Uber launched a feature on Monday to allow both female riders and drivers across the US to be matched with other women for trips, expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its ride-hailing platform. The new feature is being rolled out nationwide despite an ongoing class action lawsuit against the policy in California, filed by Uber drivers who argue that it is disc...
Uber launched a feature on Monday to allow both female riders and drivers across the US to be matched with other women for trips, expanding a pilot program aimed at addressing concerns about the safety of its ride-hailing platform. The new feature is being rolled out nationwide despite an ongoing class action lawsuit against the policy in California, filed by Uber drivers who argue that it is discriminatory against men. Rival ride-hailing company Lyft is also facing a discrimination lawsuit over a similar offering that it introduced nationwide in 2024. The feature, announced in a blog post, allows women to request a female driver through an option on the app called “women drivers”. Passengers can opt for another ride if the wait for a woman is too long, and they can also reserve a trip with a female driver in advance. A third option allows female users to set a preference for a female driver in their app settings, which would increase the chances of being matched with a woman, though it would not guarantee it. Uber is also allowing its teen account users to request female drivers. Uber’s female drivers can set the app’s preferences to request trips with female riders, and they can turn off that preference at anytime. Uber, based in San Francisco, says about one-fifth of its drivers in the US are women, thought the ratio varies by city. Two California Uber drivers filed a class-action lawsuit against Uber in November, arguing that its women preferences feature violates California’s Unruh Act, which prohibits sex discrimination by business enterprises. The lawsuit charges that the feature gives its minority female drivers access to the entire pool of passengers, while leaving its majority male drivers to compete for a smaller pool of passengers. The lawsuit also argues that Uber’s policy “reinforces the gender stereotype that men are more dangerous than women”. Uber filed a motion to compel arbitration in the case, citing an agreement the plaintiffs signed when joinin...
International Women’s Day, celebrated on Sunday, is not just an occasion for a gender equality stocktaking. It enables assessment of social well-being and prompts directions for improvement. Take Hong Kong for example. The city has good reasons to take pride in the progress women have made across different fields. Yet there is also room to do better in terms of birth incentives, childcare, workpla...
International Women’s Day, celebrated on Sunday, is not just an occasion for a gender equality stocktaking. It enables assessment of social well-being and prompts directions for improvement. Take Hong Kong for example. The city has good reasons to take pride in the progress women have made across different fields. Yet there is also room to do better in terms of birth incentives, childcare, workplace culture and other policy support. Currently, seven of the 15 directors of government bureaus are female. More than 45 per cent of the civilian directorate grade posts are held by women. Women also comprise half of the government, legal and accounting workforce, while their representation in corporate leadership is also increasing steadily. Borrowing the phrase made famous by the late Communist Party leader Mao Zedong, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu praised Hong Kong women for “holding up more than half the sky”. “Women are a powerful source of energy for social progress,” he said at an International Women’s Day reception. The achievement is not only a result of gradual changes in social values. It reflects decades of investment in policies promoting equal opportunities. From classrooms to boardrooms, the rise in women’s status has enriched decision-making and helped Hong Kong remain a competitive, outward-looking and resilient economy. Advertisement However, the glass ceiling in some sectors is still preventing women from shining. More often than not, men still have an advantage in leadership roles and promotion, while wage disparity remains the norm. The so-called motherhood penalty still puts women in a disadvantaged position in the workplace. Beneath the positive figures in boardroom representation and public service are bias and expectations, meaning women are still held back by family duties such as child-rearing and caring for the elderly. This is not helped by existing gaps in policy and support, which leave women juggling demanding and sometimes conflicting rol...
President Donald Trump said the U.S. is waiving oil-related sanctions on certain countries in an effort to ease crude prices, as he estimated the war with Iran would end “very soon.”
President Donald Trump said the U.S. is waiving oil-related sanctions on certain countries in an effort to ease crude prices, as he estimated the war with Iran would end “very soon.”
