DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

Banks still have to mark the loan to its market value on their books and set aside funds for losses that are reported in quarterly results. The deliberations of how some of these banks are thinking about accounting for these losses have not been previously reported. Three banking industry sources said the remaining $3 billion, which is unsecured, could lead to steeper losses for the seven Twitter banks. Some market participants expect the losses from the debt to be significant unless market conditions improve. Some $35 billion to $40 billion of such loans are stuck on banks' books, according to two fixed income bankers.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves in the premarket: Oracle, Boeing, Moderna and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Peter Schacknow | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Boeing (BA) – Boeing rose 2.2% in premarket action after United Airlines (UAL) announced a 200-jet order that includes 100 787 Dreamliners and 100 737 Max jets, with options for further purchases. Moderna (MRNA) – The drugmaker announced that its experimental melanoma vaccine combined with Merck (MRK) cancer treatment Keytruda cut the risk of skin cancer recurrence by 44% compared with a treatment of only Keytruda. First Solar (FSLR) – First Solar rose 1.1% in premarket trading following news that it will replace Fortune Brands Home & Security (FBHS) in the S&P 500. Mirati Therapeutics (MRTX) – Mirati Therapeutics surged 8.6% in premarket trading after the drugmaker's new lung cancer treatment adagrasib received Food and Drug Administration approval. Fiverr (FVR) – Fiverr added 1.1% in premarket trading after Citi initiated coverage of the stock with a "buy" rating.

☆ See the pitch deck that startup Assembly used to convince investors to bet $10 million on its approach to business software
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Assembly is a software app aimed at helping businesses manage their teams and projects. Here's the pitch deck it used to fundraise at an interesting time for the business apps category. Instead of splurging on a dozen business apps, they want "one single Swiss Army knife," said Hunter Walk, an Assembly investor. "One of the things we're trying to do is help you speed up your work," Purvis said, "and make it more delightful." Read the pitch deck Assembly used to woo clients and to land a preemptive funding offer in 2022:

☆ Inside the private-debt boom: Wall Street's hottest asset faces a tremendous test in a dimming economy
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Defaults on private loans, which have fallen steadily since the pandemic's height in 2020, are ticking up. Private credit, or private debt, are catch-all terms to describe privately negotiated loans outside the public debt markets. Private credit firms engage in what's known as direct lending, making these private loans to companies who turn to them instead of a traditional bank. Analysts and asset management executives say private debt has held up well in 2022 in the face of brutal stock and bond market volatility. 'Fighting for allocation'A challenge for private debt funds in the past decade has been a dearth of companies they can lend to.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Designer Brands, Lands' End, Salesforce and more
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Peter Schacknow | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Dollar General (DG) – Dollar General slumped 6.1% in premarket trading after the discount retailer cut its annual forecast due to higher costs. Lands' End (LE) – The apparel retailer reported an unexpected quarterly loss. Salesforce (CRM) – Salesforce fell 7.4% in the premarket after the business software company announced that co-CEO Bret Taylor would be stepping down January 31, leaving Chairman Marc Benioff as the sole CEO. Five Below (FIVE) – Five Below rallied 9.3% in premarket trading in the wake of better than expected quarterly results. Splunk (SPLK) – Splunk staged an 8.1% premarket rally after the data management software company reported upbeat quarterly results and boosted its full-year forecast.

☆ Salesforce says Bret Taylor to step down as co-CEO
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 30 (Reuters) - Salesforce Inc (CRM.N) said on Wednesday that Bret Taylor would step down as co-chief executive officer in January and that co-founder Marc Benioff will become the CEO. "After a lot of reflection, I've decided to return to my entrepreneurial roots," said Taylor, who has previously served as chief operating officer and chief product officer of Salesforce. The San Francisco-based company expects annual adjusted profit per share between $4.92 and $4.94, compared with $4.71 to $4.73 forecast earlier. Revenue for the quarter ended Oct. 31 was $7.84 billion, compared with analysts' average expectation of $7.82 billion, according to Refinitiv IBES data. On an adjusted basis, the company earned $1.40 per share during the third quarter, compared with estimates of $1.21.

