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Meet the big shots who live at 15 Central Park West, the world's most powerful address

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people at 15 central park west

  • 15 Central Park West has been called the most powerful address in the world.
  • Important people, from celebrities to Wall Street CEOs, have owned units in the building. 
  • Some have since sold their homes for eye-popping amounts.


There are plenty of legendary addresses in New York City, but 15 Central Park West stands out. The ultra-luxury condominium on the corner of West 61st Street and Central Park West has been home to a long list of bankers, celebrities, and assorted bold-faced names, including Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and Denzel Washington.

Author Michael Gross, who published a history of the condo called "House of Outrageous Fortune" in 2014, calls it the world's most powerful address. Unlike many of New York's history-filled apartment buildings — especially its main rival across the park, 740 Park Avenue — 15 Central Park West is a relative newcomer.

Completed in 2008 by developers Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf, it offers a ridiculous array of amenities to New York's moneyed elite, including an in-house chef, a lap pool, and a private screening room.

Julie Zeveloff contributed reporting to an earlier version of this article.

SEE ALSO: Meet the richest person in 33 countries around the world

15 Central Park West took three years and about $1 billion to construct, including the cost of the land. It was an immediate success, ringing up $2 billion in sales. Even today, the building continues to break real-estate sales records.

Source: "House of Outrageous Fortune" by Michael Gross 

 

 



Robert A.M. Stern, the architect of 15 CPW, was inspired by the great New York apartments of the 1920s, not today's glassy towers. The building has two sections with 201 units in total, as well as a formal driveway.

Source: "House of Outrageous Fortune" by Michael Gross



Other amenities include a library, private restaurant, three-lane lap pool, and health club with private massage rooms and yoga area.

Source: "House of Outrageous Fortune" by Michael Gross



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Actor Armie Hammer deleted his Twitter account after calling the writer of a negative article about him 'bitter'

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Armie Hammer

  • Actor Armie Hammer deleted his Twitter account.
  • It likely has to do with his response to a BuzzFeed News article that was critical of his fluctuating career. 
  • On Monday, he called the article "bitter AF" in a tweet.
  • Hammer stars in the critically acclaimed film, "Call Me By your Name," which is getting major Oscar buzz.

 

Actor Armie Hammer deleted his Twitter account after calling the writer of a negative article about him "bitter AF." 

Hammer deleted the account on Monday without any statement, after responding to a Buzzfeed News piece that was critical of his career trajectory. (Hammer's representatives were not immediately available to comment to Business Insider.) 

Hammer currently stars in the critically acclaimed movie "Call Me by Your Name," and seems to be campaigning for an Oscar nod for his role. In the film, he plays a 24-year-old grad student who falls in love with a professor he's staying with's 17-year-old son in Italy. It's a role that has gained him the most buzz since he appeared in 2010's "The Social Network."

But just as awards talk is starting to heat up, Hammer has made a sudden exit from Twitter. That exit is likely related to the BuzzFeed News article published on Sunday, called "Ten Long Years of Trying to Make Armie Hammer Happen," written by senior culture writer Anne Helen Petersen.

Hammer tweeted a response to the article on Monday:

"Your chronology is spot on but your perspective is bitter AF. Maybe I’m just a guy who loves his job and refuses to do anything but what he loves to do…?"

The piece analyzes Hammer's fluctuating career. Hammer got his start with small roles on TV shows including "Gossip Girl," "Desperate Housewives," and "Veronica Mars." His breakthrough role was in 2010's "The Social Network." His acclaimed performance as the Winklevoss twins — and his stunning looks — practically ensured he was going to be a huge star. 

But that didn't happen.

Hammer tried big movies, like "The Lone Ranger," which failed with critics and at the box office. He starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in "J. Edgar," but the movie came and went quietly. In 2015, he starred alongside Henry Cavill and Alicia Vikander in "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." — a fun movie that wanted a sequel, but did poorly at the box office.

In analyzing Hammer's early career, the article asks why Hammer got second and third and fourth chances despite repeated failure. It speculates that one reason is that he is a privileged — Hammer's grandfather was oil tycoon Armand Hammer — and very attractive white man.

"Countless stars have fallen into Hammer-like career trajectories and never recovered," Petersen writes. "Many of those women, spit out by mainstream Hollywood, have crafted nuanced second acts on television, or figured out how to monetize their lifestyles."

The article also characterizes Hammer's recent dive into independent film as more of a career necessity than an artistic choice, and speculates that he's been using his Twitter account to rebrand himself — including "liking" several BDSM tweets, and sparring with actor James Woods, who critiqued the age difference of the romantic leads in "Call Me by Your Name."

But now Hammer's Twitter account has vanished, at least temporarily. Still, you can always see "Call Me by Your Name" (currently in theaters) or watch this clip of him dancing on repeat:

SEE ALSO: Dave Franco almost ruined his health losing 20 pounds for his new Netflix movie: 'I was full-on depressed'

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CBS cancels 'Wisdom of the Crowd' after multiple sexual-misconduct allegations against star Jeremy Piven

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wisdom of the crowd cbs

  • CBS is dropping the series "Wisdom of the Crowd," which stars Jeremy Piven.
  • In the past month, multiple women have accused Piven of sexual misconduct.
  • Piven has adamantly denied all the allegations.


CBS has canceled its freshman drama "Wisdom of the Crowd" starring Jeremy Piven, Business Insider has learned. CBS will continue to air the original 13 episodes it ordered for this season but will not make more.

"Wisdom of the Crowd" centers on an eccentric tech innovator, Jeffrey Tanner (Piven), who creates a crowdsourcing website to help him solve his daughter's murder.

The series had an average of about 8.3 million viewers tuning in every week, though its high ratings may have been tied to its time slot on Sunday evenings. Still, "Wisdom of the Crowd" was an audience favorite despite being widely panned by critics.

In the past month, five women have accused Piven of varying degrees of sexual misconduct.

The reality-TV actress Ariane Bellamar said in a series of tweets last month that Piven groped her while she was on the set of HBO's "Entourage." Piven denied Bellamar's accusation in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

Shortly after Bellamar accused Piven, a representative for CBS said the network was aware of the accusation and was "looking into the matter."

Other women soon came forward.

In an Instagram post, the "Longmire" actress Cassidy Freeman accused of Piven of engaging in "predatory behavior." And an advertising executive named Tiffany Bacon Scourby said in an interview with People that in 2003 Piven pinned her down and ejaculated on her in his hotel room.

Piven denied Scourby's account in a statement to People.

"Let me be absolutely clear, this simply did not happen," he said. "I would never force myself on a woman, ever. I cannot speak as to why a person would create a story like this."

Piven then wrote a lengthier statement on Twitter denying all of the accusations against him and offering to take a polygraph test.

"We seem to be entering dark times — allegations are being printed as facts and lives are being put in jeopardy without a hearing, due process or evidence," Piven said. "I hope we can give people the benefit of a doubt before we rush to judgment."

Most recently, Anastasia Taneie, an actress, told BuzzFeed News in an article published last week that Piven groped her on the set of "Entourage" in 2009. Taneie said Piven grabbed her breasts and genitals and forced her up against a wall in a darkened hallway.

