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☆ Elon Musk hires ex-NBCUniversal ad chief Linda Yaccarino to be Twitter's CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

NBCUniversal global advertising chief Linda Yaccarino has resigned to join Twitter as its next chief executive. Twitter owner Elon Musk confirmed the hire in a tweet Friday. "I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!" Yaccarino and Musk sat together in a keynote interview at a marketing conference in Florida in mid-April. During the conference, Musk reportedly tried to reassure advertisers that Twitter was a respectable place for their brands.

☆ Elon Musk names NBCU ad chief Linda Yaccarino as Twitter CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN —Elon Musk on Friday named longtime media executive Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter, months after he promised to step back from the role. “I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!” Musk wrote in a tweet on Friday. NBCUniversal’s ad sales team has generated $100 billion in ad sales since she joined in 2011, according to her profile, and forged partnerships with many new media companies including Twitter as well as Apple News, Buzzfeed, Snapchat and YouTube. Ad sales represented more than 90% of the company’s revenue before Musk purchased it in October. Musk has previously spoken about improving ad sales by focusing more on the relevance of its ads.

☆ Elizabeth Holmes went to Burning Man, torched an effigy for Theranos, then spent 6 months living in an RV while prosecutors built a case against her for fraudulent business practices
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In her first interview since 2016, Elizabeth Holmes told NYT her perspective on her fraudulent business. Once the company dissolved, she burned an effigy for Theranos, then lived in an RV for six months. Holmes spoke to The New York Times about her looming prison term in her first interview since 2016. At Burning Man, Holmes told the outlet she and her partner Billy Evans torched an effigy for the failed business and, as prosecutors began building their case against her, embarked on six months of traveling the country by RV. "Even though that period was a crisis and Theranos was my life and like my child, I gave everything I had to it," Holmes told The New York Times.

☆ Ron DeSantis' memoir could come back to bite him in Disney legal battle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Statements in DeSantis' bestselling memoir may hold the proof Disney needs to win its case. Ron DeSantis may have inadvertently handed Disney key evidence it needs to beat him in their escalating legal and political battle. In addition to supporting legislation against Disney, DeSantis has also frequently and fervently railed against the "woke" company. Ron DeSantis is again going after Walt Disney World, after the company launched a stealth power play. Executive Office of the Governor, State of FloridaAs promotion for his memoir, DeSantis also penned a February Wall Street Journal editorial entitled "Why I Stood up to Disney."

HONG KONG, May 4 (Reuters) - China's biggest financial data provider Wind Information Co told some customers late last year that it was restricting offshore users from accessing certain business and economic data as a result of the cybersecurity regulator's new data rules, two sources said. Restricted access to Wind by offshore users comes as China sharpens its focus on data usage and security amid rising geopolitical tensions and concerns about privacy in the world's second-largest economy. A Wind salesperson told the source in September the company had made the changes as per instructions from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which asked it to stop providing offshore users with certain data. The restrictions on offshore users' access to certain Wind data have expanded since last September, said the first source. Reuters has reported, citing sources that Chinese data providers including company databases Qichacha, partially owned by Wind, and TianYanCha have stopped opening to offshore users for at least months.

☆ The 10 fastest-growing jobs over the next 5 years—some pay over $100,000
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

New technologies and the escalating climate crisis are changing the landscape of work at an "unprecedented rate," according to a new report from the World Economic Forum. Between now and 2027, 69 million jobs will be created worldwide— but 83 million roles are expected to be eliminated, creating a net decrease of 14 million jobs, the WEF reports. Their findings are largely based on a survey of 803 companies that employ a total of 11.3 million workers in 45 different economies around the world. The rise of generative AI and other smart technologies as well as the drive to "go green" will lead some jobs to soar in demand over the next five years, and put others at risk of becoming obsolete. Coca-Cola, for example, is using AI to improve customer service and ordering and experimenting with ChatGPT to "enhance marketing capabilities and business operations," per its latest earnings report.

