A police stop, a free hat, and a letter to GM's boss — here's the story of Warren Buffett's Cadillac upgrade

Warren Buffett.

Scott Olson / Getty Images

• Warren Buffett's upgrade of his trusty Cadillac in 2014 was a whole saga.
• It involved his daughter, a $122,000 auction, a police stop, and GM CEO Mary Barra.
• Here's the story of the investor's memorable car purchase.

Trading in a banger for a shiny new car is always exciting. But it's hard to top Warren Buffett, whose upgrade saga involved a frontwoman, a free hat, a $122,000 charity auction, a police stop, and GM CEO Mary Barra.

Buffett, who's driven a Cadillac for decades, only decided to replace his 2006 model after Barra visited him in his hometown of Omaha in May 2014.

The investor's Berkshire Hathaway had invested in GM in 2012. The conglomerate went on to build a 5% stake worth over $4 billion at its peak, but exited the position in the third quarter of 2023.

Barra told Buffett about all the new features he could get in a new car, and the investor was sold.

A Cadillac and a matching hat

The Berkshire CEO dispatched his daughter, Susie Buffett, to scope out a local Cadillac dealer. The saleswoman didn't know the car was for Warren Buffett until after the sale was made.

After enquiring about the driver's habits and lifestyle, the saleswoman steered her toward buying the roomier XTS, instead of the CTS that Barra had recommended. GM shared the story on its now-defunct FastLane blog; an archived copy can be accessed via the Wayback Machine here.

The auto giant also published a blog post sharing the point of view of the saleswoman, Madison Willers. She'd assumed Buffett's daughter was a secret shopper there to test her product knowledge, and was thrilled when she returned and revealed her father was the mystery buyer.

"Mr. Buffett requested that I personally deliver his XTS so that he could say hello after all the time that had passed," she continued.

Willers said she was "thrilled and humbled" that Buffett remembered her, and she'd "always been impressed by his kindness and humility."

When Willers dropped off the car, she brought a Cadillac hat to give the billionaire.

"He seemed just as excited about the hat as he was about the car, and I think that tells you all that you need to know about his personality," she joked.

Buffett's thank you letter

Buffett was so pleased by the whole experience that he penned a letter to Barra praising Willers for doing a "terrific job." He included a photo of him and Willers standing next to his new vehicle.

"Susie said that her dad's 'car-guy friend' (that's you) said he should buy a CTS, but Madison, then 23, said the XTS would be more appropriate," Buffett wrote to Barra.

"I think that reflects an evaluation on her part that from Susie's description I must be hopelessly over-the-hill (a unanimous view among my family.)"

"So I can now offer you a ride in a 2014 Cadillac the next time you visit," he added.

Saved by a signature

Buffett gifted his old Caddy to Girls Inc. of Omaha, one of his favorite charities. He autographed the vehicle, and Girls Inc. auctioned it off in February 2015. The winning bid exceeded $122,000, more than 10 times the car's market value.

The investing icon told the story at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting in 2017. He revealed the auction winner traveled to Omaha to collect the car and the keys from him, then started driving back to New York without license plates.

He was pulled over by the police in Illinois, and tried to explain the situation, Buffett recalled.

"And the cops were quite skeptical," he said. "But fortunately, I'd signed the dashboard for him as part of the deal, so they looked at that. And then they just said, 'Well, did he give you any stock tips?' And they let him go."

Buffett described the car's new owner as a "very nice guy."

"And, you know, his check cleared," he quipped. "So we were fine."

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/IxPNmhF

I owned the Fisker Ocean. It was a nightmare.

A Fisker Ocean owner recalled a nightmarish six months with the vehicle before he sold it.

Fisker

• Earlier this year, YouTuber Marques Brownlee said the Fisker Ocean was the "worst car I've ever reviewed."
• A former Fisker owner said he'd dealt with many of the same issues as Brownlee for months.
• Fisker has paused production of its EV and warned it faces the risk of a bankruptcy filing.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a former Fisker owner, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid backlash from the company but whose identity is known to Business Insider. A Fisker spokesperson told BI that the company monitors vehicle performance and customer feedback and has sent out multiple software updates, with a 2.0 update now rolling out. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I owned a Jaguar I-PACE for four years. So I was used to the electric vehicle experience. It drove well and I didn't have any issues with it, but I didn't feel Jaguar was really invested in it. They put out the car and there weren't a lot of updates to it after that, so I felt it was time to get a different EV.

I thought the Fisker Ocean was a great option, based on the price and a nice marketing message around the sustainability of the vehicle. I also thought their involvement with Magna and the way the business model was set up indicated that the vehicle quality was going to be good. I never looked at a Tesla because I was not a fan of Elon Musk and had concerns about their build quality at that time.

I was on the Fisker waitlist for about a year before I got the car. It was meant to be my daily driver, but that wasn't possible due to all the issues I had with it. It was a nightmare and I feel like Fisker's response has been horrible.

I got the vehicle at the beginning of October. From the second day of driving the car, I started having issues with the Advanced Driver-Assistant System (ADAS), a system designed to use sensors and cameras on the car to improve the safety of the vehicle and detect issues a human might miss. Multiple warnings would come up, such as regenerative braking, front collision, front cameras, side sensors, and daytime running lights being unavailable. I'd see a combination of any one of those when I was driving it.

I reported the ADAS issues to Fisker and I didn't feel they were very responsive. I emailed them at least nine different times about the issue and no one came out to fix it. A tech came out for a different issue and when I told him about it he said they'd fix the ADAS issues in a larger software update — that was last November and they said that for five months.

My car was stuck in my driveway for 9 days

In the six months that I owned my Fisker, it was serviced four times by a technician.

Getting a response when I reached out for service was difficult.

When my car was dead in my driveway, I reached out several times before they responded. I finally got them to come out by commenting on a public post on their Instagram account — that got a quick response.

About three or four weeks into owning it, Fisker did an over-the-air update. The morning after the update I could hear the alarm going off in the car. It went off for probably 30 minutes and then the 12-volt battery died.

