As more Americans seek financial help, a team of industry leaders is introducing a first-of-a-kind solution: unbiased financial education, resources, and services all Americans can use and enjoy
MIAMI, Nov. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — At a time when public awareness and the need for a solid financial position have reached all-time highs, a nationally noted team is introducing a new platform to provide what’s been missing: unbiased, engaging, fact-based financial education, resources, and services for every American. The Institute of Financial Wellness is the first multi-media platform providing free access to all the financial information and resources people need to develop customized strategies for every stage of life, Business Loan.
The team of financial services thought-leaders, digital media veterans, and financial professionals developed the first-of-a-kind platform, as well as a Financial Professional Network which is available to enable customers to implement their customized plans.
“Based on my 25 years of experience running large financial services firms and leading hundreds of financial professionals, we recognized the need to establish the Institute of Financial Wellness to provide engaging, unbiased, fact-based information giving Americans the clarity and confidence needed to make the right financial decisions for their lives,” said Erik Sussman, IFW CEO & Co-Founder. “Importantly, we ensure that our customer journey helps people take action by selecting a Financial Professional who is committed to the same holistic and unbiased approach that addresses all aspects of financial well-being.”
Added Darren Sussman, IFW President and Co-Founder: “Financial education does not have to be boring, elitist, or hard to understand. What sets the Institute of Financial Wellness apart is our commitment to deliver engaging, thoughtful, and unbiased programming that is curated in ways similar to other categories like science, the arts, or sports — so people actually understand and enjoy it!”
Specifically, here’s how it works. Consumers:
Begin by reviewing educational resources and content relevant to their unique life stages
Register and participate in a financial educational webinar relevant to them
Sign up to receive a free personalized report about their current situation
Connect with a human IFW Concierge to gather information to produce the report
Select a financial professional to review and explain their personalized report
Meet with their selected financial professional regarding recommendations, potential solutions and implementation of a customized plan
Every step of the way, the IFW team monitors the process and ensures the consumers have favorable experiences, and also provides ongoing content, education, guidance and support.
About the Institute of Financial Wellness The Institute of Financial Wellness is America’s first multi-media financial education company providing free access to the unbiased, engaging, fact-based information Americans need to ensure their best lives. Established by professionals with decades of experience running financial services firms and media companies, the IFW seeks to serve as America’s most trusted company for financial education, resources and services. More information is available at www.the-ifw.com
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Michigan 4-H is offering Financial Fitness and Fun sessions for youth through live online and self-guided formats.
Being involved in a financial literacy program can prepare youths for lifelong financial success. According to Next Generation Personal Finance (NGPF), high school graduates with guaranteed financial education are 21{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} less likely to carry a balance on a credit card while in college, use subsidized student loans 13{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} more often, and are 3.5{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} more likely to submit the free application for federal student aid (FAFSA). Students who receive financial education are also less likely to fall prey to high-cost predatory loans than their peers who don’t have access to a personal finance curriculum. A national study by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) found that nearly half of Americans (49{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}) who have received more than 10 hours of financial education report spending less than they earn, compared with 36{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} of those people who received less than 10 hours of financial education.
According to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, a national evaluation of a teen financial education program showed that young people who were involved in a financial education curriculum for as little as 10 hours not only significantly increased their understanding of money management, but also improved their financial behavior in the ensuing months.
Michigan State University Extension and Michigan 4-H have embraced providing financial literacy education through a grant from the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs. The 4-H Financial Fitness and Fun program offers youth the opportunity to learn about setting financial goals, saving, budgeting, banking basics, credit, and much more through 10 financial education modules packed with fun lessons, activities, and games. Topics include:
Online modules are offered for an interactive self-guided course using Nearpod. Live online sessions will be offered again starting in late February 2022. Keep an eye on the MSU Extension calendar . The first 100 youth to complete all ten sessions either in a live session or through Nearpod lesson on the website will receive a $50 incentive.
MSU Extension and Michigan 4-H youth development help prepare young people for successful futures. As a result of career exploration and workforce preparation activities, thousands of Michigan youth are better equipped to make important decisions about their professional future, ready to contribute to the workforce, and able to take fiscal responsibility in their personal lives. For more information or resources on career exploration, workforce preparation, financial education, or entrepreneurship, contact 4-HCareerPrep@msu.edu.
Some U.S. Navy sailors have been forced to take out loans over months-long delays in pay to some service members who earned increases in their housing allowances this year due to recent marriages or moving somewhere with a higher cost of living.
“This is happening a little bit of everywhere,” Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society Vice President Gillian Gonzalez said in an interview with Military.com. “It doesn’t seem to hit one geographic area more than another.”
Gonzalez recounted that her group has seen an uptick in loan applications from sailors who are struggling to keep up with living expenses but did not have an exact figure on the increase.
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The U.S. Navy is looking to develop amphibious vessels that work in the sea and air, according to budget materials submitted for the fiscal year of 2022. (iStock)
Cmdr. Matt Knight, public affairs officer at Navy Personnel Command, told the outlet that the Department of Defense requires the Navy to process Basic Allowance for Housing change requests within 30 days, but noted delays can happen.
“Navy Personnel Command and our subordinate commands take every measure to ensure the volume of transactions does not exceed our capacity, but occasionally backlogs do occur due to a variety of reasons. These backlogs are resolved as quickly as possible to limit the impacts to sailors,” Knight said.
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He declined to provide details to the outlet on how many sailors are affected by the delays.