☆ Another tech bubble bursts: 2022 has been brutal for Silicon Valley workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +28 min

Gem: 100A maker of recruiting software, the startup cut a third of its workforce Nov. 1, The Information reported. HealthCare.com: 149The health insurance marketplace announced the job cuts Aug. 3, Miami Inno reported, citing state regulatory filings. Fabric: 120The robotics startup said July 13 that it was layoffing off 40% of them, TechCrunch reported, citing company confirmation. It affected about 300 people, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported, citing company confirmation. Policygenius: 170The online insurance company cut about 25% of its staff, Axios reported June 6, citing company confirmation.

☆ CIOs Can Play Key Role in Guiding Companies Through Slowdown
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Steven Rosenbush | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

The market for cloud computing, business software, artificial intelligence and other so-called enterprise technologies has been a relative bright spot. “During times of economic uncertainty, companies look for ways where technology can drive growth and create more economic value faster,” said Juan Perez, chief information officer at Salesforce Inc. When budgets are under scrutiny, companies tend to focus on short-term solutions that can drive efficiency and productivity, Salesforce’s Mr. Perez said. Companies should take this opportunity to reconsider the pace of hiring and employ freelance workers where it makes sense. Additionally, CIOs say they are looking at the opportunity to hire valuable workers who lost their jobs at other companies or renew technology contracts on more favorable terms.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Activision Blizzard, Tesla, Manchester United and others
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Peter Schacknow | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Tesla (TSLA) – Tesla said its Full Self Driving Beta software is now available to everyone in North America. Tesla rose 2% in premarket trading. Manchester United Shares jumped 14.7% Tuesday and rocketed 25.8% on Wednesday. Nonetheless, the stock rose 1% in the premarket. Deutsche Bank (DB) – The German bank's U.S.-traded shares added 2.4% in the premarket, following a report by RBC Capital that said Deutsche Bank's restructuring progress has been overlooked by investors.

☆ A day in the life of a 20-year-old Gen Z venture capitalist in London's bustling startup scene
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

But he said older VCs he's interacted with mostly tend to disagree and stick to emails when interacting with founders. Nathwani strayed into venture capital after finishing his A-Levels, as it looked like a good way to marry his interests in social impact and investing. He spoke with a few investors and a founder as part of his job as a summer associate at Social Impact Capital. He spent most of the morning working on an impact report for Social Impact Capital. 2:30 p.m.Nathwani used some time after lunch to do more work for Social Impact Capital and wade through his 30,000 unread emails.

☆ Layoffs Aren’t a Good Look for Big Tech’s Growth Story
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Laura Forman | Justin Lahart | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The long list of Big Tech companies laying people off surely says something about the current state of the economy, but it might tell us more about the sector’s prospects: Investors probably need to look elsewhere for growth. Business software company Salesforce also started dismissing some employees this week. Marking one of his first moves since taking the company over, Elon Musk axed about half of Twitter’s workforce last week, while ride-hailing company Lyft , payments company Stripe and iBuyer Opendoor Technologies also just announced major reductions. Those followed a dizzying list of earlier announcements from Netflix, Shopify, Tesla, Snap, Compass, Peloton, Twilio and more. Meanwhile, Amazon.com has said it would freeze corporate hiring for months, and Alphabet ’s Google has asked some employees to apply for new jobs to remain at the company.

☆ Salesforce cut hundreds of employees on Monday
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Salesforce on Tuesday confirmed that it cut some employees this week after the enterprise software maker saw demand lighten in some countries and industries. One person familiar with the matter said Salesforce let go of fewer than 1,000 people on Monday. Unfortunately, that can lead to some leaving the business, and we support them through their transition," a Salesforce spokesperson told CNBC in a statement. Several technology companies, Salesforce included, have announced plans to add employees at a slower rate than before this year to weather rougher business conditions as prices and interest rates move higher. One of Salesforce's top competitors in business software, Microsoft , announced a round of job cuts in October.

☆ After leading $20 billion Figma deal, Adobe's David Wadhwani is in prime spot to be next CEO
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +15 min

The business Wadhwani oversees is roughly three times the size as Chakravarthy's in terms of revenue. For Wadhwani, Figma represents a risky bet on growth at a time when Wall Street is telling tech companies to tighten their belts and preserve cash. The make-or-break betIn his 15-year tenure as CEO, Narayen hasn't been shy about dealmaking, just at a smaller size. And it might be Wadhwani's make-or-break opportunity to prove he should be CEO of the fourth-biggest U.S. business software company by market cap. Shantanu Narayen, CEO, Adobe Mark Neuling | CNBCThe revenue became more predictable and less closely associated with product releases.

