Latest news with #Alt
Asahi Shimbun
9 hours ago
- Business
- Asahi Shimbun
Tokyo AI firm probed after inflating sales
Alt Inc. has grown quickly thanks to AI Gijiroku, its artificial intelligence-powered meeting transcription service. (Captured from the company website) A Tokyo-listed, fast-growing artificial intelligence firm is under investigation for allegedly inflating its sales figures through fictitious transactions, according to sources. Alt Inc. allegedly engaged in a fraudulent trading scheme by funneling money through collaborators, who then cycled the funds back to the company in the form of payments for AI Gijiroku, its automated meeting transcription service. Many of the accounts created through these purchases were reportedly inactive. Of the 6 billion yen ($41.9 million) in sales reported for the fiscal year ending December 2024, 4 billion yen may have been falsely recorded. Some company insiders are said to have admitted to the fabrication during interviews with authorities. The scheme is believed to have begun as early as 2021. Founded in 2014, Alt grew rapidly after the launch of AI Gijiroku in 2020, with sales surging more than 100-fold over the next four years. The flagship transcription service accounted for up to 90 percent of the company's reported sales. An Alt insider suggested that the company's manipulated sales figures played a role in securing its IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market in October last year. The Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission launched an investigation into the company in April, following a covert probe triggered by a whistleblower's report. In response to the investigation, Alt established a third-party committee to examine cases in which partner companies sold AI Gijiroku accounts that were never used, acknowledging the possibility of inflated sales. When contacted by The Asahi Shimbun, Alt declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation by the third-party committee.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Caitlin Clark Gold Vinyl 1/1 hits the market and what is the true hot dog rookie card?
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - MAY 17: Caitlin Clark #22 of the Indiana Fever plays against the Chicago Sky at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on May 17, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by) The 'next Messi,' aka 17-year-old wunderkind Lamine Yamal, got the Topps Now treatment this week with a card that features him alongside Travis Scott . Per usual, some lucky collectors have the potential to grab numbered parallels and one will end up with the 1/1 auto. I am going on record and saying that I absolutely love when they have non-sports stars on baseball cards. Advertisement Or even cross-over cards, like Wemby juggling at Yankee stadium or Jayden Daniels, Juju Watkins and Angel Reese throwing out the first pitch. Here are some of my favorite celeb-featured Topps cards: Finally, I want you to think of a celebrity that you would absolutely be thrilled about pulling while opening a pack. Think really hard. You got a card? OK, keep thinking… is this your card ? Again, I'm a big fan of the celebrity cards, whether they are First Pitch or Topps Now or in Allen & Ginter, however - and this is a big however - you should never consider a non-sport card auto or relic a 'hit' in a box. Especially a relic. But it feels like you're mostly setting up disappointment. And this is not Shin Lim slander, this goes for about 98% of the celebrities in the set. Speaking of Yamal, he's been a hot riser in the hobby over the last month, with a 42% increase in sales month-over-month according to Alt . Advertisement Even Giannis Antetokounmpo is in the Yamal craze. Watch for Yamal sales on eBay. If the user name is 'IWantOutOfMilwaukee' then you might be selling to a future Hall of Famer. The Caitlin Clark Gold Vinyl Prizm 1/1 has hit Alt auctions and this card is probably going to break all sorts of records. The timing is perfect, with the WNBA season just underway and Clark coming off a triple-double in the opening game against Chicago. She very well might be the league's MVP in just her second season. And while this 6-figure-plus card likely won't beat the $366,000 price tag for the Gold Vinyl 1/1 Prizm Auto that sold at the end of March, it's probably going to become the second most expensive women's sports card ever. Advertisement Very cool. Sponsor patches have officially reached the inside of baseball cards. This one's for the 'boy, cards have really gone too commercial for my taste' crowd. And the 'they'll put anything in cards' crowd as well. How's this for a hot hand : We The Hobby pulled seven 1/1's in a single case of 2024 Clearly Donruss FOTL. Ever since the Backyard Breaks scandal people were starting to wonder where their juiced boxes were ending up, well, I guess we now know! (Note: as you know I'm not a juiced-box-conspiracy-theorist. This is very fun to see, IMO). People are paying over $100 for the 70th Anniversary commemorative Key to Disneyland which was recently launched. It's a super fun search-for-rewards offering that Disney debuted and I suppose that if you aren't intending on making your way there this summer then it makes sense to grab one on eBay, but paying $100+ seems a little excessive at this point. Right? And finally, Bill Walton's personal collection of sports and music memorabilia is up for auction, including some incredible grails for any Grateful Dead fans. A portion of the proceeds from the auction will benefit a charity. Advertisement So, if you're a music and/or sports collector, then take out the old credit card and throw it down, big man . Your collection deserves a community. Download Mantel today.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Caitlin Clark Prizm WNBA Gold Vinyl 1/1 card up for auction at Alt
Clark's 2024 Panini Prizm WNBA Gold Vinyl 1/1 is headed to auction at Alt. (Credit: Getty, Alt) One of Caitlin Clark's top rookie cards hits the auction block at Alt on Friday morning, and the company believes it could set an all-time record when bidding concludes. The 2024 Panini Prizm WNBA Gold Vinyl 1/1 PSA 9 has never sold at public auction and was one of the biggest chase cards from Panini's flagship WNBA release. Advertisement The current record for any Clark card at public auction is $366,000, set in March, which is also the record for a card of any female athlete. The current record-holder is Clark's 2024 Panini Prizm WNBA Signatures Gold Vinyl 1/1 PSA 10/10. Unlike the card coming to auction at Alt, that card has an autograph from Clark. In fact, Clark's top three card sales all have autographs, with the top sale for a non-autographed card the $105,326 paid for her 2024 Panini Select WNBA Gold Vinyl 1/1 PSA 10 in February. The most expensive card sold through Alt is a 2003 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection LeBron James RPA, which cleared $560,000 in August 2024. Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.
