CTech’s Daily Israeli Tech News Roundup
From Wonder Woman to Nazi-battling video games, here are your daily news
A Bit Less Generic: Generic drug manufacturer Mylan N.V., currently the highest valued company on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, will voluntarily delist from the exchange on February 12. After its delisting pharmaceutical company Perrigo Company PLC will become the highest valued, with Teva in second place after its stock price was slashed over the last 12 months. As the three highest-valued companies listed on the exchange are all generic drug manufacturers, it is one of the few stock exchanges that are in the red year-to-date, weighed down by regulation changes in the generic drug market. The Tel Aviv TA-35, which tracks the prices of the shares of the 35 companies with the highest market capitalization on the exchange, is down 3.2% since the beginning of 2017. Mylan’s delisting will moderate the influence generic drug market tribulations have on the exchanges indices. Read more.
Spies Say “Sorry”: Israel-based private intelligence firm B.C Strategy Ltd, operating under the brand Black Cube, apologized on Thursday after reports surfaced that the firm worked for now-disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein for almost a year, investigating a woman who accused him of rape. Black Cube released a statement last week promising to donate profits from the Weinstein case to “organisations dedicated to supporting victims of sexual harassment in in Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv.” Read more.
Publishers Fall for Video Leprechaun Gold: Online publishers are turning to video content, thinking it is the secret to audience engagement, flooding the web with mediocre videos, says Playbuzz co-founder and CEO Shaul Olmert. Bad video content ends up hurting online brands, as well as their audience. Read more.
Wonder Woman Battles Sexual Harassment: Israeli actress Gal Gadot, who played the title role in the 2017 Warner Bros. movie “Wonder Woman,” is threatening to back out from the franchise over the involvement of producer Brett Ratner, New York Post gossip section Page Six reported on Saturday. Mr. Ratner has been accused of sexual harassment by six women so far. Read more.
No Nazi Killing for Israeli Video Gamers: For the first time ever, a video game directly deals with the Nazi Party’s near extermination of European Jewry—but in Israel, the distribution of the game is being restricted by its developer, Bethesda Softworks LLC. Israeli video gamers will be forced to find a workaround if they want to play the Jewish hero of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. Read more.
