CNBC.com’s MacKenzie Sigalos brings you the day’s top business news headlines. On today’s show, Harvard Business School’s Ethan Bernstein breaks down his recent study on how the remote work transformation has affected rank-and-file employees during the coronavirus pandemic.
Here’s what else you missed:
Covid hospitalizations rising in 36 states as U.S. hits another record for average new cases
The average number of new daily cases of the coronavirus in the United States hit another record on Monday as 36 states reported worrying rises in the number of hospitalized patients.
The average number of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 over the past seven days rose by at least 5% in 36 states as of Monday, according to a CNBC analysis of data from the Covid Tracking Project. Hospitalizations lag behind cases as it takes time for people to get diagnosed and become sick enough to require medical attention. However, epidemiologists point to hospitalizations as a more telling indicator of the severity of an outbreak than new cases, which can fluctuate based on testing.
Microsoft beats on sales and earnings as Azure growth outpaces expectations
Microsoft shares barely moved in extended trading on Tuesday after the company reported fiscal first-quarter results that were better than analysts had expected.
Here’s how the company did:
Earnings: $1.82 per share, adjusted, vs. $1.54 per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
Revenue: $37.15 billion, vs. $35.72 billion as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv.
Twitter has come under fire for, among other reasons, how it handled its decision to block an unverified New York Post story claiming to contain a “smoking gun” email related to presidential candidate Joe Biden. Twitter CEO Dorsey apologized for blocking the story URLs earlier this month. It has also been criticized for muting or blocking tweets that contain misinformation.
Dorsey argues in his prepared remarks Section 230 has allowed small companies to scale up to compete against established, global companies, and eroding it could destroy how we communicate online. He says only the largest, well-funded tech companies will survive.
Weakening or removing Section 230 will also lead to more speech removal on social media networks, Dorsey argues, and will further limit the networks’ ability to address harmful content.
