>>> Soros Fund (George Soros) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filin

Soros Fund (George Soros) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: New AVTR SLQT BIRK positions
Highlights from Q4 2023 filing as compared to Q3 2023 (all amounts are approximate):
  • New positions in: AVTR (0.8 mln shares), SLQT (0.63 mln), BIRK (0.63 mln), KEY (0.6 mln), EOLS (0.55 mln), HG (0.52 mln), CWAN (0.52 mln), AY (0.35 mln), GAMB (0.31 mln), CRBG (0.23 mln), MRK (0.23 mln), TBLA (0.23 mln), EHTH (0.21 mln), SNCY (0.2 mln), EVLV (0.35 mln), RDCM (0.31 mln), ARRY (0.23 mln), BP (0.23 mln)
  • Increased positions in: AER (to 2.47 mln shares from 1.86 mln shares), SRE (to 0.5 mln from 0.09 mln), AEL (to 1.64 mln from 1.34 mln), TECK (to 0.5 mln from 0.29 mln), J (to 0.37 mln from 0.2 mln), CSX (to 0.5 mln from 0.34 mln), LVS (to 0.67 mln from 0.52 mln)
  • Closed positions in: TRIN (from 0.33 mln shares), ARM (from 0.33 mln), CNM (from 0.2 mln), LPLA (from 0.13 mln), FMC (from 0.13 mln), FTRE (from 0.13 mln)
  • Decreased positions in: KVUE (to 0.19 mln shares from 0.86 mln shares), CRH (to 1.46 mln from 2.07 mln), APTV (to 0.06 mln from 0.31 mln), AMZN (to 0.56 mln from 0.76 mln), BGC (to 2.32 mln from 2.52 mln), UBER (to 0.69 mln from 0.88 mln), GOOGL (to 1.22 mln from 1.4 mln), CBOE (to 0.22 mln from 0.33 mln), DXCM (to 0.11 mln from 0.19 mln)

>>> US After Hours Summary: CSCO -5.7% lower on earnings and restructuring; FSLY

After Hours Summary: CSCO -5.7% lower on earnings and restructuring; FSLY -22.1%, NUS -21.8%, ADPT -11.2%, TWLO -10.9% also lower on earnings; FROG +16.9%, INFA +14.8%, APP +14.1%, TRIP +7.4% higher on earnings;

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: FROG +16.9%, INFA +14.8%, APP +14.1% (also increases share repurchase authorization by $1.25 bln), PEGA +14%, ATUS +12.5%, AMWL +8.1%, TRIP +7.4%, PGRE +5.1%, SUM +5%, UPWK +5%, AR +3.7%, PLMR +2.9%, NTST +2%, AM +1.6% (also authorizes new $500 mln share repurchase program), CF +1.1%, CW +1%, AWK +0.9%, EQIX +0.9%, HUBS +0.8%, MSA +0.4%, HL +0.3%, IRT +0.1%, KAI +0.1%, OXY +0.1% (also increases dividend), WH +0.1% (also increases dividend)

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: SOUN +41% (NVDA discloses stake in SOUN), KALV +9.1% (stock offering), "SIRI +1.7% ( Berkshire Hathaway increases stake)," IWN +0.5% (Starboard Value discloses increased position), CSX +0.4% (increases dividend), AGYS +0.4% (stock offering by selling shareholders), MSFT +0.3% (OpenAI to develop web search product to challenge GOOG, according to The Information), CPA +0.3% (reports Jan traffic data), SSNC +0.2% (signs long-term agreement with DDH Graham), FTRE +0.1% (Starboard Value discloses new position)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: FSLY -22.1%, NUS -21.8% (also lowers dividend), ADPT -11.2%, TWLO -10.9%, UDMY -10.8% (also authorizes new $100 mln share repurchase program), HLF -9.8%, MTW -8.3%, NRDS -8.2%, ROL -7.4%, CSCO -5.7% (also announces restructuring plan; will impact 5% of workforce; also increases dividend), HCC -5.4%, ALB -4.8%, TYL -3.6%, NMIH -2.9%, QS -2.2% (also names new CEO), VTR -2%, PTEN -1.3%, ET -0.9%, KGC -0.1%, VECO -0.1%

