fortune--2020-08-28--Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook made an ‘operational mistake’ with Kenosha militia group

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to explain on Friday why his company waited a day to remove the account of a self-proclaimed militia group that called for violence against protesters in Kenosha, Wis.
The company is facing intense backlash from both users and employees after 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse shot and killed two people and wounded a third at a protest in Kenosha on Tuesday. Protests began in the city after police shot Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old unarmed Black man, seven times in the back.
But before Rittenhouse took his rifle to the streets of Kenosha, a self-proclaimed militia group had already formed on Facebook. The group called Kenosha Guard created an event on Facebook, which it used to make a call to arms before the protests.
Facebook users the flagged the group and its event to Facebook so that it could be removed, but they were ignored until Wednesday, after three people had already been shot. Facebook employees reportedly slammed the company’s handling of the issue at an internal Q&A with Zuckerberg.
Here are three things Zuckerberg said in a video posted on Facebook on Friday about how the company handled the problem and what it intends to do in the future.
Facebook’s findings
Zuckerberg said that the company had designated the shooting as a “mass murder,” a distinction the company used to remove Rittenhouse’s account from Facebook and Instagram.
Following a review of that account, Zuckerberg said Facebook couldn’t see any signs of premeditation or discussion that revealed Rittenhouse’s plans to open fire. Zuckerberg also said Facebook had found no evidence the shooter was following the Kenosha Guard page or that he was connected to the event the group had created.
Why it failed
Still, Zuckerberg said the Kenosha Guard page and event that the group had posted violated a policy Facebook had put in place a couple of weeks ago banning militia and QAnon groups that may intend to organize violence. But Facebook failed to remove the Kenosha Guard page, even though it had been reported by several users, owing to an “operational mistake,” Zuckerberg said.
“The contractors and reviewers who the initial complaints were funneled to basically didn’t pick this up,” he said. “On second review, doing it more sensitively, the team that is responsible for dangerous organizations recognized that this violated the policies, and we took it down.”
What’s next
Facebook is looking for and removing a deluge of posts that praise the shooting or the shooter, Zuckerberg said. The company is also obscuring “disturbing imagery” related to the shooting, as is its policy for all graphic images.
Zuckerberg said the company is trying to better enforce its current policies as well as adjusting them to cover a wider range of issues so that it can identify more dangerous organizations—something it failed to do this time around.
“This shows that there is a…continued increased risk through the election during this very sensitive, polarized, and just highly charged time,” Zuckerberg said.


fortune--2020-08-28--J.K. Rowling is returning a human rights award connected to the Kennedy family

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Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling says she is returning an award from a human rights group linked to the Kennedy family after the president of the organization criticized her comments about transgender issues.
Rowling’s decision comes after Kerry Kennedy, the president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and the late senator’s daughter, published a statement expressing her “profound disappointment” with the author’s comments.
“The statement incorrectly implied that I was transphobic, and that I am responsible for harm to trans people,” Rowling said on her website.
“As a longstanding donor to LGBT charities and a supporter of trans people’s right to live free of persecution, I absolutely refute the accusation that I hate trans people or wish them ill, or that standing up for the rights of women is wrong, discriminatory, or incites harm or violence to the trans community.”
In a series of tweets in June, Rowling said she supported trans rights but did not believe in “erasing” the concept of biological sex. Rowling said she refused to “bow down” to a movement seeking “to erode ‘woman’ as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it.”
In a post on her website Friday, she expressed “solidarity with those who have contacted me but who are struggling to make their voices heard.”
Rowling has previously said she was partly motivated to speak out about the issue because of her personal experience of abuse and sexual assault.
Actors from the Harry Potter franchise, including Daniel Radcliffe, have previously criticized the author.
Kerry Kennedy joined the criticism this month when she published her statement on the website of RFK Human Rights. The group in December named Rowling one of its Ripple of Hope laureates for her founding of Lumos, which works to get children worldwide out of orphanages and into families.
Kennedy claimed Rowling’s ‘’attacks upon the transgender community” were a repudiation of her father’s vision.
“I have spoken with J.K. Rowling to express my profound disappointment that she has chosen to use her remarkable gifts to create a narrative that diminishes the identity of trans and nonbinary people, undermining the validity and integrity of the entire transgender community — one that disproportionately suffers from violence, discrimination, harassment, and exclusion and, as a result, experiences high rates of suicide, suicide attempts, homelessness, and mental and bodily harm,” Kennedy said.


fortune--2020-08-28--LG unveils a new high-tech ‘smart mask.’ But does it protect against COVID?

LG plans to sell a mask that makes cloth versions worn by many people during the coronavirus era seem like they’re from the Stone Age. The so-called smart mask, partially unveiled on Thursday, is packed with hospital-grade HEPA filters and battery-powered fans that are supposed to make breathing easier by drawing in air.
Although LG says the mask is good for health, hygiene, and making “life safer,” the company left one big question unanswered: Does the mask protect against COVID-19?
“If this mask were to be marketed as a protection against COVID, I would want to see data on its effectiveness for the wearer and also its effectiveness at limiting transmission of respiratory droplets to others,” said Janet Baseman, a professor of public health and epidemiology at the University of Washington. “Absent that data, it’s hard to say how it would perform against an N95 mask,” the type often used by health workers for protection against the coronavirus and other infectious diseases.
LG doesn’t have any data about its new mask’s effectiveness against COVID-19. Responding to an inquiry from Fortune, the Korean electronics company said it’s waiting for the results of ongoing tests before discussing the topic.
N95 masks have already been shown to both protect people wearing them from inhaling coronavirus-bearing droplets, and reduce the risk of their spreading the virus by breathing. Widely used cloth masks provide less protection for people wearing them than an N95, but they still help to significantly limit community transmission of the virus by reducing how far exhalations travel.
N95 masks can be difficult to breathe in, a nuisance LG apparently hopes to capitalize on with its fan-equipped masks. But those fans could themselves create unexpected risks. If a person infected with the coronavirus wears LG’s mask, the fans may create air currents outside the mask that could spread the virus.
An image of the LG mask, called the PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier, shows vents on its front, and while their exact purpose is unclear, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has already warned that masks with exhalation valves or vents “do not prevent the person wearing the mask from transmitting COVID-19 to others.”
LG has not yet announced the mask’s price or weight, but it plans to reveal more details at the IFA tech conference in Berlin in early September. LG says the mask will be available in a limited number of unidentified markets this year, sometime after Oct. 1.


fortune--2020-08-28--Why I’ve decided to stop playing the ‘safe’ Black professional role in corporate America

At an early age, I learned to alter my Blackness through the art of code-switching. My mother was a lawyer and knew what it took to thrive and survive in a world not always equal or equitable. I took her generational lessons, culturally adapted, and evolved into what I call a “Black Corporate Chameleon.”
I grew up on Chicago’s South Side in Gresham. For better educational opportunities, my father drove me and my sister to a predominately White elementary school out of our neighborhood. At 8, I discovered the importance of adapting to my surroundings—from style of dress, to language used, to music listened to, to extracurricular activities. I was living between two worlds trying to keep the beat—Madonna and New Kids on the Block by day, and Salt-N-Pepa and Janet Jackson by night. I’d learn to apply these skills to all facets of life, especially as a Black professional.
Read Fortune’s special report, “Working while Black: Stories from Black corporate America.”
Being a Black Corporate Chameleon has enabled me to work consistently alongside C-suite executives and high-level officials throughout my career. I’ve led and managed high-profile initiatives and projects domestically and abroad. However, now in my late thirties, I’m wondering if my lack of authenticity to my Blackness throughout my career has hurt more than helped me. While my ability to shield my Blackness has enabled me to fit in and work with corporate leaders, it’s come with a tradeoff. I’ve not been able to fully embrace my Black identity at work, and my employers have lost the opportunity to benefit from the diverse experiences and background I bring their organizations as a Black professional.
Forget that I graduated at the top of my undergrad class at Virginia Union University, a historically Black college and university (HBCU), that I have two advanced degrees from Johns Hopkins University, or that I’ve earned a wealth of experience in business transformation and organizational change management. My ability to build a demeanor that takes into consideration the negative stereotypes and biases I face as both a Black woman and professional has been just as important to my career. I can be assertive but not too aggressive, be strong yet not intimidating, be vocal but not too overbearing. For Black professionals who don’t strike this balance, colleague engagement, career advancement, and corporate alliances prove to be more challenging, because they may be labeled as individuals who are “hard to work with” or as “strong personalities.”
I’m educated, poised, articulate, and know how to blend into any corporate culture. I’m that sprinkle of Blackness that makes my White colleagues comfortable and leaders confident they’ve met their diversity quotas. From inappropriate jokes to racist comments and microaggressions at work—I’ve been taught to take the high road to ensure there’s no backlash or uncomfortable conversations.
I work hard to be viewed as a valuable asset while looking for uncharted paths to climb the corporate ladder. I’m optimistic, but I realize that although extremely qualified, I’m not on leadership’s short list of employees to sponsor or position for corporate advancement. There are unspoken but understood molds these leaders envision running their companies, and those molds do not look like me. The only way to break these molds is for Black professionals like myself to focus more on bringing our strengths and authentic selves to combat unconscious biases and stereotypes that often exist among corporate leaders and their organizations.
All of this, now layered in with the recent tragic events surrounding social unrest and racial inequality, has caused me to deeply reflect on the stances organizations are taking to improve their diversity and inclusion programs. I realize meaningful change starts with a united front from both corporate leaders and Black professionals like myself.
Here are five principles I’m following in order to stop being the Black Corporate Chameleon and enact real change in Corporate America.
Be intentional
It’s easy to rest when you finally earn the promotion to VP or partner; however, the journey has to continue. We must find ways to bridge diversity gaps. I plan on driving change by building solutions to enhance hiring strategies. I’ve observed organizations consistently hiring college graduates from the same educational institutions, which limits the talent pool. Hiring for diversity should be intentional (e.g., targeted recruiting at HBCUs). Additionally, I’ll be dedicating time to revamping coaching/mentoring programs to better align experienced employees of color with corporate leaders to enhance growth opportunities.
Make it uncomfortable with accountability
Change comes when people start feeling uncomfortable. Quick-fix solutions to address hundreds of years of racial inequality will not make change sustainable. From corporate funding being pulled from Facebook, to listening sessions, to social media postings about racial equality, it’s suddenly hip and cool to be perceived as an organization down for the cause. I’m using my voice to speak about uncomfortable issues, and challenging leaders on diversity action plans. True transformation happens through collaboration, education, understanding, and acceptance. From there, we can address the systemic racial issues embedded in the fabric of many corporate cultures.
Be honest
It’s been challenging to work with an elephant in the room. Topics around race and how they are affecting Black professionals get buried as COVID-19 takes the limelight. My feelings of anger and sadness have been suppressed as I put on my game-day face like it is business as usual. Moving forward, I’ll carve out a safe space to address issues impacting Black professionals in an effort to build and cultivate a culture of awareness, understanding, and growth.
Educate and build awareness
Conversations with emphatic allies who want to learn, understand, and evolve will go beyond diversity and inclusion and center racial equity. I recently educated and built awareness with senior leaders at my company regarding HBCUs and corporate partnerships. I was able to share the value of these institutions and set the tone for future conversations.
Embrace authenticity
Code-switching, though necessary for survival for many Black professionals, threatens true diversity. When you alter your Blackness or identity to make others feel comfortable, it does everyone a disservice. Organizations need professionals like me to be authentic and change the narrative by breaking down perceptions, sharing and owning who we are, our stories, our experiences. We bring diversity of thought that can further enrich the organizations in which we work. Own who you are and challenge the organizations you work for to do the same.
Katherine Thompson is a business transformation and organizational change management expert at Grant Thornton LLP.
The views in this article are that of the author. They are not reflective of the views of any employers.