Amy Meador also told BuzzFeed News that Piven assaulted her in 1995 at her home in Laurel Canyon.

Meador said that after exchanging phone numbers at a coffee shop and setting up a date with Piven, the actor stood her up. Months later, Piven showed up at her home unannounced, she said.

Meador told BuzzFeed News she invited Piven in to watch some TV, and then after about an hour, he tried to force himself on her. Meador said she was able to kick him off her and that Piven then locked himself in her bathroom with her phone for about 20 minutes before she could get him out of her home.

Piven's representatives shared with BuzzFeed News the results of a polygraph test they said the actor took on November 13, during which Piven said he had never touched a woman's genitals without consent and again denied all the allegations against him, the report said. The polygraph examiner told the outlet that Piven passed the test.

Piven did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

SEE ALSO: 35 powerful men accused of sexual misconduct after Harvey Weinstein

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How 8 of the most successful couples in the world first met

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Warren Buffett & Astrid Menks

• Business Insider looked into how some of the most successful people out there met their spouses and partners.

• Several couples, like Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos and Bill and Melinda Gates, met at work.

• Others met at recreational events, like a charity poker tournament or a high school football game.



When Bill Gates first asked out his now-wife, Melinda, she said no.

When Lebron James first asked out his now-wife, Savannah, she had no idea who he was.

Warren Buffett's first wife introduced him to his future second wife.

Take a look below at how eight hugely successful couples first met:

SEE ALSO: A look inside the marriage of world's richest couple, Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos — who met at work, were engaged in 3 months, and own more land than almost anyone else in America

DON'T MISS: Inside billionaire Warren Buffett's unconventional marriage, which included an open arrangement and 3-way Christmas cards

LeBron James and his future wife Savannah both grew up in Akron, Ohio and attended rival high schools. The couple first met at a high school football game.

She told Harper's Bazaar she wasn't aware of his growing star when she accepted his invitation to go check out one of his basketball games: "I had no idea who he was."

Source: Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Sports Illustrated, Business Insider



Microsoft CEO Bill Gates first asked Melinda, a newly hired product manager, out to dinner at a company picnic in 1987.

The only problem? He wanted to schedule the date two weeks in advance. She responded, "That's not spontaneous enough for me," Fortune reported in 2015.

Later that evening, Gates called her up later that night with a wry question: "Is this spontaneous enough for you?" Turns out, it was.

Source: Fortune, Business InsiderBusiness Insider

 



Spanx founder Sara Blakely met her husband — Marquis Jets cofounder Jesse Itzler — at the 2006 Net Jet Annual Las Vegas Poker Tournament. One of her sales representatives wrangled her a seat at the main table with Itzler.

He told Success.com he was fascinated by her departure from the game: "Who goes to bed at 9:30 at night in Vegas? That intrigued me. And she loved to laugh, and that intrigued me, too."

Source: Business InsiderSuccess.com



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Here's how Meghan Markle is following in Princess Diana's footsteps

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Prince Harry Meghan Diana

  • Meghan Markle is engaged to Prince Harry. 
  • Prince Harry said in an interview that Markle and Princess Diana would be "best friends," if his mother were still alive. 
  • Markle and the late princess have a number of things in common, from a love of fashion to a dedication to humanitarian work. 

 

Meghan Markle has more in common with Princess Diana than immediately meets the eye. 

On Monday, news broke that Prince Harry was engaged to marry American actress Meghan Markle. The prince designed Markle's engagement ring himself, using two diamonds from the jewelry collection of his late mother, Princess Diana. 

When asked what his mother would have thought of Markle, Prince Harry told the BBC that he thought she would have been "best friends with Meghan." 

"Oh, they'd be thick as thieves, without question," Harry said. "I think she would be over the moon, jumping up and down, you know so excited for me."

Markle and the late Princess Diana come from very different backgrounds. However, taking a closer look at the pair, it's clear why the prince believes they would be best friends.

SEE ALSO: Meghan Markle's first post-engagement public debut crashed an obscure Canadian fashion designer's website

Diana's and Markle's lives started very differently.

Diana was born in 1961, into the Spencer family, a British aristocratic family with royal ancestry. She grew up on the grounds of Queen Elizabeth's private estate, Sandringham, in Norfolk. 



Markle, meanwhile, was born in Los Angeles in 1981.

Markle comes from a more modest background. Her mother, Doria Ragland, is a yoga instructor and clinical therapist, while her father, Thomas W. Markle is a lighting director, the Telegraph reported. Ragland is African-American, and Markle is Caucasian. 

Both Markle and Diana's parents split when their daughters were young. Diana's parents separated in a high-profile case when she was six years old, and Markle's separated when she was just two.



Markle's and Diana's paths to a royal engagement couldn't be more different.

Diana was just 16 when she met Prince Charles. According to The Daily Times, Charles — who was 28 at the time — was visiting the Spencer "ancestral home" and actually dating Diana's elder sister at the time. 

The pair didn't grow close until a few years later. In her late teens, Lady Diana was working low-paying jobs and living relatively simply, despite her aristocratic heritage. Before Charles proposed in 1981, Diana was working as an assistant kindergarten teacher and living in a London apartment with three other women.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Gabe Newell's advice in 2013 still rings true: 'Nobody is smarter than the internet'

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Gabe Newell, 2013

  • In 2013, Valve CEO Gabe Newell offered some sage advice to businesses on how to handle feedback from online communities.
  • He explained that it's impossible to win against the internet, so it's best not to fight it.

 

These days, almost every company you can think of has an online presence. But not every company likes being online — some don't like communicating with fans or customers, or taking their feedback or suggestions.

But ignoring the internet faithful would be a big mistake, according to Valve CEO Gabe Newell.

Back in January 2013, the 55-year-old president and co-founder of Valve, which runs the world's most popular online store for distributing PC games, went on The Nerdist podcast to dish about the video game industry. But his advice about interacting with fans and communities on the internet rings true for almost every business across all industries (as paraphrased by Mr_Pickle on Reddit):

You have to stop thinking that you're in charge and start thinking that you're having a dance. We used to think we're smart [...] but nobody is smarter than the internet. [...] One of the things we learned pretty early on is 'Don't ever, ever try to lie to the internet - because they will catch you. They will de-construct your spin. They will remember everything you ever say for eternity.'

You can see really old school companies really struggle with that. They think they can still be in control of the message. [...] So yeah, the internet (in aggregate) is scary smart. The sooner people accept that and start to trust that that's the case, the better they're gonna be in interacting with them.

Newell knows the power of the internet all too well. In 2015, he and his company Valve were on the receiving end of the internet's backlash when his company teamed up with Bethesda, maker of the popular game "Skyrim," ended a joint venture after just four days because of strong consumer backlash.

So, if you're operating a company or its social media presence in 2017, here's some advice: Don't ever try to fight the internet. You won't win.