I reported the issue to Fisker right away and I struggled to get them to come out and service it. They initially wouldn't tell me when they'd come out.

I eventually reached out to them on Instagram and the response was: "Your case has been escalated."

I told them: "The car is not drivable. It's stuck in my driveway." When the 12-volt dies, you can't even get into the car, you can't start it — you can't really do anything.

The 2023 Fisker Ocean.

Fisker

At first, Fisker sent out a roadside assistance guy to jump the car and the car wouldn't jump. The guy Fisker initially sent said he wasn't qualified to replace the battery, so the car was in my driveway for nine days before they got a technician out who could replace it.

That wasn't the only issue the technician fixed. He also replaced my seat sensor. It'd been getting to the point where almost every day I had to move around in the seat in order to get the sensor to register that I was sitting in it so I could get it to drive. I'd heard stories on Fiskerati of people getting stuck in drive-thrus or car washes because they'd put their Fisker Ocean into park and then when they'd try to pull forward it wouldn't register them in the seat.

Getting into the car was another issue. Fisker's key fob can be pretty finicky. You couldn't unlock or lock the car from certain angles or distances. I asked the tech who fixed my 12-volt battery and he said the best way to fix it was to just buy another key fob battery. That worked for me but it meant I had to buy a new battery for the fob about once a month.

I wanted to get rid of it before it could lose any more value

It felt like there was a deadline looming over my head for when I needed to get rid of the car, between YouTuber Marques Brownlee's review and reports of a possible bankruptcy.

In December, I got estimates from Carmax and Carvana. One was $58,000 and the other was about $60,000. I'd paid over $72,000 for the car only three months prior and I initially didn't want to take that much of a haircut.

In early March, I got estimates of $44,000 and $47,000. I was very concerned about the value of that car and what could happen to any type of service requests or if I ran into more problems going forward.

I feel like Fisker has really hosed their buyers. It felt like every step of the way they said things were going to get better with the next update, but it felt like delay after delay.

Eventually, my goal was to try to get rid of the car and sell it before its value could sink any further. I sold it for $48,000 later in March at about a $24,000 loss. My car had less than 1,800 miles on it at the time of the sale.

A Fisker spokesperson told Business Insider that "many of the issues noted have been resolved with the latest 2.0 software update that has rolled out to customer vehicles these past couple of weeks." The company said that the new update would address problems the owner experienced like the ADAS and key fob issues, and that past updates addressed issues related to the 12-volt battery dying and the car alarm going off.

The company declined to comment on the owner's issues with customer service, but said it has an "established escalation process" for its service process. "This is similar to what a customer of any vehicle brand would experience, as oftentimes vehicles cannot be fully serviced by mobile technicians," the spokesperson said.

Regarding the owner's seat-sensor issue, the Fisker spokesperson said the seat sensor was a "routine fix for some early vehicles."

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/JiYz5hA

I thought having my own office meant I'd 'arrived,' but it was depressing. Here's why open-plan office layouts are best.

Jennifer Moore said having her own office for the first time was depressing and soul-crushing.

Andrew_Rybalko/Getty Images.

• Jennifer Moore has worked in financial services, tech, and SaaS for 20 years. 
• During that time, she's worked in cubicles, open plan offices, and has had her own office spaces.
• The open plan concept is her winner due to the natural light and varying spaces for work. 

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Jennifer Moore, 43, from Salt Lake City, about her experience working in different office spaces. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I was a summer intern with a small desk in a hallway when my career began in 2003.

There was another intern who had her own cubicle with high walls that kind of looked like a mini office. I really loved my makeshift workspace, but I'll be honest — I was jealous. It was like I was an afterthought.

I've spent 10 years in financial services, where I worked in everything from high-walled cubicles to open office floor plans to eventually having my very own office. I also spent 10 years in B2B tech and software-as-a-service companies, where there's nothing but open office plans.

Cubicles are good for deep work and privacy, but they can be isolating

I've found that the true cube farm — with four high walls and a doorway — can be really helpful for deep work and conducting short one-on-ones.

I think privacy is another pro. In 2006, when I was working at Wells Fargo, I received an email telling me someone I was very close to in high school had died. I remember having a very loud reaction. My co-workers heard me but didn't necessarily see me burst into tears. It was a blessing to have a bit more privacy at that moment.

The cons of cubicles is that they were somewhat isolating. There was no sunlight. The executives and leaders all got these fantastic offices that had windows, so you could tell immediately who the head honchos were.

Moore liked the privacy of cubicles but also found them isolating.

Courtesy of Jennifer Moore.

Having my own office was depressing and soul-crushing

Having your own office is associated with prestige and privacy, but my first experience of this was horrible.

In 2015, I thought I had arrived. I had officially made it into product management at a financial services company and was given my very own office with a door. I had a furniture budget and everything, but I was absolutely miserable.

There was no natural light, only dim fluorescent lights, so I'd try to get out in the sunlight every day. There wasn't any foot traffic passing by my area because it was in a weird corner. It was isolating — I could go an entire day and not see or talk to a soul if I wanted to.

It was really depressing and soul-crushing.

One thing I would say is, at the time, I was doing some physical therapy, and it was really nice to be able to shut the door and close the shade on my tiny window so I could do stretches in complete privacy.

I learned that the overall workplace environment is more important to me than whether I had achieved having my own office.

You can say you believe in teamwork and collaboration but if you haven't designed an office space that encourages this, people are going to struggle to embrace it daily.

I think open-office plans are the clear winner, as they allow for different types of work

After I left my previous company in December 2023, I decided to focus full-time on my own consulting business.

Moore works on her own consulting business.

Courtesy of Jennifer Moore.

I work in a coworking space for a company I consult for. It has an open floor plan with several conference rooms, telephone booths, and seating areas.

I think open office plans are the clear winner in a modern workplace, but their weaknesses should be augmented by using aspects of cubicle design that allow for areas of privacy and for different types of work.

Managers still need privacy. In a place where I worked recently, an executive would regularly conduct all their one-on-ones in the open seating area, and several people commented how awkward it was to hear highly personal information being discussed on a daily basis.

