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What is eSports? History & Rise of Video Game Tournaments

Years ago, eSports was a community of video gamers who would gather at conventions to play Counter Strike, Call of Duty, or League of Legends.

These multiplayer video game competitions would determine League of Legends champions, the greatest shooters in Call of Duty, the cream of the crop of Street Fighter players, the elite Dota 2 competitors, and more.

But today, as the history of eSports continue to unfold, media giants such as ESPN and Turner are broadcasting eSports tournaments and competitions. And in 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch, the live streaming video platform that has been and continues to be the leader in online gaming broadcasts. And YouTube also wanted to jump on the live streaming gaming community with the creation of YouTube Gaming.

eSports Market Growth Booming

To put in perspective how big eSports is becoming, a Google search for "lol" does not produce "laughing out loud" as the top result. Instead, it points to League of Legends, one of the most popular competitive games in existence. The game has spawned a worldwide community called the League of Legends Championship Series, more commonly known as LCS or LOL eSports.

What started as friends gathering in each other's homes to host LAN parties and play into the night has become an official network of pro gaming tournaments and leagues with legitimate teams, some of which are even sponsored and have international reach. Organizations such as Denial, AHQ, and MLG have multiple eSports leagues.

And to really understand the scope of all this, consider that the prize pool for the latest Dota 2 tournament was more than $20 million.

Websites even exist for eSports live scores to let people track the competitions in real time if they are unable to watch. There are even fantasy eSports leagues similar to fantasy football, along with the large and growing scene of eSports betting and gambling.

So it's understandable why traditional media companies would want to capitalize on this growing trend just before it floods into the mainstream. Approximately 300 million people worldwide tune in to eSports today, and that number is growing rapidly. By 2020, that number will be closer to 500 million.

eSports Industry Analysis - The Future of the Competitive Gaming Market

Financial institutions are starting to take notice. Goldman Sachs valued eSports at $500 million in 2016 and expects the market will grow at 22% annually compounded over the next three years into a more than $1 billion opportunity.

And industry statistics are already backing this valuation and demonstrating the potential for massive earnings. To illustrate the market value, market growth, and potential earnings for eSports, consider Swedish media company Modern Times Group's $87 million acquisition of Turtle Entertainment, the holding company for ESL. YouTube has made its biggest eSports investment to date by signing a multiyear broadcasting deal with Faceit to stream the latter's Esports Championship Series. And the NBA will launch its own eSports league in 2018.

Of course, as with any growing phenomenon, the question becomes: How do advertisers capitalize? This is especially tricky for eSports because of its audience demographics, which is young, passionate, male-dominated, and digital-first. They live online and on social media, are avid ad-blockers, and don't watch traditional TV or respond to conventional advertising.

So what will the future of eSports look like? How high can it climb? Could it reach the mainstream popularity of baseball or football? How will advertisers be able to reach an audience that does its best to shield itself from advertising?

Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled an unparalleled report on the eSports ecosystem that dissects the growing market for competitive gaming. This comprehensive, industry-defining report contains more than 30 charts and figures that forecast audience growth, average revenue per user, and revenue growth.

Companies and organizations mentioned in the report include: NFL, NBA, English Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, NHL, Paris Saint-Germain, Ligue 1, Ligue de Football, Twitch, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, ESPN, Electronic Arts, EA Sports, Valve, Riot Games, Activision Blizzard, ESL, Turtle Entertainment, Dreamhack, Modern Times Group, Turner Broadcasting, TBS Network, Vivendi, Canal Plus, Dailymotion, Disney, BAMTech, Intel, Coca Cola, Red Bull, HTC, Mikonet

Here are some eSports industry facts and statistics from the report:

• eSports is a still nascent industry filled with commercial opportunity.
• There are a variety of revenue streams that companies can tap into.
• The market is presently undervalued and has significant room to grow.
• The dynamism of this market distinguishes it from traditional sports.
• The audience is high-value and global, and its numbers are rising.
• Brands can prosper in eSports by following the appropriate game plan.
• Game publishers approach their Esport ecosystems in different ways.  
• Successful esport games are comprised of the same basic ingredients.
• Digital streaming platforms are spearheading the popularity of eSports.
• Legacy media are investing into eSports, and seeing encouraging results.
• Traditional sports franchises have a clear opportunity to seize in eSports.
• Virtual and augmented reality firms also stand to benefit from eSports.  

In full, the report illuminates the business of eSports from four angles:

• The gaming nucleus of eSports, including an overview of popular esport genres and games; the influence of game publishers, and the spectrum of strategies they adopt toward their respective esport scenes; the role of eSports event producers and the tournaments they operate.
• The eSports audience profile, its size, global reach, and demographic, psychographic, and behavioral attributes; the underlying factors driving its growth; why they are an attractive target for brands and broadcasters; and the significant audience and commercial crossover with traditional sports.
• eSports media broadcasters, including digital avant-garde like Twitch and YouTube, newer digital entrants like Facebook and traditional media outlets like Turner’s TBS Network, ESPN, and Canal Plus; their strategies and successes in this space; and the virtual reality opportunity.
• eSports market economics, with a market sizing, growth forecasts, and regional analyses; an evaluation of the eSports spectacle and its revenue generators, some of which are idiosyncratic to this industry; strategic planning for brand marketers, with case studies; and an exploration of the infinite dynamism and immense potential of the eSports economy.

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• A World Economic Forum survey suggests that the global public is in fact open to immigration and say that national interest is not a zero-sum game.
• The survey dispels populist ideas such as "America First" which pushes countries into conflict with one another. 
• Research suggests that upward mobility is too elusive and that governments are not doing enough to provide people with opportunities. 

Populism may be on the wane, according to a massive new survey that its authors say "debunks" headlines suggesting people are against immigration and global cooperation. 

The survey — which polled more than 10,000 people globally and released this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland — found that cooperation between nations was very important, that national self-improvement was not a zero-sum game, and that attitudes towards immigration are mostly positive.

The survey, conducted with collaboration from research firm Qualtrics, found 57% of global respondents said that immigration was mostly good.

The result "roundly debunks the negative notion of immigrants that has raced to the top of the news agenda across Europe, North America and elsewhere," the authors said in the survey. 

The survey also highlights the despondency in the West and negative attitudes towards wealth and social mobility. In North America, only 34% of respondents thought it was very common for someone to be born poor and become rich through hard work. In Western Europe, only 20% of those surveyed suggesting upward social mobility was common. 

"Majority of respondents say they believe upward mobility is too elusive and that governments are not doing enough to provide people with opportunity," the report said. 

The rise of far-right political movements and the populist ideals of national campaigns like "America First" and Brexit have formed a schism in global politics, but the survey suggests these ideas might be fading in popularity. 

The results showed some nuance, however, when broken down by region. 

Figures from Europe suggest that only 46% of people in Western Europe think immigration is good while Eastern Europe, which has seen recent far right governments in Hungary and Czechia, saw only 40% of respondents saying that immigration is good.

