<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden <a href="https://youtu.be/YdWtvbkSJlY?feature=shared&amp;t=876" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> in a recent podcast interview that he doesn’t think rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, “meant what he said” about Jewish people last year, adding he doesn’t think Ye is “a bad person, it just came across that way.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



When asked about what happened with Adidas and Ye on&nbsp;In Good Company, a podcast from Norges Bank Investment Management, Gulden recognized the artist made some statements that weren’t “that good,” leading Adidas to break the contract.



But Gulden, who was not yet&nbsp;<a href="https://www.adidas-group.com/en/media/news-archive/press-releases/2022/bjorn-gulden-become-ceo-adidas-ag/#:~:text=The%20Supervisory%20Board%20of%20adidas,and%20CEO%20of%20adidas%20AG." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">leading</a>&nbsp;the company at the time of the controversy, also offered praise for Ye, saying he’s “one of the most creative people in the world, both in music and … street culture.”



Gulden called the Yeezy shoe line one of the “most successful collabs” in history; it cost Adidas $440 million in sales in the first quarter of this year alone to discontinue the Yeezy line,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.adidas-group.com/en/media/news-archive/press-releases/2023/adidas-reports-revenues-on-prior-year-level-in-the-first-quarter/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a>&nbsp;to the sportswear company.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Last October, Ye spouted antisemitic comments, conspiracy theories and criticized Black Lives Matter in a number of interviews and public appearances, leading to broken business relationships, his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/10/08/musk-welcomes-kanye-west-back-to-twitter-after-hes-blocked-by-instagram-over-apparent-antisemitic-post/?sh=7ee386ca50da">removal</a>&nbsp;from social media platforms and widespread criticism. At the start of the month, Ye had models at his fashion show in Paris wear “White Lives Matter” shirts, a term that’s associated with a neo-Nazi group. Just days later, he took to X—formerly known as Twitter—to claim he was going to go “death con 3 on Jewish people.” He said it wasn’t antisemitic for him to tweet that because “black people are actually Jew also,” and his account was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/10/09/twitter-deletes-kanye-west-post-about-jewish-people/?sh=f9375e1302f7">locked</a>. Ye also repeatedly made comments that the Anti-Defamation League said use “age-old anti-Semitic myths about Jewish greed and power and control of the entertainment industry.” Ye said he didn’t regret his remarks, but did apologize for the “death con 3” comment on&nbsp;Piers Morgan Uncensored. In November, NBC News&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kanye-west-ye-settlement-anti-semitic-jewish-hitler-nazis-allegations-rcna54485" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;people who previously worked with Ye said he made several pro-Hitler and pro-Nazi remarks as far back as 2018. In addition to Adidas, Gap, Balenciaga, Vogue and JP Morgan Chase all&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kanye-west-companies-cutting-ties-adidas-gap-balenciaga-vogue-tweet-2022-10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">broke ties</a>&nbsp;with the artist. The essential collapse of his business empire caused Ye to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2023/04/05/heres-why-kanye-west-dropped-off-the-forbes-billionaires-list/?sh=369e75cd1866">lose his billionaire status</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



“When you work with third parties that could happen and it’s part of the game,” Gulden said on the podcast. “That can happen with an athlete, it can happen with an entertainer, so it’s part of the business.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



$565 million. That’s how much Adidas made in May when it opted to sell the unsold Yeezy shoes that were left over after the company stopped working with Ye. The sale of Yeezy inventory helped Adidas reduce its projected operating loss for the year from $775 million to $598.56 million, the company&nbsp;<a href="https://www.adidas-group.com/media/filer_public/4d/5f/4d5fbc81-6eee-4e9e-b21d-1f9247d3aff6/adidasag_q22023_pre-announcement_final_en.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuation">FORBES VALUATION</h2>



We estimate Ye’s net <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/kanye-west/?sh=4cef8adb56f1">worth at $400 million</a>—a fraction of his $2 billion estimated net worth last year.

adidas + KANYE WEST New Partnership Announcement

Adidas CEO: Kanye West Didn’t Mean Antisemitic Comments, Isn’t A Bad Person

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Six Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces and dozens more injured during three separate incidents in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, the Palestinian Ministry of Health told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/20/middleeast/israeli-military-palestinians-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CNN</a>—incidents that come during a controversial meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Four people died and over 30 were injured when the Israeli military invaded the Jenin refugee camp Tuesday evening and exchanged fire with Palestinian militants,—Israel claims the Palestinian militants fired first—CNN reported, citing the ministry and an anonymous witness, who said that electricity was knocked out from the camp for some time.



The Israeli Defense Forces said in a statement that troops entered the camp as part of “counterterrorism activity” and claimed that “armed gunmen opened fire” at them before they returned fire.



Meanwhile, on Tuesday afternoon, a Palestinian man was killed and several others were injured when Israeli forces fired across the Gaza border fence at protesters who had been holding regular protests along the border for the past week; the earlier protests had, at times, turned violent, with protesters throwing explosive devices and burning tires as well as occasionally firing guns at Israeli guards.



The IDF said in a statement, “hundreds of rioters gathered in a violent riot adjacent to the security fence in the Gaza Strip…a number of explosive devices were activated by the rioters.”



On Wednesday morning, a Palestinian man was killed by Israeli military who entered the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp in Jericho.



Israeli forces said they were attempting to apprehend 10 wanted suspects when explosive devices were hurled at them and they returned fire.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



The West Bank and the Gaza strip have been under military occupation by Israel since 1967. The West Bank has been embroiled by nearly daily violence throughout 2023, spurred by nightly raids from Israeli forces, putting the region on track for its bloodiest year since 2005. Notably, in July, Israel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/06/19/5-palestinians-die-in-the-conflicts-most-ferocious-fighting-in-years/?sh=5e3671687ab2">struck</a>&nbsp;the refugee camp in Jenin—the same one that saw four people die on Tuesday—with gunfire, armored bulldozers and at least one Apache helicopter, the first time a helicopter gunship had been used in the conflict since the second Palestinian uprising around two decades ago. That fighting lasted 10 hours, killed five and injured 91.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



The violence unfolded while Israel’s leader Netanyahu was visiting Biden and New York during the United Nations General Assembly Wednesday, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-netanyahu-biden-white-house-united-nations-c6dab3cc0357f67b2054446f3c6cdc52" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Associated Press reported</a>. The meeting will be the first between the two since Netanyahu formed his far-right coalition government last year, a buck to tradition as the U.S. has typically invited Israeli leaders to the White House within weeks of them starting their tenure. The delay, as well as the meeting taking place in New York instead of Washington, D.C., is widely seen as a signal of Biden’s displeasure with Netayahu’s new government, which has taken a hardline on the conflict with the Palestinians and attempted to overhaul the country’s judiciary in a way that makes it more favorable to them, according to the AP. Biden opened the meeting by saying they would discuss “some tough issues” including “upholding democratic values that lie at the heart of our partnership, including checks and balances.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/20/middleeast/israeli-military-palestinians-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Six Palestinians killed by Israeli military in three separate incidents over 24 hours</a>&nbsp;(CNN)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/2023/06/19/5-palestinians-die-in-the-conflicts-most-ferocious-fighting-in-years/?sh=5e3671687ab2">5 Palestinians Die In The Conflict’s Most Ferocious Fighting In Years</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/09/19/us-considering-defense-treaty-with-saudi-arabia-that-includes-israel-normalization-report-says/?sh=652d65239e37">U.S. Considering Defense Treaty With Saudi Arabia That Includes Israel Normalization, Report Says</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)

Israeli army bulldozer on duty during the demolition of

Six Palestinians Killed In Three Separate Incidents By Israeli Forces Over 24 Hours

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline"><a href="https://policies.google.com/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"></a>TOPLINE</h2>



A drought in Spain, record-high temperatures and a pause in Turkish exports have driven prices of Spanish olive oil to a record high of $8,900 per ton this month, and there&#8217;s no clear indication as to when they&#8217;ll fall.



Extreme hot weather and persistent drought conditions have dealt a severe blow to olive oil&nbsp;&#8230; [+]ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



&#8220;Extremely dry weather in much of the Mediterranean&#8221; has been blamed for the skyrocketing prices of olive oil—up 130% from last year—by the&nbsp;<a href="https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/oilseeds.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. Department of Agriculture</a>, which warns the only thing that could bring them down in the coming months would be improved growing conditions.



The Catalonia region of Spain&nbsp;<a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2023/08/09/we-have-never-seen-it-so-low-spain-introduces-water-restrictions-as-reservoirs-run-dry#:~:text=Drought%20is%20leaving%20reservoirs%20empty&amp;text=Spain%20registered%20the%20driest%20start,Andalusia%20being%20the%20most%20affected." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">declared</a>&nbsp;a drought emergency in 24 municipalities in August after 30 months of little rain, and the drought has dried up reservoirs, parched olive groves and led to restrictions on water use across the country, per&nbsp;<a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151366/spain-browned-by-drought" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NASA</a>.



The lack of rain has coincided with the nation’s third-hottest summer on record: The Spanish meteorological agency&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aemet.es/en/noticias/2023/09/avance_verano_2023" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">says</a>&nbsp;four heat waves were recorded this summer, temperatures were 2.3°F (1.3°C) higher than normal on average and meteorologists are predicting a warmer-than-normal autumn.



