Daily Archives: April 25, 2022

Indonesia, a top palm-oil exporter, is planning to ban exports beginning on Thursday.

Palm oil, the world's most used vegetable oil, is used in cooking and a range of consumer products.

Palm-oil and competing soybean-oil prices are jumping after news of the ban.

The world's top palm-oil producer announced that it would ban exports of the commodity starting on Thursday, sending the prices of edible oils soaring.

Indonesia accounts for about half of the world's supply of palm oil, the world's most widely used vegetable oil. Palm oil is used for cooking and for the production of thousands of consumer products, including biscuits, detergents, and lipsticks.

In a video statement on Friday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said the move was designed to bring down domestic palm-oil prices and ensure domestic food availability in the wake of global food inflation.

"I will monitor and evaluate the implementation of this policy so availability of cooking oil in the domestic market becomes abundant and affordable," Widodo said, a Reuters translation reported.

The move comes as Indonesia has seen recent protests over the high prices of cooking oil, with retail prices gaining more than 40% so far this year, Reuters reported.

The ban is expected to be in place until further notice. Indonesian palm-oil exports were worth about $30 billion in 2021, the data provider Statista showed.

Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Indonesia's finance minister, told Reuters on Friday that the palm-oil ban would hurt other countries, but that it was necessary to contain the soaring domestic prices of cooking oil.

Benchmark crude palm-oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia exchange jumped as much as 7% on Monday morning. They are up over 40% year to date.

Prices for alternative vegetable oil also spiked in response to the impending ban on palm-oil exports in Indonesia. Benchmark Chicago soybean oil prices hit their highest levels since 2008, Reuters reported.

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Prices of edible oil including palm oil have been rising because of the war in Ukraine, as the country is a large sunflower-oil exporter. "Edible oils are often interchangeable, so a shortage of one type exerts pressure on the others," Gro Intelligence, a global agriculture data-analysis firm, wrote in an April 23 note.

Gains in vegetable-oil prices are outpacing overall food-price increases, Gro Intelligence wrote in the report. US prices of a basket of common vegetable oils are up 41% on year, while food prices are up 25% on year.

"Indonesia's ban on exports is likely to further fuel global food inflation," the firm added.

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Indonesia, the world's top cooking-oil exporter, says it's going to ban exports of the oil this week, and it's sent the global prices of edible oils...

You made it to Friday, readers. Today we're discussing the potential Yahoo-ification of Facebook and giving you an inside glimpse at BMW's new electric sedan.

Let's dive in.

If this was forwarded to you, sign up here. Download Insider's app click here for iOS and here for Android.

1. Could Facebook be the next Yahoo? Facebook's recent shift to the metaverse is meant to give it "a new chapter," as CEO Mark Zuckerberg put it. But insiders and investors fear the change is an identity crisis the social-media company won't recover from.

Here's what else insiders told us.

In other news:

2. CNN's new streaming service is shutting down just weeks after launch. After a splashy, multi-million dollar debut last month, CNN+ will stop streaming on April 30. Get the full rundown here.

3. Amazon's physical store ambitions are struggling. While Amazon has perfected e-commerce, it's facing a tougher reality with physical stores, driven by high costs, a dysfunctional culture, and tension with Whole Foods and some employees question whether it will ever excel in offline shopping. Inside Amazon's flailing brick-and-mortar plans.

4. ICYMI: Elon Musk says he's secured the funding to buy Twitter. In a regulatory filing published Thursday, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said he has agreements from banks and other entities totaling $46.5 billion for a Twitter takeover. What we know so far.

5. Eat Just slashed its revenue forecast by about 50% for 2021. According to a leaked investor presentation, sales at the alternative-protein startup (formerly known as Hampton Creek) were hindered by production issues and slow restaurant sales early last year. A look at Eat Just's struggles.

6. Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg reportedly pressured a paper to drop reporting about her ex. The Wall Street Journal reported Sandberg urged British tabloid the Daily Mail to abandon reporting involving her former boyfriend, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. Here's the latest.

7. A travel influencer shares how she made $1 million since 2020. Catarina Mello, a former Google employee, brings in 80% of her income from an online course she sells about the business of being an influencer. Here's how she made it work.

8. Russia just sanctioned Mark Zuckerberg. The Meta CEO, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky, and 27 other Americans were indefinitely barred from entering the country. We explain what the sanction means.

Odds and ends:

9. We got a look at BMW's new electric luxury sedan. The carmaker just unveiled the i7 the electric version of its flagship 7-Series sedan and it comes with a 31-inch fold-out TV, Amazon Fire TV , and more than 500 horsepower. Check out the BMW i7 here.

