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☆ Meet the Enigmatic Man Who Oversees Larry Page's Google Fortune
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-16 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +22 min

His success has also helped fuel a boom in family offices, a financial structure pioneered by J.P. Morgan and popularized by the Rockefellers. Today there are thousands of family offices globally, with the total number tripling between 2019 and 2023, according to the data provider Preqin. To protect Page, Osborne has long remained hidden, the man behind the megabillionaire's curtain. AdvertisementThe small staff at Koop, Page's family office in Palo Alto, are fiercely committed to Page's privacy. Through his investment in Way2B1, Page is seeking to make money by monetizing the techniques he uses to make money.

Persons: Thomas, Larry Page, Wayne Osborne, Osborne, Koop, —, Wayne, Jeffrey Epstein, Gmail, Page, he's, Larry, Morgan, Morgan Stanley, hasn't, Justin Sullivan, hawking, Sergey Brin, George Pavlov, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Melinda Lewison, Natasha Pearl, Aston Pearl, James Estrin, Helen Frankenthaler, Minerva, Joseph E, Brooks, Taylor, Mortimer Zuckerman, Zuckerman, he'd, who'd, Koop's, Ken Goldman, Eric Schmidt, Hugh Langley, Michael Floyd, Floyd, Page's, Lucy Southworth, Southworth, It's, Way2B1, it's, Gilles Martin, Hal Bailey Organizations: QS, Osborne, J.P, Google, Harvard Business School, Princeton Theological Seminary, Presbyterian Church, New York Times, Minerva, U.S . News, Boston Properties, Shell, CIA, Energy Technologies, Oceankind, Forbes, Business, Fiji Locations: New York, Caribbean, St, Palo Alto , California, Wayne, Mississippi, Connecticut, Silicon Valley, U.S, Silicon, Palo Alto, Koop, Nola, margarita, Way2B1, Fijian, superyachts, New Zealand, Fiji

☆ The race in Big Tech to sell customers on AI products is heating up
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-16 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Meanwhile, in today's newsletter, we're looking at how AWS is ramping up its sales team to pitch customers on AI . The big storySell, sell, sellAmazon; Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BIWhen it comes to the AI revolution, building is only half the battle. AdvertisementAfter drawing scrutiny from investors about their massive investments in generative AI, tech companies are prioritizing getting returns on their big bets. Amazon; OpenAI; Microsoft; Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BIAWS' pressure to ramp up AI sales isn't just focused on ROI. And while these companies can't afford not to pitch their customers on AI tech, they also risk turning them off to the idea by selling them products that might not live up to expectations.

Persons: —, Donald Trump, Trump, Alyssa Powell, Insider's Eugene Kim, Eugene, Chelsea Jia Feng, it's, Anna Kim, Getty, Tyler Le, Martha Stewart, Al Capone, Morgan Stanley, Dre, Jeff Chiu, Larry Page's, Wayne Osborne, Elon, Grimes, Ryan Mac, Kate Conger unearths, Musk, Department's, We've, Kamala Harris, Biden, Booker, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, Milan Sehmbi, Amanda Yen Organizations: Service, FBI, Business, Amazon Web Services, that's, AWS, Microsoft, Getty, Google, Sunshine, Twitter, Huber & Starke, Hollywood, Teamsters Locations: West Palm Beach , Florida, today's, Florida, hustles, New York, London

☆ Flying taxi maker Archer settles Boeing Wisk lawsuits, shares jump
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File PhotoAug 10 (Reuters) - Air taxi maker Archer Aviation (ACHR.N) has reached an agreement with Boeing (BA.N) and its Wisk air taxi unit to settle litigation and collaborate on autonomous technology, the companies said on Thursday. In a joint statement with Boeing and Wisk, Archer said it "has agreed to make Wisk its exclusive provider of autonomy technology for future variants of Archer’s aircraft." Boeing said it is making an investment in Archer "that will support the integration of Wisk’s autonomous technology in future variants of Archer’s aircraft." Archer counter sued Wisk in 2021 "for its false and malicious extra-judicial smear campaign" and Boeing in 2022. Archer will issue warrants to Wisk for up to 13.2 million shares as part of the settlement and autonomy agreement.

Persons: Carlos Barria, Archer's, Archer, Wisk, Larry Page's Kitty, carmaker Stellantis, David Shepardson, Matthew Lewis, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: Archer Aviation, Salinas Municipal Airport, REUTERS, Air, Boeing, United Airlines, ARK Investment Management, Federal Aviation Administration, Google, Larry Page's Kitty Hawk Corp, Chrysler, U.S ., Airlines, Thomson Locations: Salinas, Salinas , California, U.S, Washington

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Say goodbye to the US car market as we know it, TikTok will pay for AR filters, and YouTubers share how they make money
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

I'm Diamond Naga Siu, and I'm taking a few days off to watch my best friend graduate with their PhD. (Don't worry, my colleagues in London will be bringing you your daily dose of tech news while I'm away.) Pharmacy startup TruePill is searching for its panacea. Employees told to "drink the Kool-Aid" at Larry Page's startup. Current and former employees told Insider about the recent turmoil.

