Plus, Russia blames the U.S. for Nord Stream pipeline destruction.
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Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. plans to lay off about 5% of its workforce, or about 1,250 workers. News Corp.’s media brands include The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and the New York Post. More: - News Corp. said that the current macroeconomic environment and higher interest rates have been hurting the company.
- On Thursday, the company reported a 7% decrease in its Q2 FY2023 revenue.
- Net income fell to $94M from $262M reported during the same period last year.
- Last month, Murdoch canceled the planned remerger of his two media empires, News Corp. and Fox Corp, citing the combination was not optimal for shareholders.
- News Corp. is in talks with commercial real estate company CoStar Group to sell its stake in Move Inc., the parent company of Realtor.com.
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Adidas shares fell ~1% on Friday after the sportswear manufacturer said it could lose about €1.2B ($1.3B) in revenue in 2023 if it is unable to sell its existing Yeezy items. Adidas ended its partnership with Yeezy founder Kanye West in October after the rapper and fashion designer made some antisemitic comments. More: - Adidas said it is assessing what to do with its current Yeezy inventory.
- The company added it has already accounted for the impact of not selling it.
- Adidas said its profit would drop by about €500M if the company can’t sell the products.
- According to Morgan Stanley, Yeezy products generated about $2B in sales for Adidas in 2021, accounting for about 8% of the company’s total sales.
- Adidas began its collaboration with West in February 2015.
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Russia plans to cut its oil production by 5% or 500,000 barrels per day in March. The move comes following additional Western sanctions on Russian crude and oil products that went into effect in December and February. More: - The EU implemented its ban on seaborne imports of Russian crude on Dec. 5 and oil products this week.
- Following news of the production cut, the price of international benchmark Brent Crude rose 2.24% to $86.39 a barrel.
- U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose 2.13% to $79.72 a barrel.
- Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who announced the production cut, said the reduction would help restore market relations.
- Novak said the cut does not apply to liquified natural gas and would be calculated from actual output levels and not from Russia’s quota under OPEC.
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Lyft shares fell more than 36% on Friday after the ride-hailing company posted weaker-than-expected Q4 and full-year 2022 earnings on Thursday. Lyft reported $1.2B in Q4 revenue, up 21% YoY and up 12% from the previous quarter. The company posted a net loss of $588.1M compared to a net loss of $283.2M reported in Q4 2021. More: - Full-year 2022 revenue was $4.1B, up 28% YoY, and net loss widened to $1.6B from $1.1B reported in 2021.
- In November, Lyft announced it was laying off about 13% of its workforce, or about 700 people, in a bid to cut operational costs.
- Lyft said it expects Q1 2023 revenue of about $975M.
- Lyft shares closed at $10.31 on Friday; the company is down ~7% YTD.
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Redwood Materials has received a $2B loan commitment from the Department of Energy to help build out its battery recycling facility in Nevada. Redwood Materials takes end-of-life EV batteries and production scraps from car factories and turns them into raw materials and components to make new EV battery cells. More: - The company was founded in 2017 by Tesla’s former CTO, J.B. Straubel.
- Straubel left Tesla in 2019 to work on Redwood Materials full-time.
- Jigar Shah, director of the DOE’s Loan Programs, said the U.S. needed to expand its battery recycling capabilities to meet the demand of the growing EV market.
- The loan is from the department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program.
- The same program helped Tesla get its start.
- Redwood aims to help with the production of more than 1 million EVs per year.
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General Motors has signed a long-term agreement with GlobalFoundries for U.S.-made semiconductor chips. The move comes as automakers have struggled to get chips for their vehicles amid broader supply chain issues. More: - As part of the deal, GlobalFoundries will establish a dedicated production capacity exclusively for GM’s suppliers.
- According to both companies, the agreement is a first of its kind in the auto industry.
- In a statement, GM said the agreement would provide a resilient supply of critical technology in the U.S. and help GM meet its demand.
- GM expects its use of semiconductors to more than double in the next several years.
- The agreement would expand GlobalFoundries’ production capacity and, according to GlobalFoundries CEO Thomas Caulfield, would take two to three years to ramp up.
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- Russia has blamed the U.S. for the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines and threatened to retaliate. This comes after an American investigative journalist alleged the Biden administration had attacked the pipeline.
- The U.S. has sanctioned six Chinese aerospace companies believed to be supporting China’s military’s reconnaissance balloon program.
- The Pentagon said it shot down a second high-altitude object in U.S. airspace off the coast of Alaska on Friday. The mission occurred days after a Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down off the coast of South Carolina.
- Florida lawmakers have approved legislation that changes Disney’s Reedy Creek special governing district. Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign the bill into law.
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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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