Happy Halloween readers. I'm Phil Rosen, reporting from Wall Street. I would've opened with a spooky quip but I bet your portfolio is scary enough, especially if you're an investor in any of the big tech names that tanked after earnings last week.For today's newsletter, I caught up with some finance pros over the weekend to get a sense of what we can learn from last week's earnings disappointments. And by the way, get ready to bid adieu to your shares of Twitter, as the New York Stock Exchange will delist it on November 8 as Elon Musk takes the company private ("<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-bird-freed-ceo-2022-10">the bird is freed</a>").Alright goblins and ghouls, let's dive in.If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/10-things-opening-bell">sign up here</a>. Download Insider's app <a href="https://www.insider.com/app">here.</a><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/big-tech-earnings-biggest-takeaways-alphabet-meta-microsoft-apple-amazon-2022-10"></a>1. Tech earnings were a huge disappointment and analysts don't see much relief on the horizon. Alphabet, for example, reported a 27% decline in profits, and Meta reported a more than 50% tumble. But there was weakness among others like Microsoft — which saw its slowest revenue growth in five years — and Amazon, which gave <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/big-tech-earnings-biggest-takeaways-alphabet-meta-microsoft-apple-amazon-2022-10">bleak forecasts for what it expects for sales this holiday season</a>.Big Tech saw unsustainable growth coming out of the pandemic and now it's finally catching up, the New York Stock Exchange's senior strategist, Michael Reinking, told me, adding that he anticipates a looming "valuation reset" for these mega-cap stocks.Ahead of the weekend, Gil Luria, a technology strategist at DA Davidson, told me that despite the earnings drag, names like Meta, Alphabet, and Microsoft have <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/big-tech-earnings-biggest-takeaways-alphabet-meta-microsoft-apple-amazon-2022-10">signaled they'll continue massive spending</a>. "The common thread between the mega cap tech earnings reports this week is the companies' unwillingness to cut costs aggressively ahead of an economic slowdown, in spite of investor expectations," he said.Meta in particular turned heads on Wall Street. JPMorgan analysts said the heaps of cash Zuck's throwing into the metaverse hasn't actually clarified what that business or product will actually look like. And notably, Amazon, for its part, projected the company is about to see its slowest fourth-quarter growth ever — which signals <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-flashed-holiday-warning-retailers-hoping-to-avoid-2022-10">trouble for the holiday shopping season.</a>"We are seeing signs all around that, again, people's budgets are tight, inflation is still high, energy costs are an additional layer on top of that caused by other issues," Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky told reporters last week. "We are preparing for what could be a slower growth period, like most companies." What was your biggest takeaway from last week's Big Tech earnings? Let me know on Twitter (<a href="https://twitter.com/philrosenn">@philrosenn</a>) or email me (<a href="mailto:prosen@insider.com">prosen@insider.com</a>).In other news:<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/bonds/recession-prediction-inflation-fed-rate-hike-overtighten-us-global-economy-2022-10"></a><div type="image" title="Fed Chair Jerome Powell testifies to the House Financial Services Committee." height="1249" width="2500" msid="95204820" hostid="261" sizebytes="101722"></div>2. US stock futures fall early Monday, as investors await another interest rate decision from the Fed this week. Meanwhile, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/food-price-outlook-wheat-corn-soybean-oil-russia-ukraine-deal-2022-10">wheat prices surged</a> after Russia pulled out of its grain export deal with Ukraine. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/premarket">Here are the latest market moves</a>. 3. Earnings on deck: Berkshire Hathaway, Stryker Corp., and Panasonic Corp., all <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">reporting</a>.4. The "ultimate buy-and-hold" investment fund hasn't changed its strategy since 1935. In 2022, the Voya Corporate Leaders Trust Fund has been crushing 94% of its competitors. Here are its top 10 holdings — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-investing-strategy-buy-hold-bear-top-performing-funds-2022-10">and how it stays winning in a bear market</a>.5. Elon Musk, Paul Krugman, and Jeremy Siegel have warned that the Fed could tank the US economy. Bill Gross and David Rosenberg have also cautioned the central bank against raising rates too much. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/musk-krugman-siegel-next-recession-federal-reserve-interest-rates-inflation-2022-10">Check out what seven experts have said about the danger of an overzealous Fed.</a>6. The Fed won't pivot from its rate hikes until the end of 2023 because the economy isn't slowing down as expected, according to a top JPMorgan strategist. Inflation is proving stubborn, which means <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/recession-fear-inflation-fed-pivot-rate-hikes-tightening-economy-housing-2022-10">policymakers will push ahead</a> with rate hikes well into next year. Meanwhile, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/bonds/recession-prediction-inflation-fed-rate-hike-overtighten-us-global-economy-2022-10">a recent survey found three-quarters of economists expect the Fed to go too far.</a>7. Investors dumped Chinese bonds for an eighth consecutive month. That's good for the longest streak on record. A weakening yuan and aggressive Fed have combined to make yuan-denominated debt less attractive. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/bonds/chinese-bonds-foreign-investors-8-months-longest-slump-yuan-fed-2022-10">The share of government notes owned by foreign investors dipped to 9.4% at the end of September from 9.8% in the prior month.</a>8. This real estate investor bought his first property at age 24 and now owns 11 rental units. He's 27 now, and he shared his top advice for new investors including how to negotiate, where to buy, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/real-estate-investor-shares-top-advice-strategies-for-new-investors-2022-10">how he always asks for a 30% discount on what the seller is asking. </a>9. Even though tech stocks have become dramatically cheaper and some have hit all-time lows, it's still not time to buy. People who've bought the dip in Big Tech have reaped lofty rewards in the past, but experts are warning that last week's steep losses don't signal a buy-the-dip moment — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-bear-market-investing-strategy-recession-inflation-meta-google-wedbush-2022-10">here's why.</a><a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/amazon-stock-price-strong-dollar-imports-exports-federal-reserve-bezos-2022-10"></a><div type="image" title="dollar index price" height="957" width="1129" msid="95204822" hostid="261" sizebytes="26808"></div>10. The dollar has appreciated dramatically this year, climbing nearly 16% against rivals in 2022. Amazon warned that the greenback's climb is weighing on its business. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/amazon-stock-price-strong-dollar-imports-exports-federal-reserve-bezos-2022-10">On the company's earnings call, its CFO said the surging dollar has cost Amazon more than $900 million more than expected. </a>Keep up with the latest markets news throughout your day by checking out <a href="https://link.chtbl.com/therefresh">The Refresh from Insider</a>, a dynamic audio news brief from the Insider newsroom. <a href="https://link.chtbl.com/therefresh">Listen here.</a>Curated by Phil Rosen in New York. Feedback or tips? Tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/philrosenn">@philrosenn</a> or email <a href="mailto:prosen@insider.com">prosen@insider.com</a>Edited by Max Adams (<a href="https://twitter.com/maxradams">@maxradams</a>) in New York and Hallam Bullock (<a href="https://twitter.com/hallam_bullock">@hallam_bullock</a>) in London.

