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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Diabetes startup Omada Health has confidentially filed its S-1 for an IPO, BI has learned.</li><li>It's among a crop of hot startups patiently waiting for the markets to reopen for healthcare IPOs.</li></ul>Rumors about diabetes startup Omada Health's public market debut have been <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-startups-ipo-public-markets-reopens-2024-1">swirling</a> for years. Now, its IPO may finally be within reach.Omada Health confidentially filed its S-1 this summer to go public, according to one person with knowledge of the transaction.It's been a long time coming for Omada, which was founded in 2011 to treat diabetes and other chronic conditions with a combination of virtual coaching and remote monitoring.Omada last raised a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/omada-health-pitch-deck-raise-192-million-2022-7">$192 million Series E</a> in 2022, which boosted its valuation <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/health-tech/omada-health-hits-unicorn-status-192m-fidelity-led-series-e">over $1 billion</a>. It's raised about $450 million to date, according to PitchBook.An Omada Health spokesperson said the company "can't comment on rumors or speculation at this time."Omada CEO Sean Duffy has never spoken publicly about the startup's IPO plans. But Omada could be one of the select healthcare startups to test the IPO waters when the markets warm up, hopefully in 2025.Hinge Health has hired banks including Morgan Stanley as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hinge-health-s-1-morgan-stanley-ipo-2024-9">the physical therapy startup prepares to confidentially file its S-1</a>, BI previously reported. Hinge is aiming for an IPO in early 2025, markets willing.BI previously reported that Omada Health and Hinge Health were among <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/healthcare-startups-ipo-public-markets-reopens-2024-1">the top contenders to test the healthcare IPO waters</a>, alongside startups like Lyra Health and Datavant.It's been a rough couple of years for healthcare IPOs. After 20 healthcare startups went public in 2021, only one healthcare company went public the following year — Akili Interactive, which <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/virtual-therapeutics-announces-results-tender-111900807.html">sold for $34 million</a> this July. No healthcare startups went public in 2023.2024's IPO market has remained rocky. Three digital health companies have gone public this year: revenue cycle management company Waystar, remote pregnancy monitoring company Nuvo, and precision medicine company Tempus AI. Both Waystar's and Tempus's stock have surged about 30% since their public market debuts, as of October 1. Nuvo, which went public in a SPAC deal in May, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-08-22/newly-public-pregnancy-care-firm-nuvo-files-for-bankruptcy">filed for bankruptcy in August</a>.Cameron Lester, global co-head of technology, media, and telecom investment banking at Jefferies, told Business Insider in August that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/servicetitan-waiting-until-after-the-election-to-go-public-2024-8">many companies are now waiting until 2025</a>, after the US presidential election has concluded, to consider an IPO. He said the firm expects "a strong 2025 with lots of companies getting ready to go public."Ben Narasin, founder and general partner at Tenacity Venture Capital and an early investor in Omada Health, told BI he believes the first quarter of 2024 "will unleash the IPO beast back into the wild, and we will see a long-awaited return to liquidity, starting with the best and most compelling companies that currently clog a congested pipe of massive scale."Omada has made plenty of progress in the IPO drought, including by notching a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://resourcecenter.omadahealth.com/blog/omada-health-joins-amazons-health-condition-programs-as-launch-partner">partnership with Amazon</a> in January. It's also sought deals to help employers <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/omada-strategy-weight-loss-drugs-semaglutide-ozempic-2023-5">manage patients on weight-loss drugs like Ozempic</a>."Probably every year for the last five years, I get asked about Omada's IPO," Duffy told BI in January. "We want to make sure that Omada continues to grow, and that we're the sort of business that can thrive independently."

Exclusive: Diabetes startup Omada Health has confidentially filed its S-1 to go public

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The SEC has sued the former chief executive of the SPAC that helped take Trump's media company public.</li><li>Patrick Orlando "falsely represented" his SPAC's talks with Trump Media, the SEC said. </li></ul>The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has <a target="_blank" href="https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_temp.pl?file=merged_5491_-1-1721310202.pdf&amp;type=application/pdf">sued</a> Patrick Orlando — the former chairman and CEO of the SPAC that helped take Donald Trump's media company public.The SEC says Orlando "falsely represented" that his blank check company, Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), wasn't planning to merge with a specific target. Orlando had actually been having "numerous lengthy discussions" with Trump Media &amp; Technology Group (TMTG).TMTG is the parent company of Trump's Twitter clone, Truth Social. The social media firm's shares have been ricocheting <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/djt-stock-price-outlook-donald-trump-media-truth-social-2024-6">up</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/trump-media-djt-stock-price-plunges-felony-conviction-guilty-verdict-2024-6">down</a> since going public earlier this year.In the suit, the SEC notes it <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2023-135">imposed an $18 million civil penalty</a> against DWAC in July 2023 for misrepresenting its negotiations with TMTG.Neither Orlando's lawyers, DWAC, nor TMTG immediately responded to requests for comment from Business Insider.The SEC says it's looking to prevent Orlando from engaging in similar conduct in the future and "disgorgement of all ill-gotten gains" — as well as prejudgment interest and civil penalties.This isn't the first time the SEC has targeted entities associated with TMTG.In May, the SEC charged TMTG's former auditor with "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-media-auditor-bf-borgers-charged-massive-fraud-sec-2024-5">massive fraud</a>." At the time, a TMTG spokesperson told Business Insider it "looks forward to working with new auditing partners."

