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Unilever to cut 7,500 jobs globally and split off ice-cream division 2024-03-19 09:54:00+00:00 - Unilever is to cut 7,500 jobs globally as part of an overhaul aimed at saving about €800m (£684m) over the next three years. The consumer goods company, whose brands range from Marmite and Hellmann’s mayonnaise to Dove soap, Lynx deodorant and Domestos bleach, employs 128,000 people worldwide, including 6,000 in the UK. Unilever said staff would be consulted about the cuts. Hein Schumacher, who was appointed as chief executive in January 2023, and took over from Alan Jope last spring, said there would be some job cuts at Unilever’s head office in London, and some at business units in other countries. It outlined a productivity programme to deliver cost savings of about €800m over the next three years and announced plans to spin off its ice-cream business. The division makes five of the world’s top-selling 10 ice-cream brands, including Wall’s, Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s. It also makes Cornetto, Viennetta, Carte d’Or and Breyers, which is big in the US. A demerger of the division, which has annual revenues of €7.9bn and accounts for 16% of group sales, is the most likely outcome, although Unilever is also considering other options. It expects the spin-off to be completed by the end of 2025. Schumacher declined to say where the demerged ice-cream business would be listed, adding that all options were being considered. Along with the rest of its food operations, it is managed from Rotterdam. “The default route that we’re pursuing at this moment is a demerger and a separate listing for that business,” he said. “Historically the company has been a Dutch-Anglo company. We are managing the food and ice-cream divisions currently in the Netherlands, and the remainder of the company here from London. That doesn’t mean that ice-cream will be a Dutch company or a UK company. We’re looking at all options.” He explained that ice-cream was different from the rest of the business because of its frozen supply chain, high seasonality and high capital requirements. After the separation, Unilever will be left with four divisions – beauty and wellbeing, personal care, home care and nutrition. Unilever has come under pressure in recent years from the US activist investor Nelson Peltz to streamline its sprawling business. The planned ice-cream spinoff is Schumacher’s biggest move so far. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Free daily newsletter Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Jope, his predecessor, sparked shareholder anger with a series of mis-steps, culminating in the failed £50bn bid for GSK’s consumer health business in late 2021, which Terry Smith, founder of Fundsmith, described as a “near-death experience”. Ian Meakins, the Unilever chair, said: “The separation of ice-cream and the delivery of the productivity programme will help create a simpler, more focused and higher-performing Unilever. It will also create a world-leading ice-cream business, with strong growth prospects and an exciting future as a standalone business.” Schumacher, who previously ran a Dutch dairy co-operative and sat on Unilever’s board as a non-executive director before being appointed as chief executive, said: “Under the growth action plan we have committed to do fewer things, better, and with greater impact,” referring to the 10-point plan announced last year. He added: “We have a big agenda. This is going to be a very busy period for the next 18 months or so.” Matt Britzman, an equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Unilever says bye-bye to Ben & Jerry’s with its plans to ditch the ice-cream unit … Action is what shareholders wanted to see from the new team at the top, and that’s what’s been delivered today. Ice-cream always looked like the odd one out when you compare it to other product lines, and performance has struggled of late. It’s not a huge shock to see this move, but it’s something prior management wasn’t able to deliver.” Unilever’s shares were up more than 5% on Tuesday morning after the announcement, making it the top riser on the FTSE 100.
End of an era as Japan ends negative interest rates; Unilever cutting 7,500 jobs – business live 2024-03-19 09:51:00+00:00 - 06.52 GMT Introduction: Bank of Japan ends era of negative interest rates Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. It’s the end of an era in central banking today, as Japan halts its policy of operating negative interest rates. The Bank of Japan has raised borrowing costs for the first time since 2007, choosing to tighten policy after fears of deflation ebbed. It is raising Japan’s interest rates from -0.1% to between zero and 0.1%, ending an eight-year stint of negative borrowing costs, brought in to stimulate spending and borrowing. #Japan raises interest rates for 1st time in 17yrs amid higher inflation & rising wages. BoJ also scrapped its complex yield curve control program while pledging to continue buying long-term govt bonds as needed. It also ended its purchases of ETFs. Nikkei gained 0.7%, 10y… pic.twitter.com/HNSIGqibUr — Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) March 19, 2024 It has also ended its yield curve control (YCC) policy, under which it has been capping long-term interest rates around zero since 2016. The move makes the BoJ the last central bank to unwind the ultra-loose monetary policy imposed after the financial crisis. Announcing the move, the BoJ declared that its goal of hitting 2% inflation in a sustainable and stable manner was in sight, adding: “It [the BoJ] considers that its large-scale monetary easing measures have fulfilled their roles, including the negative interest rate policy and the yield curve control.” Several major Japanese companies, including Honda, Nippon Steel and ANA Holdings, have recently handed workers their biggest pay rise in over three decades, which has bolstered policymakers’ hopes that prices will rise sustainably. The BoJ’s timing is slightly ironic, coming as other major central banks ponder how soon they can risk loosening policy. Both the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England are expected to leave rates on hold this week. Markets have taken the news in their stride, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rising by 0.66% to close at 40,003 points, up 263.16, today. Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, says: As the Bank of Japan (BoJ) made significant policy changes, crossing what can be seen as a Rubicon in its monetary approach, the moves had been extensively communicated to the market beforehand. Consequently, the adjustments were largely anticipated, and the markets had priced them in almost perfectly. BoJ governor Kazuo Ueda is giving a press conference now, to outline the decision, so we’ll have more details shortly… The agenda
Why Warren Buffett only gets paid $100,000 a year — a fraction of his deputy's $20 million salary 2024-03-19 09:47:30+00:00 - Warren Buffett's salary was $100,000 last year, while his deputy made $20 million. Buffett wants it that way to signal his prudence, frugality, and devotion to Berkshire shareholders. The investor pays back $50,000 annually, and Berkshire spends triple his salary on keeping him safe. