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☆ Opinion | Puerto Rico Will Not Go Quietly Into the Dark
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-23 | by ( Yarimar Bonilla | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In 2020 the Puerto Rican government transferred management of the electric grid to a newly minted Canadian-American private company, Luma Energy. It promised to bring clean, reliable energy to Puerto Rico after the state-owned Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority filed for bankruptcy and Hurricane Maria knocked out the island’s ailing electric grid. So why is it that four years later, my mom is still cursing in the dark? Puerto Rico’s power crisis illustrates the consequences of putting essential services in the hands of a private entity. Puerto Ricans deserve a power grid that works for them, not against them.

Persons: Hurricane Maria Organizations: Puerto, Luma, Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, Hurricane, Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rico Locations: San Juan, P.R, Puerto Rican, American, Puerto Rico, Puerto

☆ This little-known biotech stock is primed to surge nearly 50%, Canaccord says
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-20 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Positive data from Intra-Cellular Therapies ' latest study could herald further success for the biotechnology stock, according to Canaccord Genuity. The updated forecast implies that shares of Intra-Cellular Therapies could soar nearly 50% from their Tuesday close at $75.48. "We believe the solidity of the Phase 3 data means an approval for luma in MDD is more of a when, not if." Shares of Intra-Cellular Therapies have risen less than 4% this year. But the analyst believes the stock has been "somewhat constrained" due to investors' overly cautious nature with luma's potential patent runway, he wrote.

Persons: Canaccord, Sumant Kulkarni, Kulkarni, —, Fred Imbert Organizations: Therapies, Cellular Locations: MDD

☆ A new crop of startups wants to help solve loneliness among millennials and Gen Z. Here's how they're connecting strangers and making money.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Lauren Johnson | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Plus, the pandemic and the shift to working from home have made millennials and Gen Z lonelier than ever, thanks in part to doomscrolling. "I believe the conventional 'make friends' apps too closely mimic the dating model, which can feel awkward and high-pressure for making friends," he said. The group hosts "reading parties" at bars and event spaces with the goal of helping people connect through reading. Dinner With Friends, a group that throws dinner parties, has worked on sponsored events with brands like Bumble and Geneva. Dinner With Friends founder Anita Michaud said brands typically either sponsor entire dinners or provide products — like canned cocktails — for the dinner parties.

Persons: —, they've, Danial Hashemi, Sydney, Z, millennials, Cliff Lerner, Lisa Oreshkina, Saneblidze, Tom Worchester, Andreessen Horowitz, Victor Pontis, Luma, Liz Chick, Gen, Mira Hobbs, ReCreate's Chick, Anita Michaud, Peter Boyce II, Boyce, Maitree Mervana Parekh, Marlon Nichols, they're, it's, Ben Bradbury Organizations: Service, Business, Sydney Bradley, Big Tech, Tech, Timeleft, Reading, Facebook, VC, Wine, Bumble, New, Acrew, MaC Venture, Reading Rhythms Locations: New York City, Los Angeles, New York, Brooklyn, Squarespace, Lisbon, Amsterdam, London, San Francisco, Geneva

Shop at Amazon Shop at DreoTyphur Sous Vide Station If you’ve been wanting to venture into the benefits of cooking with Sous Vide, Typhur’s Sous Vide Station incorporates all functions of sous vide cooking into one unit, with a built-in tank, scheduling functions, and step-by-step cooking instructions on a large LCD display. Shop at Amazon Shop at TramontinaAdvertisementSustainability and alternative materialsEco-friendly materials are at the forefront of home and kitchen design. Shop at Amazon Shop at UmbraFull Circle Grate Expectations Stainless Steel Coarse Grater with Food Catcher Full Circle should be on your radar for eco-friendly cleaning tools and hydration solutions. From earth tones and pastels to vibrant collections, you can coordinate your kitchen in monochrome hues, prints, and textures. Shop at Amazon Shop at Walmart Shop at TargetLuma Nugget Countertop Ice Maker We've been searching for a more affordable nugget ice maker, and this small appliance from Luma might be the one.

