Gates said that the spread of the “outrageous” video shows how social media companies struggle to contain damaging misinformation before it gains wide attention.

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Ciena breaks out of a consolidation with a buy point a little above 57. Tried to break out on July 6, faltered, found support at 50-day and moved higher. Earnings growth/estimates strong. Revenue gains small. Growing Huawei bans/curbs good news for Ciena.

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(Bloomberg Opinion) — Consumers fearful of catching the coronavirus are adapting their transport habits: Crowded airplanes are now unappealing, while being cocooned in a car feels safe.Car rental firms have had a close-up view of this rapid shift in consumer behavior because most generate more than half of their revenue at airports.This dependence looked like it would be disastrous for the entire car rental sector, but on Tuesday evening two of the world’s largest car rental groups — Paris-based Europcar Mobility Group and U.S. operator Avis Budget Group Inc. — gave quite different assessments of their prospects. That has a lot to do with how they’ve managed their large debts and costs.Absent a takeover offer, Europcar which is partly owned by private equity group Eurazeo SE, looks to be heading for a financial restructuring, whereas Avis’s fortunes are rapidly improving. The latter’s shares have more than trebled since their March low. The stock surged another 14% in after-hours trading on Tuesday, after the group said it expects to start generating positive cash flow again.This transatlantic divide is surprising for a couple of reasons. First, unlike in Europe, where the virus has been under fragile control, the coronavirus is still ripping through the southern United States. Second, U.S. car rental firms were denied a bailout from Washington, and Hertz Global Holdings Inc. and Advantage Rent A Car both filed for bankruptcy in May. In contrast, Europcar was able to tap state-backed loans.Europcar has also enjoyed one other big advantage: It can often return unwanted vehicles to their manufacturers. U.S. rental firms have to sell these themselves, since they typically purchase most of their vehicles outright. When used car auctions shut down during the height of the pandemic, the American companies found it difficult to downsize their fleets. Used car prices plunged and became a factor in forcing Hertz to seek bankruptcy protection.Now with showrooms reopening, second-hand car sales have rebounded. Even formerly car-shy New Yorkers have discovered it’s useful to have a vehicle.Hence, Avis has been able to reduce its fleet by around one quarter, and coupled with cost savings and job cuts, it burned through far less cash than expected during the second quarter. Importantly, Avis has also retained access to capital markets: It raised $500 million from debt investors in May, albeit by offering an eye-watering 10.5% coupon. Thanks to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive market interventions and Avis’s own resilient performance, those junk bonds now trade well above par. If only Europcar could say the same. The depressed price of the French group’s 600 million euros of 4.125% coupon bonds due in 2024 reflect worries that holders won’t get all their money back.Maybe they won’t. On Tuesday Europcar reported a first-half loss of 286 million euros and warned its existing capital structure “weighs on its ability to ensure a proper path to recovery.” It is therefore evaluating “short and long-term alternatives” to address its capital structure and “liquidity constraints.”Europcar has 1.7 billion euros of debt, including 320 million euros of state-guaranteed loans and excluding vehicle-related borrowings, but only 400 million euros of unrestricted cash. Following several acquisitions, there’s also 1.2 billion euros of goodwill on the balance sheet, which far exceeds the group’s 235 million-euro market capitalization. The best hope for Europcar shareholders, who’ve lost 90% since the stock’s peak in 2017, is that someone makes a bid for the company. Eurazeo was looking at exiting its remaining 30% stake even before the novel coronavirus emerged. Now Volkswagen AG, which sold Europcar to Eurazeo for 1.3 billion euros in 2006, is exploring an offer for its former subsidiary, Bloomberg reported last month.Acquiring Europcar might help VW expand its range of mobility services, including for renting and leasing electric vehicles. Europcar’s airport outlets are likely to remain depressed for several years, but its commercial vehicle and urban car-sharing businesses are performing better. There are also opportunities in the long-term rental market: Europcar’s “drive safely back to work” marketing effort hopes to persuade commuters nervous of public transport to borrow a car for a few weeks. Still, taking on Europcar’s problems would be a big distraction for VW, which has plenty of its own issues right now. The U.K.’s decision this week to impose a quarantine on holidaymakers returning from Spain doesn’t bode well for overseas tourism bookings.Unless more government help is forthcoming, Europcar’s debt holders may have to cut the rental firm some slack.    This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Chris Bryant is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies. He previously worked for the Financial Times.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Visa Inc reported that its quarterly profit plunged 23% in the third quarter of fiscal 2020 as large-scale layoffs due to the lockdowns, aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus, dented consumer spending.