☆ Emerson's quarterly earnings beat shows skeptical investors the industrial is back on track
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jeff Marks | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Emerson stock climbed roughly 4% in midday trading, to more than $85 a share. Quarterly commentary Amid mounting economic uncertainty, Emerson's end-markets remain healthy, with underlying sales expected to continue to grow about 7% for the remainder of the year. It's hybrid manufacturing business is seeing underlying sales grow at a high-single-digit percentage, driven by strong reshoring trends in life sciences and investment in lithium and battery metals. And in its discrete manufacturing business, Emerson continues to forecast mid-single-digit underlying sales growth thanks to battery manufacturing investments in the U.S. and Asia. Guidance For Emerson's fiscal third quarter, management expects net sales growth in the range of 10.5% to 12.5% and underlying sales growth in the range of 10% to 12%.

"Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, China has expanded the legal landscape for exit bans and increasingly used them, sometimes outside legal justification," the Safeguard Defenders report reads. Attention on the exit bans comes as China-U.S. tensions have risen over trade and security disputes. The Reuters analysis of records on exit bans, from China's Supreme Court database, shows an eight-fold increase in cases mentioning bans between 2016 and 2022. Most of the cases in the database referring to exit bans are civil, not criminal. Some activists say the wider use of exit bans reflects tighter security measures under President Xi.

☆ Uber’s Revenue Up 29% as U.S. Ride-Hailing Business Improves
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Kellen Browning | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The NewsUber said on Tuesday that its revenue grew 29 percent in its most recent quarter as the company benefited from a series of investments in new services, as well as the continued return of drivers to its ride-hailing business. The company said it had $8.8 billion in revenue, roughly in line with investors’ expectations. Uber had $31.4 billion in gross bookings — the amount of money paid by customers — a 19 percent jump from a year ago. Uber said it remained on track to generate a quarterly profit from the strength of its business operations sometime this year — a milestone on the road to overall profitability. “With our global scale and deeper local density, we are increasingly separating from smaller regional competitors both on driver preference and on the breadth of mobility products we offer consumers,” Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns said on Tuesday Washington was very concerned about China's recent "punitive" action toward some U.S. companies, and that foreign firms are delaying investments in the country due to uncertainty about the openness of its economy. "If you put that together with some of the punitive actions that the government here in Beijing has taken against several American companies recently, we're very concerned about this," Burns said, adding: "We intend to have a full discussion with the government here about it." China's foreign ministry said at the time Mintz was suspected of engaging in unlawful business operations. Burns said a lot of foreign firms were delaying making major investments until they could see some consistency in messaging from China. He said he had warned American companies to carefully abide by a U.S. law that prohibits importing goods from China's Xinjiang region over concerns about forced labor by Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic minorities.

☆ Future-Proofing the Board of Directors
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +29 min

Governance structures and practices should position the board to provide objective judgment and active oversight supported by board leadership, which is separate from and independent of company management. The board should design governance structures and practices that support it in determining board priorities, agendas, and information needs. The board should create governance structures and practices that ensure that directors are competent, committed, and diverse and that board and committee composition align with the company’s changing needs. Developing and supporting a positive and ethical corporate culture (see Corporate and Board Culture below). Corporate and Board CultureA strong board and corporate culture is imperative for a company’s success.

☆ US Chamber of Commerce warns of major increase in risks for businesses in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Hong Kong CNN —The United States Chamber of Commerce has warned that rising scrutiny of American firms in China “dramatically increases” the uncertainties and risks of doing business in the country. “The services these firms provide are fundamental to establishing investor confidence in any market, including China,” the chamber said in a statement, without naming either company. Suzanne Clark, president and chief executive officer of the US Chamber of Commerce, speaking during an event in Ottawa, Canada, in April. The news came a month after Chinese authorities closed the Beijing offices of Mintz, detaining five of its local staff. The news about Bain has spooked the US business community in China, the American Chamber of Commerce in China told CNN last week.

