Tag: News

• The Bank of America banker who died on May 2 wanted a better work-life balance, a recruiter told Reuters.
• The recruiter said he was in touch with Leo Lukenas III about a new job prior to his death.
• Lukenas said he had been working more than 100 hours a week, the recruiter said.

The Bank of America banker whose death this month renewed concerns about Wall Street's grueling working conditions had been looking for a new job with a better work-life balance, an executive recruiter told Reuters.

Leo Lukenas III, a 35-year-old Army veteran, became an investment-banking associate at Bank of America last year, where he worked on transactions for financial-services companies.

He died on May 2. Reuters reported that the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner deemed the cause of death "acute coronary artery thrombus," which causes blood to clot in the heart. The coroner's report did not establish a connection between Lukenas' working conditions and his death.

A new report from Reuters released Wednesday raised more questions about the hours Lukenas may have been logging leading up to his untimely death.

Douglas Walters, an executive recruiter and managing partner at GrayFox Recruitment, told Reuters in an interview that he was in touch with Lukenas in the months before he died and that the banker was seeking a job with better hours. Walters said Lukenas told him he was putting in more than 100 hours a week at Bank of America.

Lukenas was even willing to take a pay cut to work at a boutique investment banking firm as long as the hours were better, according to Walters' interview with Reuters. The recruiter declined to share the name of the firm. "He made a comment saying like, 'Hey, I'll trade hours of sleep for a 10% (pay) cut,'" Walters told Reuters.

Walters said he had helped Lukenas put together his application for that firm. He also told the outlet Lukenas asked if it was normal to work 110-hour weeks. Walters said he told Lukenas that was excessive, even by Wall Street's standards.

Walters did not return requests for comment sent via LinkedIn by BI on Wednesday, and GrayFox Recruitment could not be reached. GrayFox says it services companies in investment banking, private equity, and corporate mergers and acquisitions.

Bank of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI. In an emailed statement to BI last week, a spokesperson for the bank said: "We are very saddened by the loss of our teammate. We continue to focus on doing whatever we can to support the family and our team, especially those who worked closely with him."

Current and former investment bankers told Business Insider following Lukenas' death that his passing had dominated industry chatter and sparked concerns within the firm and the investment banking sector — a pressure-cooker business known for its onerous work culture, and often crushing demands on junior professionals.

Prior to Lukenas' death, he had been participating on deal work related to UMB's $2 billion all-stock acquisition of Heartland Financial USA — a transaction that was announced in late April. Last week, the nonprofit organization 51 Vets launched a fundraiser for the Lukenas family, which has raised more than $380,000 of its intended $1 million goal.

Are you a Bank of America or Wall Street employee with details to share? Contact these reporters. Reed Alexander can be reached via email at ralexander@businessinsider.com, or SMS/the encrypted app Signal at 561-247-5758.

• Waymo is Alphabet's robotaxi service formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project.
• Waymo's driverless taxis are currently operating in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
• Like its main competitor, Cruise, Waymo's autonomous vehicles have been involved in accidents.

Waymo is a robotaxi service owned by Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc. It was initially formed by Google and known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, following seven years of research and development before eventually being spun out to its own company.

Google started developing Waymo and its self-driving technology in 2009 at the Google X lab, which was led by Google co-founder Sergey Brin. After almost two years of testing the technology, Google and The New York Times revealed its existence in 2010.

US lawmakers raised concerns at the time about the lack of regulations for this new technological front. Google was a prominent supporter, lobbying for regulation. By 2012, Nevada's Department of Motor Vehicles had licensed a self-driving Prius running Google's software. This was the first time that a self-driving vehicle was licensed in the United States.

In 2022, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai distanced Waymo and Alphabet's other subsidiaries from Google by granting them more autonomy to design job structures and compensations outside of Google's job architecture.

Waymo has been impacted by Google layoffs in recent years: The company cut roughly 8% of Waymo's staff in 2023. 

Despite the restructuring, Waymo's offices are still located in Mountain View, California, just a short drive from the Googleplex, Google's global headquarters.

What does Waymo do?

