Tag: News

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Halfway to the weekend! What do you get when you create a livestream video portal connecting New York and Dublin? In a word, chaos.

In today's big story, we're looking at Google's big event that's pitching all the ways AI agents can make our lives easier.

What's on deck:

• Markets: Meme stocks haven't given up just yet.
• Tech: Sam Altman gracefully thanked his OpenAI cofounder who quit. Then another exec quit hours later.
• Business: Punching a clock has never been cooler as blue-collar jobs are booming.

But first, AI can help with that.

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The big story

In our AI agent era

Forgot where your glasses are? Need to return some shoes? Want to add stuff to your calendar? AI can help with that.

Yes, I know you've heard some iterations of these pitches before. Since OpenAI's ChatGPT graced us with its presence, all anyone can seem to talk about is how AI is going to change everything.

But now Google is saying these things in a very real way. And when a company that's historically been at the forefront of tech talks, people tend to listen.

Google I/O, the tech giant's biggest developer conference, was heavy on the rise of so-called AI agents, writes Business Insider's Hugh Langley, who was there in person.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai said AI agents "think multiple steps ahead and work across software and systems all to get something done on your behalf and most importantly, with your supervision."

Tuesday's event wasn't just about the new and shiny.

Google's faithful, old search engine got a noticeable facelift with the help of AI, writes BI's Geoff Weiss. Gemini-powered updates were also on display for Gmail.

AI Overviews — AI-generated answers at the top of Google Search results — combines what previously would have been a bunch of steps to answer a complex question into a single search.

But what's good for the user could spell trouble for the rest of the internet. That type of feature could upend businesses built around search engine optimization.

At the center of this movement sits Project Astra, which is what Hugh succinctly describes as "what the Google Assistant should have been all along."

BI's Alistair Barr, who was also at I/O, got to test out Project Astra, and chatted with Gregory Wayne, the head of the project.

The stakes for Google are high, as nailing AI agents opens up a massive business opportunity.

For all the chatter AI has received, there hasn't been a singular application that has grabbed consumers' attention yet, writes Alistair. But Google's demos at the event give it a real shot at finally creating a killer AI app.

But Google's AI ambitions also require people to let the tech giant into their lives in a big way.

Google DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis described AI agents "that can see and hear what we do better, understand the context we're in and respond quickly in conversation making the pace and quality of interaction feel much more natural."

That concept is equally impressive and terrifying.

For AI agents to be so intuitive, they'll need access to seemingly every aspect of our lives. And with people getting increasingly protective over their data, that might be a tough sell.

3 things in markets

1. Meme stocks keep memeing. GameStop and AMC Entertainment have continued their massive rallies, finishing Tuesday up more than 59% and 30%, respectively, following the re-emergence of Keith Gill, aka "Roaring Kitty." But not everyone is impressed, with one market guru calling it a "speculation orgy."
2. Another inflation report is coming. Here's how the market could react. All eyes are on today's April CPI report, which could dictate the timeline for interest rate cuts. A hot report might lead the S&P 500 to drop as much as 2.5%, according to JPMorgan, while cooler data could mean June rate cuts are a possibility. Here are six scenarios the bank sees playing out.
3. The head of Citi's fastest-growing wealth business is leaving. Naz Vahid, who heads a division devoted to serving rich law-firm partners and other rich executives, is exiting the bank after 38 years, according to a memo seen by BI. Check out Citi wealth boss Andy Sieg's announcement.

3 things in tech

1. Adam Selipsky is out at AWS. According to an internal memo, the Amazon Web Services CEO is stepping down, effective June 3. Selipsky's tenure was marked by slow growth rates, major layoffs, and challenges in AI. He'll be succeeded by Matt Garman, AWS's senior vice president of sales, marketing, and global services.
2. Mental health startups could face a reckoning this year. Facing tight funding conditions, the market is due for more deals. Healthcare analysts shared the 13 mental health startups that could IPO, make acquisitions, or get bought this year.
3. Ilya Sutskever is leaving OpenAI. The OpenAI cofounder said in a post on X on Tuesday that he's stepping away from the company after nearly a decade — and just hours later, another top exec announced he'd also resigned. Sutskever's position at the ChatGPT developer had been in doubt for the past six months after reports indicated he'd played a key role in last year's attempt to oust CEO Sam Altman.