Italy and Greece, which also grow a significant portion of the world’s olives, have also seen hot, dry seasons, with Italy recording&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/08/07/extreme-heat-in-southern-italy-increased-july-death-rate-officials-say/?sh=4ab63d9c2664">temperatures</a>&nbsp;over 40°C (104°F), and Greece, where major tourist attractions&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/07/15/europes-dangerous-heat-wave-greece-closes-acropolis-as-warnings-issued-across-italy-spain-and-germany/?sh=7b774c7e39c0">were closed</a>&nbsp;due to the heat, notching temperatures just as high.



Spain, the world’s largest producer and exporter of olive oil, made 50% less oil in its most recent season, CNBC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/19/olive-oil-prices-surge-over-100percent-leading-to-cooking-oil-thefts.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>, and prices have been further impacted by Turkey&#8217;s decision&nbsp;<a href="https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/oilseeds.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">to suspend</a>&nbsp;bulk oil exports until at least November 1 in a move meant to ensure domestic supplies and alleviate price pressure.



Before this August, the previous record price for olive oil was set at $6,242 per ton in 1996, according to the USDA.



Picture shows healthy olives grown using an irrigation system developed by researchers of the&nbsp;&#8230; [+]AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



610,000 tons. That&#8217;s how much olive oil Spain produced in the recent season, compared to a usual yield of 1.3 to 1.5 million tons.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



The global olive oil market was valued at $14.2 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to $18.4 billion by 2030, Fortune Business Insights&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/olive-oil-market-101455" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">predicts</a>. Spain manufactures almost half of the world&#8217;s olive oil,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.internationaloliveoil.org/the-world-of-olive-oil/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">followed by</a>&nbsp;producers in Italy, Greece, Portugal, Tunisia, Turkey and Morocco. Greeks are the largest olive oil consumer per capita,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aboutoliveoil.org/olive-oil-production-by-country" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to&nbsp;</a>the North American Olive Oil Association, followed by Spain and Italy. Greeks consume about 20 liters of olive oil per person each year, compared to about 1 liter per American. The size of the United States compared to other nations, however—only about 10.6 million people live in Greece compared to 331 million in the U.S.—makes the nation a major consumer: The&nbsp;<a href="https://apps.fas.usda.gov/psdonline/circulars/oilseeds.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">USDA</a>&nbsp;said American imports usually make up about 30% of the global olive oil trade, and that number is expected to rise to between 35% and 37% this year.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



A theft of about 50,000 liters of extra virgin olive oil left one of the nation&#8217;s family-owned mills, Marin Serrano El Lagar, out about $450,000, local news&nbsp;<a href="https://www.elmundo.es/andalucia/2023/08/31/64f0462efc6c8312768b459c.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. No arrests have been made in the theft and a spokesperson for the Civil Guard told&nbsp;El Mundo&nbsp;that stealing in bulk, rather than bottles, makes tracking the oil particularly hard. Just two weeks before that, another 6,000 liters of extra virgin olive oil—$53,500 worth—<a href="https://www.elmundo.es/andalucia/2023/08/23/64e5e1bdfc6c8303668b4591.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">was stolen</a>&nbsp;from the Terraverne oil mill.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



Olive oil isn&#8217;t the only commodity to have seen cost jumps this summer,&nbsp;Business Insider&nbsp;<a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/foodflation-cocoa-surges-12-year-high-orange-juice-hit-record-2023-7?_gl=1*1147odj*_ga*MTgyMjM0ODk0OC4xNjg2NzU2MDU1*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTY5NTIxNjY5My4yNS4xLjE2OTUyMTY4OTIuMjMuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. Cocoa, orange juice, wheat and soybeans all surged this summer as heavy rainfall and disease impacted West Africa&#8217;s cocoa supply, a crop disease hit citrus plants in Florida and Brazil and Russia pulled out of the deal allowing the export of grain from Ukraine. Soybean prices&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/global-grains-idAFL1N38128J" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">also soared</a>&nbsp;this summer after the USDA reported much lower-than-expected soy plantings.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/08/23/india-to-ban-sugar-exports-in-addition-to-rice-as-corn-soybeans-and-more-crops-falter-in-extreme-heat-and-drought/?sh=56d252986d6c">India To Ban Sugar Exports In Addition To Rice—As Corn, Soybeans And More Crops Falter In Extreme Heat And Drought</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/08/21/out-with-shrimp-in-with-jellyfish-seafood-industry-facing-potential-overhaul-due-to-climate-change/?sh=2c38609723bb">Out With Shrimp, In With Jellyfish? Seafood Industry Facing Potential Overhaul Due To Climate Change</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2022/06/26/heres-the-latest-data-on-climate-and-food-and-its-not-good/?sh=1229c7592e52">Here’s The Latest Data On Climate And Food And It’s Not Good</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2022/09/02/us-farmers-struggle-through-drought-to-bring-food-to-the-table-but-face-more-challenges-ahead/?sh=7119cadcfc08">U.S. Farmers Struggle Through Drought To Bring Food To The Table But Face More Challenges Ahead</a> (Forbes)

Oil pump with candle stick graph chart in the background. World Oil Industry

Olive Oil Prices Jump 50%—And Climate Change Might Be Why

Hacker, IT and person with code on computer, programming and phishing scam with malware or virus. Hacking, system glitch and cloud computing error in dark room, cyber crime and cybersecurity fail

How AI Is Supercharging Financial Fraud–And Making It Harder To Spot

OpenSea, once the leading marketplace for non-fungible tokens, was built on a promise of perpetual royalties for digital artists. Then came upstart Blur, whose no-fee, trader-friendly platform put the focus on pricing and costs.



It only took a few months to kill the art world’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/03/17/what-blurs-success-reveals-about-nft-marketplaces/?sh=19e61c2a189f">utopian dream</a> of long-lasting income streams for content creators.



As of September 1, OpenSea, once the leading marketplace for art linked to non fungible tokens, rescinded its policy of mandatory royalty payments to NFT creators. The decision came after it lost its dominance to no-fee competitor Blur, which only appeared on the scene in October but then quickly gobbled up market share by not charging platform processing fees and became the top NFT trading site in February. Overall NFT trading volume has plummeted from about $5.36 billion in January 2022, according to The Block, to $410 million in August. OpenSea’s share of the struggling NFT market has plummeted to under 30%.



Besides the lack of platform fees, Blur does not force sellers to abide by royalty agreements, which creators who launch their works on OpenSea and a few smaller marketplaces can require on transactions in their artworks after the initial sale. OpenSea, which did police such arrangements, said it would no longer do so after August 31, and it seems unlikely that many buyers will offer the payments.



Without the guarantee of a long-term royalty stream, the appeal of creating works linked to NFTs lessens, and prices for the kind of computer-generated art often linked to the tokens are plunging anyway. So why should artists bother with NFTs?



“Making art is an act of risk-taking,” says Amy Whitaker, associate professor of art business at New York University. “It makes sense, therefore, for artists to share in the upside that they helped to create.” She termed OpenSea’s decision to abandon royalties “unfortunate.”



Digital works encoded onto blockchains rose in popularity in 2021 after the artist Beeple sold a collection of images previously published on his Instagram page for $69 million. Seeing the big bucks to be made in a seemingly simple process–just upload a digital file to an NFT marketplace, which would encode it, for a fee, onto a blockchain–hundreds, if not thousands of artists joined in. NFT aficionados, including artists and collectors, claimed that blockchain-linked art would democratize access to a murky and difficult-to-break-in market, making the opaque system of well-connected galleries and deep-pocketed buyers obsolete. The decentralized system for royalty payments, they contended, would also ensure that artists would directly participate in the appreciation of their works, typically earning a 10% cut on each subsequent sale.



Each marketplace maintained its own policy for awarding royalties to artists. Beeple for example, famously would sell his “drops” for $1 each, but as they were bid up and resold on NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway for hundreds of thousands of dollars, he earned tens of thousands in royalties on each transaction.



In its brief life, NFT-linked art has largely been digital, often in series of similar images with various unique features that make some more collectible than others. But anything can be linked to a token–traditional art, real estate, even musical instruments–and then tracked on its associated blockchain. So, the technology could speed transactions and cut out middlemen in many industries.



<abbr>T</abbr>he fight for royalty payments has largely played out in the court of NFT marketplaces, websites that allow creators and sellers to list their pieces in primary and secondary transactions. In order to better compete with Blur, OpenSea launched what it called its operator filter, which allowed creators of NFTs to prohibit their tokens from being sold in marketplaces that did not enforce royalties. In other words, the filter blocked OpenSea’s competitors and required collections to trade either on its own marketplace or others that did enforce royalty payments, keeping them away from Blur.



Market forces did not cooperate with OpenSea’s strategy. Free trades and optional royalty payment policies quickly drew sellers, which in turn attracted buyers. Since prices and volume were controlled by traders, seeking quick, if marginal, returns, voluntarily paying royalties to artists were easily dismissed by them.



OpenSea’s trading volume plummeted to 27% in August as Blur’s skyrocketed from a mere 5% to 60% in the same time frame, according to data from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theblock.co/data/nft-non-fungible-tokens/marketplaces" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Block</a>. Even OpenSea Pro, OpenSea’s no-fee aggregator and direct competitor to Blur which launched in April, has been unable to take market share from Blur, accounting for only 33% of trading volume on NFT aggregators in August (63% of trades happened on Blur), according to data from<a href="https://dune.com/hildobby/nft-aggregators" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;Dune Analytics</a>.



