Coronavirus

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Trucking unicorn KeepTruckin laid off nearly one-fifth of its workers, the latest once-hot, venture-backed firm to be hit by the downturn. An alum of last year’s Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups list, KeepTruckin reached a valuation of $1.4 billion last April as cash was pouring into the trucking industry. But as the coronavirus crisis has spread and pummeled the economy, the fortunes of KeepTruckin, which provides electronic logging devices to truckers, turned. On Tuesday, cofounder and CEO Shoaib Makani sent an email to employees that it was laying off 18% of its global workforce — a total of 349 people out of 1,900 — effective immediately. The news was first reported by trade publication FreightWaves. “Freight volume is highly correlated with economic output,” Makani told Forbes by email. “It is impossible to predict the full impact of COVID-19 on the global economy and how that will flow through to … [Read more...] about Trucking Unicorn KeepTruckin Lays Off Nearly One-Fifth Of Workers As Coronavirus Downturn Hits Freight

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin They’re all closed. Movie Theaters. Bars. Nightclubs. Arenas. Cafes. In New York, Broadway and museums are shuttered. In San Francisco it’s even more dire. Across the country and the world, cities are shutting down, leaving humans from Seattle to Shanghai without traditional ways of finding distraction. The mandate for social distancing that has proven essential at slowing the spread of the coronavirus will cut about $12 billion of entertainment revenue from the U.S. if the shutdown lasts until July, as President Trump signaled . Billions more are not being spent on creating new content as film and television production is frozen. Things could get a lot worse. “ This is definitely unprecedented and turning everyone's lives completely upside down,” says Ryan Borba, managing editor at concert tracker Pollstar. The concert and live event industry brought in $34 billion last year, according to … [Read more...] about Coronavirus Could Be A $12 Billion Hit To Entertainment And Audiences May Never Be The Same

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline : Talent agency Endeavor has begun laying off workers due to dropping revenue as the coronavirus forces both Hollywood and the sports industry to shut down. In its first round of layoffs, the agency—which includes entertainment agency WME, fashion and athletic agency IMG and mixed martial arts powerhouse UFC—let go about 250 staffers. The first round of layoffs affects those who cannot do their jobs at home, such as groundskeepers, restaurant workers and staff of the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, a school for aspiring professional athletes. CEO Ariel Emanuel and executive chairman Patrick Whitesell will forego the rest of their seven-figure 2020 salaries. A companywide memo said that that further measures would be taken that will affect the employment and pay of the company’s 7,500 employees. The move came after an announcement last week WME would no longer buyback their equity shares next month, as … [Read more...] about Endeavor To Lay Off 250 Employees Due To Coronavirus

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline : The coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating impact on the entertainment sector. Now one of the biggest brands in the sector, Cirque du Soleil, has announced thousands of layoffs after shutting down its circus-based spectaculars. The Montreal-based circus producer announced it would lay off 95% of its 4,679 staff on March 19, 2020. Cirque du Soleil will keep just 259 staffers to maintain “basic operations” and to plan, and sell tickets for, future tours, according to its statement . “ We have no choice but to accept that the current global instability is pushing companies to take drastic measures to ensure their long-term sustainability. This climate of uncertainty unfortunately affects the entire entertainment industry and the Cirque du Soleil is no exception. Let us hope that this situation is resolved quickly and produces a positive outcome for all,” said Guy Laliberté in a statement. … [Read more...] about Cirque Du Soleil Lays Off 95% Of Staff Over Coronavirus Pandemic Shutdown

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline: As the coronavirus continues to roil stock markets and leads to widespread business shutdowns across the country, a growing number of top banks on Wall Street have been issuing increasingly dire forecasts on the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic, with many saying that a recession will hit in 2020—if it hasn’t already done so. Goldman Sachs economists on Friday forecast an unprecedented 24% hit to U.S. second-quarter GDP, following a 6% decline in the first quarter, due to coronavirus; the bank also expects unemployment to surge to 9% and full-year GDP for 2020 to fall 3.8% on an annual average basis. Bank of America warned late on Thursday that a recession due to the coronavirus pandemic is already here: “Jobs will be lost, wealth will be destroyed and confidence depressed,” the bank’s U.S. economist, Michelle Meyer, wrote in a note, as the Bank of America also forecast the economy to … [Read more...] about Just How Bad Is It? Here’s The Economic Damage The Coronavirus Will Cause, According To Major Banks

