Thursday, December 17, 2015

Tell these people it’s dumb to throw a million-dollar party when your company sucks

7:27 PM No Comments
Backers of Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer are defending her amid backlash over the company’s alleged$US7 million Gatsby-themed holiday party.
MARISSA Mayer is sitting on the hot seat — make that a white-hot seat.
The Yahoo! chief executive presided over a company Great Gatsby theme party this month on San Francisco’s Pier 48, the reported $US7 million ($A9.83 million) cost of which struck investors in the internet as being tone-deaf to excess.
Mayer played the ultimate flapper — all in sequins on a “pure white armchair”, according to an account Tuesday on Vice’s Motherboard.
After being led through a series of velvet ropes, guests sat on a couch beside her for their commemorative photo before being dispatched to the party outside, where they indulged in champagne poured by swinging aerialists.
The details emerged a day after Eric Jackson, a managing director at SpringOwl Asset Management, dropped a 99-page slide deck calling for Mayer’s ousting, in which he blasted her for allegedly blowing money on everything from lavish parties to failed acquisitions.
A free iPhone for up to 22,000 employees? Check.
Gifts of Jawbone UP fitness wristbands to 11,000 co-workers close enough to Mayer to celebrate her first anniversary as CEO? Yep.
And don’t forget the free food for workers at Yahoo!’s Sunnyvale headquarters. That particular perk, according to Jackson, has already cost a reported $US450 million ($632.13 million) thus far into Mayer’s tenure.
“That’s half an Instagram right there,” Jackson said, referring to the reported $US1 billion ($1.4 billion) acquisition Yahoo! might have made instead of the $US1.1 billion ($1.55 billion) it reportedly spent on what he claims is a now-worthless Tumblr.
But the hedgie also let it be known Mayer wasn’t always so democratic when dispensing handouts. The Met Ball Gala, an A-list extravaganza organised by Vogue’s Anna Wintour, embraced Mayer last May as a co-host. But the $US3 million ($4.21 million) Yahoo! paid to sponsor the event allegedly only generated tickets for its CEO and two lieutenants.
A similarly elite group of execs accompanied Mayer, via NetJets, to Davos.
Yahoo! sponsored that gathering, too, spending an estimated $US1 million ($1.4 million) to $US2 million ($2.8 million), he claims.
“What was the business case for the Met and Davos?” he asked.
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SPENDING DEFENDED
On Thursday, fans of Mayer came to the defence of the beleaguered tech titan — saying that much of Jackson’s criticism was wrong.
Mayer’s alleged over-the-top spending on the Gatsby-themed party was hugely exaggerated, sources close to the company said.
Plus, the criticism from Jackson about the $US108 million ($151.71 million) a year spent on food for Yahoo! employees is undeserved because providing refreshments is simply what’s generally expected in Silicon Valley, the Mayer defenders added.
The actual price tag for the free food is less than half of Jackson’s figure — and the real cost of the holiday party was one-third of his $US7 million ($A9.83 million) claim, sources close to Mayer said.
“I stand by all the numbers in the report,” said Jackson, who has called for Mayer’s ousting.
Jackson called his source on the Gatsby party cost “highly credible”, and told The Post he was defending his $US7 million figure until proven wrong with actual receipts.
As for the food estimate, he invited challengers to do the math and price out “the freshest, sustainable, locally sourced options” offered by Yahoo! vendor Bon Appétit.
Jackson also lashed out at Mayer spending $US3 million ($4.21 million) to sponsor the Met Gala.
“She’s acting as if she’s the CEO of a $US30 billion [$42.14 billion] company,” Jackson said. “But once you take away its stakes in Alibaba and Yahoo! Japan, core Yahoo! is really a $US3 billion [$4.21 billion] company.”
Companies of that size rarely sponsor tony galas or spend up to $US2 million ($2.81 million) to rent a jet to fly to the Davos World Economic Forum — nor do they pay their CEO the $US365 million ($512.73 million) Mayer’s on track to receive for five years at Yahoo! he said.

