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This Oscar cycle’s heavyweight battle is finally over. The politically charged action comedy “One Battle After Another” just managed to outmuscle Ryan Coogler’s musically driven vampire thriller “Sinners.”It was a 3 hour and 40 minute whirl through cinema and celebration, with Michael B. Jordan winning best actor for “Sinners” and Jessie Buckley winning for “Hamnet,” making her the first Irish performer to ever win in the category.There was electricity when Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman and Black person to win the cinematography award for “Sinners,” asking all the women in the Dolby Theatre to stand up because moments like this don’t happen without women “standing up for you and advocating for you.”Here were some other show highlights: The battle is over for one filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, one of the most respected filmmakers of his generation, finally won an Oscar. Then he won another. Then he won for best picture.He first won best adapted screenplay for “One Battle After Another” and then was crowned best director. “You make a guy work hard for this,” he said. Anderson was back onstage for the night’s final award best picture.“Let’s have a martini. This is amazing,” he said.Anderson had been nominated 14 times previously, including five times for screenplays and three times for best director. His films include “Boogie Nights,” “There Will Be Blood” and “Magnolia.”“I wrote this movie for my kids, to say sorry for the housekeeping mess that we left in this world we’re handing off to them,” Anderson said onstage after winning for his screenplay. “But also with the encouragement that they will be the generation that hopefully brings us some common sense and decency.”Even Cassandra Kulukundis, who served as the casting director on past Anderson films, hoped he would win an award himself while accepting the first new completive Oscar category in over two decades for “One Battle After Another.”She beat him to a win by just minutes. Another long wait for Oscar hardware Amy Madigan, the night’s first winner, had to wait a long time to celebrate an Oscar win. The gap between her first ever Oscar nomination and first win was 40 years handing her the record wait for a best supporting actress.Madigan’s first Oscar nomination was for 1985’s “Twice in a Lifetime,” losing to Anjelica Huston. She won Sunday for playing an unrecognizable and utterly mesmerizing oddball aunt in “Weapons,” a supernatural thriller about missing children. Madigan had earlier picked up wins at the Critics Choice and Actor Awards.Aunt Gladys’ smeared, heavy makeup, strange hair and large glasses became a popular internet meme and was even played up by Oscars host Conan O’Brien in his opening skit, looking like Gladys as he raced through appearances in other nominated movies chased by children.On hearing her name, Madigan collapsed into the arms of her husband, actor Ed Harris. Onstage, she thanked film writer-director Zach Cregger for giving her a part in “Weapons” she could “grab by the throat.” She last thanked “my beloved Ed,” adding: “None of this would mean anything if he wasn’t by my side.” A heavy goodbye to the Reiners A stage of stars bid farewell to Rob Reiner, led by a long friend and colleague, Billy Crystal.Crystal kicked off the in memoriam section by saying he met Reiner while cast as a best friend of Reiner’s on “All in the Family” in 1975.Reiner’s movies included “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Stand By Me,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “Misery,” “A Few Good Men” and “The Princess Bride.”“My friend Rob’s movies will last for lifetimes because they were about what makes us laugh and cry and what we aspire to be: Far better in his eyes, far kinder, far funnier and far more human,” Crystal said.Reiner was killed along with his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, in December. Their son, Nick Reiner, has been charged with two counts of murder.After Crystal’s speech, he revealed a stage filled with stars who shone in Reiner’s films, including Meg Ryan, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Kathy Bates, Kiefer Sutherland, Demi Moore, Jerry O’Connell, Annette Bening, Mandy Patinkin, Fred Savage and Cary Elwes. In memoriam and Redford The in memoriam section then highlighted those lost during 2025, like Catherine O’Hara, Diane Keaton, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, Brigitte Bardot, Michael Madsen, Terence Stamp, Diane Ladd, Sally Kirkland, Tom Stoppard, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Val Kilmer.Barbra Streisand then stepped up to honor her co-star in “The Way We Were,” Robert Redford.