Enlarge / RomUniverse has been down for months, but owner Matt Storman may be considering bringing it back despite a court judgment.
In May, a US District Court ordered former RomUniverse.com owner Matthew Storman to pay $2.1 million in damages to Nintendo for copyright and trademark infringement. Now, Nintendo is seeking an additional permanent injunction against Storman, who it says is considering bringing the ROM site back without “Nintendo content” and who has failed to make a $50-per-month payment toward those damages.
Storman—who said in court documents that his post-RomUniverse income was derived primarily from “unemployment and food stamps”—seems unlikely to ever pay even a small chunk of the $2.1 million judgment against him. Paying a token $50 a month, an amount Nintendo says Storman “proposed and agreed to,” would mean that fully covering the damages would take Storman 3,500 years, and that’s without accounting for interest.
Still, Nintendo is using the damages to its advantage, arguing that Storman’s failure to make his first $50 monthly payment “demonstrates that Nintendo has no adequate remedy at law for Defendant’s past or future infringement and underscores the need for a permanent injunction.”
Getting the site back together?
Meanwhile, in a recent filing with the court, Perkins Coie lawyer William Rava recounts a telephone call he had with Storman on June 3 after the court’s original ruling. In that call, Rava said, “Mr. Storman stated that he was still considering what to do with RomUniverse and that if he were to bring back the website, it might have video game content and ROMs from companies other than Nintendo but would not have Nintendo content.”
“The Opposition does not dispute that [Storman] is considering relaunching the RomUniverse website to continue to distribute video game ROMs,” Nintendo writes in a filing based on Rava’s deposition. “Nor does it assert that this future use will not violate Nintendo’s intellectual property rights.”
Storman’s statement brings up an interesting legal distinction between games developed and/or published by Nintendo and third-party games that merely run on Nintendo consoles. The ruling against Storman focused on 49 games from the former group; those titles were copyrighted and trademarked directly by Nintendo. But Nintendo has less of a legal claim on hundreds of other ROMs that run on Nintendo consoles but whose copyrights and trademarks are owned by other companies (which are responsible for protecting those rights).
Even if a ROM site ignored all Nintendo-published games, though, it could still face legal trouble from Nintendo for misusing trademarked console names and imagery or for suggesting a legitimate relationship with Nintendo’s console hardware that doesn’t exist. The Internet Archive’s Console Living Room project, for instance, doesn’t officially include any licensed games for Nintendo consoles out of fears of legal threats from Nintendo (though some copyrighted NES and SNES games are occasionally uploaded by Internet Archive users before being taken down).
Legal maneuvering
Nintendo initially requested a permanent injunction against “future infringement” of Nintendo’s intellectual property in its original motion for summary judgment against Storman. While any future infringement would still be illegal in any case, a preemptive injunction from the court would make it much simpler for Nintendo to quickly shut down a new ROM site if Storman sets one up (as he seems to be considering).
The judge denied Nintendo’s original request on an injunction, saying that the monetary damages and the fact the site was already shuttered weighed against the necessary argument for “irreparable harm.” Now, though, Nintendo is citing the new legal precedent of the 2020 Trademark Modernization Act in arguing for a permanent injunction. That act, which passed just before Nintendo first requested an injunction but was not considered at the time, establishes a new “mandatory presumption of irreparable harm” in trademark infringement that Nintendo says should point the court toward an injunction.
Storman, who is representing himself in the case, has meanwhile filed his own somewhat rambling motion asking the court to reconsider the statutory damages it imposed in May. “There is no legitimate, admissible evidence that the Court can reasonable [sic] construe to cause it to believe that Plaintiff, Nintendo, sustained any actual damages whatsoever as a result of any of the Defendant’s actions or inactions,” Storman writes.
In its response, Nintendo argues that it has already “presented uncontroverted evidence that there were approximately 50,000 illegal downloads of infringing ROMs at the time Nintendo filed its Complaint, and that the retail price for the Nintendo Games is between $20 and $60.”
(Update: Adding video, comments from sheriff’s office, Sisters business)
Investigators want to hear from others who have received a massage from Michael Boyle
SISTERS, Ore. (KTVZ) — A Bend man, the owner of a Sisters spa, is facing several charges, including illegally giving massages without a license.
Michael Boyle, 60, the owner of “Hop in the Spa,” is facing charges of sex abuse, harassment and providing massages without a license.
Deanna Brainerd, co-owner of Culver Cabin Interiors and Flowers by Deanna, two neighboring businesses of the Sisters Spa, said Thursday was devastated by the news.
“Shocking and very hurtful,” Brainerd said. “And as a person, it’s very sad.”
Boyle’s spa offers a bath, full of beer, for relaxation and medicinal purposes.
Back in 2016, NewsChannel 21 profiled the business, which had customers soak in a proprietary blend of beer, hops, barley and herbs.
However a month ago, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office received a complaint from a woman about sexual abuse and harassment during a massage at the spa.
The sheriff’s office said Boyle, the only employee, is not a licensed massage therapist.
