DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

The logo of Indian food delivery company Zomato is seen on its app on a mobile phone displayed in front of its company website in this illustration picture taken July 14, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsMUMBAI, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Chinese payments group Alipay plans to sell its 3.4% stake in Indian food delivery giant Zomato (ZOMT.NS) for nearly $400 million through block deals on Indian stock exchanges, according to three sources and a Reuters review of the deal's term sheet. Alipay, owned by Ant Group, will offload its entire 3.44% stake in the deal, the term sheet seen by Reuters showed. In October, Japan's SoftBank (9984.T) sold a 1.1% stake in Zomato, which is India's biggest food delivery service. In August, China's Antfin sold a 10.3% stake in Indian financial giant Paytm (PAYT.NS).

Persons: Florence Lo, Morgan Stanley, Alipay, Japan's SoftBank, China's Antfin, Sriram, Aditya Kalra, Susan Fenton Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Ant Group, Reuters, Bank of America, Tech, Thomson Locations: Rights MUMBAI, Zomato

[1/6] Ola electric scooters are seen outside the Ola Electric Service Centre, in Thane on the outskirts of Mumbai, India, October 25, 2023. Aggarwal's Ola Electric, which he likens to Tesla in the West, is zipping towards a stock-market listing after going from zero to 338,000 e-scooter sales in about two years. But he acknowledged service capacity issues and said Ola was "aggressively" bolstering its service network by adding 100 new centres and hiring more technicians. 'TESLA FOR WEST, OLA FOR REST'Aggarwal often declares, "Tesla is for the West, Ola for the rest", and he's a man in a hurry. "Electric vehicles are new to people so they aren't aware of how to ride the vehicle to maximise optimal output," he said.

Persons: Francis Mascarenhas, it's, Elon Musk, Aggarwal's Ola, Tesla, Ola, Devendra Ghuge, Aggarwal, Ola EVs, Ravi Bhatia, Bhatia, Japan's SoftBank, Ronald Radhakrishnan, Koradia, Riddhima Talwani, Aditi Shah, Rishika Sadam, Sriram, Arpan Chaturvedi, Anushree, Pandya, Francis Mascerehnas, Varun Vyas, Munsif, Jatindra, Saurabh Sharma, Sumit Khanna, Jose Devasia, Aditya Kalra Organizations: Ola Electric Service Centre, REUTERS, Staff, Reuters, JATO Dynamics, WEST, OLA, West, Singapore's Temasek, Industry, Hero Electric, TVS, EV, Ola, Fayaz Bukhari, Thomson Locations: Thane, Mumbai, India, THANE, HYDERABAD, DELHI, MUMBAI, Chennai, Bengaluru, India's, U.S, China, Kochi, New Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jose, Srinagar

☆ EU watchdogs muck up Amazon’s messy iRobot cleanup
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Jonathan Guilford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The concerns speak to ongoing worries over Amazon’s market clout – but if the deal collapses, it’s iRobot shareholders who will suffer more downward suction. The Commission, which is reviewing the deal alongside British and American merger cops, on Monday published its objections. If Amazon is thwarted, investors expect iRobot shares to fall to between $5 and $15. CONTEXT NEWSThe European Commission on Nov. 27 issued a statement of objections regarding Amazon.com’s proposed $1.4 billion acquisition of robot vacuum maker iRobot. iRobot shares fell more than 18% to close at $34.35 on Nov. 27.

Persons: Andrew Kelly, it’s, Carlyle, Amazon.com’s, Peter Thal Larsen, Aditya Sriwatsav Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, iRobot, European Commission, British, EU, Amazon, Investors, Commission, Thomson Locations: Staten Island , New York City, U.S, American, Europe, United States, Seattle, iRobot

☆ How AI could power the climate breakthrough the world needs
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-26 | by ( Clare Duffy | Rachel Ramirez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

The tool uses data on the climate, water and soil of a particular location to measure how viable the landscape will be for growing in the coming years. “The way we think about AI is it’s a time and effectiveness multiplier to the solutions for climate change,” Gupta told CNN. But for all of AI’s promise, the infrastructure that supports the technology — data centers filled with rows of powerful, energy-sucking computers — could itself be a strain on the environment. For now, the amount of energy used to power AI is relatively small compared to what’s consumed by transportation or buildings. Data center operators like Google are already thinking about how to reduce the resources needed to power the computing behind their AI models.

