• The coronavirus lockdown has sidelined performers and artists all across the entertainment industry.
• One family-run circus in Spain was on tour when lockdowns were put in place, and they've been stranded there for two months.
• Since then, they've begun livestreaming their circus act for free and using their costuming skills to make face masks.
• View more episodes of Business Insider Today on Facebook.

Louisa Raluy is suspended upside-down from a rope hanging from the ceiling, twisting and turning as her fellow circus performers encourage her on.

But there won't be any applause at the end of Raluy's performance.

That's because the coronavirus has sidelined Raluy and the other performers at the Raluy Legacy Circus in Spain, leaving them unsure of when they'll perform before live audiences again.

The traveling circus was making its way through the Catalonia region when the Spanish government issued a lockdown on March 14. They've been living in a park in Reus in the two months since then as they contemplate their futures in the industry.

"We've gone through earthquakes, floods, the eruption of a volcano," Niedziela Raluy, an artist with the circus and Louisa's daughter, told Business Insider Today. "But we never thought that as we were touring Spain, in Catalonia, which is so quiet, we would go through one of the hardest things we've ever experienced."

The entertainment industry has been paralyzed by the pandemic, and family-run businesses like the Raluys' have been especially hard hit.

"We don't have an income, as we are stranded, of course. Financially it affects us, just like many other people," Louisa Raluy said.

They are among the many performers who have been forced offstage. More than 30,000 performances in Spain will be canceled by the end of May, and the industry will lose around $142 million nationwide, according to one estimate from Spanish arts industry insiders.

Stuck in one place for the foreseeable future, the circus made the unusual decision to stream performances for free on social media. The shows have brought laughter to thousands of viewers in turbulent times.

"We have many followers that say, 'Keep going! We miss you. We miss the circus,'" Kerry Raluy, Louisa's sister and co-director and co-owner of the circus, said. "At least we are giving them an afternoon at the circus without leaving their homes."

"We perform with tears, injuries, in pain, with sprains, everything," Niedziela Raluy said. "We always have that in our heads, that the show must go on."

The circus members have found other ways to put their talents to good use, too, using their costume design skills to sew more than 300 masks for frontline workers at a nearby market and other locals.

The Raluy Legacy Circus arrived in Reus in mid-March amid rumors the city would be forced to go on lockdown because of the health crisis.

The Spanish government recently announced a four-step plan to fully reopen the country. Reus was among the cities that moved on the second step on Monday, according to the Interior Department of Catalonia.  

That's given a bit of hope to the family-owned circus. But the Raluys still don't know when they'll perform next in front of an audience as certain restrictions are still in place. 

Take a look inside the circus on Business Insider Today »

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NOW WATCH: Inside London during COVID-19 lockdown

• Marla Beck is the CEO and cofounder of the luxury beauty company Bluemercury.
• She founded the business in 1999 after becoming frustrated with how "impersonal" the experience of in-store beauty shopping was at the time. 
• Today, the company's products — including its clean makeup and skincare offerings and its popular vitamin C skin line — are available in over 200 locations nationwide.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As people are spending more time than ever in their homes, skincare is seeing a major boom in popularity. Business Insider's Kate Taylor reported in March that Americans in isolation have turned to skincare as a form of self-care and comfort, and as a result, skincare sales have rapidly outpaced the general beauty market in recent months.

But smaller companies like Bluemercury, who have traditionally prided themselves on offering a more personalized experience, have had to get creative in order to pivot their offerings while most of the country is under lockdown.

Marla Beck, the CEO and cofounder of Bluemercury, spoke to Business Insider about how her company has adapted during this time and whether the pandemic spells the end for brick-and-mortar beauty stores.

'I didn't love the way you had to shop for cosmetics back then, and I wanted to fix that'

Growing up in California's Bay Area, Beck always had a penchant for healthy living and was always cautious about the products she put on her skin, the CEO said. Beauty was a hobby for Beck, but it wasn't until after she went to graduate school in Boston that she began to think about it seriously as a career. 

"I went to Berkley for economics, then to McKinsey for two years, then went back to business school and public policy school," she told Business Insider. "After graduate school, I saw an opportunity to create something new and different."

Back then, she recalled, the process of cosmetics shopping was terrible. Consumers would go to a drugstore or a department store and had to observe products sold behind glass.

"You'd have to go up to each counter and ask for help, or even ask to touch products," she continued. "It was very impersonal."

So, in 1999, Beck decided to combine her background in finance and consulting and her passion for beauty to open Bluemercury, a beauty store in the D.C. neighborhood of Georgetown, with the goal of creating a more welcoming and "personal" experience for beauty shoppers.

While more stores today have adopted a similar retail strategy, it was a relative novelty at the time of Bluemercury's founding that it was a multibrand retailer and had its products out in the open so people could touch them and try them on.

The concept was a hit, and today, the retailer can be found in 200 different locations throughout the country. 

'We had to make a determination when the crisis came'

Customers right now, Beck said, are more open to the idea of "natural" skincare than they were in the past. This paved the way for the company to release its M-61 skincare line in 2012, which Beck says has since become one of its most popular lines. 

The retailer had plans to launch another line this April, but was met with a crisis decision as the pandemic swept through the world. Bluemercurys throughout the country shut their doors in early March as lockdowns rolled out, and customers have remained wary about reentering brick-and-mortar stores.

"We had to make a determination when the [pandemic] came," she said. "I mean, we have no plans to have our clients touching products until they're comfortable doing so." 

Luckily, the retailer invested in its digital presence early, which has paid off as customers flock to Bluemercury's e-commerce store amid the pandemic. Beck said that consumers are online shopping for sunscreen and self-tanners; consultations have risen because people need advice on how to manage their hair, and how to look better for Zoom conferences. 

All Bluemercury had to do was provide. And it did — provide products, provide beauty experts, provide tidbits of comfort.

Business was going so well that the company went ahead with its clean beauty launch, which led to "a ton of new client acquisition," said Beck. In late May, Bluemercury began reopening its brick-and-mortar stores, and introduced "Contactless Curbside Pick-Me-Up," which allows customers to pick up to-go beauty orders from the store. 

The company is still expanding its digital presence — on Facebook, Instagram, and now TikTok. But, Beck told Business Insider, the company can't wait to return to its full brick-and-mortar presence.

As it turns out, few things compare to the experience of browsing through a beauty store to touch and try on products in person. E-commerce might be the future, but it's still just a form of selling beauty behind glass. 

"There is just something about browsing as you walk through a store," she said. "When someone finds the right skincare products, you're not just changing their skin, you're changing their confidence or their outlook. It's like having a good hair day."

SEE ALSO: THE STYLE SERIES: A Gen Z entrepreneur created an interactive shopping app that's like 'Tinder for outfits.' Here's how she did it.

SEE ALSO: THE STYLE SERIES: Jennifer Aniston and Selena Gomez both partnered with this luxury retailer that helps underprivileged girls all around the world

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what it's like to travel during the coronavirus outbreak

• There are currently only 29 countries that allow same-sex couples to marry.
• The latest country to pass legislation is Costa Rica, which became the first Central American nation to allow same-sex marriage on May 26, 2020.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

People fighting for same-sex marriage rights around the world have seen global support increase in recent years. Australia, Malta, and Germany legalized same-sex marriage in 2017, and Taiwan made history in 2019, becoming the first government in Asia to welcome legislation on marriage equality. 

Costa Rica became the first Central American country to legalize same-sex marriage on May 26, 2020.

"May empathy and love be the compass that guides us forward and allow us to move forward and build a country that has room for everyone," Costa Rica's President Carlos Alvarado Quesada wrote on Twitter following the ruling. 

There are currently only 29 countries that allow same-sex couples to marry.

Keep scrolling to read the full list:

SEE ALSO: How Australia's slow march toward same-sex marriage compares to the US

1. In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriages.

The legislation gave same-sex couples the right to marry, divorce, and adopt children. 

Source: CBS News

2. Belgium followed suit in 2003 and granted equal rights to same-sex married couples.

Beginning in 1998, the Belgian parliament offered limited rights to same-sex couples through registered partnerships. In 2003, the parliament legally recognized same-sex marriages.

Source: The Guardian

3. In 2005, the Canadian Parliament passed legislation making same-sex marriage legal nationwide.

In 1999, some provincial governments extended common law marriages to gay and lesbian couples, providing them with most of the legal benefits of marriage but laws varied across the country.

Source: CBC News

4. Also in 2005, a closely divided Spanish parliament agreed to do the same.

The law guaranteed identical rights to all married couples regardless of sexual orientation.

Source: New York Times

5. After South Africa's highest court ruled the country's marriage laws violated the constitution’s guarantee of equal rights, parliament legalized same-sex marriage in 2006.

Exemptions were also included in the new marriage law. Both religious institutions and civil officers could refuse to conduct same-sex marriage ceremonies.

Source: NBC News

6. In 1993 Norway allowed gay couples to enter civil unions, but it took until 2008 for a Norway to pass a gender-neutral marriage law.

In January 2009, the bill was enacted into law, and gay couples were legally granted the right to marry, adopt children and receive artificial insemination.

Source: NBC News

7. In 2009, Sweden voted overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage.

The bill passed with 261 votes in favor, 22 votes against and had 16 abstentions.

Source: BBC News

8. Iceland's parliament voted unanimously to legalize same-sex marriage in 2010.

Iceland's then-Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir married her longtime partner Jonina Leosdottir as the law came into effect.

Source: The Telegraph

9. Portugal has also allowed same-sex marriage since 2010, after legislation was originally challenged by the country's president.

Portugal had passed a measure legalizing same-sex marriage in February of 2010, but Portugal's former president, Anibal Cavaco Silva, asked the Constitutional Court to review the measure. In April 2010, the Constitutional Court declared the law to be constitutionally valid.

Source: The Guardian

10. In 2010, Argentina became the first Latin American country to allow same-sex marriage.

Prior to the same-sex marriage law, a number of local jurisdictions, including the nation's capital, Buenos Aires, had enacted laws allowing gays and lesbians to enter into civil unions.

Source: The Guardian

11. Denmark's legalization came in 2012 after Queen Margrethe II gave her royal assent to the proposed legislation.

Denmark was the first country to allow same-sex couples to register as domestic partners in 1989.

Source: BBC News

12. Uruguay passed legislation allowing same-sex marriage in 2013.

Civil unions have been permitted in Uruguay since 2008, and in 2009 gay and lesbian couples were given adoption rights.

Source: BBC News

13. In 2013, New Zealand became the first country in the Asia-Pacific to legislate for same-sex marriage.

The law won approval by a 77-44 margin in the country's legislature, which included support from former Prime Minister John Key.

Source: SBS News

14. President Francois Hollande signed a measure legalizing marriage equality in France in 2013.

Hollande's signature had to wait until a court challenge brought by the conservative opposition party, the UMP, was resolved. France's highest court, the Constitutional Council, ruled that the bill was constitutional.

Source: The Guardian

15. Brazil’s National Council of Justice ruled that same-sex couples should not be denied marriage licenses in 2013, allowing same-sex marriages to begin across the country.

Prior to the law, only some of Brazil's 27 jurisdictions had allowed same-sex marriage.

Source: The Australian

16. England and Wales became the first countries in the UK to pass marriage equality in 2014.

Northern Ireland and Scotland are semi-autonomous and have separate legislative bodies to decide many domestic issues. In 2017, a judge dismissed two cases on same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.

Source: BBC News

17. Scotland voted overwhelmingly in favor of of legalizing same-sex marriage later in 2014.

In addition to allowing same-sex couples to wed, the measure gave churches and other religious groups the option to decide whether or not they want to service same-sex marriages.

Source: BBC News

18. Luxembourg overwhelmingly approved legislation to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed and to adopt children that went into effect in 2015.

The bill was spearheaded by the country's Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel. Bettel married his long-time partner Gauthier Destenay a few months after the legislation passed.

Source: Reuters

19. Finland approved a marriage equality bill in 2014.

The bill started out as a public petition and was passed with 101-90 votes. 

Source: Reuters

20. Ireland became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage through a popular vote in 2015.

62% of the referendum's respondents voted "yes" to amend the Constitution of Ireland to recognize same-sex marriage. Thousands of Irish emigrants had traveled home to participate in the popular vote.

Source: BBC News

21. Greenland, the world's biggest island, passed same-sex legislation in 2015.

Although Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark, it was not subject to Denmark's 2012 ruling on legalizing same-sex marriage.

Source: Copenhagen Post

22. The United States Supreme Court made marriage equality federal law in 2015.

Same-sex marriage had been legal in 37 out of the 50 US states, plus the District of Columbia, prior to the 2015 ruling.

Source: CNN

23. Colombia became the fourth Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2016.

Same-sex couples were already allowed to form civil partnerships before the ruling. 

Source: BBC News

24. In 2017, Germany became the 15th European country to allow same-sex couples to wed.

Germany gave full marital rights to homosexual couples in a vote that Chancellor Angela Merkel voted against.

Source: New York Times

25. In 2017, nearly all of Malta's parliament voted in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage.

Despite opposition from the Catholic Church on the small Mediterranean island, marriage equality was passed by a landslide 66-1 vote.

Source: The Independent

26. Australia legalized same-sex marriage in 2017 after lawmakers enacted the will of the majority of citizens who overwhelmingly voted for the measure by postal vote.

Same-sex couples were officially allowed to marry beginning January 9, 2018, more than a month after it was legalized in the country.

