Feb 1, 2019 - World

World First closes U.S. operations before acquisition by Chinese tech giant

Dan Primack, author of Pro Rata

World First, a British money transfer and currency exchange company backed by FTV Capital, is shutting its longstanding U.S. operations to defend against possible regulatory challenges to a planned £700 million takeover by China's Ant Financial.

Why it matters: Such extreme measures could become the new normal for non-U.S. companies seeking acquisition by Chinese tech giants. The Financial Times' Nicholas Megaw & Louise Lucas note: "The decision comes almost exactly a year after Ant Financial, the digital payments affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, was forced to abandon a proposed $1.2 billion proposal to buy MoneyGram, a U.S. money transfer business."

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Dan Primack
1 hour ago - Economy & Business

There's little consensus on TikTok's specific national security threat

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

TikTok has become a Rorschach test for how U.S. politicians view China, with little consensus on the specifics of its threat to homeland security.

The big picture: Much of what D.C. fears about TikTok is fear itself, and that's reflected in President Trump's executive order to ban the app by Sept. 20 if it's not sold by parent company ByteDance — alongside another focused on Chinese messaging app WeChat and its parent company Tencent.

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Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, Ursula Perano
1 hour ago - World

U.S. sanctions Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam

Photo: Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

The Treasury Department on Friday placed sanctions on Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, following months of tension as she has allowed continued overreach by Beijing to subvert Hong Kong's autonomy.

Why it matters: It's the toughest sanction yet imposed on China for its destruction of Hong Kong’s relatively free political system.

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Ben Geman
2 hours ago - Energy & Environment

GM's high-stakes electric move

The Cadillac Lyriq. Image courtesy of Cadillac

Cadillac on Thursday unveiled the Lyriq, the luxury brand's first all-electric model and GM's first consumer electric vehicle unveil since the Chevy Bolt several years ago.

Why it matters: It's the first reveal by GM of an electric vehicle that will use the company's new modular platform and Ultium battery system — technologies meant to underpin the 20 electric vehicles that GM plans to launch by 2023.

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