Tag: News

• North Korea deepened its defense ties with Russia through a new security pact last month.
• The Pentagon said it would "keep an eye" on North Korea potentially sending forces to Russia.
• If troops were sent it would be due to their numbers, not their effectiveness, experts told BI.

Speculation has been growing that North Korea could send troops to Ukraine.

Last month, Russia and North Korea signed a pact agreeing to give each other military assistance if the other is attacked.

As part of the pact, South Korea's TV Chosun reported, citing an unnamed South Korean government official, North Korea plans to send construction and engineering forces to occupied Ukraine later this month for rebuilding efforts.

No official confirmation has been made so far, but speculation heightened during a Pentagon press briefing late last month when a journalist said that North Korea's Central Military Commission had announced that North Korea would join forces with the Russian military.

(The Institute for the Study of War questioned the reporter's claim, saying that it had found no such statement made by North Korea.)

In response, Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder described North Korea potentially sending military forces to Russia as "certainly something to keep an eye on."

As of now, the prospect of North Korean soldiers being deployed to Ukraine is speculative and unlikely, experts told Business Insider.

But if it did happen, the main advantage Russia would take from it would be North Korea's sheer number of soldiers — not their effectiveness, they said.

"North Korea has a large military of 1.3 million," Edward Howell, Korea Foundation Fellow with Chatham House's Asia-Pacific Programme, told BI.

"Yet, the quality of North Korean conventional weapons, arms, and the soldiers themselves is far weaker," he said.

John Hardie, deputy director of the Russia program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that even if the reports were true, he doubted the deployment of North Korean troops would have a "significant" impact on the battlefield in Ukraine.

One of the largest militaries but not the most effective

North Korea has the world's fourth-largest army, with estimates putting its troop numbers at about 1.2 million personnel.

But while it is "well trained" and "highly motivated," the Korean People's Army has not had any real-world combat experience in decades, said Evans Revere, senior advisor with the global advisory firm Albright Stonebridge Group.

The last time they really fought was during the Korean War, where fighting ended in 1953.

Revere, who served as the acting assistant secretary for East Asia and Pacific affairs during the George W. Bush administration, said this raised questions about how its troops would perform in combat against the "agile, determined, experienced, and tough Ukrainian military."

The Korean army's military exercises focus on fighting two adversaries, the US and South Korea, he said, adding that its weapons include "a lot of what the US military calls 'legacy systems,' particularly their aircraft, tanks, and artillery."

"This could be a problem on the battlefields of Ukraine," he said.

While North Korea is estimated to have 50 nuclear warheads as of January 2024, its stockpile of weapons is seen as outdated and unreliable, experts said.

This means it would take a while for North Korean soldiers to adjust to newer weaponry, Bruce Bennett, a defense researcher at RAND, told BI.

This would likely prompt Kim Jong Un, the country's leader, to only send "politically reliable" troops to support Russia, he said.

"What is uncertain is whether the Russians would provide the North Koreans with needed advanced weaponry — better tanks and artillery, communications and electronic warfare," Bennett said, adding that Kim would likely insist on that.

Wallace Gregson, a former US Marine Corps officer and former assistant defense secretary for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, said that North Korean troops' effectiveness would also depend on how they are supported with food, fuel, and medical care, and their command relationships with the Russians.

"Given what we know about nutrition in North Korea, even in the army, they might have issues," he told BI.

Howell from Chatham House was more blunt.

"If North Korea were to send troops to aid Russia's war, then they would merely be there due to their sheer numbers and not their military effectiveness," he said.

Deployment should not be completely ruled out

According to Benjamin Young, assistant professor of homeland security and emergency preparedness at Virginia Commonwealth University, Kim would not send troops "thousands of miles to Europe in order to die meaningless deaths on the front lines for a different country."

Young, the author of "Guns, Guerillas, & the Great Leader: North Korea and the Third World," said that, if they were sent, "the North Korean troops will most likely play an auxiliary role in terms of building fortifications and structures."

"They may also help repair tanks, weapons systems, and other armaments," he added.

Hardie, from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said we should "wait and see" if the report is true and an actual deployment takes place.

But if it does, he added that North Korean soldiers may "simply" be helping rebuild a destroyed city like Mariupol.

Other experts, however, had a different view.

Bennett, from RAND, said he thinks it is "fairly likely" that North Korea will send troops to Ukraine, without elaborating further.

Howell, meanwhile, said we should not rule out the possibility of some transfer of individuals — whether troops or support personnel — given the recent increase in defense ties between Russia and North Korea.

But we "must remember that, at present, these rumors are merely speculative," he added.

• Dennis Dabney, 57, supercommutes from Texas to Arizona nearly every week.
• He said it was the best thing he could've done for career advancement.
• But it can take a financial toll, and it's difficult to be away from family.

Dennis Dabney, 57, is no stranger to travel.

After serving in the Air Force for 26 years, Dabney started working for his current employer in 2016 in Virginia. As a military family, his wife and two children were used to moving, so when his company asked him three years later to relocate to Fort Worth, Texas, that's what they did.

Then 2022 rolled around, and Dabney was offered a promotion within his company to be a program director — in Phoenix. Dabney was excited about the opportunity, and he viewed it as the perfect chance to advance his career and boost his income.

However, his wife and two teenage kids had set down roots in Fort Worth and did not want to move again, and the same applied to his 88-year-old mother, who lived with his family.

So Dabney made the decision with his family to purchase an apartment in Phoenix, live there during the workweek, and commute back to Fort Worth on the weekends.

