(Brands & Consumers)
In a surprising move, award-winning rap star Drake and Hollywood actor Michael B Jordan have recently invested in the Brooklyn Aces, a team that competes in the new Major League Pickleball (MLP) competition. The addition of these high-profile investors has created a buzz around the rapidly growing sport, which is gaining popularity among sports enthusiasts….
Kevin Mitnick, a name synonymous with hacking and cybersecurity, has sadly passed away at the age of 59 after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. His family announced his death in a published obituary over the weekend. Before his passing on July 16, Mitnick had become a legendary figure in the world of hacking, inspiring…
As Hollywood faces challenges amid ongoing industry strikes, streaming giant Netflix had reason to celebrate on Wednesday with the release of its earnings report. The company’s long-anticipated plans to clamp down on password sharing yielded positive results, boosting subscriber growth and impressing investors. However, Wall Street expressed some disappointment despite the promising figures. Here are…
Theophilus Akhimie, a U.S.-based Nigerian brand and marketing expert, and an avid enthusiast of the entertainment industry, is eagerly looking forward to the forthcoming 2023 edition of the prestigious Headies Awards. The event promises to be an electrifying celebration of Afrobeats’ growing explosion and the remarkable achievements of Nigerian musical artists worldwide. Among the numerous…
Tesla, the electric vehicle (EV) giant, has reported a significant increase in profits, surpassing analysts’ expectations despite implementing price cuts that affected its revenue per vehicle sold. In the second quarter, Tesla reported adjusted earnings of $3.1 billion, or 91 cents a share, representing a 20% increase compared to the same period last year. Analysts…
Following its launch two weeks ago, Meta’s Twitter competitor Threads saw an impressive surge in user signups, surpassing 100 million in under a week. However, recent data indicates that the initial excitement may be dwindling as user engagement has slowed down. According to a report by web traffic analysis firm Similarweb, Threads’ daily active users…
Microsoft and Activision have jointly announced an extension of their merger deadline by three months, signaling their commitment to completing the $69 billion acquisition despite ongoing negotiations with the UK government. The new deadline for finalizing the deal is set for October 18, with the previous deadline being July 18. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s vice chair…
Spain’s antitrust regulator, known as CNMC, has levied substantial fines on tech giants Amazon and Apple, totalling €194.1 million ($218 million), for colluding to limit competition on the Amazon platform in Spain. The fines were imposed due to anti-competitive clauses present in two contracts signed by the companies on October 31, 2018, which granted Amazon…
Meta’s Twitter competitor, Threads, has introduced a significant update to the app, aiming to maintain its momentum since its launch two weeks ago. The latest features include a translation button and a dedicated tab in users’ activity feed, showing who has followed them. Cameron Roth, a software engineer working on Threads, announced the updates, assuring…
On Tuesday, AT&T’s stock fell to its lowest level since 1993, continuing its downward trend after a report revealed that several of the country’s largest network providers, including Verizon and AT&T, left thousands of lead-covered cables in various locations across the United States. The Wall Street Journal published a report on July 9, highlighting that…
On Tuesday, a California jury decided that Johnson & Johnson (J&J) must pay $18.8 million to Emory Hernandez Valadez, a 24-year-old man who claimed to have developed cancer from exposure to the company’s baby powder. The ruling comes as a significant setback for J&J, as it attempts to resolve numerous similar cases over its talc-based…
Egyptian cashless payments app, Flash, has successfully raised $6 million in a funding round led by Addition, with participation from Flourish Ventures and several strategic angel investors. The fresh capital injection will be utilized to bolster the company’s product development efforts and expand its customer base in Egypt. Additionally, Flash has secured approval from the…
In one of the largest shareholder settlements of its kind, Tesla directors have agreed to return $735 million to the company to resolve claims of grossly overpaying themselves. According to a court filing in a Delaware court on Monday, the settlement stems from a 2020 lawsuit brought by a retirement fund holding Tesla (TSLA) stock,…
A first-edition 2007 Apple iPhone has fetched an astounding $190,372.80 at auction, surpassing initial estimates and earning the title of “Holy Grail” by auctioneer LCG Auctions. The 4GB model, considered an extraordinary collectible, was initially expected to sell for around $50,000 to $100,000. However, a bidding war ensued during the online auction, attracting 28 bids…
Petrol prices in some Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) filling stations in Abuja surged from N537/litre to N617/litre on Tuesday, leaving independent oil marketers to confirm the increase and indicating a potential rise in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). The NNPCL remains a major importer of petrol in Nigeria, and any…
Peacock, the popular streaming service owned by NBCUniversal, has announced its first-ever price hike, affecting both its premium and premium plus subscription tiers. New users will now have to pay $5.99 per month for the premium subscription, up from the previous price of $4.99. The premium plus tier, which offers mostly ad-free streaming, will cost…
Evergrande Group, the heavily indebted Chinese property developer, has finally released its long-delayed financial results, marking a crucial step in its debt restructuring, which is poised to become one of the largest in Chinese corporate history. According to a filing on Monday with the stock exchange, the company reported losses amounting to 476 billion yuan…
