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☆ Mark Zuckerberg grilled by angry employees who asked why executives received large bonuses during a year of layoffs and business turmoil
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

He was grilled on pay for execs who received huge bonuses amid relatively poor business performance. Mark Zuckerberg last week took questions from angry employees who asked why executives at Meta seem to face no meaningful consequences for the decisions they've made which have led to thousands of layoffs, and counting. Zuckerberg also argued that Meta's performance overall negatively impacted the executives, meaning a reduction to their bonus was "baked in." According to Meta's proxy statement for 2022, each member of the C-suite received a bonus based on an individual performance multiplier. While an 85% multiplier would have shown they met expectations, all of the executives received a multiplier of either 125% or 165%, showing they are considered to have far exceeded what was expected of them.

☆ Meta's latest layoffs: Here are more than a dozen jobs and teams hit most by this week's cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Kali Hays | Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

On Wednesday, thousands of Meta workers received early morning emails on if they still had jobs. Meta began another round of layoffs on Wednesday, and employees were again left to figure out for themselves which jobs, levels, and teams were impacted by the cuts. How the layoffs happenedThousands of tech and engineering workers received emails over the course of about two hours on Wednesday morning. Laid off workers generally received 16 weeks of severance and benefits coverage for a year, as those laid off in November received. Impacted jobsHere is a running list of what types of jobs and certain teams at Meta were impacted by this round of layoffs.

☆ Inside Mark Zuckerberg's new ambitions for metaverse gaming, an area likely 'safe' from layoffs coming this week
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Gaming in Reality Labs is now seen as "safe" for workers as new layoffs begin. Gaming within Meta's Reality Labs division is getting more attention and resources as the company continues to reorganize during what Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg dubbed the "Year of Efficiency." Increased focus on gaming from Reality Labs is a shift for Zuckerberg. Besides gaming, Zuckerberg and Bosworth have publicly commented on the importance of AI at the company, with the metaverse taking a backseat. Meta now recognizes internally that traditional gaming is the most likely path to gaining financial ground with Reality Labs, one of the people familiar noted.

☆ Meta is recovering from Apple's privacy changes, Wall Street expects a return to major business growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Meta has struggled since last year to rebound from "ad signal loss" due to Apple's privacy changes. It's expected to be a boon to revenue growth, while major layoffs and cost-cutting continue. "When times are tough, marketers revert to the tried-and-true channels – namely Google and Meta," Evercore said. In the fourth quarter of 2022, Meta's ad impressions increased by 23% compared to the previous year. Evercore, however, anticipates a swift "return to double digit revenue growth" – something the company hasn't seen since the fourth quarter of 2021.

☆ How smaller Instagram accounts secure brand deals and make money
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Smaller accounts on Instagram can still make money as influencers. Smaller creators, usually categorized as "nano" influencers with fewer than 10,000 followers, are making money as content creators like their larger counterparts with brand deals, user-generated content, and affiliate marketing. With around 3,000 Instagram followers, Kim is building a business as a travel and fashion influencer by leveraging her small audience. While influencers can pitch brands directly, some companies are already on the lookout for smaller creators to work with. Insider is compiling our reporting on how smaller creators are getting themselves sponsored on Instagram, their strategies, and how much money they are making.

☆ Amazon shoppers rally against new fee for some returns made via UPS: 'They need to learn to ship things better then'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon will begin charging for returns via UPS in some cases. "They need to learn to ship things better then," one Twitter user wrote. "They need to learn to ship things better then," one Twitter user wrote. So if they're going to charge a fee they may want to make sure their shipping partners are doing their part," one user wrote on Twitter. UPS joined Amazon in similarly responding to such comments and offering assistance as needed.

☆ See the memo detailing JPMorgan's new mandatory office policy for managing directors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Carter Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

JPMorgan Chase is abandoning a hybrid attendance policy it adopted during the pandemic and requiring executives to return to the office. On Wednesday, JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank by assets, said it will now mandate that all managing directors come to the office five days a week. In 2021, he wrote in his annual note to shareholders that he envisioned many JPMorgan employees returning to the office full-time, while allowing for exceptions. Tracking attendance is not only important to manage hybrid work schedules but also for real estate, resiliency and security purposes. In the meantime, you can find many useful tools and resources on the Hybrid Working page.

☆ Elon Musk is moving forward with a new generative AI project at Twitter after purchasing thousands of GPUs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Tech companies typically use GPUs to work on large AI models, given the computational workload the newer technology requires. Musk, however, has criticized the recent development of generative AI, saying the technology is powerful and needs regulation to make sure it's operating within "the public interest." It's unclear exactly what Twitter will use generative AI for, the people familiar said. Generative AI has the capability, if trained for the use, to create new advertising images and text to target specific audiences. Nvidia, which is estimated to have 95% of the market, manufactures a GPU for large AI models that costs $10,000.

