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January 18, 2022, 4:30 PM
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| Microsoft: |
Microsoft plans to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7B in cash, or $95/share, in FY 2023; Activision's stock, which closed last week at $65.39, jumps 25%+ — Legendary games, immersive interactive entertainment and publishing expertise accelerate growth in Microsoft's Gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud.
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Xbox Wire, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, The Verge, New York Times, The Information, CNBC, Bloomberg, Insider, VentureBeat, Insider, Forbes, Windows Central, Microsoft, Silicon Valley Business …, Protocol, Slate, Variety, TheStreet, Financial Times, Gizmodo, Benzinga, The Verge, TechRadar, Microsoft, Seattle Business Journal, Computerworld, Bloomberg, GeekWire, IGN, The Economic Times, Financial Times, Tom's Guide, Dexerto, The Register, PR Newswire, Neal Ungerleider's …, Ed Zitron's Where's Your Ed At, dot.LA, Polygon, Dot Esports, GameSpot, Stevivor, PC Gamer, GamingBolt, Entechtainment, Analytics, HotHardware.com News, Polygon, CNBC, BGR India, CNN, Reuters, Neowin, OnMSFT.com, MacRumors, Axios, IGN, Windows Central, TouchArcade, CNET, thegamer.com, OnMSFT.com, The Hollywood Reporter, NBC News, LinkedIn, ZDNet, Axios, Gizmodo, Android Authority, VentureBeat, Engadget, Protocol, Thurrott, Associated Press, and Washington Post
Tweets: @dinabass, @gregisenberg, @xbox, @jasonschreier, @charlieintel, @xbox, @pucknorris, @satyanadella, @zhugeex, @jonerlichman, @microsoft, @jasonschreier, @edzitron, @adriennelaw, @ldignan, @chrismessina, @anildash, @thecaptainsauce, @jasonschreier, @mattdpearce, @atvi_ab, @andrewrsorkin, @jasonschreier, @owillis, @jasonschreier, @quantian1, @ibogost, @carnage4life, @varunmayya, @sarafischer, @9_volt_, @kcoxdc, @mrpointyhead, @hownottodraw, @damianburns, @turnernovak, @zhugeex, @tomwarren, @gw_alec, @martinsfp, @mattophobia, @reckless, @alexeheath, @silvermanjacob, @charlieintel, @eric_seufert, @byadamfitch, @tomwarren, @eric_seufert, @alexhern, @swiftonsecurity, @mealoneinmymind, @sarafischer, @laurakbuzz, @tomwarren, @silvermanjacob, @mckkirk, @eric_seufert, @shonaghosh, @stroughtonsmith, @modestproposal1, @jonporty, @laurakbuzz, @laurakbuzz, @realbengilbert, @laurakbuzz, @pkafka, @neontaster, @webbemotional, @bdsams, @dlberes, @sonalibasak, @nibellion, @zhugeex, @pmaka1991, @eliastoufexis, @nickstatt, @benedictevans, @kyleorl, @timthetatman, @benedictevans, @serkantoto, @vengeful_vadam, @donreborn2, @geoffkeighley, @jasonschreier, @xboxwire, @paultassi, @jasonschreier, @austinnotduncan, @edzitron, @danprimack, @shakeelhashim, @studioanisa, and @swiftonsecurity
| Peter Kafka / Vox: |
Following several game studio acquisitions, Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal faces a big regulatory hurdle with Lina Khan's antitrust-focused FTC — Microsoft-Activision is like Disney-Fox. Maybe bigger. — Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard for $69 billion.
More:
New York Times, Activision Publishing, Windows Central, Video Games Chronicle, The Verge, and NPR
Tweets: @snazzyq, @shiraovide, @xcloudtimdog, @pkafka, and @karlbode
| Tom Warren / The Verge: |
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iTnews, Road to VR, Windows Central, SiliconANGLE, Game Developer, Insider, Decrypt, Forbes, Android Headlines, TechRadar, PC Gamer, PYMNTS.com, DCD, Engadget, MobileSyrup, Silicon Republic, Club386, Digital Trends, thegamer.com, purexbox.com, Neowin, and MSPoweruser
Tweets: @swiftonsecurity, @penllawen, @kiruti, and @kylebrussell
| Andrew Asmakov / Decrypt: |
Crypto.com halted withdrawals on Monday and required users to sign back in and reset 2FA; research shows it lost 4,600+ ETH, worth ~$15M, in a presumed hack — The crypto exchange has reportedly lost at least $15 million in Ethereum, and security experts believe the true losses could be much higher.
