Business
Zuckerberg Wins On Wall Street After Washington Hit
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta had a horrible day in Washington this week. On Wall Street, however, it celebrated its victory.
The social media company provided investors with a flood of positive news, including quarterly profits that tripled yearly to more than $14 billion (£11 billion), increased users, cheaper costs, and increased ad revenue.
Even its much-maligned, money-losing virtual reality unit achieved a milestone by generating $1 billion in revenue.
To reassure investors, the firm declared its first dividend.
Zuckerberg Wins On Wall Street After Washington Hit
In this case, that is a dividend to shareholders at 50 cents per share.
The corporation, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, also committed to keeping the money flowing, stating that it was in a strong financial position and could invest in the business while continuing to pay quarterly payments “going forward”.
The company’s shares, already at record highs, rose by more than 12% in after-hours trading.
Analysts said Facebook’s decision to pay a dividend showed maturity as it approaches its twentieth birthday.
It confirmed the shift in investor sentiment from 2022 when shares in the company had swooned, and a high-profile investor wrote a public letter to Mr Zuckerberg saying the company had “drifted into the land of excess — too many people, too many ideas, too little urgency” and “needed to get its “mojo back.”
Business was also booming in other areas of big tech.
Zuckerberg Wins On Wall Street After Washington Hit
Amazon sales increased 14% year on year from September to December. It outperformed analysts’ profit projections after experiencing a robust increase in seasonal online shopping, supported by steady expansion in its cloud computing sector.
Amazon shares rose more than 8% in after-hours trading.
Apple’s revenue increased for the first time in a year, while its earnings were above estimates due to increased iPhone sales. However, Apple shares fell 3% in after-hours trading as it predicted a drop in iPhone sales due to intense competition in China.
Meta’s performance was the most surprising, coming just a day after it received harsh criticism in Washington, where senators warned Mr Zuckerberg that his product was “killing people” and pressed him to apologise to families of victims of child sexual abuse.
Speaking to analysts on Thursday, Meta admitted facing regulatory issues that might “significantly” impact its company.
But it spent little time on the subject.
Zuckerberg Wins On Wall Street After Washington Hit
And, for now, whatever the product does, there is little question that users and advertisers will continue with it.
Meta reported that approximately 3.2 billion individuals used one of its platforms daily in December, an 8% increase year on year.
From September to December, revenue increased by 25% yearly to more than $40 billion.
Meanwhile, Mr Zuckerberg’s cost-cutting drive last year, which included thousands of job cuts, helped reduce spending by 8%. The headcount was 22% lower.
According to Jasmine Engberg, chief analyst at Insider Intelligence, the corporation outperformed expectations after investing in AI to improve advertising.
“It was a stellar Q4,” she remarked. “”As Facebook’s 20th anniversary approaches, Meta’s 2023 earnings provide even more reason to celebrate.”
SOURCE – (BBC)
Business
Bitcoin Goes Over $80,000 As Buyers Guess Whether Trump Will Run For President.
(VOR News) – The following day, Bitcoin achieved a new record high as a consequence of traders’ wagers on the potential benefits of Donald Trump’s return to the White House for the cryptocurrency.
This was an additional factor contributing to Bitcoin’s recent record-breaking performance.
This resulted in Bitcoin’s first-ever record-breaking high.
The digital currency’s inaugural transaction, valued at eighty thousand dollars, was executed one hundred twenty minutes after twelve o’clock in the afternoon (1200 GMT). This occurred shortly after the timepiece reached twelve.
The conviction that President Trump may reduce laws on digital currencies has increased as a result of his victory in the presidential election that occurred in the United States on Tuesday. This conviction has been bolstered by his election victory. Since the election was won by the Republican nominee, Trump, this mentality has been gradually cultivated.
On Wednesday, the price of bitcoin achieved a new all-time high of $75,000, surpassing the previous all-time high of $73,797.98, which was achieved in March. This item has attained the highest price to date.
It was widely believed that Trump was the politician who embraced Bitcoin during his campaign against Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party candidate. Harris was a candidate for the Democratic Party in the Senate campaign.
Donald Trump employed the term “hoax” to describe cryptocurrencies during his inaugural tenure as president of the United States. However, in the time that has passed since then, he has experienced a substantial change in his viewpoints, which has even resulted in the creation of his own committee platform.
In addition to his pledge to establish the United States of America as the “bitcoin and cryptocurrency capital of the world,” he has also committed to appointing Elon Musk, a tech entrepreneur and right-wing conspiracy theorist, to the role of overseeing a comprehensive investigation into the government’s wasteful practices.
Both of these commitments are components of his strategy to enhance the prosperity of the United States of America. It is crucial to acknowledge that he has made a commitment to both of these.
The administration of President Trump was responsible for the reduction of corporation taxes, which resulted in an increase in market liquidity and facilitated the investment in high-growth assets, such as cryptocurrencies. Through the administration of President Trump’s predecessor, this was accomplished.
The previous administration benefited from a decrease in the tax rate for Bitcoin companies.
In September, President Trump announced that he, his sons, and other organizations would be creating a digital currency platform known as World Liberty Financial. The development of this platform would also incorporate the participation of other businesses. The network would facilitate the conversion of digital currency into corporeal currency.
