Quantcast
Channel: Business Insider
Viewing all 116889 articles
Browse latest View live

8 mind-blowing facts about Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' $90 billion fortune

$
0
0

Jeff Bezos

It's hard to overstate the immensity of a $90 billion fortune.

On Friday, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos became the richest person in the world after third-quarter earnings sent the company's stock soaring.

In addition to founding the online retail behemoth, Bezos owns The Washington Post and an aerospace company, Blue Origin.

Below, check out seven mind-blowing facts about Bezos and his billions.

SEE ALSO: There are over 1,500 billionaires worldwide — here are the 14 countries where the world's richest people live

DON'T MISS: A day in the life of the world's richest person, Jeff Bezos — who made $6.44 billion in one day, wakes up without an alarm, and washes dishes after dinner

Bezos' net worth jumped $6.44 billion in a matter of hours.

Amazon shares jumped more than 8% after the company reported third-quarter earnings on October 26, each share rising by about $79.64 from the previous day's close.

Bezos, as CEO of the company, owns about 81 million shares of Amazon stock according to a recent SEC filing. A little back-of-the-envelope map means he made $6.44 billion in a single day, putting his net worth just over $90 billion.

 



Bezos makes more money in one minute than the average millennial makes in a year.

In the last year alone, Bezos made $19.3 billion.

That equals out to about $52 million per day, over $2 million per hour, and $36,000 a minute, or close to the average millennial salary.



Warren Buffett was worth $30 billion when Bezos became a billionaire — now the Amazon founder is richer.

Bezos became a billionaire in 1998, when Amazon went public. At the time, Buffett was the second richest person in the US, with a net worth of nearly $30 billion

Nearly 20 years later, Bezos is about $9 billion richer than Buffett. 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Starbucks locations are already running out of the Zombie Frappuccino — but the chain has a replacement that looks even better (SBUX)

$
0
0

Zombie Frappuccino

  • Some Starbucks locations have already sold out of the Zombie Frappuccino. 
  • Baristas have been bracing for a landslide of orders for the time-intensive drink. 
  • Overall, the Zombie Frappuccino roll out has been less hectic — and less viral — than the Unicorn Frappuccino. 

 

Starbucks locations are already running out of the Zombie Frappuccino after just one day on the menu. 

Starbucks began selling its Zombie Frappuccino on Thursday. The beverage was only supposed to be available for five days or as supplies lasted — a super-limited-time offering similar to the Unicorn Frappuccino.

By Friday, some people were already reporting that the Zombie Frappuccino had sold out. 

"Well that was fun..." one person wrote on the r/Starbucks subreddit, posting a photograph of a sign reading: "sorry we're all out."  

Other people posted on social media to say that their locations had also run out of the beverage. 

Screen Shot 2017 10 27 at 10.47.55 AM

Screen Shot 2017 10 27 at 10.48.17 AM

Screen Shot 2017 10 27 at 10.48.34 AM 

"Due to the high demand and excitement for the limited-time only Zombie Frappuccino some Starbucks stores have sold out of the beverage," a Starbucks spokesperson told Business Insider in an email.

"If a store is out of the Zombie Frappuccino we recommend asking baristas about the Frappula Frappuccino," the spokesperson continued.

The Frappula Frappuccino features a mocha sauce and whipped cream base under a white chocolate mocha Frappuccino. The beverage is finished with a drizzle of strawberry puree and whipped cream on top.

Many stores still have the Zombie Frappuccino in stock, with some baristas reporting that the beverage is selling far less than they expected. 

"Where are you from? I sold maybe 10 all day today," one person wrote in response to the Reddit "sold out" post. 

"I sold one. We made more for training than we sold," responded another. 

The Zombie Frappuccino's short life-span is good news for baristas.

Screen Shot 2017 10 27 at 10.55.51 AM

While the general consensus seems to be that this limited-time offering has been less hectic than the chaos that surrounded the Unicorn Frappuccino, frappuccinos in general are one of the more time-intensive drinks to make. 

Screen Shot 2017 10 27 at 10.56.44 AM

So, when there's a limited-time offering of a particularly Instagram-able beverage, baristas' work tends to get a whole lot more difficult — especially if hoards of Frappuccino-loving customers are descending upon their location. 

SEE ALSO: We tried Starbucks' new Zombie Frappuccino — here's what it's like

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We tried Starbucks' new color-changing Unicorn Frappuccino that's taking over Instagram

The best Mexican restaurant in America is a fancy taqueria that costs $157 a head

$
0
0

californios san francisco mexican restaurant

The world's restaurant bible has named a champion of Mexican cuisine.

San Francisco's Californios has become the first and only Mexican restaurant in North America to receive the illustrious two-star designation from the Michelin Guide, a restaurant rating system that makes or breaks fine-dining spots. Two stars is the second highest accolade.

Michelin revealed its 2018 guide to spots in the Bay Area on Wednesday. The region, which includes San Francisco and wine country, received a total 55 Michelin stars — including seven three-starred restaurants.

