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Here’s what you need to know
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping planned stronger cooperation. Russia’s president—the first to RSVP “yes” to the upcoming Beijing Olympics—and China’s president reassured each other of mutual support in a virtual meeting. Meanwhile, Berlin threw out Russian diplomats after Moscow was found to be behind a dissident’s death.
China wants to help small businesses. New incentives announced Wednesday will empower small local banks to hand out more loans next year.
The US central bank looks like it will end stimulus efforts sooner rather than later. Federal Reserve officials also said they’d hold interest rates steady for now, but indicated they’d be up for raising them in 2022.
Irish exports will be temporarily exempt from new EU border controls. The act of goodwill did not help expedite an agreement between the UK and the EU on supplying medicines to Northern Ireland.
Taiwan is restricting its tech companies from selling assets in China. The move is intended to keep certain technological know-how—such as how to make semiconductors—from falling into Beijing’s hands.
The US’s top doctor said existing covid boosters all work against omicron. Anthony Fauci encouraged anyone who’s able to get a booster to get one, whichever one is most available to them, without delay.
What to watch for
Electric vehicle maker Rivian reports earnings for the first time since its Nov. 10 IPO today. While it took 12 years for the startup to begin delivering its pickup trucks to customers, the company nevertheless attracted money from big-name investors during that time. Rivian’s biggest stakeholder, Amazon, is also its most important customer: The retailer has said it will purchase 100,000 delivery vans from the EV maker by 2024, but the pledge isn’t binding.
$102 billion: Rivian’s market cap as of Dec. 15, bigger than General Motors’ or Ford’s
107%: Growth in Rivian’s private capital following Amazon’s 2019 investment round
$0: Rivian’s reported revenue from electric truck sales
156: Number of trucks Rivian had delivered to customers as of Oct. 31
4.2%: Rivian’s mid-day stock drop on Dec. 14 following news that a lawsuit filed by rival EV maker Tesla has accelerated; Tesla alleges Rivian stole trade secrets
The newest crop of global CEOs with Indian roots
Over the past decade, global conglomerates like PepsiCo, financial institutions like Mastercard, and Silicon Valley giants like Google and Microsoft have added Indian-origin talent to their top management. Chanel’s announcement this week that Leena Nair will be its next leader comes on the heels of other recent high-profile CEO appointments of people of Indian origin at global companies.
Leena Nair, Chanel: Born in Kolhapur, a small town in the western state of Maharashtra, Nair spent nearly 30 years at Unilever, working her way up from management trainee to chief human resources officer.
Parag Agrawal, Twitter: After stints at AT&T, Microsoft, and Yahoo, Agrawal joined Twitter in 2011 as a software engineer. He became the company’s chief technology officer in 2017.
C.S. Venkatakrishnan, Barclays: Most recently Barclays’ co-president and head of global markets, Venkatakrishnan took the top job after Jes Staley stepped down unexpectedly over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
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Surprising discoveries
Your still-in-transit Halloween costume is being set aside to make room on ships for Christmas stuff. It’s too late to wear your Squid Game getup anyway.
Two Brazilian politicians took their issues to an MMA ring. Aggressive urges may have been satisfied, but their original waterpark dispute remained unsolved.
Kraft will pay customers to not use its cream cheese. To slow demand until supply can catch up, the manufacturer will reimburse 18,000 people for non-cheesecake holiday desserts.
A NASA probe touched the Sun. It was dustier than scientists expected.
There’s no Six Sigma regulating body. Buy a book, take a course, or just do some online reading—who’s to say whether you’re an expert? Editor Oliver Staley explains why the manufacturing method has had such staying power in the latest episode of the Quartz Obsession podcast.
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