Daily Pulse: Viacom's Day of Reckoning, Shkreli before Congress, GM's Record Profit

What's next at Viacom? Leslie Moonves' has replaced 92-year-old Sumner Redstone in the chairman's chair at CBS. Now who will take the lead at Viacom? A key board meeting today may tell. The old chairman's daughter Shari Redstone is fighting it out with longtime CEO Philippe Dauman.

On the stand. The US House Committee on Oversight and Goverment Reform is scheduled to question infamous "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli in an inquiry over drug pricing. But Shkreli is expected to plead the Fifth as he awaits trial for securities fraud. Charges for which he may go to jail, John C Abell writes, if he doesn't put up more bail money. 

GoPro slows down. The action camera company seems to be running against the limits of its niche. It predicted slower than expected sales this year and stock dropped nearly 9% afterhours. 

It's Youtube's turn. Yesterday, it was Instagram. Now Alphabet's video site is announcing original programming for a new paid service, to be released next week in the US. Outside the US, the content will be available for purchase proving at least Youtube understands that culture is global and geo-blocks idiotic. The difference between a digital company and a TV company... 

To err... or maybe not. That story we reported yesterday about Amazon opening physical stores is confusing. The mall company CEO who dropped the notion on an earnings call has reneged. No doubt there were some angry phone calls to his office. But no one has entirely denied it either. So while we're allowed to speculate, here are some theories. 

It's like the ignition switch scandal never happened. General Motors reported its largest yearly profit ever — $9.7 billion. CEO Mary Barra said she sees no reason why 2016 won't be just as good. Read below how she's looking at this year. 

Gone are the Halcyon days of Scion. Toyota's youth-oriented car brand — whose slogan is indissociable from Ira Glass's voice but which is otherwise completely unknown — will be folded back into the parent company this summer. Last year, it sold only 56,000 of Toyota's 2.5 million US sales.

No Tesla for you. Elon Musk canceled the Model X order of a customer — venture capitalist Stewart Alsop — who had written a post blasting Musk on the organization of the car's launch event. Musk reportedly called Alsop and the story ended with Alsop getting taken off the waiting list . 

 Well, yes it is. 

Cover Art: Todd McClay, minister of Trade of New Zealand, welcomes his Australian counterpart Andrew Robb with a hongi, a traditional Maori greeting, as representatives from 12 countries arrive to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership in Auckland on February 4, 2016. MICHAEL BRADLEY/AFP/Getty Images

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What you may have missed — and really should read:

• Is Uber ready to ride the stock market?
• Get an education in local Australian politics: it's fascinating, I swear. 
•  Was there ever any hope for Yahoo? 

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