#cost-reduction

#cost-reduction

What if you could create a cinematic ad so stunning, so polished, that viewers would swear it cost tens of thousands of dollars, only to reveal it was made for mere cents? Below, Robo Nuggets breaks down how AI is transforming ad production, making high-quality, professional-grade content accessible to everyone, regardless of budget or experience. Imagine producing a complete ad, complete with custom visuals, music, and voiceovers, for under $3.

Revenue -- $78.9 million, up 4.2% year over year and 5.2% quarter over quarter, surpassing the high end of the $76 million to $78 million guidance range. Adjusted EBITDA -- $13.7 million, representing 17.4% of revenue; exceeded guidance of 14%-15% margin and marks the ninth consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA. Active Subscribers (Quarter-End) -- 129,073, a decline of 6.2% year over year; average active subscribers were 137,455, down 2.8% from the prior year.

These robust financial results reflect the resilience of Manchester United as we make strong progress in our transformation of the club. The difficult decisions we have made in the past year have resulted in a sustainably lower cost base and a more streamlined, effective organisation equipped to drive the club towards improved sporting and commercial performance over the long-term. That has helped us to invest in our men's and women's teams, sitting in sixth and third places in the Premier League and Women's Super League respectively.

London could halve the cost of major new transport projects by adopting a European model of planning and financing, a City Hall report has said. Infrastructure projects in London are often more expensive than in other European cities, with the Jubilee line extension costing 10 times as much per mile compared to a similar project in Madrid. The report, entitled Mind the Funding Gap, called on the mayor and TfL to restart work on Crossrail 2, which was paused after the government stopped funding during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But Ford had to rethink truck design a bitand for good reason. Ford was one of the first traditional automakers to take electric vehicles seriously, especially after it looked with envy at Tesla's success. The Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning both enjoyed critical acclaim and strong sales in their segments, especially at first. There were only two problems: one, the sales of both were far below Ford's own projections (and what the auto industry as a whole predicted for EVs.)

Culture change is a big topic-and a big consulting business. When I Googled "culture change consulting business," three of top five (non-sponsored) responses were Bain, BCG, and McKinsey (in that order). Because changing culture is a prominent issue for executives-and often a very frustrating one-I decided to tackle it in this Playing to Win/Practitioner Insights (PTW/PI) called Culture Change Strategy: Three Rules for Making Change Happen. And as always, you can find all the previous PTW/PI here.

Discipline over flash: Trained for toughly two decades under now-JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Scharf learned to make hard calls with steadiness, not showmanship. That discipline has driven cost cuts, a flatter structure, and operational fixes that pared headcount by nearly a quarter and reduced Wells Fargo's vast real estate footprint. Calm over charisma: Scharf leads quietly but firmly, those who know him say, lowering the temperature in tense moments while remaining uncompromising on performance.

Ask Starpath CEO Saurav Shroff his thoughts on America's space priorities and he'll say we're "one order of magnitude high on cost and one order of magnitude low on ambition." Starpath's answer, at least to part of the problem, is ultra-low cost space power, which is generated by solar panels. Starpath's new space-rated solar panel business kicked off sales in the U.S. on September 25 with an eyebrow-raising pitch. The company says its solar panels, called "Starlight," are priced around 10 times cheaper than typical industry pricing of $7-250 per watt, roughly a 90% cost reduction versus the status quo.

Listeners and readers of "Ecommerce Conversations" know I occasionally depart from interviews to share my experiences owning and operating Beardbrand, the direct-to-consumer brand I launched a decade ago. To date, I've addressed hiring, branding, profit-building, priority-setting, exiting, overcoming setbacks, and top business models. This too is a solo episode, addressing entrepreneurial doldrums, when a business is seemingly stuck in no growth or worse. Certainly that's the story of Beardbrand over the past couple of years.

Unplugging a single device may not yield significant savings, but unplugging multiple devices can collectively save you almost $200 a year, depending on local rates.

Nearly 80% of ITAM and SAM professionals are moving away from Oracle Java, driven by rising costs and frustration over the company's shift to employee-based pricing.

As energy costs rise and sustainability becomes a priority for businesses of all sizes, investing in solar panels for your office building is no longer a niche decision, it's a strategic one.

This week's staff cuts at Saks Global focus on reducing duplicative and overlapping roles resulting from the $2.7 billion acquisition of the Neiman Marcus Group.