Ex-NBA star Gilbert Arenas shares his (sexist) advice for WNBA

7:24 PM No Comments
WARNING: Coarse language
THE 2015 WNBA season ended back in October, when the Minnesota Lynx won their third title in the past five years.
So it’s a little odd that former NBA player Gilbert Arenas would be offering advice to the professional basketball league more than two months into its offseason.
“Odd,” however, is not the best word to describe Arenas’ take on the WNBA.
Instead, a better word is “sexist”. Or “disgusting”. Or any other awful word that you might prefer, really.
Earlier this week, Arenas posted a not-safe-for-work Instagram video of scantily clad women playing basketball (NSFW).
In the accompanying (also NSFW) caption, Arenas wrote:
“NOW this is what america was hoping for when they announced the #WNBA back in 1996... not a bunch of chicks running around looking like,cast members from #orangeisthenewblack.
“Dont get me wrong,they have few #cutiepies but theres a whole alotta #beanpies running around hahahahahaha.”
The comment only got worse from there.
League spokesman Mike Bass released a statement on behalf of the NBA and WNBA.
“Gilbert Arenas’s comments are repugnant, utterly disrespectful and flat-out wrong,” Bass said.
“WNBA players are strong, talented and determined individuals who give it their all on the court and serve as inspiring role models to millions around the world. They should be celebrated for their accomplishments, not disparaged with ignorant insults.”
New York Liberty star Swin Cash shared her thoughts on Arenas’ comments.
To top it all off, Arenas pre-emptively lashed out at his would-be detractors, saying that people who would call his comments sexist are the ugly one “9 times out of 10.”
But that’s ridiculous. Arenas, who’s still somewhat of a visible public figure, offered his megaphone to the idea of seeing WNBA players specifically -- and women in general -- as cattle there for the amusement of others.
Arenas, of course, has every right to share his thoughts. And, in turn, we have an obligation to point out how wrong-headed he is.
NBA player Nate Robinson also chimed in.
“I usually stay in my own lane but this was so uncalled for in so many ways...,” Robinson wrote on Instagram.
“One cause I have a daughter who loves hoop, & one day she might want to make it to the WNBA one day, hoop is hoop no matter what a woman looks like ... #LORD4giveusall.”
Gilbert Arenas went on a sexist Instagram rant.
Gilbert Arenas went on a sexist Instagram rant.Source:Supplied

Natalie Soto said it wasn't the first time she received racist abuse for speaking in another language. Source: Facebook