Waymo provides driverless taxi services in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, using its fleet of autonomous vehicles. 

In 2014, Google was granted a patent for a transportation service involving automated vehicles that would be funded by advertising fees. That May, Google unveiled a prototype autonomous vehicle that did not contain a gas pedal, brake pedal, or steering wheel.

In 2015, they gave their first fully autonomous ride to a legally blind friend of principal engineer Nathaniel Fairfield; unlike earlier tests, there was no police escort, no test driver, and it was not on a closed course.

In 2016, this self-driving car project was spun out of Google and made a subsidiary of Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc. At this time, the company also ordered 100 Chrysler Pacifica hybrid minivans to test the technology. The next year, they were able to reduce manufacturing costs by 90% and partnered with other auto manufacturers and the ridesharing service Lyft.

Waymo started its public operations in Phoenix in 2020.

Who can take a Waymo?

So far, Waymo only operates in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, but is set to launch in Austin by the end of 2024.

Prospective riders can sign up to the company's Waymo One service by downloading the Waymo One app from either Google Play or the iOS App Store. Waymo is currently widely available to the public in Phoenix, but services are waitlisted for San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin. Like major competitors, prospective riders are quoted the fare while booking.

Waymo ride prices are based on the distance and time of a trip, in addition to a minimum price charged for all trips. In April of 2023, when a Business Insider reporter tested the technology in Phoenix, a five-mile, 20-minute Waymo ride cost $11, the same price as an Uber trip to the same location. 

Waymo has had multiple accidents

As with any new technology — or, indeed, any motor vehicles — mishaps can be expected. In February 2024, Waymo voluntarily recalled and updated its robotaxi software after two of its autonomous vehicles crashed into the same towed pickup truck in Phoenix. 

This was the latest in a string of incidents over the prior weeks, affecting more than one company. A couple of weeks earlier, a Waymo vehicle non-fatally struck a cyclist in San Francisco and rival Cruise suspended operations following an October crash that struck and dragged a pedestrian.

• Warren Buffett's secret stock is Chubb, an insurance giant.
• Berkshire Hathaway quietly built a 6.4% stake in under nine months, worth $6.7 billion as of March.
• Buffett and his team also slashed their biggest stock bet, Apple, by 13% last quarter.

Warren Buffett has finally revealed his company's mystery stock: Chubb.

The famed investor's Berkshire Hathaway first bought into the insurance giant in the third quarter of 2023, but secured regulatory permission to keep the holding confidential until it finished building its stake.

Buffett's company initially purchased 8.1 million Chubb shares worth $1.7 billion at the end of September, then boosted the position to 20.1 million shares valued at $4.5 billion at December's close. It raised the bet to 25.9 million shares worth $6.7 billion at the end of March, SEC filings revealed on Wednesday.

Assuming Berkshire hasn't touched its stake since then, it owns about 6.4% of Chubb — a company with a roughly $100 billion market capitalization.

Chubb operates in 54 countries and provides everything from property and casualty insurance to health insurance, reinsurance, and life insurance.

It's a stock that Buffett will feel comfortable owning, given Berkshire has a large insurance business with subsidiaries like Geico and Alleghany.

Buffett and his team also slashed their biggest holding, Apple, by 13% to 789 million shares last quarter. The sales fueled a $39 billion decline in the position's value to $135 billion at March's close.

The Apple disposals won't surprise Buffett's close followers as they were clearly telegraphed in Berkshire's recent annual report. The sales of the iPhone maker's stock accounted for virtually all of Berkshire's $20 billion of stock sales in the period.

Berkshire investors will likely welcome the Chubb reveal, as Buffett has struggled to find assets worth buying in recent years. The bargain drought reflects the stock market trading at record highs, and fierce competition for acquisitions from private equity firms.

The upshot has been an increase in Berkshire's hoard of cash and Treasury bills to a record $189 billion at the end of March. Buffett also predicted during Berkshire's recent annual meeting that it would surpass $200 billion by the end of June.

