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☆ Spotify shares dip after third-quarter earnings report
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Spotify shares fell about 7% after hours on Tuesday after the streaming giant reported third-quarter 2022 losses that were worse than expectations. In its second-quarter report, Spotify had said it expected to add approximately 17 million new monthly active users in the third quarter, bringing its total to 450 million. It had also expected its revenue to increase to 3 billion euros and to post 194 million paid subscribers in the quarter. Spotify introduced podcasts in 2015, and it is now home to more than 4.7 million of them, according to the report. Spotify will hold its quarterly earnings call with investors at 4:30 P.M. EST.

☆ Jan. 6 Capitol riot committee won't let Trump turn testimony into a 'circus,' Cheney says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Representative Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming, during a hearing of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., US, on Thursday, July 21, 2022. The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol subpoenaed former President Donald Trump Friday, and Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said Trump will not be able to turn his testimony into a "circus." "The committee treats this matter with great seriousness," she told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. The committee voted unanimously on the subpoena and is demanding relevant records and Trump's testimony under oath next month. Cheney said the committee has made it clear what Trump's obligations are, and that it plans to proceed accordingly.

☆ Global supply chain woes have seen 'huge improvement,' Flexport founder says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Global supply chain woes have eased ahead of the holiday season, according to Flexport founder and co-CEO Ryan Petersen. Ports are less congested, and the cost of shipping goods has fallen significantly this year, Petersen said. The global supply chain was pummeled with high costs, lengthy delays, crowded ports and shipping container shortages during the coronavirus pandemic. Flexport helps its customers navigate supply chain challenges by providing them with more visibility and data-driven control over their inventories while they are in transit. But despite the improvements to the supply chain, Petersen is not convinced the industry has learned much from the challenges of the pandemic.

☆ Apple stock ticks down on report of cut to iPhone 14 Plus production
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Customers shop at the Apple Fifth Avenue store for the release of the Apple iPhone 14 in New York City, September 16, 2022. Shares of Apple dipped Tuesday a report that the company has asked one supplier to stop producing a component for the iPhone 14 Plus while the company re-evaluates demand. The iPhone 14 Plus, which starts at $899, is a cheaper alternative to the company's iPhone 14 Pro Max model, which starts at $1,099. That maps to an earlier report from Bloomberg that said the company told suppliers to bail on plans to increase iPhone 14 production in September. (The iPhone 14 is the cheaper alternative to the iPhone 14 Pro.)

☆ Roblox shares pop 18% on September user growth
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Shares of Roblox jumped 18% on Monday morning after the company released its September 2022 metrics report. Here are the numbers:Daily active users were 57.8 million, up 23% year over year. Estimated bookings were between $212 million and $219 million, up 11% to 15% year over year. The number of daily active users decreased from Roblox's August 2022 report, when the company reported 59.9 million users. To date, the company has focused on "creating a safe and civil platform" and growing its daily active user base, Baszucki said.

☆ Schumer says he and Pelosi were 'resolute' about calling in the military to stop 'hooligans' on Jan. 6
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke Sunday about his experience during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, stating that he, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "were resolute" about calling in the military and continuing the electoral vote count. "Speaker Pelosi and I were resolute that first the military should come in and remove people from the Capitol. Some of the footage, captured by Pelosi's daughter, showed Schumer and other members of Congress running to a secure location, according to NBC News. Schumer said that one good moment from the day came when Republicans and Democrats came together and decided to continue counting the electoral vote. If we would have delayed counting the electoral vote, lord knows what would have happened."

☆ 'The hell with it': Elon Musk tweets SpaceX will 'keep funding Ukraine govt for free' amid Starlink controversy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk said in a tweet Saturday that his company SpaceX would continue to fund Starlink satellite internet terminals for the Ukrainian government as it battles invading Russian forces. "The hell with it," the billionaire tweeted, "even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we'll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free." Responding to another tweet saying that Musk had already paid taxes that are funding Ukraine's defense, he said, "Fate loves irony." The tweets follow a statement from Musk on Friday in which he said that SpaceX cannot continue fund Starlink terminals in Ukraine "indefinitely," after a report suggested his space company had asked the Pentagon to cover the costs. SpaceX's donated Starlink internet terminals have been crucial in keeping Ukraine's military online during the war against Russia, even as communication infrastructure gets destroyed.

