Remote and hybrid work have become defining features of the postpandemic economy.
While most employees seem to love it, the initial optimistic assessment during the pandemic that remote work was a success has given way to a more-sobering reality for many organizations: Performance, collaboration, innovation and workplace culture are taking a measurable hit.
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TANGLEY, England—Steve Schwarzman once said his business philosophy was to seek war. The Wall Street billionaire may have met his match in the chalk hills of southern England.
One morning in early September, refrigeration consultant Lawrence Leask woke before 3 a.m., got into his car in pajamas and slippers and waited. It wasn’t long before he spotted his quarry, a water tanker passing through this rural parish. Leask tailed it to the town of Andover to learn where it would eventually unload thousands of gallons of water.
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Walmart’s CEO issued an AI wake-up call, saying the technology will wipe out some jobs and reshape the company’s workforce. Doug McMillon’s remarks—which echo those made by leaders at Ford, JPMorgan Chase and Amazon—reflect a rapid shift in how executives discuss the potential human cost of AI.
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Should you pass on that morning bowl of cereal or oatmeal?
Thatâs what some people may be asking in light of a study released this week by the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit focused on agricultural and chemical-safety laws in the U.S. The study looked at the prevalence of a pesticide called chlormequat in oat-based food products, including cereals like Cheerios and Quaker Oats.Â
The EWG said it found detectable levels of the chemical in 92% of nonorganic oat-based foods purchased in May 2023.
âStudies in laboratory animals show that chlormequat can cause harm to the normal growth and development of the fetus and damage the reproductive system,â Olga Naidenko, vice president at the EWG, told MarketWatch. Those risks, the EWG report noted, can include reduced fertility.Â
It has not been proven that the substance affects humans in the same way the studies cited by the EWG found it does lab animals, and there are other studies that have found chlormequat had no effect on reproduction in pigs or mice, or any impact on fertilization rates in mice.
The EWG is still advocating that concerned consumers buy organic oat products as an alternative, however.Â
âCertified organic oats are, by law, grown without synthetic pesticides,â Naidenko said.Â
Representatives for General Mills
GIS,
the company that makes Cheerios, and PepsiCo
PEP,
which owns Quaker Oats, didnât immediately respond to a request for comment.Â
“âAny family raising kids or thinking about starting a family should do whatever they can do to avoid chlormequat. Itâs not a safe product.â”
The EWGâs recommendation to go organic was echoed by experts that MarketWatch contacted.Â
Charles Benbrook, a scientific consultant based in Washington state who focuses on pesticides, said heâs an oatmeal eater who chooses organic oatmeal âwhen I can get it.â
Regarding chlormequat, Benbrook said, âItâs not a safe product.â
âAny family raising kids or thinking about starting a family should do whatever they can do to avoid chlormequat,â he said.
Melissa Furlong, an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Arizona, said itâs important to note that chlormequat is not the only pesticide that is found in oat-based cereals. Thereâs still much we need to learn about the health effects the substance might have on humans, she added.
âThatâs not to say it isnât the worst [pesticide]. We donât really know,â Furlong said.Â
Chlormequat has not been approved for use on food crops grown in the U.S., according to the EWG, but it can be found in oats and oat products from other countries. Under the Trump administration, the Environmental Protection Agency started allowing imports of such products into the U.S., the EWG noted, which is why chlormequat can be found in some cereals sold in this country.
The EPA is considering approving chlormequat for use on crops grown in the U.S., according to the agencyâs website. In a call for public comment on its proposed decision, the agency said, âBased on EPAâs human health risk assessment, there are no dietary, residential, or aggregate (i.e., combined dietary and residential exposures) risks of concern.â
The EPA didnât respond immediately to a request for comment.
For her part, Furlong said that while she usually buys organic oat products, she isnât rigid about it â and she might still buy the occasional box of Cheerios.
Etsy Inc., once known as a quirky marketplace for handmade, artisanal and vintage items, seems to be moving further away from its origins amid a much tougher e-commerce landscape and the impact of AI.
Etsy
ETSY,
will be marketing to a whole new audience on Sunday, when its first Super Bowl commercial will run. The 30-second ad is quirky; it depicts a generic 19th-century American leader who’s flummoxed over how to reciprocate France’s gift of the Statue of Liberty. With the help of an anachronistic smartphone, he and his team search on Etsy using its new Gift Mode option, and find its “Cheese Lover” category after determining that the French love cheese. Voilà — they decide to send the French some cheese.
The commercial is part of Etsy’s push of a new user interface featuring Gift Mode, which lets shoppers search for gifts for a specific type of person or occasion — combining generative AI and human curation to give gift buyers some unusual options.
But are these moves desperate and costly efforts to try to reach potential new buyers, coming on the heels of Etsy’s plans to lay off 11% of its staff?Or could running a TV ad at the most expensive time of the year actually lead to more sales on the once-fast growing marketplace?
Etsy believes these moves will help the company grow again, and its research shows the average American spends $1,600 a year on gifts. “There is no single market leader and Etsy sees a real opportunity to become the destination for gifting,” Etsy’s Chief Executive Josh Silverman said in a recent blog post.
Etsy is clearly under pressure after seeing its gross merchandise sales more than double in 2020 during the pandemic, when it became a go-to place to buy handmade masks and all kinds of items for the home, from vintage pieces to antiques to castoffs. From personal experience as an Etsy seller, I saw sales at my own small vintage-clothing shop more than double in 2020 and then fall back in 2021, while still remaining higher than in 2019. In the last two years, sales have slowed, and some other sellers have witnessed similar patterns, based on their comments in seller forums.
The number of sellers and buyers on the platform has increased on the same level as gross merchandise sales. But e-commerce competition has also gotten more fierce.
“Our main concern with Etsy is growing competition in the space from new players like Temu,” said Bernstein Research analyst Nikhil Devnani, in an email. Temu and fellow Chinese online retailer Shein have raised a lot of investor jitters, as Etsy’s gross merchandise sales have slipped over the last year and are forecast to fall again in its upcoming fourth-quarter earnings report later this month.
