Category: Laptops

• Tech is disrupting all areas of media and entertainment, and investors are rushing to cash in.
• Startups are attracting millions in investments to change how content is made, distributed, and more.
• Here are 18 pitch decks that startups used to fundraise for Seed and Series A rounds and beyond.

Technology is upending all facets of media and entertainment. New startups are raising capital to jump on audiences’ shift to streaming, change hidebound production practices, and more.

Insider talked with founders about the pitches they used to raise millions and innovate in content creation and distribution. 

There’s Canela Media, which raised $32 million to build a streaming home for Latinos, believing the audience wasn’t well served by mainstream streamers. “I kept reading about the streaming wars,” cofounder Isabel Rafferty told Insider. “But I’m a Latina and my options are very limited.”

Animation company Toonstar, which specializes in making quick-turnaround shows, got backing from actor and producer Mila Kunis for a new NFT series.

“There’s a lot of development that I think is just like the Wild West, early days,” cofounder John Attanasio said of Web3 entertainment. “But there’s a lot of development from a tech standpoint that can create all sorts of utility and these crazy interactive experiences, that we’re just kind of scratching the surface of.”

Legion M is taking an unconventional approach to fundraising. The production startup is crowdsourcing its funding from ordinary people, who will then get a chance to help decide what projects the company pursues. The company calls its app that lets users influence the development process a “fantasy football for film buffs.” 

Check out the examples below to learn more about how these and other founders have sold their vision.

• The Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in a 6-3 decision on Thursday.
• But the court exempted military academies from the decision, citing “potentially distinct interests.”
• Justice Sotomayor noted the exemption in her dissent, arguing “highlights the arbitrariness” of the decision.

In a 6-3 decision issued on Thursday, the United States Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admission, preventing higher educational institutions from considering race in admissions decisions.

But there’s one key exception: the nation’s military academies.

In a footnote to the majority opinion authored by Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court made clear that the sweeping decision will not be applied to military academies, noting those institutions were not involved in the two cases brought before the Court.

“None of the courts below addressed the propriety of race-based admissions systems in that context,” reads the footnote on page 30 of the decision. “This opinion also does not address the issue, in light of the potentially distinct interests that military academies may present.”

That exemption was noted in liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s dissent on the decision, which argued that it undermines the conservative majority’s argument and “highlights the arbitrariness” of the decision.

“The majority does not dispute that some uses of race are constitutionally permissible,” Sotomayor wrote. “Indeed, it agrees that a limited use of race is permissible in some college admissions programs.”

She noted that “national security interests are also implicated at civilian universities” and pointed out that the court’s decision will nonetheless apply to plenty of higher education institutions that weren’t party to the case.

“The Court’s carveout only highlights the arbitrariness of its decision and further proves that the Fourteenth Amendment does not categorically prohibit the use of race in college admissions,” she wrote.

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

Even Musk has acknowledged that at times he has shot himself in the foot with his humor and active tweeting.

He told BBC earlier this year that he probably “should not tweet after 3:00 a.m.”

“Have I shot myself in the foot multiple times? Yes,” Musk said. “If you’re gonna tweet something that maybe is controversial, save it as a draft then look at it the next day, and see if you still want to tweet it.” 

In the past, Musk has said he’s prone to tweeting from the toilet.

“I’m tweeting more or less stream of consciousness,” he said at a TED Talk. “I’m literally on the toilet or something, like, ‘Oh this is funny’ and then tweet that out.”

Sources: Insider, Twitter, TED.com

Musk, SpaceX, and Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.

• Belarus’ president said that he talked Vladimir Putin out of assassinating Yevgeny Prigozhin. 
• “I told him: ‘Don’t do this,’” Lukashenko said in a speech given Tuesday. 
• Prigozhin attempted to march on Moscow in an armed revolt against the Russian defense ministry.

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said that he talked Russian President Vladimir Putin out of assassinating Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the paramilitary Wagner Group who attempted to march on Moscow in an armed revolt against the Russian defense ministry over the weekend.

