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☆ Exclusive: Cybersecurity firm Rapid7 explores sale -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Milana Vinn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Twitter Inc.'s former security chief Peiter "Mudge" Zatko testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., September 13, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File PhotoFeb 1 (Reuters) - Rapid7 Inc (RPD.O), the cybersecurity firm that hired Twitter Inc whistleblower Peiter Zatko last month, is exploring options that include a possible sale after attracting acquisition interest, according to people familiar with the matter. The Boston-based company is working with investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) as it considers approaches from parties that include private equity firms, the sources said. Rapid7 specializes in so-called vulnerability management, providing software tools and services that help businesses assess and monitor security risks. Rapid7 said last month it had hired Zatko, a former hacker who served as Twitter's head of security until his firing in January 2022, as a part-time consultant.

☆ ChatGPT sets record for fastest-growing user base - analyst note
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Krystal Hu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The report, citing data from analytics firm Similar Web, said about 13 million unique visitors used ChatGPT per day in January, more than double the levels in December. “In 20 years following the internet space, we cannot recall a faster ramp in a consumer internet app," UBS analysts wrote in the note. It took TikTok about nine months after its global launch to add 100 million users and it took Instagram 2-1/2 years, according to data from Sensor Tower. Analysts believe the viral launch of ChatGPT will give OpenAI a first-mover advantage against other AI companies. Last month, Microsoft announced another multi-billion investment in OpenAI in the form of cash and cloud credit.

☆ We are reassured by AMD CEO's confidence in the chipmaker's data-center business
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

In general, investors are relieved that AMD still expects data-center growth in 2023 despite mounting economic pressures. AMD's data-center outlook isn't perfect. For the first quarter, in particular, AMD expects data-center sales to be lower than the $1.7 billion it recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022. The unpleasant PC experience caused AMD's warning about data-center inventory hurdles to raise the Club's eyebrows. AMD expects that continue to again in 2023.

Feb 1 (Reuters) - QAD, a business software maker was taken private by buyout firm Thoma Bravo in 2021 for $2 billion, told Reuters on Wednesday it has agreed to acquire employee productivity platform Redzone for about $1 billion. Redzone, which was founded in 2013, offers enterprise software solutions primarily for the manufacturing industry. Founded in 1979, QAD provides cloud-based planning and resources solutions software to manufacturing companies. The deal will help QAD expand its footprint across different sectors within the manufacturing industry. Reporting Milana Vinn in San Francisco and Krystal Hu in New York Editing by Greg RoumeliotisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ ChatGPT owner launches 'imperfect' tool to detect AI-generated text
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Krystal Hu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The AI classifier, a language model trained on the dataset of pairs of human-written and AI-written text on the same topic, aims to distinguish text that is written by AI. In its public beta mode, OpenAI acknowledges the detection tool is very unreliable on texts under 1,000 characters, and AI-written text can be edited to trick the classifier. “We recognize that identifying AI-written text has been an important point of discussion among educators, and equally important is recognizing the limits and impacts of AI generated text classifiers in the classroom." Others have created third-party detection tools including GPTZeroX to help educators detect AI-generated text. OpenAI said it is engaging with educators to discuss ChatGPT's capabilities and limitations, and will continue to work on the detection of AI-generated text.

☆ Wall Street is worried about chipmakers, one in particular, following the Intel disaster
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Carmen Reinicke | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Wall Street analysts are starting to worry about chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices following Intel's terrible earnings results . Morgan Stanley named AMD its top pick in December knowing that there would be some risk early in the year. Earnings expectations Even though Morgan Stanley expects a weak first-quarter guidance, it still has an overweight rating and $77 price target on AMD shares. Morgan Stanley models December revenue of $5.54 billion, down 0.4% on the quarter and up 14.8% on the year. "We continue to see a long runway of potential data center gains, including potential to get traction in data center GPU over time."

