Lyft IPO To Set Record… For Fastest Shareholder Lawsuit Ever
by Zero Hedge - April 21st, 2019 7:09 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Lyft's smash and grab from the public markets IPO has been a disaster for nearly any open market participants that have wound up buying the stock since it has traded. But the IPO did come close to setting one recent record, according to Bloomberg: how quickly the company was hit with investor lawsuits after plunging.
With Snapchat's IPO, investor lawsuits followed in just 10 weeks. For Blue Apron's IPO, it took only 7 weeks. Lyft has now lowered that bar, seeing its agitated shareholders file suit against the company in just 3 weeks after its IPO.
While these kinds of lawsuits can be commonplce for newly listed companies (even moreso after 2008), most are dismissed or settled out of court for pennies on the dollar. Trials almost never happen.
The standard cause of action arises from the allegation that the company's officers and underwriters overhyped the company's prospects, leading to losses when the market figures out the "truth". It's an objective that's obvious and clear to many non-mainstream analysts in the industry, but one that's never talked about in the financial mainstream media.
This leads us to ask: if overhyping is the claim, why hasn't CNBC been party to any of these lawsuits?
"You want to get as much Lyft as you can," Jim Cramer said leading up to the IPO on March 28.
"So get in there, try to get as much Lyft as possible, because the way deals work is that the brokers all know they have a ton of merchandise to move. So, what they do is they would whet your appetite with some really tasty morsels and Lyft will be a tasty morsel," he continued.
On March 29, Cramer called Lyft's $87 opening price a "win for the system". Cramer commented in an article for The Street:
"Lots of people were quite cynical about the whole process, instantly jumping to the conclusion that the stock was ridiculously overvalued and the brokers ripped off the customers. That's just not true."
He then called $87.24 a "good…
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Toxic Arsenic Found In Major Bottled Water Brands
by Zero Hedge - April 21st, 2019 7:05 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Consumer Reports (CR) is now warning the public about a serious issue, where 11 brands of bottled water, out of 130 had detectable levels of highly toxic, arsenic, and six of those brands had levels above 3 parts per billion (ppb) — the maximum level allowed by CR.
"Of those, six had levels of 3 ppb or higher," according to CR officials. "These brands are Starkey owned by Whole Foods, Peñafiel owned by Keurig Dr. Pepper, Crystal Geyser Alpine Spring Water, Volvic owned by Danone, and two regional brands, Crystal Creamery, and EartH?O."
Research from the World Health Organization (WHO) has shown long-term exposure to arsenic in drinking water can cause cancer and skin lesions. It has also been linked to cardiovascular disease and diabetes. In children, arsenic can cause negative impacts on cognitive development and increased deaths.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) limits arsenic in bottled water to 10 ppb. But CR is now demanding the federal government revise the level to 3ppb.
"It makes no sense that consumers can purchase bottled water that is less safe than tap water," says James Dickerson, Ph.D., chief scientific officer at CR. "If anything, bottled water—a product for which people pay a premium, often because they assume it’s safer—should be regulated at least as strictly as tap water."
Keurig Dr Pepper spoke with CR last week and said its Peñafiel production facility in Mexico had been taken offline for several weeks while it would improve its filtration system to lower arsenic level. The company said it conducted new testing after questions from CR found levels above the federal limit, at an average of 17 ppb.
Whole Foods took over the brand Starkey Water in 2013, from late 2016 through early 2017, the company recalled more than 2,000 cases of water after tests by regulators showed high levels of arsenic beyond the federally mandated threshold.
In the last five years, consumers have spoken out against municipal tap water and resorted to bottled beverages. Consumers as a whole aren't educated enough to understand the bottled water industry isn't heavily regulated – so the claims of fresh, natural water are somewhat misleading. CR ended the report by linking EPA’s website for water testing – it says that if you want to limit your exposure to arsenic water, get your water tested immediately.
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Tesla Granted Restraining Order On Short Seller Hours Before Key Investor Day
by Zero Hedge - April 21st, 2019 7:02 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Just 72 hours ahead of what we're sure is going to be a carefully planned and carefully controlled Autonomous Driving Investor Day event, Tesla is trying to silence yet another of its critics.