Another intriguing finding of the research is that North Americans have the least trust in climate science, while Western Europeans are least likely to regard technology companies as altruistic, as evidenced by the EU's campaigns against Facebook and Google. 

SEE ALSO: The warnings are getting starker: Trump's government shutdown is becoming catastrophic for the economy

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NOW WATCH: 7 science-backed ways to a happier and healthier 2019 that you can do the first week of the new year

• Meghan Markle appears to have served avocado on toast for an unconventional afternoon tea.
• According to an Instagram post by her makeup artist Daniel Martin, the Duchess of Sussex served up the millennial brunch favourite alongside chocolate truffles and black tea.
• Markle is a famously healthy eater, and has previously said she always orders avocado and poached eggs on toast for breakfast when staying in hotels. 

A traditional British afternoon tea follows a simple formula: finger sandwiches, scones with jam and clotted cream, and dainty cakes to finish — all washed down with, of course, plenty of tea.

But it would appear the Duchess of Sussex has put her own spin on the classic ritual, serving up the unconventional dish of smashed avocado on toast.

According to an Instagram post, Meghan Markle recently hosted her makeup artist Daniel Martin at Kensington Palace for afternoon tea.

The millennial brunch favourite appears to have been served with a sprinkle of black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil, alongside chocolate truffles and black tea.

Martin, who has known the duchess for years and did her makeup for her wedding to Prince Harry last May, shared a snap of the spread, writing: "Back to our Tig days... Thank you Meghan for being the consummate hostess this weekend and still being the #avocadotoast whisperer, YUM!"

The flat-lay shows the snacks served on elegant plates, with the tea from a teapot and served in cups and saucers.

Markle is a famously healthy eater and her love of avocado is no secret — whilst she's previously revealed her favourite at-home breakfast is an açai bowl, when staying in a hotel the duchess apparently always orders avocado and poached eggs on toast.

Read more: Meghan Markle's diet is surprisingly easy to follow — here's what she eats in a day

Markle used to run a lifestyle blog called The Tig, where her love of food and cooking was clear. 

She also reportedly helped husband Prince Harry eat more healthily, too — reports suggest the former party boy has given up drinking in support of Markle during her pregnancy, and he's also said to have cut out caffeine and smoking upon his wife's suggestion.

Perhaps avocado on toast will become a new royal staple.

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NOW WATCH: Japanese lifestyle guru Marie Kondo explains how to organize your home once and never again

• In a survey conducted by workplace chat app Blind, hundreds of Facebook employees said Mark Zuckerberg should keep his job as CEO.
• They also said the litany of scandals involving Zuckerberg had not devalued the company.
• Not everyone agrees, with a wider audience of tech employees saying the scandals had done damage to Facebook.
• Insiders at Facebook are generally loyal, with most of Zuckerberg's inner circle sticking around through a difficult 2018.

Most Facebook employees still want CEO Mark Zuckerberg to remain their leader, despite a year of scandal resulting in increased scrutiny on the business and potential regulation.

Blind, the anonymous workplace chat app popular with tech workers, surveyed more than 8,000 users on the question: "Should Zuckerberg remain CEO of Facebook?"

Both non-Facebook and Facebook employees responded.

Of the 735 Facebook employees who responded, only 122 answered "No."

More than 600 Facebookers said Zuckerberg should stay in his job.

And more than half of the workers surveyed — including the non-Facebook workers — said Zuckerberg should keep his job.

Read more: Facebook is restructuring its augmented-reality glasses division as it inches closer to launch

Facebook employees were also loyal when it came to general criticism of Zuckerberg.

Blind asked almost 12,000 of its users if scandals involving the CEO had "devalued" Facebook. Of the 985 Facebook employees who responded, just 168 said "Yes", while 817 said "No."

But others in the wider industry disagreed. Almost 7,000 people said that scandals had devalued Facebook, versus around 5,000 saying they hadn't.

Blind ran its survey in January this year.

It follows a similar questionnaire last year, when the company found Facebook employees were remarkably loyal to Sheryl Sandberg. That's despite reports Sandberg was worried for her job after the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, and that she had a hand in asking a controversial PR agency to investigate billionaire George Soros over his criticism of Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly said he won't leave Facebook, or even step down as chairman. Thanks to Facebook's share structure, Zuckerberg controls the majority of voting shares and acts as both CEO and chairman.

Activist shareholders have called for an end to this setup, and even Zuckerberg's one-time mentor, Roger McNamee, has lobbied for sweeping changes to Facebook's structure.

Insiders have, however, stayed loyal. Some high-profile departures include the various founders of Instagram and WhatsApp, and comms chief Elliot Schrage, but Zuckerberg's inner circle has largely stayed put.

Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at sghosh@businessinsider.com or Twitter DM at @shonaghosh. (PR pitches by email only, please.) You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

SEE ALSO: Mark Zuckerberg's new year's resolution is to host public debates about the effects of tech on society

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• Just Eat announced on Monday that CEO Peter Plumb is stepping down effective immediately.
• His position will be temporarily filled by chief customer officer Peter Duffy.
• Plumb has only been in the role for 16 months, taking the top job in July 2017.

Just Eat, the UK's largest food delivery company, announced on Monday that its CEO Peter Plumb is stepping down.

Plumb took over the role in July 2017, and chief customer officer Peter Duffy will act as an interim CEO while the company looks for someone permanent.

"The Board would like to thank Peter Plumb for setting Just Eat on a new course which better places it to address a much larger and rapidly expanding market. We wish him well for the future," Just Eat Chairman Mike Evans said in a statement.

"2018 was another year of strong growth for the Group. The business is in good health, and now is the right time for me to step aside and make way for a new leader for the next exciting wave of growth," Plumb said.

Just Eat has recently faced fresh competition in the form of of Uber Eats and Deliveroo, the UK's homegrown food delivery startup. Rumours that Uber might buy Deliveroo hit Just Eat's shares in September.

Read more:$2 billion takeaway startup Deliveroo lost its CTO, chief people officer, and chief legal officer in a big reshuffle

Just Eat said it is expecting full year 2019 revenue of between £1 billion ($1.3 billion) and £1.1 billion ($1.4 billion) and underlying EBITDA between £185 million ($238 million) and £205 million ($264 million), excluding Brazil and Mexico.

SEE ALSO: How Deliveroo went from being the idea of a hungry banker to a $2 billion food delivery giant coveted by Uber

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NOW WATCH: British Airways has a $13 million flight simulator that taught us how to take off, fly, and land an airplane

• Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California announced she is running for president.
• She joins a growing number of Democratic candidates vying to challenge President Donald Trump in the 2020 US presidential election.
• "I'm running for president," she said. "Let's do this together."

Sen. Kamala Harris says she is running for president in 2020, adding to a growing number of Democratic candidates vying to challenge President Donald Trump in the 2020 US presidential election.

The Democratic senator for California made the announcement on Monday, which is Martin Luther King Day, on Twitter.

