The semiconductor industry is seeing a historic wave of mergers and acquisitions in response to the industry’s slow growth and rising costs. Over $100 billion in deals have occurred in two years and more companies are exploring the growth-by-acquisition strategy in order to stay competitive. Notable mentions include SoftBank acquiring ARM Holdings for $23 billion, Intel acquiring Altera for $17 billion, and Qualcomm’s recent agreement to acquire NXP Semiconductors for $38.5 billion.
Foreign Business Worries Over Strict Chinese Cybersecurity Law
China may have added to the so-called “Great Firewall of China,” on Monday, November 7, 2016, by passing a new cybersecurity law, all part of a broader effort to define how the Internet is managed inside China’s borders. The legislation, passed by China’s largely rubber-stamp parliament, is set to take effect in June 2017. President Xi Jinping has focused Internet policymaking on so-called “cyber-sovereignty” throughout his administration. Since the advent of the Internet, the government of China has created sixty Internet regulations, many of which involve blocking Internet content or monitoring Internet access for individuals.
DiCaprio to Cooperate in Probe into Malaysia’s 1MDB
1Malaysia Development Berhad (“1MDB”), Malaysia’s state-owned investment fund, was set up by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in 2009. 1MDB was meant to boost the Malaysian economy through strategic investments, and turn its capital city, Kuala Lumpur, into a financial hub. In early 2015, however, 1MDB began to attract negative attention after missing its payments on its $11 billion debt, owed to banks and bondholders. Specifically, 1MDB missed the repayment of a $563 million short-term loan that was due in December of 2014.
22 Lotte Group Officials Indicted by South Korean Prosecutors
On October 19, 2016, South Korean prosecutors announced the indictment of 22 Lotte Group officials, including the chairman, for embezzlement, tax evasion, and other corporate malfeasance following a four month corruption probe.
SEC to Propose Corporate Election Reform
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced that it would consider proposing amendments to the disclosure requirements imposed in corporate director elections. The amendment would alter the ways in which investors nominate and elect members to the company’s board of directors in contested elections. By focusing on a universal ballot with a single voting form, the SEC hopes to make it easier for shareholders to exercise control over the company’s management. This would be a rather dramatic deviation from the current practice wherein voters receive two separate ballots representing a competing group of board candidates.
SEC Prepares Regulatory Review into the Exchange Traded Fund Industry
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is preparing for a full-scale review of the exchange-traded fund (ETF) industry, an unnamed source told the Financial Times in an article published October 20, 2016.
Wells Fargo Targets the Weak
On September 8, 2016, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $185 million in fines as a result of illegal banking practices its employees had engaged in for years. Since as early as 2005, Wells Fargo employees opened about two million unauthorized bank accounts and sent out countless unsolicited credit cards.
Practitioner Speaker Series: Benson Cohen, Sidley Austin
On October 31, 2016, The Berkeley Center for Law, Business and the Economy (BCLBE) hosted Benson Cohen, partner at the New York office of Sidley Austin, to discuss his law practice. Mr. Cohen is a ’04 Boalt alumnus, serving on the Boalt Hall Alumni Association’s board of directors. He is also the current chair of the nominating committee for the New York City Bar Association’s “Diversity and Inclusion Champion Award.” In addition to many other awards, his practice team at Sidley Austin has been awarded first-tier national rankings by the US News—Best Lawyers for Private Funds/Hedge Funds Law and Derivatives and Futures Law.
Event Recap: Ryan Horning, Assistant General Counsel to the Oakland Athletics
On November 2, 2016, the Berkeley Center for Law Business and the Economy hosted a lunchtime lecture by Ryan Horning, the Assistant General Counsel to the Oakland Athletics.
Wal-Mart Rejects Government Settlement of $600 Million
After spending five years investigating allegations that Wal-Mart representatives bribed government officials over the course of a ten-year period to fast-track store openings, the United States government has finally put a settlement offer on the table.