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☆ OpenAI's power players: Meet the 20 leaders helping shape the future of the AI giant
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-18 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +18 min

Last November, the sudden ouster of CEO Sam Altman and the resulting revolt by most of its employees cast doubts on the future of the world's most prominent AI company. While by no means a comprehensive list, below are some of the key power players who are helping to determine OpenAI's future. He took over for his former boss, Jason Kwon, who has since become the company's chief strategy officer. She's also been referred to as OpenAI's "minister of truth" for her efforts to ensure the company's AI products aren't deceptive or biased. ResearchJakub Pachocki, Chief ScientistRelated storiesPachocki joined OpenAI's research in 2017 after completing a PhD in computer science at Carnegie Mellon University.

Persons: —, Sam Altman, OpenAI, Sarah Friar, Friar, Goldman Sachs, She's, Jason Kwon, Kwon, Anna Makanju, Global Affairs Chris Lehane, Che Cheng, OpenAI's, Cheng, Mira Murati, Murati, Kevin Weil, Weil, Instagram, Peter Welinder, Peter Deng, Research Jakub Pachocki, Pachocki, Ilya Sutkever, Ilya, Mark Chen, Chen, Bob McGrew, Sam Altman's, Lilian Weng, Weng, Aleksandr Madry, Barret Zoph, John Schulman, Zoph, Alec Radford, Radford, Zico Kolter, Kolter, Paul Nakasone, Bret Taylor, Taylor, He's, Larry Summers, Fidji Simo, Melinda Gates, Nicole Seligman, Adam D'Angelo, Quora, Altman, D'Angelo, Andrea Appella, Haidee Schwartz, Schwartz, Akin Gump, She'll, Heather Whitney, Whitney, Morrison Foerster, Makanju, Sam, Biden, Chris Lehane, Lehane, Clinton Organizations: Service, OpenAI, Business, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Khosla Ventures, Global, Global Affairs, Amazon, supercomputing, Tesla, Meta, Twitter, ChatGPT Enterprise, Research, Carnegie Mellon University, MIT, Facebook, Security, Machine Learning Department, Carnegie Mellon Carnegie Mellon, Stanford, CMU, Safety, Security Committee, US Army, NSA, US Cyber Command, Defense Department, U.S, Melinda Gates Foundation, Global Competition, Netflix, Century Fox, Competition, Federal Trade Commission, New York Times, Harvard Law School, University of Chicago Law School, NYU, Canada, Global Policy, Public Affairs, House, Newsweek Locations: Europe, Washington, OpenAI, Silicon, Middle East, Asia, London, Chan, Airbnb

☆ Americans are still having a lot of stuff delivered from DoorDash and Uber, and it shows how much we'll pay for convenience
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-07 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Later in the day, Instacart reported a 10% jump in the value of transactions on its platform during the second quarter. Total orders rose 19% during the company's second quarter, it said on August 1. "Increasingly, we're seeing customers coming to us for the first time actually for non-restaurant use cases," Xu said. AdvertisementCorrection: August 9, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated Instacart's average order value in the second quarter. Do you work for DoorDash, Instacart, Uber Eats, or another gig delivery service and have a story to share?

Persons: —, they're, Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi, Instacart, Fidji Simo, Robert Mollins, Gordon, Mollins, DoorDash, We're, Tony Xu, Xu, Uber's Khosrowshahi, Instacart's Simo Organizations: Service, Business, DoorDash

☆ OpenAI adds former NSA chief to its board
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-13 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

OpenAI on Thursday announced its newest board member: Paul M. Nakasone, a retired U.S. Army general and former director of the National Security Agency. Nakasone was the longest-serving leader of the U.S. Cyber Command and chief of the Central Security Service. The company said Sarah Friar, previously CEO of Nextdoor and finance chief at Square, is joining as chief financial officer. OpenAI also hired Kevin Weil, an ex-president at Planet Labs, as its new chief product officer. Weil was previously a senior vice president at Twitter and a vice president at Facebook and Instagram.