In open-floor plans, you can find spaces for deep work, collaboration, and large and small meetings. They can have soundproof booths in a hallway for privacy. Cubicles take up so much real estate, making it hard to create these options.

Another pro of open floor plans is natural light. I've noticed that in newer buildings, everyone has access to sunlight, rather than just the senior and executive leaders in their offices.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/nakEoFz

I wanted to make quick money and travel the world — so I moved to Australia and became a FIFO worker

As an entry-level FIFO worker, Mcilwaine has around $80K USD before taxes so far this year, and gets a week off every month.

Cal Mcilwaine

• Cal Mcilwaine gets flown in to Pilbara, Australia to work 12-hour days for three weeks straight.
• So far he's made around $80K before taxes, has no living expenses on-site, and travels on his week off. 
• After a year of working, Mcilwaine plans to use the money he made to go on a 10-month trip.  

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Cal Mcilwaine, a 29-year-old FIFO worker in Australia. This essay has been edited for length and clarity. Insider verified his identity, employment, and salary.

I'm the lone wolf of my friend group.

Back in Ireland, all of my friends were getting married, buying houses, and having kids. I wanted to set off on an adventure and travel the world.

I started to research different career opportunities that would allow me to make good money that I could spend on travel. I always had an interest in visiting Australia and I had heard about mining jobs years ago.

I figured if I did that for a couple of months, I would have a piggy bank for traveling. So in June 2023, I left Ireland and moved to Perth, Australia to become a FIFO worker, which stands for "fly in, fly out."

Landing a FIFO job in a new country wasn't easy

FIFO is an industry that largely exists only in mining fields in Australia, Canada, and Alaska. Mining companies in Australia extract iron ore along with other minerals and send it to crushers and refineries. Then, it goes to Port Hedland, which is the main port in Australia, and cargo ships send it to China.

Me standing next to the service truck.

Cal McIiwaine

Australia is one of the most mineral-rich countries in the world, so there are a ton of mining projects and FIFO jobs available here.

But that doesn't mean it was easy to land one.

I found some YouTube videos about FIFO work, but there was no how-to guide on what to do if you want to enter the industry from a foreign country.

I had to come up with my own game plan, which included applying for a working Visa. I had no experience in mining and I had never driven a truck or bulldozer — I also didn't have a license in Australia. It wasn't going to be easy moving to another country and landing one of these jobs, but I was determined.

After arriving in Australia, I spent about three days exploring tourist sites before I turned to the job hunt process. In Australia, you need to get tickets, which are like qualifications. I spent two and a half weeks at a training center getting certified in CPR and working on an elevated platform, along with a heavy rigid license to drive big trucks.

Once I did that, I paid a company called W1n W1n to do my résumé and absolutely hammered job pages and applied to as many FIFO jobs as I could for about 10 days. Within a month of arriving in Australia, I secured a FIFO job.

Now, I help others get into the industry with videos on social media and a guide I made for foreign workers interested in FIFO.

I work 12-hour days for three weeks straight

I get flown in from Perth to work in Pilbara, a northwest region of Australia that's rich in iron ore.

I wake up around 4 a.m. to get ready for work, which starts at 5:30 a.m., and I spend the next 12 hours in the mining field.

The view is a nice perk to make up for the early start time.

Cal Mcilwaine

The conditions are physically strenuous and the average temperature during the day is 95 degrees Fahrenheit. In peak summer time, it hits about 113 degrees.

Me on the job filling up a tractor.

Cal McIiwaine

As a serviceman, I maintain a fleet of 45 or 50 machines, including dump trucks, diggers, dozers, scrapers, and other mining equipment. Throughout the day, I fill them up with fuel, grease them up, top up fluids, and blow out their air filters.

Then I pack everything back into my truck and drive to the next machine. I usually end work at 5:30 p.m., and the ride back to the site takes about 40 minutes so I usually get home at 6:10 p.m.

Normally, when I get back I try to shark down food and organize lunch for the next day. I aim to go to bed at 9:30 p.m. so that I can get as much sleep as possible for the next day.

During my week off, I get flown back out to Perth. The flight takes about two hours. Some people go on weekend trips to Bali. I like to go on road trips around Australia.

I also have the flexibility to go on breaks during the year. I took seven weeks off around Christmas and went to Esperance, which is on the southwest coast of Australia.

I've made around $80,000 so far this year pre-tax, and my expenses on-site are paid for

As a FIFO worker, companies pay for employee flights to and from the mining field. They also pay for housing accommodations and offer amenities like a food court and gym at the housing site.

@calmcilwaine What is my FIFO Room like? 👀 This will give everyone an idea of what the typical FIFO room is like. #fifo #FIFO #fifolife #fifoworker #fifoworkers #fifoaustralia #fifojob #fifojobs #fifojobsaustralia #fiforoom #fifocamp #fifocamplife #roomtour #fifomining #fifominingaustralia #flyinflyout #flyinflyoutlife #flyinflyoutjobs #australia #westernaustralia #miningwa #miningaustralia #pilbara #pilbaraliving #pilbaralife #pilbaramining #australiajobs #miningindustry #fifogirls #fifoedition #fifouze #whv #work #worklife #workingholidayvisa #workingholidayvisaaustralia #workingvisa #workvisa #417 #417visa #88days #regionalwork #regionalworkaustralia #miningtok #irishtiktok #irishinoz #irishinoz🇮🇪🇦🇺 #irishinaustralia #irishinaus #irishinperth #irishinsydney #irishinmelbourne #backpacker #backpackers #backpackerjobs #highpayingjobs #highwages #wealth #flyin #movetoaus #movetoaustralia #movetoaustraliawithme #movingtoaus #movingtoaustralia #newtofifo #fifotiktok #fifotips ♬ original sound - Cal McIlwaine

My room is dorm-like and it's nothing special but it has everything I need and I use it for sleep.

