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Inflatable angry emoji looms over Facebook annual meeting as users vent frustrations
MENLO PARK, Calif./BOSTON (Reuters) - Protesters carrying an inflatable angry emoji greeted Facebook Inc shareholders as they gathered for the company’s annual meeting on Thursday, the latest sign of its struggle to shake off privacy scandals and rein in fake news and hate speech.
The social media giant again faced demands for reform at Thursday’s meeting, including shareholder proposals that called for revamping the company’s voting structure and ousting Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg as chairman.
The measures had little chance of succeeding, as a dual class share structure gives Zuckerberg and other insiders control of about 58% of the votes. Many investors have shrugged off the scandals swirling around the company, as it has beaten Wall Street’s estimates for revenue growth and continues to add users globally.
Zuckerberg declined to answer a shareholder question on why he would not agree to create an independent board chair, instead restating his view that regulators should set the rules for companies around privacy and content.
But even though the votes are largely symbolic, they are still seen as a useful barometer of investor sentiment about how well the social media icon is coping with unprecedented challenges to its hands-off approach to content.
Last year, about 83% of shares held by outside investors voted for a proposal that would have the company move to a structure of one vote per share and do away with the supermajority shares.
A coalition of activist groups have urged big investors to reject Zuckerberg’s nomination to the board this year, saying Facebook has failed to protect users, especially racial and religious minorities.
Outside the hotel, a small group of protesters filmed themselves hoisting the 8-foot (2.5-meter) red emoji balloon, saying the company failed to protect its users, particularly minorities, from hate speech and other abuses.
“Zuckerberg has said that he wants to protect people from white supremacy but there’s still a ton of white supremacists organizing on Facebook,” said Leila Deen, program director for SumOfUs, the group in the coalition responsible for the balloon.
Nearby, an opposing protester in a red hat stamped with “Make America Great Again,” a slogan of U.S. President Donald Trump, used a loudspeaker to accuse Facebook of censoring conservatives.
The coalition, led by consumer group Majority Action and civil rights advocate Color of Change, said they had gathered 125,000 signatures on a petition targeting BlackRock Inc, one of Facebook’s biggest outside investors.
BlackRock’s funds backed all of Facebook’s director nominees last year, but also voted for two shareholder proposals that would have reorganized Facebook’s governance structure.
It declined to comment on the petition, with a spokesman saying it did not preview votes or comment on specific companies.
Other shareholders in the meeting said the company created a “hostile work environment” for people with conservative views and pressed for a diversity report reflecting its public policy positions.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-shareholders/inflatable-angry-emoji-looms-over-facebook-annual-meeting-as-users-vent-frustrations-idUSKCN1T017G
kek
Y are (you) worried about it
US Futures drop,Nikkei tumbles to 3-month low as car-makers plunge on Trump's Mexico tariff
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Auto sector second worst performer on the board
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Japan Display soars on news it will get financial aid
S.Korea's state pension fund to raise overseas investment to 50% by 2024
perhaps this yet another outcome of the meetings over the weekend.
SEOUL, May 25 (Reuters) - South Korea’s National Pension Service (NPS), the world’s third-largest pension fund, said on Thursday it will raise overseas investment to about 40 percent of assets by 2022, as it continues to diversify investment to minimise risk.
The NPS, which had 564 trillion won ($504.34 billion) under management as of February, had 27 percent of assets invested overseas as at the end of 2016.
https://www.reuters.com/article/southkorea-pensions-idUSL4N1IR1LC
Ex-China central bank chief says progress at Xi-Trump Japan meet 'difficult'
BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump are likely to find it “difficult” to make major progress toward ending their countries’ trade war when they meet at a G20 summit in Japan in June, a former Chinese central bank chief said on Friday.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-china-talks/ex-china-central-bank-chief-says-progress-at-xi-trump-japan-meet-difficult-idUSKCN1T107K
TOKYO, May 31 (Reuters) - Japan’s Nikkei tumbled to a more than three-month low, led by a plunge in carmakers after U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States would impose a new tariff on all imports from Mexico next month until illegal immigration is stopped.
The Nikkei share average fell 0.7% to 20,795.63 in midmorning trade, after sinking to as low as 20,672.29 earlier in the session, the lowest since mid-February.
The transport equipment sector tumbled 2.4% and was the second worst sectoral performer on the board. Mazda Motor Corp dived 6.4%, Toyota Motor Co shed 2.3%, Nissan Motor Co plunged 3.1% and Honda Motor Co declined 3.2%.
Trump said on Thursday the U.S. will impose a 5% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico starting on June 10 until illegal immigration across the southern border is stopped.
“The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, at which time the Tariffs will be removed,” Trump said on Twitter.
In a statement issued by the White House, Trump said the tariff would increase to 10% on July 1, 15% on Aug. 1, 20% on Sept. 1 and to 25% on Oct. 1.
“It doesn’t look like there are prospects of resolving the immigration issue by the deadline. Although the specific impact on the Japanese auto industry is unclear at this point, investors are growing increasingly worried about a negative effect on auto sales,” said Yoshinori Shigemi, a global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management.
“The immigration issue itself is contained between the U.S. and Mexico, but Trump’s latest move reminded investors about his hardline stance on trade issues so the market is cautious about a trade deal between the U.S. and Japan as well.”
Trump had indicated during his Japan trip this week that there will be trade announcements between the two sides “probably in August,” and that the trade gap between the two countries could be “straightened out rapidly.”
Bucking the weak trend, Japan Display Inc jumped as much as 36% after news it secured a financial aid from a Chinese-Taiwanese consortium in June.
Ono Pharmaceutical soared 3.9% after the company said it will buy back up to 2.92% of its own shares, worth up to 30 billion yen.
moar buybacks are always the answer-not.
The broader Topix index was weaker with all but two of its 33 subsectors in the red.
https://www.reuters.com/article/japan-stocks-midday/nikkei-tumbles-to-3-month-low-as-carmakers-plunge-on-trumps-mexico-tariff-idUSL4N2370RH
https://www.cnbc.com/asia-markets/
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/futures
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