FTI Consulting News Bytes – 16th December 2022

This week’s news

Universal phone chargers in the EU

This week, BBC News reports that the European Union has given phone manufacturers a deadline of 24th December 2024 to adopt a standard charging cable. This law will see tech giants, including the likes of Apple and Samsung, create a universal charging cable to continue selling their devices in the EU. In response, Apple Senior Vice President of worldwide marketing, Greg Joswiak stated that Apple would “obviously” comply with the change in the law. Meanwhile, whilst the EU goes forward with this new legislation, the UK government has shared that it is not currently considering adopting the same or a similar requirement.

Fake meat to give peas a chance

Meanwhile, Bloomberg suggests that the fake meat industry is in “trouble.” Reporting on a decline in sales, the waning of investor interest, and the fact that the industry’s “poster child”, Beyond Meat, has seen a slump in its share price, the piece questions the future of meat alternatives. Despite this, there remains a strong cohort of ardent believers who argue there is viability in products that can replace and simulate animal protein. Said believers are looking towards something new, innovative. Their solution? Peas. To that end, Bloomberg reports that venture capital fund, Synthesis Capital, has led a $35m financing round for Equinom, a start-up identifying non-genetically modified seed varieties that don’t require the processing and additives that have long-blighted meat alternatives. Co-founder, Gil Shalev explains how when you start with high-quality beans, you immediately eliminate the damaging processing requirements that the industry has become reliant on. By providing a genetically diverse product which resolves tired supply chain issues, Equinom has come to disrupt the market.

Microsoft buys into the LSEG

US tech giant, Microsoft, has agreed to buy a $1.5bn stake in the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), according to the Financial Times. The move comes as the group faces pressure to make its $27bn acquisition of data and trading group, Refinitiv, pay off. The piece reports that Microsoft’s stake will serve to improve the 300-year-old exchange’s data and analytics capabilities, subsequently increasing its revenue growth through the creation of new joint products over time. As part of the deal, Microsoft will additionally provide the LSEG with cloud infrastructure products using its Azure and AI platforms. The deal will also see the LSEG transition to use Microsoft Teams to create a unified platform combining financial data, analytics and collaboration tools, as a “step in change in terms of how financial market participants will interact with each other” according to LSEG Chief Exec, David Schwimmer. Following the acquisition, shares in the London Stock Exchange climbed 4%.

Round 2 for Twitter Blue

The newly introduced $8 verified Blue Tick is finally due to relaunch after a halt to the service in November, as BBC News reports. The membership, still $8 per month, now comes with an increased fee of $11 for those using the Twitter app on Apple devices.  Blue-tick subscribers will see fewer ads, have their tweets amplified above others, and be able to post and view longer, better-quality videos, the platform says. Whilst the service had a “chaotic initial launch,” when people started impersonating big brands and celebrities and paying for the blue-tick badge in order to make them look authentic, under the new system, subscribers who change their names or display photos will lose their blue tick until the account has been reviewed by Twitter.

How to tip your Amazon driver

The Verge this week reports that Amazon’s Alexa has been helping bring Christmas cheer across the US this year by rolling out a new feature allowing Alexa users to thank their Amazon delivery drivers(s) via either their device or app. To further promote the new feature, and of course spread the Christmas joy even further, for each thankyou received, Amazon tipped drivers $5. Launched December 7th, the promotional period lasted for the first 1 million ‘thankyou’s’, and the figure was reached within a matter of days as people excitedly took advantage of the feature to reward hard-working delivery drivers this Christmas period.

Top Tweets of the week

• Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAIHead: ChatGPT is incredibly limited, but good enough at some things to create a misleading impression of greatness. it’s a mistake to be relying on it for anything important right now. it’s a preview of progress; we have lots of work to do on robustness and truthfulness.
• Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group: Always cautious about breakthrough announcements, but this may be a world-changing development. Governments should back the research needed to turn this scientific breakthrough into a clean energy solution the world so desperately needs: https://t.co/nRK3OvOZyl
• Youtube: more info, less guessing starting today, you’ll see time estimates for how long it’ll take to finish processing your uploads across different video quality levels (SD, HD & 4k), so you can decide the right time to hit publish! More here: http://yt.be/help/xPey1

Number of week

4000 – The new character limit on Twitter.

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