"I'm running for president," she tweeted. "Let's do this together."

Harris also told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday: "The thing about Dr King that always inspires me is that ... he was aspirational like our country was aspirational. We know that we've not yet reached those ideals, but our strength is that we fight to reach those ideals."

Harris' campaign website said she would not accept donations from corporate PACs, adding: "We don't have to accept a system that drowns out your voice."

Rumors of Harris' announcement began after the former California attorney general teased a potential run in numerous media appearances in recent weeks. Harris previously said she would mull the decision over the holidays and said she would take into account her family's thoughts.

After publishing her memoir, "The Truths We Hold: An American Journey," Harris embarked on a media blitz and offered the traditional non-denial denial to queries about her potential presidential ambitions.

"So, I'm pleased to announce on 'The View' that I'm not ready to make my announcement," Harris joked on ABC's "The View" this week. "I'm very tempted, but I'm not yet ready," she said.

On Tuesday, Harris reportedly shuttered her state campaign committee, "Harris for Governor 2026," and donated the remaining funds to different organizations, fueling rumors of a presidential run.

Harris made stops at several battleground states in the fall, including Iowa, South Carolina, and Wisconsin in support of other Democrats during the 2018 midterm elections.

Her announcement comes at a time when other 2020 Democratic contenders have signaled their intent, namely Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and former Housing and Urban Development secretary Julián Castro, who formed a presidential exploratory committee.

Other potential candidates include Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas.

Read more:What women eyeing a run for the White House can expect from voters and the media in 2020

Harris is currently serving her first term in the Senate, similar to former President Barack Obama, who, as a first-term senator, was initially criticized for his inexperience after he announced his 2008 presidential campaign. Prior to her role in the Senate, Harris was California's attorney general and served as the district attorney of San Francisco.

Harris most recently made headlines for her intense line of questioning during the confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.

The former prosecutor, who now sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, demanded the FBI thoroughly investigate the sexual-misconduct allegations made by Christine Blasey Ford, whose claims threatened to tank Kavanaugh's nomination.

"Let's be honest. It's going to be ugly," Harris said in December on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," referring to her possible presidential run as a woman of color.

"When you break things, it is painful. And you get cut. And you bleed."

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NOW WATCH: MSNBC host Chris Hayes thinks President Trump's stance on China is 'not at all crazy'

• Theresa May has abandoned cross-party talks on Brexit with opposition parties.
• The prime minister blamed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in talks with her Cabinet on Sunday.
• She will now instead push ahead with a plan to again demand concessions from the EU.
• The prime minister will make a statement and motion setting out her Brexit plan B this afternoon.
• The motion faces multiple amendments from MPs designed to allow Parliament to take control of the Brexit process.

LONDON — Theresa May has rejected calls to compromise with opposition parties on Brexit and will instead press ahead with a plan to return once again to Brussels to demand new concessions from the European Union.

The prime minister has refused demands from those, including her chief of staff Gavin Barwell, to soften her position on issues such as the customs union in order to win over votes from the Labour Party for her deal.

She told her Cabinet on Sunday that she will instead demand concessions from the EU on the controversial Northern Ireland backstop, which is designed to keep the the UK tied to EU customs and trade rules and avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland if talks fail before the end of the Brexit transition period.

The prime minister is reportedly seeking a so-called sunset-clause on the backstop after which it would cease to have any effect. 

The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier rejected this on Monday, telling RTE that the current deal agreed with the prime minister was "the best deal possible."

"It's now for the UK leaders to build this stable and political majority for a deal. We are waiting for the next steps, and are ready to work again on the political declaration," he said.

The prime minister will set out her plan in a statement and motion to the House of Commons on Monday afternoon.

The plan, which has already been rejected multiple times by the EU and Ireland, would need to be backed in principle by the House of Commons in a vote at the end of this month, before being negotiated with the EU and then voted on again by the UK Parliament next month.

May wants the EU to give the UK legally-binding guarantees that the backstop would be a temporary measure. Pro-Brexit MPs want this to come in the form a fixed end date. 

However, MPs from across the House are poised to force May to think again, with multiple amendments planned to her motion this afternoon which are designed to take control of the process from the prime minister.

Among the amendments are plans to force the prime minister to extend the two-year Article 50 process that will take the UK out of the EU on March 29, and a push to hand control of the entire process to backbench MPs.

The amendments will be selected by the House of Commons speaker John Bercow and then put to a vote by MPs on January 29.

May has blamed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for the breakdown in the talks with opposition parties after he refused to meet with the prime minister until she rules out the possibility of a no-deal Brexit with the EU — the preferred option of some Conservative Brexiteers.

Demands by other opposition parties for a second referendum and Brexit to be delayed, were also rejected outright by the prime minister, sources in the opposition meetings told Business Insider.

Ripping up the Good Friday Agreement

Downing Street has reportedly considered an alternative plan to renegotiate the Good Friday Agreement in order to avoid the need for a backstop with the EU.

The GFA peace deal was agreed between the UK, Northern Irish parties and the Republic of Ireland in the 1990s after decades of bloody conflict in Northern Ireland.

Ripping up the Belfast Agreement would be incredibly controversial, take months, if not years, and require a series of referendums in order to ratify it. Downing Street sources deny any plans to rip up the Good Friday Agreement.

The prime minister's official spokesman denied plans to rip up the agreement on Monday.

"The Prime Minister has been clear on multiple occasions that we are committed to upholding the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts and to delivering a solution that avoids a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland," he said.

Talks with backbench MPs continued on Monday, with the prime minister's chief of staff Gavin Barwell and her de facto deputy David Lidington meeting with MPs supporting a second referendum.

May's spokesman told Business Insider: "We are meeting with parliamentarians and what we have seen so far is that they will have a number of ideas when they come to these meetings. They won't necessarily just be focused on a single idea."

SEE ALSO: How Theresa May united a bitterly divided Conservative party against her Brexit deal

DON'T MISS: Keir Starmer says Labour is closer to backing a new Brexit referendum

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• Cannabis startups are sending veteran lobbyists to Capitol Hill in support of the STATES Act — a bill that would require the federal government to keep a hands-off approach on the decisions made by states on marijuana legalization.
• The bill was introduced last summer by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Cory Gardner (R-CO), showing there is broad, bipartisan support for cannabis reform. President Donald Trump even said he will "probably" end up supporting it.
• Tracking seed to sale is difficult, and the nearly $10 billion industry is dealing largely in cash, creating serious safety concerns for wholesalers, distributors, and dispensaries. 

Marijuana is one of the most rigorously overseen industries. Yet, it has no financial infrastructure. Imagine: Legal cannabis is a $10 billion industry doing every single transaction in cash. 

Cannabis businesses can't bank like other businesses, because most major banks consider the industry risky — even though numerous states have legalized marijuana in some form, it's still an illegal substance in the eyes of the federal government. Any bank that does decide to take on marijuana business could be charged with “aiding and abetting” a federal crime. 

