Under growing antitrust scrutiny, Google announced on Wednesday that it would let some apps “offer their own billing system within the Google Play store as part of a pilot program.” That move, affecting Spotify, among others,...more
Ailing e-truck startup Lordstown Motors found itself facing more challenges on Monday, as founder & CEO Steve Burns and CFO Julio Rodriguez resigned “after an investigation by the company’s board,” just weeks after the...more
6/15/2021
/ 5G Network ,
Airbus ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Biden Administration ,
Bitcoin ,
Boeing ,
China ,
Debt ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Elon Musk ,
G7 ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
International Trade Disputes ,
Junk Bonds ,
NASA ,
Outer Space ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Recessions ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Subsidies
The Times digs into what it’s calling private equity’s “conquer[ing of] the American tax system”—where “slight-of-hand tax-avoidance strategies” are so “aggressive” and pervasive that “at least three private equity officials...more
6/14/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
Bitcoin ,
Classified Information ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Exxon Mobil ,
FBI ,
Gag Orders ,
Hackers ,
Internet Retailers ,
Lumber Industry ,
McDonalds ,
Microsoft ,
Pipelines ,
Private Equity ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Supply Chain ,
Tax Avoidance
Thursday’s highly anticipated Consumer Price Index update showed that prices “rose in May at the fastest rate since 2008, a bigger jump than economists had expected.” The 5% increase comes as prices “are rising for many goods...more
6/11/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Biden Administration ,
Coding ,
Consumer Price Index ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Electronic Arts ,
Hackers ,
Infrastructure ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Personal Data ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Ransomware ,
Sharing Economy ,
Starbucks ,
Supply Chain
Electric truck-maker Lordstown (that “aimed to revive a shuttered General Motors factory in Ohio”) revealed this week in a regulatory filing that it does “not have enough cash to start commercial production of its electric...more
6/9/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Automotive Industry ,
Berkshire Hathaway ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Credit Cards ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Employee Incentive Plans ,
Foreign Currency ,
High Net-Worth ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
IRS ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Online Banking ,
Renault-Nissan ,
Robinhood Financial ,
Startups ,
Tax Evasion
JBS, the world’s largest meat processor, shuttered operations at locations throughout the U.S. and Canada on Tuesday after a ransomware attack that also impacted its Australian operations. The White House has confirmed that...more
6/2/2021
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Asbestos ,
Cancer ,
Data Breach ,
Elon Musk ,
Employee Incentive Plans ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Etsy ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Internet Retailers ,
Johnson & Johnson ,
Kodak ,
Meat Processing Plants ,
Oil Prices ,
Ransomware ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Supply Chain ,
Terms of Service ,
Vaccinations
In a significant departure from decades of restrictive population management efforts, China’s ruling party will now permit couples to have three children—“ending a two-child policy that has failed to raise the country’s...more
6/1/2021
/ Acquisition Agreements ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Beverage Manufacturers ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Deutsche Bank ,
Economic Development ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Lyft ,
MGM ,
OECD ,
Open Source Software ,
Private Equity ,
Uber
Struggling movie studio mainstay MGM is shopping itself hard to Amazon in hopes that the prospect of bringing “James Bond, Rocky, RoboCop and other film and television properties into the e-commerce giant’s fold” is enough to...more
5/18/2021
/ Aluminum Sales ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
China ,
Cryptocurrency ,
EPIC ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Kodak ,
Martin Act ,
MGM ,
Steel Industry ,
Supply Chain ,
Trade Wars
After a series of denials, it has emerged that Colonial Pipeline reportedly paid 75 Bitcoin (roughly $5 million) to recover its stolen data from last weekend’s ransomware attack. The move likely put a quicker end to the...more
5/14/2021
/ Air Quality Standards ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Bank of America ,
Big Tech ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Disney ,
Facebook ,
Financial Markets ,
Hackers ,
International Data Transfers ,
Ireland ,
McDonalds ,
Microchip Technology ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Unemployment ,
Wage and Hour