Devnani said a Super Bowl ad could potentially help the marketplace gain visibility, something it has always lacked.
“One dynamic they’ve talked about a lot is that brand awareness/recollection is still low, and this keeps frequency low,” he said, noting that Etsy buyers shop on the site about three times per year, on average. “They want to be more top-of-mind … Super Bowl ads are notoriously expensive of course, but can be impactful/get noticed.”
The company’s big focus on Gift Mode, however, could be a risky strategy. How many times a year do consumers look for gifts? And in a note Devnani wrote in October, before the company’s Gift Mode launch, he said that one of the concerns investors have is that Etsy is too niche. “’How often does someone need something special?’ is the rhetoric we hear most often,” he said. Etsy, then, is counting on buyers returning for other items for themselves.
Etsy CEO Silverman believes buyers will come back again and again to purchase gifts. Naved Khan, a B. Riley Securities analyst, said in a recent note to clients that he believes Gift Mode plays to Etsy’s core strengths, offering “unique goods at reasonable prices” versus the mass-produced products sold on Shein, Temu, Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
and other sites.
Consumer spending has changed, though. At an investor conference in December, Silverman said that consumers are spending on dining out and traveling, instead of buying things.
But while investors still view Etsy as a niche e-commerce site, some buyers and sellers see it overrun with repetitive, non-relevant ads. Complaints about a decline in search capabilities, reliance on email and chat for support, and constant tech changes are common on seller forums and Facebook groups. AI-generated art offered by newer sellers as a side hustle has also become a thought-provoking, debated issue. And there are complaints about mass-produced items making their way on the site.
Etsy said that in addition to its human and automated efforts, it also relies on community flags to help take down infringing products that are not allowed on its marketplace, and that community members should contact the company when if they see mass-produced items for sale on the site.
It also continues to work on search. On its last earnings call, Silverman said the company was moving beyond relevance to the next frontier of search, one “focused on better identifying the quality of each Etsy listing utilizing humans and [machine-learning] technology, so that from a highly relevant result set we bring the very best of Etsy to the top — personalized to what we understand of your tastes and preferences.”
The pressure could build on the company if its latest moves don’t generate growth. Etsy recently gave a seat on its board to a partner at activist investor Elliott Management, which bought a “sizable” stake in the company in the last few months. Marc Steinberg, who is responsible for public and private investments at Elliott, has also has been on the board at Pinterest
PINS,
since December 2022.
Elliott Management did not respond to questions. But in a statement last week, Steinberg said he was joining the board because he “believe[s] there is an opportunity for significant value creation.” Some sellers fear that the pressure from investors and Wall Street will lead to Etsy allowing mass-produced products onto the site. In its fall update, Etsy said the number of listings it removed for violating its handmade policy jumped 112% and that it was further accelerating such actions.
Etsy’s stock before the news of Elliott’s stake was down about 18% this year. Its shares are now off about 3.65% this year, after recently having their best day in seven years on the news that Steinberg joined the board.
Etsy is a unique marketplace that for many years had a much better reputation than some of its rivals, like eBay
EBAY,
But since going public and answering to Wall Street, the need to provide growth and profits for investors has become much more of a driver. The Super Bowl ad and Gift Mode may bring a broader awareness to Etsy, but will it be the right kind of awareness? Sellers like me hope these new efforts will stave off the continuing fight with the likes of Temu and other vendors of mass-produced products, and help Etsy retain the remaining unique aspects of its marketplace.
Former President Donald Trump on Friday criticized Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and said he’s playing politics with interest-rate policy.
“It looks to me like he’s trying to lower interest rates for the sake of maybe getting people elected,” Trump said, in an interview on the Fox Business Network.
“I think he’s political,” added Trump, the likely 2024 Republican nominee for president.
Asked if he would reappoint Powell to a third four-year term, Trump replied “no.”
Trump said he has a couple of choices in mind to replace Powell, but wouldn’t say who.
Trump said he thinks lowering interest rates would lead to massive inflation. The conflict in the Middle East is likely to lead to “big inflation” from a spike in oil prices, he added.
“Trump said he thinks lowering interest rates would lead to massive inflation. The conflict in the Middle East is likely to lead to “big inflation” from a spike in oil prices, he added.”
Powell “is not going to be able to do anything,” Trump said.
On Wednesday, Powell said he wasn’t giving a potential third term any thought. Powell’s current term expires in early 2026.
Speculation on a third term “is not something I’m focused on,” Powell said.
“We’re focused on doing our jobs. This year is going to be a highly consequential year for the Fed and monetary policy. We’re, all of us, very buckled down, focused on doing our jobs,” Powell said.
Analysts say that the Fed will be criticized by both parties in the election year.
On Sunday, Powell will appear on the CBS News program “60 Minutes” and will likely face more questions about the election.
Earlier this week, top Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee urged the Fed to cut rates quickly, saying they were too high and hurting the housing market.
“Keeping interest rates high will be detrimental to American workers and their families and do little to bring down prices or promote moderate economic growth,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, and the chairman of the Banking Committee, in a letter to Powell prior to Wednesday’s Fed meeting.
At the meeting on Wednesday, the Fed kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged in a range of 5.25%-5.5%.
Asked about the letter from the Democrats on Wednesday, Powell said Congress has given the Fed the job of stable prices. High inflation hurts people at the lower end of the income spectrum, he added.
“It’s what society has asked us to do is to get inflation down. The tools we use to do it are interest rates,” he said.
The Fed has penciled in three rate cuts for 2024. Powell said that a cut at the Fed’s next meeting in March was unlikely. He said the Fed wants to see more good inflation reports so it can have greater confidence that inflation is coming down to the 2% target.
Alaska Airlines, United Airlines and Turkish Airlines have all grounded their Boeing 737 Max 9 airplanes after part of one such jet tore away during an Alaska Airlines flight on Friday. But despite the potential safety risks for travelers and further damage to Boeing’s
BA,
reputation, some Wall Street analysts, for now, have downplayed the financial impact for the jet maker.