27. Taiwan made history on May 24, 2019, becoming the first place in Asia to pass laws on marriage equality.

Taiwan, which considers itself an independent democracy that champions human rights issues, passed a bill in favor of marriage equality by an overwhelming margin in 2019. The bill allows full legal marriage rights for same-sex couples and also offers limited adoption rights.

28. Ecuador's highest court approved same-sex marriage in a 5-4 ruling.

Ecuador has recognized same-sex partnerships since 2015, but the Constitutional Court officially approved same-sex marriages on June 12, 2019.

The court instructed the government to pass legislation that will cement equal rights for all citizens who wish to marry.

Source: BBC

29. Costa Rica became the first Central American country to legalize same-sex marriage on May 26, 2020.

Costa Rica passed a bill to allow same-sex marriage on May 26, 2020. 

"May empathy and love be the compass that guides us forward and allow us to move forward and build a country that has room for everyone," President Carlos Alvarado Quesada wrote on Twitter following the ruling. 

• Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei is best known for his politically charged works like "Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn" and "Sunflower Seeds." 
• One of his lesser-known works is a two-structure modern home in upstate New York.
• Called the Tsai Residence, it is the only home Ai Weiwei has ever designed in the US.
• It's available to rent for $125,000 from June through Labor Day.
• Listing agent Graham Klemm calls the home "livable art."
• Take a look inside the only home in the US designed by Ai, which comes with a pool and sweeping views of the Catskills mountains.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

SEE ALSO: Look inside the luxury hotel built out of 1950s train cars that will sit atop a historic bridge in the heart of South Africa's biggest national park

NOW READ: Walt Disney's 'Technicolor Dream House' just sold for $1.1 million. Here's a look inside his former Palm Springs retreat.

The only home in the US designed by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei is available to rent from June 4 through Labor Day for $125,000.

The home is also listed for sale, with an asking price of $5.25 million. Graham Klemm of Klemm Real Estate represents the listing.

Source: Klemm Real Estate

The 7-bedroom property sits on 37 acres in the historic farming community of Ancram, New York, about two hours north of Manhattan.

Source: Town of Ancram, Klemm Real Estate

Ai Weiwei designed the property with HFF Architects of Switzerland in 2006 for a Chinese entrepreneur and art collector. It consists of a main house and guest house built in the modern style.

Jennifer Gould Keil of the New York Post reports that Chinese-American businessman Christopher Tsai, one of Ai's collectors, commissioned the home as a vacation property.

Source: Klemm Real Estate, Mansion Global, New York Post

The rectangular main house is the larger of the two structures, with three bedrooms and three bathrooms.

Source: Klemm Real Estate

The Y-shaped guest house, by comparison, has two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Source: Klemm Real Estate

The interior of the main house is minimalistic and bright.

Source: Klemm Real Estate

Typical of modern homes, floor-to-ceiling windows bring the outside in.

Source: Klemm Real Estate

In total, the property has three fireplaces ...

Source: Klemm Real Estate

... one of which straddles the interior and exterior of the main home.

Source: Klemm Real Estate

The guest house is also minimalistic, though its aesthetic changes from white and neutral shades ...

Source: Klemm Real Estate

... to darker wood paneling.

Source: Klemm Real Estate

Each end of the Y boasts views of the surrounding property.

Source: Klemm Real Estate

The Catskills mountains can be seen in the distance, both from the houses ...

Source: Klemm Real Estate

... and from the outdoor lap pool.

Source: Klemm Real Estate

• A report by Redfin found that real estate in Oakland and other suburban markets around San Francisco is recovering quicker than real estate in the city.
• These findings point to the wave of workers showing an interest in leaving big cities for more affordable homes with more space as permanent remote work may become the new normal.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, there has been talk of urbanites fleeing densely populated cities— but the trend has been in evidence for years, and only seems to have accelerated over the past three months.

Millennials, who make up most first-time homebuyers, have been focusing on more affordable markets away from major cities, Realtor.com's Senior Economist George Ratiu explained to Business Insider. This will only increase as a result of the changes brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, like remote work, he added.

The need to work from home, Ratiu continued, will likely be a reality for many prospective buyers, fueling a need for things like a home office and therefore a desire for more space. In addition, the ability to work from home will allow some prospective homebuyers to widen their affordable housing-market search. And early indications are that the San Francisco Bay Area, the most overheated real-estate market in the country, is already feeling the effects.

A report by Redfin found that 72% of its users who live in San Francisco were searching for homes outside of the city in April, up from 67.8% the same time last year.

In addition, the report found that real estate in Oakland and suburban parts of the Bay Area is recovering quicker than real estate in San Francisco and San Jose.  

"Pending home sales and the number of new listings have begun to pick up throughout the Bay Area in early May after a drastic drop in April, but home buyer demand is stronger in Oakland, where homes tend to be larger and less expensive, with more outdoor space," the report reads.

For the month ending May 11, Redfin found that the median sale price in Oakland saw a year-over-year increase of 3.4%, while San Francisco saw a year-over-year decline of 3.2%. San Jose, home to Silicon Valley, was somewhere in between, with an increase of 0.7%. The report also mentioned Walnut Creek in the East Bay as an increasingly popular spot.

Pending home sales for the week ending on May 17 were down 41.6%  in Oakland compared to the same time last year, down 45.1% in San Jose, and down 55.1% in San Francisco. Back in April, pending sales saw year-over-year drops of  more than 60% in all three markets.

Experts predict the migration to more affordable markets will continue

"The trend toward the suburbs will grow stronger and stronger as the pandemic continues and work-from-home culture becomes more entrenched. Places like Oakland are capturing people who are leaving San Francisco and San Jose because if employees are able to work remotely three or four days a week, a longer commute is well worth the trade for more space," Redfin Lead Economist Taylor Marr said in the report.

Redfin agent Katy Polvorosa said in the report that move-in ready homes in Oakland are selling in five to 10 days, with multiple offers, because while buyer interest is strong, inventory is low, a strange byproduct of the pandemic on which Business Insider has previously reported.

"One of my clients started looking at homes close to the city, but ended up buying further east, near Walnut Creek, where they could afford a bigger house. Nowadays, buyers want offices where they can work from home, they want to be able to talk on the phone in different rooms, they want space, and they want yards where the kids can play," she said in the report.

As Business Insider previously reported, a survey conducted by Blind asked 4,400 tech workers — about 2,800 in the Bay Area and 1,600 elsewhere — if working remotely would impact where they decide to move. Of those in the Bay Area, two-thirds would consider leaving if they had the option to work remotely permanently. More specifically, 34% of Bay Area respondents said no, about 18% said they'd consider moving out of the metro area but staying in California, 35.7% said they'd consider going elsewhere in the US, and just under 16% said they'd consider moving out of the country.

SEE ALSO: The US housing market has an inventory crisis three months into the coronavirus pandemic. Here's why prices aren't falling even as the economy craters.

DON'T MISS: The 20 cities that attracted the most interest from prospective homebuyers in April

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: How waste is dealt with on the world's largest cruise ship

• Sylvester Stallone, the actor who brought boxer Rocky Balboa to life in the 1976 film Rocky and several sequels, has listed his home in California's Coachella Valley for $3.35 million. 
• The property is located inside The Madison Club, a private residential community with its own club house and golf course.
• A number of A-listers, including Kris Jenner and Cindy Crawford, call the community home.
• Take a look inside Stallone's four-bedroom home, which has walk-in closets, multiple terraces, and a fountain-fed pool.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

SEE ALSO: Jackie Kennedy's childhood summer home just hit the market. Look inside the 125-year-old Hamptons property.

NOW READ: The billionaire art collector who owns Andy Warhol's former Montauk estate is reportedly entertaining offers for the oceanfront property. Here's a look inside.

'Rocky' actor Sylvester Stallone has listed his home in La Quinta, California, with an asking price of $3.35 million.

Josh Reef of Douglas Elliman represents the listing.

Source: Douglas Elliman

The home is located in The Madison Club, a private residential club in California's Coachella Valley, which has a club house and golf course.

Source: Douglas Elliman, The Madison Club

Stallone purchased the property in 2010 for $4.5 million and put it up for sale several years ago with an initial asking price of $4.2 million, according to Zillow records.

Source: Douglas Elliman, Zillow

The house is built in the Spanish Colonial style, with private terraces, stucco walls, and a terracotta roof.

Source: Douglas Elliman

Heavy double doors open up to an entryway ...

Source: Douglas Elliman

... which leads to a living room with vaulted ceilings, chandeliers, and a fireplace.

Source: Douglas Elliman

The adjacent kitchen has a large stone and wood island ...

Source: Douglas Elliman

... and a nearby breakfast nook. The home also has a wine room.

Source: Douglas Elliman

Sunshine pours in by day ...

Source: Douglas Elliman

... and the outdoor fire pit, spa, and fountain-fed pool glow by night.

Source: Douglas Elliman

In total, the four-bedroom, five-bath home spans 4,889 square feet.

Source: Douglas Elliman

The master suite in particular pulls out all the stops.

Source: Douglas Elliman

It's connected to a walk-in closet ...

Source: Douglas Elliman

... and a two-sink bathroom with a windowed tub.

Source: Douglas Elliman

The master suite also opens up to this private terrace with views of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains.

Source: Douglas Elliman, The Madison Club

• As would-be travelers returned home amidst the coronavirus pandemic, hotel general managers remained on their properties.
• Business Insider spoke to three general managers who continue to live on site with their families.
• They've found that it's been a time to bond with family and fellow employees — and one resort in Colorado has even been housing local healthcare workers.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

While travelers returned back home and have been hunkered down inside in the safety of their houses during quarantine, the general managers of hotels and resorts around the world never actually left. 

Oftentimes, the general manager of a hotel or resort will permanently reside on the property they're responsible for overseeing, since they're expected to be available for anything at a moment's notice. General managers across the globe are still living on property with their families during the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring that daily tasks continue to go smoothly and preparing for when full operations can safely resume. 

From a South African wilderness retreat that's home to a variety of rare and endangered species of animals, to an isolated private island paradise in the heart of the Caribbean, to a chic upscale mountain park at the base of the Colorado Rockies that's offering healthcare workers a free place to stay, three general managers shared their perspectives on what it's like to continue to live in and manage a property as coronavirus ravages the outside world.

SEE ALSO: Hotels, motels, and resorts are never going to be the same. What you can expect the next time you plan a vacation.

Bushmans Kloof Wilderness Reserve and Wellness Retreat, Cederberg Mountains, South Africa

Rory du Plessis, general manager of Bushmans Kloof in the Cederberg Mountains of South Africa, has been residing on property during the COVID-19 pandemic. He's been working alongside the reserve's employees while the property is temporarily closed to guests.

Du Plessis oversees the lodge itself, which is situated on about 125 acres of land and spread out over about one mile, as well as the rest of the reserve, which includes 175,000-plus acres of open space. The land is home to many rare and endangered species of animals such as Cape Mountain Zebra and African Wildcats which need to be protected — even during a pandemic. 

There are around 90 total employees and 30 children — ranging in age from just six months to 16 years old — currently living on property with du Plessis. Of the 120 who live at Bushmans Kloof, there are just 18 employees who are still actively working to maintain the grounds. The rest of the employees are technically on a temporary furlough, but still have access to onsite transportation services to reach nearby medical facilities and travel to essential services, since the lodge is located 28 miles from the nearest town. 

"It has been both a wonderful — yet restrictive — time that has tested us physically and mentally, but has in many ways brought us closer together as a team as we go about maintaining this wonderful property in isolation," du Plessis told Business Insider. "So many things that are taken for granted will never be done in the future. The new normal is certainly going to be interesting."

Du Plessis has been working directly with the employees to maintain the upkeep of the lodge's facilities, including harvesting the garden and feeding the reserve's animals.

Without guests, they've been harvesting the produce to feed the staff and the surplus is taken into town to be donated to the less fortunate. Any old spa slippers, gowns, sheets, pillows and uniforms from property are also donated. During their free time, the group will play games and enjoy the vast acres of open land.

"We have some lovely open areas, so in a bit of leisure time we are able to throw frisbees and play cricket, so we at least are able to socially distance too," du Plessis said. "I do believe this has given us a chance to introspect and realize we are being cautioned to change and live closer in harmony with the rest of the planet!"

River Run RV Resort, Granby Colorado USA

Dave Huber is the General Manager of chic upscale mountain retreat River Run RV Resort, located in Granby, Colorado, a small town with a year-round population of 2,000 residents at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Huber has a diverse background in the hospitality industry and over the past 20 years has worked for a variety of outdoor recreation and resort operations companies across the country. 

His family of five (nine year old twins and an 11 year old daughter) recently relocated from Harrisonburg, Virginia to join five other employees living onsite at River Run property. They were enjoying the Colorado scenery and getting to know their new community for just four weeks before lockdown began and the property closed to guests. 

Huber's three children love to be outside, and luckily they've been able to spend lockdown taking advantage of the warm spring weather to ride bikes, hike, and explore (as well as occasionally cozy up in front of a movie together).

While the resort is officially closed to the public, it has remained open to house the healthcare workers of nearby towns who don't want to endanger their families by potentially bringing home infection. 

Huber said that the property has housed on average around three to four first responders per week. 

