bankruptcy

A bakery accepted an order for 2,000 cakes for Tesla. Elon Musk had to mediate to avoid bankruptcy

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Large companies are not only a pole of job creation or direct wealth for those who work in them, but, indirectly, they are also a driver of indirect development for other companies in the area. Sometimes, they can also be your downfall. In early 2024, a small artisan bakery in San Jose, California, nearly went bankrupt when it tried to fill a huge order for cakes for Tesla’s offices. A last-minute change of heart left the small business on the brink of bankruptcy and in debt. As and how they counted in The Guardian, Elon Musk had to intervene. Laura’s sweet request Voahangy Rasetarinera, owner of the Giving Pies bakery, was challenged to handle an order of 2,000 mini pies for a Tesla employee event. This request represented a great economic opportunity for small businessbut it also represented a significant logistical challenge given its magnitude and the bakery’s limited resources. Rasetarinera consulted his staff and they agreed to accept the order by sending the invoice to Tesla. Delivery dates would be Tuesday and Thursday of the following week. Elon Musk’s company diverted payment for the cakes to a third-party supplier called City Flavor, which did not respond to payment requests after delivering the first round of cakes. “I remained optimistic as I waited for the payment on Thursday. However, when it didn’t materialize, I became concerned.” That same day, Laura, Rasetarinera’s contact at Tesla, called the bakery to apologize for the delay in payment for the first round, citing the inexperience of the suppliers. On that same call, Laura requested to double the cake order. In total, the bill already amounted to $16,000 for 4,000 cupcakes that Giving Pies was to deliver. The bakery was forced to redouble its efforts paying overtime to staff, purchasing more ingredients that he had not yet charged for, and, most importantly, rejecting other orders to meet Tesla’s enormous demand. After consulting with the employees again, everyone agreed to go ahead, so Rasetarinera sent a new expanded invoice to Tesla with the new amount and they got into trouble with the new shipment, but not before sending a message to Laura, to demand payment for the first batch of cakes. “I’m sorry to bother you again, but I’m a small business. I don’t have the luxury of infinite resources, so I really need to get paid to insure my staff,” the businesswoman wrote to Tesla, as published the local media Kron4. Tap on the image to go to the original message However, the joy was short-lived. Just a week before the delivery date, Tesla canceled the order without notice. Just like Rasetarinera explained on the bakery’s Instagram account, “we received an email saying they were canceling the order. There was no explanation. Just a message saying, ‘Hey, I’m so sorry, I don’t think we’re going to need this order anymore.’” Unpaid bills and 2,000 cupcakes in the oven The cancellation of the order had serious consequences for Giving Pies. The pastry shop He had already invested in ingredients, increased his staff and rejected other orders in order to fulfill Tesla’s order. What was shaping up to be a great opportunity to work with a great company had turned into a nightmare of unpaid bills. Rasetarinera explained on his social networks that “we had to buy additional ingredients, hire extra staff and schedule overtime.” All of this represented a considerable expense for a small business. “I had invested time, resources and effort based on Tesla’s guarantees, only to be left in the lurch,” declared the owner to Guardian. The news spread quickly on social networks and local media that echoed the bad trick that Tesla had done to this small merchant, generating outrage among users due to Tesla’s lack of consideration for a local business. The word spread through social networks, even reaching the ears of Elon Musk himself. Elon Musk and the unexpected solution When Elon Musk found out about the situation, he decided to take matters into his own hands. From your X accountMusk apologized for what happened to the bakery and promised to resolve the problem. “I just found out about this. We are fixing it immediately,” the billionaire wrote. Tap on the image to go to the original message Musk’s solution was simple but effective: Tesla would buy all the pies Giving Pies could produce, and he also invited the owner on a tour of the factory. “People should always be able to count on Tesla to do its best,” Elon Musk wrote in his X message. A Tesla representative would later confirm to KGO-TV that there had been a communication problem and that Laura did not have the capacity to authorize payments. For Giving Pies, this experience ended up being positive. Not only did they overcome the financial hardship due to the investment made in the order, but they also gained publicity and support from the community. As shown on your websitetoday, Giving Pies sweetens the holidays for some of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech companies. In Xataka | An Englishman named his restaurant “Tesla.” He was immediately left without a name and with a fine of 14,000 euros thanks to Musk In Xataka | Tesla has been suing buyers and journalists for criticizing its cars in China for some time. And he’s winning Image | DVIDS (Justin Pacheco), Giving Pie A version of this article was published in February 2025