But the playing field is not level for OpenSea. With no marketplace fee, Blur is living mostly on its $11 million in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/04/13/forget-art-lets-trade-how-a-10-person-startup-came-to-dominate-nft-markets/?sh=227ffacc2680">venture capital funding</a>&nbsp;and a&nbsp;<a href="https://docs.blur.foundation/tokenomics" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hefty</a>&nbsp;supply of blur tokens, reward tokens given out to its founding team and traders as rewards for using the platform. While Blur has attempted to grow its customer base with the launch of its lending products (Blend) and more uses for its token, how long its dominance will last will depend on its reliance on its token model, which could make it susceptible to regulatory action.



Ultimately, OpenSea has not only lost market share to Blur, but it is taking a smaller piece of a smaller pie. After peaking at $16 billion in January 2022, NFT trading has plummeted, with only $559 million worth exchanged in August in 3.2 million transactions, a more-than-<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/08/03/stan-lee-becomes-nft-superhero-illustrating-a-downward-shift-in-prices/?sh=6de9fb6d5ae5">60% volume decrease</a>&nbsp;from last year, according to industry research firm&nbsp;<a href="https://dappradar.com/blog/blockchain-industry-regains-traction-as-2-million-unique-active-wallets-interact-daily/#Chapter-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DappRadar</a>. Even then, only 15% of unique active wallets contributed to August’s NFT transactions. In July, only 4% of wallets traded the NFTs.



Few transactions and even fewer users (measured by the number of unique wallets) points to a new normal in NFT trading which is bad news for digital artists: traders rule the market, and most refuse to pay royalties.



Blur’s predecessors, aggregators like X2Y2 and LooksRare which listed NFTs available in various marketplaces, set the standard for royalty-free marketplaces geared toward traders by offering quick no-fee transactions. Others, like Magic Eden, the largest marketplace for NFTs on the Solana blockchain, and Ethereum-based OpenSea, had to respond to draw customers back to their platforms, lowering costs one way or another. Magic Eden took the first step, moving to a royalty-optional model in&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/MagicEden/status/1581101016686399491?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1581101016686399491%7Ctwgr%5E9d190b061a3b95519526e7d4bab1ea7a5ea8bfbb%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.coindesk.com%2Fbusiness%2F2022%2F10%2F15%2Fmagic-eden-moves-to-optional-royalty-model%2F" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">October</a>&nbsp;as trading declined, preceding OpenSea by two weeks.



<abbr>T</abbr>he royalty policy changes at OpenSea and other marketplaces should send a loud wake up call to Bored Ape Yacht Club maker Yuga Labs. Since it debuted in April 2021, Yuga has received $58 million in royalties from the resales of its Bored Ape collection. Its Mutant Ape Yacht Club and “Otherdeed” collection brought in nearly $100 million more. Chiru Labs, which designed the anime-inspired Azuki collection, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mariagraciasantillanalinares/2022/09/13/reddits-ohanian-leads-54-million-doodles-capital-raise/?sh=84266a63bf38">Doodles</a>, purveyor of pastel-forward illustrations are also likely to take big revenue hits.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-top-10-royalty-generating-nft-collections">TOP 10 ROYALTY GENERATING NFT COLLECTIONS</h2>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-through-august-2023-profile-picture-collections-have-received-the-most-in-total-royalties-since-launch-garnering-millions-in-fees-from-secondary-trading-but-when-it-comes-to-effective-royalty-rates-metaverse-and-gaming-nfts-with-rates-of-8-to-9-are-the-winners">Through August 2023, profile picture collections have received the most in total royalties since launch, garnering millions in fees from secondary trading. But when it comes to effective royalty rates, metaverse and gaming NFTs, with rates of 8% to 9%, are the winners.</h4>



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Even prior to OpenSea scrapping royalty payments, 10% royalties were more of a goal than a reality. According to Nansen, the average royalty for the highest earning collections was between 2% and 4%. Top-performing gaming collectibles were earning 5% to 10%.



Though they stand to have the most dollars to lose, some big creators are insulated by the brand recognition they’ve garnered, including shows at traditional&nbsp;<a href="https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en/magazine/article/the-centre-pompidou-in-the-age-of-nfts" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">museums</a>, and can still claim the big bucks on primary sales. Chiru Labs, for example, raised $38 million ahead of its much-anticipated “Elementals,” although investors ultimately thought that collection of characters with&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/wizardofsoho/status/1673772462289350657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1673772462289350657%7Ctwgr%5E1f3046daac6098742355f02bd7c2633d1e660522%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdecrypt.co%2F146464%2Fazuki-nft-prices-plummet-collectors-blast-identical-elementals-art" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">almost identical designs</a>&nbsp;was a flop.



The most dire consequences of the loss of royalties are likely to fall on the smaller creators whose monthly payments have been in the hundreds or low thousands of dollars but who have included the income in their financial planning, according to Calderon.



At the $6.7-million collection Rektguy, the loss of royalties is having tangible results, says co-founder Ovie Faruq. “We&#8217;ve used royalties to pay a moderator, to put-on real-life events, to build different competitions and build our website and community,” he says. “So, when you strip that out, it changes the business model.”



Combined with the evaporating royalties, NFT participants face new U.S. regulatory issues. The Securities and Exchange Commission last month required Los Angeles-based&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/08/31/sec-opens-a-new-can-of-worms-with-nft-enforcement-action/?sh=4aba9c3921ab">Impact Theory</a>, a digital media studio which raised $30 million from its NFT sales since 2021, to revise the smart contract underlying its Founders Keys NFTs to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/admin/2023/33-11226.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">eliminate</a>&nbsp;any royalty payment the company may receive from future secondary market transactions. The SEC alleges the company sold unregistered crypto securities through its sale. Because Impact collects and profits from the royalties (set at 10%), rather than the digital artist, the SEC contends, its NFTs are securities. This week, the SEC also fined the creators of the Stoner Cats collection&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-178" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$1 million</a>&nbsp;over the sale of unregistered securities.



Impact Theory’s NFTs offered a number of exclusive opportunities to holders, including discounts and early access to videos and gaming content. To settle charges that it was selling unregistered securities–the first SEC enforcement action against an NFT issuer–Impact Theory also agreed to destroy its remaining supply of the tokens and pay a $6 million fine.



If the SEC is looking at royalty payments as a potential criterion for treating the tokens like securities, NFT studios, collectors and even the marketplaces they’re traded on could be susceptible to the same kinds of enforcement actions the agency has been taking against cryptocurrency companies. The way the Impact Theory NFTs were structured may have made them especially susceptible.



“There&#8217;s a pretty good argument for the artists receiving royalties downstream, based on certain case law,” says James Walker, co-lead of Perkins and Coie’s fintech enforcement and compliance team referring to the way the entertainment industry compensates musicians, actors and screenwriters, for example. “But there’s a stronger argument [that NFTs are securities] when you have a company [like Impact Theory] that isn’t involved in the creation that is getting royalties downstream from certain NFTs issued.&#8221;

Collage of woman falling through the metaverse

Requiem For Royalties: NFT Exchanges Abandon Recurring Compensation For Artists

Micro-X is developing an automated screening process that could save time and minimize stress, but it’s likely to be expensive.



Inan industrial park near Seattle’s airport, an Australian company called Micro-X is developing a system that could make air travelers’ dreams come true: speedy security screening that promises minimal interaction with TSA officers.



Micro-X is using new technology to redesign airport checkpoints to resemble self-checkout lanes at supermarkets. If it works as planned, Micro-X’s process would not only be faster, it would be less stressful for passengers and Transportation Security Administration employees. Yet, in an environment where TSA often seems to be&nbsp;<a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/5-9-2012-Joint-TSA-Staff-Report-FINAL.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">under fire</a>&nbsp;for some shortcoming —&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelgoldstein/2017/11/09/tsa-misses-70-of-fake-weapons-but-thats-an-improvement/?sh=cfd2ea12a38d">poor performance</a>&nbsp;on tests for detecting weapons, making the experience confusing and unpleasant for travelers, and, especially,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2021-09/OIG-21-69-Sep21.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">its expensive bloat</a>&nbsp;— the new equipment may not satisfy critics. It would be pricey.



Micro-X’s target for the cost of the self-screening system is roughly twice that of the newest type of conventional security lanes, according to Brian Gonzales, Micro-X’s chief scientific officer and head of its U.S. operation. This year, the TSA has already committed to pay up to $1.3 billion for about 1,200 CT scanners to screen carry-on bags. As for the Micro-X system, the hope is the cost would end up being “competitive” on a per-passenger basis, according to John Fortune, who oversees the project as manager of a Department of Homeland Security technology-development program called Screening at Speed.



The company’s design “breaks the mold,” Fortune tells&nbsp;Forbes. “It would really shake up the way a checkpoint is built.”



Here’s how it would work. After getting their IDs checked, travelers enter an area with rows of booths, each big enough for two adults. An avatar on a screen tells them to put their belongings in the cabinet of a<a href="https://micro-x.com/products/miniature-baggage-scanner/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;CT scanner</a>&nbsp;that’s one-quarter the size of anything else on the market. The scanner uses X-rays to create a 3-D image that’s automatically analyzed for prohibited items by software powered by machine-learning algorithms. Meanwhile, a camera system and an electromagnetic body scanner examine the traveler and the avatar prompts them if they’ve forgotten to take something out of their pockets — or seem to be hiding something.