A cyberattack over the weekend forced the shutdown of one of America’s largest pipelines for refined gas and jet fuel. Operator Colonial Pipeline revealed late Friday that it had “shut down its 5,500 miles of pipeline, which...more
5/10/2021
/ Alibaba ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Barclays ,
Biden Administration ,
Cloud Computing ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Cyber Attacks ,
Data Breach ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
DoorDash ,
E-Commerce ,
Federal Contractors ,
Hackers ,
Job Creation ,
Microsoft ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Ransomware ,
Supply Chain ,
Uber ,
Unemployment
Lyft is letting go of its self-driving car unit, Level 5—reaching a deal with Toyota’s Woven Planet subsidiary for $200M, with an additional $350M in payments over the next 5 years. Lyft revealed that “unloading Level 5 would...more
4/27/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
Credit Suisse ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Driverless Cars ,
Elon Musk ,
Federal Contractors ,
Lyft ,
NASA ,
Outer Space ,
SiriusXM ,
SpaceX ,
Tesla ,
Toyota
A fiery, deadly Tesla crash outside of Houston over the weekend is prompting a federal probe of the company’s self-driving autonomous mode for “potential gaps in self-driving car technology.” ...more
4/20/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Argentina ,
Automotive Industry ,
Bailout ,
Car Accident ,
China ,
Coca Cola ,
Corporate Sales Transactions ,
Credit Suisse ,
Digital Media ,
Driverless Cars ,
Elon Musk ,
Financial Markets ,
Foreign Debt ,
High Risk Financial Products ,
IMF ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Labor Relations ,
Merger Agreements ,
Netflix ,
Oprah Winfrey ,
Plant Based Products ,
Railways ,
Tesla ,
Unions
Because volatility’s the name of the game whenever we’re talking cryptos, it’s hard to be too shocked by the news that last week’s banner Coinbase public market debut gave way to a digital currency walkback this weekend that...more
4/19/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Bitcoin ,
Citibank ,
Coinbase ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Digital Currency ,
Elon Musk ,
Federal Contractors ,
Financial Markets ,
Homeless Issues ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Investment ,
NASA ,
Retirement Plan ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
SpaceX ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
The Tribune Company ,
Unions
More good economic news in the U.S. this week, with first-time jobless claims falling to 613k, a decrease of more than 150,000 from a week earlier and the lowest level of the pandemic. ...more
4/16/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Best Interest Standard ,
Broker-Dealer ,
CBS ,
China ,
Class Action ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Dow Jones ,
Economic Growth ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Fiduciary Rule ,
Financial Markets ,
Jeff Bezos ,
Music Industry ,
Retail Sales ,
Robinhood Financial ,
Securities Regulation ,
Settlement Agreements ,
Stock Prices ,
Unemployment ,
Unions
Big bank earnings season kicked off this week, and impressive Q1 results from JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo has Wall Street feeling especially bullish. This, despite “sobering signs,” including climbing infections...more
4/15/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Banks ,
Bernie Madoff ,
Bonds ,
CBS ,
Coinbase ,
Federal Reserve ,
Fine Art ,
Internet Retailers ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Quarterly Report ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Share Price
Chinese antitrust officials hit Alibaba with a “record” $2.8 billion fine over the weekend—the “biggest move yet in the government’s campaign to tighten its supervision of Big Tech.” ...more
4/12/2021
/ Alibaba ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Ameriprise Financial ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Big Tech ,
Boeing ,
China ,
Data Collection ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Google ,
Labor Relations ,
Newspapers ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Unions
Most eyes in the labor world are on Birmingham, Alabama, where the NLRB is hand-counting the 3215 ballots cast by workers in Amazon’s Bessemer, AL warehouse on whether to unionize. Though results could be released later...more
4/9/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
China ,
Credit Suisse ,
Entertainment Venues ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Internet Streaming ,
iPhone ,
Labor Relations ,
Music Industry ,
Netflix ,
Plant Based Products ,
Procter & Gamble ,
SoftBank ,
Sony ,
Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) ,
Targeted Digital Advertising ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations
Though raising projections for overall economic growth over the next 2 years, the IMF warned this week that “an uneven rollout of vaccines” threatens to add to concerns about a “K-shaped” economic recovery on a global scale. ...more
