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, including some tough questions from Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers - MarketWatch and WSJ and Law360 and Mashable and TechCrunch
Cryptos were all over the map this weekend, but don’t blame Elon’s vicissitudes this time. Instead, the culprit was fear over new promises from Chinese governmental regulators to “’crack down on bitcoin mining and trading behavior’ as part of a broader effort to guard against financial risk” - WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
Dealbook gathered a series of experts from “economics, recruiting and other fields” to weigh in on why hiring is so hard right now, and whether expanded unemployment benefits have anything to do with the gap between available jobs and still-high unemployment figures - NYTimes
Ethiopia is the perhaps-unlikely new front for a bubbling US/China tech war, now that a group of US-backed UK telecommunications companies beat out a consortium supported by China in the competition to build a “nationwide, 5-G capable wireless network” in the East African nation - WSJ
Given the longstanding tie between cannabis and the munchies, you wouldn’t think that the rise of legalized marijuana would draw a fierce reaction from Big Candy. But then again, you wouldn’t necessarily have thought that companies selling cannabis-infused edibles that look like brand-name candy staples, either. And that’s what’s helped turn the candy industry into “an unlikely sheriff in the Wild West of recreational marijuana consumption roamed by pandemic-stressed adults” - NYTimes
After years of hype that never really panned out, some “of the world’s biggest companies and deepest-pocketed investors” are finally shifting away from fossil fuels in favor of bets on green energy—a move that Dominion Energy CFO James Chapman considers “the tipping point and beyond” - WSJ
A bipartisan agreement in the Senate may deliver President Biden his first win in his push to rebuild America’s infrastructure. The deal would provide $304 billion in funding for highways, roads and bridges, and it will likely get House consideration in June - Bloomberg
Last-minute confusion over the vote of billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong notwithstanding, Tribune Publishing Co. owners claim that they’ve successfully accepted a takeover offer from Alden Global Capital last Friday after months of drama over competing bids from Stewart Bainum and others - WSJ
While its exact entry point remains unclear—even after years of “kicking the tires”—there’s no question that Apple wants in on the $5 trillion automobile market, especially as new-car tech surges in importance. The Journal helps us sort out whether “what Apple creates will be a car or a tech platform or a mobility service” - WSJ
Most of us, sadly, will miss the wonders of the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale (pushed back a year due to covid) in person. At least Bloomberg (and photographer Guilia Marchi) have us pretty well covered - Bloomberg
Stay safe and get vaxxed,
MDR