“When these other massages were offered, he was not licensed to give them,” Sgt. Jayson Janes said.
He was contacted at the spa and arrested during a raid Wednesday night. The spa currently is closed and its entrance is blocked off.
NewsChannel 21 spoke to a woman on the phone who left a positive review and said she had an amazing time, with no issues.
However, nearby business owners said they were not surprised by the allegations.
“I can say I’m not surprised, just because I know the gentleman and his shady business practices,” Brainerd said.
Brainerd, along with a few other businesses that chose to speak on camera, feel there is something untrustworthy about Boyle.
“His demeanor and his business practices and if you just kind of look at his business, it makes you go ‘hmm’ — seems very unprofessional,” Brainerd said.
Only one woman has filed a complaint, but deputies are hoping to talk with other people who received massages.
“There could be stiffer penalties, for sure,” Janes said, “and that’s one thing we’re wondering, if anyone else had gone there and received a massage.”
Brainerd said she is heartbroken for the possible victims, but is upset at the stain this puts on the city of Sisters.
“Everyone that I know in this town has a passion for Sisters, and we treat people with value and with respect — and to have that happen is horrendous,” Brainerd said. “I’m very wound up about it.”
Investigators said they believe there are other citizens who may have received a massage from Boyle in the past. They were encouraged to contact Deputy Michael Hudson at 541-693-6911, reference Case No. 21-30013.
Also, you can check a person’s state massage license status at this link.
A Tesla owner has found himself in the middle of a battle worth over $100,000 in property damages after his Model 3 Performance crashed while being driven out of a valet parking garage. Despite being in the right and having the evidence to back up his claims, the Tesla owner has ended up in an uphill battle that could last for some time.
From Routine to Horror
It was supposed to be a routine process. After having his Model 3 parked at a multi-story garage, the Tesla owner asked for his vehicle to be returned to him. A valet then went on to retrieve the Model 3 from its parking spot. A Teslacam video of the valet driving the vehicle showed that everything seemed normal, despite the parking garage employee driving a bit fast in such a cramped space.
Moments later, the Tesla owner was shocked as part of the parking garage’s second-floor walls came crashing into the sidewalk below. Images taken by the electric car owner after the incident revealed that a vehicle had been partly pushed through the parking garage’s brick walls. Fearing the worst, the Tesla driver ran up to check on the valet and his Model 3.
What he saw confirmed his fears. Smashed against two vehicles was his blue Tesla Model 3 Performance, its front end crushed as it collided with other parked cars.
Unintended “Autopilot” Acceleration
As the valet stumbled out of the Model 3, he promptly claimed that the Tesla suddenly engaged Autopilot and drove itself into the other vehicles. The valet was not joking.
While those inexperienced with Tesla’s tech may find it easy to blame Autopilot to avoid accountability when something terrible happens, those familiar with the driver-assist system know that Autopilot could not be engaged in a number of places. One of these is, of course, a multi-story parking garage. The Model 3 owner then knew something was amiss when the valet told him that “Autopilot” suddenly drove the Tesla into the other vehicles.
The parking garage company claimed innocence by stating that the incident was caused by “unintended acceleration” on the Model 3’s part. The company refused to budge, and the Tesla owner decided to fight all the way. Being familiar with how Tesla stores its vehicles’ data, the Model 3 owner decided to gather so much evidence that there will be no way his insurance company could lose the case.
The Hunt for Evidence
In cases such as these, which involve a party claiming unintended acceleration through “Autopilot,” it is always best to have a Tesla’s Event Data Recorder (EDR) report. The EDR is like the car’s black box, recording everything that has happened in the vehicle. Everything, from the driver’s weight, the vehicle’s speed, which pedals were pressed, and how far they are pressed, could all be determined in the EDR report. The Model 3 owner then contacted Tesla for help in retrieving his car’s records.
Much to his chagrin, Tesla refused, citing legal reasons because he lives outside of California. In a statement to YouTube channel Wham Baam Teslacam, the Model 3 owner remarked that he is not really sure why Tesla refused his request, though he thinks that if it were his lawyer that contacted the electric car maker, the results would have been different. Disappointed but not deterred, the Model 3 owner ended up hiring an EDR technician to retrieve his Tesla’s report. The move cost him $1,300.
The EDR report was damning. A look at the data from the Model 3 showed that the valet was not even wearing a seatbelt while operating the Tesla. The vehicle was also moving reasonably fast for a car being driven out of a multi-story parking garage. But even more importantly, the EDR showed that the valet had applied 100% pressure on the accelerator and 0% pressure on the brake pedal all the way up to the crash. With this data, the Model 3 owner figured that he could ultimately prove that the parking garage’s unintended acceleration claim was untrue.
Denying Evidence
But despite the mountain of evidence provided by the EDR report, the parking garage company decided to dig their heels in the sand and stand by their claim of unintended acceleration. The Model 3 owner’s insurance company has paid out on the multiple claims for the damages that resulted from the incident and have pledged to reimburse him after litigation is finished. But that process could take quite a while.
