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Old 08-04-2020, 12:27 PM   #1
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Post Business News Events

A thread for business news about top companies, global markets, finance, technology and future innovations.

Feel free to post any findings you come across that may be of interest to others.
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Old 08-04-2020, 12:31 PM   #2
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Post Patent-Infringement Lawsuit


Apple Faces $1.4 Billion Patent Lawsuit In China That May Block iPhone Sales In The Country


Topline
Chinese firm Shanghai Zhizhen, which was recently awarded a local patent for a voice assistant similar to Apple’s Siri, has filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against the iPhone maker that, if successful, could prevent Apple from selling its smartphones and other products in China, its second most important market.


Key Facts
* Shanghai Zhizhen has alleged that Apple’s devices violated its patent for a virtual assistant that is similar to Siri, and the company is suing Apple for around 10 billion yuan in damages (around $1.4 billion), the Wall Street Journal reported.

* As part of the suit, Shanghai Zhizhen has asked Apple to stop the sales, production, and use of products that allegedly violate its patent.

* Apple integrates Siri in nearly all its devices including its Mac computers, iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch, Apple TV and its smart speaker the Homepod.

* China is Apple’s biggest foreign market in terms of sales, although it has faced significant competition from homegrown brands in the country including Huawei, which has surpassed Apple to become the world’s biggest seller of smartphones.

* The potential legal action against Apple comes at a time when a trade war between the U.S. and China has heated up significantly, drawing in tech majors from both countries.

* The Journal’s report notes that if a preliminary injunction is filed, a local court could decide to ban Apple from selling products featuring Siri—nearly all its major products—in China for the duration of the trial.


Key Background
Unlike other American tech giants—like Google, Facebook and Amazon—Apple has a major presence in China. This has been primarily due to the Cupertino-based company’s willingness to comply with China’s restrictive internet laws, something that has led to criticism of the company in the U.S. Last month, Attorney General William Barr alleged, without citing evidence, that Apple was selling phones in China with security backdoors that could be accessed by local authorities. In the past few months, the escalating trade tensions between China and the U.S. have led to the Trump administration targeting Chinese tech firms with sanctions against products made by the likes of Huawei and ZTE. Trump, last week, threatened to ban the Chinese social media platform TikTok in the U.S.


Tangent
In 2016, Apple lost an intellectual property suit in China, when a Beijing court ruled in favor of a Chinese company that made handbags and smartphone cases under the label “IPHONE.” Prior to that, in 2012, Apple agreed to pay $60 million to settle a trademark dispute with the Chinese unit of another company, which claimed ownership of the “iPad” name in China.



Source: forbes.com
Website: https://bit.ly/3i5lY10
Date: August 03, 2020
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Old 08-04-2020, 08:12 PM   #3
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Post Google and Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski


Ex-Google, Uber engineer Levandowski sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing trade secrets.

Judge says lesser sentence would give ‘a green light to every future brilliant engineer to steal trade secrets.’



One of Silicon Valley’s most prominent trade-secret cases in recent years came to a close Tuesday, as former Google and Uber engineer Anthony Levandowski was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Levandowski, who worked on autonomous-vehicle technology at Google’s Waymo, agreed to a deal in March, pleading guilty to taking thousands of files from his former employer when he left in 2016 to start the self-driving truck company Otto, which months later was bought by Uber Technologies Inc., where he became the head of its self-driving unit.

That spurred a bitter legal battle between Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL, -0.63% GOOG, -0.64% Google and Uber UBER, +4.77% that was finally settled in 2018.

Levandowski was a pioneer in robotic vehicles, and was accused of stealing top-secret technology from Waymo including lidar, a key sensor for self-driving vehicles. Uber denied it knew about or benefited from the stolen documents, and eventually fired him.

Levandowski had sought a sentence consisting of home confinement, a fine and community service, but U.S District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco said Tuesday that home confinement would give “a green light to every future brilliant engineer to steal trade secrets. Prison time is the answer to that.” Prosecutors had sought 27 months in prison.

His prison sentence will be delayed until after the COVID-19 pandemic.

He was also fined $95,000, and must pay $757,000 in restitution to Google. Levandowski was also ordered in March to pay Google $179 million over a contract dispute. He filed for bankruptcy soon after that ruling.

“The last three and a half years have forced me to come to terms with what I did,” Levandowski said in a statement Tuesday. “I want to take this time to apologize to my colleagues at Google for betraying their trust, and to my entire family for the price they have paid and will continue to pay for my actions.”

TechCrunch reported Tuesday that the saga may not yet be entirely over, as Levandowski has recently filed a lawsuit against Uber claiming he’s owed around $4 billion that Uber never paid him as part of the Otto acquisition.



Source: marketwatch.com
Website: https://on.mktw.net/2EL6wbW
Date: August 04, 2020
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Old 08-04-2020, 09:16 PM   #4
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Default Clorox won't have enough disinfecting wipes until 2021, its CEO says...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Grocery shelves won't be fully stocked with Clorox's disinfecting wipes until next year, CEO Benno Dorer told Reuters, as the world's biggest cleaning products maker struggles with overwhelming pandemic-led demand for its top product.