Persons: It's, Dreo ChefMaker Combi Fryer, you’ve, Zyliss, Joe Derochowski, Dyson, Brabantia Organizations: Business, Shop, kraft, Cork, Walmart, Everest

Publicly listed data company LiveRamp's $200 million acquisition of data clean room provider Habu looks set to fire the starting pistol for a more buoyant year of adtech and martech M&A, experts have predicted. He noted that while ad teams aren't using these clean rooms en masse, many have activated them, which bodes well for the Habu acquisition. ID5's technology is deployed by the most online publishers of any identity service, according to Sincera , which measures which adtech companies are used across the industry. LiveRamp, also, could be an acquisition target, Salmon noted, as it builds out new data offerings like the clean rooms it will inherit from Habu. But not everyone is predicting the Habu acquisition will necessarily lead to an influx of M&A around cookieless adtech.

Persons: Conor McKenna, Luma's McKenna, Shailin Dhar, Dhar, Mathieu Roche, who've, InfoSum, Myles Younger, Dan Salmon, Wayne Blodwell, ID5, Roche, " Roche, Salmon, Elgin Thompson, hasn't, Thompson Organizations: Business, LUMA Partners, FIT Holdings, Companies, New, Research, Impact Media, Citizens JMP Securities, Walmart Locations: adtech, LiveRamp, Habu

☆ Adtech firm GroundTruth hires bankers to pursue a possible sale
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Originally known as xAd, GroundTruth was founded in 2003 and has raised more than $160 million in funding, per PitchBook. GroundTruth's advertising platform is powered by its location data that allows advertisers to model their campaigns based on real-world information, like visits to stores. GroundTruth almost reached a deal to sell WeatherBug in 2019, but talks ultimately collapsed, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The current plan is to sell WeatherBug and GroundTruth as separate assets, the people familiar with the process said. As new privacy laws roll out across the world, increasing scrutiny has been poured on companies that transact location data.

Persons: GroundTruth, Adtech Organizations: Hooters, iHeart, Cox, Scripps, Data Protection, LUMA Partners, TV Locations: Florida

☆ Ad verification company DoubleVerify to acquire AI firm Scibids in $125 million deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ad verification company DoubleVerify plans to acquire adtech firm Scibids for around $125 million. It intends to use Scibids' AI expertise to help advertisers better target and optimize ad campaigns. DoubleVerify, the publicly-listed ad verification company, has entered into an agreement to acquire AI-powered adtech firm Scibids in a cash and stock deal valued at $125 million. The product matches DoubleVerify's media quality and ad performance data with Scibids' AI algorithms to let advertisers improve the performance of their campaigns. Around $66 million of the Scibids purchase price will be paid in cash with the remainder in DoubleVerify common stock.

Persons: DoubleVerify, Mark Zagorski, Zagorski, Scibids, Brian Andersen, Dick Filippini, Mark Greenbaum Organizations: Diageo, Dell, Fortune, Microsoft, Allianz, Spotify, LUMA Partners Locations: Paris, France, DoubleVerify, adtech

☆ Wall Street is empowering its employees to build their own tech tools. But who is keeping track of all this stuff?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A story about training non-tech workers that has nothing to do with ChatGPT? Man Group, a $144 billion investment firm, has a popular training program to get non-tech workers up to speed on coding and data-science. Programs like <develop>, along with the rise of ChatGPT, speak to a wider trend across Wall Street of enabling employees to build their own tools despite not having a background in tech. Empowering people to build their own tools and apps to streamline their work seems great on paper. Read more about how Man Group teaches non-tech workers programming skills that help them save time.

☆ Terence Kawaja's adtech-focused investment bank Luma Partners may lose 3 of its partners amid a disagreement over its future direction
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Luma Partners' three partners are currently planning to exit the company, Insider has learned. It followed a disagreement with Luma Founder and CEO Terence Kawaja about the future vision for the firm. Luma Partners, the adtech-focused investment bank may lose all three of its partners following a disagreement with the company's founder, Terence Kawaja, about the future direction of the firm, Insider has learned. Kawaja's court jester style is in sharp contrast to that of Andersen, Greenbaum, and Filippini who tend to keep a lower profile. For the moment, they remain partners with Luma, which is currently working on a live M&A deal, Andersen said.

☆ Meet the urban investor combining real estate, venture capital, and private equity to spend $5.5 billion making cities more liveable
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Urban Partners will combine real estate, venture capital, private equity, and credit under one company. "We started thinking about what real estate investing can do beyond just a piece of investment," Claus Mathisen, CEO of Urban Partners, told Insider. "You start thinking about servicing customers – the stakeholders who actually use the real estate – and you design around them." Urban Partners is working with mayors to figure out what they need to make their cities more livable. Cobe ArchitectsInstead of focusing on financial return on investment, Urban Partners is also using environmental impact as a KPI.

