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☆ Jeff Bezos says work-life balance is a 'debilitating phrase,' and that work and life are actually a circle
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-26 | by ( Britney Nguyen | Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos thinks "work-life balance" is a "debilitating phrase." The billionaire and former Amazon CEO instead taught employees that work and life are a circle. AdvertisementJeff Bezos doesn't like the phrase "work-life balance," and has said in the past that he views work and life as actually a circle. "I get asked about work-life balance all the time," Bezos told Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner. "If you can get your work life to where you enjoy half of it, that is amazing.

Persons: Jeff Bezos, Bezos, —, Jeff Bezos doesn't, Axel Springer, Mathias Döpfner, MacKenzie Scott, Shah Rukh Khan, Zoya Akhtar, Andy Jassy, fiancée Lauren Sanchez, doesn't, Katie Canales, Zoë Bernard Organizations: Amazon, Service, Vox's, AWS, Origin Locations: Mumbai

☆ What happened the day when one of the worst nuclear disasters in US history took place at Three Mile Island
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Katie Canales | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

Because of the new rules, the process of designing and building new nuclear power plants became longer and more costly. Since the Three Mile Island accident, no new nuclear plants have been built in the US. Three Mile Island is seen on May 30, 2017. Carlo Allegri/ReutersSource: History

☆ Jack Dorsey went from being 'really happy' about Elon Musk joining Twitter's board to saying he shouldn't have bought it. Here's how their bromance has evolved.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Katie Canales | Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

One of Dorsey's first public bouts of praise for Musk was in 2016Francois Mori/APThe Twitter CEO said Musk's account on the social platform was one of his favorites. "He's constantly on Twitter, constantly talking about what [Tesla is] doing — and how he's feeling about it as well," Dorsey said at a trade show in 2016. "He's very open and using it to correct press and if people aren't focused on the right things. I think he's a really good model of how to use it well."

☆ Mark Zuckerberg, whose Meta laid off thousands of people, is now the 12th richest person on the planet after his wealth surged to $87 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Nidhi Pandurangi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Zuckerberg's wealth shot up by $10 billion to top $87 billion on Thursday. Meta has laid off thousands of staffers, which likely impacted the company's productivity and dented employee morale. Because of that, Zuckerberg's wealth shot up by $10 billion to top $87 billion, the highest it's been in over a year. He is now the 12th richest person on the planet, per the Bloomberg Billionaire Index. These cuts are on top of the 11,000 jobs Meta already axed in November, part of the company's broader play to make 2023 its "year of efficiency."

☆ Meet Shou Zi Chew, TikTok's 40-year-old CEO who's entered the spotlight as he tries to defend the company from growing security concerns and ban threats
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Katie Canales | Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify before Congress this week as officials share security concerns about the Chinese-owned app. He's 40 years old, went to Harvard Business School, and interned at Facebook when it was a startup. Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops — delivered daily to your inbox. World leaders, including President Biden, worry the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform is a danger to national security, and they're threatening it with nationwide bans. CEO Shou Zi Chew is 40 years old, from Singapore, and got his start as an intern at Facebook.

He has a net worth of $67.6 billion, according to Forbes, and spends much of it on charity. But he also pours money into real estate, especially in Hawaii, and cars. The Meta founder and CEO's fortune surpassed $100 billion last year, making him one of 10 centi-billionaires on the planet. Zuckerberg mostly keeps a low profile, but he does splurge on real estate — especially in the tropical paradise that is Hawaii. Here's how the tech mogul spends his billions, from cars to properties to charity.

☆ Jeff Bezos has called work-life balance a 'debilitating phrase,' and says work and life are actually a circle
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

In 2018, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos called "work-life balance" a "debilitating phrase." The billionaire and former Amazon CEO taught employees that work and life are a circle. Bezos said the reality is if he is happy at home, he has "tremendous energy" in the office. "I get asked about work-life balance all the time," Bezos told Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner. And if he's happy at work, Bezos said he comes home with the same energy.

☆ China's 'social credit' system ranks citizens and punishes them with throttled internet speeds and flight bans if the Communist Party deems them untrustworthy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Katie Canales | Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Since China doesn't have a central social credit system, many local government agencies have been experimenting with what the system could look like. But the plan is for the social credit system to eventually be mandatory and unified across the nation, with each person given their own unique code used to measure their social credit score in real-time, per Wired. In fact, a national social credit system is currently being proposed. Companies will also be at risk if China passes on its Establishment of the Social Credit System law. Citizens with good social credit can also get discounts on energy bills, rent things without deposits, and get better interest rates at banks.

☆ The rise and decline of Black Friday: Here's how it became a $9 billion extravaganza where shoppers fought over discount TVs — and why it's now dying out.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

"Consumers have been shopping strategically this season: Buying early and taking advantage of deals retailers have been promoting since late October," Adobe Digital Insights Director Taylor Schreiner said in 2021. "Black Friday still remains a major online shopping day, but the surge in online shopping is coming from the less marketed days of the season." An empty shopping cart stands outside a Target store during a Black Friday sales event in Westbury, New York. Shannon Stapleton/ReutersSource: InsiderKatie Canales contributed to an earlier version of this article.

