Tech firms ask US Supreme Court to block Texas social media law - May 16, 2022

McDonald’s announced it is selling its Russian business, which includes 850 restaurants that employ 62,000 people, making it the latest major Western corporation to exit Russia since it invaded Ukraine. The French automaker Renault is also pulling its business, announcing it reached a deal to cede its stake in Russia’s biggest car marker on Monday and German electronics giant Siemens is exiting Russia after nearly 170 years in business there. Pressure from investors and consumers is driving the trend that’s led to more than 1,200 companies voluntarily curtailing operations in Russia. Despite early predictions that Zoom meetings would replace face-to-face encounters, industry trade groups and hotel companies are pointing to significant upswings of in-person small business meetings as well as larger conventions and trade shows. Airlines have also noted an increase in bookings by business travelers – a good sign for the industry’s revival, as corporate clients spent more than $1 trillion on travel pre-pandemic in 2019. Lobbying groups representing Facebook, Twitter, Google and other tech companies filed an emergency request with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to block a Texas law that prohibits large social media from banning users based on political views. The law creates new legal risks for tech giants and fosters uncertainty about how social media will function in the state. A recent survey found a declining share of Americans favor more government regulation of tech companies, a trend most pronounced among Republicans. The median pay package for chief executives of the biggest U.S. companies reached $14.7 million in 2021, setting a sixth-straight annual record as strong profits and robust markets boost performance measures. Calculating executive pay by factoring in goals related to climate and diversity is growing more common as investors demand action, with a quarter of U.S. companies including some form of environmental or social metric as part of their executive incentive plans in 2021, compared to 16% in