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Bravo, the network that houses franchises like The Real Housewives, Vanderpump Rules, and Top Chef, has become a reality TV juggernaut. Started as an arts and culture cable channel, unscripted television was always at the network’s heart, but after a little show called Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the network leaned into reality, with a focus on surfacing its own talent. Now it’s a strong asset for NBCUniversal, which is hanging onto the network as parent company Comcast spins off properties like E!, Oxygen True Crime, Syfy, CNBC, and MSNBC into a new company, Versant. Despite a period in 2023 when The Real Housewives of New York City (RHONY) star Bethenny Frankel suggested Bravo talent unionize for better treatmentand two ongoing lawsuits from other cast members about their treatment on setBravo is booming. As NBCUniversal spins out Versant, Bravo will play a big role in the company’s streaming strategy with Peacock, where Bravo fans constitute a low-churn, high-volume audience. Frances Berwick, chair of Bravo and Peacock Unscripted, appeared on Fast Company‘s Most Innovative Companies podcast to talk about about creating franchises audiences love, keeping them fresh, and why the network waits until a new Housewives season ends before picking up the cameras again. From left: Jeff Lewis, Frances Berwick, Andy Cohen [Photo: Todd Williamson/Bravo] What led you to identify unscripted reality TV as the key to Bravo’s kind of transformation from a niche arts network to the juggernaut it is today? When I first joined the network, we didn’t have any ads. We had largely acquired movies and arts programming. We realized that the way to get into the commercial environment would be to produce original content. Unscripted was the way to go. We started doing series with people like Michael Moore who [did a show called] The Awful Truth. It was funny and provocative. From there we segued into other types of documentaries. We did a very intense interview show with Errol Morris. Then from there, the producers of the Errol Morris show pitched us this fabulous concept called Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. It was food, fashion, beauty, design, and pop culture. We felt like this was the modern representation of the arts. Because of the success of Queer Eyeit really was a hit right out of the gateit allowed us to then invest in doing more. We rapidly started to grow. [Our programming] in those days still had to appeal to our very educated audience and be culturally grounded and in the zeitgeist. We picked up Project Greenlight when it was canceled by HBO, we picked up Project Runway, we came up with Top Chef. We did a bit of celebrity poker along the way which was really fun, too. We morphed from there into shows like Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. So we dabbled a bit in celebrity. But more than anything, we found that we actually did better if we found our own personalities, if we found interesting people with interesting stories. Then came The Real Housewives of Orange County and it snowballed. I love that you traced a line from Errol Morris to Queer Eye. What were some of the early risks or bets that paid off? Project Runway was one of them. When we launched it was a very tiny show. We took some really big bets with that. We had aired about three episodes and it was not really hitting. [But] we knew that there was a bigger audience for it because we had seen the explosion that we’d had when Queer Eye was at its height. So we took the holiday period and we just blasted the entire network. I think we had a marathon of the three episodes of Project Runway almost incessantly for about 10 days around Christmas and New Year. Viewership doubled the next week. [We succeeded through] word of mouth and sheer grit. Then it just kept growing. We knew we had something that was really good and we believed in it. I will say the same with Queer Eye. We put the entire marketing budget for the year on that one show. We loved the pilot and it tested very well. and We didn’t have much in the way of resources, and so it was go big or go home and it worked. [Photo: Charles Sykes/Bravo] How do you approach building franchises, like the Real Housewives series? It happened by accident. We didn’t launch Real Housewives of Orange County and think let’s franchise this. We actually were developing a show called Manhattan Moms and that’s what we were pitched and during production we saw how successful Real Housewives of Orange County was. We had a whole internal debate about whether it was going to tarnish Orange County if we named Manhattan Moms Real Housewives of New York instead. We then had to persuade some of the cast that it was okay to be called Real Housewives because they weren’t all married. So that became the Real Housewives of New York. Then we were pitched another ensemble female cast in Atlanta that we really liked. It all started with organic groups of friends. It became franchised in a small period of time because we were doing all this casting around female ensembles. Below Deck’s Captain Sand Yawn at Bravocon, 2023. [Photo: Greg Doherty/Bravo] How do you keep long-running shows fresh? There are lessons that we’ve learned from the past where [we did] too much. Two or three years ago, we had five different Below Deck casts. We’ve scaled that back to three at any one time. That’s the right number. Then we are very careful about curating at what moment we should replace or bring in new cast members. That’s the beauty of a show like Real Housewiveswe can keep refreshing the cast. In some cases we’ll replace the whole cast, but that’s riskier. Then were constantly looking at different ways to tell stories. You’ll notice at some point we started doing much more flashbacks and flash forwards. What makes a good cast member? They have to be authentic and vulnerable and really be prepared to share their whole lives with people. Our fans are really passionate, and if they don’t feel that authenticity or if they feel that the cast members are holding things back, they’ll be quite vocal about it. Usually when we start taping a show, we throw away the first few days anyway, because you can then weed out anyone who’s playing for the camera. You want people’s real personalities to come through or the audience