More:
The Register, The Hill, Gizmodo, VICE, CryptoPotato, CoinDesk, TechSpot, Crypto Daily, New York Post, BeInCrypto, The Block, Candid.Technology, and Security Boulevard
Tweets: @cryptocom, @peckshield, @cryptocom, @cryptocom, @billym2k, @mathewi, @cryptocom, @jeffnolan, @calbucci, @joshbutler, @campuscodi, @ben_mckenzie, @kris_hk, and @kris_hk
| Jeffrey Knockel / The Citizen Lab: |
China's MY2022 Olympics app, mandatory for attendees to report travel and health data, has serious encryption flaws and contains a censorship keyword list — Key Findings — MY2022, an app mandated for use by all attendees of the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, has a simple but devastating flaw …
More:
New York Times, BBC, Engadget, Protocol, Toronto Star, Associated Press, Axios, BleepingComputer, iPhone in Canada Blog, and 9to5Mac
Tweets: @rondeibert, @profcarroll, @info_activism, @rondeibert, @niubi, @rondeibert, @rondeibert, and @oliverlinow
| Stephen Graves / Decrypt: |
Coinbase partners with Mastercard to let users pay with a credit card in its upcoming NFT marketplace, solve “pain points”, and classify NFTs as “digital goods” — Crypto exchange Coinbase has announced a partnership with Mastercard to simplify the process …
More:
The Coinbase Blog, Mastercard USA, PYMNTS.com, Blockworks, Finextra, The Verge, Crypto Daily, Bloomberg, The Block, Cointelegraph, and Crypto Briefing
Tweets: @coinbase and @mastercardnews
| Canalys: |
Apple shipped an estimated 22% of global smartphones in Q4 2021, down from 23% in Q4 2020, followed by Samsung at 20%, Xiaomi at 12%, Oppo at 9%, and Vivo at 8% — Shanghai (China), Bengaluru (India), Singapore, Reading (UK) and Portland (US) - Tuesday, 18 January 2022
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9to5Mac, The Register, Computerworld, ZDNet, TechCrunch, PhoneArena, AppleInsider, Redmond Pie, Pocketnow, CNET, MobileSyrup, iPhone in Canada Blog, Wccftech, Apple Must, iThinkDifferent, mobilenewscwp.co.uk, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, TechSpot, and iMore. Tweets: @canalys
| Joanna Ossinger / Bloomberg: |
Animoca Brands, which publishes NFTs and games tied to blockchain platforms, raises $359M led by Liberty City at a $5B valuation, up from $2.2B in October 2021 — Soros Fund Management and the Winklevoss twins' venture capital firm are among investors in a funding round that's more than doubled …
More:
Animoca Brands, CoinDesk, The Block, TechCrunch, Decrypt, Blockworks, Forbes, SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, DealStreetAsia, Cointelegraph, Nikkei Asia, and South China Morning Post. Tweets: @ahcastor
| Tomer Ganon / CTech: |
Source: Israeli police used NSO's Pegasus to monitor citizens, mayors, political protesters, and former government employees without warrants or court oversight — Mayors, leaders of political protests against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former governmental employees …
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The Guardian, 9to5Mac, NPR, Engadget, Washington Post, Associated Press, Reuters, Haaretz, and AppleInsider
| Hannah Murphy / Financial Times: |
Analysis: Meta has filed dozens of patents to monetize its metaverse, including a virtual store with sponsored items, eye and face tracking in headsets, more — Meta hopes to use tiny human expressions to create virtual world of personalised ads — Pupil movements, body poses and nose scrunching …
More:
TheStreet, Fortune, Protocol, TechRadar, KnowTechie, and Benzinga
Tweets: @mattnavarra, @muradahmed, @1br0wn, @muradahmed, and @juliapowles
| Lucy Harley-Mckeown / The Block: |
The UK government will increase its scrutiny of crypto advertising, bringing the marketing in line with other financial promotions, to avoid “misleading claims” — Quick Take — HM Treasury said it would ramp up scrutiny of crypto advertising in the UK.