Oasiz’s bankruptcy shows its limits

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Today the expression “retail apocalypse” It may sound like science fiction to us, but there was a time (not so long ago) in which it seemed a sentence imminent for traditional commerce. His logic was very simple: if people could buy whatever they wanted from whoever they wanted and from wherever they wanted with a ‘click’, why would they go to traditional shopping areas, with the costs that that entails? time has shown that neither e-commerce Neither COVID-19 has taken away our pleasure in going to shopping centers, but that does not mean that they do not seek to reinvent themselves. And in this attempt two clear strategies can be seen: gradually becoming ‘urban theme parks’ and spaces that pamper luxury and exclusivity. New times, new models. Today the ghost of “retail apocalypse” seems scared away (in reality the phenomenon always was more linked to the US than Spain, where the market is less saturated), but that does not mean that the shopping centers of 2026 can continue living with the model that popularized them 30, 20 or 10 years ago. After all, if we can buy anything on AliExpress or Amazon, why go to the nearest shopping center? If we can watch movies on Prime or Netflix, why are we going to take the car, eat a traffic jam and then fight in the parking lot to go to the movies? Who goes to the mall? The million dollar question. The sector has studies that detail the user profile who go to their centers: how much time they spend there, where they move from, the weight of foreigners, how far their “area of ​​influence” extends… A wide range of data in which one in particular stands out: customers spend more time where, in addition to food, clothing, appliances or any other merchandise, they offer us experiences. Beyond customer loyalty to their reference shopping center or the proximity factor, users seem particularly willing to spend time in the so-called “experience centers”those that have a differentiated offer and are sold as places to “live experiences.” With the watch in your hand. The above may sound like theory, but it is perfectly measured. a study published in 2024 by CBRE shows that, although we spend an average of 56 minutes in shopping centers in general, when we talk about “experience” areas, that figure shoots up to 71 or even 100. Double the time we invest in “convenience centers”, those that basically rely on supermarkets and focus on food. The report It also detected that the “Family&Fun” centers, aimed primarily at families, have a higher customer loyalty rate than the rest of the facilities. They are no longer just warehouses in which to shop or have a drink, they are living spaces where we make memories. What does that mean? That people no longer only go to shopping centers to buy some shoes, watch TV for the living room or fill the refrigerator. We can do this through other channels, even without leaving home, with our mobile phone. What we are looking for is the differentiating factor, an experience or a plus that compensates for traveling to the venue. It’s worth the effort for us. It allows the centers to retain their attractiveness as spaces in which to “have a good time” with friends or family, the value that made them popular in the 20th century. “More and more customers are looking for experiences and entertainment in shopping centers. Many are integrating experiences into retail to attract more users,” explained already in 2021 a manager of the La Vaguada Shopping Center. He is not the only one who thinks this way. In 2024 Diego Ramos published on LinkedIn a column who came to a similar conclusion: merchandise is no longer enough for us, now we want experiences, “socializing, having fun, creating memories.” Changing the anchor. In his opinion, entertainment parks have become “the new anchor” of shopping centers. If before these venues boasted the presence of large chains (Fnac, Mediamarkt, Ikea) as their star dish, today they advertise other hooks: surf pools or diving, zip lines, climbing walls, skateparks, ice rinks, wind tunnels, escape rooms… “Visitors expect to live experiences, it is not enough for them to just buy, that is why they have the digital market,” they comment from Caleido to elEconomista. It is the same philosophy that once led shopping centers to go from having little more than hypermarkets to including cinemas and bowling alleys… only multiplied by a thousand. Theme parks and luxury. The result is a kind of urban theme parks of which examples abound, both of complexes in progress and of others planned: X Madrid, Oasiz (Madrid), Breogán Park (A Coruña), Infinity Valencia either Nasas Madridto name a few. Other commercial spaces also opt for another way of offering a plus to the user: exclusivity, luxury. This is the case, for example, of LaFinca Grand Caféwhich is advertised as a space with “premium services” and “haute cuisine”, or McArthurGlen Designer Outelt Málagawhich opened its doors several years ago with premium brands. The bet on exclusivity it’s not new either (it is nothing that has not been seen in spaces such as Las Roazas Village, La Roca Village, L’illa Diagonal or Galerías Canalejas), but it also helps some shopping centers to find their differentiated place. Not only that. It also allows them to make it easier for them when it comes to capturing a certain customer profile, visitors who come to Spain to practice “shopping tourism”a profile in which Americans and Chinese stand out. The sword of Damocles. It may seem like an unimportant issue, but getting the strategy right is key in a sector that is undergoing transformation and increasingly competitive. Shopping centers may not have survived the “retail apocalypse” and continue to attract thousands of users (their employers estimate that during the first half of 2025 their sales increased by 6% and customer traffic by 3.4%), but success is not guaranteed. Not at all. That even … Read more

Madrid has so many tourists that a company tried to do business with paid bathrooms. Now it has entered bankruptcy

