3. Disney sticks with its hiring freeze
Bob Iger on Monday made a splashy return to the Disney lot in Burbank, California, where he held his first town hall since he was re-hired as CEO just over a week ago. He spent a lot of time focusing on the company’s culture, which many at Disney felt suffered under previous CEO Bob Chapek, and touting its creative powers. But Iger also spoke about nitty gritty moves that will affect the company’s day-to-day reality. Iger said Disney would keep in place the hiring freeze implemented by Chapek, and that he would take a good look at the company’s cost structure. Chapek, in a memo about cost cutting he had sent days before he was ousted, had indicated layoffs were going to be part of the process. Now it’s up to Iger, who has built up a great deal of goodwill among employees, to make that call.
Read more: Iger addresses ‘Don’t Say Gay’ fallout, importance of LGBTQ inclusion
4. BlockFi files for bankruptcy
Another one bites the dust. BlockFi on Monday became the latest crypto firm to go bust, as the fallout from FTX’s failure spreads. The company had already halted withdrawals and warned of its exposure to FTX and sister trading firm Alameda Research. BlockFi’s bankruptcy filing on Monday noted that it had an outstanding loan of $275 million to FTX US, the American unit of FTX. Previously valued at $4.8 billion, BlockFi had avoided bankruptcy in July with the help of a $400 million revolving credit facility from FTX, whose founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, had styled himself as a crypto white knight. That all came crumbling down earlier this month, however, as FTX itself filed for bankruptcy.
5. Ukraine's cold reality
It’s getting colder and colder in Ukraine, with temperatures forecast to fall below freezing this week, as the country grapples with widespread blackouts and other infrastructure failures caused by Russian missile strikes. Now the pressure is on the United States and the rest of NATO to support Ukraine on the homefront in addition to providing weapons for the battlefield. “President Putin is trying to use winter as a weapon of war,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday, pledging to help Ukraine through the next few bitter months. Read live war updates here.
– CNBC’s Sarah Min, Kif Leswing, Alex Sherman, MacKenzie Sigalos, Rohan Goswami, Lillian Rizzo and Holly Ellyatt contributed to this report.
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