While the definition of social media is nebulous, the impact of social media is not. Social media has changed the game; while social media is great for personal interactions, relationships, and browsing, it is equally effective for business activities. Everyone has a story of how they were approached by a friend about a business opportunity…
Year: 2019
Breaking Down GDPR and its Influence on U.S. Entities and U.S. Privacy Laws
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) became effective on May 25, 2018. GDPR regulates personal information, particularly personal information gathered from individuals in the European Union (“E.U.”) or stored in the E.U. GDPR is a vaguely-written, 99 article document. Lacking interpretive jurisprudential guidance, entities had to implement GDPR compliance procedures without fully understanding…
Will Big Blue’s New Red Hat be a Good Fit?
On October 28, 2018, IBM announced its plan to acquire software developer Red Hat for $34 billion in cash. If the deal goes through, it will be the second largest in industry history1 and the largest deal in IBM’s 107 years of operation.2 This announcement continues a tremendous winning streak for mergers and acquisitions. The…
TCJA’s Impact on S-Corps and LLCs
In 2017, approximately 81% of all businesses in the US were organized as pass-through entities, with S-corporations (“S-corps”) and Limited Liability Companies (“LLCs”) comprising approximately 68% of all businesses. 1 The passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”) on December 22, 2017, presented many changes for pass-through entities to consider when determining the most…
Bankruptcy’s Automatic Stay: The Fine Line Between Passive Action and Inaction
Cases in the Seventh and Tenth Circuits are primed for Supreme Court review of the most recent circuit clash between debtors and creditors. Florence + The Machine sums up the classic conflict between debtors and creditors well: “And every demon wants his pound of flesh But I like to keep some things to myself” –…
Insurance! What Is It Good For? Misplaced Liability for California’s Wildfires
It is no secret that California has consistently suffered some of the worst wildfires in United States history.1 Blazes in 2017 caused more than $10 billion in damages, the most in the state’s history.2 The fires, which exist everywhere from Santa Barbara and Malibu to Napa and, most recently, the City of Paradise, destroy houses,…
The SEC, Cybersecurity, and Voya
Introduction According to Javelin Strategy & Research, in 2017, there were 16.7 million victims of identity fraud and $16.8 billion was stolen.1 Even more shockingly, “30 percent of U.S. consumers were notified of a data breach last year.”2 With another large company being hacked seemingly every week,3 the SEC is feeling the pressure to do…
Toys R Us: Comeback Kid, or Kid Who Shouldn’t Have Come Back?
When Toys R Us announced the decision to close all North American stores in March 2018, the effects were cross-generational. From the young who lost a space “where a kid can be a kid,” to the old for whom the event triggered a sense of nostalgia, the Toys R Us closing had an acute impact…
Elon Musk’s Twitter Fingers: How One Tweet Can Cost $20 Million
“Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.” With that short, simple tweet, world-famous billionaire and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, prompted a flurry of investor activity and set alarm bells off at the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). 1 Musk followed that tweet up with several more outlining how the transaction would play…
Discord in Data Breach Standing
On April 1, 2018, Lord and Taylor’s parent company announced that five million payment cards used in their stores had been compromised.1 A few days earlier, Under Armour had announced that roughly 150 million users of its fitness app had their accounts hacked.2 These incidents serve as a grim reminder that our personal information is…