Apple has been fined €500m (£427m) by the EU as part of a long-running competition dispute with Spotify (SPOT).
Last year, the European Commission accused Apple of distorting competition in the music streaming market with App Store rules that prevent developers from informing users of other purchasing options.
Apple receives 30% of all purchases made through the App Store. Spotify said the policy had forced it to increase the monthly subscription fee for its premium service from £9.99 (approximately $12.60) to £12.99 per month.
Around the same time, Apple launched a competing music streaming service that costs £9.99 a month.
Fines for alleged breaches of EU competition law are expected to be announced early next month, the FT reported.
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If imposed, the fine would be one of the most significant the EU has imposed on large technology companies.
Ethereum's price rose above $2,900 after the cryptocurrency's co-founder Vitalik Buterin hinted at AI integration.
Buterin said in a tweet that he believes AI will revolutionize bug fixing, citing code bugs as “Ethereum's biggest technical risk pro” at the moment.
One of the applications of AI that I'm looking forward to is using AI to formally verify code and find bugs.
Ethereum's biggest technical risk at the moment is probably code bugs, and anything that could significantly change the game on top of that would be surprising.
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) February 19, 2024
The comments come as Ethereum moves closer to implementing the long-awaited Dencun upgrade, currently scheduled for release on March 13th.
Santander (BNC.L)
Santander last year announced plans to pay shareholders €5.5bn (£4.7bn) after posting record profits amid soaring interest rates.
The lender, owned by Spanish parent Santander Banco, will buy back around 1.5 billion euros (about £1.3 billion) of its own shares and pay a final cash dividend of 0.095 euros per share in 2023.
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Spain's largest financial institution said in a regulatory filing on Monday that it has received regulatory approval for a share buyback that will begin on February 20.
This comes after Spanish banks posted record profits of €11.1bn (£9.5bn) in 2023.
Chinese online shopping giant JD has confirmed it is considering acquiring Currys, raising the possibility of a bidding war after the electronics retailer rejected a private equity approach on Saturday. There is.
Amid a potential bidding war, stock prices soared.
The Telegraph said JD.com had been in informal exploratory discussions with Currys in recent weeks.
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The move came hours after it was revealed that the electronics retailer had rejected a takeover approach from US investment firm Elliott.
Currys, which operates more than 800 stores and employs 28,000 people worldwide, said the offer would value the business at around £700m. But that offer “significantly undervalued” the company, Currys said.
A recent note by analysts at Investec claims that Currys' mobile network, iD Mobile, alone could be worth £500m.
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