When asked what the experience of housing healthcare workers has been like, Huber started: "When you spoke with them, the incredible impact …" and then stopped to pause reflect back upon the in-depth conversations and the relationships he's continued to build with his guests, who are extremely grateful to have been provided a "worry-free" place to stay in the midst of such stress. "The way that this community has pulled together I think has been amazing."

Huber said that the conversations surrounding when and how they'll fully reopen is an ever changing dialogue. They're working in tandem with guidance from the state of Colorado and Grand County's phased approach to relaxing current restrictions, in addition to guidelines from parent company Sun RV Resorts. However, the key advantage that River Run will have over other properties moving forward is that their space will offer a safer environment, as a naturally socially distant location in the openness of rural Colorado. 

"Operationally and geographically, social distancing comes naturally here. Each individual vacation rental is a self contained unit with its own parking, own kitchen, own restrooms and showers ... You don't have to speak with a person face-to-face," Huber said. "You can pay online and we'll check you in, have your unit set up — the way we're set up has allowed us to do this in a very safe way."

Petit St. Vincent Private Island Resort, Caribbean

General manager Matt Semark, and his wife Anie — who also works as the resort's assistant GM — along with their two young boys (ages six and three) permanently reside on the 115-acre Petit St. Vincent Private Island Resort, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. They have stayed there since the resort shut down in late March. Petit St. Vincent is an island retreat which offers 22 luxurious oceanside  one-bedroom cottages and two-bedroom beach villas.

"Any island you go to in this region, the level of community, is so welcoming, so friendly, and so polite ... very natural. Very peaceful. Very safe. Very humble," Semark said. 

Guests had to evacuate the island as quickly as possible upon learning of the impending international travel restrictions.

"We had to literally grab all of our guests in-house, go around the cottages and say, 'You need to get on a plane, quickly. Because you may get stuck here.'" 

Petit St. Vincent's employees are considered family, with the majority of the team from the surrounding islands — but there are team members working who come from all over the world. Right now just 20 of the 130 crew members remain on the island — some of them are quite literally "stranded" because they couldn't catch a flight home in time as the initial focus was on getting all of the resort's guests home safely. 

Just before the property officially closed its doors, the crew was fortunate enough to happen to receive the enormous shipment of frozen meat and dry goods from their food distributor overseas, which was supposed to feed guests on property for the entire summer  but will now feed the employees  throughout the entirety of island quarantine. 

"Even when the full team is here, it's as if we're a big family, because we're all here 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Semark said. "It has in a way been nice, just the 20 of us here, because we've become so close, taking turns cooking for each other, and having picnics and barbecues… we make the best of it." 

From standard property maintenance on tennis court floodlights, to ongoing work on an underwater nursery project working to regrow coral (a project that Semark, a longtime diver, is particularly passionate about), the team has undoubtedly grown closer these past couple months.

Petit St. Vincent aims to reopen in the fall with increased safety measures and enhanced cleanliness procedures. For now, Semark will continue to oversee resort operations and take the opportunity to enjoy extra time with his wife and sons.

"One of the things I've been able to do over the last few weeks is to start to teach my eldest son to dive, as I've got a little bit more time with him, now!" Semark said. 

These general managers and their families consider "home" to be the property they oversee and its employees as a part of their extended family. Throughout quarantine they've had the opportunity to learn more about the land and its community, and will return to normal resort operations with a better understanding of it than ever before.

• On Monday, Tokyo lifted its state of emergency after the rate of new coronavirus infections and deaths slowed.
• The state of emergency went into effect on April 7 after coronavirus-related deaths exceeded 100 nationwide. 
• In a press conference on Monday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that Japan will need to "create a new lifestyle" as it ventures into the post-pandemic world.
• Here's how three Tokyo industries — restaurants, karaoke bars, and hostess clubs — are adapting.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

SEE ALSO: Drive-through beerfests and glass 'greenhouses' over tables at restaurants: Photos show the measures Germany is taking to start reopening

NOW READ: Photos of plastic-wrapped farmers' markets and 'social distancing stickers' for schoolkids show how life is resuming in Paris as the city eases coronavirus lockdown restrictions

On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lifted Tokyo's state of emergency after the rate of new coronavirus infections and deaths slowed. The state of emergency, effectively a soft lockdown, went into effect on April 7.

Source: Kyodo News, Government of Japan

While Tokyo encouraged residents to stay home and non-essential stores to close, measures were voluntary. Many restaurants and bars remained open.

Source: Jakarta Post, Foreign Policy

In a press conference on Monday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that Japan will need to "create a new lifestyle" based on social distancing principles in order to reopen the country while preventing a new wave of infections.

Japan has told residents and businesses to avoid the three C's: closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings.

Source: Japan Times, Washington Post

So far, more than 100 industry associations across Japan have created guidelines for this new lifestyle, the Washington Post reported. Here's how how three industries in Tokyo — restaurants, karaoke bars, and hostess clubs — are adapting.

Source: Washington Post

Restaurants: Before the pandemic, Tokyo residents were able to dine in close proximity at conveyor belt sushi restaurants known as kaitenzushi where they could choose from a rotating selection of fish.

Source: Japan Guide

In March, two of Japan's largest kaitenzushi chains stopped their conveyor belt service, asking customers to order through touchpads instead. Japan's restaurant association also released guidelines encouraging the use of partitions between tables.

Restaurants are now encouraging diners to avoid face-to-face dining and listen to background music in order to minimize talking, the Washington Post reported.

While some restaurant-goers have not heeded social distancing guidelines by continuing to dine in close proximity, they are the minority, The New York Times' Tokyo bureau chief Motoko Rich observed in late April. 

"Tokyo is a place where people follow rules. They wait for green lights to cross streets. In subway stations, they board escalators single file," Rich wrote.

"Some social distancing is also built into the culture. We bow rather than shake hands. Hugging is rare," she added.

Source: Fortune, Japan Times

Karaoke bars: Karaoke is a popular Tokyo pastime. Typically, groups of people share microphones, music selection touchpads, and tambourines in private, windowless karaoke rooms.

Source: Japan Guide

Karaoke bars have been closed since early April and no date has been set for when they will reopen. When they do, they have been advised to ventilate rooms, operate at half capacity, and sanitize microphones and touch pads frequently. Customers will be asked to wear masks at all times except when singing and eating.

Source: The Guardian, NHK World-Japan

Hostess clubs: Hostess clubs, a staple of Tokyo nightlife, employ well-dressed female staff members to sit with, talk to, and pour drinks for male customers.

Source: Live Japan

In order to adapt to the new normal, Japan's hostess club association has announced guidelines that require customers and staff to remain at least one seat's distance apart and wear masks at all times except for eating and drinking.

Source: The Tokyo Reporter, Mizusyobai.jp

• YouTube's cofounders originally thought "a generic platform where we could host all the videos on the internet" was too bold of an idea. So for about a week, the site was a dating platform — until it wasn't. 
• Fifteen years later, YouTube still reigns as the leader in video, but the climb to the top wasn't easy. 
• "What's hard to appreciate is how quickly we had grown beyond our capacity to manage the business," said Zahavah Levine, then YouTube's general counsel and vice president of business development.
• Read the full story of how YouTube grew into a multibillion-dollar behemoth, in the words of former employees and investors.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

YouTube turns 15 this month. The video sharing service, founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, was incorporated on Valentine's Day in 2005, hosted its first video two months later, and launched to the public by May. 

The company has a neatly packaged origin story that has little to do with its messier, more nebulous early days. The on-paper fairy tale of the company's founding, concocted after the fact with the help of an external public relations agency, is that Chen and Hurley had the idea after a dinner party and wanted to share some videos they'd recorded that night but couldn't quite figure out how. (Karim has insisted the company was inspired by an inability to find videos of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia or Janet Jackson's Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction.)

Either way, YouTube's founders had one central question: whether it was possible to watch and share videos within a browser without the need to download them. 

Like many Silicon Valley companies, YouTube began as one idea and quickly became something else. In the early days, when the team would meet up to work out of Hurley's garage in Menlo Park, it was a dating site.

Here, in former employees' and investors' own words, is how YouTube grew into a multibillion-dollar behemoth. The interviews have been lightly edited for clarity.

Yu Pan, YouTube's first official employee, remembers cofounder Jawed Karim showing him an early version of the site at a party. 

Yu Pan, software engineer and employee No. 1: I think he knew I liked [Adobe] Flash and he said, 'Oh look, what I can do with Flash and video' and stuff like that. I was like, 'Oh wow, that's pretty cool.' It just had a video, I think it was of Chad [Hurley, cofounder] in a convertible or something like that. That was kind of cute. I think at the time it had a dating bent to it, but it showed off the fact that you can get a link and you see the video.

Steve Chen, YouTube cofounder and former CTO: It was almost too bold of us to say we were going to create a generic platform where we could host all the videos on the internet. A week went by, we didn't receive a single video of the dating variety. At that point we just said, 'it makes no difference, let's make it a generalized site.' So a week later, we changed it. 

By the summer of 2005, venture capital firm Sequoia Capital had taken notice. Sequoia invested $3.5 million in YouTube's Series A round that September and another $8 million a few months later.

Roelof Botha, partner at Sequoia Capital: The internet companies in those days had a chokehold on distribution, but what was really clever about YouTube was the use of links. I was sold immediately. There were so many people who were negative on the company at the time, even after we made the investment. So many people were mocking me for making that investment: 'Online video has been tried and failed.' There was a lot of skepticism about the business. 

Chen: We were never going to get an office in Silicon Valley until we got funded. We weren't going to be able to afford that.

Botha: They worked out of our office for about three months, until they were about 12 people. Because they were in our office, I would see them every single day. We could have these sort of daily interactions and conversations.

Yu Pan: Then we moved to the San Mateo office. 

'We would go into elevator shafts and custodial closets if we needed to have a private conversation'

YouTube's office in San Mateo was situated above a pizza parlor and a Japanese restaurant. The office was infamously dismal, with exposed pipes on the ceiling, drab carpeting, and a rodent problem. 

Botha: The new office was really grungy, with a helter-skelter kitchen, and a tiny conference room for meetings. There were Nerf guns everywhere. It was a bit like walking into a college dorm or something. It was just people getting stuff done.

Zahavah Levine, general counsel and vice president of business development: As soon as we started to have meetings, there were no conference rooms [available] at all, zero. We would go into elevator shafts and custodial closets if we needed to have a private conversation. 

Misty Ewing-Davis, content moderator: The office itself was disgusting. 

Gideon Yu, chief financial officer: The executives had to take turns removing some of the rats from the rat traps.

Matthew Liu, product manager: A couple of folks on the [business development] team managed to trap this rat and it was probably a good, like, 18 inches from head to tail. Quite, quite disgusting.

Ewing-Davis: The doors to the toilets were just in the room next to someone's desk. It was obviously men's and women's, but at some point they made them unisex and we were like, 'Guys, this isn't fair.' We had like six women in the office and we couldn't ever use the bathroom so we had to split them up again. 

Levine: On my first day, they handed me a sealed box from Ikea and instructed me to erect my own desk. 

Pierre Lamond, former Sequoia Capital partner: Steve had a strange way of working. Basically, him and the engineers would work at night. They would show up in late afternoon and work most of the night. When we would show up at 9 a.m. for board meetings, there were very few people there. If you showed up at 7 p.m., all the engineers were there sharing a pizza dinner. It was a fun place. 

Kevin Donahue, vice president of content and marketing: When I first came in to interview with Chad, the very first time, there was nobody in the office. It was so empty because it was the day after a push, where the entire product and engineering team was up until all hours of the morning. 

Yu Pan: We had shots before every software push. 

Jamie Byrne, director of ad sales: The team culture was incredibly tight-knit. The early crew, the crew that was there from the mid-part of 2005 into 2006, a lot of them grew from PayPal. There was a really tight-knit community of product folks. 

Donahue: We used to sit around and have lunch together in those early days, you know, tables that were sort of like, connected together, and just eat lunch and chat.

Ewing-Davis: We were kind of like a small family. When I look back on Facebook, which is funny because it was brand-new then, all of my first photos are with Chad and Steve. There wasn't a divide between CEO and person looking at content. 

One thing that I really miss and I don't feel like I have had again in that depth is the camaraderie that we had when I joined. I feel like everyone has all these expectations now. Back then we didn't have them — we just had our friends that we worked with.

Gideon Yu: This is going to sound very corny, but a lot of us describe our time at YouTube really like Camelot. It was very pure, very innocent. The dichotomy of how big YouTube seemed from the outside and the low-key nature of Chad and Steve, the really humble office that we had, the really humble number of people that we had, the really close-knit group that we had that was unspoiled by massive amounts of venture capital or everybody having all these huge wins under their belt. It was truly astonishing how different it was internally versus externally.

'YouTube became a cultural force'

By the summer of 2006, YouTube had experienced two massive viral hits — the Saturday Night Live skit "Lazy Sunday" and a Nike ad featuring soccer star Ronaldinho. It was getting so big, so fast, YouTube was having trouble keeping its infrastructure up and running. 

Chen: Just about every 48 hours, some emergency came up. When you have a million people watching a video a day, you can't just manually log each view anymore.

Byrne: The day that I joined we had just hit 40 million views [per day], which was a big milestone. The next month, by July, it was 100 million views. The thing just kept growing. 

Liu: The viral growth was just sensational. And that's not just, 'Hey, how do we get users to watch this video?' It's also: How do we get the current infrastructure of the internet, like data centers, machines within those data centers, the software configurations, to scale without literally having computers meltdown? 