TSA officers would step in only if the system detects a suspicious item or if a traveler needs help.



From 2020 through 2022, DHS committed $4.9 million for Micro-X to develop its concept and deliver initial prototypes. In July, the agency awarded the company a contract extension worth up to $14 million to build six screening booths, with the goal for the first to be delivered for testing within the next 12 to 18 months.



Airport security officials, especially since 9/11, have been navigating a delicate balance, weighing travelers’ convenience with the imperative of keeping them safe. That task only grows harder when more people fly, and more people are flying. Air travel has bounced back from pandemic doldrums, with a record 264 million people passing through airport security checkpoints during the summer travel season —&nbsp;2 million more than in the same period in 2019. If passenger growth rates return to their pre-pandemic trajectory — about 4% annually — that means bigger challenges, Fortune says. “At some point you’re not going to be able to keep up with both the evolving threats, but also the number of travelers that continue to go through the system,” he says.



Micro-X promises its revamped checkpoints would keep foot traffic moving, with passengers able to complete the screening process in an average time of 60 seconds and in as little as 30 seconds. Its design features eight screening booths in the same space as the current single-line lanes. That way, if a passenger dawdles or sets off alarms, other travelers could still flow through the remaining booths.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-faster-future">Faster Future</h2>



DHS’ goal is for the self-service system to be capable of screening 400 passengers per hour per lane, with less than 5% requiring officer intervention. Micro-X thinks it could do better — 500 passengers an hour per lane, Gonzales says. TSA won’t disclose statistics on its current performance, but Gonzales says his understanding is that 500 an hour would be well above the flow of PreCheck lanes, which he says tend to handle 300 an hour at best. A jammed-up standard lane might only process 150 travelers an hour, he says.



The goal is to have seven TSA officers staffing a lane, down from 11 currently, Gonzales says. If the image-analysis algorithms can be made accurate enough, he says it may be possible to reduce that to as few as three officers.



The system would reduce stress for officers. They would spend more time helping passengers rather than conducting often tense pat-downs and bag searches. They could also be freed up to remotely examine images of bags flagged by the detection algorithms.



The process could be particularly helpful at smaller airports with light traffic. A single Micro-X pod could be all the capacity needed.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-take-two">Take Two</h2>



DHS is also funding a project led by a Dutch company, Vanderlande, to develop a self-screening checkpoint with current technology. It’s added a gating system and automated instructions to its<a href="https://www.vanderlande.com/us/systems/security-screening/pax-mx2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;two-lane checkpoint</a>, which uses a conventional CT machine paired with a Rohde &amp; Schwartz<a href="https://www.rohde-schwarz.com/us/products/aerospace-defense-security/security-scanner/rs-qps-quick-personnel-security-scanner_63493-332676.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;body scanner</a>&nbsp;kitted out with a virtual assistant that cues passengers to check their pockets if the scanner picks up anything.



The Vanderlande project is further along than Micro-X’s. DHS tested it this spring and hopes to launch a trial by year-end on the PreCheck lanes at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. It has some features that could speed up the flow of passengers — there are three stations where travelers line up to put their bags on a conveyor — but it doesn’t have the same potential to accelerate the process as the system Micro-X is developing, Fortune says.



Fortune cautions that there’s much about the new technologies that still needs to be proved out.



Micro-X has already commercialized light, mobile medical X-ray machines based on the same technology in its CT scanner. Standard X-ray machines still work pretty much the same as they did when they were first developed around the turn of the 20th century. A filament heats up in a vacuum tube, similar to an old-fashioned light bulb, generating a stream of electrons that create X-rays when they’re rapidly slowed down by a dense metal. Micro-X has perfected technology first developed by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that applies an electric field to carbon nanotubes to generate a current of electrons. The benefits: its X-ray tubes are about a quarter of the size and a tenth the weight of standard ones. It also provides more precise electronic control of timing and dosing, the company says.



The success of the self-screening security project could mean a big future for a small company. Micro-X had sales of $9.7 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30. With a market capitalization of just $35 million on the Australian Securities Exchange, Gonzales says it will need outside investment or partnerships to get the system to market.



The project also depends on Munich-based<a href="https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/news/2021/10/13/news-release-st-awards-funding-design-passenger-self-screening-hardware-system" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;Voxel Radar</a>&nbsp;delivering on its claim that its next-generation millimeter wave body scanner is capable of taking accurate images of travelers while they’re moving in the booth and providing quick feedback about items they’re carrying. Current millimeter wave scanners require travelers to stand still with their arms extended.



Another key will be whether detection algorithms can be created that accurately interpret the images that both types of scanners create.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-computer-vision">Computer Vision</h2>



Image-analysis algorithms are already used with CT scanners to detect explosives in checked luggage. TSA told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;that 75% to 80% of checked bags are cleared without human intervention. But carry-on bags are trickier. They need to be checked for a wider variety of banned items, including guns and knives.



It can be difficult for algorithms to pick up the shape of a gun depending on the orientation, or to recognize if a gun has been broken up into pieces, or those pieces are split among different bags, says Norman Shanks, a baggage screening expert who ran security at London Heathrow in the late 1990s. “I’m not that convinced that we’ve got the image recognition for every prohibited item,” he tells&nbsp;Forbes. “It will come but we’re not there yet.”



While accuracy will need to be high and false-alarm rates low to achieve the reductions in checkpoint staffing that the Micro-X project envisions, it’s not clear that human beings pose stiff competition to detection algorithms. In tests in 2017, DHS investigators were able to smuggle mock weapons and explosives past TSA officers at checkpoints&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tsa-screenings-fail-to-detect-explosives-guns-knives-70-percent/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">at least 70% of the time</a>.



Still, cutting staff poses a risk, according to Shanks. It means fewer officers who might notice if a traveler is acting suspiciously. “Technologists want to talk about technology being the answer for everything, and it isn’t,” he says. Also needed are “the soft skills of behavior detection and observation techniques.”



Another question is whether automated instructions will enable enough passengers to use the new systems without help. Experience has shown that signs and videos are no substitute for a person giving directions, says Jeffrey Price, an aviation security consultant and professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver, who calls it “one of the inside secrets of our industry.”



“You have to tell them what to do every time or else they stand there and get confused,” Price says of air travelers. “Even if they do nothing else other than walk down a corridor, you still have to tell them to walk down the corridor.”



The holy grail of the industry is to boil down the process to just that — do away with checkpoints and have passengers scanned continuously while walking. DHS has been funding research at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to develop technology to make that possible.



Fortune says a prototype for that dream may still be a couple of years away.

Delays And Cancellations Continue To Plague Airline Industry Heading Into Holiday Weekend

Through Airport Security In 30 Seconds? That’s The Goal Of This New Technology

The tech behemoth’s latest iPhone features a new USB-C charging port and titanium frame for its higher-end models.



Apple has unveiled the iPhone 15, with the base models 15 and 15 Plus priced at $799 and $899 respectively, in its most anticipated product event of the year. The higher-end 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max will be priced at $999 and $1,199 respectively.



As usual, the iPhone 15 will come equipped with a better camera and upgraded processing power, but it will also feature a significant change: a USB-C port for charging and data transfers. Apple was forced to do away with its Lightning port in iPhones after the European Union passed a law last year that requires all mobile devices to accommodate a common&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2022/10/26/weve-no-choice-apple-says-iphones-will-switch-over-to-usb-c-chargers-to-comply-with-new-eu-law/?sh=786790cabcde">USB-C&nbsp;</a>charger.



The consumer tech giant also announced two new makes of the Apple Watch: the Apple Watch Series 9, which it said was its first carbon neutral product ever, and the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Sustainability was one of the central themes of the event, where Apple detailed its increased use of recycled materials like cobalt in the battery and energy efficient manufacturing and transportation practices to produce the Apple Watch Series 9. This comes ahead of the company’s goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.



With inconspicuous changes in design and appearance, the screen sizes for the standard iPhone 15 models are the same as before (6.1 inch and 6.7 inch), but the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max have a slightly larger display as their bezels are thinner than previous iPhones, the company announced. The Pro iPhones are built with Grade 5 titanium frames for the first time rather than stainless steel, making them the lightest Pro phones Apple has ever built.



Similar to its predecessor, iPhone 15 has a matte finish, but the edges of the phone are more rounded than before. The regular models are available in pink, yellow, green, blue and black while the Pro models come in black, blue and white titanium. All new phones have the “Dynamic Island,” an interface that was first added to iPhone 14 Pro that lets users see notifications in the black pill-shaped notch at the top of the display.



Apple touted the phone’s upgraded camera capabilities: a 48-megapixel camera sensor is replacing the 12-megapixel and lets users zoom into photos while capturing minute details and nuances. The new Pro phones come with a feature that uses machine learning to detect when a person is in the photo, enabling you to automatically switch to portrait mode even after a photo has been taken.



If you’re on a call using the iPhone 15 Pro, a machine learning-based feature called “voice isolation” prioritizes the speaker’s voice and drowns out background voice. The phones are also enabled with an emergency SOS service and roadside assistance while off the grid.



The pricier models come with a performance edge, thanks to a new A17 chip. All new iPhones are embedded with a new ultrawide-band semiconductor, a technology that uses radio waves to send and receive signals, to make location tracking on the Find My app more accurate.



