Forbes

2022-06-17 21:05:01 Crypto Crash Deepens: Market Drops Below $1 Trillion, Bitcoin Falls To 2020 Levels

The cryptocurrency market witnessed a major selloff on Monday morning with its overall market cap dropping below $1 trillion for the first time in over a year after major crypto lending platform Celsius announced it was suspending all withdrawals due to “extreme market conditions.”

Bitcoin’s value fell below $24,000 — down nearly 14% — the lowest level it has been in 18-months following Celsius’ announcement.

Amid the selloff, crypto exchange Binance announced that it was temporarily suspending Bitcoin withdrawals which CEO Changpeng Zhao said was due to a “stuck transaction causing a backlog.”

Ethereum, the world’s second most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap, saw its value crater by more than 18.3% dropping below $1,200.

The market wide selloff has also affected other popular tokens like Binance’s BNB, Dogecoin and Solana, which are down 15%, 18.3% and 18.9% respectively. Open / Comment

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2022-06-17 17:05:01 China Stocks Drop In U.S. Ahead Of Fed Action On Inflation; Alibaba, BiliBili Plunge 10%

Shares in many of China’s best-known companies plunged on the Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange today as part of a steep selloff amid worries about rising interest rates and slower growth in the United States, the world’s largest economy.

The Nasdaq lost 4.7% and S&P 500 lost 3.9% as U.S. stocks fell into bear market territory.

China’s best-known e-commerce stocks fell. Among them, Alibaba lost 10.3% to $98.52, and Pinduoduo dropped 9.2% to $54.41, both worse than the percentage declines in the Nasdaq and S&P.

Fast-growing China electric vehicle makers were also hit hard: NIO shed 11.8% to $15.99, and XPeng dropped 7.2% to $23.95.

Social media BiliBili also had 10% of its value wiped out, falling to $23.49. Search engine Baidu lost 7.7% to $131.88. Open / Comment

2022-06-17 14:05:01 Tycoon Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi’s Frasers Property To Buyout Hotel REIT In Deal Valued At $970 Million

Frasers Property — controlled by Thai billionaire Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi — has offered to buy Frasers Hospitality Trust (FHT) in a deal valuing the Singapore-listed real estate investment trust at S$1.35 billion ($970 million).

The offer comes as Frasers Hospitality — which manages 14 hotels and serviced residences with more than 2,600 rooms across key gateway cities in Asia, Australia and Europe — faces headwinds brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic that has upended the travel and tourism industry in the past two years.

Under the deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, Frasers Property is offering to buy the rest of the REIT that it doesn’t own at S$0.70 per share, the real estate giant said in a regulatory filing on Monday. The Singapore-listed developer currently owns 25.8% of FHT, while Charoen’s TCC Group holds another 36.7% with minority investors owning the rest. Open / Comment

2022-06-16 21:05:01 Nascar Confirms A Return To The L.A. Coliseum In 2023

NASCAR will once again start its season in Los Angeles. The sanctioning body announced Sunday that it will hold the non-points Busch Clash in February next year and will again host the event in the L.A. Coliseum.

NASCAR held the first Clash in the Coliseum this past February, and by all measures it was a huge success that included the competitive debut of NASCAR’s Next Gen car. The event attracted a large crowd, several high-profile celebrities, and put on an entertaining show that included performances by Pitbull and rapper Ice Cube.

“Our entire industry made a bold move by bringing the Busch Light Clash to the LA Coliseum this past February and it paid off by becoming an instant classic with both new and existing fans,” NASCAR’s senior VP of racing development and strategy Ben Kennedy said in a news release. Open / Comment

2022-06-16 17:05:01 Hudson Banks On Loyalty Scheme With Instant 5% Reductions To Bag More Airport Shoppers

Travel retailer Hudson, has launched a new loyalty program across its roughly 1,000 stores in airports, commuter hubs and tourist destinations in North America with immediate discounts available to members. The timing is intended to drive greater spending per head at a time when passenger traffic is building back well across the United States and as competition between retailers such as rival Paradies Lagardère heats up.

From the day they sign up, Red By Dufry members start receiving discounts and earning points every time they shop. New members instantly obtain silver status, receiving 5% off.

As members accumulate more points they can unlock new membership tiers: gold members get 7% off, and for platinum members it is a 10% discount. Other benefits include savings on car rentals from Avis and Sixt, and extra Red points when using the booking engine HotelsCombined. Open / Comment

2022-06-16 14:05:01 Micron To Add 2,000 Employees, Set Up R&D Corridor In Taiwan — Report

Micron Technology Inc., the U.S. memory chip maker, will add 2,000 employees and set up a research and development (R&D) corridor in Taiwan.

Micron has invested in Taiwan for more than two decades and is its largest foreign investor.

Micron has more than 10,000 employees in Taiwan and operates two factories for making dynamic random access memory chips in Taoyuan and Taichung with another backend factory in Taichung, CNA said. The company purchased shares it didn’t own in Taiwan memory-chip maker Inotera for approximately $4 billion in 2016.

Taiwan is one of the world’s top sources of the semiconductors. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., or TSMC, one of the world’s most valuable semiconductor manufacturers, on Friday said sales in May soared by 65.3% from a year earlier to a monthly record NT$185.7 billion. Open / Comment

2022-06-15 21:05:00 Garret Graves accused Joe Biden of raising energy prices. Details in the video. Open / Comment

2022-06-15 17:05:01 LVMH Makes It Official: Lab-Grown Diamonds Are Luxury

In 2018, the FTC permitted “a mineral consisting essentially of pure carbon crystallized in the isometric system” to be described as a “diamond,” whether naturally occurring or man-made. Ever since then, the jewelry establishment has been erecting barriers of entry for lab-grown diamonds into their lucrative $84 billion global market.

With the most to lose, luxury brands, including Bulgari, Cartier and Tiffany (now an LVMH brand), stood firmly behind that barrier and held only natural diamonds were luxury.

But now the walls have been breached with LVMH Luxury Ventures, along with other investors, having completed a $90 million investment round in Israel-based Lusix, a pioneer in the lab-grown diamond (LGD) industry.

Lusix joins MadHappy, Gabriella Hearst, Versed and Stadium Goods in LVMH Luxury Venture’s portfolio. Its investment priorities are clear: seek out brands at the forefront of emerging trends and innovation in the luxury market. Open / Comment

2022-06-15 14:05:01 Tiger Woods Officially A Billionaire, No Thanks To The Saudis

Triumph, injury, scandal, failure and triumph again have filled the intervening years. But through it all, the 46-year-old Woods has maintained his supremacy as one of the top-earning athletes in the world, raking in over $1.7 billion in salary, endorsements and other income over the course of his 27-year career.

Forbes now estimates his net worth to be at least $1 billion, based on his lifetime earnings, making him one of just three known athlete billionaires.

Woods has reached that rarified air despite reportedly turning down a “mind-blowingly enormous” offer from the new Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour, a deal that LIV CEO Greg Norman told the Washington Post would’ve been in the “high nine digits.”

Yet to this point, less than 10% of Woods’ career earnings, and net worth, comes from golf winnings. The bulk of his fortune comes from enormous endorsement deals with more than a dozen brands. Open / Comment