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EU probes Facebook's Libra; Apple Card goes live; Marvel parts ways with Sony

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Volume of Investment Research Reports on Inflation Increased in Q4 2021


EU probes Facebook's Libra; Apple Card goes live; Marvel parts ways with Sony

Top News

* The European Commission is probing Facebook Inc.'s Libra digital currency project over "potential anticompetitive behavior," Bloomberg News reports, citing a document. European Union antitrust officials are reportedly looking into a possibility that Facebook could use its dominance to drown out rivals in terms of information exchange and use of consumer data.

* Apple Inc. launched its new credit card, called Apple Card, in the U.S. Customers will be able to sign up for the Apple Card through the Wallet app on iPhone and use it through mobile payment service Apple Pay.

* The U.S. Department of Justice is teaming up with more than a dozen state attorneys general as part of a broader antitrust probe into tech giants such as Apple and Facebook, Reuters reports. DOJ antitrust chief Makan Delrahim said the government is looking at previously approved acquisitions as part of the review.

* Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. and Marvel Studios LLC will not be collaborating on future "Spider-Man" releases amid a dispute over revenue sharing between the studios' parent companies Sony Corp. and Walt Disney Co., Deadline.com reports. As a result, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige will not produce future "Spider-Man" movies, Sony Pictures confirmed in a series of tweets.

Internet & OTT

* Political conservatives said Facebook needs to do "significant work" to satisfy concerns on the social media platform's alleged anti-conservative bias, according to a Facebook-commissioned report by former U.S. Senator Jon Kyl. In response, a Facebook spokesman said the social networking giant would need to take these concerns seriously and adjust its policies if they are "limiting expression in an unintended way," Reuters reports.

* Google LLC subsidiary YouTube is finalizing plans to end targeted advertisements on videos that children are likely to watch, Bloomberg News reports. The move came amid reports that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is probing whether YouTube's ad practices violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act.

* Amazon.com Inc.'s Fire TV is not included in the list of devices where Disney's upcoming streaming service Disney+ will be available, Multichannel News reports. A source close to the company said it would be "misleading" to assume that Disney would not be able to strike a deal with Amazon prior to Disney+'s Nov. 12 launch.

* Netflix Inc. ordered "The Upshaws," a new comedy series about a working-class, African-American family in Indiana. Regina Hicks will be the series' showrunner and executive producer.

* Nickelodeon (US) hired Angelique Yen and Eddie Gamarra to manage the Viacom Inc. unit's studio model business, which produces long-form movie and streaming content. Yen will become senior vice president for physical production at Nickelodeon Movies, while Gamarra will become Nickelodeon's vice president of studio business development.

* Latino digital media company VIX Inc. acquired Pongalo Inc., an operator of ad-supported video-on-demand services such as Pongalo NovelaClub, Pongalo TV and Moovimex, Broadcasting & Cable reports. The deal comes as Vix is preparing to launch an AVOD service, dubbed Vix TV, later this year.

Technology

* Qualcomm Inc. entered into a global patent license agreement with South Korean equipment manufacturer LG Electronics Inc. Under the five-year, royalty-bearing agreement, Qualcomm granted LG Electronics a patent license to develop, manufacture and sell 3G, 4G and 5G single-mode and multimode complete devices.

* Microblogging platform Twitter Inc. acquired app creation engine Lightwell for an undisclosed sum, Lightwell tweeted. Lightwell's team will help Twitter on its Conversations initiative. Lightwell was launched by interactive storytelling startup Hullabalu in 2017, VentureBeat reports.

* U.S. chipmaker Intel Corp. unveiled details of its new processing chip dubbed Nervana, which is suited for artificial intelligence technologies. The processor, which is designed for large computing centers, can cope with big workloads using less energy, Reuters reports.

* Movie ticket subscription service MoviePass Inc. exposed tens of thousands of customer card and personal credit card data due to a critical server that was not password-protected, TechCrunch reports. The information was found on an exposed database at one of MoviePass' many subdomains.

