DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Salesforce cage-rattlers leave in profitable peace
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Acquire Licensing RightsNEW YORK, Aug 15 (Reuters Breakingviews) - For activist investors in Salesforce (CRM.N), the low-hanging fruit should suffice. Fast growth and big-ticket acquisitions that Salesforce boss Marc Benioff had pursued turned anathema last year. The stock price roughly halved, falling faster than the Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector Index (.NDXT). Benioff eventually acquiesced, slashing 10% of the workforce, disbanding the deals committee and unveiling a $20 billion stock buyback plan. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Porte, Jeff Smith’s, Dan Loeb’s, Marc Benioff, ValueAct, Benioff, Jonathan Guilford, Exor’s Philips, Bain, BoE, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Sharon Lam Organizations: Viva Technology, Porte de, Reuters, Big Tech, Nasdaq, Profit, Elliott Investment Management, Twitter, FC Barcelona’s, Messi, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, Salesforce, Salesforce’s

☆ Bain puts Chindata minority owners out of misery
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MELBOURNE, Aug 14 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Bain Capital has just taught a refresher course in the perils of being a minority investor. On Friday the buyout firm agreed to take Chindata private in a deal that values the Chinese data centre operator it already controls at $3.2 billion. But those who bought in when the U.S. private equity firm took Chindata public in 2020 or were hoping for a bidding war – or both – have good reason to be disappointed. Second, a unit of state-owned conglomerate China Merchants Group countered Bain with a $3.4 billion deal, which Chindata took a month to acknowledge. And it has let investors holding another fifth or so of Chindata stock into the buyout group.

Persons: Bain’s, Bain, Chindata, Antony Currie, BoE, Robyn Mak, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: MELBOURNE, Reuters, Bain Capital, China Merchants Group, China Merchants, Twitter, FC Barcelona’s, Messi, Siemens, Thomson Locations: New York

☆ Exor’s Philips bet looks well-timed
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Agnelli family’s investment company on Monday said it bought a 15% stake in the toothbrushes-to-defibrillators group for 2.6 billion euros ($2.8 billion). Philips’ shares are down some 62% since the peak in April 2021, and it now looks much cheaper than the sum of its parts. Based on peer multiples, its diagnostics business could be worth 14 times 2024 EBITDA, while its connected care unit, which helps hospitals manage patient data, might be valued at 18.5 times EBITDA. Lastly, throw in the consumer division, which makes toasters and TVs, and could fetch 12 times EBITDA. Using Refinitiv forecasts, that would imply a total enterprise value of 33 billion euros, and equity of some 24 billion euros, after taking off debt and 2.4 billion euros for legal costs estimated by Bernstein analysts.

Persons: John Elkann, Agnelli, Philips ’, EBITDA, Bernstein, Roy Jakobs, Philips, Karen Kwok, Bain, BoE, Neil Unmack, Streisand Neto Organizations: Reuters, Koninklijke Philips, U.S . Department of Justice, Philips, Twitter, FC Barcelona’s, Messi, Siemens, Thomson

☆ UK GDP jump offers little relief to BoE
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The larger-than-forecast 0.5% rise in GDP in June meant that output grew 0.2% in the second quarter compared to the previous three months. That’s a modest acceleration but not enough to force the Bank of England to hike rates again in September. Jeremy Hunt, Britain’s finance minister, was quick to claim credit for the GDP numbers. Less rational is the sharp jump in sterling and UK bond yields, fuelled by market expectations that the BoE will now have to raise rates in September. Sure, June GDP numbers were strong but they were flattered by the absence of the bank holiday that had depressed May’s figures.

Persons: That’s, Jeremy Hunt, BoE, Francesco Guerrera, Aimee Donnellan, Streisand Neto Organizations: Reuters, England soccer, Bank of, Conservative, Twitter, Siemens, Thomson Locations: Bank of England, Britain

☆ Alibaba previews benefits of slimming down
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, Aug 11 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Just months after announcing a six-way breakup, Alibaba's (9988.HK) corporate overhaul is off to a good start. Quarterly sales jumped 14% year-on-year in the three months to June and all its main business units are growing again. That should ease concern that Alibaba is losing market share to rivals like PDD (PDD.O). In logistics and digital media, both reported positive adjusted earnings before interest, tax and amortisation in the recent quarter, versus losses a year ago. It’s early days but a more focused and less bloated Alibaba is starting to emerge.

