Another day, another new Google antitrust lawsuit—this time thanks to a group of 30-plus states that have accused the company of “illegally arranging its search results to push out smaller rivals.” Oh, and money likely won’t be enough for resolution - NYTimes and WSJ and MarketWatch and Law360 and Mashable and Bloomberg
Thursday saw yet more massive unemployment numbers hit, with 935,000 Americans filing for new jobless benefits the week prior. While down slightly from a week ago, the historically high totals affirm that we’re far from the end of the economically devastating Covid tunnel - NYTimes
While Congress works to make another Covid relief measure a reality before the holidays, we consider how several aspects of the bill that’s coming together “could help determine how much power” the incoming administration will have to act to provide “additional help for the sputtering economy.” At issue is emergency aid for state and local governments and Republican-led efforts to “limit the power of the Federal Reserve to bail out businesses, municipalities and other institutions in the future” - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Likely hoping to capitalize on Bitcoin’s resurgent popularity, the digital currency exchange Coinbase has filed for an IPO, the “first major bitcoin-focused company to test the public markets.” Yesterday’s filing positions Coinbase to be “one of the first big IPOs of 2021” - WSJ and Law360 and NYTimes
Coca-Cola is cutting some 2,200 jobs worldwide, citing restructuring prompted by the pandemic that’s shut down “soft-drink friendly venues like movie theaters, bars and stadiums” - Bloomberg
Trading platform Robinhood has reached a deal with the SEC in which it will pay $65 million to resolve charges that it “misled its customers about how it was paid by Wall Street firms for passing along customer trades,” among other things. The announcement came a day after Massachusetts’ securities regulator filed charges against the company for “pushing unsophisticated customers into risky investments” - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and Law360
Tencent has doubled its stake in Universal Music Group, the powerhouse music giant whose stable of artists includes Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Queen, the Beatles, and—thanks to a recent pick-up—Bob Dylan’s entire life’s work. The deal, which gives Chinese-owned Tencent a 20% stake in UMG, values Universal at $36.8 billion - WSJ
Swiss prosecutors have unveiled criminal charges against Credit Suisse Group for “allegedly failing to prevent money laundering through the bank by clients and an employee, in a case stretching back more than a decade.” The firm has denied the allegations - WSJ
As is tradition around here, we’ll send you off to the holidays and our mid-winter hiatus with the incomparable Darlene Love (as featured in an extended Letterman collection this time around) – LateNight/LateShow
We hope your holidays are happy and safe and that you keep healthy in the coming weeks. We’ll see you back here in the much-welcomed new year.
MDR
Related Attorneys
Partner
