<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="950785" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="growth-stocks">Growth stocks</keyword> are equities that outperform the market, their share prices increasing at a faster pace.</li><li>Growth stocks are often companies in innovative fields. They have high earnings but don't pay dividends.</li><li>Growth stock share prices can be inflated and swing sharply, especially with young, unproven firms.</li></ul><p>Most investors want the stocks they buy to grow or appreciate as the financial pros say. But some stocks appreciate a lot more than others. </p><p>This is particularly the case with so-called growth stocks - equities that generally increase in value more rapidly than the average. They outpace the stock market, in other words.</p><p>They have a lot of appeal and get a lot of press. But as with any investment, they have drawbacks as well. Let's go through the ups and downs of growth stocks.</p><h2>What is a growth stock?</h2><p>"<keyword id="1426842" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Growth-companies">Growth companies</keyword> or stocks typically have a recent history of growing or are expected to grow their revenues and profits at a faster pace than the market," says Niladri Mukherjee, the head of CIO portfolio strategy at Merrill Lynch. "They tend to operate in newer and faster-growing industries and are disrupting traditional ways of doing business." </p> <p>For investors, growth stocks are the fuel that drives the appreciation of their portfolios - the big winners, or at least, the potential winners. However, they tend to be riskier than other kinds of stocks: Their higher-than-average prices increase the risk of a larger drop in the event that their companies' earnings don't match expectations. And that can be common, as many are fairly young companies, promising but untried.</p><h2>Key traits of growth stocks</h2><p>Growth stocks don't only grow fast. They also exhibit a range of other distinguishing characteristics. </p><h3>Market-beating growth</h3><p>Obviously, growth stocks' number one trait is their rapid appreciation. Unfortunately, there's no specific rate that marks an equity as a growth stock. Instead, investors should look to market averages - indexes such as the S&amp;P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq Composite - to decide whether a stock fits the bill. For example, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/s&amp;p_500_500" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the S&amp;P 500 has grown by roughly 15%</a> over the past year, while <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/index/dow_jones" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Dow Jones has grown by nearly 7%</a>. By contrast, Amazon - perhaps the most prominent growth stock today - <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/amzn-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has risen by 66%</a>. Likewise, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/aapl-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Apple has grown by 63%</a> and <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/googl-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google by 20%</a>.</p><h3>Higher earnings per share and P/E ratios </h3><p>Related to the increase of its stock price, the typical growth company also enjoys a high earnings-per-share growth rate. Basically, this means that its profits are growing faster than the market average, which is ultimately what leads investors to push up its stock price.</p><p>Taking Amazon as our example again, its EPS for Q3 2020 was 193% higher than the equivalent figure for Q2 2019. This is a figure the S&amp;P 500 simply can't match, with even fairly <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-outlook-sp500-surge-next-year-says-goldman-sachs-2020-11-1029812495" target="_blank" rel="noopener">optimistic projections from Goldman Sachs</a> putting the S&amp;P's EPS growth rate at 30% by the end of 2021.</p><p>Usually, a growth stock also comes with a higher-than-average <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-pe-ratio" target="_blank" rel="noopener">price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio</a>, which measures the price of a company's stock relative to its earnings per share. Higher P/E ratios indicate more expensive stocks, something you'd expect to see with growth stocks that promise to outperform the market.</p><p>For example, Tesla has an eye-watering P/E ratio of 1,444, while the Nasdaq Composite and S&amp;P 500 average out at around 40. Its higher price is due mostly to an expectation that it will deliver higher future growth.</p><h3>No dividends</h3><p>Growth stocks tend not to pay out dividends to shareholders. Instead, they opt to plow any profits into back into production, expansion, or research and development. </p><p>In fact, that's one reason for their rosy outlook. "Growth stocks are anticipated to grow partly because firms reinvest any earnings," says Susannah Streeter, a senior investment and <keyword id="31671" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="markets">markets</keyword> analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.</p><p>Amazon has never paid a dividend, and neither has Google. </p><h3>Hot young industries</h3><p>Growth stocks can be found in any field, but most are in innovation-prone industries.</p> <p>Many growth stocks can now be found in the tech sector. This is hardly surprising, given that the tech sector is the most disruptive industry operating today, producing companies that are innovating with new products and business models.</p><p>Another example is the renewable energy sector, with Tesla perhaps being the most famous (or notorious) company in this bracket, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/tsla-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">having risen by 690% over the past year</a>. Danish multinational power company Orsted (DNNGY) is another notable growth stock in this area, having risen by just under 100% over 12 months.</p><p>Online retail and fintech are two other examples of growth sectors. Here, prominent companies include Alibaba, JD.com, eBay, Rakuten, Zalando, and Groupon, as well as PayPal, Square, Green Dot, and MercadoLibre.</p><p>Still another area where you're likely to find growth stocks is in emerging markets, meaning nations or geographical regions where businesses are growing more rapidly than their equivalents in more mature economies. This includes BRIC countries such as Russia and China, where the likes of Gazprom, China Mobile, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.. and Baozun are examples of growth stocks.</p><h2>The downsides of growth stocks </h2><p>Unfortunately, high risk is another characteristic shared by growth stocks. The leading disadvantages include: </p><p><strong>Economic:</strong> Growth stocks are sensitive to business cycles - they perform particularly well during boom periods, and decline more sharply during busts. There was a dramatic demonstration of this tendency during the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000 and the ensuing <a href="https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/review/03/09/Kliesen.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2001 recession</a>. (That said, the era of the 2020-21 coronavirus pandemic seems to have bucked this trend somewhat, at least with tech- or digital-based growth stocks. They are performing well, despite the underlying stagnation of the economy overall.)</p><p><strong>Expensive:</strong> It's easy for all the buzz to make a growth stock overvalued by the market. "Some companies and sectors can get hyped up by investors who drive their share prices to unjustifiable heights," says Susannah Streeter.</p><p><strong>Volatile</strong>: Growth stocks have historically exhibited more volatility than other stocks, rising - and falling - in price more frequently. For example, Amazon's beta value, a measure of how much it moves relative to the stock market, is 1.20, while Apple's is 1.28. (The market overall scores 1.0.) This indicates that these stocks experience price swings more often than the overall market, exposing their holders to more potential losses as well as gains.</p><p><strong>Unproven</strong>: While certain growth stocks have been around for decades (e.g. Apple, Amazon) and have a proven business model, others haven't. One example of this is the ridesharing Uber, which has had a bumpy road since it went public in 2019. Despite being higher than its opening price ($55 compared to $42), it continues to operate at a loss, <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1543151/000154315120000005/uberq419earningspressrelea.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">having posted a 'net profit' of <em>minus</em> $8.5 billion in 2019</a>.</p><h2><strong>Growth stocks vs. <keyword id="603652" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="value-stocks">value stocks</keyword></strong></h2><p>Value stocks are in a sense the opposite of growth stocks. A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/value-investing-definition" target="_blank" rel="noopener">value stock </a>is one whose shares are trading below its company's intrinsic or fundamental worth<strong>.</strong> "Their share prices may have suffered due perceptions for weaker growth and cash flows, loss of competitive advantage, [or] declining industry fundamentals," says Niladri Mukherjee.</p><p>Compared to growth stocks, value stocks aren't anywhere near as exciting. However, they can provide an important complement to growth stocks. Many investors see them as good deals, undiscovered diamonds - in contrast to the premium prices you pay for a flashy growth stock. Though sleepy, value stocks are more stable. And of course, they've got potential to rise too, once the market realizes the company's sound fundamentals.</p><p>There has been plenty of debate over the decades about whether growth stocks or value stocks are "best." However, the truth boringly lies somewhere in the middle, with an approach diversified between the two <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/stock-market-outlook-value-growth-rally-together-wall-street-strategist-2020-12-1029859019" target="_blank" rel="noopener">usually being the wisest option</a>.</p><p>"As value and growth tend to perform well at different times, owning a bit of both can help," says Susannah Streeter.</p><h2>What are some of the top growth stocks?</h2><p>It's hard to predict which stocks will become the <em>nex</em>t big growth stocks. However, it's easy enough to identify which stocks currently are growth stocks - the most successful. </p><p>They vary quite widely in terms of the ages and sizes. Apple, for example, was founded in 1976 and <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/265125/total-net-sales-of-apple-since-2004/">garnered $274.5 billion in revenue in 2020</a>, while Tesla was founded in 2003 and had revenue of around <a href="https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/TSLA/tesla/revenue">$28 billion in the 12 months prior to October 2020</a>.</p><h3>Amazon (AMZN)</h3><p>Amazon exhibits pretty much all of the traits of the archetypal growth stock. It has grown faster than market averages for numerous years, rising by more than 400% over the past five years, compared to 95% for the S&amp;P 500. It also has a higher-than-average EPS growth rate, doesn't pay dividends, has a high PE ratio, and operates in an emerging industrial sector (online retail).</p><h3>Apple (APPL)</h3><p>As with Amazon, Apple ticks most of the boxes for being a growth stock. It has also grown by more than 400% over the past half a decade, has a high PE ratio, and operates in the tech sector. On other hand, <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/aapl-stock">its projected EPS growth rate</a> isn't much higher than market averages for the next few years, indicating that it may be maturing as a company. </p><h3>Netflix (NFLX)</h3><p>Netflix is another company that has demonstrated impressive growth, with its earnings per share rising by over 70% between 2019 and 2020. It has also seen its stock price rise by 49% over the past 12 months. It doesn't pay dividends.</p><h3>Tesla (TSLA)</h3><p>Tesla is something of a controversial growth stock, largely because its fundamentals don't appear to fully rationalize its staggering growth. For example, while <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/tesla-stock-surpass-toyota-most-valuable-automaker-world-market-cap-2020-7-1029359765" target="_blank" rel="noopener">it overtook Toyota in 2020</a> to become the world's biggest carmaker in terms of market capitalization, it sells nowhere near as many vehicles as its Japanese rival. Its <a href="https://tesla-cdn.thron.com/static/4E7BR9_TSLA_Q3_2020_Update_P0Q85U.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EPS did grow by 69%</a> between 2019 and 2020. </p><h3>Square (SQ)</h3><p>Founded in 2009, payments company Square is the youngest of the five growth stocks featured here, which may account for why it has experienced the most growth (save for Tesla). Its <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/stocks/sq-stock">share price rose by 233%</a> over the past year, although it's worth pointing out that its EPS actually shrank from 2020 and 2019, with the company making a loss of $0.18 per share in the months ending September 2020 (compared to a loss of $0.04 in 2019). </p><h2>The financial takeaway</h2><p>Growth stocks - which can be recognized by their greater volatility, higher EPS growth rates and lack of dividend payments - are a key part of any diversified portfolio. They offer investors greater potential gains, particularly during periods of economic expansion. </p><p>Of course, as with most high-reward investments, growth stocks correspondingly present greater risks. So, they should never be the sole focus of an investment portfolio. How big a presence they have among your holdings should depend on your long-term time frame, your overall goals, and your appetite for risk.</p><h2>Related coverage in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/investing-reference" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investing</a>:</h2><ul><li><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-faang" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FAANG stands for five very successful tech companies that can move the stock market - here's what to know about investing in them</a></h3></li><li><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-diversification" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What is diversification? A portfolio strategy that uses a variety of investments to limit risk</a></h3></li><li><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trading-vs-investing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trading and investing are two approaches to playing the stock market that bring their own benefits and risks</a></h3></li><li><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-a-mid-cap-stock" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What is a mid-cap stock? It means a company worth $2 to $10 billion - and often an ideal balance between growth and income for investors</a></h3></li><li><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-are-cyclical-stocks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">What are cyclical stocks? High-profit but volatile stocks whose prices rise and fall as economy grows and declines</a></h3></li></ul>

