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☆ Gen Z is lonely. Going back to the office may be the cure for some.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( Aaron Mok | Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The solitude of remote work seemed to particularly hit Gen Z workers — who began their careers as workplaces went from in-person to virtual — hard. With companies asking — and in some cases mandating — their employees return to the office, Gen Z workers who are going in regularly have said they have a renewed sense of confidence in their jobs. Since Fitchett's employer started mandating employees go to the office, Fitchett said he finally feels a sense of ease at his job. Don't expect a full-scale return to the office quite yetThere's more that goes into a worker's preferences than loneliness, and Gen Z workers are mixed about returning to the office full time. For her — and many other Gen Z workers — the solution may come in some form of flexibility.

Persons: Ben Fitchett didn't, Fitchett, Ben Fitchett, Ben Fitchett Young, Aaron Terrazas, —, Cigna, Hubert Palan, Z, Covid —, Palan, Vivek Murthy, it's, Mansoor Soomro, Soomro, Gen, Juanita Garcia, Garcia, who've, Zers, Anita Pan —, Anita Pan, Pan, Ricky Yean, Zers —, Yean, Bianca Wu, Bianca Wu Bianca Wu, Wu, wouldn't Organizations: Company, Teesside University, Starbucks, Flow, Dell Locations: New Zealand, Los Angeles, New York, Washington , DC, Bay

☆ WeWork plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, source says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] WeWork logos are seen at a WeWork office in San Francisco, California, U.S. September 30, 2019. REUTERS/Kate Munsch Acquire Licensing RightsOct 31 (Reuters) - WeWork (WE.N) plans to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, a source familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, as the SoftBank Group-backed company struggles with a massive debt pile and hefty losses. Shares of the flexible workspace provider fell 32% in extended trading after the Wall Street Journal first reported the news. New York-based WeWork is considering filing a Chapter 11 petition in New Jersey, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Its major backer, Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, sunk tens of billions to prop up the startup, but the company has continued to lose money.

Persons: Kate Munsch, WeWork, Sandeep Mathrani, Anirban Sen, Manas Mishra, Manya, Shailesh Kuber, Anil D'Silva Organizations: REUTERS, SoftBank, Wall Street Journal, WSJ, Manya Saini, Thomson Locations: San Francisco , California, U.S, New York, New Jersey, Bengaluru

☆ Fmr WeWork CEO Adam Neumann on latest venture 'Flow': The need for community has never been greater
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailFmr WeWork CEO Adam Neumann on latest venture 'Flow': The need for community has never been greaterAdam Neumann, WeWork co-founder and former CEO and Flow founder, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the Israel-Hamas war, his decision to attend Saudi Arabia's Future Investment Initiative conference in light of the conflict, the state of his latest venture 'Flow', and more.

Persons: Adam Neumann, WeWork Organizations: Saudi, Future Investment Initiative Locations: Israel

☆ Davos in the Desert: Jamie Dimon and other bankers visit Saudi Arabia as Israel-Hamas war rages
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Dubbed “Davos in the Desert,” the annual Future Investment Initiative (FII) will welcome about 6,000 participants from more than 90 countries over the next three days. Since the Hamas assault on October 7, Israel has widened its offensive against the Palestinian militant group and other regional enemies. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, denied any personal involvement in Khashoggi’s murder but later confirmed it was carried out by Saudi officials. Bin Salman chairs the Public Investment Fund. “Very few people” had canceled plans to attend the conference, according to Richard Attias, the CEO of the FII Institute, the event’s organizer.

Persons: Jamie Dimon, Citigroup’s Jane Fraser, Defense Lloyd Austin, Larry Fink, Goldman Sachs, David Solomon, Noel Quinn, Ray Dalio, Stephen Schwarzman, Harvey Schwartz, Blackstone, Carlyle, “ We’re, it’s, ”, Fraser, Fink, “, Karen E, WeWork, Slack, Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia’s, Mohammad bin Salman, Bin Salman, bin Salman, Masayoshi, Richard Attias, Young, — Winston Lo, Michelle Toh Organizations: London CNN, “, Future Investment Initiative, Defense, Palestinian, Israel Defense Forces, West Bank, HSBC, Citigroup, Saudi, Public Investment Fund, Columbia University’s Center, Global Energy, CNN, Reliance Retail, Softbank’s Vision, Future Investment, FII Institute, Young of Columbia University Locations: Saudi Arabia, Israel, “ Davos, Gaza, Lebanon, Riyadh, Ukraine, Europe, United States, Washington, Russia, Saudi, Istanbul, Kingdom, Hong Kong

