Macy’s at Valencia Town Center Mall opens for curbside pickup service during COVID-19 outbreak on May 21, 2020 in Santa Clarita, California. Robin L Marshall | Getty Images Macy’s shares soared Tuesday as the company released its preliminary financial results, saying it is regaining customers at reopened stores much quicker than it expected.  With the retailer’s stores […] More

President Joe Biden reacted to a leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion that would reverse the Roe v. Wade decision by calling on elected officials around the United States to protect women’s right to abortion.
“I believe that a woman’s right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned,” Biden said.
The Democratic president also called for the election of “more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House” this fall to pass federal legislation that would ensure the right to abortion.
The statement came a day after a report by Politico said that a draft of an opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito indicates that a majority of the court had voted to overturn Roe.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday reacted to a leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion that would reverse the Roe v. Wade decision by calling on elected officials around the United States to protect women’s right to abortion.
“I believe that a woman’s right to choose is fundamental, Roe has been the law of the land for almost fifty years, and basic fairness and the stability of our law demand that it not be overturned,” Biden said in a statement.

Biden also called for the election of “more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House” this fall to pass federal legislation that would ensure the right to abortion.
And he later warned reporters that if the rationale used in the leaked draft decision is formally endorsed by the Supreme Court, “it would mean that every other decision relating to the notion of privacy is thrown into question.”
“If it becomes the law and if what is written is what remains, it goes far beyond the concern of whether or not there is the right to choose, and into other basic rights,” Biden said.
“The right to marriage, the right to determine a whole range of things.”A number of the members of the court have not acknowledged that there is a right to privacy in our Constitution. I strongly believe there is.”
The Democratic president’s statement came a day after a bombshell report by Politico about a draft of an opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on a case involving Mississippi’s restrictive new abortion law, which has been blocked by lower federal courts.

The leaked draft indicates that a majority of the Supreme Court has voted to overturn the nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade ruling, along with another decision that affirmed there is a constitutional right to abortion.
If the substance of the opinion becomes the final ruling by the court, individual states could totally ban abortion, or much more severely limit that procedure currently allowed.
“We do not know whether this draft is genuine, or whether it reflects the final decision of the Court,” Biden said, several hours before the court’s chief justice, John Roberts, confirmed its authenticity and announced he had ordered an investigation into the leak.
But Biden noted that his “administration argued strongly before the Court in defense of Roe v. Wade.”
“We said that Roe is based on ‘a long line of precedent recognizing ‘the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty’… against government interference with intensely personal decisions,’ ” he said.
Biden also noted that shortly after Texas passed a law that bars abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, he had directed White House lawyers and his Gender Policy Council and White House Counsel’s Office “to prepare options for an Administration response to the continued attack on abortion and reproductive rights, under a variety of possible outcomes in the cases pending before the Supreme Court.”
“We will be ready when any ruling is issued,” Biden said.
If the Supreme Court overturns Roe “it will fall on our nation’s elected officials at all levels of government to protect a woman’s right to choose,” he said.
“And it will fall on voters to elect pro-choice officials this November,” the president said
“At the federal level, we will need more pro-choice Senators and a pro-choice majority in the House to adopt legislation that codifies Roe, which I will work to pass and sign into law,” he said.
Biden’s statement, notably, did not say he supports ending the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, known as the filibuster rule, in order to pass legislation to protect abortion rights with just 50 votes in that chamber of Congress.
Democrats currently hold 48 Senate seats and have two independents who caucus with them, as well as a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden has been under intense pressure to back a move to “blow up the filibuster” as it’s known in Washington, ever since it became clear that a challenge to Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban would be decided by the Supreme Court, and that the protections guaranteed by Roe would likely be either gutted or struck down completely.
But even if Biden were to agree to back a change to the filibuster rule so that the Senate could pass a bill enshrining abortion protections into law with just a simple majority, it is far from certain he would get even the 50 Senate votes he would need to do so.
With the Senate split evenly between Republicans and Democrats and independents, all 50 senators who caucus with the Democrats would need to back filibuster reform and an abortion protection bill.
This spring, West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin voted against proceeding on a bill called the Women’s Health Protection Act, which was seen as a trial balloon for how an abortion protection bill would fare among Democrats.
Democrats hold a slim majority in the House of Representatives, where a simple majority is needed to pass legislation.
Before Monday’s report by Politico, there was widespread concern among Democrats about losing their majorities in both chambers of Congress in this fall’s election.
While there is outrage among Democrats about the contents of the leaked draft by Alito, there was also hope that voters would be more motivated to support their party in the upcoming elections because of the possibility Roe v. Wade will be undone.
A political party that holds the White House routinely suffers significant losses in midterm elections for congressional seats.

