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US

Meta to reinstate Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts

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Jan 25 (Reuters) – Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) said Wednesday it will reinstate former U.S. President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks, following a two-year suspension after the deadly Capitol Hill riot on January 6, 2021.

The restoration of his accounts could provide a boost to Trump, who announced in November he will make another run for the White House in 2024. He has 34 million followers on Facebook and 23 million on Instagram, platforms that are key vehicles for political outreach and fundraising.

His Twitter account was restored in November by new owner Elon Musk, though Trump has yet to post there.

Free speech advocates say it is appropriate for the public to have access to messaging from political candidates, but critics of Meta have accused the company of lax moderating policies.

Meta said in a blog post Wednesday it has “put new guardrails in place to deter repeat offenses.”

“In the event that Mr. Trump posts further violating content, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation,” wrote Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, in the blog post.

The decision, while widely expected, drew sharp rebukes from civil rights advocates. “Facebook has policies but they under-enforce them,” said Laura Murphy, an attorney who led a two-year long audit of Facebook concluding in 2020. “I worry about Facebook’s capacity to understand the real world harm that Trump poses: Facebook has been too slow to act.”

The Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, Free Press and other groups also expressed concern Wednesday over Facebook’s ability to prevent any future attacks on the democratic process, with Trump still repeating his false claim that he won the 2020 presidential election.

Others said it was the right decision.

Jameel Jaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and a former ACLU official, defended the reinstatement. He had previously endorsed the company’s decision to suspend Trump’s account.

“The public has an interest in hearing directly from candidates for political office,” said Jaffer. “It’s better if the major social media platforms err on the side of leaving speech up, even if the speech is offensive or false, so that it can be addressed by other users and other institutions.”

OTHER REACTIVATIONS?

The decision to ban Trump was a polarizing one for Meta, the world’s biggest social media company, which prior to the Trump suspension had never blocked the account of a sitting head of state for violating its content rules.

The company indefinitely revoked Trump’s access to his Facebook and Instagram accounts after removing two of his posts during the Capitol Hill violence, including a video in which he reiterated his false claim of widespread voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election.

It then referred the case to its independent oversight board, which ruled that the suspension was justified but its indeterminate nature was not. In response, Meta said it would revisit the suspension two years after it began.

Meta’s blog post Wednesday suggested it may reactivate other suspended accounts, including those penalized for their involvement in civil unrest. The company said those reinstated accounts would be subject to more stringent review and penalties for violations.

Whether, and how, Trump will seize upon the opportunity to return to Facebook and Instagram is unclear.

Trump has not sent any new tweets since regaining his account on Twitter, saying he would prefer to stick with his own app Truth Social. But his campaign spokesman told Fox News Digital last week that being back on Facebook “will be an important tool for the 2024 campaign to reach voters.”

In a post on Truth Social, Trump responded to his reinstatement on Meta apps, saying: “Such a thing should never again happen to a sitting President, or anybody else who is not deserving of retribution!” He did not indicate if or when he would begin posting on Meta platforms again.

Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat who previously chaired the House Intelligence Committee, criticized the decision to reinstate him.

“Trump incited an insurrection,” Schiff wrote on Twitter. “Giving him back access to a social media platform to spread his lies and demagoguery is dangerous.”

Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas and Katie Paul in Palo Alto; additional reporting by Greg Bensinger, David Shepardson, Kanishka Singh, Eva Mathews and Yuvraj Malik; Editing by Kenneth Li and Rosalba O’Brien

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Business

Microsoft cloud outage hits users around the world

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  • Outage impacts Microsoft cloud platform Azure for hours
  • Multiple Microsoft services including Teams and Outlook hit
  • Microsoft says most customers now have service restored
  • Shares down 3.2%

Jan 25 (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said on Wednesday it had recovered all of its cloud services after a networking outage took down its cloud platform Azure along with services such as Teams and Outlook used by millions around the globe.

Azure’s status page showed services were impacted in Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Only services in China and its platform for governments were not hit.

By late morning Azure said most customers should have seen services resume after a full recovery of the Microsoft Wide Area Network (WAN).

An outage of Azure, which has 15 million corporate customers and over 500 million active users, according to Microsoft data, can impact multiple services and create a domino effect as almost all of the world’s largest companies use the platform.

Businesses have become increasingly dependent on online platforms after the pandemic caused a shift to more employees working from home.

Earlier, Microsoft said it had determined a network connectivity issue was occurring with devices across the Microsoft WAN. This impacts connectivity between clients on the internet to Azure, as well as connectivity between services in data centres, it said.