In part, they pointed to the company’s status as one of two major players in aircraft production — the other being Airbus
EADSY,
They also cited a tighter supply of available aircraft and limited near-term impact, at least while investigators try to figure out the cause of the incident.
Those airlines and others took the action over the weekend after a panel on a jet blew out about 10 minutes into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 at an altitude of about 16,000 feet.
No one died in the incident. But the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the temporary grounding of certain Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft. The order covered 171 planes.
Shares of Boeing fell 8.2% as the stock weighed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA.
Still, some Wall Street analysts on Monday said to buy the stock anyway. They said the latest difficulties with the aircraft — which follow the 2019 grounding of Max jets by many nations following two fatal crashes — were unlikely to have a big near-term financial impact.
BofA analysts, in a research note dated Sunday, said that “at this point in time, due to the duopoly nature of the industry, we do not see this impacting orders for any of the 737 MAX variants. However, if the hits to the program do keep coming … at some point, the flying public may lose confidence in the 737 MAX which could ultimately impact sales.”
The analysts said it wasn’t clear yet whether the blowout on Friday was due to an assembly mistake at Boeing, an improper installation from fuselage maker Spirit AeroSystems or oversight issues elsewhere. But they noted that the aircraft was relatively new, having been delivered on Oct. 31. And they said that “some scrutiny must be saved for regulators as well, as the FAA is ultimately responsible for certificating these aircraft before delivery.”
Spirit AeroSystems’ stock
SPR,
was down 11%.
Analysts at William Blair also said they didn’t expect a big hit to Boeing’s financials.
“While the Alaska Airlines door plug accident was terrifying, we do not believe that it will have a major financial impact, unless another incident occurs after the aircraft returns to service,” they said in a note on Monday.
Analysts there estimated that over the past two months, the Max 9 made up less than one-fifth of Boeing’s total deliveries. They said those deliveries would only be “modestly impacted over the first quarter as it could take some time to determine the cause.”
Of the 23 analyst ratings on Boeing’s stock tracked by FactSet, 18 are buy ratings or the equivalent.
Read more: How Boeing’s latest 737 Max problem is hurting the Dow
However, Morgan Stanley analyst Ravi Shanker said the 737 Max 9 issues will likely disrupt first-quarter results for United Airlines
UAL,
and Alaska Air
ALK,
“This will hopefully be a situation resolved in days/weeks rather than months, but it will also serve as a reminder of how fragile airline capacity can be despite the overhang of capacity,” Shanker said in a Monday research note.
United Airlines’ stock rose 2.4% on Monday, while Alaska Air’s dipped by 0.3%.
Along with United Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Turkish Airlines, Copa Airlines and Aeromexico grounded about 40 Boeing 737 Max 9 planes, according to reports.
According to Deutsche Bank analysts, the affected fleet accounts for 16.1% of Alaska Airlines flights and 6.6% of United flights, although United has more 737 Max 9 aircraft than Alaska.
Other airlines with the plane in their fleet include Jet Airways of India with one plane, Jin Air of Korea with three, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
KLMR,
with five and Korean Air Lines
003490,
with nine, according to Planespotter.net.
European regulators also grounded the 737 Max 9 for inspection.
Some major airlines do not have any 737 Max 9s in their fleets, including American Airlines
AAL,
Southwest Airlines
LUV,
and Air Canada
AC,
according to reports.
Also read: Shares in Boeing slump, supplier Spirit AeroSystems tanks, after panel blows out
Shares of Apple Inc. are starting 2024 with a selloff, after Barclays analyst Tim Long said it was “time for a breather,” citing weak hardware sales as iPhone 15 demand disappoints.
“We are still picking up weakness on iPhone volumes and mix, as well as a lack of bounce-back in Macs, iPads and wearables,” Long wrote in a note to clients. “The biggest takeaway from the latest checks is incrementally worse [iPhone] 15 data points out of China, together with developed markets remaining soft.”
He cut his rating on the stock
AAPL,
to underweight from neutral, and trimmed his price target to $160 from $161. The new target implies about 17% downside from Friday’s closing price of $192.53.
The stock slumped 1.8% in premarket trading Tuesday, putting it on track to open at a seven-week low.
Long said iPhone 15 sales have been “lackluster” and believes Phone 16 sales will be the same, as he expects other hardware categories to remain weak. He said it’s time for investors to take a “breather” on the stock, as he doesn’t think it can keep rallying in the face of downbeat demand data, like it did in 2023.
“We expect reversion after a year when most quarters were missed and the stock outperformed,” Long wrote.
He expects Apple to report “in-line” fiscal first-quarter results, which runs through December, but he trimmed his second-quarter to further below consensus expectations.
He now expects earnings per share and revenue for the quarter through March to be down in the low-single-digit percentage range, while the FactSet consensus calls for EPS to be up 2.6% at $1.57 and revenue to rise 1.1% to $95.8 billion.
Apple’s stock surged 48.2% in 2023, or almost double the S&P 500 index’s
SPX
gain of 24.2%, even as revenue for each quarter of fiscal 2023 through September was below that of a year ago.
Long is now one of just four of the 44 analysts surveyed by FactSet who are bearish on Apple’s stock, while 27 (61%) are bullish and 13 are neutral. His $160 price target is 19.2% below the average target of $197.92.
Shares of Uber Technologies Inc. and the ride-hailing giant’s smaller rival, Lyft Inc., have sprinted higher this year. But analysts on Friday suggested there might not be much left in the tank for either stock heading into 2024.
Nomura analysts Anindya Das and Masataka Kunugimoto on Friday downgraded Uber
UBER,
to a neutral rating from buy, arguing that most of the things that could drive the stock higher are already baked into the price. They also downgraded Lyft
LYFT,
to their equivalent of a sell rating from buy, saying the company failed to fully capitalize on the travel industry’s post-pandemic recovery.
Shares of Uber, which closed out the year up 142%, were down 2.5% on Friday. Lyft’s stock gave up 3.4% and finished 2023 up 34.8%.
