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News of the day for Feb. 28, 2023

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Danial Clark
Danial Clark
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Danial Clark is an award-winning executive producer, and previously oversaw business, political and general news as a senior producer at Fox Business, Reuters, Bloomberg TV and CNBC.
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Published February 28, 2023
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Snap and Meta shares climb on announcements about expanded AI offerings, Robinhood says the SEC is investigating its cryptocurrency business, and more. Here’s what investors need to know today.

1. Snap, Meta Announce Expanded AI Offerings

Meta Platforms is pushing deeper into the artificial intelligence (AI) business with new AI products for Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post that Meta will create a new product group focused on generative AI, which will allow computers to generate text, draw pictures, and create other media that resemble human output. Snapchat also announced it is launching its own ChatGPT-powered chatbot called My AI starting this week.

2. SEC Investigates Robinhood's Crypto Business

Robinhood Markets said the SEC is investigating its cryptocurrency business. According to a filing, Robinhood said it received a subpoena from the SEC in December, the latest signal that the regulator is drilling deeper into virtual asset platforms.

3. FTC Expected to Challenge ICE's Bid for Black Knight

The FTC is reportedly expected to challenge Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE's) $13 billion deal for mortgage software company Black Knight. The agency has been scrutinizing the deal for months amid concerns from some U.S. lawmakers the pricing power of ICE would gain in the mortgage data market that lenders rely on and could lead to higher costs for consumers.

4. Altria Group Is in Advanced Talks to Buy NJOY

Marlboro maker Altria Group is reportedly in advanced talks to buy e-cigarette startup NJOY for at least $2.75 billion. Altria is looking to divest its stake in e-cigarette maker Juul Labs. 

5. Broadcom Deal to Buy VMWare Draws Regulatory Scrutiny

U.S. chip company Broadcom is set to receive an EU antitrust warning about the possible anti-competitive effects of its proposed $61 billion bid for cloud computing company VMWare in the coming weeks. The European Commission opened an investigation in December, saying the deal would allow Broadcom to restrict competition in the market for certain hardware components that interact with VMWare’s software.

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  1. Facebook. “Mark Zuckerberg Posts.”

  2. Wall Street Journal. “Facebook Parent, Snap Embrace AI Technology That Powers ChatGPT Chatbot.”

  3. Bloomberg. “Robinhood Subpoenaed by SEC Over Brokerage’s Crypto Business.”

  4. Politico. “Feds looking to block $13 billion mortgage software deal.”

  5. Wall Street Journal. “Altria in Talks to Buy Vaping Startup NJOY for at Least $2.75 Billion, Divest Its Stake in Juul.”

  6. Reuters. “Exclusive: Broadcom faces EU antitrust warning on $61 bln VMware deal - sources.”

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