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement Warren Buffett's salary was only $100,000 last year — a fraction of the $20 million raked in by his deputy and planned successor, Greg Abel. Buffett won't be resentful though. As Berkshire Hathaway's CEO and chairman, Buffett recommends to his board of directors how much he should be paid, and sets the compensation of Abel and other executives. Why does Buffett make so little? The world-famous investor has requested a $100,000 annual salary with no bonus or stock awards for over 40 years. That's a tiny amount compared with the roughly $17 million average compensation among S&P 500 CEOs in 2022. Buffett's slim pay packet reflects his belief that CEOs should be incentivized to deliver long-term success for their companies — and that huge salaries, big bonuses, and short-dated stock options encourage near-term thinking. Advertisement It also speaks to Buffett's unusually modest lifestyle. Even though his $134 billion of Berkshire stock ranks him among the richest people on the planet, Buffett still lives in the same family home he bought for $31,500 in 1958. He also drives a decade-old car and grabs breakfast at McDonald's on his way to work. Buffett also doesn't have a company car, belong to clubs where Berkshire pays his dues, or use Berkshire-owned aircraft for non-work trips, per the conglomerate's latest proxy statement. He also hands back $50,000 or half of his salary each year to reimburse Berkshire for his occasional use of employees, phone calls, and stamps for personal tasks. Related stories Berkshire spent about $314,000, or more than triple Buffett's salary, on his personal and home security last year. That meant his total compensation was $414,000, which Berkshire estimated was 5.4 times its median employee's all-in pay last year. For comparison, McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski made 1,224 times more than the median pay of his workers in 2022. Advertisement Buffett likely supplements his salary with dividends and coupon payments from his personal investment portfolio, which could be worth billions of dollars. ProPublica reported last year that based on leaked tax records, Buffett sold close to $500 million of stocks between 2000 and 2019, and disposed of bonds worth a lot more. The investor also likes to minimize his tax bill, and earning a small salary helps with that. There's no evidence that he borrows against his company's stock to fund his lifestyle like other executives. Buffett has pledged to give virtually all of his fortune to good causes. He's already gifted over half of his Berkshire stock to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and four family foundations. Advertisement What has Buffett said about Abel's pay? Buffett has said it would be "terrific" if Berkshire's next CEO were already wealthy and wanted to set an example by accepting a salary much lower than his market value. The investor has put Abel in good stead to do that by paying him around $100 million in total salary and bonuses over the last five years, including a flat $20 million last year, up from a $16 million salary and a $3 million bonus in 2022. Berkshire's insurance boss, Ajit Jain, has made the same amount. Abel also received $870 million before taxes in 2022, in exchange for selling his estimated 1% stake in Berkshire Hathaway Energy to Berkshire. The head of Berkshire's non-insurance businesses signaled last spring that he's willing to invest more of his own money in Berkshire, like Buffett who keeps upwards of 98% of his wealth in the stock. Abel bought about $25 million worth of Berkshire shares, boosting his stake by around a third. Advertisement Abel earns a much bigger salary than Buffett, but that could change once he takes over as CEO if he subscribes to Buffett's ideas around not wasting shareholders' money, living frugally, and having lots of skin in the game.
Recessions Actually Make People Live Longer 2024-03-19 09:46:01+00:00 - There's a reason governments spend so many taxpayer dollars digging their economies out of recessions. Families lose their homes. Children go malnourished. New grads spend years struggling to get their careers back on track, forgoing marriage and kids and homeownership. But a growing body of research suggests that recessions are good for at least one thing: longevity. Puzzlingly, it appears that economic downturns actually extend people's lives. The latest evidence comes from "Lives vs. Livelihoods," a new paper by four researchers led by the renowned health economist Amy Finkelstein. They found that during the Great Recession, from 2007 to 2009, age-adjusted mortality rates among Americans dropped 0.5% for every jump of 1 percentage point in an area's unemployment rate. The more joblessness, the longer people lived — especially adults over 64 and those without a college education. "These mortality reductions appear immediately," the economists concluded, "and they persist for at least 10 years." The effects were so large that the recession effectively provided 4% of all 55-year-olds with an extra year of life. And in states that saw big jumps in unemployment, people were more likely to report being in excellent health. Recessions, it would seem, help us stay fitter, and live longer. Advertisement The question, of course, is why. The economists ruled out a lot of possible explanations. Laid-off workers weren't using their free time to exercise more, or cutting back on smoking or drinking because money was tight. Infectious diseases like influenza and pneumonia kept right on spreading, even though fewer people were going to work and dining out. Retirees didn't seem to be getting better care, even though rising unemployment rates made it easier for nursing homes to staff up. So what could the explanation be? How does higher unemployment lead to longer life? The answer was pollution. Counties that experienced the biggest job losses in the Great Recession, the economists found, also saw the largest declines in air pollution, as measured by levels of the fine particulate matter PM2.5. It makes sense: During recessions, fewer people drive to work. Factories and offices slow down, and people cut back on their own energy use to save money. All that reduced activity leads to cleaner air. That would explain why workers without a college degree enjoyed the biggest drops in mortality: People with low-wage jobs tend to live in neighborhoods with more environmental toxins. It would also explain why the recession reduced mortality from heart disease, suicide, and car crashes — causes of death all linked to the physical and mental effects of PM2.5. Overall, the economists found, cleaner air was responsible for more than a third of the decline in mortality during the Great Recession. An economy firing on all cylinders creates more jobs — but it also generates all sorts of unseen but harmful side effects. The new paper, along with other research into recessions, provides an important reminder that economic growth isn't — and shouldn't be — the only measure of our collective well-being. If recessions save lives, that comes with a corollary: Boom times cost lives. An economy firing on all cylinders creates more jobs — but it also generates all sorts of unseen but harmful side effects. "Our findings suggest important trade-offs between economic activity and mortality," the authors conclude. That's economist-speak for two very bad choices: Would you prefer wealth that kills you, or poverty that keeps you alive? It's that dilemma that has given rise to what's known as the degrowth movement — the idea that the gross domestic product doesn't provide us with an accurate read on human progress. Sure, economic growth provides jobs. But it doesn't tell us anything about the health of our children or the safety of our neighborhoods or the sustainability of our planet. What's the point of having all this money, the degrowthers ask, if it's making us worse off? I'm sympathetic to that line of reasoning — up to a point. But I don't think that actually shrinking the economy, as some degrowthers advocate, is a good idea. Lower growth inevitably leads to higher unemployment, and that's not a trade-off we should be willing to accept. I grew up in Japan, a country degrowthers often point to as a model for slower growth. It's true that Japan is politically stable, clean, and safe even though its economy has stalled for 30 years. But there's something about long-term economic stagnation that saps a country's hope. Nothing changes — in politics, in culture, in society — even when everyone knows it's bad. Without realizing it, I had settled into this national inertia, the belief that nothing could be done. It was only in 2012, when I moved to San Francisco, that I started to feel real agency over the direction of my life. Everyone around me believed they could change the world, and the sense of optimism was contagious. The degrowth movement presents us with a false choice. The solution to bad growth isn't less growth. It's better growth. With stronger regulation and smarter innovation, I'm confident we can find ways to create jobs without destroying the environment and shortening our lives. If the new research tells us anything, it's that we still have a long way to go in striking a healthy balance between economic growth and social welfare. We shouldn't have to choose between working and living. Aki Ito is a chief correspondent at Business Insider.
