Plus: Vice Media CEO Nancy Dubuc resigns after five years of leading the company
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Ticketmaster has called on Congress to take measures on ticket scalping as the Taylor Swift scandal highlighted the music industry's ticket problem. Some Congress members believe the company itself is the main issue. More: - Live Nation Entertainment was founded in 2010 after the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
- The company has been criticized by music industry experts, music fans, and legislators for conducting suspicious activities that could be categorized as anticompetitive practices.
- Yesterday, Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, asked that the DOJ investigates Live Nation and Ticketmaster for possible anticompetitive conduct.
- According to them, the founder and CEO of Seat Geek testified that Ticketmaster uses extended exclusive agreements with venues that could last up to 10 years.
- The two legislators added that they asked Live Nation if it would be willing to have a third party audit it, but the company refused.
- Live Nation had $16B in revenue in 2022 and has over 12,000 employees.
Zoom Out: - Destiny's Child manager Mathew Knowles sued Live Nation in 2011, claiming that the company had spread false information about his business dealings with his daughter, Beyoncé.
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Ford has delayed the production of the electric F-150 Lightning pickup due to a faulty battery issue that led to a vehicle catching fire. The automotive giant previously announced that the issue would not be fixed until this week. More: - The company has made the decision to push the F-150 Lightning production for at least one week after consulting with its battery supplier, SK.
- The battery supplier is currently building new battery cells in Ford's plant in Georgia and is testing the results.
- This vehicle is the first mass-market electric pickup truck to go on sale and has generated significant interest from pickup buyers and industry investors.
- Ford is seen as one of the only companies to make significant strides to compete with more established EV brands such as Tesla, at least in the pickup truck vertical, by launching its model in the market before other brands.
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The core personal consumption expenditures price index has increased 4.7% YoY, signaling that the Fed could take more fiscal measures to lower inflation. Wall Street's estimate was 4.4%. More: - Consumer spending increased more than expected, at 1.8% for the month compared to the 1.4% estimate.
- The Federal Reserve has raised rates by 4.5 percentage points since March 2022 as inflation in the U.S. has reached its highest level since the 1980s.
- Food prices have increased 11.1% YoY, while energy prices have increased 9.6% during the same period.
- Following this news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 500 points.
Zoom Out: - Many Wall Street executives, such as JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon, have criticized the Federal Reserve. Dimon recently stated that the Fed has lost control over inflation by implementing drastic measures and overreaching. These measures could cause a recession, according to Dimon.
- The Chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, has recently stated that the institution is likely to increase rates even more in order to lower inflation.
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Vice Media CEO Nancy Dubuc has resigned after five years at the helm. The company is in the process of being sold for a reported $1B. More: - Vice Media is an American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company. It became popular in the 2010s for posting viral videos online and grew to $1B in revenue in 2016.
- In recent years, however, the company has struggled to maintain popularity with younger demographics.
- Vice was valued at $5B in 2017, but recent reports claim that the company may be acquired by Antenna Group for $1.1B.
- The media company was unprofitable in 2022.
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Swedish telecom company Ericsson is set to lay off 8,500 workers in a cost-cutting measure. The figure represents 9% of its total global workforce. More: - The company has around 105,529 employees globally.
- These layoffs will be implemented in 2023, but further cost-reducing measures could also be taken in 2024, depending on the company's projections.
- Ericcson claims that the layoffs will help the company save $860M.
- If implemented, this layoff round would be the largest in the telecom industry during the last few years.
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China-based NetEase has acquired game development studio Quantic Dream for $105M. The latter is based in Paris, France. More: - Quantic Dream is a game development studio known for creating games such as:
- Detroit: Become Human,
- Beyond: Two Souls,
- Heavy Rain, etc.
- The gaming studio is based in Paris.
- The company had raised $4M in funding before being acquired.
- NetEase is one of the largest internet companies in the world, with around 20,000 employees.
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- Media giant Warner Bros Discovery has missed its revenue target. The company had $11B in total revenue, a 9% drop for the company compared to the previous business quarter.
- Galaxy Digital has acquired cryptocurrency self-custody platform GK8 for $44M.
- Transcend Therapeutics, a company that aims to help patients recover from post-traumatic stress disorder and other neuropsychiatric diseases, has raised a $40M funding round led by Alpha Wave Global and Integrated Investment Partners.
- Beyond Meat has reported a drop in its sales, posing a $36M drop in revenue during Q4 2022.
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 |  | Arbër is an Inside writer who also has experience in entrepreneurship. He has experience covering Consumer Tech, Venture Capital, NFTs, Crypto, etc. Arbër holds a Bachelor's degree in Business from XAMK University in Finland. When he is not reading(and writing) business news, he chooses to watch sports or anime...and then read news about sports or anime. |   | | 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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