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☆ SpaceX to raise $750 million at $137 billion valuation - CNBC
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 2 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's SpaceX is raising $750 million in a new round of funding that values the rocket and satellite company at $137 billion from investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, CNBC reported late Monday. SpaceX, which counts Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and Fidelity Investments among its investors, had raised about $1.68 billion through equity financing in June. Spokespersons for SpaceX and Horowitz did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Horowitz was also a co-investor in Musk's Twitter buyout deal worth $44 billion. SpaceX has launched numerous cargo payloads and astronauts to the International Space Station for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

☆ Elon Musk's allies slam jet tracking as more accounts are suspended and Twitter's privacy policy is updated
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk's mother and a friend have weighed in on his fight against jet tracking. Twitter has suspended an account that tracks Musk's private jet along with similar tracking accounts. Twitter has updated its private information policy to ban users from sharing someone's live location. Sweeney, who runs more than 30 jet tracking accounts, watched as @ElonJet along with his personal Twitter handle was suspended from Twitter on Wednesday. Twitter users can still share their own live location and someone else's historical location as long as it is "not same-day" data.

☆ Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin insists its passengers eat breakfast but avoid coffee and orange juice before they blast into space
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Blue Origin likes to ensure passengers tuck into breakfast before launching to the edge of space. The Hagles told Insider about their experience of flying with Blue Origin. In the days before a rocket launch, Blue Origin passengers stay in the Astronaut Village campsite in the Texas desert, around 15 miles away from the company's launch site near Van Horn. Blue Origin laid a full spread out for them, the couple said. During the interview, they also agreed with fellow Blue Origin astronaut William Shatner about space trips triggering feelings of grief and intense emotions.

☆ Amazon is on pace to lose $10 billion this year from Alexa and other devices
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Britney Nguyen | Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon is on pace to lose $10 billion this year on some devices, include its voice assistant Alexa. The team working on Alexa was one of the most supported by Jeff Bezos because it was his brainchild. Most of the loss was due to Alexa and other Amazon devices, a person familiar with Worldwide Digital previously told Insider. When Alexa launched in 2014, Amazon wanted to make sales through people using Alexa, not necessarily through people buying the Echo devices that have the Alexa voice assistant. Last week, reports of layoffs at Amazon showed they could primarily affect the team working on Alexa.

☆ A Beverly Hills mansion that MacKenzie Scott donated to a housing charity sold for $37 million, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

MacKenzie Scott gave two Beverly Hills mansions to a housing charity in September. The 12,000-square-foot home was one of two properties given to the California Community Foundation by Jeff Bezos's ex-wife in September. Bezos and Scott bought the home in 2007 for about $24.5 million. The Spanish-style home in Beverly Hills has sold for $37 million. California Community Foundation didn't immediately respond to a request for comment by Insider.

☆ Amazon is gutting its voice-assistant Alexa. Once founder Jeff Bezos's pet project it's now the primary target of historic layoffs.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Amazon's Alexa and the devices team at large is now the prime target of the biggest layoffs in the company's history, according to press reports and an internal email seen by Insider. Instead, Amazon wanted shoppers to buy more things through Echo devices by placing orders through the voice-assistant. Reports of Alexa mistakenly sending voice recordings to the wrong person or Amazon employees secretly listening to private conversations stoked fear of privacy concerns. But even so, its financial contribution often fell short of expectations, more than half a dozen employees told Insider. Employees told Insider the product is Bezos's latest pet project.

REUTERS/Michael Weekes Jr./File PhotoNov 15 (Reuters) - Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company SpaceX is in talks about an offering of mostly secondary shares that could value the company at up to $150 billion, representing a 20% increase in valuation, sources told Reuters. The offering would be aimed at helping employees and shareholders cash out, two of the sources said. That view appears to contradict earlier information from a separate source that the offering would raise up to $1 billion for SpaceX via a new share issuance. Talks with potential investors are centering around a price of $85 apiece for SpaceX shares, up from a split-adjusted $70 per share fetched earlier this year, sources said. The valuation is still fluid and any share sale plan, which requires SpaceX’s approval, could still change, the sources cautioned.

REUTERS/Michael Weekes Jr./File PhotoNov 15 (Reuters) - Billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX is in talks to raise nearly $1 billion in a new round that would value the rocket-launch and satellite company at about $150 billion, sources told Reuters. The ongoing talks offer SpaceX's share at about $85 apiece, up from the $125 billion valuation the company fetched earlier this year, sources said, suggesting strong investors' appetite while many late-stage venture capital-backed startups have to cope with valuation cut. Investors could buy new shares issued by SpaceX, or from employees who opt to sell via a private placement, or tender offer. The primary raise could fetch nearly $1 billion, one of the sources added. Investors have shown strong interest in SpaceX as the company has had a series of breakthroughs this year.

☆ Amidst the layoffs at Amazon, the company's ultra-secretive research lab is at risk of being shut. It's a sign things are changing 'dramatically' at the company.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Early last month, members of Amazon's secretive in-house research lab, Grand Challenge, were called into an unexpected video meeting. Weibel announced 3 of the 5 projects Grand Challenge was working on would shut down, effective immediately. When other team employees wanted to collaborate with the team, they needed additional approvals from its leadership. Amazon Glow was among the Grand Challenge projects to be discontinued at the end of this year. Getting support promoting Grand Challenge projects was a challenge too.

