Over the past year, examples of Big Tech censorship have multiplied, particularly around the topic of COVID-19. Questioning the wisdom of forcing children to wear masks, or even sharing news articles that challenged social distancing rules were enough to engage the social media giants’ censors. Facebook, Twitter, and others flagged posts, blocked certain content, and even banned some users for daring to question the established positions. READ MORE
Yes, Employers CAN Fire You for Not Getting Vaccinated...
As many companies begin to reopen offices and bring employees back in, many are requiring that employees be fully vaccinated. But can companies actually require that of their employees from a legal standpoint? And what legal pitfalls do employers need to be aware of while navigating this tumultuous time? READ MORE
The pandemic walloped their businesses. Here's how they're doing now
For most small business owners and sole proprietors, the economic fallout from the pandemic was hellish.
CNN Business profiled a number of them over the past year and a half, and checked back with a few to see how they are faring today. READ MORE
What it's really like to negotiate with ransomware attackers
The most critical moment in a ransomware negotiation usually comes long before the victim and the hackers discuss a price.
By the time the two sides start talking, the hackers have already gained significant control of a company's network, most likely securing access to sensitive account data, business contracts, and other key details of an organization. The more they steal, the greater the leverage they have. READ MORE
No Total Ban on Non-Competes Expected, Despite Biden Executive Order
A presidential executive order issued late Friday raised expectations among lawyers and recruiters that the federal government will soon make it harder for employers to enforce employment agreements’ non-compete provisions.
But that doesn’t mean the government will necessarily ban the tactics entirely, or drill down specifically on ones commonly used by firms in the advisory industry, including non-solicitation clauses. READ MORE
Elon Musk: ‘I rather hate’ being CEO of Tesla
Tesla TSLA, -1.05% co-founder Elon Musk took to a witness stand Monday to defend his company’s 2016 acquisition of a troubled company called SolarCity against a lawsuit that claims he’s to blame for a deal that was rife with conflicts of interest and never delivered the profits he’d promised.
And, to the surprise of no one, the billionaire did so in personally combative terms. READ MORE
Authors of new book depict 'Facebook's dilemma and its ugly truth'
With scrutiny of Big Tech intensifying every single week, an ambitious new book is measuring Facebook's missteps and miseries. As the title indicates, it's not pretty.
"An Ugly Truth" is the name of the book, co-authored by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang, both of whom report for the NYT. The book comes out on Tuesday. As I perused an early copy, I was struck by the vastness of the story. Facebook is, as Kang and Frenkel write, an "unstoppable profit-making machine," affecting all of Earth, from the US to Myanmar. The authors have produced a valuable record of what went wrong, when, where, why, specifically in the last five years. READ MORE
Bill Gates was 'total a**hole' at Sun Valley...
Bill Gates opened up about his messy divorce at the exclusive Allen & Co. “summer camp for billionaires” last week in an “emotional” session that one attendee said had the Microsoft founder on the verge of tears.
During an “off the record” Q&A session that followed Gate’s talk on climate change, CNBC host Becky Quick asked the billionaire about his divorce from Melinda, his wife of 27 years, and the future of the Gates Foundation. READ MORE
The Pentagon Tried to Take Down These Hackers. They’re Back.
Last fall, on the eve of the elections, the U.S. Department of Defense tried to throttle a transnational cybercrime group. But the hackers have rebuilt much of their operations. It’s become clear in recent months that the gang is very much alive and well. READ MORE
Microsoft to acquire cybersecurity firm RiskIQ as cyber threats mount
Microsoft on Monday announced that it's buying cybersecurity firm RiskIQ to help companies better protect themselves as ransomware and other cyber attacks become increasingly disruptive.
Microsoft (MSFT) said the acquisition will help its customers address the unique risks created by remote work and relying on cloud computing amid "the increasing sophistication and frequency of cyberattacks." READ MORE
Broadcom in talks to buy software firm SAS
Broadcom Inc. is in talks to buy SAS Institute Inc., according to people familiar with the matter, in the latest move by the acquisitive technology giant to beef up in enterprise software.