Gonzalez said that one sailor was not paid for three months due to an enlistment extension and pay error, and was forced to use up savings. Navy-Marine Corps Relief sent the sailor $2,500 to the sailor at home due to them being under COVID-19 quarantine.
Other sailors have spoken out about the issues on social media. One sailor posted on Reddit that she and her husband were married in July but had not received basic allowance for housing in the Washington, D.C., area. They took out commercial loans as a temporary fix, according to the post reported by Military.com.
U.S. Navy sailors (Credit: iStock) (iStock)
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“My case has been open for over a month with NO action … I am just … Beyond frustrated,” the sailor wrote.
A personnel specialist first class told Military.com that the problem comes down to the consolidation of personnel support and customer support detachments that began in 2017.
“Shutting down dozens of processing centers took that transaction load and dropped it in one building’s worth of people,” the anonymous petty officer told Military.com. “Our only means of communication with them is through [MyNavy Career Center, or MNCC], which isn’t always great because it’s [mostly] civilians with a knowledge database … all they can do is look up tickets and give a status.”
WASHINGTON, DC – SEPTEMBER 17: Members of the Navy Ceremonial Guard stand for the national anthem during a ceremony for National POW/MIA Recognition Day, at the U.S. Navy Memorial on September 17, 2021 in Washington, DC. The ceremony honored all military personnel who were prisoners of war or who are still missing in action. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images) (Kevin Dietsch)
The petty officer added that the 30-day timeline is “laughable” due to personnel specialists working on a sailor’s pay package and sending it to a processing system that has 30 days to work on it. The system then typically takes another 30 days to process, which is followed by another 30 to 45 days for review.
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“In a Hershey and Hallmark world, 30 days would be great,” he told Military.com.
The Facebook Papers, released by a whistle-blower, showed that roughly a third of teenage girls who already felt bad about their bodies said Instagram made them feel worse.Credit…Haven Daley/Associated Press
By Cecilia Kang and Mike Isaac
A bipartisan group of state attorneys general said on Thursday they had opened an investigation into Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, for promoting its social media app Instagram while knowing of mental and emotional harms caused by the service.
At least 11 states are involved in the investigation, including California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont, as well as the District of Columbia.
Maura Healey, the Massachusetts attorney general and one of the leaders of the investigation, said the states were examining whether the company’s actions violated state consumer protection laws and put the public at risk.
“Facebook, now Meta, has failed to protect young people on its platforms and instead chose to ignore or, in some cases, double down on known manipulations that pose a real threat to physical and mental health — exploiting children in the interest of profit,” Ms. Healey said.
The move comes after a trove of documents from a former employee detailed research inside of the social media company that suggested teenagers suffered body image issues when using Instagram. The documents, called The Facebook Papers, were shared with journalists in October. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the documents and the issues at Instagram with the help of Frances Haugen, the whistle-blower.
Doug Peterson, the Nebraska attorney general and another leader of the investigation, said the states would examine “the techniques utilized by Meta to increase the frequency and duration of engagement by young users and the resulting harms caused by such extended engagement.”
“When social media platforms treat our kids as mere commodities to manipulate for longer screen time engagement & data extraction, it becomes imperative for state attorneys general to engage our investigative authority under our consumer protection laws,” Mr. Peterson said in a tweet.
The states’ investigation adds to building regulatory pressure on Meta and other giants of Silicon Valley.
Ms. Haugen and public interest groups have filed at least nine complaints to the Securities and Exchange Commission claiming Meta mislead investors about its efforts to protect users from disinformation and hate. The Federal Trade Commission and dozens of states have filed antitrust lawsuits to break up Meta, and members of Congress have also vowed to create privacy, speech and antitrust legislation aimed at reining in the power of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.
Spanning tens of thousands of pages and gigabytes of data, the Facebook Papers show a company struggling to deal with many issues that come as a byproduct of its enormous scale and billions of users, spanning topics like misinformation, addiction and manipulation of users around the world. Much of the information came in the form of detailed reports investigating the issues, laid out by the company’s research division.
Meta has said the research efforts are intended to address the issues they pinpoint, with the aim of improving the company’s products and services.
The documents detail that roughly a third of teenage girls in a survey who already felt bad about their bodies said Instagram made them feel worse. “Comparisons on Instagram can change how young women view and describe themselves,” the documents said.
Meta has disputed the characterization of the initial reporting on Instagram’s issues, saying that the story lacked context, left out vital information and was a poor interpretation of the data obtained by The Journal. The company argued that on 11 of 12 well-being issues, the surveyed teenage girls said that Instagram made them feel “better and not worse.”
“It is simply not accurate that this research demonstrates Instagram is ‘toxic’ for teen girls,” Pratiti Raychoudhury a vice president and head of research at Facebook, said in a company blog post in September.
In a statement on Thursday, a representative for Meta strongly disputed the claims made by the state attorneys general against Instagram.
“These accusations are false and demonstrate a deep misunderstanding of the facts,” said Liza Crenshaw, a spokeswoman for the company. “While challenges in protecting young people online impact the entire industry, we’ve led the industry in combating bullying and supporting people struggling with suicidal thoughts, self-injury, and eating disorders.”
Sean O’Brien claimed victory in his bid to lead the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.Credit…Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe, via Getty Images
The head of a Boston local who urged a more assertive stand toward employers like the United Parcel Service — and an aggressive drive to organize workers at Amazon — declared victory Thursday in his bid to lead the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
If the result is confirmed, the victory by Sean O’Brien, an international vice president of the Teamsters, would put a new imprint on the nearly 1.4 million-member union after more than two decades of leadership by James P. Hoffa, who did not seek another five-year term.