A growth stock is a company expected to rise faster than the overall market, offering bigger gains for investors who don't mind risk

<p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/556feae3dd0895283b8b461f-1200-924/t-mobile-ceo-john-legere-speaks-to-guests-during-their-companys-un-carrier-90-event-in-new-york-march-18-2015.jpg" border="0" alt="T-Mobile CEO John Legere speaks to guests during their company's Un-carrier 9.0 event in New York, March 18, 2015. "><p class="source"><span><a href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZYYXK8UX&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1440&amp;RH=674#/SearchResult&amp;VBID=2C0BXZYYXK8UX&amp;SMLS=1&amp;RW=1440&amp;RH=674&amp;POPUPPN=13&amp;POPUPIID=2C0408W2K3F24">REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz </a></span></p><p class="caption">T-Mobile CEO John Legere. The company is reportedly in talks to merge with the Dish Network.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Good morning! Here are the things you need to know in markets today.</span><span><br /></span></p><p><span><strong>Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said last night after talks with top EU officials that a deal with creditors is "within sight" and that Athens will make a payment due to the IMF on Friday.</strong> <span>The leftist-led Greek government <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-tsipras-sees-greek-deal-but-differences-remain-after-eu-talks-2015-6">still rejects benefit cuts and tax rises, which its EU and IMF creditors want</a> before they release fresh loans to avert a bankruptcy.<br /></span></span></p><p><strong>Satellite TV provider Dish Network is reportedly in talks to merge with mobile phone provider T-Mobile US in another huge telecoms deal.</strong> <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-dish-in-talks-to-merge-with-t-mobile-wsj-2015-6">T<span>he Wall Street Journal says</span></a> the two sides are in agreement about what the combined company would look like, but<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> a purchase price and the mix of cash and stock that would be used to pay for a deal remain unresolved.</span></p><p><span><span><strong>The OPEC cartel, which meets on Friday, appears to have softened its approach to US shale oil. </strong>OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah El-Badri <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-opec-changes-approach-to-us-shale-oil-2015-6">told delegates at a seminar in Vienna</a>: "Shale oil is a phenomenon that will stay with us. We have to live together and find a balance."</span></span></p><p><span><span><strong>Shanghai's Composite Index is falling in late trade.</strong> The index is currently down over 5%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index is off around 1.1% and the Nikkei is pretty much flat, down 0.04%.</span></span></p><p><strong>No change is expected from the Bank of England on interest rates when it makes its announcement at noon (8 a.m. EST).</strong> It will mark the 75th month in a row that the BoE has held the rate at 0.5%.</p><p><strong>Key employment data is due from the US today in the form of initial jobless claims at 1.30 p.m. (9.30 a.m. EST).</strong> The number of first-time claimants for state unemployment insurance is expected to come in at 279,000, down from 282,000 last month.</p><p><strong>Japanese online retailer Rakuten's stock slid 6% last night after it announced plans to raise $1.5 billion (£980 million) through new share issues to repay debt. </strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The highly acquisitive company, which bought mobile messaging company Viber and US rebate site operator Ebates last year, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-japans-rakuten-to-raise-15-billion-in-new-share-issue-stock-slides-2015-6">said it wants to improve its financial flexibility</a>.</span></p><p><strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Alibaba Pictures, the film and entertainment unit of China's largest ecommerce company, plans to raise $1.6 billion (£1 billion) in a share offering to finance media-related acquisitions. </span></strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Shares in the company, majority owned by Alibaba Group, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-alibaba-unit-says-to-raise-16-billion-in-share-sale-for-media-acquisitions-2015-6">have nearly doubled over the past year</a>.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>Activist US hedge fund Elliott <span>Associates</span> is pushing Samsung to raise its offer price for a subsidiary it is buying as part of group consolidation.</strong> <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/elliott-associates-buys-samsung-c-t-stake-1433378442">The Wall Street Journal reports</a> that Elliott has bought a 7.12% stake in Samsung C&amp;T, which comprises the group's engineering, construction and investment businesses.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>Chuck Blazer - the eccentric ex-FIFA official who is widely believed to be an FBI informant - admitted to facilitating or accepting bribes for two different World Cups in a 2013 hearing with federal prosecutors.</strong> </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Blazer pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, wire-fraud conspiracy, money-laundering conspiracy, income-tax evasion, and failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Account. The <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/chuck-blazer-admits-1998-2010-world-cup-bribery-2015-6">admissions related to the 1998 and 2010 World Cups</a>.</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-floyd-mayweather-spends-his-money-boxing-2015-4">Here's how Floyd Mayweather spends his millions</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="NiaGVpdDqdBR4NCmtjL5odLe14N1R4Hp" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'NiaGVpdDqdBR4NCmtjL5odLe14N1R4Hp',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

