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☆ Amazon cloud unit to invest nearly $8 billion in Ohio
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 26 (Reuters) - Amazon.com's (AMZN.O) cloud computing division would invest $7.8 billion through 2030 in Ohio to expand its data center operations, it said on Monday. Amazon said the new investment will create hundreds of jobs and support thousands at local businesses through construction, operations and maintenance on-site at Amazon Web Service facilities. The company had in January said it plans to invest another $35 billion by 2040 to expand data centers in Virginia. It also aims to invest 1.06 trillion rupees ($13 billion) in India by the end of this decade. Reporting by Yuvraj Malik and Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay DwivediOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Yuvraj Malik, Tiyashi Datta, Vinay Dwivedi Organizations: Amazon Web Service, Thomson Locations: Ohio, Virginia, India, Bengaluru

☆ IBM to buy software co Apptio for $4.6 bln to bolster cloud offering
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

June 26 (Reuters) - IBM (IBM.N) said on Monday it will acquire cloud software company Apptio from Vista Equity Partners for $4.6 billion in cash, in the latest deal to bolster its capabilities in cloud and automation. IBM said it will finance the transaction with cash on hand and expects the deal to close in the latter half of 2023. IBM cut about 3,900 jobs early this year and reported under 1% year-over-year increase in revenue in the March quarter. Founded in 2007, Seattle-based Apptio helps companies manage and understand their spending on cloud services and offers functionalities such as IT budgeting, forecasting and financial analyses. Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners agreed to pay about $2 billion for Apptio in 2018, which was over double its market cap at the time.

Persons: Apptio, Yuvraj Malik, Krishna Chandra Organizations: IBM, Vista Equity Partners, Hat, Kyndryl Holdings, Apptio, Thomson Locations: Amazon.com's, Seattle, Bengaluru

Gains in megacap stocks including Nvidia and Microsoft set up the tech-heavy Nasdaq for its eighth consecutive week of gains, while the benchmark S&P 500 was set for its fifth straight week of rise. Trading, however, is expected to be volatile on Friday due to the simultaneous expiration of stock options, stock index futures and index options contracts, known as triple witching. ET, is expected to show the index rose to 60 in June from 59.2 in May. The S&P index recorded 19 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 74 new highs and 10 new lows. Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru Editing by Vinay DwivediOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Morgan Stanley, Mark Luschini, Janney Montgomery Scott, Sruthi Shankar, Shristi, Vinay Dwivedi Organizations: Nvidia, Adobe, Dow, Nasdaq, Microsoft, Trading, University of, Dow Jones, Adobe Inc, iRobot, NYSE, Thomson Locations: U.S, Bengaluru

She spoke following a keynote presentation in San Francisco during which Su showed an AI system on the MI300X chip writing a poem about the city. "The more memory that you have, the larger the set of models" the chip can handle, Su said. But unlike past presentations where AMD has talked up a major customer for a new chip, AMD did not say who will adopt the MI300X or a smaller version called the MI300A. Nvidia, whose shares have surged 170% so far this year, dominates the AI computing market with a market share of 80% to 95%, according to analysts. Aside from the AI market, AMD said it has started shipping high volumes of a general purpose central processor chip called "Bergamo" to companies such as Meta Platforms (META.O).

Persons: Lisa Su, Dave Brown, Stephen Nellis, Su, We've, Kevin Krewell, Alexis Black Bjorlin, Nvidia's, Chintala, Sag, Leslie Adler, David Gregorio, Nick Zieminski, Mark Porter Organizations: AMD, Amazon Web, REUTERS, Devices Inc, Nvidia Corp, Reuters, Nvidia, TIRIAS Research, Intel Corp, Systems, SambaNova Systems, Google, Facebook, Nvidia's, Meta, Moor, Thomson Locations: San Francisco , U.S, Santa Clara , California, San Francisco, Bergamo

☆ AMD says Meta is using its cloud chip as it rolls out AI strategy update
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Chief Executive Lisa Su said AMD has started shipping its "Bergamo" central processor. They spoke at an event in San Francisco where AMD was set to introduce its new artificial intelligence chip. Nvidia dominates the AI computing market with 80% to 95% of market share, according to analysts. Last month, Nvidia's market capitalization briefly touched $1 trillion after the company said it expected a jump in revenue after it secured new chip supplies to meet surging demand. Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at TIRIAS Research, said AMD will have to catch up on both software and research trends.

