Qualcomm may be facing fire for its licensing practices, but it managed to reach an interim agreement with one previously resistant handset maker. The company on Wednesday said Huawei, the world’s second-biggest smartphone company, has signed a short-term licensing agreement with Qualcomm. The deal, reached in Qualcomm’s fiscal first quarter that ended Dec. 30, runs …
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Around the world governments are increasingly discussing how best to regulate big tech companies, but one woman — EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager — is already showing them how it’s done. This year Europe’s Competition Commission hit Google with the second of two huge antitrust fines for promoting its own interests and stifling opportunities for rivals to innovate, grow and …
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Microsoft wants its tech to be used for good, not evil, the company’s CEO said. Satya Nadella, speaking Monday at the Wired25 conference in San Francisco, noted that the tech industry has a responsibility for how its technology is used. “We start from saying, look we want to take tech and empower the world with it,” Nadella said. “Our responsibility …
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Apple allegedly pressured Yahoo Japan to cut back development of its game platform, a report says. The Fair Trade Commission, Japan’s antitrust watchdog, is investigating reports that Apple interfered with the potential App Store competitor, according to Nikkei. Yahoo’s Game Plus platform, launched in July 2017, lets people play games without needing to download apps. Now playing: Watch this: 11 …
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New York state regulators are reneging on their approval of the Charter Communications acquisition of Time Warner Cable, alleging the cable provider broke its promise to deliver high-speed broadband to rural customers. Charter, the second-largest cable provider in the US after Comcast, completed its $56.7 billion deal to buy Time Warner Cable in 2016. The company has since rebranded itself …
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It’s a new world for AT&T in the post-Time Warner merger era. On Tuesday, the company reported a mixed bag of results for the second quarter. It missed Wall Street expectations on revenue but beat the Street’s predictions when it came to earnings per share, as well as number of wireless subscribers. AT&T reported earnings of 91 cents per share, …
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The European Commission slapped Google with a record fine of 4.34 billion euros ($5 billion) on Wednesday over antitrust violations related to the Android mobile operating system. The European Union is concerned that Google’s agreements with phone makers such as Huawei, Samsung and LG put those companies at a disadvantage because they’re completely dependent on Android. The agreements stipulate that …
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In an effort to appease regulators, Sinclair Broadcast Group is amending its deal to buy Tribune media. On Wednesday, the company announced it will not divest three TV stations in Dallas, Chicago, and Houston, which it had previously said it would sell, in the hopes of winning approval for the $3.9 billion merger. In a statement, the company said it …
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Sinclair Broadcasting’s proposed $3.9 billion merger with Tribune Media may not be a slam dunk after all, as the Federal Communications Commission prepares to block the deal. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement Monday that he has “serious concerns” over the merger. It would create one of the largest broadcasting companies in the country and further consolidate the …
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It’s full steam ahead for AT&T, even as the Department of Justice moves ahead with an appeal to stop its $85 billion merger with Time Warner. In an interview with CNBC on Friday, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said he thinks the chances the government will succeed in its appeal of its merger are “remote.” He also said the company, …
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