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☆ Meta documents show main metaverse is losing users and falling short of goals, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Horizon Worlds, Meta 's flagship metaverse for consumers, is failing to meet internal performance expectations, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reviewed internal company documents. Additionally, the documents showed that most users didn't return to Horizon after the first month on the platform, and the number of users has steadily declined since spring, the Journal said. As a result, Meta created Horizon Worlds, which is a network of virtual spaces where users can engage with one another as avatars. Representatives for Meta didn't immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment. Read the full Journal report here.

☆ Oil protesters appear in court after throwing soup at Van Gogh painting
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Activists of "Just Stop Oil" glue their hands to the wall after throwing soup at a van Gogh's painting "Sunflowers" at the National Gallery in London, Britain October 14, 2022. The climate activists who threw soup over Vincent Van Gogh's famous "Sunflowers" painting on Saturday appeared in a London court on charges of criminal damages, several outlets reported. The two women were protesting as part of the campaign group Just Stop Oil, and they pleaded not guilty at the Westminster Magistrates' Court during two brief hearings. After dumping two cans of tomato soup over the Van Gogh oil painting Friday, the protesters also glued themselves to the gallery wall. Just Stop Oil has received widespread criticism from environmental groups and politicians from the opposition Labour Party following the protest.

☆ Five9 shares plunge more than 20% after CEO announces resignation
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Shares of cloud software vendor Five9 tumbled 22% Monday and fell to their lowest since March 2020 after CEO Rowan Trollope announced his resignation. He is being succeeded by former Five9 CEO Mike Burkland, who resigned as CEO in 2017 after he was diagnosed with cancer. "It has been an honor and privilege to serve our employees, our customers and our shareholders," Trollope wrote in a tweet. However, Five9 shareholders were not satisfied with the small premium that Zoom was set to pay, and they ultimately rejected the deal. WATCH: Five9 CEO discusses company's voice recognition software

☆ Allianz Chief Economic Adviser El-Erian believes core inflation 'is still going up'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-09 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Ahead of the release of the latest consumer price index reading this week, Allianz Chief Economic Adviser Mohamed El-Erian told CBS' "Face The Nation" Sunday that he predicts headline inflation "will probably come down to about 8%," but that core inflation "is still going up." Core inflation is what measures the drivers of inflation and how broad they are, so El-Erian said an increase in core inflation means "we still have an inflation issue." Even if core inflation is still on the rise, however, El-Erian said it will eventually come down. "The question is, does it come down with a slowdown in the economy or a major recession?" The oil producer group OPEC+ announced its largest supply cut since 2020 on Wednesday, and El-Erian said this decision "does hurt the U.S.," as it risks causing inflation to increase again.

Customers try out new iPhones at an Apple store as iPhone 14 series go on sale on September 16, 2022 in Shanghai, China. Shares of Apple fell about 2.6% in premarket trading on a report that the company has told suppliers to bail on plans to increase iPhone 14 production. Apple will no longer aim to increase production by 6 million units in the second half of the year as it had planned, according to the report. The company will strive to produce 90 million units instead, which is roughly in line with Apple's forecast and production from last year, according to Bloomberg. WATCH: Apple launches iPhone 14 as customers line up to meet Tim Cook and get new tech

☆ Hurricane Ian roars ashore in southwest Florida, bringing destructive floods and wind
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The National Weather Service has also issued the highest-possible wind warning for several regions in Florida in anticipation of extreme wind damage from the storm. Hurricane Ian approaches west coast of Florida on Sept. 28th, 2022. A sail boat is beached at Sarasota Bay as Hurricane Ian approaches on September 28, 2022 in Sarasota, Florida. President Joe Biden told Florida residents Wednesday he would support them through the storm "every step of the way." Utility trucks are staged in a rural lot in The Villages of Sumter County, Fla., Wednesday morning, Sept. 28, 2022, in preparation for Hurricane Ian.

