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•  Pinpoint Asset Management is a Hong Kong-based hedge fund with offices in Shanghai and Singapore.
• The firm was founded 25 years ago and runs a China-focused fund and a multi-strategy offering.
• The two funds have generated strong returns through mid-April, according to HSBC's Hedge Weekly report.

After a couple of years of poor performance and dwindling assets, Hong Kong-based Pinpoint Asset Management has surged so far in 2024.

According to HSBC's Hedge Weekly report, the firm's China fund gained more than 2% through the first two weeks of April to bring its year-to-date returns to just under 8%. The firm's multi-strategy fund was up 1.8% for the month through April 15, to bring its 2024 gains to 6%. The S&P 500 through the same period was up roughly 6.7%.

Each fund manages more than $1 billion at the 25-year-old firm that originally began in Shanghai. Founder and chief investment officer Wang Qiang runs both funds. The firm, which also has an office in Singapore, did not return requests for comment.

The China fund had a run of poor performance given the country's economic slowdown. In 2023, the fund lost more than 6%. According to HSBC, the fund was also down more than 13% the year prior. The performance so far in 2024 has beaten out other funds focused on the region — Hedge Fund Research's China index was up just 0.43% through the end of March.

The firm's younger multi-strategy offering returned less than 1% in 2023 and lost money in 2022, trailing U.S.-based competition that soared during these years. The fund is part of a growing subset of Asia-based multi-strategy managers that are competing with American giants like Citadel and Millennium for local talent.

The manager took the step of introducing a pass-through fee structure to pay for portfolio manager compensation recently in order to keep up.

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• George Warren added two ADUs to a duplex property he bought in 2004, aiming to earn extra income.
• In December, he started renting them for $2,000 a month each and has already earned $20,000.
• The ADUs have been so successful he plans on building more on another plot of land he owns.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with George Warren, a 67-year-old adjunct journalism professor and real estate investor, who built two accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on his land. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.

My wife and I live in a century-old home in Sacramento, but also own 13 investment properties spread throughout Texas and California.

In 2004, we bought a $300,000 investment property, a duplex in Midtown Sacramento, which we rent out. The area has a vibrant and diverse community with a lot of restaurants and pubs. It's really walkable and a very desirable place to live.

The 2400-square-foot duplex was built in 1890 and sits on a 160-by-30-foot lot. When we first bought the property, half of it consisted of dirt, primarily used by tenants for parking and occasionally by homeless people who would wander in.

I realized that having a half-empty lot wasn't the best use for the property, so for several years, I contemplated what I was going to do to increase its value and generate additional income.

In 2019, I hired a surveyor to initiate a lot split because I was considering building rental units on the property. My plan was to split the lot by 80 feet for the duplex and 80 feet for whatever I was going to build in the back.

I was quoted $1.5 million to build five small loft studios. I knew there was no way that would have ever cash-flowed in my lifetime, so I pulled the plug on that project.

But when the state and the city began to embrace ADU development, I jumped on it.

Last year, I built two cottages on the duplex's lot and began renting them out as ADUs. From December until the end of April, I've made $20,000 in passive income.

I think I made the right decision.

ADUs can cost a lot to build

If you build an ADU on your primary property, you're going to have strangers coming and going where you live. It didn't appeal to me to have tenants at my primary residence, so building on the duplex's lot made the most sense.

In 2022, I contacted Anchored Tiny Homes to get the ball rolling for the construction of ADUs. After several months of collaboration with the company's design team, we submitted an application to the city of Sacramento.

With Sacramento allowing up to 1,200 square feet per ADU, I chose to build two 600-square-foot cottages on the lot. My application was approved within 60 days.

To finance the project, I took out a second home equity line of credit on my main residence for $350,000, which I wasn't initially anticipating.

I was aware of California's CalHFA's ADU grant program — that provides up to $40,000 for planning blueprints and more — but learned I did not qualify because the duplex was not my primary residence.

We broke ground in January 2023 and wrapped up construction in September. There were a few hold-ups during the process, like squatters in the alley and an inspector who halted construction for a while due to an electrical issue, but overall, it went smoothly.

Anchored initially quoted me $174,000 per cottage, but with additional upgrades, they ended up costing about $200,000 each.

They're both 20 by 30 feet and have one bedroom, one bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen with an island. The homes are also fully furnished and have brand-new appliances. My tenants also have their own entrance to the lot by way of a historic alley.

I cover all the utilities, provide YouTube TV, and offer high-speed fiber internet to my tenants.

For a rental property, I think it's really good.

I want my tenants to feel comfortable

I don't rent the cottages out for short-term rentals on Airbnb or VRBO. Instead, I use Furnished Finder, which is aimed at mid-term rentals, typically around 90 days, and caters mostly to traveling professionals.

For cottage 1909, my first tenant was a traveling ballet director who worked on Sacramento's Nutcracker during Christmas. He stayed for a month and paid me $2,000.

When he left, he was replaced by a nurse from Atlanta. She's here for the entire calendar year and also pays $2,000 a month.

I've had two other tenants in cottage 1907, including the current one, who have also paid me $2,000 monthly.

So far, I've been fortunate to have a fantastic group of tenants —typically high-earning professionals. Their payments are always on time, and they consistently leave the place spotless.