There's a big workout culture among FIFO workers and the gym is well-equipped to satisfy those needs. The gym has a strength room, a cardio room, an outdoor gym, a CrossFit room with classes offered, and a female-only gym. I usually walk about 25,000 steps a day on the job but still try to work out about two or three times a week.

As someone completely new to the industry, I make $5,329 Australian Dollars per week before taxes, which is around $3,477 USD — but I also don't work every single week of the month. So far, I've made around $80,000 before taxes working the last nine months, including a seven-week break I took to travel around Australia.

During my week off, I fly back to Perth and either go away for a week or pay a friend to stay with him for the week. My expenses during my week off usually come out to around $1,300 USD.

I'm getting the adventure I was searching for

I've been here for nine months and I plan to stick it out for the rest of the year.

Cal McIiwaine

I originally planned to work this job for three or fourth months at most.

But now I've been here for nine months and I plan to stick it out for the rest of the year. Once I learned about the machines, became a part of the crew, and started making good money, I didn't see a point in leaving.

I'm enjoying learning new skills and my bank account just keeps growing. Once I wrap up the year, I'm going on a 10-month trip to Vietnam, Thailand, New Zealand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

I won't have to worry about working and I'll get to experience the adventure I've been craving.

Once I'm done, I plan to get right back into FIFO work for my second year and do it all over again.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/dflIDm0

I'm a Gen Z mom. DINKs showing off their splurging and traveling gave me FOMO, but I don't regret having kids.

Megan Pagel got married in 2020 and has two children.

Courtesy of Megan Pagel.

• Before Megan Pagel and her husband were parents, they spent their money on going out with friends.
• Now that they have two children, she said they prioritize what their kids need.
• Pagel said she doesn't regret her choices, although she did experience some FOMO around DINKs.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Megan Pagel, 24, who lives in Tasmania, Australia, about having children in her early 20s. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

Before I met my husband, Michael, I was pretty adamant I didn't want kids.

I was 19, and he was 20 when we met in 2019. We got engaged in September and were married in March 2020. He really wanted kids but said it was fine if I didn't, as he loved me and just wanted to be with me.

Something about the way he was so understanding made me come around to the idea. I thought having a family with him would be amazing.

My mum had my older brother at 21. I really like the age gap between her and me, and I thought I'd prefer to be a younger parent.

We had our daughter in 2021 when I was 21 and our son in 2023.

Our DINK — double income, no kids — era was really fun. It was a nice time for us to bond and not take life too seriously — but we don't miss it.

Pagel and her husband on their wedding day in March 2020.

Courtesy of Megan Pagel.

Before having children, we spent money on our enjoyment. Now, we focus on buying our kids the things they need.

Before we had kids, my husband and I didn't travel much but spent a lot of our money on enjoying our weekends like most 20-somethings would — partying with friends and going bowling or to minigolf.

I was an apprentice chef at a café when we met. In 2020, when Covid hit, I stopped doing my apprenticeship and eventually switched to barista work because the hours were a bit more friendly. I now work as a hospitality all-rounder at a different café, earning around 30 Australian dollars an hour.

I work casually, typically around three days a week, and my husband works full-time as a tree planter and firefighter.

Now that we have kids, we prioritize spending money on things they need. Groceries cost more now that both kids are eating solid food, and we try to make sure they're eating healthily. I'd say we spend around $AU250 to $AU300, which is about $163 to $200, on groceries a week, which includes things like diapers and wipes, while we spent between $AU100 and $AU150 before having kids.

Pagel and her husband were together for around two years before having children.

Courtesy of Megan Pagel.

The cost of living has gone up since Covid.

We do have to look a bit closer at our bank account than before, but it's very doable, and I think we're quite comfortable because we have backup savings.

We want to strive to make a little bit more than what we need, but it's not an easy task. It takes a lot of budgeting and is constantly on our minds.

I don't go out for many social outings, but we have made friends who are parents, and it's nice to hang out with them while the kids run around with each other.

We're really big on grocery vouchers. My Gen Z mum friends and I like thrifting to save money for ourselves and our kids. With the rising cost of everything, it's just part of our lives now.

From March 2022 to September 2023, we rented a house that cost between AU$610 to AU$685 a week, but in October, we moved back in with my parents. We don't pay them rent, which is a load off for us. My mom is also happy to babysit the kids when I need to work.

I felt FOMO when I saw DINKs trending on TikTok, but I realized I'm not really missing out

At the moment, I think it's very trendy to have kids later. More people seem to be putting it off and prioritizing themselves, which I'm all for. It's good to see people doing what they want.

Last year, I started to see the term DINK popping up on TikTok. People would be showing off all the traveling and splurging they were doing as DINKs, and it made me feel a bit of FOMO. I thought, "Maybe we should have waited. Maybe we could have made more money?"

Pagel had her daughter when she was 21 and her son when she was 23.

Courtesy of Megan Pagel.

I think it is easy to look at things on social media and get caught up on what other people are doing, but at the end of the day, I look at my kids and realize I'm not really missing out.

When I was a teenager, I thought I'd spend my 20s traveling and having experiences, but our early 20s coincided with Covid. It stopped us from doing most of the things we wanted to do anyway, so we thought we might as well have a child.

The DINK lifestyle is presented on social media as a way to splurge on yourself and do things you wouldn't be able to do with kids, like traveling, but I don't think that's necessarily true.

Last year, my husband and I traveled across Australia for four weeks with the kids. I don't think we would have planned far ahead enough to do a trip like that before having kids.

I don't regret having kids young

I really enjoy being a mom.

I feel like the advantage of having kids at a younger age is I've had the opportunity to stop and start work as much as I need to. I didn't want to get to a point in my career where I was doing really well and then take a big break. I wouldn't have been happy if I had been unable to go back straight to where I was.

I don't regret that our DINK era was only around two years. We had more financial freedom, but it wasn't super glamorous.

We're enjoying the family era. We love spending our Sunday mornings making pancakes and dancing in the kitchen to kids' music.

I think we had children at the right time and it's worked out really well for us.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/4eSolmR

China's property crisis is bleeding into its banking sector, which is being asked to prop up developers

A residential area in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, on January 29, 2024.

