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Buffett reduced his stake in Apple by nearly half, from 789 million shares to about 400 million shares

On the evening of August 3, Buffett's company Berkshire Hathaway released its latest financial report. The financial report shows that as of June 30, 72% of the total fair value of equity investments was concentrated in American Express, Apple, Bank of America, Chevron and Coca-Cola. According to the 10-Q report submitted by Berkshire Hathaway, the company significantly reduced its holdings of Apple shares in the second quarter from 789 million shares in the first quarter to about 400 million shares, a decrease of nearly 50%.

Currently, Berkshire Hathaway holds about 2.6% of Apple's shares, which is worth about $88 billion based on last Friday's closing price of $219.86. The reduction of Apple shares is not surprising, but the scale of the reduction is unexpected. Buffett reduced his Apple stake by 13% in the first quarter and hinted at the annual meeting in May that this was related to tax reasons. (China Fund News)

Olympic referee kicked off the list for taking photos with athletes and coaches

Recently, Benjamin Lowe, an Australian surfing judge at the Paris Olympics, was disqualified from judging the surfing event. The incident was caused by a photo shared on social media by Australian surfing team coach Bede Dubic on July 31, showing him, Benjamin Lowe, and Australian surfing team member Ethan Ewing hugging each other. After the photo attracted attention online, the International Surfing Association (ISA) issued a statement on August 1, saying that someone saw the referee "interacting socially with representatives of the Australian team."

The relevant management body said, "In order to protect the integrity and fairness of the ongoing Olympic Games and in accordance with the ISA Code of Conduct and the IOC Code of Ethics, the ISA Executive Committee decided to remove the referee from the jury for the remainder of the Games." (Red Star News)

Yili apologizes for misconception caused by improper testing of outdoor Olympic-related advertisements

On August 3, a netizen posted on social media that before the women's singles tennis final in which Zheng Qinwen participated and the men's singles table tennis final in which Fan Zhendong participated at the Paris Olympics, Yili had already put up materials on the big screen in Sanlitun, Beijing, congratulating Zheng Qinwen on winning the silver medal in the women's singles tennis event and congratulating Fan Zhendong on winning the gold medal in the men's singles event.

Yili’s official Weibo account posted on the afternoon of August 4 that we deeply apologize for the misunderstanding and discussion caused by the vast number of netizens due to improper outdoor advertising tests we conducted in Beijing and Shanghai on the afternoon of August 3. It also stated: The reason for this test is that the advertising content contains complex animation effects and involves multi-screen linkage. In order to ensure the release effect after the official launch, technical testing is required in advance. Since the time between the semi-finals and the finals is short, the reserved testing time is limited, so we chose to conduct the test in the daytime before the finals, which resulted in misunderstandings and discussions among everyone, which was an inappropriate choice. (Beijing News)

Lawyer talks about complaints against Huolala drivers for refusing to transport corpses: No body transportation services may be provided without approval

Recently, a Huolala driver in Shandong received an order and arrived at the scene. However, he found that the cargo on the waybill was a corpse and refused to transport it. The customer said, "How about I give you some extra money?" After the driver refused many times, he was threatened with complaints by the customer.

In response to this, on August 3, staff at the Huolala platform said that Huolala's vehicles could not meet the conditions for transporting corpses, and suggested that customers choose a suitable platform for transportation. The driver should negotiate with the customer and have no other responsibilities after the order is canceled normally. If the customer insists on complaining, the system will give the driver a reminder of the judgment after testing. The driver can appeal, and the appeal will be handed over to the staff for further review. "After the review, if it is determined that it is not the driver's fault, the judgment can be revoked and it will not affect the driver."

Deng Gang, a lawyer at Guangdong Fazhi Shengbang Law Firm, said in an interview that according to the relevant regulations on funeral management, commercial funeral equipment such as corpse transport vehicles must comply with the technical standards stipulated by the state. No unit or individual may provide corpse transportation services without approval. (Jiupai News)

Pang Donglai: Li Xiaomin, the person in charge of Xuchang Pang Donglai, is not an employee of the company