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ADULT USE CANNABIS REVENUE INCREASES 27% FROM PRIOR QUARTER AND FIFTH CONSECUTIVE QUARTER OF POSITIVE ADJUSTED EBITDA Net Revenue Increases 5% from Prior Quarter and 18% from Prior Year Quarter Adjusted EBITDA from Cannabis Operations of $9.3 Million Increased 55% from Prior Quarter Cash Cost Per Gram Remained Below $1 and Decreased 5% from Prior Quarter to $0.

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(Bloomberg) — Occidental Petroleum Corp. is in talks about a potential sale of energy assets in Africa and the Middle East to Indonesia’s state-owned PT Pertamina, people with knowledge of the matter said.Pertamina is negotiating the acquisition of oil and gas stakes in countries including Ghana and the United Arab Emirates, according to the people. It has been discussing a purchase price of about $4.5 billion for the assets, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private.The Indonesian company has also expressed interest in buying some assets from Occidental in Algeria and Oman, though they may not be included in an initial deal, the people said. For Occidental, a deal would help it reduce the debt pile it built up from its $37 billion purchase of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. last year. A slump in energy demand worsened the Houston-based firm’s financial situation, forcing it in May to cut a quarterly dividend to the lowest level in decades.Occidental has been reviewing options for its Middle Eastern assets as it seeks ways to cut its leverage, Bloomberg News reported in June. The company’s attempt to sell its Ghana and Algeria assets to Total SA fell apart earlier this year.Declining ProductionOther suitors have also expressed interest in the Occidental assets, according to the people. Pertamina hasn’t reached a final agreement, and details of the potential transaction could change, the people said. A spokeswoman for Pertamina said she couldn’t immediately comment. A representative for Occidental didn’t immediately respond to a phone call and email sent outside normal U.S. business hours.Occidental has been producing in Oman for more than 30 years, according to its website. It has operations at the Safah Field and Block 62 in the north of the country and at the Mukhaizna Field in the south. Occidental also has a 40% stake in Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.’s Al Hosn project in the United Arab Emirates.Indonesia, once a member of OPEC, has suffered decades of declining domestic production and has struggled to lure investment in recent years even as its domestic consumption soared. Pertamina produced about 414,000 barrels a day in the first half of the year, it said in a statement this week.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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(Bloomberg) — Shopify Inc. nearly doubled its revenue in the second quarter, crushing analysts’ estimates as a flood of merchants moved their businesses online during the coronavirus pandemic.Sales grew 97% to $714.3 million from the same quarter a year ago, Ottawa-based Shopify said in a statement Wednesday. Analysts had expected about $512 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.Gross merchandise volume, a key metric that represents the value of all goods sold through Shopify’s platform, surged 119% from a year earlier or to $30.1 billion. Analysts were expecting a 49% increase to $20.6 billion. Sales of food, beverages and tobacco doubled over the first quarter, the company said.“The strength of Shopify’s value proposition was on full display in our second quarter,” Chief Financial Officer Amy Shapero said in the quarterly release. “We are committed to transferring the benefits of scale to our merchants, helping them sell more and sell more efficiently, which is especially critical in this rapidly changing environment.”E-commerce companies have been big winners of late, with the coronavirus closing many physical retail stores. Many analysts predict this boost will be lasting. Shopify shares, which were up 148% this year as of Tuesday’s close, jumped as much as 9.4% in pre-market trading in New York.New stores created on the Shopify platform grew 71% in the second quarter compared with the first quarter, driven in part by the company’s decision to extend the free-trial period on standard plans from 14 days to 90 days.Large sellers continued to migrate to Shopify Plus, resulting in a record quarter for new merchant additions to the platform.Read more: Shopify Is Enjoying a Big Moment and Hoping It Will LastStill, the company chose not to provide forecasts for the third quarter, citing uncertainty surrounding Covid-19. It said it’s monitoring the impact of rising unemployment on new store creation, consumer spending habits and the rate at which brick-and-mortar merchants move online. The tech company suspended its forecast full-year forecast in April.This year, Shopify has formed partnerships with Walmart Inc. to expand its third-party marketplace site and with Affirm Inc. to allow consumers to break purchases into a series of smaller payments — both moves aimed at stepping up competition with Amazon.com Inc.After its shares more than quadrupled in 2019, Shopify blew past Royal Bank of Canada this year to become the most valuable company in Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite Index. It’s the best-performing company in the index this year.(Updates with additional information starting in the third paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs upgraded shares of Shopify Inc. from neutral to buy, with the firm citing the shift to e-commerce due to COVID-19 as a reason for an acceleration in the company’s growth trajectory. The firm acknowledged that it missed “a significant run up” in Shopify shares, which are up more than 140% for the year. The company reports quarterly results before the bell on Wednesday, July 29. The Final Round panel discusses the bullish call.

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CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making…

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