3 things in business

1. Peloton might be headed for the fitness-fad graveyard. The connected-fitness company is struggling. Its CEO, who joined in 2022, is stepping down. It recently announced layoffs of 400 people. The stock is near a record low. In short, the road ahead is a rocky one.
2. Blue-collar jobs are booming. The jobs, which don't require sitting in front of a screen, have again assumed a competitive position within the American labor market. Demand is high, opportunities abound, and companies like Walmart and UPS are offering six-figure salaries and flashy benefits.
3. Big TV isn't dead just yet. That's according to Nielsen, which has a new way of tracking attention among media companies, including digital upstarts. BI's Peter Kafka breaks down the data, which shows legacy TV companies are still drawing in viewers across various platforms.

In other news

• 'All That' star Lori Beth Denberg says Nickelodeon's Dan Schneider showed her porn, initiated phone sex, and lashed out on set.
• Jellysmack raised a 9-figure war chest as the creator economy soared. Insiders say it bit off more than it could chew.
• Red Lobster could file for bankruptcy this month following the closure of 50+ stores: WSJ
• Hackers really, really like trying to take over your food delivery apps
• Guy Fieri says rucking — the hot, new fat-burning workout — helped him lose 30 pounds.
• 5G and 6G are among 'the most strategic sectors' in the AI age, a national security advisor says.
• Behind the curtain of the global arms trade.
• 4 of the best looks worn at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival so far, and 3 that missed the mark.
• Kindergarten court: Trump lawyer grills Michael Cohen on insulting ex-president as a 'Cheeto-dusted cartoon villain.'

What's happening today

• Today's earnings: Cisco Systems and other companies are reporting.
• Warner Bros. Discovery is hosting its upfront presentation, unveiling its 2024- 2025 program lineups.
• Uber is holding its Go/Get product showcase, revealing new products across the platform.

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.

• NATO should use its air defenses to intercept Russian airstrikes, a former NATO chief said.
• Anders Fogh Rasmussen told the i newspaper that missiles could be launched from Poland and Romania.
• NATO members helped Israel shoot down Iranian airstrikes, and could do the same in Ukraine, he said.

NATO countries should use air defenses based in eastern Europe to take down Russian missiles and drones targeting Ukraine, a former NATO chief said.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO's Secretary-General between 2009 and 2014, told the UK's i Paper that interceptor missiles from neighboring NATO countries like Poland and Romania could shoot down Russian airstrikes aimed at Ukraine.

Some NATO members, like the US, UK, and France, deployed fighter jets to help Israel's air defenses intercept Iranian drones and missiles earlier this year.

And the military alliance could do "exactly the same" to help Ukraine shoot down incoming Russian drones and missiles, Rasmussen told the outlet.

He went further, suggesting NATO's air and missile defense systems could be connected to Ukraine's, per the outlet.

Rasmussen said the effort could shield western Ukraine "much more" effectively, protect its defense industry, and kick-start its reconstruction, while also avoiding sending NATO troops into the country, per the outlet.

Most NATO members have so far balked at sending troops to Ukraine or targeting Russian airstrikes from their own territory.

Instead, Ukraine's allies have sent it nearly $118 billion in direct military aid, as of March, including air defense systems like the US ATACMS, which have been used by Ukraine to devastating effect.

Even so, Ukraine's air defense interception rate dropped from 46% over the last six months to 30% last month, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The outlet reported, based on data from Ukraine, that it was 73% during a six-month period last year.

Ukraine's increasingly strained air defense capabilities have allowed Russia to field more reconnaissance drones, improve its ability to launch HIMARS-style strikes, and knock out its power infrastructure.

In response, the Pentagon said it would "rush" Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine as part of its latest military package, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spent months begging for them.