10. A Tesla is embarking on a 9,380-mile journey around the perimeter of Australia. A group of scientists plans to use printed solar panels to power the Tesla Model 3 on its journey around the country this fall. More on the project, Charge Around Australia.

The latest people moves in tech:

Keep updated with the latest tech news throughout your day by checking out The Refresh from Insider, a dynamic audio news brief from the Insider newsroom. Listen here.

Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email jerb@insider.com or tweet @jordanparkererb.) Edited by Michael Cogley in London.

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10 Things in Tech: Facebook's Yahoo moment - Business Insider

(Bloomberg) -- Elon Musks short-lived effort to take Tesla Inc. private after his infamous funding secured tweet in August 2018 has loomed over the billionaires reputation -- and his quest to buy Twitter Inc.

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Now, a series of text messages that Musk exchanged with Silicon Valley friends, investors and the managing director of Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund during that saga have come to light as part of an ongoing shareholder lawsuit. The texts provide a window into how Musk operates as he once again attempts -- almost four years later -- to take a publicly traded company private.

In a text-message exchange with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the head of the Saudi PIF, an angry Musk discusses a Bloomberg News article that reported the fund was in talks to take Tesla private. The Tesla CEO was upset because he believed hed reached a handshake agreement with Al-Rumayyan weeks earlier, in July 2018, for the fund to finance the transaction.

This is an extremely weak statement and does not reflect the conversation we had at Tesla. You said you were definitely interested in taking Tesla private and had wanted to do so since 2016, Musk wrote in an August 2018 text message, according to a 300-page motion filed late Friday as part of the suit. Im sorry, but we cannot work together.

Its up to you Elon, Al-Rumayyan responded.

You are throwing me under the bus, Musk wrote back.

It takes two to tango, Al-Rumayyan replied. We havent received anything yet.

The back-and-forth continues. Al-Rumayyan tells Musk that we cannot approve something that we dont have sufficient information on, and writes that hes been waiting for more details. Later in the exchange, Al-Rumayyan asks Musk to read the article please.

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I read the article, Musk says. It is weak sauce and still makes me sound like a liar. It is filled with equivocation and in no way indicates the strong interest you conveyed in person.

Musk told Al-Rumayyan that Tesla would move forward with private equity firm Silver Lake, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other investors. The next day, however, he published a blog post citing the Saudi PIFs interest in taking Tesla private as the reason he tweeted that he had funding secured.

Al-Rumayyan texted that he was surprised Musk had divulged loose information, despite having signed a non-disclosure agreement and after keeping the PIF waiting for specifics needed to move forward with a deal. Musk scolded Al-Rumayyan again for not pushing back against media reports about whether the Saudi fund would support the go-private transaction.

Reuters reported that two sources from PIF confirmed no interest in Tesla, which is absolutely false, and yet you did nothing until I forced the issue, Musk wrote.

Musk shelved the effort later that month after it became clear many large investors wouldnt go along with it, stunning the financial world with a late Friday night blog post titled Staying Public.

Still Fighting

Since then, Tesla has become profitable and built factories in Shanghai, near Berlin and in Austin, Texas. The company has indisputably ignited the shift to electric vehicles, and its $1 trillion valuation has made Musk the worlds wealthiest person.

But the investors suing Musk in federal court argue that Musks August 2018 tweets were indisputably false and cost them billions of dollars by spurring wild swings in Teslas stock price. The judge in the case ruled earlier this month that no reasonable jury could find Musks tweets on August 7, 2018, accurate or not misleading. Musk and his attorneys have insisted he was entirely truthful and are trying to appeal.

Musk also has stood by his argument that Saudi Arabias wealth fund had agreed to support his attempt to take Tesla private. The text messages were part of a motion filed by Alex Spiro, Musks lead outside attorney.

The filing includes excerpts from Musks deposition with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which sued Musk for securities fraud. The agency settled with Musk and Tesla, with each paying $20 million and Musk agreeing to step down as chair of Teslas board for three years.

Musk has repeatedly said since then that he doesnt respect the SEC, and lashed out at the agency again Monday on Twitter.

Twitter Talks

Starting early this year, Musk quietly began acquiring a more than 9% stake in Twitter and became its largest individual shareholder. After turning down a board seat, he launched an unsolicited $43 billion offer for the company earlier this month.