10 things you need to know before European markets open

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/599c322eb0e0b5901a8b64c8-1024/gettyimages-633687626.jpg" alt="Jamie Dimon" data-mce-source="Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images" /><p class="source"><span>Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>If Goldman Sachs <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-wants-to-become-the-google-of-wall-street-2017-4">wants to be the Google of Wall Street</a>, it seems that JPMorgan wants to be Amazon. </strong></li><li><strong>At an investor day presentation, CFO Marianne Lake set out the bank's "Digital Everywhere" strategy, while CEO Jamie Dimon mentioned Amazon Prime as a model for JPMorgan's banking efforts.</strong></li><li><strong>"We are already deeply embedded in our customers lives at a scale and a frequency that we believe is unmatched," Lake said. </strong></li><li><strong>JPMorgan's ability to implement this digital strategy across multiple business lines, many of which just happen to be market share leaders, has the potential to reshape the entire industry.</strong></li></ul><hr /><p><br />"The first opportunity we have to delight or to upset a client is when they walk through the door either physically or virtually."</p><p>Sounds like a tech executive, right? Jeff Bezos even? The Amazon boss often talks <a href="https://www.amazon.com/p/feature/z6o9g6sysxur57t">about delighting customers</a>, after all, although until recently the ecommerce giant <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-go-grocery-store-future-photos-video-2016-12">didn't really have doors to physically walk through</a>. </p><p>But no, that's not a tech founder, or a retail CEO. It's Marianne Lake, the CFO of JPMorgan Chase.</p><p>In an investor day presentation Tuesday February 27, Lake went through the Wall Street giant's "<a href="https://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/investor-relations/document/3cea4108_strategic_update.pdf">Digital Everywhere</a>" strategy. And later, JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon, who's teamed up with Bezos and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jamie-dimon-why-jpmorgan-amazon-and-berkshire-hathaway-are-starting-healthcare-venture-2018-2">Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway on a healthcare initiative</a>, discussed Amazon Prime. </p><p>Taken together, the comments hint at JPMorgan's vision of the future of banking. </p><h2>A generational shift</h2><p>There's a generational shift taking place, according to Lake. Customers are demanding digital capabilities in all their interactions with the firm. "Think streaming films versus DVDs," she said. "Banking is no exception."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a95c53eaae60526008b4581-1047/screen shot 2018-02-27 at 35108 pm.png" alt="Screen Shot 2018 02 27 at 3.51.08 PM" data-mce-source="JPMorgan" /><p class="source"><span>JPMorgan</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Now there are drawbacks to this shift, of course. The movie business used to make good money out of DVDs. Streaming films has been a more challenging business. For Wall Street, it means margins are likely to be compressed, meaning less money per trade.</p><p>"Jeff Bezos says 'Your margin is my opportunity,'" Dimon said in the Q&amp;A portion of investor day. "You know, that's called competition. And so some of it gets passed on to the customer in terms of lower prices and lower spreads."</p><p>But there are clear benefits to these digital relationships. </p><p>"They create loyalty, they give us more shots on goal to deepen relationships," Lake said. "This drives higher volume for us, and leveraging our scale, that higher volume is much more profitable."</p><p>This shift is playing out across JPMorgan's business, according to Lake's presentation. For example:</p><ul><li><strong>Consumer banking:</strong> 57% of millennials would change their bank for a better tech platform, according to JPMorgan. On the flip side, retention rates are 10 points higher for "digitally engaged households," and card spending is 118% higher.</li><li><strong>Corporate banking: </strong>76% of companies cite digital capabilities as "Highly" or "Very" important in selecting a banking partner, according to research from Greenwich Associates. </li><li><strong>Investing: </strong><span style="color: #222222;">85% of wealthy individuals use financial apps, and yet l</span>ess than 10% of Chase customers today have investments with the firm. </li><li><strong>Trading:</strong> According to a JPMorgan survey of institutional investors, <span style="color: #222222;">61% of FX traders are extremely likely to use a mobile app to trade in 2018. Meanwhile, </span>93% of JPMorgan's top 1,000 clients use the <a href="https://www.jpmorgan.com/country/US/EN/cib/investor-services/jpmorganmarkets-video">JPMorgan Markets</a> platform, with 30% growth in users accessing pre-trade information on the platform, and 60% growth in post-trade analysis on the platform. According to Lake, nearly half of JPMorgan's execution clients are reading the firm's research on the platform.</li></ul><p>"We are already deeply embedded in our customers lives at a scale and a frequency that we believe is unmatched," Lake said. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a95e9c9aae605c1038b4584-1045/screen shot 2018-02-27 at 40017 pm.png" alt="Screen Shot 2018 02 27 at 4.00.17 PM" data-mce-source="JPMorgan" /><p class="source"><span>JPMorgan</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Amazon Prime for banking</h2><p>It also allows JPMorgan to take a different approach when rolling out new products. Dimon cited the example of Amazon Prime going into movies, likening it to how JPMorgan would roll out online investing. </p><p>"Who thought Jeff Bezos would go into movies?" Dimon asked the audience at the investor day. "And he just gives it away for free to Prime because Prime pays for itself and he's just trying to make you a happy Prime customer."</p><p>"Well we do a little bit of the same by giving a lot of things away for free as part a package. We look at the price of the whole package, not necessarily the products."</p><p>He said: </p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">"That's why when we do online investing, we're going to be thinking about 'How are we going to add that to the product set in a simple way ... that the customer wants, so that they'll say 'I love this.'' Remember, if you're a great client, we can do it for free."</p><p>Now, JPMorgan's not the only bank thinking this way, of course. Goldman Sachs<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-wants-to-become-the-google-of-wall-street-2017-4"> has said it wants to be to risk what Google is to search, </a>for example. And McKinsey has highlighted the risks to traditional finance posed by <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-banks-are-facing-a-threat-from-silicon-valley-says-mckinsey-2017-10">so-called platform companies like Amazon, Alibaba, and Rakuten</a>.</p><p>But JPMorgan's ability to implement these digital shifts across multiple business lines, many of which just happen to be market share leaders, has the potential to reshape the entire industry. JPMorgan might have the ability to "do it for free" for great clients, but many competitors won't. </p><p>"Digital capabilities will really differentiate players in our industry in the coming years. And in a digital world, we are always open for our customers, continuously, 24/7," Lake said.</p><p>"We do have a complete strategy, a plan for every customer type, for all of their needs, in each business and around the world," she added. </p><p>Sound familiar?</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jamie-dimon-why-jpmorgan-amazon-and-berkshire-hathaway-are-starting-healthcare-venture-2018-2">We asked Jamie Dimon why JPMorgan is forming a new healthcare company with Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway - here's what he said</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/CN1WXGyx-xjRU7l6Z.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

JPMorgan wants to become the Amazon of Wall Street

<div id=":1z0" class="ii gt m14b0e8a1d76567b0 adP adO">
<div id=":1zf" class="a3s">
<div dir="ltr">
<p dir="ltr"><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/54c11047ecad04e4489135d2-1000-750/button-startup-1.png" border="0" alt="button startup"><p class="source"><span>Button</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Button, a startup that's less than a year old, just raised $12 million in a Series A round of funding.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The new funding was led by Redpoint Ventures with participation from Greycroft, DCM, VaynerRSE, Slow Ventures, and NBA Commissioner Emeritus David Stern. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Redpoint's Chris Moore will be joining Button's board. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">In July, Button raised $2.25 million in a round of seed funding.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span>Button wants to make apps as connected as the internet is.</span></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>When you open an app like Resy to book a table at a restaurant and then open Uber to pay for a ride to a restaurant, the different apps historically haven't been connected in any way. This is redundant and annoying for customers, who have to open each app individually to place orders and enter payment information. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><br /></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span>Button solves that problem by using "deep-linking," or optimizing the apps on your phone to talk to one another and work cohesively, kind of like the internet. It means you can hail an Uber and see your fare estimate from inside restaurant reservation app Resy. It creates a shortcut for you as a customer, and it lets Button collect and create data connections between your dinner reservation and you hailing a ride to dinner.</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr">"We live in an app world - and when we started Button, our dream was to redefine how apps connected in the mobile economy," <span>Button CEO </span><span>Michael Jaconi explained in Thursday's fundraising announcement.</span> </p>
<p dir="ltr">"Our goal was to extend app experiences across the mobile ecosystem - to solve the problem that we, as users, so often felt: 'I want something, but I need to navigate through a collection of screens, an app store, a registration, and hopefully I remember what I wanted when the journey began.'</p>
<p dir="ltr">"Our rallying cry is to break down the walls and reduce the friction of this disconnected app world."</p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Button's potential caught the eye of Uber - <a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/uber">a company that has raised $4.9 billion</a> - back in October. Button </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">launched its DeepLink Commerce platform in a partnership with Uber in the fall, and Uber showcased Button's development technology during a keynote speech at </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><a href="http://bit.ly/1xHnKGf" target="_blank">Concur DevCon</a><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Now, Button's development technology can be used by other appmakers to put an "order an Uber" feature in their own apps. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Button makes money on any transaction that is done through its system. Besides Uber, Button has struck up partnerships with Resy, on-demand hair styling startup Glamsquad, and others.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Jaconi - an entrepreneur whose cloud-based, loyalty rewards company </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">FreeCause was acquired by Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten a few years ago - has a small but talented team of e-commerce veterans whose past experiences include working for </span></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Rocket </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Internet, Google, Venmo, and JP Morgan. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Jaconi told Business Insider he's looking to grow his team with the new funding.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"The partnerships we've signed, our execution, and the caliber of the team we've assembled has brought us this far.  Our second chapter starts now," Jaconi said in Thursday's announcement.</span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>

