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Economy

Ex Barclays CEO Drops Bonus, Keeps Salary - Internet Drips With Sarcasm

TWITTER, GUARDIAN (UK)

Worldcrunch

LONDON - Former Barclays boss, Bob Diamond, is the financial industry's new bad guy extraordinaire as public anger mounts against chief banking executives in the Libor scandal. The news Tuesday that he had voluntarily given up his bonus of £20 million ($31 million) was supposed to quiet the outcry, as Diamond said he hoped the decision "will help close this chapter and allow Barclays to move forward and prosper."

But seeing as Diamond will still walk away with a full 12-month salary of £2 million ($3.1 million) makes such a quiet ending a long shot. Questioned by Members of Parliament on Tuesday, outgoing Barclays chairman Marcus Aigus revealed that Diamond will receive a pension allowance and other benefits on top of his twelve months salary, even though it was suggested that he was only entitled to six months' pay.

Reaction around the Internet was rapid and raw:

A YouGov poll on Tuesday reported that 55 percent of British people now want a Judge-led inquiry into the Libor scandal. The debate continues as to whether a parliamentary or Judge-led inquiry would be most appropriate.

Also on Tuesday, the Guardian reported that Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, was a key player in pushing Diamond should leave his role at Barclays last week.

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Society

Influencer Union? The Next Labor Rights Battle May Be For Social Media Creators

With the end of the Hollywood writers and actors strikes, the creator economy is the next frontier for organized labor.

​photograph of a smartphone on a selfie stick

Smartphone on a selfie stick

Steve Gale/Unsplash
David Craig and Stuart Cunningham

Hollywood writers and actors recently proved that they could go toe-to-toe with powerful media conglomerates. After going on strike in the summer of 2023, they secured better pay, more transparency from streaming services and safeguards from having their work exploited or replaced by artificial intelligence.

But the future of entertainment extends well beyond Hollywood. Social media creators – otherwise known as influencers, YouTubers, TikTokers, vloggers and live streamers – entertain and inform a vast portion of the planet.

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For the past decade, we’ve mapped the contours and dimensions of the global social media entertainment industry. Unlike their Hollywood counterparts, these creators struggle to be seen as entertainers worthy of basic labor protections.

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