fortune--2020-08-29--Thousands gather in Washington to protest police violence against Black Americans

Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. famously laid out a vision for harmony between white and Black people 57 years ago, his son issued a sobering reminder about the persistence of police brutality and racist violence targeting Black Americans.
“We must never forget the American nightmare of racist violence exemplified when Emmett Till was murdered on this day in 1955, and the criminal justice system failed to convict his killers,” said Martin Luther King III, speaking to thousands who gathered Friday to commemorate the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
“Sixty-five years later (after Till’s murder), we still struggle for justice — demilitarizing the police, dismantling mass incarceration, and declaring as determinately as we can that Black lives matter,” King said.
Even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, many felt compelled to join civil rights advocates in Washington to highlight a scourge of police and vigilante violence that gave way to what many feel is an overdue reckoning on racial injustice. Some stood in sweltering temperatures in lines that stretched for several blocks, as organizers took temperatures as part of coronavirus protocols. Organizers reminded attendees to practice social distancing and wear masks throughout the program, although distancing was hardly maintained as the gathering grew in size.
They gathered following another shooting by a white police officer of a Black man — this time, 29-year-old Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last Sunday — sparking demonstrations and violence that left two dead. As peaceful protests turned to arson and theft, naysayers of the Black Lives Matter movement issued calls for “law and order.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton, whose civil rights organization, the National Action Network, planned Friday’s commemoration, had a message for naysayers.
“Some say to me, ‘Rev. Al, y’all ought to denounce those that get violent, those that are looting,’” Sharpton said. “All of the families (of victims of police and vigilante violence) have denounced looting. What we haven’t heard is you denounce shooting.”
Sharpton asked, “We will speak against the looting, but when will you speak against wrong police shooting?”
Sharpton and King stood with relatives of an ever-expanding roll call of victims: Blake, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, and Eric Garner, among others.
Arbery and Martin both were killed by men who pursued them with guns and whose arrests were delayed until residents protested.
“There are two systems of justice in the United States,” said Jacob Blake Sr., the father of the man whose shooting by police in Kenosha left him paralyzed from the waist down. “There’s a white system and a black system—the black system ain’t doing so well.”
“No justice, no peace!” he proclaimed.
Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, stared out at the massive march audience and said he wished his brother was there to see it.
Friday’s march shaped up to be the largest political gathering in Washington since the pandemic began. Many attendees wore T-shirts of the late Rep. John Lewis who, until his death last month, was the last living speaker at the original March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. That march went on to become one of the most famous political rallies in U.S. history, and one of the largest gatherings with over 200,000 people in attendance.
Organizers said they intended to show the urgency for federal policing reforms, to decry racial violence, and to demand voting rights protections ahead of the November general election. A handful of satellite marches were held in South Carolina, Florida, Nevada, Utah and Colorado.
Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris, in a video, said the original conveners would be disappointed that Black Americans are still marching for justice and equality under the law.
“I have to believe that if they were with us today, they would share in our anger and frustration as we continue to see Black men and women slain in our streets, and left behind in our economy and justice system that has too often denied Black folks our dignity and rights,” she said.
Former Vice President Joe Biden tweeted his support for the march.
Although President Donald Trump did not comment on the march Friday, the Republican National Committee marked the event’s anniversary by highlighting the president’s record as a “champion for the Black community.”
“While there is more work to be done, Donald Trump is the leader to make it happen,” Paris Dennard, an RNC senior communications advisor, said in a statement.
Activist Frank Nitty, who said he walked 750 miles for 24 days from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Washington for Friday’s march, spoke to the audience about persistence in the fight for justice.
“Are y’all tired? Because I’m tired,” Nitty said. “They think this is a negotiation, but I came here to demand change. My grandson ain’t gonna march for the same things that my granddaddy marched for.”
Navy veteran Alonzo Jones-Goss, 28, who traveled from Boston to participate in the march, said the nation has seen far too many tragic events that claimed the lives of Black Americans and other people of color, and “that needs to come to an end.”
Following the rally, participants marched to the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in West Potomac Park, next to the National Mall, and then dispersed. Some participants headed toward Black Lives Matter Plaza, right outside of the White House, which was renamed from Pennsylvania Avenue during protests in June.
Chants of “Black lives matter” and “No justice, no peace” echoed through downtown Salt Lake City Friday morning, as about 200 people marched from the state Capitol to Washington Square Park for Utah’s March on Washington.
“If people still can’t see why we’re out here and why we’re marching and why people are loud and angry then they’re blind,” said Joshua Chamberlain, a realtor from Holladay, Utah. “There’s racism happening every day and — especially by police brutality — people are dying from it.”
In Colorado, several dozen people rallied at a prominent statue of Martin Luther King Jr. in Denver’s City Park. Democratic U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet cited the names of George Floyd, Elijah McClain and victims of police brutality.
“You know and I know what happened to them would never happen to me,” said Bennet, who is white.
Sharpton instructed those in other states to march on their U.S. senators’ offices and demand their support for federal policing reforms and reinvigorated voter protections, in Lewis’ memory.
In June, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act, which would ban police use of stranglehold maneuvers and end qualified immunity for officers, among other reforms. A Republican-authored police reform bill, introduced in June by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who is Black, failed a procedural vote in the Senate because Democrats felt the measure didn’t go far enough to address officer accountability.
In July, following Lewis’ death, Democratic senators reintroduced legislation that would restore a provision of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965 gutted by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013. The law previously required states with a history of voter suppression to seek federal clearance before changing voting regulations.
Both measures are awaiting action in the Republican-controlled Senate.


fortune--2020-08-29--Millennials and Gen Zers need better childcare. Can either Biden or Trump deliver?

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

During the Democratic National Convention, Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke from the Early Childhood Education Center in Springfield, Mass., where she shared a message that struck a chord with the next generation of voters. Childcare, Warren said, is as critical to our economy and everyday lives as the roads we drive on or the Internet that connects us to work, entertainment, and each other—in other words, childcare is an integral infrastructure investment.
During the last night of the Republican National Convention, earlier this week, Ivanka Trump lauded the current administration’s work to increase the child tax credit—at best, a temporary solution which primarily benefited higher-income families. This approach reinforced the notion that families should figure out childcare on their own, which can lead to policies that disproportionately harm poor and working-class families.
The COVID-19 pandemic and this summer’s uprisings calling for racial justice have forced the country to grapple with many structural issues that have festered under the surface of our economy and our society for centuries. The absence of affordable, high-quality childcare has impacted families across the country for decades, but it has been an acute problem during the pandemic, especially for essential workers—many of whom are people of color—and working women who still shoulder most caregiving responsibilities.
And the next generations get it.
Survey data from Next100 and GenForward indicate that more than eight in 10 young adults between the ages of 18 and 36 believe that access to affordable, high-quality childcare is an important issue. This battery of survey questions, as far as we know, represents the first time anyone has asked young adults how they feel about childcare in any depth.
It turns out that millennials and Gen Zers care about childcare—a lot. Three in four millennial and Gen Z individuals who identify as women say that the lack of access to affordable childcare is a barrier to their professional success. The pandemic has proved them correct, and resoundingly so: Just last week, the U.S. Census Bureau released new data finding that lack of childcare has driven one in three millennial women out of the workforce.
These findings should not surprise us: Millennials and Gen Z are on the front lines of the struggle to balance work and family. Millennials are the largest generation in the U.S. workforce, making up roughly 35% of workers, and millennial mothers now account for the majority of annual U.S. births. Gen Zers are just beginning to enter the workforce and are doing so amid a devastating pandemic, mass unemployment, and a recession. As millennials know, this timing can have long-term effects on economic security.
Young people who are managing to start families, or are hoping to, must not only overcome the compounding economic constraints they face—including staggering student loan debt and the rising cost of housing—they must also confront the astronomical cost of childcare.
Childcare for infants can cost on average up to $24,000 a year, which is just shy of half the national average family income. The high cost of care limits access for low-income and middle-class families alike, disproportionately impacting communities of color.
The economics of childcare squeeze both family budgets and the paychecks of workers, primarily women and disproportionately women of color, who provide care. The U.S. is in the bottom third of developed countries in early childhood education investment, the result of decades of underinvestment in childcare fueled by racist and sexist notions about how we value the work primarily done by women, especially women of color.
Stalled action on childcare is no longer acceptable for millennials and Gen Zers, who are watching their futures evaporate before them. Policies must be updated to reflect their lives and to address systemic racism and sexism.
Proposed federal legislation, including the Child Care Is Essential Act and the Child Care for Working Families Act, and presidential candidate Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan would inject millions of dollars into bolstering our childcare infrastructure, expanding access to affordable childcare, and improving the quality of childcare jobs. Passing these policies would not only help the millions of families struggling to care for their children while working through a pandemic, but also future generations who will start their own families.
The next generation includes a massive coalition of childcare supporters who transcend political affiliation, race, gender, and income. Significant majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and independents recognize access to high-quality, affordable childcare as an important issue, with overwhelming support among men and women and across major racial and ethnic categories. Regardless of income, at least 75% of respondents identify childcare as a priority. Anyone who is interested in winning an election this cycle must take the childcare crisis seriously.
Young people and parents care about childcare because they are raising families now or planning to start families soon, and they worry, understandably, about how to afford childcare. They care because they know the cost is too high and the access to high-quality programs is too low. They care because this issue confronts all families, but they understand the burden is exacerbated by issues of race, income, or geography. They care because they understand that significant numbers of childcare providers are women of color who will only be able to continue this critical work if they receive the federal investments in infrastructure and support they deserve.
The next generation is sending a clear signal that they want—and need—access to childcare. We must listen to them.
Levi Bohanan is a policy entrepreneur at Next100, a startup think tank for and by the next generation of policy leaders. Cathy Cohen is a professor at the University of Chicago where she directs the GenForward Survey, a nationally representative survey of over 3,000 young adults ages 18–36.


fortune--2020-08-29--How scary will a COVID-19 Halloween be for candy companies?

