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☆ Google CEO defends desk-sharing policy, says some offices are like a 'ghost town'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Google CEO Sundar Pichai defended the cloud unit's new desk-sharing policy for employees, describing some of the company's offices as practically empty and reminding staffers that real estate is pricey. Pichai's comments follow a CNBC report last month about Google's plan to ask cloud employees and partners to share desks at the division's five largest locations, which include New York and San Francisco. The company is calling the downsizing effort Cloud Office Evolution (CLOE). Pichai said the new policy is just for cloud employees at the moment, and added that the company is "giving teams freedom to experiment." During the meeting, Pichai addressed employee concerns regarding the rollout of the desk-sharing policy and how it was communicated to the workforce.

☆ Exclusive: Microsoft set to win EU nod on Activision with licensing offer, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, March 2 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) is expected to secure EU antitrust approval for its $69 billion acquisition of Activision (ATVI.O) with its offer of licensing deals to rivals, three people familiar with the matter said, helping it to clear a major hurdle. In addition to the licensing deals for rivals, Microsoft may also have to offer other behavioural remedies to allay concerns of other parties than Sony, one of the people said. Activision shares, which jumped 1.8% in pre-market trading after the Reuters' story was published, were up 2.6% in late trade. Microsoft President Brad Smith last month said the U.S. software group was ready to offer rivals licensing deals to address antitrust concerns but it would not sell Activision's lucrative "Call of Duty" franchise. Microsoft said it was "committed to offering effective and easily enforceable solutions that address the European Commission's concerns."

☆ Exclusive: Microsoft's licensing offer likely to satisfy EU on Activision, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRUSSELS, March 2 (Reuters) - Microsoft's (MSFT.O) offer of licensing deals to rivals is likely to address EU antitrust concerns over its $69 billion acquisition of Activision (ATVI.O), three people familiar with the matter said, helping it to clear a major hurdle. The European Commission, which is scheduled to decide on the deal by April 25, is not expected to demand that Microsoft sell assets to win its approval, the people said. Microsoft President Brad Smith last month said the U.S. software group was ready to offer rivals licensing deals to address antitrust concerns but it would not sell Activision's lucrative "Call of Duty" franchise. Microsoft said it was "committed to offering effective and easily enforceable solutions that address the European Commission's concerns." Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Elaine Hardcastle and Jane MerrimanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Exclusive: EU unlikely to demand asset sales in Microsoft, Activision deal, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, March 2 (Reuters) - Microsoft's (MSFT.O) readiness to offer licensing deals to rivals is likely to address EU antitrust concerns over its $69 billion acquisition of Activision (ATVI.O) without the need for asset sales, three people familiar with the matter said. The European Commission is not expected to demand that Microsoft sell assets to win its approval, the people said. Microsoft President Brad Smith last month said the U.S. software giant was ready to offer rivals licensing deals to address antitrust concerns but it would not sell Activision's lucrative "Call of Duty" franchise. Microsoft said it was "committed to offering effective and easily enforceable solutions that address the European Commission's concerns". Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Elaine HardcastleOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ New: Blood & Money Preview
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailNew: Blood & Money PreviewIn the criminal justice system, detectives and prosecutors face daunting challenges. Money is the motive for murder. These are their true stories. From television's most prolific true crime storyteller Dick Wolf, comes a new series Blood & Money, which premieres March 7 at 10pm ET on CNBC.

☆ 3 big questions about the state of Goldman Sachs heading into its second-ever investor day
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

All eyes are on 200 West Street in lower Manhattan today, the global headquarters of Goldman Sachs and site of the bank's second-ever investor day. Goldman's first investor day, in 2020, included plenty of discussion about the importance of building out its consumer bank. Will new details emerge regarding the asset and wealth management division that show the business is heading in the right direction? Goldman's asset and wealth management division will likely get plenty of attention today. Speaking of David Solomon... Goldman's CEO appeared on a recent episode of the bank's podcast, "Exchanges at Goldman Sachs."

