Tag: advertising

Elon Musk says Twitter cash flow is negative due to ad revenue declines, ‘heavy debt’

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SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks on as he speaks during his visit at the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, on June 16, 2023. (Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP) (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images)

Alain Jocard | Afp | Getty Images

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who is also CTO and executive chairman of Twitter, said early Saturday morning that cash flow remains negative at the social media company because of a nearly 50% drop in advertising revenue coupled with “heavy debt.”

“Need to reach positive cash flow before we have the luxury of anything else,” Musk wrote in response to a tweet.

Musk took over Twitter in October of last year in a deal valued at around $44 billion, including about $13 billion in debt. He sold billions of dollars worth of his Tesla shares in part to finance that deal.

By January, hundreds of advertisers had reduced or halted their ad spending on Twitter in response to Musk making steep staff cuts at the company, and implementing changes to the platform, especially restoring previously banned accounts and changing its approach to content moderation.

In April, Musk told a BBC reporter that “almost all” advertisers had resumed buying ads on Twitter. He also claimed at that time that the company was “roughly breakeven,” and expected to become cash flow positive within the next quarter.

His statement about Twitter’s cash flow problems today comes a little over one month since Linda Yaccarino, who previously ran global advertising for Comcast’s NBCUniversal, took on the role of Twitter CEO. NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

Yaccarino’s appointment inspired hope among media industry insiders that Twitter would address immediate challenges to its ad business.

In recent days, Twitter began doling out a share of its ad revenue to select content creators on its platform. Musk’s remarks were made in response to followers who wanted to know why that revenue-sharing program was so limited in scope.

A number of widely followed accounts on Twitter posted that they were dismayed they did not qualify to earn income from the program yet. As The Verge previously reported, the revenue-sharing program was available only to users who paid for a Twitter Blue verified subscription, and amounts paid were “driven by ads placed in the replies to tweets.”

Influencer Andrew Tate — who espouses misogynistic views online, and faces a trial on charges of rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women in Romania — posted that Twitter paid him more than $20,000. Tate has sued the accusers who made those charges.

Several right-wing influencers also posted about receiving Twitter payments, along with fans and promoters of Tesla stock and products, including Omar Qazi (who uses the handle “@WholeMarsBlog” on Twitter) and Sawyer Merritt, who each posted about netting more than $5,000.

Mainstream and other influencers who shared details about their Twitter income included Brian and Ed Krassenstein, Mr. Beast and the account @interneth0f (which stands for Internet Hall of Fame). The Internet Hall of Fame posts screenshots of other people’s popular posts from social media and re-circulates them.

It’s not clear how much Twitter paid creators in total in this first round of payments. Twitter sent an automated reply with a crude symbol in response to CNBC’s request for comment on Saturday. The parent company of Twitter, X Corp., is facing myriad lawsuits from former employees and vendors over non-payment of bills and severance.

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July 15, 2023
FTC files appeal, again seeks to block Microsoft-Activision deal

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The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday asked an appeals court to temporarily block Microsoft Corp.’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. while it challenges a ruling earlier this week green-lighting the deal.

The FTC on Thursday asked U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley to postpone her ruling — which she promptly denied — and also appealed to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco to pause the acquisition “to preserve the status quo” while the case is reviewed, claiming it is likely to succeed in its appeal.

According to the filing, the FTC claims the judge applied the wrong legal standard to its request for a preliminary injunction, and erred in a number of other matters.

The deal is set to close in the coming days, and letting it happen will “irreparably harm the public interest and the FTC,” regulators said.

Also see: GOP blasts FTC Chair Khan as a ‘bully’ after agency’s loss in Microsoft case

In a response filed with the court, Microsoft said the FTC “failed to carry its burden on independent, fact-based grounds” and “dragged its heels” before appealing.

“The court has already found that it would be inequitable” to order an injunction that could lead to “the potential scuttling of the merger,” Microsoft said, in asking for the FTC’s request to be denied.

The FTC has claimed the tie-up of a major videogame platform — Microsoft’s
MSFT,
+1.62%
Xbox — with a major videogame publisher — Activision
ATVI,
-0.51%
makes the wildly popular “Call of Duty,” among other titles — would be harmful to the videogame industry and consumers.

Microsoft has pledged to keep “Call of Duty” available to Sony’s
SONY,
+2.82%
PlayStation console for 10 years, and will make it available for Nintendo’s
7974,
-0.36%
Switch and some cloud-gaming platforms.

In her ruling clearing the deal Tuesday, Corley said the FTC did not show “this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition.”

Bloomberg News reported late Thursday that Microsoft and Activision are considering giving up some control of their cloud-gaming business in the U.K. to win approval of British regulators, who — if the U.S. appeals court does not act — are the final hurdle to the deal closing on time.

FTC Chair Lina Khan testified on Capitol Hill on Thursday, where Republican lawmakers assailed her actions and sharply criticized her agency’s court losses in trying to block the Microsoft-Activision deal and Meta’s
META,
+1.32%
acquisition of a virtual-reality gaming company earlier this year.

Read more: After Microsoft defeat, ‘toothless’ FTC needs to pick better battles if it wants to rein in Big Tech

Also: FTC’s probe of OpenAI marks key moment in Khan’s push to rein in Big Tech

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July 13, 2023

Worried that stocks are too expensive? This value approach can highlight bargains.

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At a time when many investors seem euphoric, others are warning that stock valuations have once again turned frothy. It may pay to take a look back at valuation and performance and consider your own risk tolerance.

A value-based approach that offers lower volatility and good long-term returns can be expected to be less flashy than one focused on the hottest technology stocks. But depending on how much it bothers you when the stock market gyrates, it may be a better way for you to invest. Lower volatility might help you to avoid the type of emotional reaction that can lead to selling into a declining market or attempting to time the market, both of which tend to be losing strategies.

Aaron Dunn is a co-head of the value equity team at Eaton Vance, which is based in Boston and is a unit of Morgan Stanley. During an interview, he explained how he and Brad Galko, who co-heads the team, select stocks for the Eaton Vance Focused Value Opportunities Fund. The fund’s performance benchmark is the Russell 1000 Value Index
RLV,
+1.08%.

First, let’s take a broad look at how aggregate forward price-to-earnings ratios have moved for exchange-traded funds tracking several broad indexes over the past 10 years:

FactSet

The valuations are lower than their 2020 peaks. But for all but one, the valuations still appear to be high when compared with their 10-year averages:

ETF	Ticker	Current forward P/E	10-year average forward P/E	Current valuation to 10-year average
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust	SPY, +0.64%	19.06	15.93	120%
iShares Russell 1000 ETF	IWB, +0.80%	18.94	16.02	118%
iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF	IWD, +1.07%	14.33	13.94	103%
iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF	IWF, +0.50%	26.63	19.00	140%
Source: FactSet

All of the listed ETFs listed here are trading well above their 10-year average P/E valuations except the iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF, which is only slightly higher. These numbers back the notion that the broad market is expensive and that a value approach may be more reasonable. It is also worth keeping in mind that during 2022, when the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust
SPY,
+0.64%
declined 18.2% and the iShares Russell 1000 ETF
IWB,
+0.80%
fell 19.2%, the iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF
IWD,
+1.07%
pulled back 7.7% and the Eaton Vance Focused Value Opportunity Fund’s Class I shares were down only 3.3%, all with dividends reinvested.

If we look at 10-year total returns, the nonvalue indexes, so heavily weighted to the largest technology-oriented companies, have been excellent performers for investors who could remain committed through thick and thin:

Fund	Ticker	3-year average annual return	5-year average annual return	10-year average annual return
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust	SPY, +0.64%	13.2%	11.4%	12.3%
iShares Russell 1000 ETF	IWB, +0.80%	12.5%	11.0%	12.1%
iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF	IWF, +0.50%	11.2%	14.0%	15.0%
iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF	IWD, +1.07%	13.7%	7.3%	8.7%
Eaton Vance Value Opportunities Fund – Class I	EIFVX, +0.92%	14.8%	8.7%	9.7%
Source: FactSet

For five and 10 years, the growth-oriented approaches have shined. But for three years, which includes the 2022 disruption, the Eaton Vance Value Opportunities Fund has fared best, even outperforming its benchmark.

A selective approach to value

The Eaton Vance Focused Value Opportunity Fund’s Class I
EIFVX,
+0.92%
shares are rated four stars (out of five) within Morningstar’s Large Value fund category. The fund’s Class A
EAFVX,
+0.93%
shares are rated three stars. The difference is that the Class I shares, which are typically distributed through investment advisers, have annual expenses of 0.74% of assets under management, while the Class A shares have an expense ratio of 0.99%. You can purchase Class I shares directly through brokerage platforms for a $50 fee.