Button, An Eight-Month-Old Startup That Wants Apps To Talk To Each Other, Just Raised $12 Million

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5cbf6f23b14bf426892c0aa5-2000/international-associates-conference-004.jpg" border="0" alt="Walmart Doug McMillon" data-mce-source="Walmart" /><p class="source"><span>Walmart</span></p><p class="caption">CEO Doug McMillon.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/walmart">Walmart</a> released its annual report on Tuesday, showing that total revenue grew 3% to $514.4 billion in worldwide sales in the latest fiscal year.</strong></li><li><strong>CEO Doug McMillon also talked about five lessons he has learned in his five years as Walmart's leader.</strong></li><li><strong>Read the full letter below.</strong></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul><p>Walmart released its annual report on Tuesday. It showed that the retailer's total revenue grew 3% to $514.4 billion in worldwide sales in the latest fiscal year.</p><p>Alongside the letter was CEO Doug McMillon's annual shareholder letter, where he shared Walmart's full-throated embrace of change, five leadership lessons he has learned in the five years he has been CEO, and a general roadmap for the company's future:</p><blockquote><p>Sam Walton showed us the way. He gave us a clear purpose and four timeless values. At Walmart, we save people money and help them live better - and we do it by serving others, striving for excellence, respecting everyone and acting with integrity.</p><p>Clear and constant.</p><p>You know what else is constant at Walmart? Change. As I visit with our associates all over the world and ask, "Other than our purpose and values, the only thing that's constant at Walmart is ..." and they respond: "Change!" It's a powerful mindset, and our people have it.</p><p>These past five years in this role have passed quickly, and it has been an exciting time to be at Walmart. Looking back, I'm not sure I could have imagined some of the things we're doing in our business today but, at the same time, it feels like we're just getting started.</p><p>Our customers and Sam's Club members are being served by associates who are better equipped to create new ways of shopping and put today's technology to work. Our goal is to make it easy, fast, friendly and fun to shop with us.</p><p>Consider:</p><p>• A busy mom can shop on our app or get through the store faster by finding the items on her list, thanks to the map feature on her Walmart app. She can make purchases with Walmart Pay and go digital to skip the pharmacy line and pick up a prescription.<br /><br />• Outside our stores, customers can pull into a pickup spot, have their personal shoppers put their order in their trunk and off they go. eCommerce has finally come to the food business and in a big way.</p><p>• We're putting technology to work with an autonomous scanner that checks our sidecounters to help us improve in-stock levels, and an autonomous floor cleaner that carries a camera to gather data on our product features to share with a FAST Unloader system in the back room that prioritizes items for restocking.</p><p>• Our Sam's Clubs are becoming more digital. With our Scan &amp; Go app, customers bypass the checkout line and pay for items on their mobile device, and now we're testing computer vision instead of barcodes to make the process even faster. Our new Membership Express can cut the time it takes to sign up from eight minutes to fewer than 60 seconds.</p><p>The ways we can use technology today and in the future are exciting, but our business is still a people business. We are people-led and tech-empowered, and that makes investing in our associates a strategic priority. On any given day, our associates may be attending one of our new training academies in the U.S. or entering our new fast-track leadership program for Walmart International.</p><p>They may be benefitting from our expanded parental-leave policies or beginning their careers at Walmart with a starting wage 50 percent higher than it was four years ago. And they may be extending their education with a $1-a-day college degree through our Live Better U program. We've made a lot of changes with respect to opportunities for our associates, and there's more to come.</p><p>No doubt the pace of change continues to increase.</p><p>Recently, I was visiting with a group of students, many of whom are joining our company, and one of them asked me what I had learned during my five years in this position. Surprises? Revelations?</p><p>It's a good question, and I've been giving it some thought. These five lessons came to the top of the list:</p><p>1. Leadership - You can't push a rope, but you can pull it. In other words, sometimes you just can't lead from behind. You can't muscle or push things along. As a leader during transformation, you have to be out in front - show that you want to learn, be curious, introduce new ideas, ask questions. Our people are talented, competitive and have a sense of urgency. When they hear about a better way of doing things, they engage, learn and act.</p><p>2. Risk - There is no growth without change, and there is no meaningful change without risk. So, get comfortable with an intelligent level of risk. Otherwise, the law of diminishing returns sets in as always doing the same things the same way takes over. We invested substantially in wages, associate education, pricing and eCommerce. We acquired Flipkart, Jet and others, and we partnered with global technology companies in places like China and Japan. We don't know what Sam would have done in these moments, but we know he would have been adapting - and he would have been aggressive. We're drawing on that legacy today and tapping into that DNA.</p><p>3. Time Horizon - We're playing the long game. Our priority is to position our company for long-term success. History has shown us that companies that focused too much on the short term were doomed to fail. Managing our business on a daily basis is important, but our most important strategic decisions are made in light of what we want our company to become for the next generation.</p><p>4. Our Associates - People will surprise you. Several times a week I see or hear about something creative our associates have done. It's inspiring to see their ingenuity and pace. Around the world, Walmart associates feel more comfortable taking risk. They're launching minimum viable products to test and learn from. These have enough function to satisfy early adopters, whose feedback informs future design. Result: We go from Product 1.0 to Product 2.0 a lot faster. This is a powerful unlock. We've always said that our people make the difference. We're certainly seeing that today.</p><p>5. Trust - It's a challenge to have the broader world know the Walmart we know. As we strive to make our company better, we will also look for ways to build trust by communicating the good work our people are doing and its impact. Included is the work we are doing to strengthen our culture of integrity and improve our compliance talent, processes and systems. In our supply chain, we are eliminating waste, using more renewable energy, reducing carbon emissions and making our items and the packages they come in healthier and more sustainable. Of course we aren't perfect. We make mistakes. But, if the world could see all of the hard-working, well-intentioned people inside our company who are making things better in their communities and in the world, I'm convinced they would be moved by it all. I am.<br /><br />The progress we're making is reflected in our results. Last fiscal year, we increased total revenue by 3 percent to $514.4 billion, and we generated $27.8 billion in operating cash flow.</p><p>Breaking it down, Walmart U.S. grew comp sales 3.6 percent, excluding fuel - the highest annual growth rate in a decade - and eCommerce sales increased 40 percent, nearly doubling the sales of that business over the past two years. And momentum continued at Sam's Club with comp sales growth of 3.8 percent, excluding fuel.</p><p>Walmart International posted positive comps in eight of our markets, including the four major markets, as we also see our digital transformation and innovations taking hold outside the U.S.</p><p>In Mexico, many of our customers don't have bank accounts, so the team there launched a new app called Cashi that acts as a digital bank account. At our stores, customers exchange cash for an electronic deposit onto their mobile device then use the app to shop in the store, online, and even to pay their other bills.</p><p>In many parts of China, same-day delivery really means same-hour delivery. To meet that demand, we invested in a crowd-sourced delivery platform, and now customers in some locations can receive their merchandise within an hour of placing the order.</p><p>We are also making good progress on omnichannel initiatives in places like Canada and in Japan where we are partnering with eCommerce leader Rakuten to offer grocery delivery.</p><p>India has 1.3 billion people and an economy approaching $3 trillion, yet its eCommerce business is less than 3 percent. With our acquisition of Flipkart, we have positioned ourselves for growth in one of the top three markets in the world.</p><p>We are deliberate about where and how we operate. For example, we finalized the majority sale of the business in Brazil, and we continue to explore ways to best serve our customers around the world. This is a period of significant change at Walmart. I think the pace and magnitude of our changes are critical to the company's future as we adapt to an environment that is changing more quickly all the time.</p><p>We are changing how we work and what we do without changing our purpose and our values. To our customers, thank you. We'll continue to work hard every day to earn your trust and business. To our associates, we are proud of you. Keep it going. To our shareholders, thank you for your interest in our company and your continued support.</p><p>Doug McMillon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Walmart Inc.</p></blockquote>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/method-soap-factory-renewable-energy-rooftop-greenhouse-2019-4">Method Soap's factory runs entirely on renewable energy and houses a rooftop greenhouse that produces 1 million pounds of food a year</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/IpCf5A95-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon just released his annual letter to shareholders - read it here