☆ New spy series 'Citadel' is Amazon Studios' most ambitious — and riskiest — bet ever
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

"Citadel," Amazon Studios' ambitious spy series, is on track to be one of the costliest series ever made. Amazon Studios early on was known for prestige shows like "Transparent" and "Maisel" as well as action hits like "Jack Ryan." Amazon Studios' Head of Global Television, Vernon Sanders, told Insider that "Citadel" is new territory for the company. Inside and outside of Amazon Studios, there are concerns about a lack of clear creative direction as well as the division's future role in the larger Amazon ecosystem. Insider spoke to 21 current and recently departed Amazon Studios executives, Hollywood agents, and other industry insiders about the opportunities and challenges.

☆ AI is set to boom into a $90 billion industry by 2025 as ChatGPT generates investment frenzy, UBS Wealth Management CIO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

UBS predicted that the artificial intelligence hardware and services market will hit $90 billion by 2025. "We think the early success for chatbots could drive attract more technology talent, and drive faster adoption by enterprises and governments," UBS said. "We think the early success for chatbots could drive attract more technology talent, and drive faster adoption by enterprises and governments," Marcelli added. The market forecast predicates itself on AI being a "horizontal technology," meaning that it has important use cases across various industries. Investors are taking advantage of the frenzy, with a boost in share price for certain companies that integrate or use AI.

☆ Meta's metaverse division leaders are reportedly gathering for a summit that includes a meeting called 'Must Go Faster'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta's metaverse division is scheduled to gather for a multi-day summit next week, Command Line reported. The division, also known as Reality Labs, is reportedly also canceling projects, Command Line said. Reality Labs lost $13.7 billion in 2022 and posted a fourth-quarter loss of more than $4 billion. The summit will focus on "road map and vision-setting presentations" with one meeting reportedly titled "Must Go Faster," Command Line said. "Cardiff," the codename for an upcoming version of the Quest headset, and "Hermosa," the moniker for another early-stage hardware prototype, according to Command Line.

☆ Blood & Money Trailer
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailBlood & Money TrailerFrom television's most prolific crime storyteller Dick Wolf, comes a new series Blood & Money. Each episode chronicles notorious, ripped from the headline murder cases and trials motivated by greed. Blood & Money premieres March 7th on CNBC.

☆ Google tells employees in its Cloud unit to share desks and attend the office on alternate days
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Google Cloud staff have been asked to share desks and attend the office on alternate days. A Google spokesperson told Insider the move would allow it to use its spaces more efficiently. The decision will apply to Google Cloud staff in the division's five largest US locations – including New York City and San Francisco – with some buildings left empty as a result, an internal FAQ seen by CNBC showed. Google Cloud CEO, Thomas Kurian, told employees last month the division would continue to "invest for growth." A Google spokesperson told Insider: "Our data show Cloud Googlers value guaranteed in-person collaboration when they are in the office, as well as the option to work from home a few days each week.

Healthcare group Fresenius (FREG.DE) said late on Tuesday it would give up strategic control over FMC via a planned change of the division's legal form, also releasing annual results and an outlook that failed to impress investors. Fresenius CEO Michael Sen, a former E.ON (EONGn.DE) and Siemens (SIEGn.DE) executive who took over the helm in October, wants to simplify the company's structure but said he will hang onto the 32% stake Fresenius owns in FMC. This makes a sale more likely in the future, said Florian Oberhofer, portfolio manager at Union Investment, which holds 0.26% of Fresenius shares. Sen said Fresenius was banking on a business improvement at FMC and Vamed and on participating financially in this through its holdings in both. FMC and Fresenius shares lagReporting by Ludwig Burger and Patricia Weiss; Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz; Writing by Rachel More; Editing by Josephine Mason, Elaine Hardcastle and Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

WHAT IS THE ACTIVISION DEAL? A group of 10 gamers in the United States has filed a private consumer antitrust lawsuit over the deal. Both companies have signed 10-year licensing deals that will bring Call of Duty to their gaming platform if the Activision deal is approved. Spain's Nware also signed a 10-year deal to bring Xbox and Activision Blizzard games to the Spanish cloud-gaming platform. Microsoft's Smith said the company would fight the FTC's request to block the deal.