Persons: Lisa Su, Dave Brown, Stephen Nellis, Alexis Black Bjorlin, Su, Kevin Krewell, Krewell, Leslie Adler, David Gregorio, Nick Zieminski Organizations: AMD, Amazon Web, REUTERS, Devices, Facebook, Nvidia Corp, Nvidia, Intel Corp, Systems, SambaNova Systems, Google, TIRIAS Research, Thomson Locations: San Francisco , U.S, Bergamo, San Francisco

☆ AMD likely to offer details on AI chip in challenge to Nvidia
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Stephen Nellis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

AMD Chief Executive Lisa Su will give a keynote address at an event in San Francisco on the company's strategy in the data center and AI markets. Analysts expect fresh details about a chip called the MI300, AMD's most advanced graphics processing unit (GPU), the category of chips that companies like OpenAI use to develop products such as ChatGPT. Nvidia dominates the AI computing market with 80% to 95% of market share, according to analysts. Last month, Nvidia's market capitalization briefly touched $1 trillion after the company said it expected a jump in revenue after it secured new chip supplies to meet surging demand. Kevin Krewell, principal analyst at TIRIAS Research, said AMD will have to catch up on both software and research trends.

Persons: Lisa Su, Su, Kevin Krewell, Krewell, Stephen Nellis, Leslie Adler Organizations: Devices, Nvidia Corp, AMD, Nvidia, Intel Corp, Systems, SambaNova Systems, Google, TIRIAS Research, Thomson Locations: San Francisco

The FTC settlements are the agency's latest effort to hold Big Tech accountable for policies critics say place profits ahead of privacy. In its complaint against Amazon.com filed in Washington state, the FTC said that it violated rules protecting children's privacy and rules against deceiving consumers who used Alexa. In one instance in 2017, an employees of Ring viewed videos made by at least 81 female customers and Ring employees using Ring products. As part of the FTC agreement with Ring, which spans 20 years, Ring is required to disclose to customers how much access to their data the company and its contractors have. In February 2019, Ring changed its policies so that most Ring employees or contractors could only access a customer’s private video with that person’s consent.

Persons: Alvaro Bedoya, Diane Bartz, David Shepardson, Anna Driver Organizations: Federal Trade Commission, Amazon, FTC, Big Tech, Thomson Locations: Seattle, Washington

☆ Amazon's AWS says it is investigating issues with signup
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 16 (Reuters) - Amazon.com's (AMZN.O) cloud service division Amazon Web Services (AWS) said on Sunday it was investigating an issue where users attempting to access AWS signup were receiving error messages. Hundreds of users reported issues with accessing Amazon Web Services on Sunday, according to outage-tracking website Downdetector.com. Amazon's voice assistant Alexa was also down for thousands of users in the United States, according to Downdetector.com. More than 15,000 users reported issues with Alexa at the peak of disruption, Downdetector data showed. Users also reported issues accessing Amazon's mobile app.

☆ Amazon's Alexa down for thousands of users, Downdetector says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

April 16 (Reuters) - Amazon.com's (AMZN.O) voice assistant Alexa was down for thousands of users in the United States on Sunday, according to outage-tracking website Downdetector.com. More than 9,000 users reported issues with Alexa. Users also reported issues accessing Amazon's mobile app. Downdetector tracks outages by collating status reports from several sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform. Reporting by Jose Joseph in Bengaluru; Editing by Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UK antitrust regulator looks at Amazon's takeover of vacuum maker iRobot
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) - Britain is to investigate Amazon.com's anticipated takeover of robot vacuum maker iRobot Corp (IRBT.O), the country's competition regulator said on Thursday. The e-commerce giant's planned $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot, aimed at expanding its stable of smart home devices, is already being reviewed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Britain's Competition and Markets Authority said it is also now considering whether the deal could reduce competition in the connected device market. Invitations to comment on the combination are now open, said the CMA. Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Kate HoltonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ FedEx to fold operating divisions into one organization in cost-cutting push
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FedEx had come under criticism from investors last year for its subpar performance compared to UPS, which has a unionized workforce. In response, FedEx outlined extensive plans to cut costs, including parking planes and reducing headcount. The phased transition announced Wednesday will ultimately bring FedEx Express, FedEx Ground, FedEx Services and other FedEx operating companies into Federal Express Corporation and will be headed by present Chief Executive Officer Raj Subramaniam, the company said. John Smith will become president and CEO of U.S. and Canada Ground Operations at FedEx Express and assume leadership of surface operations across the FedEx Express, FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight businesses, effective April 16. FedEx Freight will continue to provide freight transportation services as a stand-alone company under the Federal Express Corp banner, the company added.

