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(Bloomberg) — Activision Blizzard Inc. will delay a Call of Duty game that had been planned for next year, the first time the franchise will be without an annual mainline release in nearly two decades, according to people familiar with the plan.

The company is pushing off the release after a recent entry in the series failed to meet expectations, leading some executives to believe that they’re introducing new versions too rapidly, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to discuss the deliberations. The decision was not related to Activision’s agreement to sell itself to Microsoft Corp. for $69 billion, the people said.

Activision is working on other projects to fill the gap next year. A Call of Duty game set to come out this fall will receive a steady stream of additional content, and there will be a new, free-to-play online title next year, said the people. Treyarch, the Activision-owned studio working on the now-delayed game, will also help with the free-to-play title, the people said.

“We have an exciting slate of premium and free-to-play Call of Duty experiences for this year, next year and beyond,” a spokesman for Activision wrote in an emailed statement. “We look forward to sharing more details when the time is right.”

The delay will have a massive effect on the video game industry. Every fall since 2005, Activision has put out a new, premium entry in the lucrative shooting series. Call of Duty games regularly top yearly sales charts and have sold more than 400 million units since the series began in 2003.

Last year’s entry, Call of Duty: Vanguard, failed to meet Activision’s sales expectations, leading executives to suspect that it had been cannibalized by the previous year’s game. A free-to-play version released in 2020, Call of Duty: Warzone, remains a massive success and may have drawn players away from the premium entries.

Activision remains autonomous, and Microsoft could decide to change these plans after the acquisition, which is expected to be finalized by the summer of 2023 pending approval from regulators. The shares declined as much as 1.4% in extended trading Tuesday on news of the delay.

Call of Duty games are developed by a rotating stable of Activision’s development studios. This year’s entry, a new Modern Warfare game, will be made by Woodland Hills, California-based Infinity Ward. Bloomberg earlier reported that Activision executives were seriously considering skipping a year of Call of Duty.

(Updates with company comment in the fourth paragraph.)

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(Bloomberg) — Micron Technology Inc., the biggest maker of computer memory chips in the U.S., said the growing crisis in Ukraine highlights the complexity and vulnerability of the semiconductor supply chain.

Some of the gases used in the production of chips comes from the country which the U.S. says Russia is invading.

“For Micron, we have a small part of our noble gases coming from Ukraine and, of course, we carry large inventory but more importantly have multiple sources of supply,” Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Mehrotra said in a Bloomberg Television interview, referring to a group of non-reactive gases such as neon. “While we continue to monitor the situation carefully and certainly hope the situation will de-escalate, we believe, based on current analysis, that our supply chain of noble gases is in reasonable shape.” 

Shortages of the electronic components, caused by a surge in demand and limited increases in production, have made the semiconductor industry particularly vulnerable to shifts in geopolitics. The pandemic and a series of man-made and natural accidents have also highlighted the fragility of a supply chain that spans the globe.

Manufacturing a semiconductor, something that takes between three to four months from start to finish, is a complex photolithographic process that requires many steps to build the tiny circuits on sheets of silicon. It’s dependent on the supply of rare chemicals. And even when manufacturing is complete, chips are often moved to other parts of the world to be packaged, tested and installed in the devices that depend on them. 

Mehrotra said that current shortages, which have reduced shipments of everything from home appliances to phones to cars, are improving in some respects but have not made hoped-for progress in others. Shipments of phones and computers, the two biggest product categories that use Micron’s memory chips, have been held back by shortages of basic analog chips. That in turn has led PC makers to pare orders to companies such as Micron. 

“We are coming into the year certainly expecting the supply chain shortages to improve for the non-memory components we procure from other suppliers,” Mehrotra said. The rate of improvement for the shortages “is behind what we were hoping for.”

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(Bloomberg) — Tether — the issuer of the world’s most used stablecoin — reduced its investments in commercial paper and certificates of deposit during the last quarter of 2021, accounting to an accounting firm’s report.

British Virgin Islands-based Tether had assets of at least $78.7 billion, the accounting firm said. Of that, the company invested $24.2 billion into certificates of deposit and commercial paper, down from about $30.6 billion at the end of September, according to accounting reports.

The bulk of the commercial paper and certificates of deposits were rated A-1 and A-2, according to accounting firm MHA Cayman. 

MHA Cayman said it’s not expressing an opinion about the effectiveness of Tether’s internal controls and noted that Tether is currently involved in three legal cases and that any contingent liabilities haven’t been accrued yet.

