Elon Musk Renews Twitter's Buyout Proposal, Apple Suppliers Working On Cutting China Reliance, E-Cigarette Maker Considers Bankruptcy: Top Stories Wednesday, Oct. 5

Wall Street Journal

Apple Inc suppliers are gradually establishing new production facilities in the U.S., focusing on California, to move more manufacturing out of China.
Apple released a supplier list for the financial year 2021, showing that 48 of the company's 180 suppliers had operations in the U.S. as of September 2021.
This number was up from 25 a year ago. California had more than 30 sites, up from less than 10 just a year ago.

Bayer AG BAYRY won five jury verdicts in a row in trials that contended its Roundup weed killer caused non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
The company battles the remaining cases targeting its Roundup weedkiller. It has set aside about $16 billion for settlements.
Bayer maintains that Roundup is safe to use and has cited regulatory reviews by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other regulators that have determined it is not carcinogenic.

Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google will pay the state of Arizona $85 million to settle a 2020 lawsuit for allegedly deceiving users by recording their locations even after they tried to turn off the company's tracking on their smartphones and web browsers.
Google used the location information to sell ads for billions of dollars in profits.
The bulk of the settlement money will go toward a general fund in the state.

Bloomberg

E-Cigarette Maker Juul Mulls Potential Bankruptcy

Juul Labs Inc, backed by Altria Group Inc MO, has been exploring various options—including bankruptcy—after the FDA issued its marketing denial order.
The e-cigarette manufacturer is in informal talks regarding debtor-in-possession financing.
The preparations aren't final, and plans could change. The report further cited a spokesman for Juul that the company is still considering other avenues.

Emerson Electric Co EMR is in talks with Blackstone Inc BX to divest a part of its commercial and residential solutions business.
The deal could be between $5 billion and $10 billion, but the talks are inconclusive.
The move comes after the COVID-19 pandemic fueled a housing boom in the U.S., which saw home prices skyrocket. The current inflationary environment and rising interest rates have begun to cool down the sector.

New York Times

Amazon Freezes Hiring, Discontinues Amazon Glow

Amazon.com Inc AMZN froze corporate hiring in its retail business for the rest of the year.
Amazon halted global hiring for all corporate roles, including technology positions, in its stores business, which covers Amazon's physical and online retail business and its logistics operations.
Amazon had posted over 10,000 openings in that division, which accounts for the bulk of Amazon's sales.

Benzinga

Elon Musk and his team of advisors sent a letter to Twitter Inc's TWTR litigation staff stating Musk would like to proceed with the acquisition of Twitter at $54.20 per share, or $44 billion, according to a 13D filing, Musk made with the SEC.
The letter predicates the offer upon the Delaware Chancery Court entering an immediate stay in the lawsuit Twitter filed against Musk after he backed out of the deal in July, citing concerns about the misrepresentation of the number of spam accounts on the platform.

Cryptocurrencies spiked Tuesday evening as the global cryptocurrency market cap rose 2.7% to $970 billion.
Cryptocurrencies tracked gains in stocks on Tuesday, as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed 3.1% and 3.3% higher, respectively.
PMI numbers released this week triggered the risk appetite return, indicating weakness. Traders speculated that this could prompt central banks to become more dovish.

Apple Inc AAPL urged suppliers to move some AirPods and Beats headphone production to India for the first time as it looks to downsize exposure to supply chain disruptions stemming from the country's strict zero-COVID policy and tensions with the U.S.
Apple talked with multiple suppliers about increasing production in India, including crucial acoustics devices, as early as next year.
iPhone assembler Foxconn Technology Co, Ltd FXCOF is prepared to make Beats headphones in the country and hopes to produce AirPods too.
Luxshare Precision Industry and its affiliates, which already produce AirPods in Vietnam and China, also plan to help Apple make the popular wireless earphones in India.

STMicroelectronics N.V. STM will build an integrated Silicon Carbide (SiC) substrate manufacturing facility in Italy.
The facility will support the increasing demand from ST's customers for SiC devices across automotive and industrial applications as they transition to electrification.
Italy will financially support the investment of €730 million over five years and will create around 700 additional direct jobs at full build-out.

Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco PLC TSCDY, forecasts its FY22/23 profit at the lower end of its previous guidance.
The company currently expects retail adjusted operating profit of £2.4 billion - £2.5 billion versus the previous forecast of £2.4 billion - £2.6 billion.
Tesco noted that significant uncertainties in the external environment still exist, most notably how consumer behavior continues to evolve.

Russian gas giant Gazprom is resuming transportation of Russian gas to Italy via Austria, saying a necessary solution was reached with the Italian buyers for the gas flow.
"The Austrian operator has signaled its readiness to confirm the transport nominations of Gazprom Export, making it possible to resume the supplies of Russian gas across Austria," the company said in a statement.
Eni SpA E confirmed the resumption of gas flows, saying the issue had been resolved.