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☆ Barbie is everywhere this summer. Here are the stocks that can benefit from the highly anticipated film
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

But can the same be said for Mattel shares? Mattel stock is up more about 19% on a year to date basis after a mixed start to the year. Into the Barbie release, the stock reflects the growing buzz. Mattel shares moved from $17.59 on June 1 to breaking into the $20 range for the first time since February. Though Barbie is not a typical film in the space given its adult audience, Jefferies analyst Andrew Uerkwitz said, it can still help Mattel sales incrementally.

Persons: Gordon Haskett, Don Bilson, Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Bilson, Goldman Sachs, Stephen Laszczyk, Davidson, Linda Bolton Weiser, Bolton Weiser, Barbie, Brett Feldman, Jefferies, Andrew Uerkwitz, Roth, David Bellinger, Bellinger, Mario, Morgan Stanley, Benjamin Swinburne, ramped, Oppenheimer, Laszczyk, David Karnovsky, Karnovsky, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Mattel, Warner Bros, Lions, Lions Gate, Hasbro, MAT, Analysts, Universal Pictures, Mario Bros, Hollywood, JPMorgan, CNBC, Alliance, Television Producers, Guild of America Locations: 2H23

Kelly Hanna’s leg was amputated on a summer day in 2020, after a Michigan doctor who called himself the “leg saver” had damaged her arteries by snaking metal wires through them to clear away plaque. Her podiatrist referred Ms. Hanna to Dr. Jihad Mustapha. Over 18 months, he performed at least that many artery-opening procedures on Ms. Hanna’s legs, telling her they would improve blood flow and prevent amputations. They didn’t — for Ms. Hanna or many of his other patients. An insurance company told state authorities that 45 people had lost limbs after treatment at his clinics in the past four years.

Persons: Kelly Hanna’s, Hanna, Dr, Jihad Mustapha, —, Mustapha Organizations: Surgeons, The New York Times Locations: Michigan

☆ Amazon seller consultant avoids jail in employee bribery scheme
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Annie Palmer | In Annierpalmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Rosenberg, 48, is a well-known figure in the world of Amazon third-party sellers. The case provides an unfiltered glimpse into the cottage industry of consultants and brokers that has flourished alongside the growth of Amazon's third-party marketplace. A former Amazon employee was sentenced last year to 10 months in prison, while a consultant who also sold products on Amazon is serving 20 months in prison. In one case, Rosenberg made 33 different PayPal payments worth $18,650 to an Amazon employee in Seattle in exchange for confidential information about third-party seller accounts. He later admitted he made false statements about the case and admitted to bribing Amazon employees in a public apology posted online.

Persons: Ephraim, Ed, Rosenberg, it's, scammers, Joe Nilsen, Sellers, Nilsen, Rosenberg's, Jacob Laufer Organizations: Facebook, Amazon, Street Journal, Prosecutors, Seattle, Bloomberg, CNBC Locations: Brooklyn, China, Seattle

☆ Meta could become even more dominant in social media with Threads
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Washington CNN —In less than 48 hours, Meta’s Twitter rival Threads has surpassed 70 million sign-ups, upended the social media landscape and appears to have rattled Twitter enough that it is now threatening legal action against Meta. By promoting Threads through Instagram, and by sharing Instagram user data with Threads to let people instantly recreate their social networks, Meta has significantly greased the onboarding process. The issue isn’t limited to the realm of social media. Rather than viewing it through the lens of a social media market, one helpful way to look at the issue is from the perspective of the advertising market, he said. That could lead to further antitrust scrutiny for Meta even if the question about competition in social media is ambiguous.

Persons: Elon, Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, ”, Instagram, Musk, ” Reddit, Alexis Ohanian, Ohanian, Agustin Reyna, Reyna, Adam Mosseri, Geoffrey Manne, ” Manne, Zuckerberg, Manne, Jeff Blattner, Mosseri, Charlotte Slaiman, “ Organizations: Washington CNN, Meta, Twitter, EU, Google, Center for Law Locations: Europe, Brussels, Portland , Oregon, Washington

☆ A Bravo-obsessed Instagram account and podcast notched its biggest growth month ever amid 'Vanderpump Rules' #Scandoval. Here's its plan to keep the momentum going as the drama winds down.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Ashley Rodriguez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The most explosive season of Bravo's "Vanderpump Rules" ended last week. The world of "Vanderpump Rules" was rocked in March when longtime cast member Ariana Madix discovered her partner of nine years, Tom Sandoval, had been having an affair with one of her close friends, Raquel Leviss. One Bravo-focused account seized the #Scandoval moment and gained 44,000 Instagram followersBravo by Betches, an Instagram account devoted to all things Bravo from Betches Media, had its biggest growth month ever during March. While growth has slowed since peak #Scandoval, the women's media company has managed to sustain some of the Vanderpump bump. Before #Scandoval, the audience for "Vanderpump Rules" had been waning and Bravo by Betches wasn't posting about the show as much.

