World Street | GM pauses EV charge, GameStop rally plays on, Theranos founder back for blood, and more

World Street offers a sneak peek into the world of business and economy.

General Motors scales back its electric vehicle production goal for 2024 due to lower demand, while RTX Corporation faces a lawsuit over alleged age discrimination in job ads. GameStop capitalizes on a stock price rally, raising $2.14 billion through share sales. All this and more on the June 12 edition of World Street.

Charging down

General Motors is scaling down its electric vehicle production goal for this year and revising its profit timelines due to slower-than-expected demand for EVs. CFO Paul Jacobson announced that GM will reduce its 2024 EV production target from the initial 200,000-300,000 range to 200,000-250,000.

Age bias allegations

A lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses major defense contractor RTX Corporation of discriminating against older workers in its job advertisements. The lawsuit claims RTX posted ads favoring recent graduates and those with under two years of experience, violating the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act and effectively excluding older applicants.

GameStop rally resumes

GameStop raised roughly $2.14 billion through a stock sale, leveraging a rally in stock prices driven by Keith Gill's comeback on YouTube. Over the last month, the video-game retailer has gained over $3 billion from stock sales, buoyed by retail investor enthusiasm.

The most recent sale involved 75 million shares at an estimated average price of $28.49 each, according to Bloomberg's calculations. The stock rose over 5 percent to $32.27 in post-market trading.

Back for blood

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes' attorneys recently filed an appeal in a California court. Holmes received an 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors through her failed blood-testing startup, Theranos. The appeal argues that the judge made several errors during the 2022 trial.

The prosecution's case hinged on proving Holmes knowingly misled investors about Theranos' flawed technology and actively concealed its issues. Prosecutors said they did not make any mistakes and if they did, that “they were harmless given the overwhelming and multifaceted evidence against Holmes.”

Turbulence Ahead

Singapore Airlines is offering between $10,000 and $25,000 in compensation to passengers who were injured on a flight from London to Singapore that hit severe turbulence in May. Those who suffered more serious injuries have been asked to discuss an offer.

Singapore Airlines Flight 321 was traveling over Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Basin when the plane plummeted about 178 feet in 4.6 seconds, throwing passengers and crew to the ceiling. In addition, all passengers on the May 20 flight SQ321 from London to Singapore will be refunded the cost of their tickets, it added.