A Senate antitrust subcommittee hearing on Thursday turned into an airing of grievances session for smaller tech companies focusing on their issues with Apple and Google’s app stores and their “stranglehold on the business of mobile apps” - NYTimes and WSJ and MarketWatch and Law360 and HuffPost and Mashable and TechCrunch
Meanwhile, over at the Commerce committee, FTC nominee and antitrust scholar Lina Khan wasn’t shy about laying out her “strong concerns over competition in the tech industry during her confirmation hearing on Wednesday,” specifically mentioning Big Tech market dominance, online advertising, and consumer data mining as top issues - NYTimes and WSJ and TechCrunch
The EU was out this week with new proposed regs to govern artificial intelligence use that would set limits on their use “in a range of activities, from self-driving cars to hiring decisions, bank lending, school enrollment selections and the scoring of exams” as well as in the “high risk” areas of law enforcement and court systems - NYTimes and WSJ and Wired
New figures shows that Credit Suisse’s Archegos Capital exposure is in the north-of-$20B neighborhood and that the bank “struggled to monitor” its Archegos-related investments “before the fund was forced to liquidate many of its large positions.” The bank’s now fundraising to rebuild its balance sheet - WSJ and Bloomberg
A handful of recent buyout offers in recent weeks may be the start of a comeback for private-equity driven supersized leverage buyout deals. Maybe - WSJ
EV upstart Arrival, a UPS-backed venture, has plans to eliminate the Ford-pioneered assembly lines in favor of “something radically different—small factories employing a few hundred workers.” The company claims that the much smaller costs associated with these microfactories “should yield vans that cost a lot less than other electric models and even today’s standard, diesel-powered vehicles” - NYTimes
The ongoing chip shortage means “more downtime” for Ford at five of its North American factories, a stoppage that’s likely to lead to an F-150 crunch in the coming months and trouble for Ford’s bottom line - WSJ [and Bloomberg for the impact on Stellantis]
We’re spending Earth Day digging up the details on Michigan State University’s 142-year science experiment aimed at figuring out “how long seeds can lie dormant in soil without losing their ability to germinate.” I mean, you gotta love it - NYTimes
Stay safe,
MDR
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