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<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="12062414" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="daniel-kinahan" source="Orion">Daniel Kinahan</keyword>, a suspected organized crime boss, is growing his influence in American <keyword id="11922196" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="boxing" source="Orion">boxing</keyword>.</li><li>Kinahan is advising US superstar fighter <keyword id="12062413" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="terence-crawford" source="Orion">Terence Crawford</keyword>, Crawford's promoter Bob Arum says.</li><li>Kinahan is the alleged figurehead of an international drugs and weapons gang worth over $1 billion.</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/category/daniel-kinahan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Daniel Kinahan</a>, a suspected mob boss from Europe, has infiltrated American <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/boxing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">boxing</a> and is currently advising pound-for-pound star <a href="https://www.insider.com/category/terence-crawford" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Terence Crawford</a>.</p><p>That's according to <a href="https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/other-sport/boxing/mob-boss-daniel-kinahan-haggling-24934269" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a bombshell report in the Mirror of Ireland by John Hand</a>, a noted crime journalist who has been reporting on Kinahan for years.</p><p>Kinahan is one of the most powerful people in boxing, advising some of the sport's biggest names, including world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, and top tier fighters Josh Taylor and Jamel Herring.</p><p>He advises his stable of boxers, and even organizes matches for them from his headquarters in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.</p><p>While Kinahan has never been charged with a crime, it is alleged that he controls an Irish organized crime group with operations worth over $1 billion.</p><p>The High Court in Ireland has heard accusations he is the figurehead of an international drugs and weapons gang called the Cartel, which specializes in execution-style murders, <a href="https://www.insider.com/who-is-daniel-kinahan-boxing-tyson-fury-matchroom-top-rank-2020-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as Insider detailed last year</a>.</p><p>Lawmakers in Europe are appalled at how Kinahan is seemingly free to operate in boxing.</p><p>Irish politician Neale Richmond said earlier this year that <a href="https://www.insider.com/politician-challenges-boxing-to-thwart-daniel-kinahan-from-running-sport-2021-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the sport must fight back</a>, while Stephen Farry - a member of parliament in the UK - said <a href="https://www.insider.com/daniel-kinahan-presents-issues-for-boxing-and-government-farry-says-2021-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he's "very concerned" about the power Kinahan wields</a>.</p><p>"There are major issues both for Governments and the boxing authorities," when it comes to Kinahan, <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%22There+are+major+issues+both+for+Governments+and+the+boxing+authorities%2C%22+stephen+farry&amp;rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB924GB924&amp;oq=%22There+are+major+issues+both+for+Governments+and+the+boxing+authorities%2C%22+stephen+farry&amp;aqs=chrome..69i57.3285j0j4&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8">Farry told Insider in February.</a></p><h2>Kinahan's power in boxing appears to grow despite his alleged background</h2><div type="image" title="What is Daniel Kinahan like in boxing_censored" height="750" width="1000" msid="86074358" hostid="261"></div><p>Earlier this month, Eddie Hearn - the chairman of British promotions firm Matchroom Sport - said Kinahan had discussions with Sky <keyword id="11893855" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="sports" source="Orion">Sports</keyword>, a broadcaster Hearn had a lengthy association with before entering a new deal with rival streaming service DAZN.</p><p>Regarding three athletes who have parted ways with the Matchroom brand - Hughie Fury, Savannah Marshall, and Lewis Ritson - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgnxAmOmn54" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hearn told iFL TV</a>: "I think their advisor Daniel [Kinahan] spoke to us and Sky and, basically, this was a massive opportunity for them," to join Sky.</p><p>Sky denied Hearn's assertions.</p><p>"These claims are untrue," Sky said in a statement, <a href="https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/other-sport/boxing/sky-deny-daniel-kinahan-talks-24898208" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to The Mirror</a>. "As a broadcaster, we are continuing to work only through our promoters to secure fights to air on television."</p><p>Regardless, Kinahan has been making moves that impact the US marketplace, as well as boxing in Britain.</p><p>At the start of the year, Kinahan was pictured in Dubai sitting next to Florida-based boxing manager Peter Kahn. The photo has since been deleted from Kahn's social media account.</p><p>Months later, Kahn signed a deal to join Triller Fight Club as its chief boxing officer.</p><h2>Kinahan's growing stable has taken an American flavor of late</h2><p>In addition to his work with Herring, a world champion boxer from New York, Kinahan is also linked to Californian lightweight Joseph Diaz.</p><p>This sparked a <a href="https://www.insider.com/daniel-kinahan-boxing-dealmaker-us-court-summons-2021-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legal challenge from Heredia Boxing Management</a> - a company that had a deal with Diaz prior to his apparent move toward Kinahan.</p><p>The legal case includes allegations of racketeering and alleges that Kinahan controls boxing management company MTK Global, court documents viewed by Insider show.</p><p>MTK has consistently maintained that it has no formal relationship with Kinahan but acknowledged earlier this year that he "provides personal advice to a number of boxers managed by MTK Global."</p><p>In the December 2020 complaint, Heredia Boxing Management and its founder Moses Heredia accused Kinahan and MTK of interfering with Diaz, who was contracted to Heredia.</p><h2>Another well-known American has joined Kinahan's stable</h2><div type="image" title="Bob Arum pictured alongside his Top Rank boxer Terence Crawford after a 2020 fight." height="1042" width="1500" msid="86074359" hostid="261"></div><p>Bob Arum, the veteran promoter and founder of powerful Las Vegas-based firm Top Rank, <a href="https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/other-sport/boxing/mob-boss-daniel-kinahan-haggling-24934269" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Irish Mirror</a> this week that Crawford, one of Top Rank's fighters, is advised by Kinahan.</p><p>Crawford is a stupendously skilled fighter, a three-weight champion, and one of the best boxers in the welterweight division.</p><p>Crawford visited Dubai in May, and posted photographs of his stay on his Instagram story.</p><p>It is unclear if he met Kinahan during his visit, and there is no suggestion that Crawford is involved in any criminality.</p><p>Insider approached Crawford's representatives for comment on his relationship with Kinahan, but is yet to receive a response.</p><div type="image" title="Terence Crawford in Dubai" height="750" width="1000" msid="86074361" hostid="261"></div><p>If Kinahan has the ear of Crawford, Fury, and Taylor, then he can act in the interests of <a href="https://www.insider.com/who-are-the-best-pound-for-pound-boxers-in-the-world">three of the world's consensus top 10 boxers.</a></p><p>Kinahan is one of boxing's most influential figures, and also one of its most mysterious.</p><p>He rarely appears in public and was not ringside for Herring's 2021 victory over Carl Frampton even though it was held in Dubai, according to an Insider source who was there at the time.</p><p>Kinahan does not give interviews or speak to the press.</p><p>The only public statement he has issued for years arrived February 2021, and <a href="https://www.insider.com/daniel-kinahan-boxing-campaign-sportswash-image-2021-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appeared to be part of a campaign to sportswash his image.</a></p><p>Left unchecked, Kinahan's influence in American boxing may continue to grow.</p>

Boxing advisor and suspected mob boss Daniel Kinahan has a growing influence on the sport in America

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Stephen Dunn/Getty Images</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Prior to the 2011 season, the Boston Red Sox made one of the big offseason splashes, signing free agent outfielder Carl Crawford to a 7-year, $142 million contract. That deal, which now is the Los Angeles Dodgers' problem, has been a disaster and it just got worse.</p><p>The Dodgers have informed Carl Crawford that he will not start in left field this season, essentially making him a $21 million backup. Crawford broke the news himself.</p><p><span>"They told me there will be a lot of at-bats for me, but [Andre Ethier] starts, and he's earned it," said Crawford, <a href="http://m.dodgers.mlb.com/news/article/166443188/dodgers-carl-crawford-to-back-up-andre-ethier" target="_blank">via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com</a>. "I'll get spot starts and be ready to pinch-hit for the pitcher a lot. That's pretty much it -- just be ready to come off the bench."</span></p><p><span>In the two seasons before signing his contract with the Red Sox, Crawford averaged 6.8 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) with 17 home runs, 54 stolen bases, a .306 average, and a .360 OBP. In the five years since leaving the Tampa Bay Rays in free agency, Crawford has averaged 1.2 WAR, with 6 home runs, 14 stolen bases, a .276 average, and a .314 OBP.</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Cork Gaines/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Late in the 2012 season, the Red Sox were able to dump Crawford's contract on the Dodgers in a 9-player trade in which L.A. also acquired All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.</p><p>Here is what the Dodgers ultimately paid in the 9-player trade with the Red Sox that brought Gonzalez to Los Angeles:</p><ul><li>The Dodgers sent James Loney, a productive starting first baseman, and four prospects to the Red Sox</li><li>Assuming they are unable to trade Crawford over the next two seasons, the Dodgers will ultimately have to pay him $106 million for what has been 5.8 Wins Above Replacement in three seasons so far. For comparison, there were 19 players in MLB who were worth at least 5.8 Wins in 2015 alone.</li><li>The Dodgers also acquired Josh Beckett in the trade, and ultimately paid him $34 million for 35 starts over three seasons before he retired.</li><li>The Dodgers were also on the hook for the $134 million still owed to Gonzalez over the final six years of his contract.</li><li>Nick Punto was the final player acquired in the deal. He played in 138 games for the Dodgers before leaving in free agency.</li><li>The Dodgers did receive $12 million from the Red Sox to offset a small part of the salaries to be paid to the players.</li></ul><p>In all, the Dodgers gave up five players and will spend $264 million on salaries and the only good thing they really got was what could end up being six All-Star level seasons from Gonzalez. </p><p>That's a high price and Crawford is the biggest chunk of that.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/michael-jordan-makes-spends-money-birthday-53-billionaire-nba-2016-2">How billionaire Michael Jordan makes and spends his money</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Rxb2Q3djq8zWJZ4bpx7vLpaFThOwNxgN" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Carl Crawford's $142 million contract has been a complete disaster and it just got worse

