On Our Virtual Route 66 This Week: On the Week That Was

As a New Week dawns, we present a snapshot of the week that was:

After the chaos A new macroeconomic era is emerging. What will it look like? A great rebalancing between governments and central banks is under way

Iron Man with a dodgy peace plan How worried should you be about Elon Musk’s superpowers? With great technological power comes great political responsibility

Border ordure The Biden administration is quietly completing bits of Donald Trump’s wall The southern border is a political problem for Democrats because it is an actual problem

EXCLUSIVE Jack Ma’s Investment Firm Struggles to Raise Money in China By Juro Osawa Jack Ma, China’s most iconic entrepreneur, whose swift fall from grace with government authorities captivated the country and broader business world, has a new problem: Chinese investors are afraid to give him money. Yunfeng Capital, a private equity firm Ma co-founded in 2010, is having difficulty raising capital from domestic investors concerned about the political risks of backing him, raising questions about its long-term viability, according to three people briefed by the firm’s managers and its existing investors. Yunfeng is one of the country’s most important tech-focused investors, with more than $10 billion in assets under management, according to Chinese media reports. Its previously unreported struggles could aid rival firms such as Sequoia Capital’s China affiliate, Hillhouse Capital Group and Source Code Capital if domestic tech investments recover from a recent downturn.    READ THE FULL STORY

 

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Elon Musk says his purchase of Twitter will accelerate his plans for creating X, "the everything app." On Tuesday, reports said Musk had reversed course and proposed closing the original $44B deal to buy Twitter, which the company has since agreed to. Musk is now waiting for the Delaware Chancery Court to adjourn the trial in Twitter's lawsuit against him. More: Musk had tried to back out of the original agreement and was sued by Twitter in an effort to force him to follow through. On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Musk has now offered to abide by the original April agreement to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share if Twitter drops the litigation. That same day, Musk tweeted about his plans for the platform, saying that "Buying Twitter is an accelerant to creating X, the everything app." One of his followers responded, "I think it would have been easier to just start X from scratch tho." Musk replied: "Twitter probably accelerates X by 3 to 5 years, but I could be wrong." Zoom-out: While Musk didn't elaborate on the plans for X, he has previously hinted at launching a social media platform, to be called X.com. Musk initially co-founded the website X.com in 1999 as an online bank before it was merged with another payment system. In 2017, he bought back the domain name from PayPal, of which he is a former CEO. At the time, Musk said the domain had “great sentimental value" and could serve as an umbrella website for his other ventures such as Tesla and SpaceX. TWITTER

Google has agreed to pay $85M to settle a location tracking lawsuit brought by the Arizona Attorney General. The state's AG, Mark Brnovich, sued Google in May 2020, alleging that the search giant violated Arizona's Consumer Fraud Act when it deceptively gathered the location data of users. More: Brnovich's investigation followed a 2018 Associated Press investigation that found Google saved a user's location history even if they had paused “Location History” on their smartphone. In the complaint, Arizona accused Google of continuing the practice even after users had opted out of a setting feature that recorded their location history. In defense, Google said alleged fraud must be linked to advertising or sales to fall under the law. The case was set to go to trial later this month until Brnovich announced the settlement on Tuesday. Google will pay $77.23M into Arizona's general fund and $7.75M to the AG's outside counsel. In response, a Google spokesperson said that the state lawsuit was based on product policies that it has since changed, adding that it offers "straightforward controls and auto delete options for location data" and works to minimize the data it collects. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Apple is asking suppliers to shift production of some AirPods and Beats headphones to India as early as 2023, per a Nikkei Asia report. The request comes as Apple seeks to diversify from China amid U.S.-China trade tensions and COVID-19 lockdowns that disrupted its supply chain. More: Foxconn will reportedly produce Beats in India and work to manufacture AirPods there in the future, according to Nikkei. Luxshare Precision Industry has also agreed to assist with AirPods production in India. It currently makes the earbuds in China and Vietnam. Last month, Apple confirmed that it will move some manufacturing of its flagship iPhone 14 to India. It started manufacturing the iPhone 13 in India earlier this year. In the five months since April, Apple's iPhone exports from India had reached over $1B and are on track to cross $2.5B through March 2023, according to Bloomberg. NIKKEI ASIA

Meta announced that it will shut down its newsletter platform Bulletin in January. The service launched in June 2021, competing with Substack as a place for writers to share and monetize their subscription newsletters. More: Since Bulletin's launch, Meta has made deals to feature content from writers including author Malcolm Gladwell, sports broadcaster Erin Andrews, and former CNN correspondent Jessica Yellin. Those contracts will be paid out in full, Meta said. The writers can take their content and subscriber lists and content with them, it noted. Writers can continue to publish and earn revenue until the shutdown in January, Meta said. As of this summer, Bulletin claimed more than 120 writers and over 1 million free subscribers. Meta plans to shift its resources from Bulletin to further develop its discovery algorithm as it faces fiercer competition from TikTok. THE NEW YORK TIMES

Spotify announced its acquisition of content moderation firm Kinzen. Terms of the deal were not made public. Spotify has been working with Dublin-based Kinzen to combat misinformation and hate speech on its platform since 2020. More: The companies first partnered to detect misinformation and other issues surrounding the 2020 U.S. elections.  Kinzen's tools — which analyze audio, video, and text to automatically detect harmful content — are especially suited for podcasting, Spotify said. Its expertise can help Spotify better understand emerging abuse trends and content on its platform, said head of trust and safety, Sarah Hoyle. Zoom-out: Reports noted that Spotify has been working harder to combat harmful content and misinformation. In January, the company published its platform rules and later formed a Safety Advisory Council. It also added a content advisory to podcasts that cover COVID-19. The move came after Spotify faced criticism over the spread of COVID vaccine-related misinformation by its top podcaster, Joe Rogan. In May 2020, Rogan signed an exclusive deal with Spotify for his podcast said to be worth over $200M. REUTERS

QUICK HITS The 3 Things to Never Build In Your App: Authentication, Notifications, and Payments.* Rivian revealed it produced 7,363 electric pickup trucks and SUVs in Q3, a 67% increase YoY. An appeals court in Italy has canceled a multimillion-dollar fine issued against Amazon and Apple for alleged collusion. The White House Office of Science & Technology Policy released its Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights for reducing potential harms from artificial intelligence technology.