The announcement itself isn’t a shock, but given the potential players, it’s headline-worthy anyway: the DOJ announced yesterday that it’s officially opening an antitrust probe into Big Tech companies and “whether they had acted to reduce competition” as they amassed market power – NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
US regulators are likely to approve the T-Mobile/Sprint mega-merger after the companies announced a new divestiture plan that “would equip satellite-TV operator Dish Network Corp. with the building blocks for a new wireless network” – WSJ and Bloomberg
Office-space sharing company WeWork is setting its sights on a September 2019 IPO—a date “earlier than many investors had expected.” WeWork confidentially filed its offering paperwork in late 2018, and it’s likely to publicly disclose it next month – WSJ
US/China trade talks are set to resume as early as next week, with US negotiators preparing to make the trek to Beijing to restart long-stalled discussions – Bloomberg
As we noted here before, Deutsche Bank has obviously found its way into yet another scandal of late—this time the sordid Epstein affair. Now it’s emerging that DB reported suspicious transactions by Epstein earlier this year in which he was moving money out of the United States – NYTimes and WSJ
Beijing Automotive Group this week announced what amounts to a 5% stake in Germany’s Daimler, “deepening the company’s ties to China’s vast but troubled car market.” The two companies have partnered together in China for years under the government’s joint-venture-requirement laws – NYTimes
Interesting Bloomberg take on how a decade of dirt-low interest rates and bond yields have transformed broad aspects of the economy, upending “long-standing assumptions about money and reshap[ing] a generation of investors, traders, savers, and policymakers” – Bloomberg
The inside scoop on the living wills of the US’s 8 largest banks – Law360
Snap had a good Tuesday spurred by its strongest user growth since going public and improved revenue, “signs that long-awaited Snapchat app improvements and a leadership overhaul are translating into gains for the business” – WSJ and MarketWatch and Bloomberg
Amazon’s partnership with Realogy Holdings Corp., the company that counts Century 21 and Coldwell Banker among its brands, in which purchasers who buy through Realogy will receive up to $5k in Amazon products and services is already shaking up the already volatile housing market – Bloomberg and MarketWatch
E-scooter company Bird is wrapping a new funding round that values the start-up at nearly $2.5 billion – NYTimes
Why not a dash of refinement on a Wednesday morning? Some thoughts on the art of the tablescape – NYTimes
