Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo raised concerns around Russia's shadow fleet of oil tankers after a vessel was seized on Thursday as part of an investigation into a ruptured undersea cable.
Jussi Nukari/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images
An undersea cable in the Baltic Sea that provides power to Estonia was cut on Wednesday.
Finnish authorities say they've seized an oil tanker they suspect caused the outage.
Finland's president raised concerns of Russia's "shadow fleet" on social media.
Finnish authorities said they've seized an oil tanker on Thursday as part of its probe into the cutting of an undersea cable in the Baltic Sea which provides electricity to Estonia.
Finnish customs authorities and the European Union's executive commission said the tanker may be part of Russia's "shadow fleet" of oil tankers, The Associated Press reported.
Finland police said in a news release that the vessel, Eagle S, was registered in Cook Islands. MarineTraffic, a global ship tracking website, also stated that the ship was flying under the flag of Cook Islands and was sailing between St. Petersburg, Russia, and Port Said, Egypt.
On Wednesday, Finnish authorities began investigating the rupture of Estlink-2, an undersea power cable connected between Finland and Estonia, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said on X.
Finland police said in the press release that the case is being investigated as "aggravated criminal mischief."
A spokesperson for Finland's police did not respond to a request for comment sent outside of working hours.
Russia has been using a network of mostly aging ships that are difficult to trace back to the country in order to evade costly Western sanctions that were imposed after the start of the Ukraine war in 2022.
According to the Center for Research on Energy and Clear Air, a Finland-based think tank, more than half of the 369 vessels exporting Russian crude oil and oil products in November were shadow tankers.
"Our main task is to find effective means to stop the shadow fleet," Orpo said at a news conference, according to The New York Times. "The shadow fleet pumps money into Russia's war fund so that Russia can continue to wage its war in Ukraine against the people of Ukraine, and it has to be stopped."
Finland's President Alexander Stubb also said in a post on X that the risks of Russia's shadow fleet need to be addressed.
The damage to the Estlink-2 further highlights growing concerns among countries around the risks of sabotage against undersea power cables and pipelines.
In November, two data cables were cut under the Baltic Sea, linking Germany and Finland as well as Sweden and Lithuania.
German Foreign Minister Boris Pistorius said without evidence that the incident was no accident.
"We have to assume, without certain information, that the damage is caused by sabotage," he said.
In January, the couple will appear in the competition series "The Flip Off" with Tarek's ex, Christina Haack. And on Thursday, season two of Heather and Tarek's show, "The Flipping El Moussas," premiered on HGTV, diving into the couple's house-flipping business.
In the episode, Tarek and Heather flipped a three-bedroom house in Los Angeles that was filled to the brim with trash when they started the project.
In the season premiere of "The Flipping El Moussas," Tarek and Heather took on a trash-filled home in Los Angeles.
Tarek and Heather Rae El Moussa star in "The Flipping El Moussas."
HGTV
As the episode opens, Tarek and Heather check out a three-bedroom, two-bath house in Los Angeles.
Tarek's company, Tarek Buys Houses, had purchased the 1,200-square-foot property for $430,000,which they said was on the low end for the area because the house was in disarray, filled with trash, rat droppings, and human feces.
They originally intended to sell the home to another flipper at wholesale, but because it was so dirty, Tarek and Heather would have had to invest money in cleaning it out before they could sell it to another flipper.
Instead, they decided to flip it themselves. They set a budget of $184,000 for renovations and hoped to sell the home for close to $1 million.
The home's large living area was full of garbage when Tarek and Heather started working on it.
The house was full of trash.
HGTV
The large living area had an open-concept feel, though it was difficult to see the layout when Tarek and Heather first toured the property because it was covered in debris.
Tarek said in the premiere that it took his team three days and 10 trips to the dump to clean out the property.
Tarek and Heather decided to fully open the living area during the flip.
The new living space felt large and airy after the renovation.
They removed a wall to open up the space.
HGTV
Tarek and Heather took down the wall that separated the kitchen from the rest of the living area, making the space feel larger.
