TOP NEWS
China Talks
There's a possible breakthrough in the U.S.-China trade talks. According to China's Commerce Ministry, the two sides have agreed in principle to a phased rollback of existing tariffs on one another, as a precursor to a limited trade agreement. U.S. futures are up as a result. CNBC
Twitter Spies
Two former Twitter employees used their platform access to spy on Saudi dissidents on behalf of that country's regime, according to a criminal complaint. The Justice Department alleges that "Saudi agents mined Twitter's internal systems for personal information about known Saudi critics and thousands of other Twitter users." CNN
Political Ads
Google is reportedly considering changing its political-advertising policy, though it's not clear how. The issue has already caused ructions at Facebook and Twitter, the latter of which has opted for a straight ban. Google recently ran the same Trump campaign ad, including unsubstantiated claims about Joe Biden and Ukraine, that sparked a debate over Facebook's political-ad policy. Wall Street Journal
Sexual Misconduct
And more Google news: Its parent Alphabet is investigating how the company dealt with multiple sexual harassment and misconduct claims. The internal probe includes the case of chief legal officer David Drummond, who has been accused of breaking company policy by having an extramarital affair with a subordinate. Fortune
Consumer Privacy in Retail
Consumers are becoming more privacy aware and it's time to define a new set of standards. Findings from Deloitte's Privacy Survey show that retailers who focus on consumer privacy are poised to create more meaningful data, enhance consumer engagement, and reduce risk exposure.
Read more
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Airbnb IPO
Investors are scrambling to buy indirect stakes (via special purpose vehicles) in Airbnb ahead of its planned IPO next year, and are valuing the home-rental platform at up to $42 billion. Airbnb's valuation at its last fundraising round, in 2017, was $31 billion. Financial Times
Bill's Regret
Bill Gates wishes everyone was using Windows Mobile rather than Android these days, and claims that would be the case—had Microsoft not been distracted by its antitrust woes at the time smartphones were becoming a thing. "I screwed that up because of the distraction," he said, also revealing that Microsoft's tardiness had seen Motorola opt for something other than Windows Mobile (presumably Android) on a key handset back then. The Verge
British Steel
British Steel may be bought out of insolvency by China's Jungye Group, following the breakdown of talks with Turkey's Ataer. Around 5,000 direct and 20,000 indirect jobs are on the line here. BBC
Savers' Rewards
A new online bank called HMBradley will reward its customers for good saving behavior, giving them an interest rate of 3% if they save a fifth of their income each month. CEO Zach Bruhnke: "Every challenger bank is the same and offer similar hooks like 'get paid early' or 'don't pay a fee.' They're all focused on getting you to swipe your debit card, while we're after people who want to save." Fortune
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.
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