Eric Bates

5 days ago | businessinsider.com | Eric Bates |Aki Ito |Henry Blodget

In March, Shopify's CEO told his managers he was implementing a new rule: Before asking for more head count, they had to prove that AI couldn't do the job as well as a human would. A few weeks later, Duolingo's CEO announced a similar decree and went even further — saying the company would gradually phase out contractors and replace them with AI. The announcements matched what I've been hearing in my own conversations with employers: Because of AI, they are hiring less than before.

3 weeks ago | businessinsider.com | Eric Bates |Aki Ito |Henry Blodget

Are return-to-office mandates actually a stealth tactic to get employees to quit? It's a suspicion I've heard from a lot of people since RTO efforts started in earnest in 2022. For years I didn't take the theory seriously: It struck me as incredibly cynical. Besides, it didn't make any sense from a business perspective. What company in its right mind would risk a mass exodus just to save a few dollars on severance packages? But over the past year I've started to wonder if the cynics are right.

3 weeks ago | businessinsider.com | Eric Bates |Adam Rogers |Henry Blodget

If you're an American who buys things or sells things, you're going to take a financial hit from President Donald Trump's tariffs. The science of economics might be dismal, but it's good enough to tell you that when the government increases the price of imported goods by anywhere from 10% to 145%, someone has to pay — be they importer, buyer, manufacturer, seller, or consumer. That's just the way the Great Material Continuum works.

3 weeks ago | businessinsider.com | Eric Bates |Bethany McLean |Henry Blodget

Last November, only six days after his father was elected president, Donald Trump Jr. made a career move that, on the surface at least, seemed a bit odd. He became a partner in a small investment startup called 1789 Capital, which is based in Palm Beach, Florida, 2 miles from Mar-a-Lago. At that point, 1789 was a microscopic player in the world of venture capital.

1 month ago | businessinsider.com | Eric Bates |Adam Rogers |Henry Blodget

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? . Marc Andreessen is, arguably, the most famous venture capitalist on earth.