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 entice Bezos & Co. to fork over between $5 and 9 billion that MGM wants - NYTimes and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

U.S. and European trade officials have kicked off discussions to “resolve a conflict over steel and aluminum imports” that became a flash point in the last administration’s series of rolling trade wars around the globe. The talks will immediately “prevent steeper tariffs from taking effect” and may make it easier for the Americans and Euros to “work together to rein in China” - NYTimes and WSJ

The Times gives us this awfully comprehensive look at the devil’s bargain of sorts that Apple has struck in order to do business in China over the past two decades, a proposition that’s uniquely Tim Cook’s (as the Apple exec most responsible for “spearhead[ing] the company’s entrance into China.” Among the dicier features of the relationship, to “stay on the right side of Chinese regulators,” Apple “has put the data of its Chinese customers at risk and has aided government censorship in the Chinese version of its App Store” - NYTimes

Thoughts on what to expect from the direct testimony of Apple CEO Tim Cook as his company fights Epic Games’ antitrust claims during week 3 of the tech showdown in federal court in Oakland - WSJ and Law360

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar—apparently left in the dark as his AT&T corporate parent negotiated the spinoff of his division and merger with Discovery—is reportedly negotiating his departure. Longtime Discovery CEO David Zaslav has been tapped to run the new venture. Kilar had been hired just a year ago to head up AT&T’s media group - NYTimes and WSJ

Kodak disclosed on Monday that a series of stock purchases made by CEO Jim Continenza “ahead of a planned $765 million deal with the U.S. government to produce drug ingredients” has left the company and its top exec on the precipice of a lawsuit from the New York Attorney General’s office for alleged Martin Act violations - WSJ and Law360

A major dive on Monday makes it the right time to step back and consider why cryptos have been on such a torrent run during the pandemic and whether yesterday’s fall was a sign of things to come or whether the craze will outlast the virus - WSJ and MarketWatch

More on the tightrope the Fed’s walking these days between acknowledging market fears about inflation and “overreacting” to a jump in prices it has good reason to believe is transitory - NYTimes

How to improve on playoff hockey, the best of the sport somehow finding another gear each game? Well, for Canadians, why not an entire Cup bracket of its own - WSJ

Stay safe and get vaxxed.