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☆ Four self-made millionaires echo the same advice for success: Just get started
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-21 | by ( Ernestine Siu | In Ernestinesiu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Throughout my time working at CNBC, I've chatted with different entrepreneurs, from people who started successful side hustles to the founders of global unicorn companies. In my conversations with successful entrepreneurs, I've found that those who became successful and "made it" tend to echo the same advice. Advice #2: Lean into what makes you uniqueAnother piece of advice Mahlum gave is to lean into what makes you yourself. "I think the best advice that I can give to fellow entrepreneurs is to be different," he told CNBC. Advice #4: Just get startedIn all my conversations with entrepreneurs, by far, the one piece of advice I've heard the most, is to simply get started.

Persons: Shawn Tsao, I've, Jason McGowan, McGowan, they'd, Anne Mahlum, Solidcore Anne Mahlum, Mahlum, Edward Tirtanata, Tirtanata, Uber, Jack Organizations: CNBC, I've, Lean, Nike Locations: New York, Solidcore, Indonesian, Southeast Asia

☆ Apple wants to give the iPad a boost
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The tech giant's event will reportedly showcase a new family of… iPads and iPad accessories. But Apple's event , which kicks off at 10 a.m. EST, is looking to give the iPad a boost. iPhone sales have noticeably dipped, which is why you're hearing Apple tout its "services" business , writes BI's Peter Kafka. And the new product Apple wants you to be excited about — the Vision Pro — hasn't lived up to the hype. a16z joins the Big Tech "fake work" debate.

Persons: —, Tyler Le, they're, iPads, Antonio Villas, Boas, BI's Peter Kafka, Peter, hasn't, Katie Notopoulos, Wall, Lauren DeCicca, Tim Cook, Katie, aren't, I'd, we'll, I'm, Alyssa Powell, Danielle DiMartino Booth, James Devaney, Roger Kisby, Jack Dorsey's, Elon, Dorsey, Elon Musk, Satya Nadella, OpenAI, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, a16z, Emily Sundberg, Andreessen Horowitz, David Ulevitch, Vladimir Putin, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, George Glover Organizations: Service, Business, Apple, Google, Getty, US Treasury, National Bureau of Economic Research, Images, Penske Media, Microsoft, Tech, Paramount, Berkshire, Big Tech, Walt Disney Company Locations: BREIT, New York, London

☆ It sure looks like Jack Dorsey's in his Elon Musk acolyte era
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Jack Dorsey has gone from loving to hating to loving Elon Musk again. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementTwitter co-founder Jack Dorsey might have once been a critic of Elon Musk's changes to his creation. But all that seems to be water under the bridge now for Dorsey, who's now seemingly in his "I Love Elon" era. For starters, Dorsey unfollowed over 2,000 accounts on X over the weekend, leaving just three accounts — Elon Musk, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, and Stella Assange, the wife of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Persons: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, Bluesky, Dorsey, —, Elon, who's, Dorsey unfollowed, Edward Snowden, Stella Assange, Julian Assange Organizations: Service, Twitter, NSA

☆ How a Jack Dorsey-backed bitcoin miner uses a volcano in Kenya to turn on the lights in rural homes
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

watch nowHELL'S GATE, Kenya — Two-and-a-half hours northwest of Nairobi by car, a small group of bitcoin miners set up shop at the site of an extinct volcano near Hell's Gate National Park. "That doesn't happen without the bitcoin miners and us being globally distributed." MacKenzie SigalosWherever the operation, bitcoin mining is a volatile business, because so much of the economics depends on the price of the cryptocurrency. Before getting into bitcoin mining, he and his two co-founders, Philip Walton and Janet Maingi, spent years building internet connectivity infrastructure in rural and urban Africa. Demand from bitcoin miners on these semi-stranded assets is making renewables in Africa economically viable.

