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Finland Joins NATO Doubling Border Length, Russia Issues Warning
- The Finland foreign minister signed the accession document, and Finland has become the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) security alliance.
- The move is a strategic and political blow to Russia's Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly complained about NATO's expansion toward Russia and partly used that as a justification for invading Ukraine.
- The cryptoverse has a new request for Twitter Chief Elon Musk after his recent logo tweak: make Dogecoin (DOGE/USD) the official currency of the microblogging platform.
- One such call was made by David Gokhshtein, who runs crypto media firm Gokhshtein Media asked Musk on Twitter if he would consider making DOGE the platform's official currency.
- Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: VORB) has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a day after flagging substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern for at least 12 months.
- Virgin Orbit lodged the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Tuesday.
- The company listed assets and liabilities between $100 million and $500 million, per the filing.
- NASA and the Canadian Space Agency named the four astronauts who will be part of their Artemis II mission on Monday.
- NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Hammock Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen shall be part of the 10-day Artemis II mission around the Moon, NASA said in a statement.
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Nio Rejects Elon Musk's Ruthless Moves: Says Tesla Can't Fix EV Prices In China- Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO) CEO William Li has said that the Chinese EV maker will not take part in pricing wars while adding that Elon Musk's Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) cannot decide EV prices in China.
- Li, at a recent industry conference, said Nio would not be a part of EV price wars as its gross margins are too low.
- Blind price cutting will create ruthless competition in the country, he added while speaking at an industry conference.
- Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS) CEO Bob Iger hit back at Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday for apparently retaliating against the entertainment behemoth.
- Iger said at the company's annual shareholder's meeting that though Disney may not have handled its position on Florida's so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill well, corporations have a right to air their opinions, reported Reuters.
- "To seek to punish a company for the exercise of a constitutional right, that just seems really wrong to me," said Iger.
- Lockheed Martin Corp (NYSE: LMT) and the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) signed the Lightning Air System National Capability Enterprise (LANCE) 23-27 contract to support the United Kingdom's F-35 fleet.
- The contract is valued at ~£147 million and will ensure and enhance the UK F-35 fleet's availability and capability to conduct combat missions worldwide.
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Natura Divests Aesop To L'Oréal For $2.5B; Plans To Focus On Strategic Priorities- French skincare giant L'Oreal Co (OTC: LRLCY) has agreed to acquire Aesop, the Australian luxury beauty brand, from Natura &Co Holding S.A. (NYSE: NTCO).
- The proposed transaction values Aesop at an enterprise value of $2.525 billion.
- Aēsop, created in 1987, currently operates around 400 points of sale across the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Asia.
- The brand, which became part of Natura in 2012, registered $537 million in sales in FY22.
TechCrunch
Spotify Pulls Down Curtains On Spotify Live, Highlights Struggle With Live Audio
- Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE: SPOT) is shutting down its live-audio app Spotify Live, a company spokesperson confirmed on Monday.
- The company says it will continue to explore live features on its central platform.
- After a period of experimentation, Spotify decided to sunset the Spotify Live app.
- Based on its learnings, it no longer makes sense as a standalone app, highlighting the company's struggle with live audio.
Wall Street Journal
US DOJ Slaps Anticompetitive Charges Against Activision Blizzard Related To Esports Leagues
- The Justice Department prosecuted Activision Blizzard, Inc (NASDAQ: ATVI) for restricting competition for players in Activision's Overwatch and Call of Duty professional esports leagues and suppressing the wages of esports players in these leagues.
- The complaint alleges that Activision's two esports leagues and the independently-owned teams in each league implemented a so-called Competitive Balance Tax that penalized teams in the Overwatch and Call of Duty Leagues, respectively, if a team's player compensation exceeded a threshold set by Activision.
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Reuters
US Court Favors Bayer In Lawsuit Against Merck On Talc Liabilities
- Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) remains on the hook for asbestos-related liabilities involving talc product lines it sold to Bayer AG (OTC: BAYRY) as part of a $14.2 billion deal concluded in 2014.
- According to the deal, Bayer acquired Merck's existing OTC business.
- Vice Chancellor Nathan Cook of the Delaware Chancery Court said the purchase agreement "clearly and unambiguously" left Merck liable for claims related to products sold before the transaction closed.
- Allianz SE (OTC: ALIZY) and Munich Re have renewed insurance coverage for the damaged Russia-controlled Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, contrasting Germany's public stance of cutting ties with Moscow.
- Russia has a 51% stake in Nord Stream 1 through a subsidiary of the state-owned energy group Gazprom.
- Russia's foreign ministry has reportedly accused European countries of trying to hide the results of their investigations of the Nord Stream gas pipeline blasts that happened in September last year.
- Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE) and Merck & Co Inc (NYSE: MRK) have reportedly lowered the prices of their respective COVID-19 treatments in China.
- Pfizer cut the price of Paxlovid by about 100 yuan ($14.54) to 1,790 per box of 30 pills, while Merck marginally lowered the price of a 40-capsule bottle of its oral treatment molnupiravir by 74 yuan to 1,426 yuan.
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Bloomberg
Walmart's Job Cuts To Affect 2,000 Positions In Its E-Commerce Warehouses
- Walmart Inc's (NYSE: WMT) workforce reduction at five e-commerce fulfillment centers in the U.S. reportedly will affect more than 2,000 positions.
- The affected employees, though, will be given assistance to find other roles at the company.
- The job cuts include more than 1,000 positions at a warehouse in Fort Worth, Texas, about 600 jobs at a Pennsylvania fulfillment center, 400 in Florida, and 200 in New Jersey.
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