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Daniel Ek, CEO of Swedish music streaming service Spotify, gestures as he makes a speech at a press conference in Tokyo on September 29, 2016.

Toru Yamanaka | AFP | Getty Images

Spotify said Wednesday it will update its iPhone app in Europe to allow users to buy in-app subscriptions and audiobooks.

In most regions, Apple’s App Store rules prohibit companies such as Spotify from billing users directly within the app. Apple says app makers should instead use Apple’s App Store billing service, which takes a cut of up to 30%.

But a new law in Europe, called the Digital Markets Act, goes into effect in March, and will require companies it calls “gatekeepers,” such as Apple, to open up their online services to allow smaller competitors access. In Apple’s case, it requires the company to allow third-party developers to distribute iPhone apps outside the App Store, as well as bill their customers directly.

Apple hasn’t yet revealed how it will change its software and policies to comply with the DMA, although it said it would do so in SEC filings. In 2021, Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized the law while it was being debated, saying that it would “not be in the best interest of users.”

The changes Spotify announced Wednesday can be seen as a stake in the ground showing how it interprets the DMA before Apple reveals its implementation. Spotify was heavily involved in lobbying European Union antitrust regulators in favor of this outcome. It is the first major example of how a popular app plans to take advantage of the DMA.

“For years, even in our own app, Apple had these rules where we couldn’t tell you about offers, how
much something costs, or even where or how to buy it. We know, pretty nuts,” Spotify wrote in a blog post. “The DMA means that we’ll finally be able to share details about deals, promotions, and better-value payment options in the EU.”

Spotify said it will use the new regulation to allow users to subscribe to Spotify Premium, allow users to buy audiobooks, and run promotional campaigns, all within the app. The company will also allow iPhone users to directly download other Spotify apps from its website, such as Spotify for Artists, it said.

The move is unlikely to immediately threaten Apple’s services business, which includes the fees from the App Store and totaled $85 billion in sales in the 2023 fiscal year. Europe is a relatively small market, and Apple believes that its App Store can compete through security and convenience. But it is a sign that Apple’s margins on software distribution continue to be under fire from regulators around the world.

“However, EU is just ~7% of App Store spend, and our survey work shows Apple remains well-positioned to compete, with consumers overwhelmingly preferring App Store’s unmatched privacy, ease of use, and seamless OS integration,” Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring wrote in a note in December.

Spotify had already shifted away from using Apple’s billing for subscriptions years ago, with less than 1% of users paying Apple instead of subscribing directly. But changes from the DMA in Europe could help it expand margins and sign up new subscribers more easily.

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‘China’s Nvidia’ Moore Threads surges over 400% on trading debut after $1.1 billion listing

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'China's Nvidia' Moore Threads surges over 400% on trading debut after .1 billion listing

An illustration photo shows Moore Threads logo in a smartphone in Suqian, Jiangsu Province, China on October 30, 2025.

Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images

Shares of Moore Threads, a Beijing-based graphics processing unit (GPU) manufacturer often referred to as “China’s Nvidia,” soared by more than 400% on its debut in Shanghai following its $1.1 billion listing.

The stock is currently trading at 584.98 yuan, over five times its IPO price of 114.28 yuan.

Moore Threads’ IPO was led by CITIC Securities, which served as the lead underwriter for the offering. The joint book runners on the deal were BOC International Securities, China Merchants Securities, and GF Securities.

The company, which is not yet profitable, said in its listing that the IPO proceeds are needed to accelerate several core research and development initiatives, including new-generation self-developed AI training and inference GPU chips. A portion of the funds will also be used to supplement working capital.

Moore Thread’s successful IPO comes despite it being placed under U.S. sanctions in 2023, which limited its access to advanced chip manufacturing processes and foundries.

The firm is representative of a growing cast of Chinese companies developing AI processors amid Beijing’s efforts to reduce reliance on American chip designer Nvidia.

Other companies in the space include tech giants like Huawei, as well as more specialized players like Cambricon — a firm whose shares on the Shanghai exchange have surged more than 100% year to date.

Washington has maintained varying export restrictions on Nvidia for years, preventing it from selling its most advanced AI chips to China. More recently, Beijing has also stepped in to block imports of Nvidia’s chips as it tries to encourage domestic alternatives like Moore Threads.