<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><p class="source">Getty</p></div>During Monday's "<keyword id="483061" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Jackie-Robinson">Jackie Robinson</keyword> Day" celebrations, <keyword id="1746823" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Carl-Crawford">Carl Crawford</keyword> of the Los Angeles Dodgers caused a stir when he wore one blue shoe and one white shoe. Well, <a href="http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/story/_/id/9180349/mlb-upset-carl-crawford-los-angeles-dodgers-wearing-mismatched-jackie-robinson-commemorative-cleats">according to Mark Saxon of <em>ESPN.com</em></a> <keyword id="6507856" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Major-League-Baseball">Major League Baseball</keyword> was "upset" and has told Crawford to stop wearing the shoes all together.</p>
<p>Nike gave Crawford two pairs of the Jordan PEs, a blue pair and a white pair. The shoes are a tribute to Jackie Robinson and include Robinson's no. 42 on the back.</p>
<p>However, instead of picking either the blue pair or the white pair, Crawford wore one of each. It was a surprising "look at me!" move on a day when all players were wearing Robinson's no. 42 on their jerseys that were without names.</p>
<p>After the game, Crawford's agent spoke with Major League Baseball who told Crawford stop wearing either pair of shoes. According to Saxon, no fine has been handed down yet, but one is likely coming.</p>

Dodgers Outfielder Was Told To Stop Wearing Shoes Honoring Jackie Robinson

<keyword id="19895433" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tesla" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Tesla" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Tesla">Tesla</keyword> and <keyword id="21277268" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="space-x" source="keywords">Space X</keyword> boss <keyword id="19903807" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Elon-Musk" source="keywords">Elon Musk</keyword> has time and again been in the spotlight for his management style. Be it having a war of words with an employee on Twitter (now called X) or expressing his views about the work from home trend in an interview, Musk has been the centre of attention many times. Recently, Tesla VP Sreela Venkataratnam left the company after working there for over a decade. She described that working there is not “for the faint of heart.” The former Tesla employee isn’t the only one who has talked about having a hard time working under Musk. In the past, several people have shared their experience of how it was working under the tech mogul. Let us take a look at some of these instances. <br /><br /> <h2>1. Sreela Venkataratnam: Not for the faint of heart</h2> Sreela Venkataratnam, a former vice president at Tesla, recently announced her departure after 11 years at the company through a LinkedIn post. Her tenure at Tesla was marked by extraordinary achievements, but she also acknowledged the immense challenges of working under Musk. In the comments section of her post, Venkataratnam described Tesla as a company “not for the faint of heart,” where the pressure to perform was immense.<br /><br /> Despite the difficulties, Venkataratnam expressed pride in what she and her team had accomplished. However, her departure, along with that of several other senior employees, underscores the demanding nature of working at Tesla. Musk’s focus on headcount and cost reduction, coupled with his relentless drive for success, created an environment where only the toughest could thrive.<br /><br /> <h2>2. Esther Crawford: Brilliant problem solver who lacks emotional intelligence</h2> Esther Crawford, a former Twitter product manager, had a unique view of <keyword id="20828946" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="elon" source="keywords">Elon</keyword> Musk’s management style, especially after he took over Twitter. Crawford, who initially joined Twitter through the acquisition of her screen-sharing social app, Squad, experienced firsthand the demanding and unpredictable nature of working under Musk. She described Musk as a brilliant problem-solver but lacking in the social-emotional intelligence necessary for managing a platform like Twitter.<br /><br /> In a post on X in July, she wrote, “Elon has an exceptional talent for tackling hard physics-based problems, but products that facilitate human connection and communication require a different type of social-emotional intelligence.” <br /><br /> Crawford became known for her dedication, famously posting a photo of herself sleeping on the office floor during a critical period. However, despite her efforts, she and her team were let go just a few months later. <br /><br /> After getting fired from the company, she described Musk’s unpredictable personality in another X post and wrote, “His personality and demeanor can turn on a dime going from excited to angry. Since it was hard to read what mood he might be in and what his reaction would be to any given thing, people quickly became afraid of being called into meetings or having to share negative news with him.”<br /><br /> <h2>3. Carl Medlock: You don't argue with him</h2> Carl Medlock, a former Tesla territory manager, talked about Musk’s intense and disciplined approach to leadership in an episode of “The Iced Coffee Hour” podcast in August 2022.<br /><br /> Medlock, who joined Tesla during the 2009 recession, quickly learned that Musk expected absolute compliance with his directives. Arguing or challenging Musk’s decisions was not an option, as those who did were swiftly dismissed.<br /><br /> “You don’t argue with him,” Medlock said during the podcast and added, “When Elon stands up at the end of a meeting and says, ‘This is the direction we’re going to go,’ you stand up from your chair and you better head that direction. Because he’s not one for people back-talking — he’ll just let you go.”<br /><br /> Medlock recalled Musk’s intimidating intelligence and the lack of social interaction in the workplace. Despite Musk’s demanding nature, Medlock showed respect for his ability to hire talented people and his commitment to the company’s mission. However, the pressure to align with Musk’s vision, coupled with his micromanagement, created a high-stakes environment where employees constantly feared for their jobs.<br /><br /> <h2>4. Jim Cantrell: The two sides of Elon Musk</h2> Jim Cantrell, <keyword id="19905255" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SpaceX" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="SpaceX" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="SpaceX">SpaceX</keyword>’s first VP of business development, described his time working with Musk as a rollercoaster ride of contrasting experiences. In an interview with Insider's Kiera Fields in November 2022, Cantrell said that he was impressed by Musk's vision for the rocket company but added: "Working with Elon was like working with two different people: the good Elon and the bad Elon, and you never knew which you were going to get."<br /><br /> On one hand, Musk was charming and visionary, drawing people in with his big ideas. On the other hand, he could be vicious and demanding, often leaving employees feeling inadequate.<br /><br /> Cantrell’s tenure at SpaceX was short-lived due to his clashes with Musk, who expected employees to match his relentless drive and work ethic. The intense pressure to perform and the fear of Musk’s wrath made the workplace environment challenging. <br /><br /> <h2>5. <keyword id="22910807" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="tom-mueller" source="keywords">Tom Mueller</keyword>: Saying no is not an option</h2> Tom Mueller, a co-founder of SpaceX, spent over 20 years working closely with Musk and witnessed his demanding nature firsthand. His experience has been described in Elon Musk’s biography, which was launched in September last year.<br /><br /> Mueller, in the biography, mentions that he learned that saying “no” to Musk was not an option. <br /><br /> The biography mentioned that Musk was an ‘insane’ boss at SpaceX and would give seemingly impossible deadlines to engineers. And if anyone said that something ‘couldn’t be done’, they were not invited to the next meeting.<br /><br /> Mueller’s strategy, he described, was to agree to Musk’s demands and later explain why something might not be possible if it didn’t work out. This approach allowed him to navigate the intense pressure and tight deadlines that characterised life at SpaceX.<br /><br />ALSO READ: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/we-are-nothing-but-numbers-to-them-fat-to-be-trimmed-off-general-motors-employee-reacts-to-layoffs/articleshow/112668541.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">'We are nothing but numbers to them, fat to be trimmed off': General Motors employee reacts to layoffs</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/author_articles_all.cms?query=479266566&amp;author=divyanshi%20sharma=&amp;page=1" class="artishow_author"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/article/from-firewire-in-macs-to-type-c-in-iphones-the-apple-connect/articleshow/112734982.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">From FireWire in Macs to Type-C in iPhones - the Apple Connect</a><br /><br />

Impossible deadlines to micromanagement: Ordeals of employees working under Elon Musk