Everything you want to know about Big Tech's disappointing earnings

Happy Tuesday, readers. Today we've got the latest on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-location-data-privacy-lawsuit-attorneys-general-dc-texas-ads-2022-1">a new lawsuit against Google</a>, and the surge in demand for the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-maverick-pickup-truck-orders-paused-summer-2022-1">Ford Maverick pickup</a>.Let's dive in.If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/10-things-in-tech">sign up here</a>. Download Insider's app – click <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id554260576">here for iOS</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.freerange360.mpp.businessinsider">here for Android</a>.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-location-data-privacy-lawsuit-attorneys-general-dc-texas-ads-2022-1"></a>1. A new lawsuit claims Google tracks people's location without permission. Lawsuits from four attorneys general say the company uses deceptive and unfair practices to trick users into sharing their location data. <ul><li>The lawsuits allege Google deceived consumers by tracking their location — even if they had tried to turn off location history on their smartphones and web browsers. </li><li>Users' location data can be tracked by Google Search, Google Maps, YouTube, and more, the complaint says, even if location information isn't necessary for the app's functionality. </li><li>Google uses said data to gather information about where people go, like church or restaurants, to build digital identities and better target ads to them, according to the suits.</li><li>"Simply put, even when a user's mobile device is set to deny Google access to location data, the Company finds a way to continue to ascertain the user's location," one suit states. </li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-location-data-privacy-lawsuit-attorneys-general-dc-texas-ads-2022-1">Everything you need to know about the lawsuit.</a>In other news:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/federal-reserve-inflaton-everything-bubble-economy-stock-market-debt-2022-1"></a><div type="image" title="Stock market trader new york" height="5773" width="7697" msid="89117452" hostid="261"></div>2. S&amp;P 500 plunged 3% ahead of <keyword id="6358815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tech" source="Orion">tech</keyword> earnings. The S&amp;P tumbled Monday, briefly <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-news-selloff-fed-meeting-tech-earnings-dow-nasdaq-2022-1">dropping into a correction</a> before rallying to close higher. The tumult comes just before Microsoft, Tesla, and Apple report their earnings later this week — and before a key Federal Reserve meeting that could push interest rates up and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/federal-reserve-inflaton-everything-bubble-economy-stock-market-debt-2022-1">send the stock market into chaos.</a>3. Google's online shopping push is chipping away at Amazon's lead in e-commerce searches. A handful of updates to the search giant's shopping experience is leading to an increase in Google Shopping transactions — and taking valuable market share away from Amazon. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-shopping-ecommerce-boom-search-journey-amazon-shopping-prime-2022-1">What we know about consumers' move to Google Shopping.</a>4. Peloton just took another PR hit. After <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/peloton-timeline-production-pause-layoffs-price-hikes-2022-1">a hellish month</a> for the fitness retailer, Peloton suffered another PR blow on Friday after a "Billions" character had a heart attack while using its bike. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/peloton-takes-pr-hit-billions-character-suffers-heart-on-bike-2022-1">Here's what happened</a> (warning: there are "Billions" spoilers).5. Analysis: Elon Musk's relationship with China points to a dark future for Tesla. Musk relishes battles with US politicians and regulators, but in China — a growing part of Tesla's business — he'll do whatever it takes to stay in the government's good graces. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tesla-china-xinjiang-uyghurs-dark-future-2022-1">More on Elon's dangerous game with Beijing.</a>6. Ford will stop taking orders for its Maverick pickup truck amid huge demand. Customers will be able to reserve one of the $20,000 Mavericks until Thursday evening. After that, the order books will be closed until sometime this summer. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ford-maverick-pickup-truck-orders-paused-summer-2022-1">Here's what you need to know.</a>7. Hulu's new chief has the "superpower" to reshape the streamer, insiders say. Disney+ exec Joe Earley was named Hulu's president just two years before Disney and Comcast's joint ownership of the company is set to end — and sources say <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hulu-president-joe-earley-disney-comcast-untangle-shared-ownership-streamer-2022-1">he's the right person to lead Hulu through its next phase.</a> 8. Apple is reportedly prepping its "widest array" of new products for this fall. Bloomberg first reported that Apple could be readying four new iPhones, the new Mac Pro, three Apple Watches, and a slew of other devices. <a href="https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/apple-is-preparing-its-widest-array-of-new-products-this-fall-report-says/">What we could see from Apple this year.</a>9. Celebrities are diving into the metaverse. For Snoop Dogg, it's the <a href="https://www.sandbox.game/en/snoopdogg/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=mNI4DUbk2do_OnIGvKueMcktV_PiWjMdATRJlVo_4lg-1643062947-0-gaNycGzNCNE">"Snoopverse,"</a> a virtual space for concerts, pool parties, shopping, and more. For Paris Hilton, it's "Paris World," a virtual island built within Roblox. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/celebrities-metaverse-hype-snoop-dogg-paris-hilton-snoopverse-2022-1">See A-listers' takes on the metaverse.</a>10. Twitter has suspended a bot that spoiled the next day's Wordle answer. "The Wordlinator," an account that automatically replied to players' tweets and spoiled the next day's answer — and derided the person posting — has been taken down. <a href="https://www.insider.com/twitter-suspended-wordlinator-spoiled-wordle-answers-2022-1">What we know about the spoiler bot.</a>What we're watching today:<ul><li>Microsoft, General Electric, Verizon, and others are reporting earnings today. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">Keep up with earnings here. </a></li><li>The <a href="https://5gconference.eu/">European 5G Conference</a> is being held virtually today and tomorrow. </li><li>The GamesBeat and Facebook Gaming Summit <a href="https://events.venturebeat.com/gamesbeatandfacebooksummit/">takes place virtually today.</a></li></ul>Event invite: Join us on Jan. 27 at 1 p.m. ET for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/webinar-rise-of-social-shopping-and-the-creator-economy-2021-12">a live webinar</a> on what to expect from the creator economy and the rise of social commerce in 2022. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/webinar-rise-of-social-shopping-and-the-creator-economy-2021-12">Register here. </a>Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email <a href="mailto:jerb@insider.com">jerb@insider.com</a> or tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/jordanparkererb?lang=en">@jordanparkererb</a>.) Edited by Michael Cogley in London.

10 things in tech you need to know today

Happy Monday, readers. We've got the low-down on what could be the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-walmart-holiday-price-competition-supply-chain-global-inflation-profitero-2021-11">most expensive holiday season</a> ever, and Jeff Bezos' vision for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-humans-born-in-space-eventually-space-colonies-2021-11">humans in space.</a>Without further ado… If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/10-things-in-tech">sign up here</a>. Download Insider's app - click <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id554260576">here for iOS</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.freerange360.mpp.businessinsider">here for Android</a>.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-walmart-holiday-price-competition-supply-chain-global-inflation-profitero-2021-11"></a>1. This year's holiday shopping season could be the most expensive ever. As global <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/supply-chain-crisis-when-it-will-be-over-end-2021-11">supply chain issues persist</a>, Amazon and Walmart are in a pricing battle to offer the lowest costs. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-walmart-holiday-price-competition-supply-chain-global-inflation-profitero-2021-11">A new study</a> shows that Amazon offers the lowest average price among major online retailers, but that Walmart is quickly narrowing the price gap. Here's what else the data found:<ul><li>Amazon has the lowest prices for holiday gifts like electronics, toys, and video games - but that's if you can get your hands on certain electronics, as a chip shortage is hurting production of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chip-shortage-impacting-cars-smartphones-pcs-gaming-consoles-2021-2">gaming consoles, cell phones, and other tech.</a></li><li>Target became 15% more expensive than Amazon on average.</li><li>Specialty retailers, like Chewy and Home Depot, are keeping prices close to Amazon's.</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-walmart-holiday-price-competition-supply-chain-global-inflation-profitero-2021-11">Read the full report here.</a>In other news:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-trial-week-10-what-happened-2021-11"><div type="image" title="Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is seen wearing a blue mask and gray sweater in a courthouse" height="1998" width="2664" msid="87717592" hostid="261"></div></a>2. We've got a recap of Elizabeth Holmes' 10th week on trial. Jurors learned last week that Theranos voided as many as 60,000 test results over a two-year period, and an investor described "hostile" behavior from its former COO. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-holmes-theranos-trial-week-10-what-happened-2021-11">Here's what else you may have missed.</a>3. Genius sold for $80 million, making two of its founders millionaires - but its third founder got nothing. The deal valued the lyric annotation website's common stock at $0, meaning most employee shareholders, including Genius's third cofounder, made nothing on the sale. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/genius-80m-sale-valued-common-stock-0-cofounder-got-nothing-2021-11">Here's what we know about what happened.</a> 4. A former SpaceX engineer has accused the company of racial discrimination. In a lawsuit the employee alleges he was paid "substantially" less than his colleagues and suffered severe harassment. SpaceX claims he was fired for making inappropriate facial expressions. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-engineer-alleges-racial-discrimination-harassment-lawsuit-2021-11">More on that here.</a>5. A top Tiger Global dealmaker has a warning for startup employees. The red-hot VC market may end up hurting some employees who join a startup that later has a drop in valuation, John Curtius said. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiger-global-john-curtius-startup-employees-stock-pay-warning-2021-11">Read his warning about employees' stock pay.</a>6. Jeff Bezos predicts that people will one day be born in space. In his vision of the future, humans will live in space colonies and "visit Earth the way you visit, you know, Yellowstone National Park." <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-humans-born-in-space-eventually-space-colonies-2021-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">See more of his predictions.</a>7. Robots are taking our jobs - but that's not a bad thing. More businesses are automating jobs and using new <keyword id="6358815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tech" source="Orion">tech</keyword> to streamline their operations, and these moves are going to make employees' lives better and help grow the economy, writes columnist Josh Barro. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-labor-productivity-automation-robots-good-workers-wages-jobs-economy-2021-11">He explains why more robots are good news for everyone.</a>8. Apple's privacy crackdown has hammered developers but helped the tech giant generate an extra $1 billion a year. The company's new App Tracking Transparency rules put it in a unique position to profit. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-app-privacy-rules-help-company-generate-extra-1billion-year-2021-11?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">Read more about the extra ad cash generated since the change.</a>9. Iceland's tourism body poked fun at Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse ambitions. In a promotional video of the country, a Zuckerberg doppelganger introduces the "Icelandverse" - a parody of the metaverse - and references <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-has-turned-his-ghostly-sunscreen-fail-into-surfboard-2021-6">the Meta CEO's infamous sunscreen photo</a>. Watch the video <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-metaverse-parody-iceland-tourism-board-ad-2021-11">here. </a> 10. Chinese startups are battling with Tesla for electric-car supremacy. Three electric-car startups have risen to the top of the pack in China, and are challenging Tesla in what's becoming its most crucial market. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-china-nio-xpeng-li-auto-electric-car-startups-2021-11">Take a look at their high-tech cars.</a>What we're watching today:<ul><li>The Dubai Airshow is taking place through Nov. 18. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dubai-airshow-what-to-look-forward-to-2021-11">Here are eight things we're looking forward to at the event. </a></li><li>President Biden will sign the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-bidens-infrastructure-bill-transform-america-broadband-electric-cars-water-2021-11?amp">bipartisan Infrastructure Deal</a> into law. </li><li>WeWork is reporting its Q3 earnings. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">Keep up with earnings here.</a></li></ul>Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email <a href="mailto:jerb@insider.com">jerb@insider.com</a> or tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/jordanparkererb?lang=en">@jordanparkererb</a>.) Edited by Michael Cogley in London.

