Raphael Stevens

Hyundai Motor on Friday confirmed plans to spend $5.54 billion to build its first dedicated electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities in the U.S.
The operations are expected to open during the first half of 2025, with an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles.
The investment is the latest example of a global automaker seeking to establish new supply chains and production facilities in the U.S. to produce electric vehicles.

The logo of Hyundai is shown at the #WeAreMobility fair at the 97th edition of the Brussels Motor Show on 18 January 2019, in Brussels.
Dirk Waem | AFP via Getty Images

Hyundai Motor on Friday confirmed plans to spend $5.54 billion to build its first dedicated electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities in the U.S.
The plants will be located outside of Savannah, Georgia, in Bryan County, the company said. The operations are expected to open during the first half of 2025, with an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles, according to the South Korean automaker. About 8,100 new jobs are to be created.

The investment is the latest example of a global automaker seeking to establish new supply chains and production facilities in the U.S. to produce electric vehicles, which are expected to grow exponentially during the decade.
It’s also a major win for the Biden administration, which has been urging companies to establish electric vehicle supply chains and production in the U.S. rather than overseas. President Joe Biden last year set a target for EVs to represent half of all new auto sales in the country by 2030.
“The Group is accelerating its electrification efforts with the global target to sell 3.23 million full electric vehicles annually by 2030,” Hyundai said in a release.
Hyundai also said it expects to produce a “wide range of full electric vehicles for U.S. customers at the new Georgia EV plant,” noting additional details will come at a later date.
The company announced the plans, details of which were previously reported, after officially entering into an agreement with Georgia; state and local incentives and other details for the new facilities were not announced.
Hyundai said it selected Georgia “due to a range of favorable business conditions, including speed-to-market, talented workforce, as well as existing network of … affiliates and suppliers.”

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Grocery start-up Weee! wants to make online food shopping more fun and immersive by showcasing videos and sharing stories behind the ingredients that it sells.
The company, which sells Asian and Hispanic groceries, hired “Crazy Rich Asians” director Jon M. Chu as its chief creative officer earlier this year.
The start-up encourages shoppers to share what they order on social media or post videos of favorite foods and recipes through a TikTok-like feature in its app.

Online grocery delivery start-up Weee! encourages customers to share videos of recipes and favorite items on its app. It specializes in hard-to-find Asian foods, along with fruits, vegetables and other staples.

Online grocery start-up Weee! specializes in hard-to-find foods from Asian and Hispanic cuisines. It nabbed another kind of rarity earlier this year: A big Hollywood name in its executive suite.
The company hired Jon M. Chu, director of “Crazy Rich Asians” and the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights,” as its chief creative officer. Chu is bringing his storytelling expertise from the movies, in which food and culture play a central role, to an in-house team of about 10 people that spotlights unique dishes and the ingredients needed to make them — sold on the ever-expanding Weee! online platform.

Chu said he imagines bringing unconventional features to the online grocer, like playlists of songs customers could listen to while cooking or a follow-up email they might receive about the history of items they’ve purchased.
“To me, this was more important than just doing a job for a start-up,” he said. “This was about my storytelling taking new form.”
Weee! sells more than 10,000 products, from cuisine-specific items such as kimchi and frozen shrimp dumplings to staples like milk, bananas and chicken breasts. Shoppers can browse the company’s website and app in different languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean or Spanish. On the app, shoppers can also order takeout from more than 1,000 restaurants.
The San Francisco Bay Area-based start-up now delivers fresh groceries to 18 states and shelf-stable products to all lower 48 states. It has eight fulfillment centers across the country, in states including Washington to New Jersey, where orders are packed and shipped.
The company is trying to stand out in a fragmented space — and previewing how grocery shopping online could look in the future. The grocer’s app and website shake up the typical experience of online food shopping to make it more social and immersive.

Weee! encourages customers to upload videos of recipes and favorite foods to its app through a TikTok-like feature. Shoppers can buy snacks and ingredients featured in those videos with a click of a button. They get discounts if they refer a friend or family member and can share custom coupons for the items they recently purchased.
“We just believe that food shopping shouldn’t be like what we see today,” founder and CEO Larry Liu said. “It should be much, much better, much, much more inspiring and fun.”

