Morgan Stanley is getting into the “robo-advice” business, where software manages funds instead of people. The service, Access Investing, is aimed at younger investors, and helps them put their money with the businesses they’re most interested in.
“Forty percent of our clients have chosen to invest in a theme, and the most popular ones [are] robotics and artificial intelligence,” Naureen Hassan, Chief Digital Officer for Wealth Management at Morgan Stanley, told Cheddar.
The financial firm rolled out its Access Investing division, which focuses on advising clients online, in December. Hassan says that her team has seen a lot of engagement with from people 45 and under.
Robo-advisers, or digital investment portfolios, are not very new. The field has competitors, such as Betterment or Wealthfront, that have been making strides in the sector.
But Morgan Stanley says it’s betting on its legacy to differentiate itself in the industry.
“We think it’s the Morgan Stanley investing expertise that really differentiates it,” Hassan said. “That’s why we are offering clients choice, it just isn’t only a passive portfolio, we believe in a mix of assets.”
Uber laid off 100 backup drivers for in its autonomous driving division on Thursday, a sign that the fatal crash in Tempe, Ariz., has tempered the company's ambitions. "Uber is saying all the right things publicly, but the accident in Arizona has really set them back," says Mark Rechtin, executive editor at Motor Trend.
The subscription toy company creates boxes of creative DIY projects that are both educational and fun, says CEO Sandra Oh Lin. “We’re trying to instill that creative confidence as well as the tools.”
The $85 billion deal which closed last month is now back in question. The DoJ filed court papers challenging Judge Richard Leon's ruling in June that the government didn't sufficiently prove the merger violated antitrust laws. Cheddar’s Hope King and Brad Smith give us the details.
Microsoft announced on Thursday it would provide a free version of its group chatting app, betting that the platform's integration with Microsoft's other programs will give it a leg up on Slack. “We have power of the full collaboration suite in there,” says Lori Wright, GM of Microsoft 365.
Papa John's founder John Schnatter resigned as chairman of the pizza chain after it came to light that he used a racial slur on a conference call in May. Schnatter apologized for his comments, saying they were "inappropriate and hurtful."
Uber is planning to lay off more than 100 people from its autonomous car units in San Francisco and Pittsburgh. This comes as Uber is trying to recover from the fatal crash in Arizona involving one if it's self-driving cars.
And Cheddar's Alex Heath sits down with Joey Levin, CEO of IAC, to discuss Match Group's recent acquisition of dating app Hinge.
The iconic Apple founder and innovator was reportedly high "on a massive dose of LSD at the time of death," says Adam Fisher. Fisher's book also digs into Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak's secret feud with Jobs.
Charlie Lee, creator of Litecoin, says the partnership with the digital finance app will help expand its reach. “I think the idea is to have more adoption, to have easier ways for people to get Litecoin, and to have easier ways for people to spend it,” he tells Cheddar.
In recent years, Vimeo has been pushing to transform itself into an end-to-end platform for video creators, adding post-production tools, storage capabilities, and live streaming features. Creators can publish their content on any other platform through Vimeo, including on competitors like YouTube. "That provides a real advantage for us in that we can be Switzerland in that publishing landscape," CEO Joey Levin tells Cheddar's Alex Heath at the Sun Valley conference.
IAC, which owns Match, Tinder, and OkCupid, recently added Hinge to its portfolio because "we like competing with ourselves," says CEO Joey Levin. "Tinder was created inside of Match to disrupt Match." Levin spoke with Cheddar's Alex Heath at the Allen & Co. Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho.
The wireless company will hold a stake in Magic Leap, which released a demo of its mixed-reality headset Wednesday afternoon. “For AT&T, it makes a lot of sense to invest in this area,” says Ed Baig, personal tech columnist at USA TODAY. “It’ll be curious to see if AT&T subsidizes the price of this headset” like it does with smartphones.