Uber, the analysts said, had managed to grow this year while occasionally turning a profit, and consolidated its grip on the ride-sharing markets in the U.S. and Canada. Meanwhile, Lyft, they said, had stumbled in its efforts to take advantage of the travel rebound after pandemic restrictions eased, cutting more staff this year after doing the same in 2022.
After years of losing money, they said Uber’s stronger financials this year allowed it to refinance its debt at a lower interest rate and extend the terms of that debt. They noted the company recently joined the S&P 500 Index
SPX
and that the market is expecting more stock buybacks from the company, as well as interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve next year.
“Thus, most of the milestones and catalysts that we were anticipating to boost Uber’s stock value have been largely met,” they said.
They added: “At this time, we think most of the catalysts for the stock are already priced in, and Uber is fairly valued at the current price. We therefore downgrade it to Neutral from Buy.”
Lyft has tried to cut its prices to compete with Uber, and has held off on expanding into areas like food delivery. But as travel demand settles, the analysts suggested, the advantages would still flow to its archrival.
“We expect 2024 to be more of a ‘normal’ year, in terms of people’s propensity to travel,” the analysts said. “Once the current rebound in travel subsides, we think Lyft’s subscale market positioning, and lack of cross-selling opportunities (unlike Uber), could constrain topline growth for the company.”
“Offsetting a more moderate pace of ridership growth by raising prices would be challenging for Lyft,” they said, “as we think it would be bound by the actions of its larger and more profitable peer, Uber.”
The latest Apple Watches are available again after the company scored a legal victory Wednesday.
“We are thrilled to return the full Apple Watch lineup to customers in time for the new year,” Apple
AAPL,
said in a statement to MarketWatch. “Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, including the blood-oxygen feature, will become available for purchase again in the United States at Apple Stores starting today and from apple.com tomorrow by 3 p.m. ET.”
A U.S. appeals court earlier Wednesday temporarily blocked a government commission’s import ban on popular Apple Watch models following a patent dispute with medical-technology firm Masimo Corp.
MASI,
The court’s order allows Apple to temporarily resume selling the Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2. Both watches were pulled from Apple’s website last week and off store shelves this week when the ban went into effect. The appeals court is weighing a longer halt on the import and sales ban.
Masimo declined to comment.
On Tuesday, the tech giant filed an emergency request for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to halt the ban at least until U.S. Customs and Border Protection decides whether redesigned versions of its watches infringe Masimo’s patents.
The appeals court’s decision will allow the U.S. Customs department to consider Apple’s redesign of the offending Apple Watch models. A fix is expected by Jan. 12. Apple said in the motion Tuesday it could “suffer irreparable harm” if the ban is kept in place while the appeal is ongoing.
Shares of Apple were flat in trading Wednesday.
Videogame maker Activision Blizzard has agreed to pay nearly $55 million to settle a California civil-rights lawsuit brought over complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination and pay disparities by women employees that helped trigger the company’s acquisition by Microsoft.
The settlement, announced by the California Civil Rights Department on Friday evening, resolves the lawsuit filed against the “Call of Duty” videogame studio by the agency in 2021 over claims that it “discriminated against women at the company, including by denying promotion opportunities and paying them less than men for doing substantially similar work,” CRD said.
The agreement, subject to court approval, will see Activision pay nearly $46 million into a settlement fund dedicated to compensating women employees and contract workers at the company, plus more than $9 million in attorneys’ fees and costs. Additionally, Activision will take steps “to help ensure fair pay and promotion practices at the company,” including retaining an independent consultant to evaluate its compensation and promotion policies.
Yet the settlement also sees CRD withdraw its initial claims alleging a culture of widespread, systemic workplace sexual harassment at Activision, according to a copy of the agreement provided to MarketWatch. The document notes that the department is filing an amended complaint that removes the sexual-harassment allegations against the company and focuses on the gender-based pay and promotion claims.
CRD made no note of its prior sexual-harassment claims against Activision in its announcement Friday. A spokesperson for the department said the statement “largely speaks for itself with respect to the historic nature of this more than $50 million settlement agreement, which will bring direct relief and compensation to women who were harmed by the company’s discriminatory practices.
Representatives for Activision declined to comment.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the news of the settlement Friday.
The California agency’s complaint was one of several high-profile investigations by both state and federal regulators in recent years into alleged workplace misconduct at Activision and failures by its leadership to respond appropriately.
While Activision repeatedly denied the allegations, they ramped up pressure on the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company and its CEO, Bobby Kotick, and eventually led to a $68.7 billion takeover bid by Microsoft
MSFT,
in January 2022. The acquisition closed this October after receiving approval by U.K. and E.U. antitrust regulators, though the U.S. Federal Trade Commission continues to challenge the deal in court. Kotick is expected to leave the company, which he led for more than three decades, at the end of this year.
The settlement would be the second-largest ever for the California Civil Rights Department, according to the Journal, after its $100 million agreement with another Los Angeles-area videogame developer, Riot Games, to resolve gender-discrimination allegations in 2021. The agency had initially sought a much-larger settlement with Activision, the publication reported, citing how the state had estimated the company’s liability at nearly $1 billion to some 2,500 employees with potential claims.
One-time pandemic darling DocuSign Inc. may be looking to sign a deal of its own.
The e-signature company is working with advisers as it considers a sale, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday afternoon. A deal for DocuSign
DOCU,
valued at upwards of $11 billion, could result in one of the largest recent leveraged buyouts, the report said, noting that private-equity firms and technology companies were among the potential suitors.
DocuSign shares were up more than 11% in afternoon trading Friday following the report.
A DocuSign spokesperson said the company doesn’t comment on rumors or speculation.
The company was a pandemic-era poster child as businesses looked for ways to get signatures on contracts, mortgages and other documents in a virtual world. But DocuSign has struggled to match its earlier growth rates as offices have resumed in-person activity, and management acknowledged a tough macroeconomic environment when DocuSign last posted earnings.