Since the start of global lockdowns, makers of hygiene goods have seen a sustained boom in sales. While California-based Clorox typically holds aside excess supply for flu seasons, it says it has been unable to keep up with a six-fold increase in demand for many of its disinfectants.

The company is currently understocked across much of its portfolio, which includes Glad trash bags and Burt's Bees lip balm. Supply for most products, like liquid bleach, will improve dramatically over the next four to six months - but not wipes, Dorer said on Monday.

Clorox products are used in Uber vehicles and United Airlines planes, and are sold by major retailers like Walmart, Amazon and Kroger.

"Disinfecting wipes, which are the hottest commodity in the business right now, will probably take longer because it's a very complex supply chain to make them," Dorer said.

Many companies in the industry make wipes with polyester spunlace, a material currently in short supply as it is also used to make personal protective equipment like masks, medical gowns and medical wipes.

"That entire supply chain is stressed. ... We feel like it's probably going to take until 2021 before we're able to meet all the demand that we have," Dorer said.

Dorer had said in May that Clorox expected to see shelves stocked with wipes by this summer.

Since then, Clorox has made "major" capital investments so it can ramp up output each quarter, including simplifying its disinfectant product line-up at factories that run 24/7 every day of the year. Clorox began outsourcing some manufacturing this year to 10 third-party supplies, and plans to keep looking for more.

On Monday, Clorox reported fourth-quarter sales and earnings that widely topped analysts' expectations, driven by a 33% increase in revenue from its health and wellness business, which makes cleaning products and accounts for more than 40% of total sales.

Clorox shares were up 2.5% on Tuesday.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/clorox-wo...110214518.html
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Old 08-05-2020, 06:59 AM   #5
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Post Apple Buys Canadian 🇨🇦 Mobile Startup Mobeewave For $100M


Apple Buys Mobile Startup Mobeewave For $100M To Enable Contactless Payments: Report



Apple Inc. AAPL has purchased contactless mobile payment startup Mobeewave Inc. for $100 milllion, according to a Bloomberg report late Friday.

What Happened

The Tim Cook-led company is reportedly retaining Mobeewave’s team, which will continue to operate out of its home base in Montreal, Canada.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” a spokesperson for the Cupertino-based company said in a statement — a message it typically reiterates when it intends to confirm an acquistion.

The smartphone maker already has an Apple Pay service on its iPhones since 2014 and could potentially use Mobeewave’s technology to enable those devices to accept payments without involving additional hardware, Bloomberg noted.

The Montreal-based startup’s technology enables smartphones and credit cards to make payments using a second smartphone with near field communications (NFC) without any extra hardware.

Why It Matters

Jack Dorsey-led Square Inc SQ 0.01% competes in the mobile payments space but its payment system uses hardware.

Last year, Mobeewave allowed Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s OTC:SSNLF phones to use the technology. The Korean technology titan is also an investor in the payments company, which has raised $20 million so far, Pitchbook data revealed.

Apple acquired the hyperlocal weather app Dark Sky in March and the virtual reality startup NextVR in May.

Last week, Cook along with CEOs of Facebook Inc FB Amazon.com, Inc AMZN and Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG appeared before the House Antitrust committee. The questions in that hearing broached on the matter of antitrust concerns related to the technology giant's acquisitions.

Price Action

Apple shares traded 0.56% higher at $427.40 in pre-market session Monday.



Source: benzinga.com
Website: https://bit.ly/3fx32GT
Date: August 03, 2020
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Old 08-05-2020, 07:01 AM   #6
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Post Tech Giants Testified Before Congress Virtually


Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google grilled on Capitol Hill over their market power.



The leaders of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google took a brutal political lashing Wednesday as Democrats and Republicans confronted the executives for wielding their market power to crush competitors and amass data, customers and sky-high profits.

The rare interrogation played out over the course of a nearly six-hour hearing, with lawmakers on the House’s top antitrust subcommittee coming armed with millions of documents, hundreds of hours of interviews and in some cases the once-private messages of Silicon Valley’s elite chiefs. They said it showed some in the tech sector had become too big and powerful, threatening rivals, consumers and, in some cases, even democracy itself.

“Our founders would not bow before a king. Nor should we bow before the emperors of the online economy,” said Rep. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.).

Cicilline, the chairman of the antitrust panel, opened a congressional investigation of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google last year, aiming to explore whether the tech industry’s most influential quartet of companies had attained their status through potentially anti-competitive means. In response, the four chief executives — Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai — took the witness stand to fiercely defend their businesses Wednesday as rags-to-riches success stories, made possible only through American ingenuity and the sustained support of their ever-growing customer bases.

But lawmakers repeatedly presented a different vision at their hearing, one in which Silicon Valley’s myriad advancements in commerce, consumer electronics, communication and a vast array of online services had come at an immense cost to the people who use those tools and the companies that seek to compete against the tech giants.

