April 6, 2025: NASDAQ Enters Bear Market

Last week, Dow Jones fell 7.5%, S&P 500 lost 9.1%, Nasdaq Composite was down 10%, both near 11-month lows. Nasdaq is more than 20% below recent highs, and officially entered a bear markets. Major technology stocks including Meta, Amazon, Nvidia, and Apple fell sharply due to newly announced tariffs by President Trump. Several high-profile IPOs, including Klarna, StubHub, and eToro, have been stalled due to the escalating trade tensions and recent market volatility. Circle, however, filed publicly for an IPO a few days before the market’s latest leg down. Tesla reported its worst quarter since 2022 as deliveries fell well below expectations. Microsoft has pulled back on data center projects around the world. Apple is developing a revamp of its Health app to incorporate an AI -powered agent product to designed to replicate a doctor. Amazon’s new AI agent will shop third-party sites for you. Meta plans to introduce its first smart glasses with a screen by the end of this year, code-named Hypernova, with a price tag of over US$1,000 and features like hand-gesture controls and a screen for displaying photos and apps. In Canada, MDA Space announced it will acquire SatixFy Communications in an all-cash deal valued at ~US$193 million. Tiny acquired a controlling 66% stake in DJ software provider Serato for US$66 million. In news relating to Sophic Clients, Plurilock secured US$5.9 million in new federal and public sector contracts in the U.S. and Canada. ADM Endeavors reported fiscal 2024 revenues rose 11% to US$5.76 million, driven by growth in government sector sales and promotional products. Net income increased 136% y/y to US$324,311. Xcyte Digital’s subsidiary, Streamlined Communications, experienced rapid client growth as legacy conferencing providers phase out services.

MDA Space (MDA-TSX) to acquire Satixfy Communications.

MDA Space Ltd and SatixFy Communications Ltd. (NYSE: SATX) announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement (the “Transaction Agreement”) under which MDA Space will acquire all outstanding shares of SatixFy in an all-cash transaction for US$2.10 per share. The transaction, which represents an equity value for SatixFy of approximately US$193 million (approximately $278 million), is expected to further enhance the end-to-end satellite systems offering of MDA Space as demand for next generation digital satellite communications continues to accelerate. Founded in 2012, SatixFy is a supplier of cutting-edge semiconductors and solutions for the space and the satellite communications value chain. SatixFy’s technology enables satellite broadband and direct-to-device constellations with its radiation hardened digital beamformers enabling them to generate hundreds of beams, designed to significantly improve satellite performance and decrease cost. SatixFy has invested approximately US$270 million in research and development to date, and once closed, the transaction will bring to MDA Space a differentiated technology portfolio including more than 60 patents issued and pending, as well as a talented and largely specialized technical employee base of approximately 165 people globally. In addition to chips to support satellite payload solutions and satellite communications, the SatixFy portfolio includes gateways, multi-beam digital antennas, user terminals and modems. MDA Space will acquire all outstanding ordinary shares of SatixFy for US$2.10 in cash per share, representing a 75% premium to SatixFy’s closing price on March 31, 2025 and a 52% premium to SatixFy’s 30-day volume weighted average price as of March 31, 2025. As part of the transaction, MDA Space also intends to retire SatixFy’s existing debt of approximately US$76 million (approximately C$109 million) immediately upon closing, which represents a total cash consideration of approximately US$269 million (approximately C$387 million) for the transaction. https://tinyurl.com/4sem8456

Canadian holding company Tiny (TINY-TSXV) buys controlling stake in DJ software company Serato for $94.5 million.

Victoria-based holding company Tiny has bought a controlling 66 percent stake in Serato, one of the best-known brands in DJ software, for US$66 million ($94.5 million CAD). Purchase follows a blocked $81.6 million merger between Serato and AlphaTheta in August 2024. Tiny is making the purchase with a combination of cash and common shares. The cash portion is US$42 million and the deal values Serato at $175 million, according to the New Zealand Herald. The company expects to close the deal in the second quarter of 2025 provided regulators and shareholders approve. https://tinyurl.com/mtjx8eft

Sophic Client Plurilock (PLUR-TSXV, PLCKF-OTCQB) secures $5.9 million in new contracts across federal and public sector clients.