• A video portal between New York City and Dublin was shut down this week after "inappropriate" behavior and chaos.
• The portal was a rare and pure instance of technology bringing joy and connection. 
• We should have portals all over the globe.

The portal between New York City and Dublin — a giant video installation livestreaming between the two locations — has been shut down due to bad behavior.

This is terrible. The portal should reopen! In fact, we should have portals all over the country, all over the world — connecting two random places. We should have a portal between Miami and Tokyo, Florence and Dubai, Delhi and Stockholm. Currently, there's a portal between cities in Lithuania and Poland, but let's dream even bigger.

We live in a world where technology can feel menacing. We worry about what AI is doing to the information we consume, the art we see — and how it might degrade both. This week, OpenAI and Google debuted new ways to interact with AI. OpenAI's voice assistant drew comparisons to the movie "Her" in ways that were both flattering and dystopian.

But the portal is a case of technology that's just pure joy.

It's simple, there's nothing too deep to think about. It's not even "new" tech — video streaming between two locations is not exactly novel, although I suppose "it's really big" differentiates it from, say, FaceTime. The situation is what makes it different — video chatting technology is usually personal, used at home or in your office conference room. Putting it in a public space, with other strangers — that makes it fun and special.

It is pure and human to be curious about strangers in another country, to be excited about the idea of seeing someone else across the screen, knowing they can see you, too. It's fun. It's delightful.

Unfortunately, there was some bad behavior during the NYC-Dublin link-up. New Yorkers taunted the Dubliners with potatoes; a Dubliner held up a photo of 9/11. Someone in Dublin mooned the New Yorkers, and then there was the woman who flashed her breasts to the Dubliners. Not ideal (although not even necessarily illegal in NYC).

Besides, the flasher was a really specific case — she is a TikTok and OnlyFans influencer named Ava Louise who has also been involved in some other headline-grabbing scenarios, like licking a plane toilet seat during Covid, being involved with Addison Rae's father, spending a night with Antonio Brown before his mid-game retirement, and admitting to starting a rumor about Ye (formerly Kanye) West and Jeffree Starr dating, and appearing on the Dr. Phil show. Whew. Let's chalk this up to a highly unique case of one individual with a particular knack for spectacle rather than the portal being a temptation for constant flashings.

The portal was a magical thing — a rare public artwork with fun utility that reminded us of how technology can bring the world together in the simplest way. Sure, there was a little mayhem, but it's not worth shutting down the whole thing over.

We can't let a few potatoes or boobs take that joy from us!

• Eric Schmidt, Google's ex-CEO, found a buyer for his Atherton mansion, listed for $24.5 million.
• The property, located in the most expensive US zip code, includes a main home and a guest house.
• Schmidt, who served as Google and Alphabet chairman, has a net worth of around $23.9 billion.

Google's former CEO, Eric Schmidt, and his wife, Wendy, found a buyer for their mansion in Atherton, California two weeks after listing it for $24.5 million, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The 5,265 square-foot listing includes a main home and a guest house in the most expensive zip code in the US. Schmidt's current net worth is estimated at around $23.9 billion, according to Forbes' ranking.

Schmidt, 69, served as CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011. He later served as chairman of Google and its parent company, Alphabet, until 2018.

Since leaving his role as CEO, Schmidt turned his focus to tech investments and philanthropy.

Scroll on to see inside the mansion.

The five-bedroom home at the top of a cul-de-sac in Atherton was Schmidt's primary residence for the last several decades.

The former CEO purchased the Atherton home for around $2 million in 1990, according to estimates by Zillow. The home was built in 1969, according to the listing.

Atherton, a small town in San Mateo County, is known to be a hotspot for tech moguls, like former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, and former HP CEO Meg Whitman.

Schmidt is one of several tech executives that have called Atherton home.

Tech investors Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, as well as early Tesla investor Alan Salzman, have also bought properties in Atherton.

The prestigious town is about a 45-minute drive to San Francisco and less than 20 minutes from the headquarters of Google, Meta, and Tesla. The average household income in Atherton is over $450,000.

It isn't the only home Schmidt bought in California. He bought Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi's 7,000-square-foot Montecito mansion in 2007.

