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Today we're covering how two major job sites went bankrupt, why Carnival Cruise appears to be recession-proof, and advice from the King of Charisma.

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Monster and CareerBuilder, once dominant job search websites during the dot-com era, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Tuesday. The merged company announced it's selling various business divisions through a court-supervised process. The company secured $20 million in financing to continue operations during bankruptcy proceedings.

Both websites were industry leaders in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with Monster famously purchasing Super Bowl commercials to promote its services (like this one). However, competitors like Indeed, Glassdoor, and Microsoft-owned LinkedIn have captured market share in recent years. The companies merged last year with private equity firm Apollo Global Management taking a minority stake in the combined entity.

JobGet will acquire the recognizable job boards division, focusing on gig and hourly worker positions. Monster Government Services goes to Canadian-based Valsoft Corporation, while the media division (including Military.com and FastWeb.com) is being sold to Valnet. All sales require court approval and remain subject to higher offers. The company announced layoffs as part of cost-reduction efforts.

Carnival Corp raised its annual profit forecast Tuesday after beating second-quarter estimates, driven by the highest margins achieved in nearly 20 years. The cruise operator reported revenue of $6.33 billion, surpassing analyst estimates of $6.21 billion. CEO Josh Weinstein credited last-minute bookings, strong onboard spending, and higher ticket prices for boosting results. Shares jumped almost 8% following the announcement.

Sea-based vacations remain more affordable than land-based alternatives, particularly for lower-income customers, company officials said. This affordability factor has helped Carnival demonstrate "remarkable resilience amid heightened volatility" as travelers seek value during economic uncertainty. Total customer deposits reached a record $8.5 billion, while cumulative advanced bookings for 2026 match 2025's record levels at historically high prices (why cruises are cheaper than hotels).

The company now forecasts fiscal 2025 adjusted earnings per share of about $1.97, up from prior expectations of $1.83. Carnival exceeded its 2026 SEA Change financial targets 18 months early, with key profitability metrics reaching nearly two-decade highs. Analysts note the outlook benefits from favorable exchange rates worth approximately $40 million. Watch 75 cruises hacks for 2025 here.

Ring is adding AI-powered descriptions to camera and video doorbell notifications. The new Video Descriptions feature generates text summaries of motion activity, replacing generic alerts like "person detected" with specific descriptions such as "person with broom and mop is leaving." The feature launches in beta for Ring Home Premium subscribers ($19.99 monthly) in the US and Canada.

The upgrade addresses notification fatigue by providing contextual information before users click through to view video footage. The AI-powered tool joins Smart Video Search, which launched last year and allows users to query cameras about recent events through natural language searches (every Ring doorbell, explained).

Ring plans to expand the technology for more proactive security features, including combining multiple alerts and developing custom anomaly detection. The system would learn household routines and only notify users when unusual activity occurs. Competitors like Arlo, Wyze, and Google offer similar AI-powered camera descriptions, though most require subscription services. Privacy concerns remain regarding detailed activity tracking capabilities (is there a privacy loophole?).

Charlie Houpert's framework: Most people escape jobs they hate only to build businesses they tolerate. The "10-out-of-10 filter" forces you to identify work you'd essentially do for free.

Charlie Houpert spent years as a management consultant in Washington DC, putting on a suit each morning in what he describes as "a daily self-betrayal." When he finally escaped to build his first business, he made the same mistake millions of entrepreneurs make: he chose something profitable instead of something he loved.

The breakthrough: Rate your current work on a scale of 1-10 for personal fulfillment. Anything below a 10 means you're still settling. His consulting job was a 3/10, his DVD business was a 6/10 — still nowhere near work that would energize him daily.

Why this matters: The majority of "successful" entrepreneurs remain trapped in businesses they built to escape jobs they hated. Houpert discovered his true passion when he asked: "What am I spending money on?" His answer — studying human interaction, which led to Charisma on Command, work he describes as something he "would do for free or pay to do." That's a 10-out-of-10. Full interview.

Checklists make you drastically more reliable. Atul Gawande's surgical studies found that even expert surgeons reduce errors by 66% when using simple checklists. For you, this might include creating a morning shutdown routine before leaving work, using a travel packing checklist instead of relying on memory, or building a client onboarding framework rather than winging each new relationship. The minimizing errors checklist explains why systematic operators maintain consistency while memory-dependent perfectionists make costly oversights. Free your brain for creativity, not storage. Read Ben Meer’s article. Buy Atul Gawande’s book.

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