Microsoft disclosed recently that its corporate systems were targeted in a cyberattack by a Russian state-sponsored group known as Nobelium. The group, responsible for the SolarWinds attack in 2020, accessed a "very small percentage" of Microsoft corporate email accounts, including those of senior leadership, using a password spray attack starting in late November 2023.
The breach was discovered last week, encouraging Microsoft to investigate and disrupt the malicious activity, blocking the group's access to its systems.
Microsoft assured that the attack did not result from any vulnerability in its products or services. The company's investigation revealed that the hackers were initially focused on obtaining information about their own operations.
SEC Account hack
SEC revealed that a SIM swap attack was responsible for the recent breach of its official account on X. On January 9th, an unauthorized party accessed the @SECGov account and posted a fake announcement claiming the approval of the first-ever spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
The SEC admitted that the absence of two-factor authentication (MFA) facilitated the breach, allowing the attackers to perform a SIM swap and change the account password easily. (SEC approved the Bitcoin ETFs some days after the fake post.)
MrBeast's Payout from X Video
YouTuber MrBeast disclosed that his first full-length video posted on X earned him $263,655. The video, titled "$1 vs $100,000,000 Car!," originally uploaded to YouTube four months ago, showcased MrBeast and his friends experimenting with cars of varying values.
The video garnered nearly 156.7 million impressions, resulting in an estimated revenue of about $1.68 per 1,000 impressions.
X introduced revenue share payments for creators in July, allowing them to receive up to 97% of the revenue X earns from their content, until reaching $50,000 in lifetime earnings, after which the share reduces to 90%.
Mr Beast said “It’s a bit of a facade. Advertisers saw the attention it was getting and bought ads on my video (I think) and thus my revenue per view is prob higher than what you’d experience.”
Let's Do Some Math. On average, a million-view video on YouTube can generate anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000, given a solid RPM in the respective industry. However, consider Mr. Beast, rakes in $5,000 per million views.
Then:
5000×156 Million = $780,000
That's a difference of $516,345 between YouTube and X earnings of the same number Video.
Disney's HoloTile
Virtual reality (VR) has been reshaping our digital experiences, but its challenge lies in limited movement. Disney Research recently introduced an innovative solution to this hurdle with the unveiling of HoloTile.
The HoloTile Solution
At the heart of this innovation are hundreds of small, round "tiles" forming mini, omnidirectional treadmills. These tiles work harmoniously to keep users within a designated area, providing seamless and natural movement within the VR space.
Holotile grants users the freedom to walk in any direction while remaining within the confines of the platform.
HoloTile can support multiple users simultaneously, opening avenues for collaborative VR experiences.
The current iteration is a research project, indicating it may not be consumer-ready shortly.
Western Digital Emerges as Morgan Stanley's 'Top Pick'
Western Digital (WDC) has seized the spotlight by ousting Nvidia as Morgan Stanley's 'Top Pick' in the computing space.
Morgan Stanley analysts, led by Joseph Moore, argue that while Nvidia has demonstrated strong performance, they foresee more upside potential in WDC stock. Despite Nvidia being their preferred player in the computing sector, the experts note industry-wide headwinds in the second half of the year, prompting investors to consider alternatives.
WDC's stock has gained 38% in equity value over the past 52 weeks, compared to Nvidia's impressive 212% gain,
Various research firms project a bullish trajectory for the NAND market, with estimates ranging from $68.87 billion to $117 billion by 2031, indicating a promising avenue for WDC stock.
A New Unicorn
Artificial intelligence voice startup ElevenLabs has achieved unicorn status, reaching a valuation of $1.1 billion after securing $80 million in Series B funding.
That is a tenfold increase since the company's last funding round in May 2023 when ElevenLabs was valued at $100 million, according to data from PitchBook.
ElevenLabs, headquartered in London with a global remote workforce, has attracted over 1 million registered users, including individual content creators and enterprises like Storytel, Paradox Interactive, and The Washington Post.