☆ Adtech company MediaMath has hired bankers to explore a possible sale
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

MediaMath has appointed investment bank Houlihan Lokey to explore its strategic options. Amid a period of major upheaval, MediaMath has been pursuing a sale since 2020. Adtech company MediaMath has appointed the investment bank Houlihan Lokey to explore its strategic options, which could include a debt restructuring or a sale, according to two people familiar with the matter. It's the third investment bank MediaMath has appointed in three years, amid a period of major upheaval for the company. While MediaMath held serious talks with four companies between 2020 and 2022, including Amazon and the publicly traded adtech firm Tremor, a sale didn't materialize.

☆ MediaMath seemed destined for a $1B fairy-tale exit. Instead, most early investors got nothing.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

At its Halloween party in 2015, the adtech startup MediaMath seemed on the brink of greatness. The machine-learning revolution that took over the financial industry was finally happening in marketing, and many industry insiders considered MediaMath to be the hottest adtech company of the time. "We never came close to consummating such a deal with MediaMath nor entertained the purported valuation," said a representative for Singtel. The Trade Desk, the most comparable independent DSP company to MediaMath, was riding high after its 2016 initial public offering. The quasi-equity agreement was structured to protect Searchlight if MediaMath didn't perform to certain quotas or if things went south financially.

Not only have marketers been pausing ad spend en masse, YouTube is also battling TikTok for audiences and content creators. Industry insiders credit Mohan with building out the ad products that made YouTube Google's main growth engine for so many years. Tal Chalozin, CTO and cofounder of the adtech company Innovid, said that Mohan's expertise stretches across all of YouTube's ad business, particularly adtech. "He was leading product for the launch of YouTube Premium and YouTube TV, and the growth of YouTube Music," said one former YouTube employee. "It's now Neal and YouTube against TikTok, and that's the existential battle for short-form video monetization and creators," Norman said.

☆ 4 reasons why Amazon's advertising business is still surging while Meta, Google, and Snap are all wrestling with declines
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Ryan Joe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Amazon's ad business grew 19% over the past year, while rivals like Meta were managing a decline. Amazon's ad business seems to be the only major ad business that's on the upswing. Part of the reason is that Amazon's ad business is newer than Google's and Meta's so a higher growth rate should be expected. Insider spoke with several ad buyers and industry experts to reveal why Amazon's ad business is growing compared to competitors like Google, Meta, and Snap. Both McKenna and Kern Schireson, CEO of the ad agency Known, believe this is the biggest reason why Amazon's ad business is thriving compared to its competitors.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A new private company will take over power generation units owned by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, the public corporation currently in charge of generating energy on the U.S. territory. The power generation equipment in Puerto Rico, plagued by ongoing blackouts and decaying infrastructure, is on average about 45 years old — twice the age of those on the U.S. mainland. The company and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) are currently undergoing a transition process set to last 100 days. Officials in Puerto Rico have been taking steps toward privatizing power generation for some time. Power customers in Puerto Rico have seen seven electric rate increases last year, even though people in Puerto Rico already pay about twice as much as mainland U.S. customers for unreliable service.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The governing board of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, the public corporation currently in charge of energy generation on the island, approved a contract that brings the U.S. territory one step closer to privatizing power generation. Less than 4% of Puerto Rico’s power generation currently comes from renewable energy. Power generation units in Puerto Rico are on average about 45 years old, twice those of the U.S. mainland. As part of the ongoing privatization process, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority relinquished the island’s power transmission and distribution system to Luma Energy. It’s unclear whether privatizing power generation would have any impact on such efforts.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The government of Puerto Rico is a step closer to privatizing power generation on the island despite widespread skepticism among consumers, who crave a reliable source of electricity after decades of random power outages. The contract needs to be approved by the governing board of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and signed by Gov. Power generation units in Puerto Rico are on average about 45 years old, twice those of the U.S. mainland. The system was previously managed by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. The privatization process follows ongoing issues around Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's bankruptcy.

