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For an architect whose name and work have become known all over the world by laypeople and architecture fans alike, Frank Gehry’s buildings are about as far from the mainstream as one can get. Bent, curved, and clad in shiny metal, the most famous buildings by Gehry, who died last week at 96, are also the most improbable. Coming up with the flamboyant designs for landmark buildings like the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles was only part of what made Gehry one of the most successful and celebrated architects in American history. Just as impressive are the ways Gehry helped explore and expand the architecture technologies used to actually build those swooping designsrevolutionizing the practice of architecture in the process. Frank Gehry in Los Angeles, 1989. [Photo: Bonnie Schiffman/Getty Images] Gehry worked for decades to advance new technologies and project management approaches that radically changed how architects work and the inventiveness they’ve been able to bring to modern buildings. “On the technology front he was really a pioneer,” says Aviad Almagor, vice president of innovation at the construction technology company Trimble. A visionary luddite Despite claiming a near-incomprehension of computers, Gehry and his Los Angeles-based firm, Gehry Partners, have been at the forefront of applying high-end technology solutions to architectural design, engineering, project management, and construction since the 1980s. Gehry was one of the earliest architects to experiment with and embrace computer-aided design approaches like optimizing outcomes through parametric design and digitizing designs from concept to construction through building information modeling. These are now standard practices in the world of architecture, but when Gehry and his firm started applying these approaches it was uncharted territory for the field. Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles [Photo: Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images] The breakthrough for Gehry came after his firm won a commission to design a large pavilion for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. Gehry, a sculptor at heart, designed a massive abstract fish to be built using stainless steel mesh panels. Translating the design concept into a buildable set of two-dimensional blueprints proved complicated. According to an article on the project from Priceonomics, a contractor tried to build a mockup of the project six times, but couldn’t get it right. So Gehry’s team found a solution in a software tool developed by an aerospace manufacturer. Creating an advanced 3D model of the project allowed Gehry and his firm to more clearly communicate the precise shapes and curves of his design to the builders and contractors on the construction site. The project was completed on time and on budget. El Peix, Barcelona [Photo: Jarry Tripelon/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images] It was a transformative change for Gehry and his firm, which then used the approach to bring 3D models of its projects past the design phase and use them all the way through construction. This streamlined the designs of his most complicated buildings, while also minimizing the change orders that could have hampered their fidelity during construction. [Photo: Michael Gottschalk/Photothek/Getty Images] Gehry used this approach on his next major project, his breakthrough masterpiece design for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, which opened in 1997. With a highly complex physical form and an exterior designed to be made form thousands of intricately bent and curved sheets of titanium, the design wa anything but straightforward. An advanced 3D model of the project became an early version of building information modeling, or BIM, creating a single source of information about the design that could be used by the architects as well as the trades people and contractors who built the project. It made a seemingly impossible project possible, according to Samuel Omans, head of AI growth strategy at Autodesk, the architecture, engineering, and construction software company behind industry standard design tools like AutoCAD and Revit. “There was no way at that time that he could communicate the cut sheets and fabrication requirements necessary for that external cladding to the manufacturers and to the folks in the field using 2D drawings,” Omans says. “It just wasn’t possible.” During an interview for Wallpaper magazine at his L.A. studio in 2011, Gehry told me this BIM approach reinvented his practice. “That gave us more of a measure of control. It gave us the tools to control our process,” he said. “And I thought that was only valuable to my kind of work because I do very special shapes, but we’ve found over the years that it’s valuable to everyone.” Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao [Photo: Maremagnum/Getty Images] Technology as a service That realization led Gehry’s firm to turn its expertise into a service. In 2002, the firm spun off a subsidiary called Gehry Technologies, which created an architecture-specific 3D modeling tool based off its experience designing with software built for the aerospace industry, as well as a cloud-based collaboration platform to take those 3D models from design concept to built project. Outside clients, including architecture firms ostensibly in competition with Gehry’s for big projects, streamed in to take advantage of the new toolset. In 2014, Trimble acquired Gehry Technologies for an undisclosed sum. “Bilbao is obviously one very famous project, but there were many others where this kind of technology was needed,” says Trimble’s Almagor, who was involved in the acquisition. “They provided services to support those complex projects and help create a much more efficient project without cost overruns, without schedule delays. It really dramatically changed the way a project can be delivered, and this industry is really challenged by cost and schedule.” The Stata Center at MIT, Cambridge [Photo: Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe/Getty Images] Gehry’s architecture technology is now the basis of cloud-based design collaboration tools used by more than a million Trimble customers, and has influenced the shape of 3D design software produced by Autodesk, which had a partnership with Gehry Technologies in 2011. “They were a big part in helping to bring some of our software to the wider market,” says Omans, who is also on the faculty of Yale’s architecture school. He says as contemporary architects have embraced a wider range of inventive forms, this kind of technology has made it more feasible to turn inventive ideas into physical buildings. “The technology was able to drive more and more aesthetic experimentation . . . That approach to the model as the deliverable was absolutely fundamental in delivering some of the most complex projects of the last 25 years.” The LUMA Arles Cultural Center, Arles, France. [Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst/Picture Alliance/Getty Images] As an architect, Omans collaborated with Gehry’s firm several times over the years, and says this emphasis on technology stood in contrast to the analog design style of Gehry himself. “He would sit down with you and he’d be ripping paper apart and he’d be crunching up paper and he’d be drawing and sketching,” he says. “The technology kind of allowed him to become an orchestrator of these data-rich prototype models, not just not just the maker of drawings,” Omans adds. “For Frank, this was technology supporting creativity.” Without that technology, it’s hard to imagine many of Gehry’s best known works ever moving past the stage of one of those hand-made models. Even so, Gehry, who was born in 1929, kept his distance from the computers that enabled so much of his creative success. “I don’t know how to turn it on, or how to use it,” Gehry told me back in 2011. “It complicates my life.”
