Business, Financial & Legal News - Page 40

All the latest Business, Financial & Legal news as it relates to tech, gaming, and science - Page 40.

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Elon Musk says his taxes are automatically audited every year

Jak Connor | Aug 13, 2022 1:31 AM CDT

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken to Twitter to post a meme poking fun at the number of new agents the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is hiring.

Elon Musk says his taxes are automatically audited every year

Musk took to his personal Twitter account last night to share a meme that pokes fun at the purportedly debunked claims that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will be hiring 87,000 new tax agents with its new $80 billion in funding received through the Inflation Reduction Act.

Many outlets such as BusinessInsider have written that these claims were debunked, but it has been proven that the IRS will be hiring a substantial number of new employees to improve taxpayer services as well as assist law enforcement with tax evasion from wealthy individuals and large companies. According to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, who wrote a letter to the Senate in August, the IRS has fewer front-line experienced examiners in the field than at any time since World War II, while also having fewer employees than at any time since the 1970s.

Continue reading: Elon Musk says his taxes are automatically audited every year (full post)

Google data center explosion injures workers just before Google outage

Adam Hunt | Aug 11, 2022 5:34 AM CDT

Google went down earlier this week for a brief period, with Google claiming it was due to a software update.

Google data center explosion injures workers just before Google outage

Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Images were all affected when Google's search engine went down, with thousands of people across over 40 countries reporting outages. According to a Google spokesperson, "a software update issue" led to the "briefly affected availability of Google search and Maps," but they "worked to quickly address the issue and our services are now back online."

Notably, an accident had occurred only hours prior at a Google data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in which an "electrical incident" seriously injured three electricians working onsite. They were all transported to a local hospital with burns but are now in stable condition. According to Google, the incident is unrelated to its outage later that day and into the next.

Continue reading: Google data center explosion injures workers just before Google outage (full post)

CHIPS Act signed: future CPU + GPU to get stamped with Made in the USA

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 10, 2022 6:50 PM CDT

The US has been dependent on making chips with other countries for a very long time: Apple, AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and many others may be US companies, but they fab their chips overseas... mostly with TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company).

CHIPS Act signed: future CPU + GPU to get stamped with Made in the USA

But when President Donald Trump was in the White House, he wanted to bring manufacturing, jobs, and fab plants back to US soil. Today, the fruits of that labor have now been inked: a $280 billion package that includes $52 billion to inject US domestic semiconductor manufacturing with the CHIPS and Science Act signed into law.

Biden tweeted: "Today, I sign into law the CHIPS and Science Act. It's a once-in-a-generation law that invests in America by supercharging our efforts to make semiconductors here at home. Today represents a more secure economy, jobs, and a stronger future for our nation. America is delivering".

Continue reading: CHIPS Act signed: future CPU + GPU to get stamped with Made in the USA (full post)

Former Twitter employee busted and found guilty for spying

Jak Connor | Aug 10, 2022 12:33 AM CDT

A former Twitter employee is facing up to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of spying on behalf of the Saudi government.

Former Twitter employee busted and found guilty for spying

According to a recent report from Bloomberg, former Twitter employee Ahmad Abouammo worked with another Twitter employee Ali Alazabarah to collect personal information on Twitter users based on their interests in 2015. The Saudi government offered both of the then-Twitter employee's cash and luxury goods for providing them with any of their requested data, with Alzabarah eventually fleeing to Saudi Arabia to avoid any trial.

Abouammo wasn't so lucky. During the trial, the prosecution argued that Abouammo was recruited by a high-ranking member of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman's regime to spy on any enemies of the state, and during his recruitment, Abouammo gathered and sent back personal information such as birthdates, email addresses phones numbers and more. As for Abouammo's defense, they argued that the former Twitter employee only accessed that information when he was performing his regular work duties.

Continue reading: Former Twitter employee busted and found guilty for spying (full post)

Elon Musk sells billions in Tesla stock to prepare for Twitter

Jak Connor | Aug 10, 2022 12:05 AM CDT

It has recently been revealed in Tesla regulatory filings that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has sold 7.92 million Tesla shares that is worth multiple billions.

Elon Musk sells billions in Tesla stock to prepare for Twitter

The 7.92 shares that have now been sold are worth around $6.88 billion, with the weighted average share price being $869.09 and the sales occurring on August 5, August 8, and August 9. Musk was asked if he was "done selling" on Twitter, and he replied that he was finished selling and needed the money in case Twitter forced the deal between Musk and the second largest social media platform to "close." Musk prefaced the preparation tactic by writing that it's "hopefully unlikely" that Twitter will force the deal to close.

Notably, the possibility of Twitter forcing a closure of the deal isn't the only reason Musk sold his Tesla stock, as there is always the possibility of "some equity partners" not being able to "come through" with their promised amount of funding. Furthermore, Musk explains that it's better for him to sell his stock now "to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock". A Twitter user asked Musk if the Twitter deal doesn't close, will he be repurchasing Tesla stock - Musk answered by writing "yes".