Persons: Paul Nakasone, OpenAI, Paul M, Nakasone, OpenAI's, Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers, Bret Taylor, Sam Altman, Sue Desmond, Hellmann, Melinda Gates, Nicole Seligman, Fidji Simo, Siri, Sarah Friar, Friar, Kevin Weil, Weil Organizations: National Security Agency, Intelligence, Capitol, U.S . Army, U.S . Cyber Command, Central Security Service, Security, Sony, Monday, Apple, Planet Labs, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Washington, U.S

☆ How to Save Tech Industry: Fire Managers, Put Tech People in Charge
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Ed Zitron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

This disastrous mindset has hollowed out Silicon Valley's ability to innovate and caused regular people to grow increasingly frustrated with everyday tech. The large platforms have generally ignored this feedback for one big reason: The tech industry has been taken over by career managers. Now Google Search is more profitable and worse, elevating spammy content and outright scams, a problem exacerbated by artificial intelligence. AdvertisementBut today's tech products feel built to sell a dream of the future rather than solve a customer's existing pains. As long as the tech industry is controlled by people who don't build things, it will continue to build products that help raise growth metrics rather than help consumers with tangible problems.

Persons: scammers hawking, Meta's, Hewlett Packard, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, Adam Mosseri, Systrom, Krieger, Mosseri, Mark Zuckerberg, Instagram, Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Sundar Pichai, Prabhakar Raghavan, Raghavan, Ben Gomes, Gomes, it's, Sam Altman, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, Larry Summers, Fidji Simo, Meta —, —, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak Organizations: Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, Adobe, Meta, Builders, Apple, Xerox, HP, Department, Reuters Institute, Oxford University, Silicon Valley Locations: Silicon, Silicon Valley

OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever said Tuesday that he's leaving the Microsoft -backed startup. The departure comes months after OpenAI went through a leadership crisis involving co-founder and CEO Sam Altman. In November, OpenAI's board said in a statement that Altman had not been "consistently candid in his communications with the board." OpenAI has announced new board members, including former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. In 2015, Altman and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, another OpenAI co-founder, wanted Sutskever, then a research scientist at Google , to become the budding startup's top scientist, according to the lawsuit Musk filed against OpenAI in March.

Persons: Sam Altman, Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI, he's, Sutskever, OpenAI's, Altman, Helen Toner, Tasha McCauley, Adam D'Angelo, Ilya, Jakub Pachocki, Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, WilmerHale, Sue Desmond, Hellmann, Melinda Gates, Nicole Seligman, Fidji Simo, Greg, Sam, Greg Brockman, Mira Murati, Murati, Elon Musk, Musk, Dr Organizations: Tel Aviv University, Microsoft, Street, OpenAI's, Sony, Sony Entertainment, Tesla, Google, OpenAI Locations: Tel Aviv, OpenAI

☆ Demand for human-like robots that can do just about any job is expected to boom by 2026. These 10 stocks are set to profit off the growth, according to an investment strategist.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

By 2027, that ratio is expected to increase to 43% of tasks completed by machines and 57% by humans. "On the one hand, yes, it's scary to envision a world in which almost no job is safe from automation or from robotics. The annual installation of industrial robots is expected to grow by about 30%, from 553,000 installations in 2022 to 718,000 in 2026. Themes ETF launched its version of a robotics-focused ETF called Themes Robotics and Automation ETF (BOTT) on Monday. Lincoln Electric Holdings (LECO)Toyota Industries (6201 JP)Esab Corp (ESAB)Nordson Corp (NDSN)Fortive Corp (FTV)Intel Corp (INTC)Konecranes Oyj (KCR FH)Microchip Technology (MCHP)Silicon Motion Technology (SIMO)Semtech Corp (SMTC )

