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☆ Crypto prices are back. So are the TV ads.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewOne sign we're in a crypto revival: Crypto prices are roaring again. Another sign: Crypto companies are advertising on TV again. Crypto.com isn't the only one pushing crypto on TV again. It makes perfect sense to run it side-by-side with ads telling you how fun it would be to bet on the very game you're watching (unless you're an NBA player). All that said, the 2024 crypto revival still seems more like an echo of the last boom than a replay.

Persons: —, you've, it's, Eminem, Matt Damon, Damon, Crypto.com, Coinbase cheekily, Crypto, Jack Dorsey, Kitty Organizations: Service, NBA, Business, UFC, GameStop

☆ Massachusetts takes Uber and Lyft to trial over status of gig workers
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Uber and Lyft are set to face trial on Monday in a US lawsuit by Massachusetts’ attorney general alleging the ride-share companies misclassified their drivers as independent contractors rather than more costly employees. Uber (UBER) and Lyft (LYFT) argue that they properly classified the drivers, saying they are not transportation companies that employ drivers but technology companies whose apps facilitate connections between drivers and potential riders. The lawsuit going to trial was filed in 2020 by Campbell’s predecessor, Maura Healey, now the state’s Democratic governor. Should the state prevail, it has said the companies could face large penalties for not properly classifying their drivers. By not classifying their Massachusetts drivers as employees, Uber and Lyft avoided paying $266.4 million into workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance and paid family medical leave over 10 years, according to a report by the state auditor.

Persons: Andrea Joy Campbell, Uber, Peter Krupp, Rohit Singla, Maura Healey, Lyft Organizations: Democratic, Studies, Massachusetts, Campbell’s Locations: Massachusetts, Boston, Suffolk

☆ Netflix said it didn't want to be in sports. Now it could be streaming two NFL games on Christmas.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Now Netflix looks like it is close to a deal to stream two NFL games on Christmas Day, reports Puck's John Ourand, citing "a bevy of sources." Does that mean Netflix doesn't know how much it will pay for the games? The NFL declined to comment; Netflix didn't respond to a request for comment. If the deal does happen, it will be easy to step back and see how Netflix got there. The NFL now plans on releasing details about its upcoming schedule on May 15 — which also happens to be the day Netflix will host its "upfront" event in New York, catered to advertisers.

Persons: —, Puck's John Ourand, they'd Organizations: Service, Netflix, Business, NFL Locations: America, New York

☆ Jack Dorsey Explains Why He Left Bluesky
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey helped found Bluesky as a Twitter alternative. But Dorsey says he left Bluesky because it was "literally repeating all the mistakes" Twitter made. AdvertisementWhy did Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey leave Bluesky, the Twitter alternative he helped create? Because — in Dorsey's telling, at least — Bluesky was "literally repeating all the mistakes [Twitter] made as a company." And later on, when Dorsey got frustrated while running the for-profit version of Twitter, he imagined that Twitter could help start an independent, open-source protocol version of itself — Bluesky.

Persons: Jack Dorsey, Dorsey, —, Bluesky, Mike Solana Organizations: Twitter, Service Locations: Dorsey's

☆ Why a failed video game cost Warner Bros. $200 million
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Discovery reported a $200 million loss on the game "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League." It's a reminder of how similar the video-game business is to Hollywood: big expenses, big rewards, big penalties for missing. AdvertisementDid you play "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League," the video game that came out in February? Discovery, which released the game, is that very few people did, and the ones who did really didn't like it. And that led the company to take a staggering $200 million loss on the game, which it disclosed in its first-quarter earnings on Thursday.

Persons: — Organizations: Warner Bros, Discovery, Justice League, Big, Service, Business Locations: Hollywood

☆ Why a failed video game cost Warner Brothers $200 million
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Discovery reported a $200 million loss on the game "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League." It's a reminder of how similar the video game business is to Hollywood: big expenses, big rewards, big penalties for missing. AdvertisementDid you play "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League," the video game that came out in February? Discovery, which released the game, is that very few people did, and the ones who did really didn't like it. And that led the company to take a staggering $200 million loss on the game, which it disclosed in its first-quarter earnings Thursday.

