<ul class="summary-list"><li>When <keyword id="6354692" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Travel">travel</keyword> <keyword id="6354777" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Media">media</keyword> startup <keyword id="1749094" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Skift">Skift</keyword> launched in 2012, it espoused progressive values and said it would be covering the travel industry in an entirely new way. </li><li>Business Insider spoke with three current and 13 former Skift employees, many of whom said there were times when women felt uncomfortable and mistreated in the workplace. </li><li>They also said that the company's CEO, <keyword id="312431" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rafat-Ali">Rafat Ali</keyword>, was an unpredictable leader whose behavior was sometimes unprofessional.</li></ul><ul class="summary-list"></ul><p>Sarah Enelow-Snyder, a Black biracial woman, was promoted twice during her time at the travel news startup Skift, eventually becoming a news editor. While she worked at Skift from June  2016 to January 2020, Black travel was one of her main areas of coverage. </p><p>She came up with the idea for a podcast about Black travel for Skift. But after she co-hosted the first episode in October 2016, she was met with harsh verbal criticism from Rafat Ali, Skift's CEO.  </p><p>"He indicated that they talked too much, referring to the two Black female entrepreneurs that we had on the podcast episode with us," Enelow-Snyder said.</p><p>She and her cohost didn't do another episode of the podcast after that.</p><p>"I took his scathing review of the episode to be my invitation to shut up and not bring it up again," she said. </p><p>In June, Enelow-Snyder called out Skift and Ali in a <a href="https://twitter.com/SarahEnelow/status/1270424752897875968">series of tweets</a>. "Black women are unwelcome @skift in my experience," she said.</p><p>Her tweets would spark a reckoning inside the company Ali launched with Jason Clampet in 2012, with the promise of being a different kind of travel news website. </p><p>Business Insider spoke to three current and 13 former Skift employees, many of whom said there were times when women felt uncomfortable or felt mistreated in the workplace. </p><p>They also said that Ali was an unpredictable leader whose anger was often directed at women, particularly women of color. Some of these employees requested anonymity for fear of retribution from the company.</p><h2><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/skift-employees-say-ceo-rafat-ali-acted-unprofessionally-towards-women-2020-10">Subscribe to Business Insider to read the full story. </a></h2>

Skift set out to be a progressive media startup, but some insiders say the company failed women and people of color

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/53872226.cms" /><br />
Bombay high court has ruled that women have the right to enter the inner sanctum of the famous Haji Ali dargah in Mumbai.<br />
<br /> The HC bench has given its ruling on a PIL that asked for the removal of restrictions on women inside the inner sanctum of the Dargah, which houses the mazaar or tomb of the saint. The <keyword id="1442046" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Haji-Ali-Dargah-Trust">Haji Ali Dargah Trust</keyword> had banned women from going in the inner sanctum somewhere between March and June 2012.<br />
<br />
The bench, however, has said that this ban breaches Articles 14 (Right to Life), 15 (Prohibition of discrimination) and 25 (Right to practice religion) of the Indian Constitution of India, thus directing the status quo ante to be restored, allowing women as much rights as men. The court added that the state and the dargah trust should take appropriate steps to ensure women safety.<br />
<br />
However, the trust has defended the ban saying that entry of women in close proximity to the tomb of a male saint is considered to be a sin in the religion of Islam. Shoaib Memon, advocate of the trust, argued that as per Article 26 of the Constitution of India, the trust has the fundamental right to manage its own affairs in matters of religion, and any third agency interfering in this matter is uncalled for. Memon also said that women are given a secure place to offer their prayers in the dargah.<br />
<br />
Haji Rafat, MIM of the Haji Ali Dargah, told <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Haji-Ali-dargah-must-allow-women-to-enter-the-inner-sanctum-Bombay-high-court-rules/articleshow/53869139.cms">TNN</a> that the HC should have kept away from this issue, and now the trust will be approaching the Supreme Court.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://img.topyaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Haji-Ali-Women.jpg"><em>Image source</em></a><br />


Women must be allowed inside Haji Ali dargah’s inner sanctum, rules Bombay high court

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="719382" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Airbnb">Airbnb</keyword> is selecting 12 people to <keyword id="6354692" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Travel">travel</keyword> for a year and live in Airbnbs for free. </li><li>Participants will share their experience with Airbnb to inform future product decisions.</li><li>Anyone interested in being selected can apply online. The program begins this July. </li></ul><p>Airbnb wants to pay 12 people to live the life of a nomad for one year. </p><p>The home-sharing company announced Wednesday <a href="https://news.airbnb.com/airbnb-seeks-12-people-to-live-anywhere-for-one-year/">a new program called "Live Anywhere on Airbnb."</a> It will choose a dozen people to live in Airbnb listings for free for a year - in exchange, guests will share their experience with Airbnb to help inform the company's future product decisions around nomadic living. </p><p>Airbnb's program will officially kick off in July, and those who are selected will spend a total of 10 months <keyword id="100790" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="traveling">traveling</keyword>, beginning in September. Guests will be allowed to bring up to three companions when they travel.</p><p><em><strong>Read more: </strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/digital-nomads-madeira-island-paradise-village-why-i-moved-2021-5">I moved to an island paradise to use a village for 'digital nomads' that just opened. Here's what it's been like.</a></em></p><p>Airbnb will grant participants anywhere from $12,000 to $24,000 Airbnb credits for the first five months, depending on how many guests they want to travel with. If participants opt to stick with the program, they'll receive another chunk of Airbnb credits for an additional five months of travel.</p><p>Participants will also receive a transportation stipend of up to $12,000, depending on the number of travel companions. </p><p>An Airbnb spokesperson told Insider that participants will be able to travel anywhere in the world - depending on local COVID restrictions - and that "the goal of the program is to inform the future of living, not just traveling on Airbnb." To that end, participants will be encouraged to design their own travel and choose their own locations and durations of stay.</p><p>Airbnb will accept applications for the program from Wednesday through June 30. For those interested in living anywhere for a year, here's how the selection process works: </p><h2>1. Hopeful participants can apply on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reviews/out?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.airbnb.com%2Fd%2Fliveanywhere">Airbnb's website</a>.</h2><p>Applicants will have to fill out a series of questions and complete essay prompts about why they're excited to live nomadically and how they're currently exploring new ways of living and working. </p><h2>2. A panel of reviewers will evaluate the applications.</h2><p>The panel will select the top 20 finalists based on criteria like passion for the program, creativity and individuality, and excitement for sharing their experience during the program, plus thorough examples of how they'd document their experience.</p><p>Finalists will be notified they've been selected by July 5. </p><h2>3. Finalists will submit a two-minute video. </h2><p>The video will need to explain why applicants want to live in Airbnbs for a year and what excites them most about helping to inform the future of Airbnb. </p><p>The video must be submitted by July 9. Finalists must also consent to a background check. </p><h2>4. Finalists will be interviewed by Airbnb's review panel. </h2><p>They'll be asked about their application and the program itself, and the interviews and submitted videos will be scored by the review panel. </p><h2>5. Winners will be selected by July 19. </h2><p>Winners will have to consent to taking part in publicity surrounding the program and will have to participate in information sessions in July and August where they'll learn more about Airbnb's expectations, learn from travel experts, and walk through their own travel plans. </p><p>The program is open to anyone age 18 and over from a select group of countries. Entrants must have a passport that's valid until February 2023 and must be able to speak conversational English. </p><p>Airbnb's new program comes after long-term stays increased during the pandemic. According to the company's <a href="https://news.airbnb.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/05/Airbnb-Report-on-Travel-Living.pdf">travel report</a>, published in May, long-term stays jumped 10% in the first quarter compared 2019, with 11% of those guests reporting that they live a "nomadic lifestyle." </p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-faces-big-challenges-in-the-longer-term-stay-market-2020-4">Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said last year</a> that the company wants to continue to carve out a piece of the longer-term rental market, despite its roots as a short-term rental company. Going forward, people will plan more stays that last weeks on end, which Chesky told Skift CEO Rafat Ali he sees as distinct from the travel market. </p><p>"I think one thing you're going to see is that a huge percentage of the accommodations business going forward will not be limited to travel," Chesky said. </p><p>Airbnb went public last December. The company beat Wall Street expectations for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-earnings-q1-2021-revenue-eps-profit-analysis-2021-5">its first-quarter earnings</a>, an early sign that the travel industry could skyrocket post-pandemic. </p>