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Megan Thee Stallion claimed the owner of her record label, 1501, is hiding money to avoid paying her, reports TMZ.</li><li>The rapper reportedly filed a motion in court on Thursday claiming that the label's owner is taking money that should be going to her.</li></ul><p>Megan Thee Stallion's legal battle with her record label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, has taken its latest turn, with the rapper now claiming its owner is hiding money to avoid paying her, reports <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2023/04/13/megan-thee-stallion-carl-crawford-label-money-running-low-1501-certified-entertainment-j-prince/">TMZ</a>.</p><p>Megan is said to have filed a motion in court on Thursday claiming that owner Carl Crawford is taking money that should be going to her.</p><p>The rapper alleged that 1501's primary bank account currently has less than $10,000 left in it, despite "millions" being deposited, according to TMZ.</p><p>Per the report, Megan said only former MLB star Crawford and the label's other executives, J. Prince and Gee Roberson, are getting paid, and she's filing the motion because she fears 1501's accounts will be empty come the time of a judgment in her pending lawsuit against the label to get out of her recording contract.</p><p>She's asked the judge to appoint a third party to take over managing 1501's finances, reported TMZ.</p><p>Representatives for neither Megan nor 1501 and Crawford immediately responded to requests for comment.</p><div type="image" title="Carl Crawford" height="2100" width="3000" msid="99495278" hostid="261" sizebytes="183952"></div><p>Megan's battle with 1501 began shortly after <a href="https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.52802/title.megan-thee-stallion-announces-roc-nation-management-deal" target="_blank" rel="noopener">she signed a management deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation in September 2019.</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqF76_idKy4">Crawford said he was not made aware of the deal.</a></p><p>In March 2020, the rapper accused 1501 of blocking her from <a href="https://www.insider.com/controversial-songs-conservative-music-criticism-backlash-celebrities">releasing her debut album, "Good News,"</a> and filed a <a href="https://www.billboard.com/pro/megan-thee-stallion-record-label-deal/">lawsuit against the label</a> to declare her contract void, saying it did not meet industry standards.</p><p>In the suit, Megan alleged that 1501 had only paid her $15,000 since signing with them in 2018.</p><p>On February 22, 2022, Megan's legal team then filed a request to dismiss her lawsuit against 1501 Certified Entertainment without prejudice, according to <a href="https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.68260/title.megan-thee-stallion-dismisses-lawsuit-against-j-prince-1501-certified-ent-carl-crawford">HipHopDX</a>.</p><p>The next day, however, Megan <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/megan-thee-stallion-sues-1501-certified-entertainment-once-more">filed another lawsuit</a> against 1501, this time accusing the label of keeping her locked into her contract by refusing to recognize her 2021 project, "Something For Thee Hotties," as an album.</p><p>1501 countersued Megan, but in December 2022, a judge sided with the 27-year-old musician in a pre-trial ruling, meaning the suit will go to trial, according to <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/megan-thee-stallion-wins-early-round-contract-war-1501-houston-label-1234653804/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rolling Stone.</a></p>

Megan Thee Stallion has accused the owner of her record label of hiding money to avoid paying her: report

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Sean M. Haffey</span></p><p class="caption">Andre Ethier and his $18 million salary will start the season on the DL.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The Los Angeles Dodgers open the season with a $253 million payroll, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/major-league-baseball-opening-day-payrolls-2016-4" target="_blank">the largest in Major League Baseball</a> and one of only two teams with a payroll over $200 million. However, a closer look shows that the Dodgers will not have $253 million worth of talent taking the field when the season starts and it shows why some teams still have a huge advantage over others.</p><p>Of the Dodgers' $253 million in 2016 salaries, only $140 million (55%) is committed to players on the active, 25-man Opening Day roster. That leaves a whopping $113 million in salaries for players on the disabled list, key players in the minors, or former players now playing on other teams.</p><p><span>That $114 million is more than the entire payrolls for 14 teams</span>.</p><p>Here is the full breakdown, based on data collected from Spotrac.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Cork Gaines/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The biggest chunk is for players on the disabled list, inlcuding outfielder Andre Ethier ($18.0 million salary), pitcher Brett Anderson ($15.8 million), Brandon McCarthy ($12.5 million), and second baseman Howie Kendrick ($10.0 million).  The Dodgers are also paying $23.7 million for players on other teams, including all $8.0 million of the 2016 salary for first baseman Michael Morse, who was traded to the Pirates last season with the Dodgers agreeing to pay most of his remaining salary.</p><p>That's a ton of wasted money, and yet the Dodgers are still one of the favorites to win the World Series.</p><p>All of this illustrates the true advantage that large-revenue teams have over the rest of baseball. That is, it is not the talent on the field, but the ability to eschew unwanted players and to replace injured players.</p><p>For example, in the case of Ethier, most teams would have to replace him with a scrub off the bench or a minor leaguer making the league-mininum salary ($507,500). But the Dodgers are not most teams. They will replace Ethier with Carl Crawford, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/carl-crawford-contract-dodgers-2016-3" target="_blank">who is making $21 million this season and had lost his job to Ethier</a>.</p><p>Clearly Crawford is not the player he used to be, but at a time when the Dodgers need a left fielder, it is nice to have a former MVP-caliber player just sitting around.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/basketball-players-incredible-journey-2016-3">Basketball player Cady Lalanne was deported to Haiti - now he's back and headed to the NBA</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="htb2IzMjE6jaZE8EmUCNm47DvwDjJyu9" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

The Dodgers are paying $114 million in salaries for players who aren't playing for them and it shows the real problem with MLB payrolls

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The 2015 Stanley Cup Finals between the Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning is a matchup of two star-studded teams. The Blackhawks, the <a href="http://www.vegasinsider.com/nhl/odds/futures/">slight favorites</a>, will rely on veterans as they try to win their third Stanley Cup in six years. The Lightning, who haven't won a Stanley Cup since 2004, will be powered by a bunch of players who are just making names for themselves in the NHL.</p><p>Here's what you need to know about both teams:</p><h2><strong>Chicago Blackhawks</strong></h2><p>The Blackhawks are a finesse team. Their ability to move the puck up ice in a hurry with crisp passes will put pressure on the Tampa defense. The depth of Chicago is notable as all four lines can score.</p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Up front, the Blackhawks are led by Jonathan Toews (9 goals, 9 assists, 18 points) and Patrick Kane (10 goals, 20 points). The toughness of Toews exemplifies this Blackhawks team, which has four overtime wins (two in double OT, two triple OT) in the 2015 postseason. Kane is one of the most exciting players in the league. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"His skill with the puck is probably the best in the league," <a href="https://twitter.com/ChrisKuc/status/605772915292782592">Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman told the Chicago Tribune</a>. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Throw in veterans Brad Richards, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa, young stud Brandon Saad, and the scrappy Andrew Shaw, and the Blackhawks have depth that make them tough to beat.</span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>At defense, the Blackhawks rely heavily on their top four. Duncan Keith (2 goals, 18 points) averages 31:35 of ice time per contest to lead all skaters, and is considered one of the front-runners for the Conn Smthye trophy, given to the most valuable player throughout the playoffs. Add Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Johnny Oduya, and the Blackhawks have one of the stronger top 4 pairings in the league.</span></p><p><span>In goal for the Blackhawks is Corey Crawford. After being replaced for a lackluster Game 1 performance in the first round of the playoffs, Crawford has come on strong to amass a 9-4 record with a 2.56 goals against average and 91.9% save percentage.</span></p><h2><strong>Tampa Bay Lightning</strong></h2><p>Tampa Bay has offensive firepower of its own. The speed of Tampa's youngsters will put pressure on the Blackhawks, and could wear out the heavily relied upon top-four Chicago defensemen. The Lightning's power play will be crucial, having scored at least one goal with a man advantage in five of seven games against the Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals. </p><p>Tyler Johnson is the man to watch. At 24 years old he leads the playoffs in scoring with 12 goals and 21 points in just his second full season. Johnson is supported by fellow 24-year old Ondrej Palat (7 goals 15 points), 25 year olds Steven Stamkos (7 goals, 17 points) and Alex Killorn (7 goals, 16 points) and 21-year old <span>Nikita Kucherov</span>. The Lightning look up to the veteran leadership of Brian Boyle and Anton Stralman who were added in the offseason, joining former New York Rangers teammate Ryan Callahan, who was acquired at the 2014 trade deadline.</p><p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></strong> </p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The Lightning have depth along the blue line. They routinely dress seven defensemen instead of the usual six. Hedman and Stralman anchor the Tampa Bay defense and at 23:24 and 22:13 per game, trail all of Chicago's top 4. Killorn, Jason Garrison, Matthew Carle, Braydon Coubron and Andrej Sustr all log more than 16 minutes per contents.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">As impressive as Corey Crawford has looked, Tampa Bay's Ben Bishop has been better. While Bishop's record (12-8) isn't as impressive, he a sparkling 2.15 goals against average while saving 92.0% of the shots he has faced.</span></p><h2>Stanley Cup Finals Schedule</h2><p>Game 1: Wednesday, June 3, at Tampa, 8 p.m. ET, NBC</p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Game 2: Saturday, June 6, at Tampa, 7:15 p.m. ET, NBC</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Game 3: Monday, June 8, at Chicago, 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Game 4: Wednesday, June 10, at Chicago, 8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports </span></p><p>Game 5 (if necessary): Saturday, June 13, at Tampa, 8 p.m. ET, NBC</p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Game 6 (if necessary): Monday, June 15, at Chicago, 8 p.m. ET, NBC</span></p><p>Game 7 (if necessary): Wednesday, June 17, at Tampa, 8 p.m. ET, NBC</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-floyd-mayweather-spends-his-money-boxing-2015-4">Here's how Floyd Mayweather spends his millions</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="NiaGVpdDqdBR4NCmtjL5odLe14N1R4Hp" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Everything you need to know about the Stanley Cup Finals

