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Hello!
We published a bunch of great stories on Facebook, Tesla, WeWork, Walmart's Jet, SoftBank-backed startup Fair, and buzzy AI startup UiPath this week, so I want to jump right to it:
WeWork's coding boot camp, Flatiron School, laid off dozens of employees on Thursday as the coworking giant continued to slash costs after its failed initial public offering, Becky Peterson and Meghan Morris reported. Separately, Meghan and Julie Bort reported that insiders say WeWork's IT is a patchwork of cheap devices and Band-Aid fixes that will take millions to fix.
Top leaders are leaving Walmart's Jet, and some employees are growing concerned about the site's future
Jet, the Walmart-owned e-commerce site, is facing a stream of departures from top leaders, fueling concerns among some employees about the company's future, according to Hayley Peterson.
SoftBank-backed startup Fair burned through nearly $400 million in 10 months. Insiders reveal how Softbank stepped in and cleaned house in the wake of WeWork.
A dozen current and former employees told Meghan Morris that Fair's unconstrained growth was its undoing. It hired people it didn't have jobs for and bought millions of dollars in inventory it lost track of as it burned through funding, they said.
Hot AI startup UiPath's job cuts were triggered after it burned cash faster than expected and missed its revenue target, according to an internal document
UiPath was burning cash faster than expected and its revenue growth, although robust, was below its internal targets when the company launched a plan - dubbed Project Dawn - to slash hundreds of jobs and dramatically reduce costs, according to a presentation reviewed by Ben Pimentel.
WPP's shakeup
Mark Read, the CEO of WPP, the world's biggest ad holding company, is shaking things up as he looks to get the company back to growth. This week:
The changes come as WPP looks to tackle headwinds caused by client budget cuts and a large-scale shift away from traditional advertising channels.
In conversation
- Dakin Campbell talked to Atte Lahtiranta, Goldman Sachs' new chief technology officer. He shared his strategy for attracting outside developers to work more closely with the bank, giving a glimpse into the future of how Wall Street will work.
- Julie Bort talked to Amazon CTO Werner Vogels, who revealed he almost blew the company off when it first reached out to him 15 years ago, believing it was "just a bookshelf."
- Melia Russell talked to Sean Knapp, the founder and CEO of Ascend, a startup that came out of stealth mode in July. He shared the pitch deck he used to raise $15 million in funding.
- Jeremy Berke talked to Peter Barsoom, the CEO of 1906, a Colorado-based cannabis-edibles brand. He walked through his plan to more than quadruple sales in a year.
- Shana Lebowitz talked to Dane Holmes, Goldman Sachs' outgoing talent chief. He shared the three questions he asks himself before taking any new role - including his next one as CEO of a HR tech startup.
- Rachel Premack talked to Ken Braunbach, VP of inbound transportation at Walmart, about everything from increasing sustainability to its trucking fleet that's more exclusive than Harvard.
- Lydia Ramsey talked to CVS Health CEO Larry Merlo about the company's HealthHubs, its bet that it can transform its pharmacies into places where you'd want to go to get healthcare.
- Joe Williams talked to Leigh Radford, who heads Procter & Gamble Ventures. She explained why she rents out a movie theater for her team every quarter to spark innovation at the $299 billion retail giant.
Finance and Investing
Tech, Media, Telecoms
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