fortune--2020-01-24--5G is supposed to be the future. But here’s what it’s like today

I sat down on a bench in Providence, R.I. recently and pulled out a Samsung smartphone on a sunny winter day to test what’s billed as the future of wireless: 5G, the super-fast successor to today’s mobile networks.
After opening Netflix’s app, I started downloading an episode of the rebooted Lost in Space series, the one with Will Robinson searching for his missing robot pal. After just a few seconds, I saw the “checkbox” icon signifying the download was complete. At that rate, I could have downloaded the whole 10-episode series in 30 seconds—a phenomenal accomplishment that shows how 5G could fundamentally change what people can do with their phones.
But half an hour later, sitting a few blocks away on a stone bench on Brown University’s campus, that same phone, a Samsung, Galaxy S10 5G, couldn’t reach the 5G network, so it connected using slower 4G LTE. This time, downloading one episode of Lost in Space took more than 11 minutes, an eternity compared to the hype and maybe even a little slower than the average 4G connection.
And so it goes for wireless consumers in the early days of 5G—inconsistent and uneven. In some places it’s a magical wonderland of instantaneous satisfaction while, in others, even where 5G is supposed to be available, it’s nowhere to be found.
I experienced both sides of 5G during six weeks of testing around Boston, in Rhode Island, and in Las Vegas through T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon. The bottom line is that 5G is ready for early adopters who get a thrill out of having the latest mobile technology, but the rest of us should wait six months to a year for carriers to improve coverage and reliability.
Mobile carriers have already spent billions of dollars over the last few years to get to this point. But they’ll have to spend tens of billions more, and add hundreds of thousands of new cell sites, before 5G coverage is as accessible as current 4G networks.
It’s not just an infrastructure challenge. Current 5G phones from Samsung, OnePlus, and others are limited by today’s 5G chips that can’t access the faster networking technology that the carriers want to use. More capable chips are coming in phones later this year (including, if the reports are accurate, in new iPhones).
Currently, spending $1,000 or more on a 5G phone—compatible phones are required to use 5G—will only occasionally provide faster downloads. There aren’t yet any killer mobile apps that take advantage of wireless 5G, like realistic virtual reality games or multi-angle live sports broadcasts. As with the most innovative apps that grew out of the 4G era, like Uber and Airbnb, amazing 5G apps could take a few years to emerge and may not even be on our radar yet.
How fast is 5G?
That eureka moment of mine with 5G in Providence came while using Verizon’s network. On prior multiple tests in Boston and Providence, it had usually taken me at least 30 seconds to download a Netflix show on Verizon 5G compared with five to 10 minutes using a 4G connection.
But the day of the three second download, using Ookla’s Speedtest app, I saw the network’s download speed was hitting 1.3 gigabits per second, or more than 40 times faster than the average 4G connection. To put that in perspective, it was also faster than most home Internet connections.
Still, even in Providence on a single day, 5G speeds vary. After my super-fast download and then super-slow download on Brown’s campus, I headed inside a nearby coffee shop and found a 5G signal. There, downloading a Lost in Space episode took just one minute and 28 seconds. In Boston on another day, similar downloads took two to four minutes —even on Verizon’s 5G network. And in Las Vegas, it took about five minutes with no 5G (Sin City isn’t among Verizon’s first 31 to get the faster technology).
Verizon’s limited rollout, at its best, was considerably faster than AT&T and T-Mobile’s in my tests. Those two carriers have chosen to roll out 5G using typical cell phone airwave bands that don’t allow for the highest speeds, but provide far greater coverage areas. Verizon’s strategy of using higher frequency airwave bands provides 5G over a smaller area, but with much higher speeds.
5G indoors versus outdoors
The type of 5G deployed by Verizon doesn’t penetrate walls and windows as well as typical 4G cellular signals, or the 5G used by its rivals. During tests of Verizon in Boston, I got an average download speed of 132 megabits per second inside a doctor’s office and, in a coffee shop in Providence, 153 megabits.
But outdoors in Boston and Providence, download speeds were several times faster, with average speeds of over 600 megabits and reaching as high as 1.4 gigabits.
The gap between indoors and outdoors for AT&T and T-Mobile wasn’t as dramatic, but then neither were their top speeds. In Las Vegas, I had 5G download speeds for both carriers of almost 150 megabits per second outside, or about four times faster than an average 4G connection. Meanwhile, in my hotel room, speeds were 80 to 90 megabits. In my local Boston suburb, T-Mobile was an average of 130 megabits per second outside compared with 107 megabits at a local cafe.
To be sure, I used a different phone to test each network, which likely impacted the results. Download speeds can also be impacted by Internet congestion, cell tower equipment, and other factors.
How good are 5G phones?
Currently, there are only a few 5G compatible phones available—and they’re all pricy. Verizon sells two Samsung models along with one from LG, all for $1,000 to $1,300. AT&T has only the Galaxy Note10+ 5G, for $1,400. Meanwhile, T-Mobile sells the Note10+ 5G for $1,300 and OnePlus’s 7T Pro 5G for $900.
The phones are just as capable as their non-5G brethren. I got at least a full day of battery life out of all of the 5G phones, and they didn’t heat up or experience glitches, even as I performed multiple downloads and dozens of speed tests daily.
Current 5G phones include the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G, Galaxy S10 5G, and the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G. Aaron Pressman—Fortune
The phones have crisp, bright displays that are good for watching downloaded or streamed videos, matching the quality of 4G phones. But they are also all relatively bulky. Including components for connecting to 5G networks and 4G as a fallback means the devices are similar in size to the largest 4G phones. None of the 5G phones currently available has a screen smaller than 6.3-inches.
Future 5G phones should be cheaper. For example, TCL, best known for its low-priced TV sets, recently showed off its upcoming TCL 10 5G model, priced at $500. But the device is at least as big as Samsung’s 5G giants, and it’s unlikely that phonemakers will be able to make smaller phones this year.
5G improvements are planned
For now, mobile carriers offer 5G in limited areas. Verizon’s service is available in only parts of 31 cities while AT&T covers 20 cities for consumers. In contrast, T-Mobile’s slower 5G covers a territory in which 200 million people live, or two-thirds of the nation’s population.
Over the next few years, all three carriers have said they would expand their networks and improve download speeds. More specifically, AT&T and Verizon hope to provide near-nationwide coverage later this year. Meanwhile, T-Mobile says it will make its network faster, but that’s dependent on the company completing a proposed merger with rival Sprint that would provide it with more airwave licenses (the merger is still being reviewed by a federal court).
One result of the slow roll out by the carriers is that current 5G phones—even the most expensive—will be unable to take advantage of everything that expanded networks will offer later this year. That’s mainly because carriers will start using 5G airwave bands that current phones can’t handle. It will take brand new 5G models to handle all of the bands in use. But that’s been the natural evolution of the wireless market for decades–the fastest speeds are only available to the newest devices.
Considering my mixed experiences with even the most expensive 5G phones, that’s an evolution can’t come soon enough.
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fortune--2020-01-24--Bayer may pay $10 billion to settle Roundup cancer cases from its Monsanto deal