Here's what it's like to eat at Californios, the best Mexican restaurant in the US.

SEE ALSO: The San Francisco area is the new fine-dining capital of America — here are the top restaurants

Californios brings a new restaurant concept to San Francisco's Mission District: "Mex luxe."

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BWs8pdvjLFz/embed/
Width: 800px

 



San Francisco is full of casual taquerias where you can eat a gut-busting Mission-style burrito. But Californios puts a fine-dining spin on the city's most beloved cuisine.

We tried 8 of the best burritos in San Francisco — here's the champion »



Californios offers a nightly tasting menu of about 16 courses that changes with the seasons.

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BOTCKBnBFqk/embed/
Width: 800px

 



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

These Americans are changing the world — and they're all under 40

$
0
0

Compton mayor Aja Brown

Each year, the World Economic Forum selects innovative and socially-minded young people to receive its Young Global Leaders award.

Awardees, who are recognized for making considerable contributions to their field and society, are all under the age of 40, and 20 of them hail from the US this year.

This year's Young Global Leaders class includes leaders from an array of backgrounds. Some are political and and community leaders, others are inventors, CEOs, philanthropists, and scientists working on revolutionary ideas.

Once chosen by the WEF, these leaders are a part of the program for five years, and they attend meetings, participate in initiatives and research, and work with the rest of the WEF's community.

Here are the 20 US leaders making a worldwide impact.

SEE ALSO: Most people in America want paid parental leave — here's the real reason the US is the only developed nation that doesn't have it

DON'T MISS: Years before becoming Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau recruited women into politics so he could stack his cabinet with them once elected

Feng Zhang is a professor at MIT

Why he made the list: Zhang is "one of the most acclaimed young scientists in the world and a pioneer of CRISPR, the breakthrough gene-editing technique that lets scientists manipulate the genetic code of organisms."



Adam Kinzinger is a Republican congressman from Illinois

Why he made the list: Kinzinger is "a former armed forces pilot and Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives who has emerged as a champion for improving the lives of veterans."



Aja Brown is the mayor of Compton, California

Why she made the list: Brown is "the youngest mayor to ever be elected in Compton, California, whose 'New Vision for Compton' is a revitalization strategy centered on 12 key principles that focus on family values, quality of life, economic development and infrastructural growth. She received the National Action Network Martin Luther King Award."



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

London's Breaking Bad themed bar is so popular it's now opening two new venues – take a look inside

$
0
0

ABQ is London's Breaking Bad themed cocktail bar.

Customers "cook" their own drinks dressed up in a hazmat suit. Ingredients come in flasks, syringes, and other props.

The bar is set up in an RV and is named ABQ after Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the series was set.

ABQ opened as a pop up in Hackney last summer. It's now permanent and is set to expand to Brixton and Dalston. There's also a venue in New York.

 Produced and filmed by Claudia Romeo

Join the conversation about this story »

The ex-Tesla engineer who created an FDA-compliant hangover cure made $1 million in 3 months and was almost thrown out of the country by Trump's immigration rules

$
0
0

Morning Recovery Sisun Lee

  • It's been three months since Sisun Lee accidentally wound up with a hot startup that makes a hangover prevention drink called Morning Recovery.
  • Lee says sales have gone crazy and he's generated $1 million in revenue in three months. 
  • Just as his company took off, Lee, a Canadian who was working at Tesla, was almost deported when a new rule for immigrants who start businesses in the US was put on hold by the Trump administration.

 

Imagine accidentally creating a startup that makes a cure for hangovers. The startup turns out to be so successful, raking in $1 million in three months, that you need to quit your high-paying job at Tesla, only to then find yourself nearly kicked out of the country by the Trump administration because of your Canadian nationality. 

Welcome to the extraordinary life of Sisun Lee and another crazy chapter of his hangover prevention drink company, Morning Recovery.

As we previously reported, back in July, Lee had just quit the job he loved at Tesla to try his hand as a startup founder. He had never intended to be a founder. He was really on a personal quest to get a regular supply of the hangover prevention drinks he discovered while visiting Korea, a country that loves to party.

"A lot has happened," Lee told Business Insider when we caught up with him this week.

The story goes: after some failed attempts to import the Korean drinks, Lee discovered the work of Dr. Jing Liang, a USC scientist who had published papers on herbal hangover remedies. She agreed to become his advisor and helped him create his own hangover remedy, using all FDA-compliant ingredients, based on the main ingredient used on the Korean drinks. 

Lee tested the resulting potion on his friends at Tesla as well as on friends at his former haunt, Facebook. They loved it so much that Lee contracted a Korean factory, with the idea of producing enough to supply his ecosystem of bibulous buddies. Someone got wind of the project, posted it to Product Hunt and it blew up. Suddenly, thousands of people were contacting Lee trying to get his drink.

He raised some seed money from Slow Ventures and 500 Startups to fund a production run, added a wait list to his nothing-special website about the drink and 30,000 people signed up.

