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☆ Elon Musk is a homeowner again, despite his claims of couch surfing
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Grace Kay | Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

As recently as April 2022, the billionaire Tesla founder claimed in an interview that he was couch surfing and didn't "even own a place right now." In redacted court filings from December, Musk said he purchased the home in February 2022 and that he still lives there. In 2023, the Austin property was appraised at nearly $7 million, county tax records show. Less than a year later, in April 2022, Musk said again that he didn't own a home and rotated between friends' spare rooms. Eight weeks later, the LLC that purchased the Austin house was formed.

Persons: —, Elon, Tesla, Grimes, Musk, Stefan Cassella, I'd, he'd, they'd, I'm, Austin, Ken Howery, Walter Isaacson, Tesla's Austin Gigafactory Organizations: Service, Business, Texas, State, Department of Justice, SpaceX, Street Journal, PayPal, Austin, Montessori Locations: Austin, Texas, California, San Francisco, Colorado, Bastrop , Texas, Tesla's

☆ Andreessen Horowitz investor says half of Google's white-collar staff probably do 'no real work'
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A general partner at Andreessen Horowitz is the latest to join the debate around "fake work" in Big Tech. David Ulevitch said "half the white-collar staff at Google probably does no real work." AdvertisementAn investor at famed Silicon Valley firm Andreessen Horowitz is the latest VC to get involved in the debate around "fake work" in the tech industry. Advertisement"I don't think it's crazy to believe that half the white-collar staff at Google probably does no real work," he said. Other VCs have also entered the debate around "fake work" and overstaffing within Big Tech in recent years.

Persons: Andreessen Horowitz, David Ulevitch, —, Emily Sundberg, Ulevitch, Marc Andreessen, Keith Rabois, Thomas Siebel, they've, overhiring Organizations: Google, Meta, Service, Cisco, Big Tech, Tech, PayPal Mafia, Facebook Locations: Big Tech, Silicon, America

☆ Palantir CEO says its unconventional boot camps are drawing crowds and driving sales: 'It's like a rock concert'
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

It's been putting on boot camps to attract customers, per Bloomberg. CEO Alex Karp has likened them to "a rock concert;" they've included perks like racetrack drives. The data mining company, cofounded by PayPal Mafia member Peter Thiel, has been holding software boot camps to recruit new customers, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. The company put on over 500 boot camps last year and expects to average five camps a day globally this year, according to Bloomberg. It's like, yeah, yeah, if you know somebody, we can get you backstage."

Persons: Palantir, It's, Alex Karp, —, Peter Thiel, Morningstar, Malik Ahmed Khan, Rishi Jaluria Organizations: Bloomberg, Service, PayPal Mafia, AIP, RBC Capital Markets Locations: Pontiac , Michigan

☆ Why the tech downturn could be a boon for startups
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWhy the tech downturn could be a boon for startups"It's the jockey, not the horse," when it comes to venture investing according to Thiel Capital's Jack Selby. How the so-called "PayPal Mafia" member decides the entrepreneurs he'll back and what he's learned from the likes of Elon Musk.

Persons: Thiel, Jack Selby, he's, Elon Musk Organizations: PayPal

☆ Elon Musk says the US should stop sending aid to Ukraine as there's 'no way in hell' Putin will lose
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Musk said Putin risked being "assassinated" if he were to back off the fight in Ukraine. The world's richest person told US Republican senators during an X Spaces "there is no way in hell" Vladimir Putin was going to lose the war with Ukraine. Musk said Putin risked being "assassinated" if he were to back off the fight in Ukraine. Musk provided access to the SpaceX satellites to allow civilians retain internet access amid Russia's attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. In October, Musk tweeted his idea for restoring peace in Ukraine , which parroted Kremlin talking points and suggested Ukraine cede territory to Russia.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Putin, —, Vladimir Putin, Sen, Ron Johnson, JD Vance, Mike Lee, Vivek Ramaswamy, wasn't, Reid Hoffman Organizations: Republican, Service, Bloomberg, SpaceX, Kremlin, RIA, Paypal, Representatives, Business Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Elon

☆ Inflection AI's Mustafa Suleyman tells OpenAI staff 'come run with us' after 'utterly insane' weekend
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mustafa Suleyman told OpenAI staff "come run with us" after a "utterly insane" weekend. The Inflection AI cofounder and CEO used an X post to promote his own firm and its progress. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementThe cofounder of Inflection AI weighed in on the "utterly insane" weekend experienced by its rival OpenAI and told workers to "come run with us." It's now the 2nd best LLM in the world ... & we're scaling MUCH further," Suleyman said in an X post .