He bought the home for $20 million and used to rent it out for weddings. However, he reportedly struggled to keep renting it after Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries used the home as their wedding venue and divorced soon after.

The billionaire also bought a Southern California "French chateau" in Los Angeles in 2014, about five minutes from the Playboy Mansion.

He also bought homes on the East Coast. In 2013, he purchased a $15 million penthouse in New York City and reportedly spent millions soundproofing it.

Schmidt and his wife purchased a home in Nantucket in 1999, where she reportedly spent most of her time.

The billionaire also reportedly paid $67.6 million for a 267-foot superyacht in 2023.

The exterior of the guest house has an outdoor fireplace, an amphitheater on one side, and a cascading water feature on the other.

Both the guest house and main home were designed by Schwanke Architecture.

The home has multiple terraces and access to the outdoors in almost every room.

The home has ample access to natural light with large open doors and windows throughout the home.

The estate has five bedrooms, eight total bathrooms, and a fireplace in the living room and family room.

The two-story home also has a wet bar, according to the online listing by The reSolve Group.

The sold mansion includes three acres of park-like grounds and an outdoor pool.

The property has a 3.36 acre lot and 5,265 square foot living area, according to the listing.

Like many Atherton homes, landscaping surrounding the house creates a secluded feel to the property.

Both the front and back of the house are shaded by large trees and greenery. The back of the house also has a fenced area to create privacy.

The estate includes a diverse selection of mature plants and specimen trees from Amdega Conservatory imported from the UK.

The greenhouse is equipped with wooden shelves, a sink, and black and white floor tiles.

The home also has several areas for growing plants or produce.

In addition to the greenhouse, the outdoor area has several planting plots.

The home embraces the California landscape of while incorporating European design.

Dark wooden furniture and flooring contrast against bright green outdoor openings in the estate.

• The US and Japan have agreed to jointly develop a hypersonic missile defense system.
• Hypersonic weapons are outside the threat envelope of current missile defenses.
• The move is a major step for the allies toward defending against new missile threats from China and others.

The US and Japan have agreed to work together to develop a defense system to defeat hypersonic missiles, according to the US Department of Defense.

Hypersonic missiles are a daunting challenge and nearly impossible for current missile-defense systems to stop because they can fly low and maneuver along unpredictable flight paths, making the new project the US and Japan are working on significant as the two allies face emerging Russian and Chinese missile threats.

On Wednesday, the US and Japan "finalized a formal agreement for a Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) Cooperative Development (GCD) Project Arrangement," which aims to develop a missile defense system that can effectively intercept hypersonic weapons in the glide phase of their flight.

The new bilateral agreement is the culmination of over a year of talks between the two countries. Plans for the co-development of a GPI were originally announced in August 2023 during a Japan-US summit. The US Missile Defense Agency will lead the development of the GPI, while Japan will contribute specific components.

In their joint statement, the allies said that the coming "GPI will deliver a regional defensive capability over time as part of a holistic layered defensive architecture. The GPI co-development will build upon long-standing U.S.-Japan missile defense cooperation and strengthen the Alliance deterrence posture."

The development of the planned GPI could be a game-changer against hypersonic threats, which neither country currently has the ability to defeat.

Though US weaponry has defeated adjacent threats like Russia's Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missile, current missile defenses would likely struggle against actual hypersonic weapons like China's DF-17 equipped with a hypersonic glide vehicle or Russia's Zircon scramjet-powered hypersonic cruise missile.

Cooperation on the GPI comes as the US and Japan face an expanding Chinese missile force capable of targeting US bases in Japan, as well as other positions in the Pacific region, and increasing cooperation between Moscow and Beijing that has American intelligence re-evaluating its defenses. Notably, Pyongyang is also attempting to develop what it says are hypersonic missiles.

Current and former US military leaders have expressed concerns about China's missiles, and US lawmakers and experts have said that the US lacks sufficient active and passive defenses to defend against a bombardment that could include hypersonic weapons.

The GPI project is not the first time the US and Japan have worked together on missile defenses.