The incident resulted in $24,000 worth of repairs to the Model 3 Performance. Adding on the damages for the other vehicles involved in the incident and the actual damages to the multi-story building itself, the total cost of property damage from the crash is estimated to be far beyond $100,000.
Ultimately, the Tesla owner’s experience with the parking garage highlights two notable things. One, parking garages and valets should know that it’s tough to lie about what one does in a Tesla since data from the EDR would most definitely show the truth. And second, Tesla’s service has a lot of space for improvement, so owners who approach the company for help after such a harrowing, aggravating incident would not be turned away. An EDR request, especially one by an owner involved in an accident, is better off approved, after all.
Watch Wham Baam Teslacam‘s feature on the remarkable incident in the video below.
Don’t hesitate to contact us for news tips. Just send a message to [email protected] to give us a heads up.
WFT owner Dan Snyder, center, before a game between the Washington Football Team and the New York Giants at FedEx Field in Landover, MD on November 8, 2020.
John McDonnell | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Washington Football Team owner Dan Snyder is close to buying the minority shares of his club for more than $800 million, according to the New York Times.
Snyder will seek approval from National Football League owners to take on $450 million in debt to buy the remaining 40.5% of the club’s shares for $875 million, the Times reported on Wednesday. The move would give Snyder complete control of the WFT.
NFL owners are scheduled to vote on Snyder’s debt request next week.
“The transaction is subject to three-fourths approval of full membership-24 of 32 clubs,” the NFL said in a statement. “The annual league meeting is slated for Tuesday and Wednesday, at which time there would be a vote.”
Owners of the minority shares include FedEx CEO Frederick Smith, who pushed for the team to drop its former name last year. Team sponsors, including Bank of America, Nike, Pepsi, and FedEx, which owns the naming rights to the team’s home stadium in Maryland, all came out against the previous team name. It prompted Snyder, 56, to change the name.
The issue was a part of a rocky 2020 centered around alleged misconduct in the club’s workplace.
The team is currently under an independent investigation by attorney Beth Wilkinson after a report last summer in The Washington Post, which alleged sexual harassment and mistreatment of female employees.
Jason Wright
Source: Washington Football Team
Snyder hired the NFL’s first Black team president in Jason Wright, who replaced Bruce Allen. In an interview with CNBC last August, Wright said the team would repair its damaged image.
“I’m glad we are where we are now,” Write said. “I think we’re in the right spot.”
Last season, the WFT made the playoffs for the first time since 2015, falling to eventual Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in an NFC wildcard game.
Snyder took over ownership when he purchased the team for $800 million in 1999. The WFT is now worth $3.5 billion according to Forbes, who noted the club brings in roughly $500 million in annual revenue.
The Utah Jazz have been winning a lot this season, but not as much as their new owner.
Just look back at three days in late January. The Jazz — which Ryan Smith bought for $1.66 billion late last year — beat the Dallas Mavericks for their 10th win in a row on Jan. 27, the same evening that Qualtrics International Inc.
XM,
+2.83%,
the software company Smith co-founded with his father Scott and brother Jared in 2002, set the price for its $1.55 billion IPO. The next day, Qualtrics shares would soar 52% in their trading debut, giving the software company a market valuation of $27.3 billion; a day later, the Jazz would win their 11th straight, putting them solidly at the top of the NBA standings.
So it’s good to be Ryan Smith. At the NBA All-Star break, the Jazz have a league-best record of 27-9. At the same time, Qualtrics is a major mover in a market estimated to be worth $60 billion, and topped Wall Street estimates for earnings and sales in its first quarterly results as a publicly traded company Tuesday.
The combination of a successful basketball team and another large, publicly traded tech company are helping to secure an even loftier goal for Smith: Making the Utah region known for something more than majestic mountains and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“His goals and objectives have never been anything but over the top,” Todd Pedersen, CEO of Vivint Smart Home Inc.
VVNT,
+0.40%,
told MarketWatch.
Qualtrics got its start in the Smith’s basement, which is near Pedersen’s home. And it’s not just Smith and Pedersen who are neighbors — their companies are right next to one another as well. And they can now watch the NBA team that Smith owns play at an arena that bears the name of Pedersen’s company, as they recently did for a nationally-televised Jazz game against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.
The Jazz won.
Handling double duties
Smith sits in a position occupied by few in the history of corporate America: head of a publicly traded company, and owner of an unrelated sports franchise. There is no such owner in the National Football League, Major League Baseball nor the National Hockey League, though Wayne Huizenga once owned franchises in all three while leading Blockbuster Video.
The NBA seems more willing to welcome public-company executives to its ranks, even while denying bids from Oracle Corp.’s
ORCL,
-0.10%
co-founder Larry Ellison. Another recent majority owner is Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s
BABA,
-1.34%
co-founder and Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai, who snapped up the Brooklyn Nets for a record $2.35 billion in 2020. The reclusive Robert Pera, CEO of Ubiquiti Inc.
