Business, Financial & Legal - Page 55

Netflix will follow its competitors by offering a lower-cost subscription tier with advertisements.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings confirms the streamer plans to add new cheaper subscriptions with ads to stay competitive against its rivals. The strategy comes after Netflix lost over 203,000 subscribers in Q1 2022--the first loss in 11 years--and the company forecasts to lose another 2 million subs in Q2.

While Netflix hasn't concretely outlined its plans, Hastings says the new ad-based subscription tier will offer more consumer choice and highlights the benefits that ads have brought to Hulu, Peacock, HBO Max, and Disney.

Taipei-based Chinese Television Systems, a TV network that is partly owned by the Taiwanese government, had a ticker at the bottom of its screen at 7 AM local time on Wednesday alerting everyone that Taiwan had been invaded by China.

The graphic on Taiwan TV read: "New Taipei City has been hit by a Chinese Communist guided missile. Ships in Taipei Port have exploded, damaging facilities. Banqiao Station is reported to have been set on fire by explosives placed by special forces".

The Ministry of National Defense had asked municipal governments to include the Chinese invasion scenario in a video as part of an annual drill, Huang De-ching, commissioner of the New Taipei City Fire Department explained: "This is for the drill of national defense mobilization and disaster prevention. The Defense Department asked us to include the scenario of a China attack. So we have that scripted in the start of the video".

SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the richest individual on Earth, is attempting to buy Twitter and has reportedly shifted his strategy.

In a new report from the New York Post, Musk's previous offer to purchase Twitter for $43 billion has now resulted in Musk searching for financial backing in the deal. The new deal is described as "complex" and involves Musk putting forward $10 - $15 billion of his own money, which is a large increase from the $3.4 billion in Twitter stock he currently owns. A further $20 billion will come from outside investors who will together own more equity in Twitter than Musk.

While outside investors will own more equity in Twitter than Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO will still remain in control of the company being the single largest shareholder. Individuals close to the situation have told the New York Post that Musk is also willing to borrow against his current state in the company, which would raise additional funds if necessary.

Netflix has lost subscribers for the first time in 11 years and its stock is currently plummeting.

Netflix today reported disappointing Q1 results and subscription growth has dropped. The company lost 203,000 paid subscribers across its three most important worldwide regions, including the United States, EMEA, and Latin America.

Netflix now has 221.6 million active subscribers, down from the 221.8 million reported in Q4 2021, which was also a miss. The company attributes the loss to factors like account sharing, economical issues, COVID-19 disruptions, and worldwide problems like the war in Ukraine.

Twitter's board of directors will formally reject Elon Musk's $43 billion buyout offer, sources tell The Wall Street Journal.

Twitter's board has decided not to sell itself to tech magnate Elon Musk, and is instead prepared to shop around for another potential buyer. Leading buyout firm Apollo may support a separate buyout by offering equity to another bidder.

It's believed that Twitter's board has put the company "in play" by declining Musk's offer and now has one sole responsibility: To take a deal that maximizes shareholder value.

A Kentucky man has been awarded $450,000 in a lawsuit that he won over an unwanted birthday party his company threw him.

The man is Kevin Berling, who filed a lawsuit against his company Gravity Diagnostics where he claimed that the company discriminated against him based on disabilities. The lawsuit was filed in Kentucky's Kenton County and explains that Berling suffers from anxiety disorders and previously requested his manager refrain from throwing him a surprise birthday party at the workplace as it could trigger a panic attack and traumatic childhood memories.

Gravity Diagnostics has denied that it has committed any wrongdoing despite staff still throwing him a surprise birthday in August 2019 that resulted in Berling having a panic attack and leaving to eat the remainder of his food in his car.

Privacy and social media experts have raised concerns about Elon Musk's attempt to privatize Twitter and its impact on user privacy.

A few days ago, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO put forward an offer of $43 billion to purchase 100% of Twitter's stock and convert the second largest social media platform into a privatized company. To recap past events, Musk originally purchased a 9.2% stake in Twitter in early April, causing Twitter's stock price to rise by 25% following Musk's purchase.

In a letter included in the SEC filing, Musk writes that if his offer isn't accepted, he will have to reconsider his position as a shareholder, which could be translated to "If you don't accept my offer, I will sell my position which may or may not cause Twitter's overall stock price to fall suddenly fall back to where it was before I purchased a position."