DocuSign shares traded above $310 at their highest point in September 2021, but they closed Thursday near $56. The stock was changing hands just south of $64 Friday amid the intraday rally.
You can’t shake this off: Taylor Swift is Time’s person of the year.
The pop star topped several other prominent contenders previously announced by the publication, from tech titan Sam Altman to Chinese President Xi Jinping. Even Barbie was on the shortlist.
But Swift, who was also recently named to the MarketWatch 50 list of financial movers and shakers, stood out for a number of reasons, according to Time.
Primarily, she was a positive force in a world rocked by so much negative news in the past year, said Time editor editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs.
“We picked a choice of someone who represents joy,” Jacobs said in an appearance Wednesday morning on NBC’s “Today Show.”
Swift’s “Eras Tour” proved to be one of the biggest events in pop history. Not only did the star sell out show after show, but her fans traveled throughout the country to attend the concerts. In all, it’s estimated that Swiftie spending tied to the tour reached $5 billion, with businesses large and small benefitting.
And that’s on top of Swift’s continued success on the pop charts, with her release of two albums, “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” and “1989 (Taylor’s Version).”
Swift’s relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce has also been a buzzy story — and a financial boon for the National Football League.
Swift’s impact will likely extend far beyond 2023, of course. Her touring will continue in 2024. And as veteran music journalist Holly Gleason told MarketWatch, Swift is serving as an inspiration to a generation of young women.
“Whether you’re a little girl who wants to start a business or write a song or publish a book … whatever it is you want to do, she’s the role model that says, ‘Hell, yeah,’” Gleason said.
Ever since the collapse of crypto currencies last year, the lawsuits have been flying.
But a series of class-action suits targeting celebrity endorsers of crypto exchanges like FTX and Binance have been piling up in federal court in Miami, all filed by the same group of south Florida lawyers.
The latest suit names global soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo for allegedly promoting “the mass solicitation of investments in unregistered securities” sold by Binance, the crypto exchange that was hit with a $4 billion fine last week after pleading guilty to violating the bank secrecy act.
The suit was filed in federal court in the southern district of Florida this week and centered around Ronaldo’s role in a global marketing campaign launched in 2022 for a series of Binance NFTs — or non-fungible tokens, a form of blockchain-backed art works that were, for a brief time, wildly popular.
A representative for Ronaldo didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The filing against Ronaldo on Monday came alongside similar class action suits naming Major League Baseball, Formula 1 racing, Mercedes Benz and the advertising giants Dentsu and Wasserman, who created much of FTX’s global promotion campaign.
Messages left with representatives for MLB, Formula 1, Mercedes Benz, Dentsu and Wasserman weren’t immediately returned.
Those suits are the latest in a series of similar class action suits starting last year against celebrity endorsers of failed crypto exchanges such as Voyager and FTX, in which customers lost billions of dollars in deposits.
Over the past 18 months, a group of south Florida lawyers led by Adam Moskowitz have brought the suits on behalf of investors who lost money in last year’s crypto collapse, against paid celebrity endorsers including Shaquille O’Neal, Mark Cuban, Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Shohei Ohtani, Larry David, Steph Curry and Naomi Osaka.
“All of these celebrities were paid hundreds of millions of dollars taken directly from customer deposits,” Moskowitz said in a statement. “Some of the most famous and wealthiest groups in the world may now be held responsible for the dramatic $20 billion dollar crypto collapse and biggest financial scandals in U.S. history.”
Moskowitz, who has been joined in the suits by lawyers with the firms Mark Migdal & Hayden and Boies Schiller and Flexner, headed by famed litigator David Boies, is seeking at least $5 billion in damages from those who helped promote the crypto exchanges.
The cases from last year are ongoing and each of the celebrities named have been fighting the suits in court.
Moskowitz, who specializes in class-action lawsuits, says issues revolving around crypto first got his attention more than two years ago, before the entire market crashed, when he came to believe that the special tokens each exchange was minting amounted to an unregistered security.
He first filed a lawsuit against Voyager early last year, before the exchange collapsed and the Securities and Exchange Commission began filing suits against many in the industry accusing them of dealing in unregistered securities.
“Right then what we were doing started to gain traction,” he said.
A series of favorable court rulings have allowed his cases to gain steam, he said, and has allowed to him to take the lead in such actions.
In another class action suit filed earlier this year, Moskowitz and his partners sued a group of YouTube financial influencers for their role in promoting FTX, accusing them of taking cash for uncritically singing the exchange’s praises.
Moskowitz said several of those suits have been settled but that others have continued.
After Black Friday’s record-breaker for online sales, there’s hope that the holiday haul for nonprofits will also be generous on Giving Tuesday, and throughout the year-end charitable giving season.
That would be a welcome development for charities that have been burned by inflation and experienced an overall drop in donations last year, experts say.
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When COVID-19 struck, companies had little choice but to adapt swiftly. Office spaces were replaced by living rooms and in-person meetings transitioned to virtual calls — a temporary solution, or so it was thought.
But months have turned into years, and now it’s clear this is not just a fleeting phase but a profound transformation in work dynamics.
The…
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The City by the Bay is the best place to enjoy a Thanksgiving bash, at least according to a new report.
The personal-finance website WalletHub ranked San Francisco as the top U.S. spot to celebrate Turkey Day. New York, home to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, didn’t even crack the top 10 of the cities the site surveyed, landing instead in position No. 37.
Among…
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A friend calls this day “Thanksscrapping.” He may have a point.
My favorite Thanksgiving story happened at a dinner on Park Avenue about 20 years ago when a lady with a large bouffant and a genial manner — let’s call her Mrs. Anders — raised a glass. Knowing I grew up in Dublin in a Catholic family, she said: “…and I’d like to raise a glass to Fair Eire and hope that the six counties of Northern Ireland are one day free from the British!” She did not realize that the host’s in-laws were Ulster Protestants. They were not amused.
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AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. reported third-quarter results that beat top- and bottom-line expectations Wednesday, as the movie-theater chain and meme-stock darling swung to a profit.