Airbnb will pay for 12 people and their families to live like nomads and travel for a year as it tries to attract more longer-term renters. Here's how to apply.

<p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5bad28459c5d6710118b456e-965/skift.png" border="0" alt="skift" data-mce-source="Skift" data-mce-caption="Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali" data-link="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-XnSiImQRo" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-XnSiImQRo">Skift</a></span></p><p class="caption">Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali</p></div><p></p></div></div></strong></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>The six-year-old travel publication Skift is launching a new vertical focused on wellness.</strong></li><li><strong>The company has also made its first acquisition with the email newsletter Airline Weekly</strong></li><li><strong>Founder and CEO Rafat Ali said that with the new vertical the company now covers the "business of leisure."</strong></li><li><strong>Revenue is expected to increase 45% this year across <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword>, events and subscriptions.</strong></li></ul><p>In a <keyword id="6354777" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Media">media</keyword> industry that is increasingly shrinking and chopping staffs, Skift thinks it's found a formula to grow.</p><p>The six-year-old company got its start in covering the ins and outs of the travel industry. Now, it's making its first acquisition and rolling out new verticals to cover the broader "business of leisure," said founder and CEO Rafat Ali.</p><p>According to Ali, Skift's revenue is on track to hit eight figures this year with 60 employees, up 45% from last year. Next year, he expects similar growth and will add another 20 to 25 employees next year.</p><h2>Skift wants to get into the business of wellness</h2><p>Skift is rolling out a new vertical focused on wellness. The vertical will function similarly to the site's existing travel and dining verticals and will consist of news, research and conferences.<span> </span></p><p>Journalist Leslie Berrie is joining Skift as editor of wellness and Skift will start its coverage with a weekly newsletter, possibly turning it into a daily newsletter over the next six months. By 2020, Ali said that he envisions organizing one of the company's tentpole events- called <a href="https://forum.skift.com/">Skift Global Forum</a> conferences - specifically about wellness.</p><p>The wellness category is exploding across lots of industries, Ali said. <a href="https://skift.com/2018/09/27/hyatt-ceo-says-hotels-will-ban-hate-groups-we-need-to-draw-the-line/">Brands like Hyatt </a>and Marriott are investing in wellness with special non-travel packages and offerings. Meanwhile <a href="https://www.interbrand.com/views/athleisure-rise-wellness-tribes/">athleisure brands </a>are trying to compete against apparel names like Nike and Lululemon and brands like <a href="http://time.com/money/5390761/gwyneth-paltrow-goop-net-worth/">Goop are capitalizing </a>on wellness within health and beauty.</p><p>"It used to be that only people in health, beauty and nutrition looked at wellness as a sector and now aspirations of wellness are in every sector - travel and hospitality, food and dining, beauty, fashion, real estate, tech, media," Ali said.</p><p>"I think the business of modern wellness writ large from a business and media perspective is open, and I bet you will see other people come into it - we think there's a need for a more focused publication."</p><p>Ali said that there's a common thread across travel, dining and wellness, which slightly broadens Skift's focus to the "leisure" industry.</p><p>"We see ourselves as a business information company in the business of leisure," Ali said. "I wasn't thinking about wellness three months ago - it just sort of came together and I said, 'yes, of course it makes total sense.'"</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55e9ad93bd86ef12008b8290-2048/161614801942843cb2017k.jpg" border="0" alt="yoga" data-mce-source="Take Back Your Health Conference/flickr" data-link="https://www.flickr.com/photos/130855607@N05/16161480194/" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/130855607@N05/16161480194/">Take Back Your Health Conference/flickr</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Skift still wants to grow in travel, too</h2><p>Skift has also made its first acquisition to build out its airline coverage and expand its subscription business. <a href="https://airlineweekly.com/">Airline Weekly</a> is a 14-year-old email subscription product that covers airline CEOs founded by Jason Cottrell, Seth Kaplan and Jay Shabat and is becoming part of Skift.</p><p>Ali said that he's interested in tweaking Airline Weekly's pricing (which is currently $775 per year), hiring more staffers and maybe turning it into a conference by 2020 that would be targeted towards airline CEOs and execs.</p><p>"Much like other media, we care about subscription revenue - everyone's working on it," Ali said. "We think that we can take the newsletter and modernize it in terms of marketing and design."</p><p>Ali said he's currently got his eye on six to seven other companies within the "leisure" space, which could result in one to two acquisitions.</p><p>"We can afford two to three people-type companies that have existing revenue," he said.</p><p>Asia is another big focus. The company has hired Joey Kukielka as its first head of sales in Asia and is hiring an editor to start covering the travel industry in Asia. A conference in the area is planned for May 27 next year.</p><p>40% of Skift's revenue comes from sponsored content and advertising, another 40% comes from events and the other 20% comes from research and subscriptions. Ideally, Ali would like to balance out its revenue to be equally split between subscriptions, events and advertising.</p><h2>Skift wants to put money back into the industry, too</h2><p>Skift has also opened a nonprofit corporate giving arm called the Skift Foundation to give back to the travel industry, primarily "under-resourced destinations."</p><p>The goal is to help small businesses with everything from marketing and branding, access to Skift's products or money.</p><p>For the first initiative, Skift is working with Foundation for Puerto Rico to build tourism on the island by working with a few small tourism business to provide marketing and branding resources.</p><p>"We think there's a lot we can do - we're still a tiny company but it's a start," Ali said.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/woke-up-430-am-like-navy-seal-exercise-discipline-2018-7">I woke up at 4:30 a.m. for a week like a Navy SEAL</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/kHGm95OI-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