Ukraine's allies have more than 100 Patriot air-defense systems that they could spare, Ukraine's foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, told The Washington Post last month.

And while some countries, like Spain, are sending theirs, others are refusing, saying they need them to protect their own airspace.

• US inflation saw some moderation in April.
• The Consumer Price Index increased 3.4% year over year in April, just below March's rise of 3.5%.
• The 3.4% matched what economists expected for April.

Inflation in the US is still above 3%, new Consumer Price Index data released on Wednesday suggested, but cooled off slightly in April.

The Consumer Price Index or CPI, an inflation measure, climbed 3.4% from April 2023 to this past April. That's the same as the 3.4% forecast stated on Investing.com and below March's year-over-year increase of 3.5%.

The CPI increased month-over-month between March and this past April, but a smaller increase than in March. It rose by 0.3% in April after it rose 0.4% in March. Analysts expected the month-over-month change to be a 0.4% increase.

Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, climbed 3.6% year over year in April, matching the forecast. The previous year-over-year growth was 3.8% in March.

Core CPI increased by 0.3% from March to April, per the news release from the BLS. That follows March's increase of 0.4%. A slight moderation seemed to have been expected — the forecast was 0.3%.

Additionally, a news release from the BLS on Tuesday showed the Producer Price Index for final demand increased 0.5% month over month in April after a decline of 0.1%. An increase was expected though for April's month-over-month change; the forecast stated on Investing.com was 0.3%.

"The higher than expected increase in the monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) is not good news for markets and the Federal Reserve," Eugenio Alemán, Raymond James' chief economist, said in an economic note. "However, revisions to previous months' data brought the year-over-year PPI in line with expectations."

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

• Russia is pushing back Ukraine's military on key parts of the front line. 
• A US military official told CNN that US aid arrived too late to stop Russia from advancing. 
• Some analysts believe that when US aid does arrive in quantity, the situation will stabilize. 

The delay by the US Congress in approving a vital aid bill means Ukraine is now struggling to fight back Russian advances, a former US military official said.

In an interview with CNN, retired US Air Force Col. and military analyst Cedric Leighton discussed Ukraine's increasingly desperate attempts to hold back Russian advances near Kharkiv, Ukraine's second biggest city.

He said that the delay in passing the $61 billion US aid bill, which was approved in April after being blocked for months by Republicans, had placed Ukraine at a disadvantage.

"The delay in aid was, frankly an inexcusable pause in the ability of the Ukrainians to fend off Russian advances. And right now what it means is that the Ukrainians are on the backfoot," said Leighton.

Kharkiv, which is situated near the Russian border in northern Ukraine, has been the focus of intensifying Russian attacks in recent days. Its forces are also making gains on other parts of the front line.

Russia is seeking to exploit weaknesses in Ukraine's military, which is running low on crucial air defense and ammunition supplies as a result of the aid block.

US officials told The New York Times that significant amounts of aid might not begin to arrive at the front line until July, but that the situation would likely stabilize in the long term.

Until then, Ukraine faces serious problems. In particular, Leighton singled out air defense as a key issue, with Russia using plane-launched "glide bombs" to devastate Ukrainian positions.

"The Russians have been able to exploit the air defense weaknesses in Ukraine, and because of that, they are able to advance because they have air cover," said Leighton.

• Kiana Anvaripour,  a 42-year-old CEO living in L.A. has always been dedicated to feeling her best. 
• When Anvaripour began experiencing perimenopause, she looked to enhance her wellness routine. 
• The executive began microdosing "magic mushrooms" alongside eating well, taking vitamins and daily workouts. 

This is an as-told-to essay based on a transcribed conversation with Kiana Anvaripour a 42-year-old CEO and mother of two living in Los Angeles. The following has been edited for length and clarity and reflects only the views of Ms. Anvaripour, who is not a medical professional. Psilocybin is still illegal in the US federally and in most states. There is no medical consensus about its potential benefits, including those described below, and the drugs come with risks.

For as long as I can remember, I've been on a quest to feel my very best. As I've gotten older, wellness has become even more important to me, especially in combating the symptoms of my menstrual cycle.

