• Companies are humorously mourning the loss of TikTok, which is set to go dark on Sunday.
• The Supreme Court upheld a law that could ban the app on Friday.
• TikTok said it will go dark unless Biden intervenes.

In typical fashion for those chronically online, TikTok users are coping with a looming ban through memes and humor, posting their final goodbyes. Companies have joined in the fun.

The Supreme Court dashed any hope it would save TikTok in the United States when, on Friday, it upheld a law that forces the app's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to either sell its US operations or face the removal of TikTok from American app stores.

As a result, TikTok said it would "go dark" on Sunday for its 170 million American users. It will still be accessible to its users in other countries.

The social media app has become one of the most popular in the United States and an essential marketing tool for businesses, small and large. So, its demise could have a real effect on some businesses' bottom line. In the spirit of the app, however, companies are taking the change in humorous stride.

Sony Pictures posted a clip from "The Social Network" in which Eduardo Saverin (played by Andrew Garfield) interrupts Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) as he's "wired in." Saverin smashes Zuckerberg's computer in a fit of rage after learning he had been betrayed. The text above the video, posted on Thursday, read: "all of us this week."

Fandango added to the chaotic vibes with a clip from "Titanic," in which the string quartet plays on as the ship sinks and passengers race to lifeboats in a panic.

Max, formerly HBO Max, posted a clip from "Game of Thrones" in which Sean Bean's Ned Stark awaits his execution. Above the video, the text reads: "everyone awaiting tiktok's fate on the 19th."

Sony posted another clip on Friday night, this time from "Spider-Man," in which Willem Dafoe's Norman Osborn screams after finding out he is being asked to resign.

"I started this company," Dafoe says. "You know how much I sacrificed?"

Sony compared Dafoe's grief to that of social media managers frustrated by the looming ban.

Peacock, using a clip from "The Office," joked that Creed Bratton is already on RedNote, the Chinese app that Americans are flocking to as a replacement for TikTok.

It wasn't just entertainment companies that joined in the fun.

Duolingo and PopTarts both posted farewell videos using the Green Day song, "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)."

Windows posted a similar tribute, along with the caption: "We're not really going anywhere tho. Catch us on Reels and Shorts :P"

Companies have been anticipating a potential ban for months, giving their marketing departments time to put together plans to shift their efforts to other platforms like Facebook, Instagram reels, and YouTube shorts.

In a statement on Friday following the Supreme Court's decision, TikTok said it would be forced to go dark unless the Biden administration took action. The administration, however, said it would leave it to incoming President-elect Donald Trump to enforce the ban.

Trump, who is set to be sworn in on Monday, told NBC News' Kristen Welker on Saturday that he would "most likely" give TikTok a 90-day extension to find a non-Chinese buyer but has not yet made a final decision.

"I think that would be, certainly, an option that we look at. The 90-day extension is something that will be most likely done, because it's appropriate," the president-elect said.

• Consultants told BI that finding a "sponsor" is the key to career advancement at top firms.
• Sponsors offer seniority and influence to help employees succeed.
• Consultants say mentorship is insufficient and that sponsors are key for promotions.

Climbing the ranks at a top-tier consulting firm is often harder than landing the job itself.

Several current and former consultants told Business Insider that having the right sponsor — an executive who champions their success — is crucial early on.

McKinsey & Company defines sponsors as high-ranking employees who "offer seniority, power, and influence to help you meet your goals." They differ from formally assigned mentors, who assist with annual reviews, guidance, and emotional support. Instead, sponsor relationships are formed through more organic connections with employees.

"99% of it is unofficial, and it's about finding people that you want to help basically," said Matthew Fitzpatrick, a senior partner at McKinsey and global leader of the firm's AI division, QuantumBlack Labs. Fitzpatrick has sponsored hundreds of employees during his 12-year tenure at the firm and said it's "probably the most fun part of my job."

His advice to younger employees is to seek sponsors who share their interests.

"All good mentor and sponsorship relationships are built around really shared interests and passions for things," he said. "I think the relationships I formed over the last decade were people that were really interested in the same things I am."

