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☆ Inside a shake-up at the world's 'most feared law firm'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Casey Sullivan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +30 min

It's been a tumultuous period for Quinn and the storied law firm he built over the past 37 years — now the world's largest litigation firm with hourly rates that can be north of $2,000. But behind the scenes, a shift at QE has been the talk of elite law firm circles. Indeed, the firm – known as a singular, even freewheeling, institution that brands itself as the "#1 Most Feared Law Firm in the World" — may appear to be less in the image of its founder as a generational shift brings changes. "We all thought it was important that the world understands this is not a one generation law firm." One former firm partner in California says he believes Quinn's inner circle generally got better deals.

☆ Inside the demise of Vice, from turning away a $3.5 billion Disney offer to a 'painful' downward spiral that has the media giant scrambling for a buyer
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

The talks fizzled, Disney backed off, and Smith set off for California to drum up other interest in Vice Media. Vice Media Group co-CEOs Bruce Dixon, left, and Hozefa Lokhandwala. Vice Media GroupOne former Vice insider familiar with the current situation told Insider that staffers were warning vendors they needed to threaten to stop work in order to get paid. Just a few months later, Rupert Murdoch tweeted, "Who's heard of Vice Media? Refinery29 quickly lost key staff and was not well integrated into Vice Media, the two former staffers said.

☆ Ryan Reynolds flexes as corporate convert
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - For Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds, dealmaking may be more lucrative than Deadpool. One more transaction like this, and Reynolds could find that he has a real future outside of the acting biz. For Mint, Reynolds has described the marketing strategy as “scrappy”, and he has done some catchy things, like appearing alongside T-Mobile’s chief executive in a video announcing the deal and leaving voicemails for customers. Showing success outside of the lifestyle category – in mobile – is validation for the actor, but a differentiating factor might have been Reynolds’ ownership stake in Mint. Converting that stake into a lucrative deal, twice, suggests that Reynolds could be more than just a pretty face.

☆ Deel Speed: The inside story of a $12 billion HR startup's breakneck growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +32 min

Insider spoke with more than 30 current or former Deel workers about the HR company's extraordinary rise, and the unconventional tactics that made it possible. "I think if you talk to anyone, they would say that Alex is the face but all decisions run through Phillipe," one former Deel worker told Insider. "They lose every employment and labor protection," Valerio De Stefano, a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, said of independent contractors. Alex Bouaziz, Deel on Centre Stage during day two of Collision 2022 at Enercare Centre in Toronto, Canada. The company didn't have an internal human-resources team until sometime in 2021, by which point it had grown to hundreds of people.

☆ I rushed from bank to bank with my infant daughter when SVB collapsed to figure out how my startup could make payroll on time
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Silicon Valley Bank's collapse sent Dispatch Goods cofounder Lindsey Hoell on a race to find alternatives. Her team and investors navigated the logistical chaos of making sure the company made payroll. Dispatch Goods, a Silicon Valley Bank customer, provides reusable packaging to meal and grocery delivery companies. But by the time I got back from opening that account, the Silicon Valley Bank site was just completely bogged down with other people trying to do the same thing. We got up Friday morning and drove down to Silicon Valley Bank's Menlo Park location.

☆ London fears for its future as companies defect to Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

London CNN —London is used to punching well above its weight in global financial markets. And 70% of global secondary bond market trading happens in the city, according to the London Stock Exchange. Beyond the jobs they create and the tax they generate, financial markets also channel capital into companies to fund future growth. In other words, to safeguard its future, London needs to reinvigorate its stock markets. Those “unicorns” should be listing in London “at an earlier stage,” Haynes argues, “rather than growing through private equity and being sold off to Nasdaq.”Hoggett of the London Stock Exchange puts it this way: “London needs to be young, scrappy and hungry.”

☆ The unraveling of fintech darling Vise
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +28 min

It was April, and more than two dozen salespeople who worked for the fintech startup Vise had been ordered to a multiday off-site at the W Hoboken hotel in New Jersey to share exhaustive reports on their performance. Even salespeople at bigger, established, top-tier investment-management firms typically wouldn't close $250 million in a year, multiple sales employees said. (K-means clustering is an unsupervised machine-learning algorithm often referred to as a form of AI, Vise's founders said). (Vise's founders disputed this, saying the company received updated financial data only once a day for its portfolio-construction engine.) And to address its "leaky funnel" of overestimating prospective sales, Vise was to stop outreach to new clients while it onboards and upsells to existing clients, the document said.

☆ The Deep Bond Between Kids and Dogs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Alison Gopnik | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Psychologist Alison Gopnik explores new discoveries in the science of human nature. Seventeen years ago, my son adopted a scrappy, noisy, bouncy, charming young street dog and named him Gretzky, after the great hockey player. Gretzky transformed into a serene guardian of the new baby, sitting quietly curled up next to him. Almost as soon as he could walk, Augie loved wrestling with what was, objectively, a sharp-toothed carnivore twice his size. When Gretzky died last October, Augie was heartbroken.

