Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Brown University President Christina Paxson defended the principles of affirmative action and preferential treatment to the children of alumni in admissions in the face of debate over two long-standing practices across American higher education.

“We haven’t found a good alternative” to affirmative action in ensuring a diverse student body, Paxson said in a wide-ranging interview with Bloomberg News journalists on Wednesday. “The moves against taking race into account as one of many factors in admissions basically blocks out a really important piece of information about a person in the life that they’ve experienced.”

American universities’ consideration of race in admissions has been protected by decades-old Supreme Court precedents, but that could change later this year. The high court will address the issue in a case expected to be heard in the term that starts in October.

Paxson, who in July will celebrate her 10th anniversary leading her Providence, Rhode Island institution, argued against ranking applicants “by GPA or test scores and have a cut-off.”

“When we do admissions, we’re really thinking about constructing a class” that brings diversity of perspectives, experiences and backgrounds, she said. “All of this together is what universities need if our graduates are going to be able to grapple with the kind of challenges that we face and overcome some of the real polarization this country faces right now.”

Legacies are often misunderstood, she also said; they’re not necessarily displacing applicants from underprivileged backgrounds. Legacy is “one among many, many factors” in making admission decisions, she said.

And while the assumption is often that alumni parents are white and wealthy, legacy students are increasingly diverse racially and ethnically, and a “fair fraction” received financial aid because their parents were teachers or public servants not commanding high salaries, Paxson said.

“Certainly if the law changes, we comply with the law,” Paxson said as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to consider abolishing the use of race in college admissions decisions.

Brown is in the meantime examining how to build its recruiting networks and strengthen ties with community-based organizations, she said.

Paxson also said that, “I want students from rural areas and urban areas. I want students who grew up on army bases. I want students who are from tight-knit Christian communities,” in building diverse classes.

The Brown president, a former dean of Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs and chair of Princeton’s economics department, said that life on campus is getting back toward normal amid the pandemic, with all students invited to attend in-person classes. But the effects of the pandemic are still visible.

“I would really love to lose the masks,” Paxson said. “It really makes a big difference” to be able to see when people smile and when they look confused, she said.

She said she’s spoken with Ashish Jha, dean of Brown’s School of Public Health, about the issue, and “he’s pretty optimistic that barring another variant, we’ll get to that point later in the spring, which would be fantastic.”

The following are among other topics Paxson discussed with Bloomberg:

Boston Fed

While Paxson, who chairs the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s board of directors, declined to discuss the search for a new Boston Fed president, she said her approach toward filling any position is “to work really hard at building a very, very strong and diverse pool of candidates.”

Crypto Investing

Paxson said that Brown started accepting donations in Bitcoin several years ago, and that those contributions are typically then sold. Brown’s endowment also has investments in cryptocurrency assets — “which makes sense given their performance.” Digital assets are going to be part of the “balanced” portfolio, she said.

China

Paxon said that while it’s vital for American universities to safeguard intellectual property, she argued against “overly restrictive” policies. “The message that we’ve been signaling out to the world is ‘Don’t come, especially if you’re from China,’ and I think that’s a huge, huge mistake.”

Attracting talented students and engaging in academic collaboration is important to maintain “our preeminence as the major research powerhouse of the world,” she said. “We don’t want to do anything that makes people afraid to collaborate with somebody on a great project.”

Inflation

She said it’s unclear where inflation will “level out” after its surge during the pandemic, or how much will become embedded in wages. Brown itself will release information on its pay and tuition in mid-February, she noted.

Fiscal Policy

While declining to comment on Fed policy and inflation, she expressed concern about government spending. “The fiscal response has been enormous — enormous,” and it may be compressing the fiscal scope for longer-term investments, she said.

Skipping College

Paxson also worried about fewer Americans attending college. “We used to be top in the world in terms of the fraction of people going to and graduating from college,” but now “we are falling behind.”

She urged expansion of Pell Grants, the federal subsidies for college students with high financial need. “We need to do something to kind of make the economic model work for the students,” she said.

Job Plans

Paxson said she has made “a very firm commitment” to remain as Brown president for “at least four more years.”

“I love this job. It’s the best job I’ve ever had,” she said.

(Updates with data on student body in second box.)