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><p class="source">Getty Images</p></div><p></p></div>Major League Baseball's Hot Stove season had its first eyebrow raising moment when <a href="https://twitter.com/FeinsandNYDN/status/408048140218933248">Mark Feinsand of the <em>New York Daily News</em> reported</a> that the Yankees had signed former Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury to a 7-year, $153 million contract.</p>
<p>On the surface, it sounds crazy to give a player who will turn 31 next season a 7-year deal worth $21.9 million. Carl Crawford, who has a similar skillset, was a year younger when he signed a $7-year, $142 million contract with the Red Sox and so far that deal has been a colossal bust.</p>
<p>There are also big concerns that this deal will keep the Yankees from re-signing their biggest free agent target, Robinson Cano, who is reportedly <a href="http://nypost.com/2013/11/30/cano-yankees-near-100-million-off-sources/">seeking a contract worth at least $250 million</a>.</p>
<p>But there are reasons to think that this deal is great for the Yankees.</p>
<p>First of all, the Yankees are no strangers to overpaying for older players. It is a strategy that causes headaches down the road (e.g. Alex Rodriguez), but has proven successful up front.</p>
<p>There is also a very good chance that $20 million-per-year contracts are going to become much more common in the next 2-3 years and Ellsbury's deal could end up looking very average for an above-average player. In addition to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sports-chart-of-the-day-new-tv-contracts-could-mean-sharp-rise-in-baseball-player-salaries-2012-11">skyrocketing revenue from local television contracts</a>, every <keyword id="133010" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="MLB">MLB</keyword> team will <a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20121002&amp;content_id=39362362&amp;c_id=mlb">receive an extra $25 million this year from the new national television contracts alone</a>.</p>
<p>The other big buzz number right now is "$189 million." That is the magic luxury tax threshold that the Yankees may try to stay under in 2014. In 2013, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/yankees-to-pay-record-291-million-payroll-luxury-tax-2013-9">Yankees paid a record $29.1 million in luxury tax</a>. If the Yankees payroll can stay below $189 million in 2014 they won't have to pay a tax. But more importantly, it will lower their tax rate in future years.</p>
<p>But let's face it, nobody is forcing the Yankees to stay under $189 million. If they want to sign Cano and field a team with a $250 million payroll, they will. It is easy to imagine that the extra potential revenue from a World Series contending team will more than make up for the revenue lost from having to pay a luxury tax.</p>
<p>In other words, this contract for Ellsbury may just mean the Yankees are ready to get back to being the Yankees.</p>

Jacoby Ellsbury's $153 Million Contract With The Yankees Is Not As Crazy As It Sounds