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The news revealed it in February Antonio Giraldo, geographer, urban planner and PSOE councilor in the Madrid City Council. In a tweet that ended up going viral told how a commercial ground floor in the city center that had once housed a bank branch was living a second life as a private bathroom. It might seem like a curiosity without much significance, but that ‘transmutation’ says a lot about Madrid and the tourism that other destinations in Spain experience. Now the toilets are back in the news, but for a very different reason: although Madrid tourism moves in record numbersthe business hasn’t taken off. Where I said bench, I say bathroom. To understand the controversy we have to go back a few months, to February 5, the day Giraldo published the tweet in which he warned of the change of use of a ground floor located in the heart of Madrid, to be more precise in the Plaza de San Miguel, near the Plaza Mayor. The space, which had once housed a bank branch, had been converted into private bathrooms. And to demonstrate it Giraldo included several photographs in which you could see the window with a huge ‘WC’ logo and the access to the new business, with automatic turnstile, lights, fence and card reader included. Click on the image to go to the tweet. “The tourism uncontrolled from the center”. Is it news that a commercial premises changes its use, that they open private bathrooms in the center of Madrid? The answer is yes. It may seem like a curiosity, but the change represents a much deeper and broader transformation: the loss of services aimed at residents in favor of others focused on passing customers, such as tourists. From BBVA office to private toilet that is accessed after payment by card. “The phenomenon of uncontrolled touristification in the center of Madrid brings us something new: a traditional commercial premises transformed into private toilets at a cost of one euro that you pay with a card at an entrance turnstile,” I was reflecting. “If the ultra-pressure that tourists put on public services, such as public bathrooms, is not passed on via a tax, ignore the fact that the private sector is already arriving.” Private bathrooms and much more. In reality, private toilets were just one piece of a much larger phenomenon. The residents of the Plaza de San Miguel may have seen how a commercial ground floor was converted into a paid toilet instead of hosting a pharmacy, fruit shop, shoe store, a supermarket or any other neighborhood business, but something similar has happened in other areas of the city with establishments clearly oriented towards tourism, such as slogans, accommodations or souvenir shops. It is nothing strange or exclusive to the capital. Not long ago in Santiago de Compostela they did the math and they discovered that in the historic center it is now easier to buy a souvenir than a loaf of bread. Another clear example Malaga leaves it. Over there a report of the City Council warns that “mass tourism can lead to the proliferation of low-quality gastronomic establishments” and points out the risks entailed by “the expulsion of native and value-added businesses, replaced by souvenir shops and other businesses for tourists.” A business not so business? The news about the private bathrooms in the center of Madrid could have stopped there, in another example of urban tourism. A few days ago, however, he once again made another headline, in this case in an information advanced by The Confidential: although Madrid has reached a record of overnight stays by foreign tourists, paying toilets have turned out to be less business than was believed. According to reveals the newspaper, the company behind it, The Mad Toilets, has filed bankruptcy proceedings overwhelmed by the losses. The news is even more interesting because initially the project was linked to Victor de Aldamaa businessman associated with such controversial episodes as the Ábalos case wave hydrocarbon plot. Political issues aside, The Confidential explains that the company presented the special procedure for microenterprises before the commercial court, suffocated by the accounts. In court they declared the opening of the special liquidation procedure and the company’s attorney opted for a continuation process. Now a Madrid firm specialized in restructuring has been chosen. Is there anything else known about the firm? Yes. According to the data sent to the court, the company found itself with losses that made its continuity unfeasible: the turnover was zero while the liabilities exceeded 750,000 euros. Consequently, the judge opted for the special procedure for liquidating the microenterprise. On the Empresite platform can be seen that its current status is that of competition. To provide the service, the company had four workers who were in charge of cleaning and supervision, for example. In its day, the premises were equipped with individual cubicles, paper dispensers, sinks and dryers. Searching for the causes. The question at this point is… Why didn’t the project work? Why has it not managed to become a profitable business in the midst of a tourism boom? From the outset, the place had a significant handicap: not far from there, a few minutes walk, there is public toilets that are part of the 129 WC network free access whose maintenance, clarifies the City Councilis paid for with advertising. Added to this competition is that exercised by other businesses such as cafes, bars and restaurants available to tourists. To access the private toilets it was necessary to pay one euro by card and the service was not available 24 hours a day either. In February elDiario explained that the business was operating with a provisional schedule, although the objective was to operate from nine in the morning to twelve at night. To do this, however, an employee explained, more staff would be necessary. In a post Published on LinkedIn, Esteban Mancuso points out that and some other key that explain what happened. Specifically speaks of an “underestimation of real … Read more