"I couldn't do this without the support of my family and my wife. And that has been crucial to decisions that I've made over the years about where to go and where to work," Dabney told Business Insider.

"You have to continue to have open communication with your family unit because things change, attitudes change, and you just have to figure out when things are getting out of hand or when things are going smoothly," he said.

Every other Friday, Dabney gets the day off from work, and that's typically when he'll choose to book a two-and-a-half-hour flight back home using a budget airline like Spirit or Frontier. His family will also sometimes visit him while he's in Phoenix. While he said his company helped him with relocating costs, he estimated the supercommute costs him around an extra $20,000 each year.

Supercommuting has grown increasingly popular over the past few years, with more Americans taking advantage of hybrid work environments to opt for the longer commute to work to boost their earnings. The 2019 American Community Survey data from the US Census Bureau found that, as of 2021, 3.1 million Americans fell into the supercommute category, or a journey to work that takes 90 minutes or longer.

Dabney loves his job, and while it can be difficult to be separated from his family, he's grateful they allowed him to pursue this opportunity. But he recognizes it's not a possibility for everyone.

"It's just my mindset, my background, and how to leverage all of that and learn how to create the quality of life that I want," Dabney said. "And it's just been a growing and development phase for me in figuring out what I want and what the art of the possible is."

'The whole experience has been very gratifying'

This wasn't Dabney's first experience with a supercommute. Prior to his new role in Phoenix, he was driving five hours to Louisiana every week for a different position in his company, and he made sure to come home every weekend to see his family and support his kids at their various sports tournaments.

"It was a nonstarter ripping my kids out of high school to go to Louisiana and then eventually Phoenix," Dabney said. "We moved quite a bit, but after we got to Texas, I got a clear signal from my family that they didn't want to move anymore."

If his kids were younger, Dabney said, being a supercommuter would not have been possible for him. Doing so at this stage in his life allowed him to become an executive, earn more money to support his family, and find a job that gave him a sense of purpose — helping him feel confident in his decision to work over a thousand miles away from home.

"The whole experience has been very gratifying," he said. "Having the experience to live in another part of the country that I probably wouldn't have lived in before has also been good."

Of course, the long commute has cons. Airfare and a second home are expensive, Dabney said, and he recommended that those considering a supercommute be transparent with their company about negotiating a compensation package that could help cover some of those costs.

He also said that, given his military background, he is used to traveling, but those who might not do so as frequently should consider whether they can manage hours each week in a car or on a plane.

As BI previously reported, the share of commutes of at least 75 miles increased 32% post-pandemic, according to data from Stanford economists Nick Bloom and Alex Finan, with hybrid work expanding work and living options for workers.

It's a signal that more people might start considering the lifestyle Dabney has taken on — and while he said he has "no regrets," he cautions those who do take on a long commute to have full clarity on its implications.

"I think the way the company looks at it, you are making a choice not to relocate your family to wherever the job site is, and you are deciding on your own to do the supercommuting away from your family," Dabney said. "It took me a while to realize that they don't really owe you anything else."

Are you, or were you, a supercommuter? Are you considering a supercommute? Share your story with this reporter at asheffey@businessinsider.com.

• Pomona is launching a basic income pilot for families with children under 4 years old.
• Funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, the pilot offers $500 monthly to 250 eligible families.
• New parents can spend the no-strings cash on housing, groceries, and childcare.

Babies are expensive: Formula, diapers, clothes, toys, frequent pediatrician check-ups, and a crib can cost new parents thousands of dollars — and that doesn't include childcare or household bills.

That's why city officials in Pomona, California — a city in LA county — are planning to offer guaranteed basic income to new parents. Beginning in August, 250 families with children under 4 years old will receive $500 a month for 18 months.

The basic income pilot — called Pomona Household Universal Grants Pilot Program — is run through the city and FORWARD, an organization that helps governments administer resources to their communities. Funding will largely come through President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan Act.

Pomona's program mirrors over 100 basic income pilots across America. As an approach to poverty reduction, cities and counties have given low-income residents between $100 and $2,000 a month for a set time period. Participants can spend the money as they choose, with no strings attached. Like Pomona, a growing number of cities are choosing to direct the cash to financially-vulnerable families.

Along with having a baby or toddler, eligible families must meet at least one of the following criteria: have experienced a negative financial impact from the pandemic, live in a high rent-burdened area, be enrolled in federal safety nets like SNAP or Section 8 housing, or have an income at or below the median area income, which is $81,150 for a family of three. People who fit the income criteria and are currently pregnant can also be eligible.

The 250 families will be randomly selected from 600 eligible applicants, and the remaining 350 applicants will be placed in a control group so researchers can study the effects of the program. Throughout the 18 months, both groups will share their experience with researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Mayor of Pomona, Tim Sandoval, told Business Insider in a statement that basic income allows the city to "extend a lifeline" to families during crucial developmental years.

"It provides parents with the stability and resources they need to create nurturing environments for their children, setting the stage for lifelong success and well-being," Sandoval said.

Pomona's GBI pilot joins others aimed at new parents

Pomona joins cities like Baltimore and St. Louis, which have directed basic income to young families. BI has heard from parents across the US who have received GBI, and some used the money to pay bills and secure stable housing, while others were able to afford groceries and childcare.

For example, low-income mothers of color based in Marin County, California received $1,000 a month between 2021 and 2023, and a 2024 extension of the program gave some families an additional $7,500. Participants reported using the money to pay rent, buy food, build savings, and pay off debt. During the pilot's run, the number of families with housing stability rose by 15%, and participants reported an 8% decline in homelessness.

