Good morning.
Can A.I. help detect stock scams? The answer, Nasdaq is learning, is a clear yes. Think about this garden variety manipulation scheme: an investor sells a large number of shares in a stock, precipitating an exit, then cancels the sales and buys cheap shares before the rebound. Such schemes, known as spoofing, can be hard to police, particular when they involve dozens or hundreds of computer executed trades. But today’s machine learning algorithms can do it.
One danger of using such algorithms is they will kick up too many false positives. But Nasdaq’s Michael O’Rourke tells Fortune’s Jonathan Vanian that they’ve got it covered. Deep learning, says O’Rourke, “is good at finding things that are hard to describe.”
You can read Vanian’s story here.
Separately, virtual reality was once viewed as a consumer toy, but is increasingly finding its own as a powerful tool in corporate training. The latest version: VR that can help men learn what it feels like to be in a room full of women ignoring and interrupting them. Read more here.
Other news below.
Alan Murray
alan.murray@fortune.com
@alansmurray
TOP NEWS
Alphabet's Fitbid
Google parent Alphabet reportedly made an offer to buy Fitbit, sending the fitness-tracking firm's stock soaring. It rose 18% before trading was halted; after a resumption in trading, it ended the day more than 30% up. Fitbit's market cap is now around $1.5 billion. It's not clear how much Alphabet bid. CNBC
ByteDance IPO
China's ByteDance, the company behind video app TikTok and news app Jinri Toutiao, is reportedly planning an IPO in Hong Kong rather than New York. Hong Kong may be in continuing turmoil, but the U.S. is risky ground as lawmakers have called for a probe into TikTok's "national security risks." ByteDance was a year ago valued at $75 billion, in a funding round led by SoftBank. Financial Times
Aramco IPO
Shares in Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil producer, will start trading in Saudi Arabia on December 11, state broadcaster Al Arabiya announced, citing sources at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh (a.k.a Davos in the Desert.) Aramco hopes to raise up to $100 billion through its offer of a 5% stake. Al Arabiya
Juul Cuts
Juul, the e-cigarette maker that's about to lose the ability to sell the flavored vaping cartridges that make up 80% of its sales, is cutting 10-15% of its workforce—up to 500 roles. New CEO K.C. Crosthwaite (Altria's former growth chief) said the e-cigarette market is in the midst of a "necessary reset." Wall Street Journal
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
BP Profits
Weak oil prices have hit BP's profits, as have weather impacts. The U.K.-based oil-and-gas giant reported a 41% drop in Q3 net profits this morning, though it still beat analyst expectations. CNBC
Google Data
Google is being taken to court by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) over the information it gave to people setting up their Android devices about location data collection. The watchdog says Google misled users, who thought turning off "location history" would stop their location data being harvested, when actually they also needed to turn off "web & app activity." Guardian
Brexit Latest
As predicted, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson failed to get the two-thirds parliamentary majority he needed to call an early election under current electoral law. So he will today try to amend the electoral law in a way that effectively calls an election in December—and that only requires a simple majority in Parliament. BBC
Amazon Challenge
Legal experts and analysts expect Amazon to launch a challenge against the Defense Department's award of the $10 billion JEDI cloud contract to rival Microsoft, possibly as soon as next week. Experts told Reuters the challenge could come via a complaint to the U.S. Government Accountability office, or the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Reuters
This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer. Find previous editions here, and sign up for other Fortune newsletters here.