As the mom of two daughters under 10 and the CEO of a creative agency in LA, I want to be a better parent and leader. Sleep, exercise, meditation, and plant-based supplements have all helped me achieve those goals in the past.

I started approaching perimenopause a little over two years ago. Even with my wellness routine, I had this sense of overwhelm as I tried to juggle so many responsibilities. I was open to trying a natural tool to help me navigate this new and frustrating phase in my life. I was experiencing all the symptoms of perimenopause we often hear about: brain fog, mood swings, and challenges sleeping. The list goes on and on. I wanted more support and heard about the wonders of micro-dosing.

Working in the wellness industry, I had previously researched microdosing with psilocybin and knew of friends, colleagues, and other CEOs who used it for productivity in the workplace. I decided to give it a try.  

In California, psilocybin, under the guise of wellness plant medicine, is common and not hard to come by. Some people use it for performance and health and some who have adopted a Cali-sober lifestyle and use it as a replacement for alcohol to wind down. I'm not a doctor or medical expert and I can only speak to my own experience. My work in the wellness industry means I can try innovative brands at the forefront of plant medicine from trusted sources.

I approached past clients and friends about finding a product to try. There are so many things being sold, so I knew it was important to qualify the product I would use and the size of the micro or even nano dose I would take, specifically for health.

They were simply another addition to my whole-body wellness routine. Every day, I wake at 5 a.m., have lemon water, meditate, drink a cup of coffee, work out, eat a high-protein breakfast, and then take my vitamins and a micro blend of psilocybin in capsule form. 

The first time I took a microdose, I didn't feel a difference. Even a couple of days later, I didn't notice a difference. But after a few weeks of consistently taking my microdose, I thought to myself, "I feel great." Within weeks, I felt more focused, calm, and clear. I also felt more present and like the best version of myself. This change I attribute to microdosing.

I have always been health conscious, but I began following a stricter daily routine after feeling the impact of perimenopause. Clean eating, eight hours of sleep, meditation, exercise, vitamins, plus psilocybin.

At work, I have felt more focused since microdosing. I have communicated goals and needs clearly — no matter where I am in my menstrual cycle.

Female CEOs can do everything male CEOs can do. But as women in business, we have to do it all on top of managing our periods, postpartum hormones, perimenopause, and menopause. We have physiological hurdles we have to overcome that men do not. I've found that microdosing helps me manage these. It is also prevalent in the biohacking and athlete community.

When I started speaking openly about how microdosing has helped me cope with symptoms of perimenopause, so many other female leaders got in touch to say they felt seen. They had been looking for something to help them with the symptoms of aging.

It hasn't just had a positive impact on my ability to work; it's also improved how I interact with my employees. I feel like I can empathize more deeply with my employees and colleagues.

There has been an increase in people dealing with mental health problems. You want to listen and be there for your team as a leader. When I feel calm and focused, rather than overwhelmed, I can listen with more empathy, understand, and hold space with my colleagues.

When problems arise, as they always will in business, I start from a calm place to figure out the solution, communicating with my team empathetically to come to a solution.  

I don't see it as a magic pill but as part of my wellness routine that helps optimize my mind and body.

• I'm planning on retiring this year. 
• After 40 years of working and 10 different jobs, I'm ready to do whatever I want. 
• Nearing 65, I know I'm lucky to be able to afford retirement in this day and age. 

The notebook where I keep my recipes is a mess. My landline gets nothing but spam calls. And I really want to go to Italy, where I've never been.

But all those things take time to remedy — time to organize my scribbled recipes, time to call the dreaded phone company, and time off from work to visit Florence, Rome, Turin, and Tuscany. And time is something I don't have enough of right now. But soon I will, because I'm planning to retire.

At first, I thought I'd work until December 31. Then, I moved it up to October. Now I wonder if I'll make it through summer. The closer my target date gets, the farther away it seems and the more impatient I feel.

I want to do all the things I don't have time for

I can't wait to take long walks with my dog every day, not just on weekends. I can't wait to fix all the broken things in my apartment. And I can't wait to travel without counting vacation days.