☆ 10 email and Instagram DM templates that influencers use to reach out to brands to collaborate with
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

For many influencers, brand collaborations are one of the main ways to earn income, especially for those who work full-time as content creators. Her Instagram template that she used to successfully pitch brands has helped her earn enough to sustain her lifestyle in Virginia. Kovach has a "pitch bank" of email templates, and chooses one depending on the company, product, or experience. Here is a recent template she used to successfully pitch a brand over emailInsider spoke to nine influencers who shared their exact DM and email templates used to land brand collaborations. Email templates influencers use to pitch brands:DM templates influencers use to pitch brands:

☆ JPMorgan just dropped some clues as to who might succeed Jamie Dimon. See Insider's exclusive organizational chart identifying the bank's top 114 executives.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Carter Johnson | Samantha Stokes | Dakin Campbell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

We've got names and faces for more than 100 top JPMorgan leaders across investment banking, and more. The bank's CEO and chairman, Jamie Dimon, has consequently been a leading voice shaping both Wall Street and Main Street for decades. On Tuesday, JPMorgan's board of directors provided a little more insight into its CEO succession plans via a 116-page annual proxy filing. Additions to the organizational chart also highlight the growth within some of JPMorgan's key teams. It also provides some clues as to who might one day succeed Dimon, Wall Street's longest running CEO.

☆ What went wrong at Virgin Orbit? 4 red flags signaled trouble for Richard Branson's satellite launch firm.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit struggled to make a comeback after a failed launch in January. Unlike SpaceX, Virgin Orbit blasts its LauncherOne rocket into space with the help of a modified Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 called Cosmic Girl. This funding "was not enough to counter the strong headwinds and liquidity challenges Virgin Orbit continues to face," the spokesperson added. Ultimately, Virgin Orbit has been unable to reach the rate of launches needed to meet the required revenue, per CNBC. Funding issuesSince the failed UK launch, Virgin Orbit has attempted to rake in funding from investors, per reports.

☆ Twitter appears to limit visibility of tweets containing words like 'trans,' 'gay,' and 'queer' sent over DM
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter is appearing to limit the visibility of tweets that include terms to describe gender identity and sexual orientation. In DMs, tweets with the words "gay," "queer," and "trans" showed up as URLs; others populated into an easier-to-read format. The move could be a departure for Elon Musk, who often criticizes social media content moderation and censorship. In Insider's test tweets that included the words "trans," "transgender," "gay," "lesbian," "queer," "bisexual," and "intersex," the messages appeared as a URL link rather than in a preview format. As part of the test, Insider also sent 2 additional test tweets: one containing the word "guns" and one that included the word "drugs."

☆ Salesforce employees blast low morale, lack of communication in internal messages as layoffs continue: 'It's like checking the missing bulletin board after a major disaster'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

"There just has to be a better, more human way of doing this," one employee wrote. Salesforce conducted another round of layoffs this week as part of its plan, announced in January, to reduce its workforce by 10%, Insider has learned. It's like checking the missing bulletin board after a major disaster," one employee wrote in a message viewed by Insider. "6 of my colleagues were laid off this morning," one employee wrote in a comment viewed by Insider with hundreds of supportive reactions. Are you a Salesforce employee or do you have insight to share?

☆ Elon Musk's Twitter made a mistake on tax documents for laid off workers. Now they may miss the tax filing deadline.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Kali Hays | Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Former Twitter workers were told this week they likely received incorrect tax information. The error likely won't be rectified until after the IRS tax filing deadline on April 18. The company told them the issue likely won't be corrected until after the IRS deadline to file taxes has passed. To rectify the mistake on the W-2s, Twitter will send a W-2 C form, used to make corrections to W-2s. However, the IRS deadline to file taxes is April 18, so many former employees now must file an extension.

☆ Meta is lowering bonus payouts for some employees and reverting to twice-a-year performance reviews
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Kali Hays | Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta is dropping bonus pay for lower-performing employees. "This is a hunger games situation," a current Meta employee told Insider. "If you survive layoffs, you'll be straight into performance review in June," the employee said. Although Meta has long had bi-annual performance reviews, the company memo as reported by WSJ said the upcoming review in June is "a calibrated performance signal for fairness." Are you a Meta employee or someone else with insight to share?

☆ 4 strategies an influencer and creator coach used to grow her business to $380,000 in revenue last year
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Nhari Djan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Jade Beason is a full-time content creator and creator coach who used to work in marketing. She earned roughly $380,000 in revenue in 2022 from her coaching business, brand deals, and more. Influencer and creator coach Jade Beason more than quadrupled her revenue in a year. In 2022, she grew her revenue to £312,000, or roughly $380,000, largely through her coaching programs and brand partnerships. Beason shared the four main strategies that helped her grow her business and revenue, which she details in her podcast:1.

☆ The TikTok hearing is mostly lawmakers berating the CEO and loudly asking 'Yes or no?' to detailed questions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Dan Whateley | Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

TikTok CEO Shou Chew appeared before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Thursday. Chew's remarks were often cut short as Congress members pressed him for "yes" or "no" responses. "Welcome to the most bipartisan committee in Congress," Republican Rep. Earl LeRoy "Buddy" Carter said, addressing Chew as "Mr. Chew's responses to questions were often cut short as members of Congress asked for shorter "yes" or "no" responses. In the days leading up to the committee hearing, TikTok helped arrange a press conference with Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman that it described as a push "in support of free expression."

