The government wants two California men to pay for those annoying robocalls about car warranties. The Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday proposed a $300 million fine against the auto warranty robocall campaign, the largest-ever penalty proposed by the agency over unwanted calls. Roy Cox Jr. and Michael Aaron Jones — were accused of running the scheme via … Read more
Hedge fund Citadel expects to return about $7 billion in profits to its investors in the first week of January after a stellar performance this year, a source familiar with the matter said. Reuters reported this month that 2022 was shaping up to be one of Citadel’s best years in terms of performance. As a result, Citadel founder and billionaire Ken Griffin … Read more
Elon Musk’s Tesla is set to conduct layoffs and freeze further hiring as the electric car maker contends with a sustained downturn in its stock price, according to a report Wednesday. Tesla informed employees about the hiring freeze and said “another wave of layoffs is coming next quarter,” Electrek reported, citing a source familiar with … Read more
Champagne sales are expected to reach a new record this year, despite inflation that could have made consumers shun the expensive bubbly, producers said ahead of the start of year-end celebrations around the world. Champagne sales reached an all-time high last year at $6.05 billion as the relaxation of pandemic-related curbs fueled a surge in exports. “We will very … Read more
Wall Street’s main stock indexes rose on Wednesday after Nike reported upbeat results, while investors drew comfort from data that showed improving consumer sentiment and a fall in inflation expectations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently up 566 points, or 1.7%, at 33,416, the S&P 500 was up 1.7%, and the Nasdaq was up 1.8%. US consumer … Read more
The struggling US housing market is “still miles away” from a recovery, a prominent firm warned Wednesday after data revealed existing home sales cratered in November. Sales of previous owned homes plunged 35.4% to 4.09 million in November compared to the same month one year earlier, according to a monthly release from the National Association … Read more
FTX’s new leadership team signaled that it will attempt to claw back money that disgraced ex-billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried and his close associates improperly funneled to various entities — including a fortune in donations to political candidates. New FTX CEO John Ray and the company’s other caretakers said they have received inquiries from various recipients who … Read more
Elon Musk laid off half of Twitter’s staff and slashed costs in order to save the company from a $3 billion hole in its budget, the mogul said. “That is why I spent the last five weeks cutting costs like crazy,” Musk told Twitter users who tuned in to a Twitter Spaces voice chat on … Read more
Accused crypto grifter Sam Bankman-Fried is one step closer to an American courtroom Tuesday, after he signed legal paperwork to begin the extradition process. The 30-year-old former CEO of FTX — indicted on charges of defrauding investors in the crypto exchange of $1.8 billion — signed the paperwork around noon, according to Doan Cleare, The … Read more
Two British tech entrepreneurs who led an events and travel startup that was worth as much as $800 million spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on drug- and alcohol-fueled parties and ran a “frat boy” culture rife with sexual harassment before the company imploded, according to a report. Callum Negus-Fancey, 32, and his brother, Liam, … Read more