The ring/mute slide switch, which has never changed since Apple launched the original iPhone in 2007, has been replaced in iPhone 15 Pro models with an “Action Button” that can be customized to set different functionalities like starting a voice recording, launching the camera or opening the flashlight.



For the Apple Watch Series 9 and a second generation of the Apple Watch Ultra , the look and design for the new watches has remained consistent, but their guts have gotten an upgrade, with 30% faster processing speed and brighter screens. The two new Apple Watches are equipped with a feature that lets users double tap their index finger and thumb to carry out actions like accepting or ending a call, and playing or pausing music with just one hand.



Apple’s latest product reveal comes at a crucial time for the company. Demand for smartphones is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-08-06/apple-iphone-15-comes-amid-us-sales-slowdown-tim-cook-q3-earnings-comments-lkzfs14u" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">slowing</a>&nbsp;down across the industry, and Apple’s iPhone sales dropped about 2% year over year in the third quarter of 2023. Core to its business, iPhones, Apple Watches and AirPods accounted for about 60% of Apple’s $394.3 billion annual revenue in 2022.



Although more mainstream, the new iPhone and Apple Watches aren’t the only products that Apple announced this year. In June, alongside new Macs, Apple introduced the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnpaczkowski/2023/06/07/this-is-what-its-like-to-use-apples-new-vision-pro-mixed-reality-headset/?sh=43c3323539e4">Apple Vision Pro</a> mixed-reality headset, its first major new product category since the Apple Watch made waves in 2015. The iPhone 15 lets users create photos and videos that are compatible with the Apple Vision Pro.

Apple Holds Product Unveiling Event

Apple Kills Lightning In iPhone 15 And Announces Carbon Neutral Apple Watches

Packages containing rifle parts hidden inside George Foreman Grills also contained Apple’s dime-sized location tracker, investigators say.



In November last year, Customs and Border Protection intercepted a package en route from Illinois to Israel. It contained a George Foreman Grill — innocuous enough. But when agents X-rayed the item and opened it up, they found rifle barrels wrapped in tinfoil and an Apple AirTag.



When Apple launched the dime-sized location tracking devices in 2021, they were pitched as a cheap piece of tech to help you keep tabs on your belongings, like luggage, keys and wallets. But AirTags and similar devices like Tile have also been put to use by criminals,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/sep/05/i-didnt-want-it-anywhere-near-me-how-the-apple-airtag-became-a-gift-to-stalkers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">most notably stalkers</a>.



Now, CBP inspectors claim to have found evidence of another illicit use for AirTags: helping illegal weapons smugglers keep tabs on their shipments, according to a search warrant for an Apple iCloud account linked to the trackers that was obtained by&nbsp;Forbes.



Drug and gun traffickers have long used GPS trackers to keep tabs on shipments, either in order to ensure they reached their destination, or detect when they go missing. But while older trackers have proven bulky and unreliable, Apple’s AirTag is small, lightweight and efficient.



“Like drug dealers, [weapons traffickers] want to make sure the load didn’t get ripped by police or somebody else,” said Brady Wilkins, a recently-retired investigator in Arizona. “If another group takes it or it gets seized, they can abandon it or know something is not right.”



Apple did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication, but it has been attempting to curtail malicious uses of the AirTag over the last two years. One recent addition is a feature that warns users when an unknown tracking device is detected, via Bluetooth, on their person. “We condemn in the strongest possible terms any malicious use of our products,” the company wrote in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apple.com/uk/newsroom/2022/02/an-update-on-airtag-and-unwanted-tracking/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">press release</a>&nbsp;last year.



According to the warrant, the DHS Homeland Security Investigations unit traced the rifle barrel shipment back to a Palos, Illinois-based man, Amin Betuni. Records the government said it obtained from an unnamed online gun supplier showed Betuni had bought various AR-15 and Glock barrels. Investigators said that CBP intercepted a package containing what appeared to be those same parts, together with the grill and an AirTag, en route to a contact in Jerusalem, Israel. The warrant says the package’s shipping label stated it was sent from “Ameen Betuni” from a vacant lot next to a property owned by the suspect.



Border patrol in Israel, meanwhile, reported intercepting a different package containing gun parts also hidden inside a George Foreman Grill and an AirTag alongside, according to the warrant. That parcel had a return address for Betuni’s residence, the DHS claimed. Israeli officials also seized an additional FedEx shipment containing other gun components that were concealed inside of auto parts, investigators said. An AirTag was discovered in that package too.



Wilkins said that adding a personal property as return address would be a stupid mistake. “Criminals become complacent too,” he added.



In late December, law enforcement raided Betuni’s property, though he was not at home. Investigators suspected, however, they were being watched by security cameras in his home, as only ten minutes after police entered Betuni’s residence, one of his AirTag devices was mysteriously unpaired with his iCloud account, the DHS said.



Betuni was arrested in July and has been accused of shipping illegal Glock switches, which effectively turn a pistol into an automatic weapon, in the U.S. However, he has not yet been charged for sending gun apparatus to Israel or any other nation. In a recent filing, the government asked the court for an extension to the deadline for filing an indictment, as it was continuing to investigate Betuni’s conduct. The request was granted last week.



Others involved in the alleged scheme, but whose identities were unknown to the government, were also using AirTags as part of their operation to “smuggle goods from the United States,” the agent wrote in the warrant. No more information on the wider use of the Apple devices was provided.



The Department of Justice declined to comment on the case. Betuni’s lawyer didn’t respond to requests for comment.



It’s not just criminals who’ve found uses for the AirTag — law enforcement has too, even if it goes against Apple policy to use the tools for surreptitious surveillance. In March, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2023/03/23/apple-airtag-becomes-dea-surveillance-device/?utm_campaign=forbes&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_term=Gordie">Forbes found a warrant detailing the DEA’s use of an AirTag</a>, after it placed one of the devices in a machine agents suspected was being ordered online to manufacture illegal narcotics.

Coronavirus Pandemic 2022 –  iPhone SE

Criminals Are Allegedly Using Apple AirTags To Track Illegal Weapons

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Apple and Nvidia stocks tanked for the second consecutive trading session Thursday, a rare down stretch for the Silicon Valley titans this year fueled by concerns about each of their explosive sales.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Apple shares slipped 3.4% by 2:25 p.m. Eastern time after Bloomberg&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-07/china-plans-to-expand-iphone-ban-to-some-state-backed-firms-in-blow-to-apple?srnd=premium" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;China is considering banning iPhone usage among some government workers and employees at state-owned corporations, casting doubt on Apple’s strength in the country which accounts for roughly a fifth of its sales.



The slide comes a day after Apple shed 3.6% – its 6.9% dip since Tuesday marks the steepest two-day loss for the world’s most valuable company since November.



Nvidia shares also dropped about 3% Thursday, bringing its two-day loss to 5.5% as the S&amp;P 500’s best-performer of 2023 suffered a rare tumble.



The artificial intelligence leader’s stock slump came as a dubious conspiracy theory&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/JesseCohenInv/status/1699307464619876691" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">proliferated&nbsp;</a>on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, suggesting that Nvidia has artificially inflated revenue in its AI segment by lying about its sales to CoreWeave, a Nvidia-backed cloud computing startup&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-08-30/coreweave-said-to-seek-stake-sale-at-up-to-8-billion-valuation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a>&nbsp;valued at about $8 billion.



That theory is “nonsense,” Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon wrote in a Thursday note to clients he “very grudgingly” sent out, encouraging investors to not get “your investment thesis from Twitter randos.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



$250 billion. That’s how much market capitalization Apple and Nvidia shed over the last two days.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Apple and Nvidia are two of the seven tech stocks&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/04/10/these-7-tech-stocks-command-almost-90-of-the-sp-500s-gains-signaling-market-rally-may-not-be-so-healthy/?sh=65e0aafc65d5">accounting for</a>&nbsp;a large majority of major stock indexes’ gains this year, leading to lingering questions about the depth of the strong market (Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Tesla round out the super seven). Both Apple and Nvidia set all-time high share prices this year, but on far different trajectories. Apple rode a steady 42% gain this year, just ahead with the tech-heavy Nasdaq’s 32% rise, thanks to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/05/04/apple-beats-quarterly-profit-sales-estimates-despite-interest-rate-headwinds/?sh=77f139f03637">solid</a>&nbsp;5% and 6% earnings beats during the first and second quarters, respectively, while Nvidia more than tripled in share price due to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/08/23/nvidia-earnings-stock-soars-as-ai-giant-again-smashes-quarterly-expectations/">exploding</a>&nbsp;expectations about its AI business, which grew by 141% just last quarter.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



“The Nasdaq is sinking as one bad Apple spoils a bunch of mega-cap tech stocks,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.marketpulse.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Oanda</a>&nbsp;analyst Edward Moya wrote Thursday. The index is down 2% over the last two days, steeper than the S&amp;P 500’s 1% loss.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/tosv2.html?vid=&amp;uuid=14d8c1fa-4dad-11ee-bf85-ff6800d7a7ae&amp;url=L25ld3MvYXJ0aWNsZXMvMjAyMy0wOS0wNy9jaGluYS1wbGFucy10by1leHBhbmQtaXBob25lLWJhbi10by1zb21lLXN0YXRlLWJhY2tlZC1maXJtcy1pbi1ibG93LXRvLWFwcGxlP3NybmQ9cHJlbWl1bQ==" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BLOOMBERGBloomberg</a>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/08/23/nvidia-earnings-stock-soars-as-ai-giant-again-smashes-quarterly-expectations/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MORE FROM FORBESNvidia Earnings: Stock Soars As AI Giant Again Smashes Quarterly ExpectationsBy&nbsp;Derek Saul</a>



<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/8/8/23824661/coreweave-nvidia-debt-gpu-ai-chips-collateral" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">THE VERGEHow to get your startup a loan with one easy computer part</a>

Apple Ahead Of The IPhone 15 Launch

Apple And Nvidia’s Losses This Week Hit $250 Billion

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



The Food and Drug Administration&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-action-updated-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-better-protect-against-currently-circulating" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gave its approval</a>&nbsp;for emergency use Monday to new updated Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna that are specially designed to protect against the latest dominant strain of the coronavirus, Omicron variant XBB.1.5—the latest effort of drugmakers, regulators and doctors to keep up with the virus’ ever evolving nature.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Anyone 5 or older is eligible to receive a single booster dose of the newly updated vaccines regardless of how many shots they’ve received before, as long as it’s at least 2 months since the last dose they received of any Covid-19 vaccine, the FDA announced.



