Things To Do In SW Florida

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

Netflix missed the earnings target set by stock market analysts during the video streamer’s latest quarter, a letdown that the company blamed on a tax dispute in Brazil.

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  Comedian Preacher Lawson revealed as secret savior for Winter Park’s Austin’s Coffee

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  ‘Massive legal siege’ against social media companies looms

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  Costco tested members with higher fees. The results are in

The results announced Tuesday broke Netflix’s six-quarter streak of posting a profit that eclipsed analysts’ projections.

The Los Gatos, California, cited an unexpected $619 million expense tied to the Brazilian tax dispute for the earnings shortfall while hailing its lineup of distinctive TV series and films for keeping its audience engaged and delivering a mix of subscriber fees and increased ad sales that helped it deliver revenue that matched analyst forecasts. read more

When Preacher Lawson started work as a comedian 14 years ago, the stage at Austin’s Coffee helped strengthen his chops at stand-up during its weekly Comedy Night.

Years later when the Winter Park fixture for arts and entertainment was threatened with closure, Lawson joined two others to buy and relocate it. His role was quiet at first, but Austin’s new management revealed it this week as the shop prepares to shut its doors on Saturday night at its longtime 929 W. Fairbanks Ave. home.

A week later, on Nov. 1, Austin’s is eyeing a soft opening at its new 2240 W. Fairbanks Ave. location — about a mile west of its current site near Interstate 4.

“I just wanted to make sure Austin’s is OK,” Lawson told the Sentinel on Tuesday in his first interview about it. “It’s really a pillar for comedy in the Orlando scene.

“It’s one of my favorite mics ever. It really helped me grow as a comedian.”

In 2011 he came to Orlando from his native Portland, Oregon, because his mother lived here. He became a regular at Austin’s Comedy Nights until he left the area in 2016. read more

An group that includes activist investor Jana Partners and NFL player Travis Kelce says it has accumulated one of the largest ownership stakes in Six Flags Entertainment and intends to press the company’s leadership on ways to improve the struggling amusement park operator’s business.

Related Articles

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  Netflix blames tax dispute in Brazil for rare quarterly earnings letdown

• 
  Comedian Preacher Lawson revealed as secret savior for Winter Park’s Austin’s Coffee

• 
  Ex-Amazon driver sues civil rights agency for dropping her case following Trump’s executive order

• 
  ‘Massive legal siege’ against social media companies looms

• 
  Costco tested members with higher fees. The results are in

Jana said Tuesday that the investor group now owns an economic interest of approximately 9% in Six Flags. The group plans to “engage” with Six Flags’ management and board of directors to discuss ways to enhance shareholder value and improve visitors’ experience. read more

By ALEXANDRA OLSON and CLAIRE SAVAGE, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — A former Amazon delivery driver has filed a lawsuit accusing a federal civil right agency of abruptly and unlawfully abandoning her sex discrimination case and others like it following an executive order from President Donald Trump.

The lawsuit filed by the former Colorado driver demands that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission resume investigating her claims that Amazon discriminates against female drivers by failing to provide adequate bathroom breaks.

The lawsuit is the latest example of workers and others scrambling to find recourse as federal agencies abandon their cases in response to Trump’s shake-up of the country’s civil rights enforcement infrastructure.

The EEOC, which enforces civil rights laws in the workplace, decided last month to discharge any complaints based on “disparate impact liability,” which holds that policies that are neutral on their face can be discriminatory if they impose unnecessary barriers that disadvantage different demographic groups. read more

By Olivia Carville, Bloomberg News

Thousands of plaintiffs’ complaints, millions of pages of internal documents and transcripts of countless hours of depositions are about to land in U.S. courtrooms, threatening the future of the biggest social media companies.

The blizzard of paperwork is a byproduct of two consolidated lawsuits accusing Snap Inc.’s Snapchat; Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook and Instagram; ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok; and Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube of knowingly designing their platforms to addict users — allegedly resulting in youth depression, anxiety, insomnia, eating disorders, self-harm and even suicide.

The litigation, brewing for more than three years, has had to overcome numerous hurdles, including the liability shield that has protected social media platforms from facing user-harm lawsuits. The social media companies have filed multiple motions to dismiss the cases on the grounds that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act prevents them from being held accountable for content posted on their sites. read more