The Federal Trade Commission has accused Twitter of using phone numbers and emails from its users to make targeted ads between 2013 and 2019, Twitter said in an SEC filing published Monday.
Why it matters: Twitter estimates that the FTC's draft complaint, which was sent a few days after its Q2 earnings report, could cost the company between $150 million and $250 million. The complaint is unrelated to the recent Twitter hack involving a bitcoin scam.
If all goes to plan, Christopher Nolan's thrice-delayed "Tenet" will be the first blockbuster to receive a proper worldwide theatrical release amid the coronavirus pandemic at the end of this month.
Why it matters: It'll be playing a $200 million game of chicken, hoping to prove that people across the globe are still willing to trek to theaters to see a splashy new movie.
President Trump has relaxed his threat to immediately ban the popular social media app TikTok, giving Microsoft room to negotiate an acquisition from Chinese tech giant ByteDance.
Axios Re:Cap digs into the situation with Peter Navarro, the White House's top trade adviser and a noted China hawk, who suggests Microsoft should be forced to make unrelated concessions related to its China operations.
President Trump said Monday that TikTok will be shut down in the U.S. if it hasn't been bought by Microsoft or another company by Sept. 15, and argued — without elaborating — that the U.S. Treasury should get "a very substantial portion" of the sale fee.
Why it matters: Trump appears to have backed off his threat to immediately ban TikTok after speaking with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who said Sunday that the company will pursue discussions with TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to purchase the app in the U.S.
Siemens Healthineers, a medical tech affiliate of Siemens, agreed to buy Palo Alto-based cancer therapy company Varian Medical Systems for $16.4 billion in cash.
Why it matters: It would be the health care sector's largest merger so far in 2020.
While its Big Tech rivals were testifying in front of a congressional antitrust committee last week, Microsoft was negotiating what could be the largest — and most politically perilous — tech acquisition of 2020.
The state of play: The hullabaloo surrounding Microsoft picking up TikTok has undergone a flurry of twists and turns over the weekend, as both the White House and the tech giant reacted in real time.
Lordstown Motors is about to become the latest electric vehicle startup to go public via purchase by a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), the transaction structure that's fast becoming an alternative to IPOs.
The state of play: Lordstown, which plans to build a pickup truck at a former GM plant in Ohio, on Monday announced a merger agreement with DiamondPeak Holdings. The deal will provide $675 million in proceeds to help fund production of the Endurance, a model Lordstown hopes to launch in 2021 aimed largely at the commercial fleet market.
Refining giant Marathon Petroleum Corp. announced late Sunday that it's selling its Speedway retail gasoline stations and convenience stores to 7-Eleven, Inc. in a $21 billion cash deal.
Economists at major investment banks are expecting to see job growth reverse course when July's jobs report is released on Friday.
Why it matters: After 20.5 million Americans lost their jobs in April, the worst jobs report in history, May and June saw an unexpected bounce in hiring, but data suggest that bounce has ended.
As the coronavirus pandemic throttles economies around the globe, central banks are keeping rates low and using quantitative easing policies similar to the Fed's even in some emerging countries.
Why it matters: Policymakers are likely to face a grim choice very soon: whether to continue to support economic growth by keeping rates low and risking a marked increase in inflation, or raise rates to tamp down on inflation and risk exacerbating the coronavirus-driven recession.
The specter of rising inflation is helping power assets like gold, silver and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) to strong returns with record demand this year.
The big picture: Investors continue to pack in even as inflation metrics like the consumer price index (CPI) and personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index have remained anchored.
With a new coronavirus relief measure stalled in Congress, CEOs of some of the world's biggest companies have banded together to send a message to Washington: Get money to small businesses now!
Why it matters: "By Labor Day, we foresee a wave of permanent closures if the right steps are not taken soon," warns the letter, organized by Howard Schultz and signed by more than 100 CEOs.
A quirk of the shutdown era, going back to March, has been the resurgence of evening news shows.
The intrigue: With no Olympics, and "60 Minutes" and other shows in summer reruns, ABC's "World News Tonight with David Muir" — for weeks — has been the most watched show on all of television.
A virtual school year will likely push retailers even closer to the brink.
Why it matters: Back-to-school season isthe second-biggest revenue generating period for the retail sector, after the holidays. But retailers say typical shopping sprees will be smaller with students learning at home — another setback for their industry, which has seen a slew of store closures and bankruptcy filings since the pandemic hit.
The economy has been tanking. Coronavirus infections and deaths have been rising. And the health care industry is as rich as ever.
The big picture: Second-quarter results are still pouring in, but so far, a vast majority of health care companies are reporting profits that many people assumed would not have been possible as the pandemic raged on.
Lord & Taylor filed for Chapter 11 protection in Richmond, Virginia, on Sunday, Bloomberg first reported.
Why it matters: The 194-year-old luxury department store chain is the oldest in the United States. It's the latest retailer to declare bankruptcy during the coronavirus pandemic. Less than a year ago, Le Tote purchased Lord & Taylor from Hudson's Bay Co., the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue. Le Tote also filed for Chapter 11 protection, per the New York Times.
A top Federal Reserve official told CBS Sunday that a "really hard" four- to six-week lockdown could benefit the U.S. economy as Congress "has the resources to support those who are most hurting" during the coronavirus pandemic.
Details: Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank president Neel Kashkari said a short lockdown "could get the case count down so that our testing and our contact tracing was actually enough to control it the way that it's happening in the Northeast right now."
Microsoft announced Sunday it would pursue discussions with TikTok’s parent company ByteDance "in a matter of weeks" about buying the app in the U.S. following conversations between President Trump and the tech giant's CEO Satya Nadella.
Details: Microsoft said in a blog post the two firms are exploring a preliminary proposal that would see Microsoft buy the TikTok service in Canada, Australia and New Zealand as well as the U.S. "During this process, Microsoft looks forward to continuing dialogue with the United States Government, including with the President," the post noted.