A few months ago, fears of an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble abounded in the financial media. And while those fears aren't gone, they seem to have quieted down for the time being. That's likely due to the sheer amount of money the biggest companies in the tech industry plan to throw at their AI programs this year. Microsoft announced a relatively modest 66% capital expenditure (capex) increas...
A few months ago, fears of an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble abounded in the financial media. And while those fears aren't gone, they seem to have quieted down for the time being. That's likely due to the sheer amount of money the biggest companies in the tech industry plan to throw at their AI programs this year. Microsoft announced a relatively modest 66% capital expenditure (capex) increase to $37.5 billion for 2026. announced a relatively modest 66% capital expenditure (capex) increase to $37.5 billion for 2026. Meta Platforms is planning to spend anywhere from $162 billion to $169 billion, up over 37% from 2025's number. is planning to spend anywhere from $162 billion to $169 billion, up over 37% from 2025's number. Alphabet is set to double its capex to between $175 billion and $185 billion this year. is set to double its capex to between $175 billion and $185 billion this year. And Amazon has projected a 51% increase in its capex to $200 billion for 2026. Hundreds of billions of dollars have already been funneled into AI hardware buildout because data centers aren't cheap. They can cost anywhere from $7 million to $12 million per megawatt just to build. Add in the power bill and maintenance costs and it only gets pricier. And there are two pick-and-shovel plays in the tech industry that will profit (albeit indirectly) from just about every data center built anywhere in the world. Chip and shovel Up first is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM +2.83%), the world leader in the pure foundry segment of the semiconductor industry. As of the end of Q3 2025 it controlled a 72%-and-growing share of the market with No. 2 Samsung Electronics controlling just 7%. Taiwan Semiconductor doesn't design any of its own chips; it simply manufactures them for other companies. And that client list includes Apple and Nvidia, which has its Blackwell chip produced at Taiwan Semiconductor's factory in Arizona. This company is the reason the country of Taiwan produces 60% of...
Humankind, as TS Eliot’s bird said in Burnt Norton , cannot bear too much reality. That feels especially salient now, when we have more reality arriving in a day than we used to have to process in a year. At the same time, unless you go the whole high-fantasy hog and offer 100% escapism via immersion in a completely alternative world, it is becoming trickier for your audiences to believe in you at...
Humankind, as TS Eliot’s bird said in Burnt Norton , cannot bear too much reality. That feels especially salient now, when we have more reality arriving in a day than we used to have to process in a year. At the same time, unless you go the whole high-fantasy hog and offer 100% escapism via immersion in a completely alternative world, it is becoming trickier for your audiences to believe in you at all. Programmes set in the real world have to acknowledge the new way of it. Pure, frothy comedy just became that much harder to pull off – and it was never easy. But walking the line between too much reality and not enough is almost as difficult. Enter Steve Carell, the master of the everyman figure we can root for, hope for, relate to and believe in. Rooster, a new 10-part dramedy (I hate this word, but “light drama” and “heavy comedy” are worse), is built around his matchless talent for calibrating cringe, making us laugh and, when he wants to, almost weep while wildly whipping our heads from side to side, wondering quite how that crept up on us. Carell plays a successful author of genre fiction, Greg Russo, who is invited to give a talk to the English students at the college where his daughter, Katie (Charly Clive), teaches. He is fervently welcomed by the college president, Walter Mann (John C McGinley, playing 50% his Scrubs character Dr Cox and 50% gossipy flake, which works really well). Walter is a big fan of Greg’s writing – or at least a big fan of someone people have heard of coming to add a bit of the commercially useful stardust without which no modern educational establishment can survive. Walter also likes to be as naked as possible, so that people will think: “Most college presidents are bookish shut-ins, but this guy is jacked!” (I don’t know if you’ve seen the exercise video put out by two similarly delusional men who don’t have the excuse of a comedy script, but if you have a minute and a large drink to hand, you can Google “Robert F Kennedy and Kid Roc...
