Top Stories Tuesday, Mar. 28: Alibaba To Restructure Seeking Fresh IPOs, Lucid Recalls Over 600 Air Vehicles, Disney Pulls Plug On Metaverse Unit - Alibaba Gr Hldgs (NYSE:BABA)

Benzinga

Jack Ma's Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA will reorganize its businesses into six independently run entities.
The restructuring aims to streamline management and shorten decision-making, taking a page out of the playbook of Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL
Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang will delegate operational decisions, including hiring and firing, research, profit, and losses, to the CEOs of each business unit.

Lucid Motors LCID is recalling 637 Lucid Air vehicles, citing an issue that may cause the electric motors to shut down.
Lucid Motors issued a recall for 637 Air EVs made between 2022 and 2023, per a filing made with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The company said the electrically activated contact switches or contactors might unexpectedly open and cut off power to the electric motors of the sedan, thereby increasing the risk of a crash.

President Joe Biden issued an executive order limiting the use of surveillance tools by the American government.
The President restricted the use of commercial spyware tools that give governments the power to hack the mobile phones of private citizens, extracting data and tracking their movements.
The new rules were introduced after at least 50 U.S. government staffers stationed in at least 10 countries had been hacked with spyware, a senior administration official, a larger number than was previously known.

India's Reliance Industries, led by the country's richest man Mukesh Ambani, has partnered with three popular franchise cricket teams as it seeks to pit Campa, an iconic cola brand, against soft drink giants like Coca-Cola Co KO and PepsiCo Inc PEP.
In the upcoming Indian Premier League or IPL — the country's most popular franchise cricket tournament — Campa Cola will be seen as a "pouring partner" for three teams, Lucknow Super Giants, Punjab Kings Squad, and Sunrisers Hyderabad.

British-based autonomous vehicle software developer Oxbotica collaborated with Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google Cloud to fast-track the deployment of its autonomous software platform globally.
The partnership will combine Google Cloud's expertise in cloud infrastructure with Oxbotica's autonomous vehicle software to create scalable, safe, and reliable autonomous driving solutions for any business with transportation in its value chain.
Oxbotica plans to use Google Cloud's computing, storage, networking, and leading data and analytics products like Vertex AI and leverage Google Cloud's cyber-security technologies.

Nikola Corp NKLA disclosed that Kim J. Brady would retire as CFO effective April 7, 2023.
Anastasiya "Stasy" Pasterick, currently serving as Nikola's Vice President, Corporate Controller, will succeed Brady as the company's new CFO.
Brady will remain employed with Nikola through April 28, 2023, as a non-executive officer in an advisory capacity to support the transition.

Lyft Inc LYFT shares are trading higher on Tuesday's premarket session after appointing a new CEO.
On March 27, Lyft disclosed that co-founder Logan Green would transition from CEO to non-executive Chair effective April 17, 2023.
Additionally, co-founder John Zimmer would transition from the role of President into non-executive Vice Chair of the board, effective June 30, 2023.

Wall Street Journal

Walt Disney Co DIS has pulled the plug on one of its units engaged in developing metaverse strategies as part of its plan to reduce headcount.
Disney shuttered its metaverse business, operating as the "storytelling and consumer experiences unit."
The move comes amid the entertainment giant's plan to implement a broader restructuring eliminating 7,000 jobs across the organization.
All 50 members of the unit have left, while White, whom former CEO Bob Chapek hired in 2022, stayed with the company.

Reuters

Nestle ADR NSRGY reportedly plans to review its banking relationships following the takeover of Credit Suisse Group CS by UBS Group AG UBS.
The food group was a client of Credit Suisse, Nestle Chief Executive Officer Mark Schneider told broadcaster TeleZueri in an interview.
"We have worked closely with Credit Suisse for many decades in a spirit of trust," said Schneider.

Bloomberg

U.S. labor board prosecutors have reportedly alleged that Starbucks Corp SBUX has breached federal law by refusing fair negotiations with staff of its unionized cafes.
The National Labor Relations Board's general counsel said the company violated the law by refusing to participate in collective bargaining sessions if some workers were present through videoconference.
The NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado said Starbucks can either agree to amend its ways or face complaints.

The Avaada Group and First Solar Inc FSLR are reportedly among the beneficiaries of India's ~$2.4 billion in incentives to boost domestic manufacturing of solar modules.
Sujoy Ghosh, FSLR's India managing director, told Bloomberg by phone that First Solar has been awarded a government grant of ₹11.78 billion for its 3.4 gigawatt Tamil Nadu project, which will be a fully integrated facility.
Avaada Group won a production-linked incentive of 9.62 billion rupees for 3 gigawatts of capacity — from wafers to cells and modules.

Mastercard Inc MA and Visa Inc V and other rivals negotiated to acquire cloud-based payment and banking platform provider Pismo.
Pismo is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS on a sale at a valuation of $1 billion.
The interested parties include a bank and private equity funds.
Reportedly, Visa submitted a second offer to acquire Pismo last week, valuing the company at $1.4 billion.

CNBC

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc VORB is reportedly extending its halt in operations.
Virgin Orbit is extending its pause in operation to pursue investment.
Last week, it was reported that Virgin Orbit is nearing a $200 million investment through a private share placement from Texas-based venture capital investor Matthew Brown. However, the deal talks collapsed over the weekend.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Alibaba To Restructure Seeking Fresh IPOs, Lucid Recalls Over 600 Air Vehicles, Disney Pulls Plug On Metaverse Unit: Today's Top Stories