☆ Tesla is losing its most loyal customers — and that’s bad news for Elon Musk.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Plus, it's even more gross, since this generation obsession appears to be a capitalism-fueled strategy to get our money. They stuck with Elon Musk along a bumpy ride: "production hell," multiple federal investigations, and other catastrophes. Meanwhile, the company keeps losing its edge elsewhere. Nora breaks down how Musk keeps Elon-ing, while Tesla keeps getting beat down. It's part of the multi-day Mobile World Congress — the largest mobile telecommunications event in the world — in Barcelona, Spain.

☆ How Elon Musk Ruined Tesla, Let Other Car Companies Catch up on EVs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Nora Naughton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

"I feel stupid driving around with my brand-new Tesla Model Y," Mark told me. Tesla spent the past two decades defying expectations and disrupting the automotive industry, but in 2023 the once revolutionary car company did the seemingly unthinkable: It turned fanboys against it. But after years of rocketing ahead of legacy car companies' tech, the futuristic guts of Tesla's vehicles have started to go stale. Companies like Ford and Audi are changing their sales strategies to model Tesla's innovative direct-sales style. These companies have something Musk doesn't: nationwide networks of brick-and-mortar locations where customers can have their vehicles serviced and repaired.

☆ Clinical Man Utd win League Cup in heartbreak for Newcastle
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Martyn Herman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Soccer Football - Carabao Cup - Final - Manchester United v Newcastle United - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - February 26, 2023 Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire lift the trophy with teammates after winning the Carabao Cup final Action Images via Reuters/Andrew CouldridgeLONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Manchester United crushed Newcastle United's hopes of a claiming a first domestic trophy for nearly 70 years with a clinical 2-0 victory in the League Cup final at Wembley on Sunday. Kicking towards their fans in the second half Newcastle roused themselves into action and pinned a leggy-looking United back at times but they rarely looked like scoring. The Tyneside club has now lost each of their last nine matches at Wembley, a run that began in the 1974 FA Cup final. Newcastle were full of energy early on with Allan Saint-Maximin dangerous whenever he got the ball. "No complaints with how we played, obviously the scoreline doesn't say that, and that's where football can be cruel," Newcastle manager Howe said.

☆ How a 34-year-old Ukrainian founder created scrappy business opportunities amid the chaos of war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Alina Kachorovska has kept her business afloat thanks to scrappy opportunities amid the war. She's made boots for Ukrainian soldiers and focused on international expansion to sustain the brand. Kachorovska, which relied heavily on domestic direct-to-consumer sales before the war, felt a major impact from the displacement of Ukrainians. Opportunities during wartimeKachorovska employees worked from the factory to produce boots and shoes amid the war. Kachorovska first dreamed of taking her brand international six months before the war with Russia began, she said.

☆ Bidding wars no more: Regular people have a better shot at scoring a home as investors flee once-hot cities from Phoenix to Atlanta
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Aj Latrace | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But investors have backed off, especially in formerly hot areas like Phoenix, Redfin found. The significant drop in investor purchases means less competition for regular homebuyers. Investors purchased approximately $31 billion worth of properties — equivalent to 48,445 homes —nationwide in the last three months of 2022. They include Las Vegas, Phoenix, the New York City suburb of Nassau County, Atlanta, and Charlotte, all of which saw investor purchases fall over 60% year-over-year, the report said. But the drop in home prices and investor purchases last year could signal even more dire conditions in 2023, some analysts and experts predict.

☆ Struggling Southampton grab vital 1-0 win at goal-shy Chelsea
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Clare Lovell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - A trademark James Ward-Prowse free kick earned basement club Southampton a precious three points at Chelsea in a scrappy 1-0 Premier League win on Saturday and piled more pressure on home coach Graham Potter. Azpilicueta needed nearly 10 minutes of treatment on the pitch in the second half after he received a kick to the head in a goalmouth clash. Chelsea are languishing in 10th place on 31 points from 23 games and are 10 points adrift of the top four. Southampton have now done the double over Chelsea this season after beating them 2-1 in August, a month before Potter took over from the sacked Thomas Tuchel. ($1 = 0.8309 pounds)Reporting by Clare Lovell; Editing by Ken Ferris and Clare FallonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ WRAPUP Soccer-Title race swings again as Arsenal win, Man City slip up
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Peter Hall | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Arsenal reinvigorated their push for a first Premier League title in two decades with two stoppage-time goals giving them a thrilling win at Villa Park. It was Arsenal's first win in four Premier League games and followed a dispiriting Wednesday night loss at home to City, who had closed an eight-point gap from a month ago. "If you want to be at the top, you are going to have to win games in many different ways," coach Mikel Arteta said. It was a big effort to play less than 72 hours ago after the (City) game that we had, and after the result that we had which obviously morally was touching." Chelsea had 17 attempts at goal, five on target, their highest shot tally without scoring at home in the Premier League since May 2021.

☆ The great venture-capital resignation is now the great uncertainty for many solo GPs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

But what's gone almost unnoticed in the midst of the tech bloodletting is that consolidation is coming for venture investors, too. "Anyone who wanted to raise a fund could," said Nichole Wischoff, a solo venture capitalist. In essence, the great venture-capital resignation has become the great uncertainty. Family offices and institutions that front money to venture funds are being inundated with pitches, multiple sources said. "There's not going to be a rush by the big mega-platforms to hire them," said the principal at the early-stage venture firm.