A glimpse into Sam Altman's 2-hour-long bid to look like the saner, less chaotic foil to Elon Musk 2024-03-19 09:37:10+00:00 - By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Sam Altman is warring with Elon Musk. It's unclear how their legal battle will pan out just yet, but if his recent interview with podcaster Lex Fridman is anything to go by, Altman may just be winning the PR game. The OpenAI chief gave a close to two-hour-long interview on Fridman's podcast, which aired on Monday. During the interview, Altman spoke to Fridman about various topics, including artificial general intelligence, his sudden ouster in 2023, comparisons between OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google, and Musk's lawsuit against him. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. During the interview, Altman made sure to pay Musk a fair share of compliments, calling him "amazing" and one of the "great builders of our time" — at least where tech's concerned. "The stuff about Elon is amazing and I super respect him. I think we need him," Altman said. "All of us should be rooting for him and need him to step up as a leader through this next phase." Advertisement But it wasn't just what Altman said, but how he said it. Throughout his conversation with Fridman, Altman spoke in an even tone, was rarely animated, and dropped random factoids about himself. He talked about his interest in aliens, and explained his quirky habit of typing social media posts in small caps only. "If I'm writing a long, more formal message, I always use capitalization there, too. So I still remember how to do it," Altman joked. Timing is everything The stark differences between Altman and Musk's public personas seemed particularly pronounced on Monday, in part due to the timing of the podcast episode's release. Musk earlier sat for an hourlong interview with former CNN host Don Lemon. That episode of "The Don Lemon Show" dropped on Monday, too. Advertisement Musk's interview was dogged by controversy even before it aired. Lemon said his show's partnership with Musk's social media platform X was abruptly canceled hours after it was filmed because Musk was "apparently so upset" after the taping. During the interview, Musk offered an odd explanation to Lemon about his ketamine use. Musk told Lemon he takes a small amount of ketamine "once every other week" and that he uses the drug "when my brain chemistry sometimes goes super negative." But his ketamine use, Musk said, shouldn't alarm investors because his electric vehicle company Tesla "had the best-selling car on Earth last year." Related stories "So from investors' standpoint, if there is something I'm taking, I should keep taking it," Musk told Lemon. Advertisement Musk also defended his controversial views on racism and corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. The billionaire told Lemon that he thinks people shouldn't make racism "a constant subject" and that they should "move on" from the topic altogether. The Don Lemon Show episode 1: Elon Musk TIMESTAMPS: (02:23) News on X (10:07) Donald Trump and Endorsing a Candidate (13:04) The New Tesla Roadster (16:46) Relaxation and Video Games (17:54) Tweeting and Drug Use (23:19) The Great Replacement Theory (30:03) Content Moderation… pic.twitter.com/bLRae4DhyO — Don Lemon (@donlemon) March 18, 2024 Close to the interview's end, Musk appeared to be visibly displeased. When Lemon asked him about it, Musk admitted that he was getting upset. "You're upsetting me because the way you phrase your questions is not cogent," Musk told Lemon. That isn't to say that Altman hasn't been in his share of tense interviews. At a Davos panel in January Bloomberg's Brad Stone asked OpenAI's vice president of global affairs Anna Makanju about Altman's firing and swift reinstatement. Advertisement In response, Altman cut in and questioned why Stone seemed to want to dwell on the matter, calling the ouster a "soap opera." Altman and Musk's dueling self-presentations come at an interesting time for the two men. They're the leaders of two competing AI organizations and are also embroiled in a legal tussle. On February 29, Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman, where he accused OpenAI of violating its nonprofit mission when it partnered with Microsoft. In a March 6 X post, Musk said he would drop the lawsuit if the company changed its name to "ClosedAI." Advertisement OpenAI responded in March with a blog post refuting Musk's claims. "I think that speaks to the seriousness with which Elon means the lawsuit, and that's like an astonishing thing to say, I think," Altman said of Musk's remarks on Fridman's podcast. Altman said as well that he found the lawsuit and the memes and drama surrounding it "unbecoming" of a man like Musk. But he added that he misses "the old Elon" — a conciliatory stance to take considering the state of their relationship. "I know he knows what it's like to have haters attack him, And it makes me extra sad he's doing it to us," Altman said. Advertisement Altman's representatives at OpenAI and representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
China’s stock watchdog fines property developer Evergrande, slaps lifetime ban on its chairman 2024-03-19 09:20:49+00:00 - BANGKOK (AP) — Troubled property developer China Evergrande Group says Beijing’s stock watchdog has fined it 4.2 billion yuan ($333.4 million) for allegedly falsifying its revenue, among other violations, as it conducts a deep clean of the troubled financial sector. The company said in a release to mainland Chinese stock exchanges late Monday that its chairman, Hui Ka Yan, was fined 47 million yuan ($6.5 million) and banned from China’s markets for life. Hui, also known as Xu Jiayin, was detained by authorities in September for suspected “illegal crimes.” The notice cited a preliminary ruling by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which recently got a new chief, Wu Qing, an industry veteran with a reputation for being tough on market misbehavior. Evergrande is the world’s most indebted property developer, with more than $300 billion in debts. It is among dozens of Chinese companies that have collapsed since 2020 under official pressure to rein in excessive borrowing that the ruling Communist Party views as a threat to the economy. Regulators are striving to reassure investors after Chinese markets slumped in the past year, in tandem with the downturn in the property market. Even after regulators announced a raft of new policies to support the markets, pledging to root out insider trading and other abuses, the Shanghai Composite index is still 5.8% below its level a year earlier, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng has fallen 15.3%. The fallout from the property crisis has also affected China’s shadow banking industry — institutions that provide financial services similar to banks but operate outside of banking regulations. A Chinese media report said police in Beijing had detained suspects, including senior executives, in a case related to asset management company Zhongzhi Enterprise Group. Caixing Global, a financial news outlet, said the investigation aims to recover investor losses. Zhongzhi, a conglomerate that lent heavily to developers and operates trusts, insurance, leasing and other fund management businesses, declared it was insolvent and filed for liquidation in November. A Hong Kong court ordered Evergrande into liquidation in late January after efforts to restructure its foreign debt failed. Real estate helped fuel China’s economic boom as families bought into one of the few potentially high-yielding assets available for investment. But developers borrowed heavily as they turned cities into forests of apartment and office towers, pushing total corporate, government and household debt to more than 300% of the country’s annual economic output, unusually high for a middle-income country. The government has stepped up support for the real estate industry, listing thousands of projects eligible for loans from state banks that stepping up to help contain the damage. Party leaders have emphasized that they want to ensure that families are able to obtain housing they have paid for. The notice by Evergrande said regulators found it had overstated its revenue in 2019 by 214 billion yuan (nearly $30 billion), or about half. In 2020, they allege its revenue was overstated by nearly 80%, or 350 billion yuan ($48.6 billion). The CSRC also suspects problems with bonds Evergrande issued, it said. Hui, as chairman, was “the person in charge who is directly responsible and at the same time serves as the actual controller of the organization and guidance,” it said. “The means were particularly bad and the circumstances were particularly serious.” It also named and fined other Evergrande executives that it said were responsible for the falsified reports and had “behaved badly.”