Ex-CEO of company that helped Trump Media go public accused of securities fraud   

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Business titans like Jamie Dimon and Bill Gates reportedly back Kamala Harris — but not publicly.</li><li>It may be driven by fears of retribution from Trump and what a second term would bring.</li></ul>Both <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-billionaires-investors-kamala-harris-mark-cuban-reid-hoffman-2024-8">Vice President Kamala Harris</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/which-billionaires-support-donald-trump-campaign">former President Donald Trump</a> have won support from America's business titans and CEOs. But not all of that support is being declared in public.On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that both <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jamie-dimon-political-ambitions-retirement-plans-jpmorgan-3q-earnings-2024-10">JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-bill-gates-spends-fortune">Microsoft founder Bill Gates</a> support Harris, but won't say so publicly.Gates <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/22/us/elections/bill-gates-future-forward-kamala-harris.html">reportedly donated</a> $50 million to a pro-Harris "dark money" nonprofit group that, unlike political action committees, is not required to disclose its donors. A spokesperson for Gates did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment, but in a statement to The Times that didn't acknowledge the donation, he said that "this election is different" for him.Dimon has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/22/business/jamie-dimon-jpmorgan-harris-trump.html">reportedly told associates</a> that he supports Harris, but won't go public out of fear of retaliation.All of which raises the question: What's there to be afraid of?There's certainly reason to believe that Trump, if elected, would pursue some degree of retribution against those who he believes have wronged him. As he's mounted his third campaign for the presidency, he has at times <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-dictatorship-revenge-second-term-truth-social-2023-12">emphasized "revenge"</a> as a campaign theme, and he hasn't shied away from targeting individual companies. In one recent instance, he threatened to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-tariff-threat-john-deere-economists-baffled-2024-9">impose a 200% tariff</a> on John Deere if they go forward with moving some of their manufacturing facilities to Mexico.As president, he frequently criticized — often via tweet — individual companies who he disagreed with, which occasionally affected stock prices.But Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor at the Yale School of Management and the founder and president of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute, says that the idea of retribution is "overstated" — and that avoiding wading into politics has long been the norm for chief executives, most of whom have traditionally been Republican."They're more concerned about alienating customers and employees needlessly," Sonnenfeld, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeffrey-sonnenfeld-the-ceo-whisperer-2021-11">dubbed the "CEO whisperer"</a> for his relationships with America's CEOs, told Business Insider. "Everybody's afraid of alienating large blocs of their own constituency. That's what they're afraid of. They're not afraid of… Trump."Politics, as it turns out, may just be bad for business these days."They don't see themselves as public officials. They don't think that that's their calling, that that's their strength," Sonnenfeld said. "So they don't want to get involved publicly in social issues, if they don't have to."Joe Evangelisti, a spokesman for JPMorgan, told Business Insider that Dimon and his company are not fearful of retribution from either Harris or Trump, but that Dimon wants to avoid having his comments "weaponized by the left or the right." He added that Dimon is happy to work with either candidate if elected and prefers to talk about policies rather than partisan politics.It's not hard to see why Dimon would feel this way, given recent events. After <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jamie-dimon-trump-nato-immigration-maga-biden-presidential-election-2024-1">he said in January</a> that Trump was "kind of right" about NATO and immigration, he faced a firestorm of controversy. Dimon was later the subject of speculation over whether he would serve in Trump's administration, and earlier this month, he <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jamie-dimon-denies-donald-trump-claim-endorse-2024-10">denied Trump's claim</a> that he had endorsed him.But Dimon also has to ensure he has a good-enough relationship with Trump."I would never say that," Dimon <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nUs_ppctB4">said</a> when asked if his position was "anything but Trump" last year. "You know, because he might be the president. I have to deal with that too."On the flipside, it's also possible that there are pro-Trump CEOs who don't want to alienate liberal customers and employees. In an appearance on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman suggested that there's a well of silent Trump support among CEOs."One of the few benefits of supporting Trump publicly is many, many people come up to me, CEOs, and say, 'Bill, thank you for saying what you're saying, I wish I were similarly situated where I could, but I have — you know, all my employees would quit,'" Ackman said.Still, Harris has received a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-business-leaders-for-kamala-harris-2024-10">notable degree of support</a> from the business community, the most vocal example being investor Mark Cuban.According to Sonnenfeld, the Trump-related corporate activism of recent years — including around the January 6 insurrection — has been a historical anomaly driven by a sense that the country is in a moment of crisis."If there's something catastrophic, they will engage," Sonnenfeld said of CEOs, adding that we could see executives become more vocal if Trump were to lose the election and refuse to concede."There's a pretty high probability that if Trump isn't a clear winner, there's going to be a lot of confusion, if not a constitutional crisis," Sonnenfeld said. "And then they will get involved."

Why some CEOs are afraid of publicly criticizing Trump

<ul class="summary-list"><li>House Democrats don't want to talk about Joe Biden's bad debate performance.</li><li>A lot of that is because of political self-preservation.</li></ul>Rep. Tom Suozzi really didn't want to be there.As the New York Democrat waited for an elevator to whisk him up to the second floor of the Capitol, Suozzi was cornered by a gaggle of reporters who wanted not just his appraisal of President Joe Biden's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-happened-biden-trump-debate-takeaways-2024-6">disastrous debate performance</a> the previous night, but whether the congressman thought the 81-year-old president should continue to be his party's nominee. "That's beyond my pay grade," Suozzi replied. "That's not up to me."The congressman had caught a lucky break: The elevator doors behind him were opening up, and reporters can't follow lawmakers into elevators without their consent. I was on board, headed down to the basement. Suozzi slowly backed in, apparently unaware of the direction of the elevator. "We're headed down," I told him as the doors closed on us."I just needed to get the fuck out of there," said Suozzi. "I'll take the stairs."Friday morning votes are typically a sleepy affair, but this wasn't a normal Friday morning. Because Biden's campaign had pushed for the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-watch-presidential-debate-trump-biden-what-time-2024-6">earliest general election debate on record</a>, Congress happened to be in session, and Democratic lawmakers were being forced to answer for a performance that had <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-debate-performance-reaction-democrats-2024-6">clearly sent many of them into panic mode</a>.Roughly half of House Democrats did the prudent thing: They kept their mouths shut and avoided saying anything, either by directly declining to answer questions or insisting that they really needed to keep talking to an aide walking with them. One House Democrat, who I won't name because I can't prove it, seemed to be pretending to be on a call, dangling his iPhone slightly below his ear while sipping a coffee.Others took <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-said-biden-had-a-rough-debate-2024-6">the Kamala Harris route</a>, frankly acknowledging Biden's weak performance while broadly standing behind Biden. "I don't think it was his best performance," Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California said bluntly. "Being a debater is different than being president."Just a few were willing to express in public what they're surely feeling in private — that Biden's poor showing against former President Donald Trump is prompting a lot of "soul searching," in the words of Rep. Jared Huffman of California."I think there's a lot of processing that I and many of my colleagues are doing, but it wasn't a good night," said Huffman, adding that he does not want Biden to do another debate and that he was also still "processing" whether he believes Biden should be the party's nominee."I don't know. I don't know what happens next. I truly don't," said Rep. Greg Landsman of Ohio when asked if he's entertaining the idea of Biden not being the nominee. "You know, I think the President and his team are gonna huddle up and have a conversation, and we'll see what happens."House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Friday that he stands behind Biden, and other senior Democrats — including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Jim Clyburn, the man who arguably delivered Biden the nomination in 2020 — broadly did the same. Rep. Robert Garcia, a Biden campaign surrogate who traveled to the debate on Thursday, was left insisting to a large circle of skeptical reporters that Biden simply "had a raspy voice."Despite the best efforts of the Capitol Hill press corps, no one publicly declared that Biden needed to go, despite widespread reports that they're harboring deep concerns behind closed doors.That's because they've seen what happens to people who have made an issue out of Biden's age before.Rep. Dean Phillips waged an entire primary challenge to Biden based on the premise that he's too old to carry on and that his colleagues know it. The Minnesota congressman ended up <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dean-phillips-campaign-president-biden-house-democrats-2024-1">being marginalized by the party</a>, and his political career may be effectively over at the end of his term. In 2019, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/julin-castro-combative-at-democratic-debate-2019-9">directly attacked Biden's age and memory</a> at a Democratic primary debate. He's been essentially locked out of the top echelons of the party ever since."The first Democratic politician to call for Biden to step down, it's going to end in their career," Democratic strategist Paul Begala said on CNN on Friday morning. "They may be right in the eyes of a lot of Democrats, but if you're the first one through the door, you're going to get shot. And look, I think they all know that."Democrats who want to see Biden step aside are essentially facing a collective action problem. If they were to band together and declare that Biden needs to step aside, they may be able to have an impact. But any individual lawmaker who feels that way may be confronting political oblivion if they do it on their own.Plus, political incentives and partisanship may simply drive them back into Biden's corner. To admit that the president needs to step aside as the party's nominee would be to cave to long-running GOP attacks on the president.On Friday morning, Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas capitalized on the moment, announcing that he would put forward a resolution calling on Biden's cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment and remove him from office.It's the exact sort of thing that may send Democrats running back into Biden's arms.