The allies successfully tested the jointly developed Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) Block IIA interceptor in a February 2017 intercept of a ballistic missile target. The SM-3, part of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system, was used in combat for the first time in April during Iran's missile and drone strike against Israel.

At the time, the launch of the SM-3 was significant not only because of its unprecedented use in combat, but also due to its unique capability to eliminate targets outside of the Earth's atmosphere, or exo-atmospherically.

• China's BYD Auto launched its all-new Shark plug-in hybrid pickup truck in Mexico on Tuesday.
• The BYD Shark's hybrid drive system puts out 430 horsepower and has 62 miles of all-electric range.
• The Shark starts at $54,000 in Mexico but is not for sale in the US.

BYD introduced its new Shark plug-in hybrid pickup truck in Mexico on Tuesday. It's the company's first truck and the first product launched outside its home market, China.

Mexico is growing in importance for BYD's global strategy as it aims to gain a foothold in North America — even as the company has made clear in recent months that it does not plan to enter the US market any time soon.

As a result, the Shark will not be available in the US but will go on sale in Mexico with a starting price of roughly $54,000 USD, or 899,980 pesos.

Therefore, the midsize Shark hybrid will be aimed squarely at major global players like the Toyota Hilux and Nissan Navarra.

In the US, the BYD Shark would have competed against midsize pickup stalwarts like the Toyota Tacoma, Chevrolet Colorado, Nissan Frontier, and Ford Ranger.

However, there are no plug-in hybrid midsize pickup trucks on sale in the US. The Tacoma does offer a hybrid but does not have the ability to be plugged in.

The Shark is built on BYD's Super Hybrid Off-road Platform.

The BYD Sharks' power comes from a longitudinally mounted 1.5-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder engine and two electric drive motors. Together, they produce a total system output of 430hp.

According to BYD, the Shark can make the run from 0-62 mph in just 5.7 seconds

As a result of the hybrid system, the Shark does not have a traditional mechanical all-wheel-drive system.

Instead, it sends power to the rear axle via an electric drive motor.

The Shark comes with a 29.6 kWh battery pack.

According to BYD, the Shark has an all-electric range of 62 miles. The company also claims the pickup has a maximum combined range of 522 miles with the battery fully charged and a full tank of gas.

According to BYD, the Shark can tow up to 2,500 kg or 5,512 lbs.

Don't expect to do much towing with just the battery, though.

Aesthetically, the Shark's aggressive looks are the work of BYD's design team led by Wolfgang Egger.

According to BYD, Egger, the former chief designer at Audi and Alfa Romeo, sought inspiration from the aquatic predator for which the truck is named. In fact, the front grille was inspired by the open mouth of a shark.

At 215 inches in length, the Shark is a few inches longer than the Ford Ranger SuperCrew and the standard-wheelbase Nissan Frontier. However, it's about a foot shorter than the extended-length versions of the Frontier and the long-bed Toyota Tacoma.

Inside, the Shark's cabin is highlighted by a head-up display, a 10.25 LCD digital instrument display, and an impressive 12.8-inch central infotainment screen.

The 12.8-inch screen can change orientation from portrait and landscape. It's also equipped with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as well as built-in apps for navigation, karaoke and music streaming.

The Shark is also equipped with a 540-degree panoramic view camera.

BYD's 540-degree panoramic camera system is a 360-degree camera coupled with a 180-degree undercarriage view camera. The undercarriage camera is designed to help drivers get a better view of the terrain while offroading.

The Shark comes with a suite of advanced safety features, including adaptive cruise control, lane keep assist, and automatic emergency braking.

Like Tesla's Cybertruck, the Shark's features can be controlled via smartphone which can also serve as a key.

Tesla has long pioneered the use of its mobile app as an NFC key for vehicles.

The Shark's hybrid system can be used to power campsites or worksites.

Most electric trucks these days are rife with electrical outlets for the job site or campsite.

• A bipartisan Senate group is calling for $32 billion in annual federal AI spending.
• The group wants to ensure the US stays ahead of China — which is also spending big on AI.
• Group leader Sen. Chuck Schumer said the money will "cement America's dominance in AI."