7:22 PM No Comments
WARNING: Strong language
A WOMAN was subjected to a vile racist tirade on a Sydney train because she spoke on the phone to her mother in Spanish, with the footage posted to Facebook.
But it’s the brave passenger that stepped in to help her that has everyone talking.
The victim, Natalie Soto, recorded the incident on her phone and it shows a woman mocking her in a bad accent. “Speak no English,” she can be heard saying on the footage. “Why should we have to listen to f***ing rambling?
“Speak it in your own home, don’t speak it in public,” she continues.
Then a young woman sitting close to the abuser piped up. “We are in a multicultural country. Unless you’re Aboriginal you have come from a different country to live here. We’re all from different cultures.”
The ranter replies, “We speak English in this country. If you can’t speak it in public don’t speak it at all.”
An exasperated Ms Soto then hits back. “Lucky for you, I speak multiple languages and I can understand exactly what’s going on. Just block your ears, what’s your problem?”
Another passenger, apparently referring to part of the encounter which occurred off camera, then says, “So her speaking another language is not OK but you saying the C-word in front of children is OK?”
In the footage uploaded by Natalie Soto onto Facebook, the unidentified woman can be heard telling the victim to speak English. Picture: Facebook
In the footage uploaded by Natalie Soto onto Facebook, the unidentified woman can be heard telling the victim to speak English. Picture: FacebookSource:Facebook
Ms Soto, from near Liverpool in Sydney’s west, told news.com.au she was on the train heading to her job as a retail assistant in the CBD yesterday morning when she decided to call her mum.
She said she noticed a middle-aged woman, sitting a few seats in front of her, getting increasingly agitated. Ms Soto then alleged she began hurling insults at her, including calling her “retarded”.
“The lady in front of me was getting really upset and I didn’t think it was about me until she turned around and said ‘get this disgusting wog off the train’,” Ms Soto told news.com.au.
“She was getting really aggressive so I hung up on my mum, but it just continued.”
The two-minute video begins just after the initial outburst with other passengers shaking their heads in disbelief.
Someone travelling with the woman seems embarrassed by the whole episode and attempts to mollify her by getting her to listen to some music on his phone.
Ms Soto said the woman seemed surprised when she replied, “She thought I wouldn't communicate back in English and when I did it was a pretty good surprise.”
She said while she was brought up speaking Spanish, she tried hard to master English as a child and “ended up speaking better English than many kids”.
Nevertheless, the ordeal left her shaken. “The whole day was a blur, it really affected me. Afterwards, I didn’t want to call my mum because I was so self conscious so I texted her instead.”
Another passenger comes to Ms Soto’s aid. Picture: Facebook
Another passenger comes to Ms Soto’s aid. Picture: FacebookSource:Facebook
Ms Soto said she had experienced racism previously.
“The moment I start speaking another language people are either, ‘wow what a beautiful language’ or ‘get off the train’,” she said.
She said she was overwhelmed by the support of other passengers.
“The two people that vocalised their opinions I was very happy with,” she said. “The man next to me said Spanish was a really beautiful language and he was just about to complement me and see if I could teach him some words but she [the abuser] interrupted him. And it wasn’t that girl’s responsibility to support me, but she did.”
Ms Soto said she regretted not thanking the young woman in person.
“I’m very shocked that these things happen in Sydney but I feel like when they are, they are very quickly shut down,” she said.
“I’m impressed that people understand Australia is a multicultural society and I feel the people saying something bad and trying to vilify others are in a minority.”
Natalie Soto said it wasn't the first time she received racist abuse for speaking in another language. Source: Facebook
Natalie Soto said it wasn't the first time she received racist abuse for speaking in another language. Source: FacebookSource:Facebook
In September, Lindsay Li was waiting for a bus when she was subjected to a racist tirade that was so vicious she feared she might be attacked.
Ms Li was in Willoughby, on Sydney’s north shore, when she alleged a woman approached her, spat on her and then struck her with a trolley.
When Ms Li got on the bus the woman turned towards her and began verbally abusing her, which Ms Li captured on her mobile phone.
The woman can be heard on the video telling Ms Li “we all know what you are, China”, and to “take your f***ing language and piss off, f***ing chink”.
Ms Li claimed no one on board the bus who witnessed the abuse came to her aid, including the bus driver.
Ms Soto said she always tried to be polite when faced with racist abuse and hadn’t yet reported the incident to Sydney Trains or police. The woman and those with her departed the train at Central.

