Subway Sandwich's Potential Sale, Walt Disney's CEO Faces New Challenge, Second Day of Flight Delays After System Outage: Today's Top Stories

Wall Street Journal

FAA System Outage Causes Second Day of Flight Delays

• Wednesday morning Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) witnessed an outage of the system that sends messages to pilots.
• The delays persisted into a second day, Thursday. However, airlines moved to resume normal operations after the FAA temporarily paused domestic departures, which led to a backlog of flights and congestion.
• Around 460 flights were shown as delayed, and 61 were on Thursday morning.

Google Restructures Healthcare Unit, Reduces Staff by 200

• Alphabet Inc's GOOG healthcare division Verily Life Sciences let go of more than 200 employees under a broader restructuring drive.
• The downsizing will likely affect 15% of roles at Verily. The division will shut operations on a medical software program called Verily Value Suite and several early-stage products.
• Verily has over 1,600 employees.

Subway's Potential Sale: Eat Fresh for $10 Billion or More

• Subway is exploring a potential sale that could value the sandwich chain at more than $10 billion and has retained advisers.
• "As a privately held company, we don't comment on ownership structure and business plans," Subway said. "We continue to be focused on moving the brand forward with our transformational journey to help our franchisees be successful and profitable."

Disney CEO Bog Iger Faces Challenge As Nelson Peltz Plans Proxy Fight For Board Seat

• Walt Disney Co DIS CEO Robert Iger faces a new challenge as activist investor Nelson Peltz is planning to fight for a seat on the company's board.
• Peltz's Trian Fund Management executives met with Disney's top leaders, such as Iger and CFO Christine McCarthy on Tuesday in attempts to forge a deal and avoid a proxy battle, but the talks did not yield results.
• Disney's outgoing Chair Susan Arnold reportedly called Peltz on Wednesday morning to offer him a role as a board observer and ask him to sign a standstill agreement, but he declined.

Staten Island Unionization Effort Remains Intact as Amazon Fails to Provide Proof

• Cornele Overstreet, a regional director with the National Labor Relations Board, supported the unionization of Amazon.Com, Inc AMZN workers in Staten Island, N.Y.
• Overstreet rejected Amazon's appeal as the latter failed to provide sufficient evidence to overturn the election results.
• In November, a federal judge ordered Amazon to stop avenging workers organizing at the Staten Island facility that unionized.

 

Reuters

Starbucks CEO Issues Return to Office Guidelines for Corporate Employees: Three Days a Week

• Starbucks Corporation SBUX has asked its corporate employees to be in the office at least three days a week. 
• "Effective Jan. 30, Starbucks employees within commuting distance would be required to come in to work on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and a third day of the week that the immediate leader and team would mutually decide. They would be free to work from anywhere the remaining two days."

Top Asset Manager BlackRock Bows Down To Macro Uncertainties; Lets Go Of 500 Employees

• Leading asset manager BlackRock, Inc BLK downsized its workforce affecting 500 employees or less than 3% of its employee strength.
• Goldman Sachs Group, Inc GS took a similar step in a sweeping cost-cutting drive.
• BlackRock CFO Gary Shedlin had shared its plans of freezing most hiring and reducing expenses due to short-term performance challenges.
• BlackRock will likely post a 22.4% drop in fourth-quarter profit to $8.09 per share when it reports results on Friday.

Home Depot Plans To Change Hourly Wage Policy

• Home Depot Inc HD is about to change its pay policy for hourly workers, starting January 15.
• The company will pay associates based on their exact time punches.
• The move comes after many employees filed lawsuits and accused Home Depot of lowering their salaries.

Google, Porsche Trying To Seal Deal For App Access

• Luxury car maker Porsche Automobile Holding SE POAHY plans to fully integrate Alphabet Inc  GOOG GOOGL Google software in Porsche cockpits.
• The deal would enable Porsche customers to access Google applications like Google Maps and Google Assistant without needing to connect the car to an Android phone.

 

Bloomberg

Deadpool's Ryan Reynolds' Mint Mobile in T-Mobile's Acquisition Crosshairs

• T-Mobile US, Inc TMUS weighed acquiring "Deadpool" star Ryan Reynolds-backed budget wireless provider Mint Mobile.
• Reynolds owns about 25% of the company.
• Mint Mobile offers budget cell phone plans on the T-Mobile network starting at a monthly plan of $15.
• Reynolds became a part-owner of Mint Mobile in 2019.

 

CNBC

Binance CEO Sets Sights On Industry's Next Bull Run, Plans To Expand Workforce

• Cryptocurrency exchange Binance (BNB/USD) plans to increase its workforce by 15%-30% in 2023, according to its CEO, Changpeng "CZ" Zhao.
• He announced at the Crypto Finance Conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland, highlighting the company's aim to be well-organized ahead of the next crypto bull run.

 

Benzinga

Crypto Analyst Shuts Down Rumors, Says Gemini 'Losers,' Not 'Shady' Dealers

• A popular crypto analyst recently declared that Gemini (GUSD/USD) is not involved in any shady dealings — they're simply "losers."
• Ki Young Ju, the co-founder of CryptoQuant, a crypto analysis platform, revealed that only $9 million Gemini is sitting on exchanges today.

TSMC Guides To Below-Consensus Q1 Amid Continued End Market Weakness, Inventory Corrections

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited TSM reported fourth-quarter revenue that came in below the consensus estimate, but earnings beat expectations, helped by margin expansion achieved on the back of increased sales of advanced chips and cost controls. The company expects the soft patch to continue into the first quarter.
• TSMC reported fourth-quarter net revenue of NT $625.53 billion, up 42.8% year-over-year. Sequentially, the revenue growth was a more modest 2%.

GM, Ford EV Vehicles Called Out by US Transport Safety Watchdog for Road Safety Issues

• National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy flagged concerns about the higher risk of severe injury and death for all road users from heavier curb weights and increasing size, power, and performance of vehicles on roads, including electric vehicles.
• Homendy called out the General Motors Co GM GMC Hummer EV weighing over 9,000 pounds with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,550 pounds. 

Fashion Retailer ASOS Hopes Cost Savings Will Help Profits In FY23

• Online fashion retailer ASOS Plc ASOMF said cost-saving measures amounting to more than £300 million would help drive profits in FY23.
• The cost mitigation measures are already in the delivery phase, and their benefits are expected to be strongly H2-weighted. 
• The company said that these are expected to more than offset headwinds from inflation and return rates annualization throughout the year to generate a modest improvement in full-year profitability from an expected H1 FY23 loss.

Europe Approves Xofluza, Roche's Revolutionary Influenza Antiviral with New Mechanism

• The European Commission has approved Roche Holdings AG's RHHBY Xofluza (baloxavir marboxil) in children aged one year and above for uncomplicated influenza and post-exposure prophylaxis of influenza. 
• Xofluza is the first innovation in the mechanism of action for influenza antiviral approved by the European Commission in almost 20 years.

Why American Airlines Shares Are Flying Higher Today

• American Airlines Group, Inc AAL said it expects fourth-quarter revenue to be better than expected on robust demand for air travel through the holiday season.
• American Airlines expects revenue to rise between 16% - 17% from Q4 of 2019, above the consensus of $12.70 billion. The earlier growth guidance was 11% - 13%.

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