'We think there's a need for a more focused publication:' Skift wants to expand from travel and dining into wellness

<p><em>Hello everyone! Welcome to this weekly roundup of Business Insider stories from co-Editor in Chief Matt Turner. </em><strong><a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/insider-weekly"><em>Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every Sunday.</em></a></strong></p><p><em>Read on for more on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/yelp-sales-tactics-insiders-say-sales-reps-misleading-aggressive-2020-10">Yelp insiders describing misleading sales tactics</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vista-equity-partners-tension-robert-smith-brian-sheth-exit-taxes-2020-10">a messy exit at Vista Equity Partners</a>, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/skift-employees-say-ceo-rafat-ali-acted-unprofessionally-towards-women-2020-10">employees at travel media company Skift speaking out</a>. </em></p><p>Hello!</p><p>Polls this morning show Joe Biden leading President Donald Trump in the final few days of the race for the White House, with a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/president-trump-trails-joe-biden-by-10-points-nationally-in-final-days-of-election-11604239200?mod=hp_lead_pos1">WSJ/NBC poll</a> showing Biden up by 10 points among voters nationally, and a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/01/us/politics/biden-trump-poll-florida-pennsylvania-wisconsin.html">New York Times/Sienna poll</a> showing Biden ahead in four key swing states. You can get the latest news ahead of the election <strong><a href="https://www.insider.com/">right here</a></strong>. </p><p>Here's what's trending on Insider right now:</p><ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/democrats-fear-lame-duck-trump-biden-transition-midnight-rules-2020-10">Inside the Democrats' operation to fight back against Trump going scorched-earth in a Biden transition</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kimberly-guilfoyle-don-jr-president-trump-fox-news-2020-10">How Kimberly Guilfoyle groomed boyfriend Don Jr. into a political powerhouse and turned herself into a conservative star</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiffany-donald-trump-relationship-career-2020-10">Tiffany and the Trumps: Insiders describe how the president's younger daughter has charted what they say is a distant relationship with her father and come to terms with America's most divisive last name</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/journalists-reporters-donating-money-democrats-biden-bernie-aoc-trump-politics-2020-10">Meet 39 journalists who made political contributions. They're among dozens who've together given at least $110,000 mostly to 2020 Democrats, including Biden, Bernie, and AOC.</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-biden-election-stocks-options-rise-whale-trade-bull-spread-2020-10">Traders are buzzing about a mysterious market whale that's placing massive bets on stocks skyrocketing post-election</a></strong></li></ul><h2><keyword id="86061" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Yelp">Yelp</keyword> insiders describe misleading sales tactics</h2><p>From Rob Price:</p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Current and former Yelp employees said they have felt pressured by the company to use misleading sales tactics.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Business Insider spoke to 21 current or former Yelp workers about the company's hyper-aggressive approach to sales and its high-pressure corporate culture. </em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Some sources said they knowingly sold to small business owners who they didn't think understood what they were buying, saw colleagues act in misleading ways, and regularly heard complaints from business owners about unexpected bills.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Since the pandemic closed Yelp's offices, sales calls largely haven't been recorded, prompting concerns about sales reps' conduct without oversight.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>In a statement, Yelp said that it requires "employees to behave in a professional manner and to follow our policies and procedures," and takes disciplinary action against workers who are unethical.</em></p><p>Read the full story here:</p><ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/yelp-sales-tactics-insiders-say-sales-reps-misleading-aggressive-2020-10">Aggressive and misleading sales tactics by Yelp employees knowingly prey on small businesses during the pandemic, insiders say</a></strong></li></ul><h2>A messy exit at Vista Equity Partners</h2><div type="image" title="robert f smith brian sheth" height="3000" width="4000" msid="78986471" hostid="261"></div><p>From Dakin Campbell and Casey Sullivan:</p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Vista Equity Partners founder Robert Smith and president Brian Sheth are locked in negotiations over Sheth's exit from the private-equity firm after Smith's admission to years of tax evasion, according to people familiar with their relationship.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>The two have worked together at Vista for more than two decades, turning Vista into a private-equity powerhouse. But once Smith made it clear to Sheth that he intended to remain at the firm despite signing a non-prosecution agreement that would publicly detail his past behavior, the younger man began to explore an exit, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. </em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Sheth believes that with Smith at the helm, Vista will struggle to attract new money, one of the people said. He has also come to believe that Smith misled him and others at Vista about the seriousness of the government's action, adding to a breakdown in their relationship, the person said.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Now, advisors for both men and Vista stakeholder Dyal Capital Partners are looking to hammer out an exit deal.</em></p><p>Read the full story here;</p><ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vista-equity-partners-tension-robert-smith-brian-sheth-exit-taxes-2020-10">Inside Vista Equity Partners, where a top exec is negotiating a messy exit and questions over the future loom large</a></strong></li></ul><h2>Skift employees speak out</h2><div type="image" title="skift toxic workplace culture 2x1" height="1200" width="2400" msid="78986473" hostid="261"></div><p>From Madeline Stone:</p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Business Insider spoke with three current and 13 former employees of Skift, the travel-media company founded by Rafat Ali and Jason Clampet in 2012.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Many of them said there were times when women felt uncomfortable and mistreated in the workplace.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>They said Ali was an unpredictable leader who would at times take out his frustration on employees, particularly women.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>In May, Skift settled a lawsuit brought by its former vice president of marketing, who alleged that she experienced gender-based harassment, bullying, and discrimination during her time at the company.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>A Skift representative said: "When you look at the data, it's clear that Skift is actually an anti-racist company. We're also anti-sexist. And anti-ageist. And anti-privilege."</em></p><p>Read the full story here:</p><ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/skift-employees-say-ceo-rafat-ali-acted-unprofessionally-towards-women-2020-10">Skift was praised as a progressive startup that could disrupt travel media. But some former employees say the company's mercurial CEO acted unprofessionally and took out frustration disproportionately on women of color.</a></strong></li></ul><h2>ICYMI: Exxon slashes jobs</h2><p>From Benji Jones</p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>Exxon on Thursday said it would cut as many as 1,900 jobs in the US, according to a presentation seen by Business Insider.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>The oil giant plans to reduce its global workforce by 15% by the end of 2022. That amounts to 14,000 contractor and employee roles.</em></p><p style="padding-left: 40px;"><em>The US cuts will be both voluntary and involuntary, largely affecting workers at Exxon's campus in Houston and office in Hughes Landing, Texas.</em></p><p>Read the full story here:</p><ul><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oil-giant-exxon-to-cut-workers-layoffs-after-strategic-review-2020-10">Exxon is slashing its global workforce by 15%, and up to 1,900 US workers could lose their jobs. Here's a detailed timeline and a look at which roles will be cut.</a></strong></li></ul><h2>An invitation: How to control your money</h2><p>Following discussions about <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/smart-money-moves-during-pandemic-financial-planning-2020-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">planning</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/smart-investors-tips-personal-finance-professionals-2020-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investing</a>, the Master Your Money Live Digital Bootcamp series continues with "How to control your money so it doesn't control you," on Tuesday, November 17 at noon ET.</p><p>The event will focus on strategies for thriving financially and is part of Business Insider's Master Your Money Live Digital Bootcamp series, presented by Fidelity.</p><p><strong><a href="https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/eventRegistrationServlet?partnerref=editorial_newsletter_inclusion&amp;referrer=&amp;eventid=2707741&amp;sessionid=1&amp;key=273DA4F507E2B9CDC08656C8F330858C&amp;regTag=F330858C&amp;regTag=">Register here. </a></strong></p><p>Here are some headlines from the past week you might have missed. </p><p>— Matt</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-talent-managers-for-micro-influencers-instagram-youtube-tiktok-2020-10">15 top talent managers helping micro influencers land brand deals and grow their businesses on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dominos-pizza-to-drop-agency-crispin-after-13-years-2020-10">Domino's Pizza plans to drop its ad agency of 13 years in what would be a big hit to holding company MDC Partners</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-24-hottest-edtech-startups-in-europe-according-to-investors-2020-10">These are the 24 hottest edtech startups in Europe, according to the VCs backing them through COVID-19</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-volatility-expert-warns-of-crash-shares-trading-strategy-2020-10">The founder of a volatility-hedging program that gained 3,700% in the March crash says 'the opportunity is ripe' for another chaotic market event — and shares how investors can take advantage of it</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quibi-execs-free-agents-to-hire-content-marketing-ads-2020-10">Quibi poached top talent from Netflix, Snap, and Hulu. Meet 9 leaders and content execs who are now free agents as the startup winds down.</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wework-members-late-rent-collections-revenue-arbitration-eviction-tenants-coworking-2020-10">WeWork is demanding overdue rent from hundreds of small businesses and threatening to send them to collections agencies if they don't pay up</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-kristin-lemkau-shaping-wealth-management-ambitions-recruitment-diversity-tech-2020-10">How JPMorgan's Kristin Lemkau is planning to turbocharge the firm's $500 billion wealth business, from a rebrand and ramping up advisor training to new tech</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nordstrom-says-workers-need-pay-it-back-for-health-insurance-2020-10">Nordstrom covered health insurance for furloughed workers. Now it wants them to pay it back as Americans' savings are dwindling to $0.</a></p>