Purdue Pharma bankruptcy is now open to OxyContin-related personal injury claims

In an effort to settle tens of thousands of claims that Bayer AG’s Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, lawyers for some plaintiffs are discussing with the company deals that could lead to a total payout of about $10 billion, according to people with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
In some discussions, Bayer’s lawyers have said the chemical maker will set aside $8 billion to resolve current cases and reserve $2 billion for future claims, the five people said. Roundup has been blamed for ailments including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which can take years to diagnose. Bayer declined to comment on the numbers or any terms under negotiation.
Bayer shares rose as much as 3.9% Friday in Frankfurt, the most since October. They’re still down about 23% since the company acquired agricultural giant Monsanto Co. for $63 billion, giving it Roundup. The collapse has wiped about $18 billion off Bayer’s market value.
If a settlement of the litigation costs Bayer $10 billion, its shares could rise quickly to 90 euros from the current level of about 76 euros, Markus Mayer of Baader Bank said by email Friday morning.
To be sure, the $10 billion figure isn’t final and could change as talks continue, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the discussions.
Ken Feinberg, the lead mediator for the cases, has indicated deals resolving as many as 85,000 Roundup claims in the U.S. may be reached within a month. Feinberg said he’s unaware of the numbers being discussed in settlement talks. The talks are taking place between company lawyers and separate groups of plaintiffs’ attorneys, each with a sizable inventory of cases.
While Feinberg said in an email he remains optimistic, “any details about what may constitute a comprehensive agreement are pure speculation as to both dollars and eligibility criteria.”
Chris Loder, a U.S.-based spokesman for the company, has said the figure cited by Feinberg is “a speculative estimate” that includes “potential plaintiffs” who haven’t filed court complaints and that “the number of served cases as reported on a quarterly basis remains significantly below 50,000.”
“The mediation process is continuing diligently and in good faith to explore resolution under the auspices of Ken Feinberg,” Loder said Thursday. “There is also no certainty or timetable for a comprehensive resolution.”
Read More: Bayer’s Roundup Challenge Is to Avoid Another ‘Nuclear’ Jury Verdict
Roundup claims have surged since a trio of jury verdicts awarded plaintiffs almost $2.5 billion, increasing pressure on Bayer to settle. While several trials due to start this month have been postponed to give more time for negotiations, cases in Missouri and California got underway this week. Bayer is appealing the earlier verdicts, which judges have already slashed to $191 million.
Analyst estimates vary on how much a deal could cost. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Holly Froum said this week it could take $10 billion to $13 billion. Thomas Claps, a litigation analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group, forecast $4.5 billion to $6.5 billion.
The St. Louis case, involving claims by four former Roundup users, is the first to be tried outside California. The city is regarded as a plaintiff-friendly venue — a jury there awarded more than 20 women $4.7 billion in 2018 over claims Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder gave them cancer. J&J has appealed.
Bayer has steadfastly maintained that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is not a carcinogen. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concluded it doesn’t require a cancer warning, something state regulators had advocated. But plaintiffs point to other research that shows glyphosate can cause non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
Feinberg, who was appointed in May to lead the settlement talks, has asked retired judges to serve as mediators in direct negotiations between Bayer’s attorneys and groups of plaintiffs’ lawyers, the people said. The strategy could produce a lower total settlement cost for Bayer than had it continued to seek a formal, global deal.
But the company will need to make sure to address all claims as it would still have to fight the remainder in court, said Perry Weitz, a New York-based plaintiffs attorney whose firm is involved in the two trials underway. He declined to comment on any figures being discussed in the settlement talks.
Defense attorneys have told plaintiffs’ lawyers Bayer won’t settle wrongful-death claims that are more than 10 years old and only will settle claims of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, according to a summary of the company’s settlement criteria seen by Bloomberg News. Some Roundup users are blaming their multiple myeloma cancers on the product.
Some of Bayer’s lawyers also warned the company is prepared to put Monsanto into bankruptcy to deal with the wave of Roundup suits if it feels reasonable deals can’t be reached, people have said. Other companies faced with crippling litigation — such as Purdue Pharma LP — have taken that path.
The case is In re: Roundup Products Liability Litigation, MDL 2741, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).


fortune--2020-01-24--Legendary Brunello di Montalcino winemaker releases a vintage marking the end of an era

Swirling a small pour of his family’s namesake Brunello di Montalcino Riserva in a glass before him, Tancredi Biondi-Santi utters what may sound like sacrilege to lovers of long-aging Tuscan reds like this one. “People are always exaggerating the concept of leaving wine in the cellar,” he says. “So we release the current vintage when we think it’s ready to drink.”
The 2012 Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva ($689) releasing in March will mark the first vintage the winery has held back in this way, allowing it to evolve a bit more before going into the market (typically vintages are released after reaching the six years minimum aging required for “Riserva” wines). The reason for doing so is simple: Wines that go into a cellar often get left there, overlooked, or forgotten.
By holding back its best wines until they’re already drinking well, Biondi-Santi isn’t trying to discourage consumers from cellaring their Brunellos, which will age beautifully for decades. But it does hope it will encourage more consumers to feel comfortable enjoying their wines immediately. This new release strategy is one of many subtle but significant changes taking place at this centuries-old winemaking estate.
Tancredi Biondi-Santi Brian Samuels Photography
The release of its 2012 Brunello Riserva marks something both profoundly personal to the Biondi-Santi family and outwardly relevant to the wine-consuming public. This was the last vintage produced under the patient care of Franco Biondi-Santi, grandfather of Tancredi and revered Montalcino winemaker. Franco shepherded Biondi-Santi’s genre-defining Brunello through four decades of shifting consumer tastes and changing global markets before his passing in 2013. And if one accepts—as many critics do—that Tuscany produces some of the world’s best wines, that Brunello di Montalcino is one of the best wines from Tuscany, and that Biondi-Santi is the standard-bearer for traditional Brunello, it’s fair to argue that this final vintage touched by Franco Biondi-Santi will prove one of the more special vintages released this year.
“When we speak about my grandfather, we have to speak about the style of the wine,” Tancredi says of Franco. “He was a very huge defender of this style of our Brunello, vinified in this way.”
Brunello is another name for the Tuscan clone of Sangiovese grapes (specifically “Sangiovese Grosso”) from which it is made, and it’s no overstatement to say that Biondi-Santi defines this treasured wine. Ferruccio Biondi-Santi produced the first bottle with the name “Brunello di Montalcino” on the bottle in 1888. (He was later officially recognized by the Italian government as Brunello’s creator.) At one point, the Biondi-Santis were the only family in the region producing red wines from Sangiovese. Now there are hundreds of winemakers producing Brunello di Montalcino on the slopes surrounding the hilltop town of the same name.
But while many in the region chased shifting consumer tastes toward the bigger, fruit-driven, full-bodied reds that defined the 1980s and 1990s, Franco Biondi-Santi sought to protect his family’s signature style. These lighter, silkier, more elegant Brunellos can age for a century and still drink well, as Franco proved twice in the 1990s by pouring out late-19th-century vintages for critics. Wine Spectator named the 1955 Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva one of the 12 best wines of the 21st century. In 2011, an association of Italian sommeliers judged the 1964 Riserva the best Italian wine of all time.
Inside the Biondi-Santi cellar. Courtesy of Biondi-Santi
All that presents a challenge for Tancredi and his father Jacopo—seventh and sixth generation overseers of the Biondi-Santi tradition, respectively—as they work to maintain the tradition and style of past centuries while moving the winery forward into the next one. French luxury brand EPI Group bought a majority stake in Biondi-Santi in 2016, an investment that has allowed the new generations overseeing the winery to undertake a sweeping soil analysis of its vineyards and terroir. In doing so, Biondi-Santi is gaining new data-driven insights into what makes its wine great, enabling the winery to subtly twist the knobs on both vineyard management and vinification.
“The idea here is not to make revolution, but to make evolution,” Biondi-Santi CEO Giampiero Bertolini says. That evolution includes a move toward organic viticulture and some adjustments to vineyard management. It also includes changes to the way Riserva wines are made. Produced from only the very best vintages (the 2012 Riserva is just the 39th vintage released since 1888), these wines were historically made solely with grapes from Biondi-Santi’s oldest vines, those aged 25 years or more. In 2018, armed with better data about which vineyard parcels are producing specific aromatic and flavor characteristics, the winery began sourcing grapes for its Riserva vintages from younger vines as well.
The Biondi-Santi Riserva wine Courtesy of Biondi Santi
It’s but one example of the small but meaningful changes underway at Biondi-Santi, and one that makes the current 2012 vintage all the more special. Biondi-Santi Brunello di Montalcino Riserva will never be made in quite the same way ever again. Fresh, with easy tannins, a silky texture, bright red cherries and just a hint of earthiness, the 2012 Riserva is an end-of-an-era wine that will age gracefully in the cellar for decades, evolving in the bottle (and appreciating in value). Though, Tancredi reiterates, it’s absolutely ready to drink right now.
“This wine needs to move, not sit,” he says. “It certainly can sit, but it doesn’t need to.”
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fortune--2020-01-25--Greece turns to China to connect its far-flung islands to the electric grid, leaving Brussels in the