Persons: — Organizations: Warner Bros, Discovery, Justice League, Big, Service, Business Locations: Hollywood

☆ Americans are shopping less but they’re still spending on flights, hotels and Disneyland
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —Consumers may be fed up with high prices at the store, but they’re still willing to splurge on travel. Other key players in the travel industry have reported a similar trend this earnings season. Americans, especially lower-income consumers, have pulled back spending at retailers as goods inflation outpaces wage growth. They’ve even become frugal with some experience-based spending like dining out, opting instead to eat at home. “We saw a healthy but more normalized market environment for travel globally,” CEO Peter Kern told analysts on May 2.

Persons: they’re, ”, Hugh Johnston, it’s, Ed Bastian, Kathleen Oberg, “, Peter Kern, ” FTX, FTX, Sam Bankman, Fried, Olesya Dmitracova, Read, Tesla, Anna Cooban, André, Elon Musk’s Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, Delta Air, ” United Airlines, Marriott International, Marriott, Disney, Expedia Group, Alameda Research, CNN, RTL Locations: New York, Hong Kong, California, Florida, Alameda, Berlin, Germany, Europe

☆ No, seriously. Where are the TikTok buyers?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt has decided against buying TikTok. That leaves a really tiny list of people who say they want to buy TikTok. AdvertisementWho's going to buy TikTok? [Crickets]Yes, if you Google "potential TikTok buyers" you'll find a bunch of stories — Business Insider has written one, too — speculating about names. They list Mnuchin as well as Shark Tank host Kevin O'Leary, who also likes to go on TV and talk about buying TikTok.

Persons: Eric Schmidt, —, Steve Mnuchin, ByteDance, Kevin O'Leary, Bobby Kotick, OpenAI's Sam Altman, we've, Trump Organizations: Google, Service, Treasury, TV, Street Journal, Activision, Oracle, Walmart, Microsoft, Big Tech, McKinsey, TikTok

☆ Whoops! I just (accidentally) screwed Jeff Bezos out of $130.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

I wanted to subscribe to The Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos, for $12 every 4 weeks. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . And I definitely wasn't trying to get one over on The Washington Post. But that's just what happened: I tried to pay the Post, owned by the second-richest man in the world, $156 a year. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers.

Persons: Jeff Bezos, —, Jeff Bezos's Organizations: Washington Post, Service, The Washington, Verizon, Hulu, Netflix, Spotify, Business

☆ Apple wants to give the iPad a boost
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The tech giant's event will reportedly showcase a new family of… iPads and iPad accessories. But Apple's event , which kicks off at 10 a.m. EST, is looking to give the iPad a boost. iPhone sales have noticeably dipped, which is why you're hearing Apple tout its "services" business , writes BI's Peter Kafka. And the new product Apple wants you to be excited about — the Vision Pro — hasn't lived up to the hype. a16z joins the Big Tech "fake work" debate.

Persons: —, Tyler Le, they're, iPads, Antonio Villas, Boas, BI's Peter Kafka, Peter, hasn't, Katie Notopoulos, Wall, Lauren DeCicca, Tim Cook, Katie, aren't, I'd, we'll, I'm, Alyssa Powell, Danielle DiMartino Booth, James Devaney, Roger Kisby, Jack Dorsey's, Elon, Dorsey, Elon Musk, Satya Nadella, OpenAI, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, a16z, Emily Sundberg, Andreessen Horowitz, David Ulevitch, Vladimir Putin, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, George Glover Organizations: Service, Business, Apple, Google, Getty, US Treasury, National Bureau of Economic Research, Images, Penske Media, Microsoft, Tech, Paramount, Berkshire, Big Tech, Walt Disney Company Locations: BREIT, New York, London

