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☆ Goldman Sachs is having an identity crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Linette Lopez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

I never thought I'd write this but … I miss the old Goldman Sachs. That was the voice of Goldman Sachs 2009 — the adamantine firm that managed to make its way through the crisis relatively unscathed. This sort of dry humor worked back then, but for today's Goldman Sachs, the joke just doesn't hit the same way. Van Praag — who was once dubbed "Goldman Sachs' Rococo PR prince" by The Observer — left the firm in 2012. It would be nice to see the old Goldman Sachs ferocity is still out there somewhere, even if it's not on Wall Street.

Persons: I'd, …, Goldman Sachs, Lucas van Praag, Goldman, van Praag, John F, David Solomon —, Solomon, boardrooms, today's Goldman Sachs, Lucas van Praag's Goldman, —, FactSet, JP Morgan, chuffs, DJ Sol, Van Praag —, Observer —, Jake Siewert, Lloyd Blankfein —, David Solomon's, Michael Kovac, Marcus —, DJ'ing, Goldman's, Lloyd Blankfein, Insider's Dakin Campbell, Kim Kardashian, Morgan Stanley, It's, Trump, Gary Cohn, mathlete who's, it's, Linette Lopez Organizations: Sunday Times of, Bloomberg, Refinitiv, Wealth Management, Observer, Treasury, Blankfein, Bank of America, Ivy League Locations: Wall, Sunday Times of London, New York City, Bahamas, Silicon

☆ Trump slammed his hand on his desk and questioned why he 'only got 25% of the Jewish vote' when presented with antique Israeli artifacts, Republican donor says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A spokesperson for Donald Trump said Thursday that they would send the ceramic oil lamps back. Trump slammed Jewish voters when presented with the lamps in 2021, a Republican donor told The Wall Street Journal. The Journal on Thursday shed new light on the long, strange tale of a collection of ceramic oil lamps that traveled from Israel to Washington, DC, to California, and Florida over the course of four years. The oil lamps were never publicly displayed at the White House, however, due to a State Department inspection into the items that ran long, Fox told The Journal. Trump, however, responded with a passionate outcry, according to Fox, who said the former president slammed his hand on his desk.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Saul Fox, Israel, Fox, Mr Organizations: Jewish, Wall Street, Service, Mar, Trump, Israeli Antiquities Authority, White, State Department, Fox Locations: Wall, Silicon, Israel, Washington, California, Florida, Lago, Jerusalem

☆ Tech companies including Google gripe about unfair cloud practices
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 21 (Reuters) - Technology trade groups as well as Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google have griped to the Federal Trade Commission about allegedly unfair business practices in the cloud, including by the industry's No. 2 by market share Microsoft (MSFT.O). They also follow scrutiny worldwide, including a recent probe by Europe's antitrust authority into Microsoft's licensing agreements that allegedly discouraged rival cloud usage. In one example of the public comments Tuesday, trade group NetChoice took aim at Microsoft and Oracle (ORCL.N). Google echoed the sentiment in its own filing, saying that "licensing terms enforced by Microsoft, Oracle, and other legacy on-premises software providers distort competition in the cloud."

Persons: NetChoice, Urvi Dugar, Jeffrey Dastin, Jaspreet Singh, Krishna Chandra Eluri, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Technology, Google, Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft, U.S, Oracle, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru, Palo Alto, Calif

☆ What are retail shrink and organized retail theft, and why do companies keep talking about them?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Gabrielle Fonrouge | In Gabrielle-Fonrouge | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

watch nowFor several years, the terms shrink, retail crime and organized retail theft have echoed from the mouths of politicians, police officers, trade groups and the country's most prominent retail executives. And how does it differ from retail crime and organized retail theft? The companies polled for the survey estimated that retail theft accounted for 37% of those losses, employee or internal theft 28.5% and process and control failures 25.7%. The NRF defines organized retail theft as the "large-scale theft of retail merchandise with the intent to resell the items for financial gain." The line between organized retail theft and shoplifting can be murky, but they are distinctly different.