Microsoft later tweeted that it had rolled back a network change that it believed was causing the issue and was using “additional infrastructure to expedite the recovery process”.

Microsoft did not disclose the number of users affected by the disruption, but data from outage tracking website Downdetector showed thousands of incidents across continents.

The Downdetector site tracks outages by collating status reports from various sources including users.

Microsoft’s cloud business had helped shore up its fiscal second-quarter earnings on Tuesday. It forecast third-quarter revenue in its so-called intelligent cloud business would be $21.7 billion to $22 billion despite worries that the lucrative cloud segment for big tech companies could be hit hard as customers look to cut spending.

Azure’s share of the cloud computing market rose to 30% in 2022, trailing Amazon’s AWS, according to estimates from BofA Global Research.

[1/5] Microsoft Teams app is seen on the smartphone placed on the keyboard in this illustration taken, July 26, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Microsoft joined other big tech companies in turning to layoffs to ride out the weaker economy, announcing last week it was cutting over 10,000 jobs.

Its shares were down 3.2% at $234.41.

Outages of Big Tech platforms are not uncommon as several companies ranging from Google (GOOGL.O) to Meta (META.O) have seen service disruptions. Azure, the second largest cloud services provider after Amazon (AMZN.O), faced outages last year.

During the outage, users faced problems in exchanging messages, joining calls or using any features of Teams application. Many users took to Twitter to share updates about the service disruption, with #MicrosoftTeams trending as a hashtag on the social media site.

Microsoft Teams, used by more than 280 million people globally, forms an integral part of daily operations for businesses and schools, which use the service to make calls, schedule meetings and organise their workflow.

There were few signs of significant disruption at major UK-based financial services firms, where multiple messaging applications offered by providers like Movius and Symphony are used alongside Microsoft Teams to connect bankers with clients, and office-based staff with colleagues working remotely.

Two London-based sources, working at two major global banks, said they hadn’t even noticed a problem.

Deutsche Boerse Group, which operates the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, said there had been no impact on trading. Frankfurt-based Commerzbank AG (CBKG.DE) said in a statement that Microsoft was investigating several issues impacting the bank.

Among the other services affected were Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, according to the company’s status page.

“I think there is a very big debate to be had on resiliency in the comms and cloud space and the critical applications,” Symphony Chief Executive Brad Levy said.

Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru and Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm, additional reporting by Sinead Cruise in London; Writing by Charlie Devereux, Editing by Elaine Hardcastle

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Business

Hindenburg shorts India’s Adani Group, flags debt and accounting concerns

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BENGALURU, Jan 25 (Reuters) – Hindenburg Research said on Wednesday it held short positions in India’s Adani Group, accusing the conglomerate of improper extensive use of entities set up in offshore tax havens and expressing concern about high debt levels.

The report, which comes days ahead of a $2.5 billion share offering by flagship firm Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS), sent shares in Adani group firms sliding.

Hindenburg, a well known U.S. short-seller, said key listed companies in the group controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani had “substantial debt” which has put the entire group on a “precarious financial footing”.

It also said that seven Adani listed companies have an 85% downside on a fundamental basis due to what it called “sky-high valuations”.

An Adani spokesperson did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment on the report, which Hindenburg said was based on research that involved speaking with dozens of individuals, including former Adani Group executives as well as a review of documents.

Hindenburg said it held its short positions through U.S.-traded bonds and non-Indian-traded derivative instruments.

Adani has repeatedly dismissed debt concerns. Adani Chief Financial Officer Jugeshinder Singh told media on Jan. 21 “Nobody has raised debt concerns to us. No single investor has.”

In the wake of the Hindenburg report, Adani Ports And Special Economic Zone (APSE.NS) slid 7.3% to its lowest level since early July, while Adani Enterprises dropped 3.7% to a near three-month low.

Reuters Graphics Reuters Graphics

Adani-owned cement firms ACC (ACC.NS) and Ambuja Cements (ABUJ.NS) fell 6.7% and 9.7% respectively.

Hindenburg’s report said that five of seven key listed Adani companies have reported current ratios – a measure of liquid assets minus near-term liabilities – below 1. This, the short-seller said, suggested “a heightened short-term liquidity risk.”

Adani Group’s total gross debt in the financial year ending March 31, 2022, rose 40% to 2.2 trillion rupees.

Refinitiv data shows that debt at all the Adani Group’s seven key listed Adani companies exceeds equity, with debt at Adani Green Energy Ltd (ADNA.NS) exceeding equity by more than 2,000%.

