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2025-07-16 20:00:00| Fast Company

The popular Icelandic skyr yogurt brand, siggi’s, wants Americans to take their paid time off. No excuses! But siggi’s is doing more than just urging their own employees to take their PTO, they’re offering to foot the bill for any hard worker’s vacay. The brand just announced a new contest that’s easy to enter and comes with a pretty amazing prize: $5,000 and a $1,000 flight voucher. All you have to do is tell the siggi’s, in a few sentences (200-300 words) why you haven’t used all your PTO in the past.  A siggi’s spokesperson told Fast Company that the inspiration for the challenge was, quite simply, the normalization of a society that never stops working. “At siggis, we believe that less sets you free. In our product, that means less sugar and simple ingredients. But that belief extends beyond food. The spokesperson continued, In a culture obsessed with doing more, working more, and sometimes, burning out siggis is on a mission to help people find their greatness by doing less. That is where the PT-Yo Program was born.” Of course, there may be a ton of reasons why so many Americans (62%, according to a 2024 report) may leave vacation days unused, like competitive culture, stress or guilt about taking time off, but the days add up. They also have a massive price tag. Last year, Americans had more than $312 billion in untouched vacation days.  The yogurt brand believes that trend is worrying. “As an entrepreneur, I know how hard it is to step away, said Siggi Hilmarsson, founder of siggis in a press release. But stepping away is where the real breakthroughs happen. This summer,  we’re motivating people to take their timeand take it seriously. The brand also recently debuted a billboard in New York Citys Times Square urging workers to use their PTO. Because, if they dont, well, nobody wins. However, if youve managed to slack off on slacking off in the past, you can still be one of 10 people to win siggi’s PTO challenge. According to the spokesperson, contestants need to be over 18, live in the U.S. (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and all other territories and possessions outside of the continental U.S), and basically just want to take an epic (and well-earned) vacation. Check out the challenge here and put in your PTO request.


Category: E-Commerce

 

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2025-07-16 19:30:00| Fast Company

Americans are seriously worried about their finances. Between high costs of living, tariffs, and job instability, driven, in part, by AI, the added anxiety means that consumers’ spending habits are shifting. And while they’re aiming to spend less overall, the stress also seems to be driving purchases that make them feel safer in an economy (and world?) that feels uncertain. According to a newly released Life360 survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, heavy financial burdens are being felt by the majority of Americans. The survey found that a staggering 71% of Americans now feel economically vulnerable with 64% admitting their anxiety has increased since the start of 2025. Likewise, the top three words respondents chose to describe their emotions in 2025 were ones with negative connotations: stressful, nervous, and crazy. Americans are cutting backbut not when it comes to peace of mind Unsurprisingly, Americans are coping by spending less. 56% say they’ve cut back on dining or takeout, 47% have trimmed their online shopping habits, and 45% are vacationing less often. However, spending isn’t down across the board. In fact, in one category, it’s going up: safety and security (like emergency alert tools, home security, and digital protections). The category was the only one where respondents were investing more than they were cutting. 21% of respondents said they were investing more in these tools, with only 20% pulling back. “In moments of elevated economic uncertainty, the premium on security increases: Investors seek safe assets, businesses prioritize safe investments, and families double down on peace of mind,” Life360 economist Aaron Terrazas said in a blog post on the report. But, interestingly, it’s the younger generations who seem to be the most concerned with safety and security in modern times. While Gen X and Baby Boomers ranked health and wellness as their biggest priorities in terms of spending, Millennials and Gen Zers said safety and security were the most important.  Fear, uncertainty, and financial strain Terrazas says those habits are likely shaped by the groups’ “formative economic experiences”, and pointed to “pandemic-era uncertainty” as hitting the younger generations especially hard. Terrazas told Fast Company, “Just like their grandparents and great-grandparents who came of age during the Great Depression and World War II, Gen Z and Millennials came of age in a fractious moment in world history. For young Americans who entered adulthood during the years from 9/11 to the Great Recession to the Covid-19 Pandemic, its natural that safety and security would rank high on their priorities, and those priorities are likely to remain top of mind as they move deeper into adulthood.” Therefore, it makes sense that while there are plenty of things Americans are scrapping, tools that make people feel safer are not one of them. In fact, 40% of parents said safety and emergency alert apps were non-negotiable,” which was the highest of all the categories. 55% of parents, and 43% of respondents overall, said they’d fight to keep safety and security subscriptions. Terrazas noted that the survey included “a mix of safety and security tools, including Life360, Citizen, Ring, ADT+ apps that offer everything from real-time location sharing to emergency alerts and home security” pressing that these kinds of tools “help people feel safer, more in control, and more connected in an unpredictable world.” That means that, for many, even as shopping, dining, vacations, and even streaming services take a backseat, the feeling of safety and security is of greater concern than ever. “As people are increasingly anxious, whether about their finances or physical safety, tools that provide ‘peace of mind’ are something people find indispensable,” Terrazas said.