Former McKinsey consultants say advancing at the firm is tough without a sponsor. "Sponsors are extremely important, especially if you are looking for your next promotion," an associate who left last April told Business Insider by text. "They can certainly make your career if you have strong sponsors and a lack of a strong sponsor makes it difficult to survive."

Many consultants work on a project-to-project basis, and sponsors can also help new hires secure projects that build their reputation within the firm.

"My first six to seven months when I was a brand new analyst at Accenture, it was just really tough to get onto high-quality projects, and I felt totally lost, even though I was assigned a career counselor," a former Accenture consultant, who requested anonymity to avoid jeopardizing career prospects, said.

She had a breakthrough when a senior consultant at the firm recognized her potential and put her on his next project, which offered the kind of visibility she needed to advance her career at the firm.

"Literally because of him, one good project led to another one," she said. "He became my biggest advocate in terms of being not only a sponsor for promotions but also a mentor for coaching me on the day-to-day." Eventually, he became her direct manager, too.

Many top consulting firms have various types of corporate mentorship programs, which are different from sponsors. These programs offer employees one-on-one guidance with senior-level executives. Some pair employees from different generations or demographic backgrounds.

However, consultants say that mentorship alone can't fill the gap between success and failure at a firm.

The former Accenture consultant stayed at the firm for four years due to the support of her boss.

"Beyond the formal boss and employee relationship, he also made an extra effort to both mentor me and be my advocate," she said, noting that the distinction is important. "I think that people need individuals who are in both camps. Sometimes, you can't get both in one person."

• Russia is struggling to get its new intercontinental ballistic missile working properly.
• Moscow has put a lot of money and propaganda behind the ICBM.
• Failures leave Russia reliant on older missiles that won't last forever, experts warn.

Russia has the world's largest nuclear arsenal, but it's having trouble getting its newest intercontinental ballistic missile to work. The debacle leaves it dependent on capable but inferior missiles at a time when other major powers are modernizing their nuclear forces.

Russia's new RS-28 Sarmat ICBM appeared to suffer a catastrophic failure during testing in September, with satellite imagery showing a big crater around the launchpad at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.

That apparent failure followed what missile experts have described as a host of other issues. Ejection tests and its flight testing were repeatedly delayed, according to the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London, and it had at least two canceled flight tests and at least one other flight test failure.

The Sarmat is meant to replace the Soviet-era R-36, which first entered service in 1988. NATO calls the long-range missile, which has been modified over the years, the SS-18 "Satan." Without the new Sarmat, Russia has to rely on older missiles, extending their lives, but that can't go on indefinitely.

Stuck with inferior missiles

Delays to the Sarmat, or even its cancellation, would mean Russia has to keep using older systems as nations like China field new DF-41 ICBMs and the US pushes forward with upgrades for its ICBM force as part of the Sentinel program.

The R-36 is "already really, really past its service life," said Timothy Wright, a missile technology expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, yet the Russians keep having to extend it.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the turn of the century they were going to be out of service by 2007, but here they are, still in operation nearly two decades later.

"There's only so much they can do," Wright said. "Parts will start failing at some point." He said the R-36s "will eventually start failing because their parts just will need replacement, and they don't make the parts anymore." If Moscow tried to launch 40 R-36s, he said, "you might not get all 40 out the ground, frankly."

Fabian Hoffmann, a missile expert at the Oslo Nuclear Project, said the R-36 has been "sitting there for a really long time."

Russia was required to reduce the size of its arsenal of missiles under the New START treaty with the US. Hoffman said that Russia could use old parts from those missiles to keep its usable ones running. But the supply is not infinite, he said. "Who knows how much these missiles can still take, how many years?"

There's the possibility Russia would "have to start cannibalizing existing missiles, taking them out of service or retiring them or taking them off what they call combat duty alert, which is where the missile is literally ready to go," Wright said.

Russia has other ICBMs, but the R-36 carries the largest and most strategically significant payload. The Sarmat, as its replacement, will likewise carry a substantial payload.

Big missiles with lots of warheads

The purpose of the Sarmat was "to constitute a big bulk of their warheads in the future," Wright said. The ICBM is a large, long-range weapon able to carry a heavy MIRV payload, meaning multiple independent re-entry vehicles.