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Saul "Canelo" Alvarez could become boxing's greatest free agent since Floyd Mayweather, who paid then-promoter Top Rank $750,000 to buy himself out of his contract in 2006.</li><li>Alvarez, the number one boxer in the world today, has been unhappy with his promoter Golden Boy Promotions for years, <a href="https://theathletic.com/1334317/2019/10/30/theres-no-loyalty-we-see-it-now-inside-canelo-alvarezs-feud-with-promoter-oscar-de-la-hoya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to The Athletic</a>.</li><li>The Athletic's Mike Coppinger said in October that if Alvarez is to gain control of his career, then he must be prepared to walk away from Golden Boy and its founder Oscar de la Hoya.</li><li>Business Insider spoke to a law firm which specializes in sport and boxing, and was told a suitable fit for Alvarez, should he choose to leave, would be Matchroom Sport as both Alvarez and Matchroom have commitments to DAZN, a start-up broadcaster in the US.</li><li>Eddie Hearn, the group managing director of Matchroom Sport, told Business Insider that he would love to work with Alvarez, but would never have a conversation with an athlete under contract with a rival.</li><li>Golden Boy did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>Saul "Canelo" Alvarez could become boxing's greatest free agent since Floyd Mayweather, and Eddie Hearn has said he would work with him "in an absolute heartbeat" if he were available.</p><p>Mayweather exercised a provision in his contract that allowed him to become a free agent in 2006 when <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/floyd-mayweather-career-earnings-top-rank-2015-4?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">he paid his then-promoter Top Rank $750,000</a>.</p><p>Investing in himself at <a href="https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine%27s_Annual_Ratings:_2006" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a time when he was ranked as the best boxer on the planet</a> proved to be one of the smartest decisions Mayweather ever made because he went on to earn hundreds of millions of dollars.</p><p>Now, more than a decade later, Alvarez finds himself in a similar position as he, like Mayweather once was, is the world's top fighter, embroiled in a very public falling-out with his promoter Golden Boy Promotions, and could become a free agent. If he did leave, he would not be short of admirers - Hearn is one of many.</p><p><a href="https://theathletic.com/1334317/2019/10/30/theres-no-loyalty-we-see-it-now-inside-canelo-alvarezs-feud-with-promoter-oscar-de-la-hoya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Athletic documented Alvarez's troubles with Golden Boy</a> and its founder Oscar de la Hoya in a feature published in October, just one week before the Mexican's light heavyweight debut against Sergey Kovalev at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas - a bout which <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-canelo-alvarez-sent-sergey-kovalev-crashing-through-the-ropes-2019-11?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alvarez won by knockout</a> to become a simultaneous champion in three weight classes.</p><p>Boxing reporter Mike Coppinger wrote that Alvarez is "at the peak of his powers" and "the face of his sport." He added that to gain more control over his career, one which he has criticized because of apparent Golden Boy missteps, Alvarez must be prepared to "walk away" from the company and de la Hoya.</p><p>Reasons for Alvarez's unhappiness at Golden Boy are vast.</p><p><strong>Here they are, as reported by The Athletic:</strong></p><ul><li>Alvarez said his opinion about de la Hoya changed when he fought Gennady Golovkin for the first time in 2017. "After that, the two men drifted apart," Coppinger wrote.</li><li>Ahead of the rematch with Golovkin in 2018, Alvarez got frustrated that de la Hoya was talking about running for president instead of promoting his fight.</li><li>Alvarez got annoyed when de la Hoya appeared to belittle his trainer, Eddy Reynoso, during a since-deleted social media feud involving de la Hoya and another Golden Boy athlete Ryan Garcia.</li><li>Then one botched fight negotiation resulted in Alvarez losing the IBF world title outside the ring because Golden Boy failed to agree on a deal to fight the mandatory challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko.</li><li>Alvarez barred Golden Boy and de la Hoya from entering his gym in San Diego in 2019.</li><li>Then, at a September press conference to confirm a fight between Alvarez and Kovalev, de la Hoya was on the stage with Alvarez, but "the two men never spoke" and "didn't shake hands for the camera," according to Coppinger.</li><li>Ahead of the Kovalev fight last month, Alvarez told Coppinger that de la Hoya is not loyal. "He changed trainers during his career. He changed managers in his career. So there's no loyalty. That's the way he is. We see it now."</li><li>There is even bad blood over two separate deals with the OTT platform DAZN. Golden Boy struck a deal with DAZN to broadcast 10 Alvarez fights for a minimum of $350 million. However, they also agreed on a second deal, which would see DAZN airing "another 50 shows over five years for an estimated $90 million," The Athletic said, adding that there were industry rumors that Alvarez was unhappy not to get a cut of that $90 million.</li></ul><p>Later, the former two-weight world champion and 2020 Hall of Fame inductee Bernard Hopkins, a Golden Boy partner, said: "If I feel that way that Canelo felt [about Golden Boy], I'd be gone," <a href="https://www.cbssports.com/boxing/news/bernard-hopkins-if-i-felt-the-way-canelo-alvarez-does-about-golden-boy-id-be-gone/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to CBS Sports</a>.</p><p>It all makes for a "f------ horrendous" situation if you work at Golden Boy, as Eddie Hearn told Business Insider last month.</p><p>It is the dispute over the two DAZN deals that is interesting as the separate agreements seemingly contradict one another.</p><p>The Athletic says that DAZN wanted Alvarez so it could book a lucrative trilogy bout with Golovkin on its platform. There is nothing in Alvarez's deal that would force this, but Golden Boy reportedly "promised" DAZN a third fight would materialize by September 2019.</p><h2>If Alvarez had good legal representation, his DAZN deal would trump Golden Boy's</h2><p>Business Insider spoke to the law firm Walker Morris, a legal advice service with a specialty in boxing, to find out more.</p><p>Geoff Cunningham, a senior Walker Morris associate who represents Amir Khan amongst other athletes, told us that, typically, a boxer signs a deal with a promoter who, in turn, gets that fighter several dates by selling TV rights to a broadcaster.</p><p>"That's the normal structure," he said. "But here, there seems to be tri-party agreements with Golden Boy, DAZN, and Canelo all within those agreements with obligations to one another spread throughout."</p><p>Cunningham called it an "unusual situation" and highlighted other examples of boxers falling out with their promoters like <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-45489873" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Carl Frampton with Cyclone Promotions</a> and <a href="https://www.lawinsport.com/topics/sports/boxing/item/challenging-an-sgb-s-right-to-hear-a-dispute-on-grounds-of-impartiality-the-case-of-smith-mcdonnell?category_id=163" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jamie McDonnell with Dennis Hobson</a>.</p><p>"With Canelo, a lot is fact-sensitive, and we don't have that information and nor do you necessarily," he said. "What is clear, is if Golden Boy as an organization, or Oscar as a representative for Golden Boy, has done something improper, it all seems to stem from money earned from Golden Boy or Oscar from the DAZN deal."</p><p>Cunningham said if Golden Boy reneged on whatever agreement they had, "that is going to be an issue," and Alvarez could raise it with a boxing regulator, requiring, potentially, a private arbitration to resolve the dispute.</p><p>Alvarez's deal with DAZN - which has no stipulation to contest a third Golovkin bout - should trump Golden Boy's separate DAZN agreement, which promises the broadcaster a trilogy.</p><p>"If Canelo's legal team didn't get this right, it would be a surprise because any contract I've drafted for any sportsperson … everything they do with their career is their final decision.</p><p>"You need a promoter, TV broadcaster, and the boxer to all agree to take a particular fight. It would be highly unusual if there were some power from Golden Boy and DAZN to make Canelo take fights he didn't want to take [and] it's very difficult to make a boxer get in the ring and fight someone [who they didn't want to]."</p><p>If this Alvarez vs. Golden Boy fallout continues, Cunningham says it will head toward a bigger "unsavoury mess" than it currently is, which could see, as Coppinger wrote in The Athletic, the fighter walk away from the promoter.</p><p>"There's no reason why Canelo would want to get away from DAZN necessarily because the issue is with Golden Boy, but how transferable would a new promoter be into that mix? An obvious one would be Matchroom, given their association with DAZN as well."</p><h2>Matchroom would love to work with Saul Alvarez</h2><p>Matchroom Sport and its head of boxing Hearn have an exclusive deal with DAZN to broadcast its events in the US.</p><p>Hearn has twice worked with Alvarez as the Mexican defeated two Matchroom fighters in Rocky Fielding and Danny Jacobs. He would work with him again "in an absolute heartbeat," potentially on a longer-term basis if he were available in the market, Hearn told Business Insider in Monaco in November.</p><p>When asked if Alvarez could become boxing's greatest free agent since Mayweather, Hearn did not hesitate to say, "Yes, for sure."</p><p>He added: "He's a huge draw, does unbelievable numbers, and he's the pound-for-pound number one at the moment. He's a very good fighter. In that respect, he'd be the one to get."</p><p>As for Matchroom's pre-existing relationship with DAZN making Hearn an obvious fit for Alvarez should he ever leave de la Hoya and Golden Boy, Hearn said: "It would be [the obvious fit] because he'd have to deal with DAZN and we've got a deal with DAZN as well.</p><p>"I would never have conversation with a fighter who was under contract. But if he was to become available, would we want to work with Canelo? F------ hell, in an absolute heartbeat."</p><p>Business Insider also asked Top Rank promoter Bob Arum about Alvarez, and whether he'd be the greatest free agent since Mayweather.</p><p>"Is Canelo a terrific fighter? Yes," Arum told us.</p><p>"Is he the biggest box office draw right now? The answer is yes. That's all I'll say."</p><p>As for potentially signing Alvarez, Arum told us he refuses to go there, saying: "We had litigation with Golden Boy and we got into with the mediator something called a non-poaching agreement.</p><p>"That means we would not go after, or try to go after, any fighter that either of us had under contract. As far as I know, Golden Boy has Canelo under contract, so I am not going to even answer your question because I respect - and I better respect it as I don't want to get my ass in court - the non-poaching agreement.</p><p>"As far as the rights and wrongs of the dispute, I don't want to get into it. As far as I know, Canelo has a contract with Golden Boy, period, end of story."</p><p>Hearn called the rights and wrongs of the dispute "a horrible situation."</p><p>He said: "Whenever there's a fighter who is showing you, in public, or showing the public dislike for you or the job you've done, especially when they've got a profile like Canelo … it's brutal for the company.</p><p>"It's like AJ [Anthony Joshua, Hearn's star client] going out on his social media and saying, 'I didn't do this, Matchroom have done this.' It's f------ horrendous.</p><p>"So I was watching [the dispute], and I was feeling sorry, if you like, for Oscar, Golden Boy, and for Canelo because it's just a horrific situation."</p><h2>Money could maybe make this all go away</h2><p>De la Hoya has seen fighters walk away from his Golden Boy stable before.</p><p>Earlier this year, the boxing magazine <a href="https://www.ringtv.com/374413-de-la-hoya-schaefer-settle-golden-boy-loses-several-haymon-fighters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Ring reported that de la Hoya settled a lawsuit</a> with his former CEO at Golden Boy, Richard Schaefer, which relinquished him of several fighters advised by Al Haymon, one of the most powerful figures in the entire sport.</p><p>High-profile names like Danny Garcia and Adrien Broner were no longer affiliated with Golden Boy, and the company's status in the boxing industry diminished as a result.</p><p>Boxing law expert Cunningham told Business Insider that de la Hoya would be loathed to see further fighters walk from his firm.</p><p>"I'm sure there's enough money for Golden Boy to resolve this … hundreds of millions of pounds yet to be earned, and they're not going to want to lose that. Golden Boy has publicly lost lots of fighters to Al Haymon and Top Rank.</p><p>"I don't think they can afford to lose one of the biggest names, if not the biggest name in boxing."</p><p>Cunningham agreed Alvarez would be the biggest free agent since Mayweather 13 years ago. However, he thinks it would be "unlikely" the fighter would leave because it would bring "a long legal process that would probably delay his career."</p><p>It is, therefore, a question of whether Alvarez could afford the time spent going through that legal process.</p><p>"Unfortunately, for Canelo, it's an issue of what he has given away in terms of rights, but also how much time he has to spend.</p><p>"It's not about money because every party in this deal can afford costly legal representation. The problem for Canelo is going to be time. Can he afford to give six months of his life away to litigation that he might not want to get involved with, and spend time doing that?"</p><p>Cunningham said promoters tend to "have the tactical upper hand." So it is crucial that boxers, regardless of level and ability, have their legal representation rather than entrusting a promoter or manager to sort a lawyer on their behalf.</p><p>Alvarez previously <a href="https://theathletic.com/1334317/2019/10/30/theres-no-loyalty-we-see-it-now-inside-canelo-alvarezs-feud-with-promoter-oscar-de-la-hoya/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said in The Athletic</a> that he does have a lawyer "taking care of all that stuff for me" because "you've got to look out for yourself." He added that he has "the last word of what I want to do in my career."</p><p>Industry rumors have persisted for months that his last word to de la Hoya could essentially be "Thanks, but no thanks," as he may well walk from the company and go it alone.</p><p>He could do so with his fledgling firm Canelo Promotions, he could sign with Hearn and Matchroom Sport because of the British company's dealings with DAZN in the US, or he could form a co-promotional agreement that would see Hearn work with Canelo Promotions.</p><p>Golden Boy never replied to Business Insider's request for comment. It is unclear when Alvarez will fight next.</p><p><strong>Read more:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/terence-crawford-manny-pacquiao-fight-a-non-starter-bob-arun-2019-12?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Manny Pacquiao's people want no part in a fight with Terence Crawford, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/3-statistics-show-why-anthony-joshua-was-able-to-beat-andy-ruiz-jr-2019-12?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">3 statistics show why Anthony Joshua was able to beat Andy Ruiz Jr. so easily second time around</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wladimir-klitschko-plotting-boxing-comeback-2019-10?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wladimir Klitschko is plotting a spectacular boxing comeback, and he wants to break an old heavyweight record</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wilder-says-mayweather-team-backing-him-to-beat-record-2019-11?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Deontay Wilder is 9 wins away from breaking Floyd Mayweather's 50-0 record, and says the former world champion's team is backing him</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-training-with-conor-mcgregor-2019-10?r=US&amp;IR=T" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Conor McGregor recently surprised beginner boxers by taking over their lesson, shouting at them, and showing them how to punch</a></p>

Canelo Alvarez could become boxing's greatest free agent since Floyd Mayweather, and Eddie Hearn says he would work with him 'in an absolute heartbeat'

