Forget Big Brother and meet Big Parent, as Beijing released new strict limits “on how long minors can play online video games” on Monday. The rules, which bar kids and teens from online gaming on school days and limit them to an hour a day on weekends, “tightened restrictions from 2019 aimed at what the government said was a growing scourge of online game addition among schoolchildren” - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and TechCrunch
More on what we may expect from the defense team and prosecutors alike when Elizabeth Holmes’ much-delayed Theranos criminal fraud trial kicks off with jury selection in San Jose federal court today – Law360 and NYTimes and WSJ and MarketWatch
Starbucks is the latest company to face a union movement—this time by workers in the Buffalo, NY area who filed “petitions from employees at three stores in the area asking the National Labor Relations Board to hold elections on union representation” in the coming weeks. Sbux has, “for years,” faced worker complaints about “the company’s labor practices,” including “chronic understaffing[] . . . a chaotic work environment, erratic hours and difficulty taking sick days” - NYTimes
No shocker to most of you out there who have found yourselves scrambling for something over the past months, but the supply chain challenges that marked the early days of the pandemic are far from over. In short, “delays, product shortages and rising costs continue to bedevil businesses large and small,” and the crazy ripple effects that a global economy guarantees hit nearly everywhere means that these delays and shortages are the new normal for us all - NYTimes
As Warby Parker and other startups consider going public via the direct listing route, the Journal helps us understand the appeal of that nontraditional approach - WSJ
The FTC announced Monday that it intends to “try to reduce prices at the pump by seeking more ways to crack down on mergers in the retail gasoline industry.” FTC Chair Lina Khan has reportedly expressed concerns to the White House that her agency’s “approach to merger review in recent years has enabled significant consolidation, particularly when it comes to retail fuel outlets” - NYTimes and MarketWatch
Elsewhere in regulatory action, SEC chair Gary Gensler said in an article this week that he’s open to banning “’payment for order flow’—the practice in which large trading operations pay to execute trades for clients of retail brokerage firms.” That practice “underpins some of the most popular free stock-trading apps,” such as Robinhood, and would have a massive impact on their business model - NYTimes and MarketWatch and WSJ
Zoom reported quarterly revenue of $1 billion, “fueled by strong demand for its videoconferencing services that became ubiquitous during the pandemic.” The results slightly exceeded expectations, though questions remain about Zoom’s growth potential [as reflected by its falling stock] as workers slowly return to physical office spaces - WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
A bit of classic NYC whodunit fun with Marty Short, a dash of intergenerational comedy, and, by the way, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez . . . count us in - NYTimes and Mashable
Stay safe, and get vaxxed,
MDR