☆ Regulator Warns Hong Kong Companies About Auditor Resignations
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Jennifer Williams-Alvarez | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Hong Kong’s accounting regulator is sounding the alarm over a surge in auditor resignations a month before or after a company’s reporting period ends. So-called “late auditor resignations,” which increased to 107 during the nine months ended Aug. 31 from 71 in the same period a year earlier, can jeopardize audit quality, the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council said Thursday. Audit firm resignations, and changes in general, are rare in the U.S., where companies are not required to switch firms after a certain number of years. In March, Enterprise Development announced annual results for the period that ended in December audited by Hong Kong accounting firm BOFA CPA Ltd. “We are concerned that audit quality may be compromised by late auditor resignations because the incoming auditor will have limited time to plan and conduct a proper audit in order to meet the listed entity’s deadline to announce their audited results,” she added.

☆ Amazon reporter Eugene Kim shares how he gets inside one of the most powerful — and feared — companies in the world
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Sarah Belle Lin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

This week, Sarah Belle Lin, an Insider fellow, interviews Eugene Kim, our Amazon reporter and chief tech correspondent, about covering the US's largest online retailer. You're an Amazon reporter whose expertise lies in Amazon, Jeff Bezos, Andy Jassy, e-commerce, and cloud computing. I started out as an enterprise-tech reporter in 2014 covering business software like Salesforce, Oracle, and Dropbox. We didn't have a full-time reporter covering Amazon at the time because it wasn't as big. Both of those things have been integral to Amazon's corporate culture for a very long time, so it's fair to say they are key parts to the company's success.

☆ European stocks rise as earnings offset economic gloom
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Sruthi Shankar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SummarySummary Companies SAP earnings boost tech sharesUBS gains on profit beatECB set to raise rates this weekOct 25 (Reuters) - European stocks rose on Tuesday after a slew of better-than-expected earnings reports helped offset worries about fast rising interest rates and a slowing euro zone economy. The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) rose 0.3%, with financial services (.SXFP) and technology (.SX8P) stocks countering losses in chemical firms (.SX4P). Boosting financial stocks, UBS (UBSG.S) climbed 5.6% after the Swiss bank beat market expectations for quarterly profit due to a rise in new money inflows. While European corporate earnings are expected to grow 28.4% in the third quarter, it is seen up 18.2% in the fourth quarter and just 3.1% in the first quarter of 2023. read moreGerman sportswear maker Adidas (ADSGn.DE) dropped 3.1% after Morgan Stanley downgraded its stock to "underweight" from "equal weight".

☆ Software maker SAP's Q3 results beat expectations
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Business software maker SAP (SAPG.DE) reported faster than expected revenue growth for the third quarter, though its profit declined due to lower contribution from software licenses revenue as well as investments in growth. Total revenue grew by 5% in currency-adjusted terms to 7.84 billion euros, SAP said on Tuesday, beating analyst consensus for a jump to 7.62 billion. Non-IFRS operating profit came to 2.09 billion euros ($2.07 billion) in the three months through September, an 8% drop at constant currencies. Earnings per share of 1.12 euros fell short of consensus for 1.25 euros. SAP stuck with a forecast for full-year operating profit to come to 7.6 billion to 7.9 billion euros, which it had cut from 7.8 billion-8.25 billion in July.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Xerox, Logitech, Upstart, Hibbett, Planet Fitness & more
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Xerox — Shares plunged 15% after the seller of print and digital document products and services reported disappointing earnings and cut its full-year revenue guidance. Brown & Brown — Shares of the insurance company dropped 11% after Brown & Brown missed earnings expectations. Brown & Brown posted earnings of 50 cents per share on revenue of $927.6 million. PulteGroup — The home construction company jumped 5.9% despite disappointing earnings expectations. General Motors — Shares of General Motors rose 3.6% after the automaker handily beat third-quarter earnings expectations.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Coca-Cola, General Motors, JetBlue and others
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Peter Schacknow | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

General Motors (GM) – GM shares rallied 4.4% in premarket trading after the automaker reported a better-than-expected third-quarter profit, helped by rebounding sales. JetBlue (JBLU) – JetBlue reported a quarterly profit as elevated travel demand helped to make up for rising costs. UBS (UBS) – UBS jumped 5.1% in the premarket after the Swiss bank posted better-than-expected quarterly results, helped by a jump in customer cash inflows to its wealth management business. SAP (SAP) – SAP rose 3% in premarket action after the German business software company reported upbeat quarterly results, helped by strong growth in its cloud business. Qualtrics (XM) – Qualtrics surged 9.6% in the premarket after the maker of customer feedback software reported better-than-expected quarterly results and lifted its full-year forecast.

