Top Financial Media Stories Tuesday, September 20: Apple Feels The Forex Pinch, Pepsi Ends Russian Production, Beyond Meat's COO Arrested And More..

Reuters

What Recession? AmEx Shares Ambitious Hiring Plans As Peers Let Go Staff

• American Express Co AXP shared plans to hire 1,500 people for technology roles dispelling slowdown concerns as its peers slashed jobs and cut expenses.
• The new hires would fill roles like data scientist, software engineer, and others by the end of the year.
• AmEx had already brought in 3,600 tech employees this year.

PepsiCo Ends Pepsi, 7UP Production In Russia

• Beverage giant PepsiCo Inc PEP has stopped production of Pepsi, 7UP, and Mountain Dew in Russia.
• The end of the production comes six months after the company halted its sales and production in the country in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
• The supermarkets and retailers in Russia are said to have stocks with July and August production dates.

Exxon Undecided On Auction Bidding For Guyana Oil Assets Despite Boosting Production

• Exxon Mobil Corp XOM has not decided whether it will bid for new offshore areas in Guyana as the company ramps up production faster than expected.
• Exxon has told the government it will wait for the economic terms before deciding if it wants to expand its acreage.
• An Exxon-led consortium discovered oil in the deep waters off Guyana's coast, launched its first production in 2019, and now controls all output.

Chevron Mulls Divesting Minority Stakes In Three Alaska-Based Oilfields

• Chevron Corporation CVX is looking to offload its interest in over 2,000 oil and gas wells in Alaska, marking its second exit from oil production in the state in 30 years.
• Bids are due this month, and the sale could fetch around $450-$550 million.
• The company is offering stakes in three oilfields. It holds around 10% in Alaska's Endicott field, 5% in the Kuparuk field, and 1.2% in Prudhoe Bay.

Hyundai's Kia Mulls EV Production In the US

• Hyundai Motor Co., Ltd. HYMTF owned automobile manufacturer Kia Corp. is likely to roll out electric vehicles in the U.S. from 2024.
• The news first appeared on the South Korean media Maeil Business Newspaper and the TV channel SBS.
• The Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by U.S. President Joe Biden last month excluded Hyundai and its affiliate Kia Corp from subsidies as the companies did not make EVs in the U.S.

Bloomberg

Jack Dorsey To Get Deposed In Elon Musk-Twitter Deal Lawsuit Today: What You Need To Know

• Twitter Inc TWTR co-founder Jack Dorsey will be questioned under oath on Tuesday morning by the company's lawyers and Elon Musk via Zoom.
• For the uninitiated, Musk and Twitter have been challenging each other legally following the Tesla Inc TSLA CEO's decision to back out of a $44 billion deal to buy the social media platform.

Apple Feels Forex Pinch: Apps, In-App Purchases Set To Get Costlier In These Regions Next Month

• Apple Inc AAPL plans to hike the prices of apps and in-app purchases on the App Store in Asian and European countries as early as next month, a communication by the company to developers showed.
• Cupertino said the increase applies to Chile, Egypt, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Korea, Sweden, Vietnam, and all the territories that use the euro. The revised prices will take effect from Oct. 5.

Meta Suffers EU Antitrust Setback After Google

• Meta Platforms Inc's META Facebook suffered a setback in its European Union court challenge of a German antitrust decision that demanded an overhaul of the social media giant's business model.
• Competition authorities probing a company over alleged abuses of a dominant position can consider other rules, like the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, as per a non-binding opinion.
• Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google suffered its second setback in Europe in less than a year as the EU's top court agreed with the bloc's antitrust regulators against a landmark fine on the tech giant for abusing its influence.

Apple Faces Back-To-Back iPhone 14 Glitches, Looks To Resolve Pro Camera Issue By Next Week

• Apple Inc AAPL worked on a software update to prevent the iPhone 14 Pro rear cameras from shaking when used with some third-party apps.
• Apple looks to release the update next week, marking at least the second for the iPhone 14.
• On launch day, Apple asked the users to update to iOS 16.0.1 to address a problem related to activating FaceTime.
• Apple also investigated a bug that may cause the iPhone 14 Pro models to freeze while transferring data from an older iPhone.