Plurilock Security closed $5.9 million in new contracts between March 14 and March 31, 2025, including multi-year agreements with key U.S. and Canadian Government agencies. The contracts highlight Plurilock’s ongoing momentum in the public sector, with recent wins spanning federal cybersecurity, infrastructure support, and IT services. Several agreements include optional renewal years, providing potential for additional long-term value. Plurilock’s recent contract wins include significant agreements with key federal and public sector clients, reinforcing its role as a trusted cybersecurity and IT provider. “Securing nearly $6 million in recent business, including multi-year U.S. federal agreements, reinforces Plurilock’s strong position as a trusted cybersecurity and IT provider for government and public sector clients,” said Ian L. Paterson, CEO of Plurilock. “With growing demand for advanced security and infrastructure solutions, we remain focused on leveraging our expertise and strong customer relationships to expand our presence across both U.S. and Canadian government agencies.” https://t.co/eUStbV0zB5

Sophic Client ADM Endeavors (ADMQ-OTCQB) reports fiscal 2024 financial results.

Financial Highlights for the year ending December 31, 2024: Total Revenue of US$5,760,459, an 11% increase over US$5,188,930 in 2023. School Uniform Sales of US$1,555,366, compared with US$1,402,784 in 2023. Promotional Sales of US$4,205,093, compared with US$3,786,146 in 2023. Gross Margin of 35%, an increase over 29% in 2023. Net Income of US$324,311, a 136% increase over US$137,468. At December 31, 2024, the Company had cash of US$412,449 and accounts receivable of US$366,689. “Our year-end performance reflects the success of our strategic pivot toward the government sector, which was the primary driver of our revenue growth. Gross margins also expanded by 600 basis points to 35%, highlighting the strength of our business model,” said ADM Endeavors CEO Marc Johnson. “With demand continuing to grow, our focus remains on increasing operational capacity. Construction of our new 100,000+ sq. ft. facility is nearly complete, and we expect it to open this summer, adding up to five times our current production capacity. This expansion will allow us to better serve existing customers while also capturing new business, particularly in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where a major competitor’s exit has created additional opportunities.” “An appraisal in October 2024 valued our new facility at US$13 million, with an additional US$3.7 million for the adjacent land, which is substantially higher than its carrying value. Yet, this asset value remains unrecognized in our market valuation,” Mr. Johnson continued. “Our dual strategy of organic growth and strategic acquisitions has positioned ADM to drive continued top-line growth while improving operational efficiencies. As we move into 2025, we remain confident in our ability to accelerate expansion, strengthen our market leadership in promotional products and school uniforms, and unlock long-term value for our shareholders.” https://t.co/CaytHF158J

Sophic Client Xcyte Digital (XCYT-TSXV): Streamlined Communications experiences rapid client growth as legacy conferencing providers exit.

Streamlined Communications, an Xcyte Digital company continues to expand its reach, featuring seamless Reservationless and Operator Assisted Audio conferencing and industry leading Webcasting collaboration solutions. This enhanced suite comes at a critical time as major telecommunications providers are phasing out legacy audio-conferencing solutions, including reservationless and operator-assisted services. Recent filings with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) indicate that a major telecommunications provider plans to discontinue several business service offerings, including their Reservationless Audio Conferencing Service. According to the FCC Public Notice DA-24-1158A1, these services are set to be discontinued in 2025. “Streamlined Communications, recognizes the vital role that reliable conferencing services play in today’s fast-paced business environment,” said Colin Hutchinson, President at Streamlined Communications. “As legacy services are being phased out and global providers are discontinuing audio-conferencing solutions, we’re stepping up to offer alternatives that not only match but exceed the capabilities of traditional reservationless and operator-assisted conferencing solutions. Our new back-end integrations with leading collaboration platforms further enhance our ability to meet diverse business needs.” https://t.co/vGyT54vldf

Tech stocks take a beating from tariffs.