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The Northern Lights, also known as aurora borealis, may be visible in more than a dozen U.S. states Tuesday, December 9, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations Space Weather Prediction Center (NOAA). A full-halo coronal mass ejection (CME) is expected to reach Earth early to midday on Tuesday, potentially causing periods of “strong” G3 geomagnetic storms (on a scale of G1 to G5). The aurora borealis is the result of a geomagnetic storm that occurs when a coronal mass ejection (CME), an eruption of solar material, reaches Earth and causes swaths of purple, blue, and green in the night sky. This years increased solar activity (and thus, more frequent northern lights activity) is likely the result of an 11-year sun cycle peak. Here’s what to know about how to see the spectacular view. Where will the northern lights be visible? The aurora “may be visible over a number of northern U.S. states and lower Midwest to Oregon” on Tuesday, per the NOAA’s alert. According to the NOAA’s map, a total of 15 states are in the line of view for the aurora tonight. Those states include: Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Vermont, and Maine. When is the best time to see the aurora borealis? For the best viewing, the NOAA recommends facing north, in a spot away from light pollution, between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time. You can track the aurora on the NOAAs website, where the agency is providing updates and visibility in real time, with a 30-minute aurora forecast.
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When it comes to major U.S. industries, three tends to be the magic number. Historically, auto manufacturing was long dominated by Chrysler, Ford, and General Motorsthe so-called Big Three, which at one point controlled over 60% of the U.S. auto market. A dominant trio shows up elsewhere, too, in everything from the U.S. defense marketthink Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrup Grummanto cellphone service providers (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon). The same goes for the U.S. airline industry, in which American, Delta, and United fly higher than the rest. The rule of three also applies to what Americans watch; the glory days of television were dominated by three giants: ABC, CBS, and NBC. Now, in the digital age, we are rapidly moving to a Big Three dominating streaming services: Netflix, Amazon, and Disney. The latest step in that process is Netflixs plan to acquire Warner Bros. for $72 billion. If approved, the move would solidify Netflix as the dominant streaming platform. When streams converge Starting life as a mail DVD subscription service, Netflix moved into streaming movies and TV shows in 2007, becoming a first-mover into the sphere. Being an early adopter as viewing went from cable and legacy to online and streaming gave Netflix an advantage in also developing support technology and using subscriber data to create new content. The subsequent impact was that Netflix became a market leader, with quarterly profits now far exceeding its competitors, which often report losses. Today, even without the Warner Bros. acquisition, Netflix has a dominant global base of over 300 million subscribers. Amazon Prime comes second with roughly 220 million subscribers, and Disneywhich includes both Disney+ and Huluis third, with roughly 196 million subscribers. This means that between them, these three companies already control over 60% of the streaming market. Netflixs lead would only be reinforced by the proposed deal with Warner Bros., as it would add ownership of Warner subsidiary HBO Max, which is currently the fourth-biggest streamer in the U.S. with a combined 128 million subscribers. While some of them will overlap, Netflix is likely to still gain subscribers and better retain them with a broader selection of content. Netflixs move to acquire Warner Bros. also follows prior entertainment industry consolidation, driven by a desire to control content to retain streaming service subscribers. In 2019, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox for $71.3 billion. Three years later, Amazon acquired Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $8.5 billion. Should the Netflix deal go through, it would continue this trend of streaming consolidation. It would also leave a clear gap at the top between the emerging Big Three and other services, such as Paramount+ with 79 million subscribers and Apple TV+, which has around 45 million. Paramount on Dec. 8, 2025, announced a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. in a proposed $108.4 billion deal that would, unlike the Netflix plan, include Warner Bros. subsidiary Discovery+. Why industries come in threes But why do industries converge to a handful of companies? As an expert on mergers, I know the answer comes down to market forces relating to competition, which tends to drive consolidation of an industry into three to five firms. From a customer perspective, there is a need for multiple options. Having more than one option avoids monopolistic practices that can see prices fixed at a higher rate. Competition between more than one big player is also a strong incentive for additional innovation to improve a product or service. For these reasons, governmentsin the U.S. and over 100 other countrieshave antitrust laws and practices to avoid any industry displaying limited competition. However, as industries become more stable, growth tends to slow, and remaining businesses are forced to compete over a largely fixed market. This can separate companies into industry leaders and laggards. While leaders enjoy greater stability and predictable profits, laggards struggle to remain profitable. Lagging companies often combine to increase their market share and reduce costs. The result is that consolidating industries quite often land on three main players as a source of stabilityone or two risks falling into the pitfalls of monopolies and duopolies, while many more than three to five can struggle to be profitable in mature industries. Whats ahead for the laggards The long-term viability of companies outside the Big Three streamers is in doubt, as the main players get bigger and smaller companies are unable to offer as much content. A temporary solution for