Top Stories Thursday, Dec. 15 - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Barclays (NYSE:BCS)

Benzinga

Elon Musk Dumps Another $3.6 Billion Of Tesla Stock

Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk sold nearly $3.6 billion shares in the electric vehicle maker.
The billionaire sold 22 million shares of Tesla, according to the filing. The latest sale means that Musk has sold almost $40 billion worth of the automaker's stock over the past year.
Tesla is looking forward to drilling for new water sources to supply an expansion of its electric vehicle plant near Berlin.

Meta Platforms Inc.'s (NASDAQ:META) Facebook launched the Jobs Feature in 2017, but in just five years, the social media giant has reportedly decided to bid farewell to it.
Social media commentator Matt Navarra tweeted a report by Adweek saying Facebook's Jobs Feature will be shut down on February 23.
The report cited a few users who have begun seeing notifications that Jobs on Facebook will cease to exist from next year.

Ericsson's (NASDAQ:ERIC) Russian subsidiary agreed to divest its local customer support business in Russia to a Russian company owned by former operational managers of its Russian subsidiary.
The transaction includes transferring 40 Ericsson employees and certain assets and contracts related to the business.

Mercedes Benz Group ADR (OTC:MBGYY) has partnered with Norwegian aluminum and renewable energy company Norsk Hydro ASA (OTC: NHYDY) on a joint technology roadmap from 2023 to 2030.
The parties aim to develop aluminum solutions approved for automotive applications with a CO2 footprint below 3.0 kgCO2/kgAl.

Ebola vaccines developed by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) and Merck & Co Inc (NYSE: MRK) produced virus-fighting antibodies and appeared to be safe in children and adults, two studies conducted in West Africa show.
Both companies' vaccines produced antibodies 14 days after the first of two shots and were detectable at varying levels in both children and adults for one year.

Reuters

In a bid to reduce its dependence on Russian arms, some Vietnam government officials and U.S. defense firms are reportedly discussing the supply of military gear.
The talks are preliminary and may not lead to any deals.
The companies offered a range of military gear and had "promising" discussions about non-lethal equipment, including helicopters for internal security, drones, radars, and other systems.

JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), BNP Paribas (OTC:BNPQF) (OTC: BNPQY), Barclays Plc (NYSE:BCS) and Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE:LYG) have backed an overall $24 million fundraising for Acin, risk control specialist.
The investment will help Acin accelerate its strategic product development.
"We have been working with Acin for the past three years, during which they have supported our established operational risk management and assessment practices," said Julian Liau, Chief Controls Manager at JPMorgan.

Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) launched a phased rollout of its EU Data Boundary solution to public sector and commercial customers in the European Union (EU) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) on January 1.
Microsoft's Chief Privacy Officer Julie Brill said the first phase would be customer data. And then, Microsoft moved into the subsequent phases. It will move logging data, service data, and other kinds of data into the boundary.
The second phase will be completed at the end of 2023, and phase three will be completed in 2024.

Southeast Asia's biggest ride-hailing and food delivery firm Grab Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GRAB), introduced cost-cutting measures to beat the macro headwinds.
Grab's measures included a freeze on most hirings, salary freezes for senior managers, and cuts in travel and expense budgets.
CEO Anthony Tan said, "More so than ever, all Grabbers need to adopt a frugal and prudent mindset as we prepare for 2023."

Wall Street Journal

Group14 Technologies, a global manufacturer and supplier of advanced silicon battery technology, raised $214 million in additional financing from a consortium including Microsoft Corp's (NASDAQ: MSFT) Climate Innovation Fund, Lightrock Climate Impact Fund, Moore Strategic Ventures, Oman Investment Authority, and Molicel.
The latest financing brings Group14's Series C round to $614 million.
The battery startup, valued at over $3 billion, won a $100 million grant from the U.S. Energy Department through the 2021 infrastructure bill.

Bloomberg

Twitter must tell terminated employees that there's an active lawsuit against the Elon Musk-led company regarding severance pay and benefits, a judge reportedly ruled.
U.S. District Judge James Donato said, "Twitter is directed to provide notice of the pendency of this case before asking an employee to release his or her legal claims,"

Siemens Healthineers AG (OTC:SMMNY) (OTC:SEMHF) and General Electric Company's (NYSE:GE) healthcare arm are reportedly weighing the potential acquisition of Medtronic Plc's (NYSE: MDT) two businesses being spun-off.
Medtronic announced in October its intention to spin off the Patient Monitoring and Respiratory Interventions units within the next year to 18 months.
The businesses could be valued at more than $7 billion.

Key Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd (OTC:HNHPF), operating as Foxconn Technology Group, relaxed most anti-Covid restrictions at its factory in Zhengzhou, China.
Foxconn ended its "point-to-point" system, relaxing employees' daily movements between their dormitories and the campus.

Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) and China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) are planning to build a battery production plant in Michigan.
Michigan and Virginia have emerged as potential spots for the multibillion-dollar facility.
The new facility will likely supply lithium iron phosphate batteries for Ford's electric models.

Techcrunch

Lucid Eyes Share Of China's Fragmented EV Market

Electric vehicle maker Lucid Group, Inc (NASDAQ:LCID) braced to enter China as it started hiring in the largest EV market.
Lucid recruited a dozen positions in Shanghai.
The roles range from product management, marketing, sales, public policy, design, and supply chain management, to software development.

Photo: Fernandi Putra and Vitaliy Karimov on Shutterstock and Courtesy Photo on Wikimedia Commons