Yelp insiders describe aggressive and misleading sales tactics as employees prey on small businesses during the pandemic

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c06c7d3e1f88b6dc1333edd-2400/chris altchek.jpg" border="0" alt="Chris Altchek" data-mce-source="Mic" /><p class="source"><span>Mic</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Digital media companies all over are said to be in various stages of selling, according to people close to these companies.</li><li>The fire sale for Mic, which raised $60 million, for a reported $5 million adds to an already tough environment for sellers.</li><li>The deal could have implications for another sale in the process, for Gizmodo Media Group.</li></ul><p>A lot of digital media companies are said to be looking for buyers, facing the same pressures that forced Mic to sell at a fire sale. But the Mic sale, combined with overall business pressures, suggest they won't get the price they hope for.</p><p>Once high-flying Mic raised $60 million to build a media company to target millennials, but it <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-publisher-mic-was-a-victim-of-facebook-canceling-its-news-show-and-more-shows-could-be-next-2018-11">sold to Bustle Media Group for a reported $5 million</a>. The deal struck resemblance to another new-media darling Mashable that sold at this time a year ago for about $40 million, one fifth of its onetime value.</p><p>Now, the buzz is that other investor-backed companies such as Refinery29, Vox Media, and Vice Media might look for an exit. Refinery29 and Vice said they're not for sale. Vox said it would evaluate opportunities to "acquire or partner" with companies in 2019.</p><h2>Digital <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> hasn't grown fast enough</h2><p>Once, venture capital flowed freely to millennial-aimed digital media upstarts, which scaled quickly, enabled by Facebook's distribution firehose. But the digital advertising hasn't grown fast enough, most of it going to Facebook and Google, and the media companies have struggled to diversify their revenue into areas like direct consumer payments, commerce, and events.</p><p>So with many digital media companies still not profitable and venture capital losing interest, the onetime rule of thumb that said venture-funded digital media companies would sell for a multiple of 2.5 to 5 times their past 12 months' revenue is no longer the case, according to Rafat Ali, founder of travel media company Skift. </p><p>Ali, who's been vocal on the subject of valuations and sustainable media models, said buyers have sobered up and are going to look at companies based on actual earnings, the way hard-nosed private-equity firms do.</p><p>"Everyone's for sale. But if there's no current growth, they'll be bought based on EBITDA. And these companies aren't making any money right now," he said.    </p><p>The big deal underway right now is for Univision's Gizmodo Media Group, which is in the final stages of the bidding process for those verticals including Gizmodo, Lifehacker, and Jezebel, according to people close to the process.</p><p>Separately, it's accepted industry wisdom at this point that practically every other venture-funded digital media property is in some stage of seeking to be bought if not informally discussing mergers.</p><h2><strong>Buzzfeed chief Jonah Peretti floated the idea of media companies combining forces</strong></h2><p>The merger talk got stirred up after BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti recently floated the idea of various companies like Refinery29, BuzzFeed, Vox Media, and Vice Media combining forces to gain leverage over Facebook and other distributors.</p><p>That scenario has been shot down for various reasons. It's difficult to combine different company cultures; it's questionable whether even a combination of several of them would result in improved leverage over the distributors; and all the participating companies would have to agree on the value their respective company would have in the merged entity.</p><p>"There is definitely an opportunity for the leading companies to come together but it's a tough hurdle to clear chemistry, culture and valuations," said Philippe von Borries, Refinery29's CEO and co-founder.</p><p>The Mic sale makes it tougher for sellers, since buyers are guided by recent prices paid for media, observers said. Univision paid $135 million for Gizmodo Media Group in 2016. But Bustle paid $1.35 million for the group's onetime flagship, Gawker, and other recent fire sales could have a depressing effect on the rest of the group.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-publisher-mic-was-a-victim-of-facebook-canceling-its-news-show-and-more-shows-could-be-next-2018-11">Mic's shutdown offers a lesson on the risks of relying on Facebook</a></em></p><h2>But Mic's fire sale had a sobering effect on valuations</h2><p>"Deals like this can have a sobering effect and reset valuation expectations," said Vivek Shah, CEO of J2 Global, which owns Ziff Davis, Everyday Health, IGN, and Mashable, and is said to be a potential buyer of the Gizmodo properties. "It's certainly feeling like a buyer's market right now for certain types of digital media assets."</p><p>To be sure, as a buyer, Shah has a vested interest in keeping prices low. But his view is shared by many.</p><p>"Multiples for all businesses are suppressed because of the larger sentiment informed by so many failing businesses in the sector," another operator said.</p><p>Not all media is in the same situation. As the recent sales of Forbes and Time and funding of sports upstart The Athletic have shown, prestige brands and ones that rely on subscriptions, are still highly valued.</p><p>But for unprofitable digital newbies that trade in consumer media and are ad-reliant, the question is who will buy them. The consensus is, it's a terrible time to be a seller.</p><p>"There's no strategic buyers," Ali said. "There are private equity buyers. They're the most disciplined investors and they have to flip it in three to five years. And they will not pay the multiples." Yet, he said, "I don't think they're interested in any consumer media, and historically they haven't been a buyer of consumer media."</p><p class="tagline"><a href="http://read.bi/future-of-media"><img src="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/image/5aa821053be59f22008b46c9" alt="Exclusive FREE Slide Deck: Henry Blodget's IGNITION Presentation on the Future of Media" border="0" style="width: 100% !important" /></a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/things-you-shouldnt-buy-on-black-friday-2016-11">7 things you shouldn't buy on Black Friday</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/Y9OGyJsZ-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

