Plagiarism? Check ✔︎
Apple and Google both settle lawsuits; Harvard's president resigns; Australia's struggles with EV adaption; US presidents linked to Jeffrey Epstein; and much more!
Good morning fellow enthusiasts 👋,
It’s officially 2024, and you never would’ve guessed it, but Harvard's president resigned on Wednesday after plagiarism allegations.
Pretty interesting stuff, but you know what’s even more interesting? (…🥁)
That we’ve reached over 100 newsletter subscribers! Thank you to everyone who has subscribed, and please do invite your friends and family who you think would be interested.
Today’s issue is jam-packed with a ton of great stories, and I hope you enjoy.
IN THIS ISSUE
💰 Apple and Google pay up
🎓 Harvard’s president resigns
🇺🇸 US presidents linked to Jeffrey Epstein
On this day. On January 5, 1914, after the amazing success of the Model T, American carmaker Henry Ford rose his workers' pay from $2.40 to $5.00 a day while reducing workday hours.
IMPORTANT
👾 US awards microchip companies
The U.S. Commerce Department wants to grant Microchip Technology $162 million to help domestic semiconductor production shift away from foreign countries (particularly China), to stop supply chain dependance shown during the pandemic.
The award in it’s entirety would have $90 million given to a Colorado facility, and $72 million to an Oregon facility.
A little backround: Microchips (semiconductors) are the key instrument in everything in technology. Anything with a screen, and even kitchen appliances like your fridge or your microwave depend on microchips. I can’t explain this too much (I don’t want this to be too long), but there is an amazing video on YouTube which I would recommend watching for more detail.
🛒 Carrefour pulls PepsiCo products
Carrefour, the seventh biggest retailer worldwide by revenue, told customers in four countries (Italy, France, Spain, and Beligum) that it will no longer sell PepsiCo products. This includes Pepsi, Lay’s chips, Gatorade, and much more. What’s the reason? ‘Unacceptable price increases.’
This isn’t the first time this happened either, since grocery retailers in Germany and Belgium experienced halted orders from companies like Mars for the same reasons last year.
🇦🇺 Australia struggles with SUV EV adaption
Australia saw record-breaking electric vehicle (EV) sales in 2023 that reached 7.2% of total vehicle sales, doubling the sales of 3.1% total in 2022.
Including hybrids, 2023 sales rose to 16.2%, which was around the government's EV strategy. However, despite this progress, SUVs and light commercial vehicles still dominated vehicle sales at 78.4% in 2023.
And with the Australian government aiming to reduce emissions to 43% by 2030, they are still a long way from completely shifting to EV adoption.
FINANCE
Image courtesy of Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images
💰 Apple and Google pay up
Google and Apple just got served, agreed to settle, and combined have to pay over $5 billion in damages. Here are the stories:
Apple:
Apple agreed to settle a lawsuit that said it knowingly allowed scammers to exploit their gift cards, in return keeping a portion of stolen funds. The settlement is still pending approval from a U.S. District.
The scam involved fraudsters convincing victims to buy Apple gift cards for various reasons, leading to significant financial losses. Now the complaint claims Apple retained 30% of stolen funds as a "commission”, but everyone who knows Apple knows that it isn’t a commission, it’s a fee. Apple isn’t paying anything to anyone, but they’ll claim liabilty.
Google:
Google agreed to settle a 2020 lawsuit that accused the company of secretly tracking millions of users' activity in Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager, and even in incognito mode on Chrome.
The lawsuit is for $5 billion in damages, and covered millions of users who could claim $5,000 each or three times the actual damages.
The lawsuit claimed that Google's analytics, cookies, and apps allowed tracking even when users used Chrome in incognito mode. This lawsuit is also pending approval, and should be approved by Feb 24, 2024.
🏦 Investors eyeball EQ Bank
EQ Bank, Canada's seventh-largest bank, outperformed every other Canadian bank stock combined in 2023 with a 50% surge in its shares. As comparison, CIBC and National Bank were the next biggest Canadian bank stock increases with 16% and 11% stock gains.
EQ is still very small with a C$3.3 billion market value, but aims for a 40% customer growth from the current 550,000 by focusing on younger Canadians with interest offers in 2024.
What’s EQ Bank? EQ Bank is a Canadian digital bank with no physical branches. One of the main features is that it allows all customers to use any ABM (ATM) in Canada by refunding the customer the ABM fees. Learn more. *Not sponsored
BUSINESS
Image courtesy of Mark Schiefelbein/AP
🎓 Harvard president resigns
Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned on Wednesday after accusations of plagiarism in her doctoral and journal articles. This marks the first push against Ivy League presidents, (which of course includes Gay), to reshape higher education.
The plagiarism allegations were criticized by some academics as a campaign to ‘undermine Gay's racial justice initiatives,’ and while the Harvard committee found some fault in her citations, they said they were not done on purpose.
🚀 SpaceX illegally fired employees
SpaceX, one of Elon Musk’s many ventures, was accused by a U.S. labor agency of wrongfully firing eight employees who sent a letter criticizing CEO Elon Musk.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint, alleging SpaceX violated workers' rights. The letter in question focused on Musk's tweets, that were ‘deemed inconsistent with company policies on diversity.’
NLRB's decision might lead to a rehiring of the employees, a back pay, and some potential fines or penalties for the company itself.
Fun fact: SpaceX is the second largest private company with a valuation of $185 billion, only beat by TikTok creator ByteDance with a valuation of $225 billion.
POLITICS
Image courtesy of The William J. Clinton President / MEGA
🇺🇸 US presidents linked to Jeffrey Epstein
The unsealing of Jeffrey Epstein-related court documents, found former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump linked to the billionaire and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but not accused of wrongdoing.
Clinton's connection was regarding his flights on Epstein's plane, and Trump's name appears in an invatation to a casino. The documents also mentioned other names like Prince Andrew, and feature a 2016 deposition mentioning Clinton's ‘preference for younger girls.’
For more information of why the documents were unsealed, and for the full list of mentioned names in the documents, here is a good source.
💰 Trump received foreign money in office
I think there seems to be a trend here. US politics seem to always crowd the politics section of these newsletters…
Here’s the story: former President Donald J. Trump received over $7.8 million from at least 20 foreign governments during two years in office, which is an obvious violation of the the US constitution, according to a report by the House Oversight Committee.
China was the biggest contributor, that made $5.5 million in payments while the rest of the contributors included Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, India, and Afghanistan. All the payments were made to Trump-owned properties, including hotels in Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, and New York City.
📚 Book of the Week
Note: I don’t recommend books that I haven’t read or that I would never read. The books I recommend are books I have already read or that I will eventually read.
Atomic Habits — James Clear
Book Description:
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
Clear (the author) is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work.
Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
It’s a great book. I just received it today (Thursday), and it’s already amazing. I would highly recommend reading it. You can buy the book using the link below to support me and help cancer research, or you can search for it elsewhere! — Jacob
Learn how to:
make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
design your environment to make success easier;
get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.
Buy a book, help cure cancer. Learn more.