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☆ A $7 billion startup wanted to build patient-friendly healthcare. Its bet on buzzy weight-loss drugs is testing that vision.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Blake Dodge | Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Patient complaints go beyond the Wegovy shortageKaitlyn's complaints echo an array of issues faced by other Ro patients seeking weight-loss drugs. The patients Insider interviewed asked to be identified by their first names to protect their privacy. In this chat log, a Ro weight-loss patient sends messages to the startup asking to cancel the program. Reitano told Insider that around 90% of Ro patients got a response within 24 hours. "Until these DTC companies generally start getting into the muck of healthcare, they're not going to have a material impact," Parker told Insider.

Persons: Ro, Zachariah Reitano, Reitano, Li Ran, Robyn Phelps, Kaitlyn, She'd, didn't, she's, couldn't, Max Kerwick, drugstores, Max, Ro's, aren't, hasn't, Florian Gaertner, it's, TJ Parker, they're, Parker Organizations: New York, Getty, Better Business Bureau, Nordisk, Better Business, CareMetx, Ro, TechCrunch Locations: Xinhua, New York, New York City

☆ Inside your company's struggle over whether to pay for hot, new weight-loss drugs
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Americans are clamoring for new weight-loss drugs, but companies aren't rushing to pay for them. At most, half of US employers help pay for weight-loss drugs for their workers, according to several estimates. "The drug companies, providers, and patient groups are insisting that weight loss will improve health and therefore offset these massive costs. Known as GLP-1 agonists, the drugs — Wegovy and Ozempic from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro — mimic a gut hormone known as glucagon-like peptide 1, helping to suppress people's appetites and slow their digestion. Brent Eberle, the chief pharmacy officer at Navitus, said very few of the employers that worked with his pharmacy-benefit manager paid for weight-loss drugs.

Persons: that's, They're, AJ Loiacono, Li Ran, James Gelfand, Eli Lilly's, Ozempic, drugmakers, Brent Eberle, Navitus, Eberle, it's, Pat Gleason, Gleason, Wegovy, Eli Lilly, Lilly, Florian Gaertner, Loiacono Organizations: Morning, Novo Nordisk, Getty, Workers, Drugmakers, Therapeutics, Blue, Mayo Clinic, and Drug Administration, Capital Locations: Novo, Xinhua

☆ 'Real' meat maker Cargill may emerge big winner in plant-based food as buzzy startup boom fades
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Bob Woods | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Additionally, Cargill began marketing several plant-based protein ingredients, made from soy, pea and wheat, to food and beverage manufacturers worldwide. What to expect for plant-based meat in next decade Cargill's calculated approach to plant-based meats coincides with the nascent industry's trajectory. And then there's the consumer's appetite to pay a premium price for plant-based meat. So Cargill's biggest competition will be the established plant-based meat companies, like Beyond and Impossible, he said. The future of plant-based meat might be analogous to the ongoing transition to electric vehicles.

Persons: Florian Schattenmann, Cargill Cargill, Cargill, Schattenmann, it's, John Baumgartner, Baumgartner, Caroline Bushnell, Bushnell, that's, Seth Goldstein, Goldstein, Tyson's Organizations: Cargill, Foods, Tyson Foods, Hormel Foods, Smithfield Foods, Cargill Inc, The, Bloomberg, Getty, Foods Cargill, Mizuho Securities USA, Good Food Institute, Cubiq Foods, FDA, North, Food and Drug Administration, Morningstar Research Services, Nielsen, annualized Nielsen, Nestle, Tesla, tiptoed, Ford, GM, Hyundai, Volkswagen Locations: U.S, Minneapolis, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Spanish, Berkeley , California, Puris, North American, Netherlands, Bflike, Belgian, North America

☆ Opel has overcome chip crisis and seeks IT workers, CEO tells Business Insider
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BERLIN, June 2 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Stellantis' German subsidiary Opel says the brand has overcome a shortage of semiconductors that has burdened the car industry in recent years, news outlet Business Insider reported on Friday. Opel CEO Florian Huettl told the outlet that the company was struggling with a rampant skilled labour shortage however. The company is seeking IT experts to work on "further electrification and the next steps in autonomous driving", Huettel said. Writing by Friederike Heine; Editing by Matthias WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Stellantis, Florian Huettl, Huettel, Friederike Heine, Matthias Williams Organizations: Opel, Business, Thomson Locations: BERLIN, German

ET (1900 GMT), to discuss the debt ceiling bill. U.S. 10-year Treasury yields fell about 10 basis points (bps) to 3.72%, while thirty-year yields fell 8 basis points to 3.90%. "What is currently happening since yesterday shows where the debt ceiling premium was actually priced: mostly in bonds," said Ielpo. The cost of insuring exposure to a U.S. debt default meanwhile fell. "I wouldn’t blame the Treasury rally on the debt ceiling deal necessarily... the additional T-bill issuance, quantitative tightening, and difficult bank funding conditions now conspire to less favourable financing conditions to the economy," said Bouvet.