The stock market fell hard on Thursday following President Trump’s tariffs on goods from around the world, with major technology firms such as Meta Platforms and Amazon dropping 9% while Nvidia dropped 8%. Meta and Amazon both generate revenue from overseas merchants and advertisers whose products might suddenly become more expensive for American shoppers. Nvidia as well as other chip stocks like Broadcom, Advanced Micro Devices and Qualcomm, whose shares each fell roughly 10% Thursday, could be impacted, as servers and other computing hardware produced in China and elsewhere are subject to some of the tariffs. Other PC and server firms dropped even harder; Dell was down 16% and HP fell 15%. Apple shares fell 9% as the tariffs affected even the countries where it had shifted some of its manufacturing from China. Less-affected tech stocks included Alphabet and Microsoft, which fell 4% and 2% respectively. The tech-focused Nasdaq composite index dropped 6%. https://tinyurl.com/bdeuw6tp

M&A and IPOs worth billions stalled in 24 hours by trade war.

Billions of dollars worth of acquisitions and initial public offerings are on hold as Donald Trump’s trade war upends the global economy, twisting the knife into a dealmaking market that had already struggled to get going this year. Ticket platform StubHub Holdings Inc., fintech giant Klarna Bank AB and trading platform eToro Group Ltd. have all pressed pause on planned listings, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information. Offerings from adtech group MNTN Inc. and insurer Ategrity Specialty Holdings are also on hold, the people said. Those delaying listings at least for now include Medline Industries Inc. The medical supply company, which was acquired by Blackstone Inc., Carlyle Group Inc. and Hellman & Friedman in 2021 for US$34 billion in one of the largest leveraged buyouts of all time, was seeking to be valued at as much as US$50 billion in an IPO, Bloomberg News reported in November. Their decisions come as markets extend deep losses in the wake of Trump’s move on Wednesday to impose the steepest American tariffs in a century. The S&P 500 fell 6% Friday in its worst day since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. The two-day drubbing since Trump’s announcement wiped out $5.4 trillion in market value. “The market is justifiably reacting in an aggressive way,” said Jeremy Abelson, founder and portfolio manager at Irving Investors. “A company would be irresponsible to go out in this environment.” A senior executive working in the IPO industry said they expected all listings to be delayed for at least the next two weeks, and that companies were unlikely to launch investor roadshows amid the volatility. EToro had been scheduled to begin its IPO roadshow next week. Companies could revive their listing plans once markets settle. Klarna is still aiming to go public as soon as that happens, a person familiar with the matter said. Bloomberg News reported Friday that French building materials producer Cie. de Saint-Gobain has decided to hold off on a sale of its auto glass unit, which could have fetched as much as €2.5 billion (US$2.7 billion). And private equity firm KKR & Co. has walked away from a consortium discussing a takeover of Gerresheimer AG, the German maker of packaging for drugs and cosmetics that has a market valuation of about €2 billion. The fallout is a fresh blow to dealmakers, who’d been hoping for a banner year under Trump 2.0 only to find themselves disappointed by the uncertainty created by the president’s sweeping policy changes. https://tinyurl.com/2fkrjf49

Circle files for IPO publicly.

Crypto company Circle, the second largest stablecoin issuer, has filed publicly for an initial public offering. The company is seeking to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CRCL.” It had filed confidentially in January 2024. JPMorgan, Citigroup, Barclays, BNY Capital Markets are among its advisers. In 2024, it generated US$1.68 billion in total revenue and reserve income and US$156 million in net income. Circle issues USDC, a dollar-pegged stablecoin that has US$60 billion in market circulation, following the biggest stablecoin Tether, which has US$144 billion in circulation. Stablecoins are pegged to the dollar and are backed by Treasurys and other assets. They generally don’t pay interest to their holders. Nearly all of Circle’s revenue came from interest generated by those assets. Circle is planning to go public as Congress deliberates legislation on stablecoins, which will determine how Circle and other issuers will be regulated. https://tinyurl.com/y39pan5c

Arm pursues acquisition of Alphawave for AI chip tech.

