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Rumours of an impending break-up of Alibaba have been swirling for a while. Chinese regulators had long been leery of its market power over the online economy, where its interests spanned e-commerce, digital payments, cloud-computing, entertainment and much else besides. The Communist authorities dislike the idea of anything, let alone a large private business, outshining the party. And the country’s leaders bristled at the high profile of Alibaba’s founder, Jack Ma, an icon of Chinese enterprise who every now and again dared question their decisions. Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

Artists rarely create more than 5,000 works over a lifetime. Pablo Picasso, who died on April 8th 1973 at the age of 91, produced 25,000. Between 1950 and 2021 more than 1,500 notable Picassos were sold at auction in America and Britain, compared with 798 by the next-most-prolific artist, Andy Warhol, according to Sotheby’s Mei Moses, the art-data arm of the auction house. In its recent London sales, Sotheby’s offered a sculpture, an illustrated book, a cubist bronze cast, some gravure prints and several drawings and paintings, all by Picasso. Prices ranged from under £5,000 ($6,200) to more than £18m. Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

One personality type occupies more attention in the workplace than any other. The “talented jerk”, whose alter-egos include such lovable characters as the “toxic rock star” and the “destructive hero”, is a staple of management literature. These are the people who smash both targets and team cohesion, who get stuff done and get away with behaving badly as a result.So common and corrosive are these characters that plenty of companies spell out a zero-tolerance approach to them. “No jerks allowed,” says CARFAX, which provides data on vehicle histories. Netflix, a streaming giant, is similarly unequivocal: “On our dream team, there are no brilliant jerks.” The careers site of Baird, a financial-services firm, says that it operates a “no assholes” policy.It is totally reasonable for firms to want to signal an aversion to genuine jerks. It may not actually put people off (“No assholes? Well, I guess Baird isn’t the company for me.”). But it sends an explicit message to prospective and existing employees, and reflects a real danger to company cultures. Toxic behaviour is contagious: incivility and unpleasantness can quickly become norms if they pass unchecked. That is bad for retention and for reputation. It’s also just bad in itself. Moreover, the extreme version of the management dilemma posed by the talented jerk rarely exists in practice. The risk that you may be getting rid of the next Steve Jobs is infinitesimal. Just contemplate all the jerks you work with. If you really think they are going to revolutionise consumer technology, create the world’s most valuable company or have members of the public light candles for them when they die, you should probably just go ahead and make them the CEO. But the red-faced guy in sales who shouts at people when he loses an account is not that person. That said, the enthusiasm for banning jerks ought to make people a little uneasy, for at least three reasons. The first is that the no-jerk rule involves a lot of subjectivity. Some types of behaviour are obviously and immediately beyond the pale. But the boundaries between seeking high standards and being unreasonable, or between being candid and being crushing, are not always clear-cut. Zero tolerance is dangerous. You may mean to create a supportive culture but end up in a corporate Salem, without the bonnets but with the accusations of jerkcraft. The second is that jerks come in different flavours. Total jerks should just be got rid of. But they are rare, whereas bit-of-a-jerks are everywhere and can be redeemed. The oblivious jerk is one potentially fixable category. Some people do not realise they are upsetting others and may just need to be told as much. Other people are situational jerks: they behave badly in some circumstances and not in others. If those circumstances are very broad (whenever the person in question is awake, say), then that tells you the problem cannot be fixed. But if jerkiness occurs only at specific moments, like interacting with another jerk, then it may be that a solution exists. If the thing that a talented jerk does really well can be done in comparative isolation or without giving them power over other people, consider it. As the well-known philosophical teaser goes: if a jerk throws a tantrum in their home office and no one is around to see it, are they really a jerk? A third issue is one of consistency. This is not just about what happens when the person declaring war on jerks is also a jerk. It is also about the many other problem types who crowd the corridors of workplaces. Where are the policies that ban constructive wreckers, the people offering up so many ostensibly helpful criticisms that nothing ever actually gets done? Why not zap the brilliant fools who have blinding insights of absolutely no practical value? Above all, what about the pool of nice underperformers who putter along amiably and harmlessly, helping the culture much more than they do the bottom line? Talented jerks stand out, like shards of glass among bare feet: impossible to ignore, problems that have to be solved. Mediocrities are the bigger problem in many firms but are like carbon monoxide, silently poisoning an organisation. Right-minded purists will argue that anything less than zero tolerance towards talented jerks is just pandering to people who behave badly. But right-minded purists will have skated over paragraph three and are a scourge in their own right. Someone ought to write a management book about them.■Read more from Bartleby, our columnist on management and work:How to get flexible working right (Mar 23rd)From high-speed rail to the Olympics, why do big projects go wrong? (Mar 16th)The small consolations of office irritations (Mar 9th)Also: How the Bartleby column got its name More