In exchanges likely to have lasting resonance, Democrats repeatedly confronted Facebook’s Zuckerberg with his own past emails. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the top lawmaker on the House Judiciary Committee, brought up a 2012 message in which Zuckerberg apparently said he sought to acquire Instagram, which at the time was a rival photo-sharing app, out of fear that it could “meaningfully hurt us.” Later, Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) pointed to other Facebook communications that described the company’s acquisition strategy generally as “a land grab.”

“Mergers and acquisitions that buy off potential competitive threats violate the antitrust laws,” Nadler charged. “In your own words, you purchased Instagram to neutralize a competitive threat.”

“We compete hard. We compete fairly. We try to be the best,” Zuckerberg said earlier in the hearing.

Amazon, meanwhile, faced withering scrutiny over allegations it may have misled the committee. The e-commerce giant previously told lawmakers it does not tap data from third-party sellers to boost sales of its own products. But Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal (Wash.) brought up public reports that indicated to the contrary, prompting Bezos — delivering his first-ever testimony to Congress — to offer a striking admission of potential fault.

“What I can tell you is we have a policy against using seller-specific data to aid our private label business,” he said. “But I can’t guarantee you that policy has never been violated.”

For all four executives, the afternoon offered an abundance of additional uncomfortable clashes, laying bare the broad, bipartisan frustrations with the way Silicon Valley puts users’ privacy at risk, polices content online and hurts competitors, including small businesses that have told lawmakers they cannot hope to compete with these tech giants. On several occasions, lawmakers cut off or talked over the tech executives when they offered vague or long answers, seeking to hold them to account for the evidence investigators had gathered from their probe.

PopSockets, Tile and other companies will ask Congress to help stop Big Tech bullying

Republicans, meanwhile, largely used their time during the hearing to attack some tech companies for engaging in perceived political censorship against conservatives, a charge that the industry vehemently denies.

“We all think the free market is great. We think competition is great. We love the fact that these are American companies,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio), the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee. “But what’s not great is censoring people, censoring conservators and trying to impact elections. And if it doesn’t end, there has to be consequences.”




To read the full article click the link below.



Source: washingtonpost.com
Website: https://wapo.st/2DFWgRC
Date: July 29, 2020
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Old 08-05-2020, 07:32 AM   #7
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Default Disney Loses Nearly $5 Billion Amid Pandemic...

Walt Disney Co. posted its first quarterly loss since 2001, as the coronavirus pandemic slammed its theme parks and film productions.



Aug 5th

https://www.wsj.com/video/disney-los...now_video_pos2
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Old 08-05-2020, 08:18 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by homoe View Post
Walt Disney Co. posted its first quarterly loss since 2001, as the coronavirus pandemic slammed its theme parks and film productions.



Aug 5th

https://www.wsj.com/video/disney-los...now_video_pos2
Disney will be an interesting one to watch, while theme parks and live action films are certainly being hurt right now the difference that Disney has over other film production companies and tourist oriented properties is diversification. Animated film work can continue and with their large archive of films only recently being curated in one place for streaming in my opinion this company will weather this time better than many others who share some of the same spaces.
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Old 08-05-2020, 08:40 AM   #9
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Old 08-05-2020, 04:49 PM   #10
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Default Alaska Airlines...

Alaska Airlines filed notice Monday with Washington state of almost 1,600 permanent layoffs starting on Oct. 1, the day after the government’s Payroll Support Program (PSP) ends.

Companywide, 4,200 employees received WARN notices or were laid off, the company said.

The local layoffs represent about 20% of the airline’s employees in Washington state, and includes customer service agents, flight attendants and maintenance technicians, Alaska said. Most of those affected are from the airline’s 6,000 flight attendants.

The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) union told its members in an online post that it has received 60-day layoff notices for approximately 2,089 of the most junior flight attendants company-wide, affecting all the airline’s bases in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Anchorage, Los Angeles and San Diego.

However, the union said the actual number of layoffs come October may be lower. The total of more than 2,000 is “inclusive of a significant buffer” above the expected number of actual layoffs in order to make sure the company complies with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.

Alaska management in a statement said it “will continue to refine our staffing modeling over the next several weeks and expect figures to be final closer to October 1.”

Alaska avoided layoffs among its pilots when it offered incentives including half pay to take voluntary leave. More than 1,000 of Alaska’s 3,000 pilots took the incentives.

The flight attendants were offered a voluntary-leave option that included health care but was unpaid.

In late July, Alaska announced a loss of $214 million in the last three months and an outflow of $4 million in cash per day due to the huge drop in air travel during the coronavirus pandemic.

https://www.seattletimes.com/busines...f-fall-layoff/
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Old 08-05-2020, 05:38 PM   #11
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Default Facebook launches its new TikTok clone, Instagram Reels..

Facebook’s Instagram is officially launching its answer to the hit short video app TikTok — Instagram Reels.

The new Instagram feature will let users record and edit 15-second videos with audio, and will let users add visual effects. Users will be able to share Reels with followers in Instagram in a dedicated section called Reels in Explore, or in the Story feature where posts disappear after 24 hours. The Reels option will be available in the Instagram app. The company has been testing Reels in Brazil since November and in France, Germany and India since earlier this summer. Facebook earlier launched a TikTok knockoff called Lasso in 2018, but closed that down in July. It also tried services similar to Snapchat called Slingshot and Poke before Instagram Stories caught on. But those were separate apps — it might have more success with a feature built into Instagram.

