Live News: Roaring Kitty sued for sparking ‘pump and dump’ of GameStop shares

Welcome to the Business Post’s Live News section. We’re here all day to keep you up to date on the latest developments in business, tech and current affairs.

16.25 - Supreme Court says Trump has some immunity, delaying trial

The US Supreme Court ruled that Donald Trump has some immunity from criminal charges for trying to reverse the 2020 election results, all but ensuring that a trial won’t happen before the November election.

The justices, voting 6-3 along ideological lines, said a federal appeals court was too categorical in rejecting Trump’s immunity arguments, ruling for the first time that former presidents are shielded from prosecution for some official acts taken while in office. The majority ordered the lower courts to revisit the case to decide the extent of the allegations that are off limits to prosecution.

“The president is not above the law,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court. “But Congress may not criminalize the president’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the Executive Branch under the Constitution.”

15.48 - Meta’s pay-or-consent ad policy ‘fails to comply’ with EU law

Meta has been slapped with a warning over its subscription model for ad-free services on Instagram and Facebook, risking potentially heavy fines in the European Union’s latest attack on Big Tech under tough new rules.

EU regulators announced Monday that the so-called pay-or-consent policy falls foul of the EU’s Digital Markets Act, because the new model “forces users to consent to the combination of their personal data,” while not being offered a less personalised version of either Facebook and Instagram.

“Our preliminary view is that Meta’s advertising model fails to comply with the Digital Markets Act,” said Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust chief. “We want to empower citizens to be able to take control over their own data and choose a less personalised ads experience.”

The DMA lays out a series of dos or don’ts for some of the world’s largest tech platforms. The EU’s move is a preliminary step. But eventual fines for breaches can be as high as 10 per cent of global annual revenue, or 20 per cent for repeated violations.

15.46 - Roaring Kitty sued for sparking ‘pump and dump’ of GameStop shares

Popular stocks influencer Keith Gill, better known as “Roaring Kitty,” was sued for allegedly orchestrating a “pump and dump” scheme involving GameStop shares.

Gill, who rose to fame promoting GameStop during the 2021 meme-stock craze, reemerged in May and again began posting about the games retailer on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

In a proposed class action filed Friday in Brooklyn, New York, federal court, GameStop shareholder Martin Radev claims Gill was seeking to manipulate the stock for his own gain.

15.16 - Pilot pay row ‘damaging’ to Aer Lingus’ reputation

The ongoing dispute between Aer Lingus and its pilots over pay is “damaging to the airline from a financial perspective and from a reputational perspective,” a senior official for the airline has said.

Entering the Labour Court on Monday, where represenatives for Ialpa, the pilots union, and the carrier are meeting for talks in the hopes of avoiding an escalation of industrial action, Donal Moriarty, chief corporate affairs officer at Aer Lingus, said that the repercussions of the dispute for everyone connected with the airline are “serious”.

“That's why it's important, I believe, that we engage in these discussions today meaningfully and Aer Lingus would be hopeful that some progress can be made,” he said.

15.00 - Air France to see €160 million revenue drop as holidaymakers avoid Paris during Olympics

Air France-KLM warned of a revenue shortfall at its French operations this summer because passengers are avoiding Paris to skirt possible disruptions and high prices during the Olympic Games.

The issues will curtail revenue at Air France and the French arm of the low-cost Transavia unit by between €160 million and €180 million from June to August, the carrier group said in a statement. French residents are postponing holidays until after the Olympics, while international customers are staying away, the company said.

Airlines have poured capacity into Paris in the run-up to the games, with Air France, Transavia and Ryanair leading the charge. After the Olympics, Air France said it expects travel to and from France will likely go back to normal. It’s seeing “encouraging demand” for the end of August and for September, and won’t pull back on its schedule for now, it said.

13.45 - Bank of Ireland announces 100 new tech roles

Bank of Ireland has announced 100 new technology roles with the financial institution hiring across data, delivery management, engineering, resilience and cyber.

The new hires will be working on multiple projects, including new customer features on digital channels, protecting customers against fraud, and advanced data analytics, the bank said.

Charlie Taylor has the story.

13.40 - EV sales fall by one quarter

The sale of new electric cars is down by 25 per cent in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year.

This is despite a 1.7 per cent increase in new car registrations, with over 78,000 new cars on Irish roads so far this year.

Figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (Simi) show that for the first half of 2024, petrol engines remain the most popular to new car buyers (33 per cent), followed by diesel engines (22.9 per cent), and then petrol-electric hybrids (20 per cent).

Electric cars make up 13.6 per cent with plug-in hybrids accounting for 8.8 per cent of new car sales.

13.05 - RTÉ poaches Newstalk managing editor

RTÉ has announced the appointment of Patricia Monahan, the reigning managing editor of Newstalk.

Monahan will take up the role of director of audio, and will take responsibility “for the development and editorial management of RTÉ’s audio and digital-audio services, including the programming of our four FM radio stations– RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2fm, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and RTÉ lyric fm - alongside our digital, online, and podcasting services”.

12.50 - William Fry names new managing partner

The law firm William Fry has announced the appointment of Stephen Keogh as its next managing partner.

Keogh, who is currently the head of the firm’s corporate mergers and acquisition department, will begin his term in November. He will succeed Owen O'Sullivan, who has been managing partner since 2020, and who will take on a consultancy role once he retires as a partner at the end of the year.

Emma Hanrahan has more.

12.30 - Prices grew 1.5% in year to June

The rate of consumer price inflation increased by 0.3 per cent in June according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office.

When releasing its flash estimate for consumer price index for the 12 months to the end of June, the CSO stated that inflation stood at 1.5 per cent during the period. This is down from an annual inflationary rate of 2.6 per cent in May.

A factor in this increase is the 0.8 per cent increase in transport costs compared to last month, and a 5.2 per cent increase over the past 12 months.

11.00 - IT distributor Renaissance sold

Renaissance, the Irish IT distributor led by Michael Conway, has been acquired in a deal valued at up to €900,000 (€1.05 million), our technology editor Charlie Taylor reports.

The buyer is London-listed Northamber. It is acquiring the business for an initial consideration of £600,000 with a further £300,000 payout dependent on future performance to be paid over three instalments.

10.25 - Dividends of over €1.2bn at Amazon’s Irish firms

Amazon’s Irish businesses paid over €1.2 billion in dividends to their parent company last year, newly filed accounts show.

The Irish arm of Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provides data hosting services to other businesses, reported a 25 per cent rise in turnover to €6.08 billion last year, as against €4.85 billion in 2022. Charlie Taylor has the full story here.

09.40 Profits surge at former Jury’s Inns

Pre-tax profits at the Leonardo chain of hotels, formerly Jury’s Inn, increased to €14.7 million in 2023. New accounts filed by Fattal Leonardo Operation (Ireland) Ltd, formerly Fattal Jurys Operation (Ireland) Ltd, show that profits increased by 252 per cent from 2022, when the company earned €4.28 million.

The company operates six hotels across Ireland. The entire Jurys Inn portfolio was acquired by the Fattal Hotel Group, owned by Israeli billionaire David Fattal, in 2017. The rebranding took place last year and brought an end to the association between the Jurys name and Irish hotels that date back to 1839.

09.00 - Morgan Stanley scraps UK banker bonuses

Morgan Stanley is scrapping a cap on bonuses for bankers in the City of London, underlining the shift among US and UK lenders toward pay packages that look more like the bonus-heavy ones of their New York counterparts.

The Wall Street bank said in a regulatory filing that it was replacing the current limit that restricts certain employees’ bonuses to two times their fixed pay with “an appropriate internal bonus cap”. Morgan Stanley said in a statement that it continues “to pay competitively and reward strong performance”.

07.30 - Markets react to French election results

The euro strengthened and European stock futures gained as traders digested signs that Marine Le Pen’s far-right party was poised to win the first round of France’s legislative election with a smaller margin than some polls had indicated.

The euro climbed 0.4 per cent to $ 1.076 at 7:39am in Paris on this morning, touching its highest intraday since June 18. Contracts on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index, where French equities have about a 40 per cent weighting, rose 1.9 per cent. French bond futures edged higher, even as German and other global peers sold off.

Get the full analysis here.

05.00 - Manufacturing sector sees sharp decline

The Irish manufacturing sector saw its sharpest decline in almost a year in June, according to new data. The AIB Irish Manufacturing PMI fell to 47.4 in June, down from 49.8 in May, amid a sharp downturn in new orders and output.

For the fourth month running, the manufacturing index – derived from indicators for new orders, output, employment, suppliers’ delivery times and stocks of purchases –was below the 50.0 mark denoting growth in the sector, with the most marked downturn since July 2023 recorded in June. Read more here.