Greece turns to China to connect its far-flung islands to the electric grid, leaving Brussels in the dark

What is tech doing to protect the whistleblower ’ s identity ?
Not much , experts say

Bambis Psychogios is a plumber who spends a lot of time traversing the windy roads of Mykonos installing pipes in flashy new hotels. Just about every day, he drives past the island’s defunct diesel-powered energy plant, located on the outskirts of the main town.
These days, the sight of the plant evokes a sense of relief. “Just imagine the pollution caused by five ship engines operating at the same time. That’s what it was like. This has now stopped,” he says.
Power on the island has also become more reliable; Psychogios rarely needs to crank up his back-up generators to finish a job anymore.
Beloved by tourists and clubbers, Mykonos was one of Greece’s first outposts in the Cyclades island chain to be hooked up to the national power grid in 2018. This is part of a four-stage, 800 million euros ($887 million) project partially funded—about one-third—by the European Union.
It’s the Chinese though that have their finger on the switch.
In 2016, China’s State Grid Corporation became a strategic investor in IPTO, or the Independent Power Transmission Operator, the Greek company that is linking the islands with Greece’s mainland power network.
State Grid acquired a 24 percent stake in IPTO for 324 million euros in a deal that led to much hand-wringing in Europe’s capitals. The investment was part of Greece’s ongoing efforts to privatize its energy sector and raise, per EU directives, outside investment. In the wake of the financial crisis that struck in 2008, the country’s GDP collapsed by one-quarter and its debt-to-GDP level has since climbed to above 170%.
While Brussels fretted the IPTO deal risked pulling Athens closer to Beijing, the deal was welcomed with open arms back home. It helped unlock hundreds of millions of euros of funding from Chinese banks to help pay for investments at half the rate offered by Greek lenders, officials say.
It also secured valuable knowhow from State Grid, the world’s largest electricity utility, on one of the most challenging undersea power projects ever undertaken.
Eager partners
After investing in Greece’s energy infrastructure at the peak of the country’s economic crisis (when few other foreign investors would touch its assets), the Chinese became eager partners in other infrastructure projects. Now they seek an even tighter relationship. Meanwhile, all cash-strapped Europe can do is to look on and bite its proverbial tongue.
The idea to get the whole of the country on the grid, so to speak, was long in the making. More than 20 years ago, Greece began putting in place a complex submarine power transmission network spanning the Aegean Sea, with the hope of supercharging its islands. Greece’s tourism sector accounts for about 25% of the economy and its islands attract visitors the world over.
Only in recent years has the project really started moving forward. Greece’s IPTO is rolling out more than 300 kilometers of cable at depths of up to 550 meters, linking dozens of islands. The company manages the grid network that transports electricity from energy plants to substations throughout Greece.
The first phase of the project was completed in 2018 when the islands of Paros, Syros and Mykonos all went online. The second stage, connecting with Naxos and Andros, further on, is in progress and scheduled for completion by the summer. In the third stage, work will start in 2020 on strengthening the Syros link, while the fourth stage will gradually commence in 2023 and include the southern Cyclade islands of Santorini, Milos and Folegandros, among others.
Boats In the harbor of Chora, Mykonos, Greece. Island residents are relieved the old diesel-generated power plant has been taken offline in favor of a cleaner energy source. Milos Bicanski—Getty Images
In its ten-year investment plan, which has been put to public debate throughout January, IPTO said that these connections will help boost the reliability of the power supply on the islands, cut electric bills and be more environmentally friendly.
“The energy isolation of the islands will be ended as the size of the country’s electricity market grows,” said IPTO.
The budget of some 800 million euros, however, will undoubtedly need to be ratcheted up considerably when the national grid is later extended to islands further north and then southwards to Crete. The Crete-Attica undersea line, dubbed the Ariadne Interconnection, alone will require an additional 1 billion euros of investments. That too is also being eyed by the Chinese.
Tensions in Europe
Athens is considering doing yet more business with State Grid despite opposition in Europe; when Brussels signed off on the initial 24% deal it required stringent monitoring of the network for security risks.
Greece holds a 51 percent stake in IPTO, but State Grid has been given extensive co-decision rights on strategic matters. State Grid controls three of the nine positions on the company’s board of directors, including that of the deputy chief executive.
Officials in Athens said they had no choice than to sell the stake to State Grid back in 2016, noting the country was under enormous pressure from its European partners to complete privatizations and deregulate its markets, or risk forfeiting rescue money.
“There was also interest from the French and the Italians. The French, however, stopped short of actually making an offer, while the Italians offered a very low amount,” an official, who was close to negotiations, told Fortune.
“The Chinese brought cash to the table in the highest bid. It was an offer that had a clear, long term outlook. We accepted it,” added the official, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely about the negotiations.
Since then, skepticism in European capitals towards Chinese investors has risen. In 2017, Germany cited security fears in blocking a bid by China’s State Grid to acquire a 20% stake in the country’s largest electricity transmission company, 50Hertz.
Last year, the European Commission slammed China as being a “systematic rival,” and it criticized countries in the south of Europe for selling off important infrastructure assets to the Chinese as part of the One Belt, One Road program. State Grid has often been at the center of these disputes as it was when the company acquired in 2012 a 25% stake in Portugal’s electric grid management company REN.
It’s all Greek to the Chinese
Fast forward to 2020 and State Grid Corporation is interested in increasing its position in Greece’s IPTO. And there’s mutual interest. Greece wants to sell more of the company but has yet to decide the size of the stake to be sold.
Additionally, the Chinese power giant has its eye on the vital Ariadne Interconnection that would connect with Crete on Greece’s southern flank.
Greece is expected to launch an open tender selling a 20% stake on that undersea power link in the coming months. There has also been interest from a few European power transmission operators, Greek government officials say, adding that there could be more than one strategic investor in the project.
But the Chinese may already have the jump on the deal.
In addition to the work they have already done on Greece’s power grid, they are the only potential investor to have signed an agreement for an expression of interest in the Ariadne Interconnection.
The expression of interest was signed in Athens in November during a visit by China’s President Xi Jinping, along with another 15 bilateral agreements, focusing on sectors such as transport and tourism.
According to Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO), the new undersea cable connecting the Greek islands of Andros and Tinos is expected to be electrified this month. Courtesy of ADMIE
The two countries are hitting it off and one key reason for this is the Pireaus port, the biggest in the eastern Mediterranean.
Business is booming at Athen’s chief port after China’s state run shipping giant, China Overseas Shipping Group Co. (Cosco), took a majority stake in 2016. The Chinese are investing nearly one billion euros in Piraeus as part of a plan to turn it into the main entry point for Chinese exports to Europe.
Privately, Greek officials have admitted that they don’t want to ruffle feathers in Europe amidst concerns that too many key projects are going China’s way. But more recently, with a newly installed pro-business center-right government in power, Athens doesn’t seem to be too concerned about any pushback from Brussels.
Greece’s Deputy Energy Minister for Environment and Energy, Gerassimos Thomas, said the country is playing by the bloc’s rules, insisting that foreign investors play by them as well.
“Greece has always made it clear to all third-country investors that they have to abide by EU public procurement, sectoral regulations—in this case, the electricity market—corporate governance and control rules,” he told Fortune.
But under the European Commission’s new president, Ursula von der Leyen, Europe’s position on China is anything but clear. The trading bloc is still trying to assert its position as a global power rather than get caught in the middle of the shifting trade priorities of China and the United States.
“With the new EU Commission in place, it remains to be seen whether the more hardline stance vis-a-vis China, that we could see in 2019, will continue,” Janka Oertel, Director of Asia programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Fortune.
“An improvement in China-US relations will make it harder for European countries to dodge serious decisions on the future of their relationship with Beijing,” she added.
In the meantime, the Greek islands are ramping up for the coming tourist season, more confident than ever that the power won’t burn out.
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fortune--2020-01-25--An Imperfect expansion into ‘sustainable’ seafood

