AirTest Technologies Inc. (TSXV: AAT)
A Green-Tech company specializing in sensors that improve commercial building operating efficiency and at the same time create energy savings.
Ahead of Senate committee testimony tomorrow, Twitter (TWTR +4.3%) CEO Jack Dorsey will speak up in defense of Section 230, the liability protection for tech companies that is “the Internet’s most important law for free speech and safety.”
Dorsey is set to appear in a key hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee along with Facebook (FB +2.3%) chief Mark Zuckerberg and Alphabet (GOOG +0.4%, GOOGL +0.5%) CEO Sundar Pichai.
The group has come under fire from political conservatives accusing them of censoring voices under the guise of disinformation protection measures.
In prepared remarks for his appearance, Dorsey says “eroding the foundation of Section 230 could collapse how we communicate on the Internet, leaving only a small number of giant and well-funded technology companies.”
“We do our work recognizing that free speech and safety are interconnected and can sometimes be at odds,” Dorsey says. “We must ensure that all voices can be heard, and we continue to make improvements to our service so that everyone feels safe participating in the public conversation – whether they are speaking or simply listening. The protections offered by Section 230 help us achieve this important objective.”
Facebook’s (FB +1.8%) Mark Zuckerberg is out with prepared testimony ahead of his appearance before the Senate Commerce Committee – and he’s taking a more conciliatory tone than fellow tech CEO Jack Dorsey.
At the hearing, Dorsey will call Section 230 of the Communications Act “the Internet’s most important law for free speech and safety” and otherwise press to defend it as an important liability shield for Internet firms.
In his prepared remarks, Zuckerberg says Section 230 “made it possible for every major Internet service to be built and ensured important values like free expression and openness were part of how platforms operate.”
“Changing it is a significant decision,” he continues. “However, I believe Congress should update the law to make sure it’s working as intended.”
Facebook doesn’t believe tech companies should be making decisions about these issues alone, he says: “We stand ready to work with Congress on what regulation could look like in these areas. By updating the rules for the Internet, we can preserve what’s best about it – the freedom for people to express themselves and for entrepreneurs to build new things – while also protecting society from broader harms.”
Zuckerberg will appear tomorrow (virtually) alongside Twitter’s (TWTR +4.8%) Dorsey and Alphabet (GOOG +0.3%, GOOGL +0.3%) CEO Sundar Pichai.
Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn warns about a bubble in technology and also the “perilous” political climate in the U.S. in his Q3 letter.
“As for the question of sanity, we are now in the midst of an enormous tech bubble,” Einhorn writes. “We prematurely identified what we thought was a bubble in early 2016. Part of our thinking at the time was that the height of the 1999-2000 bubble was a once-in-a-career experience and that investors would not repeat that level of insanity. Clearly, we were mistaken. Four years later, there is a consensus that we are in a bubble.”
“All the signs of a bubble are there,” he says, including an “IPO mania”, a huge market concentration in a few stocks, a second tier of obscure stocks with S&P 500-type market caps, outsize reaction to stock splits and “a parabolic ascent toward a top”.
On the political front Einhorn warns that the center is collapsing and these times “may rank among the most perilous times, absent war, in modern American history.”
Einhorn is scheduled to speak at the Robin Hood Investors Conference after the bell today.
Root (ROOT) has priced its IPO of ~26.8M Class A common shares at $27.00/share, higher than the prior range of $22-25. Of the offered shares, ~24.2M are being offered by Root and ~2.6M by certain existing stockholders.
Underwriters’ over-allotment is an additional ~4M shares.
Trading kicks off October 28.
Root will not receive any proceeds from the sale by selling shareholders.
Closing date is October 30.
Cogeco Communications (OTCPK:CGEAF): FQ4 GAAP EPS of C$1.88.
Revenue of C$605.17M (+3.7% Y/Y)