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Other than mask-wearing tweens and Disney-loving toddlers, no one obsesses more about Halloween than candy and chocolate makers.
Mars, the company behind Halloween staples like M&M’s and Snickers, starts its planning for the big day two years in advance. For Hershey—which has three of the top five Halloween brands in its namesake chocolate, Reese’s, and Kit Kat—the holiday represents 10% of the company’s annual sales. “It’s big,” says Phil Stanley, Hershey’s global chief sales officer.
But the uniquely American holiday is just the latest tradition that COVID-19 has the potential to thwart. “There’s a lot of uncertainty,” says Jefferies analyst Rob Dickerson. “The main question—is Halloween going to be a disaster or not?”
The obvious issue at play: trick-or-treating. “It’s designed to have you go out and interact with strangers en masse, which is the exact opposite of what everyone is being told to do right now,” says Jessica Adelman, vice president of corporate affairs at Mars Wrigley.
A recent survey conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of the National Confectioners Association is giving candy companies a sign of hope: The results found that 74% of “millennial moms” and young parents say Halloween is more important than ever this year.
“We think that consumers will find creative and safe ways to trick-or-treat. It is an outdoor event, and it’s an event where a lot of masks are already worn,” said Hershey CEO Michele Buck on the company’s earnings call last month. She added that if trick-or-treating is lower than expected, Hershey will focus on the “Treat for Me and Candy Bowl occasion”—industry-speak for people buying candy that they will end up eating themselves.
Self-consumption has always been a massive part of the holiday and may end up salvaging sales for candy makers this year. Halloween isn’t a single day for the industry but rather a 10-week treat-buying fest. The holiday is basically an “excuse to buy candy,” says Dickerson.
Hershey, for example, has reported that people buying goodies to eat themselves makes up nearly 50% of sales at Halloween. Those purchases begin well before the holiday, with the other half of the season’s sales occurring in the last two weeks of October and designated for trick-or-treating.
Hershey starts receiving Halloween orders in May from retailers and says that it is so far pleased with how those sales are tracking. Stanley says he’s also optimistic based on how Easter panned out. The holiday took place at the height of the pandemic, but consumers just celebrated differently, with more events taking place at home. He expects the same for Halloween, which could drive up even more at-home consumption. “It’s a resilient category,” he says.
The pandemic in many ways has already showcased the strength of the sector, with consumers stockpiling candy and chocolate along with their canned soup and peanut butter. Hershey on its last earnings call reported that “everyday chocolate sales have consistently grown 9% since the pandemic began.”
Phil DeConto, vice president of category management and shopper insights at Ferrero, which is behind brands in the U.S. like Butterfinger, Crunch, and Baby Ruth, says that the very early seasonal sales data is on par with prior years. “I take peace in that it’s getting on the floor and that shoppers are finding and purchasing it in line with any other year,” he says.
But companies are still adjusting their plans to mitigate any potential risk. Hershey is scaling back its production of seasonal treats—think items like Reese’s Pumpkins—in favor of traditional products and packaging, which are easier to sell off if inventory is left over. Mondelēz International expects that consumers will be seeking out family-size packs rather than individual pieces for trick-or-treating.
Mars Wrigley is even going so far as to launch an app called Treat Town, which allows users to “virtually trick-or-treat for real candy.” Consumers can buy and earn credits that they will be able to redeem at retailers for the company’s products. It’s also partnering with the National Safety Council to develop guidelines for safe ways to celebrate Halloween amid the pandemic.
It’s not just the trick-or-treating that could move online. Ferrero’s DeConto points to stats from consultancy Kantar that indicate that online sales experienced the equivalent of five years’ worth of adoption in the first five weeks of the shutdown. It’s gone from a “strategic lever for the future to a strategic lever for right now,” he says.
That’s likely to continue during Halloween, with Hershey expecting that curbside pickup and home delivery will make up 15% to 20% of the season’s sales.
“My sense is that the human psyche works in complicated ways,” says Dickerson. “But I don’t think anybody can say there will be no Halloween.”


fortune--2020-08-30--Rock the Vote enlists Instagram influencers to get young people to the polls

For Rock the Vote, the coronavirus pandemic created a massive new challenge to its quest to get young people to vote. The organization had to pivot from hosting live events and visiting college campuses.
So Rock the Vote tried a new way to meet young people where they are: It partnered with social media influencers, better known for peddling Nike Jordans and the latest MAC makeup lines on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
“When Rock the Vote started [in 1990], you could put a PSA on MTV or VH1 and reach 90% of young people,” said Carolyn DeWitt, president of Rock the Vote. “But over the past 30 years, the media landscape has evolved tremendously. So those who have the ability to reach young people has completely changed.”
During the spring, Rock the Vote partnered with a company called Influential, which connects brands with influencers. Initially, Rock the Vote planned to work with Influential’s network of influencers to help promote some of its live events. But after the pandemic made that unfeasible, Influential’s role became even more important, helping Rock the Vote share voting information through influencers like Kendall Kyndall, Knox Frost, Shelly Scholten, and Quentin Quarantino, who together have more than 3 million followers through their respective Instagram accounts.
Celebrities have become increasingly vocal about politics and larger world issues on their social media platforms, with people like Kylie Jenner asking her 166 million Instagram followers to stay home after the U.S. Surgeon General had done so. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift has become a regular political advocate for voting on her Instagram page.
But for social media influencers who lack celebrity outside their digital platforms, the risk is much more calculated: Can they get political without losing their brand sponsorships? For some, it’s worth the risk, and for others the opportunity aligns with the online persona they’ve created for themselves.
The influencers helped Rock the Vote more than double its number of Instagram followers to 125,000, up from 62,000 in June. Influencers were also able to help Rock the Vote attract 1.5 million viewers to a virtual event it held with a coalition of advocacy organizations. The event was cohosted by actresses Rosario Dawson and Logan Browning, and featured appearances by politicians, activists, and musical artists including Katy Perry and the Black Eyed Peas.
“The network of influencers was critical to getting the crowd out,” DeWitt said. “This year in particular…Because organizations like ours have had to pivot, we had to be particularly targeted. Influencers are able to do that because they have very loyal followings.”
The change in strategy comes as young people increasingly get their news and political information from social media. It also comes amid a deluge of misinformation on the various platforms, with politicians including the President trying to discredit mail-in voting. Meanwhile, advocacy groups and local government agencies are desperately trying to educate people about where and how they can vote in their states at a time when the coronavirus has made in-person voting difficult.
Influential makes its money by charging companies for access to its network of more than 3 million influencers and for help with social campaigns. But this year, it opted to do something different when it partnered with Rock the Vote, for free, and with the World Health Organization, related to the pandemic.
“We want to use our capabilities to do good in the world,” said Ryan Detert, Influential’s CEO. “In an election year that has been full of social injustice and unrest, it is more important than ever that we utilize our technology and influencer network to help spread the word about the importance of voting to Gen Z and millennial audiences.”
And for two of the social media influencers who have helped Rock the Vote, getting involved this year without pay just felt like the right thing to do. Their posts have received thousands of likes and hundreds of comments.
“I was more than happy to do something for the greater good,” said Tommy Marcus, a New York influencer whose Instagram account, Quentin Quarantino, has 366,000 followers who typically see a stream of quarantine-related memes. “I really think doing something like Rock the Vote is a push in the right direction to use this influence for good.”
Marcus initially created the Quentin Quarantino account on Instagram to bring comic relief to the new reality of being quarantined. But after being approached by Influential, he opted to help WHO and Rock the Vote reach his followers. He promoted Rock the Vote’s virtual event by posting a flyer that included all the event details and encouraged fans to get more information about voting.
Shep Ogden, Christopher Travers, and their team of people who help run Knox Frost helped promote Rock the Vote through the Instagram account of Knox Frost, a digital character that has 991,000 followers. Part of the mission of Knox Frost, who represents a 20-year-old part-human, part-robot from Atlanta, is to promote wellness and social responsibility. So when Influential offered Frost’s creators the chance to promote coronavirus-related health information from WHO, and voting information from Rock the Vote, the two seized the opportunity.
“We like to think he can have a positive impact,” said Ogden. “We can get voting talked about through memes.”
Knox Frost published a series of Instagram stories, Instagram posts, and even texted with fans to promote Rock the Vote. In one post, Knox Frost sported a Rock the Vote T-shirt. In another post, the account pushed out an image of the lineup of stars who would appear at Rock the Vote’s virtual event.
Although much of the initial influencer work for Rock the Vote was done to promote its virtual event, the organization still hopes the online celebrities will help it get the word out about voting until the election. Detert said Influential’s work is not over.
Part of that includes getting some of the brands it works with to promote Rock the Vote’s messages. Rock the Vote has already partnered with HBO, Gap, DoorDash, Hulu, and Footaction. But Detert hopes Influential can help even more brands get on board.
“We’re in it for the long haul,” he said.


fortune--2020-08-30--United Airlines is permanently eliminating change fees on domestic plane tickets

United Airlines will eliminate its $200 fee to change domestic tickets effective immediately, scrapping a perennial source of customer anger as carriers try to coax people back on planes.
In addition, starting next year, passengers will be able to fly on a standby basis for free if a seat is open the same day as their planned flight, United said in a statement Sunday. The airline currently charges $75.
United’s new policy make it the first U.S. airline to permanently end change fees, which the company and its rivals temporarily scrapped earlier this year as the coronavirus pandemic gutted travel. United collected $625 million in ticket cancellation and change fees last year, trailing Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
“When we hear from customers about where we can improve, getting rid of fees is often the top request,” United Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby said in a video message to customers. “Following previous tough times, airlines made difficult decisions to survive, sometimes at the expense of customer service. United Airlines won’t be following the same playbook as we come out of this crisis.”
The decision brings United’s policies closer to those of rival Southwest Airlines, which has never charged customers to change tickets, and is likely to pressure American and Delta to weigh the future of their fee structures. Even with the suspension of change fees this year, travelers at all U.S. airlines are required to pay any difference in fares if they switch to a different flight.
Altogether, 10 U.S. carriers reported a combined $2.8 billion in fee revenue last year. United will retain international change fees that range from $150 to $400.
Passenger counts at U.S. airlines are still about 70% below last year’s levels.


