Author: arthursheikin@gmail.com
[ad_1] Yum Brands has a leg up over its competitors, according to Goldman Sachs. The bank upgraded the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell to buy from neutral. Analyst Christine Cho kept her 12-month price target of $167, implying a potential upside of 16%. KFC led the company’s growth in the first quarter, with 528 openings globally — the second highest for a first quarter in the brand’s history. China remains an important market for the company, with 50%-60% of incremental global unit additions coming from the country per year. YUM YTD mountain YUM YTD chart “Further,…
[ad_1] I admit it: I most definitely rolled my eyes in 2019, when Twitter announced vague plans to build a “open and decentralized standard for social media.”At the time I didn’t really understand what then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was trying to do — or why the head of a social media company with plenty of problems was messing around with plans to create more social media companies.I get it now: Bluesky was a science project that aimed to let people build their own social networks. And that’s still what it is at its core, says Bluesky CEO Jay Graber.But in…
[ad_1] In the post-nuclear age, scientists noticed a peculiar problem: steel produced after 1945 was contaminated. Atomic bombs had infused the atmosphere with radioactivity, which contaminated the metal.This made most steel useless for precise equipment such as Geiger counters and other highly accurate sensors. The solution? Salvage old steel from sunken pre-war battleships resting deep on the ocean floor, far away from the nuclear fallout. This material, known as low-background steel, became prized for its purity and rarity.Fast forward to 2025, and a similar story is unfolding — not under the sea, but across the internet.Since the launch of ChatGPT…
[ad_1] London CNN — The owner of Pornhub has suspended access to its website in France because of its objections to a new French law requiring pornographic sites to verify the age of their users, the country’s communications regulator said Tuesday. Arcom, the regulator, said in a statement that adult entertainment company Aylo had chosen to “shirk the requirement of protecting minors” enshrined in digital regulations “by suspending access to its content in France, including for adults.” That’s despite the “numerous technical solutions on the market (allowing) users’ age to be verified while ensuring the protection of their personal data,”…
[ad_1] This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Megan Allison, a 23-year-old Starbucks store manager in Philadelphia.Allison graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University. She got the degree through the Starbucks College Achievement Plan (SCAP), which covers tuition toward a Bachelor’s degree in ASU’s online program.About 13% of Starbucks employees, whom Starbucks calls “partners,” are currently participating in the program, according to the company.The interview has been edited for length and clarity.When I started working at Starbucks, I was 18 years old. I had aged out of foster care, and I really didn’t have…
[ad_1] CNN — High economic uncertainy has hiring grinding to a halt at US businesses. Job growth slowed for the second month in a row at private-sector firms, which added just 37,000 jobs in May, according to new employment estimates released Wednesday by payroll company ADP. May’s job gains, which marked a sharp stepback from the 60,000 jobs added that ADP reported for April, came in significantly below economists’ expectations for 130,000 jobs to be added. It’s the lowest monthly total since March 2023, ADP said. “The weak numbers we’re seeing now does not point to a labor market that’s…
[ad_1] This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation in mid-May with 44-year-old Jason Finkelman, a business immigration lawyer in Austin. The following has been edited for length and clarity.These days, I feel like I’m half lawyer, half therapist for my clients.I help foreign nationals with employment and family immigration. On the employment side, I’m working with clients across a range of industries, including tech, semiconductor, energy, oil and gas, research, and video gaming. Many of these are international entrepreneurs or investors looking to get a visa to start a business in the US.There is an unfounded fear among so many…
[ad_1] This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Barbara Ann Patton, 88, who works as a notary in Florida. Patton said she works to pay her bills, as she has minimal savings and relies on her stepdaughter to help stay afloat. She said she’s considering finding someone else to live with her so she can more comfortably make ends meet. Her words have been edited for length and clarity.I work now because I need to, partly due to some poor decisions I’ve made. I’ve always thought that at this time in my life, I’d be getting my Social…
[ad_1] Zach Janik had all the makings of a Florida lifer. Born and raised in West Palm Beach, he spent most of his adult years in St. Augustine, a small beach town on the state’s northeast coast. In 2018, just shy of 30, he purchased a tidy three-bedroom house for $195,000. Life was good.A few years into the COVID-19 pandemic, though, he no longer recognized the place he had long called home. The area around St. Augustine was bursting with new arrivals and vast expanses of cookie-cutter homes to meet the growing demand for housing. All those new residents clogged…
[ad_1] Some companies are cutting middle management positions, and the roles that remain could change significantly in the years ahead.Aneesh Raman, LinkedIn’s chief economic opportunity officer, believes AI adoption — and the broader economic transformation he expects it to drive — will fundamentally change what it means to be a middle manager over the next decade.In addition, Google, Intel, Amazon, and Walmart have announced plans this year to collectively lay off thousands of workers, many of them managers. These cuts to midlevel roles are part of a trend some have dubbed the “Great Flattening,” and reflect a broader push to…