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☆ Following Bret Taylor's departure, more top executives are leaving Salesforce
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Quick question: Have you gone "goblin mode" yet this year? I've got more on goblin mode below, but first, let's talk about Salesforce, which is seeing more executive departures this week. The news of Butterfield's departure comes just days after Salesforce announced co-CEO Bret Taylor is also leaving the company — though Butterfield told staff the moves were unrelated. Oxford Languages, the publisher of Oxford English Dictionary, named "goblin mode" the 2022 Word of the Year — beating out semifinalist "metaverse." A look at what "goblin mode" means.

☆ Exxon Mobil raises CEO, top executives base pay
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 5 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) is raising the annual base salaries of its top boss and other executives for next year, the largest U.S. oil company said on Monday. Kathryn Mikells, who became the company's chief financial officer in August last year, will receive a base pay of $1.22 million in 2023. Base salaries, however, represent less than 10% of total pay, with stock awards and bonuses making up a bigger share of what Exxon's executives pocket every year. The Houston-based oil major paid Woods a total compensation of $23.6 million in 2021 and $15.6 million in 2020. Biden has repeatedly called on U.S. oil and gas companies to use their record profits to increase production and reduce pump prices for Americans.

☆ Inside the stunning unraveling of Bright Health, a health-insurance upstart that rocketed to an $11.2 billion valuation and then cratered as it grew too fast
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Bright Health Group grew fast. "We're just starting to realize the full potential of our differentiated model, and we're excited about the future of Bright Health Group," Bright CEO G. Mike Mikan told analysts at that investor event. Bright Health is one of a handful of upstarts trying to take on the health-insurance industry. Clover Health; Bright Health; Oscar Health; Olivia Reaney/Business InsiderBreaking into the health-insurance industry is tough. Bright moves to cut expensesAs losses mounted in 2021, Bright scrambled to raise capital.

☆ Christmas vacations: 15 of the best places to go
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Cnn Staff | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

The Bath Christmas Market has a multitude of wooden chalets selling distinctively British handmade crafts in a quaint Georgian setting. Bogotá, ColombiaA woman dressed as Santa Claus sits next to a Christmas tree and a Christmas star at Bolivar Square in Bogota. Salzburg and Oberndorf, AustriaThe Christmas Market and associated festivities in Salzburg are really something to sing about. Dating back to 1570, Strasbourg claims to be the oldest Christmas market in France and one of the oldest in Europe. damianalmua/Adobe StockThe traditional Christmas colors of red, green and white take on an entirely new meaning in New Zealand.

Persons: CNN —, Santa Claus, Claus, ”, Allan Baxter, Jesus, Jane Austen, Jane Austen Centre –, Austen, Melchior, Gaspar, Balthazar, Roy Rochlin, Bergdorf Goodman, Wangari Maathai, Fernando Vergara, “ Ruta, John’s, Miguel de Allende, Mary, Joseph, “ posada ”, Mozart, White Organizations: CNN, Bath Abbey, Jane Austen Centre, The, Royal, Catholic, Rockefeller, Getty Images Rockefeller, New York, Radio City, Columbus Circle, Fashion’s, Saks Fifth, Macy’s Herald Square, Kenyan, Park, Nuremberg, Toy Museum, Bolivar, Downtown, Malta Toy Museum, Quebec City, Adobe, Nord Expe, Mexico Piñatas, UNESCO, ”, Santa Locations: England, Philippines, Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland, Santa, Bethlehem , Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, New York City, Bethlehem, Moravian, Bath, “, Fernando , Philippines, Asia, San Fernando, Catholic Philippines, Manila, of Bethlehem, Barcelona, Spain, Santa Eulalia, New York City New York, Central Park, Macy’s, Nairobi, Kenya, Nuremberg, Germany, German, Bogotá, Colombia, Bogota, Christmastime, Malta, Downtown Valletta, Quebec City, Canada, Petit Champlain, Quebec, Old Quebec, Sentier, Nord, Miguel, Mexico, posadas, ponche, Piñatas, Salzburg, Oberndorf, Austria, ” Salzburg, Bavaria, Strasbourg, France, Europe, Queenstown , New Zealand, New Zealand, Queenstown, Wakatipu

☆ Noom sells psychology-driven weight loss — but former employees say they were unprepared for and overwhelmed by users' eating disorders, depression, and trauma
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +31 min

Before joining Noom, users fill out a questionnaire asking about what diet programs or mental health apps they've used in the past. Very overly optimistic and happy, doesn't acknowledge what I'm really saying," one Noom user wrote on Reddit. Some of the coaches Insider interviewed said they were interacting with Noom users within two weeks of starting. Emotional bandwidthRachel Clair was hired as a Noom coach in 2018, at a time when the coaching staff grew from 60 to about 200. Annette Riedl/picture alliance via Getty ImagesIn October, 500 more Noom coaches were abruptly called into a virtual meeting and laid off.