Facebook has a long tradition of cloning competitive services. The Instagram “Story” feature, which lets people share photos and videos that expire in 24 hours, is similar to Snapchat. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced tough questioning about the company’s habit of copying rivals before a congressional hearing on July 29.

https://www.seattletimes.com/busines...stagram-reels/
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Old 08-06-2020, 07:17 AM   #12
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Post Microsoft Has 45 days to Land TikTok Deal


U.S. President Donald Trump originally wanted to ban Chinese-owned video app TikTok, saying it posed a national security risk, but on Monday said he would support Microsoft purchasing the app's U.S. operations if a deal was reached by Sept. 15. (Florence Lo/Reuters)

Microsoft CEO spoke to Trump, 'prepared to continue discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok'



U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he does not mind if Microsoft Corp. buys the Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok, but any purchase by an American company would have to be done by a Sept. 15 deadline.

The Republican president, who last week threatened to ban TikTok over national security concerns, said he had a great conversation with Microsoft's chief executive and that it might be easier if the company buys all of TikTok rather than 30 per cent.

Trump's comments confirmed a Reuters report Sunday that he had agreed to give China's ByteDance 45 days to negotiate a sale of TikTok to Microsoft.

Trump also said the U.S. Treasury would need to get a lot of money out of a TikTok deal, but it's not clear how that would happen.

Microsoft said Sunday that CEO Satya Nadella had spoken to Trump and "is prepared to continue discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok in the United States."

U.S. President Donald Trump originally wanted to ban TikTok from the United States, claiming it was a threat to national security. He is now reportedly giving Microsoft 45 days to buy the app from its Chinese owner, ByteDance.

Reuters reported last week that some investors are valuing TikTok at about $50 billion US, citing people familiar with the matter.

"I did say that if you buy it, whatever the price is that goes to whoever owns it, because I guess it's China essentially — I said a very substantial portion of that price is going to have to come into the Treasury of the United States because we're making it possible for this deal to happen," Trump said.

Trump later defended his push for a cut, adding "which nobody else would be thinking about but me, but that's the way I think."

Nicholas Klein, a lawyer at DLA Piper, said generally "the government doesn't have the authority to take a cut of a private deal through" the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which is the interagency committee that reviews some foreign investments in the United States. It was not clear how the U.S. government would receive part of the purchase price.

'This is about privacy'

Many prominent Republicans, including House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, issued statements in support of a Microsoft acquisition of TikTok's U.S. operations. Some congressional aides are worried about a backlash by younger voters against the party if Trump banned TikTok, which has 100 million American users.

Microsoft and TikTok parent ByteDance gave the U.S. government a notice of intent to explore a preliminary proposal for Microsoft to purchase the TikTok service in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer also backed the sale, while a senior White House adviser raised concerns about a sale to Microsoft.

"A U.S. company should buy TikTok so everyone can keep using it and your data is safe," Schumer said on Twitter, adding: "This is about privacy. With TikTok in China, it's subject to Chinese Communist Party laws that may require handing over data to their government."

President Donald Trump said Monday the U.S. government should get a 'substantial portion' of the sales price of the U.S. operations of TikTok, but it's not clear how that would happen. (Evan Vucci/The Associated Press)


White House trade adviser Peter Navarro suggested on Monday that Microsoft could divest its holdings in China if it were to buy TikTok.

"So the question is, is Microsoft going to be compromised?" Navarro said in an interview with CNN. "Maybe Microsoft could divest its Chinese holdings?"

Navarro said the Chinese government and military use Microsoft software "to do all the things they do."

Other acquisitions possible: analyst

U.S. officials have said TikTok poses a national security risk because of the personal data it handles.

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer said in a blog post last week that the company was committed to following U.S. laws and was allowing experts to observe its moderation policies and examine the code that drives its algorithms.
Daniel Elman, analyst at Nucleus Research, said a sale "could foreshadow a growing wave of U.S. company acquisition of Chinese internet properties, particularly if the geopolitical tensions continue to mount."

Elman said that could impact Tencent's WeChat.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo referenced WeChat on Sunday and said Trump "will take action in the coming days with respect to a broad array of national security risks that are presented by software connected to the Chinese Communist Party."



Source: cbc.ca
Website: https://bit.ly/2PwrJZf
Date: Aug 3, 2020
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Old 08-06-2020, 07:43 AM   #13
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Post EU Launches Antitrust Probe Into Google’s Planned Acquisition Of Fitbit


The European Union's probe will examine if the Fitbit acquisition would increase Google's dominance in online advertising.



TOPLINE
The European Union has launched a full-scale antitrust investigation into Google’s $2.1 billion deal to acquire wearables maker Fitbit, expressing concerns that it would further consolidate Google’s dominance in the online advertising space by giving the search engine giant access to personal data collected from Fitbit’s health tracking devices.