'Everyone's for sale': Mic's fire sale has the media business buzzing with rumors of potential deals

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5b4f92c1bbca381a008b4744-1478/gettyimages-610536704.jpg" border="0" alt="Acxiom CEO Scott Howe" data-mce-source="John Lamparski/Stringer" /><p class="source"><span>John Lamparski/Stringer</span></p><p class="caption">LiveRamp CEO Scott Howe.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Ad-tech firm LiveRamp has acquired Data Plus Math, a company that helps advertisers track what consumers buy after they watch TV ads, in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $150 million.</strong></li><li>Data Plus Math is being sold at a 24X to 30X multiple of revenue, which is high even for its sector, experts say.</li><li><strong>LiveRamp sees a lot of potential for the acquisition to grow its revenue while serving advertisers that are demanding digital-like data on their video spending, though.</strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories.</a></strong></li></ul><p>Ad-tech companies are racing into connected TV to help marketers buy and measure their ads better - and becoming attractive acquisition targets.</p><p>LiveRamp said it intends to acquire TV measurement firm Data Plus Math for $120 million and $30 million in stock, which is equivalent to a $150 million deal. Data Plus Math has 20 employees who will join LiveRamp, including co-founders John Hoctor and Matthew Emans, and is expected to close during the company's fiscal second quarter.</p><p>LiveRamp helps advertisers target and measure ads by matching offline data like purchase history and CRM with digital stats. CEO Scott Howe said the acquisition will help advertisers who want to make TV act more like digital <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword>. Three-year-old Data Plus Math helps advertisers solve attribution, which measures whether people took an action like visiting a store or website after seeing an ad. Its clients include advertisers and <keyword id="6354777" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Media">media</keyword> companies like NBCUniversal and A+E Networks.</p><p>"Television in its current state and form hasn't changed much in 30 years," Howe said. "Virtually everybody is frustrated with it."</p><p>As a result, a cottage industry of ad-tech companies have been tackling TV advertising issues like measurement and frequency capping.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-ad-tech-ott-companies-2019-2019-3">Ad-tech companies are moving full speed ahead to chase OTT ad dollars. Here are the 13 companies poised to win the most.</a></em></p><h2>LiveRamp is betting that its pricey acquisition will pay off</h2><p>LiveRamp is making a big, forward-thinking bet with its acquisition. Based on Data Plus Math's projected $5 million in revenue and LiveRamp's price of $120 million to $150 million (dependant on stock), Data Plus Math is being sold at between a 24X to 30X multiple of revenue, which two sources with M&amp;A experience said was high. According to one, the average valuation for an ad-tech company is 4X to 6X while that of marketing cloud companies is closer to 9X to 10X.</p><p>"B<span>ased on its revenues, that is a very, very rich valuation, [and] it is likely that there was a lot of competitive bidding," said Rafat Ali, founder of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/skift-wants-to-expand-from-travel-and-dining-into-wellness-2018-9">travel-media company Skift</a> and a frequent commenter on valuations. "C</span><span>learly LiveRamp sees a lot of future potential for this deal. That is why it is paying up this much premium for the deal."</span></p><p>Howe acknowledged that the price was high but said he expects for LiveRamp to continue to be profitable. Data Plus Math is factored into LiveRamp's new guidance updates for investors. For the fiscal 2020 year, LiveRamp revised its revenue projection to $363 million to $377 million, representing a 27% to 32% year-over-jump.</p><p>"If you look at past revenue, you would say that this is expensive, but this is a great set of capabilities, a great team and the business is growing at a meteoric rate," he said. "The right way to look at it is the forward revenue. We think that's taking off next year and will continue to grow at a pretty significant rate." </p><p>Ratko Vidakovic, founder and principal at ad-tech consulting firm AdOps, said factors other than Data Plus Math's revenue could have been more important in the deal.</p><p>"Just imagine what a strong measurement and attribution solution for connected TV could be worth to LiveRamp, given its existing customer base and market presence," he said. "From that perspective, $150 million could be easily justified."</p><h2>LiveRamp is "aggressively" trying to fix TV advertising</h2><p>Howe said that LiveRamp has been working with Data Plus Math to help clients measure data for a year, and the two companies share 10 clients.</p><p>LiveRamp will plug its first and third-party data from advertisers into Data Plus Math's platform, said Allison Metcalfe, LiveRamp's general manager of TV. The company plans to roll out a product allowing broadcasters to sell ads based on a guarantee that a campaign will result in sales for advertisers. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-08/nbc-tries-new-tack-with-kevin-hart-movie-ad-promising-results">Networks like NBCUniversal</a> have started pitching advertisers such deals to prove that TV is as effective as digital for driving sales.</p><p>The company also plans to sell advertisers reports that show viewers are being repeatedly shown the same ads. Howe said that the reports will be priced "really aggressively," though he wouldn't say how much they will cost.</p><p>"We believe that the industry has been starved for innovation and measurement," he said. "We're building tools for anyone and everyone and will always price for the entire industry to be able to afford and grow our offerings."</p><p>Data Plus Math is LiveRamp's second acquisition this year. In April, it acquired <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/liveramp-acquires-faktor-to-prepare-for-privacy-regulations-like-the-ccpa-2019-4">Dutch tech firm Faktor</a> to help marketers prepare for upcoming US privacy regulations like the California Consumer Privacy Act.</p><p>Howe said LiveRamp plans acquisitions aimed at helping marketers manage data from different sources.</p><p>"Our belief is that it's impossible to try and do everything," he said. "Our ambition is to be the wiring and plumbing that powers the entire industry."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stewart-butterfield-advice-for-millenials-2015-7">Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of Slack and Flickr, says 2 beliefs have brought him the greatest success in life</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/jD0kRKql-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