SEE ALSO: Meet Gabe Newell, the richest man in the video game business

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Meghan Markle claims she got Procter & Gamble to change its commercial when she was 11

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meghan markle un women speech

  • Meghan Markle may have encouraged Procter & Gamble to change the tagline to an advertisement for dishwashing liquid when she was 11.
  • The tagline inspired jokes from her male classmates about how women "belong" in the kitchen.
  • After Markle wrote letters to Hillary Clinton, lawyer Gloria Allred, journalist Linda Ellerbee, and Procter & Gamble, the tagline was changed.

 

Meghan Markle may have encouraged Procter & Gamble to change the tagline to an advertisement for dishwashing liquid when she was 11, according to a speech she gave for UN Women on International Women's Day in 2015.

In the speech, she described seeing a TV commercial in school for Procter & Gamble dishwashing soap, whose tagline claimed, "Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans." After two male classmates made a joke about how women "belong" in the kitchen, Markle became frustrated.

"I remember feeling shocked and angry and also just feeling so hurt. It just wasn't right and something needed to be done," she said in the speech.

She told her father about the incident, and he encouraged Markle to make her voice heard. 

"He encouraged me to write letters, so I did, to the most powerful people I could think of," she said, which included Hillary Clinton, civil rights lawyer Gloria Allred, journalist Linda Ellerbee, and Procter & Gamble.

About a month later, Procter & Gamble made the tagline gender-neutral, changing "Women all over America" to, "People all over America."

You can watch Markle's full speech here.

SEE ALSO: Meghan Markle's first name is not actually 'Meghan'

Join the conversation about this story »

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CNN reportedly boycotts White House's Christmas party

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Trump CNN

  • CNN reportedly will boycott the White House's annual Christmas party, due to President Donald Trump's "continued attacks" on the press.
  • The party is meant for members of the press and White House officials to socialize.
  • "Christmas comes early," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted, following the announcement.


Citing President Donald Trump's "continued attacks" on the press, CNN is boycotting the White House's annual Christmas party, according to a Politico report Tuesday.

"CNN will not be attending this year's White House Christmas party," a CNN spokesperson told Politico. "In light of the President's continued attacks on freedom of the press and CNN, we do not feel it is appropriate to celebrate with him as his invited guests."

Despite not taking part in the festivities, the CNN spokesperson said that they would provide coverage for the event: "We will send a White House reporting team to the event and report on it if news warrants."

Following the announcement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders appeared to be elated: "Christmas comes early! Finally, good news from @CNN," Sanders tweeted to Politico's story.

The event, in which members of the press and White House officials can escape from their ongoing, daily feuds, is being overshadowed by Trump's hostile stance towards certain networks, particularly CNN.

"[Fox News] is MUCH more important in the United States than CNN, but outside of the U.S., CNN International is still a major source of (Fake) news, and they represent our Nation to the WORLD very poorly," Trump tweeted Saturday. "The outside world does not see the truth from them!"

CNN reporters have since condemned Trump's statement, one of many about the network, and replied to his original tweet.

"At CNN we dodge bullets to bring you the news," tweeted Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international correspondent. "Nothing fake about that."

"If President Trump knew the facts, he would never have sent that tweet," Amanpour said in another tweet.

SEE ALSO: The Trumps celebrated Halloween at the White House — and the photos are fantastic

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19 highly successful people who changed careers after age 30

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Jeff Bezos

Questions about whether you're on the "right" career path can strike fear into even the most confident person's heart.

But as some of the most successful people prove, you don't have to have it all figured out from the start.

Plenty of highly successful people chose to make major career changes, some even many years into their adult lives.

Here are 19 highly successful people who prove it's never too late to change paths:

SEE ALSO: What Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and 23 other highly successful people were doing at age 25

DON'T MISS: From fry-cook at McDonalds to waitress at Hooters, here are the unglamorous first jobs of 24 highly successful people

Jeff Bezos had a lucrative career in computer science on Wall Street and took on top roles at various financial firms before transitioning to the world of e-commerce and launching Amazon at 31.



Julia Child worked in advertising, media, and secret intelligence before writing her first cookbook when she was 50, launching her career as a celebrity chef in 1961.



John Glenn is best known for becoming the first American astronaut to orbit Earth in 1962. But 12 years later, at 53 years old, he became a US senator in Ohio, a role he held for 24 years. He did return to space in 1998, however, on a nine-day mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery.



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This is the biggest redesign in Snapchat's history (SNAP)

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Snapchat redesign

  • Snapchat's biggest-ever redesign simplifies the app into three main windows and separates all communication with friends from professionally produced content.
  • A new Discover feed shows algorithmically sorted content from media partners and verified celebrities. Unlike Facebook, Snap employees will approve everything that appears in its content feed.
  • The redesign will be made available to a small percentage of users later this week before rolling out to everyone early next week.


After years of aversion, Snapchat is embracing the feed.

The biggest redesign in the app's six-year history, announced Wednesday, features a new kind of algorithmically sorted feed that borrows ideas from the likes of Facebook and Netflix.

Instead of showing posts from friends alongside content from professional publishers like Facebook, the new Snapchat separates all interactions with friends in a section of the app to the left of the camera. That includes messaging threads and so-called Stories — photos and videos someone shares, shown in chronological order, that disappear in 24 hours.

In a move aimed at simplifying Snapchat's historically confusing design, the app is now divided into three main windows: all interactions with friends on the left, the camera in the center, and the Discover page on the right with an endless feed of content from media partners and public figures. Business Insider first reported details of the planned redesign earlier this month.

Once the darling app of the tech world, Snapchat has failed to meet Wall Street's growth expectations since going public earlier this year. And as Facebook has successfully copied some of Snapchat's core features in Instagram, Snapchat's parent company, Snap Inc., is looking to this redesign to kick-start growth and make its app more appealing to a wider user base.

Separating friends from publishers

New Snapchat

One of the goals of Snapchat's redesign, which will be made available first to a small percentage of users later this week, was to lessen the confusion around the previous app's Stories page to the right of the camera.

The page previously included Stories shared by friends alongside content from Discover, Snapchat's hub for media partners like The Daily Mail and BuzzFeed. Private messages threads with friends, meanwhile, existed to the left of the camera, two swipes away from the Stories they shared.

"Until now, social media has always mixed photos and videos from your friends with content from publishers and creators," Snap wrote in a blog post published Wednesday. "While blurring the lines between professional content creators and your friends has been an interesting Internet experiment, it has also produced some strange side-effects (like fake news) and made us feel like we have to perform for our friends rather than just express ourselves."

screen shot 2017 11 08 at 55112 pm

The new window to the left of the camera will now show only message threads and Stories from friends.

Unread messages from friends will be shown at the top of the window, in chronological order, while other message threads and Stories will be shown algorithmically based on whom Snapchat believes you care about most. Snapchat will use signals like how often you communicate with a user or view their Story to determine the ranking.

Profile information, including your yellow QR "Snapcode," is visible above conversations with friends instead of in a separate window above the camera. Snapchat has reintroduced autoplaying Stories after it killed the feature last year.

Snap Map, the feature that shows your friends' locations on a map, is still accessible by pinching out the camera view, but it will also be shown more in search and next to peoples' profiles.

