Techmeme
January 19, 2022, 6:25 AM

Top News

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.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Activision Blizzard tried to find other buyers, including Meta, while weighing a potential Microsoft takeover after the WSJ's exposé in November  —  Late last year, as Activision Blizzard Inc. and Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick were reeling from accusations that Kotick knew …
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.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
CNBC:
Apple and Google warn of harmful consequences to user privacy and security from two proposed Senate antitrust bills scheduled to be considered this week  —  - Apple warned in a letter on Tuesday that antitrust bills being considered in the Senate would increase the risk of security breaches to iPhone users.
Wall Street Journal:
AT&T and Verizon temporarily restrict 5G expansion near US airports, but a few airlines will still suspend some flights on Wednesday amid Boeing's guidance  —  Flight suspensions occur even as AT&T and Verizon agree to limit signals within 2 miles of runways to address air-safety concerns
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
Democratic lawmakers unveil the Banning Surveillance Advertising Act, which would ban targeted ads but allow broad location-based and contextual ads  —  It could reshape the entire tech industry  —  On Tuesday, Democrats introduced a new bill that would ban nearly all use …
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.
Stephen Graves / Decrypt:
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.
Kate Rooney / CNBC:
The US OCC and Federal Reserve approve SoFi's bid to become a bank holding company via its Golden Pacific Bancorp acquisition; SoFi stock jumps 16%+ after hours  —  - San Francisco-based SoFi got approval from its two key regulators to become a bank holding company.
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.
Frank Chaparro / The Block:
OpenSea acquires crypto lending APIs startup Dharma Labs, which will shutter its wallet in 30 days; source says the deal was valued between $110M and $130M  —  Quick Take  — OpenSea confirms acquisition of Dharma Labs  — Dharma Lab's Hollander picked for CTO role
Keith Romer / New York Times:
AI tools can generate an optimal poker strategy, balancing bluffing and playing it straight, which some professional players are using to augment their play  —  Good poker players have always known that they need to maintain a balance between bluffing and playing it straight.  Now they can do so perfectly.
Clive Cookson / Financial Times:
The Royal Society finds social media sites banning misleading content is ineffective and can drive misinformation to “harder-to-address corners of the internet”  —  Risks of removing information rejected by the mainstream outweigh benefits, according to the Royal Society

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
CIO challenge 5: Can we find an effective solution that also minimizes operational costs?  —  Welcome to the next and final installment of our CIO series!  After what feels like a thousand cups of coffee …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 11/21 - What The DOJ Wants Google To Do
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:25 AM ET, January 19, 2022.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Kenrick Cai / Forbes:

Earlier Picks

Tomer Ganon / CTech:
Ashley Rodriguez / Insider: