Connect with us

Business

Spotify gets wrapped up in EU’s tangle with Silicon Valley as Trump administration threatens vengeance for ‘discriminatory and harassing’ behavior

Published

2 days ago

on



The Trump administration has issued an ultimatum to the European Union regarding its regulation of U.S. technology companies, threatening to deploy “every tool at its disposal” to retaliate against what it describes as unfair targeting of Silicon Valley giants, which could mean imposing fees on European services that operate in American markets like Spotify and DHL.

In a statement posted to social media on Tuesday, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) accused European regulators of pursuing a “persistent course of discriminatory and harassing lawsuits, taxes, fines, and directives against U.S. service providers.” The Trump administration says if these practices continue, the U.S. is prepared to impose fees and restrictions on European companies operating in the American market.​

“If the EU and EU Member States insist on continuing to restrict, limit, and deter the competitiveness of U.S. service providers through discriminatory means, the United States will have no choice but to begin using every tool at its disposal to counter these unreasonable measures,” the USTR said.​

Potential targets for retaliation

The Trump administration’s warning went beyond vague threats, explicitly naming several major European corporations that could face retaliatory measures. The list includes logistics giant DHL, consulting firm Accenture, industrial manufacturer Siemens, software company SAP, music streaming service Spotify, and artificial intelligence startup Mistral AI.​

In the statement posted to social media, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer argued these European companies have long benefited from open access to the American economy, a privilege he suggests is not being reciprocated. “EU service providers have been able to operate freely in the United States for decades, benefiting from access to our market and consumers on a level playing field,” Greer wrote.​

The USTR emphasized the economic contribution of American firms abroad, noting that U.S. tech companies “provide substantial free services to EU citizens and reliable enterprise services to EU companies” while supporting “millions of jobs and more than $100 billion in direct investment in Europe.”​

The core dispute: DMA and DSA

At the heart of the conflict are the European Union’s landmark regulatory frameworks: the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA). These laws were designed to curb the dominance of “gatekeeper” platforms and ensure online safety, but American officials view them as tools of economic protectionism aimed specifically at U.S. success stories.

Enforcement of these rules has led to significant financial penalties for American corporations. Earlier this year, Apple was fined €500 million, while Meta faced a €200 million penalty. In December, Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter) was fined €120 million for violations of the DSA, following a massive €2.95 billion antitrust fine levied against Google in September regarding its adtech business.​

‘Discriminatory’ practices and ‘Wild West’ rhetoric

The escalation comes amid a broader U.S. investigation into foreign digital regulations. During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, witnesses characterized the European approach as fundamentally anti-American.

“The DMA does not ask whether consumers have been harmed. It does not even ask whether a business has done anything wrong. It asks whether a company is large, successful, and, most importantly, American,” Rep Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) testified, adding that under these rules, “innovation is treated as a threat, and foreign rivals are handed access to data and technology they could never build or earn on their own.”​

Groups representing the tech industry, including the Computer and Communications Industry Association and NetChoice, have echoed these concerns, warning that the EU has “provided countries around the world with a blueprint” for targeting U.S. businesses. The USTR confirmed it would apply its retaliatory approach to “other countries that pursue an EU-style strategy in this area.”​

Europe stands firm

Back in August, President Trump said he would impose “substantial tariffs and export restrictions on chips” against nations that hinder American digital companies. ​But European officials have quickly dismissed the accusations of bias. Thomas Regnier, a spokesperson for the European Commission, said the bloc’s regulations “apply equally and fairly to all companies operating in the EU.”​

Regnier defended the measures as essential for consumer protection, asserting that the EU will “persist in enforcing our rules fairly and without bias” to prevent the digital economy from becoming a “Wild West.”​

For this story, Fortune journalists used generative AI as a research tool. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing. 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



Source link

Related Topics:
Continue Reading

Business

Billionaire who sold two companies to Coca-Cola says he tries to persuade people not to become entrepreneurs: ‘Every single day, you can go bankrupt’

Published

9 minutes ago

on

December 19, 2025

By



Mike Repole, the billionaire entrepreneur who cofounded and sold beverage giants Glaceau and BodyArmor to Coca-Cola for a combined $9.7 billion, has an unexpected message for aspiring business owners: Don’t do it.

In an interview with the School of Hard Knocks, a popular social-media channel known for interviewing wealthy entrepreneurs, Repole shared his contrarian view on entrepreneurship, emphasizing the brutal realities that most success stories gloss over.