Costfoto/NurPhoto/Getty Images

• China's property crisis has impacted the country's biggest banks, increasing non-performing loans.
• Beijing is urging banks to boost financing for "white list" property developers to help the sector.
• Despite the crisis, Chinese banks say they have sufficient buffers to manage risks.

China's property crisis has hit the books of its biggest lenders, which are reporting an uptick in non-performing loans.

Non-performing loans at China's big four banks — Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Agricultural Bank of China — jumped 10.4% in 2023, from 1.117 trillion Chinese yuan, about $155 billion, in 2022 to 1.23 trillion yuan.

This is according to a Nikkei analysis based on the companies' earnings, which were released this week.

The banks were all profitable last year, but their margins are being increasingly pressured by the fallout from China's real-estate debt crisis.

Even so, Beijing is urging banks to boost financing for property developers featured on a "white list" of companies.

China's real-estate sector has been mired in crisis since the second half of 2021, when a liquidity crunch at Evergrande — once China's second-largest developer — came to light.

Evergrande is now in liquidation, while other Chinese real-estate developers have run into similar issues and have begun defaulting on their bond payments, spurring fears the crisis could spill over into other sectors of the economy, and globally.

Despite the rise in bad loans, Chinese lenders said they had enough buffers to weather the storm and will control lending risks to property developers, per Nikkei.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/XzKRu10

Boom Supersonic just flew its test jet for the first time as it races to build the world's new speediest airliner — meet 'baby boom'

The XB-1 on the day of its inaugural flight.

Boom Supersonic

• Colorado aerospace company Boom Supersonic flew its XB-1 demonstrator for the first time on Friday.
• Nicknamed the "baby boom," the jet tests technologies for Boom's future Mach 1.7 Overture airliner.
• The speedy Overture is set to enter service in 2030 and has already earned orders from airlines.

Colorado aerospace company Boom Supersonic wants to bring back the era of the Concorde — a beloved faster-than-sound passenger jet that flew for nearly 30 years before retiring in 2003.

Boom's vision of the next supersonic airliner is a Mach 1.7 plane called the Overture, and the company just flew its first prototype on Friday.

Nicknamed the "baby boom," the XB-1 demonstrator is the "foundation" for the futuristic Overture. Boom says it uses the experimental plane to prove innovative technologies key to safe and efficient supersonic flight.

Here's a closer look at the small but mighty baby boom.

Baby boom took a 12-minute flight across the Mojave Desert, paving the way toward the "revival of mainstream supersonic travel."

Behind the XB-1 are retired jetliners in the Mojave Desert's aircraft graveyard, like the blue KLM Boeing 747.

Boom Supersonic

In November, Boom Supersonic announced the XB-1 was gearing up for its first flight and that the company had received its necessary experimental airworthiness certificate from federal regulators to operate the test jet.

Ahead of the flight tests, XB-1 went through a series of ground assessments, including evaluating subsystems, medium-speed taxing testing, and upgrading its engines and landing gear, the company said.

Boom said the XB-1's first flight "fully" met all of its objectives.

The XB-1 on the day of its inaugural flight.

Boom Supersonic

"Today, XB-1 took flight in the same hallowed airspace where the Bell X-1 first broke the sound barrier in 1947," Boom founder and CEO Blake Scholl wrote in a press release.

"I've been looking forward to this flight since founding Boom in 2014, and it marks the most significant milestone yet on our path to bring supersonic travel to passengers worldwide," he continued.

According to the company, the XB-1 took off from the Mojave Air & Space Port and achieved a 7,120-foot altitude and speeds of up to 273 mph.

According to Boom, the landing gear was left deployed for safety.

Boom Supersonic

Boom said the envelope for range, speed, and altitude expands over time and several phases of testing, and its XB-1 inaugural represents just a fraction of what the Overture will be built to fly.

According to Boom, its future faster-than-sound plane is expected to bolt at speeds of up to Mach 1.7, or about 1,300 mph, and cruise at up to 60,000 feet — meaning the plane could connect New York City and London in as little as three and a half hours.

The California airfield has hosted several historic airplanes, including the supersonic Bell X-1 and the up-to-Mach 6 North American X-15.

The Bell X-1 on on first powered take-off of the supersonic plane with its four rocket engines on.

Bettmann/Getty Images

In 1947, the Bell X-1 became the first airplane in the world to fly faster than the speed of sound, soaring over the Mojave Desert, which is designated for special flight use and has a 50-mile supersonic corridor used for Mach speed flight tests over land.

Other famous planes that took off from the Mojave include a rocket-powered experimental jet called the North American X-15. According to the Smithsonian, it was the first winged aircraft to fly four, five, and six times the speed of sound.

The XB-1 was flown by Boom chief test pilot Bill “Doc” Shoemaker, who flew F-18 military jets for 21 years and has experience in test flying.

Boom chief test pilot Bill "Doc" Shoemaker in the cockpit of the XB-1.

Boom Supersonic

Before Boom, Shoemaker helmed the first flight of the Block II Super Hornet military jet and piloted electric vertical takeoff and landing prototypes.

"Everyone on the XB-1 team should be incredibly proud of this achievement," Shoemaker said on Friday. "It has been a privilege to share this journey with so many dedicated and talented professionals. The experience we have gained in reaching this milestone will be invaluable to Boom's revival of supersonic travel."

Alongside the XB-1 was a chaser plane called the T-38, piloted by Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg and responsible for monitoring the flight.

Brandenburg got a pretty incredible flight show from the T-38, according to footage of the XB-1 inaugural posted on Boom's YouTube channel.

Boom Supersonic

According to Boom, Brandenburg is a United States Naval Test Pilot School graduate and a TOPGUN Adversary.

Brandenburg and Shoemaker completed hundreds of training hours in flight simulators for both the XB-1 and the T-38 chaser before taking the controls in test flights.

To ensure safety, the XB-1 underwent rigorous ground and taxi tests before its maiden flight.

The metal shell of the baby boom's airframe.