His side project was now taking over his life. So he quit his job and, knowing nothing about the food and beverage industry, went full time at his startup, Morning Recovery.

The Trump administration kicks him out 

Quitting his day job to plunge into the startup life had one big wrinkle though: Lee is from Canada, and had been working at Facebook and Tesla under a work Visa.

Morning Recovery hangover cureThe seed funding he got was about $450,000, enough for him to qualify for a visa created by a proposed immigration rule under the Obama administration called the "international entrepreneur rule." 

This rule allowed, "non-US citizens like myself to build businesses in the US. The requirement is you raise $250,000 minimum from an institutional US venture capital firm. Which makes it very simple. So I did that in June. I had already raised $450,000 total and [the rule] was supposed to go into effect in July," Lee recounted.

In the meantime, he launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign to sell the drink he had ordered from the factory and to help raise money for future batches. His Indiegogo goal was $25,000 and he blew by it. Morning Recovery raised $100,000 in just 10 days. It finished the month at over $250,000.

Then the Trump administration did an about-face on the Obama era rule and wouldn't issue the visas.

"I had quit Tesla because I didn’t have a visa to start a business and I couldn’t get one because I couldn't have both visas," Lee said. When the Trump folks changed their mind, "I was visa-less," he said. He had to leave the country and go back to Canada.

Fortunately, he found a lawyer that specialized in entrepreneur visas. Also fortunately, his Indiegogo campaign was going so well that it could prove his business had revenue.

After an intense interview at the US embassy in Canada where he was questioned about whether he was making an illegal product, Lee got a different visa, one called the E-2 visa (the "e" stands for entrepreneur).

And one week later he, and Morning Recovery, were back in the US.

"So now I’m here legally," he smiles.

Can't order enough

His first big decision was to move the company from Silicon Valley to Los Angeles, closer to his scientific research team at USC and to the stars that can turn his hangover remedy into a "lifestyle brand," he said.

Morning Recovery Korean factoryHis LA-based investor, Slow Ventures, has been helping him with office space. It threw him a launch party, too, which helped him immediately recruit employees.

At first, he was weary to out-and-out hire people, as he didn't have job titles, or cash flow.

"I offered them a six-month a contract with a half of it up front and told them if it works out, we’ll hire you," he said. "Now our team is actually six full-time people."

His team raced to build its own ecommerce website using Shopify. He thought that demand might die down after the hype of Indiegogo died, but it didn't.

It stayed steady through August and in September. Some people were starting to come back to order more, and orders soon doubled. He sold $500,000 that month. All told, from July through September, he sold $1 million worth, he said. That revenue number was verified to us by one of his angel investors.

At this pace, he'll bring in $5 million his first year, he said.

While his company is "absolutely paying for itself," Lee noted that cash "is something that we’re very careful of.  Because of the [production] lead time, all profits we make goes to future production. In terms of money in the bank, it's not like we’re rich," he said. 

For December, he's biting his nails and doing a 500,000-bottle production run, more than double the biggest batch he's done so far. He's looking for warehouse space in case he doesn't sell it all instantly. And if demand drops, he'll be hurting.

"We’ll get hit if demand doesn’t grow as externally. We’ll have an excess amount of bottles and have pay for warehousing fees. We’ve been trying to be very lean," he said because he hasn't been doing this long enough to know if it will continue or drop off. "I have no idea what the demand is. It's all so new."

In the meantime, more VCs have gotten wind of Morning Recovery and the offers are rolling in. He's not ready to sell a stake yet, he said, particularly not to a VC. He'd rather bring in a strategic partner that could help him get his drink into retail stores or bars.

But he's still shocked at the terms these VCs are offering him. "We’re getting crazy valuations, like at $50 million. They are putting a 10X multiple on our revenue. That’s what you do as a software company," Lee said. A $50 million valuation for a $3 month company seems "absurd," he said.Morning Recovery sold out

How does it work?

So what is it about this drink that has everyone so excited? It turns out the cure to a hangover is never to get one. The secret to that is an herbal ingredient called dihydromyricetin (DHM) found in the Oriental raisin tree and rattan tea, Lee said.

This tree has been used as a hangover remedy in Asia for thousands of years, Lee discovered.

Hangovers are caused when we drink more alcohol than our livers can handle, and a type of toxic acid builds up, he said. Too much of that acid causes inflammation like a headache. Too much too fast can cause vomiting. When you drink DHM right after consuming alcohol, like before you go to bed, it helps the body remove this toxic acid, he said. 

Oriental raisin treeLee is not the only US startup selling a DHM hangover prevention either. Flyby is another one, which offers its remedy in the form of pills.

That's to be expected. 

"We really do think the hangover market is gigantic," Lee said.

However Liang's work found that other ingredients matter, too, like Vitamin B and Vitamin C, Lee said, which his Morning Recovery drink incorporates.