The space was full of light thanks to its white walls and the sliding glass doors that took up nearly a whole wall in the living room. Touches like beachy lighting modernized the space.
The backyard wasn't much to look at before the renovation.
The backyard was in rough shape.
HGTV
The fenced-in backyard offered privacy, but that was the only redeeming quality when the El Moussas worked on the project. The grass had died, and the house wasn't in great shape.
However, the El Moussas noticed that a raised patio would create a view of the area, so they decided to add it to the property.
A patio made the house feel more luxurious.
The patio made the yard feel bigger.
HGTV
The episode revealed that adding the patio to the home wasn't simple. The team originally constructing it built an unstable structure and burned a hole through it, to Heather and Tarek's dismay.
But the final version of the patio created an indoor-outdoor living vibe thanks to the sliding doors.
The El Moussas also added a new fence, grass, and a gravel area to the yard for additional seating.
The kitchen was originally full of dark cabinetry.
The kitchen was closed off.
HGTV
To make the kitchen feel grander, the El Moussas decided to place the oven and gas range in the center of the space so they were visible when you entered the home.
They had to move some windows around to make the change, which ended up causing them weeks of delays on the flip.
The delays were worth it, as the range became the centerpiece of the kitchen.
The space felt bigger.
HGTV
The kitchen looked cohesive with the living room, featuring white counters, appliances, and built-in open shelves.
A window above the sink overlooked the patio the El Moussas added to the backyard.
Tarek and Heather wanted to modernize the fireplace in the living room.
The fireplace had a stone exterior.
HGTV
A stone fireplace took up much of the central wall in the living room, but the dark color was dated and didn't fit the clean look Tarek and Heather were creating for the home.
Floating shelves and white brick made the space feel fresh.
White detailing made the space feel big.
HGTV
The new fireplace featured vertical white brick framed by built-in shelving made of wood.
Large windows sat opposite the sliding glass doors, so light flooded the home.
The primary bedroom wasn't as private as it could have been.
The primary bedroom didn't have a true en suite.
HGTV
When Tarek and Heather first walked through the house, they found that the primary bedroom had a bathroom attached to it, but it was accessible from the home's laundry room and kitchen as well.
The El Moussas decided to close off the bathroom and move the laundry room to a closet to make the bedroom bigger and have a true en suite.
They made the space feel fresher.
The room was enclosed.
HGTV
Rather than one large window, the El Moussas added two windows framing the bed in the primary to give it a sense of grandeur.
A sliding door led the way to the en suite.
The bathroom featured a large walk-in shower and double vanity.
The bathroom had a walk-in shower.
HGTV
Heather and Tarek's vision for the bathroom paid off, as they were able to use the former laundry room to add square footage to the bathroom.
The walk-in shower featured a bench, and tile floors with a star-shaped pattern brought a pop of color to the room.
The wooden cabinetry also matched the shelving in the living area, giving the home a sense of cohesion.
The flip took longer than the El Moussas wanted, but they still made a profit.
They made a profit on the house.
HGTV
Due to project delays, Tarek and Heather spent 12 months flipping the property in Los Angeles.
They also spent nearly $100,000 over their original budget on the renovation and invested $276,000 in the flip. Considering the carrying and selling costs, Tarek and Heather's breakeven price for the house was $793,000.
They originally listed the house for $999,999 and got an offer of $920,000.
A federal judge's ruling in the NASCAR antitrust lawsuit allows agreements between 23XI Racing, Front Row Motorsports, and Stewart-Haas Racing to proceed.
Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino on Thursday vehemently denied President-elect Trump's claims of Chinese interference in the Panama Canal.
Why it matters: Trump has accused Panamanian authorities of charging "exorbitant" shipping rates and cited the increasing dominance of China's government in trade throughout the Americas as a reason to take control of the Panama Canal, one of the world's most crucial pieces of infrastructure that the U.S. ceded in 1999.
Driving the news: The president-elect doubled down in a Christmas Day message, writing on Truth Social: "Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal."