36Kr learned that Pangdonglai Trading Group issued a statement on its WeChat official account, saying that recently, multiple online platforms released news that "Xuchang Pangdonglai Trading Group Co., Ltd.'s inspection team came to Bian to inspect projects", saying that Li Xiaomin, the relevant person in charge of Xuchang Pangdonglai Trading Group Co., Ltd., led an inspection team to Kaifeng to inspect projects. In response to the above matters, our company now solemnly declares as follows: After verification, the "Li Xiaomin, the relevant person in charge of Xuchang Pangdonglai Trading Group Co., Ltd." mentioned in the above news is not an employee of our company, and our company has not authorized him to conduct business negotiations with external parties. Our company currently has no development plans for other areas outside of Xuchang City, Henan Province and Xinxiang City, Henan Province. All acts of financing, investment promotion and franchising in the name of our company are suspected of illegal crimes.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange released the "Shanghai Stock Exchange ETF Industry Development Report", and the market value of equity ETFs reached a record high

36Kr learned that on August 3, the Shanghai Stock Exchange released the "Shanghai Stock Exchange ETF Industry Development Report". The report pointed out that as of the first half of the year, the market value of equity ETFs reached 1.81 trillion yuan, a record high, accounting for about 2.2% of the total market value of A shares. During the same period, a total of 571 ETFs were listed in the Shanghai Stock Exchange, with a total scale of 1,867.9 billion yuan, an increase of 6% and 20% respectively from the end of 2023. The report pointed out that as of the end of June 2024, there were 2,406 domestic index products with a total scale of 3.68 trillion yuan. Among them, the scale of equity index funds was 2.32 trillion yuan, accounting for 38% of the scale of public equity funds.

Hangzhou breaks the historical highest temperature record, reaching 41.9℃

At 14:33 on the afternoon of August 3, the highest temperature at Hangzhou Station reached 41.9℃, breaking the historical record of 41.8℃ and setting a new record. It may continue to break the 4-digit mark before the 9th, possibly tying the longest number of consecutive days above 40℃ in the observation history and breaking the highest temperature record in the observation history. It is reported that Hangzhou was above 40℃ for 8 consecutive days from August 5 to 12, 2013, and the historical extreme value was August 14, 2022, as high as 41.8℃. (Chao News)

The number of marriage registrations in the first half of this year hit a new low, with a decrease of 498,000 couples compared with the same period last year

The “Civil Affairs Statistics for the Second Quarter of 2024” released on the Ministry of Civil Affairs’ official website on August 2 showed that in the first and second quarters of this year, 3.43 million couples registered for marriage and 1.274 million couples registered for divorce nationwide. The reporter noted that in the first half of 2023, a total of 3.928 million couples registered for marriage and 1.317 million couples registered for divorce nationwide. In comparison, the number of marriage registrations in the first half of this year decreased by 498,000 couples year-on-year, and the number of divorce registrations decreased by 43,000 couples year-on-year. It is worth mentioning that the number of marriage registrations in the first half of this year also hit a new low in recent years. According to statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the number of marriage registrations nationwide had continued to decline for many years before it stopped falling and rebounded in 2023, with 3.732 million couples in the first half of 2022. (The Paper)

China Real Estate News: Residents' housing purchase pressure has been greatly relieved, and the value of real estate investment is gradually emerging

China Real Estate News published an article stating that in recent years, China's real estate market has experienced cyclical adjustments, with residential sales area falling by nearly 50% from its peak, and housing prices in most cities also experiencing deep adjustments, with the overall correction exceeding 25%. With the decline in housing prices and the year-on-year increase in residents' disposable income, residents' housing purchase pressure is being effectively alleviated. (Southern Finance)

Musk: Brain-computer chip has been successfully implanted in the second human patient

Musk revealed that his brain-computer interface company Neuralink successfully implanted the second brain-computer interface chip into a human patient. This is another major progress after the first patient was implanted in January this year. (Cailian News)

U.S. antitrust investigation hits Nvidia's stock price

The US magazine Information reported on the 1st that the US Department of Justice launched an antitrust investigation into Nvidia, mainly because Nvidia's competitors complained that Nvidia may abuse its market dominance when selling artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It is reported that the US Department of Justice is investigating whether Nvidia forced cloud computing providers to buy multiple Nvidia products. The investigation also involves whether Nvidia will increase the price of network equipment for customers who want to buy AI chips from Nvidia's peers such as AMD. Affected by this, Nvidia's stock price fell 2.3% on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Germany on the 2nd. (Xinhua News Agency)

Tesla's Texas supercomputing cluster is named "Cortex" and has 100,000 Nvidia chips

36Kr learned that Musk revealed the name of the cluster after visiting the recently built Texas supercomputing cluster over the weekend. Musk wrote on X that the supercomputing cluster at the Texas Super Factory was named "Cortex", noting that he had just completed a walkthrough of the new facility. "Cortex" has about 100,000 Nvidia H100 and H200 chips, which are used to train neural networks for fully autonomous driving (FSD) and the humanoid robot Optimus.