4/7/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Competition ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Credit Suisse ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Economic Growth ,
Electric Vehicles ,
Facebook ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
General Motors ,
HBO ,
IMF ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Ireland ,
JPMorgan Chase ,
Misappropriation ,
Movies ,
Netflix ,
Patent Infringement ,
Ponzi Scheme ,
Recovery Plans ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Trade Secrets
Back at it. Let’s get caught up . . . Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is calling for a global minimum tax rate on multinational corporations, a move aimed at helping “prevent companies based in other countries from having a...more
4/6/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
China ,
Climate Change ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Corporate Taxes ,
Credit Suisse ,
Digital Currency ,
Fair Use ,
Financial Crisis ,
Financial Markets ,
Google ,
Java ,
Multinationals ,
NLRB ,
Oracle ,
Oracle v Google ,
SCOTUS ,
Subprime Loans ,
Tax Rates ,
Tax Reform ,
Unfair Labor Practices
Intel has unveiled plans to spend $20 billion to build two new chip manufacturing factories near existing facilities in Arizona—a “surprise bet that could please government officials worried about component shortages and...more
3/24/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Disney ,
Federal Reserve ,
Hartford Insurance Company ,
Inflation Adjustments ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Intel ,
Internet Streaming ,
Janet Yellen ,
Manufacturing Facilities ,
Maritime Transport ,
Microchip Technology ,
Mobile Apps ,
Movies ,
Robinhood Financial ,
Takeover Bids ,
Television Commercials ,
Wells Fargo
Digging deeper into Google’s announcement that “its ad tools would no longer support individual tracking of users across websites starting in 2022,” a move that—with the site’s previously unveiled plans to stop supporting...more
3/4/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Bonds ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Cookies ,
Data Collection ,
Disney ,
Exploration and Production Assets ,
Financial Markets ,
Google ,
Insolvency ,
Investment Opportunities ,
Market Volatility ,
Michaels ,
Mobile Apps ,
NFL ,
Oil & Gas ,
OPEC ,
Quicken Loans ,
Retailers ,
Russia ,
Saudi Arabia ,
Stock Trades ,
Targeted Digital Advertising ,
Web Tracking
In a move we hinted at here recently, drug giant Merck is partnering with rival Johnson & Johnson to help produce production of J&J’s single-shot coronavirus vaccine. This unprecedented “Coke & Pepsi of the pharma world”...more
3/3/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Biden Administration ,
Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Confirmation Proceedings ,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cryptocurrency ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Goldman Sachs ,
Hertz ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Intel ,
Johnson & Johnson ,
Labor Relations ,
Market Volatility ,
Merck ,
Patent Infringement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Tax Evasion ,
Unions ,
Vaccinations
Your Federal Reserve update based on Chair Powell’s testimony before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, including pushing back against concerns that the “economy is on the cusp of running too hot” ...more
2/24/2021
/ Amazon Marketplace ,
Audits ,
Bitcoin ,
Bonds ,
Capital Markets ,
Corruption ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Ether ,
Federal Reserve ,
GameStop ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Interest Rate Adjustments ,
McDonalds ,
PricewaterhouseCoopers ,
Retaliation ,
Square ,
Stock Prices ,
Whistleblowers
NY AG Letitia James is suing Amazon, accusing the online retail giant “of not doing enough to protect workers in the state from the coronavirus” and calling its response to the pandemic “deficient.” ...more
2/17/2021
/ Accounting Fraud ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Big Tech ,
Bitcoin ,
Bonds ,
Business Interruption ,
Capital Markets ,
Citibank ,
CMBS ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Disney ,
E-Commerce ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Initial Public Offering (IPO) ,
Newspapers ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Severe Weather ,
USAA ,
Wells Fargo ,
Whistleblowers ,
Wire Fraud ,
Workplace Safety
Friday’s “anemic” jobs report (just 49,000 jobs added in January, and precious few of those in the private sector) “underscored the pandemic’s brutal damage to the job market” and likely made President Biden’s sale of his...more
2/8/2021
/ Alphabet Company ,
Amazon Marketplace ,
Apple ,
Biden Administration ,
Boeing ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Defamation ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
DTCC ,
Elon Musk ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Ford Motor ,
General Electric ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Legislative Agendas ,
National Emissions Standards ,
Popular ,
SoftBank ,
Stock Trades ,
Super Bowl ,
Twitter ,
Unemployment