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The meeting is a dream come true for the screenwriters who are already said to be at work on the film version of events. In 2021 Sequoia Capital, a large venture-capital (vc) firm, made its first investment in FTX, a now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange. To publicise the deal Sequoia published part of the transcript from the virtual pitch meeting on its website. Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, explained how he wanted the firm to be a “superapp” where “you can do anything you want with your money from inside FTX”. Sequoia’s investors swooned. “I love this founder,” said one in a chat function; “Yes!!!!” declared another. An FTX executive who sat close to Mr Bankman-Fried during the pitch noticed another detail: “It turns out that that fucker was playing ‘League of Legends’ throughout the entire meeting.”It also turns out that ftx was doing more with customers’ money than it had promised. Its demise has forced Sequoia to write down its $210m investment. It will also hurt another embattled backer. On November 11th More

More than 100 unionized Starbucks locations plan to strike on one of the chain’s biggest sales days of the year, Red Cup Day.
At the 113 striking locations, the union will be distributing its own version of the reusable red cup that features the Grinch’s hand holding an ornament with the logo of Starbucks Workers United.
The action comes after contract negotiations between Starbucks Workers United and the company have broken down.

Starbucks official reusable red cup, left, and red cup from Starbucks Workers United.
Source: Starbucks; Starbucks Workers United

Workers at more than 100 unionized Starbucks locations plan to strike on Thursday, one of the chain’s biggest sales days of the year.
To celebrate the holiday season, Starbucks every year gives away reusable red cups bearing the company’s logo with any purchase. The giveaway on the coffee chain’s Red Cup Day has become a must-have for collectors, and this year’s event marks its 25th anniversary.

On Thursday, organizers at 113 striking locations are planning to protest and distribute a version of the red cup featuring the Grinch’s hand holding an ornament with the logo of the Starbucks union.  The actions are expected to affect store operations for at least part of the day.
It’s the largest collective action Starbucks Workers United has taken so far in its organizing push over the past year.

The union said the strike is meant to call attention to the company’s alleged union busting and refusal to negotiate contracts fairly. Starbucks has denied all allegations of unfair labor practices.
Over the past 12 months, roughly 260 company-owned Starbucks locations have voted to unionize under Workers United, an affiliate of Service Employees International Union. That’s a small fraction of the chain’s nearly 9,000 company-operated locations in the U.S., but the union push has made a splash and inspired similar actions by workers at Trader Joe’s and Chipotle Mexican Grill.
The number of new cafes that have filed for union elections has slowed in recent months, but if a contract agreement were to occur it could give the movement a boost.

In late September, Starbucks sent letters to more than 200 locations saying that it was ready to start contract negotiations. But Starbucks Workers United contend the company hasn’t been bargaining in good faith.
Talks between the two sides broke down quickly due to disagreements over whether union members can join the talks via Zoom. Representatives from Starbucks have walked out of meetings minutes after they begin, insisting on only face-to-face negotiations, citing federal regulations.
“Broadcasting or recording these in-person sessions is deeply concerning and undermines the interests of our partners because negotiations may warrant the discussion of individuals by name and are likely to address a range of sensitive topics,” Starbucks said on a blog post on its anti-union website.
The company has filed 22 complaints tied to negotiations with the National Labor Relations Board.
On Tuesday, the federal labor board filed for an injunction, asking that a court order the company to stop firing workers nationwide.

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“Never forget, renewables like wind roughly, roughly, need 10 times the material [compared to] what conventional technologies need,” Siemens Energy CEO tells CNBC.
“So if you have problems on the supply chain, it hits … wind extremely hard, and this is what we see,” Christian Bruch adds.
Siemens Energy says its “overall performance” has been “held back by the negative development at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy,” a wind turbine manufacturer it has a majority stake in.

Wind turbine blades photographed at a Siemens Gamesa facility in Hull, England, in January 2022.
Paul Ellis | AFP | Getty Images

The CEO of Siemens Energy on Wednesday argued that the energy transition would fail unless his industry addressed a number of issues currently facing the wind power sector.
In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe,” Christian Bruch said his firm was “in the heart of the energy transition” but noted that there were “challenges in wind” especially when it came to supply chains.

“Never forget, renewables like wind roughly, roughly, need 10 times the material [compared to] … what conventional technologies need,” he said.
“So if you have problems on the supply chain, it hits … wind extremely hard, and this is what we see.”
“And this, unfortunately, obviously, leads to the situation [where] … it impacts the overall group results substantially.”

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On Wednesday, Siemens Energy said its “overall performance” had been “held back by the negative development at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy,” a wind turbine manufacturer in which it has a majority stake.
In a statement, Siemens Energy said its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, and amortization — and special items — had fallen to 379 million euros (around $393.8 million) compared to 661 million euros for the 2021 fiscal year.