A social-media feed with no friends

Discover page

During Snap's last earnings call with investors, CEO Evan Spiegel said the redesign would address some of the "shortcomings" of feed-based social networks like Facebook or Twitter.

By keeping friend-based communication separate from content created by professionals in the feed, Snap is trying to avoid what it sees as a pitfall of continually requiring users to add more friends to see more content.

The new Snapchat Discover page will feature a personalized feed of content from the app's more than 70 media partners along with Stories about breaking news events and specific locations, sourced from public videos shared by users and edited by humans at Snap.

Each feed will be ranked based on the user's viewing habits and the media brands to which they've subscribed. The decision to approve which people and media partners make it into the feed is like Netflix's approach and further separates Snapchat from more open platforms like Facebook and YouTube.

With the redesign, Snapchat will also feature Stories shared by what it calls popular accounts. If a Snapchat user is starting to gain traction and grow their following, Snapchat's editors will decide whether to feature it in the Discover feed.

A Snap representative declined to explain which exact factors would contribute to an account being featured, but they acknowledged that the decision was aimed at fostering the kinds of native internet celebrities who thrive on platforms like YouTube. Snapchat has historically ignored this class of power user.

Ways for individual creators to make money will be introduced in 2018. Popular accounts that Snap has vetted will also have detailed analytics for their public Stories for the first time.

An opportunity to better target

Besides the videos ads that run between content on the Discover page now, the new feed will also include Snapchat's recently introduced Promoted Stories.

Advertisers will be able to buy slots in Discover from Snap's sales team that look like nonsponsored Story content from other publishers. Promoted Stories are shown to all Snapchat users now but could eventually be targeted to specific users and available through the company's self-service ad auction.

While a feed-based system is unproved with Snapchat's younger user base, the redesign represents an opportunity for Snap to better target its ads at a time when investors are questioning the business's ability to grow. Spiegel has historically been against the kinds of highly targeted ads that have made Facebook and Google billions, but Snap has recently tried to make its ads more customizable and accessible.

The redesign will first be available to a small percentage of users later this week and then roll out more broadly early next week, according to a Snap representative.

SEE ALSO: Facebook is killing its standalone Snapchat clone in Messenger and putting the feature everywhere else

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The 'Avengers: Infinity War' trailer is finally here

Inside the hottest show on YouTube, where celebrities answer questions while eating blazing hot wings

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BI Interview 1200

Back in August, I was watching a taped episode of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" when towards the end of the show, instead of bringing out a musical guest, Colbert sat down at a small standalone table and ate four increasingly spicy chicken wings while answering questions from a smooth-talking interviewer named Sean Evans.

stephen colbert sean evans hot ones

This was the first time I had ever learned about "Hot Ones," a popular YouTube show where Evans interviews various celebrities as they eat hotter and hotter chicken wings.

In each "Hot Ones" episode, you'll see some of your favorite celebrities try to overcome blazing hot wings. In the case of Colbert, he made jokes — "My fillings are on fire right now" — drank a ton of milk, and paced around the stage in front of his live studio audience. The four-minute interview was fun, but more importantly, it felt authentic.

A full-length "Hot Ones" episode on YouTube lasts about 20 to 25 minutes and follows the same recipe: the host (Sean Evans), a special guest (usually a celebrity), and two sets of 10 generously-sauced hot wings, each one hotter than the last. One question is asked per wing, but even if the guest doesn't make it to the finish line (most of them do), Evans will ask all of his prepared questions.

The show has been around for nearly two years and "Hot Ones" has landed some incredible guests in that span, including comedian Kevin Hart, NBA superstar Kevin Durant, actors James Franco and Bryan Cranston, astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and many others.

sean evans guy fieri hot ones

Some interesting stats about the show:

•  As of November 29, 2017, there are 110 total episodes of "Hot Ones."

• 85 of the 110 "Hot Ones" episodes have over 1 million views on YouTube; 8 episodes have over 5 million views.

•  The top 59 videos on the First We Feast YouTube channel are all "Hot Ones" episodes.

•  The most popular "Hot Ones" episode features Kevin Hart. It has over 10 million views.

“Hot Ones” is just one show from Complex Networks' First We Feast team, which produces videos that study the intersection of food and pop culture, but "Hot Ones" is far and away the team's most popular hit. The show is particularly popular among the internet community on Reddit — there's even a “Hot Ones” subreddit with nearly 12,000 subscribers.

To learn more about the inner workings of YouTube's hottest show, I got on the phone with “Hot Ones” host and Chicago native Sean Evans to talk about his life, "Hot Ones," and its ongoing evolution.

This interview was lightly edited for clarity.

sean evans hot ones

Dave Smith: Tell me about how you went from freelancing at Complex to getting a full-time job at Complex. You went down to New Orleans for a job — what happened there?

Sean Evans: It was just to do some interviews. I was living in Chicago at the time, I was working freelance with Complex so I was down there to do some interviews with 2Chainz and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Dwight Howard and Damian Lillard and a bunch of rappers and athletes and celebrities that were down there for NBA All-Star Weekend.

sean evans john wall complexThat trip just so happened to be scheduled at the same exact time Complex was trying to get its YouTube channel off the ground.

I think they were doing some video content but they saw I had all these crazy interviews lined up, so they were like, "Hey, do you think it’s cool if we put these things on camera?" I was like, "please put them on camera!" Because I had such a pathetic, boring life at the time, to me, having a 2Chainz on-camera YouTube interview was like the coolest thing ever.

So [Complex] came in with the cameras, they popped the tripods down, and apparently they liked the finished product enough to offer me a job. Thirty days later, I sold all my s---, I quit my job in Chicago, then I was in New York the next month. It was kind of crazy.

Smith: Was journalism and interviewing always your passion?

Evans: I was a broadcast journalism major at the University of Illinois, so there’s always part of you that thinks you could, or hopes you could, but it’s not like you can just walk in and get a TV job.

sean evans bob saget hot ones

In fact, my professor at the time, John Paul, he thought I would be a great weatherman. He’s like, “you’re so glib,” and I could ad-lib a little bit on green screen. He was like, "you’re tailor-made to be a weatherman." That’s kind of where my focus was, but then you graduate, you get a job at an agency or somewhere writing press releases, and then before you know it, five years of your life’s gone by and you’re like “whoa whoa whoa, what the hell happened?” 

There's that great Steve Jobs quote about not being able to connect the dots looking forward, just looking back, and so it was just a series of coincidences and taking advantage of every opportunity and then eventually, like a Plinko ball, I just ended up in this spot.

Smith: You are a very eloquent speaker — where does that come from? Do you have experience public speaking or something? 

Evans: People who are from Chicago are just funnier than people who aren’t from Chicago. I know I think a little bit differently and talk a little bit differently, but you know, when people say those things, I say, "all my friends are exactly like that." I think people from Chicago just have a way of talking that’s a little bit different. 

BI Graphics_Sean Evans_Quote 1

No comedy background, it’s not like I was in the Second City theater or anything like that. I don’t know, I guess I’m a little bit glib, maybe my professor was right.