The company swung to net income of $12.3 million, or 8 cents a share, compared with a loss of $226.9 million, or $2.20 a share, in the prior year’s quarter. Excluding nonrecurring items, AMC
AMC,
reported a loss of 9 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet were looking for a loss of 25 cents a share.
Related: AMC bonds see bullish activity while meme-stock darling rides the Taylor Swift wave
Revenue grew 45.2% to $1.406 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $1.260 billion. AMC’s adjusted Ebitda was $194 million.
“For both revenue and adjusted Ebitda, these were AMC’s most successful third-quarter results in our company’s entire 103-year history, by definition being greater than the third quarter of pre-pandemic 2019,” AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron said in a statement. “For the second consecutive quarter, AMC reported positive net income, and we ended the quarter with $730 million of cash. This all suggests that we are well underway on our growth path to recovery from the ravages of the COVID pandemic.”
“What is perhaps most impressive of all is that our success in the third quarter came at a time when our attendance at the domestic box office in the quarter was still 16% below comparable 2019 levels,” Aron added. “That success is because our contribution per patron was up 30% versus 2019.”
Admissions revenue was $797.7 million, above the FactSet consensus of $739 million. Food and beverage revenue was $482.7 million, above the FactSet consensus of $449 million.
AMC’s stock fell 1.3% in extended trading Wednesday. The company’s shares are down 71.9% in 2023, compared with the S&P 500 index’s
SPX
gain of 14.2%.
Related: AMC’s debt-to-equity, late payments, could be ‘red flags,’ warns Creditsafe
Speaking during a conference call to discuss the results, Aron said that the short-term impact of the writers’ and actors’ strikes will cause challenges for AMC in 2024. “Without taking sides … we strongly encourage all the parties involved to come to the negotiating table with the intent of reaching an agreement immediately,” he said.
The AMC CEO also discussed the success of Taylor Swift’s record-breaking concert film, which opened Oct. 12. “Both as distributor and exhibitor, AMC benefited handsomely,” he said, adding that AMC Theatres Distribution is following this success with the release of “Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé,” which hits theaters globally Dec. 1.
“In working with two of the most admired pop stars on the planet, we already have touched lightning,” Aron added. “We are optimistic, though, that this will lead to much more ahead … we believe that we will have several more concert film products in 2024 and 2025. We intend to be working with some of the most known and most loved musical artists the world has ever known.”
November offers a false spring for streaming viewers.
After a slow couple of months, there’s suddenly an abundance of top-tier shows on the way, but don’t be fooled — the streaming scene is going to be largely bleak in the coming months, until productions fully ramp up sometime next year following the strikes that have crippled Hollywood.
Meanwhile, streaming costs keep rising (Netflix’s top tier is the first to cross the $20 barrier) and consumers are getting less for their money, with fewer new shows and smaller libraries, while streamers push subscribers toward ad-supported tiers that generate more revenue per user while providing a worse viewing experience. Still, all the ad-supported tiers cost less than $10 a month, meaning it may be time for budget-conscious consumers to suck it up and deal with commercials if they don’t want to break the bank.
Read more: Netflix is raising prices to get you to watch ads, and it will probably work
That’s why it’s even more important to examine which services you’re really willing to pay for. The days of subscribing to six streaming services — even though you might only regularly watch three — are over. But by adding and canceling services month to month, you can save money while still being able to watch your favorite shows (for example, instead of watching a 12-episode show that drops every week and paying for three months, subscribe for just one month once the show nears its end and binge it all at once).
Such a churn strategy takes some planning, but it pays off. Keep in mind that a billing cycle starts when you sign up, not necessarily at the beginning of the month.
Each month, this column offers tips on how to maximize your streaming and your budget, rating the major services as a “play,” “pause” or “stop” — similar to investment analysts’ traditional ratings of buy, hold or sell, and picks the best shows to help you make your monthly decisions.
Here’s a look at what’s coming to the various streaming services in November 2023, and what’s really worth the monthly subscription fee:
The price of Apple TV+ has doubled in a little over a year, and in any other month, it’d be easy to argue it has priced itself out of the range of casual viewers. But Apple’s November lineup is so impressive that it’s actually somehow still a good deal.
The alt-history space drama “For All Mankind” (Nov. 10) returns for its fourth season, with an eight-year time jump after Season 3’s shocking finale. The Mars colony is now thriving, but tensions are rising over the mining of mineral-rich asteroids. Toby Kebbell (“Servant”) joins the cast, along with Daniel Stern and Tyner Rushing, who join holdovers Joel Kinnaman, Krys Marshall, Wrenn Schmidt and Coral Pena. It’s a fantastic and frequently thrilling series, and arguably Apple’s best drama.
And a challenger to that title is also coming back. “Slow Horses” (Nov. 29), the darkly funny thriller about a group of washed-up spies, returns for its third season. Gary Oldman stars as perpetually disgruntled spymaster Jackson Lamb, leading his team of misfits as they get dragged into an international conspiracy after one of their own is kidnapped. Based on the novels by Mick Herron, “Slow Horses” is smart and cynical, a terrific twist on traditional spy stories.
Then there’s “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” (Nov. 17), an action-conspiracy series about a ragtag group trying to expose a secretive organization that knows the truth about Godzilla and other kaiju creatures terrorizing the planet. Kurt Russell stars with his son, Wyatt (who plays his dad in flashbacks), along with Anna Sawai, Ren Watabe and Kiersey Clemons. The series is intended to slide right into the MonsterVerse that includes “Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Kong: Skull Island” and “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” and for anyone who grew up watching monster movies, this could be a lot of fun.
Apple
AAPL,
also has “Fingernails” (Nov. 3), a sci-fi romance movie starring Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed, Jeremy Allen White and Luke Wilson; “The Buccaneers” (Nov. 8), a “Bridgerton”-esque period drama based on the Edith Wharton novel about a group of rich American girls who hit London in the 1870s looking for suitable husbands; the holiday musical special “Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas” (Nov. 22); and a new version of the tear-jerking children’s classic “The Velveteen Rabbit” (Nov. 22).