one has a turnover of 250 million and the other is going into bankruptcy

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Mr. Wonderful appealed to the Supreme Court against Ale-hop in January. nine months later is about to enter bankruptcy. The chronology reveals that the court battle was never about intellectual property: it was the last attempt to externalize one’s own failure. Why is it important. Two companies that sell “cuquis” products with positive messages have had opposite trajectories. One has been litigating while sinking. The other has been growing without going into debt. The facts. Mr. Wonderful sued Ale-hop in 2021 for unfair competition, alleging that he copied his style of animated objects, motivational phrases and pastel tones. In 2022, the Commercial Court No. 5 of Valencia rejected the claim. In 2023, The Provincial Court ratified the ruling. And in January 2025 sent an appeal to the Supreme Court as the last bullet. In October 2025 it is about to enter bankruptcy. The argument. The courts have been clear: the kawaii style (objects with eyes and expressiveness) has been in the public domain since the sixties. “Styles are not the object of a monopoly,” the Court ruled. That Mr. Wonderful applied it with initial success (his first years were of meteoric growth) did not give him a monopoly over it. In addition, Ale-hop had products of this style in its catalog in 2010, a year before Mr. Wonderful was established as a company. The figures. While they litigated, they achieved very different financial results. Figures for the year 2023 (last year with figures for both presented): Billing: Ale-hop, 224 million euros (there are already 254). Mr. Wonderful, 26 million. Number of stores: more than 300 in five countries for Ale-hop. Mr. Wonderful he was 50 and now he has 10 left. Margin: 20% profitability on income for Ale-hop, 7 million euros of losses for Mr. Wonderful. It is a difference in model, not scale. They are two opposite philosophies. Ale-hop has a rotating catalog of 6,000 references that is constantly renewed. It “forces” the customer to return frequently. It buys directly from factories in large volumes (the key behind its high margins despite low prices) and has a strict anti-debt philosophy. Mr. Wonderful was born in 2011 as a design studio specialized in personalized wedding invitations. Its cheerful tone and colorful aesthetic connected with its clientele, and within a few years it became a phenomenon. In 2016 it reached 30 million in turnover. It was present in El Corte Inglés, in Fnac, in stationery stores throughout Spain. Then he decided to make the leap to his own stores, but the pandemic arrived right after and completely hit a business model that depended on physical traffic. Sales fell and losses began. The sentence. In October 2024, A Barcelona judge approved a restructuring plan for Mr. Wonderful. CaixaBank, its main financial creditor with 6.8 million debt (45.47% of liabilities), he challenged it and now justice has ruled him right. The sentence, collected by Five Daysis devastating: He questions whether the sales forecasts – an increase of 10 million between 2024 and 2028 – are “reasonable” or based on “a historical reality.” He considers it “surprising” that the company did not have audited accounts or updated sales data during the judicial process. And he concludes that the projections “cannot be objectively justified.” It’s the same kind of argument the courts used against Mr. Wonderful in the Ale-hop case: your numbers don’t hold up in reality. Only this time they weren’t talking about whether they had the right to claim a style, but rather whether the company was viable. The Court adds something else: given that Mr. Wonderful has closed physical stores and its main channel is now online, the logical thing would have been to make estimates close to the results of the years prior to the pandemic, when that was its model. Instead, it presented projections that the court considers hardly credible and based on provisional, unaudited data. He timing. Nine months have passed since the appeal to the Supreme Court until the bankruptcy proceedings. Nine months between pointing out a competitor and admitting the internal problem. It is common in companies in crisis: to outsource, to look for blame outside (unfair competition, plagiarism) when the problem comes from within (strategy, adaptation, business model). Mr. Wonderful has come this far by a deadly trident: bet on him retail physical just before the pandemic, opening more than 50 stores that coincided with COVID, in addition to investing too much in premium areas that would not give the expected return. Going into debt without sustainable competitive advantages. Operate in a market where you never had moat. Mr. Wonderful tried to build his moat about an aesthetic style that he could not legally possess exclusively. Business Insider public a report in November 2023 in which he provided other keys to this fall, alluding to internal sources: Exhaustion of your core business: The product was copied by other companies and buyers were no longer willing to pay extra for the brand. The online channel was adulterated with too many discounts and offers that generated conflicts with the rest of the sales channels. It went from being the jewel in the crown to being outsourced. Business model with high structural risk: almost half of the income came from school agendas, return rates ranged between 30% and 50%, and there was dependence on the price set by Amazon’s algorithms, which again… represented a multichannel conflict. The logistics crisis of September 2022. It caused serious delays at a critical time for sales (back to school) and eroded the trust of some customers. They also pointed to a drain on managers motivated by strong discrepancies with the leadership style. The contrast. Ale-hop has not shown signs of fearing his competition because he knew that they did not compete in the same thing. Grimalt, its founder, saw a simple opportunity: cheerful and cheap products, for impulse purchase, in tourist areas. It didn’t take revolutionary genius, but rather consistent execution over time. Mr. Wonderful did have a great connection with his … Read more

