Author: fortraders

The sale of Virgin Orbit’s Long Beach headquarters is part of the company’s plan to restructure its debt and emerge from bankruptcy. The company said it will use the proceeds from the sale to pay off creditors and fund its operations. Rocket Lab, which has launched more than 100 satellites since its founding in 2006, said it plans to use the facility to expand its own operations.

The sale of Virgin Orbit’s Long Beach headquarters is a sign of the changing landscape in the satellite launch industry. With the emergence of new players such as Rocket Lab, the industry is becoming increasingly competitive, and companies are looking for ways to stay ahead of the competition. The sale of Virgin Orbit’s headquarters is a sign that the company is looking to streamline its operations and focus on its core business.

Italy is facing a housing crisis, with rent prices surging and students protesting the rising cost of living in big cities. According to the Bank of Italy, the gap between agents who expect rental prices to rise and those who expect them to go down is the highest since records began, at 45.9 percentage points. Property portal Idealista reported rents jumped nationwide by 10.1% year-on-year in April, hitting a record 12.5 euros per square metre.

In response, the government has announced an extra 660 million euros for student housing, while Tourism Minister Daniela Santanche is drafting a law to regulate short-term rentals. Ilaria Lamera, a student who used to spend two hours commuting each way from her house in the Bergamo province, urged regional authorities to “build new student residence halls, or provide incentives to home owners to persuade them to rent to students rather than platforms such as Airbnb”.

The housing crisis is a major issue for Italy, and the government is taking steps to address it. However, it remains to be seen if these measures will be enough to make a difference.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg voiced his concerns Tuesday over the interaction between Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) full self-driving program and drivers. Buttigieg has been critical of Tesla Autopilot in the past but has recognized the automaker as the leader in EVs.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been investigating the issue since 2021, prompted by a series of accidents involving Autopilot and incidents with stationary emergency vehicles. The focus of the investigation is to determine if Tesla vehicles sufficiently ensure that drivers remain attentive while using the system.

Tesla monitors driver behavior by using a cabin-facing camera that tracks eye movements and other driver behaviors. Recently, it was reported that the automaker would track blink frequency and length, along with yawns in an attempt to make its driver monitoring systems more robust.

“The question is not are they absolutely free of problems or 1000% foolproof,” Buttigieg said. “The question is, how can we be sure that they will lead to a better set of safety outcomes…This technology has a lot of promise. We just have to make sure it unfolds in a responsible fashion.”

Since 2016, NHTSA has opened 40 Tesla special crash investigations where driver assistance systems like Autopilot were suspected of being used, with 20 crash deaths reported. Shares of TSLA are down 1.28% in mid-day trading on Tuesday.

Investors, including activist John Chevedden, have filed a shareholder resolution calling on Fox Corp to study using on-air branding to distinguish its news and opinion programming. The resolution cites the company’s recent $787.5 million settlement of a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems over Fox’s coverage of false vote-rigging claims in the 2020 U.S. election.

The resolution calls for Fox’s board to report on the risks of blurred lines between news and opinion, and to consider “providing public differentiation” between news and non-news shows. For instance Fox could include a “Fox Opinion!” label on broadcasts by popular host Sean Hannity.

Chevedden has been one of the most prolific filers of shareholder resolutions for corporate annual meetings and traditionally focused on governance topics such as splitting the chairman and CEO titles. Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch and family members own about 42% of the company’s voting shares, making it unlikely the advisory proposal would gain a majority of support.

However, even a strong showing can lead to changes. After a resolution at Fox calling for more lobbying disclosure received support from 43% of votes cast in 2021, the company published a “political activities report” detailing much of its spending.

The U.S. Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, has expressed his concern over China’s ban on sales of memory chips made by U.S.-based Micron Technology Inc. Schumer is working closely with the Biden administration to make clear to the Chinese government that this sort of behavior is unacceptable and unproductive. He is also engaging with the broader business community as well as with allies and partners to address the Chinese government’s restrictions against Micron.

Republican lawmaker Michael McCaul has also condemned China’s move, calling it “economic aggression”. The Chinese embassy in Washington has yet to comment on the matter.

The ban was announced just a day after the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations agreed they would look to “de-risk, not decouple” from China, and as Washington pressures its allies to join it in restricting chip equipment exports to China. Micron has forecast that the ban will dent revenue in the low-single to high-single digits in percentage terms.