KEY FACTS
* The European Commission said in a press release that it will investigate how data collected from Fitbit’s fitness trackers will increase Google’s “data advantage” in the personalization of online ads in a manner that would disadvantage its rivals.

* The regulator will also investigate the deal’s effect on the digital healthcare sector in the region, specifically examining if Google could make it harder for other wearables makers to integrate their products with Android-based mobile phones.

* The officials have set an initial December 9 deadline to approve or veto the deal.Responding to news of the probe Google said in a blog post that the “deal is about devices, not data,” adding that there is “vibrant competition” in the smartwatches and fitness tracker space.

* The U.S. tech giant has said that it won’t use health data from Fitbit devices for Google ads and will allow Fitbit users the choice to review, move or delete their personal data.

* Regulators around the world, including the FTC, have increasingly begun scrutinizing acquisitions of smaller competitors by big tech companies.


CRUCIAL QUOTE
“The use of wearable devices by European consumers is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. This will go hand in hand with an exponential growth of data generated through these devices. This data provides key insights about the life and the health situation of the users of these devices,” Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s antitrust commissioner said in the press release. “Our investigation aims to ensure that control by Google over data collected through wearable devices as a result of the transaction does not distort competition.”


KEY BACKGROUND
Since the announcement of Google’s plan to acquire Fitbit in November 2019, following which the deal has been facing scrutiny from various government agencies including the U.S. Justice Department and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). In June, the Australian regulator had raised concerns that the deal would allow Google to further cement its position and raising barriers to entry for potential rivals. Apart from probing the acquisition, the U.S. Justice Department is also investigating charges that Google is engaging in anti-competitive behavior.


FURTHER READING
Google’s $2.1 Billion Fitbit Deal Faces Troubles in Europe, Australia (Wall Street Journal)

Justice Department Will Reportedly Review Google’s $2.1 Billion Fitbit Acquisition (Forbes)



Source: forbes.com
Website: https://bit.ly/2Dk8Vu2
Date: Aug 4, 2020
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Old 08-06-2020, 07:59 AM   #14
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Post Moderna Just Signed a Big Cloud Deal with Amazon Web Services


Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy.



$29 billion biotech company Moderna just signed a big cloud deal with Amazon Web Services, even as the race for a COVID-19 vaccine accelerates

* Biotech company Moderna on Wednesday announced that it has chosen Amazon Web Services as its preferred cloud partner.

* The company is seen as a leader in COVID-19 vaccine research, entering its third phase of clinical trials late July.

$29 billion biotech company Moderna announced a new partnership with Amazon Web Services on Wednesday that will see the cloud giant become its "preferred" cloud provider. The deal will also see Moderna tap AWS as its standard platform for doing analytics and machine learning.

Moderna is one of the leading companies in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine, and last week dosed 30,000 people with the first vaccine candidate to reach phase 3 of testing in the United States.

The process of developing a new vaccine requires years of disease research and lab testing before it can be administered to humans. Moderna already uses AWS to run everyday accounting and inventory mangement as well as to power its production facility, robotics tools and engineering systems, "which enables the company to achieve greater efficiency and visibility across its operations," according to a press release.

"With AWS, our researchers have the ability to quickly design and execute research experiments and rapidly uncover new insights to get potentially life-saving treatments into production faster," Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in that press release.

Biotech giants like Moderna are increasingly modernizing their IT infrastructures in the hunt for new drugs and treatments, including by use of artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, the biotechnology sector in general has become a sought-after market for AWS and its leading rival Microsoft Azure both, with the latter recently inking a big cloud and AI deal with drugmaker Novartis.

Results from the vaccine test could be made public as early as October, according to biotech analyst Michael Yee.



Source: businessinsider.com
Website: https://bit.ly/3gBrkAJ
Date: Aug 5, 2020
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Old 08-06-2020, 08:18 AM   #15
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Post Jeff Bezos Sells One Million Amazon Shares Worth $3.1 Billion


Jeff Bezos testifies via video conference during the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law hearing on Online Platforms and Market Power in the Rayburn House office Building, July 29, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The committee was scheduled to hear testimony from the CEOs of Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Google.



Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos sold $3.1 billion worth of Amazon shares in the first few days of August, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. After taxes, the billionaire will take home an estimated $2.4 billion.

His last large Amazon sell-off occurred in February, when he sold $1.7 billion worth of Amazon stock.

Forbes estimates his net worth at $188.2 billion. He remains the richest person in the world.

It is unclear why Bezos is selling these shares. In 2017, the Amazon founder stated at a space conference he would be selling $1 billion worth of shares every year to fund Blue Origin, his space exploration company.

Since then, he’s made other commitments. He made a $2 billion pledge in September 2018 for the Bezos Day One Fund, which supports nonprofits focused on providing relief for homeless families as well as building a national network of Montessori-inspired preschools. Since the announcement, Bezos has given away nearly $200 million to homeless-focused nonprofits. He also made a $10 billion pledge in February to the Bezos Earth Fund, dedicated to climate change; no updates have been given since its founding.

A spokesperson for Amazon did not respond to requests for comment regarding the sales.

