Wednesday September 30, 2020: $115.81 +$1.72 +1.51%

[Dave]

Good morning. Pre-market is red at -$0.99 at the moment. Let’s see how this month and this quarter will end.

Apple Gives Tim Cook Up to a Million Shares That Vest Through 2025

Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. said it is giving Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook new equity awards that could provide him with as many as 1 million shares by 2025.

The compensation, currently worth $76 million to $114 million depending on Apple’s share performance, gives Cook a new reason to keep running the world’s largest technology company.

The equity comes in two packages, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday. The first comprises 333,987 restricted stock units that vest in thirds on April 1 in 2023, 2024 and 2025. The other has 333,987 units that will vest Oct. 1, 2023 and is based on Apple’s relative share performance over three years. Cook may get none of this award or 200%, depending on stock returns. If all goes well, Cook would get about 1 million shares in total.

[Dave]

Apple removes two RSS feed readers from China App Store

It looks like Apple is scouring its Chinese App Store for any remaining services that may not sit well with Chinese censors. Two RSS reader apps, Reeder and Fiery Feeds, said this week that their iOS apps have been removed in China over content that is considered “illegal” in the country.

. . . . . 

“It seems [the ban] comes from the Chinese government, so I do see any use in appealing to Apple,” said a spokesperson at Fiery Feeds.

[Dave]

Premarket: Apple is red

U.S. equity-index futures dropped alongside most stock markets after an acrimonious American presidential debate highlighted the risk of a contested vote in November. A gauge of the dollar edged higher.

S&P 500 futures fell as much as 1.3% in the hours after the chaotic sparring between Donald Trump and Democratic hopeful Joe Biden during which the president suggested vote-by-mail could be rife with fraud. In Europe, declines in industrial-goods and tech shares outweighed gains in utilities.

“What we’ve seen from the debate is the reinforcement that if Biden wins, Trump is not going to accept that,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group Ltd. in Melbourne. “People positioned for an ugly contest afterwards have been validated.”

Investment firms were also recalibrating positions on the final day of this quarter. Walt Disney Co. shares fell in pre-market trading after it said 28,000 workers will be let go in its slumping U.S. resort business, marking one of the deepest workforce reductions of the Covid-19 era.

Global investors are keeping an eye on news about coronavirus vaccines and on talks in Washington for a new stimulus package that’s set to reach a critical juncture this week. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin spoke Tuesday morning for 50 minutes and are set to speak again Wednesday.

[chinacat]

Patently Apple has In the Antitrust Law Suit against Apple, the Judge slammed Epic Games for its Many Legal Theories, Tactics and Dishonesty, and Surprising  Development: Apple and Epic Games don’t want the Antitrust Battle Decided by a jury.

Benzinga has Apple CEO Tim Cook gets First Stock Grant in a Decade Over $114M; pretty sure there’s a comma missing in that headline. 😉

[JDSoCal]

Apple's answer to Epic's complaint is, well, epic. Apple is actually counter-claiming for breach of contract and for intentional torts (breach of duty of good faith and Intentional Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage) for which Apple is asking for punitive damages.

IMO, Apple's answer is worth a read. Some goodies from Apple's 5+ page introduction:

Epic’s lawsuit is nothing more than a basic disagreement over money. Although Epic portrays itself as a modern corporate Robin Hood, in reality it is a multi-billion dollar enterprise that simply wants to pay nothing for the tremendous value it derives from the App Store. Epic’s demands for special treatment and cries of “retaliation” cannot be reconciled with its flagrant breach of contract and its own business practices, as it rakes in billions by taking commissions on game developers’ sales and charging consumers up to $99.99 for bundles of “V-Bucks.”

***

When Apple rejected Epic’s request for a special deal, rather than abide by its long-running contractual agreements pursuant to which it has earned over $600 million, Epic resorted to self-help and subterfuge. On August 3, 2020, Epic sent a Trojan horse to the App Store—a new version of Fortnite that included what Epic has euphemistically described as a “hotfix” that allows Epic to bypass Apple’s app review process and ability to collect commissions by directing app users to pay Epic instead, cutting Apple out entirely.

***

Following Epic’s open, admitted, and deliberate breach of its contractual obligations and the cold-blooded launch of its “hotfix,” Apple rightfully enforced its rights under the contractual agreements and the Guidelines by removing the non-compliant Fortnite app from the App Store. In keeping with its self-serving narrative, Epic attempts to recast Apple’s conduct as “retaliation.” But the exercise of a contractual right in response to an open and admitted breach is not “retaliation”; it is the very thing to which the parties agreed ex ante.

***

There is nothing anticompetitive about charging a commission for others to use one’s service. Many platforms—including Epic’s own app marketplace and Unreal Engine—do just that.4 In Apple’s case, that commission is not charged—and Apple earns nothing from its substantial investment in the App Store—unless and until developers bill and collect funds from users who engage in digital transactions. For the more than 80% of apps available to consumers for free on the App Store, this means Apple earns no commission whatsoever. Epic wants to change that in ways that would have dire consequences for the App Store ecosystem. In its Motion for a Preliminary Injunction, Epic boldly suggests that Apple monetize the App Store by charging a regressive “per download fee,” leaving consumers and developers on the hook to pay for what otherwise would be billions of free app downloads. Epic’s intention is thus straightforward: It seeks free access to the Apple-provided tools that it uses and—worse yet—it wishes to then charge others for access to Apple’s intellectual property and technologies. This is not something that Apple is willing to create a special “side letter” for Epic to do.

"Trojan horse," "cold-blooded" LOL.

IMO, Apple will file a summary judgment motion and win it (based on the judge's statements to date). The first statement of the introduction sets the tone for that (i.e., it's an argument about money rather than disputed legally material facts). Unfortunately, we have to go through discovery before Apple can ask for that, which will be some time.

[chinacat]

PED has Apple v. Epic not going well for Epic.  It’s worth clicking through to the original CNN story, but of course we should all support PED by going there first.

[archibaldtuttle]

Market fluctuating today based on the chances of getting a new Covid stimulus bill through Congress. If they can make a deal market goes up, if they can’t make a deal market goes down

[Dave]

Sept 30, 2020 11:27:38 GMT -8 archibaldtuttle said:

Market fluctuating today based on the chances of getting a new Covid stimulus bill through Congress. If they can make a deal market goes up, if they can’t make a deal market goes down

Not a very attractive close. Big sell off, high volume. The high of $117.xx looked nice but couldn’t hold. Maybe tomorrow.