☆ DocuSign to cut workforce by 9% as part of restructuring plan
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The Docusign Inc. website on a laptop computer arranged in Dobbs Ferry, New York, U.S., on Thursday, April 1, 2021. DocuSign will lay off 9% of its workforce as part of a major restructuring plan, the company announced Wednesday. As of January, DocuSign had 7,461 employees, and it said the restructuring plan will largely be complete by the end of fiscal year 2023. It expects to incur charges between $30 million and $40 million, largely in the third and fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, as part of the changes. DocuSign announced earlier this month that it hired an Alphabet executive, Allan Thygesen, as its next CEO.

☆ Crypto exchange FTX is replacing its U.S. president
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Brett Harrison, the U.S. president of the crypto exchange FTX, announced his resignation on Tuesday, with the company in the midst of a massive expansion effort. "I have deep gratitude for my experiences at FTX in the last year and a half," he wrote in a tweet. Harrison joined FTX, whose parent company is based in the Bahamas, in May 2021 after spending close to two years at Citadel Securities. In addition to Voyager Digital, FTX has been seeking out distressed crypto assets in the U.S. as it tries to expand its market share during the so-called crypto winter. "We really didn't mean to mislead anyone, and we didn't suggest that FTX US itself, or that crypto/non-fiat assets, benefit from FDIC insurance," Harrison wrote on Twitter at the time.

☆ Celsius CEO resigns in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Alex Mashinsky, founder and chief executive officer of Celcius Network Ltd., during a panel session at the Blockchain Week Summit in Paris, France, April 13, 2022. Celsius Network CEO Alex Mashinsky submitted a letter of resignation Tuesday, months after the crypto company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Mashinsky's resignation is effective immediately, but he said in a release that he will continue to help the company provide creditors with the "best outcome." As of May, Celsius was one of the largest players in the crypto lending space with more than $8 billion in loans to clients and almost $12 billion in assets under management. The firm would lend customers' crypto out to counterparties willing to pay sky-high interest rates to borrow it, and Celsius would then split some of that revenue with users.

☆ SEC fines Oracle $23 million, says the company bribed foreign officials for business
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Oracle has settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission after it was charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for a second time, the SEC announced Tuesday. The SEC said Oracle violated provisions of the act between 2016 and 2019 when its subsidiaries in India, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates created slush funds used to bribe foreign officials. Oracle's subsidiaries also used the funds to pay foreign officials to attend technology conferences, according to the SEC. The company did not admit to or deny the SEC's findings, and it will pay more than $23 million to settle the charges. The company also settled charges in 2012 after Oracle India created millions of dollars of side funds, the SEC said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia's threat of nuclear weapons use "could be a reality," in an interview with CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday. Zelenskyy said Russia is targeting nuclear power plants in Ukraine, so there could be some truth to Putin's claims. I don't think he's bluffing," Zelenskyy said. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made clear that the United States is taking Putin's nuclear threat seriously. Zelenskyy said Russia is using the war as an excuse to claim that it is being attacked by the West.

☆ SiriusXM reportedly places former quarterback Brett Favre's NFL show on hold
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

SiriusXM has put Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre's NFL show on hold due to his involvement in an alleged welfare-fraud scheme in Mississippi, according to reports. Favre and nearly 40 others were sued by the Mississippi Department of Human Services in May for allegedly diverting millions of federal welfare dollars to fund personal projects. Favre might have used the funds to help construct a new volleyball stadium at the university where his daughter played, according to the Mississippi state auditor. He has hosted the show, "The SiriusXM Blitz With Brett Favre and Bruce Murray," which usually airs on Tuesdays, since 2018. SiriusXM is not the only company distancing itself from Favre, as ESPN Milwaukee announced Saturday that it was temporarily suspending Favre from his weekly appearances, according to NBC Sports.