The Sarmat has an estimated maximum range of 18,000 miles. It has a ten-ton payload and can carry 10 large warheads or 16 smaller ones, per a Missile Threat fact sheet from the Center of Strategic and International Studies. The R-36 it is meant to replace has a shorter range but similar payload, able to carry 10 multiple independent re-entry vehicles.

Other Russian ICBMs are "much smaller," Wright said. They can't carry the same heavy MIRV payload. Russia's RS-24 Yars ICBM, for example, can only carry three MIRV warheads.

As of May 2023, Russia had 1,674 warheads deployed, with a total stockpile of 4,489, per the CSIS. Many of these are deployed on other missiles and elements of the Russian nuclear triad, which provide it with deterrence, but Russia wants the big missile with the tremendous destructive capacity.

Russia was understood to have 46 R-36s in April 2016. Wright said that "if they then took that missile out of service, then they have a bit of a gap."

"And for Russia, it's important to ensure they have warhead parity with the Americans," he said. "Whatever number the Americans have, the Russians want it as well."

Russia appears to be keeping its warheads limited in accordance with the New START treaty. But if that changes, and it may as Russia has suspended its involvement with the treaty, Russia may want to deploy more warheads. Without the Sarmat, Russia will need to find other places for its warheads.

The Sarmat's problems

Hoffman said the most recent Sarmat test was "catastrophic." He said that "it's not even like the missile failed to hit its target and you can say, 'Oh, the guidance system didn't really work.' No, the whole thing blew up."

That means it was either a freak accident, or "there's something fundamentally wrong with the propulsion system, which is of course catastrophic," he said. "And so if I was Russia, I think at this point I would be concerned about that."

Some experts have warned that Russia's struggles could make it desperate, making problems more likely.

Wright said he can't see Russia deciding to cancel the Sarmat program. He said Putin "has invested a lot of propaganda into the system. When he unveiled it in 2018, it was all these fantastic reasons why it's so good."

Putin bragged in 2018 that "missile defense systems are useless against them, absolutely pointless" and that "no other country has developed anything like this."

The Russians have also dumped a lot of money into this project, making cancellation unpalatable.

Hoffman agreed, saying Russia had little choice given the state of its older missiles. It wants Sarmat for propaganda reasons, and "it's also just desperation in terms of: 'What else would there be?'"

But big delays in getting Sarmat operational would likely cause problems for Russia, with nothing in line to replace the Sarmat.

"Sarmat's designed to fulfill a very specific purpose, which is to essentially have lots of warheads on top of it," Wright said, and there is no direct replacement in Russia's arsenal or in the works.

• "Outlander" may be ending with season eight, but fans can look forward to a new prequel series.
• "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" will focus on the origin stories of Jamie and Claire's parents.
• The 10-episode series will debut in the summer of 2025. Here's everything you need to know.

It was announced in early 2023 that "Outlander" had been renewed for an eighth but final season, putting a pin in Starz's original plan to adapt all of Diana Gabaldon's novels (the last of which has still not yet been written). 

Although that will bring Jamie (Sam Heughan) and Claire's (Caitríona Balfe) time-traveling escapades to a close, audiences will be delighted to learn that a prequel series continuing the story of the Fraser and Beauchamp families is officially in production.

Speculation that Starz was expanding the "Outlander" universe began in 2020 when Deadline reported that the network bosses had encouraged producers Ronald D. Moore and Maril Davis to "to plot a slew of spin-offs, sequels and story extensions."

The prequel series was officially greenlit in 2022, and several months later, it was confirmed that the writers' room had started working on scripts and that the series had been given a name — "Outlander: Blood of My Blood."

A release date for the series has now been given, alongside lots of other details about the series, including who has been cast in the main roles as Jamie and Claire's parents. Keep reading for everything we know about the series so far.

The series will tell two parallel origin stories: how Jamie's parents came to meet and Claire's parents' romance.

Per an official description shared by Starz in February 2023, the series will "center on these two parallel love stories set in two different time periods, with Jamie's parents in the early 18th century Scottish Highlands and Claire's parents in WWI England."