Steve Ballmer's Son Reflects on Growing up in High Net Worth Family 2024-03-19 09:15:02+00:00 - This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 29-year-old Pete Ballmer, a standup comedian living in San Francisco and one of the sons of billionaire and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. It has been edited for length and clarity. Up until I was in late elementary school, my understanding was that my family was rich, but I didn't know that we were globally and historically rich. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. I knew that my dad was a big guy at Microsoft, and I remember a kid asking me how many bathrooms my house had. Another kid randomly asked me, "Does your mom drive a Mercedes?" And I was like, "No, she drives a Ford Fusion." Advertisement Growing up, we didn't get more expensive Christmas presents than most of the other upper-middle-class kids I knew. I got the new Gameboy one year, and in high school, I asked for a bench and a set of weights. Another year, my parents got us a ping pong table that we set up in the basement. My parents hated seeing us make stupid purchases Their approach toward money, in broad strokes, was: If it's something that you ultimately need, we can buy that for you. They both hated seeing stupid or unnecessary purchases being made, so the implicit rule was don't be wasteful; be smart about what you spend your money on. For example, I started playing lacrosse in fourth grade and asked my mom for a nicer lacrosse stick. She was like, "No, you just started playing. You don't need the nice lacrosse stick." I got the less-nice lacrosse stick. I'm sure I asked my parents for some money here and there, but it was never, "Just ask us, and we'll get you the money." I mean, I didn't really care about what I was wearing, and my brothers and I were fine with driving our dad's old '98 Lincoln. We had an Xbox, and I was eating a lot of Chipotle with my friends. (I drove the neighborhood carpool and got paid in Chipotle gift cards — it was awesome.) What more does a teenage boy even need at that point? We didn't really talk about money There were some indications that we were rich. Our family took really nice vacations, but as a kid, there was a disconnect between things and how much they cost. I just thought, "Oh, I guess we're in Japan, now." For both my mom and my dad, having a lot of money was a relatively new experience, as was raising children. They raised us in line with how their parents raised them, and since they didn't grow up talking about wealth, they didn't talk about it with us, either. Advertisement It was nice to just be a kid and not really think about it, but as I grew up, I started feeling pretty uncomfortable that I was in a wealthier family than any of my peers. I didn't like that people had presuppositions of what I was like purely based on that. My parents had an attitude of "rich kids are too much, and we don't like that," which was in some ways harmful since I was a rich kid. But I started to derive pride from the fact that I wasn't as spoiled as I could be, that I didn't have gobs of money thrown upon me. People would say nice things about the way my brothers and I approached money. I worked summer jobs and internships to save up In elementary school, I got an allowance of $10 a week. I obviously didn't have any real need for it, and I'd forget to collect it from my mom probably over half the time. Middle school is when I started to actually want things that were more expensive. I read about a new phone, the Palm Pre, and wanted to buy it. My parents agreed that they would pay for the phone plan if I paid for the phone. I worked as a caddy at a golf course near our house and saved up enough to buy it. The summer after 9th grade, I started a landscaping company with my friends. It's funny to look back on — we were just a bunch of well-to-do suburban children. Let's just say we weren't doing as good a job as your average landscaping company might. I also did a couple of software engineering internships during high school and college, which I got — I feel it's important for me to say — without connections. My parents paid for all of my tuition and board in college, which is a lot of money. I used the money I saved from my internships to spend on things like meals out at restaurants, drinks at bars, occasional new clothes, and concerts. Advertisement After graduating, I borrowed $1,000 from my parents for an international trip I'd planned with some friends. But that wasn't enough to cover it, so I borrowed another $1,000 from one of my roommates because I didn't want to ask my parents for more money. The experience of not wanting to go back to your parents to ask for more is pretty human and universal; you don't want to be viewed as irresponsible. Receiving an inheritance at 25 After college, I never considered not having a job, so I became a product manager at a game development company. Then I inherited a sum of money from my grandfather when I turned 25. He had worked his way up to middle management at Ford and put the money he saved into Microsoft stock, which did pretty well and ended up being worth hundreds of thousands of dollars by the time I received it. When I first heard about it, I was a junior in college. My initial reaction was that I would decline it — I was still pretty uncomfortable with my family's wealth and figured I could get a pretty high-paying job in tech and wouldn't need their money. But then I turned 25, and I didn't decline the money; in retrospect, that would have been a very silly decision. I'd also started doing standup comedy in college and continued doing it on the side while I worked. After about four years of working as a product manager, I quit to pursue comedy full-time. I'm now a paid regular at some comedy clubs in the Bay Area, and I've also done some festivals. I do around five shows a week in addition to an open mic or two, and I produce Don't Tell Comedy shows. Between what I get from my inherited investments and my income from comedy, my money has remained pretty stable because of my spending habits. Advertisement I don't make many large purchases I don't make many purchases that are over a few hundred dollars. I don't buy first-class plane tickets, for example, and I don't get new or pricey clothing very often. I bought a new jacket recently that was $120 or something. I live in a two-bed, one-bath apartment with my girlfriend, and it's perfect for our purposes; it's no bigger than it has to be. I order food on Uber Eats more often than I probably should, but I also cook a lot and eat oatmeal pretty much every day. That's not a money-saving thing; I just friggin' love oatmeal. I drive a 2015 Ford Focus that my parents bought for my younger brother after he totaled our dad's old '98 Lincoln in high school. I pay an embarrassingly high amount of money for my parking spot, though, because street parking in San Francisco can be tough, and I often leave a lot of expensive AV equipment in my car. I also pay out of pocket for my healthcare, go on pricey trips like Burning Man, and make fairly substantial donations to causes that are significant to me. My financial management moment-to-moment is just kind of pragmatic. I review my credit card statement on a monthly basis and kind of go, how are we looking? Is this all stuff that made sense for me to buy? It feels gross to ask parents for money at this age Neither of my brothers nor I have at any point asked my parents for a notable sum of money, and at no point have our parents given us a notable sum of money. Personally — and not knocking anyone else — that would feel kind of gross and pathetic. (Instead, I have the much more noble position of having inherited from my grandparents.) There are different ways to approach being born into wealth. On one hand, you get kids like me who were kind of ashamed of it and downplayed it. The criticism here is there's some dishonesty, like I'm misrepresenting a huge thing about me if I'm not talking about it and letting people know. I don't really see it as dishonest, though, because people are multifaceted and much more complex than the sum of where they grew up. Admittedly, it sometimes sickens me to know I fall into the trust-fund artist stereotype, but I value authenticity a lot — I just do my best to be authentically myself in my interactions with people. Advertisement The other camp of hyper-wealthy children are the ones who've never had any shame about it and whose parents were a lot more open with giving them money. They'll flaunt the money and ask their parents for a Range Rover as a grown-ass adult. I don't like that approach as much. I think it's better to establish yourself and try to be your own person independent of the money. People who have a lot of money can still be unhappy As we're all older now, our family has started talking more proactively and intentionally about money. We've talked about what our wills might consist of, what happens to the Clippers — which my dad owns — once my parents have passed, how having the money affects what we choose to do career-wise, how the money has or has not "corrupted" us, and the wariness we all have around money's general ability to do that to people. Obviously, money can do a lot for a person. Growing up with a comfortable life (and being around people who had comfortable lives), I both experienced for myself and observed in others the fact that you can very much still be unhappy while having a lot of money. I know I could have some nicer things, but I try to be aware of hedonic adaptation — I know I'd eventually adapt to those lifestyle choices as a new baseline and possibly go down a slippery slope of a more opulent life, which ultimately leads nowhere.
