1. EU countries work together to contain US technology giants

EU countries have reached a common position on new rules to curb US tech giants, forcing them to do more to monitor illegal content on their platforms. The European Union has proposed two sets of rules, namely, the Digital Market Law and the Digital Services Law, which are aimed at Amazon.Com Inc, Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc-CL C and Facebook Inc. The digital market law makes a list of what to do and what not to do for companies that control data and access their platforms, and strengthens the regulation with fines of up to 10 per cent of their global turnover. Digital service rules force the tech giants to do more to deal with illegal content on their platforms, and companies that fail to comply will be fined up to 6 per cent of global turnover.

Summary: earlier, the Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) said it would fine Apple Inc and Amazon.Com Inc 134.5 million euros and 68.7 million euros respectively, and ordered the two US technology giants to allow all dealers of Apple Inc and Beats genuine products to enter amazon.it.

2. Administrative penalty of the General Administration of Market Supervision BABA Tencent

The General Administration of Market Supervision made an administrative penalty decision on 43 cases of operator concentration that were not declared illegally in accordance with the law, and fined the enterprises involved 500000 yuan respectively. The enterprises involved in the case include Baidu, Inc., BABA, JD.com, Tencent and so on. The list of 43 companies that failed to declare in accordance with the law also included SUNING, DiDi Global Inc. and BABA's ele.me and Taobao, with more than 10 involving BABA and Tencent.

Brief comments:The cases announced this time are all transactions that should be declared but not declared in the past, with a large number of cases, a wide range of enterprises and a long time span of transactions.

3. Ant flowers, borrow, promote brand isolation.

Huabai, a consumer credit brand of Ant Group, an affiliated company of BABA, said in a notice that it has recently started brand isolation, and it will become an exclusive credit brand of ant consumer finance, focusing on small and medium-sized consumer demand; consumer credit, fully funded by banks and other financial institutions, will be updated to a "credit purchase" type of service. In early November, another microcredit brand of Ant Group said that brand isolation was being gradually promoted, and a number of licensed financial institutions, including Ant Consumer Finance, would work together to provide users with more convenient and high-quality micro-consumer credit services.

Summary: Warbug Pincus, one of the big investors in Ant Group's private equity financing in 2018, reduced Ant Group's valuation from $224 billion at the end of June to $191 billion at the end of September. The valuation is well below the $315 billion valuation that ants made a year ago when they were preparing for an IPO. Warbug Pincus also changed the valuation method for ants, but did not elaborate.

4. TikTok Douyin has been installed 3.3 billion times worldwide.

According to the Sensor Tower Store Intelligence platform, so far, TikTok and Douyin have installed about 3.3 billion App Store and Google Play installations worldwide. There are more than 900 related applications, accounting for 40% of the total number of App Store and Google Play applications in the world. Of the applications related to TikTok and Douyin, 49 per cent focus on the video download category, which allows users to download videos from the platform to their own devices.

Summary: byte jump indicates that as the company is restructured, it plans to spin off its real estate business to focus on its core business. Byte Jump announced this month that it would split the business into six business segments, the biggest organizational change since co-founder Zhang Yiming said in May that he would step down as CEO.

5. Samsung builds a chip factory in the United States with 17 billion US dollars

Samsung Electronics (Samsung Electronics) said it plans to invest about $17 billion to build a semiconductor manufacturing plant in Taylor, Texas. This is the latest investment plan for a large chip factory this year at a time when there is a global processor shortage. Samsung said the plant would be its largest investment in the US, producing high-end chips for devices such as smartphones and artificial intelligence applications. Construction of the plant is scheduled to begin next year, and chip production is expected to begin in the second half of 2024.

Brief comments:Investment in American chip production is increasing. Prior to this, Intel Corp, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd and Texas Instruments Inc also made big bets in the United States. These new factories will take several years to put into operation. However, the above investment is expected to consolidate the production position of the United States in advanced process chip manufacturing.

6. Apple Inc informed employees that wages can be discussed.

Apple Inc, known for his secrecy, unexpectedly told employees that they could discuss wages, working hours and working conditions. The move comes at a time when some employees are pushing Apple Inc to do more to eliminate unfair pay differences within the company. Apple Inc posted on the company's intranet that the company's policy does not prohibit employees from "talking freely about" the working environment: "We encourage any employee who has doubts about it to bring it up in the way they think is most comfortable. Internal or external. "

Summary: the move is part of a larger effort by Silicon Valley employees to talk about the impact of their working conditions and technology on society.

7. Ericsson acquires Vonage, a cloud communications provider

Ericsson (Ericsson) has reached an agreement to buy Vonage, a global cloud communications provider, for $6.2 billion, which has been unanimously approved by Vonage's board of directors. The acquisition highlights Ericsson's strategy to expand its business in wireless enterprises and its global product range. Ericsson says Vonage has a good track record in terms of growth and profit margin development. Upon completion of the transaction, Vonage will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Ericsson and will continue to operate under its current name.

Summary: Vonage is headquartered in the United States and employs 2200 people in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. In the 12 months ended Sept. 30, the company had sales of $1.4 billion.

Ikea opens the world's largest store in the Philippines

IKEA has opened the world's largest store in Manila, the capital of the Philippines, with an area of 730000 square feet (67819 square meters), as a cornerstone of its expansion plans in Asia. The opening of the store had been delayed because of the epidemic, but Ikea still adheres to epidemic prevention measures, and customers entering the store must wear masks and keep their distance. Ikea currently has more than 460 brick-and-mortar stores in about 60 markets and plans to add nearly 60 more this fiscal year. Not only will they set their sights on Asia, but they will also take the first step into South America next spring, opening a branch in Santiago, Chile.

Brief comments:Ikea also plans to phase out plastic packaging by 2028. Ikea will phase out the plastic packaging of goods, and plans to achieve plastic-free packaging in all new product lines by 2025 and phase out plastic packaging in existing product lines by 2028. Product packaging is a key component of Ikea's business model. To deal with plastic waste and pollution, Ikea has significantly reduced the amount of plastic used in packaging. Today, less than 10% of the packaging materials Ikea uses each year are plastic.

Musk and Damon don't like each other.

Elon Musk and Jamie Dimon don't like each other. For years, Mr Musk rebuffed JPMorgan Chase & Co, led by Mr Dimon, as he expanded Tesla, Inc. and his broader business empire, seeking help and support from other banks instead. Over the years, conversations between two companies have often upset one or the other. Musk and Dimon tried to mend the relationship, but clashed instead. JPMorgan Chase & Co has decided that it would be better without Tesla, Inc..

Summary: JPMorgan Chase & Co has returned to the fourth gear and is the only bank in this gear in the Financial Stability Council (FSB) updated 2021 edition of the list of global systemically important banks. The fifth grade vacancy with the highest score range.

10. The variation of novel coronavirus in South Africa led to a sharp fall in US stocks.

U.S. stocks fell after Thanksgiving, following global losses as investors worried that a mutant strain of novel coronavirus found in South Africa would trigger a new epidemic and undermine a fragile economic recovery. At Friday's close, the Dow was down 905.04 points, or 2.53%; the Nasdaq was down 353.57 points, or 2.23%; and the S & P 500 was down 106.84 points, or 2.27%. A spokesman for Pfizer Inc (Pfizer) said that if there are new variants that can "immune escape" to the vaccine, Pfizer Inc and BioNTech are expected to develop and produce a vaccine specifically for such variants in about 100 days, subject to regulatory approval.

Brief comment: global financial markets have shown some panic about the new mutants, but the further impact remains to be seen.