All is not coming up aces for Masa Son and his faltering SoftBank empire, which warned investors on Monday of a coming $16.7 billion loss to its landmark Vision Fund, the tech-focused venture that’s been hammered by “the fallout from the coronavirus and by big bets on unprofitable companies like WeWork” –
NYTimes and
WSJ and
MarketWatch
More thoughts on how a post-COVID economy might start to come back, and long and slow appears to be the general consensus (White House talk of a “quick economic boom” aside) as companies and consumers alike feel out how to reengage with one another – NYTimes
With unemployment skyrocketing in the U.S., missed mortgage payments are on the rise, and the “number of borrowers asking for forbearance will likely continue to rise at a rapid pace,” according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s chief economist – WSJ and Bloomberg
A harder look at the state of the U.S. food supply chain in light of the recent shuttering of Smithfield pork processing in Sioux Falls. Industry execs, labor unions, and market analysts are warning that the “spread of the virus through the food and grocery industry” is likely to “cause disruptions in production and distribution of certain products” – NYTimes
Just days after oil-producing nations banded together to reduce output, the Journal checks in with America’s oil industry and finds many of them cutting production themselves—though more due to dried up demand than a grand strategy to propel the price of oil upward – WSJ
Officials at the NY Fed are out with details of their plan to “ease back on operations designed to add short-term liquidity to financial markets” in light of what they’ve deemed “improved money-market conditions” – WSJ
The latest on stalled efforts to add more money into the already-nearly-depleted Paycheck Protection Program, which could be through its nearly $350 billion original funding total as soon as Friday – NYTimes
So, about those business-interruption policies and the coronavirus . . . Pretty sure “uh-oh” would be putting it mildly – MarketWatch
When we say the gang’s all here, we mean, of course, that Facebook and LinkedIn are also the subject of class-action lawsuits over alleged breaches of privacy of Zoom video users thanks to undisclosed data-sharing agreements – Law360
Roku added almost 3 million accounts in Q1, as stay-at-home orders sent streaming hours up nearly 50% from the same period a year ago – WSJ and MarketWatch
The CFPB is pushing back against a PayPal-filed complaint “challenging a rule that treats digital wallets the same as prepaid debit cards, denying the fintech company’s claim that the rule requires the publication of misleading information” – Law360
Amazed by this account of the perilous Apollo 13 mission as told in the astronauts own words and through their own pictures – NYTimes
Stay safe.