Smith: Part of the appeal of "Hot Ones" is how incredibly prepared you are for your interviews. What’s your research process like?

Evans: When it comes to the interview questions, how we game plan it, it’s just what it looks like. We read and watch every single thing that we can.

I do this with (First We Feast editor-in-chief) Chris Schonberger, who’s a creator and producer of this show, and we basically divide and conquer. He’ll send me a big long list of all the podcasts, profiles and features he’s going to listen to and read. I’ll usually binge-watch every possible YouTube video — if it’s a musician I’ll listen to their music, if it’s somebody who wrote a book I’ll read their book.

I think it’s by virtue of really caring that we set ourselves apart because there’s so much in media that’s just making the donuts dance, and we knew if we could differentiate, which just means rolling your sleeves up and getting after it, we knew we’d have a real viable property.

Smith: Who are your favorite interviewers?

Evans: I think the best of all time, you have to go with Howard Stern. He was a major influence on me. I would make tapes of his radio show and just play them on the playground — even in elementary school and junior high, I was always obsessed.

U.S. President Barack Obama tapes an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York May 4, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

I was a big fan of David Letterman. One of my earliest memories: My dad used to love Letterman, and he’d watch it at night or he’d binge-watch it on the weekends because he’d tape it. And I’d sit next to him and make him explain the joke to me every time the audience laughed, which I’m sure was highly annoying for my dad, but maybe in some messed-up way, maybe I’m trying to make people laugh like Letterman used to make my dad laugh. Like if I were to go into therapy and do some deep-dive on what’s kind of fueling this thing, this is probably like the messed-up screw that’s loose, you know?

But I think it’s Howard Stern — legend. David Letterman. Adam Corolla and Jimmy Kimmel. Charlie Rose. James Lipton. [Interviewer and musician] Nardwuar. All of these people who can connect with their subject and then bring out something that’s human, knock them right out of their PR-driven holding pattern. That was always what I liked to see, what I liked to listen to, what always put me on the edge of my seat, so I know that’s important.

Smith: Okay so Sean, I really hate to put you on the spot, but at this point in the interview I need to ask you a few personal questions. In honor of what you do on your show "Hot Ones," I did my own Instagram deep-dive on you, Sean Evans, so I have a few questions about some things I’ve seen in your Instagram feed. Is that okay?

Evans: Yes, go for it. I love it.

Smith: Great. So I’m looking at a picture here from February 14, 2014. It’s you with longer hair holding up two tickets to the NBA All-Star game. Your caption there is: “Hey. Happy Valentine’s Day, ladies.” What’s the story there?

sean evans instagram

Evans: That was just me with a nice haircut, feeling myself. I wasn’t always a bald look. That is the very New Orleans trip that kind of launched this whole thing. I think that was in the courtyard of the W Hotel, and that was my weekend when I was doing all of these interviews on camera, my first-ever on-camera interviews on a professional level. So that’s just me showing off a nice haircut, and I think that was on Valentine’s Day. I had a plus-one to the Dunk Contest so to all the ladies out there who were following me at the time, that was just a Bat signal.

Smith: Did anyone come with you to the All-Star Game?

Evans: I had a good weekend. I had a great weekend that weekend.

Smith: All right, last one for you Sean. This photo from 2014 is you and Chrissy Teigen. She’s licking your head here — I’m going to assume you two got along. What was that interaction like?

sean evans chrissy teigen instagram

Evans: I think that was my second or third day in New York. When Complex hired me, originally I wasn’t at First We Feast, I was just like a hired hand for Complex. They’d send me out to different events or they’d have people visiting the office and I’d do interviews with athletes, musicians, whoever. So they sent me out to some on-location thing with Chrissy Teigen. We do the interview and after it wrapped, I’m waiting like they were going to do some kind of picture of us together, and then I just feel a tongue up the side of my face. I was a little bit startled by it, but then, it’s Chrissy Teigen, which put me at ease — and does make for a pretty good picture. If I recall that picture correctly, I look a little frightened by it, a little scared. She put me on my heels for sure.

Smith: I'm sure. Well thank you for indulging me on that Instagram deep-dive, but I want to get back to "Hot Ones." How many people are on the team, and what is the general process like from choosing the guest to the point when filming begins?

hot ones bob sagetEvans: It's a relatively small team going week to week, and we have a big long list of people we target. Like in the office I’m in right now, we have a white board and it’s got all the names of people who we’ve reached out to.

It’s not easy to, week over week at 11 a.m. on Thursday, get a fully-produced “Hot Ones.” With a team that small, it is just everyone working their asses off every week. There’s no magic to it at all, it’s just pure elbow grease. People lighting their hair on fire every week and putting it out in a garbage can full of ice cubes, week over week over week over week, for basically two straight years. It’s been insane.

When it comes to picking a guest, there are a lot moving parts to it. But the good thing about comments sections, for as much s--- as they get, is that you have a real-life focus group with you at all times. If you pay attention to your audience, it’s a cat that will let you know where it likes to get pet. So we have an idea of who our audience wants to see.

BI Graphics_Sean Evans_Quote 3Of course, my life now I’m basically like a wedding DJ taking requests 24/7. Every time somebody stops me on the street, they tell me who they want to see on the show. I open up Twitter, they tell me who they want to see on the show. Everyone is always just hitting me with the guests they want to see. But there has to be a part of you, that Vince McMahon thing where you know what the people want more than the people know what they want.

Smith: I want to know about the process for coating the wings. Each "Hot Ones" has 10 different wing sauces, with each one hotter than the last. Do you sauce the wings the same for every guest?

Evans: Yes, it’s the same all the way through. I’m not totally involved in this because I’m usually sitting in the seat, but I’ve seen it in action. They’ll have like 20 plastic bowls out, and all the bowls will be filled with the different hot sauces, so two sets of 10 bowls for each sauce. And then Chris Schonberger, or our producer Dominique, they’ll toss the wings in that bowl so you’ll get full coverage on the wings, so that our guests can’t find a corner or a side where there’s not sauce on it.

So you get that full coverage, and then they’re put on the board, and they’re sent out — and of course, on that final wing you get a little extra last dab.

the last dab hot ones

Smith: Follow-up question: Do you guys do anything, especially during the process of coating the wings, to make sure guests don't get really sick, especially for [the final sauce] The Last Dab?

Evans: You know, the bowl isn’t going to be as generous a pour on Da Bomb, as say, on Valentina. That said, we ignore disclaimers left and right on “Hot Ones.” I think some of these bottles say, “Just a drop!” “Dilute with water!” We don’t do any of that stuff. On some level it does have to toe the line in order to keep its edge and bring people in and really smack a guest in the mouth, which is something that obviously our fans like to see and it’s a wave that we’ve ridden. So on some level it’s downshifted a bit, but probably not as much as it should be.

NORE hot ones

Smith: Who has been your favorite guest so far?

Evans: I like different episodes for different reasons. The N.O.R.E. episode is an episode that just catches the track. It’s sort of a buddy-cop film all the way through, and when that happens it’s just kind of magic.

