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 today:
- High turnover and mounting losses are plaguing Goldman Sachs' Marcus consumer-banking unit.
- A Facebook contractor describes the "messy" end of their job.
- This 22-year-old is said to be behind one of crypto's most notorious projects.
- Leaked Oracle org charts show the 30 people running its cloud and tech teams.
Before we get to that — in late February, Insider launched an industry first: The Refresh from Insider, a podcast that's updated in real time throughout the day with the latest news. The hosts Rebeca Ibarra and Dave Smith have a quick word on how it's going so far.
If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider's app here.
A chat between the hosts of The Refresh from Insider
Dave Smith: Rebeca, can you believe our show has been running for almost six months now?
Rebeca Ibarra: Six months, six years — what even is time?!
Dave: What do you mean, 2022 has been such a snooze!
Rebeca: Bahaha. Our show literally launched four days after Russia invaded Ukraine. Remember your beautiful interview with a Ukrainian couple, where the woman fled to Greece and the husband stayed behind? What other stories have stuck with you?
Dave: Well, I just had a great talk with Matt Weinberger, deputy editor on Insider's tech team, about the race between Apple and Meta to build and dominate the metaverse. It's basically a rerun of the Mac-versus-PC wars.
Rebeca: Making a comeback like low-rise jeans and Bennifer!
Dave: Yes... Yes, just like that. [Looks around, seeking help.]
Dave: Also, let's not forget our very important, seminal take on goblin mode, when we learned that in the pandemic you used one bowl for everything from coffee to mac and cheese.
Rebeca: And on that note — off to lunch.
Dave: Listen to The Refresh from Insider here!
Inside the tumult at Goldman Sachs' Marcus
More than five years after launching its first product, Goldman's digital bank, Marcus, is burning cash with no signs of turning a profit. Executives reportedly expect it to lose another $1.2 billion this year.
Roughly a dozen former execs, junior employees, consultants, and others familiar with Marcus told Insider the unit's dysfunction extends deeper than its expenses — and includes tension between execs and high turnover.
What insiders are saying about Marcus.
A "messy" end to a Facebook contractor's job
Late last month, people contracted through Accenture to work for Facebook were laid off without severance. The layoffs affected workers in Austin, Texas, one of Facebook's relatively new hubs.
Workers said that before the cuts they saw their perks evaporate and their work habits monitored more intensely, and in some cases were put on more performance-improvement plans.
Lawsuit claims to unveil crypto founder "Zeus"
There's a lot of money sloshing around tony Weston, Connecticut. And a new lawsuit suggests the founders of a notorious crypto project that once held $800 million live there, too.
The identity of one of OlympusDAO's founders, known only as Zeus, has been a subject of speculation. Jayson Liang, who filed the lawsuit, says he was an early backer of OlympusDAO who was cheated out of millions by the organization and its founders — and his lawyers claim to have found Zeus.
The who's who of Oracle's cloud leadership
Oracle recently began layoffs that could affect thousands of employees globally, primarily in its marketing, advertising, and customer-experience units. But insiders said Oracle Cloud Infrastructure had been virtually unaffected.
Leaked org charts show Oracle's cloud leaders after major organizational changes at the company. The chart features the people who report up to Larry Ellison as well as Don Johnson, Oracle's cloud and AI leader.
Check out the Oracle cloud org chart.
Plus, for more of our latest coverage of Oracle:
- Oracle insiders describe the 'complete chaos' from layoffs and restructuring while employees brace for more
- The top marketing exec Oracle poached from AWS has left. Insiders say he argued with CEO Safra Catz over budgets.
- Oracle's all-important cloud business has reorganized and a top exec is leaving, leaked documents show
This week's quote:
"There are certain things that I would probably not do again. But I don't apologize for things I've done in my life."
— Paul Manafort, in an exclusive interview with Insider.
More of this week's top reads:
- Americans are heading across the Atlantic to start more affordable lives in Italy or France.
- Self-made millionaires share 12 books that have helped them build wealth.
- Amazon is going on a shopping spree. Here are the seven companies it could acquire.
- From a clothing line to an NFT company, we take you inside Tom Brady's business empire.
- In cities like Phoenix and Boise, the housing market is cooling off fast.
- Y Combinator's head of admissions shares what she's looking for in an application.
- An evicted couple prepare to face Maine's winter in a tent.
Curated by Matt Turner. Edited by Jordan Parker Erb, Sarah Belle Lin, and Lisa Ryan. Sign up for more Insider newsletters here.