When it came to winning over European users, Big Tech companies pretty much hopped over from the US and declared, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” But European antitrust regulators have greeted them with much more skepticism, and it looks like AI’s $3 trillion hero, Nvidia, will be the next one to face a potential smackdown.

French antitrust regulators are about to charge Nvidia with allegedly engaging in anticompetitive conduct, which would make it the first regulator to accuse the chipmaker of abusing its position since it came to dominate the AI business, Reuters reported this week. While the specific charges they intend to bring are not public, the regulator published a report last week on competition in the generative AI space that raised concerns about potential misconduct by chipmakers.

Nvdia’s not alone under the microscope

A separate antitrust investigation into Nvidia by EU-wide regulators will likely be put on hold while the French authority proceeds, per Reuters. Still, those regulators will have plenty of Big Tech battles to keep them busy.

• Since the EU’s broad new digital competition law kicked in recently, regulators have accused Apple, Microsoft, and Meta of violating it. If the EU concludes the companies acted anti-competitively, it could fine them each 10% of their global revenue (or even more for repeated actions).
• In the face of regulatory hurdles, Apple, Meta, and Google have delayed bringing AI products to Europe.

With clear EU v. Big Tech battle lines drawn, some on the tech side say it’s Europe, which has yet to produce a homegrown tech giant, that will get bruised in the fight. Former Facebook VP of Product Sam Lessin said on X that eventually tech companies will decide Europe’s not worth it, and Europeans will just have to “live with crappy digital services and a crappy digital economy.”

It’s not all smooth sailing for Big Tech in the US, either. US regulators have also taken aim at Big Tech—and despite some embarrassing losses, they aren’t slowing down. Last month, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission reportedly reached a deal divvying up how to investigate Microsoft, OpenAI, and Nvidia.—AR

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Sentencing in Trump hush money case delayed after SCOTUS immunity ruling. The sentencing of the former president for 34 felonies in New York has been postponed until Sept. 18 while Donald Trump tries to get his conviction overturned under the new standard the Supreme Court set this week for presidential immunity. Trump’s lawyers sought the delay for time to argue that his conviction should be tossed based on the SCOTUS decision that he has immunity for official acts, and prosecutors did not object. The NYT points out that Trump’s bid might be a long shot since his convictions stem from actions he took as a candidate before he became president.

FDA approves Eli Lilly Alzheimer’s drug. Yesterday, the agency approved Eli Lilly’s drug donanemab, signing off on the treatment after previous delays. The approval expands the limited treatment options for Alzheimer’s as the drug, which will be sold as Kisunla and priced at about ~$32,000 for a year’s supply, will compete with a similar one from Biogen and Eisai that was approved last year. Both drugs target plaques in the brain called amyloids to slow the progression of the disease, representing a breakthrough after decades of failures to find new treatments.

Short seller that caused Adani rout says it didn’t make that much. When Hindenburg Research published its report accusing the business empire of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani of “brazen stock manipulation” last year, it shaved over $100 billion from the value of the companies—but its bet against them netted the short seller just $4.1 million. Hindenburg published the figure on its website this week, along with a letter from Indian securities regulators accusing the firm of intentionally misleading the public in the report. Hindenburg criticized the regulator right back, saying it failed to investigate the fraud allegations against Adani.

Greece has given us some pretty good ideas in the past, like democracy and Euclidean geometry, but we’re hoping its latest innovation—namely, a six-day workweek—doesn’t catch on.

New regulations that took effect in Greece this week extend the typical 40-hour workweek to 48 for private businesses providing round-the-clock services. The first-of-their-kind rules in the EU are an effort to boost the Greek economy, which has only recently begun to rebound from a decade-long slump.

• Greece’s business-friendly government says the move is necessary to address a skilled worker shortage and combat unpaid overtime.
• Meanwhile, labor unions denounced it as “barbaric.”

For some, it may not be much of a change. Greek workers already log more hours than those in any other EU nation—as well as more than employees in the famously workaholic US and Japan, CNBC reports. Workers in Greece averaged 1,886 working hours in 2022, compared to 1,811 in the US and 1,571 across the EU.

Zoom out: The new Greek rules fly in the face of a broader trend toward shorter workweeks. The four-day week is gaining momentum, with trials showing it increases productivity. Almost one-third of US businesses are considering cutting their workweek down, according to a survey of CEOs by KPMG released in April.—AR

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These days, it seems like you’re not getting the full theatrical experience unless you’re clawing buttery kernels out of a character’s head, mouth, or…child carrier. Despicable Me 4 premieres today, and to cushion the box office’s gradual post-Covid rebound, theaters are selling yet another limited-edition popcorn bucket.

But Daddy I love it. The hands-free popcorn carrier pictured above plays on Gru’s latest adventure: raising a baby. The souvenir stands on the shoulders of giant buckets:

• The Dune: Part Two popcorn hole that got everyone talking about Shai-Hulud (and prompted an all-time spike in “popcorn bucket” Google searches) is reselling on eBay for $50 to $130.
• AMC sold all 25,000 of its Barbie Corvette popcorn holders in the movie’s opening weekend last summer, raking in $875,000. Cinemark also reported selling out its Scream VI-themed popcorn holders.

Everybody’s a critic. Dune director Denis Villeneuve called the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine popcorn holder “horrific” last week.

Collectible plastic offsets some lost ticket sales: AMC’s admissions are down almost 20% from 2018, but food and beverage and “other” sales (including themed popcorn buckets, which tend to cost ~$30) are still roughly at pre-pandemic levels, TheWrap reported. Theater chains aren’t the only winners—movie studios earn licensing fees from themed merch.—ML

Those Chick-fil-A cow mascots exhorting you to eat more chicken may be the most powerful influencers out there. Since the chain kicked off a fierce fast-food battle for the best chicken sandwich, the dish has been pecking at the burger’s popularity crown. McDonald’s recently said that it’s making $25 billion off chicken annually, putting it on par with beef (though that figure includes nuggets). Sit-down restaurants are taking notes: According to Bloomberg, chicken sandwiches now feature on 47% of restaurant menus, while burgers are only on 41%. But don’t count the burger out just yet: Overall, people still order burgers twice as frequently as chicken sandwiches, per market researcher Circana.