Moderna’s New Billionaire | A Tax On Remote Workers? | TikTok’s Turn Of Fortune

Plus: The Highest-Paid Dead Celebrities Of 2020

Good morning.

Nearly a week since every leading media outlet in the U.S. projected a win for Joe Biden over incumbent Donald Trump in the presidential election, calls for Trump to concede intensify. We’re also looking at a newly minted billionaire, born of Moderna’s surging share price, and a proposed 5% tax on remote workers in the post-Covid-19 world. 

In The News Today

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson congratulated President-elect Joe Biden for his projected victory in the presidential election, the first such recognition from Beijing since the vote.

Elon Musk cast doubt over the efficacy of rapid antigen Covid-19 tests he took after two came back positive and two negative, resuming his Twitter commentary on the pandemic.

Top Take-Aways

As the Trump administration’s own election security officials reject the president’s claims of voter fraud, even a newspaper owned by Trump megadonor Sheldon Adelson urges the president to stop delaying the “inevitable.” But financier David Rubenstein sees a real possibility for Trump to run again in 2024.

With Moderna shares rising nearly 7% on Thursday as hopes for an effective Covid-19 vaccine increase, a new billionaire was minted. Robert Langer, a professor at MIT and a prolific scientist, owns 3% stake in the company now worth more than $1 billion.

Meanwhile, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is committing $70 million to make sure that vaccines for Covid-19 are distributed to people all over the world, including those living in low-income countries.

Deutsche Bank Research thinks that working from home post Covid-19 should come with a cost and proposed employees should be taxed 5% for each day that they choose to work remotely.

Even under a Biden presidency, if Republicans retain control of the Senate, most “blue wave” tax and policy changes aren’t likely to happen in the next Congress. But there are still a few developments that could affect your wallet: here’s what you may expect.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston agreed with a lower court that Harvard’s admissions process does not discriminate against Asian-American applicants. The decision will likely send the case to the Supreme Court.

TikTok isn’t quite done dealing with the U.S. justice system, but managed to avoid getting shut down in the country on Thursday and was given until December to submit documents in its case against the U.S. government. Its secret weapon? Fortuitous court manoeuvres. 

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