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☆ Pro poker player rants at airline over lost luggage during live broadcast — and says he still can see it pinging at the airport
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Steve O'Dwyer griped on Twitter and during a live broadcast that Lufthansa airlines lost his luggage. He told CNN he tracked the bags with an AirTag, which indicated they were at Heathrow, but he still hasn't gotten them back. The pro player took to Twitter to share other airline customers' accounts of mishandled luggage. Following the tournament, O'Dwyer recounted to CNN his journey from Ireland to the Bahamas with a connecting flight at Heathrow Airport. After O'Dwyer bashed Lufthansa during the tournament broadcast, he continued to tweet at the airline and some of its employees.

☆ Airbnb hosts' latest trick to draw more bookings: $0 cleaning fees
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Airbnb guests griped last year over cleaning fees added after they picked a place but before paying. Still, some hosts say explicitly advertising $0 cleaning fees helps increase bookings. More than two months after the change took effect, some Airbnb hosts told Insider they still saw resentment lingering among travelers. The hosts told Insider it seemed to generate interest in their rentals and even increase bookings during a tough time for some short-term-rental owners. Dan Latu/InsiderMelissa Hughes has never imposed cleaning fees at her goat farm in Tallahassee, Florida.

☆ Satellite images hint at scale of Russian mercenary group's losses in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Aina J. Khan | Aina Is A Freelance Reporter With Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The number of graves at a cemetery used by Russia's notorious mercenary Wagner Group has dramatically grown over the last two months, satellite images show. Satellite images show an increase in graves at a cemetery in Bakinskaya, Russia, from Nov. 24, 2022, to Jan. 24, 2023. The Wagner Group previously provided assistance to the Russian military during conflicts in Syria and Libya. The U.S. government said last week that it will designate Wagner Group as a “significant transnational criminal organization” and impose further sanctions against the organization and its support network. The Wagner Group did not comment on the satellite images and video footage.

☆ How the dollar's sharp reversal could be an unexpected positive for these companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Patti Domm | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

But with the dollar's stunning reversal since then, some companies should conversely start to catch a currency break and potentially see upside surprises. In the fourth quarter, because of the sophisticated hedging strategies from companies, they may not get the full benefit of the dollar's decline. Johnson & Johnson, for instance, said fourth quarter sales fell, in part because of the negative impact from currency translation. 3M said fourth quarter sales were 5% lower than they would have been were it not for the stronger dollar. Sacconaghi said the market has typically rewarded tech companies' "currency beats."

☆ Trump says US is giving Ukraine too much support, as new skeptical Republicans take office and swing control of the House
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Former President Donald Trump said the US is giving Ukraine too much aid in its fight against Russia. The new Republican House majority will likely try to more closely monitor Ukraine aid. The US has given Ukraine $48 billion in humanitarian and military aid in its war with Russia. "The good old USA "suckers" are paying a VAST majority of the NATO bill, & outside money, going to Ukraine. Some of Trump's congressional allies have previously echoed his comments on Ukraine, calling for tighter monitoring of the billions in aid the US provides Ukraine.

☆ Auto Dealers Gird for Softening Demand Amid Higher Rates, Uncertain Outlook
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Nora Eckert | Mike Colias | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Car shoppers for nearly two years have expressed frustration over a lack of availability and griped about dealers charging above manufacturer’s suggested price. For nearly two years, car dealers have been focused on getting more cars onto their lots amid a severe inventory crunch. Now, some are worried about how quickly they will be able to move them off. Slim selection at dealerships since mid-2021 created a backlog of consumer demand. At many dealerships, that trend has meant most vehicles arriving from the factory are presold, often at prices well above the manufacturers’ suggested retail price.

☆ Taylor Swift, Drake, Bad Bunny: How much it costs to see Spotify's top artists live
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Kamaron Mcnair | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Entertainment giant Live Nation reported a record 44 million quarterly attendance at concerts between July and October, with a whopping 89 million fans attending over 11,000 events so far this year. But recent events have highlighted issues fans have with ticket pricing, especially the market dominance Ticketmaster (owned by Live Nation) has taken. Still, Ticketmaster's gross transaction value before fees is up 62% from 2019, Live Nation reports. The survey also revealed 38% of concertgoers were willing to pay more for better seats, up to $328 for their favorite artists. High demand equals high ticket costsNaturally, the most popular artists are able to command higher ticket prices.