Why Democrats are afraid to go public with their post-debate concerns about Biden

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Anne <keyword id="20143223" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hathaway" source="keywords">Hathaway</keyword> apologized to journalist Kjersti <keyword id="23582553" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="flaa" source="keywords">Flaa</keyword> for being difficult in a 2012 interview.</li><li>An uncomfortable interview Flaa did with Blake Lively in 2016 went viral in August.</li></ul>Anne Hathaway just gave a masterclass in swerving public backlash — and Blake Lively should take notes, according to PR experts. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reporter-blake-lively-interview-kjersti-flaa-terrified-ends-with-us-2024-8">Kjersti Flaa</a> — the journalist who went viral in August for her <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blake-lively-backlash-it-ends-with-us-promotion-save-reputation-2024-8">resurfaced interview with Lively</a> — said Hathaway recently apologized for "giving me an awful interview" during the press junket for "Les Misérables" in 2012. In the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@kjerstiflaa/video/7422828547007450399">interview,</a> which Flaa shared on TikTok on Monday, the actor answered questions with short, one-word responses and refused to play a game that involved singing one of her answers. Speaking in an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DA4EMFNRREw/?hl=en">Instagram video</a> on Tuesday, Flaa said she was sent a "personal note" by Hathaway's publicist, in which the actor apologized. Flaa said Hathaway explained "what she was going through" during that time in her life, the details of which Flaa didn't share. She added that Hathaway invited her to do another interview when her next film is released. PR experts told BI that Hathaway's swift response will minimize potential backlash and strengthen her reputation as a relatable and genuine celebrity. Jake Holyoak, a PR and crisis communications expert with 12 years of experience, told BI that Hathaway's "authentic" reply would "enhance" her personal brand. <div type="image" title="Anne Hathaway attends the Prime Video's &quot;The Idea Of You&quot; New York premiere at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 29, 2024 in New York City." height="4000" width="6000" msid="114090469" hostid="261"></div>"People respect that level of humility and openness, and it keeps her relatable to her audience," said Holyoak, founder of PR company <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://one-march.co.uk/">One March</a>. <keyword id="23582555" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="yely-kopan" source="keywords">Yely Kopan</keyword> is a self-employed PR consultant with almost a decade of experience in the industry. Kopan, a former creative director at Input Communications, told BI that Hathaway's note to Flaa was "a smart move" because it showed she was willing "to take accountability, even years later." "It helps reinforce her image as someone who's genuine and approachable, which ultimately strengthens her personal brand," Kopan said. <h2>Hathaway is no stranger to online criticism</h2>Flaa wouldn't share which personal circumstances Hathaway alluded to in her note. However, it's worth noting that when the movie was released in 2012, Hathaway was at the height of her career and had experienced an excessive amount of online trolling. "Les Misérables" was a success at the box office; it grossed more than $441 million worldwide and earned a total of $148.8 million in the US, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://playbill.com/article/actress-says-she-was-overpaid-for-role-in-les-miserables-film-com-361649#:~:text=The%202012%20%22Les%20Mis%C3%A9rables%22%20film,domestic%20total%20gross%20was%20%24148%2C809%2C770.">Playbill</a> reported. <div type="image" title="The Les Misérables cast pose on the red carpet." height="2094" width="3000" msid="114090474" hostid="261"></div>In 2013, Hathaway received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Fantine in the musical film. At around the same time, the actor's reputation took a hit after a wave of social media criticism dubbed <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-did-everyone-hate-anne-hathaway-hathahate-explained-2024-3">"Hathahate."</a> The star was condemned for her appearance, her energetic personality, and her award-show speeches, which some people said seemed too rehearsed, emotional, or self-involved. "A lot of people wouldn't give me roles because they were so concerned about how toxic my identity had become online," Hathaway told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/anne-hathaway-cover-story">Vanity Fair</a> back in March. Despite the setback, Hathaway continued acting, and in 2015, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.forbes.com/pictures/gjdm45kdh/9-anne-hathaway/">Forbes</a> reported that she was the ninth-highest-paid female actor with a net worth of $12 million. These days, Hathaway is busier than ever, having starred in "The Idea of You" and "Mother's Instinct" earlier this year. She recently <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DAtwgxYJy3c/">announced</a> that she had <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://variety.com/2024/film/news/princess-diaries-3-adele-lim-to-direct-1236168384/">signed on to produce</a> "The Princess Diaries 3." <h2>Blake Lively could learn from Hathaway, experts say</h2>Hathaway's response to Flaa was a complete contrast to Blake Lively, who remained silent after her 2016 interview with the same journalist went viral in August. In the interview — which has more than 5.3 million views at the time of writing — Lively snapped at Flaa after the reporter congratulated her on "your little bump." "Congrats on your little bump," Lively responded. Speaking to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-13750309/blake-lively-interview-kjersti-flaa-bump-comment-ends-movie.html">MailOnline</a>, Flaa said Lively's comments had been hurtful because she was unable to get pregnant. <div type="image" title="Blake Lively photographed at the New York premiere of &quot;It Ends With Us&quot; at AMC Lincoln Square in New York, August 6, 2024." height="3858" width="5787" msid="114090465" hostid="261"></div>"Looking back, I still feel that I handled it the best way I could," Flaa previously told BI. "In these settings, they always blame the journalist if something goes wrong. It's never the talent's fault no matter what happens," she added. At the time of writing, Lively has not publicly commented on the resurfaced interview. Representatives for Lively did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Holyoak said Lively could "definitely take a page from Anne's playbook" and apologize to Flaa. "By reaching out personally and acknowledging any missteps, Blake could turn this around and potentially win back a lot of goodwill," he added. Meanwhile, Kopan said Lively would show "maturity and self-awareness" if she followed Hathaway's lead. "Even if she doesn't think she did anything wrong, acknowledging someone else's experience can go a long way in building trust," Kopan said. <keyword id="23582554" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="zoe-mumba" source="keywords">Zoe Mumba</keyword> is a PR expert with seven years of experience. Since 2022, she has handled PR for the tech company Bitmovin. Speaking to BI, <keyword id="23582556" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="mumba" source="keywords">Mumba</keyword> said Lively's silence has "compounded the issue, leading people to search for more interviews where she might be seen as rude and increasing scrutiny of her behavior." The backlash surrounding Lively's interview coincided with the promotion of her latest film, "It Ends With Us." The movie was adapted from Colleen Hoover's book of the same name about a woman who experiences domestic abuse. It earned more than $309 million in global ticket sales, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/it-ends-with-us-biggest-box-office-since-star-is-born-1235996877/">The Hollywood Reporter</a> said in September. It has become Lively's most successful film to date, surpassing the 2011 film "The Green Lantern," which made more than $237 million in global ticket sales, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://people.com/it-ends-with-us-blake-lively-highest-grossing-movie-8701237">People</a> reported. However, its success was overshadowed by the criticism Lively received for her lighthearted and comedic approach to the press for the film, which contrasted with the film's serious subject matter. Mumba said it may not be enough for Lively to apologize to Flaa as it could appear "like she's simply jumping on the bandwagon." Instead, she suggested Lively offer Flaa an exclusive interview for her next project, which would give the actor an opportunity to apologize in person. "But this could still be viewed as too little too late," Mumba said. Correction: October 9, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated when Flaa and Lively’s interview took place. It was in 2016, not earlier this year. An earlier version of this story also misspelled Jake Holyoak’s last name.

