Elite investors have formed a quiet consensus: 2022 is going to be very, very ugly for the stock market

Hi, I'm Matt Turner, the editor-in-chief of business at Insider. Welcome back to Insider Weekly, our roundup of our top business stories of the week.

But before we get to that, please take a moment to read through Insider's ongoing coverage of Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine, which marks Europe's first major war in decades.

Our global news team has been covering this crisis around the clock, and you can follow their live reporting here.

The cost of war is immeasurable. And while the primary focus should remain on the people of Ukraine, the events playing out there have ripple effects through global markets and across the economy. Stocks, currencies, and commodities all went careening off in different directions upon news of Russia's invasion on Ukraine. Our first business story today takes a look at what's going on in the markets.

On the agenda today:

• Wall Street is on the verge of a cataclysmic shift.
• CoStar, real estate's biggest data firm, experienced a mass exodus in 2021.
• Twenty-nine Black business owners weigh in on the state of Black entrepreneurship.
• Many early Bumble staffers got nothing as its CEO was made a post-IPO billionaire.

Let me know what you think of all our stories at mturner@insider.com.

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What elite investors are saying about the market

For the stock market in particular, the latest geopolitical shock adds to a long list of worries. Stocks entered correction territory even before the invasion commenced, before snapping back on Friday.

As Linette Lopez reported this week, several elite Wall Street investors were already predicting the end of an era.

Referring to the meme-stock, SPAC, and crypto-crazed exuberance of the past few years, one billionaire investor told Linette:

"We really did hit peak stupid, but peak stupid extended beyond truly, truly stupid, and then we went to bottom-of-the-ocean-rare-earth-metal-companies stupid."

That all seems particularly frivolous in light of the suffering of the past few days.

Here, Linette explains:

Wall Street's on the verge of a "washout." How did we get here?

Linette: We got to the washout because after over a decade of low interest rates, a lot of Wall Street forgot to respect the fundamentals of business analysis in favor of chasing growth fads. That's what happens during bubbles — people forget themselves.

Who is well-positioned to get through it?

Linette: Those positioned to survive this market are either nimble enough to get out of growth companies as interest rates rise or those who are positioned in companies with good fundamentals. There will be some fun short-selling too if you have the constitution for it.

Did anyone tell you anything that surprised you while writing this?

Linette: The notable thing about this story is how unsurprising this outcome has been — not just for the last year, but since 2018 when the market puked after Jerome Powell raised rates. We all knew the kind of pain hiking rates would bring to stocks, but the bubble was allowed to continue growing, retail investors got heavily invested, and now this pop will ring louder than it might have in 2018.

Read the full story here: 'We really did hit peak stupid': Elite investors on Wall Street say privately that the market is about to undergo a cataclysmic shift — and many won't survive the 'washout'

Inside CoStar's employee exodus

The real-estate data powerhouse CoStar saw a wave of employee departures last year, with about 37% of its US employees leaving the company in 2021. Twenty-nine current and former employees told Insider that CoStar surveilled and humiliated workers, prompting a mass exodus.

According to the employees, the surveillance worsened during the pandemic: Managers were instructed to track their employees down to the minute, keeping an eye on when they logged on as well as their messaging and phone calls.

Why employees headed for the exits.

Black entrepreneurs discuss the future of business

Black entrepreneurs say the murder of George Floyd in 2020 and the racial reckoning that followed led to a surge in support for their businesses — but that as media attention died down, so did some of the support.

Insider spoke with 29 Black business owners to gather their thoughts on the past and future of Black entrepreneurship and how those legacies affect our culture today.

Read their reflections on entrepreneurship.

Bumble's early employees got nothing from its IPO

The Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd's "Faustian bargain" with a Russian mogul helped her rake in big money after the dating app went public in 2021, but for dozens of early employees who didn't get any equity before the initial public offering, the dating app's stock-market debut left them feeling short-changed.

"On the one hand, you're proud of what you've done," said a former employee. "The company exists because of all the hard work you've done. But as far as the company history and our own bank accounts go, we might as well have never been there."

Here's what else employees told us.

More of this week's top reads:

• Chris Licht will be CNN's new leader, succeeding Jeff Zucker as Ukraine coverage brings new purpose to the network.
• Whether you like it or not, this scam is built into every mortgage.
• Stay-at-home moms open up about the "motherhood penalty" that's kept them out of work.
• Experts share the warning signs that a real-estate downfall is coming.
• Dollar Shave Club didn't deliver as expected. Experts explain why.
• Top execs from major private-equity firms like Blackstone share their strategies for investing in fintech.
• We broke down how much you could earn in dozens of different roles at Google.
• They wanted to be a bitcoin millionaire. Instead, they lost everything. Inside the life of a bitcoin addict.

You're invited: Join us on Thursday, March 10, at 1 p.m. ET for a live discussion on how ghost kitchens are transforming the way restaurants do business. Sign up here.

Curated by Matt Turner. Edited by Jordan Parker Erb and Lisa Ryan. Sign up for more Insider newsletters here.