fortune--2020-08-30--Inside ‘Unorthodox’: How the Netflix series lined up its cast and costume design

How does one adapt a memoir like Deborah Feldman’s Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots for television and make it feel as real as possible, even if the end result is a story only partially based on true events?
Finding the right actors and putting together a carefully researched onscreen wardrobe play a role, as Unorthodox casting director Esther Kling and costume designer Justine Seymour explained in conversations with Fortune. Kling and Seymour are each Emmy nominees this year for their work on the Netflix limited series.
The series follows a Hasidic Jewish woman from Williamsburg, Brooklyn named Esty (Shira Haas), who decides to leave her community and go to Berlin—and finding the appropriate actors was an international effort. In addition to looking for actors who could speak Yiddish—a language that features heavily in the production but isn’t widely spoken today—the casting team also needed actors who could embody certain characteristics.
The leads, Haas and Amit Rahav (who plays Esty’s husband, Yanky)—both from Israel—had to learn Yiddish. But there were various other reasons why they felt right for their parts despite the language barrier.
“She portrayed that thin line of woman-child—of somebody being so strong while so fragile, being very smart and naïve at the same time,” says Kling of Haas. Kling adds that Rahav—whose acting was “mature”—also expressed a level of naiveté that suited his character.
Amit Rahav (Yanky, left) and Shira Haas (Esty, right) as featured in Netflix’s “Unorthodox.” Anika Molnar—Netflix
Casting directors also looked for actors in London, Germany, a theater in New York, and other locales. The producers were also involved, Kling says, and were the ones who brought actor Jeff Wilbusch (Moishe) on for the project.
“They wanted him in the series… they weren’t sure for which part,” Kling says. “I believe the part of Moishe was written for an older actor, and they adapted it for him.”
While Feldman’s memoir informed some of what the crew did, there was also a lot of research on the ground in Williamsburg, says Seymour. She specifically focused on the Satmar community, the sect Feldman was once part of.
“We spent a week on the ground actually really doing research on the community, going into shops; we went on a walkthrough tour, we took photographs,” Seymour tells Fortune. We spoke to some people on the streets that were willing to—a lot of them weren’t, but some were really fascinated about what we were doing. People working in the stores were quite willing to open up and explain what things were.”
Costuming played a large part in illustrating Esty’s journey; the character was like the center of a jigsaw puzzle, Seymour says, with a world built around her. Younger Esty is seen more often in housedresses. Later, when she gets married, she starts to wear more structured clothing—dressing with a little more color and sparkle in scenes taking place during her first week of marriage to emphasize her changed status. After Esty reaches Berlin, she starts to change the way she dresses—albeit very slowly at the start—picking up some of her style from other female characters she meets in this unfamiliar city.
“I had spoken to Deborah about her personal transformation and she said it was a really slow process,” Seymour says. “Although she loved wearing jeans, so that’s why I jumped straight in with jeans, because she really, really enjoyed jeans.”
The clothes worn by Esty (Shira Haas) in “Unorthodox” reflect her character’s journey, costume designer Justine Seymour says. Anika Molnar—Netflix
“As the story progresses, [Esty’s] neckline becomes a little bit lower, her fabrics become a bit more softer and a bit more sensual,” she adds.
Personality traits are also reflected in the clothing worn by supporting characters—particularly the women—in Esty’s community. Headscarves, featuring various colors and designs, played a huge part. Seymour quickly learned that designer scarves in particular, such as those by Ferragamo and Hermes, are very popular. Since she didn’t have the budget to buy too many of those, she bought a handful of real ones for Esty’s mother-in-law Miriam and supplemented those with fakes and secondhand scarves for other characters.
Tailored, Chanel-esque outfits were also part of Miriam’s closet, reflecting her role as the matriarch in her family, while also showing that “she was slightly wealthier than the family that Esty was coming from.”
While many clothes—especially the men’s—were purchased for the production, Seymour did take the time to construct some clothing, including some of the women’s housedresses and some turbans. Esty’s wedding dress was originally purchased on eBay, but then reworked.
“Shira Haas is an absolutely petite young lady… the dress that we bought was exactly what I wanted, but then we cut the whole thing to pieces, we took out probably about 18 inches from the hem. I lifted the waist,” Seymour says. “And I just changed it around because I wanted it to feel more princess-y, and I also wanted it to also emulate the one that Deborah Feldman had had herself.”
Seymour also opted to have the shtreimels, circular fur hats worn by married Hasidic men on Shabbat and festive occasions, built by a theater company in Hamburg—partly for budgetary reasons, and partly to avoid buying new fur. Besides, the stores in New York selling authentic shtreimels wouldn’t sell them to her.
“When [the hats] actually arrived and came out of the box, they were so floppy,” she says, laughing, adding that she lacquered them with heavy hairspray and combed them until they more closely resembled actual shtreimels.
Seymour taught the actors and her costumers how specific outfits should be worn, while printing out notes that were available for anyone who needed to look something up. “I’d also have the fitting photographs actually attached to the clothing and in the continuity book, so that if I wasn’t available, they could see exactly how it was supposed to be worn,” she says.
That wasn’t the only coaching the actors got—they also received advance notice about any major plot points concerning their characters during the casting process. In one scene after Esty is married, Haas has her head shaved, a practice observed by some Hasidic women.
Shira Haas had her head shaved while portraying Etsy in Netflix’s “Unorthodox.” Anika Molnar—Netflix
“You don’t bring somebody in for an audition if she’s not willing to shave her head. We don’t want to waste anybody’s time,” Kling says. In addition to physical aspects of their roles like shaving one’s head or sharing intimate scenes with another actor, Kling says, the cast was informed of whether they needed to audition in Yiddish, in addition to being given some context about the cultural lens through which they were telling the story.
Kling, who describes the production as having “special” and “unique” qualities, ultimately enjoyed the process of working on the series.
“This is a story told by women about a very specific woman, somebody’s true story, but it became a universal story about a person looking for their voice and identity and freedom,” says Kling. “There was a fresh and fun feeling about that.”
Unorthodox is nominated for eight Emmy Awards. In addition to being nominated for outstanding casting and outstanding contemporary costumes, it is also nominated for directing, music composition, outstanding lead actress, original main title music, writing, and outstanding limited series.


fortune--2020-08-30--What I learned from 5 years of cleaning airplanes in the middle of the night

The airlines provide barf bags, but the dirty secret is that people often don’t use them. They throw up on the floor and the seats. This is not a society that cleans up after itself.
This is one of the lessons I learned, all too well, when I was trying to support my college education by cleaning the insides of airplanes at LAX in the middle of the night.
When people think about working at the airport, they often think of the romance of being a pilot or a flight attendant—traveling for free, being paid decently, maybe meeting a few celebrities in first class. They don’t often think about working on “the ramp” side of the airport, in behind-the-scenes jobs that few people seek out but can teach you quite a bit about life and yourself.
I’m still surprised I ended up cleaning planes. When I began attending Long Beach City College in 2013, I was passionate about my major (sociology), and I couldn’t have been any happier. But by the middle of the first semester, I was in financial trouble. My financial aid covered the cost of enrollment, books, supplies, course materials, and school-related fees. But I could not afford housing, transportation, food, healthcare, or other basics. I often had to choose between eating lunch and having bus fare to attend class.
When spring semester ended that first year, I had good grades, and books I no longer needed, but I did not have fifty cents to my name. I decided that if I was going to be able to afford to be a full-time student, I would need a full-time job.
I applied for every entry-level job I could. McDonald’s said I was overqualified. I applied for a nine-week certified nursing program but deregistered because I could not wait nine weeks to receive my first stipend.
Eventually, I was hired by a contract company under American Airlines at Los Angeles International Airport. On paper, it was decent job. We received full-time hours, flexible schedules, health benefits, and $9.40 hourly (in 2013, California’s minimum wage was $8).
I started as a cleaner of aircraft cabins on the graveyard shift. After a safety briefing, my coworkers and I were split into crews of five to six people, and we were assigned three to five aircraft.
We spent around an hour or two doing “deep cleaning”—cleaning each tray table, window, wall, and armrest, and securing all compartments in the cabin. We restocked the lavatories, cockpit, and galleys. We also checked every safety compartment and replaced any missing items. And then we dismantled the cabin—an extensive security search that involved taking the aircraft apart. That’s right, the Transportation Security Administration does not secure aircraft; cabin cleaners do.
This could be disgusting work. When planes were coming long-distance from London, Sydney, Narita or Hong Kong, it was horrible. Trash would overflow every bin and was stuck in every compartment. You’d find throw-up in the sink, and feces spread in places both inside and outside bathrooms.
I discovered—to my surprise—that I enjoyed how peaceful the airport could be at night. The work went by fast. I made friends with co-workers. But working at the airport and going to school did not fit easily together. Some days I was too exhausted after working a graveyard shift to get to class. Other days I didn’t have time to complete school assignments because of a busy workday. On the days I went to school, I would oversleep for work and come late.
By the end of the fall 2014 semester, I was on academic probation and I had received a final warning for my attendance at my job. So I chose to stop school and continue working, a decision I would later regret.
My family was disappointed. My grandmother, with whom I lived, stressed that a job is temporary, but an education is forever. I justified missing school by deciding that I would get everything I could out of the work experience. So I rose beyond cleaning, to working as an operational dispatcher for cabin services in the American Airlines traffic control center, assign cleaning crews to each incoming aircraft.
Where cabin cleaning required much physical work, being a dispatcher required planning and strategizing for where and when to send cleaners. Unfortunately, management loved my planning skills so much they overworked me. I often felt mistreated—forced to dispatch for eight hours straight without a lunch or a break. When I tried to bring it to the attention of a manager, my complaints would be dismissed. Then new management arrived. They pushed even harder, demanding even more work without breaks, and forced overtime. People were terminated or quit and weren’t replaced. As a dispatcher, I went from having 40 employees (10 crews of four employees) on a shift to having 18 to 20 people (6 crews). But there were still just as many planes to clean.
Fortunately, the contract company again got new management, which was open to hearing from employees. More employees were being hired, and coworkers were getting raises and promotions. In 2018, I approached my manager about returning to school. To my surprise, he said yes. But just as the new semester was starting, our company lost its contract with American Airlines.
I felt stupid. Now I would have neither job nor education. If I could have stayed in school full-time, I would have had my bachelor’s degree in spring 2017.
The airport taught me lessons that school could not—about business, strategizing, work ethics, the value of a dollar (we worked so hard for our money). But I needed to go back to school. After five years cleaning planes at LAX, and never flying on one of them, I’d finally learned what my grandmother meant when she said that your job is temporary, and your education is forever.
Shanice Joseph is a sociology student at Long Beach City College. She has a passion for helping her community and educating others through her writing. This piece was written for Zócalo Public Square.