UI,
-0.68%,
is also owner of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Vivek Ranidive was still chief executive of Tibco Software Inc. when he led a group that bought the Sacramento Kings in 2013, and Miami Heat owner Micky Arison led Carnival Cruise Inc. for more than a decade while leading his franchise. In Pera’s first attempt to buy into the NBA, a bid for the Philadelphia 76ers, he was topped by a group that included AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.
AMC,
+1.92%
CEO Adam Aron, who also served as CEO of the Sixers for the first two years the group owned the team.
Read more: 5 things to know as Qualtrics prepares for its IPO this week
Smith has adroitly navigated the corporate and professional sports worlds by delegating day-to-day operations at each organization.
“As executive chairman, my job during the day is running Qualtrics with [Chief Executive] Zig [Serafin]. My job with the Jazz is at night, and I leave it to the coaches, players, and executives in charge of the team,” Smith told MarketWatch. “The product is proof of their abilities.”
At Qualtrics, CEO Zig Serafin and Smith are self-described “co-builders” of a company that has grown in the four-and-a-half years since Serafin joined as chief operating officer. (Serafin, who was named CEO nine months ago, says he and Smith are “joined at the hip” in their vision.) During that time, Qualtrics has expanded employees (from 1,100 to 3,500), customers (3,000-4,000 to 13,500), and revenue (from less than $200 million annually to $763.5 million last year, the company reported Tuesday).
As the NBA’s newest owner, “One of Ryan’s leadership styles is to delegate. He lets people think big, but by doing so through smart decisions,” Jim Olson, president of the Utah Jazz, told MarketWatch.
To that end, the Jazz use Qualtrics’ data analytics technology to improve team performance on the court and off, down to traveling, sleep, and diet for players and coaching staff.
The rise of Silicon Slopes
Illustrated by Terrence Horan
Such partnerships have fueled not just the success of the Jazz and Qualtrics but the larger Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem area.
“The Jazz and Sundance [Film Festival] are the two most identifiable brands in this state, and Ryan is smartly leveraging the Jazz for global reach,” says Domo Inc.
DOMO,
+1.20%
CEO Josh James, who coined the term “Silicon Slopes” for the region and started the non-profit organization of the same name. “Ryan Smith used to be just another successful tech founder,” he said. “Now he is universally known as Ryan Smith, owner of the Jazz. This is a much larger megaphone and platform for the community.”
For example, the Jazz use Qualtrics software to collect and analyze fan data to improve their experience at home games on everything from concessions and apparel to parking and in-game entertainment. The two organizations have also teamed on 5 For The Fight, a nonprofit that invites everyone to give $5 for the fight against cancer. It is the Jazz’s official jersey patch, a rarity in the corporate-skewed NBA.
The winning ways of Smith and Qualtrics, amid a wave of freshly minted unicorns in the Salt Lake City region, underscores the rise of Silicon Slopes as one of a handful of regions in the U.S. to successfully mold itself after Silicon Valley. From the days of computer-networking pioneer Novell Inc. and word-processing maker WordPerfect Corp. in the 1980s, Utah has stood out as a tech outpost, albeit in the shadow of Silicon Valley and Seattle, but its recent string of triumphs has considerably raised its profile.
Indeed, the Provo-Orem area was deemed the best regional economy in America, according to rankings released in February by the Milken Institute.
Even COVID-19 hasn’t dampened the state’s can-do mindset.
Utah has among the most-open vaccination criteria in the nation. Starting in early March, anyone 50 and over is eligible for a jab—as well as those 16 and older with pre-existing conditions. By emphasizing “speed over perfection,” Nomi Health Inc. CEO Mark Newman says, the state has been able to send kids back to school since September, reduce the unemployment rate of 3% to a pre-pandemic level, and attain a budget surplus.
“The states that figure it out will have a long-tale of success over those states that don’t,” said Newman, whose direct healthcare company is partnering with the state of Utah and Qualtrics in bringing mass testing sites and vaccinations.
“Utah as a state has a get-it-done attitude,” says Newman, who moved to the state in 1993. “That goes back to Utah’s pioneer roots.”
James says Utah’s tech history can be divided into three phases: The first in the late 1980s and early ‘90s led by Novell and WordPerfect; a second in the late 1990s and 2000s, with internet plays Overstock Inc.
OSTK,
-2.18%,
Omniture (acquired by Adobe Systems Inc.
ADBE,
+0.69%
), Altris Corp. (bought by then-Symantec Corp.), Iomega (acquired by then-EMC Corp.), and dozens of companies that were sold for millions each; and the current one of big independent enterprise companies like Qualtrics and Domo, and consumer plays like Vivint.
“A giant crop of companies are coming behind us,” James said, mentioning such unicorns as MX Technologies Inc., Lucid Software Inc. and DivvyPay Inc. “This feels like Silicon Valley in the ‘90s. It’s a really exciting time.”
