Three news to start your week: November 20
Shakira settles Spanish tax fraud case with €7.5m fine
(BBC)
Just before her trial started, Colombian pop artist Shakira settled with Spanish prosecutors to resolve a tax fraud case. The singer paid a €7.5 million fine; if found guilty, the prosecution had sought an eight-year prison sentence and a €23.8 million fine.
She had been charged in a Barcelona court with tax fraud for €14.5 million. The performer had previously chosen to proceed with a trial over a plea bargain the prosecutors had offered.
Refusing to acknowledge wrongdoing, Shakira stated that she made her settlement "with the best interest of my kids at heart." She said her kids "do not want to see their mom sacrifice her personal well-being in this fight" in a lengthy statement.
Microsoft's Stock Recovers After Hiring OpenAI Outcasts
(New York Times)
The sudden departure on Friday of Sam Altman, OpenAI's co-founder and chief executive, set off a chain of events that erased tens of billions from Microsoft's market value as it has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI.
The total decline of more than 2 percent translated into an enormous loss of value for a company with a market capitalization approaching $3 trillion.
After OpenAI's board refused to reinstate Altman, Microsoft said late on Sunday that it would hire Altman and Greg Brockman, OpenAI's president and a company co-founder, to lead an advanced research lab. Microsoft's stock gained roughly 1.5% in early trading on Monday due to the action, reversing most of the prior decline.
Stocks and bonds rally over Argentina's Javier Milei's 'chainsaw' change pledges
(Reuters)
Javier Milei's strong win in Argentina's elections is boosting bonds and equities but putting downward pressure on the peso currency, investors reported.
The far-right libertarian has promised to "burn down" the central bank, take a chainsaw to public spending, and dollarize the economy. However, he sounded cautious in his inaugural address as the next president.
Due to a local holiday, Argentina's markets are closed on Monday. However, its foreign currency dollar bonds—mainly traded in extremely distressed territory—rose more than 2 cents to slightly over 30 cents on the dollar, as per MarketAxess data.