Boom Supersonic

According to Boom, ground monitoring of the mission comes from a control room full of engineers and other staff.

"The control room engineers are the same ones who designed the aircraft systems and have been operating as a team for every single ground test event conducted over the last two years," Boom said.

Boom listed several key technologies being tested on XB-1, like a new type of pilot display and a fuselage that can withstand Mach speeds.

The augmented reality vision system relies on two nose-mounted cameras to feed a display with attitude and flight indications to the cockpit.

Boom Supersonic

The "augmented reality vision system" involves two cameras mounted on the nose that enable "excellent runway visibility" for the pilots.

According to Boom, this can improve aerodynamic efficiency and negate the need for Overture to have Concorde's famous movable nose — which lowered to reduce drag and give the pilots better visibility.

Meanwhile, Boom said XB-1 also tests strong but lightweight carbon composite materials, supersonic intakes that slow Mach speed air to subsonic speeds, and "digitally-optimized aerodynamics" that improve supersonic efficiency.

The handling of XB-1, including airspeed checks with the T-38 and its landing stability at a high angle of attack, was also evaluated.

The XB-1's high angle of attack landing.

Boom Supersonic

The landing was complicated, but Boom said pilot Shoemaker used the augmented reality system and the help of a "landing signal officer" positioned on the side of the runway to safely land the XB-1 demonstrator.

Powering the jet were three General Electric J85 engines that produce up to a combined 12,300 pounds of thrust, but these won't be on Overture.

The XB-1's three GE J85 engines.

Boom Supersonic

Although Boom secured GE as the powerplant supplier for its XB-1 demonstrator, the company struggled to find a major engine maker like Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, and CFM International to help build its supersonic Overture engine.

Instead, Boom is building its own engine for Overture called the Symphony. It is expected to run on 100% sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF.

Boom's Symphony engine.

Pete Syme/Business Insider

GE's 3D printing division, GE Additive, will provide Boom with "additive manufacturing design consulting and technology" to help create a lightweight and fuel-efficient design for Symphony.

Aviation analyst Henry Harteveldt told Business Insider in 2022, when Boom couldn't find an engine supplier, that building an in-house engine would be challenging but could prove lucrative should Boom sell the design.

The XB-1 airframe is also different. Parallel to building XB-1, Boom redesigned the Overture's fuselage and wings and added another engine.

The redesigned Overture with full wings and four engines.

Boom Supersonic

The baby boom has three engines, while Overture will have four engines mounted on the wings.

Both the XB-1 and Overture are designed with gull wings, which increase safety and decrease engine strain, costs, and noise, according to Boom.

The long-awaited inaugural of XB-1 comes 21 years after the Concorde retired, inching closer to the re-creation of civil supersonic air travel.

The supersonic intakes on XB-1 that will decrease Mach speed air to subsonic.

Boom Supersonic

People today still rave about the time when one could fly to London in less time than it takes to cross Manhattan during rush-hour traffic.

The fastest-recorded flight of the Concorde was in February 1996 when a British Airways flight from New York to London crossed the Atlantic in 2 hours 52 minutes 59 seconds.

Boom has already garnered attention for its new Overture from American Airlines, United Airlines, and Japan Airlines.

Rendering of a United Airlines Overture jet.

Boom Supersonic

The trio of global carriers have ordered and pre-ordered a collective 130 Overture aircraft. American has ordered 20 in a deal worth $4 billion at list price, with options for 40 more.

Meanwhile, United has ordered 15 Overture worth $3 billion at list price, with options for 35 more. JAL has invested $10 million in Overture and has the option to buy 20 in a preorder agreement.

The $200 million jet is expected to carry up to 80 people in an all-business-class configuration, but tickets won't be cheap.

Example of a business class cabin on an Overture.

Boom Supersonic

Similar to the Concorde, the Overture will sport only business class seats. However, this high-luxury product is likely to be expensive, given the high operating costs of a supersonic plane.

Boom, to its credit, is trying to reduce the operating cost of the Overture — effectively decreasing airfare.

One potential cost-cutting strategy is the use of carbon composite materials.

Boom Supersonic

Cost-cutting tactics include implementing systems that improve aerodynamic efficiency, using lightweight materials, and building its Symphony engine with additive parts that will decrease assembly expenses, among other strategies.

"You'll be able to fly Overture for a quarter the price of a Concorde ticket, or about the same price you'd pay in business class today, Scholl said back in 2019, according to Simple Flying. "That's the most important thing."

He repeated this to Simple Flying again in 2022, reiterating Overture tickets would be 75% cheaper than the Concorde and be "within reach for tens of millions of passengers on day one."

In addition to its use as a passenger jet, Boom is working to create versions of the Overture for military and government use.

The XB-1 on the runway during earlier testing days.

Boom Supersonic

Boom said it's working with American aerospace and defense technology company Northrop Grumman for Overture's military and government applications.

Overture wouldn't be the first faster-than-sound plane to land such a lucrative contract.

Hermeus has signed deals with the US government for its Mach 5 plane.

Hermeus

The US government signed multi-million deals with hypersonic planemaker Hermeus, which is developing a jet that can go Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound — far beyond what Boom is building.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/Me2psoO

Cruises are heading to different ports because of the Baltimore bridge collapse, and Carnival says it's only taking a little loss

A Carnival ship in the Avalon, California harbor.

AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images

• The Baltimore bridge collapse will have a small impact on Carnival's bottom line.
• Carnival secured a temporary home port in Norfolk, Virginia, to minimize operational changes.
• Royal Caribbean and American Cruise Line's operations may also be affected.

Tuesday's Baltimore bridge collapse may marginally affect the world's largest cruise company.

All vessel traffic has been halted at Baltimore's port, stopping both containerships and cruise ships.

Josh Weinstein, the CEO of Carnival, addressed the incident at the start of Wednesday's earnings call, thanking emergency services and the Coast Guard. Noting the "fluid" situation, he said the port closure's impact was not factored into full-year guidance or the earnings presentation, which covered the three months ending February 29.

"We expect the situation to have less than a $10 million impact on a full-year guidance," Weinstein said.