Anne Hathaway showed Blake Lively just what to do to swerve public backlash

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Lee Se-Dol, a South Korean Go legend, was defeated by an AI program in 2016.</li><li>The Go player told the New York Times that his loss brought a profound realization of AI's progress.</li></ul>One of the world's greatest Go players who was defeated by an artificial intelligence program warns that the technology may come with a rude awakening for humans as it advances.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lee-sedol-makes-surprise-move-before-final-match-against-alphago-2016-3">Lee Se-Dol</a> is a South Korean legend in the game of Go, which is widely considered to be a more complex game than chess. The game, which can be played in person and online, also once posed a computational challenge for AI researchers.In 2016, the Go world was rocked after <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-4-human-1-google-deepmind-beat-go-champion-lee-sedol-in-a-tense-final-game-2016-3">Lee was defeated by AlphaGo</a>, an AI program made by Google's DeepMind. Lee lost 4 out of 5 games.The defeat was a huge upset and pushed Lee to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deep-mind-alphago-ai-lee-sedol-south-korea-go-2019-11">retire from the game</a> in 2019."With the debut of AI in Go games, I've realized that I'm not at the top even if I become the No. 1 through frantic efforts," Lee told Yonhap News Agency at the time. "Even if I become the No. 1, there is an entity that cannot be defeated."Lee told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/10/world/asia/lee-saedol-go-ai.html">The New York Times</a> in a recent interview that his loss against AlphaGo had a profound impact on his life: "Losing to AI, in a sense, meant my entire world was collapsing."Now, he warns that the technology won't just be coming after Go players."I faced the issues of AI early, but it will happen for others," Lee said at an education fair in Seoul, according to The<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/10/world/asia/lee-saedol-go-ai.html"> Times</a>. "It may not be a happy ending."Lee told the publication that he can see AI creating new jobs as it takes away others. But a larger concern for the retired Go player is what AI will do to people's appreciation for originality."People used to be in awe of creativity, originality, and innovation," Lee told The Times. "But since AI came, a lot of that has disappeared."Since <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-ai-is-changing-everything">AI's rise to the mainstream</a>, artists and some leading intellectuals have raised doubts about the technology's ability to be creative.Noam Chomsky, a linguistics professor and philosopher, previously told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/noam-chomsky-steven-spielberg-ai-soulless-scary-2023-3">Business Insider</a> in 2023 that he was "skeptical" that artificial intelligence could make breakthroughs in studies like the arts.Filmmaker Steven Spielberg said in an interview with Stephen Colbert that AI takes the "soul" out of creative work."I think the soul is unimaginable and is ineffable," Spielberg said. "And it cannot be created by any algorithm, it is just something that exists in all of us."

One of the world's greatest Go players who was defeated by AI warns that the technology may not come with a 'happy ending'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>OpenAI is changing its corporate structure.</li><li>The changes will likely give it more leeway over decisions and a defense against activist investors.</li></ul>OpenAI is in the midst of a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-openai-needs-to-do-to-become-for-profit-altman-2024-9">massive corporate restructuring</a>.The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-chat-gpt-2023-1">ChatGPT maker</a> announced last month that it would transition to a public benefit corporation, in line with competitors like Anthropic and xAI.Since its launch in 2015, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-valuation-funding-ai-race-competition-2024-10">OpenAI</a> has operated under the supervision of a nonprofit board, with a mission to develop artificial general intelligence that is safe and benefits humanity. It added a for-profit arm in 2019 to help it raise money to fund that mission.Now, as the company grows more valuable, its backers want to see returns on their investment. As part of the latest round of funding — the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-investors-latest-funding-round-2024-10">$6.6 billion deal</a> it closed this month, one of the largest in Silicon Valley history — OpenAI will be transitioning to a regular for-profit structure. If it doesn't complete this transition within the next two years, its investors can ask for their money back, Axios reported.Public benefit corporations are for-profit businesses "created to generate social and public good, and to operate in a responsible and sustainable manner," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/public_benefit_corporation">according to the Legal Information Institute</a> at Cornell Law School.Unlike traditional for-profit businesses, which are primarily focused on maximizing shareholder value, public benefit corporations must balance stakeholder interests with those of their employees and customers.Travis Borden, the founder and president of advisory firm <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.keeneadvisors.com/about">Keene Advisors</a> helps purpose-driven companies like public benefit corporations raise capital, pursue mergers and acquisitions, and conducts a broad range of strategic consulting work. He told Business Insider that one of the benefits of OpenAI's proposed new structure is that it can serve as a bulwark against the demands of activist investors.In a regular company, "if their stock price is lagging and they're not growing as quickly as they could, activist investors can come in, take a position on the board, they can sort of threaten shareholder lawsuits and things like that and force the company to do really profit maximizing things," he said.In a public benefit corporation, however, the board has more discretion."They can say, well, in addition to making profit and maximizing value, we also have this public benefit that's in our charter that we are going to pursue. So it gives them some kind of cover to say, we don't have to maximize short-term profits at all costs," Borden said.Investors can also question why a company isn't progressing on its stated public benefit.Borden said that once OpenAI gets the approval of its shareholders to transition, it will need to change its structure under Delaware law — where many corporations are based — and its articles of incorporation, the legal documents filed with the state to create a corporation. It will also need to define its "public benefit" as part of its new corporate charter, he added.That public benefit, for now, is laid out in OpenAI's mission: to develop the technology in a way that is safe and benefits humanity.But OpenAI's restructuring comes when those inside and outside the company are questioning its commitment to that mission.Last November, the company's board <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-sam-altman-did-so-bad-he-got-fired-openai-2023-12">unsuccessfully ousted Altman as CEO</a>, saying he was not "consistently candid in his communications." The ousting publicized a growing rift in the company between those looking to maximize profits and those worried about the dangers of too aggressively developing the technology. In the months since, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-leaders-who-left-since-2023-sam-altman-leadership-struggle-2024-9">several high-profile researchers and executives</a>, many of them part of a team focused on safety, have left the company, including chief scientist and cofounder Ilya Sutskever, head of alignment Jan Leike, and most recently, chief technology officer Mira Murati.So as OpenAI restructures, the pressure is now on the company to clearly articulate its public mission and show that it's serious about it."I think that they talk about ensuring that it benefits all of humanity, and that may be part of what they would try to incorporate into their public benefit, that their tool will, in addition to obviously generating returns for shareholders, will benefit all of humanity," Borden said. But "that's a pretty broad statement."He said the good news is that once they've specified their mission, the board and management teams will have more "latitude" in decision-making.Jens Dammann, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, told The Information that OpenAI would likely find that proposition attractive."If you can convey the idea to people that you are a good enterprise, a morally safe enterprise and that comes with very little constraints, that has to be tempting to entrepreneurs," she told the outlet.OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

OpenAI will need to prove it's in the public's best interest as it becomes a for-profit company

