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☆ Amazon pauses hiring for corporate workforce
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Amazon is pausing hiring for roles in its corporate workforce, the company announced in a memo to staff Thursday. The company had already announced last month it would freeze hiring for corporate roles in its retail business, but the latest update affects its other businesses. Amazon’s HR chief Beth Galetti wrote in the memo that the company moved to further restrict new hiring amid a worsening economic outlook and after it hired rapidly in recent years. CEO Andy Jassy has also aggressively curtailed expenses across the company in recent months amid fears of a recession, rising inflation and soaring interest rates. Amazon says it employs about 75,000 people in the Seattle area, including its corporate offices there.

☆ Outgoing Charter CEO Tom Rutledge says in an exclusive CNBC interview that there's 'pain to come' as linear TV gives way to streaming
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +33 min

The biggest cable company in the industry at that time had about a million customers. And the second question is, very much related to that, for years now, the bull investor thesis has been broadband growth. So does that mean that broadband growth is no longer the big growth story it once was? No, I think there's plenty of broadband growth to get for us and there's continued broadband adoption to get for the whole industry. And I think there's some value in scale which can translate into consumer value as well.

☆ Leaked audio reveals Cerebral execs telling workers they blew through too much money too quickly. Here's how the embattled mental-health startup is changing course.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Blake Dodge | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The embattled startup hired against unprofitable growth, Jess Muse, Cerebral's president, said. Cerebral, she said, paid more money on advertising to bring in new patients than it recouped by providing mental-health services and prescriptions. Prioritizing turning a profitCerebral leaders held a series of staff meetings on Monday. During the Monday staff meetings, at least two employees expressed concerns about the increased workload, since remaining staff are taking on patients of those who were laid off. Several employees accused company leaders of blindsiding workers with layoffs after the employees said they were assured the company was performing well.

☆ Effects of Supreme Court abortion ruling: Longer travel time, more requests for pills
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Aria Bendix | Aria Bendix Is The Breaking Health Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Infants born as a result of an unintended pregnancy, meanwhile, face a higher risk of low birth weight or preterm birth. Ashana's article asserts that every hour of delayed care increases a patient’s risk of adverse outcomes or death. But in some cases, abortion restrictions require waiting until a person is hemorrhaging or develops sepsis before performing a lifesaving abortion. Hassan said medication abortion presents "a lot of opportunity to be able to expand into places that are geographically difficult for people to access abortion." "There are a lot of things within the health care system environment that could change, including the way we think about where abortion care can be accessed," Hassan said.

☆ FDA expresses concern about providers who offer abortion medications before pregnancy, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Jen Christensen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Medication abortion, also known as medical abortion, is a method by which someone ends their pregnancy by taking two pills, rather than having a surgical procedure. Medication abortion now accounts for more than half of all US abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health. “We’re also proud to offer ongoing, supportive abortion care from our providers as part of our advance provision service to support patients throughout the process,” she said. “Providers are fully able to prescribe medications off-label, and in fact, some prescribe mifepristone up to 12 weeks” into a pregnancy, Upadhyay said. To prescribe the abortion medication, providers have to be certified, and the patient must sign paperwork that says they understand that there is a risk of complications.

☆ Amazon set to report third-quarter earnings after the bell
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon and then CEO of web services at Amazon.com Inc., speaks during the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Amazon reports third-quarter earnings after the bell on Thursday. Those challenges have coincided with a slowdown in Amazon's core retail business, as consumers returned to shopping in stores. The forecast could signal how much demand Amazon expects to see during the holiday shopping period. Amazon shares have slid 31% so far this year, while the S&P 500 index has dropped nearly 20% over the same period.

