Last year, the U.S. government took Apple to court, charging that the company illegally drove up the price of e-books. This summer, Apple lost the case.
In France, just the opposite is happening. The French government has accused Amazon of trying to push the price of physical books too low.
Limiting discounts on books is one of the ways that France is trying to ensure the survival of its independent booksellers.
Enlarge image i
Twitter announced today that it plans on selling 70 million shares at $17 to $20 each, during its initial public offering.
Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal did the math and it means that the company is looking to raise about $1.4 billion and values itself at about $11 billion at the high end. This is the biggest tech IPO since Facebook went public in May of 2012.
Bloomberg reports:
"'They're picking a slightly lower valuation to ensure that the IPO goes up on the first day of trading,' Francis Gaskins, president of IPODesktop.com, said in an interview. 'I would definitely buy them in the offering at this valuation.'
"The six-year-old short-messaging site, which draws more than 230 million monthly active users and has transformed the way people communicate, is taking advantage of renewed appetite for social-media stocks to sell a 13 percent stake. While the company has more than doubled revenue annually, it hasn't yet turned a profit and the pace of user gains is slowing. Still, Chief Executive Officer Dick Costolo is betting the service's popularity on mobile phones will help lure advertisers."
It may not officially have a candidate to back quite yet, but for months Ready for Hillary has been revving up for 2016. Now, the superPAC has earned the support of a prominent Democratic donor.
Billionaire investor George Soros on Thursday joined the group, which is encouraging former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to run for president, as a co-chairman of its national finance council. He also contributed $25,000 — the cap Ready for Hillary voluntarily set on individual donations — even though superPACs may raise unlimited funds.
"He brings a lot of prestige as a progressive donor who has supported grass-roots causes for decades," Ready for Hillary spokesman Seth Bringman said.
Soros had flown relatively under the radar during the last two presidential election cycles. He became a well-known political figure in the 2004 campaign, when he gave nearly $24 million to groups opposing President George W. Bush.
However, Soros has since still been a reliable Democratic benefactor. In 2012, he gave around $2.8 million to four Democratic-leaning superPACs — including $1 million to Priorities USA Action, a pro-Obama group, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Other Ready for Hillary national finance council co-chairmen include Texas attorneys Steve and Amber Mostyn and the co-founder of the clothing line Esprit, Susie Tompkins Buell, all of whom are major Democratic donors. The council, whose members include those who have given at least $5,000 to the superPAC, is scheduled to meet in New York City on Nov. 12.
Ready for Hillary raised $1.25 million in the first half of the year. But it's unclear how much the group has brought in since then, as its next campaign finance report isn't due until January.
As the group waits for Clinton to make her decision, it has been mobilizing support for former Democratic National Committee chairman and Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe in the Nov. 5 Virginia gubernatorial election.
Bringman said Ready for Hillary also plans to help get out the vote for Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Bill de Blasio, whom Clinton endorsed, and to be active in 2014 midterm races where Clinton chooses to throw her support behind a candidate.
Although Clinton hasn't publicly stated her opinion of Ready for Hillary, former aides in President Bill Clinton's White House, such as Harold Ickes and Craig Smith, have been advising the group.
Clinton has yet to announce her intentions for the 2016 presidential race. She has hit the speaking circuit over the past few months and has a new book set for release next year.