Persons: David Rind, ClimateAi, Himanshu Gupta, ” Gupta, ”, Fengqi, “, Kara Lamb, Aditya, Dan Keeler, ” Keeler, Anna Liljedahl, ” Liljedahl, Keeler, Daniel Leal, ClimateAi’s Gupta, Anna Robertson, ” Robertson, Alex de Vries, Alex Kraus, Adam Selipsky, —, Gupta Organizations: David Rind . New York CNN, Farmers, CNN, Cornell, Getty, Technology, Climate Research, Google, Bloomberg, Web Services, —, “ Regulators, ” Tech Locations: David Rind . New York, India, Maharashtra, Columbia, American, Ireland, Oregon, United States

The minister described it as a "non-negotiable" demand of the Indian government during the meeting, said one of the sources. India's IT ministry said in a press statement all platforms had agreed to align their content guidelines with government rules. Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) YouTube, Facebook and Chandrasekhar did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Indian government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have raised concerns over deepfakes in recent days. India has been tightening regulations of social media companies, which count the South Asian nation as a top growth market.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Chandrasekhar, Narendra Modi, Munsif Vengattil, Aditya Kalra Organizations: Facebook, REUTERS, Rights, YouTube, Reuters, Thomson Locations: India

☆ White House needs to talk turkey about inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Lauren Silva Laughlin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Nov 22 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Hey, White House. The release noted that lower inflation was among the things that Americans should be thankful for. Gasoline prices, for example, are down a quarter from their high in June 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The price of the average Thanksgiving meal has dropped from last year, too. Meantime food prices in the average U.S. city are up a fifth since December 2020, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

Persons: they’ll, paychecks, Joe Biden, Biden, ”, he’s, Jonathan Guilford, Aditya Sriwatsav Organizations: Reuters, U.S . Energy Information Administration, Louis Federal Reserve, American Farm Bureau Federation, Associated Press, NORC, for Public Affairs Research, White, Thomson Locations: U.S

☆ Reaction to Sam Altman's return as OpenAI CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Sam Altman, CEO of Microsoft-backed OpenAI and ChatGPT creator speaks during a talk at Tel Aviv University in Tel Aviv, Israel June 5, 2023. REUTERS/Amir Cohen Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies Openai LLC FollowNov 22 (Reuters) - OpenAI said on Tuesday it had reached an agreement for Sam Altman to return as CEO days after his ouster, capping frenzied discussions about the future of the startup at the center of the artificial intelligence boom. THRIVE CAPITAL, OPENAI SHAREHOLDER"OpenAI has the potential to be one of the most consequential companies in the history of computing. "Sam Altman seems awfully powerful and it is unclear that any board would be able to oversee him. Altman and (Microsoft CEO) Nadella may have pushed to allow Altman a much freer hand."

Persons: Sam Altman, Amir Cohen, OpenAI, DANNI HEWSON, BELL, Altman, DANIELA HATHORN, Altman's, Greg, Brockman, ChatGPT's, would've, SUSANNAH STREETER, HARGREAVES LANSDOWN, Sam Altman's, KELVIN WONG, MAK, Nadella, hasn't, Supantha Mukherjee, Ankika Biswas, Bansari Mayur, Aditya Soni, Miyoung Kim, Nivedita Organizations: Microsoft, Tel Aviv University, REUTERS, BANK, OpenAI, MNC, OF, UNIVERSITY OF, UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE BUSINSS, Thomson Locations: Tel Aviv, Israel, UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE, OpenAI, Stockholm, Bengaluru