☆ 3 traits Lux Capital's Deena Shakir looks for in early-stage startup founders as healthcare bets shrink
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Lux Capital has backed multiple first-time founders this year even as their investment pace slows. In early-stage investments, Lux Capital's Deena Shakir said founders' characters are paramount. Of those 13 founders, Lux Capital has backed four, making it the most-represented venture-capital firm on the list. Here are the top three traits Shakir said she's looking for right now in the founders that Lux Capital backs, in no particular order:1. Founder-market fitWhen examining a startup, Shakir said she has to first ask the question of why the founder is starting this particular company.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Meta Platforms, ServiceNow, Align Technology and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Check out the companies making headlines after the bell:Meta Platforms — The Facebook parent plunged more than 13% after missing earnings estimates for the third quarter. Meta beat revenue estimates, posting a better-than-expected decline year-over-year but shared disappointing guidance for the fourth quarter. ServiceNow — The software stock soared 12.4% postmarket as earnings per share came in 12 cents ahead of Wall Street expectations. Align Technology — The maker of Invisalign dental straighteners toppled 16.8% after missing earnings estimates for the recent quarter. O'Reilly Automotive — Shares gained more than 3% after hours following a beat on revenue and earnings for the third quarter.

☆ Cerebral to Cut About 20% of Staff as Its Operations Shrink
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Khadeeja Safdar | Rolfe Winkler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Cerebral said in a memo that the moves would affect all of the company’s divisions. Telehealth startup Cerebral Inc. told staffers it is cutting jobs and restructuring its operations in moves that will affect about 20% of its employees, shrinking the company to match patient demand and lower growth targets. In a memo to staff on Monday, Chief Executive David Mou said the changes would be spread across all divisions, including headquarters, clinical-care teams and support staff. He said employees would be notified over the course of the week, according to the memo, which was viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

☆ Cerebral to Cut About 20% of Workers as It Shrinks Operations
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Khadeeja Safdar | Rolfe Winkler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Cerebral said the moves would be spread across all of its divisions. Telehealth startup Cerebral Inc. told staffers it is cutting jobs and restructuring its operations in moves that will affect about 20% of its employees, shrinking the company to match patient demand and lower growth targets. In a memo to staff on Monday, Chief Executive David Mou said the changes would be spread across all divisions, including headquarters, clinical-care teams and support staff. He said employees would be notified over the course of the week, according to the memo, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

During the pandemic, states and insurers overnight did what years of advocacy for telemedicine had failed to accomplish. During the pandemic, states and insurers overnight did what years of advocacy for telemedicine had failed to accomplish. It also increases patients’ access to critical information because they can see their own charts and ask questions at any time. Telemedicine access in rural areas is particularly urgent given how many hospitals in these places are shuttering their doors. Whatever the reasoning, navigating the politics and funding streams of our complicated health care system oftentimes takes years to create lasting, positive change.

☆ Millions at risk of losing health insurance if U.S. ends Covid public health emergency in January
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

The Health and Human Services Department will give the public 60 days notice before lifting the public health emergency, Becerra said. The health emergency also allowed millions of people to receive increased food benefits through the federal government's nutrition program. When the public health emergency does end, HHS estimates up to 15 million people will be disenrolled from Medicare and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Millions to lose Medicaid coverageThe most dramatic impact from ending the public health emergency will fall on people enrolled in Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. Trump administration Health Secretary Alex Azar activated the FDA's emergency authorization powers in March 2020, about two months after first declaring the public health emergency.

☆ Walmart's mission to offer accessible healthcare has been slow going. But as competition heats up from Amazon, it has developed these 5 strategies to disrupt the lucrative industry.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

The company has made several big moves on telehealth, clinics healthcare research, and more. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer announced in October the launch of the "Walmart Healthcare Research Institute," an institute geared toward helping underserved communities participate in clinical research. But Walmart has still faced significant challenges, from major leadership departures to a slower than expected rollout of healthcare clinics. Rolling out healthcare clinics nationwideA Walmart Health center. Launching a research institute for clinical trial participationWalmart is seeking to bolster clinical trial participation with its new healthcare research institute.