CreditSights, part of the Fitch Group, described the group last September as “overleveraged” and said it had concerns over its debt. While the report later corrected some calculation errors, CreditSights said it maintained its concerns over leverage.

Hindenburg is known for shorting electric truck maker Nikola Corp (NKLA.O) and Twitter though it later reversed its position in Twitter.

Shares in Adani Enterprises surged 125% in 2022, while other group companies, including power and gas units, rose more than 100%.

Reporting by Mrinmay Dey, Chris Thomas and Aditya Kalra; Additional reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Edwina Gibbs

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Business

Wall Street totters after mixed earnings, trade halt glitch

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  • SEC investigating NYSE opening bell glitch
  • 3M slides on downbeat Q1 forecast
  • J&J falls on sales warning; GE down on weak profit view
  • Microsoft to report quarterly earnings after market close
  • Indexes: Dow up 0.18%, S&P 500 off 0.13%, Nasdaq down 0.25%

NEW YORK, Jan 24 (Reuters) – Wall Street was mixed on Tuesday as a raft of mixed earnings took some wind out of the sails of the recent rally.

The session got off to an rocky start, as a spate of NYSE-listed stocks were halted at the opening bell due to an apparent technical glitch, which caused initial price confusion and prompted an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

More than 80 stocks were affected by the glitch, which caused wide swings in opening prices in stocks, including Walmart Inc (WMT.N) and Nike Inc (NKE.N).

“It looks like NYSE got on it real early,” said Joseph Sroka, chief investment officer at NovaPoint in Atlanta. “Now they’re trying to determine what opening trade prices were.”

“Everyone involved in trade settlements is going to have a long day today.”

All three indexes sputtered near the starting line, with little apparent momentum in either direction.

Fourth quarter earnings season is in full swing, with 72 of the companies in the S&P 500 having reported. Of those, 65% have beaten consensus, just a hair below the 66% long-term average, according to Refinitiv.

On aggregate, analysts now expect S&P 500 earnings 2.9% below the year-ago quarter, down from the 1.6% year-on-year decline seen on Jan. 1, per Refinitiv.

“Earnings don’t make a bull or bear case for the market yet, but there’s an anxiousness among investors to be long when the Fed is done raising rates,” Sroka added. “We’re hitting a ramp in the earnings cycle, and by next week we’ll have a lot more information on the direction of the market.”

Economic data showed shallower-than-expected contraction in the manufacturing and services sector in the first weeks of the year, suggesting that the Federal Reserve’s restrictive interest rates are dampening demand.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 60.69 points, or 0.18%, to 33,690.25, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 5.36 points, or 0.13%, to 4,014.45 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) dropped 28.39 points, or 0.25%, to 11,336.03.

Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, industrials was down the most.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE.N), owner of the New York Stock Exchange, dropped 2.5% as SEC investigators searched for the cause of Tuesday’s opening bell confusion.

Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) shares dipped 1.8% after the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Google for abusing its dominance of the digital advertising business.

Johnson & Johnson’s (JNJ.N) profit guidance came in above analyst expectations. Even so, its stock softened 0.3%.

Industrial conglomerates 3M Co (MMM.N) and General Electric Co (GE.N) both provided underwhelming forward guidance due to inflationary headwinds.

3M’s shares were off 5.1% while General Electric’s were modestly lower.

Aerospace/defense companies Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) and Raytheon Technologies Corp (RTX.N) were a study in contrasts, with the former issuing a disappointing profit forecast and the latter beating estimates on solid travel demand.

Lockheed Martin and Raytheon were up 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively.

Railroad operator Union Pacific Corp missed profit estimates as labor shortages and severe weather delayed shipments. Its shares shed 2.7%.

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) is due to report after the bell.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.16-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.06-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

The S&P 500 posted 27 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 69 new highs and 21 new lows.

Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Aurora Ellis

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Business

Cryptoverse: Bitcoin investors take control

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Jan 24 (Reuters) – Paranoid? The domino downfall of FTX and other crypto custodians is enough to make the most trusting investor grab their bitcoin and shove it under the mattress.

Indeed, holders big and small are taking “self-custody” of their funds, moving them from crypto exchanges and trading platforms to personal digital wallets.

In a sign of this shift among retail investors, the number of bitcoin held in smaller wallets – those with under 10 bitcoin – rose to 3.35 million as of Jan. 11, up 23% from the 2.72 million held a year ago, according to data from CoinMetrics.