☆ Inflation is coming down. Here's what that means for your annual pay raise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Once you pay people more, it's hard to claw that back even when inflation starts to come back down. Inflation and annual pay are not in a one-to-one relationship. That became clear to many workers last year when their annual merit increases in salary and wages were not anywhere near the four-decade highs for inflation. But Reilly said that to date, the numbers are "solidly at 4%" for both executive and rank-and-file pay increases. Pearl Meyer research indicates that merit increases are a lagging indicator relative to inflation and costs.

WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was re-elected as Republican leader on Wednesday, defeating a challenge from Sen. Rick Scott of Florida that reflects growing angst within the party after it underperformed in the midterm elections. It is the most serious challenge McConnell has faced for his position after leading the Republican caucus for 15 years. “I welcome the contest.”McConnell is now on track to become the longest-serving Senate caucus leader in history. “That option is represented by Rick Scott currently.”Scott's challenge has rankled some in the Republican caucus, who attribute the 2022 defeats to his handling of the NRSC. “Rick Scott must really love to lose,” griped one Senate GOP aide.

☆ Video shows Russian soldiers on the front lines in Ukraine griping about not having enough training, supplies, or food
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Video apparently shows Russian troops in Ukraine griping about not having enough training or food. an apparent Russian soldier griped in the video posted to Facebook this week by Ukrainian journalist Yurii Butusov. "We're on the fucking front lines," the man said in the two-minute video, which shows several soldiers huddled around each other in the thick of the woods. We only got our fucking pants," said the man, who added, "Long live the fucking Russian army!" "But the video shows that Russia is not able to carry out mobilization properly," Butusov said.

☆ Even Barry Sternlicht is getting hammered by rising rates. A recent deal his $6 billion firm backed out of shows how.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The scuttled deal shows how rising rates have hit Starwood CEO Barry Sternlicht's bottom line. It has canceled its plans to purchase the Stamford, Connecticut, mortgage originator Luxury Mortgage Corp., according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal. The situation with Luxury Mortgage, however, shows how rising rates have also affected Starwood's bottom line. A budding partnership was upended by rising ratesIn recent years, Starwood has become one of Luxury Mortgage's biggest customers. Luxury Mortgage's business has also been strained in recent months.

☆ Trump says Joe Manchin has gone 'off the rails' and should have been 'brought into the Republican Party long ago'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that Sen. Joe Manchin had gone "off the rails." One of the most prominent examples was when he gutted President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" spending plan. "When people ask, 'What happened to Joe Manchin, why did he go off the rails?' "The fact is, Joe Manchin should have been brought into the Republican Party long ago," Trump wrote. In December, McConnell invited Manchin to join the GOP and slammed the Democratic Party for calling Manchin a "liar."

☆ Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav faces 3 key challenges as financial headwinds disrupt his strategy and threaten his promises to Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman crystallized the daunting task ahead for Zaslav and WBD in his August 5 report "Reality First. The honeymoon was short-lived," said one senior Hollywood insider. It turns out there are five, housing some 40,000 employees globally: Warner Bros., HBO Max, the Turner entertainment channel business, CNN, and Discovery. The WBD insider said there isn't a rush to hire a new chief and that the company will continue to meet people. Under the ownership of AT&T, WarnerMedia's financials were buried in its parent's spreadsheets — now as a pure-play entertainment company, Warner Bros.

☆ Manchin bemoans the 'strange bedfellows' of Bernie Sanders and the Senate GOP teaming up to oppose his plan to streamline construction of fossil fuel projects
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Joseph Zeballos-Roig | Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Manchin bemoaned the bipartisan opposition that's brewing against his energy bill. "What I'm hearing is that this is like revenge politics," Manchin said Tuesday. Democratic leaders want to overhaul the permitting process for fossil fuel and clean energy projects. "I've been around a long time in state politics and federal politics," Manchin said at a Tuesday press conference. That Democrat-only bill poured $433 billion into clean energy tax credits, healthcare subsidies and imposed a minimum tax on profitable corporations.

☆ A bunch of Googlers who used to work at Amazon are internally sharing horror stories about their former employer's 'frupid' and aggressive culture
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-14 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Googlers who used to work at Amazon are sharing how much they hated being at the e-commerce giant. Amazon is a very kill-or-be-killed environment," one of the people on the email thread told Insider. By default, product managers received subpar Windows laptops and weren't eligible for Apple devices, this person wrote. "Pretty frupid to save $200 on something that could increase the productivity of an engineer you were paying six figures to," this person wrote. "I tend to like everything about Amazon culture better than Google except one thing: how the employees are treated ;)," another person wrote.

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