Tesla Manufactured 4,000 Model Ys In One Week, UBS Prepping For Massive Layoffs, McDonald's Temporary Shuttering Of US Offices: Today's Top Stories

Bloomberg

UBS Prepping For Massive Layoffs Amid Credit Suisse Takeover

• UBS Group AG UBS, which agreed to buy peer Credit Suisse AG CS in a central-bank-brokered deal, is preparing to eliminate about 20 to 30% of jobs worldwide.
• UBS is expected to announce up to 36,000 job cuts across its branches.
• As many as 11,000 employees in Switzerland would be laid off.
• UBS and Credit Suisse employed about 125,000 people at the end of 2022.

Wall Street Journal

McDonald's Layoffs Reportedly Prompt Temporary Shuttering Of US Offices

• McDonald's Corporation MCD is closing its offices temporarily in the U.S. as the burger chain prepares for corporate layoffs.
• In an email, the Golden Arches operator asked U.S. employees and some global staff to work from home between Monday and Wednesday.
• "During the week of April 3, we will communicate key decisions related to roles and staffing levels across the organization," the company reportedly said in the email.

Benzinga

Tesla's Texas Triumph: 4,000 Model Ys Produced In A Week

• Elon Musk-led Tesla Inc TSLA touched a fresh milestone for Model Y vehicle production last week at its Gigafactory in Texas.
• Tesla achieved production of 4000 Model Y vehicles last week in Austin, Tesla said via Twitter.
• "Congrats Giga Texas team on building 4k Model Y this week!," Tesla tweeted, with a video of the celebrating workforce at the gigafactory.

U.S. Decries Surprise Oil Cuts By Saudi, OPEC+ Amid Uncertain Market Conditions: Not 'Advisable'

• The U.S. on Sunday criticized the surprise oil output cuts by Saudi Arabia and other OPEC+ countries.
• The Biden administration said the oil output cuts were not advisable given the uncertain market conditions. 
• "We don't think cuts are advisable at this moment given market uncertainty — and we've made that clear," a spokesperson for the National Security Council said.

Meta Chief AI Scientist Reacts After Elon Musk And Co's Call To Pause AI Trials: 'Preposterously Stupid'

• Days after more than 1,000 parties, including Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak, signed an "open letter" calling for a pause on training artificial intelligence systems exceeding OpenAI GPT-4, Meta Platforms Inc's META chief AI scientist took to Twitter to share his views. 
• Yann LeCun — Meta's chief AI scientist and a professor at New York University — said the typical process for developing and deploying new technology involves creating a prototype, testing it on a small scale, and implementing it in a limited capacity, addressing any issues and improving its safety. 

SpaceX Launches Space Force Unit's Missile-Tracking Satellites After Multiple Delays

• Elon Musk's SpaceX on Sunday launched the Space Development Agency's Tranche 0 mission to low-Earth orbit (LEO).
• SpaceX launched the Space Development Agency's Tranche 0 mission to LEO from California on Sunday at 7:29 a.m. The launch is a part of the agency's Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.
• SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launched ten transport and tracking layer satellites that would support military activities, including tracking advanced missile threats, SDA said in a statement.

Endeavor And WWE Agree To Merge To Form $21B+ Live Sports And Entertainment Powerhouse

• On Monday, Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc EDR and World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc WWE disclosed a deal to form a new, publicly listed company consisting of two iconic, complementary, global sports and entertainment brands: UFC and WWE. The company proposes to list on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "TKO."
• The transaction values UFC at an enterprise value of $12.1 billion and WWE at an enterprise value of $9.3 billion. Endeavor will hold a 51% controlling interest in the new company, and existing WWE shareholders will have a 49% interest.

Boxed Files For Bankruptcy, To Divest Software Business

• Boxed Inc BOXD has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is looking to divest its software business.
• The e-commerce grocery platform also decided to wind down its retail e-commerce operations over the next several weeks.
• The company had entered into a Forbearance Agreement with its first lien-secured lenders as an interim solution to protect the business.

Reuters

Volkswagen Not Keen On New Combustion Engine For Its Golf Car

• Volkswagen AG VWAGY is reportedly not planning to develop a new combustion engine for its Golf car.
• The decision will mark the end of the line for the Golf car sold since 1974.
• The Golf 8, now in production, will be last combustion engine version, with one more series of updates expected in 2024.

Activision Blizzard Faces Privacy Invasion Allegations From Workers

• Last Friday, a federal labor agency slapped U.S. labor law infringing charges against Activision Blizzard Inc ATVI for illegally surveilling employees during a walkout and threatening to shut down internal chat channels after a union tried to organize its workers.
• A National Labor Relations Board spokeswoman threatened to issue a complaint against the company involving its subsidiary Blizzard Entertainment Inc employees based in California and three other states.

National Institute On Aging Aims Building $300M Alzheimer's Research Database 

• The U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the government's National Institutes of Health (NIH), aims to build an Alzheimer's research database.
• Alzheimer's Association Chief Science Officer Maria Carrillo said in an interview that the organization plans to apply for the NIA platform grant, which will award $50 million annually for up to six years.
• Once built, the platform could also track patients after they receive treatments such as Eisai Co Ltd ESALY/Biogen Inc's BIIB Leqembi (lecanemab), which won accelerated U.S. approval in January and is under FDA review for complete approval.

CNBC

Starbucks Fires Founder Of Starbucks Workers United Union Campaign

• Starbucks Corporation SBUX has reportedly fired a shift supervisor responsible for lighting up the Starbucks Workers United union campaign.
• Rizzo worked for seven years and served as a union leader at the Genesee St. store in Buffalo, New York, one of the first two stores in the country to win its union campaign.

Financial Times

Julius Baer CEO Says Switzerland's Position As World's Banker To Super-Rich Isn't 'God Given'

• Philipp Rickenbacher, the chief executive of Swiss lender Julius Baer, reportedly said Switzerland's position as the world's banker to the super-rich is not "god given" and that the Swiss government and regulators should better communicate with worried international investors.
• "Things will remain very complicated — everything that was there a month ago will not go away," Rickenbacher told the Financial Times while speaking about central banks' rapid policy rate hikes and the resulting stress on the financial system. "There's still some room for policy mistakes at the highest levels when it comes to interest rates . . . everyone's senses are sharpened right now," he said.

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