Children between the ages of six months and four years are eligible to receive one or two doses of the new vaccines if they’ve been vaccinated against Covid-19 before, but if they’ve never received a vaccine, they’re eligible to receive three doses of the new Pfizer-BioNTech shot or two doses of Moderna, the FDA said.



This comes after the new XBB lineage of coronavirus, a group of new variants that emerged in late 2022, became the most common strain.



After the emergence of this new lineage, the FDA encouraged Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Novavax to create new vaccines specialized to defend against it.



These will be the first Covid-19 vaccines that aren’t free and paid for by the U.S. government, with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-health-business-covid-medicare-1a5d65356ebc7b5bc76524ae99deb55e" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pfizer</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/moderna-expects-price-its-covid-vaccine-about-130-us-2023-03-20/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Moderna</a>&nbsp;both estimating their shots will cost between $110 and $130 per dose, though many health insurances plans will cover it and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/bridge/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CDC’s Bridge Program</a>&nbsp;will pay for some uninsured Americans’ vaccines.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Drugmakers have released a number of new iterations after the first Covid-19 vaccines were administered in late 2020. In fall 2021, the first booster shots were authorized by the FDA and were meant to help replenish waning immunity to the virus months after people received their initial doses. Then, after a new variant of the virus called Omicron, which was more resistant to the original vaccines, sparked a vicious new wave of the pandemic, drugmakers released a modified “bivalent” booster shot in fall 2022. That vaccine was designed to protect against both the original virus as well as Omicron. This new booster will attempt to do what that bivalent booster did with Omicron, but with the new XBB strains.



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By signing up, you accept and agree to our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/terms-and-conditions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Service</a>&nbsp;(including the class action waiver and arbitration provisions), and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Privacy Statement</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



Now that the FDA has approved the drugs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/08/25/2023-18288/advisory-committee-on-immunization-practices" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">scheduled to meet</a>&nbsp;on Tuesday to decide whether it will recommend people receive the new booster shots, an additional standard regulatory step that each of the previous iterations of the vaccines have had to complete. People won’t be able to receive the new vaccines until the CDC gives its signoff.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



While Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s new vaccines were approved on Monday, the FDA still hasn’t approved Novavax’s. The company, which was a late entry into the Covid-19 vaccine market, had its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/covid-19-vaccine-comparison#:~:text=Status%3A%20The%20vaccine%20was%20authorized,it%3A%20People%2012%20and%20older." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">first vaccines approved</a>&nbsp;in July 2022. Its vaccines, unlike Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s do not use mRNA technology, but rather are subunit vaccines that use a piece of the virus to invigorate a body’s immune response. The company said in an email Monday its vaccines have already arrived in the U.S. and, despite not being approved alongside Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s, are still awaiting FDA approval. The company reiterated that its vaccines will be widely available across the country, but “timing is ultimately at the discretion of the FDA.” By 2:45 p.m. Eastern Time, Novavax’s stock price had fallen 10% to around $8 a share. Neither Pfizer nor Moderna’s stock moved significantly. Both fell less than 1.5%.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-news-peg">NEWS PEG</h2>



This comes as Covid-19 hospitalizations begin to rise across the U.S. In the week ending August 27, the most recent data available, hospital admissions for Covid-19 were up 15.7%, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#maps_new-admissions-rate-county" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the CDC</a>. That’s 17,418 hospital admissions during that week, and while that is still a far cry from the peak in January 2022, when there were around 150,000 hospitalizations a week, doctors believe it signals that a new wave could be coming in the fall.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



These new vaccines follow doctors’ long held predictions that Covid-19 vaccines will likely become similar to the influenza vaccine, where a new iteration is released annually to keep up with new strains of the virus. At a September 2022 White House briefing, Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the leader of the federal government’s response to the pandemic, said: “We likely are moving towards a path with a vaccination cadence similar to that of the annual influenza vaccine, with annual updated Covid-19 shots matched to the currently circulating strains for most of the population.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/09/01/its-ok-to-get-your-covid-flu-and-rsv-shots-at-the-same-time-experts-say/?sh=7a857a4c3099">It’s Okay To Get Your Covid, Flu And RSV Shots At The Same Time, Experts Say</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/09/06/modernas-updated-covid-vaccine-is-effective-against-pirola-variant-as-concern-over-new-strain-grows/?sh=18b82c3a1a06">Moderna’s Updated Covid Vaccine Is Effective Against Pirola Variant—As Concern Over New Strain Grows</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ariannajohnson/2023/09/06/fda-may-approve-new-covid-boosters-by-friday-as-deaths-spike-report-says/?sh=5bc3a51b54f2">FDA May Approve New Covid Boosters By Friday As Deaths Spike, Report Says</a> (Forbes)<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/willskipworth/"></a>

Injection of the third dose of the covid 19 vaccine at a Covid-19 vaccination center in Dinan, Brittany

FDA Approves New Covid Vaccines To Target Latest Strains

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



The death toll from extreme flooding in Libya over the weekend is estimated to be at least 250 by the Red Crescent of Benghazi, though one of the country’s officials said thousands could be dead from the catastrophic storm,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/11/storm-and-floods-kill-at-least-150-people-in-libya-says-red-crescent.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reports</a><a href="https://apnews.com/article/derna-disaster-zone-libya-storm-daniel-floods-8fac4fe35b962242568ff219456c6870" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;say</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



The Red Crescent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/powerful-storm-rolls-through-eastern-libya-killing-least-three-2023-09-11/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a>&nbsp;Reuters on Monday morning that the flooding caused by Mediterranean storm Daniel killed a confirmed 150 people in Derna, a coastal city in eastern Libya, over the weekend, but the organization expects the death toll to increase to 250.



Ossama Hamad, prime minister of the parliament-supported government in Libya, said in a phone interview with a local television station on Monday that he fears 2,000 are dead in Derna, the city hit the hardest by the floods, and thousands more are missing, the Associated Press&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/derna-disaster-zone-libya-storm-daniel-floods-8fac4fe35b962242568ff219456c6870" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



Water levels in Derna, which was declared a disaster zone, reached as high as 10 feet over the weekend, and the storm also hit the Libyan cities of Benghazi, Susa, Bayda and al-Marj.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Last week, the storm hit parts of Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria, killing at least 15—with two still missing—and causing the “most intense rain storm” in almost a century, Reuters&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/three-more-bodies-found-after-greece-storm-raising-toll-14-2023-09-10/#:~:text=ATHENS%2C%20Sept%2010%20(Reuters),since%20records%20began%20in%201930." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. More than 4,250 people were evacuated from Greece as of early Monday, authorities said, due to rivers overflowing and damaging villages beyond the aftermath of the storm. On Sunday, Bloomberg&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-09-10/greek-premier-to-request-eu-support-for-country-s-flood-damage?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&amp;cmpid=socialflow-twitter-business&amp;utm_content=business&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;that Greece&#8217;s prime minister will meet with the head of the European Commission on Tuesday to ask for support from the EU.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://apnews.com/article/derna-disaster-zone-libya-storm-daniel-floods-8fac4fe35b962242568ff219456c6870" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AP NEWSLibyan prime minister says 2,000 people believed dead in flooding in eastern Libya following storm</a><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/powerful-storm-rolls-through-eastern-libya-killing-least-three-2023-09-11/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">REUTERSStorm and floods kill at least 150 people in Libya-Red Crescent</a>

Death toll in Derna city tops 2,000 after floods hit eastern Libya

Hundreds Dead In Libya After Devastating Floods, But Official Warns It Could Be Thousands

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



At least 2,000 people were killed by a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in Morocco—the country’s deadliest in 60 years—that toppled buildings and caused widespread damage southeast of Marrakesh, officials in Morocco confirmed Saturday night, as the region deals with a magnitude 3.9 aftershock.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



The Royal Moroccan Armed Forces&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/MoroccanArmed/status/1700623019687731643" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">confirmed</a>&nbsp;at least 2,012 people were confirmed dead and 2,059 are believed to be injured—more than 1,400 are critically injured.



The same area hit by Friday’s quake suffered a magnitude 3.9 aftershock on Sunday amid rescue and repair efforts, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000kus7/executive" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">U.S. Geological Survey</a>, but the Associated Press&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/morocco-powerful-earthquake-marrakech-a927c7d286bf6e1047feb1c91ab96fd1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;it isn’t clear if that quake caused more damage or casualties.