This leaves cannabis business owners with no choice other than to deal in mostly cash, which creates public safety issues. Delivery drivers, like those who work for WeedMaps and greenRush, have an increased risk of being targeted for burglary. It's no wonder cannabis dispensaries often have electric fences and security rooms to vet potential customers. 

The answer may seem simple: remove cash from the equation. But the question is far more complex: How is the cannabis industry ever going to get big banks to be comfortable handling their business?

That's where the STATES Act comes in — a bill that would require the federal government to honor decisions made by states that have legalized recreational and medical marijuana. 

Since the bill was introduced in June, cannabis startups have increasingly branched out from the familiarity of the grow room to the halls of Congress, hiring lobbyists and providing other financial support to make the case. 

Cannabis on Capitol Hill

"We work with federal lobbyists, and also at the local level, pushing your state senator to support initiatives, whether it's an amendment like [cannabis] banking reform, which seems to be bipartisan," said Bryan Meltzer, a partner at Feuerstein Kulick who also represents greenRush, the weed delivery service. 

Meltzer is right — cannabis has quickly become bipartisan. When the STATES Act was introduced, it was both Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Cory Gardner (R-CO) who presented it. President Donald Trump even said he would "probably" support it. Right now, the bill is making its way through committees, and until it premieres on the House floor, there is lobbying to do. And that means hiring people who know the legislation process. 

Cannabis companies like Surterra, WeedMaps, Eaze, and PharmaCann (recently acquired by MedMen) have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars hiring lobbyists to educate members of congress on the cannabis marketplace.

“Cannabis legalization isn’t a one party issue," said Carl Fillichio, spokesman for WeedMaps. "We have a broad agenda. So it’s important for us to work with a diverse and broad cadre of partners and advocates to ensure that our voice is heard in city halls, state capitals and in the United States Congress.”

WeedMaps works with lobbying firms Liberty Government Affairs and Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, which has former Pennsylvania congressman Ron Klink on its payroll. 

Similarly, Eaze Solutions, Inc. spent $130,000 after it hired by Holland & Knight LLP in 2018, a veteran lobbying firm, according to public records. Eaze is also represented on the hill by staff with connections to former House speaker Newt Gingrich and the Clinton administration. 

David Mack, Eaze's senior vice president of public affairs, said as the cannabis industry expands, more traditional folk become interested in the policy issues. 

Trying to influence regulation is hardly unique to the cannabis industry. But cannabis companies say they have a particularly pressing issue to fight for when pushing for legislation like the STATES Act: the safety of operators and clients. 

How do you protect $10 billion?

Safety is such a major concern in the industry that before LeafLink launched its platform in 2017 in California, CEO Ryan Smith never met clients at their warehouses, but instead at coffee shops. He said it is not uncommon for his clients to hire security guards to do loops around their facilities all day to prevent cash and product theft.

“Right now, 12 and 15 percent of a brand's costs are just around shuttling and moving around cash,” said Smith. “It’s like something out of the early 1900s, forcing legal companies to operate like an unlicensed company would.” 

Charlie Wilson, chief revenue officer of Green Bits, which provides financial services to cannabis businesses, agrees. 

"Safety is but one reason to make progress," he told Business Insider in a statement. "Financial services enhance transparency, so government regulators can more effectively oversee product sales, money movements and thus, tax receipts."

Paul Warshaw, CEO of greenRush, estimates that allowing customers to buy using their debit and credit cards could increase business growth by 50 to 100 percent overnight.

"It's a critical missing piece in the space," said Warshaw. "We are no different from DoorDash."

SEE ALSO: 44 enterprise startups to bet your career on in 2019

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• Apple has reportedly cut production for the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max twice in the past two months to accommodate lower-than-expected demand for the new phones.
• Apple has about nine months before it unveils its next-generation iPhones.
• The company has ample time to improve demand for its current phones, and a small adjustment to the price could make a big difference.

Apple has an iPhone problem.

For the past decade, the iPhone business has been Apple's main source of income and success.

But that seems to be changing.

On January 2, Apple announced that it missed its revenue targets for the all-important holiday quarter; results came in about 7% lower than expected. This led to Apple's stock taking a nosedive. 

Apple CEO Tim Cook blamed most of the revenue lapse on the iPhone.

"Lower than anticipated iPhone revenue, primarily in Greater China, accounts for all of our revenue shortfall to our guidance and for much more than our entire year-over-year revenue decline," Cook said in a letter to investors.

Here's Cook's full explanation for why iPhone sales were so weak last quarter (emphasis ours):

While Greater China and other emerging markets accounted for the vast majority of the year-over-year iPhone revenue decline, in some developed markets, iPhone upgrades also were not as strong as we thought they would be. While macroeconomic challenges in some markets were a key contributor to this trend, we believe there are other factors broadly impacting our iPhone performance, including consumers adapting to a world with fewer carrier subsidies, US dollar strength-related price increases, and some customers taking advantage of significantly reduced pricing for iPhone battery replacements.

Given these issues, the solution should be fairly obvious: If you want these new iPhones to sell, their prices should be lower.

Supply and demand

Apple has reportedly cut production for the new iPhones twice in the past two months, so demand for these new phones is clearly an issue.

But as basic economic theory goes, demand and supply are directly, inversely related. As demand goes up, supply goes down; the opposite is usually true as well. But price is the key: High prices usually lead to lower demand for a product. 

So, if Apple wants more demand for these new iPhones, it needs to sweeten the deal.

The new iPhones are exorbitantly expensive. In fact, the starting price of the most affordable new iPhone is now 15% more expensive than it was two years ago. The iPhone 7 started at $649, but now the iPhone XR starts at $749, the iPhone XS starts at $999, and the iPhone XS Max starts at $1,099. And that's just in the US; prices get even more expensive overseas. Yikes.

Prices can, and should be, flexible

Apple's 2017 iPhone X was the first $1,000 iPhone to start this high-priced phone trend, but that was a completely novel phone with an all-new design. It was cute as a one-off device to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the iPhone's existence.

But one year later, tons of competing phones look and even perform like the iPhone X. It's not so special anymore, but you wouldn't know that if you looked at the price. The iPhone XR and XS are still priced as if they're the only phones that can do what they do.

The narrative of the 2018 iPhone lineup is that it's too expensive, and too similar to last year's offerings. That being the case, Apple has ample time to change this opinion; it typically reveals its next-generation iPhones in September, so the company has about nine months with these current iPhones before new ones come along.

For its own sake — but also for the sake of customers — Apple should consider permanent price cuts on the iPhone XR, iPhone XS, and iPhone XS Max. 

A $100 price drop across all three phones would suffice. That would bring the starting price of the iPhone XR back down to 2016 levels ($649), and it would sweeten the deal for the top-of-the-line iPhones, bringing the iPhone XS price to $899 and the iPhone XS Max to $999 — the same starting price as last year's smaller and slightly less powerful phone. Those are still "premium" prices, but they're a little more reasonable.