This latest sell-off comes less than a week after Bezos testified before Congress, via Zoom, as part of an antitrust investigation. Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai also testified.



Source: forbes.com
Website: https://bit.ly/2Xw8rrh
Date: Aug 5, 2020
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Old 08-10-2020, 01:14 PM   #16
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Post 6G

White House aims to leapfrog over China through 6G, other tech innovations beyond Huawei's 5G.


'We're going to take the best of the best around the world from emerging technologies,' said Adam Boehler, CEO of U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and a leader in the White House push to break U.S. reliance on Chinese supply chains. 'Those are startups etc. It's not a Huawei game. It's a next generation game.'



In the ongoing technological battle with China, described by some as a new Cold War, the Trump White House is aiming to leapfrog over China through 6G and other tech innovations beyond Chinese telecom giant Huawei's 5G.

Adam Boehler, CEO of U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, told Just the News in a video interview that the United States has no intention of sitting passively by despite Huawei's sophistication in the 5G realm of cellular networking. Such networking capabilities are seen as enabling revolutions in cutting-edge technology fronts like artificial intelligence, satellites, 3D printing, and the broader networking of Internet-enabled devices.

"We're more interested in what the next wave is," said Boehler, a leader in the administration's push to break U.S. reliance on Chinese supply chains. "We're interested in 6G, and [that is] where we're investing, because that's where both the United States and other countries will dominate and where China is not going to rule through subsidies."

The Commerce Department in May issued new rules to prevent Huawei and its suppliers from using American technology and software. Last month, citing human rights abuses, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. will impose visa restrictions on Chinese technology firms, including Huawei.

In a press conference, Pompeo described Huawei as "an arm of the Chinese Communist Party's surveillance state that censors political dissidents and enables mass internment camps in Xinjiang and the indentured servitude of its population shipped all over China."

Boehler addressed the subsidies Huawei receives from the Chinese government and potential negative implications.

"I think the issue you have with 5G is Huawei subsidizes mainly," Boehler said. "And one of the things that we're looking at is why are we looking at 5G from a hardware perspective, think of any technology. It starts out hardware, and it moves virtual to software. Huawei and 5G. That's the old line technology. So if countries want to spend billions and billions of dollars on old line technology while putting their national security at risk? That's a question I would ask myself, and I would consider very seriously whether I'm going to invest in that."

Boehler said he thinks the United States was positioned to act more nimbly than China in the tech race because of its ability to easily tap into a global network of emerging technologies.

"We're going to look at any emerging technology, and I'm not just looking at us, we're looking abroad at any emerging technology," Boehler said "It's another advantage we have over China. We are not tied to one country. We're not tied to one country's technology. We're going to take the best of the best around the world from emerging technologies. Those are startups, etc. It's not a Huawei game. It's a next generation game."



Source: justthenews.com
Website: https://bit.ly/2CjmIR0
Date: August 9, 2020
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Old 08-10-2020, 01:27 PM   #17
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Post Hydrogen-Powered Vehicles

Hydrogen Cars a Step Closer in Sydney After Hyundai Supply Deal


Hydrogen-powered vehicles could soon be more common on the streets of Australia’s biggest city after Hyundai Motor Co. reached a supply deal for the zero-emissions fuel with local producers.



Hyundai Australia has signed a memorandum of understanding with Jemena Ltd. and Coregas to produce and supply hydrogen generated from solar and wind power to the South Korean company’s Sydney hub from early 2021.

“A lack of critical refueling infrastructure is regularly cited as a hand-brake to hydrogen vehicle sales,” Frank Tudor, Jemena’s Managing Director, said in a statement. The agreement “is an opportunity to demonstrate that renewably-generated hydrogen gas can be made directly available to the vehicle and transport sectors,” he said.

Fuel cell electric vehicles combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, which runs the motor. A fully-charged FCEV can travel around 650 kilometers (404 miles), giving them a bigger range than pure electric vehicles, which generally only stretch to 150 kilometers.

The global hydrogen vehicle industry was estimated to be worth around $650 million in 2018 and is expected to grow rapidly in the years ahead, according to Jemena, jointly owned by State Grid of China and Singapore Power. Hyundai’s Macquarie Park showroom in Sydney is currently the only hydrogen refueling site in Australia. Another is under construction in Canberra, with more planned for Melbourne and Brisbane.

The Australian government is also seeking to build a hydrogen export industry over the next decade by harnessing the country’s natural advantages of using renewable power to manufacture the fuel.



Source: bloomberg.com
Website: https://bloom.bg/31ASnWM
Date: August 9, 2020
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Old 08-13-2020, 06:21 AM   #18
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Post Uber and Lyft Say They May Shut Down in California if Forced to Classify Drivers as Employees


Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, shown here in 2019, said Wednesday that Uber may have to shut down its app in California
for at least a couple of months if it loses an appeal and has to classify its drivers as employees.


‘It’s hard to believe we’ll be able to switch our model to full-time employment quickly,’
Uber CEO says of injunction based on new legal standard established more than two years ago



Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. warned Wednesday of plans to potentially shut down their operations in California if they are forced to recognize drivers as employees in the state.

