DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ The Buffett test: This one chart shows how much every Club holding spends on stock buybacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

When Warren Buffett speaks, Wall Street listens — and the "Oracle of Omaha" issued a full-throated defense of stock buybacks in his latest annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. After spending more than $1.2 billion on stock buybacks in 2022, Coterra's board approved a $2 billion buyback authorization last week. Costco: In January, the wholesale retailer's board reauthorized a $4 billion stock repurchase program , which is set to expire in four years. It's part of a $10 billion buyback authorization issued by Salesforce's board last August. As the chart makes clear, the vast majority of Club holdings engage in some level of stock repurchases, which is good news for shareholders.

The area, part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, is a hotbed for fighters of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella organisation of Sunni Islamist groups. A TTP spokesman, Muhammad Khurasani, told Reuters its main target was Pakistan's military, but the police were standing in the way. "Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa pays a greater price for that" because of its exposure to the Islamist militants, he said. The TTP ended the ceasefire in November 2022, and regrouped militants restarted attacks in Pakistan soon after. Reporting by Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam and Jibran Ahmad in Bara, Pakistan; additional reporting by Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan; editing by David Crawshaw.

☆ Cramer sees a 'good chance' Salesforce's Benioff will soon announce succession plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Jim Cramer suggested Saturday that plans for a leadership change at Club holding Salesforce (CRM) — helmed by co-founder Marc Benioff for more than two decades — may be disclosed in the near future. CRM YTD mountain Salesforce (CRM) YTD performance In early January, Salesforce announced a cost-cutting plan that included layoffs and office space reductions — moves that Jim has said were pushed for by Starboard . While Benioff has said he's "never leaving" Salesforce , the company has twice elevated an executive to the role of co-CEO. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Marc Benioff, founder, chairman and CEO of enterprise cloud computing company Salesforce.

☆ Space Force is taking a 'mutual fund approach' to buying rocket launches
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Earlier this month the Space Force kicked off the process to buy five years worth of launches, under a lucrative program known as National Security Space Launch Phase 3. The U.S. military is preparing to buy another round of rocket launches from companies next year, and Space Force leadership says they're taking a new "mutual fund approach" to the acquisition strategy. But, with a number of companies bringing rockets to market, Space Force is splitting NSSL Phase 3 into two groups for about 70 launches. Space Force leadership named several companies that can now compete in the dual-track process, including Rocket Lab , Relativity and ABL Space. Separately, Space Force is closely watching the growing demand for commercial launches.

☆ Starboard Value wants Salesforce to hit over 30% profit margins, closer to Oracle and Microsoft. Salesforce is working on it, leaked draft of a planning document shows.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Activist investor Starboard Values wants Salesforce to grow its adjusted operating margins above 30%. In September, Salesforce announced a goal of 25% adjusted operating margins by fiscal 2026, up from a target of 20% for fiscal 2023. Starboard found Salesforce's mix of operating margins and revenue growth averaged much lower than its peers, including Microsoft and Oracle. Starboard showed Oracle at a 10.7% increase in revenue with adjusted operating margins of 43.3% for its current fiscal year. It showed Microsoft's at a 10.9% increase in revenue and 46.6% increase in operating margins, Starboard said.

[1/3] A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter lands on the deck of the USS Ronald Reagan, a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered super carrier, during a joint naval drill between South Korea and the U.S., in the West Sea, South Korea, October 29, 2015. REUTERS/Kim Hong-JiFeb 23 (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) said on Thursday it plans to stop production of the F/A-18 Super Hornet in late 2025 after delivering the last of the fighter jets, as the aerospace giant shifts focus to winning the race for the sixth-generation of combat aircraft. Trade publication Defense News in 2020 reported that at least one prototype was built and flown by the Air Force. It said production of the F/A-18 jet, which debuted in 1983, could be extended until 2027 if the Super Hornet is selected by the Indian Navy for its future fighter. Reporting by Nathan Gomes in Bengaluru and Valerie Insinna in Washington; Editing by Sherry Jacob-PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Berlinale film unearths traumas of Australian indigenous communities
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Zuzanna Szymanska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/8] Director Ivan Sen and cast members Rob Collins, Natasha Wanganeen and Simon Baker attend the screening of 'Limbo' at the 73rd Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, February 23, 2023. "Almost every indigenous family in Australia has had this kind of experience." The black-and-white film, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on Thursday, casts "L.A. Confidential" star Simon Baker as a detective sent to the opal-mining town of Limbo to review a 20-year-old unsolved murder. The film, one of 19 competing for the top Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival, often lingers over a scarred landscape, seen from far above in lengthy drone shots that highlight the terrain's inhuman scale.

