expected to retire. The majority of those retirements are expected to come from wirehouses and independent broker-dealers.

UBS, the world's largest wealth manager by client assets, said last month that it would bring back its wealth planning analyst role, a position more junior to full-fledged financial advisers.

Rival wealth manager Morgan Stanley has been turning to a group of junior wealth staffers to assist advisers in getting up to speed with new capabilities; it's one way to create a pipeline of younger employees to full-fledged adviser roles.

And we first reported last year that Merrill Lynch raised trainee financial advisers' starting salaries by $10,000 as it looked to attract fresh talent and maintain a competitive edge. 

Read more: Robo-advisers like Wealthfront and Betterment are in a tricky spot — here's why one fintech banker thinks buyers and public investors will be hard to win over

Read more: WEALTH MANAGEMENT 2030: Read the full responses to our survey about wealth management and the financial adviser of the future

Original author: Dan DeFrancesco and Rebecca Ungarino

Ally Financial's Ally Bank, one of the oldest digital-only banks in the US, may be branchless, but it's not a neobank. In addition to credit and savings accounts, Ally offers mortgages and trading accounts.We spoke to Dinesh Chopra, Ally's head of strategy, about his outlook on M&A, partnering with other fintechs, and Ally's venture investing. In April, Ally announced it had teamed up with mortgage startup Better.com. Ally's venture arm also invested in Better's Series C fundraising round.A bank can expand its product lineup in a few ways. It can build in-house, buy a company that has already built that product, or partner with a fintech. "We as a company wrestle with that decision on a day-to-day basis," Chopra said. "We also look at what our exit strategy is. Because when you enter into a partnership, you always have to plan for the worst," Chopra said.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

Ally Financial's online bank is one of the oldest digital banks in the US. But it's not a neobank.

It may be branchless, but Ally has a banking charter, so it's regulated like any other retail bank. Most neobanks don't have bank charters, instead partnering with banks like Bancorp or GreenDot, which provide the core banking processing and FDIC insurance.

Ten-year-old Ally Bank is nevertheless part of the cohort of digital-only banks that includes startups like Chime — which are attracting VC backing and gaining users and deposits.

Ally is leaning on adding new products for growth, as startup neobanks lure customers with high-yield savings accounts and banking giants build out their own digital capabilities — and how exactly it goes about doing that is a critical question.

"We believe that there is a structural tailwind behind digital banking," Dinesh Chopra, chief strategy and corporate development officer at Ally Financial, told Business Insider.

"Digital banking overall is only 8% of the market," he said. Legacy players like Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citi account for most of the country's consumer deposits.

Chopra heads up Ally's corporate strategy team, which includes oversight of mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships with fintechs, and Ally's venture capital arm.

He's responsible for Ally's strategic roadmap, deciding when to build new products and when to partner with or acquire fintechs. Prior to joining Ally in 2017, Chopra was head of strategy for Citigroup's retail bank as well as its mortgage and payments businesses.

As of the first quarter last year, Ally was the 15th largest bank in the US in terms of total assets, according to the Federal Reserve. 

Chopra said consumers want more than high-yield savings — they want to borrow, save, invest, and protect their money.

"We're trying to get into other verticals like wealth management," said Chopra. "I think to have a sustainable banking practice, you have to have a more holistic value proposition than just one product."

Deciding when to build, partner, or buy

A bank can expand its product lineup in a few ways. It can build in-house, buy a company that has already built that product, or partner with a fintech.

"We as a company wrestle with that decision on a day-to-day basis," Chopra said. 

Building new products in-house can be expensive and delay time to market, meaning partnerships are often a more attractive option. 

"We don't believe we have to do everything ourselves," said Chopra. "The world is moving towards growth through partnerships."

In April, Ally announced it had teamed up with mortgage startup Better.com on digital home lending. Ally's venture arm also invested in Better's Series C fundraising round.

Through its partnership with Better.com, Ally is able to offer fully digital mortgages on its website and app, meaning customers can apply, receive, and pay down a mortgage online.

"It is completely end-to-end digital. You can get your mortgage application done in less than five minutes on a mobile phone," said Chopra.

Ally had a mortgage business prior to its Better.com partnership called Ally Home, which launched in 2016. To apply for a mortgage, customers would have to fill out a form on Ally's website, then wait for a phone call from a company representative to complete the application.