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

Warner Bros. Discovery signed a deal with VideoAmp, a significant moment for the startup audience measurement platform as an alternative option to legacy firm Nielsen. 
The deal comes ahead of the 2023 upfronts, when networks look to secure long-term commitments from advertisers.
Warner Bros. Discovery will also still use Nielsen, whose accreditation from the Media Rating Council was paused in 2021 after concerns regarding its system arose during Covid.

In this photo illustration, the Warner Bros. Discovery logo is displayed on a smartphone screen and in the background, the HBO Max and Discovery Plus logos.
Rafael Henrique | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Warner Bros. Discovery has signed a deal with VideoAmp to measure its audience as an alternative means of data for advertisers, the companies announced Tuesday. 
The contract is a significant moment for VideoAmp, a startup advertising measurement platform that has recently been growing its list of clients ahead of this year’s upfronts in spring, when TV networks look to secure long-term commitments from advertisers. Warner Bros. Discovery owns traditional TV networks and streaming services.

related investing news

8 hours ago

The deal also gives Warner Bros. Discovery another data set to provide to advertisers at a time when the industry is considering alternatives to legacy measurement firm Nielsen, which was put under the microscope during the Covid pandemic when questions arose regarding its measurement panels. Warner will be using both Nielsen and VideoAmp.
Firms like Nielsen and VideoAmp offer audience estimates and data that TV networks and streamers use to sell slots for commercials. Nielsen’s measurement system is based on a panel of approximately 40,000 households that allow it to track what they watch. VideoAmp bases its data on log-in information from devices. Other competitors in the space include Comscore, as well as startups like iSpot.tv and Samba TV. 
VideoAmp wouldn’t provide the length of its contract with Warner, but founder and CEO Ross McCray told CNBC its deals with the media giant and others are for the long term. VideoAmp also works with Disney, which recently launched the ad-supported platform for Disney+, as well as TelevisaUnivision. 
“Especially with Warner’s investment in streaming and having a portfolio of so many channels, WBD has so much opportunity,” said McCray. “We are going to properly allow you to package it as a cross platform” to advertisers. 
The merger between Discovery and Warner Media closed in 2022, amassing a portfolio of TV networks including the Discovery Channel, TLC, TNT, TBS and others. The merged company plans to roll out a revamped streaming platform in the spring, combining its Discovery+ with Warner’s HBO Max. 