[1/2] A smartphone with the Stripe logo is placed on a laptop in this illustration taken on July 14, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoJan 26 (Reuters) - Digital payments firm Stripe has hired Wall Street banks Goldman Sachs (GS.N) and JP Morgan (JPM.N) to explore a public listing and alternatives to allow employees to cash out stakes in the private company, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Either possibility would address the problem that some employee share options are coming up for expiry but Stripe shares are not currently listed. Many companies backed by venture capital that would normally be regarded as mature enough for public listing have postponed such plans, hoping for higher valuations when the market recovers. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier on Thursday that Stripe had approached investors to raise at least $2 billion at a valuation of $55 billion to $60 billion.

☆ COVID curbs over, China's tourists hit Thai beaches for first time in 3 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Kwang Jirapornkuhakan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Colorful umbrellas are seen in a restaurant as tourists enjoy a beach in the island of Phuket in Thailand January 19, 2023. Previously, when I was here, I ate mango sticky rice, which was delicious. Back in China I kept thinking about the mango sticky rice here. The Chinese return was welcomed by businesses, despite some wariness about a huge spike in COVID infections in China after Beijing ended its zero-COVID policy. The Thai government is expecting at least five million Chinese tourist arrivals this year, with some 300,000 coming in the first quarter.

☆ Sequoia Capital cuts fees for new funds amid VC slowdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Krystal Hu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 13 (Reuters) - Sequoia Capital has lowered management fees in its two recently-launched venture funds as it braces for a slower investment environment, partner Alfred Lin said on Thursday. Sequoia launched a $950 million ecosystem fund to back scouts and funds formed by Sequoia alums, and a $600 million crypto fund to invest in crypto companies and tokens. So far, 10% of the crypto fund has been deployed, Lin said. The move marks an unusual concession by the world’s top venture investor after U.S. venture capital deals fell from their 2021 peak by 31%. Lin said the firm remained committed to crypto investment.

☆ China growth seen rebounding to 4.9% in 2023, more stimulus on the cards: Reuters poll
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Kevin Yao | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"We expect economic activities and consumption to rebound strongly from March-April onwards, helped by post-COVID re-opening and release of excess savings," Tao Wang, chief China economist at UBS, said in a research note. Reuters GraphicsThe expected 2022 growth rate would be far below the official target of around of 5.5%. China is likely to aim for economic growth of at least 5% in 2023 to keep a lid on unemployment, policy sources said. "Economic policy would turn more supportive in 2023. Consumer inflation will likely quicken to 2.3% in 2023 from 2.0% in 2022, before steadying in 2024, the poll showed.

☆ AMD, Marvell Technology Name New CFOs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Kathryn Hardison | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Marvell Technology Inc. has appointed Willem Meintjes as its chief financial officer, succeeding Jean Hu as she takes on the CFO role for Advanced Micro Devices Inc.Mr. Meintjes will assume the position on Jan. 20, Marvell Technology said Wednesday. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CFO Journal The Morning Ledger provides daily news and insights on corporate finance from the CFO Journal team. PREVIEW Ms. Hu will become the CFO and executive vice president at Advanced Micro Devices on Jan. 23, according to a separate announcement. Mr. Meintjes has served as Marvell’s chief accounting officer and treasurer since 2018. He joined the company in 2016 as a senior vice president of finance.

☆ Hedge funds are aggressively buying Chinese stocks, betting on a deeper, but shorter Covid setback
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Since the start of November, hedge funds have been consistent net buyers of China equities for eight of the past 10 weeks, according to data from Morgan Stanley. After witnessing the massive rebound from the pandemic low in U.S. stocks, hedge funds are betting that the same scenario will play out in China as it tries to return to a pre-pandemic "normal" after ending most Zero Covid controls. Since November, 80% of hedge fund buying activity has come from hedge funds adding long positions in China, while 20% was from short covering, Morgan Stanley said. Investors getting in early on the trade are betting that China's economy will suffer a deeper — albeit shorter —setback. "Such a dramatic U-turn then implies deeper economic contraction in 4Q22 but also faster reopening and recovery in 2023."

