Author: Editor

From the outside, Saks Fifth Avenue — the century-old department store in Manhattan — is literally glowing, its façade decorated with thousands of glittering lights as part of its annual holiday display.The shine, however, masks a retailer under pressure. On Friday, Saks named a new CEO, capping a tumultuous 12 months for the heavily leveraged department store owner. After months of restructurings, lawsuits, missed payments, and broken promises, Saks Global is now facing the possibility of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy.What happens next could have consequences for customers. Brands — some of which haven’t been paid in full for over a…

After getting laid off in 2023, marketing veteran Julie Levin worked part time as a bartender for about six months as she considered her next steps. Levin is now the head of brand partnerships at Two Things, a New York City consultancy specializing in business transformations. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.I moved across the country from LA to the New York area in 2022 for a really exciting job that I thought would mark the next phase of my career. But in 2023, there was a lot going on in the marketing industry, and I was…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Kanish Shah, a 26-year-old software engineer at Walmart who lives in Milpitas, California. Business Insider has verified his employment with documentation. His words have been edited for length and clarity.I moved to the US from India in August 2021 to pursue a master’s degree in computer science at the University of Southern California. Soon after, I began looking for a summer internship — but things didn’t go as planned.Like many aspiring software engineers, I was excited about the idea of working at a Big Tech company like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Meta,…

Podcasts are increasingly making the leap to TV — and 2026 will be a significant test of the format’s potential in the living room.YouTube, already the top streaming TV service, has solidified its position as the No. 1 destination for podcasts, too. Forty percent of monthly listeners called it their most-used service, trouncing Spotify (18%) and Apple (11%), according to a June 2025 survey by Sounds Profitable and Signal Hill Insights.Netflix is now looking to challenge YouTube with a slate of video podcasts set to roll out early this year. The streamer has at least 33 shows already in hand and…

President Donald Trump on Saturday announced that the US had conducted a raid on Venezuela, resulting in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, and big names in business and foreign policy have been reacting as the aftermath unfolds.Here’s what they’ve been saying:Charles MyersMyers, chairman of political risk consulting firm Signum Global Advisors, told Business Insider that foreign investment in oil, tourism, and construction will be the “centerpiece” of Venezuela’s financial recovery going forward, adding that he expects the country’s economy will grow “faster over the next two years than people anticipate because of the extent or…

A group of about 20 US investors is already planning to travel to Venezuela in March, following Saturday’s news that the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, had been taken into US custody.Charles Myers, the chairman of the political risk advisory firm Signum Global Advisors and a former vice-chairman of the investment advisory firm Evercore, told Business Insider that the mood among investors he has spoken to is one of “cautious optimism” following news of Maduro’s ouster.”I think the centerpiece of Venezuela’s success, looking out 12 months or even 24 months, is foreign investment,” Myers said. “A big part of the Venezuela…

2025 went down as the year that YouTube, not Netflix, officially became the streamer to beat in Hollywood. The reason: creators have become the new titans in town.You could feel the tone shift on Netflix’s recent earnings calls. Execs have insisted Netflix is superior to YouTube while also making it clear they’re open to deals with its stars.”We want to be in business with the best creators on the planet, wherever they are,” co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on the company’s October earnings call.It’s not just talk. Netflix has done deals with star creators, including kids entertainer Ms. Rachel, The Sidemen,…

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, on Aug. 17, 2024. Alfredo Lasry R/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Alfredo Lasry R/Getty Images Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, face a raft of charges in the United States following President Trump’s announcement early Saturday that the U.S. attacked Caracas and took them into custody. Maduro, Flores and senior Venezuelan officials face charges related to alleged “drug trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracies,” according to an unsealed indictment posted on social media Saturday by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. The indictment alleges that, starting in 1999, the defendants partnered with international…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jeremy Yoder, founder of Mad Scientist BBQ. It has been edited for length and clarity.I always assumed I’d become a doctor — the respectable kind of job that made sense to my family and community. Now, I make a living cooking huge cuts of meat on camera and talking about heat transfer, airflow, and collagen breakdown.It sounds like a wild pivot, but for me, each step — leaving pre-med, starting and then quitting teaching, and building a YouTube channel from scratch — came from the same place: wanting to protect my…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Arielle Sotiropoulos, a 30-year-old client relationship executive at a professional services company. She’s based in New York City. The following has been edited for length and clarity.I work in professional services, advising private equity firms and their portfolio companies. I’m part of the private equity-focused business development team, and most days, I’m the only woman in the room.I’ve been doing this for about eight years, but I haven’t always shown up the way I do now. Part of what I attribute to a lot of my success is the feedback I’ve…