Here is a rundown of Cheddar News' top market stories of the day.
TECH LAYOFFS
Multiple outlets are reporting that Microsoft will begin a series of planned layoffs on Wednesday that could cut around 5 percent of its workforce, or 10,000 employees. CEO Satya Nadella warned the cuts were coming, and said the next couple of years were likely to be challenging, as the tech sector contracts after a decade plus of rapid growth. Amazon is also set to move ahead with plans to cut 6 percent of its 350,000 corporate employees.
ADOBE'S DATA DEBACLE
Adobe is facing backlash from customers who are concerned the software company is using personal images and video to train artificial intelligence models such as OpenAI’s Dall-E. Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky denied the accusations in an interview with Bloomberg, saying: "We have never, ever used anything in our storage to train a generative AI model."
UNITED AIRLINES EARNINGS
United Airlines' fourth quarter earnings beat Wall Street estimates on the heels of a rebound in travel demand. The company reported a 31 percent increase from the same period before the pandemic. The gains were made despite the airline flying 9 percent fewer trips and a litany of other challenges, from winter storms to labor shortages to supply chain disruptions.
UNIVERSITY BANS TIKTOK
The University of Texas at Austin is blocking access to TikTok on its Wi-Fi and wired networks. The move is a response to Gov. Greg Abbott's requirement that all state agencies delete the app from government-issued devices. The administration said it is also seeking to eliminate risks to information on the university's networks. University of Texas at Dallas and Texas A&M University System have since implemented similar restrictions.
The collaboration platform Slack is launching a massive revamp at its annual customer conference, aimed at creating a more flexible and connected work experience. CEO and co-founder Stewart Butterfield joined Cheddar to provide some additional details about the digital HQ upgrade.
Bitcoin received its first update in four years called Taproot. Unlike the previous bitcoin update in 2017, Taproot has widespread support — in part because these changes involve fairly incremental improvements to the code. Christie Harkin, tech managing editor at CoinDesk, explained what the move could mean for the future of cryptocurrencies as a whole.
Snap has announced a licensing deal with Sony Music, giving its social media platform Snapchat access to the label's entire catalog. The deal now gives the company agreements with all of the major industry labels.
Jay-Z's Roc Nation is teaming up with The Reform Alliance to host a job fair at Madison Square Garden later this week. The event is aimed at helping disadvantaged people in NYC, including single parents and the formerly incarcerated, get jobs in the city. Participating companies include Zara, Amazon, Live Nation, VICE, and a slew of others. Dania Diaz, Managing Director, Roc Nation, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss what attendees can expect.
Kyndryl isn't wasting any time as an independent company. Just over a week after spinning off from IBM, the IT infrastructure services provider has announced its first global strategic partner in Microsoft. The two tech giants are coming together to form a new kind of power duo, creating multi-billion dollar revenue opportunities between the companies. Stephen Leonard, global alliances & partnerships leader for Kyndryl, told Cheddar more about the partnership and what it aims to achieve.
Eric Diton, President & Managing Director of The Wealth Alliance, discusses why inflation remains a long-term headwind for the market and what it means for consumer spending for the rest of the year.
Francis Oh, APAC CEO at Qraft Technologies, discusses how inflationary pressures could impact corporate earnings, and why the electric vehicle market is one to watch as ESG investing picks up.
Bitcoin has successfully activated Taproot, the cryptocurrency's first major upgrade since 2017 and a highly anticipated change to the blockchain. Taproot will introduce what's known as Schnorr signatures, which will help transactions become more private, efficient and perhaps even less expensive. Robert Hackett, a cryptocurrency expert and journalist, breaks down the new upgrade and what it means for bitcoin users.
