Microsoft made a huge gaming move on Monday with its $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the “parent company of gaming studios like Bethesda,” and maker of titles like “The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein.” The deal “allows Microsoft to counter criticism that it lags behind Sony in the quality of its games” - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch and Mashable
Markets continued their slide to open the week, with the Dow losing 500 points, oil and gold dropping, and the VIX taking off. The broad losses sparked fears of “further turbulence ahead” - WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
We’ll see what, if anything, Chair Powell can do to ease those fears when he appears before the House Financial Services Committee later today. If his expected script is any guide—“the path ahead continues to be highly uncertain”—don’t look for any huge reversals of current downward trends - Bloomberg and MarketWatch and WSJ
Soooooo. About that TikTok/Oracle deal . . . . A disagreement about “the ownership structure for a proposed U.S.-based version of the company” is complicating negotiations between the companies as they work to “sav[e] the popular video-sharing app from extinction in the U.S.” - WSJ and Bloomberg and Law360 and NYTimes
While that gets sorted, TIkTok is taking no chances and has filed a new suit against the administration “in D.C. federal court to stop a ban on U.S. downloads of the popular short-form video sharing app, alleging that the government overstepped its authority and violated due process rights and free-speech protections” – Law360
The Tiffany/LVMH trial in Delaware’s Chancery Court over the latter’s jilting of the former and the pair’s $16.2 billion merger is set for early January, a crazy-fast schedule that Tiffany hopes will “lead to a ruling prior to the expiration of U.S. antitrust clearance” for a possible deal in February 2021 - WSJ and Law360 and Bloomberg
As we await anticipated antitrust charges against Google, the Times looks back on the internet giant’s $3.1 billion 2007 acquisition of digital ad outfit DoubleClick, a “deal that turned out to be ‘a total game changer, a crucial piece in the larger jigsaw puzzle Google put together” - NYTimes
It doesn’t take deep analysis to see that European and U.S. oil giants are charting nearly opposite paths when it comes to the future of the energy sector and climate change. While the Euros—like BP and Royal Dutch Shell—are “selling off oil fields” and piling into renewables, American companies like Chevron and Exxon Mobil are “doubling down on oil and natural gas,” warming planet be damned - NYTimes
Struggling short video streaming site Quibi is reportedly exploring “several strategic options including a possible sale,” as it continues to face difficulties “sign[ing] up subscribers in a competitive online-video marketplace” - WSJ and Bloomberg
Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Mgmt has acquired a 20 million share stake in Comcast Corp. and begun discussions with management, though at present it “isn’t clear what exactly Trian is focused on other than a belief that the company’s shares are undervalued” - WSJ and Bloomberg
Loving everything about this piece on the Black Girl Hockey Club and the work its doing to push for D&I efforts in the game so many of us love - NYTimes
Stay safe,
MDR
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