Billionaires

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Social media companies’ share prices soared during the pandemic as people spent more time online. Now those stocks are coming back to Earth—along with the fortunes of their billionaire founders. In just one day, the fortunes of the billionaire founders of Snap, Meta Networks, Pinterest and Twitter fell by a combined $10 billion, Forbes estimates. Shares of Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, plummeted an astounding 43% on Tuesday from Monday’s close following Snapchat’s downward revision late Monday of its initial second quarter guidance. The social media company said it expects to bring in less revenue and profit than originally anticipated. As a result, Snapchat cofounder and CEO Evan Spiegel is $1.7 billion poorer than on Monday, a 35% decline as of market close Tuesday. He’s now worth an estimated $3.1 billion. Snap cofounder Bobby Murphy’s fortune fell by $1.9 billion on Tuesday to an estimated $2.9 billion. … [Read more...] about Fortunes Of Social Media Billionaires, Led By Snap’s Evan Spiegel, Plunge Billions On Tuesday

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The world’s 50 richest people have seen their collective fortunes crater by more than half a trillion dollars. No one has lost more than Musk and Bezos. When Tesla chief Elon Musk overtook Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest person for the first time last September, Musk told Forbes he was “ sending a giant statue of the digit ‘2 ’ to Jeffrey B., along with a silver medal.” Nearly eight months later, neither man is likely in a joking mood. The U.S. stock market rout this year has seen to that, taking a massive chunk out of public company values. With inflation surging and interest rates rising throughout the first half of 2022, stock markets are facing some of the worst starts to a year in history . The S&P 500 just posted its seventh straight week of losses, its longest down streak since March 2001. And the Nasdaq just ended its worst month (April) since October 2008 . The fortunes of the 50 … [Read more...] about Billionaires Elon Musk And Jeff Bezos Have Lost $124 Billion This Year

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel , a veteran biotech executive whose fortune swelled during the Covid-19 pandemic, on Tuesday revealed he would donate all the after-tax proceeds from his original Moderna stock options—worth about $355 million—to charity over the next year. Key Facts In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Bancel disclosed he would exercise stock options, originally granted in 2013 and set to expire in August 2023, to acquire nearly 4.6 million shares at a price of $0.99 apiece, a nearly 100% discount to current prices of about $138. Bancel, who joined Moderna in 2011, said in an accompanying blog post the donated shares would amount to roughly $355 million at current prices—after deducting about $280 million in state and federal tax payments. To avoid a large-scale transaction that potentially impacts the price of Moderna shares, Bancel said he would set up a trading plan in which he … [Read more...] about Billionaire Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel Pledges Stock Options Worth $355 Million To Undisclosed Charitable Causes

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Close to 1,000 Americans from across the spectrum of politics, business, journalism, entertainment, faith and advocacy have been permanently banned from entering Russia , a largely symbolic move that has generated a lot of buzz about those included, and excluded. The 963 citizens, including president Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris—and her husband, Doug Emhoff —were named by Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry Saturday to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s “blacklist,” or what one translation called a “stop list.” It’s all in response to the United States’ historic sanctions and its humanitarian and military support of Ukraine, nearly three months into Moscow’s invasion. “In the context of response to the constantly imposed anti-Russian sanctions by the United States and in connection with incoming requests about the personal composition of our national ‘stop list,’ the Russian Foreign Ministry … [Read more...] about Who’s On Vladimir Putin’s ‘Blacklist’? Not Donald Trump Or Fox News

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline A Florida law prohibiting social media companies from “deplatforming” political candidates will remain blocked—even after a similar law in Texas was allowed to take effect—as a federal appeals court sided Monday with a lower court’s ruling against the law and ruled it’s “substantially likely” the policy violates the First Amendment. Key Facts The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court order that blocked SB 7072 , which levies fines on any social media platform that bans or suspends political candidates and publications—a law passed in response to Republicans’ fears that the social networks discriminate against conservatives. The appellate court ruled that social media companies like Facebook and Twitter are “private actors” whose actions are protected under the First Amendment, meaning that they can take whatever actions they see fit against users. It did allow one aspect of … [Read more...] about Appeals Court Keeps Florida’s Social Media Censorship Law On Hold Due To 1st Amendment Concerns