As Open AI employees celebrated the return of CEO Sam Altman with a five-alarm office party , OpenAI software engineer Steven Heidel was busy publicly rebuffing overtures from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Heidel was one of more than 700 OpenAI employees who's threatened exodus halted a would-be mutiny at one of Silicon Valley's most important AI companies. He was previously a scientist at Facebook AI Research and worked as a member of Google Brain under supervision of Prof. Geoffrey Hinton and Ilya Sutskever. Alec Radford: Radford was hired in 2016 from a small AI company he founded in his dorm room. Tao Xu : technical staff, worked on GPT4 and WhisperChristine McLeavey : technical staff, with contributions to music-related productsChristina Kim : technical staffChristopher Hesse : technical staffHeewoo Jun : technical staff, researchAlex Nichol : technical staff, researchWilliam Fedus: technical staff, researchIlge Akkaya: technical staff, researchVineet Kosaraju : technical staff, researchHenrique Ponde de Oliveira Pinto : technical staffAditya Ramesh : technical staff, developed DALL-E and DALL-E 2Prafulla Dhariwal : research scientistHunter Lightman : technical staffHarrison Edwards : research scientistYura Burda : machine language researcherTyna Eloundou : technical staff, researchPamela Mishkin : researcherCasey Chu : researcherDavid Dohan : technical staff, researchAidan Clark : researcherRaul Puri : research scientistLeo Gao : technical staff, researchYang Song : technical staff, researchGiambattista ParascandoloTodor Markov : Machine learning researcherNick Ryder : technical staff

Persons: Sam Altman, Steven Heidel, Marc Benioff, Heidel, Altman, Mira Murati, Murati, Brad Lightcap, Lightcap, Jason Kwon, Kwon, Wojciech Zaremba, Geoffrey Hinton, Ilya Sutskever, Alec Radford, Radford, OpenAI, Peter Welinder, He's, Github Copilot, Anna Makanju, Andrej Karpathy, OpenAI's, Michael Petrov, Petrov, Greg [ Brockman, Miles Brundage, Brundage, John Schulman OpenAI, Srinivas Narayanan, Scott Grey, Grey, Bob McGrew, Research Che Chang, Lillian Weng, Safety Systems Mark Chen, Frontiers Research Barret Zoph, Peter Deng, Jan Leike Evan Morikawa Steven Heidel Jong Wook Kim, Tao Xu, Christine McLeavey, Christina Kim, Christopher Hesse, Heewoo, Alex Nichol, William Fedus, Henrique Ponde de Oliveira Pinto, Aditya Ramesh, Hunter Lightman, Harrison Edwards, Yura, Tyna, Pamela Mishkin, Casey Chu, David Dohan, Aidan Clark, Raul Puri, Leo Gao, Yang, Giambattista Parascandolo Todor Markov, Nick Ryder Organizations: Business, BI, OpenAI, Khosla Ventures, Facebook, Research, Google, Tesla, U.S . Department of Energy, Oxford University, Safety Systems, Frontiers Research Locations: Albania, Canada, OpenAI

☆ AI poster child Altman back at OpenAI, may have fewer checks on power
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Aditya Soni | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, arrives for a bipartisan Artificial Intelligence (AI) Insight Forum for all U.S. senators hosted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., September 13, 2023. "Altman seems awfully powerful and it is unclear that any board would be able to oversee him. The board fired Altman last week with little explanation and attempted to move on by naming an interim CEO twice. "The fact that Summers and Taylor will join OpenAI is quite extraordinary and marks a dramatic reversal of fortunes in the company," Valle said. Sutskever, Altman and Taylor could not be immediately reached for comment.

Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI, Chuck Schumer, Craig Hudson, Sam Altman's, Altman, Mak Yuen Teen, " Altman, Beatriz Valle, Bret Taylor, Salesforce, Larry Summers, Summers, Taylor, Valle, Jack Dorsey's, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, Adam D'Angelo, Sutskever, Sam, Gartner, Jason Wong, Aditya Soni, Mark Porter Organizations: Intelligence, Senate, U.S, Capitol, REUTERS, Microsoft, National University of Singapore Business School, Wall, Elon Musk's, Twitter, ., Harvard, Democratic, OpenAI, Georgetown's Center for Security, Emerging Technology, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, Bengaluru

"i'm looking forward to returning to openai," Altman said in a post on the X social media platform late on Tuesday. Sam Altman attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S. November 16, 2023. OpenAI's previous board consisted of Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner and OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and Quora CEO D'Angelo, who is part of the revamped board. In a post on X on Tuesday, Shear said he worked "~72 very intense hours" to bring stability - and ultimately Altman - back to OpenAI. When he was out of a job, CEO Nadella said Altman could head a new research team alongside Brockman and other colleagues departing from OpenAI.