fortune--2020-08-28--The FBI broke up a Russian hacker plot to extort millions from Tesla

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A team of Russian hackers offered $1 million to an employee from Tesla’s Nevada factory for installing malware on the company’s computers to steal sensitive data. Instead, the employee called the FBI, leading to the arrest of one of the hackers this week, according to newly unsealed court documents.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet on Thursday that the FBI arrest was “much appreciated” and that the plot targeting the Gigafactory in Sparks, Nev., was “a serious attack.” In discussions monitored by the FBI, the hackers said they had hoped to extort $4 million from Tesla via the plot. It’s a common occurrence—the FBI said businesses and individuals lost $3.5 billion to hackers last year.
The court documents revealed a well-organized, six-week effort by the Russian hackers to recruit the unnamed Tesla employee, identified only as a Russian immigrant to the U.S. with no criminal record of any kind.
The member of the Russian team who was arrested, named Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, first made contact with the employee, whom he had met years earlier, on July 16 via WhatsApp. Two weeks later, Kriuchkov traveled to San Francisco, rented a Toyota Corolla from Hertz, and drove to Nevada in an effort to coax the employee to install the malware program.
After hanging out together for a few days and doing touristy things like visiting Lake Tahoe, on the evening of Aug. 3, Kriuchkov revealed his true plans to the Tesla worker.
The pair had dinner and many rounds of drinks in a Reno restaurant. Then Kriuchkov revealed he was part of a group engaged in a “special project.” The plan was that he and his team would stage an attack over the Internet on Tesla’s computers known as a distributed denial-of-service attack. But the attack would merely be a diversion so that the employee could install a data-stealing malware program on Tesla’s network. The malware could be delivered via a thumb drive or in an email attachment.
That offer prompted the employee to get in touch with the FBI, which quickly began monitoring all of Kriuchkov’s actions.
Over subsequent days, the hacker met with the employee multiple times to hash out the plot, unaware that the FBI was listening in. On Aug. 18, Kriuchkov offered to pay the employee $1 million after the malware was installed. A day later, he had the employee use Tor, web browsing software designed to evade surveillance, to set up a Bitcoin wallet to accept the payment. And on Aug. 21, Kriuchkov gave the employee a burner phone, saying the group would send a signal via the phone when the operation was ready.
That was to be the pair’s last meeting, as Kriuchkov said he was leaving the country the next day. The FBI moved in and arrested Kriuchkov shortly thereafter. In federal court in Reno on Aug. 24, he was charged with one count of conspiring to intentionally cause damage to a protected computer and faces up to five years in prison.


fortune--2020-08-28--What to watch this weekend on Netflix, Hulu, and more

Between traditional television, video-on-demand releases, and a growing number of streaming services, it can be hard to keep up with what one should watch week to week. Fortune is here to help you keep track of new releases as well as the occasional older title worth checking out. Take a look at this weekend’s notable arrivals, a couple you may have missed earlier in the week, and what else is coming soon:
Netflix
“Cobra Kai” officially moves to Netflix on Aug. 28. Guy D’Alema
Cobra Kai: The third season of the series—initially a YouTube Original and a continuation of the Karate Kid movie series—won’t come to Netflix until 2021. But the first two seasons of the show will officially be available to watch on the streamer on Aug. 28.
All Together Now: Auli’i Cravalho (Moana) stars as a gifted teen who hopes to attend Carnegie Mellon University, but she’s harboring a secret: She’s homeless. The movie, based on the book Sorta Like a Rock Star, is available for streaming Aug. 28, and also stars Carol Burnett, Justina Machado, Judy Reyes, and Fred Armisen.
I Am a Killer: Released: The crime docuseries spinoff will be available to viewers on Aug. 28.
Unknown Origins: The Spanish serial-killer film, which involves some comics-related clues, arrives on the streamer Aug. 28.
Plus, two Daniel Craig James Bond films, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, will be available to watch on Netflix starting Aug. 31.
Hulu
“The Binge” is set in a time when all drugs and alcohol are illegal; the only day anyone can participate in the “fun” is on Binge Day. Starring, from left: Dexter Darden, Skyler Gisondo, and Eduardo Franco. Paul Viggiano—Hulu
The Binge: Think The Purge, but perhaps more comedic…and also involving more drugs. This Hulu original flick, out Aug. 28, stars Vince Vaughn and takes place in a world where alcohol and drug consumption is banned, with the exception of one night each year.
Bond movies Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace are also joining Hulu on Aug. 31.
HBO Max
Earlier in the week, docuseries Ravi Patel: Pursuit of Happiness made its debut on the streaming service. Steven Universe Future is also on the streamer Aug. 28, and the Ben Affleck flick The Way Back is available Aug. 29.
On VOD
Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves star in “Bill & Ted Face the Music.” Patti Perret—Orion Pictures
Bill & Ted Face the Music: Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are back for a third time in this comedy sequel that arrives in select theaters, as well as VOD, Aug. 28.
Rogue: The action movie starring Megan Fox as a “battle-hardened mercenary” will be available to watch on demand Aug. 28.
Documentary House of Cardin—which focuses on designer Pierre Cardin—is available via virtual theatrical release (and in some select theaters) on Aug. 28 before moving to an official VOD release Sept. 15. Read Fortune’s interview with the filmmakers here.


fortune--2020-08-28--Elon Musk’s secretive brain-machine venture, Neuralink, offers a glimpse

