Financial Daily Dose 3.4.2021 | Top Story: Google Shakes Up Digital Ad Industry by Phasing Out Web Tracking

Digging deeper into Google’s announcement that “its ad tools would no longer support individual tracking of users across websites starting in 2022,” a move that—with the site’s previously unveiled plans  to stop supporting third-party cookies—“represent[s] a major shift from the largest player in digital advertising, an industry where many companies rely on tracking and targeting users” - WSJ and MarketWatch and TechCrunch and Marketplace

Apollo Global Mgmt will acquire crafts retailing giant Michaels in a deal that values the chain at $5 billion and reveals Apollo’s bet “that Michaels can continue to ride the wave of enthusiasm for crafting spurred by Americans stuck at home during the pandemic” - NYTimes and Bloomberg

A bad look, literally, for Amazon means a hastily revamped app icon just weeks after the debut of its shopping-cart-replacing box effort - NYTimes

Perhaps a new deal with the NFL that could see the ‘Zon’s Prime Video platform “carry many games exclusively” would help change the subject - WSJ and Bloomberg

Disney announced plans on Wednesday to “dramatically downsize its chain of Disney Stores, which have struggled amid the pandemic and a broader consumer shift to online shopping.” The move will affect 60 stores in North America, or 30% of its presence in the region - NYTimes and WSJ and MarketWatch

Ahead of a planned OPEC+ meeting today, Saudi Arabia and Russia have reportedly kicked around plans to raise oil production output by a combined million barrels a day to global markets - WSJ

“Embattled” financial startup Greensill Capital, which plans an insolvency filing in the U.K. before the week closes, is facing a criminal inquiry in Germany after the country’s financial regulators referred the matter  for prosecution - WSJ and Bloomberg

Quicken Loans parent company Rocket Cos. Is taking its turn in the meme stock spotlight - WSJ

Collecting our thoughts and breaths after a few weeks of volatility in the markets to consider why an “increasingly healthy economy” is making investors panic - NYTimes

Also, for good measure, the Times outlines what Fed Chair Powell and friends could do to address the recent jump in bond yields that’s troubling skittish investors. And Powell, himself, may send a few test balloons up during his remarks this afternoon at a WSJ webinar - NYTimes [and WSJ and Bloomberg]

Alamo Drafthouse—the theater chain “known for its curated screenings, elevated food and drink options and over-the-top fan interactions”—filed for Chapter 11 protection this week, a step it said “would provide the company with the financing needed to weather the pandemic” - NYTimes and Law360

This ode to 4-year-old destructiveness had me at the Mr. Fixit reference and gets extra points for some very, very understanding parenting - NYTimes

Stay safe,
MDR