Arm Holdings is exploring an acquisition of Alphawave, which develops and licenses chip designs, to enhance its ability to design artificial intelligence chips, Reuters reported, citing three people familiar with the matter. SoftBank-owned Arm licenses the build blocks for chip designs to prominent clients such as Apple, Qualcomm and Nvidia, which then design chips based on Arm’s intellectual property. Recently, Arm has started to design its own AI chips to boost profit margins and develop a new revenue source, even if that means competing with some of its own customers. Arm lacks the critical technology necessary for improving AI performance across chips that are linked together, which the acquisition of Alphawave could address. Alphawave is known for technology that can significantly improve the speed of data transmission between chips, known as the serializer-deserializer. The technology is the cornerstone of the custom chip designs from Broadcom and Marvell Technology, which generate billions in revenue for them. Alphawave operated a joint venture called WiseWave in China, but its joint-venture partner Wise Road Capital was placed on a U.S. blacklist last year due to national security concerns, which might complicate Arm’s acquisition efforts. https://tinyurl.com/xhupcpev

Apple shares fall the most since march 2020 on new tariffs.

Shares in Apple fell more than 9% on Thursday after the U.S. government announced sweeping new tariffs on countries including China, Vietnam and India, where Apple makes its products. It marked Apple’s largest single-day share price drop since March 2020, when the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic triggered fears of a global economic slowdown and weakened consumer spending. The decline also outpaced the broader market, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices falling 5% and 6%, respectively. Apple has spent the past eight years gradually diversifying its manufacturing base beyond China to India and Vietnam to reduce the risk of trade wars or natural disasters. The iPhone maker still makes most of its iPhones in China and only recently began making between 15% to 20% of its iPhones in India. Apple also is planning to assemble AirPods in India and has already moved some assembly of Apple Watches, iPads, HomePods, MacBooks and AirPods to Vietnam. However, the U.S. this week announced tariffs of 27% on all imports from India and 46% on Vietnam. Its tariffs on Chinese imports now stand at 54%. https://tinyurl.com/3jrn96b5

Tesla has worst quarter for deliveries since 2022.

Tesla had its worst quarter since 2022 as deliveries fell well below expectations. The company delivered 336,681 vehicles in the first quarter, down 13% from 386,810 in the first quarter of 2024. The company widely missed analyst estimates, spurring concerns the electric vehicle maker was damaged by Elon Musk’s political activities and had fallen behind other automakers. Musk’s role in slashing the federal government spurred protests at dealerships and made the company a political lightning rod. Car sales tumbled overseas, where Musk has backed right-wing candidates and President Donald Trump has threatened tariffs. Tesla shares fell then rebounded on a report by Politico that Trump told his inner circle that Musk would leave soon. Tesla bull Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, called the results, “a disaster on every metric.” In a post on X, he called it a “fork in the road movement for Tesla.” https://tinyurl.com/2fnru5nb

Microsoft pulls back on data centers from Chicago to Jakarta.

Microsoft Corp. has pulled back on data center projects around the world, suggesting the company is taking a harder look at its plans to build the server farms powering artificial intelligence and the cloud. The software company has recently halted talks for, or delayed development of, sites in Indonesia, the UK, Australia, Illinois, North Dakota and Wisconsin, according to people familiar with the situation. Microsoft is widely seen as a leader in commercializing AI services, largely thanks to its close partnership with OpenAI. Investors closely track Microsoft’s spending plans to get a sense of long-term customer demand for cloud and AI services. It’s hard to know how much of the company’s data center pullback reflects expectations of diminished demand versus temporary construction challenges, such as shortages of power and building materials. Some investors have interpreted signs of retrenchment as an indication that projected purchases of AI services don’t justify Microsoft’s massive outlays on server farms. Microsoft acknowledged making changes to its data center plans but declined to discuss most of the projects. Microsoft, which has leased excess cloud-computing capacity from CoreWeave Inc., recently backed away from a proposal to obtain more, CoreWeave Chief Executive Officer Michael Intrator said in an interview. Intrator didn’t say how many projects were affected or where they’re located but added that CoreWeave has found another buyer for the capacity. CoreWeave shares fell more than 8%. Analysts have stepped up their scrutiny of data center spending since Chinese upstart DeepSeek announced in January that it had created a competitive AI service using fewer resources than leading US companies. In the long run, new engineering techniques could mean AI will require less computing power than previously expected. Fueling the skepticism, TD Cowen analysts wrote last week that Microsoft has abandoned new data center projects in the US and Europe that would have amounted to a capacity of about 2 gigawatts of electricity, saying the moves likely represented “data center oversupply relative to its current demand forecast.” https://tinyurl.com/4cfvv55a

Amazon reportedly submits last-minute bid to acquire TikTok.

