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☆ Global shares rise, US shares mixed as Fed seen on target for rate hike
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Herbert Lash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., July 7, 2023. Headline data for May also was revised higher to show sales gaining 0.5% instead of 0.3% as previously reported. Deutsche Bank said it was lowering its forecast for China's economic growth this year, following similar moves on Monday by J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. Besides the Fed, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan also hold policy meetings next week. Expectations that the Fed and the ECB will diverge on rate hikes have caused the dollar to weaken recently.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, Dow Industrials, Thomas Hayes, Dow, Morgan Stanley, J.P, Morgan, Fiona Cincotta, DAX, Brent, Elizabeth Howcroft, Selina Li, Chizu Nomiyama, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Reserve, U.S . Commerce Department, Treasury, Dow, Nasdaq, Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc, Great, Great Hill Capital, Bank of America, Dow Jones, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Fed, European Central Bank, Bank of, ECB, Thomson Locations: New York City, U.S, Great Hill, New York, Europe, China, Germany, Bank of Japan, Hong Kong

☆ Adtech firm Aleph withdraws IPO filing
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 18 (Reuters) - Aleph Group Inc said on Tuesday it had filed to withdraw its IPO plans, citing "public interest and the protection of investors," more than a year after the digital advertising firm submitted paperwork to go public. Emerging markets-focused Aleph, which helps large digital platforms connect with advertisers and customers, counts Meta Platforms (META.O), Spotify Technology (SPOT.N) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O)-owned LinkedIn among its customers. Founded in 2005 as IMS Internet Media Services, Aleph was valued at $2 billion in 2021 after private equity firm CVC Capital Partners bought a stake worth $470 million. U.S. initial public offerings have seen a recent spurt after more than a year of lull as hefty interest rate hikes and worries of a recession dented investor appetite for new listings. Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru Editing by Vinay DwivediOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Mehnaz Yasmin, Vinay Dwivedi Organizations: Spotify Technology, Microsoft Corp, IMS Internet Media, Capital Partners, U.S, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

[1/2] Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed on displayed Activision Blizzard logo in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. Nonetheless, Microsoft, which makes the Xbox gaming console, has been seeking the contract extension to ensure that Activision is not wooed by another potential acquirer or has a change of heart, the source said. The terms of the extension under negotiation and whether it would come with more financially advantageous terms for Activision could not immediately be learned. Microsoft and Activision did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Microsoft and Activision are negotiating potential remedies with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) which they hope will appease its antitrust concerns.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Anirban Sen, Matthew Lewis, Stephen Coates Organizations: Microsoft, Activision, REUTERS, Microsoft Corp, Competition, Markets Authority, CMA, Sony Group, Sony, U.S . Federal, Thomson Locations: Britain, U.S, New York

Alphabet shares were outperforming the broader market, with the S&P 500 (.SPX) up 0.6%, boosted by data showing signs of cooling inflation. Clearly they've been able to reassure European regulators about those issues, which just paves the way for further advantage really," said Hewson. Alphabet shares, which have seen a huge boost from investor excitement around generative artificial intelligence since February, are up around 41% so far this year. Microsoft shares are up 42% so far in 2023. Also on Thursday, TD Cowen raised its price target for Alphabet shares to $140 from $130 citing expectations of better growth in its search business.

Persons: Bard, watchdogs, Danni Hewson, AJ Bell, they've, Hewson, Art Hogan, Riley, TD Cowen, Bansari Mayur, Sinéad Carew, Conor Humphries Organizations: Inc, European Union, Google, Microsoft Corp, Microsoft, Thomson Locations: Europe, Brazil, Bengaluru, New York

July 13 (Reuters) - A group of Republican U.S. state attorney generals on Thursday warned the country's largest companies that certain workforce diversity policies could be illegal in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision effectively striking down affirmative action in higher education. The attorney generals urged the companies to abandon race-based quotas or preferences in hiring, promotion and contracting and threatened legal action "sooner rather than later" if they do not. "Companies that engage in racial discrimination should and will face serious legal consequences," the attorney generals wrote. They were joined by the attorney generals of Indiana, South Carolina and Missouri, among others. But in Thursday's letter, the attorney generals said well-intentioned race discrimination is still illegal.