☆ GoStudent, the $3 billion edtech darling, scaled fast and partied hard. The result was a mess.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +23 min

These people were employees of GoStudent, an Austria-based online-tutoring startup that had quickly become the darling of the European tech scene. But 28 current and former GoStudent employees and tutors said they experienced a poorly run organization with clumsy management. Edtech companies "rarely have any major competitive advantage other than scale," a European venture capitalist who's not affiliated with GoStudent said. A GoStudent employee threatened to track down the petition's author using tutors' IP addresses, according to the German publication Handelsblatt. According to public documents updated in December 2022, GoStudent had shrunk to 15 markets and 1,500 employees, including its acquisitions.

Persons: Felix Ohswald, Gregor Müller, GoStudent, who'd, I'm, Heinz, Peter Meidinger, cofounders, Ferdinand von Hagen, Prada, GoStudent's, Dave Benett, Müller, —, Ohswald, Anthony Canavan, Canavan, Brutkasten, Norbert Wess, Harry Murphy, Duncan McIntyre, McIntyre, Neel Gupta, Anna Tuchy, Patrick Nadler, Nadler, Sarah Heuberger, Ross Slater Organizations: German Teachers ' Association, Employees, GoStudent, Conseil, prud'hommes, DBS, Safety Officers, Web, Getty, JP Morgan, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, TechCrunch, Organisation for Economic Cooperation Locations: Vienna, Austria, Silicon Valley, North America, South America, Europe, London, France, Soho , London, Dock, DACH, Germany, Switzerland, Spanish, Sweden, Swedish, GoStudent, Ukraine, Ibiza, GoStudent's, Deliveroo

☆ WeWork COO Anthony Yazbeck to step down
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 19 (Reuters) - WeWork's (WE.N) Chief Operating Officer Anthony Yazbeck will step down from his role and also as president on Oct. 20, the company said on Thursday, days after it named interim chief David Tolley as permanent CEO. The leadership changes at the beleaguered flexible workspace provider comes amid its ongoing efforts to turn around the ailing business. The circumstances leading to Yazbeck's departure is not due to any disagreement related to financial or operational matters, the company said in a regulatory filing. Earlier this year, CEO Sandeep Mathrani and CFO Andre Fernandez departed the company, which made its debut on the public market in 2021. Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Anthony Yazbeck, David Tolley, WeWork, Sandeep Mathrani, Andre Fernandez, Ananta Agarwal, Shailesh Organizations: Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ HealthCaters enables people to screen themselves at home for preventable diseases. Check out the 14-slide pitch deck it used to raise $1.2 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A startup that offers personalized health screenings for individuals and employees has just raised $1.2 million in fresh funds. Berlin-based HealthCaters, which was founded three years ago, has developed a home-testing kit so that users can screen themselves for preventable diseases. The startup's app, which is also powered by AI, then suggests personalized health guidelines based on the results of these screenings. Based on these results, medical coaches at the startup create an individual health plan for patients. With the fresh funding, HealthCaters will double down on its business-to-business offerings, and eye a launch in the UK market.

Persons: Tatyana Eliseeva, aren't, Daniel Ek, Dr, Lilia Kruse, HealthCaters Organizations: IBM, DvH Ventures Locations: Berlin, HealthCaters, Germany, Europe

☆ WeWork appoints David Tolley as CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

The WeWork logo is displayed on a screen during the company's IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., October 21, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

Persons: Brendan McDermid Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS Locations: New York City, U.S

Investors hiked their short bets on a handful of electric vehicle and charging companies during the second half of September, according to FactSet data. CNBC Pro used FactSet data to screen for stocks with the most short interest as of Sept. 29. A handful of other electric vehicle and charging stocks also saw a jump in short interest during the period. Short interest in Lucid Group , for example, increased 7.5% to 218 million shares, while short interest in EVgo rose 5% to 25 million shares. Other names that saw elevated levels of short interest included Beyond Meat , SunPower , Sunnova Energy and WeWork .