340 million euros that threaten to take it to bankruptcy

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Benidorm is usually news for its enormous flow of tourists or the considerable pressure that these exercise in their public services. Now it is for something very different and much more delicate: its City Council appears to Financial abyss. Literally. An ancient litigation that dates back to two decades threatens to force him to pay the whopping 340 million of euros, a complicated sum for any town in Spain but that in the case of the Almeria town is a Damocles sword: it is equivalent to 2.5 years of budget. The Consistory Keep the battle In court to avoid payment, but He already warns that assuming would force him to do without employees and cut services. What happened? That curves are guessed in the urban, economic and judicial future of Benidorm, one of the great mecas of national tourism. Although there is nothing firm yet, the City Council of the Alicante town faces The threat to have to pay more than 340 million of euros due to an agreement reached in 2003 with land owners located in Serra Gela. To get an approximate idea of ​​what would mean such a disbursement for the Benidormean coffers, it is good to remember that in the municipal budget of last year it was 142 million of euros. Why is it in that situation? To answer that question, it is necessary to go back a couple of decades, to 2003, when the City Council, headed by Vicente Pérez Devesa (PP), reached an agreement with two societies that had urban rights on land of the APR-7 sector, two companies linked to Francisco Murcia Puchadesformer president of the Valencian promoters. What exactly agreed? As remember The countrythe farms in question were located in Serra, declared shortly after (July 2005) Natural Park. The idea of ​​the Alicante Consistory was to take these land and compensate for their owners with urban uses in other parts of the city. That was at least the theory, which gave rise to an agreement extended in 2010 and 2013. And what happened? That the thing was complicated. The years passed, the extensions followed and the agreement did not go from paper. The former owner of the land of Serra Gelado claimed his right to compensation and the Consistory questioned The validity of the agreements since the ordination of the Natural Park knocked down the buildable that initially did the land. Two difficult positions that (as expected) have given rise to a long and complex judicial process, still open, but that has been clearing during the last year. His most recent chapter arrived only two months ago, In Junewhen the Superior Court of the Valencian Community threw a jug of cold water at the claims of the City Council and gave the reason to the former owners of the land. The ruling ratifies an earlier sentence, from May 2024, which considers the agreements signed more than two decades. That does not mean that the Consistory has thrown the towel. In fact already He has resorted to the Constitutional Court. Why is it so serious? Beyond the political debate and the padding of reproaches to which the lawsuit has given rise, the case is serious for a simple reason: the economic repercussions it can have for Benidorm. Seeing that the agreement not executed the former owners of the land requested an assessment that raised the price of the land to 280 million of euros. A considerable amount to which interests are added, which would now exceed 60 million. In total More than 340 millionsuch a high sum that would be equivalent to more or less two and a half years of municipal budget. The Consistory He has already warned That if you are forced to pay them, it would stay against the strings, so it claims the precautionary suspension of the payment, remembering that it keeps open other litigation related to the same case that “they are giving the reason” to the city. “The people of Benidorm asks the Constitutional Court to declare that the fundamental right of the Benidorm City Council has been violated to effective judicial protection without defenselessness and there are consequences,” Crows The mayor. What would he mean for the City Council? You talk of technical bankruptcy. And the City Council has not taken in warn Of the serious consequences that a payment of such caliber would have in its day to day, including the dismissal of employees or the suppression of public services. A few weeks ago the local government warned that disbursement would lead to “a damage of impossible or difficult repair” and that it would need to resort to state or autonomous financing to assume it. The lawyer who represents the owners says that they seek to “open a dialogue to avoid the breakdown”, but the solution does not seem simple: if something does not have plenty of urban land is available urban land of municipal ownership with which to compensate them, as remember The confidentialwhich slides that the city has projected for decades urbanizable land in the Levante plan. Are there more options? Benidorm is a peculiar municipality. Although you only have censored 74,600 neighbors His tourist pole condition gives him a considerable floating population. A recent study The monthly average of visitors in more than 252,000, a figure that is triggered in summer: in August it exceeds 2.1 million. The same report estimates that in its greatest day the city reaches peaks of more than 360,000 people, including residents and visitors. Such a avalanche of tourists affects the pressure that the City Council supports and the demand for municipal services. In summary, there is a considerable difference between the needs that correspond to the census and real population, inflated by visitors, which translates into A huge “hole” of millionaire infinance. The payment of a millionaire compensation would aggravate that imbalance. In his favor, the Alicante City Council has possible revenues derived from tourism, as a sector rate that today its mayor You don’t see … Read more

This company was 158 years old and 700 employees. A weak password and click were enough to take it to bankruptcy

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Imagine that you are working in a logistics company, of those that are responsible for managing the entire process so that a product arrives from one point to another, such as those that Amazon’s orders bring to us when we make a purchase, and that from one moment to another all the necessary systems to make the business stop working Due to a cyber attack. What would happen? If the systems do not return to normal, it would probably be a matter of time for the company to pay the consequences. Of course, such a scenario should be avoided with cybersecurity measures, protocols, backups and others. But, let’s be sincere, not everyone is prepared as they should face security threats, even when they have the ability to severely damage or destroy your business. This is what has apparently happened to a British business group called KNPwhich operated 500 trucks under several companies, including a call Knights of Old. When cybersecurity fails, the business can sink The KNP CEO, Paul Abbott, He said in an interview with the BBC That it is believed that a group of cybercriminals managed to infiltrate the systems by guessing the password of one of its employees. What the group of malicious actors did, apparently called Akira, was Straw the data With a ransomware. “If you are reading this, it means that your company’s internal infrastructure is totally or partially dead …”, he said part of the rescue note that, curiously, did not include a specific rescue figure. While the latter may seem unusual, it is also somewhat understandable. Some groups of cybercriminals They have even their own support mechanismswhere they can talk and negotiate with their victims. Recall that the final objective is usually to earn money, so we would rarely see a rescue figure high enough so that the attacked does not meet, but strong enough for the movement to mean some gain. It did not transcend how much money the cybercriminals requested, but it is known that, according to the company, They did not have the money To make the rescue payment. The aforementioned British media collects the analysis of specialists that points to 5 million pounds (about 5.7 million euros). The amount of money, they point out, was unassumable for the company. It is not clear if from the firm they continued to negotiate with the group, but explain that by the end of 2023 the data “were lost” and the company soon declared themselves in bankruptcy. Most employees were dismissed (about 730) and only 170, from one of the companies, called Nelson Distribution, based in Derby, retained their job, but this company was sold. This was the sad outcome for a firm with more than 150 years old. It is likely that after reading this, many questions will come to mind, for example, about the preventive and mitigation measures of which we talked to the beginning. According to those responsible, KNP complied with industry standards and had insurance against cyber attacks. Apparently none of this was enough. Nor do we know if the company already dragged some kind of previous problem and the cyber attack what it did was complicate everything. It is not a unique case. QUALYSEC warns that 60% of small businesses that suffer a cyber attack end up closing in the following six months for not having sufficient resources to recover. A report from Verizon in 2020 already underlined That same figure, highlighting the financial damage, the loss of reputation, the distrust of the clients and the operating chaos that leaves an attack. Images | Man Truck & Bus UK | Freepik In Xataka | Spain gave Huawei the storage of judicial telephone listeners. Now the United States and the EU have questions