☆ British Prime Minister to seek negotiated solution over Northern Ireland
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

British Prime Minister Liz Truss is seeking a negotiated solution with the European Union to resolve tensions over the Northern Ireland protocol, she said in an interview with CNN Sunday. The Northern Ireland protocol was designed to maintain peace in the region following Brexit, and as a member of parliament, Truss introduced legislation to dissolve it. U.S. President Joe Biden has warned against disrupting peace in Northern Ireland, and the two leaders discussed the issue at their first in-person meeting Wednesday. "What's important is that we protect and respect the positions of both the nationalist community in Northern Ireland as well as the unionist community in Northern Ireland," Truss said Sunday. Truss said she has seen an "outpouring of love and affection" for the late Queen, and she is very supportive of the Commonwealth.

☆ Biden administration awards $1.5 billion to fight opioid crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

US President Joe Biden speaks about the DISCLOSE Act at the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC on September 20, 2022. The Biden administration announced Friday it is awarding $1.5 billion in grants to help states, territories and tribal lands combat the opioid crisis. More than $104 million in funding will specifically aim to support rural communities, which have been particularly hard-hit by the opioid crisis. Biden also called for an investment of more than $42.5 billion in funding for National Drug Control Agencies as part of his 2023 fiscal-year budget. The investment would mark a $3.2 billion increase from the previous year.

☆ Google co-founder's flying car start-up is winding down
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Google co-founder Larry Page's flying car start-up Kittyhawk is winding down, the company announced Wednesday. The company unveiled a demonstration video of a flying car in 2017, and Thrun said he envisioned a time where people would be able to hail flying cars through an app like Lyft or Uber. Kittyhawk showcased a flying car model called the Flyer in 2018 which could hold one person and fly up to 20 miles. The company announced a strategic partnership with airplane manufacturer Boeing the following year. However, by 2020, Kittyhawk announced plans to shut down its Flyer program and shifted focus to its electric aircraft called Heaviside, according to reports.

☆ Spotify announces launch of audiobooks for U.S. listeners
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Spotify users in the U.S. will now be able to purchase and listen to more than 300,000 different audiobook titles, the company announced Tuesday. The streaming company's foray into audiobooks marks its latest attempt to make the platform a one-stop-shop for all things audio. The company decided to introduce audiobooks because they represent a "substantial untapped market," Nir Zicherman, Spotify's vice president and global head of audiobooks and gated content, said in Tuesday's release. Spotify users interested in listening to audiobooks can find them in their search, library and their curated recommendations on their homepage. Spotify plans to introduce audiobooks to new markets and add new features after the initial U.S. launch.

☆ Take-Two shares slide after GTA VI game footage leaks
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Take-Two Interactive shares fell more than 2% early Monday after the company suffered a network intrusion where a third party illegally accessed footage of the new Grand Theft Auto videogame. A user called "teapotuberhacker," who is also claiming responsibility for the recent hack at the rideshare company Uber, posted more than 90 videos of GTA VI in its early development stage to an online forum. The videos reveal details like the location, the main characters and other central features of the game. Take-Two Interactive owns Rockstar Games, the studio behind the best-selling GTA series. "However, based on what we see, the game is further along than many believe and won't impact game reception/sales."

☆ Speaker Pelosi strongly condemns 'illegal and deadly attacks by Azerbaijan' during visit to Armenia
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-18 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi holds a press conference in the Parliament in Yerevan on September 18, 2022. - US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned on September 18, 2022, Azerbaijan's attack on Armenia, days after border clashes between the Caucasus arch foes claimed the lives of more than 200 people. (Photo by Karen MINASYAN / AFP) (Photo by KAREN MINASYAN/AFP via Getty Images)U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi delivered remarks in Armenia on Sunday to express support for the nation in the wake of deadly clashes with neighboring Azerbaijan. In a press conference, Pelosi strongly condemned "illegal and deadly attacks by Azerbaijan" and added that the violence "threatens prospects for a much-needed peace agreement." Pelosi is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Armenia since it achieved independence in 1991, according to the release.

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