10 things in tech you need to know

Welcome to <keyword id="11937554" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="10-things" source="Orion">10 Things</keyword> Before the Opening Bell.If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/10-things-opening-bell">sign up here.</a> Plus, download Insider's app for news on the go – <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id554260576?pt=385758&amp;ct=06292021_newsletters&amp;mt=8">click here for iOS</a> and<a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.freerange360.mpp.businessinsider"> here for Android</a>.Let's get into it. 1. Fed hawkishness is thrashing crypto. The aggressive tone of the minutes from December's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/bitcoin-price-crypto-market-cryptocurrencies-ethereum-binance-cardano-fed-minutes-2022-1">sent bitcoin, ethereum and other tokens plunging into the red</a> yesterday. The prospect that policymakers could raise rates faster or earlier than expected spurred the crypto sell-off and sunk the world's largest token to a <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-today-fed-minutes-spark-sell-off-bitcoin-price-2022-1">one-month low</a>. As the Fed plans to curtail unprecedented easy money policies that have supported the economy through the pandemic, risk assets investors flocked to for returns lose their luster. Higher bond yields make cryptocurrencies — <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/why-are-tech-stocks-falling-explained-federal-reserve-interest-rates-2022-1">as well as high-growth tech stocks</a> — less attractive. Bitcoin's bear market is <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/bitcoin-bear-market-crypto-value-2-trillion-peak-cryptocurrency-btc-2022-1">dragging the total crypto market capitalization back down toward $2 trillion</a> after peaking at $3 trillion just two months ago. And even as digital assets gain mainstream acceptance, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/crypto-investing-survey-institutional-investors-top-concerns-security-regulators-volatility-2022-1">some institutional investors continue to show hesitance in the space</a>, with many wealth managers pointing to security and regulatory uncertainty. Here's what else to keep on your radar:<ul><li>Bitcoin dropped as low as $42,500 in Thursday trading, after trading above $47,000 the day before.</li><li>Altcoins followed suit, as metaverse tokens Axie Infinity, Enjin coin, and The Sandbox <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/axie-infinity-sandbox-price-metaverse-tokens-bitcoin-rout-crypto-2022-1">all tumbled.</a></li><li>Separately, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/ethereum-upgrade-dominance-defi-market-share-rivals-eth2-sharding-jpmorgan-2022-1">JPMorgan this week warned</a> that ethereum's dominance is threatened by rivals if its network upgrade doesn't come soon enough. </li></ul>2. US stocks are trading nervously ahead of the December jobs report, given the Fed's more hawkish tone. A strong reading could push policymakers to step up the pace of interest rate hikes, which would hit risk assets. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-markets-today-tech-futures-teeter-ahead-of-jobs-report-2022-1">Check out the latest moves on the market.</a>3. RBC Capital said to buy these 30 high-conviction global stocks set to dominate in 2022. Some of the listed stocks are set to provide returns above 40% —<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stocks-picks-2022-high-upside-ideas-investing-strategy-outlook-rbc-2022-1"> and one is even set to surge over 200%. </a>4. Earnings on deck: Acuity Brands, Lawson Inc., and Cal-Maine Foods, all <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">reporting.</a>5. Rivian stock dipped below its IPO price in Thursday trading after Amazon's new agreement with rival EV-maker. The e-commerce giant is set to be the first commercial customer of Stellantis, a maker of electric delivery vans — but Amazon said <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/rivian-stock-price-ipo-amazon-stellantis-electric-vehicle-deal-competitor-2022-1">it doesn't expect the new deal to impact its business with Rivian.</a>6. GameStop shares are surging after a report said the retailer is planning an NFT marketplace. The combo of meme stock and crypto-mania has Reddit apes <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/gamestop-stock-gme-nft-marketplace-crypto-wallstreetbets-meme-rally-2022-1">ready for a return to last year's retail trading frenzy</a>. 7. The tech rout sparked by Fed hawkishness might actually be a buying opportunity. The spiral doesn't seem to worry Wedbush's Dan Ives. He noted Wednesday that it represents <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-outlook-hawkish-fed-tech-investors-major-buying-opportunity-2022-1">a "get out the shopping list" moment for investors willing to buy downward trending stocks.</a>8. Samsung is opening a metaverse store. The tech giant will launch a version of its flagship NYC store in Decentraland, an ethereum-based virtual world. Samsung said customers will be able to <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/samsung-metaverse-decentraland-ethereum-337x-avatar-digital-asset-store-2022-1">buy and sell exclusive digital assets like land and wearables.</a>9. Stockcharts.com's Julius de Kempenaer explained why altcoins look primed to outperform bitcoin in the weeks ahead. The world's largest cryptocurrency doesn't have the momentum as some smaller altcoins —<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-crypto-should-i-buy-altcoins-bitcoin-outperform-technical-analysis-2022-1"> but Kempenaer shared what could signal a bitcoin surge to $70,000.</a>10. Even as Apple smashed through the $3 trillion mark, UBS said buying other tech themes could deliver bigger returns than the mega cap going forward. Over the next few years, Mark Haefele thinks some companies in the 5G or AI sectors could beat out Apple and even the entire sector. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-tech-stocks-investing-ideas-themes-ai-5g-mega-caps-2022-1">See the four tech themes he's eyeing.</a>Compiled by Phil Rosen. Feedback? Email <a href="mailto:prosen@insider.com">prosen@insider.com</a> or tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/philrosenn">@philrosenn</a>.Sign up for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter">more Insider newsletters here</a>.