The outcome appears to reflect frustration over the union’s most recent contract with UPS and a growing dissatisfaction with the tenure of Mr. Hoffa, whose father ran the union from 1957 to 1971.
With about 90 percent of the ballots tallied, Mr. O’Brien had more than two-thirds of the vote in his race against Steve Vairma, a fellow international vice president who had been endorsed by Mr. Hoffa. The election was conducted by mail-in ballots that were due Monday.
Mr. O’Brien, 49, railed against the contract that the union negotiated with UPS — where more than 300,000 Teamsters work — for allowing the company to create a category of employees who work on weekends and top out at a lower wage, among other perceived flaws.
“If we’re negotiating concessionary contracts and we’re negotiating substandard agreements, why would any member, why would any person want to join the Teamsters union?” Mr. O’Brien said at a candidate forum in September in which he frequently tied his opponent to Mr. Hoffa.
Mr. O’Brien has also criticized Mr. Hoffa’s approach to Amazon, which many in the labor movement regard as an existential threat. Although the union approved a resolution at its recent convention pledging to “supply all resources necessary” to unionize Amazon workers and eventually create a division overseeing that organizing, Mr. O’Brien said the efforts were too late.
A group of cryptocurrency fans lost a much-anticipated bid for a rare first printing of the U.S. Constitution at a Sotheby’s auction on Thursday.
The group, ConstitutionDAO, conducted a frenzied, weeklong online crowdfunding campaign to place a bid on the artifact, one of only 13 copies known to exist. It had raised more than $40 million in less than a week for the bid.
The final sale price was $43.2 million, according to a Sotheby’s spokesman. The winner’s identity was not immediately known. Minutes after the gavel, ConstitutionDAO confirmed the loss on Twitter.
“While this wasn’t the outcome we hoped for, we still made history tonight with ConstitutionDAO,” it said, adding that contributors would have their donations refunded, minus fees.
ConstitutionDAO is what’s known as a decentralized autonomous organization, a new type of group that is governed by holders of a cryptocurrency token and enshrines its rules in blockchain-based “smart contracts.” The group was formed last week, and its last-minute effort to raise money for the auction became a cause célèbre among cryptocurrency fans online.
Crypto-collectives have bought high-priced art before, including a Wu-Tang Clan album, “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” which was bought by the anonymous investor collective PleasrDAO last month for $4 million. Had it won the auction, ConstitutionDAO would have made the biggest purchase by a DAO, and the first of such a prominent physical artifact.
The copy of the Constitution sold by Sotheby’s previously belonged to Dorothy Goldman, the widow of a New York real estate developer who bought it in 1988 for $165,000. Proceeds from the auction will go to the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation, the auction house said.
The auction on Thursday night produced a frenzy of excitement among ConstitutionDAO participants, with thousands watching a livestream to cheer on the group’s bid. At first, it was not clear whether the winning bidder represented ConstitutionDAO or not, and several people affiliated with the group mistakenly claimed victory.
But after the loss became clear, the mood in the group’s Discord chat darkened. As they talked about getting their money back, some participants began making plans for the future.
“Okay so we didn’t get the Constitution,” one user wrote. “What are we going to bid on now?”
Miky Lee, bottom right, at the 2020 Academy Awards ceremony. Ms. Lee, the vice chair of CJ Entertainment, has been nudging the South Korean company to expand its foothold in Hollywood.Credit…Noel West for The New York Times
The South Korean media conglomerate whose entertainment arm produced the winner of the 2019 Oscar for best picture, “Parasite,” has acquired a majority stake in the scripted arm of Endeavor Content, a subsidiary of the entertainment company Endeavor Group.
Upon closure of the $775 million deal, which was announced late Thursday night, the South Korean conglomerate, CJ ENM, will own 80 percent of the business and the Endeavor Group 20 percent. The companies said they expected the deal to close in the first quarter of 2022.
“At the end of the day, CJ ENM strives to become a major global studio that encompasses content that appeals to a global audience — like this deal with Endeavor Content, we will continue to expand our presence in the global market,” Kang Ho-Sung, the conglomerate’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Endeavor is being forced to reduce its ownership stake in its scripted content business as a result of a settlement this year with the Writers Guild of America, whose writers went on strike to protest what they saw as a conflict of interest at agencies that owned both talent representation businesses and production companies.
Endeavor is not required to sell its unscripted assets and will maintain 100 percent ownership of that business.
Endeavor Content was formed in 2017 by Graham Taylor and Chris Rice. Today, it calls itself a global film and television studio, and it has produced such projects as “Nine Perfect Strangers,” a Hulu mini-series starring Nicole Kidman, and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut, “The Lost Daughter.” It owns a minority stake in Bruna Papandrea’s production company, Made Up Stories, in addition to PictureStart and Media Res.
Mr. Taylor and Mr. Rice will remain co-chief executives of the new company.
CJ has been expanding its foothold in Hollywood in recent years. Miky Lee, the vice chair of CJ Entertainment, the Hollywood arm of CJ ENM, rose to the national stage when she accepted the best picture Oscar for “Parasite,” but she was an industry player before then, nudging CJ toward Hollywood in the 1990s with a stake in DreamWorks. Most recently, she invested $100 million in David Ellison’s Skydance Media and was elected vice chair of the board of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
“Having known Miky Lee for more than 25 years, I’m confident that CJ ENM will be excellent stewards of the studio, accelerating and amplifying its projects on a global stage,” Ari Emanuel, the chief executive of Endeavor, said in a statement.
