This week’s world-famous news haiku competition™ is about how Intel stock soared more than 20% last Friday, eight months after the U.S. government took a 10 percent stake to prop up the firm. Try to get the famous “Intel Inside” jingle in there if you can? Send me your entry — to haiku at cheddar dot com — by noon ET Thursday, for consideration by your Cheddar peers.

And now, news!

Matt Davis — Need2Know Chedditor

News You Need2Know

• California's tax on billionaires has the backing f …

• Stocks hover near their records as oil prices rise

• Oprah Winfrey moves her podcast to Amazon

• China blocks Meta’s $2bn purchase of AI group

• How the Live Nation verdict could change music

• Poll of the day: Tax the rich?

• Poll of the day: You’ll keep those cables

What’s the stock market up to, eh?*

$SPX ( ▲ 0.12% ) $DJI ( ▼ 0.13% ) $NDX ( ▲ 1.59% )  

Companies mentioned in today’s newsletter

$NVDA ( ▲ 4.0% )  $LYV ( ▼ 0.1% )  $TKTM ( 0.0% )  $SPX ( ▲ 0.12% )  $NDAQ ( ▲ 0.59% )  $DJI ( ▼ 0.13% )  $DPZ ( ▼ 8.84% )  $GOOG ( ▲ 1.81% )  $AMZN ( ▼ 1.09% )  $META ( ▲ 0.53% )$MSFT ( ▲ 0.05% )  $AAPL ( ▼ 1.27% )  $OPENAI ( 0.0% )

California's tax on billionaires has the backing for a November vote

Backers of a spicy new ballot initiative in California say they’ve gathered more than 1.5 million signatures to put a one-time, 5% wealth tax on billionaires on the November ballot. That is well beyond the 875,000 signatures required to make the cut.

The tax was proposed by a healthcare workers union trying to plug a massive funding hole left by federal Medicaid cuts. The campaign is feeling victorious about their grassroots momentum. As Suzanne Jimenez, spokeswoman for the Billionaire Tax Now coalition, dramatically told the Wall Street Journal: “When our growing coalition files these signatures, David will have won the first round against Goliath.”

While some Silicon Valley magnates are sweating through their fleece vests and funding rival initiatives to block the measure, not every billionaire is panicking. Nvidia’s $NVDA ( ▲ 4.0% ) Jensen Huang casually mentioned he is “perfectly fine” with the tax.

Union president Dave Regan insists this isn't just a classic "eat-the-rich" vendetta. “This did not start as a political statement about rising inequality, we are simply trying to solve a huge and immediate and practical problem,” he explained.

Will the billionaires pack their bags, or will they pony up? According to the Service Employees International United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), the union proposing California's new wealth tax, there are around 200 people living in the state with a net worth of $1 billion or more, and the one-time tax could raise $100 billion.

The California Tax Foundation estimates that the tax would actually reduce state revenues by $3.53 billion to $4.49 billion a year. Their projection accounts for the potential departure of billionaires from the state and the resulting economic spillover effects.

Let us know how you feel about it in today’s poll…

Quote of the Day

Stocks hover near their records as oil prices rise

The U.S. stock market’s record-breaking rally stalled slightly on Monday, grappling with weekend uncertainty surrounding the Iran conflict and climbing oil prices. Crude oil jumped roughly 3% as the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed by a U.S. Navy blockade, keeping crucial Middle Eastern supplies stuck.

Despite the geopolitical jitters, the broader market held remarkably steady: the S&P 500 $SPX ( ▲ 0.12% ) squeaked out a 0.1% gain and the Nasdaq $NDAQ ( ▲ 0.59% ) ticked up 0.1% to reach a brand-new all-time record, even as the Dow Jones Industrial Average $DJI ( ▼ 0.13% ) slipped 80 points. Not every company had a winning day, though; Domino’s Pizza $DPZ ( ▼ 8.84% ) shares plummeted 9.5% after the company served up weaker-than-expected profits and revenues.

However, the real main event for investors is the massive wave of upcoming corporate earnings from the tech sector. Wall Street is bracing for a monumental day tomorrow when Alphabet $GOOG ( ▲ 1.81% ) , Amazon $AMZN ( ▼ 1.09% ) , Meta Platforms $META ( ▲ 0.53% ) , and Microsoft $MSFT ( ▲ 0.05% ) are all slated to deliver their profit reports. Apple $AAPL ( ▼ 1.27% ) will quickly follow with its own earnings report on Thursday. Analysts will be watching the "Magnificent Seven" closely to see if these market heavyweights can sustain their impressive year-to-date climbs.