☆ Cyprus leaders meet as peace talks remain deadlocked
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Iakovos Hatzistavrou/Pool via REUTERSNICOSIA, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Leaders of Cyprus's estranged Greek and Turkish communities met on Thursday as a deadlock persisted in peace talks on the ethnically divided island. The meeting was the first for newly elected Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, the new Greek Cypriot leader, and Ersin Tatar, the Turkish Cypriot leader. Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974 after a brief Greek-inspired coup, with Greek Cypriots living in its south and Turkish Cypriots in an unrecognised breakaway north. "The present state of affairs cannot be the solution to the Cyprus problem, not for Greek Cypriots, or Turkish Cypriots," Christodoulides said after the two-hour meeting with Tatar. "I didn't hear anything I didn't expect from Mr Tatar," Christodoulides said.

☆ British police face struggle to clean up sexist culture after scandals
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Michael Holden | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

London's Metropolitan Police has been hardest hit: After years of saying serious misconduct cases were isolated incidents, it now says it must change its culture. "We have failed and I'm sorry," Mark Rowley, the Met's new chief and Britain's most senior officer, said in January. According to an official report, officers had passed off the conversations as 'banter'. RISING CRIMESome officers officers think the government needs to look at itself. Braverman was reported last year as having told police chiefs to prioritise "common-sense policing" over diversity efforts and virtue-signalling "woke" messaging.

☆ Salesforce's Marc Benioff has revised a plan to stack rank a bottom 5% and ordered employees back to the office, according to leaked messages
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Ellen Thomas | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has made revisions to the company's annual strategic plan, including return-to-office mandates and policies that would have implemented stack ranking, according to an internal Slack message viewed by Insider. "He's still pushing performance culture," a Salesforce employee who read the revised draft told Insider. It currently requires three days a week in the office for non-remote employees and four days a week for employees in "non-remote" and "customer-facing" roles. Revenue for fiscal 2022 grew 25%, to $26.5 billion, according to the company's annual report. Or, as an employee previously posted in a Slack channel, "Can execs commit to never referring to Salesforce employees as 'family' again?

☆ China is getting rid of its 'grandpa' fighter jets, but they may make a comeback for a one-way mission against Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

China's last J-7 fighter jets may leave active service this year, according to Chinese state media. China's air force may convert some J-7s into drones, which could be used in an attack on Taiwan. (Between its air force and navy, China now has the world's third-largest aviation force, according to the Pentagon.) A J-7 fighter at the People's Liberation Army Aviation Museum in Beijing in December 2013. UCAVs make it possible for China's air force "to use relatively cheap, capable, low-risk airframes as a first-in asset to either strike or soften Taiwan's air defense systems," Rice added.

[1/6] Godwin Nnamdi, 27-year-old fitness trainer and first-time voter, poses for a portrait at a gym in Lagos, Nigeria February 15, 2023. But his active social media campaign and promises to break with Nigeria's gerontocratic past have endeared him to many younger voters. The young and tech-savvy, first-time voters rallying around Obi call themselves the "Obi-dients" - a somewhat incongruous choice for an anti-establishment movement. The former banker has promised jobs, skills training and funding to young Nigerians, but so too have Tinubu and Atiku. If Obi loses, Ndukwe said he would join the wave of skilled Nigerians leaving the country in its perpetual brain drain.

☆ Chinese air force bombers show off their growing reach with a long-range drill over the South China Sea
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Kristin Huang | South China Morning Post | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Chinese H-6K bomber patrolling over islands and reefs in the South China Sea. "Probably, the fighter aircraft [was] deployed from the bases on the artificial islands in the Spratly Islands to support simulated strikes in the South China Sea. "The early warning aircraft can help monitor potential threats in the air, most notably enemy fighter aircraft that may try to shoot down the bomber. The early warning aircraft can also help coordinate activities among the different planes. Although the drill showed the enhanced ability of the Chinese air force, the bomber's capability boosted the threat already posed to US military forces by only a little, Heath said.