CVS operates more than 9,900 retail stores in the United States.Credit…Nicole Craine for The New York Times
CVS will close about 300 stores a year in the next three years, the company said on Thursday, as the pharmacy chain focuses on offering more health care services and expanding its digital services.
The closures, which will affect about 9 percent of the company’s stores, are part of an effort to realign its retail strategy, CVS said in statement on its website.
The company operates more than 9,900 stores in the United States, according to its website. A CVS spokesman said the company did not expect CVS pharmacies in Target stores to be affected.
“We remain focused on the competitive advantage provided by our presence in thousands of communities across the country, which complements our rapidly expanding digital presence,” said Karen S. Lynch, the president and chief executive of CVS Health.
CVS is aiming to remake many of its stores. Some will offer primary care services, and others will offer broader health care services than standard pharmacies, such as treatment for diabetes. The company will also maintain traditional CVS stores, which provide prescription services and health products.
“Hybrid models really took off during the pandemic, including rapid delivery services, curbside pickup and buy online/pick up in-store,” said Ted Rossman, a senior analyst at Bankrate.com. “Those approaches could be particularly advantageous for CVS.”
CVS said earlier this month that about 70 percent of CVS Pharmacy customers were enrolled in its text messaging program.
“We continue to modernize our operating systems and enhance the integration of pharmacy models, simplifying consumer interactions and driving further engagement with our customers,” Ms. Lynch said during the company’s earnings conference call on Nov. 3.
It’s the latest investment deal for Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon, whose financial backing is valued as a stamp of approval for consumer brands.Credit…John Salangsang/Invision, via Associated Press
Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and the Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd are joining Blackstone in investing in Spanx, the DealBook newsletter was first to report. Blackstone closed its deal to acquire a majority stake in the shapewear brand that values it at $1.2 billion on Thursday.
Founded more than 20 years ago, Spanx has become synonymous with the foundation garments it sells. Ms. Winfrey helped put the brand on the map in its early days when in 2000 she named Spanx her favorite product of the year. (Sara Blakely, Spanx’s founder, said Ms. Winfrey had earlier validated her business idea when the talk show host told the audience one day that she cut the feet off her pantyhose.)
“I’m happy to be part of the evolution,” Ms. Winfrey said about the brand in a statement.
It’s the latest investment deal for Ms. Winfrey and Ms. Witherspoon, whose financial backing is valued as a stamp of approval for consumer brands. The TV and film stars are also familiar partners for Blackstone. Ms. Winfrey invested alongside Blackstone in Oatly, the oat milk brand, which went public this year. Blackstone also recently acquired Ms. Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine production studio, adding her to the board of its parent media company. Ms. Wolfe Herd’s Bumble, a dating app, was acquired by Blackstone in 2019 before going public this year.
Ms. Winfrey, Ms. Witherspoon and Ms. Wolfe Herd are investing in Spanx directly, outside any Blackstone fund. They were also joined by the investment funds G9 Ventures and Able Partners.
Blackstone and Spanx had previously said they intended to create a board comprising only women. Ms. Blakely, who put the company up for sale this year without ever having taken on outside investment, is keeping a significant equity stake in the business.
“In addition to developing a remarkable product and business that literally supports women every day, Sara has become a role model for leveraging your success to elevate other women,” Ms. Witherspoon said in a statement.
Saule Omarova appearing in 2018 before the Senate Banking Committee, which conducted her confirmation hearing on Thursday.Credit…Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Republican senators took turns describing her as a communist, a socialist and a radical on Thursday, but it was the circumspect stance of moderate Democrats that spoke loudest about Saule Omarova’s prospects for becoming one of the country’s top banking regulators.
Ms. Omarova, President Biden’s pick to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, has faced steep opposition from industry groups and Republican lawmakers, with critics at times suggesting that her birthplace — the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan — and her education in Moscow were reason to be suspicious of her.
During Thursday’s hearing to consider her confirmation, she sought to fend off critics on the Senate Banking Committee by declaring her devotion to American capitalism. “I fell in love with this country and its people from Day 1,” she said, praising the United States’ “dynamic and diverse markets.”
Ms. Omarova, a Cornell Law School professor, worked with banks as a lawyer at the white-shoe firm Davis Polk & Wardwell and was a policy adviser in the Treasury Department during the presidency of George W. Bush. But in her academic career she has explored ideas that would amount to sweeping overhauls to the structure of the financial system, including a plan she sketched out to let the Federal Reserve provide bank accounts to small-time customers using its own digital currency.
Ms. Omarova has also proposed a new infrastructure investment authority that would pair private money with government input to fund projects that companies might not deem profitable on their own, and she has often denounced the way banks and their leaders keep spoils of boom times for themselves, then turn to the public for bailouts when things go wrong.
In her testimony, Ms. Omarova said that her writings were intended to be “part of an ongoing academic debate” and that it was not right for readers of her work to assume she was endorsing every idea she explored. But Republicans on the committee said her writings were proof of her desire to nationalize the banking industry, bankrupt fossil fuel companies and take control of private investment decisions.
Some Democrats were only slightly less critical. Two moderate Democrats, Senators Mark Warner of Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, said they were troubled by Ms. Omarova’s opposition to a 2018 bill they had supported, which loosened some restrictions on banks imposed by the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act. Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat and the committee’s chairman, asked whether Ms. Omarova had objected to the 2018 bill only because it also created new loopholes for the biggest banks. Ms. Omarova replied, “That was my sole objection.”