LiveRamp paid $150 million for a 20-person ad-tech firm, and it shows the massive forward bets that advertisers are making on the future of television

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5c8c01c0e0575a5b5a57845c-900/john hoctor.jpg" border="0" alt="John Hoctor Data Plus Math" data-mce-source="Data Plus Math" data-mce-caption="John Hoctor, co-founder and CEO of Data Plus Math" /><p class="source"><span>Data Plus Math</span></p><p class="caption">John Hoctor, co-founder and CEO of Data Plus Math</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>TV-tech entrepreneur John Hoctor sold his startup, Data Plus Math, to LiveRamp last month for $150 million, equivalent to a multiple of 24 to 30 times revenue.</strong></li><li><strong>Hoctor said that he was in the process of raising a "large" round of funding to expand its staff when he was approached by LiveRamp.</strong></li><li><strong>Data Plus Math is the third TV data firm that Hoctor and cofounder Matthew Emans have worked on together, and the two zeroed in on helping TV networks challenge Facebook and Google.</strong></li><li><strong>Other measurement firms are focused on TV, but Hoctor said its focus on network clients and a software-based business have kept Data Plus Math ahead.</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul><p>TV advertising-tech is red hot these days, and John Hoctor hit the jackpot.</p><p>In June, the CEO of TV analytics company Data Plus Math sold his firm to ad-tech company LiveRamp for $150 million. At just three years old with $5 million in projected revenue, Hoctor and his co-founder Matthew Emans sold the company for 24 to 30 times revenue, making it a rare high exit for <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> startups.</p><p>The acquisition shows the growing appetite marketers and investors have for technology that promises to shake up the decades-old practices of buying, selling and measuring TV ads. Advertisers, especially <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/direct-to-consumer-brands-increasing-spending-on-traditional-advertising-2019-4">digital-native companies that are starting to spend on TV,</a> want to better understand how their ads drove sales as people cut the cable cord.</p><p><span>"Clearly LiveRamp sees a lot of future potential for this deal. That is why it is paying up this much premium for the deal," said Rafat Ali, founder of travel-media company Skift and a frequent commenter on valuations, at the time of the acquisition.</span><span></span></p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/liveramp-is-buying-data-plus-math-for-150-million-2019-6">LiveRamp paid $150 million for a 20-person ad-tech firm, and it shows the massive forward bets that advertisers are making on the future of television</a></em></p><p>Since announcing the acquisition, which is expected to close during LiveRamp's fiscal second quarter, Hoctor has stayed quiet in the press. He said Data Plus Math, which has around 25 employees and raised $7.5 million since 2016, was preparing to raise another "large" round of venture-capital money this year when LiveRamp showed up.</p><p>"We were definitely not for sale when the LiveRamp acquisition happened," he told Business Insider. "We were on such a large trajectory that we needed to expand our team - we were opening up <a href="https://recruitingsocial.com/2016/04/what-is-a-job-requisition/">job reqs.</a>"</p><p>A few factors worked in favor of a deal. Both companies were focused on solving data-based advertising. Hoctor knew LiveRamp CEO Scott Howe from working together at Microsoft, though he stressed that the relationship did not affect LiveRamp's decision to acquire Data Plus Math. Hoctor had also worked with LiveRamp. In exchange for <a href="https://www.dataplusmath.com/news-1/2018/10/18/liveramp">providing TV reporting</a> for LiveRamp's clients, Data Plus Math used the ad-tech firm's technology to anonymously match advertisers' data with its own data sets.</p><h2>Hoctor has a history of disrupting TV</h2><p>Data Plus Math's acquisition isn't a fluke.</p><p>Hoctor and Emans are longtime entrepreneurs and business partners who have worked in television since 2001. They met while working at TV-targeting firm Navic Networks, which Microsoft acquired in 2008 for reportedly <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2008/06/18/microsoft-gets-into-interactive-tv-ads-buys-navic-networks-for-an-estimated-200-to-300-million/">more than $200 million.</a> Then they founded a data startup called IntegralReach, which they sold to Rovi (now known as TiVo) in 2013. They left Rovi at the end of 2015.</p><p>Six months after leaving Rovi, the two <a href="https://www.americaninno.com/boston/first-look/data-plus-math-integral-reach-co-founders-hoctor-emans-get-3m/">started plotting Data Plus Math.</a> Advertisers were starting to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/interpublic-to-shift-250-million-in-tv-ad-spending-to-youtube-1462359623?utm_source=Triggermail&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Post%20Blast%20%28bii-digital-media%29:%20Interpublic%20shifts%20%24250%20million%20from%20TV%20to%20YouTube%20%E2%80%94%20Interactive%20TV%20ads%20edge%20closer%20to%20mainstream%20with%20Hulu%20%E2%80%94%C2%A0HBO%2C%20Turner%20help%20drive%20Time%20Warner%20revenue&amp;utm_term=BII%20List%20DMedia%20ALL#:GzJXuTQL9-YeYA">move TV budgets</a> to digital and ask more about the performance of their TV spots. The pair saw an opening to focus on measurement.</p><p>"We were like, 'Why would we leave this industry right now?'" Hoctor said. "We got very lucky with the timing - it became a hot topic quickly."</p><p>The promise to help TV networks and advertisers challenge Facebook and Google became key to Data Plus Math's pitch, Hoctor said. For years, the duopoly had pitched advertisers on granular targeting that directly linked with marketers' goals, and when someone bought a product after clicking on a Facebook or Google ad, Facebook and Google got all of the credit for the sale, regardless of whether that person had seen a TV commercial or print ad before clicking the ad.</p><p>"Advertisers know that TV works, but they haven't had the granular reporting to understand what parts of it were working better than others," Hoctor said.</p><p>While other startups chased advertisers<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/olympic-streaming-shows-data-on-digital-tv-audiences-is-hard-to-track-2018-2">,</a> Data Plus Math first set its sights on networks, signing A+E Networks and NBCUniversal as clients.</p><p>"That strategy paid immediate dividends because nobody was focusing on them from an attribution standpoint," Hoctor said. "We got to work with some of the largest agencies and marketers through our partnerships with the networks."</p><h2>Many TV-tech firms want to shake up TV</h2><p>Data Plus Math is part of a growing cottage industry of TV-focused startups that help marketers track metrics like attribution and sales by matching up ad exposure with data. Similar companies include Neustar, 605, iSpot, and Nielsen.</p><p><em><strong>Read more:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-ad-tech-ott-companies-2019-2019-3">Ad-tech companies are moving full speed ahead to chase OTT ad dollars. Here are the 13 companies poised to win the most.</a></em></p><p>The differences between TV-measurement companies are often small and nuanced. For example, Hoctor said that competing firms price their offerings on a campaign-by-campaign business and can track how many people went to a website within a month of seeing a TV ad.</p><p>Data Plus Math uses a software as a service (or SaaS) model that charges clients monthly for access to its analytics. As a result, Data Plus Math says that it can match larger TV data sets that take time-viewing into account and mesh it with sales logs and other data that shows what consumers do after seeing an ad.</p><p>Under LiveRamp, Hoctor said that Data Plus Math will act as an independent measurement company and LiveRamp will continue to work with other measurement firms.</p><p>"We've got a really nice lead and I don't see anybody close in our rear-view mirror," Hoctor said.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/burger-king-cmo-fernando-machado-shares-his-secrets-to-success-2019-7">Burger King's CMO explains why the biggest risk in marketing is not taking one</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/e56LwdSW-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

