People Falling for Online 'Task Scams' in Record Numbers | Business Matters (Dec. 13)

It's that time for Business Matters with Don Ma. Don, happy Friday. Here we are at the end of the week. What do you got for us? Yeah. Friday feels good. Let me start off with Amazon here. It says it's planning to donate $1 million to President-elect Trump's inaugural fund, and this comes a day after Mark Zuckerberg's Meta pledged the same amount. The donations appear to signal a shift in the tech industry's relationship with Trump. Trump also said yesterday Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was planning to meet him in person. The two men have had a rocky relationship, rocky history. Trump has criticized political coverage from the Bezos-owned Washington Post. In 2019, Amazon argued in court that Trump was biased against the company, but last week Bezos said he was optimistic about a second Trump presidency and his plans to cut regulations. Not long after Amazon's announcement, OpenAI's Sam Altman also matched them with his own $1 million inauguration donation. The difference is that Altman plans to donate his personal funds and not his company's money. And Costco beat forecasts over the last quarter as American shoppers hunted for discounts. First quarter revenue rose 7.5% to over $62 billion. Earnings per share also topped forecasts. The membership-only retailer has seen strong demand for holiday products, including furnishings and jewelry. Costco ran pre-Black Friday sales in early November in a bid to dodge any hit to sales from a late Thanksgiving weekend. That left a relatively short 26 days before Christmas, cutting down the holiday shopping season. Costco has been offering products, including some electronics, at big discounts to drive sales. Some other U.S. retailers started doing promotions as early as October in anticipation of the shortened festive season. Big rival Walmart has been cutting prices and raised its annual sales and profit forecast in November for a third time this year. Analysts say that suggests U.S. consumer demand remains robust. Elon Musk says the Securities and Exchange Commission demanded he accepts a settlement Musk posted a letter from his lawyer to SEC Chair Gary Gensler. Attorney Alex Spiro said the agency's Spiro also insisted on knowing whether Gensler or the White House was behind the settlement demand. Musk has since renamed Twitter X. The SEC is investigating whether Musk violated securities laws in early 2022 by waiting too long to disclose he had begun purchasing Twitter stock. The letter did not disclose the settlement amount. And soaring Walmart shares have propelled the Walton family to the top of Bloomberg's annual World's Richest Families list for 2024. Analysts say that Walmart is beating Target as the new destination for deal-seeking Gen Z shoppers. Walmart's stock price was up a whopping 80 percent this year. Walmart is on track for its best year in decades. As a result, the family's seven heirs now have a combined net worth of $432 billion. And with one month left to negotiate a new contract for dock workers, President-elect Donald Trump is voicing his support for the union. Automation is the main impasse between the International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance. The contract is for eastern and Gulf Coast ports. On social media, Trump said the money saved from automation is not worth the harm caused to American workers. Elon Musk has announced the new headquarters of SpaceX will be in the city of Starbase, Texas. Musk announced earlier this year he was moving the company out of California after a new gender identity law that he called, quote, the last straw. Musk also said he is moving the headquarters of social media platform X, formerly Twitter, to Austin. He earlier transferred SpaceX Inc. from Delaware to Texas. In 2021, he moved Tesla's headquarters to the Lone Star State. Musk relocated to Texas that same year. In Texas, there is no state income tax on individuals. And if you own a Stanley Travel Mug, you need to listen up. Because more than 2.5 million have been recalled due to a potential burn hazard caused by a faulty lid. The recall involves all switchback and trigger action stainless steel travel mugs sold in the U.S. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says threads in the lids may shrink when exposed to heat, causing the lid to fall off during use. The CPSC says there have been 16 reports in the U.S. of recalled mugs' lids detaching during use, and that led to two burn injuries. The affected mugs are in 12, 16, and 20-ounce sizes. They were sold between June 2016 and December of this year at various retailers, including Walmart, Target, and Amazon. Consumers are urged to stop using the mugs immediately and to contact Stanley for a free replacement lid. The Commerce Department says it has reached a preliminary deal with German auto supplier Bosch for up to $225 million in subsidies. The grants would go toward building silicon carbide power semiconductors in California. The department said the funding will support the company's planned $1.9 billion investment to transform its manufacturing facility to produce the components. The government is also offering the company approximately $350 million in proposed loans for the project. The department will draw from $52.7 billion in funds to subsidize domestic semiconductor production and research approved in 2022. Bosch expects to produce its first chips at its Roseville factory starting in 2026. The chips are key components for the automotive telecommunications and defense industries. A pact has formed to create the next-generation fighter jet. The United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan have teamed up to produce this aircraft by 2035. Companies from the three nations have equal shares in the new venture. Under the Global Combat Air Program, the goal is to design, develop, and deliver the next-generation combat aircraft. The group is hoping to expand their nation's defenses due to increased security threats from Russia and China. Meanwhile, North Koreans are allegedly sneaking into U.S. tech companies. The Justice Department says these workers are stealing technology while getting paid. And there's a $5 million reward for anyone with information. Here's more. The Department of Justice says that North Koreans have been sneaking into U.S. tech companies to steal technology while getting paid. They would then allegedly funnel their earnings to the North Korean government. In an indictment, officials say around 130 North Korean IT workers, known as IT warriors, try to trick U.S. tech firms into hiring them. The firms would pay them large salaries while giving them access to trade secrets. DOJ says some IT warriors even threatened to publicize the trade secrets to extort more money from their employers. DOJ has indicated 14 North Koreans who allegedly generated $88 million over six years. Much of that money went back to North Korea, according to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. She warns employers to be careful not to