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The creator and marketing company Triller is finally trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker ILLR.</li><li>The company went public via a reverse merger with a Hong Kong-based company called AGBA.</li></ul>The creator services, entertainment, and marketing company Triller — which once positioned itself as a rival to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-tiktok-is-changing-music-industry">TikTok</a> — made its stock market debut on the Nasdaq Wednesday.The company went public via a reverse merger with AGBA Group Holding Limited, a Hong Kong-based wealth management and healthcare firm. A reverse merger occurs when a private company goes public by acquiring a publicly listed company.Triller's stock was down about 20% in its first hour of trading.It's been a tough few years for other creator startups that have made public market debuts, as companies like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/faze-clan-decline-says-more-about-influencer-startups-than-esports-2023-10">FaZe Clan</a> and Clubhouse Media Group have struggled to show the type of growth that keeps investors happy. The creator economy has largely <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-creator-economy-is-having-an-identity-crisis-2024-1">failed to live up to lofty valuations set by VCs</a>, though <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/acquisition-spree-in-influencer-marketing-is-bolstering-the-creator-economy-2024-9">influencer marketing</a> remains a bright spot in the category.Triller's journey to a public listing has been a winding one. It explored going public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in late 2020, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-triller-m-a-exclusive-idUSKBN26W0V3/?">Reuters</a> reported. That didn't come to fruition, and in December 2021, the company announced plans to complete a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/triller-plans-public-reverse-merger-key-takeaways-revenue-losses-users-2022-3">reverse merger</a> with a company called Seachange International. It shut down that effort in June 2022 to instead do a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/triller-ends-reverse-merger-new-plan-to-go-public-2022-6">direct listing</a>. That also didn't last, as Triller switched again to a reverse merger with AGBA in April and withdrew its direct filing with the SEC in May.Now that investors can buy Triller stock, listed as ILLR, what is the company's pitch?Triller's business today includes a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investor-deck-shows-triller-pitch-aims-to-go-public-2023-5">mix</a> of creator, marketing, and entertainment services. It owns its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/triller-gives-up-on-making-money-from-its-namesake-app-2023-8">namesake TikTok-style video app</a>, as well as a fan engagement tool called Fangage, an influencer-marketing platform called Julius, a combat-sports streamer called TrillerTV (formerly dubbed FITE), and a text-marketing tool Cliqz, among other products.AGBA's investor materials around Triller talk about how its different products interact to serve marketers and creators. Creators on Fangage can connect to services like Julius or the Triller app, for example.In filings, AGBA also highlights Triller's work in the buzzy area of AI. The company described Triller's business in an August filing as "a global, artificial intelligence powered technology platform that serves a broad constituency of creators and brands around the world."It's not the first time that Triller's tapped into a trendy topic in tech to connect with investors. In October 2022, as <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-new-name-meta-rebrand-metaverse-zuckerberg-apps-2021-10">Big Tech</a> and startups alike were captivated by the idea of digital worlds called "metaverses," Triller <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/triller-introduces-the-metaverz-your-all-access-pass-to-global-entertainment-301651110.html">announced</a> it was launching its own version called the Metaverz. AGBA said in its August filing that the Metaverz could offer augmented reality and virtual experiences, including virtual merchandise stores, for creators and brands.<h2 id="97d853f9-c0dc-41c2-a32b-f81609fd067b">Who are Triller's customers?</h2>Creators, brands, and consumers are the main cohorts that AGBA touts as central to Triller's business in its recent filings. In its description of those stakeholders, the company has discussed both customers that Triller worked with directly and others that it "tracked" but did not have direct relationships with.For example, in an August preliminary proxy statement, the company said Triller's creator accounts grew from somewhere around 2.37 million at the start of Q1 2021 to around 2.47 million in the first quarter of this year. But that tally includes creators the company doesn't directly work with but rather tracks to help "brands identify creators that may be appropriate for their marketing activities."The company had a similar approach for tallying brand partners, examining both brands that it worked with directly and brands that it tracked but were not actively using its products. The number of direct brands it worked with declined from around 250 in Q1 2021 to around 200 in Q1 2024, per a chart in AGBA's August filing.AGBA's tally of consumer accounts for Triller, which includes people who use its products like its Triller app and its combat streamer TrillerTV, also counted accounts that were not directly tied to its owned-and-operated products.AGBA said that as of March 2024, Triller had about 337 million consumer accounts, including inactive accounts, across platforms like the Triller app, TrillerTV, and its combat business BKFC. It separately counted an additional 109 million consumer accounts tied to properties it didn't own but established on behalf of brands and creator partners, including a "Triller brand customer's social media account on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or other platforms."Triller's approach to reporting on its user base has come under scrutiny in the past. In 2020 and 2021, former employees and other people with knowledge of Triller's reporting told media outlets like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/some-former-triller-employees-wary-of-monthly-active-user-count-2020-9">Business Insider</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/triller-inflating-public-user-figures/">Billboard</a> that its public monthly active user numbers were inflated compared to internal data and what it shared with rights holders. Former Triller CEO Mike Lu told BI in October 2021 that the former employees were "disseminating inaccurate information." Lu told Billboard in February 2021 that Triller would no longer share monthly active users or daily active users as they didn't accurately represent its business and that it had "never inflated any user numbers."<h2 id="091877de-6fa2-45d6-8bd7-e25fc6976d54">What do Triller's financials look like?</h2>Here's a rundown of what Triller's financials were as of early 2024, per AGBA's filing.<ul><li>As of March 31, 2024, Triller had cash and cash equivalents of $800,000, a working capital deficit of $270.7 million, and an accumulated deficit of $1.6 billion, AGBA wrote in its filing.</li><li>In the first three months of 2024, the company earned about $9.9 million in revenue and saw a net loss of $43 million, compared to about $9.2 million in revenue and a roughly $29 million net loss over the same period in 2023.</li><li>The company earned $45.5 million in revenue in 2023, a 4.5% decline from 2022. Its comprehensive loss in 2023 was around $299 million, up from around <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/triller-heads-nyse-public-tightening-losses-tweaking-pitch-key-takeaways-2023-8">$196 million</a> in 2022. The company previously told BI that some earlier losses were tied to acquisition costs.AGBA wrote in its August filing that Triller has incurred losses each year since its inception and may not become profitable in the future. It said the company has financial obligations which have come due in the past six months and are coming due over the next twelve months and it may not be able to meet its cash obligations as those amounts come due.Triller has been embroiled in legal disputes with music platforms that it previously licensed songs from, contract claims from former employees and business partners, and a dispute over rent payments to the company it leased office space from. AGBA wrote that Triller "may not be able to generate sufficient cash flow to meet its current and any future debt service and other obligations, including amounts owed pursuant to new and ongoing litigation matters."A spokesperson for AGBA did not provide comment by time of publication. Triller did not reply to Business Insider's request for comment.</li></ul>