Persons: Betches, Ariana Madix, Tom Sandoval, Raquel Leviss, dishing, Bravo, Madix, Sami Sage, Daisy Kelliher, Dylan Hafer, —, It's, lt's, Hafer Organizations: Bravo, Betches, Betches Media, Apple, Housewives, New Locations: Orange County, New York

☆ How MrBeast Became the Willy Wonka of YouTube
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Max Read | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Compared with the strange and compelling creatures on display elsewhere on YouTube, it can be hard to understand precisely what’s appealing about MrBeast. Eligible creators on the platform earn around half of the revenue from advertising that YouTube sells against their videos. Even within this context, Donaldson stands out for his dedication to understanding how YouTube works. For most of his teenage years, “I woke up, I studied YouTube, I studied videos, I studied filmmaking, I went to bed and that was my life,” Donaldson once told Bloomberg. “I hardly had any friends because I was so obsessed with YouTube,” he said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” last year.

Persons: Donaldson, MrBeast, ”, —, “, ” Donaldson, Joe Rogan, Rogan, Warren Buffett Organizations: YouTube, Bloomberg, Berkshire Hathaway, Forbes

☆ The IRS is cracking down on a popular small business tax break that could lead to a costly audit
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Cheryl Winokur Munk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

A cottage industry of specialist firms has sprung up to help business owners claim the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), a governmental tax incentive intended for companies stressed by the pandemic. To be sure, the IRS warned business owners last October to be on the lookout for third parties promoting improper ERC claims. The IRS went so far as to add fraudulent claims involving the ERC to its annual "Dirty Dozen" list of tax scams. Start by understanding the basic ERC claim requirementsStart by knowing the basics so you can understand whether your business may qualify for a credit. Another red flag is when a third party doesn't ask for documentation to ensure a business owner qualifies, Perrone said.

Persons: Donald N, Hoffman, Danny Werfel, Gina Perrone, Sax, Jenn McCabe, Perrone Organizations: ERC —, Eisner Advisory, IRS, ERC, CPA, Small Business Administration, Armanino

☆ Why job searches suck right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Adrienne Matei | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Finding a job right now isn't only tough, it's deeply weird. Individually, ghost-job postings can erode both trust in the job market and the morale of job seekers who are applying to hundreds of positions and never hearing back. On a macro level, ghost-job postings contribute to a skewed sense of how many opportunities are really out there for US job seekers right now. Job platforms — including LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Indeed, and Monster — also use language-processing AI tools to filter applicants. Suddenly, knowing how to work with AI tools and resources is an important edge for job seekers to have.

☆ Your Job Search Sucks Right Now Due to AI Hiring, Ghost Job Listings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Adrienne Matei | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Finding a job right now isn't only tough, it's deeply weird. On a macro level, ghost-job postings contribute to a skewed sense of how many opportunities are really out there for US job seekers right now. Job platforms — including LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Indeed, and Monster — also use language-processing AI tools to filter applicants. And now, generative AI tools like ChatGPT are contributing to job loss. Suddenly, knowing how to work with AI tools and resources is an important edge for job seekers to have.

☆ Exclusive: Google's VC firm just led a $12 million Series A investment in Range, a startup that's training AI to give financial advice
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The company is training an AI model to give financial advice and hopes to make human advisors obsolete within a decade. Enter Range, a startup that's looking to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to make human financial planners obsolete. The company is building out a suite of financial planning tools aimed at aging millennials and designed to help streamline investing, saving, and estate planning. 'We're looking to replace you'These recommendations are reviewed and "massaged" by human advisors before being passed on to clients. She said she's excited about the prospect of making her own job obsolete if it means more people having access to financial planning.

☆ 'I do TikTok to rip people off.' Videos produced in China are hawking scam products to millions, FT reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

They're pedaling products like fake weight loss coffee and acne medicine, the FT found. The FT said in its report that it had flagged 25 products in TikTok's UK marketplace; TikTok said those products have since been removed. TikTok, meanwhile, told the FT that it "has strict policies to protect users from fake, fraudulent, or misleading content," including advertisements. Mo told the FT that he was joking; he couldn't be reached by Insider. In a statement to the FT, TikTok said it "has strict policies to protect users from fake, fraudulent, or misleading content," including advertisements.