The streamer had previously stated that the prequel would center on Jamie's mother and father, Ellen MacKenzie and Brian Fraser — two characters that audiences know plenty about, mainly through stories told by their son.

An abridged version of Ellen and Brian's love story was detailed by Jamie in season one: the pair eloped together and stayed hidden until Ellen was visibly pregnant with their first child, forcing her family to accept their union.

The decision to include Claire's parents in the show is sure to be a welcome one. Not much is known about Julia Moriston and Henry Beauchamp beyond the fact that they died when Claire was a young girl.

"We're thrilled to be telling the stories of these two couples," said Matthew B. Roberts, showrunner, executive producer and writer on both "Outlander" and "Outlander: Blood of My Blood."

"The origins of their relationships explore universal themes that transcend time periods, and we're so excited for fans to discover and fall in love with these characters and their love stories the way they have with Claire and Jamie."

The four main roles have been cast.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Outlander (@outlander_starz)

 

Harriet Slater, best known for her role in "Pennyworth," will play Jamie's mother, Ellen MacKenzie, in the 18th-century Scotland storyline, alongside Lifetime actor Jamie Roy, who plays his father, Brian Fraser.

As for Claire's parents, whose story unfolds in World War I-era England, Hermoine Corfield, previously seen in "Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation," will play Julia Moriston; "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" actor Jeremy Irvine will play her father, Henry Beauchamp.

The two stars have previously worked together, having both starred in the 2016 fantasy romance film "Fallen."

 

The series will be set in two timelines: one in the early 1700s and the other in the early 1900s.

As the showrunner stated, the series will take place in two different time periods.

The story focusing on Brian and Ellen will be set sometime around 1716, some 30 years before Claire travels back in time and meets Jamie. That's when the Great Gathering at Castle Leoch happened — which is where Brian and Ellen met for the first time — according to the "Outlander" books.

That would make our heroine Ellen and her future husband Brian both 25 at the time the series begins, as they were both born in 1681, per details shared in "Dragonfly in Amber." 

The other story about Claire's parents is likely to take place sometime in the 1910s. As fans know from the first book installment, Claire was born in 1918 and was five years old when her parents passed away in 1923. Exact details on when her parents met or how old they were are not known.

 

Diana Gabaldon is involved as a consulting producer — and she's also writing a book about the characters, too.

The author has confirmed that, alongside writing what is expected to be the tenth and final novel in the "Outlander" series, she is also working on several other stories connected to Jamie and Claire, including a prequel novel about Jamie's parents.

The book does not yet have a title, but Gabaldon told the audience at the 2022 Edinburgh International Book Festival that it includes romance and plenty of historical intrigue.

"The story is woven in with the Jacobite Risings – there will be a lot of clan politics and other interesting things," she said, per The Scotsman.

For those who are interested, she has shared several excerpts of the book with her Facebook audience.

As for how the show's producers are working with Gabaldon and her unfinished novel, executive producer Maril Davis told Business Insider in August: "We hope she will share as she goes, but we've kind of been taking the breadcrumbs she's left in her books and expanding on those to build a story."

The author has also shared with TV Insider that she will be writing an episode of the prequel in addition to writing an episode for "Outlander" season eight.

Starz has said the prequel will be 10 episodes.

In a press release from January 2024, Starz announced that "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" had been greenlit for a 10-episode season.

It hasn't been confirmed if that means the series will be a one-off or whether viewers can expect more seasons after "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" airs.

Representatives for Starz did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

The title is a nod to the vow Jamie made to Claire on their wedding day.

If you were wondering what "Blood of My Blood" means exactly, it's a phrase that "Outlander" fans know well, as it's part of the Gaelic blood vow that Gabaldon created that Jamie and Claire exchanged on their wedding day.

'"Ye are blood of my blood, and bone of my bone, I give ye my body, that we two might be one. I give ye my spirit, 'til our life shall be done."

 

The series will feature some beloved characters from "Outlander."

But before you get too excited, keep in mind that since the Brian and Ellen timeline part of the prequel will be set nearly three decades before the events of the main series, the same actors won't be playing the roles.

