1.FACEBOOK– Britain’s move to block Facebook-owner Meta Platform Inc’s acquisition of Giphy signalled a new determination to scrutinise digital deals.
Meta on Thursday appealed the ruling by the Competition and Markets Authority, which said the 2020 deal must be unwound and Giphy sold as a going concern.
The November decision was the first time the regulator had blocked an acquisition by a major tech company.
Under the leadership of Chief Executive Andrea Coscelli, the CMA has stepped up its scrutiny of “big tech,” and in particular Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Google , which dominate digital advertising.
Coscelli has set up a digital markets unit, and he wants it to be backed up by new legislation.
Competition lawyer Peter Broadhurst, partner at Crowell & Moring, said Coscelli thought there had been historic under-enforcement in digital markets.
“He sees merger control as a quick-win way that the CMA can do something about that,” he said, adding that the regulator was testing the limits of its jurisdiction and reasoning.
2.EVERGRANDE:The shareholding of China Evergrande Group’s chairman in its property services unit has fallen to 58.18% from 60.96% after forced selling of pledged shares by a third party, a Hong Kong stock exchange filing showed.
The number of Evergrande Property Services Group shares involved was 300 million, and the drop was the result of steps taken on Dec. 20 to enforce rights to the shares held as security against chairman Hui Ka Yan, the filing said.
Reuters could not immediately determine who sold the pledged shares.
The stake was worth roughly HK$798 million ($102.32 million), based on the stock’s closing price of HK$2.66 on the day.
Shares of Evergrande Property Services Group ended 1.5% lower on Friday at HK$2.63.
Evergrande Group, grappling with over $300 billion in liabilities and at risk of becoming China’s biggest ever default, has been scrambling to raise cash by selling assets and shares.
Hui’s stake in Evergrande Group itself dropped to 59.78% earlier this month, also on forced selling.”
3.MORGAN STANLEY:-Morgan Stanley has told staff who need to be in the office in the first two weeks of January to limit large in-person meetings, according to Bloomberg News.
The directive, in a memo this week to staff, also said employees should wear face coverings when not at their desks.
“This guidance applies to all locations (even those where everyone is fully vaccinated),” the memo said, according to the report. “Masking is always encouraged for anyone who is at increased risk or who has a household member who is unvaccinated or at increased.”
A Morgan Stanley spokesman declined to comment on the report.
Wall Street banks and investment firms have been adjusting back-to-the-office policies in recent days as the Omicron COVID-19 variant has spread.
4.TESLA: Electric carmaker Tesla Inc will stop allowing video games to be played on vehicle screens while its cars are moving, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Thursday.
The move follows an announcement by the NHTSA on Wednesday that it had opened a formal safety investigation on 580,000 Tesla vehicles sold since 2017 over the automaker’s decision to allow games to be played on the front center touchscreen while they are in motion.
This functionality, referred to as “Passenger Play,” may distract the driver and increase the risk of a crash, the NHTSA has said.
Tesla has informed the NHTSA that a software update will lock the “Passenger Play” feature and make it unusable when the vehicle is in motion, a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement.
“The NHTSA constantly assesses how manufacturers identify and safeguard against distraction hazards that may arise due to faults, misuse, or intended use of convenience technologies, including infotainment screens,” the agency said.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Safety advocates have raised concerns that drivers may not pay attention on the road, especially when Tesla vehicles are operating in semi-autonomous mode known as Autopilot.
A driver’s distraction – likely from a phone game application – was one of the causes of a fatal crash of a Tesla car operating in Autopilot in California in 2018, according to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
The NHTSA in August opened a safety investigation on 765,000 Tesla vehicles over its Autopilot system after a series of crashes involving the system and parked emergency vehicles.
5.PAYPAL :The fintech industry is experienced impressive growth, which should continue in 2022. With that in mind, today I’ll analyze and compare two fintech companies, PayPal Holdings and Affirm Holdings (AFRM), to see which stock is currently the better investment.
The fintech industry has witnessed massive growth in recent years amid increasing digitalization processes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Market Data Forecast, the global fintech industry is estimated to reach $324 billion, growing at a CAGR of 23.4% over the next five years.
However, year-to-date (YTD), the fintech industry underperformed the whole market due to the increasing industry regulations as well as other industry-specific challenges, as evidenced by the 9.23% decrease in the Global X FinTech Thematic ETF
.
