Business, Financial & Legal News - Page 1

In a huge surprise announcement, Microsoft has announced it will be acquiring Activision-Blizzard in a monster $70 billion deal -- all-cash, by the way.

Once the deal is all over, it will make Microsoft the third-largest gaming company in revenue, where it will only be behind Sony and Tencent. Activision-Blizzard is home to some of the largest game franchises on the planet, including Call of Duty, Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, and so much more.

Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick -- drama surrounding him, and the company -- will remain as CEO where he and his team will "maintain their focus on driving efforts to further strengthen the company's culture and accelerate business growth. Once the deal closes, the Activision Blizzard business will report to Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming".

The sister of a federal officer is suing Facebook's parent company, Meta, over its alleged role in the murder of Dave Patrick Underwood.

Angela Underwood Jacobs has officially filed a complaint in Alameda County Superior Court that claims the shooting of her brother, Dave Patrick Underwood, "was not a random act of violence" and that stems from a "culmination of an extremist plot hatched and planned on Facebook by two men who Meta connected through Facebook's groups infrastructure and its use of algorithms designed and intended to increase user engagement."

Underwood was killed in a drive-by shooting outside of a federal building in Oakland, California, in May 2020. The two men charged with his murder were found to be linked to an anti-government Facebook group that was later banned from the platform in June 2020. Jacobs claims that Facebook bears the responsibility of her brother's murder for allowing these groups to exist on its platform and furthermore allowing extremists within these to connect and plot.

Apple CEO Tim Cook earned $98 million in total compensation in 2021, a massive 568% increase over 2020.

New SEC filings outline executive pay for Apple's current C-suite leadership, and CEO Tim Cook saw a meteoric rise in total compensation. According to the filing, Tim Cook received a total of $98 million in compensation through 2021 that consists of $3 million in base salary pay, $82 million in stock awards, $12 million in incentive pay, and nearly $1.4 million from "other compensation."

Cook's record incentive payout was due to Apple's stellar performance throughout 2021: "For 2021 we reported net sales of $365.8 billion and operating income of $108.9 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of 33% and 64%, respectively. These results significantly exceeded the maximum goals for each of the financial performance measures."

HBO Max and HBO have hit a combined 73.8 million global subscribers by 2021's end, Warner CEO Jason Kilar tells Deadline.

According the latest figures provided by WarnerMedia, HBO Max is now the third leading subscription-base streaming service in the world. In tandem with its base HBO service, HBO Max has accrued a massive 73.8 million subscribers throughout 2021. Heavy-hitting day-and-date film releases like Dune and The Matrix Resurrections helped surge its yearly numbers, however Kilar affirms this simultaneous release structure isn't intended to last.

Despite these monumental figures, Netflix (213 million) and Disney+ (118 million) conquer the streaming wars with sizable leads. Meanwhile, NBC's Peacock comes in at 54 million subscribers, followed by Paramount+ with 47 million. Hulu, which includes shows across a variety of labels including FX, falls behind with 43.8 million subscribers. All companies are expected to announce updated figures in their Q4 earnings reports.

Netflix's latest SEC filings reveal full year pay structures for CEO Reed Hastings and other executives.

A new Form 8-K filing shows how much Netflix's top brass will make in 2022. Each exec will receive multi-million salaries with the exception of Reed Hastings, who takes a $650,000 annual salary and a hefty $35 million stock option. The payout plan has been approved by shareholder votes and the internal board of directors compensation committee.

Netflix is currently enjoying its strongest performance of all time. The company's 9-months revenues currently sit at $21.98 billion, almost as high as 2020's full-year earnings of $24.99 billion, and overall net income achieved an astronomical new record high of $4.5 billion. The entertainment giant will reveal its fourth quarter earnings on January 20 at 3PM PST.

Malaysia's House of Representatives has just passed new amendments to the country's copyright laws, which would see people imprisoned for up to 20 years.

There are already laws that forbid the illegal uploading and downloading of copyrighted content, but with the introduction of the world of streaming, there are changes that need to be made to the legislation. With the world of streaming through various means (which I won't go into here) has landed a new decision by the High Court in May 2021 that the sale and distribution of streaming devices (like piracy-ready Kodi-based devices) does actually constitute infringement under the Copyright Act.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi said: "Act 332 is amended to ensure copyright laws implemented will provide more efficient and effective protection in line with current demands and to fulfill the needs of the business community and stakeholders".

In news that isn't surprising at the least, Facebook -- or should I say Meta -- has been voted the Worst Company of 2021, as voted by participants in a recent Yahoo Finance survey.

The social networking giant has gone from one dumpster fire to another over the last 12 months, with Yahoo Finance noting that Microsoft won its Company of the Year 2021 award -- while Facebook won the Worst Company of 2021 award. I'm sure it's something Mark "Project LifeLog" Zuckerberg running the company that has been awarded Worst Company of 2021. What an honor.

Yahoo Finance writes that the open-ended survey was run between December 4-5 with 1541 people responding, showing the site that Facebook (now Meta) had 8% of the vote for Worst Company of 2021. The second-worst company was Alibaba, but Meta led them with over 50% more hate voted for them.

Adidas' first-ever NFT drop makes tens of millions of dollars--how soon until other brands jump in?

Adidas recently held its Into the Metaverse NFT drop in conjunction with other popular digital players like NFT art mogul group Bored Ape Yacht Club, crypto pioneer gmoney, and PunksComic. The collection featured NFTs based on each; Indigo Herz from Bored Ape Yacht Club, a gmoney NFT, and Punk 2146 "Courtney" from Punks Comic.

Adidas sold all of its NFTs nearly immediately across its early access and full access periods. The NFTs sold for 0.2 ETH apiece (roughly $787), and in total Adidas made 5,924 ETH from the sales, or $23,252,647.84 in converted currency.

The shit-flinging match between Intel, Samsung, and TSMC is getting hot -- with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) founder Morris Chang having some not-so-nice words to say about Intel's new CEO, Pat Gelsinger.

In some recent comments, the Intel CEO said that Taiwan's geopolitical environment isn't good for the semiconductor industry, given that China has been threatening Taiwan for quite a while now. During the Fortune Business Brainstorm Technology conference, Gelsinger said that the Taiwan situation made the area risky for chip fabrication.

Gelsinger said: "As I was flying down here yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that there were 27 Chinese planes in Taiwan airspace yesterday. How do you feel about having your sole source foundry capability in Taiwan right now? I mean, this is a geopolitical risk. And as we've argued since the beginning of my 10-year, the world needs a more resilient, geopolitically balanced supply chain. So we're seeing a lot of enthusiasm to support us moving into that market".

Micron has just announced a gigantic new 93,000-square-foot facility in Atlanta, Georgia, USA -- a new state-of-the-art memory design center that opens up in January 2022.

The new memory design facility will see Micron having offices, a huge data center, and development operations in Atlanta. Micron is expected to open up around 500 new jobs across various STEM disciplines, which will include memory and storage R&D, computer hardware, electrical and electronic engineering, modeling and simulation development, and business support roles.

Micron is looking at building new partnerships with local institutions including Emory University, Georgia Tech, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and the University of Georgia. The memory giant is no stranger to the US, with Micron already having HQs in Boise, Idaho, and offices across the US including California, Colorado, Minnesota, Texas, and Virginia.