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: PRME -6.8% ($125 mln stock offering), GOOG -1.9% (OpenAI to develop web search product to challenge GOOG, according to The Information), HHH -1.8% (Bill Ackmann increases stake), BVN -0.9% (Q4 production and volume results), DHI -0.5% (Berkshire Hathaway exits position), MKL -0.4% (Berkshire Hathaway exits position), HUM -0.4% (Starboard Value discloses increased position), CMG -0.4% (Bill Ackmann lowers stake), ASTL -0.3% (resumes normal steel production), JBGS -0.2% (increases dividend), STNE -0.1% (Berkshire Hathaway exits position), DINO -0.1% (increases dividend)

>>> Engaged Capital (Glenn W. Welling) discloses updated portfolio positions in

Engaged Capital (Glenn W. Welling) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: New NVRO PRAA positions
Highlights from Q4 2023 filing as compared to Q3 2023 (all amounts are approximate):
  • New positions in: NATL (affirms 2.51 mln shares post-VYX spin), NVRO (2.17 mln), PRAA (2.01 mln)
  • Increased positions in: EVH (to 3.26 mln shares from 2.83 mln shares), BRCC (to 12.85 mln from 12.45 mln), VFC (to 5.34 mln from 5.2 mln)
  • Maintained positions in: VYX (5.02 mln shares), SHAK (1.37 mln)
  • Closed positions in: PRMW (from 0.88 mln shares)
  • Decreased positions in: UPBD (to 2.4 mln shares from 3.67 mln shares)

>>> Viking Global (Andreas Halvorsen) discloses updated portfolio positions in 1

Viking Global (Andreas Halvorsen) discloses updated portfolio positions in 13F filing: New USB AMD LW GOOGL CBOE TTWO positions; Exited SQ FTNT UNM ZI MSFT CFLT CL
Highlights from Q4 2023 filing as compared to Q3 2023 (all amounts are approximate):
  • New positions in: USB (9.57 mln shares), AMD (4.74 mln), LW (3.55 mln), GOOGL (3.29 mln), CBOE (2.41 mln), TTWO (2.41 mln), CZOO (2.14 mln), TMUS (1.51 mln), DE (1.41 mln), KKR (1.39 mln), HCA (0.73 mln), RRX (0.69 mln), PCOR (0.61 mln), VEEV (0.58 mln), TEAM (0.44 mln)
  • Increased positions in: CPNG (to 15.49 mln shares from 4.36 mln shares), PGR (to 5.86 mln from 1.15 mln), PM (to 9.62 mln from 5.97 mln), CNHI (to 9.86 mln from 6.74 mln), MET (to 5.62 mln from 2.93 mln), FTV (to 10.53 mln from 8.33 mln), UPS (to 8.2 mln from 6.66 mln), CBRE (to 3.81 mln from 2.5 mln), FCX (to 11.05 mln from 9.77 mln), BSX (to 2.27 mln from 1.11 mln), KBR (to 2.63 mln from 1.56 mln), MA (to 1.16 mln from 0.29 mln), MCK (to 2.23 mln from 1.46 mln), BMRN (to 4.89 mln from 4.22 mln), BEKE (to 5.29 mln from 4.62 mln), RPRX (to 10.09 mln from 9.46 mln), KDP (to 2.89 mln from 2.29 mln)
  • Maintained positions in: APG (34.3 mln shares), BBIO (25.12 mln shares), RYZB (6.64 mln shares), META (2.99 mln shares)
  • Closed positions in: SQ (from 12.32 mln shares) FTNT (from 7.05 mln), UNM (from 4.78 mln), ZI (from 3.75 mln), MSFT (from 3.02 mln), CFLT (from 1.98 mln), CL (from 1.42 mln), KRTX (from 1.13 mln), THC (from 1.03 mln), MBLY (from 1.01 mln), AJG (from 0.96 mln), LULU (from 0.78 mln), DDOG (from 0.67 mln), ARM (from 0.6 mln), DOV (from 0.54 mln)
  • Decreased positions in: CSX (to 3.13 mln shares from 10.64 mln shares), VVV (to 3.18 mln from 8.87 mln), ROIV (to 69.37 mln from 73.43 mln), AMZN (to 4.93 mln from 8.75 mln), PPG (to 0.97 mln from 4.04 mln), GE (to 5.09 mln from 8 mln), DASH (to 3.49 mln from 5.37 mln), CDNS (to 0.23 mln from 1.65 mln), UNH (to 0.46 mln from 1.86 mln), V (to 5.69 mln from 6.97 mln), FL (to 1.07 mln from 2.24 mln), WDAY (to 4.11 mln from 5.24 mln), IFF (to 0.95 mln from 2.07 mln), FIVN (to 2.71 mln from 3.59 mln), ZLAB (to 1.87 mln from 2.49 mln)