Meanwhile, Martin Scorsese’s critically acclaimed “Killers of the Flower Moon” should hit Apple TV+ within the next month or two, after it completes its theatrical run, and Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon,” starring Joaquin Phoenix, his theaters Nov. 22. It, too, will stream on Apple at an as-yet-undisclosed date in the coming months.
There are also new episodes every week of “Lessons in Chemistry” (finale Nov. 24), and “The Morning Show” (season finale Nov. 8). If that’s not enough, you could always catch up on “Foundation,” “Swagger,” “Platonic” or discover “Bad Sisters.”
Who’s Apple TV+ for? It offers a little something for everyone, but not necessarily enough for anyone — although it’s getting there.
Play, pause or stop? Play. Even though its price has soared, Apple is still cheaper than most, and it delivers value this month. (Remember, you can get three free months of Apple TV+ if you buy a new Apple device.)
After a fallow October, Hulu has a lot more to offer in November, continuing its strong year.
FX’s “A Murder at the End of the World” (Nov. 14) was pushed back from an August release date due to the Hollywood strikes, but it should fit better in a colder season anyway. From Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij, the producers of Netflix’s cult favorite sci-fi series “The OA,” the limited series is an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery set at a billionaire’s secluded, snowbound retreat in Iceland. Emma Corrin (“The Crown”) stars as an amateur detective while Clive Owen (“Children of Men”) plays the mysterious tycoon.
A wintry setting also plays a key role in the fifth season of FX’s “Fargo” (Nov. 22), the latest installment in Noah Hawley’s noirish crime anthology. Juno Temple (“Ted Lasso”) plays a seemingly ordinary Midwestern housewife who’s not at all what she appears to be. She’s joined by an all-star cast that includes Jon Hamm, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Lamorne Morris and Dave Foley. Each season of “Fargo” is a quirky, violent delight, and this one looks no different.
Also: Disney officially plans to buy remaining Hulu stake from Comcast
Just to make things confusing, while both “A Murder at the End of the World” and “Fargo” are FX series, “Murder” will stream exclusively on Hulu, while “Fargo” episodes will first air on FX then stream a day later.
In an interesting experiment, director Baz Luhrmann has recut his 2008 romantic drama “Australia,” starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, and turned it into a six-episode miniseries — renamed “Faraway Downs” (Nov. 26) — using extra footage shot during the original filming. The movie flopped in theaters, but Luhrmann says it should work better as a miniseries, saying “episodic storytelling has been reinvigorated by the streaming world.”
For more: Here’s what’s new on Hulu in November 2023 — and what’s leaving
Hulu also has “Black Cake” (Nov. 1), a generations-spanning family drama based on the bestselling novel by Charmaine Wilkerson; “Quiz Lady” (Nov. 3), a comedy movie about estranged sisters, starring Awkwafina and Sandra Oh; and a handful of sports documentaries, including “The League” (Nov. 9), about Negro League baseball, and “Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story” (Nov. 15), hosted by Keanu Reeves.
Fresh off October’s addition of “Moonlighting,” Hulu is adding all eight seasons of another 1980s classic, “L.A. Law” (Nov. 3), along with a ton of holiday fare, including “Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights” and “Miracle on 34th Street” (both Nov. 1), and “Elf” and “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (both Nov. 23).
And don’t forget the season finales of “Welcome to Wrexham” (Nov. 15) and “Goosebumps” (Nov. 17), as well as next-day streams of network shows such as “The Golden Bachelor” and “Bob’s Burgers.”
Who’s Hulu for? TV lovers. There’s a deep library for those who want older TV series and next-day streaming of many current network and cable shows.
Play, pause or stop? Pause and think it over. If you’re on the ad-supported plan, it’s well worth it. But for the pricey, $18 ad-free plan, you may want to wait until December and see how some of these new series pan out.
Netflix just raised some prices again, but for most customers, it’s still a good value.
The critically acclaimed royal-family drama “The Crown” (Nov. 16) is back for the first half of its sixth and final season (four episodes drop this month, with the final six coming in December). Events pick up in 1997 after the marriage of Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) ends, as Queen Elizabeth II (Imelda Staunton) reflects on her legacy. There’s already controversy over how it’ll handle Diana’s tragic death.
Read more: Here’s what’s new on Netflix in November 2023 — and what’s leaving
Netflix
NFLX,
also has “The Killer” (Nov. 10) a “slick but conventional” thriller movie from director David Fincher, starring Michael Fassbender as a hit man on the run; “Squid Game: The Challenge” (Nov. 22), a reality competition show putting 456 players through challenges inspired by the hit Korean drama (minus the murders, presumably); “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off” (Nov. 17), an anime version of the graphic novels and cult-favorite movie “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” (which is also coming Nov. 1); “All the Light We Cannot See” (Nov. 2), a critically panned miniseries about a blind French girl and a German soldier in the final days of WWII, starring Aria Mia Loberti, Louis Hofmann and Mark Ruffalo; Season 5, Part 2 of the popular small-town romantic drama “Virgin River” (Nov. 30); and “The Netflix Cup: Swing to Survive” (Nov. 14), Netflix’s first livestreamed sporting event, with teams of Formula 1 drivers and PGA stars in a match-play golf tournament from Las Vegas.
There are also fresh episodes of “The Great British Baking Show” every Friday until its season finale Dec. 1.
Who’s Netflix for? Fans of buzz-worthy original shows and movies.
Play, pause or stop? Pause. “The Crown” and “The Great British Baking Show” are the top draws, but aside from those, there’s not a lot else to move the needle this month. However, if you can live with commercials, you can find value at $7.
Paramount+ has some interesting stuff in November. But is it enough to justify a subscription?
“Lawmen: Bass Reeves” (Nov. 5), joins the streaming service’s extensive slate of shows produced by Taylor Sheridan, telling the story of one of the Wild West’s most overlooked real-life heroes: Bass Reeves (played by David Oyelowo), who was the first Black U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi and overcame countless hurdles in enforcing the law in the era of Reconstruction. A marksman with something like 3,000 arrests to his name, Reeves was purportedly the inspiration for the story of the Lone Ranger. Say what you will about Sheridan’s formulaic shows, but he knows how to make a good Western. This should be worth a watch.
