Financial Daily Dose 8.17.2021 | Top Story: NHTSA Opens Inquiry Into Tesla Autopilot Crashes

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced on Monday that it’s opening a probe into Tesla’s Autopilot driver-assistance system “because of growing concerns that it can fail to see parked emergency vehicles.” The agency noted 11 crashes in the past 3 years involving Teslas on Autopilot mode and “fire trucks, police cars and other vehicles with flashing lights that were stopped along roadways” - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and HuffPost and Law360 and TechCrunch

T-Mobile is investigating a possible data breach involving names, addresses, social security numbers, and drivers’ license details of its more-than 100 million subscribers following reports that at least some of that personal info was “found for sale on the web” - WSJ and MarketWatch

A look at the peculiar role ahead for Treasury Secretary Yellen, the former Fed chief who will likely play an outsized (and now outsider) role in determining whether current-Chair Powell will stay on for a second term or yield his seat to a less-moderate successor (perhaps in the form of current Fed governor Lael Brainard) - NYTimes

Speaking of the central bank, Fed officials told a federal judge in a San Francisco court filing last week that scrapping Libor too soon—“as requested by consumers in a lawsuit”—would “pose a risk to financial stability and undermine years of global planning for a transition to a new benchmark for borrowing rates.” The Fed’s position echoes that of the defendants in the matter, which include some of the world’s biggest financial institutions, including JPMorgan, Credit Suisse, and Deutsche Bank - Bloomberg

Stamps.com is paying $100 million to resolve an investor class action accusing the company of hiding “its fraying relationship with the U.S. Postal Service to artificially inflate its stock value” – Law360

The great publishing house consolidation continues, with Hachette striking a deal this week to buy Workman Publishing for a reported $240 million. Workman is “one of the largest independent publishers” in the U.S. and is particularly attractive because of its “lucrative backlist”—that is, “books published years ago that continue to sell” - NYTimes and WSJ

Yes, it’s seen and survived since its founding in 1472, but Monte Dei Paschi—the world’s oldest bank—isn’t likely to make it through the year after performing poorly in the latest round of EU stress testing, and the Siena-based bank now appears ripe for acquisition by UniCredit - NYTimes

Berlin-based Axel Springer SE is in negotiations to buy an ownership stake in Politico, the D.C.-based publisher with whom it teamed to launch Politico’s European edition as a 50/50 joint venture some 7 years ago. Axel Springer owns several prominent German newspapers and “has been adding to its U.S. media holdings in recent years” - WSJ

Cryptofans as a serious political force? Perfect. Just perfect - WSJ

With the DV putting yet more long-awaited travel plans on hold, feels like the right time for bit more vicarious exploring. How about a bit of autumnal Patagonia? - NYTimes

Stay safe, and get vaxxed,

MDR

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

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