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©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — Jump Crypto said it replaced the estimated $320 million in cryptocurrency hacked from the Wormhole blockchain protocol.   

The digital-asset unit of quant shop Jump Trading Group, which last year bought a developer of the communication bridge between Solana and other decentralized-finance blockchain networks, confirmed that it replaced the 120,000 Ethereum that was stolen. The project announced the funding Wednesday following the hack without identifying the source of the money.

Jump has emerged as a major player in crypto. The company was one of the founders of Pyth, which supplies updates on asset prices every 400 milliseconds to the Solana blockchain, giving regular people access to the turbocharged data feeds used by some of the world’s most sophisticated traders.

Jump Trading hinted earlier of its involvement in an internal email, made available to Bloomberg, that said “Jump Crypto is involved with Wormhole and will be a leading player in ensuring that the bridge returns to a stable place, and that all people affected by the hack are made whole.”

Kyle Samani, co-founder of Multicoin, which invests in crypto startups, said on Twitter that Jump is doing so because it supports the project and its background in providing liquidity and high-frequency trading in traditional markets gives them a unique perspective on how to think about the importance of such so-called bridges. Samani cited conversations with “various teams around wormhole, exchanges, Stablecoins issuers, etc in the last 24 hours”.

Kanav Kariya, who became the president of Jump Crypto last September when the unit was debuted, alluded to as much earlier on Twitter. He responded affirmatively to a tweet Wednesday that said “Don’t bet against a team willing to put up $300m of their own money to make users whole” while tagging Jump Crypto. “We certainly will ser,” Kariya tweeted.    

Last August, Jump Trading bought Certus One, which helped develop Wormhole. As part of the deal, Hendrik Hofstadt, chief executive officer and co-founder of Certus One, joined Jump as the director of special projects in Digital Assets group. Jump has said it is a founding code contributor to Wormhole.   

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(Bloomberg) — Airlines and flight crews have been forced to sift through scores of new restrictions since last month’s chaotic roll-out of new 5G wireless service, aviation industry officials told lawmakers Thursday. 

Flight precautions imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration can vary by different runways at the same airport, according to testimony at the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s aviation panel. 

Pilots are forced to perform extensive workarounds that “we expect will be needed for the foreseeable future,” Joe DePete, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, said in prepared remarks. “This is no way to run a railroad, and it’s certainly no way to operate the world’s safest air transportation system.”

At the same time, wireless companies AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. that spent about $80 billion for the rights to the new C-band airwaves, have had to hold off on activating hundreds of cell towers near airport runways as the FAA assesses the potential for interference on aviation equipment. 

“The truth of the matter is that both of our industries have been thrust into this avoidable economic calamity by a government process that failed,” Nicholas Calio, president of the Airlines for America trade group, said in prepared testimony.

Broken System

A top House lawmaker called the U.S. government’s process of auctioning radio spectrum “completely broken” as wireless and aviation groups presented starkly different views of last month’s chaotic roll-out of new 5G wireless service. 

Representative Peter DeFazio, the Oregon Democrat who is chairman of the committee, said the Federal Communications Commission had no plan in place to deal with what he called well known safety issues. 

“Having a dropped call is way less serious than having a dropped airplane out of the sky,” DeFazio said. 

A panel of witnesses appearing before the committee praised ongoing technical work between the two sides, but differed markedly on the potential risks to aviation and the impacts to the aviation system from the high-speed mobile phone service introduced Jan. 19.

U.S. safety regulators have received more than 100 pilot reports of possible interference from 5G wireless signals — including three near Chicago O’Hare International Airport — since the new mobile phone service began less than two weeks ago. 

The reports of anomalies on aircraft devices known as radar altimeters are being reviewed by the FAA, said three people familiar with the matter who weren’t authorized to speak about it. Interference from the new 5G service has been ruled out in many of the cases, one of the people said, and it remains unclear whether the others indicate a safety hazard or just pilots being overly cautious. 

Reform Needed

DeFazio and other lawmakers at the hearing in Washington said that the process of how FCC awards frequencies may need to be reformed to stem the kind of conflicts with other agencies and industries that occurred in recent months. 

“I think everyone realizes the process didn’t serve anyone well,” said FAA chief Steve Dickson, the committee’s first witness.

