The daily business briefing: October 13, 2020

1. Apple shares jump ahead of iPhone 5G event

Apple shares surged on Monday, rising by 6.8 percent ahead of the company's Tuesday unveiling of a 5G-enabled iPhone. The shares rose another 2.1 percent in premarket trading Tuesday. Investors are betting that the next generation of the company's dominant smartphone will trigger a new round of explosive growth. Apple will unveil its new iPhone 12 lineup at its fall event starting at 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Apple is expected to unveil a new flat-edge design, possibly similar to that of the iPad Pro. It also is expected to roll out a 5.4-inch model that is smaller than the tiniest iPhone 11 Pro, as well as a 6.7-inch model that would be the largest iPhone yet. All of the new iPhone models are expected to support fast new 5G cellular speeds, although many users aren't covered by such speedy networks just yet.

The Wall Street Journal The Verge

2. Facebook bans posts denying Holocaust

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Monday that the social network is banning posts that deny or distort the Holocaust, a reversal that came after pressure from Holocaust survivors this summer. The #NoDenyingIt campaign used Facebook to appeal to Zuckerberg for change. The push came in sync with an advertising boycott by companies demanding Facebook crack down on hate speech and extremism in general, and as concern mounts about disinformation aiming to influence the November presidential election. Facebook will direct people seeking information to authoritative sources on the Nazi genocide. "My own thinking has evolved as I've seen data showing an increase in anti-Semitic violence, as have our wider policies on hate speech," Zuckerberg said.

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The Associated Press

3. Microsoft gets court order to seize botnet controls

Microsoft said Monday that it seized control of computers that were installing malicious software on local government networks, threatening to disrupt the November elections by interfering with voter registration records or the reporting of results. Microsoft said it took action after getting a court order. The maker of the Windows operating system invoked copyright law to persuade a federal judge in Virginia to let it take control of the computers because they were infected with Trickbot, a common piece of malware that uses Microsoft code. Microsoft said the seizures and agreements with telecommunications providers would prevent Trickbot from infecting more computers or activating already-installed ransomware.

Reuters

4. Amazon shares jump ahead of Prime Day

Amazon shares rose by 4.8 percent on Monday ahead of the Tuesday start of the online retail giant's two-day Prime Day sale event. Amazon won't disclose the take for the annual event, which was delayed this year due to the coronavirus crisis, but some analysts expect $10 billion in sales over the two days. The gains by Amazon and fellow tech-giant Apple fueled a tech surge that lifted the tech-heavy Nasdaq by 2.6 percent on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 also rose, by 0.9 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively. U.S. stock index futures were mixed several hours before the opening bell on Tuesday as investors awaited the kickoff of earnings season and fresh news on coronavirus stimulus talks in Washington.

Fox Business CNBC

5. Disney restructuring to focus on streaming

Disney on Monday announced that it is restructuring its media and entertainment divisions to accelerate its focus on streaming content. Disney said its "creative engines" would concentrate on original content for streaming services, "as well as for legacy platforms," while a single global organization would focus on distribution, ad sales, and marketing Disney+. The coronavirus pandemic has devastated Disney's theatrical business while steering customers to its streaming services, which now have 100 million paid subscribers, half of them with Disney+. "I would not characterize it as a response to COVID," CEO Bob Chapek told CNBC. "I would say COVID accelerated the rate at which we made this transition, but this transition was going to happen anyway."

TechCrunch CNBC