Persons: Mustafa Suleyman, OpenAI, —, who's, It's, Suleyman, — Mustafa Suleyman, @mustafasuleyman, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Sam Altman, reinstates Altman, Kelsey Laymon, Marc Benioff, Eric Schmidt, Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman, DeepMind Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Nvidia, Forbes, TechCrunch, Paypal, Google, Business

☆ Members of the 'PayPal Mafia' include tech titans like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Reid Hoffman. Here's where they are now.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-12 | by ( Tami Brehse | Kylie Kirschner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A group of early 2000s PayPal employees and founders came to be known as the "PayPal Mafia." The group includes Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, and the founders of both YouTube and Yelp. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Members of the group include Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and Reid Hoffman, along with over a dozen others. Here's a rundown of the most prominent members of this exclusive group and what they're up to over two decades later.

Persons: Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, —, Fortune Organizations: PayPal, Elon, YouTube, Service, LinkedIn, PayPal Mafia

☆ Reid Hoffman reportedly compared Elon Musk's behavior during a merger to someone hiding a sexually transmitted disease from their spouse
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Kylie Kirschner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Former PayPal COO Reid Hoffman criticized Elon Musk's behavior during the early days of PayPal. Hoffman told The New Yorker that Musk behaved like someone hiding an STD from their spouse. Hoffman and Musk were both part of the "PayPal Mafia" — early PayPal employees who became big names in tech. In a new interview, former PayPal COO Reid Hoffman criticized Elon Musk's behavior during a merger years ago. Hoffman compared the merger to a marriage and said that Musk's behavior at the time was like someone hiding a sexually transmitted disease from their spouse.

Persons: Reid Hoffman, Elon, Hoffman, Musk, Peter Thiel, we're, Thiel, X Organizations: PayPal, Yorker, New, SpaceX, Twitter

☆ Elon Musk seemed to have 'bought what Putin was selling, hook, line, and sinker,' fellow PayPal mafia member says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

He said Musk "bought what Putin was selling, hook, line, and sinker" regarding the war in Ukraine. Hoffman told The New Yorker Musk "bought what Putin was selling, hook, line, and sinker," regarding Russian President Vladimir Putin's account of the war in Ukraine. Putin wants peace—we should be negotiating peace with Putin,'" Hoffman told The New Yorker, referencing Musk's comments at a September 2022 conference in Aspen. Obviously, we are pro Ukraine," Musk tweeted hours after his poll. "Elon tends to have a 'I must build it with my own hands'" approach, Hoffman told CNBC in April.

Persons: Reid Hoffman, Elon Musk, Putin, Musk, Hoffman, Vladimir Putin's, he'd, Vladimir, Steven Butow, Starlink, we'll, Colin Kahl, Elon —, —, Elon Organizations: Paypal Mafia, New, PayPal, Kremlin, SpaceX, Politico, Pentagon, CNN, Defense, Policy, New Yorker, Milken, CNBC, Tesla Locations: Ukraine, Aspen ., Russia, Crimea, Ukrainian, New

☆ PayPal would slot well in a different wallet
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Lauren Silva Laughlin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The $70 billion company’s struggles, and the incoming chief’s credentials, set the stage for a transaction of some sort. He also spearheaded its $12 billion purchase of marketing service Mailchimp in 2021, which could augur a deal. And an operation like PayPal’s could help CEO Mark Zuckerberg challenge potential cage-match opponent Elon Musk and his super-app ambitions at X, formerly known as Twitter. Given PayPal’s massive slump, Chriss will be under pressure to restore the luster, or to slot it into another company’s wallet. In 2021, he led the company’s $12 billion acquisition of Mailchimp.

Persons: Alex Chriss, Dan Schulman, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Lina Khan, Fiserv, Frank Bisignano, Peter Thiel, Sexier, Chriss, Schulman, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Sharon Lam, Aditya Sriwatsav Organizations: Reuters, PayPal, Intuit, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Facebook, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal Mafia, Mailchimp, Thomson

☆ Come on, Elon Musk's X logo isn't that bad
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The X logo is pretty nice. Mourn the blue bird for now, but get used to the new X. I know we miss the blue bird, but come on, the new X logo isn't that bad. Lots of people were nervous that the demise of the bird logo and its renaming to "X" would come with another ugly or incomprehensible logo. Goodbye, Twitter bird.