10 things before the opening bell

Now laid-off employees are paying the priceIn an attempt to explain why the company had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-layoffs-maps-cuts-investors-tech-2023-1">laid off 12,000 employees</a>, Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google's parent company, Alphabet, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-layoffs-jobs-alphabet-work-employees-staff-sundar-pichai-2023-1">said executives decided to slash jobs</a> after a "rigorous review" of Google's internal structures and organization. Pichai suggested that the company "hired for a different economic reality" than the one it faced and that the layoffs were necessary to <a href="https://blog.google/inside-google/message-ceo/january-update/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">set Google up for the future</a>.But while Pichai, <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/at-280m-alphabet-s-sundar-pichai-is-2019-s-highest-paid-us-info-tech-ceo-59872469" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who made $280 million in compensation in 2019</a>, said he took "full responsibility for the decisions that led us here," he failed to elucidate those choices. He didn't mention that during his time at the helm Google has been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-android-appeal-in-4-billion-eu-antitrust-case-2022-9#">hit with billions of dollars' worth of antitrust fines</a>, been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-management-issues-code-red-over-chatgpt-report-2022-12">left in the dust</a> by <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-12-07/chatgpt-should-worry-google-and-alphabet-why-search-when-you-can-ask-ai" target="_blank" rel="noopener">OpenAI's ChatGPT</a> despite "pivoting the company to be AI-first," and seen its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/search-web-email-google-streaming-online-shopping-broken-2022-4">core search product get steadily worse</a>. And though Pichai later said at a company town hall that "all roles above the senior-vice-president level will witness a very significant reduction in their annual bonus," <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-layoffs-executive-bonuses-very-significant-cut-sundar-pichai-ceo-2023-1">including his own</a>, the vast majority of the pain from his missteps seemed to fall squarely on the shoulders of the 12,000 people who were let go. The employees who were laid off — via email — included <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?postID=63d7e1715178b050851b8f2c&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theinformation.com%2Farticles%2Fgoogle-laid-off-high-performers-and-earners-while-brain-ai-lab-largely-spared" target="_blank" rel="noopener">several high-performing staff members</a> and longtime employees, such as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-layoffs-alphabet-jobs-pichai-email-slap-in-the-face-2023-1">an engineer who'd been at the company for 20 years</a> and who described the sudden layoff as a "slap in the face."This sort of responsibility dodging is running rampant around Silicon Valley. CEOs at companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Meta set their companies on an unsustainable course, investing in boneheaded new ventures and assuming the pandemic-driven tech boom would be a new normal. Now that those expectations have been shattered, rank-and-file tech workers are bearing the brunt of these bad decisions, while the executives most responsible for the messes face little to no meaningful consequences.Any executive who participates in decision-making that leads to hundreds or thousands of people losing their jobs should be the one leading them out the door. Pichai and other tech CEOs shouldn't be making $280 million a year or even $1 million a year — they should be fired for poorly managing some of the largest companies in the world.<h2>CEOs made mistakes, workers bear the brunt</h2>In their layoff announcements, pretty much every tech company placed the blame for the cuts on the economy. At Amazon, the cuts were <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/18/amazon-job-cuts-read-the-memos.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">supposedly necessary because</a> of "supply chain difficulties, inflation, and productivity overhang" and economic uncertainty. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-layoffs-marc-benioff-overhiring-profits-costs-economic-downturn-staff-2023-1">Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff cited</a> the "economic downturn we're now facing" as the reason for the company's 10% headcount reduction, and Workday <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/bay-area-workday-layoffs-17754945.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">laid off 3% of its workforce based on</a> a "global economic environment that is challenging for companies of all sizes." PayPal CEO Dan Schulman pinned the blame for his company's <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/business/paypal-layoffs/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">decision to lay off 2,000 employees</a> on the "challenging macro-economic environment."But in many instances, the real source of concern at these companies comes down to boneheaded decisions made by CEOs — whether it's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-should-quit-meta-facebook-new-metaverse-company-2022-10">Mark Zuckerberg at the company formerly known as Facebook</a>, who authorized a hiring binge over the pandemic and invested billions of dollars into his metaverse folly before having to cut 11,000 jobs, or Tobi Lütke at Shopify, who laid off 1,000 people <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/shopify-layoffs-10-percent-ceo-memo-2022-7">based on a bet on the future of e-commerce that "didn't pay off."</a>While many of these companies have made serious strategic blunders, layoffs won't solve those problems — cutting workers won't suddenly make the companies more productive or improve their products. And many of these tech behemoths are still eye-wateringly profitable, making the economic case for layoffs questionable. Microsoft's <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/tech/microsoft-earnings/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">profits declined by 12%</a> in the last quarter of 2022 from the same quarter in 2021, but it still pulled in a whopping $16.4 billion. Amazon pulled down a profit of $2.8 billion in the most recent quarter, below the online-shopping highs of the pandemic but in line with its historical average. But the company still <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/i-got-laid-off-from-amazon-felt-like-line-item-2023-1">turned around and laid off 18,000 employees</a>. It seems that when profits or even projected future profits slipped a bit, something had to give — and it certainly wasn't going to fall on the CEOs. When one company chose to lay off thousands of people, it became optically justifiable for other companies to follow suit — a natural way for the CEO to seem "disciplined" or "responsible" despite the brutal cost to employees. While they may protect the CEO's reputation or placate investors, layoffs are immensely damaging for workers, even well-paid tech employees. People who are laid off face <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5648004/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">long-term career damage</a> and harm to their <a href="https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/relationship-between-workplace-stressors-mortality-health-costs-united" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mental and physical health</a>. Not to mention that layoffs are of dubious value to the company; studies have found that <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2022/12/05/explains-recent-tech-layoffs-worried/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">layoffs are a net negative</a> for productivity, that they <a href="https://hbr.org/2022/12/what-companies-still-get-wrong-about-layoffs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suppress innovation</a>, and that they can lead to a <a href="https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-layoffs-cost-companies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">long-term decline in profits</a>. Studies have also suggested that layoffs <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/211390591_Downsizing_Effects_on_Survivors_Layoffs_Offshoring_and_Outsourcing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">make life harder</a> for the employees who weren't let go, especially since many of these companies <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-cuts-employee-benefits-to-reduce-costs-after-layoffs-2022-12">cut back on benefits</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-layoffs-mental-health-and-wellbeing-director-jobs-workers-tech-2023-1">other services</a> that could help remaining workers. Given the human and business downsides of layoffs, a CEO's top priority should be to avoid them at all costs.Some companies have managed to do just that. Apple has managed to cut costs without layoffs in part by <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/picks/apple-ceo-tim-cook-asked-for-and-got-a-major-pay-cut-this-year-is-there-ever-a-time-when-some-of-us-should-accept-one-too-the-answer-is-yes-01674032911" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reducing Tim Cook's salary by 40%, to $49 million</a>. While one can't necessarily applaud a company for paying a CEO "just" $50 million, there's something to be said for the chief executive willing to slash their own pay before resorting to letting employees go. Similarly, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intel-ceo-takes-pay-cut-reduce-costs-prevent-layoffs-2023-2">the chipmaker Intel's CEO took a 25% pay cut</a> and reduced the salaries of his executive team by 15% to avoid broad layoffs. For the companies that turned to job cuts, the blame rests squarely on the shoulders of their CEOs. As the sole person in charge, they're responsible for misjudging the macroeconomy, making terrible investments, and then following along with the industry in a shortsighted attempt to please Wall Street. And yet, despite a smattering of pay reductions, none of them have faced real consequences. By focusing on "broader economic uncertainty" rather than admitting the cutbacks are because of executive mismanagement, CEOs can save their reputation while sidestepping the blame.<h2>With great power comes no responsibility</h2>The blame-shifting of these tech companies and their CEOs is not unprecedented, or even that uncommon. Corporate America has pledged fealty to the almighty executive, applying a totally different evaluation matrix to CEOs than to other employees. Because of this noxious adulation for the most powerful person in the company, companies will contort themselves to try to save money in any way other than cutting the pay of or firing their most responsible and most expensive employee: the chief executive officer. <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-in-2021/#:~:text=From%201978%20to%202021%2C%20CEO,18.1%25%20from%201978%20to%202021." target="_blank" rel="noopener">CEO pay skyrocketed</a> by 1,460% from 1978 to 2021, and the ratio of average-worker pay to CEO pay ballooned from 20-to-1 in 1965 to 399-to-1 in 2021. And it's not as if this staggering rise in pay has made CEOs any better at their jobs. Top executives abandon companies <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/why-have-more-1-000-ceos-left-their-post-past-n1076201" target="_blank" rel="noopener">when they anticipate a recession</a> and always treat workers as disposable, <a href="https://time.com/6204001/jobs-report-ceos-layoffs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">even during a hot economy</a>. Analyses <a href="https://cepr.net/are-corporate-ceos-worth-20-million/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have argued</a> that these staggering pay packages are far from justified. When high-ranking executives make a serious blunder, they almost always get the benefit of the doubt. The modern executive <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-twitter-tesla-ceo-job-broken-chief-hypocrisy-officer-2022-11">lacks any actual responsibility</a> or oversight, only occasionally reporting to typically pliant boards. They're largely insulated from the consequences of their actions, even if they're performing poorly. If any other kind of worker made a series of decisions that led to a double-digit drop in profitability, they'd be threatened with termination or terminated. Instead, tech CEOs have passed the pain off to people who in many cases were performing well in their roles. And while many employees in tech and elsewhere have received generous severance packages, they pale in comparison to the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/good-question-why-do-ceos-get-paid-so-much-to-leave/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">payouts that failed executives have gotten</a> on their way out the door. Take, for example, the car-rental company Hertz, which let go of 10,000 people in 2020 as it stumbled into bankruptcy, all while <a href="https://observer.com/2020/05/hertz-is-the-latest-to-give-execs-millions-while-firing-workers-and-going-bankrupt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paying its executives $16 million in bonuses</a>.If CEOs are expected — and paid — to be some visionary demigod at the top of an organization, they should be expected to bear that weight and pay a commiserate price when they mess up. At some point, the chief executive has to be held as accountable as the people they employ. There is no reason that the best-treated and highest-paid member of an organization should experience less scrutiny, unless the company does not truly care about operating efficiently.If companies are wary of firing top executives, then fine, refashion the job of the modern CEO. Instead of trying to be swashbuckling saviors with gobsmacking salaries allowed to operate the company with relative impunity, these top executives should focus on actual management and execution to sustainably grow their companies. Instead of focusing on short-term investor relations and public accolades, CEOs should put in the time to manage their companies and help improve the products they create.The fundamental problem with corporate America is that it no longer makes any sense. The CEO, the most powerful and influential person at the company, is now a figurehead who receives all the benefits of a company's success without being endangered by any of its failures.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/ed-zitron" rel="">Ed Zitron</a> is the CEO of <a href="https://www.ezpr.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">EZPR</a>, a national tech and business public-relations agency. He is also the author of the tech and culture newsletter <a href="https://ez.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Where's Your Ed At</a>.