Biden’s Climate Law Has Created a Growing Market for Green Tax Credits 2024-03-19 09:05:54.069000+00:00 - The climate law that President Biden signed in 2022 has created a large and growing market for companies to buy and sell clean-energy tax credits, new Treasury Department data suggests, creating opportunities for start-ups to raise money for projects like wind farms and solar panel installations. The market also provides new opportunities for large companies and financial firms to make money. Treasury officials will report on Tuesday that more than 500 companies have registered a total of 45,500 new clean-energy projects with the Internal Revenue Service in order to benefit from tax breaks in the 2022 law. That law, the Inflation Reduction Act, is the federal government’s most expensive effort ever to reduce fossil fuel emissions and fight global warming. The projects registered with Treasury vary widely in size. They could be as small as a single wind turbine or as large as a new advanced battery factory. Treasury officials say that they are predominantly focused on wind and solar energy thus far, and that projects have been registered across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The numbers reflect both the wide scope of the climate law and the novel mechanisms it created for companies to cash in on its incentives.
The average bonus on Wall Street last year was $176,500. That’s down slightly from 2022 2024-03-19 09:05:05+00:00 - NEW YORK (AP) — The average Wall Street bonus fell slightly last year to $176,500 as the industry added employees and took a “more cautious approach” to compensation, New York state’s comptroller reported Tuesday. The average bonus for employees in New York City’s securities industry was down 2% from $180,000 in 2022. The slight dip came even as Wall Street profits were up 1.8% last year, according to the annual estimate from Thomas DiNapoli, the state’s comptroller. DiNapoli’s office said the slight decline could be attributed to the compensation approach as more employees joined the securities industry. Last year, the industry employed 198,500 people in New York City, which was up from 191,600 in 2022. For 2023, the bonus pool was $33.8 billion, which is largely unchanged from the previous year. The average Wall Street bonus hit a record high $240,400 in 2021, compared to a relative low of $111,400 in 2011. Wall Street is a major source of state and city tax revenue, accounting for an estimated 27% of New York state’s tax collections and 7% of collections for the city, according to the comptroller. “While these bonuses affect income tax revenues for the state and city, both budgeted for larger declines so the impact on projected revenues should be limited,” DiNapoli said in a prepared statement. “The securities industry’s continued strength should not overshadow the broader economic picture in New York, where we need all sectors to enjoy full recovery from the pandemic.”
Fed Meets Amid Worries That Inflation Progress Might Stall 2024-03-19 09:04:38.098000+00:00 - Slowing America’s rapid inflation has been an unexpectedly painless process so far. High interest rates are making it expensive to take out a mortgage or borrow to start a business, but they have not slammed the brakes on economic growth or drastically pushed up unemployment. Still, price increases have been hovering around 3.2 percent for five months now. That flatline is stoking questions about whether the final phase in fighting inflation could prove more difficult for the Federal Reserve. Fed officials will have a chance to respond to the latest data on Wednesday, when they conclude a two-day policy meeting. Central bankers are expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but their fresh quarterly economic projections could show how the latest economic developments are influencing their view of how many rate cuts are coming this year and next. The Fed’s most recent economic estimates, released in December, suggested that Fed officials would make three quarter-point rate cuts by the end of 2024. Since then, the economy has remained surprisingly strong and inflation, while still down sharply from its 2022 highs, has proved stubborn. Some economists think it’s possible that officials could dial back their rate cut expectations, projecting just two moves this year.
Jail Cells? Morgues? Your Cruise Ship Has Some Surprises for You. 2024-03-19 09:03:29.489000+00:00 - Cruise ships have hidden features that many passengers, particularly first-timers, don’t know about. Some ships are as big as small cities, and while it’s relatively easy to familiarize yourself with a seemingly endless number of amenities — water parks, tattoo parlors, multiple restaurants — there is also an entire ecosystem, often below passenger decks, that is shrouded in mystery. Here are five things that cruisers may not know about cruise ships: There’s a morgue … Cruise ships carry millions of passengers each year, and it is not uncommon for deaths to occur on board. Most vessels are required to have a morgue and additional body bags in the event of an emergency. The morgue, usually a small stainless steel refrigerated room on the ship’s lowest deck, accommodates between two to 10 bodies, depending on the size of the vessel. When a passenger or crew member dies, officials on the ship will notify the authorities on shore and a medical team will assess the body and move it to the morgue, where it is kept until arrangements are made for repatriation. In most cases, the body will be removed at the next port of call, but sometimes will remain on board until the end of the voyage. …and a jail There are no police officers on cruise ships, but most vessels have small jails known as the brig, and unruly passengers could find themselves locked up if the ship’s security team determines that they have violated the cruise line’s code of conduct.
Email ‘Mistake’ on Inflation Data Prompts Questions on What Is Shared 2024-03-19 09:02:44.803000+00:00 - One afternoon in late February, an employee at the Bureau of Labor Statistics sent an email about an obscure detail in the way the government calculates inflation — and set off an unlikely firestorm. Economists on Wall Street had spent two weeks puzzling over an unexpected jump in housing costs in the Consumer Price Index. Several had contacted the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which produces the numbers, to inquire. Now, an economist inside the bureau thought he had solved the mystery. In an email addressed to “Super Users,” the economist explained a technical change in the calculation of the housing figures. Then, departing from the bureaucratic language typically used by statistical agencies, he added, “All of you searching for the source of the divergence have found it.” To the inflation obsessives who received the email — and other forecasters who quickly heard about it — the implication was clear: The pop in housing prices in January might have been not a fluke but rather a result of a shift in methodology that could keep inflation elevated longer than economists and Federal Reserve officials had expected. That could, in turn, make the Fed more cautious about cutting interest rates.
