Markets
Amazon VP quits, calls company 'chickens--t' for firing protesters
Working at Amazon is nice, but living with a clear conscience is better, said a prominent VP who resigned from the company's cloud division yesterday. Instead, they just fired the activists. Tim Bray, a vice president at the company, wrote in a blog post that he left his job last week "in dismay" after Amazon fired several workers who publicly criticized the company. [Full Article...]
Uber to stop food delivery operations in Romania as of June 3
In UAE, the company aims to transition to Careem, a vehicle for hire company and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uber. "We have made the decision to discontinue Uber Eats in Czech Republic, Egypt, Honduras, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, and Uruguay, and to wind down the Eats app and transition operations to Careem in UAE". [Full Article...]
California will allow some businesses to reopen with curbside pickup
The businesses that could reopen include clothing stores, florists, bookstores and sporting goods stores, although they would have to allow for curbside pickup. The governor said Monday that the state is working with University of California campuses in San Francisco and Los Angeles to launch an online academy on Wednesday to recruit and train new tracers, potentially readying as many as 3,000 p... [Full Article...]
Costco limits meat purchases in the USA as supply shortages loom
Grocery warehouse Costco said on Monday it would limit customers to just three packages of meat per shopper. With meat shortages roiling the US, some Wendy's Co. The challenges referenced in Kroger's statement likely include COVID-19-related interruptions at major meat suppliers across the country, many of which have been unable to protect workers from the virus even as pressure mounts to co... [Full Article...]
Intel acquires Moovit in bid to advance robotaxi plans
Intel will pay £722m ($ 900 million ) to purchase the Tel Aviv-based company and another £80m ($100 m) to keep its approximately 200 employees, according to the Israeli business daily Globes. "Beyond the obvious value of Moovit's data and user base, the company owns underlying assets, capabilities and a partners network that will enable us to turn on affordable and demand-optimized driverles... [Full Article...]
Carnival Cruise Line Announces Limited Return to Sailing
Besides the previously mentioned sailings from Galveston , Miami , and Port Canaveral , all other North American and Australian homeport cruises are cancelled through August 31. "The Port, cruise lines, first responders and local leaders will continue to evaluate the public health landscape in the region as we determine the appropriate start to the cruise season", he said. [Full Article...]
German court asks ECB to justify bond purchase stimulus
The German judges had voiced concerns about the bond-buying scheme as far back as 2017 when they noted that one particular segment of the endeavor - the Public Sector Purchase Program, or PSPP - was allowed to directly engage in economic policy and direct government financing; two activities the European Central Bank is banned from doing. [Full Article...]
European top court rulings are binding for all national courts — EU Commission
The PSPP accounted for some €2.1tn ($2.3tn, £1.8tn) in purchases between 2015 and 2018. Over €2.1 trillion in purchases were made as part of the PSPP. The court then gave the ECB three months to take steps to amend the scheme, otherwise the German central bank, the Bundesbank, could be barred from participating in the PSPP programme. [Full Article...]