Elsewhere in the US, Flint, Michigan's pilot called RxKids is currently offering basic income to all mothers with a baby born in 2024. New mothers receive a $1,500 lump sum and $500 a month during the first year of their baby's life.

These programs are in addition to other federal safety net programs geared toward families, like the Child Tax Credit, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Women, Children and Infants (WIC) that provide aid to parents with young children.

Luke Shaefer, a co-director for RxKids and public policy professor at the University of Michigan, told BI that a family's household income often drops to its lowest point during a person's pregnancy or when their child is an infant, due to lost work hours.

"Combine that with the fact that a new child comes with all these added expenses: you're in a perfect storm of income dropping and expenses rising," Shaefer said.

He added that no-strings basic income can help families fill this earnings gap, and parents have the flexibility to spend the money "where it will help their kids the best."

Still, GBI research reflects short-term results. Some participants experience more housing and food security while receiving money, but it's not clear if families remain financially stable after the pilots end. Basic income continues to face political and legal opposition across the US, and not all policymakers agree that cash payments are a sustainable approach to poverty.

As Pomona looks toward its first GBI payments this summer, Sandoval is hopeful the money will support the city's "youngest residents," he said.

"It allows us to invest in the future of our community as a whole," he said.

Have you benefited from a guaranteed basic income program? Are you open to sharing how you spent the money? If so, reach out to this reporter at allisonkelly@businessinsider.com.

At 24, David Nuñez still lives at home with his parents in Tampa, Florida. He chips in his share of the phone bill, the Netflix subscription, and the groceries, but thanks to his parents' generosity, he doesn't pay any rent. Contrary to what some might think, Nuñez isn't an unemployed freeloader — he has a full-time job in marketing. But his $33,000 annual salary barely makes a dent in local rent prices; downtown, a one-bedroom costs more than $2,000 a month. He simply can't afford it.

"I'm fortunate enough to have a family that understands that it's kind of a rough time right now," he told me.

Despite a strong job market, many Gen Zers are still relying on the bank of Mom and Dad to make ends meet. In a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center last fall, only 16% of 18- to 24-year-olds said they were completely financially independent, whereas in 1980, 32% of 22-year-olds could say the same. In the past decade, the share of parents who say they have supported an adult child has doubled, to about 60% in 2023 from about 30% in 2013, according to Pew. Some parents have reported spending an average of $1,400 a month helping their adult kids with groceries, tuition, and more.

"You're told throughout your life that you move out at 18 or 19 years old and you're kind of expected to have your own life already," Nuñez said. "But I only know one person in my friendship group who is not living with their parents anymore."

This new norm is leaving parents frazzled. Paying for college tuition is one thing, but many aren't sure how to handle their children remaining comfortably in the nest and relying on them for food, rent, and other expenses well beyond college. Nuñez's mother lived with her aunt before moving to America, so she's happy to let her son live with her. "I would rather you be here and know that you are OK," she told him. But for others, the aid comes with a question: At what point should parents cut the financial umbilical cord?

Despite being better educated than older generations and increasingly likely to be employed full time, Gen Zers have faced significant financial hurdles.

For one, modest wage increases have been overshadowed by substantial student-loan debt. Over the past 20 years, the average student debt has more than doubled, to just over $37,000 per borrower. "More and more young people are seeking higher education," Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson, a professor of sociology at Washington State University, said. "They're staying in school longer, and while they're doing that, they are delaying their earning capacity."

The rising cost of housing is another barrier. Zillow estimated this year that people needed 80% more income to comfortably afford to buy a home than they did four years ago. And rent is taking up more and more of the budget: Zillow found that the average rent in America had gone up by 60% since 2015.

Wages, meanwhile, haven't kept up with inflation, meaning people are more strapped for cash. All told, Kirkpatrick Johnson said, many young adults are "entering jobs that do not allow them to be self-sufficient."

Every generation tries to improve and do better than the last.

In this perfect storm, many are opting to take shelter in their childhood homes. The share of 25- to 34-year-olds living with their parents in the US has climbed by 87% over the past two decades. Other milestones, like getting married and starting a family, are happening later and later.

In his book "The Oxford Handbook of Emerging Adulthood," Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, a psychology professor at Clark University, defined adulthood as taking responsibility, making independent decisions, and becoming financially independent. But increasingly, people aren't meeting that definition until they're closer to 30. He decided that, in the modern economy and culture, the time between 18 and 29 when young adults are still getting their footing needed its own name, calling it "emerging adulthood."

Not everyone is on board with that. In a 2019 Pew Research survey, 64% of Americans said they believed young adults should be financially independent by 22. "Our institutions haven't totally caught up yet," Kirkpatrick Johnson said, adding that, without the kinds of social safety nets that other countries have, like subsidized student loans and publicly funded healthcare, American parents are often left to provide cover.

Some parents are happy to provide a backstop. Jo Clark, 50, always knew she'd keep providing for her two daughters after college. "My mindset was always to support my daughters wherever possible," she told me. Clark's older daughter, 26, lived at home briefly, and now her youngest daughter, who's 24, lives in the extension Clark built on her Surrey, England, home for this very purpose. She didn't expect her daughter to contribute anything to the household costs, but her daughter insisted and now contributes £150 a month. "I wanted them to have the opportunity to be able to save for their future," Clark said. "My aim is that they could save for a deposit for their own house."