(Frankly, I thought these would be the prices Apple was going to announce back in September; I was surprised the iPhone XS had the same price as last year's iPhone X, even though you'd be hard-pressed to find a single difference if you were holding both phones in your hands.)

Apple's non-iPhone businesses are doing swimmingly. In fact, Tim Cook said in his letter to investors that "categories outside of iPhone (Services, Mac, iPad, Wearables/Home/Accessories) combined to grow almost 19 percent year-over-year." But the iPhone needs some help, and a small adjustment to the price ought to improve the balance between supply and demand.

SEE ALSO: An ex-Apple engineer created brilliant new iPhone software that would make Apple jealous — take a look

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NOW WATCH: 7 science-backed ways to a happier and healthier 2019 that you can do the first week of the new year

This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here. Current subscribers can read the report here.

Consumers are finally starting to adopt smart home devices, with nearly 60% owning at least one device. This presents an opportunity for e-commerce companies to enter the smart home and encourage purchasing through the devices.

The smart speaker has become the face of the smart home in many ways, attracting the lion’s share of attention as companies look for ways to take advantage of the growing platform. But there’s a problem: Consumers aren’t using the smart speaker to actually buy products very often.

Instead, one of the clearest opportunities outside of the smart speaker is home goods and grocery replenishment through large appliances. Smart devices in the home — especially appliances — can take advantage of built-in sensors to either tell consumers when they need to buy more of a product, or make that purchase autonomously. This will create an opportunity for appliance manufacturers, e-commerce vendors, and product suppliers to ink supply agreements to meet consumers' needs.

In this report, Business Insider Intelligence examines several areas of opportunity for e-commerce companies to leverage smart home technologies to provide new and better services to their customers. First, we explore how smart appliances, including connected dishwashers and laundry machines, are building on one-click purchasing systems to enable automated replenishment. We then discuss the smart fridge and detail how apps, cameras, and voice assistants are enabling takeout and grocery delivery through these appliances. Finally, we examine the role of the voice interface beyond smart speakers as it relates to purchasing products in the home, and how omnipresent voice will be used to organize and interact with automated services.

The companies mentioned in this report are: Amazon, Blue Apron, Costo, GE, Google, Instacart, Keurig, KitchenAid, LG, Ocado, P&G, Plated, Reynolds, Samsung, Target, Walmart, Whirlpool.

 Here are some key takeaways from the report:

• Companies have a clear opportunity to leverage sensors, cameras, and connectivity in a variety of home appliances to revolutionize the way consumers buy home goods.
• Smart appliance manufacturers, e-tailers, and CPG companies will be able to collaborate and partner to develop new methods of resupplying consumers' homes.
• The smart fridge will transform into the hub of the kitchen and become the autonomous organizing device that oversees grocery purchasing and food delivery.

In full, the report:

• Provides an overview of the key players and types of products in the smart appliance space.
• Highlights the models that companies can adopt to take advantage of the developing sector.
• Identifies the key services that will boost automated e-commerce engagement in the home.

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• Zimbabwe has blocked access to social media for seven days as deadly protests sweep the country which have killed at least 12 people.
• Officials say the blackout is to stop protesters coordinating. Critics say it is to hide the true scale of death and devastation. 
• Riots in the country began after the government more than doubled the price of gas.
• Last week Zimbabwe briefly disconnected the entire country from the internet, but has partially restored the non-social-media elements. 

Zimbabwe's government has shut down social media for an entire week while the country is swept by deadly protests.

The government told Econet Wireless, the country's largest provider, on Tuesday to cut off social media access, a ban which is still in place. Sites including Twitter, Facebook, and WhatsApp are all banned. 

According to critics and activists, the ban is an attempt to suppress news and images from the unrest, which has so far left at least 12 people dead. The government says the ban is for security reasons.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa more than doubled the price of petrol and diesel on January 14, and violent protests soon followed. So far, 12 people have been killed and 600 arrested, according to the BBC.

Zimbabwe shut down social media access on the second day of violence, January 15. It has been continuously unavailable since then.

During that period the government also closed off access to the internet as a whole. The first period lasted January 15 to January 17, and another, briefer total blackout took place on January 18.

Generic internet access was later restored, but access to WhatsApp, Twitter, and Facebook remains blocked.

Some people say they have been evading the blackout using virtual private networks (VPNs).

Critics of the violence say the internet has been blocked to stop images of police violence spreading.

Professor Johnathan Moyo, Zimbabwe's former Minister of Higher & Tertiary Education, tweeted the blackout was "to cover up their atrocities."

Doug Coltart, a lawyer in Zimbabwe's capital Harare, said: "The internet shutdown has been [used] to cover up a massive operation of repression,"the Guardian reported.

Zimbabwe's Times reported that critics said the government "sought to prevent images of its heavy-handedness in dealing with protesters from being broadcast around the world."

The Ministry of Information blamed the first blackout on Tuesday on internet "congestion," and government spokesperson George Charamba told state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation that the second blackout on Friday was because the internet is "the tool used to coordinate the violence."

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the Media Institute of Southern Africa submitted a lawsuit against the government on Monday over the internet blackout. 

President Mnangagwa raised the price of fuel in an attempt to strengthen his government's financial position by ending fuel subsidies. Zimbabwe's economy has long been unstable, and the country is suffering from hyperinflation.

A gallon of gasoline increased from $5.60 a gallon to $15.20, and diesel went from $6.20 per gallon to $14.10, CNN reported.

The network said this means Zimbabwe the most expensive country in the world to fill a car.

On Sunday, President Mnangagwa tweeted he was cutting short a diplomatic trip in light of the protests.

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NOW WATCH: MSNBC host Chris Hayes thinks President Trump's stance on China is 'not at all crazy'

• The Israel Defense Forces shared a video of the moment its Iron Dome air defense system intercepted a missile over a ski resort in the occupied Golan Heights.
• The IDF claims the missile was launched by Iranian forces in Syria on Sunday, calling it a "premeditated attack."
• On Monday, the IDF said that it was targeting Iran's Quds Forces in Syria, and confirmed it had carried out a series of strikes. A monitoring group said 11 people were killed.
• The IDF accused Iran of "attempting to entrench itself in Syria" and said it would "continue operating as needed to defend Israeli civilians."

The Israel Defense Forces shared a video showing the moment that its Iron Dome defense system intercepted a missile, which it says was launched by Iranian forces in Syria, over a ski resort.

In the video, a woman skis in the Hermon resort in the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights when the defense system intercepts the missile. An IDF spokesman confirmed to Business Insider that the video shows an Iraeli missile taking off in the background as the woman skis.

The IDF tweeted on Monday: "On Sunday, Iranian Quds Forces operating in Syria launched a surface-to-surface rocket from Syria" aimed at the Golan Heights, which Israel annexed in 1981 in a move that was not recognized internationally. The Quds Forces are elite units of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

"The Iron Dome Aerial Defense System intercepted the rocket," the IDF said.