Some other stablecoin issuers have been moving away from using commercial paper as backing for their tokens as a way calm investors’ fears over their risks.

Traders often move into Tether during times of high market volatility, especially during bear markets. Most coins have plummeted in value in recent months, with Bitcoin down by more than 40% since hitting its all-time high in early November. Tether’s market cap had ballooned to nearly $80 billion from about $72 billion in early November, according to CoinMarketCap.

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(Bloomberg) — TZero’s mission to remake U.S. stock trading into a blockchain-powered business just got a prominent new ally: the owner of the New York Stock Exchange.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc., NYSE’s parent, has purchased a stake in tZero, according to a Tuesday statement. ICE Chief Strategy Officer David Goone will become tZero’s new chief executive officer next month.

TZero runs a trading system — which uses blockchain technology, the ledger that underpins cryptocurrencies — where corporations can choose to list digital versions of their stocks. Only a handful of companies have done so, including Overstock.com Inc., an original investor in tZero.

Besides persuading companies that’s worth the effort, tZero must navigate the plumbing — set up roughly half a century ago — through which stock trades are cleared and settled in the U.S. stock market. That means dealing with stalwarts like Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., which processes all U.S. equity trades.

That’s familiar territory for Goone, the new tZero CEO. He’s ICE’s representative on the board of DTCC.

“I look forward to bringing my three decades of product innovation and strategic experience forged in the exchange and derivatives trading industry to drive continued growth and operational excellence at tZero,” Goone said in prepared remarks.

The worlds of equities and crypto trading are moving closer. The New York Stock Exchange recently filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, indicating a potential move into becoming a market place for crytocurrencies and NFTs. Meanwhile, cryptoexchanges such as FTX US and Bitstamp USA are eyeing offering equities trading.

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(Bloomberg) — The Ontario Securities Commission has flagged Twitter posts from the chief executives of cryptocurrency exchanges Kraken and Coinbase Global Inc. to law enforcement, The Logic reported.

Tweets from Kraken CEO Jesse Powell and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong that criticized Canada’s emergency orders aimed at ending trucker protests that have roiled the nation and recommended the use of harder-to-seize non-custodial crypto wallets have been sent to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, The Logic reported on Friday. It cited the OSC, which is the regulatory agency that administers and enforces securities legislation in Ontario, Canada’s most-populous province.

The Canadian government invoked emergency powers last week to put an end to anti-vaccine mandate protests by truckers who blocked much of downtown Ottawa around the national parliament buildings for nearly three weeks, with blockades also spreading to to key U.S. border crossings. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s emergency orders require financial institutions in Canada to examine customer records and take action against people involved with the protest, leading banks to freeze some accounts.

Trudeau said Monday his government will retain those powers for at least a few more days because of ongoing threats even after police cleared all blockades across the country. 

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police provided a list of suspect accounts to financial institutions — including crypto exchanges — last week after Trudeau issued the emergency edict. The RCMP clarified in a statement Monday that those named were “influencers in the illegal protest in Ottawa, and owners and/or drivers of vehicles who did not want to leave” and not donors to crowdsourced fundraisers for the protests.

So far, the financial squeeze by police has resulted in “the freezing of 219 financial products; the disclosure of 57 entities; the addresses of 253 Bitcoin shared with virtual currency exchangers; and, the proactive freezing of the account of a payment processor” worth C$3.8 million ($3 million),” the RCMP said.

A Coinbase spokesman declined to comment. A Kraken spokesperson said Tuesday evening the exchange complies with all regulatory requirements and regularly responds to requests from law enforcement, but declined to comment on specific cases. 

Representatives of the RCMP and the Ontario Securities Commission didn’t immediately return requests for comment sent Tuesday morning.

(Updates with Kraken comment in second to last paragraph.)

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(Bloomberg) — Trucking startup TuSimple Holdings Inc. reached an agreement with U.S. authorities to resolve security concerns around its self-driving truck operations and the company’s ties with China.

The agreement includes giving some oversight to the U.S. government related to the technology behind TuSimple’s self-driving truck operations, the company announced on Tuesday. Two board members will also step down after their terms end later this year. 

The company will “limit access to certain data and adopt a technology control plan,” according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The measures involve restricting some information, including source code and algorithms for its autonomous trucking operations, from the company’s China division, Jim Mullen, the company’s chief administrative and legal officer, said in an interview. 

