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Parade goers hold Pride flags during the annual Pride Parade in San Francisco on Sunday, June 29, 2024.

Minh Connors | San Francisco Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is staying mum these days when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community. It wasn’t always that way. 

San Francisco Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford told CNBC she remembers when Zuckerberg personally called the nonprofit to ensure that the company then known as Facebook had a spot at the annual event. As the world’s largest LGBTQ+ parade, the SF Pride event has become a symbol representing advocacy and social justice for members of the community.

In 2015, SF Pride was prohibiting Facebook from marching at the event because of the company’s policies that required people to use their legal names on the social network, Ford said. Members of the LGBTQ+ community were worried that bad actors were exploiting the company’s account policy by reporting transgender Facebook users and others who no longer identify by their legal names.

After Facebook updated the policy, Zuckerberg called SF Pride’s then-executive director George Ridgely to ask him that Facebook be included in the parade, Ford said. 

The relationship between SF Pride and Meta has since splintered.

SF Pride formally cut ties with Meta in March after the company enacted a number of new policies, including a scaling back of internal programs designed to increase hiring of diverse candidates, which CNBC reported in January.

Meta also eased content-moderation guidelines as part of its policy changes, which multiple current and former employees told CNBC could instigate more online abuse toward marginalized communities, including members of the LGBTQ+ community. Zuckerberg has also made an effort to curry favor with President Donald Trump, who signed an executive order in January calling for investigations into companies that support diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI,  initiatives.

Since the organization’s decision to end its relationship with Meta, Ford said that she hasn’t heard from Zuckerberg or anybody that SF Pride used to have a relationship with at the company. 

Meta will not be taking part in this year’s SF Pride festival, set to take place this weekend at San Francisco’s Civic Center. The annual parade will be held on Sunday, according to the event’s website. The theme for 2025 is “Queer Joy is Resistance.”

“Why was it so important for Mark back then, and why is it so important for Mark now not to be associated with San Francisco Pride?” Ford said.

Meta declined to comment.

FILE PHOTO: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg marched with 700 Facebook employees In San Francisco’s Gay Pride Parade on June 30, 2013.

Kobby Dagan | VWPics |AP

Meta isn’t the only company distancing itself from SF Pride. Other major companies like Anheuser-Busch, Comcast, Diageo and Nissan are also no longer sponsoring SF Pride after years of support, CNBC previously reported.

Given that SF Pride shares a geographic center with Meta and so much of the tech industry, the lack of support for the LGBTQ+ community after years of public trumpeting cuts especially deep, Ford said. Google-parent Alphabet has also stopped sponsoring SF Pride this year, she said.

San Francisco represents both the “home of innovation” for the tech industry and the “home and the birthplace of the LGBTQ community in the United States,” said Ford, adding that it’s no mistake why so much innovation comes from the region.

“Creative and wonderful people want to come to San Francisco — it’s not the drinking water — but they come here because you can be yourself here,” she said. “You can love who you love, you can be who you are and you don’t have to march to any certain drumbeat.”

Tech companies represent a little over 15% of SF Pride’s overall sponsorship funding for the event. The organization’s budget is down $180,000 from their target because of a drop of overall corporate sponsors, a spokesperson told CNBC on Wednesday.

There are still large tech sponsorships from the likes of Apple, Amazon and Salesforce, but otherwise, there’s a palpable silence from the tech industry this year about supporting LGBTQ+ causes, Ford said. 

For instance, Ford said that in previous years, her time was often spent speaking to tech companies’ employee resource groups in the lead-up to SF Pride, but she has yet to receive any invitation of that kind this year.

Ford said she also hopes that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who married his partner Oliver Mulherin in 2024, will be more vocal about supporting the LGBTQ+ community and SF Pride. Ford said she briefly met Altman a few months ago to discuss SF Pride, but she has not heard from him since.

“One would think that OpenAI here in San Francisco, that they would think that they should be supporting the fabric of the community,” said Ford, adding that the lack of support from OpenAI and Altman is “painful because Sam is a member of our community, and he certainly has resources.”