The hearing ended with neither Mr. Warner nor Mr. Tester having given a strong sign of support for Ms. Omarova, who needs the committee’s approval before facing a full Senate vote.
Senators spent most of the hearing asking Ms. Omarova about her writings and opinions on legislation, offering only a handful of questions about how she would run the O.C.C. The agency, which has nearly 3,500 employees, oversees nationally chartered banks including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.
The office’s next leader will be expected to help carry out Mr. Biden’s stated mission to get the financial industry to help combat economic inequality and climate change. That person will also play a crucial role in offering lenders clarity on how they can participate in cryptocurrency markets and will most likely have to help draft new rules for a decades-old anti-redlining law, the Community Reinvestment Act.
Ms. Omarova’s path to confirmation never looked easy. Soon after her nomination, bank lobbyists began an unusually strident campaign against her, citing in particular her education under Soviet rule.
Mr. Brown, the committee chairman, described such attacks as “McCarthyism.” But some Republicans on the committee, including the party’s highest-ranking member, Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, kept up that line of attack during the hearing.
“My concern with Professor Omarova is her long history of promoting ideas that she herself describes as ‘radical,’” Mr. Toomey said. “I agree that they are radical. But I’d also describe them as socialist.”
Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said to Ms. Omarova: “I don’t know whether to call you ‘professor’ or ‘comrade,’” prompting someone else in the room to whisper: “Oh, my goodness.”
Ms. Omarova repeatedly stressed her allegiance to the United States and American capitalism. In response to questions about why she had said the way to combat climate change was to “starve” the fossil fuel industry of capital, Ms. Omarova called the industry “a very important part of the economy” and added that she had no intention of bankrupting it. She also professed strong support for community banks, which she said could find “no better or stronger ally” than her.
Ms. Omarova also described growing up with a grandmother who had been orphaned when Stalin sent her family to Siberia for refusing to join the Communist Party, and called the government during her childhood an “oppressive state-run system, with no free enterprise and no economic opportunity for people like me.”
Her ultimate dream, she told the committee, became “coming to America — the land of opportunity and freedom.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office found that a 15 percent minimum tax would require companies such as Amazon, FedEx, Google, Facebook, General Motors, T-Mobile and Verizon to pay more to the U.S. government.Credit…Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times
At least 70 of the largest companies in the United States would pay more in taxes under a new minimum tax that Democrats are proposing as a way to pay for the spending bill moving through Congress, according to an analysis released on Thursday by Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts.
The report offered a first look at which companies could face higher tax bills under the proposal, which calls for enacting a 15 percent minimum tax on companies that report more than $1 billion in profit to shareholders, even if they have zero federal tax liability. The plan is included as a source of revenue in a $1.85 trillion social policy and climate bill that President Biden is trying to push through Congress.
The new tax would apply to the so-called book income that companies report to their shareholders but not to the Internal Revenue Service. Many profitable companies are able to reduce or eliminate their tax liability through the use of tax credits, deductions and previous losses that can carry over.
The book tax aims to raise money from companies without increasing the 21 percent corporate tax rate. Mr. Biden originally pledged to raise the corporate tax rate to 28 percent, but moderate Democrats have resisted that proposal.
The report by Ms. Warren found that the tax would require companies such as Amazon, Facebook, FedEx, General Motors, Google, T-Mobile and Verizon to pay more to the U.S. government. A recent report by the Joint Committee on Taxation determined that the proposal would generate $319 billion over 10 years.
“Giant corporations have figured out how to game the system so that the costs of running this country are borne by hardworking families while these big corporations scoop up all of the profits and pay little or nothing in taxes,” Ms. Warren said in an interview. “It’s time to put a stop to that.”
Ms. Warren’s office used data compiled by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy on publicly traded companies in the Fortune 500 and S&P 500. The analysis considered “taxes paid” as a company’s current income tax expense, or how much it paid in U.S. federal taxes and foreign taxes in 2020.
According to Ms. Warren’s analysis, Amazon was able to reduce its tax rate to 11.5 percent rather than 21 percent in 2020. The company would have paid $836 million more in federal and foreign income taxes had the minimum tax been in place, according to her analysis. Amazon declined to comment.
The report also found that FedEx had a 7.2 percent effective tax rate and, if the new tax were in place, would have paid $518 million more in taxes in 2020. FedEx said that the analysis was “premature” and that it paid all of the taxes it owed.
“Until there are clear details on the calculation of this proposed corporate minimum tax, it is premature to assume or estimate how the tax would apply to specific companies,” Chris Allen, a spokesman for FedEx, said in a statement.
Opponents of the new tax have expressed concerns that it would give more control over the U.S. tax base to the Financial Accounting Standards Board, an independent organization that sets accounting rules.
The group also warned that, under the proposal, companies were likely to report smaller profits to their shareholders in order to lower their tax bills. They suggested that the idea of using book income as an alternative tax base was overly complex.
“It would be cleaner and simpler to just fix the tax code if there are perceived problems with the tax system,” they wrote.
The Manhattan flagship store of Macy’s, which said its third-quarter sales were up 37 percent from a year earlier.Credit…Jeenah Moon for The New York Times
Macy’s, the beleaguered department store chain, reported rosy third-quarter sales on Thursday and raised its sales and earnings forecast for the year, in a positive signal for retailers that struggled during the pandemic.