I know I could charge more in rent and adjust to market rates, but I don't want to price gouge people or create headaches.

I want them to feel comfortable and realize they're getting great value — so far, it's worked.

I made the right decision

Ultimately, the goal of real estate investors is to make passive income.

The ADUs have done that and more for my wife and me. As I decouple from my various jobs, it's reassuring to have this income stream, and it's also provided a fabulous opportunity to lower our taxable income by thousands of dollars.

I've had such good luck with these ADUs so far that I plan on building more on another lot I have near Sacramento State University.

It's free money. So what the hell do I have to lose?

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• Tesla has laid off most of its charging team, causing confusion about the future of its Supercharger network.
• Virtually all major automakers have adopted Tesla's charging tech
• Tesla has committed to doubling its network size in-party with public money. 

It started as a drip. Ford would adopt Tesla's charging connector and its customers would get access to the Supercharger network.

Then it became a flood. General Motors, Rivian, and more would join the network. By the time 2023 ended, virtually every major automaker had announced plans to adopt the North American Charging Standard. It was a major win for Tesla and another massive vote of confidence for what drivers had known for a long time: Elon Musk's chargers are simply the best, and he'll help the entire EV industry — not just Tesla — expand.

All of that came into question this week, when Tesla laid off most of its charging team, impacting about 500 employees. The apparent about-face left customers, contractors, and even newly partnered automakers scratching their heads about the future.

While hundreds of employees were surprised by layoff emails earlier this week, those who do business with them were dumbfounded.

"I got a bounce from every email address," said Andres Pinter, co-CEO of Bullet EV Charging Solutions, which has about a dozen ongoing projects underway for Tesla. Other contractors, he said, could be in trouble if they don't have non-Tesla projects to fall back on.

As of Wednesday morning, he'd still not heard a peep from anyone at Tesla, he said. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment on its Supercharger plans.

Tesla accounts for about 65% of the nation's fast-charging plugs, according to data from the Department of Energy, and one analyst has said the Supercharger network could be worth as much as $100 billion. After Tesla shares fell following the layoff news, Musk said on X that Tesla would still grow its Supercharger network, but "at a slower pace for new locations" with more focus on reliability.

Tesla drivers, meanwhile, were already worried about bigger lines at already-swamped Superchargers once other models of cars were given the keys to the kingdom.

"It kind of defies logic," Pinter said. "I think that Elon Musk is playing three-dimensional chess and maybe this will all make sense to us in like a few months."

Until then, it's not clear how Tesla will fulfill its 2023 commitment to double the size of the Supercharger network by the end of this year (partially with $17 million in government grants.)

Tesla has been rapidly expanding its Supercharger network in recent months. US plugs totaled around 20,000 in August 2023, a figure that has grown about 8% every quarter since, according to the Department of Energy. In the first three months of 2024 alone, it built some 297 stations around the world.

The automakers Tesla partnered with can already access existing plugs, but the recent layoffs raise questions about the network's future growth. Prior to the layoffs, one estimate said Tesla could earn up to $12 billion a year in charging revenue by 2030 by opening its charging stations to non-Teslas. Perhaps that's not enough to offset the costs of rapidly building new Supercharger stations that will ultimately benefit other carmakers, as well as Tesla.

For automakers and EV owners watching on the sidelines, thinking their charging problems were largely taken care of, the current moment can't feel great.

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• Austria's Migaloo is offering to build a private "submersible superyacht" for the ultrarich.
• It says the M5 would be able to travel 820 feet underwater and stay submerged for a month.
• Despite the high up-front cost, CEO Christian Gumpold says the firm is in talks with buyers.

Forget megayachts. Forget billionaire basements. If you're unfathomably rich and want a new toy, there's an Austrian company that says it will build you a fully submersible yacht.

And this is no rickety Titan submersible.

The Migaloo M5 concept, the company says, involves a 540-foot base-model superyacht that would travel about 820 feet underwater and stay down there for up to a month.

"The needs of superyacht owners for their vessels are more complex than ever," Migaloo CEO Christian Gumpold told Business Insider, adding: "These wishes do not just include performance, length, or design."

Gumpold said that yacht owners were "looking for privacy, security, and protection for themselves, their guests and their valuables, or for the fulfillment of unique experiences up to scientific desires, as well as for the greatest possible exclusivity."

According to its marketing materials, Migaloo says the vessel's layout and features could be designed around any customer priority, whether that's security, thrill seeking, research, or simply vacation.

The company offers prospective buyers a checklist of options, including LED exterior lighting with a laser show, a helipad, a hot-air balloon, and — for the aspiring Bond villain — an underwater shark-feeding station.

The vessel could feasibly host a wealth of supplemental vehicles, including mini submarines, exploration vehicles, and working boats, it said.

Although at times it's described in the company marketing materials as a "private submersible superyacht" the M5 would technically be able to sail as a submarine — an underwater vessel that can launch itself and return under its own power, rather than having to be launched by a mother ship.

It's envisioned as being able to house up to 20 guests and about 40 staffers.

The Migaloo concept aims to satisfy an increasing desire for privacy and security among the world's richest people.