fortune--2020-08-30--The best things I bought in August

The best things I bought in August

Six months into living through the pandemic and working from home hasn’t made my shopping carts any less weird, but as I settle into what everyone calls the “new normal,” I’m breaking some of my previous shopping rules and going beyond self-care to invest in what will truly make the day in and day out a little more bearable. Here are the things I bought that I would recommend.
Courtesy of Owala
My cabinet full of knock off S’well bottles from various networking events would tell you that I don’t need any more water bottles. But after using the Owala FreeSip for only a week, I’m never turning back. There’s just something about this water bottle that makes hydrating so easy—I’m consistently drinking more water than I ever have before. The built-in straw stays in place better than other bottles I’ve tried, and the water stays cold for more than 24 hours. I foresee buying a lot of these as holiday gifts later this year.
I’ve battled insomnia my entire adult life, going through phases where it’ll be hard to fall asleep for months on end. After running on an extreme sleep deficit for several pandemic months in a row, I decided to give in to the weighted blanket craze and did hours of research on which one was the right fit for me. Yes, this is one of the most expensive weighted blankets on the market. But it’s also the only one I found made for two people, distributing 35 pounds of weight across the 90″ x 90″ blanket, so my partner and I are using it as our duvet now. I don’t find it too hot, even on the warmest of NYC summer nights, and it’s not too heavy that I have a hard time sneaking a leg out for some air, as reviewers complained about with other weighted blankets. I won’t say it’s cured me of my insomnia completely, but it’s made enough of a dent to keep it around.
In the first few months of work-from-home life, I swore I wouldn’t purchase anything that wouldn’t be useful after I returned to the office. Since we likely won’t be back in the office until 2021, I still have four more months, at least, and I’m throwing the rules out the window. My workspace (a very small table) had notebooks, pens, sticky notes, bills to pay, and work calendars strewn about. Work and life were colliding in ways that it was impossible to stay organized and looking at the mess while I was watching TV on the couch was making me more stressed out. I really like that this desk organizer has five distinct areas for sorting things, so I can keep track of work and personal papers separately and feel a little bit more in control during an uncontrollable situation.
Gotta love a good impulse Instagram ad purchase. Mosquitos love to bite me, and, unfortunately, I don’t think it’s because I’m so sweet, as my dad has told me my entire life. I’m willing to try anything to stave off those pesky, itchy bites, so I figured these emoji themed stickers were worth a try. I don’t have any scientific evidence that they work, but I haven’t been attacked by bugs while wearing them, so that’s enough for me to stick with the program. And the plus is my 20-month-old best friend really loves to stick six or more on at once—for extra protection, I’m sure—so I’ll need to place another order soon.
Courtesy of Fitbit
When my Fitbit Charge 3 died after several good years, I felt like I was at a crossroads: I could stick with a basic activity tracker or I could upgrade to an Apple Watch. After hours of research, reading online reviews, and asking anyone who would listen for their opinion, I realized I didn’t have a reason to buy an Apple Watch. I was getting caught up in leaning toward Apple just because I have their other products. But in this case, I had taken notifications off my Charge 3 in an attempt to be less, well, notified. It just didn’t make sense to buy a product built to keep you more plugged in. I decided to upgrade to a nicer Fitbit product, and I’m really happy with the Versa 2. It’s the perfect in between: It does all the basic activity tracking stuff, but it also has some apps built in, like Amazon Alexa, so I can easily start a timer when I’m in the kitchen. My only qualm is it’s kind of a pain to change out the band, so you should pick one you really like. I went with an $11 gold band from Amazon to make it look a little nicer.
Courtesy of W. W. Norton & Company
I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to read a book about all the things that can go wrong in pregnancy and birth when I have yet to do those things, but this book by Dr. Chavi Eve Karkowsky, a maternal-fetal medicine physician in New York City, wasn’t scary at all. Yes, there’s a lot that can go sideways, but Karkowsky puts everything in context and shows the full picture of the medical experience for expecting parents—good and bad. There’s been a slew of books in last several years critically exploring the healthcare experience for women, and Karkowsky’s take is one the best I’ve read so far. I sped through this; I could hardly put it down as she told the stories from real patients.
I never anticipated having opinions about face masks, but here we are. Before getting this recommendation from a colleague, I was buying masks piecemeal from Etsy sellers and various shops, but I hadn’t found one that I felt fit right. The Vida masks have adjustable ear loops and a metal nosepiece to ensure a close fit, and they have a pocket for a filter, which you can easily add to your order for $12 for five filters. I’m not a huge fan of the black outline on some of the color options, but there’s enough of a variety to keep me happy.
Courtesy of Eero
I had enough of dropping off important Zoom calls and listening to my partner complain about the lag during video games. I did research on WiFi extenders, called a few places, called our Internet provider, and eventually succumbed to an Instagram ad for Eero, a mesh-networking company now owned by Amazon. I liked that their system could be plugged into what we already had, and we could add onto it over time, meaning it didn’t require a huge investment up front. The customer service was fantastic: I emailed in a question over the weekend, but when I had follow up questions, I called their support number, and a kind and patient man walked me through what he recommended for my specific set up. It was delivered quickly, and I was able to set it up in less than 15 minutes. All of our devices easily reconnected to the internet, and we’ve seen considerable decrease in the issues we were having.


fortune--2020-08-31--5 businesses that pivoted to new business models creatively during the pandemic

Warren Buffett ’ s $ 6 billion investment in Japan is not as unusual as it might seem

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Innovating the business model is a skill that every company needs from time to time, but changing the model near-instantly and perhaps radically is something else. Whether tweaking the model or transforming it, virtually all companies have had to make changes during the pandemic. Here are a few that have done it creatively and well.
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group
Do you desperately need a break with plenty of pampering, but you aren’t ready to get on a plane? No problem. Mandarin Oriental is telling customers that if they live in a city with an M.O. hotel, they should just drive over and check in for the “Staycation at M.O.” program. In Boston, for example, they’ll get early check-in and late checkout, breakfast included, a bottle of wine, and a $50 credit toward other purchases.
But wait—you don’t even want to check into a hotel? In some cities you can just call room service. They’ll bring the food to your house. Or goodies from the cake shop, supplies from the spa, or other merchandise.
The big idea is that M.O. is finding new ways to sell the luxury hotel experience. That’s biz model innovation.
JD.com
A complete shutdown of bars and nightclubs is cataclysmic for makers of alcoholic beverages. During China’s lockdown, the huge JD.com e-commerce business engaged DJs and performers to stage three-hour live shows online—and with one click, viewers could get Rémy Martin cognac, Pernod Ricard spirits, or Budweiser or Carlsberg beers delivered to their doors. JD.com claims that during a show, sales of whiskey from “a single partner brand” increased eightfold versus the same period the previous day.
The lockdowns have mostly lifted in China, but JD.com plans to continue using live music events to sell merchandise, and not just alcohol.
Record-a-Hit Entertainment
With nearly all large gatherings canceled, a whole industry of specialist suppliers is hurting: audio-visual technicians, caterers, stage set designers, program producers. But did you ever think about the suppliers of magicians, caricaturists, and casino nights, not to mention the Chuggy Choo-Choo Crawl-Through Inflatable and the Big Stinka Bounce House? Rob Broms is the owner of one such supplier, Record-a-Hit Entertainment (motto: “We put the fun in your function”). While most of the attractions he offers can’t go virtual, a few (including the first three mentioned above) can, and he has developed others.
“We just added a virtual escape room two days ago,” he said recently. “There’s been a lot of interest—people compete in teams.” And because thousands of new college students can’t explore their campus in person, he has added a digital game in which teams explore it virtually and compete to answer questions and solve puzzles.
David Dodge
With car sales plunging nationwide, the Washington Post reports that this Glen Mills, Pa., auto dealership sold more cars in July than in any previous month in its 15-year existence. All car dealers knew they’d have to transform their business model in the pandemic; the difference is that owner David Kelleher and his sales staff went all in. He created a business development center to consolidate online leads, and he placed its desk prominently just inside the front door. Salespeople work phones, email, texts, Zoom; they use FaceTime to accompany customers on test drives. Some customers do the whole deal online, in which case David Dodge delivers the vehicle to their home. Kelleher and his top salesperson, Mike McVeigh, share the same view of their future: We’re never going back.
Chipotle Mexican Grill
Like David Dodge in the car business, Chipotle knew how it would have to change in the pandemic era—but unlike most competitors, it went all in. Orders for pickup would be its lifeline, so the company added “digital kitchens,” which handle online orders for pickup, at the restaurants that didn’t already have them. Digital orders for pickup grew so fast that Chipotle announced in May it would hire 8,000 new employees, then said in July it would hire 10,000 more. It began aggressively adding “Chipotlanes,” drive-thru lanes exclusively for picking up digital orders. That business model requires more employees than traditional stores—hence all that hiring—yet is much more profitable. As thousands of restaurants nationwide struggle or fail, Chipotle stock is hitting new all-time highs.
That’s the power of business model innovation. Remember that business models and strategies aren’t the same. A strategy is a set of choices about which markets to serve and not serve, where, delivering what value proposition. A business model is a way of getting paid. All the companies discussed here are bringing their same basic offerings—a luxury experience from Mandarin Oriental, for example—to their same customers and target customers, delivering those offerings in new ways.
Know of another great business model innovation? Send us an email at feedback@fortune.com.