☆ Monitoring Financial Institution Compliance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +41 min

Compliance MonitorshipsA compliance monitor (also called an independent examiner or independent compliance consultant) is an impartial party appointed by the government to detect the root causes of the institution’s compliance failures. The purpose of a compliance monitor is not to address a particular compliance failure or punish the institution. Responded to compliance issues, in a timely manner and in a way that demonstrates that the institution takes compliance issues seriously. Compliance Department EmployeesThe monitor must evaluate the adequacy of compliance department employees, including the number of compliance employees, their experience, and their expertise. Assess the Compliance SystemsThe monitor typically engages compliance technology experts, who have specific knowledge of coding and compliance technology software, to test and evaluate the institution’s compliance systems.

☆ The Biden tax proposals that could hit baby boomer, family businesses
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Cheryl Winokur Munk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

President Joe Biden's 2024 budget proposals contain several proposals that could hit small businesses right where it hurts — their wallets. Here are five provisions business owners should be aware of in President Biden's budget:A higher capital gains tax rate would be bad for business sellers. Biden is proposing that the corporate tax rate be increased to 28% from 21%. The majority of small businesses are pass-through businesses that are not subject to the corporate income tax, but for companies that are, the increase would be meaningful, tax experts said. Biden's proposal would increase the 3.8% net investment income tax rate on small business income over $400,000 to 5%.

☆ Rubio warned politicians against going after companies for 'political purposes' after Disney sued DeSantis
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Marco Rubio said lawmakers should avoid looking like they are going after companies for "political purposes." Disney has sued Florida Republican Gov. Fox host Brian Kilmeade asked Rubio about comments by some Republicans, who criticized DeSantis for targeting the company. Disney sued DeSantis, who is widely expected to run for president, on Wednesday, saying that the governor was trying to "weaponize government power" by targeting the company. But when it comes to Disney, Rubio said he doesn't think the company is going to leave Florida.

☆ DeSantis dismisses Disney lawsuit over loss of self-governance as 'political'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Summer Concepcion | Gabe Gutierrez | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Ron DeSantis on Thursday brushed off a lawsuit by the Walt Disney Co. over the revocation of its Orlando-area theme park's self-governing privileges as politically motivated. The lawsuit escalates the feud between Disney and DeSantis that has led to his push to strip Walt Disney World's self-governing privileges. DeSantis argued that Disney's self-governing privileges go against being "pro-business." Lawyers for the Walt Disney Co. did not immediately respond to NBC News' request for comment. "The people of Florida, they understood that this was an issue," he said, referring to Walt Disney World's self-governing privileges.

☆ U.S. Consulting Firm Is the Latest Target of a Chinese Crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Daisuke Wakabayashi | Keith Bradsher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the latest official scrutiny of a prominent American business in China, the authorities visited the Shanghai offices of the U.S. management consulting firm Bain & Company this month to question its employees. The questioning at Bain came less than a month after the authorities detained five Chinese nationals working in Beijing for the Mintz Group, an American consulting company with 18 offices around the world, and closed the branch. The five Chinese nationals were held overnight before their families were notified that they had been detained. China’s foreign ministry later said that the company was suspected of engaging in unlawful business operations. Mintz had no immediate response on Thursday to a request for comment on whether any of its five employees had been released.

Disney alleges that DeSantis tried to "weaponize government power" over the company. It alleges that DeSantis' continued action against Disney "threatens Disney's business operations." Ron DeSantis on Wednesday, alleging that he tried to "weaponize government power" over the company. As retaliation to the Disney executives' pledges, DeSantis took aim at a decades-long provision that gives Disney special self-governing privileges in Florida. Unlike rival parks Universal Studios and Sea World, Disney doesn't have to run their plans by zoning commissions or building-inspection departments.

