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A new album called “Is This What We Want?” features a stellar list of more than 1,000 musiciansand the sound of silence.With contributions from artists including Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Cat Stevens, and Damon Albarn, the album was released Tuesday to protest proposed British changes to artificial intelligence laws that artists fear will erode their creative control.The U.K. government is consulting on whether to let tech firms use copyrighted material to help train AI models unless the creators explicitly opt out.Critics of the idea fear that will make it harder for artists to retain control of their work and will undermine Britain’s creative industries. Elton John and Paul McCartney are among those who have spoken out against the plan.The protest album features recordings of empty studios and performance spaces, to show what they fear will be the fate of creative venues if the plan goes through. The titles of the 12 tracks spell out: “The British government must not legalize music theft to benefit AI companies.”Profits will be donated to the musicians’ charity Help Musicians.“The government’s proposal would hand the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies, for free, letting those companies exploit musicians’ work to outcompete them,” said composer and AI developer Ed Newton-Rex, who organized the album.“It is a plan that would not only be disastrous for musicians, but that is totally unnecessary,” Newton-Rex said. “The U.K. can be leaders in AI without throwing our world-leading creative industries under the bus.”Britain’s center-left Labour Party government says it wants to make the U.K. a world leader in AI. In December, it announced a consultation into how copyright law can “enable creators and right holders to exercise control over, and seek remuneration for, the use of their works for AI training” while also ensuring “AI developers have easy access to a broad range of high-quality creative content.” The consultation closes on Tuesday.Publishers, artists’ organizations and media companies, including the Associated Press, have banded together as the Creative Rights in AI Coalition to oppose weakening copyright protections.Several U.K. newspapers ran wraparounds over their front pages on Tuesday, criticizing the government consultation and saying: “Let’s protect the creative industriesit’s only fair.” Jill Lawless, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Today, February 25, is a make-or-break day for Super Micro Computer (aka Supermicro) and its stock, which trades on the Nasdaq under the SMCI ticker. Thats because by the end of today, the beleaguered server company needs to file its delinquent Form 10-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). If it fails to do so, the company’s shares may be delisted from the Nasdaq. Heres what you need to know about its stock price ahead of the deadline and the possible outcomes should Super Micro Computer fail to meet its requirements. SMCI stock price sinks ahead of filing deadline As of the time of this writing, in early trading SMCIs stock price is down over 8% to to above $47 per share. Todays stock price fall follows an 8% fall yesterday. Much of the market is down this week, including big tech stocks, although not as dramatically. One reason for SMCIs fall is most likely jitters as to whether the company will indeed file its delinquent Form 10-K for the fiscal year 2024, as well as additional forms for the first two fiscal 2025 quarters with the SEC. The forms are both a legal requirement and a condition of being listed on the Nasdaq. Supermicro missed the earlier filing deadlines amidst a swath of negative news last year, which has rattled investors since August. Most prominently, the company has faced allegations of accounting irregularities. These allegations, along with a failure to file specific financial forms, have led to the stock price fluctuating wildly since the fall. Concerns surrounding these issues have led to a 22% decline in SMCIs stock price over the past six months. In November, the stock bottomed out at below $18 per sharea far cry from its high of over $122 per share earlier in the year. However, despite the companys most recent declines this week, SMCI stock has still recovered a fair amount since its November lows. Year to date, the stock is up over 55%. Where that stock price goes from hereat least in the near termmay largely depend on whether Supermicro meets its filing deadlines today. Will Super Micro Computer meet its 10-K filing deadline? Surprisingly, despite today being the deadline for the 10-K filing, Supermicro has not given any update on it since last week. On February 19, the company addressed the filing in a Q2 2025 preliminary report. At the time Super Micro Computer said that it continues to work diligently toward the filing of its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024, and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2024. It went on to state that Based on information currently available, the Company believes it will make such filings by February 25, 2025. Fast Company has reached out to Supermicro for an update on the filings. We will update this post if we hear back. What happens if Super Micro Computer misses its deadline? If Supermicro misses its deadline, SMCI stock may very well be delisted from the Nasdaq after the market closes today. However, as noted by MarketWatch, a Wedbush analyst says that Super Micro has the option of asking for another extension to file the required forms. That extension could be for as many as 180 days. This means today will likely end in one of the three following ways for Super Micro Computer: Supermicro may file its delinquent SEC forms by the deadline. Supermicro may not meet the deadline but receive an extension. Supermicro may not meet its deadline and not receive an extension. If Super Micro Computer achieves option No. 1meeting the deadline todayits possible that investors will react kindly. The next best-case scenario is option No. 2, where the company does not meet the deadline but receives an extension. Option No. 3 is the worst outcome. As of the time of this writing, which of the three above options comes to pass remains to be seen. This story is developing…
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E-Commerce
Home Depot broke a two-year slump in same store sales during the fourth quarter as customer demand improved in a housing market that has been buffeted by soaring mortgage rates and a scarcity of homes up for sale.Revenue for the Atlanta company climbed to $39.7 billion from $34.79 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet were calling for $39.15 billion.Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday that the extra week in the quarter added approximately $2.5 billion in sales for the period.Sales at stores open at least a year, a key indicator of a retailer’s health, edged up 0.8%. In the U.S., comparable store sales rose 1.3%. It is the first quarterly increase since January 2023 and much better than the 1.5% decline expected on Wall Street.The extra week in the quarter was not included in the same-store sales results.“The fact that US comparable sales are back in the black after declining for eight quarters or two years is a very clear win for Home Depot, and it suggests that the home improvement market as a whole might finally be reaching the nadir of its more sluggish performance,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, wrote Tuesday.However, Home Depot said Tuesday that it expects per-share earnings to decline about 2% this year on sales growth of approximately 2.8%.Shares slipped about 2% before the opening bell.Customer transactions rose 7.6% in the quarter. The amount shoppers spent climbed slightly to $89.11 per average ticket from $88.87 in the prior-year period.“Our fourth quarter results exceeded our expectations as we saw greater engagement in home improvement spend, despite ongoing pressure on large remodeling projects,” said Chair and CEO Ted Decker said in a statement. “Throughout the year, we remained steadfast in our investments across our strategic initiatives to position ourselves for continued success, despite uncertain macroeconomic conditions and a higher interest rate environment that impacted home improvement demand.”Home improvement retailers like Home Depot have contended with homeowners putting off bigger projects due to higher borrowing costs and lingering concerns about inflation.The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell last month as rising mortgage rates and prices put off many would-be homebuyers despite a wider selection of properties on the market.Sales fell 4.9% in January from December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.08 million units, the National Association of Realtors said last week. Home prices increased on an annual basis for the 19th consecutive month. The national median sales price rose 4.8% in January from a year earlier to $396,900.Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years.Home Depot earned $3 billion, or $3.02 per share, for the three months ended February 2. A year earlier it earned $2.8 billion, or $2.82 per share.Removing certain items, earnings were $3.13 per share. That’s better than the $3.04 per share that Wall Street anticipated. Michelle Chapman, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
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