South Korea's exports to China recovered in July, up 14.9% year-on-year

Data released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Trade Association on August 4 showed that South Korea's exports to China in July increased by 14.9% year-on-year to US$11.4 billion, the highest since October 2022 (US$12.2 billion). From January to July this year, the cumulative exports to China were US$74.8 billion, exceeding exports to the United States (US$74.5 billion), and China once again became South Korea's largest export destination. (Jiemian News)

CATL and Fengfei Aviation Signed a Hundred-hundred-million-dollar Strategic Investment and Cooperation Agreement

On August 3, CATL and Fengfei Aviation signed a strategic investment and cooperation agreement. CATL invested hundreds of millions of dollars exclusively and became a strategic investor of Fengfei Aviation. Fengfei Aviation said that the company will accelerate the development and airworthiness certification of the manned version of the Shengshilong. (Jiemian News)

TCL Zhonghuan: Shen Haoping resigns as CEO, and Chairman Li Dongsheng temporarily assumes responsibilities

TCL Zhonghuan announced on the evening of August 2 that the company's board of directors received the resignation application from Shen Haoping. Due to work needs and personal energy considerations, Shen Haoping applied to resign from the company's CEO position. According to the "Company Law" and other relevant regulations, Shen Haoping's resignation application will take effect from the date of delivery to the company's board of directors. After resigning, Shen Haoping will continue to serve as the company's director, vice chairman and various related positions of the board's special committee. The company will have Chairman Li Dongsheng temporarily assume the responsibilities of CEO, and will complete the relevant procedures for the appointment of a new CEO in accordance with relevant regulations. (Jiemian News)

GameStop's electronic game media "Game Informer" announced its closure

On August 2, local time, Game Informer, an electronic game media under GameStop, announced its closure, ending its 33-year operation. "Our reporting may stop, but the passion for games that we have cultivated together will continue," the media said in its farewell letter. (Jiemian News)

Nvidia's new AI chip may be delayed due to design flaws

Nvidia Corp.’s upcoming artificial intelligence chip will be delayed by three months or more because of a design flaw, according to two people who help Nvidia make the chip and its server hardware. That could affect customers such as Meta Platforms Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., which have collectively ordered tens of billions of dollars worth of the chip.

On August 4, Nvidia responded to reporters: "As we have said before, demand for Hopper is very strong, Blackwell sample trials have begun widely, and production is expected to increase in the second half of the year. Other than that, we do not comment on rumors." (The Information, First Financial)

Character.AI will provide large model technology license to Google, founder returns to Google

On August 2, local time, Character.AI, an artificial intelligence startup founded by two former Google employees, announced that it had reached a non-exclusive licensing agreement with Google for its large language model (LLM) technology. The company said that its founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas and some members of the research team will join Google, most of the team will continue to stay, and General Counsel Dominic Perella will take over as the company's interim CEO. (Jiemian News)

Switch sales fell 46%, Nintendo's net profit fell 55%

Nintendo of Japan released its latest quarterly earnings report on the 2nd. The financial report shows that in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025 ending at the end of June this year, the company's net profit fell to 80.95 billion yen (about 3.92 billion yuan), a year-on-year decrease of 55%. This is mainly due to the slowdown in sales of the Switch game console, which has been launched for 8 years. The financial report also shows that in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, the sales volume of the Switch game console fell to 2.1 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 46%. (CCTV Finance)

Sinopec Capital strategically leads the C+ round of financing for Kerun New Materials

According to the official microblog of Kerun New Materials, on August 2, Suzhou Kerun New Materials Co., Ltd. announced that it had completed the delivery of the second round of C+ financing. The company's C+ round of financing, the financing amount exceeded 400 million yuan, this round of financing was strategically led by Sinopec Capital, and jointly participated in by investment institutions such as Fenghe Capital, Jiaqiao Capital, and Jianxin Beijing Investment. (Jiemian News)

Arrangement｜ He Yuting