Wegow’s bankruptcy is the best example

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Revolled times for the live music scene in Spain. A few days ago we talked about how the most important festivals in the country They had to take positions Given the evidence of investments with Israeli interests in almost all of them. And now comes the news that Wegow has announced that it will go into a pre -bankruptcy of creditors, a situation that will only increase the power of the third leg of this bank: the almost monopoly for practical purposes of the Ticketmaster Ticker Panorama. What happened. Last Wednesday, the Wegow Ticker company announced through a statement that entered a “Legal Process of Creditors“. It is not a bankruptcy ad, but the confirmation that the company is going through delicate economic moments. According to Wegow, the problems have been running from the pandemic: in 2020 The company had losses of one million eurosthat increased until they reached 2023, with debts of almost five million and one turnover more than four times less than the previous year. The immediate impact. Virtually simultaneously to Wegow’s announcement, several groups jumped to networks to comment on their position in this aspect. With this preocconduct of creditors, Wegow has momentarily blocked the money of the tickets sold for the next concerts managed by its platform. For example, Bombai was celebrating Its tenth anniversary tour And they claim to have lost 80% of its income, but they will continue even if they not charge them, and will pass to another ticket for the rest of the concerts. Clear accounts. Another band, twenty -one, revealed its Problems with “a ticket” Before Wegow made the situation public and also claimed that they would continue with the scheduled concerts. Other affected bands are Gorilla Flo, Aiko, fashion or animals. According to Manuel López, lawyer Consulted by ABC“The ticketera does not own that money (of the entrances) And they could not use it in their circulating, it has to have it sectioned by the concert, to return it to its customers (…) but if that money has used it to pay payrolls and arrive at the end of the month, there will be a problem there. “According to media such as Muzikalia, the affected groups could be”hundreds“ A controversial ticket. Wegow’s problems with promoters and artists go back back in time, and add to accusations of lack of transparency and poor management (the company had accumulating operational losses For six years). These accusations They are dating these days In the mouth of those affected, along with the doubts that the Wegow attitude raises Do not suspend, despite the ad, ticket sales They were already underway. Apart from that, his image had been questioning a year after one of his founders was involved in a Episode of harassment to an author In Madrid. Ticket concentration. The sector of the sale and distribution of tickets in Spain presents a concentrated structure: large operators such as Ticketmaster, El Corte Inglés or Tickets.com share the market with a variety of local agents and minor platforms. The trend, however, is at concentration: for example, Serviticket was acquired by Ticketmasterand over time, the joint market share of the main actors can reach between 30% and 40% in volume. All this happens in the context of a business that does not stop growing: in 2024, live music in Spain reached a historical turnover of 725.6 million euros, a growth of 25.32% compared to the previous year. What tickets are left? The large events market is practically covered by the aforementioned, which are continuously involved in doubts about their business practices (entrances.com is low Under administrative investigation for little transparent policies in the application of surcharges, and the practices of Ticketmaster With the variable price of tickets Chained a controversy after another). But companies such as Oratrex, Says either Enterthat fight to get a small portion of the most appetizing cake of the directs in Spain. Header | Photo of Paul Chambers in Unspash. In Xataka | If you have an entrance for Bad Bunny, you have a treasure: the megaconciertes are already devouring themselves

For the first time, a private company has managed to reach the moon successfully. And it has been after resurgence from bankruptcy