☆ Why Warren Buffett's Paramount bet may have cost him $1.5 billion
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Famed investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway placed a $2.7 billion bet on Paramount in 2022. But when someone who's worth an estimated $132 billion says "quite a bit of money," it's probably a very big amount. The math: In 2022, Berkshire accumulated 91 million shares of Paramount B shares; Barron's estimates he paid "more than $30" per share. AdvertisementThat left Berkshire with another 63.3 million Paramount shares at the beginning of 2024, and sometime between then and Saturday they have sold off the rest. Add all that up, and it looks like Berkshire sold its Paramount stake for $1.2 billion after paying $2.7 billion for it — a $1.5 billion loss.

Persons: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, hasn't, — Buffett, —, Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett, we've, Berkshire Hathaway hasn't, Berkshire Organizations: Paramount, Service, Sony, Apollo, Berkshire, Bloomberg Locations: Berkshire

☆ Why Apple's ad business isn't what you think it is
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Apple's definition of "services" includes advertising, which Apple routinely says is a major driver of its services growth. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. But as we've pointed out many times, iPhone sales won't grow forever. Which is why, for the last several years, Apple has been taking pains to highlight its growing "services" business. "Services," per Apple's description, is a fast-growing grab-bag of stuff, all of which doesn't directly involve Apple hardware: money Apple makes from App Store sales; money Apple makes selling warranties and cloud storage; and money Apple makes selling you music and TV subscription services.

Persons: —, doesn't Organizations: Apple, Service, Business

☆ Elon Musk wants to use AI to summarize the news on Twitter and ... it's not a terrible idea?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Elon Musk wants to combine Twitter and Grok, his AI engine, and create a news machine. Elon Musk thinks news is something different: It's what people talk about on the service formerly known as Twitter. Musk said Grok will not look directly at article text, and will instead rely solely on social posts. Definitely not in the Elon Musk era of the company formerly known as Twitter. The to-be-sures: Yes, you'd be foolish to rely on an Elon Musk-run AI machine for factual information.

Persons: Elon Musk, Grok, —, Alex Kantrowitz, Musk, Igor Babuschkin, xAI, CNN —, it's, you'd, Ben, Elon Musk's, It's Organizations: Twitter, Service, Elon, CNN, Google Locations: London

☆ Apple can't tell you iPhone sales are booming, so it's talking about 'services.' That's a problem.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

It didn't boast about iPhone sales, which declined. AdvertisementApple had a great second quarter, Apple says: The company hit an "all-time revenue record in Services," the company reports. And if you head over to the company's financials, you can see why: iPhone sales dropped by 10% in the last three months. Prior to Thursday's earnings, analysts had fretted that Chinese iPhone sales were soft, but on Thursday afternoon, Cook told CNBC that iPhone sales in China were up. AdvertisementAnd, as we've been pointing out repeatedly, Apple's App Store rules are under increasing pressure from regulators around the world — and in the EU in particular.

Persons: —, Cook, I've, it's Organizations: Apple, Service, CNBC, Google, US Department Locations: China, EU

☆ We're reading: Here's a helpful hint for people starting a media company in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Hunterbrook Media is a hedge fund that also does journalism. Or maybe a journalism startup that also runs a hedge fund. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. AdvertisementCan a hedge fund also be an investigative journalism outfit? Then the journalists tell Hunterbrook's hedge fund arm about the stories they will publish about the company, so the fund can short the company (or invest in it).

Persons: — Organizations: Hunterbrook, Service, Hunterbrook Media, Business

☆ We're entering advertising's new era
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . In today's big story, we're looking at the biggest topic at this year's TV upfronts , and how it's a sign of advertising's new era. What's on deck:Markets: Morgan Stanley's new wealth boss outlines the bank's playbook for hitting $10 trillion in client assets. Andy Kiersz/Business InsiderYou might be wondering what retail data has to do with television advertising.