And while he figures out how to run this company and better estimate orders, he's offering people old-fashioned deals for ordering in advance and sometimes waiting for their order. A six pack, paid in advance, runs $27, instead of the retail price of $30. A 12-pack runs $48 and so on, with bigger discounts the more you order.

Here's a link to a more technical explanation from Morning Recovery of how DHM works.

SEE ALSO: How a woman took on a Twitter harasser who threatened her with rape — and won

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: People on Twitter can't tell if these shoes are pink or grey — here's the right answer

This New York City apartment where everything is for sale reveals important clues about the future of retail

$
0
0

Vanessa Traina

  • The Apartment by The Line is a high-end home and fashion retail space in SoHo, Manhattan that's set up like a real home.
  • It's created by Assembled Brands which was founded by Adam Pritzker, who also co-founded General Assembly.
  • Assembled Brands aims to help small companies within the home, fashion, and beauty space by providing various business services.

 

Inside a third-floor SoHo loft sits a $12,000 velvet couch, a $28,000 hanging black and white Henri Cartier-Bresson print photograph, two $4,000 chairs, and everything else that makes for a cozy yet chic home. It's a beautiful living room, and it's all for sale.

The store, which is called The Apartment by The Line, was created and carefully curated by the team behind Assembled Brands, founder and CEO Adam Pritzker, along with Creative Director Vanessa Traina.

Pritzker and Traina started Assembled Brands in 2013 and describe it as a modern holding company. Basically, they provide various business services to small companies within the home, fashion, and beauty space. But before they worked with other brands, they started three of their own: The Line, Protagonist, and Tenfold.

By developing, manufacturing, marketing, and ultimately creating a storefront for their own lines, Pritzker and Traina were able to identify the problem spots and difficulties that other small companies were experiencing within the retail industry.

"What draws brands to [Assembled Brands is] that we have operating experience. We built these services out of the pain of operating these businesses ourselves — across both online and offline environments," Pritzker told Business Insider. Traina echoed Pritzker's sentiments: "Starting our own brand and opening our own store informed us on such a different level," she said.

Together, the two are aiming to help what Pritzker identified as an "underserved" industry, by lowering operating costs and increasing distribution for these smaller companies creating products. Brands that are clients of Assembled Brands are a part of what they call "The Alliance."

Below, a look The Apartment by The Line and the operation team behind it: Assembled Brands.

SEE ALSO: 50 photos that show how American suburbs as we know them are dying

The Apartment by The Line is located in the neighborhood of SoHo in Manhattan, on a third floor. "We found this third floor space, which is a better deal in terms of real estate, and wanted it to feel authentic," Traina told Business Insider.



Upon entry, the customer feels as if they're in someone's home complete with a massive closet, kitchen, living room, and bedroom.



There's a sense of voyeurism while walking through the space that's unlike a normal retail store.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Burger King is (once again) trolling McDonald's with a cheeky clown-themed Halloween marketing push

$
0
0

Burger King Whopper

  • Burger King is trolling McDonald's yet again in a clown-themed Halloween marketing ad effort.
  • The burger chain is offering customers wearing clown costumes free Whoppers this Halloween.
  • The tagline of the campaign is "Come as a clown, eat like a king."

Burger King and McDonald's may be arch rivals, but this Halloween, the King seems to be extending an olive branch to Ronald McDonald. 

Burger King is looking to capitalize on the popularity of clown costumes on Halloween by making clowns the center of its cheeky marketing campaign on the dress-up holiday — in a not-so-subtle dig at McDonald's.

The fast food chain is offering free Whopper burgers to customers who show up at its restaurants wearing clown costumes on Halloween. 

The brand has created a 90-second digital ad to tout the offer and is also encouraging guests to post their scary clown costumes and tag the brand @BurgerKing with the hashtag #ScaryClownNight. The tagline for the campaign is "Come as a clown, eat like a king."

"We don’t usually talk about clowns," said Alex Macedo, President, North America, at Burger King. "But for this Halloween, come dressed as a clown to eat like a king."

The offer is valid only for the first 500 clowns that show up at select Burger King restaurants across Boston, Miami, Los Angeles, Austin and Salt Lake City that are hosting what the restaurant brand is calling the "Scary Clown Night" between 7 pm until they close.

This is not the first time that Burger King has trolled McDonald's. Just this month, Burger King took over a screening of the Stephen King horror film "It," posting the phrase "The moral is: never trust a clown," before the end credits rolled. 

Last year as well, Burger King took a jab at its rival on Halloween by dressing up one of its restaurants in New York as McDonald's. 

 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: One type of marriage that's most likely to end in divorce — according to a relationship scientist


Sheetz is a convenience store with a die-hard fan base only found in six states — take a look inside

$
0
0

Sheetz is a convenience store with a die-hard fan base only found in six states: Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and North Carolina. We went to a Sheetz location to see what we would find inside. Sheetz is often compared to Wawa, another convenience store found in only six states. Following is a transcript of the video. 