Persons: Elon Musk, Gabby, Mike Lindell's Frank Social, Linda Yaccarino, they'd, could've Organizations: San, Service, PayPal, Twitter Locations: San Francisco, Wall, Silicon, Grimes

☆ An ex-Meta employee said he had so little to do during his first few weeks as a full-time staffer that he went surfing on a work day
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Grace Kay | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A former Meta worker said he went surfing on a work day because he didn't have any assignments. A former Meta worker said he had so much free time when he was hired onto the tech company that he once went surfing on a work day. The worker is one of many to point to a culture of "fake work" and "lazy management" in Silicon Valley. Earlier this year, a former Meta employee went viral on TikTok after she said she "had to fight to find work" at the company. The Meta worker said he was eliminated in the company's first round of layoffs.

Persons: Keith Rabois, that's Organizations: Meta, PayPal Mafia, Google Locations: Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Meta's

☆ Elon Musk's tirade about the 'laptop classes living in la la land' is the latest step in his crusade against remote working
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk's attack on remote working is just one of many in recent years. The billionaire made clear in an interview with CNBC that he still wasn't a fan of the practice. Elon Musk has attacked the practice of remote working again, mocking those who do so as the "laptop classes" who are "living in la la land." Musk's most recent attack on remote working came in a wide-ranging interview with CNBC on Tuesday. In the CNBC interview, Musk said that people working from home was as much a "moral issue" as it was a productivity one.

☆ Billionaire says kids are 'too busy on TikTok' to work hard enough to grow their careers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

John Catsimatidis says Gen Z is "too busy on TikTok" to work hard enough to start a career. Billionaire John Catsimatidis said in his youth he started out working 70 hours a week at a supermarket, but he worries Gen Z is "too busy on TikTok" to take similar steps. "That's one of the problems we are having in our country these days, the kids are busy playing TikTok," he told Daily Mail in an interview. However, Gen Z has indicated they're more concerned about work-life balance and less willing to put up with a toxic work culture. In 2022, a survey from the World Economic Forum found that about half of Gen Z workers would quit their job if it negatively impacted their work-life balance.

☆ Billionaire LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman reveals 2 Buddhist principles that shape his worldview and help him navigate failure
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In an interview with The Generalist, Hoffman said he's been most influenced by Buddha. Hoffman also said in the interview that Aristotle initially inspired him to study philosophy. Hoffman, who cofounded LinkedIn, announced he was stepping down from the board of OpenAI last month. Hoffman holds a master's degree in philosophy from Oxford and planned to go into academia at one point. Hoffman, who calls himself an "accidental technologist," credits his philosophical instincts as the reason he is in the industry.

☆ A Meta executive reportedly warned staff last year that 'we have a significant gap' when it comes to AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Meta exec warned last year that the company is falling behind in the AI race, Reuters reports. "We have a significant gap in our tooling, workflows and processes when it comes to developing for AI. AI systems require more computing power, as its training requires the system to sift through a large amount of data. Reuters reported that Meta similarly began focusing on converting its generative AI research into sellable products after the launch of ChatGPT in November. A Meta spokesperson told Reuters Meta has been working on generative AI products for over a year.

☆ Meta is one of the most brutal tech job-choppers so far, axing about a quarter of employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The major tech firms are conducting ongoing, brutal layoffs. We crunched the numbers to see which major tech firms have reduced their headcount the most. According to Insider analysis, Meta follows after announcing cuts that amount to almost a quarter of its workforce, which was around 87,000 staff in 2022. Our analysis doesn't include the third round of Meta job cuts which began this week, reportedly numbering in the thousands. A recent Insider analysis shows that revenue per employee dropped at many of the major tech firms now chopping jobs.

☆ LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman credits Buddha as his biggest influence
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In an interview with The Generalist, Hoffman said he's been most influenced by Buddha. Hoffman also said in the interview that Aristotle initially inspired him to study philosophy. Hoffman, who cofounded LinkedIn, announced he was stepping down from the board of OpenAI last month. Hoffman holds a master's in philosophy from Oxford and even planned to go into academia at one point. Hoffman, who calls himself an "accidental technologist," credits his philosophical instincts as the reason he is in the industry.