Clark says that even if her daughter moves out in the future, the door will always be open for her to come back. "I'm not terribly financially affluent myself," she said, "so this is my way that I can give my children the stepping stone to be able to buy their own place."

Teresa Bailey, a senior wealth strategist at Waddell & Associates, argued that Gen X parents were among the earliest to demonstrate an openness to providing so much financial support. "This generation of parents went through 2008, 2009, 2010 as relatively young adults, and they really experienced financial hardship," she told me. "They are in many ways the product of that mindset and want things to be different for their children."

Parents have the least amount of time to financially recover. The young adult has their entire life ahead of them. There's not always consideration given to that.

Ali Lupo, a millennial with a 10-month-old daughter in upstate New York, agreed that part of the trend toward extra support comes down to a shift in parenting styles. "Every generation tries to improve and do better than the last," she said. "My grandparents' generation, you threw the kids out of the house in the summer and passed them a sandwich through the door. My parents' generation were more protective and wanted to do more to help. I think now we are even more like that, sometimes to a fault."

She and her husband plan to contribute to the costs of their daughter's education, health insurance, and wedding — and they don't foresee ever charging her rent. "When you sign up as a parent," Lupo said, "you're a parent for life."

Some parents might be more willing to provide financial support because they want to feel like a good parent. In the Pew survey last fall, 71% of parents of young adults said their children's successes and failures reflected on the job they'd done as parents — a sentiment that was particularly strong among upper-income parents. But the support doesn't always come easy; some parents are sacrificing their own financial security by dipping into their retirement or emergency savings to help their adult children. In a Bankrate survey last year, 31% of parents with adult children said they had made what they considered significant financial sacrifices to help their kids.

"Parents have the least amount of time to financially recover. The young adult has their entire life ahead of them," Bailey said. "There's not always consideration given to that."

Some are concerned that parents are enabling their children to delay milestones by providing so much support. A 2019 report from the Urban Institute found that in a sample of young adults who were 25 to 34 between 1999 and 2005, only about 68% of those who lived with their parents at those ages had achieved independent living a decade later, compared with nearly all those who rented or owned a home.

On the flip side, JP Krahel, the chair of the accounting department at Loyola University Maryland, told me it's better for young people to save up and limit their expenses if possible: "Technically, if you're living out of your car on the side of the street, are you financially independent? Maybe, but you don't have a great trajectory."

It can be a tough act to balance. The Lupos plan to leave some expenses, such as college tuition, to their daughter when she reaches an appropriate age. "For us," Lupo said, "it's about setting her up for success, giving her love and support, and empowering her to make the best choices possible — but not enabling her."

Cody and Erika Archie took a different approach. The Texas couple began charging their daughter $200 a month in rent the month after she graduated from high school in 2022. "It's not so much rent that she couldn't afford it, but it also was enough that it kind of stung when she had to pay it," Cody Archie said. "If you're going to live under our roof as an adult, you can pay for the long showers you take, the food you eat, and help contribute to the household."

When you're working a 40-hour-a-week job, you're an adult. That's when you need to be off your mom and dad's bank account.

Archie said that if their daughter had attended college while living at home, they wouldn't have charged rent and would have helped with her tuition. But she decided to skip college and now works as an insurance sales representative. "When you're working a 40-hour-a-week job, you're an adult," Archie said. "That's when you need to be off your mom and dad's bank account."

He said he and Erika, both of whom are in their mid-40s, believe that coddling adult children does them a disservice and fails to teach them important lessons in financial responsibility. "If you don't kick them out of the nest and force them to get into the world and start fending for themselves, there's really no need for them to," Archie said. "They've got to go on their own, or you have to force them out to help them."

When India Anderson turned 20 and decided to move in with her boyfriend, her mother cut off most financial support. As a full-time student in Orlando, Anderson needed to find a way to pay her bills, so she started a hair-braiding business on campus. Now, at 22, she has graduated and grown her business. She still lives with her boyfriend in Orlando, splitting rent and bills. The only bill her mother still covers is her phone.

"I wasn't raised with the proper financial literacy to be thrust into the real world," she said. "That transition, at least for me, wasn't that smooth." Anderson struggled to save money and dealt with some unexpected expenses she had to put on her credit card. She's also worried about getting kicked off her family's health-insurance plan when she turns 26. At the same time, she valued financial independence. "It's an expensive sacrifice," she said.

Anderson's 20-year-old brother still lives at home with their mother and 9-year-old sister, something Anderson sees as putting a strain on their mother. "He has a job, but he spends his money on computer games and Uber Eats every day," she said. Still, she doesn't wish him the abrupt exit she experienced. "Some independence would do him good," she said, "but at what cost?"

Most parents seem to want what's best for their kids, but navigating what that actually looks like in a shifting economy isn't easy. When Nuñez told his parents he wanted to move in with his girlfriend later this year, they were nervous. "They're less like, 'Get out of my house,'" he said, "and more like, 'We don't want you leaving if you're just going to have to come back.'"

Eve Upton-Clark is a features writer covering culture and society.

• CEOs' office decor reveals different elements of their personalities.
• Bernard Arnault's office at LVMH features artwork from one of the most famous painters.
• Meanwhile Mark Zuckerberg is content with just a desk.

From priceless artwork to "Star Wars" memorabilia, you can tell a lot about a chief executive by how they decorate their office.

Their high salaries, and even higher net worths, mean CEOs have the power to deck their workspaces out with more than everyday knickknacks. Still, some choose the bare minimum.