fortune--2020-08-31--The founders of skin care startup Starface on normalizing uncomfortable conversations

This is an installment of Startup Year One, a special series of interviews with founders about the major lessons they have learned in the immediate aftermath of their businesses’ first year of operation.
Launched in fall 2019 by former Elle.com beauty director Julie Schott and Brian Bordainick, previously head of innovative ventures at Hudson’s Bay Co., Starface aims to change the conversation around skin and acne today by rejecting negative perceptions.
Fueled by the initial success of its Hydro-Stars (star-shaped hydrocolloid pimple patches), which immediately found a loyal customer base, Starface was able to jump into new categories (including face wash and moisturizer) and to expand internationally (so far, in the U.K. and Canada), all in the past five months.
Ahead of the brand’s first anniversary on Sept. 5, Fortune recently spoke with cofounders Schott and Bordainick to learn more about their business, the lessons learned, the hurdles overcome, and their plans for next year.
The following interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Starface cofounders Brian Bordainick and Julie Schott. Courtesy of Starface
Fortune: What inspired you to launch Starface? How does it stand apart in the skin care industry?
Schott: From day one, the impetus for Starface was to normalize acne and create connectivity around this really universal experience, bringing optimism to an otherwise bleak space.
How have you divided the workload between yourselves? How has your workforce grown since establishing the company?
Bordainick: We both have very different skill sets, which is what makes our relationship work so well. On the day to day, Julie works with the team on product development, branding, and voice, while I work more on the business side of the brand. Despite that dichotomy, every major decision must be agreed upon by both of us.
Schott: Starface is powered by a small team, so we’re both able to touch every aspect of the business. Since half of our first year has been spent on lockdown, it’s been especially important to stay close, connected, and collaborative digitally.
Starface launched on Sept. 5, 2019, with Hydro-Stars and a new perspective on acne and skin care. Courtesy of Starface
Skin care is increasingly outselling cosmetics in the beauty business. Why do you think that is? How much of a role does social media play in your branding and marketing?
Schott: Skin care is self-care, whereas color cosmetics are often part of a look for the outside world.
Bordainick: Starface is extremely digital, and that means engaging with our customers wherever they are. A vast majority of them are on TikTok and Instagram. It’s been interesting to see how our Instagram followers [and] traffic have increased since engaging more on TikTok specifically. The talent and creativity on TikTok is unlike any other platform, and we see a lot of synergy between our values and the freedom of self-expression there. We’re just grateful to receive so much organic visibility since we’ve never worked with influencers in a paid capacity.
Throughout 2020, Starface has dropped limited-edition versions of its Hydro-Stars, including Cyber-Stars (metallic) and Glow Stars (glow in the dark). In June, the brand launched a permanent addition to its core offering, Rainbow Hydro-Stars: 100% of its proceeds are donated to organizations that help protect and uplift Black lives and LGBTQ+ lives. Courtesy of Starface
What has been your most successful or greatest “hero” product since launching? Have customers been asking for any new offerings in particular?
Schott: We launched with our yellow Hydro-Stars and followed with limited-edition iterations, each of which sold out within days. It’s easy to point to Hydro-Stars as a win, but it’s our two new skin care products, Space Wash and Moisture on Mars that generate unanimously positive reviews from customers. The goal has always been to create the absolute best-in-category for acne-prone skin using gentle, dermatologist-vetted ingredients.
Bordainick: We look to our customers to understand what they want to see from us as a brand, and over the last few months, we’ve launched a cleanser, Space Wash, and moisturizer, Moisture on Mars. We have significant plans to round out our assortment even more this year.
In May, Starface introduced a gentle yet effective cleanser, Space Wash, the brand’s first product after Hydro-Stars. Courtesy of Starface
How are you funded? And given the ongoing economic crisis, what has been raising funds been like during this time?
Bordainick: We raised a $1 million pre-seed with investors, followed by a $2 million seed round early this year. That was led by BBG with support from Able, Bobbi Brown, Brand Foundry, Amity Supply, NJ Falk, Brian Spaly, and Roth Martin.
Funding during the pandemic has been interesting. I feel like the funding ecosystem got very weary of [direct-to-consumer] brands and was looking for more diverse revenue streams. But as major retailers were shut down and more and more people have been spending more and more time online, the pendulum has swung back, and people are talking about investing in digital channels.
Instead of going to the whims of investors, we’ve tried to stay true to who we are and what we are building. Our goal has always been to be accessible to as many people as possible, and we’ve been fortunate that the pandemic hasn’t had a material impact on sales, but certainly has on supply chain.
Post-pandemic and five years down the road, where do you see Starface in the market?
Schott: Five years from now, I hope Starface will have encouraged a generation of young people to challenge mainstream beauty industry BS with radical self-acceptance.
Bordainick: I echo what Julie said. We want to create a legacy company for today’s generation.


fortune--2020-08-31--Israel’s El Al Airlines makes historic flight through Saudi airspace en route to UAE

An El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. plane flew through Saudi Arabian airspace for the first time, a sign of the improving diplomatic relations in the region.
Flight LY 971, the same digits as the United Arab Emirates’ international phone code, traveled over the kingdom to Abu Dhabi on Monday after the countries agreed earlier this month to establish ties. Following a deal brokered by the U.S., talks focusing on economic issues are due to start this week.
One of the pilots confirmed over the intercom before takeoff that the flight is passing over Saudi Arabia, shortening the journey by about four hours.
🔊 "Ladies & gentlemen, Shalom & welcome onboard flight 971 from Tel aviv to Abu Dhabi."
ELAL Captain of #PeaceFlight0971 delivers message of hope for many more such flights in our region.
🇮🇱✈🇦🇪 #IsraelUAE #UAEIsrael pic.twitter.com/mMSjEbRrFp — Israel ישראל (@Israel) August 31, 2020
The opening of Saudi skies is crucial politically and for Israeli airlines, given its large land mass blocking Jerusalem and Tel Aviv from several key destinations to the East. The flight comes after El Al was grounded because of the coronavirus pandemic, with the airline needing to arrange a financing plan to resume full operations.
“If we come to an agreement with Saudi Arabia, it opens extraordinary doors for El Al,” said David Sprecher, a senior aviation attorney at TransLex Lawyers, with offices in Israel and the UAE. Access to Saudi airspace would shorten routes and make El Al much more competitive when it comes to flying to India and other Asian markets, he said.
When operating, El Al’s planes have had to run a dogleg route to Mumbai, for example, down the Red Sea and up the Gulf of Aden to avoid Saudi airspace. That adds two hours to the trip from Tel Aviv and puts the Israeli carrier at a huge disadvantage to Air India, which can fly the route direct.
The opening will give the UAE’s biggest carriers—Emirates and Etihad—an opportunity to feed Israeli passengers through their airport hubs in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, respectively, connecting to destinations further east and west. Currently, Royal Jordanian and Turkish Airlines are the only carriers in the Middle East that fly to Israel.


fortune--2020-08-31--Buy now, pay later: How COVID-19 is aiding the payment model