Persons: Novavax Organizations: CNBC, New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, Fisker, Lucid, Air, Sunnova Energy Locations: Fisker Inc, EVgo

☆ A new docuseries follows Juul’s catastrophic crash and burn
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-11 | by ( Jacqui Palumbo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

If you were a millennial, brought up amid secondhand smoke in homes and restaurants in the ’80s and ’90s (like this writer), Juul’s rise might not have felt so alarming. But if you were a teenager, Juul’s impact was immediately striking — and likely unnerving for your parents — as explored in a new Netflix docuseries. “Big Vape” neither neatly ties up Juul’s troubles nor addresses the company’s motives. Bulls***t.”“Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul” is out now on Netflix. Watch: “Thank You for Smoking” (2005)This Jason Reitman-directed black comedy follows Big Tobacco lobbyist Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart), who spins, spins, spins the narrative by any means necessary, his job at odds with his role as parent to a 12-year-old.

Persons: R.J . Cutler, “, Juul, Gabby Jones, James Monsees, Adam Bowen, David Pierce —, Pierce, Juul’s splashy, “ James, Adam, ”, Jamie Ducharme, — Bella Hadid, Dave Chapelle, Adele, Jennifer Lawrence, ” Chase Amiratta, Spencer Platt, ‘, ’ ”, Erica Halverson, Jamie Ducharme’s, Stanford grads ’, —, Jason Reitman, Nick Naylor, Aaron Eckhart, Pets.com ”, Pets.com, Anna Lembke, Dr Organizations: CNN, Netflix, Juul Labs, Food and Drug, Apple, Bloomberg, Getty, Washington D.C, Bulls, Stanford, ., Big Tobacco Locations: “, New York , California , Massachusetts, New Mexico , Illinois, Colorado, Washington, Juul

☆ The big AI and robotics concept that has attracted both Walmart and Softbank
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-07 | by ( Tim Mullaney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

Softbank also owns 65% of the GreenBox venture, which launched with $100 million in investment by the two companies. They say it's a $500 billion market, and an example of the kind of change AI can bring to the economy at large. But not as many investors know about Softbank's "other" big AI investment, Wilmington, Mass.-based software and robotics maker Symbotic , which Walmart has taken a big stake in itself. Symbotic teamed up with Softbank to build GreenBox in order to preserve its own capital, Cohen told analysts. The GreenBox market for smaller companies shapes up as another $500 billion of possible demand, Gartner's Klappich said.

Persons: Rick Cohen, Softbank, Robert W, Baird, Vikas, Schwarz, Kristin Schwarz, Vikas Parekh, Parekh, Giordano, I've, TD Cowen, Joseph Giordano, GreenBox, Dwight Klappich, Symbotic, Klappich, Mason, Cohen, —, Bill Boyd, Gartner's Klappich, Doug McMillon Organizations: Walmart, CNBC, Gartner, Target, Venture, Arm Holdings, Wholesale, Forbes, Revenue Locations: GreenBox, Wilmington, Mass, Fla

☆ $9 billion cybersecurity startup Tanium is ditching its remote-work policy and mandating workers back to the office, leaked document shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Rosalie Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Otherwise, exemptions to the hybrid work policy will "only be granted in rare and exceptional cases" like documented medical reasons. Below is a copy of Tanium's hybrid work policy FAQ:Tanium Return to Office & New Hybrid Work Policy FAQQ: What is Tanium's new hybrid work policy? move to another city, state, county or country) the general expectation is that they will adhere to the hybrid work policy going forward. move to another city, state, county or country) the general expectation is that they will adhere to the hybrid work policy going forward. Additional Policy DetailsQ: Will exemptions from the hybrid work policy be provided?

