Billionaire investor Peter Thiel is leaving Silicon Valley and maybe even the board of Facebook. Thiel, a vocal supporter of President Trump, is reportedly growing frustrated over the intolerance of conservatism in Silicon Valley. He is moving his home and investment firms from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The investor will take a step back from the tech industry and is considering leaving the Facebook board. He's been a member since 2005.
Amazon officially surpassed Microsoft in market valuation. After the market closed on Wednesday evening, Amazon's market value increased to $702 billion, outpacing Microsoft which stands at $699.2 billion. Apple and Alphabet are still ahead of Amazon in being the most valuable companies.
Microsoft is now the fourth most valuable company.
Congressman Darren Soto (D-FL) joins us from Capitol Hill to share his thoughts on the deadly high school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Unfortunately, Rep. Soto has dealt with a similar tragedy before as he represents Florida's 9th district. That district includes Orlando, the site of the deadly Pulse nightclub shooting in the summer of 2016. Soto is frustrated that Congress has been unable to pass meaningful gun reform in the wake of these mass shootings. He notes how powerful the NRA's influence is over certain members of Congress.
Plus, we speak to the CEO of Celebrity Cruises and others for our Business of Travel show. Lisa Lutoff-Perlo discusses Celebrity's partnership with the Malala Fund. The new "Celebrity Edge" ship will debut later this year, and Malala Yousafzai has been named the ship's Godmother. Perlo also talks about Celebrity's diversity initiatives. She's made it her mission to hire more women. Under her watch, Celebrity named its first-ever American woman as captain.
Some small grocery stores and neighborhood convenience stores are eager for the U.S. government shutdown to end and for their customers to start receiving federal food aid again. Late last month, the Trump administration froze funding for the SNAP benefits that about 42 million Americans use to buy groceries. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says about 74% of the assistance was spent last year at superstores like Walmart and supermarkets like Kroger. Around 14% went to smaller stores that are more accessible to SNAP beneficiaries. A former director of the United Nations World Food Program says SNAP is not only a social safety net for families but a local economic engine that supports neighborhood businesses.
Andy Baehr, Head of Product at CoinDesk Indices, breaks down crypto’s Black Friday crash, Bitcoin dipping under $100K, and what’s driving the market rout.
Billionaire Warren Buffett warned shareholders Monday that many companies will fare better than his Berkshire Hathaway in the decades ahead as Father Time catches up
Chris Marquette of POLITICO breaks down how the FAA is cutting flights and facing a critical shortage of air‑traffic controllers amid the government shutdown.
Dr. Manuele Aufiero, CEO & Co‑Founder of Sizable En a groundbreaking undersea energy‑storage technology powering the global shift to clean, scalable power.
Paul Fipps, President of Global Customer Operations at ServiceNow, breaks down the company’s earnings beat, 5‑for‑1 stock split and booming enterprise AI demand