The Kellington Times
Here's A Roundup Of This Week's Biggest News Stories!
The United States Department of Labor reported Friday that the first jobs report of 2021 and under President Joe Biden’s administration added 49,000 Americans to payrolls. The unemployment rate dropped to 6.3%.
There are two interesting characters that have been overlooked in the press. Richard Mashaal and Brian Gonick are two middle-aged, mild-mannered Canadian men who run a hedge fund in New York with money seeded by one of the guy’s money-management dads. Mashaal and Gonick bought shares in GameStop—paying under $10 a share. Beyond their wildest dreams, the social media hype machine, catching the attention of investors, traders and curious lurkers, helped push the stock to over $400 per share. The duo earned a whopping $700 million payday on their investment!
John Matze said about his termination, “On January 29, 2021, the Parler board controlled by Rebekah Mercer decided to immediately terminate my position as CEO of Parler. I did not participate in this decision.”
The United States Department of Labor reported Thursday that initial unemployment claims were 779,000, for the week ending Jan. 30. Continuing claims, which count the number of people collecting ongoing benefits, stand at 4.5 million.Almost one full year into the pandemic, the unemployment numbers remain stubbornly high.
For many people, it's time to consider pivoting to a new career or reinventing themselves. Being human, we all go through this thought process. It doesn't matter if you’re a minimum-wage worker or Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. On Tuesday, Bezos, the richest person in the world, said he’s ready to step down from his title as chief executive officer. In a company blog post, Bezos wrote, “I’m excited to announce that this Q3, I’ll transition to executive chair of the Amazon Board and Andy Jassy will become CEO.”
Robinhood is now being sued because of the restrictions it put into place. Investors allege that it violated the company’s own terms and conditions. According to the Verge, “About 30 parties across 10 states have sued the company in federal court, many seeking class action status. They allege that Robinhood users lost millions of dollars because they were unable to buy during the freeze, and that the company chose to “manipulate the market” to help other financial institutions.”
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Amazon is embarking on a massive $2.5 billion mixed-use office and retail complex in Northern Virginia, which could house about 25,000 employees. The second headquarters, after Seattle, will include three 22-story office and retail buildings. An outdoors theme will include woodlands, an amphitheater, walking paths, extensive bike parking and a dog run. To hedge its bets, Amazon is anticipating that there will be people who want to come into the office on an occasional basis.
Yellen, whose responsibilities include overseeing the nation’s banks, chairs a council of regulators that monitor financial stability risks. She requested a meeting with top officials at the major regulatory agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Federal Reserve, the New York Fed and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. A spokesperson for the Treasury said, “Secretary Yellen believes the integrity of markets is important and has asked for a discussion of recent volatility in financial markets and whether recent activities are consistent with investor protection and fair and efficient markets.”
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, “Google will pay $3.8 million to settle allegations it discriminated against women and Asians. The company, formerly known as a caring place, was accused of “underpaying nearly 2,800 women in its software engineering group in Mountain View, Calif., and Seattle, as well as unfairly passing over women and Asian candidates for various software engineering roles,” according to Reuters.
In the face of intensive public, political and regulatory pressure concerning its business practices, Facebook has hired its first chief compliance officer, Henry Moniz.
The airline industry has been one of the hardest-hit sectors of the economy. The pandemic nearly grounded the industry to a complete halt. According to Bloomberg, “About 400,000 airline workers have been fired, furloughed or told they may lose their jobs due to [Covid-19].”United Airlines, once again, announced that there may be large layoffs looming. According to CNBC reporting, the company said “roughly 14,000 employees are at risk.”