Changing tastes

Over the past two years, consumers have embraced new ways to fill up fridges and developed expanded palates while cooking more at home. That inspired some to try meal kits, get groceries delivered to their doors or use curbside pickup.
The pandemic sparked growth for Weee! The privately held, venture-backed start-up declined to share its total customers and revenue, but said it has fulfilled more than 15 million orders so far. Its monthly active users have grown more than 150% year over year. To date, the start-up has raised more than $800 million in funding — including a $425 million investment round announced in February led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
The pandemic also catalyzed the U.S. online grocery market, which accounts for a small but growing fraction of the industry’s total sales. Online grocery sales almost doubled from $29.3 billion in 2019 to $57 billion in 2020, according to IRI E-Market Insights and Coresight Research. Online grocery sales in the country will reach nearly $90 billion this year, according to the firms’ estimate. Yet brick-and-mortar still dominates the grocery category, with as much as 95% of food retail spending taking place at stores in 2021, according to Coresight’s research.
Online grocery retailers don’t have sample stations, colorful displays and other experiences that draw people to stores and prompt purchases, said Ken Fenyo, president of research and advisory at Coresight Research.
At stores, customers are “able to smell the fruit. You’re able to walk the aisles and see if there’s something new you want. You might have that serendipity of ‘Oh, I forgot I needed that. Let me throw it in'” he said. “Online tends to be a lot more search-driven, a lot more list-driven.”
Retailers like Weee! can revive experiential elements to grocery shopping to make e-commerce more exciting and personalized, Fenyo said. Other direct-to-consumer grocers have carved out specialties, such as Thrive Market, which sells organic and natural foods, or Misfits Market and Imperfect Foods, which sell high-quality groceries for less by offering misshaped fruits and vegetables, broken almond pieces or similar items.
The challenge for Weee! and other smaller online grocery players is winning new customers, keeping the cost of deliveries low and fending off traditional grocers, who may encroach on their turf, Fenyo said.

Larry Liu, a Chinese immigrant, started Weee! because of his own struggles to find favorite foods.

An immigrant’s tale

For Liu, 41, the challenges that inspired Weee! were personal.
Liu, a first-generation Chinese immigrant, founded the company in 2015 after struggling to find some of his own favorite foods. He grew weary of the hour-and-a-half drive to his closest Asian market and got inspired by seeing WeChat groups organized by others who missed the tastes of home. In one, a woman coordinated a group order for friends — and friends of friends — who wanted to buy fresh cod from Half Moon Bay in California.
That experience later shaped some of the Weee! app’s distinct features, such as a “Community” tab that resembles a social media network with a mix of company- and user-generated videos.
Weee! caters to customers who live in communities that don’t have the density to support a large Asian market like an H Mart, from international students attending college in the States to seniors who live at assisted living facilities, Liu said. Most customers order more than two times per month and Weee! makes up about 40% to 50% of their monthly grocery budget, he said.
Weee! is gradually adding Hispanic foods, too. It offers a Mexican cuisine category in California and Texas.
Popular items include everyday staples like rice and fresh vegetables, along with seasonal items, such as sweet winter melon from Vietnam, hot pot kits from Southern China and sesame cake from Northern China during Lunar New Year.
Its app features a rotating list of suggestions, too, such as Japanese snacks to celebrate sakura, or cherry blossom, season or treats for Mother’s Day. It also offers a growing assortment of beauty and household items, such as Korean cosmetics.

Jon M. Chu attends Disney’s Premiere of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” at El Capitan Theatre on August 16, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.
Axelle | Bauer-Griffin | FilmMagic | Getty Images

A new kind of storytelling

Before Weee! hired film director Chu, he had already seen the company’s delivery trucks, heard about the company from friends and began getting deliveries as a customer of Korean barbecue ingredients like sauce and short ribs. Intrigued by the company and its mission, he reached out to Liu. Their conversations led to a job offer.
Chu will soon start directing Universal Pictures’ adaption of Broadway hit “Wicked” with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. Despite the big project, he said he wanted to make room in his schedule for Weee!
As a kid, Chu often did his homework at the bar of Chef Chu’s, the family restaurant his parents opened in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1969. The restaurant is featured in a video about Weee!’s purpose of connecting generations and cultures through food.
Now a father himself, Chu said he wants to make sure that his three young kids learn about their culture.
“I wanted them, when they smelled Asian food, [to feel] that it wasn’t exotic or weird for them,” he said. “That it was home for them the way it was for me.”
Chu recently capitalized on his Rolodex of Hollywood connections, teaming up with Disney and Pixar to develop recipes and shoot videos for the Weee! app inspired by “Turning Red,” a coming-of-age movie about a Chinese-Canadian teenager who turns into a giant red panda. Chu interviewed the movie’s director, Domee Shi, about making the film and did an unboxing of some of her favorite childhood snacks.
Chu and Liu said by telling the stories behind dishes, the grocery service can introduce people to new traditions and flavors.
Erin Edwards, 34, of Santa Ana, California, and her family are among those kinds of eaters. Edwards, who is not Asian or Hispanic, placed her first order from Weee! in February after watching a video shared by a friend. Since then, she’s kept shopping with the site to supplement her weekly shopping at Trader Joe’s and Target.
Her family of four has bought Chinese snacks and ingredients for Asian recipes, from crab-flavored potato chips to noodles for homemade pho. Pocky, Japanese chocolate-dipped biscuit sticks, has become a favorite dessert for her 2-year-old daughter, Holland, and 4-year-old daughter, Wren.
“Seeing people make videos and do tutorials, it makes it so easy,” she said. “We’ve been much more empowered in doing it ourselves.”
Liu said he sees a similar culture of sharing in his three young children.
“Their classmates, no matter what their skin color, they all drink boba milk tea. They all eat sushi. They all eat Korean barbecue and Indian curry and Mexican tacos,” he said. “So I think the future generation, their taste is going to be very, very diverse. In a way, we are really building the assortment for the future cultural explorers.”
Disclosure: CNBC is owned by NBCUniversal, the parent of Universal Pictures.