Persons: Taylor Krystkowiak, Krystkowiak, Konecranes, SIMO, Semtech Organizations: Boston Dynamics, Business, International Federation of Robotics, Automation, Lincoln Electric Holdings, Toyota Industries, Esab, Nordson, Fortive, Intel Corp, Technology, Motion Technology Locations: Medicine, guesswork

☆ I'm a US Army sniper in the Arctic, a beast of a place that can chew up even the strongest soldiers
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-06 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Phillip Cho, a US Army sniper in the 11th Airborne Division based in Alaska. What I've preached for years now is that in order to be a successful sniper in the Arctic, you have to have imagination. We use different procedures in the Arctic versus the jungles of Asia or the deserts of the Middle East. Like other environments, water is a priority. The Arctic can be an insatiable beast and chews up some of the strongest soldiers that I've seen.

Persons: Phillip Cho, Cho, —, It's, I've, Simo Häyhä, We've, We're, Wyatt Moore, fieldcraft, Staff Sergeant Phillip Cho Organizations: 11th Airborne Division, Service, US Army, Operations Command, U.S . Army, 75th Ranger, Pacific Multinational Readiness, Donnelly Training, U.S, Army, Spc, Public Affairs Detachment, Islamic, Staff Locations: Alaska, Finnish, That's, Asia, Base, Greenland, Korea, Iraq, Islamic State

☆ The result of OpenAI's probe was released — and it's less than 500 words — offering very little insight
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-09 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. The Open AI probe was launched in December, a few weeks after the board announced Altman's shocking departure and reinstatement. The company formed a special committee that hired WilmerHale to conduct a probe of the events surrounding Altman's sudden firing. AdvertisementDetails of Altman's strained relationship with OpenAI's former board members and employees were known days after the CEO was booted from the company. AdvertisementThe latest Times report from Thursday revealed that Mira Murati, OpenAI's chief technology officer, was instrumental in Sam Altman's ousting.

Persons: —, Sam Altman, WilmerHale, Altman, ChatGPT, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers, Bret Taylor, Sue Desmond, Hellmann, Melinda Gates, Nicole Seligman, Fidji Simo, Mira Murati, Sam Altman's, Murati, Ilya Organizations: Service, Business, New York Times, Melinda Gates Foundation, Sony, Times, OpenAI

☆ OpenAI announces 'improvements' to its governance structure nearly 5 months after Sam Altman's ouster
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-09 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

OpenAI announced Friday that it was adding three women to its board of directors. CEO Sam Altman is also rejoining the board nearly five months after he was abruptly forced out. The company has pledged to improve its governing structure in the aftermath of the ouster and reinstatement. A Thursday report from The New York Times suggested OpenAI chief technology officer Mira Murati raised concerns about Altman's leadership with board members prior to his removal. The three women join current OpenAI board members Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers, and Bret Taylor, as well as Altman.

Persons: OpenAI, Sam Altman, —, Altman, Mira Murati, Murati, James, Sue Desmond, Hellmann, Melinda Gates, Nicole Seligman, Fidij Simo, Desmond, Seligman, Simo, Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers, Bret Taylor Organizations: Service, The New York Times, OpenAI, University of California, Times, Melinda Gates Foundation, Global, Sony, Pfizer, Advisors, Science, Technology, Paramount Global, Meira, Inc Locations: Los Angeles, President's, Shopify