The company said its sales for the three months that ended on Oct. 30 were $5.4 billion, and it posted a net profit of $239 million. Comparable sales rose 37 percent from the same period last year and about 9 percent from 2019. Macy’s noted that a Friends and Family event fell into the third quarter this year from the fourth quarter in 2019.
Retail sales overall jumped 1.7 percent in October, the third monthly increase, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, a sign of the strength of the U.S. economic recovery from pandemic restrictions. Walmart and Home Depot each reported quarterly earnings this week that topped Wall Street’s expectations.
Retailers like Macy’s, which also owns Bloomingdale’s and Bluemercury, are benefiting as customers resume social activities and gear up for a busier holiday season than last year, when the country was in the depths of the pandemic and before vaccines were widely available.
The company said its downtown stores had yet to recover as tourism remained depressed and many office workers continued to work remotely.
The company, which is trying to accelerate its digital sales, separately said on Thursday that it would introduce an online marketplace next year with third-party merchants.
Alibaba attributed its weak earnings in part to tougher competition for Chinese shoppers.Credit…Aly Song/Reuters
Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce company, reported its slowest sales growth in a year and a half on Thursday, the effect of Beijing’s regulatory clampdown on internet giants and tough competition from rival online retail destinations in China.
On a conference call with analysts, Alibaba’s chief executive, Daniel Zhang, also blamed “economic headwinds” for the weak results. China’s economic growth was slower in the July-to-September period than in the quarter before.
Retail sales growth has been bumpy. Alibaba’s revenue for the latest quarter increased 29 percent from a year earlier. Profit shrank by 81 percent, which the company attributed to increased spending on newer businesses such as its Lazada shopping platform in Southeast Asia.
Other factors depressing Alibaba’s earnings relate to the Chinese government’s campaign to stop internet companies from behaving in ways it considers unfair or anticompetitive. In April, the country’s antitrust regulator fined Alibaba a record $2.8 billion for restricting the merchants on its virtual bazaars from selling on other platforms.
Two days later, Alibaba pledged to go further to help those merchants by lowering the fees it charges them and by spending on new services for them. Income from such fees — Alibaba’s largest source of revenue — grew just 3 percent in the latest quarter, in part because of the initiatives. The company’s increased spending to support vendors also crimped its profit.
As overall economic growth slows in China, Alibaba is having to compete more fiercely for customers against both old foes such as JD.com and Tencent’s WeChat social platform and newer apps like Pinduoduo and Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.
Order volume from Alibaba’s annual Singles Day shopping bonanza, which ended last week, grew 8.5 percent from last year, a slower rate of increase than in years past. JD.com, by contrast, reported 29 percent growth in order volume during this year’s Singles Day event.
Elizabeth Holmes, center, with her partner, Billy Evans, and her mother, last month. Ms. Holmes has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.Credit…John G Mabanglo/EPA, via Shutterstock
In the first 11 weeks of the trial of Elizabeth Holmes, who founded of the blood-testing start-up Theranos, jurors have heard from only about 25 witnesses in proceedings that have been mired by delays, including a coronavirus scare, a broken water main and technical issues.
Despite the interruptions, the trial has pressed forward. Jurors are being asked to decide whether Ms. Holmes, 37, misled investors by appealing to their egos and withholding crucial information or whether investors simply failed to do their due diligence, ignoring red flags as they poured money into the Silicon Valley start-up.
Ms. Holmes has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors have said they are likely to rest their case against her this week.
Here are some highlights from the prosecution’s case so far:
Sept. 14: Erika Cheung, a key whistle-blower, testified that she had joined Theranos because she was dazzled by Ms. Holmes’s charisma. “She was very articulate and had a strong sense of conviction about her mission,” Ms. Cheung said of Ms. Holmes.
Ms. Cheung eventually resigned over her misgivings about Theranos’s testing services. “I was uncomfortable processing patient samples,” she said. “I did not think the technology we were using was adequate enough to be engaging in that behavior.”
Sept. 22: James Mattis, the retired four-star Marine Corps general and former defense secretary under President Donald J. Trump, said he was excited by the prospect of the military using Theranos’s blood analyzers. He joined the company’s board but became disillusioned, testifying that Ms. Holmes had not been forthcoming with Theranos’s directors about the problems.
“We were unable to help her on the fundamental issues that she was grappling with if we only saw them in the rearview mirror,” Mr. Mattis said.
Sept. 28: Dr. Adam Rosendorff, a former lab director at Theranos, emerged as a key witness for the prosecution, providing greater detail about the range of problems and patient complaints. He said Ms. Holmes had been aware of his concerns but pressed forward with Theranos’s commercial launch anyway.
In his testimony, he said he became increasingly uncomfortable with the failure rate of Theranos’s blood-testing machines and the volume of physician complaints about inaccurate test results. “The company was more about P.R. and fund-raising than patient care,” he said.
U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, with the S&P 500 rebounding from Wednesday’s losses. The benchmark index edged up 0.3 percent, while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.5 percent.
Retailers have been posting their quarterly financial performance reports this week, signaling strong profits and optimistic forecasts. Several retailers reported grappling with a tight labor market and a snarled supply chain.
Shares of Macy’s jumped more than 21 percent after the company reported in its quarterly earnings report on Thursday that its profit grew to $239 million in the three months ending in October, compared with a $91 million loss during the same period last year. Kohl’s reported that sales grew 15.5 percent during its third quarter.