EVgo reported fourth-quarter revenue that beat Wall Street estimates, and a narrower loss than expected, as demand for chargers from business clients boomed.
The company’s 2023 revenue guidance was slightly short of expectations, as EVGo isn’t sure it’ll be able to get enough U.S.-made chargers by year-end.
The company isn’t yet sure how many U.S.-made chargers it’ll be able to get by year end.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg looks at an EVgo charging station during an electric vehicles event outside of the Department of Transportation October 20, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Drew Angerer | Getty Images

EV charging network operator EVgo on Thursday reported fourth-quarter revenue that beat Wall Street expectations and posted a narrower-than-expected loss as booming demand from business clients drove big jumps in sales and usage.
While EVgo’s revenue guidance for 2023 fell slightly short of Wall Street’s expectations, investors didn’t seem to mind: Shares were up over 8% in premarket trading following the news.

Here are the key numbers from EVgo’s fourth-quarter earnings report, compared with Wall Street consensus estimates as reported by Refinitiv.

Loss per share: 6 cents, versus a loss of 16 cents expected.
Revenue: $27.3 million, versus $21.8 million expected.

EVgo’s fourth-quarter revenue marked a 283% increase from a year ago. The company’s net loss for the quarter was $17 million. The company had $246.2 million in cash and equivalents remaining at year-end, down from $484.9 million at the end of 2021.
For the full year, EVgo reported revenue of $54.6 million, network throughput of 44.6 GWh, and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $80.2 million, all in line with the guidance ranges it provided with its third-quarter results in November.
EVgo’s network throughput, a measure of the total energy provided to charging customers, grew 76% year-over-year to 14.4 gigawatt-hours (GWh) in the fourth quarter. The company added about 59,000 new customer accounts during the period, and ended the year with over 2,800 fast-charging stalls in operation.
The company saw dramatic growth in its “eXtend” unit, which provides and manages chargers for business clients under the businesses’ own brands. Revenue from eXtend totaled about $16.7 million in the fourth quarter, or 61% of EVgo’s total revenue for the period, up from just $114,000 a year ago. General Motors, truck-stop operator Pilot, and banking giant Chase are among the businesses that have signed up for the eXtend program.

Retail charging revenue totaled $5.8 million in the quarter, up 65% from a year ago.
EVgo’s guidance for 2023 came with a caveat: The company isn’t yet sure how many U.S.-made chargers it’ll be able to get by year end. New U.S. government rules require domestically made chargers for certain federally-funded projects, and it’s not yet clear how much domestic manufacturing capacity will be up and running before the end of the year.
Here’s the guidance EVgo provided for the current year:

Revenue: Between $105 million and $150 million.
Adjusted EBITDA loss: Between $78 million and $60 million
Fast charging stalls in operation or under construction: 3,400 to 4,000 by year-end.

That revenue guidance is slightly short of Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected 2023 revenue to reach $153.7 million, on average.  
EVgo will hold a conference call for analysts and investors at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday. More

Planet on Wednesday delivered another record quarter of revenue, nearing the top end of its full-year forecast.
The satellite-imagery and data-analysis company brought in $53 million in revenue during its fiscal fourth quarter, a 43% increase from $37.1 million a year prior.
Planet is also making its sixth acquisition to date, signing a deal to acquired Slovenian satellite data-analysis platform Sinergise.

The New York Stock Exchange welcomes Planet (NYSE: PL), on Wed. Dec. 8th, in celebration of its listing. To honor the occasion, Will Marshall, Co-Founder & CEO, and Robert Schingler Jr., Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, joined by Stacey Cunningham, NYSE President, ring The Opening Bell®.

Planet on Wednesday delivered another record quarter of revenue, nearing the top end of its full-year revenue forecast.
“The fourth quarter capped off an incredible year for Planet. For the full year, we nearly tripled our revenue growth rate,” Planet co-founder and CEO Will Marshall said in a press release.

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The satellite-imagery and data-analysis company reported an adjusted EBITDA loss widened to $17.7 million for the fourth quarter from $16.7 million in the year-earlier period. Its net loss narrowed to $37.8 million, or 14 cents a share, from $46 million, or 26 cents. Planet brought in $53 million in revenue during the period, a 43% increase from $37.1 million a year prior.
For the full year, Planet’s revenue came in at $191.3 million — at the top end of its previously projected range of $188 million to $192 million.
Planet follows a fiscal year calendar that ends on Jan. 31.

