Daily Pulse: It's Jobs Friday, Major Employers Seek Power Back from Health Insurers, UN Rules for Julian Assange

It's Jobs Friday. Check back here after 8.30 am for details on January non-farm payrolls. It's expected the economy added fewer jobs than last month — around 190,000 — after a very strong December. 

Healthcare companies have been merging; now their customers are banding together too. Twenty American corporations — and not small ones: Verizon, American Express, Coca-Cola, Marriott... — have formed an alliance to share their data on healthcare spending and outcomes, take the power back from insurers and help keep their cost down. Eventually, they might even create a purchasing cooperative. 

Philippe Dauman won this round. The Viacom CEO, a longtime friend of Sumner Redstone's, is replacing him as chairman of the board, against the objection of the 92-year-old's daughter, Shari Redstone. The fight now moves to the family trust, where daughter and confidante both are trustees and which will hold 80% control of Viacom and CBS once Redstone Sr dies or is incapacitated. (If you understood none of this: It's Game of Thrones corporate edition, and Cersei lost this one to Littlefinger.) 

Backed up. A UN human rights panel will declare this morning that Julian Assange has been subjected to "arbitrary detention" for 3 1/2 years since the threat of extradition to Sweden pushed him to seek refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. But the point is moot: the UK says the decision is not legally binding and he will still be arrested if he leaves the embassy. 

Wall Street is pummeling once-beloved tech stocks. LinkedIn and Tableau dropped 28% and 36% respectively in after-hours trading, both on earnings beat but lower-than-expected guidance. Gopro dropped 9% yesterday; it's now lost half its value in a month. Amazon shaved $47 billion in market cap in the past week. And even Alphabet lost the title it held for 4 days of world's largest market cap. 

Uber is spared though. Investors are even willing to bet blind: Morgan Stanley keeps a fund for wealthy clients to invest in Uber. They get no financial details on the company and no direct equity, The New York Times' Leslie Picker and Peter Eavis report. They've already contributed $500 million... 

It's a big theoretical payday for artists. If Spotify or another streaming service it's invested in scores a nice exit with an IPO or sale, Warner says it'll share some of the proceeds with artists. Sony shortly promised it'll do the same. It's a way of assuring artists that the majors are on their side, but it doesn't pay the bills in the meantime. 

A word at last. Hong Kong police confirmed that mainland police holds three figures of the Hong Kong publishing industry — Lui Por, Cheung Chi Ping and Lam Wing Kee. The men, who disappeared in October while on visit to the mainland, are being investigated for "illegal activities." 

Cover art: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron attend the 4th annual donor conference for Syria, yesterday in London, where they hope to raise $9 billion for those affected by the war. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

What you may have missed — and really should read:

• The average startup founder is much older than you think. 
• Katie Couric on joining the club no one wants to join. 
• Winter is coming for venture capital, writes Mark Suster.

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