Elon Musk has launched a huge hostile takeover of Twitter, slamming down a $43 billion "best and final" offer for the second-largest social networking company in the world.

Musk explained in a letter sent to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor, disclosed in an SEC filing: "I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy".

"As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced. My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder".

Fortune has just released its annual list of the best companies to work for in 2022, with NVIDIA coming in the top 10 -- in fact, at #5 -- ahead of the likes of Capital One, and American Express.

Cisco takes the top spot, the second year in a row that the networking giant has been at the top, while Hilton comes in second, and Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. comes in third. Salesforce comes in fourth, and then NVIDIA is Fortune's #5 company to work for.

Michael C. Bush, CEO of Great Place to Work, a company that evaluates workplace culture said to Fortune: "Best Companies' leadership has never been more necessary. As workers struggle with the Great Resignation, burnout and COVID disruptions, these exceptional companies offer workplace experiences as strong as prior to the pandemic".

Intel is celebrating the grand opening of the gigantic new expansion of its D1X facility in Hillsboro, Oregon -- with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that saw senior government officials, community leaders, and more attend -- including Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said: "Since its founding, Intel has been devoted to relentlessly advancing Moore's Law. This new factory space will bolster our ability to deliver the accelerated process roadmap required to support our bold IDM 2.0 strategy. Oregon is the longtime heart of our global semiconductor R&D, and I can think of no better way to honor Gordon Moore's legacy than by bestowing his name on this campus, which, like him, has had such a tremendous role in advancing our industry".

The honoring of Gordon Moore -- the name behind "Moore's Law" -- is awesome, with the massive near-500-acre campus called Gordon Moore Park at Ronler Acres.

The simulation is playing up quite a bit today, with news breaking just now that SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk will NOT be joining Twitter's board of directors after he secured a huge 9.2% stake in the social networking giant.

Musk was all set to join the board of directors at Twitter, after his 9.2% stake saw him have 4x what Twitter ex-CEO Jack Dorsey owns... but now he won't be joining the board. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said on Sunday that Musk's decision was "for the best".

Agrawal didn't provide a reason as to why Musk wouldn't be joining the board, but it seems Twitter shareholders have concerns... the Twitter CEO added: "We have and will always value input from our shareholders whether they are on our board or not". Musk did mysteriously tweet out an emoji of a smiling face, with a hand covering its mouth -- you know, as like a giggle -- something is happening at Titter.

Two passengers who attempted to open the cabin doors while the plane was flying have been fined more than $75,000 each.

World War Z.

In a Friday press release, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) explained that two passengers have been sent fines of $81,950 and $77,272 after attempting to open cabin doors on an airplane while it was flying. The $81,950 fine came after the passenger attempted to attack a flight attendant and then proceeded to try to open the cabin door. Flight attendants tried to stop the passenger from opening the door and were repeatedly hit by the passenger, according to the release.

Facebook has been going through some rather large changes over the last few months, one of the biggest is rebranding itself "Meta" and then there is the news just hours ago of "Zuck Bucks" and now the social networking giant is reportedly getting into "more traditional financial services".

The news of Meta offering "more traditional financial services" comes from the Financial Times, with Meta putting a "focus on helping to provide small business loans at attractive rates", according to "several people familiar with the initiative" adds FT. The site said that while "nothing is immediately planned, the company had previously held discussions with potential lending partners".

Is it any wonder Facebook, sorry Meta, is getting into "more traditional financial services" given that Facebook parent company Meta lost over $230 billion in a single day, on February 3. Zuckerberg's company now has the title of the biggest US stock market drop in history... close to a quarter of a trillion dollars.

I think the simulation is real at this point -- within a single week, we've got SpaceX and Tesla boss and the world's largest troll Elon Musk buying a 9.2% stake in Twitter and joining the board of directors -- and now Facebook is reportedly working on "Zuck Bucks".

"Zuck Bucks" isn't some nightmare rumor but it seems to be real, according to a new Financial Times report, with Meta staffers reportedly calling the social networking giant's new virtual currency "Zuck Bucks" after CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

In the report, the Financial Report explained: "Instead, Meta is leaning towards introducing in-app tokens that would be centrally controlled by the company, similar to those used in gaming apps such as the Robux currency in popular children's game Roblox". It seems it won't just be the "Zuck Bucks" but also "social tokens" and "reputation tokens" that FT says "could be issued as rewards for meaningful contributions in Facebook groups, for example".