This is the web version of Term Sheet, a daily newsletter on the biggest deals and dealmakers. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.
Good morning, Term Sheet readers. A few things to keep track of, on what could have been a sleepy Friday:
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has no shortage of futuristic, and quite literally moonshot projects in the works. Neuralink, a neurotechnology company founded ostensibly to keep humans on par with advanced machines and A.I., is among them.
On Friday at 3 p.m. PT, the secretive brain-machine company founded by Musk plans to show a working “V2” of the device it first revealed a year ago. “It will blow your mind,” Musk wrote in a tweet.
What exactly the technology is capable of is still a topic of fascination, and at the center of daydreams for any sci-fi nerd. Neuralink’s product is a small chip implant stitched into the brain via a network of wires, with the goal of one day building an implant that is capable of helping people control computers and smartphones with a thought. Last year, Neuralink showed a product designed to eventually treat those with traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries. However, the plan expands perhaps even beyond that: On Twitter, Musk has painted a picture of a product that could one day treat addiction and depression, manage obsessive compulsive disorder, and help manage conditions ranging from autism to ALS. Even when asked if Neuralink’s product would allow users to stream music, Musk responded “yes” via Twitter.
As exciting as it is, the venture, which also has raised funding from Craft Ventures and DFJ Growth, is not the only company trying to build a human-machine interface. There’s also CTRL-Labs (acquired by Facebook in 2019), which is developing a non-invasive method of translating muscle impulses into digital signals. Another, called Kernel, also has been operating in the arena.
For now, it’s still the early innings for Neuralink—the company is awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
Walmart gets in on TikTok: Yes, Walmart is now pursuing TikTok’s U.S. operations, aligning itself with Microsoft as Oracle reportedly stands with Sequoia and General Atlantic with a competing bid. So why would a retailer insert itself in a tech fight? Well, technology is eating the world and Walmart is hoping to boost its digital footprint as it goes head-to-head with Amazon—and it has a lot of room to make that transition: Walmart’s online business is just 5% of its total sales. The retailer’s interest in TikTok also signifies a bet on the youngest generation of consumers, given that the app’s average user skews toward Gen Z.
Lucinda Shen
Twitter: @shenlucinda
Email: lucinda.shen@fortune.com
VENTURE DEALS
- proteanTecs, a Haifa, Israel-based developer of solutions for electronic health and performance monitoring, raised $45 million in funding. Koch Disruptive Technologies led the round and was joined by investors including Valor Equity Partners and Atreides Management.
- Shopmonkey, a San Jose, Calif.-based software company serving the automotive industry, raised $25 million in Series B funding. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round and was joined by investors including Index Ventures, e.ventures, and I2BF.
- Verta, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based A.I. model management and operations company, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Intel Capital led the round and was joined by investors including General Catalyst.
- harbor, an emergency readiness platform, raised $5 million in funding. 25madison led the round. Read more.
- PrizePool, a San Francisco company seeking to incentivize Americans to build savings, raised $4.3 million in seed funding. Investors included Accomplice, Bling Capital, Coatue, SciFi VC, and World Innovation Lab.
- Fiddler, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based provider of an A.I. monitoring solution, received a strategic investment from the Amazon Alexa Fund. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
PRIVATE EQUITY
- Goldman Sachs' merchant banking division and Everstone Group agreed to acquire a significant stake in QMetry, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based provider of a continuous testing platform. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Bain Capital Private Equity plans to invest $750 million in Nutanix (Nasdaq: NTNX), a San Jose, Calif.-based provider of enterprise cloud computing solutions.
- Accel-KKR made a majority investment in Navtor, an Egersund, Norway-based navigational software maker for the maritime industry. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- AFC Industries, a portfolio company of Incline Equity Partners, acquired Master Distribution, a Brunswick, Ohio-based distributor of channel and pipe fittings. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Levine Leichtman Capital Partners agreed to acquire BigHand, a London-based workflow software maker, from Bridgepoint Development Capital and minority co-investor LDC. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
OTHERS
-Kioxia Holdings, the world’s second-largest maker of flash memory chips, plans to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Oct. 6. Bain Capital backs the firm. Read more.
IPOS
- Accountable Healthcare America Inc., a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based population health management company, will go public by merging with GreenVision Acquisition Corp., a blank-check company. The combination gives the company a $150 million enterprise value.
- Xpeng, a Chinese manufacturer of smart electric SUVs, raised $1.5 billion in an offering of 99.7 million ADSs priced at $15, above its $11 to $13 range.
- CF Finance Acquisition II, the second blank-check company formed by Cantor Fitzgerald, raised $500 million in an IPO. Read more.
- FG New America Acquisition, a blank-check company from TD Ameritrade chairman Joseph Moglia, filed to raise $225 million through an IPO. It is targeting a company in the fintech and insurtech space. Read more.
EXIT
- MidOcean Partners acquired Music Reports, a provider of music rights data, administration, and management services, from ABRY Partners. Financial terms weren't disclosed.
- Delivery Hero agreed to acquire InstaShop, a Dubai-based online grocery delivery business, for up to $360 million.
F+FS
- Everstone Capital, an India- and Southeast Asia-focused private equity firm, is planning its fourth buyout fund aiming at likely raising $1 billion. Read more.
- ArchiMed, a health care-focused private equity firm, raised €1 billion for its MED Platform I fund.
PEOPLE
- Talis Capital named Beatrice Aliprandi and Kiirll Tasilov as principals, and Tom Williams as a partner.
- Saudi Aramco appointed Mahdi Aladel to run its $500 million venture capital and investments arm, Energy Ventures, per Bloomberg. Read more.


fortune--2020-08-28--The legacy Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister, will leave after resigning

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Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving Prime Minister in Japanese history, announced Friday that he will resign in order to begin treatment for a chronic illness.
At a press conference in Tokyo, Abe, 65, confirmed reports that he has been battling ulcerative colitis, an incurable inflammatory bowel disease that also forced him to resign as Prime Minister in 2007, ending his first term after just over a year in office. A new drug helped Abe manage the symptoms of the illness in his second term, which began in 2012. But in recent months, he had all but disappeared from public view, and, in his rare outings, he appeared slow and subdued.
Monday marked Abe’s 2,799th straight day in office, making him Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister and surpassing the record set by his great-uncle, Eisaku Sato. Instead of celebrating, the Japanese leader spent much of the day at Keio University Hospital in Tokyo, his second hospital visit in a week. He revealed today that a checkup in June confirmed a recurrence of the disease.
“I am not confident of responding to the trust of the people while I am dealing with my illness and treatment and my health is not good,” Abe said. “I made a judgment that I should not continue my job as Prime Minister.”
Abe said he would stay on until leaders of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party elect a successor. A general election isn’t due until October of next year.
Abe, the grandson of former Premier Nobusuke Kishi and son of former foreign minister Shintaro Abe, has been the dominant force in Japanese politics since his return to the premiership. He brought stability to a frenetic era in Japanese politics that churned through six Prime Ministers in as many years.
In his second term, Abe helped Japan’s economy, the world’s third-largest, claw its way out of a cycle of deflation. He raised Japan’s presence on the world stage by boosting defense spending and paring back restrictions on Japan’s military. He had unexpected success in managing Japan’s fraught relationships with its most important ally, the United States, and its largest trade partner, China.
Abe led the Liberal Democratic Party to multiple electoral victories, the largest of them being the 2017 landslide that left the party, along with its coalition partners, in control of two-thirds of the seats in Parliament. But even with that supermajority, he failed in his career-long quest to revise Article 9, the pacifist clause in Japan’s U.S.-drafted postwar constitution.
Nor will Abe realize his dream of presiding over the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. The event, which was to be held this year, has been postponed until 2021 because of the coronavirus—and may not be held at all.
Japan has not suffered from the soaring increases in infections and deaths that have afflicted the United States, but critics faulted Abe for failing to deal more swiftly and decisively to contain the virus. Japan’s infection rate peaked at about 2,000 new cases per day at the beginning of August and has since declined to under 1,000 new cases per day.
The outbreak has taken a heavy toll on Japan’s economy, which shrank at an annualized rate of 27.8% between April and June compared with the previous quarter—the sharpest contraction on record. Abe’s approval rating has slumped to a record low of 34%, according to a tracking poll by public broadcaster NHK, with 47% of the public disapproving of his performance.
Abe leaves no obvious successor. Leading candidates for the job include Shigeru Ishiba, a former defense and agriculture minister; Fumio Kishida, the LDP’s head of policy; and chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga.
Ishiba, thought by many to be the front-runner, is popular among the party’s rank and file, though less so among senior faction leaders. He is considered Abe’s main LDP rival and has criticized Abe’s policies for being too generous to the wealthy.
Suga is adept at managing the bureaucracy and has been a loyal lieutenant. But many observers think Abe is likely to endorse Kishida to block the ascent of Ishiba. Dark-horse candidates include current foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi and defense minister Taro Kono. None of the contenders can match Abe’s stature.
Jesper Koll, economist and senior adviser for WisdomTree Investments, argues that whomever the LDP picks, Abe’s successor is unlikely to make a significant difference in terms of economic policy. “The key takeaway for financial markets is that, no, it does not really matter” who replaces Abe, Koll observed in a recent note to investors. “The battle within the LDP is all about personality, not policy. This is true for monetary, fiscal, regulatory, and even social policy, with none of the post-Abe contenders prepared to step away from the advice and wisdom offered by the technocracy.”
Japan’s opposition parties are unlikely to capitalize on the LDP’s dearth of charismatic heirs. This month the nation’s two largest opposition groups, the Constitutional Democratic Party and the Democratic Party for the People, announced plans to merge in order to challenge the LDP next year. That alliance will bring together about 150 lawmakers across both houses of Parliament, yet nowhere near enough to challenge the LDP’s 400.
Abe’s economic policy agenda, inevitably dubbed “Abenomics,” included three “arrows”: aggressive monetary policy easing, flexible fiscal policy management, and a growth strategy that called for broad regulatory reform and new programs to encourage more women to participate in the labor force.
The first two arrows were the only ones to hit the mark. They were enough to produce steady, if unimpressive annual growth rates of between about 0.5% and 2%. Wages are rising again. The stock market has doubled in value since Abe began his second term.
Investors may take comfort in the likelihood that the architect of Japan’s negative interest rate policy, central bank governor Haruhiko Kuroda, will stick around and stay the course. And with Japan’s economy paralyzed by the pandemic, there is little reason to expect the next Prime Minister would seek to reverse the huge spending programs enacted to bolster growth under Abe.
Even so, Japan still lacks a coherent program for coping with its biggest long-term challenge: a rapidly aging and shrinking labor force.
Japan’s benchmark stock index sank 2% on Friday, while the yen strengthened, suggesting investors fear Abe’s exit doesn’t augur well for future growth.


