Warren Buffett raised eyebrows, and share prices, when he said over the weekend that Berkshire Hathaway has increased its Activision Blizzard ownership stake to 9.5%, in a merger arbitrage play.
Why it matters: Buffett is betting that antitrust regulators won't use Microsoft-Activision to quench their thirst for a Big Tech block. Or that, if they do swing, they'll miss.
Decrypt, a media company that focuses on covering cryptocurrency and web3, has spun out from its parent company after raising a $10 million series A round at a $50 million post-money valuation, executives tell Axios.
Why it matters: The spin-out from ConsenSys Mesh — a blockchain incubator — allows Decrypt to be fully independent. The money raised will be used to hire more people for its journalism coverage and continue building out its business projects pegged to web3 initiatives.
A bipartisan Senate bill expected to be introduced Tuesday would require federal regulators to more thoroughly vet internet service providers seeking government money.
Driving the news: The Rural Broadband Protection Act, from Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), shared exclusively with Axios, would require the FCC to develop rules to make sure funding goes to companies that have the technical capability to deliver the broadband service they promise.
The FCC vets companies that are set to receive broadband subsidies, but the lawmakers say the scrutiny should come earlier in the funding process.
Capito has previously raised concerns about the ability of internet service providers to meet their funding obligations in her rural state.
Context: A group of lawmakers last year called on the FCC to thoroughly scrutinize the providers who received funding from the $9 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program.
What they're saying: "By verifying that providers can actually deliver on the promises made to bring high-speed internet to specific areas, we can maximize the influx of broadband dollars coming to West Virginia and move closer toward our goal of closing the digital divide in communities of all sizes across our state," Capito said in a statement.
Chinese regulators are signaling they may ease a year-long crackdown on Chinese tech giants as the country's leaders prioritize shoring up a flagging economy.
Why it matters: Loosening restrictions on one of China's most vibrant sectors could remove one source of downward pressure on an economy gutted by COVID lockdowns.But it could also slow progress towards Chinese President Xi Jinping's goal of restructuring a major sector of the economy.
A wide range of Apple's practices that flew under the radar when the company was an underdog are coming under new scrutiny today.
The big picture: Apple's long history as a second fiddle — first to IBM, then to Microsoft — earned it freedom to set its own rules even as it built much more tightly controlled ecosystems than its rivals. But now it's the world's most valuable and arguably most powerful tech company.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, released a new exchange traded fund (ETF) last week that tracks the cryptocurrency industry, with the iShares Blockchain and Tech ETF.
Why it matters: A crypto product from the investing giant is another signal that traditional finance is not ignoring blockchain technology any longer.
Good news for the NFT industry: People are still spending around $50 million per day on non-fungible tokens. Bad news: In January that rate was about $100 million per day, according to NonFungible.com.
Why it matters: NFTs drove 2021's boom in cryptocurrency. They are the reason people are talking about blockchains again, but — for the second time since the world discovered NFTs last year — the appetite for jpegs has waned.
Activision is recommending that its shareholders vote against a proposal from New York state that the company issue an annual report about abuse, harassment and discrimination in its workplace.
Why it matters: The proposal, first made in February, is a push for transparency about the wrongs at a scandal-racked company.
Amazon workers at a Staten Island warehouse voted against unionizing on Monday, one month after a neighboring warehouse formed Amazon's first union in the U.S.
Why it matters: All eyes have been on Amazon workers to see if the Amazon Labor Union's (ALU) success from last month can be replicated. Since its April victory, workers at multiple other Amazon facilities have asked ALU for help organizing against the tech giant, which has resisted unionization efforts in its U.S. operations, VICE reports.
Japanese gaming giant Square Enix is largely getting out of Western game development, selling three big studios and several top franchises to the Embracer Group.
Driving the news: Tomb Raider lead development studio Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix Montréal will become part of Embracer Group, the Swedish holding company that is rapidly constructing an empire, as part of a $300 million cash deal, according to an announcement this morning.
The same pandemic-driven boom in mental health and wellness apps that helped ease two years of COVID-driven discontents is now raising alarms over privacy, efficacy and a blurring of the line between formal medical treatment and general self-care.
Why it matters: Online services for mental health have given more people easy access to help than ever before, and the sector is booming with investment.
GM expects car buyers to pay an average of $135 a month in coming years for bonus features like navigation, hands-free driving technology and other digital services that customize the in-car experience.
That's on top of their monthly car payment.
Yes, but: Whether people will actually cough up those monthly subscription fees, on top of the vehicle's purchase price, isn't clear.
By the numbers: Asked which mega-billionaires they like, 35% selected Musk — well above all others, including Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Still, 53% picked "none of the above."
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