Student protests against the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict have brought battalions of police in riot gear to college campuses, enraged some billionaire donors, and led to canceled graduation ceremonies. One constant refrain at these protests is the call for college endowment funds to divest from Israel and the many American companies that do business there. Tech companies such as Google and Amazon and defense contractors such as Boeing and Lockheed are on that list. “These endowments are famously opaque,” said Alison Taylor, clinical associate professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business. “So there is very often not any information…
Author: insighter
When politicians were battling over the debt ceiling last summer, many Americans believed Congress wouldn’t let the country run out of cash and default. After all, both parties need to agree for the sake of the American people, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was just a call away for advice. However, the situation might not be so certain come January when the 2023 debt ceiling suspension ends. The U.S. government continues to spend eye-watering sums, but in early January 2025, the nation will also be coming out of an election—and the months after the last presidential race, in which Joe…
Receiving notification that you’ve won a business grant — one you don’t remember applying for — could seem like a stroke of luck. It’s not. It’s a scam. Limited access to capital can make a small-business owner especially vulnerable to grant scams, according to Carolina Martinez, CEO of Cameo, a California-based microbusiness network. Only about half of small-business financing applicants are approved for the full amount they requested, according to the 2023 Small Business Credit Survey from the Federal Reserve Banks. It also doesn’t help that many grant scams are quite convincing — with fake websites, working call centers and…
Omar Marques | Lightrocket | Getty Images GameStop shares tumbled more than 20% in premarket Friday after the video game retailer said it plans to sell additional shares and reported preliminary results that showed a sales decline in the first quarter. In a new regulatory filing, the firm said it’s selling up to 45 million class A common shares in an at-the-market offering. The offering comes after GameStop’s stock surged earlier this week in a brief revival of the meme stock trade. Meanwhile, in a separate statement, GameStop said it now expects net sales to be in the range of…
Shoppers line up to enter a Cartier store, a unit of Cie. Financiere Richemont SA, on Canton Road in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Hong Kong. Billy H.C. Kwok | Bloomberg | Getty Images Shares of Swiss luxury group Richemont climbed as much as 6.3% Friday after the company reported record full-year sales, even as Asia-Pacific spending waned. The Cartier owner said group sales rose 3% at actual exchange rates to an all-time high of 20.6 billion euros ($22.38 billion) in the financial year ending in March, despite a weakening outlook for luxury brands. Shares pared gains slightly after…
The Education Department is extending a key student loan forgiveness deadline and delaying the relief rollout. Borrowers now have through June 30 to consolidate certain types of federal student loans to qualify for the one-time income-driven repayment (IDR) account adjustment, which counts more past periods of repayment toward IDR forgiveness. The account adjustment will be fully implemented in borrowers’ accounts sometime in September. The announcement extends the program’s timeline by two months. Previously, the consolidation deadline was April 30, and the account adjustment was slated to wrap up by July 1. “The department is working swiftly to ensure borrowers get…
There is no I in ‘team’, as countless sports coaches have reminded athletes over the years. On the other hand, there also isn’t an I in ‘very large sums of cash’, but it doesn’t seem to have prevented the world’s leading sports stars from accumulating precisely that. According to the annual Forbes World’s Highest Paid Athletes list, the top 50 sports people made a combined total of nearly $3.9 billion last year, both on and off the field, ranging from soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo’s $260 million haul, to the more modest $45.2 million for basketball star Devin Booker. These figures…
Chet Kapoor, chairman and CEO of DataStax. Datastax As a teen, Chet Kapoor dreamed of working for tech mogul Steve Jobs. One day, that dream became a reality when Kapoor was hired as an intern at software company NeXT, founded by Jobs. “Steve was this iconic individual and I didn’t know him … I was the guy that got coffee for the guy that made coffee,” Kapoor — who is now CEO of generative AI company DataStax — told CNBC Make It. “I was one step below the person that opened doors but that didn’t matter because I worked 20…
Customers use automated teller machines (ATM) at an HSBC Holdings Plc bank branch at night in Hong Kong, China, on Saturday, Feb 16, 2019. Anthony Kwan | Bloomberg | Getty Images Shares of HSBC Holdings fell over 3% in Hong Kong on Friday after reports that its top shareholder Ping An Insurance might be looking to cut its stake in the British bank. Despite the fall, HSBC’s share price is still at its highest since August 2018, trading at about 68 Hong Kong dollars per share. Stock Chart IconStock chart icon Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported the…
One is a financial technology company, or fintech, that offers high-interest mobile banking services with no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements. If you’re looking for a banking experience with a solid rewards program, low fees, and convenient spending options, then you’ll want to place One on your shortlist. How does its features compare to other online banking fintechs? We explore One’s key features to help you decide if it’s the right fit for your situation. One offers up to 5% cash back on debit card purchases through select brands Earn 3% cash back on Walmart purchases, up to $50…
The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic came with many “new normals,” not least hybrid working and rising prices. Suggestions are growing that the latter may not have been entirely the result of extraneous factors. A study of 17,000 British firms by the country’s Unite Union found that on average they increased their profit margins by 30% in the post-COVID period compared with 2018-2019. The alleged price-gouging was rampant across industries, from supermarkets to energy firms and even private equity-backed veterinary chains. In total, 60%, or 9,651 of the companies analyzed increased their profit margins in the post-COVID period. It occurred…
Pizza is a global food synonymous with game nights, parties and just about any other occasion. When you opt to have pizza delivered to you, there is usually an option to tip the delivery person online or in person. At this point things can get awkward, because how much is an acceptable tip to give? We’ll provide the answer to this question and more below. How much should you tip a pizza delivery driver? Delivery drivers can be categorized as service industry workers whether they work on behalf of a food delivery app like DoorDash or Uber Eats, or the…