The San Francisco techno-elite and local activists have not been on good terms in recent weeks, but it may be wise to tread carefully when writing about the latest tensions. In a letter published in The Wall Street Journal on Saturday, Tom Perkins, a founder of the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, wondered if “progressive radicalism†indicated the possibility of a new Kristallnacht.
“Writing from the epicenter of progressive thought, San Francisco, I would call attention to the parallels of fascist Nazi Germany to its war on its ‘one percent,’ namely its Jews, to the progressive war on the American one percent, namely the ‘rich,’†Mr. Perkins wrote. “This is a very dangerous drift in our American thinking. Kristallnacht was unthinkable in 1930; is its descendent ‘progressive’ radicalism unthinkable now?â€
On Saturday afternoon, Kleiner Perkins distanced itself from its founder, posting on Twitter, “Tom Perkins has not been involved in KPCB in years. We were shocked by his views expressed today in the WSJ and do not agree.†Many others also expressed outrage and confusion over Mr. Perkins’s remarks, including those in the venture capital industry. “I wish to express my extreme displeasure with Tom Perkins,†Marc Andreessen, a co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, said on Twitter on Sunday.
A MOVE TO STIFLE PAYDAY LENDERS  | For years, banks both large and small have been collecting hefty fees by allowing Internet payday lenders direct access to customers’ bank accounts. Now, the Justice Department may be cracking down on the practice, which allows these online merchants to drain consumers’ checking accounts, Jessica Silver-Greenberg writes in DealBook.
Under the Bank Secrecy Act, banks are required to maintain internal checks against suspicious activity by customers and the companies their customers do business with, but until now, banks have largely escaped scrutiny for their role in providing financial services to these payment processors. With the new initiative, “Operation Choke Point,†the Justice Department hopes to provide more rigorous oversight on shady Internet merchants.
But the move has set off an argument between payday lenders, who often provide loans at extremely high interest rates, and the government. The short-term lenders contend that, through banks, their loans allow borrowers access to cash they would otherwise not have from traditional banking services, while the agency claims that the banks are allowing online merchants to prey on desperate customers.
PRAISE AND OUTRAGE OVER DIMON’S PAY INCREASE  | Despite the legal troubles that JPMorgan Chase has faced in the last year, the bank decided to award Jamie Dimon, its chairman and chief executive, with a 74 percent raise, Peter Eavis writes in DealBook. Mr. Dimon will receive $20 million â€" $1.5 million of base salary and $18.5 million of JPMorgan stock â€" for 2013, compared with the $11.5 million he earned in 2012.
Some on Wall Street are praising the raise. “I think he’s worth more than that,†said Warren E. Buffett, the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway and a JPMorgan shareholder. “Over all, I think the shareholders of JPMorgan and the American people should be happy that Jamie Dimon has been running the bank over this period.â€
But others are lamenting Mr. Dimon’s pay increase. “Jamie Dimon’s bonus represents another whale of a fail for JPMorgan Chase,†writes Antony Currie of Reuters Breakingviews. The pay decision, he writes, “reveals an oversight failure as big as Mr. Dimon’s of his chief investment office.â€
ON THE AGENDA Â |Â Caterpillar releases fourth-quarter earnings before the bell. Apple releases earnings after the market closes. New home sales numbers come out at 10 a.m. The American Securitization Forum continues in Las Vegas. Steven R. Swartz, the president and chief executive of the Hearst Corporation, is on Bloomberg TV at 9:15 a.m.
GOOGLE BUYS INTO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR $400 MILLION  | When Google announced two weeks ago that it had purchased Nest Labs, which makes Internet-connected home devices, for $3.2 billion, the company was taking a step further into people’s personal lives. Now, it seems, Google has entered into the realm of science fiction. According to ReCode, Google is acquiring the artificial intelligence company DeepMind for $400 million. DeepMind, which is based in London, has only a home page for its website, adding to the company’s intrigue.
While not much is known about DeepMind except that its “first commercial applications are in simulations, e-commerce and games,†according to its website, the venture appears to be Google’s latest move to “know everything.†Sources told ReCode that Google’s purchase was largely geared toward acquiring artificial intelligence talent.
LIBERTY GLOBAL TO ACQUIRE ZIGGO  | Liberty Global, the media company controlled by the billionaire John C. Malone, announced on Monday that it was buying Ziggo, the largest cable provider in the Netherlands, in a deal that valued Ziggo at about $13.7 billion, Chad Bray writes in DealBook. The deal comes only four months after Ziggo rebuffed an acquisition by Liberty Global, calling that proposed deal “inadequate.â€
The transaction represents a 22 percent premium to Ziggo’s closing price the day before it announced that it had received a preliminary takeover offer from Liberty Global in October. With the deal, Michael T. Fries, the chief executive of Liberty Global, said the companies’ combined operations would reach over 90 percent of Dutch households.
