Lookzy: all your daily legal news in 0.1 billable hours. Litigation, deals, lateral moves and industry news; we cover it all.

Welcome to Lookzy. In today's Lookzy:

• The Mormon Church is charged by the SEC

• A-Rod's Slam Corp. gets hit with redemptions

• AT&T considers undoing another recent acquisition

• Groupon decides to outsource its GC role

Let's dive right in ⬇️

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ECON SNAPSHOT

The difference between special bonuses and layoffs

THE VERDICT

Arguing today's litigation news

Latter-day enforcement. Following Friday's report that the SEC was in advanced stages of an investigation into the Mormon Church's 'secret' multi-billion dollar investment portfolio, the SEC announced that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its affiliates non-profit Ensign Peak Advisers Inc. agreed to pay an aggregate of $5 million to settle charges for failing to file forms that would have disclosed the Church’s equity investments, instead filing forms for shell companies that obscured the Church’s portfolio and misstated Ensign Peak’s control over the Church’s investment decisions.

Flood of suits. Yesterday's SCOTUS oral arguments in Gonzalez v. Google over the fate of Section 230, social media's liability shield, provided limited insight into how exactly the justices may rule, with several justices noting their concern that allowing this claim could invite a flood of lawsuits, which Google noted the enactment of Section 230 was designed to prevent.

Declined. The Supreme Court declined to hear a Wikimedia Foundation bid to challenge NSA warrantless surveillance. The Court separately declined to hear a Johnson & Johnson challenge to a $302 million judgement over its marketing of pelvic mesh.

Elon's paychecks. Closing arguments took place yesterday in Delaware Chancery Court following a November trial over Elon Musk's $56 billion pay package at Tesla brought by a Tesla shareholder. The shareholder argued that disclosures regarding the pay were misleading and therefore voided a shareholder vote approving the pay package.

THE DEAL

Wheelin' and dealin' today's corporate news

No deal. Real estate company CoStar Group has reportedly backed out of discussions to acquire real estate media company Move Inc., the owner of sites including Realtor.com, from News Corp. for approximately $3 billion. Rumors of a potential acquisition by CoStar first emerged approximately one month ago.

Slam Corp. Former Yankee Alex Rodriguez (a/k/a A-Rod)'s SPAC, Slam Corp., is facing significant investor redemptions following the extension of a deadline for the SPAC to find a merger partner. Approximately 61% of the SPAC's shares were redeemed.

Acquisition undo. AT&T Inc. is reportedly considering divesting its cybersecurity division, Alienvault, which it acquired only five years ago. Since AT&T's $109 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc. in 2018, which is has also since unwound, AT&T has been working to reduce its debt. AT&T reduced its net debt by about $24 billion in 2022 and is seeking to reduce it further.

Activist healthcare. Healthcare investment firm Caligan Partners is urging biotech company Anika Therapeutics to consider strategic alternatives, including a sale of the company. In a 'bear hug' letter to Anika's board, Caligan threatened to nominate directors to the company's board if strategic options are not considered in the face of a declining share price. Caligan Partners owned approximately 4% of Anika.

Share sale. Japan Post Holdings Co. is reportedly considering selling approximately $8.9 billion worth of its shares in Japan Post Bank Co., a third of its stake, by the end of March when its current fiscal year ends. If the sale to overseas investors occurs, Japan Post Holdings will reduce its ownership in Japan Post Bank from 89% to approximately 60%, which would help the banking business meet share liquidity requirements from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

BUSINESS OF THE FIRM

Lateral Moves:

• Cooley hired five corporate partners in Denver from Perkins Coie.

• Groupon Inc. disclosed that its general counsel, Dane Drobny, will step down next week to return to law firm Winston & Strawn as a partner. Drobny will continue to advise Groupon as an outside GC.

BOILERPLATE

Alright, back to billing. That's all, folks!