Making sure you have an exit strategy

Ally considers a few things when looking externally for a partner or possible acquisition, Chopra said. For one, it looks for a partner that has created a compelling product. 

"We have a very high bar for what we share with our customers," said Chopra. "We are trying to look for something that is differentiated and disruptive."

Then, Chopra has to decide if the money makes sense by looking at a potential partner's business plan and revenue-share agreement. 

"We might find a candidate that has something we want and it makes sense to partner with them because the time to market can be quicker, but the economics may not work out," he said.

Chopra also considers the risks of depending on a partnership to support a growing product. 

"We also look at what our exit strategy is. Because when you enter into a partnership, you always have to plan for the worst," Chopra said.

While signing a partnership is one way to grow, Ally has also bought its way to new tech through strategic acquisitions.

In 2016, Ally acquired online broker TradeKing, which was rebranded as Ally Invest. And in October this year, it jumped into healthcare financing when it acquired point-of-sale lender Health Credit Services.

Ally's venture arm can feed its M&A pipeline

M&A and partnerships are closely tied to Ally's venture strategy. 

Ally has invested in Greenlight, a startup that offers debit cards for kids and teens, as well as Modal, a digital sales platform for car dealerships that billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel also backed.

"We make small investments in early stage companies with the primary purpose of getting a tap into the market," said Chopra. 

And when the venture business is looking for a new investment, it also considers how that investment could play into Ally's future.

"We look at companies which could be in the pipeline where we could either partner or acquire them in future," said Chopra. "It's not like a traditional VC firm where we are trying to make a 100x return on two or three investments. It's more strategic."

The Ally we know today traces its roots back to 1919 as General Motors Acceptance Company (GMAC), the captive finance arm of GM, handling the car manufacturer's auto lending business.

Before the Ally rebrand, GMAC offered more than auto loans. It also had a subprime mortgage arm, ResCap, and a direct banking channel called GMAC bank. The global financial crisis hit GMAC hard as delinquencies on mortgages and auto loans rose.

In 2008, the company received a $17.2 billion bailout from the US government, which it wouldn't exit until 2014.

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, GMAC rebranded as Ally Financial in 2010. ResCap filed for bankruptcy, and Ally started to distance itself from GM.

Original author: Shannen Balogh

If you're an executive facing a legal crisis and have anywhere between $1,000 to $2,000 an hour to spend, you might consider turning to John Hueston. Palantir, the data analytics company Peter Thiel funded, tapped Hueston when it found itself getting nowhere in a trade secret lawsuit. So did Elon Musk, when the SEC claimed he violated a settlement over his infamous "funding secured" tweets.Hueston is also defending Bill McGlashan, the former TPG exec charged in the college admissions scandal.His website for the law firm Hueston Hennigan has a scrolling testimonials section featuring one-time clients including actor Alec Baldwin and execs from corporations like T-Mobile, BlackBerry, and Waste Management.Business Insider took a deeper look at the man responsible for the fate of the powerful people and companies that we cover.Click here for more BI Prime stories.

If you're an executive facing a legal crisis and have anywhere between $1,000 to $2,000 an hour to spend, you might consider turning to John Hueston.

He's the lawyer who Peter Thiel's data analytics company, Palantir, turned to when it found itself getting nowhere in a trade secret lawsuit. He represented Elon Musk when the SEC claimed he violated the terms of a settlement over his infamous "funding secured" tweets. And he's defending Bill McGlashan, the former TPG exec charged in the college admissions scandal. 

We reviewed court records and talked to a dozen insiders including friends, colleagues, and competitors, to learn how the one-time prosecutor who grilled former Enron Chairman Ken Lay in one of the biggest corporate fraud trials in history has turned into a fixer for the rich and powerful.

His website for the law firm Hueston Hennigan has a scrolling testimonials section featuring one-time clients including actor Alec Baldwin and execs from corporations like T-Mobile, BlackBerry, and Waste Management. And if the firm's docket and 2020 schedule is any indication, it stands to add a few more.

"He can effectively present to any audience, whether it's a board or a jury or the Supreme Court," said Wayne Gross, a lawyer who has worked closely with Hueston, as far back as the 2000s when they were both prosecutors, as well as in recent years, while working in private practice. 

Other colleagues pointed to a mix of boldness and media savvy, with an energy that's led him to climb mountains and ride his bike cross-country while carrying his laptop and cell phone to stay in touch with clients. 