Persons: Jack Dorsey's, MacKenzie Sigalos, Erik Hersman, Bitcoin, Gridless, Lake Naivasha, bitcoin, Adam Sullivan, Philip Walton, Janet Maingi, Michael Gottschalk, Nic Carter, Carter, Hersman, It's, it's Organizations: CNBC, Kenyan, Core, Deutsche Bank, Marathon, United Arab, Getty, Island Ventures, Miners, International Energy Agency Locations: Kenya, Nairobi, Lake Naivasha, Malawi, Zambia, Venezuela, Lebanon, Gate, Lake, U.S, Texas, Russia, China, America, Africa, Toronto, Argentina, Florida, United Arab Emirates, Paraguay, Hersman, Sudan, Iceland, El Salvador, Bhutan

☆ Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey's daily routine: a 'wake me up' cocktail and 7-minute workouts
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-25 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Twitter and Block cofounder Jack Dorsey once balanced the responsibilities of running both companies with an early morning wake-up and a lot of meditation. Some Twitter staff even tried the cocktail out during the company's retreat in 2018, according to the book. In 2012, Dorsey told Fast Company he'd divide his weeks into themes in order to manage running both companies. On days beginning with 'T,' I start at Twitter in the morning, then go to Square in the afternoon," he told Fast Company.

Persons: —, Jack Dorsey, Dorsey, Ben Greenfield, I'm, Greenfield, Kurt Wagner, Wagner Organizations: Service, Twitter, Business, New York Times, Bloomberg, — Company, Fast Company, Wired, Block Locations: San Francisco

☆ St. Louis Guaranteed Basic Income of $500 a Month Spent on Bills, Debt: City
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewThe city of St. Louis is giving out $500 a month to 540 families, and in just three months recipients say it's helped them pay off debts and their bills. In St. Louis, recipients were chosen from over 5,500 applicants. Advertisement"The main categories where we see spending is pretty much where we anticipated," Adam Layne, the St. Louis city treasurer, told Business Insider in an interview. They had to be residents of St. Louis, have a school-age child, and have had a negative financial impact from the pandemic. Layne said the guaranteed basic income program took about a year and a half of planning and coordinating with partners, including researchers at Washington University in St. Louis.

Persons: —, Louis, it's, Adam Layne, Layne, St, Jack Dorsey's, St . Louis, Louisans Organizations: Service, Business, American, Washington University Locations: St, Louis, St .

☆ Why Jack Dorsey's failure led to Elon Musk's arrival at Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Elon Musk's chaotic takeover of Twitter was enabled by Jack Dorsey's hands-off leadership style. AdvertisementThe world has been able to watch the chaos that ensued after Elon Musk bought Twitter, more or less in real time. AdvertisementI talked to Wagner about Twitter under Jack Dorsey, and Twitter and Musk, and what happens next. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey quiet quitsPeter Kafka: What was your sense of Jack Dorsey before you got into this project? I think Elliott forced his hand on that front and made the job really, really un-fun for him.

Persons: Elon, Jack Dorsey's, Kurt Wagner, Musk, —, Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, Kurt Wagner's, Wagner, Dorsey, Peter Kafka, He's, That's, it's, Elliott, Covid, Jack, JOSH EDELSON, he'd, Twitter, Antonio Masiello, “, There's, they've, Esther Crawford, I'm Organizations: Twitter, Service, Elon, Bloomberg, Elliott Management, San, Getty, Journal Locations: San Francisco

☆ Inside Twitter's first-ever company retreat: Jack Dorsey's parents posed for selfies, Elon Musk was a no-show, and employees meditated with the billionaire founder
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Kurt Wagner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Jack Dorsey once led a Twitter company retreat to boost employee morale and set a vision for the company. Had Dorsey opened his eyes, he would have seen nearly all of Twitter's 3,500 employees facing him in their own noiseless trance. From the convention center floor where they all sat looking up at the stage, Dorsey was just a silhouette, like a statue of a skinny Buddha. It was July 31, 2018, the first day of #OneTeam, Twitter's first-ever company-wide retreat. "BATTLE FOR THE BIRD: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, and the $44 Billion Fight for Twitter's Soul" by Kurt Wagner.