OpenAI is reinstating CEO Sam Altman to its board of directors and said it has “full confidence” in his leadership after the conclusion of an outside investigation into the company's turmoil. After months of investigation, it found that Altman's ouster was a “consequence of a breakdown in the relationship and loss of trust” between him and the prior board, OpenAI said in a summary of the findings Friday. The investigation found the prior board acted within its discretion. “The review concluded there was a significant breakdown in trust between the prior board, and Sam and Greg,” Bret Taylor, the board’s chair, told reporters Friday. After it retained the law firm in December, OpenAI said WilmerHale conducted dozens of interviews with the company’s prior board, current executives, advisers and other witnesses.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, OpenAI, Sue Desmond, Hellman, Melinda Gates, Nicole Seligman, Fidji Simo, “ I’m, ” Altman, he’s, ”, Helen Toner, Tasha McCauley, “, Greg Brockman, ” OpenAI, Brockman, Greg, ” Bret Taylor, Taylor, Microsoft —, Toner, McCauley, Ilya Sutskever, Sutskever, Ilya, Elon Musk, Larry Summers, Adam D’Angelo, WilmerHale, WilmerHale didn't, Musk, ” Taylor Organizations: Sony, San, OpenAI, Microsoft, Georgetown University, RAND Corporation, Facebook, Elon, U.S ., Associated Press Locations: San Francisco, U.S

☆ Sam Altman rejoins OpenAI board of directors as investigation into his ouster comes to a close
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, attends the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, 2024. OpenAI on Friday announced its new board and the wrap-up of an internal investigation by U.S. law firm WilmerHale into the events leading up to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's ouster. Sam Altman will also rejoin OpenAI's board. "We have unanimously concluded that Sam and Greg are the right leaders for OpenAI," Bret Taylor, chair of OpenAI's board, said in a release. Since then, OpenAI has announced new board members, including former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI, WilmerHale, Sam Altman's, OpenAI's, Sue Desmond, Hellmann, Melinda Gates, Nicole Seligman, Fidji Simo, Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers, Bret Taylor, Greg, Sam, Taylor, Altman, Bret, Larry, Mira Murati, Mira, Helen Toner, Tasha McCauley, Ilya Sutskever, Ilya, Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, Musk, –, Toner, McCauley, Altman's Organizations: Economic, Friday, Melinda Gates Foundation, Pfizer, Advisors, Science, Technology, Global, Sony, Sony Entertainment, Paramount Global, Meira, Inc, Shopify, OpenAI, Microsoft, Fortune, Lawyers, CNBC, SpaceX, Nvidia Locations: Davos, Switzerland, President's, OpenAI's San Francisco, U.S, Saudi Aramco

☆ Sam Altman returns to OpenAI’s board of directors, fully reversing the ChatGPT company’s wild shakeup
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( David Goldman | Poppy Harlow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Altman’s return comes after an independent investigation found the board did not need to fire him in the first place. Altman in November was fired as CEO and director by the OpenAI board in a shocking dismissal of an executive who had become the face of AI in Silicon Valley. “I am excited to welcome Sue, Nicole, and Fidji to the OpenAI Board of Directors,” Taylor said in a statement. But Altman, Brockman and Sutskever in 2019 formed OpenAI LP, a for-profit entity that exists within the larger company’s structure. Altman, in the press conference, praised the company’s employees for their determination to do good work throughout its turmoil.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman’s, Altman, OpenAI, – Altman, Larry Summers, Obama, Bret Taylor, Adam D’Angelo, Sue Desmond, Hellman, Nicole Seligman, Fidji Simo, “, Sue, Nicole, ” Taylor, WilmerHale, –, Mira Murati, Ilya Sutskever, Murati, “ Mira …, ”, ” Murati, Greg Brockman, Sam, Greg, Taylor, Brockman, Elon Musk, shakeup, …, ” Altman Organizations: New, New York CNN, Microsoft, Clinton, Gates, Sony, OpenAI, New York Times Locations: New York, Silicon Valley, Sutskever

☆ Sam Altman set to return to OpenAI's board of directors nearly 5 months after surprise ouster
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

CEO Sam Altman will be reinstated to OpenAI's board of directors. Bret Taylor, chair of OpenAI's board, said members "unanimously concluded" Altman is right to lead the company. The AI startup will also bring on three additional new board members, the company announced. AdvertisementOpenAI CEO Sam Altman is set to return to OpenAI's board of directors, the company announced Friday. "We have unanimously concluded that Sam and Greg are the right leaders for OpenAI," Bret Taylor, chair of the OpenAI board, said in a statement released Friday.