Some characters audiences will be familiar with who will appear in the prequel are younger versions of Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser (Rory Alexander), Dougal MacKenzie (Sam Retford), Colum MacKenzie (Séamus McLean Ross), and Ned Gowan (Conor MacNeill). The roles were originated by Duncan LaCroix, Graham McTavish, Gary Lewis and Bill Paterson, respectively.

Red Jacob MacKenzie, the Laird of Clan MacKenzie and father to Ellen and her brothers, will be played by Peter Mullan, while Tony Curran will portray Simon Fraser, also known as Lord Lovat, Brian's father.

A younger version of Jamie Fraser may also appear.

In an interview with Esquire, Sam Heughan said that while he's definitely not in the show, there's a chance a younger version of his character could be.

"All I can tell you is I'm not in it, as Jamie's not in it," he said. "I believe that it's a prequel focusing on Jamie's parents when they were younger, so I guess you might see a young version of him at some point."

If the story of his parents does kick off around 1715 as we suspect, that's six years before Jamie's birth in 1721, meaning that audiences shouldn't expect him to come into the series straightaway. Brian and Ellen had two other children before he was born, after all.

Audiences can expect to see "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" land on screens sometime in the summer of 2025.

In January 2025, Starz announced that the prequel will premiere sometime in summer 2025.

Check out the teaser trailer for "Outlander: Blood of My Blood" below.

 

• Wendy Daniels owns a real estate development consulting business and is a mom of three.
• She was drawn to Atlanta for entrepreneurial opportunities but later moved.
• She says living in Baton Rouge means less commuting time and better career opportunities.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Wendy Daniels, owner of Beechwood Residential, a Baton Rouge-based property development firm. It has been edited for length and clarity.

As a kid, I moved around a bit, living in New Orleans and Oakland, California, before my parents settled in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when I was in seventh grade. When I left home for college to study urban planning, I thought I'd never in a million years move back to Baton Rouge.

After graduate school, I was recruited for a position in Atlanta. It felt like the city chose me. I loved that I never had to search for something to do because so much was happening. Growing up, I didn't know a lot of Black entrepreneurs, but in Atlanta, I worked with the best and brightest people. When I became a mom, I liked my children being around that as well.

But over my 15 years in Atlanta, the city lost some of its appeal. One of the biggest drawbacks was the traffic. It was unbearable. I lived 10 minutes from downtown, but picking my kids up from day care and getting home could easily take over an hour on a Friday afternoon. That impacted my career because I needed to leave the office or client meetings by 2:30 to get to day care on time.

I felt a sigh of relief every time I left the city

When I visited my mom in Baton Rouge, I felt so relaxed. I realized I missed the social culture of Louisiana. In Atlanta, nine out of every 10 people I met were also transplants. My home became the house where everyone gathered on holidays and after work, but I was trying to create that neighborhood feel in a city that didn't have it.

By the time I had three young children, I knew we needed to leave the city. At that stage, it just didn't feel like the right fit for our family. I owned my own business and knew I could keep my clients. My husband found a job in Baton Rouge, about a 10-hour drive from Atlanta, and we packed up.

We settled on a short-term rental while we decided where we wanted to buy. Although I was from the city, so much had changed. Soon after we arrived, the rental owner invited us over for a glass of wine and said she wanted to get to know us. That's the exact community culture I was craving. It felt like I could breathe again.

We spent more on housing but much less on tuition

We sold our house in Atlanta and bought one in a hot neighborhood in Baton Rouge. Our housing costs actually went up, but it wasn't an apples-to-apples comparison. We were living in a much nicer area.

We saved money on preschool and private school tuition, however. In Atlanta, private Catholic schools cost about $20,000 per child annually. In Baton Rouge, I put all three kids in private school for that amount.

The biggest change in my life was the traffic situation. I could drop off all three kids and get to my office within 25 minutes, whereas in Atlanta, that could take an hour. I didn't realize how much stress it was causing me until that was gone.

At first, I had to commute to Atlanta every month for work. I could leave my house and be at my airport gate within 20 minutes. I've never flown private, but I can't imagine it's much better than that. While I could fly direct to Atlanta or Washington D.C., most other flights had connections, which was a change from Atlanta, where I could fly direct anywhere.

