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☆ Metaverse-obsessed Mark Zuckerberg refuses to cut costs. It's no wonder the stock tanked
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Club holding Meta Platforms (META) reported mixed third-quarter results and weak forward guidance after the closing bell Wednesday. While beating expectations, revenue for Q3 dropped 4% to $27.71 billion. As for profitability, Family of Apps operating income came in at $9.34 billion, short versus expectations of $9.65 billion. Facebook Global Average Revenue per User (ARPU): $9.41 versus expectations of $9.83. Capital expenditures (capex) guidance was tightened to a range of $32 billion to $33 billion versus $30 billion to $34 billion previously forecast and above the $30.41 billion consensus.

☆ HSBC ditches its cost-cut tsar before job is done
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Liam Proud | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Oct 25 (Reuters Breakingviews) - HSBC (HSBA.L), (0005.HK) boss Noel Quinn is getting rid of a cost-cutting finance chief, Ewen Stevenson, while his skills are still in need. The former Royal Bank of Scotland chief financial officer and Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) banker only started as HSBC CFO in January 2019. HSBC has so far managed to axe about $4.9 billion of gross annual expenses under a programme launched in early 2020. To keep HSBC’s investors happy, Elhedery will have to do his best impersonation of the bank’s outgoing cost-cutting tsar. Reuters GraphicsFollow @liamwardproud on TwitterloadingCONTEXT NEWSHSBC on Oct. 25 appointed Georges Elhedery as chief financial officer.

☆ UK consumers remain close to gloomiest on record - GfK
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Confidence among British consumers remained close to the lowest level on record this month with households facing double-digit inflation, rising interest rates and political chaos, survey showed on Friday. Market research firm GfK's consumer confidence index rose to -47 from -49 in September which was its weakest level since the survey was launched in 1974. They are now facing the likelihood of tax rises and even austerity measures," Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, said. "Consumers, like governments, are just as capable of U-turns, and today's economic headwinds indicate a long hard winter," Staton said. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterWriting by William Schomberg, editing by Andy BruceOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The US is spending billions to boost chip manufacturing. Will it be enough?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

US-based fabs, or chip manufacturing plants, currently only account for 12% of the world’s modern semiconductor manufacturing capacity, according to data from the Semiconductor Industry Association trade group. Some 75% of the world’s modern chip manufacturing is now concentrated in East Asia – a majority of that in geopolitically-vulnerable Taiwan. Now, simply having the facilities already set up to produce or expand chip manufacturing gives Asia a big advantage. This is not yet the case in places like Arizona and Ohio, where plans to build massive chip manufacturing plants are already underway. If not, even the billions of dollars committed by the private and public sector may not be enough to reshore semiconductor manufacturing.

☆ A Tudor-tinged library at Cambridge University designed to last for 400 years has been crowned Britain's best new building
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Cambridge University library has been awarded a prestigious prize as Britain's best new building. download the app Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyA library at Cambridge University designed to last for 400 years has been named as Britain's best new building. The interior of Magdalene College library. It replaces the "cramped" study spaces from the 17th century Grade I-listed Pepys Library. Nick KaneMagdalene College, one of 31 colleges forming Cambridge University, was founded in 1542 by Lord Audley.

JPMorgan & Chase (JPM.N), Citigroup, Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) and BNY Mellon act as depositary banks for most Russian depositary receipt programs, according to Clearstream. In statements to clients, some banks cited difficulties verifying there are enough shares to execute cancellations of depositary receipts. For example, BNY Mellon cited such a difficulty with Global Depositary Receipts in Russian gas company Novatek. While depositary receipts are under custody of global banks, the shares they represent are parked in Russia. Investors are meanwhile discussing ways online to meet the Russian requirements and how to pay fees to Russian banks.