Mark Zuckerberg, for example, has previously boasted about working alongside his Meta employees instead of in his own office. Meanwhile, Salesforce's Marc Benioff is surrounded by his favorite science fiction characters.

The daily schedule of a CEO typically includes long hours, endless meetings, and sifting through a bombardment of emails. Here's how they decorate the spaces where they run their companies,

Bernard Arnault

With a net worth of $201 billion, according to Bloomberg, LVMH top boss Bernard Arnault has very expensive taste. He stands at the helm of a luxury goods empire made up of iconic brands, including Louis Vuitton, Dom Pérignon, and Dior.

His office at the LVMH headquarters in Paris reflects his status. According to a recent profile with Bloomberg, Arnault's walls are adorned with three paintings by the late artist Andy Warhol. At the time, a framed Picasso sat leaning against the wall, not yet hung.

The conference room attached to his office has a neutral color palette with brown wood paneling on the walls and artwork featuring the Eiffel Tower, according to the profile.

Tim Cook

When Apple CEO Tim Cook was interviewed for a profile in Vanity Fair, which was published in line with the release of the Vision Pro headset in February, he took journalists into his modestly decorated office inside Apple Park.

He had most of the devices one might expect from the leader of a high-powered tech company like Apple — an iPad and AirPods on his desk with a Mac and Macbook at a separate standing desk behind him.

But the Alabama native also had pieces of home with him in Cupertino. He had a football helmet from his alma mater, Auburn University, a signed basketball, and — like Arnault — a collection of framed art leaning against the wall.

The one piece of decor that Cook did manage to hang was a framed photo of the late politician Robert F. Kennedy. The photo features the Apple logo and appears to be in a similar style to Apple's famous "Think Different" campaign.

Marc Benioff

If his office is any indication, Benioff is a huge sci-fi buff. The Salesforce CEO gave Forbes an office tour in 2015 where he showed of his collection of figurines from different pop culture phenomena.

At the time, Benioff had figures of fictional "Star Wars" robot R2-D2, Princess Leia, and Darth Maul. He also had toys like Mr. Potato Head and a stuffed Sully from "Monsters Inc."

His love for Hawaii has been evident over the years as he and his wife have bought and donated hundreds of acres of Hawaiian land to develop affordable housing. As such, Benioff told Forbes that he keeps surfboards in his office to remind him of the state.

In 2018, a new headquarters, the Salesforce Tower, opened in San Francisco. It's unclear if Benioff brought along his sci-fi merchandise and surfboards.

Mark Zuckerberg

Unlike his fellow top execs, Zuckerberg takes a simpler approach to his workspace.

In 2015, he gave a live office tour of the Meta, then Facebok, headquarters months after the company moved in. The "massive open floor plan," as Zuck described it, allows people to share and communicate more freely.

And the CEO isn't excluded from that.

Zuckerberg emphasized that even people who were "running the company" didn't get special offices. His desk, which was in a cluster of about four other working stations, had stacks of books, his name written in graffiti-style with black paint, and a wooden Facebook logo.

"We've worked like this for a long time, and it's been a pretty core way for how we do what we do here at Facebook," he said in the video.

• X has been struggling to attract advertising following Elon Musk's takeover.
• The financial health of the company once called Twitter has faced ongoing scrutiny.
• Tensions are simmering between Musk and Yaccarino amid the struggles, The Financial Times reported.

The financial health of X has been under scrutiny since Elon Musk's takeover in 2022.

The company once known as Twitter has particularly struggled to attract advertising revenue following Musk's many changes and cost cuts.

Advertisers who abandoned the platform in droves when Musk officially bought the platform in late 2022 have been sluggish to return.

During the February Super Bowl, major advertisers like McDonald's and YouTube cut spending 55% on X compared to last year, an analysis found.

The difficulties are reportedly creating tensions between Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino.

Randall Peterson, a professor of organizational behavior at London Business School, told Business Insider that any company struggling like X would suffer leadership tensions.

"For Yaccarino, her reputation has been ruined in her own space," he said. "Her background is in marketing and advertising, and that's the revenue problem right now. If she can't turn it around, then the thing she's made her name on is now a big question mark."

His comments echo recent reports that there's trouble brewing between the pair.

The Financial Times recently reported that Musk has been pressuring Yaccarino to raise revenues and cut expenses. One senior X employee told the outlet that the renewed pressure had made her increasingly nervous.

The issues seemed to center on X's financial health, which Yaccarino has been struggling to stabilize a year into her role.

She took over as CEO last June, following a stint as NBCUniversal's head of global advertising and partnerships.

Revenue problem

Musk hasn't made it easy for Yaccarino by becoming hostile to some advertisers in an interview late last year. His fiery comment came after he was scrutinized over users' X posts that were criticized for being antisemitic and led to advertisers fleeing the platform.

Internal documents showed that prior to the comments, X was at risk of losing up to $75 million in revenue as companies like Airbnb, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft halted or planned to halt ads on the platform.

Recently, Musk has been trying to convince some advertisers to return to the platform. At the Cannes Lions festival in June, the billionaire met with ad buyers in private and was interviewed by Mark Read, CEO of advertising giant WPP.

Cannes Lions is the ad industry's biggest event of the year, but Musk skipped it in 2023.

Leadership shake-up

Amid the increasing financial pressure, Musk and Yaccarino have also been shaking up the company's leadership.

In April, Musk brought long-standing ally Steve Davis to review the company's finances and employee performance, The Verge reported. Since then, Davis has been reviewing cutting low performers, with plans targeting dozens of jobs, according to an FT report.

