Market Minute: Spotify Announces Layoffs, Feds Seize Millions from FTX Founder & Egg Smuggling
Here is a rundown of Cheddar News' top market stories of the day.
SPOTIFY LAYOFFS
Spotify has announced plans to cut around 6 percent of its workforce, placing the music streaming service among other tech firms that have made layoffs in recent weeks, including Microsoft, Amazon, and Google parent company Alphabet. The number of positions potentially on the chopping block is not yet clear. Many tech firms have cut between 5 and 10 percent.
FED'S FTX SEIZURE
Disgraced crypto executive Sam Bankman-Fried's fortune is rapidly dwindling, as federal regulators seized more than $600 million of his assets this month. The forfeitures are related to the federal government's criminal case against Bankman-Fried, who faces charges of fraud and conspiracy — though he has pleaded not guilty. The most recent seizure was a whopping $95 million from an account held at Silvergate Bank.
CITADEL PROFITS
Hedge fund Citadel reported a record $16 billion in profits for clients in 2021. That is the biggest annual return for a fund manager since John Paulson made $15 billion in 2007 betting against the subprime mortgage market, and perhaps one of the biggest plays in Wall Street's history. The sky-high profits came as hedge funds overall underperformed amid 2022's bear market.
EGG SMUGGLING
Customs and Border Protection officials are reporting a surge in egg smuggling from Mexico — with U.S. egg prices up 60 percent in December from 12 months earlier. Smugglers are risking thousands of dollars in fines just to bring eggs, which cost around $3.40 for a 30-count carton in Mexico, compared to as much as $7.37 for just a dozen in America.
Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after they joined in a massive merger that created one of the biggest food companies on the planet. One of the companies will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. When the company formed in 2015 it wanted to capitalize on its massive scale, but shifting tastes complicated those plans, with households seeking to introduce healthier options at the table. Kraft Heinz's net revenue has fallen every year since 2020.
About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
