SEC Probes Over Kodak Loan Disclosure And Stock Movement : WSJ

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the circumstances around Eastman Kodak Co.’s (KODK) announcement of a $765 million government loan to make ingredients for Covid-19 drugs, the Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter.

The company’s stock closed down 3.61 percent at $14.40 after the Journal report.

On July 27, a day before Kodak’s official announcement of the loan, the company’s trading volume skyrocketed and stock price rose about 25 percent. After the official announcement on July 28, the stock jumped over 200 percent. Shares continued to surge by over 300 percent the next day to close at $33.20 per share on July 29, 2020.

The Journal said that the agency is also investigating additional allegations of insider trading, specifically involving 1.75 million in stock options granted to chief executive officer Jim Continenza the day before the official loan announcement.

However, the company reportedly said those were regularly scheduled purchases and Continenza has not yet cashed in by selling off any shares.

US-China trade deal is fine, China still buying US goods: Kudlow

WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – China is continuing to buy US goods and particularly commodities under the US-China Phase 1 trade deal signed in January, despite rising tensions over Hong Kong and other issues, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Tuesday (Aug 11).

Asked if deteriorating ties between the world’s two largest economies on other fronts could result in the trade deal being thrown out the window, Kudlow said, “No, no.”

“The one area we are engaging is trade,” he told reporters at the White House. “It’s fine right now.”

This story is developing.

Cultivate Entertainment Launches Podcast Division

EXCLUSIVE: Cultivate Entertainment, the Los Angeles and Oslo based management and production company, has launched a podcast division.

The new wing of the company expands on Cultivate founders Sean Butler and Patrick Strøm’s work executive producing the Showtime podcast series All The Smoke with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. The show, featuring guests including the late Kobe Bryant and Jamie Foxx, has garnered more than 50 million views on Youtube and a further 25 million downloads on iTunes.

Cultivate Digital will be run by Anniken Aalbu, whose background includes developing sports shows in Norway, being a PGA tour reporter, and working as a producer for Michelle Khare’s YouTube series Challenge Accepted.

It is already in development on two true crime podcasts with Charles King’s Macro, and is also planning to launch a new show that will explore sports, tech, and real estate and will be fronted by former NBA players Jelani McCoy and Ray Young III with podcast studio CurtCo Media. A separate podcast will also be led by Aalbu and LA-based Norwegian journalist Kjersti Flaa that will focus on Women and Film in Hollywood and Scandinavia.

Denver experiencing power outages, multiple fires after short wind burst near University Hills

A microburst passed through Denver’s University Hills neighborhood during the lunch hour, knocking over power lines and trees.

The Denver Fire Department was responding to six calls in the area at 12:47 p.m., fire department spokesman Greg Pixley said.

The short, intense storm with strong winds “created havoc with electrical lines,” he said. Some houses caught fire, but the amount of damage has not been determined.

“We have a lot of crews out there making sure everybody is OK,” Pixley said.

Joe Biden picks Kamala Harris as presidential running mate

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has selected Kamala Harris as his running mate in the upcoming US election.

Biden Picks Kamala Harris as His Running Mate

Joe Biden chose Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate, betting that her ties to the African-American community and self-branding as a “progressive prosecutor” will help propel him to the White House, Bloomberg News reports.

Harris, 55, who ran against Biden in the Democratic presidential primaries, becomes the first Black woman and first Asian-American on a major party presidential ticket. Known as an aggressive campaigner, the junior senator from California has won statewide elections in the most populous U.S. state three times. She built her early career as district attorney of San Francisco and later California attorney general.

More information is available on the Bloomberg Terminal.

Biden Picks Kamala Harris for VP

The wait is over.

Joe Biden on Tuesday announced that he has chosen Kamala Harris to be his running mate, tapping his former primary rival for the 2020 Democratic vice presidential nomination.

The selection ends months of speculation over whom the presumptive Democratic nominee would tap to join him to take on President Trump.

Biden said during a March 15th debate that he planned to pick a woman to be his vice president, and as Black Lives Matter demonstrations spread across America this summer, pressure mounted for that woman to be a woman of color. Everyone from former VP contender Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), to Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza, to, most recently, a group of over 100 powerful black male leaders, publicly implored Biden to tap a black woman to be his running mate.

The selection of Harris comes after weeks of remote and in-person meetings with a handful of finalists. On Monday, The New York Times reported that the four-person committee Biden assembled to assist the selection process had disbanded, and that the campaign would announce the former vice president’s selection sometime in the middle of the week.

The middle of the week has arrived, and the ticket to take on Trump is now set.

This story is developing.