Silicon Valley needs to stop laying off workers and start firing CEOs

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="12461337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="web3" source="Orion">Web3</keyword> is the next generation of the <keyword id="11897865" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="internet" source="Orion">internet</keyword> and will exist on the <keyword id="11902216" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="blockchain" source="Orion">blockchain</keyword>.</li><li>It will be decentralized, meaning it won't be controlled entities like Facebook or Google.</li></ul>In the next era of the internet, you won't have a social account for each platform.Instead, you'll have a single social account, able to move with it from Facebook and Twitter, to Google, shopping websites, and more.Your moves may be cataloged on the same digital backbone that supports cryptocurrencies like bitcoin — blockchain — instead of massive corporate servers like Amazon Web Services. And this new iteration of the internet won't be controlled by a central power, meaning no single entity will govern it as Facebook, Google, and others govern their own empires. Welcome to Web3, the successor to Web2 — which is what we're in now, where tech giants hold the majority control of the market. Web1 spawned Web2 when we went from merely reading information on web pages to a more social internet.Like so many other ponderings about the internet's evolution, Web3 is still merely a thought, or perhaps even <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vaporware">vaporware</a>, a name for ultra-hyped tech that has yet to materialize. It also may not prove to be as benevolent as is hoped <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-employees-worrried-about-2018-algorithm-change-misinformation-trump-politics-2021-9">(look at how social media turned out.)</a>But proponents say it, like cryptocurrencies and the metaverse, is the future.<h2>NFTs, the metaverse, Web3, and cryptocurrencies are linked</h2><div type="image" title="VR goggles headset" height="1305" width="1740" msid="88226989" hostid="261"></div><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-meta-metaverse-splinter-reality-more-2021-11">One aspect of the metaverse</a> is that users will hopefully be able to go virtually from platform to platform with one single account — just like we will in Web3. And NFTs, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/non-fungible-tokens-nfts-have-taken-over-heres-why-theyre-important-2021-4">one-of-a-kind tokens</a> representing your ownership of a virtual good, could be more easily bought and sold with cryptocurrencies within a space like Web3. Web3, a name <a href="https://gavofyork.medium.com/why-we-need-web-3-0-5da4f2bf95ab">coined by</a> Ethereum cofounder Gavin Wood, will be about evenly distributing online power, sucking away control from the Big Tech platforms. It'll exist on the blockchain, a virtual spine built by a network of computers housing data that's open to the public (Ethereum is an example of a blockchain, though it also has its own cryptocurrency called Ether.)How you use Web3 won't look very different than how you use the internet now though, <a href="https://gavofyork.medium.com/why-we-need-web-3-0-5da4f2bf95ab">Wood wrote in 2018.</a>The idea is that if you participate in Web3, such as perhaps posting a photo on a network that lives on the blockchain, you'll get a token, as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/11/21/1056988346/web3-internet-jargon-or-future-vision">NPR</a> reported. That token will give you a stake of ownership and will let you weigh in on decisions made on said platform, such as whether a certain post containing misinformation should be removed.That'd be a big departure from how things operate now, where internet platforms make their own rules and carry them out online, much to the chagrin of critics, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-tech-social-media-platforms-were-politicized-content-moderation-2021-10">including conservatives with unproven allegations of censorship.</a>That's also why Web3 could be a balm for antitrust woes and monopolistic business practices. This next-gen web would <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/11/21/1056988346/web3-internet-jargon-or-future-vision">inherently strip power from big corporations</a> since they would no longer be the only prominent platforms to use — and <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/gadget-lab-podcast-531/">would give that power back to the people</a>, at least hypothetically.<h2>Many technologist bigwigs are all for Web3 — but not all</h2><div type="image" title="Jack Dorsey appears at a bitcoin convention on June 4, 2021 in Miami, Florida." height="2058" width="2745" msid="88226992" hostid="261"></div>Tesla CEO and bitcoin enthusiast Elon Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1466320998379175939">has notably decried Web3 as "BS."</a>But venture capital firms and large corporations are already investing time and money into building it out.Twitter is working on a project — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-dorsey-twitter-ceo-bluesky-decentralized-social-media-network-bitcoin-2021-2">dubbed Bluesky</a> — to build its own decentralized social media platform, which would be a step toward Web3. And in November, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/twitter-crypto-team-web3-decentralized-applications-bitcoin-square-jack-dorsey-2021-11">Twitter said it would launch a dedicated crypto team</a> to be "a center of excellence for all things blockchain and web3."<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/gamestop-nft-web3-jobs-specialists-crypto-2021-10">GameStop was looking for Web3 gaming leaders</a> in October, and Reddit is tinkering with <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/reddit-to-reportedly-tokenize-karma-points-and-onboard-500m-new-users">Web3 features on its platform.</a>And famed Silicon Valley VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/a16z-crypto-fund-firm-strategy-behind-venturecapital-startups-2021-8?utm_source=markets&amp;utm_medium=ingest">which is working to thrust crypto into the mainstream</a>, is putting sizable leg power into lobbying Capitol Hill to embrace Web3."It's time to begin," reads a <a href="https://a16z.com/2021/10/13/an-agenda-for-the-future-of-the-internet/">blog post</a> on the firm's website. "It's time to build a better internet."

The next age of the internet could suck power away from Big Tech while living on the same backbone as cryptocurrencies. Here's what to know about Web3.

