FTI Consulting News Bytes – 1st June

This week’s news

Apple can’t dismiss Cydia’s amended antitrust lawsuit, judge says

Apple Inc. lost a bid last week to dismiss a refiled lawsuit from Cydia, a competitor to Apple’s App Store, in California federal court. Cydia has accused the iPhone maker of maintaining an unlawful monopoly over iOS distribution and payments, ultimately inhibiting third-party app stores from competing with the App Store. California District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers denied Apple’s motion to dismiss the case and is giving the company 21 days to respond. Reuters pointed out the case’s similarity to an antitrust lawsuit that Epic Games Inc. brought against Apple in 2020 over its removal of its game Fortnite from the App Store. In this case, the Judge largely ruled for Apple. We’ll be keeping an eye on Apple’s response to this fresh lawsuit over the next few weeks.

Twitter refuses to remove Silver Lake’s Egon Durban from board

In the latest corporate drama ahead of Musk’s planned $44bn takeover of Twitter, the company has refused to remove Silver Lake co-chief executive Egon Durban from its board, even after investors voted against his re-election at this week’s shareholder meeting. CNBC wrote that Twitter’s board believes Durban failed to receive shareholder support because of his director role on several other company boards. In accordance with Twitter’s corporate governance guidelines, Durban offered his resignation. However, Twitter decided not to accept, instead forging an agreement for Durban to resign from two other board seats over the course of the next year. The disagreement between investors and the Board is notable given Durban’s close ties to Elon Musk. According to The Verge Egon is seen to be one of  Musk’s closest allies on the board and a crucial figure of Musk’s proposed buyout of the company. Coincidence?

Revolut takes another step towards float

Revolut unveiled this week that it is seeking to hire an investor relations team. According to The Times, this step is usually seen as a prelude to flotation. The move fuels growing speculation surrounding the company’s IPO, especially after Revolut hired Martin Gilbert as its chairman, a well-known figure in the listed company world. Revolut indicated that flotation would “probably” not take place this year, as confirmed by a report in Business Insider last month. However, the move to hire an IR team could mark the start of its long-awaited listing.

Google backs India’s ShareChat in $300 mln funding round at $5 bln valuation

Alphabet Inc. has backed India’s ShareChat with $300mln in its latest funding round. Reuters points out that this is Google’s second key investment in India’s short video space after having previously backed Josh, another Indian short video app. India’s short video space has boomed in popularity after the country banned TikTok and other Chinese short video apps in 2020. The social media unicorn, now valued at $5bln, was founded in 2015 by three Indian Institute of Technology graduates: Ankush Sachdeva, Bhanu Pratap Singh and Farid Ahsan. The app currently has 18 million monthly active users and 32 million creators. A deal on the funding round is set to be announced as early as next week.

Report blasts “manipulative” video game loot boxes

An influential report by the Norwegian Consumer Council has called out gaming loot boxes as “exploitative”. The report has been backed by consumer groups in 18 European countries, including the European Consumer Organisation, which represents consumers in the UK. Critics have accused the boxes of being a form of gambling as players cannot see their purchase until after they have paid to open the contents, with many being worthless. The report says that the systems used to convince people to part with their money in games are “predatory, manipulative, and exceedingly aggressive”. The report is significant given the upcoming plans to review regulation surrounding digital gambling within the UK, as pointed out by the BBC. The House of Lords Gambling Committee has already said that loot boxes should be firmly regulated as “games of chance”. This review is due in the coming weeks.

Top Tweets of the Week

• Nasa tweets footage from Mars taken by its Mars Ingenuity Helicopter – flying faster and further than it ever has done before
• Ted Talks tweets a clip of artist Sougwen Chung’s recent talk, who makes intricate paintings with the help of AI
• The New York Times is asking for those with crypto investments to respond to its survey researching the human consequences of the recent downturn in the crypto market, tweets fintech reporter David Yaffe-Bellany

Number of the Week

12m – The number of people expected to host street parties over the Jubilee weekend

What’s happening next week?

• 2 June: Street parties take place across the UK to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee
• 5 June: World Environment Day
• 6 June: Tube strike in London expected to close almost all Zone 1 stations, Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (virtual)
• 7 June: SpaceX launches 25th commercial resupply mission to the ISS

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