☆ US gas is cheaper than before Russia invaded Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

That is down about 12 cents in the past week and 29 cents in the past month. Gas prices were climbing in January and February as investors worried about disruptions from a Russian invasion of Ukraine. A range of factors have led to the drop in gas prices – and not all of them are positive. Although gas prices are still relatively high for this time of the year, they have also completely reversed the spike caused by the war in Ukraine. Looking ahead, some forecasters see gas prices continuing to dip, although there remains uncertainty over where oil prices go from here due to questions about OPEC policy and China’s Covid lockdowns.

☆ US gas prices have fallen to their lowest since February and could drop below $3 by Christmas, GasBuddy says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Zahra Tayeb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

US gas prices fell to their lowest since February and could drop below $3 a gallon, GasBuddy said. Three states — Oklahoma, Texas and Mississippi — now have average prices of $2.99 a gallon, De Haan said in a tweet. Gas prices topped $5 a gallon in June, as global oil prices soared thanks Russia's war with Ukraine and an energy crisis in Europe. On Monday, crude oil prices have came under downward pressure as traders worried about a fall in demand from China, the world's second-biggest economy, as public protests erupted over the country's strict zero-Covid policies. Meanwhile, US demand for oil is under seasonal pressure, as cooler temperatures encourage Americans to stay at home, GasBuddy said.

☆ Which to Choose: Medicare or Medicare Advantage?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Paula Span | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +13 min

Which to Choose: Medicare or Medicare Advantage? Medicare Advantage plans, like traditional Medicare, are funded by the federal government, but they are offered though private insurance companies, which receive a set payment for each enrollee. The proportion of eligible Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans has hit 48 percent. Which is better: Medicare or Medicare Advantage? Credit... Kenny Holston for The New York Times Unlike most Medicare Advantage plans, traditional Medicare does not include drug coverage.

As at other recent international forums, the United States and its allies were seeking a statement from the two-day G20 summit against Moscow's military actions. But Russia, whose forces pounded cities and energy facilities across Ukraine even as the G20 met, said "politicization" of the summit was unfair. [1/12] Leaders gather during the G20 leaders summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. China and Russia are close, but Beijing has been careful not to provide any direct material support for the Ukraine war that could trigger Western sanctions against it. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed concern for the health of other world leaders - including Biden - after a positive COVID-19 test forced him to return home early.

☆ Binance founder Changpeng 'CZ' Zhao wants to 'rebuild' crypto post FTX collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Hong Kong CNN Business —Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao is once again in the global spotlight, this time as the self-appointed white knight of crypto as the industry is embroiled in crisis. “Let’s rebuild.”Humble beginningsZhao launched Binance in July 2017 in China, gradually building it into the world’s largest crypto exchange. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao attending the Viva Technology conference in Paris on June 16, 2022. In May, TerraUSD lost its dollar peg, which led to the collapse of its sister token and eventually created a huge global liquidity crisis in the crypto industry. The Binance chief said his firm had been asked to help as FTX grappled with liquidity issues.

☆ Analysis: Ron DeSantis' big election night shakes 2024 White House field
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( James Oliphant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Trump would be the favorite in a primary matchup against DeSantis or any other Republican. Although he has been coy about a presidential run, supporters at his victory party chanted "Two more years!" Even if Trump mounts another presidential run, he will continue to face a dizzying array of legal headaches, including probes of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his removal of classified documents from the White House. I don't like him," said two-time Trump voter Gordon Nelson, 77, as he voted for Republican candidates in Michigan on Tuesday. At a Wednesday press conference, Biden seemed amused at the prospect of Trump and DeSantis going head-to-head.