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img style="float: right;" src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/547cf8f7eab8ea99148b456a-3264-2448/ignition.jpg" alt="henry and jeff bezos" border="0" data-mce-source="IGNITION 2014"><p class="source"><span>IGNITION 2014</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>It's time to take a look at how digital innovation is transforming what we do and how we do it.<p>Mobile is overtaking desktop, social is beating search, on-demand is undercutting T.V., messaging apps are challenging email, and things around us are becoming connected. These shifts in trends can rattle how we operate. <strong>Don't let digital innovation be a threat, make it your opportunity.</strong> Find out what's on the horizon for media, tech and finance and what you can do to plan for 2016 and beyond.</p><p>Want to know where experts see industry giants- Apple, Google, and Facebook- going in 2016? &#xa0;<strong><a href="https://businessinsider.ticketleap.com/ignition-2015/dates/Dec-08-2015_at_0730AM" target="_blank" onclick="this.href = this.protocol + '//' + this.hostname + this.pathname + this.search + '?amp;' + window.location.search.substr(1)+ this.hash;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Join us at IGNITION</span></a></strong> on <strong>December 8-9 at the Time Warner Center in New York City</strong>, to get the insight.</p><p>The program covers digital innovation through interviews, demos, panels and conversations with industry leaders. Here's what we have in store so far:</p><center><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top" width="100%" height="100%"><table style="max-width: 700px;" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tbody><tr><td style="font-size: 0;" align="center" valign="top"> <div style="display: inline-block; max-width: 350px; vertical-align: top; width: 100%;"><table style="max-width: 350px;" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="left"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="8"><tbody><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 500; font-size: 20px; line-height: 24px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6; border-bottom: solid 1px #333333; border-top: solid 1px #333333;">Interviews</td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Brian Roberts</span>, CEO, <em>Comcast</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Jonah Peretti</span>, CEO, <em>BuzzFeed</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Jeff Immelt</span>, CEO, <em>GE</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Lowell McAdam</span>, Chairman &amp; CEO, <em>Verizon</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Ian Hecox &amp; Anthony Padilla</span>, Co-Founders, <em>SMOSH</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Ted Livingston</span>, Founder &amp; CEO, <em>Kik</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Michael Lynton</span>, CEO, <em>Sony Pictures Entertainment</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Jim Cramer</span>, Chairman, <em>TheStreet</em>, Host, <em>CNBC</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Carolyn Everson</span>, VP, Global Marketing Solutions, <em>Facebook</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Jim Lanzone</span>, President &amp; CEO, <em>CBS Interactive</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Leslie Moonves</span>, President &amp; CEO, <em>CBS Corporation</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Mark Thompson</span>, CEO, <em>The New York Times</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Jeff Bewkes</span>, CEO, <em>Time Warner, Inc.</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Hiroshi Mikitani</span>, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, <em>Rakuten</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #b7d9e6;"><span style="font-weight: 500;">Dan Schulman</span>, President &amp; CEO, <em>PayPal</em></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 500; font-size: 20px; line-height: 24px; color: #333333; background-color: #d1d1d1; border-bottom: solid 1px #333333; border-top: solid 1px #333333;">Demos/Presentations</td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #d1d1d1;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Presentation:</em> The Future of Digital</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Henry Blodget</span>, CEO &amp; Editor-in-Chief, <em>Business Insider</em></br></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #d1d1d1;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Demo Derby:</em> Interactive Video</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Yoni Bloch</span>, CEO, <em>Interlude</em><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Justin Fuisz</span>, CEO, <em>Fuisz Media</em></br></br></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #d1d1d1;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Presentation:</em> Rise of Streaming Video Services</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Business Insider Intelligence</span></br></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #d1d1d1;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Presentation:</em> Apple 2016</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Gene Munster</span>, Senior Research Analyst, <em>Piper Jaffray</em></br></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #d1d1d1;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Presentation:</em> Google 2016</span><br><em>Business Insider</em></br></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #d1d1d1;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Presentation:</em> Facebook 2016</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Mark Mahaney</span>, Managing Director, <em>RBC Capital Markets</em></br></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #d1d1d1;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Presentation:</em> E-Commerce</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Business Insider Intelligence</span></br></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style="display: inline-block; max-width: 350px; vertical-align: top; width: 100%;"><table style="max-width: 350px;" border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="left"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="8"><tbody><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 500; font-size: 20px; line-height: 24px; color: #333333; background-color: #f1f1f1; border-bottom: solid 1px #333333; border-top: solid 1px #333333;">Panels</td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #f1f1f1; padding-top: 6px; padding-bottom: 13px;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Panel:</em> Mobile</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Miha Mikek</span>, CEO, <em>Celtra</em></br></td></tr><tr><td style="padding-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 13px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #f1f1f1;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Panel:</em> Five Million Channels - The Video Explosion</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Kerry Trainor</span>, CEO, <em>Vimeo</em><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Ynon Kreiz</span>, CEO, <em>Maker Studios</em><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Erik Huggers</span>, CEO, <em>Vevo</em></br></br></br></td></tr><tr><td style="padding-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 13px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #f1f1f1;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Panel:</em> Into The Stream - Marketing Goes Native</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Linda Boff</span>, CMO, <em>GE</em><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Patrick Keane</span>, President, <em>Sharethrough</em><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Adam Singolda</span>, CEO, <em>Taboola</em><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Philippe von Borries</span>, Co-CEO &amp; Co-Founder, <em>Refinery29</em></br></br></br></br></td></tr><tr><td style="padding-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 13px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #f1f1f1;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Panel:</em> Ad Busters - Teens on Media and Marketing</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Eight leading-edge Millennials</span><br><em>Moderator:</em> <span style="font-weight: 500;">Stephanie Retblatt</span>, Senior Chief Brainiac, <em>Smarty Pants</em></br></br></td></tr><tr><td style="padding-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 13px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #f1f1f1;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Panel:</em> The Future of Sports</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Ted Leonsis</span>, Founder &amp; Partner, <em>Revolution Growth</em><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Jason Robins</span>, CEO, <em>DraftKings</em></br></br></td></tr><tr><td style="padding-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 13px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #f1f1f1;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Panel:</em> Ad Blocking</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Jason Kint</span>, CEO, <em>DCN</em><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Ben Barokas</span>, Founder &amp; CEO, <em>Sourcepoint</em><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Sean Blanchfield</span>, Founder &amp; CEO, <em>PageFair</em></br></br></br></td></tr><tr><td style="padding-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 13px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #f1f1f1;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Panel:</em> The Future of Publishing </span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Alexander Klöpping</span>, Founder, <em>Blendle</em></br></td></tr><tr><td style="padding-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 22px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #f1f1f1;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Panel:</em> Get Live</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Al Roker</span>, Founder &amp; CEO, <em>Al Roker Entertainment</em></br></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 500; font-size: 20px; line-height: 24px; color: #333333; background-color: #f1f1f1; border-bottom: solid 1px #333333; border-top: solid 1px #333333;">Conversations</td></tr><tr><td style="padding-top: 8px; padding-bottom: 13px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #e7f2f6;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Conversation:</em> Disrupting Television</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Mike Hopkins</span>, CEO, <em>Hulu</em><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Anthony Wood</span>, Founder &amp; CEO, <em>Roku</em></br></br></td></tr><tr><td style="padding-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 13px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #e7f2f6;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Conversation:</em> Hollywood and Silicon Valley</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Jim Breyer</span>, CEO, <em>Breyer Capital</em><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Thomas Tull</span>, CEO, <em>Legendary Entertainment</em></br></br></td></tr><tr><td style="padding-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 13px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #e7f2f6;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Conversation:</em> The Power of Images</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Jonathan Klein</span>, Co-Founder &amp; Chairman, <em>Getty Images</em></br></td></tr><tr><td style="padding-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 8px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: 100; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; color: #333333; background-color: #e7f2f6;"><span style="color: #1183ac; font-weight: 500;"><em>Conversation:</em> Delivering the Goods</span><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Jennifer Hyman</span>, Co-Founder &amp; CEO, <em>Rent the Runway</em><br><span style="font-weight: 500;">Matt Salzberg</span>, CEO, <em>Blue Apron</em></br></br></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></center><p>&#xa0;</p><p><strong>IGNITION sold out in 2014, so don't wait to <a href="https://businessinsider.ticketleap.com/ignition-2015/dates/Dec-08-2015_at_0730AM" target="_blank" onclick="this.href = this.protocol + '//' + this.hostname + this.pathname + this.search + '?amp;' + window.location.search.substr(1)+ this.hash;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">reserve your seat</span></a></strong>!</p><p>&#xa0;<div><script src="https://widgets.ticketleap.com/v2/widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script><div id="tl-widget-wrapper-5f74cff4-3664-4657-b561-1ee88f0d4059"><script type="text/javascript">tl_widget.update_widget("https://businessinsider.ticketleap.com/widget/v2/", "5f74cff4-3664-4657-b561-1ee88f0d4059", "accent_color=#015e89 ");</script><div style="width: 100%; display: table; height: 200px;"><div style="display: table-cell; vertical-align: middle; text-align: center;"><img src="https://widgets.ticketleap.com/v2/loading.gif" /></div></div></div><input type="hidden" id="tl-show-event-name-5f74cff4-3664-4657-b561-1ee88f0d4059" name="tl-show-event-name-5f74cff4-3664-4657-b561-1ee88f0d4059" value="true"><input type="hidden" id="tl-show-event-location-5f74cff4-3664-4657-b561-1ee88f0d4059" name="tl-show-event-location-5f74cff4-3664-4657-b561-1ee88f0d4059" value="true"><input type="hidden" id="tl-show-event-dates-5f74cff4-3664-4657-b561-1ee88f0d4059" name="tl-show-event-dates-5f74cff4-3664-4657-b561-1ee88f0d4059" value="true" /></input></input></div></p><p class="embed-spacer">&#xa0;</p>