Dunn said that when selecting stocks for the fund, he and Galko take a bottom-up approach to identify quality companies. The want to see high returns on invested capital (ROIC) over the long term, as well as a “good competitive position” for a company and a strong management team.

They also prefer companies with low debt. “We do not want to buy overlevered companies and be in a situation where we are diluting through equity raises and putting capital at risk,” he said.

Dunn added that he and Galko look closely at free cash flow generation. A company’s free cash flow is its remaining cash flow after capital expenditures. This is money that can be used to fund expansion, acquisitions, dividend increases or share buybacks, or for other corporate purposes.

“Philosophically, what this results in is that we hold up well in markets such as last year’s. And we find upside in stocks trading below intrinsic value,” he said.

“We focus on finding ideas where there is a good skew for upside relative to downside,” he added.

According to Morningstar, the fund’s active share when compared with IWD is high, at 91.45%. Active share is a measure of how much an actively managed fund differs in investment exposure from its benchmark index. If you are paying more for active management than you would to invest in an index fund, active share is something to consider. If it is low, you might be overpaying for a “closet indexer.” You can read about how Morningstar assesses active shares here.

The fund is concentrated, typically holding between 25 and 45 companies.

According to Morningstar’s most recent data, these were the fund’s top 10 holdings (out of 28 stocks) as of May 31:

Company	Ticker	% of Eaton Vance Focused Value Opportunity Fund	Forward P/E	2023 total return
Alphabet Inc. Class A	GOOGL, +0.59%	5.0%	19.6	32%
Micron Technology Inc.	MU, +1.79%	4.8%	N/A	25%
American International Group Inc.	AIG, +1.15%	4.3%	8.1	-7%
Reinsurance Group of America Inc.	RGA, -0.34%	4.2%	8.0	1%
Bristol Myers Squibb Co.	BMY, +0.50%	4.1%	7.7	-11%
Wells Fargo & Co.	WFC, +0.99%	4.0%	8.9	4%
ConocoPhillips	COP, +2.96%	4.0%	10.5	-10%
Constellation Brands Inc. Class A	STZ, +0.30%	3.9%	20.4	9%
NextEra Energy Inc.	NEE, +0.67%	3.8%	21.9	-13%
Charles Schwab Corp.	SCHW, -0.43%	3.8%	16.0	-30%
Source: FactSet

Click the tickers for more about each company, fund or index.

Click here for Tomi Kilgore’s detailed guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

There is no forward price-to-earnings ratio for Micron Technology Inc.
MU,
+1.79%,
because the company’s combined EPS for the next 12 months are expected to be negative.

Micron is a company in transition, caught up in diplomatic conflict between the U.S. and China, whose government directed some manufacturers in May to stop purchasing memory chips made by the company. Then again, in June, Micron highlighted its “commitment to China” when announcing a new investment in its plant in Xi’an.

Read: Micron recovery debated by analysts as bottom is called in memory-chip market

Dunn said downside for Micron’s stock was “mitigated” because of the company’s relatively low debt. He also said that as companies continue to adopt more cloud services and deploy artificial-intelligence technology, demand for memory chips will increase.

While there is no current forward P/E for Micron, the stock always trades at low valuations relative to most other large tech companies. Dunn touted Micron’s strong cash flow and said the stock was “underappreciated” and remained “an interesting play on cloud and AI.”

While it is not among the top 10 holdings listed above, Dunn highlighted Dollar Tree Inc.
DLTR,
+1.80%
as an example of the type of value stock he favors. The company “was not well run” following its acquisition of Family Dollar in 2015. But he has been impressed with its more recent turnaround efforts, including improvements in how products are shipped to stores, better efficiency and “a lot of work going on with culture, how they operate, how they treat employees [and] adding some shelf space to move more product.”

It is interesting to see NextEra Energy Inc.
NEE,
+0.67%
among the fund’s largest holdings. This has been quite a strong grower over the past 10 years, with a total return of 346% as the owner of Florida Power & Light has grown along with its customer base and has become a leader in the build-out of solar-power generation.

Dunn said the company is “still growing in the mid-single digits. For a utility company, that is a strong profile.”

When discussing Alphabet Inc.
GOOGL,
+0.59%,
the fund’s largest holding as of May 31, Dunn said that “it is really an advertising business with other businesses around it” and that its P/E valuation was “not extremely taxing.” He said Alphabet had been “less aggressive with cost cutting” than other technology giants and added that the company’s “targeted search” through Google and other properties, such as YouTube, “probably provides a better return on investment than broadcast advertising, and that really is the key.”

Don’t miss: This stock investing strategy has blown away the S&P 500. Here’s a way to refine it for quality.

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July 11, 2023

Americans are now being advised to reconsider travel to China

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BEIJING (AP) — The U.S. recommended Americans reconsider traveling to China because of arbitrary law enforcement and exit bans and the risk of wrongful detentions.

No specific cases were cited, but the advisory came after a 78-year-old U.S. citizen was sentenced to life in prison on spying charges in May.

It also followed the passage last week of a sweeping Foreign Relations Law that threatens countermeasures against those seen as harming China’s interests.

China also recently passed a broadly written counterespionage law that has sent a chill through the foreign business community, with offices being raided, as well as a law to sanction foreign critics.

“The People’s Republic of China (PRC) government arbitrarily enforces local laws, including issuing exit bans on U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries, without fair and transparent process under the law,” the U.S. advisory said.

“U.S. citizens traveling or residing in the PRC may be detained without access to U.S. consular services or information about their alleged crime,” it warned.

“ Similar U.S. advisories issued for the semiautonomous Chinese regions of Hong Kong and Macao.”

The advisory also said that Chinese authorities “appear to have broad discretion to deem a wide range of documents, data, statistics, or materials as state secrets and to detain and prosecute foreign nationals for alleged espionage.”

It listed a wide range of potential offenses from taking part in demonstrations to sending electronic messages critical of Chinese policies or even simply conducting research into areas deemed sensitive.

Exit bans could be used to compel individuals to participate in Chinese government investigations, pressure family members to return from abroad, resolve civil disputes in favor of Chinese citizens and “gain bargaining leverage over foreign governments,” the advisory said.

Similar advisories were issued for the semiautonomous Chinese regions of Hong Kong and Macao. They were dated Friday and emailed to journalists on Monday.

The U.S. had issued similar advisories to its citizens in the past, but those in recent years had mainly warned of the dangers of being caught in strict and lengthy lockdowns while China closed its borders for three years under its draconian “zero-COVID” policy.

China generally responds angrily to what it considers U.S. efforts to impugn its authoritarian Communist Party–led system. It has issued its own travel advisories concerning the U.S., warning of the dangers of crime, anti-Asian discrimination and the high cost of emergency medical assistance.

From the archives (June 2020): Hong Kong bans insults to China’s national anthem

Also (August 2021): Biden signs order to allow thousands of Hong Kong residents to stay in the U.S. amid Beijing’s crackdown

China had no immediate response to the travel advisory on Monday.

Details of the accusations against the accused spy John Shing-Wan Leung are not available, given China’s authoritarian political system and the ruling Communist Party’s absolute control over legal matters. Leung, who also holds permanent residency in Hong Kong, was detained in the southeastern city of Suzhou on April 15, 2021 — a time when China had closed its borders and tightly restricted movement of people domestically to control the spread of COVID-19.

The warnings come as U.S.-China relations are at their lowest in years, over trade, technology, Taiwan and human rights, although the sides are taking some steps to improve the situation. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a long-delayed visit to Beijing last week and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is making a much-anticipated trip to Beijing this week. China also recently appointed a new ambassador to Washington, who presented his credentials in a meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House.

Other incidents, however, have also pointed to the testiness in the relationship. China formally protested last month after Biden called Chinese leader Xi Jinping a “dictator,” days after Blinken’s visit.

From the archives (February 2021): Biden says China faces ‘extreme competition’ from U.S. under his administration

Also see (June 2020): Bolton book adds urgency to Trump bid to depict himself as a China hawk and to paint Biden as a Beijing apologist

Capitol Report (June 2020): Trump asked China’s Xi to buy U.S. farm products to help him win re-election, Bolton book says

Biden brushed off the protest, saying his words would have no negative impact on U.S.-China relations and that he still expects to meet with Xi sometime soon. Biden has also drawn rebukes from Beijing by explicitly saying the U.S. would defend self-governing Taiwan if China, which claims the island as its own territory, were to attack it.

The White House’s John Kirby discusses President Joe Biden’s priorities when it comes to Ukraine, China and other national-security matters. Kirby, who will be interviewed by MarketWatch’s Victor Reklaitis, is the strategic-communications coordinator for Biden’s National Security Council.

Biden said his blunt statements regarding China are “just not something I’m going to change very much.”

