This Week in 30 Minutes

October 3rd, 2020

Hi there! We are two economists-to-be + one Business & Law major sharing with you, every Saturday, what we believe are the most relevant and interesting news of the week. The newsletter will be divided between all of our LinkedIn profiles. Please share, like, and comment all your thoughts and suggestions. Enjoy!

1. For Economics, Finance, & Corporate news click ;
2. For Global News and Politics click .

Legal news

EU to Start Legal Action Against U.K. on Internal Market

The European Union is starting legal proceedings against the U.K. over Boris Johnson’s plan to breach terms of its Brexit divorce deal and break international law. “The commission has decided to send a letter of formal notice to the U.K. government,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced in Brussels on Thursday. “This draft bill is by its very nature a breach of the obligation of good faith laid down in the Withdrawal Agreement.” The pound dropped by 0.7% against the dollar on the news. The letter is the first step in a legal process against the U.K.’s Internal Market Bill that could result in a lawsuit at the European Court of Justice. A statement from Johnson’s office indicated the government would “respond to the letter in due course.” Read more here.

 EU Commission Appeals Court Decision in €13B Apple Tax Case

The EU General Court's decision in July spared the tech giant from one of the biggest tax bills in EU history. The European Commission is digging its heels in and appealing a July court decision that spared tech giant Apple from one of the biggest tax bills in EU history. Read more here.

Apple Accused of Delaying Masimo Legal Fight to Gain Watch Sales

Apple Inc. is trying to delay a legal fight over allegedly stolen blood-oxygen monitoring technology in its latest watch so it can gain a more dominant share of the smartwatch market, medical-sensor maker Masimo Corp. said in a court filing late Monday.

Blood-oxygen monitoring is a key feature of the latest Apple Watch Series 6 announced on Sept. 15. Masimo and its spinoff Cercacor Laboratories Inc. had sued in January, accusing Apple of promising a working relationship only to steal secret information and hire away key employees, including Cercacor’s former chief technology officer and Masimo’s chief medical officer. Read more here.

U.S. government appeals judge's ruling to block WeChat app store ban

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday said it was appealing a judge's decision to block the government from barring Apple Inc AAPL.O and Alphabet Inc's GOOGL.O Google from offering Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat for download in U.S. app stores. The government said it was appealing the Sept. 19 preliminary junction issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The injunction blocked the U.S. Commerce Department order, which would also bar other U.S. transactions with Tencent Holding's 0700.HK WeChat, potentially making the app unusable in the United States. Read more here.

Facebook sues two companies engaged in data scraping operations

Facebook today says it has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. against two companies that had engaged in an international “data scraping” operation. The operation extended across Facebook properties, including both Facebook and Instagram, as well as other large websites and services, including Twitter, Amazon, LinkedIn and YouTube. The companies, which gathered the data of Facebook users for “marketing intelligence” purposes, did so in violation of Facebook’s Terms of Service, says Facebook. The businesses named in the lawsuit are Israeli-based BrandTotal Ltd. and Unimania Inc., a business incorporated in Delaware. Read more here.

U.S. appeals court revives Glaxo $235.5 million verdict against Teva

A federal appeals court on Friday reinstated a 2017 jury verdict ordering Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd to pay GlaxoSmithKline Plc $235.5 million for selling a generic version of Glaxo’s heart drug Coreg. The case arose after Teva began selling a Coreg generic in 2007 with “skinny” labels indicating treatment for the first two conditions and was required by the Food and Drug Administration to add congestive heart failure to the labels in 2011. Glaxo, whose patent expired in 2015, sued Teva, and a Delaware jury ordered the Israeli drugmaker to pay $234.1 million for lost profit plus $1.4 million in royalties. Read more here.

12 Global Financial Services General Counsel Call for Greater Diversity & Inclusion in Legal Profession

“We choose to come together in this moment in the hope we can drive more substantial impact for our industry together than we might achieve individually,” the letter states. The legal leaders of 12 financial institutions published an open letter Wednesday calling for greater inclusivity in the legal profession and laying out three pillars to further diversity and inclusion initiatives. Read more here.

Start-up & Tech news

With $18M in new funding, Braintrust says it’s creating a fairer model for freelancers

Braintrust, a network for freelance technical and design talent that launched over the summer, is announcing that it has raised $18 million in new funding. For one thing, Braintrust only charges the companies doing the hiring — freelancers won’t have to pay to join or to bid on a project, and Braintrust won’t charge a fee on their project payments. In addition, the startup is using a cryptocurrency token that it calls Btrust to reward users who build the network, for example by inviting new customers or vetting freelancers. Apparently, the token will give users a stake in how the network evolves in the future. Read more here.

Tesla delivers 139,300 vehicles in Q3, beating expectations

Tesla delivered 139,300 vehicles in the third quarter, slightly above Wall Street’s expectations and a notable improvement from last quarter, as well as the same period a year ago. Tesla’s numbers in the third quarter marked a 43% improvement from the same period last year, when the company reported it had delivered 97,000 electric vehicles. The third-quarter figures were 53% higher than last quarter when Tesla was still feeling the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which included suspending production for weeks at its main U.S. factory. A consensus of analysts from FactSet had expected Tesla to report it had delivered 137,000 vehicles. Read more here.

Uber sells $500M stake in its freight business as the ride-hailing giant works to conserve cash

One year ago, Uber’s business model could be categorized as an “all of the above approach,” a strategy to generate revenue from all forms of transportation, including ride-hailing, micromobility, logistics, and package and food delivery. The COVID-19 pandemic upended that business strategy prompting Uber to offload its shared micromobility unit Jump, double down on delivery with its acquisition of Postmates, and now, to sell a stake in its growing, but still unprofitable logistics arm Uber Freight. Read more here.

Singapore’s GIC and TPG to invest over $1 billion in Reliance Retail

GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, will invest $752 million in Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail, and TPG will invest $250 million in the Indian firm, they all said Saturday midnight (local time). The Government of Singapore Investment Corp and TPG are the latest high-profile investors to back Reliance Retail, India’s largest retail chain, in the past four weeks. Reliance Retail — like its sister sibling Jio Platforms — is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable firm. Read more here.

Coinbase lets you withdraw funds to your debit card

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is adding a new way to withdraw funds from your Coinbase account. If you’ve added a compatible debit card to your account, you can transfer USD, EUR or GBP to your bank account nearly instantly.

There are some drawbacks, and the main one is that you’ll pay a lot of fees. In the U.S., Coinbase deducts 1.5% from the transaction, or a minimum $0.55 if it’s a small transaction. In the U.K. and Europe, you pay 2% in fees or a minimum fee of ￡0.45/€0.52, respectively. Read more here.

Microsoft enhances customer data platform as pandemic drives need for personalization

When Microsoft introduced its customer data platform last February, the focus was on simply connecting silos of data to help customers get the data into the system. But as the pandemic has taken hold this year, customers need deeper insight into their customers, and Microsoft has made some enhancements to the platform today. James Phillips, president of Microsoft Business Applications Group, says the goal of the platform is about understanding customers at a deeper level. That could involve a variety of activities, such as personalizing offers, speaking to them in a way that they know their customers want to be spoken to, offering them new products and services that better meet their needs or supporting them better. Read more here.

1. For Economics, Finance & Corporate news click here;
2. For Global News and Politics click .

See you next week!