The Federal Trade Commission refiled its antitrust lawsuit against Facebook on Thursday 2 months after a federal judge dismissed the agency’s original case. The updated action repeated many of the same allegations against Zuck & Co. but added “more facts an analysis” to support those claims, clocking in at nearly twice the original length - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and Law360
After initially avoiding most of the pain caused by global chip shortages, Toyota—the world’s largest automaker—announced this week that it will “cut worldwide production 40 percent in September.” The move affects fourteen plants in Japan and will “reduce output by about 140,000 cars and trucks next month” there and by some 80,000 at its U.S. facilities - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and Marketplace
Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky is stepping aside (and into an executive chair role) and will cede control of the company’s operations to “longtime lieutenant” Joaquin Duato effective January 2022. Gorsky presided over the health-products company for nearly a decade and “led the company to tremendous growth” - WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and NYTimes
Binance, the world’s “largest cryptocurrency exchange,” is on the hunt for reputable investors needed to enable the long-desired IPO of its American unit. Owner Changpeng Zhao was hoping former regulator and recent CEO Brian Brooks could help deliver on both counts, but Brooks left the company recently after just months on the job when “a venture capital investment he was trying to put together for Binance.US fell through.” The outsized control Zhao was set to retain over the company was a major sticking point for the ill-fated deal - NYTimes and Bloomberg
CFTC Commissioner Brian Quintenz is exiting the agency at the end of the month, leaving the Commission with two empty seats on the 5-person slate - WSJ and Law360
Despite worsening covid numbers due to the Delta variant, the U.S. jobless rate ticked further lower last week, hitting a “pandemic low” of 348,000 in the fourth-straight week of declines - WSJ
E-commerce giant Amazon’s going old school with plans to open bricks-and-mortar retail locations in several areas around the company in an effort to “help the tech company extend its research in sales of clothing, household items, electronics and other areas.” Pilot stores are expected in Ohio and California - WSJ and Bloomberg
With the Fed talking seriously about an earlier-than-anticipated tapering, might as well consider what the central bank’s bond buying spree has actually meant for the economy - Marketplace
While Chuck E. Cheese-style animatrons may cut it for nostalgia’s sake, they’re not going to fly for today’s tech savvy youth. Hence, Big Mouse’s big investment in sentient robots. Buckle up, folks. It’s about to get really weird - NYTimes
Stay safe, get vaxxed, and have a great weekend,
MDR