Twitter has traded below Musks $54.20 offer price, indicating skepticism over the prospects of his acquisition bid. But after securing financing from institutions including Morgan Stanley, Musk spent Sunday meeting with Twitter executives who grew more receptive toward the offer, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The company is working to hammer out terms of a transaction and could reach an agreement as soon as Monday if negotiations go smoothly, according to people who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

While Musk has said hes lined up $46.5 billion to fund his bid for the social media platform, the text messages from 2018 serve as a reminder that the 50-year-old billionaire also can change his mind. They also highlight that, when angered, hell play hardball.

The case is In re Tesla Inc. Securities Litigation, 18-CV-04865, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).

(Updates with more of Musks exchange with the head of the Saudi PIF starting in the 10th paragraph.)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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Weak Sauce: Elon Musks 2018 Feud With Saudi Fund Revealed - Yahoo Finance

Netflix's "The Stock Crash" is now airing on the Yahoo Finance ticker pages, and according to the company's Co-CEO Reed Hastings the market's reaction to the company's latest disappointing quarter is well-deserved and reflects several issues that will take time to correct.

"We're working on how to monetize sharing. We've been thinking about that for a couple of years, but when we were growing fast, it wasn't the high priority to work on. And now we're working super hard on it. And remember these are over 100 million households that already are choosing to view Netflix. They love the service, we just got to get paid," Hastings told investors on the earnings call. "And then two, it's really, we got great competition. They've got some very good shows and films out. And what we got to do is take it up a notch. And I'll tell you that we're all pretty ... I know it's disappointing for investors and it is for sure. But internally, we're really geared up and this is like our moment to shine. This is when it all matters. And we're super focused on achieving those objectives and getting back into our investors' good graces."

Shares of the streaming media giant plunged 26% in pre-market on Wednesday as Wall Street analysts marked down their estimates and price targets after the shocking quarterly miss on sales and net subscribers that reflect the challenges outlined by Hastings.

Here's how Netflix performed compared to Wall Street analyst estimates:

Revenue: $7.87 billion vs. $7.95 billion expected, $7.16 billion Y/Y

Earnings per share: $3.53 vs. $2.91 expected, $3.75 Y/Y

Net subscribers: -200,000 vs.+2.51 million expected, +3.98 million million Y/Y

For the current quarter, Netflix said it expected an even steeper decline in new users as it battles through increased competition from the likes of Apple and Paramount and tries to get 100 million account sharers to pay up.

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The streaming service is modeling for subscribers to decline by 2 million in the fiscal second quarter, whereas consensus analysts were looking for a gain of 2.4 million.

"However, given that 2Q is likely to be another challenging quarter for subscriber growth and, given that account-sharing monetization and the advertising-supported product are 2023-2024 events, we don't expect investors to collectively allocate more capital to owning Netflix in 2022. We believe investors will want to be closer in time to the implementation of these changes and might want to see some confirmation that they're having the desired effect before rerating the stock higher. 2Q is generally a softer seasonal quarter, but the content slate has popular returning series, including 'Ozark' (Season 4, finale), 'Stranger Things,' and 'Grace & Frankie.' The upcoming slate builds in the back half of 2022, leading up to a bigger 4Q with titles such as 'Gray Man' and 'Knives Out 2,'" said Deutsche Bank analyst Bryan Kraft.

Yahoo Finance's Emily McCormick contributed to this story.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and anchor at Yahoo Finance. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn.

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Netflix stock crashes; Co-CEO says company is working on fixing the problems - Yahoo Finance

This version of Tyson Fury, the guy who knocked out Deontay Wilder twice and put Dillian Whyte to sleep Saturday with one of the best uppercuts youll ever see, would be a difficult out for any fighter in boxing history.

Yes, that includes Muhammad Ali. And George Foreman. And Larry Holmes and Lennox Lewis and Rocky Marciano and Jack Johnson and Jack Dempsey and Joe Louis and Evander Holyfield and Riddick Bowe and Vitali Klitschko and Wladimir Klitschko and Joe Frazier and Mike Tyson and whatever all-time great heavyweight you care to name.

There arent many guys in boxing history who would be able to deal with a 6-foot-9, 270-pound heavyweight with an 85-inch reach, slick boxing skills and a sledgehammer punch.

Thats not to say that Furys the greatest heavyweight of all time. He doesnt have anywhere near the rsum for that.

But the list of guys you know would beat him guys you would be comfortable betting your house on beating him is incredibly small.

Fury was brilliant again on Saturday in front of a European boxing record crowd of 94,000 at Wembley Stadium in London, stopping Whyte at 2:59 of the sixth with arguably the greatest punch of his career to retain the WBC and lineal heavyweight titles.