The anticipation to witness Lionel Messi’s highly awaited US debut comes with a hefty price tag. Tickets for his expected first match on Friday with Inter Miami in the Leagues Cup are being sold for as much as $110,000, according to a search on ticket reselling website Vivid Seats. This marks one of the highest…
AmeriCorps, the federal agency for volunteerism and national service, announced on Friday that it had recovered a record-breaking $84 million in overlooked deductions, credits, and tax breaks for low-income Americans during the 2023 tax season. Through its collaboration with local non-profit organizations, AmeriCorps assisted more than 113,000 taxpayers in over 130 cities, according to a…
Federal Appeals Court Clears the Way for Microsoft’s Acquisition of Activision BlizzardIn a significant setback for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a federal appeals court has decided not to block Microsoft (MSFT) from finalizing its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. This ruling marks the second major defeat for the FTC this week in a…
Tesla has finally completed the construction of its first Cybertruck, according to a tweet posted by the electric car company on Saturday. The long-awaited Cybertruck was built at Tesla’s Gigafactory near Austin, Texas, as depicted in the image shared in the tweet, showing workers wearing hard hats surrounding the sleek vehicle. The prototype for the…
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Twitter, has revealed via Twitter that the platform is still facing financial challenges due to a 50% drop in advertising revenue and a “heavy debt load,” resulting in negative cash flow. In response to a follower’s business advice, Musk tweeted, “Need to reach positive cash flow before we have…
Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein is facing a lawsuit filed by three graphic designers who accuse the company of “egregious” copyright infringement and racketeering. The lawsuit was filed in a California federal court on Tuesday, claiming that Shein produced and sold exact copies of the designers’ work. The plaintiffs argue that Shein relies on “secretive algorithms”…
According to an estimate from Anderson Economic Group, a Michigan-based economic research firm, a 10-day strike by UPS workers could potentially cost the US economy a staggering $7.1 billion. If this were to occur, it would become the most expensive work stoppage in US history, causing significant and lasting harm to small businesses, household workers,…
A small vase, measuring only 10 centimetres (four inches), which was bought for a mere £2.50 ($3.30) from a thrift store in the southeastern county of Surrey, UK, is anticipated to be sold for up to £9,000 ($11,800) at an upcoming auction. Canterbury Auction Galleries revealed in a press release that the couple who spotted…
Wipro, one of India’s leading software services providers, has unveiled its ambitious plan to equip its entire workforce with artificial intelligence (AI) skills. The company announced on Wednesday that it will allocate $1 billion to enhance its AI capabilities over the next three years, ensuring that its 250,000 employees across 66 countries are well-versed in…
The ‘F1 in Schools’ competition, aimed at inspiring students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects, is experiencing a surge in participation, thanks to the Netflix docu-series ‘Drive to Survive.’ Organizers of the global not-for-profit program have reported a record number of teams registered for this year’s finals in Singapore, scheduled for September….
Reports suggest that Brad Pitt is determined to oust the Russian vodka oligarch, Yuri Shefler, to whom Angelina Jolie allegedly sold her share of their French vineyard. Brad Pitt, 59, and Angelina Jolie, 48, purchased Château Miraval in 2008 and got married there in 2014, but their divorce in 2019 sparked a battle over the…
Jack Ma, once Asia’s richest person, has seen his fortune decrease significantly over the past three years, with his net worth estimated to be less than half of its peak value in 2020. The decline in Ma’s wealth is attributed to the falling valuation of Ant Group, the fintech giant he co-founded but no longer…
The board of The Walt Disney Company has unanimously voted to extend CEO Bob Iger’s contract by two years, until the end of 2026. When Iger returned to the CEO position in 2022, he had initially planned to stay for two years while a replacement was sought. In a statement, Iger acknowledged the challenging decisions…
Elon Musk has announced the establishment of a new company, xAI, focusing on artificial intelligence, in his ongoing efforts to create a competitor to ChatGPT. The newly unveiled xAI company has launched a website and assembled a team of twelve employees, with Musk at the helm, and plans to collaborate closely with X (Twitter), Tesla,…
Chinese officials have revealed new details about their plans for a manned lunar mission, aiming to be the second nation to put citizens on the moon, with Zhang Hailian, deputy chief engineer of the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA), sharing the preliminary plan at an aerospace summit in Wuhan, according to state-run news agency Xinhua….
Google, its parent company Alphabet, and its AI subsidiary DeepMind are facing a proposed class-action lawsuit in California, filed by Clarkson Law Firm, alleging that the tech giant scraped data from millions of users without consent and violated copyright laws to train its AI products. The complaint claims that Google secretly stole data from Americans…
Disgraced former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes could be out of prison nearly two years earlier than expected, according to the projected release date posted by the Bureau of Prisons.Holmes reported to a Texas prison camp in late May after being sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison at the end of last year….
