On November 8, 2017, following the victory of a proxy fight against a U.S. investor, Sina issued a new class of shares and gave 55.5% of the company’s voting power to Charles Chao, Sina’s chairman and chief executive, to avoid facing such fights in the future. Sina, listed on NASDAQ since 2000, is an Internet […]
Sina Concentrated Its Control Shortly After Winning the Proxy Fight Against a U.S. Investor
Recap: “BCLBE Leadership Lunch Talk: The Tech Counsel”
On November 6, 2017, the Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy (BCLBE) hosted a conversation with attorney Dana Wagner from Square. Square is a financial services, merchant services aggregator and mobile payment company. Wagner has worked with Square as the leader of their legal, regulatory, government relations, compliance, and security operations department for […]
Pharma Billionaire Arrested for Racketeering Charges
Arizona-based billionaire John Kapoor, 74, owner of Insys Therapeutics, Inc., was arrested by federal agents on October 26, 2017, on charges stemming from an alleged scheme to get doctors to needlessly prescribe his company’s opioid painkiller. He has been charged with RICO conspiracy, as well as other felonies, including conspiracy to commit mail and wire […]
Chief Executive at Deutsche Börse Group Ousted Amidst Insider Trading Scandal
Amidst growing shareholder pressure, Carsten Kengeter has agreed to step down as the head of Deutsche Börse, one of the world’s largest stock exchanges. German authorities are investing Kengeter for insider trading after he purchased €4.5m worth of Deutsche Börse shares at the end of 2015 (the equivalent of 5.3 million USD). Kengeter purchased the […]
Celebrity Endorsements Leave ICOs Counting Much More than Coins
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued a public statement cautioning celebrities like Paris Hilton, DJ Khaled, and Floyd Mayweather from endorsing “initial coin offerings,” commonly referred to as ICOs. These celebrities were primarily using their various social media platforms to advertise for ICOs. A recent example is Mayweather’s attention-grabbing Instagram post from July, […]
Lyft to Go Public in 2018
On October 19, 2017, Lyft announced that it has managed to secure a $1 billion investment from CapitalG, a growth investment arm of Google’s parent company, Alphabet. This latest round of funding is expected to help the San Francisco based company prepare for its IPO in 2018. Before the investment was made, Reuters reported that […]
Waymo-Uber Sizzles Before Boiling
Alphabet, the parent company of Google and self-driving pioneer Waymo, has faced another setback in its lawsuit against Uber. Judge William Alsup, the Clinton-appointed judge of the Northern District of California, ordered Waymo to strike one of its trade secret claims, leaving it with only eight claims against Uber. Alsup has whittled Waymo’s claims down […]
Broadcom’s Proposed Purchase of Qualcomm for $105 Billion
Revealed on Monday, Broadcom Ltd. has made an unsolicited bid to buy Qualcomm Inc. for approximately $105 billion. Broadcom’s bid for Qualcomm offers $70 per share in cash and stock: “$60 a share in cash and $10 a share in Broadcom stock.” The takeover would include Broadcom’s assumption of $25 billion of Qualcomm’s net debt, […]
Emmanuel Macron makes bid for Silicon Valley on the Seine
Frances’s 49 year old president, Emmanuel Macron, is betting high on the development of startups and new tech businesses in France and it’s starting to work! As a result, France´s tech sector is becoming more and more attractive to entrepreneurs that were once discouraged by the countries rigid labor laws and high taxes. What Macron’s […]
CVS and Aetna: First Signs of Amazon’s Effect on the Pharmaceutical Industry
Last Thursday’s report that Amazon has obtained wholesale pharmacy licenses in 12 states has caused a ripple in the healthcare field. Public records indicate that Amazon’s ambitions may include distribution of medical devices. First alleged in May, Amazon’s entry into the pharmaceutical industry would be its second attempt into retail pharmacy. Amazon previously owned 40% […]