(Brands & Consumers)
The New York Times has lost its blue tick on Twitter after it said it would not pay to remain verified. As reported on BBC, Twitter has started removing verification badges from accounts which already had a blue tick, after announcing they would be part of a paid subscription from 1 April. The New York…
McDonald’s is closing its U.S. offices and telling U.S. and some international staff to work remotely between Monday and Wednesday as the fast food giant prepares for layoffs. As reported on Fortune, the company made the request in an internal email last week, reports the Wall Street Journal. It also asked employees to cancel all…
Despite the world’s love of olive oil, people have been leery of Starbucks’ Oleato line from the start. When the olive oil drinks were only available in Italy, many people were already complaining of an appalling top layer of oil. So, naturally, Starbucks bringing its olive oil coffee to the U.S. just made matters worse….
World Wrestling Entertainment has been sold to Endeavor Group, the parent company of competitor UFC, to form a new publicly traded company. The newly combined company has a value of $21 billion. Endeavor shareholders will own 51% of the newly combined company, while WWE shareholders are getting 49%. WWE (WWE) and UFC (EDR) will be…
It is one of China’s most popular shopping apps, selling clothing, groceries and just about everything else under the sun to more than 750 million users a month. But according to cybersecurity researchers, it can also bypass users’ cell phone security to monitor activities on other apps, check notifications, read private messages and change settings….
Tesla reported a modest 4% rise in sales in the first quarter compared to the final three months of last year, despite a series of price cuts on its lower priced vehicles and talk by CEO Elon Musk about strong demand at those lower prices. As reported on CNN, the first quarter also marked the…
Technology stocks are perennially one of the hottest areas of the stock market. Investors closely follow this sector because of its track record of scorching returns and the potential for more in the future. So it can be worth keeping an eye on tech stocks and tracking the hot performers. While a list of best…
Twitter has been bleeding advertisers since Elon Musk took over, with several high-profile companies pausing promotions on the platform. According to a report by Bloomberg, last year, from September to October, the top advertisers on Twitter spent $71 million on ads. However, during the previous two months, that figure dropped to $7.6 million, a decline…
Half of Americans support a US government ban on TikTok, while 22% oppose the idea and more than a quarter are unsure, according to a Pew Research Center survey released. The survey results — collected in the days before and after TikTok CEO Shou Chew testified before Congress on March 23 — highlight the company’s…
Spikes in car thefts of certain Hyundai and Kia models, a trend that began in the American midwest and was spread by how-to videos on social media, has reached America’s biggest city. As reported on CNN, about 100 of these particularly vulnerable Hyundai and Kia vehicles were stolen in the month of December alone in…
Virgin Orbit — the rocket company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson — is laying off the vast majority of its workforce as company leadership struggles to secure additional funding. As reported on CNN, about 675 employees will be terminated by April 3, according to a public document filed Thursday, amounting to around 85% of…
An oil and chemical tanker hijacked in the Gulf of Guinea has been located off the coast of Sao Tome and Principe, but part of the crew has been kidnapped, its owners said on Friday. The Danish-owned Liberian-flagged Monjasa Reformer disappeared after pirates boarded it over the weekend. The ship was 140 nautical miles off…
A pink diamond of “unparalleled color and brightness” is expected to fetch over $35 million when it goes on sale in New York, auction house Sotheby’s announced Wednesday. Weighing 10.57 carats and named The Eternal Pink, the “ultra-rare” gemstone will go under the hammer this June, four years after South African firm De Beers discovered…
As many as 300 million full-time jobs around the world could be automated in some way by the newest wave of artificial intelligence that has spawned platforms like ChatGPT, according to Goldman Sachs economists. They predicted in a report Sunday that 18% of work globally could be computerized, with the effects felt more deeply in…
China and Brazil have reached a deal to trade in their own currencies, ditching the United States dollar as an intermediary, the Brazilian government said on Wednesday. As reported on The Straits Times, the deal, Beijing’s latest salvo against the almighty greenback, will enable China, the top rival to US economic hegemony, and Brazil, the…
Sportswear maker Adidas on Wednesday reversed course 48 hours after asking the U.S. Trademark Office to reject a Black Lives Matter application for a trademark featuring three parallel stripes. “Adidas will withdraw its opposition to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation’s trademark application as soon as possible,” the company said in a statement, without…
While Disney may be the happiest place on earth in the hearts and minds of many people, the business itself is not having such a happy week. As reported on THE STREET, CEO Bob Iger sent an email to employees on March 27 to let them know that the planned layoffs (previously announced in February)…