☆ BlackRock Investment Institute downgrades credit, favors short-term bonds for income
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 20 (Reuters) - BlackRock Investment Institute said on Monday it was downgrading credit and preferred short-term bonds for income, with strategists pointing to financial cracks from rapid interest rate hikes. We overweight veryshort-term government paper for income and prefer emerging markets," BlackRock Investment Institute strategists wrote in a weekly note to clients. BlackRock Investment Institute is an arm of U.S.-based investment firm BlackRock that provides proprietary investment research. BlackRock Investment Institute said it expects the Fed to raise interest rates on Wednesday. Interest rate futures show 73% odds that the U.S. central bank will raise its benchmark overnight interest rate by 25 basis points, with 27% odds of no hike, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool.

Companies FTX Trading Limited FollowMarch 20 (Reuters) - Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX on Sunday sued the liquidators overseeing the wind-down of its Bahamian affiliate FTX Digital Markets, accusing them of wrongly claiming ownership of the exchange's assets. FTX called FTX DM a "fraudulent enterprise", initially set up only to be a "local service company", which did not own the FTX.com exchange or any of the cryptocurrency seized. FTX has been at odds with Bahamian officials ever since filing for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 11. The Securities Commission of the Bahamas began liquidation proceedings against FTX DM a day before the U.S. bankruptcy filing of FTX Trading and more than 100 affiliates, and the two sides have sparred over ownership of FTX assets and access to company data. FTX reported this month that Bankman-Fried took $2.2 billion in funds from the company during a period when the crypto exchange lost $8 billion of customer money.

☆ Snakes, rats and reptilian squatters: single family rental investors get a rude awakening as landlords
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Single-family-rental landlords are like most other homeowners, just at scale. Indeed, rising interest rates have drastically reduced access to capital for everyone, including single-family landlords who've borrowed heavily to finance their purchases. Here are a few stories of the wild world of institutional single-family-rental property management. An iguana stuck inside a Divvy Homes property in Florida. Single-family-rental landlords face the twin challenges of customer service and homeownership, often at the same time.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse ambitions are shrinking
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In a year, the metaverse went from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's obsession to rarely being mentioned. He mentioned AI four times, positioning the development of that technology as now being Meta's "single largest investment." Executives mentioned it half a dozen times during a call with Wall Street analysts, while the metaverse was not mentioned at all. It's a relief to investors and Wall Street analysts, who last year grew increasingly frustrated with Zuckerberg's once defiant tone on the massive cost of metaverse work. It's set to lose $15 billion this year and is on track to cost the company $20 billion a year going forward.

☆ Small-business owners say they've seen higher sales, skyrocketing click-through rates, and better brand awareness by using user-generated content in 3 smart ways
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Erin Greenawald | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Small-business owners and marketing pros say user-generated content boosted their brands on social. When users post content about a brand on their own channels, it gets the brand in front of new audiences. Insider spoke with several small-business owners to learn how they source user-generated content and use it across channels to maximize their marketing efforts. Use it for more than just organic social mediaReposting UGC on social media is an obvious way to fill your brand's social channels with engaging content. "Small-business owners should capitalize on creating mock UGC in-house to fill the gaps between their professional content and true UGC," Kutting said.

☆ How a laid-off worker used TikTok to find a new job: 'You have to look at non-traditional ways of making those connections'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"Because obviously getting referrals or a job through TikTok sounds kind of insane when you kind of think about it. Vining is now a consultant technical project manager after getting a referral from someone who commented on one of his TikTok videos. Others have also shared their layoff experience in TikTok videos. "So I think you have to look at non-traditional ways of making those connections. And in my instance, my non-traditional way of making a connection that led to a job was through TikTok."

☆ Meta's second round of layoffs is coming down next week and expected to be 'bloodbath'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A second round of layoffs at Meta, formerly Facebook, is set to be announced next week. A second round of layoffs at Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is expected to hit next week, set to leave several thousand more employees without work. The timing would be the same as Meta's last round of layoffs, which were announced on a Wednesday in November. This round of layoffs has been in the works for many weeks, as Insider first reported. The sweep of the first round of layoffs took many employees by surprise, with 11,000 people, or 13%, of Meta's workforce let go.

☆ Meta has a pay gap problem, with women abroad getting lower pay and smaller bonuses than men
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The company still pays women abroad less than men and gives them much smaller bonuses. Globally, the number of women working for Meta has increased just 1% since 2018. In 2022, women working across Meta in Ireland were paid 15.7% less on average than men at the company. In the reports showing an ongoing pay gap, Meta said its problem of pay inequity comes down to fewer women in technological roles. In Ireland, while the company said its workforce is almost half men and women, men hold more high-level and tech-focused jobs, according to the report.

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