See: Biden says he plans to meet with China’s Xi even after calling him a dictator

Also: ‘Extremely absurd and irresponsible’: China fires back after Biden labels Xi a dictator

From the archives (March 2023): Xi says U.S. is trying to hinder China in its quest for global influence

The administration is also under pressure from both parties to take a tough line on China, making it one of the few issues on which most Democrats and Republicans agree.

Along with several detained Americans, two Chinese-Australians, Cheng Lei, who formerly worked for China’s state broadcaster, and writer Yang Jun, have been held since 2020 and 2019, respectively, without word on their sentencing.

Perhaps the most notorious case of arbitrary detention involved two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, who were detained in China in 2018, shortly after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer and the daughter of the tech powerhouse’s founder, on a U.S. extradition request.

They were charged with national-security crimes that were never explained and released three years later after the U.S. settled fraud charges against Meng. Many countries labeled China’s action “hostage politics.”

Read on (May 2023): Biden national-security adviser tells Chinese diplomat that U.S. seeks to move beyond spy-balloon episode

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July 4, 2023
Advertising Is a Living, Evolving Entity. Here’s How to Grab Hold of It. | Entrepreneur

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

At first glance, the idea of advertising as a living thing can seem strange or even nonsensical. But the history of advertising shows us that it is indeed a living, evolving entity.

Advertisements in the 1800s were primarily published in newspapers, city directories and other print publications. And those ads are a far cry from the personalized marketing many consumers receive via email or social media today.

But comparing today’s ads to those of over one hundred years ago is just one way of recognizing how advertising is a living and ever-evolving discipline. By understanding advertising’s continual growth (both now and in the future), you’ll be better positioned to grab hold of it yourself.

Related: This Is the Future of Digital Ads. Is Your Marketing Strategy Ready?

Advertising’s evolution has accelerated in recent years

Technology has played a dramatic role in advertising’s evolution over the past several years. This can perhaps best be seen in how far personalized marketing has come. In the 1990s, personalization was a rarity, aside from placing ads in media that appealed to a particular target audience. Nowadays, ads often don’t just target audiences — they focus on individuals.

For example, it’s been reported that Facebook uses 98 personal data points to target relevant ads to its billions of users. Amazon Personalize uses machine learning to provide curated product recommendations to shoppers based on past purchases, their location and other contextual data.

This comes at a time when customers are also increasingly expecting brands to better understand their individual needs — with 52% saying they expect offers to always be personalized.

As advertising has changed, so too have consumer expectations. Individualized advertising has become the norm and can serve as a powerful differentiating factor that helps a brand stand out from its competitors.

New opportunities and new challenges remain

While technological advancements have made great contributions to the evolution of advertising, this doesn’t mean that entrepreneurs aren’t going to face marketing challenges.

For example, while Google Search has dominated much of the conversation around digital advertising for the last decade, its parent company Alphabet has recently reported declining revenue in Google Search, leading to layoffs from one of the largest brands in the world. At the same time, the company reported an additional focus on AI, particularly in integrating it with Google Cloud and Google Services.

If one of the biggest platform holders in the industry is making these types of changes, you can be sure that it will lead to additional changes to the digital marketing landscape. At the same time, the mixed levels of controversy and enthusiasm for AI highlight how consumers may have equally mixed reactions to its increased use in future marketing endeavors.

Regardless of the specifics of how the current AI boom plays out, it is clear that such advances are poised to change how marketing materials are created and how they reach and appeal to customers.

And AI is just one of the factors that can continue to push the evolution of advertising. New social media platforms like TikTok have created new ways for marketers to communicate with specific audiences. When trying to make use of new channels, brands must put in the work to create meaningful and authentic messaging that makes sense for the platform.

Related: Why Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionizing Marketing

Successful entrepreneurs don’t wait on the sidelines

While advertising has proven to be an ever-changing entity, one fact remains: It is essential for successful businesses. As Henry Ford said, “Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time.”

While many brands will cut their advertising budget during times of economic trouble, or wait to spend money on advertising until they have strengthened their position in the market, this is generally the opposite recipe for success.

For example, during the Great Recession of 2008, McDonald’s actually gained market share and increased sales while its competitors struggled — and these results were largely attributed to the fact that it remained committed to its designated ad spend, even as other brands like Burger King and Pizza Hut pulled back from advertising.

The same can be true of businesses in any other niche, regardless of how long you’ve been in operation or who you are trying to reach. Successful entrepreneurs are willing to jump in head-first to advertise their brand and its products or services to the people who could most benefit from it.

Successful entrepreneurs take the time to focus their message on the unique pain points of their target audience. It’s why they look at multiple channels for reaching audience members — and especially pay close attention to up-and-coming platforms. Successful marketing requires work, but the end result is growth that likely wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

Build your future with advertising

The marketers designing print ads for newspapers in the 1800s probably would never have imagined the type of advertising we’re capable of producing today. But that also means that many of us are unlikely to fully conceptualize the continued changes and innovations that will hit the industry in the future. As entrepreneurs, what we must never do is get lazy, because ignoring innovation in advertising is virtually the same as not advertising, and as Dr. Marietta Poshi, Marketing Professor at Warner University, says, “Advertising is the most vital part of connecting a brand with consumers. Regardless of how good a product is, if its value is not properly communicated, the purpose of the product (or service) is defeated.”

By making it a priority to understand industry trends, you will be better equipped to grab hold of practices that appeal to your target audience and help you grow, both now and in the years to come.

Related: Invest in These 5 Technologies to Redefine Your Marketing Efforts

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Andres Tovar

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July 3, 2023
Nvidia Stock Is Down. Blame Tesla.
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This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit http://www.djreprints.com.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/nvidia-stock-price-ai-tesla-5af5041c
June 26, 2023 2:53 pm ET

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Shares of newly minted $1 trillion company

Nvidia

were taking it on the chin Monday, and investors searching for a reason should look to

Tesla
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June 26, 2023
Tesla, Nvidia, Spirit Aerosystems, KB Home, Accenture, and More Market Movers

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Stock futures were falling following three straight days of losses for Wall Street. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell again will be delivering testimony before Congress. His comments on Wednesday that the central bank likely would be raising rates further this year pushed markets lower.

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June 22, 2023
Who Is Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino? College, Husband, Children | Entrepreneur

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Since Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, the social media platform has been on a bumpy road: advertisers have been leaving in droves, users have grown agitated with ongoing changes (including the integration of Twitter Blue), and the mass layoffs have ignited internal frustration at the company.

In December, Musk put out a poll on Twitter, asking the platform to weigh in on his fate as the social media’s first-in-command: “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.” The people spoke and, two days later, Musk stated he would step down as CEO as soon as he finds someone “foolish enough to take the job.”

And yet, Twitter’s new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, is anything but that. The 60-year-old media veteran officially stepped into her new role on June 5th (about two weeks earlier than expected, per Musk’s original announcement on May 12).

So, who is Yaccarino, Twitter’s new first-in-command? Here’s everything to know about the advertising powerhouse and Twitter’s new CEO.

Where is Linda Yaccarino from?

Linda Yaccarino is an Italian-American who grew up in Deer Park, New York. Yaccarino later went to Pennsylvania State University, where she graduated in 1985 with a degree in telecommunications.

What was Linda Yaccarino’s last job?

Yaccarino joins Twitter after working in the advertising industry for decades. Her former role was chairman of advertising and client partnerships at NBC Universal, where she was in charge of the company’s market strategy and advertising revenue for NBC’s cable, broadcast, and digital assets.

“It has been an absolute honor to be part of Comcast NBCUniversal and lead the most incredible team,” Yaccarino said in a statement announcing her departure from NBC. “We’ve transformed our company and the entire industry—and I am so proud of what we’ve accomplished together.”

Yaccarino had been at NBC for almost 12 years by the time of her departure. Formerly, she worked at Turner Broadcasting Systems for two decades, holding a variety of roles from executive vice president to chief operating officer.

Related: Elon Musk Claims He’s Hiring a ‘VP of Witchcraft and Propaganda’

Does Linda Yaccarino have a family?

Yaccarino met her husband, Claude Madrazo on a blind date, BBC noted. The couple has two children, and they reside in Sea Cliff, New York.

What has Linda Yaccarino said about being Twitter’s new CEO?

While taking command of Twitter in its current state is no easy task, Yaccarino has voiced excitement about the new role. Last month, on both Twitter and LinkedIn, Yaccarino said she has been “inspired” by former Twitter CEO Musk’s “vision to create a brighter future.”

“Now, I’m excited to help bring that vision to Twitter and transform the business together. Everyone’s feedback is VITAL to Twitter’s future. And I’m here for all of it,” the new CEO wrote on LinkedIn.

Related: ‘Literally Everything Is Possible’: Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino Pens First-Ever Letter To Employees About ‘Transformation’

What does Elon Musk now do at Twitter?