Persons: Sam Altman, Bret Taylor, Altman, —, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D'Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Sam, Greg, Toner, McCauly, Sutskever, Elon Musk, OpenAI, Melinda Gates, Sue Desmond, Hellman, Nicole Seligman, Fidji Simo Organizations: Service, OpenAI, Elon, Melinda Gates Foundation, Sony Entertainment, Business Locations: OpenAI, xAI

☆ Fidji Simo, Instacart
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Cnbc.Com Staff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Starting last year, profitability became a more consistent story for the largest online grocery marketplace in North America, with millions of monthly active orderers and Instacart+ members. The company says it has now delivered over one billion orders across its 85,000-store network encompassing 1,500 retail partners. "There were a lot of questions about whether Instacart would be just another pandemic fad," CEO Fidji Simo told CNBC . Simo, who took the top role at the company in 2021 and launched the Instacart Health delivery service in 2022, has made health care a personal passion. "Patients often go through years-long diagnostic odysseys, bouncing around from specialist to specialist with no one looking at the whole picture," Simo wrote on her LinkedIn.

Persons: Fidji Simo, Instacart, NBCUniversal's Peacock, Simo Organizations: Google, CNBC, Kroger, Costco, Amazon Prime, Paramount, Metrodora Institute Locations: North America

☆ Instacart's CEO says that warehouses full of robots won't replace its gig workers anytime soon
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-14 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Don't expect Instacart to replace its gig worker shoppers with robots anytime soon. Instacart CEO Fidji Simo says the company can deliver faster and more efficiently using its human shoppers. That's a contrast with companies like Kroger, which have built warehouses to automate order picking. Kroger has a network of warehouses that it built with British grocer Ocado, where robots and some humans assemble orders, for instance. Human workers still drive to customers' homes to deliver the orders.

Persons: Fidji Simo, —, Kroger, Ocado Organizations: Kroger, Service, Business

☆ Instacart wants to turn grocery shopping into 'Pokémon GO' to get you to buy more using smart carts
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Instacart is trying to gamify grocery shopping with its Caper smart carts, an executive said. AdvertisementInstacart is trying to get you to buy more at the grocery store when you use one of its screen-equipped shopping carts — by turning shopping into a game. The company's Caper carts can show shoppers ads or discounts for products based on their buying habits, Instacart has said. McIntosh told Grocery Dive that customers spend around 30 minutes in front of the cart's screen during a visit. "We really believe that it's going to be the future of grocery shopping," CEO Fidji Simo told Bloomberg at the time.

Persons: Instacart, —, David McIntosh, McIntosh, financials Instacart, Fidji Simo Organizations: Service, Connected, Bloomberg

☆ Smart shopping carts with customized ads are the future of grocery shopping, according to Instacart
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-08 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Instacart will test ads on its Caper smart shopping carts at Bristol Farms grocery stores in Southern California, it said on Monday. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. AdvertisementInstacart plans to have "thousands" of the Caper carts in stores by the end of 2024, Instacart CEO Fidji Simo told Bloomberg on Monday. Caper carts are just one example of the boom in what those in the industry call "retail media." AdvertisementMost retailers' ad sales are a fraction of Amazon's, which has been building its ad business for longer.

Persons: —, General Mills, That's, Fidji Simo, they're, Simo Organizations: Service, Bristol Farms, Kroger, Schnucks, Business, Del, Del Monte Foods, Bloomberg, Retailers, Walmart, Amazon, Intelligence Locations: Southern California, Del Monte

☆ Orchid tests embryos for genetic diseases. It just raised $12 million with this 11-slide pitch deck.
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Orchid, a startup that tests embryos for genetic diseases, has just raised $12 million. "The way that IVF and embryo screening works today is the amount of information available is really limited," Orchid CEO and cofounder Noor Siddiqui said. Genetic testing has been around for years, but it has been usually limited in the diseases it can identify, which include cystic fibrosis, Bloomberg reported. Orchid produces reports with two types of genetic testing: monogenic and polygenic. The cost of the test depends on the number of embryos that Orchid tests.