What they're saying: "There is absolutely not any interference" from China or any other nation in the operation of the canal, Mulino said during a Thursday briefing, emphasizing that Panama is open for business equally to all interested parties.
"If they're Chinese, if they're Costa Rican, if they're American, all are welcome who want to invest in the country. There is no discrimination here in foreign investment," he said.
"There are no Chinese soldiers in the canal, for the love of God," added an animated Mulino, addressing Trump's post directly. "It's nonsense. There is not a single Chinese soldier in the canal."
Representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment in the evening.
Between the lines: China's government has in recent years heavily invested in operations in the Canal Zone, raising concerns about its neutrality.
It's the primary source of products going through the Colón Free Trade Zone, a free port in Panama dedicated to re-exporting a variety of merchandise to Latin America and the Caribbean, noted the Center for Strategic and International Studies in 2021.
Beijing's "increasing presence in and around the Canal has made the waterway a flashpoint for U.S.-China competition over spheres of influence," added the CSIS in the report.
Meta's virtual reality ambitions got a Christmas boost this year.
On Christmas Day, the company's Meta Horizon app, which users must download to set up the Quest virtual reality headsets developed by Meta, was the top free app in Apple's App Store in the US and the UK, indicating strong holiday demand.
Meta Horizon was the top free app on Apple's App Store.
screenshot/App Store
Meta has never disclosed how many Quest headsets it has sold. The surge in app downloads suggests that the Quest is solidifying its status as one of the most mainstream VR headsets. The devices, which start at $299 and are developed by Meta's Reality Labs division, are a relatively affordable gateway to virtual and mixed-reality experiences. They let people watch movies on giant virtual screens, play immersive games, and even work out.
Meta did not respond to a request for comment about Quest sales from Business Insider.
Quest competes with VR headsets from other companies, including Sony, HTC, and Apple, although Apple's Vision Pro headset costs much more, at $3,500.
Meta has been working to make VR more accessible to a broader audience. In October, the company launched the Quest 3S, a less expensive version of the more advanced Quest 3, priced at $299 — $200 less than the standard model. Like the Quest 3, the 3S lets people experience mixed reality in full color, making it a compelling entry point for VR newcomers.
Meta's quarterly revenue from Reality Labs, which includes $299 Ray-Ban glasses that let people take pictures and talk to Meta's AI chatbot, was $270 million — an increase of 29% compared to the same quarter the year before, the company announced in October.
Still, Reality Labs continues to bleed money. In the third quarter of 2024, Meta reported that Reality Labs lost $4.4 billion, up from $3.7 billion in the same quarter of 2023. For the first nine months of 2024, Reality Labs lost nearly $13 billion, Meta's earnings report said, and the company has warned investors that it expects the division to lose even more money.
"Overall, I'd say Reality Labs is clearly one of our strategic long-term priorities," said Susan Li, Meta's chief financial officer, responding to a question about Reality Labs' losses on the earnings call. She added that Meta expects it to "be an area of significant investment as we build out towards the very ambitious product road map that we have there."
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has remained bullish on the company's VR strategy. On the call, Zuckerberg highlighted the company's strong demand for its Ray-Ban glasses and expressed optimism about Orion, an early prototype of its glasses that superimpose digital elements onto the real world.
"We're not too far off from being able to deliver great-looking glasses that let you seamlessly blend the physical and digital worlds," Zuckerberg said on the earnings call.
Unlike the Meta Horizon app for Quest headsets, Meta View, the app for setting up the Ray-Ban glasses, however, isn't on the App Store's top charts.
Competition for the New York City affordable-housing lottery is stiff: On average, there are 450 applications received for each rental unit.
urfinguss/Getty Images/iStockphoto
For some New Yorkers, winning the NYC housing lottery is the only way they can afford to stay in the city.
But competition is tough: There are about 3.5 million applications each year.
Those who have won say it often took multiple applications and months of waiting before they heard back.
Louis Ciprian, 29, moved around New York City a lot when he was younger.