Roughly a year after famously doxxing and threatening to sue short seller "Montana Skeptic", Tesla has been granted a temporary restraining order against Randeep Hothi, who allegedly goes by the Twitter handle @skabooshka. The restraining order requires Hothi to stay at least 100 yards away from Tesla's factory and employees. Hothi’s behavior would cause “great or irreparable harm” with court intervention, Tesla argued, just 2 days before its event.
In a court filing from Friday, Tesla alleges that Hothi "had a history of trespassing at its facilities, taking photos and video to post to his Twitter account, before he recently started menacing its employees."
The order claims that in February, Hothi struck a security guard with his vehicle when he was approached in Tesla's Fremont parking lot. The incident was so devastating that it caused a "minor knee injury", according to Tesla. The company also says it contacted Fremont police, but that officers were unable to deliver a no-trespassing order to Hothi (we wonder why). Hothi lives about 3 miles from Tesla's Fremont factory.
Then, in April, the order alleges that Hothi followed a Tesla autonomous Model 3 that was driving on the freeway, equipped with cameras. Tesla claims that Hothi swerved so close to the Model 3 that the vehicle’s side-collision safety feature engaged in an emergency maneuver to avoid a collision. And we're sure Tesla has printouts, on Tesla letterhead, with reports from Tesla software, to prove it.
Elon Musk even posted what looked to us to be faux-outrage and/or faux-confusion on Twitter, stating that he just couldn't fathom why people want him to fail. "True, we might not succeed," Musk said about Tesla before hiding behind the excuse shield of "we're just trying to make a better future for all". His tweet was quickly met with a response by the Twitter handle alleged to belong to Hothi.
No
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Why Easter is called Easter, and other little-known facts about the holiday
by ilene - April 21st, 2019 1:36 pm
Happy Easter Everyone!
Why Easter is called Easter, and other little-known facts about the holiday
What is the origin of Easter eggs? Katie Morrow, CC BY-NC-ND
Courtesy of Brent Landau, University of Texas at Austin
On April 21, Christians will be celebrating Easter, the day on which the resurrection of Jesus is said to have taken place. The date of celebration changes from year to year.
The reason for this variation is that Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox. So, in 2020, Easter will be celebrated on April 12, and on April 4 in 2021.
I am a religious studies scholar specializing in early Christianity, and my research shows that this dating of Easter goes back to the complicated origins of this holiday and how it has evolved over the centuries.
Easter is quite similar to other major holidays like Christmas and Halloween, which have evolved over the last 200 years or so. In all of these holidays, Christian and non-Christian (pagan) elements have continued to blend together.
Easter as a rite of spring
Most major holidays have some connection to the changing of seasons. This is especially obvious in the case of Christmas. The New Testament gives no information about what time of year Jesus was born. Many scholars believe, however, that the main reason Jesus’ birth came to be celebrated on December 25 is because that was the date of the winter solstice according to the Roman calendar.
Since the days following the winter solstice gradually become longer and less dark, it was ideal symbolism for the birth of “the light of the world” as stated in the New Testament’s Gospel of John.
Similar was the case with Easter, which falls in close proximity to another key point in the solar year: the vernal equinox (around March 20), when there are equal periods of light and darkness. For those in northern latitudes, the coming of spring is often met with excitement, as it means an end to the cold days of winter.
Spring also means the coming back to life of…
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Fragility In The World 2019
by Zero Hedge - April 21st, 2019 10:36 am
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Authored by Apra Sharma via WorldOutOfWhack.com,
Yemen is labelled as the most fragile country by Fragile States Index in 2019. Finland is now the least fragile country.
Source: https://fragilestatesindex.org/
(Highlights from Fragile States Index)
“This year, Yemen claimed the top position for the first time as a result of its civil war and humanitarian catastrophe. Although Yemen’s top ranking may provide cause for idle chatter, really the most attention should be given to its rapid worsening over the past decade, and the regional instability and power plays for which its population are unspeakably suffering.
In 2019, an African nation has, for the first time, ranked in the “Very Stable” category, with Mauritius ascending to join the likes of the United Kingdom and United States. Just as Mauritius this year became the first African country to break through to the Very Stable category, it is also important to recognize that Singapore became the first Asian nation to move into the Sustainable category.”
