Bitcoin (BTC/USD), Ethereum (ETH/USD) – Top financial stories for Wednesday, September 14: More antitrust setbacks for Google, Bitcoin crashes, Visa finds new gun control system ineffective and more…

Reuters

Google and Facebook parent fined millions of dollars by South Korea for violating privacy law

• South Korea has imposed fines of millions of dollars Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGLE Google and Meta Platforms Inc META following allegations of breach of the Privacy Act.
• The The Privacy Commission said it fined Google 69.2 billion won ($50 million) and Meta 30.8 billion won ($22 million).

Delivery of covid-19 vaccine to China? Moderna CEO says that capacity is available

• Moderna Inc MRNA CEO Stephane Bancel said the company has spoken to the Chinese government about supplying COVID-19 vaccines, but no decision has been made.
• “We are open. We have the capacity,” Bancel said, but declined to say whether Moderna has submitted its vaccine for approval in the country.

Bed Bath & Beyond’s interim CEO will remain in the job for at least one year

• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc’s BBBY interim chief executive Sue Gove is likely to stay in the job for at least twelve months.
• The report noted that the retailer will not choose a new leader until well into 2023, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
• Gove was appointed interim chief executive in June, replacing Mark Tritton, after a sales slump.

Bloomberg

Visa finds new gun control system ineffective at checking mass shootings

• Visa Inc V warned against the new system, which gun control advocates saw as limiting mass shootings.
• The International Organization for Standardization approved a new trade category code that banks will use when processing transactions for arms and ammunition stocks. The MCC is likely to help banks flag suspicious activity at these dealers.
• However, Visa found that MCC lacks access to data showing which products consumers buy.

After Investor Flak, the German healthcare giant Bayer starts the search for a new CEO

• Bayer AG BAYRY has started a search for CEO Werner Baumann’s successor.
• The new CEO search could herald an early departure for Baumann, whose contract with Bayer is not set to expire until April 2024.
• Bayer chairman Norbert Winkeljohann is looking at opportunities inside and outside the company to promote a new CEO in time for Bayer’s next shareholder meeting in April 2023.

Tencent Music pushes Hong Kong listing as soon as next week

• Tencent Music Entertainment Group TME is working with advisers on preparations for its second listing in Hong Kong, and intends to start trading as soon as next week.
• The company said marketing activities could start as early as in the coming days.

CNBC

Warner Bros Discovery embraces more aggression, including price hikes as Netflix goes on an austerity drive

• Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels expressed the possibility of higher streaming service prices given the strength of the content on the services.
• Wiedenfels acknowledged that prioritizing profitability over growth gives it more “pricing power” over the streaming businesses.
• The most expensive streaming service Netflix, Inc NFLX, reduced its real estate footprint, controlled cloud computing costs and hired more junior staff to overcome the subscriber decline. Netflix also appears to be limiting spending on movies and TV shows.

The Wall Street Journal

Brewery competition forces Paramount to Club Showtime streaming service with Paramount+

• Paramount Global PARA considered canceling its Showtime streaming service and moving its content to Paramount+.
• Showtime’s $10.99-a-month service features programming from the premium channel, including “Billions” and “Yellowjackets.”
• Competition from Netflix Inc NFLX and Amazon.com Inc AMZN to newer players like NBCUniversal’s Peacock and Paramount+ weighed in on several smaller streaming services like Showtime.

Amazon is awaiting new union elections in October and is pushing for better wages and safety measures

• Amazon.com Inc AMZN prepared for another union election in October at its New York state facility near Albany.
• A group of workers affiliated with the Amazon Labor Union filed for election in August after a successful union bid in April at the Staten Island plant.
• Union supporters at the Amazon plant called ALB1 sought higher wages and better safety measures at the plant.
• Federal prosecutors inspected some Amazon warehouses following criticism over the treatment of warehouse and delivery workers.

Nikkei Asia

Apple will use the latest TSMC technology on the iPhone, Mac next year, an industry first

• Apple Inc AAPL will likely be the first company to use an updated version of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd TSM latest chipmaking technology next year, while it plans to adopt it for some of its iPhones and Mac computers.
• TSMC’s N3E chipmaking technology will be used to mass produce A17 mobile processor, currently under development, the report states. It said it will be used in the premium entry in the iPhone range for the 2023 release.

Gasoline

Coinbase fixes ‘failed trades’ issue after power outage amid crypto crash angers users

• Coinbase Global Inc COIN said it has now resolved the issue of failing trades on its platform.
• Several Coinbase users reported that simple trades on the crypto exchange were not being processed on Tuesday. Some users also said that they could not withdraw their cryptocurrencies from the platform.
• In a Twitter update, Coinbase Support acknowledged the issue of some people trading “failing intermittently” and said their team had already implemented a fix. In a follow-up tweet, the exchange announced that the issue had been resolved.

Google suffers another EU setback as top court rejects request to overturn $4.3bn dominance abuse fine

• Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGLE Google suffered its second setback in Europe in less than a year as The European Union the top court agreed with the bloc’s antitrust regulators on Wednesday.
• Google lost its battle to overturn a landmark €4.3 billion ($4.3 billion) fine imposed by the antitrust watchdog on the tech giant after Common law agreed that the company had abused its dominance. However, it reduced the fine by 5% due to disagreement on one point.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin crash after ‘scorching’ inflation data: Analyst says ‘writing was on the chart’

• Bitcoin (BTC/USD) and Ethereum (ETH/USD) traded sharply lower Tuesday night as the global cryptocurrency market capitalization plunged 7.5% to $986.4 billion at 8:26 PM EDT.
• Major cryptocurrencies fell after the US Ministry of Labour released the inflation figures for August, which indicated that the consumer price index rose 8.3% year-on-year.
• Although inflation cooled from the 8.5% increase in July, it came in above average economist estimates of 8%.

Is Elon Musk not on Twitter anymore? No, here’s what actually happened

• If you could not find Tesla Inc TSLA CEO on Twitter on Tuesday, that’s because he had changed his handle to “Naughty Maximus.”
• Musk apparently made the change minutes after Twitter Inc TWTR Shareholders approved a buyout deal worth $44 billion.
• Musk said Tuesday that his tweets are “being suppressed” and called for a fix from Twitter, its Twitter Verified handle and its social media CEO Parag Agrawal.

Amazon prioritizes delivery driver pay after worker safety

• Amazon.com Inc AMZN looks to increase pay and benefits for its delivery partners as it prepares for the holiday season amid a persistently tight labor market.
• Amazon will invest $450 million to fund wage increases and other benefits for delivery drivers employed by members of its Delivery Service Partners network.
• It started the program in 2018. Amazon has invested over $7 billion in its Delivery Service Partners network since 2018.

Chrysler ends iconic 300 model production – commemorating 70 years of heritage

• Stellantis NV STLA the Chrysler brand will end its famous 300 sedans after its limited edition.
• The Powered by the 6.4L HEMI engine, the 2023 Chrysler 300C will commemorate the nearly 70-year legacy of the Chrysler 300.
• Only 2,000 of the 2023 Chrysler 300C cars will be produced for the United States
• Chrysler 300 production will end after the 2023 model year.

Weyerhaeuser Union members strike in Oregon and Washington

• Weyerhaeuser Co WY said operations in Oregon and Washington were affected by a work stoppage by union members.
• The company has 1,200 workers who are members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
• The company noted that the IAM withdrawal is affecting several wood products and Timberlands sites.

Photo by Okan Caliskan from Pixabay