DealBook business and policies

2021-12-13 22:46:06 By : Ms. Helen Lu

After the deadly tornado hit Amazon-owned facilities, people expressed concern about its safety practices and business model.

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Authors: Andrew Ross Sorkin, Jason Karaian, Sarah Kessler, Stephen Gandel, Michael J. de la Merced, Lauren Hirsch and Ephrat Livni

The Amazon Distribution Center in Edwardsville, Illinois, was one of the buildings in the path of a tornado that swept through six states on Friday night, killing at least 90 people, six of whom were in the facility. The tornado that formed in the parking lot caused about half of the 40-foot-tall structure to collapse. A candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, was also operating at full speed before the holiday, was razed to the ground and workers were trapped.

This tragedy has raised concerns about the use of contractors by the e-commerce giant. The biggest problem is how Amazon prepares facilities and workers for emergencies, and their team swells during the holiday season. A local official told Karen Weise and Eric Berger of The Times that only 7 of the 190 people working at the Edwardsville distribution center are full-time Amazon employees.

Industry consultants say that using contractors allows companies to avoid liability for accidents and other risks. In Edwardsville, local officials said that because many of the workers at the facility are temporary workers, it is difficult to explain the whereabouts of all the people who may be missing after the tornado, complicating the initial rescue work.

Opinions vary as to how much time workers at the facility have to prepare for the tornado. An Amazon spokesperson said that the facility has an 11-minute warning; the Edwardsville tornado warning took effect at 8:06 pm on Friday, and the report of the partial roof collapse of the Amazon building was released at 8:27 pm. The facility has at least one tornado shelter.

These deaths may strengthen the union efforts of Amazon warehouse and transportation workers. "This is another outrageous example of the company putting profits above the health and safety of its employees, and we cannot tolerate this," Stuart Appelbaum, chairman of the retail, wholesale and department store unions, said in a statement Means in.

Our knowledge of storms and destruction scenarios.

"I don't think we will ever see destruction of this scale," said Andy Beshir, the governor of Kentucky, where at least 80 people have been confirmed dead.

Why warnings are not always enough to save workers in the path of a storm.

US sanctions forced a Chinese artificial intelligence company to postpone its initial public offering. SenseTime delayed its $770 million listing in Hong Kong. Washington previously blacklisted the company because Beijing used its technology to track and suppress Muslims in China. minority. This IPO is the latest victim of escalating tensions between the United States and China.

According to reports, the FBI is investigating short sellers. According to Bloomberg News, the Justice Department is reviewing whether hedge funds and research companies improperly coordinate bets on the company. The report was welcomed by some retail investors, who condemned short sellers as market manipulators.

Chris Wallace will leave Fox News. The star anchor joined CNN, depriving Murdoch of the network's most outstanding middle-level reporter, because the more sharp and conservative anchors dominated. Wallace expressed concern about the false statement in a recent documentary by Tucker Carlson that the congressional riot on January 6 was a "fake flag" operation.

The chaos caused by BuzzFeed's market debut expanded. As the digital media company’s share price continues to fall—they are currently down nearly 50% from their initial price—former employees complain that they cannot sell their shares. Jonah Peretti, the founder of BuzzFeed, blamed the error on a third-party administrator.

The influential analytics company MoffettNathanson is being sold. The independent research provider announced this morning that it will be acquired by Silicon Valley Bank's parent company. The company was founded in 2013 by senior analysts Craig Moffett and Michael Nathanson, and has received widespread attention in the telecommunications and media industries.

Actress and entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow (Gwyneth Paltrow)'s lifestyle brand Goop released a Bitcoin primer in 2018, and this summer released a podcast on crypto investment. Paltrow said Keep up with this technology in the monthly block chain "tutoring call". Now, she is considering another big issue in the crypto industry, namely environmental sustainability, investing in a green bitcoin mining company that DealBook first reported.

Paltrow supports TeraWulf, a Bitcoin miner. The company plans to use renewable energy to produce Bitcoin to resolve complaints about the large amount of electricity used by cryptocurrencies. TeraWulf recently raised $200 million, some of which came from Paltrow and friends, including comedians Mindy Carling and Lily Singer. A Paltrow spokeswoman declined to provide details, but stated that they participated in "a large eight-figure equity investment" along with others.

TeraWulf notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission today that it has completed a reverse merger with Ikonics, a publicly-listed photo imaging technology company, whose shareholders approved the move on Friday. It is expected to start trading under the stock symbol WULF tomorrow.

Elon Musk's tweet caused Paltrow's thinking. In May of last year, Tesla CEO announced that the company would not accept Bitcoin payments after briefly allowing Bitcoin payments on the grounds of the environmental costs of Bitcoin mining. As Paltrow was conducting her own research at the time, she was introduced to TeraWulf. The company says it can help communities transition to wind, solar, or hydropower, and convert these variable energy sources into assets of lasting value. (This method has its critics.)

