Social media losers, electoral bribes, China's great migration

LinkedIn is the third social media company this week to lose as much as a quarter of its valuation after reporting a weaker outlook. Some $7bn was wiped off its market cap in after-hours trading on the warning that sales in the current quarter would be $45m below Wall Street forecasts of $670-675m - partly because of currency fluctuations. (FT)

This comes after Twitter shares dropped as much as 26 per cent on missed revenue expectations and lower forecasts and Yelp closed 23 per cent lower yesterday after missing revenue and earnings forecasts.

In the news

US navy escorts in Strait of Hormuz Warships have started accompanying American-flagged ships in the gateway to the Gulf after Iran seized a Marshall Islands-flagged ship. Robert Wright tells the tale of the 10-year-old cargo dispute that prompted the Iranian military to seize a vessel owned by Oaktree Capital. Meanwhile the UK has reported an active Iranian nuclear procurement network linked to two blacklisted firms, further adding to the uncertainty over nuclear negotiations. (WSJ, FT, Reuters)

Saudi Arabia burns cash The country's foreign reserves have fallen by $36bn, or 5 per cent, over the past two months. Newly crowned King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud has been dipping into the rainy-day fund to pay public sector salaries and development projects while oil prices are low. (FT)

Mercurial messenger Nasa's Messenger probe ended its four-year mission to explore Mercury by crashing into the planet and creating a new crater on its surface. It is the first spacecraft to have orbited the planet closest to the sun and sent back thousands of images of its blistered surface. (Guardian)

Greek pension struggles The government struggled getting payments to more than 2m pensioners - it claimed a "technical hitch" had delayed earlier disbursement. Elderly Athenians were left in the lurch, waiting outside branches of the National Bank of Greece. (FT)

iPads for the old Apple and IBM are teaming up to develop a modified iPad for elderly people in Japan - an effort to target the silver surfers and boost flagging sales. The iPads will feature preloaded apps for medication management and speaking to caregivers, as well as simplified interfaces and larger text. (FT)

Germany spying outrage Lawmakers in Berlin said the foreign intelligence service eavesdropped on European targets for years at the request of the US National Security Agency. Airbus has also filed a criminal complaint over reports that the intelligence service spied on the company, adding to pressure on the German government. (WSJ, FT)

It's a big day for

Berkshire Hathaway shareholders The company reports first-quarter earnings on the eve of its annual meeting, when more than 40,000 people will converge on Omaha to hear Warren Buffett. The Sage of Omaha is known for the consistency of his investment philosophy - try this quiz to see if you can tell whether the Buffett quotes came from 1965 or 2015. (FT)

Gamblers With not long to go before "the fight of the century", odds are being finalised and bets taken for Saturday's bout between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather. Regardless of who wins, the taxman will be victorious: "these two will pay enough taxes to fund a small war." (LAT, FT)

Food for thought

Hip hop's trusted engineer He's a science whizz, a Star Trek Nerd and he's in demand in Silicon Valley for his engineering expertise. The WSJ speaks to Young Guru - Jay Z's personal sound engineer for the past 16 years.

Electoral bribes The UK electorate is right not to give either the Conservatives or Labour a majority, says Martin Wolf. We cannot do without markets, problematic though they are, but we also cannot ignore inequality, and neither of the main parties offers a view of the future that can address these challenges: "it is surely right to expect something more than a list of bribes that conceals an even lengthier list of evasions." (FT)

Time, gentlemen The Guardian looks at how long all-male clubs can fend off women members, as London's Garrick Club prepares for a bitter struggle over the issue. One member of the Traveller's Club said it would be "distinctly inconvenient to have to sit up and look civilised because a lady might appear" while another said that the presence of women "leads to very different and far less enjoyable themes of conversation".

Video of the day

China's great migration More than a third of China's entire labour force are migrant workers from the countryside without the right to settle permanently or access education, pensions or healthcare. Experts have likened this system of second class citizens to South African apartheid. Each year these workers join the biggest human migration on earth to return home for Chinese new year. Jamil Anderlini goes with Xiang Ju, a domestic servant in Beijing, on her 1,500km journey back to her home town on the Yangtze river. Watch the video of her journey or read the report on the great migration. (FT)

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