Persons: Bret Taylor, Brockman, FRANCISCO, Sam Altman, OpenAI, Larry Summers, Adam D'Angelo, D'Angelo, Altman, Danni Hewson, AJ Bell's, Satya Nadella, Kyle Rodda, Carlos Barria, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Ilya Sutskever, Steve Jobs, Greg Brockman, Sunday Altman, Emmett Shear, Shear, Nadella, Jeffrey Dastin, Aditya Soni, Shivani Tanna, Bansari, Dhanya Ann Thoppil, Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Sam Holmes, Jane Merriman Organizations: U.S . Treasury, Microsoft, Economic Cooperation, REUTERS, Reuters, U.S, Thomson Locations: openai, U.S, OpenAI, Asia, San Francisco , California, Valley, San Francisco, Bengaluru

The startup's newly appointed interim head moved quickly to dismiss speculation that OpenAI's board ousted Altman due to a spat over the safety of powerful AI models. It was not clear why Murati had stepped down as interim CEO. [1/4]Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S. November 16, 2023. Some of those joining Altman at Microsoft include senior researchers Szymon Sidor and Jakub Pachocki, according to Brockman. Microsoft had supported a return by Altman to the startup, according to sources, a move that seemed likely only hours prior to Monday's announcements.

Persons: OpenAI, Emmett Shear, Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, OpenAI's, Altman, Shear, Ilya Sutskever, we've, Sutskever, Mira Murati, reinstates Altman, Brockman, Bret Taylor, Will Hurd, Murati, Carlos Barria, Richard Windsor, Satya Nadella, Szymon Sidor, Jakub Pachocki, Russ Mould, AJ Bell, Nadella, Jeffry Dastin, Anna Tong, Krystal Hu, Akash Sriram, Aditya Soni, Urvi, Shubham, Stephanie Kelly, Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Miyoung Kim, Sam Holmes, Susan Fenton, Chizu Nomiyama, Anil D'Silva Organizations: Microsoft, FRANCISCO, Google, OpenAI, Reuters, Economic Cooperation, REUTERS, Radio Free Mobile, Thomson Locations: OpenAI, Texas, Asia, San Francisco , California, U.S, San Franciso, New York, Bengaluru

☆ Microsoft emerges as big winner from OpenAI turmoil with Altman on board
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Aditya Soni | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

That was nearly equal to the valuation OpenAI commanded in its last fundraise. "If Microsoft lost Altman, he could have gone to Amazon, Google, Apple, or a host of other tech companies," said Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives. We view Microsoft now even in a stronger position with Altman and Brockman at Microsoft running AI. Altman will lead a new research team at the software giant following his surprise ouster by OpenAI that shocked the tech industry. "The OpenAI for-profit subsidiary was about to conduct a secondary at a $80 billion+ valuation.

Persons: Satya Narayana Nadella, Lucas Jackson, Sam Altman, Altman, Dan Ives, Brockman, OpenAI, Greg Brockman, Szymon Sidor, SemiAnalysis, Mira Murati, Aditya Soni, Akash Sriram, Sriraj Organizations: Microsoft, REUTERS, Google, Wedbush Securities, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, New York City, OpenAI, Bengaluru

☆ Microsoft emerges as big winner from OpenAI turmoil
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Aditya Soni | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Microsoft Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Satya Narayana Nadella speaks at a live Microsoft event in the Manhattan borough of New York City, October 26, 2016. The turmoil at OpenAI since Friday had raised fears about the fallout for Microsoft, which has pumped in billions of dollars and uses the pioneer's technology for most of its AI offerings. That was nearly equal to the valuation OpenAI commanded in its last fundraise. We view Microsoft now even in a stronger position with Altman and Brockman at Microsoft running AI. "The OpenAI for-profit subsidiary was about to conduct a secondary at a $80 billion+ valuation.