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The early morning of March 2, the Blue Ghost ship of Firefly Aerospace fell gently on the lunar surface. It was the First time in history that a private company achieved a completely successful moon landing: in vertical and with the solar panels well -oriented to survive the 14 days that a lunar day lasts. Blue Ghost nailed the moon landing. Preceded by the failures of the Beresheet ships (From the Israeli company Spaceil), Hakuto-R (of the Japanese ispace), Pilgrim (of the American astrobotic) and Odysseus (also American intuitive machines), Blue Ghost landed in a stable position after a descent maneuver designed to dodge rocks and dangerous geographical accidents. The lunar module touched soil in the Mare Crisium region, near the volcanic formation of Mons Latreille. The instruments and sensors on board reported that Blue Ghost was at an optimal angle, and the first images of the shadow projected by the Firefly Aerospace ship showed that it had perched on the lunar surface vertically. A respite for NASA. The historical achievement of the Texana company is also an achievement for NASA, which breathes quiet after the first round of the CLPS program (Commercial Lunar Payload Services), designed to send regular missions to the Moon in commercial ships. Intuitive machines I could achieve the second in a couple of dayswhen its new Nova-C module athens tries to alunize in the South Lunar Pole after Nova-C Odysseus overturns in February 2024. The Ghost Riders. On board the Blue Ghost module of Firefly there is a series of instruments, experiments and technological demonstrators, mainly from NASA, that will drill the soil to collect samples, investigate how the dust rises to mitigate the problems they represent in future lunar missions, and measure the level of radiation and the magnetic activity in the environment. Blue Ghost will display and operate these loads for 14 terrestrial days, equivalent to a lunar day, before the lack of sunlight and the very low temperatures compromise their batteries. An eclipse of earth. Blue Ghost has already given us overwhelming images of the Dawn on the moon or the Planet Earth in the firmament. “We are all in that image,” Firefly engineers recalled during the press conference. But the best will come in the last days of mission. Among the planned mission milestones are the capture in high definition of a total eclipse on March 14, when the earth blocks the sun from the perspective of the ship on the moon, as well as a recording of the lunar twilight on March 16 in which we will see the lunar dust levitating. The Renaissance of Firefly Aerospace. The Firefly feat is especially remarkable taking into account the recent history of the company, marked by a bankruptcy, an internal scandal and a sound change in property. Firefly was saved by the Ukrainian inverter Max Polykovwho invested around 200 million dollars and resurrected the company. However, Polykov was forced by the United States government to sell its majority participation in 2022 for a symbolic price of 1 dollar. And all for geopolitical reasons. Since then, Firefly was under the majority control of the private capital firm AE Industrial Partners. His current CEO is Jason Kim, who assumed the company’s management in October 2024 after his predecessor, Bill Weber, retired from An alleged inappropriate relationship With an employee. Image | Firefly Aerospace In Xataka | In 2011, a collector bought in Morocco a meteorite. It has turned out to be a direct test of thermal water on Mars

A bakery accepted a 4,000 cakes for Tesla. Elon Musk had to mediate to avoid bankruptcy

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Large companies are not only a pole of Employment creation Or direct wealth for those who work on them, but, indirectly, they are also an indirect development engine for other companies in the area. Sometimes, they can also be their ruin. In 2024, a small artisan pastry from San José (California) was about to bankrupt when he tried to satisfy a huge request for cakes for the Tesla offices. A last minute change of opinion left the small business on the verge of bankruptcy and debts. Such and as they counted in The Guardian, Elon Musk had to take action on the matter. Laura’s sweet request Voahangy Rasetarinera, owner of the Giving Fourth pastry, received the challenge of facing a request for 2,000 mini cakes for a Tesla employee event. This request represented a Great economic opportunity for the small businessbut also supposed an important logistics challenge given its magnitude and the scarce resources of the pastry. Rasetarinera consulted their staff and agreed to accept the order by sending the invoice to Tesla. The delivery dates would be Tuesday and Thursday the following week. Elon Musk’s company diverted the payment of the cakes to an external supplier called City Flavor, which did not respond to payment requests after delivering the first round of cakes. “I was still optimistic while waiting for the payment on Thursday. However, when he did not materialize, I worried.” That same day, Laura, the contact of Rasetarinera in Tesla, called the pastry maker to apologize for the delay in the payment of the first round alleging the inexperience of the suppliers. On that same call, Laura requested to duplicate the Cake request. In total, the invoice already amounted to $ 16,000 for 4,000 cupcakes that Giving FEET had to deliver, of which he had already delivered half and had not charged anything. The pastry shop was forced to redouble their efforts paying extra hours To the staff, buying more ingredients that had not yet charged and, more importantly, rejecting other orders to meet the enormous demand of Tesla. After re -consulting the employees, they all agreed to move forward, so Rasetarinera sent a new invoice extended to Tesla with the new amount and got into flour with the new remittance, but not before sending a message to Laura, to claim the Payment of the first pitch of cakes that had already been delivered. “I regret to bother you again, but I am a small business. I have no luxury of having infinite resources, so I really need them to pay me to ensure my staff,” the businesswoman wrote to Tesla, Tesla, As published The local medium Kron4. Touch the image to go to the original message However, joy lasted little. Just a week before the delivery date, Tesla canceled the order without prior notice. As Rasetarinera explained In the Instagram account of the bakery, “we received an email saying that they canceled the order. There was no explanation. Only a message that said: ‘Hey, I am very sorry, I think we are no longer going to need this order.” Invoices without paying and 2,000 cupcakes in the oven The cancellation of the order had serious consequences for giving feet. The pastry He had already invested in ingredients and increased his staff to be able to comply with the assignment of Tesla. What was outlined as a great opportunity to work with a great company, had become an impeded bill of invoices. Rasetarinera explained on their social networks that “we had to buy additional ingredients, hire extra staff and program extra hours.” All this represented a considerable expense for a small business. “I had invested time, resources and effort based on Tesla’s guarantees, just to stay in the stake,” The owner declared to The Guardian. The news spread rapidly on social networks and local media That they echoed the bad pass that Tesla had made to this little merchant, generating outrage among users for the lack of consideration of Tesla towards a local business. The voice ran through social networks, even arriving at the ears of Elon Musk himself. Elon Musk and the unexpected solution When Elon Musk learned about the situation, he decided to take action on the matter personally. From Your X accountMusk apologized for what happened with the bakery and promised to solve the problem. “I just found out about this. We are solving it immediately,” the billionaire wrote. Touch the image to go to the original message Musk’s solution was simple but effective: Tesla would buy all the cakes that Giving Fourth could produce. In addition, the company promised to distribute these cakes between local beneficial organizations. “People should always be able to tell that Tesla will do their best,” Elon Musk wrote in his X message. For giving feet, this experience It ended up being positive. Not only did they exceed the bad financial drink for the investment made in the order, but also gain advertising and the support of the community. As shown On its websitecurrently, Giving Foot sweetens the parties of some of Silicon Valley’s most important technological companies. In Xataka | An English called his restaurant “Tesla”. Then he was released and with a fine of 14,000 euros thanks to Musk In Xataka | Tesla has been demanding buyers and journalists for some time for criticizing their cars in China. And he is winning Image | Dvids (Justin Pacheco), Giving Pie