Persons: Tencent, Martin Coleman, Brad Smith, Smith, Spain's Nware, Meta, Microsoft's Smith, Foo Yun Chee, Aurora Ellis, Maju Samuel Organizations: U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft, Activision, ACTIVISION, HK, Sony, U.S . FTC, Britain's, Markets, FTC, Nintendo, Sony Group, CMA, Commission, WHO, United States, May, Games Development, UNI Global Union, Nvidia, MICROSOFT, Britain, NINTENDO, NVIDIA, Xbox, Activision Blizzard, Antitrust, Facebook, Thomson Locations: metaverse, U.S, United, Brazil, Chile, Serbia, Saudi Arabia

☆ Amazon, Wells Fargo, Microsoft, Nvidia are in the headlines. Here's our take on the news
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Club holdings Amazon (AMZN), Wells Fargo (WFC) as well as Nvidia (NVDA) and Microsoft (MSFT) are in the news Wednesday. In buying tech-focused One Medical, Amazon has said the companies together can make visiting the doctor an easier and more convenient experience. The news: A pair of banking regulators are investigating record-keeping failures at Wells Fargo, according to the company's annual filing. Specifically, Wells Fargo said the probes from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are focused on "business communications sent over unapproved electronic messaging channels." The Club's take: This is new disclosure from Wells Fargo is not cause for concern.

☆ 'Law & Order: SVU' actor Richard Belzer dead at age 78
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Doha Madani | Diana Dasrath | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Actor Richard Belzer poses for photographers at the premiere of the film 'V for Vendetta' in New York March 13, 2006. Actor Richard Belzer, best known for his role on the beloved crime procedural "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," died at the age of 78 on Sunday, NBC confirmed in a statement Sunday. "Anyone who ever had the pleasure of watching Richard Belzer portray Det. It was the first time he'd appear as John Munch , a detective that would soon become synonymous with Belzer. Mariska Hargitay, who portrays Benson, said on her Instagram Sunday that she loved Belzer, "now and forever."

Prime Trust made $650 million in wire transfer deposits into the Binance.US account during the quarter, the bank records show. The Binance global exchange, Binance CEO Zhao and Prime Trust did not respond to detailed questions about the transfers. Among the dealers on Binance.US was Merit Peak, according to company messages, the trading firm managed by CEO Zhao. From January to March 2021, the account records show that Merit Peak received 89 transfers from the Binance.US SEN account totalling $404 million. These transfers often immediately followed a deposit into the Binance.US account by Prime Trust, the crypto custodian firm for Binance.US client funds.

☆ How 'Citadel,' Amazon Studios' ambitious new spy series from the Russo brothers, became one of the costliest shows ever made
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

☆ Crypto giant Binance moved $400 million from U.S. partner to firm managed by CEO Zhao
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The Binance.US account was registered under the name of BAM Trading, the U.S. exchange's operating company, according to the records. Prime Trust made $650 million in wire transfer deposits into the Binance.US account during the quarter, the bank records show. A Binance.US spokesperson, Kimberly Soward, did not address Reuters' questions about the transfers detailed in the bank records. The Binance global exchange, Binance CEO Zhao and Prime Trust did not respond to detailed questions about the transfers. The Binance.US account records reviewed by Reuters detail each transaction between January and the end of March 2021.

☆ Appeals court upholds $110,000 contempt fine for Trump in New York attorney general case
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally ahead of the midterm elections, in Miami, Florida, U.S., November 6, 2022. Attorney General Letitia James applauded the two-page ruling issued by the state Supreme Court Appellate Division's First Judicial Department. The five-justice panel ruled that Trump's contempt fine for not complying with a subpoena for the records was a "proper exercise" of the Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Arthur Engoron's discretionary power. "Once again, the courts have ruled that Donald Trump is not above the law," James said. In addition to huge financial damages, James' suit to seeks to permanently bar Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump from serving as an officer of a company in New York, and permanently bar the Trump companies named as defendants from doing business in New York state.

