*By Carlo Versano*
Federal regulators have subpoenaed Snap as part of a probe into its 2017 initial public offering, the company confirmed in a statement to Cheddar.
Reuters first [reported](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-snap-sec-exclusive/exclusive-snap-reveals-us-subpoenas-on-ipo-disclosures-idUSKCN1NJ04O) the subpoenas late Tuesday.
The subpoenas, filed by the Justice Dept. in coordination with the SEC, are believed to be related to a class action lawsuit filed by a group of investors in May 2017 that alleged the company misrepresented how competition from Facebook's Instagram ($FB) was affecting its growth ahead of the $3.4 billion IPO, and misled the public about its user metrics.
In the statement, Snap said: “While we do not have complete visibility into these investigations, our understanding is that the DOJ is likely focused on IPO disclosures relating to competition from Instagram."
The social-messaging app has suffered from the competition with Instagram, which launched a near-identical feature to Snapchat's core service in 2016 and now [boasts](https://money.cnn.com/2018/06/28/technology/instagram-stories-users/index.html) double the users. The company has also seen some of its top talent leave, including [most recently](https://www.cheddar.com/videos/snap-vp-content-nick-bell-to-leave) the head of content, Nick Bell.
Snap stock is trading at less than half its IPO price.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
Universal Music Group and AI platform Udio have settled a copyright lawsuit and will collaborate on a new music creation and streaming platform. The companies announced on Wednesday that they reached a compensatory legal settlement and new licensing agreements. These agreements aim to provide more revenue opportunities for Universal's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the music streaming industry, leading to accusations from record labels. This deal marks the first since Universal and others sued Udio and Suno last year. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