Elon Musk is moving at rapid speed into the inner core of Twitter, after news broke that the SpaceX and Tesla founder had purchased a huge 9.2% stake in Twitter.

This gives Musk new powers within the walls of Twitter and their powers that be, with a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) explaining: "The Company will appoint Mr. Musk to the Company's Board of Directors (the "Board") to serve as a Class II director with a term expiring at the Company's 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders".

"For so long as Mr. Musk is serving on the Board and for 90 days thereafter, Mr. Musk will not, either alone or as a member of a group, become the beneficial owner of more than 14.9% of the Company's common stock outstanding at such time, including for these purposes economic exposure through derivative securities, swaps, or hedging transactions".

Elon Musk owns a 9.2% stake in the second-largest social media company in the world -- Twitter -- sending Twitter shares up 25% when the news broke an hour ago.

A new filing shows that SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk owns 73.5 million Twitter shares, which are valued at around $2.9 billion. The shares are held by the Elon Musk Revocable Trust, of which Musk is the sole trustee.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note: "We would expect this passive stake as just the start of broader conversations with the Twitter board/management that could ultimately lead to an active stake and a potential more aggressive ownership role of Twitter".

Facebook's now parent company Meta has reportedly been funding an anti-TikTok campaign through one of the leading Republican consulting firms.

According to reports from the Washington Post, the consulting firm Facebook has been funding is Targeted Victory, which in 2020 managed to rake in $230 million, with its largest clients being groups such as the pro-Trump super PAC, America First Action. WAPO reports that Facebook has been paying Targeted Victory to run anti-TikTok campaigns that included planting op-eds and letters to editors to large newspapers across the US.

The report states that a Targeted Victory director instructed staff at the firm to "get the message out that while Meta is the current punching bag, TikTok is the real threat especially as a foreign owned app that is #1 in sharing data that young teens are using." Notably, Facebook decided to hire Targeted Victory only weeks after the platform announced that it was losing daily active users for the first time in its 18 year history.

If you ever wanted to have a pizza party and left your favorite checkerboard-themed handkerchief, the best place would be one of Jeffrey Epstein's private islands and some BFFs in Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey, John Podesta, and many others.

There are now two of Jeffrey Epstein's luxurious and most likely satanic private islands that are up for sale, according to listing agents, for a swift $125 million. The first of which is the larger of the two islands: Great St. James. which is over 160 acres, and is around 5 minutes across the bay from St. Thomas.

But then there's the infamous and definitely DNA-scrubbed Little St. James, which is over 70 acres and has its own helipad, a private dock, gas station, two pools, a main residential compound, four guest villas, three private beaches, a gym, and a tiki hut. I'm sure there is a lot more, and taking it all in will leave you frazzled.

A top US official has declared that Russia has failed at achieving its three main objectives with its invasion into Ukraine.

On Tuesday, National Security advisor Jake Sullivan said that Russia has "manifestly failed" with its "brutal" invasion into Ukraine, as it hasn't achieved its three main objectives of subjugating Ukraine, enhancing Russian power/prestige, and dividing and weakening the West. Adding that the failure of its three main objectives has actually had the opposite effect.

Sullivan went on to recognize the perseverance of the Ukrainian people defending their country and refusing to submit to Russian invaders. Adding that the Russian military has suffered heavy losses against Ukraine's defenses, and according to the US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the invasion has "essentially stalled" after the Kremlin's "abysmal performance".

Reports indicate that Russia is transporting dead and wounded soldiers to Belarus in an attempt to cover up the true number of deals in Ukraine.

RadioFreeEurope has reported that eyewitnesses have seen the morgue in Mazyr, Belarus is currently overflowing with corpses, and that hospitals in the surrounding area are being bombarded with wounded Russian soldiers. Additionally, an eyewitness alleged that "black sacks" are also being loaded from Russian military ambulances onto Russian railway cars.

"Passengers at the Mazyr train station were shocked by the number of corpses being loaded on the train. After people started shooting video, the military caught them and ordered them to remove it," the eyewitness told the media outlet. BusinessInsider reports that Russia is conducting this corpse and wounded soldier transportation secretly, which coincides with Moscow's attempt at concealing the true death toll number. The last time Russia stated how many soldiers it had lost was on March 2, when it stated it had lost 500 troops.