It will not work,” said Martin Garcia, chairman of the DeSantis-picked Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board of supervisors. Wednesday’s moves are the latest escalation in the fight between DeSantis and Disney as DeSantis moves toward a 2024 presidential bid. Disney responded by suing DeSantis, the board and Florida Department of Economic Opportunity acting secretary Meredith Ivey, seeking to block the board’s moves. But the special district also freed Disney from bureaucratic red tape and made it cheaper to borrow to finance infrastructure projects around its theme parks, among other significant advantages. DeSantis then targeted Disney’s special governing powers.

☆ Disney and DeSantis have been in a yearlong feud that began after the company spoke out against a controversial bill. Here's a timeline of the events.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Lloyd Lee | Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

After a yearlong feud, Disney sued DeSantis on Wednesday, alleging that the Florida governor tried to "weaponize government power" over the company. The state Board of Education voted on Wednesday to expand that law to cover grades four to 12. Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, our state has seen record growth in jobs, GDP, and net domestic in-migration. It was the first time the board met since the revelation of the agreement between the prior district board members and Disney. On April 19, the state board approved a ban on classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity for all grades, including grades four through 12.

☆ Google's 80-acre San Jose mega-campus is on hold as company reckons with economic slowdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

The city of San Jose may now be paying the price. CNBC has learned that, as part of Google's downsizing that went into effect early this year, the company has gutted its development team for the San Jose campus. By then, the company had already completed much of its multi-year land grab of downtown San Jose for the future campus. Google spent several years planning for the San Jose complex and invested significant resources in winning over the local community. "We all originally knew that it's going to be a long-term plan," San Jose councilmember Omar Torres, who represents the downtown area, told San Jose Spotlight in February.

☆ The messy, high-stakes world of private equity's fossil-fuel dilemma
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Most major private-investment firms are working to cut down on emissions their portfolio companies send into the atmosphere. It's also set targets to get three-quarters of its majority-owned power-and-energy portfolio companies' emissions that they generate directly and indirectly covered by Paris-aligned climate goals by 2025. A growing number of private-equity firms' pension-fund limited partners are under pressure themselves to either invest around environmental, social, and governance matters or shun investing through those lenses altogether. Firms' plans with their upstream investments tend to draw the most attention because they're involved in drilling for new oil and gas. If you're a private-equity firm and you continue to make new upstream investments, I don't believe you have a Paris-aligned plan.

☆ Huawei launches in-house software system after being cut off from US services
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( David Kirton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ERP software is used by companies to manage key business operations ranging from accounting to supply chain management. "We were cut off from the old ERP system and other core operation and management systems three years ago," said Tao Jingwen, a Huawei board member and president of its quality, business process and IT management department. The in-house Meta-ERP has been rolled out across 80% of the company's business, Huawei said in a news release. The cut off was a "massive crisis" for Huawei, Tao said in his speech, saying that the old system had been core to the company's operations for over two decades. Huawei's 'meta-ERP' system is a 'cloud-native' product, which uses the company's cloud-computing systems for greater efficiency than traditional ERP products, the person said.

☆ Don't be fooled by the strong earnings season as a credit squeeze is set to hit companies' profits, Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Zahra Tayeb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Don't be fooled by the buoyant trend so far in the current earnings season, according to Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel. That's because the effects of an ongoing credit crunch are yet to show up in companies' earnings data, according to him. Siegel said the Fed should therefore pause its interest-rate hikes, but doesn't think policymakers will do so unless economic data worsens. "We're not getting in these earnings what effect the slowdown in lending really might impact the earnings," Siegel told CNBC on Tuesday. That makes it more difficult for American companies to access loans, which threatens to undermine their business operations and earnings.

☆ Dominion wasn't here to save democracy — it just wanted money from Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Fox News detractors wanted Dominion's lawsuit against Fox News to move forward for democracy's sake. "PLEASE Dominion --- Do not settle with Fox! The election technology company filed a civil defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corporation, and asked for $1.6 billion. But just because Fox settled Dominion's lawsuit doesn't mean it's now free of legal risk. "Smartmatic remains committed to clearing its name, recouping the significant damage done to the company, and holding Fox accountable for undermining democracy."

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