Byrne: I remember when I joined around the June [2006] timeframe, you'd meet someone out and they'd ask you where you worked and when I said I worked at YouTube, they said 'Oh that's incredible, what's it like working with Bono?' because they'd never heard of YouTube and they thought I said U2. But about two months later, same kind of conversation, anyone that I said I worked at YouTube to, they would say, 'Oh my god, I love YouTube.' Within a very short period of time, YouTube became a cultural force that everyone knew. 

Donahue: We were sitting around one night and we stayed pretty late. It was like 9:30 at night or something like that. And Brent, Chad's brother, gets a phone call and he was seated right next to me and he's like, 'Hello?' And then he's like, 'Oh, ah, hello, Mr. Hammer.' And he's like, 'Oh yeah, sure. Um, yeah, you can come on by, here's the address.' And they hang up, I go, 'What was that?' And he goes, 'Oh, that was MC Hammer. He wants to come by and just see the office.' And then he showed up and he stayed for a really long time.

'People didn't know what was OK and what wasn't'

As the company was embracing its newfound popularity, it still had to figure out how to moderate content on its site. 

Levine: As the lawyer, one of the things that I needed to worry about was employee well-being in general. Early on, we had to have employees reviewing the content to make sure that flagged content came down and inappropriate content came down. We had these young kids looking at a queue of videos that had been flagged, and some of the content was very inappropriate. I was worried about that. 

Ewing-Davis: I think the greatest challenge was just the type of content that we had to look at was, uh ... horrible. People didn't know what was OK and what wasn't because there was no precedent set. Nobody really knew. Like, is it OK to post porn on this free website that children are looking at? I don't know! We actually caught ourselves several times in public places talking about things that were totally normal to us, but realizing that it was not normal and it was actually really terrible and people did not want to hear that while they were eating their lunch. 

Levine: It wasn't just the [content moderators] that were conducting that review, it was everybody that was walking by them in this open office. I remember one time … these fancy executives from LA pulling up in their limousine coming up to our little tiny office and we're taking them through it and they walk right by these kids reviewing inappropriate content all over their screens. 

Ewing-Davis: There were a lot of conversations about things that were like, 'Do you think that this is OK?' 'I don't know, it makes me feel gross.' And that was kind of our judge, our judge was our gut. And then we saw more and more of it, and we were able to actually write policies around it and actually have a framework around what is OK and what is not. 

'It became obvious that we had a major problem'

Growth wasn't slowing down — in fact, views were rising at an exponential rate. YouTube's staff was stretched thin. 

Levine: What's hard to appreciate is how quickly we had grown beyond our capacity to manage the business. Our global data infrastructure was cracking, our bank account was dwindling, angry music company executives demanding hundreds of millions of dollars, partners banging doors down trying to get our attention. 

Ewing-Davis: We had a company lunch at, I want to say it was a sushi place. Almost half of us got food poisoning. Remember, there's no one else to do your job. At that time, it was just so scrappy and I just remember all of us kind of working together around the clock between being sick and working. I would be like, 'I've got to go now. Can someone please take over?' It was three days of working an hour or two here and there and sleeping, because our whole team got sick, except for the guy that worked overnight, thankfully, because he didn't come to the lunch. 

Lamond: It became obvious that we had a major problem. We were spending a lot of money, we had no income whatsoever. We were approached by people who wanted to advertise, but we had no idea how to do it. It would've taken a lot of time for us to learn, and money was disappearing. Expenses were growing exponentially because our growth was exponential.

Gideon Yu: There were lots of disputes about whether our product was violating copyrights or protected by the DMCA, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. There were a lot of very big copyright owners, namely some of the big recording studios, that were being very aggressive with us on what we should be paying them, on litigation threats and such. And because of those threats, it was very important for us to find some way to come up with a revenue-sharing, kind of payment plan that worked for all parties involved. 

Botha: The litigation around music was a very big risk for the company. It made Chad and Steve question whether it was worth soldiering on with the company. We didn't have the resources to keep on fighting.

'Is this real? Are we really doing this?'

YouTube's founders, CFO, investors, and board all agreed it was time to sell. YouTube had inbound interest from companies like Viacom and News Corp., but the real competition for YouTube was between two of the most powerful tech companies at the time: Yahoo and Google. A bidding war ensued, and Google won — on October 9, 2006, Google announced it was buying YouTube for $1.65 billion. 

Byrne: On the day of the acquisition, totally unrelated, we were scheduled to move our offices from San Mateo to San Bruno because we had outgrown this office above the pizza parlor. 

Levine: Months earlier, we had negotiated a lease for a new office. The move date had been scheduled for that weekend months earlier, way before we knew we were going to be selling ourselves, let alone that weekend.

Ewing-Davis: We were such a small company and we'd obviously hired movers, but we all came in wearing, you know, grubby clothes, planning on putting desks together and figuring out seating plans and stuff.

Byrne: We all show up in this new office for the very first day, we're all kind of getting our desks organized, and Larry [Page], Eric [Schmidt], and Sergey [Brin] walked in to announce the acquisition with Chad and Steve. So this completely surreal, shocking moment.

Liu: Up to that point, I thought it was just rumors, 'cause the rumors had started circulating for a while. Let's just say I was not of the pay grade where it was like, 'Yeah, this is happening.' Then they made the announcement, the entire world kind of seemed to freeze for a moment, and people started emailing me and attempting to call me. It was definitely quite a bit of a shock. 

Yu Pan: When the official announcement happened, it was my birthday. But I knew about that beforehand. I got a call that said like, 'Oh, we finished talks and we're fairly certain it will go through.' I usually take things with a grain of salt. I remember being more worried about the lawsuit stuff, about the copyright stuff and different ways to work around things. 

Donahue: I was in LA that day and I was meeting with Sony and I found out through Sony, through the guy I met with. I walked into the meeting with the guy and this guy kind of goes, 'So congratulations!' I was like, 'Oh yeah, well, thanks.' I acted like I knew. But you can imagine that whole meeting I couldn't concentrate. I think I first called Chad or somebody and said, 'Is this real? Are we really doing this?'

Ewing-Davis: We all went to TGI Friday's pretty early and, being in my early 20s, we all drank a lot that day. My mom thinks this is hilarious: I called my mom to tell her, 'cause I didn't want her to find out from the news, and I left her a voicemail at her job, and she kept the voicemail until she retired like four years ago. She kept the voicemail because she said I was so hilariously drunk screaming over the phone about how excited I was. So apparently I was very excited. 

Byrne: There's a video that we wrote on the spot, someone recorded on a camera, it was a message from Chad and Steve to the community. You can actually see the red and white of TGI Fridays in the background of the video.

Liu: We actually went to Yu Pan's house and there was a further celebration there. 

Yu Pan: It was fairly chill. People still drank a bit but nobody went, like, insane. 

Gideon Yu: I was dead tired. So my wife, Susie, and I went to eat at our favorite restaurant in San Francisco, which is called Michael Mina, in Union Square. I grew up very humble beginnings economically and one of the things that I always wanted when I was kid was whatever the new pair of Air Jordans was. And so we walked across Union Square and went over to Niketown and I bought the then-current Air Jordans for myself. 

Levine: I do remember calling my parents who I hadn't talked to in some time because I had just disappeared off the face of the earth. And I emerge after the agreement was announced and I called my parents who had already read about the sale in the press and I remember my mom just kvelling in her effusive manner: 'Honey, you've worked so hard! No one has worked harder. You deserve this!' and then I remember my dad chiming in, in all his wisdom, saying, 'Hold on, hold on, wait a minute. Honey,' he said to me, 'I love you dearly, I really do, but I want to be clear, no one deserves this.' And that observation just resonated with me, I think it kept me really grounded at that moment.

Join the conversation about this story »

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• The spread of the coronavirus is projected to impact millions of jobs worldwide.
• In just ten weeks, more than 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment insurance. The US unemployment rate spiked to 14.7% in April — the highest level since the Great Depression.
• The travel and hospitality industries have taken a significant hit. In addition to several airlines, major businesses like ride-share company Uber and Marriott, the world's largest hotel company, have both announced furloughs.
• Here's a roundup of the major companies who have announced downsizing their workforce due to coronavirus thus far.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Chevron, the second-largest oil producer in the US, announced that it will cut 10% to 15% of its 45,000 global workforce on May 27.

Source: Reuters

Boeing said it would lay off nearly 7,000 employees on May 27. The company initially announced that it would cut about 10% of its workforce on April 29. The company had 143,000 workers at the beginning of the year.

Source: Business Insider,Business Insider

IBM will eliminate "several thousand jobs" as of May 22, mainly in the company's technology-services division. Cuts come a month after new CEO Arvind Krishna withdrew IBM's financial outlook amid economic uncertainty caused by the pandemic.

Source: Business Insider

Weeks after ride-hailing giant Uber announced it is cutting 3,700 jobs (14% of its workforce), CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced on May 18 that he will cut 3,000 additional jobs and close 45 offices.

Source: Business Insider, WSJ

Airbnb announced it is laying off about 25% of its workforce, or 1,900 employees, on May 5. Its severance package includes several months' pay, a year of healthcare, and support finding a new job.

Source: Business Insider

Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic announced it would cut 3,150 jobs on May 5, in addition to retiring its iconic Boeing 747-700 planes a year early.

Source: Business Insider

In a leaked May 4 memo, United Airlines said it expects to lay off at least 30% or some 3,400 employees on its administrative staff on October 1.

Source: Business Insider, Chicago Tribune

Ride-hailing company Lyft is laying off 982 employees and furloughing another 288, accounting for 17% of the company's workforce. The company made the announcement on April 29 and added that other cost-cutting measures include pay cuts for executive leadership.

Source: Business Insider

On April 28, online travel company TripAdvisor announced it was laying off more than 900 of its employees, amounting to a quarter of its workforce.

Source: Business Insider

Hertz said it plans to lay off 10,000 employees on April 20. The car rental company previously employed 38,000 people.

Source: Reuters

On April 12, a union representing workers at Walt Disney World said the company will be furloughing 43,000 employees starting April 19. The amusement parks have been closed since March 16 and 200 essential workers will continue maintaining them.

Source: New York Times, Vox

On April 7, Tesla sent an email to employees saying it will furlough all nonessential workers until at least May 4, and reduce all employees' pay by at least 10%. These cost-cutting measures are expected to start April 13.

Source: Business Insider, CNBC

JCPenney has already started furloughing workers and confirmed it would continue to furlough a "significant portion" of its 85,000 employees as of April 5.

Source: JCPenney, Business Insider

On April 3, Under Armour announced that it will temporarily lay off about 6,700 employees starting April 12.

Source: Baltimore Sun

The Wing, a buzzy Instagram-ready women's coworking company, is laying off nearly all of its hourly employees and half of its corporate staff as of April 3, according to Vice. The company confirmed the layoffs but did not elaborate on numbers. Its founders are foregoing their salaries.

Source: Vice

ClassPass, the billion-dollar fitness platform, furloughed or laid off over half of its 700 employees on April 2 — 22% were laid off and 31% were furloughed.

Source: CNBC

On April 2, airplane manufacturer Boeing announced that it would offer a voluntary layoff plan to employees to cut costs. Those opting into the layoff plan will leave with a pay and benefits package, but the company offered no details about compensation.

Source: Business Insider

Famed auction house Sotheby's is furloughing 200 people — or 12% of its workforce —as of April 1, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Sephora laid off over 3,000 employees across the US via conference call on March 31. "It is our sincerest hope that we are able to bring these employees back on staff in the near future," Sephora said in a statement.

Source: Business Insider

Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette informed his staff via email that the company would be furloughing most of its 125,000 employees on March 30. The company only plans to have work for "the minimum number of employees necessary to maintain basic business operations" across Macy's, Bloomingdale's, and Bluemercury, Gennette wrote. He will stop receiving his salary, along with the rest of the board of directors.

Source: Business Insider,CNN

Bird, the buzzy electric scooter company, laid off 30% of its staff via a Zoom call on March 27. The call lasted only around 2 minutes.

Source: Business Insider

Everlane, the clothing retailer focused on ethical sourcing, laid off over 200 employees and furloughed 68 others on March 27. CEO Michael Preysman will reduce his salary to zero.

Source: Vice

ZipRecruiter laid off 443 employees and furloughed dozens more on March 27, days after CEO Ian Siegel said the billion-dollar online job-hub company was safe.

Source: Business Insider

Sonder, a billion-dollar apartment-rental startup billed as a hospitality industry disruptor, laid off or furloughed 400 people — one third of its workforce — on March 24, according to The Information.

Source: The Information

GE announced that it will be reducing approximately 10% of its aviation unit's workforce, amounting to about 2,500 employees, on March 23. It also announced a three month furlough impacting 50% of its maintenance and repair employees. GE CEO Larry Culp will forgo his salary for the rest of the year, while GE Aviation CEO David Joyce will give up half of his salary.

Source: GE,Wall Street Journal

According to the Washington Post, at least 200 workers across President Trump's hotels in Washington DC, New York City, and Las Vegas were laid off as of March 20. Other Trump properties, like Palm Beach's Mar-a-Lago, have temporarily closed.

Source: Washington Post, Business Insider

Air Canada announced it is set to lay off more than 5,100, or 50%, of its flight crew on March 19. Renee Smith-Valade, the airline's vice president, called the decision "difficult but necessary" in a statement.