“He was thoughtful and bold. I called him an intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail, and won the Academy Award for best director, and I miss him now more than ever, even though he loved teasing me,” Streisand said.She then sang a snippet of “The Way We Were,” which she last performed during the 2013 ceremony, when she sang it as an homage to the late composer Marvin Hamlisch. Two stunning song performances The Oscars had only two musical numbers but they were Grammy-worthy.Singer-actor Miles Caton and songwriter Raphael Saadiq performed the deeply bluesy, slinky song “I Lied to You” from “Sinners,” joined by an ensemble that included Misty Copeland, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Brittany Howard, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jayme Lawson, Li Jun Li, Bobby Rush, Shaboozey and Alice Smith in a tribute to the film’s visual and musical style.The camera swept in and among the writhing bodies in a rollicking, kinetic performance.“KPop Demon Hunters” later celebrated its win as best animated feature by opening its performance of “Golden” with a fusion of traditional Korean instrumentalists and dance, with dancers in gold waving golden fabric flags. Then Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami the singing voices behind HUNTR/X in the film belted out “Golden” as members of the audience waved light sticks.Then “Golden” won the Oscar for best original song, a first for K-pop.The coolest part was seeing dancers from each song appear in the other’s, a kind of communication between Delta blues and Asian pop. ‘Bridesmaids’ give us a bouquet Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne, Kristen Wiig and Ellie Kemper celebrated 15 years after “Bridesmaids” hit theaters by showing everyone their funny bones haven’t aged.“Now, we are not good with numbers, but we figured out backstage that means we shot this movie in 1883,” Wiig joked.The group presenting best original scoe and best sound had fun at the expense of Stellan Skarsgrd, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jacobi Jupe of “Hamnet.”They pretended to read messages from the crowd, including one from DiCaprio that accused Byrne of staring at him. “I have been staring at you,” Byrne replied. “I thought you were somebody else.”Rudolph leaned into her dimwit persona when she wondered: “Earlier today, when I was counting my money, I asked myself, “What is sound?”There was also a mini-“Avengers” reunion with Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. presenting best adapted screenplay. And a “Moulin Rouge!” reunion with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. And there was a Pullman family reunion when Bill teamed up with son, Jack. Second time’s a charm, Conan Conan O’Brien hit almost every note on Sunday savage, playful, heartfelt and dumb.The second-time host predicted he’d be the last human Oscar MC. “Next year, it will be a Waymo with a tux,” he joked.He also had a jab at Timothée Chalamet, who got into hot water when he seemed to call ballet and opera dying art forms. “They’re just mad you left out jazz,” O’Brien quipped.He reached for a Jeffrey Epstein joke when he noted that it was the first time since 2012 that there were no British actors nominated. “A British spokesperson said, ‘Yeah, well at least we arrest our pedophiles.'”But he also got poetic and sweet when he noted that 31 countries across six continents were represented at the Oscars.“Every film we salute is a product of thousands of people speaking different language, working hard to make something of beauty,” O’Brien said. “We pay tribute tonight, not just to film, but to the ideals of global artistry, collaboration, patience, resilience and that rarest of qualities today: optimism.”Of course, sometimes his bits fell flat, like the time he used a leaf blower onstage and a gag about memes with Leonardo DiCaprio. For more coverage of this year’s Oscars, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards Mark Kennedy, AP Entertainment Writer
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E-Commerce
The prices of memory chip stocks are once again on the rise as a global shortage in random access memory (RAM) continues. Over the past five days alone, the share prices of the four largest memory makers traded on U.S. markets have risen significantly. And today, those same stocks are off to another good start. Heres what you need to know. Why is there a memory shortage? Since the latter half of 2025, analysts and industry insiders have warned of a looming memory chip shortage coming in 2026and its one of the few tech predictions that have been right. This year, the world is in a full-blown memory crisis. There isnt enough computer memory to go around, and that scarcity is leading to surging demandand surging RAM prices. The driving force behind the memory chip shortage is artificial intelligence. But not the AI itself. Rather, the hardware