Happy Friday, readers. We got <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-reporters-politicians-all-hands-salacious-criticism-2021-11">a leaked recording</a> from an all-hands Amazon meeting, and Saudi Arabia wants to build <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-oxagon-floating-eight-sided-city-2021-11">a floating city.</a>If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/10-things-in-tech">sign up here</a>. Download Insider's app – click <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id554260576">here for iOS</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.freerange360.mpp.businessinsider">here for Android</a>.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-reporters-politicians-all-hands-salacious-criticism-2021-11"></a>1. Leaked audio shows Amazon's CEO criticizing reporters and politicians. In an all-hands meeting this week, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-reporters-politicians-all-hands-salacious-criticism-2021-11">CEO Andy Jassy told employees the press and politicians are nitpicking</a> and talking about "edge cases" when they discuss Amazon's shortcomings.Here are some key takeaways from the recording:<ul><li>An employee told Jassy that recent negative attention had "damaged our appeal to candidates and employee morale," and asked for the CEO's perspective.</li><li>In response, Jassy said that just because journalists "find it more interesting and salacious" to report on things the company could be doing better, "doesn't necessarily mean that that's the norm." </li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-andy-jassy-reporters-politicians-all-hands-salacious-criticism-2021-11">Here's what else he said in the leaked audio.</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-staff-spied-on-kanye-west-avengers-cast-report-2021-11"></a><div type="image" title="Kanye West" height="1333" width="1777" msid="87800887" hostid="261"></div>2. Some Amazon employees have snooped on celebrities' purchases. A <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-failed-to-protect-your-data-investigation/">major investigation</a> from Wired and Reveal found that low-level employees have been able to poke around in customers' purchase history — from high-profile shoppers like Kanye West to "Avengers" stars, and even their own ex-partners. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-staff-spied-on-kanye-west-avengers-cast-report-2021-11">Here's what else we learned from the report.</a>3. A Web Summit cofounder accused its CEO of bullying, blackmail, and coercion. In an affidavit filed in Dublin, David Kelly has alleged that Paddy Cosgrave, Web Summit's high-profile CEO, has been "oppressive, aggressive, and coercive," the latest in an ongoing legal battle between the founders. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/web-summit-cofounder-alleges-ceo-blackmailed-and-bullied-him-2021-11">Details on the relationship, which Kelly says turned "irremediably toxic."</a>4. Starbucks and Amazon opened a cashierless coffee shop in NYC. The cafe, which opened yesterday, will use Amazon's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-starbucks-lounge-go-cafe-partnership-2021-10">"Just Walk Out" technology</a> to let customers pick up drinks they preordered with the Starbucks app. <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/18/starbucks-opens-pickup-store-with-amazon-go-technology-in-manhattan.html">See inside the new coffee shop.</a>5. The Elizabeth Holmes trial: The defense gets served. Lance Wade, the attorney leading the defense in Holmes' trial, waited weeks for a shot at hedge fund manager Brian Grossman. He hoped to shift the blame away from Holmes and onto the investors who backed Theranos — but things didn't work out as planned. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-homes-trial-brian-grossman-prosecution-theranos-fraud-2021-11">How Grossman handily batted Wade away.</a>6. Bill Gates' nuclear startup chose a Wyoming town for its first advanced reactor. The $4 billion nuclear power plant will be located in Kemmerer, a coal town in western Wyoming. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-terrapower-wyoming-coal-town-natrium-nuclear-power-plant-2021-11">Here's what you need to know.</a>7. Cisco insiders are worried that cost-cutting and layoffs could be on the way. The company is extending its annual holiday shutdown and making its employees take extra paid time off — but some are nervous it actually could mean more cuts. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cisco-layoffs-earnings-shutdown-mandatory-pto-2021-11">Here's what employees told us.</a>8. Elon Musk said SpaceX will fly its Starship spaceship into orbit for the first time in January. The SpaceX and Tesla CEO said that even though it might not make it there successfully the first time, he's "comfortable" it'll make it sometime in 2022. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-starship-rocket-fly-january-unsuccessful-first-flight-2021-11">What we know about the spaceship's first (potentially unsuccessful) flight.</a>9. Saudi Arabia wants to build a floating, eight-sided city. Called Oxagon, the futuristic city would float on the Red Sea — though it's unclear how much the city would cost or how it would float. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-oxagon-floating-eight-sided-city-2021-11">You can see a promotional video for the project here.</a>10. EV startup Fisker just unveiled the production version of its first model. The base Ocean Sport SUV will start at $37,499, and will come with features like a solar roof and a rotating touchscreen. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fisker-fsr-electric-suv-ocean-range-price-photos-2021-11">Check out the Fisker Ocean.</a>The latest people moves in <keyword id="6358815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tech" source="Orion">tech</keyword>:<ul><li>A longtime Facebook AI leader is leaving the company amid <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-meta-ai-director-ragavan-srinivasan-out-2021-11">an "exodus" of talent.</a></li><li>Nike tapped a new head of video games as it pushes <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nike-video-games-cryptokicks-metaverse-virtual-digital-2021-11">further into the metaverse.</a></li><li>Andreessen Horowitz has added two general partners to lead its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andreessen-horowitz-raising-vc-fund-for-investing-in-gaming-startups-2021-9">new gaming-focused fund.</a></li><li>Ultra-fast delivery startup Buyk has picked a former Subway exec as <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ultra-fast-startup-buyk-hires-ceo-as-it-grows-operations-2021-11">its first CEO.</a></li><li>A top Cisco exec is leaving the company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cisco-ruba-borno-cx-managed-services-head-leaving-2021-11">after six years.</a></li></ul>Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email <a href="mailto:jerb@insider.com">jerb@insider.com</a> or tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/jordanparkererb?lang=en">@jordanparkererb</a>.) Edited by Michael Cogley in London.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>At least 10 large retail companies have lost their CEOs in recent months. </li><li>The turnover has roots in the pandemic, when e-commerce boomed and supply chains were disrupted.</li></ul>Just over a week after Stitch Fix's CEO stepped down, Bill Gurley, a board member and famed investor, made, in his own words, an "unconventional" move. "If you know someone who would be perfect for the $SFIX CEO opportunity, we are all ears," <a href="https://twitter.com/bgurley/status/1613969881346473998" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gurley tweeted</a>. "Looking for operating prowess, strong product instincts, &amp; a strong cultural leader." It's the surest sign yet of a crisis facing the retail industry. Gap Inc.; Bed Bath &amp; Beyond; Under Armour; Adidas; Foot Locker; Dollar General; Kohl's; VF Corporation, the owner of Vans; Designer Brands Inc., the parent company of DSW; the luxury-consignment marketplace The RealReal; and now, the personal-styling and clothing site Stitch Fix, have recently had leadership shake-ups. And while some have successfully found new CEOs, others seem to be struggling to fill one of corporate America's most-coveted jobs. Experts told Insider the burst of turnover traces back to the pandemic. Supply chains got snarled, shoppers stopped visiting stores, and stimulus payments spiked demand, each making it difficult to measure how business was doing. As pandemic restrictions have eased and a possible recession nears, boards of directors are getting a better look at the underlying numbers and doing some "housecleaning," but struggling to find good candidates. "Everyone was forgiving during the pandemic, but now we're anticipating we might get into rougher waters," Felipe Caro, a professor of operations at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, told Insider. "Many boards are saying, 'Do we have the right person? We better make these changes given that things are not going to get any easier.'" <h2>The pandemic made retail a nearly impossible business </h2><div type="image" title="Marvin Ellison, the CEO of Lowe's, got his start in retail making $4.35 an hour as a security guard at Target." height="1666" width="2222" msid="97251160" hostid="261"></div>Even in good times, retail is difficult. "The retail business is tough, largely because it is such a volatile industry," Mark Cohen, the director of retail studies at Columbia University, said. "It's an industry that trades with billions of customers and it's an industry that lives and dies on the vagaries of consumer preference and behavior." The pandemic made it nearly impossible. Stores shut down and people stopped shopping in person. Then stimulus payments sent demand for everything from sneakers to home goods spiking while supply chains snarled. And just when supply chains started to sort themselves out, inflation hit, and shoppers started to scale back spending. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nike-to-ramp-up-discount-products-to-clear-out-inventory-2022-9">Inventories ballooned</a>. That's also about the time boards started to realize they might need new CEOs, but there aren't many great candidates in the wings. Retail jobs were once considered stepping stones to launch employees into a long career in the industry. Marvin Ellison, the CEO of Lowe's, got his start <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lowes-ceo-marvin-ellison-life-career-2019-2">making $4.35 an hour as a Target security guard</a>; Costco's chief exec W. Craig Jelinek's first job was as a food stocker at a discount department store, and he<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-ceo-craig-jelinek-bio-2019-3"> worked his way up the ranks at Costco</a> over three decades. Now, management training has fallen by the wayside, Catherine Lepard, the global managing partner of the executive-recruiting firm Heidrick &amp; Struggles' retail and direct-to-consumer practice, said. Department stores, for instance, once were "theaters of management-training programs," but then they started facing stiff competition from specialty stores. "That's when they started to scramble to say, 'Oh gosh, what do we need to do to trim our costs, become more lean, become more agile, become more nimble?'" she said. "That's where we started to see less of the longer-term investment in training." That means many retailers simply don't have as many management candidates, even though CEOs of large retail companies can <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-30-highest-paid-retail-ceos-include-tesla-walmart-gap-2019-6">make tens of millions of dollars annually</a>. That's led to some retailers hunting for CEOs outside of the retail world — Under Armour <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/under-armour-new-ceo-marriott-boost-digital-compete-with-nike-2022-12">hired Stephanie Linnartz, a Marriott Hotels veteran,</a> to lead the company, for example — while others, like Gap, still haven't filled their top job. "The reality of doing the CEO search today, and we've got a number of them underway right now, is that if you just stick to the retail sector, it's a pretty limited pool of candidates," Lepard said. <h2>Retail CEOs need 'peripheral vision'</h2><div type="image" title="Workers at Starbucks stores and Amazon warehouses across the country have pushed to unionize, with many calling out the pay disparity between front-line workers and top executives." height="1665" width="2220" msid="97251162" hostid="261"></div>Given the chaos of the past few years, some boards will likely opt for CEOs with excellence in basic operations. "Some really need to go back to basics and they need somebody who can rationalize inventory decisions and just get things in order," Caro said. Cohen, who spent two decades in executive roles, most recently as Sears Canada's CEO, said chief executives also need experience dealing with customers. "You have to be willing to put in the face-time and elbow-grease effort to become familiar with what you're getting into at a pretty detailed level," he said. "That can take six months to a year, so you have to be careful about jumping in and starting to pull levers without really knowing what the effect will be." Given the ongoing turbulence and unpredictability, boards also want CEOs who can see around corners. "The table stakes for the CEO of a successful complicated retail business have fundamentally changed," John Danner, a senior fellow in the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, told Insider. Danner said retail CEOs today need to be innately curious and able to quickly learn new subjects, what he described as a sort of "peripheral vision." For example, two years ago, nobody needed a metaverse strategy. Now, it's another item on the CEO to-do list. So is labor unrest. Chief executives at retailers ranging from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/union-leaders-at-amazon-starbucks-target-trader-joes-wells-fargo-2022-9">Amazon and Target to Starbucks</a> are working through tangles of new problems with nascent unions. Among the thorns in those discussions: the <a href="https://aflcio.org/paywatch/highest-paid-ceos" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pay chasm between CEOs and retail workers</a>. Danner wasn't surprised that a number of companies — including Under Armour and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-ulta-ceo-leadership-tech-savvy-will-benefit-foot-locker-2022-8">Foot Locker</a>, both in male-dominated sportswear — have hired female CEOs. "Really effective leaders in times of crisis are usually women and women who are terrific translators," he said. "They can translate ambitions and uncertainty into a story." "Stories are one of the best tools for how we make sense out of complexity," Danner said. "In this kind of environment there is a real premium on a CEO's ability to develop a simple, compelling, emotionally magnetic story about what they're trying to do and why. A powerful story can buy you some time."

Retail CEO crisis: With recent shakeups at Kohl's, Adidas, Dollar General, and more, the industry's top job is suddenly the hardest to fill

