Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Facebook faces mortality

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg sought to rally his employees on Thursday in the face of a calamitous drop in the share price of Meta, parent of his controversial social media platform. The historic $250 billion crash, he told them, was tied to Meta’s weak forecast for revenue in the current quarter and an “unprecedented level of competition.” Things could soon get worse for Zuckerberg: Employee shares vest on Feb. 15, and manager conversations about bonuses and promotions happen in March—both of which could be factors in workers’ heading for the exits. The bad news comes at a critical juncture for the company, which is fighting regulatory battles on multiple fronts, has been a prominent medium for hate speech and a critical component of foreign misinformation efforts aimed at tilting the last two U.S. presidential elections. If this is the beginning of Facebook’s fadeout, what does Zuckerberg do now? —David E. Rovella 

Bloomberg is tracking the coronavirus pandemic and the progress of global vaccination efforts.

Having repeatedly warned that the Kremlin might try to manufacture justification to attack its neighbor Ukraine, the Biden administration on Thursday said it has evidence of just such a plan. The ploy would involve a fake video replete with scenes of an explosion, corpses and fake mourners, the White House said. Here’s the latest on the crisis.

It was a really bad day on Wall Street for people other than Zuckerberg, too. The Nasdaq 100 shed 4.2% and the S&P 500 fell 2.4% as Meta led the way to the basement on Thursday. But Jeff Bezos can be happy: In addition to raising annual Amazon Prime fees for the first time since 2018, post-market trading in Amazon sent the shares up more than 15% on an earnings beat. Here’s your markets wrap.

The tech market meltdown is making a bad year for Spotify chief Daniel Ek even worse. Already buried under a scandal tied to the spread of  vaccine misinformation by his biggest star and a now growing list of departing artists, he also has to reckon with a $1 billion drop in his net worth so far this year.

Daniel Ek Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg

Macro hedge funds topped their peers last month after years of wandering in the wilderness. Among the winners were Trend Capital Management, a $900 million firm that wagered on an increase in short-term U.S. rates. Here are the rest. 

The record surge in U.S. auto prices, which helped drive inflation to a four-decade high, may finally be over, say two firms that sell cars online.

The Bank of England increased its key interest rate in a bid to contain the fastest inflation in three decades, with some policymakers unexpectedly seeking a more aggressive response to rising prices.

The omicron subvariant of Covid-19 known as BA.2 has been found across Africa, and is now the dominant strain in Denmark. Sweden however is scrapping its precautions, citing what it considers a manageable situation in hospitals despite a massive increase in transmission. Officials in Hong Kong warned that city could see exponential growth in infections as the number of untraceable cases continues to rise. And Indonesia’s infection rate has reached a six-month high thanks to omicron. Worldwide, there were 3.4 million new confirmed cases and almost 11,000 deaths yesterday alone. Here’s the latest on the pandemic.

Indonesia needs around 100 million extra vaccine doses for its booster program, most of which were being met by donations from the Covax facility. Above, a woman receives a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on Jan. 26 at Jakarta International Expo. Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg

• Here are some of the factors that have been tied to long Covid.
• U.S. says it killed the leader of ISIS in a strike by special forces.
• Boris Johnson’s top aides are quitting in droves amid party scandal.
• NFL misses out on racial awakening taking hold at U.S. companies.
• United may spur airline gold rush by selling frequent-flyer program.
• More than 4,500 flights cancelled as ice, snow move across U.S.
• Bloomberg Opinion: How to pay your rent without going broke.

Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic “Dune” notched the most number of Bafta nominations, the U.K.’s top film prizes and often a signal to the Academy Awards, edging out Netflix drama “The Power of the Dog.”

Josh Brolin, left, and Timothée Chalamet in Dune.  Source:  Warner Bros. 

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