Category: Business Insider

• Mint Butterfield, the teen child of two tech founders, has gone missing in California.
• Butterfield, 16, is believed to have run away, local authorities say — perhaps to San Francisco
• Authorities are appealing for help finding Butterfield.

Mint Butterfield, the teen child of tech founders who set up Slack and Flickr, went missing over the weekend.

The 16-year-old was last seen on Sunday evening in Bolinas, California, north of San Francisco.

The local sheriff's office put out a missing-juvenile alert on Tuesday seeking information about them.

The alert, described in a Nextdoor post by K. Walther, a deputy in the Marin County Sheriff's Office, said Butterfield was last seen Sunday at 10 p.m.

The following morning, Walther said, Butterfield was gone. She asked for anybody with information to contact the sheriff's office.

The San Francisco Standard wrote that Butterfield was reported missing Monday by their mother, Flickr cofounder Caterina Fake.

Their father is Stewart Butterfield, who cofounded Flickr with Fake and went on to cofound the workplace messaging service Slack.

Representatives for Marin County Sheriff's Office, Stewart Butterfield, and Fake did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Walther's Nextdoor post said Butterfield likely took a suitcase, and may have headed for San Francisco itself.

In the past, Butterfield often visited San Francisco's Tenderloin district, an area known for homelessness, crime, and drugs, officials told The Standard.

DailyMail.com reported that Butterfield may be somewhere else, though, citing a social-media post by a family friend.

The friend, per the report, said Butterfield was seen in Larkspur Landing, north of San Francisco and around a 50-minute drive from Bolinas.

Business Insider was unable to verify the report.

Marin County Sheriff's Office described Butterfield as being five feet tall with "brown/reddish curly hair" and pierced eyebrows. They were last seen wearing a black sweatshirt, flannel pajama pants, and black boots.

Butterfield's parents, Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, cofounded the photo service Flickr together in 2004.

They were married from 2001 until 2007, reported the New York Post, and sold Flickr to Yahoo! for an estimated $30 million in 2005.

Their divorce was finalized in 2007, the same year Mint Butterfield was born, according to the Post.

Stewart Butterfield cofounded Slack in 2013 with Cal Henderson. He left the company in December 2022, Business Insider reported.

He is worth $1.6 billion, according to an estimate by Forbes.

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Harvey Weinstein's sex crimes conviction was overturned Thursday by the New York Court of Appeals, which found that he hadn't gotten a fair trial.

In its 4-3 decision, the appeals court found Weinstein's trial judge had erred in allowing accusers to testify who were not listed in the criminal charges against him, The New York Times reports.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg must now decide whether to retry the case.

Weinstein's lawyer Arthur Aidala, who represented the ex-movie mogul in his New York appeal, did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Business Insider.

This is a developing story.

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• Ukraine is getting a new type of laser-guided missile from the UK, the Paveway IV.
• While "pretty old," they can do good damage against poorly-defended Russia targets, an expert said.
• Ukraine probably won't risk its bomber planes taking on heavier defenses, with them, though.

Ukraine is about to get a new type of laser-guided bomb that can wreck "soft" Russian targets, a military analyst said.

Britain is giving Ukraine a cache of Paveway IV bombs as part of its latest aid delivery, its defense ministry told Business Insider.

Paveway IV bombs are dropped from planes, and weigh in at around 500 lbs. They have laser guidance that means they can operate even in bad weather, or through enemy smoke screens, per the UK's Royal Air Force.

While the bombs are "pretty old," they are "high precision" weapons and a "very" reliable technology, Sergej Sumlenny, founder of the German think tank European Resilience Initiative Center, told BI.

"This is a good weapon against soft targets — that means air defenses, radars, inventory, depots, and communication centers will be the primary target," he said.

Such devices are significant, he said, because they could compete against Russia's gliding bombs.

Russia has used gliding bombs to devastating effect against Ukrainian positions, pounding its defenses and opening the way for Russian troops to make advances on the front lines.