Digital innovation will shape what we do in 2016 - find out how at IGNITION this December

<p><div class="image-container float_right click-to-enlarge" style="width:401px"><div class="image"><a title_source="Pinterest" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/51074750ecad04914400000f-960/pinterest-new-look.jpg"><span class="click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/51074750ecad04914400000f-800-598/pinterest-new-look.jpg?maxX=401&amp;maxY=300" border="0" alt="Pinterest's redesign" width="401" height="300" /></a></div><p class="source"><keyword id="939877" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Pinterest">Pinterest</keyword></p></div>Remember Pinterest?</p>
<p>The site for "pinning" photographs and other images of interesting objects—think Tumblr, but organized thematically rather than chronologically—is testing out a new look, software engineer Vy Phan <a href="http://blog.pinterest.com/post/41728994538/were-testing-out-a-new-look">reports on the company blog</a>.</p>
<p>The goal of the redesign (click the image to the right to enlarge it) is to make the homepage easier to navigate and to show more related images on the detail pages for a specific pinned image. That, in turn, should mean people spend more time on the site.</p>
<p>Pinterest has plenty of traffic. Its U.S. audience alone has grown from 7 million monthly visitors in December 2011 to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pinterests-traffic-explodes-to-23-million-uniques-2012-8">23 million in August</a> to 30 million at the end of last year, <a href="http://siteanalytics.compete.com/pinterest.com/">according to Compete,com</a>. (It technically didn't <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-started-on-pinterest-in-2-minutes-2012-8">open to the general public</a> until August, when it stopped requiring invitations to sign up.)</p>
<p>Pinterest <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/it-took-pinterest-just-three-weeks-to-raise-120-million-2012-5">raised $100 million</a> in a round led by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten in May 2012, at a valuation of $1.5 billion.</p>
<p>We don't mean to be rude, but Pinterest hasn't done much with the money.</p>
<p>It made <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pinterest-acquires-punchfork-first-acquisition-2013-1">one tiny acquisition</a>, Punchfork, earlier this month.</p>
<p>It moved from a small office in Palo Alto to a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pinterest-new-san-francisco-office-photos-2012-7">giant warehouse building</a> in San Francisco last summer.</p>
<p>It rolled out some mobile apps.</p>
<p>In March of last year, it hired <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pinterest-hires-tim-kendall-2012-3">Facebook monetization genius Tim Kendall</a>.</p>
<p>What Pinterest hasn't done is blown anyone away with amazing new features or dropped even of a suggestion of a plan for making money.</p>
<p>So it's great that you redesigned, Pinterest.</p>
<p>Now go earn that valuation!</p>

Pinterest (Remember Them?) Is Testing A New Look

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="BI Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5637bdf0bd86ef14008c6966-960/bii-affiliate-market2-2.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img style="float: right;" src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5637bdf0bd86ef14008c6966-800-567/bii-affiliate-market2-2.png?maxX=400" alt="bii device purchases" width="400" data-mce-source="BI Intelligence" /></a><p class="source"><span>BI Intelligence</span></p></div><p></p></div><span>Many people associate affiliate marketing with the selling of diet pills, teeth whiteners, and other controversial products. Although this darker side to performance-based marketing still exists, affiliate programs have moved to the mainstream, with major retailers and publishers now using them to drive sales of all sorts of products, from electronics to apparel. </span></p><p><span>In a new report from BI Intelligence, we examine the changing face of affiliate marketing and take a close look at the key players. We also outline growth opportunities for affiliate marketing and how we see this industry developing.</span></p><p><em>Here are some of the key takeaways:</em></p><ul><li>Mainstream media publishers are helping legitimize affiliate marketing. In an effort to balance editorial integrity and revenue needs, publishers are taking a more native approach to affiliate marketing by embedding product links within organic content. </li><li>Overall, publishers still generate the bulk of their revenue from advertising, but affiliate marketing is growing faster, per our sources. Approximately 15% of the digital media industry's revenue now comes from affiliate marketing.</li></ul><p>The investment that media companies are putting behind e-commerce drivers is good news for retailers, because publishers play an important role in the purchase funnel. </p><ul><li>Affiliate marketing now drives as many e-commerce orders in the US as email. Both channels currently account for 16% of US e-commerce orders, according to marketing firm Custora. This makes affiliate marketing one of the four largest sources of e-commerce orders, outperforming social commerce and display advertising.</li><li>Even consumers who already have demonstrated purchase intent commonly visit multiple nonretail websites before completing a purchase on an e-commerce website or in a store. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of US shoppers say they visit two to three nonretail websites before completing a purchase, and 16% say they visit more than four websites, according to Rakuten and Forrester data. </li></ul><p class="p11"><em><span class="s1">In full, the report:</span></em></p><ul><li>Defines modern-day affiliate marketing. </li><li>Maps out the entire affiliate marketing ecosystem. </li><li>Lists the types of metrics a retailer rewards affiliates for. </li><li>Examines the impact of affiliate marketing on e-commerce growth. </li><li>Projects growth opportunities in performance-based marketing. </li></ul><p><strong><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image"><a title_source="BI Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5637be35bd86ef175c8bb808-960/bii-ecomm-orders-channels-1.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5637be35bd86ef175c8bb808-1200-876/bii-ecomm-orders-channels-1.png" alt="bii ecomm orders channels 1" data-mce-source="BI Intelligence" /></a><p class="source"><span>BI Intelligence</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></strong></strong></p><p><em><span>Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:</span></em></p><ol><li>Purchase &amp; download the full report from our research store. &gt;&gt; <strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/research-store?IR=T#!/THE-AFFILIATE-MARKETING-REPORT/p/56467038/category=11987293" target="_blank" onclick="this.href = this.protocol + '//' + this.hostname + this.pathname + this.search + '&amp;' + window.location.search.substr(1)+ this.hash;">Purchase &amp; Download Now</a></strong></li><li><span>Subscribe to an </span><span><strong><em>All-Access</em></strong></span><span> pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. &gt;&gt;</span> <span><strong><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/" target="_blank">Learn More Now</a></strong></span></li></ol><hr /><p><strong>?</strong></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_left click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="BI Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/560d7831bd86ef20008be865-960/devices_only.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/560d7831bd86ef20008be865-608-656/devices_only.png" alt="BI Intelligence Devices" width="343" height="371" data-mce-source="BI Intelligence" /></a><p class="source"><span>BI Intelligence</span></p></div><p></p></div>PS. Did you know...</p><p>Our BI Intelligence <em><strong>INSIDER Newsletters</strong></em> are currently read by thousands of business professionals first thing every morning. Fortune 1000 companies, startups, digital agencies, investment firms, and media conglomerates rely on these newsletters to keep atop the key trends shaping their digital landscape - whether it is mobile, digital media, e-commerce, payments, or the Internet of Things.</p><p>Our subscribers consider the <em><strong>INSIDER Newsletters</strong></em> a "daily must-read industry snapshot" and "the edge needed to succeed personally and professionally" - just to pick a few highlights from our recent customer survey.</p><p>With our full money-back guarantee, we make it easy to find out for yourself how valuable the daily insights are for your business and career.  <a href="http://bii_www.businessinsider.com/bi-intelligence-research-2-week" target="_blank">Click this link to learn all about the <em><strong>INSIDER Newsletters</strong></em> today.</a></p><p> </p><p> </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/clever-ways-reuse-old-ipod-classic-keep-useful-external-hard-drive-2015-10">Clever ways to reuse your old iPod</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Q0b21hcjr6AJhjO6y3LNHPJMRFnEyNpy" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'Q0b21hcjr6AJhjO6y3LNHPJMRFnEyNpy',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

THE AFFILIATE MARKETING REPORT: How mainstream publishers are turning performance-based marketing into a 'fine art'