OpenAI declined to comment.

A parade float during the annual Pride Parade in San Francisco on Sunday, June 29, 2024.

Minh Connors | San Francisco Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images

Prominent tech companies like Meta, Amazon and Uber have posted rainbow-coated messages on their websites and social media accounts in years past to show support for Pride Month, which is observed in June, but this year, tech companies’ online presence are noticeably less colorful.

The threat of a lawsuit coupled with the possibility of a public tongue-lashing by Trump, other politicians and social media has caused many tech leaders and corporate executives to stay quiet on LGBTQ+ issues, said Amy Dufrane, CEO of human resource certification organization HRCI.

“Anything that touches the space of DEI, we’re seeing companies pull back from that out of fear,” she said.

Executives who support LGBTQ+ and related DEI issues are doing so under the radar to avoid drawing attention, Dufrane said. For example, a spokesperson for SF Pride said that two tech companies have recently donated to the organization but want to remain anonymous. Ford declined to name the tech companies.

“Sometimes people in our community assume there’s no good, there’s no one at these corporations that cares about us,” Ford said. “Sometimes they do, and they don’t want the consequences of caring about us.”

Ford said that the door is still open for Zuckerberg to contact SF Pride, but ultimately, it would be up to the nonprofit’s board to decide the next steps. Ford said that Zuckerberg would likely have to make a “commitment to some things that I don’t think that he would be willing to do.”

“We have got to leave space for people to change, we got to leave space like if at Meta there’s a leadership change or they come to the realization that this is just bad, the track they’re going down is wrong,” Ford said. “I want to leave space for them to come and have a discussion with us and to show us that they are in line with our values.”

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.

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Opendoor tanks after earnings as CEO thanks new investors for ‘increased visibility’

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Opendoor tanks after earnings as CEO thanks new investors for 'increased visibility'

Courtesy: Opendoor

With Opendoor shares up almost fivefold since the beginning of July and trading volumes hitting record levels, CEO Carrie Wheeler thanked investors for their “enthusiasm” on Tuesday’s earnings call.

“I want to acknowledge the great deal of interest in Opendoor lately and that we’re grateful for it,” Wheeler said, even as the stock sank more than 20% after hours. “We appreciate your enthusiasm for what we’re building, and we’re listening intently to your feedback.”

Prior to its recent surge, Opendoor’s stock had been mostly abandoned, falling as low as 51 cents in late June. The situation was so dire that the company was considering a reverse split that could lift the price of each share by as much 50 times as a potential way to keep its Nasdaq listing. Opendoor said last week that it’s back in compliance and canceled the reverse split proposal.

Opendoor’s business is centered around using technology to buy and sell homes, pocketing the gains. The company was founded in 2014 and went public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) during the Covid-era boom of late 2020. But when interest rates began climbing in 2022, higher borrowing costs reduced demand for homes.

Revenue sank by about two-thirds from $15.6 billion in 2022 to $5.2 billion last year.

Much of the stock’s bounce in the past six weeks was spurred by hedge fund manager Eric Jackson, who announced in July that his firm had taken a position in Opendoor. Jackson said he believes Opendoor’s stock could eventually get to $82. It closed on Tuesday at $2.52, before dropping below $2 in extended trading.

Jackson’s bet is that a return to revenue growth and increased market share will lead to profitability, and that investors will start ascribing a reasonable sales multiple to the business.

The turnaround isn’t yet showing much evidence of working. For the second quarter, Opendoor reported a revenue increase of about 4% to $1.57 billion. Its net loss narrowed to $29 million, or 4 cents a share, from $92 million, or 13 cents, a year earlier.

In the current quarter, Opendoor is projecting just $800 million to $875 million in revenue, which would represent a decline of at least 36% from a year earlier. Opendoor said it expects to acquire just 1,200 homes in the the third quarter, down from 1,757 in the second quarter and 3,504 in the third quarter of 2024. It’s also pulling down marketing spending.