Persons: Kris Kobach, Jonathan Skrmetti, Harvard University's, Neil Gorsuch, George Floyd, Daniel Wiessner, Alexia Garamfalvi, Alistair Bell Organizations: Republican, U.S, Companies, Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Uber Technologies Corp, Harvard, University of North, Federal, Thomson Locations: Republican U.S, U.S ., Kansas, Tennessee, Indiana , South Carolina, Missouri, Albany , New York

☆ Microsoft, Activision weigh sale of some UK cloud-gaming rights - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 13 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O) are considering giving up some control of their cloud-gaming business in the UK to appease regulators so they can complete their $69 billion merger, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. The sale could involve the cloud-based market rights for games in the UK to a telecommunications, gaming or internet-based computing company, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. Britain's competition regulator said on Wednesday a restructured deal between the companies could satisfy its anti-competition concerns regarding the merger, subject to a new investigation. Microsoft and Activision did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. Reporting by Lavanya Ahire in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Lavanya, Sherry Jacob, Phillips Organizations: Microsoft Corp, Activision Blizzard, Bloomberg, Microsoft, Activision, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

WASHINGTON, July 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge ruled on Tuesday that Microsoft may go forward with its planned acquisition of videogame maker Activision Blizzard, turning aside antitrust enforcers' request for a preliminary injunction to temporarily stop the $69 billion deal. The FTC had originally asked the judge to stop the proposed deal, arguing it would give Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), maker of the Xbox gaming console, exclusive access to Activision (ATVI.O) games including the best-selling "Call of Duty." The deal would be the largest for Microsoft and the biggest in the history of the videogame business. The FTC's complaint had cited concerns about loss of competition in console gaming, as well as subscriptions and cloud gaming. And while much of the testimony in the recent trial focused on "Call of Duty," Activision produces other bestsellers like "World of Warcraft," "Diablo" and the mobile game "Candy Crush Saga."

Persons: Jacqueline Scott Corley, Douglas Farrar, we'll, Brad Smith, Bobby Kotick, Satya Nadella, Diane Bartz, Caitlin Webber Organizations: Microsoft, Activision, Britain's, Markets Authority, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Microsoft Corp, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo, Sony Group, Activision Blizzard, PlayStation, Thomson Locations: U.S, San Francisco

July 9 (Reuters) - Comedian Sarah Silverman and two authors have filed copyright infringement lawsuits against Meta Platforms (META.O) and OpenAI for allegedly using their content without permission to train artificial intelligence language models. The proposed class action lawsuits filed by Silverman, Richard Kadrey and Christopher Golden in San Francisco federal court Friday allege Facebook parent company Meta and ChatGPT maker OpenAI used copyrighted material to train chat bots. Meta and OpenAI, a private company backed by Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday. Silverman, Kadrey and Golden allege Meta and OpenAI used their books without authorization to develop their so-called large language models, which their makers pitch as powerful tools for automating tasks by replicating human conversation. The lawsuit against OpenAI alleges that summaries of the plaintiffs’ work generated by ChatGPT indicate the bot was trained on their copyrighted content.

Persons: Sarah Silverman, Silverman, Richard Kadrey, Christopher Golden, OpenAI, Kadrey, Jack Queen, Lincoln Organizations: Meta, Facebook, Microsoft Corp, Thomson Locations: San Francisco federal

☆ Apple makes history as first $3 trillion company amid tech stock surge
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The iPhone maker's advance was among the most eye catching in a month marked by investor interest in the potential of artificial intelligence, with share buyers also particularly favouring companies with strong balance sheets and cash flows. In a similar vein, electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) witnessed a 28% jump in its market capitalization in June. The company's shares have soared following a revenue forecast that was more than 50% above the Wall Street estimate in May. Apple and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) led the list of top 20 global companies by market capitalization at the end of June. By contrast, Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) market cap dropped 2.3% last month to $1.53 trillion, on rising competitive pressures from Microsoft's Bing which has grown in prominence after the integration of the artificial intelligence behind ChatGPT.