Dickson said the FAA had been asking for more information from FCC to be able to assess 5G’s impacts for more than a year before they received a response. Even then, the FCC didn’t have the needed data and the aviation agency had to turn directly to wireless companies, he said. 

New 5G service operates on frequencies that are close to those used by aircraft devices known as radar altimeters, which show how far a plane is off the ground. 

The FAA says research shows that the 5G signals have the potential to interfere with the altimeters, which perform a wide variety of navigation and safety functions.

Meredith Attwell Baker, president and chief executive officer of the wireless industry trade group CTIA, called the evidence of interference “flawed.”

The FCC “conducted a rigorous analysis and found no harmful interference” from the C-band frequencies used for 5G, she said in her prepared remarks.

The FAA has cleared about 90% of aircraft to operate near 5G signals across the U.S., partly as a result of an agreement by the wireless companies to limit placement of cell towers near runways. At some major airports, including New York’s John F. Kennedy and New Jersey’s Newark Liberty, the percentage is only 81% because of the mix of aircraft, the agency said Wednesday. 

As a result, there have been relatively few flight diversions or cancellations.

Faye Malarkey Black, who heads the Regional Airline Association, said the smaller aircraft used by its members haven’t received as many FAA clearances, putting them at greater risk of flight cancellations if bad weather hits. 

“Leaving dozens of airports and millions of passengers vulnerable to sweeping disruptions is unsustainable and unacceptable,” Black said in her prepared remarks. 

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel was invited to testify but had a schedule conflict, DeFazio said. 

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(Bloomberg) — The Securities and Exchange Commission is set to consider new stock trading rules in what would be the Wall Street regulator’s most direct response yet to last year’s wild trading in GameStop Corp. and other meme stocks. 

SEC Chair Gary Gensler said Thursday that the agency is preparing to take up a range of policy changes starting next week that would deal with issues raised by last year’s market frenzy, including shortening the time it takes to settle stock trades. 

The inner-workings of the stock market have become a hot button issue in Washington since last year’s wild trading, prompting a series of congressional hearings. The SEC has come under pressure to respond, and the possible rule changes follow a report by the agency last year.

“It is about the plumbing of the stock market, clearing and settling and how we can take risk out of the system,” Gensler said on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power With David Westin.”

He added that the agency was also looking to address the decision by some retail brokerage apps to halt trading in certain stocks. “The retail public found they were foreclosed from trading,” he said, declining to comment on whether any rules were broken. 

As an initial step, next week the SEC also plans to begin considering rules about how long it takes to settle stock trades. The SEC has said previously said it wants to reduce the time for transactions, which now take two days to finalize.

Because stock prices can fluctuate dramatically over those two days, brokers have to post collateral with an outfit called the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. to ensure that they have the funds to cover the risks that their customers take. The time lag was blamed for the decision by Robinhood Markets Inc. and other platforms to restrict some trading in meme stocks when demand surged. 

Separately, Gensler signaled in the Bloomberg interview that the SEC could soon weigh changes related to digital engagement practices used by retail trading apps like Robinhood. The features have come under fire by investor advocates. 

(Updates with more comments on SEC rule changes starting in second paragraph.)

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©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — The record surge in U.S. auto prices — which helped drive inflation to a four-decade high — may finally be over, say two firms that sell cars online.

Used-car prices, which have risen at an annual rate above 50% at times during the pandemic, went into reverse last month, according to a new report from CoPilot, a car-buying app. They peaked in the two weeks after the Christmas holiday, and have since declined about 1.4%, the firm’s data show. 

TrueCar, a digital marketplace that helps auto buyers connect with dealers, says there’s been a drop in new-car prices too. They fell 2% in January from December, while remaining about 16% higher than a year ago, according to its data. 

To be sure, some caution is required, because it’s not the first time there’s been an apparent peak. Used-car prices posted some monthly declines last summer, according to one widely-used measure — but then resumed their upward climb. 

The industry is still struggling with supply-chain disruptions. But some automakers say those problems may be easing. The semiconductor shortage is less acute in the current quarter than the last one, and should start to really diminish in the second half of this year, General Motors Co. Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra said on an earnings call this week.

