April 7, 2021 Biz in 60

Private equity firm CVC makes $20B offer for Toshiba CVC Capital Partners has made a 20-billion dollar offer to buy-out Toshiba. The bid comes as the Japanese conglomerate faces scrutiny over a series of scandals. Luxembourg-based CVC is one of several private equity firms to submit a bid, and is reportedly planning to take Toshiba off the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Toshiba's shares surged 18-percent on the news. Samsung Q1 profit up 44% on early release of smartphone Samsung Electronics says first-quarter profit likely rose 44-percent, thanks to the early release of its flagship S-series smartphone. A surge in demand for home electronics during the pandemic has also helped to boost sales. Analysts expect the South Korean tech giant's operating profit to come in at around 8.3-billion dollars for the three months to March. UK government launches new regulator for tech giants The UK has launched a new regulator aimed at curbing the dominance of tech giants. The Digital Markets Unit will create and monitor codes of conduct for companies like Facebook and Google and their relationship with users. The regulator was announced last year as a way to enforce a new pro-competition regime for online platforms.