Oprah Winfrey moves her podcast to Amazon

If you ever thought your Amazon Prime $AMZN ( ▼ 1.09% ) subscription was missing a little "You get a car!" energy, you are in luck. Oprah Winfrey is officially packing her bags and bringing her podcasts, Book Club, and Favorite Things to Amazon. The Queen of Daytime Talk will be churning out twice-a-week video podcasts starting this summer, alongside a newly revamped landing page for her legendary holiday shopping lists.

Amazon executives are doing backflips over the multiyear deal.

“This is the ultimate validation of where the world is going,” declared Amazon VP Steve Boom, humbly adding that “we at Amazon are just happy to be along for the ride.”

Oprah herself is thrilled to expand her empire. “Hosting this podcast allows me to continue the work I feel called to do — opening the door for conversations that matter,” she told the New York Times.

They are also trying to figure out exactly how to repurpose the 25-season library of The Oprah Winfrey Show. While Amazon’s general manager of Creator Services, Matt Sandler, notes "the beauty of the back catalog," we are mostly just hoping for a supercut of her unleashing Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz onto the unsuspecting public. Not to mention a rewatch of that awkward Tom Cruise jumping on the couch moment.

Song of the Day: Jenny Lewis, “Red Bull & Hennessy”

Here’s a song about desperate attraction for a lover who may be playing hard to get.

China blocks Meta’s $2bn purchase of AI group

Just when Mark Zuckerberg thought he had the perfect shiny new toy to catch up with OpenAI $OPENAI ( 0.0% ) and Google $GOOGL ( ▲ 1.73% ) , Beijing decided to crash the party. China has officially ordered Meta to completely unwind its $2 billion acquisition of the AI startup Manus.

This is an awkward mandate for Meta $META ( ▲ 0.53% ) , which is fresh off firing 8,000 people to make up for its AI overreach—a brilliant strategy of cutting thousands of jobs just to watch a multi-billion dollar AI deal instantly evaporate.

Unwinding this purchase won't be simple, as Meta has already started integrating Manus’s software into its own tools. As one person briefed on Beijing's decision explained, the regulatory move is “pretty harsh and it carries a strong intention.”

Beijing has aggressively branded the acquisition a “conspiratorial” attempt to hollow out China’s technology base. Meanwhile, Meta is attempting to play it cool. A spokesperson told the Financial Times: “The transaction complied fully with applicable law. We anticipate an appropriate resolution to the inquiry.”

Meantime they’re still firing those 8,000 folks.

How the Live Nation verdict could change music

The landmark jury verdict against Live Nation $LYV ( ▼ 0.1% ) and its subsidiary Ticketmaster $TKTM ( 0.0% ) for violating antitrust laws is, according to Diana Moss at the Progressive Policy Institute, "just a massive victory for consumers and concert goers and music fans all across the United States."

The jury found that Live Nation, which controls the entire live-events supply chain, has "systematically limited competition and iced out competition and ticketing" by using its dominant market share "to threaten and to harass and to coerce artists into using their services.”

The "really big question," Moss says, is "what is the remedy? What can we do to restore competition in this market?”

The most impactful outcome would be "actually unwinding the merger, breaking up the companies.” Moss believes this structural change would be "really effective, much like we saw in AT&T in 1984." The benefits are "all upside,” because it’s great for artists, venues, and especially "great for consumers who can see more competition in primary ticketing," she said. Still, don’t hold your breath.

Free yourself from advertising forever!

Should you check your 401(k) today?

👍️ 

Yes.

Poll of the day: Tax the rich?

Poll of the day: You’ll keep those cables

We asked: “Do you have a ‘drawer full of cables and devices, maybe a fully functional old iPhone at the bottom’?”

You answered:

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ Drawer? I have an entire archaeological dig site. I could carbon date the layers. The 2012 stratum has a Kindle Fire and 17 micro-USB cables. (186)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ No drawer, but my iPhone 4 has achieved sentient life in a shoebox and is plotting its revenge. It whispers to me sometimes about the App Store. (63)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 I prefer to call it my 'Museum of Optimistic Intentions.' One day I WILL find what that mystery charger goes to. (218)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Absolutely not. I'm extremely organized. I'm appalled that you'd even suggest it. (35)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ I did, but I finally threw it all out last year. And have regretted it exactly four times when I needed a mini-USB cable at 11pm. (39)
541 Votes via @beehiiv polls

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