AT&T gets challenged by hedge fund; app drama ahead of iPhone's big day, and more top news

The news professionals are talking about now, curated by LinkedIn’s editors. Join the conversation on today's stories in the comments. 

Hedge fund Elliott Management disclosed a new $3.2 billion stake in AT&T, after criticizing the behemoth of failing to fully transform itself into a multimedia company. The fund is urging AT&T, which finally completed its $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner last year, to stop buying entities and consider divesting itself of others — including DirectTV. Elliott’s stake in what is the world’s most indebted company, according to Bloomberg, amounts to just 1.2% of its total value. • Here’s what people are saying. 

As Apple prepares to launch its new iPhones today, The New York Times has released an analysis of the online store that fills those devices with apps. Until competitors complained to regulators, Apple’s App Store results were dominated by its own apps, with Apple engineers telling the Times that a member of their team had changed the store’s algorithm when they noticed their apps dominating search results. Companies have filed antitrust complaints in the U.S., Europe and Russia. • Here’s what people are saying. 

Amazon has more open jobs than ever before. The company is attempting to hire 30,000 permanent employees in the U.S. alone. The jobs are spread out across departments and at locations throughout the country. Filling them is an especially tall order in such a tight labor market, with unemployment hovering near a 50-year low. To get started, the tech and retail giant will hold job fairs on Sept. 17 in six cities: Arlington, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Nashville and Seattle. • Here’s what people are saying. 

Google became the latest target of an antitrust probe by state attorneys general this week, after a Texas-led group of 50 states and territories announced they would focus on the giant’s search and advertising services. The company and its peers in Big Tech have come under investigation from several corners of the government, including the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and a separate group of attorneys general — as to whether they are so big as to be squelching competition and providing worse or costlier service to customers. • Here’s what people are saying. 

Nice guys don’t always get ahead, at least in zero-sum negotiations, according to new research in Harvard Business Review. In experiments with 1,500 participants who bargained over the price of an item, tough and firm messages were more likely to prompt a discount from sellers than warm and friendly requests. Sellers made more aggressive initial counteroffers and got more concessions from friendly buyers, although HBR suggests that there are business situations where it can nonetheless pay for them to take a short-term hit. • Here’s what people are saying. 

Idea of the Day: Awareness brings freedom from fixed beliefs and habits, says Deepak Chopra, founder of the Chopra Foundation.

“It is much better to be more aware than smarter. Being more aware will also make you smarter in the bargain, because a conscious person makes better choices than an unconscious person.”

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