Hope you’re all staying warm. Here’s your quick roundup of business and tech news to know for the week ahead. — Charlotte Cowles
What’s Up? (Feb. 14-20)
A Costly Mix-up
Citigroup made an embarrassing mistake last summer and accidentally wired $900 million to a group of lenders instead of a much smaller interest payment it intended to send. Citigroup has been trying to reclaim the money, which it sent on behalf of the beauty company Revlon, ever since. And typically, recipients of cash wired in error are required to return it. But last week, a judge ruled that the lenders could keep it all. His reasoning: They had grounds to believe that the payment, which covered all that Revlon owed, was intentional. The decision is a major blow to Citigroup, which says it will appeal.
Understand What Happened With GameStop
- Shares in GameStop, the video retailer, have crashed from their January highs, which were driven by memes on social media.
- Amateur traders egging on one another on Reddit bet heavily on shares of the company in January, sending the price up more than 1,700 percent at one point.
- The wave was in part aimed at hurting large hedge funds that had been short selling — betting against — GameStop stock. Some of those funds experienced huge losses as a result.
- But many of the individual investors who pumped up the stock could lose huge amounts of money, too. Some believe the price will go back up and are refusing to sell, even as the share price has collapsed.
- Now, regulators are looking into how the rally started and whether new rules should be created because of it.
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