Alibaba Group Holding (“Alibaba”), a Chinese multinational corporation, which provides internet infrastructure, e-commerce, online financial, and internet content services, has acquired German start-up data analysis company, Data Artisans (“Artisans”) [1]. (Reuters, Bloomberg). Alibaba has been called the Chinese “Amazon” and is currently the world's fifth-largest internet company by revenue. (Yahoo Finance). Artisans, which was founded in 2014 by Kostas Tzoumas and Stephan Ewen, is attributed with creating Apache Flink, an open source stream processing framework for high-performance, scalable, and accurate real-time applications. (Ververica). The Apache Flink application essentially analyzes large quantities of data as it comes in, rather than once it is saved, providing for a more efficient stream processing method. (Stephan Scheuer, Handelsblatt).

A settlement agreement has been reached regarding the SEC Investigation of Elon Musk and his infamous Tweet stating that he was taking Tesla private. The tweet created an array of problems for the company since its publication. Under the settlement agreement, both Tesla and Musk will each pay a $20 million dollar fine and Musk will resign as Tesla’s Chairman for three years in order to resolve other pending charges arising from this incident. (Munsif Vengattil, Business Insider). The $20 million dollar fine assessed to Tesla was not for fraud, however, but rather, for the company’s failure to have any procedures or disclosure controls over Musk’s communication practices, i.e. his Twitter account. (Kirsten Korosec, TechCrunch). As a result of Musk’s resignation, Tesla will have to appoint two new independent directors to its board. (SEC Press Release). Nevertheless, despite the settlement agreement and the backlash that ensued over his Tweet, Musk will remain as Tesla’s Chief Executive Officer and more importantly, he will not have to admit or deny the allegations of the lawsuit.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) held a roundtable on November 15 to discuss whether the SEC’s current proxy voting rules and procedures should be updated. (Chairman Jay Clayton, SEC Announcement). According to the announcement, the evidence and testimony presented at the roundtable will aid SEC staffers in making their recommendations about what changes should be made. (Andrew Ramonas, Bloomberg Law). The roundtable is scheduled to discuss several topics, including the voting process, retail shareholder participation, shareholder proposals, proxy advisory firms, technology and innovation, and other actions. (Chairman Jay Clayton, SEC Announcement).

On August 7, Elon Musk made an abrupt announcement regarding his plan to take Tesla private. Mr. Musk claimed that this Twitter announcement came after he had “secured” funding from the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund. (Ben Bain and Matt Robinson, Bloomberg). After the announcement, Tesla’s shares rose in value to over $381 per share, from $342 (the closing price on August 6). (Mark Matousek, Business Insider). Nevertheless, the share price dropped dramatically over the next few weeks to as low as $263 on September 7.

An initial coin offering (ICO) is a capital raising mechanism whereby companies sell bitcoins to investors or buyers in exchange for funds. (Usman Chohan, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs): Risks, Regulation, and Accountability). An ICO is different from traditional capital raises. Rather than selling shares of stock in a company, an ICO offers digital currencies or cryptocurrencies. In addition, most ICOs do not offer equity or a stake in the company’s projects. The concept of using ICOs to raise capital has grown exponentially in recent years as they pose a cost-efficient way of conducting transactions with little regulation. ICOs, however, also pose a greater risk of fraud due to their place in the unregulated market.