<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/47261511.cms" /><keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword>, Snapdeal and other Indian online marketplaces may get an impetus in their businesses as the Union Government is looking to open doors for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the e-Commerce sector, a month after it said there was no proposal under consideration to review FDI policy on the aforesaid sector.<br />
 <br /> The Government, which had maintained that the administration was committed to keep FDI open only for Indian-owned enterprises, has called for a meeting to reassess its position on the policy and will be chaired by Union Commerce Minister <keyword id="129243" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nirmala-Sitharaman">Nirmala Sitharaman</keyword>.<br />
 <br />
The discussing points in the meeting are likely going to be over whether 100% FDI should be allowed in Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-Commerce, should it be open for all products or only non-food products and whether it should be automatic up to 50%. <br />
 <br />
Online marketplaces like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon as well as industry associations such as CII, FICCI, Nasscom, E-commerce Coalition of India, US India Business Council, Internand Mobile Association of India and Indian Venture Capital Association are among the invitees for the meeting.<br />
 <br />
"The government is thinking to differentiate its FDI policy on offline retail from e-Commerce as trade associations have eased opposition to e-Commerce," Head of an industry association invited to the meeting told Economic Times.<br />
 <br />
Presently, India allows 51% FDI in the multi-brand retail sector and 100% FDI in single-brand retail. It does not allow this for online retail as it fears big global retailers may bypass offline norms by entering through online means. <br />
<br />
Meanwhile, India's $12-billion e-Commerce sector is divided on the matter, as to if FDI is allowed then to what extent the sector can be opened to foreign investment and how.<br />
 <br />
However, India's biggest industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) said 100% FDI under automatic route should be opened for all products. <br />
 <br />
Country’s largest electronic marketplace, Flipkart, said allowing FDI in inventory-based e-Commerce "will have no bearing" on it.<br />
 <br /> "Global marketplaces like <keyword id="6357395" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="eBay">eBay</keyword> are already operating in India. Alibaba and Rakuten can enter India, as no regulations prevent them from doing so," a spokeswoman for Flipkart told ET. <br />
<br />
But last year, Flipkart had expressed reservations about allowing 100% FDI in e-Commerce.<br />
 <br />
"The only e-Commerce player that will benefit from such a move is a company which is already operating in India as a marketplace and wants to enter the country through an inventory-based model," Flipkart had said in a statement, taking a potshot at Amazon.<br />
 <br />
As per the financial daily, e-Commerce companies garnered a lion's share of the $4.7 billion of foreign capital that flowed into India in 2014. <br />
<br />
Amazon, which has committed to invest $2 billion in its India operations, last year said that opening up the e-Commerce sector to FDI would be good for customers, adding it would allow them to partner with local manufacturers and also positively impact infrastructure development. <br />
<br />
Experts point out that the review was likely to impact all small e-Commerce companies that have not yet turned into marketplaces if the government opens the gates to foreign investors. Industry chambers also seem to be divided on the issue. <br />
<br />
E-commerce Coalition of India, which represents smaller inventory based e-Commerce players, is also planning for opening up the sector to FDI.<br />
 <br />
"Allowing e-Commerce companies to access FDI for B2C will enable them to source directly in bulk from the manufacturers. It will create a larger pool of entrepreneurs," Aamir Jariwala, member, ECAI, told ET. <br />
<br />
(Image:Reuters)<br />


Good news in the offing for Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal?

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><img src="http://static1.businessinsider.com/image/513bf453eab8ea886c000003-620-466/ben%20silbermann.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="Ben Silbermann Pinterest" width="480" /><p class="source"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinterest/8384130457/sizes/h/">Flickr/Pinterest HQ</a></p><p class="caption">Ben Silbermann, CEO, <keyword id="939877" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Pinterest">Pinterest</keyword></p></div><p></p></div>Pinterest has confirmed a whopping new $225 million investment that gives the social sharing site a jaw-dropping $3.8 billion valuation, the company told Business Insider.</p>
<p>This is on top of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-we-scaled-pinterest-2013-4">a massive $200 million investment Pinterest raised in February</a>, at a valuation of $2.5 billion. So it's raised $425 million this year alone <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/company/pinterest">and $563 million total.</a></p>
<p>A new investor, Fidelity, led the round with participation from existing investors, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, and Valiant Capital Partners. <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten, which invested $100 million in May of 2012, did not re-up, notes </span><a href="http://allthingsd.com/20131023/pinterest-does-another-massive-funding-225-million-at-3-8-billion-valuation/">Kara Swisher and Liz Gannes at AllThingsD</a>.</p>
<p>No one questions the rising popularity of the site, which let's users share pictures and websites with each other. </p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Pinterest has become second only to Facebook when it comes to referral traffic, according to Shareaholic, a company that distributes sharing widgets and monitors where traffic comes from on the web.</span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="Shareoholic" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52683be3eab8eadf5c473ee5-960/tech_cotd-chart%20of%20the%20day-1.jpg"><span class="click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/52683be3eab8eadf5c473ee5-1200-900/tech_cotd-chart%20of%20the%20day-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Tech_COTD chart of the day pinterest" width="620" /></a><p class="source"><a href="https://blog.shareaholic.com/social-media-traffic-trends-10-2013/">Shareoholic</a></p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p> <span style="line-height: 1.5em;">But how will Pinterest will use its popularity to create enough revenue to justify that $3.5 billion valuation?</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Good question because its <keyword id="35666" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="advertising">advertising</keyword> programs aren't fully cooked yet. Earlier this month, it started testing one, called the "promoted pin" which are paid ads that appear within the search results and category feeds.</span></p>
<p>A Pinterest spokesperson says its too early to say how well that program is doing but advertisers have high hopes.<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> "Brands have wanted to do something on Pinterest for a long time," Lisa Weinstein, President of Digital, Data &amp; Analytics at Starcomm MediaVest, <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/the-rise-of-native-advertising-2013-10">told BI Intelligence</a>. <span>MediaVest </span>represents companies <a href="http://www.mediavestww.com/our-work/clients/">like </a></span><a href="http://www.mediavestww.com/our-work/clients/"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">P&amp;G, Walmart, Microsoft and Coca Cola.)</span></a></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Given how much referral traffic Pinterest generates, it's possible it might also create some sort of "affiliate" model, where it makes money when it sends people to a website and they make a purchase. We'll see.</span></p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Pinterest says it will use the new <span>$225 million</span> in a variety of ways:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">International expansion. It's grown its international users by 125% since the beginning of the year. (Pinterest recently launched in UK, France and Italy and plans to launch in 10 more countries before the end of the year.)</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Investment in mobile which, it says, has grown 50% since the beginning of the year to become more than 3/4 of all usage.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">More advertising and other income-producing, including international expansion of its "promoted pins" ads.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Investments in the technical infrastructure to make the service faster and better.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Acquisitions, both for talent and technology.</span></li>
</ul>

CONFIRMED: Pinterest Has Raised A Huge New $225 Million Investment (Over Half A Billion Raised So Far)