☆ 10 Things in Tech: The end of coding as we know it, why the 4-day workweek works, and wild Kittyhawk designs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Hallam Bullock | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But all of you had something insightful to share (there was even the odd pet picture, too!) Now, this week I wanted to share some of our top stories from our Discourse team. Tech companies have rushed to embrace generative AI, recognizing its ability to turbocharge programming, Insider's Aki Ito writes. And for better or worse, this effectively marks the end of coding as we know it. A growing body of evidence suggests a shorter workweek prevents employee burnout, fosters a healthier workplace, and boosts company productivity.

☆ China doesn’t want US cars like Ford and General Motors. That’s a big problem for their futures.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

America has a problem: China — the world's largest car market — doesn't want its vehicles. In 2022, data shows Ford and General Motors' car sales in China each dropped more than 20% from the year before. My colleagues Alexa St. John and Nora Naughton break down how the future of US automakers hinges on China. Although Google founder Larry Page's flying car company Kittyhawk majorly flopped, it left us with some interesting vehicles. Hop aboard to see all the funky flying car models here.

☆ Mental-health apps have a dark secret — and it raises important questions about the future of online therapy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Hallam Bullock | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In a video posted by Vice, Clarke addressed Clearlink's return-to-office mandate and said that many of his remote workers didn't open their laptops for a month. Online therapy fills a critical need — but it has a dark side. The data Loris used to create its "empathetic" software was generated from text conversations with people in distress, sourced from Loris' parent company, Crisis Text Line, a nonprofit suicide-prevention hotline. That is, however, according to Musk, who told Tucker Carlson that the two tech billionaires disagreed on safety and regulation. The real reason bosses are freaked out by remote work: they think it's for "sissies."

☆ Take a look at the wildest vehicles designed by Kittyhawk, Google cofounder Larry Page's failed flying-car company
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Hugh Langley | Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Last September, Larry Page's flying car company Kittyhawk, closed its doors. It was a stunning failure for what was once the vanguard of the eVTOLs (electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft) industry. The company was started in 2015 and explored a range of concepts for eVTOLs over its lifespan. In our exclusive story on the rise and fall of Kittyhawk, we revealed several of the company's ideas for new flying cars. Another of the ideas, an autonomous taxi named Wisk, is still alive as part of a joint venture with Boeing.

☆ How Larry Page's flying-car company of the future turned into a stunning failure
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Although I'm currently pretty homesick and jet lagged, I'm blessed with "the life-changing magic of working from home." One worker told my colleague Rebecca Knight how remote work transformed her life and how returning to the office has killed company morale. The stunning failure of Google founder Larry Page's flying-car company. In April 2022, company morale plummeted when it axed one of its most promising projects, those former insiders say. The company put together a thorough document to help managers navigate pay-related conversations with employees, and Insider got a look.

☆ Inside the Rise and Fall of Kittyhawk, Larry Page's Failed Flying Car Company
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Hugh Langley | Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +22 min

Killing off projects had become something of a tradition at Kittyhawk, the secretive flying-car startup launched by the Google cofounder Larry Page. Larry Page has used his Google money to found a series of flying car companies with one common goal: "to free the world of traffic." "When Bloomberg did their original exposé, that's when urban air mobility became a thing," a former Kittyhawk employee recalled. Everyone thought: If Larry Page is in this space, there must be something here." Interpreting "Larry-isms" or "learning to speak Larry" were essential skills for any Kittyhawk employee who wanted to retain their sanity.

☆ Inside the 'doomsday' layoffs at Goldman Sachs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Matt Turner | Dave Smith | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Insider reporters were in attendance — here's the inside scoop …If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Now, on to this week's top stories …David Solomon is the CEO of Goldman Sachs. Michael Kovac/Getty ImagesGoldman Sachs conducted its worst layoffs in over a decade this week. One laid-off associate called it the "doomsday," adding: "Every 10 minutes, I just kept hearing that someone was being let go." We talked to Goldman Sachs employees who were fired — here's what they told us.