Amazon has submitted a bid to acquire all of TikTok, according to a new report from The New York Times. The last-minute bid comes as TikTok faces an April 5 deadline to shed its Chinese ownership or face a ban in the U.S. However, the parties involved in the deal talks do not appear to be taking Amazon’s bid seriously, according to The Times’ report. President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with officials to discuss the app’s fate on Wednesday. Trump said earlier this week that a deal with TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell the app will be finalized before the April 5 deadline. On Tuesday, Financial Times reported that Andreessen Horowitz is in talks to invest in TikTok as part of an Oracle-led bid that includes other American investors interested in purchasing the app. Last week, Reuters reported that private equity firm Blackstone is considering joining ByteDance’s current non-Chinese shareholders, led by Susquehanna International Group and General Atlantic, in providing fresh capital to bid for TikTok’s U.S. operations. https://tinyurl.com/2beeh53h

Apple developing agent for revamped health app.

Apple is developing a revamp of its Health app to incorporate an artificial intelligence-powered agent product to designed to replicate a doctor, Bloomberg reported. The report said Apple devices would collect data to be used by the agent to offer personalized health recommendations. It said Apple was currently training the agent helped by doctors on staff. A big focus of the app would be on food tracking. Apple has previously identified health as a major area of focus for its products, particularly its watch. https://tinyurl.com/pr3ba24y

Alibaba prepares to launch new flagship AI models.

Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group plans to start rolling out a new generation of its flagship artificial intelligence foundation models as soon as this month, according to a person with knowledge of the plan. The upcoming launch of Alibaba’s next-generation family of AI models, known as Qwen 3, will be an important test of the company’s ability to remain one of the leaders in China’s AI race. Alibaba’s latest effort comes at a time when competition has been heating up in the industry due to the rapid rise of DeepSeek, whose AI model released in January shocked the world with its high performance and low cost. Bloomberg earlier reported Alibaba’s release plan for Qwen 3, which will be the successor to the company’s existing Qwen 2.5 models. Alibaba, an e-commerce juggernaut that also operates China’s biggest cloud computing business, has been ramping up its effort to develop its own AI models. Last week, the company launched a small-size multimodal AI model that can run locally on mobile phones, tablets and laptops to process images and videos. https://tinyurl.com/3xz2w5ez

Amazon’s new AI agent will shop third-party sites for you.

Amazon is starting to test a new AI shopping agent, a feature it calls “Buy for Me,” with a subset users, the company announced in a blog post Thursday. If Amazon doesn’t sell something that users are searching for, the Buy for Me feature will display products to users that other websites are selling. Then, users can select and request to purchase one of these products without ever leaving the Amazon Shopping app. Amazon is the latest company to unveil an AI shopping agent, joining firms such as OpenAI, Google, and Perplexity, which have all showcased similar agents that can visit websites and help users make purchases. Amazon is already most people’s go-to platform for anything they’d want to purchase on the internet, but Buy for Me could allow Amazon to capture even more e-commerce business than it does today. Behind the scenes, Amazon’s AI shopping agent will visit an external website, select a product that a user requested, and fill out the user’s name, shipping address, and payment details in order to purchase it, according to Amazon. Amazon says the new agentic shopping feature is powered by its Amazon Nova AI models, in addition to Anthropic’s Claude. One of those models could be Nova Act, an AI agent Amazon unveiled earlier this week that can use websites autonomously. Amazon said in the aforementioned blog post that Buy for Me uses encryption to “securely” insert your billing information on third-party sites, such that Amazon can’t see what you’re ordering from outside its platform. This is a unique approach compared to OpenAI and Google’s agents, which require humans to fill out credit card information themselves, as well as Perplexity’s AI agent, which has a prepaid debit card to make purchases. Handing your credit card information over to AI, which is prone to hallucinations and mistakes, may give some users serious pause. In TechCrunch’s experience, AI shopping agents often take a long time to process requests, and often get stuck somewhere along the line. Amazon is basically asking users to trust that its agent won’t accidentally purchase 1,000 pairs of socks instead of 10, for example. It’s also asking that they accept less control over the shopping experience. If a customer needs to return or exchange an order, Buy for Me will direct them to the digital storefront from which the AI agent made the purchase. https://tinyurl.com/y8kcrcc2

How Meta’s upcoming US$1,000+ smart glasses with a screen will work.

