Apple pulls Meta’s WhatsApp, Threads from China App Store

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2 years ago

April 19, 2024

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Apple CEO Tim Cook looks on following a conversation on mental health, during a spousal program on the last day of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Week at Apple Park in San Francisco, California, on November 17, 2023.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images

Apple on Friday said it pulled several messaging apps like Meta‘s WhatsApp and Threads from the App Store in China after the nation’s government ordered the removal, citing security concerns.

The move further escalates tensions between the U.S. and China over technology and other policies. In recent days, Congress has been looking to fast-track legislation to push TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest the social media app. The House could vote on a new bill as soon as Saturday, and U.S. President Joe Biden has said he will sign it into law if it reaches his desk.

“We are obligated to follow the laws in the countries where we operate, even when we disagree,” Apple said in a statement. “The Cyberspace Administration of China ordered the removal of these apps from the China storefront based on their national security concerns.”

Other messaging platforms like Signal and Telegram were also removed from China’s App Store.

Logos of social network Threads, WhatsApp and Facebook are displayed on a personal computer in L’Aquila, Italy, on July 6, 2023.

Nurphoto | Getty Images

The strained relationship between the two countries has also pushed Apple to try and diversify its supply chain outside of China. The company has been expanding its manufacturing operations in other nations like India and Vietnam.

China has a long history of restricting access to content from the U.S. online, but some platforms like WhatsApp and Threads have historically been permitted through Apple’s App Store. These platforms are not as popular with Chinese users as others like WeChat, but their removal reduces the number of ways they can communicate with people outside of the country.

Meta directed CNBC to Apple for comment. Signal and Telegram did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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ServiceNow in talks to acquire cybersecurity startup Armis in potential $7 billion deal, Bloomberg reports

Published

4 hours ago

December 14, 2025

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ServiceNow in talks to acquire cybersecurity startup Armis in potential billion deal, Bloomberg reports

Software company ServiceNow is in advanced talks to buy cybersecurity startup Armis, which was last valued at $6.1 billion, Bloomberg reported.

The deal, which could reach $7 billion in value, would be ServiceNow’s largest acquisition, the outlet said, citing people familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.

The acquisition could be announced as soon as this week, but could still fall apart, according to the report.

Armis and ServiceNow did not immediately return a CNBC request for comment.

Armis, which helps companies secure and manage internet-connected devices and protect them against cyber threats, raised $435 million in a funding round just over a month ago and told CNBC about its eventual plans for an IPO.

Armis CEO Yevgeny Dibrov and CTO Nadir Izrael.

Courtesy: Armis

CEO and co-founder Yevgeny Dibrov said Armis was aiming for a public listing at the end of 2026 or early 2027, pending “market conditions.”

Armis’s decision to be acquired rather than wait for a public listing is a common path for startups at the moment. The IPO markets remain choppy and many startups are choosing to remain private for longer instead of risking a muted debut on the public markets.

Founded in 2016, Armis said in August it had surpassed $300 million in annual recurring revenues, a milestone it achieved less than a year after reaching $200 million in ARR.

Its latest funding round was led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives’ growth equity fund, with participation from CapitalG, a venture arm of Alphabet. Previous backers have included Sequoia Capital and Bain Capital Ventures.

Read the complete Bloomberg article here.

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Here are 4 major moments that drove the stock market last week

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20 hours ago

December 13, 2025

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Here are 4 major moments that drove the stock market last week

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Oracle says there have been ‘no delays’ in OpenAI arrangement after stock slide

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2 days ago

December 12, 2025

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Oracle says there have been 'no delays' in OpenAI arrangement after stock slide

Oracle CEO Clay Magouyrk appears on a media tour of the Stargate AI data center in Abilene, Texas, on Sept. 23, 2025.

Kyle Grillot | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Oracle on Friday pushed back against a report that said the company will complete data centers for OpenAI, one of its major customers, in 2028, rather than 2027.

The delay is due to a shortage of labor and materials, according to the Friday report from Bloomberg, which cited unnamed people. Oracle shares fell to a session low of $185.98, down 6.5% from Thursday’s close.

“Site selection and delivery timelines were established in close coordination with OpenAI following execution of the agreement and were jointly agreed,” an Oracle spokesperson said in an email to CNBC. “There have been no delays to any sites required to meet our contractual commitments, and all milestones remain on track.”

The Oracle spokesperson did not specify a timeline for turning on cloud computing infrastructure for OpenAI. In September, OpenAI said it had a partnership with Oracle worth more than $300 billion over the next five years.

“We have a good relationship with OpenAI,” Clay Magouyrk, one of Oracle’s two newly appointed CEOs, said at an October analyst meeting.

Doing business with OpenAI is relatively new to 48-year-old Oracle. Historically, Oracle grew through sales of its database software and business applications. Its cloud infrastructure business now contributes over one-fourth of revenue, although Oracle remains a smaller hyperscaler than Amazon, Microsoft and Google.

OpenAI has also made commitments to other companies as it looks to meet expected capacity needs.

In September, Nvidia said it had signed a letter of intent with OpenAI to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of Nvidia equipment for the San Francisco artificial intelligence startup. The first phase of that project is expected in the second half of 2026.

Nvidia and OpenAI said in a September statement that they “look forward to finalizing the details of this new phase of strategic partnership in the coming weeks.”

But no announcement has come yet.

In a November filing, Nvidia said “there is no assurance that we will enter into definitive agreements with respect to the OpenAI opportunity.”

OpenAI has historically relied on Nvidia graphics processing units to operate ChatGPT and other products, and now it’s also looking at designing custom chips in a collaboration with Broadcom.

On Thursday, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan laid out a timeline for the OpenAI work, which was announced in October. Broadcom and OpenAI said they had signed a term sheet.

“It’s more like 2027, 2028, 2029, 10 gigawatts, that was the OpenAI discussion,” Tan said on Broadcom’s earnings call. “And that’s, I call it, an agreement, an alignment of where we’re headed with respect to a very respected and valued customer, OpenAI. But we do not expect much in 2026.”

OpenAI declined to comment.

WATCH: Oracle says there have been ‘no delays’ in OpenAI arrangement after stock slide