 The U.S. and Ukraine's allies are reportedly considering a total ban on Russian exports. The decision would be the most significant economic sanction yet since the start of the war in Ukraine. More: - According to Bloomberg, several countries are considering implementing a ban on Russian exports, hoping to convince several EU member states to join the initiative.
- The idea, still in its early stage, is expected to be discussed at the upcoming G7 Summit.
- Even if such a drastic measure is taken, experts believe that medicines and food will not be banned.
- A ban similar to the idea that is mentioned in the report would essentially reduce Russian exports to record-low levels.
- Current sanctions have almost halved the value of EU and G-7 exports to Russia, leaving Russia with $66B worth of exported goods.
- G7 countries likely believe that these funds are vital for Vladimir Putin's goal of occupying Ukrainian territories and that this lifeline is worth disrupting to help Ukraine win the war.
- Some economists, however, have questioned whether the EU would commit to the idea, considering its reliance on Russian precious metals and energy.
- While sanctions on the Russian economy have proven to be effective, Russia has managed to partially circumvent these sanctions through third countries, a factor that is likely to be considered by the G7 governments.
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Twitter has officially removed the legacy verification blue checks that were launched in 2009. Users will now have to pay $8-$11 per month to be verified. More: - Twitter CEO Elon Musk recently stated that this new strategy aims to help increase the company's revenue, which has been affected by a 50% drop in advertising revenue between October 2022 and March 2023.
- Only 1% of the 500 million monthly Twitter users are currently paying for verification, a service Twitter has named Twitter Blue.
- Twitter Blue costs $8/month for web users and $11/month for iOS users.
- The company has also introduced gray and gold checkmarks, which will be used to verify government agencies and business accounts, respectively.
- The decision to remove verification badges was not received well by several celebrities and media organizations.
- Publications such as New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times have claimed they do not intend to pay for verification.
- Stephen King, who has a blue checkmark even though he claims he hasn't paid for Twitter Blue, has heavily criticized the new feature and Musk's reign as the company CEO.
Zoom Out: - Musk initiated an acquisition of Twitter on April 14, 2022, and concluded it on Oct. 27, 2022.
- By April, Musk had become its largest shareholder with a 9.1% ownership stake.
- Twitter invited Musk to join its board of directors, an offer he initially accepted before declining. On April 14, Musk made an unsolicited offer to purchase the company, which Twitter's board initially resisted before unanimously accepting Musk's $44B offer on April 25.
- Musk stated that his reason for buying the company is to promote free speech, vowing to also increase its profitability and popularity.
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BuzzFeed announced its intention to shut down BuzzFeed News and lay off 15% of its workforce. The company has struggled financially since going public in 2021. More: - The media company said that this decision was taken after being affected by factors such as:
- COVID-19 pandemic,
- a failed SPAC,
- tech industry crisis,
- macroeconomic conditions,
- stock market volatility,
- a drop in digital advertising revenue,
- and ongoing audience behavior changes.
- The 15% layoff figure represents around 180 employees.
- BuzzFeed employs 1,200 people in total.
- According to reports, BuzzFeed News had about 100 employees and lost about $10M annually.
Zoom Out: - While the publication has struggled to maintain its commercial viability, BuzzFeed News won a Pulitzer Prize in 2021 for its reporting on China’s mass detention of Muslims.
- BuzzFeed is not the only digital media company to announce layoffs. Insider has also announced that it would lay off 10% of its workforce.
- Disney recently announced that its subsidiary ESPN would cut jobs next week.
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IKEA has announced plans to invest $2.2B in new U.S. retail locations. The investment is its largest since the company entered the U.S. market. More: - The company will invest in improving its omnichannel growth by opening new stores and pickup locations, boosting sustainability efforts, etc.
- As part of the investment, the company will open nine Plan & Order points. The latter is a concept that existing helps customers get personalized help on constructing kitchen or bathroom remodels.
- The first Plan & Order point will be in Arlington, Virginia, and will be opened in 2023.
- Ikea's new investment will also see eight new stores added to its existing lineup of 51 U.S. stores.
- The company claims that overall, this new investment plan will create 2,000 jobs in the U.S. by 2026.
- Ikea's investment will also fund a continued effort to modernize its energy efficiency and transportation methods.
- By 2025, Ikea aims to complete 100% of its home deliveries with EVs.
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AT&T shares declined 10% after the company announced that it missed revenue estimates. Despite the revenue miss, the telecom giant beat estimates in earnings and subscriber growth. More: - AT&T reported a net income of $4.18B compared with $4.76B in 2021.
- Its revenue was $30.14B, a slight miss compared to the $30.27B estimations from analysts.
- The company added 424,000 postpaid phone plans, which is the company's number of paying customers.
- AT&T CEO John Stankey said that the recent economic downturn forced customers to delay phone upgrades, resulting in a revenue drop.
- The company's quarterly revenue rose 1.4% to $30.14 B YoY.
- AT&T shares closed down over 10% on Thursday, its largest one-day percentage decline since 2000.
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Gilde Healthcare has closed a $658M fund to invest in North American and European healthcare startups. The company has $2.7B worth of assets under management. More: - The fund, officially named Gilde Healthcare Venture & Growth VI, was backed by corporates, banks, pension funds, insurers, fund-of-funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, family offices, entrepreneurs, and company employees.
- Gilde Healthcare will invest anywhere from $10M to $17M per company.
- Since 2001, the company has raised around $900M.
- Founded in 1982, the company has invested in over 60 companies.
- Gilde has had several portfolio companies successfully exit, some of which are:
- Ablynx,
- Acacia Pharma,
- Agendia,
- BG Medicine,
- Axonis Modulation,
- BionX.
- The firm is based in Utrecht, Netherlands, and has additional offices in the U.S. and Germany.
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- SpaceX's Starship rocket, the largest ever built, launched on Thursday and flew for nearly four minutes before a "rapid unscheduled disassembly." The company claimed that any result that got the rocket off the launchpad would be a success.
- Raxio Data Centers has raised a $170M debt funding round to provide advanced data center operations in Africa.
- Twitter CEO Elon Musk has threatened to sue Microsoft for using Twitter's data without the company's permission.
- Noah Medical has raised a $150M Series B round from SoftBank to provide robotic medical devices that detect diseases in their early-stage.
- Clorox has announced that it plans to cut 4% of its non-production workforce in an effort to reduce its costs.
- Reports have surfaced that pop superstar Taylor Swift was in talks with now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX for a $100M sponsorship deal in 2021, but the deal fell apart after she asked, "Can you tell me that these are not unregistered securities?"
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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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