☆ LinkedIn cofounder says Elon Musk has an 'it's only great if I do it' mentality when it comes to ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman told CNBC the call for an AI slow down is a "mistaken effort." He said Elon Musk has an "it's only great if I do it" mentality when it comes to ChatGPT. Both Musk and Hoffman helped found OpenAI in 2015, but Musk left the company's board of directors in 2018 and has been critical of the company ever since. Despite his longtime friendship with Musk, Hoffman said he's "much more on the path that OpenAI has gone" when it comes to developing the technology. Spokespeople for Musk, Hoffman, and OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment ahead of publication.

☆ CHART: Twitter's revenue per employee crashed 60% in the years leading up to Musk's drastic firings
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter's revenue per employee crashed 60% in the years before Elon Musk's takeover. Twitter's revenue per employee cratered by almost 60% between 2018 and the period of 2022 before Musk's takeover of the embattled social media company, Insider analysis of the firm's SEC filings found. Revenue per employee is a simple measure of efficiency that was previously in vogue in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash. A growing number of influential tech executives and investors say tech firms, bloated by over-hiring, should re-prioritize the metric. Since 2018, Twitter has seen a drastic fall in the revenue generated per employee.

☆ CHARTS: We analyzed revenue per employee to show why Amazon, Meta, and others are axing workers with brutality and speed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

One productivity metric to watch is revenue per employee, which has fallen at some big firms. Tech companies swelled in the years up to and during the pandemic, but more manpower didn't necessarily mean more money. The chart shows Amazon, Meta, and Twitter in particular hired heavily from 2018, but also experienced declining revenue per employee. Size isn't everythingAnd how have tech companies fared against each other? The chart above shows Amazon and Salesforce are producing roughly the same revenue per employee as Twitter despite having tens of thousands more workers: each employee at Amazon generated $333,550 in revenue last year, while Salesforce employees generated $394,911.

☆ The notion of 'fake work' or coasting in the tech industry has a long history, but experts say it's just an 'excuse for bad management'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Tech workers have been accused of "coasting," as well as "resting and vesting" in the past. Experts said the notion of fake work is part of a larger issue in the industry and often an excuse. People have long accused tech workers of failing to pull their weight — they've just had different names for it over the years. These claims are shedding light on larger management issues and internal problems within major tech companies, experts told Insider. And while some experts say a certain level of "fake work" is a natural part of the boom-and-bust cycle in tech, not all agree.

☆ Tech workers are taking to TikTok to debate 'fake work'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Grace Kay | Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Former tech staffers have taken to TikTok to discuss and debate "fake work." Earlier this month, Kendall Smith, known by her TikTok name @roilysm, shared a story from Insider about PayPal Mafia member Keith Rabois saying workers at Meta and Google were doing "fake work." Aube told Insider in a comment that he never saw anyone at the company "not doing any work or doing fake work." One TikTok creator, Arianna Tong, says she couldn't disagree more with the idea of fake work at Meta. "I've seen so many videos chiming in and saying they did fake work at Meta," @ariannatong said in a TikTok video.

☆ Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn cofounder, said he talks to his friend Peter Thiel less to avoid political discussion and feuding over Donald Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Reid Hoffman said he talks to his friend Peter Thiel less now on an episode of "On with Kara Swisher." Hoffman wants to avoid arguing with Thiel over former President Donald Trump. When Swisher asked Hoffman if Thiel hears him, Hoffman said, "I don't know." When they met as sophomores at Stanford in the mid-1990s, Hoffman heard Thiel was a "libertarian wacko," while Thiel was told Hoffman was a "pinko commie," Hoffman said on his podcast "Masters of Scale." Hoffman told Swisher he will "spend as much as I possibly can" to avoid another Trump presidency, saying it would be "destructive to our society."

☆ A popular post on Blind says all tech workers who got jobs during the pandemic were 'charity cases,' but getting hired now at a big tech company will actually mean something
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A popular post on workplace forum Blind calls tech workers hired during the pandemic "charity cases." One popular post on the anonymous workplace forum Blind takes that a step further, saying tech employees brought on during the pandemic were "charity cases." Tech companies added many new employees to their ranks during the pandemic, when business was booming for the sector. At the time time, other commenters on the popular Blind post defended employees who got tech jobs during the pandemic. "Also I refuse to believe I am some charity case, I was good enough for the company, did their process and got hired.

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