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Insider Today: Patagonia's big changes

1 December 2024 at 03:30
A business suit with mountains on the tie and a Patagonia logo patch on the breast pocket.

Patagonia; Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, a roundup of some of our top stories. We're running a shortened edition this week after the Thanksgiving break. Speaking of, what's your go-to out-of-office message? A viral TikTok has stirred up a fresh debate about what's appropriate.


On the agenda today:


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Macy's missing money raises questions

Macy's photo illustration with big receipts

Macy's; Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI

The retailer announced it was delaying its quarterly earnings after discovering an employee โ€” who has since been fired โ€” deliberately made accounting errors totaling between $132 million to $154 million.

Auditing experts told BI that Macy's must now explain how its controls broke down. One former KPMG partner said, "Somebody else should have been reviewing and catching it."

Why auditing experts are scratching their heads.


Is Patagonia losing sight of itself?

Patagonia logo

Patagonia; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI

Since its founding in 1973, the beloved brand of mountaineers and Wall Street bros alike has blurred the lines between work and community.

But recently, the company has cut headcount and expedited service to strengthen its business. Some employees say it's lost sight of its values and the mission that once made it so special.

An outdoor brand's internal struggle.


Keeping the AI progress wheels turning

A pink brain in a small square

iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI

The recent debate over whether the rate of AI model improvement has hit its limit has pushed some CEOs to chime in. OpenAI boss Sam Altman recently took to X and posted, "There is no wall."

Twelve people at the forefront of the AI industry spoke to BI about the challenges and opportunities ahead in the quest for superintelligent AI.

They laid out some of the paths forward.


Does basic income work?

Collage of people on basic income

Tim Evans for BI, Brittany Greeson for BI, Helynn Ospina for BI, Andre Chung for BI, Libby March for BI; Rebecca Zisser/BI

For the past five years, pilot programs in 150 cities have been handing out no-strings-attached cash to low-income Americans.

BI spoke to eight families who received at least $6,000 from these programs to see whether the extra cash helped. Even if it didn't immediately alleviate their financial struggles, most recipients said they found the support incredibly valuable.

Here's how they spent it.


This week's quote:

"The final boss on the way to Elon: Everything goes through him first."

โ€” A former Tesla employee describing Omead Afshar, a longtime lieutenant of Elon Musk who was recently promoted to president of North American and European operations.


More of this week's top reads:

Read the original article on Business Insider

Insider Today: White-collar recession

24 November 2024 at 03:41
A long line of white-collar workers, with a caution sign indicating slow movemen

Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI

Welcome back to our Sunday edition, a roundup of some of our top stories. Cars with a manual transmission now make up a tiny share of autos sold in the US. An updated Porsche 911 Carrera is a reminder of how fun they can be, says BI's chief car reviewer.


On the agenda today:

But first: Look out, government workers.


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DOGEing layoffs

Elon and Capitol building with money

Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI

For a minute there, working for the government was in vogue. TikTok videos espoused the benefits of #publicsector jobs, and Google searches for "how to get a government job" hit a five-year high. Younger workers, in particular, were drawn to employment considered less vulnerable to layoffs.

Then Elon Musk arrived on the scene.

The Department for Government Efficiency, co-headed by Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, has outlined plans to slash federal jobs. DOGE will work with agency appointees to find the minimum number of employees required to perform its functions, per the duo.

That has some government workers on edge. (You can see where the most federal staffers work and how much they're paid here.) Several careers consultants told Business Insider they were already experiencing a rush of demand from workers ready to shift to the private sector.

Laura Labovich, CEO of The Career Strategy Group, told BI that these workers weren't complaining about their promotion prospects or compensation, as they might have in the past.

"They just say, 'I want to leave,'" she said.


Comcast's cable TV garage sale

Comcast logo on glitching TV

Comcast; Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI

Comcast, one of the biggest cable TV companies in the US, announced plans to split off almost all of its cable TV networks โ€” CNBC, MSNBC, USA, and a few digital assets โ€” but keep the rest of its media business, including Peacock, NBC, and Bravo.

The move further cements the decline of cable, as the number of people paying for and watching these networks is falling every year, BI's Peter Kafka writes.

More on the big break up.

Also read:


Tech jobs under fire

A white collar with a red arrow pointing down instead of a tie

iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI

By all the standard economic measures, America's labor market looks fine. But ask any white-collar professional, and they'll tell you a horror story that would prove otherwise.

Hiring has held up well for low-earning workers, but those making six figures or more are in the midst of a white-collar recession. New data from LinkedIn, which tracked how often its users landed new jobs, shows that tech jobs in particular have been among the hardest hit.

More on who's being affected by the hiring slump.


TGI Failure

TGI Fridays logo with Wall street bull.

Getty Images; Jenny Chang-Rodriguez/BI

Your age probably says a lot about how you remember TGI Fridays. The restaurant chain began as a singles bar in the '60s, and then it evolved into a family-friendly spot in the '80s and '90s. Now, it's a place no one really wants to go.

Fridays closed 36 underperforming corporate-owned restaurants at the beginning of the year and recently filed for bankruptcy. Its slow decline and accelerated crash is a familiar story for many restaurant chains.

Why casual dining went bust.


Alexa needs a(n AI) hero

Amazon Alexa buffering

Amazon; Natalie Ammari/BI

Amazon's voice assistant became something of a household icon when it launched a decade ago. But maintaining that success has proved difficult.

Now, the company is trying to save Alexa with an AI-powered upgrade and improved capabilities. Partnerships with Uber and Ticketmaster were supposed to make Alexa smarter โ€” but issues have delayed the upgrade's release.

Are you there, Alexa?


This week's quote:

"Chrome has served Google exceptionally well, but its loss would be a manageable inconvenience."

โ€” Teiffyon Parry, chief strategy officer at adtech company Equativ, on the DOJ's request that Google sell off Chrome.


More of this week's top reads:

Read the original article on Business Insider
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