Meta plans to introduce its first smart glasses with a screen by the end of this year, code-named Hypernova, with a price tag of over US$1,000 and features like hand-gesture controls and a screen for displaying photos and apps. The company is already working on a second-generation version, Hypernova 2, with a binocular display system, planned for 2027, and is also developing other smart glasses without a display, including Supernova 2, optimized for athletic use. Meta’s ultimate goal is to create true augmented reality glasses, with products like Orion and Artemis in development, but the company is still deciding whether to combine these products with Hypernova or release them separately at different price points. Meta Platforms Inc., ramping up work on a deluxe version of its popular smart glasses, plans to include hand-gesture controls and a screen for displaying photos and apps. The company intends to introduce its first glasses with a screen as early as the end of this year — a product it sees as a key step toward providing an alternative to Apple Inc.’s iPhone and other mobile devices, according to people familiar with the matter. The company’s current smart glasses, the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses, start at US$299 and have been a surprise hit. Meta will continue to sell that entry-level version and is banking on their popularity to push users toward the higher-end models. Other companies, including Amazon.com Inc., have pledged new versions of their own glasses to better compete with the social networking giant. https://tinyurl.com/5e5mbasr

Amazon targets April 9 launch of first Kuiper internet satellites.

Amazon.com said on Wednesday it plans to launch the first 27 satellites for its Project Kuiper internet network next week, pinning down a long-awaited start to the company’s plan to deploy a massive constellation that will rival Elon Musk’s Starlink system. In a statement, Amazon said it will launch the “Kuiper Atlas 1” mission on April 9 at noon EDT (1600 GMT) from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. An Atlas 5 rocket from the Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint venture, United Launch Alliance, will send the satellites to space, as part of a giant multi-launch deal Amazon signed in 2022. The mission will kick off Amazon’s full-scale deployment of Kuiper, a mesh-like network designed to top 3,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit that will provide high-speed internet globally and rival SpaceX’s Starlink. Amazon has been slower to start, but sees its dominant web services business and consumer product experience as an edge over SpaceX for attracting Kuiper customers and mass-manufacturing consumer terminals, the pizza box-sized antennas that will communicate with Kuiper satellites overhead. Amazon in 2022 booked 83 rocket launches from ULA, France’s Arianespace and Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space company, snagging the industry’s biggest ever launch deal as it prepared to begin Kuiper deployment. The company launched two prototype satellites in 2023 for tests it called successful. https://tinyurl.com/4b6e9mjh

The US Navy is taking a ‘SpaceX approach’ to underwater drones, submarine force commander says.

The US Navy has been putting new underwater drone technology to work alongside its submarines, using what a sub commander called the “SpaceX approach” to develop this technology. The focus is getting the system out there with the crews that will be using it, prompting feedback and further iterations. At a Hudson Institute panel last week, Submarine Forces Commander Vice Adm. Robert Gaucher spoke to ongoing efforts to integrate uncrewed underwater vehicles into the service. He said that the possibilities for how uncrewed vehicles can assist the service are endless. He highlighted how work with Virginia-class submarines has led to new developments in where and how the force can operate, stay hidden, and gather intelligence. UUVs can extend the range at which the Navy can conduct missions. Their varying capabilities for surveillance, as well as their smaller size, mean that the Navy can deploy them to places that may be difficult to reach with other assets. They are also attritable compared to more expensive submarines. There is potential in this tech, making fielding it of growing importance. There are challenges in this, but the Navy has seen success, particularly during the ongoing deployment of the Virginia-class submarine USS Delaware in Europe. Gaucher said that the submarine had operated alongside a Huntington Ingalls Industries-made Remus UUV 600 in a Norwegian fjord for testing. HII’s Remus drones come with a variety of depths, mission durations, and speeds. They’ve seen commercial applications for ocean exploration and research. Gaucher said that the Navy’s approach is similar to the way Elon Musk’s Space Exploration. UUVs are a priority for the Navy as it looks at how to implement emerging uncrewed systems into traditional crewed operations and missions. The US and NATO allies will experiment with underwater drones in their upcoming Dynamic Messenger exercise in September. Dynamic Messenger is a relatively new exercise focused on that technology. HII’s Duane Fotheringham, the president of uncrewed systems for the company’s Mission Technologies Development Division, said that being able to quickly upgrade UUVs like the Remus is critical to continuing to make improvements, with the vehicle payloads, energy sources, and propulsion all capable of being swapped out. https://tinyurl.com/2jhaa5zu

Roblox partners with Google on ads.