The UK government aims to boost the economy by leveraging the country’s pension savings, with nine major pension providers agreeing to increase investments in high-growth UK companies, potentially unlocking £50 billion ($64.5 billion) of funding. Under the agreement, firms like Aviva, Legal & General, and Mercer have committed to allocating at least 5% of assets…
Foxconn has decided to withdraw from a $19.4 billion joint venture with Vedanta to build a chip factory in India, dealing a blow to the country’s ambitions of becoming a tech manufacturing powerhouse. The Taiwanese tech giant, known for its role as a top supplier for Apple, cited a “mutual agreement” as the basis for…
Comedian Sarah Silverman and authors Christopher Golden and Richard Kadrey have filed separate lawsuits against Meta and OpenAI, alleging that the companies used copyrighted materials from their books to train their AI language models without permission. The lawsuits were filed in a San Francisco federal court and seek class action status.Concerns have been raised about…
Elon Musk’s persistent Twitter foe, Jack Sweeney, has migrated to Meta’s competing platform, Threads, after launching an account named “elonmusksjet” last week. Sweeney gained attention for his ElonJet Twitter account, which used a bot to track Musk’s private jet, leading to Musk offering him $5,000 to stop posting the jet’s location. In December, Musk permanently…
Ant Group, co-founded by Jack Ma and affiliated with Alibaba Group, has announced a share buyback valued at $78.5 billion, a significant decline from its previous valuation before its IPO was halted by Chinese regulators. The combination of losses in market capitalization for Ant and Alibaba amounts to approximately $877 billion, attributed to the regulatory…
Modelo Especial, a Mexican-made beer, has reclaimed the title of the top-selling beer in the United States for the second consecutive month, surpassing Bud Light. According to data from NIQ provided to consulting firm Bump Williams, Modelo Especial secured 8.7% of overall beer sales for the four-week period ending on July 1, surpassing Bud Light’s…
Twitter’s future hangs in the balance as the launch of rival app Threads from Meta threatens its already struggling business, with the new app surpassing 100 million users in less than a week, raising concerns about Twitter’s ability to retain its audience. Recent data from Cloudflare and Similarweb shows a noticeable decline in Twitter usage,…
Roc Nation Sports International (RNSI), owned by American billionaire hip-hop mogul Jay-Z, has completed the acquisition of Brazilian football agency TFM Agency. The acquisition, we gathered, was part of RNSI’s expansion into the South American football market. TFM Agency is home to global football stars including Vinicius Jr, Martinelli, and Endrick. With the acquisition, the…
Celsius Holdings, known for its calorie-burning energy drinks, has often been dubbed a “baby Monster” in reference to its rival, Monster Beverage. However, with Celsius experiencing significant growth and stock appreciation, Monster is taking notice. In a reactionary move, Monster has announced its acquisition of Vital Pharmaceuticals, the maker of Bang energy drinks. While some…
Mercedes-Benz has announced that starting next year, its electric vehicle drivers will be able to use Tesla’s superchargers, with plans to fully adopt Tesla’s charging standard by 2025. This move by Mercedes-Benz follows similar agreements made by other automakers, further solidifying Tesla’s position as a widely accepted standard in the electric vehicle industry. As part…
Last year brought a series of challenges for Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, from the Facebook Papers revelations to skepticism surrounding the company’s rebranding as Meta. However, an unexpected turn of events involving Elon Musk and Twitter shifted the spotlight onto a new battleground, with Zuckerberg emerging as the victor. In the ever-evolving landscape of social…
A Canadian farmer owes $82,000 for breach of contract after using a “thumbs-up” emoji in a text. According to court documents from the King’s Bench for Saskatchewan in March 2021, grain purchasers with South West Terminal, Ltd., sent a text message to grain suppliers wanting to buy flax for $17 per bushel for delivery in…
In less than 48 hours, Meta’s Twitter rival Threads has gained over 70 million sign-ups, prompting concerns about the accumulation of power for Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, as some users worry about a potential monopoly. The success of Threads can be attributed to the dissatisfaction with Elon Musk’s ownership of Twitter and the integration…
Entertainment company, Amazon, is seeking the dismissal of a suit against the controversial movie, Gangs of Lagos. It should be recalled that the movie, which was released in April, clearly portrays the violent and thuggery lifestyle of some parts of Lagos, hitting close with Lagos politics and revealing the greater weight behind street power. Expressing…
Samsung Electronics reported a predicted 96% drop in second-quarter operating profit, estimating it to be 600 billion won ($459 million), largely in line with forecasts and the company’s lowest profit for any quarter since 2009. The profit estimate aligns with a 555 billion won Refinitiv SmartEstimate, with Samsung shares falling 1.4% in early trade. Losses…
Twitter is considering legal action against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, following the launch of Meta’s new Twitter competitor, Threads, signaling Twitter’s view of the app as a significant rival. In a letter sent to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg by Twitter’s attorney, it is alleged that Meta engaged in trade secret theft by hiring…