Canada will allow TikTok to continue operating in the country, a complete reversal after the government had previously ordered the social media company to close its Canadian division for security reasons. In November 2024, under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau , Canada ordered ByteDance Ltd. , TikTok’s Chinese-backed owner, to wind down its Canadian subsidiary. That wouldn’t have banned the a...
Canada will allow TikTok to continue operating in the country, a complete reversal after the government had previously ordered the social media company to close its Canadian division for security reasons. In November 2024, under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau , Canada ordered ByteDance Ltd. , TikTok’s Chinese-backed owner, to wind down its Canadian subsidiary. That wouldn’t have banned the app’s use but would have forced its offices in Toronto and Vancouver to close. But in January, that order was set aside following a legal motion from the government — just days after Mark Carney became the first Canadian prime minister in more than eight years to visit China, where he announced a deal with President Xi Jinping to relax tariffs. TikTok Technology Canada Inc. will now be allowed to operate under new legally binding commitments to enhance its security, Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement on Monday, saying the decision followed a fresh security review. TikTok will add “security gateways and privacy-enhancing technologies to control access to Canadian user data in order to reduce the risk of unauthorized or prohibited access,” Joly said. Her statement provided no details on how that will work. The company agreed to enhance protections for minors, and an independent third-party monitor will be appointed “to audit and continuously verify data-access controls,” the minister’s statement added. TikTok, has 16 million users in Canada — more than 35% of the population — will give support to Canadian content creators and cultural organizations, according to a statement from the company . TikTok’s operations and ownership have come under scrutiny around the world. In January, after years of wrangling, the social media company officially established a US entity with three managing investors: Oracle Corp. , private equity firm Silver Lake Management LLC and Abu Dhabi-based investment company MGX.
Earnings Call Insights: LifeMD, Inc. (LFMD) Q4 2025 Management View Justin Schreiber, Chairman & CEO, opened by stating LifeMD ended the year "with over 322,000 active subscribers, nearly $37 million in cash and no debt, giving us the strongest balance sheet and liquidity position in the company's history." The company is onboarding approximately 1,200 new patients per day and seeing more than 120...
Earnings Call Insights: LifeMD, Inc. (LFMD) Q4 2025 Management View Justin Schreiber, Chairman & CEO, opened by stating LifeMD ended the year "with over 322,000 active subscribers, nearly $37 million in cash and no debt, giving us the strongest balance sheet and liquidity position in the company's history." The company is onboarding approximately 1,200 new patients per day and seeing more than 120,000 unique daily website visitors, with "record patient acquisition volumes" in weight management and declining customer acquisition costs. Schreiber highlighted the successful launch of oral Wegovy via Novo Nordisk partnership, noting, "We are one of the few virtual care providers fully integrated with both Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly affiliated pharmacies, and we are optimistic these collaborations will continue to evolve and deepen." He also pointed to "significant pipeline opportunities with other large pharmaceutical companies and strategic partners." Women's health was cited as a major focus, with the acquisition of Optimal Human Health and partnerships with leading experts. Schreiber said, "We are committed to building the highest quality virtual women's health care offering in the country focused on menopause, perimenopause, hormonal health and bone health." The RexMD men's health brand "returned to growth in the second half of 2025 and continues to perform strongly on a profitable basis," with new offerings and integration of Wegovy for men. Five new men's health treatments are to be launched in the first half of 2026. Pharmacy infrastructure is now licensed in all 50 states, processing approximately 20,000 prescriptions per month, and the company has a "recently licensed 503-A compounding operation." Schreiber called pharmacy a "growth driver for the company with the potential to meaningfully expand margins." Cardiology was beta launched in 30 states with an AI-supported intake, and Schreiber emphasized a "dedicated world-class AI and engineering team... focused e...