The two companies are appealing a judge’s ruling requiring drivers to be classified as employees instead of contractors. The judge gave Uber and Lyft 10 days to file an appeal before his order goes into effect.

Uber UBER CEO Dara Khosrowshahi warned Wednesday in an interview on MSNBC that the company’s ride-hailing service could shut down in California until November as a result. Khosrowshahi said that it would be “unfortunate,” but what the injunction granted Monday would require would be tough for Uber to pull off quickly.

“If the court doesn’t reconsider, then in California, it’s hard to believe we’ll be able to switch our model to full-time employment quickly,” he said. “We can’t go out and hire tens of thousands of people directly overnight.”

After announcing earnings Wednesday afternoon, Lyft President John Zimmer said in a conference call that losing an appeal would “force us to suspend operations in California.”

Key to the appeal of this week’s ruling is whether the injunction granted by the judge is mandatory, as the company contends, or prohibitory. If it’s the former, an appeal would automatically trigger a stay; if it’s the latter, they can continue its appeal but would have to comply with the injunction order in the meantime.

Tom White, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, said in an interview Wednesday that “investors need to prepare for the likelihood that both companies are going to shut down in California.” California makes up 16% of Lyft’s ride-hailing business and 9% of Uber’s rides and delivery gross bookings.

Uber’s CEO pointed out that the company doesn’t think it’s likely that it will lose the appeal. If it did, he said Uber would have to go dark until November. That’s when California voters are set to consider Proposition 22, which would exempt Uber, Lyft Inc. LYFT, -0.42% and other gig-economy companies from Assembly Bill 5, a California law that would require them to classify their drivers and delivery workers as employees but promises them some concessions. AB 5, passed in May 2019, is based on a California Supreme Court ruling made more than two years ago that changed the standards for employee classification in the state.

The companies are challenging AB 5, which went into effect at the beginning this year, but it could be several months before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco takes up the appeal. Pending that, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the city attorneys of San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego sought an immediate injunction to force Uber and Lyft to comply with AB 5, which San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman granted Monday.

When reached for comment Wednesday, an Uber spokesman said Khosrowshahi’s comments are in line with a motion for a stay the company filed in court Tuesday, in which it said that a shutdown “would irreparably harm Uber and all who rely on its Rides app to generate income for them and their families — particularly in the midst of a pandemic.”
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Mostafa Maklad, an Uber driver in San Francisco and a Gig Worker Rising leader, on Wednesday called Khosrowshahi’s words a threat “that won’t work.”

“It will be their loss because San Francisco and Los Angeles are their biggest markets,” he said in an interview. A possible shutdown “won’t be an easy transition for workers, but we will make it through together,” he added.

In an email Wednesday, Khosrowshahi urged drivers to vote for Prop. 22, which Erica Mighetto, an organizer with Rideshare Drivers United, said is “making an ask of drivers that will irreparably harm them.”

Uber said in its filing that “it would take millions of dollars and months of effort to restructure the Uber Rides business model,” and outlined the steps required, including transforming the Rides app from a platform that “drivers can choose to use or turn off at their leisure” to “a taxi-like employment system” and building an HR system to onboard employees and track drivers’ hours and wages.

Opinion: Uber and Lyft’s ‘day of reckoning’ is finally here

During the injunction hearing last week, Matthew Goldberg, deputy city attorney for the San Francisco City Attorney’s office, argued that Uber and Lyft already have large white-collar workforces and human resources departments.

“Defendants have dramatically overstated what would be required” to switch their drivers to employee status, he said. “These businesses already do many of the things that lawful employers do.”

Uber shares fell 1.2% Wednesday, while Lyft shares declined 0.4%. Lyft shares initially moved higher in after-hours trading Wednesday after the company reported smaller quarterly losses than expected, but turned to a decline during the conference call.

In a note to clients Monday after the judge’s decision, Deutsche Bank analysts said they did not think a possible short-term shutdown in California would be a big hit financially to Uber because demand continues to be low in the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still, they said “it’s obviously not the company’s ideal outcome.”



Source: marketwatch.com
Website: https://on.mktw.net/322up75
Date: August 12, 2020
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Old 08-23-2020, 04:12 PM   #19
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Post A Big Day for Elon and Tesla


Tesla just surpassed Walmart in market value. Here are the 8 remaining S&P 500 companies worth more than Tesla.



* Tesla on Thursday became the ninth-highest-valued US-listed company after its share price exceeded $2,000, according to data from YCharts.com.

* The electric-vehicle manufacturer has seen its stock rocket more than 45% since it announced a 5-for-1 stock split on August 11.

* Tesla is now more valuable than Walmart, and its market cap is less than $20 billion away from overtaking Johnson & Johnson.

* Here are the eight remaining S&P 500 companies worth more than Tesla.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.



Tesla is now more valuable than the bottom 492 companies in the S&P 500 - without being a member of the S&P 500 index.

At its intraday peak of $2,021.99 on Thursday, Tesla sported a valuation of more than $378 billion, above Walmart's market capitalization of $368 billion, according to data from YCharts.com.

