Last year the National Enquirer’s parent company, American Media LLC, asked the Department of Justice whether it should register as a foreign agent after including editorial suggestions from an adviser to Saudi Arabia and publishing a promotional magazine about Saudi Arabia in honor of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to the United States, the WSJ reports.
Why it matters: Last week Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, accused the National Enquirer of blackmailing him to end an investigation into the source of intimate texts that the Enquirer published. Bezos insinuated Saudi Arabia might be the source of the leak.
Amazon said Monday it is buying Eero, a San Francisco startup known for its mesh router kit designed to deliver Wi-Fi evenly throughout the home. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Why it matters: Amazon has been expanding its smart-home offerings, and Wi-Fi is central to many of the products it has built or acquired, including Echo and Ring, which it bought last year for an estimated $1 billion.
The 5 largest conglomerates combining health insurance and pharmacy benefits are on track this year to be bigger than the 5 preeminent tech companies.
The big picture: Anthem, Cigna, CVS Health, Humana and UnitedHealth Group cumulatively expect to collect almost $787 billion in 2019, compared with $783 billion of projected revenue for Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google.
In a move aimed squarely at China's swift rise in artificial intelligence, President Trump plans to sign an executive order Monday to strengthen the U.S.'s global position in AI competition.
Why it matters: Two years ago, Beijing launched a mammoth effort to turn China into a global torchbearer for emerging technologies. Trump's new order appears to be the beginnings of an American response — but it's light on details and carries no resources to back it up.
Elkan Abramowitz, an attorney for American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker, told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that the incident between Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and the National Enquirer does not amount to extortion or blackmail: "It's absolutely not a crime to ask someone to simply tell the truth."
Bob Woodward — author of "FEAR: Trump in the White House" and an associate editor of The Washington Post, where he has worked since 1971 — wrote an email of support on Friday to Post owner Jeff Bezos, following his Medium post defying the National Enquirer:
Jeff: Proud of you for stepping forward in such a difficult situation. Very gutsy and definitely right. This period reminds me of 1972-1974, perhaps Watergate Redux. So many assaults on constitutional government, common sense and privacy. Let's hope we all get it right — aggressive but careful and fair. Cheers and best, Bob Woodward
Spotify is buying two major podcasting companies, Gimlet and Anchor. Terms were not announced, but the Gimlet acquisition was reported to be worth some $230 million.
The big picture: In total, Spotify intends to spend as much as $500 million on acquisitions this year, to help it expand into "audio — not just music."