Alibaba shares fell more than 11 percent after the company reported its slowest sales growth in a year and a half on Thursday, attributing it to Beijing’s regulatory clampdown on internet giants. The Chinese e-commerce giant said in its quarterly earnings report that profit shrank by 81 percent.
Shares of Nvidia rose more than 8 percent after the tech company reported on Wednesday that its revenue climbed 50 percent to $7.1 billion compared with the same period last year.
The Labor Department reported on Thursday that initial claims for state jobless benefits fell to 268,000 last week, down 1,000 from the previous week. “Initial claims should continue to gradually work their way back toward prepandemic levels as employers facing shortages of workers will likely keep layoffs to a minimum,” Nancy Vanden Houten, lead economist at Oxford Economics, wrote in a note on Thursday.
European stock indexes dipped, with the Stoxx Europe 600 down 0.5 percent.
Apple has pushed back its return-to-office plans to Feb. 1, according to an internal memo circulated at the company. Apple will begin a “phased approach,” asking small teams to return to the company’s global offices one to two days a week for four weeks before ramping up to three days a week, with the option to work remotely on Thursday and Friday.
The company also said it had doubled its remote work policy to four weeks a year, saying that it would allow employees to travel, see friends or family or “shake up their routines.”
The Business Services sector, despite the coronavirus-induced market uncertainty, has been steadily gathering steam on the back of gradual resumption of business activities, increased adoption and success of the work-from-home model, rise in demand for risk mitigation and consulting services, and expertise in improving operational efficiency and reducing costs. Providers of essential and non-deferrable services, such as waste removal and building maintenance, remained resilient to the pandemic-induced disruptions.
– Zacks
Owing to its widely-diversified nature, the sector seeks to benefit from the growth of the overall economy, which is expected to strengthen further on the success of the ongoing mass vaccination program, continued government response in the form of pandemic-relief packages, expanded unemployment benefits and relaxation of restrictions.
In view of the aforementioned favorable trends, several business services firms such as Charles River Associates CRAI, Automatic Data Processing, Inc. ADPandWaste Connections, Inc. WCN have chosen to reward their shareholders with dividend hikes. We believe consistency in rewarding shareholders through dividend payments or share repurchases not only boost investor confidence but also positively impact a company’s earnings per share.
3 Companies That Rewarded Shareholders
Charles River Associates: This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) Massachusetts-based consulting company has increased its quarterly dividend rate by 19.2{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}, from 26 cents per share to 31 cents per share. The increased dividend will be paid out on Dec 10, 2021 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Nov 30. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Despite coronavirus-induced adversities, Charles River Associates’ top line has been doing well on the back of strength across services, geographies and improved utilization and headcount increase. Charles River Associates recorded double-digit revenue growth in Financial Economics, Forensic Services, Antitrust & Competition Economics, Labor & Employment, Marakon, and Risk, Investigations & Analytics practices. Geographically, growth was witnessed across North American and international operations.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Charles River Associates’ 2021 EPS has moved up 7.6{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} in the past 90 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the year is 61.2{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}. Additionally, it has a long-term (three to five years) expected earnings growth rate of 15.5{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}. The company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 50.9{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}, on average. The stock has rallied 95.1{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} so far this year.
Automatic Data Processing: This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) New Jersey-based company recently announced a dividend hike of 11.8{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}, thereby raising its quarterly cash dividend from 91 cents per share to $1.04. This reflects Automatic Data Processing’s 47th consecutive year of increased cash dividend. The raised dividend will be paid out on Jan 1, 2022 to shareholders of record on Dec 10, 2021.
Automatic Data Processing continues to enjoy a dominant position in the human capital management market through strategic buyouts like Celergo, WorkMarket, Global Cash Card and The Marcus Buckingham Company. It has a strong business model, high recurring revenues, good margins, robust client retention and low capital expenditure. The company has a lower risk of insolvency. Further, Automatic Data Processing continues to innovate, improve operations and invest in its ongoing transformation efforts. Effective cost containment measures have helped the company improve its margin performance. Automatic Data Processing is also witnessing new business bookings and client retention in these challenging times.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ADP’s 2022 EPS has moved up 2.4{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} in the past 90 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the year is 12.3{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}. Additionally, Automatic Data Processing has a long-term (three to five years) expected earnings growth rate of 12{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}. The company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 9.7{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}, on average. The stock has rallied 33.5{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} so far this year.
Waste Connections: This Zacks Rank #3 Canada-based waste removal services company has hiked its quarterly dividend by 12.2{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}, from 20.5 cents per share to 23 cents per share. This reflects Waste Connections’ 11th consecutive double-digit percentage increase since the initiation of dividend payment in 2010. The increased dividend will be paid out on Nov 23, 2021 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Nov 9.
A sequential improvement in solid waste volumes and increased recovered commodity values have been aiding Waste Connections’ top line. The company’s focus on secondary and rural markets to garner a higher local market share is appreciable. The company has optimal asset positioning to generate higher profitability. Acquisitions have been helping Waste Connections in expanding its global presence and strengthen its product portfolio.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WCN’s 2021 EPS has moved up 2.2{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} in the past 90 days. The company’s expected earnings growth rate for the year is 21.9{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}. Additionally, it has a long-term (three to five years) expected earnings growth rate of 13.6{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}. Waste Connections has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 6{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550}, on average. The stock has rallied 33{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} so far this year.