Persons: —, Morgan, Don Draper's, Burton, Jenny Chang, Rodriguez, Business Insider's Lara O'Reilly, Lucia Moses, Andy Kiersz, Andy Jassy, hasn't, Finn, Morgan Stanley, Michael M, Tyler Le, Jed Finn, Andy Saperstein, there's, Joseph Stiglitz, Jerome Powell, Justin Sullivan, Wells Fargo, Kevin Scott, Satya Nadella, Bill Gates, Pablo Declan, Shari Redstone's, tanked, BI's Peter Kafka, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, George Glover Organizations: Business, Service, Tech, Wall, Getty, Google, Amazon, Disney, Kroger, Walmart, Big Tech, US Department of Labor, Apple, Department, Paramount, Trump Media Locations: China, OpenAI, New York, London

☆ Trump Media shares collapsed, rallied, and are collapsing again. No one knows why.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Donald Trump's social media stock collapsed a month ago, and people were happy to tell you why. AdvertisementRemember when Trump Media & Technology Group Corp, the company that operates Truth Social, Donald Trump's social network, turned into a publicly traded stock? AdvertisementSo how do we explain that over the course of the past two weeks, Trump Media shares had doubled again? Here is the reason that Trump shares collapse, or rally, or collapse again: There is no underlying reason. So go ahead and bet on, or against Trump Media — on any given day, you could be right?

Persons: Donald Trump's, —, Trump, Donald Trump, you'd, Jon Stewart Organizations: Trump Media, Service, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp, Truth, CNBC, Trump, GameStop, AMC, Knicks, Sixers, Trump Media — Locations: Bath

☆ Radio isn't dead. Yet. Thank, or blame, your car.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Just like TV, radio is a pre-internet medium. For people listening to free, ad-supported audio, radio remains dominant, according to Nielsen. But the younger you get, the less likely you are to listen to radio, even compared to other free options. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . At least not according to a new survey from Nielsen, which argues that lots of people still listen to radio.

Persons: —, Nielsen Organizations: Nielsen, Service, Business

☆ F.D.A. Approves Antibiotic for Increasingly Hard-to-Treat Urinary Tract Infections
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Andrew Jacobs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the sale of an antibiotic for the treatment of urinary tract infections in women, giving U.S. health providers a powerful new tool to combat a common infection that is increasingly unresponsive to the existing suite of antimicrobial drugs. The drug will be marketed in the U.S. as Pivya and will be made available by prescription to women 18 and older. It is the first time in two decades that the F.D.A. has approved a new antibiotic for U.T.I.s, which annually affect 30 million Americans. is committed to fostering new antibiotic availability when they prove to be safe and effective.”

Persons: U.T.I.s, Dr, Peter Kim Organizations: Drug Administration, Drug, Research Locations: Europe, U.S

☆ TikTok's time in the US could soon be on the clock, and that's not the app's only problem
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The big storyTick-tock on TikTokChelsea Jia Feng/BITikTok's time in the US could soon be on the clock. When it's all said and done, a TikTok ban could be in place before the week's end. Business Insider's Peter Kafka explains why the TikTok ban, while more imminent than ever, still has a long way to go . A TikTok ban would benefit one familiar face in social media, though, writes BI's Katie Notopoulos . YouTube Shorts, too, stand to grab more attention after a TikTok ban.

Persons: —, Caitlin Clark's, Chelsea Jia Feng, ByteDance, Joe Biden, it's, Business Insider's Peter Kafka, Michael Beckerman, TikTok, hawking, BI's Lindsay Dodgson, outperforming, Katie Notopoulos, Merrill Lynch, Tyler Le, Andy Sieg's, Merrill, Lindsay Hans, Eric Schimpf, It's, Steve Cohen's, Grzegorz Wajda, Hokyoung Kim, Nordstrom, Tesla, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, George Glover Organizations: Business, Service, Nike, Bloomberg Intelligence, YouTube, Big Tech, New York Stock Exchange, NYSE, Chelsea, Getty, Walmart, BI, Costco, Amazon, Motors, Spotify Locations: Americas, TikTok, Merrill, China, American, New York, London

☆ Is the US really close to banning TikTok? Yes? And, also: No.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A bill aimed at banning TikTok in the US could be signed into law as early as this week. AdvertisementThe US House of Representatives passed a so-called TikTok ban bill on Saturday. Combining all three things means the TikTok bill will likely be approved as part of the package deal. AdvertisementSo you're saying ByteDance really has a year to sell TikTok to a different owner? For reference: In May 2023, Montana lawmakers passed their own TikTok ban bill; in November of that year, a federal judge blocked the measure.