Greece turns to China to connect its far-flung islands to the electric grid , leaving Brussels in the dark

Beginning in 2015, Imperfect Foods blazed a trail to the forefront of the “ugly food” movement with striking graphics of misshapen vegetables that turned cosmetic defects into heart-tugging symbols of the fight against food waste. The company bought produce seconds in bulk and delivered the not-supermarket-pretty fruits and vegetables directly to consumers at discounted prices.
Over time—and in pursuit of its mission to reduce food waste and better the entire food system—Imperfect expanded to additional grocery categories, including dairy, meat, and seafood. But Imperfect’s use of the word sustainable for the off-size cuts and scraps of farmed salmon from European company Hofseth doesn’t sit well with many industry and sustainability experts, and leaves some wondering where Imperfect’s priorities really lie.
Sustainability in the seafood industry is more a spectrum than a widely accepted standard, but Hofseth and Imperfect both call the salmon sustainable. Commercial fisherman and sustainable seafood consultant Amy Grondin disagrees: while many of the company’s practices are a great improvement, open-water net pens can’t control for the waste from farming salmon and simply can’t guarantee protection for wild salmon against potential net pen breaks, especially with the uncertainty of changing weather patterns. “Until they put those farmed salmon in closed-containment systems (on land or barges),” says Grondin, “I don’t think that product is sustainable.” (Hofseth does have land-based farms in the works, and Imperfect hopes to use them in the future.)
Imperfect Foods believes that the Hofseth facilities are environmentally sound, and “[s]almon is a really popular fish for customers,” says Seth Rosenberg, who heads up seafood sourcing for the company. A pre-established supply line and the large volume available made it easy to weave into their offerings.
Jill Lightner, author of Scraps, Peels, and Stems: Recipes and Tips for Rethinking Food Waste at Home, balked at the idea. Lightner lives in Seattle, where native fish were recently affected so adversely by issues with salmon farms that the practice was banned last year. On top of that, she says, “I really, really struggle with the idea that raising fish in Norway to ship to a U.S. distributor… is a sensible way to reduce the massive environmental impact of seafood waste.”
Alternative supply lines already exist for seafood—these scraps might otherwise go into salmon burgers, supplements, or pet food—but as Rosenberg notes, selling to Imperfect provides a more lucrative option for Hofseth. And while seafood is one of the main sources of food waste in the U.S., USDA studies show that while consumers waste about two times as much fresh fruit as retailers, they waste almost four times as much fish and seafood than the retail level.
To Lightner, who does see companies like Imperfect as user-friendly (though flawed) ways to avoid produce waste, there are simply better ways consumers can reduce seafood waste. She says people can start by eating canned varieties instead of fresh but farmed fish. “It’s the least pressure, and a good tuna melt is a great gateway to the joys of fish,” she says. For more advanced cooks, Lightner suggests making homemade seafood stock and learning to cook delicious “scraps” like fish collars. “The former will save you money and get a second use from things like shrimp shells, and the latter will help fishmongers sell their odds and ends in a way that is much like the undersized salmon fillet idea, but rooted in your community stores.”
Like Lightner, Grondin is a huge proponent of eating fish scraps, but the best way she sees to reduce waste is by companies simply taking fewer fish out of the water. “How many fish do they really need to raise to run their business and pay their people?,” she asks. “Are they really using all of it? What percentage of what they grow becomes waste?”
Rosenberg admits the flaws in Imperfect’s current system and hopes they can eventually source their fish domestically. Plans for the future include using bycatch (unwanted seafood caught while fishing for a different species), undervalued species like sole, and buying up inventory excess. “It’s challenging,” Rosenberg says, of sticking to the company’s mission when sourcing seafood. Despite Imperfect’s insistence that the salmon farm meets company standards, his points about tapping into an existing supply chain with an appealing product make it feel overwhelmingly like a business decision that sidesteps the stated mission. Rosenberg recognizes the room for improvement, though, and says that going forward he plans to target more wild, domestic seafood. Where the salmon partnership falls on the balance between mission and profit, he says, is more “about setting a minimum and then aiming really high.”
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—Retailers reuse and recycle the way to increased growth
—Why Gap Inc. torpedoed its Old Navy spinoff
—How Ganni used tech-world tricks to grow from cult fashion label to global brand
—Consumers are turning away from real fur, but faux fur isn’t a perfect fix
—The World’s Most Admired Companies in 2020
Follow Fortune on Flipboard to stay up-to-date on the latest news and analysis.


fortune--2020-01-25--Dot-org sale sparks protests over fears the cost of registering websites will soar

