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☆ On ‘Succession,’ Striving Is The Worst Insult of All - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Elizabeth Spiers | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

The Roy children’s individual ambitions are sometimes risible, but we’re never asked to question why they would be ambitious in the first place. What’s not acceptable, within the moral logic of the show, is the ambition of those characters who were not born into money and power but want to achieve them. In an episode midway through the final season, Tom admits to Shiv that he cares about these things. I do.” He tells her, “If you think that’s shallow, why don’t you throw out all of your stuff for love? “You’re a hick,” she says, “your whole family is striving and parochial.” Striving — that’s the biggest insult of them all.

☆ Opinion | Why ‘Succession’ Is a Work of Fantasy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Between the Dominion Voting Systems settlement and the Tucker Carlson firing, we’ve had a lot of real-world Fox drama lately, and the contrast between reality and fiction tells us something interesting about how art depicts our politics — and how the nature of democratic politics can resist successful dramatization. In the world of “Succession,” the key election-night dilemma is somewhat similar — when to call a crucial state — but the dynamics are quite different. The show’s presidential election is disrupted by a fire (arson?) at a Milwaukee precinct that destroys thousands of ballots, leaving the right-wing candidate ahead pending litigation, and his campaign wants ATN (the show’s Fox News) to call Wisconsin for him immediately. With two episodes left, the dice seem loaded for the second outcome: Failsons and a faildaughter lose their company and, oops, bring down the American republic along the way.

☆ On ‘Succession,’ if You’re Eating, You’re Losing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Tejal Rao | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Autumn light filters through the treetops of Central Park West, streaming into Jean-Georges, giving the gray banquettes a matte, silver gleam. Each table, though in clear view of the others, is luxuriously cocooned by space, almost private. It’s the ideal place, really, for the Roy children — the scions of the Waystar Royco media empire on HBO’s “Succession” — to discuss their father’s funeral arrangements. The conversation is brisk, and though they chose Jean-Georges as their meeting spot, they don’t eat the food. They leave the pastries — the dark, oversize canelés and fruit-studded buns — along with the platter of fanned, cut fruit, completely untouched.

☆ In ‘Succession,’ Democracy Goes Up in Smoke
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( James Poniewozik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“Succession” is predictable in the best way. It simply sets up conditions, gives characters motivations, then lets them act in their interests. For America, it’s the choice between remaining a country where elections are won with ballots or becoming one where they’re won with torches. Roman, who has always vibed with Mencken’s edgelord energy, sees no reason not to get on the good side of a history-smashing win. This had to be a rough episode for Team Roman, the “Succession” fans who love his broken-toy impishness and “Clockwork Orange” banter.

☆ ‘Succession’ Season 4, Episode 8 Recap: The Will of Some People
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Noel Murray | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Here, he listens to Shiv’s argument that ATN could slow the Mencken momentum. The first is that Kendall really wants the next president to kill the GoJo deal, which Roman insists Mencken will do. So Kendall asks Shiv to take one more shot at persuading her ex-lover Nate to get Jimenez to make that same promise. This sets up the second impediment: when Kendall call Nate to iterate more clearly what Shiv claims to have said. ATN really is about to help elevate an authoritarian to America’s most powerful public office because one spoiled brother is in a snit.

☆ The funniest joke suggestions for Elon Musk's Twitter CEO successor, from Elizabeth Holmes to Meghan Markle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk announced Thursday he would be handing over the Twitter CEO role to a woman. But Twitter users have been having fun suggesting several joke candidates. Months after Twitter users voted for Elon Musk to step down as the company's CEO, the billionaire announced Thursday that he'd found someone to takeover the position. Musk tweeted. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Yaccarino is in talks to take over as Twitter CEO.

☆ Let the guessing game begin! Elon Musk's cryptic Twitter CEO tweet drives speculation — and plenty of joke theories
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk offered few clues about Twitter's next CEO, besides that "she" will take over in weeks. The cryptic post drove plenty of people on Musk's platform to suggest possible contenders. One serious guess came from tech journalist Kara Swisher, who laid out her case and observations in a Twitter thread. An NBCUniversal spokesperson told Insider that Yaccarino was preparing for the Upfronts, an event where media companies pitch advertisers. Guesses included famous tech names, some quickly debunkedYou didn't have to look far on Twitter to see some famous tech names like Sheryl Sandberg, Marissa Mayer, or Susan Wojcicki being floated.

☆ Gabby Petito’s parents allege Brian Laundrie’s mother wrote about ‘baking a cake with a shiv in it’ should he go to prison, in court filing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Jean Casarez Zoe Sottile | Jean Casarez | Zoe Sottile | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Roberta and Christopher Laundrie have asked the court for a protective order so they don’t have to turn over the letter. The Petitos filed a civil lawsuit against the Laundries for emotional distress in connection with Gabby’s death while traveling with Brian, her fiancé. Brian was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound around a month after Gabby’s remains were discovered in September 2021. Brian admitted that he was responsible for Gabby’s death in a notebook found with his remains, according to the FBI. The Petitos’ lawsuit, filed in March 2022, alleges outrageous behavior of intentional infliction of emotional distress by the Laundries during the time Gabby was missing.