TechCrunch : SpaceX will de-orbit 100 Starlink satellites with unidentified flaw

SpaceX will de-orbit 100 Starlink satellites with unidentified flaw

SpaceX announced today that it will be sending some 100 Starlink satellites to an early retirement after a flaw was identified that could make them a worry later on. Don’t expect a fiery light show, though, and if you use Starlink, your service should be unaffected.

The announcement explains that “the Starlink team identified a common issue” in this subset of first-generation communication satellites that could “increase the probability of failure.”

I’ve asked the company for further details and will update this post if I hear back, but based on the description and context, it seems likely that the “failure” in question would mean a loss of control. Seventeen Starlink satellites are “currently non-maneuverable,” but SpaceX did not say whether this was due to the same issue as the 100 being de-orbited.

Unpowered satellites are more or less just debris, even if at a low orbit like this one they’ll burn up in a few years rather than in a few hundred. One of the criticisms of mega-constellations like Starlink is their potential to contribute to the space junk problem, and SpaceX doesn’t want to be the one that people blame when the sky is full of broken satellites.

That explains why, with these satellites working perfectly well despite their age, SpaceX has decided to initiate controlled descents to take them out of orbit.

The descents will be triggered “in the coming weeks and months,” but these satellites aren’t capable of big moves, so this is more of a nudge in the downward direction. The de-orbit process will actually take about six months, during which they will also “take maneuver responsibility for any high-risk conjunctions,” meaning if they happen to cross paths with other satellites, the Starlink ones will politely move out of the way.

They will fall one by one, not all together, so don’t bother watching the skies.

Users of Starlink need not fear, however, since there are still thousands of functioning satellites up there. Nearly 6,000 have been launched to date, and 406 have been de-orbited, and others may not be operational, but there are more than enough of them to serve customers.

TechCrunch : BMW security lapse exposed sensitive company information, researche

BMW security lapse exposed sensitive company information, researcher finds

A misconfigured cloud storage server belonging to automotive giant BMW exposed sensitive company information, including private keys and internal data, TechCrunch has learned.

Can Yoleri, a security researcher at threat intelligence company SOCRadar, told TechCrunch that he discovered the exposed BMW cloud storage server while routinely scanning the internet.

Yoleri said the exposed Microsoft Azure–hosted storage server — also known as a “bucket” — in BMW’s development environment was “accidentally configured to be public instead of private due to misconfiguration.”

Yoleri added that the storage bucket contained “script files that include Azure container access information, secret keys for accessing private bucket addresses, and details about other cloud services.”

Screenshots shared with TechCrunch show that the exposed data included private keys for BMW’s cloud services in China, Europe, and the United States, as well as login credentials for BMW’s production and development databases.

It’s not known exactly how much data was exposed or how long the cloud bucket was exposed to the internet. “Unfortunately, this is the biggest unknown in public bucket problems,” Yoleri told TechCrunch. “Only the bucket owner can see how long it has actually been open.”