“Silicon Slopes is doing great, building off the great history of [tech pioneers] Novell and WordPerfect in the state,” Steve Case, the co-founder of AOL who now leads venture-capital firm Revolution, told MarketWatch. The latest iteration, he added, is the byproduct of the region’s focus on enterprise technology and “strong collaboration in building a community.”
Overstock CEO Jonathan Johnson credits Utah’s “rich entrepreneurial spirit” to a “business-friendly environment where constant innovation, great employment opportunities, and real technological advancement are present.”
“Utah is a mixing bowl of cultures,” says Serafin, whose previous stop was 17 years in Redmond, Wash., all of them at Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
-0.10%.
“Utah is close to the coast, and San Francisco and Los Angeles. It’s not much different than Silicon Valley folks who moved to Nevada.”
An ‘interesting journey’
In a state increasingly bustling with unicorns, none arguably have been hotter than Qualtrics, which went public in late January.
The company’s XM tracker stands for experience management, a software category that Qualtrics coined. Qualtrics, whose software lets businesses gauge how customers use their products so those products can be improved, has about 13,000 customers from about 9,000 two years ago. The company’s sales jumped 30% in the first three quarters of 2020 to $550 million, from $413.4 million a year earlier.
Smith’s “rare and unique ability to spot markets before they exist” gave him an vision of the experience economy that has helped evolve the way enterprises think about culture, brand, products, and people,” says ServiceNow Inc.
NOW,
-1.32%
CEO Bill McDermott, who was previously CEO of SAP
SAP,
-0.10%
when it owned Qualtrics.
Read more: 5 things to know as Qualtrics prepares for its IPO this week
Smith co-founded Qualtrics with his father and brother in 2002. On the cusp of going public in 2018, Qualtrics was acquired by SAP for $8 billion, making it the largest private enterprise-software acquisition in tech history when the deal closed in early 2019.
“It’s been an interesting journey,” Smith says. “For one-and-a-half to two years with SAP, they took our name everywhere while keeping our company independent and keeping the management team together, which is rare. It retained our culture, with an option to IPO.”
“To be in this spot as a public company, so many things had to go right,” Smith said. “It’s freakin’ incredible.”
A former Seattle business owner who moved away after 40 years said on Wednesday that the liberal city is on a downward spiral.
Joey Rodolfo, a clothing designer and co-founder of Buki clothing, told “Fox & Friends” that he was back in the city recently and believes the governor and mayor have failed to address protests and riots by Black Lives Matter and Antifa, including this past weekend.
“There’s no consequences. And we have a city attorney that turns his back on business people and lets these people just run wild in the city and destroy property. Seattle, unfortunately, is circling the drain as we speak.”
ANTIFA BLOCKS SEATTLE POLICE FROM RESPONDING TO EMERGENCIES WITH SNOW BARRIER
Meanwhile, a video posted to Instagram on Saturday evening by user ‘standwithseattlepd’ shows a snow barrier built by protesters outside of the Seattle Police Department’s East Precinct.
In the video, a police vehicle is seen rolling backwards after attempting to drive over the barrier.
“Antifa goons blocked the exit of the East Precinct with a pile of snow tonight, in an effort to stop vehicles from responding to emergency calls,” the user claimed in the caption on a separate video showing a crowd of officers later standing around the barrier.
Another video of the incident posted by journalist Andy Ngo shows the protesters cheering as the vehicle fails to make it over the snow barrier.
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Rodolfo said he is looking forward to running his business in Arizona. He mentioned Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey started an organization called the Arizona Economic Authority which is run by a “visionary woman.”
“The type of industry that’s coming to Arizona is incredible for Arizona will become the number one semi-conductor producer in the country,” he said, applauding the president of the Arizona Economic Authority for “rolling out the red carpet” to bring in new businesses.
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New York Mets billionaire owner Steve Cohen deleted his Twitter account over death threats aimed toward his family after a heated week over his dealings with GameStop, he said in a statement Saturday.
He said he was going to “take a break for now.”
Cohen took a lot of heat as his hedge fund Point72 Asset Management invested $750 million into Melvin Capital on Tuesday alongside Citadel’s reported $2 billion bailout, that firm is run by another billionaire Ken Griffin.
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Cohen took to Twitter to fire back, saying, “Rough crowd on Twitter tonight. Hey stock jockeys keep bringing it.”
The tough attitude caught the attention of Barstool Sports’ founder Dave Portnoy on Thursday. Portnoy railed against Robinhood for limiting trades on rising stocks like GameStop and AMC.
Ticker
Security
Last
Change
Change %
GME
GAMESTOP CORP
325.00
+131.40
+67.87%
BARSTOOL’S DAVE PORTNOY, METS’ STEVE COHEN SPAR OVER GAMESTOP DRAMA
The two sparred on social media before it looked like they agreed to go their own separate ways. By Friday, Cohen wanted to go back to Mets talk but later deleted his entire account.
Mets fans and media alike reacted.
Robinhood, TD Ameritrade, which is owned by Charles Schwab, along with other online apps restricted trading on Thursday, respectively, following an unexpected surge in trading volume of shares of not only GameStop but AMC Entertainment, Bed Bath & Beyond, BlackBerry and others.