☆ Russia can take Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa, Chechnya's Kadyrov says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 13 (Reuters) - Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of the Russian region of Chechnya, said in an interview aired on Monday that Russia would achieve its goals in Ukraine by the end of the year and it would be wrong to negotiate with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. "I believe that, by the end of the year, we will 100% complete the task set for us today," Kadyrov said. Nevertheless, Kadyrov told interviewer Olga Skabeyeva, who hosts a stridently pro-war chat show: "If we sit down at the negotiating table with Zelenskiy, yes, I think that's wrong." Kadyrov is a former Chechen separatist fighter who switched sides in the late 1990s, joining the pro-Russian administration in the restive Caucasus region along with his wider family. His father was assassinated by pro-independence militants in 2004, and Russian President Vladimir Putin personally installed him as leader of Chechnya in 2007.

For the fourth quarter, Switzerland's second-biggest bank posted a net loss of 1.39 billion francs. That brought its total net loss in 2022 to 7.29 billion francs, marking its second straight year in the red. The bank, however, completed a 4 billion Swiss franc fundraising in December and said liquidity levels had been boosted. Chief Executive Ulrich Koerner said last month that Credit Suisse was "seeing money now coming back in different parts of the firm." "We have a clear plan to create a new Credit Suisse and intend to continue to deliver on our three-year strategic transformation," Koerner said on Thursday.

☆ Equinor raises energy trading forecast on volatility, flexibility
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Nora Buli | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Norway's Equinor (EQNR.OL) raised its energy trading division's outlook on Wednesday, saying it expects the business to profit from a more flexible asset portfolio and market volatility. Equinor earlier posted record overall profits for 2022, driven by soaring gas prices, sending its shares up 7%. It lifted the adjusted quarterly earnings guidance for its Marketing, Midstream and Processing (MMP) segment to $400 million-$800 million, from $250 million-$500 million previously. Equinor also benefits from having a flexible oil and gas production portfolio and different options for where and when to send its production, she added. Last year's volatility was extreme and Equinor did not expect to see the same geographical spreads, Rummelhoff said.

☆ Britain says Microsoft's 'Call of Duty' deal could harm gamers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Paul Sandle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Activision games "Call of Duty" are pictured in a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 18, 2022. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File PhotoSummarySummary Companies Deal raises concerns- regulatorAcquisition threatens Xbox and PlayStation rivalryMicrosoft says committed to addressing concernsLONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Britain's antitrust regulator said Microsoft's (MSFT.O) $69-billion purchase of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O) could harm gamers by weakening the rivalry between Xbox and Sony's PlayStation. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the deal could result in higher prices, fewer choices and less innovation for millions of gamers, as well as stifling competition in the growing cloud gaming market. In December, the United States moved to block the deal, citing Microsoft's record of hoarding valuable gaming content. Microsoft, which has pledged to keep "Call of Duty" on PlayStation, said it would address the CMA's concerns.

☆ SEC to increase scrutiny of Crypto trading firms and ESG funds in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Securities and Exchange Commission will increase its scrutiny of crypto trading firms and investment advisers as well as Environmental, Social and Governance — or ESG — funds, among other issues on its list of top oversight priorities this year. This year, the SEC's examinations division will focus its attention on broker-dealers and registered investment advisers that use emerging financial technologies, including crypto. Registered investment advisers to private funds: To assess compliance and other risks as well as if advisers are adhering to their duties as fiduciaries. Retail investors and working families: Ensuring these groups receive advice in their best interests from broker-dealers and registered investment advisers. "In executing against the 2023 priorities, the Division will help ensure compliance with the federal securities laws and rules."

☆ Apollo assessing possible CS First Boston investment -source
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 7 (Reuters) - Apollo Global Management Inc (APO.N) is among a group of financial firms considering investing in Credit Suisse's (CSGN.S) revamped investment bank CS First Boston, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. U.S. asset manager and private equity firm Apollo has been contacted by the Swiss bank about investing in CS First Boston (CSFB) but has yet to make a decision, the source added. It will now focus on managing money for the wealthy and create CSFB to run its investment banking activities. Apollo has already committed to buying the bulk of Credit Suisse's securitized products group, which will be outside CSFB. Credit Suisse, which reports fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 9, said in November that it expects to complete the transaction by mid-2023.

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