Forbes
02-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
One Hundred Plus Hour Workweeks Drove Young Investment Bankers To The Breaking Point
Young investment banker looking nervous at his Bloomberg stock screen Wall Street is known as one of the top sectors to earn a lot of money. Along with lush compensation, there is a status effect of saying that you are an investment banker at a top financial institution. It's an extremely competitive place. Young investment bankers feel the pressure to produce. To keep the job and get ahead of the crowd, bankers log in more than 100-hour work weeks. While the prestige and pay is great, for many, it takes a mental and physical toll. It's not unusual for bankers to work almost every day of the week, long into the night as well. The vibe is like hazing, some got through it, others were left scared. Recently, a team of junior bankers at Robert Baird, an investment bank, had been working until 4 a.m. for weeks, according to the Wall Street Journal. Evidently, the long hours were not enough. Managers told the bankers that they had to up their production. Some bankers objected, but were told to be more efficient. Wall Street has been dealing with its hustle culture, logging in long hours. Unfortunately, the pressure pushes people too far. The results for some, were tragic. Many junior bankers have said that their complaints are ignored. Some of the country's biggest banks have responded by stepping up policies to protect young employees, including capping workweeks at around 80 hours. Getting a job in investment banking at Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley has been a big goal of many motivated university students. They viewed it as a route towards potentially building incredible wealth and achieving a high level of social status. For many people, the profession, dealing with mergers and acquisitions, taking companies public with IPOs or trading stocks and bonds, is an attractive and exhilarating career. However, there are downsides. Young investment bankers working late in the evening to complete an important deal A few years ago, Goldman Sachs was accused by junior employees of having to endure unfair work conditions. They were working 100-hour workweeks, and felt it was way too much. At the time, the New York Times reported that a group of 13 disgruntled first-year analysts at Goldman Sachs had made waves by assembling a professional-looking presentation in the company's style about their experiences at the investment bank. The resulting 'Working Conditions Survey' circulated on social media. The bankers said that they worked an average of around 100 hours per week, with most saying that they considered themselves victims of workplace abuse. Extreme working hours and poor work-life balance for junior bankers at major investment banks have come into focus, following the deaths of two Bank of America (BofA) employees. Leo Lukenas, a 35-year-old former Green Beret and associate at BofA who worked on transactions for financial-services companies, died of an "acute coronary artery thrombus,' according to the New York Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Although the coroner's report did not directly link Lukenas' working schedule to his cause of death, an executive recruiter told Reuters in an interview that the banker said he was working over 100 hours a week. Additionally, 25-year-old Adnan Deumic, a credit portfolio and algorithmic trader at BofA in London, also died of a suspected heart attack while playing soccer at a company outing, becoming the second young fatality for the big bank in recent weeks, according to Bloomberg. However, it is not clear that work was primarily related to his heart attack. 'The death of our teammate is a tragedy, and we are shocked by the sudden loss of a popular, young colleague,' a representative for Bank of America said. 'We are committed to providing our full support to Adnan's family, his friends and to our many employees grieving his loss.' The intense competition, constant deadlines, aggressive atmosphere, high-stress environment and lack of work-life balance have been linked to mental health issues and burnout among financial services employees, with many considering leaving their jobs due to the impact on their well-being. There have been instances of young bankers being hospitalized with heart conditions, Business Insider reported. Dr. Arjun Ghosh, a London cardiologist, said he has seen a 10% rise in cardiac arrest among bankers under the age of 30 in the last decade. To cope with the immense stress and sleep deprivation, some employees may turn to substance abuse, further exacerbating their health issues. The detrimental impact on well-being makes it challenging for banks to retain talent, as employees seek better work-life balance and healthier environments elsewhere. Following the deaths of the two BofA employees, Jennifer Piepszak, co-CEO of the commercial and investment bank at JPMorgan, told investors, 'There is nothing, nothing that is more important than the health and well-being of our employees, and we're aware of those stories and they are tragic and incredibly sad.' In a heartbreaking situation, a Goldman Sachs analyst was found dead hours after complaining to his father of '100-hour workweeks. An article in the Independent told the story of the young banker. 