Persons: Lindsey Nicholson, It's, Lisa LaBruno, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, Barry Williams, John Willis, Willis, let's, Willie Carswell, he's, He's, Carswell, Tim Boyle Organizations: Trade, CNBC, Universal, Getty, National Retail Federation, Security Investigations, Retail Industry, Association, Manhattan DA, New York Daily, Homeland Security Investigations, eBay Locations: Queens , New York, New York, Manhattan , New York, New, Charlotte, Niles , Illinois

☆ Economic stability hangs on US love of BBQ
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Lauren Silva Laughlin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, May 26 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The threat of U.S. default isn’t the only thing bringing lawmakers to the negotiating table. That unofficial deadline adds urgency, and also makes it likely that a deal will be no better than just good enough. But lawmakers are also ditching Washington ahead of Memorial Day, a U.S. holiday marking the start of warmer months. In the meantime, a banking crisis, inflation crisis, and potential economic crisis are all pushed into the background. Investors will come back from their weekend of burgers and beer and see stability, which means they will be ready to take risks again.

☆ Jamie Dimon's 'tone deaf' return to office mandate is getting pushback from JPMorgan staffers, who are complaining about being stuck on Zoom calls even while in the office: Reuters
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Nidhi Pandurangi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

JPMorgan is now mandating all managing directors work from the office five days a week. But that rubbed some workers the wrong way, who vented on an internal messaging system, per Reuters. They griped about being stuck in virtual meetings despite being in the office, long commutes, and family responsibilities. In the same video, Clarke even lauded one employee's work ethic who he said "sold their family dog" to improve work performance. Read the JPMorgan return to office memo in full here.

☆ Opinion | Why Fox News and CNN Don’t Need Tucker Carlson or Don Lemon
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Brian Stelter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

That’s why I dismiss predictions — fashionable, even at some of these networks — that cable news is doomed to irrelevancy. Mr. Carlson’s reach made him an unelected leader of the Republican Party, someone the House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, had to propitiate. An entire ecosystem of far-right sites and social networks eagerly waited to promote Mr. Carlson’s episodes each night. Bush, has called Mr. Murdoch’s machine the “Fox brainwashing operation” rather than Fox News. Lemon called it the “Fox propaganda network” because he didn’t think it was accurate to call it news anymore.

☆ Bob Iger’s stalling may be stifling
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The $180 billion company run by Bob Iger is kicking off its second round of layoffs, according to Reuters, part of an effort to cut $5.5 billion in costs. That’s a solid effort to keep activist Nelson Peltz, who had griped about Disney’s margins, at bay for now. The tricky part is ensuring assets don’t lose even more value before Iger heads out the door. Iger said he would leave the company and is meant to be setting up a successor. The balance act is ensuring Iger doesn’t degrade value, leaving a mess for his successor, whenever that person comes along.

☆ Analysis: 21-year-old's arrest exposes larger classified documents problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Zachary B. Wolf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

If the many earlier and ongoing scandals regarding classified information aren’t a wakeup call that the US government has a problem, maybe the arrest of Jack Teixeira will do the trick. Classified material scandals aplentyOne thing that should be abundantly clear from the string of leaks and improperly handled pieces of classified information beyond this story is that the system has problems. The New York Times reported Wednesday that witnesses questioned as part of the Trump investigation have been asked if he was showing off a map with sensitive intelligence information. There are additional people who have security clearance but don’t currently have access to information. Gen. Pat Ryder, compared the method by which classified information is stored to a locked house where people with clearance can get a key.

☆ What metaverse? Meta says its single largest investment is now in ‘advancing AI’
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

“Our single largest investment is in advancing AI and building it into every one of our products,” Zuckerberg said Tuesday. And not to be left behind, Meta announced late last month that it was forming a “top-level product group” to “turbocharge” the company’s work on AI tools. “I do think it is a good thing to focus on AI,” Ali Mogharabi, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, told CNN of Zuckerberg’s comments. In 2022, Meta lost more than $13.7 billion in its “Reality Labs” unit, which houses its metaverse efforts. After taking a beating in 2022, shares for Meta have surged more than 50% since the start of the year.

☆ Leaked messages show Googlers are taking out their frustrations over layoffs on its new Bard AI chatbot
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently asked employees to help test and improve its Bard chatbot. Internal message boards show Googlers asking Bard to explain the company's recent moves. In one such conversation reviewed by Insider, an employee asked Bard to imagine an IT company that has laid off 12,000 employees. In another conversation shared by an employee, Bard was asked, "Should Google fire people via email with no thank you or goodbye?" That requires training the bot to steer it away from such subjects, which is why Google asked employees to lend a hand.

