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Sears CEO Seeks to Buy the Retailer’s More Valuable Parts

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, New York Times

Sears CEO Seeks to Buy the Retailer’s More Valuable Parts

The chief executive of Sears is its largest shareholder and a major lender to the company. Now, he wants to be its savior, after the retailer tried — unsuccessfully — to find buyers for some of its more valuable brands. Edward S. Lampert said the hedge fund he controls would be willing to buy Sears’ real estate holdings, its appliance-parts business and the Kenmore appliances brand, among other assets. The proposed deal, outlined by Lampert to the Sears board in a letter released Monday, would infuse the company with new funds as it tries to pay down billions in debt.

Privacy Rules May Help Internet Giants

In Europe and the United States, the conventional wisdom is that regulation is needed to force Silicon Valley’s digital giants to respect people’s online privacy. But new rules may serve to strengthen Facebook’s and Google’s hegemony and extend their lead on the internet. That could begin playing out next month, when Europe enacts new regulations that prioritize people’s data privacy. The laws, which require tech companies to ask for users’ consent for their data, are likely to hand Google and Facebook an advantage. That’s because wary consumers are more prone to trust recognized names with their information than unfamiliar newcomers.

Apple’s Deal for Shazam Is Delayed in Europe Over Data Concerns

If data is the most valuable currency of the digital economy, at what point does a company have so much that it becomes unfair? That’s a question antitrust experts are asking themselves as the world’s biggest technology companies harvest more information about people and businesses. On Monday, European regulators pushed the idea forward, announcing an investigation into Apple’s proposed acquisition of the song-identification app Shazam over concerns the iPhone maker would get access to data on competitors like Spotify. Shazam has become a valuable source of data, giving music industry executives insight into what songs and artists are performing well.

Halliburton Writes Off Remaining $312 Million Invested in Venezuela

Halliburton, the global oil service company, announced Monday that it had written off its remaining investment of $312 million in Venezuela, as oil production in the politically polarized and virtually bankrupt country continues to plummet. The move had been expected because the state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, known as PDVSA, had for years been falling behind on paying its bills from companies that maintain and operate its oil and gas wells. Daily oil production in Venezuela, the country with the world’s largest reserves, has plummeted by 200,000 barrels since late last year, to its lowest level in 30 years.

Google’s Parent, Flush With Cash, Bets on a Future Beyond Ads

Alphabet, Google’s parent company, makes nearly 90 percent of its money from selling advertising on the internet. But Alphabet’s financial results for the first quarter of 2018, which were announced Monday, showed that the company is accelerating its efforts to diversify. Alphabet has made investments in areas like self-driving cars and online computer services for businesses for years, but spending in those areas was up dramatically in the first quarter. The company’s capital expenditures, which included installing undersea cables and the construction of new data centers, were $7.7 billion — more than triple the same period last year.

YouTube Says Computers Are Catching Problem Videos

The vast majority of videos removed from YouTube toward the end of last year for violating the site’s content guidelines had first been detected by machines instead of humans, the Google-owned company said Monday. YouTube said it took down 8.28 million videos during the fourth quarter of 2017, and about 80 percent of those videos had initially been flagged by artificially intelligent computer systems. The new data highlighted the significant role machines are taking in policing the service as it faces increased scrutiny over the spread of conspiracy videos, fake news and violent content from extremist organizations.

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