<ul><li><keyword id="14238168" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="cloudextel" source="Orion">CloudExtel</keyword> took over old gas pipelines, excavated and cleaned them and laid over 200 kilometres of fibre in South Bombay. </li><li>The pipeline-turned-telecom assets gave way to their dark fibre leasing business but its co-founder wants to convert it into a full-stack NaaS company. </li><li>“We’re able to build out our network infrastructure and offer that on a service basis to our customers,” <keyword id="6358511" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="bajaj" source="Orion">Bajaj</keyword> told Business Insider <keyword id="3658" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="india" source="Orion">India</keyword>. </li></ul>CloudExtel was founded in 2014 but its story had started unfolding much earlier – when The Gilded Age was playing out in British-ruled Bombay and even before electricity was in use. A company called Bombay Gas used to supply gas via pipes to Bombay buildings and to even power street lights. The company stopped gas distribution in the mid-80s and the pipes were lying unused since then. That was until 2014 – when <keyword id="131281" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="kunal-bajaj" source="Orion">Kunal Bajaj</keyword>, a telecom sector veteran and former partner- India director of consulting firm Analysys Mason, was introduced to the promoters of Bombay Gas – the <keyword id="23193" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="hamilton" source="Orion">Hamilton</keyword> and Company group. The firm, which had since diversified into real estate and others, wanted to convert the company’s gas pipelines into telecom assets. As CloudExtel was formed, it took over the old gas pipelines, began excavation, cleaned them up and laid over 200 kilometres of fibre in South Bombay. Since the fibre is laid under footpaths and bridges inside cast-iron pipelines, it provides an added layer of security. The pipeline-turned-telecom assets gave way to the company’s dark fibre leasing business – where the service provider offers the fibre optic infrastructure but the customer operates it. Some of its customers include Airtel, <keyword id="197484" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="pgcil" source="Orion">PGCIL</keyword>, Railtel, Sify, Tata Communications and Vodafone Idea. Bajaj, who had seen the market evolve from the bare minimum net speeds of the 2G era to the high-speeds of 3G and 4G, had bigger plans beyond just geographic expansion for the company. He wanted to build a network-as-a-service operation – a model where customers rent networking infrastructure and services through a cloud-like subscription-based model. “So, I came to them with the idea that rather than just thinking about building out a fibre business, we should actually think about building out an entire network-as-a-service (NaaS) full- stack operation,” Bajaj, who is also the co-founder of CloudExtel, told Business Insider India. Unblocking networks While India needs underground fibre – which is tough to lay and maintain amidst the many roadblocks telecom companies encounter, the sector itself faces a multitude of challenges when it comes to providing high-speed data services to an increasingly demanding customer base. India’s large population and its high density in most urban and even semi-urban areas has presented network challenges for <keyword id="6383126" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="telcos" source="Orion">telcos</keyword> and ISPs. And this is the problem that CloudExtel wants to solve. “There is the traditional way of serving these (crowded) areas with the macro sites and large towers. But at some point, those macro sites get completely choked and the capacity limits are reached and telcos need to be able to provide additional capacity in that high-density area. You then need to go from the very top of a tall building with a large site and you need to have a miniaturised site, which is at a lower height closer to where the actual traffic consumption is,” explained Bajaj. In addition to laying over 4,000 kilometres of fibre across cities, CloudExtel added 4,000 small cell sites across 325 cities and towns. In addition, it provides services like virtual networks that take it from providing infrastructure-as-a-service to NaaS. It leverages fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) with single platform end-to-end services that build, plan and maintain networks for telcos and internet service providers that target homes and SMEs. “So we take some of the hardest parts of that telecom network and we build it out on behalf of the telcos, ISPs and content providers. We focus on very difficult-to-solve types of problems, where high-network capacity is required or where it’s very difficult getting fibre into the ground or buildings and homes. We’re able to build out our network infrastructures and offer that on a service basis to our customers,” said Bajaj. CloudExtel believes that a time will come when telecom companies will outsource most or all of their infrastructure needs, paving the way for network-as-a-service or NaaS companies such as themselves. Global players like Cisco and <keyword id="10875" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ibm" source="Orion">IBM</keyword> are also players in the NaaS space. “We are delivering a completely virtualized network to our customers. We can compare it to Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud, which have taken over from companies building, owning and maintaining their own data centres. I'm not saying that the telecom network or the telecom industry is ready to be completely virtualized or share all these stations and microsites, but this is the first step in that process, in that direction,” Bajaj said. A new era beckons CloudExtel has been bootstrapped until now and funded internally off the balance sheets. Even with the substantial set of assets, it still calls itself a startup. “So I still consider ourselves a startup because we have not yet achieved even one-tenth of what we believe we can achieve,” Bajaj said. Even as India is on the cusp of 5G network launches, Bajaj believes that the definition of network speeds is evolving, with more and more new technologies coming in. And infrastructure companies such as CloudExtel will have to stay ahead of the innovation cycle. “We're launching 5G today, but work on 5G actually started 10 years ago. That's kind of the timelines on which this kind of sector really works. 5G is going to be very largely about the ability to deploy small cells and provide dense network capacity and good network signals in very busy or very high traffic areas. That can basically be done on the back of only small cells being put very close to end-customers right on traffic junctions and high-density venues,” Bajaj said. Even as technology evolves, the number of high bandwidth applications like connected TVs, AR and VR-based shopping, in addition to metaverse etc. are multiplying at a rate that is faster than the time taken to build the infrastructure needed to handle it. “I think the biggest challenge we face is we don't have fixed-line infrastructure prominently available in the country. So, with rising capacity requirements and throughput requirements, telcos will always find it difficult to keep up pace with what the industry demands. That was really the genesis of the idea eight years ago,” Bajaj says. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/indias-startup-economy-stares-at-deepening-funding-winter-in-2023/articleshow/96807902.cms">India's startup economy stares at deepening funding winter in 2023</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/an-aai-and-two-college-dropouts-home-snacks-biz-sends-shark-tank-judges-into-a-bidding-war/articleshow/96784920.cms">An aai and two college dropouts’ home snacks biz sends Shark Tank judges into a bidding war</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/indias-decennial-census-to-be-delayed-further-say-officials/articleshow/96784633.cms">India's decennial census to be delayed further say officials</a>

This startup is using abandoned gas pipelines from 1800s to ease telecom traffic via network as a service

<ul><li>RIL’s annual general meetings have been labelled ‘carnivals’ by market experts due to huge attendance.</li><li>The company has been acquiring many companies across sectors, above and beyond the many interests it already holds.</li><li>Here are some of the questions that investors can ask the chairman at the <keyword id="45644" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="agm" source="Orion">AGM</keyword> about the future course of the conglomerate. </li></ul>It’s been decades since <keyword id="6418409" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="dhirubhai-ambani" source="Orion">Dhirubhai Ambani</keyword> famously said that a phone call should be cheaper than a postcard. No one writes postcards anymore. But <keyword id="10924" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="ambani" source="Orion">Ambani</keyword> generations are still experimenting with newer and newer ways to bring people ‘closer’. During the first pandemic year, Isha and Akash Ambani conversed in their 2D and 3D avatars via a holographic call at the company’s 41st annual general meeting; showcasing their futuristic product – <keyword id="9579590" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="jio-glass" source="Orion">Jio Glass</keyword>. The twins kept two important traditions alive – announcing the next-big thing of the group’s ever expanding interests; and of course the dazzle factor of AGMs. The celeb factor In 2019, <keyword id="3820" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="mukesh-ambani" source="Orion">Mukesh Ambani</keyword> connected to Alphabet CEO Satya Nadella after he announced a deal with Google. Two years later, he ‘welcomed’ Saudi Aramco’s chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan onto the board. The $15 billion deal with the oil major was cancelled a few months later over valuation mismatch. Yet the optics around the ‘big announcements’ have worked so well that most of the time, RIL stock tends to appreciate ahead of an AGM. Especially since 2016, when telecom’s soft launch kicked off, it never did die down. Most of them also center around technologies of tomorrow – be it shopping via VR or retail going online. The range and depth of Relianceverse It’s not just metaverse or virtual reality that the group is banking on – the sheer number of acquisitions and interest that it has in startups has turned its interests into a mini Relianceverse. While they have acquired interests in over 20 companies since 2019. The ticket size of these acquisitions range from $2 million to $200 million from Sankhya Sutra Labs to Dunzo, respectively. The companies belong to niche specializations – from fluid dynamics software simulation software VR imaging to ERP and SaaS companies, e-commerce companies, creative home solutions to AI powered learning platforms. The latest acquisitions however pertain to lithium and sodium battery solutions as the group ventures into green hydrogen. According to a Bank of America research report, the historical M&amp;As show a pattern – they all were done to add value or fill gaps in RIL’s consumer offerings where management believed it was difficult to build in-house. “All investments fall under five categories– telecom, retail, education, healthcare, and agriculture. A new category of clean-energy was added in 2020-21 where further investments were made with an intention of getting access to clean-tech,” the report said. This BoFA rule however exceptions – the luxury hotel of Mandarin Oriental in New York for $98 million, UK based hotel StokePark for $79 million, SkyTran a clean tech podcar transport system based in the US, and also a smaller acquisition of IMG Reliance, an event management company for $7 million. This is the part that investors seek clarity from the management and the best way to do it is the annual general meeting that’s to be held on August 29, 2022. Questions to be asked Reliance AGMs are blessed with a large and wide attendance, making market watcher S P Tulsian once call it a ‘carnival’. While most people come to get a glimpse of India’s richest family members and some others entertain with shayaris, investors also need to do what AGMs are there for — to ask questions about the direction of the business and the value its creating. Currently, RIL is an oil to telecom to retail to new energy business that’s being driven in different directions. Here are some of the questions that can be answered at the AGM. <ol><li>Why are we acquiring so many companies across business and are we getting into hotels and lifestyle business, especially in international markets? </li><li><keyword id="8508699" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="jio-mart" source="Orion">Jio Mart</keyword> is nowhere close to Amazon, Flipkart or even startups like Swiggy Instamart. When can we expect a possible sync with Dunzo and become a serious e-commerce player?? </li><li>Reliance JioTV and JioFibre were launched with the promise of first show movies, but Voot and JioTV are nowhere close to Hotstar, Prime or Netflix. Will the $3 billion IPL media rights be a game changer? </li><li>We paid nearly $11 billion for 5G spectrum, when can we expect the payoff? And, when will we reach the 500 million subscriber target? </li><li>Reliance has plans for green hydrogen, biogas and solar PV manufacturing, which are capital intensive. When can we expect a demerger or fund raising? </li><li>The IPO market has become feeble due to international market conditions. Will that delay the demerger and listing of retail and telecom businesses? </li><li>Akash Ambani has been elevated as the head of telecom business. Is there a complete succession plan in place? </li></ol>SEE ALSO : <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/gautam-adanis-overly-ambitious-growth-plans-can-spiral-into-a-massive-debt-trap-fitch/articleshow/93725014.cms">Gautam Adani’s overly ambitious growth plans can spiral into a massive debt trap: Fitch</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/research/news/drdo-has-developed-a-facial-recognition-system-that-claims-to-see-through-masks-and-disguise/articleshow/93726351.cms">DRDO has developed a facial recognition system that claims to see through masks and disguise</a>

What should investors ask Mukesh Ambani at his company’s AGM?