Amazon is reportedly weighing the purchase of AMC Entertainment and its nationwide chain of movie theaters as a means of promoting Amazon’s content and other services. The Intersect reported that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has tasked his team of investment advisers and entertainment chiefs with exploring plans to acquire AMC and its chain of nearly…
As the days pass, the production start date of the Cybertruck approaches. As reported on The Street, this futuristic pickup truck developed by Tesla (TSLA) is undoubtedly the most anticipated vehicle of the last decade. No vehicle had generated so much excitement, fueled in part by thundering statements from Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and…
Marking 36 years since the release of the Tinker Hatfield-designed Air Max 1, Nike (NYSE:NKE +0.05%) continues to curate memorable cultural moments for its global Air Max Day celebrations. In hand with being the world’s tallest tower, Dubai’s iconic Burj Khalifa doubles up as a supersize billboard — year-after-year hosting prolific experiences. This time the…
Investors withdrew $1.6 billion of cryptocurrency from crypto exchange Binance since it was sued by the U.S. CFTC on Monday, blockchain data tracker Nansen said on Wednesday. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued Binance – the world’s biggest crypto exchange – along with its CEO and former top compliance executive, alleging that they…
Elon Musk and a group of artificial intelligence experts and industry executives are calling for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI’s newly launched GPT-4, in an open letter citing potential risks to society and humanity. Earlier this month, Microsoft-backed OpenAI unveiled the fourth iteration of its GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) AI…
Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has launched its “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) service in the United States, a move that threatens to disrupt the fintech sector dominated by firms like Affirm Holdings (AFRM.O) and Swedish payments company Klarna. As reported on Reuters, the service, Apple Pay Later, will allow users to split purchases into four payments…
Parts of the source code which underpins multi-billionaire Elon Musk’s social media platform have been leaked online, Twitter says. It says the code was posted on GitHub, a Microsoft-owned service where software developers share code. It has now been taken down after Twitter requested its removal. Separately, Mr Musk has reportedly signalled to Twitter workers…
Pepsi has launched a new challenge that would give fans the opportunity to win an all-expense paid trip to watch the UCL finals 2023 live. For the first time ever, fans will have the opportunity of a lifetime to be part of the biggest annual global sporting event in person as Grammy award winner and…
Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim has joined Ineos owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe in submitting a second bid to buy Manchester United. A representative for Sheikh Jassim said on Saturday they put in a revised bid overnight. On Thursday, Ratcliffe put in his second bid after Wednesday’s confusion and extended deadline.It followed Finnish entrepreneur Thomas Zilliacus stating…
Twitter’s free blue “verified” checkmarks for notable users may finally be coming to an end. Ever since Elon Musk took control of the company in October, he’s been threatening to remove the “legacy” checkmarks that confirmed the identities of users like government officials, corporations, journalists, celebrities and other high-profile tweeters. Now Musk may follow through:…
Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook gave a show of support for China as a market and manufacturing base during a visit to Beijing Saturday, even as trade and tech sector tensions escalate between the United States and the world’s second-largest economy. As reported on CNN, Apple and China had “grown together” over the past three…
Nearly three years after the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok if its Chinese owner didn’t sell the company to American investors, the video app is once again facing an existential threat. On Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Chew appeared before US lawmakers, many of whom want the app banned in the United States because of…
Huawei’s newest foldable phone, the Mate X3, is an impressively thin and light book-style foldable phone. It was unveiled Thursday alongside the non-foldable flagship P60 series. The Mate X3 has a 6.4-inch cover screen that unfolds to make way for a 7.85-inch inner screen. Despite the presence of two screens, the Mate X3 weighs 239…
As Elon Musk promised, Twitter’s previous blue check-mark verification regime will soon be history. As reported o Variety, the social network, which the mega-billionaire bought last year in a debt-heavy $44 billion deal, announced on Thursday that starting April 1, it will remove the verified check-mark status of accounts that Twitter had been verified as…
New rules from the US government could soon let Americans more easily cancel free trials and subscriptions they no longer want, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The proposed rule change announced would apply to vast swaths of the US economy, covering both digital and physical subscriptions. Products subject to the new rule would include…
Job listing website Indeed.com will cut approximately 2,200 employees, representing almost 15% of its total workforce, the company has announced, as reported on CNN. “The cuts come from nearly every team, function, level and region,” at the company, CEO Chris Hyams said in a memo released by the company. “The specific decisions on who and…