fortune--2020-08-28--President Trump’s one-man rules for TikTok

This is the web version of Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the top tech news. To get it delivered daily to your in-box, sign up here.
(Some of you were not fans of my essay last Friday about the TikTok affair. Here’s Adam with a very different view. -Aaron)
Let’s pause for a moment and consider the bizarre state of play around us.
For years, the U.S. and its allies have mostly tolerated Chinese abuse of the free-market, globalization rules of engagement. China, which used to be a small, backward economy, blatantly restricted some Western industries—notably media, entertainment, and Internet firms—while actively and lucratively welcoming other sectors, notably agriculture, heavy industry, and even iPhones.
The West complained bitterly, particularly software companies and others whose intellectual property the increasingly affluent Chinese brazenly stole or otherwise extorted. But mostly we went along with China because more companies and people than not were getting filthy rich. Barack Obama began pushing back against the Chinese, and then Donald Trump, in his inelegant, inconsistent fashion, pushed back even harder.
This brings us to the current sad state of affairs, where the leader of the free world, the president of the country most devoted to the rule of law and a values system of fairness, arbitrarily orders a Chinese-owned American company, TikTok, to sell itself. Because he said so. In other words, the U.S., frustrated by Chinese behavior, has stooped to Chinese tactics, dictating without due process how businesses should operate—shamefully and inexplicably asking for a vig in the process.
Respectable Business Roundtable types, purpose be damned, act as if this were normal and say nothing.
More, in this upside down world, the nation’s finest companies, including Microsoft and Walmart, strap on their rubber boots and lower themselves into the muck because, well, that’s where the game is being played according to the governing regime’s derived-from-one-man rules. Just how it works in China.
Reputations of otherwise well-pedigreed people lie in the balance, a common theme in Trump’s America. Ex-Disney stalwart Kevin Mayer had been ridiculed as ByteDance’s American puppet, a reference to the Chinese owner of TikTok and its U.S.-based CEO. Mayer resigned Thursday. Not the job he signed up for. Also, according to a well-placed source I spoke to, Mayer had been cut out of the negotiations to sell the company. A puppet indeed, then, and for a man known for a healthy ego it was time to go.
He at least said enough was enough.
Adam Lashinsky
@adamlashinsky
adam.lashinsky@fortune.com
This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Aaron Pressman.
NEWSWORTHY
Dance while the music still goes on. The electric vehicle bubble on Wall Street is going strong. Exhibit 77: Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng Motors raised $1.5 billion in an IPO on Thursday, then saw its share price jump 40%, giving it a value of around $15 billion. Then again, at least Xpeng has $300 million of annual sales.
Don't you hear them play our song. In a surprise turn for Amazon's health efforts, the company announced an app-based health and wellness advice service called Halo that requires its own activity tracking band. Sensors in the $65 band capture heart rate, skin temperature, movements, amount of sleep, and tone of voice. Early users will get six months of the service for free and then have to pay $4 per month.
God knows that we've been trying. It was a busy day of quarterly earnings. The pandemic-fueled need for laptops at home helped Dell and HP just about stave off lower business demand and beat analyst expectations. Overall revenue slumped 3% to $22.7 billion at Dell, as consumer sales rose 18%. Dell shares, previously up 21% in 2020, gained another 4% in pre-market trading on Friday. At HP, overall sales dropped 2% to $14.3 billion, with laptop sales jumping 30%. HP shares, down 9% so far this year, gained 3% pre-market. COVID-crushed cloud software provider Nutanix said its quarterly revenue gained 9% to $328 million, and also announced its CEO was leaving and Bain Capital was investing $750 million. Its stock price, previously down 31%, jumped 14% on Friday morning.
Let's make it a memory. As we mentioned on Monday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk today is unveiling the latest version of his brain-to-computer interface, called Neuralink. . And speaking of living in a simulation, the new version of Microsoft Flight Simulator is so realistic that a bunch of users became virtual storm chasers and "flew" through Hurricane Laura.
So dance, it's our way to say goodbye. Former rapper and current podcasting star Joe Budden is leaving Spotify. Budden's show was one of the service's early breakout podcast hits, but apparently the company wouldn't give Budden a $100 million deal like it gave Joe Rogan, its most popular podcaster now.
Tonight's a night we borrow. Eyeglasses startup Warby Parker raised $245 million of venture capital in a deal that values the company at about $3 billion, almost double the value at its last raise two years ago. That's quite a sight.
(Today's headline reference explainer video for all you disco fans out there.)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
The conference and events business has turned from lucrative to almost non-existent during the pandemic (as Fortune knows first hand). Writer and entrepreneur Rafat Ali, now CEO of Skift, has put on many an event and has a compelling essay on what he is calling the industry's "Napster moment."
Zoom is the Napster of the event industry, the ease with which you can put on good-enough virtual events with a global audience, almost for free, much to the undercutting of the underlying economics of the physical events world. All types of business event — conferences, trade shows, conventions — are in danger of their revenues streams of tickets, sponsorships, memberships, and other types of fees being eroded as the world gets used to digital formats and alternatives emerge to physical networking, matchmaking and other tasks we get out of these events.
Billions of dollars have been sucked out of the industry this year as it is completely shut, and virtual is making up only a tiny fraction of that.
FOR YOUR WEEKEND READING PLEASURE
A few great long reads I came across this week:
Rich Benoit Built a Career by Rebuilding a Tesla. What's Next for Rich Rebuilds? (Car and Driver)
Benoit set out to build a cheap Model S, he ended up with a massive YouTube following, an independent EV repair shop, and a highly visible challenge to Tesla's iron-fisted control over its cars.
The Reigning Queen of TikTok (Marie Claire)
She’s not lip-synching, breakdancing, or completing the #UmbrellaChallenge. She’s not Loren Gray, Addison Easterling, or Charli D’Amelio. But Vanessa Pappas is TikTok’s secret weapon, and, as the social media company’s U.S. general manager, she’s leading the unequivocally popular—and controversial—app into a future unknown.
The Wildest Insurance Fraud Scheme Texas Has Ever Seen (Texas Monthly)
Over a decade, Theodore Robert Wright III destroyed cars, yachts, and planes. That was only the half of it.
My three decades alone, basking in the company of a mountain (Psyche)
When I first moved to the mountain, the mountain men—the Mountain Posse, as this self-styled renegade group called themselves—placed bets on how long I, a 28-year-old single woman from the suburbs, would last. The longest bet, so I’ve been told, was two years.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
3 reasons why Walmart is chasing TikTok By Danielle Abril
PwC releases its first-ever diversity report By Ellen McGirt
After years of ‘too much TV,’ the pandemic means there’s now barely enough By Aric Jenkins
Tesla loses ground in Europe despite a local surge in EV purchases post-lockdown By Eamon Barrett
Why the Fed’s huge policy shift on inflation could be rocket fuel for stocks By Bernhard Warner
The future of working will be at home—and at the office By Alan Murray and Katherine Dunn
(Some of these stories require a subscription to access. Thank you for supporting our journalism.)
BEFORE YOU GO
Among the sporting events making a comeback from COVID-19 is cycling. The Tour de France starts on Saturday, with a full compliment of bike racers though significant restrictions on the number of screaming roadside fans. Will defending champ Egan Bernal repeat? What about hometown hero Thibaut Pinot? Pedal on and have a great weekend.
Aaron Pressman
@ampressman
aaron.pressman@fortune.com


fortune--2020-08-28--Moms are getting fewer raises and promotions than dads while working remotely

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! USPS delays threaten birth control access, Naomi Osaka returns to the court, and working moms are falling behind in raises and promotions. Have a wonderful weekend.
– The wisdom to know the difference. The Broadsheet has spent the last six months or so (yep, half a year already!) covering the many ways in which our current remote work reality is poised to damage women’s careers.
Now, a new survey from theBoardlist and Qualtrics suggests that that damage is starting to manifest. More that a third of dads with children at home who responded to the survey said they’ve received a promotion while working remotely, and 26% reported having gotten a pay raise. Among moms, just 9% reported being promoted while WFH, and 13% said they’d landed a pay bump.
Oof.
Managers: you can do something about this. If you’re responsible for doling out promotions or raises, why not track the gender breakdown of who’s getting what? And if women are falling behind, take the time to find out why. TheBoardlist CEO Shannon Gordon tells Working Mother that employers often jump to the conclusion that moms are “less dedicated” to their jobs—despite the endless research that shows that childcare duties and other WFH disruptions tend to fall disproportionately to women.
There’s so much about this pandemic—and the way its reshaping our world, for better or worse—that’s out of our control. Let’s not let the things we can change slip by us.
Kristen Bellstrom
kristen.bellstrom@fortune.com
@kayelbee
Today’s Broadsheet was curated by Emma Hinchliffe.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- That's a wrap. In the final night of the RNC, Ivanka Trump introduced her father as he accepted the Republican nomination for president. The New York Times reflects on Ivanka's role in the last election—and how it's changed—asking, "Is Ivanka Trump going to change anyone's mind?" New York Times
- Mail order. One victim of U.S. Postal Service delays? Women who rely on getting their birth control via mail. Some oral contraceptive providers report that their customers aren't receiving their medication on time. Fortune
- Back on the court. Naomi Osaka joined athletes nationwide who are striking in protest of police brutality and the shooting of Jacob Blake by withdrawing from her scheduled match on Thursday. Now the tennis star says she will play the match today. The Women's Tennis Association and U.S. Tennis Association agreed to postpone all Western & Southern Open competition along with Osaka's, a decision she hopes will bring "more attention to the movement." Guardian
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: After a period of upheaval, Bon Appétit has a new editor-in-chief: Dawn Davis, a longtime publishing executive. Maven hired Iora Health chief growth officer Sonia Millsom as chief commercial officer. AMP Robotics hired Galvanize VP of people and culture Emilie Kintner to lead talent and culture.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
- Glow-up? In earnings yesterday, cosmetics giant Coty—which has recently expanded its investment in Kardashian beauty brands—posted worse-than-expected results. Incoming CEO Sue Nabi says she plans to refocus the business on "good products." WWD
- Black Beauty. In Elle this month, a new series: "The State of Black Beauty." The project kicks off with Tracee Ellis Ross in conversation with Kerry Washington about her new haircare line Pattern Beauty and with 20 women reflecting on their own Black hair stories. Elle
- Changemakers. For Harper's Bazaar, director Ava DuVernay selects eight "change-makers who are reshaping the way we think about art, identity, and progress." Learn about Black Lives Matter activist and professor Melina Abdullah, entertainment lawyer Nina Shaw, documentarian and co-director of And She Could Be Next Grace Lee, and more: Harper's Bazaar
ON MY RADAR
The short life of Toyin Salau and a legacy still at work Jezebel
A rising women's team looks past the pandemic New York Times
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be this year’s Liberty Medal recipient WHYY
PARTING WORDS
"Giving people opportunities is a wonderful thing. Not failing them is the bigger thing—not letting them fail themselves.”
-Ceyenne Doroshow, founder and executive director of Gays and Lesbians Living in a Transgender Society


fortune--2020-08-28--‘Things will become more difficult:’ Merkel tries to sell debt-averse Germany on her ambitious COVID