“I said to Putin, ‘Yes we could take him out, it wouldn’t be a problem, if it doesn’t work the first time then the second,’” Lukashenko said in a speech Tuesday.

“I told him: ‘Don’t do this,’” Lukashenko claimed in the speech, which was shared to Twitter by Guardian reporter Shaun Walker. 

—Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) June 27, 2023

After Prigozhin’s attempted mutiny, Putin announced an agreement in which Prigozhin could live in exile in neighboring Belarus, but Putin has since said traitors would be “brought to justice,” suggesting that the Wagner leader could face consequences. 

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

• Goldman Sachs board plans to tap Tom Montag to join, Bloomberg reports.
• Montag was a divisive figure when leading Bank of America’s investment bank.
• Montag had previously been a top executive at Goldman Sachs.

Tom Montag retired as Bank of America’s No. 2 in 2021 amid questions about his leadership style. Now, he is said to be in line to join the board of Goldman Sachs as its CEO, David Solomon, faces scrutiny over his leadership. 

Naming Montag, who had previously been at Goldman with Solomon, “would likely signal that the CEO — who also serves as chairman — is shoring up support,” report Bloomberg’s Sridhar Natarajan and Katherine Doherty.

Yet Montag was on the trading side of Goldman, while Solomon was a banker, and the two businesses are not always the best of friends. Still, Bloomberg notes, Montag would be the first bank executive named to the board under Solomon, who became CEO of the bank in 2018.  

The board already has banking experience, with David Viniar, Goldman’s former longtime chief financial officer, and Adebayo Ogunlesi, a former Credit Suisse banker and founder and chief executive of private-equity firm Global Infrastructure Partners, as among its current 12 members. Ogunlesi is lead director.

Having another ally on the board would come at a critical time. Solomon has come under fire over a series of strategic missteps in the consumer business, as Insider’s Dakin Campbell has reported. Solomon’s hobby as a DJ and his use of the firm’s private jets have also rubbed some Goldman insiders the wrong way.

Critics have also pointed to a wave of partner departures, although Goldman has said that the turnover has not been unusual. Still, more than 85 partners have left the firm under Solomon.

All this has come against a global slowdown in dealmaking, which has led to staff reductions including, according to a recent Bloomberg report, 125 managing directors worldwide.

A Goldman representative declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.

At Goldman, Montag was big in Japan

Montag bleeds Goldman blue. He was with the firm for 22 years, leaving as a co-head of the global securities business in 2007. He was named a partner in 1994, when Goldman was still a private partnership, not a publicly traded corporation. He joined the firm’s management committee in 2002. 

Montag once led Goldman’s operations in Japan and during that time was that nation’s largest individual taxpayer, according to Reuters.

At Bank of America, Montag led the global banking and markets division, and was instrumental in the merger of Merrill Lynch and Bank America that remade the bank after the financial crisis. 

At the time of his 2021 departure, Insider’s Alex Morrell wrote: 

Though a divisive figure who inspired intense loyalty among some and loathing among others, Montag is widely recognized as a gifted and intelligent bank executive. Charming, beloved by clients, and commercially savvy, he guided the firm’s investment bank to stability and profitability following the chaos of the financial crisis. In addition to a magnetic personality, he relishes the details and minutiae of his operations and is known to spend hours discussing specific trades with employees. 

How divisive Montag can be was revealed in a 2021 report by Kate Kelly of The New York Times that was published months before his departure. 

As the COVID pandemic raged in spring of 2020, Montag initially pressed staffers in the markets division to be in the office despite stay-at-home orders, the Times reported.  The article portrayed Montag as having a hard-driving leadership style and a tendency to play favorites.

Since leaving BofA, Montag has headed up Rubicon Carbon, a carbon credit business. Private-equity firm TPG invested $300 million in the new firm, “one of the private sector’s largest efforts to expand the roughly $2 billion market for voluntary carbon credits that companies buy to offset their carbon emissions,” the Wall Street Journal reported late last year.

• Helmet-cam appears to show American soldiers fighting Russian forces in Ukraine.
• The footage shows them dodging bullets and mortar blasts as they try to seek cover and intense fire.
• Since the war in Ukraine began, many foreign fighters have joined up. Several US volunteers have died.