The company said in a Thursday that it was “restricting transactions for certain securities to position closing only, including $AAL, $AMC, $BB, $BBY, $CTRM, $EXPR, $GME, $KOSS, $NAKD, $NOK, $SNDL, $TR, and $TRVG” and “raised margin requirements for certain securities.”
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On Friday, GameStop closed at 325.00 and AMC closed at 13.26.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj contributed to this report.
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is taking a “break” from Twitter after saying his family received personal threats this week amid an ongoing stock-trading standoff between day traders and hedge funds.
“I’ve really enjoyed the back and forth with Mets fans on Twitter which was unfortunately overtaken this week by misinformation unrelated to the Mets that led to our family getting personal threats,” Cohen said in a statement Saturday after deactivating his account Friday night. “So I’m going to take a break for now. We have other ways to listen to your suggestions and remain committed to doing that. I love our team, this community, and our fans, who are the best in baseball. Bottom line is that this week’s events in no way affect our resources and drive to put a championship team on the field.”
Cohen’s decision to step off Twitter appears to stem from conflict between independent investors and hedge funds. Day traders, mobilized on Reddit, have poured about all the money they can find into the stocks of struggling video game retailer GameStop and a few other beaten-down companies. Their buying has swollen those companies’ share prices beyond anyone’s imagination and inflicted huge losses on the hedge funds that had placed bets that the stocks would drop.
Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management became involved when it invested in Melvin Capital Management, a hedge fund that had heavily placed bets against GameStop and drew the ire of the Reddit users.
GameStop rocketed nearly 70% on Friday to close at $325. Over the past three weeks, the stock has delivered a stupefying 1,600% gain. The danger for the day traders is that, at any time, the stocks could collapse.
Before closing his Twitter account, Cohen — the richest owner in baseball, worth more than $14.5 billion — responded to the controversy Tuesday by tweeting, “Rough crowd on Twitter tonight. Hey stock jockeys, keep bringing it.”
Among the critics of Cohen, WFAN morning host and former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason said he would stop going to Mets games “until I find out exactly what’s going on here” regarding Cohen’s involvement with the GameStop situation.
The Mets owner had previously garnered a Twitter following of nearly 200,000 for his irreverent interactions with fans, where he took suggestions about how to run the team, reacted to the team’s biggest moves — such as the trade for shortstop Francisco Lindor — and teased a return of black jerseys.
ESPN’s Joon Lee and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Wall Street titan connected to the remarkable Robinhood feeding frenzy abruptly quit Twitter on Friday night, as it emerged that some of the board members of the companies involved have cashed in on the surreal week.
Steve Cohen, the financier and owner of the New York Mets, who is worth an estimated $14.6 billion, bowed out of Twitter on Friday.
Cohen’s company Point72 Asset Management, a $19 billion hedge fund firm which he founded in 2018, has been sucked into the drama this week via their relationship with Melvin Capital, a hedge fund that had a massive bet against GameStop.
Point72 already had roughly $1 billion under management with Melvin added $750 million to help stabilize Melvin this week when GameStop’s share price soared, causing massive losses for Melvin.
Steve Cohen, a financier worth around $14.6bn, has been swept up in the GameStop saga
Cohen had been debating the week’s trades with Dave Portnoy, Barstool Sports founder
GameStop’s shares jumped 135 per cent on Wednesday alone, and are up more than 1,700 per cent this year after a Reddit forum, WallStreetBets, began forcing the price up largely via the trading platform Robinhood.
The rise has taken a toll on some large investors, such as Melvin, who had bet against the stock.
Cohen, who bought the New York Mets in November, outflanking Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez to snap up the baseball team, was early in the week seeming to enjoy robust debate about the rollercoaster markets.
On Thursday, Cohen got into a Twitter debate with celebrity day trader Dave Portnoy, after the Barstool Sports blogger attacked Cohen for restrictions on trading apps such as Robinhood that were hurting the novice investors driving GameStop’s surging stock value.
‘Hey Dave , What’s your beef with me,’ Cohen tweeted back. ‘I’m just trying to make a living just like you. Happy to take this offline.’
Portnoy finally tweeted: ‘At least you are speaking and trying to answer. That is appreciated.’
By Friday night, Cohen’s account had been deleted.
Many mourned his departure from Twitter, having enjoyed his unusual interaction with Mets fans and unfiltered opinions.
‘Give this to Steve Cohen, he didn’t very loudly announce that he needed a ‘self care social media break’ before logging off,’ tweeted Laura Albanese, a sports reporter with Newsday.
Others took a more comical side, with one tweeting: ‘It’s nice to see Steve Cohen honoring the Mets tradition of giving up after a few months.’
Traders, pictured on the New York Stock Exchange on January 9, have had a wild week
Cohen’s bowing out from social media came as it emerged that others involved in the extraordinary week have profited enormously from the situation.
Since January 1, executives at BlackBerry and GameStop have been selling stock, cashing in a total of more than $22 million in stock.