Sunday’s aftershock was the second, as the U.S. Geological Survey&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/major-earthquake-strikes-oukaimedene-morocco" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;the first major magnitude 4.9 aftershock 20 minutes after the original shock.



The earthquake’s epicenter occurred in the village of Iguil, near the popular Oukaimeden ski resort where strong earthquakes are “uncommon but not unexpected,” and around 50 miles from Marrakesh,&nbsp;<a href="https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000kufc/executive" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according</a>&nbsp;to the U.S. Geological Survey; earthquakes of this magnitude are more common near the northern part of Morocco.



The High Atlas Mountains, which are not densely populated, have experienced earthquakes in the past but the region has not seen an earthquake the size of the Friday’s since at least 1900, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



300,000. That’s how many people the World Health Organization&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/WHOEMRO/status/1700424387587883372" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">estimates</a>&nbsp;were impacted by Friday night’s quake. The organization added its teams are “on standby” to provide support and “ensure health services are quickly delivered where needed, including for trauma care.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



The Moroccan army has been conducting search and rescue missions since the quake, and officials are working to provide food, water and shelter to those who were impacted, but the Associated Press&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/morocco-powerful-earthquake-marrakech-a927c7d286bf6e1047feb1c91ab96fd1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;some Moroccans were complaining on social networks that the government wasn’t providing as much help as it could. Shortly after the quake, President Joe Biden released a&nbsp;<a href="https://eg.usembassy.gov/statement-from-president-joe-biden-on-the-earthquake-in-morocco/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>&nbsp;saying the administration had been in contact with Moroccan officials and that they are “working expeditiously to ensure American citizens in Morocco are safe, and stand ready to provide any necessary assistance for the Moroccan people.” So far, Spain has sent resources to Morocco, and France has offered assistance in search and rescue teams, NBC News&nbsp;<a href="http://nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/morocco-earthquake-live-updates-rcna104254" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



The deadly earthquake in Morocco was likely the result of oblique reverse faulting, and as more information is available the U.S. Geological Survey expects it will be able to determine the causative fault.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/morocco-earthquake-live-updates-rcna104254" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NBC NEWSMorocco earthquake live updates: More than 2,000 dead</a><a href="https://apnews.com/article/morocco-powerful-earthquake-marrakech-a927c7d286bf6e1047feb1c91ab96fd1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AP NEWSA magnitude 3.9 aftershock rattles Morocco as rescuers seek survivors in ancient cities and towns</a><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/09/09/at-least-1300-dead-from-morocco-earthquake/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MORE FROM FORBESAt Least 1,300 Dead From Morocco Earthquake (Updated)By Brian Bushard</a><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/09/09/photos-moroccos-devastating-earthquake-its-biggest-in-120-years/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MORE FROM FORBESPhotos: Morocco&#8217;s Devastating Earthquake, It&#8217;s Biggest In 120 YearsBy Brian Bushard</a>

Aftermath Of Earthquake In Marrakech

Morocco Earthquake Death Toll Rises To 2,000 As Aftershocks Hit Same Areas

Apple Store in Shanghai, China

Inside Apple’s Impossible War On Child Exploitation

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Google plans to require verified election advertisers to make “clear and conspicuous” disclosures when their advertisements contain AI-generated content, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/13755910?hl=en&amp;ref_topic=29265" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a>&nbsp;from the tech giant, which will institute the changes as artificial intelligence becomes more commonplace in the leadup to the 2024 presidential election.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



The update to Google’s political content policy will arrive in mid-November and will require disclosures to be placed in clear locations on images and videos.



Audio content is included in the disclosure requirements, though AI generated content “inconsequential to the claims made in the ad,” such as color corrections, image resizing and cropping, are exempt.



Videos uploaded to YouTube that aren’t paid advertising are also exempt, even if the content is uploaded by political campaigns.



Election advertisers who want to run election ads through Google are already required to go through a&nbsp;<a href="https://support.google.com/adspolicy/troubleshooter/9973345" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">verification process</a>&nbsp;requiring basic information from applicants.



A mix of human and tech tools will be used to enforce the disclosure requirements.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Google is one of several tech companies that has faced scrutiny over its handling of misinformation. YouTube, which was acquired by Google in 2006, faced backlash after announcing this year it would&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/youtube-will-stop-removing-false-claims-2020-election-fraud-rcna87503" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stop taking down content</a>&nbsp;containing false claims about the 2020 presidential election—when former President Donald Trump baselessly claimed voter fraud was rampant in an election he still considers rigged. YouTube said in a blog post it made the decision to protect its “community” and provide “a home for open discussion and debate.” The company was also criticized in 2020 for slowly removing or labeling videos with election misinformation.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



X, formerly known as Twitter, does not have specific guidelines for AI-generated ad content. Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, does not have similar policies either, though it does have a ban against “<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2020/01/enforcing-against-manipulated-media/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">manipulated media</a>” such as deepfakes—videos that typically use digital alterations to copy someone&#8217;s likeness and convey false information.



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By signing up, you accept and agree to our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/terms-and-conditions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Service</a>&nbsp;(including the class action waiver and arbitration provisions), and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Privacy Statement</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/youtube-will-stop-removing-false-claims-2020-election-fraud-rcna87503" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">YouTube will stop removing false claims about 2020 election fraud</a>&nbsp;(NBC News)



<a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/06/google-ai-election-ads-disclosure" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google to require disclosure for AI in election ads</a> (Axios)

In this photo illustration, a woman holds a smartphone with

Google Will Require Advertisers To Add Disclosures For AI-Generated Election Ads

Alessandro Rosano’s contrarian playbook for the comfort-footwear company: no financing and minimal marketing. It worked so well he sold to Crocs for $2.5 billion.



Two years ago, Brown’s Shoe Fit Co.’s desperation to stock enough HeyDude shoes to meet the demand reached frenzied levels. The buyers for the 73-store Midwestern chain would get a status report in the morning and try to place a large order. “We would get one-fourth or one-half of what we put in for,” says Adam Smith, senior manager for Brown’s and a former store manager in Jacksonville, Illinois. “The whole nation was trying to get them.”



HeyDude founder Alessandro Rosano, an Italian entrepreneur living in Hong Kong, had tried his hand at other businesses before. But with HeyDude, which makes comfortable slip-on loafers with a so-ugly-they’re-cute look, he hit the jackpot. With minimal investment and almost no marketing, revenue took off, reaching $581 million in 2021, with net profit of $175 million. That December, Rosano agreed to sell the brand to Crocs, the $6.2 billion (market cap) firm whose own ugly-cute rubber clogs are a worldwide phenomenon, for $2.5 billion in cash and stock.



With that deal, Rosano became a billionaire, worth $1.4 billion by&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;estimates. His business partner and American distributor Daniele Guidi also made a fortune, worth some $650 million after tax by&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;estimates, after bringing in $787 million in cash from the deal, according to regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.



Rosano declined to speak with Forbes, and Guidi didn’t respond to requests for comment. But what the two men were able to build, largely under the radar, is an unlikely success. It stands in stark contrast to many of the direct-to-consumer brands that received lavish amounts of funding and attention from social media during the boom years while failing to become viable businesses. Comfort shoe maker Allbirds, once the darling of Silicon Valley, for example, has seen its market cap collapse from a peak of more than $4 billion after its 2021 initial public offering to just $199 million today as annual sales failed to top $300 million and losses piled up.



Now Rosano, a strategic advisor to the brand under Crocs following the acquisition, has set up a family office to invest his money and work on philanthropy. Crocs is using the brand, which reached $1.1 billion in sales in the latest 12-month period, to add spice to its broader business.



Comfort shoes are having a moment. Crocs, with total sales of $3.6 billion in 2022, has said it hopes to reach $5 billion in sales for its flagship brand by 2026. HeyDude looks poised to help the company soar past that. In 2022, HeyDude was the single fastest growing brand at retail, according to consumer research firm Circana (formerly NPD).



“When we first bought it, we wanted to be clear to people that this was a scale business,” Crocs CEO Andrew Rees tells&nbsp;Forbes. “They hadn’t heard of it, and didn’t know what it was. We put out the $1 billion target, which we knew we could blow past, and we’ve gotten to that easily.”



Rosano, who is in his mid-50s, was a shoe dude long before he came up with HeyDude. He grew up in Tuscany, and studied at Commercio Estero, Pistoia, from 1982 to 1987, though he never received a university degree, according to his LinkedIn profile. Pistoia, a medieval Italian city that’s popular with tourists, is less than 30 miles from Florence, home to Ferragamo and Gucci, in a region known for luxury goods and footwear.



Rosano, who started designing shoes at age 18, had tried other businesses before HeyDude, and had a shoe distributor called Fratelli Diversi. On his LinkedIn profile, where he has just 164 connections, he describes his approach to that company as “acting in a fair and reasonable way, to the people and the environment. Charity acts are also a duty.”



