Juul Settles lawsuits with North Carolina as Jeff Bezos steps down as Amazon CEO
Juul is fighting to keep its e-cigarettes on the market. Jeff Bezos steps down as Amazon CEO after running the company for 27 years. SpaceX’s Starlink on track to be available globally in August. The pentagon realeses the highly anticipated UFO report. Employers add 850,000 jobs in June. Here are this weeks stories.
1. Juul to pay $40 million in North Carolina Lawsuit Settlement
E-cigarette company Juul agreed to settle its first state lawsuit with North Carolina by paying millions in fines and changing its business practices. In 2019, North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein filed a lawsuit claiming Juul was marketing its products to teens and misled the public about risks associated with their e-cigarettes. Juul had earlier been heavily advertising on social media, claiming their products were much safer than conventional cigarettes and selling flavored pods like mango and mint, which targeted the younger generation.
Juul now faces a flood of lawsuits from 39 states and hundreds of schools regarding an uptick in vaping among teens. This lawsuit by North Carolina is the first to hold Juul accountable and hopefully not the last. Under the settlement, Juul must stop all marketing strategies in North Carola that appeal to an audience younger than 35, including influencer advertising, sponsoring sporting events and concerts, and social media. There will be more forms of age verification required in stores that sell Juul products. Online, there will be a limit on the number of products a user can purchase. Lastly, Juul will pay North Carolina $40 million, and the funds will be used for programs to help teens addicted to e-cigarettes quit and prevent others from starting.
2. Jeff Bezos steps down as Amazon CEO
Jeff Bezos has stepped down as Amazon CEO after running the company for 27 years. Bezos founded Amazon as an online bookstore back in 1994 and built it into one of the most prevalent companies in the world. He has become the wealthiest person on Earth, with a net worth of over $200 billion, and his $1.7 trillion company is tripling its profits even during a global pandemic.
He has also founded his own space exploration company and will fulfill his childhood dream of traveling to space next month. Bezos will devote more time to side projects, including Blue Origin, his philanthropic initiatives, and overseeing The Washington Post. Andy Jassy, head of Amazon’s cloud-computing business, has become CEO. Amazon is doing remarkably well but still has some challenges to face, including criticism of working conditions. While Bezos is stepping down, he will continue to play a key role in guiding the company.
3. Starlink to be Available Globally in August
SpaceX’s Starlink is on track to be available globally this August. Starlink is an investment by Elon Musk to create an interconnected internet network with thousands of satellites that will provide high-speed internet around the globe at a reasonable cost. The satellites orbit Earth at low altitudes, keeping the latency down and download speeds up.
For consumers, equipment costs $500, and service is $100 per month. Network speeds are around 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload. Currently, Starlink is in the beta phase with 70,000 active users, 1800 satellites, and operational in 12 countries. In the next 12 months, the user base will likely soar to 500,000, and coverage will span across the planet except for the poles. So almost all rural and remote communities will gain access to the internet and modern broadband speeds. SpaceX is also trying to cut costs and working with major telecommunication companies to provide Starlink access. In the coming years, Starlink will likely have millions of users and will become more affordable.
4. The Pentagon UFO Report
The Pentagon released the highly anticipated UFO report on UFOs. The report described the encounters the US military had with unidentified objects in the skies. As expected, the report did not mention extraterrestrial life, but it did not dismiss the idea either. Only one of the 144 examined sightings had an official explanation. It seems unlikely that the sightings are optical phenomenons or extraterrestrials, but it could be one of our rivals.
According to the examined sightings, the UFOs were using something similar to hypersonic technology, which allows for rapid speeds and unpredictable paths. Russia has been heavily investing in hypersonic weaponry, which could give the ability to evade American missile-defense technology. China has also been working on the same technology, and they have displayed it in their military parades. The US has fallen behind on hypersonic technology, and it will likely take years for it to catch up to China and Russia. If the UFO sightings are hypersonic technology testing conducted by China or Russia, this would be hazardous for the US and the whole world as no other country could counter this technology.
5. Employers add 850,000 Jobs during June
Hiring surged in June as employers added over 850,000 jobs across many different fields. Leisure and hospitality again led the hiring increase with a jump of 343,000 jobs while Education added almost 270,000 jobs. Employment rose in retail trade, personal and laundry services, child care centers, and professional and business services.
Wages also increased by 3.6% year over year, well above pre-pandemic levels. There was surprisingly a labor shortage despite the high unemployment rate. Workers were choosing the $300 weekly federal benefit and state-run benefits instead of a minimum wage job, so employers increased wages and benefits to add workers. Even after all these gains, 7 million fewer people are on payrolls today than before the pandemic, and 2.6 million people have retired during the pandemic. There is incremental growth in the pace of job growth, but millions of jobs are lost forever.
Above were my top stories for the week of July 6th, 2021. I hope you enjoyed them. Thank you and see you next week!
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