☆ FedEx to outline plans for fiscal 2024, 2025 cost reductions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LOS ANGELES, April 5 (Reuters) - FedEx Corp (FDX.N) on Wednesday will lay out the next steps in its plan to slash $4 billion in permanent costs by the end of fiscal 2025. Executives at the Memphis, Tennessee-based package delivery company last month said they were on track to hit $1 billion in permanent cost cuts this fiscal year ending May 31 - putting FedEx well on its way toward its 2025 goal. Most of those cost savings have come from FedEx's Express division that offers next-day delivery and contributes the largest share of company revenue. Among other things, FedEx has parked Express planes, retired older MD-11 aircraft and laid off 10% of officers and directors to reduce costs. Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Himani SarkarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Satellite company SES confirms tie-up talks with Intelsat
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, March 29 (Reuters) - Satellite company SES (SESFg.LU) confirmed on Wednesday that it was in talks with U.S. rival Intelsat over a possible combination of their businesses that would create an industry giant. "In response to rumours in the market, SES S.A. confirms that the company has engaged in discussions regarding a possible combination with Intelsat," SES said. SES is aiming to reach an agreement with Intelsat as soon as the next few weeks, Bloomberg said, citing sources. Merger talks between the two signal further consolidation in the rapidly changing satellite Internet industry to challenge the likes of Elon Musk-owned SpaceX's Starlink and Amazon.com's (AMZN.O) Project Kuiper. The Paris-listed shares of Luxembourg-based SES (SESFg.LU), rose 3.4% on the report of the two sides nearing a deal, according to traders.

☆ U.S. will not challenge Amazon.com's plan to buy One Medical, FTC official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission will not file a complaint aimed at stopping Amazon.com's (AMZN.O) plan to buy primary care provider One Medical, an FTC official said on Tuesday. Amazon.com Inc said in July it would buy One Medical for $3.49 billion, expanding the e-commerce giant's virtual healthcare business and adding brick-and-mortar doctors' offices for the first time. The FTC official said that the agency planned to send a pre-consummation warning letter that would say it still had specific concerns about the deal. One Medical is in more than a dozen U.S. markets and gives members access to virtual care at any time of the day or night. The FTC is also probing Amazon.com's plan to buy Roomba maker iRobot Corp (IRBT.O) for $1.7 billion.

☆ U.S. will not challenge Amazon.com's plan to buy One Medical -- FTC official
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission will not file a complaint in a bid to block Amazon.com's (AMZN.O) plan to buy primary care provider One Medical, an FTC official said on Tuesday. Amazon.com Inc said in July that it would buy One Medical for $3.49 billion, expanding the e-commerce giant's virtual healthcare and adding brick-and-mortar doctors' offices for the first time. read moreReporting by Diane BartzOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ IBM cuts 3,900 jobs, misses annual cash target
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Chavi Mehta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 25 (Reuters) - IBM Corp (IBM.N) on Wednesday announced 3,900 layoffs as part of some asset divestments and missed its annual cash target, dampening cheer around beating revenue expectations in the fourth quarter. Analysts said news of the job cuts and free cash flow miss was behind the drop. read moreIBM's 2022 cash flow was $9.3 billion, below its target of $10 billion, due to higher-than-expected working capital needs. In October, IBM flagged softness in new bookings in Western Europe while peer Accenture Plc noted weakness in its consulting business. For 2022, IBM recorded revenue growth of 5.5%, its highest in a decade.

☆ IBM cuts 3,900 jobs after muted consulting demand hits quarterly revenue
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Chavi Mehta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 25 (Reuters) - IBM Corp (IBM.N) on Wednesday said it would lay off 3,900 people as part of some asset divestments and posted flat fourth-quarter revenue due to lackluster demand for its consulting services. The resulting layoffs will cause a $300 million charge in the January-March period, IBM said. IBM in October flagged softness in new bookings in Western Europe while peer Accenture Plc also noted weakness in its consulting business. Still, Kavanaugh said that the company is seeing its consulting business grow in terms of cloud spending. Total revenue was $16.69 billion in the period, compared with analysts' estimates of $16.40 billion, according to Refinitiv.

☆ Pyrex maker settles over false 'Made in USA' claims
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 18 (Reuters) - The maker of Pyrex kitchenware agreed to pay a fine and change its marketing practices to settle U.S. claims that it falsely advertised its popular glass measuring cups as "Made in USA" while importing some of them from China. Instant Brands LLC did not admit or deny wrongdoing in Wednesday's settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, which approved it by a 4-0 vote. Despite the shift, Instant Brands marketed the Chinese-made cups as "Made in USA" and as "American as Apple Pie" though the cups were marked "Made in China," the FTC said. Instant Brands did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In 2021, the FTC adopted a "Made in USA Labeling Rule" to protect businesses and consumers from what it called "rampant" fraud by marketers over their products' origins.

