Plus, Chinese tech company Tencent reports a near-doubling in profit, powered by its gaming business and AI investments. And activist investor Starboard is pushing for change at 3-D software designer Autodesk. Victoria Craig hosts.
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[00:00:30] Wednesday, March 19. I'm Victoria Craig for The Wall Street Journal. The European Commission has fired its latest salvo in a long-running battle with U.S. tech titans over fair competition, raising the stakes in a standoff with President Trump who has said he's willing to use tariffs to retaliate against any antitrust fines.
[00:00:48] A European set of rules called the Digital Markets Act designates Apple, Google and others as gatekeepers that are not allowed to play favorites with their own services versus third parties on their own platforms or devices. The Commission today said it's concerned Google's search results and terms for app developers break the rules by giving its own services like Google Shopping and Hotel Booking the upper hand.
[00:01:12] Regulators also said Apple should do more to make its devices more compatible with other companies' products like headphones, VR headsets and smartwatches. Apple said the rules, quote, wrap us in red tape, slow down innovation for users in Europe and force the company to give away new features for free to other companies that are not obligated to do the same. Google said the rules are hurting consumers and businesses.
[00:01:37] Elsewhere, gaming and continued investment in artificial intelligence helped Chinese tech giant Tencent nearly double its profit in the final quarter of 2024. The company said ramped up spending on AI will help it better compete with its domestic rivals, including Alibaba and ByteDance, and boost its consumer and enterprise products. Tencent's president said spending more than doubled from the previous quarter and surged 300 percent from the year prior as it sought to buy more graphics processing units.
[00:02:07] Finally, activist investor Starboard said it believes software maker Autodesk has been underperforming in recent years. It's taken a $500 million stake in the company and proposed nominating a slate of minority board directors ahead of the company's annual meeting. Autodesk, which makes 3D design software, said it's had constructive engagement with Starboard over the past year and that it would consider the investor's slate of directors as part of a regular evaluation process.
[00:02:34] Earlier this year, Autodesk said it would eliminate about 9 percent of its workforce, which equates to more than 1,300 employees, as part of a global restructuring. For a deeper dive into what's happening in tech, check out Thursday's Tech News Briefing podcast.