China’s new child policy, JBS hit by cyberattack, Osaka leaves French Open
Julie Hyman breaks down Tuesday’s business headlines, including: China changing its child policy to 3 children in order to combat a declining birth rate, Naomi Osaka departing from the French Open to focus on her mental health, a cyberattack on JBS, and A Quiet Place Part II making the biggest box office debut since the pandemic era began.
Video Transcript
JULIE HYMAN: Let's take a look at some other business headlines that we're watching today. In a major policy shift, China said it would allow all married couples to have three children. The country changed its one child policy six years ago. But that wasn't enough to spur population growth. Last year 12 million babies were born in China, that's the lowest since 1961.
China's population is aging and its labor pool is shrinking. Experts though and China watchers are questioning whether this new policy will work.
First gasoline now meat. JBS, the world's biggest meat supplier is the latest target of a cyber attack. The company closed its North American and Australian Computer networks and said some transactions with customers and suppliers may be delayed. One industry website reported that all beef and lamb kills in Australia were canceled.
Tennis star, Naomi Osaka has withdrawn from the French Open, citing mental health after a showdown with organizers over the post match press conferences. Osaka skipped the presser on Sunday and was fined $15,000 before explaining in a social media post that she has suffered bouts of depression since the US Open in 2018.
And the most open weekend since the start of the pandemic was also, not surprisingly, the best for the movie business. "A Quiet Place Part II" grossed $4.8 million. That's a post pandemic high. Paramount forecast that total will rise to $58.5 million, including yesterday, plus $22 million overseas.
Cruella, meantime, which had a dual streaming and theater release grossed $21.3 million in theaters. And this is relevant today because we've been talking about AMC, the theater business, whether it's going to come back. I know Cinemark shares are also higher today. And our own Brian Sozzi was one of those butts in the seats over the holiday weekend, watching this movie that we're seeing here, Cruella.