Trump purges Democrats from US Federal Trade Commission
The only two Democrats on the US Federal Trade Commission have been fired by President Donald Trump, the White House said, opening the door for the Republican to appoint loyalists at the independent regulatory agency. .The FTC”s primary function is to protect the US public against deceptive or unfair business practices..Speaking on condition of anonymity, a White House official confirmed that FTC commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter were dismissed..The FTC consists of five commissioners, typically representing both major political parties..”The president just illegally fired me,” Bedoya wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “This is corruption plain and simple.”.Bedoya vowed in an X post to “see the president in court” over the dismissal..Layoffs of federal workers have been rampant since Trump took office in January and established a “Department of Government Efficiency” headed by billionaire Elon Musk, a senior advisor and key financial backer of the Republican”s campaign..”The FTC is an independent agency founded 111 years ago to fight fraudsters and monopolists,” Bedoya said in a post. “Now, the president wants the FTC to be a lapdog for his golfing buddies.”.Under Trump and former president Joe Biden, the FTC has taken on Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook parent Meta over how they wield market power..In an interview with Fox Business in February, newly appointed FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson confirmed that ongoing cases against Amazon and Meta would proceed, emphasizing his commitment to “holding Big Tech”s feet to the fire.”.Questions have lingered, however, on whether the Trump presidency will continue with the cases, given an apparent alignment between tech billionaires and the Republican since he won last year”s election..Since that victory, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made major changes at his company to bring it in line with Trump”s preferences. He has axed US fact-checking on Facebook, named Trump ally Dana White to Meta”s board and appointed a Republican advisor as head of global policy. .Amazon boss Jeff Bezos visited the president during the transition period, and has sought to make his Washington Post newspaper less hostile to the president. .The billionaire has ordered the Post”s opinion section not to run columns opposed to “personal liberties and free markets,” and quashed its planned endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris before the US election..Musk, Bezos and other tech billionaires were given prominent places at Trump”s inauguration in January, with several making million-dollar donations to the committee organizing the event.
Source: AFP
How the richest woman in Indonesia lost $3.6 billion in just three days
For three weeks straight, Marina Budiman became roughly $350 million richer each day..By mid-March the president commissioner of Indonesia’s biggest data centre operator sat atop a $7.5 billion fortune after her company repeatedly soared by the daily limit, making her the country’s wealthiest woman, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index..Then the stock of DCI Indonesia crashed. In just three days, Budiman’s net worth fell by half, and Indonesia could add yet another infamous boom-and-bust stock price run to its growing tally..All told, Budiman and fellow billionaires and DCI controlling shareholders — Otto Toto Sugiri and Han Arming Hanafia — saw their combined fortunes soar by over $17 billion before they plummeted. At Tuesday’s close, the shares had given up more than half the gains since the rally began in mid-February..Wild price swings in stocks are a common and increasingly problematic feature of Indonesia’s equity market. Dozens of firms have moved by 1,000% or more in recent years, their shares seemingly unshackled from the underlying financials. DCI closed on Tuesday with a market value of close to $17 billion, compared to last year’s revenue of $112 million and $49 million profit. The company trades at 416 times earnings, the highest relative to a group of peers tracked by Bloomberg..Partly to blame are the large number of companies whose shares are thinly traded. Budiman, Sugiri, Hanafia and a fourth large owner, billionaire tycoon Anthoni Salim, hold 78% of DCI’s shares. Of the 2.4 billion outstanding, 80,400 shares changed hands by midday Wednesday in Jakarta compared with millions at companies in Indonesia of a similar size. .DCI did not immediately respond to a request for comment..DCI’s price swings “are largely a function of its tight free float,” said Mohit Mirpuri, a fund manager at SGMC Capital Pte in Singapore. “Bid-offer spreads are narrow, so any substantial positioning can move the stock significantly,” Mirpuri said..DCI was the worst performer as Indonesia’s benchmark stock index plunged on Tuesday and triggered a 30-minute suspension. Traders attributed the overall decline to factors including concerns over President Prabowo Subianto’s populist measures, forced liquidations and uncertainties over the finance ministry’s leadership. .“The selloff has been a bolt from the blue in many ways — the suddenness has caught the market by surprise,” said Nirgunan Tiruchelvam, an analyst at Aletheia Capital in Singapore..Before the reversal in recent days, DCI may have benefited from investors betting that demand for data centers will continue to grow and help drive foreign investment. For example, Oracle Corp. is in discussions with Indonesia’s government to establish a cloud services center in the country, Bloomberg News reported Friday..Budiman, 63, helped co-found DCI over a decade ago. Sugiri, 71, and Hanafia are also co-founders.
Source: Bloomberg Wire