Simplicity may be the secret to creating a powerful brand and a strong workforce. Howard Belk, Co-CEO and Chief Creative Officer at Siegel+Gale, a brand strategy firm, was with us to share best practices for becoming a brand champion.
Uber is one company that could use some advice to help clean up its public image. Belk says the company's breakdown was that the C-Suite didn't act in a way that was consistent with the values they preached. He says it will be hard for Uber to pull off an image revamp if the company isn't clearer about its mission and values.
Snap is another brand struggling to express its mission. Belk says the problem isn't technology or leadership. Instead, he believes it is an issue of creating value. If your higher purpose doesn't make the register ring, Belk says, then you need to go back to the drawing table and re-work at the whole business model.
Oracle soars as it cashes in on the AI boom, Plus: Starbucks shares continue to fall under its new CEO, and does anybody actually want a new iPhone Air?
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