☆ Tucker Carlson hosts Tulsi Gabbard after she quits the Democratic Party. Good riddance.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Max Burns | Max Burns Is A Democratic Strategist | Founder Of Third Degree Strategies. Find Him On Twitter | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Just three years ago, then-Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard stood on the Democratic presidential debate stage and pitched herself as a leader committed to moving the party forward. That Gabbard is tough to square with the bitter also-ran who told the world on Twitter on Tuesday morning that she was officially leaving the Democratic Party. Gabbard’s minute-long good riddance video might have been a bigger media surprise had she not spent much of the last two years savaging the Democratic Party and drifting relentlessly rightward. Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta was more succinct in his snark, tweeting, “Wait, Tulsi Gabbard was a Democrat?”Gabbard’s reasons for leaving read like a typical Tucker Carlson monologue. On Wednesday, just a day after announcing her departure from the Democratic Party, Gabbard announced the launch of “The Tulsi Gabbard Show” on Apple Podcasts.

☆ Sterling falls for a fifth day; turmoil dogs the bond market
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Amanda Cooper | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

LONDON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - The pound fell for a fifth day on Tuesday as the turmoil engulfing UK government bond markets forced the Bank of England to step in yet again to attempt to stem a damaging sell-off in the country's debt. Sterling fell 0.3% to $1.1036, and was also down 0.3% versus the euro at 88.00 pence. If you have a look at the population of holders of long-dated UK assets - anything that is 15-20 years - it's mostly domestic funds," ADM Investor Services Chief Economist Marc Ostwald said. The pound promptly nosedived and the gilts market went into a tailspin, putting pension funds at risk of insolvency. But sterling's problems extend beyond the liquidity crunch in the gilts market.

☆ UK needs 62 billion pounds of cuts or tax rises to tame debt - IFS
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( David Milliken | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Interest rates for new long-term government borrowing leapt to a 20-year high last month, after Kwarteng announced 45 billion pounds of unfunded tax cuts, on top of even greater short-term support for households' and businesses' energy bills. "The Chancellor should not rely on over-optimistic growth forecasts or promises of unspecified spending cuts. British government borrowing looks on course to hit 194 billion pounds this financial year and to still be 103 billion pounds in 2026/27 - 71 billion more than government forecasters predicted in March, the IFS said. COSTLY DEBTDebt interest would cost 106 billion pounds this year and 103 billion pounds in 2023/24, the IFS predicted, due to the large amount of finance raised in years gone by through issuing bonds that pay interest that rises as inflation goes up. "Such spending cuts could be done, but would be far from easy," the IFS said.

☆ UK needs 62 billion pounds of cuts or tax rises to tame debt -IFS
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( David Milliken | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

☆ Gov. Kemp says suggesting the Atlanta Braves change their name is 'woke cancel culture,' but Native Americans have found Indian mascots offensive for decades
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-03 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Brian Kemp said calls to change the Atlanta Braves' name are "woke cancel culture." The White House said Monday that it's "important" to talk about the offensive team name. Native American activists have been fighting to change sports mascots and team names for decades. Many Native American leaders and groups have said they find the action offensive. According to the Ferris State University Jim Crow Museum, team mascots, phrases, and other traditions that reference Native Americans reinforce harmful stereotypes to non-Native people.

LONDON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - HSBC will undertake a review of whether to keep its global headquarters in London's Canary Wharf financial district, according to a memo sent to staff and seen by Reuters on Thursday. The bank said it had decided to undertake a review "of the best future location in London" ahead of its lease expiring at the 45-floor tower at 8 Canada Square in early 2027. The bank said the review would include the option of staying and renovating the tower, adding it would keep its global headquarters in London. HSBC has occupied 8 Canada Square - which is one of the tallest buildings in Canary Wharf and bears the bank's name - since 2002. It has been home to up to around 8,000 HSBC employees, some of whom refer to it as the 'Tower of Doom'.

A source at the Treasury said Kwarteng had no plans to resign or reverse any policies. DO THINGS DIFFERENTLYBritain's first Black Chancellor, Kwarteng is the son of Ghanaian immigrants. In Kwarteng, Truss picked a key ideological ally with whom she co-wrote a book that spells out a low tax, small state, deregulated vision of Britain. One other aspect that raised investor ire was Kwarteng's decision to release a fiscal plan without the accompanying scrutiny of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility. Kwarteng will set out a medium term fiscal plan alongside OBR forecasts on the scale of government borrowing on Nov. 23.

