#regulatory-scrutiny

#regulatory-scrutiny

"We will neither fail, nor will we be an average outcome, and that's what we want and that's all I care about every day and all you should care about every day, and nothing else should matter," CEO Alex Blania told employees at the start of the year, according to a recording reviewed by BI's Nicole Einbinder. Blania's message has become a common pitch from tech executives to their employees ahead of critical junctures. For Orb, it's about getting more people to opt into what amounts to a human verification tool.

Since 2019, when Google first announced its now abandoned plans to kill third-party cookies in Chrome, we've been along for the ride, documenting every twist and turn through our reporting and our Friday comics. We've chronicled it all, from the drama at the World Wide Web Consortium and the rollout of every key Privacy Sandbox API to Google's shifting timelines, regulatory scrutiny from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority and all the scathing industry critiques.

The employees worry that any jobs lost as a result of the purchase would "be a choice, not a necessity, made to pad investors' pockets."

Tether is the most captivating story you've never heard of. A first mover in the stablecoin space, Tether's flagship product has grown to a monster $167 billion in market cap with just around 200 employees and $13 billion in profits last year, making it one of the most successful corporations on the planet. (And it was cofounded by a Mighty Duck, but that's a story for another time.)

Khan argued the IPO is "a great reminder that letting startups grow into independently successful businesses, rather than be bought up by existing giants, can generate enormous value."

ServiceNow's acquisition of Moveworks for $2.85 billion is currently under regulatory review for antitrust issues by the U.S. Justice Department.

Despite concerns from regulators regarding its financial situation, Affinity Water has doubled the pay of its chief executive, Keith Haslett, to 1.6 million for the 2024-25 financial year, up from 709,000 the prior year.

In melding Omnicom and IPG, the deal will create the world's largest advertising group, potentially dominating media-buying markets globally.