Moving boosted my career, too

I'm very good at what I do, but there was much more competition in Atlanta. Although I had a good network, it wasn't as deep as the networks of people who had family ties in Atlanta or went to college there.

When I moved, I was able to tap into a wonderful network. It's not just because I grew up here — it's because, in a smaller city, you can have a bigger impact. I have the mayor's number, and I'm confident I could get the governor on the phone if needed. Because of networking and less competition, my business has flourished.

Living in Baton Rouge isn't big city life, but it has everything I need. Sure, I might need to search more, but I can still go to the symphony, meet friends for drinks, and make professional connections, all without the stress I had in Atlanta.

• Cameron Diaz has said her decadelong retirement from acting was "the best 10 years" of her life.
• Diaz stopped acting in 2014 but recently returned to star in "Back In Action" with Jamie Foxx.
• Diaz isn't the only celebrity to have walked back on the decision to retire.

Cameron Diaz has said the decade she spent in retirement from acting was "the best 10 years" of her life, but she thinks she is now ready to get back into the industry.

Appearing on "The Graham Norton Show," the 52-year-old actor reflected on her decision to take an extended hiatus from her career.

"Oh my God, I loved it. It was the best 10 years of my life," Diaz said. "I was just free to just say, 'I'm a mom, I'm a wife, I'm living my life.'"

She said that stepping back from acting "made sense for my family," and after a while, "people stopped asking" her to take on roles.

"It was so lovely," she added.

However, Diaz, who stars in the new Netflix movie "Back in Action" alongside Jamie Foxx, said she realized that getting to entertain people for a living is a "priviledge" which ultimately led her to unretire.

"I just said to myself, if I just let this go, all of this goodwill, all of this which I got to build over so much time, the passion that I have for entertaining people and making movies, if I don't engage in that again be grateful for it, I would be a fool."

As for whether her return to acting is permanent, Diaz said: "This is maybe the beginning, maybe I'll tiptoe in, maybe I'll go gung-ho, we'll see. It's here and I'm really grateful for it."

Per her IMDb page, she has two upcoming projects: She will return to voice Princess Fiona in "Shrek 5" and will also star in a new Jonah Hill-helmed film titled "Outcome."

A representative for Diaz did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, which was sent outside regular working hours.

Diaz isn't the first actor to have walked back on the decision to retire.

Jim Carrey, 63, announced in 2022 that he was retiring from acting after "Sonic the Hedgehog 2." But he returned to work last year, reprising his role in the third film.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Carrey said: "I came back to this universe because, first of all, I get to play a genius, which is a bit of a stretch. And I just, I bought a lot of stuff, and I need the money, frankly."

Diaz became one of Hollywood's biggest stars after making her debut opposite Carrey in the superhero comedy film "The Mask."

The film went on to become one of the top 10 highest-grossing films of 1994, making more than $350 million at the worldwide box office.

Over the next few years, Diaz landed more and more roles, starring in the likes of "There's Something About Mary," "Charlie's Angels," and "The Holiday."

Discussing how she spent the time since her last starring role in 2014's "Annie" remake, Diaz told the "Still Watching Netflix" YouTube channel that she had focused on raising her kids.

"That was what I was putting most of my focus on if I was doing anything other than just sort of being a mom and living my day-to-day," Diaz said. "And that was pretty much it. I'm just trying to stay alive, just like every other mother. I'm just trying to keep it going."

Diaz married Benji Madden of the rock band Good Charlotte in 2015. They welcomed their daughter, Raddix, in 2019 and their son, Cardinal, in 2024.

Raleigh, North Carolina; Ogden, Utah and Salt Lake City, Utah are this year's best-performing big cities, according to an annual report ranking metros across a range of economic factors.

Why it matters: The Milken Institute's yearly rankings highlight U.S. cities with job growth, affordable housing, economic equality and other big draws.

The big picture: Cities have largely emerged from the tumultuous times of the COVID-19 pandemic and "remain at the center of economic activity," as the report puts it.

Driving the news: Raleigh moved up to the top spot this year after coming second in 2024 and third in 2023.

• "It's been a long time coming for Raleigh, which has performed extremely well in our rankings for several years, without ever quite landing on top before this year," reads the report, which credits the city's job and wage growth and "thriving high-tech sector."