Now that Yaccarino has filled the CEO position, Musk tweeted in May that his role will transition to executive chair, CTO, and overseeing product design and new technology.

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Madeline Garfinkle

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June 16, 2023
Parenting 101: Preparing for a summer vacation

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A lot of us moms and dads are preparing for a family vacation, and the whole process of preparing for a big getaway can be daunting. First things first: make a list. You’ll want a packing list for carry-on stuff or the car ride (depending on your mode of transportation), a packing list for suitcases, and a shopping list. Having a list will help to ensure that you don’t forget anything. Some suggestions for your in-transit bag:

– Chargers

– Colouring books, crayons and other basic art supplies (stamp pads, stickers, and more)

– Journals and blank paper

– Fun books like Where’s Waldo, nature or learning books, or activity/art books – get loads of ideas for great kids’ reads, plus activities to go along with those books, in our Little Readers blog section.

– Healthy snacks and water (from here or here)

– Folder for travel docs, brochures, print-outs of reservations, etc.

Try and stay organized as much as possible. Organization is key to a successful family vacation (especially road trips). Having an organized car, as well as well-planned-out luggage, will make the entire process all the smoother.

Group “like” items together to make packing (and living out of a suitcase) all the easier. This means keeping toiletries together, swimming stuff (bathing suits, towels and pool toys), shoes and outdoor gear, medication, your jewellery and accessories, and so on. Smaller clear cases or bags work well for smaller items, while more durable reuseable bags like these are ideal for the bigger stuff.

Use labels to keep everyone organized. That way, everyone knows where to get their clothes and other necessities, as well as where to put things like dirty clothes.

Come up with a schedule for your travel days, and discuss it as a family so there are no unexpected surprises on the day of. If it’s going to be a longer day of travelling, consider having a few “markers” along the way where you’ll celebrate or do something fun/special/different (each hour of a car ride, or during a layover).

Happy and safe travels!

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June 13, 2023
How a hawkish Fed could kill a baby bull-market rally in U.S. stocks

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It is the notion that the Federal Reserve could deliver a hawkish jolt to markets even if it refrains from raising rates when its two-day policy meeting ends on Wednesday.

There are concerns that such an outcome could spark a turnaround in U.S. stocks, especially if an uncomfortably strong reading on May inflation — due this coming Tuesday just as the Fed’s policy meeting is slated to begin — pushes the central bank toward something even more extreme, like delivering a rate increase on Wednesday despite intimating that it plans to abstain.

The May consumer-price index is forecast to rise 4.0% for the year, down from a rise of 4.9%, while the core index, excluding food and energy prices, is seen easing to a rise of 5.3% from 5.5%.

On the other hand, signs that the economy has weakened and inflation has continued to fade would help the Fed to justify skipping a rate increase in June — as several senior officials have suggested it will — while signaling that a potential hike at its following meeting in July could be the final increase for the cycle.

“Softening U.S. data should support calls that a June skip could eventually turn into a July pause. Next week, most of the data is expected to remain weak or little changed: retail sales could be flat m/m, the Fed regional surveys should remain in negative territory, and consumer sentiment will waver,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at OANDA, in emailed commentary.

See: The Fed’s crystal ball on inflation appears off the mark again. Here’s comes another fix.

Wednesday’s meeting comes at a critical time for the market. U.S. stocks have powered ahead for more than six months, with the S&P 500
SPX,
+0.11%
having risen more than 20% off its Oct. 12 closing low, according to FactSet. Just this past week, the index exited bear-market territory for the first time in a year.

The index is up 12% so far in 2023, reversing some of its 19.4% decline from 2022, its biggest calendar-year drop since 2008, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

So far this year, highflying tech stocks have helped to paper over weakness in other areas of the market. This has started to change over the past two weeks, as small-cap and value-stocks have lurched suddenly higher, but there are fears that the Fed could hurt the most interest-rate sensitive technology names if Chairman Jerome Powell hints at rates rising higher than investors presently anticipate.

The so-called “Megacap eight” stocks — a group that includes both classes of Alphabet Inc. stock
GOOG,
+0.16%

GOOGL,
+0.07%,
Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
+0.47%,
Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
+4.06%,
Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
+0.47%,
Netflix Inc.
NFLX,
+2.60%,
Nvidia Corp.
NVDA,
+0.68%,
Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
+0.14%
— have driven nearly all of the S&P 500’s gains this year, according to Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, who included his analysis in a note to clients.

But since the beginning of June, the Russell 2000
RUT,
-0.80%,
a gauge of small-cap stocks in the U.S., has risen more than 6.6%, according to FactSet data. The Russell 1000 Value Index
RLV,
-0.15%
has also gained nearly 3.7% in that time. During this period, both have outperformed the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite
COMP,
+0.16%,
although the Nasdaq remains the market leader, having risen 26.7% since Jan. 1.

Concerns about the Fed’s plans intensified this week after the Bank of Canada delivered a surprise interest-rate hike, ending a four-month pause. The BOC’s decision followed a similar move by the Reserve Bank of Australia, and partly as a result, U.S. Treasury yields rose and tech-heavy stocks tumbled, with the Nasdaq logging its biggest drop since April 25, according to FactSet.

While small-caps held up amid the chaos, the reaction stoked fears that something similar might be in store for markets when the Fed delivers its latest decision on interest rates Wednesday.

Consequences of a ‘hawkish pause’

Stocks could be in for more turbulence if the Fed signals it plans to follow the BOC and RBA with a hawkish surprise of its own. And it wouldn’t necessarily need to hike rates to pull this off, market strategists said.

Emerging signs of complacency in the market could complicate its reaction. That the Cboe Volatility Index has fallen back below 15
VIX,
+1.32%
for the first time since before the arrival of COVID-19 is one such sign that investors aren’t worried enough about a potential selloff, said Miller Tabak + Co.’s Chief Market Strategist Matt Maley.

Another analyst likened the potential fallout from a hawkish Fed to the bad old days of 2022.

“If the Fed signals that rates will be going up again, the market playbook could read more like 2022 than what we have seen so far in 2023,” said Will Rhind, the founder and CEO of GraniteShares, during a phone interview with MarketWatch.

Perhaps the biggest wild card is Tuesday’s inflation report. If the numbers come in hot, Powell and his peers could face pressure to hike rates without priming the market first.

For this reason, Rhind believes investors are underestimating the likelihood of a hike next week, even as Fed funds futures currently see a roughly 70% probability that the central bank will stand pat, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool.

And Rhind isn’t the only one. Leslie Falconio, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, says the Tuesday inflation report could be a make-or-break moment for markets, summing up fears expressed elsewhere on Wall Street in a recent note to clients.

“We believe another rate increase is on the table, and that the CPI release on 13 June, a day before the Fed decision, will be decisive. In our view, another hike won’t have a material impact on the pace of economic growth,” Falconio said.

What should investors watch out for?

Assuming the Fed does forego a hike in June, there are a few key tells that investors should watch for to determine whether a “hawkish pause” is under way.

Perhaps the most important will be how the Fed handles changes to its closely watched “dot plot.” A modestly higher median dot would send an unmistakable signal to the market that the Fed will continue with its campaign of tightening monetary policy, perhaps to the detriment of the market, said Patrick Saner, head of macro strategy at the Swiss Re Institute.

“If the Fed skips but wanted to avoid the impression of the hiking cycle being done, it would need to include a revision of the dot plot. They could justify that with a more resilient GDP forecast and a higher inflation outlook. So I think it is the dots and then the statement that will be in focus,” Saner said during a phone interview with MarketWatch.

Beyond that, whatever the Fed does or says will likely be viewed through the lens of economic data that is due out next week. In addition to the Tuesday inflation report, a report on May retail sales is due out Thursday, and a on consumer sentiment from the University of Michigan will land on Friday. All these data points could influence investors’ impressions of the state of the U.S. economy, and their expectations for how the Fed will behave as a result.

See also: Puzzled by the ebb and flow of recession worries? Then the MarketWatch weekly recession worry gauge is for you.

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June 11, 2023
Local law enforcement, business leaders talk marijuana legalization | News – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

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All of the effects of the complex 320-page law legalizing marijuana in Minnesota will likely take years to be felt.

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Marijuana plants grow at LifeLine Labs in Cottage Grove. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File)

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June 9, 2023
Apple’s new Vision Pro headset will cost $3,499, arrive in 2024

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Apple Inc. officially showed off its mixed-reality headset Monday, with the new Vision Pro device supporting 3-D content and featuring a price tag of $3,499.

The Vision Pro, Apple’s
AAPL,
-0.76%
first major new product category in eight years, will be available early next year and feature the ability for users to control the device with their hands, eyes and voice, a distinguishing feature of the headset in the current market. Chief Executive Tim Cook previewed the widely anticipated device during the keynote address of Apple’s WWDC developer event Monday.