This is Sheetz. A convenience store with a die-hard fan base. 

There are 500+ stores across Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, and North Carolina. 

"Sheetz" is the last name of the family behind it. It all started in 1953 in Altoona, PA. Gas was added in 1973. Sheetz fans say gas is always cheaper there. Stores are open 24/7 with made-to-order food, which you order on their iconic touch screens. Plus, two hot dogs for just $1! And breakfast "Shmuffins" and "Shmiscuits" served anytime.

Customers love the rewards program. The MySheetz Card gets you discounts on food and gas.

It's probably worth a late-night trip to see what the fuss is about. 

Join the conversation about this story »

Anthony Bourdain and Danny Bowien share the best way to cook steak

$
0
0

We sat down with Anthony Bourdain of "Parts Unknown" and Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese to discuss Bourdain's new film, "Wasted!" and the ever-changing food landscape. They both told us their idea of a perfect steak, with two very different answers.  Following is a transcript of the video. 

Anthony Bourdain: In a perfect world, a big, fat rib steak, fatty rib steak, on the bone, seasoned just with sea salt and pepper, black pepper. Either grilled at a decent temperature over charcoal or pan-seared in a mix of not much butter and olive oil, and basted with butter throughout. Finished in the oven just a little bit. Pulled out of the oven just short of its desired temperature, and allowed to rest — super important. No. 1 mistake that everybody makes is they take the steak off the fire, perfectly good steak, and whack right into it and, by doing that, ruin the entire thing. If you just let it sit there for 10 minutes, magical stuff is going on there, important things, if people just let that happen. It’s really impossible, in my view, to improve on that. That is the way God intended us to cook steak.

Danny Bowien: My opinion ischanged over the years, ‘cause I was trained to be a chef, and, like, they’re taught all these ways. You got to, like, rest your meat, do all this stuff to it — sear it, butter-baste it, whatever. I really just enjoy Korean barbecue. I like thinly cut short ribs. Like, I mean a really tough piece of meat that you should probably braise, cut thinly and grilled quickly and just eaten with, like, pickles and condiments. To me, that’s a steak at this point. But I would eat that over going to eat, like, a big, massive — because also, like, when you Korean barbecue, it’s oftentimes eaten with a lot of vegetables and things like that. And then it’s also, like, very interactive and communal kind of dining.

Bourdain: I love that. That’s my go-to utility meal.

Join the conversation about this story »

The most expensive Airbnb in San Francisco is this 10-bedroom Victorian mansion that costs $10,000 a night

$
0
0

payne mansion san francisco airbnb 45

Many people like Airbnb for its homey rentals and affordable prices. The listing at 1409 Sutter Street in San Francisco is not for most people.

Built in 1881, The Payne Mansion has the distinction of being the most expensive Airbnb listing in the city. The Victorian mansion (and registered historic landmark) has 10 bedrooms, eight baths, two event spaces, and a bar, and costs $10,000 a night, plus a $1,500 cleaning fee.

The mansion has operated as a full-service hotel since 2014, but the owners listed the property on Airbnb to attract more business. You can rent a room, the penthouse, or the whole building.

This slice of San Francisco history could be all yours, if only for the night. Take a look.

SEE ALSO: The San Francisco area is the new fine-dining capital of America — here are the top restaurants

Built in 1881, The Payne Mansion belonged to Theodore Fryatt Payne and his wife Mary Pauline O'Brien, an heiress who amassed a fortune from her silver-baron uncle.



After the 1906 earthquake set San Francisco ablaze, the couple left the city and built a house in the country. The Payne Mansion has changed hands several times since.



It has been a restaurant, offices, and at one point a YMCA. In 2014, an unknown family from China bought the home and spent about $3 million to convert it into a boutique hotel.

Source: San Francisco Busines Times



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

16 of the most luxurious ski resorts to visit this winter

$
0
0

telluride colorado

Winter is right around the corner.

While there are plenty of options for affordable ski getaways in the US and Canada, sometimes you just need to splurge.

HomeToGo, a vacation rental search tool, has compiled a list of the most expensive ski resorts in North America, so you can plan a mountain weekend in the lap of luxury.

They gathered data for the 35 top-rated ski resorts in the US and Canada, and then estimated the average total cost of a one day/night stay. The final cost includes:

  • Equipment rental: skis, boots, poles, and a helmet for one day.
  • A one-day lift pass.
  • Lunch: a burger with fries and a soda at a restaurant on the slopes.
  • Accommodation: the average price per person for a four-person vacation rental found on HomeToGo in the ski resort, between December 16, 2017 and April 15, 2018.

When prices were unavailable from the resorts, HomeToGo based price forecasts for this winter on last season's prices.

Below, check out 16 of the most luxurious ski resorts in North America where a day of skiing plus an overnight stay costs between $250 and $486.