The company said it secured a temporary home port in Norfolk, Virginia, for as long as needed, which should minimize operational changes. One of its cruises, the Carnival Legend, departed on Sunday for a seven-day round trip from the Baltimore port and will return instead to Norfolk. Its passengers will be bussed back to Baltimore, Weinstein said.

Without factoring in the collapse, Carnival's adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization for 2024 are expected to be $5.63 billion, according to its earnings release.

Carnival stock fell about 3% at 10:20 a.m. in New York after the earnings call before paring losses. Competitors Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line were up around 3% and 6% respectively at closing.

Other cruise companies that sail out of Baltimore are similarly adjusting their plans.

The second-largest cruise operator, Royal Caribbean, has about 30 cruises out of Baltimore scheduled for the rest of this year. One left Baltimore on Saturday, with plans to return on April 4. The company is working on "alternatives" for that ship and others slated to sail out of the port, per the Washington Post.

American Cruise Line also frequents the Baltimore port on East Coast itineraries — its American Glory cruise is set to sail next week. The company has over 30 cruises scheduled from the Baltimore port for the rest of 2024.

The Baltimore port is the 17th-largest in the US, and the bridge collapse has left six construction workers presumed dead. While the cruise industry has adapted swiftly and does not expect the collapse to affect its bottom line significantly, the port closure is expected to hit the auto industry especially hard.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/ZLKIGEc

Mike Lindell's MyPillow is getting evicted from its Minnesota warehouse after the company failed to cough up over $200,000 in unpaid rent

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

• Things aren't looking great for Mike Lindell.
• The embattled businessman is now facing eviction for one of his warehouses in Minnesota. 
• Lindell's company owes more than $217,000 in rent to its landlord, per the  Star Tribune. 

Mike Lindell's MyPillow is getting evicted from one of its Minnesota warehouses, the Star Tribune, a local Minnesota newspaper, reported on Tuesday.

"MyPillow has more or less vacated, but we'd like to do this by the book," the landlord's attorney, Sara Filo, said during an eviction court hearing on Tuesday, per Star Tribune.

"At this point, there's a representation that no further payment is going to be made under this lease, so we'd like to go ahead with finding a new tenant," Filo continued.

MyPillow owes First Industrial more than $217,000 in rent and other charges, per court filings seen by the Star Tribune. It is unclear if MyPillow and its staff have fully vacated the premises, but First Industrial's representatives say they have sent at least four eviction notices to MyPillow since September.

Filo's request was granted by Scott County Chief Judge Caroline Lennon on Tuesday, per the Star Tribune. Lindell and representatives for MyPillow did not immediately respond to BI's queries sent outside regular business hours.

Lindell discussed the eviction in an interview with the Minnesota Reformer published Tuesday.

Lindell told the outlet that the warehouse, located at 4701 Valley Boulevard S. in Shakopee, was one-third the size of MyPillow's main warehouse and was initially used to store retail equipment.

But the property, he told Minnesota Reformer, was no longer as useful to MyPillow since most of the equipment had been auctioned off last year.

"We were just sick about it," Lindell told the outlet.

The eviction notice is a new development in a shocking downward spiral for one of America's biggest pillow salesmen.

Lindell's legal and financial woes have been piling up ever since he became a hardcore advocate for former President Donald Trump's baseless election fraud claims.

Before he became a MAGA acolyte, Lindell inspired many with his rags-to-riches story. The former crack addict turned his fortunes around when he got sober and started MyPillow in 2004.

But Lindell's growing belief in conspiracy theories on election interference has created some dire straits for his pillow business.

Multiple retailers, like Costco, Bed Bath & Beyond, and JCPenney, severed ties with Lindell and MyPillow in 2021. Then, in June 2022, Walmart told BI that it would stop carrying MyPillow products in its stores, though they would still be sold online.

The decline in sales also appears to have put the brakes on MyPillow's marketing activities. Lindell told the Associated Press in January that his company owes Fox News around $7.8 million in advertising fees.

It's not just a loss of income.

Lindell is fighting billion-dollar defamation lawsuits against the voting technology companies Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic.

In October, Lindell's lawyers said they were dropping him as a client after he owed them millions in legal fees. Lindell has since engaged new lawyers to represent him in court, per Star Tribune.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/V3NqHoZ

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun could still receive millions of dollars after leaving amid safety concerns

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun.

Aaron Schwartz/NurPhoto/Getty Images

• Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun has resigned and is set to leave at the end of the year.
• Calhoun is likely to exit with a multi-million-dollar payout.
• Dennis Muilenburg, his predecessor, left in 2019 with $80 million – but no severance.

Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun announced his resignation on Monday. He's not the first leader of the company to leave amid recent safety concerns — and he's likely to do so with a big payout.

Calhoun attributed his plans to leave to age, telling CNBC in a Monday interview that the decision was "100%" his alone. He's departing just as the aviation company faces intense scrutiny after a door plug blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight on January 5, in turn prompting investigations from the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Justice, and the National Transportation Safety Board.

"I've entered my fifth year," Calhoun told CNBC, referring to his time at Boeing. "At the end of this year, I'll be close to 68 years old."

Calhoun will likely exit with a big paycheck. He was paid a base salary of $1.4 million in 2022, according to an April regulatory filing. Calhoun lost out on a $7 million bonus in the same year because he missed one of his goals — he couldn't get Boeing's new 777X aircraft into service by the end of 2023 — but he still made $22.5 million in 2022.

How much Calhoun will get after his exit from Boeing will depend on how the aircraft maker's stock price moves. This is because he holds nearly 70,000 Boeing shares outright, more than 25,000 phantom shares, and another 175,000 options, Ben Silverman, vice president of research at financial software company VerityData, told Fortune on Monday.

Most of Calhoun's stock and options vest and expire in the future. Based on the current stock price, Calhoun could rake in $19.2 million in payouts over 10 years from just two tranches of shares after he exits the company, Silverman's analysis shows, per Fortune.