Persons: —, Will TikTok, Joe Biden, TikTok, Biden, there's, ByteDance, Steve Mnuchin, Trump, Mnuchin, doesn't Organizations: Service, US, Google, Apple Locations: TikTok's China, TikTok, Ukraine, Israel, Montana, China

☆ DJT SPAC: Trump Media Stock Price Collapse Is Only Going to Get Worse
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Emily Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns the conservative Twitter clone Truth Social, went public via SPAC in late March. Short sellers, if I had to guess, feel pretty good, even if Trump's company is trying to prevent them from betting against it. AdvertisementWhile Trump is a political figure, Trump Media's stock price is not really a political story. The same day, its stock price fell by 14%, though the next day it bounced. That TMTG's stock price has fallen isn't surprising.

Persons: I'm, Jim Cramer, Donald Trump's, Trump, DJT, it's, TMTG, isn't —, Peter Kafka, doesn't, TMTG isn't, Devin Nunes —, Devin Nunes, California —, He's, It's, Emily Stewart Organizations: Trump Media & Technology Group, Twitter, Republican, Nvidia, Truth, Meta, Trump, Trump Media & Technology, Business Locations: SPAC, TMTG, California

☆ Here's what Apple will say if a US TikTok ban becomes law
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Apple just removed WhatsApp, Signal, and other messaging apps from its Chinese app store. But it could happen in the US, too, if a TikTok ban bill becomes law. It's from an unidentified Apple comms person, to The Wall Street Journal, explaining why Apple just took four messaging/social media apps — WhatsApp, Threads, Signal, and Telegram — out of its Chinese app store. If the TikTok bill does become law, it won't make TikTok go away overnight in the US. But if the law jumps enough hurdles to become enforceable, Apple would have to remove TikTok from its US app store, as would Google.

Persons: —, Apple, You've, Hasan Minhaj's, Joe Biden, TikTok Organizations: Apple, Big Tech, Service, Wall Street, Netflix, Facebook, Google Locations: China, Hong Kong, America, Ukraine, Israel

☆ Netflix is going to stop telling the world how many subscribers it has. Why?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

AdvertisementFor years, Netflix investors cared about one thing more than anything else: Go-go growth, which they measured by the number of subscribers the streaming company signed up. To push that point across, last year, Netflix stopped providing quarterly guidance on subscriber growth. But it's also understandable if investors think Netflix is going to stop providing subscriber numbers because the numbers aren't going to be as impressive in the future. Today, Netflix has nearly 270 million paid subscribers around the world, which makes it much, much bigger than its peers. AdvertisementThat's why Netflix's admission that it lost a million subscribers two years ago shook the entire media world and had everyone asking — was that a Netflix problem or a Streaming problem?

Persons: —, that's, it's Organizations: Netflix, Service, Disney

☆ 'Civil War' should be a controversial movie. But no one should be upset about its marketing.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The new movie "Civil War" is controversial — some people love it and others hate it. But some people also say they're upset about "Civil War's" marketing. AdvertisementHave you seen "Civil War," the new movie about, um, a civil war in the US? But here's a supposed controversy about the movie you can most definitely ignore: Its marketing campaign, which has Upset Some People On The Internet. Well, 1) none of them are actually from the movie, and 2) supposedly, A24, the indie movie studio that made "Civil War," used AI to help generate them.

Persons: —, here's, you'll, literalism, I've Organizations: Service Locations: United States, Washington ,

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