How the CEO of buzzy TV-measurement firm Data Plus Math made a fortune from fighting Facebook and Google and sold the company for $150 million

<p>Here's a great chart (<a href="https://twitter.com/rafat/status/410528502144712704/photo/1">courtesy of Rafat Ali</a>) of the 2013 European Union <a href="http://iri.jrc.ec.europa.eu/scoreboard13.html">Industrial R&amp;D Scoreboard</a>.</p>
<p>It shows the world's top 50 companies ranked by their total research &amp; development investment (in euros).</p>
<p>The top <keyword id="6369738" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="RD">R&amp;D</keyword> investor is the German carmaker Volkswagen (<span>€9.5 billion, $13 billion), which moved up from third place last year.</span></p>
<p><span>Five U.S. companies made it to the top 10: Microsoft, Intel, Merck, Johnson &amp; Johnson, and Pfizer. Overall the U.S. had 36 companies among the top 100 R&amp;D investors, the EU had 28, and Japan had 22.</span></p>
<p><a href="http://iri.jrc.ec.europa.eu/scoreboard13.html">Check it out</a>:<div class="KonaFilter image-container no-rightrail"><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/52a7930f69bedd7a3ecdd757-1200-1715/the%202013%20eu%20industrial%20r&amp;d%20investment%20scoreboard.jpg?maxX=1200" border="0" alt="The 2013 EU Industrial R&amp;D Investment Scoreboard" width="1200" style="line-height: 1.5em;" /><p class="source"><a href="http://iri.jrc.ec.europa.eu/scoreboard13.html">IRI</a></p></div><p></p></div></p>

CHART: Here Are The 50 Global Companies That Spent The Most On R&D

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5af9829c965f4c33008b49d1-1416/screen shot 2018-05-14 at 133333.png" border="0" alt="Mark Zuckerberg F8 2018" data-mce-source="Justin Sullivan/Getty" /><p class="source"><span>Justin Sullivan/Getty</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>Rich Antoniello, CEO of Complex Media, an online publication jointly owned by Verizon Communications and Hearst Corp.</strong><strong>, estimates that the company's Facebook audience has dipped 18% to 20% over the past year and a half due to news feed changes.</strong></li><li><strong>Both big and small publishers continue to see the impact of Facebook's tweak to prioritize friend and family content over publisher and brand posts.</strong></li><li><strong>Publishers like Hearst say that Facebook hasn't been transparent with media companies about its intentions in working with them.</strong></li></ul><hr /><p><span>The repercussions from Facebook's huge algorithm tweak continue to hit the media industry.</span></p><p><span>During a panel at Luma Partners' <a href="https://www.dmseast.com/">Digital Media Summit</a> in New York on Tuesday, Complex Media's CEO Rich Antoniello said that the publisher's Facebook audience is "probably down somewhere in the 18% to 20% range" over the last 18 months.</span></p><p><span>While that may not be equivalent to the nose dives in traffic that ultimately put <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/littlethings-online-publisher-shuts-down-and-blames-facebook-algorithm-2018-2">digital upstarts like LittleThings</a> and Cooking Panda out of business, Complex Media's drop-off in traffic is the latest example of publishers' complicated relationship with Facebook. </span></p><p><span>While publishers love Facebook's size and audience for distributing content, the social network has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-updated-news-feed-algorithm-nightmare-for-publishers-2018-1">made it clear</a> that it plans to reconfigure its news feed algorithm to favor posts from friends and family members over content from publishers and brands, which has sent a ripple through the publishing industry.</span></p><p><span>Antoniello said that Complex Media never went all-in in Facebook and described the drop-off from Facebook as "not that big of a decrease." Overall, he said 10% to 11% of Complex Media's traffic comes from Facebook. </span></p><p><span>Antoniello spoke on the panel with execs from Hearst, Skift, NewsCorp and Facebook, and a good chunk of the 40-minute talk focused on bashing the duopoly and publishers' reliance on Facebook and Google.</span><span></span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5afb444de988ef1d008b4ba1-400/antonello-1.jpg" border="0" alt="antoniello" /><p class="caption">Rich Antoniello is Complex Media's  CEO.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>"I think it's virtually impossible to launch a new [media brand on Facebook] now," he said. "What I really want is access to all of the people who are consuming my content on their platform."</span></p><h3><strong>Breaking up with Facebook</strong></h3><p><span>The 18% to 20% loss in audience is "consistent" for Hearst, said Troy Young, global president of Hearst Digital Media. According to Young, publishers' beef with Facebook stems from not understanding frequent changes to the social platform.</span><span></span></p><p><span>"If we were critical of Facebook it would be about the lack of transparency in a relationship that was difficult at times to predict," Young said. "I think that dabbling in premium content and maybe setting false expectations for publishers around the Watch platform got us excited for a little bit … what big media brands really want is distribution and some level of stability."</span><span></span></p><p><span>Specifically, Young wants "an acknowledgement of authorized content sources in a way that they were curated or recognized," from Facebook. In other words: There isn't a way to tell how legitimate news sources are when people quickly scroll through news feeds, particularly when it comes to fake news and bogus sites. </span></p><p><span>To be clear, Facebook has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-fake-news-about-this-article-feature-2018-4">tested new features</a></span><span> aimed at weeding out fake news, but Young's point was that it's still difficult to quickly determine where content comes from.</span><span></span></p><p><span>Yoav Arnstein, Facebook's director of product marketing and publisher solutions, said that Facebook has "a ton of empathy not just to publishers and the media industry in general but also a recognition of how important they are to people and to Facebook." </span></p><p><span>In the four years that he's worked at Facebook, he has seen "far more acknowledgement" from partnerships between the social platform and publishers. Last year, Facebook <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/business/media/facebook-campbell-brown-media-fake-news.html">hired news vet </a>Campbell Brown to help smooth over publishers' rocky relationships with Facebook. The tech company has also introduced products like Instant Articles and Watch to help publishers make money from their content.</span><span></span></p><p><span>For Google, meanwhile, a</span><span> common complaint from publishers is that they want more control. One</span><span> publishing exec from NewsCorp said she wished Google would stop pitching products that slowly siphon off traffic from its own websites, where publishers make the bulk of their revenue. </span></p><p><span>"The more we've taken our audience and put them on multiple platforms, the more difficult it becomes for us to strategize on how we're going to make good quality <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword>-technology platforms that we can make a decent margin on," said Stephanie Layser, vice president of advertising technology and operations at NewsCorp.</span><span></span></p><p><span>But given the speed of digital media and publishers' desire to experiment with new distribution and business models, Rafat Ali, CEO and founder of Skift said that publishers only have themselves to blame when they complain about the pitfalls in working with tech companies.</span><span></span></p><p><span>"If you join all the dots all the way back from the [launch of] the iPad until now, publishers have jumped at the next opportunity at any event [with] anything that dangles at them," he said. "For them to now say that Facebook is not giving us stability is bullshit."</span><span></span></p><p><span>In response, Troy said Hearst, as well as other publishers, have spent the past year working to build more direct sources of revenue like subscriptions while not abandoning social platforms altogether.</span></p><p><span>"In an effort to evolve with a market that has undermined much of the traditional publishing business, publishers have tried a lot of different things and Facebook has been a big part of that," he said.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ally-financial-cmo-on-changes-in-digital-using-data-emotional-connection-2018-4">Ally Financial CMO says that too much data hurts a brand - and is dangerous for the industry in the long-term</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/oVF8velu-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Facebook's algorithm change makes it 'virtually impossible' to launch new media brands on the platform