isn’t going to connect with them and buy into them. If we are not seeing that, we tend to minimize that person’s storyline. Andy [Cohen] pointed out recently that often on season two people will get the glow up. Theyll get botox after seeing themselves on screen. Social media is almost an extra cast member in these shows. How do you think about bringing it in? We now know we can’t tape an ongoing show while the current cycle is on the air. We have tried that and it gets confusing because the cast members start reacting to things that they see [online] and it becomes very meta. Often that can be a very tedious storyline. Bravo has a remarkable hit rate when it comes to finding and casting criminals. Why do you think that is? It really defies all logic that if you are engaged in criminal activity, you would want to go on television because you’re probably going to get worse ramifications and be made an example of. That is really the furthest thing that we want. It’s always a surprise and a disappointment. There’s a lot of instances that are controversial but not necessarily criminal. When do you know something is so controversial that a cast member needs to be let go? It really varies and there’s lots of gray area. If we’ve got a whole cast who won’t film with somebody, right, then you can’t bring them back. I will say people redeem themselves. We put people on television who are flawed, as we all are. But those flaws aren’t criminal. We want to give people a bit of grace in terms of getting some forgiveness and being able to move on. There is talent that we’ve had on the shows where they’ll have a bad season where they didn’t get on well with their cast members. Then, without changing their personality, they may then redeem themselves by other actions. There have been shows where a cast member clearly has an addiction problem. Is it responsible to keep them on air? There have been times when we’ve said to cast members we’re not going to film with them. We’re also much more careful on our productions with alcohol consumption than we were a few years ago. But often it will be their [fellow] cast members who will hold them accountable.
Category:
E-Commerce
Chime Financial is expected to debut on the Nasdaq today. The fintech companys initial public offering (IPO) is one of the most anticipated of 2025, and investors and market watchers will be eagerly waiting to see how the newly public stock performs on its first day of trading. If it performs well, it could signal positive investor appetite for technology public offerings and the IPO market as a whole. Heres what to know about Chimes IPO. What is Chime? Chime Financial, Inc. is a fintech company. It was founded in 2012 and is based in San Francisco. The company offers banking products without the associated fees that traditional banks tack onto accounts. For example, many of Chimes online banking services dont have a minimum balance, or monthly service or overdraft fees. These fees are major drivers of revenue at traditional banks. So how does Chime generate revenue without them? The company says its business model is primarily based on interchange fees, which are the fees that merchants pay when they accept a card payment. Chime’s services can be accessed on the web and also via iPhone and Android apps. Chime is not a bank but rather offers banking services. It has partnerships with Bancorp Bank and Stride Bank. A diminished market cap With Chimes IPO, the company is now valued at approximately $11.6 billion, according to CNBC. However, that is less than half of its peak private valuation of $25 billion in 2021. In that year, Chime received a funding round of $750 million. One reason for Chimes high private valuation in 2021, relative to its valuation today, was the pandemic. As Fast Company previously noted, in the early 2020s, fintech companies experienced a surge in service usage from consumers and garnered significant attention from investors as the pandemic unfolded. Much of that excitement for companies operating in the fintech space has subsided in subsequent years. The market turmoil of 2025 has also made investors more cautious about companies operating in the finance sector and initial public offerings in general. In May, another fintech company, the online brokerage firm eToro Group (Nasdaq: ETOR), went public for $52 per share. As of yesterdays close, ETOR shares are trading at $62.96 per share. Chime by the numbers On May 13, Chime filed a Form F-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the F-1 filing, Chime reported the following metrics as of March 31, 2025: Active Chime members: 8.6 million Active member growth rate since Q1 2022: 82% Purchase volume: $121 billion Average revenue per active member (ARPAM): $251 Gross margin: 88% Transaction margin: 67% When is Chimes IPO? Chime priced its shares on Wednesday and is expected to begin trading today: Thursday, June 12, 2025. What is Chimes stock ticker? Chimes stock ticker is CHYM. What exchange will Chime shares trade on? Chime shares trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. What is the IPO share price of CHYM? Chimes IPO price is $27 per share. Thats higher than the expected IPO price of between $24 and $26. The higher IPO price of $27 per share suggests that Chime believes there is a greater appetite for its shares than previously thought. How many CHYM shares are available in its IPO? According to a company press release, a total of 32 million CHYM were made available in its IPO. Of those shares, Chime offered 25,900,765 Class A shares directly to the public. Existing company shareholders put up the remaining 6,099,235 shares. How much did Chime raise in its IPO? Chime raised approximately $700 million in its initial public offering. That consists of the proceeds from the 25.9 million shares the company sold directly. Chime did not benefit from the sale of the six million shares sold by its existing shareholders. How much is Chime worth? At its $27 IPO price, Chimes market cap is now valued at approximately $11.6 billion. What else is there to know? Chime is the latest in a number of closely watched tech-focused IPOs this year. In addition to the aforementioned eToro, stablecoin company Circle Internet Group went public earlier this month. Both stocks have performed well since their debut, raising hopes for the IPO market more broadly.