What Happened? Shares of computer processor maker AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) jumped 2.7% in the afternoon session after the company announced an expansion of its Ryzen AI Embedded P100 Series processors and signed a multi-year intellectual property license agreement that resolved all outstanding litigation with Adeia Inc. The expanded processor lineup was designed for the growing demand in edge AI applicati...
What Happened? Shares of computer processor maker AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) jumped 2.7% in the afternoon session after the company announced an expansion of its Ryzen AI Embedded P100 Series processors and signed a multi-year intellectual property license agreement that resolved all outstanding litigation with Adeia Inc. The expanded processor lineup was designed for the growing demand in edge AI applications like industrial automation and robotics, delivering up to twice the CPU core counts and up to eight times higher GPU compute. This move signaled AMD's focus on capturing the real-time AI computing market. Separately, the licensing agreement with Adeia Inc. granted AMD access to Adeia's semiconductor intellectual property portfolio, effectively ending a high-stakes patent dispute. The resolution of the ongoing litigation removed a source of uncertainty for the company and its investors, contributing to the stock's rebound. The shares closed the day at $202.69, up 5.4% from previous close. Is now the time to buy AMD? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free. What Is The Market Telling Us AMD’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 35 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business. The previous big move we wrote about was 5 days ago when the stock gained 5.7% on the news that the company received a boost from a series of positive developments and commentary centered on its artificial intelligence (AI) business. CEO Lisa Su commented that demand for the company's CPUs “far exceeded” her expectations, driven by the ongoing AI boom. Adding to the positive news, AMD launched its Ryzen AI 400 series processors, designed for the next generation of AI personal computers. The company earlier announced a major multi-year partnership with Meta Platforms for a 6-gigawatt deal involving AMD's Instinct GPUs for AI infr...
Generated record revenue of approximately $120 million for full-year 2025, driven by PAC performance Reported Adjusted EBITDA(1) of $13 million, representing 26% improvement year-over-year Provided inaugural financial guidance for full-year 2026 Pausing GAC production and development to conduct comprehensive engineering and production process optimization review Announced leadership changes, inclu...
Generated record revenue of approximately $120 million for full-year 2025, driven by PAC performance Reported Adjusted EBITDA(1) of $13 million, representing 26% improvement year-over-year Provided inaugural financial guidance for full-year 2026 Pausing GAC production and development to conduct comprehensive engineering and production process optimization review Announced leadership changes, including appointment of industry veteran as VP Operations and Finance team reorganization GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., March 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Arq, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARQ) (the "Company" or "Arq"), a producer of activated carbon and other environmentally efficient carbon products for use in purification and sustainable materials, today announced its financial and operating results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2025. Financial Highlights Generated revenue of $120.3 million in FY 2025 ($29.4 million in Q4 2025), up 10% over the prior year, driven largely by positive changes in product mix and overall volumes Gross margin of 27.9% in FY 2025 vs. 36.2% in FY 2024, driven by higher costs directly related to granular activated carbon (“GAC”) start-up costs Gross margin in Q4 2025 of 13.6% vs. 36.3% in Q4 2024, reflecting negative impact of GAC start-up costs Recorded non-cash impairment charge of $45 million related to Corbin assets in Q4 2025, reflecting the temporary idling of the Corbin facility. Reported Net loss of $52.6 million in FY 2025, versus a Net loss of $5.1 million in FY 2024; Q4 2025 Net loss of $50.0 million vs. Net loss of $1.3 million in Q4 2024 Adjusted EBITDA of $13.2 million in FY 2025 vs. Adjusted EBITDA of $10.5 million in the prior year (1) ; Adjusted EBITDA of $0.3 million in Q4 2025 vs. $2.8 million in the prior year period (1) , reflecting negative impact of certain GAC start-up costs ; Adjusted EBITDA of $0.3 million in Q4 2025 vs. $2.8 million in the prior year period , reflecting negative impact of certain GAC start-up costs Exited 2025 ...