Underwriters Laboratories - UL
Categories: Tech
If you thought your mom was extreme in the “safety first” realm, you haven’t met the Underwriters Laboratories (UL). You know...the org giving out safety certifications to those deemed worthy. Like being knighted, but for safety instead of...wait, why do people get knighted again?
UL is approved by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal safety agency in the U.S., to perform legit safety tests, among others. They might just be the reason your kids’ PJs aren’t flammable, and why your blender shut down instead of catching fire that one time (or many times).
What kind of tests, you ask? From UL, you could get certificates for buildings’ safety (are your fire alarms working correctly?). UL also tests safety for products, like all kinds of electronics, industrial equipment, and building parts (think: lights, switches, deck construction, wires, etc.). They also do sustainability testing on things like phones and light bulbs.
Probably every electronic good you use in the U.S. has gone through testing of UL or a similar safety organization approved by OSHA.
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Finance: What is an Underwriter?82 Views
finance a la shmoop what is an underwriter Undertaker underwriter
taking your company public well then you need one of these guys and yeah if [Woman writing at a desk]
things go poorly well then you may need one of these guys but if things go well [Gravestone]
an underwriter will get to know your company audit your financials give their
Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval to the investment community with whom they
deal regularly and introduce you as part of their family selling a piece of your
company to that world you know hedge funds mutual funds private wealthy [List of benefits that come with an underwriter]
investors such that they are the you know financial wind beneath your wings [Skyscraper flying away]
for a brief moment in time the underwriter usually an investment bank
like the vaunted Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley or JP Morgan or UBS or Sumitomo
will actually themselves own whatever piece of your company you are bringing [Logos for the banks appearing]
public like if you're selling 18 million shares at 20 bucks the bank's our
underwriters take a new public will own all 18 million shares having paid you
$19.60 for them and then turning around five minutes later and selling them for
20 bucks to John Q invest or making 40 cents a share in spread or markup or in [Spread calculation shown]
this case 40 times 18 million or 7.2 million dollars just for the pleasure so
that's an underwriter and if they screw up well yeah and ironically the [Underwriter stamp]
announcement he'll see in the digital paper is usually in the shape of a
tombstone announcing everything why a tombstone well because it represents the
death of ambiguity or confusion in that company's former life as a private one [Gravestone for ambiguity]
The Undertaker's hopefully have far far away [The Undertaker running away with the word confusion]