“There is still widespread fragility and vulnerability, plenty of poverty and inequality, and conflict and illiberalism. But broadly speaking, over the long-term, the world is becoming steadily less fragile. It often takes cold, hard data — like that produced by the FSI — to demonstrate that for all the negative press, there is significant progress occurring in the background.”
J.J. Messner, Executive Director
Two countries tied for most-worsened over the past 12 months.
"Venezuela has been beset by enormous turmoil, and in the wake of a contested and deeply flawed election in 2018, now finds itself with two leaders. Brazil’s internal challenges remain significant, with tumultuous politics and a new president who came to power through a campaign fuelled by harsh right-wing rhetoric.”
As per World Economic Forum, “Any UK citizens alarmed at seeing their nation ranked as the fourth most-worsened will find that three of the 12 indicators used to compile the index were largely behind the low score: the behaviour of ruling elites, social divisions and state legitimacy.
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Pushing Marijuana Legalization Across The Finish Line
by Zero Hedge - April 21st, 2019 10:33 am
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Authored by Paul Armentano via Counterpunch.org,
After nearly a century of cannabis criminalization, U.S. voters — and a growing number of high-profile politicians — are demanding that marijuana policy move in a different direction.
One in five Americans now live in states where the adult, recreational use of marijuana is legal. And the majority of us reside someplace where the medical use of cannabis is legally authorized.
Many of these latter programs have been in place for the better part of two decades. And it’s plain to see the results have been better for public health and safety than criminal prohibition, because public and political support in for marijuana reform just keeps growing.
According to the latest national polling compiled by Gallup, 66 percent of U.S. adults — including majorities of Democrats, independents, and Republicans — believe that the adult use of marijuana should be legal.
Separate national surveys, such as the General Social Survey and the latest Pew poll, similarly show that public support for legalization is at a historic high.
Voters’ support for legalizing and regulating cannabis isn’t born out of a presumption that the plant is altogether harmless. To the contrary, society has long acknowledged that cannabis is a mood-altering substance with some risk potential — particularly for young people or among those with a family history of mental illness.
In fact, it’s precisely because marijuana use may pose potential risks that advocacy groups like NORML have long urged lawmakers to regulate it accordingly.
Such regulations already exist governing the use, production, and retail distribution of alcohol and tobacco — two substances that are far more dangerous and costly to society than the responsible adult use of cannabis.
The enforcement of these regulations, coupled with public awareness campaigns to educate consumers about these products’ health effects, have proven effective at reducing the public’s use of these two substances — particularly among U.S. teens.
Specifically, according to 2018 data compiled by the University of Michigan, lifetime use of cigarettes by young people has fallen 70 percent since the early 1990s and is now at a historic low. The lifetime use of alcohol is also…
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When Disruption Goes Horribly Wrong: MoviePass Loses 90% Of Subscribers
by Zero Hedge - April 21st, 2019 10:29 am
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
For those curious what happens to new normal "disruptors" when they run out of money and can no longer operate at a loss to capture market share (a favorite strategy for Silicon Valley and most "hot" names such as Tesla, Netflix, Uber, and in many ways, Amazon) look no further than MoviePass.
The company, which rose to prominence after allowing its members to watch a virtually unlimited number of movies for a very low monthly price, only to see its business model implode after it failed to "scale" and leverage its user base and quickly ran out of cash, has seen a deluge of users hitting the exits after it was forced to scale back the number of movies users could see each month. The embattled cinema-subscription provider has seen its subscriber number collapse by 90% from a peak of more than 3 million to just 225,000 in under a year, according to a report by Business Insider, which cited "internal data" even though the company declined to officially confirm the humiliating figures.
Last summer, when things were still running relatively smoothly, MoviePass claimed in June 2018 that it had signed up more than 3 million subs for its $9.95 monthly plan, which let customers see one movie every single day. However, that model quickly proved unsustainable as we previously reported, and MoviePass was forced to change that to a three-movies-per-month plan. So, last August MoviePass began to convert subscribers on annual subscription plans to the three-movies-per-month subscription plan, by giving annual subscribers the option to either cancel or refund their annual subscription or continue on the new three-movies-per-month subscription plan.
As it turns out, most canceled: over 90% of MoviePass’ prior subscribers were no longer interested in paying the same price for a service that offered dramatically scaled-backed terms.