☆ Amazon founder Jeff Bezos pledged to donate the majority of his wealth to charity. Here's how he currently spends his $122 billion fortune, from giant underground clocks to space exploration.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Hannah Towey | Katie Canales | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Jeff Bezos has amassed a $122 billion fortune since founding Amazon in 1994, per Bloomberg. Bezos stepped down as Amazon CEO in mid-2021 after seeing a pandemic-era surge in wealth. He recently announced plans to donate the majority of his fortune to various charities. Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has become one of the wealthiest and most recognizable figures in the tech world. In November, Bezos announced plans to donate the majority of his fortune to charity, a commitment he had until recently shied away from.

☆ The wild life of billionaire Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, who has apologized for Elon Musk's layoffs and is known for eccentricities like eating one meal a day, and taking ice baths
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Isobel Asher Hamilton | Katie Canales | Bethany Biron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Jack Dorsey cofounded Twitter in 2006 and the company made him a billionaire. He's famous for his unusual life of luxury, including a daily fasting routine and regular ice baths. He stepped down as Twitter CEO in November 2021 but continues to lead Block as its "Block Head." From fighting armies of bots to quashing rumors about sending his beard hair to rapper Azealia Banks, Twitter founder Jack Dorsey leads an unusual life of luxury. Scroll on to read more about the fabulous life of Jack Dorsey.

☆ Donald Trump is worth billions — here's how the former president has spent his cash
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Donald Trump was the first billionaire to enter the White House when he became the 45th President. Forbes estimates he is worth $3 billion, with a property empire including Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Donald Trump went from real-estate magnate to reality-TV star to being elected the 45th president of the United States. Worth $3 billion, according to a Forbes tally of all the assets Trump owns, he is the first billionaire to enter the White House. Letitia James said Trump "falsely inflated his net worth by billions of dollars" and "repeatedly and persistently manipulated the value of assets to induce banks to lend money to the Trump Organization."

☆ Peter Thiel's fellowship program has birthed power players worth more than $220 billion collectively, including design software firm Figma that Adobe said it was acquiring for $20 billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-16 | by ( Katie Canales | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Peter Thiel's fellowship program has been doling out $100,000 checks to young entrepreneurs for 11 years now. Adobe plans to acquire the design software firm Figma in a deal worth about $20 billion, the company announced Thursday. Figma was founded in 2012 by Dylan Field with the help of Peter Theil's fellowship program. The famed Silicon Valley investor and former Trump adviser founded his Thiel Fellowship program through his foundation for students aged 22 or younger. Here are some of the projects that have come out of Thiel's fellowship.

☆ Software engineers from big tech firms like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta are paying at least $75,000 to get 3 inches taller, a leg-lengthening surgeon says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-15 | by ( Katie Canales | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Workers from Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta are paying $75,000 to be taller, a surgeon told GQ. The Las Vegas surgeon can lengthen patients' legs via a painful months-long process. Kevin Debiparshad founded LimbplastX Institute in 2016, and the clinic's business has boomed during the pandemic, he told GQ. And a bevy of high-earning tech workers — mostly men but some women — have come to him for the procedure. And within Silicon Valley, plastic surgery has increasingly become a way for male tech workers to reach their physical goals in recent years.

☆ A video shows a food-delivery robot scooting its way under police tape and into a crime scene
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-14 | by ( Katie Canales | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A video posted online shows a robot courier moving under police tape and into an active crime scene. "It's so funny looking at the cops looking at that thing," someone can be heard saying in the video. Footage posted online Tuesday shows a food-delivery robot crossing underneath police tape in Los Angeles and into a crime scene. The two videos posted show the robot approaching the first line of caution tape, where it appears journalists are positioned to cover the active crime scene. The last video shows the courier scooting away from the crime scene along the sidewalk.

☆ I deleted and edited my texts with Apple's new iOS update — and it's the coolest thing the company has done in a long time
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-14 | by ( Katie Canales | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

You can now unsend and edit texts with Apple's new iOS 16 update. Apple announced in June that its fall software update, iOS 16, would allow users to unsend and edit texts. But one of my friends noted that it doesn't appear as an edited text — both the original message and another bubble of words appear, with the latter including the edited copy. Apple also isn't the only platform that offers these features — Google lets users unsend emails, and Slack users have had that capability for a while now. But being able to amend texts on my iPhone still feels like a novelty.

Elon Musk's will-he-won't-he dance to buy Twitter has been going on for months. A purchase however appears to be near completion as Musk faces a Friday deadline to close a deal. The chaotic saga between Elon Musk and Twitter appears to be coming to end on Friday. Musk recently changed his Twitter bio to "Chief Twit" and changed his location to mark "Twitter HQ." If you're hazy on some of the events within that time period, we've compiled a full timeline of developments, from Musk tweeting a poop emoji at CEO Parag Agrawal to Twitter and Musk suing each other.