Newer players like Enflame Technology and Biren Technology have also entered the space, aiming to capture a share of the billions in GPU demand no longer served by Nvidia. Chinese regulators have also been clearing more semiconductor IPOs in their drive for greater AI independence.

What to know about Moore Threads, 'China’s Nvidia'

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SoFi’s stock drops on $1.5 billion share sale announcement

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SoFi's stock drops on .5 billion share sale announcement

Anthony Noto, CEO of SoFi, speaking with CNBC at the annual Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 10th, 2025.

David A. Grogan | CNBC

SoFi shares fell almost 6% in extended trading Thursday after the fintech company announced a $1.5 billion stock offering.

The company, which provides online loans and other banking services, said in a press release that it will use the proceeds for “general corporate purposes, including but not limited to enhancing capital position, increasing optionality and enabling further efficiency of capital management, and funding incremental growth and business opportunities.”

The announced offering comes after SoFi’s market cap almost doubled so far in 2025. The stock price is up more than sixfold since the end of 2022.

A company’s share price often drops on a planned share sale as the offering dilutes the value of existing holders’ stakes.

In its third-quarter earnings release in late October, SoFi reported revenue growth of 38% from a year earlier to $961.6 million, while net income more than doubled to $139.4 million. The company reported cash and equivalents of $3.25 billion.

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Apple announces departure of general counsel and policy chief

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Apple announces departure of general counsel and policy chief

Lisa Jackson, senior vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives at Apple Inc., speaks during the TechCrunch Disrupt 2017 in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Apple’s general counsel, Kate Adams, and its vice president for environment, policy, and social initiatives, Lisa Jackson, are retiring from the company, the iPhone maker announced on Thursday.

Jennifer Newstead, Meta’s chief legal officer, will become Apple’s new general counsel in March, and Jackson’s government affairs staff will report to her starting late next year, Apple said.

The two executives, who both reported to Apple CEO Tim Cook, are the latest members of senior leadership to exit the company. In recent weeks, Apple’s head software designer said he was leaving to join Meta, while Apple said its AI chief was retiring, along with its chief operating officer.

Adams joined Apple from Honeywell and became general counsel in 2017, and oversaw legal matters including litigation, global security, and the company’s privacy initiatives. Under Adams, Apple grappled with rising antitrust scrutiny and regulation around the world, including major lawsuits in the U.S. over the iPhone App Store’s restrictions and fees.

Jackson joined Apple in 2013, and led the company’s diversity programs as well as much of its policy work in Washington, D.C. Before that, she spent four years as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a position she was appointed to by President Barack Obama.

With her emphasis in areas like social justice and renewable energies, Jackson’s job lost relevance during the second Trump administration, which has publicly denounced diversity, equity and inclusion programs and slammed efforts to combat climate change.

Apple has faced increased tariffs from the Trump administration, and Cook has met with President Donald Trump several times to tout the company’s American manufacturing plans as part of an effort to influence policy.

Jackson was instrumental in Apple’s launch of its Racial Equity and Justice Initiative following the 2020 murder of George Floyd. She then helped expand the company’s equity and justice efforts to other countries, including the U.K., Mexico and New Zealand, according to a report published in 2023.

“At Apple, we pledge that our resolve will not fade,” Jackson wrote in a section of that report. “We won’t delay action. We will work, each and every day, on the urgent task of advancing equity.”

Jackson also worked on Apple’s environmental image. Her job “focused on reducing greenhouse gases, protecting air and water quality, preventing exposure to toxic contamination, and expanding outreach to communities on environmental issues,” according to her bio on the company’s website. She discussed Apple’s plans to become carbon neutral at iPhone launch events.

Jackson also accompanied Cook to several official functions in Washington, including state dinners.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Apple Vice President Lisa Jackson arrive at the White House for a state dinner on April 10, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Tasos Katopodis | Getty Images

Newstead, who will become Apple’s top lawyer, has overseen Meta’s legal and regulatory matters pertaining to its family of apps like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp since 2019. A Meta spokesperson said Newstead will be staying through the end of the year and that the company is actively searching for her replacement.

Prior to Meta, Newstead served as a Trump-appointed legal advisor at the State Department during the president’s first administration in 2019. 

Before that, she was a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell and a general counsel of the White House Office of Management and Budget, among other roles in the U.S. government.

CNBC’s Jonathan Vanian contributed to this story.

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