Israel's Iron Dome, which has been operating since 2011, is a missile interceptor system that detects and shoots down incoming rockets.

The IDF claimed that the missile was launched by Iran in a "premeditated" attack intended to stop Israel from conducting airstrikes against its troops, The Times of Israel reported.

After the missile launch, the IDF said that it started striking Iranian military targets in Syria, where Iran has sent military personnel to support President Bashar al-Assad in the country's civil war.

It said that it hit munition storage sites, a site at Damascus International Airport, an Iranian intelligence site, and an Iranian military training camp.

UK-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least 11 fighters, including two Syrians, were killed in that attack, according to the BBC.

Iran's air force chief Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh said his country was "fully ready and impatient to confront the Zionist regime and eliminate it from the earth," according to the Young Journalist Club, a website supervised by Iranian state TV, as cited by Reuters.

Read more: Israeli military tweets that a missile attack on Iranian elite forces in Syria is underway

Israel's announcement was a change from Israel's usual policy of staying quiet about its military operations in Syria, even as tensions have escalated quickly between forces within the two neighboring countries.

Syria's military said that Israel conducted intensive airstrikes with successive waves of guided missiles just after 1 a.m. on Monday, the Associated Press reported. But it said that Syrian air defenses destroyed most of the missiles before they could reach their targets.

On Sunday, before the missile over the Golan Heights, Syrian state media said that the country's air defenses repelled an Israeli air raid near Damascus International Airport, the BBC reported.

The IDF warned Syria not to "harm" any Israelis or any Israeli territory. It said that the rocket the IDF intercepted showed that Iran "is attempting to entrench itself in Syria, endangering the State of Israel & regional stability."

"We hold the Syrian regime responsible for everything taking place within Syria and warn them against targeting Israel or permitting others to target Israel from their soil," the IDF wrote.

"We are prepared for all scenarios and will continue operating as needed to defend Israeli civilians."

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NOW WATCH: Inside the Coast Guard's 8-week boot camp where recruits go through extreme physical tests and brutal 'smoke sessions'

• The 2020 presidential election is more than a year away, but many hopefuls are already announcing their candidacies. 
• While many potential Democratic candidates have yet to announce their intentions, some have already launched presidential campaigns, including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Maryland Representative John Delaney. 
• Here's a list of the major party 2020 presidential candidates. 

SEE ALSO: An early look at the 2020 presidential contenders

President Donald Trump

President Donald Trump is seeking reelection in 2020. He announced his intentions to do so just days into his first term, on January 20, 2017. 

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren

On a video posted to her website on December 31, 2018, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren announced that she was launching an exploratory committee for a presidential run in 2020. In the video, Warren — who has long been expected to run – described her vision of defending the middle class, which she said was "under attack."

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro

Castro declared his candidacy on January 12 in a widely publicized announcement event in San Antonio, Texas, his hometown and where he served as mayor for five years. 

Castro's official announcement came weeks after his brother had revealed the news during an interview with Stephen Colbert in December.

Under Castro's tenure, HUD expanded lead safety protections in federally assisted housing, worked to reconstruct communities affected by natural disasters under a $1 billion National Disaster Resilience Competition, and fulfilled the Fair Housing Act.

• South Korean exports, a data set often held up as a bellwether for the health of the global economy, fell off a cliff in January, pointing to a troubling slowdown in global trade.
• Exports from the east Asian nation dropped 14.6% year-on-year in the first 20 days of 2019, according to data released Monday morning. That compared to an increase of 1% over the same period in December.
• "We had expected a contraction, but the extent of the fall was a surprise," Freya Beamish, chief Asia economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in an email.
• South Korean trade data is often held up as a canary in the coalmine for the global economy, as it often acts as an early warning sign for trouble ahead.

South Korean exports, a data set often held up as a bellwether for the health of the global economy, fell off a cliff in January, pointing to a troubling slowdown in global trade.

Exports from the east Asian nation dropped 14.6% in the first 20 days of 2019 versus the same period last year, according to data released Monday morning. That compared to an increase of 1% over the same period in December.

According to the Korea Customs Service, the country’s exports totaled $25.7 billion in the first 20 days of the year.

The drop was a shock to analysts, who had largely been expecting a contraction in exports, but a small one.

"We had expected a contraction, but the extent of the fall was a surprise," Freya Beamish, chief Asia economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote in an email Monday.

"Growth at the margins is getting very ugly — 20-day exports fell at an annualized rate of 38.6% in the three months to January, seasonally adjusted, much sharper than the 19.2% fall in the three months to December," Beamish wrote.

"The abysmal January report was partly about the impact of weaker oil prices on Korea’s exports of petroleum products and petrochemicals. But worryingly, semiconductor exports tanked."

Read more:A drastic plunge in shipping to China is the latest horrible signal for its economy

The data is usually released before the first trading session of the month in Asia, which makes it the first of the world's major economic indicators to be drop each month. While Monday's data is not for a complete month, it signals that when the full month's data is made public in early February, things won't look great.

Because South Korea's exports are heavily exposed to China and Japan — the world's second and third largest economies — it is consider to have strong predictive power. The data released Monday showed exports to China dropping by 22.5% in the first three weeks of the year, reflecting the continued slump in the Chinese economy.

The Chinese economy grew by 6.6% over a year earlier, down from 2017's 6.9%, official data suggested on Monday, marking the lowest annual increase in GDP since 1990, when the country was hit by international sanctions in the aftermath of the Tianamen Square Massacre.

In addition to being an early report, the South Korean export data is also considered a leading indicator for world trade, meaning it tends to augur what's happening in trade globally. 

SEE ALSO: China's stocks rally after worst economic growth in almost 30 years leads to hopes the government will step in with stimulus

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NOW WATCH: North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un is 35 — here's how he became one of the world's scariest dictators

• Donald Trumpowned an airline for a short time in the late 1980s and early 1990s. 
• In 1989, Trump raised $365 million to purchase the Eastern Shuttle, which provided business travelers with quick flights between New York, Boston, and Washington.
• Within 18 months, the airline lost over $125 million, and by 1992, Trump decided it was time to walk away.
• Trump Shuttle created over 1,000 jobs, many of which were filled by Eastern Airlines employees who were out of work due to a labor strike. We talked to three former employees of Trump Shuttle.

Reporter: You look great.

Donald Trump: Everybody have it?

Narrator: Things used to be a lot different for Donald Trump.

Reporter: Mr. Trump, who's your lovely date tonight? This is Melissa.

Woman: Hi.

Narrator: In the 1980s, Donald Trump was a star.

Man: His name sells. And when you think business, you think Trump.

Man: My son, he's 22 years old, and Mr. Trump is his hero.

Man: We're from Oregon, and Donald Trump is popular out there.

Woman: He's my idol. I really respect him, and I think he's amazing. Everything he does seems to turn into gold.

