Skip to main content

Hospitals left waiting, the sharing economy gets sliced, and the future of shopping

Hello! A little over a week ago, on May 1, a promising coronavirus treatment called remdesivir was quickly approved for emergency use in the US. As Andrew Dunn, Kimberly Leonard, and Lydia Ramsey report, it was a moment that sparked hope that scientific ingenuity could chart a path out of the health crisis. But as they reported this week, some hospitals are having a hard time getting the drug for their patients. From their story: Take Dr. Tony Reed, the chief medical officer at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, a hospital system that gave the drug to patients in trials to help figure out how well the coronavirus treatment works. When US regulators approved the emergency use of remdesivir, Reed and the team at Temple expected that they'd get more access to the medication. They've since been told they're not on the government's list for distribution. "We're frustrated we're not in the haves and we're frustrated that we don't know how that decision was made," Reed said. "Frankly, I've got sick and dying patients that last week, I was able to get on the study drug, and this week I'm not able to get on the drug I know can help them." You can read the story here: The coronavirus drug remdesivir was OK'd for emergency use a week ago. The plan to get it to patients is still mired in confusion. Elsewhere in healthcare news: * Andrew reported that upstart biotech Moderna just sped up the timeline for crucial human trials of its coronavirus vaccine, readying the shot for potential use this fall. * Lydia reported that America's biggest health insurers have been so profitable during the coronavirus that one is already giving cash back to customers, while hospitals lose billions. * And Blake Dodge reported on HHS Protect, a secretive government project with Peter Thiel's Palantir that helps brief Trump's coronavirus task force. The sharing economy gets sliced It's been a rough few weeks for the sharing economy. Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, and WeWork, all of which were founded in a four-year period starting from the depths of the great financial crisis, have slashed staff. In simple terms, the appeal of sharing space with a total stranger, whether it's in an apartment, a car, or in the kitchen of a shared office, has been dramatically reduced by the coronavirus.  At Airbnb: * CEO Brian Chesky sent a memo to staff announcing 1,900 job cuts, which you can read in full here. It lays out severance details and which teams are getting hit the hardest. * The memo also revealed that Airbnb expects revenues to be slashed by more than half this year. * The company is also is ending ambitious efforts to expand into transportation and film. Bani Sapra put together a list of all the moonshot projects Airbnb is halting or scaling back to save money. * While layoffs are always difficult, Chesky's memo won plaudits, with Shana Lebowitz reporting that the memo is a case study in how leaders can conduct layoffs in a compassionate way. * Rob Price reported however that Airbnb's generous benefits weren't extended to contractors, reinforcing Silicon Valley's two-tier workforce culture. At Uber and Lyft: * Uber is cutting 3,700 jobs, 14% of its total workforce, as the coronavirus ravages ride-hailing revenue. * Lyft let go nearly 1,000 people, or 17% of the company. Sean Czarnecki talked to company insiders who were affected about how it was handled. And at WeWork: * Dakin Campbell and Meghan Morris got their hands on a WeWork document detailing a reorg under way for people who manage its buildings. Their story explained how the new structure works — and the complex process for staff to save their jobs. * Meghan and Alex Nicoll also reported that Flatiron School slashed at least 100 jobs and is permanently shuttering some campuses as part of bigger WeWork cuts. It's not just the sharing economy that's taking a hit, of course. Elsewhere: * Ben Pimentel reported that Glassdoor is cutting 300 workers — or 30% of its workforce — and slashing exec pay. Its CEO told employees that "it has been gut wrenching to watch COVID-19 unfold." * Ben reported that $54 billion VMware told employees it's freezing salaries, cutting CEO and other executive pay, and suspending 401(k) matches over the impact of COVID-19. Dell said that it's "broadly" stopped hiring, meanwhile. * Rosalie Chan reported that Stack Overflow, the site where millions of programmers get their questions answered, is reducing its workforce by 15% because of coronavirus. * Bani Sapra reported that Segment, the $1.5 billion data analytics startup taking on Oracle and Salesforce, has cut 10% of its total staff amid the downturn. * Bani also reported that the ongoing layoff waves could sweep thousands of tech workers out of the country, as more than 200,000 temporary foreign worker visas expire. Walmart's vision of the future Hayley Peterson asked Doug McMillon, the CEO of Walmart, for his perspective on how the coronavirus will alter the retail industry and the world. He said: The world is seeing the importance of supply chains in a way it hasn't before. Usually supply chains operate quietly behind the scenes. But this pandemic has showed the world that the supply chain is really a lifeline. And the people in the retail industry, foodservice, and delivery services have been standing on the front lines of this crisis and extending that lifeline to all of us, every day. I think people have also come to see that the supply chain doesn't just extend from a distribution center to the loading dock of a store. It goes all the way to the trunk of a customer's car or their doorstep. The so-called "last mile" of delivery has become front and center. This is just speeding up the significant change the retail industry was already undergoing.  You can read his answer in full here: Walmart's CEO predicts how the retail industry and world will change as a result of the coronavirus In related news, Eugene Kim reported that Shopify's CEO said his team had to "delete" all existing plans amid COVID-19 because the future of retail just arrived 10 years early. Below are headlines on some of the stories you might have missed from the past week. Stay safe, everyone. -- Matt Meet the 4 dealmakers driving Blackstone's $325 billion commercial real estate portfolio. They walked us through how they're thinking about opportunities in the downturn. Jobs for thousands of young consultants are being upended. From delaying start dates to cutting internships, here's what 8 top firms, like Deloitte and McKinsey, are doing. 'Beware of the oddity': A Wall Street firm studied every market crash over the last 150 years to reveal how abnormal this one is — and concluded that stocks are doomed for another fall Microsoft Teams has a secret weapon in the productivity wars with Slack, Zoom, and Google. But it's not the technology. Inside Amazon's coronavirus response: An exclusive interview with the executive in charge of employee health and safety Complex Networks is profitable, has diversified revenue, and wants to compete with the entertainment giants — here's its pitch deck Inside Nike: Sources share claims of sexism, cheating, abuse at the world's wokest brand Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: How the Navy's largest hospital ship can help with the coronavirus
https://bit.ly/3fuxi6i