The most expensive megayachts ever sold now run into the half-billion-dollar range or more, with at least three $600 million yachts afloat, owned by various oligarchs and oil-state royalty.

Bobbing about underwater in a Migaloo M5, Elon Musk wouldn't have to worry about a jet-tracking student any longer.

Gumpold told BI he had specialized in yacht design since 2008, and he promised that all the complex arrangements of the Migaloo project — working with shipyards, flag states, and classification societies — would be taken care of by his company.

Much of the marketing material for Migaloo runs to possibilities that sound like science fiction, addressing problems that would either apply only to the ultrarich or which the rest of us would be too dead to care about.

Saying it works with the security company Safe, Migaloo claims it could create a "private submersible fortress," offering protection from electromagnetic pulses, cybercrime, piracy, solar flares, asteroids, and polar shifts.

That's on top of a gamut of features that any megayacht owner might expect, including spas, gyms, a gaming room, a wine cellar, an art gallery, and a panic room.

The cost, however, is the ultimate "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" test.

Gumpold told Fast Company that the price depended on the scope of the client's requests, comparing it to the price tag on large superyachts.

According to Fast Company's estimation, there are only 50 people in the world who could afford to purchase a luxury submergible megayacht.

It remains to be seen if and when any prospective buyers will bite.

Gumpold told BI his company was "still in close contact with several potential owners worldwide" and "very close" to executing the first project steps.

But he didn't elaborate on any concrete steps and wouldn't name any of his prospective clients.

With a turnaround time of about four to seven years, it's also going to be awhile before any of them would take to the seas.

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• Virtual reality is emerging as a transformative tool in mental-health treatments.
• The tech is helping mental-health providers treat conditions such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
• This article is part of "Build IT," a series about digital tech trends disrupting industries.

Mental illnesses affect millions of lives across the US. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's statistics paint a stark picture: More than 20% of US adults have a mental illness, with a similar proportion seen among people ages 13 to 18.

In the face of this staggering prevalence, virtual reality offers transformative solutions in mental-health treatment and care. Recent research has found that VR can be effective in the treatment of PTSD, body-image disturbances, and stress-related disorders. Its use cases include trauma-focused therapy, as well as mindfulness exercises and social-skills training.

Increased relaxation through immersive VR tech

Shel Mann, a cofounder and the CEO of the VR-development company FireflyVR, told Business Insider that VR could help open the brain's window of neuroplasticity and make it more receptive to relaxation and mindfulness practices, which could lead to positive feelings and behaviors.

Mann said the company's research found that integrating biophysical signal recordings, such as patients' eye gaze and heart-rate variability, into immersive VR applications could enhance outcomes. Physiological responses offer reliable measures for assessing users' emotions and anxiety levels, which could revolutionize therapeutic effectiveness.

Dr. Christopher Romig, the director of innovation at the mental-health clinic Stella, uses FireflyVR tech to ease patients' anxiety before ketamine-infusion therapy, which is the intravenous administration of the drug. It's used to treat conditions such as depression, anxiety, and PTSD. The combination of ketamine and VR-guided therapy, he told BI, fosters neural connectivity at optimal brain-receptivity periods by helping calm patients.

VR is an engaging method for improving a patient's comfort and compliance during treatment sessions, Romig said. A patient's stress from their daily life "must be placed aside before they start their ketamine session, and the use of VR, setting intentions, and breath work are all very beneficial to helping ketamine establish the happy, healing pathways," he added.

He uses FireflyVR's platform, The Sanctuary, a clinically designed VR experience that uses cognitive-behavioral therapy to reduce patients' anxiety before they undergo ketamine therapy.

Before the ketamine treatment, Romig said, patients enter "a virtual world where they learn about setting intentions, letting go, ritual breathing, and creating positivity."

"I use it to create the 'peaceful mind' for my patients," he said. "It has so many applications, and I think you'll see a lot more VR working its way into mental health in conjunction with biofeedback and AI."

The mental-health-care crisis in the US means forward-thinking solutions are crucial. "We know there's a shortage of therapists," Mann said. "This isn't a nice-to-do; it's a need-to-do."

The Sanctuary was adapted for addiction treatment within the Veterans Affairs system. Mann said this was just one example of how the platform could be used. "When you're in VR, in an immersive setting, you're there. It really fools your brain," Mann added.

With The Sanctuary, users learn about elements such as meditation and breathing techniques, allowing real-life therapists to focus their efforts more on the specifics of patients' diagnoses.

VR cue exposure and embodiment

Nicole Siegfried, the chief clinical officer at Lightfully Behavioral Health, uses VR for patients with eating disorders and body-image disturbances. Patients can use the VR tech in an office or, in some situations, take a VR device home and return it after use.

VR cue exposure, Siegfried said, helps reduce binge-eating habits by exposing people to triggering stimuli in a controlled environment. Siegfried said cue exposure "can create a habituation to the cue, so when the client is confronted with the cue in real life, a binge is less probable."

Additionally, VR allows people with a negative body image to see themselves with different body sizes in a safe space via embodiment. "The goal is to decrease discomfort with weight gain in anorexia," Siegfried said. The patient may experience increased acceptance of their appearance through repeated exposure via virtual simulation.