A Boeing spokesperson told Business Insider the company will outline details of Calhoun's compensation in company filings over the "coming weeks."

As a guide, Dennis Muilenburg, Calhoun's predecessor — who was fired in 2019 after two Max 8 crashes killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019 — walked away with a payout worth $80 million – but no severance. He left as 2,800 employees were laid off after the disasters, sparking anger about his compensation.

Boeing shares rose 1.4% to close $191.41 apiece on Monday and extended gains by 0.2% in after-hours trade. The stock is down 27% so far this year.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/E4KvHdD

'Yellowstone' actor Forrie Smith says he was 'kicked off' a flight for refusing to sit next to a passenger wearing a mask

Forrie Smith said in an Instagram video that he was "kicked off" a flight for refusing to seat next to a passenger with a mask (not pictured).

SolStock/Greg Doherty/Getty Images

• Forrie Smith said he was removed from a flight after refusing to sit beside a masked passenger.
• The "Yellowstone" actor had previously said he was against vaccinations.
• The anti-vax movement gained momentum in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Forrie Smith said in an Instagram video on Saturday that he was "kicked off" a plane after he refused to sit next to a passenger who was wearing a mask.

Smith, who's known for his role in the Western drama "Yellowstone," said in the video that he "didn't feel comfortable" sitting next to another person who was masked up. The post garnered almost 20,000 likes and over 2,100 comments at the time of writing.

"You know my social media people tell me that you like me face to face. But you know what, I can't say face to face what I want," Smith, 65, said in the video. In the video, Smith was wearing a camouflage cap and a blue shirt with a green coat.

"But they threw me off the plane because I'm drunk. Because you people won't stand up and tell everybody what bullshit this is," Smith continued, adding that he had been waiting at an airport in Houston for three hours and had been drinking, but said he wasn't drunk.

Smith did not state which airline or flight he was on. Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Forrie J. Smith (@forriejsmithcowboy)

Several comments criticized Smith for ostracizing the passenger wearing a mask on the flight.

"I wore a mask all the time when my mom was on hospice care and traveling back and forth to see her. This post makes me sad as a fan," one person wrote.

Another person commented: "I have cancer I'd probably wear a mask on an airplane…. Dammit don't do live stuff while drinking - it's sad & embarrassing."

It's not the first time Smith has expressed disapproval of COVID-19 protection like masks and vaccinations. In February 2022, Smith said in an Instagram post that he would skip the Screen Actors Guild Awards as he wasn't vaccinated and had no plans to get the shot.

Over the past few years, Anti-vaxxers — people who refuse to get vaccines — made their skepticism toward shots to stop the spread of COVID-19 known.

And Smith isn't the only celebrity in the anti-vaccine community. In February, far-right figures lauded Woody Harrelson on X after he pushed an anti-vaccine theory on SNL. In December 2022, actor Matthew Marsden said he lost a role in a movie as he wasn't vaccinated.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/EysVKwG

China is reportedly developing military drones that can split into 6 to overwhelm enemy defenses

Chinese researchers say the new drones will give the PLA a tactical advantage.

VCG/Getty

• Chinese researchers have unveiled a military drone capable of splitting into six units in midair. 
• The multiplying drones could expand into swarms that would confuse air defense systems, experts told Business Insider.
• The drones aren't necessarily a game changer, one analyst said.

Chinese scientists have reportedly developed a military drone capable of rapidly splitting into six separate units in midair.

The drone marks a breakthrough in air separation technology and could change the battlefield, the South China Morning Post reported.

The new devices are faster and more efficient than traditional multirotor drones, and have the ability to throw off opponents by unexpectedly multiplying into huge swarms on the battlefield, according to scientists from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Inspired by the structure of maple seeds, they have just one blade both when combined and divided. They can fly around freely like a standard drone and communicate to carry out complex missions.

Despite their unusual shape, they boast a flight efficiency nearly twice that of a similar-sized multirotor drone, the scientists said in a peer-reviewed paper published in Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica journal last month.

If traditional drones were combined, they would typically slow down. But even when separated into single units, these drones' flight efficiency remains 40% higher than most small drones.

The structure of maple seeds inspired the structure of the single-bladed drones.

picture alliance/Getty

The scientists said that a soldier equipped with several drones could disassemble them to complete a range of missions, giving China's People's Liberation Army a tactical advantage over its opponents.

"The main benefit is the ability to confuse the response of air defense systems," Will Shumate, an Assistant Policy Researcher of China, technology, and security at RAND, told Business Insider.

"When drones are detected, defense systems deploy a certain amount of resources proportional to the threat. If that threat suddenly multiplies, it provides an opportunity to overwhelm the air defense resources being deployed," Shumate said.

"If the drone was ready to be fielded and a conflict broke out today, it could be a tactical game changer," he added.

However, Shumate believes that's unlikely.

"China's technology development process can be a black box at times, but I would not assume the announcement of this breakthrough means China will be fielding these systems anytime soon."

Their development isn't that significant when you consider the considerable might of China's existing drone capacity, another analyst told BI.

"The key part to consider is that China has over 2000 companies working on drones. It has control of the drone supply chain and can produce things really cheaply," said TP Huang, a computer scientist and China analyst.

"So when we talk about how [these latest drones] might apply to warfighting, it can overwhelm any defense force with just the sheer number of drones that it can produce — much higher end than what you've seen in the Russia/Ukraine conflict."

Small, affordable drones are reshaping the modern battlefield in unprecedented ways, and forcing militaries to rapidly modernize their defense systems.

The US recently requested $2.4 billion to invest in unmanned aircraft systems like drones.

Sean Gallup/Getty

Earlier in March, the US Army requested $2.4 billion for the development of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and more than $400 million for counter-drone tech in its fiscal 2025 budget request.

Meanwhile, Admiral John Aquilino, the leader of the Indo-Pacific Command, warned the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that China has increased its overall defense budget by 16% to more than $223 billion.

"On a scale not seen since WWII, the PLA's buildup is occurring across land, sea, air, space, cyber, and information domains," Admiral Aquilino said.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/BAvfpC7