Persons: It’s, Robyn Mak, Una Galani, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: Reuters, HK, Twitter, Siemens, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG

For the second quarter, Amazon's revenue grew 11% to $134.4 billion, beating estimates of $131.5 billion from analysts polled by Refinitiv. In recent months, Amazon Web Services (AWS) saw its sales growth slow as wary businesses scrutinized their cloud bills. The unit beat estimates of around $21.7 billion in second-quarter cloud sales, increasing them 12% to $22.1 billion. Its rivals posted bigger jumps off smaller bases: 28% growth in Alphabet's June-quarter cloud revenue and a 26% quarterly increase for Microsoft's Azure. Longer-term, Amazon aims to turn one unit, its $35 billion in yearly gross business-to-business e-commerce sales, into $100 billion, Jassy told analysts.

Persons: Pascal Rossignol, Brian Olsavsky, Olsavsky, Andy Jassy, Arun Sundaram, Sundaram, Jassy, Thomas Monteiro, Investing.com, Monteiro, Refinitiv, Chavi Mehta, Jeffrey Dastin, Noel Randewich, Arun Koyyur, Aurora Ellis, Chris Reese Organizations: REUTERS, Amazon.com Inc, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Refinitiv, Amazon Web Services, CFRA Research, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Lauwin, France, Alphabet's, Bengaluru, Jeffrey Dastin San Francisco

☆ Airlines say domestic fares are sliding and threatening to chill record revenue growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Southwest Airlines , Alaska Airlines and American Airlines are among the carriers that have forecast slower revenue growth or weakness for the third quarter, despite strong demand. The NYSE Arca Airline index is down more than 6% this week, slimming its gains to 37% so far this year. Southwest on Thursday said it expects unit revenue to drop as much as 7% in the current quarter from a year ago on a 12% increase in capacity. An airline's revenue per available seat mile is a measure of how much a carrier generates compared with how much capacity they're offering. Meanwhile, Alaska Airlines this week forecast third-quarter revenue ranging from flat to up 3% and unit revenues down about 9% "at the midpoint," with capacity up as much as 13% compared with last year.

Persons: Hopper, Ben Minicucci Organizations: Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, NYSE, Airline, Domestic, Southwest, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines Locations: airfare, Dallas, Alaska, Europe, Asia

☆ Tesla shares down on slimming margins, Cybertruck concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

If it holds, it'll be the worst day for Tesla's stock in three months. Analysts also highlighted concerns with Tesla's margin "headwinds," which at 9.6% was the lowest result for at least the last five quarters. Tesla beat on the top and bottom lines, reporting revenue of $24.93 billion and earnings of 91 cents per share, adjusted, for the quarter ended June 30, 2023. Early this month, Tesla reported 466,140 total vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, the closest approximation of sales that Tesla reports. Cybertruck "factory tooling" is on track but the company is only producing "release candidate" builds, the company said in its earnings presentation.

Persons: Tesla, Elon Musk, it'll, Musk, we've, Mark Delaney, Goldman Sachs, Cybertruck, — CNBC's Lora Kolodny, Michael Bloom

☆ Inside Reddit's path to an IPO, where employees see 'thrash' from constant pivots and say more managers may leave amid a flattening
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Reddit employees say the company has a bloated leadership structure with too many managers. They described some leadership moves and road-map changes that caused what one employee described as "thrash." Managers who attended the summit told employees that leadership suggested the company would in the second half of the year consolidate teams with managers overseeing fewer than six employees, two employees said. Leadership shake-upsReddit had some leadership changes earlier this year. Three employees described Lobez's departure as a surprise, as he was well liked within the data-science organization.

Persons: Reddit, Mark Zuckerberg, Shopify, Reddit hasn't, Steve Huffman, Jack Hanlon, Hanlon, Reddit's, Jose Lobez, Tyler Otto, who'd, Huffman, —, Lopez Organizations: Employees, Meta, Reddit Locations: New York City, Hipmunk

☆ How Short Is Too Short for Men’s Pants?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Vanessa Friedman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

I’ve been recently experimenting with shorter pants, something I can wear with a blazer, or simply a T-shirt or a sweater. I want to stay away from Capri pants/clown pants territory. — Pavel, AthensThe male ankle! Once a subject of derision popularly mocked as “flood pants,” shorter male pants became a thing again when Mr. Browne introduced them back in 2001, in part as a reaction to the big, billowing suits of the 1990s (see Michael Jordan). Mr. Browne shrank the silhouette, narrowing the pants and slimming and shortening the jacket, making it seem like the hipster version of the 1950s company man crossed with Buster Brown.