Elon Musk photo, Twitter logos and U.S. dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration, August 10, 2022. The banks, which include Morgan Stanley and Barclays Plc (BARC.L), did not respond to requests for comment. Representatives for Musk and Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment. He has not revealed details on Twitter's new leadership and business plan, and many debt investors are holding back until they get more details on that front, the sources said. The debt package for the Twitter deal is comprised of junk-rated loans, which are risky because of the amount of debt the company is taking on, as well as secured and unsecured bonds.

☆ The female venture capitalist creating billions in a new world of work beyond the office
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Rebecca Fannin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Worklife Ventures holds weekly meetings for its portfolio company founders to seek advice from successful Silicon Valley operators. You have to have an eye out for people and for new tools," Kimmel said. Worklife Ventures is betting on good returns from its 50 investments in startups, and with nine of them as unicorns, the stakes are high. With venture funds typically having a 10-year life cycle before investment returns are tallied, Worklife Ventures still has a ways to go. Join us October 25 - 26, 2022 for the CNBC Work Summit — Dislocation, Negotiation, and Determination: The World of Work Right Now.

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Citigroup took a $110 million writedown on leveraged loans in the third quarter, the company said on Friday as its Wall Street competitors downplayed their exposure to the sector. Banks have since pulled back from leveraged financing in the wake of losses taken on Citrix and other deals, as investors lost their appetite for riskier, floating-rate leveraged loans amid rapid interest rate hikes and fears of recession. “There are no real levels of loan write-down this quarter, and that market isn’t yet to clear,” Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s chief executive officer, told analysts on a conference call. So we’re very comfortable.”Morgan Stanley also scaled back its leveraged exposure in the third quarter. “They actually were quite modest marks, given the environment,” Sharon Yeshaya, Morgan Stanley’s chief financial officer, told analysts.

Typically, banks would sell the debt to investors and pocket an underwriting fee. Elon Musk vs TwitterThe debate, currently a topic of conversation among investment bankers and debt investors, provides a window into the havoc wreaked on Wall Street by Musk’s U-turn last week. Musk, however, conditioned his proposal on his ability to secure debt financing and now has until Oct. 28 to close on the transaction. VARIOUS OPTIONSThe debt financing package is comprised of leveraged loans, which are risky because of the amount of debt the company is taking on, as well as secured and unsecured bonds. In September, banks financing the Citrix buyout undertook a similar restructuring.

☆ The 16 most promising cloud-software startups of 2022, according to VCs
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Katie Malone | Julie Bort | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Insider asked top venture capitalists to name the most promising startups of 2022They named many software-as-a-service startups focused on B2B. It's been a rough fundraising year for many startups as VCs have radically slowed spending from 2021 levels. Finding promising, flourishing B2B software-as-a-service, or SaaS, cloud startups in 2022 is a bit more difficult than it has been in years past. Insider asked top investors to name the most promising startups they've seen this year, both in and out of their portfolios. Here are the 16 most promising SaaS startups of 2022, according to VCs, from least to most capital raised:

☆ Mark Cuban credits his first tech job to this interview strategy: I answered a trick question honestly
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Megan Sauer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Then, he landed his first job in tech as a PC software salesperson at a company called Your Business Software. But in an old blog post, which Cuban recently shared on Twitter, the billionaire revealed he almost didn't land the consequential role. The interviewers weren't impressed, Cuban wrote, until he answered one question: "What do you do if a customer has a question about a software package and you don't know the answer?" "Ding ding ding… [the interviewer] just loved the answer." Cuban didn't know it was a trick question, so he answered it honestly, stumbling into the correct answer.

Search resuls for: "Business Software"

25 mentions found