ShinyShiny snippets: Microsoft to face possible EU Antitrust warning over Activision deal
Microsoft (MSFT.O) is likely to receive an EU antitrust warning about its $69 billion bid for “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O), people familiar with the matter said, that could pose another challenge to completing the deal. The European Commission is readying a charge sheet known as a statement of objections setting out its concerns about the deal which will be sent to Microsoft in the coming weeks, the people said. The EU antitrust watchdog, which has set an April 11 deadline for its decision on the deal, declined to comment. Microsoft said: “We’re continuing to work with the European Commission to address any marketplace concerns.” Reuters
When ChatGPT—the ingenious, garrulous, and occasionally unhinged chatbot from OpenAI—was asked this week how much the company behind it is worth, its responses included: “It is likely that its worth is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more.” Microsoft, which is rumored to be weighing a $10 billion investment in OpenAI on top of an earlier $1 billion commitment, is betting that the company is worth a lot more—despite the fact neither ChatGPT nor other AI models made by OpenAI are yet raking in huge amounts of cash. Ars Technica
Ford is poised to cut its dependence on Volkswagen technology for its next generation of electric cars in Europe, unravelling a core part of the alliance formed between the rival carmakers two years ago. The US brand is preparing to launch two vehicles this year and in 2024 that use VW’s electric “MEB” system, which includes assembling VW-sourced batteries at Ford’s plant in Cologne, Germany. But from the middle of the decade Ford expects to launch vehicles that use its own in-house system, which is being engineered by Ford in the US, said Martin Sander, the head of electric vehicles in Europe. FT.com
Goldman Sachs has lost $3.03 billion in nearly three years on its group of businesses, called Platform Solutions, that houses Apple Card. Bloomberg reports that the credit card made up a significant portion of those losses. In a regulatory filing disclosed Friday, Goldman Sachs revealed that from the start of 2020 through the end of September 2022, Platform Solutions’ pretax losses amounted to $3.03 billion. PC
The year just and only began, but Google is already on an apology tour. After more than a decade of neglecting the tablet experience with its apps and services, it’s finally updating a ton of them to be better optimized for larger displays… The latest of these apps to get the treatment is Google Search. Traditionally, this featured a one to two-column layout for news articles that would populate the “Discover” tab as shown above. Now, as per 9to5Google, a third column has begun showing up for some users, and it’s gorgeous. Chrome Unboxed
Last year, Samsung unveiled its first OLED TV—S95B—in over a decade. While it wasn’t the South Korean firm’s flagship 4K TV, it still managed to get more attention and praise than the QN95B (Samsung’s flagship 4K TV of 2022). And that’s due to the QD-OLED TV’s exceptional colors, viewing angles, contrast ratio, deep blacks, and response time. However, the sales of the QD-OLED TV still didn’t meet the company’s expectations. According to a report from market research firm Omdia, Samsung Display faced yield issues with its QD-OLED panels in early 2022. SamMobile