His father died when he was 11, and Ciprian and his mother fell on hard times. At 15, he entered the foster care system. For the next couple of years, he bounced from place to place and even graduated from high school while living in a homeless shelter.
After college, he started couch surfing, living with different roommates while looking for a more permanent place to call home.
In 2022, he started applying for the New York City affordable housing lottery, which is run by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the Housing Development Corporation (HDC).
Louis Ciprian won the NYC housing lottery for an apartment in the Bronx earlier this year.
Louis Ciprian.
Two years later, in July, Ciprian finally received the call that he'd been waiting for: He won the lottery for a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx, where rent is $1,481 a month.
He was thankful and relieved.
"To be able to get an opportunity like that where I'm paying rent that is affordable and not going to hit more than 30% of my income, it's an amazing feeling," Ciprian, a customer success manager at a real estate technology company, told Business Insider.
NYC is experiencing a severe housing affordability crisis.
From 2022 to 2023, rents in NYC increased seven times as fast as wages, a Zillow and StreetEasy analysis found. Even tech workers — who make an average of $135,000 annually — can only afford 35% of rentals in the city.
For those still in NYC, the outlook is far from rosy. Over the past decade, the city grew by nearly 800,000 people, but only added 200,000 new homes, mayor Eric Adams said in a speech in December 2022.
Not only that, the city has also lost some 100,000 apartments — many in wealthy neighborhoods — because New Yorkers keep consolidating multi-family buildings and turning them into one- or two-family homes.
A 2023 city housing and vacancy survey found that only 1.4% of NYC apartments were available to rent last year, and over 40% of all renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent.
For many New Yorkers like Ciprian, winning the housing lottery is their only hope of securing an affordableapartment in an increasingly expensive city.
While the application is free, each household must meet specific income requirements to qualify for an apartment. But winning the affordable housing lottery is a feat in itself.
The HPD receives about 3.5 million applications a year, Natasha Kersey, an HPD representative, told BI.
On average, there are 450 applications received per rental unit.
With competition so stiff, it is not uncommon for people to apply for multiple apartments offered in the lottery.
Nkenge Clarke, 30, told BI previously that she had sent out over 130 applications before she finally succeeded in her bid.
Nkenge Clarke won the NYC affordable housing lottery. Now, she pays about $1,000 in rent for her Chelsea apartment.
Nkenge Clarke.
"It took me maybe over a year before I started hearing back from different properties that I applied to," Clarke said. "Some of them I ended up not qualifying for, some of them I didn't provide enough documentation for."
Now, she pays about $1,000 in rent every month for a one-bedroom apartment in Chelsea, a neighborhood on the west side of Manhattan. The timing was impeccable; her previous landlord was looking to raise her rent had she renewed her lease.
"This place literally came just in time, like a few months before my second-year lease ended," Clarke said.
Clarke says she had sent out over 130 applications for the affordable housing lotteries.
Nkenge Clarke
While the process took a lot of paperwork and patience, it was well worth the effort, she added. After all, living in an affordable apartment in the heart of the city was like a dream come true.
Stabilized rent in an ever-expensive market
Interested parties can apply for the affordable housing lottery online via the Housing Connect portal or by mail. Once the deadline passes, all applications are combined to create a pool from which the lottery is conducted, Aileen Reynolds, the assistant commissioner of housing opportunity at HPD, told BI.
Josh Ayala won the NYC housing lottery in 2023.
Josh Ayala.
A computer algorithm randomizes all the applications and assigns everyone a number, known as a lottery log number. That number, she added, dictates the order in which the developers have to contact the applicants.
While it helps applicants get a sense of where they stand, it's not a perfect science since there might be people who applied but do not qualify for the apartments.
It can take any time between weeks to months for an applicant to hear back, Reynolds said.
"I was like, wait, what? I totally forgot I applied to this," Ayala, 26, told BI in August.
Thankfully, it all worked out for him; He signed the lease for the apartment within a month of the viewing. Now he pays $2,345 in monthly rent, which is stabilized.