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Even as media consumption skyrockets due to the COVID-19 outbreak, publishers are struggling as advertisers pare back their spending. Hundreds of journalists have already been laid off or furloughed, with more bad news expected in the coming weeks and months. Some outlets, like the Tampa Bay Times , say the cost-saving measures are intended to be temporary. Others, like The Outline, have shuttered entirely. Below is a list of major media companies (in alphabetical order) who have imposed layoffs, furloughs or pay cuts. Forbes will continue to revise this list as updates come in . ADVERTISEMENT Last updated May 29 at 7:30 pm EDT. American Media: The tabloid publisher, whose portfolio includes Us Weekly and In Touch (and previously the National Enquirer ), will reportedly cut employee salaries by 23%. Boston Herald: The paper laid off at least a half-dozen positions, including on its … [Read more...] about Tracker: Media Layoffs, Furloughs And Pay Cuts Due To Coronavirus

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin TOPLINE President Trump on Friday signed a $484 billion coronavirus relief bill into law following days of tense negotiations between Democratic and Republican leaders. KEY FACTS The bill, which passed the House Thursday and the Senate on Tuesday, sets aside $310 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, with $60 billion of that money reserved for smaller businesses without existing banking relationships. It also provides another $75 billion for healthcare providers and $25 billion for coronavirus testing, $11 billion of which is reserved for states. KEY BACKGROUND Lawmakers scrambled to pass supplemental economic rescue legislation after the Paycheck Protection Program, one of the cornerstones of the $2 trillion CARES Act, exhausted its $350 billion in funding last Thursday after less than two weeks. Negotiations lasted for nearly a week after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin requested another $250 … [Read more...] about Trump Signs $484 Billion Coronavirus Relief Bill

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline: As the coronavirus pandemic craters the world’s markets and disrupts the daily lives of millions, Norwegian Air said Thursday it would suspend around 4,000 flights and temporarily lay off up to 50% of its workers as businesses contend with sharp declines in revenue. 40% of Norwegian’s long haul fleet and 25% of its short haul fleet will be grounded until May, according to a press release. 50 employees from the South by Southwest music festival were let go after the 2020 event was canceled. Other layoffs include 145 drivers from the Port of Los Angeles as ships from China stopped arriving, the Washington Post reported . Travel agencies in Los Angeles as well as Atlanta, Georgia, have also laid off workers, as airlines suspend flights (and contend with President Trump’s new Europe travel ban), while a Seattle, Washington hotel chain shuttered an entire department, the Post reported. Christie … [Read more...] about Norwegian Air Axes Up To 50% Of Employees As Coronavirus Layoffs Begin

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin As the coronavirus crisis drags on in the United States, with nearly 500,000 cases now confirmed, nonessential businesses like retailers and restaurants are shutting their doors, and workers are losing their jobs at an unprecedented rate. Under the $2 trillion emergency rescue legislation signed into law by President Trump, workers who have been laid off are eligible for enhanced unemployment benefits and $600 extra each week for the first four months. As workers are laid off by the millions, states have become overwhelmed by the volume of requests. On Wednesday, when Florida’s online and phone unemployment systems crashed due to high demand, hundreds of people waited in line in person to fill out paper forms. And New York is getting help from Google to overhaul its benefits system, which couldn’t handle the crush of new applications either. Analysts are predicting that job losses will continue to accelerate … [Read more...] about Three Numbers That Show Just How Hard Coronavirus Job Losses Are Hitting U.S. Workers

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline: The global tally for confirmed coronavirus fatalities hit the 100,000 marker Friday afternoon, as the total case number passed 1.6 million, according to Johns Hopkins University . Since Wuhan, China—believed to be where the virus originated—reported the first death in early January, it took 83 days to report the first 50,000 deaths and little more than a week for the confirmed count to top 100,000 . The 100,000 reported deaths out of 1.6 million confirmed cases suggests a fatality rate of a little more than 6%—but experts say the actual death rate may be much lower, as mild or asymptomatic cases are not counted in the totals. Countries like Spain and Italy have seen a higher death rate than other countries, in part because they have an aging population that is at more risk to coronavirus complications . Some experts have questioned the validity of China’s self-reported … [Read more...] about It Took Less Than 100 Days For Coronavirus Deaths To Top 100,000