Financing the Future

Spotify on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter monthly active users and subscribers ahead of expectations as it grew in all regions, and said revenue and profitability trends looked favorable this year.The music streaming company has ventured into podcasts and audiobooks as it seeks to grow its user base to one billion by 2030. It has also raised prices for its subscribers and laid off thousands of employees to boost profits and increase efficiency.The number of monthly active users rose by 23% to 602 million in the fourth…

For years, American popular culture has churned out ultra-dramatic scenarios about the rise of artificial intelligence. In James Cameron’s 1984 sci-fi flick The Terminator, AI system Skynet becomes sentient and launches a nuclear war against humans, directing cyborgs to wipe out humankind. But here in the real world, AI is coming for a decidedly more tedious part of modern life: tax filing. And America’s young adults are leading the charge in embracing this change.Some 70% of Gen Z American adults, who range in age from…

The number of Americans filing for jobless benefits rose last week to the highest level in 11 weeks, though layoffs remain at historically low levels.Applications for unemployment benefits climbed to 224,000 for the week ending Jan. 27, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.The four-week average of claims, a less volatile measure, rose by 5,250, to 207,750.Weekly unemployment claims are seen as a proxy for the number of U.S. layoffs in a given week. They have remained at…

Earnings season is underway once more, and this week, the Big Tech companies move front and center.The start of 2024 hasn’t brought a lot of favorable headlines to that industry, as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and others have announced mass layoffs. In the first four weeks of the year, tech companies, led by the giants of the industry, have laid off some 25,000 employees. Now, investors want to know how the financials look.Stock prices for The Magnificent Seven (Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Nvidia, Meta, Microsoft, and Tesla)…

But for employers and employees alike, setting up plans and contributions has often been painful and confusing, says Kevin Busque, founder and CEO of retirement plan provider Guideline. Busque, who previously cofounded Taskrabbit, says he became interested in the 401(k) industry after being dissatisfied with the options available for his employees there. A provider available through Taskrabbit’s payroll company delivered dry presentations and a slew of paper forms to employees, many of whom simply never bothered to sign…

Who says tax preparation has to be boring?Intuit, the maker of popular tax-prep software TurboTax (and many other programs), filed a lawsuit against H&R Block, one of its main competitors, claiming that H&R Block is engaging in “false and misleading marketing through which H&R Block is attempting to gain an unfair competitive advantage and tarnish TurboTax’s hard-earned reputation in the online tax-preparation space.” The lawsuit, filed on January 15 in the United States District Court for the Northern…

After a dizzying 24 hours that included a market-moving false alarm and boundless anticipation from crypto enthusiasts, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) confirmed late Wednesday that it has approved a number of proposed exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, tracked to the price of Bitcoin.The approval of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs includes those from heavy hitters such as Grayscale, BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco, and others. The move is seen as a major endorsement of digital currencies by the country’s primary securities…

The glut of streaming services that have popped up over the last several years has produced a decidedly crowded marketplace. These days, consumers can subscribe to Netflix, Max, Hulu, Disney+, Paramount+, Amazon Prime, Peacock, Apple TV+, and many more. But with the recent consolidation of Discovery and Warner Bros., and now rumored discussions of a potential merger between Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and Paramount Global, it looks as if the industry is quickly reversing course.The rumored merger talks between WBD and…

The genesis for the book came from a blog post Neumann wrote in November 2021 titled “Your Board of Directors is Probably Going to Fire You.”  It shot to the top of Hacker News. Founders raved about it because a VC was finally talking publicly about something that was only whispered about. Investors were incensed that it was being talked about at all. Zalman called Neumann and asked, “Why don’t more people talk about things like this?” And so the book was born. There was one caveat, though: Neumann insisted on fully…

With consequential Supreme Court rulings on topics like abortion and voting rights in recent years, Americans may be forgiven if their interest isn’t exactly piqued by a legal battle concerning the tax code. But a case currently in front of the high court, although it has largely flown under the radar, has huge implications: It could rewrite parts of the tax code, and nix any hopes for the introduction of a “wealth tax” in the future.This week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments pertaining to Moore v. United States, a…