SEE ALSO: 19 of the best ski resorts to visit this winter that don't cost a fortune

DON'T MISS: 10 affordable getaways to celebrate New Year's 2018

16. Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia

Total cost (1 day/night): $253.02

Equipment rental and lift ticket: $155

Lunch: $7.75

Vacation rental: $90.28



15. Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Total cost (1 day/night): $262.93

Equipment rental and lift ticket: $150 

Lunch: $16

Vacation rental: $97.43



14. Mammoth Mountain, California

Total cost (1 day/night): $264.79

Equipment rental and lift ticket: $171

Lunch: $10.74

Vacation rental: $83.05



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Inside America's best high school — a boarding school that costs $53,900 a year and feeds students into the Ivy League

$
0
0

Phillips Academy AndoverPhillips Academy, a prestigious boarding school located in Andover, Massachusetts, is the best high school in America.

It's founding dates back to the American Revolution — where its roster of early supporters reads like a "who's who" of American exceptionalism. George Washington, Paul Revere, and John Hancock all have ties to Andover, which the school is called for short. 

That history, and the fact that the school originally educated students as a feeder school into Yale, likely contribute to the stereotype that Andover is a school for effete academics and wealthy families set on receiving a country-club style education, complete with uniforms, sports coats, and ties.

And yet, for all it's stereotypes of elitism, the Andover of today — formerly all male and all white — would be unrecognizable to the forefathers of America. More girls than boys that attend the school, 48% of the class are students of color, and the school's mission is driven by a charge to actively recruit even students who can't pay their full way.

So Business Insider toured the school's idyllic New England campus to see what makes Phillips Academy the best school in the nation.  

SEE ALSO: Inside Léman Manhattan Preparatory School, the New York City boarding school that costs more than Harvard

We arrived at Andover on a sunny morning in October and were struck by how much the high school resembles a college.

The 500-acre campus was perfectly manicured, and students hustled across the school's quad to get to their morning classes.

Within 10 minutes of arriving on campus, a security guard came over and inquired about who we were and what we were doing, because she had gotten a few calls about our presence. But she was friendly and welcoming, and let us go on our way once she confirmed we had the proper accesses. 

 

 



We started walking toward our first-period class, and learned a bit more about the make up of the student body.

There are currently 1,154 students who attend Andover in grades nine through 12. Of those students, 851 are boarders and 303 are day students.

Students of color make up 48% of the class, 45 countries around the world are represented, and 11.5% of students are internationally born.

Annual tuition to attend the school rivals the cost at elite-private colleges, with boarding tuition running families $53, 900-a-year, and day tuition running $41,900.

But not everyone pays the full amount, a benefit of Andover's more than $1 billion endowment and need-blind admissions policy. More on that later.

 



Our class was in Samuel Phillips Hall, the building students told us is the most iconic feature on campus. Graduation services happen on the grass in front of the hall.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Rich millennials are ditching the golf communities of their parents for a new kind of neighborhood

$
0
0

Rancho Mission Viejo Ca

  • A new type of housing community known as "agrihoods" are popping up around the US.
  • Agrihoods are built around working farms and are replacing the once-popular golf communities favored by Baby Boomers.
  • There are about 150 agrihoods in the US right now and many more in development.

 

Millennials are saying "so-long" to the country club and "hello" to the farm.

Hundreds of so-called "agrihoods" — short for agricultural neighborhoods — are cropping up around the US, and they're aimed at farm-to-table-loving millennials.

Loosely defined by the Urban Land Institute as master-planned housing communities with working farms as their focus, most agrihoods have ample green space, barns, and outdoor community kitchens. Some boast greenhouses and rows and rows of fruit trees. The homes are typically built to high environmental standards — think solar panels and composting.

Agrihoods are designed to appeal to young, active families who love to eat healthy and spend time outdoors — and they're not off-the-grid.

In fact, there are about 150 agrihoods across the country, according to the Urban Land Institute, and some are minutes outside bustling cities like Atlanta, Phoenix, and Fort Collins, Colorado. That they don't have to trade in the city for sustainable living is likely a big attractor for millennials, who represent the largest segment of American homebuyers today.

According to Paul Habibi, a professor of real estate at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, agrihoods represent a "confluence of economic profits, environmental good, and social benefit" and that's an especially attractive offer to millennials, he told the Orange County Register.

"They actually want a benefit to society," Habibi said.

golf course palm springs california

Agrihoods could become the 21st century version of those tony golf communities Baby Boomers flocked to in the 1990s. Twenty-five years ago, moving near a golf course was a status symbol; the real estate was highly-prized, in large part because of the green space and the views.

But millennials aren't interested in that type of manicured neighborhood. In today's culture, where young people favor farm-to-table fare and wax poetic about "clean living," agrihoods are just what they're searching for.

"Forget about the golf courses. Our buyers want to have a real environment," Theresa Frankiewicz, vice president of community development for Crown Community Development said at the Urban Land Institute's 2016 Food & Real Estate Forum. Frankiewicz is involved in the development of a 6,800-acre agrihood near Tucson, Arizona.

In some places, communities are doing away with the golf course all together to make room for sustainable living.