New footage appears to show US volunteers engaged in battle against the Russian army in Ukraine.

The video, filmed on a body-worn camera, shows soldiers walking through rubble and smoke while the sounds of shots and blasts ring out in the background.

The American soldiers run through the barren land, at times tripping over in the rubble.

As strikes hit from overhead, debris can be seen flying, and thick plumes of smoke billow.

The soldiers can be heard shouting instructions in American accents to each other as they dodge gunfire and make their way to shelter amid the ruins.

—Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 20, 2023

We did our job 100%. Glory to the heroes”

Insider was not able to independently verify the video, which was originally posted on Instagram, and then shared on Twitter by the Eastern European news outlet Visegrád 24. The faces of the soldiers were blurred to hide their identity.

The original footage appeared to have been posted by a Ukrainian medic called “Nova” on June 16. It says it was filmed by a US teammate.

On Instagram, he described how the position of the squad was shelled, and they had to retreat, avoiding mortars as they did. At the end of the video, the men take cover in a building, where he comments tanks and mortars fired upon them.

He concludes: “We will remember them all the defenders of this city. We did our job 100%. Glory to the heroes.”

In an earlier compilation video he posted of the fighting in Bahkmut, eastern Ukraine, there are clips of the US soldiers fighting seen in the later footage.

Insider reached out to “Nova” for comment but received no response.

Since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022, hundreds of foreign fighters have flocked to join the fight. Most of these fighters joined the International Legion, while others joined the army itself or worked to help Ukrainian forces in other capacities.

Several American volunteers have died battling Russian forces in Ukraine.

• Flights from Moscow have sold out amid reports Wagner troops are marching on the city, per Der Spiegel.
• The mercenary Wagner Group launched an unprecedented mutiny in Russia on Saturday.
• There have been unconfirmed reports that Vladimir Putin has fled from the capital to St. Petersberg.

Direct flights out of Moscow have sold out, following speculation that Moscow’s elite would flee amid the Wagner Group mutiny, German outlet Der Spiegel reported.

Scores of Wagner fighters entered Russia from occupied Ukraine on Saturday morning and claimed to have taken control of crucial security sites. Reports have suggested they are now heading to the capital.

Flights from Moscow to Tbilisi, Georgia, Astana, Kazakhstan, and Istanbul, Turkey, are now no longer available, a Der Spiegel reporter confirmed.

There have also been unconfirmed reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin has fled the capital, based on data from Flightradar24, which reportedly showed a government plane often used by him depart from Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport towards St. Petersberg and then disappear from radar, per Der Spiegel.

However, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that the president had left Moscow, per the Russian news agency TASS.

Some outlets have also reported that Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov has fled to Turkey, but this is also unconfirmed.

Several other private flights from Russia were also tracked on the Flightradar24 platform, Der Spiegel said.

Putin has condemned the mutiny, which he has described as a “betrayal,” and has vowed that Russia will defend itself.

• Don’t expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates anytime soon, Richard Fisher says.
• The US central bank is unlikely to lower rates until 2024, the former Dallas Fed president said.
• Inflation has started to cool in recent months but remains well above the Fed’s 2% target.

Investors shouldn’t expect a boost to stocks from the Federal Reserve slashing interest rates until next year, the former boss of the Dallas Fed has warned.

Richard Fisher said on Thursday that the US central bank could pursue further hikes – and definitely won’t consider cuts – until it’s clear that inflation will fall to its target level of 2%.

“If you saw what the Bank of England did with 50 basis points, the Canadians, the Australians, there is still a possibility for one or two more [rate hikes],” he told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” in reference to other central banks rushing to cool soaring prices with further rate hikes.

“And at a minimum, they’re not going to be cutting rates in my view, as far as the eye can see, until 2024,” Fisher added. “My guess is they will just have to hold it where it is.”

The central bank raised borrowing costs at 10 consecutive meetings between March 2022 and May 2023 in a bid to tame inflation, which was running close to four-decade highs.