Persons: I’ve, hemming, — Pavel, nobby, Thom Browne, men’s hemlines, Browne, Michael Jordan, Buster Brown Organizations: New York Times, Financial Locations: Capri, Athens

☆ BlackRock announces fresh layoffs impacting less than 1% of staff - memo
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Anirudh Saligrama | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 22 (Reuters) - BlackRock (BLK.N) has announced layoffs that would impact less than 1% of its workforce as a result of budget reallocations to support critical priorities, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Thursday. The company's new round of job cuts followed a recent business review process, Chief Operating Officer Rob Goldstein and Global Head of Human Resources Caroline Heller said in a memo to staff. The departments impacted were not known immediately, but the asset manager's headcount will be higher at the end of 2023 than at the beginning of the year despite the job cuts, the memo said. On Wednesday, JPMorgan Chase cut around 20 investment banking jobs in Asia in a fresh round of layoffs, Reuters had reported, citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika SyamnathOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Rob Goldstein, Caroline Heller, Anirudh, Devika Organizations: Reuters, BlackRock, Wall Street titans, Global, Human, Wednesday, JPMorgan Chase, Thomson Locations: BlackRock, Asia, Bengaluru

☆ Shopify cuts 20% of its workforce; shares surge on earnings beat
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Annie Palmer | In Annierpalmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Shopify on Thursday announced it's cutting 20% of its workforce. The news came as it reported first-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines. CEO Tobi Lütke announced the job cuts in a memo to employees posted to the company's website. The cuts mark the second round of layoffs for the Canadian e-commerce company. The company reported revenue of $1.51 billion, which exceeded projections of $1.43 billion, according to Refinitiv.

☆ Burger King’s secret weapon against McDonald’s is the Whopper
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The plan is still in early stages: Burger King has invested $40 million as of the end of last year. At US Burger King locations open at least 13 months, sales jumped 5% in the quarter, thanks in part to the burger. “I don’t know what his place might be in the future.”The fast food war heats upFor Burger King, the Whopper is more than just a burger. But even if the Whopper isn’t all that different from other fast food burgers, it’s the one Burger King has got. For Burger King, “the challenge is you’re competing against McDonald’s, and McDonald’s is really good,” said Senatore.

☆ BuzzFeed News will shut down
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —BuzzFeed News, the Pulitzer Prize-winning digital news website that that took the internet by storm roughly a decade ago and inspired jealousy from legacy media organizations, will shutter, BuzzFeed chief executive Jonah Peretti announced Thursday. “While layoffs are occurring across nearly every division, we’ve determined that the company can no longer continue to fund BuzzFeed News as a standalone organization,” Peretti told staffers. BuzzFeed has “begun discussions with the News Guild,” the union which represents staffers at the company, about the actions. “HuffPost and BuzzFeed Dot Com have signaled that they will open a number of select roles for members of BuzzFeed News,” Peretti told employees. The news that BuzzFeed News will shutter prompted an outpouring of messages posted online from former BuzzFeed News staffers who expressed sadness and dismay.

☆ Here's Goldman's winning options strategy heading into earnings season
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Goldman Sachs is looking at using stock options as a way to play the forthcoming earnings season. In a note last week, the firm recommended buying at-the-money straddles, which involve purchasing both a put and a call option. "One of our preferred options strategies ahead of earnings is buying straddles that are inexpensive relative to their typical one-day earnings move," Goldman Sachs derivatives specialists Sesha Phani wrote. Goldman posits that the options market hasn't yet fully priced in the volatility that some of the stocks on its list have shown in the past. NFLX YTD mountain Shares of Netflix have been higher from the start of the year, although shares remain vulnerable to volatility.

☆ Trump shares video mocking DeSantis' flip-flop on how to say his name. The pronunciation question goes back a decade.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

For months, Trump has been attacking DeSantis with the expectation that he'll challenge him for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. In the latest dig issued Friday morning, Trump reshared a video of DeSantis on Truth Social. In the clips, DeSantis shifts the pronunciation of his last name from "Dee-Santis" to "Deh-Santis." The question of how to pronounce "DeSantis" made headlines in 2018 when Trump endorsed the then-US congressman for the GOP nomination for governor. In 2018, the Tampa Bay Times suggested that Casey DeSantis rebranded DeSantis' name, under a story headlined "Tomato, Tomahto; Dee-Santis, Deh-Santis."

☆ Meta's big job cuts aren't about the tricky economy or rising inflation. They're about Mark Zuckerberg's mistakes.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Asia Martin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it was economic changes that led to over 21,000 in total being laid off. Investors have long said that Zuckerberg's own decisions and mistakes led to this point. Zuckerberg has bet his company's future on the metaverse, including its expensive bets on virtual reality goggles via its Reality Labs unit. Meta's stock has moved up after every layoff announcement, a sign that investors liked the announcements. Investors had a positive response on Wednesday as Meta's stock rose 6% again off the news of more layoffs.

