EU antitrust officials are targeting Google for “potentially abusing its dominance in the online advertising market to box out competition”—all part of a “broader push by the European authorities to clamp down on the world’s...more
The Times digs into what it’s calling private equity’s “conquer[ing of] the American tax system”—where “slight-of-hand tax-avoidance strategies” are so “aggressive” and pervasive that “at least three private equity officials...more
6/14/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
Bitcoin ,
Classified Information ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Exxon Mobil ,
FBI ,
Gag Orders ,
Hackers ,
Internet Retailers ,
Lumber Industry ,
McDonalds ,
Microsoft ,
Pipelines ,
Private Equity ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Supply Chain ,
Tax Avoidance
After years of protests, lobbying, and legal battles, TC Energy—the Canadian pipeline company behind the embattled Keystone XL pipeline project that “would have carried petroleum from Canadian tar sands to Nebraska”—announced...more
6/10/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Bitcoin ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Cryptocurrency ,
FBI ,
GameStop ,
Gig Economy ,
High Net-Worth ,
Internet Memes ,
Keystone XL Pipeline ,
Lyft ,
Meat Processing Plants ,
Mobile Apps ,
National Security ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Ransomware ,
Royal Dutch Petroleum ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stock Prices ,
The Hague ,
TikTok ,
Uber ,
Wealth Tax
In a rare cyber win for the good guys (at least one that’s publicly acknowledged), the DOJ revealed on Monday that it “had seized much of the ransom that a major U.S. pipeline operator had paid last month to a Russian hacking...more
6/8/2021
/ 10b5-1 Plans ,
Apple ,
Commodities ,
Credit Suisse ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Data Collection ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Digital Wallets ,
Hackers ,
Insider Trading ,
Internet Memes ,
Jeff Bezos ,
Oil & Gas ,
Outer Space ,
Pipelines ,
Private Equity ,
Ransomware ,
Russia ,
Stock Prices ,
Tesla
This weekend saw groundbreaking action by the G-7 nations on the Biden administration’s proposal for a new global minimum tax of at least 15% “that companies would have to pay regardless of where they locate their...more
6/7/2021
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Biden Administration ,
Bitcoin ,
Bitcoin Mining ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Cryptocurrency ,
G7 ,
Google ,
Job Creation ,
Leveraged Buyout ,
Medical Supplies ,
Online Advertisements ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Tax Reform ,
Unemployment
Highlights [or lowlights, depending on how you think Timmy did] from Apple CEO Tim Cook’s Friday testimony in defense of his company’s App Store to close out week 3 of the battle with Epic Games in federal court in Oakland...more
A weeks long slide for Bitcoin and other cryptos turned into a “frenzied selloff” on Wednesday, crashing the digital currencies back to earth after what had been a pandemic year of impressive gains....more
5/20/2021
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Federal Reserve ,
Ford Motor ,
Generic Drugs ,
Hedge Funds ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Martin Shkreli ,
McDonalds ,
Pipelines ,
Ransomware
Struggling movie studio mainstay MGM is shopping itself hard to Amazon in hopes that the prospect of bringing “James Bond, Rocky, RoboCop and other film and television properties into the e-commerce giant’s fold” is enough to...more
5/18/2021
/ Aluminum Sales ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
China ,
Cryptocurrency ,
EPIC ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Kodak ,
Martin Act ,
MGM ,
Steel Industry ,
Supply Chain ,
Trade Wars
AT&T made late-weekend waves with the announcement that it’s planning to spin off its WarnerMedia division (think HBO and CNN) and merge with Discovery’s “reality-TV empire” in a deal that could value the AT&T assets at...more
5/17/2021
/ Algorithms ,
Apple ,
AT&T ,
Big Tech ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
EPIC ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Internet Memes ,
Masks ,
Movie Theaters ,
Pipelines ,
Ransomware
Stocks fell again on Wednesday, the third day of losses in a row, and bond yields rose, spurred on by a 4.2% CPI increase as compared to a year ago. Though analysts were expecting that surge ...more
5/13/2021
/ Amazon ,
Biden Administration ,
Consumer Price Index ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Elon Musk ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Financial Markets ,
General Motors ,
Hackers ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Labor Law Violations ,
Mexico ,
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) ,
Pipelines ,
Stock Prices ,
Tesla ,
Volvo