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein</span></p><p class="caption">Security officials stand outside a perimeter fence for a secured area ahead of the APEC Economic Leaders' Week Summit in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>This weekend, 21 world leaders will make their way to Papua New Guinea for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, an event marked by controversy and questionable fashion photo ops.</li><li>The Pacific region is quickly turning into a contest for influence aligning China against everyone else.</li><li>China is winning for now, but impoverished nation's like Papua New Guinea often come out the loser.</li></ul><p>The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders' Summit or APEC, if you're feeling a little lost amid the proliferation of global get-togethers is the one where all the leaders line up afterward in colorful shirts, looking - as some commentators have quipped - out of place.</p><p>Usually that's APEC's key takeaway - how out of place everyone is in the Pacific.</p><p>This weekend, 21 world leaders will make their way to the faraway host of the annual APEC summit, an event often mired in controversy.</p><p>This year, that diplomatic jostle will take place in Port Moresby, the dilapidated capital of perhaps the regions most resource-rich, yet poverty stricken state, Papua New Guinea (PNG).</p><p><span>PNG is the poorest nation of the entire 21-country APEC bloc and its crime-</span>riddled capital, beset by health challenges and institutional corruption, is the fifth least-livable city in the entire world.</p><p>The summit's timing could certainly not be more interesting for struggling APEC nations keen to make the most out of the emergence of a sudden race for influence.</p><p>In just the last week, the Pacific's simmering struggle for aid, loans and what is being termed "debt diplomacy" has suddenly gone on the boil.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Carl Court/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (left) and US Vice President Mike Pence (right).</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Superpowers jostling for position</h2><p>China, Australia, Japan and the US have all thrown down the gauntlet in the stampede to embed themselves in regional infrastructure projects and aid funding.</p><p>On Thursday, Australia pledged $3 billion in what has been called Prime Minister Scott Morrison's "Pacific Pivot."</p><p>On Friday, that pivot segued into a trilateral project as China pushed for cooperation and not competition in the Pacific.</p><p>Over the weekend, as Vice President Mike Pence makes his circuitous way to Moresby (via Cairns) he is reported to be carrying the prototype of America's Indo-Pacific strategy, rumored to be based on $60 billion in regional assistance.</p><p><a href="https://english.kyodonews.net/">Kyodo News of Japan</a> reports the $60 billion announcement is a bid to diminish China's rising influence  through the extension of its One Belt One Road development strategy.</p><p>The final piece of the Pacific puzzle, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will this<span> Saturday, fly into Port Moresby's Chinese-built Jackson airport to share his two yen at the APEC summit.</span></p><p><span>Likewise, Abe will be visiting friends and striving to bind new allegiances to counter China's successes in the Pacific, from the South China Seas to Fiji.</span></p><p>So, with new acquaintances to make and money for sale, Port Moresby's flourishing corruption and eye level impoverishment will be the more than appropriate backdrop for the 21 world leaders' awkwardly iconic fashion shoots that traditionally close out the summit.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/south-china-sea-energy-reserves-china-wants-to-block-outsiders-2018-11">The South China Sea is fabled for its hidden energy reserves and China wants to block outsiders like the US from finding them</a></em></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2018%3Anewsml_RC1D979ABC60%3A172824989&amp;search=all%3Axi%20jinping">Damir Sagolj/Reuters</a></span></p><p class="caption">Chinese President Xi Jinping inspects troops at the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Hong Kong Garrison in one of events marking the 20th anniversary of the city's handover from British to Chinese rule, in Hong Kong</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Chinese President Xi Jinping has a head start</h2><p>In fairly contrasting optics, Xi will arrive and stay in Moresby for a full state visit, the first by any Chinese president.</p><p>The US President Donald Trump isn't attending at all.</p><p>But Pence has decided that rather than stay in Port Moresby at all, he will fly in and out of Cairns in Northern Australia, a 180-minute commute.</p><p>During his historic stay, Xi will attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting from November 17 to 18 and he will also meet the eight leaders of the Pacific Island countries that have diplomatic ties with China.</p><p>Xi will then continue on to Brunei and the Philippines shoring up relations there, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.</p><p>China has also responded to concerns of its growing debt diplomacy in the region.</p><p>"China has no intention to touch the cheese of any country, instead China is committed to make the pie of cooperation larger," Chinese vice minister of foreign affairs Zheng Zeguang said on Tuesday.</p><p>"No country should try to obstruct the friendship and cooperation," Zheng said when asked about the expansion of Australian aid in the Pacific.</p><p>Then in a fairly extraordinary opinion piece published on Wednesday in the <a href="https://postcourier.com.pg/set-sail-new-voyage-relations-china-pacific-island-countries/">Papua New Guinea Post-Courier</a>, and addressed to the people of PNG, Xi Jinping spoke of t<span>he "rapid growth of China-Papua New Guinea relations is an epitome of China's overall relations with Pacific island countries."</span></p><p>The president said that first off China and the islands "need to bring our strategic trust to a higher level." </p><p><span>"China will stand firm with Pacific island countries and all other developing countries. Following a policy of pursuing the greater good and shared interests under the principles of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith, China will enhance solidarity and cooperation with Pacific island countries, support their development, and help narrow down the development gap between the North and the South."</span></p><p><span>"China will work with Pacific island countries to build a new type of international relations and a community with a shared future for mankind."</span></p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/australia-wants-to-challenge-chinese-influence-in-south-pacific-2018-11">Australia's new prime minister sounds like he wants to take on China's growing influence in the South Pacific</a></em></p><p>However welcome the intent, the goals are not so easy to kick in a region beset by inequality, poverty and corruption.</p><p>To the chagrin of most observers and a small contingent of striking workers, PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has gone on a bit of a wild spending spree ahead of the summit.</p><p>With a tight budget, some workers downed tools when Maseratis began arriving in numbers at Jackson International airport, brought in for the leaders.</p><p>Despite more than one-third (37%) of his country according to the UN Development Program living way down below the poverty line, O'Neill decided to welcome leaders with several Bentleys and the extra 40 luxury Maseratis specifically flown in for the meetings.</p><p>PNG, which is the one nation (aside from the wayward Australian state of Victoria) signed up to China's One Belt One Road initiative, has been a key beneficiary of Chinese investment and many of it's infrastructure projects will be in display in Port Moresby.</p><p>Beijing has fixed bits of the airport, had a crack at some transport infrastructure without enormous progress, donated a squad of fire trucks, somewhere near 50 coaches and 35 mini-buses to shuttle officials to and from the a $35 million convention center built with Chinese money by Chinese companies and workers.</p><p><span>Dr. Graeme Smith, a research fellow at the Australian National University's Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs told Business Insider that it is likely China has invested somewhere around double the $3 billion it is rumored to have staked in PNG.</span></p><p>To keep its hands clean in a time of added scrutiny, neighboring Australia, PNG's biggest aid-donor and former colonial power broker, is not providing any direct financial assistance for the APEC summit, but is flexing its security muscle and military ties, providing assistance to the tune of $130 million of APEC's total costs.</p><p>Some 4,000 members of the PNG disciplinary forces and their international counterparts will be patrolling the city for the summit, including 1,500 Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel supporting PNG's Joint Security Task Force, with just under 500 of those on the ground in Port Moresby.</p><p>For back up, Australia has mobilized up to 16 Super Hornet aircraft to be based near Cairns and three Royal Navy ships are stationed off Port Moresby, accompanied by one helicopter landing dock and several patrol boats.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein</span></p><p class="caption">A worker adjusts a rope line outside of APEC Haus, the main venue of the APEC Economic Leaders' Week Summit as a military ship is anchored just offshore in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>So who is coming this year?</h2><p>Almost 30 years old, APEC began in 1989, to encourage tighter regional economic integration for the Pacific Rim.</p><p>Most of the 21 APEC members are from this pacific region with the addition of Russia, United States, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru, together accounting for 2.7 billion people - more than a third of the world's population.</p><p>Headlining in 2018 is undoubtedly China's Xi Jinping.</p><p>Japan's Abe, Canada's Justin Trudeau, South Korea's Moon Jae-in and New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern will also be there alongside the new Australian leader Scott Morrison.</p><p>While Pence is standing-in for Trump, so too will Vladimir Putin's proxy, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, fly the Russian flag.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein</span></p><p class="caption">Workers put up a billboard reading "The world is watching, keep our city clean an safe" on a wall along a street ahead of the APEC Economic Leaders' Week Summit in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Putting Papua New Guinea on the map</h2><p>PNG's Prime Minister Peter O'Neill says he expects $85 million will be spent by leaders during the time of APEC alone and that playing host will put PNG on the map.</p><p>O'Neill, whose first move as prime minister was to scrap the anti-corruption body <a href="http://www.devpolicy.org/drowning-not-waving-an-update-from-pngs-taskforce-sweep-20151113/">Taskforce Sweep</a> that ushered him into power and then began looking into his own affairs, has allocated around $350 million for the event.</p><p align="JUSTIFY">Responding to some of the considerable flak that has come his way, O'Neill says PNG is in fact hosting the cheapest APEC meeting compared to other countries.</p><p align="JUSTIFY"> O'Neill said PNG is on the cusp of hosting one of the cheapest APEC Leaders meetings in history.</p><p align="JUSTIFY">"We were given the green light to host APEC in October 2016 and in the same year, we budgeted ($US7.5 million) K25 million towards APEC."</p><p align="JUSTIFY">That seems unlikely considering the summit's APEC house centerpiece is thought to have cost $75 million alone.</p><p>Stephen Howes, the Director of the Development Policy Centre and Professor of Economics in the Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU says the timing is not so great for a PNG facing mounting debts and rising corruption. </p><p>"Excessive borrowing in the boom years has now come back to haunt the government following a collapse in revenue," wrote in the ANU's <a href="http://www.eastasiaforum.org/">East Asia Forum</a>.  </p><p>But in the second most rural country worldwide, Howes added that there is a stronger, more damning indicator for how things are faring in PNG.</p><p>What has really caught the public's attention is the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-27/polio-outbreak-declared-in-png-18-years-after-polio-free-status/9913684">return of polio</a>, previously eliminated from PNG about 20 years ago.</p><p>"PNG is one of only <a href="http://polioeradication.org/polio-today/polio-now/">five countries in the world</a> experiencing a polio comeback."</p><p>"That the other members of this club are the Democratic Republic of Congo, Niger, Nigeria and Somalia - all four wrought by violence - shows the extent of the health crisis that PNG is facing," Howes said.</p><p>"The most recent symptoms of this crisis include the resurgence of  malaria and leprosy, and reports of <a href="http://www.devpolicy.org/severe-drug-and-equipment-shortages-port-moresby-general-hospital-20180523">worsening drug shortages</a>."</p><p>Australian freelance journalist Jo Chandler herself contracted drug-resistant tuberculosis while investigating the growing crisis.</p><p>So what does Howes expect will come of PNG's APEC?</p><p>APEC he says will deliver a mild economic stimulus, and is expected to be accompanied by a round of "announceables."</p><p>This is perhaps more likely than ever as the four regional pacific powers make their various bids for lasting influence.</p><p>"These may come from China or resource projects. Perhaps PNG will get more aid, but any <a href="https://www.businessadvantagepng.com/oneill-to-announce-preliminary-agreements-for-papua-lng-and-wafi-golpu-to-coincide-with-apec-leaders-meeting/?utm_source=Business+Advantage+PNG+weekly+update&amp;utm_campaign=0341d77c97-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_10_23_02_52&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_02084d248f-0341d77c97-412884301">resource project agreements</a> will be ones that were already in the pipeline.</p><p>Howes says that it is widely accepted (including by the government) that PNG needs to get a better deal from its resource projects. Rushing agreements so that they can be announced at APEC only weakens PNG's negotiating hand.</p><p>"By the same token though, APEC is meant to be about reform and development. PNG could have used its hosting of APEC to push through important change in a range of critical policy areas. It hasn't."</p><p>"Whatever happens at the leaders' meeting this year, in this fundamental sense APEC 2018 is a lost opportunity for its host."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/deadly-life-boston-gangster-whitey-bulger-2015-9">The true story behind Boston gangster Whitey Bulger</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

