*As of 10:21 a.m. ET

Data firm Palantir Technologies ($PLTR) and productivity tool Asana ($ASAN) are going public today through direct listings. Only two other major companies – Spotify (2018) and Slack (2019) – have gone public before through a direct listing. 

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• Both the companies have selected Morgan Stanley as their lead adviser and Citadel Securities LLC as their market maker for the listing. Morgan Stanley and Citadel Securities worked on Spotify and Slack's market debut as well. 
• The direct listings will not have underwriting investment bankers, and hence, higher initial volatility is expected.
• On Aug. 26, the NYSE changed a rule whereby direct listings only allowed existing shareholders and employees of the companies to sell their shares. Now, companies may issue additional shares as a part of the direct listing. 
• Due to the complex process of offering a traditional IPO and the risk of selling shares at a considerable discount, companies have started to look for alternatives. As a result, SPACs and direct listings have gained traction.

Asana:

• Asana, a project management and productivity tool, was founded by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskowitz. 
• The company has around 1.2 million paid subscribers, and it reported revenue of $100m in H1 2020 – a 64% increase YoY – and a loss of $77m. 
• The company's valuation stands at around $5b and the NYSE gave a reference price of $21 for its shares.

Palantir:

• Palantir Technologies was started to help defense and intelligence agencies analyze data about potential threats. The company currently offers its solutions to non-defense customers. 
• The company's founders include Peter Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and an angel investor in Facebook. The CIA's venture capital arm In-Q-Tel was one of the early investors in Palantir.
• The company posted revenue of $743m in 2019, up 25% YoY, and $481m in H1 2020, up 49%. Its net loss stood at $580m in 2019 and $165m in H1 2020.
• Palantir's shares are expected to start trading at around $10, giving the company a valuation of $22b. The NYSE gave Palantir's shares a reference price of $7.50.

Disney is laying off 28,000 American workers from its Parks, Experiences, and Products Unit. Chairman of Disney Parks, Josh D'Amaro, blamed California for its "unwillingness to lift restrictions." He claims the "prolonged impact" of COVID-19 is the cause of these layoffs.

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• Shanghai Disneyland re-opened on May 11. Walt Disney World Resort in Florida re-opened on July 11. Disneyland and Disney California Adventure in California remain closed.
• Disney Parks employs over 100,000 Americans. 
• The parks division reported more than $26b in revenue in 2019, 37% of Disney's total revenue that year. 
• Disney has 12 theme parks; their closures contributed to Disney's profits dropping 91% in Q1 2020. 
• Disney's operating profit in Q2 2020 was 58% lower than Q2 2019.
• 67% of the laid-off employees are part-time workers.

Royal Dutch Shell plans to cut between 7,000 and 9,000 jobs as it moves away from fossil fuels. The cuts will come by the end of 2020 and account for more than 10% of its workforce. In June, Shell decreased the estimated value of its assets by $22b as the price of oil and gas plummeted. 

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• The company estimates the cuts will save $2.5b by 2022
• 1,500 employees have already agreed to voluntary leave packages that come into effect at the end of 2020. 
• Shell plans on becoming carbon neutral by 2050, shifting its business from oil and gas production to low-carbon electricity, biofuels, and hydrogen.
• The company's strategy is to become "a simpler, more streamlined, more competitive organization" which will use its oil and gas business to fund lower carbon products, according to CEO Ben van Beurden.
• BP previously announced that it would lay off 10,000 workers (15% of its workforce) as it also restructures.

Alibaba CFO Maggie Wu announced the company expects its cloud computing business will become profitable for the first time in fiscal year 2021. Investors consider cloud computing to be an integral part of Alibaba’s future growth and, in 2018, CEO Daniel Zhang said it would eventually overtake e-commerce to become Alibaba’s main business.

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• Alibaba revealed in the June quarter its revenue from cloud computing increased by 58.5% to $1.75b, which accounts for 8% of its total overall revenue.
• Alibaba is currently number one in market share for cloud computing in China, and second behind Amazon in the Asia Pacific region. Globally, it is fourth behind Amazon, Microsoft, and Google.
• Earlier this year, Alibaba announced it would be investing $29.38m in cloud computing over the next three years.
• China accounts for 12.4% of the global cloud computing market and Alibaba has a 40% market share.
• In the first six months of 2020, companies within China have spent $4.3b on cloud computing tools and services, a 70% increase from the same point in 2019.

JPMorgan Chase was issued a $920m fine as part of a settlement agreement and acknowledged its role in manipulating precious metal and treasury markets. Investigations carried out by the Justice Department, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) revealed that JPMorgan traders "spoofed the markets" between 2015 and 2016. Spoofing is when traders buy and cancel huge orders to manipulate prices.

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• Spoofing was banned after the 2008 financial crisis. JPMorgan's fine is the largest ever issued for this misconduct.
• The SEC concluded that JPMorgan stopped doing the practice in January 2016 and that the traders responsible are no longer employed by the firm.
• The fine consists of a $437m penalty, $311m in restitution, and $172m for disgorgement. Disgorgement entails returning any profits made as a result of this illegal activity.
• JPMorgan recently terminated several employees after an internal investigation revealed that they fraudulently applied and received loans as part of the Small Business Administrations Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.

A version of this story first appeared in yesterday's Daily Brief.

QUICK HITS

• Google announced it will remove the 60-minute limit on free Google Meet calls until March 2021. This week, the company added a noise-cancellation feature in the Google Meet mobile app and an attendance reporting feature in Google Meet used for educational purposes.
• General Motors said that its deal to take an 11% stake in Nikola Motors is not closed yet but discussions are continuing. The deal was initially expected to close on Sept. 30, but was delayed following fraud and sexual misconduct allegations against Nikola's founder Trevor Milton.
• Walmart Canada tripled its Tesla semi-truck order, totaling around 130 trucks, as a part of its sustainability initiatives. The company also said that it is investing $3.5b over the next five years for growth and customer experience transformation. 
• Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) said that around 46 million jobs could be lost due to the collapse in global air travel. 
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