A bipartisan group of US Senators wants to spend billions of dollars on a game plan to dominate artificial intelligence.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and three other senators who assembled an AI Working Group released their initial report on Wednesday.

It's a policy road map that calls for $32 billion in annual federal spending on AI for nonmilitary purposes. That money, they said, would go toward research and development, reducing AI's potential harm, managing its potential impact on elections and jobs, and ensuring AI systems adhere to existing laws.

They also said it would help the United States compete with China in the AI arms race.

Schumer said in the press conference on Wednesday that the cash influx would "keep our companies, our universities, our workers at the cutting edge and cement America's dominance in AI."

GOP Sen. Mike Rounds, a working group member, said at the press conference that the Chinese government is now spending far more on AI than the US government. According to China Daily, China's investment in AI is expected to surpass $38 billion by 2027. China also significantly outpaces the United States in AI patents, according to the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence.

President Joe Biden has also pushed the United States to lead the development of the revolutionary technology. "The rest of the world is looking to us to lead the way," he said at a meeting in October.

Later that month, Biden signed a sweeping executive order that established new standards for AI safety and security and called for greater transparency from major tech companies.

In April, the US Department of Homeland Security also established a federal advisory board of tech industry leaders, including OpenAI's Sam Altman, Nvidia's Jensen Huang, and Microsoft's Satya Nadella, to oversee AI deployment in infrastructure.

• AOC and Bernie Sanders are two of the most influential figures on the American left.
• It wasn't always that way. When Sanders ran for president in 2016, AOC was bartending.
• In a new podcast, she described how the Vermont senator's first presidential bid radicalized her.

When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez first heard Sen. Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign message in 2016, she was radicalized.

"It was the first time that I heard an elected leader say everybody deserves healthcare in this country by the fact that they are born a human being," the New York Democratic said on an episode of the Vermont senator's podcast released on Wednesday. "It broke my brain a little bit."

Ocasio-Cortez described the indignities of bartending and working in restaurants in New York City at the time, including not being able to afford healthcare and receiving a weekly paycheck with just 50 cents in it due to tipped wage laws.

"We normalize this to ourselves, we accept it," Ocasio-Cortez said of being working class. "I think really deep down, the unconscious rationale that we give ourselves to accept this is: This is what I deserve…this is my lot. This is what I get."

"I didn't even realize that I didn't think I deserved healthcare until I heard someone say that I did," Ocasio-Cortez said. "And then hearing that, I was like, why don't we have these things?"

Two years later, Ocasio-Cortez ran for Congress and defeated Rep. Joe Crowley — a local party boss and a likely successor to Nancy Pelosi, then the House Minority Leader — in a stunning upset.

She's since become an influential leader in her own right, working with Sanders and other progressive Democrats to push policies like Medicare for All and a Green New Deal.

Both Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders have become strong advocates for President Joe Biden's reelection despite their political differences with him.

"It is unequivocal that mass movements have been able to be more effective under Joe Biden's presidency than a Donald Trump presidency," Ocasio-Cortez said.

Sanders recently announced he would seek a fourth term in the US Senate this fall.

• Google is testing its Gemini AI to detect and alert users of potential scams during phone calls.
• The AI alerts users of scam patterns like urgent payment demands.
• Google promised to keep data from the phone calls private.

Google is playing around with AI tech that would listen to your calls and warn you of potential scams.

Google announced on X on Tuesday that it's testing a new Gemini AI feature that "provides real-time alerts during a call if it detects conversation patterns commonly associated with scams."

"This protection all happens on-device so your conversation stays private to you," the company said.

The announcement is part of Google's expansion of the Gemini Nano, the company's AI model that was added to the Pixel 9 smartphone.

Google says the new feature would alert users for things like a bank representative pressuring you for an urgent payment, or demanding transactions through gift cards.

The FTC estimates Americans lost up to $10 billion to scams last year alone. Scams often take place online or over the phone. In December, an executive for Mandiant, a cyber-security company owned by Google, said the company expects to see increased activity by scammers this year.