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Planet Chief Financial Officer Ashley Johnson noted that the company finished the quarter with $408.8 million in cash.
The company is also making its sixth acquisition to date, signing a deal to acquire Slovenian satellite data analysis platform Sinergise. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Planet said acquiring Sinergise, a long-standing partner, is expected to further its access to European markets. More

JetBlue is preparing to cut scores of weekly flights in the New York City area this spring and summer in response to a shortage of air traffic controllers.
Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration unveiled a new plan to help avoid a repeat of 2022’s flight disruptions.
“We don’t want to pull down flights,” CEO Robin Hayes said in an interview with CNBC. “But if we don’t cut them the system is not going to be workable this summer.”

A JetBlue Airways Corp. plane prepares for landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, April 18, 2017.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

JetBlue Airways is preparing to cut scores of weekly flights in the New York City area this spring and summer in response to a shortage of air traffic controllers, a measure that will have a financial impact on the airline, CEO Robin Hayes told CNBC on Wednesday.
Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration unveiled a new plan to help avoid a repeat of 2022’s flight disruptions, reducing flight requirements by up to 10% for airlines’ takeoff and landing rights to avoid congestion in the New York City area and Washington, D.C. The FAA cited its staffing shortfall. The waivers will last from May 15 through Sept. 15.

“We don’t want to pull down flights. I’m sure no airline wants to pull down flights,” Hayes said in an interview with CNBC ahead of an event at the Economic Club of New York. “But if we don’t cut them the system is not going to be workable this summer.”
The staffing shortfall and potential schedule cuts in the region highlight the difficulty airlines have faced to ramp up capacity as travel demand returns in the wake of a pandemic lull.
Flight cancellations and delays were elevated during peak parts of 2022, and airlines scaled back schedules then to put more slack in the system. If weather is bad or there are other challenges, disruptions tend to cascade if airlines have packed their schedules with too many flights.

Robin Hayes, chief executive officer of JetBlue Airways Corp., speaks during an Economic Club of New York event in New York, US, on Wednesday, March 29, 2023.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Hayes said the latest measure is particularly impactful for JetBlue, which is based in New York City, because the vast majority of its flights take off from or land in the city or transit its airspace.
“We’re staffed, we’ve already trained pilots, we’re paying for pilots, we’ve bought airplanes, we’re paying for gates and slots,” Hayes said. “This is going to have a very significant financial impact on JetBlue and our customers.”

Delta Air Lines asked the FAA to return up to 10% of the airline’s slots or operating times at the three major airports serving New York City and at Washington Reagan National Airport for the period. United Airlines made a similar request.
Carriers have until April 30 to request the waiver.
“This [air traffic controller] staffing issue has been around for years,” Hayes said. The airline hasn’t yet applied for slot or operating time waivers, but Hayes said the carrier plans to do so and notify customers as soon as possible.
On Wednesday, the FAA held a meeting with airline executives about measures to ease congestion in the New York area. It held similar conversations last year about busy airspace in Florida, and agreed to boost staffing to handle a surge in traffic there.
“Operators requested collaboration and communication with the FAA early and often to plan for circumstances that could result in delays, including weather events, space launches and military operations,” the FAA said in a statement. “They discussed how closer collaboration and frequent air traffic updates would help them more effectively schedule crews.”
Participants also discussed alternate flight paths such as over-water routes, the FAA said. More

The New Mexico district attorney who had overseen the “Rust” movie set manslaughter case recused herself Wednesday and appointed new special prosecutors.
Actor Alec Baldwin and the movie’s original armorer, Hanna Gutierrez-Reed, are each charged with manslaughter in the accidental fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.
The move comes soon after the previous special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb, stepped down after Baldwin’s lawyers pressed for her removal.

District attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies speaks at a news conference after actor Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the film set of the movie “Rust” in Santa Fe, New Mexico, October 27, 2021.
Adria Malcolm | Reuters

The New Mexico district attorney who had overseen the “Rust” movie set manslaughter case recused herself Wednesday and appointed new special prosecutors after weeks of upheaval and controversy in the case.
Actor Alec Baldwin and the movie’s original armorer, Hanna Gutierrez-Reed, are each charged with manslaughter in the accidental fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in 2021. Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry 18-month prison sentences.

