U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned on Wednesday that companies that received coronavirus rescue money intended for small businesses could be investigated if it appears they did not really need the money. Mnuchin said on Fox Business Network it was "questionable" whether some larger companies qualified for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), based on a self-certification step in the loan process. As Congress readies another $310 billion in payroll loan funds for small businesses shut down by the coronavirus, Mnuchin's comments indicate the administration is paying more attention to oversight during this round of funding....
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned on Wednesday that larger companies could face investigation if they apply for small business coronavirus rescue money without carefully reviewing whether they qualify for it. Mnuchin said on Fox Business Network it was "questionable" whether some larger companies could make the certifications necessary for the Paycheck Protection Program, and firms needed to look carefully at the certifications they make to the Treasury and the Small Business Administration to get forgivable loans of up to $10 million. The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on a new rescue bill that provides another $321 billion to the program aimed at keeping employees at temporarily closed businesses on the payroll after an initial $350 billion ran out in less than two weeks....
Zoom, which has soared to 200 million daily users from 10 million in less than three months, had faced backlash from users after security researchers found bugs in its codes and the company failing to disclose that its service was not end-to-end encrypted. Zoom said it has made several changes to its user interface, including offering password protection and giving more controls to meeting hosts to check unruly participants. To account for criticism that the company had routed some data through Chinese servers, Zoom said an account admin can now choose data center regions for their meetings....
Biogen (BIIB) has kicked off first quarter biotech earnings with a top- and bottom-line beat. However, the company surprised investors by announcing a significant delay to the aducanumab BLA (biologics license application) filing, which is now set for 3Q instead of early 2020. Aducanumab is a human monoclonal antibody designed to treat early Alzheimer’s disease.“Among the new disclosures are a pre-BLA meeting this summer and additional “formal interactions” with the FDA (such as Type C meetings); these were not previously communicated and may raise questions on how receptive FDA is to this BLA” comments JP Morgan analyst Cory Kasimov.As a result shares are currently down 6% in Wednesday’s pre-market trading at $309.Meanwhile, Mizuho Securities analyst Salim Syed notes that “the original guidance was “early 2020”, then revised to “as soon as possible”, now “3Q20” … and there’s actually very little in the press release that explains why timelines have shifted so much.”He also reiterated his...
(Bloomberg) -- AT&T Inc. posted a 4.5% drop in revenue from a year ago and withdrew its forecast of 2% revenue growth for the year, saying it can’t provide a financial forecast for 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.The Covid-19 crisis hurt earnings by 5 cents a share in the first quarter and knocked $600 million off of revenue due to lower ad sales from canceled sports events like the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. But the U.S. stay-at-home orders, which started in mid-March, did help improve some of AT&T’s slumping consumer businesses.Homebound customers craving videoconferencing and cellular connections helped boost broadband and wireless numbers. AT&T added a total of 27,000 wireless subscribers, exceeding analysts’ prediction for a loss of 132,000. That number includes a loss of tablet customers, offset by 163,000 new mobile-phone customers. And demand for fiber broadband connections surged 34% as more people sought faster home internet access.AT&T shares...
