Spotify shares jumped 13.5% Monday to close at $196.26 after Spotify CEO Daniel Ek addressed in a Sunday blog post the controversy about podcast host Joe Rogan’s misinformation about COVID-19, which led musician Neil Young to pull his content from the Spotify platform last week (see 2201280056). Spotify shares hit a 52-week low last week amid the hubbub, and reports circled over the weekend about a $2 billion loss in market value over the week.

The massive Section 301 litigation that inundated the U.S. Court of International Trade since the first cases were filed 16 months ago enters a critical new phase Tuesday when oral argument is scheduled for 10 a.m. EST before the three-judge panel of Mark Barnett, Claire Kelly and Jennifer Choe-Groves. Virtually all the thousands of complaints seek to vacate the Lists 3 and 4A tariffs on Chinese imports and get the duties already paid refunded with interest on grounds that the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative overstepped its tariff-wielding authority under the 1974 Trade Act and violated protections in the 1946 Administrative Procedure Act (APA) against sloppy federal agency rulemakings.

Sound United announced to staff a reorganization Monday, with Classe Audio and Marantz President Joel Sietsema assuming all general management responsibilities that had been under Brand Director Dave Nauber. Nauber had been Classe president when Bowers & Wilkins owned the brand; Sound United bought the Classe Audio line in 2018 from B&W and Nauber headed the brand under the director title.

Spotify shares touched a 52-week low Friday before bouncing back to close marginally higher at $172.98 amid a cancel campaign spurred by Spotify's showdown with Neil Young over the singer-songwriter’s ultimatum that the service choose between him and podcast host Joe Rogan over COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

Defying supply chain shortages plaguing the tech industry, Apple posted its strongest December quarter on record, with revenue growth in all categories but iPad, said CEO Tim Cook on an earnings call for fiscal Q1 ended Dec. 25. Revenue in the quarter jumped 11% year on year to $123.9 billion.

A 2022 outlook from CEDIA Expo owner Emerald Holding said businesses now deem virtual and digital offerings as “core and essential components” to augment in-person trade events. Digital offerings seen as complementary and optional before the COVID-19 pandemic are now considered necessary for “customer-centricity,” said the Thursday report.

Ohio offered Intel $1.29 billion in “direct cash incentives” to land the chipmaker’s commitment to invest $20 billion in building two semiconductor fabs on a 1,000-acre campus in Licking County, just east of Columbus (see 2201210041), Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik told a virtual media briefing Friday. The project is expected to add $2.8 billion to Ohio’s annual “gross state product” when it’s fully operational in 2025, said Mihalik, suggesting strongly that the terms of Ohio's offer to Intel don’t yet have the required regulatory or legislative approvals.

Maryland senators will convene a workgroup to hash out differences with opponents to a state privacy bill, they said at a livestreamed Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday. SB-11 sponsor Sen. Susan Lee (D) said Maryland shouldn’t model a bill on Virginia’s law and can’t wait for a national law. TechNet Executive Director-Northeast Chris Gilrein said Virginia’s law is best in the absence of congressional action.

Top CE industry trends to watch in 2022 include the growing importance of smart TVs as the center of the connected home lifestyle; the shift toward high-quality, lossless and spatial audio; growing use of immersive audio in vehicles; advances in headphones and wearables; a move to virtual meeting spaces; and renewed interest in augmented reality and virtual reality, said a January Futuresource report.

Intel was “very excited to see” the introduction Tuesday of HR-4521, House Democrats’ proposed companion to the Senate-passed U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (S-1260), said CEO Pat Gelsinger on a Q4 earnings call Wednesday. The measure, like S-1260, includes $52 billion in subsidies to encourage U.S.-based semiconductor manufacturing and R&D, but it got a mixed reception from lawmakers and the tech sector (see 2201260062).