The superyacht world is speculating that Mark Zuckerberg just bought this 118-meter boat 2024-03-19 09:00:01+00:00 - The 118-meter superyacht Launchpad made her maiden voyage last week. The yacht world is speculating that her owner is Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Here's what we know about the luxury vessel. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement In the world of superyachts, privacy is the most valuable asset. It can be next to impossible to discern the details of a superyacht transaction — and that's particularly true if the vessel in question is worth nine figures. Yet some in the boat blogging world are speculating that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the new owner of Launchpad, a megayacht currently moored in Fort Lauderdale, Florida after she made her maiden voyage from Gibraltar to St Maarten last week. Launchpad clocks in at 118 meters long, about nine meters shorter than Jeff Bezos' superyacht Koru. The Launchpad is 118 meters long with a midnight blue exterior. Léandre Loyseau/SuperYacht Times The transaction could not be confirmed, with yacht world insiders declining to share what they know and representatives for Zuckerberg not responding to a request for comment from Business Insider. In the past, reports about Zuckerberg owning superyacht Ulysses have proven false. Related stories "It is Feadship's standard policy to never divulge any information about our yachts with reference to ownership, costs, or delivery, etc," Feadship, the ship's builder, wrote to BI. "Whether it is an 18-meter Feadship from the 1960s or a 118-meter Feadship from the 21st century, we do not share private information." Advertisement Aerial shots of the yacht seem to show a pool on its main deck and a helipad. Ruben Griffioen/SuperYachtTimes But Zuckerberg's name has been connected to Launchpad for a few months now, beginning in December when reports swirled that he visited Feadship's shipyard in the Netherlands. Then, earlier in March, yachting bloggers like eSysman SuperYachts and Autoevolution started speculating that he officially snagged the boat, originally built for a sanctioned Russian businessman, at a $300 million price tag. (While that's a seemingly huge amount, it's still less than 0.2% of Zuckerberg's $177 billion net worth.) Another clue that might point to US ownership is that the yacht bears the flag of the Marshall Islands, a US territory and commonplace for American buyers to register their ships, according to public marine tracking. The Netherlands' flag has since been swapped with one for the Marshall Islands, a US territory. Ruben Griffioen/SuperYacht Times If Zuckerberg were to have bought Launchpad, he would join a cohort of superyacht-owning tech billionaires. Along with Bezos, the likes of Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison and Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have purchased impressive boats with even more impressive amenities. Advertisement Little is known about the yacht's interior design, which was done by the French firm Zuretti. Ruben Griffioen/SuperYacht Times SuperYacht Times, an industry publication and intelligence platform, has some of the best images of the yacht. Photos show a swimming pool on her main deck and a large helipad. While less is known of the interior, a vessel of her size can likely sleep dozens of guests and crew and may have amenities like an expansive gym where Zuckerberg could practice his jiu-jitsu or a spa with a massage area. We suspect there's also space for plenty of toys — which could include his viral hydrofoil foil. Do you have any details about Launchpad or any other superyachts? Email reporter Madeline Berg at mberg@businessinsider.com.
Sex trade to slavery: a UN agency says criminals reap $236B a year in profits from forced labor 2024-03-19 08:50:51+00:00 - GENEVA (AP) — Illegal profits from forced labor worldwide have risen to the “obscene” amount of $236 billion per year, the U.N. labor agency reported Tuesday, with sexual exploitation to blame for three-fourths of the take from a business that deprives migrants of money they can send home, swipes jobs from legal workers, and allows the criminals behind it to dodge taxes. The International Labor Organization said the tally for 2021, the most recent year covered in the painstaking international study, marked an increase of 37%, or $64 billion, compared with its last estimate published a decade ago. That’s a result of both more people being exploited and more cash generated from each victim, ILO said. “$236 billion. This is the obscene level of annual profit generated from forced labor in the world today,” the first line of the report’s introduction said. That figure represents earnings “effectively stolen from the pockets of workers” by those who coerce them to work, as well as money taken from remittances of migrants and lost tax revenue for governments. Forced labor can encourage corruption, strengthen criminal networks and incentivize further exploitation, ILO said. Its director-general, Gilbert Houngbo, wants international cooperation to fight the racket. “People in forced labor are subject to multiple forms of coercion, the deliberate and systematic withholding of wages being amongst the most common,” he said. “Forced labor perpetuates cycles of poverty and exploitation and strikes at the heart of human dignity.” “We now know that the situation has only got worse,” Houngbo added. ILO defines forced labor as work that’s imposed against the will of the employee and exacted under penalty — or the threat of one. It can happen at any phase of employment: during recruitment, in living conditions associated with work or by forcing people to stay in a job when they want to leave it. On any given day in 2021, an estimated 27.6 million people were in forced labor — a 10% rise from five years earlier, ILO said. The Asia-Pacific region was home to more than half of those, while Africa, the Americas, and Europe-Central Asia each represented about 13% to 14%. Some 85% of the people affected were working in “privately imposed forced labor,” which can include slavery, serfdom, bonded labor, and activities like forms of begging where cash taken in goes to the benefit of someone else, ILO said. The rest were in forced labor imposed by government authorities — a practice not covered in the study. While just over one-fourth of the victims worldwide were subject to sexual exploitation, it accounted for nearly $173 billion in profits, or nearly three-quarters of the global total — a sign of the higher margins generated from selling sex. Some 6.3 million people faced situations of forced commercial sexual exploitation on any given day three years ago — and nearly four in five of those victims were girls or women, ILO said. Children accounted for more than a quarter of the total cases. Forced labor in industry trailed in a distant second, at $35 billion, followed by services at nearly $21 billion, agriculture at $5 billion and domestic work at $2.6 billion, the Geneva-based labor agency said.
Unilever to split off its ice cream unit including Ben & Jerry’s 2024-03-19 08:49:00+00:00 - Shares of consumer goods giant Unilever popped on Tuesday after the company announced plans to separate its ice cream unit, which includes Ben & Jerry's and Magnum, as part of a restructuring that will impact 7,500 jobs. "The proposed changes are expected to impact around 7,500 predominantly office-based roles globally, with total restructuring costs now anticipated to be around 1.2% of Group turnover for the next three years (up from the around 1% of Group turnover previously communicated)," a statement said. Shares of Unilever were up 5.6% moments after the announcement, before paring gains slightly to trade up 4.1% at 9:20 a.m. London time. The restructuring will begin immediately and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, the company said. It is anticipated to deliver total cost savings of around 800 million euros ($868.3 million). Unilever said the restructuring would allow it to become "a simpler, more focused company," with four distinct business divisions across beauty and wellbeing, personal care, home care and nutrition. The company added that its ice cream division, which generated 7.9 billion euros in revenue in 2023, would perform better as a standalone business. The ice cream division accounted for around 13% of Unilever's 59.6 billion euros in total revenues in 2023. Unilever said plans for the spinoff have not yet been finalized, but that a "demerger is the most likely separation route." It said that costs of the move would be determined once a final decision had been made. The move is the most radical yet in a wider overhaul by CEO Hein Schumacher, who took the reins of the company in July 2023. Unilever has faced growing calls over recent years, including from activist investors, to overhaul its sprawling business amid wide fluctuations in the share price. The stock has lost around 6% from a year ago. Chris Beckett, head of equity research at Quilter Cheviot, questioned how much of an impact the restructuring would have on the company's wider performance. "The division in question is noted for its lower growth compared to Unilever's overall performance, suggesting that the demerger might not significantly alter the company's growth trajectory," Beckett said. "Historically, Unilever's decision to sell its tea business did not lead to a transformative impact on the company's operations or value. It stands to reason that this latest move to split off the ice cream business may follow a similar pattern, offering no substantial metamorphosis." The Ben & Jerry's brand has also proven a thorn in the company's side, taking an active stance on various political issues. In 2023, Unilever faced a U.S. lawsuit claiming it misled investors by not immediately disclosing a decision by Ben & Jerry's to stop selling ice cream in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories — a case that was ultimately dismissed, according to Reuters. Earlier in the year it also faced backlash over Ben & Jerry's calls for the return of "stolen" U.S. indigenous land.