☆ Sam Altman kicked off a flood of ❤️ emoji posts from OpenAI executives. Can someone just tell us if he's coming back or not?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sam Altman was forced out as CEO of OpenAI on Friday, in dramatic fashion. One that was more snarky than loving: "if i start going off, the openai board should go after me for the full value of my shares." AdvertisementYet, it was the one about the OpenAI team that kicked off our current mystery. Various members of OpenAI staff have liked both tweets. Johnathan Lachman, who heads special projects at OpenAI, retweeted Murati's heart reply to Altman adding "our team spirit is just incredible."

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, Mira Murati, emojis, —, he'd, OpenAI, She's, Heart, Greg Brockman, what's, Jason Kwon, Brad Lightcap, Romain Huet, Aditya Ramesh, Johnathan Lachman, Brockman's, hasn't, Ilya Sutskever, Brockman, Vinod Khosla, Matthew McConaughey, Kali Hays Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Google, Altman, Twitter Locations: OpenAI, khays@insider.com, @hayskali

☆ Ransomware targets will pay one way or another
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Anita Ramaswamy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The White House has even considered an outright ban on firms making ransom payments. If companies can’t pay ransom, there’s no point in asking for it. ICBC’s self-identified attacker, a gang of digital extortionists called Lockbit, says ICBC paid up. Follow @AnitaRamaswamy on XCONTEXT NEWSThe Industrial and Commercial Bank of China’s U.S. arm was hit by a ransomware attack that disrupted some trades in the U.S. Treasury market on Nov. 9. A senior White House official said on Oct. 31 that the U.S. government planned to lead an alliance of 40 countries in a pledge to never pay ransom to cybercriminals.

Persons: Joe Biden’s, cybercriminals, it’s, there’s, ICBC, –, reckons, John Foley, Aditya Sriwatsav Organizations: Reuters, Industrial, Commercial Bank of China, SS, Treasuries, Companies, Caesars Entertainment, Commercial Bank of China’s, U.S . Treasury, White House, ., Thomson Locations: U.S, United States, Commercial Bank of China’s U.S

Adani has denied wrongdoing, saying that Indian authorities assessed its coal shipments before releasing them from ports. India's Supreme Court is also overseeing the market regulator's probe of Hindenburg's allegations. If India's Supreme Court allows the agency's latest request, it would then need to seek an order from Singapore's Court of Appeal to release the material. The Singapore court declined requests from Reuters last month to inspect related case documents, saying in written responses that the files were sealed. The stance adopted by Adani's companies in Singapore "created impediments" and the investigation "remains stalled", the revenue agency told India's Supreme Court in 2021 filings.

Persons: Adani, Hindenburg, Gautam Adani, Narendra Modi's, Modi, Lucien Wong, Adani's, Arpan Chaturvedi, Aditya Kalra, Sudarshan Varadhan, David Crawshaw Organizations: Adani Group, Revenue Intelligence, Adani, Adani Enterprises, Reuters, India's, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Home Affairs, Hindenburg Research, Investigators, Singapore Attorney, Thomson Locations: India, DELHI, Singapore, Adani, Gujarat, Indonesia, SINGAPORE, Singapore's, Mumbai, New Delhi

☆ Gap's closet cleanup begins to pay off
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Acquire Licensing RightsTORONTO, Nov 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Gap’s (GPS.N) new CEO is embarking on a closet cleanup. Shares in the U.S. apparel company leapt over 30% on Friday morning, a day after it unveiled third-quarter results. That reaction looks overdone, considering how overall net sales of $3.8 billion are still down 7% compared to last year, and earnings fell year-on-year. Same-store sales at sub-brand Old Navy for the quarter were up 1% year-on-year, the first quarterly increase in over two years. The company might even use that tailwind to revive its scrapped plans to separate Old Navy into a stand-alone company.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, That’s, Richard Dickson, Barbie, Sharon Lam, John Foley, Aditya Sriwatsav Organizations: REUTERS, Rights TORONTO, Reuters, Navy, Mattel, Banana Republic, X, Walmart, Thomson Locations: midtown Manhattan, New York, U.S, China

