Friday morning articles
Inside New Balance’s Plans to Topple the Global Sneaker Hierarchy The $86 billion global sneaker market has a new major player. Here’s how it happened. (GQ)
Wine, Skiing, and Loans: How Silicon Valley Bank Became Startups’ Best Friend Founders and investors say the bank opened doors—and offered perks—no other bank would. Now companies may face a funding gap. (Wired)
Crypto Bank Had a Boring Collapse, Also Silicon Valley Bank: Elsewhere in boring maturity mismatches and a lack of deposit diversification. (Money Stuff)
“Hell Is Coming”: How Bill Ackman Predicted the COVID Market Crash—And Made a Fortune: In February 2020, the infamous short seller woke up in a cold sweat when he realized the pandemic might spell pandemonium on Wall Street, as Liz Hoffman writes in her forthcoming book, Crash Landing. “We need to either sell everything,” he told his top lieutenants, “or put on a massive hedge.” (Vanity Fair)
Inside the Suspicion Machine: Obscure government algorithms are making life-changing decisions about millions of people around the world. Here, for the first time, we reveal how one of these systems works. (Wired)
The Backlash Against ESG Faces Its Own Backlash: Pension funds in red states say culture-war policies are interfering with the market and could cost retirees and taxpayers billions. (Institutional Investor)
Why Poverty Persists in America: A Pulitzer Prize-winning sociologist offers a new explanation for an intractable problem. (New York Times)
Can a Better Technology Dethrone the Gas Stove? While culture warriors and foodies panic over their favorite kitchen appliance, the induction range—all the rage in Europe—is still waiting for America to fall in love. (Businessweek)
The Fight Over Penn Station and Madison Square Garden: How the effort to renovate midtown Manhattan’s transit hub has been stalled by money, politics, and disputes about the public good. (New Yorker)
The New Anarchy: America faces a type of extremist violence it does not know how to stop. (The Atlantic)
How One Guy’s Car Blog Became a $1 Billion Marketplace: Bring a Trailer is where obsessives buy, sell and geek out over classic cars. The company pops open its hood after 100,000 auctions to explain why. (Wall Street Journal)
I Asked an Algorithm to Optimize My Life. Here’s What Happened: I spend all day making decisions, and they’re not always good ones. Could an algorithm do a better job of deciding what’s best for me? (Wired)
‘The Big Lebowski’ Turns 25: “People Didn’t Get It,” Jeff Bridges Recalls The Dude looks back — and shares his behind-the-scenes photos — from the Coen brothers’ beloved take on L.A. noir. The film has inspired legions of fans, an annual festival and even a religion, but it wasn’t an instant hit in 1998. (Hollywood Reporter)