"Around COVID-19 time, people were moving into apartments, and for one year, it was a great price. But the next year, the landlord would just increase their rent exorbitantly," Ayala said. "I didn't want that to happen to me, so I wanted something that was more secure, too."
Knowing that his rent is stabilized gives him peace of mind, Ayala said.
Josh Ayala.
Likewise, rent stabilization was the main reason Brynne McManimie and Peter Romano started applying for the housing lottery.
In 2021, they lived in a $2,600-a-month apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. They had gotten a good deal on their lease due to the pandemic, but it didn't last long.
Peter Romano and Brynne McManimie applied for the affordable housing lottery after their landlord raised the rent.
Matthew Dunivan Photography
"After a year, our landlord raised our rent by like 25% and it made us very nervous about staying in that apartment," McManimie told BI in June. Their new rent was going to be $3,300 a month, and they decided it was too expensive for them to afford.
But luck was on their side: Within a month of applying for the housing lottery, they were contacted about a one-bedroom unit in Brooklyn.
McManimie and Romano now live in a $2,800-a-month apartment in Brooklyn,
Brynne McManimie and Peter Romano
The couple ended up signing a two-year lease. Now, they pay $2,800 in monthly rent.
"Since it's rent-stabilized, they can't raise it like a ton," Romano told BI. "Which is honestly really attractive to us, given what happened with our last landlord."
The income and household eligibility criteria for the lottery apartments only apply at the initial stage.
The couple says that they were lucky to have won the lottery so soon after they started applying.
Brynne McManimie and Peter Romano
"Folks only need to qualify based on house size and income at the time they move in," Reynolds said.
'Native New Yorkers deserve to stay here'
But the housing lottery isn't without its criticism.
For years, the city's "community preference" policy dictated that half of new affordable apartments must first be offered to those already living in the area.
However, in 2015, three women filed a lawsuit against the city, saying that the policy reinforced segregation.
After almost a decade, the city finally agreed to settle the lawsuit in January. Under the terms of the settlement, the city will reduce the percentage of affordable houses set aside for those already living in the same community to 20%, down from the original 50%, per court documents. In May 2029, it will drop to 15%.
"Although the preference has been reduced, the outcome allows us to preserve it and continue to do our work by advocating for New Yorkers that need more housing at deeply affordable levels," Kersey said.
Ceronne Mitchell won the NYC housing lottery in 2023.
Molly Stromoski for NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development
Still, NYC residents do get priority in the affordable housing lottery — although applicants don't need to be US citizens, Reynolds said.
In the meantime, the housing lottery will still be one of the best ways for New Yorkers to stay in affordable apartments in the city.
Rent for Mitchell's one-bedroom apartment in Queens is $1,600 each month.
Molly Stromoski for NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development
"As much as I'm for the housing lottery, I think that it does suck that as a native, sometimes the only hope and dream of staying in the city affordably is this route," Ceronne Mitchell, who pays $1,600 a month for her one-bedroom lottery housing apartment in Queens, told BI previously.
"Native New Yorkers deserve to stay here, and I'm always proud when one can," she added.
As an entrepreneur and mom, Lindsay Jang has struggled with work-life balance.
Lindsay Jang
Lindsay Jang moved to Hong Kong 15 years ago and has launched five businesses.
Despite not all of Jang's ventures being successful, she says she has learned something from each.
At 43, the entrepreneur and mom says she's finally found ways to disconnect and find work-life balance.
Lindsay Jang moved to Hong Kong 15 years ago and has kept herself busy, very busy.
Since relocating, she's launched five businesses — including a one-Michelin-starred restaurant and a workout technique listed on Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop. Now, at 43, she balances her time between running her companies and raising her two kids.
Born in Alberta, Canada, Jang is the eldest of three sisters. Her dad was a civil engineer, and her mom worked as a special needs teacher. A stroke of luck changed her family's path when her parents won a gold brick, valued at 100,000 Canadian dollars, in a local carnival lottery in 1981, the year she was born.