I think there’s a whole category of interviews I appreciate because they’re just such dense, perfect blocks of content in my opinion: Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Henry Rollins, Steve-O, Ricky Gervais, Russell Brand. Those are interviews that, to me, all the way through, just hum. They hit the right notes. Exactly how the episode was in our heads, was exactly the way it came out.

There’s just episodes that I love. There’s the Key & Peele episode, which I think helped launch us. There’s the DJ Khaled episode where the energy is just so bad that it’s amazing. The YG episode— to me, YG always has these horrible, horrible interviews, but on “Hot Ones,” he’s amazing.

BI Graphics_Sean Evans_Quote 2

So when we can take people that usually don’t play nice with the media — Kevin Durant, for example — and make an episode where you see a different side of them, those are ones I’m proud of, too. They all just check different boxes to me.

Smith: Follow up to that: Which guest surprised you the most?

Evans: That’s a good question. The reason I think we don’t really miss is because all of that research. You end up doing some kind of real armchair pop psychology on your guest. You almost know them before they ever sit down. You almost have their personality pegged, or the things we know play well to our audience. I think that’s the key most of these [episodes] haven’t bricked or gone really bad, because we always know on some level what to expect.

But you know who did kind of surprise me? And this is no shock, because he’s a very funny guy and he’s a great dude: Jim Gaffigan. For his comedy and reputation and his brand, the fact he didn’t get through 10 wings is still one of the most mind-boggling, baffling things. That’s the thing I was furthest away from the target. I would’ve put everything I had on Jim Gaffigan getting through 10 wings, and he didn’t get through 10 wings. We were shocked by that. But that’s why you play the game, and that’s why you shoot the show. You never know.

Smith: Looking at the lifetime of your show, can you pinpoint when things started getting really huge?

key & peele hot ones

Evans: Yeah we talk about the tentpole episodes all the time. To me, there are a couple that had us breaking through the ceiling. The first one is Machine Gun Kelly, which I think is the second episode ever. I remember while it was happening, he was getting up, he’s walking around the room, he’s screaming, he’s so uncomfortable, but it’s theatrical and amazing on this black-background nothing set. It was just explosive energy. And when that was going on, that’s when I knew this show is different. This show is special. This show is something the world needs now.

The episode that really was the first huge, viral, many-many-millions-of-views episode was the Key & Peele episode, which we knew was awesome, but the show wasn’t always so popular. I remember when we’d wake up and we’d be lucky to have 25,000-30,000 views in a day, but the Key & Peele episode was the first millions and millions of views sort of “viral” video. That’s when I knew we were onto something.

The Kevin Hart episode was a breakthrough as well. That was huge, A-list talent, in his moment. Really, once you have a foundation like that, to me, there’s not a person who’s totally untouchable or unreachable. Not everyone’s going to agree to eat chicken wings, that’s obviously an enormous catch to our show, that’s an enormous ask. It’s not easy to get anyone to do your show, but on “Hot Ones,” you have to eat scorching-hot chicken wings. So it’s always going to be a challenge to book, in my opinion, no matter how popular it is in the zeitgeist. But once you start getting those bigger apples to fall, you lay a foundation where I don’t think there’s anyone who’s outside of our reach, or our ability to get them and have them eat some wings.

kevin hart hot onesSmith: What’s the future for the show?

Evans: To us, you want to be careful. I think often times, people get restless about that sort of thing. And I think "Hot Ones" is a show that’s evolved over time.

We’re always more interested about putting more trophies in the case. We want to make more hot sauces. To us, the craftsmanship and getting an idea off the ground and putting it into flight, whether it’s an episode that’s just an idea then all the sudden is real and on YouTube, or it’s a hot sauce that’s just an idea then all the sudden you’re holding a bottle in your hand. We want to keep doing that. Maybe it’s a book; we’ve always wanted to write the book. We’ve always wanted to branch out from the show just a little bit more.

joji hot ones sean evansTo us, we’re an interview show, and that’s the oldest construct in the history of media. We don’t feel like we’re some sort of gimmick; what we feel like we’ve done is taken the interview and turned it on its head. To us, we want to keep it simple on some level, keep it so it’s not 10 million moving plates, keep it so we’re connected to our audience. But on a bigger sort of “what’s next,” it’s just more interviews. More tangible things our fans can really connect with. Because in this day and age, where so many people are screaming for your attention and eyeballs, it is important that there’s hot sauce and things fans can hold.

That’s really where our heads are at. It’s just about making everything bigger, making fans more connected. We just dropped a live episode with Wale today — sometimes I’m not sure if the live format is the thing, I don’t know what’s next, but maybe there is some sort of tour. Maybe there is some way we come into your town and eat wings with you. That’s really what we’re thinking about. It’s a show for the people, so every time I think about evolving or what’s going to make it bigger, it’s just about making that connection to the person who’s watching me in their cubicle, or on their laptop, or on their phone when they’re going to their jobs or whatever, or binge-watching at night. Whoever that person is, watching and laughing, I want to make sure they feel connected to the show.

So that’s always what we’re thinking about: The tent, all the people who are in it, how we keep that tent as big as it is, or bigger, and how we keep everyone in that tent happy.

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NOW WATCH: 15 things you didn't know your iPhone headphones could do

Fired 'Today' host Matt Lauer's contract was reportedly worth $25 million a year —here's how that compares to other top TV show hosts

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Matt Lauer2 AP final

On Wednesday, NBC announced in shocking fashion while opening the "Today" show that its longtime host Matt Lauer had been fired due to "inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace."

This is the latest bombshell revelation of a powerful man in entertainment who has been taken down due to sexual misconduct allegations. 

Though it's too soon to tell what the ramifications will be for "Today" in the battle for morning ratings, it's clear NBC has lost one of its major players. That's evident by how much the company was paying him. 

Lauer, who has been a host on "Today" for 20 years, was earning $25 million a year, according to Variety.

The trade compiled the biggest estimated annual salaries of reality, news, and talk show hosts over the summer, and Lauer is in the top three on the list, which also includes the likes of Megyn Kelly, Ryan Seacrest, and Ellen DeGeneres.

Here are the top 20 paid hosts:

Note: Some of these figures below include fees for producing and back-end compensation. 

SEE ALSO: 34 movies you have to see this fall — including "Justice League," "It," and "Blade Runner 2049"

Mike Myers (“The Gong Show”) - $3 million



Jamie Foxx (“Beat Shazam”) - $ 3 million



Alec Baldwin (“Match Game”) - $3 million



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Here are the 10 most-liked Instagram posts of 2017

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beyonce pregnant

It's been a big year on Instagram from Beyoncé, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Selena Gomez. 

Instagram released its 2017 Year in Review on Wednesday, which highlights the most-liked posts, top hashtags, and most-used filters from the past year.

Of the 10 most-liked posts on the app, Beyoncé, Ronaldo, and Gomez claim all of the top spots between them. 

It's been a big year for twins, too — of the 10 most-liked posts, two contain newborn twins. 