☆ China's big cities are starting to look past Covid, while rural areas brace for infections
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Subway passenger traffic in Shanghai is quickly returning to levels seen before the latest Covid wave, according to Wind data. Subway and road data show traffic in major cities is rebounding, he pointed out, indicating the worst of the latest Covid wave has passed. "The dramatic U-turn in China's Covid policy since mid-Nov implies deeper short-term economic contraction but faster reopening and recovery," Hu said in a report Wednesday. In the last several days, the southern city of Guangzhou and the tourist destination of Sanya said they'd passed the peak of the Covid wave. watch nowChongqing was the most congested city in mainland China during Thursday morning's rush hour, according to Baidu traffic data.

☆ U.S. securities regulator probes FTX investors' due diligence -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Chris Prentice | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoNEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking details about FTX investors' due diligence, according to two sources familiar with the inquiry, as fallout from the crypto firm's collapse spreads. Reuters and others previously reported that U.S. authorities sent document requests to investors and potential investors in FTX, seeking details on their communications with FTX officials. Those inquiries predated last month's SEC charges against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried for allegedly defrauding such investors. The SEC's inquiries to investors have continued after SEC filed those charges, and the agency has now shifted its focus to the firms' diligence, the sources said. FTX filed for bankruptcy in November amid what its new CEO later described as a "complete failure of corporate controls".

Jan 4 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) is in advanced talks to invest in Gatik, a California-based autonomous driving startup, as part of its cloud partnership with the company, two people familiar with the discussions told Reuters. Microsoft plans to invest over $10 million in a financing round that values Gatik at more than $700 million, the sources added. As part of the deal, Gatik will use Microsoft's cloud and edge computing platform Azure in developing autonomous delivery technology for trucks. Like other big tech companies, Microsoft has recently been putting funds into self-driving technology. In November, Ford and Volkswagen shut down their self-driving technology unit, Argo AI, saying that creating self-driving "robotaxis" would be "harder than putting a man on the moon."

"As counterintuitive as it may sound, this layoff left me in a really good position," the 24-year-old said. U.S. tech giants including Meta, Microsoft (MSFT.O), Twitter and Snap (SNAP.N) have purged more than 150,000 staff, according to Layoff.fyi, which tracks technology job losses. Day One Ventures, an early stage venture fund in San Francisco, launched a new initiative in November to fund startups founded by people who had been laid off from their tech jobs, touting the slogan "Funded, not Fired". Silicon Valley investor U.S. Venture Partners and Austrian VC firm Speedinvest have meanwhile earmarked a similar amount for newly founded companies. Fong told Reuters that experience in Big Tech firm gave founders a "strong brand that can be leveraged to meet investors, potential customers, and recruit team members".

[1/2] People line up at a makeshift fever clinic set up inside a stadium, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Beijing, China December 19, 2022. "We stand ready to help any country in the world with vaccines, treatments, anything else that we can be helpful with," he said. "We want China to get COVID right," Blinken said earlier this month. “China faces a very challenging system in reopening,” Powell said, adding that its manufacturing, exporting and supply chain remain critical. Officials set up health centers and apps that told people with symptoms how to avoid infecting others, he said.

☆ The Year in Pictures 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +57 min

Every year, starting in early fall, photo editors at The New York Times begin sifting through the year’s work in an effort to pick out the most startling, most moving, most memorable pictures. But 2022 undoubtedly belongs to the war in Ukraine, a conflict now settling into a worryingly predictable rhythm. Erin Schaff/The New York Times “When you’re standing on the ground, you can’t visualize the scope of the destruction. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 25. We see the same images over and over, and it’s really hard to make anything different.” Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb 26.

