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.
It's National Beer Day! Miller Lite is celebrating with its new Beer Drops meant to "improve" the flavor of other light beers to be more like Miller Lite. Elizabeth Hitch, senior director of marketing at Molson Coors, joined Cheddar News to discuss the cheeky product taking a jab at the competition. “We found is that a lot of these beer brands were giving away free product, free beer, and we thought what good is it to have a free beer if it doesn't taste good, right? So, we thought about these flavor-enhancing beer drops to actually add flavor to other light beers to give them as much taste as Miller Lite," she said. Hitch also addressed ongoing concerns with aluminum shortages amid supply constraints as well as a foray into NFTs.
Angie Klein, CEO of Visible, and Melissa Hobley, CMO of OkCupid, join Cheddar News to talk about teaming up to create a singles registry just in time for wedding season.
Ken Grier, associate creative director at Dictador, joins Cheddar News to talk about the company launching NFT enabled luxury spirits and its art-oriented treasury club, ArtHouse Spirits DAO.
JetBlue made an unsolicited offer to buy low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, potentially jeopardizing the original offer from Frontier Airlines. Several analysts sounding the alarm on JetBlue's proposed $3.6 billion merger, saying the deal doesn't quite make sense. Jim Corridore, Senior Insights Manager at Similarweb joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
The Fed is gearing up to take more action to curb inflation. According to minutes from the central bank's March meeting, officials "generally agreed" the Fed should shrink its balance sheet by $95 billion per month and is considering larger rate hikes than its usual 25-basis point increase. Nela Richardson, ADP's Chief Economist, joined Cheddar to break down the potential impacts of these moves on the economy.
Jeff Roberts, Executive Editor of Decrypt & Author of 'Kings of Crypto', talks about what to expect from the Bitcoin conference and highlights the challenges for crypto adoption.
Thousands of cryptocurrency enthusiasts are gathering in Miami as the city builds its reputation as one of the key locations to develop the blockchain technology despite its underdog status.