Here are the most-liked Instagram posts of the year:

SEE ALSO: 16 iPhone apps you shouldn't live without

10. Selena Gomez's birthday post

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9. This modeling shot, also from Selena Gomez

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8. A family photo from Cristiano Ronaldo

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http://instagram.com/p/BYTwfPVFVQY/embed/
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See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Megyn Kelly delivers an impassioned monologue about Matt Lauer's firing after a sexual-misconduct complaint

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Megyn Kelly

  • NBC has fired the "Today" show host Matt Lauer after it received a complaint of "inappropriate sexual behavior."
  • In an impassioned monologue, the NBC News morning-show host Megyn Kelly hailed the recent flood of allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace as part of "an empowerment revolution."


Megyn Kelly, the host of the NBC morning show "Megyn Kelly Today," on Wednesday delivered an impassioned monologue about the recent flood of allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace.

Earlier Wednesday, the network said it had fired its longtime host Matt Lauer after it received a complaint of "inappropriate sexual behavior."

"This one does hit close to home," Kelly said. "I, too, have known Matt for a long time, and he has been a friend and kind and supportive to me in my transition to NBC News, and I see the anguish on my colleagues' faces."

But Kelly said her sympathy was with the women who say they experienced sexual misconduct.

"What we don't see is the pain on the faces of those who found the courage to come forward, and it is a terrifying thing to do," Kelly said. "We don't see the career opportunities women lose because of sexual harassment, or the intense stress it causes a woman dealing with it when she comes to work each day. I am thinking of those women this morning and hoping they are OK. The days to come will not be easy."

While at her previous network, Fox News, Kelly accused its chairman at the time, Roger Ailes, of sexual harassment and criticized the top host Bill O'Reilly for dismissing similar allegations against himself.

On Wednesday, she described the recent flood of allegations against multiple powerful men in Hollywood, the media, and politics as part of "an empowerment revolution" in which women were beginning "to picture another reality" and "feel that change is within their grasp."

Kelly, who has made sexual harassment a major topic of discussion on her new morning show, said that while the firings of beloved personalities were painful, they were "a sign of progress, of women finding their voices, their courage, and of the erosion of a shameful power imbalance that has been in place for far too long."

NBC's "Today" show host Savannah Guthrie began Wednesday morning's episode with an emotional discussion of Lauer's firing, saying she and her colleagues were "devastated" by the news and "still processing all of this."

"For the moment, all we can say is that we are heartbroken," Guthrie said. "I'm heartbroken for Matt — he is my dear, dear friend and my partner, and he is beloved by many, many people here. And I'm heartbroken for the brave colleague who came forward to tell her story."

SEE ALSO: NBC host Matt Lauer fired for 'inappropriate sexual behavior'

READ MORE: Watch a shaken Savannah Guthrie announce Matt Lauer's firing on the 'Today' show

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 'You are the light': Watch controversial Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte serenade Trump with a love song


WATCH LIVE: IGNITION 2017

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Convene the biggest names and most innovative leaders in media, marketing, and technology. Add Business Insider’s unique blend of hard news and big ideas…

…and you have IGNITION.

WATCH LIVESTREAM HERE:

 

Full Agenda:

Presentation: The Five Most Important Trends in Media

Henry Blodget, CEO, cofounder, and editorial director of Business Insider

 

Interview: Outside the Box

Nick Bell, vice president of content at Snapchat, speaks with Alyson Shontell

 

Interview: Reset

Robert Bakish, president and CEO of Viacom, speaks with Nicholas Carlson, global editor-in-chief of Business Insider

 

Interview: Dueling With the Duopoly

Marni Walden, executive vice president and president of product innovation and new business at Verizon, speaks with Julia Boorstin, senior media and entertainment correspondent at CNBC

 10:20 a.m. Networking Break

10:40 a.m. Program Sessions

Conversation: Transparency and Measurement Redefined

Linda Boff, chief marketing officer at GE, and Anda Gansca, CEO and cofounder at Knotch talk with Tanya Dua, advertising reporter at Business Insider

 

Interview: Transition

Lachlan Murdoch, executive chairman of 21st Century Fox, speaks with Henry Blodget

 

Presentation: The Content Trap

Bharat Anand, Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School

 

Interview: The Platform

Dan Rose, vice president of partnerships at Facebook, speaks with Henry Blodget

 

Interview: New Morning

Megyn Kelly, NBC News anchor and host of "Megyn Kelly Today," speaks with Alyson Shontell

 

SEE ALSO: This is the biggest redesign in Snapchat's history

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The Nintendo Switch was the hottest product on Black Friday and Cyber Monday — and it wasn't even on sale

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nintendo switch

  • Nintendo's Switch game console was the #1 best-selling product online on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, according to Adobe Analytics.
  • The Switch has enjoyed a record-breaking year since its launch, Jefferies Analyst Atul Goyal said.
  • Strong sales now will help Nintendo in the future, as Switch owners will keep buying new games over the next several years, Goyal said.
  • Click here to view Nintendo's live stock price.


Nintendo dominated online sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday thanks to the company's wildly popular Switch game console, Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal said in a note to clients.

The Switch was the best-selling product online across all product categories among online retailers on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, according to Adobe's Digital Insights Initiatives. Nintendo offered no discounts during that time, although the console was already priced below $300.

Nintendo saw record sales in the Switch's launch month. The new console has also had several successful games, such as "Zelda," "Mario Kart," "Splatoon 2," and "Super Mario Odyssey," Goyal said.

"Even we had not expected such a record-breaking streak," Goyal wrote in a note. "This strong sales is going to create a robust installed base, which is where games software will monetize over the next 5-7 years."

Nintendo's Switch has performed better than any other competitor in its first few months, Goyal said. Rival Sony announced the PlayStation had its best ever Black Friday with the most sales in the console's 22-year history. Goyal noted that, unlike Nintendo, Sony offered steep discounts on its consoles. The 1 TB PS4 was priced down to $199 from $299 and the PS4 Pro was priced at $350 from $399.

Even though the PS4 is breaking company records, it was not enough to make it on the top of the charts with Nintendo. Goyal predicts that the Switch's popularity will not slow down anytime soon.

Nintendo's stock is trading at $414.50 (or 46,417.40 yen) and is up 88.85% for the year.

To read more about how Nintendo's Switch is surging to retail dominance, click here.

Nintendo stock price

SEE ALSO: JEFFERIES: Nintendo has another secret weapon besides the Switch

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NOW WATCH: Investors are running out of money — and that's bad news for stocks

Ridley Scott gives details on how he's replacing Kevin Spacey in his new movie with Christopher Plummer

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All The Money In The World Christopher Plummer Sony final

  • Ridley Scott said he quickly decided to replace Kevin Spacey from "All the Money in the World" after hearing the news of his sexual harassment allegations.
  • The director has been shooting replacement scenes with actor Christopher Plummer since November 20.
  • Scenes are instantly being put into the final cut of the movie from the set so Scott has no concerns of the movie not making its planned December 22 release date.


If director Ridley Scott was nervous at all about replacing Kevin Spacey in his new movie "All the Money in the World" and still making the movie's original release date of December 22, he's certainly not showing it.