Persons: Jack Dorsey, Elon Musk, Kurt Wagner, —, Dorsey, Twitter's, Marcia, Louis, Jay Rock, Getty Dorsey, Twitter, Leslie Berland, She'd, coaxing Dorsey, unapproachable, wasn't, humanize Dorsey, Tim, Bruce Falck, Ned Segal, JP Maheu, Del Harvey, I'm, Elon, hadn't, Lucy Nicholson, Musk, Simon Organizations: Service, Moscone Center, Twitter, Employees, American Express, Trust, Safety, Simon & Schuster, Bloomberg Locations: San Francisco's, San Francisco, St, @Twitter

☆ 6 venture investors spotlight the fintechs that could soar in 2024 amid another tough year for startups
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

Fintech has shown few signs of recovering in 2024 as funding declines and layoffs continue. VCs said they want to pick up deals this year in AI and cost-management tools for software. Investors digging for deals in the fintech industry are zeroing in on a few pockets of resilience. Venture funding to financial-technology startups fell by 50% in 2023 from 2022, according to CB Insights. Only one month into 2024, fintech layoffs have been abound.

Persons: Fintech, VCs, Jack Dorsey's Block Organizations: PayPal, Business Locations: Brex

☆ Google's layoffs already impacted its culture. Now they're affecting its bottom line.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

In today's big story, we're looking at highlights from two of the world's biggest tech companies' earnings reports, including how much layoffs cost for one of them. Tech: Tech CEOs will testify before Congress today for a hearing on child safety. Mateusz Wlodarczyk/Getty ImagesThere's been plenty of speculation about what Google's mass layoffs last year meant for its famous culture. Jerod Harris/Getty ImagesCongress is set to grill some of the biggest names in tech today. Leaders from Meta, X, TikTok, and other tech companies will face questions over their platforms' efforts to protect children from sexual exploitation online.

Persons: It's, Sundar Pichai, Mateusz Wlodarczyk, Sarah Jackson, Satya Nadella Stephen Brashear, Hisham Ibrahim, Jerome Powell's, Claudia Sahm, Powell, Linda Yaccarino, Jerod Harris, Linda Yaccarino's, Jack Dorsey's Block, Dorsey, Brooks Kraft, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, Jordan Parker Erb Organizations: Business, Tech, Google, Microsoft, Getty, Bloomberg, JPMorgan, Meta, Elon Musk's, Brooks Kraft LLC, Los Angeles Times, UPS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Amazon, Boeing, Mastercard Locations: Chipotle, New York, London

☆ Jack Dorsey's Block lays off 'large number' of staffers, adding to wave of tech industry cuts
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

While Dorsey did not specify the number of Block employees laid off on Tuesday, a person familiar with the company said the number was close to 1,000. Dorsey did say that the layoffs focused on Block workers at Cash App, Foundational, and Square. Staffers were told separately that Block would look to reduce head count by about 10%, as BI reported. Google and Amazon made significant cuts to head count, while Meta is slimming down more roundaboutly by eliminating certain job titles and telling affected workers they can reapply. You can read Dorsey's full note to Block staff below:Team,Today our Cash App, Foundational, and Square teams are parting ways with a large number of our teammates.

Persons: Jack Dorsey, Dorsey, Cash, Kali Hays Organizations: Business, Cash, BI, Google, Amazon, Meta, Marketing, Creative Locations: Commerce, khays@insider.com

☆ SumUp, a rival to Jack Dorsey's Block, defies fintech funding slump with $307 million cash injection
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-11 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

SumUp Chief Financial Officer Hermione McKee said the fresh capital gives the company "more firepower to act on opportunities," including acquisitions and new country launches. British payments startup SumUp, known for its small card readers, on Monday announced it has raised 285 million euros ($306.6 million) in a bumper round of funding that values the company north of $8.6 billion. The round predominantly consisted of equity, though a small portion of the funds was raised as debt. Then we look at Asia, how do we think about that region, and then obviously opportunities across Africa. A SumUp spokesperson confirmed the deal is an up round, meaning its valuation is higher than it was previously.