It turns out that in Spain there was a company dedicated to spy software and has closed after declaring in bankruptcy

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In Spain we can boast many things, but having known companies globally for the development of spy softwareNo. Although Barcelona is becoming An unexpected Startup Hub related to this sectorthe reality is that we do not have a great NSO GroupFor example. The closest thing was an unknown company called Mollitiam Industries. We talked in the past because it has broken. Where does Mollitiam Industries come from. According to The recordsthe company was founded in 2018 and its headquarters was in Toledo. As pray Your websiteactive at the time of writing these lines, was specialized in “offering a deep tracking capacity in highly specialized and complementary areas”, such as the “interception and surveillance of communications”, for “through invisible capabilities of capture, management and security active data in the context of cyberspace and encrypted telecommunications “, allow” those responsible for decision making identify, anticipate, degrade or neutralize possible attacks of connected objectives. “ In other words, he was specialized in cyberinteligence and espionage software. In Your LinkedIn profileThe company states to have “real experience in cyber operations, in coordination with state bodies and security forces. From planning and support to intelligence execution and production.” What happened. Which was declared in bankruptcy on January 23. This is reflected in public records and has transcended the media through the specialized magazine Online intelligence (via Techcrunch). The reasons are unknown, but the magazine argues that it has been due to economic problems. Techcrunch also feeds that it may be due to lack of international attention as it is a Spanish company since it has not been involved in too many controversial cases. From Xataka we have tried to contact the company through its networks (the web form gives error) and a phone that appears on its Google Maps card, but we have not received an answer in any of the cases. What has you participated in. Regarding Spain, Mollitian Industries has achieved three public contracts: In 2020a contract less than 14,950 to facilitate the Civil Guard a “social media monitoring tool.” In 2022worth 250,000 euros, a tender for the “acquisition of a remote monitoring system of mobile terminal communications to provide the Central Operational Unit of the Judicial Police Headquarters of the Civil Guard.” In 2023worth 330,578.51 euros, a tender for the “supply of a mobile device management platform to provide the Civil Guard units.” In the international arena, Mollitian Industries was a name sounded in Colombia. In 2020, Week magazine He reported that his journalists were being monitored by Colombian intelligence services through software called “Invisible Man” and “Night Crawler.” These spywares were able to access the archives, location, microphone and camera of the infected terminals, and even record the key pulsations. Week published images of a contract between the National Army of Colombia and Mollitian Industries. Apparently, the local army had paid 3,000 million pesos, around 860,000 euros to the current change, for accessing these software. The latest. The most recent information about this company is the report Adversarial threat report Meta, dated at the end of 2023. In said report, Meta warned of eight Spyware companies focused on iOS, Android and Windows. Those eight companies were Cy4gate/Elt Group, RCS Labs, IPS Intelligence, Veriston IT, Tuel IT, Protect Electronic Systems, Negg Group and the Spanish Mollitiam Industries. In this report, Meta said the following: “(…) We have eliminated a network of accounts on Facebook and Instagram linked to a Spanish company, Mollitiam Industries, which announces a data collection and spyware service aimed at Windows, Macos and Android. Mollitiam Industries and its customers handled accounts false they used to test malicious capabilities between their own accounts and scrape public information. IP registration links to track the IP addresses of their objectives. . Cover image | Pexels In Xataka | Google has revealed the techniques that Russia is using to violate Signal: it is the cyber warman against Ukraine

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