Persons: Tanium, Dan Streetman, Orion Hindawi Organizations: Employees, Meta, Microsoft, Leadership Team, Team, Google, North, EMEA, Frankfurt, JP, KR, SharePoint Locations: North America, Emeryville , CA, Morrisville , NC, Addison , TX, Kirkland , WA, Bethesda, New York, Denver, Tampa , FL, Vancouver, Reading, Amsterdam, DE, Paris, Krakow, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Seoul, Singapore, SP

☆ SPAC shell games will keep hiding the ball
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( Jeffrey Goldfarb | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

It’s more or less how another 216 companies backed into public markets in 2021, according to SPAC Research. They’re on track to miss the mark by more than 40%, delivering only about $55 billion, according to recent forecasts compiled by LSEG. The electric-vehicle industry, for one, was a serial SPAC user whose exuberance sputtered badly. Dressing them up as acquisitions of private firms by listed shell companies enables the participants to play by looser rules. SPAC investors buy shares in the empty vessel before its sponsor and takeover target agree on a valuation.

Persons: Vishal Garg, Better’s, Breakingviews, SPACs, ”, Joel Rubinstein, Donald Trump’s, Spruce, Woodruff Sawyer, Gary Gensler, Ellis, Gensler, Lauren Silva Laughlin, Sharon Lam Organizations: Reuters, & Finance, Research, LSEG, Polestar Automotive, White, The Securities, Exchange Commission, XL Fleet, SEC, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Case, Kirkland, U.S . Securities, Financial Services, Thomson

☆ WeWork says it will skip $95 million in interest payments, tanking shares
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

New York CNN —WeWork’s stock plunged more than 20% on Tuesday morning after the company said a day earlier that it would not make two sets of interest payments totaling more than $95 million. WeWork (WE) noted in a securities filing Monday that it has a 30-day grace period to make the interest payments. At the same time, it reported a $696 million net loss in the first six months of this year. WeWork was valued at $47 billion at its peak, but it struggled to fully recover after a failed attempt to go public in 2019. At the time, IPO paperwork revealed larger-than-expected losses and potential conflicts of interest with the company’s founder and then-CEO Adam Neumann.

Persons: WeWork, Adam Neumann Organizations: New, New York CNN Locations: New York

☆ SoftBank-backed gifting startup Sendoso just completed its fourth round of layoffs in the last 16 months
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Samantha Stokes | Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

SoftBank-backed gifting startup Sendoso laid off an undisclosed number of employees in its latest round of job cuts on Tuesday. This is the fourth time in the last 16 months that Sendoso has axed its headcount: the marketing startup in June 2022 laid off around 100 employees from its then 700-employee workforce, Insider previously reported . Sendoso most recently raised $100 million in a Series C funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund. Better, which went public in August via a long-delayed SPAC deal, conducted another round of layoffs last month . Do you have information about job cuts at tech startups?

Persons: Sendoso, SoftBank, it's, —, Samantha Stokes, Madeline Stone Organizations: LinkedIn, U.S, Sendoso, SoftBank Vision, Greensill, Stock Locations: Ireland, sstokes@insider.com, mstone@insider.com

☆ WeWork to withhold interest payment on some notes
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WeWork logos are seen at a WeWork office in San Francisco, California, U.S. September 30, 2019. REUTERS/Kate Munsch/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsOct 2 (Reuters) - WeWork Inc (WE.N) on Monday said it had decided to withhold interest payments of about $95 million related to some of its notes, as it tries to improve its capital structure. The company has a 30-day grace period to make the interest payments before a non-payment can be considered an "event of default", WeWork said in a regulatory filing. The company has the liquidity to make the interest payments and may decide to pay "in the future", it added. The company withheld interest payments of about $37.3 million payable in cash and $57.9 million of payment-in-kind (PIK) notes, each payable on Monday.

Persons: Kate Munsch, SoftBank, WeWork, Shivansh, Maju Samuel Organizations: REUTERS, WeWork, New York Stock Exchange, Thomson Locations: San Francisco , California, U.S, Bengaluru

☆ WeWork Skips $95 Million in Interest Payments
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-02 | by ( Lauren Hirsch | More About Lauren Hirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WeWork said on Monday that it would not make two sets of interest payments totaling about $95 million, a move meant to jump-start negotiations with its lenders at the same time it tries to cut costs with its landlords. The missed interest payments will undoubtedly spur speculation of a bankruptcy filing. But WeWork says it has the cash on hand, and the company has a 30-day grace period to make the payments, which were due Monday. At the end of June, it had $205 million in cash and access to a credit line worth $475 million. “I believe they will absolutely understand our decision to enter into the grace period,” WeWork’s interim chief executive, David Tolley, said in an interview.