☆ Layoffs Aren’t a Good Look for Big Tech’s Growth Story
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Laura Forman | Justin Lahart | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The long list of Big Tech companies laying people off surely says something about the current state of the economy, but it might tell us more about the sector’s prospects: Investors probably need to look elsewhere for growth. Business software company Salesforce also started dismissing some employees this week. Marking one of his first moves since taking the company over, Elon Musk axed about half of Twitter’s workforce last week, while ride-hailing company Lyft , payments company Stripe and iBuyer Opendoor Technologies also just announced major reductions. Those followed a dizzying list of earlier announcements from Netflix, Shopify, Tesla, Snap, Compass, Peloton, Twilio and more. Meanwhile, Amazon.com has said it would freeze corporate hiring for months, and Alphabet ’s Google has asked some employees to apply for new jobs to remain at the company.

☆ Meta to lay off 11,000 employees, as Zuckerberg says he is 'accountable for missteps'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN Business —Facebook parent company Meta on Wednesday said it is laying off 11,000 employees, marking the most significant job cuts in the tech giant’s history. The job cuts come as Meta confronts a range of challenges to its core business and makes an uncertain and costly bet on pivoting to the metaverse. “Today I’m sharing some of the most difficult changes we’ve made in Meta’s history,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post to employees. “I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here,” Zuckerberg wrote in his post Wednesday. “At the start of Covid, the world rapidly moved online and the surge of e-commerce led to outsized revenue growth,” Zuckerberg wrote Wednesday.

☆ How Hurricane Sandy transformed the Jersey Shore into 'a playground for the rich'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

Jersey Shore residents battled through a patchwork of programs to rebuild after Hurricane Sandy. Even 10 years after Hurricane Sandy, Barbara is still reminded daily of the mental and financial toll it took on her. Courtesy of BarbaraThe bureaucratic red tape around flood insurance and rebuild programs linked to Hurricane Sandy deepened the divide between the haves and have-nots of the Jersey Shore. Milliman, an actuarial company that works with FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program, found that about 47% of coastal dwellers had flood insurance, The Inquirer reported. "After Sandy, there was a lot more money coming in," Mery, who has built Jersey Shore homes for 15 years, told Insider.

☆ Here are Monday's biggest analyst calls: Tesla, Apple, Costco, DoorDash, Berkshire Hathaway & more
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Bank of America reiterates Synchrony as buy Bank of America said the financial services company is a "hidden" beneficiary of the PayPal-Apple partnership. Bank of America downgrades Funko to neutral from buy Bank of America said in its downgrade of Funko that it sees a "challenging" holiday for the toy company. Oppenheimer upgrading DoorDash to outperform from perform Oppenheimer said it sees improving margins for the food delivery company. Bank of America reiterates Northrop Grumman as a top pick Bank of America said the company has a "best in class" space business. Oppenheimer reiterates Walmart as buy Oppenheimer said investors should buy the dip heading into Walmart earnings next week.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Carvana, Meta, Palantir, Viatris, Walgreens and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Check out the companies making the biggest moves midday:Carvana — Carvana shares shed more than 15%, with trading briefly halted at one point due to volatility. Walgreens raised its fiscal year 2025 sales goal for its U.S. health-care business to $14.5 billion to $16.0 billion, from $11.0 billion to $12.0 billion to account for the deal. Viatris — The global health-care company rallied 16% after it announced it intends to create an ophthalmology franchise by acquiring Oyster Point Pharma and Famy Life Sciences. The toymaker's shares shed nearly 60% last Friday after it delivered disappointing quarterly results and issued a weak forward guidance that included a fourth-quarter loss. DoorDash — Shares of the food delivery company rallied 2.5% after being upgraded by Oppenheimer to outperform from perform.

☆ America’s housing dream is broken
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN Business —A little over a decade ago, the dominant narrative about the housing market was that Millennials simply weren’t buying. As that 2020 housing boom begins to go bust, those who managed to close on a home in the crush of competition fed by rock-bottom mortgage rates should count themselves extremely lucky. “And this year were facing increasing home prices while mortgage rates are also climbing.”Oh yeah, one other thing: In addition to mortgage rates going up, home prices also shot up, with the median peaking at $413,800 in June. As affordability reaches crisis levels, now is a good time for federal and local governments to rethink the way we frame the American Dream. Another strong data point on jobs will only reassure the Fed that the labor market can withstand more rate hikes.

Meanwhile, the number of "mega-deals" — or funding rounds of more than $100 million — dropped to its lowest level since 2018, CB Insights also reported. According to CB Insights, the volume of payments-related dealmaking reached nearly $4 billion, or slightly less than a third of all fintech funding. And while that's not a record-breaking amount, payments are accounting for a larger amount of the fintech funding pie. One year ago, when third-quarter fintech funding topped $36 billion in the midst of a bull market, payments accounted for roughly 20% of overall funding volume. But even amid a relative pullback in broader fintech funding, payments represent a safe, evergreen thesis because it is a largely complicated and analog space.