“While Gas and Power benefited from its turnaround plan and saw adjusted EBITA rise sharply, the increase was more than offset by a wider loss at SGRE,” it added. This was “due to difficulties in the ramp-up of the 5.X onshore platform as well as supply chain delays.”
Siemens Energy posted a net loss of 647 million euros against a 560 million euro loss in the previous year but also reported a record order backlog of 97.4 billion euros.
“Due to the widening loss, and the challenges facing the company now and in the coming year, the executive board of Siemens Energy will suggest to the Supervisory Board not to propose a dividend for 2022 at its annual shareholder meeting in February 2023,” it added.
New management has been installed at SGRE — which has faced a period of turbulence — and Siemens Energy on Wednesday also referenced its announcement in May of a “voluntary cash tender offer to acquire all outstanding shares in SGRE.”
Overall, Bruch appeared optimistic about Siemens Gamesa’s prospects. “I think we have seen now that we have initiated all the relevant measures, and with Jochen Eickholt [SGRE’s new CEO], have a person on board who is step after step, tackling the different elements going forward.”
“And I’m confident that we can tap into this mid-term and long-term fantastic potential of wind, which is there,” he said. “And to be crystal clear, [the] energy transition without wind energy does not work.”

‘No option but to fix it’

Despite this positive outlook, Bruch noted that several issues facing the sector would need to be ironed out. There was, he argued, “still a way to go” when it came to the wind industry maturing.
“How do you manage that business, how do you manage long-term risk,” he said.
“And also — between our customers, the operators and ourselves — how do you distribute risk along the supply chain in a world which is much more volatile, much more difficult, much more multilateral than before.”
There were, he explained, certain areas that the industry needed to fix itself, including sourcing and supply chains.
“And there are certain elements where the market needs to fix certain things,” he added.
This included shortening approval times for projects and distributing risk between operators, who were making “good profits”, and equipment suppliers.  
These were the “discussions which we will need to have over the course of the next 12 months to drive this business forward.”
“But there’s no question — if we don’t resolve it as an industry, we are missing a substantial part of the energy transition, and we’ll fail with the energy transition. So there’s no option but to fix it.” More

Justin Shaner, a Florida real estate executive, quit the board of Digital World Acquisition Corp., which plans to merge with Truth Social parent Trump Media.
The move came days before DWAC’s shareholder meeting, which is scheduled for Nov. 22.
The DWAC-Trump Media deal is being investigated by federal prosecutors and regulators.

The Truth social network logo is seen displayed behind a woman holding a smartphone in this picture illustration taken February 21, 2022.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters

A South Florida real estate executive has quit the board of Digital World Acquisition Corp., the blank-check company that agreed to take former President Donald Trump’s media company public, according to a securities filing Wednesday.
Justin Shaner, the CEO of Shaner Properties in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, resigned from DWAC’s board of directors Friday, the filing said.

The move came days before DWAC’s shareholder meeting, which is scheduled for Nov. 22. DWAC’s CEO, Patrick Orlando, has adjourned the meeting multiple times in recent months as he seeks shareholder approval to delay his company’s merger with Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns the Truth Social app, by about a year.
The DWAC-Trump Media deal is being investigated by federal prosecutors and regulators. Will Wilkerson, a former Trump Media executive, turned over documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission and filed a whistleblower complaint, claiming misrepresentations by the companies.
DWAC will likely liquidate if the merger deadline isn’t delayed by early December.
Shaner didn’t immediately return a request for comment, nor did DWAC. “The resignation of Mr. Shaner did not result from any disagreement with the Company concerning any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices,” DWAC said in Wednesday’s filing.
Shaner was a board member on another Orlando-run blank-check company, Benessere Capital Acquisition Corp., which is also under investigation by federal authorities in connection to probes into DWAC. In June, Benessere and some of its directors were subpoenaed by the SEC and a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York, according to filings.

Benessere said in October that it would liquidate after a merger deal with another company, eCombustible Energy, fell through. Benessere had said the SEC’s probe delayed its registration statement, according to securities filings. Trump Media has also blamed regulators for the delay of its merger with DWAC.
Shares of DWAC fell 16% to $21.29 Wednesday, the day after Trump announced he would run for president in 2024. The stock is well off its high for the year, $101.87, which it hit in March.
Trump himself is under federal criminal investigation, while his main business, the Trump Organization, is on trial in New York.
He founded Truth Social after he was banned from Twitter for his posts on Jan. 6, 2021, when hundreds of his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in an ultimately failed attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. New Twitter owner and CEO Elon Musk has said he would let Trump back on the social network, where the former president had about 88 million followers. He has about 4 million followers on Truth Social.
– CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.

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Toyota is not giving up on its flagship Prius hybrid anytime soon, as it revealed a new generation of the vehicle Tuesday night.
Moving forward with the Prius as other automakers vow to go all-electric in the years ahead is part of Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda’s electrification strategy.
Toyoda believes EVs are not the only solution for automakers to reach carbon neutrality – which the company hopes to do by 2050.