Triller is finally a public company after years of false starts. Here's its pitch to investors.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Sean "Diddy" Combs' famed parties are being looked at in a new light after his federal indictment.</li><li>Celebrities who partied with Combs may want to consult their lawyers, entertainment attorneys told BI.</li></ul>Celebrities who attended <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sean-diddy-combs-arrested-grand-jury-indictment-2024-9">Sean "Diddy" Combs'</a> parties should consider lawyering up, even if they attended one of his more high-profile soirees.Several entertainment attorneys told Business Insider that any celebrities who may have been involved in Combs' alleged <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sean-diddy-combs-indictment-allegations-freak-off-sex-performances-2024-9">drug-fueled sex parties called "Freak Offs,"</a> in which prosecutors say the hip-hop mogul "used force, threats of force, and coercion" to get female victims to engage in sex acts with male commercial sex workers, should be especially worried and immediately consult an attorney.And while Combs' <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-glad-he-never-hung-out-with-diddy-2024-9">extravagant, star-studded </a>White Parties, which were thrown in the late 1990s and early 2000s, were not mentioned in the 14-page federal indictment against the entrepreneur, those who attended may also want to touch base with their lawyers, they said."The likelihood that prominent persons known to have attended these parties will be contacted by law enforcement personnel is very high," said Wayne Dennison, a partner at the firm Brown Rudnick who was part of the team that successfully represented <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/johnny-depp-amber-heard-verdict-legal-team-hugs-2022-6">Johnny Depp</a> in his defamation lawsuit against <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/johnny-depp-amber-heard-relationship-timeline-2020-7">Amber Heard</a>.There is "no downside" for celebrities who attended Combs' ritzy parties, thrown at glitzy locales like the Hamptons, Beverly Hills, and St. Tropez, to be "proactive about potentially being interviewed by law enforcement personnel with respect to this matter," Dennison, who is co-chairman of the firm's brand and reputation management team, said.On the other hand, Neama Rahmani, the president and cofounder of West Coast Trial Lawyers, said: "If I were a celebrity who participated in one of Diddy's 'Freak Offs,' I would be shaking in my boots.""At best, they're a witness in a case that is very likely going to trial," Rahmani said. "At worst, they're a codefendant."<div type="image" title="Sean &quot;Diddy&quot; Combs at one of his white parties." height="1763" width="3000" msid="113939127" hostid="261" sizebytes="267334"></div><h2 id="5474f25f-a61d-49ef-83d4-c10dd6218ae3">Celebrity guests may have 'relevant information' and be summoned to testify</h2>Combs' lavish shindigs are being viewed in a new light after the 54-year-old rapper and businessman was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sean-diddy-combs-bond-court-jail-trial-2024-9">indicted by a Manhattan grand jury</a> last month on federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation for the purposes of prostitution.Combs, who <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sean-diddy-combs-metropolitan-detention-center-brooklyn-jail-indictment-2024-9">remains locked up at a Brooklyn jail</a>, has vehemently denied the charges and has pleaded not guilty.Some of the entertainment attorneys told BI that celebrities who attended Combs' A-list parties could be summoned to testify at a trial, even if they don't think they witnessed anything nefarious.Jurors tend to view well-known people as credible witnesses, Dennison said."By all accounts, Mr. Combs threw very large parties, which likely had some form of guest list that may now be available to prosecutors," Dennison said. "The only way for the prosecution to determine who knew what and when is to talk with those in attendance."Rahmani added that stars who attended Combs' high-profile parties could have "relevant information" and be compelled to testify.Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor, said he would advise these individuals to consult with their lawyer and their publicist "because a lot of dirty laundry" could soon be made public.Camron Dowlatshahi, a Los Angeles entertainment attorney with Mills Sadat Dowlat LLP, agreed, saying it's possible prosecutors may bring in celebrities for witness interviews.However, Tre Lovell, an attorney and the owner of the Los Angeles-based Lovell Firm, told BI that he wouldn't rush to call a lawyer simply for attending one of Combs' parties as doing so "does not suggest unlawful or criminal activity.""He's a very famous celebrity and has been for decades before his recent indictment," Lovell told BI. "He's had many legitimate parties over the years and, chances are, most celebrities and guests were not aware of his sex parties."However, if a celebrity actually participated in any of the "Freak Off" parties, "then that would be something different, and I would suggest contacting your attorney" to "strategize how best to deal with any potential criminal investigation," Lovell said.<div type="image" title="A courtroom sketch of Sean Combs next to his defense lawyer, with security personnel in the background." height="2000" width="3000" msid="113939125" hostid="261" sizebytes="624808"></div><h2 id="ab007a3a-1abb-4846-8523-c5f1fad2c8b1">'Freak Offs' are at the center of Combs' indictment</h2>Federal prosecutors allege that for decades Combs "abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct."Combs and his associates "wielded the power and prestige" of the rapper's success to "intimidate, threaten, and lure female victims" into his orbit "often under the pretense of a romantic relationship," prosecutors say in the indictment.The "Freak Offs," prosecutors say, occurred regularly, often in hotel rooms, and sometimes lasted multiple days. During these events, prosecutors say Combs would give out a variety of drugs to the victims to keep them "obedient and compliant."Members of the Combs' enterprise, including high-ranking supervisors, security staff, household staff, and personal assistants, helped host the "Freak Offs" by booking hotel rooms, according to prosecutors. The staff stocked the parties with the "required" supplies, including drugs, baby oil, and lubricant, prosecutors say in the indictment."Combs subjected victims to physical, emotional, and verbal abuse to cause the victims to engage in Freak Offs," the indictment says.Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has sought to portray the so-called "Freak Offs" as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sean-combs-diddy-appeal-jail-conditions-trial-prep-2024-9">consensual acts</a>.In a statement to BI, a Combs spokesperson drew a distinction between the "false allegations" against the hip-hop mogul and his famed parties."Sean Combs' white parties and other events were iconic, a true convergence of hip-hop, Hollywood, and Black excellence. His parties were a 'who's who' of A-list celebrities, with an endless stream of people vying to attend," the spokesperson said."It's disappointing to see the media and social commentators twist these cultural moments into something they were not," the spokesperson continued. "Shaming celebrities who attended, taking video clips and photos out of context, and trying to link these events to false allegations is simply untrue."<div type="image" title="An image of Sean &quot;Diddy&quot; Combs in an all-white suit at his famous &quot;white party&quot; in 2006." height="2000" width="3000" msid="113939124" hostid="261" sizebytes="386774"></div><h2 id="8b2c355a-46ee-4947-84a3-3666dc148e6b">A woman recently sued Combs, alleging she was forced to have sex with guests at the White Parties</h2>In one of a slew of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/timeline-sean-diddy-combs-sexual-misconduct-timeline-2024-2">civil lawsuits against Combs</a> accusing him of sexual misconduct, the former porn star <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sean-diddy-combs-lawyer-nyc-sex-trafficking-charges-2024-7">Adria English</a> alleged Combs hired her as an entertainer for his White Parties at his Hamptons and Miami homes between 2004 and 2009 and forced her to have sex with guests.In the lawsuit, filed in July in Manhattan federal court, English said that during one White Party, she was required to wear a black dress "to denote her capacity there as an employee, but more sinisterly as a sex trafficked sex worker."In response to the lawsuit, Combs' attorney Jonathan Davis said: "No matter how many lawsuits are filed it won't change the fact that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or sex trafficked anyone. We live in a world where anyone can file a lawsuit for any reason and without any proof."Rahmani told BI that if there was "overlap and there were sex workers" at Combs' parties, celebrity attendees should most definitely consult a lawyer.If the "Freak Offs" that prosecutors allege Combs held were completely separate from his star-studded bashes, then guests who attended should have nothing to worry about, he said.