The poorest nation in the Pacific will host its richest economic get-together, and it could descend into a dash for cash

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Horacio Villalobos-Corbis/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Business Insider spoke with Pat Gelsinger, the CEO of VMware, about his career and the company's rise to becoming a superpower in the cloud wars. </strong></li><li><strong>When Gelsinger joined VMware in 2012, Amazon Web Services was seen as an existential threat. Gelsinger himself warned VMware partners that Amazon's growth in the cloud was poised to seriously undermine its business and pry away customers. </strong></li><li><strong>Gelsinger says that it didn't sit well with his own management team when in 2016 he decided that VMware would stop fighting Amazon Web Services head-on, and instead form a landmark partnership to integrate their technologies. </strong></li><li><strong>Amazon Web Services has a reputation for competing even with its own partners. Three years into the partnership, that threat remains. But the partnership has borne fruit with plenty of mutual customers. </strong></li><li><strong>Gelsinger says it was a "traumatic" transition, but the company has come out stronger.</strong></li><li><strong>"We want to be that platform where that can run both the past and the future in one common and consistent way, and do so whether it's in your data center or the cloud," Gelsinger says. "And if we accomplish that ... there's gold in those hills." </strong></li><li><strong><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module%3Darticle%26area%3Dsummary&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1570026728865000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHW3RQG5pWjjikWR54SPzNFGr6swg">Click here for more BI Prime stories.</a></strong></strong></li></ul><p>Technically speaking, Pat Gelsinger retired in 2009.</p><p>He started his career at Intel at just 17 years old, and finished his 30 years at the company with a resume including a stint as the chipmaker's CTO. Every month, he receives a pension check from Intel, he told Business Insider. (Intel says it doesn't comment on matters of compensation.) </p><p>In reality, Gelsinger says, his retirement basically consisted of a good night's sleep. One Monday, he went into Intel to say his final goodbyes. On Tuesday, he started work as president and COO of EMC, the <keyword id="6356323" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="enterprise">enterprise</keyword> IT giant.</p><p>Three years later, he went to VMware, then an EMC subsidiary, replacing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vmware-ceo-handover-paul-maritz-pat-gelsinger-2012-8">industry legend Paul Maritz as CEO</a>. The company was the pioneer in the market for virtualization - a cornerstone technology to modern cloud computing. It remains a major IT industry standard: Every single company on the Fortune 500 counts itself as a customer.</p><p>But in the little over seven years since he took the role, VMware has also found itself undergoing reinvention, from a cloud computing also-ran into a key partner of Amazon Web Services, the dominant player in the market. It has also been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-vmware-became-the-secret-winner-of-the-cloud-wars-2019-7">cozying up to Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud</a>, Amazon's chief cloud rivals. </p><p>Next up, Gelsinger says, is another reinvention, expanding beyond the virtualization technology that made its name, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vmware-ceo-pat-gelsinger-firewall-cybersecurity-2019-3">making big bets on markets like cloud security</a> - and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vmware-kubernetes-pivotal-heptio-sanjay-poonen-2019-9">especially on Kubernetes</a>, the Google-created open source software that has since become something of a standard in the industry. </p><p><strong>Read more: </strong><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vmware-kubernetes-pivotal-heptio-sanjay-poonen-2019-9">A top VMware exec says it's becoming the 'largest force' in the Google-made Kubernetes, as it places a 'huge bet' on a tech that many thought would kill it</a></em></p><p>And all of that, against the more recent backdrop of Dell's $67 billion acquisition of EMC, giving VMware a new corporate overlord - an overlord, incidentally, which considered going public in an aborted plan to acquire VMware, much to the <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/dell-vmware-merger-carl-icahn-opposes-deal-making-public-again-2018-10-1027617091">chagrin of investors like Carl Icahn</a>. More recently, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vmware-acquires-pivotal-carbon-black-developers-analysts-2019-8">VMware announced its intentions to buy up Pivotal, a fellow Dell subsidiary, as well as cybersecurity company Carbon Black</a>.</p><p>This second stage of his career has been a little different to the first, the 57-year-old Gelsinger told Business Insider.</p><p>"I'm just working for fun, now," he joked.</p><p>Business Insider spoke to Gelsinger about how the company shifted itself to a major player in the cloud wars, the internal strife that came with the decision to partner with Amazon, and what comes next for the virtualization giant.</p><h2>Gelsinger goes way back with VMware</h2><p>Gelsinger said that even he didn't fully get what was so great about VMware, back when it was just a startup getting off the ground. He says that VMware actually came to him not long after it launched in 1998, when he was leading Intel's server business. </p><p>"Here comes [VMware cofounders Mendel Rosenblum and Diane Greene], and they're trying to explain to me that they can make 10 servers into one," Gelsinger recalls. "I'm responsible for the server CPU business at Intel, and turning 10 servers into one is not in my best interest, so what am I not understanding?" </p><p>VMware's approach to virtualization turned the server industry on its head. Simply put, virtualization helps slice a single server into multiple so-called virtual machines, or VMs. Each of those VMs has its own copy of an operating system, and gets allocated a portion of the physical server's processor and memory resources, in line with the needs of the application (like, say, an email server) it's supposed to run. </p><p>Apply this concept more broadly, and you have racks of ten servers that can do the work of a hundred, or a data center packed full of 50,000 servers, carrying the computing workload of a million. It's a concept that makes for the kind of incredible efficiencies of scale that allow mega-clouds like Amazon Web Services to afford to offer their customers functionally unlimited supercomputing power for fractions of a cent per hour. </p><p>The promise of VMware's technology only truly clicked for Gelsinger at an Intel Developer Forum event in the early '00s, he said, where Rosenblum was a speaker. Backstage, the two geeked out over VMotion, a then-new VMware product for moving virtual machines from one server to another with no downtime. He described the conversation as a "brain explosion," with the two executives talking through all the possibilities. </p><p>At some point after that, he said, he tried to get Intel to make VMware an acquisition offer, "but I could never get the stars aligning to make that happen." Ultimately, in 2003, EMC swooped in to acquire VMware for $625 million.</p><p>He got his second chance to get involved with VMware a few years later - part of his job at EMC was to manage the IT giant's relationship with VMware, by then its publicly-traded subsidiary. On a personal note, Gelsinger said that period was exhausting, as he split his time between EMC's Silicon Valley headquarters, and spending time with his family in Massachussets, where his daughters were attending college. </p><p>Diane Greene had only recently been ousted as CEO by VMware's board after a period of poor financial performance, to be replaced by former Microsoft exec Paul Maritz. By 2012, VMware was back on track, and Maritz was ready to move on to the new challenge of running Pivotal Labs, a spin-out combining assets from EMC, VMware, and previous acquisitions into one new software company. Gelsinger was tapped as the logical successor to Maritz.</p><p>"They wanted somebody who was still technical, but more operationally focused," said Gelsinger. </p><h2>The shift to the cloud</h2><p>Gelsinger boasts that VMware has only gotten bigger and broader since he took over. In 2012, VMware pulled in $4.6 billion in revenue, almost entirely from its core vSphere virtualization product. In February, VMware announced that it booked almost $9 billion in revenue for its 2019 fiscal year, which Gelsinger attributed to the evolution of its business to encompass new markets like cybersecurity, and its embrace of the cloud. </p><p>"We went from a product, to products, to solutions and cloud," said Gelsinger.</p><p>VMware had a rocky road to its current cloud strategy, however: At the time Gelsinger took over, VMware was feeling the competitive threat from Amazon Web Services. The fear was that customers would abandon their VMware virtualization infrastructure, and instead move to Amazon's home-grown alternatives.