But the Paveway IV bombs, in conjunction with other high-precision weapons Ukraine has, would be "very" effective if Ukraine were to mount the same kind of operation against Russia, Sumlenny said.

James Black, assistant director of defense research at RAND Europe, had a different take.

He told BI that while the bombs will likely be of "some" use, their range is an issue.

Ukraine's air force is small and much less advanced than Russia's, making it hard for Ukraine to risk them on bombing raids where Russia could shoot them down.

Black said the Paveways are "unlikely to have a transformational impact on the battlefield."

He said that the US-supplied longer-range ATACMS munitions that are heading to Ukraine in the latest package approved by Congress will be of "much greater" value.

He said they can target a wider range of Russian targets and do not rely on navigating enemy air defenses or risking manned aircraft.

Justin Bronk, a Russia and air warfare expert at the UK's Royal United Services Institute, said that Ukraine probably wouldn't be able to make much use of the laser targeting because it lacks the supporting equipment to go with it.

Aircraft dropping them would likely have to do so as far away as possible, limiting their precision he said.

Besides Paveway IV bombs, the UK's aid package to Ukraine, which amounts to some $625 million, includes about 400 vehicles, 1,600 missiles, and four million rounds of small-arms ammo.

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• Sage Vegan Bistro in Los Angeles is transitioning to serve meat, dairy, and eggs.
• The chef said she thought a vegan diet was best for the environment, but has since changed her mind.
• The restaurant will instead support regenerative farming practices — a move condemned by PETA.

The chef of a Los Angeles vegan restaurant announced that her restaurant is rebranding and transitioning to serving meat, dairy, and eggs.

Chef Mollie Engelhart said that she thought a vegan diet was best when she started Sage Vegan Bistro, but has now changed her mind.

Renamed the Sage Regenerative Kitchen & Brewery, the restaurant will instead focus on supporting regenerative farming practices, Engelhart said in an Instagram video.

"That means we will be shifting from an all-plant-based menu to a high-quality protein from only the highest quality, most integrity, regenerative farms," she said.

The restaurant, which opened in Echo Park in 2011, before launching branches in Culver City and Pasadena, has cultivated a legion of plant-loving customers.

But the Los Angeles Times reported that the revamped menu will soon feature ingredients like beef, bison, fried eggs, and other non-vegan products, starting next month.

"To some, this may seem shocking or upsetting, but if you look at the last seven years of my life, and as I moved into regenerative farming to serve the highest quality food to my customers, I started to learn so much about soil and nature," Engelhart said in the Instagram post.

In the LA Times interview, she said: "I think that the next step forward is regenerative agriculture, and for that to move forward it needs to be in the zeitgeist, it needs to be in our everyday conversations."

"This is my way to contribute to that, to give people options," she added.

Regenerative farming aims to address the climate crisis by restoring degraded soils and sequestering carbon, though opinions on its environmental impact vary.

A 2022 academic review by William H. Schlesinger, former president of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, found that practices associated with regenerative farming are not likely to lead to a "large net sequestration of organic carbon in soils."

Schlesinger also noted that some practices even result in their own carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere.

Engelhart told the LA Times that she was being "vulnerable" in announcing the move, and that she had braced herself for the "vitriol" to come.

That pushback came quickly.

PETA, the animal-rights charity, accused the restaurant in an Instagram post of "serving greenwashed and humane-washed meat, dairy, and eggs," and described the shift as a betrayal to animals.

"On Earth Day, no less!" the post added.

Vegan restaurateur Jayde Nicole, in a comment on Instagram, described the shift as "horrifying," while Hannah Weseloh, a vegan influencer, likened the announcement to "mourning a death."

Englehart defended her choice, and said she timed the announcement for Earth Day because "we're doing this shift for humanity and the earth."

She also told the LA Times that financial considerations influenced her decision, with the newspaper reporting that the restaurants had not been profitable since 2020.

"My restaurants have been really struggling, like so many restaurants post-pandemic," Engelhart said.