Earlier this month, it was announced that Yaccarino's right-hand man, Joe Benarroch, was departing.

Nick Pickles, a Brit who was working at X before Musk's takeover, is thought to be taking over Benarroch's duties.

Social media consultant Matt Navarra said the chaos would "undoubtedly have an impact on the morale of the business and sense of stability for staff."

He added that many employees had already gone through the "traumatic transition" from Twitter to X.

"It will also send a signal out to the business world and advertisers that this is a company that continues to be acting in a state of crisis and is ready to boil over at any moment because of the way it's managed," Navarra said.

Failing partnership

Yaccarino's appointment as CEO was met with cautious optimism, with some hoping the Yaccarino-Musk partnership would replicate the success of the Gwynne Shotwell-Musk double act at SpaceX.

Shotwell oversees most of the operations and sales at the rocket company as COO, while Musk generally focuses on developing the technology. Investors have credited the partnership with much of SpaceX's success.

However, Yaccarino and Musk don't appear to have the same magic at X.

"Everybody thought that this might well work out really well, and the fact that it hasn't is interesting," Peterson said. "The question for me is if X is just structurally so messed up that no one can save it, or Yaccarino could have done it if she was allowed to do what she knows how to do."

X did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• I know my daughter is dating someone when she starts wearing their hoodie. 
• I didn't know this was a thing, and she had to explain it to me the first time. 
• Some hoodies have been returned, others cut up, and one is still in our guest room. 

The first time I saw one was the summer before my daughter's freshman year of high school.

"Where did you get that?" I asked. She was wearing a clearly pre-owned hoodie that I had no recollection of buying.

"Oh, it's Ben's," she said, mentioning the name of the boy she'd been talking to.

"Why are you wearing it?" I questioned, perplexed that she was wearing it not only because it was a boy's but because it was stiflingly hot outside.

"That's what you do, Mom. You wear your boyfriend's hoodie."

I blinked in surprise, two things in our conversation standing out to me. First, she and this boy had moved from the talking stage to being boyfriend and girlfriend. Second, I had no idea it was popular nowadays to wear your boyfriend's sweatshirt.

I wore my high school boyfriend's ring around my neck

When I dated my high school boyfriend in the last millennium, I wore his class ring on a necklace for a semester. It made me feel closer to him and was a visible symbol that I was dating someone. I stopped wearing it because it was a behemoth of a ring and uncomfortable clunking against my chest.

Back then, it was also commonplace for girls to wear their boyfriend's varsity letter jacket or sweater. I knew several girls at my high school who did that, as well as classic movie characters from my youth, such as Sandy in "Grease" and Cindy Mancini in "Can't Buy Me Love."

As it turns out, there's actually a scientific reason girls wear their partner's clothes, whether a hoodie like Gen Z prefers or a letter jacket as in the past. A 2018 study from researchers at the University of British Columbia found that women who wore something with their boyfriend's scent felt calmer and had lower anxiety and stress when compared to women who wore something with a stranger's scent.

Hoodies disappear when the relationship ends

My daughter's new-to-her hoodie disappeared from her wardrobe a few weeks later. As did talk of Ben. I would learn that the breakup was amicable and his hoodie had been returned.

Another hoodie appeared about six months later and stayed around longer. This time, not only did the hoodie make an appearance in our house, but so did the boyfriend, who hung out with my daughter most weekends.

This was my daughter's first serious boyfriend, and the amount of time she spent wearing his hoodie seemed proportionate to the seriousness of their relationship. When the relationship ran its course, the hoodie and the boyfriend stopped showing up at our house.

My daughter is 17 now, and a couple more hoodies haven't fared as well as the first two. One hoodie ended up underneath her bed, cut into little pieces. That hoodie belonged to a boyfriend who cheated on her. The phrase "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" came to mind when I stumbled upon the shredded pieces.

Yet another hoodie remains in a bag in our guest room. My daughter wanted to give it back, exchanging it for the hair scrunchies she'd given this particular ex to wear on his wrist (another symbol of Gen Z coupledom). But the pain of this breakup and perhaps the finality of returning the hoodie have hampered any chance of a meet-up. There's talk of donating this hoodie the next time we make a run to Goodwill.

I have no idea when the next hoodie will appear. It may be merely a phase or a fad. I hope eventually she finds one that is exciting yet comfortable, complements her, and lasts.

• A Bank of America Institute report shows the median pay raise for job-to-job movers has cooled.
• Job switching has slowed from its Great Resignation era highs.
• Middle- and higher-income job seekers could "have somewhat less leverage," per the report.

Here's some less-than-great news if you're looking to job-hop because of your pay: People changing roles likely won't be getting as big of a wage bump as past job switchers.

"If you'd have done the same thing a year ago or 18 months ago, you'd have probably got double the pay rise you're going to get today," David Tinsley, senior economist at the Bank of America Institute, told Business Insider.

A new Bank of America Institute report found the median pay gain for those switching jobs was around 20% during the Great Resignation in 2021 and 2022, based on the bank's internal data. However, the report said that "median pay raises appear to have moderated to around 10%" as of this past May.

"People are still moving, but at the same time, the pay rises they're getting are below pre-pandemic levels," Tinsley said. "That seems to suggest there's been a sort of supply shift."

He added, "the desire to move jobs might be outpacing the demand from firms to take people right now."

The Atlanta Fed's Wage Growth Tracker has also shown pay growth cooling for job switchers since the highs seen in the summer of 2022, based on the three-month moving average of median wage growth.