There’s also “The Curse“ (Nov. 10), an intriguing new Showtime series starring Nathan Fielder (“Nathan for You”) and Oscar-winner Emma Stone that puts a dark twist to an HGTV-like home-improvement show; and “Good Burger 2” (Nov. 22), a sequel to the 1997 cult-classic fast-food comedy starring Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell.
On the sports side, Paramount has NFL football every Sunday, Big Ten and SEC college football every Saturday, and a full slate of UEFA Champions League soccer.
Who’s Paramount+ for? Gen X cord-cutters who miss live sports and familiar Paramount Global
PARA,
broadcast and cable shows.
Play, pause or stop? Pause. There’s decent value with a couple of promising new shows, especially when factoring in Paramount’s live sports and vast library of movies and network shows.
It’s a very skippable month for Max.
The Warner Bros. Discovery
WBD,
streaming service only has a handful of new originals to offer, including Season 2 of Issa Rae’s hip-hop comedy “Rap Sh!t” (Nov. 19), as Shawna (Aida Osman) and Mia (KaMillion) come to a crossroads on their road to fame; Season 2 of the biographical drama “Julia” (Nov. 16), starring Sarah Lancashire as iconic chef Julia Child as she and her husband return from France and face new challenges; “Bookie” (Nov. 30), a new comedy from Chuck Lorre (“Big Bang Theory”) and Nick Bakay about an L.A. bookie looking for new angles as the potential legalization of sports gambling threatens to upend his shady business; and Rob Reiner’s documentary “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” (Nov. 11), delving into the life of the comedy legend.
Also: Here’s everything coming to Max in November 2023 — and what’s leaving
There are also a ton of holiday-themed shows from Food Network, HGTV and OWN; live sports on its free (for now) Bleacher Report tier that includes NBA and NHL games, college basketball and U.S. men’s soccer (Nov. 16 and 20); and new episodes of “The Gilded Age” and “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.”
Who’s Max for? HBO fans and movie lovers. And now, unscripted TV fans too, with a slew of Discovery shows.
Play, pause or stop? Stop. Max still has a great library, but the new offerings fall short. Even the ad tier isn’t worth it — try again another month.
“The Boys” spinoff “Gen V” ends its first season on Nov. 3, but fans of ultra-violent superheroes will be able to slide right into Season 2 of the hit animated series “Invincible” (Nov. 3), which returns to Prime Video after a two-and-a-half-year layoff. Based on the graphic novels by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, the very adult series picks up with Mark (Steven Yeun) still reeling from the revelations about his superhero father (J.K. Simmons) at the end of Season 1, while a new villain (voiced by Sterling K. Brown) appears on the scene. Annoyingly, Season 2 will be split in two, with four episodes in November and another four coming in early 2024.
More: What’s new on Amazon’s Prime Video and Freevee in November 2023
Amazon’s
AMZN,
streaming service also has “007: Road to a Million” (Nov. 10), an “Amazing Race”-like competition series hosted by Brian Cox where nine teams of two endure James Bond-inspired challenges around the globe to try to win a big cash prize, and “Twin Love” (Nov. 17), a reality dating show involving 10 sets of identical twins split into two houses.
Who’s Prime Video for? Movie lovers, TV-series fans who value quality over quantity.
Play, pause or stop? Stop. There’s no a compelling reason to start a relatively pricey subscription now. That even goes for “Invincible” fans, who would be better off waiting until the second half drops and bingeing when all episodes are available. Splitting up eight episodes is ridiculous.
Tim Allen returns for Season 2 of “The Santa Clauses” (Nov. 8), as the jolly one continues his search for a successor. Eric Stonestreet joins the cast as the exiled “Mad Santa,” along with Gabriel Iglesias as Kris Kringle and Tracey Morgan as the Easter Bunny (because, of course!).
Meanwhile, Lil Rel Howry, Ludacris and Oscar Nunez star in the new family comedy movie “Dashing Through the Snow” (Nov. 17), and Danny Glover will play Santa in the Disney Channel original film “The Naughty Nine” (Nov. 23).
In non-holiday fare, Disney has three upcoming Doctor Who specials celebrating the iconic sci-fi series’ 60th anniversary. The first, “Doctor Who: The Star Beast” (Nov. 25), reunites David Tennant and Catherine Tate, as the Doctor and Donna Noble battle the villainous Toymaker (Neil Patrick Harris), with the other two specials coming in December, when the 15th Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa of “Sex Education”) will be introduced.
There’s also 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” (Nov. 3), and new episodes of “Loki” (finale Nov. 9), “Goosebumps” (finale Nov. 17) and “Dancing With the Stars.”
Who’s Disney+ for? Families with kids, hardcore “Star Wars” and Marvel fans. For people not in those groups, Disney’s
DIS,
library can be lacking.
Play, pause or stop? Stop. After a recent price hike, there’s just not enough to justify a subscription (unless your kids will absolutely melt down without it).
It’s a pretty bleak month for Peacock originals, with only the reality dating spinoff “Love Island Games” (Nov. 1); “Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain” (Nov. 17), the first movie from the “SNL” comedy trio; and Season 2 of the Paris Hilton reality series “Paris in Love” (Nov. 30).
It’s a bit brighter on the sports side, with Big Ten college basketball starting Nov. 6, Big Ten college football every Saturday, NFL Sunday Night Football and a full slate of English Premier League soccer, golf, motorsports and winter sports.
And on Thanksgiving (Nov. 23), Peacock will stream the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the National Dog Show and an NFL game, as the 49ers play the Seahawks.
Who’s Peacock for? Live sports and next-day shows from Comcast’s
CMCSA,
NBCUniversal are the main draw, but there’s a good library of shows and movies.
Play, pause or stop? Stop. The live-sports offerings are the only lure.