☆ Burkina Faso marks official end of French military operations on its soil
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Thiam Ndiaga | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Head of Burkina Faso's army Colonel Adam Nere receives a flag from French Lieutenant-Colonel Louis Lecacheur during a military handover ceremony to officially mark the end of French military operations on Burkinabe soil, at the base of Kamboincin, Burkina Faso February 18, 2023. Burkina Faso's General Staff of the Armed Forces/Handout via REUTERSOUAGADOUGOU, Feb 19 (Reuters) - France and Burkina Faso have officially marked the end of French military operations in the West African nation, the Burkinabe armed forces said on Sunday, after a flag-lowering ceremony at the French special forces' camp a day earlier. In a statement, the General Staff of the Burkinabe Armed Forces said it had participated with the leadership of France's Sabre special forces in "a solemn flag-lowering ceremony marking the official end of the Task Force's operations on Burkinabe soil". The French armed forces ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The departure of the some 400 French special forces from Burkina Faso follows a sharp deterioration in relations that included Ouagadougou asking France to recall its ambassador.

☆ North Korea confirms it tested ICBM, touts 'fatal nuclear counterattack' capabilities
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Soo-Hyang Choi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SEOUL, Feb 19 (Reuters) - North Korea said on Sunday it had tested a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the previous day in a "sudden launching drill" that confirmed its readiness for "mobile and mighty counterattack" against hostile forces. North Korea launched a long-range ballistic missile into the sea off Japan's west coast on Saturday afternoon after warning of a strong response to upcoming military drills by South Korea and the United States. A North Korea flag flutters next to concertina wire at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia March 9, 2017. Analysts say North Korea is likely to conduct more weapons tests, including a possible new solid-fuel missile, which could help the North deploy its missiles faster in the event of a war. North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes are banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions, but Pyongyang says its weapons development is necessary to counter "hostile policies" by Washington and its allies.

Identity theft is often a crime of opportunity, so reducing risk goes a long way to protect against identity theft. How to reduce the risk of identity theftEva Velasquez, president of the Identity Theft Resource Center, says it's best to take multiple steps to secure your identity. Editor's Rating 4.6/5 A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star Editor's Rating 4.7/5 A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star Editor's Rating 4.8/5 A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star A five pointed star Learn more On Aura's website Learn more On IDShield's website Learn more On IdentityForce's website1. While this doesn't necessarily prevent identity theft, it does mitigate any potential damages as a result of identity theft. You can report identity theft over the phone; however, you will not receive an identity theft report.

☆ Here's how Wall Street pros traded 13 Club stocks last quarter, including Salesforce and Disney
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Big-name investors and hedge funds made moves in Club holdings Disney (DIS), Nvidia (NVDA) and TJX Companies (TJX) in the fourth quarter. Starboard's position stood at 3.03 million shares — valued at $401.22 million — at the end of the fourth quarter, according to the firm's 13F. Inclusive's 1.63 million shares were worth $216.77 million and ValueAct's 560,221 shares carried a market value of $74.28 million. CRM YTD mountain Salesforce (CRM) YTD performance In addition to Salesforce, a number of other Club holdings appeared in hedge funds' quarterly disclosures. Some of the activists swarming at Salesforce have positions in other Club holdings and made changes to them during the fourth quarter.

☆ Salesforce, activist investor Elliott may soon reach deal - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 17 (Reuters) - Cloud-based software firm Salesforce Inc (CRM.N) and activist investor Elliott Management Corp are in discussions to reach an agreement that may end a possible board challenge, according to two people familiar with the matter. The battle at Salesforce has pitted Elliott as well as other activist investors against Marc Benioff, one of Silicon Valley's most iconic chief executives. Salesforce's growth has slowed dramatically in recent quarters and last month the company said it would cut 10% of jobs to address its performance. Representatives for Salesforce and Elliott declined to comment. Elliott too has long invested in technology companies and in the past reached settlements for board seats with companies including Pinterest (PINS.N), Twitter and eBay (EBAY.O).

☆ How unusually mild weather prevented what could've been the first aircraft carrier battle since World War II
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Sebastien Roblin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Argentine jets were poised to strike when the usually turbulent South Atlantic winds took a mild turn. Few of the half-dozen Argentine aviators expected to survive the attack, dubbed "Banzai Night" after the famous Japanese battle cry. Government of ArgentinaIronically, the Veinticinco de Mayo was originally a British carrier named the HMS Venerable launched by the Cammell Laird shipyard near the end of World War II. After a damaging boiler-room fire, the Karel was sold in 1969 to the Argentine Navy which extensively modernized and rebuilt the 25-year-old vessel. The Harrier and the Sea DartSea Harrier jump jets aboard HMS Hermes in the South Atlantic on May 1, 1982.

