Apple vs. Meta

Plus: Salesforce succession plans, and turmoil at CNN.

View in browser Subscribe June 11, 2023 Hi, I'm Matt Turner, the editor in chief of business at Insider. Welcome back to Insider Today's Sunday edition, a roundup of some of our top stories.    On the agenda: Marc Benioff shook up Salesforce's top ranks — and hinted about a succession plan. Want to know why younger generations seem so pissed? Look at the housing market. Inside CNN's epic PR fail that made a mockery of Chris Licht — and led to his downfall. Everyone is getting less productive. That's a big problem for the economy. But first: Apple last week revealed its new headset, the Vision Pro. Read on for more on the tech itself, the cost, and what it reveals about Apple's strategy.  If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. DISPATCH Stop comparing headsets Justin Sullivan/Getty Images   Apple revealed its new Vision Pro mixed-reality headset last week, sparking amazement, groans, and memes.   Comparisons were instantly drawn with Meta's Quest 3 headset. My boss Nicholas Carlson wrote that Apple kicked Meta's butt. And the price of Apple's headset, at $3,499, has been compared with the $500 cost of the Quest headset. Mark Zuckerberg himself has weighed in. But comparisons between the Vision Pro and the Quest miss a pretty fundamental point, in my opinion. Apple and Meta's headsets are built around different visions of the future. Meta is a social-media company. Its headset is probably best used for gaming. The cost of the Quest gives it much more mass-market potential, increasing the likelihood that your friends might also have a Quest and that you can meet them in a metaverse. The price is also comparable with the Xbox Series X. Apple is a hardware company. The Vision Pro is a new frontier in personal computing. Apple didn't mention the metaverse once when it unveiled the headset, and barely mentioned gaming. Instead, the influential tech writer Ben Thompson sees the Vision Pro as "the future of the Mac." The $3,500 price tag is close to the retail price of top-of-the-line MacBooks.  What do you think? Could you imagine yourself using the Vision Pro? Let us know at insidertoday@insider.com. READ MORE THIS WEEK'S STORIES Salesforce shakeup Justin Sullivan / Getty Images Some of the old guard are returning to Salesforce. In an internal memo obtained by Insider, Marc Benioff announced he was bringing back several executives who left to work at rivals including Amazon and Oracle.  The memo also hinted at a firmer succession plan, suggesting that Salesforce's president and COO, Brian Millham, is now the front-runner to replace Benioff.  Read the full memo. Also read:  Benioff and Millham talked to Insider about where Salesforce is headed after "a difficult time." The kids aren't alright Edwin Remsburg/VW Pics/Getty Images Young Americans are on edge. A variety of research shows that the high cost of living is their "top societal concern," they're not satisfied with their pay, and Gen Z are behind on credit-card payments.   There's a bunch of reasons for their anxiety, including student debt, general inflation, and spiking healthcare costs. But there's arguably no bigger factor than housing. We all have to live somewhere, but the housing market has never been this unaffordable. Those who manage to buy are getting less house per dollar spent, while those who rent are seeing their landlords charging more and more.  Why younger generations are so pissed.  CNN's chaotic week Matt Winkelmeyer/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images It started just over a week ago: The Atlantic published a disastrous profile by Tim Alberta of CNN CEO Chris Licht, portraying him as a leader with no vision and no backbone. It was an epic PR fail; one media insider told our editor in chief Nicholas Carlson that it was "like watching a snuff film." Licht's downfall was swift. By Wednesday, he announced he was stepping down. And whoever takes the reins will be screwed: Cable news is dying, so they'll be likely to fail at CNN. Go inside the mess. Also read: Who will replace Chris Licht as CEO at CNN? These 12 execs could be in the running, according to company insiders and news veterans. Who even wants to be a CEO right now? Ring the productivity alarm Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images For all the talk about a recession, it sure doesn't feel like a downturn is upon us. Bars are packed. Airlines are gearing up for record traffic. People are forking over thousands to see Taylor Swift. But make no mistake, negative forces are pulling the economy down — and one of the primary forces is difficult to feel in real time.  That would be productivity, which has fallen for five straight quarters year over year, the longest streak on record. And such a decline has been an indicator of recessions in the past. Why this is such a big problem. THIS WEEK'S QUOTE "Well, I think Brian and my marriage is quite proven. Over two and a half decades, I don't think there's been a more successful business partnership for such a long period than Brian and I have had."  — Marc Benioff when asked by Insider's Nicholas Carlson: "You've had two other co-CEOs before and both of them left. What's different this time?" MORE TOP READS Loneliness epidemic, hedge funds, & more A top Wall Street firm wrote a brutal open letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Americans are trapped in a loneliness epidemic, and AI chatbots like ChatGPT could make it even worse. A trader made a $7.5 million windfall on a suspiciously timed investment ahead of a surprise debt-limit-deal concession. Companies from Google to Mastercard are close to killing off passwords forever. The typical Singaporean millennial was raised to chase cars, cash, and condos. All-cash homebuyers are becoming "disruptive" to the housing market. UBS recommends buying these 53 stocks as they profit from the AI revolution. A new study shows that ChatGPT is a more humane doctor than human doctors. Hedge-fund numbers are rolling in. See how Citadel, Millennium, and other big names fared. EVENT INVITE: Next up in our event series on the secrets of short-form video: Distribution 101. Join Insider on June 15 at 1 p.m. ET as we do a deep dive into best practices for distribution strategy. Register here. CAN'T GET ENOUGH? Keep up with Insider Get Insider's app and notifications to be the first to find out about the stories you want to know — from tech to business. Download it here. Become an Insider subscriber to get actionable, high-value news and insights to improve your career, company, and community. Subscribe here. Want more of Insider in your inbox? Sign up for our newsletters here. This edition was curated by Matt Turner, and edited by Hallam Bullock and Lisa Ryan. Get in touch: insidertoday@insider.com. 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