See also: Here are all the new software features coming to Apple’s iPhone this year

Apple had been rumored for years to be developing a mixed-reality headset, which merges immersive augmented reality with real-life surroundings. Cook has long been excited about AR technology, and Monday’s event gave a sense for how he sees the theme playing into the business going forward as he announced WWDC’s “one more thing.”

“It’s the first Apple product you look through and not at,” he said, adding that Vision Pro represents “spatial computing” and brings “a new dimension to powerful personal technology.”

Users will be “no longer limited by a display,” Cook claimed.

See also: Apple CEO Tim Cook explains why consumers would want a mixed-reality headset

One key feature of the Vision Pro is the ability to see apps overlaid across real-world surroundings. Users will be able to determine how immersed they want to be by tweaking settings on a digital crown.

The device will also allow users to rely only on their eyes, hands and voice to control content. Users can flick to scroll through options and tap their fingers together to select something with gestures that Apple says are subtle. Apple showed off how users will be able to arrange apps like FaceTime and Safari and then turn to the side to switch from one app to another. Their eyes will still be visible to people engaging with them in the real world.

The company highlighted panoramic photos and noted that users will be able to capture “spatial” 3-D videos and photos using the headset. Apple teased that people would be able to make the surroundings of a plane disappear if they opted to watch 3-D video while flying.

Robert Iger, Walt Disney Co.’s
DIS,
+0.25%
CEO, appeared onstage to call the launch a “momentous event” that could help make Disney’s vision “a reality” through the advent of deeply immersive and personal stories. The Disney+ app will be available “on day one” through Vision Pro.

Apple explained that users can either plug the Vision Pro in or use an external battery that will provide roughly two hours of use. The display has “more panels than a 4K TV for each eye.” The Vision Pro relies on Apple’s custom processing, including a new R1 chip that the company says helps reduce latency issues, which have plagued other devices.

Users will be able to set up digital personas as part of the new visionOS operating system for the device.

With the Vision Pro, Apple is wading into a market for augmented- and virtual-reality devices that has been underwhelming thus far as products from Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
-0.45%
and others have failed to pick up meaningful traction with consumers. VR devices dominate the market, according to third-party data from IDC, but overall shipments plunged more than 50% in the latest quarter amid economic pressures and a general cooling of interest.

Read: Apple debuts new 15-inch MacBook Air for $1,299, adds new Mac Pro and Studio PCs

While Apple is sitting on a number of multibillion-dollar businesses now, the company’s current big moneymakers weren’t seen as slam dunks when they launched. Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani noted that critics dinged the early iPhone for a lack of third-party apps and keyboard and pointed to fading interest in watch-wearing more generally at the time the Apple Watch debuted.

Whether Apple can succeed again in making a once-questioned product category mainstream remains to be seen with the Vision Pro. The company could sell over 10 million units in the first five years, according to Daryanani, but that would make the device Apple’s slowest to ramp in the 21st century.

See more: Apple could be cooking up 3 more $10 billion-plus businesses, one analyst says

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June 5, 2023
Boycotts hit stocks hard. Here’s what might be next for Bud, Target and others caught in the anti-Pride backlash

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Pride Month merchandise is displayed at a Target store on May 31, 2023 in San Francisco, California.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Even before Pride month was underway, it seems as if it was open season on companies celebrating the LGBTQ community.

One by one, companies have come under an expanding attack. Anheuser-Busch, Target, Kohl’s and VF Corp.’s North Face brand have all felt the vitriol of this latest push from the right. And the list keeps growing. These companies have been branded as “woke capitalists” — and worse — as critics urged boycotts of these companies’ products. Bud Light came into the crosshairs after it struck a partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, while North Face received backlash for an ad featuring drag queen Pattie Gonia. Target and Kohl’s have been criticized for Pride-themed clothing.

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While it’s too early to say how successful these efforts will be in lowering sales at the companies recently drawn into this attack, damage has been done to the stocks already. And some on Wall Street expect that to continue with analysts recently downgrading Target’s and Anheuser-Bush’s ratings, citing in part the ongoing controversy.

“The main reason boycotts generally are effective is because they threaten the reputation of the company by putting the company in a negative media spotlight, and companies don’t want to have negative attention of any kind drawn to them,” said Brayden King, a professor of management and organizations, who has studied how boycotts impact company stock prices, in an interview.

King’s research focused on 133 separate boycotts launched between 1990 and 2005, in a study that was published in 2011. About a quarter of the 177 companies targeted by these actions offered a concession to protestors.

“They often concede to boycotter’s demands, not because they feel that there’s sales pressure on them, but rather because they don’t want to continue to be a target of negative media attention,” he said.

King’s research found that the stock of a company will fall about 1% each day of national print media coverage. But once the issue falls out of the daily news cycle, the stock generally recovers.

Why Bud Light is an outlier

King sees Anheuser-Busch’s situation as an outlier because the controversy has harmed its sales. The company has been under fire for more than two months. Over that time, its stock is down more than 18%.

Anheuser-Busch InBev shares hit a 52-week high of $67.09 on March 31.

“With 7 weeks of data, the consumer backlash at Bud Light seems quite durable,” said Cowen analyst Vivien Azer, in a research note Friday. “This is not a surprise to us, given how violent the responses were to Bud Light on social media. Indeed, in each of the last five weeks, we have seen Miller Lite and Coors Light gain over 200 bps of market share from Bud Light (where market share fell 390 bps most recently).”

Cowen’s consumer research suggests Molson Coors will be able to maintain the market share it’s gaining.

“Relative to Miller Lite and Coors Light, the Bud Light brand seems to skew to white consumers, men, younger consumers and lower-income consumers. The income bias toward Bud Light, we believe, is a key factor in driving the durable market share gains to TAP,” Azer explained.

Molson Coors shares are up 24% over the past two months, as analysts have spotlighted the market share gains it’s making.

Bud Light has tried to win back customers with a $15 off rebate program on Budweiser, Bud Light, Bud Select and Bud Select 55. While shoppers will need to put out money for the purchases on the front end, once the rebate is processed, the product is essentially free, according to Azer.

Will this be enough to soothe angry consumers? She’s unconvinced.

“Recall there were consumers that were happy to destroy beer they had already purchased,” she said.

Budweiser beer in the brewery section at a Walmart Supercenter on March 02, 2023 in Austin, Texas.

Brandon Bell | Getty Images

There are several factors contributing to the impact the Bud Light boycott is having on sales that are specific to the beer category, according to King. He said, the first is that a bar, restaurant or music venue could remove the product, which takes the decision away from consumer. Then, there is the social nature of drinking.

“When you’re purchasing something in private, there’s nobody looking over your shoulder to hold you accountable,” King said. However, beer may be purchased to drink with friends so there could be more social pressure, he said.

Companies on edge

The situation with Bud Light may have put companies more on edge. Target has carried Pride month apparel for years, but when confronted with pushback this year, the retailer moved product in some stores to other areas or removed it all together, citing concerns for worker safety. But this decision also carries a risk. Target could wind up offending both sides of the issue.

“The fact that a small group of extremists are threatening disgusting and harsh violence in response to Target continuing its long-standing tradition of offering products for everyone should be a wake-up call for consumers and is a reminder that LGBTQ people, venues, and events are being attacked with threats and violence like never before,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, a LGBTQ media advocacy group, in a written statement.

The group has pushed for Target to put the Pride merchandise back on the sales floor and online, and do what it can to protect workers in the stores. Target has also received bomb threats from those claiming to support the LGBT community, who wanted the merchandise retured to the store, according to media reports.

Target’s stock hit a 52-week low on Thursday.

Target’s stock has fallen about 10% since news broke on May 24. But shares were already trending lower after the retailer’s earnings report showed weakness in parts of its business.

Meanwhile, both VF Corp. and Kohl’s shares seemed to be bouncing back on Friday. After recovering some lost ground, the North Face parent is down about 9% since it launched its “Summer of Pride” ad on May 23. Kohl’s shares rose nearly 12% on Friday, recouping nearly all of the ground it lost. But the stock sank as low as $17.89 on Thursday, its lowest level since May 22, 2020.

VF Corp. shares traded as low as $16.77 on Thursday.

Target’s stock sank to a 52-week low of $126.75 on Thursday, following a downgrade by JPMorgan to neutral. While analyst Christopher Horvers cited a weakening consumer as the primary reason that he expects tougher times ahead for the discount retailer, the recent controversies were mentioned as a factor in the decision. Horvers slashed his price target to $144 from $182.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo analyst Edward Kelly said the recent pullback in the stock’s price might have been seen as a buying opportunity prior to this issue.