Persons: Bing, Patturaja Murugaboopathy, Gaurav Dogra, David Holmes Organizations: Apple Inc, Federal Reserve, Tesla Inc, Reuters Graphics, Ford Motor, General Motors Co, Nvidia Corp, Apple, Microsoft Corp, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

June 30 (Reuters) - Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) stock market value ended a trading session above $3 trillion for the first time on Friday, lifted by signs of improving inflation and bets that the iPhone maker will successfully expand into new markets. Shares of the world's most valuable company jumped 2.3% to $193.97, giving it a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion, Refinitiv data showed. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsThe Cupertino, California company's market capitalization briefly peaked above $3 trillion in intraday trading on Jan. 3, 2022 before closing the session just below that mark. Apple's $3 trillion milestone follows the June 5 launch of a pricey augmented-reality headset, its riskiest bet since the introduction of the iPhone more than a decade ago. Four other U.S. companies have valuations of more than $1 trillion - Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Nvidia and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), which follows Apple with a market value of $2.5 trillion.

Persons: Hogan, Riley, Tiyashi Datta, Noel Randewich, Anil D'Silva, Richard Chang Organizations: Apple, Reuters Graphics Reuters, Nvidia Corp, Tesla Inc, Commerce Department, Amazon.com Inc, Nvidia, Microsoft Corp, Tesla, Inc, Thomson Locations: Cupertino , California, Apple's, Bengaluru, Oakland, Calif

☆ Apple's market value breaches $3 trillion mark again
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Tiyashi Datta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Shares of Apple, which is also the world's most valuable- listed company, were up 1.6% at $192.6, after touching a record high of $193.15 during the day. They have jumped nearly 46% this year and, at the current price, the company's market value stands at around $3.02 trillion. Apple's market value briefly peaked at above $3 trillion in intra-day trading on Jan. 3, 2022, before closing the session just below that mark. Apple's 12-month forward price-to-earnings multiple (P/E), a common benchmark for valuing stocks, is 29.49, well above the sector median of 13.14, according to Refinitiv data. Currently, four other U.S. companies have a valuation of more than $1 trillion - Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), which is a close second with a market value of $2.49 trillion.

Persons: Atif Malik, Microsoft's, Tiyashi Datta, Anil D'Silva Organizations: Apple, Citigroup, Federal, Amazon.com Inc, Nvidia Corp, Microsoft Corp, Tesla, Nvidia, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

☆ Humane, a startup founded by ex-Apple execs, will use Qualcomm chips
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 30 (Reuters) - Humane, the startup founded by ex-Apple Inc (AAPL.O) executives that raised $100 million earlier this year, said on Friday that it will use Qualcomm Inc's (QCOM.O) chips in its forthcoming wearable device. Humane has not given a release date or many other details for a gadget that it said on Friday will be called "Ai Pin." Because the Ai Pin does not have a traditional screen or keyboard, it relies heavily on artificial intelligence to interact with users in natural spoken language. Humane is partnering with OpenAI for AI technology and cloud computing services, respectively. Humane and Qualcomm did not give further details on which Qualcomm chips the Ai Pin will use, but Dev Singh, vice president of business development at Qualcomm, said the offerings would come from Qualcomm's Snapdragon family of chips, which can power devices from smartphones to mixed-reality headsets, depending on the configuration.

Persons: Imran Chaudhri, Sam Altman, OpenAI, Dev Singh, Stephen Nellis, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: Apple Inc, Qualcomm, Apple's Vision, Microsoft Corp, Humane, Thomson

That would leave Nintendo (7974.T) and Sony Group (6758.T) out in the cold, the FTC has said. Asked if Microsoft would have any incentive to shut out Sony's PlayStation in order to sell more Microsoft Xbox consoles, Nadella responded: "It makes no economic sense and no strategic sense." To address the FTC concerns, Microsoft has agreed to license "Call of Duty" to rivals. The FTC has asked Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in San Francisco to temporarily stop the deal from closing in order to allow the agency's in-house judge to decide the case. Resolving the U.S. lawsuit is one of several key antitrust battles Microsoft and Activision have fought around the world.