“I spend more time talking people out of being an entrepreneur,” Repole said. “The first five years for an entrepreneur, I call the survival years. Every single day, you could go bankrupt.”

Repole’s cautionary advice carries significant weight given his impressive business track record. The 56-year-old Queens, N.Y., native first made his fortune when he cofounded Glaceau with J. Darius Bikoff in 1999. The company, which produced Smartwater and Vitaminwater, grew from $1 million in first-year sales to over $1 billion in revenue by 2007, when Coca-Cola acquired it for $4.1 billion.

Following that success, Repole cofounded BodyArmor, a sports drink company, in 2011. It gained significant attention a few years later in 2014, when NBA legend Kobe Bryant invested $5 million for a 10% stake, becoming the brand’s creative director. In November 2021, Coca-Cola purchased the remaining 85% of BodyArmor for $5.6 billion, making it the beverage giant’s largest-ever brand acquisition.

Forbes currently estimates Repole’s net worth is $1.6 billion, largely stemming from these two successful exits. Between the ventures, he also served as chairman of snack company Pirate’s Booty, helping grow the brand by 300% before it sold to B&G Foods for $195 million in 2013.

Betting on yourself vs. playing it safe

Despite his multibillion-dollar track record, Repole emphasized in the interview that entrepreneurial success is far from guaranteed. “There were days that I didn’t think we could make it,” he said, adding that he “failed” multiple times throughout his journey.

The billionaire’s advice reflects a growing trend among successful entrepreneurs who are increasingly candid about the challenges of building businesses. Unlike the typical success narratives that dominate social media, Repole’s message acknowledges the statistical reality that most startups—over two-thirds of them—fail, and that even successful entrepreneurs face constant uncertainty.

True to form for successful entrepreneurs, Repole embraces what others might see as character flaws. When asked if he’s “a little crazy” like other billionaires, Repole responded: “I started crazy,” adding, “Crazy people change the world.”

You can watch the interview with Repole below:

@theschoolofhardknocks He’s a multi-BILLIONAIRE 🤯 he sold his companies BODYARMOR and Vitaminwater to Coca-Cola for $12 BILLION! I interviewed Mike Repole in Florida and I asked him if he thinks everyone is built for entrepreneurship. I also asked him whether or not he failed on his way to becoming a billionaire. Since he sold two beverage giants for billions of dollars I asked him whether he thinks product or distribution is more important in business. Lastly, I asked him if he would consider himself to be crazy. #wealth #entrepreneur #financialfreedom #motivation ♬ original sound – The School of Hard Knocks

A version of this story was published at Fortune.com on Sept. 12, 2025.

More on entrepreneurialism:

Join us at the Fortune Workplace Innovation Summit May 19–20, 2026, in Atlanta. The next era of workplace innovation is here—and the old playbook is being rewritten. At this exclusive, high-energy event, the world’s most innovative leaders will convene to explore how AI, humanity, and strategy converge to redefine, again, the future of work. Register now.





Source link

Continue Reading

Business

Sam Altman says he’s ‘0%’ excited about running a public company as OpenAI preps IPO

Published

40 minutes ago

on

December 19, 2025

By



OpenAI may be building up to one of the largest initial public offerings ever, but CEO Sam Altman says he is not necessarily looking forward to helming a public company.

“Am I excited to be a public company CEO? 0%,” Altman said in an episode of the “Big Technology Podcast” published on Thursday. “Am I excited for OpenAI to be a public company? In some ways, I am, and in some ways I think it’d be really annoying.”

OpenAI is laying the groundwork for an IPO, with a Thursday report from The Wall Street Journal putting early talks of a valuation at $830 billion. In a more lofty estimate, the company could be valued at up to $1 trillion, Reuters reported in October, citing three sources. According to the Reuters report, chief financial officer Sarah Friar is eyeing a 2027 listing, with a potential IPO filing in late 2026.

Altman told “Big Technology” he didn’t know if his AI company would go public next year and was mum on details about fundraising, or the company’s valuation. OpenAI did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

Despite his hesitance to lead a public company—which are often under more scrutiny, greater regulatory oversight, and are associated with less influence from founders—OpenAI’s IPO wouldn’t be all bad, Altman noted. 