☆ 23 major brands suspected of illegally sourcing products made by forced labor in China
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

And more ...Mary Meisenzahl/InsiderThese companies have also been suspected of having direct or indirect ties to Chinese forced labor in the aforementioned reports. Bosch"Bosch is committed to ensuring that its products are not produced wholly or in part by forced labor. "Compliance with human rights, labor rights and environmental standards is a top priority at PUMA and has been specified in our Codes of Conduct for over 20 years." As stated in our Business Conduct Guidelines, we reject all forms of oppression, forced labor and participation in human rights violations. We will continue to respect human rights and take a strong stand against forced labor."

Hong Kong CNN —James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” has premiered in China, 13 years after the original film took the country by storm. A poster of film 'Avatar: The Way of Water' is seen at a cinema on December 11, 2022 in Beijing, China. I immersed myself in the plot and enjoyed an unprecedented audio-visual feast.”Shot in the armThe “Way of Water” is expected to buoy China’s pandemic-depressed box office. By mid-December, China’s box office reached only 28.8 billion yuan ($4.1 billion), down nearly 40% from last year. The “Way of Water” accounted for 80% of screenings scheduled for Friday, the Maoyan data showed.

Three sources briefed on OpenAI's recent pitch to investors said the organization expects $200 million in revenue next year and $1 billion by 2024. OpenAI was most recently valued at $20 billion in a secondary share sale, one of the sources said. The startup has already inspired rivals and companies building applications atop its generative AI software, which includes the image maker DALL-E 2. OpenAI has also attracted attention as an AI provider and potential Google search competitor, with ChatGPT answering queries for more than 1 million users so far. OpenAI warns users, ChatGPT "may occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased content."

☆ China shipyards feast on record LNG tanker orders as South Korea builders are full up
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Chen Aizhu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Chinese shipyards this year won 45 LNG tanker orders worth an estimated $9.8 billion, about five times their 2021 order values, according to shipping data provider Clarksons Research. By late November, Chinese yards had grown their LNG order books to 66 from 21, giving them 21% of global orders worth around $60 billion. Still, Chinese yards received 19 foreign orders for LNG tankers this year and that number is likely to grow. "Chinese yards have become more attractive because of the South Korean backlog, as well as rising costs," said ICIS analyst Songer. Chinese yards' relationship with GTT also helps, he said.

☆ China COVID infection fears fuel medical stock bets
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

China's healthcare index (.CSIHC) gained almost 1% on Monday morning, despite a 0.8% drop in the benchmark CSI300 Index (.CSI300). Hu Qiang, fund manager at Yunchuang Investment, said demand for antigen testing had just taken off. Listed medical firms are also busy fielding investors' queries about how they are preparing for a potential worsening COVID situation. Lepu Medical Technology (300003.SZ), which produces cardiovascular and diagnosis devices, told investors it would adjust production plans to meet market demand for COVID testing. Easy Diagnosis said on an investor relations platform that it was able to ramp up production quickly, as cancellation of nucleic acid testing in many places would boost demand for antigen testing at home.

It’s quite remarkable.”In his first five-year term on the Standing Committee, Wang ran the party's secretariat, an organ responsible for day-to-day affairs. In Xi's third leadership term, Wang is on track to be in charge of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body. "All the major slogans, from Jiang Zemin to Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping, seem to have come from Wang Huning," Lam said. 'AMERICA VS. AMERICA'Where most Standing Committee members have experience such as running a major city or province, Wang is an academic. During 1989's pro-democracy student protests, Wang told Xia not to stand with the students, a warning Xia did not heed.

☆ China's stunning reversal on lockdowns showed that mass protests can influence policy change in the country — but experts say it still doesn't threaten Xi's regime
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But experts on China say it's unlikely the protests will embolden future political movements. The changes come after protests against COVID measures erupted all across China — rare for a country where dissent is snuffed out quickly. Baogang He, the chair of international relations at Deakin University in Australia, agreed that the protests show how mass anger can influence government policy, but not regime change. "No one is strong enough to exploit or dare to use these protests to mount a challenge to Xi Jinping," Xi, the professor, told Insider. Chong said that although Xi holds extensive power in China, the protests and subsequent rollback both underscore how he can make major mistakes, too.

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