As a percentage of total bitcoin supply, wallet addresses holding under 10 bitcoin now own 17.4%, up from 14.4% a year ago.

“A lot of this really depends on how frequently you’re trading,” said Joshua Peck, founder of hedge fund TrueCode Capital. “If you’re just going buy and hold for the next 10 years, then it’s probably worth making the investment and learning how to custody your assets really, really well.”

The stampede has been turbocharged by the FTX scandal and other crypto collapses, with large investors leading the way.

The 7-day average of daily movement of funds from centralized exchanges to personal wallets jumped to a six-month high of $1.3 billion in mid-November, at the time of FTX collapse, according to data from Chainalysis.

Big investors with transfers of above $100,000 were responsible for those flows, the data showed.

Reuters Graphics

WHERE ARE MY KEYS?

Not your keys, not your coins.

This mantra among early crypto enthusiasts, cautioning that access to your funds is paramount, regularly trended online last year as finance platforms dropped like flies.

Self-custody’s no walk in the park, though.

Wallets can range from “hot” ones connected to the internet or “cold” ones in offline hardware devices, although the latter typically don’t appeal to first-time investors, who often buy crypto on big exchanges.

The multi-level security can often be cumbersome and expensive process for a small-time investor, and there’s always the challenge of guarding keeping your encryption key – a string of data similar to a password – without losing or forgetting it.

Meanwhile, hardware wallets can fail, or be stolen.

“It’s very challenging, because you have to keep track of your keys, you have to back those keys up,” said Peck at TrueCode Capital, adding: “I’ll tell you it’s a very challenging prospect of doing self custody for a multi-million-dollar portfolio of crypto.”

Institutional investors are also turning to regulated custodians – specialized companies that can hold funds in cold storage – as many traditional finance firms would not legally be able to “self-custody” investors’ assets.

One such firm, BitGo, which provides custodian services custody for institutional investors and traders, said it saw a 25% increase in onboarding inquiries in December versus the month before from those looking to move their funds from exchanges, plus a 20% jump in assets under custody.

David Wells, CEO of Enclave Markets, said trading platforms were extremely cautious of the risks of storing the investors’ assets with a third party.

“A comment that stuck with me was ‘investors will forgive us for losing some of their money through our trading strategies, because that’s what they sign up for, what they’re not going to forgive us is for being poor custodians’.”

Reporting by Medha Singh and Lisa Pauline Mattackal in Bengaluru; Editing by Pravin Char

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Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

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World

WHO urges ‘immediate action’ after cough syrup deaths

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LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) – The World Health Organization has called for “immediate and concerted action” to protect children from contaminated medicines after a spate of child deaths linked to cough syrups last year.

In 2022, more than 300 children – mainly aged under 5 – in Gambia, Indonesia and Uzbekistan died of acute kidney injury, in deaths that were associated with contaminated medicines, the WHO said in a statement on Monday.

The medicines, over-the-counter cough syrups, had high levels of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol.

“These contaminants are toxic chemicals used as industrial solvents and antifreeze agents that can be fatal even taken in small amounts, and should never be found in medicines,” the WHO said.

As well as the countries above, the WHO told Reuters on Monday that the Philippines, Timor Leste, Senegal and Cambodia may potentially be impacted because they may have the medicines on sale. It called for action across its 194 member states to prevent more deaths.

[1/4] Logo of Marion Biotech, a healthcare and pharmaceutical company is seen on a gate outside their office in Noida, India, December 29, 2022. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis

“Since these are not isolated incidents, WHO calls on various key stakeholders engaged in the medical supply chain to take immediate and coordinated action,” WHO said.

The WHO has already sent specific product alerts in October and earlier this month, asking for the medicines to be removed from the shelves, for cough syrups made by India’s Maiden Pharmaceuticals and Marion Biotech, which are linked with deaths in Gambia and Uzbekistan respectively.

It also issued a warning last year for cough syrups made by four Indonesian manufacturers, PT Yarindo Farmatama, PT Universal Pharmaceutical, PT Konimex and PT AFI Pharma, that were sold domestically.

The companies involved have either denied that their products have been contaminated or declined to comment while investigations are ongoing.

The WHO reiterated its call for the products flagged above to be removed from circulation, and called more widely for countries to ensure that any medicines for sale are approved by competent authorities. It also asked governments and regulators to assign resources to inspect manufacturers, increase market surveillance and take action where required.

It called on manufacturers to only buy raw ingredients from qualified suppliers, test their products more thoroughly and keep records of the process. Suppliers and distributors should check for signs of falsification and only distribute or sell medicines authorised for use, the WHO added.

Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Christina Fincher

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Business

Wall Street surges, powered by tech rebound

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  • Baker Hughes falls on missing Q4 profit estimates
  • Activist investor Elliott Management takes stake in Salesforce
  • Chips on track for biggest daily gain since Nov
  • Indexes up: Dow 0.98%, S&P 1.41%, Nasdaq 2.09%,

NEW YORK, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Wall Street surged on Monday, led higher by technology stocks as investors embarked on an earnings-heavy week with a renewed enthusiasm for market leading momentum stocks that were battered last year.

All three major stock indexes extended Friday’s rally, gaining momentum as the day progressed. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was out front, boosted by a 4.9% jump in semiconductor shares (.SOX).

“This is a remarkable rally in many of the names that did badly last year,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in Fairfield, Connecticut. “No one wants to be watching from the sideline with a bunch a cash as the market gets away from them.”

The session marks a calm before the storm in a week jam-packed with high profile earnings reports and back-end loaded with crucial economic data.

Investors are all but certain the Federal Reserve implement a bite-sized interest rate hike next week even as the U.S. central bank remains committed to taming the hottest inflationary cycle in decades.

Financial markets have priced in a 99.8% likelihood of a 25 basis point hike to the Fed funds target rate at the conclusion of its two-day monetary policy meeting next Wednesday, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) rose 328.17 points, or 0.98%, to 33,703.66, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 55.93 points, or 1.41%, to 4,028.54 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) added 232.84 points, or 2.09%, to 11,373.28.

All 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 were higher, with tech (.SPLRCT) up the most, jumping 2.8%.

Fourth-quarter reporting season has shifted into overdrive, with 57 of the companies in the S&P 500 having posted results. Of those, 63% have delivered better than expected earnings, according to Refinitiv.

Analysts now see S&P 500 fourth quarter earnings, on aggregate, dropping 3% year-on-year, nearly twice as steep as the 1.6% annual drop seen at the beginning of the year, per Refinitiv.

This week, Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Tesla Inc , along with a spate of heavy-hitting industrials including Boeing CO (BA.N), 3M Co (MMM.N), Union Pacific Corp (UNP.N) Dow Inc (DOW.N), Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N), are expected to post quarterly results.

Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) surged 7.8% as Chief Executive Elon Musk took the stand in his fraud trial related to a tweet saying he had backing to take the electric automaker private.

Baker Hughes Co (BKR.O) missed quarterly profit estimates due to inflation pressures and ongoing disruptions due to Russia’s war on Ukraine. The oilfield services company’s shares were off 0.9%.

Cloud-based software firm Salesforce Inc (CRM.N) jumped 3.1% following news that activist investor Elliot Management Corp has taken a multi-billion dollar stake in the company.

Spotify Technology SA (SPOT.N) joined the growing list of tech-related companies to announce impending job cuts, shedding 6% of its workforce as rising interest rates and the looming possibility of recession continue to pressure growth stocks. The music streaming company’s shares rose 2.1%.

On the economic front, the Commerce Department is expected to unveil its initial “advance” take on fourth-quarter GDP in Thursday, which analysts expect to land at 2.5%.

On Friday, the wide-ranging personal consumption expenditures (PCE) report is due to shed light on consumer spending, income growth, and crucially, inflation.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 3.53-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.95-to-1 ratio favored advancers.

The S&P 500 posted 11 new 52-week highs and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 66 new highs and 14 new lows.

Reporting by Stephen Culp; Additional reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru
Editing by Marguerita Choy

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Business

Spotify to trim 6% of workforce in latest tech layoffs

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Jan 23 (Reuters) – Spotify Technology SA (SPOT.N) said on Monday it plans to cut 6% of its workforce and would take a related charge of up to nearly $50 million, adding to the massive layoffs in the technology sector in preparation for a possible recession.

The tech industry is facing a demand downturn after two years of pandemic-powered growth during which it had hired aggressively. That has led firms from Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) to Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) to shed thousands of jobs.

“Over the last few months we’ve made a considerable effort to rein in costs, but it simply hasn’t been enough,” Chief Executive Daniel Elk said in a blog post announcing the roughly 600 job cuts.

“I was too ambitious in investing ahead of our revenue growth,” he added, echoing a sentiment voiced by other tech bosses in recent months.

Spotify’s operating expenditure grew at twice the speed of its revenue last year as the audio-streaming company aggressively poured money into its podcast business, which is more attractive for advertisers due to higher engagement levels.

