Invest Like Warren Buffett: MasterClass Wants to Teach You
*By Madison Alworth*
MasterClass has raised an additional $80 million in funding, cementing the online learning platform's mission to make school "excite you again," said the co-founder and CEO.
"School often sucked the life out of us," David Rogier said Friday in an interview on Cheddar.
The latest round will be used to expand offerings in new categories and improve the student experience everywhere, beyond the U.S.
"We're going to launch in other countries, and we're going to launch classes in fields that we are not in yet, like business and politics," Rogier said.
MasterClass released its first three classes in 2015 and has since grown to offer 39 classes. Subscribers can take courses led by bestselling author James Patterson, famed journalist Bob Woodward, or chef Gordon Ramsay, among other giants of industry.
With its Series D funding, the company hopes to grow to 50 course offerings by the end of the year.
When conceiving new classes, Rogier said MasterClass relies on many parties. New instructors are added to the docket after the company polls MasterClass students, employees, and current instructors.
And, of course, there are always some teachers that MasterClass is eyeing for its "dream list."
"I would love to take a class from Warren Buffett. I would love to take a class from J.K. Rowling," Rogier said.
For the CEO, MasterClass would ideally be able to adapt in tandem with digital technology.
"The thing that I am most excited about, that we are just beginning to explore, is AR and VR. Imagine if you're going to learn a dance from Usher, how neat would it be to see where to put your feet," he said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/masterclass-raises-additional-80-million-in-series-d).
Facebook parent Meta’s miss on Q4 earnings raised alarm bells amongst investors. The tech giant lost users for the first time as it invests a lot into the metaverse, its virtual realm, in the hopes that consumers will move their social media consumption there. The stock dropped around 25 percent on the report, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg chalked it up to people flocking toward apps like TikTok, even as his own platform attempts to make a big pivot to the metaverse future. "It's gonna take a long time to develop and it's gonna take a long time to bring to fruition," Rebecca Walser, president of Walser Wealth Management told Cheddar. "In the meantime, the world is moving on. We have a very short attention span, especially on social media, and we want the short little videos. And Tiktok has just taken off."
Wall Street saw another volatile day after the Federal Reserve left rates unchanged for now, with plans to raise rates in March at its next meeting in order to ease inflation. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed has not made decisions on the size of rate increases, adding that the Fed is not trying to get inflation below two-percent. Ken Johnson, CFA and Investment Strategy Analyst explains why Powell thinks that high inflation is a significant threat to the labor market.
Ed Butowsky, managing partner at Chapwood Investments, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to break down the disappointing takeaways from Spotify's Q4 earnings report, which sent the stock plunging.
Anu Gaggar, global investment strategist for Commonwealth Financial Network, joined Cheddar News to discuss how global supply chains could be disrupted even further by an armed conflict in Ukraine.
Google parent company Alphabet saw yet another successful quarter reporting its final earnings report for 2021 on Tuesday. The tech giant beat Wall Street expectations across the board with much of that success owed to not only the growth of its cloud business, but also its multi-platform advertising. Joanna O'Connell, Principal Analyst at Forrester explains why advertising may be one of the keys to Alphabet’s future success.
Solid-state battery maker Factorial Energy recently raised $200 million in a Series D round led by Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis. Factorial says the funding will be used to accelerate commercial production and deployment of its solid-state battery technology, which the company says is safer, and offers up to 50% more driving range than current lithium-ion technology. Factorial also has joint development agreements (announced in late 2021) with Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and Hyundai, three of the top 10 global automotive manufacturers, to commercialize its batteries. Factorial CEO Siyu Huang joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