Shortly after, when her dad got laid off, he invested in a Chinese-Canadian restaurant in Sherwood Park, near her hometown. Her dad went on to run the restaurant, and her mom decided to be a stay-at-home mom. "Growing up, the restaurant was a huge part of our lives and really shaped who I am today," she told Business Insider.
Jang struggled to find the right career path. "I had scholarships for science and French, and I explored a few different paths — science, art school, digital publishing, and business management — but none of them fully resonated with me. I didn't graduate from any of those programs," she said.
In 2002, Jang left Canada and moved to New York City to study acting. She took on a job as a floor captain at Nobu Fifty Seven, and began contributing to the restaurant's special events department. In 2009, at 27, she relocated to Hong Kong with her then-romantic partner, Matt Abergel, who had accepted a job offer as an executive chef.
They had two kids during their relationship before separating in 2011. Despite the split, they remain close. "We're best friends, co-parents, and business partners," Jang said.
In 2011, Jang said they raised around $500,000 to open Yardbird, the restaurant that went on to earn a Michelin star in 2021. It was followed up with Ronin — another izakaya-style dining bar — in 2012.
Jang said the primary investor in both restaurants had been a regular customer of theirs in New York. "He ate at Masa, where Matt worked, every week and would occasionally come to Nobu Fifty Seven," she said.
Yardbird, in Hong Kong, earned a Michelin star in 2021.
Yardbird
The team managed to find their rhythm at Yardbird early on. "We hit capacity within just a few weeks thanks to word-of-mouth, and once the media discovered us, it brought in a steady stream of guests," Jang said. "We didn't rely on traditional PR or marketing — instead, we gave out stickers and T-shirts to build the brand."
Social media was still an early concept — Instagram had just launched the year before — and it didn't play much of a role in the hype. Jang did, however, face challenges online in the early stages, when she was sharing the restaurant's no reservations and no service charge policies. "People didn't like those ideas and weren't shy about voicing their concerns," she said.
The restaurant has continued to draw in crowds over the past 13 years, despite the policies. "The main draw is without doubt the 20-plus types of yakitori skewers made with local 'three-yellow' chicken from beak to tail, grilled over binchotan charcoal," per the Michelin website. An extensive Japanese whisky collection has also added to its appeal.
Jang opened Ronin, another izakaya-style dining bar in Hong Kong, in 2012.
Ronin
After the couple split, they went back to being friends. "Between sharing businesses and kids, we take pride in giving each other the space and time to do the things that we need to do to be happy," Abergel, co-owner of the restaurant, told BI. "Things are pretty great most of the time, and when things are hard, we know that the foundation we have as friends is stronger than whatever we are facing."
Sunday's Grocery, which started as an extension of the Yardbird brand, opened in 2014 and closed in 2016. "We took over an existing business to test the concept, but the location wasn't ideal, and the costs were too high to make it sustainable," Jang said. "It was a valuable experiment, and while it didn't last, it taught us to prioritize scalability and the importance of location."
Jang went on to launch Sunday's Spirit in 2017, before wrapping it up in 2023 due to challenges with margins, certain team dynamics, and working within Japan's highly specific market structure. "Both of these ventures taught us that not every concept needs to be forever," she said. "Letting go of ideas that no longer resonate or fit the bigger picture is OK. The key is to embrace adaptability while staying true to the vision."
She continues to run Hecho, a creative agency she launched in 2017. Previous clients include Hongkong Land, a property investment company and Swire, a conglomerate working in sectors ranging from aviation and beverages to healthcare.
Finding balance and staying healthy
In the past, Jang found it difficult to find a work-life balance. "I don't put rules on myself when it comes to disconnecting because my work and my life are about being connected," Jang said in an interview with Compare Retreats in 2020. However, more recently, she has found ways to decompress.
"I've been making a concerted effort to disconnect more," she told BI. Flexibility plays a central role in her time management. "I run my entire life from my phone and computer, which allows me the freedom to manage my schedule. So even though I'm technically always plugged in, I still make time for myself and my family," she added.
Jang says she exercises regularly.
