Also: Starlink vs sun, Credit Suisse, and Peloton disruption.
Good morning. David Meyer here in Berlin, filling in for Alan.
Microsoft has made a significant move to get ahead of incoming antitrust regulation (in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere) with a series of pledges around its app stores.
The pledges came in a blog post, by Microsoft president Brad Smith, that addressed not only the under-development laws, but also the company’s $68 billion mega-purchase of game developer Activision Blizzard, which needs to pass antitrust regulators’ scrutiny. As Fortune‘s Chris Morris wrote yesterday, there’s a key promise in there to keep providing the Call of Duty franchise on Sony’s PlayStation platform, rather than making it Xbox-exclusive. That’s certainly the big headline—and it will surely help to impress the regulators—but some of the other promises are more far-reaching.
Now, obviously Microsoft is a veteran of the antitrust scene—”we’ve learned from our experience,” Smith wrote—but it’s managed to keep its nose clean for quite a few years now, and must be enjoying the opportunity to make promises about things that have recently gotten its Big Tech rivals into regulatory trouble.
So, Smith said Microsoft will hold its own apps to the same standards as the others and treat all apps equally without giving preferential treatment to its own in rankings (hi, Google!). He also promised Microsoft will “not use any non-public information or data from our app store to compete with developers’ apps” (greetings, Amazon and Meta/Facebook). For its Windows store, Microsoft “will not require developers in our app store to use our payment system to process in-app payments” (how you doing, Apple?)
This strategy strikes me as smart, respectful and meaningful, and well-communicated too—essentially, this is what stakeholder capitalism should look and sound like, at least in my view. After all, would you rather be this company or the one placing ads for people to “write and edit statements, blog posts, op-eds, narratives, executive talking points and other written materials defending the company, often on very tight deadlines”?
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Separately, a quick update on the push by Moderna shareholders to force the company to report on the feasibility of transferring COVID vaccine intellectual property and technical knowledge to manufacturers in low- and middle-income countries. The SEC has refused to agree to Moderna’s attempted blockage of the proposal being considered at its upcoming shareholder meeting, and those behind the proposal—including Oxfam America—are happy.
Oxfam’s Robbie Silverman: “As the world approaches six million deaths from COVID-19, Moderna is uniquely positioned to help bring about an end to the pandemic if it is transparent and shares vaccine technology… Today, we are encouraged to see that the SEC agrees that as shareholders, we can urge the company to study the feasibility of such a transfer.”
Given that the WHO and South African scientists have already made huge progress in making an mRNA COVID vaccine based on Moderna’s sequence, it will be difficult for the company to keep arguing against that feasibility. More news below.
David Meyer
@superglaze
david.meyer@fortune.com
These stock picks are a must for 2022 Beat the market with Fortune’s new Investment Guide Read more.
Stormy weather
Elon Musk's SpaceX has experienced a natural disaster, with a geomagnetic storm taking out 40 of the 49 Starlink satellites it launched last week. (Bonus read: Musk's Tesla is being sued by California's civil rights regulator over evidence that its Fremont, Calif. plant "is a racially segregated workplace.") Fortune
Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse lost more money than expected in Q4: around $2.15 billion. Net revenue fell 12% overall—with wealth management and investment banking being hit particularly hard. Wall Street Journal
Peloton disruption
Not the greatest start for new Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy: his first all-hands meeting, featuring a conversation with former CEO John Foley, was disrupted by current and former employees who are furious at the exercise-bike firm's layoffs of 20% of its corporate workforce. The chat was truncated and the meeting ended early. CNBC
Russian crypto
The Russian government has published its principles for cryptocurrency regulation, making it clear that the country—which holds around 12% of all crypto assets—won't be seeing a ban anytime soon. Fortune
CEOs eye 2022 with optimism and a dash of uncertainty In the latest Fortune/Deloitte CEO Survey, fielded in January, 175 leading CEOs representing more than 15 industries share their perspective on what is both hopeful and uncertain about the next 12 months—covering growth rates to inflation rates, supply chain challenges to talent challenges, and more. Explore its findings
Biotech struggles
Many companies in the biotech sector are struggling to raise cash, after investors who piled in during the pandemic piled out again. Financial Times
No hands
A new Ipsos poll for Fortune suggests handshakes and other greeting gestures involving physical contact are no longer welcome, for now at least. However, as Bernhard Warner writes, the data also shows "signs that respondents are beginning to express a need to go back to their old routines." Fortune
No politics
LinkedIn is reportedly testing a new "no politics" feature, which would filter out, well, political content. This would be warmly received by many American social-media users, most of whom say they are "worn out" by political posts. Fortune
Civil war
In a LinkedIn post of the sort that might be caught up in such a filter, Bridgewater chairman Ray Dalio warned the upcoming 2022 midterms could be the moment where American democracy falls over. The post is entitled "The Rising Risk of Civil War." Fortune
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.
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