'Officials in San Francisco are investigating the death of a young analyst at Goldman Sachs who complained to his father of working '100 hour weeks', hours before his body was found in the car park next to his apartment. The authorities have said they believe Sarvshreshth Gupta, 22, killed himself after working through the night and struggling to match the demands he felt under. The graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, who was born in New Delhi, told his father, Sunil, 'This job is not for me. Too much work and too little time.' A Goldman Sachs spokesperson said about the matter, 'We recognize that our people are very busy, because business is strong and volumes are at historic levels.' The company's representative added, 'A year into Covid, people are understandably quite stretched, and that's why we are listening to their concerns and taking multiple steps to address them.' JPMorgan's executive management met with the head of human resources to address this issue, according to CEO Jamie Dimon, as the bank focuses on work-life balance initiatives for its own staff, Reuters reported. In response to growing concerns about the demanding work culture in investment banking, industry giants JPMorgan and Bank of America implemented new measures to curb excessive working hours for junior bankers. JPMorgan introduced an 80-hour weekly cap for most junior investment bankers, while BofA offered a new timekeeping tool to monitor work hours more closely, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NBA Cards Coming to Topps this Fall, Lewis Hamilton Exclusive with Fanatics
Hey Collectors, The sports card industry came together earlier this week in Atlanta for the 2025 Topps Industry Conference, and the team at Topps made a bunch of news, including the announcement that they'll take over the NBA license starting in October . Advertisement The next major event on the sports card calendar? Fanatics Fest, which is returning to NYC June 16th-23rd. The Mantel team will be there, and we just announced we'll be partnering with Bleecker Trading on events, giveaways, content and more, so stay tuned for some exciting updates . As tariffs raise the cost of imported goods, investors are turning to domestic alternatives — notably, trading cards, per an op-ed from Alt CEO Leore Avidar and Alt (and Mantel) investor, Alexis Ohanian. Once dismissed as mere hobbies, Pokémon and sports collectibles are now recognized as viable financial assets, with a $15B market value and growing credibility. The market's rise is fueled by nostalgia, savvy data-driven investing, and a desire for assets immune to global supply chain volatility. Alt has filed a lawsuit against former auction house PWCC (now owned by Fanatics), alleging fraud and breach of auctioneer duties. The lawsuit claims PWCC orchestrated a widespread shill bidding scheme to artificially inflate auction prices for high-value sports cards. Alt estimates its losses at $13.7M due to PWCC's actions, though PWCC called the lawsuit baseless and lacking evidence. This lawsuit follows a previous eBay suspension of PWCC for shill bidding in 2021, and concerns auctions involving high-profile cards like Patrick Mahomes' and Kobe Bryant's rookie cards. Lewis Hamilton officially opens the brand-new flagship Fanatics Collectibles store on Regent Street in London. Picture date: Friday April 25, 2025. (Photo by Bradley Collyer/PA Images via Getty Images) (Bradley Collyer - PA Images via Getty Images) Lewis Hamilton has signed a multi-year trading card and memorabilia partnership with Fanatics Collectibles. The deal includes autograph exclusivity and will feature premium items like 'relic' cards containing race-worn gear. Hamilton helped launch Fanatics' new flagship store in London last week, and shared that he owns around 400 race-worn helmets. With F1's existing Topps deal, this partnership positions Hamilton as a high-end draw — fitting, given that one of his 2020 Topps cards sold for a record $900K, the most ever for an F1 card. A restored T206 Honus Wagner card sold for $1.98M at Mile High Card Company—just $12K more than its 2023 sale, sparking concern in the hobby. While technically not a loss, its Compound Annual Growth Rate dropped to just 0.37%, a stark contrast to the 17–50% CAGR of other recent Wagner sales. Some speculate the market is cooling or that the sale timing (with another, better-condition Wagner set to hit the market) diluted demand. While one sale doesn't confirm a trend, this result challenges the long-held belief that Wagners are bulletproof investments. Nike's latest release, the Air Force 1 'Dirty Triple White,' blends two sneaker culture factions—those who want a fresh pair at all times and those who prefer a worn-in look. This version comes pre-distressed, with a sheer layer over the shoe that wears away over time to reveal a clean AF1. The shoe also features a unique 'toothproof' attachment, allowing wearers to start the process of un-distressing immediately. The shoe will be released on the SNKRS app next week for $130. Your collection deserves a community. Download Mantel today.