☆ Coal use needs to be slashed seven times faster to meet emissions target, analysis finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Anmar Frangoul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Published Tuesday, the "State of Climate Action 2023" paints a sobering picture of the challenges that policymakers face as they gear up for the COP28 climate change summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates at the end of November. Tuesday's report takes that 1.5 degrees goal and develops targets for 2030 and 2050 that align with it. The U.N. has previously noted that 1.5 degrees Celsius is viewed as being "the upper limit" when it comes to avoiding the worst consequences of climate change. "Despite decades of dire warnings and wake-up calls, our leaders have largely failed to mobilize climate action anywhere near the pace and scale needed," Boehm added. Nationally Determined Contributions, or NDCs, refer to individual countries' targets for cutting emissions and adapting to the effects of climate change.

Persons: Aditya Aji, Sophie Boehm, Boehm, tinker, Ani Dasgupta Organizations: AFP, Getty, United Arab Emirates, CNBC, World Resources Institute, UN, ClimateWorks, United Nations Locations: Indonesia, Dubai, United Arab, Paris

[1/2] JioCinema and Pokemon logos are pictured in this illustration taken November 15, 2023. Pokemon has spawned a global multi-billion dollar media franchise spanning trading cards, games, TV shows and movies. In total, JioCinema will add around 3,000 hours of children's content, including movies and shows from Entertainment One, Animaccord, Cartoon Network Studios and DreamWorks, the sources said. Some Pokemon content was earlier on Voot, but the new JioCinema deal is a "much larger partnership", one of the sources said. NBCUniversal told Reuters that "kids and family programming", including DreamWorks content, was part of a multi-year partnership with JioCinema announced in May.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Mukesh Ambani, Mukesh Ambani's, Ambani, Viacom18, NBCUniversal, JioCinema, Aditya Kalra, Munsif, Miral Organizations: REUTERS, Disney, Netflix, Cartoon Network, DreamWorks, Pokemon Company, Walt Disney Co, Nintendo, Media Partners, Entertainment, Cartoon Network Studios, Reuters, Warner Bros Discovery Inc, Hollywood, Thomson Locations: DELHI, India, New Delhi, Bengaluru

☆ Walmart can overcome its dulling inflationary edge
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The company’s top line grew 5.2% in the third quarter from a year earlier while the bottom line swung to a profit. Revenue growth may now slow while costs, including wages, could take longer to come down and squeeze profit margins. Operating expenses ticked up nearly a percentage point, to 21% of net sales, from the previous three quarters. Even if the price of eggs is getting cheaper, there’s no clear reason Walmart’s stock should do the same. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Walmart Doug McMillon, Donald Trump, Eisenhower, Joshua Roberts, Doug McMillon, McMillon isn’t, Jennifer Saba, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Aditya Sriwatsav Organizations: Walmart, REUTERS, Reuters, X, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, China

☆ American CEOs serve China’s Xi a too-rich dessert
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Lauren Silva Laughlin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Acquire Licensing RightsNEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - America’s corporate chieftains were thrilled to see China’s President Xi Jinping at Wednesday’s gala dinner in San Francisco. So thrilled that they gave him a standing ovation, according to Reuters. He has defended China’s stance on Taiwan, equating the self-governing island’s relationship with the People’s Republic to Hawaii’s position vis-à-vis the United States. The standing ovation is just a new, cringeworthy way to follow the money. Xi received a standing ovation as he entered the room and before and after he took the stage, the report said.