Persons: WeWork, ”, David Tolley

☆ Leaked screenshot shows Amazon is now tracking individual employee office attendance records, reversing its anonymized data policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon is now tracking and sharing individual office attendance records, a reversal of an old policy, as the company doubles down on forcing employees back into the office. Amazon employees in the US are now able to see a "Badge Report" on their own internal HR dashboard, according to a screenshot obtained by Insider. The report shows "days badged per week" data and the exact "days of week" each employee badged-in for each of the past 8 weeks. The report excludes data for non-corporate Amazon buildings, like warehouses, data centers, and 3rd party offices such as WeWork. The memo added badge data is not available to employees in Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Korea, or Taiwan.

Persons: Peter DeSantis, Rob Munoz, Munoz, Andy Jassy, it's Locations: Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Korea, Taiwan

☆ China's cutthroat competition hasn't been lost with the slowdown. EV companies fighting to win
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-24 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

I was in town for an event by Chinese electric car company Nio , which was vying with Huawei's big Connect conference for literal space and attention in a week of tech news. Electric car manufacturers are abuzz In the world of electric cars alone, Baidu -backed startup Jidu launched its car on Tuesday afternoon; Xpeng also unveiled its new G9 electric SUV. Nio, which had just wrapped its fifth car release in four months the prior week, launched a smartphone on Thursday. A competitive spirit, particularly in tech China's cutthroat competition hasn't been lost with the slowdown. While she hasn't had time to give the Nio phone a good look yet, she said she's a regular at the local Nio House, and invites family and friends there.

Persons: Xpeng, Leapmotor, William Li, Li, that's, Meng Wanzhou, JD.com, JD, Peter Alexander, Alexander, Frank Fan, Nio, Angela Cai, Cai, hasn't, she's, — CNBC's Michael Bloom Organizations: Baidu, Wednesday, CNBC, Companies, Huawei, Netflix, Ben Advisors, ., Starbucks, Apple, China, Bank of America Locations: Beijing, Shanghai, Arcfox, U.S, China, China .

☆ Is Instacart really a tech company? The case for and against
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailIs Instacart really a tech company? The case for and againstSome of the biggest, most highly-anticipated IPOs of the last few years have fallen short, burning investors who thought they were buying a technology stock. Peloton, WeWork, Blue Apron, and StitchFix all might have called themselves tech companies, but their growth ended up being hugely restricted by real-world limitations. So as a new wave of IPOs begin, investors might be struggling to determine where Instacart falls. This week on Tech Check, we dive into the grocery delivery app and ask, is Instacart really a tech company?

Persons: Instacart Organizations: Tech

LONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Barely a day goes by without an eye-catching story involving Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. A third of the fund consists of significant stakes in domestic companies like the $51 billion Saudi Telecom Company (7010.SE) and $53 billion Saudi National Bank (1180.SE). Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsThe PIF’s investment strategy is also racier than its more conservative peers. But the episode reinforces the impression that the PIF is a mix of venture capital, hedge fund and startup money. The most spectacular was probably handing $45 billion to SoftBank Group (9984.T) boss Masayoshi Son for his $100 billion first Vision Fund.

Persons: Kylian Mbappé, It’s, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Yasir Al, Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala, Rumayyan, Salman bin Abdulaziz, Masayoshi Son, SWFs, Taiwan’s Foxconn, Peter Thal Larsen, Streisand Neto Organizations: Reuters, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Standard Chartered, Spanish telco Telefonica, Fund, Abu, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Global, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Saudi, Saudi Telecom Company, Saudi National Bank, Saudi Aramco, giga, Qatar Investment Authority, Singapore’s Temasek, Al, MbS, SoftBank Group, Vision, Credit Suisse, UBS, Saudi giga, Aramco, Investment, Thomson Locations: Spanish, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Saudi

☆ Salesforce gave former employees stuffed toys wearing boomerang shirts as the company seeks to bring back ex-staff amid a hiring drive
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Salesforce held an alumni event last week with 50 former executives who were gifted with stuffed animals. The company is encouraging former executives to "boomerang" amid a hiring drive. Salesforce recently announced plans to hire 3,000 people despite brutal layoffs earlier this year. Kelman, who left the company in 2011 for leadership stints at the likes of Amazon Web Services and Oracle, said it was "good timing," and rejoined as president and chief marketing officer. Salesforce said it is hiring 3,300 employees across sales, engineering, and its data cloud product teams to help grow its artificial intelligence business last week, per Bloomberg.

