Meta, Facebook’s parent, is being accused of intentionally taking down the Facebook pages of Australian hospitals, emergency services, and charities as part of a negotiation tactic against the Australian Parliament. According to whistleblowers and documents, last year, the company deliberately created a complicated process of taking pages down in response to proposed legislation that would require platforms like Google and Facebook to pay publishers for content. More: - The company is accused of intentionally deploying an algorithm that it knew would affect more than news publishers.
- Documents also show that multiple Facebook employees tried to raise alarms about the impact of the algorithm and offer possible solutions but were met with minimal or delayed responses from leaders of the team in charge of the process.
- Facebook is accused of using the tactic to exert pressure on Australian lawmakers who were set to vote on the legislation.
- The country was about to launch its COVID-19 vaccination program.
- The Australian Parliament ended up amending the proposed law, which hasn’t applied to Facebook or Meta.
- According to documents, Facebook’s head of partnerships, Campbell Brown, CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and COO Sheryl Sandberg congratulated the team on the thoughtfulness of the strategy and the precision of execution.
- Facebook spokesman Andy Stone, responding to the accusations, said the pages were down due to a technical error, and any suggestion to the contrary is false.
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The U.S. economy added 428,000 jobs in April, marking the 12th consecutive month of job growth of over 400,000. Wages rose 0.3% in April from March and increased 5.5% year over year. Labor force participation rate fell by 0.2% to 62.2%. More: - The size of the U.S. labor market hasn’t quite returned to its pre-pandemic levels. There are about 1.2 million fewer jobs in April compared with Feb. 2020.
- However, the U.S. unemployment rate is still at a healthy 3.6%, just above the pre-pandemic level of 3.5%.
- In March, a record 4.5 million people quit their jobs. There are about 11.5 million job openings and about 6.3 million people looking for work.
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Chipmaker Nvidia has agreed to pay a $5.5M settlement with the SEC for not disclosing the impact crypto mining had on the sales of its graphics cards. According to the SEC, Nvidia’s sales rose 52% on an annual basis in the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2018, which ended June 30, 2017, and by 25% in the third fiscal quarter of 2018, which ended Sept. 30, 2017. Nvidia failed to disclose the impact cryptocurrency mining had on growth. More: - In 2020 and 2021, there was an extreme shortage of Nvidia’s graphics cards as the pandemic fueled a rise in PC gaming.
- In 2021, Nvidia released a new set of graphics cards made for crypto mining called Cryptocurrency Mining Processor.
- It also added software to its existing graphics cards to prevent them from being used for mining.
- Sales of its Cryptocurrency Mining Processor have declined since its release.
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Block, formerly known as Square, reported its Q1 2022 earnings on Thursday after market close. The financial services company reported total net revenue of $3.96B, down 22% YoY. Excluding bitcoin, total net revenue came in at $2.23B, up 44% YoY. Block’s bitcoin revenue was $1.73B, down more than 50% YoY. Block's gross profit came in at $1.29B, up 34% YoY. The company reported a net loss of $204M, or 38 cents a share, down from a net income of $39M reported last year. More: - Block attributed the loss in part to a $66M one-time accelerated stock-based compensation and $42M related to its $29B acquisition of "buy now, pay later" firm Afterpay.
- It shared Afterpay’s $92M Q1 gross profit between Square and CashApp.
- Gross Payment Volume (GPV) was $43.5B, up 31% YoY.
- 91% came from Square and 9% from CashApp.
- CashApp generated $2.46B in revenues and $624M in gross profit, up 26% YoY.
- Square brought in $1.44B in revenue and $661M in gross profit, up 41% YoY.
- Block’s shares jumped over 10% in after-market trading on Thursday. It closed at $96.19 on Friday, up less than 1% for the day.
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Exercise equipment maker Peloton is in talks with potential investors, including private equity firms, to sell 15% to 20% of the company. Peloton’s value has plummeted from a high of about $50B early last year to about $5.06B on Friday. Shares of the company surged during the pandemic as people bought its exercise bikes and treadmills and streamed its virtual classes. More: - As lockdown restrictions have eased and gyms have reopened, the company has seen a significant drop in sales.
- Activist investor Blackwells Capital has urged the company to explore a complete sale.
- Earlier this year, it asked the company to fire its co-founder and CEO, John Foley.
- In February, Peloton hired former Spotify and Netflix CFO Barry McCarthy to serve as its CEO, with Foley transiting to the role of chairman.
- The company also announced plans to cut 2,800 jobs and canceled plans to build a new $400M factory in Ohio.
- McCarthy has said he plans to cut costs and focus on the company’s digital presence and less on exercise equipment sales.
- Subscription-based business models tend to generate higher valuations compared to manufacturers.
- McCarthy hopes to apply the strategies that worked at Netflix and Spotify to Peloton.
- Peloton shares closed at $15.70 on Friday, down over 7.7% for the day.
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U.S. movie theater chain Cinemark Holdings released its Q1 2022 earnings on Friday, reporting a 300% rise in sales compared to the same time last year. The company reported total revenue of $460.5M compared to $114.4M in Q1 2021, when some of its theatres were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Net loss narrowed to $74M, or 62 cents a share, down from $208M reported last year. More: - Admission sales were $235.8M, up 320% YoY.
- Concession sales were $173M, up ~380% YoY.
- The company reported about 33.1 million moviegoers in Q1 with an average ticket price of $7.12 each.
- Concession revenues per patron were $5.23.
- As of March 31, the company had 5,849 screens. It plans to open three new theatres and 42 screens by the end of the year.
- Cinemark shares closed at $15.18 on Friday, up less than 1%.
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- On Friday, a large explosion leveled an iconic hotel in downtown Havana, Cuba. The blast killed at least eight people and is said to have been caused by a gas leak.
- The Times Square building in New York is getting a $500M renovation. Jamestown L.P., the owner of the building, plans to open it up to the public, offering museum-like exhibitions and adding a viewing deck overlooking the square below.
- Bitcoin dropped below $36,000 on Friday following a 10% drop on Thursday as U.S. stocks suffered their worst day so far this year. The cryptocurrency remains highly correlated with the stock market.
- Google’s cloud unit has established a Web3 team to capitalize on the growing crypto sector. Former Citigroup executive James Tromans will lead the new team that will build services to help developers build Web3 applications.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or through email at vanessa@inside.com |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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