• Home
  • News
  • Fortune 500
  • Tech
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
NewslettersData Sheet

Brussels, dawn. Legal briefs drawn

By
Aaron Pressman
Aaron Pressman
and
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Aaron Pressman
Aaron Pressman
and
Jonathan Vanian
Jonathan Vanian
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 13, 2020, 11:17 AM ET

This is the web version of Data Sheet, a daily newsletter on the business of tech. Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox. 

(With apologies to Lin-Manuel Miranda, a spoof of Hamilton‘s “Your Obedient Servant” imagining a conversation between Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. Best read while playing the original song.)

How does Vestager, an arrogant economist, liberal
trilingual, commissioner
Somehow endorse telecom consolidation, her enemy
A field she’s opposed since her hiring
Just to keep me from acquiring?
I wanna be in the Zoom where it happens
The Zoom where it happens
The Zoom where it happens
You’ve kept me from the Zoom where it happens
For the last time

Dear Margrethe:

I am slow to smile
But I can code a line
As I reckon with the probes
Of your agency on mine
I look back on where I bombed
And in every place I checked
The only common thread has been your disrespect
Now you call me “gatekeeper”
Say I “put democracy at risk”
If you’ve got something to say, post online don’t send a floppy disk

I have the honor to be your obedient servant
M dot Zuck

Mr. CEO:

I am not the reason no one trusts your platform
No one knows what to believe
I will not equivocate in my investigation
I have always been happy to aggrieve
Even if I taxed what you think I taxed
You would need to cite a more specific instance
Here’s an itemized list of thirty tweets of your president

Sweet Jesus

Hey, I have not been fallin short
I am just a gal seeking to purport in the public court
Tryna do my best for our European Union, I don’t wanna cite
But I won’t back down from shining the light

I have the honor to be your obedient servant
M dot Vest

Careful how you go astray, good gal
Looking for me to pay, good gal
Answer for the TikToks I post in your feed or bombs away, good gal

Zuck your frown is Instagramable
I stand by what I stated indefatigable
You acquire only for yourself to beat competition
I can’t apologize because it’s my mission

Then stand, Margrethe
Brussels, dawn
legal briefs drawn

You’re on

I have the honor to be your obedient servant

A dot Vest

A dot Zuck

Aaron Pressman
@ampressman
aaron.pressman@fortune.com

This edition of Data Sheet was curated by Jonathan Vanian.Check out Eye on A.I., the A.I. newsletter he writes weekly.

NEWSWORTHY

Driving off a cliff. Lyft’s sales dropped 61% year-over-year to $339 million in its latest quarter, underscoring how the pandemic has devastated the online ride-hailing company’s business, CNBC reported. John Zimmer, the company’s president and co-founder, also said that Lyft may suspend ride-hailing services in California due to a ruling earlier this week that would require Lyft and Uber to convert its independent contractor drivers into full-time employees.

Housing losses. Airbnb’s sales fell 67% year-over-year to $335 million in its latest quarter also due to COVID-19, Bloomberg News reported citing unnamed sources. Still, the home-sharing service is aiming to go public by the end of the year, the report said. From the article: Chief Executive Officer Brian Chesky had originally intended to initiate the listing process with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 31. That was before Covid-19 closed borders, ground flights to a halt and left the company with more than $1 billion in cancellations.

The chips are falling. Cisco Systems said its sales declined 9% year-over-year to $12.15 billion in its latest quarter and that its CFO Kelly Kramer is retiring, MarketWatch reported. Cisco’s shrinking sales and weak guidance that missed analyst projections sent the company’s shares plummeting over 6% in after-hours trading. The networking giant will institute a $1 billion cost-reduction plan that will include “voluntary retirement offerings for Cisco employees,” the report said.