Persons: Hermione McKee, McKee, SumUp Organizations: Monday, Sixth, Bain Capital Tech, Fin, CNBC Locations: SumUp, Australia, America, Asia, Africa

☆ Jack Dorsey is getting rid of annual reviews and PIPs at Block. I asked our workplace correspondent if it's a trend.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Jack Dorsey says Block will no longer do performance reviews or performance-improvement plans. She told me she thought PIPs — performance improvement plans — were underused because companies don't necessarily want to do the legwork that often goes with them. Jack Dorsey's Block just announced that they're going to stop doing PIPs and just fire people who aren't up to snuff. So, having some ability to correct your things you're doing wrong — that's important. Block is also getting rid of annual performance reviews.

Persons: Jack Dorsey, Block, Tim Paradis, Dorsey, —, BI's, who's, you've, Gen Z, Korn, they're, Jack Dorsey's Block, it's Organizations: Service, Business Locations: Valley

☆ AI poster child Altman back at OpenAI, may have fewer checks on power
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Aditya Soni | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, arrives for a bipartisan Artificial Intelligence (AI) Insight Forum for all U.S. senators hosted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., September 13, 2023. "Altman seems awfully powerful and it is unclear that any board would be able to oversee him. The board fired Altman last week with little explanation and attempted to move on by naming an interim CEO twice. "The fact that Summers and Taylor will join OpenAI is quite extraordinary and marks a dramatic reversal of fortunes in the company," Valle said. Sutskever, Altman and Taylor could not be immediately reached for comment.

Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI, Chuck Schumer, Craig Hudson, Sam Altman's, Altman, Mak Yuen Teen, " Altman, Beatriz Valle, Bret Taylor, Salesforce, Larry Summers, Summers, Taylor, Valle, Jack Dorsey's, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D'Angelo, Sutskever, Sam, Gartner, Jason Wong, Aditya Soni, Mark Porter Organizations: Intelligence, Senate, U.S, Capitol, REUTERS, Microsoft, National University of Singapore Business School, Wall, Elon Musk's, Twitter, ., Harvard, Democratic, OpenAI, Georgetown's Center for Security, Emerging Technology, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, Bengaluru

☆ Who are OpenAI's new board members as Sam Altman returns?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S. November 16, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria Acquire Licensing RightsNov 22 (Reuters) - ChatGPT-maker OpenAI on Tuesday said it reached an agreement for Sam Altman to return as CEO days after his ouster, and also agreed in principle to partly reconstitute the board of directors that had dismissed him. Bret Taylor, formerly co-CEO of Salesforce and Larry Summers, former U.S. Treasury Secretary, along with Quora CEO and current director Adam D'Angelo will be part of the board, OpenAI said. Here's what we know about them:* Taylor, 43, is an American computer programmer and entrepreneur, who is also a board member at Shopify (SHOP.TO). Taylor will chair the OpenAI board* Summers, 68, is an American economist who has served as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001* A professor at Charles W Eliot University, Summers is also President Emeritus at Harvard* Summers is also on the board of Jack Dorsey's Block Inc (SQ.N) and Skillsoft Corp (SKIL.N)* D'Angelo, 39, is an American internet entrepreneur, best known as founder of California-based social question-and-answer website and online knowledge market Quora* A Computer Science graduate, D'Angelo was previously CTO of Facebook for nearly two years till June 2008(Sources: TechCrunch, Reuters reporting and LinkedIn)Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Nivedita BhattacharjeeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Sam Altman, Carlos Barria, OpenAI, Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, Adam D'Angelo, Taylor, Charles, Summers, Jack Dorsey's, D'Angelo, Aby Jose Koilparambil, Anil D'Silva Organizations: Economic Cooperation, REUTERS, U.S . Treasury, Quora, Treasury, Charles W Eliot University, Harvard, Skillsoft Corp, Science, Facebook, Thomson Locations: Asia, San Francisco , California, U.S, American, Shopify, California, Bengaluru

Instead, he's a co-founder of a $400 million food delivery company. Tsao launched the company, Caviar, with four of his best friends from the University of California, Berkeley in 2012. Building "Groupon for food" didn't work, "so we were like, 'Let's be the Uber for food.'" 'We just blew up'At the time, most of today's food delivery apps didn't exist yet. Five college friends founded Caviar in 2012, at a time when GrubHub and Seamless were the only major online food delivery businesses.

