According to sources, Chinese authorities are set to impose a fine of over $1B on Jack Ma's Ant Group. Ant Group has been undergoing a regulatory overhaul since late 2020 after its planned dual Shanghai and Hong Kong public debut was canceled at the final hour. The tech giant was projected to bring in more money than Saudi Aramco's IPO. More: - According to sources, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) has been in informal talks with Ant about the fine over the past few months.
- The PBOC plans to have more discussions with other regulators about Ant's revamp later this year.
- An official announcement about the fine is expected to come as soon as Q2 2023.
- Ant's fine would be the largest regulatory penalty imposed on a Chinese tech firm since ride-hailing company Didi was fined $1.2B in July by China's cybersecurity regulator.
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HP plans to lay off 4,000 to 6,000 workers over the next three years. The tech company announced the layoffs as part of its fiscal Q4 2022 financial results released on Tuesday. HP joins a growing number of tech companies, including Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Twitter, and Salesforce, that have announced layoffs recently. More: - HP said it expects the layoffs to result in annualized gross run rate savings of at least $1.4B in the next three years, with about $1B in costs, including restructuring.
- As of 2021, HP had around 51,000 employees.
- HP posted Q4 revenue of $14.8B, down 11.2% YoY; fiscal 2022 full-year revenue was $63B, down 0.8% YoY.
- HP posted a Q4 net loss of 2M and full-year net earnings of $3.2B.
- HP shares closed at $29.38 on Tuesday, up less than 1%; shares rose ~2% in extended trading.
- The company is down ~23% YTD.
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Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), the SPAC aiming to take former President Donald Trump’s media company Trump Media and Technology Group and its Truth Social platform public, has secured enough shareholder votes to postpone the planned merger. DWAC held a shareholder meeting on Tuesday and got the needed 65% of shareholders to approve an extension of the deadline to merge with Trump Media until September 2023. More: - DWAC has postponed the shareholder meeting six times in the last few months to secure enough votes for the extension.
- In September, DWAC CEO Patrick Orlando initiated a built-in extension with a $2.8M contribution from his company Arc Global Investments II.
- Orlando also urged Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes and its chairman, former President Donald Trump, to help garner support for the extension.
- The planned merger has also been the subject of a criminal investigation by the DOJ and the SEC.
- The delays have resulted in the loss of over $130M of the $1B in financing from private investors in public equity (PIPE).
- DWAC shares closed at $22.73 on Tuesday, up nearly 6% for the day.
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A U.K. competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), said it is moving forward with its investigation into the marker power of Apple and Google in the mobile-device software space. The CMA said it received support from the public and would be moving forward with the market investigation it proposed in June. More: - In June, the CMA said it was launching an investigation into how Apple and Google control web browsers for mobile devices and complaints that Apple restricts cloud gaming on its devices.
- In a separate probe, the CMA said it would look into the conditions Google places on in-app payments in its mobile store.
- In March 2021, the CMA launched a similar probe into how Apple treats app developers that offer their products and services on the iPhone maker’s App Store.
- The CMA said that Apple and Google operate an effective mobile-device duopoly that enables them to exercise a stranglehold over mobile ecosystems.
- Apple and Google each take a 30% commission on all in-app purchases from app developers.
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Norfolk Southern Corp. is buying Cincinnati Southern Railway for about $1.62B. Norfolk currently leases approximately 337 miles of the railway line that extends from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, Tennessee, from Cincinnati Southern. The deal is still subject to approval from Cincinnati voters and the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. More: - Norfolk said the line is one of the highest-density segments of the company’s network, with as many as 30 trains a day traveling the route.
- Norfolk noted that the purchase removes uncertainty around future lease costs.
- According to Citigroup transportation analyst Christian Wetherbee, the acquisition wouldn’t add revenue, but by avoiding higher lease payments, Norfolk would improve its operating ratio.
- As part of the deal, Norfolk will receive about 9,500 acres of land that sits under the rail infrastructure it maintains and operates.
- The deal is expected to close in H1, 2024.
- Norfolk shares closed at $251.10 on Tuesday, up less than 1% for the day.
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Zoom released its Q3 earnings on Monday after market close, posting its slowest quarterly revenue growth. The video communications company reported $1.1B in revenue, up 5% YoY. Zoom posted a GAAP net income of $48.4M, or 16 cents a share, down from $340.3M reported during the same period last year. More: - Zoom reported 209,300 enterprise customers in Q3, up from 204,100 in the previous quarter.
- Q3 enterprise revenue was $614M, up 20% YoY.
- Zoom lowered its full-year revenue guidance, now expecting sales between $4.37B and $4.38B.
- Zoom saw explosive growth during the pandemic as workers transitioned to working from home.
- The company reported more than 300% revenue growth in 2020.
- Zoom shares fell more than 7% in extended trading on Monday. They closed at $77.15 a share, down nearly 4% for the day.
- Zoom has lost more than 85% of its value since its peak in October 2020.
- The company is down nearly 60% YTD.
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- According to sources, VC giant Sequoia Capital apologized to its LPs for the $150M investment it lost on crypto exchange FTX. Sequoia told its fund investors the firm would improve its due-diligence process on future investments.
- Football star Cristiano Ronaldo has left Manchester United football club following an interview with Piers Morgan in which he heavily criticized the club and its owners. In a post on Twitter, the club said Ronaldo was leaving by mutual agreement, with immediate effect. Manchester released a statement on Tuesday saying its board will consider all strategic alternatives, including new investment into the club, a sale, or other transactions.
- Iran announced it has expanded its nuclear enrichment program. The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said it had added the underground Fordow facility to the list of locations where it was enriching uranium to the 60% purity level.
- The Supreme Court rejected an appeal by former President Donald Trump to prevent Congress from obtaining his income tax returns from the IRS. Trump had asked the Supreme Court on Oct. 31 to block the House Ways and Means Committee from getting his tax returns.
- The Biden administration extended the payment pause on federal student loans through June 30 following a federal appeals court ruling last week that imposed a nationwide injunction on the debt relief plan. The payment on the loan has been paused since March 2020 and was supposed to resume in January 2023.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a writer for Inside.com; she writes the daily Inside Business newsletter. Her interests include finance, technology, and entrepreneurship. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending concerts and music festivals, traveling, and exploring. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or on LinkedIn. |   | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 and 1972 Fords. | |
Talaera is a tech-enabled, on-demand platform for professional English and culture training. | |
Laika is a unified compliance platform that automates workflows for audits, infosec monitoring, and vendor due diligence in a single, collaborative space. | |
