Trump taps Silicon Valley execs for key administration roles

Trump taps Silicon Valley execs for key administration roles

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attends Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., December 22, 2024.  Cheney Orr | Reuters President-elect Donald Trump is tapping tech heavyweights to join his new administration, continuing a trend of Silicon Valley’s growing influence in a second Trump White House. Trump said Sunday he would nominate Scott Kupor, a … Read more

Trump NASA pick Jared Isaacman made big bet on stablecoins with Shift4

Trump NASA pick Jared Isaacman made big bet on stablecoins with Shift4

Jared Isaacman, Mission Commander, steps out of the manned Polaris Dawn mission’s “Dragon” capsule after it splashed down off the coast of Dry Tortugas, Florida, after completing the first human spaceflight mission by non-government astronauts of the Polaris Program. – | Afp | Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run NASA, Jared Isaacman, is … Read more

Fintechs Upstart and Toast soar on earnings

Fintechs Upstart and Toast soar on earnings

Chris Comparato, CEO, the Toast, Inc. IPO at the New York Stock Exchange, on September 22, 2021. Source: NYSE Upstart, which uses artificial intelligence to inform online lending decisions, soared 46% on Friday, its best day in over three years. Toast, which sells payments technology to restaurants, jumped 14%, closing at its highest since 2021. … Read more

Affirm expands buy now, pay later service to the UK

Affirm expands buy now, pay later service to the UK

PayPal Inc. co-founder and Affirm’s CEO Max Levchin on center stage during day one of Collision 2019 at Enercare Center in Toronto, Canada. Vaughn Ridley | Sportsfile | Getty Images LONDON — Buy now, pay later firm Affirm launched Monday its installment loans in the U.K., in the company’s first expansion overseas. Founded in 2012, Affirm … Read more

Trump hits tech fundraiser in San Francisco, some guests pay $300,000

Trump hits tech fundraiser in San Francisco, some guests pay 0,000

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures outside Trump Tower, the day after a guilty verdict in his criminal trial over charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in New York City, U.S., May 31, 2024.  Andrew Kelly | Reuters A … Read more

Crypto firm Ripple to launch U.S. dollar stablecoin

Crypto firm Ripple to launch U.S. dollar stablecoin

In 2020, the U.S. SEC accused Ripple and its co-founders of breaching securities laws by selling its native cryptocurrency XRP without first registering it with the SEC. Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images Crypto startup Ripple is the latest major player to jump into the $150 billion stablecoin market with the launch of a … Read more

Amazon and other retailers hit by refund fraud costing them billions

Amazon and other retailers hit by refund fraud costing them billions

A UPS seasonal worker delivers packages on Cyber Monday in New York on Nov. 27, 2023. Stephanie Keith | Bloomberg | Getty Images Just before midnight on May 4, 2023, police were called to an Amazon warehouse in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to investigate a reported theft.  They were met by a loss prevention employee, who directed … Read more

Laid-off techies struggle to find jobs with cuts at highest since 2001

Laid-off techies struggle to find jobs with cuts at highest since 2001

The Google office in New York on February 2, 2023. Ed Jones | Afp | Getty Images Allison Croisant, a data scientist with about a decade of experience in technology, was laid off by PayPal earlier this year, joining the masses of unemployed across her industry. Croisant has one word to describe the process of … Read more

Companies make 2024 the year of cost cuts

Companies make 2024 the year of cost cuts

Mathisworks | Digitalvision Vectors | Getty Images Corporate America has a message for Wall Street: It’s serious about cutting costs this year. From toy and cosmetics makers to office software sellers, executives across sectors have announced layoffs and other plans to slash expenses — even at some companies that are turning a profit. Barbie maker … Read more

Stripe rival soars 21% on profit beat, hiring slowdown

Stripe rival soars 21% on profit beat, hiring slowdown

Adyen reported a big miss on first-half sales Thursday. The news drove a $20 billion rout in the company’s market capitalization . Pavlo Gonchar | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images Shares of European online payments giant Adyen jumped on Thursday, after the company reported strong sales growth and better-than-expected profit for 2023. Adyen, … Read more