Source: CBC

Cirque du Soleil announced it is laying off 95% of its 4,679 person staff on March 19, a week after canceling all its upcoming performances. The circus producer kept 259 staffers to plan and sell tickets for future tours.

Source: Cirque du Soleil,Forbes

New York's Metropolitan Opera is the largest performing arts organization in the US by budget. On March 19, the Met laid off all of its union employees for the duration of the coronavirus outbreak. The Met also announced the cancellation of all performances through the end of the 2019-2020 season, which was set to end May 9.

Source: NPR

Famous restaurateur Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, which owns beloved NYC staples like Gramercy Tavern, laid off 2,000 employees, or 80% of its workforce, on March 18.

Source: Business Insider

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, which owns over 50 hotels in the US including the W in Los Angeles, laid off 50% of its 8,000 employees on March 17. CEO Jon Bortz also told the Los Angeles Times that the company may need to lay off an additional 2,000 employees by the end of the month.

Source: Los Angeles Times

Marriott International, the world's largest hotel company, said it has started to furlough what could amount to tens of thousands of employees on March 17. Furloughs, as opposed to layoffs, occur when employees are required to take an unpaid leave of absence. Arne Sorenson, the president and CEO, announced that his own salary will be suspended for the rest of the year and senior executives' salaries will be reduced by 50%.

Source: Wall Street Journal, Business Insider,Business Insider

Norwegian Airlines announced the temporary layoff of 90% of its workforce on March 16, amounting to 7,300 employees. The airline also canceled 85% of its flights.

Source: Reuters

Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) announced that it would temporarily lay off 10,000 employees — 90% of its staff — on March 15. SAS also halted the majority of its flights and is operating with limited service.

Source: Forbes

• Avenues: The World School, an elite private school with campuses in New York City, Brazil, and China, is opening a location in the Hamptons, the school confirmed to Business Insider.
• Avenues Studio Hamptons will have a small physical hub for group work and events, but all classes will be taught online. 
• Annual tuition will be $48,000, and each student gets a MacBook and an iPad.
• Students at the school's original campus in Manhattan have reportedly included the children of hedge-fund managers and entrepreneurs, tech millionaires, and celebrities.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Avenues: The World School, an ultra-exclusive private school, is opening a location in the Hamptons, the affluent vacation destination for New York's elite.

The new location will be in addition to the school's existing campuses in New York City; Sao Paolo, Brazil; and Shenzhen, China.

Starting in August 2020, Avenues Studio Hamptons will offer a "flex experience": it will have a physical hub in the Hamptons for events, meetings with mentors, and group project work, but all classes will be taught online and students can be based anywhere in the world.

The annual tuition will be $48,000— about 15% less than tuition at the school's New York City location, where tuition is $56,400 per year. 

Throughout the pandemic, New Yorkers have been fleeing the city to the Hamptons, causing skyrocketing demand for rentals. Many of those families are looking to stay long-term and enroll their children in schools in the Hamptons, where there's room to play outside safely and they won't have to take a crowded subway to school, as Leslie Brody reported for The Wall Street Journal.

Tara Powers, Avenues' global director of communications, told Business Insider that "a growing number of parents and students want options and flexibility when it comes to schooling, which is what prompted the creation of our Studio model as these plans were being developed prior to the pandemic."

An ultra-exclusive school for the children of the elite

Students at Avenues' original location in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood are the children of hedge-fund managers and entrepreneurs, tech millionaires, and celebrities. Suri Cruise, the daughter of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, reportedly attended the school. 

Avenues is highly selective. David Buckwald, the school's admissions director, told Business Insider last year that while the school doesn't publicize its admissions rate, it receives many more applications than it can accept.

Those who manage to get in are given MacBooks and iPads, take yoga and dance classes, and graduate fluent in either Mandarin or Spanish.

The New York campus was the first to open in 2012, but Avenues plans to build campuses in at least 20 cities in the next decade, including Abu Dhabi, Beijing, Dubai, Hong Kong, London, Miami, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Singapore — and now, the Hamptons.

Avenues Studio Hamptons: 'small by design' and full of NYC kids

While the exact location of Avenues Studio Hamptons' physical hub is yet to be determined, the school has already gotten more than 100 inquiries from interested families, according to Powers.

About 90% of interest has come from families based in New York City who have a second home in the Hamptons or a neighboring township such as Watermill, she said. The other 10% has been from families who live full-time in the Hamptons, mainly from Sag Harbor.

The school is searching for a space with at least 3,500 square feet, Powers told Business Insider. The studio will be "small by design," only serving a maximum of 150 students at a time, per the website.

The school has not yet announced any coronavirus-related safety measures it will be taking when it opens in August, but Powers said the school's health and safety standards "will always meet or exceed external requirements" and that the school will look to practices put in place by schools reopening around the world.

Some countries that have started reopening schools, including Israel, Japan, Denmark, and China, have implemented precautionary measures like mandatory temperature checks, holding classes outside, and spacing desks and tables apart. 

At Avenues Studio Hamptons, a student's typical Monday-through-Thursday schedule will comprise two hours per day in online classes, two to four hours per day on course work, and one hour on community-centered learning, per the school's website. Fridays will be dedicated to individual courses of study.

Powers told Business Insider that Avenues expects this flex experience to become the norm throughout the pandemic.

However, Avenues does not plan to permanently turn its full-scale campuses into flex models, but will operate multiple models at its locations around the globe, she added.

A completely virtual application process

At Avenues' Manhattan location, where students range from nursery level to 12th grade, the admissions process involves supervised playgroups for younger children to see how well they follow directions and make transitions, and collaborative design challenges for middle-school aged kids. For high school students, there's a standardized test followed by a 20-30 minute in-person interview.

At Avenues Studio Hamptons, the entire process is virtual, and students entering grades five through 11 anywhere in the world are eligible to apply.

The application process has three steps. First, the student fills out an online application and creates a video of themselves completing a challenge given by the school. Next, the student will receive feedback from the school with the option of recreating the video if it doesn't meet requirements. The final step is a one-hour video interview. 

Avenues Studio Hamptons' $48,000 tuition includes a MacBook Air, iPad, and Pencil, as well as all materials, books, software, and service subscriptions for each student. 

The school is offering discounted tuition for families that make less than $320,000 and owns assets valued at less than $1 million. For a family with a household income of $50,000, tuition could be as low as $7,500 per year.

SEE ALSO: Inside an exclusive, $56,000-a-year NYC private school, where Wall Street execs and tech millionaires send their kids and every student gets a MacBook and an iPad

DON'T MISS: The admissions director of an exclusive, $56,000-per-year private school in NYC explains exactly what it takes for students from pre-K to high school to get accepted

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Tax Day is now July 15 — this is what it's like to do your own taxes for the very first time

• Back in 2016, photographer Jacqui Kenny logged into Google Street View from her home in London, and she spent the next several years traveling virtually — sometimes for 18 hours a day.
• Kenny has agoraphobia, which is an extreme or irrational fear of entering open or crowded places or being in places from which escape is difficult. Her condition has made long-distance travel difficult.
• Fast forward to today: Kenny has visited almost every country mapped on Google Street View and taken 40,000 screenshots along the way.
• Kenny posts her images of remote towns and Google cars kicking up dust to her 128,000 followers on Instagram as the Agoraphobic Traveler.
• Business Insider caught up with Kenny to learn about her virtual journeys, her favorite places to photograph, and her tips for virtual travel in the age of social distancing.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Ten years ago, photographer Jacqui Kenny was diagnosed with agoraphobia. Her condition makes traveling long distances on planes, trains, and buses difficult.

Kenny, now in her 40s, has lived with agoraphobia since her early 20s. In the years following her diagnosis, she said she found her world shrinking.

"I didn't really want to go out that much," she told Business Insider. "I found myself in the situation where I needed to find some way to stay connected with the world."

One day in 2016, she sat down at her computer in London and opened up Google Street View. That's when her world changed.

"I felt like I had so much more control in this world than I did in the real world at that point," she told Business Insider. "I could parachute into these countries with no fear of panic attacks, no fear of anxiety, no flying."

For the next two-and-half to three years, she became a full-time visual traveler. Kenny would open up Street View daily to travel to far-flung corners of the earth, sometimes for as many as 18 hours at a time.

When Jacqui found an image she liked, she took a screenshot and began posting her "Street View portraits" on Instagram under the name the Agoraphobic Traveler.

Jacqui estimates that she's traveled to almost every country mapped on Google Street View and taken 40,000 images.

Today, Kenny isn't on Street View as often as she used to be. "I got to a point where I felt I got all that I needed from the project," she told Business Insider.

Instead, she's working on a book of her work scheduled to launch early next year and has been combing through her archive of images.

Rediscovering old images has been an opportunity for Kenny to contemplate what the project meant to her.

"So many of the images I took were a reflection of what I was going through at the time," she said. "They feel quite isolated, but the colors are hopeful."

When Kenny first started traveling on Street View, everything was new and exciting, from a dog chasing to a cat to kids playing football.

Over time, she found that she was drawn to visual symbols of resilience like remote desert towns, cacti, and palm trees.

Mongolia, Senegal, Peru, Chile, Arizona, and New Mexico are among her favorite places to visit, with Mongolia topping the list.

Kenny discovered Mongolia early on her project and was drawn to how different it was from her life in London. She loves its mix of traditional and modern architecture, rolling landscapes, herds of wild horses, and light.

Over the course of her project, Kenny also realized she didn't have to travel to far-flung places to be happy and learned to appreciate her neighborhood in London more. "It was a great time to actually look around at what's close to me," she said.

Kenny used to recommend places to visit on Street View, but now encourages people to just pick a place and dive in, since everyone notices and appreciates different details.

She recommends the website mapcrunch.com, which drops users in random locations on Street View.

Kenny also stressed the importance of connecting with others during the pandemic.

"What we're going through at the moment is different from my experience with agoraphobia, but there are still similarities like the frustration of not connecting with the world in a way that you want," she said.

Kenny's followers on Instagram have helped her feel that connection, recommending places around the world for her to virtually visit and sharing their own experiences with agoraphobia and mental health. "It makes me not feel that I'm so alone with it," she said.

• A new true-crime docuseries released Wednesday by Netflix recounts the investigation into the global "molestation pyramid scheme" run by disgraced financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
• The four-part series includes never-before-seen interviews with a former employee of Epstein, investigators from the Palm Beach Police Department, the novelist James Patterson, and several of Epstein's victims.
• Victims allege that Epstein sexually abused them as teenagers starting in 1996 and trafficked hundreds of girls and women across the globe for a decade.
• Epstein was awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors when he was found dead by apparent suicide in a Manhattan jail on August 10.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

For the more than a dozen women who publicly accused disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein of running a global sex trafficking ring, speaking at a 2019 hearing where the charges against Epstein were dismissed after his death was the closest they got to a day in court.

In "Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich," a new docuseries on Netflix, the survivors found another way to enter their stories into the public record. Using video footage of survivors' original statements and interrogations of Epstein himself, interviews with detectives and journalists, news report, and home videos, the four-part series paints a compelling picture of how the former financier managed to escape justice while running what one Palm Beach detective called a "molestation pyramid scheme" for a decade.

'Filthy Rich' shifts the spotlight from Epstein's wealth and contacts onto the survivors themselves

The first part of the docuseries opens with the stories of Maria and Annie Farmer, sisters who reported being abused by Epstein to the FBI in 1996 — nearly a decade before the Palm Beach Police Department opened the investigation that ended with former Secretary of Labor Alex Acosta's controversial plea deal.

The documentary is largely narrated by the victims themselves, with interjections from journalists and members of the Palm Beach Police Department who investigated Epstein. The novelist James Patterson — an executive producer of the series who is introduced as a neighbor of Epstein's but says he didn't know the sex offender personally — also makes an appearance.

Epstein's backstory and personal connections aren't introduced until the second episode, though the victims interviewed suggest that those connections became the focal point of the media's attention.

"It went from being a harrowing story about trafficking and abuse to completely [about] Prince Andrew," said Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of the survivors prominently featured in "Filthy Rich." "I wasn't Prince Andrew's prostitute, because I was trafficked to him and I was a kid." 

That's not to say that the documentary doesn't highlight Epstein's network of powerful friends and acquaintances. It includes interviews with a former employee of Epstein's who said that he saw the late sex offender chatting with former President Bill Clinton on the multimillionaire's private island off the coast of St. Thomas and witnessed Prince Andrew molesting a then-teenage Giuffre by the pool.

Both Clinton and Buckingham Palace denied those allegations in statements to the filmmakers. Clinton previously said through a spokesperson in July 2019 that though he previously traveled with Epstein, he hadn't spoken to the registered sex offender in "well over a decade" and that Clinton "knows nothing about the terrible crimes." In "Filthy Rich," Giuffre said she never saw Clinton take part in any of the abuse.

The docuseries emphasizes the claim that 'Epstein did not act alone'

The bulk of the series recounts the Palm Beach Police Department's 2006 investigation into Epstein. In a series of interviews, victims recall being abused by other men at the behest of Epstein and his associate British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. (Maxwell has denied any participation in or knowledge of Epstein's alleged crimes. No charges have been filed against her.)

In "Filthy Rich," Giuffre named OJ Simpson defense attorney Alan Dershowitz and Prince Andrew as two of the men she was trafficked to. Dershowitz denied Giuffre's allegations during an appearance in the film, while Buckingham Place "emphatically denied" that Prince Andrew ever had sexual contact with Giuffre in a statement to filmmakers. 