☆ Pro poker player rants at airline over lost luggage during live broadcast — and says he still can see it pinging at the airport
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Steve O'Dwyer griped on Twitter and during a live broadcast that Lufthansa airlines lost his luggage. He told CNN he tracked the bags with an AirTag, which indicated they were at Heathrow, but he still hasn't gotten them back. The pro player took to Twitter to share other airline customers' accounts of mishandled luggage. Following the tournament, O'Dwyer recounted to CNN his journey from Ireland to the Bahamas with a connecting flight at Heathrow Airport. After O'Dwyer bashed Lufthansa during the tournament broadcast, he continued to tweet at the airline and some of its employees.

☆ Airbnb hosts' latest trick to draw more bookings: $0 cleaning fees
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Airbnb guests griped last year over cleaning fees added after they picked a place but before paying. Still, some hosts say explicitly advertising $0 cleaning fees helps increase bookings. More than two months after the change took effect, some Airbnb hosts told Insider they still saw resentment lingering among travelers. The hosts told Insider it seemed to generate interest in their rentals and even increase bookings during a tough time for some short-term-rental owners. Dan Latu/InsiderMelissa Hughes has never imposed cleaning fees at her goat farm in Tallahassee, Florida.

☆ Satellite images hint at scale of Russian mercenary group's losses in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Aina J. Khan | Aina Is A Freelance Reporter With Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The number of graves at a cemetery used by Russia's notorious mercenary Wagner Group has dramatically grown over the last two months, satellite images show. Satellite images show an increase in graves at a cemetery in Bakinskaya, Russia, from Nov. 24, 2022, to Jan. 24, 2023. The Wagner Group previously provided assistance to the Russian military during conflicts in Syria and Libya. The U.S. government said last week that it will designate Wagner Group as a “significant transnational criminal organization” and impose further sanctions against the organization and its support network. The Wagner Group did not comment on the satellite images and video footage.

☆ How the dollar's sharp reversal could be an unexpected positive for these companies
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Patti Domm | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

But with the dollar's stunning reversal since then, some companies should conversely start to catch a currency break and potentially see upside surprises. In the fourth quarter, because of the sophisticated hedging strategies from companies, they may not get the full benefit of the dollar's decline. Johnson & Johnson, for instance, said fourth quarter sales fell, in part because of the negative impact from currency translation. 3M said fourth quarter sales were 5% lower than they would have been were it not for the stronger dollar. Sacconaghi said the market has typically rewarded tech companies' "currency beats."

☆ Trump says US is giving Ukraine too much support, as new skeptical Republicans take office and swing control of the House
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Former President Donald Trump said the US is giving Ukraine too much aid in its fight against Russia. The new Republican House majority will likely try to more closely monitor Ukraine aid. The US has given Ukraine $48 billion in humanitarian and military aid in its war with Russia. "The good old USA "suckers" are paying a VAST majority of the NATO bill, & outside money, going to Ukraine. Some of Trump's congressional allies have previously echoed his comments on Ukraine, calling for tighter monitoring of the billions in aid the US provides Ukraine.

☆ Auto Dealers Gird for Softening Demand Amid Higher Rates, Uncertain Outlook
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Nora Eckert | Mike Colias | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Car shoppers for nearly two years have expressed frustration over a lack of availability and griped about dealers charging above manufacturer’s suggested price. For nearly two years, car dealers have been focused on getting more cars onto their lots amid a severe inventory crunch. Now, some are worried about how quickly they will be able to move them off. Slim selection at dealerships since mid-2021 created a backlog of consumer demand. At many dealerships, that trend has meant most vehicles arriving from the factory are presold, often at prices well above the manufacturers’ suggested retail price.

☆ Taylor Swift, Drake, Bad Bunny: How much it costs to see Spotify's top artists live
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Kamaron Mcnair | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Entertainment giant Live Nation reported a record 44 million quarterly attendance at concerts between July and October, with a whopping 89 million fans attending over 11,000 events so far this year. But recent events have highlighted issues fans have with ticket pricing, especially the market dominance Ticketmaster (owned by Live Nation) has taken. Still, Ticketmaster's gross transaction value before fees is up 62% from 2019, Live Nation reports. The survey also revealed 38% of concertgoers were willing to pay more for better seats, up to $328 for their favorite artists. High demand equals high ticket costsNaturally, the most popular artists are able to command higher ticket prices.