smaller streamers to gain subscribers is to offer teaser rates that later increase for people who forget to cancel until companies take more permanent steps. But lagging services will also face increased pressure to exit streaming by licensing content to the leading streaming services, cease operations, or sell their services and content. Additionally, companies outside the Big Three could be tempted to acquire smaller services in an attempt to maintain market share. There are already umors that Paramount, which is a competing bidder for Warner Bros., may seek to acquire Starz or create a joint venture with Universal, which owns Peacock. Apple shows no immediate plan of discontinuing Apple TV+, but that may be due to the companys high profitability and an overall cash flow that limits pressures to end its streaming service. Still, if the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal completes, it will likely increase the valuation of other lagging streaming services due to increased scarcity of valuable content and subscribers. This is due to competitive limits that restrict the Big Three from getting bigger, making the combination of smaller streaming services more valuable. This is reinforced by shareholders expecting similar or greater premiums from prior deals, driving the need to pay higher prices for the fewer remaining available assets. The cost to consumers So what does this all mean for consumers? I believe that in general, consumers will largely not be impacted when it comes to the overall cost of entertainment, as inflationary pressures for food and housing limit available income for streaming services. But where they access content will continue to shift away from cable television and movie theaters. Greater stability in the streaming industry through consolidation into a Big Three model only confirms the decline in traditional cable. Netflixs rationale in acquiring Warner Bros. is likely to enable it to offer streaming at a lower price than the combined price of separate subscriptions, but more than Netflix alone. This could be achieved through additional subscription tiers for Netflix subscribers wanting to add HBO Max content. Beyond competition with other members of the Big Three, another reason why Netflix is unlikely to raise prices significantly is that it will likely commit to not doing so in order to get the merger approved. Netflixs goal is to ensure it remains consumers first choice for streaming TV and films. So while streaming is fast becoming a Big Three industry, Netflixs plan is to remain at the top of the triangle. This article was updated on Dec. 8, 2025, to take in news of Paramounts hostile bid. David R. King is a Higdon professor of management at Florida State University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Layoffs have hit American workers hard in 2025, particularly in the government and tech sectors. Already this year, well over a million jobs have been lost due to layoffsand unfortunately, it doesnt look like a cessation of job cuts is on the horizon. Reports say that beverage and snack giant PepsiCo is the latest major American company getting ready to announce layoffs. Heres what you need to know. Whats happened? On Monday, PepsiCo (Nasdaq: PEP) issued a memorandum about its intention to enhance shareholder value in 2026. In the memo, PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said that the planned initiatives were to accelerate organic revenue growth, deliver record productivity savings and improve core operating margin, starting in 2026. The initiatives include using a targeted approach on affordable price tiers for its products in various channels in order to stimulate sales growth, reducing operational costs, and using automation and digitalization to advance and accelerate our global productivity initiatives, according to the company. These initiatives are widely seen as a response to demands from activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which took around a $4 billion stake in the company earlier this year. Elliott Investment Management is known for aggressively pursuing cost reduction and operational efficiencies in the companies in which it invests. But the above initiatives are allegedly not the only changes PepsiCo is preparing for. The company is reportedly also set to announce job layoffs. PepsiCo reportedly will cut jobs in the U.S. and Canada Besides the operational changes announced in its memo, PepsiCo is also reportedly set to eliminate jobs, according to multiple reports. Fast Company has reached out to PepsiCo for comment on the reported layoffs. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that the company instructed employees in some of its major North American offices to work from home this week. Those offices include locations in PepsiCos headquarters in Purchase, New York, as well as its offices in Chicago and Plano. Companies have increasingly required employees to work from home during weeks when layoffs are announced. Such mandates often make it easier on the company conducting the layoffs, as they soften the emotional toll the layoffs have on affected employees and those left behind. Layoffs can severely hurt employee morale, and so companies want to lessen the impact on the remaining workforceand their productivityin any way they can. At the time of this writing, no new layoffs have officially been announced by PepsiCo. However, as Bloomberg noted, recently, PepsiCo executives have spoken about right-sizing the workforce. (Right-sizing is a phrase companies have begun using in recent years to refer to layoffs.) In November, PepsiCo announced 500 layoffs after deciding to close two Frito-Lay facilities in Orlando, Florida, according to FoodDive. How has PepsiCo stock reacted to the news? PepsiCos stock price seems to have shrugged off the companys announcements about its plans to enhance shareholder value. Yesterday, PEP shares got a modest boost of less than 2%. And today in early morning trading, PEP shares are currently down about half a percent. Since the year began, PEP shares have lost about 4.5% of their value. Over the past twelve months, PepsiCos stock price is down about 8.9%. In October, PepsiCo reported its latest Q3 2025 results, which saw the company announce net revenue of $23.9 billion, an increase of about 2.6% year-over-year.