“The current stock price could have been a good entry point, but it’s hard to step in front of the current uncertainty,” Kelly wrote in a research note Thursday.

Kelly said that he has seen “early evidence of some near-term financial impact.” Among the factors he cited was Placer.ai data that showed foot traffic at Target stores was soft in the week ended May 28.

“Traffic has been a key bright spot for TGT as it struggled with margin issues, and a slowdown would be negative. It remains to be seen how long any impact would last,” Kelly said.

Issues give brands ‘powerful gravitational pull’

Even with the risk, companies will continue to tie brands to social issues because it fosters a deeper relationship with customers.

“If you build your argument to consumers only on the stuff, only on the features, only the functional utility of what it is that you do, then competitors can come in and offer that, just a copy of that, and claim that they have a better mousetrap,” said Americus Reed, a professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania, in an interview Wednesday on CNBC’s “Power Lunch.”

Kohl’s shares on Thursday hit a low of $17.89, the stock’s lowest level since May 22, 2020, when it traded as low as $17.19.

“So a bit of … why it is so attractive to align with purpose and these sorts of issues is that … it gives you an opportunity to link more deeply with consumers,” Reed said. Even though it can go awry, the upside can be powerful because the connection “has powerful gravitational pull,” he said.

In fact, those strong relationships are usually why boycotts fail to hurt a company’s sales longer term, according to King. He said research has shown that for every consumer that stops buying a product another shopper will begin a “buycott” by purchasing items to show their support for the opposite side of the issue.

Still, with threats coming from both sides of the issue, and stocks suffering sharp selloffs, companies may proceed a bit more cautiously.

“They may internally continue to embrace those values as important to their culture and identity, but externally they may be more risk adverse in terms of how they communicate those values,” King said.

—CNBC’s Christopher Hayes contributed to this report.

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June 3, 2023
Elon Musk and Twitter face growing brand-safety concerns after execs depart

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Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, speaks with CNBC on May 16th, 2023.

David A. Grogan | CNBC

The sudden departure of Twitter executives tasked with content moderation and brand safety has left the company more vulnerable than ever to hate speech.

On Thursday, Twitter’s vice president of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, resigned from the company. Following Irwin’s departure, the company’s head of brand safety and ad quality, A.J. Brown, reportedly left, as did Maie Aiyed, a program manager who worked on brand-safety partnerships.

It’s been just over seven months since Elon Musk closed his $44 billion purchase of Twitter, an investment that has so far been a giant money loser. Musk has dramatically downsized the company’s workforce and rolled back policies that restricted what kinds of content could circulate. In response, numerous brands suspended or decreased their advertising spending, as several civil rights groups have documented.

Twitter, under Musk, is the fourth most-hated brand in the U.S., according to the 2023 Axios Harris reputation rankings.

The controversy surrounding Musk’s control of Twitter continues to build.

This week, Musk said that it’s not against Twitter’s terms of service to misgender trans people on the platform. He said doing so is merely “rude” but not illegal.” LGBTQ+ advocates and researchers dispute his position, claiming it invites bullying of trans people. On Friday, Musk encouraged his 141.8 million followers to watch a video, posted to Twitter, that was deemed transphobic by these groups.

Numerous LGBTQ organizations expressed dismay to NBC News over Musk’s decision, saying the company’s new policies will lead to an uptick in anti-trans hate speech and online abuse.

Although Musk recently hired former NBC Universal global advertising chief Linda Yaccarino to succeed him as CEO, it’s unclear how the new boss will assuage advertisers’ concerns regarding racist, antisemitic, transphobic and homophobic content in light of the recent departures and Musk’s ongoing role as majority owner and technology chief.

Even before the latest high-profile exits, Musk had been reducing the number of workers tasked with safety and content moderation as part of the company’s widespread layoffs. He eliminated the entire artificial intelligence ethics team, which was responsible for ensuring that harmful content wasn’t being algorithmically recommended to users.

Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has recently played down concerns about the prevalence of hate speech on Twitter. He claimed during a Wall Street Journal event that since he took over the company in October, hate speech on the platform has declined, and that Twitter has slashed “spam, scams and bots” by “at least 90%.”

Experts and ad industry insiders told CNBC that there’s no evidence to support those claims. Some say Twitter is actively impeding independent researchers who are attempting to track such metrics.

Twitter didn’t provide a comment for this story.

The state of hate speech on Twitter

In a paper published in April that will be presented at the upcoming International Conference on Web and Social Media in Cyprus, researchers from Oregon State, University of Southern California and other institutions showed that hate speech has increased since Musk bought Twitter.

The authors wrote that the accounts known for posts containing hateful content and slurs targeting Blacks, Asians, LGTBQ groups and others increased such tweeting “dramatically following Musk’s takeover” and do not show signs of slowing down. They found that Twitter hasn’t made progress on bots, which have remained as prevalent and active on the social media platform as they were prior to Musk’s tenure.

Musk previously indicated that Twitter’s recommendation algorithms surface less offensive content to people who don’t want to see it.

Keith Burghardt, one of the authors of the paper and a computer scientist at the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute, told CNBC that the deluge of hate speech and other explicit content correlates to the reduction of people working on trust and safety issues and the relaxed content-moderation policies.

Musk also said at the WSJ event that “most advertisers” had come back to Twitter.

Louis Jones, a longtime media and advertising executive who now works at the Brand Safety Institute, said it’s not clear how many advertisers have resumed spending but that “many advertisers remain on pause, as Twitter has limited reach compared to some other platforms.”

Jones said many advertisers are waiting to see how levels of “toxicity” and hate speech on Twitter change as the site appears to slant toward more right-wing users and as the U.S. election season draws near. He said one big challenge for brands is that Musk and Twitter haven’t made clear what they count in their measurements assessing hate speech, spam, scams and bots.

Researchers are calling on the billionaire Twitter owner to provide data to back up his recent claims.

“More data is critical to really understand whether there is a continuous decrease in either hate speech or bots,” Burghardt said. “That again emphasizes the need for greater transparency and for academics to have freely available data.”

Show us the data

Getting that data is becoming harder.

Twitter recently started charging companies for access to its application programing interface (API), which allows them to incorporate and analyze Twitter data. The lowest-paid tier costs $42,000 for 50 million tweets.

Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate nonprofit, said that because researchers now have “to pay a fortune” to access the API, they’re having to rely on other potential routes to the data.

“Twitter under Elon Musk has been more opaque,” Ahmed said.

He added that Twitter’s search function is less effective than in the past and that view counts, as seen on certain tweets, can suddenly change, making them unstable to use.

“We no longer have any confidence in the accuracy of the data,” Ahmed said.

The CCDH analyzed a series of tweets from the beginning of 2022 through Feb. 28, 2023. It released a report in March analyzing over 1.7 million tweets collected using a data-scraping tool and Twitter’s search function and discovered that tweets mentioning the grooming narrative have risen 119% since Musk took over.

That refers to “the false and hateful lie” that the LGBTQ+ community grooms children, according to the report. The CCDH report found that a small number of popular Twitter accounts like Libs of TikTok and Gays Against Groomers have been driving the “hateful ‘grooming’ narrative online.”

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish human rights group, continues to find antisemitic posts on Twitter. The group recently conducted its 2023 study of digital terrorism and hate on social platforms and graded Twitter a D-, putting it on par with Russia’s VK as the worst in the world for large social networks.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and director of global social action agenda at the center, called on Musk to meet with him to discuss the rise of hate speech on Twitter. He said he has yet to receive a response.

“They need to look at it seriously,” Cooper said. If they don’t, he said, lawmakers are going to be called upon to “do something about it.”

WATCH: Elon Musk’s visit to China

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June 2, 2023
Twitter trust and safety chief Ella Irwin resigns

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SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk meets with France’s President Emmanuel Macron (L) at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris on May 15, 2023.

Ludovic Marin | Afp | Getty Images

Twitter’s head of trust and safety Ella Irwin resigned from her role at the Elon Musk-owned social media platform.

Irwin, who confirmed her resignation to Reuters on Thursday, served for roughly seven months and declined to provide a reason for her decision.

Irwin ran the Twitter team that fought disinformation, removed offensive content, and helped maintain Twitter’s platform integrity. But Twitter has experienced significant challenges in stemming offensive content under Irwin’s tenure and since Musk began serving as CEO

Musk had previously said, for example. that fighting child sex abuse material, or CSAM, was “Priority #1” for the platform. Reporting from NBC News and CNBC in January found that illegal content was still freely circulating on the platform.

Irwin’s departure comes at a turbulent time for the social media network, which was grappling with the dissemination of a conservative website’s purported documentary on transgender people. The video was uploaded to Twitter’s platform on Thursday but was “visibility limited,” preventing users from retweeting or commenting on it.