At the Fontainebleau hotel, Credit Suisse bankers were puzzled by the announcements, and concerned about their jobs being on the line, said the executive, who declined to be named. In response to questions from Reuters for this article, a spokesperson for Credit Suisse in London said: "We never comment on rumours or speculation." 'A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE'Even after Credit Suisse stopped financing hedge funds following the Archegos implosion in March 2021, the equities business remained a key part of its investment bank revenue. One option Credit Suisse is considering is to move its equities research to CSFB, Reuters reported. Slimming down the equities business would draw a further line under Credit Suisse's investment bank ambitions.

☆ How Salesforce Is Striving to Make Its Sales Force More Efficient
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Tom Dotan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Salesforce Inc., after years of rapid revenue pursuit and spending, is shifting its focus to increasing profit by doing more with less. The company’s chief operating officer and president, Brian Millham , one of the people tasked with getting the margins up, said efficiency is now the key. The company is slimming teams, integrating companies it has acquired and relying more on online portals and self-serve tools to bring on new customers.

From committing to dollar-cost averaging to slimming down high-interest debt, these steps can help keep you on track. If you're unsure how to move to the next level with your money, check out these ideas to help you reach your new financial goals. Set yourself up for successSetting strong financial goals upfront can kickstart your journey to success. Create small habits that add upRecurring tasks and scheduled automations help ensure your finances keep working smoothly. Whittle away debt that's holding you backNot all debt is created equal, according to Empower financial professionals.

☆ M&G would be a tricky hop for kangaroo raider
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Neil Unmack | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, March 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - M&G (MNG.L) would be a tricky hop for Macquarie (MQG.AX). The $48 billion Australian financial powerhouse may bid for the $6 billion UK insurer. The appeal is likely to be in the fund management group. Macquarie’s own asset management arm accounted for over 30% of net profit in the first half of its current financial year. Follow @Unmack1 on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSAustralian banking group Macquarie is considering a bid for UK insurance and asset management group M&G, Sky News reported on March 1.

☆ Hong Kong’s office landlords face a tough rebound
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Thomas Shum | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

HONG KONG, March 1 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Hong Kong offices are emptier than in other Asian financial centres. Singapore and Tokyo boast rates well under half of Hong Kong’s level, and figures there are either improving or roughly unchanged. Last year, mainland-based companies accounted for less than 6% of all leases in Hong Kong’s key Central business district, from nearly 30% in 2019. Hong Kong’s economy shrunk for three of the last four years, and its population is slimming too. However, the plan to reduce its office footprint may not apply to Hong Kong, a person familiar with the situation told Breakingviews.

[1/3] Ben & Jerry's, a brand of Unilever, is seen on display in a store in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., March 24, 2022. Nestle said cutting products saved 1 billion Swiss francs last year ($1.06 billion), while Unilever said the practice saved $2 billion. Food makers tend to cull products without much fanfare. At the consumer products conference they highlighted new offerings, many of them increasingly popular handheld foods that people can eat while scrolling on phones. "You'd be shocked by the loyalty and personal connections people have to food products," he said.

[1/3] Ben & Jerry's, a brand of Unilever, is seen on display in a store in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., March 24, 2022. Eliminating less popular products is part of a "decomplexity program" underway at Kraft Heinz, its executives said at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York Conference this week. Nestle said cutting products saved 1 billion Swiss francs last year ($1.06 billion), while Unilever said the practice saved $2 billion. At the consumer products conference they highlighted new offerings, many of them increasingly popular handheld foods that people can eat while scrolling on phones. "You'd be shocked by the loyalty and personal connections people have to food products," he said.

Lawrence Elbaum, co-head of law firm Vinson & Elkins' shareholder activism practice, said investors were looking for value-boosting strategies that do not require much funding in a difficult market. Deka Investment, which has around 367 billion euros ($392 billion) in assets under management and holds stakes in most major German corporations, has repeatedly called out German companies for structural weaknesses. Germany's blue-chip DAX 30 index (.GDAXI) put in the worst performance of any major European stock market in the past year, rising just 2%. Joe Kaeser, supervisory board chairman of Siemens Energy (ENR1n.DE), said the United States was much more advanced, and also more successful, in the field of shareholder activism. As CEO of conglomerate Siemens AG from 2013 until 2021, he engineered one of Germany's most successful corporate break-ups, separately listing Siemens Energy and Siemens Healthineers (SHLG.DE) and merging Siemens's wind unit with Spain's Gamesa.

Search resuls for: "slimming"

25 mentions found