Stale, pale and male

Good morning, you glorious beasts.

At Bunce HQ, we’re mulling over a “letters to the editor” style section.

Send us your musings*, and we’ll include some of your hot hot takes next week. Just reply to this email.

*Nothing about your ex-wife or her new partner/s, please.

INSURANCE
Young Brits couldn’t give a monkey’s about insurance

Apparently, British insurance companies failed to attract more than 1,000 young apprentices last year. The truth is:

Insurance is an old man’s game

Only 11% of insurers in the UK are under 30. And, in an industry comprising more than 300,000 people across Britain, more than a quarter of the whole sector is over 50. 

Insurance isn’t sexy

And the older insurers know it, too. Just under half of them think insurance’s talent shortage is because the young folk don’t think it’s hip, cool, and radical - an entrenched perception that it’s “stale, pale and male”. 

The industry’s in-joke is that “most people just fall into it”, sort of like teaching or my work on OnlyFans.

The problem is exacerbated by algorithmic hiring

According to research by Hanover, the use of automation and algorithms in hiring has actually reduced the number of entry-level hires. 

Which isn’t surprising. Algorithms are biased little creatures, sifting out any CV that doesn’t contain the right keywords or level of experience. 

Just 4% of young people would consider a career in insurance. Those old brokers better get their algorithms in order.

RETAIL
Warhammer is worth billions

Investors seem to think so, at least, having valued Games Workshop last month at £5 billion, for the first time ever. Oh yes, comrades:

Business is booming

It’s been a record-breaking year for the maker of hand-painted armies. 

The FTSE-100-listed company reported a sales growth of 17% so far this year, its profit rising 30% to £261 million. Shares rose 5% at the news. 

They have the pandemic to thank

When interest in Warhammer increased 49%, leading the company to almost double its revenue between 2020 and 2024.

This is all despite Donald Trump

Analysts expect Games Workshop to take a £12 million hit in sales due to the imposition of tariffs by the US. 

But that’s okay. Nothing will stop nerds from buying Space Marines. Not war. Not tariffs.

TECH
Google’s about to kill journalism

The tech monopoly is rolling out a new AI search feature in the UK, a sort of chatbot powered by Google’s LLM, Gemini. 

Click ‘AI Mode’ to find out more

Instead of endlessly scrolling through search results (and getting lost in AI Overview’s myriad hallucinations), users can ask the AI chatbot for answers instead. 

Things are going to get worse for media companies

Because Google’s AI Overview has already significantly reduced the number of click-throughs to websites. 

According to the Pew Research Centre, people only click 1 link in every 100 searches when there’s an AI overview at the top of the page. 

It’s an arms race right now

Google’s dominance as the de facto search engine has been challenged by LLMs like ChatGPT, with search engine usage declining across the board. 

Considering that OpenAI recently announced their launch of a web browser to rival Chrome, this might be Google trying to stay relevant. Let us know what you think, chaps. 

NEWS BITES
This just in…

• HSBC’s ex-chairman was an absolute hound. Mark Tucker was an underpaid workaholic who slept 4 hours a night and constantly commuted between London and Hong Kong. And all of this for a part-time role. The trouble is HSBC can’t find anyone to replace him. 

• The Bank of England just savaged Rachel Reeves, literally blocking her attempt to arrange a meeting between Revolut and Britain’s regulators. This was a last-ditch attempt to speed up the fintech’s long-awaited licensing approval, with its CEO Nik Storonsky lambasting Britain’s “extreme bureaucracy”, of which this is a perfect example. 

• Wise will move to America because its shareholders just voted to list in New York. Well, of course they bloody would: they’d double their money. CEO Kristo Käärmann tied this vote to another one extending enhanced voting rights for Class B shareholders - which conveniently gives him 55% control despite owning just 18% of the company.

• More oven-ready meals are coming to our shores now that Calo has secured $39 million in extra Series B. The Middle Eastern food delivery startup is planning to expand in the UK, having recently acquired Detox Kitchen and Fresh Fitness Food. It’s already delivering daily meals in London, marketing its services, and plans to dectuple its British revenue in 3 years. 

• There’s been a 20% increase in the number of financially distressed companies in Britain. Obviously, the worst affected were businesses unduly impacted by the government’s economically illiterate decision to impose tax hikes on businesses during a time of economic malaise. Bars and restaurants saw a 42% surge.