On Friday, Musk shared the video after the visibility restrictions were apparently lifted.

Twitter’s trust and safety team — the unit that Irwin ran until earlier this week — would have had responsibility for limiting the spread of the post. Irwin’s predecessor, Yoel Roth, quit just two weeks into Musk’s ownership.

Musk, who has owned Twitter since October 2022 and has described himself as a champion of free speech, called the tagging a “mistake,” but as of Friday, had not lifted the visibility limitations. The dissemination of explicit, violent, or hateful content on social media networks has been of significant concern to lawmakers, regulators, advocacy groups and the public.

Concern over undesirable content, including racially or sexually offensive material, sparked an advertiser flight shortly after Musk acquired Twitter. He’s taken steps since then to stem the tide and court advertisers, including the hiring of former NBCUniversal ad executive Linda Yaccarino as CEO.

Neither Irwin nor Musk returned a request for comment. Twitter’s press email provided an automated, non-informational response.

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June 2, 2023
How to Not Annoy Users With Your Pop-Up Ads | Entrepreneur

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

If you’re a marketer, advertiser or any other related position, pop-ups are one of the many tools at your disposal. They can be very effective at generating conversions and leads by prompting users to take action like signing up for a newsletter or using a coupon code to make a purchase.

Today, websites can have many different types of pop-ups and banners, from cookie notifications to first-time visitor pop-ups to exit intent pop-ups. Despite their value for lead generation, pop-ups can be problematic from a user experience perspective, and using pop-ups incorrectly can actually drive users away. How you execute these pop-ups can mean the difference between users converting or quitting the site entirely. The challenge is to find the right balance to achieve your goals without annoying your users.

Knowing what kind of pop-ups to use, as well as how to use them effectively, will keep your users happy. Here are a few things to know about strong pop-ups, as well as some options you can consider when working on your next pop-up strategy.

Related: 7 Ways Pop-Up Ads Can Bolster Your Sales

Pop-ups are good at what they do

When done correctly, pop-ups are powerful converters. Data from one million live Duda sites shows that, on average, sites that used pop-ups saw a conversion rate four times higher than sites that didn’t use them. Sites without pop-ups saw a 3.7% conversion rate, whereas sites with pop-ups had a 16% conversion rate.

Knowing what type of pop-up you need will also keep users satisfied. There are pop-ups for marketing purposes, and then there are pop-ups for compliance needs. For marketing, 8.4% of our live sites leverage pop-ups for marketing offers or to deliver timely information. These pop-ups drive top-level conversion growth, and they typically offer a discount or encourage users to fill out a form.

There are also required pop-ups, such as cookie policies for GDPR compliance. Duda data shows that out of one million live sites, 25% use GDPR-related pop-ups.

Keep user goals in mind

To create an effective pop-up strategy, you need to ask yourself a few questions. What are your goals, and what kinds of pop-ups accomplish those goals? Additionally, what problems can your pop-ups solve for your users?

The most effective pop-ups are those that keep the user’s needs at the forefront and deliver value that is worth their while. To accomplish this, you need to first understand what your users are looking for and then serve them a pop-up that delivers a clear and compelling solution to that need. We consistently see websites that leverage pop-ups get higher conversion rates, sometimes 3-5 times higher, when using a pop-up instead of other methods, like banners, on a web page.

Be considerate of timing

No one wants to be approached the second they walk into a shop before they’ve had the chance to even look around. The same is true for your pop-ups. Not only are immediate pop-ups bad for your Google search rankings, but they’re also the type of pop-ups users are likely to find the most aggravating. A better practice would be to time pop-ups either as a user is leaving or time it so they’ll close automatically after a few seconds.

Related: User Experience Is the Most Important Metric You Aren’t Measuring

Use accessibility best practices

It may go without saying, but you should make sure your pop-ups are accessible and easy to read. Do they have a strong visual focus? If they take up a portion of the page, is it visually distinct from the rest of the page? Do they have clear CTAs? Is it obvious what the user is being asked to do?

Common accessibility issues include tab loops, missing labels, tab focus and keyboard support. According to Duda’s data, these issues represented 8-10% of the total issues detected during typical audits. Clearing up these issues will go a long way toward making your pop-ups more successful. Additionally, any third-party content that appears within an inline frame as part of the pop-up could introduce inaccessible content that would be difficult to correct.

Despite their negative connotations at times, pop-ups are very effective at driving top-level conversions and generating leads. If you’re a marketer or agency professional, they’re an important part of your strategy. But there is a right way to do them that doesn’t wear out your user’s trackpad trying to find the “X.”

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Itai Sadan

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May 29, 2023
Nvidia barrels toward rare $1 trillion valuation after putting a dollar figure on AI boost

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Nvidia Corp. headed toward market-capitalization gains of nearly $200 billion in after-hours trading Wednesday, which could put the chip maker within sight of becoming only the seventh U.S. company to top a valuation of $1 trillion.

Nvidia shares
NVDA,
-0.49%
jumped 25% in the extended session Wednesday, after executives predicted that revenue would exceed the company’s record by more than 30% in the current quarter. The audacious forecast arrived as tech companies look to jump on advances in artificial intelligence that are largely powered by Nvidia’s computing gear.

Nvidia ended Wednesday’s session with a market cap — the total value of all shares in existence — of roughly $754.3 billion, according to FactSet. A 25% increase would add nearly $189 billion to that total, putting the company within striking distance of $1 trillion. Only six U.S. companies have ever attained a $1 trillion market cap: Apple Inc.
AAPL,
+0.16%
and Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
-0.45%
are currently worth more than $2 trillion apiece; Google parent Alphabet Inc.
GOOGL,
-1.35%
and Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
+1.53%
have valuation of more than $1 trillion; and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.
META,
+1.00%
and Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
-1.54%
have both touched the $1 trillion plateau previously.

For more: From U.S. Steel’s $1 billion market cap to Apple’s $1 trillion — a brief history of valuation milestones

Nvidia’s market cap was ahead of both Meta and Tesla as of Wednesday’s close, with both worth less than $650 billion, showing the potential fleeting nature of such a valuation. Nvidia’s record market cap is $834.4 billion, established on Nov. 29. 2021, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

If Nvidia’s gains hold through Thursday’s trading session, the company could challenge for the largest one-day market-cap gain in history. The biggest currently on record was Amazon’s $191.2 billion increase on Feb. 4, 2022, according to Dow Jones Market Data, followed closely by a $190.9 billion gain by Apple on Nov. 10, 2022. Nvidia also stands to gain more than rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
AMD,
+0.14%
is worth in total — AMD ended Wednesday’s session with a market cap of $174.4 billion.

Nvidia is closing in on the rare $1 trillion plateau because of huge gains in its stock this year, as hopes and hype about generative AI have flooded the tech sector. After OpenAI debuted its ChatGPT AI offering, and investor Microsoft quickly integrated the chatbot into many of its services, expectations for the technology have exploded.

Despite the hype, most companies have avoided providing hard figures for revenue gains expected from AI. Nvidia’s fiscal second-quarter forecast — which calls for roughly $11 billion in sales, nearly 33% higher than Nvidia’s previous quarterly record of $8.28 billion — could be seen as the first sign of a wave of fresh spending coursing through the tech sector.

Other companies have indicated that they will be forced to spend to develop their technology before reaping large financial rewards from it. Microsoft, for example, disclosed to investors last month that capital expenditures are increasing as it builds AI capabilities into its Azure cloud-computing platform — spending that is largely going toward Nvidia.

Full earnings coverage: Nvidia stock soars toward all-time high as AI push leads executives to predict record revenue

That is a rather typical path for large jumps in tech spending: Companies that make the necessary hardware see gains before the companies that use that gear can develop offerings that take advantage of it. Other gear makers joined Nvidia in the sharp move higher in after-hours trading Wednesday, including AMD, which gained more than 10%; chip maker Marvell Technology Inc.
MRVL,
-1.31%,
which increased more than 5%; and networking specialist Arista Networks Inc.
ANET,
+0.53%,
which added about 5%.

Alphabet and Microsoft stocks both increased around 2% in after-hours trading, and software companies that have made AI a core part of their offerings also saw gains. Palantir Technologies Inc.
PLTR,
-3.24%
and C3.ai Inc.
AI,
+2.54%
shares both increased more than 8%, for example.

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May 24, 2023
Meta begins third round of layoffs: reports

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Meta Platforms Inc. has started to execute on its latest round of layoffs, according to reports.

The third round of cuts is part of a plan that Meta
META,
+3.70%
Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced in March in an effort to further slash costs at the social-media company. He said at the time that Meta would lay off about 10,000 workers while closing roughly 5,000 additional roles for which the company had yet to make hires.

The current rounds of cuts build on at least 11,000 layoffs that were announced last fall.