The electric-vehicle manufacturer has surged more than 45% since it announced on August 11 that it would implement a 5-for-1 stock split later in the month.

Year-to-date, Tesla has surged 378%. Investors continued to bid up the company after it recorded its fourth straight quarter of profitability last month and became eligible to be included in the S&P 500 index.

The relative valuation of Tesla to Walmart is astounding when considering the financial profiles of both companies. In its latest fiscal year, Walmart recorded $500 billion more in revenue than Tesla.

But in a world of near-zero interest rates, growth is scarce, and investors are willing to pay up for it. Case in point: Tesla featured a price-earnings multiple of 1030x as of Thursday.

Here are the eight remaining S&P 500 companies worth more than Tesla after it surpassed Walmart:

8. Johnson & Johnson
Ticker: JNJ
Market cap: $398 billion

7. Visa
Ticker: V
Market cap: $432 billion

6. Berkshire Hathaway
Ticker: BRK.A/BRK.B
Market cap: $492 billion

5. Facebook
Ticker: FB
Market cap: $762 billion

4. Alphabet
Ticker: GOOGL/GOOG
Market cap: $1.07 trillion

3. Microsoft
Ticker: MSFT
Market cap: $1.61 trillion

2. Amazon
Ticker: AMZN
Market cap: $1.65 trillion

1. Apple
Ticker: AAPL
Market cap: $2.03 trillion



Source: markets.businessinsider.com
Website: https://bit.ly/2YsEdGu
Date: August 21, 2020
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Post Apple and "Fortnite" Maker Epic Games are in the Opening Stages of a Heated Legal Battle


Apple CEO Tim Cook in Austin, Texas, on November 20, 2019.


Epic's CEO sent Apple a 2 a.m. declaration of war over 'Fortnite':
'Epic will no longer adhere to Apple's payment processing restrictions'.




* New documents show that the bitter legal battle between Apple and the developer behind "Fortnite" was set up hours before the fight went public, with an email that declared war.

* In a new legal filing, Apple revealed that Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney sent a 2 a.m. email on August 13 to Apple CEO Tim Cook and other execs.

* "I'm writing to tell you that Epic will no longer adhere to Apple's payment processing restrictions," Sweeney said. "We choose to follow this path in the firm belief that history and law are on our side."

* Hours after the email was sent, Epic updated the wildly popular game "Fortnite" on Apple and Android smartphones that allowed players to bypass the companies' digital payment systems.

* In response, Apple and Google pulled "Fortnite" from their digital storefronts and cited the update as a terms-of-service violation — which caused Epic to sue both companies.



Apple and "Fortnite" maker Epic Games are in the opening stages of a heated legal battle, which started with "Fortnite" being pulled from Apple's iPhone and iPad App Store last week.

In the latest legal filing, Apple revealed a email sent by Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney at 2 a.m. PT on August 13, 2020, to Apple CEO Tim Cook and several other Apple executives. Sweeney in the email laid out Epic's plan to cut Apple out of payments in "Fortnite" on iPhone and iPad.

"I'm writing to tell you that Epic will no longer adhere to Apple's payment processing restrictions," Sweeney wrote. "Today, Epic is launching Epic direct payments in 'Fortnite' on iOS, offering customers the choice of paying in-app through Epic direct payments or through Apple payments, and passing on the savings of Epic direct payments to customers in the form of lower prices."

This was not Sweeney's first email to Apple executives about the App Store's treatment of "Fortnite." The court records show that on June 30 Sweeney requested Apple allow a "competing Epic Games Store app" to be available on the App Store so "consumers would have an opportunity to pay less for digital products and developers would earn more from their sales."

Apple declined, which then led to Epic's move to circumvent Apple's App Store a month and a half later. Sweeney said he knew this would violate the App Store's agreement with Epic Games, according to the letter, but proceeded regardless because of "the firm belief that history and law are on our side."

Following the update to "Fortnite" that included the ability to pay Epic directly, Apple removed the game from the store and nixed Epic's developer contract. Instead of buying in-game virtual money ("V-bucks") through Apple or Google, players could buy it directly from Epic — at a discount, no less.

Apple and Google said the update was a terms-of-service violation for any developer with an app on the App Store or Google Play.

Future updates to the game aren't allowed, and there is no way to download it unless you've previously downloaded it to your Apple account. When the game's next major content update arrives on August 27, "Fortnite" players on iPhone and iPad will be left behind.

After Epic filed a lawsuit against Apple last week, the company followed up by filing for a temporary restraining order against Apple to keep the company from "removing, de-listing, refusing to list or otherwise making unavailable the app 'Fortnite,' including any update thereof."

For its part, Apple says the issue is Epic's to fix.

"We very much want to keep the company as part of the Apple Developer Program and their apps on the Store," a representative told Business Insider earlier this week. "The problem Epic has created for itself is one that can easily be remedied if they submit an update of their app that reverts it to comply with the guidelines they agreed to and which apply to all developers."

Read the full email exchange dating back to June 30, 2020: On their website.



Source: businessinsider.com
Website: https://bit.ly/2FX8Z3T
Date: August 21, 2020
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