☆ Porn on Amazon's Kindle app prompts warnings from Apple, Alphabet
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Greg Bensinger | Thomson Reuters | Greg Bensinger Joined Reuters As A Technology Correspondent In Focusing On The World'S Largest Technology Companies. He Was Previously A Member Of The New York Times Editorial Board | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Reuters learned of the issue when two families told Reuters their pre-teen sons downloaded the explicit material via Amazon's Kindle Unlimited e-book subscription service and viewed the full-color photographs on the Kindle iPhone app. Pornography also is available through Amazon's Kindle online store and viewable on versions of the Kindle app. The adult material at issue is primarily self-published through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing arm. The Apple app store’s guidelines “prohibit apps dedicated to portraying overtly sexual or pornographic material,” the company said in a statement. As of Monday, adult materials were still accessible on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited via the iOS and Android apps.

☆ ChatGPT launches boom in AI-written e-books on Amazon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Greg Bensinger | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

In the edition, Sammy the Squirrel, crudely rendered also using AI, learns from his forest friends about saving money after happening upon a gold coin. While that may not sound like much, it is enough to inspire him to compose other books using the software. There were over 200 e-books in Amazon’s Kindle store as of mid-February listing ChatGPT as an author or co-author, including "How to Write and Create Content Using ChatGPT," "The Power of Homework" and poetry collection "Echoes of the Universe." There is even a new sub-genre on Amazon: Books about using ChatGPT, written entirely by ChatGPT. In the video, White says anyone with the wherewithal and time could create 300 such books a year, all using AI.

☆ Adani's fall reignites scrutiny of billionaire's close ties with Modi
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Sumathi Bala | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Ashok Swain Uppsala UniversityHindenburg's report has further sharpened the focus on the billionaire mogul's close ties with Modi. After Modi became prime minister, Adani continued to benefit from the relationship but on a much larger scale, said Swain. In his address to parliament last week, the prime minister seemed unfazed by the opposition's criticism and made no mention of Adani. "And you can never breach this safety shield with the weapons of abuse and lies," he said, as opposition lawmakers chanted "Adani, Adani." "Prime Minister Modi and I are from the same state.

☆ Firms use Google ads to entice small businesses to pay for help the gov't provides free
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Jesselyn Cook | Jesselyn Cook Is An Investigative Tech Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +11 min

Several draw in unwitting customers like Talbot through Google ads that outrank the legitimate SAM.gov page, illustrating the ease of buying visibility on the world’s largest search engine. Google removed the ads for a number of these sites in response to an inquiry for this article but subsequently reversed its decision. “We have strict ads policies that govern the types of ads and advertisers we allow on our platforms,” Google spokesperson Davis Thompson said in a statement. But the Small Business Administration urges people not to spend their precious resources on these services when so many free alternatives exist. She expects new, prominently displayed Google ads to play a part in the problem.

☆ Companies Are Inventing Silly, Cute Executive Titles but It's a Trick
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Drew Limsky | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Chief amazement officers, chief heart officers, and chief empathy officers are popping up across companies. They also found that titles like chief people officer and chief happiness officer were gaining in use. If you thought home's where the heart is, think again, because the workplace now has a chief heart officer. Sometimes the chief heart officer exists in addition to the head of human resources, a role that is increasingly called, more humanistically, the chief people officer. Claude Silver, the chief heart officer at VaynerMedia and self-proclaimed "first chief heart officer," told Forbes in 2017 that she was "here to be of service" to her staff.

☆ Analysis: Democrats' downgrade of Iowa's role is a blow to Corn Belt, biofuels
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Jarrett Renshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Iowa's political importance created a cottage industry out of educating and supporting candidates on issues that corn farmers and ethanol manufacturers care about. "Forward looking, to get Democratic candidates exposed to farm issues and get these issues in front of them is going to be extremely challenging. “It’s a blow to the industry, in terms of educating and informing the Democratic candidates,” Link said. Link noted that many of the Democratic candidates vying for the nomination were often already serving as elected leaders in Washington or would later become vice presidents or cabinet secretaries. The Iowa caucuses helped developed empathy for rural issues that could later be tapped for legislative success.

☆ 2022 was the year the Overconfidence Man fell back to earth
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Maureen Tkacik | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +22 min

Naturally, Elon Musk, the platonic ideal of the peculiar self-aggrandizing, self-parodying personality type that thrived during the Trump years and peaked during the pandemic, tops this list. By 2022, the media had pronounced him variously the next Warren Buffett, J.P. Morgan and Charles Koch. "bye bye @trussliz Congrats to lettuce", tweeted Putin's one-time stand-in Dmitry Medvedev, to which Elon Musk could not resist replying, "pretty good troll tbh." Elon Musk speaks at the 2020 Satellite Conference and Exhibition in March 2020. Elon MuskIt's weird to recall now that Elon Musk once seemed like, graded on the billionaire curve anyway, a net positive for a cursed American society.

