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☆ With layoffs looming, you could be offered a voluntary buyout—4 things to know before taking one
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

For example, after cutting 500 salaried positions in February, General Motors offered voluntary employee buyouts to the majority of its 58,000 U.S. white-collar workers. So far, about 5,000 have opted into the "Voluntary Separation Program", or VSP, the company's CFO Paul Jacobson announced on Tuesday. Buyouts can also be less voluntary and more "a precursor to layoffs," says Lindsay Witcher, a senior executive at recruiting firm Randstad RiseSmart. Regardless, these types of buyouts are less voluntary and usually mean that the employee's position is about to be eliminated. Whether the buyout is a warning sign of layoffs or purely a voluntary option, a second opinion can provide necessary clarity.

Shares of WWE fell in premarket trading, while Endeavor shares rose. Ari Emanuel will act as chief executive of both Endeavor and the new company, the companies said. McMahon, likewise, will be executive chairman, while Endeavor President and COO Mark Shapiro will also work in the same roles at the new company. Dana White will remain as president of UFC, and WWE CEO Nick Khan will stay on as president of the wrestling business. Stefanie Keenan | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty ImagesThe announcement confirmed an earlier CNBC report.

☆ UFC merger beefs up WWE's leverage in media rights negotiations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Networks and streaming services need to get ready for a media rights smackdown. UFC should also benefit ahead of 2025, when its U.S. media rights deals come up, including with Disney's ESPN. "I think everything is up for grabs with these media rights deals. During his time with CAA, he had formed a relationship with McMahon during a recent round of TV rights negotiations for WWE. It will also work for UFC negotiations, he noted.

☆ Peace, love, and Hitler: How Lex Fridman's podcast became a safe space for the anti-woke tech elite
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +26 min

Seemingly overnight, episodes of Fridman's podcast began racking up millions of views. YouTube/Lex FridmanIn his podcast, Fridman asks world-renowned scientists, historians, artists, and engineers a series of wide-eyed questions ("Who is God? But recently, "The Lex Fridman Podcast" has become a haven for a growing — and powerful — sector looking to dismantle years of "wokeness" and cancel culture. Twitter"The Lex Fridman Podcast" offered a rare opportunity to listen to four-hour conversations with luminaries of tech and science. Bhaskar Sunkara, the founder and publisher of the socialist magazine Jacobin who appeared on Fridman's podcast in December, praised Fridman's interviewing style.

☆ WWE near deal to be sold to UFC parent Endeavor, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment is in advanced talks to be sold to Ari Emanuel's Endeavor Group , the parent company of UFC, according to people familiar with the matter. McMahon, likewise, is expected to be executive chairman, while Endeavor President Mark Shapiro will also work in the same role at the new company. Dana White will remain as president of UFC, while WWE CEO Nick Khan will serve as president of the wrestling business. Paul Levesque, who's both Stephanie McMahon's husband and the wrestler known as Triple H, took over creative duties from Vince McMahon. When Vince McMahon came back in January, Stephanie McMahon stepped down and Khan fully assumed the CEO role.

[1/3] Former U.S. President Donald Trump attends his first campaign rally after announcing his candidacy for president in the 2024 election at an event in Waco, Texas, U.S., March 25, 2023. Trump has denied Daniels's claim, and his lawyer has accused Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, of extortion. To elevate that charge to a felony, prosecutors must prove that Trump falsified records to cover up a second crime. The New York Times and NBC News reported that Trump is expected to surrender next week, citing his lawyers. If Trump for some reason decided not to come in voluntarily, prosecutors could seek to have him extradited from Florida.

☆ Just months after buying the platform, Elon Musk is officially the biggest account on Twitter, leapfrogging former president Barack Obama to reach 133 million followers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk overtook Barack Obama on Thursday to become Twitter's most followed account. Five months after buying the social-media platform, Musk has over 133 million followers. The Twitter CEO posted 72 times on Monday, and has his tweets boosted by engineers, per Platformer. According to the follower-tracking site SocialBlade, Musk saw the biggest increase last April – the month he first offered to buy Twitter – gaining 9.7 million followers. The Twitter CEO became the sixth-user to cross the 100 million mark last June, according to The Verge, which first reported the news.

☆ DEI at Law Schools Could Bring Down America
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Tunku Varadarajan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/woke-law-schools-could-bring-down-america-ilya-shapiro-dei-bureaucracy-stanford-supreme-court-rule-of-law-34c402c2

☆ Twitter is secretly boosting 35 VIP users including Lebron James, AOC, catturd2, and Ben Shapiro: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Aditi Bharade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

This means their tweets automatically bypass an algorithm meant to cap a Twitter user's reach. Platformer's Managing Editor Zoë Schiffer cited internal documents from Twitter which listed 35 VIP users, who all have their posts monitored and promoted for greater visibility. The list also included the pro-Trump, MAGA-friendly Twitter commentator, catturd2, with whom Elon Musk has had many Twitter conversations. Twitter engineers have ensured that tweets by these VIP users will automatically be ranked higher than others in terms of their visibility, Platformer revealed. The VIP users' tweets also bypass a Twitter algorithm which prevents too many posts from a particular user from being viewed, per Platformer.

