CNBC.com’s MacKenzie Sigalos brings you the day’s top business news headlines. On today’s show, the CNBC.com digital video team breaks down the major challenges facing President-elect Joe Biden as he takes office tomorrow. Then, CNBC’s Kate Rogers reports on what Biden’s plan to hike the federal minimum wage to $15 means for small businesses across the United States.
Biden’s inauguration speech to stress unity amid a national crisis
President-elect Joe Biden will on Wednesday deliver an inauguration speech centered on unity as the United States faces one of its most chaotic transfers of power in the modern era.
Biden, who departed for Washington on Tuesday afternoon, will speak about the need to bring the country together on the heels of a violent riot on Capitol Hill and amid extreme partisanship in Congress, according to the president-elect’s advisors.
His speech will also come in the wake of an outgoing president whose refusal to attend the inauguration ceremony was heralded by his successor as a victory for security.
Netflix will consider buybacks as it returns to positive cash flow after 2021
Netflix said Tuesday it plans to be cash-flow neutral this year and cash-flow positive every year after 2021, and will no longer need external financing to fund its operations, ending a decade-long trend and vindicating investors who have plowed money into the company despite its cash-burning ways.
Netflix also said it will consider share buybacks, a practice it hasn’t done since 2011 — the last time the company was cash-flow positive. The announcement came as part of Netflix’s earnings announcement, where the company also announced EPS of $1.19 on revenues of $6.64 billion for the fourth quarter, and 203.66 million global subscribers, up from 26 million at the end of 2011. Shares were up about 10% on the news.
Janet Yellen, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice for Treasury secretary, testified Tuesday that the U.S. could afford a higher corporate tax rate if it coordinates with other economies around the globe.
“We look forward to actively working with other countries through the [Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development] negotiations on taxes on multinational corporations to try to stop what has been a destructive, global race to the bottom on corporate taxation,” she said in response to a question from Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho.