The company that controls the dot-org universe is trying to sell the online registry to an investment firm for more than $1 billion, drawing opposition from activists who protested Friday and others who fear costs would soar if a for-profit company is in charge of registering the website suffix.
About 20 people representing nonprofits rallied outside the Los Angeles building housing the organization that oversees domain names, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. ICANN is meeting this weekend and is expected to rule by mid-February on plans by private-equity firm Ethos Capital to buy the Public Interest Registry for $1.1 billion.
Holding signs saying, “Save Dot Org,” and chanting, “ICANN, you can stop the sale,” opponents said they were concerned that the cost of registering a dot-org website will skyrocket. They also worry about the potential loss of freedoms of speech and expression if the registry is in the wrong hands.
“Who is going to stand up when the pressure comes from the owners of this private equity firm to get more money off their investment and to raise domain prices?” said Elliot Harmon, activism director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Who is going to stand up for nonprofits when governments come along that don’t have the civil society’s interests at their best hearts, asking them to take down the websites of their critics?”
Ethos Capital and the Internet Society, which runs the registry now, said those concerns are misplaced and the sale is being misunderstood.
They said in a statement that prices will remain low, the registry’s managers will stay in place and the infusion of capital will ensure the long-term growth of dot-org. They also rejected assertions that online content would be spied on and censored.
“This notion is baseless and, frankly, a demonstration of the type of speculation that has taken the discussion surrounding the future of .ORG irresponsibly out of context,” the statement said. “Ethos and PIR take freedom of expression very seriously, and the registry’s commitment to free speech will continue unabated.”
The protesters hoped to give an ICANN board member a letter signed by 35,000 supporters urging it to block the sale. After two hours, they were beginning to walk away when most of the board emerged to meet with them.
Chairman Maarten Botterman said ICANN is looking at the impact of the sale and what guarantees they could obtain for dot-org registrants, though he made no promises.
“I think they also understand that if they’re going to destroy the image of dot-org, that they have a problem,” Botterman said.
The signatures presented were backed by 700 organizations, including Greenpeace, Consumer Reports, Farm Aid, Girl Scouts of the USA and the American Bible Society.
Domain names such as apnews.com have historically been used by computers to find websites and send email, and their value grew as companies and groups adopted them for branding. The Associated Press, a nonprofit, also uses a dot-org domain, ap.org.
Speculators have registered a variety of names under popular domain suffixes such as dot-com and dot-org, and an easy-to-remember name can fetch millions of dollars in the resell market. Owners of popular suffixes can collect hundreds of millions of dollars a year in registration fees.
Though domain names are less prominent these days as more people reach websites using search engines and apps, they are still important for email addresses, billboards and other non-digital advertising.
The dot-org suffix has the distinction of being one of the original domains created in the mid-1980s.
Since 2003, dot-org has been managed by the Public Interest Registry at the Internet Society, a nonprofit founded by many of the internet’s early engineers and scientists. In that role, the registry collects annual fees of about $10 from each of the more than 10 million dot-org names registered worldwide.
The Internet Society uses some of that money to finance its advocacy and administrative programs, which include creating technical standards for the internet.
It said proceeds from the sale will fund an endowment to provide more diversified and sustainable resources long term. The group described Ethos Capital as “a mission-driven firm” committed to continuing the registry’s operations.
Although dot-org is often associated with nonprofit organizations, it can by registered by anyone, including for-profit corporations and individuals. That won’t change with a new, for-profit owner.
Ethos has committed to limiting price increases to 10% a year — the same cap that had been in place until ICANN lifted it in June 2019.
Critics also fear a new owner could change policies and reduce protections for domain name owners, including non-governmental organizations that operate in authoritarian countries. A website can suddenly become unreachable, for instance, if the suffix owner decides to suspend a registration.
Several advocacy groups, including the EFF and Public Knowledge, wrote a letter to the Internet Society insisting that dot-org “be managed by a leader that puts the needs of NGOs over profits.”
The suffix has been in for-profit hands before. Before the Public Interest Registry, Verisign Inc. and its predecessor, Network Solutions, managed dot-org, along with dot-com and dot-net.
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—The long ocean voyage that helped find the flaws in GPS
—Mysterious GPS outages are wracking the shipping industry
—Into the ‘crucible’: How the government responds when GPS goes down
—Google CEO Sundar Pichai on managing a tech giant’s growing pains
—5G is supposed to be the future. But here’s what it’s like today
Catch up with Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily digest on the business of tech.


fortune--2020-01-24--The hunt for a coronavirus vaccine begins

This is the web version of Brainstorm Health Daily, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the top health care news. To get it delivered daily to your in-box, sign up here.
Happy Friday, readers.
The burgeoning Wuhan coronavirus outbreak has reached at least nine countries (including the U.S.), sickened hundreds of people, and killed at least 26 in Asia to date.
Transportation systems in the region have been shut down amidst Chinese New Year festivities; airports are on high alert. Just today, the second reported travel-related U.S. case (in Chicago) was confirmed. And a new hospital dedicated entirely to treating patients of this coronavirus strain seems to have propped up overnight in China.
Public health scares, understandably, have a way of inducing panic. (Sidenote: Panic is not a good way of dealing with outbreaks. Wash your hands, stay home if you’re sick, and don’t stress unless public health authorities escalate their warnings. The U.S., at this point, doesn’t seem to have any reason to freak out.)
But medical officials are on high alert—and that includes drug makers.
A coalition of vaccine experts met with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) this week, according to Reuters, with a pretty stunning goal: Try and get to initial human testing of this latest coronavirus strain, which causes flu- and pneumonia-like symptoms, in the next three months. Companies involved in the effort include Moderna, Novavax, and others.
The virus’ genome was deciphered by Chinese scientists and shared with other researchers in an effort to expedite vaccine development. With the genetic information in hand, scientists from around the world wouldn’t have to wait for samples to get going on their work.
Could this be an early sign that the global health community has learned some lessons from the SARS and Ebola outbreaks of the past ten years? We can only hope.
Read on for the day’s news, and have a wonderful weekend.
Sy Mukherjee
sayak.mukherjee@fortune.com
@the_sy_guy
DIGITAL HEALTH
Roman wants to set itself apart with a Pfizer partnership for generic Viagra. Telehealth firm Roman (an arm of Ro) has struck a deal with Pfizer subsidiary Greenstone for an exclusive license to an FDA-approved authorized generic for Viagra. Why is this important? "Normally, all drugs of the same active ingredients are perfectly interchangeable," Ro CEO Zachariah Reitano tells me. "I compare it to buying coffee. You can buy coffee at two different places. All the coffee contains caffeine. But so many things go into making that cup of coffee that go into the quality of that product and experience." Reitano believes the partnership will differentiate his company from competitors in the online men's wellness market. (Fortune)
Introducing Brainstorm A.I. Readers—I'd like to highlight Fortune’s Brainstorm A.I. conference in Boston, which takes place between April 27 and 28, 2020. The intersection of artificial intelligence and health care is pretty obvious (or, at least I hope we've made that clear). And this invite-only confab will feature some of the biggest names (corporate and otherwise) in A.I. Among them: United States Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios; Accenture CEO Julie Sweet; Land O’Lakes CEO Beth Ford; Siemens U.S. CEO Barbara Humpton; Royal Philips NV CEO Frans van Houten; Landing AI founder and CEO Andrew Ng; Robust.AI founder and CEO Gary Marcus; and top machine learning experts from Bank of America, Dow, Verizon, Slack, Zoom, Pinterest, Lyft, and MIT. You can request an invitation here.
INDICATIONS
Insurers team up with Civica Rx in attempt to cut generic drug prices. A coalition of Blue Cross Blue Shield insurers have teamed up with the upstart nonprofit Civica Rx in an effort to slash the cost of generic drugs—particularly in areas with drug shortages or particularly high costs. "Numerous studies confirm that medication costs can dictate whether individuals fill or ration their generic prescriptions," said Civica president and CEO Martin VanTrieste in a statement. (Fortune)
REQUIRED READING
IBM Says A.I. Has Already Helped It Save $1 Billion, by Maria Aspan
Minding the GAAP, by Erik Sherman
Debating the Innovator's Dilemma, by Aaron Pressman
Sign up for other Fortune newsletters.