Category: E-Commerce

 

2025-07-16 19:20:30| Fast Company

Goldman Sachs‘ second-quarter profit exceeded Wall Street expectations, as turbulent markets raised revenue in its equities division to a record, and a pickup in dealmaking boosted investment banking. The results capture a growing trend of market turmoil boosting trading desks across Wall Street as investors rebalance their portfolios to manage tariff-related risks. The investment bank’s equities revenue rose 36% to $4.3 billion, higher than the $3.6 billion analysts were expecting, according to estimates compiled by LSEG. Fixed income, currencies, and commodities hauled in $3.47 billion, 9% higher than a year ago. Financing revenue in both equities and FICC hit records. While shifting tariff risks kept some companies on the sidelines, pent-up demand for dealmaking triggered a flurry of acquisitions. Still, trade policy uncertainty in recent weeks has revived concerns about how long the momentum would last. Goldman’s peers JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup reported strong growth in investment banking fees, while Morgan Stanley and Bank of America posted declines. “A narrowed range of outcomes on trade and the overall economy has helped CEO confidence and increased their willingness to transact,” Goldman CEO David Solomon said. “We’ve seen a pickup in momentum with both strategic and sponsor clients.” Goldman’s investment banking fees stood at $2.19 billion, rising 26% from a year ago. Analysts were expecting a nearly 10% jump. The bank remained the top adviser by deal value on mergers and acquisitions globally in the second quarter, according to Dealogic data. It advised Holcim on the spinoff of its North American business Amrize, now valued at $28 billion. It also worked with Informatica, which was bought by Salesforce for about $8 billion. “The well-above consensus rise in investment banking was (a surprise), with a lot of analysts snookered into thinking that macro uncertainty would hold back this line item more than it did,” said Stephen Biggar, director of financial services research at Argus Research. Advisory fees were significantly higher due to strength in the Americas and Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, the bank said. Revenue from debt underwriting fell slightly, while equities underwriting was unchanged. “The higher investment banking backlog suggests potential for strong deal flow in coming quarters,” said Kenneth Leon, research director at CFRA Research. Overall profit rose 22% to $3.7 billion, or $10.91 per share, for the three months ended June 30, exceeding estimates of $9.53. Shares fell 0.6%, but have climbed 23% this year, making them the fifth-best performer in the S&P 500 financial index. Bar for acquisition is high Revenue from Goldman’s asset and wealth management arm, which caters to institutions and high-net-worth individuals, dipped 3% to $3.78 billion due to weakness in equity and debt investments. The business is important for Goldman as it can offer steadier revenue than trading and investment banking. Solomon said the bar for any acquisition is high, while stressing the importance of scale in the asset and wealth business. “There’s got to be a strategic fit in terms of things that we’re prioritizing in the growth of our asset and wealth management franchise,” he said. “Then, of course, there’s financial analysis around that which really gets to what do you pay for? This is why the bar is high for doing these things.” The bank set aside $384 million as provisions for credit losses, compared with $282 million last year, mainly related to its credit card portfolio. Headcount fell to 45,900, 2% lower than the first quarter. The bank had planned to trim staffing by 3% to 5% in an annual performance review process. The stock boost has partly been driven by shareholder confidence in recent weeks after the bank cleared the Federal Reserve’s annual stress test, paving the way for it to increase its dividend by $1 a share from the third quarter. Saeed Azhar and Niket Nishant, Reuters


Category: E-Commerce

 

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