Uber Company Systems Compromised by Widespread Cyber Hack

Uber discovered yesterday that its computer network had been hacked, with a person claiming responsibility sending “images of email, cloud storage and code repositories to cybersecurity researches and The New York Times.” The hacker apparently sent a text to an Uber employee and persuaded the worker to “hand over a password that allowed the hacker to gain access to Uber’s system, a technique known as social engineering” - NYTimes and WSJ and MarketWatch and TechCrunch

Average 30-year-fixed term US mortgage rates jumped above 6% this week, their “highest point since late 2008 and more than double their level a year ago,” in the latest blow to a dramatically cooling housing market - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch

PDF powerhouse Adobe has agreed to acquire design platform Figma for a reported $20 billion—a “deal that comes amid a slump in merger activity in the tech world.” Figma’s bread and butter is allowing “multiple people to collaborate on design projects in the same files at once” - NYTimes and Bloomberg and TechCrunch and WSJ

Some background on what drove rail workers’ threats to walk off the job ahead of yesterday’s tentative deal that averted a “potentially catastrophic railroad strike” - NYTimes and WSJ

We told you yesterday about Ethereum’s “Merge”—the highly anticipated software upgrade to its blockchain that exponentially decreases its power usage. Here’s a deeper dive on why the Merge could matter (and thoughts on whether it really will) - NYTimes and Mashable

Meanwhile, SEC Chair Gensler has his eye on the company’s new staking model—that is, whether “investors expect to earn a return from the work of third parties”—though it’s not likely his agency will have a set of rules for the entire industry any time soon - WSJ and Law360

Your case study for the whiplash companies have felt from consumers over the past few bizarre years: Scotts Miracle-Gro. After two years in which the company struggled to keep up with consumer demand for its “lawn seed, fertilizer and other garden products,” the company found itself waiting for a rush that never came this summer and is now sitting on literal tons of inventory and in the middle of a “full-blow crisis” - WSJ

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law a measure that will require social media companies to “study products and features that are likely to be accessed by minors and mitigate any potential harm before releasing them to the public, starting in July 2024.” The first-of-its-kind law in the U.S. will—like other California legislation—apply only in the state but is likely to have an outsized influence on companies throughout the U.S. and the world - WSJ and NYTimes and MarketWatch

Apple and Amazon stepped up with a “thanks but no thanks” to the LIV Golf Tour approach over broadcast rights. LIV has also struck out with the networks and traditional cable sports outlets, leaving the Saudi-backed golf upstart with “a dwindling number of options” for broadcasting its tournaments - WSJ

Celebrating one of the all-time greats upon learning that Roger’s competitive tennis days are over: here are 41 times that Federer told science to take a break - TennisTV

We are pausing publication of the Daily Dose in the coming weeks as I prepare for and participate in trial on a complex financial fraud dispute. We look forward to reconnecting with our readers later this fall. 

Have a great weekend,

MDR

The Robins Kaplan Financial Daily Dose features top stories and latest news headlines in financial markets, banking, securities and technology topics.