Utah is also a big winner, with Ogden and Salt Lake City taking the other two podium spots.

• "Ogden's impressive rise from last year's ranking" — up 24 places — "stems from big improvements in its recent labor market performance."
• Salt Lake, meanwhile, combines "a robust job market, a growing high-tech sector, and widespread access to economic opportunities."

Rounding out the top 10: Huntsville, Alabama; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Austin, Texas; Fayetteville, Arkansas; Olympia, Washington; Palm Bay, Florida and Boise City, Idaho.

Zoom in: Some smaller cities are growing thanks to lower housing costs and better economic equality, per the report, which highlights job and wage growth in places like St. George, Utah (near Zion National Park) and Auburn, Alabama.

How it works: The annual rankings from Milken — a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank — are based on its Best Performing Cities index, which takes into account cities' labor markets, tech industry growth and economic access.

Reality check: The report doesn't explicitly look at other quality-of-life factors people may consider when picking a place to live, like traffic congestion, public transit access, park space, etc.

The bottom line: If you're searching for a booming city that isn't New York, Chicago or L.A., give this list a look.

• Microsoft and Meta say they plan to cut jobs, targeting "low performers."
• Layoffs can be traumatic for workers, and the added tag of "low performer" can make it worse.
• Such labels can also create additional barriers for those searching for new jobs, experts say.

Targeting "low performers" might seem like a logical tactic for big companies looking to streamline their workforces.

But when Meta and Microsoft recently announced performance-based cuts, it sparked a debate online about the potential impacts of publicly labeling someone a "low performer" — a term loaded with negative connotations.

Layoffs can already be traumatic for workers, and experts say such tags only compound the issue, creating new obstacles for those back on the job hunt.

"Here's the real deal — a 'low performer' at Meta could be a rockstar anywhere else," Jan Tegze, a Czech Republic-based tech recruiter, wrote in a post on LinkedIn. But now, these "people have to job hunt with this label hanging over them. Every recruiter, every hiring manager will see these headlines."

Jennifer Dulski, the founder and CEO of Rising Team and a management lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business, said on LinkedIn that it was "reasonable to let people go for lower performance than others on the team, and to share that reasoning with them."

"However, publicly branding employees as low performers serves no one — not the individuals, not the remaining team, and not the company's reputation," she added.

"That will stick with and damage many people's careers. It's unnecessary and punitive," Jonathan Shottan, chief product and content officer at Tonal, said.

Previous research has suggested that finding a job may be more difficult for laid-off workers due to the stigma they may encounter among potential employers.

And with job seekers also facing a slowing job market and new hurdles such as the ever-expanding rollout of AI in workplaces, the added "low performer" tag may make the job search even trickier.

Others have defended Meta and Microsoft's announcements, however.

"Who would you fire? Your top performers?" One LinkedIn user wrote in response to Tegze's post. "There isn't a company in the world who would let go of anyone that they didn't think was their lowest performers."

"What if.... they 'are' actually low performers," another said. "Stop jumping on the let's bash Zuk bandwagon."

In an internal memo seen by Business Insider earlier this week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees that he had "decided to raise the bar on performance management" and act quickly to "move out low-performers."

The cuts will affect 5% of the company's workforce, equivalent to about 3,600 roles. Microsoft has not announced the number of employees it plans to let go.

For those who do find themselves caught in the layoffs, experts have some tips to help ensure they give themselves the best chance of getting back to work.

Writing on X, Ethan Evans, a former Amazon vice president, advised those hit by cuts targeting low performers to carefully and openly explain their situation to hiring managers.

Evans said it can be natural for recruiters to wonder if an interviewee has performance problems that they should avoid and that "your ability to respond calmly and confidently will matter just as much as the actual content of your answer."

"If your entire team or division was cut, this is the strongest story. Be clear about that and say, 'My entire team was cut.' Point them to a news story that verifies your claim if you can," he said.

He added: "Never badmouth your old boss or company."

"Just like dating, no one wants to start a relationship with someone who isn't over their ex."

Business Insider contacted Meta and Microsoft for comment.