</p><p>That would be bad not only for VMware, but also for the partners and service providers who built their business on VMware's technology. In 2013, <a href="https://www.crn.com/news/cloud/240149626/vmware-top-execs-lash-out-at-amazon-public-cloud.htm?itc=xbodyjk">Gelsinger told a room full of partners</a> that if "a workload goes to Amazon, you lose, and we have lost forever." That same year, VMware launched vCloud Air, its own rival to AWS, to mitigate the threat.</p><p>Gelsinger said that while VMware saw "some success" with vCloud Air, it became clear that it wasn't the runaway hit it needed to be to play at the level of Amazon Web Services. That made it hard to justify the massive costs of running a global cloud platform, with all the data centers and talent that requires. </p><p>"While we were getting it right, we weren't really getting success with it at scale," Gelsinger said of vCloud Air. </p><p>And so, in 2016, VMware made the previously-unthinkable decision to stop fighting Amazon Web Services, and start embracing it. It gave up on vCloud Air, ultimately selling the business to French cloud provider OVH in 2017.</p><h2>Partnering with Amazon</h2><p>Gelsinger says that the "tough decision" to embrace, rather than fight, Amazon Web Services didn't sit well with many on his staff.</p><p>"We had the last and final decision-making meeting on this [Amazon partnership] seven times," Gelsinger said.</p><p>Putting aside the whiplash that comes with any major strategic shift, said Gelsinger, there were concerns over "Amazon's reputation as a partner." Just as in retail, Amazon is known in the cloud industry for being aggressive, and willing to compete with even its friends and allies.</p><p><strong>Read more: </strong><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-vmware-became-the-secret-winner-of-the-cloud-wars-2019-7">How VMware became a secret superpower in the cloud wars and why Amazon Web Services should not be happy but Google and Microsoft are thrilled</a></em></p><p>"'This is just an on-ramp, they're going to steal your customers and workloads,'" Gelsinger recalled of the feedback he got. "Is this sustainable?" </p><p>The opportunity for VMware was too big to ignore, though, he said. Customers had spent years building all their applications on top of VMware technology; if those customers wanted to move to Amazon's cloud, there was an unmet need to help them do it without having to start over largely from scratch. Better yet, it provided a bridge between those existing servers and the cloud, enabling them to use a so-called hybrid cloud approach.</p><p>VMware's own cloud dreams may not have come fully to fruition, but it could play a major role in helping large companies take advantage of AWS. </p><h2>A 'traumatic' cloud transition</h2><p>Even with that in mind, though, VMware's own executives were less than certain.</p><p>"It was pretty traumatic, in that sense, for us," said Gelsinger. </p><p>There were technical questions around making sure that VMware's technology played nicely with AWS, to be sure. But there was the bigger question of whether the partnership was giving up a lot of ground to AWS for not enough in return.</p><p>"It wasn't just giving up on what we were already doing with vCloud Air," Gelsinger said. "It was, can we really go execute on this partnership? Are they going to be good partners as well?" </p><p>Gelsinger said that he stood his ground, and got all the technical and product people to handle all the little details that go into such a big partnership, from networking to storage to hardware.</p><p>Crawford Del Prete, president of analyst firm IDC, told Business Insider that Gelsinger's success in helping VMware navigate this transition highlights his best traits as a CEO and leader.</p><p>"He's this rare combination of how to motivate employees, how to paint a vision for employees...[but] also he's super, super technical, and understands what needs to be built, and what needs to be created," </p><p>For all that drama, VMware looks to have come through it stronger. He said that VMware has signed up "major customers" for its AWS-specific offerings, and that the VMware/AWS combo is now available in 18 international regions. </p><p>"We have executed. Not that any of these partnerships are perfect, but this is pretty good," he said.</p><p>Still, as Del Prete cautions, VMware isn't out of the woods yet: Amazon is "constantly innovating on its platform," he said, meaning that it could still come up with technology that undermines the VMware partnership, even as customers increasingly build their software using Amazon's own tools.  </p><h2>A maturing business model</h2><p>VMware is now established as a key player in the cloud wars: While AWS remains VMware's preferred cloud partner, it also recently inked technology integration deals with Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. That means that any VMware-using company can more easily move their infrastructure to those clouds.</p><p>Next up, Gelsinger said, are some further shifts to the business. As VMware entrenches itself in the cloud, Gelsinger wants to pivot the company to fully embrace a subscription-based billing model, likening it to Microsoft's increased focus on software-as-a-service like the Office 365 suite. </p><p>It's an important transition for VMware, Gelsinger said. The bulk of the company's revenue comes from traditional software licensing, but subscription-based pricing based on usage is just how things are done in the cloud. While its largest customers often still operate their own data centers at large scales, that may not be true in the years or decades to come, and it falls on VMware to still support the old way while embracing the new. </p><p>"We've said, we're not getting rid of this business model, but we're adding to this business model," Gelsinger said. "I don't get to just flip you to the new busines model." </p><p>He highlights the acquisitions of device management company AirWatch and cloud monitoring service Cloudhealth, both of which bill under this kind of subscription model, as signs of VMware's growth in this area. Gelsinger said that those companies are actually helping VMware's sales and marketing teams rethink their overall approach, and that the company is making a lot of progress.</p><p>"Every one of these [acquisitions] has sort of helped us in that transition," says Gelsinger. "And we're well underway, you know, but I think we've got a solid year and a half or two years until I can declare us done." </p><h2>A better platform</h2><p>Technologically speaking, there's a big opportunity ahead for VMware, too. The company has staked its bets on Kubernetes, an open source software project that's proven extremely popular amongst cloud developers. VMware even last year acquired Heptio, founded by some of the former Googlers who invented Kubernetes.</p><p>What's funny about that is that Kubernetes is a technology for managing containers, a new way to run cloud applications considered by many to be an alternative to VMware-style virtualization. Indeed, many thought the rise of Docker, the company that popularized containers in their current form, would do irreperable harm to VMware. </p><p>Instead, Gelsinger said, it's proven to be yet another opportunity for VMware. It's true that a lot of new cloud software is being written with Kubernetes in mind, he says, but also, larger companies are still reliant on that more traditional virtualization approach. Gelsinger said that Heptio is already giving it the technology to help customers manage software running in both kinds of environments. </p><p>"The Heptio acquisition for us is maybe one of the most strategic things that we've done over the last year or two," Gelsinger said. </p><p>Del Prete, the analyst, said that VMware's push into Kubernetes is important for making sure that developers keep building on the company's tools. As developers increasingly move to Kubernetes, Del Prete said, it also falls on Gelsinger and VMware to make sure it moves with them, or else get left behind.</p><p>Gelsinger might have a broader vision in mind, however. He said that "Kubernetes and containers is the software abstraction that we believe will define the next two decades of software," in much the same way that Java remains a standard in enterprise IT after decades. By bridging the old and new, across both clouds and traditional servers, Gelsinger said, VMware is poised for success.</p><p>"We want to be that platform where that can run both the past and the future in one common and consistent way, and do so whether it's in your data center or the cloud," Gelsinger said. "And if we accomplish that...there's gold in those hills." </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/raw-cookie-dough-never-eat-e-coli-salmonella-food-poisoning-2019-2">General Mills is recalling flour due to E. coli concerns, which is one of the reasons raw cookie dough isn't safe to eat</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger explains how the 'traumatic' decision to work with Amazon Web Services led to it becoming a secret superpower in the cloud wars

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