companies need to run their AI systems. An artificial intelligence system like ChatGPT or Googles Gemini requires massive data centers to run on and compute the billions of requests these chatbots get every day. Those data centers, in turn, need servers, and those servers need memory to carry out the AI tasks. The world is currently in the middle of an AI data center build-out boom, and that massive data center expansion is leading to a surge in memory demand the likes of which the industry has never seen. When memory makers are unable to keep up with demand, a shortage arises, which is exactly where we are today. Micron and Sandisk stocks are skyrocketing There are four major memory makers traded on the U.S. markets: Micron Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: MU) Sandisk Corporation (Nasdaq: SNDK) Western Digital Corporation (Nasdaq: WDC) Seagate Technology Holdings (Nasdaq: STX) Of those four, Micron and Sandisk are the two firms that primarily make short-term computer memory, which is designed to temporarily store information and help carry out tasks at lightning speed. This kind of memory is seeing the worst shortages. Western Digital and Seagate primarily make long-term computer memory, such as for SSDs, used to retain your documents and photos for a long time. Given that all four of these companies are seeing demand for their memory products soar, its little surprise their stock prices have been soaring as of late, too. In the past five days alone, as of Fridays closing bell, the share prices of all four companies have risen significantly. Over the previous five-day period: Micron stock has risen 15% Sandisk stock has soared 25% Western Digital is up 11% Seagate is up nearly 9% And today, those memory makers are seeing their share prices rise even further. As of this writing, in premarket trading, MU shares are up 4.3%, SNDK shares are up nearly 3%, WDC shares are up 3.3%, and STX shares are up over 2.5%. These continued stock price gains can primarily be attributed to the global memory shortage. How will skyrocketing memory prices affect me? Of course, while investors in the four big memory companies may be quietly cheering on the global memory shortage that is driving their stock prices higher, that shortage is bad for anyone else planning to buy a computer or smartphone this year. While the memory used in AI data centers and that used in laptops and smartphones are different, many memory makers are diverting production resources away from making the consumer type of memory bound for smartphones and laptops to making the higher-end memory that AI giants need (because that type of memory is more profitable). This, in turn, means less consumer memory is being made that is suitable for personal devices, so the makers of those devices have to pay more to get their hands on whatever they can. When smartphone and laptop makers pay more for components, they usually dont just absorb the increased costs; instead, they pass them on to consumers. If youve recently shopped for memory or even SSD hard drives online, youll probably have seen that prices are much higher than they were last year. And as 2026 progresses, those higher prices will also translate into higher prices for laptops and smartphones, and the memory shortage worsens. Most industry analysts do not expect the memory shortage to get better until sometime in 2027 at the earliest. What to look for next When it comes to the global memory shortage and memory chip maker stocks, the next big thing to look for is Micron Technologys second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings results, which will take place this Wednesday, March 18. Analysts will closely dissect the language used by Micron executives to glean insights into how memory demand is changing and whether production capacity is increasing. After Microns earnings on Wednesday, the next event to keep an eye on will happen in early May, which is when Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagate are expected to announce their next results. Memory chip stocks are far outperforming the Nasdaq Whats especially remarkable about Micron, Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagates run lately is that their stock prices have not been significantly impacted by the broader pullback of the Nasdaq on which they trade. While the four memory companies have seen their stock prices rise by nearly 9% to 25% over the prior five trading days, the Nasdaq Composite has declined 1.6% over the same period, largely due to uncertainties about the war in Iran. Year-to-date, the gap between the four memory makers and the Nasdaq Composite is even starker. Since the year began, the Nasdaq Composite is down 4.2%. But in the same timeframe, Micron is up 49%, Western Digital is up 58%, Seagate is up 39%, and Sandisk is up a staggering 178%.