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Health authorities in Europe, the U.S. and Australia are investigating a recent outbreak of monkeypox cases, a rare viral disease typically found in Africa.
Germany on Friday reported its first case of the virus, becoming the latest European country to identify an outbreak alongside the U.K., Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Sweden.
In the U.K. alone, cases have doubled since the first was identified on May 7. The country now has 20 confirmed cases, though concerns are building that more may be going undetected.

An image created during an investigation into an outbreak of monkeypox, which took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1996 to 1997, shows the arms and torso of a patient with skin lesions due to monkeypox, in this undated image obtained by Reuters on May 18, 2022. CDC/Brian W.J. Mahy/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.
CDC | Brian W.J. Mahy | Reuters

Health authorities in Europe, the U.S. and Australia are investigating a recent outbreak of monkeypox cases, a rare viral disease typically confined to Africa.
Germany on Friday reported its first case of the virus, becoming the latest European country to identify an outbreak alongside the U.K., Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Sweden.

The U.S. and Australia this week also confirmed their first cases, as experts attempt to determine the root cause of the recent spike.
While some cases have been linked to travel from Africa, more recent infections are thought to have spread in the community, raising the risks of a wider outbreak.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and infection and the U.K.’s Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said they are investigating a range of cases including those among individuals who self-identify as men who have sex with men, and urged gay and bisexual men in particular to be aware of any unusual rashes or lesions.
In the U.K. alone, cases have doubled since the first was identified on May 7. The country now has 20 confirmed cases of monkeypox, though there are concerns there may be many more undetected.
Individuals exhibiting symptoms of the virus — which include rashes and fever — are being urged to seek medical advice, contacting any clinic before visiting.

“These latest cases, together with reports of cases in countries across Europe, confirms our initial concerns that there could be spread of monkeypox within our communities,” Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UKHSA, said on Wednesday.

What is Monkeypox?

Monkeypox is a rare disease caused by the monkeypox virus, part of the same family as smallpox, though typically less severe.
Generally occurring in remote parts of central and West Africa, the virus was first detected in captive monkeys in 1958. The first human case was recorded in 1970.

Monkeypox reemerged in Nigeria in 2017 after four decades without a single confirmed case. As of May 2022, 450 cases have been reported in the country.
The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images

There have since been sporadic cases reported across 10 African countries, including Nigeria, which in 2017 experienced the largest documented outbreak, with 172 suspected and 61 confirmed cases. Three-quarters were among male aged 21 to 40 years old.
Cases outside of Africa have historically been less common, and typically linked to international travel or imported animals. Previous cases have been reported in Israel, the U.K., Singapore and the U.S., which, in 2003, reported 81 cases linked to prairie dogs infected by imported animals.

How do you catch monkeypox?

Monkeypox spreads when someone comes into close contact with another person, animal or material infected with the virus.
The virus can enter the body through broken skin, the respiratory tract or through the eyes, nose and mouth.

In this 1971 Center For Disease Control handout photo, monkeypox-like lesions are shown on the arm and leg of a female child in Bondua, Liberia.
CDC | Getty Images

Human to human transmission most commonly occurs through respiratory droplets, though usually requires prolonged face-to-face contact. Animal to human transmission meanwhile may occur via a bite or scratch.
Monkeypox is not generally considered a sexually transmitted disease, though it can be passed on during sex.

What are the symptoms?

Initial symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headaches, muscle ache, swelling and backpain.
Patients typically develop a rash one to three days after the appearance of fever, often beginning on the face and spreading to other parts of the body, such as the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.
The rash, which can cause severe itching, then goes through several stages before the legions scab and fall off.
The infection typically lasts two to four weeks and usually clears up on its own.

