Free Republic

CEO Bob Bakish announced layoffs at the media company Thursday, citing a need to “operate as a leaner company and spend less.” “Our priority is to drive earnings growth. And we’ll get there by growing our revenue while closely managing costs — a balance that will require every team, division and brand to be aligned,” Bakish said in a memo to employees.

Financial statements of the US Federal Reserve, which consists of the board of governors in Washington and twelve district reserve banks across the country, indicate that the consolidated system has generated both capital and operating losses for the past couple of years. The Fed was created in 1913 to issue and circulate an “elastic currency” that could respond to consumers’ demand for cash, end bank runs known then as “money panics,” and serve as a “lender of last resort” to the nation’s commercial banks. How is it possible that the Fed could be losing money after one hundred years of...

"My prayers are with the patriots we have lost," the defense secretary said. Five American service members were killed in a crash late Friday after their helicopter had a "mishap" during a training exercise and went into the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the military said Sunday. Two officials confirmed that the five were Army special operations soldiers, as first reported by The New York Times and Washington Post. Search and rescue efforts went into Saturday before being called off, according to the officials. Department of Defense officials on Monday identified the service members as Chief Warrant Officer 3 Stephen R. Dwyer,...

Goldman Sachs predicts credit card losses will continue to climb through the end of 2024/early 2025. What is unusual is that the losses are accelerating outside of an economic downturn, the firm said. Credit card losses currently stand at 3.63%, up 1.5 percentage points from the bottom. Credit card companies are racking up losses at the fastest pace in almost 30 years, outside of the Great Financial Crisis, according to Goldman Sachs. Credit card losses bottomed in September 2021, and while initial increases were likely reversals from stimulus, they have been rapidly rising since the first quarter of 2022. Since...

Russia's air force has lost 90 planes since the start of the war in Ukraine and is becoming less formidable by overworking its jets, UK intelligence said. The British Ministry of Defence said in its latest daily intelligence update on Thursday that Russia is quickly depleting its fleet of warplanes through overuse because the conflict is dragging on for much longer than anticipated. "All aircraft have a projected lifespan, in flying hours," the update said, adding that it's highly likely that with the extra use, Russia is "eating into many of its airframes' lifespans" far more quickly than planned for....

Disney is suffering the consequences of injecting ‘woke’ far-left propaganda into its film productions after reports its stock fell to a 9 year low. The company’s stock fell to a 9-year low as consumers not only complained about the LGBT propaganda laden with its kid’s films but also the poor story quality and hostility towards conservatives. The ‘woke’ messaging in Disney’s films includes: Mary Sue stories designed to bolster false feminist premises while denigrating men Critical Race Theory is an attempt to exploit negative race relations Race swapping of established white characters for the sake of virtue signaling Use of...

The Republican Party appears to be following the playbook of those storied lemmings that rush to the edge of the cliff and throw themselves off in a suicidal frenzy. You’d think that Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) would have warned his party that the lemming myth was a misleading invention of the Disney Company, not to be copied. Yet, as the 2024 elections approach, the GOP is doubling down on positions that will cause them great heartache on election day. The main problem for most of the party’s presidential contenders is sheer cowardice. Other than former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie,...

The floundering Walt Disney Company’s Disney+ streaming service is expected to record a $800 million third-quarter loss. That’s nearly a billion dollars lost in a single quarter. I tell ya, Disney’s slow-motion collapse is more entertaining than anything these child predators have created in years. Apparently, grooming little kids doesn’t pay. Who knew? In better news, Disney stock took a dive after it was announced disgraced CEO Bob Iger extended his contract to 2026. The smart money knows Groomer Bob is not good for business. Wanna good laugh? The Disney sycophants in the corporate media have been portraying these massive...

Box office analyst and YouTuber Valliant Renegade has estimated that the Walt Disney Co. has lost $890 million on the last eight studio releases, including the woke Little Mermaid remake and Elemental, an anti-racism animated film featuring a non-binary character. The films contributing to the losses include “Lightyear,” “Thor: Love and Thunder,” “Strange World,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” “The Little Mermaid,” and “Elemental.” Valliant Renegade said that the eight films cost roughly $2.75 billion but only brought in $1.86 billion. “That can’t go on forever. It’s just simple numbers,...

San Francisco lost a higher percentage of residents during the pandemic between the ages of 25 and 29 than any other population group, followed closely by residents between the ages of 30 and 34, Census data show. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the city’s biggest percentage losses were among the age cohort that makes up the bulk of entry-level jobs — and that is also responsible for starting young families: Newly-released U.S. census data shows that the city’s biggest population losses from 2020 to 2022 came from residents in their late 20s and early 30s. The data shows that...