☆ ‘Succession’ Season 4, Episode 7 Recap: The Scorpion and the Scorpion
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Noel Murray | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Season 4, Episode 7: ‘Tailgate Party’This “Succession” season’s premiere episode ended with Tom and Shiv lying together in bed, bitterly angry but still holding hands. Their weird romantic renaissance peaks with this week’s episode, which sees them sexting each other incessantly — and sees Tom confusingly gifting Shiv with a glass-encased scorpion, in an apparent reference to “the scorpion and the frog” parable. As always with “Succession,” the Roys arrive at this party with discrete agendas. It’s only after Shiv warns him that the Roy boys are making moves that Matsson mobilizes. His strutting GoJo band barges into the triplex right when Kendall is leading a moment of silence for Logan.

☆ 'Succession' fans are reading into which characters use an iPhone or an Android, and think it could hint at how the show will end
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Fans are looking for easter eggs in "Succession" protagonists' clothing and accessories. Apple has been said to not want on-screen villains using iPhones, sparking theories about Tom's Android. Fans are dissecting the tiniest details from the show for hints about how the series will end. On the HBO show "Succession," where the fortunes of protagonists can shift every episode, fans are looking everywhere — in wardrobe choices and in accessories — for clues about their favorite characters' ultimate fates. Fans have also been reading into Kendall's moments in water — in a bathtub, pool, or the open water — for signs of what's next for Logan's "number one boy."

☆ Opinion | On ‘Succession,’ Marriage Reveals Its Sting
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Pamela Paul | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“I love you, but you kill me, and I kill you.”Marriage is where “Succession” hits viewers the closest. And marriage is the theme of this week’s episode — one of the best in the four-season series. It shows the marriage of Shiv and Tom plunge from workplace sexting to brooding in separate beds in the same cavernous apartment. The unlikely marriage of Connor and Willa endures under the mutual recognition of his submission and her domination. And the impending marriage of creaky Waystar Royco and futuristic Nordic GoJo hangs in the balance.

☆ ‘Succession’ Style, Episode 7: Snakes and Scorpions
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( The Styles Desk | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

This article contains spoilers for Episode 7 of the final season of “Succession.”It’s election eve in the world of “Succession,” and the Roys are jockeying for position. Kendall and Roman ramp up their efforts to stop the Matsson deal, and Shiv and Tom host the tailgate party with Logan’s preordained guest list. This “AOL era, legacy media, putrid stuffed-mushroom” fest, as Matsson calls it, even has an electoral party game with a kettle corn prize. Matsson stuns in a golden bomber jacket, but Tom may be the quiet style star of the night. GT: Fur confidence or velvet confidence?

☆ Is It Time to Give Up on My White Sneakers?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Vanessa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As I enter the job market, I am reconsidering the staple of the white sneaker. If I wear sneakers, will people take me seriously? Or that the filmmaker Chloé Zhao wore Hermès white sneakers with her gown when she won an Oscar back in 2021. Once you start thinking about white sneakers, you start seeing them everywhere. British Esquire called the white sneaker “the blank canvas upon which any modern look can be built.” Harper’s Bazaar crowed, “The best white sneakers can do it all.”The fact is, more than 100 years after Keds introduced its white sneaker, almost 90 years since Chuck Taylor popularized the style with Converse and more than half a century since Stan Smith changed the game — and amid all the color-crazed mayhem of endlessly mutating sneaker culture — white sneakers remain the Platonic ideal of a shoe: eternal, versatile, comfortable.

☆ ‘Succession’ Season 4, Episode 6: Cool New Rule
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Noel Murray | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Roman’s initial response is to troll, by making a snide comment about the “incredibly evolved, ruthlessly segregated” community of Los Angeles. But Kendall is excited about them putting their own stamp on Waystar, and thinks these two firings may impress the markets. It’s a reasonable assumption too, because Kendall is in full Icarus mode throughout this episode. There are few things more entertaining in “Succession” than Kendall in a boss groove, tossing out big ideas and buzzy business jargon at a rapid clip. (“Numbers aren’t just numbers, they’re numbers,” Pete sputters.)

☆ The Fashion Power Plays of the ‘Succession’ Women
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Rory Satran | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Shiv Roy, in a houndstooth blazer and black turtleneck, conveys winning, self-possessed energy. Photo: David Russell/HBOMany strive to look as wealthy as the characters of “Succession”—just not the characters of “Succession.” When you’re as privileged as the fictional Roys and their cohort, fashion is often less about communicating opulence and more about appearing in control. Expensive clothing is a given; how you wear it is not. As brands and style-chasers clamor to define “Succession”-fueled style, from “stealth wealth” to “old money” to “low-key rich bitch,” the show’s characters mostly want to look powerful and inconspicuous enough to have a seat at the table. Ideally, at its head.

