These 3 people hold the fate of hundreds of local newspapers in their hands after a hedge fund and private equity feeding frenzy
Local newspapers have been rocked by consolidation and closures, as digital advertising revenue has not been able to replace print advertisements.
Hedge funds and private equity firms have scooped up hundreds of local news sources over the years, with three firms — Alden Global, Fortress, and Chatham Asset Management — now pulling the strings behind the biggest media moves.
Local papers have been reduced to joining large conglomerates to stay afloat. The result has been slashed payrolls, lost jobs, and the sales of many iconic newspaper offices, like The Chicago Tribune’s Tribune Tower.
Business Insider took a look at who the people determining the future of media are, and why the people that work for them are bracing for the worst.
UBS is deploying 200 ‘hybrid pods’ to tackle tech projects across its investment bank — and that means fewer project managers
Beatriz Martin, UBS Investment Bank’s chief operating officer, told Business Insider the Swiss bank spent 2019 overhauling how its investment bank organizes teams that develop and update technology.
In 2019, the bank created more than 200 small, multi-disciplinary teams — called hybrid pods — that encompass roughly 1,300 employees spread across the bank that focus on specific goals.
Martin said increased productivity, not cost reduction, is the goal of the approach. Still, UBS will need fewer program and project managers to get projects done that it used to thanks to the new structure, she said.
The SEC’s patience is running thin with an accounting measure that WeWork, Peloton, and Uber are fond of
Memo from the Securities and Exchange Commission: If you want to use contribution margin to tout how well your company is doing, you might want to think twice.
WeWork tried to brag about its contribution margin. And WeWork isn’t the only high-flying, money-losing company that likes to highlight that kind of figure. Peloton, Uber, and Lyft have all touted their own version of the metric.
But moves like that appear to have irked the SEC, to put it lightly.
Cars will start paying for their own parking and gas as soon as 2020. Here’s why Visa is betting on a world of invisible payments.
You probably have heard of the so-called internet of things (IoT). It refers to the network of everyday objects that are plugged into the internet. Think: phones, refrigerators, cars, even lightbulbs.
Talks of IoT often conjure up fears of Black Mirror-esque dystopian realities. If the things you use every day are connected and communicating with each other, it’s easy to see how privacy and security become top concerns. IoT devices can collect data including location, spending habits, and health information.
It’s that rich trove of data and always-watching connectivity that has caught the attention of one of the world’s biggest payments players, as well as venture investors and startups.
And as IoT continues to mature, experts and industry leaders are exploring applications through something we all do every day — buy stuff. They’re eyeing not only your wallet, but your car as the next opportunity to roll out IoT payments.
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