Persons: Microsoft Corporation Satya Nadella, Read, Satya Nadella, Nadella, Jacqueline Scott Corley, Biden, Bobby Kotick, Diane Bartz, Lincoln Organizations: Microsoft Corporation, . Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, Federal Trade Commission, Activision, Nintendo, Sony Group, FTC, PlayStation, European Union, Thomson Locations: California, Downtown San Francisco , California, U.S, WASHINGTON, San Francisco

Massachusetts-based writers Paul Tremblay and Mona Awad said ChatGPT mined data copied from thousands of books without permission, infringing the authors' copyrights. Several legal challenges have been filed over material used to train cutting-edge AI systems. ChatGPT and other generative AI systems create content using large amounts of data scraped from the internet. Tremblay and Awad's lawsuit said books are a "key ingredient" because they offer the "best examples of high-quality longform writing." The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of money damages on behalf of a nationwide class of copyright owners whose works OpenAI allegedly misused.

Persons: OpenAI, Paul Tremblay, Mona Awad, Matthew Butterick, Microsoft's, ChatGPT, Tremblay, Awad, Blake Brittain, David Bario, Richard Chang Organizations: OpenAI, Microsoft Corp, Stability, Thomson Locations: San Francisco federal, . Massachusetts, Washington

The deal had been announced in January 2022 and the FTC sued to stop it in December last year. Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in San Francisco pressed FTC lawyers on where their economist got the data to show the deal would harm consumers. The FTC has said that if Microsoft bought Activision, Microsoft would have the incentive and the ability to harm competition in markets related to consoles, subscription game services and cloud gaming. "The harm here is we think is substantial in locking up Activision content," said FTC lawyer James Weingarten. To address the FTC concerns, Microsoft has agreed to license "Call of Duty" to rivals.

Persons: Microsoft Corporation Satya Nadella, Read, Microsoft's, Jacqueline Scott Corley, James Weingarten, Corley, Microsoft's Beth Wilkinson, it's, Satya Nadella, Nadella, Biden, Diane Bartz, Lincoln Organizations: Microsoft Corporation, . Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, U.S . Federal Trade, Activision, Federal Trade Commission, Nintendo, Sony Group, FTC, PlayStation, Thomson Locations: California, Downtown San Francisco , California, U.S, WASHINGTON, San Francisco, British, Canada

☆ Oracle spending 'billions' on Nvidia chips this year, Ellison says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Mike Blake/File PhotoMENLO PARK, California, June 28 (Reuters) - Oracle Corp (ORCL.N) is spending "billions" of dollars on chips from Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) as it expands a cloud computing service targeting a new wave of artificial intelligence (AI) companies, Oracle founder and Chairman Larry Ellison said on Wednesday. Oracle is also spending "billions" of dollars on Nvidia chips but even more on central processor units (CPUs) from Ampere Computing, a chip startup it has invested in, and Advanced Micro Device Inc (AMD.O), Ellison said at an Ampere event. "This year, Oracle will buy GPUs and CPUs from three companies," Ellison said. "We will buy GPUs from Nvidia, and we're buying billions of dollars of those. Other companies such as CoreWeave, which earlier this year raised a fresh $200 million of funding, are also targeting AI companies with cloud hardware that relies heavily on Nvidia chips.

Persons: Mike Blake, Larry Ellison, Ellison, Oracle, Stephen Nellis, Richard Chang Organizations: REUTERS, MENLO, Oracle Corp, Nvidia Corp, Oracle, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Corp, Ampere Computing, Device, Nvidia, Ampere, AMD, Google, Thomson Locations: Los Angeles , California, U.S, , California, Menlo Park , California

☆ Oracle adds generative AI to its human resources software
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 28 (Reuters) - Oracle Corp (ORCL.N) on Wednesday said it is adding generative artificial intelligence features to its human resources software for businesses, aiming to help draft job descriptions and employee performance goals, among other tasks. Many business users have approached generative AI technology more cautiously because it can make up untrue facts and be tricked into saying unsettling things. Oracle's human resources software is used by big businesses for hiring new employees and providing performance evaluations, among other things. "We don't expect generative AI is going to write your goals for you. If we can change that to hours and minutes, that's where we're really seeing the difference with the possibilities of generative AI," Waterman said.

