Volvo’s owner, Li Shufu, is mulling over a move to combine the carmaker with his publicly traded Geely Automobile Holdings—a play that would take Volvo public and “unify the bulk of billionaire Li’s growing stable of automotive brands.” It would also “mark a creative way to list Volvo Cars, which delayed plans for an IPO in 2018” amidst trade war drama – Bloomberg

With the coronavirus-related death toll now at 910 and still climbing, companies across nearly all industries have begun including outbreak-related updates in their financial reporting – NYTimes and Bloomberg

We all know that Americans of all stripes gladly hand over their most personal details in exchange for free content, because a deal always beats out privacy, right? Well, proves Jessica Lessin and her “The Information” paywall-protected publication, maybe not always, at least not if the audience and contact are the right match – NYTimes

Bloomberg considers the state of the current bull market as its 11th birthday, incredibly enough, approaches in a month’s time.  Your common denominators? “[E]asy Federal Reserve policy, strong corporate earnings and an uncanny willingness among investors to shake off bad news” – Bloomberg

A look at the growing scourge of ransomware, the cyberattacks plaguing small businesses and local governments alike by locking up data and holding it hostage until (maybe) payment of a ransom. 2019 saw a staggering 41% increase in the attacks, and experts suggest even that jump “underestimate[s] the true cost” of the problem – NYTimes

On the heels of Hester Pierce’s crypto-friendly 3-year “safe harbor” proposal, new reporting from Chainanalysis shows that cryptocrime—in the form of Ponzi schemes and other frauds involving digital currencies, “lured at least $4.3 billion from investors in 2019”—a “bigger haul than the combined $3 billion in 2017 and 2018” – WSJ

Vance Pearson, the former deputy to ex-UAW president Gary Jones, pleaded guilty on Friday to “conspiring with fellow officials in a scheme that siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars in members’ dues to support spending on villa rentals lavish meals, golf clubs and golf outings” – NYTimes

Jeff Bezos’s fortune is a bit more liquid these days after he parted ways with 2 million shares in exchange for a cool $4 billion in the past week alone. Bezos has sold more than $14 billion of stock, with most of that coming in the past 4 years – Bloomberg

Weeks after a $550 million settlement between plaintiffs alleging violation of Illinois’ biometric privacy law and Facebook, Google finds itself the subject of a class action federal lawsuit in California forwarding similar claims—this time over its collection and storage of the “’face prints’ of millions of Google Photos users without permission” – Law360

This should be interesting. Facebook and the IRS are preparing to “square off in a U.S. Tax Court case that could cost the social-media giant more than $9 billion and shape the government’s ability to crack down on companies’ efforts to shift profits to low-tax countries.” At issue is Zuck’s practice of sending profits to low-tax jurisdictions (like Ireland) via corporate subsidiaries and the culmination of a 9-year dispute “over how Facebook structured its international operations” – WSJ

Ford, seeking to turn things around after a difficult 2019, has named Jim Farley—current strategy chief and longtime marketing exec—to COO, positioning him to “potentially succeed 64-year-old Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett, a former office-furniture executive who has led the company for nearly three years” – WSJ and NYTimes

Looks like Boeing’s flight software problems aren’t just limited to the troposphere – NYTimes

Your hostless Oscars recap, including a huge night for Parasite and, 18 years after 8 Mile, Marshall Mathers – NYTimes