☆ Analysis: Investors see trouble ahead after Europe's stellar first quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Joice Alves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Europe's largest listed company LVMH (LVMH.PA) produced stellar sales as China rebounded sharply after COVID restrictions ended. The robust corporate margins on show in the first quarter are seen coming under pressure later in the year. Based on Refinitiv I/B/E/S estimates, STOXX 600 companies are expected to report net profit margins of 11.4% in the first quarter, up from 10.2% in the last quarter of 2022. But margins are seen declining to 10.5% in the third quarter, according to Refinitiv estimates. But there has not been a wave of companies revising earnings forecasts down, providing a cushion for European equities.

☆ Investors see trouble ahead after Europe's stellar first quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Joice Alves | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Its Very Large Telescope is perched at 8,645 feet atop an explosive-flattened mountaintop, where the atmosphere is relatively stable and incredibly dry. is building a new telescope, the Extremely Large Telescope, which will be used for, among other purposes, hunting for exoplanets that might support life. On my way back to the residencia, I stopped and looked up at the billowing arch of the Milky Way. The Atacama, for all its emptiness, is not a void. The desert, in its dryness, keeps the dead and opens the sky.

☆ What Was Twitter, Anyway?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Willy Staley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Dorsey had nurtured the basic idea of Twitter for years — a site that would be like AOL Instant Messenger’s “away message” for anywhere, or “a more ‘live’ LiveJournal,” as he put it in a post on Flickr. But Williams, who created Blogger and sold it to Google for millions, came to see something else in Twitter: To him, its potential lay in its ability to create a running record of what was going on in the outside world. Dorsey was insistent that it was the latter: “You’re talking about your status as you look at the fire.”To Dorsey, the fact that Twitter creates a record of the world would be an incidental byproduct of all this status-sharing. He posted it to Twitter with a brief caption. Dorsey and Williams were correct to identify this as a conflict, even if they could not design or engineer it away.

These kind of megadeals are at the vanguard of billions of dollars of annual spending on classic cars globally in a wave of investment in this alternative asset. "The track record of the past 30 years tells us classic cars have become a financial asset class we want our clients to have in their portfolios." [1/5] A general view of the classic car collection of Florian Zimmermann, owner of over 300 classic cars, in a warehouse in Lindau, Germany, April 5, 2023. "Electrification will favour classic cars," said Cristiano Bolzoni, head of Maserati's vintage car unit Maserati Classiche. "The classic car community has changed tremendously over the past five to 10 years," Zimmermann said.

LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) - Banking sector turmoil has not dented demand for equities, with MSCI's world stock index up 7% so far this year. But under the surface, bad omens for world stocks are building. Central bank surveys show U.S. and European banks are already tightening lending standards, historically a predictor of dismal stock market performance. Credit tightening predicts poor stock market returns2/ MANUFACTURING SLOWDOWNRecessions starting in the United States tend to flow to the rest of the world and consequently global stocks. Seven mega-cap tech stocks were responsible for 92% of the S&P 500's first-quarter rise, Citi notes.

☆ Signal President Meredith Whittaker learned what not to do from working at Google
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Meredith Whittaker, a former Google Manager who is now president at Signal. Whittaker has real-world reasons to be skeptical of for-profit companies and their use of data — she previously spent 13 years at Google . Signal app SignalAt Signal, Whittaker gets to focus on the mission without worrying about sales. Beyond just the confusing structure of OpenAI, Whittaker is out on the ChatGPT hype. And she definitely wants people to know that Signal has absolutely no plans to incorporate ChatGPT into its service.

☆ Vietnam may resist diplomatic upgrade with Washington as U.S.-China tensions simmer
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Francesco Guarascio | Thomson Reuters | Francesco Leads A Team Of Reporters In Vietnam That Covers Top Financial | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The United States is hoping for an upgrade in the relations this year, ideally to coincide with the 10th anniversary in July of its comprehensive partnership with Vietnam. The United States is a major investor in Vietnam and the largest ever U.S. business mission visited the country this week. Though it is Vietnam's biggest export market, it is currently ranked as a third-tier diplomatic partner for Hanoi. A formal ties upgrade this year "is not considered realistic anymore," said Florian Feyerabend, the representative in Vietnam for Germany's Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Le Hong Hiep, a Senior Fellow at Singapore's ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, said there was no doubt Vietnam wants to upgrade ties with Washington, but it was unlikely to agree to that this year.