☆ Adventure watch maker Garmin took a subtle dig at Apple over its new Watch Ultra: 'We measure battery life in months. Not hours."
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-12 | by ( Katie Canales | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Garmin tweeted last week that it measures battery life in months, "not hours." The iPhone maker's Watch Ultra puts it more in competition with longtime outdoor watchmakers like Garmin. At Apple's annual fall event, the company rolled out a number of new products, including the Watch Ultra. "We measure battery life in months. Not hours," Garmin tweeted, an apparent reference to Apple emphasizing the Watch Ultra's 36-hour battery life.

☆ Tim Cook reveals his biggest dispute with Steve Jobs — and how it ended
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-10 | by ( Katie Canales | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Apple CEO Tim Cook said Wednesday that his biggest debate with Steve Jobs was over iPhone sales. The two discussed for years how to sell it: via a subsidy model or a revenue-share strategy, which Jobs wanted. Apple went Jobs' route before switching to Cook's idea, which helped catapult the iPhone to success. Cook appeared at the annual Code conference Wednesday alongside design legend Jony Ive, Jobs' widow Laurene Powell Jobs, and journalist Kara Swisher to discuss the late Apple visionary. Swisher asked Cook what his biggest debate was with Jobs, and Cook said it was the company's iPhone sales strategy ahead of its 2007 debut.

☆ Laurene Powell Jobs says Steve Jobs would be 'very disappointed' with today's polarized political climate: 'He would not be quiet'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-09 | by ( Katie Canales | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Laurene Powell Jobs said her late husband would be "disappointed" with today's political climate. She said Steve Jobs would be speaking out often against the polarization we're seeing today. Powell Jobs said Steve Jobs would be speaking out often if he was witnessing the political atmosphere today. Ive similarly said Jobs would be "mad" and "furious" at the current political state, but that he would also still maintain his compassion and love for the ideals that Powell Jobs described. Jobs was largely apolitical in his life, although he did champion liberal causes such as environmentalism alongside his wife.

☆ Tim Cook says Apple doesn't get many requests to fix green bubble messages to Android users
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-08 | by ( Katie Canales | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Apple CEO Tim Cook told an audience member Wednesday to "buy your mom an iPhone." The fan asked Cook about how Apple converts Android messages, a long contentious topic. At the annual Code Conference Wednesday night, Cook was answering audience questions when one man asked about improving cross-device messaging. This is why some users complain about poorly converted videos and other media when sending them between Android and iPhones. "These problems exist because Apple refuses to adopt modern texting standards when people with iPhones and Android phones text each other," the Android website says.

☆ Elon Musk subpoenaed Jack Dorsey as part of his Twitter lawsuit, but the two have had a crypto bromance stretching back years. Here's how it started.
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-28 | by ( Katie Canales | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk are vocal crypto enthusiasts and have been friendly to each other online. Their friendship stands out against other tech execs' feuds, like Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook's. Both Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk have emerged as quasi-bitcoin ambassadors, using their Twitter platforms to spout their devotion to the virtual currency. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook famously have beef stretching back years, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates had a long feud with the late Apple visionary Steve Jobs. That fact remains even as Musk subpoenas Dorsey for material relating to spam accounts as part of the Tesla exec's defense against Twitter.

☆ Elon Musk's tenure as Twitter's new owner has gotten off to a controversial start. Here's how the billionaire went from getting bullied as a child to becoming one of the most successful and controvers
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-11 | by ( Avery Hartmans | Mary Meisenzahl | Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is Twitter's new owner. Musk is a controversial leader who has incited lawsuits and SEC investigations. Elon Musk is never short on controversy, and the start of his tenure as Twitter's new leader is no exception. The site joins a growing list of companies tied to the world's richest man, who leads multiple massive organizations. It hasn't always been a smooth road for Musk — he almost went broke more than once and incited lawsuits and government scrutiny.

☆ TikTok is copying Facebook a year after Facebook copied TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2021-08-04 | by ( Katie Canales | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

TikTok is rolling out a Stories feature where users' videos will disappear after 24 hours. TikTok Stories shows how the largest tech platforms swipe ideas from each other, even amid scrutiny. They said TikTok is "experimenting with ways to give creators additional formats to bring their creative ideas to life for the TikTok community." Facebook took note — in August 2020, it debuted a TikTok copycat on Instagram, which it owns. Instagram Reels was the company's plan to compete with the ultra-popular app.

☆ The White House has enlisted dozens of TikTokers, YouTubers, and Twitch streamers to encourage young Americans to get vaccinated
▼ + stars: | 2021-08-02 | by ( Katie Canales | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Biden administration is asking online influencers to promote COVID-19 vaccines to young users. It also shows how the White House recognizes digital platforms' power and cultural impact. As The New York Times' Taylor Lorenz reported Sunday, the Biden administration signed on 50 Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok users to reach their massive follower counts, which largely consist of young users under the age of 30. Lorenz reported that state and local governments are also kicking off similar initiatives with more local online influencers, with some even providing $1,000-a-month incentives to encourage their thousands of followers to get vaccinated. That drive has included 18-year-old musician Olivia Rodrigo, who last month visited the White House in part to chat with chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci about vaccinations.

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