History as written to soothe the bagholders.
Current Disney CEO Bob Iger didn’t make Bob Chapek’s short-lived takeover any easier, according to this revealing report from CNBC.
Beginning May 2nd, prices on vehicles such as the Mustang Mach-E EV could jump as much as $2,000, which Ford says will arrive in US dealer lots by late June. The news comes after Ford declared the Trump administration’s tariffs are adding about $2.5 billion of costs for the company in 2025.
Drop-shipping packages straight from China to shoppers’ homes was kind of the whole point of retailers like Temu. In response to Donald Trump’s tariffs, Temu now tells Wired that it’s switching to a “local fulfillment model” where orders come from US warehouses. With the de minimis exception officially dead (at least for now), it’s no surprise that retailers are scrambling — especially sites like Temu, whose wide product offerings depended on the exception.
The increase in AI tools, deepfake technology, and fully remote jobs following the covid pandemic has enabled a new kind of scam: workers who take jobs with US and European companies under false identities and send their salaries to the North Korean government.
The US government estimates that teams of pretenders can earn up to $3 million each year, and workers can go undetected at companies for many months.
Monthly active users have increased 10 percent year-over-year to 678 million, up from 615 million, while subscribers jumped by 12 percent to 268 million. CEO Daniel Ek says “the short term may bring some noise” amid wider economic concerns, but that the platform’s freemium model will reassure customers to stick with Spotify “even when things feel more uncertain.”
Protecting broadband access is out — fighting diversity and the free press are in.
While products shipping from Temu’s US warehouses are currently spared from import surcharges, Bloomberg found that bestselling items coming over from China are displaying taxes that greatly exceed product value — and US consumers will be paying the additional costs.
During Semafor’s World Economy Summit, Sarandos said the company still has “enormous room to grow:”
In the previous five years, we’ve doubled our revenue, we grew profits 10 times, and we grew our market cap three times. So there is a path to it, obviously, but it all is incredibly dependent on executing well.
On April 10th, a Microsoft executive stated that the company was “slowing or pausing some early-stage datacenter infrastructure projects.” Today, CNBC reports a note from Wells Fargo analysts stating that they have heard a similar story about Amazon.
The article cites industry sources saying AWS has paused some leasing discussions, holding off on new projects without canceling already signed deals.
That’s according to a release from the company about a filing with the SEC, which says:
Today, we’re sharing that Figma has confidentially submitted an S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, giving us the option to go public, pending SEC review.
That’s not a... Figma of your imagination. Last year, Figma CEO Dylan Field hinted to The Verge deputy editor Alex Heath that the company was looking at going public following Adobe’s thwarted acquisition of it.
From meme stocks to bank accounts, how Robinhood is expanding its turf.
The investment firm Silver Lake will purchase 51 percent of Altera, a programmable chips company Intel acquired in 2015, for $4.46 billion.
The deal comes less than a month after Lip-Bu Tan took over as Intel’s CEO, reportedly with plans to overhaul the struggling chipmaker’s manufacturing business.
CNBC points out a US Customs notice about a glitch affecting the code that’s supposed to exempt freight already on the water from the new tariffs, whether from countries under the 90-day delay / 10 percent hike, or China’s increased 145 percent rate.
Normally, when a U.S. importer pays for their freight, they file both the cargo release forms and their financial papers, so they can pay for their cargo. To keep the cargo moving, Customs is advising importers to file the cargo release form now, and file the financial form later, once the glitch is corrected.
For now, that means the tariffs are not being collected by the U.S. government
Prada is reportedly set to acquire Versace from Capri Holdings for $1.38 billion, scoring a $200 million discount on the previous valuation of the deal due to global trade uncertainties.
Capri, which is grappling with debts and weak market demand, was previously blocked by the FTC from selling itself to Coach owner Tapestry for $8.5 billion in 2023. Offloading Versace, albeit without Donatella Versace at the helm, could help Capri turn things around.
That’s according to a report from the Bank of England’s financial policy committee, warning that advanced AI trading models may learn to manipulate markets to “exploit profit-making opportunities” in a way that destabilizes financial industries or intentionally causes a crisis.
The report also warned that financial AI models could be manipulated by cyber attackers for money laundering schemes or funding terrorism.
Reuters reports US memory manufacturer Micron has told customers it will add surcharges to some of its products once Trump’s tariffs take effect. Micron’s customers put those chips are largely made in China, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore, in products like laptops, servers, and cars, which will also get more expensive.
The report quotes an executive at an unnamed Asian memory chip manufacturer:
“If they don’t want to bear the taxes, we cannot ship the products. We cannot be held accountable for the decisions made by your government...With this kind of tax rate, no company can generously say, ‘I’ll take on the burden’.”
Donald Trump’s tariffs threaten to blow up Shein’s supply chain, which heavily depends on Chinese manufacturing. Bloomberg reports that the Chinese government didn’t like Shein’s plans to move some of its manufacturing out of China — Shein wants to avoid tariffs as much as it can, and the Chinese government reportedly is looking to minimize manufacturing job losses.
[bloomberg.com]
After the markets reacted positively to a false report about a potential 90-day pause on tariffs, Donald Trump has decided to push the other way. After China responded to his new tariff plan with retaliatory tariffs of its own and apparently ended negotiations on a solution for TikTok (welcome to the trade war), he posted a new message on Truth Social Monday morning:
...if China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th. Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!
Somewhere in the loop of Reuters / CNBC newswires connected to stock traders’ terminals and the @deitaone account on X that usually reposts wire reports, a comment from Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett was reported as though the White House would consider a 90-day pause on tariffs for countries other than China.
The only problem is that while his response to being asked about a pause in a Fox News interview started with the word “yeah,” it was not a yes to the question being asked. The White House claimed the whole thing was fake news, and prices quickly dropped again.
After some time away, the head of UiPath is placing a big bet on agentic AI being the future of automation.