I want more time at the beach and less time on my laptop. I want to sit on my Brooklyn stoop and enjoy the morning sun. I want to go out to lunch, midweek, with friends, or indulge in happy hour. I want to stay up late without worrying about my 8 a.m. shift. My own kids are grown, but we have lots of new babies in the family, and I want more time with them before they grow up.

I had lots of different jobs

I've had a good run career-wise, with 10 jobs in more than 40 years of work. My first paycheck — babysitting gigs aside — came from serving fast food to harried commuters in Penn Station. After college, I was stuffing envelopes for a nonprofit when a boss suggested I consider a career in journalism. I had aspirations to become a writer with a capital W, but I hadn't thought of the news business until then.

I ended up writing for newspapers, then for a wire service and a university. Now I'm back working in a newsroom. I hope to continue freelancing journalism after I retire, but I also still have literary aspirations. Could I write that mystery novel I've contemplated for years about a body in a lake in Maine? Could I get the play I wrote during the pandemic produced? Every time I read about a novelist breaking through late in life, it gives me hope. Maybe it's not too late to become that writer with a capital W.

I know it's a privilege to be able to retire

A friend said he resents every year he works past 55 because his father, a teacher, was done with work by that age. Of course, in the 20th century, retiring at 55 wasn't that unusual, especially for civil servants and especially in that generation of heavy smokers. They didn't take longevity for granted. Having already outlived my mother, I don't either.

But people also retired early in that era because the cost of living was not so out of kilter with what ordinary people earned. Today, plenty of Americans say they can't afford to retire. I'm a couple of years shy of 65, so I know I'm lucky to have the savings and secure housing that allow me to give up the day job now.

On the other hand, I know people who work in their 70s because they want to. That won't be me. I'm jealous of my husband, who's already retired. He can stay up all night watching the Australian Open if he wants or go to Costco at midday when nobody's there.

There's one thing I'm reasonably sure of, though: He won't go to Italy without me.

• The US will send more than $1 billion in additional arms to Israel.
• It comes after Biden withheld a shipment of bombs to Israel last week. 
• Experts say the deal sends mixed messages and undermines Biden's influence. 

The US plans to send more than $1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel despite growing tensions between President Joe Biden and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Officials said the weapons package will consist of around $700 million in tank ammunition, $500 million worth of military vehicles, and $60 million in mortar rounds, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Getting the weapons to Israel could be a lengthy process. As CNN noted, the sale needs to be officially notified to Congress and receive congressional approval.

It comes days after Biden withheld a shipment of bombs to Israel amid rising concerns that the country was gearing up for a major military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Biden later warned he would withhold additional weaponry if Israel went ahead with a widespread ground assault on the city.

Biden's decision to pursue the deal could be viewed as an attempt to heal his rift with Netanyahu — and to halt accusations that the US is emboldening Iran.

But it could backfire. Seth Binder, an expert on US weapons sales with the Middle East Democracy Center, told the Journal that Biden's apparent U-turn weakens his influence over Netanyahu.

"This is just another example of them muddying their message and undermining any real strength behind the hold," he said.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen told The Washington Post that the deal "undercuts the president's earlier decision and should not go forward."

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request by Business Insider for comment.

Biden has long faced a dilemma with Israel

On the one hand, Biden pledged "ironclad" support for Israel in the wake of the October 7 terrorist attacks, in which Hamas militants killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 240.

The US sent warships to the Israeli coast last October to deter potential attacks by Hamas allies Iran and Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militia.

And when Iran in April retaliated to an Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus, Syria, with the first direct attack on Israel in its history, US forces helped to shoot down hundreds of Iranian drones and missiles.

The US has provided huge sums of military aid to Israel since the start of the conflict, including weapons sales passed by Congress valued at around $250 million.

But Biden has also been desperate to prevent the war in Gaza from spiraling into a broader regional conflict that could pull in US energy and military resources at a time when they're already stretched.

As the war in Gaza drags on and the civilian death toll mounts, he is also facing escalating domestic and political costs for his support for Israel.

