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The Week in Business: Meta Changes

    Sheryl Sandberg announced on Wednesday that he was stepping down as Meta’s chief operating officer after 14 years at the company. At that time, Facebook, as it was previously known, grew into a behemoth, acquiring dozens of companies and expanding its influence across the internet. Ms. Sandberg built her personal brand along with the company, publishing “Lean In,” her 2013 best-selling book on how to succeed as a woman in the workplace. But Ms Sandberg’s reputation suffered as Facebook faced criticism for its role in spreading misinformation during the 2016 election, the data breach involving Cambridge Analytica and other scandals. And many of the women who once subscribed to Ms. Sandberg’s philosophy became disillusioned to find that “leaning forward” didn’t lead to the raises and promotions she spoke of. Ms. Sandberg will remain on the board of Meta.

    After announcing only modest increases in oil inventories at recent meetings, OPEC Plus on Thursday agreed to increase production by 648,000 barrels per day in July and again in August — about 50 percent higher than the monthly increase recorded under last year. of a program was established. Biden government officials said on Thursday that President Biden would visit Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer and the de facto leader of OPEC Plus, in what appeared to be a step toward thawing relations (although he said Friday said he has “no immediate plans at this time” to do so). The large increase in production is unlikely to push gas prices down, but some analysts say OPEC Plus’ decision to forgo the planned production increases could be a sign of increased cooperation from the Saudis and from other countries such as the United Arab Emirates, while Western sanctions against Russia continue to put pressure on global supplies.

    Jobs stretched into their 17th straight month of gains, with the Labor Department reporting Friday that employers added 390,000 jobs in May. The report shows that the unemployment rate hovers around 3.6 percent, while the average hourly wage for workers rose 0.3 percent month-on-month and was 5.2 percent higher than a year earlier. These are somewhat tricky numbers to parse. Since the Federal Reserve hopes growth will slow — which would indicate that its efforts to cool the economy and curb inflation have begun to work — another month of strong jobs isn’t so reassuring. The number of jobs in May was lower than in April and wages have fallen slightly, both of which are encouraging signs. But the new data suggests Fed officials have a lot more work to do.

    Special purpose acquisitions, best known by their acronyms, are not as hot as they used to be, and a recent spate of failed SPAC mergers has cast serious doubts about their future. Last week, Forbes Media became the latest company to reverse its plans to merge with a SPAC, a move that effectively creates a shell company for investors to buy stock as part of a shortcut to going public. SPACs were attractive when prices were low and interest rates were low. But now that market conditions have shifted, a SPAC may seem riskier and many investors have withdrawn their money. SPACs were also attractive because they helped companies avoid the scrutiny a company undergoes when it goes public. Recently, however, regulators at the Securities and Exchange Commission have launched dozens of investigations into SPACs and are proposing stricter regulations, which could further dampen enthusiasm.

    Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference meets again this week to showcase the company’s latest products. The keynote – always the most hyped part of the conference – takes place on Monday and Apple is expected to unveil its next mobile operating system, iOS 16, which will include changes to notifications, messages and the lock screen. Details about the new iPhone 14 have begun to leak in recent weeks, but Apple probably won’t discuss those at the conference — the company usually releases its latest iPhones in the fall. Some fatigue and skepticism began to surround Apple’s events as product upgrades have become more modest and the company battles antitrust disputes and concerns about user privacy.

    Following last week’s jobs report, Fed officials will look at the consumer price index on Friday to get a more complete picture of where the economy is headed. In April inflation showed some signs of slowing, but the outcome was complicated: While annual inflation declined for the first time in months, a closely monitored measure accelerated. In this week’s report, consumer prices are expected to continue their gains, with economists predicting a rate of 8.3 percent for the year through June in a Bloomberg survey. But even more than this annual figure, the Fed is watching the monthly core inflation figure — which takes away the cost of food and fuel because of their volatility — and economists expect a small slowdown to that extent.

    The Biden administration announced it would forgive $5.8 billion in student loans for borrowers attending Corinthian Colleges. Elon Musk said employees at Tesla and SpaceX must return to the office at least 40 hours a week. Facebook will change its stock ticker symbol to META this week.