The lack of chips held back production of new cars. That’s had a knock-on impact in the used-car markets, as buyers who couldn’t get the latest model looked for a fairly recent one instead — driving prices up. 

CoPilot says there’s been a bigger drop in prices for used cars that are three years old or less — making them a better substitute for new ones — as dealers have expanded their inventories. The decline in that category is 2.1% since the early-January peak, while tor four-to-seven year-old models it’s about 1%. 

(Corrects spelling in last paragraph)

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(Bloomberg) — Spotify Technology SA outlined steps it will take to halt the spread of misleading information about Covid-19 on its audio-streaming service in an attempt to quell a growing controversy over its support for the podcast host Joe Rogan.

Spotify published internal rules Sunday governing what content is and isn’t allowed on its service, and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek said in a blog post that the company will add an advisory to any podcast episode that addresses the coronavirus. That advisory will direct listeners to a hub offering more information about the pandemic. 

The company is trying to end a mounting insurrection among a vocal minority of users and musicians without alienating its most popular podcaster. Folk singers Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their music from Spotify last week in protest of Rogan, a popular podcaster who has hosted several outspoken skeptics of the Covid-19 vaccines.

Spotify created rules governing acceptable content on its service years ago and built a hub with Covid-19 information early in the pandemic. While those policies have been accessible for employees, the company didn’t make them public until Sunday after a series of scandals jeopardized its business. 

“We have had rules in place for many years but admittedly, we haven’t been transparent around the policies that guide our content more broadly,” Ek wrote in the blog post. “This, in turn, led to questions around their application to serious issues including Covid-19.”

Both Young and Mitchell suffered from polio as children, and their rebuke of Spotify followed a letter from more than 200 medical professionals criticizing the company as well. Social-research professor Brene Brown said Saturday she would stop releasing new episodes of her podcast until further notice, though she didn’t specify why.

A Spotify spokesperson said it is the first major podcasting service to publish Covid advisories on shows. The number of podcasts on Spotify has ballooned to more than 3 million shows over the past few years, and the company is still creating its best practices for evaluating them.

Yet it remains to be seen whether the action will be enough to calm the maelstrom. The rules outlaw dangerous, deceptive, sensitive and illegal content, including anything that advocates or glorifies serious physical harm, deceptive content, interferes with an election or infringes on a copyright. Spotify’s post doesn’t mention Rogan by name, nor does it specify any podcasts it has already taken down. None of Rogan’s episodes violate Spotify’s policies, the spokesperson said.

Rogan has presented a public relations conundrum for Spotify ever since the company paid more than $100 million for the exclusive rights to his show. He offers a hospitable environment for guests with controversial points of view about the pandemic, politics and just about every other topic. 

The criticism and controversy has thus far been worth it to the company’s leadership: Spotify’s stock price jumped the day they announced the deal, and Rogan hosts the single most popular podcast on its service. Spotify moved into podcasting hoping it would turn its popular but unprofitable music service into a more lucrative business. Investors cheered the efforts, though they have cooled on the company in recent months. Its stock has fallen 48% in the past 12 months, closing at $172.98 on Jan. 28 with a stock-market value of $33 billion.

Criticism from famous musicians hurts Spotify more than any angry social-media comments. The company built its business as the most popular paid music-streaming service, and music is still the most popular audio genre on Spotify. While neither Mitchell nor Young matters to Spotify’s business all that much, they are two of the most respected musicians alive and their voices have the potential to inspire others to speak out.

(Corrects story published Jan. 30 to say “Covid advisories on shows” in seventh paragraph.)

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(Bloomberg) — The National Football League is riding a ratings resurgence, some of the most exciting games in recent memory and a new generation of stars into its biggest game of the year. And advertisers are taking notice.

Take Budweiser, which sat out the Super Bowl last year for the first time in nearly four decades, to focus instead on Covid-related philanthropy. Its familiar red, white and blue label returns to the game this year with an ad featuring one of its famous Clydesdale horses, recovering from a leg injury and charging again across America’s heartland. It’s among the marketers spending millions for airtime on Feb. 13, when the Los Angeles Rams face off on their home field SoFi Stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals in the most-watched U.S. TV event of the year.

“We felt like this year was the perfect opportunity to come back and promote this unifying message about American determination and resiliency,” said Daniel Blake, group vice president for marketing at Budweiser. 