☆ Google will soon kill the cookie, and 2023 will be the year to show whether the technology invented to replace it can save the ad industry's revenue
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Ryan Joe | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The loss of the cookie and other ways to identify people online has caused ad revenue to crater. "Too soon to say, but the platforms don't like it," said David Temkin, a Google executive who focuses on ads privacy. "Clean rooms we think are promising because they can respect user privacy," Temkin said. He notes that clean rooms can be slow and expensive. The prevalence of retail media already jumpstarted the need for clean rooms in 2022, said Scott Howe, CEO of LiveRamp, which provides clean rooms and identifiers.

☆ From ads in video games, retail media, and cookieless tracking — experts predict these surging areas will drive ad industry M&A in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Despite an economic downturn, experts predict there will be plenty of advertising M&A in 2023. While that could include some and firesales, deals are expected in hot areas like retail media and CTV. Insider spoke to more than a dozen industry experts who dished on the trends that will drive advertising M&A next year. Companies in hot areas like performance marketing, retail media and CTV will buy others to build out their offeringsPerformance marketing, retail media, and the growth of connected TV advertising have been among the hottest trends for advertising companies and agencies in recent years. Areas like retail media and ad-supported streaming are on fire.

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Luma Energy secured an extension on its temporary contract Wednesday following a 4-1 vote by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s board. Government officials promised Luma Energy and the partial privatization of the power grid would improve electric services. On other occasions, Luma Energy blamed outages on bad weather and sargassum, a type of seaweed. Still unresolved is the bankruptcy proceeding for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, which owes nearly $9 billion, the largest debt of any government agency. As soon as a federal judge approves a debt restructuring plan for the power authority, Luma Energy's contract will become permanent for 15 years.

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☆ Elon Musk is threatening to 'thermonuclear name and shame' advertisers that press pause on Twitter. It's a dumb thing to do to your biggest customers.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Jake Swearingen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

After advertisers paused spending, Musk went on the offensive, tweeting that advertisers were causing a "massive drop in revenue," He continued: "Extremely messed up! Per a Standard Media Index report, total advertising spending was down by 5% year-over-year in September. Other advertising giants like YouTube and Meta reported year-over-year declines in advertising revenue, with YouTube down by 2% and Meta down by 4%. Brand advertising relies highly on "brand safe" outlets where ads won't appear near objectionable content like violence, pornography, or hate speech. To replace the $40 million in lost monthly revenue, Twitter would need to sign up a little over 5 million Twitter Blue accounts paying $8 a month in its first month.

☆ Elon Musk threats to 'thermonuclear name and shame' companies that paused advertising on Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

On Friday, Elon Musk threatened a 'thermonuclear name and shame' against companies that paused advertising on Twitter. Before the takeover, Musk promised investors Twitter wouldn't become a "free-for-all hellscape" in a letter. Musk said a "thermonuclear name & shame" is coming to companies that have paused their advertising as they wait to see the direction Twitter takes under his new leadership. Before taking the helm of Twitter, Musk tweeted an open letter to advertisers promising the platform wouldn't become a "free-for-all hellscape." Companies including General Motors, Volkswagen, Audi, and Pfizer have all paused their advertising on Twitter, expressing concern over potential threats to brand safety and shifts to content moderation strategy.

☆ Five years after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico's power grid is still costly and unreliable
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Fred Imbert | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The state of Puerto Rico's power grid has been a sore spot for many island businesses and residents, leading to backlash against Luma Energy — the company brought in to operate and improve the grid after Hurricane Maria. Many businesses were forced to shut down for weeks after Hurricane Fiona hit. Luma Energy officially took over control of the island's power grid in June 2021 for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA. In July, about two months before Hurricane Fiona hit Puerto Rico, hundreds of residents marched to Gov. The company also said Oct. 10 that power had been restored to 99% of clients affected by Hurricane Fiona.

☆ Some 349,000 still without power in Puerto Rico after Fiona
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Reuters) - An estimated 349,000 homes and businesses were still without power in Puerto Rico on Wednesday after Hurricane Fiona hit on Sept. 18, causing an island-wide power outage for its 3.3 million people. After hitting Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Hurricane Fiona turned north and slammed into eastern Canada on Sept. 24, leaving over a third of Nova Scotia without power. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterFiona hit Puerto Rico about five years after Hurricane Maria knocked out all power on the island. At that time the now bankrupt Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) was still operating the grid. Puerto Rico is restoring power to homes more quickly in the wake of Hurricane Fiona than after Hurricane Maria five years ago, when it took months before the island fully recovered.

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