When reached by email, BMW spokesperson Chris Overall confirmed to TechCrunch that the data exposure affected a Microsoft Azure bucket based in a storage development environment and said no customer or personal data was impacted as a result.

The spokesperson added that “the BMW Group was able to fix this issue at the beginning of 2024, and we continue to monitor the situation together with our partners.”

BMW would not say for how long the storage bucket was exposed or whether it had observed any malicious access to the exposed data. Yoleri said that while he doesn’t have any evidence of malicious access, “that does not mean it doesn’t exist.”

Yoleri told TechCrunch that while BMW made the bucket private after he reported his findings to the company, the company has not revoked or changed the sets of passwords and credentials found within the exposed cloud bucket.

“Even if the bucket has been made private, it was necessary to change these access keys. It doesn’t matter if the bucket is private anymore,” Yoleri said. He added that he tried to reach out to BMW about this subsequent issue but did not receive a response.

Last month, Mercedes-Benz confirmed it accidentally exposed a trove of internal data after leaving a private key online that allowed “unrestricted access” to its source code. After TechCrunch disclosed the security issue to Mercedes, the carmaker said it had “revoked the respective API token and removed the public repository immediately.”

FT : US Porsche, Bentley and Audi imports held up over banned Chinese part

US Porsche, Bentley and Audi imports held up over banned Chinese part
Thousands of cars impounded after supplier discovers subcomponent from ‘western China’

Thousands of Porsche, Bentley and Audi cars have been impounded in US ports after a supplier to parent group Volkswagen found a Chinese subcomponent in the vehicles that breached anti-forced labour laws. 

According to two people with knowledge of the matter, the carmaker has delayed delivery of the vehicles until as late as the end of March as it replaces a key electronic component that was found to have come from “western China”.

The people stressed that VW was not aware of the origin of the part, which was sourced by an indirect supplier further down its supply chain, until the supplier alerted it to the issue.

They added that VW notified US authorities as soon as it was made aware of the part’s origin.

US-China relations remain mired in their worst state since the countries established diplomatic ties in 1979. But Washington and Beijing have been trying to stabilise their relationship following the summit that President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping held in San Francisco in November.

The US prohibits the import of products that have been made with forced labour in the western Xinjiang region and other areas in China under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2021.

The people would not confirm whether or not the part in question was produced in Xinjiang itself.

The issue affects about 1,000 Porsche sports cars and SUVs, several hundred Bentleys, and several thousand Audi vehicles, according to people briefed on the details. 

VW declined to comment. 

Questions around forced labour found within its Chinese supply chain are particularly sensitive for VW, which has been facing mounting pressure from human rights groups and investors alike over a facility it jointly owns in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi.

The German car company on Wednesday said it would discuss “the future direction of business” in the Xinjiang region with its Chinese joint venture partner SAIC, following the publication of fresh allegations of forced labour in German media.

Chinese officials have defended work programmes in the region as helping employment, but the UN’s top human rights body has said China’s actions may constitute “crimes against humanity”.

A Human Rights Watch report this month warned that carmakers were at risk of buying aluminium produced by victims of forced labour in the region. 

VW is balancing falling sales in China with a desire to increase its presence in the US at a time of growing political tension between the two countries. 

In mid-January, VW discovered that some of its luxury cars bound for North America contained a part that was not compliant with US customs rules, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The part had been sourced by a supplier further down the company’s supply chain and not by VW directly, according to the people. Typically carmakers deal directly with their largest suppliers and may sometimes be unaware of the provenance of smaller parts produced by other businesses further down the supply chain.

A letter from VW to waiting customers blamed “a small electronic component that is a part of a larger control unit, which will be replaced”, but did not specify the origin of the part. 

With the approval of US customs authorities, the company ordered replacement electronic modules, and has already begun fixing cars, two people said. While some were fixed last week, the backlog is unlikely to be cleared until at least next month. 

Swapping the modules is relatively straightforward and does not require the disassembly of the vehicles, although some more complicated models may take several hours to fix, according to people with knowledge of the process.