NFL viewership is up this year and about 49 million people tuned in for each of the playoff games last Sunday. NBC, which is broadcasting the game, has sold more than 70 ads, with 30-second spots fetching about $6.5 million each. Mark Marshall, president of advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, said total viewership for the Super Bowl is expected to exceed 100 million, up from last year’s 14-year low of 96.4 million.

Ratings had been beaten down in recent years as controversies over players kneeling during the national anthem and the treatment of concussions, along with empty stadiums due to Covid-19 restrictions, led some viewers to tune out. But new stars like the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen have helped bring back fans. It remains to be seen whether a racial discrimination lawsuit filed this week by Brian Flores, former coach of the Miami Dolphins, will alter that trajectory. 

Advertisers will be doing their best to help consumers put the past behind them — especially the pandemic. After a 2021 game laden with depressing ads, brands have turned to comedians to do more fun spots on beer, snacks and cars, while emerging categories such as cryptocurrencies and sports betting take their own shot at Super Bowl ad glory. They all have one message in common though, telling people it’s OK to start enjoying life again.

“A lot of the spots are going to be very comedic and you’re going to see heavy hitters never before seen in commercial advertising show up,” said April Tombs, senior agent at United Talent Agency, which represents a number of Hollywood stars.

Teasers have already been released for a Lay’s potato chips ad featuring Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd joking about their roles as pitchmen on set. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion endures questions about odd animal allergies in a spot for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. 

Celebrity Duets

Celebrity pairings will include Mila Kunis and Demi Moore in an ad for AT&T Inc.’s internet access, according to market researcher iSpot.tv. Some the world’s top comedic actors will make appearances as well, including Kevin Hart for Sam’s Club; Eugene Levy in a spoof on action movies for Nissan Motor Co.; and Hannah Waddingham, of “Ted Lasso,” in a spot for shopping site Rakuten.

In a bid to get Americans vacationing again, online travel site Booking.com will have a Super Bowl ad this year featuring actor Idris Elba, while rival Expedia.com returns to the big game after more than 10 years with a spot featuring actor Ewan McGregor.

Budweiser’s parent has four minutes of ads in the game, including for trendy party beverages such as Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda. Its Clydesdale spot was directed by “Nomadland” Oscar winner Chloe Zhao and it features music from blues-rocker Gary Clark Jr.

Sports betting giant DraftKings Inc. will return with a spot. Newer brands, such as cryptocurrency exchanges FTX Trading Ltd. and Crypto.com will make their debuts. FTX is sponsoring an event, Shaq’s Fun House, before the game with basketball great Shaquille O’Neal. Crypto.com has made an even bigger splash in Los Angeles, snagging naming rights to the arena formally known as Staples Center.

The ad lineup this year should be in sharp contrast to 2021, when many of the spots took up a pandemic theme. DoorDash, for example, reminded consumers to help local restaurants. Job-search site Indeed showed folks looking for work and a dour Bruce Springsteen spoke about national unity while trying to sell Jeeps.

“The Super Bowl reflects trends in the country,” said Tim Calkins, marketing professor at Northwestern University. “If you want to see the tonality of the country at a particular point in time, just look at the Super Bowl.”

(Corrects name of product in 11th paragraph.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — The National Football League is riding a ratings resurgence, some of the most exciting games in recent memory and a new generation of stars into its biggest game of the year. And advertisers are taking notice.

Take Budweiser, which sat out the Super Bowl last year for the first time in nearly four decades, to focus instead on Covid-related philanthropy. Its familiar red, white and blue label returns to the game this year with an ad featuring one of its famous Clydesdale horses, recovering from a leg injury and charging again across America’s heartland. It’s among the marketers spending millions for airtime on Feb. 13, when the Los Angeles Rams face off on their home field SoFi Stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals in the most-watched U.S. TV event of the year.

“We felt like this year was the perfect opportunity to come back and promote this unifying message about American determination and resiliency,” said Daniel Blake, group vice president for marketing at Budweiser. 

NFL viewership is up this year and about 49 million people tuned in for each of the playoff games last Sunday. NBC, which is broadcasting the game, has sold more than 70 ads, with 30-second spots fetching about $6.5 million each. Mark Marshall, president of advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, said total viewership for the Super Bowl is expected to exceed 100 million, up from last year’s 14-year low of 96.4 million.

