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Is this the beginning of the end for Bitcoin? A Bitcoin (BTC) sell-off on Thursday is sending the cryptocurrency down again today by 3% to $86,410.50 in midday afternoon trading, after a rally had it above $93,000 earlier in the day. It’s now hit its lowest level since April. It’s part of an overall decline in the crypto market that also saw closely watched digital asset XRP (XRP-USD) falling below $2.00 per token during the day, while Ethereum (ETH-USD) shed nearly 3% and was trading at $2,832 in the late afternoon at the time of this writing. Both stock market and Bitcoin investors were briefly riding high on chip maker Nvidia’s third-quarter earnings report, which came in after Wednesday’s market close and beat the street’s expectations. Revenue came in at $57.01 billion, and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) at $1.30, both well above Wall Street analyst estimates. But as the day progressed, stock markets turned negative again, and Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) found its own stock falling down over 2% as investors remain spooked at the prospect of an AI bubble. Some experts, including Wall Street oracle Michael Burry, head of hedge fund Scion Asset Management, predict the bubble resulting from inflated valuations and inflated earnings. Burry, who both predicted and then shorted the 2008 housing bubble, has suggested that massive spending by tech companies like Meta, Nvidia, and OpenAI, which are pouring record-amounts of money into artificial intelligence (AI) while also laying off scores of employees, are overstating their profits by artificially boosting earnings through aggressive accounting practices.
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E-Commerce
NBC recently debuted a new show: Stumble, a comedy about a former cheer coach leading a team of misfits. Some earlier reviews of the show, which premiered on November 7, called it “hilarious” and “full of sharp writing.” But the new sitcom, starring Kristin Chenoweth, Jenn Lyon, and Taran Killam, has audiences chuckling at more than just cheer squad antics. It also makes narcolepsy, a serious neurological disorder, into a recurring joke. Narcolepsy, a chronic condition that can lead to major challenges for sufferers, takes center stage in the show as a character named Madonna (Arianna Davis) has the condition. Due to the disorder, Madonna collapses without warning, sometimes even mid-routine, casting her as a talented-yet-awkward misfit due to the illness. The dramatic and tough-to-miss depiction may be similar to what many who know little about the condition believe it looks like. Per Johns Hopkins Medicine, a person with narcolepsy may experience symptoms like excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep paralysis, disrupted sleep, and sometimes, cataplexy (sudden muscle weakness). It can also lead to memory loss, difficulty concentrating, and depression. But according to experts, it doesn’t look at all the way it often is depicted onscreenand thats problematic for a number of reasons, they say. [Photo: Jocelyn Prescod/NBC] Julie Flygare, the founder of Project Sleep, is a leading narcolepsy spokesperson and award-winning author who also has been diagnosed with the condition. In an online petition to NBC, Flygare wrote that narcolepsy is not what Hollywood so often makes it out to be. “In reality, during an episode of sleepiness, a person with narcolepsy feels sleepy, has an urge to sleep, similar to an urge to use the bathroom,” Flygare wrote. “This sensation of sleepiness generally allows individuals some amount of time (from several to 30 minutes) to find a place to nap. Even in extreme moments, a person with narcolepsy would lay down, sit down, or support their head and body to avoid injury.” While the moments when Madonna collapses onscreen make for a laugh-out-lough character quirk, Flygare tells Fast Company that those very inaccurate depictions of neurological conditions can be dangerous, given they can lead to delays in real diagnoses, “by showing someone experiencing symptoms that are so other-worldly or not biologically possible.” Flygare says that depiction is part of the reason why it can take around eight to 15 years to get an accurate diagnosis. A missed opportunity for Hollywood As a person with narcolepsy, Flygare says NBC is missing an opportunity to show people what the condition actually looks like. “I believe Hollywood is our biggest public health educator, yet it’s not a role they always seem to want to take on,” says Flygare. “If you’re going to use a real condition name that impacts 200,000 Americans and 3 million people worldwide (including many children), I think it’s important to do your homework and work with medical experts and leading community groups.” That’s why Flygare’s petition calls on NBC to take a few steps to do better, like collaborating with the narcolepsy community to represent the real symptoms of narcolepsy, and even provide educational resources for viewers. Fast Company reached out to NBC to ask if it had seen the petition or had plans to address the concerns, but did not hear back by the time of publication. Flygare says that knowledge is massively important when it comes to living a productive life with the condition. According to the online petition, “Once diagnosed, people with narcolepsy manage their symptoms with medical treatments, lifestyle adjustments, naps, and social support.” But currently, she says, widespread misconceptions promoted in the mainstream canand dostand in the way.
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E-Commerce
Verizon is laying off more than 13,000 employees in mass job reductions that arrive as the telecommunications giant says it must reorient its entire company. The job cuts began on Thursday, per to a staff memo from Verizon CEO Dan Schulman. In the letter, which was seen by The Associated Press, Schulman said Verizon’s current cost structure limits the company’s ability to investpointing particularly to customer experiences. We must reorient our entire company around delivering for and delighting our customers, Schulman wrote. He added that the company needed to simplify its operations to address the complexity and friction that slow us down and frustrate our customers. Verizon had nearly 100,000 full-time employees as of the end of last year, according to securities filings. A spokesperson confirmed that the layoffs announced Thursday account for about 20% of the company’s management workforce, which isn’t unionized. Verizon has faced rising competition in both the wireless phone and home internet spaceparticularly from AT&T, T-Mobile, and other big market players. New leadership at the company has stressed the need to right the company’s direction. Schulman took the CEO seat just last month. In the company’s most recent earnings, he stated that Verizons trajectory was at a critical inflection point”and said, rather than incremental changes, Verizon would aggressively transform its operations. For its third quarter of 2025, Verizon posted earnings of $4.95 billion and $33.82 billion in revenue. The carrier reported continued subscriber growth for its prepaid wireless services, but it lost a net 7,000 postpaid connections. News of coming layoffs at Verizon was reported last week by The Wall Street Journal. The outlet says that the 13,000 job cuts mark the largest-ever round of layoffs at the company. Beyond the cuts across Verizons workforce, Schulman said that the New York company would also significantly reduce its outsourced and other outside labor expenses. Its a tough time for the job market overalland Verizon isnt the only company to announce sizeable workforce reductions recently. More and more layoffs have piled up at companies like Amazon, UPS, Nestlé, and more. Some companies have pointed to rising operational costs spanning from U.S. President Donald Trumps barrage of new tariffs and shifts in consumer spending. Others cite corporate restructuring more broadlyor are redirecting money to artificial intelligence. Regardless, such cuts have raised worker anxieties across sectors. Schulman on Thursday recognized that changes in technology and in the economy are impacting the workforce across all industries. He said that Verizon had established a $20 million Reskilling and Career Transition Fund for workers departing the company. Shares of Verizon were essentially flat Thursday. Wyatte Grantham-Philips, AP business writer
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E-Commerce
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