Lindsay Jang
Her daily routine now includes a 20- to 45-minute session in the infrared sauna. She said it was a trip to HigherDOSE in New York almost 10 years ago that got her interested in the heat. "It was intense, but it felt productive. Since I had space at home, it made more sense to own one than to pay by the minute elsewhere."
A few years after the sauna was installed, during COVID-19, Jang transformed her TV room into a workout studio. "The space was better used as a place where I could sweat and move every day," she said.
Her most recent lifestyle adjustment was to stop drinking. "I cut alcohol out of my life over a year and a half ago, which was significant given my F&B background," she said. "I was nervous about what social situations would be like without alcohol, but I've found that my life has improved in every way."
Her career has also shifted toward fitness
Four years ago, she co-launched Family Form, a workout technique and studio in Hong Kong. She said the mat-based workout aims to use movement and infrared heat to strengthen and balance the body.
"People connect with it on a deeper level because it's approachable yet challenging, and it becomes part of their daily routine," she said.
Jang launched Family Form, a workout technique listed on Goop that's expanding to Shanghai.
Family Form
Classes are often at full capacity with waiting lists. On Google reviews, nearly all of its ratings are five stars.
Expanding to mainland China is part of the plan and has come with hurdles. "We are building our China community for when we launch in Shanghai in a few months, and it's been interesting to navigate the approach in such a different market," she said. "It's been a grassroots effort mostly, and we're so grateful for the word-of-mouth support from our community."
In July 2024, Family Form received support for the directory listing of Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop. The listing states, "It's intense but also totally cathartic. "
"Someone from their team reached out to us," Jang said, regarding the posting, adding that they did not pay for the listing. "It was purely an organic connection." A representative for Goop did not respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider.
In November, the company launched classes in Manila and will start in Shanghai in early 2025.
As for her future, Jang hasn't planned too far ahead. "I prefer to remain flexible and open to opportunities as they arise," she said. Jang said she has a few projects in the works, including a new wellness product brand that will launch next year.
"While Hong Kong will always be home, I plan to spend more time in a more relaxed environment once my kids are in university," she said. "Running multiple businesses has taught me the importance of balancing ambition with sustainability. The biggest life lesson I've learned is that success comes from staying true to your vision while remaining flexible enough to adapt to change."
A middle infielder who was drafted by the expansion Montreal Expos from the Philadelphia Phillies, and scored the first run in Expos history, has died.
NFL's Christmas Day double-header games were the most-streamed NFL games in U.S. history, according to preliminary Nielsen figures that don't include international viewership.
Why it matters: Once international figures and additional U.S. data is calculated, the league expects both games will have averaged around 30 million viewers each, a source told Axios, representing a massive win for Netflix's live sports ambitions.
The massive viewership numbers show the platform's potential for attracting big eyeballs to major sporting events, especially abroad.
Context: Last year's Christmas Day match on traditional television between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Las Vegas Raiders drew 29 million viewers, the second-highest Christmas Day game since 1989.
By the numbers: The first Christmas Day game between the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers, had an average minute audience of 24.1 million, per Nielsen figures provided by the NFL.
Nearly one-third of Netflix's global concurrent viewers on Christmas Day were watching the game at one point, a spokesperson said Wednesday, making it the most-watched concurrent stream of any Christmas Day for Netflix in the past four years.
The second Christmas Day game between the Houston Texans and the Baltimore Ravens had an average minute audience of 24.3 million.
It was the most-watched Christmas Day game on record among 18-34 year-olds, per the NFL, with 5.1 million U.S. viewers. (That figure is based on Nielsen records dating back to 2001).
U.S. viewership for Ravens-Texans game peaked at Beyonce's halftime performance, with over 27 million viewers tuning in.
Zoom out: In total, the NFL's Christmas Day broadcasts on Netflix, including its pre-game shows and Beyonce's performance, were viewed by at least 65 million people, representing a remarkable day of total viewership for the NFL.
