Good morning. Join us on Dec. 4 for the DealBook Summit. Andrew will host a series of conversations with newsmakers including Sundar Pichai, the C.E.O. of Google; Ken Griffin, the C.E.O. of Citadel; and Sara Nelson, the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants union. Apply to attend in person here. In today’s newsletter, we look at whether Google will be forced to split up. Also, business warns about Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown; the Trump trade sends crypto skyrocketing; and a venture capital firm takes the temperature of Europe’s tech scene. (Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here.)
A parting antitrust shot by Biden’s enforcersBefore the Biden administration’s antitrust leaders step down, they’re taking their final shots at Big Tech. That will reportedly include an effort to break up Google as a consequence of the Justice Department’s successful competition lawsuit against the company. A forthcoming request to force the sale of the Chrome browser, according to Bloomberg, would be one of the most sweeping competition demands in years. But it will also be a test of the second Trump administration’s own antitrust agenda. Chrome is a crucial part of Google’s business. The industry’s dominant web browser — it controls about 61 percent of the U.S. market, according to Bloomberg — is a potent data-collection portal, steering people to the company’s search engine. That gives Google the ability to track users when they are signed in, and can be used to for targeted ads. Chrome has also become a gateway for Google’s A.I. services, including its Gemini chatbot, which some say could eventually follow user activity across the web. The Justice Department decided against requesting the divestiture of Google’s Android smartphone operating system, Bloomberg reports. But it wants the company to stop bundling it with services including search and the Google Play app store. If successful, the split would cement a crucial legacy for Biden’s antitrust team. It’s unclear how much of the aggressive approach promoted by Lina Khan of the F.T.C. and Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department will survive. A Chrome divestiture would achieve the kind of corporate breakup that regulators failed to force upon Microsoft two decades ago. The potential request drew skepticism from industry watchers. Eric Newcomer, a tech reporter, wrote that such a divestiture could actually strengthen other tech giants: “Chrome is the main thing keeping me from being totally locked into the Apple ecosystem on my Mac. It is also a counter to Microsoft on PC.” Shares in Alphabet, Google’s parent company, were down only slightly in premarket trading today, suggesting that investors aren’t worried yet. Donald Trump’s new approach to antitrust is a wild card. While the federal lawsuit against Google began in his first administration, the president-elect has said that he opposed breaking up the company. Google’s reply to the report — that such a move would “harm consumers, developers and American technological leadership at precisely the moment it is most needed” — is aimed at appealing to Trump’s America-first brand. But Trump’s regulatory picks, including Matt Gaetz as attorney general and Brendan Carr as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, have said they would crack down on tech giants, making it unclear whether they would want to reverse course.
Walmart profits grow. Just in: The retailing giant raised its sales outlook for the year, after a strong quarter fueled by surging e-commerce activity and robust demand from higher-income consumers. Shares in the company, a bellwether for the economy, gained in premarket trading. Hong Kong jails pro-democracy activists as it pitches for global investment. A court sentenced 45 campaigners to up to 10 years in prison, for organizing or taking part in a legislative primary in 2020 after Beijing imposed a broad national security law. The move underscores concerns about the rule of law in Hong Kong as Chinese officials woo foreign investors, including top Wall Street executives, at an event this week. Nippon Steel pledges not to import metal to win over U.S. Steel workers. The Japanese industrial giant said that it wouldn’t bring steel produced overseas to the United States, in a bid to address concerns by American workers that the $14.1 billion transaction would endanger their jobs. A senior Nippon Steel executive has flown to the United States to make the case for the deal, hoping to win approval before Donald Trump, who has publicly opposed the sale, takes office. Trump takes on immigrationDonald Trump promised a zero-tolerance approach to undocumented immigrants, winning support from voters and some major backers, including Elon Musk. The president-elect now says he plans to invoke a national emergency and use the military to carry out mass deportations. But some business leaders warn that such a move could prompt labor shortages and price increases, and disrupt legal immigration. Detention camps and mass raids are part of Trump’s deportation plans. “TRUE!!!” he wrote on Truth Social, his social media network, in response to a conservative activist flagging reports of the proposals. During the 2024 campaign, Stephen Miller, Trump’s top immigration adviser, told The Times that money could be redirected from the military budget to build facilities to hold people awaiting deportation. Federal agents, local police officers and National Guard soldiers could be redeployed to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deal with unauthorized immigrants. The worry is that the plan could hit corporate profits and hurt consumers. Industries, including the agricultural, manufacturers, hotels and restaurant sectors, often rely on undocumented or temporary workers because they can’t get Americans to do the work. Some companies are hiring lawyers to audit the legal status of employees or to prepare staff for unannounced visits by immigration officials, The Financial Times reports. Trump’s first term could hold clues to how he’ll proceed. Musk — whose own immigration status early in his career has come under scrutiny — and other Silicon Valley backers today want highly-skilled foreign workers. And Trump has promised that he has heard their pleas. But the issuance of new visas and work permits slowed to a crawl during his first term: Average wait times increased by almost half from 2016 to 2019, according to one legal industry group. Any push on undocumented immigrants will face a fight. Many countries might not be willing to accept forced returnees. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the federal government yesterday, demanding information on how expedited deportations would take place. And Democrats warned that using the military in this way would be illegal. The Trump bump for crypto keeps goingBitcoin is gaining again this morning, extending a volatile post-Election Day rally that has pushed the market value of all cryptocurrencies above $3 trillion. That rise has stoked investor hopes that the Trump administration will continue to lift their industry — and reportedly spurred some curious deal making by the president-elect’s own social media company. Trump Media & Technology Group is in talks to buy most of Bakkt, an unprofitable crypto trading platform, according to The Financial Times. The potential all-stock deal would take advantage of Trump Media’s soaring share price — it has more than doubled since late September, as many investors began betting on a Trump election victory — and seemingly cash in on the enthusiasm for digital currencies. Trump has ties to Bakkt. Its former C.E.O. is Kelly Loeffler, a former Republican senator of Georgia who is on his inauguration committee. (Loeffler’s husband is Jeff Sprecher, the C.E.O. of Bakkt’s current majority owner, Intercontinental Exchange, and a major Republican donor.) Crypto supporters have high hopes for Trump, who has personally invested in digital currencies and whose election was partly powered by support from the industry. Bulls are daring to dream of $100,000 Bitcoin, as well as more far out possibilities including the creation of a strategic Bitcoin reserve. But does this potential deal make sense? The fortunes of social media and crypto have become increasingly intertwined, as online hype has helped stoke interest in digital currencies. Yet Bakkt has never turned a quarterly profit, and this year faced delisting.
A decade of growth, and challenges, for European techOver the past decade, the venture capital firm Atomico has tracked the evolution of Europe’s technology and start-up scene. In its latest annual survey, Atomico takes stock of how far the ecosystem has grown — and the challenges still holding it back, including regulatory concerns and access to later-stage capital. Europe has grown significantly by several measures:
European companies are becoming more ambitious. A decade ago, the continent’s most prominent tech companies were limited to a few examples, such as Spotify and the chip designer Arm. Now they include big fintech companies — like Klarna (which has filed to go public in the United States), Revolut and Wise — as well as Mistral, a fast-growing artificial intelligence company. But Europe still faces headwinds, Tom Wehmeier, an Atomico partner and the creator of the survey, told DealBook. Some of them are also affecting U.S. start-ups, including a paucity of I.P.O.s and sales that allow employees to cash out and venture capital firms to realize profits. Others, however, are more Europe-specific:
“None of these individually is insurmountable, but we need new ways to tackle these issues,” Wehmeier said. We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.
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