Billionaire Peter Thiel, a founder of PayPal, has publicly condemned “confiscatory taxes.” He’s been a major funder of one of the most prominent anti-tax political action committees in the country. And he’s bankrolled a group that promotes building floating nations that would impose no compulsory income taxes. But Thiel doesn’t need a man-made island to Read more about Lord of the Roths: How Tech Mogul Peter Thiel Turned a Retirement Account for the Middle Class Into a $5 Billion Tax-Free Piggy Bank[…]

The Wall Street Journal reports: Authorities in the U.K. and Japan took aim at affiliates of Binance Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange network, in the latest regulatory crackdown on the wildly popular trade in bitcoin and other digital assets. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, the country’s lead financial regulator, told consumers Saturday that Read more about Regulators Crack Down on Crypto Exchange Binance in UK, Japan, Germany, and Ontario, Canada[…]

We’ve written so many stories about how you don’t own what you’ve bought any more due to software controls, DRM, and ridiculous contracts, and it keeps getting worse. The latest such example involves Peloton, which is most known for its extremely expensive stationary bikes with video screens, so that you can take classes (usually on Read more about You Don’t Own What You’ve Bought: Peloton Treadmill Edition[…]

A pair of South African brothers have vanished, along with Bitcoin worth $3.6 billion from their cryptocurrency investment platform. A Cape Town law firm hired by investors says they can’t locate the brothers and has reported the matter to the Hawks, an elite unit of the national police force. It’s also told crypto exchanges across Read more about South Africa Africrypt Bitcoin Scam? Cajee Brothers Missing Along With Billions – second huge scam in SA[…]

Hyundai this morning announced that it has completed its acquisition of Boston Dynamics. The deal, which values the innovative robotics company at $1.1 billion, was announced in late-2020. The companies have not disclosed any future financial details. The South Korean automotive giant now owns a controlling interest in Boston Dynamics, previously belonging to SoftBank. The Read more about Hyundai completes deal for controlling interest in Boston Dynamics (walking robodog maker)[…]

With graphics cards seeming harder to get than ever, China’s stricter measures against Bitcoin mining have led to lower prices online in the country. In Yunnan, the country’s fourth-largest Bitcoin-producing province, authorities have been investigating illegal electrical power use tied to Bitcoin mining and are threatening to cut power to those involved in the practice. Read more about China Bitcoin Crackdown Leads To BTC Price Plummet and also Cheaper Graphics Cards[…]

[…] The U.S. is dominated by anticompetitive giants in banking, telecom, insurance, health care, air travel, and countless other sectors. And generally, we’ve historically encouraged them by underfunding our regulators, steadily weakening antitrust enforcement, rubber stamping merger after terrible merger, and replacing competent Judges with bobble head dolls. All under the pretense that doing anything Read more about Recent US Antitrust Push Is Weirdly Narrow, Pretends Telecom And Banking Don’t Exist[…]

Google and Apple Inc. face a sweeping probe into the “duopoly” power of their mobile ecosystems, in the U.K. antitrust watchdog’s latest attack on Silicon Valley. The increasingly tech-focused Competition and Markets Authority opened a 12-month market study into broad aspects of the iOS and Android systems, saying it feared the companies’ dominance is stifling Read more about Android, Apple Mobile Ecosystems Face UK Antitrust Probe Amid Competition Fears[…]

This week, ProPublica released a massive scoop—a treasure trove of financial records showing how some of the U.S.’s wealthiest billionaires scamper off with virtually no tax burden. And the U.S. government knows exactly what to do in response: find whoever released those embarrassing records and incarcerate the shit out of them. Priorities, people! ProPublica obtained Read more about DOJ Vows to Hunt Down Whoever Let the Public Know How Little Billionaires Pay in Taxes[…]

ProPublica says it has seen the tax returns of some of the world’s richest people, including Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett. The website alleges Amazon’s Mr Bezos paid no tax in 2007 and 2011, while Tesla’s Mr Musk paid nothing in 2018. A White House spokeswoman called the leak “illegal”, and the FBI Read more about US super-rich ‘pay almost no income tax’[…]

[…] A May survey of 1,000 U.S. adults showed that 39% would consider quitting if their employers weren’t flexible about remote work. The generational difference is clear: Among millennials and Gen Z, that figure was 49%, according to the poll by Morning Consult on behalf of Bloomberg News. “High-five to them,” said Sara Sutton, the Read more about Return to Office: Employees Are Quitting Instead of Giving Up Work From Home[…]