Developers in Palm Springs, California, are transforming an 18-hole golf course into a 70-acre olive tree grove, the OC Register reported. It will serve as the epicenter of a new 300-acre agrihood called Miralon, which is scheduled to break ground later this year and eventually include dog parks, exercise stations, fire pits, and 6.5 miles of hiking paths (formerly used for golf carts).

The community is slated for 1,150 single family homes, townhouses, and condos. And with homes going from the high $300,000s to the $700,000s or more, residents will be paying a premium for access to fresh food and nature.

Rancho Mission Viejo, the Southern California-based development company that initially trademarked the term agrihood back in 2014, is using its sustainable living-focus to draw young families — and even active retirees — to its Esencia and Sendero communities.

All residents have access to communal farms with orchards and workshop space, raised planters, in-ground crops, and fruit trees, and a laundry list of seasonal community events. But newly built homes there aren't cheap. They range from the low $400,000s to $1 million-plus.

"We make it easy for residents to participate," Amaya Genaro, director of community services for Rancho Mission Viejo, told the OC Register. "We think it is more fun to share the responsibility with neighbors and reap the benefits of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables while forming new friendships."

If agrihoods continue to attract young homebuyers, millennials may be held responsible for killing yet another formerly prized industry.

SEE ALSO: The next hottest housing market in America is this San Francisco micro-hood that's so obscure, most residents have never heard of it

DON'T MISS: Here's the best time of year to buy a home — and when to start house hunting to find the best deal

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Elon Musk's brother opened a shipping container farm in Brooklyn — and he's calling it a 'real-food revolution'

Here’s how to stay friends with your ex

$
0
0

Couples therapist Esther Perel , author of "Mating in Captivity" and "The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity" and the host of the Audible original series "Where Should We Begin?," reveals why people can be friends with an ex and how you can maintain that friendship and your current relationship

Esther Perel: In the past, when a relationship ended, that was it. Most of the time you had no way of finding the person anymore. You had moved. They had moved. Who knew?

Today we have the capacity to actually go and find out whatever happened to that person. And what’s their life like. And what would my life maybe have been like if I had stayed with that person. I get to actually have a glimpse into the stories that I didn’t choose to live.

It’s all a matter of trust. Can people stay friends with people they once had a romantic relationship with? Absolutely. Can people do so in a way that is not threatening to their relationship and integrate their partner into it even — even if less than they themselves are? Of course that too.

The question is a question of trust, of openness, and of clear boundaries. It makes sense that some people would be able to develop a beautiful friendship with someone with whom they once shared a more intimate relationship. It is a person they often trust, it is a person they know, and it is a person that they’ve had a story with and a history with. 

Today, most of us will come to our committed relationships after years of other relationships and sometimes other sexual nomadism. It used to be that we married and that we had sex for the first time. Today we marry and we stop having sex with others. Exclusivity — emotional or physical exclusivity — means something very different when you have had other partners.

The degree to which we learn to integrate partners, friends from different times in our life in the context of the current relationship that we are in, is a new challenge for many couples for which there are often no prewritten scripts. And so each couple needs to negotiate that. What is ours and what is mine. What do we share and what remains ours individually. The question for every couple today, of togetherness and separateness, is a must-have conversation for every couple, with individual answers often for every couple.

Join the conversation about this story »


Inside the swanky offices of TED, the company behind the internet's viral 18-minute talks

$
0
0

Ted Talks HQ

TED has been around since 1984, but it's only been within the last several years that the company's thought-provoking, lecture-style talks have exploded into the mainstream.

The 18-minute-or-less talks cover everything from psychology to the environment to finance to business, and they often rake in millions of views online.

All of that success originates in TED's New York City headquarters. 

The office has a 100-plus-person amphitheater, a stop-motion studio, plush viewing tents, single-person workspaces, and too many plants to count. Here's what it's like inside.

SEE ALSO: Bain & Company was just named the best workplace of 2017 — step inside its New York office

TED occupies two floors in an office building located in New York's SoHo neighborhood. It looks into the atrium, so TED installed high-reaching plants to shield people from the view.

The company moved there in March 2016. Susan Zimmerman, TED's special projects manager, said it was a huge upgrade from the last space.



Adorning the walls are framed photographs taken by TED staff.



On the lower floor is the server room. The doors display the daily TED talk video views in real-time. Just after lunch on a recent Wednesday, the views were closing in on 1.3 million for the day.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The butter market is going crazy

$
0
0

Employees prepare organic unpasteurised butter at a milk farm in Saint-Colomban, near Nantes, France, September 12, 2017. Picture taken September 12, 2017.

  • European butter price up around 50% so far this year.
  • Supply hit by a poor harvest and falling exports globally, while demand from markets like China rising.
  • France particularly badly hit, with shortages reported.


LONDON – The price of butter is exploding in Europe, with a shortage hitting France, one of the continent's biggest consumers.