Persons: Salesforce, Marc Benioff, Kendall Collins, he's, Collins, Ariel Kelman, Kelman, Miguel Milano, Celonis, Brian Milham, Katie Kutzer, David Winslow, Craig Shull, Steve Fisher, Dean Robison Organizations: Service, CNBC, Bloomberg, Amazon Web Services, Oracle Locations: Wall, Silicon, San Francisco, Salesforce, Madrid

☆ Getir emerged as a tentative winner in Europe's pandemic-fueled rapid-delivery sector. But it still faces sizable threats.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | Callum Burroughs | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In March 2022, Nazım Salur invited thousands of Getir employees to a Zoom meeting to celebrate its newfound "decacorn" status. However, as soaring inflation and rising interest rates began to hobble the tech sector, investors became far less forgiving of businesses that had oriented themselves more toward growth than sustainability. In December 2021, The Guardian reported that Getir had offered customers a deal where they could get £15 off if they spent £16. About 21 rapid-delivery startups were operating across Europe in 2021, with Getir joined by the German outfits Gorillas and Flink, as well as the British startup Zapp. Getir tentatively emerged as the winner in the rapid-delivery sector when it bought its main competitor, Gorillas , in a heavily discounted deal for $1.2 billion in December.

Persons: Nazım Salur, Nazım, Getir, Blok, London's, Alexi Rosenfeld, they've, Adam Neumann, Michael Moritz Organizations: Tiger Global, Mubadala, Financial Times, Getir, TechCrunch, Guardian, DST Global, Gorillas, Abu Dhabi Growth Fund, Google, PayPal Locations: Spanish, Berlin, Turkey, Turkish, Germany, Netherlands, Istanbul, Turkey's, Europe, British, Abu Dhabi

☆ Softbank is planning to invest in OpenAI, report says, after Masayoshi Son said he uses ChatGPT every day
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Tom Carter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Boss Masayoshi Son has been very enthusiastic about the chatbot, telling investors he uses it daily. The Japanese giant's Vision Fund is going on the offensive over AI despite some high-profile losses. The potential investment comes after boss Son told Softbank shareholders he was "chatting with ChatGPT everyday," in comments reported by Reuters . Son has also met with OpenAI boss Sam Altman in recent months, and told Softbank investors in June that he speaks to the AI startup boss "almost everyday." OpenAI and Softbank did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Insider, made outside regular US working hours.

Persons: Boss Masayoshi, Masayoshi, Son, ChatGPT, Sam Altman, Jesus, Yoda, Softbank Organizations: Financial Times, Service, Reuters, Wall Street, Vision, ARM Locations: Wall, Silicon, OpenAI, British

☆ Analysis: Arm's stellar listing sets the stage for more SoftBank acquisitions
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( Anton Bridge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] A smartphone with a displayed Arm Ltd logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. The tech investment behemoth raised nearly $5 billion from Arm's offering while retaining 90.6% of the firm. Known for debt-fuelled acquisition sprees, SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son flagged in June that the company was shifting back into "offence mode" as he highlighted the potential of artificial intelligence. That's after a year of "defence mode" when tech valuations crashed amid higher interest rates and global banking jitters. Few companies in SoftBank's investment portfolio have demonstrated commercial utility in AI, analysts said.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, behemoth, Masayoshi, Yoshimitsu Goto, SoftBank, SemiAnalysis, Kyle Stanford, There's, Amir Anvarzadeh, PitchBook's Stanford, Anton Bridge, Miyoung Kim, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Arm Holdings, SoftBank, HK, Vision, Nvidia, Asymmetric Advisors, Thomson Locations: British

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