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Spotify CEO says canceling Joe Rogan isn’t ‘the answer’
Spotify’s CEO says that while he condemned podcaster Joe Rogan’s use of racial slurs, he doesn’t believe that cutting ties with the popular personality is the answer. Daniel Ek wrote in the letter to employees Sunday that “canceling voices is a slippery slope.” Ek also says the host behind the removal of dozens of episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience.” His message comes a day after Rogan apologized for using the N-word previously on his podcast. Spotify reportedly paid $100 million to license Rogan’s podcast but has faced intense criticism for hosting his show, which also has been criticized for promoting COVID-19 vaccine skepticism.
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Report: Corporate climate pledges are weaker than they seem
NEW YORK (AP) — Many of the world’s largest companies are failing to take significant enough steps to meet their pledges to vastly reduce the impact of their greenhouse gas emissions in the decades ahead. That’s the conclusion of a new report by the NewClimate Institute, an environmental organization that works to combat global warming. Its researchers, who examined the actions of 25 companies, concluded that many of them are misleading consumers by using accounting practices that make their environmental goals relatively meaningless or are excluding key parts of their businesses in their calculations.
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Frontier bids $2.9 billion for rival budget airline Spirit
Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines are proposing to combine in a $2.9 billion deal. If it goes through, the combination would create a larger discount airline to compete against the nation’s dominant carriers and, the two airlines say, promote lower fares. Both are ultra-low-cost carriers that tempt travelers with rock-bottom prices for no-frills service but often generate more than their share of consumer complaints. The deal is likely to get a close examination from antitrust regulators in the Biden Administration, which has signaled a tougher line against big corporate mergers. However, the Frontier-Spirit combination would rank only fifth among U.S. airlines in passenger-carrying capacity and seventh in revenue.
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Stocks end another up-and-down day with mixed results
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks ended another bumpy day with mixed results on Wall Street Monday. The S&P 500 went up, down, up, and then down again in the last hour of trading to wind up with a loss of 0.4%. Losses in several big tech companies left the Nasdaq down 0.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed essentially unchanged. Small-company stocks rose. The uncertain trading follows weeks of volatility for major indexes as traders try to figure out how stock valuations will be affected by the interest rate hikes looming on the horizon as the Federal Reserves moves to tame inflation.
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Peter Thiel leaving board of Facebook parent Meta
MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — A Silicon Valley billionaire and advisor to former President Donald Trump is leaving the board of directors of Facebook parent company Meta. The company said Monday that Peter Thiel will stay on until the company’s next shareholder meeting later this year, where he will not stand for reelection. Thiel joined Facebook’s board in 2005, a year after the company was founded and seven years before its debut on Wall Street. But he has been an increasingly polarizing figure among the company’s directors due to his conservative politics. A representative for Thiel did not immediately return a message for comment.
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IRS to end use of facial recognition to identify taxpayers
WASHINGTON (AP) — The IRS sys it will stop using facial recognition technology to authenticate people who create online accounts after the practice came under criticism from privacy advocates and lawmakers. Critics of the software said the database could become a target for cyberthreats and voiced concern about how the information could be used by other government agencies. IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig says the IRS “takes taxpayer privacy and security seriously. He adds that ”everyone should feel comfortable with how their personal information is secured.” Rettig says the agency is pursuing other options “that do not involve facial recognition.”
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Biden task force releases report to strengthen labor unions
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Biden administration task force has issued a set of recommendations that could make it easier for federal workers and contractors to unionize. The report released Monday includes 70 recommendations. The report argues that a decadeslong drop in union membership has coincided with a rising share of income going to the top 10% of earners. The report’s goal is to increase unionization in part through the heft of the federal government as an employer. The Labor Department reported last month that only 10.3% of workers belonged to a union in 2021, down from 20.1% in 1983. The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace business group calls the report “pro-union propaganda.”
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Longtime CEO of Allegiant to step down, remain chairman
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Add Allegiant Air to the list of airlines getting a new CEO this year. Parent company Allegiant Travel said Monday that Maurice Gallagher will step down as CEO on June 1 and be replaced by company president John Redmond. Gallagher has led Allegiant since 2001. He will remain chairman. The announcement comes on the same day that two of Allegiant’s low-cost-airline rivals, Spirit and Frontier, announce plans to merge into a bigger company.
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The S&P 500 fell 16.66 points, or 0.4%, to 4,483.87. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.39 points, or less than 0.1%, to 35,091.13. The Nasdaq slipped 82.34 points, or 0.6%, to 14,015.67. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies gained 10.24 points, or 0.5%, to 2,012.60.