In one of the most tense moments of the series, Dershowitz jabs his finger and shouts into the camera, challenging Giuffre to publicly accuse him of abusing her and claiming that she never has. In the next scene, she does.

Lawyers for the victims also allege that Epstein used a network of women, including Maxwell, to recruit new children for the trafficking ring, even paying some victims $200 to recruit other underage girls to give him massages that devolved into abuse.

"Epstein did not act alone, so my next step is holding other people accountable," Giuffre said in the last moments of the series. "The people that were involved. The people that participated. There are so many of them out there. None of them have been held accountable. We were kids being trafficking under their eyes, under their nose. They knew exactly what was going on, and they didn't say anything about it."

"Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich" is rated TV-MA for depictions of suicide, sexual violence, and language. The entire four-part series is now streaming on Netflix.

SEE ALSO: Jeffrey Epstein made $200 million in 5 years after he registered as a sex offender. Here's how the mysterious financier made his fortune.

DON'T MISS: Les Wexner just stepped down as the CEO of L Brands amid fury over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Here are all the famous people Epstein was connected to.

Join the conversation about this story »

• Taking on a fixer-upper is a big project, but attempting to restore an abandoned, historic mansion is an even bigger undertaking.
• However, the rewards of restoring a cheap, old house to its former glory are priceless.
• These huge, abandoned historic homes date back to at least 1850 and are priced as low as $1,000.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Fixer-uppers are all the rage right now.

While restoring a century-old abandoned mansion is an undeniably huge undertaking, the rewards of living in a historic home could make the work well worth it.

Here are five abandoned historic homes for sale that you can buy right now.

SEE ALSO: 2 empty-nesters bought an abandoned farm in Pennsylvania for $220,000, and they've spent nearly 2 years and $150,000 renovating it. Here's what it looks like now.

Located in the quaint town of Milton, North Carolina, the Gordon-Brandon House was possibly built circa 1850 by a local saloon owner.

In the early 19th century, residents flocked to Milton, many of whom were artisans and other craftsmen. 

Among them was a renowned cabinetmaker and builder named Thomas Day, who owned a thriving local business and heavily influenced design trends in the region.

Today, the condition of the home is far worse.

Described as "a modest-scale raised Greek Revival cottage," the home's front features a two-story, three-bay wide porch supported by four large beaded posts on the lower level and more ornate posts on the upper level.

The home was purchased in 1950 by Hunter and Annie Brandon.

Annie Brandon was a teacher, while Hunter Brandon owned a Tire & Grill nearby.

After being purchased by an absentee owner in 2000, the house suffered years of neglect.

However, much of the old-world charm of the home remains, from the arched details over this doorway to the turrets over the front windows.

The stairway is not as grand as it once was.

However, a lot of the original structure is still intact.

Now the home is looking for a new owner to restore it to its former glory.

After a preservationist purchased the house years down the line, they turned to Preservation North Carolina for assistance finding a buyer.

The Gordon-Brandon House is currently being listed for $32,500.

According to the home's listing, needed repairs include parts of the roof, new electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems, removal of recent wood paneling and ceiling tiles, repair and replacement of damaged plaster, and some structural repair.

The home, which covers 1,968 square feet and sits on 1.7 acres of land, also needs some masonry work, new bathrooms, and a kitchen.

Located in Syracuse, New York, this abandoned Victorian-style home has a number of opulent, beautiful details.

The home was built in 1890, and while this three-bedroom home may only be going for $1,000, the listing states that this fixer-upper will require approximately $200,000 in renovations.

Inside, you can find rounded rooms and features like this ornate ceiling.

The house has two floors and takes up 2,056 square feet. On the first floor, you'll find a small bedroom, a formal dining room, a formal living parlor with plastered ceilings, and an entry parlor.

The house can either act as a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home, or as two separate apartments.

On the upper floor, you can find two bedrooms as well as a living room.

Details like this plaster ceiling are in need of repair.

Grand, ornate touches still remain.

Other rooms feature intricate ceilings like this one.

The home also includes some historic pocket doors and other design elements that harken back to its roots in the late 19th century.

However, some parts of the home are in worse shape than others.

According to the listing, the house has suffered major water damage and major foundation reconstruction is needed.

The Talley House in Danville, Virginia, is a Queen Anne Victorian home featuring turrets, carved doors, and a front porch.

The house was built in 1890 by May Talley, which was unusual for a woman of that era. Considered one of the Old West End's most architecturally significant houses, the home is now in serious need of rehabilitation back to its former grandeur.

The house was owned by multiple owners and families up until 1984.

Since then, the house has remained empty and fallen into disrepair.

The home also has outdoor space to soak up the Virginia sun.

The house is located in the Old West End National Historic District, where visitors can find a number of Victorian and Edwardian homes.

The home is currently listed for $46,000.

Located at 126 Chestnut Street, this home is looking for an owner wanting to restore a classic, Southern Victorian mansion back to its former glory.

The Talley House is currently undergoing exterior stabilization and rehabilitation, and will hopefully be ready for new owners soon.

The porch has been rebuilt, the siding and roof of the house have been repaired, and the home has also gotten new exterior paint. However, much of the inside has been left untouched.

The inside of the house needs some serious work.

The Talley House features multiple fireplaces.

Underneath planks of wood, future owners will find gorgeous historic fireplaces like this one.

Though much of the interior architecture has been stripped away, some details like fireplaces, wooden banisters, and arched windows remain.

The house is a single-family home and sits on a 6,098-square-foot lot.

The home is also located right around the corner Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History.

The Lumpkin House is also located in Danville, Virginia.

The home is currently being listed for just $15,000 and is a two-bedroom, two-bathroom multiple-occupancy home.

The Lumpkin House has been occupied on-and-off since at least 1890.

According to Friends of the Old West End, the home was inhabited during that time by brothers George W. and Nathaniel W. Lumpkin, the sons of a local veterinarian who developed healing salves that claimed to cure everything from cuts and burns to eczema, hemorrhoids, and cancer.

The home has now lost much of its former glory, but details like this carved crown molding are still there.

The style of the home is described as Folk Victorian with Queen Anne details throughout.

The house is in need of work but hasn't totally fallen into disrepair.

Much of the interior structure is still intact.

The interior of the home still has much of its historic plan.

Hardwood floors and intact fire mantles make this historic home one of a kind, despite its abandoned state.

Other rooms need more work than others.

However, the end result of restoring this century-old home could be well worth it.

The James House, located in Danville, Virginia, dates back to at least 1891.

According to Friends of the Old West End, the house gets its name from Dr. John James, a medical practitioner who worked in Pittsylvania County before moving to Danville to pursue the tobacco trade.

He founded the James Tobacco company, which would eventually become the firm of Coles and James. 

The house now stands boarded up, abandoned, and empty.

According to the house's listing, this once-stately home covers 3,069 square feet and sits on a 6,048-square-foot lot. 

The interior is definitely not for the faint of heart.

The owners stated that the home is in such disrepair, it's not even safe to step inside without someone else around to call 911 in the worst scenario.

The home is being sold for $13,100, which is the current city tax value.

However, for potential owners not intimidated by a major fixer-upper, this abandoned home could be the restoration project of a lifetime.

• Read more:
• 14 haunting photos of abandoned palaces and castles around the world
• A Detroit man bought an abandoned house in the city for $2,100 and spent 9 months renovating it for his mom. Here's how he did it — and what it looks like now.
• 7 haunted houses that were once worth over $1 million
• 11 abandoned mansions around the world that likely used to be worth millions

• A 320-year-old Swedish village with a natural spring, spa, and hotel is accepting bids in the range of $7 million through May 31.
• Known as Sätra Brunn, the 70-building village is situated on 60 acres an hour and a half northwest of Stockholm.
• Sätra Brunn was founded as a wellness establishment in 1700 by a doctor who believed in the medicinal benefits of mineral water.
• It has been a wellness destination ever since, hosting locals and foreigners for getaways, weddings, conferences, and festivals.
• "Of the 10 or so similar health villages built in Sweden during the 18th century, Sätra Brunn is the only one to survive with its historical buildings still standing," a representative for Christie's International Real Estate told Business Insider.
• Here's a look inside the historic property.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

SEE ALSO: Photos of crowded cafés and parks show what life is like in Sweden, one of the only European countries not under strict lockdown during the coronavirus outbreak

NOW READ: A 100-year-old castle just an hour outside Manhattan is for sale. Here's a look inside the historic home that's surprisingly affordable — for a castle.

A 320-year-old Swedish village is up for sale, accepting bids in the range of $7 million USD.

Sätra Brunn is represented by Jonas Martinsson of Residence Fastighetsmäkleri, an affiliate of Christie's International Real Estate in Sweden. The guiding price is $6,951,893, with bids due by May 31.

"The village and all the real estate is registered as a limited company so there are no restrictions for foreign buyers," Martinsson said in statement.

Sixteen local entrepreneurs purchased Sätra Brunn in 2002 from Uppsala Academy, which had owned the village since the 1740s.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate

Known as Sätra Brunn, the village is situated on 60 acres of land an hour and a half northwest of Stockholm.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

Sätra Brunn dates back to the 1700s and is built around a natural spring. Its founder, a doctor named Samuel Skragge, believed that mineral water had medicinal benefits.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

Skragge purchased the land in 1700 and opened an establishment in 1701 that encouraged guests to drink spring water, participate in therapeutic plunge baths, and take walks in the woods.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

Sätra Brunn has been a wellness destination ever since and consists of 70 buildings, including a hotel, church, and spa.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

The oldest buildings on the property date back to the 1600s. Today, they are used as a café, flea market, and exhibition space.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

Many structures, like this hotel originally built in 1792, have been repurposed as short and long-term lodging for guests.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

Several lodging options are private residences that were bequeathed to the village and bear the names of their original owners. "The architecture of the village is a walk through time," Martinsson said.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate, Sätra Brunn 

The village's official hotel, Hotel Skogsgården, has 53 rooms with access to a dining room and kitchen. At the opposite end of the property is a restaurant with three dining rooms and a pub.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

Since 2015, Sätra Brunn has bottled water from its spring, one of only seven that have been awarded Sweden's highest purity distinction. The village also brews beer on site and produces its own champagne and snaps (a liquor, similar to schnapps, that is infused with a combination of spices, herbs, and fruits).

Source: Christie's International Real Estate, Punch Drink

The village bathhouse features a 50-foot pool, two fire-heated hot tubs ...

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

... six treatment rooms, and a steam sauna.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

The church, finished in 1866, is a popular wedding venue.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

The building is in its original condition, hosts weekly masses ...

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

... and has a pipe organ dating back 1867.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

Over 6,000 people visit the village for midsummer concerts and annual Christmas and New Year's celebrations.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

The village is also a popular destination for conferences, hosting 3,600 attendees each year. This home, built in 1903, consists of different meeting rooms and can accommodate up to 120 people.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

A representative for Christie's International Real Estate called Sätra Brunn a "rare" listing. "Whole villages rarely if ever come onto the market, often companies or trusts will buy land to develop up functioning villages," he said.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

Pontus Kopparberg, CEO of Residence Fastighetsmäkleri, told Business Insider that the Swedish housing market has only been somewhat affected by COVID-19. "Prices have fallen about 2% in 2019, and sales are only slightly below the corresponding period in 2019," he said.

Kopparberg attributes this in part to measures implemented by Swedish authorities. "The central bank actively buys mortgage bonds, and the requirement for borrowers to repay a certain amount has been removed. This combined with an actual interest rate after tax of about 1% supports the market," he said.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate 

Compared to other countries in Europe and around the world, Sweden has taken a relaxed approach to curbing the spread of the coronavirus. Whereas residents of France and Spain faced fines if they left the house for the wrong reason in April, Swedes were free to sip cocktails at cafés and eat out at restaurants as long as they observed social distancing guidelines.

Source: Business Insider

Because of Sweden's approach, real estate agents have continued to work during the pandemic, but have nixed large open houses, Kopparberg said. He added that demand for holiday homes is "very strong" since Swedes have been unable to travel to holiday homes in places like Spain and France, which are only now emerging from their strict lockdowns.

Source: Christie's International Real Estate

• Kylie Jenner is no longer a billionaire, according to Forbes. 
• Forbes reported that Jenner's previous claims about her wealth and her company, Kylie Cosmetics, were exaggerated. 
• Jenner is worth just under $900 million, according to Forbes' latest calculation. 
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Kylie Jenner is no longer a billionaire, according to Forbes. 

Jenner, now 22, was named last year by Forbes as "The Youngest Self-Made Billionaire Ever." Jenner had made millions from her company, Kylie Cosmetics, which she later sold a 51% stake to the beauty company Coty in a deal that valued her company at $1.2 billion. 

But, Forbes' Chase Peterson-Withorn and Madeline Berg reported this week that Jenner and her mother, Kris Jenner, inflated their wealth in documents they provided to the publication about Kylie's personal wealth and her company's revenue.

"It's clear that Kylie's camp has been lying," Forbes reported. 

Forbes said the Jenners have previously invited the publication into their homes and accountants' offices, and provided Forbes with tax returns "that were likely forged." 

The magazine compared the Jenners' maneuvers to those of Donald Trump, writing, "The unusual lengths to which the Jenners have been willing to go... reveals just how desperate some of the ultra-rich are to look even richer." 