Both cue exposure and embodiment aim to address the complex psychological dynamics of eating disorders. Siegfried emphasized VR's ability to immerse people in scenarios that are challenging to create in real life.

It acts as a gateway, helping users overcome fears and challenges by digitally placing them in fraught scenarios. For instance, clients with panic disorder or agoraphobia can virtually leave their homes.

"Most clients report a decrease in distress and an increase in willingness during the session," Siegfried said. "Between sessions, there is often a drift back toward baseline, which is why multiple sessions are necessary." She added that these VR applications were "most effective as a step toward in vivo — in life — exposure." The goal is to get clients integrated into normality through exposure-based treatments.

Siegfried told BI that VR could also provide imaginal experiences: A burn victim could be virtually covered with snow in an effort to reduce pain, and someone who's afraid of flying could go through a simulation of traveling by flight, which could include arriving at the airport, checking in, landing, and picking up baggage. "This simulation can be repeated until anxiety reduces and willingness increases," said Siegfried.

Because VR applications are relatively new, it might be difficult to find therapists who are adequately trained to effectively use the tech. Equipment can also be expensive, making some therapists reluctant to integrate VR use into their practices.

Progress is certainly underway, but it'll take more time for the technology to gain prevalence in mental-health care.

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Almost Friday! Hopefully, you have fun plans for the weekend. But even if you don't, you can do better than jumping on the PowerPoint party trend.

In today's big story, we're looking at the biggest topic at this year's TV upfronts, and how it's a sign of advertising's new era.

What's on deck:

• Markets: Morgan Stanley's new wealth boss outlines the bank's playbook for hitting $10 trillion in client assets.

• Tech: Wall Street analysts share their predictions for Apple's earnings report today.

• Business: Young people are fueling a Botox boom. Blame social media.

But first, Don Draper's got a new remit.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here.

The big story

Data for the small screen

At one of the biggest annual events in advertising, it's all about the data.

US TV upfronts are when networks vie for ad dollars. The courting process typically involves networks showing off their best shows and then haggling over prices.

"Come check out this new show of ours. Wouldn't your ad look great running alongside it?"

It's a high-stakes game, with nearly $18.8 billion in ad spend up for grabs.

But when things kick off later this month, advertisers have another priority beyond keeping their ad rates low. Business Insider's Lara O'Reilly and Lucia Moses report that some advertisers are more focused on the data they can get, specifically from retailers.

Information on consumers' shopping trends can ensure their ads reach the right people and prove they ultimately lead to sales.

That concept isn't new in the age of digital advertising, to be clear. But, the rise of e-commerce means an increased focus on the valuable information retailers have about their shoppers.

Consumer privacy initiatives have also contributed to the shift. Sensitivities around data sharing and the upcoming death of the third-party cookie have forced advertisers to work directly with companies with data on their customers.

As a result, the so-called retail media space has exploded, ballooning to $128 billion last year.

You might be wondering what retail data has to do with television advertising.

It just so happens one tech giant has its foot in both worlds. Amazon is one of the world's largest retailers and also has a streaming service, Prime Video, that just started selling ads.

Couple that with the success of its new series "Fallout" and the fact retail media's rise is at the expense of rival Google, and you start to see how well-positioned Amazon is.

Perhaps that's why CEO Andy Jassy highlighted Prime Video in his recent annual letter to shareholders.

Amazon holds an incredible advantage, but that hasn't stopped others from combining retail and streaming (Roku-Best Buy, Disney-Kroger, Walmart-Vizio).

Such a big shakeup will also impact what we see as viewers. Maybe it's unique in-game advertising for live sports, an area Big Tech is aggressively pursuing.

More drastic changes could include "shoppable media," where viewers can make purchases from the comfort of their couch.

3 things in markets

1. The man with the (wealth) plan at Morgan Stanley. The bank's new wealth chief, Jed Finn, took over a thriving business after his former boss, Andy Saperstein, was promoted. But there's still work to be done — about $3 trillion worth — to reach the bank's goal of $10 trillion in client assets across wealth and asset management. He told BI how he plans to do it.

2. Joseph Stiglitz sounds off. The famed economist discussed with BI the legacy of trickle-down economics. (The share of total net worth held by the richest Americans went from 22.8% in 1989 to 30.3% today.) It's part of the Nobel laureate's argument for why it's time to issue a verdict on whether free-market policies have been successful.

3. The Fed keeps interest rates steady once again. On Wednesday, the central bank kept borrowing costs at their current level, the sixth straight meeting in which it has left rates unchanged. Chair Jerome Powell said rate cuts will be on the table only if there is better inflation data or "unexpected" labor market weakness.

3 things in tech

1. Google says immigration rules are making it hard to hire top AI talent. The company says its need for AI roles will "increase significantly" in the next few years. As such, it told the US Department of Labor the list of roles considered scarce must be broadened.

2. All eyes on Apple. With the company reporting earnings this afternoon, Wall Street is looking for its iPhone sales in China. With weak sales in the country, Wells Fargo said Apple faces a "tough near-term setup."

3. Microsoft's CTO was "very worried" about Google's AI efforts. In a 2019 email that was made public on Tuesday as part of the Department of Justice's antitrust case against Google, Kevin Scott told Satya Nadella and Bill Gates that "auto-complete in Gmail" was "getting scarily good" — potentially setting the stage for Microsoft's massive investment in OpenAI.