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Spotify has a knack for mining your listening data into something fun and sharable rather than weird and creepy for its annual “Wrapped” feature. This year, it outdid itself. The 2025 edition of Spotify Wrapped goes beyond just summarizing what you listened to with charts and infographics. This year, Spotify is also assigning each user a “Listening Age,” which is based on the release years of their favorite tracks compared to others in the same age group. The feature quickly went rival, as users recoiled at their seemingly geriatric (or juvenile) musical tastes. At the risk of reading too much into something that’s ultimately good fun, Wrapped’s expanding purview is a reminder of how the things you listen to can speak to who you are as person, which could end up being valuable data. Your Listening Age is mostly a silly diversion, but it could also be a kind of flex as Spotify expands its targeted advertising ambitions. Heading into 2026, Spotify is under pressure from shareholders to boost ad revenue. While 63% of monthly active users are on Spotify’s free, ad-supported plan, they only made up about 10% of revenues last quarter. Analysts such as Rich Greenfield have criticized the Spotify for disappointing ad revenue growth, and the company launched a programmatic ad exchange earlier this year to scale up its ad placements. The shift toward programmatic advertising, in which ads are bought and sold through automated systems, will entail granular targeting of users based on what Spotify knows about them. Spotify has long boasted to advertisers about being able to target ads based on users’ listening behaviors and interests, and says its programmatic ads will let advertisers “reach users based on moods, mindsets and moments.” This doesn’t exactly come across in Spotify’s user-level data. If you download a copy of it, you’ll find an “Inferences” section in which Spotify tries to guess some things about you, based on both your usage of the service and on data from advertisers, but some users have puzzled over how wildly inaccurate this data can be. For instance, it categorized one user as both Democrat and Republican, and another as simultaneously getting engaged and divorced. But this year’s Spotify Wrapped shows that there’s another level of analysis going on, one that might be a little more nuanced than just your likes and interests. As Spotify notes, your Listening Age is based not simply on when your most-played songs came out, but how those tastes compare to other people who are your actual age. It’s reminiscent of Wrapped 2023’s “Sound Town” feature, in which each user was given a city with which their musical tastes lined up. Users are starting to realize that this kind of analysis has value outside of Spotify. In February, a small group of them formed a collective called “Unwrapped” to pool and monetize their data. As reported by Ars Technica, roughly 10,000 users voted to sell aggregate artist preference data to an AI company for cryptocurrency worth about $5 per user. The group also hoped to tap into their data in other ways, for instance to identify emotional patterns in their listening habits. Spotify objected to users selling their own data via its APIs and warned Unwrapped’s developers to knock it off. The site now shows a message saying “This Service is No Longer Available.” Users who want to run their own analyses on Spotify’s data must manually download a copy of it instead. Should Spotify’s power of inference bother you at all? In the grand scheme of things, probably not. People are already pouring their hearts out to generative AI assistants that are likely to switch on their own hyper-targeted advertising businesses in the years ahead. The upshot is that the ads you see could be as much tied to your psychological state as they are to your interests or demographics. Spotify’s ability to target ads based on your mood might soon seem quaint by comparison. But don’t be surprised if future Wrapped features push things just a little further, beyond just how old you seem or what city you vibe with, but how excited, annoyed, anxious, carefree, or spontaneous you’ve been. As long as Spotify can package that psychology in a fun way, it’ll surely go viral again.
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