South Korea has forced Apple and Google to allow third-party in-app payments, which will make it easier for developers to monetize games. The move comes after the country’s fair trade commission found that both companies were restricting competition by not allowing third-party apps to integrate with their platforms.
According to legislators, Apple and Google dominate more than 85% of the South Korean app market. Credit: Patrick Semansky/Associated Press
South Korean lawmakers passed the first legislation in the world on Tuesday requiring app shops to allow customers to pay for in-app purchases using various payment methods, a blow to Apple and Google’s market domination, which opposed the measure.
The National Assembly of South Korea approved changes to the country’s Telecommunications Business Act that prohibit app marketers such as Google and Apple from imposing specific payment methods, unjustly delaying mobile content assessment, and unfairly removing mobile material from the app market.
For the internet behemoths, app store income is a gold mine. Apple takes a 30% cut on in-app purchases, and Google said last year that it plans to follow Apple’s lead by taking a 30% share on more transactions than it did before. According to legislators, the measure would hurt their profits in South Korea, where the two companies dominate more than 85 percent of the app industry.
Last year, the restrictions were suggested and met with significant opposition from Apple and Google. Google officials were in direct communication with the National Assembly and its employees, according to two South Korean legislators, Jo Seoung Lae and Park Sungjoong.
In a previous interview, Mr. Park said, “Google is a business that seeks to maximize its profits.” “Of course, individuals like us ministers who are attempting to pass this legislation would be opposed.”
Apple “gave their input” against the proposal, according to Mr. Jo. Both legislators are members of the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Broadcasting, and Communications Committee in South Korea.
According to the head of the Asia Internet Coalition, which includes Apple and Google among its members, the legislation is unlikely to create trade problems between Seoul and Washington, but the Biden administration has voiced worry about the potential.
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On Monday, residents waited in line at a petrol station in southeast Louisiana to make purchases. Hurricane Ida is probably likely to make transportation and supply shortages worse. Credit… The New York Times’ Callaghan O’Hare
In normal times, a major storm like Ida is followed by a huge reconstruction effort, with carpenters, roofers, and other trained professionals descending on the afflicted areas to restore the damage.
These aren’t your typical times.
With the global supply chain beset by issues such as severe shipping delays, continuous product shortages, and skyrocketing prices, construction teams are likely to have difficulties obtaining necessary materials. At the same time, the hurricane’s destruction of key businesses along the Gulf Coast and the urgent need to recover are anticipated to wreak havoc on the country’s already overburdened maritime infrastructure.
“The supply was already bad,” said Eric Byer, president of the National Association of Chemical Distributors, a trade group that represents 400 businesses that manufacture and sell raw chemicals for a variety of sectors, including construction and pharmaceuticals. “It’s just going to get worse now.”
A boom in commerce from Asia to the United States has depleted the availability of shipping containers in recent months, forcing purchasers to pay ten times the normal cost on major routes like Shanghai to Los Angeles.
Loading and unloading at ports has been hampered as a result of dockworkers contracting Covid or landing in quarantine. Truck drivers have been laid off as a result of the epidemic, reducing the number of trucks available to transport goods from ports to warehouses to consumers.
As available vehicles are redirected en masse to impacted areas to provide emergency goods, Hurricane Ida will almost likely exacerbate the problem. No one doubts the benefits of this path, but it will reduce the number of trucks available to transport products elsewhere, exacerbating already severe shortages.
“The domestic transportation situation has been terrible for a long time, and the storm will exacerbate it,” Megan Gluth-Bohan, CEO of TRInternational, a chemical importer and distributor located outside Seattle, said. “There will be greater bottlenecks at the ports.”
Her business buys hydrocarbon resins from a Taiwanese source and sells them to American companies that produce paints, varnishes, and other coatings. She imports glycols, which are used in food, cosmetics, and industrial coatings, as well as chemicals from Thailand that are utilized in industrial cleaning goods.
Ms. Gluth-Bohan said, “These are the basic ingredients that create everything.”
Ms. Gluth-Bohan was still evaluating the effect of Hurricane Ida on her industry, but it was clear that the rebuilding effort would encounter difficulties as the supply of essential materials became even more scarce.
“It will have a big impact,” she predicted. “Many of the businesses that produce coatings, paint, shingles, or treated timber are going to have to slow down.”
Part of the effect is due to the storm’s landing location. The Gulf Coast is home to refineries and facilities that produce a wide range of industrial chemicals, as shown last winter when a severe frost in the area shut down industries, resulting in ongoing supply shortages.
In the aftermath of Ida, the plastics sector braced for a further rise in costs, which were already at record highs.