The chart below shows the price performance of the aforementioned stocks compared with the broader Zacks Business Services sector so far this year.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
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SAN DIEGO, Nov. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — The law firm of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP filed a class action lawsuit seeking to represent purchasers of Zhangmen Education Inc. (NYSE: ZME) American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) in or traceable to Zhangmen Education’s initial public offering conducted on or about June 8, 2021 (“IPO”), pursuant to the IPO prospectus (the “Prospectus”) and Form F-1 registration statement, as amended (together with the Prospectus, the “Registration Statement”). The Zhangmen Education class action lawsuit charges Zhangmen Education, certain of its top executives, and the underwriters of the IPO with violations of the Securities Act of 1933. The Zhangmen Education class action lawsuit was commenced on November 19, 2021 in the Southern District of New York and is captioned Banerjee v. Zhangmen Education Inc.
The plaintiff is represented by Robbins Geller, which has extensive experience in prosecuting investor class actions including actions involving financial fraud. You can view a copy of the complaint by clicking here.
If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff of the Zhangmen Education class action lawsuit, please provide your information by clicking here. You can also contact attorney J.C. Sanchezof Robbins Geller by calling 800/449-4900 or via e-mail at jsanchez@rgrdlaw.com. Lead plaintiff motions for the Zhangmen Education class action lawsuit must be filed with the court no later than January 18, 2022.
CASE ALLEGATIONS: Zhangmen Education provides personalized online tutoring services to K-12 students in the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”). The rapid rate of growth in PRC’s online education market has led to a sharp rise in fraudulent activity, including false advertising, fabrication of teacher qualifications, exaggerated student performance, and price fraud. In response to these scandals, the Chinese government sought to clean up the industry by adopting stringent new regulations shortly before the Zhangmen Education IPO. But as the Zhangmen Education class action lawsuit alleges, the true scope and effect of these proposed measures were known to but undisclosed by defendants prior to the IPO and were reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on Zhangmen Education’s business and future operating results.
Specifically, the Zhangmen Education class action lawsuit alleges that the IPO’s Registration Statement failed to disclose that: (a) PRC authorities were in the process of implementing sweeping new regulatory reforms on the private education industry in China including, among others, prohibitions on: (i) profit-making by private education companies, (ii) engaging in core-curriculum tutoring on weekends and vacations, and (iii) capital-raising by companies like Zhangmen Education; (b) the known risks, events, and uncertainties noted in the Registration Statement were reasonably likely to have a material adverse effect on Zhangmen Education’s business; and (c) based on the foregoing, the statements in the Registration Statement concerning Zhangmen Education’s historical financial performance, market demand, and industry trends were materially incomplete, inaccurate, and misleading.
On July 23, 2021 – less than two months after the IPO – PRC unveiled a sweeping overhaul of its education sector, banning companies that teach the school curriculum from making profits, raising capital, or going public. These drastic measures effectively ended any potential growth in the for-profit tutoring sector in PRC.
Then, on July 26, 2021, Zhangmen Education issued a release providing an update on the new PRC policies, admitting among other things that Zhangmen Education expected “the Guidelines to have material impacts on our existing business operations, financial condition and corporate structure.”
Thereafter, on August 25, 2021, Zhangmen Education issued a press release providing a further update on similar policies implemented by the Shanghai government and the implications for Zhangmen Education’s business, stating for example that: (a) “No new provider of after-school tutoring services on academic subjects in China’s compulsory education system (‘Academic AST’) will be approved, while existing Academic AST providers shall be subject to review and re-registration as non-profit organizations”; (b) “Tuition fees for Academic AST shall follow the guidelines from the government to prevent any excessive charging or excessive profit-seeking activities”; and (c) “AST advertising shall be subject to enhanced oversight.”
Finally, on November 19, 2021, Zhangmen Education announced that its auditor, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Certified Public Accountants LLP, had voluntarily resigned.
Subsequent to the IPO, the price of Zhangmen Education ADSs plummeted. As of the filing of the Zhangmen Education class action lawsuit, Zhangmen Education ADSs trade more than 80{ac23b82de22bd478cde2a3afa9e55fd5f696f5668b46466ac4c8be2ee1b69550} below the IPO price.
THE LEAD PLAINTIFF PROCESS: The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits any investor who purchased Zhangmen Education ADSs in or traceable to the IPO pursuant to the Registration Statement to seek appointment as lead plaintiff in the Zhangmen Education class action lawsuit. A lead plaintiff is generally the movant with the greatest financial interest in the relief sought by the putative class who is also typical and adequate of the putative class. A lead plaintiff acts on behalf of all other class members in directing the Zhangmen Education class action lawsuit. The lead plaintiff can select a law firm of its choice to litigate the Zhangmen Education class action lawsuit. An investor’s ability to share in any potential future recovery of the Zhangmen Education class action lawsuit is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.
ABOUT ROBBINS GELLER RUDMAN & DOWD LLP: With 200 lawyers in 9 offices nationwide, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is the largest U.S. law firm representing investors in securities class actions. Robbins Geller attorneys have obtained many of the largest shareholder recoveries in history, including the largest securities class action recovery ever – $7.2 billion – in In re Enron Corp. Sec. Litig. The 2020 ISS Securities Class Action Services Top 50 Report ranked Robbins Geller first for recovering $1.6 billion for investors last year, more than double the amount recovered by any other securities plaintiffs’ firm. Please visit http://www.rgrdlaw.com for more information.
Attorney advertising. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Services may be performed by attorneys in any of our offices.
Contact: Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP 655 W. Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101 J.C. Sanchez, 800-449-4900 jsanchez@rgrdlaw.com