Narrator: By 1988, Trump was a major name in real estate. The New York Times called him one of the richest men in the world, with an estimated net worth of $3 billion. And he bought the luxurious Plaza Hotel for $390 million. For Donald Trump, the next logical step was buying an airline.

TV Commercial: Yo, Joe!

Henry Harteveldt: The Trump Organization was a holding company with various assets. Those assets included hotels, apartment buildings, and other real estate assets.

Narrator: That's Henry Harteveldt. Donald Trump hired him as the marketing director for Trump Shuttle.

Harteveldt: Mr. Trump thought that having an airline would complement his other travel-related holdings, and that's why he was interested in it.

TV Commercial: You can fly clear across the USA.

Narrator: In the 1980s, air travel was a completely different ball game, especially if you were flying for business.

TV Commercial: The Eastern Air Shuttle, a guaranteed seat without a reservation.

Narrator: Shuttle services from airlines like Pan Am and Eastern offered flights between New York, Boston, and Washington that took off every hour. In 1988, a workers' strike at Eastern drove the airline to a halt.

Harteveldt: There was an open auction for the shuttle. Several different airlines submitted bids. At the end, it became the Trump Organization and America West, and the Trump Organization prevailed.

Narrator: Trump secured $365 million from a consortium of banks to make a bid for the Eastern Shuttle. After a meeting with airline owner Frank Lorenzo at Trump's Plaza Hotel, the deal was done, and Trump Shuttle was born.

Trump: How you doing? Have a good flight.

Narrator: Trump Shuttle's fleet consisted of 21 Boeing 727s. Trump spent $1 million to refurbish each plane.

Trump: We were the first plane out this morning. We were the most successful flight this morning. We had more people than anybody else, and I think we had better service than anybody else.

Narrator: Trump Shuttle offered quick flights between three east coast destinations: Logan Airport in Boston, LaGuardia in New York, and Reagan in D.C.

David Manley: The first week or so was really disorganized because, you know, it was a brand new airline. And the pilots just got it all figured out. It was 64 flights a day between three cities, and, you know, it ran like clockwork.

Narrator: Trump's purchase of the Eastern Shuttle created over 1,000 new jobs, many of which were filled by Eastern employees out of work due to the strike. Employees like Rosemary Durant, a Boston-based flight attendant who got a job with Trump Shuttle.

Rosemary Durant: I was a flight attendant with Trump Shuttle from the beginning to the end. I began my career with Eastern Airlines. Towards the end of Eastern Airlines we had the opportunity to bid off to work for the Trump Shuttle. It was strictly a lottery system. It was an opportunity to continue flying, continue getting a paycheck. I had a place to go. I had a job that I loved. I got to continue working. He saved us.

Trump: We're gonna really be a good competitor, and I think it's gonna be a lot of fun.

Harteveldt: So the primary competitor that we flew against was Pan Am, Pan Am Shuttle, and a very, very fine competitor to have, because Pan Am forced us to bring our A game to the shuttle market. Narrator: In true Trump fashion, he soon went after his competition.

Trump: I love competing against Pan Am. If you've got to compete, I mean, if you've got to compete, Pan Am is the one you want to compete against.

Narrator: Trump didn't just troll Pan Am at press conferences. He also poached their talent, hiring former Pan Am Shuttle president Bruce Nobles, to run Trump Shuttle.

Trump: Safety, everyone says, "Oh, don't ever mention safety." I want to mention safety. To me, it's very important. The safety is number one priority.

Harteveldt: There is an unwritten rule in the airline business: you never attack another carrier's maintenance and safety. Mr. Trump attacked Pan Am's maintenance, and that's just something you don't do.

Narrator: Trump suggested that Pan Am's financial struggles might jeopardize the airline's safety, and his remarks soon came back to bite him.

David Letterman: And this represents one of the fleet of your new shuttle service from here to where? Watch this, Don. Whoa, my God, whoa!

Narrator: In August of 1989 ... a Trump Shuttle flight made an emergency landing in Boston when the plane's front landing gear malfunctioned. No one onboard was hurt, but Trump Shuttle's trouble was just beginning.


Reporter: Smoke rising from the barracks where the Royal Guard still hold out. Narrator: The invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the subsequent Gulf War sent oil prices skyrocketing, and the United States was on the brink of a recession.

Harteveldt: That affected all airlines, not just the Trump Shuttle. People just were not flying. As far as the Trump Shuttle became concerned, the bankers said, "Hey, look, "this is not financially sustainable." It became clear that the Trump Shuttle would not grow as an airline.

Narrator: Trump fired 100 employees. Just 18 months after the Trump Shuttle launch, the airline had already lost $128 million. In 1992, Donald Trump decided it was time to bail. Trump Shuttle's majority stakeholder, Citigroup, started negotiating a sale with US Air, who still saw value in the product. Donald Trump claimed he didn't lose money on the shuttle. He told the Boston Globe, "I'm smart. I got out at a good time."

Harteveldt: It seems like he kind of just washed his hands of it, said the airline business is very tough, and moved on to whatever was next.

Narrator: As for Trump Shuttle employees, many of them kept their jobs and transitioned to becoming employees of the newly-named US Air Shuttle.

David Manley: It really wasn't a failure. I think it was pretty successful. I mean, Trump saved our careers, I mean, absolutely. They really took care of their employees. My wife, who had breast cancer, the CEO of the company, he said, "Hey, any bills that aren't covered, just leave it on my desk."

I left some bills on those desks. It was like, I don't know, a $30,000 pharmacy bill. You know, that's how I was treated, and so I'm sure that came down from Trump. I don't have anything bad to say.

Today, the US Air Shuttle is known as the American Airlines Shuttle. It serves New York, Boston, Washington, and Chicago.

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Bitcoin is everywhere.

The cryptocurrency is seemingly in the news every day as investors and businesses try to understand the future of this digital finance.

But what is Bitcoin all about?

Why is it suddenly on every financial news program?

And what does it mean to you?

Find out the answers to these questions and more in Bitcoin 101, a brand new FREE report from Business Insider Intelligence.

To get your copy of the FREE slide deck, simply click here.

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• Reggie Nelson was a promising soccer player from a social housing estate in London who ended up getting a job in finance against the odds. 
• At the age 17, Nelson knocked on the doors of dozens of houses in London's wealthiest neighbourhood, Kensington, following the death of his father and met a BlackRock manager who encouraged him to apply for a career in finance.
• After an internship at Blackrock, Nelson moved to Legal and General Investment Management in London, where he is the only black analyst.

A career in finance is often restricted to the society's elite, with private schooling and top level education often a pre-requisite for success. For Reggie Nelson, an analyst at Legal and General Investment Management, it was hard work and persistence which led to a career in the City of London.

Following the death of his father aged 17, Reggie — a promising soccer player from an east London social housing estate — decided to travel across the city to one of its richest neighborhoods, Kensington, to canvas ideas for making money. 