Persons: Shawn Tsao, he's, Tsao, Jack, Uber, Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry, Abel Lin, Andy Zhang, Richard Din, Jason Wang, —, Munch, Groupon, didn't, Postmates, DoorDash, Andreessen Horowitz, Wang Organizations: University of California, CNBC, Investors, Tiger Global Management Locations: Berkeley, Francisco, U.S, Miami

Shawn Tsao, 34, co-founded food delivery app Caviar in 2012 with four of his college classmates and fraternity brothers from the University of California, Berkeley. Before Caviar, Tsao and his co-founders created on Munch On Me, a daily deals app for food. In the ensuing weeks, they decided to switch to an on-demand food delivery app — a novel concept at the time. In 2014, Jack Dorsey's payments company Square — now known as Block — acquired Caviar in an all-stock deal worth more than $100 million, according to Tsao. Five years later, rival food delivery company DoorDash purchased Caviar from Square in a deal worth $410 million.

Persons: Shawn Tsao, Munch, Jack, Tsao Organizations: University of California Locations: Berkeley

☆ Hindenburg Research targets $4.6 billion Kazakh brokerage for allegedly helping Russian oligarchs evade sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Timur Turlov, CEO of Freedom Finance brokerage speaks to Reuters during the interview in the office in Moscow, Russia October 10, 2019. Freedom Holding Corp. was founded in Moscow in 2008, before later moving to Kazakhstan, and listed on the Nasdaq in 2019. After Russia invaded Ukraine early last year, U.S. sanctions essentially severed ties between American and Russian banks and companies. But according to a report from Hindenburg on Tuesday, those ties remain tight. One former senior executive alleged to Hindenburg that Russian money laundering was rampant.

Persons: Timur Turlov, Jack Dorsey's Block, Carl Icahn, Freedom, Hindenburg's, Hindenburg, OFAC, I've Organizations: Freedom Finance, Reuters, Hindenburg Research, Freedom Holding, Nasdaq, Freedom, noncompliance, U.S . Treasury Department's, Foreign Assets, SEC, European Union, Freedom's, Ukraine Locations: Moscow, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Hindenburg, Russian, United Kingdom, Belizean

☆ Viking Global slashes Amazon and insurance positions, adds to bets in biotech
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Ole Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global hedge fund slashed its holding in Amazon in the second quarter and stepped up bets in biotech, according to the latest 13F filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission . The so-called Tiger Cub's entirely new positions included a $78 million stake in Alibaba , $6.5 million in C3.ai and $132 million worth of chipmaker Nvidia . Viking Global also cut investments in the CSX railroad nearly 42%. Elsewhere, Viking Global purchased $278 million worth of Netflix stock in the second quarter and opened a $159 million position in shipping giant UPS . Viking Global managed about $24 billion in 13F securities at the end of the second quarter, according to WhaleWisdom.com .

Persons: Ole Andreas Halvorsen's, Halvorsen, Julian Robertson, Jack Dorsey's Block, Phillip Morris, Philip Morris Organizations: Ole Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Viking Global, Tiger Management, Nvidia, Viking, CSX, TJX, Meta, Netflix, UPS, Chubb Limited, Tenet Healthcare, General Electric, UnitedHealth Group, Constellation Energy, GE Locations: Ole Andreas Halvorsen's Viking, Alibaba, Viking, Progressive

☆ D1 Capital slashes big tech holdings and adds new bet on hotels, real estate
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Sundheim also added 59% to a position in Jack Dorsey's Block in the second quarter, now worth $101 million. D1 also exited its position in tech giants Amazon , Alibaba and Salesforce in the second quarter, the filing showed, and sold 21% of a stake in Google parent Alphabet. Meanwhile, D1 added new semiconductor holdings. Elsewhere, D1 added to positions in General Electric , Insulet and Elevance Health . The firm managed about $27 billion at the end of the second quarter, according to WhaleWisdom.com , including about $5 billion in 13F securities.