The startup will name a new security officer and security director, the latter of whom will establish a “government security committee” that must meet periodically and report to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which is part of the Treasury Department. With the agreement, TuSimple said the U.S. government determined that “there are no unresolved national security concerns” at the startup.

‘Successful Outcome’

“It’s a successful outcome to the investigation in that, operationally, we can continue to develop the technology internationally,” Mullen said. “We fully understand the sensitivity of artificial intelligence and how it relates to the geopolitical atmosphere and we will do everything we need to do to be in compliance” with the agreement.

TuSimple was already on the government’s radar when Mullen joined the startup in October 2020 — well before it raised $1.35 billion in an April 2021 public offering — but he said the dialog at the time was “very broad.” The committee eventually opened a formal probe a few months after the IPO, which focused on the startup’s ties to China.

The self-driving trucking company has headquarters in San Diego, California, but maintains significant operations in China. It was funded in large part by an affiliate of Sina Corp., the company that runs China’s largest microblogging platform, Weibo Corp. 

The two board members that will depart are also connected to Sina: Charles Chao and Bonnie Yi Zhang, both of whom have held top leadership roles at the Chinese technology company and remain involved with it. 

TuSimple said in the filing that the Sina affiliate, Sun Dream Inc., has agreed not to name any new directors in their place. Mullen said that Sina also agreed not to increase its stake in the company, but it won’t be forced to divest its current stake.  

Mullen said TuSimple’s U.S. division wasn’t sharing source code or algorithms for its trucking technology with the China team. The China operations are more focused on automating trucking at ports, while in the U.S., the focus is highway trucking. 

TuSimple has partnerships with Navistar International Corp. and UPS, both of which are also shareholders. It recently signed an agreement to move freight for Union Pacific Corp. The company said in December that it completed the “world’s first fully autonomous semi-truck run on open public roads without a human in the vehicle and without human intervention” — a drive that spanned about 80 miles through Arizona.

Still, Mullen said the Committee on Foreign Investment had some concerns about technology developed in the U.S. being used by the company’s China team. He declined to give details about specifics of the probe, but said the government tends to want “U.S.-driven development to stay in the U.S.” 

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(Bloomberg) — Christine Moy, one of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s top blockchain executives, is leaving the firm. 

Moy, who is global head of JPMorgan’s blockchain product Liink, is pursuing an external opportunity, according to an internal memo Tuesday from Umar Farooq, head of Onyx, JPMorgan’s blockchain unit. Moy will be replaced by Sushil Raja, most recently Onyx’s chief financial officer and head of strategy. 

“Christine has been instrumental in building and leading JPMorgan’s blockchain program, dating back to 2015 when the blockchain team consisted of fewer than five people,” Farooq wrote in the memo. “Fortunately, we have a very strong bench of exceptional leaders and experts in distributed ledger technology that will enable us to lead and innovate in this space in the future.” 

A JPMorgan spokesperson confirmed the contents of the memo. 

It’s not immediately clear where Moy is going. Executives from traditional financial-services firms have become increasingly comfortable with joining crypto and blockchain companies, where decision-making tends to be faster and hierarchies looser, according to a recent survey by search firm Heidrick & Struggles and the Global Blockchain Business Council.

JPMorgan has been a proponent of blockchain technology and its use in financial transactions, including using its own JPM Coin to conduct billions of dollars in intraday repurchase agreements. The bank launched Onyx in 2020, and the business now has about 200 employees.

Earlier this month, JPMorgan became the first Wall Street bank to join the metaverse, with a lounge at the Metajuku mall in Decentraland, a browser-based metaverse backed by the Digital Currency Group. The lounge opening coincided with a paper Moy co-authored on how businesses can explore opportunities in the metaverse.

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(Bloomberg) — A rally in Advanced Micro Devices Inc. shares pushed the company’s market value above $188 billion on Tuesday, amid Wall Street’s growing optimism about the chipmaker’s prospects.

Shares of AMD gained 1.6% Tuesday, outperforming the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index, which fell 0.8%. Stocks were broadly lower on Tuesday as investors monitored the situation between Russia and Ukraine.

AMD’s current market capitalization has soared from less than $125 billion earlier this year. Intel Corp., which fell 0.8% on Tuesday, is currently valued at $182 billion. AMD first closed with a larger market cap than Intel last week.