“I do think it’s cool that public markets get to participate in value creation,” he said. “And in some sense, we will be very late to go public if you look at any previous company. It’s wonderful to be a private company. We need lots of capital. We’re going to cross all of the shareholder limits and stuff at some point.”

An IPO would pave the way for OpenAI to raise the billions of dollars needed to compete in the AI race. Founded as a nonprofit in 2015, OpenAI just completed a complex restructuring in October that converted it into a more traditional for-profit company, giving the nonprofit controlling the company a $130 billion stake in it. The restructuring also gave Microsoft a reduced 27% stake in the company, as well as increased research access, while simultaneously freeing up OpenAI to make deals with other cloud-computing partners. 

More ‘code reds’ to come

OpenAI’s urgency to compete with rivals was apparent earlier this month when Altman declared a “code red” in an internal memo, following the surge of interest after Google rolled out its new Gemini 3 model in just one day, which the company said was the fastest deployment of a model into Google Search. Altman’s “code red” was an eight-week mandate to redouble OpenAI’s own efforts while temporarily postponing other initiatives, such as advertising and expanding e-commerce offerings.

The blitz appears to be paying off: Last week, OpenAI launched its new GPT-5.2 model, and earlier this week, it released a new image-generation model to compete with Google’s Nano Banana. Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of applications, said the update wasn’t in response to Google’s Gemini 3, but that the extra resources from the code red did help expedite its debut.

As OpenAI tries to address slowing user growth and retain and grow market share from its competitors, Altman conceded a code red will not be a one-off phenomenon. The all-out effort is a model that’s been employed by Google, and also Meta through Facebook’s more extreme “lockdown” periods. He downplayed the stakes of a code red, matching what sources told Fortune equated to a focused, but not panicked, office environment.

“I think that it’s good to be paranoid and act quickly when a potential competitive threat emerges,” Altman said. “This happened to us in the past. That happened earlier this year with DeepSeek. And there was a code red back then, too.”

Altman likened the urgency of a code red to the beginning of a pandemic, where action taken at the beginning, more so than actions taken later, have an outsized impact on an outcome. He expected code reds will be a norm as the company hopes to gain distance from the likes of Google and DeepSeek.

“My guess is we’ll be doing these once, maybe twice a year, for a long time, and that’s part of really just making sure that we win in our space,” Altman said. “A lot of other companies will do great too, and I’m happy for them.”



Source link

Continue Reading

Business

Klarna partners with Coinbase to receive stablecoin funds from institutional investors

Published

1 hour ago

on

December 19, 2025

By



After staying out of crypto for years, the buy-now-pay-later giant Klarna has been making a flurry of moves in the digital asset space. The latest example came on Friday when the company said it is partnering with the crypto exchange Coinbase to accept stablecoin funds from institutional investors.

Klarna’s business model revolves around supplying consumers with zero-interest loans to buy goods, an arrangement known as buy-now-pay-later, or BNPL. The Swedish firm earns money primarily by charging merchants a small fee to offer its services, and acquires capital via a banking arm that accepts deposits and issues bonds. Its partnership with Coinbase will let institutional investors front capital denominated in stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency pegged to underlying assets like the U.S. dollar.

“Stablecoin connects us to an entirely new class of institutional investors,” said Niclas Neglén, Klarna’s CFO, in a statement.

Friday’s announcement is the latest foray into crypto from Klarna, which went public in September. In late November, Klarna launched its own stablecoin, KlarnaUSD, on a new blockchain backed by the fintech giant Stripe and the crypto venture capitalist Paradigm. About two weeks later, the company said it was working with the crypto wallet developer Privy, which is owned by Stripe, to work on potential crypto products for its users.

Klarna’s crypto integrations come as more fintechs and banks dabble in stablecoins, which proponents say are a faster and cheaper means to send and receive money than existing financial rails.

On Thursday, the neobank SoFi announced that it was launching its own stablecoin. In early December, Sony’s banking arm said it was exploring the issuance of its own dollar-backed token. And even Block, the fintech that’s historically been a devoted Bitcoin booster, said that it will integrate stablecoins into Cash App, the digital wallet the company owns. 

The rush into stablecoins follows a series of landmark moments for the crypto assets over the past year. In February, Stripe closed a $1.1 billion deal to acquire the stablecoin startup Bridge. In June, the stablecoin issuer Circle went public in one of the year’s hottest IPOs. And, in July, President Donald Trump signed into law a new bill that creates a regulatory framework for stablecoins.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © Miami Select.