According to the LA Times, several formerly all-vegan restaurants in LA have shifted to incorporating meat in recent years, citing financial factors, with many others closing their doors entirely.

Sage Regenerative Kitchen & Brewery did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

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• US real GDP rose at an annualized rate of 1.6% in the first quarter.
• That's far below the 3.4% increase in last year's fourth quarter.
• While a slowdown was expected for the first quarter, the forecast was 2.5%.

Amid US job growth above forecasts and accelerating inflation, the US economy in the first quarter of this year slowed more than expected.

A news release from the Bureau of Economic Analysis out Thursday showed US real gross domestic product rose at an annualized rate of 1.6%. That's less than the forecast of 2.5%. The advance estimate for the first quarter shows real GDP had continued to slow: Real GDP rose at an annualized rate of 4.9% in the third quarter of 2023 before rising at a cooler annualized rate of 3.4% in the fourth quarter.

"Overall, US economic activity remains resilient, powered by consumers' ongoing ability and willingness to spend, even if they are being more scrutinous in the face of high prices," Gregory Daco, the chief economist for EY, said in written commentary ahead of the latest GDP reading. "A robust labor market along with positive real wage growth continues to provide a solid foundation to consumer outlays. Meanwhile, businesses are focusing on high return-on-investment projects and productivity-enhancing investments in an elevated cost and interest rate environment."

The labor market has seen job openings cool but also has experienced strong monthly nonfarm payroll growth. The labor market is more Goldilocks-like where it's not super hot but also not super cold.

Plus, inflation has been heating up; March's year-over-year percent change in the consumer price index was higher than the forecast. That change was 3.5%, greater than the 3.4% forecast or the previous 3.2% rise in February.

"Looking ahead, we see the economy gently cooling as slower labor demand, easing wage growth, stubborn inflation, and tight credit conditions constrain private sector activity," Daco said. "In particular, we note that if inflation proves to be stickier than anticipated, the downside risk to the economy from reduced real income growth, a 'higher for longer' Fed stance and tightening financial conditions would be notable."

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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• Russia vetoed a UN resolution led by the US and Japan to prevent a space arms race.
• The resolution aimed to head off the deployment of nuclear weapons in orbit.
• US intelligence suggests that Russia is developing a satellite that could carry a nuclear device.

Russia vetoed a US- and Japan-led UN resolution aimed at stopping a nuclear arms space race.

Russia used its Security Council veto on Wednesday to block a resolution calling on countries to work toward the "prevention of an arms race in outer space."

The resolution also sought to reaffirm existing treaties that oblige countries "not to place in orbit around the Earth any objects carrying nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction," per the UN press service.

Thirteen member countries voted for the resolution, with China abstaining.

Russia was the only country to vote against it.

Russia's move comes amid concerns in the White House that Russia is developing a satellite capable of carrying a nuclear device.

In February, US lawmakers were reportedly briefed on intelligence about the threat.

Soon after, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had no intention of putting nuclear arms in space.

The White House reacted to Wednesday's vote, saying: "We have heard President Putin say publicly that Russia has no intention of deploying nuclear weapons in space. If that were the case, Russia would not have vetoed this resolution."

"What could you possibly be hiding?" US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. "It's baffling. And it's a shame."

However, Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia called the resolution "politicized," and said it didn't go far enough, the Associated Press reported.

Russia and China had proposed an amendment to the resolution calling on all states to prevent weapons and any threat or use of force in outer space "for all time."

Nebenzia also accused the US of blocking a long-standing treaty proposal from Russia and China barring weapons in space, per the AP.

In an interview with Arms Control Today magazine ahead of the vote, US Assistant Secretary of State Mallory Stewart was critical of such proposals for being vague and unenforceable.

"We've seen where countries propose treaties, such as the prevention of placement of weapons in outer space treaty that Russia and China have pushed for many years, without even an accepted common definition of what a 'weapon' in space is," she said.

Following the vote, the US Ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, said that the resolution would have "helped prevent the catastrophic consequences of a nuclear detonation in space."

"Needless to say, we are incredibly disappointed by the result of today's vote," he added.