Besides YouTube's 2.6% first quarter ad revenue decline, Google is facing multiple challenges to its advertising business. While Google's search revenue was up about 2%, Microsoft is in the early stages of a big play to go after it. Matthew Bailey, principal analyst at research firm Omdia anticipates Google will post digital ad revenue growth at around 5% in 2023 and in 2024. Google's monolithic search ads business is starting to see real competitionMost of Google's ad revenue is driven by its ubiquitous search engine. But Amazon, which has a $31 billion ad business, and Walmart, which has a $2.7 billion ad business, grab roughly 80% of retail ad spend.

Google's monolithic search ads business is starting to see real competitionMost of Google's ad revenue is driven by its ubiquitous search engine. But neither pose the threat to Google's search dominance that ChatGPT-powered Bing does today, according to an agency source. But ChatGPT-Bing has a bigger opportunity to grab budgets earmarked for Google search because it will change the entire way consumers search for information. But Amazon, which has a $31 billion ad business, and Walmart, which has a $2.7 billion ad business, grab roughly 80% of retail ad spend. Morgan Stanley recently estimated that adtech firms are poised to win $26 billion out of a $130 billion retail media market by 2025.

☆ ‘Succession’ Season 4, Episode 5 Recap: Bleed the Swede
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Noel Murray | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The trip is the first big test for Kendall and Roman, who spend the first part of this episode scrutinizing emails and complaining about keeping the numbers straight across five Waystar divisions. Gerri though, on the plane ride over, encourages her people not to be so worried about these smug Swedes. Matsson pledged to buy Waystar Royco (minus ATN) for $144 a share. In a private meeting with Matsson, Kendall casts a steely eye on him and remains unfazed even when the flighty tech billionaire makes a snide comment about Waystar’s sliding stock price. So ends Round 1 of this negotiation, with Matsson slightly ahead, if only because he asked for something Kendall and Roman were not prepared to give.

☆ Opinion: I’m betting on Cousin Greg. But I’m not a serious person
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Gene Seymour | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

By now, we should be used to HBO’s series pulling the rug out from beneath our expectations. Still, as more than one pundit observed of Logan’s death, this one shocked more than merely surprised. Not me, though I do miss Brian Cox already because few actors anywhere are as adroit at playing dyspeptic sociopaths. It would be at the very least ironic if “Greg the Egg,” the minion’s minion, stumbled into power as if he tripped on a sidewalk. I’ll say no more on this except to suggest that you all try to remember who in the end won that “Game of Thrones.” It’s not inevitable.

☆ Think You Know How ‘Succession’ Ends? Want to Bet?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Wilson Wong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“Succession” has earned acclaim for its depiction of the fictional lives of the mega-rich, power-hungry and venal Roy siblings (Connor, Kendall, Shiv and Roman) as they vie for control of Waystar Royco. “I might spend it on a trip to Tuscany.” (The location of the drama-filled Season 3 wedding of Caroline Collingwood, Shiv, Kendall and Roman’s mother, on the show.) Jayson Buford, who placed a $20 bet with nine of his friends at his “Succession” watch parties, said betting was “a fun activity to do to supplement the idea of the show, which is very communal. It’s a show about a family, people have watch parties, people gather, and it plays within that.” Mr. Buford believes that Waystar Royco is going to dissolve and that nobody will take over the company. Logan “thinks Kendall is an addict, and he doesn’t think Shiv is smart,” he said.

☆ Banks' internship and analyst programs could be in flux, and that might spell bad news for senior dealmakers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But before we get started, First Citizens BancShares has agreed to buy Silicon Valley Bank, according to a statement from the FDIC. Some of the ripples from the fall of Silicon Valley Bank have felt particularly significant (Credit Suisse bankers nod ominously). Some banks had to even break a cardinal rule of Wall Street: Turn away business. Click here to read more about how college students are feeling on edge about their upcoming Wall Street jobs and internships. You don't necessarily need seven-figures in assets to call it quits, per The Wall Street Journal.

☆ ‘The Ship Beneath the Ice’ Review: Endurance Found
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Michael O Donnell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

One of the best adventure books ever written begins with a failure. “The order to abandon ship was given at 5 p.m.” So opens Alfred Lansing’s “Endurance” (1959), the definitive account of Ernest Shackleton’s 1914 attempt to sail to Antarctica and cross it on foot. The eponymous ship was trapped in ice for nine months and eventually sank after being crushed by the pack. But in the Antarctic—here was a burden which challenged every atom of his strength.” His leadership and willpower kept the men’s resolve intact through months of suffering, yet his optimism faltered after the loss of the Endurance. In his diary, Shackleton recorded the ship’s sinking and then the simple line, “I cannot write about it.”

Funding raised: $27 millionNumber of employees: 20Why it's set to take off next year: Provider burnout is getting worse, and it's exacerbating healthcare's staffing crisis. Nof said he expected Abridge's technology to be in demand next year as hospitals worked to reduce the administrative burdens on doctors. "They've reached a tipping point where people are desperate to gain efficiencies in their workday with all the physician burnout," he said. Abridge's technology takes the audio from doctor-patient interactions and automatically turns it into documentation for billing purposes or a summary of the visit for the patient. That means doctors are relieved of the "hours of pajama time in the evening that they previously spent doing clinical documentation," Cheatham said.

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