Ticketmaster is facing major backlash after its system malfunctioned during the ticket pre-sale for Taylor Swift’s “The Eras” tour. Ticketmaster left fans waiting for hours on its site, with many walking away empty handed. (Julian Mark, The Washington Post). Consequently, Ticketmaster cancelled public ticket sales, resulting in thousands of overpriced tickets on the secondary market. Id. The company may have purposefully not safeguarded its site for financial gain, raising major antitrust concerns. (Eleanor Tyler, Bloomberg). Numerous claims regarding this issue have settled in arbitration…
Read MoreThe age-old saying “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” may not be true in the case of Google, which has become synonymous with internet searching and technology, and subsequently garnered increasing attention from regulators across the globe. On January 24, 2023, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) filed a second antitrust lawsuit in the Eastern District of Virginia regarding Google’s role in digital advertising. (Department of Justice). The case is particularly noteworthy because it is the first U.S. lawsuit that calls for the divestiture of Google’s dominant ad tech business and seeks monetary damages for harms to the federal government…
Read MoreOnce valued at $32 billion, crypto exchange FTX Trading Ltd. (“FTX”) shocked the world as it collapsed and filed for bankruptcy at the end of 2022. (Max Zahn, ABC News). An article by CoinDesk initially triggered the crypto exchange fall when it reported that FTX and Alameda Research—a crypto trading firm founded by FTX founder, Sam Bankman-Fried—shared excessively close relationships and blurred finances. (Ian Allison, CoinDesk). Following the report, concerned investors requested withdrawals from the exchange, which caused the value of FTT—FTX’s native token—to nosedive…
Read MoreAfter a three-year legal battle, Instacart withdrew its appeal to the California Supreme Court, a decision that would potentially resolve the issue of employment classification for gig economy workers in California. (Cutler, Bloomberg Law). The gig economy is defined as economic activity that involves the use of temporary or freelance workers to perform jobs typically in the service sector, which has seen enormous growth over the last decade. (Merriam-Webster). The City of San Diego sued the grocery delivery service (via parent company Maplebear Inc.), alleging violations of the California labor code and unfair business practices through the misclassification of its workers as independent contractors instead of employees…
Read MoreEnvironmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) Retirement Investing is a form of socially conscious investing where fiduciaries in a retirement plan review non-financial factors when analyzing investment decisions. (CFA Institute). Though the letters “ESG” may appear novel in the retirement context, “socially conscious” retirement investing is decades old. As early as the 1970s, public pension funds made socially conscious decisions within pension portfolios by divesting from “sin” stocks, like companies affiliated with smoking and gambling. (Jean-Pierre Aubry et. al, Center for Retirement Research). Millennials, the largest segment of the workforce in U.S. history, are now driving interest in ESG investing, putting trillions of dollars at stake for asset managers. (Chris Versage & Mark Abssy, Nasdaq). Workforce retirement plans are most of a non-retiree’s investment savings. (Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households, Federal Reserve). Therefore, because millennials are the largest segment of the work force, millennials increased attention in ESG to retirement investing…
Read MoreIn October of this year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) fined Kim Kardashian $1.26 million for touting a cryptocurrency on her Instagram account. (Clara Hudson, Bloomberg). Ms. Kardashian posted an advertisement for EthereumMax, a crypto asset security, and failed to disclose that she was paid $250,000 for the post. Id. The SEC also recently adopted significant changes to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (“Advisers Act”) to improve the regulation of financial securities advertising. (Ellen Kaye Fleishhacker et al., Arnold & Porter). The SEC replaced the outdated framework with the “Marketing Rule” to expand the definition of advertising, increase current disclosure requirements, and provide investment advisers with more flexibility. (Michael S. Caccese et al., K&L Gates). The Kim Kardashian case and the Marketing Rule highlight the SEC’s priority of public disclosure while acknowledging investment advisers’ need for flexibility and access to online marketing channels…
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