More details on that massive ransomware hack that hit Colonial Pipeline over the weekend. The FBI has confirmed that hacking group DarkSide was responsible and that it’s “looking for any ties the group might have to...more
5/11/2021
/ 1MDB ,
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Chipotle Grill ,
Citigroup ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Data Breach ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Driverless Cars ,
Embezzlement ,
Facebook ,
FBI ,
Federal Funding ,
Hackers ,
Infrastructure ,
Instagram ,
NTSB ,
Oil & Gas ,
Online Safety for Children ,
Pipelines ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Tesla ,
Victoria Secret ,
Wage and Hour
Peloton has recalled all of its treadmill models—the Tread+ and Tread—“less than a month after it fought the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission as it warned that dozens of injuries and one death of a child had been...more
5/6/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Brokers ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Facebook ,
Financial Markets ,
Gig Economy ,
Independent Contractors ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Investment Management ,
Labor Reform ,
Labor Regulations ,
Pharmaceutical Patents ,
Product Defects ,
Product Recalls ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Robinhood Financial ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation ,
Uber ,
Vaccinations
Lyft is letting go of its self-driving car unit, Level 5—reaching a deal with Toyota’s Woven Planet subsidiary for $200M, with an additional $350M in payments over the next 5 years. Lyft revealed that “unloading Level 5 would...more
4/27/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
Credit Suisse ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Driverless Cars ,
Elon Musk ,
Federal Contractors ,
Lyft ,
NASA ,
Outer Space ,
SiriusXM ,
SpaceX ,
Tesla ,
Toyota
Bitcoin’s back (and no, it never really left), thanks to a rally this morning that pushed its value up as much as 10% at one point in early trading today. Elon Musk’s weekend tweeting and news that presumptive top NFL draft...more
4/26/2021
/ Apple ,
Banks ,
Big Tech ,
Bitcoin ,
China ,
Consumer Privacy Rights ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Credit Suisse ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Executive Compensation ,
Infectious Diseases ,
iPhone Tracking ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Mobile Apps ,
OCC ,
On-Demand Services ,
Panasonic ,
Popular ,
Railways ,
Slander ,
Underwriting Agreements ,
Virtual Currency
A unanimous SCOTUS ruling this week curbs the FTC’s “longtime practice of seeking to recover ill-gotten gains from companies and individuals who cheat or mislead consumers,” with the justices finding that the 1973 law that...more
4/23/2021
/ Airlines ,
AMG Capital Management LLC v FTC ,
Bitcoin ,
Capital Gains Tax ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Financial Markets ,
FTCA Section 13(b) ,
HBO ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Internet Streaming ,
Material Suppliers ,
Restitution ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Supply Chain ,
Takeover Bids ,
Tax Reform ,
Tourism
Because volatility’s the name of the game whenever we’re talking cryptos, it’s hard to be too shocked by the news that last week’s banner Coinbase public market debut gave way to a digital currency walkback this weekend that...more
4/19/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Bitcoin ,
Citibank ,
Coinbase ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Digital Currency ,
Elon Musk ,
Federal Contractors ,
Financial Markets ,
Homeless Issues ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment ,
NASA ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SpaceX ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
The Tribune Company ,
Unions
The Nasdaq has set Coinbase’s reference price at $250/share ahead of today’s first day of trading for the crypto exchange that’s making its public debut via direct listing ...more
4/14/2021
/ CBS ,
Coinbase ,
Consumer Price Index ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Direct Listing ,
Electric Vehicles ,
EPIC ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Nasdaq ,
Popular ,
Resignation ,
Tax Evasion ,
Toshiba ,
Volkswagen
Mere days after Chinese regulators hit Jack Ma’s Alibaba with a staggering $2.8 billion antitrust fine, the e-commerce giant’s sister company, Ant Group, announced “that it would undertake a sweeping, government-ordered...more
4/13/2021
/ Alibaba ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Biden Administration ,
China ,
Climate Change ,
Coinbase ,
Credit Suisse ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Currency Manipulation ,
Financial Markets ,
Foreign Exchanges ,
Infrastructure ,
Janet Yellen ,
Microsoft ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Semiconductors ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Supply Chain ,