☆ Israel isn't 'out of the woods' even though Netanyahu paused the plan that pushed his country into chaos
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( John Haltiwanger | Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

A judicial overhaul plan pushed by Netanyahu's government sparked a major crisis in Israel. "The crisis was deferred, but definitely not resolved," a former US ambassador to Israel told Insider. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to hit pause on a deeply controversial plan to overhaul the country's judiciary, but Israel's problems are far from over. One piece of the plan has already been passed into law, narrowing the circumstances under which a prime minister can be deemed unfit for office. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a voting session in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem, Israel on March 27, 2023.

[1/2] The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Lauwin-Planque, northern France, January 5, 2023. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Jones in Seattle on Friday came in a prospective antitrust class action that has estimated damages of between $55 billion to $172 billion. Amazon has denied the plaintiffs' claims, arguing that its "Fair Pricing Policy" has procompetitive benefits and that U.S. antitrust law encourages such a policy. Attorneys general in California and Washington, D.C., also have sued Amazon over pricing policies. The case is Frame-Wilson et al v. Amazon.com Inc, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, No.

College enrollment has declined over the last decade. Here are three reasons why college enrollment may have collapsed. Why learn when you can earnThe robust labor market may have also contributed to college enrollment falling. Such attacks on colleges over the years might have caused Republicans to question the skill benefits of a college education. Did you get a job without a college degree?

☆ Democrats, Republicans, and companies all seem to agree: college degrees aren't the future
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A bachelor's degree has become a common requirement for landing US jobs, even those that didn't previously require one. Josh Shapiro signed an executive order opening up 92%, or roughly 65,000, of state jobs to those without college degrees. They urged more states to follow to move the economy away from a preference for college degrees, restoring a sense of fairness many Americans feel is lost. Oregon also issued a temporary order in 2022 allowing those without bachelor's degrees to work as substitute teachers. A college degree may increase your earning potential, but it may not hold the keys to the middle class for much longer.

☆ Obama wants companies to strip degree requirements from more six-figure jobs to address the labor shortage
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Jason Lalljee | Ethan Dodd | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Former President Barack Obama said more states should drop degree requirements for government jobs. It's an example of "a smart policy that gets rid of unnecessary college degree requirements and reduces barriers to good paying jobs," Obama said on Twitter. In recent years, states have eliminated four-year degree requirements to shore up their understaffed governments, and Republican governors have led the way. Arizona and Oregon have temporarily loosened degree requirements to address a teacher shortage. Georgia and Alaska are considering dropping degree requirements to fill government vacancies as well.

☆ Donald Trump could be charged any day - what happens next?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Trump has denied the affair, and his lawyer has accused Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, of extortion. Were he charged, Trump would become the first former U.S. president to face criminal prosecution. While serving as president, Trump reimbursed Cohen for the Daniels payments, and federal prosecutors who charged Cohen said in court papers that the payments were falsely recorded as for legal services. Trump's lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told CNBC on Friday that Trump would surrender if charged. If Trump refused to come in voluntarily, prosecutors could seek to have him extradited from Florida, where he currently resides.

☆ Cost of keeping a tenant has gone up dramatically, says GTIS's Tom Shapiro
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailCost of keeping a tenant has gone up dramatically, says GTIS's Tom ShapiroTom Shapiro, GTIS president and CIO, joins 'Closing Bell: Overtime' to discuss the problems faced by commercial office REITs.

☆ College Should Be More Like Prison
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Brooke Allen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Enrollment in these subjects is plummeting, and students who take literature and history classes often come in with rudimentary ideas about the disciplines. Interviewed in a recent New Yorker article, Prof. James Shapiro of Columbia said teaching “Middlemarch” to today’s college students is like landing a 747 on a rural airstrip. Never have I been more grateful to teach where I do: at a men’s maximum-security prison. My students there, enrolled in a for-credit college program, provide a sharp contrast with contemporary undergraduates. The classes are often the most interesting part of these men’s prison lives.

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's team is moving to tap top Democratic allies and even some people once seen as possible rivals as key representatives of his expected re-election bid. Biden's team is making other steps, too, including thinking through possible options for a campaign manager a host city for the 2024 party convention where Biden would be formally nominated. The campaign's strategy is expected to be set by the same inner circle that guided Biden's 2020 race against Republican former President Donald Trump, including his final 2020 campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dillon. In the absence of a formal re-election announcement, the White House continues to book Biden in campaign-style appearances across the country. On Monday, Biden is expected to speak to the International Association of Fire Fighters, the first major labor group to endorse him ahead of the 2020 campaign.

