Silicon Valley Tech News Roundup – April 17th
Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter, company adopts “poison pill” plan – 4/15
On Thursday, in a surprise announcement via Twitter, Elon Musk offered to buy the company. Musk offered $54.20 per share, which would value the company at $40 billion.
In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk explained his investment in Twitter. He said: “I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy… However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”
Musk also said if the company rejected his offer, he would need to reconsider his position as a shareholder. Likewise, he went on to say it would be: “utterly indefensible not to put this offer to a shareholder vote.”
On Friday, Twitter announced it adopted a limited duration shareholder rights plan (also known as a poison pill). Other shareholders can purchase additional stock at a discount if any person or organization obtains 15% or more of Twitter’s common stock without the board’s approval.
The company stated in a press release: “The Rights Plan will reduce the likelihood that any entity, person or group gains control of Twitter through open market accumulation without paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium or without providing the Board sufficient time to make informed judgments and take actions that are in the best interests of shareholders.” Companies employ this tactic to prevent hostile takeovers. They do so by diluting the stake of the person or organization eager to do a takeover.
The plan expires on April 14th, 2023.
US government links the Lazarus Group to Ronin hack – 4/15
On Friday, the Office of Foreign Assets Control with the Treasury Department announced the Lazarus Group was behind a hack that led to the theft of $615 million in digital assets. The US imposed sanctions against the group’s ethereum wallet. Lazarus Group is a hacking collective, and experts believe, operated by the North Korean state.
Based on the research by crypto analysts, the ethereum wallet contains funds linked to the Ronin hack. Ronin Network supports Axie Infinity (a popular blockchain game). The analysts estimate the hackers stole over $600 million in ether and USDC tokens. The hackers took advantage of the blockchain bridge. It enables crypto users to transfer their funds from one network to another. The method is growing in popularity in “decentralized finance” (also known as DeFi).
Elliptic, a blockchain analysis company, explained in a blog post the sanctions prevent US individuals or companies from completing a transaction with the identified ethereum wallet. Hackers cannot “cash out” any funds tied to American crypto exchanges. Furthermore, Elliptic said internal analysis suggests the hackers managed to launder about 18% of stolen funds by Thursday.
Experts believe Lazarus Group was behind several attacks over the years including the 2014 Sony hack and the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack.
Amazon to implement 5% fuel and inflation surcharge – 4/14
Amazon announced it would implement a “5% fuel and inflation surcharge” to US sellers that take advantage of its fulfillment service. The additional charge goes into effect on April 28th. The company is looking the offset the rising fuel prices and the inflation to third-party sellers.
Amazon’s surcharge is 24 cents. For comparison, UPS charges 42 cents per unit and FedEx 49 cents.
In an email to CNBC, the Amazon spokesperson said: “In 2022, we expected a return to normalcy as Covid-19 restrictions around the world eased, but fuel and inflation have presented further challenges… It is still unclear if these inflationary costs will go up or down, or for how long they will persist, so rather than a permanent fee change, we will be employing a fuel and inflation surcharge for the first time — a mechanism broadly used across supply chain providers.”
China will clamp down on live-streaming of “illegal” games – 4/16
On Friday, the Chinese National Radio and Television Administration posted a notice on its website stating that live-streaming of games not approved by the related authorities is “strictly forbidden” on all online platforms. The regulator said: “For a period of time, issues such as chaotic online live-streaming and teenage addiction to games have raised widespread concerns in society and effective measures need to be taken urgently.”
China required all games to have an official license before behind streamed or distributed in the country. However, the authorities rarely enforced the ban.
The regulator’s move is a part of a broader government crackdown on the gaming industry. Last year, the government introduced a new rule that limits the time children under 18 can spend playing video games to three hours per week. Likewise, companies had to delete any content deemed too violent or considered to worship celebrities and wealth.
