Activist investor Bluebell Capital has called for BlackRock CEO Larry Fink to step down, citing Fink’s “apparent hypocrisy” concerning the firm’s stance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG). BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, with about $10T under management. More: - Bluebell, which has a 0.01% stake in BlackRock, released a letter it had sent to Fink last month.
- Bluebell said BlackRock had changed its positions several times regarding investing in thermal coal production.
- It also accused BlackRock of politicizing the ESG debate due to the firm’s contradictory actions.
- Bluebell said BlackRock failed to support its position on environmental shareholder resolutions at mining and commodities firm Glencore and chemicals firm Solvay.
- Responding to Bluebell’s claims, BlackRock said Bluebell, in the last 18 months, has waged several campaigns to promote its climate and governance agenda.
- BlackRock added it did not support Bluebell’s campaigns as they were not in the best economic interests of its clients.
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Microsoft has pledged to give Nintendo and Sony Group access to “Call of Duty” games for 10 years. The tech giant hopes the move will calm regulatory action against its proposed deal to buy Call of Duty game developer Activision Blizzard for $75B. The deal was announced earlier this year. More: - In an interview, Microsoft’s CEO of Gaming, Phil Spencer, said the company is committed to bringing more games to more people however they choose to play.
- Regulators across the globe, including the U.S. FTC and the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), have been investigating Microsoft’s deal to buy Activision.
- Regulators are concerned that the acquisition would give Microsoft an unfair advantage over its competitors and hurt consumers by limiting their access to Activision’s game library.
- Microsoft has said it doesn’t plan to limit access to Activision games, noting that the deal won’t harm competition.
- Microsoft said the acquisition would make it the third-largest videogame console maker after Sony and Nintendo.
- Sony makes the PlayStation, Nintendo makes the Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft makes the Xbox.
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According to sources, negotiations between the U.S. government and popular video-sharing platform TikTok have stalled as concerns over the app's impact on national security grow. An agreement between the Biden administration and TikTok was initially expected before the end of the year. More: - According to sources, the U.S. government and TikTok reached a tentative agreement in the summer; however, senior U.S. officials, including the DOJ, did not think the proposed deal was adequate.
- The negotiations aim to lessen the Chinese government's influence on TikTok's U.S. operations without completely cutting TikTok's Chinese ties.
- In the past two years, TikTok's parent company ByteDance has spent about $9M lobbying in Washington, D.C.
- The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. is leading the U.S. side of the negotiations.
- A TikTok spokeswoman said the company has already started to work on some of the concerns raised during these talks and looks forward to finalizing their agreement.
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Juul Labs has reached a settlement covering over 5,000 lawsuits and 10,000 plaintiffs to resolve allegations that it marketed its vaping products to underage youth. Juul said it had secured an equity investment to cover the cost of the settlement. The financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed. More: - Last month, the WSJ reported that Juul was in talks with its early investors, Hyatt Hotels heir Nick Pritzker and California investor Riaz Valani, to stave off bankruptcy.
- Juul also announced plans to lay off about 400 people and reduce its operating budget by 30% to 40%.
- Juul CEO K.C. Crosthwaite on Tuesday said the settlement addresses most of the company's outstanding litigation and helps secure the firm's path forward.
- In June, the FDA banned all sales of Juul e-cigarettes in the U.S., saying that the company had not submitted sufficient evidence that its vaping products were safe.
- The FDA suspended the ban in July while the company appealed the decision.
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Apple plans to allow users to encrypt their iCloud data. The new feature called Advanced Data Protection will prevent Apple from seeing the contents of some of the most sensitive user data stored on its servers and wouldn’t be accessible to law enforcement, even with a warrant. More: - In the past, Apple has been able to provide data stored in iCloud backups to law enforcement.
- The new end-to-end encryption feature would make it impossible for Apple to comply with law enforcement requests for iCloud backups.
- Apple product users often store photos, messages, notes, and device backups in iCloud.
- Apple said its Advanced Data Protection system protects user data if the company gets hacked.
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NRG Energy has agreed to buy home-security company Vivint Smart Home for $2.8B. NRG will pay $12 a share for Vivint, which represents a 33% premium on the company’s close price on Monday. Including debt, the total deal is valued at $5.2B. More: - The acquisition is expected to close in Q1, 2023.
- The purchase will allow NRG to expand its offerings to include home security and automation.
- On news of the deal, Vivint shares rose 32% on Tuesday, closing at $11.90.
- NRG shares fell 15%, closing at $34.68.
- NRG CEO Mauricio Gutierrez said the company plans to cross-sell and bundle the products and services both companies offer – energy and home security – to customers.
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- German authorities said they arrested 25 people in raids across the country on suspicion of plotting a coup to overthrow the government. The plotters are said to include far-right and ex-military individuals and members of the extremist Reichsbürger (Citizens of the Reich) movement.
- Former Theranos COO Sunny Balwani was sentenced to 13 years in prison for fraud on Wednesday. Balwani was romantically linked to Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison last month.
- Incumbent Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in the state’s runoff election. Warnock received 50.8% of the votes to Walker’s 49.2%. Warnock’s win gives Democrats a 51-49 majority in the Senate.
- According to sources, defunct crypto exchange FTX held talks with singer Taylor Swift for a $100M sponsorship deal. The discussions included a ticketing arrangement with NFTs. The discussions ended in the spring without any agreement.
- China has dropped many of its zero-COVID testing and quarantine requirements following citizen protests. The restrictions have severely impacted China’s economy. Chinese exports fell 8.7% in November compared to last year, and imports dropped 10.6%.
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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. | |
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