Friday news dumps: all the news companies hoped you wouldn’t notice

Here’s where we’ll keep track of late-in-the-week news companies really wish you wouldn’t read.

Friday: the day before the weekend, the last day of the school week or workweek, and the day when companies and people sometimes drop news out of the blue. The Friday news dump!

Sometimes, a news dump means an announcement that, for whatever reason, companies choose not to announce during the week. But often, the news reflects badly on the company or person that dumps it — like, say, confirming layoffs, explaining why you aren’t getting paid as much as you think, or a security breach at a cybersecurity company.

Every time Friday afternoon rolls around (or Wednesday or Thursday if it’s a holiday weekend), there’s a part of my brain that’s preparing for the worst; I’ve been through enough late-in-the-week surprises that they don’t shock me as much as they used to. But now, we’ll be using this storystream to keep track of some of the news dumps we at The Verge get to live through — you, reader, can also experience our pain.