Target's market capitalization has shed more than $8 billion in the past week as investors weigh the impact of conservative backlash to the retailer's LGBT collection for Pride Month. On May 17, before the controversy exploded, Target shares closed at $160.96, giving the retailer a market valuation of roughly $74.3 billion. On Wednesday the stock closed at $143.10, down 11.1 percent from a week earlier, for a market cap of $66.1 billion, down $8.2 billion from a week earlier. The shares dropped a further 2 percent in early trading on Thursday and sat near a 52-week low. Meanwhile, presidential candidate...

The U.S. Federal Reserve has revealed that 722 banks reported unrealized losses exceeding 50% of their capital at the end of the third quarter of 2022. “Rising interest rates are creating significant unrealized losses in investment securities and in some cases depressing tangible equity,” according to the Fed’s Division of Supervision and Regulation. 722 Banks Reported Unrealized Losses of More Than 50% of Capital The U.S. Federal Reserve has revealed in a board presentation by the Division of Supervision and Regulation that 722 banks reported unrealized losses exceeding 50% of their capital at the end of the third quarter of...

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) political brand is facing a potential setback after a series of disappointing GOP losses in the commonwealth. The latest blow came earlier this week, when Democrat Aaron Rouse flipped a GOP seat in Virginia’s Senate, bringing the Democratic majority to 22-18 in the chamber. Youngkin had thrown his endorsement behind Republican challenger Kevin Adams, who lost the state’s 7th Senate district, previously held by now-Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) by 348 votes. That followed the party’s underwhelming performance in the state during November’s midterms. “He’s yet to be successful in transferring his popularity around the state,”...

Bed Bath & Beyond on Tuesday posted wider quarterly losses than expected as its chief executive acknowledged the struggling retailer’s turnaround plan had not achieved its goals. Days after the company warned of potential bankruptcy, it painted an even more dire picture of its finances. Bed Bath lost $393 million during the fiscal third quarter, it said Tuesday, worse even than the $385.8 million quarterly loss it projected just last week and a 42% increase from year-ago losses. Bed Bath’s net losses have now exceeded $1.12 billion for the first nine months of the fiscal year.

The last time we looked at the massive money-printing (literally) hedge fund that also moonlights as the Swiss National Bank, we were stunned to learn that its US equity holdings had exploded to a record $177 billion at the end of Q1 2022, orders of magnitude more than the mere $27 billion it held as recently as 2014.Since then things haven't gone exactly as planned for the massive asset gatherer, and the value of its US equity longs has tumbled by almost $50 billion from the record high in Q1 to $139.8 billion as of Q3, a two year low......

The stock market opened with losses Wednesday morning as Wall Street waited to find out which party would control the House and Senate next year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened with a loss of roughly 200 points Wednesday, falling 0.7 percent after the opening bell. The S&P 500 index opened 0.9 percent lower, and the Nasdaq composite sunk 1 percent after the opening bell. The opening decline comes as election results from around the U.S. show a remarkably tight battle for control of Congress. Republican lawmakers and candidates expected to ride a “red wave” to a commanding majority in...

All video is from the same location. The first 3 minutes is from a happy couples vacation video shot in January, 2022. Then is some video of three foolish kids playing in the rough surf. The last part is the scene of the devastation the next day. So sad...

Ford Motor on Thursday announced plans to restructure its global supply chain, days after the company said it expects to book an extra $1 billion in unexpected supplier costs during the third quarter. The supply chain restructuring aims to “support efficient and reliable sourcing of components, internal development of key technologies and capabilities, and world-class cost and quality execution,” the automaker said in a release. snip On Monday, Ford said recent negotiations resulted in inflation-related supplier costs running $1 billion higher than previously expected during the third quarter. The announcement, including a pre-release of some earnings expectations, caused Ford’s stock...

National Republican Senatorial Committee funds declined to just $28.4 million by the end of June. (Photo: Manuel Augusto Moreno via Getty Images) Anumber of Republican strategists and consultants are growing increasingly dismayed about millions of dollars vanishing at the National Republican Senatorial Committee — just when the funds are needed most, The Washington Post reported Friday. Cash at the national campaign fund is dwindling as candidates head into the final stretch of Senate races across the U.S.

Auction prices of used trucks are falling almost as quickly as they rose over the last year. That is leaving owner-operators stuck with overpriced equipment they thought they could pay for in a hot spot freight market that is cooling off. “The market is primarily absorbing trucks from fleets no longer retaining all of their older iron as new trucks trickle in and, to an extent, from owner-operators leaving the industry or going to work for a fleet,” said Chris Visser, senior analyst and commercial vehicles product manager for J.D. Power Valuation Services. In its latest Guidelines report, Power said...