What we’re reading (6/20)
“The Hottest New Perk In Tech Is Freedom” (Vox). “[Small technology companies] are much more likely than their larger peers to allow people to work fully remotely, with 81 percent of those with fewer than 5,000 employees either allowing remote work or only having remote options, according to new data from Scoop Technologies, a software firm that builds tech to help hybrid teams coordinate and also tracks the office policies at major companies. Meanwhile, just 26 percent of companies with more than 25,000 employees are fully flexible.”
“Where Housing Prices Have Crashed And Billions In Wealth Have Vanished” (New York Times). “The pandemic’s disruptions to jobs, wages and living conditions caused a yo-yo effect in housing markets in many countries, including Sweden, Britain, Canada and Australia. Few places have experienced as wild a swing as New Zealand, which last week slipped into a recession.”
“Inside The Escalating Feud At One Of Wall Street’s Biggest Hedge Funds” (Wall Street Journal). “Over the last 22 years, John Overdeck and David Siegel built Two Sigma Investments into a $60 billion quant-trading behemoth. But behind the scenes, the billionaire co-founders have clashed over the firm’s direction, succession planning and more, people familiar with the matter said.”
“Mark Zuckerberg goes In For The Kill As Elon Musk’s Twitter Bleeds Ad Dollars” (The Telegraph). “Zuckerberg’s company is already courting celebrities and influencers to test the [new] app. Meta has been negotiating with TV host Oprah Winfrey and Tibetan religious leader the Dalai Lama to open accounts, hoping that high-profile early users can help tempt the masses to join.”
“U.S.-Funded Scientist Among Three Chinese Researchers Who Fell Ill Amid Early Covid-19 Outbreak” (Wall Street Journal). “A prominent scientist who worked on coronavirus projects funded by the U.S. government is one of three Chinese researchers who became sick with an unspecified illness during the initial outbreak of Covid-19, according to current and former U.S. officials. The identity and role of the researchers is one piece of intelligence that has been cited by proponents of the judgment that the pandemic originated with a lab leak, though the nature of their illness hasn’t been conclusively established.”