A deal, which would value closely held SAS in the range of $15 billion to $20 billion, could be finalized in the coming weeks assuming the talks don’t fall apart, the people said. That number is so-called enterprise value, some of the people said, which typically includes assumed debt and is adjusted for cash on the target’s balance sheet. READ MORE
GM drops another feature from its full-size trucks due to chip shortage
The semiconductor shortage keeps chipping away at the features available on GM's big truck.
General Motors has been prioritizing production of its popular and profitable full-size pickups and SUVs as it works to manage supplies of the key components. READ MORE
Barry Diller declares the movie industry dead, 'will never come back'
The coronavirus pandemic shut down movie theaters worldwide and there has been much debate about whether the industry will come back from its 15-month hibernation, but IAC Chairman Barry Diller seemed to lay the argument to rest Friday, telling NPR that the business as he knows it is dead.
"The movie business is over," Diller told the news outlet at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Idaho. "The movie business as before is finished and will never come back." READ MORE
United Airlines CEO says travel won't fully recover until 2023 as business demand lags
Travel isn’t likely to recover in full from the challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic until 2023 as business demand continues to lag, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said Sunday.
Kirby addressed the state of travel on CBS’ "Face the Nation," saying that while the pent-up leisure demand has exceeded 100 percent, business demand is still off by about 60 percent as some borders around the world remain closed. READ MORE
Jobs are hard to fill, and ideology makes it hard to understand why
Telling one story about why employers are struggling to hire workers doesn’t come close to explaining what is going on with the job market.
Economists expect Friday’s employment report to show that the economy added 706,000 jobs in June, a step up from May’s 559,000 and what would in normal times be a big number. These aren’t normal times, though. The U.S. is still 7.6 million jobs short of what it had before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and earlier this year there were hopes that, as more Americans got vaccinated, the job market would be closing that gap far more quickly than it has. READ MORE
Cash-laden companies are on a mergers and acquisitions spree
Businesses spent $1.74 trillion on mergers and acquisitions involving U.S. companies during the first six months of the year—the highest amount in more than four decades—as finance chiefs tapped into cheap funding options to acquire technologies, services and other assets.
Such transactions surged in value in the first six months of the year, up from $511.79 billion during the year-ago period and $1.28 trillion in the first six months of 2019, before the pandemic, according to data provider Refinitiv, which began tracking deals in 1980. The total number of deals with U.S. involvement, at 9,725, also was higher than in comparable periods in 2020 and 2019, Refinitiv said. READ MORE
More jobless Americans are suing states for ending federal unemployment benefits early
Out-of-work Americans in Indiana, Texas and Maryland have filed lawsuits against their respective states seeking to reinstate a pandemic relief program that paid out an extra $300 a week in unemployment benefits.
The three states are among the 26 states – nearly all of which are led by Republican governors – that decided last month to prematurely end one of three federal unemployment programs that provided out-of-work Americans with an extra $300 a week, on top of their regular state benefits, and extended eligibility for contract workers as well as those who had exhausted their regular state benefits. READ MORE
FTC charges Broadcom with monopolizing chip industry
The Federal Trade Commission said Friday it has sued and settled with the technology giant Broadcom over allegations that the company sought to monopolize the supply of semiconductor chips.
According to the complaint, Broadcom (AVGO) entered into exclusive anti-competitive deals with its business customers — including television and internet service providers such as Charter, Comcast and Verizon — that forbade them from purchasing chips from other vendors. (The ISPs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) Broadcom also allegedly sought to link sales of its chips with other related products such as WiFi and signal converter chips, requiring customers to purchase both. READ MORE
Ford idling 8 factories for weeks in July and August due to semiconductor shortage
Ford is suspending production at eight North American factories for various periods of time in July and August due to the ongoing semiconductor shortage, including one that builds its best-selling F-150 pickup.
"While we continue to manufacture new vehicles, we're prioritizing completing our customers' vehicles that were assembled without certain parts due to the industry-wide semiconductor shortage," the automaker said in a statement provided to Reuters. READ MORE
Whose rocket is bigger? How Musk, Branson and Bezos’ space stuff stacks up
After Jeff Bezos announced that he would fly into suborbit with his brother, the winner of an auctioned seat and another crew member on July 20, Richard Branson countered with a flight plan of his own for early July.
Both billionaires are jumping into the space tourism market, having invested in the space industry for about two decades. READ MORE