The Royale Group, based in Wilmington, Delaware, produces and distributes chemicals, although only a small portion of its supplies come from Gulf of Mexico facilities. But, as the company’s CEO, John Logue, pointed out, a scarcity of a single component may be enough to put a stop to the manufacturing of numerous products.
A chronic scarcity of computer chips has hampered the auto industry’s ability to innovate. Mr. Logue’s business, which depends largely on Chinese and Indian suppliers, has been unable to fulfill an order for a pharmaceutical company for weeks due to a shortage of one raw ingredient.
Mr. Logue said, “Any glitch in the supply chain right now simply adds gasoline to the fire.” “We are not producing what we want to produce. We are producing what we are able to produce.”
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In May, Elizabeth Holmes appears in court for a hearing. The jury selection process in her case begins on Tuesday. Credit… Reuters/Kate Munsch
The long-awaited trial of Elizabeth Holmes, the discredited founder of the blood-testing start-up Theranos, starts on Tuesday with jury selection. Holmes faces a dozen charges of fraud and conspiracy to conduct wire fraud.
Questions about what Ms. Holmes, 37, knew about the issues with Theranos’ blood-testing gadgets and whether she deliberately deceived investors about the company’s technology are at the core of the trial. She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail if convicted.
The Elizabeth Holmes Trial’s Who’s Who
Erin Woo is a reporter based in San Jose, California.
The Elizabeth Holmes Trial’s Who’s Who
Erin Woo is a reporter based in San Jose, California.
The New York Times’ Carlos Chavarria
Elizabeth Holmes, the discredited founder of the blood-testing company Theranos, will face two charges of conspiracy to conduct wire fraud and ten counts of wire fraud in the near future.
Here are some of the case’s main players:
The Elizabeth Holmes Trial’s Who’s Who
Erin Woo is a reporter based in San Jose, California.
Reuters/Stephen Lam
As a 19-year-old Stanford dropout, Holmes started Theranos in 2003. She became the world’s youngest millionaire after raising $700 million from investors, but she has been accused of lying about how effectively Theranos’ technology performed. She has entered a not guilty plea.
The Elizabeth Holmes Trial’s Who’s Who
Erin Woo is a reporter based in San Jose, California.
courtesy of Getty Images/Justin Sullivan
Sunny, Ramesh Balwani, was the president and chief operational officer of Theranos from 2009 to 2016, and he had a love connection with Holmes. He’s also been charged with fraud and may go on trial next year. He has entered a not guilty plea.
The Elizabeth Holmes Trial’s Who’s Who
Erin Woo is a reporter based in San Jose, California.
The New York Times’ Jefferson Siegel
David Boies, a well-known lawyer, was Theranos’ attorney and sat on its board of directors.
He attempted to silence whistleblowers and journalists who raised concerns about the company’s business operations.
The Elizabeth Holmes Trial’s Who’s Who
Erin Woo is a reporter based in San Jose, California.
Getty Images
Journalist John Carreyrou exposed Theranos’ deceptive activities in his articles.
His reporting for The Wall Street Journal contributed to Theranos’ demise.
The Elizabeth Holmes Trial’s Who’s Who
Erin Woo is a reporter based in San Jose, California.
Getty Images/Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Former Theranos workers Tyler Shultz and Erika Cheung were whistle-blowers. In 2013 and 2014, they worked at the start-up.
Shultz is the grandson of former Secretary of State George Shultz, who served on the Theranos board of directors.
The Elizabeth Holmes Trial’s Who’s Who
Erin Woo is a reporter based in San Jose, California.
The New York Times’ Eric Thayer
Theranos’ board of directors included retired four-star general James Mattis.
He then became Secretary of Defense under President Donald J. Trump.
The Elizabeth Holmes Trial’s Who’s Who
Erin Woo is a reporter based in San Jose, California.
The lawsuit will be overseen by Edward Davila, a federal judge in the Northern District of California.
Holmes’ main attorney is Kevin Downey, a partner at the Washington law firm Williams & Connolly.
The government’s prosecution will be led by Robert Leach, an assistant US attorney for the Northern District of California, and other prosecutors from the US attorney’s office.
More about Elizabeth Holmes may be found here:
22h ago
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The case has gotten a lot of attention since it’s yet another example of a Silicon Valley startup gone bad. However, Theranos was unique in that it was founded by a woman. Ms. Holmes took advantage of this distinction to draw attention to herself. She donned a black turtleneck and talked in an abnormally deep voice, similar to Steve Jobs’. Ms. Holmes was named the world’s youngest millionaire and frequently appeared for magazine covers before Theranos’ demise.
Her tremendous prominence may make jury selection difficult. Prosecutors and her defense attorneys may have a tough time selecting jurors who have not yet formed an opinion about the case. According to court papers last week, about half of the 200 prospective jurors had previously consumed media connected to the case.