Google on Tuesday announced a new partnership with gaming company Roblox, which will allow advertisers to purchase and scale Roblox’s Rewarded Video and other immersive ad formats. That means marketers who want to reach the younger Gen Z audience that dominates the platform will be able to use Google Ad Manager to place their video ad buys, including the Rewarded Video format, Roblox says. The latter can be purchased both directly and programmatically, allowing brands and agencies to reach Roblox’s “tens of millions” of Gen Z users who are active daily on the service. For Roblox, the partnership offers more ways for game creators to monetize their efforts while also offering their players other ways to earn benefits inside their games. With the Rewarded Video ads, Roblox users watch up to 30 seconds of full-screen video ads in the Roblox games and online experience to receive the perks the game creator chooses to make available. The company says that tests of these ads saw completion rates of over 80%. Roblox also announced other partnerships in the industry, including with Cint, DoubleVerify, Integral Ad Science (IAS), Kantar, and Nielsen to help advertisers measure the impact of their ad buys. https://tinyurl.com/bddpn7v8

Zuckerberg lobbies trump to settle Antitrust lawsuit.

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg is lobbying President Donald Trump and his administration to settle a lawsuit that could force the company to sell Instagram or WhatsApp, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. That lawsuit, filed in 2020 by the Federal Trade Commission under Trump’s first administration, is scheduled to go to trial on April 14 and has started impacting operations for Meta and its executives. Zuckerberg visited the White House for the third time during this presidency on Wednesday, but some of Trump’s aides are frustrated with Meta’s lobbying and believe that it has been too aggressive, the Journal reported. A spokesperson for Meta declined to comment. Spokespeople for the White House and the FTC did not respond to requests for comment. Some big tech critics expressed concern about Zuckerberg’s lobbying efforts. “I do think that it’s fairly troubling to see an executive that’s heading up a company that’s a defendant in a major lawsuit be able to have such easy access” to the White House, said former FTC chair Lina Khan at an event hosted by Y Combinator on Wednesday. “I think it does raise questions about, are there going to be certain benefits, or value, that is conferred as a result of that access?” https://tinyurl.com/2k3dvbbd

French regulator fines Apple over data-sharing rules. 

The French competition regulator fined Apple €150 million, or around US$162 million, saying Apple had tougher requirements for data collection by outside apps than its own apps under its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework. Apple released the ATT framework inside its iOS 14.5 operating system update in April 2021, in the name of increasing privacy for its users. ATT asks users whether they will accept being tracked by mobile identifiers upon downloading an app, prompting user opt-outs that limit how much data advertisers can collect to target mobile ads and measure their effectiveness. The French regulator found that while Apple’s objective of protecting user privacy was fine, Apple’s own applications faced less of a burden than those operated by third parties. The authority also said seeing both ATT and General Data Protection Regulation compliance was unnecessarily complex for users. A spokesperson for Apple said the company was disappointed with the decision, but noted that the French regulator has not asked for changes to ATT. https://tinyurl.com/49e7nzwy

White House says it’s again closing e-commerce tariff ‘loophole’.

The Trump administration said Wednesday that it’s once again ending a trade provision that has attracted scrutiny due to companies like Temu and Shein using it to sell tariff-free Chinese goods to U.S. shoppers. Beginning May 2, packages sent to the U.S. from China and Hong Kong and valued at less than US$800 will no longer qualify for the tariff-free import provision, known as de minimis, the Trump administration said in a press release that was part of a broader package of tariff announcements. Those parcels will be subject to a duty of either 30% of their value or a flat fee of US$25 per package, which will increase to US$50 in June, the White House said. The administration said it’s also considering ending de minimis imports for parcels from Macau but did not mention other regions or countries. De minimis has been critical to the growth of Chinese e-commerce firms like Temu and Shein, and has also been used by Amazon through the low-cost Haul store it introduced late last year. In February, Trump had signed a separate executive order that abruptly banned most uses of de minimis, then paused the ban after it caused several days of chaos for e-commerce companies. The new order gives companies and U.S. authorities more time to prepare. https://tinyurl.com/5n77ytap

Visa offers Apple roughly US$100 million to take over credit card from Mastercard.