Reuters Graphics

At the same time, businesses pulled back on ad spending on the platform, mirroring a trend seen at Meta and Google parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), as rapid interest rate hikes and the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war pressured the economy.

The company, whose shares rose 5.8% to $103.55, is now restructuring itself in a bid to cut costs and adjust to the deteriorating economic picture.

It said Dawn Ostroff, the head of content and advertising, was leaving after an over four-year stint at the company. Ostroff helped shape Spotify’s podcast business and guided it through backlash around Joe Rogan’s show for allegedly spreading misinformation about COVID-19.

The company said it is appointing Alex Norström, head of the freemium business, and research and development boss Gustav Söderström as co-presidents.

Spotify had about 9,800 full-time employees as of Sept. 30.

($1 = 0.9196 euros)

Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Shailesh Kuber

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World

Brazil and Argentina to discuss common currency

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BUENOS AIRES, Jan 22 (Reuters) – Brazil and Argentina aim for greater economic integration, including the development of a common currency, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentine leader Alberto Fernandez said in a joint article they penned.

“We intend to overcome the barriers to our exchanges, simplify and modernize the rules and encourage the use of local currencies,” says the text published on the Argentine website Perfil.

“We also decided to advance discussions on a common South American currency that can be used for both financial and commercial flows, reducing costs operations and our external vulnerability,” the article said.

The idea of a common currency was raised originally in an article written last year by Fernando Haddad and Gabriel Galipolo, now Brazil’s finance minister and his executive secretary, respectively, and was mentioned by Lula during the campaign.

Lula chose Argentina for his inaugural international trip since taking office, keeping with the tradition of first visiting Brazil’s largest trading partner in the region. That follows four years of tense relations during the government of former Brazilian right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro.

Lula’s trip to neighboring Argentina also marks the return of Brazil to the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which Brazil left in 2019 under order from Bolsonaro, who refused to participate in the regional group due to the presence of Cuba and Venezuela.

Both presidents emphasized the need for a good relationship between Argentina and Brazil to strengthen regional integration, according to the article.

The leaders also emphasized strengthening the Mercosur trade bloc, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and which Brazilian Finance Minister Haddad recently lamented has been abandoned in recent years.

“Together with our partners, we want Mercosur to constitute a platform for our effective integration into the world, through the joint negotiation of balanced trade agreements that respond to our strategic development objectives,” both presidents said.

Earlier in the day, the Financial Times reported the neighboring nations will announce this week they are starting preparatory work on a common currency.

The plan, set to be discussed at a summit in Buenos Aires this week, will focus on how a new currency which Brazil suggests calling the “sur” (south) could boost regional trade and reduce reliance on the U.S. dollar, FT reported citing officials.

Politicians from both countries have discussed the idea already in 2019, but met with pushback from Brazil’s central bank at the time.

Initially starting as a bilateral project, the initiative would later be extended to invite other Latin American nations, the report said, adding an official announcement was expected during Lula’s visit to Argentina that starts on Sunday night.

Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Additional reporting by Jyoti Narayan in Bengaluru; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Diane Craft and Chris Reese

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Business

Feds seized nearly $700 million from FTX founder Bankman-Fried

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Jan 20 (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors have seized nearly $700 million in assets from FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried in January, largely in the form of Robinhood stock, according to a Friday court filing.

Bankman-Fried, who has been accused of stealing billions of dollars from FTX customers to pay debts incurred by his crypto-focused hedge fund, has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges. He is scheduled to face trial in October.

The Department of Justice revealed the seizure of Robinhood shares earlier this month, but it provided a more complete list of seized assets Friday, including cash held at various banks and assets deposited at crypto exchange Binance.

The ownership of the seized Robinhood shares, valued at about $525 million, has been the subject of disputes between Bankman-Fried, FTX, and bankrupt crypto lender BlockFi.

The most recent asset seizure reported by the DOJ took place on Thursday, when prosecutors seized $94.5 million in cash from an account at Silvergate Bank which was associated with FTX Digital Markets, FTX’s subsidiary in the Bahamas. The DOJ seized more than $7 million from other Silvergate accounts associated with Bankman-Fried and FTX.

The DOJ previously seized nearly $50 million from an FTX Digital Markets account at Moonstone Bank, a small bank in Washington state.

DOJ also said that assets in three Binance accounts associated with Bankman-Fried were subject to criminal forfeiture, but did not provide an estimate of the value in those accounts.

Reporting by Dietrich Knauth; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Daniel Wallis

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