☆ I drove a $2 million electric car with 1,900 horsepower and saw the unimaginably fast future of supercars
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

I drove the Pininfarina Battista, a new electric supercar that costs $2.2 million and up. The Pininfarina Battista. Tim Levin/InsiderThe $2.2 million, 1,900-horsepower electric supercar is mind-bendingly, frighteningly quick, promising to hit 62 mph from a standstill in less than two seconds. The Pininfarina Battista. The Pininfarina Battista.

☆ Inside the frightening, thrilling experience of driving the quickest car in the world, the $2 million Pininfarina Battista
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

I tested the Pininfarina Battista, a dizzyingly quick electric supercar that costs $2.2 million and up. That's kind of what driving the Pininfarina Battista is like. The Pininfarina Battista. Tim Levin/InsiderThe $2.2 million, 1,900-horsepower electric supercar is mind-bendingly, frighteningly quick, recently claiming the world acceleration record for a street-legal car. The Pininfarina Battista.

☆ Layoffs have already started at Elon Musk's Twitter. Here's what we know so far.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk began to terminate Twitter staffers last night, insiders told us. Last night Elon Musk's Twitter broke its silence with employees and sent a memo to staffers confirming that much-anticipated layoffs were happening the following day (so, today). But staffers told us the terminations started shortly after that email went out. Workers suddenly started to get locked out of services like Slack and email around 8 p.m. PT on Thursday night, multiple employees told Insider. Citing an "unusual macro-economic environment," Amazon told staff it'd put a pause on new corporate hires.

☆ Jeff Bezos's ex-housekeeper is suing the tech billionaire, claiming she was racially discriminated against and forced to work in unsanitary conditions
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Jeff Bezos's ex-housekeeper is suing him over claims she was made to work in unsanitary conditions. A lawyer for Bezos told Bloomberg the claims have no merit. Sign up for our newsletter for the latest tech news and scoops — delivered daily to your inbox. Wedaa claimed in the complaint that she worked 10, 12, or sometimes 14-hour days without legally required breaks. The complaint claims that Bezos's housekeeping staff were not provided with a suitable place to eat and had to climb out of a window to access a bathroom.

☆ Shaquille O’Neal reveals Jeff Bezos's investing principle that he still uses today
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Shaquille O'Neal attends the second preseason NBA game between Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks at Etihad Arena on October 8, 2022 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. "If you invest in things, it's going to change people's lives, you will definitely get a nice return," the previous NBA star recalled Bezos sharing in a tech conference in Vegas. NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal shared an investment principle he heard from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, which he says has inspired his approach ever since. O'Neal added his own ten cents: "Never think about the monetary aspect ... it's not important to me." Is it gonna change people's lives?

☆ SpaceX will launch top secret US spy satellites with the reusable Falcon Heavy rocket now that it's received Space Force approval, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-08-12 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The US Space Force approved SpaceX to launch spy satellites on the Falcon Heavy rocket, per Bloomberg. Falcon Heavy is the world's most powerful rocket and has three reusable boosters. The Space Force told Bloomberg the first launch will be between October and December. The launches will come under the National Security Space Launch mission, the Space Force told Bloomberg in a statement. SpaceX and the Space Force didn't immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment made outside of normal working hours.

☆ 5 ways brands can move people from just talking about sustainability — to taking real action
▼ + stars: | 2022-06-14 | by ( Nadia Tuma-Weldon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

People say they are worried about the climate crisis, but a study shows they are unwilling to take meaningful action to address it. The language of sustainability has to change to be more focused on human, personal outcomes. "The environment" is often characterized as being separate from us and allows us to disassociate from the issue of sustainability. Further, 70% of parents say that they are worried about climate change, versus 61% of non-parents. When asked who has the greatest responsibility for reversing climate change, the top three answers are pegged neck and neck: the government, companies, and people like me.

☆ A former executive assistant to Jeff Bezos, Marissa Mayer, and Eric Schmidt shares her career tips from working with Amazon and Google's top talent
▼ + stars: | 2022-02-19 | by ( Stephen Jones | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ann Hiatt worked as Jeff Bezos's executive assistant and as chief of staff at Google for Eric Schmidt. Hiatt tells readers to find managers who they admire and who have an aspirational career path. That's the advice of Ann Hiatt, who worked as an executive assistant to Jeff Bezos and Marissa Mayer, and as chief of staff to Eric Schmidt. Amazon founder Bezos hired Hiatt in 2002 and they worked together until 2005, when she left to study for a PhD. Hiatt wrote in her book: "My next career steps have always been inspired by asking myself the key question of 'What do I want to learn in the next phase of my career?'"

☆ How massive is Jeff Bezos's wealth? A viral TikTok tried to measure it in grains of rice.
▼ + stars: | 2020-02-28 | by ( Isaac Scher | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

A viral TikTok video reimagines the wealth of Jeff Bezos, the richest person in the world, in grains of rice. Humphrey Yang, the creator of the video, found that if each grain represents $100,000, Bezos's pile of money would weigh 58 pounds. The bottom half of Americans, by contrast, have a combined negative net worth. AdvertisementIn the time it takes you to watch this TikTok video, Jeff Bezos, the richest person alive, will make more than $160,000. On Thursday, social media personality Humphrey Yang took up the challenge of counting the Amazon CEO's net worth in grains of rice.

Persons: Jeff Bezos, Humphrey Yang, Forbes, Bezos, — Organizations: Service Locations: America

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