"He has a rare combination of being willing to do any work it takes to know the case as well as anyone else, but also be nimble and find a path that others haven't thought of," said Robb Adkins, a white collar defense partner at Winston & Strawn, who is also a longtime friend. 

Palantir fires Boies Schiller, hires Hueston

That reputation led Hueston to Palantir, the Peter Thiel-funded data company which had grown frustrated with delays in a trade-secrets case. At some point in 2019, it fired lawyers at Boies Schiller Flexner — the firm founded by famed trial attorney David Boies — and brought Hueston in to supercharge the case. 

Palantir, founded in 2003, sells software and analytics tools to US government agencies. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was reported to have used Palantir as part of a immigration crackdown under President Donald Trump.

The secretive company was last valued at $20 billion, and there's been much speculation about when it might finally pursue an initial public offering. 

One of the biggest legal issues currently facing the company is a longstanding dispute with an early investor, Marc Abramowitz, who had a falling out in 2015 with CEO Alexander Karp.

Abramowitz says Palantir blocked him from selling $60 million of shares and is investigating possible fraud at the company, while Palantir says Abramowitz stole trade secrets and used them to set up a competing business.

After three years in court, including back-and-forth deliberations about the nature of trade secrets Abramowitz is alleged to have misappropriated, there has been no discovery conducted against Abramowitz, even as a June 2020 trial looms ahead. 

In late December, Hueston filed a motion in California court pursuing discovery against Abramowitz, and referenced a new claim he added under RICO — a racketeering law often cited by prosecutors when going after organized crime, and a more aggressive accusation than trade secret misappropriation.

Boies Schiller did not respond to requests for comment about Hueston's involvement. Neither did attorneys at Skadden who are representing Abramowitz. 

Hueston advises Elon Musk 

In February, Hueston represented Elon Musk when the billionaire entrepreneur got into hot water with the Securities and Exchange Commission for tweeting what the securities regulator said was fraudulent information about Tesla's business.

Musk had already entered into a settlement with the SEC for tweeting the words "funding secured" in August 2018, which suggested to many observers that he could take Tesla private at $420 a share. The SEC called those tweets misleading, and a go-private deal never happened. 

As part of the SEC settlement, Musk forfeited his role as chair of the Tesla board for three years, paid $20 million, and agreed to have his tweeting monitored by lawyers.

Then, months later, another tweet — this time, inaccurate sales projections which he later corrected — provoked the SEC to file another legal action against Musk, claiming he was in violation of the settlement.

That's when Hueston was called in to iron things out. He argued that Musk had been perfectly cooperative with the SEC, despite his view that the Twitter restrictions raised First Amendment concerns. And, he said, that the SEC's action "smacks of retaliation and censorship" after Musk was critical of the agency in a CBS interview. 

After some jockeying in court, the matter was resolved with Musk's CEO position intact at Tesla and he and Hueston appeared outside the courtroom steps in the Southern District of New York, fielding questions from reporters. 

Hueston picks up McGlashan as a client

It was around the same time that former TPG executive Bill McGlashan, who was charged by U.S. prosecutors of paying to falsify his son's record in an attempt to get him into the University of Southern California, was on the phone with Hueston about his own legal problems.

In the McGlashan case, Hueston interviewed as many as four parents for possible representation after a sweeping March indictment netted 33 accused of paying a consultant to create fake profiles and exam scores for their children to gain entry into top universities. 

People familiar with the process said that Hueston went with Hollywood private-equity mogul McGlashan, at least in part, because he was willing to fight the charges rather than cop to a plea agreement with prosecutors to make the matter go away. 

Later in the year, Hueston attacked the prosecutors charging McGlashan, peppering them with discovery requests and asking for any documents that could show he had been unaware of the fraudulent scheme orchestrated by the consultant he paid, Rick Singer. 

From Enron prosecutor to a friend to big business 

Hueston has always been known as aggressive. He made his name in 2006 when he received public recognition for his role as the attack-dog prosecutor grilling former Enron chairman and CEO Ken Lay in one of the biggest corporate fraud trials ever. 

Hueston had been called in from Southern California to Houston to work as one member of a special Justice Department task force investigating the events that led up to Enron's collapse in 2001.

He proved himself to be dogged in mounting a case against Lay, while others investigated onetime CEO and COO Jeffrey Skilling, as well as other executives. By the end of it, both Lay and Skilling were convicted on fraud and conspiracy charges, and Hueston's work was covered in lengthy profiles. 

