PRESS DIGEST- Wall Street Journal - March 20

March 20 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- SoftBank Group inked a deal to purchase U.S.-based chip designer Ampere Computing Holdings, a chip startup founded by Intel's ( INTC ) former president, for $6.5 billion.

- U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is considering a plan to extend Chevron's ( CVX ) license to pump oil in Venezuela.

- Building-products distributor QXO signed a deal for Beacon Roofing Supply ( BECN ), valuing Beacon at roughly $7.7 billion, or $11 billion including debt.

- The cryptocurrency exchange Kraken is nearing a $1.5 billion deal for NinjaTrader, a U.S. retail futures trading platform, in a bid to expand its user base and move into other asset classes.

- Bakkt ( BKKT/WS ) has appointed Akshay Naheta to be its co-chief executive and is offloading some operations so the company can focus on its payments and cryptocurrency businesses.

- Law firm Paul Weiss said in a court filing on Wednesday that a former executive facing criminal bribery charges has fired it as his defense counsel because of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order this month targeting the firm. (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)