Celebrities who partied with Diddy may want to contact their lawyers

Can a tenured professor be fired for making porn? That's the question, perhaps unprecedented in the annals of higher education, that the University of Wisconsin set out to answer last month. On September 27, the system's board of regents sat down to rule on whether <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/professors-turned-porn-stars-free-speech-campus-battle-wisconsin-2024-6">Joe Gow</a>, who taught communications at UW-La Crosse, should be stripped of his tenure and dismissed for producing porn videos with his wife, a fellow academic named Carmen Wilson, and uploading them to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pornhub-is-awash-in-lawsuits-unverified-videos-2024-7">Pornhub</a>. The productions — with titles like "Juicy Anniversary" and "Vacation Sex" — featured Gow and Wilson having sex in a variety of racy scenarios, often with big-name porn stars.Gow had been fired from his position as chancellor of UW-La Crosse, a school of 11,000 students on the banks of the Mississippi River, after someone saw the videos and forwarded them to his boss. But dismissing a tenured professor is far more complicated than firing a top executive. Academic tenure is one of the strongest job protections you can get in America. It's effectively a lifetime appointment, designed to enable professors to teach views that might be unpopular or controversial. "It allows professors to speak truth to power, without fearing that they may lose their jobs for offending <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-college-sports-change-donor-fatigue-nil-recruiting-student-athletes-2024-6">donors</a> and the university and lawmakers," says Zach Greenberg of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. "It's unprecedented whenever a tenured professor gets fired. It's only happened a couple times in the history of Wisconsin."The university, calling Gow's behavior "abhorrent," went all out to make the case that he should be fired. "We don't want to be known as Porn U," said Betsy Morgan, who replaced Gow as interim chancellor. The university hired a white-shoe <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mass-torts-lawsuits-lawyers-settlements-strippers-hard-partying-money-2024-9">law firm</a> to scour 11 hours' worth of Gow and Wilson's videos and their self-published memoirs, "Married with Benefits" and "Monogamy with Benefits: How Porn Enriches Our Relationship." The firm produced a 318-page report brimming with detailed descriptions of the sexual techniques Gow enjoyed, along with pages of sex-toy ads that were sent to his work email. In March, Morgan started proceedings to dismiss Gow, charging him with unethical conduct, refusal to cooperate with the investigation, and violation of workplace policies. (Gow, the investigation revealed, had used a campus copier to print a vegan cookbook.)Gow was unapologetic. He declared that he had no plans to stop making porn and argued that the university was violating his <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-ban-bill-is-first-amendment-disaster-may-survive-courts-2024-4">First Amendment</a> rights. By the time the board of regents met to hear the case and issue its decision, the battle had devolved into a rancorous, often surreal showdown over the future of academic freedom in America. With private and state universities embroiled in debates over "woke indoctrination" and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/university-overreaction-pro-palestinian-protests-police-arrests-dissent-expert-2024-5">campus protests</a>, many academics feared that Gow's case could set a sweeping precedent that tenured professors can be fired over anything in their private lives that universities find inappropriate."It's a violation of academic freedom," says Tom Ginsburg, a law professor and faculty director of the Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression at the University of Chicago. "He's being fired for embarrassing behavior outside the workplace, but there's no end of such behavior. So once we go down this route, universities can find a pretextual reason for firing almost anyone."The opening round in the battle over Gow's professorship took place at a hearing in June. The session, held in a windowless conference room of a sports arena in Onalaska, began with the bang of a gavel wielded by a UW-La Crosse biology professor. Gow was being tried not before a judge or jury but by a faculty committee made up of five of his colleagues.The university began by arguing that Gow, as a state employee, enjoyed no right to freedom of speech. Wade Harrison, the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guide-moving-abroad-for-college-according-to-university-advisors-diploma-2024-9">university's</a> general counsel, cited San Diego v. Roe, a case in which a police officer was fired for selling videos of himself masturbating while wearing his police uniform, in effect profiting from his position.Donald Downs, a First Amendment scholar and emeritus professor at the university, told me after the hearing he found that argument alarming. The San Diego case shouldn't apply to Gow, he said, for one big reason: Police officers don't have academic freedom. "If our job is going to be seen as no different from the police officer or any other regular job out there," Downs argued, "then we're not going to be able to do our job."<div type="image" title="Joe Gow and wife" height="1822" width="2763" msid="114188637" hostid="261" sizebytes="723682"></div>The university tried to prove that Gow had damaged its reputation, claiming that several top donors had threatened to stop giving if the star of "Bedroom Shenanigans" was allowed to teach undergrads. Harrison also placed Gow's memoirs on trial. He recited a passage in which Gow — under the nom de plume Jay Hart — hires "Tom," a male stripper, "to perform sex acts" with his wife."In 'Monogamy with Benefits' you wrote that all events described are true," Harrison said. "Do you stand by that statement?""No," Gow retorted. "We should have said 'based on a true story.'"Harrison displayed several ads Gow had received from sex-toy companies. "Do you ever get email messages you never asked for? I believe we call it spam," Gow responded. "So you would fire someone for junk email?"The university then trotted out Jerry Bui, a forensic investigator who had raked through Gow's and Wilson's work computers. The strongest evidence of misconduct he could find was that the couple had "automatic logins" to a couple of porn sites. Though he couldn't find any browsing history of the sites, Bui speculated that Gow may have used "incognito mode" while watching porn at work or erased his browser history to cover his tracks.Gow, in his closing argument, dismissed the trial as a sham. "Tenure is based on the quality of one's teaching, research, and service," he told the committee. "This fruitless exercise has nothing to do with that."The committee, unswayed, voted unanimously that Gow should be fired. They argued that Gow had used his academic position to promote his porn, because in some videos, during foreplay, he mentioned his "Midwestern location" and "academic career." They also accused him of exploiting his public ouster as chancellor to boost his profile as a porn star.But the committee's decision was only a recommendation. More than two months later, Gow faced a second tribunal, before the board of regents for the state's university system: 17 executives, attorneys, and public servants and one dairy farmer who gathered in Madison to hear the case. The regents had made their position clear in a brief filed before the hearing. "The survival of a public university is dependent on legislative funding, grant funding, tuition revenue, and donations," they wrote. "Gow's behavior, left to continue, could negatively affect all four."At his first hearing, Gow had defended himself. Before the regents, he was represented by Mark Leitner, a partner at a top Milwaukee law firm. Leitner argued that the university was committing a textbook violation of free-speech rights. "We don't need the First Amendment to protect 'The Star-Spangled Banner,'" he said. "We need the First Amendment precisely when the danger of stifling controversial, unpopular speech is at its highest."But what's the danger of stifling porn? Leitner presented Gow's videos as part of his broader advocacy of nonmonogamy. "There is no doubt that sexual conduct is a matter of importance to people," Leitner told the regents. "Simply because Dr. Gow's views on what promotes a healthy and stable marriage do not comport with the views of the majority of society — that doesn't matter." Harrison, the university's counsel, dismissed the point: "Dr. Gow would love to, you know, try to rely on a hypertechnical First Amendment argument to get around his bad conduct.""It's not a hypertechnical argument," Leitner said. "It goes to the heart of what we're all about in this state and in this country."After Leitner concluded, the regents were given a chance to ask questions. They had none.Aweek later, the regents met again to decide Gow's fate. After deliberating in private for half an hour, they cast their votes one by one. Seventeen supported firing Gow. One abstained.Gow's 40-year career in academia was over. He also forfeited some $300,000 worth of accrued sick leave and other benefits.<div type="image" title="Joe Gow and wife" height="1536" width="2308" msid="114188633" hostid="261" sizebytes="93022"></div>As Gow left the hearing, walking hand in hand with Wilson, a phalanx of photographers snapped pictures as if they were the Bennifer of Wisconsin. Gow pulled out a prepared statement. Calling the regents a "board of hypocrites," he accused them of breaching the university's commitment to academic freedom and of caving to pressure from Republican state senators who had called for his dismissal. The regents, Gow said, "are willing to fire me for the short-term goodwill they get with the far right."On his two-hour ride home, Gow elaborated on the wider issues he believes are at stake. "There are many faculty who would say: Well, this guy, he's not one of us," he told me. "And that's unfortunate. Because if they can do this to me, they could do it to any tenured professor. Academia is not a law firm or a bank or an insurance company. We're in the truth business. We are dedicated to the fearless sifting and winnowing of the truth, and that's what this is supposed to be about."Gow's colleagues apparently didn't consider his porn videos the kind of expression that tenure is designed to protect: During his fight to remain on the faculty, none of them came to his defense in public. But Keith Whittington, a Yale law professor and founding chair of the Academic Freedom Alliance, sees Gow's case as setting a dangerous precedent. "University trustees are now going to be faced with the problem of explaining why it is that we're going to tolerate other members of the faculty posting controversial content," he says. He puts Gow's online porn in the same category as "posting inflammatory personal, political opinions on social media." In the wake of Gow's dismissal, he says, making such distinctions "is going to be a hard line to maintain."But the fight may not be over. Gow plans to file a federal lawsuit against the university, alleging a violation of his First Amendment rights. And in the meantime, he and Wilson plan to keep exercising those rights. Since being outed, they've released adult videos like "Top 10 Squirting Orgasms and Cumshots" and "Our Honeymoon with the Porn Stars," as well as tamer cooking-show fare like "Making Plant-Based Egg Salad." The videos pull in as much as $3,000 a month on OnlyFans, and the couple is getting requests to create customized content, including foot-fetish videos and gay scenes with Gow. But thrilling as their middle-aged sexual awakening has been, they say, it doesn't compensate for the loss of Gow's professorship."This is 2024," Gow says. "We thought we had come a ways in Wisconsin from the McCarthy era. Apparently not."<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/hallie-lieberman">Hallie Lieberman</a> is a sex historian and journalist. She's the author of Buzz: A Stimulating History of the Sex Toy.