Rosano cofounded a company with Guidi and a third person to make wooden watches called WeWood. Wooden watches are a tough business, and the company was subject to unfair competition litigation in 2011 from a now-defunct watchmaker called Vestal International. Rosano also came up with an idea for wooden clogs with springs in their heels that sold under the name Baldo. None of his early businesses found notable success.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
“If you were to lay out the playbook that they followed and present it to a series of business executives, they would say there’s no way that this would succeed.”Crocs CEO Andrew Rees
</blockquote>



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



He’d been working in these various businesses for more than 20 years when he founded HeyDude in 2008. In a&nbsp;<a href="https://fotoshoemagazine.com/hey-dude-comfort-has-an-iconic-style/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2020 interview with Fotoshoe magazine</a>, an Italian industry publication, Rosano’s sister Elena De Martini, who was then CEO of Fratelli Diversi, described how Rosano returned from a trip to China and realized that a modern shoe that was as comfortable as a slipper didn’t exist — and decided to create one.



The shoes Rosano developed, starting with the Wally for men, were lightweight, with elastic laces that didn’t require fastening, and affordable, at around $60 a pair. “The result is perfectly constructed footwear, which is innovative, ultra-light and casual, but with style,” De Martini told&nbsp;Fotoshoe.&nbsp;The shoes were designed in Italy, but the business was headquartered in Hong Kong, where Rosano lives, with production at contract factories in China.



Rosano “is a student,” Crocs CEO Rees says. “He’s a serial entrepreneur. He had a number of entrepreneurial businesses before this that had not been successful. He was looking to improve his chances of success and he admired [Crocs’] focus on simplicity and comfort.”



Though many Italian shoemakers create beautiful shoes for Europeans, Rosano was going for something more mainstream. Not wanting to name the brand after himself as many Italian shoe entrepreneurs would, he came up with HeyDude for its laid-back California vibe, says Rick Blackshaw, who became president of the brand under Crocs. “But all his friends in Italy would call it ‘ey du-day,’” Blackshaw says.



In 2010, Guidi, who has a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Pisa and runs a consulting and marketing firm called Lever Your Business, joined Rosano to open U.S. operations. The shoes took off, and HeyDude added a woman’s model known as the Wendy, a water shoe and a variety of eco-friendly designs. The shoes were prototypically American looking, easy to wear — and looked like nothing else on the market. Almost all the sales came from the U.S. market, rather than from Europe.



HeyDude sales soared from $20 million in 2018 to&nbsp;<a href="https://s22.q4cdn.com/133460125/files/doc_presentations/2022/01/10/ICR-Presentation-vF.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$191 million in 2020,</a>&nbsp;according to financials that Crocs shared with investors at the 2022 ICR conference. During the pandemic, as consumers stayed home wearing yoga pants and comfort shoes, the brand fit right in. Its success came despite having no marketing to speak of other than paid search and a commission-based sales team. “It was built on a shoestring,” says Crocs’ Rees.



The brand took off by word of mouth. “In many senses, it’s a pretty remarkable story,” Rees says. “If you were to lay out the playbook that they followed and present it to a set of business executives, they would say there’s no way that this would succeed.”



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With comfort shoes having a moment, the brand’s sales soared from $20 million in 2018 to $581 million in 2021.
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Footwear analysts and industry watchers were blindsided. “It kind of caught a lot of the industry players by surprise,” says Beth Goldstein, a footwear analyst at Circana. “This brand came up and was all of a sudden having these huge growth rates and buzz. It piqued everyone’s interest.”



Brown’s became one of the earliest larger retailers to stock it after its Muskogee, Oklahoma store manager learned about the brand at a 2012 trade show in Las Vegas. The Buckle, a Kearney, Nebraska-based retail chain with 440 stores, also began carrying HeyDude before the shoe company’s major expansion, in 2019.



“We were known as the top HeyDude retailer,” says Brown’s Smith. “In the pandemic, we didn’t know if we could get products, so we were ordering them by the pallet.” With customers sometimes buying five pairs at a time, however much Brown’s could get its hands on sold out fast. Facebook groups sprung up where people could compare notes, and buy, sell and trade their shoes.



“It was limited quantity and a lot of fun styles and colors, and the price was right,” Smith says. “The customer wanted them so bad it almost didn’t matter what the color was. It was crazy, that’s probably the best way to put it.”



Two days before Christmas 2021, Crocs agreed to buy HeyDude for $2.5 billion, most of it in cash and a smaller amount in stock. Wall Street was not impressed. The shoes that were selling out in the Midwest were scarce on the coasts, where many of the analysts and investors live, and the shoes lacked the cache of hot new sneaker brands like Hoka and On.



“To be honest, when they announced the acquisition, I had never heard of the brand,” says Tom Nikic, a Wedbush analyst, who follows Crocs and has been covering the footwear industry for more than a decade. “It was very much a shock to the system. I think those of us in the New York, Wall Street bubble, we didn’t realize what was happening with the brand.”



Rosano had clearly timed the market well, putting the brand up for sale as it was growing fast and demand for comfort shoes was at a high. Allbirds had gone public in November 2021 gaining a $4.1 billion valuation, making it worth 15 times its sales for that year despite being in the red. By contrast, HeyDude, which was already profitable on higher sales, seemed like a bargain. Crocs CEO Rees says that he’d been following HeyDude for a few years by the time he learned it was on the market and figured it wouldn’t be too difficult to turn it into a $1 billion brand under the Crocs umbrella.



“It was a tightly managed sale process,” Rees says. “They were trying to sell to private equity at that point. We got introduced to the founder and managed to get ourselves inserted into the sales process. At that point, we also started to learn about the compelling financials. It wasn’t completely obvious because they were private, and because they weren’t selling in the traditional channels it wasn’t showing up in the typical data sets.”



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Rosano had a number of businesses before HeyDude, including a wooden watch startup and a brand of clogs with springs in their heels. None found notable success.
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With Covid restrictions in place, Rees and Rosano couldn’t meet in person. But Rees figured he didn’t need to meet the HeyDude management team since he planned to replace them. He saw similarities with Crocs: both were polarizing brands that a lot of consumers loved. “I think we got a pretty good deal,” he says. “We weren’t daunted by the large-dollar price tag.”



HeyDude’s strategy of focusing on one style of comfort shoe at a mass-market price was a playbook familiar to Crocs. “Alessandro was really clear that he had modeled a lot of his company on Crocs,” Rees says. “He had been studying Crocs and taking our strategies and incorporating them.”



Crocs also knew what Wall Street didn’t at first: Rosano, helped by Guidi’s U.S. distribution, had built a significant and profitable brand with minimal investment. Though those who know him say that Rosano had been strategic in how he’d built the brand, from the outside it appeared to have burst onto the scene almost by chance.



“We’ve become somewhat acclimated to these newer upstart brands being unprofitable and burning through cash,” analyst Nikic says. “This isn’t Allbirds. This isn’t a money-losing, cash-burning business. It’s actually a very highly profitable company.” Nikic compares the brand’s fast growth to Crocs itself, as well as to Ugg, which built its business on one style of comfort boots.



Since acquiring HeyDude, Crocs has hired Blackshaw, who previously ran Sperry and Keds, as its new brand president. It’s introduced new styles, including sneakers, and is setting up collaborations to give it more buzz. It’s also rejiggering its distribution, expanding to major retailers like Shoe Carnival, Famous Footwear and Academy Sports, and building a new distribution center in Las Vegas to handle its expansion.



The acquisition hasn’t been without a few snags. In the second quarter, HeyDude took a hit — with modest 3% growth as its wholesale revenue dropped 8% year-over-year — and Crocs cut its guidance for the brand for the year from mid-20% growth to between 14% and 18%. One problem: as Crocs cut smaller distributors set up by Rosano and Guidi before the acquisition, some dumped their inventory at lowball prices on Amazon. Wedbush analyst Nikic figures that the problems with gray-market goods should wind down in the coming months once the legacy distributors’ inventory is gone. In its earnings call, Crocs pointed to HeyDude’s 30% increase in direct-to-consumer revenues as a sign of the brand’s strength while it dealt with the “pipeline fill” issues in the wholesale channel. Crocs shares are down 19%, at a recent $100, since the deal was announced.



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Crocs hopes to make HeyDude as ubiquitous as its original ugly-cute rubber clogs, helped by new distribution and marketing muscle.
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Marketing muscle and collaborations helped Crocs push its flagship brand, and it intends to do the same with HeyDude. Blackshaw says that the company will “overinvest,” noting it could spend up to 8% of total sales on marketing. Part of the plan: connect with consumers on TikTok and Meta, helped by partnerships with influencers and athletes. A collaboration with hunting brand Mossy Oak launched in June, another with YouTube sports and comedy group Dude Perfect (whose channel has 60 million subscribers) followed in August and a college licensing deal is in the works for this fall. The company has plans for more collaborations, including with&nbsp;Yellowstone,&nbsp;The Big Lebowski, a major beer brand and some toy brands. “It’s a lot of the same playbook that Crocs brought to bear,” Blackshaw says.



Whether the brand will take off on the coasts as it has in the middle of the country remains to be seen. Another risk for HeyDude as it expands is oversaturation. As analyst Goldstein notes, Crocs will need to strike the right balance between growth and introducing new styles that risk cannibalizing its core business. “They almost invented a category,” she says. As the brand expands into other types of shoes, “they need to make their proposition clear,” she says. “Why is a HeyDude sneaker better than anyone else’s casual sneaker?”



Meanwhile, Rosano has his fortune to invest and give away. While venture-backed startups stumble, HeyDude harkens back to an older way of building a company on a smart idea and a shoestring. Perhaps, like comfort shoes, it’s time for that to come back into style.

Author: Forbes

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