CNBC Daily Open: U.S. consumer sentiment stays stable amid inflation worries 2024-03-19 08:26:00+00:00 - This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here . Nikkei ends higher Japan's Nikkei 225 closed above 40,000 on Tuesday after the country's central bank raised interest rates for the first time since 2007. The broader Topix also rose. Hong Kong's Hang Seng and mainland China's CSI 300 fell. Overnight, U.S. stocks ended higher with the Federal Reserve's policy meeting in focus. The S&P snapped a three-day losing streak to gain 0.63%, while the Dow rose 0.2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.82%. BOJ hikes rates in historic move The Bank of Japan ended the world's only negative interest rate policy, hiking rates for the first time in 17 years at its March meeting. It also abandoned the yield curve control for 10-year Japanese government bonds and will no longer purchase exchange traded funds and Japanese real-estate investment trusts. Nvidia's new AI chips Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed a new generation of AI chips at the company's developer's conference in San Jose, where the chipmaker showcased its latest inroads in the technology. The new AI graphics processors called Blackwell are expected to ship later this year. The announcement comes as the chip giant aims to cement its dominance in the AI market. Aramco on energy transition Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said the current energy transition strategy is failing and the world should give up on the idea of phasing out oil and gas. "Instead invest in them adequately reflecting realistic demand assumptions," he suggested, as fossil fuel demand is forecast to continue rising in the years ahead. [PRO] Bullish on Palantir Brian Stutland of Equity Armor Investments calls Palantir a "promising AI investment" and a "serious player" in the space. "They're doing more than just their cybersecurity for the government. They are really starting to become very creative in the AI world," he said of the company, known for its government contract work in defense and intelligence.
China Evergrande Founder Accused of Exaggerating Revenue by $78 Billion 2024-03-19 08:12:13.135000+00:00 - China Evergrande Group exaggerated its revenue by more than $78 billion and committed securities fraud over two years before its spectacular collapse in 2021, a top Chinese regulator said. The China Securities Regulatory Commission accused Hui Ka Yan, the founder of Evergrande, of “making decisions and organizing fraud,” the company reported in a filing to the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges on Monday night. Mr. Hui was fined $6.5 million and banned from China’s financial markets for life. Xia Haijun, a former chief executive, was fined $2 million and also banned from financial markets, along with several other executives. The company’s main onshore unit, Hengda, was fined $580 million. The New York Times reported in December that questionable accounting and poor oversight led to Evergrande’s demise. Over the years before it defaulted on its debt, Evergrande had been treating money it received for apartments as revenue even though at times it had not built those apartments, the Times reported.
War, reforms and a possible successor? Here's what we could see from 6 more years of Putin 2024-03-19 07:55:00+00:00 - Russian President and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin addresses the crowd during a rally and a concert celebrating the 10th anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea at Red Square in Moscow on March 18, 2024. Natalia Kolesnikova | Afp | Getty Images It was among the least surprising political events so far this year, but Vladimir Putin's reelection to a fifth term in office comes at a time of geopolitical and economic uncertainty for Russia, prompting questions as to what we can expect from another six years of the Russian strongman's leadership. With Putin winning the vote by a huge margin, according to the Kremlin and its the Central Election Commission, the 2024 Russian election aimed to demonstrate that Russian society was "consolidated" around the president and that his domestic and foreign policies had the blessing of Russians both within the country and in its claimed "new" territories illegally annexed from Ukraine, as well as abroad. That message was meant to be encapsulated neatly in the "landslide" 87% of voters that elected him, according to the electoral authorities, and the "record-breaking, unprecedented" voter turnout of 77.4%, up from 67.7% in 2018. Analysts share their views on what we can expect now that Putin has strengthened his grip on power, with the Ukraine war, domestic economic reforms and a possible government reshuffle key factors to watch. War footing Russia's strategy in the war in Ukraine will be a major focus for the Kremlin in the immediate and near-term future, analysts say, with Russia appearing to have a military advantage on the battlefield in recent months. The U.S. presidential election later this year, meanwhile, puts the future of military aid for Ukraine into doubt. Russia could look to push home its advantage over the next year, sending more manpower to the front, although that could have ramifications back home. "In his post-election speech on Sunday night, Putin said that the main goals of his next six years include the special military operation and strengthening the country's defence capabilities. The war is popular in Russia but mobilisations of the population are not and the wide election victory could embolden Putin to step up the military effort," Liam Peach, senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, said in analysis Monday. Ukrainian soldiers unload explosive charges in the direction of Bakhmut as Russia-Ukraine war continues in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on March 13, 2024. Jose Colon | Anadolu | Getty Images The Russian government has already put the economy on a war footing and has laid out plans to increase military spending significantly in 2024. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov announced last fall that Russia's spending on national defense will be almost 11 trillion rubles ($117 billion), with plans to divert almost 30% of the entire budget toward strengthening the country's defense capability and the "special military operation," or war in Ukraine. Russia's recent successes on the battlefield in Ukraine have prompted some to ask whether Putin might also order another round of partial mobilization after the election or whether he might feel safe to hold fire on a contentious move. "For now, this appears unlikely as the ongoing recruitment of contract soldiers is proving sufficient to replace Russian losses in Ukraine," Andrius Tursa, Central and Eastern Europe advisor at consultancy Teneo, said in a pre-election note. Russian citizens drafted during the partial mobilization being dispatched to combat coordination areas after a military call-up for the Russia-Ukraine war in Moscow, Russia, on Oct. 10, 2022. Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images Opinion polls show that a majority of Russians do not expect mobilization in the near term, Tursa noted, and "given that the previous round of mobilization proved highly unpopular and triggered considerable public anxiety, Putin will try to avoid this for as long as possible," he added. Adeline Van Houtte, senior Europe consultant at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said that the U.S. election, expected to be held in November, will be an event that Russia is watching closely. "While we expect the war in Ukraine to probably slowly settle into a frozen conflict with an unstable dividing line and no prospect of a lasting peace, the potential re-election of Donald Trump in the U.S. in November could tip the balance in favour of Russia," she said Monday. Domestic reforms Analysts are also looking at domestic reforms and economic policies that Putin might choose to enact after an election result that the Kremlin portrayed as a "unique" show of support for the president. That Western countries condemned the vote as "neither free nor fair," saying it had taken place against a backdrop of political repression and censorship, was dismissed as "absurd" by the Kremlin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov on Monday. Having cleared more of a procedural hurdle than a real test of his policies and popularity in the election, Putin will have more freedom to advance contentious reforms at home, analysts note. Russian President Vladimir Putin delivering an annual address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, at Moscow's Gostiny Dvor, in Moscow on Feb. 29, 2024. Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images "The focus now will be on whether this emboldens Putin to devote more resources to the war effort, whether policymakers push through unpopular non-war fiscal tightening to maintain macroeconomic stability and whether there are any changes in the political landscape, including the positions of power close to Putin," Capital Economics' Peach said. Putin had already flagged public spending programs and potential fiscal reforms in his State of the Nation address to Russian lawmakers in February. During the speech, which read like an election manifesto, the president flagged $126 billion in infrastructure and social spending over the next six years. New national programs focused on supporting families, such as with the subsidized mortgages scheme, as well as proposals to reduce poverty and improve the nation's health and life expectancy. Putin also said he was thinking about ways to modernize Russia's fiscal system to create a "fairer distribution of the tax burden towards those with higher personal and corporate incomes." MOSCOW, RUSSIA - JANUARY 8: (RUSSIA OUT) A woman eats hot corn while walking along the Red Square near the Kremlin, as air temperatures dropped to -18 degrees Celcius, January,8 2024, in Moscow, Russia. Since the beginning of the year, abnormally cold weather has settled in Moscow region, causing problems with heating in apartments. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images) Contributor | Getty Images News | Getty Images While the government will present specific proposals in the near future, Tursa noted that the speech suggested that "Russian citizens and companies are likely to see an overall increase in tax burden to help finance the war and address broader fiscal challenges." Capital Economics' Peach said the initiatives Putin flagged were important, but agreed that from a near-term fiscal perspective, "the big thing to watch is whether the government pushes through unpopular non-war fiscal tightening to accommodate higher military spending." A reshuffle ... and possible successor? Analysts note that proposed social programs for the six years ahead mean that there is also the possibility of a post-election reshuffle of Russia's government ministers, and that new officials could rise to prominence and be seen as possible future successor to Putin. Putin is not inclined to make major personnel changes lightly; he's kept a number of close ministers in post for many years, such as Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The last major change in leadership roles took place back in 2020, when the technocratic head of Russia's tax service, Mikhail Mishustin, became prime minister, replacing Dmitry Medvedev. "Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, any personnel changes were discouraged by the Kremlin ... However, with the dynamics of the war now shifting in Russia's favor, Putin might feel more confident with the reshuffle. This would not be surprising as Putin had presided over major personnel changes in the past aiming to improve the efficiency of the bureaucratic apparatus," Tursa noted. Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting of members of his Security Council and the government and the heads of law enforcement agencies, at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia October 30, 2023. Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. Gavriil Grigorov | Sputnik | Reuters
Dry January spurred record non-alcoholic drink sales at Soho House 2024-03-19 07:22:03+00:00 - Dry January is boosting the sales of non-alcoholic drinks at companies like Soho House. Soho House's CEO said the company saw its biggest ever spike in mocktail sales in January. Bars were hit hard by Dry January, with sales in the UK down 11.5% compared with 2023. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement Dry January — the annual rite of atonement that involves temporarily swapping cocktails for non-alcoholic libations — is becoming so popular that it's showing up on Wall Street's radar. On Friday, the head of the exclusive hotel and social club chain Soho House said the company saw a record rise in non-alcoholic drink sales during this year's Dry January. The bump came even as members spent slightly less than last year on food and beverages in the three months before January. "What we also saw in January was a much bigger spike in non-alcoholic beverage consumption, much more than we've ever seen before," said Andrew Carnie, the chief executive officer of Soho House, on the company's earnings call. Related stories The company did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Advertisement In addition to boozy, classic cocktails, Soho House, which has 44 club locations from London to Bangkok, serves a variety of "no and low" alcohol options, such as virgin versions of an Old Fashioned and a Moscow Mule. The company also offers alcohol-free draft beer and non-alcoholic wine, according to its website. The Soho House brand has long prided itself on being associated with all things cool and en vogue — and the low-to-no booze trend is no exception. In early February, data company CivicScience polled 1,500 US-based adults over the age of 21 about their drinking habits. A quarter of those surveyed said they took part in Dry January this year The non-alcoholic drinks market is expected to make up nearly four percent of the current $517 billion overall alcohol market by 2027, according to beverage research company ISWR. Advertisement Non-alcoholic beverages aren't just for teetotalers — many consumers are looking to swap some drinks out. Millennials are the most interested in non-alcoholic drinks, compared with older and younger peers, per ISWR. Celebrities including Blake Lively, Katy Perry, and Bella Hadid have all recently launched lines of alcohol-free wines or spirits. This January was one of the driest and bleakest months for pubs across the UK as more people gave up booze and bad weather lowered foot traffic, The Guardian reported. UK bar revenues in January were down 11.5% compared with the same period in 2023, according to market researcher CGA. The trend of staying sober at the beginning of the year was launched in 2013 as a campaign by British charity Alcohol Change to promote the benefits of cutting back on alcohol.
Sam Altman says he doesn't think the world 'needs another copy of Google' because 'that's boring' 2024-03-19 07:16:24+00:00 - OpenAI's Sam Altman isn't interested in beating Google at search. Building a better search engine than Google, Altman said, is "boring." "I don't think the world needs another copy of Google," Altman told podcaster Lex Fridman. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says he isn't interested in beating Google in the search business. "I find that boring. I mean, if the question is if we can build a better search engine than Google or whatever, then sure, we should go, people should use the better product," Altman told podcaster Lex Fridman in an interview that aired Monday. "But I think that would so understate what this can be." Altman made the remarks while responding to Fridman's comparisons between OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's search engine. Related stories "The thing that's exciting to me is not that we can go build a better copy of Google search, but that maybe there's just some much better way to help people find and act on and synthesize information," Altman continued. Advertisement "I don't think the world needs another copy of Google," Altman told Fridman. To be sure, Google hasn't ignored the threat posed by key players in the artificial intelligence market, like Altman's OpenAI. On Monday, Bloomberg reported that Apple was in talks to integrate Google's chatbot, Gemini, into the iPhone. The tech giant's AI ambitions did take a hit last month after some social media users accused Gemini and its creators of being "woke." Google received multiple complaints that its chatbot consistently generated images of people of color in inaccurate historical contexts. On February 22, Google said it was pausing Gemini's image-generation feature. The company said it would "re-release an improved version soon." Advertisement Representatives for OpenAI didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.