☆ 'Black Adam' wants to be a Marvel movie, but can't leave the Snyder era behind — and it highlights the mess that DC Studios' new bosses will have to sort out
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

There are a lot of Snyder-esque moments in "Black Adam," particularly when it comes to slo-mo action sequences and an overall somber tone. Johnson's Black Adam is a serious-faced anti-hero who isn't afraid to kill a lot of people. "Black Adam" is the perfect encapsulation of both the last nearly decade of DC movies and what the franchise wants to be in the future. For all of its troubles, the DC movie universe had at least seemed to be course correcting. The director, Jaume Collet-Serra, doesn't so much as put his personal touch on it as borrow familiar touches from past Snyder-directed DC movies.

☆ Fintechs have been getting crushed this year, but the sector's biggest investors say payments are a key area to watch in 2023. Here's what they are most excited about.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Emilia David | Carter Johnson | Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

For the second time in as many election cycles, Democrats are launching an 11th-hour rescue mission to save the very House campaigns chief responsible for protecting vulnerable incumbents and preserving their fragile House majority. The DCCC also informed front-line members before announcing the ad buy in Maloney's district, a Democratic aide said. He’s built a campaign and we’ve built an operation at the DCCC that can support that reality,” Taylor said. In an interview with NBC News earlier this year, Maloney laid out that very playbook for protecting vulnerable incumbent Democrats. “While Lawler was voting against common sense gun safety reforms like not allowing teenagers to buy semi-automatic weapons, Rep. Maloney was helping pass bipartisan gun safety reforms,” Ehrenberg said in a statement.

☆ Can liberals win tough Senate races? Fetterman and Barnes hope to prove it
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Alex-Seitz-Wald-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Alex Seitz-Wald | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +9 min

WASHINGTON — At stake in this year’s key Senate races is not just the balance of power between the parties, but within them. Now this year's Senate races represent one of the toughest electoral challenges yet for the modern progressive movement. These groups will back progressives in open Senate races, but have yet to recruit someone to run against an incumbent Democrat. But both Fetterman and Barnes then went on to be elected lieutenant governor, statewide victories that helped them convince party insiders they could win U.S. Senate races. John Fetterman, the Democratic Senate nominee in Pennsylvania, greets supporters at Nether Providence Elementary School, in Wallingford on Oct. 15.

☆ Texas regulators have their eyes on one of the most powerful players in the crypto world
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Jon Sarlin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN Business —The big news in crypto this week came via a court filing in Texas. FTX, the crypto giant that is led by arguably the most powerful person in the industry, is under investigation by Texas regulators for selling unregistered securities. FDIC, OCC, SEC, DOL, FBI, US Treasury and IRS have all stepped up their crypto enforcement efforts. The crypto lawyer I spoke with told me that those who prefer the CFTC over the SEC fall into two camps. I interviewed Saylor last year for CNN’s crypto interactive (“The Bitcoin Billionaire” is what we dubbed him).

Circuit Court of Appeals in New York reversed a federal judge's ruling that said only the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had the power to review complaints about Amazon's workplace safety practices. The case involves workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island that employs about 5,000 people and had become the company's first unionized facility earlier this year. On Tuesday, workers at an Amazon warehouse near Albany, New York, voted nearly two to one to reject a union campaign in the company's fourth union election this year. Amazon has denied wrongdoing and said it took various steps to protect warehouse workers. The 2nd Circuit on Tuesday reversed with respect to the workers' claim that Amazon violated a New York state workplace safety law by failing to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

☆ 'She-Hulk' shows off its superpower and Achilles heel in a truly weird finale (SPOILERS)
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers about “She-Hulk’s” season finale. CNN —“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” revealed both its superpower and Achilles heel in the season finale: It’s a TV show for people who watch too much TV in general and too much of Marvel’s output in particular. Designed to test the parameters of how far Marvel could go with this sort of exercise, “She-Hulk” clearly delivered an unabashed out-there comedy. It’s tempting to credit “She-Hulk” for taking chances, but frankly, that has clearly been the plan with Marvel’s expansion into streaming for some time now. Part of the show’s legacy, as noted, will be the way it reintroduced Daredevil.

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