☆ Inside the 'Wormhole,' Relativity Space's monster factory 3D-printing reusable rockets
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The exterior of "The Wormhole" factory. The inside of "The Wormhole" factory in Long Beach, California. A closeup look at one of the company's "Reaper" printers at work. The scale of one of the Stargate "Reaper" printers. A pair of the company's "Reaper" 3D-printers.

☆ See the wild 1977 Nike memo that calls personal ambition a 'danger' and urges workers to 'fight the law'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In 1977, Nike executive Rob Strasser typed a list of 10 company "principles." The raw and unfiltered list captures the irreverence and combativeness of early Nike employees. The list, which captures the irreverence and competitiveness of early Nike employees, once again is making the rounds on social media. Several former Nike employees replied to Reames and said they still have copies of the original document. One of them: "Be on the offense, always," a direct nod at Strasser's list, and a phrase that remains a favorite of Nike executives.

☆ I launched my brand with $40 in 2016 and hit $4 million in revenue last year. Here's how to start a business with little or no money.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tori Dunlap, the founder of Her First $100K, launched a blog as a side hustle in 2016 with just $40. Six years later, her business has booked more than $4 million in annual revenue. The culmination of these efforts helped Dunlap book more than $4 million in revenue in 2022, documents viewed by Insider showed. Here's her advice for building a business with little or no money. When TikTok viewers wanted more-nuanced content than a 60-second video would allow, we invested in launching our podcast in 2021.

☆ Chelsea earn scrappy 1-0 win over Palace to ease pressure
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( Clare Lovell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

It was only the second league win in 10 matches for the home side who remain in an unaccustomed 10th place half-way through the season. Today we had five young players in the starting 11, they are doing a really good job at the moment." "Today we are happy for the three points," said Potter, who took over from Thomas Tuchel in September. Palace are in 12th place, six points behind Chelsea. Before kickoff, former Chelsea players who had been coached by or appeared alongside Gianluca Vialli joined the teams to pay tribute to the former Italy international and Chelsea player-manager who died 10 days ago.

More than a decade later, those that heeded this advice went on to become game-changing tech behemoths, including CNBC Disruptor 50 companies Block , Pinterest , Slack, Twilio , and Cloudera. Seed rounds had a record deal value in 2022, and valuations continued to grow even as late-stage venture companies nearer to the public market suffered. Venture funds raised a record amount of money in 2022, with $162.8 billion closed across 769 funds, according to PitchBook and the NVCA. We've seen companies struggle as public companies and then skyrocket, so a lower value-IPO is not the end of the road." "But when you can generate new share in a difficult market, when the market does turn, they are in a perfect position to capture more market share and customers."

☆ Felix sees red on debut as Chelsea slump at Fulham
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The win lifted Fulham above Liverpool and up to sixth in the Premier League standings on 31 points after 19 games. Potter had no complaints about the red card, describing Felix's challenge on Tete as a "forward's tackle". The second half wasn't at our best level," he said. They lost midfielder Denis Zakaria to injury, however, and Felix to a red card, the 23-year-old wildly lunging at Tete after losing the ball. Felix, whose loan signing cost Chelsea a reported 9 million pounds ($11 million), will miss the next three league matches against Crystal Palace, Liverpool and Fulham due to suspension.

☆ 4 SEO strategies that'll supercharge your website's ranking, from real small business owners who use them
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Erin Greenawald | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

SEO can be a cheap and effective way to drive traffic to your small business's website. Business owners and SEO experts said a good URL and strong meta descriptions are key. This article is part of "Marketing for Small Business," a series exploring the basics of marketing strategy for SBOs to earn new customers and grow their business. Small business owners and SEO experts shared with Insider the strategies that have helped them improve their site rankings over time and build a meaningful flow of organic traffic from search. "SEO grows over time," Fabio added, "so by 12 months, you should see much stronger results than at six months."

It’s the start of a class known as high-intensity interval training, a combination of treadmill and weight-lifting, at the boutique fitness studio Barry’s. The brothers and Rondeau, who now serves as Planet Fitness’ chief executive, hit upon a concept. Planet Fitness’ tag, “judgement free zone” is true to form. Part of the appeal is its $10 a month basic membership fee – which hasn’t changed – that Planet Fitness primarily collects through electronic funds transfers. Still, with solid and regular profits and a reasonable amount of debt, Planet Fitness has staying power, even if shareholders lose their shirts while its valuation comes in line.

Amazon said Wednesday it will cut over 18,000 jobs, a bigger number than the e-retailer initially said it would be eliminating last year. The Wall Street Journal reported on the cuts earlier, which Amazon said pre-empted its planned announcement. In November, Jassy said Amazon would eliminate roles, including at its physical stores and in its devices and books divisions. CNBC reported at the time that Amazon was looking to lay off around 10,000 of its employees. “Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so,” Jassy wrote.

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