☆ 3 Must-Know Truths to Remain a Profitable Stock Trader
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Jason Shapiro trades the opposite side of overcrowded positions. "I believe that going against mass participation of the crowd is what's going to give you good risk-reward trades," Shapiro said. The disciplined traderThe biggest tip Shapiro wants new traders to understand is that the stock market isn't an ATM machine. There are already thousands of analysts and millions of traders working off the same information. There are also trades that may have worked at one point that eventually stop working, he noted.

☆ Pennsylvania governor: Norfolk Southern have been 'bad actors' following Ohio train derailment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Dasha Burns | Dasha Burns Is An Nbc News Now Correspondent Who Covers Politics | Social Issues. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Josh Shapiro criticized Norfolk Southern — the rail company that had a train carrying toxic chemicals derail in East Palestine, Ohio — as "bad actors" who "failed miserably." They have a lot of work to do, and the cost will come out of their pocket." "And then, I think they have a responsibility going forward to make sure something like this never happens again," he added. “We have been paying for the cleanup activities to date and will continue to do so. And Shapiro's office announced earlier this month it filed a criminal referral in response to the crash.

☆ AI-generated audio of Joe Biden and Donald Trump trashtalking while gaming is taking over TikTok
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Allegra Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

On TikTok, faked audio created by AI of Joe Biden and Donald Trump gaming has become a hit meme. But the ease with voice AI can be used for jokes also shows how easy it is to fake convincing quotes. The Biden Cinematic UniverseOn the @bidenandfriends TikTok account, "Sleepy Joe" plays Minecraft and other video games with his best (and worst) buddies. Other political and celebrity figures pop up in various installments, but the core trio of Trump, Biden, and Obama seems to persist across the lore. "I remember when people thought AI would kill us all, but this is how we use it," commented one TikTok user.

In an interview with NBC News Monday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro says he expects Senator John Fetterman to come back to the Senate and to “serve for a good long while.”Shapiro would be charged with naming an interim replacement should there be a vacancy and there would then be a special election in November 2024 to fill the rest of the term — a scenario that would put both of the state’s Senate seats on the ballot next year. When asked If there is a contingency plan in place in case Fetterman decides to step down, Shapiro said, “There is no contingency plan and it is 100% Senator Fetterman’s decision as to what he will do in the future.”Shapiro said he feels no pressure from inside the Democratic Party to push Fetterman to resign, nor does he feel pressure to push him to stay in the seat to benefit Democrats in the 2024 election. Fetterman checked himself into the hospital for treatment of “clinical depression” on February 16th. “I’m proud of Senator Fetterman for getting the help that he needs and I’m there for Gisele and their family. And I know the people of Pennsylvania I’ve talked to are encouraging him along to get the help that he needs.”Today the Senator’s team sent their first official update on his status since announcing his hospitalization.

☆ Analysis: Netanyahu's balancing act got harder after post-summit violence
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Maayan Lubell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

On Monday, another suspected Palestinian shooting attack in the West Bank critically wounded one person, emergency services said. "It's now in his interest to show that he is clamping down on this kind of settler violence." "The U.S administration, which fosters this government, must end all these crimes," said the spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "One can see the Aqaba summit as a parable: the Americans announce that Israel has promised to freeze settlement construction, which Netanyahu then denies. "On the eve of the election Netanyahu was pondering the legacy he will have when he is reelected prime minister.

They are demanding steep spending cuts to tame the deficit at a time when the United States is pumping billions of dollars in military and other aid into Ukraine. For now, Republican leaders in Congress, who fiercely oppose Biden on most issues, support aid for Ukraine's defense, even calling for Washington to send more powerful weapons, more quickly. "Americans' support for Ukraine is reflected in strong bipartisan support Ukraine assistance has received in both houses of Congress," Watson said. A global Ipsos poll late last year found that majorities in NATO members including Canada, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and Poland back continued military support to Ukraine. Only in Hungary and Italy did more oppose than support it, and those countries' leaders have fallen in line with European initiatives to support Ukraine.

☆ Ohio Train Derailment: EPA Orders Norfolk Southern to Clean Up Site
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Kris Maher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Environmental Protection Agency said it issued a formal order requiring Norfolk Southern Corp. to clean up chemicals spilled in a derailment earlier this month in East Palestine, Ohio, that has drawn concerns from residents about long-term health risks. EPA Administrator Michael Regan appeared in East Palestine on Tuesday alongside Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, as all three pledged that federal and state officials would remain in the village of 4,700 people until the site was fully cleaned up and residents’ concerns were allayed.

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