Persons: Dan Sundheim's, Sundheim, Jack Dorsey's Block Organizations: Capital Partners, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, Facebook, Microsoft, AMD, Nvidia, General Electric, Elevance Health, Nation Entertainment Locations: Hilton

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Google's WFH crackdown, mass layoffs are creating new founders, and Jack Dorsey's Apple Vision Pro worry
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Tech layoffs are fueling an influx of new founders building climate, health, and fintech startups. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said he liked to test AI using a poetry prompt to see if it had the "subtlety" to translate "deep meaning." Twilio's Joyce Kim said "predictive AI is going to be a core part of every tool that they use." The European parliament has voted to take steps to regulate AI technology such as ChatGPT, with its parliament backing a ban on the technology for biometric surveillance, emotion recognition, and predictive policing. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says the most common mistake he sees young people make is overplanning.

Persons: Nathan Rennolds, it's, let's, Sundar Pichai, Google's, hasn't, Simplyblock, Michael Schmidt, Robert Pankow, Jack Dorsey's, Satya Nadella, Uber, Twilio's Joyce Kim, Dara Khosrowshahi, Leigh Vogel, Elon, Kairan, Hallam Bullock Organizations: Google, Jack Dorsey's Apple, Microsoft, Summit, Getty, SpaceX, LinkedIn Locations: London, Google's, Simplyblock, Europe, New York City

☆ Australia to regulate buy-now-pay-later sector
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, May 22 (Reuters) - The Australian government said on Monday it would introduce laws that will consider buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services as a credit product in a bid to protect consumers in a largely unregulated industry. "Best way to do that is to legislate, to regulate as a credit product, so that we can manage some of the risks." But concerns about repayment have been rising as Australia battles high inflation, which now sits at near 30-year highs. Australia, home to about a dozen listed BNPL providers, has about 7 million active accounts that resulted in A$16 billion ($10.9 billion) of transactions in 2021-22, up 37%, data showed. ($1 = 1.4743 Australian dollars)Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Lincoln FeastOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The number of Twitter mobile app downloads actually declined 18% in February to 14.05 million from 17.2 million in January. Meanwhile, Twitter had 14.9 million app downloads in April, which is a 2% increase from the 14.6 million downloads it accumulated in March. Musk's Twitter makeover has sparked new interest in decentralized social networks. Elon Musk's Twitter is facing new competition from a rival called Bluesky, a so-called decentralized communications app that is backed by Twitter co-founder and twice-former CEO, Jack Dorsey. The front-end apps built atop these decentralized platforms are often clunky, not professional-looking or easy to use.

☆ No Bluesky invite? You're not alone: Biden can't get one either.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Jack Dorsey's latest social media venture, Bluesky, aims to compete with Twitter. The fledgling app is currently completing beta testing and has an extremely exclusive waitlist. The company says Biden and other heads of state are among those who can't yet create an account. Bluesky began beta testing and launched its waitlist, now nearly 2 million strong, just days after Elon Musk announced he had completed the purchase of Twitter for $44 billion. Dorsey and representatives for Bluesky did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

☆ Meta is building an 'Instagram for your thoughts' that could take on Twitter competitor — and it could be a 'great opportunity'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta is building a decentralized text-based social network that will integrate with Instagram. It's no longer a secret that Meta is building out its own decentralized text-based social network. "We're exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates," a spokesperson for Meta told Insider in a statement when asked about the prototype. "It's a great opportunity for them to fill that void with Twitter going through such a transition." Meta's decentralized social network could very well face the same fate.

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