☆ How Silicon Valley Bank's collapse ripped through global tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

March 14 (Reuters) - Not long after California startups started pulling money out of troubled Silicon Valley Bank, entrepreneurs in other parts of the world woke up to the news. While the global effects of Silicon Valley Bank's collapse are just emerging, one thing is clear: tech startups, no matter how far apart, are intertwined. FOUNDERS WARYQuincy Lee, founder of Seattle-based EV charging startup Electra Era, tried to move millions of dollars from Silicon Valley Bank on Thursday afternoon as warning signs multiplied. European stocks fell on banking industry concerns, though, and even startups that did not bank with SVB were scrambling. CHINESE STARTUPS MOVING MONEYSVB's Shanghai-based joint venture, SPD Silicon Valley Bank (SSVB), said it had a sound corporate structure and an independent balance sheet.

☆ This startup wants to replace oil and gas with Co2 and hydrogen captured from the air. Check out the 11-slide pitch deck Greenlyte Carbon Technologies used to raise $3.5 million.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Greenlyte Carbon Technologies wants to replace oil and gas with Co2 and hydrogen captured from the air. The direct air capture startup just raised a $3.5 million round co-led by N26 investor Earlybird. The team behind Greenlyte Carbon Technologies pass old coal towers every day on their way to the company's office in Essen, Germany's historical industrial center. Greenlyte Carbon Technologies' device can be turned on and off, meaning it will work well with intermittent renewables like solar and wind, he added. Greenlyte Carbon Technologies will use the cash to build out its team to 15 by summer and continue developing its tech.

SummarySummary Companies Tech bank's troubles panic marketsFears spread over fallout from rising interest ratesBanks vulnerable as bond values dropLONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - For months, investors had shrugged off the threat of rising interest rates. In SVB's case, venture capital clients, unable to raise cash elsewhere, pulled money from the bank, forcing its hasty sale of bonds at a loss. In February, U.S. regulators said U.S. banks had unrealised losses of more than $620 billion on securities, underscoring the scale of the risks. Jason Benowitz, senior portfolio manager at CI Roosevelt, said SVB's risks were not unique with many banks sitting on such unrealised losses because rates have moved so rapidly. "The SVB situation is a reminder that many institutions are sitting on large unrealised losses," said AJ Bell investment research director Russ Mould.

☆ Tighter market to push oil prices above $90 in second half of the year: Reuters poll
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Deep Kaushik Vakil | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) U.S. crude was projected to average $83.94 per barrel in 2023, below previous month's $85.40 forecast. Gruenberger expects a 600,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) year-on-year hit to Russian supply from lower domestic intake, weaker demand and slightly lower exports. "China will continue to scoop up Russian product at a discount," said Robert Yawger, energy futures strategist for Mizuho Bank. Reuters GraphicsThe International Energy Agency sees China accounting for almost half of this year's 2 million bpd growth in global oil demand, which could overtake supply after the first half and push producers to reconsider their output policies. Reporting by Deep Vakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Noah Browning and Shounak DasguptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Markets bracing for 'no landing' world economy scenario curb risk appetite
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Naomi Rovnick | Davide Barbuscia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Markets, bracing for a “no landing” scenario where global economic growth is resilient and inflation stays higher for longer, are dialling back appetite for both risk assets and government debt. But recent data reflecting still tight jobs markets has traders entertaining a new scenario where economic growth holds up and inflation remains sticky. “We’ve gone from softer landing to no landing - no landing being that (financing) conditions will remain tight,” said David Katimbo-Mugwanya, head of fixed income at EdenTree Asset Management. GOODBYE RECESSION RISK? Graphic: Economic growth forecasts turn high hereEuro zone recession expectations mostly faded in mid January as energy prices tumbled.

But recent data reflecting still tight jobs markets has traders entertaining a new scenario where economic growth holds up and inflation remains sticky. World stocks hit one-month lows on Wednesday, while Wall Street had its worst day of the year so far on Tuesday. "We've gone from softer landing to no landing - no landing being that (financing) conditions will remain tight," said David Katimbo-Mugwanya, head of fixed income at EdenTree Asset Management. Bond prices fall, and yields rise, when expectations of higher rates on cash make their fixed interest payments less appealing. Reuters GraphicsEuro zone recession expectations mostly faded in mid January as energy prices tumbled.

