6 Most Important Things in Business Today

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Mar 13, 3:45PM EDT · Published Feb 7, 4:57AM EST

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Wynn Resorts Ltd. (NASDAQ: WYNN) founder Steve Wynn stepped down as CEO as sexual harassment charges against him grow. According to Reuters:

U.S. casino mogul Steve Wynn has resigned as CEO of his company Wynn Resorts following claims he subjected women who worked for him to unwanted advances, becoming one of the most prominent business leaders to quit over sexual misconduct allegations in recent months.

Social media company Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP), which has been criticized for slow user growth and the lack of a strong business model, posted strong earnings and its shares soared. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Snap Inc.’s stock surged more than 25% after the company reignited revenue and user growth for the first time as a publicly traded firm, a promising sign that may reflect progress in persuading advertisers its Snapchat app is a viable alternative to Facebook and Google.

The social-media company said Tuesday it doubled its loss in the fourth quarter, but sales rose 72% to $285.7 million from a year earlier, besting Wall Street’s revenue forecast and reviving growth after three consecutive quarters of a slowdown. The loss, which shrank 20% from the prior quarter, was also better than analysts anticipated.

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Newspaper publisher Tronc Inc. (NASDAQ: TRNC) may sell its largest property, the LA Times, to one of its largest shareholders. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Tronc Inc. is in advanced talks to sell its troubled flagship newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, to billionaire biotech investor Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong for around $500 million, a person familiar with the matter said.

The deal being discussed also includes the San Diego Union-Tribune and a handful of community papers in southern California, the person said.

Some cryptocurrencies could lose all their value. According to Bloomberg:

The tumble in cryptocurrencies that erased nearly $500 billion of market value over the past month could get a lot worse, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s global head of investment research.

Most digital currencies are unlikely to survive in their current form, and investors should prepare for coins to lose all their value as they’re replaced by a small set of future competitors, Goldman’s Steve Strongin said in a report dated Feb. 5. While he didn’t posit a timeframe for losses in existing coins, he said recent price swings indicated a bubble and that the tendency for different tokens to move in lockstep wasn’t rational for a “few-winners-take-most” market.

Lululemon Athletica Inc.’s (NASDAQ: LULU) CEO left because of a relationship with another employee at the athletic wear company. According to CNBC:

Lululemon Athletica CEO Laurent Potdevin had a multi-year relationship with a female designer at the company he oversaw, and this was one of the issues that contributed to his departure, sources familiar with the situation tell CNBC.

The employee in the relationship with Potdevin resigned in 2014, after the relationship had begun. Lululemon later brought her back to work on discrete company projects as a contractor. In January 2018, it did not renew her contract. CNBC is not identifying the employee to protect her privacy.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the most powerful rocket in the world. According to CNBC:

The pioneering rocket firm just pulled off the unexpected, and carried out what appears to be a seamless first-ever launch of its massive new rocket, called Falcon Heavy.

That makes SpaceX, the game-changing company helmed by billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the owner of the world’s most powerful operational rocket.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.