New data out Friday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggested wage growth for private employees generally has moderated slightly. Average hourly earnings rose by 3.9% from June 2023 to June 2024, following a year-over-year increase of 4.1% in May.

The drops in the median pay raise for job-to-job movers from 2022 to 2024 were felt across workers in all income groups, the Bank of America Institute found. Still, the report noted that lower-income Bank of America customers — those making under $50,000 a year — had the highest median pay gains. Meanwhile, the medians for middle- and higher-income job changers aren't even in the double digits anymore.

The report said that those middle- and upper-income job seekers may "have somewhat less leverage and bargaining power in negotiating a raise on taking a job."

Tinsley linked that drop to turbulence in some particularly high-paying sectors. "Obviously, there was a shakeout of jobs in tech and to some extent in finance last year, and I guess that has probably backed a little of the bargaining power out of those areas," Tinsley said.

The report also shows that job-hopping might be slowing down. New Bureau of Labor Statistics data out Tuesday also showed that the quits rate has consistently been 2.2% for seven months, and the quits level was around 3.5 million in May, far below its Great Resignation high of 4.5 million in April 2022.

Still, Tinsley said there still is a reasonable rate of job-to-job changes happening even with the pullback in raises. He said there's a risk and a reward when people change jobs. The risk, he explained, could be the track record you have to build up at your latest workplace, while the reward could be related to money.

The job-changing data implies there are still some optimistic job searchers in the still-strong labor market.

"Another way of thinking about it is if you move jobs and that job doesn't work out, are you confident that you could move jobs again? And when the labor market's in reasonable shape, then people will have that confidence, and that still seems to sort of be the case in our data," Tinsley said.

Have you made a job change, and how did the pay and benefits compare to your previous role? Are you an employer or recruiter finding job candidates' expectations for pay have changed? Reach out to this reporter to share at mhoff@businessinsider.com.

• A New Yorker's Airbnb business thrived until a new city law shut it down.
• NYC moved to restrict short-term rentals, in part to address the city's housing shortage.
• The former host now rents his basement through Facebook and friends, earning income after a layoff.

After Paul and his wife bought their townhouse in Astoria, Queens, in 2013, they decided to transform their basement into a guest suite for visiting family and friends.

To help pay off the loan they took out for the renovation, the couple rented their basement — which has a bedroom, living space, and a kitchenette — on Airbnb for short-term stays in between family visits. They were quickly inundated with eager guests. There aren't many hotels in Astoria — a largely residential neighborhood — and the few that exist are "dinky" and expensive, Paul said.

Fast-forward several years and the couple is still renting out the basement for short periods. But they're knowingly violating New York City's new law banning most short-term rentals.

Through Airbnb, they hosted tourists from across Asia, Europe, and the US, as well as people visiting family members in Queens. Guests usually stayed about three or four days, but sometimes as long as two weeks.

"It turned out to be enormously profitable," said Paul, whose name was changed for this story to protect his family's anonymity.

In the high season, he said they charged up to $300 a night for the space, which can comfortably sleep four, and they never charged less than $150 a night. In a good month, it brought in nearly $3,000, according to their Airbnb earnings report. But when the pandemic hit in early 2020, they were forced to shut down their Airbnb business. Because the basement doesn't have a proper kitchen, including an oven, they couldn't rent it out long-term.

A couple of years later, they were just about to re-list their basement on Airbnb when the New York City government passed new regulations — known as Local Law 18 — cracking down on short-term rentals.

Under the law, homeowners can host paying guests for less than 30 days only if their unit is in an approved building, they rent to a maximum of two guests at a time, and they stay in the home with their guests. The law also requires that guests have access to the entire unit and that there aren't any locked doors inside the home. Every potential host has to apply and be approved by the city's Office of Special Enforcement (OSE). Hosts can be fined up to $5,000 for repeated violations.

Paul and his wife applied, but they were denied, according to documentation viewed by Business Insider. To comply with the law, they would need to open up their personal living room and kitchen to their Airbnb guests. An OSE representative helpfully explained how they could alter their home to comply with the law, but Paul and his wife felt the changes would "sacrifice our own sense of privacy," so they gave up on Airbnb.

Since the city began enforcing LL18 last September, the number of short-term rental listings has plummeted. Airbnb listings for stays of less than 30 days fell from 22,246 in August of last year, just before the city began enforcing the law, to nearly 4,000 in May 2024, a roughly 82% drop.

As of June 24, the city had received 6,395 applications for short-term rentals, according to OSE. The office has approved 2,276 of these, denied 1,746, and asked 2,269 applicants to submit additional information.

LL18 aims to address the city's severe housing shortage by opening homes to long-term renters that were previously reserved for visitors. Some evidence, including from Irvine, California, suggests that restricting short-term rentals can reduce rents. Less than a year into enforcement of the near-ban, it's not clear whether New York City is achieving this goal, but it has made hotel rooms more expensive.

Crucial income after a layoff

After the city rejected his application, Paul says he was "pissed off" and decided to find other ways to rent the basement out to short-term guests. So he began promoting it in various Facebook groups and through friends in the neighborhood. He quickly found takers.

With so many former Airbnbs gone and hotel rates on the rise, business has been good. For the last about 18 months, he's managed to regularly rent the place out for short-term and medium-term stays, charging between $150 and $200 per night or $2,500 for a month-long stay.

He's not particularly worried about being fined by the city because he thinks the government is more concerned with shutting down large-scale, short-term rental businesses rather than small-time property owners. OSE told BI it's working with Airbnb and other short-term rental companies to ensure they're in compliance before it begins fining hosts who violate the rules.

