Top Stories Wednesday, Dec. 21 - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Benzinga

Are you a Twitter user wondering why you are having problems logging into your accounts or changing passwords because of disruptions in two-factor authentication codes? Twitter chief Elon Musk has just cleared the air for you.
During a live Spaces session early on Wednesday, Musk said that the microblogging site was being scammed "$60 million per year for SMS texts," not counting North America.

Meta Platforms Inc META CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative-backed Byju's —India's largest online education firm — has been accused of bullying parents to buy courses.
India's National Commission for Protection of Child Rights said the edtech company is targeting first-generation learners and forcing parents to buy courses after purchasing their phone numbers.

Tesla Inc TSLA is reportedly adopting more austerity measures amid the challenging macroeconomic situation.
Tesla told its employees it was freezing hiring for now and would implement more job cuts in the first quarter.
Details regarding the scope of the hiring freeze and the number of job cuts weren't available at this point, the report said. Tesla is still planning to expand in some manufacturing locations.

Elon Musk's Twitter shows Gold, Gray, and Blue checkmarks for different accounts. But some users complain that these features don't include color-blind people.
As Twitter announced that additional icons — Gray checkmarks for government and multilateral accounts and Gold badges for business accounts — are now live, concerns regarding those being indistinguishable by color-blind people have started rising on the platform.

Koninklijke Philips NV PHG says additional test results and assessments have now been completed for the first-generation DreamStation devices.
Philips said the latest tests indicated that exposure to particulate matter emissions from degraded foam in DreamStation devices was "unlikely to result in an appreciable harm to health in patients," provided the machines had not been treated with ozone-based cleansing products.

Vietnamese electric carmaker VinFast has received all the necessary certifications to sell cars in the U.S.
The first batch of VinFast's 999 electric vehicles arrived in the U.S. as the Silver Queen Ocean vessel docked at the Port of Benicia in California.
The company will begin delivering vehicles to customers by the end of December.

Reuters

Netflix Inc NFLX has shed over 52% for the year-to-date period, even as the company has embarked on a turnaround plan following a massive loss of net paid subscribers earlier this year. A report explored the possibility of the streaming giant being an object of interest to another large-cap tech company.
Software giant Microsoft Corp MSFT could make a shy at Netflix, given CEO Satya Nadella's past track record of pursuing inorganic growth or growth via acquisitions.

A private consumer lawsuit alleged that Microsoft Corp MSFT - Activision Blizzard Inc ATVI deal unlawfully stifled competition in the video game industry.
The California federal court lawsuit followed the U.S. Federal Trade Commission suit seeking to stop Microsoft, owner of the Xbox console, from completing the largest-ever acquisition in the video-gaming market.
The private lawsuit on behalf of 10 video game players in California, New Mexico, and New Jersey also sought an order blocking the takeover.

General Motors Company GM has recalled 140,000 Chevrolet Bolt EVs in North America over fire risk.
The Bolt EVs carpet ran the risk of catching fire in case of a crash where a front seat belt pretensioner deploys.
This happens when the seatbelt pretensioner exhaust gases come in contact with the car's floor carpeting.

Bloomberg

Google Poached BlockFi Veteran To Further Web3 Ambitions

Troubled crypto lender BlockFi veteran joined Alphabet Inc's Google to work on Web3.
Google appointed BlockFi's vice president for Asia, Rishi Ramchandani, as APAC Web3 Lead at Google.
Google Cloud looked to enable the Web3 ecosystem, which encompassed companies looking to build new web uses and applications on blockchain technology by supporting the development, transactions, storage, and deployment of new products.

Wall Street Journal

After Apple Inc AAPL reportedly withdrew from talks with the National Football League over Sunday Ticket rights, Alphabet Inc's GOOGL GOOG video platform YouTube is said to be in advanced discussions to secure them.
The agreement between the NFL and YouTube could be reached as early as Wednesday after the owners of the major professional sports league meet.

The European Commission launched an in-depth investigation to assess, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Vmware, Inc VMW by Broadcom Inc AVGO.
The Commission is particularly concerned that the transaction would allow Broadcom to limit competition for specific hardware components that interoperate with VMware's software leading to higher prices, lower quality, and less innovation for business customers and consumers.
The Commission will also examine whether Broadcom may hinder the development of SmartNICs by other providers.
The Commission also looked to examine whether Broadcom may start bundling VMware's virtualization software with its software reducing choice and potentially foreclosing rival software providers.

Delta Air Lines Inc DAL looked to launch free wireless internet for its passengers by early 2023, intensifying competition over in-flight offerings on pandemic recovery.
Delta will likely offer free Wi-Fi on a significant portion of its airplanes before turning on the service on more of its fleet through next year.
Delta tested Wi-Fi infrastructure, with various offerings to select customers on select routes.

Twitter Was Being Scammed $60M Every Year, Tesla Freezes Hiring, Netflix On Microsoft's Acquisition Radar: Today's Top Stories