Hi, I'm Matt Turner, the editor in chief of business at Insider. Welcome back to Insider Weekly, a roundup of some of our top stories.
On the agenda:
- Insiders say Amazon's new retail CEO is a mild-mannered leader with a lot of creative ideas — but few have taken off.
- Last fall, Elon Musk had twins with one of his top executives.
- Streaming services are pulling back on half-hour sitcoms. Writers are freaking out.
- Here are the stock market's biggest losers right now.
Plus: On Friday, lawyers for Elon Musk notified the SEC that the deal to acquire Twitter is off — read the letter in full here. Twitter, in turn, said it would take Musk to court to force him to buy it for $44 billion. Our 10 Things on Wall Street newsletter will break down the latest news tomorrow morning. Sign up here to get correspondent Aaron Weinman's analysis in your inbox.
But for today: We're starting things off with some book recommendations for you.
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Your summer reading list from Insider editors:
As likely evidenced by your friends' social-media feeds and colleagues' away messages on Slack, we're in prime vacation time. So if you're looking for a good read while you take some much-needed PTO — or simply while you unwind at the end of the day — Insider's top editors have some recs.
Nich Carlson, global editor in chief:
- I'm reading "The Immortal King Rao," a great speculative science-fiction book. It asks what if, instead of having a government, we handed control of the world to a Steve Jobs or Sundar Pichai type, and asked an algorithm to make our most important decisions? It tells a story of globalization, the total meshing of our brains with the internet, and what we've gained and what we've lost. It's a ripper of a tale.
Julie Zeveloff West, editor in chief of Life:
- I'm a big fan of word games, and A.J. Jacobs' new book, "The Puzzler," really hit the mark for a summer read. In it, he uncovers the history and allure of puzzle types from scavenger hunts to The New York Times' Spelling Bee. There's even a puzzle embedded in the book, and no, I haven't cracked it (yet).
Jennifer Cunningham, editor in chief of News:
- I'm reading "Fall" by John Preston. I'm a big fan of historical nonfiction — "Fall," a comprehensive biography of Ghislaine Maxwell's father, helped me understand how he shaped her into the woman she became.
- I'm also reading Carla L. Peterson's "Black Gotham," which charts the emergence of the small but mighty Black middle and elite class in New York City from the early 1800s onwards. After watching HBO's "The Gilded Age," I was fascinated by the history of this community that I'd never heard of. I just had to know more!
And a rec from me (Matt Turner):
- I'm reading "Dead in the Water," a true-crime page-turner by Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel. (Kit is a former colleague from our days as reporters in London.) Their book focuses on the oil tanker Brillante Virtuoso, and through years of reporting stitches together a story involving global trade, money, and murder.
Now, let's get to this week's top stories.
Meet Amazon's new retail boss
After Dave Clark stepped down last month, Doug Herrington — his near opposite — became Amazon's most senior retail executive.
Insiders described Herrington as a leader with creative ideas but said few of his ideas have panned out. They said that he's known for being soft-spoken and mild-mannered — and that his laid-back temperament might be exactly what CEO Andy Jassy thinks the company needs.
Read our full profile on Herrington here.
Elon Musk had twins with one of his top execs
Elon Musk now has nine known children, after quietly having twins with one of his top Neuralink executives, Shivon Zilis. Here's what we know about her.
The births, which were revealed in court documents, occurred weeks before Musk and Claire Boucher, who performs as Grimes, had their second child in December.
Major streaming services are cutting back on comedy
Streaming giants like Netflix are producing fewer comedy shows in favor of "heavily serialized" content with cliffhangers, a creator of a 2019 comedy show told Insider.
Comedy writers say Netflix's model of releasing an entire season at once doesn't leave room to accommodate half-hour sitcoms.
Read more about the big blow to comedy.
The market meltdown's biggest losers
If 2021 was the bright, sunny day for markets, then 2022 is the cold, dark night. Senior correspondent Linette Lopez writes that the bubble has popped — leaving a trail of losses.
From the retail investors who hopped on trends to the hedge-fund managers who should know better, Lopez finds that the market meltdown's biggest losers have one thing in common: arrogance.
Here are the markets' major losers right now.
More of this week's top reads:
- Electric cars are way dirtier than you think — and won't solve the climate crisis on their own.
- An expert lays out why summer 2023 could be the time to buy real estate.
- Employees say JPMorgan is becoming more secretive about its workplace tracking efforts.
- Our correspondent went to Anna Delvey's art show — and saw his name in her work.
- These rising stars of equity research are making calls to help investors separate winners from losers.
- A cart girl for a Las Vegas golf course takes readers through a day in her life.
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Curated by Matt Turner. Edited by Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, and Lisa Ryan. Sign up for more Insider newsletters here.