Touring CEO Martin Shkreli courted attention and now he has it

7:21 PM No Comments
A hooded Martin Shkreli is driven away after being arrested for securities fraud. Picture: Craig Ruttle
YOU might think being anointed “America’s most hated man” might be cause to step back from the spotlight and avoid any further controversy, but not Martin Shkreli.
When news spread that the 32-year-old pharmaceuticals CEO had been caught hiking up the cost of a lifesaving HIV drug by an inexplicable 5000 per cent back in September, Shkreli didn’t panic. Instead, he went on the offensive, taunting his critics, putting in smug TV appearances, live-streaming his work day and even buying a $US2 million, one-of-a-kind rap album.
Worse still, as the mayhem swirled and the headlines got progressively worse, he appeared to enjoy it.
But Shkreli’s familiar grin was nowhere to be seen this morning, as he was marched across a New York footpath and into a waiting police car, handcuffed and hooded and accused of a “securities fraud trifecta of lies, deceit and greed”.
Martin Shkreli being taken into custody outside his Manhattan apartment. Picture: Craig Ruttle/AP
Martin Shkreli being taken into custody outside his Manhattan apartment. Picture: Craig Ruttle/APSource:AP
It now appears the Turing Pharaceuticals CEO may be paying the price for all that attention.
Shkreli denies allegations he cheated investors out of $US11 million and used assets from a biotechnology firm he started in 2011 to pay debts from unrelated business dealings. He was freed on a $US5 million bond overnight, pocket change, you might think, for a man who says he made $100 million in a single stockmarket trade and as recently as this month was boasting about his wealth in a magazine interview.
But Shkreli says his story is more complicated than a lust for cash. He says he’s actually trying to help people — patients and investors.
“Our first and primary stakeholder is patients,” he told NBC News in the wake of the Daraprim drug hike scandal, insisting the higher price would be used to fund medical research into other medicines.
“There’s no doubt about that. I can see how it looks greedy, but I think there’s a lot of altruistic properties to it.”
Others say that’s rubbish, arguing Shkreli made a mistake in buying the Daraprim patent and has simply tried to recover his costs by squeezing patients through higher prices. A month after the Daraprim scandal broke, he agreed to lower the drug’s cost, then backflipped with a crafty move that would simply pass the cost on to hospitals and health insurers.
“Martin is the smartest guy in the room at all times,” an unnamed former associate from Shkreli’s days on Wall Street told The New York Times two weeks before his arrest.
“The guy’s intellect is unparalleled.”
The son of European immigrants, Shkreli was born and raised in Brooklyn. He was a gifted student who skipped ahead of his peers but never liked the “conformity...or expectations” of school.
He graduated with a business degree from Baruch College in New York in 2004 and within two years was the head of his own hedge fund, Elea Capital Management, aged in his 20s.
His position afforded him power but collapsed within a year under the weight of a multi-million lawsuit.
“I learned a lot about using leverage, the perils of leverage,” Shkreli told the newspaper of a $2.6 million gamble-gone-bad. “Back then, this was almost 10 years ago, I was rushing to succeed. I made a monster bet that the market would crash, and I was wrong.”
He soon bounced back, however, with MSMB Capital Management, his second hedge fund, before he began his first foray into pharmaceuticals.
In 2011, Shkreli acquired pharmaceutical company Retrophin along with the rights to sell Thiola, a drug used by 20,000 patients in the US to treat rare and incurable kidney diseases, including a chronic lifelong illness called cystinuria, developed in childhood.
Martin Shkreli is in a bit of trouble. Picture: Craig Ruttle/AP
Martin Shkreli is in a bit of trouble. Picture: Craig Ruttle/APSource:AP
He quickly bumped the price from $2 to $42. That was the beginning of a trend that soon turned the public against him. He was labelled “morally bankrupt” when, four years later, he raised the price of Daraprim from $US13.50 per tablet to $US750 per tablet.
“How does it feel knowing the entire world thinks you’re an a***hole?” one Reddit user asked him after Shkreli agreed to take part in an Ask Me Anything Q&A. Shkreli, against popular wisdom, is known to give as good as he gets.
“Haters, please tell me about the latest in apicomplexa genetic drift,” Shkreli taunted critics on Twitter. “You are all Protozoa experts equipped to judge and advise me, right?”
So is Shkreli just in over his head? Prosecutors allege over a five-year period he “perpetrated a series of frauds on investors in his hedge funds in order to cover up his poor trading decisions”, according to Andrew Ceresney, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division.
Some who know him say he is driven by the desire to prove just the opposite — that he’s made it, that he’s capable.
“He’s driven by ambition,” a former investor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the New York Times. “The affirmation is as important to him as the financial success.”
On social media, users aren’t singing his praises as he might’ve hoped, though. Instead, he’s becoming the subject of memes.



But at least he’s made a name for himself. He’s become a talking point not only in social circles but also in the US presidential campaign, where politicians are now debating how to best control the cost of prescription drugs.
On December 9, Shkreli tweeted: “I hate being in the news. Any way to turn it off?”
“Stop being douchey,” one user responded.
“Stop being an amoral, money-grubber. Just a thought,” wrote another.
And another: “Maybe don’t be a disgusting garbage human”. Ouch.
Let it go? Not Shkreli.
“You would have to stop being an anonymous cretin,” he fired back, adding “F*** boy”.
It’s not typical behaviour from a CEO. But Shkreli is clearly not your typical CEO.
Martin Shkreli doing Martin Shkreli. Twitter.
Martin Shkreli doing Martin Shkreli. Twitter.Source:Supplied
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