- A + A (May 25): Elon Musk has once again fallen out of the US$200 billion club. Musk, the world’s richest person, saw his fortune drop Tuesday by 5.4% to US$192.7 billion as shares of Tesla Inc. slid almost 7%. The electric carmaker’s losses outpaced those of the broader S&P 500 Index, which ended the day down 0.8%. While Musk’s wealth is the lowest it’s been since Aug. 26, the Tesla co-founder is still easily the richest of the handful of people worth at least US$100 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos is second at US$127.8 billion. Musk, 50, last dipped below the US$200 billion threshold in March. But markets promptly staged a rally, lifting his net worth to US$288 billion on April 4, according to the wealth index. That was the same day that Musk disclosed he’d acquired about 9% of the social media platform Twitter Inc. Days later he launched a takeover bid and eventually secured the board’s approval, but … [Read more...] about Elon Musk drops out of US$200 billion club again as Tesla tumbles

INQUIRER.net file photo MANILA, Philippines — Nearly a million people can be pushed to extreme poverty in 2022 for every new billionaire created during the past two years, according to an international group sounding the alarm over the “extreme, new levels” of inequality brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. In its new report released on Monday, Oxfam International noted that billionaire wealth and corporate profits “soared to record levels” in the past two years while over 263 million people could crash to extreme levels of poverty this year. This, Oxfam warned, was equivalent to 1 million people every 33 hours. To compute this, Oxfam used the Forbes’ annual billionaires list as well as the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) to inflate the Forbes billionaire wealth figures from March 2020 in order to make them comparable with 2022 prices. 573 billionaires added Among others, the report found that billionaires saw their fortunes increase as much in two years as they did in … [Read more...] about Pandemic ‘a bonanza for the wealthy’ – international group

Representative image Major cryptocurrencies traded in the red early on May 24 as the global cryptocurrency market cap dropped 2.05 percent to $1.26 trillion over the last day. On the other hand, the total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours  jumped 36.09 percent to $83.88 billion. The total volume in DeFi stood at $9.64 billion, 11.49 percent of the total crypto market 24-hour volume. The volume of all stable coins was at $73.66 billion, which is 87.81 percent of the total crypto market 24-hour volume. Bitcoin 's price is currently Rs 24.06 lakh, with a dominance of 44.20 percent. This was a 0.41 percent decrease over the day, according to data from CoinMarketCap. In the news, as nose-diving crypto prices in 2022 highlight the risks and uncertainties of an unregulated instrument, some media reports suggest that the capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has proposed to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance that … [Read more...] about Cryptocurrency Prices Today May 24: Bitcoin down, Cardano biggest laggard

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Kerry Properties —controlled by Malaysia’s richest person Robert Kuok —has agreed to sell two of its warehouses in Hong Kong to China Resources Logistics, a unit of state-owned China Resources Group , for HK$4.62 billion ($588 million), according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday. Kerry Properties said in the filing that it plans to sell its Chai Wan warehouse for HK$2.29 billion and its Sha Tin warehouse for HK$2.33 billion. The deal is expected to be completed by the end of June. Kerry Properties plans to use the funds from the sale to strengthen its balance sheet and operations. Kerry Properties acquired the two warehouses from Kerry Logistics Network (KLN) for HK$3.6 billion three years ago based on the redevelopment potential of the buildings. Kerry Properties and KLN are both controlled by the Kuok Group. Kerry Properties is run by Robert Kuok’s youngest son, Kuok Khoon Hua, who … [Read more...] about Robert Kuok’s Kerry Properties Sells Hong Kong Warehouses To China Resources For $588 Million

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Welcome to the Checks & Imbalances newsletter. We look at a couple of congressmen facing investigations as well as an explanation of why Alex Jones might be so quick to put out false claims about vaccines. Madison Cawthorn Under House Investigation For Alleged Improper Relationship With Staffer, Crypto Dealings T he House Committee on Ethics is investigating Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) for allegedly engaging in an improper relationship with a staffer and promoting a cryptocurrency in which he had an undisclosed interest. The bipartisan, 10-member committee voted to form an investigative subcommittee on May 11, according to a statement from Committee Chair Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) and top Republican member Jackie Walorski (Ind.). In accordance with House rules, the panel doesn’t comment on investigations, other than by issuing statements and reports. Although Monday’s statement doesn’t include any … [Read more...] about Checks & Imbalances: Madison Cawthorn, Ronny Jackson Face Ethics Investigations