<p><em><em><em><strong><keyword id="1737805" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Social-Media-Insights">Social Media Insights</keyword></strong> is a new daily newsletter from <strong>Business Insider</strong> that collects and delivers the top <keyword id="6354632" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Social-media">social media</keyword> news first thing every morning. You can <strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/newsletter">sign up</a></strong> to receive <strong>Social Media Insights</strong> <strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/newsletter">here</a></strong> or at the bottom of this post.</em></em></em></p>
<hr />
<p><strong><a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/01/why_2013_is_the_year_to_cut_ba.html">It's Time To Cut Back On Social Media</a> (Harvard Business Review)</strong><br />It has become increasingly clear that with the proliferation of new platforms, no person or company can become the master of them all. Nor should they. The harder decision is figuring out which ones you should prioritize, and which ones you should scrap. Establishing ROI has always been the holy grail of social media. We may still have a ways to go before we can quantify its objective, dollars-and-cents impact. But even anecdotally, you probably have some good operating theories. For instance, if you target women, <keyword id="939877" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Pinterest">Pinterest</keyword> is a great bet; if it's males, Google+ is currently their stomping ground. And blogging is the best way to demonstrate true content mastery and thought leadership. It's all about pruning and focusing on the platforms that have the most impact.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://socialmediatoday.com/derek-ian-vicente/1191926/are-you-aware-what-your-employees-are-saying-social-media">What Are Your Employees Saying On Social Media?</a> (Social Media Today)</strong><br />There have been numerous cases of employees commenting on undesirable workplace culture. Professionals understand that there are limitations, but they are also tempted by the freedom of social media. If companies truly wish to make social media work for them, they’ve got to start internally, and educate employees on what their role should be in building credibility and enforcing guidelines of what people outside the company should know, and what should be kept locked inside the office’s shining treasure chest of organizational secrets.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/01/26/watch-out-facebook-with-google-at-2-and-youtube-at-3-google-inc-could-catch-up/">Google+ Overtakes Twitter, Heads For Facebook</a> (Trendstream via Forbes)</strong><br />U.K. market research firm Trendstream updated its <a href="http://globalwebindex.net/thinking/social-platforms-gwi-8-update-decline-of-local-social-media-platforms/">Global Web Index</a> this week, showing that Google+ is now the second-largest social network in terms of active users. <keyword id="10879" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="YouTube">YouTube</keyword>, included for the first time in the index, is now third. The report estimates <keyword id="6354576" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Facebook">Facebook</keyword>‘s active users in December 2012 at 693 million, compared to 343 million for Google+.</p>
<p><div class="image-container center" style="width:600px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static6.businessinsider.com/image/5105aa8d6bb3f72f29000018-602-526/graph2-2.png?maxX=600&amp;maxY=524" border="0" alt="active social media users" width="600" height="524" style="vertical-align: middle;" /></div><p class="source"><a href="http://globalwebindex.net/thinking/social-platforms-gwi-8-update-decline-of-local-social-media-platforms/">Trendstream</a></p></div></p>
<p>There is obviously significant overlap between Google+ and YouTube in terms of users, so those two numbers cannot merely be added up for a total. But if all active YouTube users become active Google+ users, it would likely add a significant amount to those 343 million.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/women-at-davos-forum-increase-their-influence-through-social-media-according-to-kpmg-188247291.html">Women Use Social Media To Boost Influence At The World Economic Forum</a> (KPMG)</strong><br />Data from KPMG shows that women delegates are playing an increasingly prominent role in the public discussion at the <keyword id="69007" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="World-Economic-Forum">World Economic Forum</keyword> (WEF). While only about 17 percent of WEF delegates in Davos are women, they have accounted for more than a third of Davos delegate social media activity. Analysis of delegates' <a href="http://weflive.com/">Twitter activity</a> shows that on day one of the Davos meeting, delegates sent 2,376 tweets, of which 784 were from female attendees. KPMG's research also highlighted the growing involvement of the general public in the online debate, with a 31 percent increase in retweets, showing greater engagement with the discussions emanating from Davos.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/23/sv-angel-invested-30m-in-pinterest-secondary-sale/">SV Angel Buys $30 Million Of Pinterest In Secondary Sale</a> (TechCrunch)</strong><br />Last week, an SEC filing showed a new $30 million raise by <keyword id="1744420" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="SV-Angel">SV Angel</keyword>, for a fund called SV Angel-III Growth P. This $30 million is a Special Purpose Vehicle for SV Angel, specifically reserved to buy secondary shares in Pinterest.<em>TechCrunch</em> confirmed with SV Angel co-founder <keyword id="358457" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="David-Lee">David Lee</keyword> that this is indeed the case. The $30 million secondary investment, which closed last year, was at the same $1.5 billion valuation at which Rakuten made its investment in Pinterest last year. Most of the $30 million will go towards liquidity of early outside investors, and amounts to roughly 2 percent of the startup at the current valuation.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Facebook-Shows-Outsized-Influence-on-Social-TV/1009624">Facebook Shows Large Influence On Social TV</a> (eMarketer)</strong><br />According to a September 2012 survey of U.S. Internet users conducted by Nielsen for the Cable &amp; Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), people still most often talk about TV shows while in the same room, face-to-face, or over the phone.</p>
<p><div class="image-container center" style="width:325px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5105a92a69bedd723a000017-325-316/150451.gif" border="0" alt="methods to talk about tv" width="325" height="316" style="vertical-align: middle;" /></div><p class="source"><a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Facebook-Shows-Outsized-Influence-on-Social-TV/1009624">Nielsen for the CTAM</a></p></div></p>
<p>Among online channels, Facebook had the greatest influence on getting people to watch a show— 46 percent said they picked up a show as a result of the social network. That was followed by <keyword id="6354616" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword> (14 percent), the websites of TV shows (9 percent) and then forums or discussion boards (8 percent).</p>
<p> <div class="image-container center" style="width:325px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5105a94fecad04f93a000039-325-301/150452.gif" border="0" alt="online influence for tv" width="325" height="301" style="vertical-align: middle;" /></div><p class="source"><a href="http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Facebook-Shows-Outsized-Influence-on-Social-TV/1009624">Nielsen for the CTAM</a></p></div></p>
<p>TV watchers also showed a predilection for talking about shows— either in person, online or over the phone— after the show aired. About seven in 10 respondents talked about a show while it was on-air, while three-quarters did so right after its conclusion. The day after a show was broadcast, the percentage of people chatting about a show ramped up to 83 percent.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hr/feature/1076072/the-social-tools">Here Are The 10 Social Tools You Need</a> (HR Magazine)</strong><br />Workplace applications of collaborative social tools are becoming far more explicit and, coupled with the rise in more enterprise-oriented platforms, are providing companies with an opportunity to add value. Here are the top ten:</p>
<ol>
<li><keyword id="6636348" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="crowdsourcing">Crowdsourcing</keyword></li>
<li>Social learning</li>
<li>Enterprise social networks</li>
<li>Microblogging</li>
<li>Social performance management</li>
<li>Online groups / Communities of interest</li>
<li>Mobile applications</li>
<li>Online presentation sharing</li>
<li>New-generation video conferencing</li>
<li>Online task management</li>
</ol>
<p>Are you fed up of the social yet? Hopefully not, because the trend for putting the word social in front of everything shows no sign of abating.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.socialbakers.com/blog/1206-mobile-brands-who-ignore-their-fans-the-biggest-culprits-revealed">Brands Who Ignore Their Fans</a> (socialbakers)</strong><br />In today’s social media world, most brands are aware that it’s as important to respond to their customers online, as it is offline. In terms of the mobile phone manufacturer industry, here are some examples of brands that have a tremendous presence on Facebook but could handle their customer relations much better:</p>
<ul>
<li>LG Mobile proved to be the least socially devoted, earning a fan base of over 1 million with a zero percent response rate.</li>
<li><keyword id="6354356" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="BlackBerry">Blackberry</keyword> has nearly 12 million Facebook fans, however only earned a 1.46 percent response rate, answering 73 questions out of the over 5,000 posted.</li>
<li><keyword id="6354716" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Nokia">Nokia</keyword> earned a 4.36 percent response rate.</li>
<li><keyword id="16129" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="HTC">HTC</keyword> earned an 24.94 percent response rate, with a a fan base of 2.5 million.</li>
</ul>
<p>Social media, by definition, is a natural environment for fans (customers) to interact. Not responding to customers is as arrogant as hanging up the phone on them.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/twitter-brands-case-study_b34731">The Impact Of Twitter On 5 Major Brands</a> (Wishpond via MediaBistro)</strong><br />Social media has changed the retail business. This infographic takes a closer look at the impact of Twitter on five major brands– LG, <keyword id="362535" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Virgin-America">Virgin America</keyword>, <keyword id="6399124" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Cadbury">Cadbury</keyword>, Cirque Du Soleil and <keyword id="45673" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Porsche">Porsche</keyword>:</p>
<p><div class="image-container center" style="width:600px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/5105a7286bb3f74827000007-900-2000/twitter-impact-brands.png" border="0" alt="twitter's impact on brands" width="600" height="1333" style="vertical-align: middle;" /></div><p class="source"><a href="http://corp.wishpond.com/blog/2013/01/21/infographic-the-impact-of-twitter-on-brands/">Wishpond</a></p></div></p>
<p>Thanks to platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, retail brands of all shapes and sizes can build highly engaged audiences that can help them raise awareness and drive sales.</p>

You Searched For "Rakuten Mobile" and got 11 results

A growth stock is a company expected to rise faster than the overall market, offering bigger gains for investors who don't mind risk

Simon Chandler

10 things you need to know before European markets open

Oscar Williams-Grut

JPMorgan wants to become the Amazon of Wall Street

Matt Turner

Button, An Eight-Month-Old Startup That Wants Apps To Talk To Each Other, Just Raised $12 Million

Maya Kosoff

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon just released his annual letter to shareholders - read it here

Dennis Green

Digital innovation will shape what we do in 2016 - find out how at IGNITION this December

Joanna Mosca

Pinterest (Remember Them?) Is Testing A New Look

Owen Thomas

THE AFFILIATE MARKETING REPORT: How mainstream publishers are turning performance-based marketing into a 'fine art'

Cooper Smith

Good news in the offing for Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal?

BI India Bureau

CONFIRMED: Pinterest Has Raised A Huge New $225 Million Investment (Over Half A Billion Raised So Far)

Julie Bort

SOCIAL MEDIA INSIGHTS: Is It Time For Companies To Cut Back On Social Media?

Heather Leonard