Whyte was attacking as he did for much of the fight when he was hit in the nose by a solid Fury jab. But instead of shuffling off to the side as he did so often in the fight, Fury followed that jab with a right uppercut. It caught Whyte on the jaw and sent him in a dead fall backward to give Fury the win in what he said would probably be his final bout.

I promised my lovely wife Paris of 14 years that after the Wilder 3 fight [in October], that would be it, Fury said Saturday. And I meant it. We had a war. It was a great trilogy. And I meant that. But I got offered to fight at Wembley at home, and I believe that I deserved, that I owed it to the fans, that I owed it to every person in the United Kingdom to come here and fight at Wembley. Now its all done. And I have to be a man of my word. And I think this is it. This might be the final curtain for the Gypsy King. And what a way to go out!

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Britains Tyson Fury celebrates after beating Britains Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday, April 23, 2022. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

If he sticks to his word and passes on facing the winner of Julys bout between IBF-WBA-WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk and former champion Anthony Joshua, hell be one of the few in history to go out on top.

Sadly, we remember most of our great heavyweights for leaving after theyve repeatedly been concussed and beaten. Ali took such a bludgeoning in the second half of his career that he developed Parkinsons that muted him for much of the second half of his life.

Who can forget the sad sight of Tyson being pummeled by Lewis, or of Louis, back fighting after a brief retirement because he needed the money, getting battered by Marciano?

Lewis is one of the few who walked away as king with his money in the bank and his faculties intact, quitting after a triumphant and thrilling stoppage in 2003 of Vitali Klitschko.

If Fury walks away now, hell pass on mega-millions to face the Usyk-Joshua winner. If Joshua wins that, a fight between he and Fury would pay each man at least $100 million and would give Fury the chance to become the undisputed heavyweight champion for the only time in his career.

When Fury defeated Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, he won the IBF-WBA-WBO belts, but not the WBC title. He earned the WBC belt by knocking out Wilder in the second fight of their epic trilogy, but he never held all four at once.

He is the lineal champion, the proverbial man who beat the man, and thats enough for a lot of hardcore fans of the sport and perhaps Fury himself. But hes never held all four sanctioning body belts at once and thats what is required in modern boxing to be undisputed champion.

Tyson Fury makes his way to the ring on Saturday at Wembley Stadium on April 23, 2022, in London. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn told Yahoo Sports on Saturday he felt Joshua has always had the goods to be able to defeat Fury, but said all focus is on the Usyk fight for the moment.

Imagine the scene in July, though, if Fury climbed through the ropes to pose nose-to-nose with the Usyk-Joshua winner. It would be wild.

The scene was crazy on Saturday, with the second-largest attendance in boxing history behind only the 1993 fight in Mexico City at Azteca Stadium between Julio Cesar Chavez and Greg Haugen that drew 132,274 fans.

They came to see Fury do his thing, his first defense as champion on home soil. He gave them the show they wanted to see.

Whyte tried, but he didnt have the gifts to deal with this version of Fury.

I believe that Dillian will be a world champion, Fury said. But tonight, he met a great in the sport. Im one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. And unfortunately for Dillian Whyte, he had to face me here tonight. Theres no disgrace. Hes a tough, game man. Hes as strong as a bull. Hes got the heart of a lion. But youre not messing with a mediocre heavyweight. Youre messing with the best man on the planet. And you saw that tonight with what happened.

Before the fight, ESPN showed a package of Furys defense. Punches Wilder threw at him missed by an inch or two or, in a few cases, a bit less. Hed duck his head here, or slip it there, and the punches zinged past him.

Hes got great boxing skills and the quick reflexes to support those.

But as fighters age, those reflexes go and lesser men begin to hit them cleanly who never before would have laid a glove on them. After a few of those is when you see your heroes unable to speak clearly, beaten up and taken advantage of by a sport that far too often swallows its young.

Fury has the opportunity to change that narrative. Hes rich, his faculties are intact and hell never want for anything for the rest of his life. Hes not close to being done yet, but theres always some newcomer, always some goal that keeps them coming back.

The pressure on Fury to return will be immense.

If he can do it and keeps his vow to walk away, God bless him. Its the only move to make at this point.

Fighters need to learn this lesson: Use the game. Dont let the game use you.

Fury gets that. I think.

I hope.

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Take a bow, Tyson Fury: 'The Gypsy King' can retire on top a rarity in boxing - Yahoo Sports