Tuesday’s advance came after Bernstein upgraded AMD to outperform, saying valuation has become increasingly attractive after approaching its cheapest in five years. This is the first time the firm has been bullish on the stock in almost a decade, with the analysts referring to their caution as “the biggest missed call of our Wall Street tenure.”

The stock has been on a tear in recent weeks, supported by a strong quarterly report and forecast, as well as the closing of its acquisition of Xilinx Inc.

Intel, on the other hand, has long underperformed its peers in the semiconductor sector. Last week, it hosted an investor event where it detailed a strategy designed to regain its industry dominance and gave a forecast. Analysts were skeptical on the update, seeing a number of uncertainties and risks associated with the plan, and noting that it will be an expensive and long-term process.

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(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. has dropped its mask requirement at most retail stores across the U.S., following reduced Covid-19 cases and changes in local mandates. The iPhone maker also is ramping up for the return of in-store classes.

The company announced the changes this week to employees at eligible stores and has updated its website to reflect which locations are no longer requiring masks. Apple, however, will continue to recommend that customers wear masks and will provide them upon request. Apple retail workers will still be required to wear masks, employees say. 

The change in mask policy applies to stores in states including Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky and others that have ended mandates. Customers must wear masks in stores in the few states with stricter guidelines, such as Hawaii. Apple’s locations in New York have also made masks optional for customers who are fully vaccinated.

An Apple spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment on the changes. 

The Cupertino, California-based technology giant also is planning to resume in-store classes, called Today at Apple, at several locations across the country. Classes offer tips on using the company’s devices and software. Some stores will see classes return as early as this week, while many stores are targeting March for classes to begin again. Apple also is expected to introduce new models of the iPhone SE, iPad Air and Macs early in March.

Over the past two years, Apple has adjusted mask rules and in-store classes depending on the state of the pandemic. The company dropped its retail store mask mandate last November, only to restore it a month later amid the spread of the omicron variant. Apple has also delayed its office return indefinitely for corporate employees.  

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(Bloomberg) — The shell company tied to Donald Trump’s media venture received a new wave of support from retail investors, bolstering its status as the best market performer of its kind. 

Traders rushed into Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special-purpose acquisition company merging with Trump Media & Technology Group, on Tuesday following the launch of the former president’s social media network Truth Social. 

Shares of DWAC soared as much as 17% before paring gains, as Truth Social became the top free app in Apple’s App Store. It rose 10% Tuesday to the highest level in four months on volume that quadrupled what occurred in the past week. Warrants ended the day higher by 9% to $28.98.

DWAC is running counter to a fizzling market for SPACs overall. Fueled by both fervent Trump supporters and people hoping to cash in on the gains, the SPAC is by far the best performing company in that space. It’s evolved into a way for those backing a Trump 2024 presidential run to show their support.  

The app’s debut had problems, however, as some interested users were unable to sign up and others received error messages. It’s now telling prospective users there’s a lengthy waiting list to register, with the message “We love you, and you’re not just another number to us. But your waitlist number is below.” By 9:50 a.m., the queue was approaching 400,000 users and people were sharing screenshots of their numbers on Twitter.

The service is hosted by RightForge LLC, a web infrastructure company founded as a response to mainstream technology firms taking action against misinformation and hate speech. RightForge markets itself as a “depoliticized” server company and raised $1.41 million by December 2021, according to the most recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, up from $260,000 four months prior.

Digital World’s trading has been volatile. The SPAC has rallied more than 830% since going public, with shares trading as high as $175 on Oct. 22 before plummeting more than 60% over the next week. 

No Clarity

There’s been little insight for investors into how Trump Media will operate as a company. Currently, the plan is for a social network, a streaming service, a news channel and eventually a cloud-computing platform. 

Regulatory scrutiny is already plaguing the venture. The SEC is looking into its board of directors, along with the trading in the stock and the identities of certain investors.

Still, excitement from retail traders was notable Tuesday, with the SPAC the sixth-most actively traded stock on Fidelity’s platform. The ticker was trending on popular chatroom Stocktwits and touts on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum were second only to an exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500 Index at the start of Tuesday’s session.

“For conservative investors, it’s a trophy asset, sort of like GameStop was for the Reddit Apes,” said Max Gokhman, chief investment officer at systematic money manager AlphaTrAI Inc. “Everyone is waiting to see if the ‘Trump Truth Train’ can gather steam or if it goes off the tracks.”

(Updates share movement throughout.)

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