Protests against Israel's Gaza campaign have swept US campuses, and Biden is attracting declining support among the younger voters who helped propel him to victory in 2020. Analysts say that Biden's handling of the Gaza war is among the issues corroding his support among them.

The Biden administration is seeking to help wind the conflict down.

US officials want to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and secure a deal for the release of the surviving Israeli hostages.

But Netanyahu has his own political priorities, with hardline members of his cabinet pushing him not to accept a cease-fire and press on with the mission to destroy Hamas.

Meanwhile, any sign of Biden backing away from his support for Israel leads to accusations from conservatives that he's emboldening Iran, long the US' main enemy in the region.

So whichever way Biden turns, the choices are grim.

Experts agree on one thing: the president's authority is waning.

Dave Harden, a former mission director at the US Agency for International Development in the West Bank and Gaza, told the BBC in March that Netanyahu "almost treats Biden as some kind of inconsequential second secretary of a low-ranked European power."

"The gap between Israel and the US just deepens," he said.

• Ukraine's Liutyi drones are behind 80% of strikes on Russian oil refineries, according to a report.
• Developed without state backing, the Liutyi drone had a challenging start in 2023.
• But it's now the main weapon in an increasingly potent strategy targeting Russian oil facilities.

A Ukrainian-developed long-range drone is responsible for the vast majority of the country's successful strikes on Russian oil refineries, according to a new report.

The Liutyi drone was developed as Ukraine's answer to the inexpensive but deadly Shahed exploding drone, which Russia has launched in waves against Ukrainian military and civilian infrastructure, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

According to the outlet, it's believed to be behind 80% of all successful drone attacks on Russian soil, many of them hundreds of miles inside Russia's borders.

The Liutyi had an inauspicious start.

Developed without Ukrainian state backing, its large and cumbersome design was offputting to lawmakers. "To be honest, nobody really believed in this drone," an unnamed MP on Ukraine's defense committee told Ukrainska Pravda.

During one of its early trials in April 2023, operators briefly lost control of one of the drones, which almost struck the control center it was launched from, the outlet reported.

But by the start of this year, Ukraine had begun a concerted campaign of regular cross-border drone strikes, focused primarily on Russia's oil refineries.

The Liutyi appears to have been a key part of this.

According to the report, the Liutyi can travel up to 600 miles, has a wingspan of 22 feet, and can carry a 50kg explosive payload.

Other drones have struck farther away, but it seems that Ukraine's campaign of strikes on Russian oil facilities is being primarily led by the Lyutyi.

Despite concerns from its allies that the strikes could destabilize global oil partners and provoke Russia, Ukraine has kept up a steady barrage — and the effects appear to be bearing fruit.

In February, Russia announced a six-month gasoline export ban. Ukraine has claimed that its attacks have reduced Russian oil production and processing by 12%.

The tactic of targeting oil refineries rather than crude oil production forces Russia to put more crude oil onto the market, experts wrote in Foreign Affairs this month, which they said had the effect of raising the price of refined oil products domestically, while not leading to a surge in global oil prices.

• Red Lobster workers are letting out their anger online after losing their jobs without notice.
• More than 50 Red Lobster restaurants in the US closed this week amid financial troubles at the company.
• "If you work at Red Lobster, you need to start finding something else to do," one TikTok user said.

Former Red Lobster workers are venting their anger online after the seafood chain abruptly laid off staff as it closed more than 50 restaurants.

"Red lobster just laid all of us off without notice," one person posted on X, adding that even the managers at their restaurant weren't told in advance.

The worker said they found out their restaurant had closed because they got a notification from their shift-scheduling app. Business Insider could not independently verify their employment at the chain.

Red Lobster, which The Wall Street Journal reported could file for bankruptcy protection as early as next week, closed dozens of its US restaurants this week.

TAGeX Brands, a liquidation company, said it was auctioning off equipment from more than 50 Red Lobster locations that had closed "as part of Red Lobster's footprint rationalization."

It's unclear how many workers lost their jobs.