fortune--2020-01-24--How to ease the return to work after maternity leave

This is the web version of The Broadside, a monthly newsletter on careers advancement for women. Click here to get it in your inbox.
Welcome to The Broadside, a new careers newsletter for professional women.
Every month, this newsletter will share advice as well as a bulletin of job postings, conferences, workshops, and other opportunities to boost your career.
If you’re getting this email, you’re likely already part of our Broadsheet community.
We hope this newsletter will support women who are leveling up in the workplace. If you would like to opt out of future Broadside emails, just click “unsubscribe” at the bottom of this email.
Here’s what to expect in this inaugural edition of the newsletter.
Broadside writer Kristine Gill offers advice from working moms on how to transition back to work after maternity leave. Then, scroll on for job opportunities from Goldman Sachs, Netflix, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and more.
***
I should start by saying that I’m nowhere near ready to have children. (Hear that, Mom?) But when I was asked to pen a newsletter geared toward mid-career women, my first thought was about having kids and all the ways that starting a family can upend your career—just as you hit your professional stride.
I took some comfort in interviewing a handful of women who have made it work. These women had tons of advice about how to tackle motherhood and careers, and especially about how to make a smooth transition back to work following maternity leave.
Beverly Adams, an auditor working in Columbus, Ohio, did not cry the first morning she dropped her son off at daycare following 12 weeks of maternity leave.
“I was just ready to get out of the house and go back to work,” she told me. Instead of feeling guilty about leaving her firstborn in the hands of a stranger, Adams felt a different kind of fear bubble up: “Am I a terrible parent because I’m ready to go back to work?”
Now, three years later, Adams is preparing to return to the office following the birth of her second son. And this time, she knows what to expect. She’s ready to play catch up, ready to field awkward questions and comments from coworkers and clients, and ready to communicate more with her supervisors about how she has to step aside to pump during those marathon meetings or leave early for medical appointments.
Despite all of her preparation, she’s also ready for her mind to still stray to her sons. “I want to be prepared and more present at work,” Adams said. “But at the same time, you’re missing milestones.”
It turns out, most women feel some kind of guilt upon returning to the workforce, according to Lauren Brody, author of The Fifth Trimester: The Working Mom’s Guide to Style, Sanity, & Big Success After Baby. “That’s one thing that came up [in] every interview I did,” Brody, who spoke to 700 mothers for her book, told me.
The women said they didn’t feel like themselves physically or mentally until about six months after giving birth. “That’s sort of the magic number: six months,” Brody said. Study after study bears this out. In fact, lawmakers originally pushed for six months of leave during the Clinton administration.
Ultimately, lawmakers agreed on 12-weeks of unpaid leave, and women have come to believe that they should feel ready to go back after three months, Brody says, when that’s not the case. “It affects our expectations of ourselves.” Some states are making the push for paid leave and longer maternity leaves, but Yana Rodgers, director of the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University, says the U.S. is still “one of the least generous countries in the world” when it comes to maternity leave.
Here’s what you can do to ease the transition back to work before the six-month mark—at least until lawmakers get with the program.
Keep an occasional tab. Adams skims her emails once a week while on leave to stay in the loop on major projects, and sends a photo here and there of baby to her coworkers, reminding them, “Hey, I’m still here.”
Communicate. Tell your boss when you’ll have to pump and what days you’ll need to come in late due to daycare drop off or doctor’s appointments. Lee Boole, Senior HR Business Partner at General Assembly suggests setting a pump schedule in advance and blocking off that time on your calendar. “You can always adjust it in the future, but it’s helpful to have something to work with.”
Prepare for conversations. Even well-intentioned colleagues can comment on your pregnancy in a way that’s offensive. If it’s egregious, talk to HR. Otherwise, expect some awkwardness, says Leigh Steere, co-founder of Managing People Better. “You are the same person with the same capabilities after maternity leave as before, but some people inadvertently treat new moms as if they are fragile china or have somehow lost brain cells,” she says.
Slow down. Don’t try to do too many things at once. Adams suggests leaving your laptop behind when you pump at work. “Stress and breastfeeding don’t go well together.” And when you’re away from the office, do your best to decompress and lean in to motherhood. “Keep shattering those ceilings — but don’t forget to be kind and gentle to yourself too,” says Bita Goldman, Global General Counsel for UNiDAYS Inc and mother of four.
Know your rights. Familiarize yourself with the Family Medical Leave Act as well as your own HR policy at work. If you feel you’re being discriminated against, D.C.-based employment and labor attorney Joyce Smithey suggests first bringing the concern to your employer. If you feel you’re being ignored, consider contacting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Document any discriminatory conduct and consider finding an attorney.
— Kristine Gill
Making money moves
Amazon is hiring a Senior Workplace Strategist based in Seattle.
Apple is hiring a Technical Designer in Cupertino, Calif.
Berkshire Hathaway is hiring a Senior Software Engineer based in Denver.
CVS Health is hiring a Senior Training Coordinator for its Human Resources department.
Goldman Sachs is hiring a Creative Director for a position at their New York City headquarters.
Walmart is hiring Senior Counsel overseeing Health & Wellness based in Bentonville, Ark.
HarperCollins is hiring a Graphic Designer in Grand Rapids, Mich.
iHeartMedia is hiring a Data Analyst in Nashville.
Johnson & Johnson is hiring a Staff Electrical Engineer in Surgical Robotics, based in Boston.
Marriott International is hiring a Vice President of Brand Management based in Bethesda, Md.
Microsoft is hiring a Principal Program Manager for Minecraft based in Redmond, Wash.
Netflix is hiring an Associate in Content Strategy & Analysis based in Los Angeles.
PayPal is accepting applications for Software Engineers in several major cities.
Simon Property Group is hiring a Director of Multifamily Residential and Hotel Construction in Indianapolis.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is hiring a Senior Research Assistant in New York City.
Events and other opportunities
Feb. 8: BlkWomenHustle will hold an Entrepreneurial Workshop in Atlanta.
Feb. 13: A free Salary Negotiation Workshop for women, hosted by the American Association of University Women, will be held at Hunter College in New York City. Free workshops are also held online. (Find a salary negotiation workshop by AAUW in your city.)
March 5-8: The Women of Power Summit for executive women of color will be held in Las Vegas.
March 12-18: The Onsite Foundation is hosting a workshop called Triumph Over Tragedy for survivors of mass shootings in Nashville. Applications are due Feb. 6.
March 24: The Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summit will be held in Singapore.
June 1: Gallup's conference called How Millennials Want to Work and Live will be held in Omaha.
Want to share a hiring or networking opportunity from your organization or elsewhere, or just have feedback about the Broadside? Email Kristine Gill.


fortune--2020-01-25--The future of sustainable air travel: How airlines (and you) can fly more efficiently