But it paused its tightening campaign at its most recent meeting last week, with chair Jerome Powell noting that policymakers were “seeing the effects of our policy tightening and demand in the most interest rate sensitive sectors of the economy, especially housing and investment.”

Investors shouldn’t view Powell’s words as a sign that the Fed will start cutting rates anytime soon, according to Fisher.

“I could’ve argued both sides at the last meeting, but I have no problem with their having paused,” he said. “But I do expect them to do a little bit more.”

Most traders expect the central bank to bring in one more rate hike in July, and to begin slashing borrowing costs by January 2024, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

Future rate cuts would likely help to drive up stock prices, because people start getting lower returns from savings accounts, which incentivizes them to invest their cash.

Read more: These 5 charts capture a rollercoaster 15 months for stocks, bonds, and crypto as the Fed pauses its tightening campaign

• Active home listings dropped 7% in May to the lowest number Redfin has ever recorded going back to 2012.
• New listings, meanwhile, fell 25% year over year to 465,000 last month.
• That’s due to high mortgage rates, which have discouraged owners from selling their homes.

The housing market is suffering its worst inventory shortage in over a decade, a sign that high mortgage rates are causing the housing ice age to drag on.

Active home listings saw a year-over-year drop of 7.1% last month, slumping to 1.4 million in May, according to data from Redfin. That’s the lowest number of available homes the real estate analytics group has ever recorded, with its data going back to 2012.

New listings, meanwhile, fell 25% year over year to 465,000 last month – the third-lowest number Redfin has recorded.

The drop in available homes is largely due to high mortgage rates, with the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage hovering near a 20-year record at 6.35%. Rates that high discourage existing homeowners from listing their properties, as many financed their homes at ultra-low interest rates years ago.

The result is an unaffordable and largely frozen housing market, with the shortage in inventory pushing prices higher and slowing sales activity. 

In fact, 38% of properties last month sold above their listing price, Redfin said. Meanwhile, pending home sales dropped 16%, a sign that the spring homebuying rush has faltered in the face of higher mortgage rates.

“There are two things that would jumpstart the housing market: A big drop in mortgage rates and/or a big surge of new listings … Neither of those things happened this spring,” Redfin’s deputy chief economist Taylor Marr said in a statement on Thursday. “Instead, rates rose and new listings dropped to record lows. And with one or two more interest-rate hikes expected this year, mortgage rates are likely to remain elevated at least through the summer, continuing to limit both demand and supply.”

Affordability and homebuying activity won’t pick up until mortgage rates drop more meaningfully, Marr previously told Insider, though he said that was unlikely to happen anytime soon. He predicted mortgage rates would likely ease to just around 6% by the end of the year.

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• Old Point National Bank is offering the highest interest rate for a CD right now.
• Many more banks and credit unions are offering rates over 5% APY.
• See today’s best high-interest accounts »

CD rates have broken 6%.

Old Point National Bank, based in Hampton, Virginia, is offering a 6-month CD with an interest rate of 6.02% APY, and a minimum balance of $500. Until now, NASA Federal Credit Union had claimed the title of highest CD rate, offering 5.65% APY for a 9-month share certificate.

For years, savings products like CDs and high-yield savings accounts offered rates more in the realm of 3% and 4% APY, but in recent months 5% has become the new normal for CDs. While Old Point National is the first one to break 6%, it’s not unlikely that more banks and credit unions could follow.

How to get the highest interest rate on your savings

Old Point National Bank is a bank, not a credit union, meaning anyone who can afford the minimum balance can put money into its CDs. However, you must visit a branch location to open a CD. While it’s offering the highest rate right now, other banks and credit unions aren’t far behind:

A CD (certificate of deposit, technically), is a savings product best used for getting a guaranteed return on short-term savings you won’t need to use in the near future. When you put money in a CD, you know upfront how long that CD will last (like one year, six months, or three years) and in most cases, you can’t remove your money before then without paying a penalty fee.

If you aren’t sure you can leave your money alone for the length of a CD, consider a high-yield savings account instead.