Persons: Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, Kevin Lamarque, Xi, Tim Cook, Larry Fink, Steve Schwarzman, Ray Dalio, Bridgewater, Tesla, Elon Musk, Apple’s Cook, Ding Xuexiang, Howard Schultz, Biden, “, John Foley, Aditya Sriwatsav Organizations: Economic Cooperation, REUTERS, Reuters, Apple, Blackstone, ”, China, Xi, Thomson Locations: Filoli, Asia, Woodside , California, U.S, San Francisco, BlackRock, China, United States, Taiwan, Republic, Schwarzman, Beijing

☆ Goodyear tune-up may go beyond rotating the tires
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Aug 20, 2023; Watkins Glen, New York, USA; A detailed view of Goodyear Eagle racing tires prior to the Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports Acquire Licensing RightsNEW YORK, Nov 15 (Reuters Breakingviews) - A century is a long time to accumulate bad habits. Goodyear Tire & Rubber (GT.O) on Wednesday said it would try to shed some, by selling $2 billion of assets, streamlining its business and paying down debt. As the $4 billion company tidies itself, it could turn out to be worth more in pieces. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Watkins, Matthew O'Haren, Richard Kramer, Elliott, Goodyear, Jonathan Guilford, taints, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Aditya Sriwatsav, Sharon Lam Organizations: Goodyear Eagle, Watkins Glen International, Reuters, Goodyear Tire &, Elliott Investment Management, Electric, United States Steel, Goodyear, X, Alstom, Thomson Locations: , New York, USA

A man walks past an AVIVA logo outside the company's head office in the city of London March 5, 2009. British life insurer Aviva on Thursday said it was maintaining its dividend, soothing concerns the payout could be cut to conserve capital, and reported annual profits that broadly met forecasts. REUTERS/Stephen Hird/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNEW DELHI, Nov 14 (Reuters) - India's tax inspectors searched the office of British insurance giant Aviva's (AV.L) life insurance unit near New Delhi last week and seized documents as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion, sources familiar with the matter said. In a statement, Aviva Life Insurance, India, told Reuters "we can confirm that GST officials visited our head office site, we are in full cooperation with them." UK's Aviva has a 74% stake in Aviva Life Insurance in India, with the rest owned by India's Dabur Invest Corp. Aviva's life insurance business has a less than 0.5% market share on the basis of first-year premium collections in India.

Persons: Stephen Hird, Asit Rath, Sonali Athalye, UK's, India's Dabur, Aditya Kalra, Sharon Singleton Organizations: AVIVA, Aviva, Goods, Services Tax, Intelligence, Aviva Life Insurance, Reuters, Indian, Companies, Insurance Corporation, Bajaj Allianz, UK's Aviva, India's, India's Dabur Invest Corp, Thomson Locations: London, DELHI, New Delhi, India

☆ Palantir’s mythology is far too precious
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Yet Palantir’s top line is only expected to grow 16% this year, according to forecasts gathered by LSEG. There’s also a risk that Palantir’s ability to secure government contracts, which account for more than half its top line, will be restrained by its politics. For example, Palantir bought about $50 million of gold bars in 2021 to prepare for unpredictable “black swan” events. Also sitting on Palantir’s balance sheet are stakes in targets of special purpose acquisition companies, which it bought in exchange for purchase orders. It doesn’t take a wizard to see that in the eyes of investors Palantir is far too precious.

Persons: Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, “ Palantir, Palantir, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Aditya Sriwatsav Organizations: Reuters, Palantir Technologies, LSEG, Microsoft, Rubicon Technologies, Technologies, Thomson Locations: Snowflake, Israel, Health

The Biden administration is still concerned about environmental, social and governance standards in Indonesia and is examining how a deal might work, the sources said. "There's a lot of work to do before we are able to formally announce negotiations on a critical minerals partnership," the person said. Indonesia does not have a free trade agreement with the United States. The only U.S. nickel mine is set to close in a few years, and the country has no nickel smelter, a risk to Biden's goal for the United States to lead in EV manufacturing. Many U.S. miners have said that the Biden administration should focus more on approving domestic projects than seeking international supply.

Persons: Joko Widodo, Joe Biden, Aditya Pradana, Biden, Katherine Tai, EVs, Talon, Trevor Hunnicutt, Ernest Scheyder, Fransiska, Grant McCool Organizations: United, Indonesia G20 Media, White, U.S, . Trade, Talon Metals, Tesla Inc, Thomson Locations: Rai Forest, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, Aditya Pradana Putra, WASHINGTON, United States, Washington, North America, China, North Dakota, Minnesota, Jakarta

Search resuls for: "Aditya"

25 mentions found