When Greta Thunberg expressed her refusal to fly, owing to the environmental impact it imposes, she sparked widespread “flight shaming,” making travelers think twice about their means of transportation and prompting them to take a more thoughtful approach to travel.
“Something we are often asked about is how ‘flight shame’ has impacted SAS,” says Lars Andersen Resare, head of environment for Scandinavian Airlines. “We believe it’s important that people can continue to meet and that the world can continue to travel. But we can’t continue to just travel without adjusting to a more sustainable way.”
Aviation is responsible for 2% of all global carbon emissions (CO2), and according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), approximately 4.5 billion passengers will board commercial flights this year, with that number almost doubling by 2037.
New aircraft and biofuels
New strategies to mitigate use of fossil fuels are being implemented, and according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), sustainable aviation fuel (SAF)—such as aviation biofuel—is key to reducing carbon emissions. Currently, there are only five airports with regular biofuel distribution today (Bergen, Norway; Brisbane, Australia; Los Angeles; Oslo; and Stockholm), with others offering occasional supply.
Aviation biofuel suppliers say SAF can cut the carbon footprint of airlines by up to 80%, but it costs up to four times as much as normal jet fuel, which has curtailed usage and demand for production, according to a recent article from Reuters.
Scandinavian Airlines aims to power all of its domestic flights—accounting for 17% of the carrier’s total fuel consumption—with biofuel by 2030. And for its international flights, like the newly launched direct flight from Los Angeles to Copenhagen, the airline took the 11-hour carbon impact into consideration. This year, the company will fully upgrade its entire fleet of airplanes to more fuel-efficient models, including the introduction of the Airbus A350 to the Los Angeles market this June, significantly reducing emissions.
There’s also the Airbus A320neo, which incorporates the latest in aerodynamics, leading to 50% reduced noise as well as fuel efficiency with 16% lower fuel burn and carbon emissions over previous generation aircraft.
What can you do?
Think about biofuels. Choose airlines that either blend biofuels with fossil fuels or those that have incorporated newer, more fuel-efficient aircraft into their fleets. JetBlue, for instance, aims to be the first U.S. airline to become fully carbon neutral later this year.
At some airlines, you can even add sustainable aviation fuel when booking a ticket.
An Air New Zealand flight attendant pours coffee into edible Twiice cups. Courtesy of Air New Zealand
Reduce waste
The amount of waste created on airplanes—uneaten food, plastic cups, utensils, straws, plastic coverings on blankets, and other items given on board—plays a substantial role in the aviation impact.
Qantas, for example, generates more than 33,000 tons of waste per year on flights. By 2021, however, the airline plans to reduce that waste by 75%, which would also include the elimination of up to 100 million plastic items used in lounges across the world.
Among others, Air New Zealand is also committed to implementing a campaign to remove nearly 55 million single-use plastic items this year. “Items such as plastic cups, water bottles, eye-mask wrappers, and toothbrushes are being swapped for more sustainable options,” says a spokesperson for the airline. “In a fun initiative [in December 2019], we trialed edible coffee cups. We serve more than 8 million cups of coffee each year and felt that edible cups were an innovative way to reduce waste.”
What can you do?
Bring your own snacks in reusable containers or bags.
Fill a BPA-free reusable plastic bottle prior to boarding.
Reuse the cup the airline provides.
Seek out reusable utensils made from bamboo or other compostable materials to use during meal service (and throughout your trip).
A partnership with Twiice introduced edible vanilla-flavored leakproof cups on Air New Zealand flights in 2019. Courtesy of Air New Zealand
Offset emissions
Offsetting CO2 helps reduce emissions from air travel through individual actions before and after a flight. Airlines also direct portions of offset sales to investments in environmental organizations, activities such as reforestation, or renewable energy sources.
Scandinavian Airlines exclusively purchases CO2 compensation from energy projects linked to renewable energy conversions in wind power.
In 2019, Hawaiian Airlines, along with nine other members of the Hawai’i Green Growth Sustainability Business Forum, invested in a pilot carbon offset project expected to result in the management of the 8,245-acre Kona Hema forest preserve on Hawaii Island.
A Hawaiian Airlines A321neo aircraft flying over Maui. Courtesy of Hawaiian Airlines
Many airlines are now encouraging customers to offset their carbon emissions during the booking process. Since integrating an offsetting functionality into its booking flow system in late 2016, Air New Zealand has evolved from less than 100 carbon-offset bookings a month to more than 15,000. In the past year, customers have partially or fully offset more than 183,600 journeys, a 41% increase from 2018.
As the gateway to your destination, airlines represent just one step in taking action. Alaska Airlines, for instance, has partnered with Carbonfund.org to guide passengers on ways to live and travel sustainably.
What can you do?
Choose to offset your flight. If an airline offers this option, you can often do so during the booking process. When buying “carbon credits” through Air New Zealand, for example, all the money that’s collected goes directly toward its FlyNeutral program, which designates funds to permanent native forestry projects in New Zealand and carefully selected international renewable energy projects providing clean energy to communities.
Engage on the ground. Seek out tourist activities that help the earth and support local businesses that focus on sustainability.
Fly direct. This alleviates the impact of takeoff and landing, which generates 25% of a flight’s emissions.
Travel lightly. This helps lower the drag on the plane, which will use less fuel.
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—The most anticipated books of 2020, according to Goodreads
—Cabo’s newest luxury resort favors tranquility over nightlife
—The magic of the wedding industry’s most exclusive conference
—High-tech fitness offerings are the newest luxury hotel must-have
—The best travel destinations for every season of 2020
Follow Fortune on Flipboard to stay up-to-date on the latest news and analysis.


fortune--2020-01-25--Private equity firms are sitting on $1.5 trillion in unspent cash, and looking to raise more