Popular posts from this blog

'Is Twitch on Roku?': No, not anymore — here's how to watch Twitch on your TV without using Roku

* There's no official Twitch app for Roku devices anymore, although there used to be one. * If you still have the old Twitch app installed, there's a chance it'll still work, but it's unlikely. * If you'd like to watch Twitch on your TV, you're better off using another device like an Amazon Fire TV Stick or Chromecast. * Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories. Twitch's acquisition by Amazon opened the door to some cool features, like Twitch Prime. However, the acquisition also means that now there's no way to watch Twitch on a Roku device — after all, Roku is one of Amazon's competitors. Twitch used to offer a fully featured app for Roku devices. If you try to download that app now, however, you'll be shown a message saying that the app has been shut down.  If you already had the app downloaded when it was shut down, it's likely that you can't use it anymore. And even if you can, there's going t...

How to send your location on Snapchat to your friends through the app's Snap Map feature

* You can send your location on Snapchat to a single friend or to several users in a group.   * To send a location on Snapchat, you'll need to visit your friendship history with a user and locate the "Send My Location" feature.  * Once you send a location on Snapchat to a friend, they can tap it and zoom in to see where you are.  * Visit Business Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories. Whether you want to share the location of your favorite restaurant or the address of your new apartment, you can easily send your location on Snapchat to your friends.  You can do this using the Snap Map and will even be prompted to select who you want to share you location with the first time you use the app feature. You can choose to share your location with your mutual friends, a list of friends with exceptions, or a small group of selected friends.  To send your location directly to a mutual Snapchat friend, you must visit your chat history through your friends li...

Apple has backed down in its latest developer fight, apologizing to WordPress after it pressured the website-builder to add in-app payments

* Apple has apologized after it tried to force WordPress to add in-app payment options to a free app. * WordPress' founder said on Friday that Apple was refusing to allow any updates to the WordPress iOS app until the website builder added in-app purchases, from which Apple takes a 15-30% commission. * Apple is in a fierce fight with developers including "Fortnite" maker Epic Games and Spotify over its rules on in-app purchases. * Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Apple has backed down in its latest skirmish with a developer over its App Store rules. The tech giant on Sunday issued a rare apology to WordPress after it pressured the website builder to add payment options to its free iOS app, or else be blocked from updating. "We believe the issue with the WordPress app has been resolved," an Apple spokesman told The Verge. "Since the developer removed the display of their service payment options from the app, it is now a free st...