2023 Toyota Prius Prime plug-in hybrid electric vehicle

Toyota Motor is not giving up on its flagship Prius hybrid anytime soon, despite investing billions in all-electric vehicles amid criticism it hasn’t moved fast enough into the emerging segment.
The automaker late Tuesday revealed new versions of the Prius hybrid and Prius Prime, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Both are considered “electrified” vehicles rather than all-electric. They continue to utilize gas-powered engines along with electric components that make the vehicles more fuel-efficient.

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Toyota did not release U.S. specifications for the 2023 Prius models, but the vehicles are noticeably different in styling than the current versions. The exterior is sportier, less quirky and appears to be more aerodynamic. But the overall silhouette is still recognizable as a Prius.
Moving forward with the Prius as other automakers vow to go all-electric in the years ahead is part of Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda’s electrification strategy. The auto scion believes EVs are not the only solution for automakers to reach carbon neutrality – which the company hopes to do by 2050.
Simon Humphries, Toyota senior manager of design, didn’t shy away from recent criticism about the company’s ongoing plans to develop hybrids alongside battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs, and other potential technologies.

2023 Toyota Prius hybrid

“With the current focus on BEVs, it seems not a day goes by without hearing, ‘So how long are you going to continue making hybrids for?’ Well disclaimer: Today I’m going to talk about Toyota’s new hybrid car,” Humphries said during the livestreamed reveal in Japan.
Since the Prius launched in 1997, Toyota says it has sold more than 20 million electrified vehicles worldwide. The company says those sales have avoided 160 million tons of CO2 emissions, which is equivalent to the impact of 5.5 million all-electric battery vehicles.

Toyoda and other company executives have said all-electric vehicles aren’t viable for many drivers – especially in the foreseeable future – as not all areas of the world will adopt EVs at the same pace due to the high cost of the vehicles as well as a lack of infrastructure.

Interior of the 2023 Toyota Prius

Humphries reiterated the company’s position, saying the “Prius is an eco-car within everyone’s reach. In order to achieve carbon neutrality, everyone in the world must participate.”
“It’s a car to be driven by all people, not just the few. That’s its greatest strength, and its the reason for its existence,” he said.
In the U.S., the 2022 Prius starts at about $25,000 – far less than most all-electric vehicles – and achieves as much as an EPA-certified 56 mpg. The 2022 Prius Prime plug-in hybrid starts at about $29,000 and has a 133 MPGe, which takes into account the 25-mile all-electric range of the vehicle as well as the fuel economy of its gas-powered engine.

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Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

It’s that time again! “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer rings the lightning round bell, which means he’s giving his answers to callers’ stock questions at rapid speed.

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Uber Technologies Inc: “Uber is a stock that you have to own for a while. … It’s going to be the last man standing, and that’s why I like Uber.”

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PayPal Holdings Inc: “I think that they can make it so that a lot of other companies go under their umbrella, and that would make me like the stock. But that has not happened yet.”

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Wingstop Inc: “I think it’s a very good situation. … Plus, unlike most food costs, wings have actually come down.”

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Fortive Corp: “I happen to think that this was a very good spin on both sides. I happen to like Danaher very much. … And, I like Fortive.”
Disclaimer: Cramer’s Charitable Trust owns shares of Danaher.

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Ninety percent of counties across the U.S. have experienced a flood, wildfire, hurricane or other federally declared climate disaster between 2011 and 2021, according to a report published Wednesday.
During that same period, 29 states on average endured at least one federally declared disaster, according to the report by Rebuild by Design, a nonprofit that helps communities prepare for and recover from disasters.
States that were hit with the most disasters include California, Iowa, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee, which each experienced at least 20 disasters during the last decade.

Ninety percent of counties across the U.S. have experienced a flood, wildfire, hurricane or other federally declared climate disaster between 2011 and 2021, according to a report published Wednesday that calls for urgent investment in climate adaptation and hazard mitigation.
During that same period, 29 states on average endured at least one federally declared disaster, according to the report by Rebuild by Design, a nonprofit that helps communities prepare for and recover from disasters. In 2021 alone, the U.S. suffered from 20 separate billion-dollar disasters.

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The report, which uses data from sources like the Federal Emergency Management Agency, analyzed which parts of the country have experienced the greatest number of disasters, which states are receiving more money to rebuild than others and which areas have endured the longest power outages.
States that were hit with the most disasters include California, Iowa, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Tennessee, which each experienced at least 20 disasters during the last decade, the report said. However, states with lower disaster counts that received the most disaster recovery funding per person include New York, New Jersey, North Dakota and Vermont.
Additionally, counties that on average experienced more than a disaster every year over the last decade are located in Kentucky and Louisiana. Louisiana, which is positioned on the Gulf Coast and is more prone to hurricanes and tropical storms, has received more federal disaster aid per person than any other state.