The executives have also been given a massive boost by the amateur traders on social media who have bid up the companies’ shares.
Some have declared it their mission to divert profits from Wall Street to ordinary people, but in doing so have inadvertently helped the company directors.
Steve Rai, Blackberry’s Chief Financial Officer (left), and Kurt Wolf, a board member of GameStop have both profited from the soaring of their companies’ stocks
Broker Robinhood has been the focus of interest in the GameStop surging stocks
Protesters gathered outside the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday evening
Three BlackBerry executives last week cashed out nearly $1.7 million worth of the company’s stock, CBS News reported.
One of the three, BlackBerry Chief Financial Officer Steve Rai, sold all of his shares in the company, though he has unvested options that could turn into shares in the future.
BlackBerry shares were trading at about $5.50 until the Reddit board seized upon it, meaning that the trio’s stock would be worth about $700,000.
But the frenzy added $1 million to the combined value of their shares.
It was unclear how much of the $1.7 million went to Rai.
At GameStop, Kurt Wolf, a money manager and former executive consultant who joined GameStop’s board last year, sold more than two thirds of his stock in January.
The sale earnt Wolf’s investment fund just over $17 million.
There is no allegation of improper insider trading connected with any of the trades.
The developments with the financiers came as Robinhood continued to restrict trading for small-scale investors.
On Thursday Robinhood blocked the sale of certain stocks and sold users’ shares without permission – causing uproar online, protests on Wall Street, and launching investigations from Congress and the New York attorney general.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, 33, defended his firm’s actions on Thursday night.
Vlad Tenev defended his company’s actions in an interview on Thursday night
‘We had to make a very difficult decision. It’s been a challenging day,’ Tenev told MSNBC.
Robinhood cited ‘recent volatility’ for the decision to block users from buying stock in GameStop and 12 other companies which the Reddit users had selected for ‘short squeezes.’
The company needed to bolster its cash cushion to be able to do business. With the extra cash infusion, Robinhood said it would lift restrictions on certain stocks, which had been limited on Thursday.
However, on Friday Robinhood users were still limited.
Clients were by the end of the day only able to buy a single share of GameStop, having been able to buy five at the start of trading.
The stock trading app also expanded its list of restricted stocks from 13 earlier in the day to 50.
A ‘short squeeze’ happens when investors target a stock – in this case, GameStop, that has a large ‘short interest’.
A short is when an investor essentially places a bet that a stock will go down. If it goes down, the investor makes money. But a squeeze happens when another investor bets that the stock is going to go up. If enough investors do that, the price of the stock pushes higher and squeezes out the short – causing the investor who bet that the stock would go down to lose money.
The company has been hit with a class-action lawsuit accusing it of siding with Wall Street by blocking investors’ ability to buy shares.
A Roseville pastor/coffee shop owner is still feeling the effects of COVID-19, two months after his original diagnosis.Joshua Lickter owns and operates The Fig Tree Coffee, Art & Music Lounge. Along with the ups and downs this pandemic year has brought to small business owners just like him, Lickter has weathered the challenges of having the coronavirus and all the numerous, long-term side-effects that came along with it.“I’m tired all the time. Exhausted. Body fatigue. I have, what they call, is this ‘COVID fog’ which is this blurriness in your head. It’s hard to focus,” explained Lickter.He’s also endured sciatica, nail discoloration, hair loss, irregular sleep patterns and his taste and smell have only returned to about 50% of normal.“I had four really good days last week and so I thought I was back to normal. So I was acting like I was back to normal,” Lickter said. “Then I crashed for three or four days afterward and could barely get out of bed.”Originally thinking he’d have COVID-19 for about two weeks, that his symptoms would clear up, and then he’d be fine, the course of Lickter’s case didn’t take that path.“I got to the point where I was starting to feel better, but then I never progressed past that point of starting to feel better.”Doctors are now documenting the effects of a couple of variations in what are sometimes dubbed “long-haul” COVID cases, just like Lickter’s.“One is ‘long COVID’ which is that three- or four-week window,” explained Dr. Mark Vaughan, medical director for the Auburn Medical Group. “Once you get past that … all the way out to 12 weeks, they would actually use the label ‘ post COVID.’”Vaughan said there are variations in how those effects hit different people.“You can also have symptoms involving many of the body’s systems including respiratory, cardiac and neurologic,” Vaughan said. “Many have symptoms of depression, some of them have something called ‘autonomic dysfunction’ where you can actually have your body not adapt to changes in sitting or standing.”Lickter decided to open up about his long-COVID-19 journey in a series of video check-ins on his Facebook page.Using raw honesty and a dose of humor, he’s talked at length about the litany of long-term effects he’s experienced.“One of the reasons that I went online to share my story as far as post-COVID is concerned is because I want to encourage people,” Lickter said. “I want people who are going through this to know they’re not alone and it’s OK to talk about it.”Lickter feels it’s important as a community leader to use his voice to take away the stigma he said some people tie to having COVID.“I’ve noticed a lot of COVID shaming in our community where people are just afraid to admit that they had COVID because somebody will speak out against them,” he said.He also wants to give a relatable experience for people with those long-term COVID effects — weeks after their initial bout with the virus ends, including people trying to convince friends and loved ones it’s not “all in their heads.”“If you’re going through this, and it doesn’t feel like it’s just a flu, it’s really hard to hear people telling you, ‘aw, it’s just a flu, don’t worry about it.’”For those who’ve had COVID-19, doctors stress the importance of staying connected with your healthcare provider in the weeks and months that follow your diagnosis.“You need to have someone who can kinda tease-out whether this is something that needs to be followed up with a specialist… if it’s something you’re going to have to deal with for a while,” said Vaughan. “And the other part of it is, differentiating between long-COVID symptoms or post-COVID symptoms, and something else that maybe just surfaced at the same time but could be very serious and need to be addressed through a different avenue.”In sharing his story Lickter hopes people experiencing these same effects won’t feel so alone on their path … and others will exercise empathy for those still fighting to get through it.”If all of the sudden, you’re finding yourself feeling very lethargic or you’re struggling, or you’re depressed, it may not be what you think it is,” Lickter explained. “It may just be a side effect of the COVID — working itself through you. Be aware of that and get the treatment, the help and the support that you need to get through that.”