Nevertheless, it experienced an unsuccessful sales launch earlier this month, with only a small percentage of the tokens that were placed on the market being purchased by consumers. This incident transpired earlier this month. From this, it is possible to infer that the launch was unsuccessful.
Cryptocurrencies have been the subject of numerous news articles since their inception. The FTX exchange platform is the most notable of the numerous industry stalwarts that have fallen, and these stories have covered a wide variety of subjects, including the immense volatility of their pricing. Numerous topics have been addressed in these narratives.
According to reports that circulated in the days preceding the election, he made history by becoming the first former president to utilize bitcoin to conduct a transaction. Donald Trump achieved historical significance by conducting a transaction using bitcoin. This could be considered a significant accomplishment.
He accomplished this by purchasing hamburgers from a restaurant in New York City, which characterized the transaction as “historic.” He succeeded in achieving these objectives. Because of this opportunity, he capitalized on it.
Bitcoin, a digital currency, is transacted on the market every day of the week, including Sundays.
SOURCE: TET
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Business
Subsidies for Electric Vehicles Cut as Consumer Interest Fades
Pressure is building on Canada’s electric vehicle manufacturers, and several are rethinking their stance on E.V.s in favor of plug-in hybrids. Automobile manufacturers are now bracing themselves for an even more challenging era in the Canadian market for electric vehicles (E.V.s).
President Kristian Aquilina of General Motors Canada claims that support and expectations are misaligned because the Canadian government is reducing subsidies for electric vehicles while trying to phase out gas-powered cars.
Manufacturers find pushing for an all-electric future in Canada increasingly difficult due to fewer consumer financial incentives and increasingly strict sales targets.
With subsidies totaling up to C$12,000 (about $8,500), Canadian consumers may save a tonne of money on electric automobiles. The federal government offers a rebate of up to $5,000 Canadian, and the provinces of Quebec and British Columbia provide further incentives of up to $7,000 and $4,000, respectively.
Ontario, which eliminated rebates in 2018, had the lowest market share for electric vehicles compared to Quebec and British Columbia, two regions that offered bigger incentives and thereby drove E.V. adoption in Canada.
Although this backing is dwindling, the province of Quebec has now declared that all subsidies will end in 2027. In June, the British Columbia government restricted incentives to a smaller subset of E.V. purchasers for “available funding” and higher-than-expected E.V. sales growth.
These reductions indicate a larger pattern: provincial governments reevaluate the sustainability of taxpayer-financed incentives for E.V.s as budget deficits widen.
With lofty goals to cut pollution from gas-powered cars and increase sales of electric vehicles, the Canadian government has reduced subsidies for these vehicles. Electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles will be mandatory for all new light-duty vehicle sales in Canada by 2035.
To meet our intermediate goals, 20% of new sales must be electric vehicles (E.V.s) by 2026 and 60% by 2030. Car companies are already under a lot of pressure due to dwindling incentives and increasing demands, and the clock is ticking faster by the second.
In addition, these rules impose new forms of responsibility. Automakers that do not reach their provincial sales targets may be subject to financial fines imposed by provinces such as British Columbia.
Canadian manufacturers are already under financial pressure from federal compliance credit system standards, which they must meet or face deficits. This system gives them credit for electric vehicle sales and infrastructure improvements, but it’s not without its challenges.
“The timing is not necessarily lining up very well, in that the purchase incentive support comes off just as mandates and regulations start to bite,” GMC Canada President Kristian Aquilina told Bloomberg. “It must make a difference.
Therefore, we must consider that. Despite the cutbacks, Aquilina argued that the government’s investment in enhancing the charging infrastructure could benefit E.V. sales.
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Business
Chewy Slides After Filing Shows 3rd-Biggest Shareholder, ‘Roaring Kitty,’ Sold His Stake
Washington — Chewy shares fell about 2% overnight Wednesday after a regulatory filing showed that Roaring Kitty, a meme stock trader, sold his interest in the online pet retailer.
According to a beneficial ownership document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, Roaring Kitty, whose legal name is Keith Gill, sold all his Chewy shares, totaling 6.6% of the company.
Chewy Slides After Filing Shows Third-Biggest Shareholder, ‘Roaring Kitty,’ Sold His Stake
Plantation, Florida-based Chewy dropped 1.9% after hours to $26.19 per share.
Gill, an investor at the core of the meme stock craze, bought more than 9 million shares of Chewy in July, making him the company’s third-largest stakeholder.
Gill built a name for himself in 2021 by rallying ordinary investors around GameStop. At the time, the video game shop was fighting to stay in business, and major Wall Street hedge funds and investors were betting against it or shorting the stock. But Gill and those who agreed with him altered GameStop’s direction by purchasing thousands of shares despite practically all acknowledged criteria indicating that the firm was in deep peril.
Chewy Slides After Filing Shows Third-Biggest Shareholder, ‘Roaring Kitty,’ Sold His Stake
That triggered what is known as a “short squeeze,” in which large investors who had bet on GameStop were obliged to buy its swiftly increasing stock to offset significant losses.
Gill has expressed confidence in GameStop Chairman and CEO Ryan Cohen’s ability to revamp the company following his success at Chewy. Cohen cofounded Chewy in 2011 and stepped down as CEO in 2018.
SOURCE | AP
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