Persons: Rich Buchheim, Buchheim, Guy Waterman, Waterman, Stephen Nellis, Lincoln Organizations: Oracle Corp, Microsoft Corp, Oracle, Oracle Adaptive Intelligence, Thomson Locations: San Francisco

The Federal Trade Commission has asked a judge to stop the proposed acquisition because, it argues, it would give Microsoft, maker of the Xbox console, exclusive access to Activision games, which include the highly popular "Call of Duty." Asked if Microsoft would have any incentive to refuse to allow the games on Sony's PlayStation in order to sell more of its Xbox consoles, Nadella responded, "It makes no economic sense and no strategic sense." To address the FTC concerns, Microsoft has agreed to license the blockbuster "Call of Duty" to rivals. It has also argued that it is better off financially by licensing the games to all comers. Kotick argued there was no incentive for Microsoft, if it closes the deal for Activision, to restrict who offers the company's games.

Persons: Microsoft Corporation Satya Nadella, Satya Nadella, Nadella, Jacqueline Scott Corley, Biden, Bobby Kotick, Kotick, Diane Bartz, Greg Bensinger, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Microsoft Corporation, . Federal Trade Commission, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, FRANCISCO, Activision, Federal Trade Commission, Nintendo, Sony Group, FTC, PlayStation, Britain's, Markets Authority, Thomson Locations: California, Downtown San Francisco , California, U.S, WASHINGTON, San Francisco, United States, Washington

June 27 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes rebounded on Tuesday from a recent losing streak as upbeat economic data soothed investor worries about an imminent recession triggered by the Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes. While the economic data was encouraging, Rhys Williams, chief strategist at Spouting Rock Asset Management, said the market also rose on seasonal factors. "You'd a bad week in the stock market last week and a bad day on Monday. According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 49.25 points, or 1.14%, to end at 4,378.07 points, while the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) gained 219.71 points, or 1.65%, to 13,555.49. Signs of U.S. economic resilience also boosted the Dow Transports index (.DJT) and small-cap Russell 2000 index (.RUT).

Persons: Rhys Williams, It's, Williams, Russell, Jerome Powell's, hawkish, Dow, Sinéad Carew, Sruthi Shankar, Johann M, Terence Gabriel, Shinjini Ganguli, Richard Chang Organizations: Federal, Management, Dow, Nasdaq, Dow Jones, Dow Transports, Traders, bps, European Central Bank, Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Tesla Inc, Nvidia Corp, Inc, Citigroup, Nvidia, Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS Health Corp, Rite Aid Corp, Lordstown Motors Corp, U.S, Thomson Locations: Sintra , Portugal, U.S, New York, Bengaluru

☆ OpenAI-powered app from Microsoft is coming to Epic Systems to help save doctors time
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft's speech recognition subsidiary Nuance Communications on Tuesday announced its AI-powered clinical notes application is coming to Epic Systems to help reduce physicians' administrative workloads. Epic is a health care software company that helps hospitals and other health systems store, share and access electronic health records. More than 500,000 physicians and 306 million patients across the globe use Epic's offerings, and the company has long-standing partnerships with both Microsoft and Nuance. Nuance told CNBC Tuesday that integrating its latest solution, Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) Express, into Epic is a "major step" toward that goal. "The last thing they want to do is pajama time," Peter Durlach, chief strategy officer at Nuance told CNBC in an interview Tuesday.

Persons: DAX, Garrett Adams, Peter Durlach, Adams, Durlach Organizations: Microsoft Corp, Tuesday, Epic Systems, Microsoft, CNBC, American Medical Association, DAX Express Locations: Lisbon, Portugal, U.S, HIPAA

Apple and Broadcom have argued that they should have been allowed to raise the patent challenges during the trial. A jury found that the companies infringed Caltech's patents, ordering Apple to pay $837.8 million and Broadcom to pay $270.2 million. The Federal Circuit took issue with the amount of the award, and sent the case back for a new trial on damages. Apple and Broadcom told the Supreme Court that the Federal Circuit misread the law, which they said only blocks arguments that could have been raised during the review itself. President Joe Biden's administration urged the justices in May to reject the case and argued that the Federal Circuit had interpreted the law correctly.

