Launched earlier this year, before the Hollywood writers' strike, Disney's task force is reportedly looking  to "develop AI applications in-house as well as form partnerships...

"New York City is definitely deteriorating, the quality of life and the quality of services," said billionaire hedge fund manager, John Paulson. Read More 

Retail investors rejoiced Tuesday as favorite meme stock AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. was up 3.9% in pre-market trading thanks to a strong second-quarter earnings report. 

Bolstered by a “notable increase” in the number and “quality” of cinema titles, the movie theater chain beat revenue predictions and posted an unexpected profit in what CEO Adam Aron said was AMC’s “strongest second quarter in four full years.” 

AMC revenue increased 15.6% over Q2 2022 to $1.35 billion, above the $1.29 billion projected by analysts. The company made $8.6 million, or one cent per share, compared to a loss of $121.6 million, or 12 cents a share, last year.

Aron said AMC welcomed more than 66 million guests in the second quarter of 2023, a 12% increase and the highest number since the coronavirus pandemic. Moviegoer spending at theaters also “far exceeded pre-pandemic norms,” pushing food and beverage revenue per patron to $7.36 globally, within a penny of the company’s all-time high record. 

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“With the first half of the year now behind us, the 2023 domestic industry box office is 20% ahead of last year, and we believe the second half of the year could be even better unless the current writers/actors strikes wind up delaying the release of movie titles into next year,” Aron said. 

He declared an “explosive start” to the third quarter of 2023 with box office smash hits “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” and “Sound of Freedom” combining to make July the all-time highest grossing month for revenue in AMC’s 103-year history. 

The No. 1 movie in the world, “Barbie,” has stunned Hollywood by earning $1.03 billion globally. Historical drama “Oppenhiemer,” which opened alongside “Barbie,” has earned $228.6 million worldwide and is so far the highest grossing R-rated film of the year. The success of these movies, and AMC’s apparent turnaround, could signal that summer blockbusters have recovered from COVID and are back in business. 

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“There are so many more engaging movie titles to enjoy at AMC theaters later this year, and we can’t wait to welcome moviegoers to our nearly 1,000 theaters in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East,” Aron said. 

However, the ongoing Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes have iced movie and TV production and a lack of content this fall and winter could set back movie theaters like AMC. 

The writers, represented by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) have been on strike since May asking for a guaranteed number of writers per room, increased pay and regulated use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the writing process. 

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Actors, represented by Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) want increased minimum pay rates, increased streaming residuals and guarantees from studio and production companies about how, exactly, AI will be used. 

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The strike has impacted the production of film and television series and is expected to cost the industry more than $3 billion in losses.

Fox Business’ Elizabeth Stanton, Breck Dumas, Yael Halon and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Norway’s data regulator is fining Meta the equivalent of $98,500 per day over alleged privacy breaches.

The data protection authority, Datatilsynet, said in mid-July it was temporarily imposing a ban on Meta for carrying out behavioral advertising based on the surveillance and profiling of users in Norway. 

The ban, Datatilsynet said at the time, will apply from August 4 and last for three months, or until Meta shows it can comply with the law. Should Meta not comply with the decision, the agency warned, the company risks a fine of up to one million Norwegian Krone per day. 

Tobias Judin, head of the agency’s international department, told FOX Business that Meta’s behavioral advertising on Facebook and Instagram entails “intrusive surveillance of its users and filtering of what information they can see – negatively impacting their right to data protection and freedom of information.” 

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“There are many vulnerable people on these platforms, such as young people, the elderly and people with cognitive disabilities who need particular protection,” Judin said. “We are concerned that sensitive personal data may be used for advertising purposes. We have therefore found that Meta’s practices are contrary to data protection law.” 

Datatilsynet can make the fine permanent by referring its decision to the European Data Protection Board if it agrees with the Norwegian regulator’s decision. The potential move could also widen the decision’s territorial scope to the rest of Europe. 

Meta last week said it intends to ask users in the European Union for their consent before allowing businesses to target advertising based on their viewing habits. 

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But that step was not enough for Datatilsynet. Judin said Meta had to stop the processing of personal data immediately, and until that consent mechanism was up and running.

“According to Meta, this will take several months, at the very earliest, for them to implement… And we don’t know what the consent mechanism will look like,” Judin told Reuters. “And in the (meantime), peoples’ rights are being violated, every single day.”

Meta said the change was made to address regulatory requirements in the region and stems from an order in January by Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner, Meta’s lead EU regulator, to reassess the legal basis for how it targets ads.

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FOX Business has reached out to Meta for further comment. 

Reuters contributed to this report. 

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Federal regulators have fined four financial institutions over $250 million for allegedly failing to meet recordkeeping requirements for communications stemming from their use of unapproved communications tools.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Tuesday announced a total of $260 million in fines, and Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas and Société Générale were each issued $75 million penalties. The Bank of Montreal is facing a $35 million fine. 

“With today’s actions, the CFTC has now brought enforcement actions against 18 financial institutions and imposed over $1 billion in penalties for violations of the CFTC’s recordkeeping and supervision requirements involving the use of unapproved communication methods,” said CFTC Director of Enforcement Ian McGinley.

“The commission’s message could not be more clear — recordkeeping and supervision requirements are fundamental, and registrants that fail to comply with these core regulatory obligations do so at their own peril.”

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The fines arose because the financial institutions and their affiliated swap dealer and futures commission merchants (FCMs) allegedly failed to stop employees, including those at senior levels, from using unapproved communication methods such as personal text messaging and WhatsApp over the course of multiple years. 

The CFTC noted that it found the “widespread use of unapproved communication methods violated the swap dealers’ and/or FCMs’ internal policies and procedures, which generally prohibited business-related communication taking place via unapproved methods.” 

Some of the firms’ supervisory personnel responsible for compliance with those policies and procedures also allegedly used non-approved communication methods, violating those policies.

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Financial institutions registered with the CFTC are required to maintain records of written communications related to the firms’ business. Because the firms hit with fines failed to sufficiently maintain the records, the CFTC said they “generally would not have been able to provide them promptly to the CFTC when requested.”

The CFTC’s move comes as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also moved to fine three of the firms’ affiliates for failing to maintain and preserve electronic records.

The SEC fined Wells Fargo Securities, along with its affiliated clearing services and financial advisers network, a total of $125 million. BNP Paribas Securities and SG Americas Securities were each fined $35 million. 

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Other firms fined by the SEC include BMO Capital Markets, Mizuho Securities USA, Moelis & Company, Wedbush Securities and SMBC Nikko Securities America. Those firms’ fines ranged from $9 million to $25 million.

According to the SEC, the regulator’s investigation “uncovered pervasive and longstanding ‘off-channel’ communications at all 11 firms.” 

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“As described in the SEC’s orders, the firms admitted that, from at least 2019, their employees often communicated through various messaging platforms on their personal devices, including iMessage, WhatsApp and Signal, about the business of their employers. The firms did not maintain or preserve the substantial majority of these off-channel communications, in violation of the federal securities laws,” the SEC explained.

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