☆ Nancy Pelosi's congressional stock trading ban has a massive blind trust loophole and is too broad, ethics experts warn
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

But ethics experts say the bill has a major loophole when it comes to blind trusts, and is too broad. Broadly speaking, a blind trust is a financial arrangement wherein people turn over their assets to be managed by an independent entity to prevent a conflict of interest. Several previously-introduced bills to ban stock trading allow for lawmakers to place their stocks into a blind trust, rather than fully selling off existing stock holdings. "You'd be able to create any kind of a trust you want to, put anything you want into it, and call it a blind trust, even though there wouldn't actually be any way to prove that it is, in fact, a blind trust." Payne also said the blind trust loophole was a "small risk," but that in an optimistic scenario, "that language allows this law to grow for future circumstances that you just can't be prepared for."

☆ More layoffs hit CNN as CEO Chris Licht sets strategy and shuffles talent across the organization
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Lucia Moses | Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

CNN is laying off a small number of people in its audio division. A company rep said audio remains an important area for the company and that it's refining its strategy. CNN is laying off people in its audio division, according to affected staffers. One product manager posted on LinkedIn that their position had been eliminated and that the company told staff it planned to produce fewer audio series in 2023. "Audio is an important growth area for the company," the CNN rep said.

☆ Goldman Sachs' bankers get their marching orders as Wall Street starts to purge under-performers
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Aaron Weinman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The cuts come after Goldman's investment bank logged a 41% dip in year-over-year revenues in July. Goldman Sachs has started wielding the axe at its investment bank. The job cuts are likely to echo across Wall Street, particularly within investment-banking divisions like capital markets and M&A advisory, bankers told me. US lawmakers pressed bank chief executives on reports of fraud on the Zelle payments network. Wall Street is completely delusional about the pain that is coming for the stock market.

☆ Here's how Dude Wipes cofounder got his startup on track to make $90 million in sales this year after making the 'biggest mistake' CPGs can make
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Dude Wipes expanded into deodorant and body wash — something the brand now says was the wrong move. In 2019, the founders of Dude Wipes took what they thought was a major step forward: They extended their brand from solely toilet wipes into body wash and deodorant. So far, Dude Products has eschewed most investors. When COVID struck, demand for the brand's signature Dude Wipes took off. "When the toilet-paper rush happened, everybody's buying as many Dude Wipes as they can get from us," Riley said.

☆ A controversial ALS drug potentially worth $1 billion is on the cusp of FDA approval. It could change Amylyx's fortunes and be a much-needed treatment for the rare disease.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( Yeji Jesse Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The FDA may soon approve a new treatment for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. If approved, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals's drug, AMX0035, will be a new treatment option for patients. A new drug for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, is on the cusp of approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. The association said that treatment has the support of the larger ALS community and urged the FDA to "swiftly approve" AMX0035. By comparison, there are around 30,000 ALS patients in the US, meaning reimbursing AMX0035 would pose a much lighter burden on the CMS.

☆ Buy European, CEO of Airbus Helicopters urges military leaders
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Tim Hepher | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/File PhotoMARIGNANE, France, Sept 22 (Reuters) - The head of Airbus Helicopters (AIR.PA) has urged Europe to back its domestic defence industry when launching major new military programmes, as a row simmers over U.S. arms imports. Airbus Helicopters is marking 30 years since it was born through a Franco-German merger prompted by the development of the original Tiger version, sponsored initially by France and Germany and later Spain. While it competes with Boeing and Leonardo (LDOF.MI) on attack helicopters, Airbus agreed earlier this year to maintain H-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters sold by Boeing to Germany. But he laid down a marker that Airbus would fight for future replacements of core programmes like the NH-90. Airbus has teamed up with Leonardo to research technology to be fed into the NGRC programme, backed by the European Union's European Defence Fund.