<p><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:401px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5130ac67ecad043962000027-616-461/google-glass-in-baggage-claim.jpg?maxX=401&amp;maxY=300" border="0" alt="google glass in baggage claim " width="401" height="300" /></div><p class="source"><a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/+JetBlue/albums/5849772243525813201">JetBlue/Google+</a></p></div>Google began <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-your-own-google-glasses-2013-2">asking people a couple of weeks ago</a> what they would do if they had <keyword id="1118639" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Google-glass">Google Glass</keyword>. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-people-would-do-with-google-glass-2013-2">Some people said</a> they would use it in the classroom, create new interactive TV experiences using Glass, and even wear it in the operating room while performing surgery.  </p>
<p>Now, <keyword id="212932" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="JetBlue">JetBlue</keyword> has come out and said what it would do with Glass, <a href="http://skift.com/2013/02/28/if-airline-passengers-had-google-glass/">Skift's Rafat Ali reports</a>. </p>
<p>If JetBlue had Glass, they "would continue to help the world view air travel through a whole new lens," <a href="https://plus.google.com/+JetBlue/posts/gsLs4u9RqXG">the airline company wrote on Google+ yesterday</a>.</p>
<p>JetBlue uploaded some images of what it could like to use Glass in the airport. If JetBlue has its way, we'd be able to use Glass to quickly see if a garage is at capacity and if there are available outlets in the boarding area. We could also get directions to the baggage claim area, and even receive taxi fare estimates. </p>
<p>Check out the images below to see what Glass could look like in the airport.</p>
<p><div class="image-container" style="width:500px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5130abd56bb3f7fa5100002c-930-461/glass-jetblue-2.jpg" border="0" alt="google glass in airport" width="500" height="248" /></div><p class="source"><a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/+JetBlue/albums/5849772243525813201">JetBlue/Google+</a></p></div></p>
<p><div class="image-container" style="width:500px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5130abd5eab8ea461100002a-930-461/glassjb_03.jpg" border="0" alt="google glass could show available outlets" width="500" height="248" /></div><p class="source"><a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/+JetBlue/albums/5849772243525813201">JetBlue/Google+</a></p></div></p>
<p><div class="image-container" style="width:500px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5130abd5ecad041962000024-930-461/glass-airport-jetblue.jpg" border="0" alt="if jetblue had google glass " width="500" height="248" /></div><p class="source"><a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/+JetBlue/albums/5849772243525813201">JetBlue/Google+</a></p></div></p>
<p><div class="image-container" style="width:500px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5130abd5eab8ea141700000d-930-461/glass-jetblue.jpg" border="0" alt="google glass and airport garages" width="500" height="248" /></div><p class="source"><a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/+JetBlue/albums/5849772243525813201">JetBlue/Google+</a></p></div></p>
<h3><strong>Now Watch:</strong> Apple's Answer To The Google Glasses Is Past The Experimental Stage<br /><br /></h3>
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JetBlue Shows How Cool Google Glass Would Be In Airports

<p>Over the past few decades Iceland has turned into one of the world's premier tourist locations, despite its relatively expensive price, remote location, and the fact that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karl">country's trademark cuisine is fermented shark</a>.</p>
<p><keyword id="102244" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Greenland">Greenland</keyword>, the bigger yet less populated country to Iceland's west, has no doubt been looking on with jealousy. Greenland is not thought of as a tourist destination by most, and instead finds its way into the wider <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/greenlands-ice-sheet-melting-at-a-truly-dramatic-rate-according-to-new-satellite-images-2012-7">public consciousness largely as a place where evidence of global warming can be found</a>.</p>
<p>As such its not too much of a surprise to find that 2013 is seeing a big push from <a href="http://www.greenland.com/">Visit Greenland</a>, the official tourism organization for the country. <a href="http://skift.com/2013/01/08/video-the-new-videos-series-that-could-greenland-as-popular-as-iceland/">Skift News points</a> to a series of videos Visit Greenland has produced showing off the country's natural beauty and the remote nature of the life there. Here are the first three videos, another three are due to be released soon:</p>
<p><iframe width="590" height="332" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GYBxexZ8LJ0?list=PLYTwnZvSb6Nvd0VL1y4yed_7hqfjkHd6D"></iframe></p>
<p>Can Greenland steal some of Iceland's thunder? As the video's show, the natural beauty of Greenland is certainly comparable to Iceland's other-wordly landscapes.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://twitter.com/rafat/status/288685524993048576v">Skift founder Rafat Ali is quick to point out</a>, however, cost may be an issue. While Iceland's financial crisis has seen prices in Reykjavik drop to New York or London levels (so, bearable, but not cheap), Greenland has seen its prices remain relatively high. <a href="http://www.greenland.com/en/plan-your-trip/how-to-get-there.aspx">Flying to Greenland itself requires</a> first getting first getting to Copenhagen, Iceland, or (as of summer 2012), Canada.</p>
<p>There are other issues — Greenland doesn't have a city with the amenities and culture of Reykjavik, for example.</p>
<p>Despite these issues, tourism does seem to be growing on the island —  30,000 visitors came via cruise ship per year, four times more than came a decade ago, and 35,000 come via plane, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/22/travel/greenland-tourism-climate-change/index.html">CNN reports</a>.</p>
<p>Somewhat sadly, many of these people are coming to see something Greenland might not have for too much longer — glaciers.</p>
<p><strong>SEE ALSO: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/iceland-economy-life-move-2012-4">16 Reasons To Move To Iceland Right Now &gt;</a></strong></p>

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