This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
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Hello! Apparently, wealthy corporate climbers have a new obsession: a $7,000 chair. The Herman Miller Eames lounge chair and accompanying ottoman have become the pinnacle of status for a certain group of rich, young American men.
Now, onto the rest of this week's top stories.
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Meta: Wall Street may have shown Tesla leniency, but Meta didn't enjoy the same leeway. Despite reporting better-than-expected first-quarter earnings, weak guidance for the second quarter and outsized AI investments spooked investors. Mark Zuckerberg preached patience.
Microsoft: AI spend was also the name of the game at Microsoft. The tech giant pledged to keep investing in the tech as demand for its AI and cloud services continued to rise.
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Alphabet: Q1 results blew past expectations, notching a 15% year-over-year revenue bump. Alphabet also issued a $0.20 per share dividend — its first ever — joining its Big Tech peers like Microsoft, Apple, and Meta, in the dividend club.
How to buy a sports team
Thanks to a rush of billionaires looking to buy teams, investment banks up and down Wall Street are tripping over each other to work on sports deals.
With sports dealmaking on the rise, BI mapped out the top investment bankers — from the bulge brackets to the boutiques — helping steer these deals. The list includes top banks like Goldman Sachs, as well as smaller firms like The Raine Group.
PE firm. New Story has purchased other local school chains, creating what it calls one of the largest special-education companies in the US.
To some, private equity's business model appears antithetical to special education. It's a concept that has former staff, researchers, and US senators worried.
LinkedIn influencers are becoming more popular, with some amassing followings of millions of people. The platform's shift from uncool to in-demand has created a unique opportunity for crafty PR firms.
Some firms are offering executives — or "thought leaders" — ghostwriting and editorial services. In some cases, PR pros manage all aspects of an exec's LinkedIn presence, from writing to analytics.
"I make it a point to visibly leave the office toward the end of the working day and to enforce strict rules around maximum working hours so that employees can enjoy work-life balance."
The Insider Today team: Matt Turner, deputy editor-in-chief, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.
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