Right now, Paul is hosting a local family waiting for renovations to be finished on their new home in the neighborhood. And they have lots of regular, repeat guests — mostly grandparents visiting from out of town and others who want to stay near family who live in Astoria. "They want a place that's within walking distance and also has the amenities of a home that you won't find in a hotel," he said.

He believes that Airbnb and other short-term rentals in New York City should be regulated, but he doesn't think LL18 does enough to protect small-time hosts like himself, who wouldn't be able to rent out their space long-term.

"I agree with the sentiment behind the regulations," he said. "I just think that the regulations were designed as sort of blunt instruments rather than a precision tool."

Since Paul was laid off from his job as a TV producer a few months ago, the family has come to rely on the income from short-term renting. He also feels they're doing a service for visitors who need a more affordable place to stay in the neighborhood.

"The best use of that space I could think of is to rent it out to local families," he said. "The way we use this space is good for Astoria, and it's good for New York, and it makes living here easier."

Have you been impacted by New York City's short-term rental regulations? Reach out to this reporter at erelman@businessinsider.com.

• Walmart's new Bettergoods brand is strikingly similar to the Good & Gather line from Target.
• I picked up a range of comparable items from each to see which is better.
• While I couldn't pick a decisive winner, the real advantage here goes to customers.

Whether you call them store brands, private labels, or something else, companies like Target are investing big bucks to ensure shoppers don't think of their in-house offerings as "generic."

The latest significant entry into this premium owned-brand space comes from Walmart, which in April announced its Bettergoods line as the company's "largest private brand food launch in 20 years."

While the brand emphasizes interesting taste combinations and plant-based recipes, I found a closer look at the products revealed a striking resemblance to another shopper favorite: Target's Good & Gather.

Target launched Good & Gather five years ago, promising food products free of artificial flavors, colors, and high-fructose corn syrup, and has grown the line to include over 2,000 products. Walmart had 300 products in April.

Good & Gather now generates more than $3 billion in sales for the Bullseye, so it's no surprise that Walmart would want a slice of the action.

To better understand the competition Bettergoods represents, I figured a taste test was in order.

Since Bettergoods is just getting started, I went to Walmart first.

I looked for a range of snacks, mains, and dessert options but skipped things like seltzers, non-dairy milk, and seasonings.

Then I headed to Target.

I did my best to match the Walmart basket with selections from Target's far more extensive collection.

The first thing that struck me was how closely I was able to match the baskets.

Almost every Bettergoods item had a counterpart from Good & Gather (or the sister brand Favorite Day, for ice cream).

Naturally I expected some degree of similarity, which is why I decided to write this story in the first place, but the likeness between brands was quite surprising.

I was able to roughly match 13 items.

Here's what made the cut: frozen chicken wings/bites; fancy potato chips; corn salsas and fire-roasted salsas; plant-based shredded cheese; cauliflower crust frozen pizzas; Greek yogurts; beef empanadas; fritter balls; phyllo pastries; fancy traditional ice cream; and non-dairy ice cream.

My surprise increased when I saw how close the two brands were in terms of pricing.

With very few exceptions, most items were within a few nickels or dimes of their counterparts. Even if an item from one brand was more expensive, that was offset by another item being less expensive, so the overall baskets of 13 items each were within six cents of each other.

In terms of quality, most of the products were also quite similar.

I think they could easily be sold under the competitor's branding, and you'd be hard-pressed to tell which was out of place.

One item that did stand out was the potato chips.

Target's Good & Gather offers a kettle-style chip seasoned with interesting flavor combinations, like Parmesan and garlic.

Walmart's Bettergoods offering had a simple pink salt seasoning on what seemed to be a slightly overcooked traditional chip. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't that special, either.

The salsas were generally on par.

Bettergoods had a slight edge here. I noticed the Walmart brand features a family recipe and is made in Texas.

Bettergoods shone when it came to the wings and the bulgogi empanadas.

They were much more satisfying than the Good & Gather buffalo bites (dry) and jalapeño empanadas (tiny).

Both brands' pizzas were somewhat disappointing.

This is a high bar for me, considering how well I think Costco's Kirkland Signature makes its cauliflower crust. Still, between the two choices on the table, Walmart was marginally better.

Good & Gather had slightly better appetizers.

While I preferred the Good & Gather lobster mac and cheese bites to Bettergoods' croquettes, neither was much of a hit with my toddlers.

Good & Gather also did better with their fluffy and flaky spinach and feta spanakopita than Bettergoods did with their flat and chewy fig and orange phyllo bites.

Dessert was a split decision. No real losers here. I mean, who doesn't like ice cream?

On the traditional ice cream front, I found Bettergoods' pistachio flavor somewhat overpowering, but Target's Favorite Day s'mores ice cream was soft, rich, and delicious, even though I accidentally bought the reduced fat option.

For the non-dairy version, however, Bettergoods' oat-milk-based blueberry swirl was slightly better in flavor and texture than the Favorite Day almond-milk strawberry fudge. Both were nearly as good as many dairy-based choices.

Two things are clear from this experiment.

Walmart has successfully launched a high quality brand that would fit right in on Target's shelves, but Bettergoods has a very long road ahead before it will match Good & Gather's full lineup.

So who comes out ahead after these too-close-to-calls and offsetting wins? Customers.

At a time when household grocery budgets are stretched to their limits, Walmart and Target are in a welcome competition to provide high-quality foods at very manageable prices.

I hope they keep it up.