☆ Inflation is coming down. Here's what that means for your annual pay raise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Once you pay people more, it's hard to claw that back even when inflation starts to come back down. Inflation and annual pay are not in a one-to-one relationship. That became clear to many workers last year when their annual merit increases in salary and wages were not anywhere near the four-decade highs for inflation. But Reilly said that to date, the numbers are "solidly at 4%" for both executive and rank-and-file pay increases. Pearl Meyer research indicates that merit increases are a lagging indicator relative to inflation and costs.

WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was re-elected as Republican leader on Wednesday, defeating a challenge from Sen. Rick Scott of Florida that reflects growing angst within the party after it underperformed in the midterm elections. It is the most serious challenge McConnell has faced for his position after leading the Republican caucus for 15 years. “I welcome the contest.”McConnell is now on track to become the longest-serving Senate caucus leader in history. “That option is represented by Rick Scott currently.”Scott's challenge has rankled some in the Republican caucus, who attribute the 2022 defeats to his handling of the NRSC. “Rick Scott must really love to lose,” griped one Senate GOP aide.

☆ Video shows Russian soldiers on the front lines in Ukraine griping about not having enough training, supplies, or food
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Video apparently shows Russian troops in Ukraine griping about not having enough training or food. an apparent Russian soldier griped in the video posted to Facebook this week by Ukrainian journalist Yurii Butusov. "We're on the fucking front lines," the man said in the two-minute video, which shows several soldiers huddled around each other in the thick of the woods. We only got our fucking pants," said the man, who added, "Long live the fucking Russian army!" "But the video shows that Russia is not able to carry out mobilization properly," Butusov said.

☆ Even Barry Sternlicht is getting hammered by rising rates. A recent deal his $6 billion firm backed out of shows how.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The scuttled deal shows how rising rates have hit Starwood CEO Barry Sternlicht's bottom line. It has canceled its plans to purchase the Stamford, Connecticut, mortgage originator Luxury Mortgage Corp., according to a person with direct knowledge of the deal. The situation with Luxury Mortgage, however, shows how rising rates have also affected Starwood's bottom line. A budding partnership was upended by rising ratesIn recent years, Starwood has become one of Luxury Mortgage's biggest customers. Luxury Mortgage's business has also been strained in recent months.

☆ Trump says Joe Manchin has gone 'off the rails' and should have been 'brought into the Republican Party long ago'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that Sen. Joe Manchin had gone "off the rails." One of the most prominent examples was when he gutted President Joe Biden's "Build Back Better" spending plan. "When people ask, 'What happened to Joe Manchin, why did he go off the rails?' "The fact is, Joe Manchin should have been brought into the Republican Party long ago," Trump wrote. In December, McConnell invited Manchin to join the GOP and slammed the Democratic Party for calling Manchin a "liar."

☆ Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav faces 3 key challenges as financial headwinds disrupt his strategy and threaten his promises to Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman crystallized the daunting task ahead for Zaslav and WBD in his August 5 report "Reality First. The honeymoon was short-lived," said one senior Hollywood insider. It turns out there are five, housing some 40,000 employees globally: Warner Bros., HBO Max, the Turner entertainment channel business, CNN, and Discovery. The WBD insider said there isn't a rush to hire a new chief and that the company will continue to meet people. Under the ownership of AT&T, WarnerMedia's financials were buried in its parent's spreadsheets — now as a pure-play entertainment company, Warner Bros.

☆ Manchin bemoans the 'strange bedfellows' of Bernie Sanders and the Senate GOP teaming up to oppose his plan to streamline construction of fossil fuel projects
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Joseph Zeballos-Roig | Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Manchin bemoaned the bipartisan opposition that's brewing against his energy bill. "What I'm hearing is that this is like revenge politics," Manchin said Tuesday. Democratic leaders want to overhaul the permitting process for fossil fuel and clean energy projects. "I've been around a long time in state politics and federal politics," Manchin said at a Tuesday press conference. That Democrat-only bill poured $433 billion into clean energy tax credits, healthcare subsidies and imposed a minimum tax on profitable corporations.

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