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• Costco's new CFO won't inherit his predecessor's parking spot, as he hasn't served enough time there yet.  
• Costco is known for the value it places on high employee retention.
• Some employees have stayed at the company for over 30 years, and several execs started out working on the shop floor.

Costco's CFO, Robert Galanti, retired in March after 40 years at the company, but the new CFO won't be so quick to fill in his parking spot.

Reserved parking spaces at Costco are based on tenure rather than seniority, The Wall Street Journal reported. So despite being in the C-suite, new CFO Gary Millerchip will have to park his car across the street.

It's an old-school way of doing things, Galanti told The Journal. "We're a little quirky, but that's our culture and it works for us," he said.

Galanti, a fierce defender of Costco's $1.50 hot dog combo, is one of the many emoployees to hold a decadeslong tenure at Costco.

The company lets its retail employees work their way to the top. CEO Ron Vachris started at the company as a forklift driver and is set to earn around $11.5 million this year in the top spot — he's only the third person ever to hold this job at the company.

Other executives also began their Costco careers on the warehouse floor.

Todd Thull, who is listed as a VP at the company on his LinkedIn profile, started as a forklift driver 44 years ago.

Another employee, John Conlon started off "pushing carts at the original Costco" back in 1987, his LinkedIn profile reads. Now, 37 years later, he's worked his way up to a director role at the company's headquarters.

At least 10 other employees based at the company headquarters in Issaquah, Washington have worked there for over 30 years, according a search of LinkedIn profiles.

Business Insider was not able to independently verify the current employment of these workers.

The warehouse club boasts some of the highest employee satisfaction ratings among big retailers. In 2021, Costco raised its minimum wage to $17 per hour, far above the federal minimum hourly wage of $7.25.

Former Costco CEO W. Craig Jelinek advocated for a higher minimum wage in front of Congress in 2021. He said that it's "good business" to cut down on the employee turnover rate.

"We're certainly not perfect, but we try to take care of our employees, because they play such a significant role in our success," Jelinek said.

Business Insider contacted Costco for comment but didn't immediately hear back.

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• I worked at Sephora for 11 years, so I have a few favorite products that cost $20 or less.
• The Inkey List caffeine eye cream is great for reducing under-eye puffiness.
• The Dr. Jart and Sephora Collection sheet masks can help treat various skin concerns.

As someone who worked at Sephora for 11 years, I'm often asked which products are worth buying — but also won't break the bank. Luckily, Sephora carries plenty of high-quality items that cost $20 or less.

Online beauty sales are expected to grow by nearly 50% through 2027, but it can be hard to choose the right shade or type of item when buying products on your phone or laptop. When you can't test a product in person, the right recommendation from an expert can help.

I spent over a decade recommending the right products for Sephora customers, and I still love helping people choose items based on their skin and hair types.

As a freelance makeup artist and former Sephora employee, here are some of my favorite makeup, skincare, and hair-care products under $20.

Don't overlook great deals in the minis and more section.

Though a high-quality product can definitely be worth the splurge, I recommend trying mini versions of some beauty items to ensure they're the right fit for you. The minis and more section, usually located near the cash registers, houses several products around or under $20.

Almost everything in this area, including hair oils, lip products, and skincare items, is travel-sized. Some mini items are also located in the same section as the brand's full-sized products.

The Ilia mascaras create full, voluminous lashes.

I now work as a brand ambassador for Ilia at some Sephora stores, but I've always loved the Limitless Lash lengthening clean mascara. This mascara contains organic shea butter and arginine, which helps to condition and strengthen lashes.

I like to apply multiple layers or top it off with the Ilia Fullest volumizing mascara for a dramatic look. Mini sizes of both mascaras cost $13.

The Tower 28 Beauty ShineOn lip jelly nonsticky glosses are pigmented and hydrating.

The Tower 28 Beauty ShineOn lip glosses were a bestseller at my location when I worked at Sephora.