It’s a new year and a new decade, and private equity finds itself in something of a paradox. PE firms have record amounts of unspent cash on hand, and they plan on heading back to the markets to raise still more.
Private markets continue to attract investors looking for the historically higher returns that can be found outside the public markets. The upshot: PE fundraising this year will likely come in fairly steady, near 2019’s record haul.
With all that cash on hand, it’s no surprise there were plenty of massive deals in 2019—including Swedish PE firm EQT Partners’ buyout of the skin-health unit from Nestlé for $10 billion (one of the largest such deals in 2019). And with Blackstone Group’s $3 billion deal (via their newly-minted Blackstone Growth Equity division) to obtain a controlling stake in MagicLabs (the company that owns dating app Bumble), PE firms appear to be finding new areas, like growth equity, to allocate their capital.
The PE mega-funds (those with over $5 billion), like those managed by Blackstone and KKR, are making up the largest proportion of capital raised, at levels not seen since 2007 just before the housing crisis hit, according to PitchBook.
Although returns in PE are tapering off slightly en masse, investors show no signs of being scared off. In fact, from a “net net” basis, the best returns are still coming from private markets, says Jill Shaw, the managing director at global investment firm Cambridge Associates. That’s “even if the absolute return expectations are coming down.”
One thing that’s lifting the market is the supply-side dynamics. PE deal prices continue to rise and the market for fundraising remains solid.
In 2020, fundraising likely won’t hit last year’s record (see chart), but analysts are still projecting PE fundraising will surpass a robust $200 billion this year, according to PitchBook—a solid amount that’s just slightly off the previous record hit in 2017 (with $241 billion raised).
“For the market, [2020 is a] continuation of the same trends from 2019, which is increased money flowing into the market and steady increases in prices being paid for businesses,” says Ian Loring, the managing director at Bain Capital Private Equity.
“Dry powder”
Right now, private equity is sitting on a massive nest egg.
According to recent data from Preqin, the private equity industry (which includes venture capital) has a record $1.5 trillion cash pile of so-called “dry powder,” or undeployed capital, going into 2020.
While plenty of high-growth startups have looked to the venture capital markets for fast (and big) funding, many companies are leveraging private equity capital to help them undergo transformational periods (such as expanding geographically or to drive M&A) in their businesses and “help accelerate that change,” Bain’s Loring says, utilizing, in the process, some PE firms’ operational capabilities.
Still, the concern remains that the PE market is one of too much capital chasing too few deals. And that’s driving up deal multiples—potentially bad news for firms who may be buying too high and limiting returns. According to PitchBook data, median PE deal value ticked above the $250 million mark for the first time in 2019. Loring notes that high prices in PE are “something that we all need to be incredibly mindful of. Buying things at the peak cycle … is a precarious proposition.”
Yet some firms don’t necessarily see the extra powder as a bad thing. In fact, Erik Hirsch, vice chairman and head of strategic initiatives at alternative investment management firm Hamilton Lane, says that while it can be easy to get “worried” about too much dry powder, a reduction in spending might actually show that fund managers are “being responsible and being cautious in their investment pacing.”
Even with more capital on the sidelines, private equity firms are predicting steady, if slightly lower, fundraising in 2020. And that’s despite the markets nearing, or having already reached, peak levels. (Hirsch, for one, thinks “we probably peaked a year or two ago.”) The capital raised by 2019 vintage funds (or those that began investing last year) totaled around $465 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
But cash will keep flowing, firms say. A few areas investors are eyeing to allocate their capital? Technology, according to Bain Capital’s Loring. It’s “pretty frothy,” he says, and will continue to be so in 2020. M&A in the private markets will be strong too, he adds.
Others like Hamilton Lane’s Hirsch see investors flocking to private credit strategies in further search of yield, while investors appear to be pivoting out of areas like energy.
And some analysts predict the trend of growth equity investing continuing into 2020, as maturing private companies (those too mature for late-stage venture) may opt for later growth funding instead of an IPO. The increasing popularity in growth equity (the number of U.S. growth equity deals has steadily risen from 2009 to its peak in 2018, totaling $57.6 billion across over 1,000 deals that year) has prompted many GPs (general partners) like Blackstone to create growth funds, according to PitchBook.
Choosing ‘flavors of ice cream’
Although cash in private markets is around all-time highs, there isn’t a shortage of places to put it. And as private equity balloons, the opportunities in its asset class expand with it.
Of note, areas like non-performing credit, senior loans, and an ever-growing geographic presence outside of the U.S. and Europe are just some of the ways private equity is offering a widening umbrella of options for investors, which Hirsch suggests is helping “absorb” all that extra capital.
“I analogize it to the number of flavors of ice cream,” Hirsch says. “The number of flavors of ice cream that are available to investors has gone up significantly.”
And clearly appetite is not a problem.
More must-read stories from Fortune:
—Wells Fargo is the big bank that investors like least
—What we can learn from the man who tried to sell the Eiffel Tower
—Why it’s time for a futures market in health care
—Retailers reuse and recycle the way to increased growth
—3 things investors can bank on in the uncertain 2020s
Subscribe to Fortune’s Bull Sheet for no-nonsense finance news and analysis daily.


fortune--2020-01-25--Apple’s iCloud security comes under scrutiny, as data merchants lose their grip on iPhones’ location

Apple’s iCloud security comes under scrutiny, as data merchants lose their grip on iPhones’ location data

Apple faced intense scrutiny this week on topics as far-ranging as security to iPhones.
This week started with talk of Apple’s security efforts on iCloud backups—digital repositories for text messages, app data, and other information that iPhone users store in the cloud—and whether the company can hand over unencrypted user data to the FBI. The quick answer: It can. And in interviews with Fortune, security experts said Apple should do better.
Meanwhile, newly revealed data revealed Apple is ramping up its U.S. lobbying efforts, but the reasons why are still unknown. And the company’s efforts at stopping apps from tracking users seems to be working. According to a new report this week, an increasing number of iOS users are turning off location-tracking in apps, thanks to a new feature that gives them more control over when, and how, apps track them.
But it wouldn’t be a week in Apple headlines without talk of new hardware, like a budget-friendly iPhone. And in a surprising move, Apple is making a major push into the gym market with new Apple Watch agreements. Here are the details:
Apple’s iCloud backups
Apple abandoned plans to use end-to-end encryption in iCloud backups two years ago, Reuters reported this week. In the case of photos and content that stays on a device, end-to-end encryption only allows the device’s owner to access it. In messages encrypted from end to end, only the sender and recipient can unlock it. Because iCloud backups aren’t encrypted in that way—but are encrypted in Apple’s cloud, so hackers can’t easily steal the information—the company has the ability to decrypt data and give it to law enforcement when presented with warrants. The revelation that Apple changed its plans came days after Donald Trump and attorney general William Barr publicly criticized Apple for not handing over data stored on two iPhones owned by Mohammed Alshamrani, who allegedly killed three people at a naval air base in Pensacola, Fla. Experts expressed their concerns to Fortune that Apple isn’t doing all that it should to safeguard its customers’ data.
Tracking is on the downswing
Location Sciences, a company that uses location data to inform marketing campaigns, told Fast Company this week that the number of iPhone apps tracking a user’s location in the background is down by 68% compared to last year. Background location tracking occurs when apps aren’t in use, but are still tracking a person’s movements. Location Sciences attributed the drop to new notification features in iOS 13 that allows users to decide whether apps should be allowed to track their locations behind the scenes. Foreground location sharing, which happens when the app is open, is down 24% compared to last year, Location Sciences said.
Get ready for a new iPhone
Apple has asked suppliers to start producing a low-cost iPhone in February, Bloomberg reported this week. The planned device will resemble the iPhone 8 Apple released in 2017, complete with a 4.7-inch screen and a Touch ID fingerprint scanner instead of the Face ID facial scanner used in the company’s latest smartphones. Apple could unveil the new iPhone in March. Pricing is unknown.
Apple TV Plus’s big numbers—and big problem
Apple TV Plus had 33.6 million active users at the end of 2019, market researcher Ampere Analysis said this week, describing it as more popular than Hulu and Disney Plus. But there’s a problem: the researcher said that the “vast majority” of those subscribers are getting it for free. That’s largely because Apple has been giving a free one-year Apple TV Plus membership to customers who buy its hardware. The move is designed to help Apple TV Plus attract users. But it could also backfire: Apple TV Plus has a rather anemic content lineup, and after free memberships are up, there’s no telling whether users will sign on to pay $4.99 a month to access the service.
Apple Watch Connected hits the gym
Apple announced a partnership this week with four fitness chains—Basecamp Fitness, Orange Theory, the YMCA Twin Cities, and Crunch Fitness—to promote a new “Apple Watch Connected” program. The four fitness chains Apple selected as launch partners agreed to use Apple Watch apps to let users log in to their accounts, track their fitness progress, and sign up for classes. Apple said additional gyms will join the program in the future.
Apple boosts lobbying spend
Apple increased its lobbying spending last year, according to data compiled by MarketWatch. In 2019, Apple spent $7.4 million lobbying the federal government, up from $6.7 million in 2018. The report didn’t say what Apple is lobbying the government on, but Apple CEO Tim Cook has spent considerable time in the past year lobbying Donald Trump to limit tariffs on iPhones, Macs, and other devices Apple produces in China.
One more thing…
Apple is quietly planning to build a podcast network focused on shows that would act as companions to existing Apple TV Plus series, like The Morning Show and For All Mankind, Bloomberg reported this week. No shows have been announced yet, and it’s possible Apple could shelve the idea, according to the report.
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