Persons: Noor Siddiqui, Siddiqui, Orchid, Dylan, Anne Wojcicki, Fidji Simo, Peter Kraft Organizations: Business, Bloomberg, Prometheus Fund, Starbloom Capital, One Ventures, Los Angeles Times Locations: San Francisco, Pebblebed

☆ Mark Zuckerberg ignored teen and user safety warnings from Meta executives
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The disclosures highlight Zuckerberg’s sway over decisions at Meta that can affect billions of users. And they also shed light on tensions that have occasionally arisen between Zuckerberg and other Meta officials who have pushed to enhance user well-being. In response to the newly unsealed communications, Meta spokesman Andy Stone said such image filters are commonly used in the industry. “These unreacted documents prove that Mark Zuckerberg is not interested in protecting anyone’s privacy or safety. “Clegg’s comments follow a pattern and practice at Meta where employees repeatedly flagged under-investment in well-being tools, despite having the research,” Qureshi said.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, —, Zuckerberg, Adam Mosseri, Global Affairs Nick Clegg, Karina Newton, Fidji Simo, Margaret Gould Stewart, Simo, Mosseri, Stewart, Newton, Andrew Bosworth, Andy Stone, ” Stone, “, Stone, Meta, Clegg, Frances, Instagram, Haugen, ” Zuckerberg, Susan Li, Li, David Ginsberg, Ginsburg, Li “, Arturo Bejar, Bejar, Instagram’s, ” Bejar, I’ve, ”, Sacha Haworth, Zamaan Qureshi, ” Qureshi Organizations: CNN —, Facebook, Global Affairs, Massachusetts, Meta, CNN, ” Tech, Technology, Tech Locations: Massachusetts, United States, Mosseri

Nov 8 (Reuters) - Instacart (CART.O) on Wednesday forecast fourth-quarter core profit above Wall Street estimates in its first earnings report since going public in September, on higher transaction and advertisement fees, sending its shares up 4% after the bell. The grocery delivery firm, whose stock has lost more than a third of its value since debut, also announced a $500 million share repurchase program. It expects current-quarter adjusted EBITDA, a key measure of profitability, to be between $165 million and $175 million. Instacart's gross transaction value (GTV) - the value of products sold based on prices shown - rose 6% over the year earlier to $7.49 billion in the third quarter. For full year 2023, Instacart anticipates GTV to grow in mid-single digits, versus analysts' estimate of 4.7% growth at $30.18 billion.

Persons: Fidji Simo, Arun Sundaram, Instacart, DoorDash, Granth, Shilpi Majumdar Organizations: Wall, Reuters, CFRA, GTV, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Instacart says most of its retailers charge more through its app than in stores, confirming what gig workers and shoppers have suspected for years
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Just 425 of the 1,400 retailers that sell through Instacart charge the same prices in-store and on the app. Instacart CEO Fidji Simo said Wednesday that the company encourages retailers to stick to in-store prices. Some customers don't realize that the markups even exist, Instacart shoppers have told Insider. Out of the 1,400 retailers who sell through Instacart, 425 offer the same prices through Instacart, Fidji Simo told analysts during the company's first-ever earnings call. Instacart lets retailers decide how much they charge for products for sale through the app, Simo said.