Healthcare group Fresenius (FREG.DE) said late on Tuesday it would give up strategic control over FMC via a planned change of the division's legal form, also releasing annual results and an outlook that failed to impress investors. Fresenius CEO Michael Sen, a former E.ON (EONGn.DE) and Siemens (SIEGn.DE) executive who took over the helm in October, wants to simplify the company's structure but said he will hang onto the 32% stake Fresenius owns in FMC. This makes a sale more likely in the future, said Florian Oberhofer, portfolio manager at Union Investment, which holds 0.26% of Fresenius shares. Sen said Fresenius was banking on a business improvement at FMC and Vamed and on participating financially in this through its holdings in both. FMC and Fresenius shares lagReporting by Ludwig Burger and Patricia Weiss; Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz; Writing by Rachel More; Editing by Josephine Mason, Elaine Hardcastle and Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Michael B. Jordan premieres 'Creed III', hopes to expand 'Creed-verse'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Marie-Louise Gumuchian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Director Michael B. Jordan and cast member Tessa Thompson attend the premiere of the film "Creed III" in London, Britain February 15, 2023. REUTERS/Henry NichollsLONDON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Michael B. Jordan reprises his role as boxer Adonis Creed in new film "Creed III" and the actor-director says he hopes to expand the universe around the character in future. "It was challenging but I never felt more alive," Jordan told Reuters of his directorial debut at the "Creed III" premiere in London on Wednesday. One potential storyline could concern Creed's opponent in "Creed II", Viktor Drago, son of "Rocky IV" character boxer Ivan Drago. Viktor makes an appearance in "Creed III".

☆ Digital health's funding slump isn't a death sentence. Here's what startups are doing to stand out to investors.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | Blake Dodge | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It's getting harder for digital-health startups to get investor attention. Fewer digital-health startups are fundraising, and the ones that are will be held to higher standards than before, investors told Insider. This year, a smaller group of digital-health startups is beginning to stand out. "It's been amazing to watch what this business has accomplished," she told Insider. Quantum is already earning enough to fund itself, Zane Burke, the CEO of Quantum, told Insider.

☆ Florian Ledoux: The icy patience of an Arctic photographer
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Nell Lewis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —The polar bear was just a faraway speck in a frozen white expanse. “It’s the price we pay to get unique images,” recounts award-winning French photographer and filmmaker Florian Ledoux. Florian LedouxThe months when the sun just starts to poke through create the perfect palette for a photographer, Ledoux says. Yet these are the days Ledoux lives for. Disney, Netflix or the likes will request a specific shot of a polar bear, such as a successful hunt or a mating scene.

Persons: speck, ”, Florian Ledoux, Florian Ledoux Ledoux, Ledoux, “ That’s, hasn’t, Florian, Florian Ledoux “ Organizations: CNN, Disney, Nature, Netflix, Oceanographic Magazine Locations: Tromsø, Norway, Longyearbyen, Svalbard

☆ The CEO of a psychedelics giant that just suffered a big setback lays out why investors should bet on his long-term vision
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Yeji Jesse Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

PCN-101, a ketamine-based treatment, failed to help people with treatment-resistant depression. CEO Florian Brand said he thinks investors should bet on the company's long-term vision. Florian Brand, the CEO of the psychedelics giant Atai Life Sciences, said investors should look past the company's recent failed clinical trial and bet on his long-term vision for the company. On January 6, Atai announced that a highly anticipated trial of a ketamine-based depression treatment failed to meet its goals. The company also owns a large stake in the psychedelics company Compass Pathways, which is currently in late-stage trials to develop psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient found in magic mushrooms, for treatment-resistant depression.

☆ Wirecard witness admits guilt but pins German fraud blame on ex-CEO
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Christina Amann | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Oliver Bellenhaus, who was head of Wirecard's subsidiary in Dubai, became a key witness in the case after turning himself in to German authorities in 2020. They face charges including fraud and market manipulation and if convicted could be jailed for up to 15 years. Florian Eder, a lawyer for Bellenhaus, told Reuters that the cooperation of his client should result in a "very significant reduction" in his sentence. It was a swindle from the beginning," Bellenhaus told the court, saying he deeply regretted his involvement and the damage it caused. But Bellenhaus told the court on Monday it was "blind loyalty" to Braun, whom he described as an "absolutist CEO", that had landed him in court in Munich.

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