New Mexico First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies appointed New Mexico attorneys Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis to serve as special prosecutors. The move comes two weeks after the previous special prosecutor, Andrea Reeb, stepped down after Baldwin’s lawyers pressed for her removal, claiming her appointment was unconstitutional.
“My responsibility to the people of the First Judicial District is greater than any one case, which is why I have chosen to appoint a special prosecutor in the ‘Rust’ case,” Carmack-Altwies said in a statement. “Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis will unflinchingly pursue justice in the death of Halyna Hutchins on behalf of the people of First Judicial District.”
Morrissey and Lewis told CNBC via email: “We will not be making statements to the press at this time. We need to focus on preparing for the upcoming preliminary hearing.”
CNBC has reached out to Baldwin’s lawyers for comment. Jason Bowles, who represents Gutierrez-Reed, told CNBC via email he had no comment “at this time” concerning Carmack-Altwies’ recusal.
Earlier this week, New Mexico Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer ruled that Carmack-Altwies could not appoint a new special prosecutor unless the DA’s office planned to fully recuse itself from the case. 

During a hearing Monday, Carmack-Altwies said the DA’s office was in “dire straits” due to a lack of staffing, which she said wouldn’t abate by preliminary hearings on the “Rust” case, set to kick off on May 3. 
“We need extra manpower on this case so that it does not take away from prosecuting all of the other cases currently in our office,” Carmack-Altwies said Monday.
From the start, complications around the special prosecutor appointment have disrupted the case. 
Reeb, a former district attorney, was named special prosecutor before being elected to New Mexico’s legislature last fall. During Reeb’s tenure, the prosecution put out a variety of inflammatory statements about the defense, something critics called highly irregular and improper.
Baldwin’s lawyers argued that New Mexico’s constitution bars people from simultaneously serving as prosecutor and legislator, as it could lead to a conflict of interest. 
Reeb stepped down March 14, just over a month after Baldwin’s defense lawyers filed a motion requesting her removal, which Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers co-signed. 
Initially, Reeb and the DA office rejected the motion, calling it a “misconception” with “no support in New Mexico statutes or case law,” according to court documents. 
Since stepping down, additional details about Reeb’s dueling commitments have been brought to light. Most recently, The New York Times reported that Reeb suggested in a June 2022 email that working on the case could help her political career. 
After that revelation, Baldwin’s attorneys said in court filings last Tuesday they now reserve the future right to argue “Reeb charged the case to advance her political career.” 
Baldwin’s team didn’t object to a new special prosecutor being appointed. Gutierrez-Reed’s legal team, however, called for the request to appoint a new special prosecutor to be denied.
“The statute is not designed to give district attorneys a taxpayer-funded supplemental ‘war chest’ to prosecute cases involving ‘high profile’ actors or individuals, adding firepower but allowing the district attorney and her assistants to remain on the case,” Gutierrez-Reed’s lawyers said in a brief ahead of Monday’s hearing.   More

The YES Network is launching a streaming service, giving non-cable subscribers a way to watch live New York Yankees games.
Major League Baseball’s season starts Thursday.
The streaming service will cost $24.99 per month with a promotional offer of $19.99 per month that ends April 30.

New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) rounds the bases after hitting home run number sixty-two to break the American League home run record in the first inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field.
Tim Heitman | USA TODAY Sports | Reuters

The YES Network is launching a direct-to-consumer streaming service, giving non-cable subscribers the ability to watch New York Yankees games.
The YES Network will charge $24.99 per month, or $239.99 annually, according to an announcement. Subscribers who buy the service before April 30 will be given a promotional offer of $19.99 per month, or $199.99 annually, which will expire at the end of 2023. The service is available immediately. Major League Baseball’s opening day is Thursday.

The YES Network broadcasts games for the Yankees, the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets and the WNBA’s New York Liberty to fans that live in the greater New York area.
Regional sports networks are increasingly offering streaming services outside of the cable bundle to reach consumers who don’t subscribe to traditional pay-TV. RSNs are trying to set up a new streaming revenue stream as millions of Americans cancel their cable service each year.
Diamond Sports Group, which which operates 21 Bally Sports regional sports networks and filed for bankruptcy this month, charges $19.99 per month. MSG Networks last month announced its streaming service will launch this summer for the NBA’s New York Knicks and the NHL’s New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils. It will cost $29.99 a month, or $309.99 annually.
“We are pleased to introduce a direct subscription option,” said Yes Network CEO Jon Litner in a statement. “With this new direct-to- consumer offering, we are broadening our reach by making YES available to more fans in our regional footprint than ever before.”
The YES Network is co-owned by the Yankees and a corsortium of other investors including Amazon and Sinclair Broadcast Group.
WATCH: Regional sports broadcasters struggle to find consumers More