đ WeWork, WeBankrupt
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An Israeli air strike on a refugee camp in Gaza killed dozens. Israelâs ground operations in Gaza continue, and Hamas says it will release some foreign hostages soon.
WeWork is reportedly planning to file for bankruptcy. According to The Wall Street Journal, the once-hot office space company is heading in the Chapter 11 direction as early as next week.
Real estate stocks didnât have a great day. Zillow and others felt the effects of a Missouri case against the US National Association of Realtors, in which a jury found real estate agents guilty of working together to keep commissions high.
US wages were up a bit in the last quarter. Thatâs great news for workers, but itâs tricky for the Fedâs inflation-fighting strategy.
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X is worth less than half of what Elon put into it
New employee compensation plans at the social media platform formerly known as Twitter offer restricted stock units at $45 a share. Do a little math, and that makes the companyâs valuation less than half of Elon Muskâs $44 billion price tag when he purchased it one short year ago.
And what a year itâs been. Web traffic and advertising revenue are both way down, and banks involved with financing the purchase have been revaluing their holdings. Are X employees getting the short end of the stick?
Quotable: Seafood in the balance
âAs for the remarks of the US Ambassador to Japan, it needs to be pointed out that the duty of diplomats is to deepen friendship between countries, rather than smear other countries and sow discords.â âChinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbinâs response during an Oct. 31 press conference
Japan has been having trouble finding buyers for its seafood exports since it began releasing treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant in late August. Despite regulators giving the fish a safety stamp of approval, China wonât budge, and thatâs a big hit to Japanâs economy. China took 100,000 tons of scallops off Japanâs hands last year (itâs not all for consumptionâmuch of the scallops are shelled in China before being exported to the US).
The US military, though, is entering into a âlong-term contractâ with fisheries and co-ops in Japan, according to US ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel. The seafood will feed soldiers stationed in Japan and aboard vessels, in an attempt to âwear out Chinaâs economic coercion.â Since the contract wonât be much help to Japan economically, and since the wastewater release could take up to 40 years⊠Ananya Bhattacharya wonders what everyoneâs long-term plans actually are.
Want to go to Thailand?
Thailand sure hopes you do, and if youâre a citizen of India or Taiwan, it just got a little easier to do so. Thailand is scrapping visas for those two countries for a six-month periodâbetween Nov. 10 of this year and May 10, 2024, in hopes that wide open doors will give its economy a big boost.
1 million: Tourists Thailand already expected from Indiaâthe worldâs most populous countryâbefore the requirements were dropped
$57: Former visa fee Indian passport holders had to pay upon arrival, now dropped
30%: Uptick in hotel and flight bookings since the announcement of the drop in requirements for Indian and Taiwanese tourists, according to the Thai tourism minister
4: Countries Thailand now accepts, visa-free (China and Kazakhstan have the free pass until Feb. 29, 2024)
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Your next guide dog could be a robot. We think Binghamton Universityâs accessibility innovation looks more like some sort of cricket, but thatâs probably beside the point.
Taylor Swift is now among the music billionaires. Bloomberg says itâs officialâand unlike others in the relatively small category, sheâs done it entirely through music.
Dippinâ Dots are still out there. And the treatâs new owner is bullish on the future for the ice cream of the⊠future.
Glass is not a slow-moving liquid. Old glass windows are only thicker at the bottom because of how they were made.
Saudi Arabia is the only bidder for the 2034 FIFA menâs World Cup. Itâs been a weird process with a weird result.
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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, good robots, and very good robots to [email protected]. Todayâs Daily Brief was brought to you by Susan Howson.