Ratings had been beaten down in recent years as controversies over players kneeling during the national anthem and the treatment of concussions, along with empty stadiums due to Covid-19 restrictions, led some viewers to tune out. But new stars like the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen have helped bring back fans. It remains to be seen whether a racial discrimination lawsuit filed this week by Brian Flores, former coach of the Miami Dolphins, will alter that trajectory. 

Advertisers will be doing their best to help consumers put the past behind them — especially the pandemic. After a 2021 game laden with depressing ads, brands have turned to comedians to do more fun spots on beer, snacks and cars, while emerging categories such as cryptocurrencies and sports betting take their own shot at Super Bowl ad glory. They all have one message in common though, telling people it’s OK to start enjoying life again.

“A lot of the spots are going to be very comedic and you’re going to see heavy hitters never before seen in commercial advertising show up,” said April Tombs, senior agent at United Talent Agency, which represents a number of Hollywood stars.

Teasers have already been released for a Lay’s potato chips ad featuring Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd joking about their roles as pitchmen on set. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion endures questions about odd animal allergies in a spot for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. 

Celebrity Duets

Celebrity pairings will include Mila Kunis and Demi Moore in an ad for AT&T Inc.’s internet access, according to market researcher iSpot.tv. Some the world’s top comedic actors will make appearances as well, including Kevin Hart for Sam’s Club; Eugene Levy in a spoof on action movies for Nissan Motor Co.; and Hannah Waddingham, of “Ted Lasso,” in a spot for shopping site Rakuten.

In a bid to get Americans vacationing again, online travel site Booking.com will have a Super Bowl ad this year featuring actor Idris Elba, while rival Expedia.com returns to the big game after more than 10 years with a spot featuring actor Ewan McGregor.

Budweiser’s parent has four minutes of ads in the game, including for trendy party beverages such as Bud Light Seltzer Hard Soda. Its Clydesdale spot was directed by “Nomadland” Oscar winner Chloe Zhao and it features music from blues-rocker Gary Clark Jr.

Sports betting giant DraftKings Inc. will return with a spot. Newer brands, such as cryptocurrency exchanges FTX Trading Ltd. and Crypto.com will make their debuts. FTX is sponsoring an event, Shaq’s Fun House, before the game with basketball great Shaquille O’Neal. Crypto.com has made an even bigger splash in Los Angeles, snagging naming rights to the arena formally known as Staples Center.

The ad lineup this year should be in sharp contrast to 2021, when many of the spots took up a pandemic theme. DoorDash, for example, reminded consumers to help local restaurants. Job-search site Indeed showed folks looking for work and a dour Bruce Springsteen spoke about national unity while trying to sell Jeeps.

“The Super Bowl reflects trends in the country,” said Tim Calkins, marketing professor at Northwestern University. “If you want to see the tonality of the country at a particular point in time, just look at the Super Bowl.”

(Corrects name of product in 11th paragraph.)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

(Bloomberg) — The Buy Black movement that emerged following the social unrest and unequal impact of the pandemic in 2020 continued to find support in 2021 as mentions of Black-owned businesses more than doubled and ratings were higher than the average, according to a Yelp study released Thursday.

More than 45,000 business owners have opted to identify as Black-owned through a tag on the site since the search and review company added it in 2020, the company said in a blog post. Mentions of Black-owned businesses rose 165% in 2021 compared to 2019 and searches for Black-owned business were 5% higher than the three-year average, the data showed.

Black-owned businesses were hard-hit during the early stages of the pandemic. There was a 41% decline of black owners from February to April 2020,  the National Bureau of Economic Research found. The recovery since has also been rocky. More than half of Black-owned business had less than three-month’s cash in reserve and 45% said they have over-accumulated debt to stay in business, a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. survey in September showed. In another drag on recovery, the pre-pandemic median number of employees at Black-owned businesses has fallen to six, from nine prior to the pandemic, Goldman found.

Black businesses had a higher average rating of 4.4 compared to the average rating of 3.6 for all Yelp-listed businesses. The top states for Black-owned business, based on search volume, are California, Texas, Georgia, Florida and New York, the data showed. 