☆ Amazon, Meta, and other big tech firms have entered the 'Great Hesitation' — cutting hiring and other costs in fear of an economic downturn
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Rob Price | Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Leaders at large-cap tech companies are in an anxious waiting game, battening down the hatches as they prepare for the storm to hit. Some tech firms will be hurt moreAmong the biggest players in the tech industry, the impacts of a crash will not be felt evenly. "I look at these large tech companies, and over the last couple of years, obviously money's been free, everything got bloated, and all these tech companies — excluding Apple — have effectively doubled their head count over a three-year period, right? Beyond head count, tech companies are cutting back on extras, imperiling their famously lavish meal options. The largest tech companies are also signaling their anxiety by trimming budgets for their more experimental businesses and research projects.

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday confirmed a nationwide shortage of the attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder medication Adderall, more than two months after some pharmacies reported difficulties filling prescriptions. The shortage affects the immediate-release form of Adderall, a stimulant that helps manage ADHD symptoms. Dougherty added that Teva expects “intermittent delays through end of year.”The supply from the other Adderall manufacturers isn’t enough to meet the need, the FDA said. The shortage has hit pharmacies differentlySome pharmacies have been having trouble filling Adderall prescriptions since the summer. In May, Walmart and CVS announced they would stop filling prescriptions for controlled substances from telehealth startups such as Cerebral and Done Health, which prescribe stimulants and gained footing during the pandemic.

☆ Amazon executives overseeing Alexa, hardware group depart the company
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Gregg Zehr, president of Amazon's hardware research and development group, known as Lab126, has retired, the company confirmed to CNBC. Tom Taylor, senior vice president of Amazon Alexa and a member of CEO Andy Jassy's elite S-Team, is also retiring, Amazon said. In July, public policy chief Jay Carney left to join Airbnb, and 23-year Amazon veteran Dave Clark resigned as retail chief a month later. Two prominent Black leaders — operations executive Dave Bozeman and Alicia Boler-Davis, senior vice president of global customer fulfillment — also announced their departures in June. The average tenure for vice presidents is about 10 years, and for senior vice presidents it is "much longer," the spokesperson said.

☆ Americans have largely avoided health care inflation so far – but that’s about to change
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Tami Luhby | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

About 155 million Americans have work-based health insurance, the largest source of coverage by far, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Delayed impact of inflation on health careWhile the cost of gas, food and other essentials can change quickly based on inflation and market conditions, health care operates differently. In fact, health care costs are bucking their own typical trend. Workers are projected to shell out an average of 2.6% more for health care this year, compared to 2021, Aon calculated. Increases expected to continueNext year will only be the start of an extended period of increased health care costs, experts said.

☆ U.S. extends Covid public health emergency even though Biden says pandemic is over
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The U.S. has extended the Covid public health emergency, a clear demonstration that the Biden administration still views Covid as a crisis despite President Joe Biden's recent claim that the pandemic is over. The public health emergency, first declared in January 2020 by the Trump administration, has been renewed every 90 days since the pandemic began. Biden, in a September television interview, claimed the "pandemic is over" though he said Covid will continue to present a health challenge. But hospitals and pharmacies called for the Health and Human Services Department to keep the public health emergency in place until the U.S. has a sustained period of low Covid transmission. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, under HHS, dramatically expanded enrollment in Medicaid, public health insurance for low income people, to a historic record of more than 89 million people.

☆ Amazon cost cuts under Jassy reflect changing reality after 25 years of growth over profit
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon and then CEO of Amazon Web Services, speaks at the WSJD Live conference in Laguna Beach, California, October 25, 2016. Mike Blake | ReutersThroughout its first 25 years as a public company, Amazon has operated under a singular mantra, often to the chagrin of Wall Street: growth is more important than profits. No wager was bigger than Amazon Web Services, the cloud-computing unit that Amazon launched in 2006 and that Jassy led until his promotion last year. "They're completely unafraid to kill something that's not working," said Craig Berman, a former Amazon vice president for global communications. Former Amazon employees Colin Bryar and Bill Carr wrote about the process in their 2021 book, "Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon."

