Novak Djokovic Wins His Appeal in Court, but Should Get his Visa and Exemption Accepted

Novak Djokovic has won his appeal with the Australian Government over his visa refusal.

I think this whole situation stinks!

If any other tennis player in the world asked for this exemption then they wouldn’t have received it!

Can Certain Music Distributors Send Music to Stores / DSPs Faster Than Others?

Short Answer = No

All music distributors (RouteNote, CDBaby, Tunecore, etc) take the same amount of time from the moment a track leaves the distributors server and is packaged to be delivered to a DSP (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, etc). On average the DSPs will take between 24-48 hour to ingest the content once it is uploaded to their servers.

The ONLY way a music distributor can speed up the process is by pushing tracks through its internal moderation process faster.

Is Rippling Available in the UK and Other Countries Outside the USA?

Rippling has one of the best HR based platforms in the world. Its built from the ground up to help companies look after their employees at all stages.

However, it’s only available in the USA!

I run a company in the UK – and I really wish Rippling was available here. I understand there are a lot of complexities around compliance when you are talking about Payroll and HR globally, but it seems like no one has been able to sort that out on a global basis for all employees as of yet.

Tencent Sells Giant Stake in JD.com – Dropping its ECommerce Share

Tencent is a giant in the world of Chinese technology and beyond. Today they have announced that they will be selling most of its stake in JD.com.

Tencent will reduce is staking from 17% to 2.3%.

The proceeds will help Tencent provide shareholders with a $16.4 billion dividend.

After long being JD’s largest stakeholder, Tencent will give the title to Walmart.

This seems to be a Tencent strategy that has paid off in the long term. Instead of Tencent looking to acquire many companies in adjacent industries – they have decided to acquire minority stakes in a huge number of technology companies globally.

Why?

Its far easy to own more when you own a minority. If Tencent were to acquire more companies – they would have issues with Government and regulator approval.

Circle USDC Stablecoin is 100% backed by cash and US debt – Jeremy Allaire Confirms

There has been a lot of talk recently about Stablecoins – how they are being managed and backed against real world assets.

Today the CEO of Circle – that controls the stablecoin USDC – testifies before the House Financial Services Committee

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire confirmed that Circle’s USDC stablecoin is “100%” backed by cash and US debt. Circle shifted the composition of the reserves backing its USDC in September.

Didi Delisting from the NYSE and Moving to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Chinese ride-hail giant DiDi said it will delist from the New York Stock Exchange, following a Chinese government crackdown on foreign listings. (via Axios)

Didi is the Uber of China (and beyond) and it seems as though their progress might be hindered with growing geopolitical tensions between the US and China.

The delisting will occur soon and Didi will move trading across to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has been know to have lower general multiple than its US counterparts.

Telstra Ventures – Bullish on the Chinese Technology Sector and Private Companies in China

Even though there has been a huge crackdown in the Chinese Tech companies – it seems like there are still many Venture Capital firms that are bullish on the future of the Chinese Tech sector.

One venture firm that is looking for more opportunities is Telstra Ventures. Telstra Ventures is the venture capital arm of Telstra – Australia’s largest telecoms company.

Telstra has been investing in China for the past six years. It now counts three Chinese unicorns in its portfolio.

Keep an eye on Telstra Ventures investments as it seems like their research is finding some of the best opportunities in the Chinese Tech sector.

Apple Acquires Classical Music Streaming Service – Primephonic – Dedicated Classical Music App Coming Soon from Apple

Apple has announced that they have acquired Primephonic, the classical music streaming service.

Apple Music now plans to launch a dedicated classical music app new year combining Primephonic’s classical user interface with more added features. It will be interesting to see if Apple are able to take Primephonic to a more mainstream audience – and how will this dedicated app be differentiated from the standard Apple Music app, which obviously includes the classical music found in Primephonic and far more.

Primephonic is no longer available for new subscribers and will be taken offline beginning September 7.

Apple says that, when it launches, its new dedicated Apple Music Classical experience will offer “the best features of Primephonic, including better browsing and search capabilities by composer and by repertoire, detailed displays of classical music metadata, plus new features and benefits”.

In the meantime, current Primephonic subscribers will receive six months of Apple Music for free, including its library of Lossless and high-resolution audio, as well as hundreds of classical albums in Apple Music’s Spatial Audio.