‘Things will become more difficult:’ Merkel tries to sell debt-averse Germany on her ambitious COVID spending plan

Chancellor Angela Merkel warned the coronavirus crisis will get worse before it gets better and that the fallout will test Germany’s finances for months if not years to come.
The long-time leader of Europe’s biggest economy was short on comforting words, saying that beating the disease hangs on the uncertain pace of developing and disseminating a vaccine—a process that could take 12 months or more. As the summer draws to a close and people are forced indoors, the situation is likely to get worse, she said during her annual summer address.
“I am firmly convinced that it is a good decision to take on a high degree of debt because anything else would mean we would be in the grip of the pandemic for a lot longer,” Merkel said Friday in Berlin. “In retrospect, I’m happy we didn’t succumb to the sweet poison of borrowing in good times,” giving Germany more resources to fight the crisis now.
The wide-ranging briefing was one of her last summer press conferences before she steps down after 16 years in power following elections next fall. She made it clear that the Covid-19 crisis will dominate the remainder of her political career, opening the event with a personal appeal to Germans in which she thanked them for their sacrifices but warned that more would be needed.
“There are indications that things will become more difficult in coming months,” she said. “It’s serious, unchanged serious. Continue to take it seriously.”
‘Extraordinary’ Times
While Merkel has been praised for her handling of the pandemic, cracks have started to appear. She struggled to get state leaders aligned on response measures as infection rates rising again. On Thursday, the chancellor urged Germans to avoid travel to virus-hit areas like the U.S., and warned that restrictions on family gatherings may still come.
Merkel’s crisis management has been accompanied by her government’s historic decision to abandon its balanced-budget policy, suspending constitutional debt limits as part of a massive stimulus push. She was also a driving force behind the European Union’s recovery fund, which allows the bloc to pool borrowing for the first time.
“If extraordinary circumstances don’t make it possible to act in an extraordinary way, then you’re doing something wrong politically,” she said, adding that the pandemic will challenge Germany’s financial capacity because of the uncertainty over when it will end.
While she defended Germany’s borrowing binge, Merkel showed that her government aims to maintain as much budget discipline as possible. The country will get around 22 billion euros ($26 billion) from the European Union’s recovery fund, which she helped to create. Rather than use the funds for new initiatives, most of the money will be spent on existing programs under its stimulus plan.
‘Back in Gear’
The country has to work hard to “maintain our economy as much as possible or get it back in gear again,” she said, adding that Germany also needs to focus on issues such as climate change and digitalization that will impact its future competitiveness.
While the pandemic dominated Friday’s press conference, Merkel is also battling geopolitical tensions. Germany’s relations with Russia have taken a hit after the alleged poisoning of opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who is being treated at a Berlin clinic close to where the news conference is being held.
She voiced concern about the possibility of Russia sending troops into Belarus after President Vladimir Putin said the Kremlin has prepared a cadre of police officers to assist the country if necessary. She said that tensions will continue to accompany German-Russian relations in the coming months but there’s no need to harden her stance.
Merkel’s Other Main Points Won’t change policy on Russia; goal is to maintain good relationship Rejects U.S. attempts to halt Nord Stream 2 pipeline, wants project completed Will seek EU-wide response if tests prove Navalny was poisoned Regrets resignation of Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who always defended multi-lateralism Defends decisions on immigration, would mostly do same again
On the domestic front, Merkel has tried to sidestep discussions about her successor, but has been drawn into the jockeying by appearing in recent weeks with potential contenders from her conservative Christian Democratic-led bloc: North Rhine-Westphalia’s premier Armin Laschet and Bavaria’s Markus Soeder.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has already been declared the chancellor candidate for the Social Democrats, and campaigning has seeped into her fraught coalition.
Merkel, who was in quarantine earlier this year after contact with a doctor who later tested positive, usually takes a walking holiday in the mountains of Italy’s South Tyrol, but Covid-19 quashed those plans, so Merkel kept it local and vague, saying only that she would spend her summer vacation this summer in Germany.
Asked on Friday what she regrets about the containment restrictions, she said: “Mostly I miss the spontaneity in contact with other people.”


fortune--2020-08-29--Tesla has a business model problem: It can never justify its current stock price by simply making ca

Tesla has a business model problem: It can never justify its current stock price by simply making cars

One university may have the best COVID testing operation in the U.S.—and tests students twice a week

You can be forgiven for not knowing what to make of Tesla’s amazing run and the battling views on whether it can keep racing. Fans are cheering Elon Musk’s speedster from the home side of the bleachers, and naysayers are blasting boos from across the track. Boosters such as Ron Baron, chief of major shareholder Baron Capital, recently forecast that Tesla will mushroom to “at least $1 trillion in sales” over the next 10 years, while a legion of noted short-sellers, including Jim Chanos of Kynikos Associates, were betting big against the electric-car maker when it was far cheaper, and fared poorly when its shares went on a tear. Chanos remains a skeptic, remarking that “Tesla’s not a market leader. The product at Tesla that’s always been first-rate is the narrative.”
Indeed, the more than ninefold jump in Tesla’s shares since September 2019, lifting its valuation from $45 billion to $417 billion—capped by a more than doubling from $200 billion at the end of June—ranks as one of the most astounding performances in the annals of capital markets.
But Tesla is still the glamour model in the ultracompetitive, capital-intensive, mainly slow-growth business of building and selling cars. As this writer noted earlier this year, in a blindfold test, most investors would probably balk at Tesla’s numbers. Tesla’s being touted as a go-go player in the antithesis of a go-go sector. So here’s the question that folks and funds pondering an investment in the EV maker should be asking: Over the next several years, what’s the valuation Tesla must achieve to reward them for shouldering the heavy risk of buying its shares right now? The answer depends largely on how many electric vehicles it needs to sell going forward, and whether achieving those volumes is remotely plausible, considering that at least half-a-dozen rivals with big plans for their own EVs will be vying for the same customers.
The short answer is that given the current size and projected growth of the industry, Tesla can’t get there. It would have to put an impossibly large number of customers behind the wheel. It’s not that Tesla can’t be successful. The killer is that its bubble valuation mandates future performance that simply looks unachievable.
As always, a high-flier’s towering market cap doesn’t tell you how it will perform, but does determine how it has to perform to make you money. Its valuation sets the speed that a racer must beat. In the future, Tesla’s wheels may not come off, but it can’t go fast enough to win for new investors.
Let’s be conservative and assume you’d want a 7% annual return on Tesla. That’s hardly great when you weigh the big starting price and the wildly divergent views on how its stock will fare. We’ll further predict that as a vaunted growth play, Tesla pays no dividends and reinvests all of its profits to stoke growth. In that scenario, its valuation would need to double in 10 years, from today’s $417 billion to around $834 billion by mid-2030.
How much would Tesla need to earn 10 years hence? That depends on its price/earnings ratio looking ahead. It’s unlikely that any big automaker can remain a runaway growth machine after decades in the business, but we’ll give Tesla a generous multiple of 25 in 2030, meaning that investors still expect it to wax at better-than-industry rates. In that case, Tesla would need to post $26.4 billion in GAAP net earnings by the summer of 2030 ($33.4 billion pretax, less corporate rate of 21%).
Let’s put that $26.4 billion bogey in 2020 dollars, to better compare where Tesla needs to go alongside the status of its present and future rivals. At 2% inflation, the $26.4 billion equates to $21.64 billion. That’s a heck of a number, considering that Tesla posted a loss of $862 million in 2019, and generated a modest $799 million in free cash flow—a figure dwarfed 462 to 1 by its market cap.
But Tesla isn’t just a car company. It’s getting 15% of its revenues from energy generation and storage, and services. We’ll assume Tesla generates 85% of its sales and profits from cars in the future. In that case, its profit would hit $18.4 billion (85% of $21.64 billion) in our success road map in 10 years.
How big would Tesla’s sales need to grow to generate $18.4 billion in net profits, measured in 2020 dollars? Over the past several years, the top net margins garnered by the world’s major automakers were in the mid-8% range, posted by BMW and Toyota. We’ll act like a Tesla believer and predict that it will achieve a margin of net income to sales of 9%.
That math puts Tesla’s 2030 revenues at $204 billion, once again, in today’s dollars. That’s around three-quarters the size of the two biggest carmakers measured by 2019 revenue, VW ($280 billion) and Toyota ($275 billion).
Sounds unlikely. Last year, Tesla posted $24.6 billion in revenue. To reach $204 billion by 2030, its sales would need to jump 23% a year, adjusted for inflation (or 25%, adding a 2% annual increase in the CPI).
Keep in mind that Tesla isn’t a mass-market purveyor like VW and Toyota. Its speciality is pricey models. In 2019, it booked $57,600 on average on the autos it delivered to customers. So by today’s standards, what volume of cars would get Tesla to our goal of making you money?
It would take sales of 3.5 million EVs—each generating today’s $58,000—to achieve $204 billion in sales. Is it doable? Global revenues for the entire luxury car universe in 2019 amounted to roughly $650 billion and by 2030 would be around $860 billion in real terms. So Tesla would need to capture roughly one-quarter of the total market in ten years. Last year, its dollar share was less than 4%. The entire sector would probably reach 10 million vehicles, so that Tesla would be selling over one in three of the world’s high-priced autos.
To make the numbers, Tesla needs to conquer an additional one-fifth of the entire global luxury car market. That’s 25 points of market share that the likes of Daimler and BMW would lose. A shift even half that big seems impossible, since these rivals will battle Tesla for every point by lowering prices, improving road performance, and adding features.
Tesla fans argue that it enjoys great “optionality.” It could generate big sales and profits outside of selling Teslas by supplying batteries to other carmakers, or deploying new technologies. It’s important to note, however, that our analysis assumes that the non-car, 15% of Tesla’s business also grows at gigantic, 20%-plus rates in the future. If it doesn’t, Tesla will have even more trouble hitting the targets.
In a sense, Tesla will be a victim of the zealots who sent its stock price on a moonshot. Their overoptimism has made it impossible for today’s investors to profit. Tesla stock could someday be a good deal, but only if it suffers a drop as jaw-dropping as its rise.