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(Bloomberg) — The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved legislation that, if passed into law, would force Apple Inc. to let users install apps from outside of the App Store.  

The bipartisan 21-1 vote is a strong endorsement for the bill from Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal, Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar, Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn and eight other cosponsors, but it still faces a long road to get a vote in the full Senate. 

The bill seeks to loosen the duopoly that Apple and Alphabet Inc.’s Google have over mobile app distribution, part of Congress’s push to curb the power of U.S. technology giants.

“If you’re a consumer, what this measure means to you is cheaper prices, more innovation, better products and more consumer safeguards by opening the walled garden so that new entrants are willing and able to compete on values like privacy and children’s safety,” Blumenthal said during the hearing. Google and Apple “own the rails of the ap economy, much as the railroad companies did at the start of the last century.”

Blumenthal estimated the value of the app store market at about $100 billion a year.

The measure, S. 2710, would require Apple to let users install apps on their phones and other devices from sources on the web or alternative app stores, a process that’s called sideloading. This provision would most impact Apple. While Google offers its Play Store on mobile devices, it doesn’t bar users from downloading Android apps elsewhere. Sideloading, which Apple has said poses security risks for consumers, would allow apps to avoid Apple’s commissions, which range from 15% to 30%. 

The bill also would force app marketplaces to allow third-party app developers to communicate with customers outside the platforms about cheaper ways to subscribe and alternative ways to pay for services. Last year, Apple said it will allow this as part of a class action settlement in the U.S. with app developers. 

Read More: Apple, Google Tell Senate That Tech Bills Will Harm Privacy

The committee adopted an amendment addressing security concerns put forth by tech companies that would allow platforms to actively manage their systems to oversee cyber security and privacy. The second amendment that was adopted requires the Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department, and Government Accountability Office to submit an impact report three years after enactment of the statute.

Apple has lobbied hard against this bill, arguing that it would make the iPhone ecosystem more similar to Android, limiting consumer choice for what it calls a more secure and closed environment. 

Apple urged the panel to reject the bill in a letter, obtained by Bloomberg, sent on Wednesday to Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin and ranking Republican Chuck Grassley.

“We are deeply concerned that the legislation, unless amended, would make it easier for big social media platforms to avoid the pro-consumer practices of Apple’s App Store, and allow them to continue business as usual,” Tim Powderly, the company’s head of government affairs in the Americas, wrote in the letter.

Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook personally met with several senators in December, including Klobuchar, Durbin and Grassley, about this bill and other antitrust proposals, according to a person familiar with the meetings. Cook was set to speak with Blackburn Wednesday before the committee hearing, but the meeting was re-scheduled, according to a Senate aide. 

Google criticized the measure, saying it could destroy consumer benefits that current payment systems provide and distort competition by exempting gaming platforms. 

The bill “amounts to Congress trying to artificially pick winners and losers in a highly competitive marketplace,” said Mark Isakowitz, head of Google’s government affairs and public policy. 

Companies like Spotify Technology SA, Tile and Match Group Inc. support the changes in the proposal, which they say would leave them less dependent on Apple and Google to reach customers. Microsoft has also thrown its weight behind the bill, according to a person familiar with the company’s position.

The Senate Judiciary panel last week approved another antitrust bill aimed at Apple, Google, Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc., prohibiting these dominant companies from giving an advantage to their own products over those of competitors. The House version of that bill was part of an antitrust package that the House Judiciary Committee approved in June of last year. 

The app store measure also has a bipartisan House companion bill, but that hasn’t yet been considered in committee. 

Some of the app-store practices addressed by Thursday’s bill were also challenged by Epic Games Inc. in the video game-maker’s lawsuit against Apple. The judge in that case found that Apple has engaged in some anticompetitive conduct and ordered the iPhone maker stop preventing developers from steering users to alternative payment methods. 

Apple has appealed the ruling and an appeals court stayed the decision. 

The judge in the original Epic case also found that Apple’s dominance of the market for mobile apps doesn’t violate U.S. antitrust law. Epic is appealing that part of the decision with the support of 35 states, civil society groups and Microsoft Corp. 

(Updates with Blumenthal quote in fourth paragraph)

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