Weekend Business News Roundup February 03, 2024

Brenda Chunga, known online as “Bitcoin Beautee,” was the American face of an Australian Ponzi scheme called HyperFund.

Chunga made nearly $4 million promoting the scheme—which defrauded investors across the globe of $1.9 billion (pdf)—on social media, according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). With her fortune, she bought a million-dollar house in her home state of Maryland, a million-dollar condo in Dubai, a BMW, and some designer handbags. - Laura Bratton Read More

The list of the most powerful passports in the world, compiled by consultancy firm Henley & Partners, is all about global mobility—where the holder of the passport can travel without a visa. - Susan Howson Read More

United Parcel Services (UPS) plans to slash about 2% of its 500,000-person workforce. Most of the 12,000 job cuts will be full- and part-time management positions and contract roles, UPS executives said. No employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters have been affected, the union—which represents some 300,000 UPS workers—told Quartz. - Michelle Cheng Read More

The richest person in the world depended on who you asked on Monday — and when you asked. Bloomberg said Elon Musk on Monday morning; Forbes said Bernard Arnault. - Melvin Backman Read More

Tesla’s annual shareholder report is out. It includes a bunch of growing numbers: Almost $100 billion in revenue, more than 1.8 million cars delivered to customers, more than 140,000 employees. But one thing that isn’t increasing in size, just ahead of Black History Month in February, is the “Human Capital Resources” section of the yearly filing. Specifically, language referencing the electrical automaker’s “majority-minority workforce” — whose employee resource groups were empowered to “take charge” of fostering change at the company — is gone. - Melvin Backman Read More

One day in late January, Elon Musk was not the world’s richest person. LVMH chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault had once again surpassed the Tesla and SpaceX chief — though by the next day, the two had swapped spots again. - Susan Howson Read More

Walmart managers have a new reason to be cheerful.

These employees can now make between $138,000 and $148,000 a year, depending on what kind of store they lead. And that’s just with their base salaries and new annual stock grants announced by the Arkansas-headquartered retail chain on Monday (Jan. 29). - Laura Bratton Read More

Starbucks’ rocky first quarter earnings missed analyst expectations. Part of the reason sales weren’t as strong as hoped in the US was Israel’s war in Gaza, said the coffee chain’s CEO — though he was notably careful not to use the words “Israel,” “Gaza,” or “Palestine.” - Laura Bratton Read More

Elon Musk already holds the world record for losing the most money, and the Tesla CEO has lost another $30.5 billion in the first month of 2024. At the same time, his rival in wealth, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has gained $7.3 billion. - Laura Bratton Read More

What keeps the wheels of the economy turning? Is it fair trade and consumer spending? No, just a whole lot of burger grease. A new report from Oxford Economics details the ways in which McDonald’s impacts the U.S. economy, contributing as much $108 billion to the country’s gross domestic product each year. - Angela L. Pagán / The Takeout Read More