5 current and former junior bankers explain what their daily schedules are really like as burnout mounts: 'Ninety-five hours a week, that's nothing special'

Hello everyone!

Welcome to this weekly roundup of stories from Insider's Business co-Editor in Chief Matt Turner. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every Sunday.

What we're going over today:

• Confessions of Wall Street's burned-out junior bankers.
• Female former employees say they faced sexism at Fine Brothers Entertainment, the YouTube giant behind the viral 'Kids React' videos. Plus: The latest on the David Dobrik Vlog Squad scandal.
• It's actually a horrible time to buy a house.
• Hedge funds are ramping up bets against Chamath Palihapitiya's SPACs and have already taken home $40 million this year.
• BONUS: The 194 most powerful people at Google under CEO Sundar Pichai.

Here's what's trending this morning:

• Suez latest: Video shows tug boats honking in celebration as they moved the Suez Canal ship a small distance.
• Warehouse workers: Amazon is trying to defeat what experts call the most important union vote in decades.
• Stock market selling spree: Wall Street is speculating it's the result of a fund liquidation.
• "Silver bullet" for weight loss: Marc Andreessen says he has been using the drug for 40 days without side effects.

Confessions of Wall Street's burned-out junior bankers

From Reed Alexander:

Wall Street is a picture of growing discontent among junior staffers.

In response to mounting accounts of burnout throughout junior levels, banks and private-equity firms have begun to elbow one another in a crush to offer young talent the most desirable perks and steer them away from defecting. You can get the latest on what firms such as Goldman Sachs, Apollo Global Management, and Credit Suisse are doing here.

Insider interviewed five current and recently departed analysts in investment banking to get the perspective of junior bankers during the early years of their careers. All these bankers spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely about their experiences. Their identities are known to Insider.

"I'm working on a deal right now where some of my coworkers in the bank worked last night until 5:30 a.m," one banker said. "Ninety-five hours a week, that's nothing special. For the most part, everyone's working those hours."

Read the full story here:

• Confessions of Wall Street's burned-out junior bankers: 5 current and former analysts from firms like Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse explain their daily schedules

Also read:

• Wall Street firms are showering junior bankers with special bonuses and perks as burnout mounts
• Credit Suisse is paying analysts, associates, and VPs special $20,000 bonuses and raising salaries for all but the most senior bankers, as Wall Street tries to address WFH burnout for junior employees
• Apollo is offering some associates retention bonuses of up to $200,000 to stay on until 2022 after a year of intense hours and rapid-fire deals
  
• READY TO LAUNCH: These are the 29 bankers, advisors, and lawyers to know if you're thinking about starting your own hedge fund

Female former employees say they faced sexism at Fine Brothers Entertainment

From Lindsay Dodgson:

Fine Brothers Entertainment, or FBE, is best known for its "react" videos, in which children, teens, adults, and FBE staff are filmed watching clips, listening to music, eating strange foods, and taking part in games.

FBE's content has become a staple of YouTube, mirroring the trajectory of founders Benny and Rafi Fine themselves, who experienced meteoric success since their early videos. On YouTube, FBE has attracted 30 million subscribers, and in June 2020 it raked in 300 million views a month.

Yet interviews with 26 former employees and cast members paint a different picture. In addition to allegations that they experienced a toxic culture and racism when they worked there, some of these employees alleged that they experienced or witnessed casual sexism at the company that they said went to the top of management.

Read the full story here:

• Female former employees say they faced sexism at Fine Brothers Entertainment, the YouTube giant behind the viral 'Kids React' videos

Also read:

• YouTube plans to ban videos showing staged animal rescues. The policy shift comes after the platform was found running ads from major brands on videos depicting animal cruelty.
• T-Mobile is at a crossroads with its streaming video bundle, TVision, and everything is on the table - including shutting it down
  

Meanwhile, here's the latest on the David Dobrik Vlog Squad scandal:

• A behind-the-scenes look at how Insider reporter Kat Tenbarge investigated rape allegations against a member of David Dobrik's Vlog Squad
• Dispo's employees grapple with the future of their $200 million startup after scandal hits their cofounder, YouTube star David Dobrik
• YouTube is temporarily demonetizing David Dobrik's channels following a rape allegation against his former Vlog Squad cohort Dom Durte
  

It's actually a horrible time to buy a house

From Taylor Borden:

Just because all your friends jump off a bridge doesn't mean you should, too.

This ominous parental warning seems apt for the times: Millions of Americans have taken the plunge into homeownership over the last year, but that may not be the right decision for everyone.

Home prices nationwide are hitting unprecedented peaks, propelled by low mortgage rates. The underlying problem is a grave imbalance between supply and demand. The infinitesimal number of homes for sale is outweighed by the enormous pandemic-fueled desire for a home of one's own. Stay-at-home orders reminded people how much they crave bigger, better spaces to quarantine.

"Frankly, it may not make sense to buy at this moment," said Scott Trench, the CEO of the real-estate-investing resource BiggerPockets. "Frantically trying to buy 'something' is a great way to make a bad purchase."

Read the full story here:

• It's actually a horrible time to buy a house

Hedge funds are ramping up bets against Chamath Palihapitiya's SPACs

From Vicky Ge Huang:

The billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya says he loves SPACs because they level the playing field between ordinary folks and big Wall Street investors. The latter group is now pouncing on his three special-purpose acquisition companies amid a slump in performance.

Read the full story here:

• Hedge funds are ramping up bets against Chamath Palihapitiya's SPACs and have already taken home $40 million this year. Here's a detailed look at the wagers they're making.

Also read:

• WeWork released an investor deck outlining ambitious occupancy projections ahead of a proposed SPAC deal. Here are 4 big takeaways.

BONUS: Tech giant org charts

• We identified the 194 most powerful people at Google under CEO Sundar Pichai. Explore our exclusive org chart.
• ORG CHART: The 95 most powerful people at Amazon Web Services
• Microsoft cloud org chart: Meet 30 execs who run the $1.8 trillion tech titan's crucial cloud business under CEO Satya Nadella

Lastly, don't forget to check out Morning Brew - the A.M. newsletter that makes reading the news actually enjoyable.

Here are some headlines you might have missed last week.

- Matt

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