ROSEVILLE, Calif. —
A Roseville pastor/coffee shop owner is still feeling the effects of COVID-19, two months after his original diagnosis.
Joshua Lickter owns and operates The Fig Tree Coffee, Art & Music Lounge. Along with the ups and downs this pandemic year has brought to small business owners just like him, Lickter has weathered the challenges of having the coronavirus and all the numerous, long-term side-effects that came along with it.
“I’m tired all the time. Exhausted. Body fatigue. I have, what they call, is this ‘COVID fog’ which is this blurriness in your head. It’s hard to focus,” explained Lickter.
He’s also endured sciatica, nail discoloration, hair loss, irregular sleep patterns and his taste and smell have only returned to about 50% of normal.
“I had four really good days last week and so I thought I was back to normal. So I was acting like I was back to normal,” Lickter said. “Then I crashed for three or four days afterward and could barely get out of bed.”
Originally thinking he’d have COVID-19 for about two weeks, that his symptoms would clear up, and then he’d be fine, the course of Lickter’s case didn’t take that path.
“I got to the point where I was starting to feel better, but then I never progressed past that point of starting to feel better.”
Doctors are now documenting the effects of a couple of variations in what are sometimes dubbed “long-haul” COVID cases, just like Lickter’s.
“One is ‘long COVID’ which is that three- or four-week window,” explained Dr. Mark Vaughan, medical director for the Auburn Medical Group. “Once you get past that … all the way out to 12 weeks, they would actually use the label ‘ post COVID.’”
Vaughan said there are variations in how those effects hit different people.
“You can also have symptoms involving many of the body’s systems including respiratory, cardiac and neurologic,” Vaughan said. “Many [COVID survivors] have symptoms of depression, some of them have something called ‘autonomic dysfunction’ where you can actually have your body not adapt to changes in sitting or standing.”
Lickter decided to open up about his long-COVID-19 journey in a series of video check-ins on his Facebook page.
Using raw honesty and a dose of humor, he’s talked at length about the litany of long-term effects he’s experienced.
“One of the reasons that I went online to share my story as far as post-COVID is concerned is because I want to encourage people,” Lickter said. “I want people who are going through this to know they’re not alone and it’s OK to talk about it.”
Lickter feels it’s important as a community leader to use his voice to take away the stigma he said some people tie to having COVID.
“I’ve noticed a lot of COVID shaming in our community where people are just afraid to admit that they had COVID because somebody will speak out against them,” he said.
He also wants to give a relatable experience for people with those long-term COVID effects — weeks after their initial bout with the virus ends, including people trying to convince friends and loved ones it’s not “all in their heads.”
“If you’re going through this, and it doesn’t feel like it’s just a flu, it’s really hard to hear people telling you, ‘aw, it’s just a flu, don’t worry about it.’”
For those who’ve had COVID-19, doctors stress the importance of staying connected with your healthcare provider in the weeks and months that follow your diagnosis.
“You need to have someone who can kinda tease-out whether this is something that needs to be followed up with a specialist… if it’s something you’re going to have to deal with for a while,” said Vaughan. “And the other part of it is, differentiating between long-COVID symptoms or post-COVID symptoms, and something else that maybe just surfaced at the same time but could be very serious and need to be addressed through a different avenue.”
In sharing his story Lickter hopes people experiencing these same effects won’t feel so alone on their path … and others will exercise empathy for those still fighting to get through it.
“If all of the sudden, you’re finding yourself feeling very lethargic or you’re struggling, or you’re depressed, it may not be what you think it is,” Lickter explained. “It may just be a side effect of the COVID — working itself through you. Be aware of that and get the treatment, the help and the support that you need to get through that.”