Financial Times

Yet Another Blow For Amazon As Marketplace Funding Dries Up

• The funding for Amazon.com Inc AMZN marketplace sellers dried up as e-commerce growth has stalled.
• In 2021, investors poured over $12 billion into acquisition startups or aggregators focused on buying Amazon marketplace sellers following the significant behavioral shift during Covid lockdowns.
• Amazon aggregators or roll-ups buy sellers who typically do the bulk of their business through Amazon's third-party marketplace aiming to combine many brands under one roof.

Uber System Breach Culprits Are Likely The Ones Behind Microsoft, Nvidia, And Okta Hack

• Uber Technologies, Inc UBER has held the Lapsus$ group responsible for its recent hack. The breach had forced Uber to shut down some internal systems temporarily.
• The culprits gained access after obtaining an external contractor's account credentials.
• Uber's "public facing" systems, the databases for storing "sensitive" user data, and the software code underlying its app and services were intact.

Goldman Sachs Rolls Out Transaction Banking Services In Europe

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS has launched transaction banking services, specializing in services for corporate treasuries, in Europe in a bid to diversify beyond its trading and advice services.
• The transaction banking platform, known as TxB, offers businesses cash management and treasury services.
• The Wall Street bank launched the business in the U.S. in 2020, and in 2021 in the U.K., Goldman has attracted more than 400 clients with $65 billion in deposits.

Wall Street Journal

Judge Says Yes To $13B UnitedHealth-Change Healthcare Merger

• A U.S. judge on Monday denied the Justice Department's request to stop UnitedHealth Group Inc's UNH $13 billion buyout deal for Change Healthcare Inc CHNG.
• The Justice Department had filed a lawsuit in February aimed at stopping the acquisition on antitrust grounds.
• The judge rejected the claims that the deal would unlawfully suppress competition and limit innovation in health-insurance markets.

CNBC

Amazon Loses Key Healthcare Officials

• Two Amazon.com, Inc AMZN officials instrumental in its health care push departed the company.
• TJ Parker and Elliot Cohen, the co-founders of prescription drug startup PillPack, will leave Amazon at the end of September.

Vegan-Friendly Beyond Meat's COO Arrested For Allegedly Biting Man's Nose In Parking Lot Fight

• Beyond Meat Inc (NASDAQ: BYND) Chief Operating Officer Doug Ramsey allegedly bit a man on the nose and was subsequently arrested for terroristic threatening and third-degree battery.
• Ramsey, Age 53, was arrested this weekend after biting a man's nose after a college football game.

Benzinga

Elon Musk Looks To Expand Starlink Access To This Country Hit By US Sanctions: 'Will Ask For An Exemption'

• Elon Musk has said his private space company SpaceX would try getting special permission to provide Starlink internet access to Iran, which is currently facing tough U.S. economic sanctions.
• The Tesla Inc TSLA CEO on Monday tweeted that Starlink had expanded its footprint to all continents, including Antarctica.
• Erfan Kasraie, an Iranian science journalist based in Germany, replied to Musk asking if it would "technically possible to provide Starlink to Iranian people," saying that doing so would be a "game changer."

TikTok's Answer To BeReal Launches In Multiple Countries After US Debut

• TikTok's answer to BeReal has reportedly begun to appear as a standalone app in several countries.
• TikTok Now was launched in some regions outside the United States on Sept. 18.
• Data indicates that the independent app began to appear among the Top 100 iPhone Social Networking apps in Madagascar, Mozambique, Kenya, Malta, and Singapore.

Zendesk Privatization Deal Wins Shareholder Approval

• Zendesk Inc ZEN shareholders approved a $10.2 billion planned acquisition of the software maker by a group of private equity firms led by Hellman & Friedman and Permira.
• Zendesk agreed to be taken private in a deal with investors receiving $77.50 per share in cash after persistent pressure from activist investor Jana Partners.
• Proxy firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) also backed the deal.

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