☆ Wall St ends firmer, growth stocks lead in thin trading
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Echo Wang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

All 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, with communication service (.SPLRCL) and technology (.SPLRCT) as the biggest winner with gains of nearly 3%. The Fed's aggressive interest rate hikes have hammered equities this year, with the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) shedding 19.3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbling nearly 33%. Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) shares rose after Chief Executive Elon Musk told staff they should not be "bothered by stock market craziness." For 2022, Tesla's 66% slump and Amazon.com's 50% drop played a big part in the S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector's 38% loss. The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and no new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 75 new highs and 160 new lows.

☆ Jeff Bezos' leadership style propelled him to become one of the richest men in the world. Here's what you can learn from it.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Elle Hardy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Former CEO Jeff Bezos, who stepped down in late 2021, led with a slogan of step ferociously. After he predicted that ecommerce was about to take off, Bezos founded Amazon as an online book retailer in 1994. According to the man himself, the value that "surprises people" is Amazon's fourth leadership principle: "are right, a lot." "No PowerPoints are used inside of Amazon," Bezos has said. Bezos ran elements of Amazon like a startup, such as being notoriously frugal when it came to company expenses.

☆ Bloomberg has no interest in acquiring Dow Jones or the Washington Post, spokesman says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Dec 25 (Reuters) - Bloomberg L.P. confirmed on Sunday that it has no interest in acquiring either Dow Jones or the Washington Post, a Bloomberg L.P. spokesman said in a tweet. loading"There have been no conversations with anyone or either organization about an acquisition," spokesman Ty Trippet said in the tweet, which was retweeted by Michael Bloomberg. News website Axios reported on Friday the billionaire owner of Bloomberg L.P. was interested in acquiring either WSJ parent Dow Jones from Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (NWSA.O), or the Washington Post from Amazon.com's (AMZN.O) Jeff Bezos, citing a source familiar with Bloomberg's thinking. Reporting by Lavanya Ahire in Bengaluru; editing by Diane CraftOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

A spokesperson for the Washington Post, which Bezos bought in 2013 for $250 million, said it is not for sale. "A Bloomberg acquisition of the (Post) is not necessarily just a business decision. According to Axios, Bloomberg sees Dow Jones, also the publisher of Barron's and MarketWatch, as the ideal fit but would buy the Post if Bezos was interested in selling. Dow Jones did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. Reuters competes with Dow Jones and Bloomberg News, a unit of Bloomberg L.P., a provider of financial news.

[1/2] A logo for Amazon Web Services (AWS) is seen at the Collision conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada June 23, 2022. REUTERS/Chris HelgrenNov 30 (Reuters) - French IT consulting firm Atos (ATOS.PA) is making Amazon.com's (AMZN.O) cloud services division its preferred partner for migrating its clients' workloads to the cloud, it said on Wednesday. The enhanced partnership will allow Amazon Web Services (AWS), the world's number one cloud computing services provider, access to more than 800 of Atos' infrastructures services customers globally and lead to the training of 20,000 employees on AWS' technology at Atos. The AWS-Atos partnership will allow Atos' customers with large infrastructure outsourcing contracts to quicken their workload migrations to the cloud, Atos said in its statement. Atos said it would consult with over 800 customers to offer a new hybrid cloud service with the option to move selected workloads to AWS.

☆ Chipmaker Astera Labs valued at over $3 bln after latest fundraise
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 17 (Reuters) - Chipmaker Astera Labs said on Thursday it was valued at $3.15 billion following a late-stage funding round led by Fidelity Management & Research, signaling investors' bullishness on the semiconductor sector. The company raised $150 million in the latest round amid upbeat long-term outlook for chips, especially as growth in artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and machine learning segments booms. Berkshire Hathaway (BRKa.N), which typically stays away from big technology wagers, said earlier this week it had bought more than $4.1 billion in TSMC stock. Existing investors, including Atreides Management, Intel Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures also participated in the funding round. Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay DwivediOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Oct 24 (Reuters) - United Parcel Service (UPS.N) investors want to see this week how the delivery giant is managing through the bursting e-commerce delivery bubble better than rival FedEx (FDX.N). Shares in UPS are down roughly 20% so far this year, versus the 40% decline in FedEx stock. At the same time, the UPS sales team has been working to drum up new business. Lego, the $7.3 billion Danish maker of colorful plastic bricks used to build everything from UPS delivery trucks to Hogwarts Castle of Harry Potter fame, switched from FedEx to UPS, according to the sources, who asked not to be identified. Global air and ocean import cargo volumes, a gauge of demand for logistics companies like UPS and FedEx, are slumping.

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