Afterward, Hueston joined the law firm of Irell & Manella, where he switched sides and, instead of holding corporations to account for wrongdoing, decided to make bank — earning millions defending corporations and wealthy people in both criminal prosecutions and civil business disputes.

Split identity

At times, Hueston has wrestled with whether he has wanted to continue on as a defense lawyer, according to people who know him. 

In 2014, while working at Irell, he applied for the role of U.S. Attorney of the Central District of California, the most populous district in America. It involved an extensive, weeks-long application process, including reference checks, a list of cases and judges he appeared before, as well as names of opposing counsel. 

"Making the decision to apply, I think, really was driven by a continuing desire to be a pubic servant," said Brian Hennigan, Hueston's law partner. 

He was interviewed by Senator Dianne Feinstein, who would make the recommendation as to who would be the next U.S. Attorney for the Central District, appointed by then President Obama. They went with an internal hire instead: Eileen Decker, who served from 2015 to 2017. 

Shortly after, he launched Hueston Hennigan, where he set out to handle high-stakes cases that are also in the public interest. 

Both plaintiffs and defense

Since starting the firm, he's taken on both plaintiffs and defense-side cases, and some at discounted rates.

That includes representing Navajo Nation, an American Indian territory which has sued the EPA and other parties they say are responsible for a 2015 gold mine waste spill in Colorado. 

The cases that don't fall into that "low bono" category, however, are often not pretty. 

At one point, he represented Corinthian Colleges, the onetime for-profit college chain that was investigated by attorneys general for fraud, including fake job placement statistics, over-promising a flowery future to prospective students and then charging high prices for tuition and racking up student debt.

Both then-California attorney general Kamala Harris and the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accused the school chain of financial improprieties.  

The school chain filed for bankruptcy and Harris won a $1.1 billion judgment against the defunct company in 2016, yet, thanks to Hueston's involvement, none of its executives were criminally charged. All penalties remained financial.

Original author: Casey Sullivan

I've been covering Tesla since 2007, and it's hard to believe that it was just a year ago that CEO Elon Musk dispatched his now-infamous $420 and "funding secured" tweet — and push to take the company private.

That decision wound up costing Tesla and Musk $40 million in an SEC settlement, plus Musk's chairmanship of the company. 

But Tesla actually had bigger problems to deal with. Both 2018 and 2019 were tough, as the company struggled through production of the Model 3 sedan and worked feverishly to get a new factory up and running in China.

Somehow, it all came together in late 2019, just as Tesla revealed an absolutely bonkers vehicle, the long-awaited Cybertruck pickup.

Tesla's stock rallied and rallied and then some. By the end of the year, $420 was in the rearview mirror; by January 2020, a $500 share price was in sight.

Here's how it all happened:

Original author: Matthew DeBord

Hearst Magazines editorial employees at big-name titles including Cosmopolitan and Esquire recently joined a throng of other media workers who are unionizing.A Hearst union would be a big win for the Writers Guild of America East, representing 24 titles.Many of the staffers said they were motivated by the gains they saw people get by unionizing at other companies. But they also cited uncertainty around pay raises, job changes, and tough pushback by Hearst Magazines President Troy Young as reasons for unionizing.While some say a union was inevitable, others question whether management missed a chance to quell unhappy employees.Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Hearst Magazines editorial employees who work at some of the best-known titles including Cosmopolitan and Esquire recently formed a union, joining a throng of other media workers.

Business Insider talked to 10 current and former Hearst employees of varying seniority and tenure about the union's rise and management's response.

While some of their demands are common to media unions, such as editorial standards and diversity programs, employees said they also were frustrated by the way raises and promotions were handled and not having say in recent big change in their jobs:

Many Hearst employees saw a scattershot approach to promotions and raises at the company, and shared stories about unequal and stagnant pay.Starting in 2018, Young started integrating the brands' print and digital teams, leading to big changes in people's jobs and leaving some overwhelmed, stressed, and bitter.Hearst then took a forceful stance against the union in meetings and online, which left some feeling angry and patronized.

Young said the company was navigating industry change better than most, but he also acknowledged that change was hard.

Read the rest of the story here: How Hearst's effort to modernize its antiquated magazine business stressed out employees and led them to unionize

Original author: Lucia Moses