Goldman Sachs Plans Investing In FTX Hit Firms, Ticketmaster Slapped With Antitrust Lawsuit, Facebook Dating Gets Age Verification Tool: Top Stories Tuesday, Dec. 06

Reuters

Goldman Sachs To Reportedly Pump 'Tens Of Millions' Into Crypto Firms Hit By FTX Fall

• Goldman Sachs GS is reportedly planning to invest "tens of millions of dollars" into crypto firms adversely affected by the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX.
• Goldman Sachs is doing the due diligence on a few crypto businesses affected by the FTX contagion.
• "We do see some really interesting opportunities, priced much more sensibly," Mathew McDermott, Goldman Sachs' head of digital assets, was quoted as saying.

Vietnam Wins Additional Investments From Samsung, LG

• Samsung Electronics Co, Ltd SSNLF and LG Electronics Inc LGEIY LGEJY earmarked billions of dollars of additional investment into Vietnam.
• Samsung Electronics, the largest single foreign investor in Vietnam, will raise its total investment to $20 billion from $18 billion.
• LG also earmarked $4 billion more in the country to make it a smartphone camera production hub.
• Vietnam and South Korea aimed to raise bilateral trade to $100 billion next year and $150 billion annually by 2030, up from $78 billion last year.

Sony Looking To Commercialize Humanoid Robots, Is Ready To Tap Metaverse

• Sony Group Corp SONY said it has the technology to monetize humanoid robots once it has identified how they could effectively use them.
• Sony launched a robot dog called Aibo more than two years ago. It sold about 150,000 units of Aibo from 1999 until 2006 and launched an advanced version in 2018, selling about 20,000 units in the first six months.

Microsoft To Willfully Recognize Its First Unionization Of Videogame Testers

• Microsoft Corp MSFT looked to voluntarily acknowledge a union of 300 videogame testers at subsidiary ZeniMax Studios if they vote to unionize.
• It marked a first for the company in the U.S., the Communication Workers of America union (CWA) said.

Wall Street Journal

Ticketmaster Slapped With Lawsuit Alleging Violations Of Antitrust Laws, After Ticket Sale Fiasco

• Several Taylor Swift fans filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster in California court alleging anticompetitive and fraudulent behavior after the company blocked them from buying tickets to the musician's concerts.
• "Ticketmaster intentionally and purposefully misled ticket purchasers," the lawsuit said.
• More than 2.4 million tickets were sold for Ms. Swift's U.S. tour and canceled its general sale as the company did not have enough tickets.

Uber Settles Scores With Chicago Over UberEats' And Postmates' Practices During Pandemic

• Uber Technologies Inc UBER reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the city of Chicago over alleged regulatory deceptive practices at UberEats and Postmates.
• Chicago's investigation found that Uber listed restaurants without consent and charged excessive fees.
• Uber agreed to pay an additional $2.3 million to restaurants for charging commissions above the limits set by the city.

AT&T To Settle SEC Lawsuit For Sharing Confidential Information With Analysts

• AT&T Inc T looked to settle a regulatory lawsuit for allegedly disclosing nonpublic financial information with analysts leading them to slash their estimates and enabling the company to beat sales expectations.
• AT&T agreed to pay the SEC $6.25 million as a penalty without admitting or denying wrongdoing
• The SEC filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court in March 2021.

Nike Cuts Ties With NBA Player Kyrie Irving

• Nike Inc NKE officially severed ties with basketball player Kyrie Irving.
• The shoe and athletic apparel maker took the decision a month after suspending the Brooklyn Nets player over his promotion of an anti-Semitic movie.
• Irving had expressed regret for his actions and said promoting the documentary was a mistake.

PepsiCo Plans Job Cuts In North America

• PepsiCo Inc PEP is slashing jobs in the headquarters of its North American snacks and beverages divisions.
• The move proves that cost-cutting is reaching areas other than tech and media.
• The report added that the job cuts involve hundreds of positions in the company's North American beverage business, based in Purchase, New York, and snacks and packaged-foods business, headquartered in Chicago and Plano, Texas.

CNBC

Some Meta Employees Embroiled In Dispute Over Severance Package Promised By Mark Zuckerberg

• A group of Meta Platforms Inc META workers who joined via a corporate training program alleged inferior severance packages compared to other workers whom the company recently laid off.
• The employees were members of Meta's Sourcer Development Program, likely to help workers from diverse backgrounds obtain careers in corporate technology recruiting.

Ford Scores With US Dealers Aggressively Opting For EV

• CEO Jim Farley said that nearly 65% of Ford Motor Co F dealers have agreed to sell electric vehicles as it aggressively chased its EV ambitions.
• He said roughly 80% of those dealers chose higher levels of investment for EVs.
• Farley reiterated that a direct-sales model would likely be thousands of dollars cheaper for the automaker than the auto industry's traditional franchised system.

Apple Reportedly Mulls Making iPads In India As China Protests Spark Production Concerns

• Apple Inc AAPL is reportedly planning to shift some of its iPad production from China to India after massive protests at its iPhone-making plant sparked production concerns.
• What Happened: The Cupertino-based tech giant is said to be ​​holding talks with Indian government officials to shift its production base; however, no concrete decision has been made yet.

Benzinga

Tesla 'Victim Of Its Success:' Analyst Flags 2 Reasons Behind Reported China Production Cut

• Tesla Inc TSLA shares plunged 6.37% on Monday after two reports suggested the electric vehicle maker reduced Made-In-China Model Y production by 20% in December. The company, however, denied the reports.
• The Tesla Analyst: Piper Sandler analyst Alexander Potter has an Overweight rating and a $340 price target for Tesla stock.
• The Tesla Thesis: China-related anxiety is rising among Tesla shareholders, Potter said in a note.

Facebook Dating Gets Age Verification To Prevent Minors From Accessing' Experiences Meant For Adults'

• Meta Platforms Inc META is adding age verification tools to Facebook Dating to ensure that only adults can use the service.
• Meta announced the expansion of the age verification test to Facebook Dating in the U.S. The platform requires users to be 18 or above to sign up for and access Facebook Dating services.
• According to Meta, age verification tools will prevent "people under the age of 18 from accessing experiences meant for adults."

Mercedes-Benz Doubles Production Capacity At Untertürkheim Plant

• Mercedes Benz Group ADR MBGYY is planning to double its electric drive units' production capacity.
• The new works agreement calls for doubling the production capacity of electric drive units for Mercedes-EQ vehicles from 2024.
• The company plans to begin construction of the new assembly lines on the site of the Untertürkheim plant, as well as the Bad Cannstatt plant, next year.

TuSimple And Navistar End Self-Driving Truck Development Deal

• TuSimple Holdings Inc TSP and Navistar agreed to terminate their co-development under the 2020 Joint Development Agreement.
• In 2020, Illinois-based Navistar purchased a minority stake in TuSimple and forged a deal to co-develop heavy-duty self-driving trucks by 2024.