Persons: Joe Biden's, Blake Brittain, Andrew Chung Organizations: U.S, Supreme, Apple Inc, Broadcom Inc, Caltech, Apple, Broadcom, California Institute of, Appeals, Federal Circuit, U.S . Patent, Federal, Microsoft Corp, Samsung Electronics Co, Dell Technologies Inc, HP Inc, Thomson Locations: Pasadena , California, Cupertino, San Jose, Los Angeles, Washington, New York

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoJune 26 (Reuters) - Databricks said on Monday it had agreed to acquire artificial intelligence (AI) startup MosaicML in a mostly stock deal valued at $1.3 billion, marking Databricks' latest efforts to build an ecosystem for enterprises to use open-source AI models. San Francisco-based MosaicML provides software tools designed to make it cheaper to carry out AI work, which often involves training AI algorithms on huge troves of data using expensive computer chips. Databricks said the deal would combine its AI technology with MosaicML's language-model platform, allowing businesses a "simple, fast way to retain control, security, and ownership over their valuable data without high costs". Databricks, which sells software tools for building AI systems, has been an advocate for open-source models, which it argues could rival the models players like OpenAI and Google are offering. Both Databricks and MosaicML have released open-source foundation models, which is the category of core technology behind services like OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Databricks, MosaicML, Tiyashi Datta, Krystal Hu, Pooja Desai, Mark Potter Organizations: REUTERS, Google, Microsoft Corp, Lux Capital, Thomson Locations: San Francisco, Bengaluru, Toronto

☆ Microsoft CEO Nadella said last year goal is to reach $500 billion in sales by 2030, court filing shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told fellow executives and board members last year that the software company aims to reach $500 billion in revenue by the 2030 fiscal year, more than doubling from its current size. Nadella described a goal of "20/20," involving 20% year-over-year revenue growth and 20% operating income expansion for the 2022 fiscal year and subsequent years. For 2022, Microsoft wound up reaching 18% top-line growth to $198.27 billion in revenue, and 19% operating income growth. In the memo, Nadella used the phrase Microsoft Plus to describe products aimed at consumers. "Our priority is to maintain growth above the market rate to extend our lead over GCP and close the gap with AWS," Nadella wrote in the accompanying document.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Nadella, Kevin Simpson Organizations: Microsoft Corp, White, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, Amazon Web Services, Google, LinkedIn, Federal Trade Commission, Activision, Apple Locations: Washington , DC

☆ Forecasts show U.S. earnings decline in second quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Caroline Valetkevitch | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Analysts expect earnings for S&P 500 companies to fall 5.6% in the second quarter from a year ago, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Fourth-quarter 2022 earnings for S&P 500 companies declined 3.2%, so a first-quarter profit fall would have been a second straight quarterly decline, which some strategists call an earnings recession. Package delivery firm FedEx (FDX.N) this week posted disappointing quarterly earnings and said waning global demand is pressuring its profit margins. "S&P 500 EPS estimates and stock prices will need to reset lower." The S&P 500 (.SPX) is down about 1% this week, but remains up more than 13% for the year to date.

Persons: COVID, Jerome Powell, Oliver Pursche, Olive, Morgan Stanley, Nick Raich, Caroline Valetkevitch, Alden Bentley, Nick Zieminski Organizations: YORK, Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc, Reserve, Bank of England, Wealthspire Advisors, Walmart Inc, FedEx, Olive Garden, Darden, Nike, Thomson Locations: Refinitiv, Washington, U.S, Westport , Connecticut

☆ FTC to argue Microsoft's deal to buy Activision should be paused
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, June 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Thursday will argue in federal court for a preliminary injunction to temporarily block Microsoft's acquisition of videogame maker Activision Blizzard, stopping the deal from closing before the government's case against the deal is heard. But if the court pauses the deal, Microsoft and Activision will have to agree to extend it past a July 18 termination date built into their original agreement. The FTC fears that without action by the federal court, the combined firm "could alter Activision's operations and business plans" and could allow Microsoft to access sensitive business information. Resolving the U.S. lawsuit is one of several key antitrust battles Microsoft and Activision have fought around the world to get the deal finalized. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Activision CEO Bobby Kotick are among the witnesses planned for a five-day evidentiary hearing.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Bobby Kotick, Chris Sanders, Leslie Adler Organizations: U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Activision, Microsoft, Microsoft Corp, Activision Blizzard Inc, FTC, EU, Nintendo, Sony Group, Sony, Thomson Locations: San Francisco

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