Elon Musk' Lost Millions' Over $8 'Blue Check' Fixation, FTX Hacker Holds $339M In Crypto, Amazon To Cut Workforce Starting This Week: Top Stories Tuesday, Nov. 15

Reuters

Australian health authorities have recommended that a fifth COVID-19 vaccine shot is not necessary, despite average daily cases having been 47% higher last week than the week before.
The recommendation follows evidence from Singapore's recent wave showed that severe illness and death were rare among the vaccinated and that a fifth shot had minimal impact on virus transmission.

Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com's JD fintech arm is eyeing to go public as early as the end of 2022 after a first failed attempt earlier this year.
JD Technology is looking for Beijing's market regulators' approval to go public in Hong Kong.
The listing of the fintech arm of JD.com will be one of the biggest initial public offerings of a Chinese company in Hong Kong since a sweeping regulatory crackdown by Xi Jinping's government sent shock waves through the tech industry in China two years ago.

Wall Street Journal

Estee Lauder Nears Deal To Acquire Tom Ford

Estee Lauder Companies Inc EL is reportedly nearing a deal to acquire luxury clothing brand Tom Ford for about $2.8 billion.
If the transaction goes through, it will be Estee Lauder's largest-ever acquisition.
The cosmetics giant's proposal prevailed, beating its competitors, including Kering SA PPRUY.

Bloomberg

Walt Disney Co DIS will air the first two episodes of its Star Wars TV series Andor on several broadcast and cable TV outlets over the Thanksgiving weekend.
Beginning November 23, non-Disney+ subscribers can watch the two episodes on ABC, FX, Freeform cable channels, and the company's Hulu streaming service.
Andor is a new series set five years before the events in the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

New York Times

Amazon.com Inc AMZN plans to lay off approximately 10,000 people in corporate and technology jobs starting this week, marking the most significant job cuts in the company's history.
The cuts will focus on Amazon's devices organization, including the voice-assistant Alexa, its retail division, and human resources.

Benzinga

One of Elon Musk's missteps at Twitter is introducing the $8 subscription service for blue check verification, which has since been rolled back.
While it was on, the service wreaked havoc on companies, celebrities, institutions, and even governments, as fake accounts impersonating legitimate accounts spread damaging messages on Twitter, using the verified account authentication provided by the blue tick badge.
One such affected party was large-cap pharma Eli Lilly And Co LLY. A fake account claiming to be that of the company tweeted late on Thursday that the diabetes drug insulin would be offered free of cost.

Apple Inc AAPL supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. TSM shares jumped nearly 8% on Tuesday after billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) disclosed a new $4.1 billion stake in the company.
The conglomerate, in a filing, said it acquired about 60.1 million American depository receipts in TSMC in the last quarter ending September 30.

The unknown individual who allegedly hacked the now-defunct FTX exchange (FTT/USD) still holds $339 million of digital assets.
According to blockchain intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence, the hacker holds $215 million worth Ethereum (ETH/USD), $48 million worth of Maker's stablecoin DAI (DAI/USD), $44 million worth of Binance's native token (BNB/USD), $4 million worth of Tether (USDT/USD) and $3.8 million worth of Polygon (MATIC/USD) being lost.

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum today, along with 39 other state attorneys general, announced a landmark $391.5 million settlement with Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google over its location tracking practices.
Google misled its users into thinking they had turned off location tracking in their account settings when, in fact, Google continued to collect their location information.
Google has agreed to improve its location tracking disclosures significantly, and user controls started in 2023.

Vodafone Group Plc VOD reported first-half FY23 revenue growth of 2% year-on-year to €22.93 billion, driven by service revenue growth and higher equipment sales. Group service revenue grew 2.5% Y/Y to €19.21 billion.
A decline in Germany and Italy impacted group service revenue trends and Spain.
Adjusted EBITDAaL declined by 2.6% Y/Y to €7.24 billion, driven by a material prior year legal settlement and commercial underperformance in Germany.
Vodafone cut the Adjusted EBITDAaL from the previous €15.0 billion - €15.5 billion to €15.0 billion - €15.2 billion. Vodafone also reduced Adjusted free cash flow from €5.3 billion to .€5.1 billion.

Illumina Inc ILMN said it was cutting 5% of its global workforce to realign its operating expenses to reflect the current macroeconomic environment.
The company expects to take a restructuring charge, including expenses associated with optimizing facilities, in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Home Depot Inc HD reported third-quarter FY22 sales growth of 5.6% year-on-year to $38.87 billion, beating the consensus of $38.01 billion.
EPS of $4.24 beat the analyst consensus of $4.13.
The average ticket in Q3 was $89.67, an 8.8% growth, and sales per square foot climbed 5.3% to $618.50.

Walmart Inc WMT reported third-quarter FY23 sales growth of 8.7% year-on-year to $152.81 billion, beating the consensus of $147.51 billion.
Walmart's U.S. Q3 comp sales grew 8.2% and 17.4% on a two-year stack. eCommerce growth was 16% and 24% on a two-year stack.
Adjusted EPS was $1.50, beating the consensus of $1.32.

ASML Holding N.V. ASML updated its view on demand outlook, capacity plans, and business model at the Investor Day meeting.
ASML expects 2025 annual revenue between approximately €30 billion - €40 billion with a gross margin between 54% - 56%.
ASML sees 2030 annual revenue between approximately €44 billion - €60 billion, with a gross margin between about 56% - 60%.
ASML plans to buy back shares up to €12.0 billion, including up to 2 million shares for employee share plans.

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