Her wealth is likely closer to just under $900 million, according to Forbes' estimate. The median household net worth in the United States is around $97,300. 

Business Insider has reached out to a representative for Kylie for comment on the report, but the Jenners declined to comment to Forbes about the matter. Coty did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Among a list of discrepancies, Forbes said the Jenners had previously told them Kylie's cosmetics company had $360 million in sales in 2018, but a Coty presentation showed revenues were actually closer to $125 million that year. 

In addition to the adjusted estimates for Kylie Cosmetics' revenues, Forbes accounted for the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on cosmetics companies, as Kylie still owns part of the company. 

Kylie and Forbes had drawn scrutiny after she was named a "self-made" billionaire, as critics said she was born into wealth.

Read the Forbes' full story on Kylie here. 

Join the conversation about this story »

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• Paula Madrid is a clinical and forensic psychologist who specializes in trauma; she's assisted in a variety of disaster response efforts and is adjunct faculty at Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness.
• But none of those prepared her for what she's currently witnessing — her clinical practice has transformed overnight.
• She said that she sees "clear signs of grief, anxiety, traumatic responses, and what, in psychology, we call compassion fatigue or secondary trauma."
• It's imperative to pool all available resources to provide mental health support to these healthcare workers.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As a clinical and forensic psychologist specializing in trauma, I have a passion for serving those in need. I must admit, I have always felt energized by the call of duty both in the midst and aftermath of disaster situations. Having spent the past 20 years answering the call to engage in what many might lightly label "tough work" — responding to the terrorist events of 9/11, working in the Houston Astrodome in the days post-Katrina and for the Gulf over the next two years, arriving in Haiti three days after the earthquake, among many other disaster response efforts —  I thought it reasonable to assume such experiences would prepare me for just about anything. I was wrong. The sheer levels of trauma, grief, helplessness, and fear for the future to which I currently bear witness are of incomprehensible magnitude, with little relief in sight. 

In the interest of maintaining safe and appropriate physical distance, licensed mental health professionals can provide support over telephone or through services like Zoom. Such circumstances are unprecedented, but the precautions are sound and these tools have made our job of helping those in need somewhat easier.  

In the last few days, my clinical practice has transformed into a night-shift psych-support service. I have been providing services to hospital executives and clinicians seeking support and guidance — most are eager for a chance to process the devastating reality they experience on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic in NYC and Boston. 

In this time I have heard regularly from hospital workers, their employers, and sometimes their families. Each night I hear stories about brave and caring professionals sent to war without armor but with their heads held high. My patients trained to administer treatment to those in need understand that "this one is on us," and remain committed to their mission. 

One experienced physician sobbed while revealing that he has seen more deaths this past week than in his last 20 years of practice. He confided that the faces of deceased patients never leave his mind. A young nurse disclosed that countless patients die alone, without anyone by their side, and she has been struggling of late with unrelenting nightmares. A chief resident admitted to having frequent panic attacks, rushing to the bathroom at least twice a day in order to cope. Several medical professionals shared that they are using more alcohol than ever in order to self-soothe, fall asleep, or find "a moment's peace." 

As a professional, I have developed a keen ability to sense pain and fear, even when masked by duty.

I am comfortable with tears and painful silences as well as with expressions of hopelessness. I am intent and committed as ever to working with patients on solutions to their quandaries and distressing symptoms. And yet, these are different times. The grueling 17-hour shifts, lack of adequate protective equipment, and unprecedented casualties take a severe toll on practitioners' welfare. They are overwhelmed by the abounding confusion and sense of uncertainty over what's to come. 

Whereas during "normal" times physicians are able to return home to their families, to find comfort in loved ones' embraces, or even have basic access to the critical equipment they require, such luxuries are wholly absent from their new reality. Health care providers are experiencing extreme trepidation both in and out of work over fear of spreading the virus. At work, they share, they are told that by the end of the first week of April, they will have exhausted the supplies and machines necessary to manage the expected surge of patients. Upon assessment, their emotions range from flat and numb to outright hysterical — from being petrified to feeling empowered, knowing the world depends on them. Not unlike the most heroic soldiers, they are willing to march on and do their best, at whatever cost.

As mental health professionals, we know that in the wake of trauma, those directly exposed to the stressor are the ones who experience the most critical long-term impact. How then can we quantify and make sense of the experience of physicians, nurses, and their support staff in the wake of countless daily exposures?

It is not particularly helpful to pathologize these dedicated practitioners' experiences, because they are normal responses in times of utmost distress. An official diagnosis of PTSD warrants a lengthier timeline. However, I see clear signs of grief, anxiety, traumatic responses, and what, in psychology, we call compassion fatigue or secondary trauma. The latter is characterized by emotional and physical exhaustion resulting from overexposure to stressors, or what, in simpler words, is described as "the negative cost of caring." These personnel have witnessed such abundance of trauma or chaos as to render them at other times unfeeling or desensitized as a means of self preservation.  

In the absence of common coping methods — spending time with friends, dining out, exercise, a weekend away, and, most importantly, up close and personal time with families — our heroes will suffer greater reliance on their own resiliency and on specialized mental health providers able to offer support and expertise. Additionally, our community's response, validation, and support play critical roles in mitigating traumatic responses.

For countless families, and indeed society at large, the road back to "normalcy" will be unpaved and at times have a steep incline.

For professionals on the frontlines of this crisis, horrors will continue to mount and exposure to the most dire of circumstances simply cannot be avoided. However, it is paramount to note that during a time of such unprecedented upheaval, we are not without a sense of hope. The force of human resiliency is unmatched, and many are able to resume healthy patterns of daily functioning, even in the face of severe trauma or adversity. It remains true that many who encounter such trauma report what is called post-traumatic growth when they receive proper support. That is experiencing greater psychological resiliency after dealing with adversity. 

It is critical that our government and society at large be alerted to the new realities and made fully aware of the mental health crisis already well in progress. The gravity of this moment cannot be overstated, nor can its toll on our health care professionals be overestimated. All resources must be pooled to serve those who, in this time of unparalleled devastation, serve us so devotedly.

SEE ALSO: I'm an ER doctor who had to make tough decisions about which patients to treat on the battlefield in Iraq. I'm worried US physicians will soon face a similar situation.

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• When YouTube was starting out in the late 2000s, the first set of creators recording videos couldn't have known how big the platform would become.
• These YouTubers set the precedent for what it meant to be an online personality — no one could tell them that the path they were on could turn them into bonafide celebrities.
• Suddenly, online creators were having offline impacts, from the comfort of their own homes.
• Seven early YouTubers told Business Insider the first time they realized their work was being watched and noticed by viewers around the world.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Judson Laipply, 'Evolution of Dance'

I had no idea what a viral video was. Two weeks [after I uploaded 'Evolution of Dance'], I got a notification in my inbox someone had interacted with this YouTube video. I went and looked and I had 19,000 views on my video. A couple days later, 30,000 people had watched. I remember thinking, 'Maybe I'll get a gig out of this.'

Jumping from a quarter- to a half-million, I started getting emails from friends who were getting the video on newsletters, seeing it in their email. What really prompted the big moment of, 'This is something unique,' is I get a phone call from someone at YouTube. There's a voicemail: 'We got a call from the "Today" show, and they want to know if we could give them your contact information.'

It was about four weeks before it clicked and I was like, 'Oh, this is something different.' That's how I got to be the poster boy for YouTube for a couple of years. I honestly figured it would all die down in a year or two. I never thought that 14 years later, I would still be talking about it. I will always live on as the first.

Olga Kay

All the time I've been on YouTube, I knew I had fans. But I didn't understand what that meant until I went to a YouTube gathering. For the first time it clicked, 'Oh these people are actually real.'

By 2010, everywhere I went in Los Angeles, I would get recognized. Especially if I went to the mall, or places populated by teenagers. When you get recognized, it's a lot more personal. They've watched your whole life unfold. They ask very direct questions about your life. Sometimes they know more about me than I remember about my own life.

Peter Shukoff, known as Nice Peter, creator of 'Epic Rap Battles'

It was a comment that I got from Joe Penna [aka MysteryGuitarMan] on an early video that blew my mind wide open. I was a huge fan of his. He was a huge inspiration. It was like, 'Holy crap! Someone like MysteryGuitarMan can see your content.'

Mesh Flinders, co-creator of 'Lonelygirl15'

It happened pretty fast. Right away, it became apparent there was this debate about whether or not she was real. By July 4, I remember saying: We got something here, let's keep going. We knew we had a bigger audience than we ever expected.

[Lonelygirl15] certainly defined my career. It didn't open the kind of doors in filmmaking that I wanted it to, but it did open the doors in terms of advertising work. That's how I've supported myself for the last 15 years.

I would not have guessed at the time that we would be talking about her 15 years later. Because the platform was so new when we did what we did, people will always remember the early creators.

Bryony Matthewman, known as Paperlillies

One person once commented on a video of mine when I had around 35,000 subscribers. Someone said, 'That's how many people fit in White Hart Lane [the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club stadium].' I realized that's how many people subscribed and want to listen to my stupid stuff. There were so many people out there that care.

GloZell Green

I was in Costco one day, and this girl was following me. I was like, 'What's about to go down? Why is this girl following me?' Then she asked me for a picture. I realized, 'I need to pay attention to this YouTube thing.' I looked at the comments and was like, 'Wow, these are real people.'

I had a meetup at a yogurt shop. I walked up, and the line is wrapped around the corner with all different types of people. I was like, 'Who's here? Who are they waiting for?' Turns out it was me. This internet thing, kids who are on it don't care your political background, how fat you are, how black you are, how tall you are. If you are making them laugh, they like you. That's it.

It wasn't until I interviewed Barack Obama in the White House that my mama cared. Up until then, I was an embarrassment.

Brooke Brodack, also known as Brookers

For me, my work was out of love and it was personal. When people on the web started to share my work, strangely I had a lot of opposition to that. But pretty quickly, I got used to this new idea of sharing it with strangers online. It was unusual as me as an everyday, common person to be sharing my content.

In the very beginning, I was recognized out a lot. I had a huge ego at that time, and I think that's the biggest issue for people who become YouTubers who aren't ready: You feel like you're nobody, and now you're expected to be somebody. It's just something you have to get used to. At that time, I didn't want to be that way. I was acting. I was still shy and reserved. But it brought me out of my shell a lot. I was paving a new path, and I'm still doing that in a sense, 15 years later. YouTube is still a really big, important part of my life.

• Fifteen years ago, YouTube broke ground when it allowed internet users to upload and share videos in a more efficient way than ever before.
• YouTube quickly skyrocketed to become the most popular online video platform in the world. Now, more than 500 hours of content are uploaded to the platform every minute.
• Some videos, however, have had more of an impact than others. These clips went viral and were ingrained into internet culture, setting a precedent for both the immediate and long-term effects that online video could have.
• Business Insider has selected 17 YouTube videos that have been the most influential in shaping the platform.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Nike's Ronaldinho "Cross Bar" ad — October 2005

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A Nike ad featuring the Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho was the first video to rack up 1 million views on YouTube. In the ad, Ronaldinho puts on a golden pair of Nike's new Tiempo cleats, effortlessly hitting the crossbar again and again as the ball boomerangs right back to him each time. In a feat of marketing genius, Nike uploaded the video under the alias "JoeB," as if it was any other YouTube user instead of the multinational sneaker conglomerate. 

"We didn't even know exactly how it was being shared. All of the sudden, this two-minute video was getting more traffic than they were seeing with any other marketing video," YouTube cofounder Steve Chen told Business Insider. "We were just seeing a huge amount of traffic from that video, and that actually led us to go up to Oregon to visit Nike's headquarters. I remember walking through the office talking about the potential of YouTube."

"Lazy Sunday" from "Saturday Night Live" — December 2005

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The "Saturday Night Live" digital short "Lazy Sunday" features Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg rapping about cupcakes and "The Chronicles of Narnia." The iconic skit went viral after a random internet user posted it to YouTube. A few days later, NBC, sent YouTube a notice asking the platform to take down the clip, along with 500 others, or face legal consequences. YouTube complied, but the clip had already racked up over 5 million views, setting an early example of YouTube's potential for virality.

"Evolution of Dance" — April 2006

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Judson Laipply's "Evolution of Dance" routine — a compendium of dance moves through the ages he performed as a motivational speaker — became the first YouTube video to hit 100 million views. The video maintained its spot as the most-watched clip on YouTube for more than three years, solidifying Laipply's place as one the platform's earliest celebrities. At age 30, Laipply became the first "poster boy" for YouTube, he told Business Insider.

"I honestly figured it would all die down in a year or two," Laipply said. "I never thought that 14 years later, I would still be talking about it."

"Shoes" by Liam Kyle Sullivan — May 2006

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Liam Kyle Sullivan was not only the songwriter behind "Shoes," but was also the viral video's director, editor, and star (which wasn't uploaded in full to YouTube until February 2007). As an independent comedian without any backing or funding, Sullivan created a high-quality, music video. 

Sullivan helped pave the way for other creators to use YouTube as a launchpad for sketch comedy with high production value. He also led an entire generation of young people who forever will associate footwear with a bratty teen named Kelly.

OK Go's "Here it Goes Again" music video — July 2006

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After MTV had turned its focus from music to reality shows, musicians didn't really have a place for the videos that accompanied their singles. But OK Go — a relatively under-the-radar band without another hit song — put YouTube on the map as a new home for music videos. The band performed a synchronized dance routine on a series of treadmills, and filmed in one shot, which took 17 attempts to get right. The result is a intricately choreographed performance that won a couple Grammy Awards and became an early viral music video.

