*By Michael Teich*
Pluralsight, a platform for online learning courses, was off to an auspicious start as a publicly traded company Thursday when the stock opened 33 percent above its IPO price on the Nasdaq.
Shares of the Utah-based tech company, which are trading under ticker symbol “PS”, opened for trading at $20 a share compared with the IPO price of $15. Pluralsight's CEO, Aaron Skonnard, told Cheddar that Wall Street was optimistic because investors realize that his company's cloud-based platform is well positioned to close a “massive skills gap” created by rapidly changing technology.
Pluralsight is the first company from Utah to go public in 2018. Skonnard said there are advantages to creating a technology company in Utah instead of Silicon Valley, including a thriving tech community in “Silicon Slopes” that attracts talent away from the San Francisco Bay area. The lower cost of living in Utah is also a “big home run” for employees.
The future of education is going to look a lot different in the years ahead, said Skonnard. Four-year college degrees are a lot less relevant than they were 20 years ago, and emerging technologies will cause the trend to continue. Pluralsight's focus on technology-based skills such as HTML and JavaScript put it in a position to provide courses that cater to the evolving demands by its corporate clients, which include AT&T and Adobe.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/utah-s-tech-unicorn-pluralsight-has-strong-nasdaq-debut).
Wednesday marks World Financial Planning Day. Rebecca Walser, president and founder of Walser Wealth Management, joined Cheddar News to discuss why financial planning is important, how it can be done and why it's best to start early.
Traveling can be expensive and if a situation arises, costs can add up. Nick Ewen, senior editor at The Points Guy, joined Cheddar News to explain what travel insurance can cover and when you should purchase it.
A prosecutor opened a criminal fraud trial Wednesday by telling jurors that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was on top of the world a year ago, hobnobbing with people like football star Tom Brady and ex-President Bill Clinton, before his historic fraud was exposed, leaving customers and investors without at least $10 billion they thought was secure.
Staying on top of your personal spending shouldn't be as complicated as you think. Lazetta Braxton, a certified financial planner, joined Cheddar News to provide tips on how to track that spending, such as grouping expenses into different categories.
Uber is adding a new task to its list of services: mailing consumers' return packages.
United Airlines said it's buying about 110 more planes from Boeing and Airbus.
Data shows auto sales rose in the third quarter.
Netflix is planning to raise prices, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Studies show about half of Americans will experience a layoff in their lifetime. Cheddar News' Ready4Work docuseries on Thursdays at 8:30pm provides tips in its latest episode on what to do if you get that pink slip.
The Biden administration announced a series of indictments and sanctions in connection with fentanyl trafficking.