If you’ve been doing some online shopping lately, as many U.S. consumers have during the pandemic to avoid shopping in person (and maybe even just to pass the time while in quarantine), you might have noticed an increased recurrence of offers touting interest-free payments in installments.
Klarna, QuadPay, Affirm, Sezzle—these are just a few of the most familiar banking providers financing installment plans for e-commerce merchants. And as online purchases continue to increase and consumers look for more ways to save owing to COVID-19, “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) services have accelerated in popularity.
This week, PayPal is introducing a new BNPL product in the United States, dubbed “Pay in 4,” an interest-free installments plan. Consumers who opt for the plan can make a purchase and pay the merchant back over four interest-free installments, between $30 and $600, over a six-week period.
“Retailers are always looking for new and trusted ways to increase sales without taking on additional risk or costs,” says Doug Bland, senior vice president of global credit at PayPal. “The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the challenges they face, especially as we head into the holiday season. Similarly, consumers are looking for more flexible and versatile ways to pay, especially online.”
Buy now, pay later is not a new concept, notes Mark A. Cohen, director of retail studies at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, underscoring that the practice has been the underlying basis of consumer credit since World War II and fueled the late 20th-century emergence of the American middle class.
“First, there were individual store accounts, largely built, like rent, on a pay-each-month basis,” Cohen explains. “Then there were retail store credit cards—à la Sears, Roebuck and Co.; Macy’s, etc.—which enabled customers to buy now and pay over time. These were hand in glove with store features like ‘layaway,’ which allowed customers to set aside merchandise typically for a small deposit or fee, which they could then pick up and pay for at a later date.”
While the groundwork for BNPL services has been set for decades, the sudden ubiquity is almost to be expected given the suddenness of the recent economic downturn. As the U.S. unemployment rate hit 10.2% in July (down from a peak of 14.7% in the spring), Cohen speculates that many consumers in the throes of the pandemic have been pressed to max out their credit cards to stay afloat. At the same time, credit card issuers, in turn, have likely lowered many customers’ credit limits as they have become far less creditworthy. Retailers—also suffering greatly as consumer spending has been soft—can respond here by offering interest-free BNPL services (so long as the customer pays within the prescribed window) to induce customers to shop now, not later.
“It enables shoppers—especially younger shoppers—to spend with some urgency, rather than wait or not spend at all,” says Wendy Liebmann, CEO of consulting firm WSL Strategic Retail. “That’s an advantage for categories like clothing, where in-and-out trends mean there is some urgency to buy. Waiting may not be an option, at least from an emotional standpoint.”
The payback
Pay in 4 will be included in the merchant’s existing PayPal pricing, so merchants won’t pay additional fees to enable it for customers, and PayPal takes on the credit risk. Retailers get paid upfront, and consumers pay no fees or interest if payments are made on time. Meanwhile, payments are conducted automatically and deducted from virtual wallets. Pay in 4 will also appear in customers’ PayPal wallets, so they can manage their payments in the PayPal app.
“We’re continuously monitoring the macroeconomic environment and the implications COVID has had. We’re committed to providing our customers with a range of choices in flexible financing during this time, which is why we’re launching new products like Pay in 4,” Bland says.
With more than 300 million consumer and merchant accounts in more than 200 markets, PayPal offers several other financing options along with Pay in 4. PayPal Credit, a reusable line of credit with various promotional offers built in, like six months of special financing and Easy Payments, is available in the U.S. and U.K. PayPal also offers PayPal Ratenzahlung and Paiement en 4X—installment products in the German and French markets—and Pay After Delivery, a buy now, pay later offering in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and the U.K. Pay in 4 is scheduled to be available to consumers on qualifying purchases in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The rapid growth and improvement of fintech brands over the past decade have broadened the market for BNPL services, says Gerard Griffin, CEO and founder of wage access and financial services firm AnyDay, from accelerating the credit underwriting process (now instant at the time of purchase where before it required manual preapproval) to broadening and expediting distribution (merchants can offer the service to customers via the existing merchant processor as opposed to developing capacity itself or negotiating an arrangement with a local bank).
Griffin suggests interest-free installment plans for online purchases are particularly popular with millennials, who might be wary of racking up credit card debt as many of them entered the workforce in the midst of the Great Recession.
“The credit crisis gave credit a bad name for those in their formative period then, I believe, leading to the declining use of credit cards among millennials,” Griffin explains. “Installment purchase offers instant purchase gratification without the ‘credit’ label.”
However, while the lure of smaller, interest-free payments might seem appealing on the surface, just like credit cards, those offers are dependent on consumers making payments on time. If they don’t make payments on time, again, just like with credit cards, those penalties rack up fast, and consumers face the potential of falling into a great amount of debt in a short amount of time.
“However you look at it, consumer credit balances were rising somewhat sharply pre-COVID and now are likely to drive an economic crisis whose dimensions and duration will be dependent on how long COVID-19 paralyzes our economy and how long it takes for us to truly recover,” Cohen says.
Therefore, it’s imperative for consumers to closely read the rules for payment plans before making purchases. “The interest rate is not always explicit, letting consumers feel they’re just paying for goods over time,” Griffin says. “I suspect current economic stress will lead to greater demand for buy now, pay later. But equally, it will increase the risk of default, so providers may rein back the offering.”
Put even more simply: There are no free rides anywhere, Cohen says. But retailers also shouldn’t overlook the risks in offering installment plans. “Whenever a consumer purchases something without paying for it, immediately there is a bill due,” he says. “As for the retailers offering this new/old form of credit, they face the challenging specter of slow-pay/no-pay consumers who they do business with in this way.”
“It’s easy for shoppers to get into unmanageable debt quickly, and for retailers, there’s the cost of merchandise bought but not paid for,” Liebmann concurs.
But, she says, even though shoppers need all the encouragement to buy these days, this trend is not only a pandemic story. Thus, there is reason to predict consumer interest in BNPL plans will continue for some time.
As customers continue to seek out different financing options, Bland expects the upward trend for pay schemes to continue growing. “As online shopping increases, consumers seek choice and flexibility, which includes the ability to pay over time,” he says. “Merchants will continue to require innovative, diverse payment options for customers.”


fortune--2020-08-31--Warren Buffett’s $6 billion investment in Japan is not as unusual as it might seem

On Monday, Berkshire Hathaway, the giant holding company chaired by Warren Buffett, announced it had acquired a roughly 5% stake totaling approximately $6 billion in five of Japan’s largest trading houses. The purchase is the latest of Buffett’s bids to expand overseas, as his $520 billion investment firm remains heavily U.S.-weighted.
“I am delighted to have Berkshire Hathaway participate in the future of Japan and the five companies we have chosen for investment,” Buffett, 90, said in a statement announcing the investment, which sent shares in all five companies up on Monday. Berkshire Hathaway had spent the past 12 months slowly acquiring its stake in the five firms: Itochu, Marubeni, Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Sumitomo.
The so-called Oracle of Omaha typically invests closer to home, with $125 billion of Berkshire Hathaway’s assets tied up in Apple alone. As such, shopping in Japan appears peculiar but, based on the five company’s valuations and holdings, Buffett’s MO remains the same.
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Four of the five Japanese firms Buffett has bought into are undervalued, with a market cap lower than the value of their assets, and most of them have a substantial amount of cash on hand. That makes them a cheap and stable investment opportunity.
Buffett often holds long-term passive stakes in profitable businesses, and, according to the company’s statement, Berkshire Hathaway intends to “hold its Japanese investments for the long term” too.
“This is a continuation of Buffett spreading his international wings,” Stephen Innes, chief global analyst at online forex trader AxiCorp, said in a note Monday. Innes cites Buffett’s purchase of shares in Canadian gold miner Barrick earlier this month as proof of Buffett buying abroad.
Gold prices have surged this year, as investors spooked by the pandemic seek a safe haven against the U.S. dollar. Innes thinks Buffett is behaving in a similar way too, saying, he “may be diversifying away from the U.S. dollar.”
Expectations that Buffett would make an investment in Japan have been brewing since 2011, when the investor made his first trip there. Then, last year, Berkshire Hathaway raised $4 billion through a yen-denominated bond sale—the largest ever yen-denominated issuance by a non-Japanese institution.
In its statement, Hathaway also notes that it has 625 billion of yen-denominated bonds set to mature between 2023 and 2060 and so has only “minor exposure to yen/dollar movements.”


fortune--2020-08-31--Beijing ratchets up TikTok tension

Beijing ratchets up TikTok tension

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Good morning. David Meyer here in Berlin, filling in for Alan.
In case the forced sale of TikTok’s western operations wasn’t sufficiently packed with intrigue, Beijing has stirred things up further.
China’s government has introduced new rules around the export of certain types of technology, such as “artificial intelligence” interfaces and speech recognition. ByteDance’s popular short-video app uses these technologies, and ByteDance will therefore have to ask for China’s approval before selling off TikTok’s U.S. operations to Microsoft/Walmart or Oracle or whoever is jumping into the ring this week.
According to Bloomberg, ByteDance says it will “strictly comply” with Beijing’s demands in this respect. The publication also quotes a “person familiar with the matter” as saying China’s newly-revised export-control list represents an attempt not to block the sale, but rather to delay it—perhaps until after the U.S. election in November.
Although the impact is not quite the same, the development is reminiscent of the U.S.’s deployment of export-control laws to target Huawei and its suppliers. That’s about national security, and China’s potentially-TikTok-sale-stymying move is apparently about national economic security, but each appears to amount at least in part to one side of the Sino-American spat messing with the other, with a fast-growing company getting stuck in the middle.
The mixture of business and geopolitics may make for exciting sagas, but it’s a dangerous game. Let’s hope it doesn’t become a regular event.
More news below, starting with another example of the syndrome we’ve just discussed…
David Meyer
@superglaze
david.meyer@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
Forced sale
The American hotel operator MCR Development has agreed to buy the hotel property-management software firm StayNTouch for $46 million, after President Trump said StayNTouch's Chinese ownership (by Beijing Shiji Information Technology Co.) was a threat to U.S. national security. MCR Development reportedly does not plan any major operational changes at the company. Wall Street Journal
Nestlé buy
Nestlé Health Science is to buy out the Californian biopharmaceutical company Aimmune at a valuation of $2.6 billion. Nestlé had already invested $473 million in the company, which makes a treatment called Palforzia, for peanut allergies in children and teens. Aimmune got FDA approval for Palforzia in January. CNBC
Wirecard probe
A parliamentary inquiry into the accounting scandal at Wirecard kicks off in Berlin today. The big question is whether German officials were so keen to foster the growth of a national champion that they ignored worrying signs that all was not well. Bloomberg
Change fees
United has become the first U.S. airline to permanently scrap the $200 fees it charged for changing domestic tickets. The move comes as it, and other carriers, try to coax passengers back onboard in the context of a still-festering pandemic. Fortune
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Tesla analysis
Fortune's Shawn Tully has a question for prospective Tesla investors: "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?" He comes to the conclusion that the necessary volumes are impossible for Tesla, "given the current size and projected growth of the industry…It's not that Tesla can't be successful. The killer is that its bubble valuation mandates future performance that simply looks unachievable." Fortune
Naspers analysis
It's now a year since Naspers, the South African media giant, unbundled its new-media holdings (the big one of which is its 31% Tencent stake) in the form of Prosus. So, did it work? This analysis argues that the unbundling did not achieve its desired effect of narrowing the discounts between Naspers and Prosus, and between Prosus and Tencent. Business Maverick
Abenomics review
The surprise premature departure of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will nominally end his "Abenomics" approach to reviving the Japanese economy. Reuters polled experts for their opinions on the strategy and whether it worked. Opinions, unsurprisingly, differ. Reuters
Electric cars
New research shows that European auto firms will find it more expensive to build electric cars than fossil-fuel cars for at least the next decade. It seems that, by 2030, there will still be a 9% gap in production costs that threatens the profit margins of companies such as Volkswagen and PSA. Financial Times
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.


