 Ukarainians line up at a bank in Kyiv | Photo by Oleksandr Khomenko Ukraine’s central bank has suspended all electronic cash transfers following the country’s declaration of martial law. The National Bank of Ukraine ordered banks and electronic money (e-money) issuers to stop issuing e-money, stop replenishing e-wallets with e-money, and to stop the distribution of e-money. It is believed the order refers to fiat currencies held in digital accounts. More: - On Thursday, the central bank suspended the foreign exchange market as part of a list of resolutions that included suspending the issuance of foreign currency from retail bank accounts.
- The central bank also ordered banks to limit the amount of cash withdrawals.
- These measures have led to a rise in crypto activity in the country. Kuna, a major crypto exchange in Ukraine, reported domestic buyers are paying a premium for Tether’s USDT stablecoin, which is pegged to the U.S. dollar.
- Due to increased demand for Tether’s USDT, 1 USDT is trading at 32 Ukrainian hryvnia or $1.10.
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Taiwan’s government on Friday said it would join the U.S. and its allies in imposing sanctions on Russia. Taiwan’s Premier, Su Tseng-chang, told reporters that Taiwan condemns Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and will join other democratic countries in imposing sanctions. The Premier did not provide details on what the sanctions will be. Many in Taiwan and China are watching the Russia-Ukraine crisis closely, as China claims Taiwan as its territory and entered the country’s air defense zone on Thursday. More: - Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen noted that Taiwan’s situation with China is different from Ukraine’s as the Taiwan Strait creates a “natural barrier” with China.
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd (TSMC), one of the world’s largest suppliers of semiconductor chips, noted it had a strong export control system and would follow the rules.
- Taiwan’s trade with Russia and Ukraine accounts for less than 1% of its total.
- Taiwan has a natural gas contract with Russia that will expire in March. According to Taiwan’s economic ministry, the country plans to diversify its suppliers.
In related news: - The U.K. and Russia have respectively banned each other’s airlines from landing in their countries or flying in their respective air spaces.
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Block, formerly known as Square, released Q4 earnings on Thursday, beating analysts’ expectations across the board. The company reported a total gross profit of $1.18B, a 47% increase YoY. Block reported $4.08B in total Q4 revenue, a 29% increase YoY. $1.31B came from transaction-based revenue, $772M from subscription and services, $36M from hardware revenue, and $1.96B from bitcoin revenue. Block reported a net loss of $77M or 17 cents a share. More: - Block’s gross payment volume was $46.3B, a ~45% increase YoY.
- Square ecosystem generated a gross profit of $657M, a 54% increase YoY.
- Cash App brought in a gross profit of $518M, up 37% YoY.
- Cash App had over 44 million active transacting users in December, and the cash card had over 13 million monthly active users that month.
- Bitcoin's gross profit was $46M.
- Block expects Cash App gross profit growth of 21% YoY for Q1.
- Block shares rose over 15% in after-market trading on Thursday. It closed at $119.82 on Friday, up 26% for the day.
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Drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson reached a $19.5B opioid settlement with 46 states. Under the agreement, AmerisourceBergen will pay $6.1B, Cardinal Health will pay $6B, and McKesson will pay $7.4B over 18 years. The settlement will go toward thousands of communities across the U.S. impacted by the abuse of prescription painkillers. More: - The states of Alabama, Oklahoma, and Washington are not part of the settlement. The state of West Virginia has a previous settlement with the companies.
- The companies also have a separate settlement with the Cherokee Nation and have a separate agreement in principle to settle claims of the remaining federally recognized Native American Tribes.
- The companies will also apply injunctive relief terms, which include setting up a clearinghouse to consolidate data from all three distributors.
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Coinbase released its Q4 and Full-Year 2021 earnings on Thursday after market close, beating analysts’ expectations for revenue and earnings. The crypto trading platform reported Q4 revenue of $2.5B, and net income came in $840M. Full-year revenue came in at $7.36B, and net income came in at $3.62B. More: - Monthly transaction users rose to 11.4 million in Q4, a 54% jump from Q3.
- Coinbase has 89 million verified users.
- The company expects its subscriptions and services revenue to be lower in Q1 due to falling crypto asset prices.
- Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas announced the company is launching an NFT platform
- Coinbase shares fell 5% in after-market trading on Thursday. It closed at $176.83 on Friday, down 1.5% for the day.
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 Sensor Tower recently released data on consumer in-app spending, showing consumers spent $18.3B in 2021 on the top 100 subscription apps, a 41% increase YoY. Consumer spending on subscription apps reached a new record and continues to grow. In 2021, consumers globally spent $131.6B on non-game apps and mobile games. More: - U.S. consumers spent $40.7B on in-app purchases in 2021.
- 90 out of 100 of the top-earning apps in the U.S. in Q4 2021 were subscription apps.
- The top 100 non-game subscriptions apps on Apple’s App Store generated $13.5B in 2021, up 31% YoY.
- The top 100 non-game subscriptions apps on Google’s Play Store generated $2.7B in 2021, up 78% YoY.
- YouTube was the top-earning app globally. It earned $1.2B worldwide and $567M in the U.S.
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- The SEC is investigating Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal Musk over their recent sale of Tesla shares late last year. The SEC is probing to see if the sale violated insider trading rules. Kimbal Musk sold $108M worth of Tesla shares a day before Elon Musk sent a poll to his Twitter followers asking if he should sell his Tesla shares.
