FTX’s new CEO, John J. Ray, said the company displayed a complete failure of corporate controls, and he had never seen anything as bad in his 40-year career spent restructuring firms. Ray took over the role of CEO from FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on Friday after Bankman-Fried resigned from the company following FTX’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. More: - In a federal bankruptcy court filing on Thursday, Ray pointed to compromised systems integrity and faulty regulatory oversight while describing what he has seen at FTX so far.
- Ray added that the control of FTX was concentrated in the hands of a tiny group of inexperienced, unsophisticated, and potentially compromised individuals.
- FTX lawyers said that Bankman-Fried and the Bahamian government have siphoned and transferred FTX assets into accounts outside the control of management, even after the company had filed for bankruptcy.
- Ray oversaw the liquidation of Enron following the energy company’s bankruptcy filing in late 2001.
- Ray also oversaw the bankruptcy cases of Nortel Networks, Fruit of the Loom, and Overseas Shipholding Group.
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British finance minister Jeremy Hunt announced plans to cut spending and increase revenue to fill a £55B ($65.3B) fiscal hole. Hunt said the nation needs £30B ($35.6B) in spending cuts and £25B ($29.7B) in tax rises over the next five years to restore its credibility and bring down rising inflation. More: - Most of the spending cuts would take effect in 2025, after the U.K. general election in 2024.
- The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) projects that the economy will shrink by 1.4% in 2023 and will not regain pre-pandemic levels until late 2024.
- The OBR also estimates that living standards in the U.K. will fall by 7% over the next two years, the most in 60 years.
- Following the announcement, the yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt rose 0.067% to 3.214%.
- The pound fell 0.97% against the dollar to $1.1799.
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Saudi Aramco has invested $7B in its affiliate South Korean petrochemical firm S-Oil Corp. as part of a larger $30B deal between Saudi Arabia and South Korea. The deals were announced on Thursday, the first day of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Seoul. More: - South Korean state energy firm Kepco and four other Korean companies also signed a memorandum of understanding with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) valued at $6.5B.
- South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol applauded the investments, describing Saudi Arabia as a critical partner for Korea’s economic and energy security.
- South Korea imports more than 90% of its energy and natural resources.
- About 60% of its oil imports are from the Middle East.
- Korea’s Hyundai Rotem also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi government to cooperate on railway infrastructure for the Neom city project.
- Prince Mohammed is on a tour of east Asia that will include stops in Japan and Thailand.
- Chinese Leader Xi Jinping is expected to visit Saudi Arabia in December.
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OnlyFans is partnering with the e-commerce platform Spring to allow content creators to sell merchandise directly to their viewers. OnlyFans CEO Ami Gan said the platform’s creator community has been looking for merchandise options to be able to share other sides of their business with fans. More: - OnlyFans allows various creators, from fitness instructors to sex workers, to sell content directly to viewers.
- The platform charges a monthly fee between $5 and $50 to subscribers and takes a 20% commission.
- OnlyFans has about 220 million users, including content creators.
- In 2022, more than 3 million users of OnlyFans were content creators.
- In September, the U.K.-based company reported it earned nearly $1B in revenue in 2021.
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Workers at 113 unionized Starbucks locations across the U.S. held a one-day strike on Thursday during one of the coffee chain’s biggest sales days – Red Cup Day. To commence the holiday season, on Red Cup Day, Starbucks gives away a reusable red cup with the company’s logo with any purchase. More: - This year marks the 25th anniversary of Starbucks’ Red Cup Day.
- The strike is the largest collective action Starbucks Workers United has taken since the union began organizing last year.
- Instead of handing out Starbucks’ traditional red cups, the union handed out a red cup featuring the Grinch’s hand holding an ornament with the logo of the Starbucks union.
- The union said the strike is protesting illegal retaliations, such as firing and store closures, which Starbucks has taken against them for unionizing.
- Starbucks shares closed at $96.97 on Thursday, down less than a percent.
- The company is down ~17% YTD.
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Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba released its September quarter earnings, missing expectations on revenue and profits. The company posted a revenue of RMB 207.18B ($29.12B), up 3% YoY. It reported a net loss of RMB 22.5B ($3.2B), down from a net income of RMB 3.4B (~$471.8M) reported during the same period last year. More: - Alibaba did not disclose its sales figures from its annual Singles' Day shopping festival, its biggest sales day, which occurred this month.
- CEO Daniel Zhang highlighted the easing of China's strict COVID-19 measures, which has significantly impacted logistics and retail activity in the country.
- Alibaba announced a new $15B share buyback program through 2025.
- Alibaba shares closed at $84.26 on Thursday, up nearly 8%.
- The company is down 30% YTD.
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Quick Hits - Apis Cor holds the current Guinness World Record for the largest 3D-printed building on Earth. Invest in the future of construction.*
- Taylor Swift broke the record for the most tickets sold by any artist in a single day after her Eras Tour sold more than 2 million tickets on Tuesday during presales. Ticketmaster’s website suffered a glitch due to demand on Tuesday. The company said due to high demand, Swift has canceled ticket sales to the general public planned for Friday.
- The U.S. weekly jobless claims fell by 4,000 to 222,000 for the week ended Nov. 12, according to the Labor Department. Even though the technology sector has seen significant job losses, the labor market remains strong in other parts of the economy.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced she would be stepping down from her congressional leadership role. Pelosi said she would remain a Congress member and serve the rest of her elected term. Pelosi was the first woman to lead the House chamber.
- According to sources, Meta Platforms has fired or disciplined more than two dozen employees and contractors in the last year for improperly taking over user accounts, sometimes for bribes.
- The University of California, Berkeley School of Law, has joined Harvard Law School and Yale Law School in withdrawing from the U.S. News & World Report law school ranking.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a writer for Inside.com; she writes the daily Inside Business newsletter. Her interests include finance, technology, and entrepreneurship. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending concerts and music festivals, traveling, and exploring. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or on LinkedIn. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
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