Continue reading: Elon Musk sells billions in Tesla stock to prepare for Twitter (full post)

NVIDIA GeForce GPU sales drop 44% pulling Q2 2022 revenue down with it

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 9, 2022 6:30 PM CDT

NVIDIA has posted its preliminary Q2 2022 financial results, showing us that GeForce GPU revenues "declined significantly".

NVIDIA GeForce GPU sales drop 44% pulling Q2 2022 revenue down with it

The numbers are so bad that NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang himself said that NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics card sales "declined significantly". Jensen continued: "Our gaming product sell-through projections declined significantly as the quarter progressed, As we expect the macroeconomic conditions affecting sell-through to continue, we took actions with our Gaming partners to adjust channel prices and inventory".

Gaming revenues were at $2.04 billion, down 44% quarter-over-quarter and down 33% year-over-year... seeing the data center revenue taking the top spot once again with $3.81 billion in revenue, up 1% quarter-over-quarter, but NVIDIA has been doing well there with the data center revenues up 61% year-over-year.

Continue reading: NVIDIA GeForce GPU sales drop 44% pulling Q2 2022 revenue down with it (full post)

Couple scam homeless man out of $400,000 raised through GoFundMe

Jak Connor | Aug 9, 2022 12:32 AM CDT

In 2017 Mark D'Amico from New Jersey and his then-girlfriend Katelyn McClure set up a GoFundMe page for a homeless man Jonny Bobbit.

Couple scam homeless man out of $400,000 raised through GoFundMe

Bobbit, D'Amico, McClure.

The GoFundMe page was titled "Paying it Forward" claimed that Bobbit helped a stranded McClure and filled up a gas can with his last $20 and that the couple wanted to raise money for Bobbit to pay the good deed forward. The campaign took off on social media and raised much more than the $10,000 goal, with the couple saying they were planning on helping Bobbit rent a home and purchase a reliable car, while also claiming that any leftover funds would be for charity. The campaign soared past the $10,000 mark and reached a whopping $402,706.

Continue reading: Couple scam homeless man out of $400,000 raised through GoFundMe (full post)

FBI raids Donald Trump's house in Mar-a-Lago, broke into his safe

Anthony Garreffa | Aug 8, 2022 9:43 PM CDT

President Donald Trump's home in Mar-a-Lago has just been raided by the FBI, with FBI agents searching his home and reportedly finding classified material in 15 boxes at his mansion in Florida.

FBI raids Donald Trump's house in Mar-a-Lago, broke into his safe

The FBI raid was first reported by Florida Politics, confirming that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had raided and searched President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate as "part of an investigation into whether he took classified records from the White House to his Florida residence" reports Florida Politics, the author: Associated Press.

The raid was confirmed by multiple outlets and personalities in the US, with the investigation seeking whether the former president kept classified documents at his personal residence. Trump's attorney, Christina Bobb, said that the FBI did indeed seize documents: "President Trump and his legal team have been cooperative with FBI and DOJ officials every step of the way. The FBI did conduct an unannounced raid and seized paper".

Continue reading: FBI raids Donald Trump's house in Mar-a-Lago, broke into his safe (full post)

Elon Musk explains government backlash for smoking weed on Joe Rogan

Jak Connor | Aug 5, 2022 3:08 AM CDT

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has sat down for an interview where he explained the backlash he received from the US government over smoking weed on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

Elon Musk explains government backlash for smoking weed on Joe Rogan

Musk recently sat down with the Full Send Podcast to discuss various topics, and throughout the interview, the Tesla CEO recounted the backlash he experienced for smoking weed on the Joe Rogan Experience episode #1169 in 2018. Musk said that he "got a lot of backlash" as the drug is "still federally illegal", which resulted in him being required to have many random drug tests to "prove that I'm not a drug addict".

Musk was asked who required him to have these drug tests, and he replied by saying, "the federal government because SpaceX has federal government contracts, and it's still illegal federally, so SpaceX competitors were like 'why aren't you doing anything.'" Notably, Musk said the government randomly drug tested him "for everything" over the course of a year and that the overall consequences of that action weren't good for him or SpaceX as the whole company was also required to have random drug tests.

Continue reading: Elon Musk explains government backlash for smoking weed on Joe Rogan (full post)

Elon Musk responds to rumors about building his own US airport

Jak Connor | Aug 5, 2022 2:46 AM CDT

Elon Musk has responded to reports claiming that he is going to build his own private airport in the state of Texas.

Elon Musk responds to rumors about building his own US airport

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has taken to Twitter to refute the claims from mysanantonio.com that wrote that Musk is developing a plan to construct a private airport near Bastrop. The publication cites reports that the idea is in a conceptual phase, with there being no official timeline for its construction laid out. Now, Musk has taken to Twitter to respond to the rumors by simply saying they are "untrue."

Musk explains in a tweet that the Tesla facility is "5 mins" from the Austin International airport and that it would be "silly to build another private airport". The world's richest man did poke some fun at the Austin International airport by writing that it needs to add another runway due to the speed of Austin growing fast with many individuals, companies, and businesses rushing to the growing location.

Continue reading: Elon Musk responds to rumors about building his own US airport (full post)