3 things in business

1. Gen Zers have a new status symbol: Botox. In an age of remote work, young people no longer need to show off their bags or cars. Instead, they're showcasing their face — and driving a boom in "tweakments" like Botox and lip filler.

2. Everything to know about Skydance's bid for Paramount. The film studio is vying to buy Shari Redstone's controlling stake in Paramount. Sources told BI how much Redstone may get and what Paramount would look like if it happens.

3. Trump Media makes no sense. Its shares, which have been on a roller-coaster ride in recent months, tanked again on Wednesday. Don't bother trying to understand why — meme stocks don't respond to reason, BI's Peter Kafka writes.

In other news

• Disney just named 2 new top execs to advise on strategy and M&A as it considers its future: Read the memo.

• These 70 House Democrats and 21 Republicans voted against a bill to crack down on antisemitism on college campuses.

• Russia may not start an all-out war with NATO, but already has plans to destroy it from within.

• Starbucks says it's launching boba-inspired drinks this summer.

• Columbia's student radio station was the main source of information for the protests. Here's why that matters.

• Japan just spent billions to boost the flailing yen — and the US may get involved too.

What's happening today

• Today's earnings: Apple, Coinbase, and other companies are reporting.

The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, senior editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London.

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• Apple reports second-quarter earnings on Thursday.
• Investors will be looking for updates on Chinese iPhone demand.
• The company's stock is down 12% in 2024 so far, trailing the S&P 500.

Apple will report fiscal second-quarter earnings on Thursday after the closing bell.

Analysts are dialed in on Apple's iPhone business in China, which has faced a surge in competition over the past year, as well as its capital return plans and guidance as it prepares to release its next-generation iPhone later this year.

Apple's stock was down 12% year-to-date through Wednesday's close, trailing the the S&P 500's 5% gain.

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• Last year's job cuts weren't the end of layoffs. Further reductions have begun in 2024.
• Companies like Tesla, Google, Microsoft, Nike, and Amazon have announced plans for cuts this year.
• See the full list of corporations reducing their worker numbers in 2024.

A slew of companies across the tech, media, finance, and retail industries made significant cuts to staff in 2023. Tech titans like IBM, Google, Microsoft, finance giants like Goldman Sachs, and manufacturers like Dow all announced layoffs.

This year is looking grim too. And it's only May.

Nearly 40% of business leaders surveyed by ResumeBuilder think layoffs are likely at their companies this year, and about half say their companies will implement a hiring freeze. ResumeBuilder talked to about 900 leaders at organizations with more than 10 employees. Half of those surveyed cited concerns about a recession as a reason.

Another major factor is artificial intelligence. Around four in 10 respondents said they'll conduct layoffs as they replace workers with AI. Dropbox, Google, and IBM have already announced job cuts related to AI.

Here are the dozens of companies with job cuts planned or already underway in 2024.

Nike's up-to-$2 billion cost-cutting plan will involve severances.

Nike announced its cost-cutting plans in a December 2023 earnings call, discussing a slow growth in sales. The call subsequently resulted in Nike's stock plunging.

"We are seeing indications of more cautious consumer behavior around the world," Nike Chief Financial Officer Matt Friend said in December.

Google laid off hundreds more workers in 2024.

On January 10, Google laid off hundreds of workers in its central engineering division and members of its hardware teams — including those working on its voice-activated assistant.

In an email to some affected employees, the company encouraged them to consider applying for open positions at Google if they want to remain employed. According to the email, April 9 will be the last day for those unable to secure a new position.

The tech giant laid off thousands throughout 2023, beginning with a 6% reduction of its global workforce (about 12,000 people) last January.

Discord is laying off 170 employees.

Discord employees learned about the layoffs in an all-hands meeting and a memo sent by CEO Jason Citron in early January.

"We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020," Citron said in the memo. "As a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated."

In August 2023, Discord reduced its headcount by 4%. According to CNBC, the company was valued at $15 billion in 2021.

Citi will cut 20,000 from its staff as part of its corporate overhaul.

The layoffs announced in January are part of a larger Citigroup initiative to restructure the business and could leave the company with a remaining head count of 180,000 — excluding its Mexico operations.

In an earnings call that month, the bank said that layoffs could save the company up to $2.5 billion after it suffered a "very disappointing" final quarter last year.

Amazon-owned Twitch also announced job cuts.

Twitch announced on January 10 that it would cut 500 jobs, affecting over a third of the employees at the live-streaming company.

CEO Dan Clancy announced the layoffs in a memo, telling staff that while the company has tried to cut costs, the operation is "meaningfully" bigger than necessary.

"As you all know, we have worked hard over the last year to run our business as sustainably as possible," Clancy wrote. "Unfortunately, we still have work to do to rightsize our company and I regret having to share that we are taking the painful step to reduce our headcount by just over 500 people across Twitch."

BlackRock is planning to cut 3% of its staff.

Larry Fink, BlackRock's chief executive, and Rob Kapito, the firm's president, announced in January that the layoffs would affect around 600 people from its workforce of about 20,000.

However, the company has plans to expand in other areas to support growth in its overseas markets.