What is the treatment?

There are currently no proven, safe treatments for monkeypox, though most cases are mild.
People suspected of having the virus may be isolated in a negative pressure room — spaces used to isolate patients — and monitored by healthcare professionals using personal protective equipment.

The palms of a monkeypox case patient from Lodja, a city located within the Katako-Kombe Health Zone, are seen during a health investigation in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997. 
CDC | Reuters

Smallpox vaccines have, however, proven largely effective in preventing the spread of the virus. Countries including the U.K. and Spain are now offering the vaccine to those who have been exposed to infections to help reduce symptoms and limit the spread.

How dangerous is it?

Monkeypox cases can occasionally be more severe, with some deaths having been reported in west Africa.
However, health authorities stress that we are not on the brink of a serious outbreak and the risks to the general public remain very low.
“While investigations remain ongoing to determine the source of infection, it is important to emphasize it does not spread easily between people and requires close personal contact with an infected symptomatic person,” Colin Brown, director of clinical and emerging infections at UKHSA, said Saturday.
Health authorities in the U.K., U.S. and Canada urged people who experience new rashes or are concerned about monkeypox to contact their healthcare provider.
The UKHSA added that they are reaching out and providing advice to any potential close contacts of cases and healthcare worker who may have come into contact with infected patients.

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Crypto-wallet company Exodus pays employees like Alyssa Howell in bitcoin. Howell’s managed to finance a house and save for retirement with her cryptocurrency earnings.
Financial advisors warn consumers and investors that cryptocurrencies do not provide the same protections that come with a traditional bank or brokerage account. 
“We’re trying to figure out as an advisor, and as a fiduciary, what is the best way for us to help our clients in this space,” said Catherine Valega, a certified financial planner with Green Bee Advisory.

Many people have bought and sold cryptocurrencies as an investment, yet trying to live on a salary paid in crypto is tricky. 
Alyssa Howell spent much of her career in the gold-mining industry before joining a crypto-wallet company last fall that pays all of its employees in bitcoin. The Denver-area resident said learning the ins and outs of the crypto industry — different types of virtual wallets, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and browser extensions — has been quite an education.

“It has been a very steep learning curve for me,” said Howell, 35, who works in investor relations for Exodus, a bitcoin and crypto wallet firm. “It is just a new industry, but also it’s very fast-moving.

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“So there’s always something new within crypto that has evolved.”
Howell never owned digital currencies before taking this job. Now she is paid in bitcoin on the first of every month — based on her salary in U.S. dollars. 
“If bitcoin is $50,000 (per token) and I make $25,000 per month, I’ll receive half of a bitcoin,” said Howell. “Now on the first [of the month], our company sets the price, so at a certain time on the first of every month, they’ll say this is the exchange rate for bitcoin.” Employees can then convert their crypto paychecks into dollars, with the company covering the conversion fees.  
Yet, this single mother of two has gone all-in with crypto. She recently purchased a new home, but struggled with the first lender she tried not accepting her bitcoin income. 

Allysa Howell, left, works for a crypto-wallet company that pays all of its employees in bitcoin.

“I was disqualified from a mortgage, which made me really nervous,” said Howell as she reflected on the experience. “Luckily, that’s not the standard; the world is changing, the world is evolving.”
She found a lender to accept her bitcoin income and it was one that also let her make mortgage payments in cryptocurrency. However, the loan was recently sold and the new servicer will not take crypto payments.
“It was a huge disappointment for me,” said Howell, “I’ll have to buy fiat [U.S. dollars] to pay my mortgage, and I really try my best to live within the crypto space.”
Howell said she keeps 10% of her bitcoin pay for retirement savings and isn’t worried about the currency’s ups and downs. “I’m long-term cryptocurrency so I’m not watching the volatility on the day today,” she said. “I’m here for the next five years, the next decade, the next two decades.
“That’s where I really see the opportunity,” she added.
Exodus’ CEO JP Richardson said the company pays its employees in bitcoin to help make virtual currencies more mainstream. 

“By us backing the technology and by us embracing that technology and paying our employees with the technology, we are saying that we believe in this long-term,” Richardson said.
Richardson also lives much of his personal financial life using crypto and he keeps enough money in U.S. dollars to manage expenses, he said, “in case, God forbid, something were to happen to cryptocurrency.” 
Bitcoin prices have been a on a roller coaster. The price hit a high above $68,000 and has traded below $30,000 for the last two weeks.
Financial advisors caution investors to balance crypto investments with other financial goals. Before investing in crypto, make sure you have sufficient emergency savings and disability and life insurance and are saving enough for retirement.  
Yet advising clients can be tricky.