A 28-page questionnaire was sent to potential jurors, which inquired about their media consumption habits, medical history, and knowledge of more than 200 potential witnesses. Ms. Holmes’ legal team created an even more detailed questionnaire, which contained over 100 questions. Judge Edward Davila of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, who is handling the case, denied it in June. The trial is taking place in San Jose, California.
The jury selection process is likely to go through Wednesday and perhaps beyond. The first round of arguments will begin next week.
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Sarah Bartlett is a British actress that debuted in the year 2019. Next June, she will leave her position as dean of the City University of New York’s journalism school. Credit… The New York Times’ Ivan Armando Flores
The dean of the City University of New York’s journalism school said Monday that she will resign in June, capping a nine-year term in which enrollment grew by more than 40% and the proportion of students of color soared to more than 50%.
Sarah Bartlett became dean in 2014 after starting as a lecturer at the school in 2006, the year it was founded. She formerly worked at Business Week, The New York Times, and Fortune as a writer and editor.
According to CUNY, while dean, Ms. Bartlett established a foundation that generated over $70 million for the school. The school was able to alter its name from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism to the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism thanks to a $20 million contribution from Craig Newmark, the creator of the classified advertising website Craigslist. (The foundation’s vice chairman is Arthur Sulzberger Jr., chairman emeritus of The New York Times Company.)
Ms. Bartlett said she was pleased to have boosted enrollment while keeping expenses low in a short interview Monday at the school’s Midtown Manhattan facility, where students returned to in-person courses for the first time since the pandemic’s start last week.
“We need to figure out how to make newsrooms more inclusive and dedicated to interacting with a wider range of communities,” she added. “That is an issue that all J schools should be focusing on.”
The cost of tuition and fees for three semesters at the school for a New York resident is about $18,000, compared to $70,000 or more at many comparable schools.
Ms. Bartlett also mentioned the school’s development of the country’s first bilingual program for Spanish-English speakers, a new master’s program in audience engagement, and an online-only certificate program in entrepreneurial journalism for journalists who want to start their own newsletter or podcast. Ms. Bartlett’s replacement will be found via a national search.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission’s chair, Gary Gensler. He described one of the main ways free brokerages generate money as having a “inherent conflict of interest.” Credit… Reuters/Johnny Ernst
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s head, Gary Gensler, said on Monday that a ban for a technique that underlies some of the most popular free stock-trading applications was “on the table.”
Mr. Gensler told Barron’s in an interview that he would explore prohibiting “payment for order flow” – the practice of big trading operations paying retail brokerage companies like Robinhood to execute transactions for its customers.
The agreement is fundamental to how Robinhood and some of its rivals, such as E-Trade and Charles Schwab, have structured their companies to provide commission-free transactions, which has been a critical element in the influx of millions of ordinary people into the stock market.
The larger trading operations that execute the orders, such as Citadel Securities and Virtu Financial, earn small profits on such transactions, but given the large user base of commission-free brokerage companies, those little gains may rapidly mount up.
According to Mr. Gensler, the approach creates a “inherent conflict of interest” since the companies that execute the transactions profit from the data.
He said, “They receive the data, they get the first look, and they get to match buyers and sellers out of that order flow.”
Mr. Gensler has made a number of comments in recent months stating that he is carefully reviewing the practice and is open to a variety of regulatory alternatives. Shortly after his confirmation, he directed the agency to investigate the issue; the investigation is still continuing.
Jason Warnick, Robinhood’s chief financial officer, made remarks as the firm prepared for its first public offering earlier this year. He stated at the time, “We believe paying for order flow is a better bargain for our consumers than the previous commission system.” Officials at Robinhood said on a call with investors earlier this month to discuss quarterly results that they did not expect an outright ban on payment for order flow, but that their income streams were varied and could easily survive such a change.
Citadel was unable for comment at the time of publication. Virtu remained silent on the subject.
Consumer groups and others have blasted the practice, claiming that it gives big trading firms an unfair edge.
Its prohibition would be a positive step, according to David Lauer, the CEO of data analytics company Urvin.ai and a former high-frequency stock trader.
He described the situation as a “intractable conflict of interest.” “The brokers won’t be able to get around it.”
He said, however, that discontinuing the practice would not necessarily mean the end of free stock trades: Fidelity, for example, already provides free trading without using the payment-for-order-flow mechanism.
The stock of Robinhood ended the day down almost 7%. After Mr. Gensler’s remarks were made public, Virtu Financial’s stock dropped almost 4%, ending the day down nearly 4%.
Reporting was provided by Matthew Goldstein, Kate Kelly, and Tara Siegel Bernard.
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