Persons: Fidji Simo, —, Instacart, Simo Organizations: Service Locations: Instacart, Southern California, Oregon

☆ Instacart founder Apoorva Mehta says his 'empty fridge' was the inspiration for the delivery startup
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Instacart founder's empty fridge was the "lightbulb moment" for coming up with the idea for the delivery startup, he said. Apoorva Mehta walked away with over $1.1 billion in net worth after the delivery startup's IPO on Wednesday. AdvertisementAdvertisementMehta walked away with a fortune of over $1.1 billion after his delivery startup's IPO on Tuesday. Before starting the company, Mehta quit his job at Amazon in 2010 and moved to San Francisco to become an entrepreneur. During the early stages of Instacart, Mehta also said he missed the application deadline for the startup accelerator YCombinator by over two months.

Persons: Apoorva Mehta, Instacart, Mehta, Fidji Simo, — Aswath, NYU's Stern School of Business —, Damodaran Organizations: Service, Meta, Bloomberg, SEC, NYU's Stern School of Business, Amazon, CNBC Locations: Wall, Silicon, San Francisco, Friday's

☆ Wall Street's 'meh' response to tech IPOs shows Silicon Valley's valuation problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Ari Levy | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

After a 21-month tech IPO freeze, the market has cracked opened in the past week. Chip designer Arm debuted last Thursday, followed by grocery-delivery company Instacart this Tuesday, and cloud software vendor Klaviyo the following day. They're three very different companies in disparate parts of the tech sector, but Wall Street's reaction has been consistent. Instacart popped 40% immediately after selling shares at $30. But the lack of excitement over the past week — amounting to a collective "meh" across Wall Street — is certainly not the desired outcome either.

Persons: Arm, Eric Juergens, Plimpton, Juergens, Japan's SoftBank, Fidji Simo Organizations: Investors, Debevoise Locations: Klaviyo

☆ Instacart's IPO flops as the stock slumps. Here are 7 reasons why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

This is one of the concerns that has turned Instacart's IPO into a flop on its second day as a public company. To be successful, an IPO must deliver a big pop to the investors who signed on to buy stock when it debuts. He came out with an analysis of Instacart's business on Tuesday, valuing the company at $29 a share. The reason: The grocery business is low-margin, so there's not a lot of room for Instacart to skim more fees. "In short, the growth in online grocery sales will be higher than total grocery sales growth, but not overwhelmingly so."

Persons: Aswath Damodaran, Fidji Simo, Instacart, Rowe Price, Damodaran, there's, Uber, Instacart doesn't Organizations: Service, Fidelity, DST Global, NYU's Stern School of Business, Instacart Shoppers, Shoppers, Tech Locations: Wall, Silicon, Aswath, COVID

☆ As Instacart goes public, it's no victory lap for founder Apoorva Mehta
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Mehta was replaced as CEO of Instacart in July 2021 following a messy dispute with some of the company's largest investors. Instacart Founder Apoorva Mehta in his 2003 yearbook photo from Westdale Secondary School. The app started gaining momentum and Mehta put out ads on Craigslist for shoppers to do the grocery runs for him. Whole Foods reportedly broke the news to Mehta and a fellow Instacart executive on an early morning call. In a sworn affidavit, Mehta denies that he misappropriated any trade secrets and says he's since cut ties with Singh.

Persons: Apoorva Mehta, Mehta, Safeway Mehta, Hamilton Public Library Mehta, Bing Gordon, Kleiner Perkins, Gordon, he'd, Garry Tan, Tan, Garry, Andreessen Horowitz, catapulting Mehta, Forbes, Instacart, Mike Moritz, Fidji Simo, Simo, That's, Mehta's, he's, Tejasvi, Singh, Sam Bankman, NextMed, it's Organizations: Instacart, Safeway, Westdale Secondary, Hamilton Public Library, The University of Waterloo, Amazon, NPR, Electronic Arts, YC, TechCrunch, Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Forbes, Foods, Costco, Kroger, Facebook, Sunrise Locations: India, Libya, Hamilton , Ontario, Toronto, Seattle, San Francisco, wallowing, Sequoia, Mehta's, Marin County

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