Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - More bad news at Disney

Walt Disney began terminating thousands of employees on Monday as part of the entertainment giant’s ongoing campaign to cut about 7,000 workers this year. This is the second of what’s expected to be three rounds of dismissals at Disney. The first cuts to Disney’s 220,000-person workforce came in March. This new round will continue through Thursday. The company has been racing to curb losses on its flagship Disney+ streaming service, which debuted in 2019, but Wall Street’s attention has since shifted from subscriber growth to the staggering cost of operating online video platforms. Disney shares closed up slightly today as the larger market held steady amid weaker-than-expected manufacturing data. Investors may be looking ahead to a week packed with corporate earnings and economic data that could color the Federal Reserve’s upcoming rate-hike decision. Here’s your markets wrap. —Natasha Solo-Lyons

First Republic Bank saw deposits plummet $72 billion in the first three months of the year, showing in part how March’s banking crisis nearly engulfed the California lender. Deposits sank to $104.5 billion as of March 31, down 41% from the end of 2022. This even after the country’s largest lenders parked $30 billion of their own cash with the San Francisco-based bank to shore up its finances. First Republic said it plans to reduce the size of its balance sheet and jettison as much as 25% of its employees in response to “the unprecedented deposit outflows.” The bank also said it’s “pursuing strategic options.”

Last month, after Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failed, First Republic Bank found itself mulling a sale following a dramatic 60% drop in stock price. Now it’s looking to stabilize itself by dismissing a large number of workers. Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America

After filing for bankruptcy over the weekend, Bed Bath & Beyond is winding down 360 stores and 120 Buy Buy Baby shops by June 30. For now, the company’s liquidation plan may weigh on one source of US retail profits, as the market is inundated with liquidated home and baby products. But it leaves a long-term prize of about $5 billion in annual revenue for competitors. 

Hedge funds are betting on higher Treasury yields in a market that’s divided over whether the US economy can avoid recession and Fed rate cuts. Recent positioning data suggests leveraged investors are about as confident as the central bank is that a slump can be dodged even as the past year’s tightening bites on activity.

Professional investors see the dollar sliding even further from last year’s two-decade highs, as the market has underpriced what they see as the Fed’s coming easing cycle. 

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas said he was advised he didn’t have to disclose private jet flights and luxury vacations paid for by right-wing billionaire Harlan Crow because, although a close friend, Crow “did not have business before the court.” But—in at least one case—Crow did indeed have business before the court.

Clarence Thomas Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg

Customer service workers at a Fortune 500 software firm who were given access to generative artificial intelligence tools became 14% more productive on average than those who were not, with the least-skilled workers reaping the most benefit.

Fox News last week parted ways with $787 million thanks to its decision to settle a massive defamation lawsuit by a voting machine company. Now it’s parting ways with Tucker Carlson, the cable channel’s incredibly popular and controversial host, and the source of controversies on everything from election fairness to LGBTQ rights. Wall Street, completing the trifecta of big news involving Rupert Murdoch’s company, sent Fox stock plummeting Monday. It gained back some, closing down 2.9%. 

While our Covid-19 coverage will continue, Bloomberg’s Evening Briefing will cease its daily tracking of pandemic data.

• CNN anchor Don Lemon says he has been fired from the network.
• Bloomberg Opinion: You can’t just shoot people.
• Bloomberg Opinion: Bed Bath moves into the beyond.
• The future of AI relies on a high school teacher’s free database.
• Conferences are back, but with a twist.
• Sweetgreen launches $10-a-month loyalty program.
• Tiger Woods-backed project to build homes in Florida horse town.

This isn’t a spectacular mansion. It’s not a luxury penthouse or a designer apartment. It’s a bunch of sand on an artificial island in Dubai, and it just sold for $34 million, setting a record in a market that continues to benefit from an influx of foreign wealth. The 24,500-square-foot empty parcel is on the sought-after Jumeirah Bay Island, a seahorse-shaped piece of land accessible by bridge from the Dubai mainland. 

A satellite shot of Jumeirah Bay Island off the coast of Dubai, where real estate prices are breaking records. Source: Google Maps

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