“The housing market has further deteriorated over the course of the last quarter,” finance chief Selim Freiha said on Tuesday’s earnings call. “Persistently high mortgage rates continue to suppress buyer demand, leading to lower clearance and record new listings.”

Wheeler highlighted Opendoor’s effort to expand its business beyond so-called iBuying and into more of a referrals business that’s less capital intensive. She called it “the most important strategic shift in our history.”

Investors, who have been bidding up the stock in waves, were less than enthused with what they heard. But at least there are finally people listening.

“This increased visibility is an opportunity to tell our story to a broader audience,” Wheeler said. “We intend to make the most of it.”

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Super Micro shares plunge 15% on weak results, disappointing guidance

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Super Micro shares plunge 15% on weak results, disappointing guidance

Charles Liang, CEO of Super Micro, speaks at the Computex conference in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 1, 2023.

Walid Berrazeg | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Super Micro Computer shares slid 15% in extended trading on Tuesday after the server maker reported disappointing fiscal fourth-quarter results and issued weak quarterly earnings guidance.

Here’s how the company did in comparison with LSEG consensus:

  • Earnings per share: 41 cents adjusted vs. 44 cents expected
  • Revenue: $5.76 billion vs. $5.89 billion expected

Super Micro’s revenue increased 7.5% during the quarter, which ended on June 30, according to a statement.

For the current quarter, Super Micro called for 40 cents to 52 cents in adjusted earnings per share on $6 billion to $7 billion in revenue for the fiscal first quarter. Analysts surveyed by LSEG were looking for 59 cents per share and $6.6 billion in revenue.

For the 2026 fiscal year, Super Micro sees at least $33 billion in revenue, above the LSEG consensus of $29.94 billion.

Super Micro saw surging demand starting in 2023 for its data center servers packed with Nvidia for handling artificial intelligence models and workloads. Growth has since slowed.

The company avoided being delisted from the Nasdaq after falling behind on quarterly financial filings and seeing the departure of its auditor.

As of Tuesday’s close, Super Micro shares were up around 88% so far in 2025, while the S&P 500 index has gained 7%.

Executives will discuss the results on a conference call starting at 5 p.m. ET.

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Hinge Health stock pops 6% after first quarterly report since IPO

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Hinge Health stock pops 6% after first quarterly report since IPO

Hinge Health co-founders, Gabriel Mecklenburg and Daniel Perez celebrate its initial public offering at the New York Stock Exchange on May 22, 2025.

NYSE

Shares of Hinge Health popped 6% in extended trading on Tuesday after the digital physical therapy company reported quarterly results for the first time since its debut on the New York Stock Exchange in May.

Here’s how the company did based on average analysts’ estimates compiled by LSEG:

  • Loss: Loss per share of $13.10. That may not compare with the 9 cents per share earnings expected
  • Revenue: $139 million vs. $125 million expected

Revenue at Hinge increased 55% in the second quarter from $89.8 million during the same period last year, according to a release.

Hinge reported a net loss of $575.65 million, or $13.10 per share, compared to a loss of $12.93 million, a loss of 96 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier. The company said its GAAP loss from operations was $580.7 million, which included $591.0 million from stock-based compensation expenses.

“We’re still introducing ourselves to the world,” Hinge CEO Daniel Perez told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday. “The most important thing I’d hope for people to take away is the long-term potential of using software and connected hardware to automate care delivery itself.”

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Hinge, founded in 2014, uses software to help patients treat acute musculoskeletal injuries, chronic pain and carry out post-surgery rehabilitation remotely.

It finished the second quarter with 2,359 clients, up 39% from 1,785 clients during the same period last year.

Hinge said it expects to report revenue between $141 million and $143 million during its third quarter. LSEG analysts were expecting $129 million. For the full year, the company said it expects revenue of $548 million to $552 million, which also beat the $511 million expected by LSEG analysts.

The stock opened at $39.25 in May, rising 23% from its $32 IPO price. Shares of Hinge closed at $48.22 on Tuesday.

“We believe we’re fundamentally reshaping how care can be delivered more effectively and efficiently,” Perez said during the company’s quarterly call with investors.

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