With gas prices on the rise across the United States, the White House is urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether “illegal conduct” by “large oil and gas companies is pushing up . . . prices for American consumers, the latest effort by the administration to target concentration in the energy industry in a bid to bring down prices at the pump” - NYTimes and WSJ and Law360
Striking John Deere workers have approved a third version of a new agreement with management, “bringing an end to a five-week strike that affected 14 facilities primarily in Iowa and Illinois.” The 6-year deal garnered more than 61% approval from union members - NYTimes and WSJ
Amazon announced this week that in an effort to push back against the “high fees Visa charges” to process card transactions, it will no longer accept “Visa credit cards issued in Britain” starting in mid-January 2022. The change won’t apply to debit cards issued by Visa or to any of the other major credit card companies - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
The Journal digs deeper into what went so terribly wrong with Zillow’s digital house-flipping gambit, a failure driven largely by the company’s trust in an algorithm that “didn’t seem to understand the market” - WSJ [and Law360]
Greek yogurt powerhouse Chobani has filed paperwork to go public, with plans to raise $100 million in its IPO. The 16-year-old company also released financials showing $1.21 billion in sales (and $24 million in net losses) through the first 9 months of 2021 - WSJ
In a crossover event of finance and Hollywood that screams both 1990s and 2021, movie studio Miramax has sued director Quentin Tarantino for alleged copyright infringement over his “plans to sell nonfungible tokens based on the screenplay for his 1994 movie ‘Pulp Fiction.’” The suit also accuses Tarantino of “breach of contract, trademark infringement and unfair competition” - NYTimes and Bloomberg
The White House’s pick to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Cornell Law professor Saule Omarova, faces Senators at her confirmation hearing later today, she will begin by affirming her commitment to capitalism and love of community banks. And yes, both have become worthy of public clarification based on industry opposition that has attempted to paint Omarova as, wait for it, a communist - NYTimes and Law360 and WSJ
After years of lobbying by the “right-to-repair” crowd, Apple will finally launch a self-service repair program early next year that “would allow customers to repair their own devices using genuine Apple parts and tools.” The decision is likely a response to Administration efforts encouraging the FTC “to issue rules barring electronics makers from restricting the use of independent repair shops—or people repairing their own devices” - WSJ and NYTimes
Disney is rolling out a mandatory vaccine policy for all guests over 5 on its Cruise Line effective January 13. Disney, like other cruise operators, already requires 12 and older to be fully vaccinated - NYTimes and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
Beginner or no, anyone getting ready to welcome the family back to turkey dinner next week probably wouldn’t mind a little help in the form of 7 recipes on the easier side - NYTimes
Stay safe, and get vaxxed,
MDR
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