ZUCKED UP Mark Zuckerberg halts Facebook stock sale as value PLUMMETS over privacy scandals

Back in September 2017, Zuck promised to flog between 35million and 75million of his Facebook shares over 18 months.

It was part of a promise to give away most of his fortune, which requires converting stocks to hard cash.

Since then, he's sold about 30.4million shares worth roughly $5.6billion (£4.4billion).

But Bloomberg says that the Facebook CEO has stopped selling shares after 2018 saw Facebook's worth plummet.

n just a few days in December, Facebook's stock price slumped by nearly $10billion (£7.4billion) after sealed court documents about the firm were released to the public.

The secret files – which contain emails from billionaire boss Mark Zuckerberg – revealed the inner workings of Facebook, and the company's blatant disregard for user privacy.

And between July and December, Facebook lost around £172billion, as the year saw Zuck's social network become the world's most notorious tech firm.

At the time, it was equivalent to losing the combined value of Netflix (£94.2billion), Twitter (£20.5billion), Snapchat (£5.78billion) and Sony (£49.6billion).

Facebook has also lost £92billion in value since the beginning of 2018.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/8112733/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-stock-selloff/

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http://news.trust.org/item/20190103133455-hiyb7

Google shifted $23 billion to tax haven Bermuda in 2017: filing

Google moved 19.9 billion euros ($22.7 billion) through a Dutch shell company to Bermuda in 2017, as part of an arrangement that allows it to reduce its foreign tax bill, according to documents filed at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce.

The amount channeled through Google Netherlands Holdings BV was around 4 billion euros more than in 2016, the documents, filed on Dec. 21, showed.

“We pay all of the taxes due and comply with the tax laws in every country we operate in around the world,” Google said in a statement.

“Google, like other multinational companies, pays the vast majority of its corporate income tax in its home country, and we have paid a global effective tax rate of 26 percent over the last ten years.”

The subsidiary in the Netherlands is used to shift revenue from royalties earned outside the United States to Google Ireland Holdings, an affiliate based in Bermuda, where companies pay no income tax.

The tax strategy, known as the “Double Irish, Dutch Sandwich”, is legal and allows Alphabet-owned Google (GOOGL.O) to avoid triggering U.S. income taxes or European withholding taxes on the funds, which represent the bulk of its overseas profits.

However, under pressure from the European Union and the United States, Ireland in 2014 decided to phase out the arrangement, ending Google’s tax advantages in 2020.

Google Netherlands Holdings BV paid 3.4 million euros in taxes in the Netherlands in 2017, the documents showed, on a gross profit of 13.6 million euros.

https://archive.fo/yEira

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-google-taxes-netherlands/google-shifted-23-billion-to-tax-haven-bermuda-in-2017-filing-idUSKCN1OX1G9

Big jump in US Catholic dioceses naming names

Over the past four months, Roman Catholic dioceses across the U.S. have released the names of more than 1,000 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children in an unprecedented public reckoning spurred at least in part by a shocking grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania, an Associated Press review has found.

Nearly 50 dioceses and religious orders have publicly identified child-molesting priests in the wake of the Pennsylvania report issued in mid-August, and 55 more have announced plans to do the same over the next few months, the AP found. Together they account for more than half of the nation's 187 dioceses.

The review also found that nearly 20 local, state or federal investigations, either criminal or civil, have been launched since the release of the grand jury findings. Those investigations could lead to more names and more damning accusations, as well as fines against dioceses and court-ordered safety measures.

"People saw what happened in these parishes in Pennsylvania and said, 'That happened in my parish too.' They could see the immediate connection, and they are demanding the same accounting," said Tim Lennon, national president of the board of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

https://archive.fo/lFnXL

https://news.yahoo.com/naming-names-reckoning-underway-us-catholic-church-104146078.html