☆ See the 17-slide presentation Folx Health used to raise $30 million to provide more telehealth options for LGBTQ+ patients
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Sarah Braner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Folx, a telehealth service for the LGBTQ+ community, just raised $30 million in a Series B round. Folx will use the money to expand telehealth services, especially in behavioral health. Folx Health, a company offering telehealth services to the LGBTQ+ community, announced today that it has raised a $30 million series B round to offer and expand new services to clients, including behavioral health and mental health services. Folx's CEO, Liana Douillet Guzmán, said that Folx has raised $59 million in total, but she did not disclose the company's current valuation. Here is the 17-slide presentation Folx Health used to raise its $30 million Series B round.

☆ Leaked Amazon slides instruct employees to 'double down on frugality' in all-hands meeting
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon urged frugality in an all-hands meeting this week, according to excerpts reviewed by Insider. The comments signify the tone shift at Amazon, as it tightens its belt in the face of a looming recession. Amazon's leadership team urged employees to "double down on frugality" in an internal all-hands meeting this week, according to slides and excerpts viewed by Insider. The slides instructed employees to "accomplish more with less," meaning to adjust hiring, reduce costs, and inventory levels. At the meeting, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy conveyed a similar message when asked about the economic downturn and its effect on Amazon's future investments.

☆ Amazon is cutting some robotics projects in a reorganization of its research efforts in this field. Canvas, which it bought for over $100 million, is the latest casualty.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon is consolidating robotics research projects to focus on those that help customers most. Amazon is shutting down Canvas, the warehouse robotics startup it acquired for over $100 million in 2019, Insider has learned, as the e-commerce giant continues to cut costs. Employees are being given the choice to transfer to a different team within Amazon or leave with severance pay. Last week, Amazon shut Scout, a mini home delivery robot it launched in 2019. The company has implemented a broader hiring freeze in its retail business too, while scaling back several warehouse expansion plans this year.

Walmart Healthcare Research Institute, the largest U.S. retailer's new healthcare research service, will find participants for clinical trials, and Walmart also host MyHealthJourney, a patient portal that helps people find upcoming research trials and track their care. Walmart's expansion into clinical trial recruitment could bring it new streams of revenue from drug companies. Walmart is currently working with Laina Enterprises, a virtual clinical trial management platform, the retailer said in a press release. Rival Walgreens said in June it had launched clinical trial services to increase diversity in test subjects. Walmart opened Walmart Health locations in Dallas, Georgia in 2019 and now has 24 locations including in Arkansas, Florida and Illinois.

☆ 'The f—ing party is over.' Big Tech companies are scaling back ambitions and canceling projects. Here's what to expect from Silicon Valley as a global recession looks increasingly unavoidable.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-30 | by ( Alex Kantrowitz | Big Technology | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

As interest rates rise, big tech companies are being pushed to cancel projects and rearrange staff. Rising interest rates have focused investors on short-term profitability and companies like Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Snap are responding. This trimming signals the start of a new era for Big Tech, one where runaway spending on tomorrow gives way to unrelenting attention on today. In this era, Big Tech will become more efficient and profitable, but also more vulnerable. These startups' funding sources are drying up and many don't yet have good business discipline, taking some heat off Big Tech.

☆ Here are the top 15 start-ups to work for in Singapore, according to LinkedIn
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-30 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

The days of easy money for start-ups are gone as interest rates soar and economic uncertainties loom. But according to a new study from LinkedIn, these 15 start-ups have risen above these challenges in Singapore. In particular, fintech, education and telehealth start-ups dominated the list on the "LinkedIn Top Start-ups 2022″ for Singapore. "Financial technology startups feature prominently within the Singapore list, comprising more than half of the companies in the top 15, followed by health care and edtech companies," said Adrian Tay, the senior editor in Asia for LinkedIn News. "This reflects the current needs of Singaporean consumers, who are keen to manage their finances and manage their wealth, want more convenient healthcare services, and need services to cater to the ageing population and also investing in the future of their kids with good education tools and resources."

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