The price of 100 kgs of butter has jumped from just over €400 at the start of the year to close to €600, according to the EU's Milk Market Observatory. Prices are rising amid a shortage of supply across the world.butter

Rapidly rising butter prices in Britain are contributing to supermarket inflation of 3.2%, according to recent Kantar Worldpanel data, and France is facing a shortage of butter.

What's causing the butter crisis?

A placard explaining the butter shortage, due to a drop in milk production, is displayed on empty shelves at a supermarket in Reze, France, October 23, 2017. The placard reads Butter prices are rising mainly due to a squeeze on supply according to the BBC. New Zealand butter exports are down and a poor harvest in Europe last year had meant less animal feed for cows.

The BBC said that rising demand for European-style pastries in China is also increasing demand for butter at a time when supply is falling.

The shortage has hit France particularly hard because supermarkets have been reluctant to raise their prices to respond to the squeeze on supply.

With supermarkets not paying more, producers are selling their butter abroad instead.

Thierry Roquefeuil, chairman of the milk-producers’ federation FNPL, told Bloomberg: "French retailers refuse to increase prices, even by few cents, even for butter. Dairy producers see that there’s an outside demand at higher prices so they sell abroad, and rightfully so."

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: SCOTT GALLOWAY: Amazon is using an unfair advantage to dominate its competitors

Yours for £100 million: A 'private palace' with a 200-person dining room and columns from the ruins of Pompeii is on sale in London

$
0
0

DoughtyHouse,frontfacade

LONDON — A stately home in London which sellers say "rivals Buckingham Palace" is on sale in London for £100 million.

Doughty House, in Richmond, was built in 1769, and hosted generations of royals and aristocrats before falling into a state of disrepair. Now, it is being renovated by ultra-prime developer K10 Group.

The acquisition, construction, restoration, and fit-out costs are £62.5 million, and with a guide price of £100 million, it is valued as one of the capital's most expensive private residences.

Take a look at past and present pictures of the house below.

The three-storey Doughty House was originally built in 1769 and is located at the crest of Richmond Hill in south-west London, providing views of the River Thames.



The house passed through generations of extremely wealthy aristocrats before ending up in the hands of a developer in 1949.



A lack of investment meant the 38,000 square foot property fell into a state of disrepair.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

What the '2%' actually means in 2% milk — and why the name whole milk is misleading

$
0
0

Skim, 1%, 2%, whole, half and half, cream — what do these different names actually mean? It's all about the fat content. But titles like 1% and 2% are a little misleading.

Contrary to popular belief, they don't mean that all but 1% or 2% of the fat has been removed. Rather they refer to what percentage of the total weight is milk fat.

For example, one cup of milk weighs about 225 grams. Of that weight, 2% milk holds 5 grams of fat and whole milk contains 8 grams. So whole milk isn't much fattier than 2%.

In fact, a gallon of 2% has more than half the fat as a gallon of whole milk.

The FDA requires whole milk to have at least 3.25$ fat by weight. But the amount of fat can range from 3.25$ to 5$ depending on the cow.

Whole milk is most similar in fat content to what comes straight from the cow. But during processing, some of that fat is either removed or extra fat is added to create the variety you see in stores.

If you're drinking milk straight, nutritionists recommend milk with at least some fat. The fat slows digestion and can help prevent a spike in blood sugar.

Join the conversation about this story »

I waited in a line to go to a mysterious cult skater store worth $1 billion to see why teens are so obsessed

$
0
0

Supreme

Supreme is red-hot.

The streetwear apparel brand is having an amazing year with a roughly $500 million cash infusion from the Carlyle Group, valuing it at $1 billion. Adding to the good news for the company is a primo ranking on Piper Jaffray's semi-annual Taking Stock of Teens survey, which indicates teens are eating it up — or at least desiring it — like never before.

Founded in 1994, Supreme was created by James Jebbia and catered to skaters. There's an air of mystery about the brand, and Jebbia gives few media interviews.

Now, celebrities from Justin Bieber to Milo Yiannopoulous have been seen wearing Supreme's clothing, and its cachet only seems to grow. It now operates 11 stores around the world.

I went to Supreme's store on Lafayette Street in New York City to see how the brand became the phenomenon it is today.

SEE ALSO: Steph Curry tried to shade Under Armour's haters — but accidentally exposed the brand's biggest flaw

Every journey to Supreme starts with standing in line. It doesn't matter when you go — there will be a line. The store only allows about a dozen customers inside at any one time, and it's relatively tight inside.



But if you're new to the experience, there's nothing there to explain the process to you. There was an empty set of ropes in front of the door, so I tried to walk into the store like you would any other. I was blocked. "Line starts around the block," I was told.

Around the block, I found another set of empty ropes, and a family of four entered right in front of me. I got my hand stamped in one line, was held for 30 seconds, then moved to the other line and got my hand stamped again.



Only with both stamps are you allowed to enter the store. After the bizarre ritual, I was finally inside.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Viewing all 116889 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images