Facebook revealed yesterday that “millions of user account passwords had been stored insecurely, potentially allowing employees to gain access to people’s accounts without their knowledge.” The company said it “had found no evidence of abuse,” but the news was yet another setback for a company beset by privacy problems in recent weeks – NYTimes and WSJ and Law360
Perhaps spurred on by a banner public debut for Levi’s this week, image-search company Pinterest has rapidly bumped up the timing of its IPO and may list on the NYSE as early as today. The company, last valued at $12 billion, had confidentially submitted its IPO paperwork with the SEC earlier this year – WSJ
Meanwhile, a new funding round has helped clothes-sharing startup Rent the Runway hit official unicorn status (that’s $1 billion for the un-Silicon-Valley-initiated) – NYTimes
The EU has agreed to offer PM May a short two-week extension of the Article 50 departure process as May and Britain continue to scramble to avoid a no-deal Brexit – Bloomberg and NYTimes
The Journal updates us on Walmart’s efforts to keep pace with serial disruptor Amazon—this time, through Jetblack, a personal shopping company “targeted at mothers” that Walmart is using “to train an artificial intelligence system that could someday power an automated personal-shopping service.” For the record, the official start of A.I. creep looks a lot like this – WSJ
Streetwise is raising a wary eyebrow at the bond market’s willingness to trust the newly dovish Federal Reserve – WSJ
Bud Light got decent traction from its medieval-inspired Super Bowl commercial, but the ad series’ message that rivals Miller Lite and Coors are chock full of corn syrup has landed Anheuser-Bush InBev in federal court in Wisconsin for alleged false advertising and trademark dilution – Bloomberg and MarketWatch and Law360 and NYTimes
New York federal judge Andrew Carter has again kicked the FDIC’s $695 million RMBS suits against three banks this week, “finding for the second time that the agency lacked standing to bring claims of improper conduct against trustees of bundled mortgages” – Law360
While much of the Times Magazine’s forthcoming Voyages Issue is well worth your while (be sure to check out this story on Caity Weaver’s rail trip across America), the feature on PBS travel guru Rick Steves had an extra special place in the heart of this old-school Ricknick – NYTimes
We’ll be on a short break early next week while I’m presenting at a conference. I’ll see you back here midweek. Have a great weekend.