To anyone who answered, he said: "I just wanted to know what skills and qualities you had that allowed you to live in a wealthy area like this so I can extrapolate that and use it for myself," Nelson said in an interview with Financial News. 

Despite numerous rejections from the occupants of the huge, million dollar homes that line the streets of Kensington, Reggie met Quintin Price, then an influential fund manager at BlackRock.

That conversation was to alter the course of Nelson’s life. Price arranged for him to attend a training day for undergraduates at BlackRock’s headquarters in London three months later.

The rest, as they say, is history. Reggie took Quintin's advice to go to university and graduated from Kingston University with a 2:1 in economics and Mandarin. He subsequently took on roles at peer-to-peer lender Funding Circle before taking a role as an analyst at Legal and General, one of the UK's largest asset managers. 

He's now the only black person on his floor and has since become a mentor to other young people wanting to break into the ivory tower of finance — echoing advice passed on to him by Quintin way back in 2014. 

Now 23, Reggie says that Quintin is something of a father figure to him and is in constant contact with the former Blackrock manager who he says never helped him financially. 

SEE ALSO: Citigroup says it pays women 29% less than men in report that the bank's HR chief calls 'difficult'

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NOW WATCH: China made an artificial star that's 6 times as hot as the sun, and it could be the future of energy

• 2018 was a year of extreme contrasts in fashion.
• Experts say that in 2019, key trends such as sport and streetwear won't disappear — they'll evolve. 
• Here's what women will be wearing this year. 

2018 was a year of extreme contrasts in fashion. People dressed for functionality and, often, with a desire to shock. 

Experts say we won't see many of these trends disappearing, but it's likely they'll evolve. 

Here's what women will be wearing this year:

SEE ALSO: These 10 fashion and beauty brands are poised to have a huge 2019

Ugg Boots

Last year, fashion brand Y/Projects partnered with Ugg to create a thigh-high version of the boot, bringing it back into the limelight once more. Since then, a string of celebrities including Rihanna and Sienna Miller were snapped wearing the classic style of Ugg boot.

These shoes fit neatly into the ugly-fashion movement and into consumers' desire for comfort. New, more elegant designs mean that Ugg boots are becoming mainstream once more — fashion-search site Lyst has seen a whopping 350% increase in searches for uggs over the last 6 months.

Ugg was also named one of the most popular brands bought on Amazon's Prime Wardrobe service during the most recent holiday season. 

Fleece jackets

Practical fashion was en vogue in 2018 thanks to millennials' desire to shop brands that sell clothes that last longer and seem to have a purpose. Because of this, outdoorsy brands such as Patagonia and North Face saw a surge in interest.

These days, you're as likely to spot a Patagonia fleece on the back of an explorer clambering their way up the side of a mountain face as you are to see it on a hipster sipping coffee in Brooklyn.

Fashion brands such as Zara, Madewell, Outdoor Voices, and Urban Outfitters are creating their own trendy versions of the fleece jacket. According to Lyst, searches for fleeces have increased since November. 

Read more: Millennials have a new shopping habit that could spell trouble for Forever 21 and H&M

Faux-fur coats

There's a deeper meaning behind consumers' love of faux fur, beyond simply staying warm.

Consumers being more mindful with their purchases are giving rise to the faux-fur trend. These customers not only want to eat meat and dairy alternatives but choose clothes that are leather- and fur-free and use non-animal-derived ingredients in their beauty and personal care products, Euromonitor wrote in its recent 2019 Consumer Trends report.

• Serena Williams is the talk of the Australian Open right now, but she's probably not the talk of her own home.
• This is because her daughter insists on repeatedly watching two Disney classics, and Williams believes she has watched 'Frozen' 3,000 times and 'Beauty and the Beast' 4,000 times.
• Her husband Alexis Ohanian confirmed this on Twitter, adding that he now knows all of the words to the songs.
• Williams is in Wednesday's quarter-final and takes on Karolína Plíšková for the right to progress to the final four.

Serena Williams is crushing her opponents at the 2019 Australian Open, but the tournament is probably not even the talk of her own house.

The reason for this appears simple: Her household is Disney-obsessed, and the two Disney movies that get played the most are "Frozen" and "Beauty and the Beast."

Speaking after her 2-1 victory over the world number one women's tennis player Simona Halep on Monday, Williams suddenly looked flustered, like she had just remembered something… something that she probably thinks about many times a day.

"I think I've seen 'Frozen' 3,000 times and then I've seen 'Beauty and the Beast' 4,000 and it's just like… I can recite it, I know all the songs, it's like 'Oh my gosh,'" she said in a post-match interview, published by the Australian Open's official Twitter account.

The reason for the frequency of these movies is because her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr., wants to watch them and it therefore does not matter how many times Williams has seen them.

"It's just those two! And I'm like, 'Olympia, there's a plethora of movies to choose from, can you choose another one?' And she's just like, 'Da-da-da.'"

Read more: Serena Williams looked mortified and turned around after walking onto the Australian Open court while 'world number one' Simona Halep was being announced

The news was confirmed by Williams' husband, the co-founder of Reddit and Initialized Capital, Alexis Ohanian.

Responding to a poll published by the Australian Open Twitter account asking followers which of the two Disney movies they would rather watch, Ohanian said: "It's all fun and games until you've seen Beauty and the Beast 4,000 times… and the songs are now stuck in your head."

This is not the first time Williams has given personal insight into her home-life when she has been interviewed after matches at the Australian Open.

Last week she confessed that she does not even know where all of her many trophies are, something Ohanian confirmed on Twitter and added that he, by contrast, has a spreadsheet that details everything he owns. He added that one trophy of his wife's "turned up in a closet."

Read more: Alexis Ohanian says he keeps a spreadsheet of everything he owns while Serena Williams, his wife, 'has no idea where all of her trophies are'

Williams is next in action on Wednesday, when she battles Karolína Plíšková for a place in the tournament's semi-final.

SEE ALSO: Serena Williams identified Roger Federer's one 'super underestimated' skill after playing him for the first time

DON'T MISS: Serena Williams says she and Venus were never 'afraid to be black' in tennis, and she wants her own daughter to be confident in her body

UP NEXT: Alexis Ohanian says he keeps a spreadsheet of everything he owns while Serena Williams, his wife, 'has no idea where all of her trophies are'

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NOW WATCH: An exercise scientist reveals exactly how long you need to work out to get in great shape

2019 will be a year of opportunities and challenges in the world of digital media.

The digital duopoly of Google and Facebook will face unprecedented regulatory scrutiny, as Amazon muscles its way into the digital ad space.

Meanwhile, pay-TV companies will continue to struggle as cord-cutting accelerates and TV consumption shifts to digital, and millennials and Gen Z will drive explosive growth in eSports.

Find out about these transformational trends and more in Business Insider Intelligence’s Top 10 Trends in Digital Media slide deck.

As an added bonus, you will gain immediate access to our exclusive Business Insider Intelligence Daily newsletter.

To get your copy of this FREE slide deck, simply click here.

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