Scott was shooting new scenes in London with actor Christopher Plummer, who will replace Spacey, for the movie over the Thanksgiving holiday. Entertainment Weekly was on set and interviewed Scott, who said he learned about the sexual harassment allegations against Spacey while working on the sound edit for the movie.

"I sat and thought about it and realized, we cannot," Scott said. "You can’t tolerate any kind of behavior like that. And it will affect the film. We cannot let one person’s action affect the good work of all these other people. It’s that simple."

Very quietly, Scott said he quickly put into motion a plan to cut out Spacey and shoot his scenes with another actor. In the movie, Spacey played oil tycoon billionaire John Paul Getty III, who refuses to pay the ransom to free his grandson from kidnappers. 

all the money in the world Sony

Scott's team was able to lock down the location they shot at with Spacey, and the handful of actors who were with him in his scenes, and then the director flew to New York to get Plummer to take the role. Outside of Plummer, Scott told everyone the shooting was simply pickup shots (additional shooting) so news wouldn't begin to leak out on his bold plan (until he wanted it to).

Scott told EW he did not call Spacey to tell him he would be cut out of the movie and that his decision wouldn't have changed if he had.

The director said he never planned to not release the movie on its planned release date. The additional shooting will reportedly cost north of $10 million.

"Because I know I can deliver," he said. "I move like lightning. I’m already two scenes ahead. It’s simple! If you know what you’re doing, you don’t need 19 takes. You do one for the actor, one for me. It’s all planned out. When you storyboard, you’ve already pre-filmed the movie in your head — the wide shots, close shots, establishing shots. You’ve gotten some of your weird ideas when you’re quietly sitting, story boarding by yourself. After a while you learn to trust and listen to your intuition. And I listen to mine. I trust it."

Scott also isn't worried about critics and Oscar voters seeing the movie in time for award consideration. Because of how postproduction works today, there's no lag time between shooting and getting footage into a cut of a movie — if you know what you're doing, like Scott.

"I’ve been shooting since Monday [November 20] and in with the editor every night since then," he said. "We’re not dealing with celluloid anymore; it’s all digital, and I send [the footage each day] to [editor Claire Simpson] and she cuts it, and I can go in and look after shooting. Everything I’ve shot is already in [the final cut] up through yesterday morning."

Sony has even released a TV spot already with Plummer in it! Watch below. You better believe "All the Money in the World" will be in theaters December 22. 

SEE ALSO: Dave Franco almost ruined his health losing 20 pounds for his new Netflix movie: "I was full-on depressed"

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Sean Astin talks about the most shocking scene from ‘Stranger Things 2’

The morning breakfast routines of Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and 13 more of the busiest people in the world

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Richard Branson eating apple

• Scientists aren't necessarily convinced breakfast is the most important meal of the day, Tech Insider reported.

• Still, many successful people take the time to eat a balanced breakfast.

• Others, however, like Bill Gates and Donald Trump typically abandon the meal altogether.



What goes into a breakfast of champions?

Well, the science isn't exactly settled on whether or not breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Eating breakfast doesn't necessarily even help you lose weight, according to Tech Insider.

Still, tons of successful people opt to make breakfast a part of their busy schedules, with a few notable exceptions.

Here's a look at some of the typical breakfast routines of successful people:

SEE ALSO: A Marine veteran says a morning ritual he picked up in boot camp primes him for success every day

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson prefers to dig into fruit salad and muesli in the morning while spending time with his family.

Source: CNBC, Business Insider

 



Popeyes CEO Cheryl Bachelder's morning meal depends on whether she's traveling or not. She has said she prefers steel-cut oatmeal when she's at home, and bacon, scrambled eggs, and toast when she's on the go. But either way, she always reaches for some coffee, too.

Source: Business Insider



Singer and actor Justin Timberlake told Bon Appetit he goes for a scrambled egg along with flax-seed waffles spread with almond butter before his morning workout.

Source: CNBCBon Appetit



See the rest of the story at Business Insider

36 powerful men accused of sexual misconduct after Harvey Weinstein

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harvey weinstein

After many women accused movie producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and harassment, similar accusations against a number of famous and powerful men have surfaced.

Some people have become emboldened by the voices of Weinstein's accusers and are coming forward with allegations of sexual misconduct in what is being referred to as the "Weinstein ripple effect."

In less than two months, allegations of sexual misconduct have spread from industry to industry, with fresh stories from the media, politics, and entertainment surfacing on a near daily basis. 

Revered members of the entertainment industry like Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Spacey, and Louis C.K., along with politicians such as Senator Al Franken, and candidate Roy Moore have been accused of varying degrees of sexual misconduct.

Here's a list of men who have been accused of sexual misconduct since news of the Weinstein allegations broke:

SEE ALSO: The company Harvey Weinstein built has been hit with its first new lawsuit accusing it of enabling sexual abuse

Actor Ben Affleck

The actress Hilarie Burton accused Ben Affleck of groping her breast during a 2003 interview.

Burton tweeted a video of the interview and wrote: "Girls. I'm so impressed with you brave ones. I had to laugh back then so I wouldn't cry. Sending love."


Affleck tweeted an apology to Burton, saying he had "acted inappropriately."

The makeup artist Annamarie Tendler in a tweet also accused Affleck of groping her during a Golden Globes party in 2014.

Affleck has not responded to Tendler's tweet.

A representative for Affleck declined a request for comment from Business Insider.



Former head of Amazon Studios Roy Price

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the film producer Isa Hackett alleged that Roy Price, the former head of Amazon Studios, sexually harassed her while they were promoting the series "The Man in the High Castle" in 2015.

Hackett worked as an executive producer on the series based on her father's book.

Hackett said she met Price on July 10, 2015, at San Diego's Comic-Con to promote the series with him and that he invited her to an Amazon staff party that evening. She and Price shared a cab to the party, where Hackett said Price told her, "You will love my d--k."

Hackett said she declined Price's advances but that the inappropriate behavior persisted throughout the evening.

Hackett said she reported Price's behavior to Amazon immediately.

After the interview was published, Amazon suspended Price indefinitely, and he resigned soon after.

Price has yet to publicly address either the allegations or his resignation.



Producer Bob Weinstein

Amanda Segel, the former executive producer of "The Mist," accused Bob Weinstein of consistently making unwanted advances on her in an interview with Variety.

Segel said that while working with Weinstein on the TV series, he continued to ask her out to dinner despite her repeatedly telling him she was uninterested in a romantic relationship. Segal said his advances stopped only once she told The Weinstein Company, which was producing "The Mist," that she would leave the series if his behavior continued.

"'No' should be enough," Segel said. "After 'no,' anybody who has asked you out should just move on. Bob kept referring to me that he wanted to have a friendship. He didn't want a friendship. He wanted more than that. My hope is that 'no' is enough from now on."

Weinstein's lawyer, Bert Fields, released a statement to Variety denying Segel's allegations.

"There is no way in the world that Bob Weinstein is guilty of sexual harassment, and even if you believed what this person asserts, there is no way it would amount to that," Fields said.

Weinstein did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.



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