The professor made porn. His firing may shape the future of free speech.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Israel launched a ground incursion that risks repeating its past mistakes in Lebanon.</li><li>Israel's 15-year occupation across Lebanon's border ended as a quagmire akin to the US's Vietnam.</li></ul>As Israel begins what it describes as a limited ground operation to destroy Hezbollah's presence and artillery in southern Lebanon, critics are warning that Israel risks repeating the disasters that dogged its previous campaigns in Lebanon.The question turns on the extent to which Israel has learned lessons from past mistakes, and how well it can apply those lessons against Hezbollah, a skilled and well-armed paramilitary enjoying the advantage of fighting on its home ground. Much as before, Israel risks being drawn into a bloody quagmire it cannot win.The ghosts of history always stalk the Middle East, no less in the picturesque hills and valleys along the Israel-Lebanon border. From 1985 to 2000, Israel occupied a 15-mile-wide <a target="_blank" href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/two-decades-on-israel-confronts-legacy-of-forgotten-south-lebanon-occupation/">"security zone"</a> in southern Lebanon, ostensibly run by a Lebanese Christian faction backed by IDF troops. The zone began as a buffer to keep Palestinian groups in Lebanon from attacking border communities in northern Israel. It ended as a quagmire that led to the rise of Hezbollah, a constant trickle of killed and wounded soldiers in casualty-sensitive Israel, and the frustration of a long, grinding guerrilla war of ambushes and roadside bombs. For Israelis, Lebanon became what Vietnam and Afghanistan were to the US and Soviet Union.Israel evacuated — or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/may/24/israelandthepalestinians.lebanon">retreated under fire</a> — from the security zone in 2000. Israel returned in 2006, when 30,000 Israeli troops crossed the border in retaliation for a Hezbollah ambush of IDF troops in northern Israel. The 34-day 2006 Israel-Lebanon War was arguably the nadir of Israeli military performance (at least until Hamas's surprise attack from Gaza on October 7, 2023). Israel's overconfidence that airpower alone could defeat Hamas, followed by a clumsy and ill-prepared ground campaign, ended in a draw that enabled Hezbollah to claim victory just by surviving.<div type="image" title="As Israel's prime minister in 1998, Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to keep troops in southern Lebanon &quot;whatever the cost.&quot;" height="1461" width="2000" msid="113885621" hostid="261" sizebytes="331592"></div>This history may have lulled Hezbollah — as well as the rest of the world — into believing that Israel would never dare invade Lebanon, and would suffer a bloody nose if it did. Yet not for the first time, Israel has confounded its critics and pulled off a stunning surprise. Remarkably precise intelligence, exquisitely planned covert operations such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hezbollah-pager-attacks-reveal-textbook-covert-operation-ex-spies-say-2024-9">exploding pagers</a>, and well-timed airstrikes have wiped out <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-likely-used-bunker-buster-bombs-strike-kill-hezbollah-chief-2024-9">Hezbollah's top- and mid-level leaders</a>, as well as some of the group's estimated 150,000 rockets.However, these operations play into Israel's strengths in high tech versus Hezbollah, whose mastery of technology seems closer to the 1980s. Boots on the ground are a different matter. Hezbollah savors the chance to engage in a ground war of ambushes and IEDs that nullify Israeli tech. Israel officials would likely prefer to avoid a ground campaign. But 80,000 Israelis have had to evacuate northern Israel for the past year, in part because Hezbollah fighters on the border can fire <a target="_blank" href="https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel-at-war/artc-anti-tank-missile-wounds-3-in-northern-israel-as-tensions-rise">anti-tank missiles</a> directly into Israeli houses. Under pressure to do something, the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized a ground invasion to clear Hezbollah from the border and reassure Israelis that they can return home.In some ways, Israeli troops will face a familiar battlefield. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP87T01127R000300240004-5.pdf">Hilly terrain</a> that is less than ideal for movement by armored vehicles, and dotted with villages whose mostly Shia inhabitants are inclined to support Hezbollah (and in some cases are part-time Hezbollah fighters). Hezbollah has had decades to fortify the area, especially with an elaborate network of tunnels similar to what Hamas has used to great effect in Gaza. Well-trained Hezbollah fighters, equipped with Russian- and Iranian-made <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hezbollah-has-the-firepower-to-ambush-israeli-tanks-in-lebanon-2024-7">anti-tank missiles</a>, can pop up from hidden tunnel entrances and fire a missile, forcing the IDF into a whack-a-mole war. While the decimation of Hezbollah's leadership will hamper its effectiveness in the near future, its members are trained to operate independently. On the other hand, Israel appears to have learned some lessons from its past failures. Instead of tanks charging across into the border into Hezbollah ambushes, the IDF has sent <a target="_blank" href="https://allisrael.com/revealed-idf-destroyed-700-hezbollah-targets-including-tunnels-in-commando-raids-over-the-past-year">commando teams</a> to reconnoiter the terrain and destroy weapons and fortifications to prep the ground before the tanks and infantry go in. This approach still has its dangers. On Wednesday, eight IDF soldiers <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/manniefabian/status/1841485941820563917">were</a> killed in southern Lebanon, a toll that includes six troops with the elite Egoz Commando Unit.One intriguing question is the depth of Israeli intelligence on Hezbollah's forces and infrastructure in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah took elaborate precautions to keep his whereabouts secret, yet after two decades of painstaking intelligence collection, Israel managed to pinpoint Nasrallah's location and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/28/world/middleeast/why-israel-assassinate-nasrallah.html">assassinate</a> him with an airstrike. Such deep penetration into Hezbollah's innermost secrets suggests that Israel may also have amassed solid information on Hezbollah's presence on the border.Yet these are tactical considerations. The dilemma for Israel is strategic. If it carries out a short ground campaign to cripple Hezbollah's presence on Israel's border, then the moment the IDF leaves is when Hezbollah will return to fire at Israeli towns — a dilemma it has also seen in Gaza where Hamas militants have returned to areas cleared by Israeli soldiers. If Israel creates another security zone, then instead of Israeli civilians, it will be Israeli soldiers being picked off. And hovering over those hills are the specters from 40 years ago, when what was meant to be a short campaign dragged into a 15-year occupation that killed over 250 soldiers and fractured Israeli society.It is quite possible that a ceasefire will emerge, most likely resulting in an uneasy calm interrupted by bouts of violence. It is also possible that a short war may become a long nightmare. Faced with an implacable adversary, Israel may ultimately feel that it has no choice.Michael Peck is a defense writer whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds an MA in political science from Rutgers Univ. Follow him on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.twitter.com/@mipeck1">Twitter</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mipeck/">LinkedIn</a>.

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