Author: Editor

2025-12-21T20:03:32.547Z Share Copy link Email Facebook WhatsApp X LinkedIn Bluesky Threads lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt. Impact Link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. I went to Five Below for some last-minute holiday shopping. I was surprised to find that many items didn’t live up to the store’s name. But Five Below is still affordable and a good spot for cute trinkets. When you walk into Five Below, you expect things to be…

Still from Disney’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”DisneyThe opening weekend for Disney’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” was less of a blaze and more of a simmer.And that’s the expectation for the full theatrical run of the third installment in James Cameron’s Avatar franchise. During its first three days in theaters, “Fire and Ash” tallied $88 million, falling well shy of analysts’ expectations, which called for a debut haul between $110 million and $125 million. For comparison, 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” brought in $134 million during the same three-day period.Internationally, the film collected $257 million, bringing the film’s global opening…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Natalie Lynch, 56, who relocated from San Francisco to Europe in 2024 and now resides in Audenge, France. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.The pandemic, with its loss of freedom, loss of connectivity, and the very clear message that life can be short, was a real wake-up call for me. I decided I needed to make some big changes, even if I didn’t have a clear idea of what the endgame would look like.I started working when I was 15, and I wanted to get off the hamster…

This story is based on a conversation with Jim Herrington, 62, from Suffolk, UK. It has been edited for length and clarity.When I was made redundant from my electronics marketing job in 2024 after the company downsized, the last thing I expected was that I would end up applying for 900 jobs before finally landing a new one.I put everything I had into my job search. I created tailored résumés, cover letters, and even presentations for individual roles — without using AI — and contacted employers directly, while also attending physical events to meet new contacts.My confidence took a beatingI…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Diego Sabino, the 39-year-old founder and CEO of The Only Caviar, a food brand that raises its sturgeons in Italy and merges luxury with sustainability. He’s also a father and is based in Miami. The following has been edited for length and clarity.My earliest memories of food are related to cooking with my grandmother when I was around 7 years old.I took small kitchen jobs as a 15-year-old and worked in a pub making sandwiches. That’s how I spent my summer. Rather than going out and chasing girls, I was making…

2025-12-21T11:38:01.213Z Share Copy link Email Facebook WhatsApp X LinkedIn Bluesky Threads lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt. Impact Link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. We’re in the thick of the holiday season, and that can only mean one thing on Wall Street: Blackstone’s annual holiday video is out.The tongue-in-cheek video leans into the private equity shop’s 40th anniversary with a mocking tribute to its 1980s origins. It riffs on everything from Ken Burns-style…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Alexander Vasylenko, a financial analyst for a large steel producer who also does AI training work in his free time. He was born in Ukraine, worked for CIBC in Canada, and is now based in New York. The following has been edited for length and clarity.From what I’ve seen, the workload in finance will be different in a couple of years, and it’s necessary to think about how you are going to fit into that.Two years ago, I would have had to walk an AI model through every single step and…

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Sergio Avedian, a 58-year-old ride-hailing driver for Uber and Lyft in Southern California. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.I was born in Istanbul, Turkey, to Armenian parents. I went to high school in Germany and later came to the US for college.I was always interested in finance, so I ended up becoming a trader at a boutique Wall Street firm. I saw the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s. After I retired from my day job in 2005, I was looking for things to keep myself occupied. Algorithms…

Many companies have navigated recent economic and geopolitical uncertainties — but the CEO of travel conglomerate Booking Holdings has faced a steady stream of crises over the last two decades.To name a few: the dot-com bubble, 9/11, the 2008 market crash, SARS-1, volcanoes, tsunamis, the pandemic, tariffs, and various wars. CEO Glenn Fogel told Business Insider there’s something happening in the world every day.”Every day something’s coming down the pipe,” Fogel said.Part of dealing with a crisis involves planning in advance whenever possible. For example, Fogel explained that when tensions started to heat up between Russia and Ukraine, a region…

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Cameron Kirkconnell, a world-record spearfisher who works as a yacht broker with Ikonic Yachts, based in Miami. This story has been edited for length and clarity.When I was really young, somebody asked me what I wanted to do for a living, and I said, “I want to fish and hunt.” My father was a lawyer, and my whole extended family is lawyers. Before that, everybody had been ship captains.After I got out of the Maritime Academy, I started working on the ships. I have the absolute highest license you can…