☆ The mystery objects shot down by US fighter jets were 'most likely' harmless civilian objects, Biden says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Three mysterious objects were shot down by the US military in North American airspace last weekend. The three unidentified objects are "most likely" just civilian objects, he said on Thursday. Sailors assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group 2 recover a high-altitude surveillance balloon off the coast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Feb. 5, 2023. Biden on Thursday also said he's directed his team to create "sharper rules" for dealing with unidentified objects moving forward, distinguishing between those that pose a security risk and those that don't. In total, four objects — one Chinese surveillance balloon and the three smaller objects that remain unidentified — have been shot down over North American airspace since early February.

☆ The US military let artificial intelligence fly a fighter jet and even battle simulated enemies in air-to-air combat
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A recent series of US military tests saw AI fly a fighter jet and battle simulated enemies. The modified jet practiced beyond-visual-range engagements and dogfighting, the 412th Test Wing revealed. It can be piloted by autonomous AI programs and mirror the flight characteristics of aircraft like the F-16 jet or MQ-20 drone. One of the two programs tested by the US military was a product of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Autonomous Air Combat Operations, or AACO. This program piloted the VISTA in one-on-one engagements against a simulated enemy beyond visual range, the 412th Test Wing said.

☆ Romania detects suspicious weather balloon in its airspace, ministry says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUCHAREST, Feb 14 (Reuters) - The Romanian Air Force's surveillance system detected an aerial object that looked like a weather balloon flying in the country's airspace, the defence ministry said on Tuesday. Two MiG 21 LanceR jets were scrambled to the area in southeast Romania 10 minutes after the sighting but could not confirm the object's presence, the ministry said, adding the balloon was flying at an altitude of 11,000 metres. The sighting in Romania comes amidst a diplomatic spat between the United States and China after the U.S. shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon on Feb. 4. The defence ministry said the crews of the aircraft stayed in the area for 30 minutes before returning to base after not getting visual, or radar confirmation, of the target. The sighting in Romania also occurred on the same day that Moldova, which borders Romania and Ukraine, briefly closed its air space for undisclosed safety reasons, although the Romanian ministry did not link the events in its statement.

☆ Wall Street puts Salesforce, Nvidia, Humana under the microscope. Here's our take.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Club holdings Salesforce (CRM), Nvidia (NVDA) and Humana (HUM) are the subjects of fresh Wall Street research. The news: It's all about margins at Salesforce, Wells Fargo analysts wrote in a research note Tuesday. The news: Bank of America raised its price target on Nvidia stock to $255 per share from $215, while reiterating a buy rating. Regardless, the shift to accelerated computing , led by NVDA GPU, and away from conventional CPUs is structural," the analysts wrote. The sector's valuation is starting to "appear increasingly attractive," trading roughly 10% below its five-year-average forward earnings multiple, Oppenheimer analysts wrote in a note Tuesday.

☆ Salesforce CEO says he took a 10-day 'digital detox' trip to French Polynesia in the wake of company layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Salesforce chief Marc Benioff told NYT he went on a 10-day digital detox amid layoffs. The January layoffs announcement have led to questions from employees, Insider previously reported. Benioff's digital detox offers an interesting glimpse into how one tech CEO navigated a time of change at the company, seeking out a temporary period of quiet, free of digital communication. In the all-hands call the day after layoffs, Benioff compared losing employees to layoffs to mourning people who died. "We were trying to explain the unexplainable," Benioff told the NYT.

☆ Why China's and Russia's 5th-generation stealth jets don't quite live up to the hype, according to a former US Navy pilot
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Peter Suciu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Those jets have advanced features but aren't quite as advanced as US stealth jets, a former Navy pilot says. However, a copy of a fifth-generation fighter does not actually make it one. Russia's Sukhoi Su-57Russian Su-57 fighter jets. A Russian Su-57 fighter jet. Associated PressThough the Chinese and Russian aircraft are likely highly capable warbirds, some US aviation experts have suggested they shouldn't rightfully be considered "fifth-generation."

Search resuls for: "force's"

25 mentions found