hire North Koreans. DOJ says that the scheme centers around remote work, so employers never actually meet the employees. The North Koreans allegedly hide their true identities by using stolen American identities, paying Americans to attend interviews and work meetings, and setting up phony websites. The Justice Department is offering $5 million to people with more information. Dormant No More, the nation's largest alcohol distributor, has been accused of unfair pricing under the Robinson-Patman Act. The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Southern Glazers Wine and Spirits for its pricing and sales strategies. This is the first time in decades that regulators have enforced the 1930s law that bans unjustified price discrimination and promotes fair competition between large and small companies. And Pack Your Bags, the National Association of Realtors, has announced the top 10 hotspots for next year's housing market. They picked the areas based on several factors, including favorable financial environment, available inventory that's affordable, and much more. The South region led the way with four of the top spots, followed by three in the Midwest. Some of the areas include Knoxville, Tennessee, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Bud Light is no longer on top. DraftLine Technologies, which monitors more than 1 million tap lines, says Michelob Ultra is now the most popular beer on tap at bars. For years, Bud Light dominated draft shares, but the gap with its sister brand Michelob Ultra started closing last year. Analysts say they could see this change coming. Bud Light has struggled to maintain loyal drinkers in recent years, while Michelob Ultra has a broader appeal with splashy sports sponsorships. During the summer, Bud Light also dropped to third place in sales at grocery and convenience stores behind Modelo Espacial and Michelob Ultra. The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald with violating securities laws. The company's chairman and CEO is Howard Lednick, whom President-elect Trump recently nominated to lead the Commerce Department. The company has agreed to pay a nearly $7 million penalty. The Securities and Exchange Commission says the firm misled investors in two so-called blank check companies it controlled. These shell companies have no underlying business but intend to merge with another company. Cantor Fitzgerald agreed to settle the charges and said it would not violate the law again. The Federal Trade Commission says people are falling for online task scams in record numbers. In the first half of 2024, financial losses from job scams soared above $220 million. Online task scams make up roughly 40% of reported job scams. The FTC says these gamified job scams offer to pay for trivial work online, like interacting with posts or raiding restaurants. But promise commissions never materialize. Also, some scammers ask for deposits ahead of time, and victims never get that money back. 20,000 people reported incidents in the first half of 2024, compared to 5,000 for all of 2023. However, the damage could be much more widespread. The FTC says the vast majority of fraud goes unreported. Over at Google and Samsung joining forces to step into the wearable headset space. The companies plan to release a mixed-reality headset that will compete with Apple's Vision Pro and Meta's Quest 3. The Samsung-built headset will be powered by a new Android operating system and pushed into a market that's been largely dominated by Meta. The headset is set to roll out sometime in 2025. The price has not been announced. Analysts expect Samsung to try to undercut Apple's nearly $3,500 price tag for the Vision Pro. Meta's Quest 3 goes for $500. The Samsung headset will be the first product powered by the new Android operating system for XR, before that new operating system becomes available for other companies to use in their own devices. A popular Japanese sake brand could soon sell a drink worth six figures. Asahi Suzo is planning to blast sake ingredients into space to ferment a very special brew from the International Space Station. If it works, the company plans to sell the 100ml bottle for $653,000. But the brewer isn't sure what will happen in space. The difference in gravity could affect the fermentation process. Asahi Suzo hopes the project could eventually help them create sake or other fermented food on the moon. The company is still developing space-brewing equipment and plans to launch the ingredients in 2025. Before we finish here on to markets, U.S. stocks closed out the trading week nearly unchanged. S&P 500 and the Dow posting weekly declines, while the Nasdaq secured its fourth consecutive week of gains. U.S. stocks have repeatedly reached all-time highs this year, driven by surging interest in heavyweight tech companies capitalizing on artificial intelligence trends. Investor sentiment also received a boost following Donald Trump's presidential election victory, as markets anticipated his pro-business policies could enhance corporate profitability. All right, that's it on today's Business Matters. Back to you, guys. A lot of business happening this week. Of particular interest for me as we kind of roll into the weekend is those VR goggles. Have you guys ever tried those? Well, I haven't, but there's something I'll say that Apple's headset costs $3,500 or nearly, right? So I think this joint venture may have some chance because of just how expensive Apple's product is. If they just make it in similar quality, but just a bit more expensive, they might have some market share there. Yeah, I mean, I've only really tried VR once, and this was quite a few years ago when it was first getting started. And so I don't know how much it's improved. I mean, I've seen those videos online of people really getting into it and kind of forget that they're not actually in that virtual world and they fall over or they trip or something. But I mean, it's interesting to see the development. Yeah, for sure. When I was growing up, they just wanted to keep making the screens bigger and bigger and bigger. And they realized, let's just make them smaller, but bring them closer to our eyes, I guess. But yeah, it can be quite an immersive experience. And I think it holds a really interesting path for so many things like, you know, touring a home. Do it, do it virtually. Yeah, really, really will be something to watch here in the next year as these sets become more prolific. But they do need to make it more fashionable. I mean, currently, these things are bulky and huge, and I've seen people use them in videos, that is, on airplanes or whatever, in coffee shops. And it just doesn't look good. Well, I mean, I think once they've advanced enough to make them actually small enough that maybe you can't even tell they're using VR, they'll open a whole other can of worms. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. You like a Bond novel, huh? All right. Well, good stuff. Looking forward to next week's stories and have a good weekend. All right. Happy weekend. Yeah, you too. Yeah, as well.