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E-Commerce
Metrics can tell you if youre going the right direction or not. They can also be a waste of time if the metrics are noise instead of strong signals. There is no one right answer to which metrics to use, but understanding how others use them can turn on a light bulb for new ideas. We asked our Fast Company Impact Council members what metrics they track obsessivelyand why and the answers we share may have you rethinking your own tracking. 1. CONVERSION AND RETENTION I track a lot of metrics and it’s easy to get lost in the minutiae of the business, but as a subscription business the metrics of conversion and retention are my twin North Stars. What percentage of visitors in trial are going to become paid subscribers, and what percentage of them will remain paid subscribers in three months? Really these metrics are a reflection of the benefit customers get from our products showing they are valuable enough for someone to pay us and that they are valuable enough for them to stick around. Nearly all of the other metrics that I obsessively check flow from these two. Tony Grimminck, Scribd, Inc. 2. ORGANIC GOOGLE SEARCH I track organic Google search above almost everything. You can buy impressions, but you cant buy someone typing your brand name unprompted. Its the cleanest signal of real demand. I also monitor inbound pullwhich partners, retailers, or creators are reaching out to us. When serious brands want proximity, it means youre culturally relevant. If search and inbound drop when spend drops, youre renting attention, not building equity. And then theres the quiet test: What happens when we ease off spend? Do we disappear or are we building something worthy of the space weve been given? Emily Kortlang, Yerba Madre 3. EBITDA I track EBITDA because it tells me, without any spin, whether our core business is creating the level of profitability that powers reinvestment and growth for our employee owners. I track labor as a percentage of net revenue, staff churn, and our employee culture index scores because they tell me how efficiently were deploying our talent and how engaged our people are in building a career here. Steven McKay, DLR Group 4. HOW CLIENTS RANK IN AI PROMPTS Right now, were obsessively tracking how our clients rank in prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. Its a new metric for us, but an important one. We want to see how clients show up next to competitors and what narratives or keywords are driving visibility. We layer that with media coverage and domain authority to understand how those stories are performing in the real world. Kalie Moore, High Vibe PR 5. CONTENT AND PRODUCTS We measure content and products to see how they drive behavior change, build confidence, and turn users into advocates for themselves. Engagement matters, but for us the real signal of success is when people feel empowered to act. As we build for people with real, timely needs, we track both quantitative and qualitative insights to ensure were solving the right problems, not guessing. That requires constant testing, learning, and refining. Across industries, leaders have to stay close to the people they serve to ensure theyre truly advancing the mission they set out to achieve. Nathan Friedman, Understood.org 6. INTERNAL ALIGNMENT AND EXTERNAL TRACTION I track two buckets: internal alignment and external traction. Internally, we run on objectives and key results because it forces clarity. Everyone knows what they’re responsible for and how it ties to business impact. When that breaks, you feel it. When it works, things move fast. Externally, I watch streaming and radio. Streaming shows what’s happening right now, which cities are reacting, whether a record is moving culturally. Radio signals longevity. It’s slower, but it shows real staying power. Together, they tell me if we’re seeing noise or building something durable. You need both. Logan Mulvey, GoDigital Music 7. CUSTOMER METRICS As CEO, I obsess over daily and weekly metrics like monthly recurring revenue growth, subscription churn, data-plan attach rate, NPS, transmission success rate, and early field reliability (battery life, zero-transmission failures), because recurring revenue powers the business. Any drop in trust kills referrals fast. If customer metrics are healthy so is our business. Jeff Peel, Tactacam 8. RETENTION AND SAVINGS We track retention of our members, as we offer a lifelong commitment to our C-suite women leaders to provide them with one-on-one peer mentoring for life. This commitment increases our retention to 99%. We also track the mentor/mentee relationship. Lastly, we track our savings, which annually exceed $500,000. Larraine Segil, Exceptional Women Alliance 9. ENGAGEMENT AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION We track engagement and customer satisfaction obsessively. For us, engagement isnt just a usage metric, its a signal of trust. When someone actively redeems and returns to our platform, that tells us the experience is resonating. Customer satisfaction is even more important. If people feel valued rather than marketed to, long-term relationships followand so does durable revenue for our partners. Elery Pfeffer, Nift 10. WHERE OUR BUSINESS IS GOING When reviewing metrics, Im looking for information about where our business is going, not lagging indicators of where weve been, and early warning signs of issues that may be developing. For growth, I look at pipeline coverage and conversion. For execution, I review forecast accuracy and time to revenue. For customer value, its our net retention rate and advocacy score. Looking at these numbers gives me a good idea of not only how were performing, but how efficiently were executing and what areas need extra attention. Steve Holdridge, Dayforce 11. JOBS AND ECONOMICS REPORTS I obsessively track LinkedIns Jobs on the Rise reports and LinkedIs Economic Graph workforce data and research; they are great reads and provide ongoing snapshots on where the labor market, productivity and future of work are moving broadly. I also track the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Productivity and Costs report, to understand where workplace productivity is heading. Its an excellent dashboard across key indicators and in recent years can be a strong signal on how technology, automation, and operatingmodel changes are actually changing worker productivity at scale. Alice Mann, Mann Partners 12. PROGRESS Progress against the big rocks we established. Setting broad, strategic yet outcome-based goals align the entire organization and drive results. Michael Tannenbaum, Figure 13. ENGAGEMENT, FRICTION, AND CLIENT IMPACT I think about performance in three pillars: people, process, and product. Some of it is measurable. Some of it you feel. Both matter. On people, I track engagement, retention of top talent, and how often we promote from within. If the bench isn’t deep, nothing scales. On process, I look at friction. How fast do we decide? Is delivery predictable? The best strategy collapses without operational clarity. On product, I focus on client impact, repeat business, and quality. We have a Slack channel devoted to verbatim client praise. Data matters. But when you’re the first call a client makes on their hardest day, that’s the clearest signal of all. Peter Smart, Fantasy 14. THE FUNNEL For Scribbly, my D2C business, I use every tiny tracking pixel in my funnel. I built a custom dashboard for myself and trained an AI agent to analyze the data just the way I want itway better than those messy SaaS analytics dashboards that are impossible to decipher. Lindsey Witmer Collins, WLCM Studio 15. NON-CUMULATIVE DATA Cumulative data is meaningful, but only non-cumulative data holds you accountable. For us, one such metric is how many of the Solvers selected over the past five years are still operational. Were at 96%. That tells me our selection methods and support programs have a real impact, given that industry averages hover around 70-80%. Something else a company can track is instead of asking where are you now? ask how far have you come? That’s harder to quantify than dollars raised or media hits, but it’s the only number that tells me whether we’re doing our job. Revenue, employees, money raisedthose keep the lights on. But the distance traveled keeps us honest about the mission. Hala Hanna, MIT Solve 16. BOOMERANGS AND EMPLOYEE DEPARTURES Weve been focused on people-centric workplace data since we started building a center of gravity for brilliant minds almost three decades ago. We regard the percentage of boomerangs in a company as a leading indicator of having a positive, thriving culture that people value and want to be part of. At the other end of the spectrum, the rate of regrettable departures usually signals when there are culture issues that must be addressed. Leerom Segal, Klick Health 17. ENGAGEMENT QUALITY, AUDIENCE SENTIMENT, AND BRAND LIFT We prioritize engagement quality, audience sentiment, and brand lift because they tie directly to real business outcomes, not vanity metrics. We trademarked true human influence to make influencer marketing more measurable, backing it with proprietary technology and trusted measurement partners to ensure we deliver against brand KPIs. And with AI driving the convergence of creator and affiliate marketing, we can now connect authentic storytelling to commerce at scale. Ben Jeffries, Influencer
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E-Commerce
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