China blocks SoftBank’s $5.4 billion acquisition of ABB’s robotics unit
China has blocked SoftBank’s $5.4 billion acquisition of ABB’s robotics unit, a development The Wall Street Journal’s Morning Risk Report called a sting for the giant global technology investor.
The block comes as Beijing is clamping down on exports of high-value technology to foreign rivals, the Journal reported. ABB, which is based in Zurich, said Thursday that SoftBank told the company of the decision by a Chinese government office that reviews foreign investment.
SoftBank, which announced the deal in October 2025, declined to comment. China is ABB’s largest market for its robotics business — a dynamic that left the acquisition subject to Beijing’s approval.
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission and 22 states updated their complaint against Amazon, revealing allegations that the tech company deceptively inflated prices in its online search advertising auction. Amazon made statements to mislead advertisers about the true cause of price increases, the FTC said in unredacted details from an August lawsuit.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Wall Street’s self-regulatory body, said Thursday that it imposed a $4.2 million penalty on the trading platform Webull after finding deficiencies in how the company verified customers’ identities. The fine also covers alleged problems with Webull’s anti-money-laundering program and other issues, the Journal reported.
Atop the report, the Journal relayed security experts’ years-long warning that companies will face a “brutal reckoning” once artificial intelligence hands hackers a “lopsided advantage” over corporate defenders.
Goldman Sachs has named the highest number of engineering partners in its history this year as the bank invests more in artificial intelligence and machine-learning tools, the Journal reported.
In Europe, a string of bomb threats roiled passenger flights in a suspected hoax campaign that grounded aircraft, led to diversions and prompted the scrambling of jet fighters, according to the report. More than a dozen flights were affected in the second day of disruption this week, after a similar spate of hoax bomb threats involving at least seven flights on Tuesday.
The Journal also reported that Democrats’ sweeping midterm victories could usher in new congressional investigations and scrutiny of U.S. sanctions policy, and that the backlash against AI data centers is becoming a political flashpoint in Texas.
The report also noted that the WorldECR Export Controls and Sanctions Forum, a discussion of the latest developments in sanctions, export controls, investment screening and international trade compliance, takes place in London on Nov. 18-19.
On Yemen, the Journal quoted David Des Roches, a retired U.S. Army colonel, in a report noting that Saudi Arabia faces only bad options as it tries to find a way out of the conflict it started more than a decade ago when it intervened against the Houthis in Yemen’s civil war. “What’s really needed is some sort of ground pressure and the Saudis don’t have the ability to provide those forces,” Des Roches said.