AMC stock trades turn heads, Biden reveals plan to increase IRS funding, Air Canada’s executives return their bonuses
AMC Stock Exchange: AMC, once on the verge of filing bankruptcy, took a page out of Gamestop’s playbook and turned to Reddit for help. The movie theater chain raised $587 million dollars in the matter of hours, fully embracing its identity as a ‘meme stock’ to avoid a financial demise, according to The New York Times. “When all was said and done, AMC was one of the world’s most heavily traded stocks, with nearly $40 billion worth of buying and selling, a trading pace that dwarfed that of corporate giants like Tesla, Apple and Amazon, according to Bloomberg data,” according to the Times.
Bitcoin Event in Miami: As the number of vaccinated citizens increase and COVID cases decrease, in-person events are on the rise. This past weekend, 12,000 people gathered in Miami for the largest Bitcoin conference in the world. Miami has fully embraced the world of cryptocurrency and even the mayor, Francis Suarez, announced it would be an acceptable form of payment for taxes. The New York Times covered the entire event from attire to attendees personal opinions on the future of cryptocurrency.
Biden’s IRS Plan: Biden announced his IRS plan to double staffing in an attempt to close the gap of taxes owed and taxes collected. The plan is expected to generate about $700 billion over the next decade, according to The Wall Street Journal. Allowing this type of growth in staffing would better equip the IRS with the ability to monitor the flow of income through 3rd party applications such as Venmo and cryptocurrency.
Air Canada: After much public criticism, executives at Air Canada are returning their 2020 bonuses. After facing a tough year financially, the organization had negotiated a bailout with the federal government, which included a $5.9 billion loan package that includes money to help refund passenger tickets, but also capped executive compensation at $1 million until 12 months after the loan is fully repaid. “Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland signalled her displeasure Wednesday over the multi-million dollar packages handed out to the airline’s executives as the company negotiated a federal bailout, calling the bonuses ‘inappropriate,’” according to The Canadian Press.