Business, Financial & Legal News - Page 101

It looks like things could go from (really) bad to unbelievably bad when it comes to the flow-on effects of coronavirus COVID-19.

Coronavirus could crash the entire US housing market causing trillions of dollars in damage, and affecting hundreds of millions of Americans. The latest data from Google Trends is a big indicator towards this, with Google searches of "unemployment benefits" shoot up.

As you can see from the Google Trends data on US-based users searches for "Unemployment Benefits" it has skyrocketed in the last week or so. But the issue is, it's not just searches for "unemployment benefits" that is concerning, because "can't pay rent" searches are surging, too.

The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) says that COVID-19 coronavirus, and the closures of countless schools worldwide, will have an affect on 776 million children.

UNESCO explains: "an unprecedented number of children, youth and adults are not attending schools or universities because of COVID-19". Governments in 100 countries have announced, or already implemented closures of schools -- where in 85 countries, schools nationwide have been completely closed, which has affected 776.7 million children.

There's no an updated list of digital education tools from UNESCO, something that includes digital learning management systems like ClassDojo and Google Classroom. There are also apps that have been designed for smart featurephones including KaiOS, and software with offline compatibility with Can't Wait to Learn, Kolibri, Rumie, and Ustad Mobile.

Uber is doing what it can to respond to the coronavirus outbreak, and it has recently announced its battle plan that is aimed at helping many restaurants.

Uber has announced that it will be launching daily marketing campaigns to push Uber Eats customers into purchasing food from local restaurants. On top of that, Uber has also said that it will waiver delivery fees from over 100,000 local restaurants in the United States and Canada. The goodness doesn't stop there, though. Uber will also be allowing restaurants to choose daily payments to Uber Eats instead of normal weekly payments.

There will also be 300,000 free meals that can be claimed by first responders and healthcare workers on Uber Eats. For workers that are currently participating in keeping local restaurants afloat, Uber is offering two weeks of pay to drivers and delivery people who have unfortunately tested positive for COVID-19. Uber also recommends that it's customers select the 'non-contact' delivery to minimize the chance of the virus spreading.

Apple is being slapped with fines left, right, and center recently, and now another billion-dollar fine has been slid across the company's desk. This time it's for engaging in anti-competitive agreements with wholesalers.

According to a report for The Guardian, Apple has been fined a staggering 1.1bn EURO ($1.2 billion USD) by French antitrust regulators for engaging in anti-competitive agreements with two wholesalers. Isabelle de Silva, the head of Autorite de la Concurrence, the watchdog for competition, said: "Apple and its two wholesalers agreed to not compete against each other and prevent resellers from promoting competition between each other, thus sterilising the wholesale market for Apple products."

The two companies that Apple worked closely with are Tech Data, and Ingram Micro. Both of these companies were also slapped with fines, Tech Data received a 76 million EURO fine ($84 million USD), and Ingram Micro received a 63 million EURO ($70 million USD) fine. The French regulator said that Apple aligned its prices with wholesalers, and selectively distributed stock to favored wholesalers. Apple also reportedly gave more stock to select wholesalers when products launched.

We are all well aware of COVID-19 coronavirus right now, with entire cities in lock down, schools being shut, borders being closed -- and while it feels like it's the end of the world, I feel fine -- just like R.E.M. did in its 1987 hit song 'It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)'.

R.E.M's massive 1987 hit is once again on the charts now in 2020, where it has turned up in the top songs list on iTunes, where on Monday it was at #41. It has been 33 years since the release of R.E.M.'s It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) but with the recent outbreak of COVID-19 coronavirus, it is back on the charts as people are listening to it en masse.

Not only that, but funnily enough the US box office has been sinking as cinema attendance has been so low, so much so that it hasn't been this bad since 1995 -- coincidentally, since the year Outbreak was released. Outbreak, was a movie about a disease outbreak -- right at a time of the COVID-19 coronavirus frenzy. And now? R.E.M.'s hit It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).

The US box office has experienced its worst weekend in 25 years, which coincidentally just so happens to be the year that Outbreak was released: 1995. Just in case you don't remember Outbreak, I've got the trailer embedded below:

It looks like all that social distancing with cinema chains like AMC Theaters implementing new procedures, along with advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommending social gatherings of over 500 people end, with CDC's new guidelines recommending just 50 people or less now.

COVID-19 coronavirus has forced US box office numbers into worrying lows, with the top 10 movies combined making just $50.3 million. This is the lowest for weekend 11 of the year since March 17-19, 1995 -- the year Outbreak was leading the US box office.

Starbucks has joined the growing list of companies implementing procedures to enable social distancing over COVID-19 coronavirus, with the retail coffee shop giant temporarily enabling a "to go" model in all of its US and Canadian stores.

The company will end seating in all of its US and Canada-based Starbucks stores, which will include both indoor and patio areas for the next 2 weeks. In its place, Starbucks will use its own app for ordering ahead of time -- and then depending on the store, walking up to the counter and picking it up, delivery, or drive thru.

Starbucks will physically close its stores in places like schools and shopping malls where "high-social gathering" occurs. Starbucks EVP Rossann Williams explained in a statement: "As we all know, the situation with COVID-19 is extremely dynamic and we will continue to review the facts and science and make the proactive decisions necessary to protect our partners, customers and communities. Every community's needs are incredibly different. We want to make sure we play a constructive role by taking responsible actions, in partnership with the CDC and local public health authorities, so we can continue to do what's right for our partners and customers".

Bill Gates has just announced he is stepping down from the board of directors at Microsoft, with co-founder and ex-CEO of the company pushing more into his philanthropic efforts.

Back in 2008, Gates walked away from his full-time position at Microsoft in order to pursue his philanthropy wishes, but has now stepped down from the board of directors in a similar way. In a press release over the news, it stated Gates will "dedicate more time to his philanthropic efforts".

Bill Gates will stay on with Microsoft as a "technology advisor" to the current CEO, Satya Nadella.

Pornhub has stepped up for Italians that are currently in lockdown throughout the country over COVID-19 coronavirus, offering Italians free premium subscriptions for free.

Yeah, Pornhub knows that millions of Italians are sitting on their hands right now -- and wants those hands elsewhere. They won't even need credit cards to get the Pornhub premium goodness, while the company will also be donating some of its proceeds from Modelhub, which is Pornhub's subsidiary that helps creators sell content, to local hospitals.

Pornhub explains: "Pornhub has decided to donate its Modelhub March revenue to help Italy overcome the emergency. To keep you company at home during these weeks, you'll be able to access Pornhub Premium for free for the whole month, with no need for a credit card".

Bitcoin has dropped by a very dramatic 40% overnight, from its 2020 highs of over $10,000 down to 2020 lows of under $4600 -- but so too is the stock market, and here: Apple.

Apple (APPL) stock has dropped by 11% down to $243 at the time of writing, down from its 2020 high of $327. This means that Apple has dropped from its huge share price highs of $327 on February 12 and a huge $1.432 trillion ($1,432,000,000,000) market cap, to now just $243 and a market cap of $1.065 trillion ($1,065,000,000,000).

Apple isn't the only one experiencing huge drops in their share prices, with most tech giants including Microsoft and Amazon experiencing huge drops and hundreds of billions of dollars wiped away. No tech company is safe, with travel companies and the travel industry in general bottoming out in slow motion right now with most people not wanting to travel over COVID-19 / coronavirus fears.