- President Biden plans to nominate Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court. She will be replacing Justice Stephen Breyer, who is expected to retire at the end of this session.
- Europe’s football governing body, the UEFA, has moved the location of its 2022 final game sponsored by Russia’s Gazprom from St. Petersburg to the Stade de France in Paris following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- The FTC is going after companies behind the car warranty robocalls. The federal agency filed a complaint against American Vehicle Protection Corp and other defendants for collecting over $6M from consumers.
- Formula One has canceled its planned Russian Grand Prix scheduled for Sept. 25, citing the developments in Ukraine as the reason.
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This Week’s Business Roundup Welcome to this week’s Business Roundup, where I summarize the top three business trends/stories of the week. Following our rule of three, this week we have: Russia-Ukraine Crisis and Sanctions; Buys, Splits, & Takeovers; and Earnings. Russia-Ukraine Crisis and Sanctions: - On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin formally recognized two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine: Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic.
- By Wednesday, Russia invaded Ukraine, leading to a cascade of sanctions from the U.S., the U.K., Germany, the EU, and other allies.
- Germany suspended the approval of Russia’s $11B Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, leading to a jump in energy prices globally.
- Brent crude surpassed $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014. In Europe, natural gas prices rose 40%, and commodity prices rose 8% on fears of supply disruptions.
- The U.S. and its allies said it would impose financial and export/import sanctions targeting Russia’s top banks, its military, and its wealthy elites, as well as travel bans on specific individuals and their families.
Buys, Splits, and Takeovers: - Australia’s AGL Energy rejected a $3.5B takeover bid from Canada’s Brookefield Asset Management and Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes.
- Brookefield and Cannon-Brookes teamed up to buy the power company aiming to close down AGL’s coal-fired power plants earlier than planned and replace them with renewable energy sources.
- Carl Icahn nominated two board members to McDonald’s board, launching a proxy battle at the fast-food company over its pork suppliers’ treatment of pigs.
- The two board nominees are Leslie Samuelrich, a sustainability investor, and Maisie Ganzler, the Chief Strategy and Brand Officer at Bon Appetit Management Company. Icahn owns 200 shares of McDonald’s worth about $50,000.
- U.K pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline named its consumer health unit Haleon as it plans to spin it off after rejecting multiple acquisition bids from Unilever Plc.
- Volkswagen AG and its largest shareholder, Porsche Automobil Holding SE, agreed to spin off 25% of its Porsche brand.
- Under the agreement, VW would list 25% of Porsche, which is expected to fetch between an €80B ($90.63B) to €90B ($101.96B) valuation. Half of the listed shares would have voting rights, and a special dividend is also being considered.
Earnings: - The week got earnings from home improvement retailers Lowes and Home Depot, e-commerce giants Alibaba and eBay, crypto/fintech firms Coinbase and Block, and others.
- Home Depot’s U.S. same-store sales rose 7.6% in Q4 and 10.7% for the FY 2021.
- Its CFO, Richard McPhail, noted that due to the limited supply of available homes on the market, more people are investing in renovations and remodeling of existing homes.
- Macy’s reported Q4 revenue of $8.67B and net income of $742M or $2.45 a share.
- During its earnings call, CEO Jeff Gennette said it would not be spinning off its online business despite calls for it from activist investor Jana Partners.
- Alibaba reported its slowest revenue growth since its IPO in 2014, a 10% increase YoY. The company pointed to lower merchant fees as the economy recovers from the impact of Covid-19.
- Alibaba’s net income for the quarter ended Dec. 31 was $3.21B or $2.65 a share, a 75% drop from $12.55B reported a year prior.
- EBay reported better than expected revenue and earnings, but its annual active buyers fell to147 million, down 9% YoY, and its annual active sellers fell to 17 million, down 8% YoY.
- The company expects Q1 revenue to fall between $2.43B and $2.48B, a 7% to 5% decline YoY.
- Pharmaceutical giant Moderna reported Q4 2021 revenue of $7.2B, and over 1,100% increase from $571M reported in Q4 2020.
- Moderna sold $17.7B of its COVID-19 vaccine in 2021 and delivered 807 million vaccine doses worldwide.
- The company raised its COVID vaccine’s 2022 sales expectations from $17B to $19B and announced a new $3B share buyback program.
- Rounding out the week, Coinbase and Block both released their earnings on Thursday after market close.
- Coinbase reported Q4 revenue of $2.5B, net income of $840M, and 11.4 million monthly transaction users, a 54% jump YoY.
- Block’s total gross profit rose 47% to $1.18B in Q4. Its gross payment volume rose 45% to $46.3B
Bonus: - Former U.S. President Donald Trump launched his social media platform, Truth Social, on Apple’s App Store late Sunday night. By Monday morning, it rose to the top of the Apple App Store’s most downloaded free app list, but the service soon crashed for 13 hours.
What stories made your top three for the week? As always, I love to hear your thoughts on any of this week’s stories.
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 |  | Vanessa Omeokachie is a Researcher at Inside. Her interests include finance, tech, and startups. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, attending music festivals, and traveling. Connect with her on Twitter @VanessaOmeo or through email at vanessa@inside.com |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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