With the fresh funding, ElevenLabs announced a suite of new products, including a Dubbing Studio for users to dub entire movies, a Voice Library marketplace allowing users to share and monetize their AI-generated voices, and a Mobile App reader for instant conversion of text and URLs into audio.
Gucci $963 Million Deal for Property
French luxury group Kering, owner of renowned brands such as Gucci and Balenciaga, has successfully secured a deal for the retail portion of 715-717 Fifth Avenue in New York City.
The transaction, valued at $963 million, is a 115,000-square-foot luxury retail space that was sold by SL Green and Jeff Sutton's Wharton Properties.
There is a trend of major retailers, such as Prada, LVMH, Rolex, and Harry Winston, investing in Midtown Fifth Avenue properties known as the "World's Greatest Shopping Street”.
The purchase is part of Kering's selective real estate strategy aimed at securing key, highly desirable locations for its luxury brands, further underlining the company's commitment to prime retail spaces.
Things to Know:
Amer Sports is gearing up for IPO with a target valuation of up to $8.7 billion.
Amer Sports seeks to raise approximately $1.8 billion by offering 100 million shares priced between $16 and $18 each.
Founded in 1950, Amer Sports boasts iconic brands like the Wilson tennis racket associated with legendary athletes such as Roger Federer, Salomon(sneaker brand), and Arc'teryx, but its financial performance in 2022 showed a loss of over $253 million in $3.6 billion in revenue.
The company's current investors, including Anta Sports, Anamered Investments, and Tencent Holdings, have expressed interest in purchasing up to $510 million worth of shares at the IPO price.
Single women now outpace single men in homeownership.
In 2023, solo women mortgage applicants comprised 18% of the market, a trend that has been gradually increasing since Maxwell began tracking gender and marital status in 2021.
Single women across the U.S. own a total of 10.95 million homes, which is 2.71 million more homes than single men who own 8.24 million homes.
Across all 50 states, single women own an average of approximately 13% of owner-occupied homes, surpassing the 10.2% ownership rate among single men.
One in three women with partners opted to purchase homes independently due to their stronger financial positions.
The states with the highest shares of single women homeowners include Delaware, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Conversely, Alaska, North Dakota, and South Dakota are the only states where single men own a larger share of homes compared to women.
This matches with the trend of men-women equality as the majority (51%) of households in 2021 reported being female-headed, up from less than a third in 1990.
Japanese shares reached a 34-year high as The Nikkei rose 0.6%, hitting levels unseen since February 1990 and marking a year-to-date gain of 9.9%. The positive momentum stems from optimism that the Bank of Japan will maintain its super-easy policy.
Japan's buoyant Nikkei performance saw gains across sectors, with real estate and technology emerging as top performers.
Japanese shares have been further supported by reduced expectations of an imminent end to the Bank of Japan's stimulus, particularly following a recent earthquake. The central bank's policy announcement is awaited, with expectations leaning toward the retention of ultra-easy monetary settings.
FTC has declared that TurboTax, a popular tax-filing software owned by Intuit, engaged in deceptive advertising. The FTC has now banned the company from advertising its services as "free" unless it is genuinely free for all customers.
The controversy revolves around TurboTax's ad campaign that heavily uses the word "free" across various media channels, claiming consumers could file their taxes with TurboTax without any charges. However, the FTC found that around 100 million people, approximately two-thirds of filers, did not qualify for the promoted "free" filing with TurboTax.
Intuit has appealed the decision, stating that it considers it a "deeply flawed decision" and criticizing the FTC's process as biased.
Applebee's recent introduction of an exclusive weekly "date night" pass for $200 has created a stir.
The pass, which went on sale on January 22 at noon ET, sold out within a mere 30 seconds.
The restaurant chain introduced the pass as a limited-time offer, covering 52 uses from February 1, 2024, through January 31, 2025, with each use allowing up to $30 off on food and non-alcoholic beverages.