See more: Meta steadily rolls out 3-part round of layoffs

CNBC reported Wednesday that Meta employees in user experience, marketing and recruiting roles indicated they were affected by the current round of cuts.

Zuckerberg said in a March note to employees, which was also shared as a company blog post, that the company planned to make restructuring moves in its technology groups in late April before making changes to the business groups in late May.

Reuters reported that the latest layoffs mainly affect employees in non-engineering positions, part of Zuckerberg’s goal of boosting the ratio of engineers at Meta relative to other positions.

Don’t miss: Meta’s ‘outstanding’ stock rally can keep roaring, analyst says in upgrade

Meta declined to comment in response to a MarketWatch request for confirmation of the latest layoffs.

The company is in the midst of what Zuckerberg has dubbed a “year of efficiency,” which comes in response to investor concern last fall about high spending levels at the company alongside the backdrop of declining revenue. Meta has since become arguably the most aggressive of the largest public technology companies in its cost-cutting efforts.

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May 24, 2023
‘Taco Tuesday’ is for everyone, argues Taco Bell. Taco John’s says it owns the trademark to the phrase.

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CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Declaring a mission to liberate “Taco Tuesday” for all, Taco Bell is asking U.S. regulators to force Wyoming-based Taco John’s to abandon its longstanding claim to the trademark.

Too many businesses and others refer to “Taco Tuesday” for Taco John’s to be able to have exclusive rights to the phrase, Taco Bell asserts in a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office filing that is, of course, dated Tuesday.

It’s the latest development in a long-running beef over “Taco Tuesday” that even included NBA star LeBron James making an unsuccessful attempt to claim the trademark in 2019.

“Taco Bell believes ‘Taco Tuesday’ is critical to everyone’s Tuesday. To deprive anyone of saying ‘Taco Tuesday’ — be it Taco Bell or anyone who provides tacos to the world — is like depriving the world of sunshine itself,” the Taco Bell filing reads.

A key question is whether “Taco Tuesday” over the years has succumbed to “genericide,” New York trademark lawyer Emily Poler said. That’s the term for when a word or phrase become so widely used for similar products — or in this case, sales promotions — they’re no longer associated with the trademark holder.

Well-known examples of genericide victims include “cellophane,” “escalator” and “trampoline.”

“Basically what this is about is you cannot trademark something that is ‘generic,’ ” Poler said. “That means it doesn’t have any association with that particular source or product.”

Basketball legend James — a well-known taco lover — encountered this problem when he tried to trademark “Taco Tuesday” in 2019. The Patent and Trademark Office, in a ruling that didn’t refer to Taco John’s, deemed “Taco Tuesday” too much of a “commonplace term” to qualify as a trademark.

With more than 7,200 locations in the U.S. and internationally, Taco Bell — a Yum Brands
YUM,
-2.45%
chain along with Pizza Hut, KFC and the Habit Burger Grill — is vastly bigger than Cheyenne-based Taco John’s. Begun as a food truck more than 50 years ago, Taco John’s now has about 370 locations in 23 mainly in western and midwestern states.

The chain’s size hasn’t discouraged big-time enforcement of “Taco Tuesday” as trademark, which dates to the 1980s. In 2019, the company sent a letter to a brewery just five blocks from its corporate headquarters, warning it to stop using “Taco Tuesday” to promote a taco truck parked outside on Tuesdays.

Actively defending a trademark is required to maintain claim to it, and the letter was just one example of Taco John’s telling restaurants far and wide to stop having “Taco Tuesdays.”

Taco John’s responded to Taco Bell’s filing by announcing a new two-week Taco Tuesday promotion, with a large side of riposte.

Press release: Ring the Bell! Every Day is Taco Tuesday® at Taco John’s

“I’d like to thank our worthy competitors at Taco Bell for reminding everyone that Taco Tuesday is best celebrated at Taco John’s,” CEO Jim Creel said in an emailed statement. “We love celebrating Taco Tuesday with taco lovers everywhere, and we even want to offer a special invitation to fans of Taco Bell to liberate themselves by coming by to see how flavorful and bold tacos can be at Taco John’s all month long.”

The filing is one of two from Taco Bell involving “Taco Tuesday.” One contests Taco John’s claim to “Taco Tuesday” in 49 states, while a similar filing contests a New Jersey restaurant and bar’s claim to “Taco Tuesday” in that state. Both Taco John’s and Gregory’s Restaurant and Bar in Somers Point, N.J., have been using “Taco Tuesday” for over 40 years.

A Taco John’s franchisee in Minnesota first came up with “Taco Twosday” to promote two tacos for 99 cents on a slow day of the week, Creel told the Associated Press in a recent interview.

The Patent and Trademark Office approved the Taco John’s “Taco Tuesday” trademark in 1989. Even with its many letters, Creel said, the company — established in 1969 in Cheyenne, Wyo. — has never had to go to court over the phrase.

He’s not feeling too picked on, either, by the much bigger Taco Bell. “It’s OK. It’s kind of nice that they’ve noticed,” Creel said.

From the archives (January 2022): Taco Bell takes taco subscription program nationwide

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May 23, 2023
Kite surfing, ice baths and 8-mile morning runs: How some CEOs stay in shape

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What is it about CEOs and their intense — and often oddball — workout routines?

These days, some top corporate honchos take their exercise rituals to extremes. Consider Damola Adamolekun, chief executive officer of restaurant chain P.F. Chang’s, who recently told Fortune magazine that he wakes up each day at 4:30 a.m. and runs seven to eight miles. He explained that the routine stimulates his nervous system and sets the tone for the day ahead. “You’ll feel better the whole day; you’ll be smarter, you’ll be sharper, you’ll be more energetic,” he said.

Adamolekun is in good company when it comes to training hard. Here are how five other executives work up a sweat and aim to stay healthy.

Jack Dorsey, head of Block and co-founder of Twitter, walks an hour and 15 minutes every day.

AFP via Getty Images

Jack Dorsey

The Twitter co-founder, who now heads the tech conglomerate Block
SQ,
+3.36%,
does it all: two-hour meditations, fasting — he has said he eats only once a day during the week and has almost no food on the weekends — and alternating saunas and ice baths. But he’s no gym rat: Dorsey gets his primary exercise by walking an hour and 15 minutes every day. “I might look a little bit more like I’m jogging than I’m walking. It’s refreshing … It’s just this one of those take-back moments where you’re like, ‘Wow, I’m alive!’” he once observed.

Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg takes his dog for frequent runs — good exercise for both him and his pooch.

Getty Images

Mark Zuckerberg

The Meta Platforms
META,
+1.09%
chief isn’t one to get up at the crack of dawn, according to GQ, but he still runs three mornings a week. “I also try to take my dog running whenever I can, which has the added bonus of being hilarious because that’s basically like seeing a mop run,” he told GQ. As for diet, he once was said to experiment with an eating plan that involved only devouring animals he had killed himself — including chickens, goats and pigs. But he also apparently skips meals — or at least he said as much in a 2021 Facebook post. “Do you ever get so excited about what you’re working on that you forget to eat meals?” he asked.

Richard Branson takes off on another kite-surfing adventure.

Getty Images

Richard Branson

Kite surfing, anyone? The founder of the Virgin Group swears by it as one of his favorite ways to stay fit, according to Men’s Health. He once even kite surfed across the English Channel. His other activities include tennis and biking. He’ll work with a trainer if he’s on the road, but otherwise he likes to exercise outdoors on his private island in the British Virgin Islands. “I just want to be sure that when I’m 150, my body still looks as good as it is today,” said Branson, who is now 72.

Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp works out by cross-country skiing — and says the key is to take it as slowly as possible to build your “cardio base.”

Getty Images

Alex Karp

The head of software company Palantir Technologies takes advantage of the fact that he lives near the White Mountains of New Hampshire to have a regular cross-country skiing routine. Key to his approach, he told Axios, is taking it slow on the snow. “To run like a deer, you have to spend 90% of your time running like a snail,” he explained, adding that his unhurried pace “builds a cardio base.” He also includes tai chi and stretching to his routine. But he isn’t too fussy about his diet. “If I’m traveling and someone has a really nice Danish, I enjoy every minute of eating it,” he said.

Martha Stewart is one of the cover models for Sport Illustrated’s new swimsuit issue.

Sports Illustrated

Martha Stewart

The 81-year-old lifestyle entrepreneur and founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has been in the spotlight for her recent cover appearance on Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue. So what does she do to stay in shape for beach season? Stewart swears by Pilates, according to various media reports. And she rides horses. She has also said she doesn’t smoke, eats very well and every morning drinks a glass of “green juice” made with pears, cucumbers, celery stalks, parsley, fresh ginger and two oranges (complete with peels), a recipe she calls “so spectacular.”

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May 22, 2023