☆ Google's moonshot factory is coming down to Earth
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The project, known internally by its codename, "Valkyrie," was the typical science-fiction-sounding idea that Google's self-described "moonshot factory" was designed to dream up. But amid a lack of successful launches and a tech industry facing economic headwinds, insiders say the lab is now hitting the hard-reset button and rethinking its purpose within Alphabet, Google's parent company. X swapped standard corporate titles like "Communications Lead" and "Manager" for grander and more-nebulous names like "Factory Whisperer" and "Firestarter." Its internet-balloon unit, Google Loon, meant to bring people in rural areas online, was shuttered in January 2021. "I think the infusion of VC people is a good thing," one former senior X employee said.

☆ Goldman Sachs has plans for deep headcount cuts in the new year
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But first, the Goldman cuts go deep. Goldman's bankers and others on Wall Street still enjoy pay packages that are beyond that of most American workers. Some portion of Goldman's cuts are being made with an eye to 2023 and 2024, suggesting that the firm's leaders don't expect a return to go-go days anytime soon. Click here to read more about the cuts set to hit Goldman Sachs. Private-equity firm Advent announced plans to acquire satellite maker Maxar Technologies for $6.4 billion in a deal that included Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley.

Page purchased Hans Lollik and its smaller neighboring island, Little Hans Lollik, in 2014 for $23 million. The Hans Lollik Islands in the US Virgin Islands were bought by Larry Page in 2014 cdwheatley/Getty ImagesPage purchased the islands from Liberty Bankers Life Insurance Company using a limited-liability company called Virgin Island Properties LLC. Page's intentions for the Hans Lollik islands are unclear, but the larger island of the two may have personal significance for the Google cofounder. In the deposition, Osborne hinted that Larry proposed to his wife, the research scientist Lucinda Southworth, on Hans Lollik. Page expands to the South PacificIn 2020, Page added another island to his portfolio: the heart-shaped Tavarua island in Fiji's Mamanuca archipelago.

☆ Netflix has lost its golden touch. Here's why the streamer is so boring now.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Finance has long ranked employees, but it's been out of fashion in tech for nearly a decade. Netflix once made an explicit choice to invest in underrepresented communities, Paris Marx writes. Shows like "Orange is the New Black" and "GLOW" gave spotlights to women, queer people, people of color, and non-Americans. But, according to Marx, the company stopped prioritizing stories from underrepresented communities, and new players were throwing their hats into the streaming wars. Now, Marx writes that Netflix is filled with bland shows, half-assed reality TV, and hopelessly derivative movies.

☆ Inside Sergey Brin's Busy Social Schedule: Parties, Festivals, Burning Man
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Rob Price | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In late August this year, Sergey Brin headed to Burning Man. The 49-year-old tech titan traveled to the festival in style, island-hopping across the Pacific Ocean in a modified seaplane. Brin has been spotted more than once at house parties at NeoGenesis, a coliving space for entrepreneurs in the Bay Area. As for the bigger psychedelic party, when Burning Man reopened in August after its pandemic hiatus, Brin stayed at First Camp, a VIP community frequented by festival organizers and their friends. Rob Price is a correspondent at Insider, writing features and investigations about the technology industry.

☆ Larry Page, Sergey Brin Post-Google Lives: Investments, Yachts, Islands
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Hugh Langley | Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +33 min

Even before their retirement from Google, Page and Brin relied heavily on their respective family offices to bring order to their worlds. The Bay Area headquarters of Koop, Larry Page's family office, is nondescript and gives little indication of the billionaire's empire. Insider; Marianne Ayala/Insider Show less Bayshore Global Management, Sergey Brin's family office, is based in Palo Alto and has a bit more of a public face. Insider; Marianne Ayala/Insider Show lessThe difference in styles holds true for Brin's family office, Bayshore Global Management. The CEO of Page's family office is Wayne Osborne, a former elder in the Presbyterian Church who attended Princeton Theological Seminary.

Google employees are increasingly concerned that layoffs will hit their company, as rivals including Amazon and Meta slash more than 20,000 jobs. From the end of 2018 to earlier this year, the company added almost 100,000 full-time staff, nearly doubling the workforce. "There's a lot of people openly nervous," another Google employee said, while noting that Googlers have been posting internal memes to express their anxiety. "Performance plans are the next step if folks don't respond to the check-ins," a person familiar with the changes said. 'Google execs will want to cut people'Widespread layoffs at Google would be unprecedented.

☆ Google co-founder's flying car start-up is winding down
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Google co-founder Larry Page's flying car start-up Kittyhawk is winding down, the company announced Wednesday. The company unveiled a demonstration video of a flying car in 2017, and Thrun said he envisioned a time where people would be able to hail flying cars through an app like Lyft or Uber. Kittyhawk showcased a flying car model called the Flyer in 2018 which could hold one person and fly up to 20 miles. The company announced a strategic partnership with airplane manufacturer Boeing the following year. However, by 2020, Kittyhawk announced plans to shut down its Flyer program and shifted focus to its electric aircraft called Heaviside, according to reports.

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