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Martin Marietta Materials in Merger Talks With Texas Industries  | A deal for Texas Industries, a construction supplies company with a market value of more than $2 billion, could be announced early this week, people briefed on the matter said. DealBook »
European Confidence to Inspire Merger Activity  | Bankers said in Davos, Switzerland, that they expected the European Central Bank’s stress tests to bolster the confidence of the largest European banks and reinvigorate domestic and cross-border merger and acquisition activity, Reuters reports. REUTERS
Consolidation in Solar Industry Could Accelerate  | Jifan Gao, chairman and founder of Trina Solar, said in Davos, Switzerland, that he expected the pace of mergers in the solar manufacturing industry to increase in the next three years, Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS
German Software Maker to Consider Acquisitions  | Werner Brandt, the chief financial officer of the business software maker SAP, is quoted as saying that the company could begin looking at large acquisition targets, Reuters writes. REUTERS
Comptroller Proposes Banks Reveal High Rollers  | Thomas P. DiNapoli, the New York State comptroller, has put together a proposal that asks Wells Fargo to take an inventory of their risk-taking employees, Gretchen Morgenson writes in the Fair Game column in The New York Times. NEW YORK TIMES
Citigroup Bankers to Receive Half Their Bonuses in Cash  | Citigroup announced it would pay at least half of the bonuses for its European investment bankers in cash, The Financial Times reports. The move highlights the continued generosity of United States banks compared with their European counterparts. FINANCIAL TIMES
Goldman May Restrict Employees’ Use of Chat Services  | The firm is considering a new policy to prohibit employees from using peer-to-peer chat services provided by Bloomberg L.P., Yahoo and other third-party companies, a person close to the situation said. DealBook »
Warburg Pincus Hires Former Mining Chief at ArcelorMittal  | As part of a push into mining investments, the private equity firm Warburg Pincus has hired a former top executive in ArcelorMittal’s mining operations, Peter Kukielski. DealBook »
Gores Group to Take Control of Britain’s Premier Foods  | Premier Foods will pass into the hands of the Gores Group, a private equity firm based in Los Angeles, in a deal that gives Premier an enterprise value of 87.5 million pounds, The Financial Times reports. FINANCIAL TIMES
JPMorgan and K.K.R.-Backed Payment Processor Settle Dispute  | Frank Bisignano, who was once an ally of Jamie Dimon, the chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, agreed to pay millions of dollar to the bank to resolve a hiring dispute resulting from Mr. Bisignano’s move to a payment processor backed by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, The Wall Street Journal writes. WALL STREET JOURNAL
A Spike in Options Trading Before Herbalife’s Stock Fell  | Trading volume in Herbalife put options â€" financial contracts that gain in value as a particular stock price declines â€" spiked late last week. Even for a volatile stock like Herbalife, it was enough to make some market experts take notice. DealBook »
Former Fraud Office Director May Take Witness Stand  | Richard Alderman, the former director of the Serious Fraud Office, may be called as a witness in next month’s hearing related to charging Magnus Peterson, the founder of the $600 million hedge fund Weavering Capital, with fraud, forgery and false accounting, The Financial Times reports. FINANCIAL TIMES
Apple Obstinate Before Earnings  | Though Apple has so far ignored pressure from investors like Carl C. Icahn to return more cash to shareholders, it may “eventually see for itself the merits of returning more to investors,†Robert Cyran writes in Reuters Breakingviews. REUTERS
Japanese Owner of Uniqlo Aims for Secondary Listing in Hong Kong  | Fast Retailing says it plans a secondary stock market listing in Hong Kong as a way to broaden its base of investors and customers in Asia and, specifically, in China. DealBook »
Vodafone Looks to Acquire ONO Before I.P.O.  | Vodafone, the British telecommunications giant, is planning an acquisition of Grupo Corporativo ONO, the Spanish cable operator, in advance of ONO’s initial public offering, Bloomberg News reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. BLOOMBERG NEWS
A Dearth in Women-Led I.P.O.’s  | Only two out of 82 “emerging growth†companies that had initial public offerings in 2013 had female chief executives, The Wall Street Journal reports. Between 1996 and 2013, only 3 percent of companies that went public had women chief executives. WALL STREET JOURNAL
After Ruling, Chinese Companies Not Likely to List in New York  | A six-month ban by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Chinese auditors affiliated with the Big Four accounting firms could result in Chinese companies choosing to list themselves in Hong Kong rather than New York, Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Klein Announces Move to Vox Media  | Ezra Klein, who created The Washington Post’s Wonkblog, announced he was moving to Vox Media, an Internet media company with digital brands, The Verge reports. THE VERGE
Klein Joins Other Big Names in Jump to Digital News  | The departure of Ezra Klein, the creator of The Washington Post’s Wonkblog, is an example of how “digital publishing offers its own thing, not an additional platform for established news companies,†David Carr writes in his Media Equation column in The New York Times. NEW YORK TIMES
Uber Facing Legal Challenges  | Uber, the hot start-up whose software allows anyone with a smartphone to get a cab ride, is suddenly facing trouble, David Streitfeld writes in The New York Times. NEW YORK TIMES
Cambridge Tech Industry Falling Behind  | Despite Cambridge’s established start-up pedigree, the city may be losing some of its luster to London’s technology industry, the Bits blog reports. NEW YORK TIMES BITS
Deutsche Bank Co-Chief Cleared in Libor Investigation  | An internal investigation found that Anshu Jain, the co-chief executive of Deutsche Bank, did not play a role in the bank’s manipulation of global interest rates, Reuters reports. REUTERS
Partner in a Prestigious Law Firm, and Bankrupt  | Gregory M. Owens is an extreme but vivid illustration of the economic factors roiling the legal profession, James B. Stewart writes in his Common Sense column in The New York Times. DealBook »
Bernanke Enters Final Week  | As Ben S. Bernanke begins his last week as chairman of the Federal Reserve, plans to continue the tapering of asset purchases should ease Janet L. Yellen’s transition atop the Fed, The Financial Times writes. FINANCIAL TIMES
Stockholder Lawsuits Increase  | Stockholders filed 234 federal securities lawsuits in 2013, with settlements totaling $6.5 billion, The Wall Street Journal reports. The number of filings is the most since 2008. WALL STREET JOURNAL