Uber ,
Vaccinations
More on how the clogged Suez Canal is combining with “a burst of demand for consumer goods” thanks to a resurgent U.S. economy is “heaping pressure on already strained supply chains” and potentially push prices higher in...more
3/25/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Big Tech ,
Coinbase ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Crypto Exchanges ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Facebook ,
Financial Markets ,
Goods or Services ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Mobile Apps ,
Oil & Gas ,
PCAOB ,
Section 230 ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Slack ,
Social Media ,
Supply Chain
In a move we hinted at here recently, drug giant Merck is partnering with rival Johnson & Johnson to help produce production of J&J’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine. This unprecedented “Coke & Pepsi of the pharma world”...more
3/3/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Biden Administration ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Confirmation Proceedings ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cryptocurrency ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Hertz ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Intel ,
Johnson & Johnson ,
Labor Relations ,
Market Volatility ,
Merck ,
Patent Infringement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tax Evasion ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations
A quieter bond market was music to the markets’ ears on Monday, and they responded with their best day since last June...more
3/2/2021
/ Administrative Appointments ,
Biden Administration ,
Bitcoin ,
Bonds ,
China ,
Confirmation Proceedings ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Credit Suisse ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Currency ,
Electric Vehicles ,
General Motors ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Insolvency ,
Manufacturers ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SoftBank ,
State Taxes ,
Tax Revenues ,
Volvo ,
Wal-Mart
Your Federal Reserve update based on Chair Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, including pushing back against concerns that the “economy is on the cusp of running too hot” ...more
2/24/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Audits ,
Bitcoin ,
Bonds ,
Capital Markets ,
Corruption ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Ether ,
Federal Reserve ,
GameStop ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
McDonalds ,
PricewaterhouseCoopers ,
Retaliation ,
Square ,
Stock Prices ,
Whistleblowers
Boeing needs another aircraft problem like a hole in the head, but that’s just what it got after a right-engine explosion on one of its 777-200 models that had just left Denver en route to Hawaii. ...more
2/23/2021
/ Aircraft Equipment ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Bias ,
Biden Administration ,
Boeing ,
CARES Act ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Disney ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Elon Musk ,
Financial Markets ,
GameStop ,
Google ,
IBM ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Job Creation ,
Market Manipulation ,
OMB ,
Opioid ,
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) ,
Product Defects ,
Reddit ,
Senate Confirmation Hearings ,
Tesla ,
United Airlines
Bumble hit markets on Thursday with considerable buzz, and markets validated that love, with company shares opening a mind-boggling $33 above its already-increased offering price. ...more
2/12/2021
/ Asset Management ,
Bank of New York (BNY) Mellon ,
Biden Administration ,
Bitcoin ,
Bloomberg Inc. ,
CBO Report ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
Credit Suisse ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Dating Services ,
Deficit Reduction ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disney ,
Financial Crisis ,
GameStop ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Layoffs ,
Market Manipulation ,
Microchip Technology ,
Oil & Gas ,
RMBS ,
Robinhood Financial ,
Royal Dutch Petroleum ,
Social Media ,
Supply Chain
In a much-anticipated [well, for some of us central bank nerds, at least] to the Economic Club of NY, Fed Chair Powell on Wednesday acknowledged that pent-up consumer demand unlocked by a big government stimulus package could...more
2/11/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Business Losses ,
China ,
Citigroup ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corruption ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Dating Services ,
Federal Reserve ,
Fidelity Investments ,
Financial Markets ,
GameStop ,
General Motors ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment ,
Job Creation ,
Manufacturers ,
Merck ,
Robinhood Financial ,
Uber ,
Unemployment ,
Vaccinations ,
Vanguard