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Republicans in the US Congress are facing a backlash from businesses over last week’s violence in Washington. At least a dozen major US companies have said they would cut off campaign contributions to those who voted to challenge Joe Biden’s victory. They join a growing list including hotel giant Marriott, Citibank and major technology firms like Google.
Elon Musk just became the richest person in the world, with a net worth of more than $185 billion. Thursday’s increase in Tesla’s share price pushed Musk past Jeff Bezos, who had been the richest person since 2017 and is currently worth about $184 billion. Musk’s wealth surge over the past year marks the fastest rise to the top of the rich list in history.
The Federal Trade Commission sued to break up Facebook on Wednesday, asking a federal court to force the sell-off of assets such as Instagram and WhatsApp as independent businesses. The announcement is a major step that has been years in the making, with Facebook and several other major U.S. technology companies having grown quickly in the past 10 years with little government oversight.
Ant Group plans to raise $34.5 billion in a dual initial public offering next month, edging out Saudi Aramco’s debut to become the largest listing of all time. The financial services company – an arm of billionaire Jack Ma’s Alibaba empire – will evenly split its offering, selling 1.67 billion shares each in debuts in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Saudi Aramco raised $29 billion in a share sale that temporarily established it as the world’s highest-valued company.
Ireland’s Supreme Court has ruled that bread sold by the fast food chain Subway contains so much sugar that it cannot be legally defined as bread. The ruling came in a tax dispute brought by Bookfinders Ltd., an Irish Subway franchisee, which argued that some of its takeaway products — including teas, coffees and heated sandwiches — were not liable for value-added tax.
Walt Disney has announced it will lay off 28,000 employees, mostly at its US theme parks. Disney cited the parks’ limited visitor capacity and uncertainty about how long the coronavirus pandemic would last as reasons for the layoffs. The company’s theme parks have taken a major hit from the pandemic. Disney shut all its parks earlier this year as the virus spread.
A judge has blocked a US government attempt to ban the Chinese messaging and payments app, WeChat. US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler said the ban raised serious questions related to the constitution’s first amendment, guaranteeing free speech. The Department of Commerce had announced a bar on WeChat appearing in US app stores from Sunday, effectively shutting it down.
Chipmaker Nvidia has agreed to buy Arm Holdings, a designer of chips for mobile phones, from SoftBank in a deal worth $40 billion, the companies announced Sunday. The deal will include $21.5 billion in Nvidia stock and $12 billion in cash, including $2 billion payable at signing. Softbank acquired Arm in 2016 for $31.4 billion in 2016 in one of its largest acquisitions ever.
After days of whiplash over the future of TikTok, President Donald Trump said he would allow an American company to acquire the short-form video app. Trump on Monday set September 15 as the deadline for TikTok to find a US buyer, failing which he said he will shut down the app in the country. In an unusual declaration, Trump also said any deal would have to include a “substantial amount of money” coming to the US Treasury.
PepsiCo Inc (PEP.O) said on Wednesday it will change the name and brand image of its Aunt Jemima pancake mix and syrup, dropping a mascot that has been criticized for a racist history, amid a national debate over racial inequality in the United States. The offensive caricature is rooted in a stereotype of a friendly black woman working as a servant or nanny for a white family.