"As we prepare for 2024 and this very exciting but distinctly different landscape, businesses across the firm have developed plans to reallocate resources," the company leaders said in a memo.

Rent the Runway is slashing 10% of its corporate jobs as part of a restructuring.

In the fashion company's January announcement, COO and president Anushka Salinas said she will also be leaving the firm, Fast Company reported.

Unity Software is eliminating 25% of its workforce.

Around 1,800 jobs at the video game software company will be affected by the layoffs announced, Reuters reported in January.

eBay is cutting 1,000 jobs.

In a January 23 memo, CEO Jamie Iannone told employees that the eBay layoffs will affect about 9% of the company's workforce.

Iannone told employees that layoffs were necessary as the company's "overall headcount and expenses have outpaced the growth of our business."

The company also plans to scale back on contractors.

Microsoft is reducing its headcount by 1,900 at Activision, Xbox, and ZeniMax.

In late January, nearly three months after Microsoft acquired video game firm Activision Blizzard, the company announced layoffs in its gaming divisions. The layoffs mostly affect employees at Activision Blizzard.

"As we move forward in 2024, the leadership of Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard is committed to aligning on a strategy and an execution plan with a sustainable cost structure that will support the whole of our growing business," Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in a memo obtained by The Verge.

The cuts come a year after the tech giant announced it was reducing its workforce by 10,000 employees. It then slashed a further 1,000 roles across sales and customer service teams in July 2023.

Salesforce is cutting 700 employees across the company, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Salesforce announced a round of layoffs that the company says will affect 1% of its global workforce, The Journal reported in late January.

The cuts followed a wave of cuts at the cloud giant last year. In 2023, Marc Benioff's company laid off about 10% of its total workforce — or roughly 7,000 jobs. The CEO said the company over-hired during the pandemic.

Flexport lays off 15% of its workers.

In late January, the US logistics startup laid off 15% of its staff which is around 400 workers.

The move came after Flexport founder and CEO Ryan Petersen initiated a 20% reduction of its workforce of an estimated 2,600 employees in October.

Flexport kicked off 2024 with the announcement that it raised $260 million from Shopify and made "massive progress toward returning Flexport to profitability."

iRobot is laying off around 350 employees and founder Colin Angle will step down as chairman and CEO.

The company behind the Roomba Vacuum announced layoffs in late January around the same time Amazon decided not to go through with its proposed acquisition of the company, the Associated Press reported.

UPS will cut 12,000 jobs in 2024.

The UPS layoffs will affect 14% of the company's 85,000 managers and could save the company $1 billion in 2024, UPS CEO Carol Tomé said during a January earnings call.

Paypal CEO Alex Chriss announced the company would lay off 9% of its workforce.

Announced in late January, this round of layoffs will affect about 2,500 employees at the payment processing company.

"We are doing this to right-size our business, allowing us to move with the speed needed to deliver for our customers and drive profitable growth," CEO Alex Chriss wrote in a January memo. "At the same time, we will continue to invest in areas of the business we believe will create and accelerate growth."

Okta is cutting roughly 7% of its workforce.

The digital-access-management company announced its plans for a "restructuring plan intended to improve operating efficiencies and strengthen the Company's commitment to profitable growth" in an SEC filing in February.

The cuts will impact roughly 400 employees.

Okta CEO Todd McKinnon told staff in a memo that "costs are still too high," CNBC reported.

Snap has announced more layoffs.

The company behind Snapchat announced in February that it's reducing its global workforce by 10%, according to an SEC filing.

Estée Lauder said it will eliminate up to 3,100 positions.

The cosmetics company announced in February that it would be cutting 3% to 5% of its roles as part of a restructuring plan.

Estee Lauder reportedly employed about 62,000 employees around the world as of June 30, 2023.

DocuSign is eliminating roughly 6% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan.

The electronic signature company said in an SEC filing in February that most of the cuts will be in its sales and marketing divisions.

Zoom is slashing 150 jobs.

The latest reduction announced in February amounts to about 2% of its workforce.

Paramount Global is laying off 800 employees days after record-breaking Super Bowl.

In February, Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish sent a memo to employees announcing that 800 jobs — about 3% of its workforce — were being cut.

Deadline obtained the memo less than a month after reporting plans for layoffs at Paramount. The announcement comes on the heels of Super Bowl LVIII reaching record-high viewership across CBS, Paramount+, and Nickelodeon, and Univision.

Morgan Stanley is trimming its wealth management division by hundreds of staffers.

Morgan Stanley is laying off several hundred employees in its wealth-management division, the Wall Street Journal reported in February, representing roughly 1% of the team.

The wealth-management division has seen some slowdown in recent months, with net new assets down by about 8% from a year ago. The layoffs mark the first major move by newly-installed CEO Ted Pick, who took the reins from James Gorman on January 1.

Cisco slashes more than 4,000 jobs amid corporate tech sales slowdown.

In February, networking company Cisco announced it was slashing 5% of its workforce, or upwards of 4,000 jobs, Bloomberg reported.

The company said it was restructuring after an industry-wide pullback in corporate tech spending — which execs said they expect to continue through the first half of the year.

Expedia Group is cutting more than 8% of its workforce.