The gloss doesn't make my lips feel sticky, and it contains apricot-kernel oil to help hydrate and prevent dryness. I recommend the shade Pistachio, a semi-sheer nude pink that gives the lips a pop of color.

The ShineOn lip glosses cost $16 each.

I apply the Benefit Cosmetics Hoola matte bronzer when I want a sun-kissed glow.

For years, this iconic bronzer was a top-selling Benefit Cosmetics product at my location. It comes in three different sizes and four distinct shades to help achieve a perfect, sun-kissed glow.

I even apply this bronzer as a crease color when I'm doing a quick five-minute eye-shadow look. The mini Hoola bronzer is $19.

The Inkey List caffeine eye cream is great for helping to de-puff tired eyes.

The Inkey List caffeine eye cream was a top-selling product at my location because it can improve under-eye puffiness while hydrating the skin. It's also the perfect product to prep the under-eyes for a smooth concealer application.

This eye cream is only $11.

The Caudalie Beauty Elixir Prep, Set, Glow face mist is a versatile spray.

This amazing face mist can be used at almost any step of your beauty routine, whether you're prepping bare skin for makeup or sealing everything in.

I apply it while traveling for a refreshing feel or after my skincare routine for an extra glow. The Caudalie Beauty Elixir is $20.

The Dr. Jart sheet masks treat many different skin concerns.

The Dr. Jart sheet masks treat a variety of concerns, from acne to dehydration.

I love the Cicapair option, a hydrating mask made with tiger grass to calm redness and irritation. These sheet masks usually cost $10, but sometimes go on sale for as low as $6.

The Sephora Collection sheet masks are made with fruit extracts.

I use a selection of Sephora Collection sheet masks, many of which are compostable and made with hyaluronic acid, to help hydrate my skin.

My favorite is the skin-perfecting and radiance sheet mask, made with blueberry extract to brighten and calm the skin.

The Sephora Collection sheet masks are $6 each.

I take care of my tools with the Sephora daily brush cleaner.

When it comes to taking care of my makeup brushes, I use the Sephora daily brush cleaner. This product cleans and conditions both synthetic and natural-hair brushes.

I also love its quick-drying, alcohol-free formula. The standard-size Sephora daily brush cleaner is $16.

The JVN Complete hydrating air-dry hair cream adds shine to my curls.

The JVN Complete hydrating air-dry cream is perfect for when I need to smooth out my curls or minimize any frizz after a blowout.

The formula is made with hemisqualane, which can gradually improve hair health and strength. Some people may also use the air-dry cream to slick back their hair in a bun or ponytail.

The product can be used on all hair types, from straight to curly locks. The mini air-dry cream costs $14.

The Touchland Power Mist hydrating hand sanitizers can soften and sanitize hands.

The Touchland hand sanitizers, which won an Allure Best of Beauty Award in 2022, hydrate and soften hands while killing germs.

Each mist is small enough to throw in your bag for on-the-go hand sanitation. I keep the Pure Lavender scent in my brush belt while I'm working.

The Touchland Power Mist hand sanitizers cost $10.

I also pick up products like the Mane hair ties and clips at Sephora.

The last time I was in Sephora, I noticed a bunch of products from Mane, a brand founded by celebrity hairstylist Jen Atkin. I love finding cute accessories at Sephora, so I had to add these to my basket.

Packs of 16 fabric hair ties and cute mini hair-clip collections were $12. Claw clips perfect for pulling hair back in the spring and summer were just $15.

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• Mark Zuckerberg's net worth could shrink by $25 billion on Thursday.
• Meta's stock plunged 15% in premarket trading on Thursday as investors balked at its earnings.
• Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft shares also fell, raising the prospect of a Big Tech sell-off.

Mark Zuckerberg's fortune could shrink by $25 billion in a single day due to Meta's post-earnings slump.

The cofounder and CEO of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp's parent company was worth an estimated $175 billion at Wednesday's close, per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Zuckerberg has a stake of about 13% in Meta that was valued at around $170 billion at Wednesday's close. However, the stock price tumbled as much as 15% to $420 in premarket trading on Thursday, indicating Zuckerberg's shares are now worth $25 billion less at $145 billion.