fortune--2020-08-29--How to update your guests about your pandemic wedding plans

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Seven days before her wedding, Jacqueline Lachevre lost her venue. And the caterer. And the string quartet. While some couples were able to reschedule their wedding for next year and keep their same date, that wasn’t an option for the Lachevres; her then-fiancé, Alexander, is a surgeon who works on 12-month contracts. If they pushed the wedding back exactly one year, they’d have to get married in an unfamiliar state only to pack it all up and move again.
Before deciding to get married in July, like many brides at the beginning of the pandemic Lachevre wasn’t sure what to do. To keep her guests in the loop while she considered a plan B––and a plan C, D, and E–– Lachevre mailed a card to her guests, the first line in large letters: “We still do.”
“Due to COVID-19, we have decided to cancel our wedding until further notice,” it read, “Thank you for your overwhelming support and love. We hope to be able to celebrate together in the future, and we’ll be in touch if we are able to set a new date. Stay safe, Jacqueline and Alexander.”
The Vermont bride is one of many dealing with the upset that the pandemic has caused across the wedding industry. According to spokesperson Emily Forrest, digital wedding planning and registry website Zola has seen nearly 75% percent of its couples with a 2020 summer date adjust their wedding ceremonies to stick to their original date.
“Of these couples, a large number are getting married in an intimate ceremony now but hosting a big party later on,” Forrest explains. “This new two-part wedding has fondly been dubbed wedding part one and wedding part two by our Facebook Community. Overall, we have seen a huge shift from spring couples who all postponed completely to a renewed sense of willingness to get married in some way.”
No matter their choice, updating guests about changes––and in some cases, uninviting them––is just as hard.
After the initial wedding update, COVID cases around the U.S. continued to rise, and that made the decision for the Lachevres: “We really wanted to close that chapter of our lives and start this next chapter as a married couple.” The couple said I do during an intimate, outdoor ceremony in July.
When Lizzie Post, the great-great-granddaughter of etiquette legend Emily Post, received Lachevre’s notice about her wedding changes, she says she cheered up reading it, rather than feeling like she was uninvited from the celebration.
“It felt more like I was witnessing someone having to make a change to their plan, and it was really understandable,” says Post, an etiquette specialist and copresident of the Emily Post Institute. “I didn’t worry about it. It didn’t make me feel bad. That was really classy.”
Post says it’s a good example of how to update guests because it’s clear and doesn’t get caught up in the explanation. If a couple has to postpone their wedding, here’s an easy guide to follow: “Due to the pandemic, we are going to postpone our wedding. We have rescheduled for this date. We are so pleased to be able to keep our guest list intact, and we would love for you to be able to join us,” Post says.
The soon-to-wed couple should also include a note that shows they understand the new date may upset already made travel plans.
“I think it’s a nice acknowledgement of the fact that when you change a date, you might lose some people who would have been able to come otherwise,” she says.
Keep it cheery, she explains, and end on a positive note by writing something like, “We are really looking forward to celebrating in a way that’s safe and comfortable for everyone.”
When dealing with out-of-town guests during a pandemic, safety becomes the operative word. One addition to your intimate ceremony’s guest list can become two or more family members, while best friends vie for a front-row seat at your big day. To keep things simple and socially distanced, Post says, avoid negotiating with loved ones and lean on the commitments that you’ve chosen to make for yourself and the safety of your guests.
“Use that as your firm line. You can say, ‘I’m really sorry, Uncle Ben, but we made a commitment that we were only going to invite this many people, and we really weren’t going to expand beyond it. I would love to invite you to the Zoom call and celebrate with you once we’re able to later, but I’ve got to stick to the rules we’ve set,’” Post advises.
Katelyn Stanis, owner of vow writing company Wedding Words, had to cut her own guest list down from 100 to 15. Although wedding news is usually delivered through the mail, Stanis says emailing your guests about announcements has become more widely accepted, especially during these unprecedented times. And for the people you’re close to? Speak directly to them.
Here’s an example from the professional vow writer on how to update your guest list:
“We are reaching out to communicate how COVID-19 and state restrictions have caused us to change our wedding day plans. For the health of everyone, we can no longer safely host the ‘150’-person wedding we originally planned. Instead, we’ll be getting married on ‘November 7th’ with our immediate families and the wedding party. As you can imagine, we’re extremely disappointed that we’re unable to have you there, but we also know that your health is more important. We’ll miss celebrating with you and hope that we can cheers over a good glass of wine together sometime in the future.”
Zola’s wedding expert Emily Forrest suggests that couples have an honest conversation early in their planning about if, how, and when they can have the wedding of their dreams. Although guests might feel left out, Forrest says, it is completely acceptable for couples to decrease their guest count, to ask loved ones to tune in virtually, or to require that guests wear masks––it’s their wedding, after all.
If your friend or family member has to postpone, Forrest recommends scheduling a phone date with them, offering to help contact guests, and sending them a gift on their original wedding date to make them feel special. And for the couples themselves, Forrest says, all of this newfound time at home can be used to create a dream registry with a glass of wine in hand or to order some cake for an at-home tasting.
“I have spoken with couples who feel like they don’t deserve to be sad because they are in good health and in an okay financial situation, but postponing a wedding is sad,” she says. “Loved ones should be supporting couples.”


fortune--2020-08-29--One university may have the best COVID testing operation in the U.S.—and tests students twice a week

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For the past decade, university arms races have centered on who can build the most luxurious dorms and biggest sports facilities or offer the most “country club” amenities like posh gyms and pools. But the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign may have cornered what has become the most crucial amenity of all as the 2020 school year kicks off: COVID testing.
After receiving FDA emergency use authorization for its saliva test shortly before classes were scheduled to begin, the university—located about two hours south of Chicago—has implemented one of the most aggressive and comprehensive COVID testing and tracking programs in the nation, and is offering a hybrid model of in-person and virtual classes. “We don’t like this virus. We want to crush it, and that’s what we’re doing, and we’re doing it on a massive scale,” university president Timothy Killeen told CNBC on Friday.
The testing is so widespread on campus that UIUC tests represented 20% of all tests administered in the state of Illinois and 1.5% of all tests administered nationwide, according to a recent column in the Chicago Sun-Times by Sheldon H. Jacobson, a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Janet A. Jokela, a dean at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign.
As the authors wrote, the approach too many other educational institutions are taking has a fatal flaw: “Many schools are testing students only upon their arrival to campus, and one week later. Then they are waiting for students to show symptoms before they test again. This strategy is a formula for disaster, given that a majority of infected students will be asymptomatic or display only mild symptoms.” The authors go on to say that a modest positivity rate of 2% of individuals arriving on campus will result in 500 to 900 initial infections. If those cases aren’t swiftly caught and the individuals quarantined, the virus will spread unfettered.
Universities such as UNC–Chapel Hill, Michigan State, and Notre Dame have already canceled or temporarily halted in-person classes after experiencing such community spread. Others such as Stanford and Harvard elected to cancel in-person classes entirely.
How UIUC’s testing works
Here’s how the UIUC system is set up. Each person who comes to campus gets an initial test, then must get tested twice a week. A negative test result within the past four days is linked to your ID via a university-developed tracking app, and without that green light you won’t be admitted to university buildings.
A key component of UIUC protocol is its saliva-based test, which was developed in-house and is similar to one developed at Yale. As researchers at Yale outlined, nasal swab tests have several disadvantages, notably that the swabs can be in short supply, testing requires health care workers to use lots of PPE, and there are also shortages of the special chemicals needed for processing. Those factors make testing expensive and mean tests can take days to process: “Meanwhile, if patients don’t quarantine while awaiting test results that turn out to be positive, infection can continue to spread,” the Yale authors wrote.
In contrast, the UIUC website says that typical saliva test results are available within five hours. A map of on-campus testing centers shows 17 locations, something of a miracle to any city- or suburb-dweller who has had to travel miles—or even to another state—to find an available COVID test.
The university also updates and publicizes its own COVID tracking website. University spokeswoman Robin Kaler told the Chicago Tribune that on Tuesday, 120 positive results were identified from 15,850 new tests. The rolling five-day positivity rate is 0.75%, according to the latest data.
To be sure, UIUC’s efforts are in their early stages. And the success or failure of its in-person learning plan will depend on student compliance when it comes to testing, as well as quarantining. But if there is a viable pre-vaccine path forward for in-person learning, this is one arms race that UIUC seems to be winning.


fortune--2020-08-29--Elon Musk shows off Neuralink brain implant technology in a living pig

