Apple’s Legal Problems Have It Caught in a ‘Downpour’

Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are scrutinizing Apple in a way that is unnerving investors, with fears over fines and threats to the gadget maker’s market dominance growing. In the US, the Justice Department and 16 attorneys general are suing the iPhone maker for violating antitrust laws. And in Europe, the company is said to be facing probes about whether it’s complying with the region’s Digital Markets Act. Apple, fresh from its €1.8 billion ($2 billion) European Union fine for blocking music streaming apps from informing users of cheaper deals, has been the focus of more attention since the DMA came into full effect on March 7. Shares of the company slid 4.1% Thursday, erasing about $113 billion in market value and taking their year-to-date loss back to 11%. Once the world’s most valuable firm at more than $3 trillion, Apple has underperformed both the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500 in 2024. “There comes a point in which the downpour of cases and scrutiny that comes with them become a real drag on how these companies operate,” said Bill Kovacic, an antitrust professor at George Washington University Law School. “Even if they win, in an important way they’ve lost.”

It’s one of the internet’s top spots for meme-powered stock tips and anonymous hot takes. But does Reddit belong in your portfolio? The question has divided fans of the notoriously rambunctious platform, where some super-users were invited to invest along with insiders at the initial public offering price of $34, before the general public had access. They watched Reddit surge 48% to $50.44 in its trading debut. The highly anticipated IPO comes as stock prices soar and cryptocurrencies hit records. But while Reddit shares jumped Thursday, financial advisers said retail investors should think twice before buying in.