At Amazon in Spain, France and Italy, Chinese sellers already make up more than half of the largest merchants in the marketplace, says market research firm Marketplace Pulse. The Thuiswinkel Markt Monitor shows that we in the Netherlands spent 1.1 billion euros on products from abroad in 2019. Chinese online stores, such as AliExpress, are Read more about EU starts protectionist measures, increasing prices of Chinese E-Commerce imports[…]

[…] Italy’s competition watchdog has ordered Google to pay over €100 million ($123 million) for abuse of its dominant position. The regulator said Google had shut out an electric vehicle recharging app from its Android Auto infotainment platform for cars for over two years. The company at the core of the action is Enel X Read more about Italy fines Google $123 million for blocking an EV app from Android Auto[…]

Commodity.com has a huge and useful page on how to get started trading in environmental commodities. Unfortunately it won’t let me paste it into here easily so below is a list of the subjects they cover. They are also very transparent about how they make their money (through links on their site), which I thought Read more about Environmental Commodities: What Are They & How Can You Trade Them?[…]

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told U.S. lawmakers last year that the company has a policy prohibiting employees from using data on specific sellers to help boost its own sales. “I can’t guarantee you that that policy has never been violated,” he added. Now it’s clear why he chose his words so carefully. An internal audit Read more about Amazon knew seller data was used to boost company sales[…]

Fresh questions have been raised over Amazon’s tax planning after its latest corporate filings in Luxembourg revealed that the company collected record sales income of €44bn (£38bn) in Europe last year but did not have to pay any corporation tax to the Grand Duchy. Accounts for Amazon EU Sarl, through which it sells products to Read more about Amazon had sales income of €44bn in Europe in 2020 but paid no corporation tax[…]

Russia said it had fined Apple $12 million for alleged [Note: why the use of this word? If the fine has been issued, then a Russian court has established guilt and there is no allleging about it!] abuse of its dominance in the mobile applications market, in the latest dispute between Moscow and a Western Read more about Russia fines Apple $12m for app market abuse[…]

Epic Games is using its lawsuit against Apple to accuse the iPhone maker of being particularly greedy. As The Verge reports, expert witness Eric Barns testified that Apple supposedly had an App Store operating margin of 77.8 percent in 2019, itself a hike from 74.9 percent in 2018. He also rejected Apple witness’ claims that Read more about Epic witness claims Apple’s App Store profit reaches 78%. Apple disagrees as their overall profit is “only” 42.5%[…]

ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images Amazon may soon be more accountable for more products than the ones it directly sells. According to the LA Times, a California state appeals court has ruled that Amazon is responsible for the safety of third-party products available through its marketplace following a 2015 hoverboard fire. While the internet giant Read more about Appeals Court says Amazon is responsible for the safety of third-party products[…]

Bobby Kotick, the longtime CEO of “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush” game maker Activision Blizzard, will see his base salary reduced by 50% and bonus potential slashed as part of a 15-month contract extension, the company reported Thursday in an SEC filing. Why it matters: The cut isn’t a sign that the company is Read more about Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick takes 50% voluntary pay cut[…]

the European Union has charged Apple with allegedly “abus[ing] its dominant position” in the music streaming market. The charges stem from an initial complaint filed by Spotify in 2019. At the time, Spotify accused Apple of having “an unfair advantage at every turn” by imposing a series of obstacles that favored its own services at Read more about EU Charges Apple With Antitrust Violations in Spotify Case[…]

Microsoft is shaking up the world of PC gaming today with a big cut to the amount of revenue it takes from games on Windows. The software giant is reducing its cut from 30 percent to just 12 percent from August 1st, in a clear bid to compete with Steam and entice developers and studios Read more about Microsoft shakes up PC gaming by reducing Windows store cut to “just” 12 percent[…]

On Monday after the close of business, Tesla announced its Q1 2021 financial results in its quarterly earnings call. The company turned a surprisingly large profit this quarter, but it didn’t do it by selling cars. Q1 net profit reached a new record for Tesla, at $438 million. Revenue for the electric car company was Read more about Tesla Loses A Lot Of Money Selling Cars, But Makes It All Back On Credits And Bitcoin[…]

During the first quarter, Google parent Alphabet Inc. saved $268 million in expenses from company promotions, travel and entertainment, compared to same period a year earlier, “primarily as a result of COVID-19,” according to a company filing. On an annualized basis, that would be more than $1 billion. Indeed, Alphabet said in its annual report Read more about Google Is Saving Over $1 Billion a Year by Working From Home[…]