If that decline persists after the market open, Zuckerberg's net worth could plunge to under $150 billion. That would rank him in fifth place on Bloomberg's rich list, below Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, assuming Gates' wealth doesn't drop significantly too.

A $25 billion reduction in wealth in one day would be remarkable, as only the top 70 richest people in the world command fortunes of that size.

Moreover, Zuckerberg's net worth was up $47 billion this year prior to Wednesday's close, making him the biggest wealth gainer on the list by far.

He even overtook Elon Musk a few days ago, largely thanks to Tesla's ongoing troubles. But Musk has regained third place thanks to a post-earnings bump in Tesla's stock price.

Zuckerberg seemed eager to reassure shareholders about Meta's sliding stock price during the company's earnings call on Wednesday. Yet he also made clear that it wouldn't deter him from investing heavily in artificial intelligence.

'Long-term investment'

"We've historically seen a lot of volatility in our stock during this phase of our product playbook, where we're investing and scaling a new product, but aren't yet monetizing it," he said. "We saw this with Reels, Stories, as News Feed transitioned to mobile and more."

"Historically investing to build these new scaled experiences in our apps has been a very good long-term investment for us and for investors who have stuck with us and the initial signs are quite positive here too," he continued. "But building a leading AI will also be a larger undertaking than the other experiences we've added to our apps and this is likely going to take several years."

Meta wasn't the only Big Tech stock under pressure, signaling investors may be souring on AI, or worrying about market headwinds such as foreign conflicts, stubborn inflation, a potential recession, and interest rates perhaps staying higher for longer.

The Facebook owner was poised to shed over $180 billion of market value on Thursday. Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft shares also slid before the bell, raising the prospect that some $170 billion in market value could be lost between the three of them, and more than $350 billion including Meta.

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• Ohio-based Throwflame is selling a fire-spewing robot dog called Thermonator for $9,420.
• The robot can operate in dark environments, has a torch light, and can shoot fire up to nine meters.
• Surprisingly, it is fully legal in 48 states, with restrictions stated for two others.

A new robotic dog might make you run for the hills, regardless of whether you're an animal lover or not.

Ohio-based company Throwflame is selling the non-cuddly canines, which can shoot out fire up to around nine meters away, for $9,420.

A video shared online shows that the device, called Thermonator, can jump and operate in a dark environment. It is also equipped with a torch light.

The firm has touted the fire-spewing robot as a tool to help remove snow and ice. Some of the other uses mentioned include wildfire and agricultural management, and entertainment purposes.

It has a 1-hour battery life and laser sighting to help shoot fire on target, the company's website says. Users can connect it to WiFI and Bluetooth to control it using a smartphone.

Surprisingly, the Thermonator is legal in 48 states. In California, the robodogs need to be fitted with a smaller nozzle that reduces its range to 10 feet so that it's state-compliant, the website says. It adds that in Maryland, buyers need to hold a type 9, 10, or 11 Federal Firearms License in order to possess a Thermonator legally.

The website doesn't state if there are age restrictions in place to purchase one, which could be concerning to some people. It simply states, "It's the purchaser's responsibility to ascertain that ownership and or use does not violate any state or local laws or regulations.

The robodog looks similar to Unitree's four-legged models, Go1 and Go2, but it's unclear who manufactures the Thermonator.

Throwflame started offering a flamethrowing attachment to add to drones back in 2019 for $1,500 and it's been selling standalone flamethrowers for almost a decade. Its founder, Quinn Whitehead, told CNN in 2015 that its buyers are "people who just want it for fun" and who want to impress their neighbors at a BBQ.

The firm's products aren't marketed as weapons, but its website has a "government procurement" section, which directs potential government buyers to its purchasing portal for quotes on large quantities.

Throwflame didn't immediately respond to a request for comment made by Business Insider.

Have you bought a Thermonator? Get in touch with the reporter at jmann@businessinsider.com

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