☆ Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav faces 3 key challenges as financial headwinds disrupt his strategy and threaten his promises to Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

MoffettNathanson analyst Robert Fishman crystallized the daunting task ahead for Zaslav and WBD in his August 5 report "Reality First. The honeymoon was short-lived," said one senior Hollywood insider. It turns out there are five, housing some 40,000 employees globally: Warner Bros., HBO Max, the Turner entertainment channel business, CNN, and Discovery. The WBD insider said there isn't a rush to hire a new chief and that the company will continue to meet people. Under the ownership of AT&T, WarnerMedia's financials were buried in its parent's spreadsheets — now as a pure-play entertainment company, Warner Bros.

☆ Adam Kinzinger warns that a GOP-led House could try to impeach Biden every week
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Adam Kinzinger said a GOP-majority Congress might try to impeach the president every week. "That's going to look like child's play in terms of what Marjorie Taylor Greene is going to demand of Kevin McCarthy," Kinzinger said, referring to the House Minority leader. "They're going to demand an impeachment vote on President Biden every week," he quipped. Kinzinger appeared to be referring to how Greene, a right-wing lawmaker from Georgia, has made impeaching Biden part of her official platform. "I think it'll be a very difficult majority for him to govern unless he just chooses to go absolutely crazy with them," said Kinzinger, referring to his far-right GOP colleagues.

☆ Disturbing video shows man with an ax ‘menacing’ customers at New York McDonald’s
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-18 | by ( Francesca Gariano | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

A man in New York City was arrested Friday and accused of “menacing” customers at a McDonald’s, including using a small ax, police said. The man in the video appears to then remove his backpack and pull out what appears to be a small ax. He then approaches several patrons but does not appear to inflict any injury using the ax. At the end of the video, after he punches a patron and approaches several others with the ax, the man appears to leave with his bicycle. “The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority,” McDonald’s restaurant owner-operator Paul Hendel told "TODAY" in a statement.

GAZA, Sept 18 (Reuters) - An ornate Byzantine floor mosaic showing a variety of colourful birds and other animals has been discovered by chance in Gaza after a Palestinian farmer tried to plant new trees on his land. Trying to figure out why some trees had not properly taken root, Nabahin said he and his son began digging. 1/5 Palestinian farmer Salman al-Nabahin cleans a mosaic floor he discovered at his farm and which dates back to the Byzantine era, according to officials, in the central Gaza Strip September 18, 2022. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa Read MoreThe Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said the flooring included several mosaic panels depicting animals and other features of social life during the Byzantine era. But due to a lack of funds and relevant professionals, Gaza has usually invited international groups to help with the process of excavation and preservation.

☆ Zillow just laid off another 300 people as its downsizing continues. Here are 42 other real estate and mortgage firms that have slashed staff during a brutal time for the industry.
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-20 | by ( Alex Nicoll | Robert Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Many layoffs have been at firms focused on mortgages and residential real estate services. Every segment of the real-estate industry, including proptech innovators that concoct new ways to buy and sell real estate and traditional mortgage brokers, is vulnerable to rising interest rates. The downsizing began in the mortgage industry with Better's Zoom layoffs at the end of last year. Some of the latest and notable casualties came from real estate marketplace giant Zillow, consumer lender Finance of America, and international vacation rental company Vacasa. Do you know of other real estate tech or mortgage-related layoffs?

☆ The Hidden Image Descriptions Making the Internet Accessible
▼ + stars: | 2022-02-18 | by ( Meg Miller | Ilaria Parogni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

surfacing The Hidden Image Descriptions Making the Internet AccessibleThree different alt text examples over a blank box. Alt text examples from Wirecutter, The New York Times’s product recommendation service; Alt Text Chrome Extension; and Microsoft Word. Fleet, the tech educator, who is blind, posts on Twitter about alt text and agrees that these efforts are making a difference. Alt Text Reminder, another Twitter bot, notifies followers when they have tweeted an image without alt text. Folkens of CloudSight said that his company is careful not to use racial identifiers in the alt text it generates.

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