Elon Musk gave a peek at his brain computing startup, Neuralink, on Friday by showing off a surgically implanted electrical device in the skull of a living pig that broadcast the animal’s brain activity.
Neuralink is working on a kind of brain-computer interface that it hopes will one day help restore brain functions in humans with disorders like blindness, seizures, and insomnia.
Musk’s experimental technology is still in its early stages. And it has yet to be tried on humans. But Musk pitched it as glimpse into the near future, without acknowledging the immense technological or regulatory challenges.
During the livestreamed event, Neuralink staff showed off three pigs—one normal pig, one implanted with Neuralink’s device, and another that had the device removed from its skull.
Hesitant to leave its pen at first, Gertrude—a pig that has had its implant for two months—slowly walked within its small enclosure, sniffing hay. All the while, the technology recorded its brain activity and displayed it on a large screen.
Each of Gertrude’s sniffs produced what sounded like video-game beeps, which Musk said were audio representations of Gertrude’s brain activity. “Whenever she shuffles around and sniffs things with the snout, that sends out neural spikes,” Musk said.
The demonstration was intended to show that the high-profile startup’s technology works, even if only at a basic level, inside the brain of a living animal. Creating technology that could actually impact what an animal does could take years to accomplish, if ever.
Here are three takeaways from the event:
What can the technology do today?
Musk said that his technology can already predict the position of all of a pig’s limbs with high accuracy. Being able to do so is an important but early step to help an animal regain movement in an injured or paralyzed limb.
In describing a pig that had two Neuralink implants, Musk said his team wanted to prove that a living creature can have multiple devices implanted without them being visible. Having several implants could help, presumably, to help the brain perform different tasks.
As for the pig that had no longer has an implant, Musk said that was intended to show that the device can be removed without leaving any noticeable scars or neurological damage.
What does the implant look like?
The device revealed on Friday resembled a small keychain affixed to an oversized penny.
Musk said that the devices may be implanted on the surface of human brains using a surgical robot that resembles a large sewing machine. The implants would have sensors like a smartphone that can record health information like body temperature.
“In a lot of ways it’s like Fitbit in your skull with tiny wires,” Musk said.
He said the surgical procedure would last less than one hour and that it would require no general anesthesia. The process, he said, should only leave a “tiny scar” on a person’s head.
The device would function around the clock and charge at night, though Musk didn’t say how. It would connect online via the Bluetooth wireless technology to a smartphone app, though a Neuralink staff member conceded that the signal would be weaker in crowded locations like concerts where many people are using Bluetooth devices. He did not say what would happen in such a scenario.
What is the implant supposed to do?
Musk said he wants to eventually conduct a clinical trial on people who suffer from tetraplegia, a type of paralysis caused by spinal cord injuries. The hope, he said, is to allow someone who is paralyzed to walk again.
Musk described this type of paralysis as caused by distorted electrical signals in the brain. In theory, with Neuralink’s technology, he said “you can jump over the broken wires” caused by a spinal injury to restore electrical signals in the brain so that people will regain the ability to walk.
Besides its use in health care, Musk also intends for Neuralink’s technology to allow people to turn their thoughts into reality. For example, people would be able to instantly play their favorite song by thinking about it or summon a self-driving car.
Musk also believes that people will be able to use the technology to save and replay memories. “You can store your memories as a backup,” Musk said. “You can potentially download them into a new body or a robot body.”
“The future is going to be weird,” Musk said.


fortune--2020-08-29--‘Black Panther’ star Chadwick Boseman dies of cancer at 43

Actor Chadwick Boseman, who played Black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown before finding fame as the regal Black Panther in the Marvel cinematic universe, died Friday of cancer, his representative said. He was 43.
Boseman died at his home in the Los Angeles area with his wife and family by his side, his publicist Nicki Fioravante told The Associated Press.
Boseman was diagnosed with colon cancer four years ago, his family said in a statement.
“A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much,” his family said. “From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and several more – all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy. It was the honor of his career to bring King T’Challa to life in Black Panther.”
Boseman had not spoken publicly about his diagnosis.
Born in South Carolina, Boseman graduated from Howard University and had small roles in television before his first star turn in 2013. His striking portrayal of the stoic baseball star Robinson opposite Harrison Ford in 2013′s “42” drew attention in Hollywood and made him a star.
Boseman died on a day that Major League Baseball was celebrating Jackie Robinson day.
“This is a crushing blow” actor and director Jordan Peele said on Twitter, one of many expressing shock as the news spread across social media.
“This broke me,” said actor and writer Issa Rae.
His T’Challa character was first introduced to the blockbuster Marvel movies in 2016′s “Captain America: Civil War,” and his “Wakanda Forever” salute reverberated around the world after the release of “Black Panther” two years ago.
The character was last seen standing silently dressed in a black suit at Tony Stark’s funeral in last year’s “Avengers: Endgame.”
Even at the outset of his Hollywood career, Boseman was clear-eyed about — and even skeptical of — the industry in which he would become an international star.
“You don’t have the same exact experience as a Black actor as you do as a white actor. You don’t have the same opportunities. That’s evident and true,” he told AP while promoting “42.” “The best way to put it is: How often do you see a movie about a black hero who has a love story — with a black woman, or any woman for that matter … he has a spirituality. He has an intellect. It’s weird to say it, but it doesn’t happen that often.”
In addition to Robinson and Brown, Boseman portrayed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in 2017′s “Marshall.“
He took on his first producing job in last year’s action thriller “21 Bridges,” in which he also starred, and was last seen on-screen in Spike Lee’s film “Da 5 Bloods” as the leader of a group of Black soldiers in the Vietnam War.


fortune--2020-08-29--Buy or pass? The pros and cons of investing in 9 upcoming tech IPOs from Palantir to Asana

No tech company from California’s famed startup basin, Silicon Valley, has gone public since last year. That could be because some high-profile 2019 Silicon Valley IPOs like Uber and Lyft flopped. But investors have short memories, and this week a half-dozen startups from the Valley filed to go public. About another half-dozen tech startups from other regions also announced their IPO plans this week.
Here are some key statistics and pros and cons investors may want to weigh vis-à-vis Palantir, Asana, Snowflake, and the rest of the upcoming class of late 2020 tech IPOs. Each company’s description includes a link to its S-1 filing. All financial data is from 2019 unless otherwise indicated.
Palantir Technologies
Symbol: PLTR
2019 revenue: $743 million
Revenue growth: 25%
Gross margin: 67%
Net loss: $580 million
Founded in 2003, Palantir created software to help defense and intelligence analysts sort through massive amounts of information to catch terrorists. It has since branched out to offer big-data analysis software to commercial and nondefense customers as well. Cofounder and CEO Alex Karp is moving the company’s headquarters to Denver and took shots at the culture of Silicon Valley in a letter accompanying the IPO filing. “We seem to share fewer and fewer of the technology sector’s values and commitments,” he wrote. The company is going public via a direct listing.
Pros: Palantir has become synonymous with uncovering fraud and wrongdoing, a need that is unlikely to diminish, given human nature. As the world becomes increasingly digital, there is ever more data for Palantir to analyze. It is on pace to hit $1 billion of annual revenue soon.
Cons: Palantir has been in business for almost two decades and isn’t profitable yet, with substantial expenses for research and development accounting for almost half of its revenue, though that dropped to less than one-third in the first half of 2020. It has also run into controversy about some of its clients such as ICE. Palantir is already valued at $20 billion by its VC backers.
Asana
Symbol: ASAN
2019 revenue: $143 million
Revenue growth: 86%
Gross margin: 86%
Net loss: $119 million
Asana was founded in 2008 by former Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz. Its subscription software helps workers communicate and coordinate projects, avoiding long chains of email. The company is going public via a direct listing.
Pros: The company already has 1.2 million paid users. Customers typically increase their use of the platform once they sign on. Asana’s dollar-based net retention rate, which measures how much customers spent in a quarter versus how much the same customers spent a year earlier, is over 120% for 2020.
Cons: There is a lot of competition for organizing knowledge-worker tasks, ranging from giants like Microsoft and Google to Slack and Smartsheet.
Corsair Gaming
Symbol: CRSR
2019 revenue: $1.1 billion
Revenue growth: 17%
Gross margin: 20%
Net loss: $8 million
Corsair sells personal computers and related peripherals for video gamers and other high-performance users. Founded in 1994, the company was bought for $525 million in 2017 by an investor group led by EagleTree Capital. The company is going public in a traditional underwritten IPO.
Pros: Spending on video games is booming during the pandemic, and Corsair is one of the top suppliers of high-end PCs desired by gamers. The company has been profitable in the first half of 2020 and will be using proceeds from the IPO to pay down debt, further bolstering its bottom line.
Cons: Selling PCs is a highly competitive business and subject to rapid technological change.
Snowflake
Symbol: SNOW
2019 revenue: $265 million (fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2020)
Revenue growth: 174%
Gross margin: 56%
Net loss: $349 million
Founded in 2012 by former Oracle developers, Snowflake is seeking nothing less than to reinvent the database for the cloud-computing era. New CEO Frank Slootman has been rapidly bulking up its sales force. It is going public in a traditional underwritten IPO.
Pros: Snowflake has been one the fastest-growing apps in the world of business as it helps customers harness vast amounts of data in a speedier and cheaper way than older solutions. Its net revenue retention rate was 169% last year.
Cons: Slootman’s sales push has led to massive sales and marketing expenses that exceeded revenue last year (though not in the first half of 2020). Many other companies see the same opportunity, including the three major cloud providers, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, plus Oracle itself. Snowflake’s software runs on the servers of the major cloud providers, so in a sense Snowflake is dependent on its top rivals.
Sumo Logic
Symbol: SUMO
2019 revenue: $155 million (fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2020)
Revenue growth: 50%
Gross margin: 71%
Net loss: $92 million
The 10-year-old cloud service seeks to help businesses monitor key metrics and real-time information for everything from customer sales to cybersecurity intrusions. It says it monitors 19 billion events per second for its customers. Sumo Logic is going public through a traditional IPO.
Pros: The growing trends of smart machines, or the Internet of things, and the use of artificial intelligence and machine-learning apps mean Sumo Logic should remain in high demand from a growing customer base.
Cons: There is plenty of competition to harness IoT and A.I. for businesses from rivals ranging from Splunk, Elastic, and Datadog to Amazon and Microsoft.
Unity Software
Symbol: U
2019 revenue: $542 million
Revenue growth: 42%
Gross margin: 78%
Net loss: $163 million
Unity, founded in 2004, provides the software underpinnings for many popular real-time and mobile video games, including Township, Monument Valley, and Oddworld. The company says 53% of the top 1,000 games on Apple and Google’s mobile app stores use its software. The company is planning a traditional IPO.
Pros: Mobile gaming remains a fast-growing market, and Unity is expanding into other fields like virtual reality experiences. Epic Games, a competitor, has recently put its reputation at risk by suing Apple.
Cons: In business for 16 years, Unity is still losing money. As rival Epic has discovered, Apple and Google can set onerous terms for game developers on their dominant mobile platforms.
Bentley Systems
Symbol: BSY
2019 revenue: $737 million
Revenue growth: 6%
Gross margin: 80%
Net income: $103 million
Bentley Systems is a leading software developer for the design, construction, and operation of big infrastructure projects like stadiums, dams, and airports. It was founded by the Bentley brothers—Barry, Keith, Ray, and Greg—in 1984. German conglomerate Siemens also owns a stake in the company. Bentley is doing a traditional IPO.
Pros: The company is a market leader for big construction project software and has allied with Siemens and Microsoft. For the past year, Bentley’s recurring revenue net retention rate was 110%. The company is profitable and has been for years.
Cons: Infrastructure construction is dependent on strong economic times. The company’s revenue has not grown much in the past few years. All of the shares being sold are from existing shareholders, so the company won’t get money to expand.
Amwell
Symbol: AMWL
2019 revenue: $149 million
Revenue growth: 31%
Gross margin: 54%
Net loss: $88 million
Also known as American Well, the 14-year-old startup is a leader in the field of telehealth, helping connect doctors and nurses to patients via its software platform. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a boom time for Amwell: Of the 5.6 million telehealth visits it has hosted since going into business, 2.9 million, or 52%, were in the first half of this year. Google is an investor in the company, which is doing a traditional IPO.
Pros: As noted, the pandemic is prompting a massive shift to virtual health care visits that is expected to continue even after COVID-19 fades. The company has relationships with 150 top health systems, including over 2,000 hospitals.
Cons: The company has large losses relative to its revenue despite its long track record. Health care is also a highly regulated business, and restrictions on the use of telehealth, some of which were relaxed during the pandemic, could be tightened.
JFrog
Symbol: FROG
2019 revenue: $105 million
Revenue growth: 65%
Gross margin: 81%
Net loss: $5 million
The Israeli company, founded in 2008, provides software to help programmers update and maintain their products. The company is doing a traditional IPO.
Pros: The company is almost profitable, reporting a loss of less than $500,000 for the first half of 2020. Its net revenue retention rate was 139%.
Cons: The style of software development that JFrog supports is not the way most developers release programs today and may not catch on.