Category:
E-Commerce
Shares of planemaker Boeing fell nearly 8% in premarket U.S. trading on Thursday after an Air India aircraft with 242 people crashed minutes after taking off from India’s western city of Ahmedabad. India’s federal health minister said “many people” were killed in the crash. The plane was headed to Gatwick Airport in the UK, with police officers saying it crashed in a civilian area near the Ahmedabad airport. Aviation tracking site Flightradar24 said the plane was a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, one of the most modern passenger aircraft in service. It was not immediately clear what caused the crash. Boeing said in a statement it was aware of initial reports and was working to gather more information. Boeing’s 787 is a newer series of jets with a solid safety record and no fatal crashes. While battery issues once grounded the fleet, no injuries were reported. The news comes as the planemaker tries to rebuild trust related to safety in its jets and ramp up production under new Chief Executive Officer Kelly Orthberg. Boeing’s shares were down about 7.5% at $197.82 in premarket trading. “It’s a knee jerk reaction (to the incident) and there’s revised fears of the problems that plagued Boeing aircraft and Boeing itself in recent years,” said Chris Beauchamp, analyst at IG Group. Shashwat Chauhan, Nathan Gomes and Purvi Agarwal, Reuters
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E-Commerce
Fraudulent job applications have become a serious issue in the era of remote interviews and AI-generated content. Research firm Gartner predicts that by 2028, up to 25% of applications could be fake. In some cases, fraudsters in North Korea have managed to land Western tech jobs under false pretenses, according to recent reports.One client recently told Daniel Chait, cofounder and CEO of hiring software company Greenhouse, that more than 70% of applications for remote tech roles theyre receiving are fake. Others have reported increasing difficulty sorting through waves of irrelevant or fraudulent submissions.What were hearing from them is that theyre overrun with spam, unqualified applicants, cheating (people using various means to pass job interviews), and fraud. [Its] willful misrepresentation in the process, often by kind of nefarious groups, Chait says.To combat the problem, Greenhouse is developing a new platform called Greenhouse Real Talent. The goal is to filter out unqualified candidates submitting AI-generated applications, those using AI tools during interviews, and individuals applying under fake identities.To help with identity verification, Greenhouse is partnering with Clear, the company best known for its expedited airport security service. In recent years, Clear has expanded beyond travel with a platform called Clear1. While airports were the initial focus, the company always intended to move into broader identity verification, says Clear cofounder and CEO Caryn Seidman Becker in an exclusive interview with Fast Company.Clear1 really does reflect our day one vision to make experiences safer and easier, physically and digitally, she says. Its what we talked about and pitched 15 years ago when we went out to raise capital to start Clear, and its coming to fruition today.[Animation: Clear]Clear now provides ID checks for LinkedIn verification badges, tool rentals at Home Depot, and patient check-ins at certain medical facilities. In April, it announced a partnership with DocuSign to integrate identity verification into digital contract signings. T-Mobile also uses Clear1 to authenticate employees, the companies announced Wednesday, saying biometrics help the telecom provider confirm employees actual identities, not just that they know a password or are in possession of a particular device.The Clear1 platform enables businesses to add identity checks into their websites or apps, whether on users phones or company tablets in places like medical offices. First-time users are typically asked to provide an email address and phone number, photograph a government-issued ID, and take a selfie to confirm theyre real. Future verifications are usually quicker.The process is meant to feel similar to logging in with Google credentials or using Apple Pay, allowing users to see what information is shared with the requesting company.They can verify with Clear just like you can pay with Apple, Seidman Becker says.The stage at which applicants are asked to verify their identity through Clear will depend on each companys process. Chait expects that employers using Real Talent, which is set to launch in the third quarter of this year, will ask applicants to reverify at key stages such as before video interviews.Behind the scenes, Clear checks various factors to validate documents, confirm the user matches them, and detect suspicious device activity. Seidman Becker says this provides a seamless way for businesses to ensure users are who they claim to be, without relying on multiple tools.Verification is also faster after a user completes the process once. According to the company, initial verification takes about 90 seconds, and later sessions typically take less than 15 seconds. Clear also offers alternative verification methods for users who struggle with certain stepsa common issue during the COVID-era unemployment surgethough Seidman Becker declined to share details, citing proprietary technology.There are other ways that we can work to verify you, as opposed to some more traditional ID verification companies that just sort of have one trick, if you will, she says.Chait adds that Real Talent will offer an alternative path for applicants who are unable or unwilling to use Clears standard process.If you, for a variety of reasons, dont want to or cant be part of that online verification process, therell be an alternative path, he says. But I think most people will find its a lot more convenient and a lot more straightforward to do it the Clear way.Clear has occasionally faced criticism from lawmakers and travelers over its paid airport perks and from privacy advocates concerned about biometric data use. Seidman Becker argues that Clears visibility and track record actually build trust among businesses and consumers handling sensitive data. She also believes the use of Clear online may drive more sign-ups for its airport services.In May, the company reported that first-quarter revenue rose 18.1% year over year to $211.4 million, with Clear+ airport memberships up 9.1%. Last fall, Clear introduced new facial recognition technology in airports, which it claims is significantly faster than its previous systems.As Seidman Becker puts it, You barely break stride, and it captures your face, and it is joyful and beautiful, and literally five times faster.
