Salesforce is laying off 10% of its workforce and closing some of its offices. The cloud-based software company said it hired too many people during the pandemic, and its customers are taking a more cautious approach to spending. More: - Salesforce had about 80,000 employees as of Oct. 31.
- The company expects to book between $1.4B and $2.1B in charges from the job cuts, much of which will be recorded in Q4.
- Salesforce said its affected employees in the U.S. will receive about five months of pay, health insurance, and other benefits.
- On news of the cuts, Salesforce shares rose 5%; it closed at $139.59, up ~3.6% for the day.
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U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak outlined his five priorities for the nation in his first major policy address since assuming the role of Prime Minister in October. Sunak promised to expand the U.K. economy, improve the National Health Service (NHS), reduce inflation by half this year, tackle illegal immigration, and reduce the national debt. More: - Sunak’s address comes as the country faces strikes and rising consumer prices.
- Sunak promised to rebuild trust in politics through action and asked that his government be judged by the efforts they put forward and the results they achieve.
- Sunak promised to pass new laws that would ensure anybody arriving in the U.K. illegally would be detained and quickly deported.
- U.K. nurses and ambulance workers have threatened to go on strike later this month over pay and work conditions.
- In December, over 7 million patients in England were waiting for non-urgent care.
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China’s banking regulator approved Ant Group’s request to increase the amount of registered capital for the company’s consumer unit to 18.5B yuan ($2.7B) from 8B yuan ($1.16B). Ant has been working with Chinese regulators to restructure its business since its planned IPO was suspended in late 2020. More: - On news of the capital approval, shares of Alibaba and other China ADRs surged on Wednesday.
- Alibaba owns 33% of Ant Group.
- Alibaba shares rose more than 13% on Wednesday. JD.com shares jumped more than 14%, and Baidu shares gained more than 10%.
- In 2021, Chinese regulators approved Ant Group to launch and operate a consumer finance company.
- Ant Group holds a 50% stake in the company.
- The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said Ant has about six months to complete the capital increase before the approval becomes invalid.
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Twitter announced it would relax its ban on political advertising on the platform. Under Jack Dorsey, Twitter banned most political advertising on the social media platform in 2019. Twitter said it would expand the political ads it allows on the platform in the coming weeks to facilitate public conversation around important topics. More: - Twitter said it would align its advertising policy with that of TV and other media outlets.
- The company said it would share more details in the coming weeks.
- Twitter currently permits cause-based ads for economic, environmental, and social topics like calls for voter registration.
- In 2019, following Twitter’s ban on most political ads, then-CEO Jack Dorsey said that “political message reach should be earned, not bought.”
- Twitter earned just $3M from political ads during the 2018 U.S. midterm elections.
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Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has fined Meta Platforms 390M euros ($414M) for using its contracts with Facebook and Instagram users to serve them ads based on their online activity. The EU regulator said Meta violated EU privacy laws. More: - If the ruling holds, Meta would have to allow users to opt out of ads based on how they interact with its apps, which could hurt its core business.
- Meta has three months to stop relying on its contracts with users to justify its use of so-called behavioral ads.
- Meta said it disagreed with the ruling and plans to appeal it and the fine.
- Meta could seek a stay on implementing the ruling pending its appeal.
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Southwest Airlines has been sued by a passenger who claims the airline failed to refund passengers after canceling more than 15,000 flights last month. The class action lawsuit was filed on Dec. 30 by Eric Capdeville in New Orleans federal court. More: - Capdeville claims Southwest only offered a travel credit to him and his daughter after the airline canceled their Dec. 27 flight from New Orleans to Portland, Oregon.
- Southwest has promised to reimburse passengers for their tickets and cover other related expenses due to the flight cancelations, like hotels and car rentals.
- On Tuesday, the airline announced it would give out 25,000 frequent-flier points to travelers affected by its holiday meltdown.
- The bonus points will be issued to travelers whose flights were impacted between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2.
- The bonus points are estimated to be worth more than $300.
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Quick Hits - This year, try a resolution that sticks — going to therapy with BetterHelp. Save 25% off your first month.*
- EV startup Rivian Automotive narrowly missed its 25,000-vehicle production target for 2022. According to a recent filing, the company produced 10,020 completed vehicles in Q4, bringing its total for the year to 24,337. Rivian delivered 20,332 vehicles in 2022.
- About 300 workers at Microsoft’s ZeniMax videogame unit voted to organize with Communications Workers of America.
- The FDA has expanded access to the abortion pill Mifepristone, allowing brick-and-mortar pharmacies to dispense the pills for the first time.
- The head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Yasir al-Rumayyan, has been subpoenaed in a lawsuit over Elon Musk’s 2018 tweet claiming he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 per share.
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Upcoming Events - January 05 - AMA with Gun.io - Building and managing software development teams w/ Deividi Silva (Watch On Demand)
- January 06 - AMA with LinearB - Improving workflow for developers w/ Ori Keren (Watch On Demand)
- January 10 - Inside Startups Coffee Break (Register Here)
- January 17 - Inside Marketing Coffee Break (Register Here)
- January 18 - Inside Interview with Lacework - 4 Common Attack Paths in Cloud Security (Register Here)
- January 31 - Growth Summit 2023 (Register Here)
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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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