fortune--2020-08-29--How Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ achieves its look—even as each season evolves

Netflix’s The Crown caught the eye of critics and audiences alike when its first season premiered in 2016. Lavish sets and costumes, a notable cast, and stately music are all part of the drama series, which chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth II, starting in the 1940s.
With a new season on its way in November, the series continues to draw accolades; its third season is nominated for various Emmy Awards this year, including in the production design and period costume categories. As one would expect, costuming and coming up with the overall look of such a vast production involves a good amount of research, as well as some very specific processes, according to Fortune’s conversations with production designer Martin Childs and season three costume designer Amy Roberts.
Childs, who has worked on the series from the beginning, says he developed a system after the first season that involves sketching the main location where most of an episode takes place—such as Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle—at the center of a sheet of paper. Then he draws in some arrows and additional information around that. It’s gotten to a point where “almost everybody wants a copy now. It’s like looking at the script in a one-page guideline,” he says.
“The way that helps me is to know when something in the narrative follows something else,” Childs says, adding that it helps him decide when to avoid using things like the same colors or window arrangements from scene-to-scene—visual cues that help the audience understand the story is moving along.
Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II in season three of Netflix’s “The Crown.” Sophie Mutevelian—Netflix
Extensive research is involved in creating the sets—making well-known areas of Buckingham Palace, for instance, as accurate as possible is important; Childs toured the royal residence ahead of season one. But there are also parts of the set, such as the royal family’s private apartments—which there are no public records of—that are built using what Childs refers to as “informed imagination.”
“I have to say that absolutely nothing in The Crown is [an exact] replica of the real thing,” Childs says, though the style of the sets remains true to the spirit of the real location.
There are probably about 400 different sets used each season, according to Childs. Repeating some of them throughout the seasons, especially as the cast changed (the Queen is portrayed by Claire Foy in the first two seasons, while Olivia Colman took over the role in the third and fourth seasons), helps serve as a visual reminder that audiences are still watching the same characters on the same show.
The use of such sets doesn’t mean the show doesn’t also shoot in different locations, both in the U.K. and abroad, though. Some locations wind up substituting for others onscreen. In the early seasons, South Africa stood in for roughly 70% of the show’s foreign settings, Childs says.
“But season three, we kind of almost exhausted—unbelievably—our South Africa locations,” says Childs, so the production wound up shooting some scenes in “a little triangle of Spain” instead. This region ended up standing in for places such as California, Arizona, and the Caribbean. The cast and crew also returned to Spain to re-create various locations for the upcoming fourth season.
For her part, Roberts also does a tremendous amount of research when designing costumes, immersing herself in photos, books, and films featuring members of the royal family. But then she eventually “throws it all away.”
“We’re not doing a documentary—it’s a drama,” she explains.
Season three, which plunges viewers into the ’60s and ’70s, was exciting for Roberts to work on because of “those extraordinary beautiful, punchy colors that the royal women really seemed to relish.”
Pictured, left to right: Erin Doherty (Princess Anne), Marion Bailey (the Queen Mother), Helena Bonham Carter (Princess Margaret), and Ben Daniels (Antony Armstrong-Jones). While the different generations sported different silhouettes in the third season of Netflix’s “The Crown,” costume designer Amy Roberts emphasized the “sugared almond” colors worn by the royal women in the 1960s. Des Willie—Netflix
While the Queen is generally known for wearing bright colors, even today, that particular period featured what Roberts calls “sugared almond” colors like pinks and lilacs, which allowed the costuming department to jump in “bravely and boldly” to depict a new era.
The most recent season also saw the differences between the various royal generations highlighted more clearly. The Queen Mum’s clothing still has hints of a 1930s silhouette, while Princess Margaret and Queen Elizabeth are in ’60s silhouettes like A-lines, albeit with an element of modesty. Princess Anne, on the other hand, actually sports some miniskirts.
“Again, not outrageous miniskirts—you know, like a couple of inches above her knees, not crazy,” Roberts says.
The most challenging project for Roberts involved Prince Charles’s investiture—the ceremony that formalized his status as Prince of Wales. The crown he wears in those scenes was especially made for the series, while the robe in particular posed something of an ethical challenge.
“That all had to be made, and we quite rightly don’t use fresh fur, so all the lining is ermine, and so we had to source an awful lot of approved ermine,” Roberts says.
Josh O’Connor, left, as Prince Charles and Olivia Colman, right, as Queen Elizabeth II in season three of “The Crown.” The prince’s investiture clothing was some of the most challenging to create for the series. Des Willie—Netflix
Separately, Roberts’s favorite piece to work on was Princess Alice’s nun’s costume. “You’ve got all silks and the florals and the razzmatazz, and suddenly you’ve got this extraordinary character that is Prince Philip’s mother, and simple and honest,” she says. “We had to re-create that from absolute scratch…I had it worn and patched and darned.”
On the production design end, re-creating the Aberfan disaster—establishing a tragedy that did not involve the royal family—was a big challenge, though Childs is proud of what was ultimately accomplished from a storytelling perspective.
“It was a real part of history and a terrible thing that happened to real people, some of whom are still alive and remember it—I was around when it happened,” says Childs. “The responsibility of telling that story well and accurately was like nothing else on The Crown so far.”
“Our responsibility was to show the world that this appalling thing was happening,” he adds.
Communicating with other departments is key when it comes to making The Crown. Childs worked closely with Roberts to coordinate what colors should be established in a scene and often makes sketches for the visual effects team to convey what he wants.
“My preference is to never have too much VFX in any one shot,” Childs says, adding that he prefers that at least two-thirds of what’s seen on the screen is real. “Our VFX people were more than willing to go along with that. Their mission is to make what they do look like part of the set.”
With more seasons to come, the behind-the-scenes team still has some tricks up their sleeves.
Childs, who has been pacing himself as the series progresses, explains that his approach to a series like The Crown, which he compares to an “epic novel,” has to differ from how he treats a two-hour feature film.
“I’ve got to save up a few things. I can’t use all my best ideas in the first two hours, because in a feature film, it would be only two hours. In The Crown, you’ve got another 48 to go,” he says.
Meanwhile, when season four debuts this fall, viewers “can expect three iconic women—the Queen, Margaret Thatcher, and of course, Princess Diana. They can expect real journeys there, visual journeys,” says Roberts.
“I think we’ve really upped our game.”
The Crown is nominated for 13 Emmy Awards this year. The series, which has received a total of 39 nominations since its premiere, has won eight Emmys up until now.