It won’t hurt us. Tencent Holdings said its sales grew 29% year-over-year to 114.9 billion yuan, or $16.5 billion, in its latest quarter, and asserted that the Chinese tech giant should be relatively unscathed financially despite any potential restrictions imposed by President Donald Trump on its WeChat app, The Wall Street Journal reported. From the article: The company generates less than 2% of revenue from the U.S., said Chief Strategy Officer James Mitchell. The executive order “clearly covers the U.S. jurisdiction, and consequently, we don’t see any impact on companies advertising on our platforms in China,” he said.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

It’s horrible. Not only does Reels fail in every way as a TikTok clone, but it’s confusing, frustrating and impossible to navigate. It’s like Instagram took all the current functionality on Stories (a tool to publish montages of photos and videos with added filters, text and music clips), and jammed them into a separate, new complicated interface for no reason. To me, it’s really unclear whom this feature is for.

Taylor Lorenz of The New York Times shares her thoughts on Instagram’s new Reels service, which is very similar to the popular TikTok app.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Grab CEO Anthony Tan: What Southeast Asia is teaching us about a post-pandemic world—Anthony Tan

Another Airbnb house party ends in a shooting. What the company plans to do about it—Danielle Abril

Kamala Harris could be the best thing that ever happened to Big Tech—Jeff John Roberts

Here’s how much Microsoft’s new folding Duo phone costs and how to order it—Aaron Pressman

Zoom and face masks are giving cosmetics brands an eye lift—Rachel King

(Some of these stories require a subscription to access. Thank you for supporting our journalism.)

BEFORE YOU GO

Sarah Cooper made a name for herself by turning President Donald Trump’s many bizarre press comments and speeches into zany TikTok videos that have captivated the nation. Now, Cooper’s rising popularity has caught the attention of Netflix, which has rewarded her with her own comedy special, Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine. The new special will be directed by Natasha Lyonne and executive produced by Maya Rudolph, People reported.

About the Authors
By Aaron Pressman
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
By Jonathan Vanian
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon

Jonathan Vanian is a former Fortune reporter. He covered business technology, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data privacy, and other topics.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Newsletters

NewslettersMPW Daily
Female exec moves to watch this week, from Binance to Supergoop
By Emma HinchliffeDecember 5, 2025
3 days ago
NewslettersCFO Daily
Gen Z fears AI will upend careers. Can leaders change the narrative?
By Sheryl EstradaDecember 5, 2025
3 days ago
NewslettersTerm Sheet
Four key questions about OpenAI vs Google—the high-stakes tech matchup of 2026
By Alexei OreskovicDecember 5, 2025
3 days ago
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg adjusts an avatar of himself during a company event in New York City on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. (Photo: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
NewslettersFortune Tech
Meta may unwind metaverse initiatives with layoffs
By Andrew NuscaDecember 5, 2025
3 days ago
Shuntaro Furukawa, president of Nintendo Co., speaks during a news conference in Osaka, Japan, on Thursday, April 25, 2019. Nintendo gave a double dose of disappointment by posting earnings below analyst estimates and signaled that it would not introduce a highly anticipated new model of the Switch game console at a June trade show. Photographer: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Bloomberg via Getty Images
NewslettersCEO Daily
Nintendo’s 98% staff retention rate means the average employee has been there 15 years
By Nicholas GordonDecember 5, 2025
3 days ago
AIEye on AI
Companies are increasingly falling victim to AI impersonation scams. This startup just raised $28M to stop deepfakes in real time
By Sharon GoldmanDecember 4, 2025
4 days ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
Real Estate
The 'Great Housing Reset' is coming: Income growth will outpace home-price growth in 2026, Redfin forecasts
By Nino PaoliDecember 6, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
AI
Nvidia CEO says data centers take about 3 years to construct in the U.S., while in China 'they can build a hospital in a weekend'
By Nino PaoliDecember 6, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
The most likely solution to the U.S. debt crisis is severe austerity triggered by a fiscal calamity, former White House economic adviser says
By Jason MaDecember 6, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says Europe has a 'real problem’
By Katherine Chiglinsky and BloombergDecember 6, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Politics
Supreme Court to reconsider a 90-year-old unanimous ruling that limits presidential power on removing heads of independent agencies
By Mark Sherman and The Associated PressDecember 7, 2025
17 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Big Tech
Mark Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook for the metaverse. Four years and $70 billion in losses later, he’s moving on
By Eva RoytburgDecember 5, 2025
3 days ago
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.