Blendtec's "Will it Blend?" series — October 2006

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Blender maker Blendtec has released dozens of YouTube videos since October 2006 showing the power of its products. But the company took a unique approach in creating its infomercials, choosing its lovable founder Tom Dickson to blend everything including iPhones, marbles, glow sticks, and Justin Bieber CDs.

Blendtec created one of the internet's earliest viral marketing campaigns — one that's still remembered today. Dickson said the company saw an immediate impact on sales and that the campaign established "Blendtec as the premier blender manufacturer."

"Potter Puppet Pals: The Mysterious Ticking Noise" — March 2007

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It could be a risky move to riff off a wildly popular series like "Harry Potter," but the team behind Potter Puppet Pals proved the payoff could be significant. In contrast to "Shoes," the Potter Puppet Pals showed that videos didn't have to have high-quality production or even star humans to be found funny by millions.

The team struck gold with in its live-action puppetry series with "The Mysterious Ticking Noise," a skit that had all the makings of a viral video: a catchy tune, intricately designed puppets, and a naked Dumbledore.

The original posting of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" music video — May 2007

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Rick Astley's song, "Never Gonna Give You Up," was released back in 1987, years away from resonating with the YouTube generation. But thanks to the timeless bait-and-switch prank of "Rickrolling," the bop — which made VH1's list of top 50 Awesomely Bad Songs— has taken on a new meaning among millenials.

The origins of Rickrolling aren't quite clear: Internet history tracker Know Your Meme credits its founding to a YouTuber who called into a radio station in 2006 and played the Astley song instead of talking. But 2008 seems to be when the internet meme garnered mainstream attention, after YouTube Rickrolled anyone who clicked on one of the featured videos on its homepage for an April Fool's joke.

"Charlie Bit My Finger" — May 2007

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There's nothing extraordinary about the 55-second-long video of a young British boy named Charlie biting the finger of his older, 3-year-old brother. But the sheer simplicity of the moment captured in "Charlie bit my finger — again" is likely what made it so popular. YouTube began as a depository for the world's videos, and the video of Charlie and Harry fit into that vision. A silly home video was posted on YouTube, where millions could laugh at and share it with others.

"Leave Britney Alone" — September 2007

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In its infancy, YouTube was home to creators who took advantage of the public platform to share intimate video diaries and personal stories that never had a place before. "Leave Britney Alone" was an early example of that, capturing Chris Crocker's emotional plea for the media to let Britney Spears be during a time when she was having a highly publicized breakdown.

The video has a more significant role in YouTube's history because of the backlash Crocker received from viewers. He's said he was "mocked" for his femininity, was the target of gay slurs, and was a victim of an early internet "public beating." The year 2007 was a less accepting time for the LGBTQ community, and Crocker suffered before the queer creators who came after him would thrive.

"Friday" by Rebecca Black — February 2011

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Rebecca Black was only 13 when her first single, "Friday," was released. The music video for the song accrued viral attention a month later, after it was shared by a prominent comedian on Twitter and by Comedy Central's Tosh.0. By the end of March, Black's music video was the most-disliked video on all of YouTube.

Despite all the hate and ridicule "Friday" received, it's hard to deny its impact. For months, and years, teens were singing the impossible-to-forget lyrics whenever the end of the week rolled around. In a way, "Friday" invented the hate-watch — most people only know of Black because of the song. 

The original "Friday" video was taken down a few months later in 2011, but Black's official channel uploaded its own copy to YouTube that September.

"Kony 2012" — March 2012

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No YouTube-first documentary had captured the attention of millions the way Invisible Children's "Kony 2012" did. The 28-minute film drew awareness to a little-known warlord named Joseph Kony, who was reported to have abducted more than 60,000 children in Uganda. The video gained immediate virality: It had 100 million views in just six days, trended on Twitter for days, and garnered support from celebrities, including charitable billionaire Bill Gates.

The "Kony 2012" documentary stands out in not just its popularity, but the real-world consequences. President Barak Obama dispatched US troops to Uganda to help hunt Kony, and the US government set aside funding for the effort. Invisible Children raised $32 million in the aftermath. But the nonprofit was also subject to criticism about its shady financial dealings, the founder's very public meltdown, its white savior complex, and whether the Kony situation was as serious as the video made it out to be.

Eventually, Invisible Children shut down in 2015. Kony was never captured, and US troops withdrew from Uganda in 2017.

"Gangnam Style" by Psy — July 2012

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This viral music video broke YouTube — literally.

Because of "Gangnam Style," YouTube was forced to raise its view count limit in 2014 from just under 2.15 billion to more than nine quintillion. It took less than six months for Psy's "Gangnam Style" video — an intricately produced, whimsical film that took 48 hours to film— to become the first YouTube clip to reach 1 billion views. The South Korean singer exemplified the global power of YouTube, and also previewed the global popularity of K-pop that would only expand in years to come.

PewDiePie's "Surgeon Simulator" Let's Play-style video — April 2013

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In the early 2010s, teens started coming to YouTube for a new kind of entertainment — watching others play video games. Quickly, video game developers took notice of the hype, sending gaming YouTubers versions of their newest games in the hopes they would play them and share them with their millions of subscribers.

These "Let's Play" videos fed into the popularity of mainstream successes like "Call of Duty" and "World of Warcraft," and brought back older games like "Minecraft." But gamers like Markiplier and PewDiePie also started recording themselves playing lesser known games, ones that had bizarre plots, sloppy controls and low quality. Among the first to catch on of these types of games — dubbed "YouTube bait" — was a game called "Surgeon Simulator." PewDiePie's Let's Play videos earned millions of views, and turned the quirky game into a success. 

Since then, "YouTube bait" games like "Goat Simulator," "I am Bread," and "Five Nights at Freddy's" have seen success. Let's Play content has become one of the most popular subsections of YouTube, turning creators into household names, and spawning a billion-dollar esports industry. PewDiePie is now the most popular solo YouTuber on the platform, and his influence on the sales of games he features on his channel has established a trend known as the "PewDiePie effect."

The "Baby Shark" song — June 2016

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The "Baby Shark" song has been around for years, but it only took on new widespread notoriety after an accompanying animated video was posted on YouTube by a South Korean educational brand called Pinkfong. To many adults, "Baby Shark" is a reprehensible earworm. But to a generation of young kids growing up on YouTube, the song represents the role the video platform has established in the heart of children's education and entertainment.

In the years since the viral video was published, children's content on YouTube had exploded, taking on big networks like Sesame Street, Disney, and Nickelodeon. YouTube debuted a platform in 2015 dedicated to kids' content called YouTube Kids, which now has more than eight million users a week. Young kids have turned into influencers, earning millions as stars of their own YouTube channels where they unbox toys, go on adventures, and perform skits. Suddenly, children's media has become more accessible, affordable, and widespread. 

PewDiePie's "Death to All Jews" — January 2017

Around 2016, in the wake of a contentious election that put tech companies under greater scrutiny, viewers started to cast more of a light on YouTube's offline influence. People started to put pressure on YouTube for the effects of its content and decisions, with some claiming that its recommendation engine highlighted extreme or polarizing videos.

With 104 million subscribers, Swedish creator PewDiePie — aka Felix Kjellberg — has held the title of most popular YouTuber since 2013. His wild and crude behavior has gained him a loyal following, but has also garnered backlash. In January 2017, PewDiePie posted a video featuring two men he had paid to hold up a sign, reading "Death to All Jews."

It was only his latest stint in a long history of racist and anti-Semitic rhetoric, but it cost him. In the fallout of a bombshell Wall Street Journal story, Disney cut its ties with PewDiePie. YouTube suspended an upcoming season of a show it was producing with him called "Scare PewDiePie," and removed him from its preferred advertising program.

This incident also had far-reaching implications in driving a discussion about what YouTubers should be able to say and present to their young audiences. After the incident, PewDiePie has not backed down from controversy, and he still is raking in brand deals and millions.

Logan Paul's "Suicide Forest" — December 2017

YouTube faced even more scrutiny at the end of 2017, when Logan Paul posted his infamous video showing a dead body in Japan's "suicide forest." YouTube punished Paul by removing him from the its monetization program (like it did with PewDiePie), but many critics didn't feel like that was enough. Like PewDiePie, Paul remains a big name on the platform today.

Paul's video piled onto what was already a bad year for YouTube, which had been slammed for not removing videos showing child exploitation, surfacing inappropriate videos on its Kids app, and restricting LGBTQ content. In a movement PewDiePie dubbed "The Adpocalypse," advertisers had dropped from YouTube in droves for fear their campaigns could appear next to controversial content.

YouTube had released a new set of advertiser-friendly content guidelines for creators, applying stricter criteria on what videos could be monetized. While YouTube's changes were designed to help brands, they frustrated creators, who saw the money made from their videos decrease dramatically.

In response to Paul's video, YouTube enacted a drastic policy change that put limits on which channels were eligible for its monetization program, restricting it to creators with more than 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 hours of watch time in the prior 12 months. 

Avery Hartmans contributed to the reporting for this story.

• NYC fine-dining establishment Le Bernardin closed its doors to customers after dinner on March 13.
• Eric Ripert, the chef and co-owner of the Michelin-starred restaurant, said the restaurant will "definitely" open back up by October at the latest.
• He predicts a slow opening with noticeable changes like a smaller staff and abbreviated menus.
• The restaurant industry is facing "an apocalypse" due to the coronavirus pandemic, and fine dining establishments are particularly at risk.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

On March 13, Michelin-starred restaurant Le Bernardin closed its doors after dinner as the pandemic spread across the US.

On the night of the closing, chef and co-owner Eric Ripert told Business Insider in a recent phone call, the restaurant employed 180 people.

The seafood restaurant, known as one of the best in the world and one of five NYC restaurants awarded a full three Michelin stars, was almost always at full capacity before the pandemic — 150 people — according to Ripert. "When we closed, things were not slow," he said.

Now, there are only four people in Le Bernardin's kitchen every day, and Ripert has eschewed takeout for charity. Every day, the skeleton staff whips up hundreds of meals for healthcare workers near the restaurant's Midtown Manhattan location in collaboration with World Central Kitchen, the Jose Andres-founded aid organization.

When asked about the restaurant's plans to reopen for regular dining service, Ripert said he's looking to the fall — "September or October at the latest."

"It's not going to be easy," he said, "but we are definitely reopening."

He noted there will be changes and limitations that will have to be addressed at the outset: how many diners can be in the restaurant, how many employees will be needed, how much space to put between tables, how to separate employees in the kitchen, and how to procure proper PPE for employees, for example.

However, one of the biggest changes Ripert forecasts is menu-related.

Expect to see abbreviated menus in high-end restaurants after the pandemic

Reopening will come with sacrifices, Ripert said, both in terms of menu size and staff size.

"We will probably have a smaller menu with less choice," Ripert said. A robust menu can only take shape with a complete staff.

"We're going to have to make some very big sacrifices at the beginning," Ripert added. "It would be foolish to think we would need the whole team for reopening."

Ripert predicts that menus could change as often as weekly, becoming even more seasonal. The change would allow the restaurant to only buy ingredients necessary to meet the restaurant's presumed minimized demand. The ingredients that are available at any given time will "basically dictate" dishes, Ripert noted.

Consider the restaurant's menu. There's caviar, tuna, and red snapper if you want your food served "almost raw"; scallops, sea trout, and lobster if you prefer your dish be "barely touched"; and Dover sole, monkfish, and halibut if you're looking for something "lightly cooked." And that's just a sampling of the restaurant's menu, where a three-course prix fixe runs for $93 and a four-course prix fixe is $165.

Those dishes, of course, are from the restaurant's pre-pandemic menu.

The chef has worked with one seafood vendor in Maine for years. Currently, that vendor only has 50% of the variety of seafood that he offers usually. That uncertainty makes it difficult to promise specialties like poached halibut, sautéed Dover sole, yellowfin tuna carpaccio, and striped bass tartare.

Le Bernardin will not 'become a bistro'

Ripert's outlook on the future of the industry over the next six months isn't exactly optimistic.

"I think we are going to suffer in the fall, definitely," he said. "Until the vaccine is efficient or we find a medication that works well with COVID-19, everything will be slow."

He also predicts a wave of closures in the industry. "Unfortunately, a lot of restaurants will not be able to reopen for many reasons," Ripert said, citing fine dining restaurants' slim profit margins. It's a prediction echoed by many experts: A UBS note from April, for example, predicted that one in five restaurants in the US could permanently close as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

When dining does open back up, Ripert predicts there's "going to be an evolution" — but that Le Bernardin will remain true to its core.

"Le Bernardin will remain fine dining," the chef said. "Of course, we're going to have to adapt — but Le Bernardin is not going to become a bistro when we reopen."

And while menus will change and seating layouts might look different, Ripert predicts that customers are still going to want the "special experience" of fine dining after the pandemic.

"It's the luxury of a dining room, the quality of service, the beauty of flowers — the details that make the experience different than just nurturing yourself," Ripert said. "It's supposed to be dreamy."

SEE ALSO: 5 major changes travelers can expect to see right away in hotels like Marriott, Hilton, and Wyndham as they open back up

DON'T MISS: The world's fanciest restaurants are becoming more accessible than ever thanks to the pandemic, but it's a trend that won't last

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