Category:
E-Commerce
Making difficult decisions is an inevitable part of being a leader. And at times, those decisions are unpopular. Yet in instances when it requires the efforts and cooperation of their team members, leaders have to find a way to get buy-in from the people that oppose those decisions in the first place. This isn’t easy, and requires a delicate balance. Arrivee Vargas, executive coach and author of Your Time to Rise: Unlearn Limiting Beliefs, Unlock Your Power, and Unleash Your Truest Self, shares some of the considerations that you should think about when you need your team to get on board with your decision. The importance of context Sometimes, a decision is only unpopular due to lack of context. Employees have no idea how their boss came to the decision, and as a result, they might have their own narrative of what transpired. That’s why it’s up to the leader to explain why they have to make the decision in the first place and disclose any organizational constraints that apply. Vargas says, “explain the context, explain whats happening at play so you have a nice container for that decision, and employees know what the parameters are and what they expect.” The importance of seeking feedback with constraints Employees might also be reluctant to support a decision when they feel like their voice doesn’t matter. As a leader, seeking feedback or input before making a decision should be standard practice, yet Vargas believes this is one of the biggest challenges that leaders face. However, Vargas argues that it’s important to put some sort of constraint on the decision-making process. One mistake that leaders often make, says Vargas, is entering the process too open. “From the beginning, you need to be able to put the information in a container. What information do I need? Who do I need information from? And you have to decide in advance how much is enough.” This might look like limiting the number of focus groups or amount of survey responses. Picking the right way of communicating It’s also important to figure out the appropriate forum to communicate, both when it comes to announcing a decision and seeking feedback. If you have a small team of fewer than 10 people, says Vargas, you need to meet with them one-on-one. Many leaders might argue that they don’t have time for it, says Vargas. However, “if you really care about bringing your team along . . . you have to invest the time and energy to show that you care.” If it’s a big team, surveys and focus groups are great options for soliciting feedback. While town halls can be effective for giving announcements, they are not always the most appropriate forum for getting honest feedback. Vargas does note, however, that even with the right method of communication, honest feedback can only come from organizations that have built foundational culture where there is trust, respect, and psychological safety. Without the right foundation, Vargas says, the whole process becomes much more difficult. The difference between being liked and being respected Making unpopular decisions is a crucial part of leadership. Yet Vargas believes that many leaders struggle with it because they want people to like them. “For most people, it’s really difficult for them to have these challenging conversations because they’ve never really had to have them.” But leaders have to be prepared to make tough calls and understand that there is a difference between being linked and respected. “I would say especially for women of color, we’re conditioned to behave that way,” she acknowledges. “You don’t want to cause a fuss, you don’t want to be a bother. They’re very concerned about keeping the peace.” When you think like this, Vargas says, you’re “confusing the decision-making with you as a person.” She goes on to say that she knows plenty of leaders who people might not necessarily want to spend time with. However, they’re “very much respected for their expertise and the way they make decisions.” As a leader, it’s crucial that you don’t conflate your decisions with your character. “That’s where you can get into trouble,” she says. The importance of taking accountability Finally, leaders need to own their decisions and take accountability for them, even when hindsight shows that they’re not necessarily the best ones. Owning when you miscalculate and make the wrong judgment call, says Vargas, is “leadership 101.” This is where a company’s foundational culture plays a huge part. “You have to have an organization where making mistakes is actually okay,” Vargas says. “Because if you’re in an organization where as a leader, you punish people for mistakes for years, you’re not going to get any help when you admit that you’ve made a mistake.” Leaders need to create a culture where mistakes happen and people are allowed to move on when they’ve learned from them. Ultimately, everything comes down to showing respect for the employee. “Employees really just want to feel like they’re valued and appreciated,” says Vargas. When it comes to making hard decisions, “they want to feel like you’ve asked me, and you thought that my opinion meant something.” They want to feel like you’ve considered their perspectives, and that it matters.
Category:
E-Commerce
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