fortune--2020-08-31--Stock splits: Everything investors need to know in light of Apple’s and Tesla’s moves

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Are your eyes deceiving you, or is Apple stock now one-fourth the price?
Both Apple and Tesla completed a stock split on Monday—Tesla did a 5-for-1 stock split, while Apple issued a 4-for-1 stock split. And while it may now look like shares magically became a lot cheaper for the two high-flying stocks, stock splits aren’t quite that simple.
Here’s everything investors should know.
What is a stock split?
A stock split occurs when a company increases the total number of outstanding shares for the price of the same share, effectively breaking one share into several smaller whole shares. For example, a company could do a 4-for-1 stock split, where one $400 share would then become four $100 shares, and existing investors would get three extra shares for each one they own.
In general, stock splits are done when a company’s share price has gotten high, and the stock is then split to lower the price of each individual share and make the shares more accessible and appealing to individual or retail investors who might not have been able to afford the stock before.
Does a stock split make shares cheaper?
This is perhaps the main misconception of stock splits—a stock split does not necessarily make a share “cheaper.”
“The cost per share is less, but the valuation has not changed, so it’s not cheap—meaning it doesn’t automatically become undervalued, it has the same value metrics that it did before,” CFRA’s Sam Stovall tells Fortune.
Indeed, while the stock will become less expensive to buy, none of the valuation metrics or price-to-earnings ratios have changed, and the market cap of the company stays exactly the same. The dividend yield overall won’t change, but the dividend per share may be reduced by the same divisor as the split.
“You’re getting exactly the same, but you have to buy more shares at a lower price in order to equal the amount that, let’s say, your friend has,” Stovall explains. For example, if your friend owned two shares of Apple for $1,000 before the split, they’d now own eight shares. For you to equal those original two shares your friend had, you would have to buy eight shares of Apple instead of two.
But since the price is lower for the shares (and perhaps now in budget), a stock split “drives optimism around more retail investors, [but] most institutional investors couldn’t care less, because it doesn’t change the math,” notes Edward Jones analyst Logan Purk, who covers Apple.
The upshot is that “it’s more psychological. People prefer to buy and sell an even number of shares, and they like to pay within a particular range if possible,” Stovall notes.
Why do companies do stock splits?
Thirty years ago, it was fairly simple why companies did stock splits. But in 2020, some experts are scratching their heads.
“It used to be that you wanted a lower price, because it was beneficial to buy a round lot, a round lot being 100 shares,” says CFRA’s Stovall. It was previously more expensive to execute trades under 100 shares, Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst of product management at S&P Dow Jones Indices, notes, and Stovall says investors used to want to pay around $40 to $80 for a stock. When companies’ stocks started popping up higher, they’d consider a stock split to make the shares more accessible.
In fact, in 1997, there were 102 stock splits among companies in the S&P 500. But so far this year, there have only been three (including Apple), per S&P Global data.
It’s clear stock splits have fallen out of favor in recent years, especially with the advent of fractional shares—a practice that has become increasingly common and popular on trading apps like Robinhood. Fractional investing allows investors to buy a fraction of one share for less than the cost of a whole share. Or, in other words, you can buy $100 of Tesla, even though the price of one share is much higher.
In that sense, “You might then say, well, because of fractional shares, aren’t these stocks attractive to consumers anyway? I don’t really have an answer to that,” Stovall says.
Indeed, the general idea of stock splits is somewhat similar: companies want to make their shares more accessible to a broader base of investors. And, at least previously, stock splits were viewed “as a strong vote of confidence from the company that their stock was stable and going up,” Silverblatt suggests.
Since the pair announced their splits, Tesla’s and Apple’s stocks have jumped more than 60% and 30% respectively, as of Friday’s close. Silverblatt, for one, notes there will likely be a lot of trading volume for the stocks on Monday, and suggests other companies will be eyeing their performance over the next few days.
Do you lose money if a stock splits?
No. A stock split won’t change the value of your stake in the company, it simply alters the number of shares you own. If you owned two shares of Apple at $1,000 before its 4-for-1 stock split, you’ll still own $1,000 of Apple, but you’ll own eight shares instead of two (you’ll get three extra shares for each one).
“Basically, optics is a really good way of describing it: It just makes the stocks look a little different, even though they’re not,” Stovall says.
And current investors need to remember: “They didn’t lose or gain anything, it’s just that these shares have become closer in reach to those investors who have a ceiling as to what price they will pay for a stock,” notes Stovall.
Should you buy Apple and Tesla after their stock splits?
For investors thinking about buying in post-split, Stovall has some advice: “Pretend the stock split didn’t occur, would you buy Tesla today? If you say, ‘Oh, I’ll only buy it at the split price, I won’t buy it at the prior price,’ the metrics are exactly the same…So why is one attractive and the other not?”
Indeed, Silverblatt says the long term investor needs to “look at the stock and determine if this is a value you want to go into, not the hype of the moment.”
But that doesn’t mean some analysts aren’t positive about Tesla’s and Apple’s stock splits and what it might mean for stocks from other big tech companies, which are likely watching the results closely. “Ultimately we expect more tech giants to potentially head down this path over the coming months as the parabolic rally in tech/EV names over the past five months has put companies in a position of strength to make such moves,” Wedbush’s Dan Ives wrote in an Aug. 12 note. And for Tesla in particular, Ives says, “given its strong retail base and growing appetite among investors around the…overall EV demand, we believe this is a smart strategic move at the right time for the board to make.”
So, is this the start of a slew of new stock splits?
“Logically, [the idea of doing a stock split now] is not there. However, the people who brought you something called an iPhone or an electric car—ignoring them is not a wise move,” Silverblatt argues. “If companies are looking at it, investors have to look at it. Doesn’t mean you have to buy into it.”


