Sunday☕️

Time Is Money

Feb 25, 2024 • 8 min read

Trending:

Venezuelan Deportations From The U.S.
Tangerine Data Breach

Week Recap:

The SEC approved a merger between Donald Trump's media company, the owner of Truth Social, and a SPAC, valuing it at up to $10 billion. Despite financial losses and a smaller user base, investor enthusiasm, particularly among Trump supporters, has surged, tripling the deal's market value since January as Trump's political influence grows. Trump's ownership stake in the merged entity could range from 58.1% to 69.4%, based on investor support. Trump may sell his Truth Social shares and step back from its management depending on his political future, as indicated by Digital World Acquisition Corp's filing.
Capital One plans to buy Discover Financial Services in a deal valued at $35.3 billion, aiming to create a formidable presence in the U.S. payments sector to rival major networks like Visa and Mastercard. Post-merger, Capital One and Discover shareholders will own 60% and 40% of the new entity, respectively. Capital One, with a market value of $52.2 billion and ranked fourth in U.S. credit card market volume, will merge with Discover, ranked sixth.
Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have shown how large language models (LLMs) could independently exploit website vulnerabilities. These LLMs, equipped with capabilities to interact with APIs and browse the web, can autonomously conduct cyber attacks like SQL injection without human intervention. The study revealed that even with existing safety mechanisms, these AI models could assist in creating malware and hacking into web applications.
Google and Alphabet have introduced Gemini 1.5, a significant upgrade to their AI model lineup. Under the leadership of CEOs Sundar Pichai and Demis Hassabis, Gemini 1.5 brings notable improvements in performance, especially in understanding complex and lengthy contexts. Once released, Gemini received major backlash after the AI depicted historical white individuals as African american.
CENTCOM took down a UAV prepared to launch at the Red Sea. Later, from the evening of February 19 to early February 20, U.S. and coalition forces downed 10 UAVs in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Furthermore, the USS Laboon intercepted an anti-ship cruise missile aimed at it on February 20. These operations were aimed at neutralizing threats to U.S. Navy and merchant ships, ensuring the safety of navigation in international waters.
Amazon is set to join the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), replacing Walgreens Boots Alliance, as announced by S&P Dow Jones Indices. This change will take effect at the start of trading on February 26. The update reflects the evolving landscape of the American economy, aiming to broaden the representation of consumer retail and other business sectors within the DJIA.
Rivian has announced a 10% reduction in its workforce due to concerns over slowing electric vehicle (EV) sales. This decision was revealed alongside their fourth quarter earnings report, which also forecasted no increase in vehicle production for the year compared to 2023. Last year, Rivian produced 57,232 vehicles and delivered 50,122 of these to customers. The electric vehicle manufacturer, based in Irvine, California, has previously conducted layoffs, reducing its workforce by 6% in July 2022 and again in May 2023. The latest layoffs are expected to impact over a thousand of Rivian's 16,700 employees, with the cuts primarily affecting salaried and some hourly non-manufacturing positions.
Nvidia recently reported its quarterly earnings, significantly surpassing Wall Street's expectations. The company recorded $22.1 billion in sales for the quarter, marking a 265% increase from the same period the previous year, exceeding the average analyst estimates of $20.4 billion. Net income for the quarter was $12.3 billion, resulting in a year-over-year profit growth of 769%, with adjusted earnings per share at $5.16, well above the expected $4.59.
On February 21, from midnight to 6:45 p.m. Sanaa time, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted precision defensive strikes against a collection of Houthi threats aimed at maritime security in the Red Sea. This included seven mobile Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles and one Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile launcher, alongside an unmanned aerial system (UAS), all originating from Houthi-held areas in Yemen.
On Thursday, numerous Americans encountered disruptions in their cellular service across a range of providers, including AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Verizon, T-Mobile, and others, as reported by Downdetector. AT&T experienced the most significant disruption, with over 64,000 reports of outages on Thursday morning. AT&T, being the largest carrier in the country with over 241 million subscribers, saw a substantial impact from these disruptions.
Intuitive Machines' autonomous lunar lander, named Odysseus, successfully landed on the Moon at 6:23 p.m. ET (2323 UTC), delivering NASA's scientific instruments intended to lay groundwork for future manned exploration under the Artemis program. This achievement was facilitated by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which launched Odysseus into lunar transfer orbit from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, February 15, at 1:05 a.m. ET.
Reddit, the online social forum, recently filed an S-1 form with the Securities and Exchange Commission, signaling its upcoming Initial Public Offering (IPO). This filing disclosed the ownership stakes within the company, revealing that Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, holds an 8.7% stake. The disclosure of Altman's stake is a new piece of information, as the specifics of his investment had not been shared publicly before this filing, necessitated by the IPO process. He is listed as the third-largest shareholder.
American Vision Partners, a company that manages eye care practices, is facing a lawsuit due to a data breach affecting over two million patients. The breach was announced in early February, following the discovery of unauthorized network access on November 14, 2023. This firm supports 120 eye care practices across Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and Nevada, providing them with various administrative services.

Venezuela Deportations From The U.S.:

Venezuela has stopped accepting flights carrying migrants deported from the United States and Mexico. This move interrupts a deal made in October with the Biden administration, which had offered to lighten sanctions on Venezuela in return for the country conducting free elections and taking back migrants who were deported. The deal faced challenges almost immediately when Venezuelan courts blocked the main opposition leader from entering the electoral race. Following this, Venezuela ceased to accept deportees.
Over the last two years, more than 500,000 Venezuelans have migrated to the U.S., but the deportation flights, meant to deter further migration, have only returned 1,800 of them. Venezuela's political and electoral landscape has been turbulent for years, characterized by deep divisions, economic crises, and allegations of authoritarian governance. The country has been under the rule of the United Socialist Party since Hugo Chávez's presidency began in 1999, followed by Nicolás Maduro in 2013 after Chávez's death.
The government has faced international criticism for undermining democracy, restricting press freedoms, and manipulating electoral processes to maintain power. Economic mismanagement and sanctions have led to a severe economic downturn, prompting millions of Venezuelans to flee the country in search of better living conditions. The recent halt in accepting deportees from the U.S. and Mexico adds another layer of complexity to Venezuela's ongoing political and humanitarian crisis.

Tangerine Data Breach:

Tangerine, an Australian telecommunications company, recently faced a data breach that resulted in the exposure of personal information from 232,000 customers. The breach was discovered on February 20, 2024, following an incident that occurred on February 18. The company, in a statement dated February 21, disclosed that the leaked data included customers' names, birth dates, mobile and email addresses, postal addresses, and Tangerine account numbers. Importantly, highly sensitive data such as credit card and banking details were not compromised because the company does not store this information.
Tangerine's CEO, Andrew Branson, expressed profound disappointment over the breach, emphasizing the company's commitment to customer privacy. He assured that Tangerine has always prioritized security measures and will use this incident as a learning opportunity to enhance data protection. Following the breach discovery, Tangerine acted swiftly by investigating the cause, which was linked to a legacy database accessed with a contractor's credentials. The company has since revoked the implicated user's access and tightened security to prevent future breaches.

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