The daily business briefing: December 19, 2023
1. Google to pay $700 million to settle Play store antitrust cases
Google has agreed to pay $700 million and to make changes to increase competition in its Play app store to settle antitrust complaints, according to a Monday federal court filing. The internet giant will pay $630 million into a settlement fund for consumers. The remaining $70 million will go into a fund for states, according to the settlement. A judge must sign off on the agreement. The Justice Department and dozens of states launched separate cases in 2020 accusing Google of abusing its online search dominance to squelch competition by securing deals with wireless carriers and smartphone makers to make Google their default or exclusive search engine. CNN, Reuters
2. Nippon Steel agrees to buy US Steel in $14.9 billion deal
Nippon Steel, the world's fourth-largest steel producer, said Monday it had agreed to buy U.S. Steel for $55 a share in cash. The $14.9 billion deal will be Nippon Steel's largest acquisition ever in the U.S. market. The offer amounts to a 40% premium over U.S. Steel's Friday closing price. The price is 140% more than domestic rival Cleveland-Cliffs' $7.3 billion offer, which U.S. Steel rejected in August. The United Steelworkers union reacted angrily to news of the deal, saying it hadn't been consulted. Union President David McCall said U.S. Steel "chose to push aside the concerns of its dedicated workforce and sell to a foreign-owned company." Financial Times, The Associated Press
3. BP stops sending tankers through Red Sea as Houthi attacks continue
Energy giant BP said Monday it had stopped sending tankers through the Red Sea due to drone and missile attacks by Houthi fighters in Yemen. The announcement sent global oil prices surging. The Red Sea is a vital shipping lane, but it has become increasingly dangerous since Houthi gunmen started attacking merchant ships following the eruption of the Israel-Hamas war. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Monday night that at least nine other nations had agreed to join the United States in a joint operation aiming to protect shipping traffic in the Red Sea from attacks threatening "innocent mariners" and "the free flow of commerce" through the crucial Suez Canal route. The New York Times
4. Adobe drops planned $20 billion Figma acquisition
Adobe announced Monday it was dropping its plan to acquire collaboration-software company Figma for $20 billion. The two companies mutually agreed to terminate the cash-and-stock deal weeks after U.K. regulators warned it would inhibit innovation. Adobe and Figma said they no longer saw a clear path to regulatory approval in Britain and the European Union. British regulators said last month an investigation provisionally concluded that the deal would hurt innovation by removing Figma as a threat to Adobe's flagship Photoshop and Illustrator software, The Wall Street Journal reported. The European Commission expressed similar misgivings. Adobe Chief Executive Shantanu Narayen said the two companies disagreed with regulators but concluded "it is in our respective best interests to move forward independently." The Wall Street Journal
5. Stock futures little changed
U.S. stock futures were little changed early Tuesday after Monday's gains. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were up about 0.1% at 7 a.m. ET. The Dow was flat Monday but the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.5% and 0.6%, respectively, as Wall Street continued its recent rally. The upswing in stock prices has been fueled by the Federal Reserve's indication that it expected cooling inflation to clear the way for three interest-rate cuts next year, raising hopes the Fed will bring inflation down to its 2% target without triggering a recession. "Markets are celebrating right now," investment strategist Emily Roland of John Hancock Investment Management said on CNBC's "Closing Bell: Overtime." CNBC