Then, in an attempt to spark renewed membership interest, in March MoviePass introduced a refashioned “unlimited” plan, dubbed Uncapped, priced at $14.95 per month (or $119.4 per year), to again allow customers to see one movie daily, which however came with big caveats, described by MoviePass like this: "Your movie choices may be restricted due to excessive individual usage which negatively impacts system-wide capacity."
It was too little too late, and as BI reports, MoviePass…
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China’s Fake Numbers And The Risk They Pose For The Rest Of The World
by Zero Hedge - April 21st, 2019 10:25 am
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Authored by John Rubino via DollarCollapse.com,
Not so long ago, London Telegraph’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard was one of the handful of must-read financial journalists. He probably still is, but since he disappeared behind the Telegraph’s pay wall his work is invisible to non-subscribers, only emerging when a free outlet runs one of his stories.
That happened this morning when the Sydney Morning Herald carried his analysis of the financial Ponzi scheme that is China.
After taking on more debt in a single decade than any other country ever — in the process helping to pull the US and Europe out of the Great Recession — China recently shifted into an even higher gear, creating a world record amount of credit in the most recent reporting month.
And – more important for headline writers and money managers – it reported exactly the right amount of GDP growth.
This brings to mind a long-ago interview in which economist Nouriel Roubini asserted that China just makes its numbers up, frequently reporting GDP immediately after the end of the period being measured, something that even the US can’t do.
But it’s one thing to for the rest of us to suspect and/or assert that China is just giving the markets what they want to hear, and another thing to understand the implications and explain them coherently. Evans-Pritchard does this in his latest article.
Maximum vulnerability: China (and the world) are still in big trouble
China’s majestic and elegantly-stable GDP figures are best seen as an instrument of political combat.
Donald Trump says “trade wars are good and easy to win” if your foes depend on your market and you can break them under pressure.
He proclaimed victory when the Shanghai equity index went into a swoon over the winter. This is Trumpian gamesmanship.
It is in China’s urgent interest to puncture such claims as trade talks come to a head. Xi Jinping had to beat expectations with a crowd-pleaser in the first quarter. The number was duly produced: 6.4 per cent. Let us all sing the March of the Volunteers.
“Could it
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Visigoth Reparations & ‘Karate-Chopped’ Testicles
by Zero Hedge - April 21st, 2019 10:22 am
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Authored by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,
Every week we highlight a number of important, and often bizarre stories from around the world that my team and I are closely following:
Cory Booker introduces reparations bill
Get ready for a slippery slope, because because Cory Booker just introduced a reparations bill in Congress.
The 2020 Presidential contender said, “this bill is a way of addressing head-on the persistence of racism, white supremacy, and implicit racial bias in our country… and propose solutions that will finally begin to right the economic scales of past harms…”
If that’s the route America wants to go, seems like they should start with Native Americans. After all, they were the first ones to be exterminated and have their land stolen. And, comparatively speaking, they’re at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
While the rest of the US enjoys historically low unemployment, the unemployment rate on Indian Reservations often exceed 10%.
Native Americans also have the highest poverty rates of any ethnic group in the Land of the Free.
It also makes me wonder what standard politicians should apply to correct historic injustice–
Should the US government make reparation payments for killing countless Filipino civilians in the early 1900s during the armed occupation of the Philippines?
Or to descendants of Japanese-Americans who died in internment camps during World War II?
And, how far back should politicians go ?
Should the government of Mongolia make reparation payments to Ukrainians for murdering tens of thousands of people during the siege of Kiev in 1240?
Should descendants of the Visigoths have to give money to Italians for the sack of Rome in 410?
We doubt this bill will ever see the light of day. But it’s yet another striking indicator of what the Bolsheviks are thinking.
Supreme Court to hear case of TSA Agent who “Karate Chopped” a man’s testicles
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is already pretty legendary for touching passengers in intimate ways… and it often crosses the line.
In one important case, an airline captain was apparently…
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It’s A Mad World…
by Zero Hedge - April 21st, 2019 10:18 am
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
"…the systems are failing…are you lost in the world like me?"
"…the video is about our increasing dependence on technology and about human interaction today, or a certain lack of it. It focuses on the way tech is changing us – how we have become desensitized.”
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
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