A Netflix spokesperson said the Chiefs-Steelers game drew viewers from roughly all of the 190 countries in which Netflix is available at some point during the broadcast.
For the NFL, which has major international expansion ambitions, Netflix's global audience reach is a huge selling point when considering future streaming rights.
Zoom in: Netflix spared no cost trying to nail its broadcast.
The company reportedly invested around $150 million on the broadcast, and cut a big pay check for Beyonce to perform at halftime.
The big picture: Sports are becoming a bigger part of Netflix's live programming ambitions.
The company started experimenting with live programming in 2023, when it aired the "Love is Blind" Season 4 reunion special in real-time.
It's since experimented with a few live comedy specials.
Wednesday's Christmas Day game was the second-most popular live title on Netflix to date, the company said.
Yes, but: Netflix, like most major streamers, will have to work on its technical infrastructure to ensure it has the bandwidth to support major live sporting events without any glitches.
The "Love is Blind" Season 4 reunion special was delayed and canceled due to technical issues on the day it was supposed to air.
The company's Nov. 15 live fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson was marred by buffering and freezing issues for some users.
While the streamer worked with third-party broadcast and production groups on the event, the game still included minor glitches, which is common for new streamers airing popular live sporting events for the first time.
What we're watching: Netflix's successful first live NFL game will serve as an example to other sports leagues that the streamer, which previously said it had no intention of getting into live sports, can attract a big audience.
Next year, Netflix will become the exclusive streaming home to the WWE. That $5 billion distribution deal includes many live events.
Netflix last week inked a deal to broadcast the FIFA Women's World Cup in the U.S. in 2027 and 2031.
What's next: Global ratings and additional U.S. insights will be released on Dec. 31, the NFL said. Those figures will provide a more comprehensive look at the NFL;s Christmas Gameday performance globally on Netflix.
First: Netflix managed to stream the games around the world without widespread tech foul-ups that plagued its Mike Tyson-Jake Paul boxing exhibition/stunt last month.
Second: Netflix managed to attract the kind of audience for the games that you'd expect from the NFL, which is continually the most popular thing on conventional TV.
The NFL and the streamer say that both of Wednesday's games — the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens vs. the Houston Texans — averaged around 24 million viewers in the US. That's a record for streaming NFL games in the country. (Those initial numbers may swell a bit once the NFL, Netflix, and Nielsen scour for additional viewers.)
The biggest audience — around 27 million viewers — showed up for the "Beyoncé Bowl" — a halftime performance during the Ravens/Texans game, featuring, of course, Beyoncé.
For comparison, last year, the NFL attracted an average of some 28 million US viewers for the two games it broadcast on Christmas Day, via conventional TV networks. (Netflix's numbers don't include viewers outside the US; it says it will report back on those on December 31. Netflix says the audience for the Tyson/Paul event peaked at 65 million worldwide and 38 million in the US.)
All of which means that when Netflix streams Christmas games again next year, and again in 2027, it won't seem like a novelty. It will just be the most popular sport on TV, delivered via a streaming service.
This is what both Netflix and the NFL want, for slightly different reasons. The NFL is always looking for another outlet that will pay it top dollar for the right to show its games — Netflix paid the NFL a reported $150 million for this year's games — and Netflix wants high-profile live events as a way to boost its nascent ad business.
Win-win. This is what the NFL has been finding every time it sells streaming rights to digital players over the years, including Yahoo, Twitter, Amazon, and Google.
While we are here, a couple other notes:
While there was some discussion of Netflix trying to make its NFL coverage unique, I couldn't discern anything meaningfully different about the games from any others I've watched this year. Which, again, is the point: The NFL wants the product to look the same no matter where you see it. (And if there is a desire for something different on the part of fans, I have yet to discern it.)
Netflix streaming NFL games for the first time is meaningful to the NFL, Netflix, and people who pay attention to the media business. But in my 100% unscientific poll of people in the real world, no one knew Netflix had the games. And when they found out, they didn't care, which makes sense: Neither game was particularly important, or suspenseful. But for Netflix and the NFL that wasn't the point.
