Earnings season. JD.com, Geely, Demant, Curaleaf and Grand City Properties are among companies posting their results today.

Friendly takeover bid. Sanofi will acquire US biotech company Principia Biopharma (specialist in BTK inhibitors) for $3.68 billion in cash ($100 per share), financed out of treasury stock. The French laboratory has external growth ambitions and adequate resources. Concerning Principia, Bloomberg had already revealed Sanofi's interest a few weeks ago. The transaction will increase the group's exposure to autoimmune and allergic diseases. The two laboratories have been collaborating since 2017.

Alibaba next on Trump’s list. Donald Trump said on Saturday that he could dismiss other Chinese groups, including Alibaba, from the United States after signing an executive order banning American companies from trading with ByteDance, owner of TikTok, and Tencent, which owns WeChat.

No forced marriage. In Japan, political leaders have reportedly evoked a scenario of a merger between Honda and Nissan to create a sector champion, an idea rejected by the management of each manufacturer. The Financial Times reports that this hypothesis was first put forward towards the end of 2019, but that it was immediately rejected by the interested parties. The daily newspaper reminds us that Japan still has eight major brands, Mazda, Subaru, Suzuki and Daihatsu, which are capitalistically linked to Toyota Motor, Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi.

Beijing not happy about it. Lockheed Martin is finalizing the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan, as part of an agreement that could go up to $62 billion over 10 years. The basic agreement covers 66 fighter jets. Taiwan had already owned previous generation F-16s since 1992.

Microsoft’s 90 days to buy TikTok. Donald Trump is giving ByteDance 90 days to sell his US interests, thus putting his threats into effect. Microsoft is expected to buy the American assets of the Chinese application, which has 100 million users in the country.

FB criticizes Apple. Facebook was added Friday to the list of companies that criticize Apple for its inflexibility on commissions for its application platform. "We asked Apple to reduce its 30% App Store fee or to allow us to offer Facebook Pay, in order to absorb all the costs of companies in difficulty during Covid-19," but both requests were rejected. More details here.

Arbitrations. Berkshire Hathaway exits The Goldman Sachs Group and Restaurant Brands, reduces its shares in JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo and takes a Barrick Gold position. Warren Buffet's holding company shares lost 7% in 2020, significantly underperforming US benchmarks, particularly because of its initial exposure to banking stocks and the airline sector.

In other news. Tesco is to launch a free food delivery service to fight the web giants, its CEO told The Telegraph. The German antitrust authority is launching an investigation into the relationship between Amazon.com and its third-party vendors. Novavax will begin Phase II trials for its experimental coronavirus vaccine. CureVac goes on fire for its entry on the Nasdaq: the stock tripled. The MSC Grandiosa of Costa Crociere (Carnival) is the first cruise ship to return to the Mediterranean Sea.