Ersinkisacik | Istock | Getty Images

“We’re trying to figure out as an advisor, and as a fiduciary, what is the best way for us to help our clients in this space,” said Catherine Valega, a certified financial planner and chartered alternative investment analyst with Green Bee Advisory, based in the Boston area.
Other considerations include fees incurred when exchanging bitcoin for dollars as well as tax implications. 
President Joe Biden issued an executive order in March for regulators to consider the risks and benefits of cryptocurrencies.
In the meantime, financial advisors warn consumers and investors that cryptocurrencies do not provide the same protections that come with a traditional bank or brokerage account. 
Still, Howell views cryptocurrency as the future and wants her children to learn its value.
“What’s important for me to teach them is that money has value,” she said. Even though you can’t see it or feel it, we ascribe value to it.
“I am really focused on raising them to be prudent and spend well.”  More

Michelle and Jeremy Warren’s recent trip to the Galapagos Islands was paid for, in part, by her company, FullContact.
Michelle Warren

When Michelle Warren traveled to the Galapagos Islands for 10 days this spring, her bosses helped foot the bill.
It’s one of the many benefits offered by her employer, Denver-based tech company FullContact.

Warren’s not alone. While paid vacation days are a sought-after benefit, some employers are taking it a step further and giving workers money to help offset the cost of their trips.
Warren, who traveled with her husband, father and stepmother, received $7,000 towards the cost of her vacation.
“It’s life changing, truly, to go to the Galapagos,” said Warren, 38.
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She and her husband, Jeremy, wanted to do something big and celebratory after they both earned their master’s degrees.

“The bonus from FullContact meant that we could do that in a way that was super-meaningful for us as a family,” Warren said.
On each work anniversary, employees get a vacation bonus, the amount of which depends on each person’s tenure. It starts at $2,000 and maxes out at $7,000 by year three. The employee must also have a good performance record.
As the company’s vice president of global human resources, Warren knows the impact the perk has on both employees and the company.
“It creates engagement, motivation for the work and energy around knowing that they can fully disconnect,” she said.

“It’s about that true reenergizing, resting [and] relaxing, that then helps them come back in a positive way and continue all that work.”
Paid vacation days are part of an overall benefits package that includes unlimited vacation days and 26 company holidays. Warren believes those perks help the company in the war for talent, especially considering it has to compete against tech giants.
FullContact boasts an 85% retention rate, which Warren said is “amazing during the Great Resignation and particularly in the tech industry.”
In addition to FullContact, nine other remote-friendly companies were recently highlighted by career website FlexJobs as helping pay for employee vacations. Here’s the list:

Airbnb: Employees receive $2,000 in Airbnb travel credit each year. It’s distributed on a quarterly basis and can be used to book stays or experiences on the Airbnb platform.
BambooHR: The firm offers employees $2,000 each year towards vacation expenses, such as hotel rooms and airfare.
Calendly: The company grants every employee a $1,000 annual travel stipend, which can be used for hotels, flight, transportation or even staycation activities to help recharge locally during the pandemic.
Evernote: The company offers employees a $1,000 yearly vacation stipend.
Expedia: Employees are reimbursed for expenses related to travel and wellness, from $1,250 to $1,750 per year, depending on tenure. Workers can also receive additional funds in their reimbursement accounts based on certain employment milestones and may also be given travel awards in recognition for exceptional work. Plus, they receive discounts on retail and travel packages purchased through the brand’s sites.
FullContact: The company provides up $7,000 per year for employees to travel. The amount depends on tenure.
PulsePoint: Employees receive a $500 annual travel reimbursement for vacation.
Thirty Madison: Employees are eligible for an annual $750 vacation stipend on day one of hire. It can be redeemed once the employee has taken a vacation of five or more consecutive days.
TripAdvisor: TripAdvisor reimburses for personal travel, among other things, as part of its global lifestyle benefit. The amount paid out for the various eligible services and products is based on years of service and ranges from $1,250 to $1,750 a year.
United Airlines: Employees receive unlimited standby travel and discounted rates on airline tickets to anywhere United flies.

To land a job that gives you the perks you desire, such as money towards travel, first make a list of your values and what exactly you are looking for in an employer, said Toni Frana, a career services manager at FlexJobs.
Then, start researching companies that seem to fit the bill on websites such as FlexJobs or Glassdoor. Even check the companies’ websites, which may detail their benefits packages.
Rank the companies to help narrow down your targets and start networking.
“Connecting with people who work there can help you get in front of the right people,” Frana said. More