Apple Reports Record Revenue and Diem Might Scale Back in This Week’s Business and Crypto Roundup

Many brands are starting to see a recovery despite the challenges initially brought on by the pandemic. Some businesses, especially ones that focused efforts on expanding e-commerce ventures, have even seen profits rise even higher than before.

HYPEBEAST has rounded up the top business and crypto stories of the week so you can stay in the know about trends across industries.

Business

1. Tesla reported its fourth-quarter results and said it would not release new cars this year

The company reported a 65% revenue growth year-over-year to $17.72 billion USD. CEO Elon Musk also discussed a “product road map” and said the company would not release any new models in 2022, including the highly-anticipated Cybertruck.

My @elonmusk $TSLA “Product Roadmap Update” Interpretation:

Demand is off the hook for existing models so it doesn’t make sense for us to introduce new vehicle models until all supply constraints can first catch up to that ever-increasing demand

— Emmet Peppers (@EmmetPeppers) January 27, 2022

2. TikTok owner ByteDance saw its total revenue grow by 70% year-over-year, according to Reuters

Two people familiar with the matter told the outlet that the company’s revenue increased to around $58 billion USD in 2021. The company is now valued at $300 billion USD.

3. Samsung reported record revenue for Q4 of 2021

Consolidated revenue for the period came in at $63.7 billion USD but operating profit was just $11.5 billion USD, marking a slight decline year-over-year. Overall revenue for the year also reached a record high of $232.5 billion USD, with $42.9 billion USD in operating profit.

[Fourth Quarter 2021 Results (in KRW)] Sales: 76.57 trillion, operating profit: 13.87 trillionhttps://t.co/E5UxSGKo9q

— Samsung Electronics (@Samsung) January 26, 2022

4. Apple’s Q1 2022 revenue increased to $123.9 Billion USD

The company also reported a net income of $34.6 billion USD with gross margins that exceeded 43%. Apple CEO Tim Cook said: “This quarter’s record results were made possible by our most innovative lineup of products and services ever.”

5. Kim Kardashians SKIMS doubles in valuation to $3.2 billion USD

The shapewear brand’s $240 million financing round was led by hedge fund Lone Pine Capital. The brand was valued at $1.6 billion USD in April, according to Bloomberg.

Kim Kardashian’s underwear label Skims nabbed a $3.2 billion valuation, doubling in value in just nine months https://t.co/l3S7B9udf4

— Bloomberg (@business) January 27, 2022

Crypto

1. Meta’s crypto arm might be preparing to scale back

The cryptocurrency project founded by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg may soon sell its assets to return money to its investors, Bloomberg reported. Sources told the outlet that Diem wants to “find a new home” for the engineers that developed the technology used for the project.

2. CASETiFY now lets users display and verify NFTs in their phone case

Each phone case will feature a printed QR code linked to the NFT’s origin and metadata alongside a printed image of the NFT itself. Certain blue-chip NFT projects, like Bored Ape Yacht Club, will come with a blue verified camera ring

 

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A post shared by CASETiFY Co-Lab (@casetify_colab)

3. The IMF has urged El Salvador to drop Bitcoin as legal tender

The country was the first in the world to adopt Bitcoin as a currency in September. The International Monetary Fund wrote in a statement that officially adopting a cryptocurrency “entails large risks for financial and market integrity, financial stability, and consumer protection.”

4. OpenSea reimburses users $1.8 million USD after a feature on the site was exploited

Earlier this week, a number of blue-chip NFTs, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats and Cyberkongz, were resold for well-below market value without the seller’s knowledge. The company has since built out a number of improvements to prevent people from taking advantage of this mechanism.

GM 🌞

This is the first edition of weekly threads we’ll be doing to announce platform updates to the OpenSea community.

Let’s dive in!

— OpenSea Support (@opensea_support) January 28, 2022

5. Reddit appears to be testing out NFT profile pictures

TechCrunch reported that the feature will be similar to Twitter’s recent update where the NFT profile picture would provide information on the piece’s metadata. Reddit told the outlet that it is still in the early stages of its NFT testing phase.