"A key component of the next wave of technology must be that it is solving environmental problems," Paltrow said in a statement. "If decentralization is energy-intensive, then it cannot be the future."

— Christine Arena, former executive vice president of public relations giant Edelman, is under pressure to cut contact with customers in the fossil fuel industry.

Harry's today announced the acquisition of Lumē, a natural deodorant brand founded by Dr. Shannon Klingman. This transaction is the first acquisition of the shaving brand through its start-up incubator Harry's Labs. The terms were not disclosed.

The deal was reached after the US Federal Trade Commission prevented Harry from selling to Schick's parent company Edgewell for $1.37 billion last year because of concerns that it would reduce competition in the shaving industry. "Even before Edgewell, our vision was to build this omnichannel brand family," said Harry's co-founder and co-CEO Andy Katz-Mayfield. "Now we are focusing on doing this independently." In April of this year, Harry's raised US$155 million and the company was valued at US$1.7 billion.

Lumē is the fifth brand in Harry's product portfolio. In addition to the shaving product line of the same name, it also launched Flamingo (female body care), Cat Person (cat person products) and Headquarter (hair care) through Harry's Labs. Dr. Klingman said that the initial plan was to put Lumē on Harry's online distribution channel, and retail "may make sense at some point." Other deals may be in progress: Harry's Labs often meets with founders and companies, Katz-Mayfield said, adding that Harry's is also considering "listing at some point." "

Consolidation in the consumer goods industry continues. After Edgewell's acquisition of Harry's was blocked, Edgewell acquired Billie, a razor brand that focuses on women. (That was after Billie's sale to Procter & Gamble was blocked by the FTC.) This transaction provided Billie with resources that Edgewell could have provided to Harry's if the transaction were approved. As Harry's diversifies, it must resist consumer giants that can cut prices to compete. Katz-Mayfield stated that the effectiveness of Lume's deodorant means that price will not become "the key point of differentiation in this market."

► Central Bank: As inflation soars, the Fed is expected to discuss plans to speed up cuts in economic support, and then announce its latest action on Wednesday. The Bank of England and the European Central Bank will also hold meetings.

► Retail sales: On Wednesday, the Ministry of Commerce will release a monthly report on consumer spending, which has grown for three consecutive months. As shoppers continue to open their wallets, economists expect another positive month to come.

► Holmes trial: The lawyers of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes concluded their defense in the final stage of a fraud trial that lasted more than four months. The closing debate will begin on Thursday.

It seems that the weakening of the Delta coronavirus variant allowed the company to finally set a date for the complete reopening of the office—at least, until Omicron appeared. The Times’s Emma Goldberg wrote that this makes the plan to return to the office more like “wishful thinking, rather than a future sign full of alarm clocks, commuting and actually buttoned pants”.

With the return of a fully-fledged office now being postponed, well, who knows when Emma has compiled a glossary of new terms for Zoom-enabled workplaces. Here are some of our favorites:

Bookcase credibility. Some Zoomers chose to show Robert Caro’s authoritative “Power Broker” on their phone, while others chose more alternative options-for example, in the case of actor Paul Luther, Thomas Hardy’s “The Obscure Jude” ". Comedian Aparna Nancherla said, “No matter how much you know about everyone’s home, you feel that they are disturbed”, but it also promotes connections between people who work from home.

Mask hole. "That office colleague inexplicably took off his mask when he had to cough," Emma wrote.

Zombies. The half-tension state came when "Anyone has entered their eighth hour staring at a colleague’s pores and finds themselves wishing to return to the fluorescent light of an open floor plan."

The company spent nearly $235 billion on stock repurchases last quarter, setting a record high and helping to push up the stock price. (Wall Street Journal)

According to reports, the US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating a private equity firm backed by the Coors family and others after it was complained of misusing investors’ funds for personal expenses. (Wall Street Journal)

Stock photo giant Getty Images will return to the public market after 13 years under the control of private equity through a merger with SPAC. (Reuters)

How the struggle to manage Alex Rodriguez’s wealth highlights the struggle within the wealth management department of JPMorgan Chase. (FT)

President Biden criticized Kellogg's plan to permanently replace strikers who refused the proposed employment contract. (New York Times)

How Biden's banking regulator tried to oust Trump-appointed Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (NYT) chairman Jelena McWilliams

After US cybersecurity officials issued warnings, the company was eager to fix security vulnerabilities in the widely used software Log4j. (Bloomberg)

Alibaba fired an employee who accused its boss of sexual assault during a business trip, and he was fired a few months later. (New York Times)

After a conflict with her former Facebook colleague and Instacart CEO Fidji Simo, Carolyn Everson stepped down as President of Instacart just three months later. (information)

In the UK, women now make up the majority of non-executive board members, but the majority of executive directors are men. (FT)

It's not just a supply chain disruption: cyber attacks are causing a shortage of cream cheese. (Bloomberg)

Peloton is making fun of its appearance in the controversy in the restart of "Sex and the City". The ad was produced by Ryan Reynolds, and the ad is going viral. (New York Times, @onepeloton

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