NEWSWORTHY
Just stop talking. After a few too many controversies, Google is tamping down political discussions among its employees. In new community guidelines, the company says workers should "avoid conversations that are disruptive to the workplace or otherwise violate Google's workplace policies."
Just stop talking, the sequel. Tech stocks were particularly hurt on Friday by President Trump's tweet that he was ordering all American companies out of China. AMD lost 7%, Nvidia, Apple, and Qualcomm 5%, Intel and IBM 4%. And what happens on Monday is anybody's guess, as stock futures gyrated wildly before the market opened on competing tweets from Trump and Chinese officials about the state of trade talks. Also, Qualcomm is bouncing back 2% pre-market, as a federal appeals court on Friday partially stayed a lower court ruling against the company in the antitrust case filed by the Federal Trade Commission.
Out to pasture. A few years ago, the question was who wouldn't have a mobile wallet app and/or phone pay service. Now we're in the consolidation phase. Mega-bank JP Morgan Chase is killing its mobile pay app, Chase Pay.
No binge for you. Some more details have leaked about Disney's upcoming streaming service, some appealing, some less so. The $7-a-month Disney Plus service will allow four simultaneous sign ons and include 4K HDR video quality, CNET reports. But episodes of original series will be dribbed and drabbed out weekly, not all at once, Netflix-style.
Shelf stocking shenanigans. An investigation by the Wall Street Journal of toys and other items listed on Amazon's web site found thousands for sale by third party sellers that were improperly labeled, had been deemed unsafe, or were banned by federal regulators. Amazon said it moves quickly to protect customers when concerns arise about items listed for sale. In other Amazon controversies, major book publishers including Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster sued the company on Friday for copyright infringement over a new captioning service for Audible audiobooks that relies on an A.I. program to generate text in real time. Audible said the captioning is an educational feature designed to improve literacy and "is not and was never intended to be a book."
Regifting. VMware is indeed acquiring its sister Dell Technologies company Pivotal Software for $11.71 per share, as we reported on Friday. But what we missed is that $11.71 is the blended price being paid for all share classes. Holders of Class A shares from Pivotal's IPO last year will get $15, the same price charged in the IPO, not a penny less.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Without much fanfare or magazine cover story treatment, e-commerce service Shopify has become a quiet tech superstar. The service behind some of the biggest names in social network-powered shopping (like Kylie Jenner), Shopify's stock price is up 176% this year and its $42 billion market cap has surpassed those of much more famous e-commerce peers eBay, Square, Wayfair, and Pinterest. Tim Bradshaw of the Financial Times talked to Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke about what's fed the Ottawa-based company's success.
"There was no 'powered by Shopify' anywhere," said Mr Lütke, who started what would become Shopify in 2004 as a side-project of his online snowboard store. "We built a brand behind other people's brands."
Shopify's absence from the Silicon Valley spotlight has been by design. Germany-born Mr Lütke has long resisted the San Francisco Bay Area's gravitational pull, calling the costly fight for talent and property there "one of the most pure examples of groupthink gone wrong". "I'm flabbergasted why anyone would ever consider starting a company in that area at this point," he said.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Google and Dell Technologies' New Chromebook Is Designed for Business Users By Jonathan Vanian
No Humans Needed: Chinese Company Uses AI to Read the News, Books By Alyssa Newcomb
Riot Games Settles Sex Harassment, Discrimination Lawsuit By Lisa Marie Segarra
Mastercard CEO: How to Make the Digital Economy Work for Everyone By Ajay Banga
Relocating for a Job? 5 Things to Consider By Anne Fisher
VMware Is Betting Data Center Technology's Future Involves Google-Created Software By Jonathan Vanian
Show Swapping Is TV's New Star By Radhika Marya
BEFORE YOU GO
Star architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed some of the most iconic structures of the 20th Century. I didn't realize quite how many, however. Photographer Andrew Pielage is trying to photograph every still-standing Wright building. How many is that? 431. As of this month, Pielage has only captured 68, he tells Fortune. Better get busy.
This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Aaron Pressman. Find past issues, and sign up for other Fortune newsletters.
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