Facebook revealed on Wednesday that it’s expecting a one-time $3 to 5 billion FTC fine over privacy violations, an amount that would be a “record penalty for a technology company by the agency.” In preparation, Zuck & co. have set aside $3 billion for the charge while announcing north of $15 billion in Q1 revenue – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and Law360 and Mashable
More SCOTUS news this week, as the Supremes ruled that workers at a California company “could not band together to seek compensation for what they said was their employer’s failure to protect their data” in a blow to the legal concept of class arbitrations – NYTimes and Law360
After weeks of talks (and lots of consternation), Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have ended their government-initiated merger talks, “throwing the future of the lenders into question after a series of failed turnaround plans” – Bloomberg and NYTimes and WSJ
Ford has decided on the “join them” strategy in its effort to beat out electric carmaker Tesla, announcing on Wednesday that it’s investing $500 million in electric-car startup Rivian – NYTimes and Marketplace
Although maybe Tesla will take care of that problem itself. Elon’s baby posted worse-than-anticipated numbers for Q1, including a $702 million loss in profits, as weak sales took a “heavy toll on its bottom line” – NYTimes and WSJ
The Journal helps us unpack the “uncertain future” of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac, the quasi-governmental mortgage giants that are facing opponents from all sides, from those who want the government to get out of their operations to those who want to get rid of them altogether – WSJ
A Philadelphia jury hit Johnson & Johnson unit Ethicon Inc. with $120 million in damages over a “negligently designed pelvic mesh implant” that “left a woman all but incontinent and suffering from chronic pain” – Law360
Nissan, still reeling from the disgraced downfall of former exec Carlos Ghosn, warned investors this week that its annual operating profit for FY 2018 (which wrapped in March) is likely to be upwards of 45% lower than that of 2017 – NYTimes
SoftBank is dropping a cool billion on payment firm Wirecard, a nice shot in the arm for a “company struggling to get past accounting issues in its Asian arm and investor skepticism of its financial reporting and business model” – WSJ
Meet Jeopardy’s newest (and quickest) millionaire, James Holzhauer, whose two-week championship tenure includes the top five spots on the show’s highest winnings-per-show list – Mashable