fortune--2020-08-31--Buffett’s big bet on Japan sends global stocks higher

This is the web version of the Bull Sheet, Fortune’s no-BS daily newsletter on the markets. Sign up to receive it in your inbox here.
Good morning. We’ve arrived at the final trading day of what’s been a historic August run on stocks. And the rally shows no signs of fading as Asian stocks, led by a bullish investment from Warren Buffett, push global equities into the green.
Let’s see where investors are putting their money.
Markets update
Asia
The major Asia indexes are mixed in afternoon trading, with Japan’s Nikkei leading the way, up 1.3% .
are mixed in afternoon trading, with leading the way, up . Japanese investors are cheering Warren Buffett this morning. His Berkshire Hathaway announced over the weekend it’s acquired stakes in five major Japanese trading companies , including Mitsubishi and Sumitomo Corp, worth $6 billion .
this morning. His Berkshire Hathaway announced over the weekend it’s acquired stakes in , including Mitsubishi and Sumitomo Corp, worth . TikTok owner ByteDance says it will now abide by China’s updated technology export restrictions guidelines, making any potential sale of the viral video platform a bit more complicated transaction for an American suitor.
Europe
The European bourses opened in positive territory with Germany’s Dax up 0.5% . London’s FTSE is off today for the bank holiday. (Why do the Brits call it “bank holiday?” Answer: it dates back to Victorian times.)
opened in positive territory with up . London’s FTSE is for the bank holiday. (Why do the Brits call it “bank holiday?” Answer: it dates back to Victorian times.) The island of Kastellorizo, a 4.6-square-mile island in the Eastern Mediterranean, is the latest flashpoint between Greece and Turkey , with the latter declaring over the weekend that Greek soldiers there must go. Saber-rattling between the two NATO neighbors has escalated of late in the energy-rich waters of the Med.
a 4.6-square-mile island in the Eastern Mediterranean, is the latest flashpoint between and , with the latter declaring over the weekend that Greek soldiers there must go. Saber-rattling between the two has escalated of late in the energy-rich waters of the Med. France’s waste-and-water-treatment giants Veolia Environnement SA and Suez SA are a step closer to joining forces this morning after Veolia made a €2.9 billion ($3.5 billion) bid for a 29.9% stake in Suez.
U.S.
U.S. futures are gaining again on Monday as we look to close out the best August since 1986 on a high note.
are gaining again on Monday as we look to close out the best August since 1986 on a high note. The stock splits for both Apple and Tesla will kick in today. A reminder: holding more shares of a stock only guarantees you have more shares, not more money. But this bull market is testing that truism.
for both Apple and Tesla will kick in today. A reminder: holding more shares of a stock only guarantees you have more shares, not more money. But this bull market is testing that truism. Also today, the new-look Dow Jones Industrial Average will begin trading. In a bid to go more techy, the blue chip exchange announced the addition of Salesforce.com, Amgen and Honeywell International last week.
will begin trading. In a bid to go more techy, the blue chip exchange announced the addition of Salesforce.com, Amgen and Honeywell International last week. What else is happening this week? The big August jobs report comes out on Friday.
Elsewhere
Gold is down, trading below $1,970/ounce .
is down, trading below . The dollar is up, as is crude.
***
In praise of Ms. Steady
She makes just a handful of trades every year. She might even go a few days between checking her portfolio. Oh, and she never ever panics after a stock market meltdown.
She’s taking the long view—years, not days. She’s the classic buy-and-hold investor. Ms. Steady.
And you know what? She’s killing it.
Patience is not just a virtue. It’s a pretty solid equities investment strategy.
As BofA equities analysts noted in a report on Friday, “long-term fundamental investing is out of vogue, but may be the best arbitrage opportunity out there.” Translation: one of the best ways to cushion your losses is simply to extend your time horizon. (This is true for equities, but not true for commodities, btw.)
Consider this. Decade by decade, the S&P 500 has delivered consistently positive returns with just two exceptions: during the Great Depression in the 1930s and during the first decade of this century (9/11, expensive wars, global financial crisis). In all other decades since the 1930s, the S&P returns have been lights-out good.
If the buy-and-hold strategy has been a lucrative one over the decades, the strategy of trying to time the markets has been full of peril. Here’s why: “The S&P 500’s best days generally follow its worst days,” BofA says. “2020 has been no exception: one of the worst days this year (3/12/20, 9.5% decline) was followed by one of the best (+9.3%).” If you sold off in the middle of that markets drop on March 12, you’d have missed out on the best day of 2020 on March 13.
And best-days add up. “Since the 1930s, if an investor sat out the 10 best return days per decade, his/her returns would be just 17% compared to 16,166% returns since then,” BofA reports. As Ms. Steady would tell you, that’s nearly a one-thousand fold difference.
This shouldn’t be all that surprising. When stocks take a beating, the pros often jump back in and buy on the cheap, adapting that Warren Buffett-ism of being “greedy when others are fearful.” When it comes to equity investing, the sky-is-falling, sell-on-the-dip mentality will lose you quite a bit of money over time, the markets have proven.
Instead, the Ms. Steady approach appears to be a clear winner. BofA notes that having at least a 10-year time frame is the best way to keep losses to a minimum.
As the chart shows, day-trading offers the probability of the biggest negative return whereas the five- or ten-year horizon is far less risky on a relative basis.
With the S&P heading for a record August, this kind of analysis seems elementary. But it wasn’t that long ago—less than six months ago, actually—when the markets were in free-fall and it seemed like stock-heavy portfolios would be wiped out.
Fast-forward to today, and all looks rosy. On Friday, the Dow closed up 0.4% for the year, and the U.S. futures point to more gains.
Not a bad way to start off the week.
***
Postscript
In summertime, the neighborly small-talk in Sant’Ippolito, our little hilltop hamlet in Amandola, almost always turns to the subject of animal life—rarely bulls and bears, mind you.
Wild boars, traffic-snarling flocks of sheep that cross the road from one field to another, mice and snakes are the regular protagonists in any chit-chat about life in Sant’Ippolito. And so I wasn’t surprised recently when Mara, my nearest neighbor, asked me about le serpi. Again.
Mara hates snakes, keeping a running tally in her head on how many slither up the common pathway between our homes. I’ve become fairly blasé about these cold-blooded creatures. They’re fairly harmless. I just don’t want them getting into my kitchen. Again.
In addition to being our local snake-counter, Mara is Sant’Ippolito’s unofficial historian. Her dad is Fiore, who’s on the right side of 100. It was her uncle, Alfredo, who sold me our place nearly 20 years ago.
Her great-grandparents rebuilt the house by hand, stone by stone (quarried from the river bed below the house), in the 1930s, she recounted.
I knew this part of the story, but not the rest.
Turns out the money to rebuild came from America. A relative, the story goes, had moved to the States in the ’20s for work. For years, he sent remittances back home to Amandola—enough money for the family to rebuild the stone house where I’ve been writing Bull Sheet much of the summer. (We’re back to Rome next week for the start of the school year).
And so the family always spoke reverently of America, and the mighty American economy that helped this poor little farming community rebuild between the wars.
That a Yank would come along decades later to buy the house felt like serendipity to the family.
I was happy to oblige.
Downtown Sant’Ippolito where there’s little talk of bulls and bears, but plenty of chatter about snakes. Original photo: Bernhard Warner.
***
Have a nice day, everyone. I’ll see you here tomorrow.
Bernhard Warner
@BernhardWarner
Bernhard.Warner@Fortune.com
As always, you can write to bullsheet@fortune.com or reply to this email with suggestions and feedback.
Today's reads
Pros and cons of 2020 tech IPOs. Just what a frothy stock market needed: a bulging slate of tech IPOs, breaking a lengthy drought. Fortune's Aaron Pressman runs down the nine biggest—from Palantir to Asana—detailing the pros and cons of each. Spoiler: they're all loss-making. But there are some intriguing prospects here.
S&P red flags. U.S. futures are setting up the S&P nicely to see its sixth-straight all-time record close. Just as impressive, investors have bid up the benchmark index to new heights in what's usually a sleepy month—August. But the rally is unsettling a fair few markets pros who tell Fortune's Anne Sraders they see red flags on the horizon.
Change fees, RIP. COVID is killing off air travelers' biggest pet peeve—the fee airlines slap on you for changing your booking. United Airlines is the first U.S. airline to announce it will eliminate its $200 fee to change domestic tickets, effective immediately.
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Market candy
Quiz time
Which of these FAANGMT stocks has the most divergent price-to-earnings ratio?
A) Facebook
B) Apple
C) Netflix
D) Tesla
The answer? Yep, it's Tesla with a share price that's 1,170 times earnings. No wonder Fortune's Shawn Tully concludes Tesla's business model will never enable it to justify that lofty share price. (Oh, and big HT to the Market Ear for running the numbers on the FAANGMT stocks).


fortune--2020-08-31--DDoS cyberattacks have skyrocketed this year. Just ask the New Zealand stock exchange

On Monday, the operator of New Zealand’s stock exchange, NZX, suffered a massive cyberattack for a fifth consecutive trading day. Unlike the previous four incidents, however, NZX managed to maintain trading on its markets.
“NZX has been advised by independent cyberspecialists that the attacks last week are among the largest, most well-resourced, and sophisticated they have ever seen in New Zealand,” said NZX chief executive Mark Peterson.
NZX has been hit by a series of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, in which an attacker overwhelms a website’s servers by repeatedly and rapidly requesting access to the site. The deluge of requests effectively causes the site to shut down.
Although NZX suspended trading on several of its markets on multiple days, the financial impact on investors has been minimal. On Monday the NZ50, New Zealand’s benchmark index, closed 0.6% higher versus the Monday before.
DDoS attacks can be extremely disruptive but are not especially sophisticated. The attack doesn’t suggest a security breach, in which data could be stolen, for example. NZX suspended trading last week only because the attack prevented traders from accessing up-to-date stock information published on NZX’s public-facing website.
“If there was a massive distributed attack, it would act as a load test essentially,” said Juta Gurinaviciute, chief technology officer at NordVPN Teams, an Internet security company. A load test is when web developers request access to a website to see how quickly the servers respond. There are no solutions to DDoS attacks, Gurinaviciute says, “apart from queueing requests and queries to reduce the load.”
On Monday, NZX kept markets open by sharing up-to-date information through alternative platforms. The market operator didn’t provide details on those alternative means, fearing further attacks, but New Zealand Herald reports that a crowd-trading app called Sharesies, for example, has been providing information to traders through a Google doc.
“Any high-profile site should expect a DDoS attack and be prepared for it,” Gurinaviciute said, noting that such attacks have become “increasingly commoditized” by the cybercrime community. Cybercriminals often sell DDoS attacks as an “entry level” service for miscreants looking to cause maximum disruption with minimal know-how, Gurinaviciute says.
According to a report from network security firm Nexusguard, DDoS attacks worldwide increased by more than 278% in the first quarter of the year, compared with the same period in 2019.
Nexusguard attributes the increase in part to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. With more people working from home, DDoS attacks have become an increasingly efficient way to sow chaos, the report says.
NZX hasn’t provided details on who is perpetrating these attacks, besides noting that the attacks appear to have originated “offshore.” DDoS attacks are often used as a distraction to divert attention from a more sophisticated attack elsewhere, Gurinaviciute says, but “there is no suggestion that this happened in this case.”


fortune--2020-08-31--WHO official praises Sweden’s COVID-19 response despite higher death rate

One of the World Health Organization’s six special envoys on COVID-19 has highlighted Sweden’s virus response as a model that other countries should be emulating in the long run.
Dr. David Nabarro, speaking in a radio interview with Magic Talk in New Zealand, said, “For all countries, the real approach we’ve got to aim for is through behavior that’s adopted everywhere.”
Nabarro said the key to a sustainable coronavirus strategy is trust, and pointed to Sweden as a case in point. The Nordic nation imposed far fewer restrictions on movement than others, and instead relied on Swedes to act responsibly and embrace the guidelines laid out by the country’s health authorities.
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“In Sweden, the government was able to trust the public and the public was able to trust the government,” Nabarro said.
To be sure, Sweden’s COVID-19 death rate is considerably higher than in many other countries, at 57 per 100,000. But the pace of new infections and deaths has slowed markedly since the end of June. The development prompted Sweden’s national health agency to propose raising the limit on certain public gatherings to 500 people from 50.
In contrast, other governments around the world are once again imposing stricter measures amid a resurgence in cases.
Nabarro described a lockdown as “a blunt instrument” that “really bites into the livelihoods of everybody, particularly poorer people and small businesses.”
In response to the envoy’s remarks, the director-general of Sweden’s public health agency, Johan Carlson, said in an interview with newspaper Svenska Dagbladet: “We are one of the few countries with a limited spread of infection, unlike several countries in Europe where the infection is returning sharply.”
“I call it the champagne cork effect,” Carlson said.
But Sweden’s COVID strategy still has many critics, including from within the country. Fredrik Elgh, a professor of virology at Umea University, points to the high death toll as evidence the light-touch approach has failed.
“We have almost 6,000 dead. We have betrayed our elderly,” he said in the Svenska Dagbladet report. “We should test and trace infection much more. But the Public Health Agency does not want that.”
Carlson of the public health agency and Sweden’s minister for health and social affairs, Lena Hallengren, are due to hold a press conference on the country’s COVID strategy later on Monday.