* T-Mobile US Inc. set up a 20,000-square-foot facility to test smartphones and other devices that connect to the company's network using any technology available, including 5G. The new device lab includes more than a dozen testing areas where T-Mobile engineers test network signal quality; voice call and sound quality; and video optimization.

* Avaya Holdings Corp. is mulling accepting an all-cash buyout offer from private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC, Reuters reports, citing people familiar with the matter. The offer came amid Avaya's ongoing discussions with privately held peer Mitel Networks Corp. for months regarding a potential merger.

* VMware Inc. acquired San Francisco-based startup Intrinsic in a bid to expand its presence in the cloud technology market, CNBC reports. Intrinsic offers application runtime security technology that protects against attacks.

* California's state government struck a five-year, $198 million contract deal with Atos Public Safety LLC, a unit of French IT services provider Atos SE, to upgrade the state's 911 system to next-generation broadband communication platforms. The infrastructure will replace 25-year-old technology used on the state's regional emergency services IP network.

The day ahead

Early morning futures indicators pointed to a higher opening for the U.S. market.

In Asia, Hang Seng rose 0.15% to 26,270.04, while the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.28% to 20,618.57.

In Europe, around midday, the FTSE 100 climbed 1.08% to 7,202.23, and the Euronext 100 rose 1.30% to 1,051.79.

On the macro front

The existing home sales consensus and EIA petroleum status report are due out today.

Click here to read about today's financial markets, setting out the factors driving stocks, bonds and currencies around the world ahead of the New York open.

Featured news

The Daily Dose Europe: EU probing Facebook; Telia Denmark CEO exits; Huawei eyes office in Russia: The European Commission has launched a probe into Facebook's Libra project, Telia Denmark's CEO is stepping down, and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. plans to open a second office in Russia.

The Daily Dose Asia-Pacific: WhatsApp payments in Indonesia; tech exports to Korea; Qualcomm, LG deal: WhatsApp Inc. is in talks to offer mobile transaction services in Indonesia, Japan has approved the sale of advanced technology resources to South Korea, and Qualcomm struck a patent license agreement with LG Electronics.

5G Focus: US spectrum battle; rollout in Ireland; product plans from China: 5G Focus is a weekly global roundup of notable 5G trials, launches, use cases and major equipment supply contracts. It also features in-depth analysis of strategies, expansion plans, business models and other related initiatives.

Featured research

Economics of Networks: ViacomCBS betting big on affiliate fee, retrans gains: One key goal in the ViacomCBS merger will be making cable network and retrans deals coterminous, which will give the combined company more negotiating leverage. Expect more blackouts ahead.

Broadcast Investor: Broadcast deal market July — Moderate deal volume, 1 big partial deal: July registered a deal volume of $45.5 million, not counting a $96.5 million partial deal.

Technology: Global consumers continue to snap up smart speakers: Smart speakers, those voice-enabled products from vendors like Amazon and Google, are carving out an increasingly large slice of the smart home device market.

Economics of TV & Film: With 'Lion King,' Disney lands most profitable film for 5th month straight: It is another month and another Walt Disney film at the top of the monthly film profit projections. This time around, "The Lion King" topped the chart with an estimated $826.2 million in projected net profit.

Economics of Advertising: Digital, addressable ads boost revenue for cable programmers: Advertising revenue at five of the eight publicly traded basic cable owners tracked by Kagan grew on a year-over-year basis in the second quarter.

Technology: Google Stadia's software slate grows without EA, Activision titles: Google announced that "Cyberpunk 2077" is coming to its cloud gaming service, but it still has a couple of holes in its 2019 lineup.

Global Multichannel: Mexico's internet advertising spend projected to match TV's in 2021: Total advertising market spend is projected to reach $6.60 billion by 2021. Internet spend has been the main growth driver over the past 10 years, a trend that is expected to persist.

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