China said it would “firmly oppose” any forced sale of TikTok, in its first direct response to demands by the Biden administration that the app’s Chinese owners sell their share of the company or face a ban in its most important market. As reported on CNN, the comments came as TikTok CEO Shou Chew testified…
PepsiCo has announced a $216 million multi-year investment in long-term, strategic partnership agreements with three of the most well-respected farmer-facing organizations – Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI), Soil and Water Outcomes Fund (SWOF), and the IL Corn Growers Association (ICGA) – to drive adoption of regenerative agriculture practices across the United States. The combined impact…
In a bid to increase the impact of African women entrepreneurs, the Coca-Cola Foundation has partnered with Women in Africa (WIA) through the JAMII Femmes initiative to support 20,000 women-led businesses across African countries. As reported on The Guardian, the initiative is expected to boost business creation opportunities by improving access to vocational training, networks,…
Accenture plans to slash 19,000 jobs worldwide as it attempts to cut costs amid a gloomy economic picture. The Irish-American professional services company said in a Thursday filing that it would spend $1.2 billion in severance to cut 2.5% of its workforce over the next 18 months, and another $300 million to consolidate its office…
Old-school advertising agency WPP has today moved to bolster its status in the social media space by acquiring an influencer marketing agency whose co-founder last year criticised the conglomerate’s digital strategy. The marketing behemoth founded by Sir Martin Sorrell acquired Goat from private equity fund Inflexion for an undisclosed fee. Founded in 2015 and based…
One of the greatest tales of marketing and sponsorships is perhaps the legendary partnership between Nike and Michael Jordan. In 1984, Jordan was a rookie on his way to the NBA, still relatively unknown nor was anyone quite aware of his success to come… except Nike. The sporting goods company took a major chance at…
Private firms are making increased profits as the government pays millions of pounds a day to put up asylum seekers in the UK, the BBC has learned. BBC News has been told 395 hotels are being used to house asylum seekers, as arrivals to the UK rose last year. Documents show one booking agency used…
Switzerland’s biggest bank, UBS, is in advanced talks to buy all or part of its troubled rival Credit Suisse. As reported on BBC, Credit Suisse is facing a crisis of confidence and its shares have fallen sharply in recent days, after it said it had found “material weakness” in its financial reporting. An emergency $54bn…
Last Friday, the biggest failure of a US bank since the global financial crisis was playing out in real time as a major lender to the tech industry succumbed to a classic bank run. Silicon Valley Bank’s customers were frantically pulling their money from the California-based lender before US regulators intervened to take control. But…
Amgen Inc (AMGN.O) said on Thursday it would cut 450 jobs, or less than 2% of its workforce, making it the company’s second round of layoffs this year amid intensifying pressure on drug prices and high inflation. “We made these changes to realign our expense base in the face of intensifying pressure on drug prices…
European Central Bank supervisors met to tackle growing cracks in the banking system on Friday after a $30 billion lifeline for U.S. lender First Republic Bank (FRC.N) eased fears of its imminent collapse. As reported on Reuters, large U.S. banks on Thursday swooped in to rescue the San Francisco-based bank, which was caught up in…
The telecommunications giant T-Mobile announced it’s buying the budget cell service provider Mint Mobile — best known for its ads with actor and part-owner Ryan Reynolds. The cash-and-stock deal, which includes two other brands, is worth $1.35 billion. As reported on NPR, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert said Wednesday that the company would use its size…
Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) said on Thursday it would borrow up to $54 billion from Switzerland’s central bank to shore up liquidity and investor confidence, after a slump in its shares had intensified fears about a global banking crisis. As reported on Reuters, the bank’s announcement, which came in the middle of the night in Zurich,…
A coalition representing the Maine lobster industry is suing an aquarium on the other side of the country for recommending that seafood customers avoid buying a variety of lobster mostly harvested in their state. Industry groups including Maine Lobstermen’s Association are suing the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California for defamation, arguing in a lawsuit filed…
Virgin Orbit is furloughing nearly all its employees and pausing operations for a week as it looks for a funding lifeline, people familiar with the matter told CNBC. As reported on CNBC, shares of Virgin Orbit fell about 33% in after-hours trading from its Wednesday close of $1.01 a share. The stock has slid steadily…
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs. As reported on BBC, this marks the second wave of mass redundancies from the tech giant, which laid off 11,000 employees last November. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the cuts – part of a “year of efficiency” – would be…
Electronics giant Samsung says it plans to invest around 300tn won ($230.8bn; £189.6bn) over 20 years in the South Korean government’s push to develop a mega semiconductor hub in the country. This will be put towards building five chip factories, the firm told the BBC. Samsung is the world’s biggest maker of memory chips, smartphones…