Source:
GOV.UK. More:
ZDNet, Blockworks, CNBC, Cryptopolitan, Crypto Daily, Financial Times, Finextra, Engadget, BetaNews, Bankless Times, and CryptoPotato
Tweets: @rishisunak, @faisalislam, @paullewismoney, and @johnglenuk
| Lauren Feiner / CNBC: |
The FTC and DOJ seek public comment on how to rewrite “the antitrust laws regarding mergers”, signaling a potentially tougher stance toward Big Tech deals — - The Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice Antitrust Division kicked off a process to rewrite merger guidelines for businesses on Tuesday.| Alexandra Alper / Reuters: |
Sources: the US government is reviewing Alibaba's cloud business to determine potential national security risks, with a focus on how it stores US clients' data — The Biden administration is reviewing e-commerce giant Alibaba's cloud business to determine whether it poses a risk to U.S. national security … | Cho Mu-Hyun / ZDNet: |
Samsung unveils its 4nm Exynos 2200 SoC with an Xclipse GPU using AMD's RDNA 2 architecture, offering hardware-accelerated ray tracing and variable rate shading — The processor packs Samsung's own Xclipse GPU based on AMD RDNA 2 architecture that the South Korean company says will offer …
Source:
Samsung Newsroom. More:
Ars Technica, SemiAccurate, PCWorld, Android Authority, MobileSyrup, Thurrott, Android Police, iPhone in Canada Blog, TalkAndroid.com, HotHardware.com News, and TechSpot. Tweets: @vladsavov
| Ben Thompson / Stratechery: |
As Intel pushes ahead with its IDM 2.0 strategy, a look at the motivations behind its TSMC partnership that is giving its competitor better scale and economics — Intel's earnings are not until next Wednesday, but whatever it is that CEO Pat Gelsinger plans to discuss … | Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: |
Walnut, a personalized product demo and analytics service, raises a $35M Series B and says its ARR has grown 700% since its $21M Series A in August 2021 — In a world where software rules the roost and cloud spending has gone through the roof, SaaS has emerged as the default business model …
More:
ReadWrite and Globes Online
| Omkar Godbole / CoinDesk: |
Binance conducted its first Binance Coin (BNB) auto-burn last quarter, removing over 1.6M BNB tokens, worth $750M, from circulation — Cryptocurrency exchange Binance implemented its first-ever binance token (BNB) auto-burn program last quarter, removing over 1.6 million BNB tokens worth $750 million from circulation.| Todd Spangler / Variety: |
YouTube says it's winding down YouTube Originals after six years and will only fund programs that are part of its Black Voices and YouTube Kids Funds — YouTube is getting out of the business of originals: The Google-owned video giant said it is winding down its original productions team after more than six years.| Kenrick Cai / Forbes: |
Ironclad, which helps companies create and manage business contracts, raises a $150M Series E entirely from existing investors at a $3.2B valuation — Jason Boehmig spent two years as a lawyer in Silicon Valley, putting together documents for startups, before he had enough of the clunkiness of the job.Thanks:@pchalker
| Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: |
Appcues, which offers analytics and no-code tools for user onboarding, raises a $32.1M Series B led by NewSpring and says it has ~1,500 customers including Lyft — User onboarding has been a longstanding and persistent challenge in the world of apps. Developers grapple with design …
More:
SiliconANGLE
| Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: |
Clockwise, which offers enterprise time tracking and scheduling tools, raises a $45M Series C led by Coatue and says 10K organizations are paying subscribers — To state the obvious, the shift from in-office to remote and hybrid work hasn't been easy for organizations.
More:
FinSMEs and TechCrunch
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