3. Chapek casts a spell at D23
Disney CEO Bob Chapek went on a charm offensive over the weekend at the D23 Expo, sending positive messages to fans, employees and investors alike. It appeared to work, too, at least for one big-time activist investor. Third Point CEO Dan Loeb had been pushing the entertainment and media giant to spin off ESPN, but he backed off on this point with a Sunday morning tweet. "We have a better understanding of @espn's potential as a standalone business and another vertical for $DIS to reach a global audience to generate ad and subscriber revenues," he said. Chapek had told Variety that Disney has "a vision" for how ESPN fits into the company's plan for the next 100 years. "We've not shared that plan," he added.
4. JPMorgan buys another fintech firm
In a move to counter the fast-growing Stripe and Block, JPMorgan Chase has agreed to buy fintech payments startup Renovite, CNBC's Hugh Son reports. Chase is already the world's top merchant services provider. It processes about $9 trillion in transactions each day. But executives at the legacy bank, particularly CEO Jamie Dimon, have sounded the alarm about upstart competitors. Since late 2020, when the Covid pandemic was raging, JPMorgan has acquired at least five fintech startups in a tech spending spree that has been met with criticism. The Renovite deal allows the bank to expand more quickly in global markets since its platform doesn't require as much coding, Mike Blandina, JPMorgan's global head of payments technology, told CNBC.
5. New chip restrictions
The Biden administration is set to unveil next month a new set of restrictions on U.S. semiconductor shipments to China, Reuters reported, citing multiple people familiar with the matter. The limits will focus on chips used for artificial intelligence, as well as tools for making semiconductors. KLA, Lam Research and Applied Materials were notified of the coming changes in letters earlier this year, and the companies acknowledged the communication. Reuters also reported that some of its sources for the article said the administration could also unveil additional actions against China, as Biden pushes to make the United States more competitive with its rival.
– CNBC's Carmen Reinicke, Holly Ellyatt, Jeff Cox and Hugh Son contributed to this report.
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