Cutbacks part of an operational review at online travel giant Expedia Group are expected to impact 1,500 roles this year, a company spokesperson told BI.

The company's product and technology division is set to be the worst hit, a report from GeekWire said, citing an internal memo CEO Peter Kern sent to employees in late February.

"While this review will result in the elimination of some roles, it also allows the company to invest in core strategic areas for growth," the spokesperson said.

"Consultation with local employee representatives, where applicable, will occur before making any final decisions," they added.

Sony is laying off 900 workers

The cuts at Sony Interactive Entertainment swept through its game-making teams at PlayStation Studios.

Insomniac Games, which developed the hit Spider-Man video game series, as well as Naughty Dog, the developers behind Sony's flagship 'The Last of Us' video games' were hit by the cuts, the company announced on February 27.

All of PlayStation's London studio will be shuttered, according to the proposal.

"Delivering and sustaining social, online experiences – allowing PlayStation gamers to explore our worlds in different ways – as well as launching games on additional devices such as PC and Mobile, requires a different approach and different resources," PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst wrote.

Hulst added that some games in development will be shut down, though he didn't say which ones.

In early February, Sony said it missed its target for selling PlayStation 5 consoles. The earnings report sent shares tumbling and the company's stock lost about $10 billion in value.

Bumble is slashing 30% of its workforce

On February 27, the dating app company announced that it would be reducing its staff due to "future strategic priorities" for its business, per a statement.

The cuts will impact about 30% of its about 1,200 person workforce or about 350 roles, a representative for Bumble told BI by email.

"We are taking significant and decisive actions that ensure our customers remain at the center of everything we do as we relaunch Bumble App, transform our organization and accelerate our product roadmap," Bumble Inc CEO Lidiane Jones said in a statement.

Electronic Arts is reducing its workforce by 5%

Electronic Arts is laying off about 670 workers, equating to 5% of its workforce, Bloomberg reported in late February.

The gaming firm axed two mobile games earlier in February, which it described as a difficult decision in a statement issued to GamesIndustry.biz.

CEO Andrew Wilson reportedly told employees in a memo that it would be "moving away from development of future licensed IP that we do not believe will be successful in our changing industry."

Wilson also said in the memo that the cuts came as a result of shifting customer needs and a refocusing of the company, Bloomberg reported.

IBM cutting staff in marketing and communications

IBM's chief communications officer Jonathan Adashek told employees on March 12 that it would be cutting staff, CNBC reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.

An IBM spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement that the cuts follow a broader workforce action the company announced during its earnings call in January.

"In 4Q earnings earlier this year, IBM disclosed a workforce rebalancing charge that would represent a very low single-digit percentage of IBM's global workforce, and we expect to exit 2024 at roughly the same level of employment as we entered with," they said.

IBM has also been clear about the impact of AI on its workforce. Last May, IBM's CEO Arvind Krishna said the company expected to pause hiring on roles that could be replaced by AI, especially in areas like human resources and other non-consumer-facing departments.

"I could easily see 30% of that getting replaced by AI and automation over a five-year period," Krishna told Bloomberg at the time.

Stellantis is slashing 400 white-collar jobs

On March 22, the owner of Jeep and Dodge announced it's laying off employees on its engineering, technology, and software teams in an effort to cut costs, CNBC reported.

Workers learned they were being let go through video calls after the car company ordered them to work remotely for the day. The cuts are set to occur on March 31.

Amazon is laying off hundreds in its cloud division in yet another round of cuts this year

Amazon is cutting hundreds of jobs from its cloud division known as Amazon Web Services, Bloomberg reported on April 3.

The reduction will impact employees on the sales and marketing team and those working on tech for its retail stores, Bloomberg reported.

"We've identified a few targeted areas of the organization we need to streamline in order to continue focusing our efforts on the key strategic areas that we believe will deliver maximum impact," an Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg.

On March 26, Amazon announced another round of job cuts after the company said it was slashing 'several hundred' jobs at its Prime Video and MGM Studios divisions earlier this year to refocus on more profitable products.

"We've identified opportunities to reduce or discontinue investments in certain areas while increasing our investment and focus on content and product initiatives that deliver the most impact," Mike Hopkins, SVP of Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, told employees in January.

This year's cuts follow the largest staff layoff in the company's history. In 2023, the tech giant laid off 18,000 workers.

Apple has cut over 600 employees in California

Apple has slashed its California workforce by more than 600 employees.

The cuts follow Apple's decision to withdraw from its car and smartwatch display projects.

The tech giant filed a series of notices to comply with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification program. One of the addresses was linked to a new display development office, while the others were for the company's EV effort, Bloomberg reported.

Apple officially shut down its decadelong EV project in February. At the time, Bloomberg reported that some employees would move to generative AI, but others would be laid off.

Bloomberg noted that the layoffs were likely an undercount of the full scope of staff cuts, as Apple had staff working on these projects in other locations.

Representatives for Apple did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside normal business hours.

Tesla is laying off over 10% of its workforce

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent a memo to employees Sunday, April 14, at nearly midnight in California, informing them of the company's plan to cut over 10% of its global workforce.

In his companywide memo, Musk cited "duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas" as the reason behind the reductions.

An email sent to terminated employees obtained by BI read: "Effective now, you will not need to perform any further work and therefore will no longer have access to Tesla systems and physical locations."

On April 29, Musk reportedly sent an email stating the need for more layoffs at Tesla. He also announced the departure of two executives and said that their reports would also be let go. Six known Tesla executives have left the company since layoffs began in April.

Grand Theft Auto 6 publisher Take-Two Interactive is reducing its workforce by 5%

Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, said on April 16 that it would be "eliminating several projects" and reducing its workforce by about 5%.

The move — a part of its larger "cost reduction program" — will cost the video game publisher up to $200 million. It's expected to be completed by December 31.

As of March 2023, the company said it employed approximately 11,580 full-time workers.

Peloton is reducing its staff by 15% as the CEO steps down as well

Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy is stepping down, the company announced May 2. Along with his departure, the fitness company is also laying off about 400 workers.

McCarthy is leaving his role just two years after replacing John Foley as CEO and president in 2022. Peloton said the changes are expected to reduce annual expenses by over $200 million by the end of fiscal 2025 as part of a larger restructuring plan.

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• Consumers are "price weary," and McDonald's is paying attention.
• McDonald's will be "thoughtful" about any further price increases in 2024, CFO Ian Borden said.
• People are getting less fast food. "Everybody is fighting for fewer consumers," Borden said.

McDonald's says it's doubling down on value as customers increasingly feel the strain.

"The consumer is price weary," McDonald's CFO Ian Borden told analysts at the company's earnings call on Tuesday. "And I think we certainly are going to be prudent and thoughtful about any further price increases that we're looking at for the rest of 2024."

"Consumers continue to be even more discriminating with every dollar that they spend as they faced elevated prices in their day-to-day spending which is putting pressure on the QSR [quick service restaurant] industry," CEO Chris Kempczinski said.

He said that diners from all income cohorts are looking for value, though he noted that it "may be more pronounced with the lower income consumer."

"I think all consumers are looking for good value, for good affordability," Kempczinski said.

Prices spiked during the pandemic when restaurants' costs went up because of labor shortages and supply-chain woes. While grocery inflation has moderated, fast food prices are still rising at higher rates than pre-pandemic.

Some diners say fast food no longer represents value for money and are cutting down in favor of cooking at home or dining at sit-down restaurants.

Other restaurant chains, including Starbucks and Burger King parent company, Restaurant Brands International, have said this week that customers are being cautious with their spending.

"Clearly, everybody is fighting for fewer consumers or consumers that are certainly visiting less frequently," CFO Borden said, reiterating comments he'd made in March that higher prices were deterring some diners from eating out.

But during Tuesday's call, McDonald's execs highlighted the chain's work around affordability. "We literally wrote the playbook on value," Kempczinski said.

Regarding McDonald's prices, Kempczinski said: "I feel like we are in a decent shape from an overall menu standpoint."

Kempczinski said that 90% of McDonald's US franchisees were offering meal bundles that cost $4 or less. Internationally, it's also been offering value bundles at "various price points" to provide "smaller, more affordable meals," he said. In Germany, for example, its McSmart menu sold record units in the first quarter, he said.

Kempczinski also highlighted that diners could get discounts by ordering on its app.

But McDonald's needs to do more work to promote its value offerings nationally and drive customer awareness, Kempczinski said.

"We're doing it in 50 different ways with local value," he said. "And what we don't have in the US right now is a national value platform at the same time that our competitors are out there with the national value platform."

McDonald's posted a 2.5% increase in comparable US sales for the quarter to March 31, down massively from 12.6% in the same quarter the previous year. Total revenue for the quarter rose 5% year-over-year to $6.17 billion.

Is fast food too expensive? Email this reporter at gdean@insider.com.

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• President Joe Biden asked ChatGPT to explain a legal case, write a Supreme Court briefing, and a song.
• "Wow, I can't believe it could do that," he said after his first ChatGPT run,  according to Wired.
• The experience also pushed Biden to sign an executive order on AI safety.

After over three decades in the Senate, eight years as vice president, and three presidential campaigns, you'd think nothing would surprise President Joe Biden.

Then, last spring, he tried out ChatGPT. A few months later, he signed sweeping legislation targeting the new technology.

Arati Prabhakar, Biden's chief science and technology advisor and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told Wired that she and Biden put the bot up to a few tasks.

First, they asked it to explain a lawsuit between Delaware (the state Biden represented as a senator) and New Jersey (the home state of singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, to whom Biden had just presented the National Medal of Arts) as if it was talking to a first grader. "OK, kiddo," the bot began.

Then, they asked it to write a legal brief for a Supreme Court case, write a song in the style of Springsteen, and generate an image of Biden's dog, Commander, in the Oval Office.

"Wow, I can't believe it could do that," Biden told Prabhakar, according to Wired.

But his first encounter with generative AI also sparked concern.

Prabhakar told Wired that Biden later asked the team to address the potential risks of AI. That led to the sweeping executive order he signed in October. The order requires major tech companies to adhere to certain safety guidelines, notify the federal government of their work, and share testing results.

Biden also reportedly told his cabinet that AI would touch the work of every department and agency at a meeting in early October. "The rest of the world is looking to us to lead the way," he said.

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