Hi, I'm Matt Turner, the editor in chief of business at Insider. Welcome back to Insider Weekly, a roundup of some of our top stories.<h3>On the agenda today:</h3><ul><li>High turnover and mounting losses are plaguing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whats-going-wrong-at-goldman-sachs-marcus-consumer-bank-unit-2022-8">Goldman Sachs' Marcus consumer-banking unit</a>.</li><li>A Facebook contractor describes <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-contractor-austin-job-cuts-accenture-break-time-tracked">the "messy" end of their job</a>.</li><li>This 22-year-old is said to be behind <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/olympusdao-founder-zeus-real-name-lawsuit-says-2022-8">one of crypto's most notorious projects</a>.</li><li>Leaked Oracle org charts show <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-oracle-org-charts-show-cloud-tech-leaders-after-reorg-2022-8">the 30 people running its cloud and tech teams</a>.</li></ul>Before we get to that — in late February, Insider launched an industry first: The Refresh from Insider, a <a href="http://link.chtbl.com/therefresh">podcast that's updated in real time throughout the day with the latest news</a>. The hosts Rebeca Ibarra and Dave Smith have a quick word on how it's going so far.If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/insider-weekly">sign up here</a>. Download Insider's app <a href="https://www.insider.com/app">here</a>.<h3><a href="http://link.chtbl.com/therefresh">A chat between the hosts of The Refresh from Insider</a></h3><a href="https://link.chtbl.com/therefresh"></a>Dave Smith: Rebeca, can you believe our show has been running for almost six months now?Rebeca Ibarra: Six months, six years — what even is time?!Dave: What do you mean, 2022 has been such a snooze!Rebeca: Bahaha. Our show literally launched four days after Russia invaded Ukraine. Remember your <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-refresh-from-insider/id1609502876?i=1000553472567">beautiful interview with a Ukrainian couple</a>, where the woman fled to Greece and the husband stayed behind? What other stories have stuck with you?Dave: Well, I just had a great talk with Matt Weinberger, deputy editor on Insider's tech team, about <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-refresh-from-insider/id1609502876?i=1000575733848">the race between Apple and Meta</a> to build and dominate the metaverse. It's basically a rerun of the Mac-versus-PC wars.Rebeca: Making a comeback like low-rise jeans and Bennifer!Dave: Yes... Yes, just like that. [Looks around, seeking help.]Dave: Also, let's <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-refresh-from-insider/id1609502876?i=1000555009881">not forget our very important, seminal take on goblin mode</a>, when we learned that in the pandemic you used one bowl for everything from coffee to mac and cheese.Rebeca: And on that note — off to lunch.Dave: <a href="http://link.chtbl.com/therefresh">Listen to The Refresh from Insider here!</a><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whats-going-wrong-at-goldman-sachs-marcus-consumer-bank-unit-2022-8">Inside the tumult at Goldman Sachs' Marcus</a></h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whats-going-wrong-at-goldman-sachs-marcus-consumer-bank-unit-2022-8"></a><div type="image" title="Goldman Sachs Marcus" height="1000" width="1333" msid="93558628" hostid="261" sizebytes="171396"></div>More than five years after launching its first product, Goldman's digital bank, Marcus, is burning cash with no signs of turning a profit. Executives reportedly expect it to lose another $1.2 billion this year.Roughly a dozen former execs, junior employees, consultants, and others familiar with Marcus told Insider the unit's dysfunction extends deeper than its expenses — and includes tension between execs and high turnover.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whats-going-wrong-at-goldman-sachs-marcus-consumer-bank-unit-2022-8">What insiders are saying about Marcus</a>.<h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-contractor-austin-job-cuts-accenture-break-time-tracked">A "messy" end to a Facebook contractor's job</a></h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-contractor-austin-job-cuts-accenture-break-time-tracked"></a><div type="image" title="Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook/Meta CEO, in Congress" height="2088" width="2785" msid="93558630" hostid="261" sizebytes="327136"></div>Late last month, people contracted through Accenture to work for Facebook were laid off without severance. The layoffs affected workers in Austin, Texas, one of Facebook's relatively new hubs.Workers said that before the cuts they saw their perks evaporate and their work habits monitored more intensely, and in some cases were put on more performance-improvement plans.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-contractor-austin-job-cuts-accenture-break-time-tracked">What we know about the cuts</a>.<h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/olympusdao-founder-zeus-real-name-lawsuit-says-2022-8">Lawsuit claims to unveil crypto founder "Zeus"</a></h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/olympusdao-founder-zeus-real-name-lawsuit-says-2022-8"></a><div type="image" title="Photo illustration of a man with his face obscured by cryptocurrency, and with a large Omega symbol in the background." height="900" width="1200" msid="93558632" hostid="261" sizebytes="76812"></div>There's a lot of money sloshing around tony Weston, Connecticut. And a new lawsuit suggests the founders of a notorious crypto project that once held $800 million live there, too.The identity of one of OlympusDAO's founders, known only as Zeus, has been a subject of speculation. Jayson Liang, who filed the lawsuit, says he was an early backer of OlympusDAO who was cheated out of millions by the organization and its founders — and his lawyers claim to have found Zeus.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/olympusdao-founder-zeus-real-name-lawsuit-says-2022-8">Here's what the lawsuit says</a>.<h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-oracle-org-charts-show-cloud-tech-leaders-after-reorg-2022-8">The who's who of Oracle's cloud leadership</a></h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-oracle-org-charts-show-cloud-tech-leaders-after-reorg-2022-8"></a><div type="image" title="Larry Ellison" height="2062" width="2755" msid="93558635" hostid="261" sizebytes="219110"></div>Oracle recently began layoffs that could affect thousands of employees globally, primarily in its marketing, advertising, and customer-experience units. But insiders said Oracle Cloud Infrastructure had been virtually unaffected.Leaked org charts show Oracle's cloud leaders after major organizational changes at the company. The chart features the people who report up to Larry Ellison as well as Don Johnson, Oracle's cloud and AI leader.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-oracle-org-charts-show-cloud-tech-leaders-after-reorg-2022-8">Check out the Oracle cloud org chart</a>.Plus, for more of our latest coverage of Oracle:<ul><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-oracle-marketing-mass-layoffs-ariel-kelman-chaos-2022-8">Oracle insiders describe the 'complete chaos' from layoffs and restructuring while employees brace for more</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oracle-cmo-ariel-kelman-out-after-safra-catz-fight-budget-2022-8">The top marketing exec Oracle poached from AWS has left. Insiders say he argued with CEO Safra Catz over budgets.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oracle-top-exec-leaves-stripe-oci-cloud-reorg-2022-8">Oracle's all-important cloud business has reorganized and a top exec is leaving, leaked documents show</a></li></ul><h3>This week's quote:</h3>"There are certain things that I would probably not do again. But I don't apologize for things I've done in my life."— Paul Manafort, in an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/paul-manafort-exclusive-interview-trump-2024-january-6-russian-oligarchs-2022-8">exclusive interview with Insider.</a><h3>More of this week's top reads:</h3><ul><li>Americans are heading across the Atlantic to start <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/americans-moving-to-europe-cheaper-homes-2022-8">more affordable lives in Italy or France</a>.</li><li>Self-made millionaires share 12 books <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/top-money-personal-finance-book-recommendations-from-successful-wealthy-people-2022-8">that have helped them build wealth</a>.</li><li>Amazon is going on a shopping spree. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-acquisitions-irobot-roomba-one-medical-2022-8">Here are the seven companies it could acquire.</a></li><li>From a clothing line to an NFT company, we take you <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tom-brady-nfl-retirement-career-plans-business-breakdown-2022-8">inside Tom Brady's business empire</a>.</li><li>In cities like Phoenix and Boise, the housing market <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rapidly-cooling-housing-market-caught-biggest-buyers-off-guard-2022-8">is cooling off fast</a>.</li><li>Y Combinator's head of admissions shares <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-apply-y-combinator-application-down-market-successful-2022-8">what she's looking for in an application</a>.</li><li>An evicted couple prepare <a href="https://www.insider.com/homeless-living-tent-maine-working-poor-afford-rent-2022-08">to face Maine's winter in a tent</a>.</li></ul>Curated by Matt Turner. Edited by Jordan Parker Erb, Sarah Belle Lin, and Lisa Ryan. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter">Sign up for more Insider newsletters here</a>.

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