Arrows pointing outwards

“We studied this data for many months and in that time continued to find things that were frankly shocking,” said Amy Chester, managing director of Rebuild by Design and co-author of the report.
For instance, Nevada has had only three federal disaster declarations over the last decade and Arizona has had just six. However, those states had the worst rankings for heat-related deaths between 2018 and 2021.

“It took us a bit of time to understand why some of the states with lower disaster counts were low,” Chester said. “We then realized that places like Arizona and Nevada have experienced extreme heat, which is the top climate killer, however heat waves do not get federal disaster declarations.”
As heat waves become more frequent and dangerous as the climate changes, extreme heat is the number one weather-related cause of death in the U.S. Heat events have never been the cause of a federal disaster disaster declaration since they do not cause major property damage, which is the threshold to determine such a declaration.
The financial losses resulting from recent disasters are also greater than the amount of federal recovery funds provided for recovery efforts, the report said. Losses from major disasters over the past five years have surpassed $759 billion, but the amount of federal disaster recovery funds obligated or provided during the same period totaled $103 billion — less than 14% of the losses or need for repair and replacement, the report said.
The authors of the report argued that in order to avoid future losses, the country must prioritize mitigation and resilience projects with higher return on investment ratios and proposed that states impose a 2% surcharge on insurance premiums to pay for such plans.
“Most of our federal policies come in after a disaster,” Chester said. “It’s time to move those investments into adapting our infrastructure to meet our current and future needs — before communities suffer.”

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Fans of Taylor Swift encountered a number of issues while trying to obtain tickets to the singer’s latest tour via Ticketmaster.
These complications have reinvigorated calls from activists and politicians for the Department of Justice to investigate the decade’s-old merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation have been accused of abusing their market power by hiking up ticket prices and adding arbitrary fees to purchases.

Taylor Swift accepts an award onstage during the MTV Europe Music Awards 2022 held at PSD Bank Dome on November 13, 2022 in Duesseldorf, Germany.
Jeff Kravitz | Filmmagic | Getty Images

There’s something about Taylor Swift and breakups.
Activists and lawmakers are renewing calls to split Ticketmaster and Live Nation after a fiasco over ticket sales for the pop superstar’s upcoming “Eras” tour, which is slated to kick off in March.

Live Nation, which merged with Ticketmaster in 2010, has faced longstanding criticisms about its size and power in the entertainment industry. People amplified their complaints this week when tickets for Swift tickets went on presale on Ticketmaster’s website. The company was forced to extend presales after fans flocked to the site, causing site disruptions and slow queues.
Ticket buyers immediately turned to social media to complain after the website appeared to crash or freeze during purchases, leaving many unable to get tickets for the show. Some users were shown an error page stating, “We’re sorry! Something went wrong on our end and we need to start over. Broken things are a drag — our team is on it so it doesn’t happen again.”
Lawmakers are also calling on the Justice Department to investigate the company.
“Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., wrote in a Tweet Tuesday. “Its merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and they need to be reigned in. Break them up.”
Similarly, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called Swift’s tour sale “a perfect example of how the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger harms consumers by creating a near-monopoly,” in a Tweet posted Tuesday.

“I’ve long urged DOJ to investigate the state of competition in the ticketing industry,,” he added. “Consumers deserve better than this anti-hero behavior.”
Representatives from Live Nation did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Others complained about the long wait times and confusion over “verified fan” tickets and presale codes. The verified fan program, which was established in 2017, was designed to keep tickets in the hands of actual fans and not resellers.
But, that didn’t appear to work in several cases. Within hours, tickets for the tour were already up for sale in the secondary market at exponential markups.
“Eras” tour tickets are priced from $49 to $450, with VIP packages starting at $199 and reaching $899. Secondary market prices can be seen ranging from $800 to $20,000 per ticket.
“The [Taylor Swift] portal is not going well for many Swifties,” Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., wrote in a tweet Tuesday. “I’m hearing about site crashes and fans waiting for hours. You’d think all these service and convenience fees could go to a working website.”
Activists have accused Ticketmaster and Live Nation of abusing their market power and called for the company to be broken up.
“Despite promises of increased competition and consumer benefit, they now control 70% primary ticketing and live event venues market,” according to a coalition of activists called “Break Up Ticketmaster.” “They’re hiking up ticket prices, charging rip-off junk fees, and exploiting artists, independent venues, and fans. The Department of Justice can reverse this merger and bring competition back to the industry. Help us demand that they do.”
Swift’s latest tour, which comes on the heels of her record-breaking new album release “Midnights,” has set 52 dates so far, the singer’s largest tour to date. The “Eras” tour could break Swift’s own record for gross ticket sales in North America.

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