Visa has offered Apple a roughly US$100 million payment to get the tech giant’s credit card, part of a battle between the country’s biggest payment networks for the splashy Apple card. The Apple card is up for grabs because Goldman Sachs, the bank behind it, is getting out of the consumer lending world. For months, big banks including JPMorgan Chase and Synchrony Financial have been vying to take over as issuer. What hasn’t been known is the equally fierce fight playing out between the networks to win Apple, with Visa and American Express trying to unseat Mastercard MA 0.07%increase; green up pointing triangle, according to people familiar with the matter. Apple is expected to select a network for the card before it picks the bank to replace Goldman Sachs. Networks provide the plumbing that transmit information between the banks that issue consumers’ cards and the merchants’ banks. Visa, the largest network, has made an aggressive pitch to win the card, including offering the kind of upfront payment to Apple that’s normally reserved for the biggest card programs, the people said. Visa offered a similar payment when Costco was selecting its network about a decade ago, The Wall Street Journal reported. American Express is also in the mix, trying to become both the issuer and network of the Apple card, the people said. Goldman had approached Amex to gauge its interest in taking over the card in 2023, the Journal earlier reported. Mastercard is also fiercely trying to keep its role as the network on this card, the people added. https://tinyurl.com/29wycvk9

Sophic Client Cybeats Technologies Corp. (CYBT-CSE,CYBCF-OTCQB) – SBOMs Away! – Why software supply chain security has become a top priority.

Modern software constantly changes as new features are added, bugs are fixed, and vulnerabilities are patched. Most people don’t realize that modern software isn’t built from scratch—it’s assembled from many smaller software components, often developed by third parties, i.e. utilizing open-source software. These third-party open-source components are now featured in roughly 97% of software products, boosting innovation but also increasing complexity and risk. Unfortunately, third-party components often receive limited security oversight, making them vulnerable to rapid exploitation when issues emerge, particularly within widely used applications. To counteract this lack of oversight, visibility and a deep understanding of software supply chain security are paramount. A Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) acts like a detailed ingredient list, enabling organizations to track, monitor, and secure each piece effectively. The threat from software that carries vulnerabilities is real. It can lead to data breaches, operational disruptions, and even threats to human safety in critical sectors like healthcare, energy, and industrial automation. Comprehensive software monitoring is now a vital security requirement. The widespread adoption of open-source software has accelerated innovation and reduced time to market for digital products, simultaneously increasing exposure to risks in this software, such as vulnerabilities and supply chain adversarial attacks. A single compromised component can endanger numerous products, highlighting the shift of the attack and their strategic approach of finding one vulnerability in a popular open-source software package and impacting the complete market. This emphasizes the growing importance of SBOMs in cybersecurity practices. https://t.co/R3rF9kcN8S

Sophic Client Cybeats Technologies Corp. (CYBT-CSE,CYBCF-OTCQB) – The invisible grid: Cybeats secures the software supply chain for critical infrastructure.

In Sophic Capital’s SBOMs Away!, we discussed security and privacy issues related to software development and shared recent significant cybersecurity events that exploited software vulnerabilities. We examined how modern software is increasingly built from open-source and third-party components—between 70% to 90% of software is used with open source and free elements. This type of design is prominent. Worse, 95% of software security weakness could originate from open source tools. In this report, we introduce Sophic Capital client Cybeats Technologies Corp., a global leader in software supply chain security. Cybeats is revolutionizing the handling of vulnerabilities from open source and third-party software components—which make up over 80% of modern applications—onto a single platform. With real-time dynamic information across large organizations, Cybeats empowers customers to better identify cybersecurity risks within individual software components and automates the remediation process. https://tinyurl.com/42px7mnh