The company has also been in the midst of cost-cutting as it contends with a hefty debt load stemming from the merger. While WBD will still be using Nielsen’s measurement services, the deal with VideoAmp gives it another data set, and the possibility of a more cost-efficient, stand-alone alternative for the future.
“Traditional media measurement has not kept pace with how consumers are engaging with streaming and linear content. As a result, these audiences have been undercounted and current measures no longer accurately reflect their true advertising value,” said Andrea Zapata, Warner’s head of ad sales research, measurement and insights, in a news release. 
Nielsen’s lock on TV viewership and ratings has spanned decades. However, Nielsen’s metrics came under scrutiny as concerns mounted earlier in the pandemic regarding inaccuracies and irregularities in its measurement, according to media reports.
Nielsen disclosed undercounting issues in 2020, and has since lost its accreditation with the Media Rating Council, the industry body that verifies the measurement process. Nielsen’s status with the MRC remains suspended, according to recent reports. VideoAmp, which was founded in 2014, doesn’t have accreditation from the MRC, either.
Despite these issues, Nielsen remains the measurement giant in the room working with all major media companies. Streamers work with Nielsen, too. Amazon’s Prime TV uses Nielsen for its “Thursday Night Football” ratings. When Netflix launched its ad-supported tier last year, it said its programming would be rated by Nielsen, beginning some time in 2023. 
This is a pivotal moment for the media industry, as cord cutting accelerated recently and media companies look to make streaming profitable. Streaming services have added cost-efficient, ad-supported options as subscriber growth slowed down in 2022. 
While there’s about $60 billion to $70 billion spent annually on U.S. linear TV advertising, according to Insider Intelligence, streaming ad revenue is steadily growing. Ad revenue for streaming services is expected to exceed $21 billion in 2023, up from nearly $17 billion in 2022, according to Insider Intelligence.
“We’re expecting meaningful change because the demand is there,” VideoAmp’s McCray said of the measurement industry. 

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

Illumina unveiled plans to cut costs as it faces shrinking margins
The plans aim to reduce Illumina’s annualized run rate expenses by more than $100 million starting later this year, according to the company’s first-quarter earnings release.
The company reported gross margins of 60.3% for the first quarter, down from 66.6% during the year-earlier period.

A building on the campus at the world headquarters of Illumina is shown in San Diego, California, September 1, 2021.
Mike Blake | Reuters

Illumina on Tuesday unveiled plans to cut costs in a bid to improve the DNA sequencing company’s shrinking margins.
The plans aim to reduce Illumina’s annualized run rate expenses by more than $100 million starting later this year, according to the company’s first-quarter earnings release.

The company reported gross margins of 60.3% for the period, down from 66.6% during the year-earlier period.
“These cost savings will accelerate progress toward higher margins as well as free up capital to increase investment in high-growth areas,” Illumina said in the release.
Among Illumina’s plans is to use its NovaSeq X sequencing system to accelerate genomic discoveries. The system, which launched in September 2022, sequences DNA twice as fast and three times as accurately as previous Illumina products.
The San Diego-based company said it also plans to save by “enabling activities” in more cost-effective areas around the world. Illumina did not reveal any specifics about those activities.
The company is battling criticism and a falling market cap in the wake of its controversial $7.1 billion acquisition of Grail, a cancer test developer.

Illumina’s market value has fallen to roughly $34.5 billion from around $75 billion in August 2021, the month it closed its acquisition of Grail. 
Antitrust regulators have repeatedly pushed back on that deal. 
The Federal Trade Commission earlier this month ordered Illumina to divest the acquisition, saying it would stifle competition and innovation. 
Last year, the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, blocked the deal over similar concerns.   
Illumina is appealing both orders and expects final decisions in late 2023 or early 2024. 
The Grail deal is also the focus of a proxy fight between activist investor Carl Icahn and Illumina. They have been trading jabs for more than a month.
Icahn, who owns a 1.4% stake in the company, is seeking seats on Illumina’s board of directors and pushing it to unwind the Grail deal. He is also calling for Illumina to oust its CEO Francis deSouza “immediately.” 
The company is urging shareholders to reject Icahn’s three board nominees during its annual shareholder meeting on May 25. 
Illumina has repeatedly claimed that Grail has “tremendous long-term value creation potential.” 
Grail claims to offer the only commercially available early screening test that can detect more than 50 types of cancers through a single blood draw. 
The cancer test generated around $55 million in revenue in 2022 and is expected to rake in up to $110 million this year, Illumina said. More

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Mike Stobe | Getty Images To those who know him, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is built for this moment.  It was a little more than a month ago that Silver struck first, suspending games due to the coronavirus pandemic and triggering a wave of shutdowns from other leagues just as U.S. […] More