☆ Big Tech predictions for 2023: A rival for Twitter, Amazon deceleration, Google's AI wake-up call, Microsoft's serious game, cloud bills, and DTC decline
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Hugh Langley | Kali Hays | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The painful adjustments will ripple across the industry in 2023.Insider's Big Tech reporters share what to watch this coming year. At $44 billion, the debt-fueled deal was completed quickly at valuations from the frothy tech bull market of 2021. Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesThe slow breakdown of Twitter under Musk appears to be upon us. Mastodon has experienced a major influx of users, hitting more than 5 million accounts after Musk took over Twitter. With intense tech antitrust scrutiny, these new services are unlikely to be gobbled up by Big Tech.

☆ Here's the latest on Amazon's $31 billion ad business, which continues to grow despite the economic upheaval
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Business Insider | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Amazon has become the third-biggest digital advertising company behind Google and Facebook, hitting $31 billion in ad revenue in 2021. Under CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon is shaking up its ad business to attract TV ad dollars, especially from advertisers that don't sell their products on its platform. Here's the latest on Amazon's moves to expand its advertising business and the growing competition. Amazon's ad business is big and growingAdvertising is a tiny sliver of Amazon's business, but it's one of the company's fastest-growing areas. Amazon's ad business is booming.

☆ Hate Elon Musk all you want, but he's got one management trick that every boss should emulate
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Ed Zitron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Managers have become alarmingly distanced from the average worker, making calls based on guesses that aren't informed by actual labor. Musk has demanded that managers are able to create "good code" yet does not appear to be much of a coder himself. Jackson Palmer, a cocreator of dogecoin, said Musk was a "grifter" who "had trouble running basic code" in their interactions. He's targeted critical teams at Twitter and pushed others to quit, which have resulted in a huge upswing in hate speech on the platform. In fact, by his own logic of how managers can contribute to the company, Musk should be summarily firing himself any day now.

☆ How 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' became a holiday music hit
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Aj Willingham | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —The familiar tunes of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” transport us. In 1965, when “A Charlie Brown Christmas” first aired, Christmas jazz wasn’t exactly a thing. The musical formula they created didn’t just make “A Charlie Brown Christmas” an instant hit. “Bossa nova was one of the things that helped smooth its way to popularity.”A still from 1965's "A Charlie Brown Christmas." A woman listens to music from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on her phone in 2013.

☆ How Big Tech Shakeup, Layoffs Leave Social-Media Creators Scrambling
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Brooke Erin Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Meanwhile, laborers who rely on social-media platforms for visibility, reputation burnishing, and income have been left reeling — from journalists and academics to freelancers and adult performers. Last month, a plus-size creator told me how self-censorship becomes a risk-reduction strategy for marginalized creators. As the journalist Paul Gallant argued, queer content creators face a continuous struggle to avoid "the wrath that comes from violating ever-changing and poorly explained terms of service." Even coverage of the influence on social-media creators has been more tuned in to those with the biggest followings. But the real pain from this tug-of-war for the future of social media will be felt by those who have long faced the greatest hurdles: marginalized creators.

☆ As Pandemic Aid Dries Up, Businesses Chase Covid Tax Credit
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Ruth Simon | Richard Rubin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A temporary tax break for small businesses has spawned a cottage industry of advisory firms tapping into federal pandemic aid, raising alarms at the Internal Revenue Service that some claims are going beyond what the law allows. The Paycheck Protection Program and other federal aid programs long ago shut their doors. But small businesses and nonprofits battered by Covid-19 can still use a lesser-known lifeline, the employee-retention tax credit, or ERC. Businesses can claim up to $26,000 per employee in refunds by amending payroll tax returns from 2020 and 2021.

REUTERS/Cheney Orr/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Two in five U.S. voters say they are worried about threats of violence or voter intimidation at polling stations during the country's midterm elections, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll. But officials in Arizona, a key battleground, have already asked the federal government to probe a case of possible voter intimidation, after people casting ballots were conspicuously filmed and followed. Kathy Boockvar, a former top election official for Pennsylvania, said fears of voter intimidation and violence run counter to American tradition. Among the registered voters polled by Reuters/Ipsos, 43% were concerned about threats of violence or voter intimidation while voting in person. About two-thirds of Republicans and one-third of Democrats think voter fraud is a widespread problem, the Reuters/Ipsos poll found.

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