Factors including expensive leases, its Endless Shrimp deal, and private equity involvement have all contributed to the chain's financial troubles.

One TikTok user said they lost their job when their restaurant, which appeared to be located in Georgia, closed this week. "If you work at Red Lobster, you need to start finding something else to do," they said.

On Reddit, someone claiming to have been a Red Lobster worker in New Jersey similarly advised other employees to "take your chance and jump ship." BI contacted the worker for further comment but didn't immediately hear back.

"We didn't even get an email, we checked our scheduling app and it just said we were closed and a number to call for benefits," the Reddit user, whose identity could not be verified, added.

Another Reddit user who claimed to have been a Red Lobster manager commented: "To do it after Mother's Day was probably the slimiest thing they could have done. Squeezed every last dime out of all of us. Shame on them."

But in comments on Red Lobster's Instagram page, some people said they wanted their jobs back.

As to be expected, content creators have already moved quickly to post about the chain's troubles.

One TikTok user posted a video of seafood-related puns related to the company's decline, while another person posted a satirical video bemoaning how Red Lobster was closing her two local restaurants "despite all the money I've given them."

"Please check on all your shellfish friends today," she said.

Were you laid off by Red Lobster? Contact this reporter at gdean@insider.com.

• Mark Zuckerberg made a telling fashion choice for a celebration of his 40th birthday.
• His shirt read "Carthago delenda est," a Latin phrase familiar to generations of schoolboys.
• It has a special significance for Zuckerberg, who used it as a call to arms in early Facebook history.

Carthago delenda est — mean anything to you?

It certainly meant a lot to people hanging around the Roman Senate some 2,200 years ago. And also to Mark Zuckerberg.

In a series of photos showing the Meta founder celebrating his 40th birthday, Zuckerberg had a striking black shirt with a Latin phrase on it.

The look matches his recent conversion to rapper style, as my colleague Kwan Wei Kevin Tan describes here. But this post is about the Latin.

"Carthago delenda est" means — very emphatically — Carthage must be destroyed.

I don't have that much in common with Zuckerberg, but we did both study Latin at school, which is probably the only reason any person currently alive would recognize it.

It's attributed to a Roman senator called Cato the Elder, and boy did that guy hate Carthage.

Carthage, a city in modern-day Tunisia, was a rival civilization to Rome back in the day — the one with Hannibal and elephants.

Cato was famous for ending all his speeches with those words, or something like them. It was his obsession — Rome must destroy Carthage.

Not just beat it, like it had in two previous wars. Annihilate it. ("Delenda" shares an origin with the English "delete.")

That phrase, actually an abbreviation of what Cato said, is widely known by people who study Rome; the internet is littered with jokes and memes about it.

It's memorable partly because it's a weird piece of grammar called the gerundive, which doesn't really exist in English.

Its sense is to convey that something ought to happen or has to happen to the thing in question.

In this case — Carthage has got to go down. It's not an opinion or an idea — going down is in Carthage's very nature.

Cato got his way, for what it's worth; the Romans sacked Carthage in 146 BC and it faded into relative obscurity, its territories subsumed into the Roman Empire. Delenda.

As well as being a throwback to Roman history, it's a throwback to Zuckerberg's own history.

Zuckerberg seems to have a real Roman streak, from his erstwhile Caesar-style haircut to giving his kids Latinate names like Aurelia and Maxima.

As Business Insider reported back in 2016, Zuckerberg made "Carthago delenda est" a rallying cry within Facebook back when it had its own version of Carthage: Google.

Google had launched its Google+ social network, and Zuckerberg worried that it might threaten Facebook's dominance.

The answer was war — a "lockdown" culture where Facebook staff went hard to defeat the foe. The company seemed to go along with the reference too, putting up posters with the phrase on them.

Google still exists, of course, but Google+ very much does not. Delenda.

Zuckerberg's birthday post seemed to be all about revisiting his past, including recreations of his childhood bedroom and Harvard dorm. So it seems appropriate that a throwback — if obscure — Latin phrase should be at the center of it.